1 week ago

US election briefing: Trump demands Senate streamline his cabinet picks as recruitment begins

President-elect Donald Trump has demanded the incoming Republican leader in the Senate streamline the temporary approval of his cabinet appointees, as his team begins assembling the incoming White House team.

Three Republicans are vying to replace incumbent majority leader Mitch McConnell ahead of a party vote on Wednesday. Senator Rick Scott of Florida has earned endorsements from Trump’s Maga camp, including from Robert F Kennedy Jr, Elon Musk and Marco Rubio – each of whom has been speculated to be among Trump’s top team.

“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments,” Trump posted on social media, referring to a controversial measure that would put his cabinet picks in office while temporarily sidestepping a lengthy Senate confirmation process.

Trump is meeting with potential candidates to serve in his administration and has charged his longtime friend Howard Lutnick with recruiting officials who will deliver, rather than dilute, his agenda.

Here’s what else happened on Sunday:

US presidential election news and updates

Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin on Thursday and advised him not to escalate the war in Ukraine, reminding him of “Washington’s sizeable military presence in Europe”, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. The US president-elect expressed interest in follow-up conversations on “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon”, the Post reported. Trump also spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday evening, agreeing to work together towards peace in Europe.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has had “good and very important conversations” with Trump, speaking three times since Tuesday’s election, according to Reuters. “We see eye to eye on the Iranian threat in all its components, and the danger posed by it,” Netanyahu said. In the US, the anti-war Uncommitted movement plans to continue its activism and has blamed Trump’s win on Democrats’ handling of conflict in the Middle East.
Trump was declared the winner in Arizona, completing the Republicans’ clean sweep of the so-called swing states and rubbing salt in Democrats’ wounds as it was announced that the president-elect is scheduled to meet with Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the presidential handover.
Republicans on Sunday appeared close to clinching control of the US House of Representatives, after Republican Eli Crane won reelection to a US House seat representing Arizona’s second congressional district late on Saturday.
Bitcoin soared to a new record high, passing $80,000 for the first time in its history shortly after 7pm ET, according to Agence France-Presse. The cryptocurrency has kept climbing since Trump’s victory.
Trump’s talk of revoking broadcast licenses and jailing journalists could undermine press freedom, advocates have warned. The president-elect’s campaign was marked by hostile rhetoric towards journalists and calls for punishing television networks and prosecuting journalists and their sources.
Some companies have been moving factories from China to Southeast Asia, anticipating Trump could slap high tariffs on Beijing when he returns to the White House, industrial park developers in the region say.
Bernie Sanders said he opposes any move to urge the senior liberal justice on the US supreme court to step down for a younger liberal replacement before Biden’s term ends. Sonia Sotomayor, 70, is known to suffer from health issues, and some Democrats fear Trump could have the opportunity to nominate a new justice and further shore up the top court’s conservative bent.
Sanders also defended his comments that Democrats abandoned working-class voters, after Nancy Pelosi slammed Sanders for his statement, telling the New York Times, “I don’t respect him [for] saying that that”. The party is grappling with the implications of its electoral defeat and faces a likely brutal civil war over the best way forward.