Takeaways from Day 3 of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominee hearings
CNN
Thursday’s trio of confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees put the focus squarely on Trump’s domestic and economic agenda, which will dominate the debates on Capitol Hill this year.
Thursday’s trio of confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees put the focus squarely on Trump’s domestic and economic agenda, which will dominate the debates on Capitol Hill this year. None of the nominees appearing Thursday before the Senate – Scott Bessent at Treasury, Doug Burgum at Interior and Lee Zeldin at the Environmental Protection Agency – appear to be in any danger of not winning Senate confirmation. But their hearings offered a preview of the coming battles the Trump administration will fight this year to implement the president-elect’s agenda on taxes, spending, tariffs and the environment. Bessent’s hearing, in particular, highlighted the looming deadlines in Congress this year on taxes and spending, including extending the Trump 2017 tax cuts. Republicans will have to navigate narrow majorities in the House and Senate to pass legislation. Addressing the expiring tax cuts is “the single most important economic issue of the day,” Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee. Burgum, the former North Dakota governor, praised Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda at his hearing, while Zeldin testified that he believes “climate change is real” but would not did not say whether he believes the EPA has an obligation to regulate planet-warming pollution. Here are takeaways from Thursday’s confirmation hearings:
Rep. Adelita Grijalva said Friday she was pepper-sprayed and pushed around during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in Tucson, Arizona, a claim that the Department of Homeland Security swiftly disputed.
The alleged drug traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were heading to link up with another, larger vessel that was bound for Suriname — a small South American country east of Venezuela – the admiral who oversaw the operation told lawmakers on Thursday according to two sources with direct knowledge of his remarks.
The first week of testimony in Brian Walshe’s murder trial in Dedham, Massachusetts, has come to an end. The jury heard from about two dozen witnesses called by the commonwealth in its case against Walshe as prosecutors work to prove he killed his wife, Ana Walshe, around New Year’s Day in 2023.
The US Army officially stood up a new command on Friday to oversee the Army’s activities in the Western Hemisphere in the latest signal of increasing focus on homeland defense.
A former high-level Drug Enforcement agent was indicted on charges of conspiring to traffic drugs and launder millions of dollars for a Mexican cartel.
A federal judge in Florida ordered the unsealing of grand jury transcripts and other records in the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein granting the Justice Department’s request.
The Indiana House approved new congressional maps designed to hand Republicans all nine of the state’s US House seats on Friday, setting the stage for a showdown next week in the state Senate.
Honduran presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla said last-minute interference from US President Donald Trump in the country’s closely fought election had damaged his chances of winning and left him trailing as vote counting dragged on.
Vice President JD Vance said he and second lady Usha Vance are largely amused by the online chatter dissecting their marriage, including a recent spate of headlines over photos of her without a wedding ring.
During interviews with the FBI, the suspect arrested in the pipe bomb probe told investigators that he believed the 2020 election was stolen, providing perhaps the first indication of a possible motive for the bombs placed near the DNC and RNC headquarters, people briefed on the matter said.
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The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.
As Chad Curry busily ferries his teenage children through the streets of their Chicago neighborhood of West Ridge, he eyes passing vehicles with a skepticism he didn’t have just a few months ago.