Trump news live: Morning Joe hosts respond to fury around secret Mar-a-Lago trip

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter in West Palm Beach, Florida

Billionaire financier Howard Lutnick is expected to be nominated by Donald Trump to become Commerce Secretary.

Lutnick, 63, the co-chair of Trump's transition team, is expected to take the powerful position that will be in charge of enacting the president-elect's sweeping tariff reforms.

Like Trump, Lutnik is originally from the New York area and he served as the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar organization.

Currently, Lutnick serves as the chief executive of financial firms Cantor Fitzgerald and BCG Group.

Lutnick is expected to step back from his roles at the financial firms to focus solely on Commerce.

He has been a staunch Trump ally and even spoke at the Republican's infamous Madison Square Garden rally in the heart of Manhattan days before the November 5 election.

Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski continue to receive widespread condemnation for their decision to meet with President-elect Donald Trump last week.

The backlash has led to some details of the meeting getting reported, as both hosts - who have been at war with Trump for years after a cordial relationship with him prior to 2016 - try to explain themselves.

The Daily Beast reported a source 'close to the show' that said it was 'f***ing worth it' to get Trump to treat media better.

CNN reports that the pair were afraid of Trump, which prompted their decision to ask for a meeting.

Citing two anonymous sources 'with direct knowledge of the matter,' CNN reported that the pair were 'credibly concerned that they could face governmental and legal harassment from the incoming Trump administration.'

To that end, political consultant Chuck Rocha on CNN’s 'NewsNight' Monday opined, 'I think Joe and Mika just don’t want to be audited.'

And on the same panel, media critic Jeff Jarvis said the 'bended knee' visit to Mar-a-Lago was 'a betrayal of the staff at MSNBC who do still criticize Donald Trump, who now feel that they are in some jeopardy because of that, because he has threatened the press,' CNN reported.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is facing backlash for suggesting a pro-Israel lobbying group in the United States is to blame for Democrats' devastating losses in the 2024 election.

'If people want to talk about members of Congress being overly influenced by a special interest group pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that pushes voters away from Democrats then they should be discussing AIPAC,' the progressive Squad member wrote on X.

AIPAC, which stands for American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is a pro-Israel lobbying group that spent millions ahead of the November election including against some progressive House members and in support of others.

The New York congresswoman was responding to post from Senator Bernie Sanders' senior adviser Jeremy Slevin.

The stars of Morning Joe have defended their controversial meeting with Donald Trump after being slammed by their media colleagues.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have received backlash from both conservative and liberal media figures after they revealed that they met with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago to 'restart communications.'

The MSNBC hosts dismissed the criticism saying it just proves there is a 'massive disconnect' between 'social media and the real world.'

'Yesterday I saw for the first time what a massive disconnect there was between social media and the real world because we were flooded with phone calls from people all day, literally around the world, all very positive, very supportive, 'I understand what you did…' 'Scarborough said on Tuesday.

A hacker is said to have gained access to a trove of damaging files related to Matt Gaetz, including testimony from a woman who claims they had sex when she was 17.

A file of 23 exhibits related to allegations against Donald Trump's pick to be Attorney General were accessed by a man using the pseudonym Altam Beezley, The New York Times reported.

The documents are said include sworn testimony from two witnesses at the center of the lurid claims against Gaetz.

The unidentified women have reportedly said he attended 'drug-fueled sex parties' and paid for sex.

Gaetz has strenuously denied the accusations that have cast a shadow over the nomination process to be the top law enforcement officer in the United States.

Donald Trump's sentencing in his New York hush money case has been called off as the court decides how to move forward.

According to a short court note, the sentencing scheduled for later this month on November 26 has been indefinitely 'adjourned.'

It comes as Trump's defense team and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg are back in court.

Bragg had a November 19 deadline to argue how the case against the president-elect should proceed.

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter in West Palm Beach, Florida

Rabble-rouser Marjorie Taylor Greene is stirring up drama on Capitol Hill yet again by repeatedly and purposefully calling the first openly transgender woman in Congress a 'man.'

Speaking to reporters on the Capitol steps Monday evening the Georgia Republican gave a full-throated endorsement of a proposal from Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., that would prevent the first trans member from using women's bathrooms.

