Trump News

Despite winning the election just a week ago, President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team aren't wasting any time preparing to staff the federal government — and the military in particular – with diehard loyalists.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the Trump transition team is currently preparing an executive order that would allow him to pave the way for new military leadership that is squarely in the MAGA camp. The draft order would create a so-called "warrior board" made up of retired senior U.S. military personnel who would recommend the firing of generals and admirals who are "lacking in requisite leadership qualities."

A panel of CNN guests clashed on Tuesday night over the definition of "woke" and how it relates to America's military in light of reporting from The Wall Street Journal that Trump's first executive order could be a military purge.

GOP strategist Scott Jennings went toe-to-toe with fellow guest and TV host Cari Champion as well as New York Times staff writer Nikole Hannah-Jones, with Jennings asserting that the military has taken on "all of the worst properties of corporate America" gotten away from its core mission: fighting and winning wars. When host Abby Phillip asked what properties, Jennings pointed to "all of the [human resources] properties that have divided this country the past several years."

Robert Lighthizer — who served as Donald Trump's U.S. trade representative — is on a mission to "convince lawmakers and the public that their plans for dramatically higher tariffs will energize the economy instead of tanking it," Politico reports.

According to a document viewed by POLITICO, the news outlet notes that Lighthizer "and those close to him are preparing to aggressively sell their plans for massive new tariffs on imports that will go far beyond anything seen" during the president-elect's first term.

Former Trump administration White House attorney Ty Cobb tore into the former president on CNN over his repeated pledges to pardon rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 when he retakes office next year.

Trump notoriously wielded pardon power in his last administration to free friends and allies, often people who directly went to jail for lying on his behalf in the Russia investigation. Jan. 6 insurrectionists are not alone in hoping for Trump to spring them; also vying for attention are politicians in prison for public corruption, most notably former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder.

President-elect Donald Trump made clear Tuesday what he wants billionaire loyalists Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to do in his next administration: lead a department that isn’t expected to be a real federal agency to cut government spending.

“I am pleased to announce that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”),” Trump said in a news release Tuesday night. “Together these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement.”

A New York lawmaker who served as lead attorney for House Democrats during the first impeachment of President-elect Donald Trump said he was "shocked" by Trump's selection of a Fox News host to head the Pentagon.

"I'm shocked, truly," Rep. Dan Goldman told CNN anchor Erin Burnett on Tuesday night, moments after Trump's pick of Pete Hegseth was announced. "It's exactly what we worried about and we warned about Donald Trump."

As former President Donald Trump assembles the team for his next administration, he is making a very conscientious choice to pick people who will not stand in the way of a future coup, or whatever else he wants to plot, Karen Tumulty wrote for The Washington Post.

So far, many of his appointees have been members of Congress, while others are some of the more fierce loyalists from his previous administration. But there is a through-line in all of it, Tumulty wrote.

President-elect Donald Trump’s draft executive order that would allow him to purge military leaders stunned a retired Air Force colonel, who sounded the alarm during an interview Tuesday on the devastating effects the action could have on the U.S. military.

“It is stunning,” retired Col. Cedric Leighton told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer during an appearance on his show, “The Situation Room.” Leighton, a CNN military analyst, began his remarks after Blitzer noted that the draft order coming out of Trump’s presidential transition team “is raising fresh concerns about the politicization of the U.S. military in the new Trump administration.”

President-elect Donald Trump's selection of a co-host of "FOX & Friends Weekend" spurred immediate mockery on social media as critics blasted the pick as "unserious" — and something more akin to an article in the satirical news outlet "The Onion."

Pete Hegseth was nominated by Trump to serve as his secretary of defense, Fox news confirmed Tuesday night.

Former President Donald Trump has selected John Ratcliffe to be director of the CIA in his new administration, reported RealClearPolitics' Philip Melanchthon Wegmann on Tuesday evening.

Ratcliffe, a controversial loyalist, previously served as Director of National Intelligence in the original Trump administration.

The conservative news publication The Federalist slammed South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem with a blistering takedown Tuesday that referred to her as a “coward” who was underserving to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

“While Noem is certainly skilled at promoting herself, she doesn’t have the courage required for this role,” Joy Pullmann, an executive editor at The Federalist, wrote in an editorial after news spread that President-elect Donald Trump selected Noem, who famously shot her pet dog to death, for the cabinet position.

A longtime Donald Trump friend, golf buddy and investor has been named as the new special envoy to the Middle East, Reuters reported Tuesday afternoon, and early reactions on social media noted he's pro-Israel, with one critic openly wondering if he'll facilitate a "water front housing development in Gaza."

Steve Witkoff is an ally of Benjamin Netanyahu, Washington Post diplomacy reporter John Hudson recalled. Witkoff "attended Netanyahu's speech to Congress in July and criticized Democrats for not supporting Bibi," said Hudson.