Trump loyalist Kash Patel in contention to be named FBI director

Hugo Lowell

Donald Trump is keeping his controversial adviser Kash Patel in the running to be the next FBI director, according to two people familiar with the matter, as the transition team conducted interviews for the role on Monday night at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago club.

The existence of the interviews, made public in a since-deleted post by the vice president-elect JD Vance, underscored the intent to fire the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, years before his current term is up.

Vance revealed that he and Trump had been interviewing finalists for FBI director in a post responding to criticism he received for missing a Senate vote last night that confirmed one of Joe Biden’s nominees for the US court of appeals for the 11th circuit.

“When this 11th circuit vote happened, I was meeting President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI director,” Vance wrote.

Trump has a special interest in the FBI, having fired James Comey as director in 2017 over his refusal to close the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and then complaining about perceived disloyalty from Wray.

Patel’s continued position as a top candidate for the role makes clear Trump’s determination to install loyalists in key national security and law enforcement positions, as well as the support Patel has built up among key Trump allies.

The push for Patel – who has frequently railed against the “deep state” – has come from some of the longest-serving Trump advisers, notably those close to former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, a faction that got Trump’s personal lawyers picked for top justice department roles.

That faction has also suggested to Trump in recent days that if Patel gets passed over for the director role, he should be given the deputy FBI director position, one of the people said – a powerful job that helps run the bureau day to day and is crucially not subject to Senate confirmation.

House ethics committee to vote on publication of Matt Gaetz report

Joan E Greve

The House ethics committee is expected to meet on Wednesday to vote on releasing a report examining allegations of sexual misconduct against former Republican representative Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the US justice department.

The panel has previously said it was investigating claims that Gaetz “may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift”.

The justice department launched its own inquiry into accusations that Gaetz engaged in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, but the department closed its investigation last year without filing charges. Gaetz has consistently denied the allegations.

Two women testified to congressional investigators that Gaetz paid them for sex and that he was seen having sex with the 17-year-old, a lawyer for the women has said.

As the ethics committee is evenly split between the two parties, it would take only one Republican siding with every Democrat on the panel to have the report released. But prominent Republicans, including House speaker Mike Johnson, have cautioned against releasing the report on Gaetz, who resigned his seat immediately after Trump announced his nomination as attorney general.

“I think that would be a Pandora’s box,” Johnson told CNN on Sunday. “I don’t think we want the House ethics committee using all of its vast resources and powers to go after private citizens, and that’s what Matt Gaetz is now.”

But other Republicans, including Senator Markwayne Mullin, have suggested the report should be at least made available to the senators who will vote on confirming Gaetz’s nomination.

“I believe the Senate should have access to that,” Mullin told NBC News on Sunday. “Now, should it be released to the public or not? I guess that will be part of the negotiations. But that should be definitely part of our decision-making.”

Abené Clayton

Donald Trump has chosen Mehmet Oz, best known for starring in his eponymous daytime talkshow for more than a decade and leaning heavily into Trumpism during his failed 2022 run for a Pennsylvania Senate seat, to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The cardiothoracic surgeon, who faced immense backlash from the medical and scientific communities for pushing misinformation at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, will oversee the agency that operates on a $2.6tn annual budget and provides healthcare to more than 100 million people.

“I am honored to be nominated by (Donald Trump) to lead CMS,” Oz posted on X on Tuesday. “I look forward to serving my country to Make America Healthy Again under the leadership of HHS Secretary (Robert F Kennedy Jr).”

In the announcement of Oz’s selection, Trump said that Oz will “make America healthy again” and described him as “an eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor, and World-Class Communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades”.

Oz has been on US television screens for nearly 20 years, first appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2004. In that time, he’s talked to his audience about losing weight with fad diets and what it takes to have healthy poops and, toward the end of his run, touting hydroxychloroquine as a potential remedy for Covid-19.

You can see the full explainer on what to know about the New York University professor and surgeon turned television show host, and now Trump appointee, at this link:

Throughout his campaign, president-elect Donald Trump heaped scorn on the federal Department of Education, describing it as being infiltrated by “radicals, zealots and Marxists.”

He has picked Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive, to lead the department. But like many conservative politicians before him, Trump has called for dismantling the department altogether – a cumbersome task that likely would require action from Congress.

