Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, speaks with reporters in the basement of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.  (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to incoming Republican Leader John Thune on Monday urging him to move nominees through the traditional confirmation process, including committee hearings and floor votes.

The letter is likely a response to President-elect Donald Trump urging Senate Republicans to recess the chamber for at least 10 days next year so he can make recess appointments, getting around the Senate’s role confirming nominees. Republicans will be in the majority when the new Congress convenes in January, taking over from Democrats.

“As we transition to the 119th Congress, Senate Democrats stand ready and willing to work with Senate Republicans to provide advice and consent as we evaluate all of the incoming president’s nominations,” Schumer wrote in the one-page letter. “In particular, we commit to working in a bipartisan fashion to process each nominee by reviewing standard FBI background-investigation materials, scheduling hearings and markups in the committees of jurisdiction, and considering nominees on the Senate floor.”

Thune, who GOP senators elected to replace Mitch McConnell next year as their leader, hasn’t committed to recessing the chamber for the time needed to allow Trump to appoint nominees single-handedly, but has repeatedly encouraged Democrats not to slow down the process.

“What we’re going to do is make sure that we are processing his nominees in a way that gets them into those positions, so they can implement his agenda. How that happens remains to be seen,” the South Dakota Republican said in mid-November.

“Obviously, we want to make sure our committees have confirmation hearings, like they typically do, and that these nominees are reported out to the floor,” Thune added. “But I’ve said this and I mean it — that we expect a level of cooperation from the Democrats to work with us to get these folks installed. And obviously, we’re going to explore all options to make sure they get moved and they get moved quickly.”

Narrow path for nominees

Trump’s nominations have received mixed reaction from GOP senators with some, like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio who will likely become secretary of State, receiving widespread praise, while others have received lukewarm receptions.

For example, Trump’s first nominee for attorney general, former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew eight days after Trump said he wanted him to lead the Justice Department amid widespread concerns from Republican senators about allegations of illegal drug use and paying for sex.    

Republicans will have a 53-seat majority in the Senate once the next session of Congress begins on Jan. 3, meaning any nominee can lose the support of three Republican senators and still secure confirmation on a party-line vote with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance breaking the tie. 

Democrats may vote for some of Trump’s nominees if they believe they’re qualified, but are unlikely to support the more controversial picks, like TV personality and former U.S. Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz, who Trump says he will tap to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 

With such narrow margins, centrist Republicans like Maine’s Susan Collins, Kentucky’s McConnell and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, could have influence over Trump’s Cabinet, unless the chamber allows recess appointments.

Checks and balances

Schumer wrote in his letter the Senate’s role confirming nominees should be respected regardless of who holds the Oval Office or which political party controls the chamber.

“In our system of checks and balances, the Senate plays a vital role in ensuring the President appoints well-qualified public officials that will dutifully serve the American people and honor their oaths to the Constitution,” Schumer wrote. “Regardless of party, the Senate has upheld this sacred duty for generations and we should not and must not waver in our Constitutional duty. We look forward to joining you in these efforts as soon as possible once the Senate and its committees are organized in January.”

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota) speaks to the Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce on Nov. 26, 2024, in Brandon. (Makenzie Huber | South Dakota Searchlight)

BRANDON — Incoming U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) signaled Tuesday he’s willing to push back against potential attempts by President-elect Donald Trump to expand presidential power over federal spending.

“Every president is going to come in and try to do as much as they can by executive action as possible,” Thune said. “Congress, in some cases, is going to be the entity that sometimes will have to put the brakes on.”

Thune spoke Tuesday to the Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce and also took questions from reporters. He said Republicans in Congress will work with Trump to achieve shared policy goals.

“The things we want to achieve at present are by and large the same,” Thune said. “How we get there is another matter, and we’ll have to work through that.”

Trump’s pick for his budget director, Russ Vought, served in the same role during the first Trump administration. Vought has since outlined an aggressive vision for presidential power in Project 2025, a 922-page document from the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation.

“The President should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government.” Vought wrote. “Anything short of that would constitute abject failure.”

Trump has meanwhile tried to assert greater control over the Cabinet selection process, calling for the Senate to recess the chamber early next year so he can appoint whoever he wants without having to go through the confirmation process.

Thune said Tuesday he plans to immediately begin committee hearings on Cabinet nominees when Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025.

That’ll give the Senate a head start vetting Trump’s nominees before his inauguration on Jan. 20. After Trump is sworn in, Thune expects some nominations to quickly hit the floor of the Senate.

“The committees can’t report them out until the president is officially sworn in and they’re officially nominated,” Thune told the audience Tuesday in Brandon. “But they could do hearings.”

Thune told South Dakota reporters after the event that even though some questions have been raised about nominees, they “deserve a fair process” where senators question them on their background, qualifications and whether they “ought to be in these really important positions.”

Thune said he has not taken recess appointments off the table if Democrats try to obstruct or delay the confirmation of nominees when they reach the Senate floor, “particularly if they’re well regarded and they have bipartisan support.”

Top priorities for Republican senators heading into the new session of Congress, Thune said, include extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and securing the nation’s southern border.

Thune said he plans to begin drafting a budget reconciliation resolution to push an extension of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, key provisions of which expire at the end of 2025. The reconciliation process allows tax and spending bills to pass the Senate with 51 votes, instead of the 60 needed for most Senate legislation. Republicans will control 53 seats in the new Senate and will also control the House.

Failing to extend the tax cuts would lead to a $4 trillion tax increase, Thune said.

States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau contributed to this report.

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: info@southdakotasearchlight.com. Follow South Dakota Searchlight on Facebook and X.

Russell Vought, then-acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, takes a question during a news briefing at the White House on March 11, 2019. President-elect Donald Trump said Friday he would nominate Vought to lead the office in his second administration. . (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday invited Russell Vought to once again run the White House budget office, though it wasn’t entirely clear how the role will mesh with the government staffing and funding cuts envisioned by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

“Russ knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State and end Weaponized Government, and he will help us return Self Governance to the People,” Trump wrote in his announcement. “We will restore fiscal sanity to our Nation, and unleash the American People to new levels of Prosperity and Ingenuity.”

Vought is one of the authors of the wide-ranging conservative policy blueprint Project 2025. During the presidential campaign, Trump sought to distance himself from the document, even as Vought and other veterans of his first administration worked on it.

Vought, who worked as director of the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term, will be responsible for preparing the president’s annual budget request as well as any emergency spending proposals.

OMB is tasked with helping the president implement policy and oversees various aspects of the executive branch.

The office has influence over virtually all areas of policy and the director is typically the president’s top negotiator on Capitol Hill when it comes to the annual budget and appropriations process.

The president historically submits their budget request to Congress every February, but lawmakers are not bound to implement any aspect of it and often deviate, even during unified control of Washington.

The White House has limited authority to spend federal taxpayer dollars since the Constitution grants Congress the power of the purse.

Trump sought to get around Congress’ spending authority during his first administration, but was largely unsuccessful following legal challenges.

For example, withholding $250 million in aid to Ukraine led to Trump’s first impeachment and an opinion from the Government Accountability Office that the decision was a violation of federal law.

“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” GAO wrote. “OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA.”

Separation of powers questions

Trump stirred up questions and some concerns about the separation of powers after he said that Musk and Ramaswamy would lead an effort to cut government spending and federal employees.

Trump said he was putting the two in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, though Congress hasn’t established that as a federal department nor provided any funding for it.

There are several laws, including the Antideficiency Act and the Impoundment Control Act, that essentially tell the president they must follow the spending laws that Congress approves, though Trump hopes to get around those during his second term.

Vought at OMB will give the new Trump administration considerable expertise in the different authorities the executive and legislative branches hold under the Constitution.

He worked as deputy director before becoming the acting director and eventually OMB director during the first Trump administration.

Vought since established the Center for Renewing America, which has a mission of renewing “a consensus of America as a nation under God with unique interests worthy of defending that flow from its people, institutions, and history, where individuals’ enjoyment of freedom is predicated on just laws and healthy communities.”

