Trump nominates Musk and Ramaswamy to lead new efficiency department – as it happened | Donald Trump

Trump, in his statement, lays out a vision of the department as “potentially ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time”. The Manhattan Project was the second world war research program that developed nuclear weapons. Only this one is named after an internet meme and type of cryptocurrency.

Here is more from Trump’s statement:

It will become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’of our time. Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of “DOGE” for a very long time. To drive this kind of drastic change, the Department of Government Efficiency will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.

I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans. Importantly, we will drive out the massive waste and fraud which exists throughout our annual $6.5 Trillion Dollars of Government Spending. They will work together to liberate our Economy, and make the U.S. Government accountable to “WE THE PEOPLE.” Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026 – A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence. I am confident they will succeed!

Trump has announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency.

In a statement, Trump said:

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”). 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.

“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said.

Here is a bit more on Trump’s Pentagon pick:

Pete Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. He is also the author of The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.

Hegseth was an infantry captain in the Army National Guard and served overseas in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

He was formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and he unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012.

Hegseth deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and unsuccessfully ran for Senate in Minnesota in 2012 before joining Fox News.

Trump has just announced another cabinet pick: Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.

Hegseth is a Fox news host. We’ll have information shortly.

In a statement, he says:

I am honored to announce that I have nominated Pete Hegseth to serve in my Cabinet as The Secretary of Defense. Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country. Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.

A pregnant woman in Kentucky seeking an abortion filed a lawsuit on Tuesday asking a court to strike down the state’s abortion bans.

The woman, who is known in court records as Mary Poe and is about seven or eight weeks pregnant, is challenging Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban and the six-week ban simultaneously in effect. These bans, Poe argues, violate the Kentucky constitution’s rights to privacy and self-determination and should not be enforced.

“For many individuals, the bans altogether foreclose the ability to access abortion, thus forcing them to carry their pregnancies to term and give birth, which carries a risk of death up to 14 times higher than that associated with abortion,” the lawsuit alleges. “Others, pushed by the bans to travel out of state for legal care, bear the burdens both of increased health risks from being pushed later into pregnancy and of the cost and logistical difficulties of long-distance travel.”

The lawsuit also requests class-action status for all people who may be pregnant or can become so but are unable to get a abortion in Kentucky.

“I feel overwhelmed and frustrated that I cannot access abortion care here in my own state, and I have started the difficult process of arranging to get care in another state where it’s legal,” Poe said in a statement. “This involves trying to take time off work and securing child care, all of which place an enormous burden on me. This is my personal decision, a decision I believe should be mine alone, not one made by anyone else.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky, and the law firm Kaplan, Johnson, Abate & Bird are representing Poe.

Read the full story here:

After spending four months in federal prison for snubbing a congressional subpoena, conservative strategist Steve Bannon has spoken to media outside a New York court where he’s facing a state conspiracy trial as soon as next month.

“You wait. The hunted are about to become the hunters,” Bannon said, according to the Associated Press.

He stepped into a waiting car without elaborating on what “the hunters” intend to do.

The longtime Trump ally’s latest trial is scheduled to start 9 December – but could be postponed after a hearing Monday – at the same Manhattan courthouse where the past-and-next president was convicted in his hush-money case. Separately, a judge Tuesday delayed a key ruling in the hush-money case for at least a week as prosecutors ponder how to proceed in light of Trump’s impending presidency.

Trump has spent most of his first week as president-elect behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lagohis private club in Florida, where he’s working the phones, reconnecting with foreign leaders and building his new administration, the Associated Press reports.

Trump is hardly in seclusion. He’s surrounded by advisers, friends and paying members of his club, who weigh in with advice as he selects people for top government jobs. Elon Muskthe world’s richest man, whose companies have billions of dollars of federal contracts, has been a constant presence. Some see Musk as the second-most influential figure in Trump’s immediate orbit after his campaign chief-turned-incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles.

“Very productive day of work by the transition team,” Musk posted on X, his social media company, on Monday evening.

Trump is expected to return to public view on Wednesday, when he goes to the White House to meet with Joe Biden and visits Capitol Hill to consult with House speaker Mike Johnson and Republican legislators. Overall, Trump is laying the groundwork for his second presidency at a much faster clip than his first.

Trump is also expected to meet with Republicans on Capitol Hill as they prepare for his day one priorities in a potentially unified government with a sweep of GOP power in Washington.

Eight international aid groups said on Tuesday that Israel has failed to meet US demands for greater humanitarian access to the war-ravaged Gaza Stripwhere hunger experts say the north may already be experiencing famine, the Associated Press reports.

However, the Biden administration said Tuesday it won’t limit weapons transfers to Israel because the US says its key ally has made good but limited progress in increasing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Last month, Washington told Israel to boost aid to Gaza within 30 days, or else it could trigger US laws requiring it to scale back American military support as Israel wages war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israeli strikes killed at least 46 people in Gaza in the past 24 hours, and killed at least 33 people in Lebanon, local health officials said Tuesday. Two people in northern Israel also died from rockets fired from Lebanon.

Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. More than half of those killed were women and children.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel on 8 October 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. Since then, more than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 14,200 wounded, the country’s health ministry reported.

Hovde pointed to what he claimed were irregularities with the vote results. There is no evidence of any wrongdoing in the election, the results of which are still being reviewed by counties before they submit the canvassed totals to the state by 19 November for certification by 1 December.

Democrats, and even some Republicans, immediately called out Hovde for what they said was a perpetuation of lies about the integrity of the election.

“Stop trying to erode trust in our elections (and I say that as someone who supported Hovde),” said Jim Villaa longtime Republican who previously worked in the legislature and Milwaukee county executive’s office under Scott Walker before Walker became governor.

“That grift needs to stop!” Villa posted on X.

Baldwin campaign spokesperson Andrew Mamo accused Hovde of “sowing doubt about our very democracy”.

“Leaders on both sides of the aisle should condemn the lies he’s spreading and the pathetic campaign he continues to run,” Mamo said. “Tammy Baldwin has won this race and there is only one thing for Eric Hovde to do: concede.”