President-elect Trump makes historic selection for White House press secretary
President-elect Donald Trump announced his pick of campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt to serve as press secretary for his upcoming administration.
“Karoline Leavitt did a phenomenal job as the National Press Secretary on my Historic Campaign, and I am pleased to announce she will serve as White House Press Secretary,” Trump said in a statement Friday evening.
“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator. I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American People as we, Make America Great Again.”
Leavitt, 27, will be the youngest White House press secretary in U.S. history, unseating Nixon administration press secretary Ron Ziegler, who was 29 when he served in the role from 1969-1974.
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Leavitt served as the campaign’s national press secretary, rallying support for Trump while also working as his fierce defender amid political attacks from the Harris campaign and Democrats.
“They forced him to take a mug shot. They tried to remove his name off of the ballot. They forced him to sit in a dirty courthouse for six weeks. Two people tried to kill him, for goodness sake,” Leavitt said last week on “Fox & Friends” following the election. “And the American people see, in Donald Trump, is clear a leader who even in the darkest of times is going to lift his fist in the air and say, ‘fight, fight, fight’ for this country.”
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“Democracy appeared to be the number one issue for voters. It’s clear that the American people believe President Trump is the best candidate to preserve our democracy. And it shows the Democrats’ message in these final weeks of the campaign that he’s this alleged threat to democracy just didn’t work in the eyes of the American people,” she added.
Leavitt previously served in Trump’s first administration as assistant press secretary under Kayleigh McEnany’s tenure. In 2022, the New Hampshire native launched a congressional campaign to represent the state’s 1st Congressional District, winning the primary but not the general election.
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Speculation had mounted that Trump would likely name Leavitt for the role, while other names were also floated, such as Trump’s legal spokeswoman and adviser Alina Habba, President George W. Bush aide and CNN contributor Scott Jennings, or longtime Trump adviser and ally Jason Miller, or campaign spokesman and adviser Steven Cheung.
Trump named Cheung communications director earlier Friday. Other names floated as potential contenders included former ESPN host Sage Steele, RNC spokeswoman Elizabeth Pipko and former Trump administration official Monica Crowley.
In 2016, Trump announced Sean Spicer as his first press secretary, who served in the position from Jan. 20, 2017, to July of that year. Trump’s first administration also saw Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who currently serves as governor of Arkansas, Stephanie Grisham and McEnany.
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Trump’s second administration is already coming together at a much faster pace than during his 2016 transition phase, naming more than 20 picks just over a week after Election Day, including high-profile choices such as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to oversee the Department of Health and Human Services; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to lead the State Department; and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., as attorney general.
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“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin, giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail — and his Cabinet picks reflect his priority to put America First. President Trump will continue to appoint highly qualified men and women who have the talent, experience and necessary skill sets to Make America Great Again,” Leavitt told Fox News Digital when asked about Trump’s speedy roll-out of Cabinet picks earlier this week.
President’s staffing decisions back in spotlight as Dems melt down over Trump nominees
Conservatives are pushing back after Democrats have criticized President-elect Trump’s Cabinet appointments for not being “qualified” by pointing to several examples of members of the Biden-Harris administration and campaign having questionable qualifications for their roles.
In recent days, Democrats in Congress and in the media have blasted Trump Cabinet nominees over their qualifications, including combat veteran Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense; South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security; Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., as attorney general; and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), among others.
“Three recent Trump nominees – Gaetz, Hegseth, and Gabbard – are far less qualified than Senate confirmation rejects like Bork, Tower, and Mier,” Harvard Professor Lawrence Summers, who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, posted on X. “I hope that the Senate will do its duty.”
“Pete Hegseth is not remotely qualified to be Secretary of Defense,” Dem. Rep. Jason Crow posted on X.
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“[Pete Hegseth] is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense. I lead the Senate military personnel panel. All three of my brothers served in uniform,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said, omitting his decades-long military career. “I respect every one of our servicemembers. Donald Trump’s pick will make us less safe and must be rejected.”
Democrats have also slammed Trump for nominating Kennedy as his HHS secretary despite a resurfaced Politico report revealing that Kennedy was being considered by Obama for Environmental Protection Agency during his 2008 presidential transition.
Since taking office in 2021, Biden has faced criticism from Republicans over several members of his administration who were believed to be lacking key attributes needed to perform the duties they were assigned in addition to scandals.
“The Democrats are melting down over Trump‘s cabinet picks so far, but they had no problem with ‘Mayor Pete’ being appointed Secretary of Transportation with no prior qualifications,” Link Lauren, an influencer and political commentator, who served as senior adviser to the Kennedy campaign, told Fox News Digital.
