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Trump sentencing in hush money case remains uncertain

Back in May, former President Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to suppress damaging information ahead of his 2016 election. His sentencing was delayed until after the election, but now that he is president-elect, what happens next is less clear. Tina Trinh reports.
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Trump plans to nominate billionaire Wall Street banker for commerce secretary

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate Wall Street financier Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary in his new administration, Trump announced on Tuesday. 

The 63-year-old billionaire has been co-chair of Trump’s transition team, helping to consider and vet numerous people to assume top-level government jobs after Trump takes office on January 20. Lutnick has been an outspoken Trump supporter in recent months. 

The CEO and chairman of the Cantor Fitzgerald global financial services firm, Lutnick was reported to be in contention to become Treasury secretary, another top job Trump has yet to fill. But Trump associates say Lutnick fell out of favor for the Treasury job amid conflicts with another leading candidate, investor Scott Bessent. 

If nominated to become commerce secretary and confirmed by the Senate, as would be likely, Lutnick could play a leading role in implementing the president’s economic and trade policies.  

Trump has proposed widespread increases in tariffs on imported goods, an effort to boost American manufacturing of the same products, but one that in the near term threatens to increase prices for American consumers and disrupt the global economy. 

The Commerce Department oversees an array of federal business policies, including on semiconductors, cybersecurity and patents, and helps promote new businesses and economic growth in the United States, the world’s biggest economy. 

Lutnick has donated to both Democrats and Republicans in the past. He also once appeared on Trump’s NBC reality TV show “The Apprentice” before Trump was first elected president in 2016. 

The Cantor Fitzgerald firm that Lutnick heads lost more employees — 658 out of 960 — than any other business in the September 11, 2001, al-Qaida terrorist attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Another 46 contractors and visitors who were in the Cantor Fitzgerald offices that day were killed when the towers collapsed. 

Lutnick’s brother Gary was among those killed when hijackers flew commercial jetliners into the skyscrapers, hitting the North Tower just below where Cantor Fitzgerald occupied floors 101 to 105. Howard Lutnick would have been there as well but was taking his son Kyle to his first day of kindergarten. 

Back at the site, Howard Lutnick survived the collapse of the South Tower by taking cover under a nearby car. He later created the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund to assist families of victims of the attacks and natural disasters. 
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US House panel to consider releasing report on Trump’s attorney general nominee

The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee is set to meet Wednesday to decide whether to release its investigative report on former Representative Matt Gaetz, who was accused of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use before he was picked by President-elect Donald Trump to be attorney general in his new administration.

Several U.S. senators, Democrats and Republicans alike, are demanding that the report be released so they can consider the scope of Gaetz’s background as they undertake their constitutionally mandated role of confirming or rejecting a new president’s Cabinet nominees.

Last Wednesday, Trump named Gaetz, 42, a Republican congressman from Florida for eight years, to become the country’s top law enforcement official. Hours later, Gaetz resigned from Congress, even though he had just been reelected to a fifth term. His resignation ended the House Ethics Committee’s investigation, which had been nearing a conclusion.

But it remained uncertain whether the panel would divulge what conclusions it had reached.

The committee, with five Democrats and five Republicans, had been looking into allegations that Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and used drugs illicitly. Gaetz has denied the allegations. The Justice Department, which Gaetz hopes to lead, investigated the case but declined last year to bring any charges.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who leads the narrow Republican majority in the chamber, has contended that no ethics report should be made public because Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress. However, there have been instances where that has occurred in the past.

Johnson told CNN on Sunday that senators reviewing the Gaetz nomination as the country’s top law enforcement official will “have a vigorous review and vetting process,” but that they did not need to see the House Ethics Committee’s report. Some senators have suggested they could move to subpoena it if it is not turned over to them voluntarily.

Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin on Sunday told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the panel should share its report with the Senate.

“The Senate should have access to that,” Mullin said. “Should it be released to the public or not? That I guess will be part of the negotiations.”

Gaetz is one of several Trump appointees to his Cabinet who do not have the credentials normally seen in candidates for high-level government jobs.

Over the weekend, a lawyer for another Trump choice, Pete Hegseth, a 44-year-old Fox News host named to be defense secretary, revealed that Hegseth several years ago paid an undisclosed amount to a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017 to avert the threat of what he viewed as a baseless lawsuit becoming public.

Trump has stood by his Cabinet nominees, refusing to withdraw their nominations. But the controversies surrounding Gaetz, Hegseth and others could threaten their confirmations by the Senate to be in Trump’s Cabinet.

