Trump Shocks DC With Attorney General Choice
Plus, Trump & Biden meet at the White House, Elon Musk joins the DC trip
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How to fly 15 different airlines’ flights. Via: WSJ.
Good morning,
Would you upend your upcoming holiday plans for the equivalent of $10,000 of airline points? A new program from Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) gives flyers the chance to get a million points — equivalent to $10K — through its EuroBonus loyalty program.
The catch? You’ve got to clock flights on at least 15 SkyTeam airlines — including Delta, AEROMEXICO, and Air France — before the ball drops on New Year’s Eve. The challenge is to celebrate SAS joining the SkyTeam airline alliance.
Overall, travelers making the trips are budgeting between $2,000 and $4,000 on airfare.
Flyers are getting creative: Many participants are booking trips with credit-card points and frequent-flier miles to save $. Other travelers are finding flights between two destinations outside an airline’s home market, letting fliers avoid longer, costlier trips. And for the hardcore flyers, a few are avoiding booking hotels by sleeping on flights.
We’ll try the lottery instead 😉 Have a good one!
Mosheh, Jill, Sari, & Lauren
PS: Don’t forget to refer friends & family to subscribe to the Mo Newsletter… you could get free Mo News merch — DETAILS at the bottom of this newsletter!
📌 TRUMP NOMINATES CONTROVERSIAL REP. MATT GAETZ FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL
President-elect Donald Trump surprised Republican allies Wednesday as he nominated Rep. Matt Gaetz, the firebrand Republican from Florida, to be Attorney General. It is a provocative move that puts the fierce partisan and ride-or-die Trump loyalist with no prosecutorial, managerial or law enforcement experience in the role of the nation’s top legal officer.
Gaetz, 42, was also the subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation that was concluded in 2023 when the Biden Justice Department declined to bring charges. That investigation was actually launched the the Justice Department (which he would oversee) during the first Trump administration.
Notably, he remained under investigation by his colleagues in the House Ethics Committee for child sex trafficking—-at least until last night.
Gaetz resigned from Congress Thursday night, just days before the Ethics Committee was set to vote to release the report. They technically no longer have jurisdiction over him. Stay tuned.
A CRITICAL ROLE
Trump has signaled his view that having a loyalist running the Justice Department is one of his biggest priorities. Vice President-elect JD Vance calling the attorney general’s job the second-most critical in government.
Trump has complained that his past attorneys general fell far short of his expectations, and sometimes challenged him in his first term. Trump said, “Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department.”
REACTIONS ON THE HILL
After the announcement, a number of congressional Republicans expressed shock. Gaetz has numerous critics on Capitol Hill in his own party, as he faces what will be a very contentious Senate confirmation hearing in the coming months.
ANOTHER SHOCKING PICK
The president-elect also announced on Wednesday that he would like former Democratic Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to serve as Director of National Intelligence. Gabbard, a former Democratic presidential candidate, has is a combat veteran who has been very critical of the US intelligence community.
As Director of National Intelligence, Gabbard would be responsible for coordinating actions among all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies (CIA et al), as well as briefing the president on matters of national security each day.
Gabbard left the Democratic Party in 2022, and officially became a Republican earlier this year, before endorsing Trump in August.
She has been criticized by her colleagues for meeting with Syrian Dictator Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator, and peddling Russian pro-Putin narratives. This could make Senate confirmation potentially difficult.
WE WERE EXPECTING THIS ONE
Senator Marco Rubio has officially been announced as Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, after days of speculation that he was the likely choice. It is considered one of the more mainstream picks in Trump’s foreign policy cabinet, given Rubio’s relevant experience as a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and top Republican on the Intelligence Committee.
Rubio is hawkish on China and Iran, and has a more traditional GOP view of the US role in the world — a different tune than some of Trump’s other “America First” foreign policy picks, like Rep. Elise Stefanik and Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth.
📌 TRUMP & BIDEN MEET, RENEWING HANDOFF TRADITION
President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump met in the Oval Office on Wednesday — a tradition ensuring the peaceful transfer of power that did not happen four years ago, when Trump refused to recognize Biden’s win.
From the Oval Office, the two briefly spoke in front of the cameras, before holding a private session for about two hours.
THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called it a “substantive meeting.” Biden wanted her to emphasize that Trump “was gracious” and brought a detailed list of questions.
Issues discussed in the meeting included support for Ukraine — which Biden and Trump have differed on — and government funding for disaster relief.
Help from a lame duck Congress would likely be needed to pass any funding for those agenda items. Before their meeting, Trump met the House Republican Conference and praised their Election Day performance. He told the crowd, “I suspect I won’t be running again, unless you say he’s [so] good we’ve got to figure something else [out].”