Delaware Democratic Representative-elect Sarah McBride - who will become the first openly trans member of Congress - is expected to be sworn in come January 2025.

But Mace says they should not be 'allowed in women's private spaces,' like the ladies' rooms around the Capitol complex.

Greene doubled down on Mace's resolution, saying: 'He's a man. He's a biological male, so he is not allowed to use our women's restrooms, our women's gym, our locker rooms and our spaces that are that are specified for women.

'He's a biological male,' she said again. 'He has plenty of places he can go.'

The United States was not surprised by Russia lowering its threshold for a nuclear strike and does not plan to adjust its own arsenal's posture in response, the White House said on Tuesday.

'As we said earlier this month, we were not surprised by Russia´s announcement that it would update its nuclear doctrine; Russia had been signaling its intent to update its doctrine for several weeks,' the White House National Security Council said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks, and Moscow said Ukraine had struck deep inside Russia with U.S.-made ATACMS missiles.

A Ukrainian and U.S. official confirmed the strike to Reuters.

'Observing no changes to Russia´s nuclear posture, we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture or doctrine in response to Russia´s statements today,' the statement said.

with reporting from Reuters

Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter in West Palm Beach, Florida

The House task force investigating the assassination attempts on Donald Trump has issued two subpoenas to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) employees.

After the ATF refused to comply with the task force's repeated requests they finally provided material to the panel after the task force threatened the agency with subpoenas.

For weeks, ATF had not produced any requested documents or made any personnel available for interviews with the Task Force. However, less than one hour after the Task Force served its subpoenas yesterday for depositions, ATF made its first set of documents available to the Task Force,' the task force wrote in a press release.

One of the Task Force’s two subpoenas for depositions was issued to an agent who participated in the agency’s response to the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania. The other is for testimony from a supervisory agent.

Matt Gaetz used his adopted son's PayPal account to pay women for 'sexual favors,' an attorney for two of the victims claimed.

Two women interviewed by the House Ethics Committee about Gaetz testified that he paid them directly and repeatedly via Venmo transactions 'for sex.'

Some of those payments were through the PayPal account of Nestor Galban, whom Gaetz has referred to as his 'adopted son.'

Gaetz shocked Congress in 2020 when he revealed he had an adopted son. He said he was dating Galban's sister and the boy's mother had recently died from cancer when they all moved in together.

He did not formally adopt Nestor but says: 'Our relationship as a family is defined by our love for each other, not by any paperwork.'

Nestor Galban was only 12 when he arrived in the U.S. from Cuba in 2014. He lived with Gaetz for four years after his arrival. He then lived with his biological father for a year before moving back in with Gaetz after he turned 18. Galban is now a U.S. citizen.

House Democrats are holding their leadership elections today, one week after Republicans.

So far, Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has been reelected to lead the Democrats in the minority for the next Congress.

Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., was elected as the Caucus Chair.

Republicans secured the majority for the next Congress after capturing the necessary 218 seats. But with five races still yet to be called, the size of their tiny majority is still to be determined.

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough continues defending his meeting with President-elect Donald Trump last week arguing the importance of reconnecting with him after the 2024 election, but in April he was singing a different tune.

Scarbrough appeared with Rev. Al Sharpton in April to thoroughly denounce Trump, arguing there was no middle ground to talk about a man who was clearly a 'fascist' and a 'racist.'

Christian Pulisic angered left-leaning USA fans on Monday night as he celebrated a goal against Jamaica with Donald Trump's signature dance.

Pulisic opened the scoring against the Reggae Boyz in the USMNT's Nations League quarterfinal second leg, and did president-elect Trump's famous arm-shimmy dance afterwards.

And while it's not the first time the soccer star has indicated his support for Trump, many fans were disappointed with his homage to the 78-year-old.

'Pulisic just did the Trump dance?!? Lost all respect. What an a**hole,' one fan wrote on X.

'Christian Pulisic does a dance to honor the man who wants to take the citizenship of over half of his USMNT teammates, which is filled with 1st gen and dual [nationals],' a second fan began.

'Pulisic himself only made it in Europe due to his Croatian Passport I swear these MAGA idiots get dumber and dumber.'

