Yesterday, special counsel Jack Smith announced that he would move to drop both federal criminal cases against president-elect Donald Trump due to a long-standing DOJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president. Judge Tanya Chutkan too dismissed a pending federal election interference case. Could things pick back up once Trump leaves office? Sen…

When a new presidential administration prepares to take office, it typically signs transparency and ethics agreements with the White House, the Justice Department and the General Services Administration to ensure access to important government information and otherwise facilitate a smooth transition. But this time, President-elect Donald Trump’s te…

After a tumultuous eight days as Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration yesterday. While Senate Republicans cheered the move, the implications for Trump’s second administration are immense. Hours after the announcement, Trump nominated former Florida AG Pam Bondi for the role — a move cheered by Senate R…

Matt Gaetz has dominated the spotlight in Washington since President-elect Donald Trump announced him as nominee for attorney general. But Gaetz is far from Trump’s only contentious pick. On Capitol Hill, concerns are mounting about Pete Hegseth, the Fox News personality Trump picked to run the Department of Defense. There are concerns about Hegset…

Today, the House Ethics Committee will meet to discuss is the findings of its investigation into Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz. Because the committee has an equal number of Republican and Democratic members, only one Republican would need to vote with Democrats to release the report. So how will this play out? Congress reporter Daniella Diaz …

Since his first election win in 2016, Matt Gaetz has been embroiled in controversy, including a House Ethics Committee investigation and report that hasn’t been released. Those close to Trump are hoping the president-elect will reconsider his nomination as Attorney General. Plus, Trump confirmed his plans to potentially use military force for mass …

Two of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet appointments are facing accusations of sexual misconduct, and the ensuing mess is just getting started. The House Ethics Committee report on Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, who has been under investigation for allegations of having sex with a minor and illicit drug use at sex part…

Donald Trump spent his first full week as president-elect making a flurry of announcements unveiling key officials in his coming administration. Yesterday, he unveiled among his most controversial picks yet: To lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a leading proponent of false and disproven claims about the safet…

In a move that stunned much of Washington, President-elect Donald Trump yesterday unveiled his choice for attorney general: Rep. Matt Gaetz. The move would put Gaetz atop the Justice Department, which spent years investigating allegations that the Florida congressman had sex with underage girls and paid for their transportation — allegations which …

President-elect Donald Trump will visit Washington this morning to meet with President Joe Biden. Although meetings between the outgoing and incoming presidents are a long-standing tradition, Trump has not always followed through. When their roles were reversed in 2020, Trump refused to meet with Joe Biden. There is no love lost between the two gen…

We’re getting a clearer look at President-elect Donald Trump’s new cabinet and one thing is in common: loyalty. So far, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) has been named as ambassador to the United Nations, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policy. Health care …

Congress reconvenes on Tuesday for the first time since before the election, and the big winner, President-elect Donald Trump, is already asserting his dominance. The key players around Trump (but not the man himself ) have come out in full support of Sen. Rick Scott's bid for Majority Leader. But could the move doom Scott's campaign from the start…

Since Tuesday night, Donald Trump’s resounding victory has been the only thing on anyone’s minds in Washington. That … and how Democrats managed to mess up so spectacularly. With Trump’s selection of Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, we’re already getting a glimpse of the president-elect’s team — and perhaps an insight into how Trump’s…

President-elect Donald Trump and his team launched into transition planning in Palm Beach on Wednesday, barely 12 hours after polls closed. So who's going to be chief of staff? And who’s going to head up personnel decisions? Playbook co-authors Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels share what they know about the transition so far — including Rachael's la…

It seemed unthinkable on Jan. 7, 2021. Now it’s reality. Donald Trump will retake the presidency after making sweeping gains in state after state, slashing away at the margins that kept him from a second term four years ago. He declared victory in a raucous speech in West Palm Beach last night, where he hailed “the greatest political movement of al…

After an election cycle that included an unprecedented switch at the top of a major party’s ticket, multiple assassination attempts against former president Donald Trump and razor-thin poll margins, Election Day is finally here. Playbook co-author Rachael Bade chats with national politics reporter Natalie Allison and Playbook co-author Eugene Danie…

Most Republicans, or at least smart Republicans, had hoped that Donald Trump would wrap up his campaign with a disciplined message, focused on the economy and immigration. But if you read the headlines over the weekend, they told a different story. Meanwhile, Harris's team is projecting confidence after calling itself the underdog for weeks. Playbo…

Four days remain in the election, and everyone is trying to predict how the presidential race will play out. You can learn a lot about the strength of a campaign from the number of donations it has received … or can you? Data reporter Jessica Piper joins Playbook co-author Eugene Daniels to break down some of the surprising trends she has seen amon…

Wisconsin is the red-headed stepchild of swing states. More focus typically falls on Pennsylvania or Michigan, but Republicans and Democrats are flocking to the badger state in the final days before the 2024 election in hopes of winning its 10 electoral votes. National politics reporter Lisa Kashinsky tells Playbook Deputy Editor Zack Stanton that …

Last night, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her closing message from the Ellipse to a crowd of roughly 75,000 people. In the speech, she highlighted her policy aspirations, commitment to fighting for reproductive rights and pledged an ethos of unity. But shortly after she left the stage, President Joe Biden made headlines for potentially dis…

In 2020, it took days to announce Joe Biden as president-elect. This election cycle, officials are hopeful that the process will be much faster in several states due to improvements in preprocessing absentee and mail-in ballots. But, pivotal battleground states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin still lack faster preprocessing measures. Deputy nationa…

Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden won’t be remembered for the things the former President had to say, but for the racist and sexist rhetoric of other speakers who took the stage. The Trump campaign even issued a rare statement distancing itself from the speakers, concerned that the event will undermine recent attempts to focus messaging…

We’re 11 days out from the end of the election, so naturally, Kamala Harris is campaigning in … Texas? Today, the VP will travel to Houston to deliver a message aimed squarely at voters in other states: That Texas’ abortion ban is a result of Donald Trump’s court appointments, and that if he returns to the White House, those restrictions will only …

The internal machinations of Donald Trump’s campaign have dominated headlines this past week, although not in a way they might want. There are accounts of infighting, power struggles and chaos. And there's usually one of two reasons for those kind of stories: finger-pointing when things aren’t going well, or maneuvering because things are going so …

With less than two weeks out from the presidential election, a rift is opening inside Donald Trump's inner circle. Howard Lutnick, the Wall Street CEO leading Trump’s transition operation, is facing accusations from some insiders that he is double-dealing his role on the campaign with personal business interests. Economic policy reporter Jasper Goo…