For many, seeing Biden and Trump meet face-to-face and shake hands is a welcome sight after years of name-calling and public disdain for one another. From Biden calling Trump a “loser as a man,” to Trump saying Biden is the “dumbest president we’ve ever had,” here are some of their hottest takes… if you want to see how far they’ve come:
📌 INSIDE ELON MUSKS ROLE IN TRUMP WHITE HOUSE
Melania Trump notably did not join her husband at the White House yesterday, as is tradition for the First Lady and incoming First Lady to have tea while their husbands meet. But guess who did accompany Trump to D.C.? His new best bud, Elon Musk.
Musk joined the president-elect for his first post-election meeting with House Republicans, as the GOP prepares to take control of both chambers of Congress and the presidency.
The world’s richest man (now worth $300 billion+) and one of Trump’s most vocal supporters during the election, Musk has become one of the president-elect’s most influential advisers during his transition. Musk has spent the last week at Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, reportedly attending every meeting related to assembling the incoming administration and even joining Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Zelensky.
Trump’s grandkids have elevated him to “uncle status.”
MUSK’S FORAY INTO POLITICS
Elon Musk’s super PAC spent an estimated $200 million to elect Donald Trump to the White House, and used his vast resources to aggressively campaign for him in battleground states.
Early in his career, Musk leaned Democrat, but wasn’t particularly engaged in politics. This changed in 2020, when COVID restrictions in California prevented his businesses, like Tesla and SpaceX, from operating. Musk called the decision “fascist.”
Then in 2021, President Biden did not invite Tesla to an electric vehicle summit at the White House, and Musk reportedly never forgave him.
In 2022, Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X, vowing the platform would not censor conservatives under his watch. It’s around this time he started posting more about the dangers of the “woke mind virus”, including attacking diversity & inclusion efforts and transgender rights. Musk and X now promote pro-Trump accounts in the X algorithm.
One of Musk’s children is transgender, and he has said publicly that he felt tricked into signing paperwork agreeing to authorize gender-affirming care for her. His daughter vehemently denies that.
And now? Musk will be co-chair of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an office Trump created for his second administration to reduce government spending.
On the campaign trail, Musk said he wanted to cut $2 trillion of the $6.8 trillion budget, without pointing to specifics. There is massive waste and inefficiencies in the US government, but economic experts have doubts about how successful DOGE can be. Notably, less than $2 trillion in the federal budget is discretionary spending that could even be cut (the vast majority of the annual budget goes to social security, medicare, Medicaid and paying US interest on debt).
Musk and co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy are expected to conclude the department’s work by July 2026. Congress would then need to approve any recommended cuts—not something it is known to do.
WHAT ELSE MUSK COULD GAIN
Many of Musk’s six businesses rely on federal contracts – namely SpaceX, which alone has received at least $10 billion worth of contracts from the government in recent years. Any deregulation efforts or opportunities to reduce competition within the industries he operates would greatly benefit his net worth. Since the election last week, Musk has gotten $70 billion richer.
⏳ SPEED READ
🚨NATION
📌 Republicans reject Trump allies' pick, elect Sen. John Thune as next Senate majority leader (USA TODAY)
📌 CIA official charged with disclosing classified documents about Israel’s military plans (MO NEWS)
📌 New York City Council approves bill shifting broker fees to landlords (NEW YORK TIMES)
📌 Trump draft executive order would create “warrior board” to purge generals (WSJ)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
📌 Biden and Xi will meet on Saturday, the third and likely final time during Biden's term (NPR)
📌 French prosecutors seek a 2-year prison sentence and ineligibility period against prominent politician Marine Le Pen (AP)
📌 Russia fires dozens of missiles and drones at Ukraine's capital as North Korean troops start fighting in Kursk (CBS)
📌 Thousands evacuated as parts of Spain hit with nearly a month’s rainfall in one hour (CNN)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
📌 Bitcoin rises above $90,000 as rally resumes on Trump optimism (USA TODAY)
📌 Inflation ticks up slightly in October, a look at what’s impacted (CNBC)
📌 Kraft Heinz stops serving controversial school-designed Lunchables because of low demand (AP)
📌 Waymo’s fully-automated robotaxis are now available to everyone in Los Angeles (VERGE)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
📌 John Krasinski named People magazine’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ (CNN)
📌 Thailand's baby pygmy hippo Moo Deng has an official song released in 4 languages (ABC)
📌 Full House’s Dave Coulier reveals he has stage 3 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (PEOPLE)
📌 Lena Dunham to write Sam Bankman-Fried movie for Apple, A24 based on Michael Lewis book ‘Going Infinite’ (VARIETY)
📌 'Orbital' by Samantha Harvey wins 2024 Booker Prize (NPR)
🗓 ON THIS DAY: NOVEMBER 14
1960: Ruby Bridges became the first African American child to attend William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the age of six, she was the youngest in the group of Black students to integrate Southern public schools.
1988: ‘Murphy Brown’ premiered on CBS.
2002: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) became the first woman to be named leader of either party in either house of Congress.
2003: Jay Z released “The Black Album” with songs "99 Problems," "Change Clothes," and "Dirt off Your Shoulder."