Daily Update: WBD, WWE, Dark Side of the CageSale Sharks are up and running in Europe after a comprehensive dismantling of Racing 92. Having lost away to Glasgow Warriors on the opening weekend of the Investec Champions Cup, Sale needed a win at Salford Stadium and they delivered it in some style. Lumpy but limited, the Parisians were overpowered by the hungry Sharks, for whom Ben Curry delivered the bonus-point try and a man-of-the-match display. The England flanker, lightly raced in the autumn by Steve Borthwick, led a physical assault on Racing that they ultimately could not live with on a drizzly, dank night in the northwest. “No one dictates physicality to us at home,” Curry said. “It’s something we’ve been talking about all week. Rugby can be a very simple game when
Nick Chubb plows through heavy snow for 2-yard TD, giving Browns 24-19 win over SteelersParcion Private Wealth LLC cut its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. ( NASDAQ:AMZN – Free Report ) by 0.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 63,528 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 331 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com makes up 1.0% of Parcion Private Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Parcion Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $11,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 20,897.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 39,135,449 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $72,921,080,000 after acquiring an additional 38,949,065 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 785,811,114 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $141,744,609,000 after buying an additional 14,724,687 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the first quarter valued at $2,239,757,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 64.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,359,677 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $5,295,899,000 after buying an additional 11,524,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 8.5% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,982,857 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $15,689,968,000 after buying an additional 6,810,145 shares in the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMZN. TD Cowen raised their target price on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.20. Amazon.com Stock Up 1.0 % NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $207.89 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.14. Amazon.com, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.81 and a twelve month high of $215.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $194.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $186.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Amazon.com ( NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $158.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 8.04%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insider Buying and Selling In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.85, for a total transaction of $625,790,203.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 917,416,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $191,602,535,437.60. This represents a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink . Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,766 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.85, for a total value of $1,000,145.10. Following the sale, the director now owns 94,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,858,105.50. The trade was a 4.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . In the last three months, insiders have sold 6,026,683 shares of company stock valued at $1,252,148,795. 10.80% of the stock is owned by insiders. Amazon.com Profile ( Free Report ) Amazon.com, Inc engages in the retail sale of consumer products, advertising, and subscriptions service through online and physical stores in North America and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). It also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TVs, Echo, Ring, Blink, and eero; and develops and produces media content. 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Arsenal's quest for a first Premier League title since 2004 is already in jeopardy - with the January transfer window coming at a perfect time. The Gunners currently sit six points behind leaders Liverpool at the top of the table, with Arne Slot's men also boasting a game in hand. Despite the return of influential skipper Martin Odegaard , Arsenal have been inconsistent in the final third, and are not yet their usual free-flowing self. Arsenal have been accused of being overly reliant on academy graduate Bukayo Saka , who has chipped in with nine goals and 13 assists from 24 games in all competitions this term. The right winger has been directly involved in 15 out of the north London outfit's 34 goals scored from their 17 Premier League fixtures so far. But the Hale End star has dealt Arsenal a major blow following the hamstring injury he picked up in Saturday's 5-1 win away at Crystal Palace - ruling him out until February. Gooners were already crying out for Mikel Arteta to bolster his front line in the New Year, but with Saka now set for a spell on the sidelines, that is now vital should they wish to finally get their hands on the Premier League title for the first time in over two decades. Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard - who have been rotating on the left wing - boast just Premier League goals between them. Meanwhile Gabriel Jesus - often utilised as the back-up striker option behind Kai Havertz - has scored just three top-flight goals in 2024, with his recent double at Selhurst Park ending a barren spell of 11 months. As for Raheem Sterling , his loan from Chelsea hasn't worked as of yet, with the England international limited to just 146 minutes of Premier League action spread across six outings, with the player now ruled out with a knee injury. And while Havertz is a popular figure amongst the club's fanbase, he is not a lethal finisher, with it known that Arsenal are in the market for a new No.9 to elevate their game. Here talkSPORT.com takes a look at five players Arsenal could look to splash the cash on in their bid to kickstart their title charge following back-to-back second place finishes. The 27-year-old failed to reach the heights of expected of him in England after coming up through Charlton's academy. He somewhat flattered to deceive during his spells at Everton, Fulham and Leicester in the Premier League. But he has transformed himself in Italy at Atalanta since moving to the Gewiss Stadium in 2022, where he is regarded as one of the top wingers in Serie A. He is already on 12 goals for the season having banged in 15 and 17 in all competitions in his first two campaigns in Bergamo. His versatility would also be appealing to Arteta with Lookman able to operate on either wing as well as up top. Recently crowned as the African Footballer of the Year over Mohamed Salah following his hat-trick in last season's Europa League final, Lookman would be an excellent addition to the Arsenal squad. West Ham's versatile forward Kudus is another potential option with Arsenal known to be huge admirers of the Ghanaian. The Gunners were heavily linked with a swoop to sign the 24-year-old in 2023, but he instead linked up with the Hammers from Ajax in a £38million deal . He proved to be an instant hit at the London Stadium after scoring 18 goals and providing seven assists from his 48 games in his opening campaign. Kudus has been involved in just five goals this term, but has still caught the eye in what has been a disappointing season so far for West ham. And talkSPORT understands that Arsenal could make a move for the player in January with West Ham open to selling him for a hefty profit. Kudus boasts a release clause of £85m which becomes active next summer, so Arsenal know they will have to break the bank to secure his services in the New Year. Having scored six goals against the Gunners, Rashford could very well end up smashing them in for Arsenal should he depart Manchester United. The 27-year-old, who has played on both wings and up top this term, is seeking a new adventure after revealing last week he is 'ready for a new challenge' ahead of the January transfer window. talkSPORT understands that United are open to offers for the two-time FA Cup winner who has scored 138 goals in 426 matches for the club. Rashford has been left out of United's squad in their last three matches with all signs pointing towards a January departure. Arsenal have shown in recent years they aren't scared of poaching star players from rivals clubs having brought in Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from City, Havertz, Jorginho and Sterling from Chelsea and Declan Rice from West Ham. Should Arsenal eye up a swoop for Rashford, they would have to compete with three Saudo Arabian clubs, who have all expressed an interest in signing him. With