The president-elect also has sought — with little success so far — to get the Senate, in Republican control come January when he takes office, to agree to recess at times so he could name and install his Cabinet members without the need for contentious and time-consuming confirmation hearings.
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US Senate Republicans ready for unified control in 2025 with new leadership

President-elect Donald Trump will come into office in January 2025 with unified control of the U.S. Congress. Republicans will hold majorities in both the Senate and House as the result of a mandate from American voters. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill.
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Two Trump Cabinet nominees embroiled in sex controversies

Two of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s key nominations – Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary and former lawmaker Matt Gaetz as attorney general — have become embroiled in sex controversies that could threaten their Senate confirmations to serve in Trump’s Cabinet.  

Hegseth, 44, paid an undisclosed amount to a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017 to avert the threat of what he viewed as a baseless claim becoming public, his lawyer, Tim Parlatore, told U.S. news media this weekend.

Gaetz, 42, resigned abruptly last week from the House of Representatives near the end of his fourth two-year term, just days before the House Ethics Committee was nearing conclusion of an investigation into whether he had had sex with a 17-year-old girl and engaged in illicit drug use. Some lawmakers have described Gaetz showing nude cellphone pictures of his sexual conquests in the House chamber.   

Gaetz has denied the allegations and federal authorities had earlier this year decided not to bring charges. 

Hegseth’s lawyer, Parlatore, described Hegseth’s hotel sexual encounter with the woman after a Republican women’s event in Monterey, California, in 2017 as consensual. Local police, after an investigation, did not file any charges.  

Parlatore told The Washington Post that Hegseth settled the woman’s claim a few years later because he believed the filing of her threatened lawsuit “would result in his immediate termination from Fox,” where he was the popular host of a weekend talk show.  

“He was falsely accused, and my position is that he was the victim of blackmail,” Parlatore told The Associated Press, calling it a case of “successful extortion.” The woman’s name has not been made public, and U.S. news media do not usually disclose the names of alleged sexual assault victims without their consent.  

Parlatore’s statements to news outlets came after a woman who said she is a friend of the accuser sent a detailed memo to the Trump transition several days ago detailing the Hegseth incident with his accuser. The accuser alleged that Hegseth had raped her after drinking at a hotel bar.

Trump so far has stood by Hegseth, an unconventional selection as the Pentagon chief.

Some Democratic and Republican lawmakers have raised concerns about Hegseth’s lack of a managerial background, either at the Defense Department or at a business. The Pentagon chief would oversee more than 2 million U.S. troops and a civilian work force of nearly 800,000 people.  

In addition, some critics have raised concerns about a large tattoo on Hegseth’s upper right chest, which he characterizes as a Christian symbol, a “Jerusalem cross,” but what his critics say is a white nationalist symbol. Hegseth told one interviewer that he was removed by superiors from a National Guard detail handling security for President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 for fear that he was “an extremist” because of the tattoo.  

When the allegations against Hegseth first emerged, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung contended that Hegseth “has vigorously denied any and all accusations. We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense so he can get started on Day One to Make America Safe and Great Again.” 

Even though voters in his Florida district had just reelected him to a fifth term, Gaetz resigned from his office Wednesday, ending the investigation.    

Several U.S. senators, Republicans and Democrats alike, are seeking access to the House Ethics Committee findings in the Gaetz investigation as they carry out their constitutionally mandated “advice and consent” role in reviewing Cabinet nominees made by an incoming president.  

House Speaker Mike Johnson, the leader of the narrow Republican majority in the chamber, is balking at the release of what he told CNN’s “State of the Union” show was a report in “rough draft form.”  

Johnson contended that no ethics report should be made public because Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress, although there have been instances where that has occurred in the past.  

He said senators reviewing the Gaetz nomination as the country’s top law enforcement official will “have a vigorous review and vetting process” but that they did not need to see the House Ethics Committee’s report. Some senators have suggested they could move to subpoena it if it is not turned over to them voluntarily.  

Trump has also stood by Gaetz’s nomination, but the president-elect also has sought – with little success so far – to get the Senate, in Republican control come January when he takes office, to agree to recess at times so he can name and install his Cabinet members without the need for contentious and time-consuming confirmation hearings.
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Trump’s Cabinet picks will shake status quo, House speaker says

Some of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks are being described as “controversial” in both Democratic and Republican circles. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson reminded critics Sunday that the American people voted to shake up the status quo, and that’s what these new Cabinet officials, if confirmed, will be tasked with doing. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the story. Video editing by Henry Hernandez.
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Democratic governors prepare for legal battles over Trump policies

As Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House in January, some state governors from the opposition Democratic Party are preparing to defend their states’ progressive policies. Matt Dibble reports from California, where the governor has called for an emergency session of the state assembly.
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Trump to add North Dakota Governor Burgum as interior secretary

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has selected North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to run the Interior Department, as his new Cabinet continues to take shape.

