Trump will take ‘nonstop’ action in first 100 days in office, top adviser says – live

Donald Trump’s transition team belated signed a memorandum of understanding with the US Department of Justice, which will allow the FBI to conduct background checks on the president-elect’s nominees. But it remains unclear whether Trump will send all his picks for vetting, given that his team had indicated it would avoid or delay complete background checks, relying instead on internal vetting.

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Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers have asked for a dismissal of the hush-money case, in which he was convicted on 34 felony counts, invoking Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter, in their argument

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Here’s more:

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  Trump has reportedly offered the job of deputy secretary of defense to Stephen Feinberg, a billionaire investor whose firm has taken stakes in companies that do business with the Pentagon.

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  Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to lead the defense department, had multiple affairs while married to his first wife, Vanity Fair reported. Such behavior could have violated military rules governing Hegseth, who served in the army national guard, and also strike another blow to his reputation as Republican senators consider whether he should lead the Pentagon.

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  Hegseth is also facing sexual misconduct allegations, as well as allegations of financial mismanagement and aggressive drunkeness at previous workplaces. Republican senator Lindsay Graham said these allegations were “disturbing” and would be hard to defend.

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  Trump’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, Florida sheriff Chad Chronister, has withdrawn from consideration just two days after being nominated. The sheriff had three decades of experience in law enforcement but was little known outside Florida.

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  Fallout from Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter Biden continues. A Delaware federal judge cited the pardon in ending Hunter Biden’s prosecution on charges related to lying to buy a gun, while a top Trump adviser refused to say if the incoming president would opt to pardon himself of recently dismissed charges over allegedly hiding classified documents and plotting to overturn the 2020 election.

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  Chuck Schumerwill continue to lead Democrats in the Senate after a closed-door election by his colleagues. He will be the minority leader starting next year, when Republicans take control of the chamber.

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  Traveling in Angola, Biden was asked about his decision to pardon his son. He refused to answer, and has not said anything else about the decision since making it public on Sunday evening.

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  Democrats who might seek the presidency in 2028 did not want to share with Politico their views on Hunter Biden’s pardon. Party officials seeking to lead the Democratic National Committee were more talkative.

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Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, Florida sheriff Chad Chronister, has withdrawn from consideration.

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He wrote in a statement:

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To serve as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is the honor of a lifetime. Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I’ve concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration. There is more work to be done for the citizens of Hillsborough County and a lot of initiatives I am committed to fulfilling. I sincerely appreciate the nomination, outpouring of support by the American people, and look forward to continuing my service as Sheriff of Hillsborough County.

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Chronister, 56, had worked in the sheriff’s office that the Tampa area for more than 30 years, but was little known outside of Florida.

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Weeks after Arizona voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, Arizona’s attorney general, Kris Mayes, has agreed that the state will not enforce its 15-week abortion ban while a new lawsuit over the law plays out.

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The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in Maricopa county superior court on behalf of Arizona abortion providers, argues that Arizona’s 15-week ban is now unconstitutional and should be overturned.

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In legal documents signed by Mayes and that will be filed alongside the lawsuit after the court formally accepts the case, Arizona agreed with providersnot to prosecute people under the ban until 30 days after the litigation has wrapped up – a move thatpermits abortion providers in the state to resume performing abortions past 15 weeks of pregnancy.

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“For two years, physicians’ hands have been tied when a patient needs to end a pregnancy after 15 weeks, including when they face serious pregnancy complications. But today we can once again provide care to people who want to end their pregnancy,” Dr Eric Reuss, one of the abortion providers who filed the lawsuit, said in a statement.

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“We hope the courts will quickly recognize the harms of Arizona’s ban and strike it down once and for all.”

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The lawsuit marks the latest effort by advocates to make good on the pro-abortion rights ballot measures passed by seven states in the November elections. While these measures amended states’ constitutions to protect or expand abortion rights, they did not actually rewrite pre-existing state laws.

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Read the full story here:

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Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked a New York state judge to dismiss the criminal case against him, in which he was convicted of 34 felony counts involving hush money.

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Trump’s lawyers have argued that sentencing in the case would cause “unconstitutional impediments” to Trump’s ability to govern.

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The lawyers also cited Joe Biden’s sweeping pardon of his son Hunter Biden in their argument. The filing reads:

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Yesterday, in issuing a 10-year pardon to Hunter Biden that covers any and all crimes whether charged or uncharged, President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently.’

