memeorandum: Trump's early moves show he wants to disrupt government and exact retribution (Dan Balz/Washington Post)

7:05 AM ET, November 17, 2024

Top Items:

Defense pick Hegseth paid accuser but denies sexual assault, attorney says — Documents obtained by The Post provide extensive detail about allegation and the response by Trump's defense secretary pick. — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of defense …

Discussion: Stars & Stripes, Daily Mail, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Axios, Raw Story, New York Times and The Times of Israel

NBC News:

Trump transition team compiling list of current and former U.S. military officers for possible courts-martial — All of the officers were involved in the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which independent reviews have blamed on both the Trump and Biden administrations.

Discussion: Daily Mail, Raw Story and Breitbart

Washington Post:

Trump picks fracking firm CEO Chris Wright to be energy secretary — The executive has taken a defiant approach to fighting climate change by attacking policies that call for shifting away from fossil fuels.

Discussion: ABC News

Ben Lefebvre / Politico:

Trump taps oil executive Chris Wright as Energy secretary — The oil executive and GOP fundraiser disputes the need to fight against climate change. — President-elect Donald Trump named Chris Wright, head of a Denver-based oil service company and a vocal opponent of government action …

Discussion: Associated Press, Fox News, ABC News, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, New York Post, The Times of Israel, Mediaite, USA Today, Forbes, RedState, Townhall, Must Read Alaska, Bloomberg, New York Times, Washington Examiner, New York Daily News, The Daily Caller and Washington Times

Brett Samuels / The Hill:

Trump taps fracking CEO Chris Wright for Energy secretary — President-elect Trump on Saturday announced he would nominate Chris Wright, a donor and fracking company leader, to serve as his Energy secretary. — “Chris has been a leading technologist and entrepreneur in Energy.

Discussion: CNN, TPR and WHEC.com

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Trump's early moves show he wants to disrupt government and exact retribution — Eight years ago, Trump's transition got off to a slow and stumbling start. This time, he is moving swiftly to fill key roles with loyal but controversial picks. — The opening phase of President-elect Donald …

Politico:
Elon Musk pushes Lutnick for Treasury

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Raw Story, Associated Press, WHEC.com, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Reuters, CNBC and Business Insider

Rachael Bade / Politico:
The ‘team of vipers’ is back — Cliff Sims wrote the definitive tale of Trump administration infighting.

Discussion: Raw Story

Joe Kucinski / Road & Track:

Tesla Has the Highest Fatal Accident Rate of All Auto Brands, Study Finds — Tesla vehicles suffer fatal accidents at a rate that's twice the industry average, according to a new report. — Tesla's vehicles have the highest fatal accident rate among all car brands in America …

Washington Post:

Trump won. The celebrations started. Then the trouble began. — The president-elect has been operating off his own script, making Cabinet picks that have posed immediate political challenges.

Discussion: Raw Story

Dan Diamond / Washington Post:

Jay Bhattacharya, an NIH critic, emerges as a top candidate to lead the agency — The Stanford physician was excoriated by NIH's director in 2020 for his “fringe” ideas on covid. Four years later, he's poised for power in Trump's Washington.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

The White House:

Readout of President Joe Biden's Meeting with President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China — President Joseph R. Biden Jr. met with President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Lima, Peru today. This meeting is the third between the two Presidents and follows their April 2, 2024, telephone call.

Discussion: Washington Examiner

NBC News:

A majority of Senate Republicans doubt Matt Gaetz will be confirmed as attorney general, sources say — More than half of Senate Republicans, including some in senior leadership positions, privately say they don't see a path for the former Florida representative, according to a number of Republican sources.

Discussion: New York Times and Semafor

Associated Press:

Kamala Harris raised $1 billion-plus in defeat. She's still sending persistent appeals to donors — Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party's prodigious fundraising operation raised more than $1 billion in her loss to Donald Trump, but the vice president is still pushing donors for more money after the election.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit and Bloomberg

New York Post:

Harris' campaign blew $2.6M on private jets in final weeks of campaign — Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign shelled out $2.6 million on private jet travel in the final, dying gasps of her presidential run — bringing her failed campaign's total tally on the environmentally unfriendly mode …

Discussion: Fox News, Breitbart, RedState and Twitchy

Evan Bush / NBC News:

Editor-in-chief of Scientific American steps down after anti-Trump comments — The magazine's top editor wrote several profanity-laced social media posts about the results of the election. … Scientific American editor-in-chief Laura Helmuth is leaving the publication less than two weeks …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, New York Times, TPR and The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »

Adam Jentleson / New York Times:

When Will Democrats Learn to Say No? — When Donald Trump held a rally in the Bronx in May, critics scoffed that there was no way he could win New York State. Yet as a strategic matter, asking the question “What would it take for a Republican to win New York?” leads to the answer …