“Trump won the popular vote, the electoral college, the House and the Senate. That is a mandate from the American people that they want systemic change. I understand some of Trump‘s appointees have garnered mixed reactions — even from Republicans. But let’s give Trump’s appointees a chance, then verify in time that they are doing a great job.”
Buttigieg was appointed Biden’s transportation secretary after serving as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, for eight years, with some questioning at the time whether he had enough related experience for the job. Since taking office, Republicans have amplified those concerns after a series of perceived missteps from Buttigieg, including the fallout from the supply chain crises and the devastating train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
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“Take Secretary Buttigieg — his only qualifications for the job was a failed presidential campaign and time spent as a university-town mayor,” Bradley Devlin, Politics Editor at The Daily Signal, told Fox News Digital. “From East Palestine to electric chargers, it hasn’t gone well for ‘Mayor Pete,’ but Buttigieg has retained his job because he’s remained loyal to the Biden administration’s attempted radical energy and transportation policies.”
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, who worked as a lawyer before serving as counsel to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., then an adviser to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, rose through the ranks into high-profile positions in the Obama administration but has been maligned as unqualified by Republicans over a series of national security blunders that occurred during his tenure, including the botched Afghanistan withdrawal and falsely claiming that the “Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades” days before Hamas killed at least 1,200 Israelis in a vicious attack.
Republicans criticized Sullivan’s role as Biden’s national security adviser, the youngest in history, due to his previous pushing of the “Russia collusion hoax” as part of the Clinton campaign and his role in her State Department office amid the Benghazi cover-up.
Several other Biden officials have faced heated criticism over their qualifications in recent years, including former senior Department of Energy official Sam Brinton, who identifies as nonbinary and was arrested multiple times for baggage theft at airports.
Eric Lipka, who served as a deputy press secretary on the Biden-Harris campaign, sparked controversy earlier this year over his drag queen alter ego “Erotica the Drag Queen.”
Tyler Cherry, who worked in both the Biden White House and the Department of Interior, was hired and promoted despite several social media posts comparing police to “slave patrols,” promoting conspiracies about Russia colluding with Trump and supporting the anti-Israel movement.
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Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., when asked on Thursday about the controversy surrounding Trump’s appointment of Gaetz, held up a photo of assistant HHS Secretary Rachel Levine and Brinton asked, “Did you ask Democratic senators about this?”
Levine, the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the Senate, has faced criticism from Republicans on various issues such as sex change surgeries for minors and was labeled by a New York Post op-ed as “America’s No.1 gender extremist.”
Dozens of scientists from universities and environmental groups pushed for the removal of the head of Biden’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, claiming she lacked the educational background required to run the agency despite securing Senate confirmation.
“Liberals and progressives bemoaning these nominees’ alleged lack of qualifications are simply looking to protect the system they created — a government of, by and for the ‘experts’ — and that benefits them politically,” Devlin told Fox News Digital.
“This can be seen well beyond Biden’s cabinet picks, too. For example, the first 10 Biden-appointed appellate judges averaged merely 14 authored opinions each from the bench. Trump’s first 12 appellate judges, meanwhile, had averaged 34 over a similar time period — twice as many as Biden’s nominees.”
In 2023, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blasted the qualifications of Biden’s judicial appointments saying in a press release, “The American people deserve the best and brightest. The Democrats are producing… something else.”
“Xavier Becerra, HHS – not a doctor, he’s a lawyer, ex-attorney general of California Jared Bernstein, Chair of Council of Economic Advisors – not an economist, Bachelor’s degree in music, masters in sociology,” FOX Business Evening Edit anchor Liz McDonald posted on X.
“Jennifer Granholm, Energy Secy – no energy background, Michigan Governor Gina Raimondo, Commerce Secretary – No trade background, Gov of Rhode Island Deb Haaland, Interior Secy – New Mexico Congressman,” she continued.
Conservative radio host and Fox News host Mark Levin pointed to Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz as evidence that Democrats have been hypocritical on the issue of cabinet qualifications.
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“The Democrat Party nominated and supported Tim Walz for vice president,” Levin posted on X.
“I don’t want to hear from that party or its media that any of the Trump nominees are unqualified for their posts. They have demonstrated that they have no standards at all when it comes to selecting even a vice-presidential candidate. Every Trump nominee has a solid record. Perspective is very important.”
The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Former Trump official names two agencies that could be first on DOGE’s chopping block
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that will be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to help President-elect Trump’s administration cut wasteful federal spending could look at streamlining regulatory agencies covering the financial sector.
DOGE announced on Thursday that it is opening the process of applying to workers interested in taking on the cost-cutting push, which Musk said will be a “revolution” for reining in waste and fraud in the federal government, though there remains uncertainty over how much cost-cutting it will be able to accomplish. DOGE is accepting applications via direct messages on X and on Friday allowed all X users to send DMs after previously requiring a $7 a month premium X subscription.