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President Biden argued that ‘raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.’ These comments amounted to an extraordinary condemnation of President Biden’s own DOJ.

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Already, Judge Juan Merchan has indefinitely postponed Trump’s sentencing.

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The Trump transition team said it has entered a memorandum of understanding with the US Department of Justice.

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“This is the next step in the ongoing preparation of senior administration officials for the purpose of serving in President Trump’s administration,” the statement said. “This allows the transition team to submit names for background checks and security clearances.”

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The brief statement didn’t make clear whether the transition has given up on delaying or privatizing background checks for its cabinet nominees.

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Earlier, those familiar with the tram’s plans had indicated that Trump’s appointees would skirt full FBI vetting and delay receiving classified briefings until after Trump was sworn in.

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Pete Hegseth, whom Donald Trump named as his pick to lead the defense department, had multiple affairs while married to his first wife, Vanity Fair reports.

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Such behavior could have violated military rules governing Hegseth, who served in the army national guard, and also strike another blow to his reputation as Republican senators consider whether he should lead the Pentagon. Other media outlets in recent days have reported on an accusation of sexual assault against Hegseth, which he denies, as well as claims that he abuses alcohol, mismanaged finances at two charities he was involved in and created a hostile environment for women.

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Here’s more, from Vanity Fair’s story:

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Hegseth and Schwarz’s young marriage was short-lived. In December 2008, Schwarz filed for divorce after Hegseth admitted that he cheated on her, according to four sources close to the couple. (APM Reports previously revealed that the infidelity was listed as grounds in the couple’s divorce proceedings.) The sources told me that Hegseth’s infidelity left Schwarz emotionally and psychologically scarred. ‘She was gaslighted by him heavily throughout their relationship,’ one of the sources told me. ‘As far as everyone else was concerned, they were viewed by many as this all-American power couple that were making big things for themselves.’ (Schwarz declined to comment. Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, did not respond to a detailed list of questions for this story, and instead provided a statement that impugned my record as a reporter.)

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At the time Schwarz filed for divorce, Hegseth was dating Samantha Deering, whom he met while working in Washington, DC, at Vets for Freedom, a group that lobbied to maintain the military’s “counterinsurgency” strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2010, Hegseth married Deering, with whom he has three kids. In 2017, Deering filed for divorce after Hegseth fathered a child with his Fox News producer Jennifer Rauchet. Hegseth and Rauchet married in 2019 at Trump’s golf course in Colts Neck, New Jersey.

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Speaking to the conservative Newsmax network, top Donald Trump adviser Jason Miller said that the incoming president will take aggressive actions over his first 100 days in office, including cracking down on migrants and spurring more oil and gas drilling.

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“President Trump is … moving really fast here. I mean, even by Thanksgiving, he had his entire cabinet picked,” Miller said. He said several top advisers including incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and “border czar” Tom Homan “are putting together the executive orders and the policies. As President Trump said, we’re going to drill, baby, drill and secure the border – those will be day one priorities.”

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Miller continued:

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This first 100 days is going to be nonstop. There’s so many things that he’s ready to do. Because, again, we’ve never had a second-term president step in that is ready to go. In fact, we’ve never had a first-term president, never had president in history who’s so ready to go on day one, who knows exactly what they want to do. So, if you voted for President Trump, [you] should be pretty enthused that we’re gonna have the country back on track.

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Donald Trump has reportedly offered the job of deputy secretary of defense to a billionaire investor whose firm has taken stakes in companies that do business with the Pentagon. Should Stephen Feinberg accept the nomination, it will be the latest to stir controversy, particularly among Democrats concerned that his nominees lack experience, have conflicts of interest or will pursue dangerous policies. Meanwhile, the fallout from Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter Biden continues. A Delaware federal judge cited the pardon in ending Hunter Biden’s prosecution on charges related to lying to buy a gun, while a top Trump adviser refused to say if the incoming president would opt to pardon himself of recently dismissed charges over allegedly hiding classified documents and plotting to overturn the 2020 election.

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Here’s what else has happened today:

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  Chuck Schumerwill continue to lead Democrats in the Senate after a close-door election by his colleagues. He will be the minority leader starting next year, when Republicans take control of the chamber.