Jesus able to cover Saka on the right wing, Arsenal could look to sign a striker over a winger next month. Rumours of an Arsenal switch for the Sporting Lisbon marksman refuse to go away. No player has scored more than the Sweden international in 2024 having banged in a whopping 61 times for club and country this calendar year - 13 more goals than Erling Haaland. A physical specimen, the 26-year-old is the striker Arsenal fans are desperate to snap up - despite the club being warned by Troy Deeney he won't win them the league . Gyokeres, who combines speed and power with deadly finishing, fired Sporting to the Primeira Liga title last season after scoring 43 goals in all competitions. And he showed what he is capable of in early November after scoring a hat-trick against City in a 4-1 Champions League victory. With Gyokeres boasting a release clause of around £85m, the option is there for Arsenal to sign him - but they know they could face competition from Manchester United. Should Arsenal look to bring in a striker to provide competition for Havertz and are unwilling to stump £85m on Gyokeres, then Lille's David could be a viable alternative. While many Gooners may roll their eyes at the suggestion of the Canadian, the 24-year-old has been one of the most in-form players this year. The 2021 Ligue 1 champion has banged in a total 41 goals in 2024 - with only Gyokeres, Haaland and Harry Kane scoring more. He is currently leading the scoring charts in the French top-flight with 11 goals - and is now third on the list of Lille's top scorer list with 101 strikes. A cheaper option, David is set to become a free agent in 2025, with Lille likely to accept a lower fee for the player to avoid losing him for nothing. Though Arsenal may have to act quick should they wish to bring him to the club with Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, Inter Milan and Napoli all rumoured to be of interest.Thomas Moore is all around us, but you possibly never noticed. His birthplace is on the site of J Smyth’s, the legendary old live music bar on Dublin’s Aungier Street (now trading as the Thomas Moore Inn). There are busts and statues of him in cities around the globe, including Belfast, Dublin and New York. Listen carefully to the opening bars of Dexys Midnight Runners’ track 'Come On Eileen' and you’ll hear a sample of Moore’s song 'Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms'. Moore was a titan in Irish life in the nineteenth century. As the century drew to a close, Irish households kept a copy of Moore’s Melodies alongside the Bible, and made sure if sons or daughters were emigrating that the collection was packed off with them on their boat journey abroad. Moore’s story is full of colourful adventures and friends in the highest echelons of British and Irish society. It's a mystery as to why he has largely disappeared from our consciousness, which makes TG4’s documentary about him over Christmas timely. “I had read about Thomas Moore. A lot of people in my office had heard about him, but they didn't know anything about the man himself,” says Suzanne McNally, director of Thomas Moore – Bard na hÉireann. “Or else people would say they’d never heard of him, but when you mentioned The Last Rose of Summer or The Minstrel Boy, they’d know the songs. He had a fascinating life. "He was friends of Robert Emmet and Lord Byron. He lived in Bermuda. He was so famous in his lifetime. We wanted to know if he should be forgotten in Ireland today. That set us off on a journey.” McNally and her production team have made Moore’s music a big part of that story. It was an inspired – if perhaps an obvious – decision to make. The documentary is peppered with eight soaring studio performances of Moore’s melodies from artists such as Duke Special, Steve Cooney, Méav Ní Mhaolchatha and a breathtaking rendition of Oh! Breathe Not His Name by the soul artist Manukahunney and her band. The live recordings, a mix of traditional with modern interpretations, provide “chapter points,” says McNally, as Moore’s life story unfolds. Moore was born in 1779, the son of a Dublin grocer. His mother was ambitious for him. He was one of the first Catholics to study at Trinity College. His Irish Catholic identity – at a time when Catholics were second class citizens in Ireland, unable, for example, to sit in parliament – was the defining feature of his identity. It was at Trinity that Moore befriended Robert Emmet. Moore was less radical than Emmet, but they shared an Enlightenment worldview and the dream of an independent, pluralist Irish nation. Emmet’s execution – in which he was hung, drawn and quartered – was deeply disturbing for Moore, who penned the ballad Oh! Breathe Not His Name in his memory, picking up on Emmet’s famous dying wish that only when Ireland was free could his epitaph be written. Moore could walk on both sides of the street. At a time when England thought the Irish were barbarous and ignorant, he was a darling of the English aristocracy, invited, for instance, to the Prince Regent’s inauguration fête. King George VI – and the salons of fashionable, bohemian London – delighted in his wit and when he’d play the piano, performing his melodies. As Theo Dorgan, one of the contributors in the documentary, remarks about Moore’s ambiguous position in Anglo-Irish society – Moore wasn’t the only Irish person to be famous in London. He was a man for all seasons. “It's interesting,” says McNally, “Kevin Whelan, a history professor at Notre Dame University, said in the documentary that at the time, people said of him ‘Tommy dearly loved a lord.’ It's true. "When you see all his friends, it's the likes of Lord Moira and Lord Byron. When he got into trouble in Bermuda, it was his friends [e.g. Lord Lansdowne] who got him out of that debt. “As Theo Dorgan said, Moore was still very political. He was Irish. He was proud of that. He walked that thin line between both worlds. He did it well. Doing the research, time and again, people would say, ‘He would go to ‘big houses’ in England and he'd sing for his supper. "He would enjoy the big feast and then he would perform. A lot of the ladies liked him apparently. He must have been very charismatic. He was a popular man.” Tellingly, it was when Ireland achieved (limited) independence in the 1920s that Moore started to disappear from view. His reputation took a pounding during the Celtic Revival at the turn of the twentieth century. Joyce often sang his songs. “Moore’s maladies,” Joyce called them. He loved the songs, but he didn’t love the man. WB Yeats despised Moore’s “incarnate social ambition”, but perhaps Yeats’ hatred sprung from jealousy – there was only room for one person to be Ireland’s national poet. Moore’s music, which was always prone to melancholy, was reflected in his own life. He lived to a good age, dying in Wiltshire, England, in 1852, outliving cohorts like Daniel O’Connell. He was happily married to “Bessy”, a young Irish actress, and sister of the famous contemporary actress, Mary Dyke. But tragedy marred their family life – all five of their children died before them. “It seemed a sad, lonely ending for him, losing all five children before him,” says McNally. “A lot of his friends had all died too. We filmed in Wiltshire. It was sad to see the grave with the names of his family there. But it was a really interesting experience to delve into his life.” Thomas Moore and the tale of Lord Byron’s explosive memoirs Thomas Moore and Lord Byron, the most famous poet of his era, not least for his scandalous lifestyle, were firm friends. Byron reckoned there was no one to rival Moore’s talent for adapting words to music. In 1824, when word filtered back to London that Byron had drowned in western Greece, Moore was, legally, in possession of the Englishman’s memoirs. Unfortunately, Moore left the manuscript with Byron’s publisher, John Murray, two years beforehand as a security, placing himself in debt to Murray to the tune of 2,000 guineas. Immediately after news of Byron’s death, a bitter dispute broke out amongst Moore, Murray, Byron’s family and John Cam Hobhouse, Byron’s friend and executor. Hobhouse, in particular, was worried about the red-hot material in the memoirs, chiefly references about Byron’s homosexual encounters. After a fraught weekend of negotiation, full of nasty personal charges, Moore finally acquiesced at an infamous Monday morning summit meeting involving six interested parties (and a seventh, if you include Murray’s 16-year-old son) to Hobhouse’s demands that the manuscript be burnt. Although morose leaving the meeting, Moore still had the energy to leave the group with a parting shot, a story about an Irishman who had just been condemned to death. Asked if he had anything to add. “Oh nothing,” he replied, “except that by Jesus you’ve settled it all very nicely amongst you!”
