Trump news live: Billionaire investor makes his decision on a top Cabinet role

Top Wall Street investor John Paulson announced Tuesday he was withdrawing his name from consideration for serving as President-elect Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary.

Paulson said in a statement that his 'complex financial obligations' would prevent him from joining the Trump adminstration 'at this time.'

'However, I intend to remain actively involved with the President’s economic team and helping in the implementation of President Trump’s outstanding policy proposals,' he added.

Paulson was considered by financial experts as one of the top likely picks for the position as well as Key Square Group CEO Scott Bessent.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Kamala Harris arrived at the White House on Thursday to such loud cheers and applause it drowned out Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

Harris pulled up in her motorcade for her lunch with the president. All of her staff – about 300 people – had lined the steps of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to scream and cheer for her.

‘MVP, MVP, MPV,’ they shouted at her (for Madame Vice President). Others yelled ‘we love you.’

Harris crossed her hands over her heart and looked touched. ‘Okay we still have work to do,’ she told them.

‘We do the best work anybody could do, which is to dedicate ourselves to the people, to public service, to lifting folks up, knowing we have the power, and when we do that work, we make a difference,’ she said.

‘I'm grateful to you,’ Harris added. ‘Let's get back to work because we still have work to get done. I’m sending you all my love and thanks.’

Harris arrived as Herzog walked out of the West Wing to make a statement to press about his Oval Office meeting with President Joe Biden. The loud cheering from Executive Drive, which sits between the West Wing and the EEOB, drowned out his words.

President Joe Biden's TikTok ban goes into effect on January 19, the day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

The law passed by Congress and signed by Biden orders the Chinese company ByteDance to divest TikTok to an owner in the United States or face a ban.

Trump famously campaigned on the idea of saving TikTok, even joining the platform to promote his campaign.

The law allows the president to extend the divestment by 90 days but it would require an act of Congress to repeal the law requiring Bytedance to divest from the platform.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Elon Musk thinks Kash Patel has good ideas about government transparency and appeared to advocate for him becoming the new CIA Director.

During an interview with podcaster Shawn Ryan in September, Patel suggested that Trump create a ‘declassification office.

In response to that proposal, social media personality ALX wrote on X that Patel 'should be the next CIA Director under Donald Trump.'

'Good idea,' Musk replied to the tweet, which included a clip of Patel’s interview.

Patel, who held multiple national security and defense position in Trump's first erm, has emerged as a top contender to lead the CIA.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

President Joe Biden welcomed Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the Oval Office as tensions remain on the rise in the Middle East.

Biden didn’t answer questions from reporters in the room and he let Herzog do the majority of the talking.

The Israeli president didn’t mince words. He called Iran an ‘evil empire’ and said they are a ‘major engine of antisemitism.’

He brought President Biden a gift, an artifact from the foot of Temple Mount in Jerusalem that has the word ‘Joseph’ on it.

The two leaders plan to discuss the wars in Gaza and Lebanon. Biden is pushing for a ceasefire. Herzog said he was there to thank the president for America’s support.

President Isaac Herzog is the brother of Michael Herzog, who has been serving as Israel’s Ambassador to the United States since November 2021.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com on Capitol Hill

Donald Trump's promotion of immigration hawk Stephen Miller is outraging Democrats - and his own family - who oppose strict immigration policies.

Longtime Trump advisor Stephen Miller - the top mind behind Trump's mass deportation plan - was recently tapped by the president-elect to be the White House deputy chief of staff for policy.

Miller is expected to enact some of the strictest immigration reforms in U.S. history after Trump has blamed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for allowing '21 million illegals to pour in from all over the world.'

His return to the White House is frightening his uncle, Dr. David Glosser, a retired neuropsychologist and outspoken critic of Trump.

He told DailyMail.com that Miller cuts against the values that allowed their shared ancestors to find refuge in America over a century ago.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Glosser revealed his concern over Miller's role in fulfilling Trump's hardline immigration agenda.

'Stephen is just an ambitious functionary of [Trump's] dark impulse,' he said.

The judge in Donald Trump's hush money case has delayed a decision on whether to throw out the charges with less than a month until his sentencing.

Judge Juan Merchan pushed back a decision on immunity in the case where the president-elect was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to silence Stormy Daniels.

The judge agreed to a request by Trump's defense team and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's office to delay deadlines in the case for a week, until November 19.

