Trump news recap: Cabinet grows as president-elect picks Lee Zeldin to lead the EPA

President-elect Donald Trump has selected former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to be his next Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

Zeldin confirmed the news on X.com, promising to 'restore American energy dominance' and 'slash the red tape holding back American workers from upward economic mobility.'

'We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.'

Trump has promised to provide 'crystal clean' water and 'the cleanest' air as part of his environmental priorities but widely views the EPA as a hindrance to economic growth.

A Republican congressman, Zeldin narrowly lost his 2022 attempt to unseat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is a strong and very smart America First fighter. She graduated from Harvard University, with honors, was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, and is the highest ranking woman in Congress, as the House Republican Conference Chair.

She was the first Member of Congress to endorse me, and has always been a staunch advocate. Elise is a senior Member of the House Armed Services Committee, the House Intelligence Committee, and led the charge against antisemitism on college campuses. She will be an incredible Ambassador to the United Nations, delivering Peace through Strength and America First National Security policies!

Stefanik said she's 'truly honored' to earn Trump's nomination and looks forward to being confirmed in the U.S. Senate.

The work ahead is immense as we see antisemitism skyrocketing coupled with four years of catastrophically weak U.S. leadership that significantly weakened our national security and diminished our standing in the eyes of both allies and adversaries.

I stand ready to advance President Donald J. Trump’s restoration of America First peace through strength leadership on the world stage on Day One at the United Nations.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Stephen Miller has been a fixture in Donald Trump's orbit for years and is taking on an even larger role to enforce MAGA policies nationwide.

The known 'border hawk' and longtime Trump aide has had a winding career in Washington working multiple roles on Capitol Hill before heading to the White House.

Touted as Trump's chief immigration policy architect, Miller first joined Trump's campaign team in January 2016 and served the new President-elect through 2020.

Since then, he has advanced conservative policies and kept close ties to MAGA power brokers through his nonprofit, America First Legal.

Now, Miller will serve as Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy, a huge position that will shape the administration's future.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Melania Trump will not join Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, despite receiving an invitation from President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden to attend.

Traditionally, when the outgoing president hosts the incoming president-elect in the Oval Office, the first lady hosts her successor for tea in the residence.

Michelle Obama hosted Melania Trump for tea in the Yellow Room after the 2016 election. However, Melania Trump did not meet with Jill Biden after the contentious 2020 race as Donald Trump falsely and repeatedly claimed he was the true winner.

Melania and Jill have yet to speak in the aftermath of Kamala Harris' humiliating defeat, even though their husbands had a cordial phone call, sources confirm.

'Mrs. Trump is not going, and they have not spoken,' a source with knowledge said of the first ladies told DailyMail.com of Wednesday's presidential sitdown.

President Joe Biden made a trip back to Delaware Monday - for an unveiling of a plaque commemorating his late son, Beau Biden.

The 81-year-old was photographed giving his sister Valerie a kiss on the lips - and hugging Beau's widow Hallie, who later dated Hunter Biden.

Earlier Biden marked the Veterans Day holiday at Arlington National Cemetery alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, just six days after her brutal election loss.

Even though Donald Trump just won the ticket for the 2024 Presidential race, it looks like his daughter, Ivanka Trump, won't be in the political spotlight alongside him anymore.

A source close to Trump's administration told DailyMail.com exclusively that the former senior advisor is 'not going back into politics,' and there's good reason why.

The source explained that things began to sour for Ivanka after the insurrection on January 6, and after she was subpoenaed during the investigation into the president's efforts to stay in power.

'She felt like she was being asked to reveal something she did not know anything about and she never wants to be in [that] position again,' the source told DailyMail.com.

'Her family means the world to her and she is now focusing on being a mom and other private ventures,' they continued, adding she is 'completely happy where she is in her life.'

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin is under consideration by the Trump transition team as a candidate for a top Cabinet position.

He is being considered for the Department of the Interior or Department of Veterans Affairs, sources told NOTUS.

Notably, Mullin is a member of the Cherokee Nation.

He served in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2023 before being elected to the Senate.

President-elect Donald Trump selected Former Acting ICE Director Tom Homan to be his border czar on Sunday, prompting widespread celebration from his supporters.

Homan is well known for combatting critics of Trump's immigration enforcement strategy, including this showdown with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2019.

Elon Musk has been establishing himself in the first hours of the Trump transition as a powerful advisor and gatekeeper with sweeping influence.

The billionaire Tesla CEO and X owner has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago as he's spent the past days weighing in on a contested race to determine control of Senate leadership.

He's also wading in on debate over reshaping the bureaucracy and allowing lawmakers to skirt traditional paths to confirming Trump's Cabinet appointments.