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  Traveling in Angola, Biden was asked about his decision to pardon his son. He refused to answer, and has not said anything else about the decision since making it public on Sunday evening.

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  Democrats who might seek the presidency in 2028 did not want to share with Politico their views on Hunter Biden’s pardon. Party officials seeking to lead the Democratic National Committee were more talkative.

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Donald Trump has offered the post of deputy secretary of defense to Stephen Feinberg, the billionaire co-founder and CEO of investment firm Cerberus Capital Management, which has stakes in companies that do business with the military, the Washington Post reports.

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It is not clear if Feinberg accepted the job, the Post reports, and Trump has not yet publicly announced the nomination.

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Cerberus this year disclosed an investment in M1 Support Services, which provides military aircraft training and maintenance services. In 2018, Cerberus took a majority stake in Navistar Defense, which manufactures military vehicles.

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A judge has ordered an end to Hunter Biden’s prosecution on charges of lying about his drug use when buying a gun, after Joe Biden pardoned him on Sunday.

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Delaware federal judge Maryellen Noreika terminated the case against Hunter Biden in a decision issued today, after a jury found him guilty of three gun-related charges earlier this year. Biden was also pardoned of tax fraud charges leveled against him in California, which he pleaded guilty to. He was awaiting sentencing in both cases before the controversial presidential pardon.

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Here’s more about the gun case:

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Senate Democrats have voted to keep New York’s Chuck Schumer as their leader, putting him in a position to steer the opposition to Donald Trump’s policies in Congress’s upper chamber.

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Schumer has led the Senate since Democrats retook the majority in 2021, but will serve as minority leader beginning next year, after the GOP won back control in the November elections. He will nonetheless remain a powerful figure in the chamber thanks to its filibuster, which blocks the passage of legislation that does not receive at least 60 votes, and will surely be invoked by Democrats to cripple much of Trump’s legislative agenda.

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Nonetheless, Republicans are expected to attempt to pass legislation addressing taxation, spending and other economic matters using the Senate’s reconciliation procedure, in which bills only require majority support to pass.

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Here’s what Schumer had to say after Democrats selected him as their leader today in a closed-door election:

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I am honored and humbled to be chosen by my colleagues to continue leading Senate Democrats during this crucial period for our country. Our caucus has led the way in passing historic legislation that has improved the lives of millions of Americans and we remain laser focused on addressing the most pressing challenges facing our country.

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As I have long said, our preference is to secure bipartisan solutions wherever possible and look for ways to collaborate with our Republican colleagues to help working families. However, our Republican colleagues should make no mistake about it, we will always stand up for our values.

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We have a lot of work ahead – in the Senate and as a country – and in this upcoming Congress, our caucus will continue to fight for what’s best for America’s working class. Senate Democrats are ready to get to work for you, the American people.

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Jason Miller, a top adviser to Donald Trump, was asked on CNN this morning if the president-elect would pardon himself of federal charges he faced, once he takes office.

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Trump was indicted last year for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election, and for possessing and hiding classified documents. The justice department special counsel leading the prosecution, Jack Smith, last week dropped those charges, thought kept open the possibility that they could be reinstated at a future time.

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Once he is inaugurated, Trump has the power to issue himself a pardon that could end his legal trouble for good. CNN asked Miller if Trump would do that, and he responded:

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n

That would never be something that I would weigh in on. That would be something for the legal team to discuss. And again, President Trump did nothing wrong.

n

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Here’s more on the quiet ending the to the two high-profile prosecutions of the former-turned-incoming president:

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Notre Dame Cathedral will reopen in Paris on Saturday with incoming US president Donald Trump set to attend the ceremony marking the resurrection of the Gothic masterpiece five years after a devastating fire.

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The Republican confirmed Monday he had accepted an invitation from French president Emmanuel Macron to attend the grand re-opening of the 850-year-old edifice which was nearly lost to flames in April 2019.

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It will be Trump’s first foreign trip since his re-election last month in a political comeback that has set off alarm bells in much of Europe, including in France where Macron regularly tussled with the New York real estate tycoon during his first term.

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Trump posted on his Truth Social website that Macron had “done a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so. It will be a very special day for all!”

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The presence of Trump is likely to encourage other world political leaders to attend as they seek to build relations and head off possible disputes over trade and defence before his 20 January inauguration.