Merchan had been expected to make a decision on the Trump team's argument that the former president's conduct was entitled to immunity protections following a Supreme Court ruling.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo wrote the judge Sunday asking for the delay and noting the 'impact on this proceeding from the results of the Presidential election.'

'The People agree that these are unprecedented circumstances,' he wrote, pointing to the need to balance 'a jury verdict of guilt following trial that has the presumption of regularity; and the Office of the President.'

Betsy Devos, the former Secretary of Education for Donald Trump, spoke to DailyMail.com about what it would take to eliminate the powerful cabinet position.

She explained that the idea of tax credits for private education of choice was more popular than ever due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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The FEMA boss who was fired after ordering volunteers not to approach homes displaying Trump signs in Florida after Hurricane Milton has insisted her edict 'was not isolated' and also happened in North Carolina.

Speaking out for the first time since she was fired, Marn'i Washington accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency of 'lying' about the scandal, and making her the scapegoat of a wider practice.

Washington was blasted publicly and lost her job after a text chain was leaked that showed her instructing colleagues to 'avoid' houses that had Trump signs in their yards.

Washington told DailyMail.com she is seeking an attorney and is 'at risk' as a result of the backlash she's received. 'I have information that proves FEMA is lying,' she said.

In a podcast appearance last night, she went further - claiming more FEMA employees are guilty of the same bias, but that she is the only one being hung out to dry.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com on Capitol Hill

Speaking at a press conference on the House steps on Tuesday, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed Donald Trump is planning to visit Congress this week.

The president-elect is expected to visit on Wednesday when he is in town for a meeting with President Joe Biden.

Johnson revealed that Trump had floated the visit during conversations with the future president at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.

Johnson said that Trump would potentially come in the morning before he meets with Biden.

Justice Samuel Alito has no plans to step down from the Supreme Court, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing 'people close to the justice.'

Alito is 74 years old and as President-elect Trump takes office again for four more years speculation has mounted whether some of the more older conservative appointed judges will retire.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, 76, is another possible court justice who may step down.

A retiring Supreme Court Justice would allow Trump an unprecedented fourth pick to the court after appointing justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barret in his first term.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

President Joe Biden will meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in the Oval Office today as he tries to garner a cease-fire progress in Gaza before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.

The two leaders will discuss the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

While in Washington D.C., Herzog will also meet with Rep. Elise Stefanik -- whom Trump has chosen to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations -- and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime Trump ally and adviser.

Israel has already reached out to the president-elect. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had spoken with Trump three times since the Nov. 5th election.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

The betting market Kalshi now favors Sen. John Thine to be the new Republican leader.

The South Dakota Republican overtook Sen. Rick Scott of Florida as the favorite.

Currently, Thune leads with a 58 percent chance of winning compared to Scott's 28 percent.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, meanwhile, has a 12 percent chance, Kalshi data reveals.

Hakeem Jeffries could be the next presidential candidate to run for the Democrats when it comes to the 2028 presidential election.

Although still four years away, anger and soul-searching has taken hold of the Democratic Party after Kamala Harris' election loss that left some party officials blindsided.

Some party members believe plans should already start to be made as to how the Democrats will come back from such a devastating defeat and who might be the leader to take them there, given many now-familiar names may be leaving the political stage.

Brett Bruen, a former Obama White House official, believes the Democrats must use this moment to reassess their strategy or risk being further marginalized politically in the future.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to have lunch together today at the White House.

The duo has these kind of sit downs from time to time but it’s been months since one has been on the calendar.

They will eat in the president’s private dining room off the Oval Office.

The sit down is closed press and closed to staff – it’ll just be the two of them. They are certain to have much to discuss.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Dr. Ben Carson is the favorite to be nominated as Donald Trump 's Secretary for Health and Human Services (HHS) in the battle for a spot in his cabinet, multiple people familiar with the selection process tell DailyMail.com.

The 73-year-old retired neurosurgeon wants to return to the White House for a second stint after serving as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Trump's first administration.

Carson was one of the few people who stayed in Trump's orbit and said deserved the chance to be re-elected after the January 6 , 2021 Capitol riot sparked a slew of resignations and defections.

He was a wild card in the race for vice president, with sources confirming that some closest to Trump's inner circle pushed his selection.

And he has been a consistent presence on the campaign trail as the president-elect's National Faith Chairman.

Donald Trump supporters surprisingly revealed how popular Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is actually very similar to the new president-elect.