The transition team officially announced the pick Friday, though Trump first announced the selection late Thursday during a dinner at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.

Additionally, Trump announced Friday that Burgum also will lead a newly created National Energy Council that will be established to help the U.S. achieve “energy dominance” around the globe.

In this role, Burgum will direct a panel that crosses all executive branch agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, Trump said in a statement. As chairman of the National Energy Council, Burgum will have a seat on the National Security Council, the president-elect said.

“This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” Trump wrote.

His new policies will help drive down inflation and win an “arms race” with China over artificial intelligence, Trump said.

Burgum, 68, is the two-term governor of North Dakota. A billionaire former software company executive, he was first elected to the governorship in 2016 and was easily reelected in 2020.

Burgum briefly ran against Trump as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2023 before dropping out and enthusiastically throwing his support behind the eventual president-elect. A staunch conservative, Burgum, in his new position, is expected to be a strong ally of Trump’s efforts to open public lands for oil, gas and mineral exploration.

Communications director

The Trump-Vance transition team announced Steven Cheung will return to the Trump White House as communications director. He held the same position for the Trump-Vance 2024 presidential campaign and served in the White House during Trump’s first term as director of strategic response.

Trump has swiftly named an array of political loyalists to key Cabinet positions. They remained vocal supporters during his four years out of office, and most of them are likely to win quick Senate approval after confirmation hearings.

Having won majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, Republicans are set to take full control of the U.S. government by the third week in January.

“Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” newly reelected House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier this week. “The American people want us to implement and deliver that ‘America First’ agenda” espoused by Trump.

Trump will be sworn in as the country’s 47th president on January 20, two weeks after the new Congress has been seated.

Trump, 78, campaigned on a sweeping agenda that Democrats will be largely powerless to stop unless joined by a handful of Republican defectors in Congress on any specific issue that would undercut the party’s slim majorities in both chambers.

Republicans will have a 53-47 edge in the Senate, and the tie-breaking vote of Vice President-elect JD Vance in the event of a 50-50 stalemate on any legislative proposal. Republicans have secured at least 218 seats in the 435-member House, pending the outcome of seven undecided elections for two-year terms.

During his bid to win a second, nonconsecutive four-year term, Trump called for the massive deportation of millions of undocumented migrants living in the U.S. to their home countries; an extension and expansion of 2017 tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of 2025; further deregulation of businesses; a curb on climate controls; and prosecution of his political opponents, people he calls “the enemy within.”

Senator John Thune of South Dakota, newly elected by his fellow Republicans as the Senate majority leader, said, “This Republican team is united. We are on one team. We are excited to reclaim the majority and to get to work with our colleagues in the House to enact President Trump’s agenda.”

Trump also has called on Senate Republican leaders to allow him to make “recess appointments,” which could occur when the chamber is not in session and would erase the need for time-consuming and often contentious confirmation hearings.

Controversial picks

Despite the likelihood that most of his nominees will be approved, Trump this week named four who immediately drew disparaging assessments from several Democrats and some Republicans for their perceived lack of credentials.

They are former Representative Matt Gaetz as attorney general; former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat turned Republican, as director of national intelligence; former junior military officer and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary; and former presidential candidate and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

The blowback presages tough confirmation fights for the four in the Senate, which reviews the appointments of top-level officials and then votes to confirm them or, on occasion, reject them, forcing the White House to make another choice.

The appointment of Gaetz, 42, could prove particularly problematic, with some senators openly questioning whether he can win a 51-vote majority to assume the government’s top law enforcement position.

Gaetz announced his resignation from the House late Wednesday, when a House ethics committee probe was in the final stages of investigating whether he’d engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. His resignation ended the probe.

The Justice Department Gaetz hopes to lead already had decided not to pursue criminal charges. Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing.

Gabbard, 43, has been attacked for her lack of direct experience in intelligence and accused of disseminating pro-Russian disinformation. If confirmed, she would be tasked with overseeing 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. She won over Trump with her switch from being a Democratic House member from Hawaii to changing parties and staunchly advocating for his election.