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Angola wants to expand its collaboration with the United States on security and military initiatives, its president, João Lourenço, said on Tuesday, during a visit by Joe Biden.

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Joe Biden is using the first visit to Angola by a US president to promote Washington’s investments in the country and see a slavery museum where he’ll acknowledge the trafficking of human beings that once linked the two nations’ economies.

n A centerpiece of his trip is showcasing a US commitment of $3bn for the Lobito Corridor, a railway redevelopment linking Zambia, Congo and Angola that is meant to make it far easier to move raw materials in the continent and for export. The project also has drawn financing from the European Union, the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, a western-led private consortium and African banks, reports Associated Press.

n The project aims to advance the US presence in a region rich in critical minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies and to counter China’s heavy investments in mining and processing African minerals.

n The US has for years built relations in Africa through trade, security and humanitarian aid. The 800-mile (1,300-kilometer) railway upgrade is a different move and has shades of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure strategy in Africa and other parts of the world.

n Biden is to fly to the Angolan coastal city of Lobito on Wednesday for a first-hand look at a port terminal that is the Atlantic Ocean outlet for the corridor.

n White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the Biden administration “has absolutely transformed” US-Africa relations and that the corridor’s completion is “going to take years but there’s already been a lot of work put in”.

n That means much of it may fall to Biden’s successor, Republican Donald Trump, who takes office on 20 January. Asked whether the project could proceed without future support from Trump, Kirby said it was “our fervent hope that as the new team comes in and takes a look at this that they see the value too, that they see how it will help drive a more secure, more prosperous, more economically stable continent”.

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The White House said on Monday that president Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden in part to protect him from future persecution from political opponents, but his move drew fierce criticism, with some Democrats saying it undermined public trust in the rule of law.

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Biden, a Democrat whose term ends on 20 January when Republican president-elect Donald Trump takes office, signed an unconditional pardon for Hunter Biden on Sunday and said he believed his son had been selectively prosecuted and targeted unfairly by the president’s political opponents.

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His surprise move was panned by his Republican political opposition, but also by Democrats who said it eroded trust in the judicial system, a concept Biden and his party had used to criticize Trump, Reuters reports.

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Hunter was prosecuted for tax offenses and charges related to possession of a firearm after being targeted for years by Republicans in Congress who accused him of making business deals using his father’s name but failed to establish any clear connections.

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White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday defended the president’s action and said Biden believed Hunter faced further grief from his adversaries, who she did not name. Jean-Pierre was among the White House officials who had repeatedly said in the past Biden would not pardon his son.

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“One of the reasons the president did the pardon is because they didn’t seem like – his political … opponents – would let go of it. It didn’t seem like they would move on,” she told reporters on Air Force One during a trip to Angola. “They would continue to go after his son. That’s what he believed.”

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Jean-Pierre stressed this was not the first time a president had pardoned a family member. Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger before he left office, and Trump his daughter’s father-in-law, Charles Kushner.

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Meanwhile, Donald Trump hinted that the pardon would pave the way for clemency for the January 6 rioters. My colleague Robert Tait writes:

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n

Donald Trump seized on Hunter Biden’s pardon to drop one of his strongest hints yet that he intends to grant clemency to at least some of the instigators and participants of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by a mob trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

n

“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” the US president-elect posted on his Truth Social platform.

n

It was the latest in a series of supportive comments by Trump on behalf of those convicted for their part in the onslaught, which resulted in the deaths of five people at the time. Additionally, four police officers involved in trying to beat back the rioters killed themselves in the days and months after the attack.

n

Now the granting of a pardon by the sitting president, Joe Biden, to his son appears to have been taken by Trump as a fresh justification.

n

The 2021 assault spawned one of the biggest criminal investigations in US history, resulting in federal charges being filed against nearly 1,500 people. About 1,000 have either been found guilty or pleaded guilty.

n

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Today’s recap

Donald Trump’s transition team belated signed a memorandum of understanding with the US Department of Justice, which will allow the FBI to conduct background checks on the president-elect’s nominees. But it remains unclear whether Trump will send all his picks for vetting, given that his team had indicated it would avoid or delay complete background checks, relying instead on internal vetting.

Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers have asked for a dismissal of the hush-money case, in which he was convicted on 34 felony counts, invoking Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter, in their argument

Here’s more:

• Trump has reportedly offered the job of deputy secretary of defense to Stephen Feinberg, a billionaire investor whose firm has taken stakes in companies that do business with the Pentagon.

• Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to lead the defense department, had multiple affairs while married to his first wife, Vanity Fair reported. Such behavior could have violated military rules governing Hegseth, who served in the army national guard, and also strike another blow to his reputation as Republican senators consider whether he should lead the Pentagon.

• Hegseth is also facing sexual misconduct allegations, as well as allegations of financial mismanagement and aggressive drunkeness at previous workplaces. Republican senator Lindsay Graham said these allegations were “disturbing” and would be hard to defend.

• Trump’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, Florida sheriff Chad Chronister, has withdrawn from consideration just two days after being nominated. The sheriff had three decades of experience in law enforcement but was little known outside Florida.

• Fallout from Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter Biden continues. A Delaware federal judge cited the pardon in ending Hunter Biden’s prosecution on charges related to lying to buy a gun, while a top Trump adviser refused to say if the incoming president would opt to pardon himself of recently dismissed charges over allegedly hiding classified documents and plotting to overturn the 2020 election.

• Chuck Schumer will continue to lead Democrats in the Senate after a closed-door election by his colleagues. He will be the minority leader starting next year, when Republicans take control of the chamber.

• Traveling in Angola, Biden was asked about his decision to pardon his son. He refused to answer, and has not said anything else about the decision since making it public on Sunday evening.

• Democrats who might seek the presidency in 2028 did not want to share with Politico their views on Hunter Biden’s pardon. Party officials seeking to lead the Democratic National Committee were more talkative.

Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump, who have previously engaged in bitter public feuds, are now warming to each other as Zuckerberg seeks to influence tech policy in the incoming administration, Emily Swanson reports:

The Meta CEO dined at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida last week, talking technology and demonstrating the company’s camera-equipped sunglasses, Fox News reported.

“Mark Zuckerberg has been very clear about his desire to be a supporter of and a participant in this change that we’re seeing all around America,” Stephen Miller, a top Trump deputy, told Fox.

Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, agreed with Miller. Clegg said in a recent press call that Zuckerberg wanted to play an “active role” in the administration’s tech policy decisions and wanted to participate in “the debate that any administration needs to have about maintaining America’s leadership in the technological sphere”, particularly on artificial intelligence. Meta declined to provide further comment.

The weeks since the election have seen something of a give-and-take developing between Trump and Zuckerberg, who previously banned the president-elect from Instagram and Facebook for using the platforms to incite political violence on 6 January 2021. In a move that appears in deference to Trump – who has long accused Meta of censoring conservative views – the company now says its content moderation has at times been too heavy-handed.

Clegg said hindsight showed that Meta “overdid it a bit” in removing content during the Covid-19 pandemic, which Zuckerberg recently blamed on pressure from the Biden administration.

Read the full story here:

Even more details are emerging about Pete Hegseth’s alcohol use, with NBC building on earlier reports that Trump’s pick to lead the defense department had issues with drinking excessively in professional environments.

NBC reports:

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, drank in ways that concerned his colleagues at Fox News, according to 10 current and former Fox employees who spoke with NBC News.

Two of those people said that on more than a dozen occasions during Hegseth’s time as a co-host of ‘Fox & Friends Weekend,’ which began in 2017, they smelled alcohol on him before he went on air. Those same two people, plus another, said that during his time there he appeared on television after they’d heard him talk about being hungover as he was getting ready or on set.

An earlier report from the New Yorker detailed whistleblower accusations that Hegseth was forced out of leadership roles at two military veterans organizations after allegations of financial mismanagement, aggressive drunkenness and sexist behavior.

Earlier today Republican senator Lindsey Graham told reporters that allegations of Hegseth’s misconduct were “disturbing” and would be hard to defend.

“Some of these articles are very disturbing. He obviously has a chance to defend himself here. But some of this stuff is going to be difficult. Time will tell,” Graham said.

Trump’s pick to lead DEA – Florida sheriff Chad Chronister – withdraws

Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, Florida sheriff Chad Chronister, has withdrawn from consideration.