Some of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks have sparked controversy as he prepares to reenter the White House for a second term in January.

As a result, he may not get all his picks through even a newly Republican-led Senate.

And while it is becoming apparent that some - like embattled attorney general pick Matt Gaetz - will face an uphill battle to be confirmed, it would not be the first time a Cabinet nominee was blocked by the Senate.

But it has been decades since that happened.

'It is pretty rare that the Senate will affirmatively vote to block a nominee because often it does not reach that stage,' said political historian Matt Dallek. 'The nominee will withdraw or the president-elect or president will withdraw the person's name.'

Rather than rule out some of his loyalists who carry major baggage, Trump has instead become more bullish.

US President Joe Biden's decision to give Ukraine the green light to blast targets inside Russia with US-supplied long-range missiles may trigger a broader war and lead to yet more bloodshed, former American military chiefs and analysts warn.

Retired Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis warned yesterday that allowing Kyiv to use America's ATACMS rockets even in a limited capacity would 'enrage Putin and likely broaden the war' just weeks before Donald Trump arrives in the White House.

'I feel it's going to enrage Putin, which is problematic... ATACMS are not going to make a major difference quite frankly, but what it will do is put Mr. Trump as he assumes the presidency in a much worse situation.

'What we don't need at this late hour is the Biden administration exacerbating a pretty bad situation,' he told Fox News.

Biden's decision, which signals a dramatic U-turn in US policy, comes as Russian and Ukrainian forces are fighting to gain as much territory as possible ahead of Trump's return to the Oval Office amid fears the president-elect may seek to force a ceasefire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long pressed his Western allies to allow his country to strike military targets deeper inside Russia, saying the ban had made it impossible for Kyiv to try to stop Russian attacks on its cities and electrical grids.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., will say in his opening remarks obtained by DailyMail.com:

Today’s hearing provides members and the American people the opportunity to get answers about troubling developments that have overshadowed FEMA’s critical mission.

While today’s hearing will focus on FEMA, the issue at hand is part of a larger problem: the urgent need to hold the unelected, unaccountable federal workforce accountable to the American people and to the duly elected President of the United States.

The current system does not have strong enough mechanisms to ensure accountability. The disciplinary system is run by and for civil servants to protect civil servants.

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the civil service has not only grown in size, but also in power.

And this power is evident. Just ask the people in Highlands County, Florida. They needed help, but at least one FEMA official used her power to make help harder to get.

We only know this because one whistleblower was brave enough to come forward. But others knew about this and said nothing.

And FEMA leadership didn’t take action against this supervisor until the press exposed this discrimination. More importantly, FEMA officials did not immediately end the discrimination.

Donald Trump has nominated a number of highly controversial candidates to serve in his Cabinet - but a new poll claims they have a slight edge on public approval, with one glaring exception.

The president-elect has selected a group of hardline conservatives and MAGA loyalists to serve in his administration. Some have unorthodox views and little government experience, while others are hampered by criminal allegations.

However, an Echelon Insights poll shows nearly every member with a slight favorability.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - whose views on vaccines have been called 'dangerous' by his own cousin - has been nominated to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

Outside of his own family, RFK Jr. has a favorability of 46%, while just 41% see him negatively.

Pete Hegseth, a military veteran and Fox News host, has been nominated to lead The Department of Defense despite little experience managing anything of that scale and complexity.

Donald Trump is personally calling senators to push them to vote to confirm Matt Gaetz as his attorney general.

He's doubled down on his controversial nominee even as Gaetz is under fire for alleged 'drug-fueled sex parties.'

'He clearly wants Matt Gaetz,' Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, who received a call from Trump, told Axios. 'He believes Matt Gaetz is the one person who will have the fearlessness and ferociousness, really, to do what needs doing at the Department of Justice.'

Gaetz, a pro-MAGA hardliner and Trump loyalist, has called for criminal investigations of Trump critics, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey. He's also said he would 'abolish' agencies like the FBI, which he would oversee as attorney general.

'One thing about Donald Trump, people should never confuse his support for one of his nominees as a tactical or strategic tool for somebody else,' Cramer said. 'And at least to this point, he's putting his own political capital behind it.'

