House speaker leaves door open to Trump recess appointments – US politics live

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

Michael Sainato

Donald Trump’s return to office sets the stage for harassment, intimidation and “old fashioned corruption” to spread throughout the US federal government, a top union leader has warned.

The president-elect and his allies have expressed support for the mass firing of civil service workers and abolishing certain government agencies upon his return to the White House.

Officials at the heart of Trump’s first administration have spoken of purging thousands of federal workers by using controversial powers to reshape the bureaucracy. Now, inside dozens of government agencies, staff are bracing for Trump’s second administration.

“It’s pretty bleak,” said Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents 110,000 employees at various agencies around the US. “It’s pretty grim.”

Read the full report here.

US House speaker leaves door open to recess appointments

Trump continues to announce officials who he wants to occupy high-ranking roles in his administration. The announcement of some of the proposed appointees last week sent shockwaves through Washington, namely: Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth and Robert F Kennedy Jr, for attorney general, defence secretary and health secretary respectively.

Washington’s highest-ranking Republican, House speaker Mike Johnson, has said “there may be a function” to facilitate the use of so-called recess appointments to speed up the confirmation of Trump’s cabinet nominees (the constitution says the president can make recess appointments to fill vacant positions when the Senate is not in session).

When asked if he would allow the president-elect to use the recess appointment process – instead of the traditional, longer Senate confirmation process – Johnson told Fox News Sunday:

We are in a time of very divided government and a very partisan atmosphere in Washington. I wish it were not. I wish the Senate would simply do its job of advise and consent and allow the president to put the persons in his Cabinet of his choosing.

But if this thing bogs down, it would be a great detriment to the country, to the American people.

“We’ll evaluate all that at the appropriate time, and we’ll make the appropriate decision. There may be a function for that. We’ll have to see how it plays out,” Johnson said.

“I’m sympathetic to all these arguments. As I said, we’ll have to see how this develops. I am very hopeful, very hopeful, that the Senate will do its job, and that is, provide its advice and consent and move these nominees along,” he added.

As my colleague Joan E Greve notes in this explainer, If Trump pursues a strategy of recess appointments, it could severely curtail the Senate’s power to serve as a check on the new president’s nominations and allow controversial picks such as Gaetz to move forward. To allow the recess appointment process, the House and Senate – which Republicans control both of – would have to both vote to adjourn for at least 10 days.

Edward Helmore

Discussion on Donald Trump’s selection of Matt Gaetz, the former Florida congressman who had been accused of sexual misconduct, for US attorney general continued on Sunday, with Republican senator Markwayne Mullin calling for an unreleased ethics report to be released to the Senate.

Mullin told NBC’s Meet the Press that the Senate, which will oversee Gaetz’s confirmation hearings to become attorney general, “should have access to that” but declined to say if it should be released publicly.

Gaetz resigned from his seat in Congress on Wednesday soon after the president-elect made his controversial pick, frustrating plans by a congressional ethics panel to release a review of claims against Gaetz, including sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. Gaetz denies any wrongdoing.

Matt Gaetz is a congressman from Florida known for inflaming tensions within the House Republican conference. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

Republican House speaker Mike Johnson repeated his position on Sunday that the survey should remain out of the public realm. Gaetz had faced a three-year justice department investigation into the same allegations that concluded without criminal charges being brought.

Johnson said the principle was that the ethics committee’s jurisdiction did not extend to non-members of the House. “There have been, I understand, I think, two exceptions to the rule over the whole history of Congress and the history of the ethics committee,” Johnson told CNN, adding that while he did not have the authority to stop it “we don’t want to go down that road.”

Trump’s selection of Gaetz, while successfully provoking Democrats’ outrage, is also seen as a test for Republicans to bend Trump’s force of will.

You can read the full story here:

Are Republicans likely to push back if Trump bypasses the Senate to install cabinet picks?

Under the US constitution, the Senate and the president share the power of appointing top administration officials. Typically, senators question nominees for secretary of defence and other top posts at public hearings before voting on their fitness for office.

But Donald Trump wants the Senate to give up that gatekeeping role and allow him to make “recess appointments,” even though his Republicans will control the chamber next year with at least 52 seats.

He has called for the chamber to adjourn after he takes office in January, which would allow his personnel to take their positions without having to undergo Senate scrutiny.

Reuters has this analysis on whether Republicans will oppose Trump’s plans:

Republicans will control the House and the Senate by narrow margins next year, giving them little room for error if they want to go along with Trump’s proposal.

In the Senate, Trump allies like Florida Senator Rick Scott quickly signaled support while other Republicans have said they are reluctant to surrender such a significant power.

Incoming Senate Republican Leader John Thune has not ruled it out. “All options are on the table, including recess appointments,” he said on Fox News on 14 November.

Republicans could warm to the idea if Democrats manage to block or slow down some of Trump’s nominees next year. A recess appointment could allow them to avoid having to hold up-or-down votes on a divisive nominee like Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a former Democrat who has spread misinformation on vaccines and supports abortion rights.

