AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EST
Trump picks Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Marco Rubio for secretary of state
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - President-elect Donald Trump chose Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general on Wednesday, bypassing more experienced options in favor of a loyalist who has built a national reputation as a disruptor and whom Trump has tasked with dramatically overhauling the Justice Department.
Trump also announced that he had tapped Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as his nominee for secretary of state. And he selected Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress and presidential candidate, to serve as his director of national intelligence.
The choices continued a pattern of Trump stocking his Cabinet with loyalists he believes he can trust to execute his agenda rather than longtime officials with experience in their fields. Gaetz's selection, in particular, was seen as a shock. The Florida lawmaker was not among the more established attorneys who had been mentioned as contenders for the job, and even his colleagues in Congress appeared stunned by the news.
"Everybody was saying, `Oh my God,´" said Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho. "That was about as big a surprise as I´ve had in a long time."
Trump announced the decision in a post in his Truth Social network, saying Gaetz would "root out the systemic corruption at DOJ, and return the Department to its true mission of fighting Crime, and upholding our Democracy and Constitution."
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Trump returns to Washington vowing a smooth transition -- something he didn't ensure four years ago
WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Donald Trump made a victor´s return to Washington on Wednesday, visiting the White House for a nearly two-hour meeting with President Joe Biden and committing to a straightforward transition of power despite actively working to disrupt the same process four years ago.
Sitting in the Oval Office, in front of a strong fire in the fireplace, the former rivals shook hands before Biden called Trump "Mr. President-elect and former president" and then settled simply on "Donald."
"Congratulations," the Democrat told the Republican. "I look forward to having, like they said, a smooth transition. Welcome. Welcome back."
Trump replied, "Thank you very much," saying that "politics is tough. And it´s, in many cases, not a very nice world. But it is a nice world today, and I appreciate it very much."
Except for the opening moments, the meeting was private, with Biden and Trump joined by their chiefs of staff. Trump said the transition between the outgoing and incoming administrations "will be as smooth as it can get and I very much appreciate that, Joe."
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Republican John Thune of South Dakota is elected the next Senate majority leader
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans have elected South Dakota Sen. John Thune as the next Senate majority leader, completing a momentous shift in their leadership that elevates a top deputy of Mitch McConnell into a key position as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Thune, 63, is in his fourth Senate term and has promised to work closely with Trump, despite differences the two have had over the years, and will be a crucial part of the incoming president´s efforts to push through his policy agenda. The two spoke on the phone shortly after Thune was elected, the senator posted on X Wednesday afternoon, adding that "Senate Republicans are excited and ready to get to work" with the incoming president.
Trump later congratulated Thune on his social media platform, Truth Social. "He moves quickly, and will do an outstanding job," Trump wrote. "I look forward to working with him."
Thune beat out two other competitors, Sens. John Cornyn and Rick Scott, by gaining majority support from GOP senators in two rounds of secret ballots behind closed doors. Scott was eliminated on the first round and the final vote between Thune and Cornyn was 29-24, according to several people who requested anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
Republicans are replacing McConnell, the longest serving Senate party leader, as they prepare to take majority control of the Senate with the 53 seats they won in last week´s elections. It was the first competitive election for Republican leader in three decades and Senate Republicans' first regime change since McConnell became GOP leader in 2007.
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Speaker Mike Johnson wins GOP nomination to remain in job, faces full House vote in new year
WASHINGTON (AP) - House Speaker Mike Johnson won the House Republican nomination Wednesday to stay on the job, on track to keep the gavel after a morning endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump ahead of a full House vote in the new year.
While Johnson has no serious challenger, he faces dissent within his ranks, particularly from hard-right conservatives and the Freedom Caucus withholding their votes as leverage to extract promises ahead.
Trump told House Republicans, during the president-elect's first trip back to Washington since the party swept the 2024 election, that he's with the speaker all the way, according to a person familiar with the remarks but unauthorized to discuss the private meeting near the Capitol.
Johnson heaped praise on Trump, calling him the "comeback king."
It´s been a remarkable political journey for Johnson, the accidental speaker who rose as a last, best choice to replace ousted former speaker Kevin McCarthy more than a year ago and quickly set a course by positioning himself alongside Trump and leading Republicans during this year's elections.
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Elon Musk says he and Trump have 'mandate to delete' regulations. Ethics laws could limit Musk role
In picking billionaire Elon Musk to be "our cost cutter" for the U.S. government, President-elect Donald Trump won't be the first American president to empower a business tycoon to look for ways to dramatically cut federal regulations.
President Ronald Reagan tapped J. Peter Grace to lead a bureaucratic cost-cutting commission in 1982. Still, the chemical business magnate had fewer conflicts of interest than the world's richest man does today.
Musk's SpaceX holds billions of dollars in NASA contracts. He's CEO of Tesla, an electric car business that benefits from government tax incentives and is subject to auto safety rules. His social media platform X, artificial intelligence startup xAI, brain implant maker Neuralink and tunnel-building Boring company all intersect with the federal government in various ways.
"There´s direct conflicts between his businesses and government´s interest," said Ann Skeet, director of leadership ethics at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center. "He´s now in a position to try and curry favor for those enterprises."
