US president-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that he had tapped US Representative Matt Gaetz as his attorney-general and former US representative Tulsi Gabbard as his director of national intelligence. He also confirmed reports that US Senator Marco Rubio would be his nominee for secretary of state.
Gaetz’s selection was seen as a shock. The Florida lawmaker was not among those who had been mentioned as contenders for the job and even his colleagues in the US Congress appeared stunned by the news that he would head the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
“Everybody was saying: ‘Oh my God,’” US Representative Mike Simpson said. “That was about as big a surprise as I’ve had in a long time.”
Photo: Reuters
Gaetz resigned from his House seat on Wednesday evening.
Trump announced the decision in a post on Truth Social, saying that Gaetz would “root out the systemic corruption at DOJ, and return the Department to its true mission of fighting Crime, and upholding our Democracy and Constitution.”
Gabbard helped prepare Trump for his debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris in the leadup to the election.
Photo: AFP
The former Democratic lawmaker announced her switch to the Republican Party at a Trump rally shortly before last week’s vote.
Gabbard served in the US Army National Guard for more than two decades, deploying to Iraq and Kuwait.
Rubio, a onetime critic who evolved into one of Trump’s fiercest defenders, is a hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump’s running mate this summer.
Photo: AP
On Capitol Hill, Rubio is the vice chairman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
He has pushed for taking a harder line against China and has targeted social media app TikTok because its parent company is Chinese.
He and other lawmakers say that Beijing could demand access to the data of users whenever it wants.
Photo: AFP
“He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said of Rubio in a statement.
CNN in an interview asked Rubio about his disagreements with Trump when they were both contesting the Republican presidential primary in 2016.
“That is like asking a boxer why they punched somebody in the face in the third round,” Rubio told CNN. “It’s because they were boxing.”
Trump made the personnel announcements while flying back to Florida from Washington after meeting with US President Joe Biden, during which they shook hands in front of a roaring fire in the Oval Office.
“Welcome back,” Biden said as he congratulated Trump on his election win and pledged a smooth transfer of power.
Biden said that he would do “everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated.”
Meanwhile, Republicans have won enough seats to control the US House of Representatives.
A House Republican victory in Arizona, alongside a win in California earlier on Wednesday, gave the party the 218 House victories that make up the majority.
Republicans earlier gained control of the Senate from Democrats.
Trump rallied House Republicans at a Capitol Hill hotel on Wednesday morning, his first return to Washington since the election.
“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say: ‘He’s good, we got to figure something else,’” Trump told the lawmakers, who laughed in response.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who won the Republican Conference’s nomination to stay on as speaker next year, has talked of taking a “blowtorch” to the federal government and its programs, eyeing ways to overhaul programs championed by Democrats.
“Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” Johnson said earlier this week. “The American people want us to implement and deliver that ‘America First’ agenda.”
In the Senate, US Senator John Thune won an internal election to replace US Senator Mitch McConnell as the party’s leader in the chamber.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
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