Critics have assailed Hegseth, 44, a decorated former military officer, as someone who lacks managerial experience in the military or business world. A weekend anchor on Fox News, he has voiced his opinions on military operations, including his opposition to women serving in combat roles. He has lobbied Trump to pardon military service members accused of war crimes.

A descendant of the Kennedy family political dynasty, Kennedy, 70, for years has been one of the country’s most prominent proponents of anti-vaccine views. He has also opposed water fluoridation and suggested the coronavirus could have been deliberately designed to affect some ethnic groups more than others.

On Thursday, Trump also selected former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton to be Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor; and former Representative Doug Collins to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

He named one of his personal criminal defense attorneys, Todd Blanche, to be deputy attorney general, and another of his attorneys, D. John Sauer, to be solicitor general.

Ken Bredemeier and Liam Scott contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press.
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Democratic senators ask Pentagon, US officials to probe reports of Musk’s alleged calls with Russia

washington — Reports that billionaire Elon Musk has held multiple calls with Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, should be investigated by the Pentagon and law enforcement agencies on national security grounds, two senior Democratic senators said in a letter seen by Reuters on Friday.

Musk, who has been appointed to a senior government role by Republican President-elect Donald Trump, oversees billions of dollars in Pentagon and intelligence community contracts as CEO of aerospace company SpaceX.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior Foreign Relations Committee member, and Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Jack Reed told U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Pentagon’s inspector general that Musk’s involvement in those SpaceX programs should be probed for potential debarment and exclusion after reports as recent as October of his conversations with Russian officials. Debarment refers to exclusion from certain contracts and privileges.

“These relationships between a well-known U.S. adversary and Mr. Musk, a beneficiary of billions of dollars in U.S. government funding, pose serious questions regarding Mr. Musk’s reliability as a government contractor and a clearance holder,” the lawmakers said in a joint letter dated Friday.

Several Democratic lawmakers have publicly called for a probe into Musk’s communications with Moscow since a report by The Wall Street Journal last month on the alleged contact, but the letter to the U.S. officials who could launch such an investigation has not been previously reported.

The call by Shaheen and Reed for a federal probe is a long-shot effort as Trump prepares to return to the White House with backing from Musk, who spent over $119 million on Trump’s reelection campaign and was appointed co-head of the president-elect’s forthcoming Department of Government Efficiency.

SpaceX, Musk and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon and Justice Department did not immediately respond to similar requests.

Russian contact

Reports of Musk’s contact with Russian officials emerged in 2022, when political scientist Ian Bremmer, president of consulting firm Eurasia Group, said he was told by Musk that he had spoken with Putin about the Ukraine war and Russia’s red line for using nuclear weapons. Musk denied Bremmer’s claim and said he had only spoken to Putin 18 months earlier, about space.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported Musk has had multiple conversations with Russian officials, including Putin and his first deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiriyenko, citing unnamed U.S., European and Russian officials.

Shaheen and Reed said in the letter it was “deeply concerning” that Musk reportedly had conversations with Kiriyenko. He was charged this year with other Russian officials by the U.S. Justice Department for spearheading an AI-powered propaganda campaign on Musk’s social-media platform X and other sites to promote Russian interests and influence voters ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

Musk has publicly claimed he holds a U.S. security clearance, giving him access to secret information at SpaceX, which holds billions of dollars in Pentagon and NASA launch contracts. The company also has a $1.8 billion intelligence community contract to build a vast spy satellite network, Reuters has reported.

“Communications between Russian government officials and any individual with a security clearance have the potential to put our security at risk,” the lawmakers said in the letter.

Tensions between the U.S. and Russia in space have spiked since Russia’s 2022 Ukraine invasion. Pentagon officials have condemned suspect maneuvers by Russian satellites in orbit and this year accused Russia of developing a space-based nuclear weapon capable of disabling large satellite networks.

Musk’s SpaceX has come to dominate the U.S. space industry and is relied on heavily by NASA and the Pentagon.

The company’s Starlink internet network of nearly 7,000 satellites has made SpaceX the world’s largest satellite operator and a disruptive force in the satellite internet sector, with heavy interest from the Pentagon for military communications. Ukraine’s military relies heavily on Starlink for battlefield connectivity.

The senators sent a separate letter on Friday to U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall saying Musk’s reported conversations raise the need for more competition in the launch and satellite communications industries and to use more companies besides SpaceX for sensitive national security missions.

“Mr. Musk’s reported behavior could pose serious risks to national security, and as CEO of a company with billions of dollars in sensitive defense and intelligence contracts, warrant reconsideration of SpaceX’s outsized role in [the Defense Department’s] commercial space integration,” the lawmakers said.
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