News From Around the Web
#10 Matt Gaetz Withdraws His Bid for Attorney General Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations - NBC News, Shadow of Ezra, Nick Sortor, Joey Mannarino, and Charlie Kirk on X
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., announced Thursday that he would withdraw his name from consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general. Gaetz's path was mired by a series of allegations of sexual misconduct, including sex with a minor at a 2017 party. On Thursday, NBC News learned from a source familiar with the discussions that the House Ethics Committee, which had been investigating Gaetz, was told that a 17-year-old girl had two sexual encounters with the then-congressman at the party. The description of the second encounter was included in her testimony to the House Ethics Committee as well as a deposition in a related civil lawsuit. The second sexual encounter included another adult woman, a source said.
#9 Trump Chooses Loyalist Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Matt Gaetz Withdraws - AP News, Charlie Kirk, Ronnie V, Torsten Prochnow, John Roberts, and Cynthia Breed on X
President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday he will nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the Justice Department, turning to a longtime ally after his first choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name from consideration amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations. Bondi has been an outspoken defender of Trump. She was one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial when he was accused — but not convicted — of abusing his power as he tried to condition U.S. military assistance to Ukraine on that country investigating then-former Vice President Joe Biden. And she was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his New York hush money criminal trial that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts...
#8 Nikki Haley Criticizes Trump Cabinet Picks Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr - Martin Pengelly for The Guardian, Donald Trump Jr., Tara Bull, Vince Langman, Ashley Nicole, and Ashley St. Clair and The Calvin Coolidge Project on X
Nikki Haley, the former UN ambassador and Republican presidential hopeful, criticized two of Donald Trump’s cabinet picks, calling his choice for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, “a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer” and Robert F Kennedy Jr, tapped for health secretary, a “liberal Democrat” with no background in relevant policy. “So now she’s defended Russia, she’s defended Syria, she’s defended Iran, and she’s defended China,” Haley said of Gabbard on her SiriusXM radio show on Wednesday. “No, she has not denounced any of these views. None of them. She hasn’t taken one of them back. “This is not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer,” Haley continued, adding that the director of national intelligence “has to analyze real threats” to US security...
#7 SEC Chair Gary Gensler Will Step Down Jan. 20, Make Way for Trump Replacement - Jesse Pound for CNBC, Bloomberg Crypto, Jack the Rippler, Chad Steingraber, and John E. Deaton on X
Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler will resign on Jan. 20, the agency announced Thursday, paving the way for President-elect Donald Trump to immediately select a replacement. Gensler took over the SEC in 2021, and under his leadership, the commission has taken an ambitious but controversial approach to several regulatory issues, including cryptocurrencies. Trump has not announced his pick to lead the SEC, but the expectation is that the next chair will be friendlier to Wall Street and crypto...
#6 The Police Report About Pete Hegseth’s Alleged Sexual Assault Vindicates Him Of Criminality - Eddie Scarry for The Federalist, Eric Daugherty, and Will Cain on X
hat you’re going to hear now and in the coming days from the national media is that there are “graphic” details in a police report related to an alleged sexual assault involving Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming nominee for Defense secretary. It’s certainly graphic, but the media will bet you won’t bother reading the report, which, in reality, looks really bad for the alleged victim and effectively clears Hegseth of criminality. The 22-page report details an incident from seven years ago when in 2017, Hegseth, then a Fox News celebrity, attended an event for a Republican women’s group as a featured speaker...#5 Jussie Smollett Conviction Overturned by Illinois Supreme Court - Lauryn Overhultz for Fox News, Charlie Kirk, Meghann Cuniff, End Wokeness, and Spitfire on X
The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned Jussie Smollett's hate crime hoax conviction. "Today we resolve a question about the State’s responsibility to honor the agreements it makes with defendants," the court wrote in documents obtained by Fox News Digital. "Specifically, we address whether a dismissal of a case by nolle prosequi allows the State to bring a second prosecution when the dismissal was entered as part of an agreement with the defendant and the defendant has performed his part of the bargain. We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we therefore reverse defendant’s conviction." Smollett, who is Black and gay, reported to Chicago police that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack by two men wearing ski masks in January 2019...
#4 Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Tapped to Work With Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as New Doge Subcommittee Chair - Kevin Breuninger for CNBC, Eric Daugherty, Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, Benny Johnson, and The Conservative Alternative on X
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has been tapped to lead a new House subcommittee that will work with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Greene and House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., have met with Ramaswamy and his team and are "already working together," a person familiar with the matter told CNBC on Thursday. Comer aims to establish the subpanel early next year, the source said. Greene's group will be dubbed the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, allowing it to share the DOGE acronym with the outside-of-government entity commissioned by President-elect Donald Trump...
#3 Who Will be Trump's FBI Director? Three Potential Candidates - Ewan Palmer for Newsweek, Hodgetwins, Karli Bonne, Amuse, Philip Anderson, Tracy Beanz
Donald Trump's transition team is said to be interviewing potential candidates for the next FBI director, a sign that the bureau's current leader, Christopher Wray, will be replaced. Vice President-elect JD Vance said in a since-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter, that he was absent from a Senate vote for one of President Joe Biden's judicial picks as he was meeting with Trump to "interview multiple positions for our government," including for FBI director. "I tend to think it's more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45," Vance added. The president-elect and Vance have not indicated who might replace Wray as director, but a number of loyalists, such as former Trump administration aide Kash Patel, former Republican Representative Mike Rogers, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, are potential front-runners.
#2 Democrat Bob Casey Concedes Pennsylvania Senate Race to Dave McCormick - Breanne Deppisch and Bradford Betz for Fox News, The Persistence, John Cremeans, and Bucks County GOP on X
Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. Bob Casey on Thursday announced he has conceded the race to Republican candidate Dave McCormick more than two weeks after Election Day. Casey said in a statement that he called McCormick to congratulate him. McCormick's campaign also independently confirmed the news to Fox News Digital. "I just called Dave McCormick to congratulate him on his election to represent Pennsylvania in the United States Senate," Casey said in the statement. "As the first count of ballots is completed, Pennsylvanians can move forward with the knowledge that their voices were heard, whether their vote was the first to be counted or the last."
#1 Expert in Daniel Penny Trial Argues Chokehold Did Not Cause Death of Homeless Man - Misty Severi for Just the News, John Solomon, Collin Rugg, Jason Howerton, and Fischer King on X
An expert witness testified on Thursday in Daniel Penny's manslaughter trial that the former Marine's chokehold of a homeless man was not the actual cause of death. Penny is standing trial for allegedly killing Jordan Neely on a subway in New York City last year. Neely, who had schizophrenia and a sickle cell genetic disorder, stormed into the subway car with synthetic drugs in his system and allegedly shouted death threats at passengers. The former marine has been charged with criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter in connection with the incident, and has pleaded not guilty. Dr. Satish Chundru, a forensic pathologist, told the court that he disagreed with the New York City Medical Examiner's Office's cause of death, and said he believes the real cause is "the combined effects of sickle cell crisis, the schizophrenia, the struggle and restraint, and the synthetic marijuana," according to Fox News...