A nurse treats a patient with coronavirus in the intensive care unit at a hospital on May 1, 2020 in Leonardtown, Maryland. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump announced his choices to lead two of the country’s top public health agencies late Friday, as well as his pick for surgeon general.

Former Florida Congressman Dave Weldon will be tapped to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Marty Makary will be nominated for commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and Fox News medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat was put forward as the next surgeon general.

All three positions require Senate confirmation.

Trump wrote in his announcement for Makary that he would “work under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to, among other things, properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the Childhood Chronic Disease Epidemic.”

Makary is a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. His biography says he “has published over 250 peer-reviewed scientific articles and has served on several editorial boards.”

“Dr. Makary served in leadership at the World Health Organization Patient Safety Program and has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine,” according to his biography. “Clinically, Dr. Makary is the chief of Islet Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins. He is the recipient of the Nobility in Science Award from the National Pancreas Foundation and has been a visiting professor at over 25 medical schools.”

Makary wrote an op-ed published by The Wall Street Journal in February 2021, sharing his prediction that the COVID-19 pandemic would mostly be over by April, which he said was “based on laboratory data, mathematical data, published literature and conversations with experts. But it’s also based on direct observation of how hard testing has been to get, especially for the poor.”

COVID-19 did not end by April 2021. In fact, it went on to kill thousands more Americans.

“Some medical experts privately agreed with my prediction that there may be very little Covid-19 by April but suggested that I not to talk publicly about herd immunity because people might become complacent and fail to take precautions or might decline the vaccine,” Makary wrote at the time. “But scientists shouldn’t try to manipulate the public by hiding the truth. As we encourage everyone to get a vaccine, we also need to reopen schools and society to limit the damage of closures and prolonged isolation. Contingency planning for an open economy by April can deliver hope to those in despair and to those who have made large personal sacrifices.”

In prepared remarks to the House Select Subcommittee on the Covid Pandemic in May 2023, he wrote that “Nothing speaks more to the intellectual dishonesty of public health leaders than their complete dismissal of natural immunity. They never talked about it.”

Trump wrote in his statement announcing Makary as his pick for FDA that the agency had “lost the trust of Americans, and has lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator.” He added that Makary would “course-correct and refocus the Agency.”

FDA pick spearheaded ban

Weldon was instrumental in codifying into law the “Weldon Patent Ban,” which makes a permanent prohibition on patenting human embryos, something that Trump noted in his statement.

“Dave has successfully worked with the CDC to enact a ban on patents for human embryos,” Trump said in a statement.

In 2011, the ban was signed into law by former President Barack Obama in the America Invents Act, and made permanent after Weldon left Congress. His colleagues named it after him because of his advocacy on the issue.

“In addition to being a Medical Doctor for 40 years, and an Army Veteran, Dave has been a respected conservative leader on fiscal and social issues,” Trump said in a statement.

Weldon, 71, served in Congress from 1995 until 2009, when he retired. He is a former physician and if confirmed by the Senate, will now head a roughly $17 billion agency that is tasked with responding to emerging health threats.

Selection for surgeon general

Trump wrote in his nomination for Nesheiwat that she “is a fierce advocate and strong communicator for preventive medicine and public health.”

“She is committed to ensuring that Americans have access to affordable, quality healthcare, and believes in empowering individuals to take charge of their health to live longer, healthier lives,” Trump added. 

According to her biography, Nesheiwat graduated from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and is a double board-certified medical doctor practicing in New York.

She “brings a refreshingly no-nonsense attitude to the latest medical news, breaking down everything you need to know to keep you- and your family- healthy at all times,” according to her website’s biography.

Nesheiwat is the medical director at CityMD, which is a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. 

Hedge fund manager Scott Bessent will be nominated as Treasury secretary by President-elect Donald Trump, Trump said Friday. In this photo, Bessent attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Wall Street veteran Scott Bessent to be the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Trump announced Friday night.

If confirmed by the Senate to be the department’s 79th secretary, Bessent will face a record-high national debt of $36 trillion, and the possibility of more as tax cuts are high on the to-do list for Trump and Republican lawmakers in 2025. He has no previous experience in government.

The position overseeing the nation’s finances was among the last major Cabinet posts Trump had yet to announce, and deliberations for the post were reportedly contentious at times.

Trump said in a statement that Bessent will “help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States as we fortify our position as the World’s leading Economy, Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurialism, Destination for Capital, while always, and without question, maintaining the U.S. Dollar as the Reserve Currency of the World.”

“Unlike in past Administrations, we will ensure that no Americans will be left behind in the next and Greatest Economic Boom, and Scott will lead that effort for me, and the Great People of the United States of America,” Trump continued.

Bessent is the founder of the hedge fund Key Square Management, which Forbes reports had less than $600 million in assets as of the end of 2023. The South Carolina native and Yale graduate is a member of the Economic Club of New York and an advocate for one of Trump’s major campaign promises — tariffs.

In an opinion piece he wrote for Fox News published just one week ago, Bessent praised tariffs as a “useful tool” and “significant” revenue raiser.

“The truth is that other countries have taken advantage of the U.S.’s openness for far too long, because we allowed them to. Tariffs are a means to finally stand up for Americans,” Bessent wrote.

Trump campaigned on levying at least 10% tariffs on all foreign products and steep targeted tariffs on Chinese and Mexican imports upwards of 60%.

Treasury functions

The Treasury Department manages government accounts and debt, collects taxes, issues currency, and investigates financial crimes, among other duties. The agency has over 100,000 employees based in the United States and across the globe, and has requested a $14.4 billion budget for fiscal year 2025.

As the nation’s borrowing power is once again capped next year, a large focus of the Treasury secretary may be working with the White House and Congress on raising the so-called debt ceiling. The secretary will be tasked with determining the date at which the U.S. coffers run too low to pay the bills, putting the nation’s creditworthiness at risk.

The department’s several bureaus and offices include the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions. The U.S. has designated thousands of Russian individuals, banks and entities to be on OFAC’s sanctions lists and continues to do so amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The agency’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, investigates financial transaction data, including suspicious activity reports legally required of banks if they suspect tax evasion, money laundering or terrorist financing.

Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz leaves a House Republican Conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 3, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)  

WASHINGTON — Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz announced Thursday he’s withdrawing as President-elect Donald Trump’s planned nominee for attorney general days after securing the appointment.

Gaetz’s path to Senate confirmation was highly unlikely following years of investigations about alleged drug usage and payments for sex, including with an underage girl. He submitted his resignation to Congress last week.

“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz wrote in a social media post. “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.” 

Trump posted on social media afterward that he “greatly” appreciated “the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General.”

“He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect,” Trump wrote. “Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!”

When asked if the Trump-Vance transition team had another nominee choice lined up, and whether they viewed the Gaetz withdrawal as a setback, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt did not provide details.

“President Trump remains committed to choosing a leader for the Department of Justice who will strongly defend the Constitution and end the weaponization of our justice system. President Trump will announce his new decision when it is made,” Leavitt told States Newsroom in an emailed statement. 

The House Ethics Committee voted along party lines Wednesday not to release its report on Gaetz, following more than three years of investigation. Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, including the allegations that he had sex with a minor.

Meetings with senators

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, spent Wednesday shuffling Gaetz between meetings with Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would have held his confirmation hearing. Republicans will control the Senate in the new session of Congress beginning in January.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, wrote on social media that he respected Gaetz’s decision to withdraw his name from consideration as AG.

“I look forward to working with President Trump regarding future nominees to get this important job up and running,” Graham said.

GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, incoming Judiciary Committee chair, posted the following on X: “I respect Gaetz decision &look fwd 2helping PresTrump confirm qualified noms 2reform Dept of Justice &bring TRANSPARENCY/ACCOUNTABILITY Trump’s mission = DRAIN THE SWAMP& I would add get some1 who will answer my hundreds of outstanding oversight letters sitting at Biden DOJ/FBI.”

