Control over the U.S. House of Representatives still hangs in the balance, teetering between a Republican or Democratic majority with more than a dozen races left to be called.
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The comment from House Speaker Mike Johnson came in response to a question about whether he’s talked to Trump about funding the federal government beyond the current Dec. 20 deadline.
“My plan is to be at Mar-a-Lago all weekend to iron out details on the plans ahead,” Johnson said.
Johnson said it will be an ambitious agenda, but he declined to go into specifics.
“I told President Trump many times, as we’ve all discussed. We believe we could be the most consequential Congress in the modern era, and he’s the most consequential president, because we quite literally have to fix almost every metric of public policy. Everything is a mess. Everything.”
Speaker Mike Johnson says he doesn’t expect more House Republicans to join President-elect Donald Trump’s administration in the near-term because of the effect it would have on Republicans having enough votes to get priorities passed.
But he adds, “I’ll leave that up to him.”
Johnson says he expects Republicans to grow their slim House majority when all the votes are counted, but it would still be a slim one.
Johnson addressed the issue after it was disclosed that Trump has asked Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to be his United Nations ambassador and Michael Waltz, R-Fla., to be his national security adviser.
“Every single vote counts,” Johnson said.
Paulson said it in a statement Tuesday, nixing speculation that he would serve as Trump’s treasury secretary.
“My complex financial obligations would prevent me from holding an official position,” he said in the statement. “However, I intend to remain actively involved with the President’s economic team and helping in the implementation of President Trump’s outstanding policy proposals.”
Paulson is the founder of the New York-based hedge fund Paulson & Co. The 68-year-old money manager made his fortune betting against subprime mortgages ahead of the Great Recession. He was a major fundraiser for Trump’s latest presidential campaign.
Former George Soros money manager Scott Bessent, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin are among other names floated for the treasury secretary role.
Johnson says he plans to meet with Trump in the morning before Trump goes to the White House.
The visit comes on the same day as House and Senate Republicans each have their own elections to determine their leadership in the next Congress.
Johnson has kept in close contact with Trump throughout the election cycle, discussing campaign strategy and efforts Republicans would undertake in the first 100 days of a second Trump presidency.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that Republicans are “ready to deliver” on President-elect Donald Trump’s mandate, ensuring they’re more prepared for a second-term agenda.
Standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with the House GOP leadership team, the Republican speaker said there would be no time wasted on Trump’s “America First” agenda of securing the southern border and other priorities in what he expects will be unified government, even though House control is still too early to call.
“We are ready to deliver on America’s mandate,” said Johnson.
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A judge is postponing a decision on whether to undo President-elect Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush money case because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.
New York Judge Juan M. Merchan had been set to rule Tuesday. Instead, he told Trump’s lawyers Tuesday he’d delay the ruling until Nov. 19.
According to emails filed in court, Trump’s lawyers asked for the delay over the weekend, arguing there are “strong reasons for the requested stay, and eventually dismissal of the case in the interests of justice.”
▶ Read more about Trump’s hush money case
The Supreme Court refused Tuesday to let former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows move the election interference case against him in Georgia to federal court.
Meadows was one of 19 people indicted in Georgia and accused of participating in an illegal scheme to keep then-president Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. Trump was also charged, though after he won reelection last week any trial appears unlikely, at least while he holds office. Both men have denied wrongdoing.
It’s unclear what affect the election results could have on others charged in the case, which is largely on hold after an appeals court agreed to review whether to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she had hired to lead the case.
▶ Read more about Mark Meadows’ case
A ranked choice tabulation to determine the winner of a House race in Maine was beginning Tuesday, after neither Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden nor Republican Austin Theriault won more than 50% of first-place votes.
Maine voters rank candidates in order of preference on ballots, and if necessary to reach a majority, the lesser choices of the last-place finisher’s supporters are reallocated.
Ballots from the 2nd Congressional District were brought to a building in the state capital where election workers will scan them and reallocate any valid votes on the more than 12,000 ballots that didn’t name Golden or Theriault.
But that won’t be the end of it. A requested recount will begin after the process determines a majority winner. Election workers will try to complete both tasks before the state’s Nov. 25 certification deadline.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has dusted off his golf clubs in an attempt to forge a bond with President-elect Donald Trump, an avid golf lover.
The presidential office said Tuesday that Yoon began practicing the game for the first time in eight years in preparation for a possible round of golf with Trump.
Since his election, Trump’s “America first” approach has raised concerns it could negatively affect the U.S. defense commitment to South Korea and hurt the trade interests of the Northeast Asian country in various ways, including increased tariffs.
Some experts say it’s important to build a close personal friendship with Trump during the transition period before he formally takes office in January.
▶ Read more about South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol
Congress returns to a changed Washington as President-elect Donald Trump’s hard-right agenda is quickly taking shape, buoyed by eager Republican allies eyeing a full sweep of power on Capitol Hill while Democrats are sorting out what went wrong.
Even as final election results are still being tallied, the House and Senate leadership is pushing ahead toward a second-term Trump White House and what he’s called a “mandate” for governing, with mass deportations, industry deregulation and wholesale gutting of the federal government.
Trump is already testing the norms of governance during this presidential transition period — telling the Senate to forgo its advise-and-consent role and simply accept his Cabinet nominees — and he is staffing his administration and finding lawmakers willing to bend those civic traditions.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to meet with the Biden administration this week to discuss zero-emission vehicles and disaster relief — issues that have been targeted in the past by President-elect Donald Trump.
The Democratic governor is leaving for Washington on Monday and will return home Wednesday, his office said. Newsom will also meet with California’s congressional delegation.
He is seeking federal approval for state climate rules, a $5.2 billion reimbursement for emergency funding during the COVID-19 pandemic and updates to the state’s Medicaid program, along with other priorities.
The trip comes days after Newsom called for state lawmakers to convene a special session in December to protect California’s liberal policies ahead of Trump’s return to office in January.
▶ Read more about the governor’s upcoming trip
A judge is due to decide Tuesday whether to undo President-elect Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush money case because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.
New York Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over Trump’s historic trial, is now tasked with deciding whether to toss out the jury verdict and order a new trial — or even dismiss the charges altogether. The judge’s ruling also could speak to whether the former and now future commander-in-chief will be sentenced as scheduled Nov. 26.
Just over a month after a jury convicted Trump of falsifying business records, the Supreme Court ruled that ex-presidents can’t be prosecuted for actions they took in the course of running the country, and prosecutors can’t cite those actions even to bolster a case centered on purely personal conduct.
▶ Read more about the upcoming ruling