President-elect says embattled defense secretary nominee ‘is doing very well’ and announces new role of ‘White House AI and crypto czar’
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Donald Trump announced a slew of new nominations for top administration officials last night, including ambassador to China, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a new role of “White House AI and crypto czar”. He also made clear he was sticking by his embattled nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. Writing on Truth Social this morning, Trump said Hegseth “is doing very well”, even though it remains unclear if key senators will support his nomination to lead the Pentagon. The former Fox News host has spent the past few days on Capitol Hill, trying to win over Republican lawmakers in spite of reports of his excessive drinking, financial mismanagement of two charities, and a sexual assault allegation.
Back to the nominations Trump announced last night, former Georgia senator David Perdue will serve as ambassador to China, while tech entrepreneur and Elon Musk associate David Sacks has been appointed to the new crypto czar role – the latest sign that the Trump administration will be much friendlier to the digital asset industry than Joe Biden’s ever was.
The US job market remains robust, according to just-released government data that showed the economy added 227,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%.
Joe Biden will deliver remarks from the White House at the 6pm ET performance of “The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day”, which honors World War II veterans.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre parries with reporters at 2pm.