And he's been spotted chatting at dinner alongside incoming First Lady Melania in Palm Beach and spending time with Trump's many grandchildren.

The use of his X platform - a vast online presence capable of influencing politics around the world - is only part of his expanding political power.

Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

At least two more of Donald Trump’s first-term officials are at the top of the list for positions for his second term, according to The Washington Examiner.

For Customs and Border Protection, the agency’s former chief Rodney Scott (pictured below) is leading the list – even though he was forced out of his first term after just five months.

And to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Trump is weighing tapping the agency’s retired supervisory special agent Victor Avila.

Both positions require Senate confirmation.

Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

A new group called Pardon47 launched on Monday to work on ‘identifying, vetting, and advocating for individuals who have been unjustly persecuted or politically targeted by the Biden DOJ.’

'Pardon47 is about one thing: justice. We’re dedicated to fighting for those who have been wrongfully persecuted for political reasons,' the group’s founder Derek Myers said in a statement on the formation.

'As we approach President Trump’s second term, our goal is clear: we want a comprehensive list of vetted individuals ready to be pardoned on DAY ONE of his inauguration.'

Specifically, Project47 is looking to get Trump to pardon those prosecuted for their role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Several Republicans have already announced their intentions to replace Republican House Conference Chair Elise Stafanik, who was tapped by Donald Trump to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

With Stefanik's ascension to a Cabinet position, Reps. Lisa McClain of Michigan, Kat Cammack of Florida and Erin Houchin of Indiana are running for conference chair.

The elections for leadership roles will take place on Wednesday, meaning members will only have two days to vote.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., was spotted at Trump's Florida home on Monday.

The Republican who has served since 2019 has been known to be friendly with the president-elect, having attended several of his campaign events.

A former Green Beret with an expansive military background, Waltz has been floated as a possible Pentagon official in Trump's second term.

He also safely won his Florida congressional seat with a large margin. It would likely be easy to fill should Waltz get tapped, a big consideration for House Republicans as the chamber's margin remains razor-thin.

Sen. John Fetterman took a private jet to rush down to Austin, Texas earlier this month when he received an invitation from podcaster Joe Rogan to do his show.

Fetterman was campaigning for his senate colleague Sen. Bob Casey when he got the invitation, Semafor reports, but the Casey campaign charted the jet to make sure he could get down there quickly and return for an event.

'I wanted to get in front of the Rogan audience,' Fetterman explained. 'It’s such an important audience, and I never thought for a second that they weren’t going to play it straight.'

Vice President Kamala Harris was in talks to do an interview with Rogan, but ultimatly decided against it, after the campaign learned he would only do it from his podcast studio and not travel to her preferred location.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Republicans are furiously calling for mass firings at FEMA after it was discovered that an employee told agents to avoid providing hurricane relief to Donald Trump supporters.

A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) worker was fired after a Daily Wire report revealed she instructed her team to discriminate against MAGA Americans facing disaster.

An internal group message between FEMA workers showed that 'best practices' for responding to the devastating Hurricanes Helene and Milton included avoiding 'homes advertising Trump.'

Conservatives across the country are now demanding further investigations and firings.

'The blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days,' Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said following the report.

I ran for the U.S. Senate to represent the people of the Show Me State and I’m just getting started.

The American people have given President @realDonaldTrump a mandate. A mandate to secure our border, make America energy dominant and fight for the forgotten men and women of this country. We need America First fighters who don’t just say they support the agenda but who are willing to stand in the breach and actually fight for it and for the hopes and dreams of the American people.

I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and be a champion for President Trump in the Senate.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Donald Trump 's newly-appointed border czar Tom Homan says he doesn't care about Democratic criticism of his mass deportation plans.

Trump's new 'border czar' said he will make it a priority to 'secure the border and do this deportation operation.'

'I think the calling is clear,' Homan said on Fox & Friends on Monday morning. 'I've got to go back and help.'

'I'm pissed off with what [the Biden] administration did to the most secure border in my lifetime, so I'm going to go back and do what I can to fix it,' he added.

The president-elect said during his campaign for a second term that he would carry out the largest number of deportations ever to clear the country of illegal immigrants after the border remained wide open during President Joe Biden's administration.

Democrats are soul-searching after Vice President Kamala Harris' devastating loss to Donald Trump in the presidential election and a series of down-ballot defeats that handed Republicans Senate control and potentially the House.

The Republican presidential ticket is on track to sweep every single swing state in the election, the popular vote and it made gains with nearly every demographic and in every region of the U.S. since 2020.

Exit polling from the election shows 73 percent of voters were angry or dissatisfied with the direction the country is headed in.

The finger-pointing in the Democratic party over what went wrong is well underway.