Grassley’s staff referred States Newsroom to the social media post when the outlet reached out for comment.

The offices of Sens. John Kennedy of Louisiana and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, fellow Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, declined to comment.

Gaetz’s future is unclear, given that he resigned from the U.S. House last week and notified the chamber he didn’t plan to take the oath of office for the upcoming 119th Congress.

He first joined the House in January 2017 and led efforts to remove former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from that role last year, setting off a month-long stalemate within the House Republican Conference over who should lead the party.

The race to fill his empty seat in a special election has already attracted six candidates, mostly Republicans in a heavily conservative-leaning district.

Gaetz could jump into the race for his old seat, possibly winning a place back in the House of Representative next year following the special election.

He could also try to take the oath of office when the next session of Congress begins on Jan. 3, since he wrote in his resignation letter that he did “not intend to take the oath of office for the same office in the 119th Congress, to pursue the position of Attorney General in the Trump Administration.”

That would give the House Ethics Committee jurisdiction to complete its report on Gaetz and release it publicly. 

AG oversees Department of Justice

The attorney general is responsible for overseeing the Department of Justice, which includes the federal government’s top law enforcement agencies as well as prosecutors.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Office for Victims of Crime, Office on Violence Against Women and U.S. Attorneys’ offices are among the 40 entities within the DOJ and its 115,000-person workforce.

Congress approved $37.52 billion for the Department of Justice in the most recent full-year spending bill.

Trump had two attorneys general during his first term as president. He first nominated former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, whom Trump later fired amid disputes, and then Bill Barr. 

Ashley Murray contributed to this story.

Then-U.S. Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon speaks at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he will nominate McMahon to be his Education secretary. (Photo by Gage Skidmore | CC BY-SA 2.0)

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats largely reserved judgment Wednesday on President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of Linda McMahon as his nominee for Education secretary, even as they raised concerns about Trump’s plans to eliminate the department.

In interviews Wednesday, Democrats in the U.S. Senate mostly did not raise the sorts of objections to McMahon — the co-chair of Trump’s transition team, Small Business Administration head during Trump’s first term and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment — that they did for other Cabinet selections.

Sen. Tim Kaine, who sits on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, dubbed Trump’s pick “troubling in some sense.”

But the Virginia Democrat complimented an op-ed McMahon wrote for The Hill that expressed support for expanding Pell Grant eligibility to include short-term workforce education programs.

“That’s something that I’ve been long pushing, and so that’s something at a nomination hearing that I’m definitely going to talk to her about,” Kaine told States Newsroom.

Fellow HELP Committee Democrats Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico and Tina Smith of Minnesota were noncommittal about their votes on McMahon’s confirmation.

“I don’t know that much about her, but I’ll be interested to hear what she says,” Hickenlooper said.

Baldwin said she would provide the Senate’s advice and consent role on the nominee “when that time comes.”

Luján compared McMahon to Trump’s other Cabinet picks.

“It’s similar to his other picks as well, which are concerning many of my Republican colleagues, who are going to be in the majority.”

Smith said she “can’t really speak to that … other than to say that his job is to put forth the nominees that he wants to do this job.”

“And my job is to thoroughly vet them to make sure that they have the qualifications and that they’re fully prepared and ready to enforce the laws of the country,” she added.

Agenda sparks concern

If confirmed, McMahon would play a key role in the education agenda Trump has promoted, including eliminating the department entirely.

Trump’s pledge to get rid of the department is unlikely to find enough support in Congress.

Kaine said Trump “will not get the votes to do that — even among Republicans.”

And the process of abolishing the 45-year-old agency could create a series of logistical and legal complexities for the billions of dollars in funding the department provides, particularly for low-income K-12 schools, special education and federal student aid.

But the policy agenda has raised more concerns with Democrats than McMahon’s nomination.

Rep. Bobby Scott, ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said that with her not having a long history working in education, he will wait to pass judgment on McMahon’s nomination until she’s been fully vetted by the Senate. 

“However, I am staunchly opposed to President-elect Trump’s education agenda which seeks to abolish the Department of Education, eliminate funding for low-income and rural K-12 schools, scrap the expansion of school meals, and make it more difficult for student borrowers to repay their loans,” the Virginia Democrat said.

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education, said in a statement to States Newsroom that she wrestles “with how (McMahon) will lead the Department of Education when Donald Trump plans to eliminate it.”

“Schools across the country, including those in rural communities, rely on federal funding to help them meet the needs of their students, especially low-income students and students with disabilities,” the Oregon Democrat said.

Alex Floyd, the Democratic National Committee’s rapid response director, said Trump “wants to defund the Department of Education and send our tax dollars to his ultra-rich billionaire backers — like Linda McMahon,” in a Wednesday statement.

“McMahon was already a disaster at the Small Business Administration, so it’s no wonder Trump picked her to lead a department he is hellbent on destroying,” Floyd said.

Report: McMahon lied about education background

Lawmakers raised few objections about McMahon’s relatively slim experience in education policy, even after a Washington Post report Wednesday that McMahon claimed on a questionnaire for a seat on the state’s education board she had a bachelor’s in education that she did not have.

McMahon was on the Connecticut Board of Education for just over a year and a member of the Board of Trustees at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.

She is also chair of the board of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank. In his announcement, Trump said that while serving as chair of the board, McMahon has been a “fierce advocate for Parents’ Rights, working hard at both AFPI and America First Works (AFW) to achieve Universal School Choice in 12 States, giving children the opportunity to receive an excellent Education, regardless of zip code or income.”

GOP response

Meanwhile, congressional Republicans including the House education panel’s chairwoman, Virginia Foxx, praised Trump’s decision.

The North Carolina Republican said in a Wednesday press release McMahon is “a fighter who will work tirelessly in service of the students — not the so-called elite institutions, or the teachers unions or the federal bureaucracy.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, ranking Republican of the Senate HELP committee, said in a statement that McMahon’s experience running the SBA “can obviously help in running another agency.” The Louisiana Republican said he looks forward to meeting with her.

North Carolina GOP Sen. Ted Budd, who also sits on the HELP panel, told States Newsroom that McMahon is “highly qualified, and I look forward to the process.” 

Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., left,  President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be attorney general, walks alongside Vice President-elect J.D. Vance as they arrive for meetings with senators at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 20, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Republicans on a U.S. House ethics panel Wednesday opposed the public release of a long-awaited report on Matt Gaetz, a former House member who is now the nominee for U.S. attorney general, according to the panel’s top Democrat, Susan Wild.

The outgoing Pennsylvania congresswoman told reporters that the evenly divided 10-member House Committee on Ethics took a vote but split along party lines. The report contains findings on whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other allegations involving gifts and privileges.

President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement last week that he intends to nominate Gaetz to the nation’s highest law enforcement position set off a maelstrom on Capitol Hill over whether the ethics panel should release its report after Gaetz abruptly resigned his Florida seat, effectively halting the probe.

Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest said after the lengthy closed-door meeting that “there was not an agreement by the committee to release the report.”

Guest, a Mississippi Republican, told reporters the panel would meet again but did not provide details.

Wild vehemently disputed Guest’s statement to a group of reporters shortly afterward, calling it  “inaccurate.”

“I do not want the American public or anyone else to think that Mr. Guest’s characterization of what transpired today would be some sort of indication that the committee had unanimity or consensus on this issue,” Wild said.

Committee inquiry since 2021

Gaetz, who denies all allegations, has been under the committee probe since April 2021. The former congressman was also investigated by the Department of Justice for sex trafficking but was never charged.

ABC News reported Wednesday that it obtained financial records reviewed by the Ethics Committee showing that Gaetz paid two women, who were later witnesses in both the ethics and Justice Department probes, roughly $10,000 between 2017 and 2019.

An attorney for one woman who testified before the committee told NBC News Friday that his client witnessed Gaetz having sex with a minor at an Orlando house party.

House Democrats urged the ethics panel to release the report. Democratic Reps. Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Sean Casten of Illinois introduced resolutions on the House floor late Wednesday to force the panel to release its findings.

