Lara Trump says she’d ‘love to consider’ filling Rubio’s Senate seat if asked by DeSantis
Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo that she would “seriously consider” serving in the U.S. Senate if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis asks her to fill the vacancy that will arise when Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., resigns to serve as secretary of state. She told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that she “would love to serve the people of Florida” and “would love to consider” filling the seat if asked. President-elect Donald Trump tapped Rubio to fill the Cabinet-level role, and if Rubio is confirmed by his colleagues and resigns from the Senate, DeSantis will have the opportunity to select a temporary replacement to fill the seat until a special election is held. FETTERMAN HAILS RUBIO AS ‘STRONG CHOICE’ FOR SECRETARY OF STATE, SAYS HE WILL VOTE TO CONFIRM HIM Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on “Hannity” that he “would be like over-the-top excited” and that Republicans “could not do better … than Lara Trump.” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who served as the Sunshine State’s governor prior to DeSantis, said he hopes DeSantis chooses Lara Trump, according to Axios. HERE’S WHAT HAPPENS TO SEN. RUBIO’S SEAT IF HE BECOMES SECRETARY OF STATE AND WHO COULD REPLACE HIM In a post on X, he declared that she “would be a GREAT Senator and represent Floridians well!” Republicans won the Senate and House majorities during the 2024 elections. Rubio has served in the Senate since 2011. TRUMP’S FIRST CABINET PICKS DECIDEDLY NOT ISOLATIONISTS: UKRAINE, ISRAEL BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF “As Secretary of State, I will work every day to carry out his foreign policy agenda,” the senator said in a post on X, referring to Trump. “Under the leadership of President Trump we will deliver peace through strength and always put the interests of Americans and America above all else. I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the U.S. Senate so the President has his national security and foreign policy team in place when he takes office on January 20,” he noted.
Delhi air pollution: CM Atishi announces staggered working hours for govt workers amid ‘severe’ AQI
On Friday, Delhi woke up to thick smog, with visibility reduced to as low as 400 meters in areas like Safdarjung.
Biden concludes foreign diplomacy in region where US influence overshadowed by China
In what could potentially be President Biden’s last foreign diplomacy trip, he will soon head to South America to meet with global leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping. Biden will first travel to Lima, Peru, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where he is slated to meet with Xi, possibly their final encounter as heads of state, according to a senior administration official. Biden’s attendance at the summit is expected to be followed by a stop in Brazil early next week, where the Group of 20 summit, a gathering of the nation’s foremost economic powers, is being held. While in Brazil, Biden will also become the first sitting U.S. president to make a visit to spots in the Amazon rainforest. Biden’s foreign diplomacy curtain call in South America comes as the U.S.’s influence in the region has been getting overshadowed by China’s, experts have argued. GOP REP SOUNDS ALARM ON GROWING CHINESE INFLUENCE IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA The U.S.’s contemporary policy toward the region has shifted over the last century, from focusing on issues related to the political stability of the region to now on issues of illegal immigration and narcotics and how they impact the country domestically. Meanwhile, China has been taking advantage of the holes left open by the U.S. due to this shift in priorities. For example, South American countries have turned to China when the U.S. has failed to establish trade agreements with them, the Wall Street Journal reported. Near the start of the Biden administration, Uruguay and Ecuador’s attempts to develop free-trade agreements with the U.S. were stymied, so they turned to China. While Ecuador’s priority is to establish a trade agreement with the U.S., its ambassador said the country is “prioritizing alternatives” while the U.S. transitions to the Trump administration. The U.S. still holds more trade agreements in South America than China, but the communist nation has expanded its influence in other ways. Beijing has invested in parts of South America with projects like ports in places such as Peru that trade in Chinese currency, and satellites in Las Lajas, Argentina. China has also established mineral and foodstuff purchases in the region, seen potentially as an effort to fortify resources ahead of any conflict in the South China Sea in light of the increased global tensions surrounding Taiwan. TAIWAN EYES $15B MILITARY PACKAGE IN SIGNAL TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IT IS ‘SERIOUS’ ON DEFENSE: REPORT Meanwhile, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., a federal agency that directs investments in developing countries, invested $30 million in funding for a critical mineral mine in Brazil. However, under the investment’s current mandate, all Latin American countries, except Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua and Haiti, are considered to be too wealthy to benefit from the investment. Under President-elect Donald Trump, relations with South America could continue to worsen as his threats of tariffs have create concern among global trade leaders. Biden and Xi’s meeting while in Peru will be the pair’s third in-person meeting since Biden took office. According to a senior administration official, the two are expected to discuss a range of issues covering military-to-military communications, human rights, fentanyl, artifical intelligence, climate change, cybersecurity, Taiwan and the incoming Trump administration. The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Dehradun: 6 youngsters dead, 1 in critical condition after car rams into truck, know here what happened
The deceased have been identified as Kunal Kukreja, 23; Atul Agrawal, 24; Rishabh Jain, 24; Navya Goel, 23; Kamakshi, 20; and Guneet, 19. While Kukreja hailed from Himachal Pradesh, the others were Dehradun residents.