He wrote in a statement:

To serve as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is the honor of a lifetime. Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I’ve concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration. There is more work to be done for the citizens of Hillsborough County and a lot of initiatives I am committed to fulfilling. I sincerely appreciate the nomination, outpouring of support by the American people, and look forward to continuing my service as Sheriff of Hillsborough County.

Chronister, 56, had worked in the sheriff’s office that the Tampa area for more than 30 years, but was little known outside of Florida.

Arizona says it will not enforce abortion ban until related lawsuit plays out

Carter Sherman

Weeks after Arizona voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, Arizona’s attorney general, Kris Mayes, has agreed that the state will not enforce its 15-week abortion ban while a new lawsuit over the law plays out.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in Maricopa county superior court on behalf of Arizona abortion providers, argues that Arizona’s 15-week ban is now unconstitutional and should be overturned.

In legal documents signed by Mayes and that will be filed alongside the lawsuit after the court formally accepts the case, Arizona agreed with providersnot to prosecute people under the ban until 30 days after the litigation has wrapped up – a move thatpermits abortion providers in the state to resume performing abortions past 15 weeks of pregnancy.

“For two years, physicians’ hands have been tied when a patient needs to end a pregnancy after 15 weeks, including when they face serious pregnancy complications. But today we can once again provide care to people who want to end their pregnancy,” Dr Eric Reuss, one of the abortion providers who filed the lawsuit, said in a statement.

“We hope the courts will quickly recognize the harms of Arizona’s ban and strike it down once and for all.”

The lawsuit marks the latest effort by advocates to make good on the pro-abortion rights ballot measures passed by seven states in the November elections. While these measures amended states’ constitutions to protect or expand abortion rights, they did not actually rewrite pre-existing state laws.

Read the full story here:

Victoria Bekiempis

Trump’s lawyers had noted that the US justice department was poised to abandon Trump’s federal cases and referred to a departmental memo that bars prosecution of sitting presidents.

“As in those cases, dismissal is necessary here,” their filing argued. “Just as a sitting president is completely immune from any criminal process, so too is President Trump as president-elect.”

Special counsel prosecutors who were pursuing the federal cases against Trump indeed filed paperwork on 25 November asking for their dismissal – citing justice department policy that his team has repeatedly invoked.

“It has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the United States constitution forbids the federal indictment and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting president,” wrote Molly Gaston, the top deputy for special counsel Jack Smith.

“That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government stands fully behind.”

Manhattan prosecutors have argued against dismissal in prior court papers and have suggested a solution that would obviate any concerns about interrupting his presidency – including “deferral of all remaining criminal proceedings until after the end of defendant’s upcoming presidential term”.

Victoria Bekiempis

The dismissal pitch came after Judge Juan Merchan’s decision on 22 November to indefinitely postpone the president-elect’s sentencing so lawyers on both sides can argue over its future, given Trump’s victory in the recent presidential election.

While Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly pushed for dismissal to no avail, his impending return to the presidency has presented an opportunity for them to make their case once again.

Merchan said in his postponement decision that Trump’s lawyers had a 2 December deadline to file their argument for dismissal. Prosecutors had a week to submit their response.

Trump’s lawyers have been calling on Merchan to toss the case outright after he defeated Kamala Harris on 5 November. In previous papers seeking permission to file a formal dismissal request, Trump’s attorneys said that dismissal was required “in order to facilitate the orderly transition of executive power”.

Todd Blanche, Trump’s main attorney and selection for deputy US attorney general, as well as Emil Bove, his choice for principal associate deputy attorney general, said that Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office “appears to not yet be ready to dismiss this politically motivated and fatally flawed case, which is what is mandated by the law and will happen as justice takes its course”.

Trump lawyers request dismissal of hush-money case

Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked a New York state judge to dismiss the criminal case against him, in which he was convicted of 34 felony counts involving hush money.

Trump’s lawyers have argued that sentencing in the case would cause “unconstitutional impediments” to Trump’s ability to govern.

The lawyers also cited Joe Biden’s sweeping pardon of his son Hunter Biden in their argument. The filing reads:

Yesterday, in issuing a 10-year pardon to Hunter Biden that covers any and all crimes whether charged or uncharged, President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently.’

President Biden argued that ‘raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.’ These comments amounted to an extraordinary condemnation of President Biden’s own DOJ.

Already, Judge Juan Merchan has indefinitely postponed Trump’s sentencing.