The Associated Press has this short explainer on what that would mean:

The agency’s main role is financial. Annually, it distributes billions in federal money to colleges and schools and manages the federal student loan portfolio. Closing the department would mean redistributing each of those duties to another agency. The education department also plays an important regulatory role in services for students, ranging from those with disabilities to low-income and homeless kids.

Indeed, federal education money is central to Trump’s plans for colleges and schools. Trump has vowed to cut off federal money for schools and colleges that push “critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content” and to reward states and schools that end teacher tenure and enact universal school choice programs.

Federal funding makes up a relatively small portion of public school budgets – roughly 14%. Colleges and universities are more reliant on it, through research grants along with federal financial aid that helps students pay their tuition.

The president of the National Education Association (NEA) said that the president-elect’s decision to name Linda McMahon as his pick for education secretary in his upcoming administration, shows “that he could not care less about our students’ futures”.

In a statement released on Tuesday after Donald Trump’s announcement, Becky Pringle criticised the naming of McMahon, the billionaire co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and called on the Senate to reject “Trump’s unqualified nominee”. She warned that “McMahon’s only mission is to eliminate the Department of Education and take away taxpayer dollars from public schools”.

Pringle wrote:

Every student – no matter where they live, how much their family earns, or the color of their skin – deserves the opportunity, resources, and support they need to grow into their full brilliance. In every community across this country parents and educators are partners in this effort.

By selecting Linda McMahon, Donald Trump is showing that he could not care less about our students’ futures. Rather than working to strengthen public schools, expand learning opportunities for students, and support educators, McMahon’s only mission is to eliminate the Department of Education and take away taxpayer dollars from public schools, where 90% of students – and 95% of students with disabilities – learn, and give them to unaccountable and discriminatory private schools.

During his first term, Donald Trump appointed Betsy DeVos to undermine and ultimately privatize public schools through vouchers. 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.

She added:

Parents and educators will stand together to support students and reject the harmful, outlandish, and insulting policies being pushed by the Trump administration. They will make their voices heard, just as they did by resoundingly defeating vouchers in states like Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska.

The Department of education plays such a critical role in the success of each and every student in this country.

The Senate must stand up for our students and reject Donald Trump’s unqualified nominee, Linda McMahon. Our students and our nation deserve so much better than Betsy DeVos 2.0.”

In a statement on Tuesday, Trump extolled the “incredible” job McMahon has been doing as transition team co-chair and said:

As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families. … We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort.”

More on this story in a moment, but first, here are some other key developments

• Trump has chosen Mehmet Oz, best known for starring in his eponymous daytime talkshow for more than a decade and leaning heavily into Trumpism during his failed 2022 run for a Pennsylvania Senate seat, to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The cardiothoracic surgeon, who faced immense backlash from the medical and scientific communities for pushing misinformation at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, will oversee the agency that operates on a $2.6tn annual budget and provides healthcare to more than 100 million people.

• Trump is keeping his controversial adviser Kash Patel in the running to be the next FBI director, according to two people familiar with the matter, as the transition team conducted interviews for the role on Monday night at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago club. The existence of the interviews, made public in a since-deleted post by the vice president-elect JD Vance, underscored the intent to fire the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, years before his current term is up.

• Russia on Wednesday accused the US of prolonging the “war in Ukraine” by stepping up weapons deliveries to Kyiv ahead of Trump’s return to the White House. Both Moscow and Kyiv are jockeying to secure an upper hand on the battlefield ahead of Trump assuming office in January 2025.

• Women’s health advocates in Africa are worried that Trump will again invoke the so-called global gag rule, a policy that cuts off US government funding for groups that offer abortion-related services. The gag rule has been imposed by all Republican presidents since 1984. In 2017, Trump expanded it, cutting foreign NGOs off not only from family planning money, but from broader US global health assistance covering malaria and tuberculosis prevention, water and sanitation, and the distribution of health information.

• Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, says Australia is ‘ready’ for a second Trump presidency. In a speech to the Sydney International Strategy Forum via video link, Rudd said: “The team here at the embassy and the government of Australia are ready to work closely with the new Trump administration to continue to realise the benefits of what is a very strong economic and security partnership.”