Trump picks RFK Jr as health secretary and calls him ‘great mind’

Let’s bring you some more reactions to Donald Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz as attorney general.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe spoke to the CNN earlier, saying Gaetz is “wholly unqualified for the job” – a sentiment that has been repeated by others since the news came in.

McCabe says that Gaetz would probably be unable to get hired for a job at the FBI and that by his own statement, has no interest or respect for the work bureau or the Department of Justice (DOJ) does.

Describing Gaetz as a “disruptor”, McCabe goes on to say he believes Gaetz’s nomination is a “clear indication” of Trump’s intentions to dismantle both the FBI and the DOJ.

Speaking in detail about the complex responsibilities of the attorney general, McCabe says it is “unthinkable” that Gaetz will be able to rise to that role, saying the idea of it “shakes me to my core.”

Sam Cabral
Reporting from Washington DC

Donald Trump’s first interactions with Marco Rubio came during the 2016 Republican presidential primary.

As the field of contenders thinned, Rubio – who was considered among the frontrunner for the nomination – attacked Trump over his “small hands”.

“He referred to my hands – if they’re small, something else must be small,” Trump responded on a debate stage, mere feet away from Rubio. “I guarantee you there’s no problem.”

Trump christened him “Little Marco”, mocking him online for days as a “lightweight” and “a choker” who had a “meltdown” during one debate and a “sweat moustache” when facing pressure.

Rubio tried to fight back, calling Trump a “con artist” hijacking the conservative movement. But his strategy failed and he was knocked out of the primaries.

In the years since, Rubio has kept a low profile. Despite the pair’s previous animosity, Rubio has turned into a reliable pro-Trump voice in the Senate.

Will Donald Trump pull out of Nato? What should we make of his recent appointments? And how worried should we be about the threat of nuclear war?

Jens Stoltenberg, former Nato secretary general, speaks to BBC’s Ukrainecast on these questions and more.

You can listen on BBC Sounds, or wherever you get your podcasts.

US President-elect Donald Trump’s decisions for his incoming cabinet have been full of surprises – and we’ve been covering the names the Republican is putting forward to fill some of the US government’s most powerful positions.

If you’re just joining us today, here are some key lines we’ve been following about the nominations.

• Some of Trump’s nominations have shocked political circles, most notably the decision to nominate Matt Gaetz for attorney general. It’s a controversial decision that has upset lawmakers from both parties
• Trump has also picked Florida Senator Marco Rubio to be secretary of state and former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. The president-elect is choosing people in his own ideological image, our North America correspondent Rowan Bridge says
• With nine seats left to be called, the BBC’s US partner CBS projects that the Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives. Trump now has full control of both chambers of Congress – but won’t always get his way
• Yesterday, Republicans elected John Thune as majority leader – replacing Mitch McConnell, the party’s longest-serving leader in the chamber

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says he has instructed Florida’s secretary of state to “formulate and announce” the schedule for the upcoming special elections “immediately”.

Special elections are triggered when an official needs replacing, for example if they resign or are removed from office.

Florida now faces three, as Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz and Matt Gaetz have all been appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to take on positions in his administration.

Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, says securing the confirmation of Matt Gaetz as attorney general will be a “monumental challenge” for Trump.

In a post on X, Turley says: “If Trump wanted to defibrillate the Justice Department, the Matt Gaetz nomination is the 100,000-volt option.”

He adds that the nomination may make other nominees “appear less controversial by comparison,” but that it will “also serve as a rallying point for a party left in disarray”.

Trump does not trust the Department of Justice to reform itself, he adds.

“Just a day after the announcement, this is shaping up as one of the most intense confirmation fights in congressional history,” Turley says.

Donald Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz as the next US attorney general has surprised many, so let’s take a look at what the role involves.

The attorney general is head of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the country’s top law enforcement officer.

The role oversees the DOJ’s 115,000 staff in the US and worldwide.

The attorney general represents the US in legal matters. They also offer advice and opinions to the president and to the heads of the government’s executive departments when requested.

In matters of “exceptional gravity or importance”, the attorney general can appear before the US Supreme Court.

The current US attorney general is Merrick Garland. He was appointed by Joe Biden in March 2021.

More than 1,000 positions – including cabinet appointments, ambassadors and some lower-level positions – typically require Senate approval.

That includes Trump’s recent cabinet picks, Marco Rubio for secretary of state, Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Tulsi Gabbardfor director of national intelligence.