President-elect Donald Trump has filled the key posts for his second term in office, prioritizing loyalty to him after he felt bruised and hampered by internal squabbling during his first term. Some of his choices could face difficult confirmation fights in the Senate, even with Republicans in control, and one candidate has already withdrawn from consideration. Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz was Trump's initial pick for attorney general, but he ultimately withdrew following scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation he was embroiled in. Here's a look at Trump's choices: Trump would turn a former critic into an ally as the nation's top diplomat. Rubio , 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate before the slot went to JD Vance. Rubio is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His selection punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator once called a “con man" during his own unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. Hegseth , 44, was a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends Weekend” and had been a contributor with the network since 2014. He developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2011 and earning two Bronze Stars. He lacks senior military and national security experience and would oversee global crises ranging from Europe to the Middle East. A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and has denied any wrongdoing. Bessent , 62, is a former money manager for George Soros , a big Democratic donor, and an advocate for deficit reduction . He founded the hedge fund Key Square Capital Management after having worked on and off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending. Gabbard, 43, is a former Democratic House member from Hawaii who has been accused of echoing Russian propaganda. She unsuccessfully sought the party’s 2020 presidential nomination and left the party in 2022. Gabbard endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him. Gabbard has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. If confirmed she would come to the role as an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, spent several years in top national security and intelligence positions. Bondi , 59, was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Considered a loyalist , Bondi also has served with the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-allied group that has helped lay the groundwork for his future administration. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush-money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appeared on Fox News and has been critical of the criminal cases against him. The Republican U.S. House member narrowly lost her reelection bid on Nov. 5 but had received strong backing from union members in her district. As a potential labor secretary, Chavez-DeRemer would oversee the department's workforce and budget and put forth priorities that affect workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities. Chavez-DeRemer is one of a few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act that would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and penalize companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws in more than half the states. Lutnick heads the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and is a cryptocurrency enthusiast. He is co-chair of Trump's transition operation, charged along with Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration, with helping the president-elect fill key jobs in his second administration. As secretary, Lutnick would play a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. He would oversee a sprawling Cabinet department whose oversight ranges from funding new computer chip factories and imposing trade restrictions to releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. Noem is a well-known conservative who used her two terms as South Dakota's governor to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions like other states, instead declaring South Dakota “open for business.” More recently, Noem faced sharp criticism for writing in her memoir about shooting and killing her dog. She is set to lead a department crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda as well as other missions. Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. Ratcliffe , a former U.S. House member from Texas, was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump’s first term. He led U.S. government’s spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. If confirmed, Ratcliffe will have held the highest intelligence positions in the U.S. Kennedy , 70, ran for president as a Democrat, then as an independent before he dropped out and then endorsed Trump . He's the son of Democratic icon Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential campaign. Kennedy's nomination alarmed people who are concerned about his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines . For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Rollins , 52, is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for Trump's second administration. She is a Texas attorney who was Trump's domestic policy adviser and director of his office of American innovation during his first term. Rollins previously was an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry , who also served in Trump's first term. Rollins also ran the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Duffy is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years , sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children. Collins is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential campaign, but was acquitted by the Senate. Collins also served in the armed forces himself. He is a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. The North Dakota governor , 68, is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump after he dropped out of the running. Burgum then became a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice in part because of his executive experience and business savvy. He also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs. Trump said Burgum would chair a new National Energy Council and have a seat on the National Security Council, which would be a first for the Interior secretary. A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. He also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. Wright said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. McMahon, a billionaire professional wrestling mogul , would make a return appearance in a second Trump administration. She led the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019 in Trump’s first term and twice ran unsuccessfully in Connecticut as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University. She has expressed support for charter schools and school choice. Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X , “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI" and "we will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.” Trump often attacked the Biden administration’s promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referred to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often said his administration would “drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” Greer is a partner at King & Spalding, a Washington law firm. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization. He previously was chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, who was the trade representative in Trump's first term. Wiles , 67, was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. She has a background in Florida politics , helping Ron DeSantis win his first race for Florida governor. Six years later, she was key to Trump’s defeat of him in the 2024 Republican primary. Wiles’ hire was Trump’s first major decision as president-elect and one that could be a defining test of his incoming administration considering her close relationship with him. Wiles is said to have earned Trump’s trust in part by guiding what was the most disciplined of Trump’s three presidential campaigns. Waltz is a three-term Republican congressman from east-central Florida. A former Army Green Beret , he served multiple tours in Afghanistan and worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Hassett, 62, is a major advocate of tax cuts who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump term. In the new role as chairman of the National Economic Council, Trump said Hassett will play an important role in helping American families recover from inflation as well as in renewing and improving tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017, many of which are set to expire after 2025. Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. He led the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump's first administration. Democrats have criticized Homan for defending Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings in the first term, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. Vought, 48, held the position during Trump’s first presidency. He the founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought also was closely involved with Project 2025 , a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Miller, an immigration hardliner , was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump’s priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump’s first term. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump’s policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation’s economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people living illegally in the U.S. Scavino was an adviser in all three of the president-elect's campaigns and was described by the transition team as one of “Trump’s longest serving and most trusted aides." He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino previously ran Trump’s social media profile in the White House. Blair was political director for Trump’s 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and an assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump’s economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign. Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump’s 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president. Leavitt , 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. McGinley was Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and they were golfing at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Kellogg , 80, is a highly decorated retired three-star general and one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for Trump's second term. He has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues and served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence . Kellogg also was chief of staff of the National Security Council under Trump and stepped in as an acting national security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned the post. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests. Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Huckabee has rejected a Palestinian homeland in territory occupied by Israel. His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, served as White House press secretary in Trump's first term. Stefanik, 40, is a U.S. representative from New York and one of Trump's staunchest defenders dating to his first impeachment trial. She was elected chair of the House Republican Conference in 2021, the third-highest position in House leadership, after then-Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after she publicly criticized Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. A former acting attorney general during Trump's first administration and tight end on the University of Iowa football team, Whitaker , 55, has a background in law enforcement but not in foreign policy. A fierce Trump localist, Whitaker, is also a former U.S. attorney in Iowa and served as acting attorney general between November 2018 and February 2019 without Senate confirmation, until William Barr was confirmed for the role. That was when special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference was drawing to a close. Whitaker also faced questions about his past business dealings, including his ties to an invention-promotion company that was accused of misleading consumers. A Republican congressman from Michigan who served from 1993 to 2011, Hoekstra was ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's first term. Oz , 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime TV talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz’s bid for elected office. Makary is a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns. He routinely appeared on Fox News during the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote opinion articles questioning masks for children. He cast doubt on vaccine mandates but supported vaccines generally. Makary also cast doubt on whether booster shots worked, which was against federal recommendations on the vaccine. Nesheiwat is a general practitioner who serves as medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. She has been a contributor on Fox News. Weldon is a former Florida congressman who recently ran for a Florida state legislative seat and lost; Trump backed Weldon’s opponent. In Congress, Weldon weighed in on one of the nation’s most heated debates of the 1990s over quality of life and a right-to-die and whether Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative after cardiac arrest, state should have been allowed to have her feeding tube removed. He sided with the parents who did not want it removed. Bhattacharya , 56, is a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. As head of the NIH, the leading medical research agency in the United States, Trump said Bhattacharya would work with Kennedy Jr. to direct U.S. medical research and make important discoveries that will improve health and save lives. Bhattacharya is professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and was one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 open letter maintaining that lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic were causing irreparable harm. Gaetz, 42, withdrew from consideration to become the top law enforcement officer of the United States amid fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed by the Senate. In choosing Gaetz, Trump had passed over more established lawyers whose names had been floated as possible contenders for the job. Gaetz resigned from Congress after Trump announced him on Nov. 13. The House Ethics Committee has been investigating an allegation that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing. Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Zeke Miller, Farnoush Amiri, Lolita C. Baldor, Jill Colvin, Matthew Daly, Edith M. Lederer, Adriana Gomez Licon, Lisa Mascaro, Chris Megerian, Michelle L. Price, Will Weissert and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
Florida State continues torrid star with rout of UMass
The Yoon Suk Yeol administration has focused on maintaining fiscal soundness as a key economic policy. But its policy showed signs of change last week amid growing concerns about the toxic mix of sluggish domestic demand and a continued slowdown in economic growth. “In the first half of this year, the government has made efforts to revitalize the economy by helping the private sector lead the way,” President Yoon said at an event Friday. “In the second half, the government will strive to resolve social polarization to offer people a hope for the future.” Yoon also said that the government will open a “new era for the middle class” by injecting "fresh energy" into people’s livelihoods and the economy. Yoon’s comments, which directly mention a shift in economic policy, are now interpreted as a sign that the government may pivot to active fiscal spending and push for drawing up a supplementary budget. Some experts view Yoon’s hint at departing from fiscal soundness as inevitable considering the worsening economic conditions that are feared to undercut the growth prospect of Asia’s fourth-biggest economy. The construction sector, which is an important indicator of economic activity in Korea, has been mired in a protracted slump. Private spending is also sluggish, reflecting consumers' willingness to cut costs at a time when the economy continues to slow. Equally worrisome is the disheartening outlook that the country’s exports could stagnate toward the end of the year. Against this backdrop, both the state-run Korea Development Institute and the International Monetary Fund lowered their 2025 growth outlook for Korea to 2 percent. If external conditions like the risks linked to the new trade policy of US President-elect Donald Trump worsen at a faster pace, even a 2 percent expansion could be a rosy projection. Fueling speculation about the policy focus from fiscal soundness to stimulus spending is a comment from the presidential office. On Friday, a senior official at the presidential office said that the government is “not ruling out an active role for fiscal spending, including the possibility of a supplementary budget.” But the official said that the government had no plans to draw up an extra budget early next year Later in the same day, the presidential office told reporters that the government “had not discussed, reviewed or decided on any possibility of an extra budget,” adding that the official’s comment was “a general explanation that state finance should play a role, if necessary.” As a policy shift would be seen as significant, the Finance Ministry also issued a statement that it is not considering an extra budget proposal for next year. However, given that the Yoon administration has rejected the extra budget proposal from opposition parties, citing the importance of fiscal soundness, the comment on a supplementary budget from a senior official at the presidential office signals that a change in fiscal policy is one of the possibilities now being considered among high-ranking policymakers. Maintaining a tight budget is not necessarily an effective policy when multiple factors threaten the overall economy. Expansionary fiscal policy could help prevent the economy from falling into a deeper trap of slump. But critics said holding a discussion about extra budget was premature, if not outright misguided, since the National Assembly is currently reviewing next year’s state budget. Even the ruling People Power Party said that it was “inappropriate to explore possibilities about a supplementary budget at this point.” A bigger question is whether the government has enough room to shift its focus away from fiscal soundness. The government is already expected to see another significant shortfall in tax revenue this year due mainly to weak corporate earnings. As Yoon said, resolving social polarization is important, but policymakers must weigh all options and issues, including the need for a supplementary budget and ways to remove wasteful state spending programs.