Several Democrats wrote Tuesday to Guest and Wild that “there is precedent for the House and Senate ethics committees to continue their investigations and release findings after a member has resigned in a scandal.”

“Given the seriousness of the charges against Representative Gaetz, withholding the findings of your investigation may jeopardize the Senate’s ability to provide fully informed, constitutionally required advice and consent regarding this nomination,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter led by Casten and signed by dozens of others.

The nomination for U.S. attorney general requires vetting by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and a favorable confirmation vote on the Senate floor. Republicans will gain control of the chamber in January.

Vance accompanies Gaetz to meetings

On the other side of the Capitol, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance ushered Gaetz to private meetings with Senate Republicans.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s ranking member, released a statement Wednesday morning following his “very good meeting” with Gaetz.

“This process will not be a rubber stamp nor will it be driven by a lynch mob,” the South Carolina Republican said. “My record is clear. I tend to defer to presidential Cabinet choices unless the evidence suggests disqualification. I fear the process surrounding the Gaetz nomination is turning into an angry mob, and unverified allegations are being treated as if they are true.”

A half hour before his meeting with Vance and Gaetz, GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told reporters the House should “follow the rules” regarding releasing the Gaetz ethics findings.

“Now I don’t know exactly what the House rules are. I’m told that if a member resigns, the report is not made public, but I also have read there have been exceptions to that. So the short answer is, I don’t know,” said Kennedy, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Having said that, the Judiciary Committee staff properly vets all of our nominees, and it’s been my experience in Washington that this place leaks like a wet paper bag,” Kennedy continued. “So I would assume that anything that’s out there will likely be made public. I’m not predicting that, but I’m not gonna faint with surprise if that happens.” 

President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he would tap Linda McMahon as Education secretary in his second administration. In this photo, McMahon, at the time the head of the Small Business Administration, speaks during a rally with GOP lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol Nov. 28, 2017 in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday night he plans to nominate Linda McMahon, the co-chair of his transition team, to lead the Education Department in his second administration.

“We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort,” Trump said in a statement, referring to his pledge during this campaign to abolish the Department of Education.

McMahon, a decades-long executive with World Wrestling Entertainment and the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first presidency, has served on the Connecticut Board of Education. The statement said she has also served as a member of the Board of Trustees at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, for two stints totaling over 16 years.

She twice ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut and has been a major fundraiser for Republicans, including Trump.

McMahon led the SBA from 2017 to 2019 and took a position with a Trump political action committee ahead of his 2020 reelection bid. She later became chair of the board of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank.

McMahon and her husband, Vince McMahon, the founder and longtime leader of WWE, grew the professional wrestling company into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise. A recent lawsuit also alleges that WWE and Vince McMahon failed to stop the sexual abuse of underage “Ring Boys,” Axios recently reported. Linda McMahon is a co-defendant in the suit.

Trump’s Education secretary in his first term was Betsy DeVos, another wealthy donor. DeVos resigned from the administration on Jan. 7, 2021, the day after a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.

In a statement, National Education Association President Becky Pringle said McMahon is unqualified for the post.

“During his first term, Donald Trump appointed Betsy DeVos to undermine and ultimately privatize public schools through vouchers,” Pringle said. “Now, he and Linda McMahon are back at it with their extreme Project 2025 proposal to eliminate the Department of Education, steal resources for our most vulnerable students, increase class sizes, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle class families, take away special education services for disabled students, and put student civil rights protections at risk. ”

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced his intent to nominate Dr. Mehmet Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In this photo, Oz speaks at a March 15, 2022 press conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Pennsylvania Capital-Star).

Howard Lutnick, left, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, was tapped by President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday to be Commerce secretary in Trump's second administration. Lutnick is shown in this photo at a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Oct. 27, 2024. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday he will nominate transition co-chair and billionaire businessman Howard Lutnick as the country’s next secretary of Commerce, a position that will have a hand in shaping Trump’s tariff policies.

If confirmed by the Senate, Lutnick would lead a 13-bureau department that houses the U.S. International Trade Commission, where tariff policy is managed. Trump campaigned on levying at least 10% tariffs on all foreign products and steep targeted tariffs on Chinese and Mexican imports upwards of 60%.

“He will lead our Tariff and Trade Agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,” Trump said in a brief statement on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Trump also praised Lutnick’s role on his transition team, crediting him with creating “the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen.”

Lutnick is CEO of the large financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, which lost more than 650 employees in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center. Lutnick became known for rebuilding the company afterward and establishing a multimillion-dollar fund for the victims’ families.

The CEO is a backer of cryptocurrency and reportedly was in the running for Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary, though according to The Bulwark, lost the bid because he annoyed advisers at Mar-a-Lago. Billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tapped by Trump to lead a not-yet-defined commission to evaluate government spending, backed Lutnick for the Treasury post.

Lutnick was a featured speaker at Trump’s October Madison Square Garden campaign rally, an event infamous for a comedian calling Puerto Rico “an island of garbage” and where former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson joked about Vice President Kamala Harris’ race.

“We must elect Donald J. Trump president because we must crush jihad,” Lutnick said on stage after telling the story of losing employees on 9/11.

During his speech, Lutnick assailed income taxes and advocated for a return to the “rockin’” U.S. economy at the turn of the 20th century.

“All we had was tariffs, and we had so much money that we had the  greatest businessmen of America get together to try to figure out how to spend it,” Lutnick said.

The United States is now “letting the rest of the world eat our lunch,” Lutnick said.

Lutnick, who spoke before Musk took the stage, introduced the fellow billionaire as “the greatest capitalist in the United States of America” and bantered with him about cutting $2 trillion in federal spending.

Economists across the political spectrum warn increasing tariffs will cost typical American households up to $2,600 annually and potentially cause a trade war.

President-elect Donald Trump attends the America First Policy Institute Gala held at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 14, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. The annual event supports Grey Team, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing military suicide. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump continued his blitz of Cabinet and senior staff selections, closing the week Friday with the announcement that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a former presidential rival turned Trump surrogate, is his candidate to lead the federal department responsible for vast swaths of federal lands and U.S. relations with Native American tribes.

Burgum also will head up a brand new “National Energy Council,” Trump said.

In just 10 days since his decisive win, Trump from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida rapidly disclosed his picks to lead major U.S. policy areas, including relationships around the globe and the health and well-being of Americans at home.

The president-elect, who trounced Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on Nov. 5, has named roughly half of his intended nominees for the 15 executive departments that traditionally comprise a president’s Cabinet. If Trump follows through on his nominations, he’ll need the U.S. Senate’s approval for each.

That feat could be an uphill battle for Trump’s more controversial nominees — namely a Fox News host to oversee the entire U.S. military, a vaccine skeptic to administer health and science funding, and a recent Florida congressman who was investigated by the Department of Justice to wield the power of attorney general.

Trump has also drawn from his 2024 campaign staff, personal attorneys and pool of first-administration loyalists to fill several senior White House staff picks that do not require Senate approval.

Here are some of the president-elect’s latest choices:

• Burgum as secretary of the Interior. Trump announced Friday he will nominate Burgum, a former 2024 Republican presidential hopeful, to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior. The $18 billion, 70,000-employee department oversees 11 bureaus that have a vast reach over relations with Native American tribes; control of hundreds of wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries; and the management of 245 million acres of public land, a third of the country’s minerals, and leasing for energy extraction from U.S. ocean waters. Trump said in a statement Friday that he will create a National Energy Council, with Burgum at the helm, “to oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE,” he wrote. Burgum, a wealthy software executive turned governor, has filed a handful of lawsuits against the agency, including a challenge to open more oil and gas leasing in his state, according to the North Dakota Monitor. He dropped his 2024 presidential bid in January and endorsed Trump.