The approval process requires nominees to submit financial disclosure forms, fill out a role-specific questionnaire and testify before a Senate committee. After the hearing, the committee votes on the nominee and, if it approves, goes to a second vote in the Senate.

But Trump says the Senate “must agree” to recess appointments when the chamber is not in session- a process that skips Senate vetting and allows for the quick installation of a nominee. This could allow more divisive figures – like Gaetz – to enter Trump’s administration without Senate approval.

Many members of Trump’s team, including those who work in the White House, don’t require Senate approval. But they’re still vetted by the administration and face FBI background checks.

As we’ve been reporting, some of Trump’s cabinet nominations have stunned political circles, like the decision to nominate Matt Gaetz for attorney general.

Past attorney generals have been “very senior legal officials”, while Gaetz has a law degree “which is not saying that much,” Dr Richard Johnson, senior lecturer in US politics and policy at Queen Mary University of London, tells the BBC.

“Matt Gaetz is not one of the most distinguished judicial minds in the US,” he says. This puts him in contrast to a figure like Joe Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland. He “was a member of the DC Circuit Court, the second highest court in the US.”

Johnson says the president-elect’s picks fall into two categories: those who were on the VP shortlist and those who are current or former Congress members who are “very loyal” to Trump.

He noted the exception of Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host, who has been named as defence secretary.

Trump’s cabinet is “unusually political”, Johnson says, as he is selecting people with “political loyalty as the overriding criteria and then trying to find some kind of subject expertise latterly”.

Peter Frankopan, professor of global history at the University of Oxford, says he expects Donald Trump to implement 60% tariffs on Chinese imports – a big promise in his campaign.

He tells BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he thinks this means there will be “some space” for China to “try to exploit the fact that it’s a stable state”.

China will be thinking about positioning itself as a “champion of free trade”, while the US puts up barriers, he says.

Beijing doesn’t have “an enormous amount of leverage” to push back if the US tariffs are imposed, Frankopan says, but “the one place it can hurt” are businesses controlled by Elon Musk.

He mentions Musk’s space programme, an area where China is “competing very aggressively” with the United States.

In the short term, the proposed tariffs on China mean prices on imports in the US will go up, Frankopan says, and China will be “deprived of an important market” there.

It will be a “bumpy ride” for the global macro economy, he adds.

Trump’s firebrand pick for attorney general stunspublished at 10:03 Greenwich Mean Time 14 November

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Donald Trump’s nomination of Congressman Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general arrived like a thunder-clap in Washington DC on Wednesday afternoon.

Of all the president-elect’s picks for his administration so far, this is easily the most controversial – and sends a clear message that Trump intends to shake up the establishment when he returns to power.

The firebrand Florida politician is perhaps best known for spearheading the effort to unseat then-Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy last year.

But he has a consistent history of being a flamethrower in the staid halls of Congress.

In 2018, he brought a right-wing Holocaust denier to the State of the Union, and later tried to expel two fathers who lost children in a mass shooting from a hearing after they objected to a claim he made about gun control.

• Read more on Gaetz’s surprise nomination

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state (a role similar to foreign secretary in the UK).

If his appointment is approved by the Senate, Rubio would be the first Latino in the role.

Here’s where he stands on key global issues:

Ukraine: He has urged a quick end to the war with Russia, and says this will involve “difficult choices”. He voted against a $6bn military aid package for Kyiv this year.

China: Rubio has described Beijing as “the largest, most advanced adversary America has ever faced” and has warned against complacency.

Taiwan: He has strongly and publicly defended Taiwan’s “sovereignty and freedom”.

Israel-Gaza war: Rubio is against a ceasefire in Gaza, and has said he wants Israel to destroy the Palestinian group Hamas.

Iran: He has called Iran a “terrorist” regime, and urged Israel to respond with force following attacks earlier this year.

President-elect Donald Trump has spent the week since his election picking out the cabinet members and closest advisors who will help him through his second term.

Among them is Elon Musk, who has been tipped to run the new “Department of Government Efficiency”, or Doge for short. But what does that mean, exactly?

For this latest episode of Americast, Sarah Smith, Marianna Spring and Anthony Zurcher give you the lowdown on who’s been nominated so far.

The Republicans have won what’s known as a “governing trifecta” – with the president’s party controlling both chambers of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate.

But why does it matter? And why is November 2026 a key date for the Democrats?