The cost-cutting endeavor could take a look at regulatory agencies that have overlapping jurisdictions as a means of boosting efficiency and controlling costs, as Gary Cohn, former director of the National Economic Council, said on FOX Business Network’s “The Claman Countdown” that two financial regulators could face scrutiny.
“We have a lot of costs in the U.S. government in a lot of different regulatory agencies, regulatory agencies that potentially overlap,” Cohn said. “The [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] and the [Securities and Exchange Commission], they both are regulators for retail investors.”
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“Do we need two of them? I’m not saying we don’t, but these are questions that should be asked because at the end of the day, both of those agencies are very expensive and you have to think about what it costs us as a federal government, or its taxpayers, to have those agencies,” Cohn explained. “How are those agencies run? How effectively are they run?”
The CFPB has an annual budget of about $800 million and is financed by earnings transferred from the Federal Reserve System. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has a $2.4 billion budget, which is structured to be deficit-neutral with its appropriated funds offset by transaction fees.
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Cohn said that improving the technological capabilities of government agencies will make them work more efficiently and result in cost savings.
“You’re going to get the money by making these organizations more efficient. You’re going to invest in technology, I don’t think the government has invested in a lot of technology, I don’t think there’s a lot of AI in the government, I don’t think there’s a lot of high-end computing in the government,” Cohn said.
“We’re going to use modern technology to make the government more efficient and cut down on the administrative costs,” he added. “Administrative cost is huge in the U.S. government.”
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Host Liz Claman noted that the incoming Trump administration is planning to use funds saved from cutting spending on things like electric vehicle subsidies to help offset lost tax revenue from planned tax cuts, such as the extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s lower rates and broader standard deduction.
Cohn said that proposals such as ending taxes on tips, overtime and high-income earners’ Social Security benefits will be looked at in light of their revenue impact as tax reform plans come together.
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“When you look at the tax code, all of these items that were talked about on the campaign trail, they’ll be looked at – what do we do with tips, what do we do with overtime, what do we do with Social Security? If we do that, if we change that, how do we pay for the government? There are gives and takes in all of these conversations,” he said.
Joe Rogan jokingly floats theory for why Biden was so ‘happy’ to meet Trump at WH
Podcaster Joe Rogan suggested this week that President Biden wanted President-elect Trump to win after his party pushed him to drop out of the race in July.
Biden’s smiling face during his meeting with Trump at the White House on Wednesday sparked some speculation that the incumbent was happy to hand over the reins to Trump rather than his replacement on the Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Do you know what one of my f—ing favorite things of this whole election cycle has been? Yesterday when Biden and Trump sat down in the White House,” Rogan said. “Biden voted for Trump. I guarantee it. I f—ing guarantee it. I never saw that dude so happy in his f—ing life. He lost. His party lost. He was happy.”
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He then compared the reception to how then-President Obama greeted Trump after his first victory in 2016, arguing that Obama looked exasperated at the time.
When a photo of Biden beaming next to Trump was shown, Rogan immediately began laughing, “Look at, look at Biden! Look at his f—ing smile, dude! Look at his f—ing smile, man. That’s like when your kid gets married.”
Rogan went on to say that Biden felt joy at Harris being soundly defeated, recalling when the president placed a Trump hat on his head while out campaigning.
“I guarantee you, I guarantee you that mother—-er was happy. He had a giant smile on his face. He said, ‘Welcome back’ to him,” he joked.
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“I thought it was ‘Hitler,’” the podcast host said, recalling past rhetoric from Biden condemning Trump. “I thought he was ‘dangerous!’”
“It’s so nuts, man. It’s so nuts,” Rogan later added. “All the different things that happened during this election are wilder than anything you’ve ever seen in a f—ing movie.”
Biden previously argued that Trump was “a threat to democracy” and in the final weeks of the campaign said “our democracy is at stake” if he wins.
Since the election, however, Biden has been far more conciliatory, with some pointing out the stark difference in rhetoic.
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Michael Moore finds new target after confidently predicting Trump was ‘toast’
Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore broke his silence about the 2024 election on Wednesday, lashing out at Americans as “not a good people” for electing Donald Trump to a second term by a wide margin.
By contrast, the progressive director and activist offered total confidence before the election, predicting Trump was “toast” against Vice President Kamala Harris.
“If you stop and think about it, we’ve come up with a lot of doozies in our history,” he wrote in a post on MichaelMoore.com. “Like the genocide of 20 million Native Americans. Or the enslavement of 12 million kidnapped Africans. Or us invading Vietnam and killing 4 million Asian people for no reason at all. We are not a good people.”