• Former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia as secretary of Veterans Affairs. Trump announced Thursday his choice of the ex-congressman from Georgia to lead the agency that distributes health care to 9 million veterans at over 1,200 facilities annually. The department, which asked Congress for a $369.3 billion budget for next year, also oversees veterans disability benefits and manages national veterans cemeteries and memorials. Collins, a lawyer, pastor and member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve since 2002, served in the U.S. House from 2013 to 2021, according to his congressional biography.

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services. The president-elect tapped Kennedy Jr. Thursday as his choice to lead the massive 80,000-employee Department of Health and Human Services that projects mandatory spending — think Medicare and Medicaid — will reach $1.7 trillion in 2025, and discretionary spending at $130.7 billion. Also under the huge HHS umbrella are the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. Kennedy Jr., a former 2024 presidential hopeful who dropped out and endorsed Trump, is well known for his spreading of vaccine misinformation. The former environmental lawyer and son of the late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy also made headlines during the 2024 race for admitting he dumped a dead bear cub in New York’s Central Park nearly a decade ago, among other unusual revelations.

• Trump attorney D. John Sauer as solicitor general of the United States. In his last staffing announcement Thursday, Trump said he intends to nominate his defense attorney in his federal election interference case to be the U.S. Justice Department’s litigator before the U.S. Supreme Court. Sauer successfully argued Trump’s presidential immunity case before the Supreme Court in April. Sauer made headlines at Trump’s federal January appeal hearing for appearing to argue that a president’s order for SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival would be covered under presidential immunity. Sauer, Missouri’s former solicitor general, was among those who filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of Texas’ lawsuit to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

• Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general. Trump dropped a bombshell Wednesday afternoon when he revealed he will nominate the now-ex-lawmaker Gaetz of Florida as attorney general. Gaetz resigned from the U.S. House hours after Trump’s announcement, getting ahead of an anticipated ethics report on his alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use that could have been released Friday, according to several news outlets. Politico reported Friday that U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., does not want the report released, despite pressure from some in his own party. Gaetz, who if confirmed by the Senate would be the nation’s top law enforcement officer, was investigated by the Justice Department for two years, beginning under Trump’s first administration, for possible sex trafficking. The probe was dropped last year, as has been widely reported. Trump campaigned on meting out retribution from the Justice Department for his political foes following two federal investigations into his alleged stockpiling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and his alleged subversion of the 2020 presidential election. Gaetz is a staunch Trump ally and was among the nearly 140 House Republicans who objected to the 2020 election results. Trump has also tapped his personal criminal defense lawyer Todd Blanche to serve as deputy attorney general.

Within the past seven days, Trump also announced his plans to nominate former chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Jay Clayton as a U.S. attorney, former Democratic Congresswoman-turned-Republican Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence, Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of State, Fox News host Pete Hegseth as secretary of Defense, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as Homeland Security chief, GOP Rep. Mike Waltz as national security adviser, former head of national intelligence John Ratcliffe as CIA director, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan as “border czar,” former Trump White House adviser and immigration policy architect Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policy, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, former Congressman Lee Zeldin as Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and his 2024 campaign manager, Susie Wiles as his chief of staff. 

The president-elect made waves as well when declaring this past week that billionaire campaign donor Elon Musk and former presidential hopeful, now a staunch Trump supporter, Vivek Ramaswamy will together run an ambiguous entity titled the Department of Government Efficiency. Shortened to DOGE, it is still unclear how the organization would operate and interact with the federal government.

This article has been updated to reflect the correct title for Jay Clayton.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives remarks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on Aug. 23, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday he plans to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services, another controversial candidate who could face a challenging confirmation process in the U.S. Senate given his non-scientific beliefs about public health, including his anti-vaccine stance.

“I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS),” Trump posted on social media. “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health.

“The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country.”

HHS receives about $116.8 billion in discretionary federal funds and about $1.7 trillion in mandatory spending each year and houses several big-name public health agencies, including the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response or ASPR, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Kennedy ran in this year’s presidential election as an independent candidate, often repeating inaccurate information about vaccines and spreading other conspiracy theories about public health.

He has no background in science, research, or medicine. He graduated from Harvard University before going on to receive a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School.

He pleaded guilty to felony heroin possession in Rapid City, S.D., in February 1984, before receiving two years of probation, which ended a year early. He volunteered with the Natural Resources Defense Council as part of that probation.

Kennedy spent much of his career as an environmental lawyer and published several books.

After ending his own presidential bid this year, Kennedy endorsed Trump and campaigned frequently for him.

Criticism of the nomination began quickly after news broke Thursday, though far-right Republicans are expected to celebrate the nomination.

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog nonprofit organization Public Citizen, released a written statement saying, “Kennedy is a science-denying, morally-bankrupt conspiracy theorist who will endanger people’s lives if placed in a position of authority over health. The U.S. Senate should unanimously reject this nomination.”

Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, ranking member on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released a written statement that he’s interested in learning more about Kennedy during the confirmation process.

“RFK Jr. has championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure,” Cassidy wrote. “I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda.” 

Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, a senior member of the HELP panel that will hold the confirmation hearing, wrote in a statement that Kennedy “could not be more dangerous — this is cause for deep concern for every American.”

“There is no telling how far a fringe conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. could set back America in terms of public health, reproductive rights, research and innovation, and so much else,” Murray wrote. “The consequences here are not theoretical or superficial — health care access, coverage, research, and public health are life or death issues for people — and the COVID pandemic was an all too recent, all too painful reminder.”

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul congratulated Kennedy on social media, writing “Congratulations to @RobertKennedyJr on his nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Finally, someone to detox the place after the Fauci era. Get ready for health care freedom and MAHA!”

Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, a former member of Congress who previously criticized Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance as a way to bring back polio and measles, cheered his nomination in a lengthy social media post.

“I hope he leans into personal choice on vaccines rather than bans (which I think are terrible, just like mandates) but what I’m most optimistic about is taking on big pharma and the corporate ag oligopoly to improve our health.”

Polis added another post about an hour later, writing that science “must remain THE cornerstone of our nation’s health policy and the science-backed decision to get vaccinated improves public health and safety.”

“But if as a country we follow the science we would also be far more concerned about the impact of pesticides on public health, ag policy on nutrition, and the lack of access to prescription drugs due to drug high prices,” Polis added. “This is why I am for a major shake-up in institutions like the FDA that have been barriers to lowering drug costs and promoting healthy food choices. Lest there by any doubt, I am vaccinated as is my family. I will hold any HHS Secretary to the same high standard of protecting and improving public health.”

President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to nominate Pete Hegseth as secretary of Defense. In this photo, Hegseth speaks onstage during the 2023 Fox Nation Patriot Awards at The Grand Ole Opry on Nov. 16, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images)

President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to nominate Pete Hegseth, a U.S. Army National Guard veteran and a weekend host on Fox News’ morning show, as secretary of Defense.

Trump also announced on Wednesday afternoon he would nominate Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to be secretary of State and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to be the director of national intelligence, as he rounds out his national security team.

The Hegseth pick, announced late Tuesday, immediately drew more scrutiny than some more conventional choices Trump announced for other Cabinet-level positions.

Outside of his time in the Army, Hegseth, 44, has no government experience. He was the CEO of the veterans’ advocacy group Concerned Veterans for America, according to a bio on his personal website. He served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. He was awarded two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman Badge for his combat service.

“Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” Trump said in a statement from his transition team. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”

No women in combat

On Fox, in several books he’s written and in other public forums, Hegseth has been vocal about his socially conservative views.

He told a podcast host last week that “women should not serve in combat roles.”

“It hasn’t made us more effective, it hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated,” he said on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast.

He’s also criticized the DoD’s work under Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama to pursue diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“Unfortunately, the incentives for generals under the Biden administration and the Obama administration was to conform to ideologies of leftist politicians who were ramming stuff into the Pentagon that has nothing to do with winning wars,” he said during a Fox News appearance to promote a book on the military. “What is your gender? What is your race? DEI, (Critical Race Theory).”

Hegseth’s focus on culture war issues has won praise from some conservatives, including the influential think tank The Heritage Foundation.