Trump team signs agreement on background checks for nominees

The Trump transition team said it has entered a memorandum of understanding with the US Department of Justice.

“This is the next step in the ongoing preparation of senior administration officials for the purpose of serving in President Trump’s administration,” the statement said. “This allows the transition team to submit names for background checks and security clearances.”

The brief statement didn’t make clear whether the transition has given up on delaying or privatizing background checks for its cabinet nominees.

Earlier, those familiar with the tram’s plans had indicated that Trump’s appointees would skirt full FBI vetting and delay receiving classified briefings until after Trump was sworn in.

Trump defense secretary nominee admitted to multiple affairs during failed first marriage – report

Pete Hegseth, whom Donald Trump named as his pick to lead the defense department, had multiple affairs while married to his first wife, Vanity Fair reports.

Such behavior could have violated military rules governing Hegseth, who served in the army national guard, and also strike another blow to his reputation as Republican senators consider whether he should lead the Pentagon. Other media outlets in recent days have reported on an accusation of sexual assault against Hegseth, which he denies, as well as claims that he abuses alcohol, mismanaged finances at two charities he was involved in and created a hostile environment for women.

Here’s more, from Vanity Fair’s story:

Hegseth and Schwarz’s young marriage was short-lived. In December 2008, Schwarz filed for divorce after Hegseth admitted that he cheated on her, according to four sources close to the couple. (APM Reports previously revealed that the infidelity was listed as grounds in the couple’s divorce proceedings.) The sources told me that Hegseth’s infidelity left Schwarz emotionally and psychologically scarred. ‘She was gaslighted by him heavily throughout their relationship,’ one of the sources told me. ‘As far as everyone else was concerned, they were viewed by many as this all-American power couple that were making big things for themselves.’ (Schwarz declined to comment. Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, did not respond to a detailed list of questions for this story, and instead provided a statement that impugned my record as a reporter.)

At the time Schwarz filed for divorce, Hegseth was dating Samantha Deering, whom he met while working in Washington, DC, at Vets for Freedom, a group that lobbied to maintain the military’s “counterinsurgency” strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2010, Hegseth married Deering, with whom he has three kids. In 2017, Deering filed for divorce after Hegseth fathered a child with his Fox News producer Jennifer Rauchet. Hegseth and Rauchet married in 2019 at Trump’s golf course in Colts Neck, New Jersey.

Speaking of Kamala Harris, the Atlantic published a lengthy interview with four top players in the vice-president’s failed campaign for the White House, in which they discuss what went wrong.

The general conclusion of the piece is that it would have been difficult for any Democrat to win, given how unhappy much of the United States was with Joe Biden’s leadership. But the president’s decision to end his bid for a second term just over three months before election day made it unlikely that Harris would be able to turn the situation around – and indeed, she was not able to.

It also underscores that Democrats have work to do to win back voting blocs that once supported the party but appear to be defecting in increasing numbers to the GOP.

From the piece:

In a race shaped so profoundly by fundamental forces of disaffection with the country’s direction, could anything have changed the outcome? As the Democratic strategist Mike Podhorzer has argued, more voters might have ranked their hesitations about Trump higher if the Republican-appointed majority on the Supreme Court had not blocked any chance that the former president would face a criminal trial before this election on the charges that he tried to subvert the previous one. Plouffe pointed to another what-if potentially big enough to have changed the result: Biden’s withdrawal from the race much earlier rather than only after his disastrous debate performance in June. If Biden had dropped out last winter, Plouffe argued to me, Democrats could have held a full-fledged primary that would have either produced a nominee more distant from his administration or strengthened Harris by requiring her to establish her independence. Looking back at what contributed to Trump’s victory, Plouffe said pointedly, Biden’s choice not to step aside sooner was ‘the cardinal sin.’

Even so, Plouffe acknowledged, ‘I’m not sure, given the headwinds, any Democrat could have won.’ For all the difficulties that the atmosphere created for Harris, the election unquestionably raised warning signs for Democrats that extend beyond dissatisfaction with current conditions. It continued an erosion that is ominous for the party in its support among working-class nonwhite voters, particularly Latino men. And as Flaherty, the deputy campaign manager, told me, the Republican Party’s win powerfully demonstrated that it – or at least Trump himself – has built more effective mechanisms for communicating with infrequent voters, especially young men who don’t consume much conventional political news.