In the House, Johnson, a close Trump ally, has not yet publicly said what he thinks of the idea. If he were to pursue it, he would have to keep nearly all of his fellow Republicans on board as he will likely start next year with a majority of fewer than three votes in the 435-seat chamber.

Senator John Thune (R) speaks to reporters at the US Capitol in Washington. Photograph: Ting Shen/AFP/Getty Images

Linda McMahon expected to be announced as secretary of commerce - report

Several roles in Donald Trump’s new team, including the heads of the treasury, commerce and Labor departments are yet to be announced (you can view a full list of those who have been/could be offered key positions when Trump takes office in January here).

Reuters is reporting that Linda McMahon, a former Small Business Administration (SBA) director, is seen as the frontrunner to lead the commerce department, a federal government agency that promotes economic growth and job creation.

McMahon, 76, is a major donor and was an early supporter of the Republican president-elect when he first ran for the White House in 2015. This time, Trump tapped her to co-lead a transition team formed to help vet personnel and draft policy ahead of the 5 November election, which he decisively won.

McMahon is the co-founder and former CEO of the professional wrestling franchise WWE. She later served as director of the SBA, resigning in 2019, and went on to lead a pro-Trump political action committee that supported his 2020 reelection bid.

President-elect Donald Trump listens with Linda McMahon during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate on 14 November 2024. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

Iowa pollster J Ann Selzer has announced she is moving on “to other ventures and opportunities” after more than two decades predicting results in the politically important Midwestern state.

Her last poll – three days before the national vote on election day – projected a 47% to 44% lead for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump on the back of older women breaking for Democrats over the issue of reproductive rights.

Nearly every other poll in Iowa showed Trump leading the state, which the former president won in 2020 by eight points. When the votes were counted, Selzer was off by 16 points as the former Republican president won the state decisively.

Selzer announced the decision to retire from election polling in a guest column published on Sunday in the Des Moines Register. She wrote:

Over a year ago I advised the Register I would not renew when my 2024 contract expired with the latest election poll as I transition to other ventures and opportunities.

Would I have liked to make this announcement after a final poll aligned with Election Day results? Of course. It’s ironic that it’s just the opposite.

I am proud of the work I’ve done for the Register, for the Detroit Free Press, for the Indianapolis Star, for Bloomberg News and for other public and private organizations interested in elections. They were great clients and were happy with my work.

There were shocking polls for each, to be sure. In the end, my findings looked good.

J Ann Selzer was among the most trusted pollsters in Iowa. Photograph: jaselzer/X

Elon Musk has publicly weighed in on Donald Trump’s choice for US treasury secretary, one of the remaining key incoming cabinet nominations the president-elect will make in the coming days.

Musk urged followers on X to support a candidate that would not be “business as usual” and “will actually enact change” as he threw his support behind Trump’s transition co-chair Howard Lutnick to lead the treasury department.

Lutnick, former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a firm that lost 658 employees in the 9/11 attacks, is believed to be up against Scott Bessent, the founder of capital management firm Key Square who has said he wants the US to remain the world’s reserve currency and use tariffs as a negotiating tactic.

“My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change,” Musk posted on Saturday. “Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another.”

You can read the full story by my colleague Edward Helmore here:

Trump picks Project 2025 co-author to lead FCC as speculation over treasury secretary appointment mounts

Good morning, and welcome to our US politics blog.

US President-elect Donald Trump has announced that he has selected Brendan Carr to be chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the independent agency that regulates telecommunications.

Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC’s general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and Joe Biden to the commission.

The FCC is overseen by Congress, but Trump has suggested he wanted to bring it under tighter White House control, in part to use the agency to punish TV networks that cover him in a way he views unfavourably.

“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for free speech, and has fought against the regulatory lawfare that has stifled Americans’ freedoms, and held back our economy,” Trump said.

Last week, Carr, a big tech critic, wrote to Meta’s Facebook, Alphabet’s Google, Apple and Microsoft saying they had taken steps to censor Americans. Carr said on Sunday the FCC must “restore free speech rights for everyday Americans”.

Brendan Carr is a member of the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates broadcast and internet use. Photograph: Reuters

Carr has of late embraced Trump’s ideas about social media and tech. Carr wrote a section devoted to the FCC in “ Project 2025,” the right-wing plan for Trump’s presidency which would crack down on immigration, dismantle LGBTQ+ and abortion rights and diminish environmental protections.

In a chapter of Project 2025, Carr argued that the FCC’s main goals should be “reining in Big Tech, promoting national security, unleashing economic prosperity, and ensuring FCC accountability and good governance.”

In his chapter, Carr also suggested that social media platform TikTok should be banned if it does not disentangle from its China-based parent company.

You can read more on Carr’s appointment here.

Trump has not revealed his pick for treasury secretary yet. Two potential candidates – former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh and billionaire Marc Rowan -will reportedly be interviewed at his Mar-a-Lago residence later today.

Republican US Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, 65, who Trump recently met at Mar-a-Lago, is also in the running for the role, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, and investor Scott Bessent are also considered as top candidates for the job.