“At a time when bloat and woke initiatives detract from the core warfighting mission of our armed forces, we need a secretary like Pete who has both served in combat and advocated for veterans on Capitol Hill. Under President Biden and Secretary (Lloyd) Austin, our military has grown weaker while foreign conflicts have increased. President Trump and Secretary Hegseth will make our military great again while continuing to put America First,” the foundation said in a statement.

Inexperience a factor?

But Democratic members of Congress voiced unease with the nomination, and even Republicans withheld full-throated endorsements.

Adam Smith, a Washington Democrat and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement on X that the Senate should give the nomination “the utmost scrutiny.”

“The job of Secretary of Defense should not be an entry-level position, and I question President-elect Trump’s choice of a television news host to take on this immensely important role,” Smith said. “While I respect and admire Mr. Hegseth’s military service, I am concerned about his inexperience given the security challenges we face around the world.”

Even Sen. Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican and close Trump ally, voiced skepticism over the pick, Fox News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reported.

“Really?  I’d have to think about it,” Tuberville, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee that will manage the confirmation process, reportedly said.

The ambivalence toward Hegseth stands out from Trump’s other early picks.

Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young sent a series of posts on X this week praising the selections of Rep. Elise Stefanik as United Nations ambassador, former Rep. Lee Zeldin for Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Rep. Mike Waltz to be national security adviser, former National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe to lead the CIA and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be the ambassador to Israel.

He did not communicate on X his support of Hegseth.

Similarly, the official X account for the House Armed Services Committee, which is chaired by Alabama’s Mike Rogers, posted praise for Stefanik and Waltz on X, but did not comment on Hegseth.

Tattoos raised red flags

Hegseth grew up in Forest Lake, Minnesota. He attended Princeton University as an undergraduate and received a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University.

He sought the 2012 Minnesota Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, but withdrew after the state convention backed the eventual nominee, Kurt Bills. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar easily defeated Bills in the general election.

Hegseth served in the Army National Guard until 2021, when he says he was taken off a detail to work Biden’s inauguration due to questions about a tattoo.

“Ultimately, members of my unit in leadership deemed that I was an extremist or a white nationalist because of a tattoo I have, which is a religious tattoo, it’s a Jerusalem Cross, everybody can look it up,” he said in the June appearance on Fox. “It was used as a premise to revoke my order to guard the inauguration.”

He speculated that there was another reason for his removal, possibly that he was a Trump supporter, Fox News host or a “patriot extremist.”

Hegseth has a chest tattoo depicting the Jerusalem Cross, a symbol of the crusaders that fought against Muslims and Jews during the Middle Ages.

Broad support for Rubio

Trump’s selections of Rubio and Gabbard came Wednesday, although media reports for days had said Rubio would be named.

“Marco is a Highly Respected Leader, and a very powerful Voice for Freedom,” a statement from Trump read. “He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries.”

Cabinet designees from the Senate often have an easier path to confirmation through that chamber due to the personal connections they’ve established.

That appears likely to be the case with Rubio, who quickly secured votes of confidence from Democrats John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Mark Warner of Virginia.

Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress from Hawaii who sought the party’s presidential nomination in 2020, campaigned for Trump this year.

“I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength,” Trump wrote. “Tulsi will make us all proud!”

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz is photographed inside the Rayburn House Office Building Feb. 27, 2019.  (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he intends to nominate U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz as the next attorney general of the United States, an unexpected pick as the Florida Republican remains the subject of a congressional ethics investigation for alleged sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and accepting improper gifts.

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Wednesday night at a GOP press conference following leadership elections that Gaetz has already submitted a letter of resignation from the House.

“I think out of deference to us, he issued his resignation letter effective immediately of Congress,” Johnson said. “That caught us by surprise a little bit, but I asked him what the reasoning was, and he said, ‘Well, you can’t have too many absences.’”

Florida state law, Johnson said, provides an eight-week time frame for the governor to fill a vacancy. He’s already placed a call to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is in Italy, to ask him to begin that timeline.

“And if we start the clock now, if you do the math, we may be able to fill that seat as early as January 3, when we take the new oath of office for the new Congress,” Johnson said.  “So Matt would have done us a great service by making that decision, as he did on the fly. And so we’re grateful for that.”

The position of attorney general requires U.S. Senate approval, and if confirmed, the four-term congressman and Trump ally would lead the massive U.S. Justice Department that oversees more than 40 component organizations and 115,000 employees, according to the department.

The announcement comes as U.S. special counsel Jack Smith winds down two federal investigations of Trump — one, alleging Trump improperly stored classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office, and the other stemming from his alleged scheme to subvert the 2020 presidential election. Justice Department memos from 1973 and 2000 concluded that criminally prosecuting a sitting president would impair the leader’s capacity to carry out the office’s functions.

Trump first announced his decision to choose Gaetz on social media, describing the congressman as “a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice.”

Revealing the information on Truth Social roughly 10 minutes before his transition team sent an official statement, the president-elect wrote that Gaetz “will root out the systemic corruption at DOJ, and return the Department to its true mission of fighting Crime, and upholding our Democracy and Constitution. We must have Honesty, Integrity, and Transparency at DOJ. Under Matt’s leadership, all Americans will be proud of the Department of Justice once again.” Trump routinely writes on social media in mixed capitalization.

Gaetz quickly published on the social media platform X that, “It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!”

Ethics probe

The House Committee on Ethics revealed in June that it would continue pursuing allegations in its ongoing investigation of Gaetz, including the possibility the lawmaker may have “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.”

Gaetz has “categorically denied all of the allegations before the Committee,” according to the committee’s June update on the matter.

The committee’s probe began in April 2021 and originally included allegations that the lawmaker “shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe or improper gratuity.” The committee announced in June that it was no longer pursuing those specific accusations.

As of June, the panel had spoken with more than a dozen witnesses, issued 25 subpoenas, and reviewed thousands of pages of documents regarding the Gaetz probe.

Rep. Michael Guest, chair of the House Ethics Committee, told reporters Wednesday that if Gaetz is confirmed by the Senate as attorney general, his committee will no longer have jurisdiction over the probe.

“Once we lose jurisdiction, there would not be a report that would be issued,” said Guest, a Mississippi Republican elected to Congress in 2019. “That’s not unique to this case, we have that every new Congress, where there are members who are under ethics investigation, who either choose not to run again, in some instances, or they resign or they lose reelection.”

“We’re not going to rush this investigation because of the appointment. And so we’re going to again follow the rules and the procedures that we set in place.”

The ethics investigation is expected to wrap up following Gaetz’s resignation, though Punchbowl News reported that the panel was set to release a “highly damaging” report in the days ahead

Lawmakers taken aback

Senators on Capitol Hill, who will have to vet and possibly vote to confirm Gaetz, expressed surprise at Trump’s announcement.

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said that she expected to consider another option at some point.

“I don’t think he’s a serious nomination for the attorney general,” Murkowski said. “We need to have a serious attorney general and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious.”

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she was shocked when she heard the news. She said that she and her colleagues will want to question Gaetz.

“Obviously, the president has the right to nominate whomever he wishes. But I’m certain that there will be a lot of questions,” Collins, a Republican, said.

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said he doesn’t know Gaetz “other than his public persona,” but said Gaetz will face questions and possibly challenges getting the votes needed for Senate confirmation.

“I’m sure we’ll have a lot of questions, and I’m sure all that stuff will come out,” Cornyn said. “And then it’s a question of, can he get 51 votes?”

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said that Republicans were the ones to question about whether they’d support Gaetz’s nomination, since Democrats were unlikely to do so.

“Talk to my colleagues, like, to see who’s gonna vote for, like, a jerk-off like that,” Fetterman said.

Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said Gaetz “has his work cut out for him,” and that it will be up to the Judiciary Committee to decide whether to confirm him to the post.

Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, who Trump on Wednesday nominated as secretary of State, said that he was supportive of the president-elect’s pick.

“I’ve known Matt for a long time, I think he would do a good job,” Rubio said, adding that he wouldn’t comment further about the recent ethics complaints against Gaetz.

