Trump nominates Elise Stefanik to serve as UN ambassador as he transitions to White House: Live updates

Trump’s former senior adviser, an inexplicable favorite on right-wing cable news, is set to join Susie Wiles, Tom Homan and company in his next administration as White House deputy chief of staff for policy, CNN is reporting.

The man recently described by Jesse Watters of Fox News as a “sexual matador” was the face of many of the 45th president’s nastiest immigration policies last time around.

The Republican’s win has rather killed the buzz at Cop29 as the all-important environmental gathering gets underway today in Baku, Azerbaijan, particularly given Trump’s history of dismissing global warming as a “hoax”, withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement and recent rhetoric raving about “liquid gold” and taking a “drill baby drill” approach to fossil fuels.

Here’s more from Stuti Mishra.

Florida Representatives Anna Paulina Luna and Cory Mills have floated the idea that criminal charges could be brought against Judge Juan Merchan – who oversaw the president-elect’s New York business fraud trial this spring and could yet sentence him to jail – as well as his daughter Loren Merchan and Special Counsel Jack Smith, despite Jordan’s assurance this administration is not about vengeance.

Here’s more from the Republican Representative, who was put to the sword by Dana Bash yesterday about just why it is that his party alleges election fraud only when their candidate is defeated – a good question he comprehensively failed to answer.

Mike Bedigan has the details.

Veteran GOP pollster Frank Luntz has accused Kamala Harris’s campaign advisers of committing “political malpractice” for fixating on Trump’s flaws rather than telling the electorate “about her”.

Luntz sat down with ABC News’s Jonathan Karl on This Week and argued that the vice president’s campaign aides set her up for failure due to a lack of focus on creating her own political identity and policies.

Here’s more from James Liddell.

Speaking on Fox and Friends this morning, Tom Homan – Trump’s new border czar – has revealed that his family are “not at home right now” because they’ve already been receiving death threats since his appointment was announced by the president-elect on Truth Social last night.

Homan told the hosts dismissively that such threats are “something we are going to deal with”.

“They are not going to bully me away,” he added.

The official explained that it will be his job to realise Trump’s promise to carry out “the largest deportation operation in history” and that he will begin by targetting those that “a federal judge said you must go and they didn’t”.

Addressing migrants, Homan said: “You have the right to claim asylum. You have a right to see a judge. We make that happen… [But if the] judge says you must go home, then we have to take them home.”

House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan tamped down on worries that the president-elect will weaponize the federal government against his political enemies on Sunday, even as Trump himself has publicly promised to do so, as the graphic below illustrates.

Here’s John Bowden on what Jordan had to tell CNN’s State of the Union.

The congresswoman now appears to have accepted the position we mentioned earlier, telling The New York Post in a statement:

“I am truly honored to earn President Trump’s nomination to serve in his Cabinet as US Ambassador to the United Nations.

“During my conversation with President Trump, I shared how deeply humbled I am to accept his nomination and that I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the United States Senate.”

As it stands, she still requires the approval of senators.

The biotech CEO appeared on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, where he was asked by Jonathan Karl whether he will be part of a second Trump administration, one which the Trump transition team is thought to be crafting around political appointees who value loyalty to Trump above all else.

Ramaswamy was evasive about what exact role he might play but confirmed he was having “high-impact discussions” about his path forward.