Live updates on Trump’s Cabinet confirmation hearings: Scott Bessent and Doug Burgum face Senators

Donald Trump sent the “out with the old, in with the new” message by naming and shaming many of his former Cabinet members while simultaneously honoring his new administration.

The president-elect will officially return to the White House on Monday, with the Senate process for confirmation of some of his nominees already underway.

Trump congratulated his new administration hires in a Truth Social post Wednesday evening, before taking aim at some of those who worked for him or stopped supporting him during his first term.

He wrote: “As of today, the new Trump administration has hired over a thousand people into the US government. They are outstanding in every way and you will see the fruits of their labor in the years to come. We will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and it will happen very soon!’

Trump then advised all hiring managers that “it would be helpful if you did not send or recommend people who have worked with or are endorsed by ‘a list of anti-Trump Republicans,’ in order to avoid time, save money and money. attempt.’

He specifically named 11 different Republicans and first-term Trump employees, many of whom had nicknames.

Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio stressed that there are serious concerns over control of the Panama Canal as President-elect Trump has called on the US to take over the crucial waterway.

The Florida senator appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday for his confirmation hearing, where he was asked about China’s influence over the Panama Canal.

Rubio warned that it is a legitimate problem that needs to be addressed.

And while he was careful to say that he did not look into the legal investigation into control of the canal, he suggested that the agreement under which the US handed it over to Panama may have been violated.

Pam Bondi battled Democrats over her ties to Donald Trump during her confirmation hearing Wednesday, where she repeatedly answered questions about the 2020 election.

Bondi, 59, the former two-term Florida attorney general whom Trump tapped to lead the Justice Department, arrived at her Senate confirmation hearing with her fiancé and family in tow.

Republicans and Democrats praised her legal credentials before beginning to examine her priorities for the department and her views on some of Trump’s most controversial claims.

Democrats drew on Bondi’s previous work with Trump, whom she briefly served during his first impeachment, and crafted questions that could have brought her into conflict with the Republican.

They sought to force her answers regarding some of the president-elect’s most controversial claims about the 2020 election, and whether she would act independently of Trump if confirmed.

Billionaire Scott Bessent is poised to break through as America’s first openly gay Treasury secretary after Donald Trump picked him for the role on Friday.

If confirmed by the Senate, the 62-year-old founder of global macro investment firm Key Square Group would shape U.S. economic policy for the next four years.

The hedge fund heavyweight is known for running in the same social circles as King Charles, being one of Trump’s closest advisers, and living in an iconic pink mansion with his husband and two children.