Trump Lawyer Sought Contracts from Candidates, Cabinet Seeker While Advising President-Elect

One of Donald Trump’s closest advisers Boris Epshteyn solicited political candidates, a defense contractor and at least one potential Cabinet nominee for lucrative consulting contracts at the same time he was being paid by the Trump campaign and advising the President-elect on legal matters, nominations and political communications, according to interviews and documents reviewed by Just the News. One of those who was pitched by Epshteyn for both a consulting contract and an investment opportunity was Scott Bessent, the hedge fund manager named Friday night by Trump as his nominee for Treasury Secretary. Bessent rejected the overtures and eventually, when asked, reported concerns about them to the Trump transition team, including Vice President-elect J.D. Vance.

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GOP Lawmakers Call for Accountability on Federal Funding for Abortion Giants

A coalition of Republican lawmakers wants to investigate how much federal funding goes to abortion providers including Planned Parenthood.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, House Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Chris Smith, Rep. Robert Aderholt, and Rep. Claudia Tenney led a bicameral letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office requesting a report on federal funding for abortion providers between fiscal year 2022 and 2024.

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Trump Announces Flurry of Nominations, Including Housing Secretary, OMB, and CDC

President-elect Donald Trump announced a series of crucial nominations on Friday night, including tapping NFL veteran Scott Turner as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Russ Vought to return as the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

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Trump to Nominate Former Georgia GOP Sen. Loeffler for Agriculture Secretary: Reports

Kelly Loeffler and Donald Trump

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate former Georgia GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler to lead the Agriculture Department, according to news reports Friday.. 

Trump is expected to meet with Loeffler at his Florida home in Florida Mar-a-Lago on Friday afternoon, according to a CNN report.

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President-Elect Trump Unveils ‘Quantum Leap’ Plan to ‘Revolutionize’ American Living

President-elect Donald Trump said his incoming administration will work to “revolutionize” America’s standard of living by “building new cities, investing in transportation, lowering the cost of living for everyone, and modernizing public spaces across the country.”

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‘Serious Blow to Trust in Our Government’: Lawmakers Torch Wray, Mayorkas for Skipping Out on Hearing

Alejandro Mayorkas, Christopher Wray

Senate Republican and Democratic lawmakers joined together in a display of bipartisan condemnation of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray after the two declined to testify on Thursday before the Senate on global threats facing the U.S. homeland.

Mayorkas and Wray requested to move the annually-scheduled Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC) hearing to a classified setting, which would have broken with 15 years of precedence according to Democratic Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, Chairman of the HSGAC.

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Trump Will Nominate Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as U.S. Attorney General

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as the next Attorney General of the United States. The decision, hailed as a significant move toward restoring integrity to the Department of Justice, was made in the wake of former Representative and fellow Floridian Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal from consideration.

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Food Lobbyists Plot to Have It Their Way with RFK Jr.

RFK Trump

America’s most famous fast-food fan may be an unlikely candidate to make America healthy again, but Donald Trump seems willing to tackle the eating habits that have led to skyrocketing rates of obesity. The junk food industry is not lovin’ it.

RealClearInvestigations has learned that representatives of companies that make snack foods, sugary beverages, and cooking oils are already meeting to discuss how to thwart the reform agenda of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the former consumer rights attorney Trump has said he will nominate to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Their response provides an early example of what experts predict will be a massive effort by D.C. lobbyists to position their clients in response to Trump’s pledge to change how Washington does business.

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Healthshare Org Urges Incoming Trump Admin to Make ‘Radical’ Change to FDA, Healthcare System

Solidarity HeasthShare

Solidarity HealthShare is calling on the incoming Trump Administration to fix the “nation’s broken healthcare system” with widespread changes to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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Commentary: Republican Senators Were Deferential to Biden’s 2020 Cabinet; Now They’re Blocking Trump’s Picks in 2024

President Joe Biden

During President Joe Biden’s honeymoon in early 2021, Senate Republicans routinely deferred to the President’s selection for Cabinet secretaries, no matter how radical they were, how much they disagreed with the President’s policies and no matter how awful the selections turned out to be for national security and the individual liberties of the American people.

