Pam Bondi confirmation hearing and South Korean president detained: Morning Rundown

Donald Trump’s picks for high-profile Cabinet positions will be questioned in Senate hearings. Crews search for the origin of the Palisades Fire. And declassified documents reveal Queen Elizabeth II was kept in the dark about a Soviet spy at the palace.

Here’s what to know today.

Trump DOJ pick Pam Bondi goes before the Senate

Senators will move into the second day of confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s administration picks. Today, lawmakers will speak to Pam Bondi, Trump’s choice to lead the Justice Department.

Bondi is a longtime Trump ally and was Florida’s first female attorney general. She prioritized issues like curbing drug abuse, advocating against human trafficking and pushing back on Obamacare. Trump chose Bondi after his first pick, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew from consideration after his nomination triggered chaos and scrutiny from critics.

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Democrats are expected to ask about her time at a prominent lobbying firm, her comments about the 2020 election and whether she can remain independent as a prospective leader of the Justice Department.

Read more about Bondi, and follow our live blog for hearing updates throughout the day. Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, will also appear in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Yesterday, the Senate Republicans gave Trump defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth a warm reception. Throughout his hearing yesterday, Hegseth repeatedly praised the president-elect and criticized the Biden administration, railing against “left-wing woke universities” and “left-wing media in America.”

Democrats took aim at Hegseth’s past remarks that women shouldn’t serve in combat roles. And Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine raised Hegseth’s personal indiscretions — that he cheated on his second wife — to question his character. Republicans, who jumped to Hegseth’s defense, signaled their support for him after the hearing. GOP Sen. Joni Ernst, who was seen as a linchpin of Hegseth’s path to 50 votes, announced her support for his nomination after the hearing wrapped.

Read more takeaways from Hegseth’s confirmation hearing.

More politics news:

• President Joe Biden is expected to focus on key achievements of his administration in a farewell speech tonight from the Oval Office.

• The Supreme Court will consider today whether to strike down a Texas law aimed at preventing young people from accessing pornographic content online.

• Iran “never” plotted to assassinate Trump during last year’s election campaign and never will in the future, President Masoud Pezeshkian told NBC News’ Lester Holt in an exclusive interview.

The search for the Palisades Fire’s origin

While crews continue to battle the deadly and destructive Palisades Fire, another team is looking for answers to how the massive fire began more than a week ago. The answers, when they emerge, will most likely be found on a scorched ridgeline in western Los Angeles near a popular hiking trail — an area that was also the scene of a small fire six days earlier.

The answers won’t come immediately. In fact, Jose Medina, acting special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ L.A. office said at a news conference yesterday, “we have no timeline on when this will occur.” Multiple law enforcement sources said an early focus on the probe has been on potential human causes, including arson, an accidental spark, fireworks, unauthorized camping activity or the rekindling of an earlier fire extinguished on New Year’s Day.

Read more about how investigators narrow down their search and methods they use to pinpoint a fire’s origin.

As of Tuesday night, the Palisades Fire was 23,713 acres and 18% contained, and the Eaton Fire was 14,117 acres and 35% contained. The death toll in the fires has risen to 25, officials said. Red flag warnings are still in effect until this evening. Starting tomorrow and into the weekend, wind conditions are expected to be more normal, the National Weather Service said.

Follow our live blog for updates.

More coverage of the L.A. wildfires:

• Amid the rubble and debris where an Altadena home once stood, firefighters found one woman’s prized possession: her wedding band.

• One of L.A.’s only lesbian bars is closing due to the wildfires.

South Korean president detained

South Korean authorities detained President Yoon Suk Yeol over his botched declaration of martial law, weeks after a first attempt ended in a dramatic standoff. The arrest warrant was executed Wednesday morning local time hours after hundreds of police officers arrived at his presidential compound in central Seoul. Yoon, who was impeached last month, is the country’s first president to be arrested in office.

Yoon can be held for up to 48 hours, after which investigators would need to apply for another warrant to formally indict and continue to hold him. He faces possible charges of insurrection. A lawmaker who was with Yoon as he was taken into custody said the president planned to exercise his right to remain silent.

Yoon’s lawyers and lawmakers from his People Power Party argued that the warrant was illegal. The main opposition Democratic Party hailed Yoon’s arrest as “the first step toward restoring constitutional order. Read the full story here.

Federal report warns against even one drink a day

Just one alcoholic drink a day is linked to a wide range of negative health effects, according to a new report from a group within the Department of Health and Human Services. The findings come as the government considers updates to the federal dietary guidelines this year, which could include new recommendations on alcohol consumption. In this report, researchers found that a daily drink for both men and women is tied to an increased risk of liver cirrhosis, several cancers and injuries, but does come with a lower risk of ischemic stroke.

Another federal report released last month found that moderate drinking was linked with a lower risk of death from any cause and a lower risk of death from heart disease but also a higher risk of breast cancer. Earlier this month, surgeon general Vivek Murthy said alcoholic drinks should come with a cancer risk warning label. Read the full story here.

Read All About It

• A SpaceX rocket that will launch two separate missions to the lunar surface took off early this morning from the Kennedy Space Center. Here’s what the missions set out to accomplish.

• The SEC sued Elon Musk, alleging the billionaire committed securities fraud by failing to disclose his ownership in Twitter before purchasing it.

• Cuba freed 553 political prisoners after the Biden administration announced that it was removing the country from the state sponsors of terrorism list.

• The FTC accused the three largest drug middlemen of inflating the costs of medications and reaping $7.3 billion over the past few years.

Staff Pick: Declassified docs reveal a Soviet spy in the royal palace

The premiere of season 3 of The Crown was one of my favorite episodes in the series — not only did it introduce the brilliant Olivia Coleman as Queen Elizabeth, but it dove into the shadowy world of Cold War-era spycraft with the revelation of one of the queen’s associates, Buckingham Palace’s art historian Anthony Blunt, as a KGB agent. Now newly-released spy documents tell us more about the affair, including (in a departure from the show) that Queen Elizabeth was not officially informed about the palace treachery for over a decade. — Annie Hill, platforms editor

NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

New and innovative tech was announced at CES 2025 including a Lenovo handheld gaming console, an LG portable TV, a robot vacuum that can move objects and much more. Here are the 25 products you should know about. Plus, experts weigh in on whether to get rid of your black plastic cooking utensils.

Sign up to The Selection newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week.

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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com