Musk is also more influential, having pumped an estimated $200 million through his political action committee to help elect Trump, made himself a fixture at Mar-a-Lago since the presidential election and is on regular speaking terms with like-minded political world leaders, from Argentina´s President Javier Milei to Italy´s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
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Biden and Xi will meet in Peru as US-China relations tested again by Trump's return
WASHINGTON (AP) -
President Joe Biden will hold talks Saturday with China's Xi Jinping on the sidelines of an international summit in Peru, a face-to-face meeting that comes as Beijing braces for Donald Trump's return to the White House.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the meeting will take place while the two leaders are in Lima for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. That will come just over two months before Trump's inauguration.
Sullivan was opaque about how Biden and administration officials will answer expected questions from Xi and his aides about the incoming Trump administration.
"Transitions are uniquely consequential moments in geopolitics. They´re a time when competitors and adversaries can see possibly opportunity," Sullivan said. "And so part of what President Biden will communicate is that we need to maintain stability, clarity, predictability through this transition between the United States and China."
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US government worker charged with leaking classified documents on Israel's plans to strike Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) - A man who worked for the U.S. government has been charged with leaking classified information assessing Israel's earlier plans to attack Iran, according to court papers filed Wednesday.
The man, identified as Asif William Rahman, was arrested by the FBI this week in Cambodia and was due to make his first court appearance in Guam.
He was indicted last week in U.S. court in Virginia on two counts of willful transmission of national defense information - felony charges that an carry significant prison sentences.
It was not immediately clear whether Rahman had a lawyer or which federal agency employed him, but officials say he had top secret security clearance.
The charges stem from the documents, attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, appearing last month on a channel of the Telegram messaging app. The documents noted that Israel was still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran´s blistering ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1.
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Protests erupt in Paris over pro-Israel gala organized by far-right figures
PARIS (AP) - Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures in support of Israel. The event, intended to raise funds for the Israeli military, included Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich among its invited guests.
The demonstrations came on the eve of a high-stakes soccer match at France's national stadium against the Israeli national team, overshadowed by tensions around the wars in the Middle East. Authorities in Paris announced that more than 4,000 police officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for the game.
Smotrich, a vocal advocate of Israeli settlements, had been expected to attend Wednesday's gala, dubbed "Israel is Forever," which was planned by an association of the same name. The group´s stated goal is to "mobilize French-speaking Zionist forces."
After days of growing criticism of the event, Smotrich's office confirmed Wednesday that the minister would not travel to Paris to participate.
But the invitation to Smotrich drew sharp criticism from local associations, unions and left-wing political parties, prompting two protests in the French capital. The minister, a hard-line settler leader, has been accused of inflaming tensions in the West Bank and drew international condemnations this week by saying he hopes the election of Donald Trump will clear the way for Israeli annexation of the West Bank - a step that would extinguish Palestinian statehood dreams.
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he'll ask for a vote of confidence in December
BERLIN (AP) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that he will ask for a vote of confidence on Dec. 16, paving the way for early parliamentary elections in February. He declared his plans during a speech in parliament, a week after his three-party coalition government collapsed.
Germany has been governed since 2021 by a coalition led by Scholz´s left-leaning Social Democrats, which included the smaller pro-business Free Democrats and the Greens. It was an uneasy and fractious alliance, and it fell apart when Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats in a late-night move following disagreements over how to revive the shrinking economy.
"The date at the end of February has now been set and I am very grateful for that," Scholz said, adding that he would try to pass important legislation through parliament before that, such as financial support for children of poor families, or amendments to the country's constitution to make the highest court more resilient to possible political interference.
He said he would submit a request for a vote of confidence on Dec. 11, so that the Bundestag can decide on this on Dec. 16. The chancellor had initially wanted to have an early election only by late March - ahead of the vote that is regularly scheduled for September 2025.
However, the center-right Christian opposition pushed for a quicker vote in the parliament to speed up the next election.
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Bluesky has added 1 million users since the US election as people seek alternatives to X
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Social media site Bluesky has gained 1 million new users in the week since the U.S. election, as some X users look for an alternative platform to post their thoughts and engage with others online.
Bluesky said Wednesday that its total users surged to 15 million, up from roughly 13 million at the end of October.
Championed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Bluesky was an invitation-only space until it opened to the public in February. That invite-only period gave the site time to build out moderation tools and other features. The platform resembles Elon Musk's X, with a "discover" feed as well a chronological feed for accounts that users follow. Users can send direct messages and pin posts, as well as find "starter packs" that provide a curated list of people and custom feeds to follow.
The post-election uptick in users isn´t the first time that Bluesky has benefitted from people leaving X. Bluesky gained 2.6 million users in the week after X was banned in Brazil in August - 85% of them from Brazil, the company said. About 500,000 new users signed up in the span of one day last month, when X signaled that blocked accounts would be able to see a user's public posts.
Despite Bluesky's growth, X posted last week that it had "dominated the global conversation on the U.S. election" and had set new records. The platform saw a 15.5% jump in new-user signups on Election Day, X said, with a record 942 million posts worldwide. Representatives for Bluesky and for X did not respond to requests for comment.