Texas’ top elected officials signal Texas could cut border spending after Trump takes office
With Donald Trump returning to the White House, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have both recently signaled new openness to winding down the state’ border security operation.
Brazos County election officials feel the strain of unrelenting scrutiny from right-wing skeptics
Voting went well in the presidential election, but Trudy Hancock and her staff are still fielding questions. And the answers don’t seem to matter.
Tennessee governor backs Trump plan to nix Department of Education, sees bellwether on new school choice bill
Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee told Fox News Digital that he believes President-elect Donald Trump’s decisive victory signals success for a second school choice bill introduced to the state legislature this week after his first proposal failed this year. Lee said he agreed with Trump’s promises to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, echoing the president-elect’s concern over the federal bureaucracy becoming entrenched with gender and race ideology rather than learning. “I think it is a great idea to dismantle the Department of Education federally. And I’m a strong believer that policy at the state level should be handled by states, that states know best,” Lee told Fox News Digital. “In this case, states certainly know best. We know best in Tennessee what our children need and how best to educate our kids. The parents of this state should be given a greater influence on how their kids are educated, and that will happen if the federal Department of Education is dismantled and those funds are delivered to states to be used in a more efficient and more effective way.” Lee said the political environment on the ground in the state is not what it was months ago when the first school choice proposal failed in the state legislature. Since then, the election saw a wave of pro-school choice candidates win at the state-level, and Trump succeeded in his bid for the White House. TRUMP PLANS TO SHIFT SCHOOL FUNDING CONTROL TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES, HAS YET TO PICK DOE SECRETARY “President Trump has long believed that school choice is important for the people of this country and that education freedom is something that all Americans could have. He’s talked about it. He campaigned on it,” Lee said. “One thing is very evident about what happened last week. And President Trump is very clear about what his policies are, and Americans were very clear about their acceptance of those policies last week. They, with a strong mandate, said we like what we hear. We want him to execute on those things and that President Trump has a significant understanding and a clear understanding and is the leader, frankly, on the issue of school choice. All of those things benefit us as we move into this next session.” Lee’s new school choice bill, titled the Education Freedom Act of 2025, was jointly introduced to the state House and Senate on Wednesday. Drawing from funding already approved by the state legislature, the bill would allow the state Department of Education to award up to 20,000 scholarships – valued at about $7,000 each – for the next school year to be spent on tuition, tutoring, technology and examination expenses. The first 10,000 scholarships would be set aside for low-income students whose parents might not otherwise afford to send their children to institutions other than the public schools in their districts. Democrats have painted school choice as disenfranchising low-income students, but Lee said he feels the opposite. “Every kid is unique. Every kid has different learning styles. Every kid has a different life situation. And every family ought to have the opportunity to choose the best path for their kid,” the governor said. “In particular, I don’t think that only the wealthy families that can afford a private option, that those families should be the only ones and those children should be the only ones that have that option for choice.” “Oftentimes, opponents will say that school choice initiatives hurt public schools. I think that’s just the opposite,” Lee said. “This legislation that we’re actually bringing forth is an education policy initiative. It’s not just an Education Freedom Scholarship bill. It includes historic funding for public schools, bonuses for teachers, for public school teachers. We will include alongside with this legislation a teacher pay raise plan that will put us in the top 15 states for teacher pay raise in the country.” BETSY DEVOS JOINS TRUMP’S CALL TO ‘DISBAND’ THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND ‘RE-EMPOWER’ FAMILIES Lee noted that about 30 states already have school choice, 12 of which have universal school choice, and several of those states have passed their initiatives in recent years. “Americans are in growing numbers, and now the majority of Americans, as evidenced by the past elections, have come to believe that school choice is the way of the future,” Lee said. “It is the answer to challenging the status quo. It is the way that we take America’s rankings and educational outcomes that used to be the top in the world from way down the list as it relates to other countries back up into the outcomes that we hope for this country.” “This is a way to challenge and change and bring innovation into an education system that’s grown stale and bloated and bureaucratic,” Lee said. “And we see it happening all across America. We believe it’s going to happen in Tennessee. It is an incredibly important moment in our country for parental rights and for the future of children and their education.” Lee said his schooling growing up in Tennessee happened before the U.S. Department of Education was established in 1979. “We knew how to do it then. We know how to do it now,” Lee said, explaining that Tennessee created a funding formula that “uniquely recognizes the needs of children with disabilities, with dyslexia and with English as a second language. “We know how to fund education for Tennessee children. We know much better than they do in a bureaucratic institution like the federal Department of Education. I think President Trump is exactly right. I think it’s a great idea.” “As a governor, I would welcome the partnership with President Trump in allowing states to choose and determine how best to spend education dollars for their kids,” he added. If Trump goes through with eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, experts expect the process could take several years. With Cabinet nominations underway, Fox News Digital asked Lee who he would like to see as Trump’s
LoP Rahul Gandhi’s scathing attack on PM Modi in Jharkhand’s Godda, accuses him of ‘serving interests of billionaires’
“PM Modi says Rahul is flashing red book. Its content is important, not colour. Had you read it, you would not have been spreading hatred and dividing society,” Rahul Gandhi said.