Democrats who sit on the Judiciary Committee that would be tasked with holding a nomination hearing for Gaetz, such as Cory Booker of New Jersey and Jon Ossoff of Georgia, declined to comment on the news.

“I’m literally just walking out of a meeting and hearing this,” Booker said. “Give me a minute.”

Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson said he honestly doesn’t “know (Gaetz) that well or know his professional qualifications.”

“I know of his skill in questioning witnesses in the House,” Johnson said. “I really don’t know his legal background that much. I’ve never really spent much time with him, other than a couple times in different meetings, so I just don’t know him that well.”

Rep. Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, issued a strong rebuke of Trump’s choice of Gaetz for the position.

“The Attorney General of the United States must have strong judgement, moral character, and a deep respect for the law. As almost all members of Congress know, Matt Gaetz has none of those things. What he does have is unconditional loyalty to Donald Trump and a willingness to weaponize the government against his political allies— an affinity that he and the president-elect share,” Himes, a Connecticut Democrat, said in a statement.

Ariana Figueroa and Shauneen Miranda contributed to this report. 

President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on Nov. 13, 2024 in Washington, D.C. Biden continued the tradition of inviting the newly elected president to meet at the White House after Trump won the presidential election on Nov. 5. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden welcomed President-elect Donald Trump to the White House Wednesday, a tradition between incoming and outgoing American leaders, though the courtesy was not extended to Biden after he won the 2020 election.

The pair met behind closed doors in the Oval Office for most of the meeting that lasted just under two hours. Biden’s Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and Trump’s incoming counterpart, Susie Wiles, joined the president and president-elect.

Biden had been seeking reelection against Trump until late July, when Biden dropped his bid. Vice President Kamala Harris lost the race to Trump after just over 100 days of campaigning as the Democratic nominee.

Harris did not attend the meeting, according to the White House.

In brief remarks before cameras, Biden congratulated his predecessor who will again take the oath of office in January as the nation’s 47th president.

“Well, Mr. President-elect, former president, Donald, congratulations,” Biden said, as Trump interjected with “Thank you very much, Joe.”

“And looking forward to having a, like I said, smooth transition, do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated, what you need,” Biden continued. “And we’re gonna get a chance to talk about some of that today.”

Trump again thanked Biden and responded “And politics is tough. And it’s, many cases, not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today. And I appreciate it very much, a transition that’s so smooth, it’ll be as smooth as it can get. I very much appreciate that, Joe,” Trump said.

A ‘substantive’ conversation

First lady Jill Biden joined the president in greeting Trump and presented a handwritten letter of congratulations and offer for transition assistance addressed to incoming first lady Melania Trump, according to the White House.

The meeting got underway just after 11 a.m. Eastern, and the press was ushered out after the brief welcoming remarks and photo opportunity. Biden and Trump finished their private discussion at roughly 1 p.m. Eastern.

Neither addressed a large gathering of reporters and photographers outside afterward.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden and Trump had “a very good back and forth.”

“(Biden) wants you all to know that the president-elect was gracious, came with a detailed set of questions, it was, again, substantive” Jean-Pierre said at the daily press briefing.

Jean-Pierre declined to provide the meeting’s specifics but said “the length of the meeting tells you they had an in-depth conversation on an array of issues.”

Trump did not invite Biden to the White House following his 2020 presidential election win, nor did he attend his successor’s inauguration that occurred just 14 days after a mob of his supporters violently tried to stop Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory.

The president-elect’s transition team did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s inquiries on why Trump did not invite Biden to the White House in 2020.

Musk, Ramaswamy to head new initiative

The president-elect continues to announce numerous Cabinet and staff positions, stacking his administration with staunch loyalists.

Late Tuesday, Trump announced he named billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy to what he describes as a new “Department of Government Efficiency,” or shortened to “DOGE,” also the name for a popular internet dog meme and cryptocurrency in the last decade.

Trump said the new entity would function outside of government.

“To drive this kind of drastic change, the Department of Government Efficiency will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before,” Trump said in a statement.

Musk was also present, sitting in the front row during Trump’s visit with House Republicans earlier Wednesday.

Also on Tuesday night, Trump announced Fox News host Pete Hegseth as his pick for secretary of Defense, a position that requires managing hundreds of billions in Pentagon spending.

Trump endorses Johnson

Trump joined House Republicans Wednesday morning before his meeting with Biden at the White House. At a hotel near the U.S. Capitol, Trump received a standing ovation from GOP lawmakers, according to congressional pool reports.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, introduced Trump, calling him a “singular figure in American history,” according to congressional pool reports. 

House Republicans are also planning to have their leadership elections late Wednesday, but it’s expected that Johnson will be selected to continue the role, although an official vote for the speaker’s gavel will take place in January.

At the meeting, Trump threw his support behind Johnson to continue in his role as House speaker, according to NBC News.

During the meeting, Trump touted GOP wins in keeping control of the lower chamber. Although Republicans are on track to hold their slim majority, The Associated Press, the news organization that States Newsroom relies upon for race calls based on decades of experience, has not called the House for Republicans though it might happen soon.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Republicans have 216 seats, just two short of the 218 seats needed for control. Democrats have 207 seats, with 12 races still to be called.

Trump also joked about wanting to run for another term in office — something that the U.S. Constitution prohibits, as presidents are limited to only serving two terms. 

“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you do something,” Trump told members, who laughed, according to pool reports.

Democrats ready to push back

Chair of the House Democratic Caucus Pete Aguilar said Wednesday that Democrats are ready to work with the incoming administration in a bipartisan manner, but are also prepared to push back on efforts to further restrict reproductive rights, such as a national abortion ban, and any changes to the Affordable Care Act.

“We’re clear-eyed about the challenge ahead of us,” Aguilar, Democrat of California, said.

He acknowledged the failure of Democrats to regain control of the House.

“I think it’s appropriate for the current caucus to reflect on what happened, to listen to listen to our constituents, to listen to American people, to listen to our members, to gather data, and then to chart a path forward,” he said.

Aguilar added that Democrats plan to look at voter data to understand the issues important to their voting bloc.

“I don’t want to have broad generalizations of any group or geographic or otherwise, without that data in front of me,” he said. “I think it’s very clear to us that for people with two jobs, the economy is, gas and groceries and rent. We’ll need to speak to those issues if we’re going to be the party that speaks to our community members and people working, everyday Americans, then we need to speak to those issues, and … that’s on us to communicate.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida speaks onstage during the 2024 Concordia Annual Summit at Sheraton New York Times Square on Sept. 23, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Riccardo Savi/Getty Images for Concordia Summit)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has selected U.S. House Republican Rep. Mike Waltz for the role of national security adviser, making him the second GOP lawmaker Trump has plucked from the lower chamber for his administration.

Trump announced in a statement Tuesday that Waltz, of Trump’s home state of Florida, is “hereby appointed to serve in my Cabinet,” seemingly expanding the special group beyond its traditional membership. The position does not require Senate approval.

“Mike has been a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda, and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of Peace through Strength!” Trump said in the statement.

Waltz, the first U.S. Army Green Beret elected to Congress, served in multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa as a Special Forces officer, according to his congressional biography.

Waltz also worked in the Pentagon as a defense policy director under secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates, and as a White House adviser under President George W. Bush.

The three-term House member sits on the committees on the Armed Forces and Foreign Affairs, and the Select Committee on Intelligence.

House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana praised Waltz in a statement Tuesday as a “brilliant and faithful patriot” and the “perfect person to advise President Trump and defend our interests on the world stage.”

Waltz’s office did not immediately reply to States Newsroom for comment.

Trump’s choice of Waltz now makes two current House Republicans he’s pulled from the chamber as the party anticipates a slim majority.

The president-elect announced Monday that he had chosen House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, of New York, to be his ambassador to the United Nations.

A former GOP representative from New York, Lee Zeldin, has been tapped to be the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Both positions require Senate confirmation, though Trump is mounting a pressure campaign for the yet-unnamed Republican Senate majority leader to bypass confirmation votes by allowing recess appointments.