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Commentary: The Trump-American Culture vs. the Elite Culture

Donald Trump arrives at UFC309 fight November, 2024

The most unexplored and ignored aspect of the nine-year odyssey of President Donald J. Trump is that, despite his wealth, Trump’s lifestyle and habits appeal to a far larger share of Americans than the elite passions for fine foods and highbrow books, movies, and television.

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Josh Shapiro Gaslights America About Bucks County Ballot Counting Scandal, Cites Lack of ‘Legal Clarity’

Gov. Josh Shapiro

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Democrat officials trying to count deficient ballots in the state did so because of a lack of “legal clarity,” despite the state supreme court’s pre-election orders to not count undated or misdated ballots.

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Trump Taps Dr. Oz to Lead Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Dr. Mehmet Oz

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced his appointment of Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

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Manhattan D.A. Bragg’s Team Opposes Hush Money Case Dismissal, Is Open to Delaying Sentencing

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s team on Tuesday confirmed it would oppose President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to dismiss the charges against him in his hush money case, but indicated that his sentencing might face delay until after his presidency.

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Obama-Biden-Clinton Nuclear Giveaway to Russia a Decade Ago Comes Back to Bite America

The U.S. nuclear energy sector’s dependence on Russian uranium created during a failed Obama-era reset with Moscow is coming back to bite Americans as the Kremlin moves to block future exports of the vital fuel.

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Trump’s Pick for Energy Secretary Argues That Fossil Fuels Are Integral to Human Development

If approved by the Senate, Trump’s pick for Energy Secretary, Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright, will be the first time the Department of Energy has had an executive in the energy industry lead it. In a statement on X, Wright said he’s “honored and grateful” for the opportunity.

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House Ethics Committee Will Meet Wednesday to Discuss Results of Matt Gaetz Probe: Report

Matt Gaetz

Members of the House Ethics Committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss its investigation into allegations that former Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor, a source told NBC News on Monday.

The committee was expected to discuss the report last Friday, but postponed the discussion after Gaetz resigned from Congress last week after being nominated for attorney general. President-elect Donald Trump nominated Gaetz for the position last Wednesday. 

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Commentary: Matt Gaetz Is the Right Choice for Attorney General

Matt Gaetz

You could almost hear the audible gasp by establishment Washington, D.C. when they learned that former Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz was going to be appointed attorney general by President Donald Trump. Truthfully my first reaction was not positive either.

But sometimes first reactions are wrong.

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Pentagon Still Can’t Pass Audit Despite Years of Trying

Pentagon Money

The U.S. Department of Defense’s annual audit once again resulted in a disclaimer. 

That means the federal government’s largest agency – with a budget of more than $840 billion – can’t fully explain its spending. The disclaimer this year was expected. And it’s expected again next year. The Pentagon previously said it will be able to accurately account for its spending by 2027.

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Bucks County, Pennsylvania Votes to Count Illegal Ballots Because ‘People Violate Laws Any Time They Want’

The two Democratic members of the Bucks County Commission voted to count ballots the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined are illegal in a previous ruling, with the county specifically giving election workers orders to count mail-in votes returned with an incomplete, incorrect, or missing date.

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As Matt Gaetz Faces Opposition, Trump’s Other DOJ Picks Could Anchor His Confirmation

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., faces considerable opposition for the post of attorney general, but some of President-elect Donald Trump’s other picks for top Department of Justice officials could serve to assuage concerned senators. A conservative firebrand, Gaetz’s appointment has ruffled feathers among the Senate GOP and sent Democrats into a frenzy.

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Commentary: Barack Obama Is Perhaps Not the Political Genius He Tells Us He Is

President Barack Obama

Every few months, a sanitized report appears on the post-presidency activities of Barack Obama’s public advocacy. It’s a narrative that conveniently ignores the inherent problems in having a person with no constitutional role or congressional oversight take an active role in executive decision-making.