‘Those whom no one cares for, Modi worships them’: PM Modi in Bihar rally
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, visited Bihar to celebrate ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas’ to mark the 150th birth anniversary of tribal leader Bhagwan Birsa Munda.
Trump goes full MAGA as he picks allies and loyalists to fill his second administration
As he aims to turn the nation’s capital upside down, President-elect Trump is turning to allies and supporters of his MAGA movement and America First agenda as he quickly moves to assemble his second administration. The former and future president is clearly placing plenty of emphasis on loyalty as he makes increasing provocative picks for top cabinet posts. And unlike eight years ago, when the first-time politician first took control of the White House, he is not in the market for establishment types or those who served in his first administration, but in his mind, proved disloyal. Case in point – This week’s announcement from the president-elect that he was nominating as attorney general Rep. Matt Gaetz, the controversial conservative lawmaker from Florida who has been one of Trump’s biggest defenders in Congress as he’s repeatedly claimed the criminal investigations into Trump were “witch hunts.” WHAT HAPPENS TO THE POTENTIALLY DAMAGING GAETZ HOUSE ETHICS REPORT? In making his announcement – which sent shock waves through the nation’s capital – Trump highlighted that “Matt played a key role in defeating the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, and exposing alarming and systemic Government Corruption and Weaponization.” Gaetz, following the nomination, stepped down from Congress, ahead of a potential damaging report by the House Ethics Committee into sexual misconduct allegations that the lawmaker has denied. GAETZ FACES POTENTIAL GOP SENATE OPPOSITION TO HIS CONFIRMATION On Wednesday afternoon, the president nominated his former rival in the presidential race – turned staunch advocate – Robert Kennedy Jr., as Health and Human Services Secretary. Kennedy endorsed Trump shortly after suspending his campaign, and has since hit the campaign trail while touting his plans to “Make America Healthy Again” under a potential Trump presidency. In making the announcement, Trump said “I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump turned to another loyalist – former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate turned MAGA rock star who this year became a Republican and a top campaign trail surrogate for the former president – as his pick for Director of National Intelligence. A day earlier, Trump named combat veteran, Army National Guard officer and Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth, another major supporter, as his choice for Defense Secretary. In announcing that Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York was his pick to serve as ambassador to the United Nations, Trump noted that “Elise is a strong and very smart America First fighter… She was the first Member of Congress to endorse me and has always been a staunch advocate.” TRUMP PICKS THIS FORMER DEMOCRAT TURNED REPUBLICAN TO LEAD THE NATION’S INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES And Trump called former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, whom he is aiming to install as Environmental Protection Agency administrator, “a true fighter for America First policies.” He named South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a conservative firebrand and MAGA-world star who has long been a fierce Trump ally and supporter, as his choice for Homeland Security secretary. Noem will work with Stephen Miller, whom the president-elect has picked as his incoming deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller was the architect of much of the first Trump administration’s hard-line policy on immigration and border security. She will also collaborate with Thomas Homan, who, as acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during the first administration, was often the face of Trump’s controversial immigration policies. The president-elect has named Homan as his incoming “border czar.” And Trump named Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as his choice for Secretary of State. Rubio was a rival to Trump during the combustible 2016 Republican presidential nomination battle, but over the years has become a strong Trump ally in the Senate. Trump also named Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida as his national security adviser. Waltz, a former Army Green Beret, is a longtime Trump ally. VANCE IS THE FRONT-RUNNER, BUT HERE’S WHO ELSE MAY RUN FOR THE 2028 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION Dan Eberhart, an oil drilling chief executive officer and a prominent Republican donor and bundler who raised big bucks for Trump’s 2020 and 2024 campaigns, noted that Trump is in a very different situation than he was eight years ago, when he first won the White House. “He’s got a stronger mandate because he won the popular vote, and he won all seven swing states,” Eberhart emphasized. “I also think he knows what he wants, and he knows better how to get what he wants out of Washington. He’s going to have a more cohesive, more MAGA team, that’s hopefully able to accomplish more.” A leading strategist in Trump’s political orbit, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News that “one thing that is noticeable this time around is that instead of a team of rivals who are all over the place ideologically, Trump is largely bringing people on who are aligned with his America First agenda.” Matt Mowers, a veteran Republican consultant and 2020 GOP congressional nominee in New Hampshire who worked on Trump’s 2016-2017 transition and served in the first Trump administration, told Fox News that Trump has “decided he needs everyone aligned.” “What he’s doing is he’s choosing a lot of people who aren’t just going to undo the Biden polices but really try to take a hammer to the bureaucracy… which is what he calls the ‘deep state,’” Mowers added. Those whom the president-elect feels have not shown their loyalty to him appear to be iced out. Trump this past weekend announced in a social media post that he would not ask former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – who served as ambassador to the U.N. in his first administration – and former Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas – who served as CIA director and then Secretary of State in