A massive coaching change is coming to in the state of Florida. is resigning to be the new offensive coordinator at Florida State, . UCF later announced Malzahn's departure Malzahn, according to the report, will also serve as the lead play caller which was a role previously held by Florida State coach Mike Norvell. Malzahn and Norvell go back to when they were assistants at Tulsa in 2007-08. Norvell was a graduate assistant during Malzahn's tenure as the co-offensive coordinator for the Golden Hurricane. The 59-year-old coach just finished his fourth season at UCF, which saw its season end Friday in a loss to Utah. The finished 28-24 in four seasons with the Knights and chose to take a step down to lead the ' offense rather than coach at UCF. Florida State has now filled one of its two open coordinator spots after Norvell fired both Alex Atkins and Adam Fuller midseason, amid one of the worst FSU seasons in a long time: The Seminoles are currently 2-9 going into their regular season finale against Florida on Saturday. Malzahn, who was the head coach at Auburn from 2013-20, led the Tigers to the 2014 BCS national championship game, when they fell to none other than Florida State. Malzahn is known for his high-powered offenses, including when he served as Auburn's associate head coach, quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator when it won the national championship in 2010.
Mexico emphasises interconnectedness of economic ties with US – and the mutual threat of tariffs. Mexico’s president and economy minister have given the clearest picture yet of how their government will respond to United States President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on the country, which their government has warned will cost 400,000 US jobs. Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the Mexican response would be swift if Trump followed through on the plans. “If there are US tariffs, Mexico would also raise tariffs,” Sheinbaum said. The comments were the latest response to Trump’s statement on Monday that he plans to impose massive tariffs not just on China, but on Canada and Mexico as well, at a whopping 25-percent rate. Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard also warned against Trump starting a regional trade war, calling the cost to US workers “huge”. “Around 400,000 jobs will be lost” in the US, he said, pointing to a study based on figures from US carmakers that manufacture in Mexico. He added the impact would extend beyond workers to US consumers. For example, Ebrard said, most pick-up trucks sold in the US are manufactured in Mexico. He claimed Trump’s tariffs would add $3,000 to the cost of a new vehicle. “That is why we say that it would be a shot in the foot,” he said. ‘Unacceptable’ Trump has promised to use tariffs to bolster the US manufacturing industry – an attempt at a hard reset that economists have cast doubt on. Still, the severity of the president-elect’s approach to Canada and Mexico, who along with China make up the US’s top three trading partners, has come as somewhat of a surprise. In his statement on Monday, Trump said he would impose the 25-percent tariffs if the three countries do not do more to address irregular migration and drug smuggling into the US. Sheinbaum had previously called the threats “unacceptable”. On Wednesday, Sheinbaum revealed she held a call with Trump to discuss migration across the US-Mexico border, where she attempted to assuage his fears. “I had an excellent conversation with President Donald Trump,” Sheinbaum posted on social media. “We discussed Mexico’s strategy on the migrant phenomenon, and I shared that caravans are not arriving at the northern border because they are being taken care of in Mexico.” Officials have also warned Trump’s tariffs likely run afoul of the free trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada, the USMCA, which prohibits most duties on trade between the three countries. Trump himself had renegotiated the agreement during his first term, complaining that US businesses were getting a raw deal. Sheinbaum has requested a meeting with Trump before he takes office on January 20. For his part, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had already spoken with Trump about the tariff threat, stressing the longstanding ties between the two countries. “We talked about some of the challenges that we can work on together. It was a good call,” he said. “This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on, and that’s what we’ll do.” Government officials have not been the only ones who have warned of the impact of the proposed tariffs on US companies and consumers. Analysts at Barclays have said they estimate the proposed tariffs “could wipe out effectively all profits” from the “Detroit Three” automakers: GM, Stellantis and Ford. “While it’s generally understood that a blanket 25 percent tariff on any vehicles or content from Mexico or Canada could be disruptive, investors under-appreciate how disruptive this could be,” they wrote in a note on Tuesday. Trump’s team, for its part, has remained defiant. Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for Trump’s transition team, told the Reuters news agency the tariffs would protect US manufacturers and workers from “unfair practices of foreign companies and foreign markets”. He contended Trump would implement policies he said would make life affordable and more prosperous for the US.Major poll puts Ireland’s lead parties near neck-and-neck
President-elect Donald Trump has filled the key posts for his second term in office, prioritizing loyalty to him after he felt bruised and hampered by internal squabbling during his first term. Some of his choices could face difficult confirmation fights in the Senate, even with Republicans in control, and one candidate has already withdrawn from consideration. Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz was Trump's initial pick for attorney general, but he ultimately withdrew following scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation he was embroiled in. Here's a look at Trump's choices: Trump would turn a former critic into an ally as the nation's top diplomat. Rubio , 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate before the slot went to JD Vance. Rubio is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His selection punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator once called a “con man" during his own unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. Hegseth , 44, was a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends Weekend” and had been a contributor with the network since 2014. He developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2011 and earning two Bronze Stars. He lacks senior military and national security experience and would oversee global crises ranging from Europe to the Middle East. A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and has denied any wrongdoing. Bessent , 62, is a former money manager for George Soros , a big Democratic donor, and an advocate for deficit reduction . He founded the hedge fund Key Square Capital Management after having worked on and off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending. Gabbard, 43, is a former Democratic House member from Hawaii who has been accused of echoing Russian propaganda. She unsuccessfully sought the party’s 2020 presidential nomination and left the party in 2022. Gabbard endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him. Gabbard has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. If confirmed she would come to the role as an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, spent several years in top national security and intelligence positions. Bondi , 59, was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Considered a loyalist , Bondi also has served with the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-allied group that has helped lay the groundwork for his future administration. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush-money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appeared on Fox News and has been critical of the criminal cases against him. The Republican U.S. House member narrowly lost her reelection bid on Nov. 5 but had received strong backing from union members in her district. As a potential labor secretary, Chavez-DeRemer would oversee the department's workforce and budget and put forth priorities that affect workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities. Chavez-DeRemer is one of a few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act that would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and penalize companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws in more than half the states. Lutnick heads the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and is a cryptocurrency enthusiast. He is co-chair of Trump's transition operation, charged along with Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration, with helping the president-elect fill key jobs in his second administration. As secretary, Lutnick would play a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. He would oversee a sprawling Cabinet department whose oversight ranges from funding new computer chip factories and imposing trade restrictions to releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. Noem is a well-known conservative who used her two terms as South Dakota's governor to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions like other states, instead declaring South Dakota “open for business.” More recently, Noem faced sharp criticism for writing in her memoir about shooting and killing her dog. She is set to lead a department crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda as well as other missions. Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. Ratcliffe , a former U.S. House member from Texas, was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump’s first term. He led U.S. government’s spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. If confirmed, Ratcliffe will have held the highest intelligence positions in the U.S. Kennedy , 70, ran for president as a Democrat, then as an independent before he dropped out and then endorsed Trump . He's the son of Democratic icon Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential campaign. Kennedy's nomination alarmed people who are concerned about his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines . For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Rollins , 52, is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for Trump's second administration. She is a Texas attorney who was Trump's domestic policy adviser and director of his office of American innovation during his first term. Rollins previously was an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry , who also served in Trump's first term. Rollins also ran the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Duffy is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years , sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children. Collins is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential campaign, but was acquitted by the Senate. Collins also served in the armed forces himself. He is a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. The North Dakota governor , 68, is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump after he dropped out of the running. Burgum then became a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice in part because of his executive experience and business savvy. He also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs. Trump said Burgum would chair a new National Energy Council and have a seat on the National Security Council, which would be a first for the Interior secretary. A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. He also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. Wright said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. McMahon, a billionaire professional wrestling mogul , would make a return appearance in a second Trump administration. She led the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019 in Trump’s first term and twice ran unsuccessfully in Connecticut as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University. She has expressed support for charter schools and school choice. Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X , “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI" and "we will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.” Trump often attacked the Biden administration’s promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referred to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often said his administration would “drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” Greer is a partner at King & Spalding, a Washington law firm. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization. He previously was chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, who was the trade representative in Trump's first term. Wiles , 67, was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. She has a background in Florida politics , helping Ron DeSantis win his first race for Florida governor. Six years later, she was key to Trump’s defeat of him in the 2024 Republican primary. Wiles’ hire was Trump’s first major decision as president-elect and one that could be a defining test of his incoming administration considering her close relationship with him. Wiles is said to have earned Trump’s trust in part by guiding what was the most disciplined of Trump’s three presidential campaigns. Waltz is a three-term Republican congressman from east-central Florida. A former Army Green Beret , he served multiple tours in Afghanistan and worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Hassett, 62, is a major advocate of tax cuts who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump term. In the new role as chairman of the National Economic Council, Trump said Hassett will play an important role in helping American families recover from inflation as well as in renewing and improving tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017, many of which are set to expire after 2025. Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. He led the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump's first administration. Democrats have criticized Homan for defending Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings in the first term, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. Vought, 48, held the position during Trump’s first presidency. He the founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought also was closely involved with Project 2025 , a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Miller, an immigration hardliner , was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump’s priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump’s first term. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump’s policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation’s economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people living illegally in the U.S. Scavino was an adviser in all three of the president-elect's campaigns and was described by the transition team as one of “Trump’s longest serving and most trusted aides." He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino previously ran Trump’s social media profile in the White House. Blair was political director for Trump’s 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and an assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump’s economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign. Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump’s 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president. Leavitt , 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. McGinley was Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and they were golfing at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Kellogg , 80, is a highly decorated retired three-star general and one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for Trump's second term. He has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues and served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence . Kellogg also was chief of staff of the National Security Council under Trump and stepped in as an acting national security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned the post. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests. Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Huckabee has rejected a Palestinian homeland in territory occupied by Israel. His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, served as White House press secretary in Trump's first term. Stefanik, 40, is a U.S. representative from New York and one of Trump's staunchest defenders dating to his first impeachment trial. She was elected chair of the House Republican Conference in 2021, the third-highest position in House leadership, after then-Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after she publicly criticized Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. A former acting attorney general during Trump's first administration and tight end on the University of Iowa football team, Whitaker , 55, has a background in law enforcement but not in foreign policy. A fierce Trump localist, Whitaker, is also a former U.S. attorney in Iowa and served as acting attorney general between November 2018 and February 2019 without Senate confirmation, until William Barr was confirmed for the role. That was when special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference was drawing to a close. Whitaker also faced questions about his past business dealings, including his ties to an invention-promotion company that was accused of misleading consumers. A Republican congressman from Michigan who served from 1993 to 2011, Hoekstra was ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's first term. Oz , 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime TV talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz’s bid for elected office. Makary is a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns. He routinely appeared on Fox News during the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote opinion articles questioning masks for children. He cast doubt on vaccine mandates but supported vaccines generally. Makary also cast doubt on whether booster shots worked, which was against federal recommendations on the vaccine. Nesheiwat is a general practitioner who serves as medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. She has been a contributor on Fox News. Weldon is a former Florida congressman who recently ran for a Florida state legislative seat and lost; Trump backed Weldon’s opponent. In Congress, Weldon weighed in on one of the nation’s most heated debates of the 1990s over quality of life and a right-to-die and whether Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative after cardiac arrest, state should have been allowed to have her feeding tube removed. He sided with the parents who did not want it removed. Bhattacharya , 56, is a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. As head of the NIH, the leading medical research agency in the United States, Trump said Bhattacharya would work with Kennedy Jr. to direct U.S. medical research and make important discoveries that will improve health and save lives. Bhattacharya is professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and was one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 open letter maintaining that lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic were causing irreparable harm. Gaetz, 42, withdrew from consideration to become the top law enforcement officer of the United States amid fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed by the Senate. In choosing Gaetz, Trump had passed over more established lawyers whose names had been floated as possible contenders for the job. Gaetz resigned from Congress after Trump announced him on Nov. 13. The House Ethics Committee has been investigating an allegation that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing. Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Zeke Miller, Farnoush Amiri, Lolita C. Baldor, Jill Colvin, Matthew Daly, Edith M. Lederer, Adriana Gomez Licon, Lisa Mascaro, Chris Megerian, Michelle L. Price, Will Weissert and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.President-elect Donald Trump has filled the key posts for his second term in office, prioritizing loyalty to him after he felt bruised and hampered by internal squabbling during his first term. Some of his choices could face difficult confirmation fights in the Senate, even with Republicans in control, and one candidate has already withdrawn from consideration. Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz was Trump's initial pick for attorney general, but he ultimately withdrew following scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation he was embroiled in. Here's a look at Trump's choices: Trump would turn a former critic into an ally as the nation's top diplomat. Rubio , 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate before the slot went to JD Vance. Rubio is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His selection punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator once called a “con man" during his own unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. Hegseth , 44, was a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends Weekend” and had been a contributor with the network since 2014. He developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2011 and earning two Bronze Stars. He lacks senior military and national security experience and would oversee global crises ranging from Europe to the Middle East. A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and has denied any wrongdoing. Bessent , 62, is a former money manager for George Soros , a big Democratic donor, and an advocate for deficit reduction . He founded the hedge fund Key Square Capital Management after having worked on and off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending. Gabbard, 43, is a former Democratic House member from Hawaii who has been accused of echoing Russian propaganda. She unsuccessfully sought the party’s 2020 presidential nomination and left the party in 2022. Gabbard endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him. Gabbard has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. If confirmed she would come to the role as an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, spent several years in top national security and intelligence positions. Bondi , 59, was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Considered a loyalist , Bondi also has served with the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-allied group that has helped lay the groundwork for his future administration. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush-money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appeared on Fox News and has been critical of the criminal cases against him. The Republican U.S. House member narrowly lost her reelection bid on Nov. 5 but had received strong backing from union members in her district. As a potential labor secretary, Chavez-DeRemer would oversee the department's workforce and budget and put forth priorities that affect workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities. Chavez-DeRemer is one of a few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act that would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and penalize companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws in more than half the states. Lutnick heads the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and is a cryptocurrency enthusiast. He is co-chair of Trump's transition operation, charged along with Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration, with helping the president-elect fill key jobs in his second administration. As secretary, Lutnick would play a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. He would oversee a sprawling Cabinet department whose oversight ranges from funding new computer chip factories and imposing trade restrictions to releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. Noem is a well-known conservative who used her two terms as South Dakota's governor to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions like other states, instead declaring South Dakota “open for business.” More recently, Noem faced sharp criticism for writing in her memoir about shooting and killing her dog. She is set to lead a department crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda as well as other missions. Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. Ratcliffe , a former U.S. House member from Texas, was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump’s first term. He led U.S. government’s spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. If confirmed, Ratcliffe will have held the highest intelligence positions in the U.S. Kennedy , 70, ran for president as a Democrat, then as an independent before he dropped out and then endorsed Trump . He's the son of Democratic icon Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential campaign. Kennedy's nomination alarmed people who are concerned about his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines . For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Rollins , 52, is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for Trump's second administration. She is a Texas attorney who was Trump's domestic policy adviser and director of his office of American innovation during his first term. Rollins previously was an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry , who also served in Trump's first term. Rollins also ran the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Duffy is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years , sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children. Collins is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential campaign, but was acquitted by the Senate. Collins also served in the armed forces himself. He is a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. The North Dakota governor , 68, is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump after he dropped out of the running. Burgum then became a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice in part because of his executive experience and business savvy. He also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs. Trump said Burgum would chair a new National Energy Council and have a seat on the National Security Council, which would be a first for the Interior secretary. A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. He also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. Wright said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. McMahon, a billionaire professional wrestling mogul , would make a return appearance in a second Trump administration. She led the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019 in Trump’s first term and twice ran unsuccessfully in Connecticut as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University. She has expressed support for charter schools and school choice. Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X , “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI" and "we will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.” Trump often attacked the Biden administration’s promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referred to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often said his administration would “drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” Greer is a partner at King & Spalding, a Washington law firm. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization. He previously was chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, who was the trade representative in Trump's first term. Wiles , 67, was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. She has a background in Florida politics , helping Ron DeSantis win his first race for Florida governor. Six years later, she was key to Trump’s defeat of him in the 2024 Republican primary. Wiles’ hire was Trump’s first major decision as president-elect and one that could be a defining test of his incoming administration considering her close relationship with him. Wiles is said to have earned Trump’s trust in part by guiding what was the most disciplined of Trump’s three presidential campaigns. Waltz is a three-term Republican congressman from east-central Florida. A former Army Green Beret , he served multiple tours in Afghanistan and worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Hassett, 62, is a major advocate of tax cuts who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump term. In the new role as chairman of the National Economic Council, Trump said Hassett will play an important role in helping American families recover from inflation as well as in renewing and improving tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017, many of which are set to expire after 2025. Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. He led the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump's first administration. Democrats have criticized Homan for defending Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings in the first term, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. Vought, 48, held the position during Trump’s first presidency. He the founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought also was closely involved with Project 2025 , a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Miller, an immigration hardliner , was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump’s priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump’s first term. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump’s policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation’s economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people living illegally in the U.S. Scavino was an adviser in all three of the president-elect's campaigns and was described by the transition team as one of “Trump’s longest serving and most trusted aides." He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino previously ran Trump’s social media profile in the White House. Blair was political director for Trump’s 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and an assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump’s economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign. Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump’s 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president. Leavitt , 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. McGinley was Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and they were golfing at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Kellogg , 80, is a highly decorated retired three-star general and one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for Trump's second term. He has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues and served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence . Kellogg also was chief of staff of the National Security Council under Trump and stepped in as an acting national security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned the post. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests. Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Huckabee has rejected a Palestinian homeland in territory occupied by Israel. His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, served as White House press secretary in Trump's first term. Stefanik, 40, is a U.S. representative from New York and one of Trump's staunchest defenders dating to his first impeachment trial. She was elected chair of the House Republican Conference in 2021, the third-highest position in House leadership, after then-Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after she publicly criticized Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. A former acting attorney general during Trump's first administration and tight end on the University of Iowa football team, Whitaker , 55, has a background in law enforcement but not in foreign policy. A fierce Trump localist, Whitaker, is also a former U.S. attorney in Iowa and served as acting attorney general between November 2018 and February 2019 without Senate confirmation, until William Barr was confirmed for the role. That was when special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference was drawing to a close. Whitaker also faced questions about his past business dealings, including his ties to an invention-promotion company that was accused of misleading consumers. A Republican congressman from Michigan who served from 1993 to 2011, Hoekstra was ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's first term. Oz , 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime TV talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz’s bid for elected office. Makary is a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns. He routinely appeared on Fox News during the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote opinion articles questioning masks for children. He cast doubt on vaccine mandates but supported vaccines generally. Makary also cast doubt on whether booster shots worked, which was against federal recommendations on the vaccine. Nesheiwat is a general practitioner who serves as medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. She has been a contributor on Fox News. Weldon is a former Florida congressman who recently ran for a Florida state legislative seat and lost; Trump backed Weldon’s opponent. In Congress, Weldon weighed in on one of the nation’s most heated debates of the 1990s over quality of life and a right-to-die and whether Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative after cardiac arrest, state should have been allowed to have her feeding tube removed. He sided with the parents who did not want it removed. Bhattacharya , 56, is a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. As head of the NIH, the leading medical research agency in the United States, Trump said Bhattacharya would work with Kennedy Jr. to direct U.S. medical research and make important discoveries that will improve health and save lives. Bhattacharya is professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and was one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 open letter maintaining that lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic were causing irreparable harm. Gaetz, 42, withdrew from consideration to become the top law enforcement officer of the United States amid fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed by the Senate. In choosing Gaetz, Trump had passed over more established lawyers whose names had been floated as possible contenders for the job. Gaetz resigned from Congress after Trump announced him on Nov. 13. The House Ethics Committee has been investigating an allegation that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing. Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Zeke Miller, Farnoush Amiri, Lolita C. Baldor, Jill Colvin, Matthew Daly, Edith M. Lederer, Adriana Gomez Licon, Lisa Mascaro, Chris Megerian, Michelle L. Price, Will Weissert and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.