President-elect Donald Trump is being pushed to reverse Joe Biden's 'radical' electric vehicle (EV) policies within the first 100 days he's back in the White House.

The Alliance for Consumers - a consumer's advocacy nonprofit - is urging Trump to take action as soon as possible.

They've launched a new campaign called '2035' showing how Biden's energy agenda would derail American lives if left unchanged, DailyMail.com can exclusively report.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff are headed to Hawaii.

The couple will be on Kalaoa, which is on the west side of the big island of Hawaii.

They’ll be able to enjoy long walks on its scenic beaches, which will allow them to decompress from the intense presidential campaign. Kalaoa is the southernmost point of the United States.

Harris and Emhoff usually spend the Thanksgiving holiday on Hawaii. It's unclear if Emhoff's children or any of the Harris family members will join them.

Donald Trump has nominated former Congressman and Fox Business host Sean Duffy to be his Transportation Secretary.

The president-elect announced late Monday he had picked Duffy, a father of nine who appeared on MTV series the 'Real World' in the 1990s, to take the spot currently occupied by Pete Butttigieg.

Duffy is married to fellow Fox News personality Rachel Campos-Duffy, who he met on the reality series 'Road Rules: All Stars' in 1998.

After leaving his reality TV career behind, Duffy then turned to politics and public service.

In 2010, he was elected to Congress to represent Wisconsin's seventh congressional district.

He served in the role until 2019 when he announced his retirement from Congress.

Matt Gaetz allegedly took two women to see the musical version of Pretty Woman on Broadway after paying them to fly to New York City for sex and drug-filled romps.

Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general allegedly partied, used drugs and paid women for sex repeatedly between 2017 and 2019 while serving in the House of Representatives.

Joel Leppard, a Florida-based attorney for the two women also says they met up with Gaetz at least once to watch him appear on Fox News' Outnumbered in New York in January 2019.

The three then went to see the musical Pretty Woman, an adaptation of the classic 1990 film starring Julia Roberts, is about a businessman who hires a free-spirited prostitute.

'They were asked to go and have sex with Rep. Gaetz, and then they could go out and see a show that they wanted to see that night. So essentially, take care of things, and then later on, they could have their fun,' the lawyer added.

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough dismissed intense backlash from viewers and colleagues in the media over his secret visit to Mar-a-Lago to meet Donald Trump last week.

The MSNBC anchor said the criticism was proof of a ‘massive disconnect’ between ‘social media and the real world’.

The journalists were accused of bending the knee to the president-elect by admitting on Monday that they had visited him to ‘restart communications’ in a feud that has lasted years.

Many pointed to Scarborough and co-host and wife Mike Brzezinski comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler and calling him a fascist.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said it was a ploy to turn around poor ratings.

Conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly on Monday called the meeting an 'absurd farce' and called the Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski 'faux journalists'.

'Which one was insincere? He's Hitler? Or now we're going to speak truth to power and find a way of speaking to and working with Donald Trump?

'Which one was a lie?'

Kelly's guest, left-leaning journalist Glenn Greenwald, went even further.

'Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are the most humiliating and pathetic people in all of corporate media, and I realized there's a lot of serious contenders for that crown,' he said.

Greenwald added that the hosts 'don't believe in anything other than their own career in their own ratings.'

Scarborough opened his show on Tuesday by thanking those who had sent him messages of support amid the furious response.

I will say, first of all, thank you to everyone who was so kind last night. Yesterday I saw for the first time what a massive disconnect there was between social media and the real world because we were flooded with phone calls from people all day, literally around the world, all very positive, very supportive, “I understand what you did…” etcetera, etcetera.

But once in a while I would get a text or call from someone going, "Oh, man, I hope you’re doing okay."

I would call them back, Eddie Glaude was one of them, I’d go: ‘Are you on Twitter?’ And he goes, "I am." I’d go "Well I’m not so we’ve had a good day. Mika had a wonderful event and it’s fantastic.’ All of us will do the best we can do and we’re all working towards a better America.

Brzezinski said: 'Take it day by day, people'.

A trans war has broken out on Capitol Hill after a Republican lawmaker proposed a measure that would block the first transgender member of Congress from using biological women's restrooms in the U.S. Capitol.