Strategists, lawmakers and party staffers are blaming everything from Democrats' messaging and a failure to speak to working class voters to President Biden's late exit from the race.

There have also been questions over the role sexism played against Harris' chances in the race.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Jill Biden stood quietly in the back as President Joe Biden laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for Veterans Day.

The first lady wore black for the ocassion. She entered Arlington National Cemetery ahead of the president to take her spot with the rest of the crowd. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff joined her.

The two watched as Biden laid the wreath and crossed himself. Vice President Kamala Harris at his side.

They then followed their spouses into the amphitheater where the president will make remarks. They chatted as they took their seats and waited for the speeches to begin.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was seated next to the first lady, gave Emhoff a hug.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris made their first joint appearance since last week's crushing presidential election loss to former President Donald Trump.

Biden and Harris, who looked stoic, stood side-by-side Monday morning to mark Veterans Day at Arlington Cemetery.

They didn't speak to each other as they walked to their positions for the somber moment.

Their spouses, Dr. Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff, stood in the crowd nearby.

Donald Trump is set to name top immigration adviser Stephen Miller as his deputy chief of staff for policy in an administration zeroing in on an unprecedented border crackdown, according to reports.

Miller was the architect of Trump's immigration plan during his first term and will be on the frontlines of the president-elect's scheme to carry out the largest mass deportation  in history.

The decision comes less than 24 hours after Trump picked former Immigrations Customs and Enforcement Director Tom Homan as his border czar.

Miller has previously said that a second Trump administration would see a ten-fold increase in the number of migrants deported.

The appointment was reported by CNN as the 78-year-old shapes his second stint in the White House from Mar-a-Lago.

VP-elect J.D. Vance celebrated the decision in a post on X on Monday.

'This is another fantastic pick by the president. Congrats [Stephen Miller].'

Members of Donald Trump's inner circle are signaling the new administration could implement a massive election overhaul that would cement protections Republicans have been demanding since 2020.

The biggest change – making Election Day a national holiday where employers are mandated to give their workers paid time off to cast their ballot.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a former 2024 Republican candidate now on the shortlist for an administration position, said making federal elections on a single day would help restore voter confidence in U.S. elections.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X:

Remember the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran right after our President's inauguration? Everyone knows who did it and why.

Now, with another election, a new scenario is fabricated with the same goal: as a killer does not exist in reality, scriptwriters are brought in to manufacture a third-rate comedy. Who can in their right mind believe that a supposed assassin SITS IN IRAN and talks online to the FBI?!

An Iranian government plot to hire hitmen to assassinate Donald Trump was thwarted just a month before the election, chilling documents unsealed Friday reveal.

An Iranian man has been charged in the murder-for-hire scheme to take down the president-elect - who has survived two plots on his life in recent months - as revenge for the 2020 killing of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.

Would-be assassin Farhad Shakeri, 51, has been described by the FBI as an 'asset' of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and is now on the run in Tehran.

Donald Trump and wife Melania dined with Elon Musk at Mar-a-Lago this weekend as the Tesla founder exerts his influence on the incoming administration.

Video posted on social media showed the trio having a jolly dinner outside on the patio, smiling and chatting. Melania Trump and Elon Musk were dressed in black while the president-elect wore a suit with a yellow tie.

Trump has been celebrating his landslide win in the election with his supporters behind the closed-doors of his private club in Palm Beach.

The president-elect's regular table is always roped off but he works the room on his way to his seat, stopping to shake hands and talk to guests. He's shown off his dance moves, posed for selfies and generally delighted in his victory.

In between the celebrations, he's working on naming his White House staff and members of his cabinet.

A steady presence at his side throughout all this has been Musk, the 53-year-old founder of SpaceX and the richest man in the world. He's been seen at Mar-a-Lago nearly every day.

Democrats are soul-searching after Vice President Kamala Harris' devastating loss to Donald Trump in the presidential election and a series of down-ballot defeats that handed Republicans Senate control and potentially the House.

The Republican presidential ticket is on track to sweep every single swing state in the election, the popular vote and it made gains with nearly every demographic and in every region of the U.S. since 2020.

Exit polling from the election shows 73 percent of voters were angry or dissatisfied with the direction the country is headed in.

The finger-pointing in the Democratic party over what went wrong is well underway.

Elon Musk spent the weekend running interference for Donald Trump on some of the first skirmishes that will set the tone for his administration, while backing a horse in the contest to lead the Senate.

On Sunday the world’s richest man parroted Trump’s demand that contenders for Senate Republican leader take up his call to use recess appointments if necessary to confirm nominees – a tactic that avoids a hearing but must contend with Supreme Court-imposed restrictions.