After saying that America has a “laundry list of evil deeds that led us directly to last week,” he derided fellow citizens for picking “a 34-time convicted felon, a fascist, and a civilly-charged and convicted sexual abuser to be our 47th president of the United States.”
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Moore’s current sentiments about Americans are quite the contrast to what he said before the election.
On November 3, two days before the election, he appeared on MSNBC and cheered his fellow citizens: “The majority of Americans do not want this divisiveness, they don’t want a threat of violence. We are okay to disagree with each other, but that’s where it ends.”
Portraying Americans as largely an easygoing bunch, the filmmaker continued, “We go to vote, who wins, wins. Half the time, I have been very happy with who has won, and the other half of the time, I haven’t been. And we move on with our lives.”
He confidently predicted on MSNBC that Trump was “toast,” saying of Trump’s supporters: “I think they are going to be very surprised – I’m talking about the Trump people and the MAGA nation – by what is going to happen on Tuesday.”
“I feel the same way that I felt a few weeks ago, that Trump is toast, absolutely. I feel it more now.”
In October, he mocked, “Democrats, they’re such a frightened group of people,” telling a CNN host, “I mean, they still think that Trump is going to win.”
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But in his post-election critique on MichaelMoore.com, the director chided Democrats and the Harris campaign: “It’s possible that history may be kinder to us if, next time, the working class doesn’t see our candidate campaigning with Wall Street billionaires. Or having to watch the campaign celebrate being endorsed by war criminals.”
Moore concluded by calling for kindness: “The first step in counteracting Trump’s crusade of cruelty, hatred, bigotry, misogyny, ignorance and fear is for each of us, in our daily lives, to be kind.”
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The director also asked his supporters to “forgive someone.” Without naming names, he added, “Just because you know you should. Because it’s been too long. Because it’s the right thing to do.”
Bakery owner ‘overwhelmed by the support’ after Whoopi Goldberg alleges discrimination
The owner of a Staten Island bakery has publicly refuted claims by “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg that the establishment refused to serve her because of her views.
Goldberg said on the daytime show on Wednesday that the longstanding bakery refused her cupcakes due to her liberal stance.
Jill Holtermann, who owns Holtermann’s Bakery on Staten Island, said that they were unable to meet the order due to a boiler issue and held a press conference on Friday flanked by local elected officials to bat back Goldberg’s claims.
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Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella explained what happened, and then Holtermann thanked the public for their support.
“It’s been here 145 years. They had a boiler that was 60 or 70 years old. And the first week in November, guess what? It went on the fritz,” Fossella said.
“They had it replaced. And the reputation of Holtermann’s is impeccable, so rather than commit to something they couldn’t guarantee, they said, ‘we can’t do it.’ And the person who besmirched, defamed them, took that as an insult to her. Well, get over it. This family will be here for, God willing, another 145 years.”
Holtermann thanked the community for its support in the wake of the controversy and said she has been bombarded with calls since the episode aired.
“I’m so overwhelmed by the support. Between finding out yesterday, this even happened, getting phone calls and then people coming in and people from all over just supporting us in every way,” she said. “We had phone calls yesterday from Alabama. Guys, I’m going to give you $50, send it to a school, send them donuts, send them cupcakes. The support has been so overwhelming and I know how hard my family has worked to keep this business alive.”
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She said the community is the backbone of the business, and staff have conversations with customers every day about the well-being of their families.
During Wednesday’s episode of “The View,” Goldberg and her co-hosts celebrated her 69th birthday with Charlotte Russe desserts, a nostalgic New York treat that Goldberg shared was her mother’s favorite.
Goldberg told the audience her birthday order had almost fallen through due to what she claimed was the bakery’s objection to her left-wing political stance.
“They said that their ovens had gone down, all kinds of stuff, but folks went and got them anyway, which is why I’m not telling you who made them,” said Goldberg on Wednesday. She claimed that her order was not rejected because of her gender, but rather because “they did not like my politics.”
Holtermann denied Goldberg’s version of the events to Entertainment Weekly, explaining that the bakery’s issues were not politically motivated but stemmed from mechanical problems with their boilers, an ongoing challenge in their building, which was built in 1930.
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“I said to Whoopi, ‘I can’t do it right now’,” Holtermann told the outlet. “We have so many things going on with my boiler.”
Holtermann confirmed that she ultimately managed to make 50 treats, which were picked up early Wednesday morning for “The View’s” taping.
Holtermann reiterated that her inability to immediately confirm the order had nothing to do with Goldberg’s political beliefs, adding, “I didn’t want to make a commitment that I can’t carry through,” given the existing technical difficulties.