New ambassador headed to Israel?

Trump also announced Tuesday that he wants former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to serve as his U.S. ambassador to Israel as the country continues its war campaigns in the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

“Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years. He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East!” Trump said in a statement.

Huckabee is the father of current Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who also worked as Trump’s press secretary during his first administration.

The Senate confirmed Biden’s most recent ambassador pick for Israel, Jacob Lew, in late October 2023, just weeks after Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on the country, killing roughly 1,200 and taking 250 hostages.

Lew’s nomination was received by the Senate on Sept. 28, 2023. The country’s previous U.S. ambassador, Thomas Nides, left the post in July 2023 for personal reasons, according to Axios.

Special envoy to Middle East named

Trump also named New York real estate investor, friend and campaign donor Steve Witkoff as his pick for special envoy to the Middle East.

The president-elect praised Witkoff in a statement emailed to the press.

“Steve is a Highly Respected Leader in Business and Philanthropy, who has made every project and community he has been involved with stronger and more prosperous. Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud,” Trump said.

Witkoff was with Trump the day a second gunman threatened him in September and told several media outlets about witnessing the U.S. Secret Service protect Trump on his Florida golf course when a gunman poked a rifle through the bushes.

Witkoff attended Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan and also attended a high-donor fundraiser on Manhattan’s Upper East Side on May 31, the same day Trump was convicted on 34 state felonies for falsifying business records, according to ABC News.

A fracking site in Greeley, Colorado. (Andy Bosselman for Colorado Newsline)

Republican President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday he wants Chris Wright, a Colorado oil and gas executive who denies that the world faces a “climate crisis,” to serve the new administration as Department of Energy secretary.

Wright will also be a member of the Council of National Energy, the formation of which was announced Friday. Details on the council are scarce, but it’s widely viewed as a further indication that the Trump administration intends to boost domestic fossil fuel and other energy production.

“Chris will be a key leader, driving innovation, cutting red tape, and ushering in a new ‘Golden Age of American Prosperity and Global Peace,’” a statement from the Trump transition team said.

The Energy Department oversees the nation’s nuclear infrastructure and energy policy. Wright, who grew up and still lives in Colorado, is the founder, CEO, and board chair of Liberty Energy, based in Denver.

Last year in a video he posted to LinkedIn, Wright dismissed phrases such as “climate crisis,” “energy transition” and “clean energy” as “alarmist, deceptive marketing terms.” He acknowledged that global warming has occurred, but he chafed at its characterization as a crisis.

“The only thing resembling a crisis with respect to climate change is the regressive, opportunity-squelching policies justified in the name of climate change,” he said in the video.

He suggested that any warming attributable to the burning of fossil fuels is worth the benefits, such as “wealth, health and opportunity,” that fossil fuel energy brings.

He spread misinformation in the video.

“We have seen no increase in the frequency or intensity of hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts or floods despite endless fearmongering of the media, politicians and activists. This is not my opinion. This is the facts as contained in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports,” he said.

IPCC reports actually say the opposite.

“Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has further strengthened since (the previous report cycle),” the IPCC’s 2023 “synthesis” report says. “Human influence has likely increased the chance of compound extreme events since the 1950s, including increases in the frequency of concurrent heatwaves and droughts.”

Wright’s views directly contradict the Energy Department’s climate change mission under Democratic President Joe Biden.

“There is no greater challenge facing our nation and our planet than the climate crisis,” the department’s website says.

Wright’s nomination is one of several made by Trump — such as that of former Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to be attorney general and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead Health and Human Services — that appear intentionally disruptive.

“Picking someone like Chris Wright is a clear sign that Trump wants to turn the U.S. into a pariah petrostate,” Jean Su, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s energy justice program, said in a statement. “He’s damning frontline communities and our planet to climate hell just to pad the already bloated pockets of fossil fuel tycoons.”

Biden’s Department of Energy secretary is Jennifer Granholm, former Democratic Michigan governor.

Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on Facebook and X.

Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation Chair Mark Fox, left, speaks with North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum in Memorial Hall during a signing event for an alcohol tax revenue sharing agreement between the state and the MHA Nation on March 22, 2024. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

Mark Fox, chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, called Gov. Doug Burgum’s recent nomination for secretary of the Interior and National Energy Council chair a “match made in heaven” for North Dakota tribes.

President-elect Donald Trump announced his unique plans for Burgum on Friday. In the combined role, Burgum would not only lead the Department of the Interior — which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs — but also wield power over all federal agencies that regulate energy.

Fox and other North Dakota and South Dakota tribal leaders welcomed the news.

Burgum, who first took office in 2016, is credited with improving North Dakota’s once-tenuous relationship with local tribes.

While in office, Burgum advocated for tax-sharing agreements with Native nations, added a permanent display of all five tribal flags outside the governor’s office and pushed for law enforcement partnerships to improve emergency response times on reservations.

“Governor Burgum understands Indian country and the challenges we face, such as the need for public safety, better tribal education, and economic development in Indian country, among other needs,” David Flute, former chair of the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, said Friday in a statement to the North Dakota Monitor. Flute is now secretary of the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations.

Burgum will succeed Interior Secretary Deb Haaland of New Mexico, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and the first Native American Cabinet secretary.

Tribal officials say Burgum could be a crucial ally in Washington.

“I would have been so disappointed had he not been appointed to a Cabinet position,” Fox said Friday.

Brad Hawk, executive director of North Dakota’s Indian Affairs Commission, said Burgum has a unique opportunity to reduce red tape for Native nations.

Hawk said he wasn’t familiar with every aspect of Haaland’s administration, but appreciated her department’s work investigating the history of federal Indian boarding schools and their impact on Native communities.

State Rep. Lisa Finley-DeVille, D-Mandaree, whose district includes Fort Berthold, recognized Burgum’s progress in establishing meaningful relationships with tribes, but said she worries about Trump administration policies.

“I hope that future Secretary Burgum remembers the trust and relationships that he’s built with North Dakota’s five Tribal Nations,” Finley-DeVille said in a statement. “My hope is that future Secretary Burgum will work collaboratively with tribes to ensure our voices are heard in decision-making processes. Together, we can address critical issues such as sustainable development, cultural preservation, and economic opportunity.”

Finley-DeVille added the Department of the Interior needs to protect tribal sovereignty, honor treaty rights, and ensure that development is conducted responsibly and with the full consultation of all impacted tribal nations.

Fox said Friday he’s hopeful Burgum will use his position in Washington to help create a friendlier regulatory environment for the MHA Nation and other oil-rich tribes. The MHA Nation is based on the Fort Berthold Reservation, home to nearly 3,000 active oil wells.

“We’re able to sit down and talk,” Fox, the MHA Nation chair, said of Burgum earlier this year. “That’s the key.”

Fox noted that in contrast, the MHA Nation has never gotten an audience with Haaland, despite several attempts to speak with her.

This past June, Burgum acknowledged at an event that relations between the state and tribes were at a low point when he took office in 2016. At the time, protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in southern North Dakota were ongoing, involving thousands of demonstrators who flocked to the state to camp in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in opposition to the pipeline.

Burgum said one of the first things he did as governor was reach out to Dave Archambault, chair of Standing Rock at the time, and offer to come meet with tribal leaders.

“That’s where we were starting from: with a commitment to each other to listen to each other,” Burgum said during this year’s Strengthening Government to Government conference, an annual event started under his leadership that brings together state and tribal leaders.

U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said he thinks Burgum’s experience working with North Dakota tribal leaders makes him a good fit for leading Interior. He characterized the current BIA as unresponsive and bureaucratic.

“Doug has done more for Indian relations in North Dakota than any governor in my lifetime, for sure, and maybe ever,” Cramer said.

Michael Achterling contributed to this report.

North Dakota Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. North Dakota Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Amy Dalrymple for questions: info@northdakotamonitor.com. Follow North Dakota Monitor on Facebook and X.