Here’s the BBC’s Sumi Somaskanda with a one-minute explainer:

Trump builds an administration in his own ideological imagepublished at 08:50 Greenwich Mean Time 14 November

Rowan Bridge
North America correspondent, reporting from Washington DC

The Republicans now control the presidency and both chambers of Congress – the House and the Senate – which means they will hold all the elected levers of power.

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised to take the country in a very different direction.

Now he’s poised to implement his ideas with the backing of the political leadership in Congress.

Earlier, Trump met Joe Biden at the White House, a symbol of the changing of the guard that will happen in January.

Trump is moving quickly to nominate his team, but they’ll have to be confirmed by the Senate.

His pick for defence secretary is Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host, who has previously said that women should not be in combat roles.

Trump’s choice for attorney general, the chief legal office of the US, is no less controversial. Matt Gaetz was investigated for child sex trafficking, but never prosecuted.

But Gaetz is something that Trump holds dear. A loyal follower of the president’s agenda, Gaetz voted to overturn the 2020 election result and will have the power to end the federal prosecutions of Trump.

The president-elect is choosing people in his own ideological image.

From January, America will be taking a hard turn right – and Trump’s picks reflect the new direction the US will be taking.

More now from Glen Grothman, a Republican congressman, on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“Donald Trump is a different sort of president,” he says.

On the projected Republican control of the House, he says it won’t be as easy to pass bills as people think due to the filibuster rule (a method used to delay or postpone the passage of legislation).

“We cannot just shove through any policy changes that we want, it is going to disappoint some of our Republican followers who think that we can do whatever we want.”

He also says there are a lot of traditionalists in the Senate, and they will stick with the filibuster rule.

On Trump’s previous presidency, Grothman says it “must not” have been “enjoyable” to have people around that would “backstab him”.

This time, he has more “loyal” appointees, he adds.

Republican Congressman Glen Grothman says the appointment of Matt Gaetz as attorney general is proof that Donald Trump wants to “shake things up”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Grothman says Gaetz won’t be “intimidated” by the “bureaucracy that’s been around there forever and, quite frankly, has not treated president Trump fairly”.

Trump is looking for the “attitude”, Grothman adds, and says Gaetz will go into the role and get rid of the “problem children”.

Grothman says he already has things for Gaetz to do, that he thinks weren’t handled properly by the current administration.

• Matt Gaetz is one of Trump’s most controversial picks, our correspondent Tom Bateman writes – here’s why

We’re getting a better sense of the shape of Donald Trump’s new administration by the day, as he continues to appoint ultra-loyalists to top jobs.

Here’s a look at some of his latest picks.

Attorney general: Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, a loyal supporter and polarising figure in Washington

Secretary of state: Florida Senator Marco Rubio, considered a foreign policy “hawk” – meaning someone who takes hard-line positions – towards Iran and China

Director of national intelligence: Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who campaigned for Bernie Sanders in 2016 but has since turned Republican

In addition, Trump’s named top aide Dan Scavino as his deputy chief of staff, and the political director of the Republican National Committee, James Blair, as deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs.

Matt Gaetz is one of Trump’s most controversial pickspublished at 07:41 Greenwich Mean Time 14 November

Tom Bateman
BBC State Department correspondent, reporting from Washington DC

Donald Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz as attorney general is among the most controversial so far of his emergent cabinet.

Gaetz is seen as a divisive figure by many fellow Republicans – and as contemptuous of the rule of law by Democratic opponents.

He is picked to become America’s chief law enforcement officer, and would lead the same executive branch of government that spent years investigating the Congressman himself.

A sex trafficking probe closed without charge into allegations he denied; but there has been a House Ethics Committee inquiry into his conduct.

Gaetz backed Donald Trump after his supporters stormed the US Capitol, and voted with about 150 Republican colleagues to overturn the 2020 election result.

His nomination could face a battle for confirmation in the Senate, even with its Republican majority.

Trump has full control of government – but he won’t always get his waypublished at 07:26 Greenwich Mean Time 14 November

Gary O’Donoghue
Senior North America correspondent

On election night, Donald Trump repeated the phrase: “Promises made, promises kept.”

Now, Republicans have officially taken control of Congress and his “promises” are a whole lot easier to keep.

In Washington political parlance, it’s called “a governing trifecta”, when the president’s party also controls both chambers of Congress – the House of Representatives and the Senate.

That control is what Donald Trump’s Republican Party now has.

Both Trump and Joe Biden enjoyed trifectas for their first two years in the White House, but they also saw that having such control is no guarantee a president can get their way.

• Read more on the impact of Trump governing trifecta and why the magic 60 seats in the Senate matters