‘Without recess appointments, it will take two years or more to confirm the new administration!’ he wrote on his X platform.

Musk also got behind Trump-ally Sen. Rick Scott in the race, and dissed contender Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) as the ‘top choice of Democrats.’ Reposting in favor of Scott, he said the leader ‘must respond to the will of the people.’

In between his posts and a dinner with Trump and former first lady Melania Trump at Mar-a-Lago, he has been sitting in on transition meetings, Semafor reported.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be together for the first time since the election on Monday.

The duo will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of Veterans Day.

Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff will also attend.

Biden and Harris have spoken since she lost the election but this is their first in-person meeting. It’s also the first time Harris will be seen in public since she conceded the election in her speech at Howard University.

The Arizona Senate race has still not yet been called by the Associated Press almost one week after Election Day.

Kari Lake is trailing Democrat Ruben Gallego with 92% of votes in.

She's at 47.8 percent compared to Gallego's 50 percent.

Donald Trump officially flipped the state of Arizona on Saturday to sweep all seven swing states in the 2024 presidential election.

In addition to a remarkable win to take back the White House, Tuesday's election also saw Republicans take the Senate and the party is well on the way to retaining its majority in the House. 

With 87 percent of the votes counted in Arizona, Trump captured 52.6 percent compared to Kamala Harris' 46.4 percent. The state had previously been won by Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

The nationwide results will hand Trump virtually unchecked power when he takes his oath of office in January. The Supreme Court, which includes an unprecedented three appointees from Trump, maintains a six to three conservative majority.

After months of neck-and-neck polling with Vice President Kamala Harris in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan, Trump soundly won every single battleground state.

With 312 Electoral College votes, Trump's shocking and decisive win saw him earning the largest margin of victory since the 1988 election for President George H. W. Bush.

Kamala Harris paid Oprah Winfrey $1million to help her failed presidential bid that cost a whopping $1.2billion.

Winfrey's Harpo Productions received $1million from the Harris campaign on October 15 after Winfrey hosted a star-studded town hall event for the Vice President in September, the Washington Examiner reports.

Winfrey also participated in the Democrat's last campaign rally in Philadelphia on the night before Election Day.

The legendary talk show host is not the only entertainer who received money from the Vice President in the hopes of helping her presidential campaign.

Harris reportedly spent six figures to build out the set for her October appearance on the hit podcast 'Call Her Daddy', where she sat down with the show's host Alex Cooper.

In total, the Harris campaign spent $1.2billion on the race while Trump's campaign spent $750 million, a Financial Times analysis found.

Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

There are still 18 races left to be called in the 2024 U.S. House elections.

As it stands Monday morning, Republicans hold 214 seats so far and Democrats have 203, according to the Associated Press.

To get a majority, a party needs 218 seats in the lower chamber of the 435 for the 119th Congress starting in January 2025.

This means the GOP only needs four more seats to secure their majority and give president-elect Donald Trump a Republican trifecta.

The above graphic is not reflected to update the one more House seat that was called by AP for Republicans as of Monday morning

Donald Trump announced late Sunday that his former ICE director Tom Homan would serve as 'border czar' to oversee the largest deportation of immigrants in US history.

The president elect, 78, said on Truth Social that Homan would oversee the country's borders in the incoming administration just days after his landslide victory against Vice President Kamala Harris.

'I am pleased to announce that the Former ICE Director, and stalwart on Border Control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration, in charge of our Nation's Borders ("The Border Czar"),' Trump posted on his social network Truth Social.

'I've known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders.'

It comes after Homan said that Trump will use the US Army to round up and deport 'the worst of the worst' illegal migrants in an unparalleled crackdown.

Homan said all of the estimated 20 million people residing in the US illegally would be targeted by the unprecedented campaign. 'Bottom line: if you come to the country illegally, you're not off the table,' he added.

President-elect Donald Trump has offered the role of US ambassador to the United Nations to Elise Stefanik.

The House Republican and ally of the president accepted the UN gig after it was offered on Sunday, according to a report.

'I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,' Trump told the New York Post.

The move to pick Stefanik appeared to be a snub for Haley, who did not appear on the campaign trail for him despite repeatedly claiming she was 'on standby'.

Stefanik had appeared at Trump's now infamous rally inside Madison Square Garden last month as the race for the White House intensified.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Members of Donald Trump's inner circle are heading to Sin City to celebrate his 2024 presidential election win.

The president-elect's eldest son Donald Trump Jr. and incoming White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles are joining the party, a person familiar with the movements this week told DailyMail.com.

The individual said Trump 'might' head to Las Vegas, as well, just two days before he's set to meet with President Joe Biden at the White House and a week after his historic win in blue-leaning Nevada.