White House: Obama To Lay Out Spending Plan

“In nearly every meeting that President-elect Donald J. Trump holds at Mar-a-Lago, alongside him is someone who has been elected to nothing, nominated to nothing and, only a few months ago, had no meaningful relationship with him,” the New York Times reports. “Elon Musk.” “The world’s richest person has ascended to a position of extraordinary, unofficial influence in Mr.

“The House Republicans who took a leading role defending President-elect Trump during his first impeachment trial in 2020 are reaping the benefits,” The Hill reports. “Of the eight GOP lawmakers who were part of Trump’s team to push back on allegations he withheld aid to Ukraine for political reasons, three are set to join his Cabinet; one is Speaker of the House and a staunch ally; and one became Trump’s chief of staff in his first administration.” Said GOP donor Dan Eberhart: “He’s showing that he remembers who stuck with him, and he wants an administration that’s really going to put America first, and he’s not going to have kind of pushback from the establishment on what he wants to achieve.”

“Jack Smith, the special counsel who pursued two federal prosecutions of Donald Trump, plans to finish his work and resign along with other members of his team before Mr. Trump takes office in January,” the New York Times reports. “Mr. Smith’s goal, they said, is to not leave any significant part of his work for others to complete and to get ahead of the president-elect’s promise to fire him within ‘two seconds’ of being sworn in.” CNN: Special counsel Jack Smith looking at stepping down before Trump takes office and is discussing how to end prosecutions.

“Voters in Montana, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania — states that Donald Trump won on Nov. 5 — also voted for Republicans to take over Senate seats currently held by Democrats, helping Republicans secure control of the upper chamber,” the Washington Post reports. “After these flips, only Maine, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will send a split-party delegation of one Democrat and one Republican to the Senate.

New York Times: “Consumer sentiment among Republicans has soared nearly 30 percent in the week since Election Day, according to data from Morning Consult, an online survey firm. Republicans, according to the survey, now feel better about the economy than at any time since Mr. Trump lost his bid for re-election four years ago.” “Democrats, unsurprisingly, have had a very different reaction.

“The Republican Party used to have a label for the kind of foreign policy hawk that President-elect Donald Trump named on Tuesday as his national security adviser and is considering as his secretary of state: neocons,” the New York Times reports. “But while they once were neoconservatives, over the past few years Representative Michael Waltz and Senator Marco Rubio, both of Florida, have gradually shifted their positions.