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Floridians Hulk Hogan, Lara Trump, Pitbull Floated to Replace Secretary of State Nominee Rubio in the U.S. Senate

Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, and rapper Pitbull have been floated as possible replacements for outgoing Senator Marco Rubio who President-elect Trump nominated for secretary of State.

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Michigan House Bills for National Popular Vote are Pulled After Election Integrity Warning

Election integrity advocates in Michigan warned about bills in the state House that, if passed, would make the state part of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and assign its electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the national popular vote (NPV). The bills will no longer be considered this week, but could be brought up later.

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Republicans Maintain House Control to Secure GOP Trifecta

Congress

Republicans are projected to maintain their majority in the House of Representatives, securing unified control of the federal government for the first two years of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.

House Republicans, under Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s leadership, will win at least 218 seats necessary for control of the chamber, Decision Desk HQ first projected Monday evening. CBS News projected GOP control of the House Wednesday, with Republicans netting at least 218 seats and Democrats holding 211. Six races have yet to be called, according to CBS News.

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In Return to Washington, Trump Shakes Hands with Biden at White House, Talks with GOP House Members

President-elect Donald Trump traveled to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to visit the White House to meet with President Biden for the traditional transition-of-power meeting and to Capitol Hill to meet with fellow Republicans who during last week’s elections retained control of the House.

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Climate Scientists Say Lines Between Science and Advocacy Are Being Blurred and Bias Normalized

Three climate researchers took to the pages of Nature to argue that objectivity in climate science is problematic, as it gets in the way of their political advocacy, which they argue is too important to deny. Therefore, the values of objectivity in scientific research, the authors argue, should be reconsidered.

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President-Elect Trump Brings Deportation Chiefs into White House, Away from Entrenched Agencies

President-elect Donald Trump’s nods for immigration and border-related posts appear to suggest he plans to keep the major-decision making on those issues within the White House rather than in offices of executive branch agencies filled with career government employees. Trump has vowed to pursue the mass deportation of illegal aliens from the country, beginning on his first day. He has cited President Dwight Eisenhower’s “Operation Wetback” as precedent for such an undertaking.

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Commentary: Uniparty Establishment War on MAHA Heats Up

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

by Brian Robertson   “Trump really could empower RFK Jr. to wreck public health” proclaims the headline in Vox. “RFK Jr. Wants to Reshape US Health Policy. Good Luck With That” mocks a banner in Wired. Likewise, the Wall Street Journal joined the frenzy, noting that “industry, doctors, and their supporters in Congress probably will…

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Commentary: Trump Expanded His Base Because He Kept it Real

Trump rally crowd

There are a lot of post-mortems on the election at the moment. Many who predicted a Kamala Harris victory are now trying to explain how Donald Trump was elected. Their ability to analyze the data ex ante was clearly flawed, but humility and objectivity have not been journalistic virtues for a long time.

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Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton: Democrats ‘Will Continue To Lose’ if They Keep Canceling People over Opposing Men in Women’s Sports

Rep. Seth Moulton

Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton said Tuesday that his party will continue to lose elections if they attempt to cancel people for publicly stating that biological men should not compete in women’s sports.

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Ex-FEMA Supervisor Says Not Helping Trump Supporters with Disaster Relief Is Not ‘Isolated’ Event

Marn’i Washington, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) supervisor fired for not helping supporters of President-elect Donald Trump, said Tuesday that this occurrence was not an “isolated” incident.

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Trump Builds No-Nonsense Team as Pollster Predicts He Could Rival Reagan’s Legacy in Second Term

Donald Trump

by John Solomon   Donald Trump sent an unmistakable message with his first few personnel choices for his second term, dispatching to the halls of power players like Elise Stefanik, Tom Homan, Lee Zeldin and Stephen Miller who take a no-nonsense approach to their jobs and will focus on everyday…

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