Rep. Nancy Mace is pushing for the new rule ahead of the arrival of Congresswoman-elect Sarah McBride, who will take office in January as the first openly-trans lawmaker in the United States.

McBride blasted Republicans after the proposal, claiming they were using it as a 'distraction' tactic.

'This is a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing,' McBride said in a statement.

'We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars.'

Mace, a staunch conservative, stood by her measure.

'Playing make believe dress up doesn't mean you should be allowed in women's private spaces,' she wrote on X.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did eat the McDonald's meal that he was pictured with on Trump Force One over the weekend, Donald Trump Jr. has confirmed.

Kennedy, who is Donald Trump's pick for health secretary, has promised to 'make America healthy again' and has long rallied against processed foods.

He has publicly criticized the President-elect's love of fast food, including McDonald's, describing the food he eats as 'poison' and 'really bad'.

But when Trump, Don Jr. and Tesla CEO Elon Musk indulged in a 3am McDonald's run after the Ultimate Fighting Championship in New York on Saturday night, RFK Jr. also partook in the meal.

'We got back on the plane...Bobby did have, have some McDonald's. We definitely had some fun with that one,' the President-elect's eldest son told the Charlie Kirk podcast on Monday, adding that Kennedy 'definitely looks like he got his hand caught in the cookie jar with that one'.

Former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley ridiculed MSNBC Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on Monday after they revealed they met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

The famous TV couple said they met with Trump Friday to 'restart communications' after they spent eight years berating him as a racist, sexist, misogynistic, fascist.

'Joe and I realized it’s time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump but also talking with him,' Brzezinski said.

But Haley was not convinced.

'Let’s be clear, Joe and Mika didn’t suddenly see the light, they saw their ratings,' she wrote on X. 'They realized they needed Trump for their survival.'

Trump's landslide victory cratered ratings for MSNBC, as their prime-time viewership has fallen  53 percent from October.

As a presidential candidate challenging Trump, Haley was celebrated by the show hosts on Morning Joe, but was often criticized for not doing more to publicly condemn Trump on the campaign trail.

'That says a lot Nikki,' Brzezinski bemoaned after Haley refused to comment on a prior defamation and sexual assault case against E. Jean Carroll in New York.

The mayor of Boston has promised to defy president-elect Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts in 'every possible way'.

Mayor Michelle Wu has said that the city will continue to protect immigrants under the threat of deportation.

'Elections have consequences, and the federal government is responsible for a certain set of actions, and cities - no individual city - can reverse or override some parts of that,' Wu said on WCVB.

She cited Boston's status as a sanctuary city under the Trust Act passed in 2014.

This act limits cooperation with some federal immigration laws and prohibits Boston police, and other city departments, from cooperating with ICE. The Trust Act does allow for cooperation in criminal matters.

As Trump's mass deportation threats loom, towns across Massachusetts have reaffirmed that commitments to remaining sanctuary cities.

'We want immigrants to know that it is safe for everyone to be able to feel comfortable reaching out for emergency services, to report a crime, to ask for help, and generally, to be part of our community,' Wu said.

Trump's election campaign was heavily based on mass deportation and the removal of illegal immigrants, and he is expected to act on these promises as soon as he is in office in January.

Ukraine has carried out its first strike on Russian territory with US-supplied long-range missiles just days after the Biden administration gave Kyiv the green light despite fears it could escalate the conflict beyond control.

A fiery explosion at an ammunition depot in Karachev around 75 miles from the Ukrainian border in Russia's Bryansk region lit up the night sky early this morning on what is the 1,000th day of war in Ukraine.

Eyewitnesses along with Russian and Ukrainian military bloggers first reported the attack, with anonymous Ukrainian military officials later telling RBC Ukraine the strike was conducted with the US-manufactured ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System).

Kyiv is yet to officially confirm the ATACMS strike, but Russia's Defence Ministry claimed they shot down five missiles. A sixth missile was damaged but ultimately landed on the military facility, it said.

The reports emerged within minutes of the Kremlin threatening a 'nuclear response' should Ukraine hit targets on Russian soil with Western-supplied long-range munitions.

'The Russian Federation reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against it with the use of conventional weapons,' Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Russia this morning.