Ocasio-Cortez, 35, reached out to her supporters on Instagram Sunday, asking if any of her followers had voted for both her and 78-year-old Trump and why.

'This is not a place of judgment. I'm not gonna like put your stuff on blast or anything like that or dunk on it... I actually want to learn from you,' she said.

She appeared genuinely surprised by the number of answers she got in response to the question, and posted them to her followers.

Some of followers admitted they voted for Trump because they believed that he actually cared about the working class and would bring change to the country as an anti-establishment figure.

MAGA darling Kari Lake failed to secure a victory in her second bid for public office in Arizona, despite Donald Trump winning the swing state.

The race was called for Democrat Ruben Gallego, an Arizona congressman, on Monday after Trump officially flipped the state two days earlier to sweep all seven swing states in the 2024 presidential election.

In addition to a remarkable win to take back the White House, Republicans also flipped the Senate red and the party is well on the way to retaining its majority in the House.

But Lake wasn't able to add to the new GOP Senate majority as she tried to capture the open U.S. Senate seat of outgoing Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

She faced a tough opponent in Rep. Gallego (D-Ariz.) whose victory was crucial for Democrats who lost their majority in the Senate and were hoping not to let Republicans widen the gap even further.

The former television news anchor lost a good bit of her pro-MAGA political momentum after she was defeated in the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election against Katie Hobbs.

Donald Trump has asked Congressman Mike Waltz of Florida to be his White House National Security Advisor, sources familiar with the decision tell DailyMail.com.

Waltz, a former Army Green Beret, has established himself as one of the foremost China hawks in the House and was selected following Trump's busy day of firming up his Cabinet.

Among the various China-related bills Waltz has co-sponsored are measures designed to lessen U.S. reliance on critical minerals mined in China. He's also known as a NATO skeptic amid its work during the war in Ukraine.

Waltz is on speaking terms with Trump and was also widely considered to be a candidate for secretary of defense.

Presidents often turn to Congress to fill top agency jobs, and Trump may well be tempted to look there again, although the nature of the Senate majority, reclaimed by the GOP on Election Day, will be critical.

President-elect Donald Trump's newly appointed 'border czar' Tom Homan isn't afraid of engaging in heated debate on some of the administration's most controversial border policies.

A newly resurfaced viral clip features Homan and Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a testy spat during a congressional hearing in 2019.

Ocasio-Cortez pressed Homan on his role in recommending the separation of illegal immigrants from children as part of a 'zero-tolerance' approach to border enforcement.

Homan, the former head of ICE, informed her that even U.S. citizens are separated from their children if they commit crimes that could affect them, such as driving under the influence or domestic violence.

When Ocasio-Cortez protested that seeking asylum is completely legal, Homan said that illegal border crossers cannot claim asylum after being caught.

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.

Donald Trump will name his former nemesis Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, sources tell DailyMail.com.

Rubio, who was elected to the Senate in 2010, is considered a foreign policy hawk and will lead Trump's prowess on the world stage.

He currently serves as the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee and was considered to be on Trump's shortlist for vice president earlier this year.

Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants and has built his brand in Washington as being hard on Iran and China.

Trump is determined to end Russia's war in Ukraine on Day One of the second term of his presidency.

And the Middle East, which has been plunged into chaos amid Israel's conflict with Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, will prove to be challenging as China continues its efforts to sabotage the U.S.

Rubio ran for president unsuccessfully in 2016 against Trump in a crowded field of GOP hopefuls.

And although the two sparred during the primary, Rubio stumped for Trump on the campaign trail in recent weeks.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been selected to join Donald Trump's Cabinet as the head of Homeland Security, CNN reported.

The governor - whose vice presidential hopes were dashed when she admitted to shooting her puppy - will implement Trump's promises to clean up the mess at the southern border and deport millions of illegal migrants.

She joins Trump loyalists Stephen Miller, who was appointed as deputy chief of staff, and Tom Homan, who will serve as 'border czar.' The Department of Homeland Security has a $60 billion budget.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been selected to join Donald Trump's Cabinet as the head of Homeland Security, CNN reported.

The governor - whose vice presidential hopes were dashed when she admitted to shooting her puppy - will implement Trump's promises to clean up the mess at the southern border and deport millions of illegal migrants.

She joins Trump loyalists Stephen Miller, who was appointed as deputy chief of staff, and Tom Homan, who will serve as 'border czar.' The Department of Homeland Security has a $60 billion budget.