November 27, 2024 - Presidential transition news

Our live coverage of the Trump administration’s transition has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.

Mark Zuckerberg met Wednesday with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, the latest sign of the Meta chief’s warming up to the president-elect ahead of his second term.

Politico was first to report Zuckerberg was spotted at Mar-a-Lago. It was not immediately known what the two discussed.

Zuckerberg was in touch with Trump in the months leading up to the election, according to a New York Times report. After the assassination attempt on Trump’s life in July, Zuckerberg told Bloomberg that Trump standing back up and pumping his fist in the air was “one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life.”

In a book released this summer, Trump accused the Meta chief of “plotting” against him and threatened Zuckerberg with “life in prison” if he did “anything illegal” during the election.

“We are watching him closely,” Trump wrote, “and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election.”

In an interview Wednesday night on Fox News, Trump adviser Stephen Miller confirmed the meeting and said Zuckerberg “has been very clear about this desire to be a supporter of and a participant in this change that we’re seeing all around America all around the world, this reform movement Donald Trump is leading.”

Trucks wait to cross to the US next to the border wall at the Otay commercial crossing port in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on November 26, 2024.

Anyone who had any doubt that Donald Trump’s love of tariffs is true should take note of his new promise, for Day 1 of his presidency, to slap products imported from Canada and Mexico with 25% taxes.

Trump said the new taxes on those foreign goods, along with a 10% hike in tariffs on products from China, would remain in place “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”

Are these new threats a bargaining tactic meant to bring the countries to the table on immigration, or are they real promises? We shall see in time. Meanwhile, it’s worth looking at why Trump can impose these tariffs without input from Congress.

This is not what the Constitution envisioned: After all, the Constitution specifically gives Congress, not the president, the power to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations.”

How does Trump have the power to impose tariffs without any input from Congress? It’s pretty much the opposite of what’s in the Constitution, and it didn’t happen right away.

Smoot-Hawley tariffs exacerbated the Great Depression: In the years after World War I, Congress had embraced isolationism and imposed tariffs on imports into the US as a way to protect US companies and workers from competition. As the Great Depression was beginning, Congress went back to this tool and imposed a law named for then-Sen. Reed Smoot of Utah and then-Rep. Willis Hawley of Oregon. The additional across-the-board tariffs in the Smoot-Hawley Act kicked off a trade war that exacerbated the Great Depression.

After Franklin D. Roosevelt took office along with a Democratic majority, lawmakers corrected in the other direction. In 1934, they passed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, which gave the president power to lower import duties for countries with which the US had trade agreements.

For tariffs, Trump has instead focused on that 1962 law, which requires a report from his administration justifying tariffs as a national security matter but does not require a vote by Congress. Notably, President Joe Biden maintained Trump’s first-term tariffs on China and even increased some.

Read Wolf’s full analysis here.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that she held an excellent conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump that was focused on Mexico’s strategy to address the migration crisis.

In a post on X, Sheinbaum said she told Trump that migrant caravans are not arriving to the US border because they are being “addressed” in Mexico.

Trump, for his part, called the conversation with Sheinbaum “productive.”

“Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border. We also talked about what can be done to stop the massive drug inflow into the United States, and also, U.S. consumption of these drugs. It was a very productive conversation!” Trump said on Truth Social.

Some background: On Monday, Trump promised massive hikes in tariffs on goods coming from Mexico, Canada and China starting on the first day of his administration. The move, Trump said, will be in retaliation for illegal immigration and “crime and drugs” coming across the border.

Sheinbaum responded Tuesday, warning that “neither threats nor tariffs will solve the issue of migration or drug consumption.”

This post was updated with Trump’s social media post about the conversation with Sheinbaum.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, said he was informed by police Wednesday morning that a pipe bomb threat targeted his household.

CNN is reaching out to authorities for additional details.

Separately in a post on X, Matt Gaetz, who recently withdrew as Trump’s pick for Attorney General, said he was also threatened.

So far, CNN has confirmed seven cabinet nominees were threatened:

The Ford F-150 pickup on the assembly line at Ford's plant in Dearborn, Michigan on April 11. While the truck is assembled at US factories, less than half of its parts are American made.

President-elect Donald Trump is vowing to protect American-made cars through steep tariffs on imports. The problem is, there is no such thing as an all-American car.

Trump has promised that tariffs, which are a tax on goods that are imported from another country, will be a key part of his economic plan in his second term. On Monday he announced plans to impose a 25% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico or Canada on his first day in office.

The US government tracks what percentage of each car’s parts is made “domestically.” But under current trade law, both Canadian-made parts and US-made parts are counted as the same domestic content. Even with the broader definition of “American made,” none exceed 75%.

That’s why auto prices could rise sharply if Trump goes ahead with plans to impose steep tariffs on the parts that go into the “American” vehicles found in showrooms nationwide. The auto industry supply chain depends on parts and materials from around the globe — from relatively inexpensive nuts and bolts that are cheaper to buy from foreign producers, to expensive computer chips and other electronic components that aren’t made in sufficient quantities in US factories to meet demand.

But despite his claim that tariffs are paid by the foreign country, they are in fact paid by whoever is buying the imported good, and US businesses almost always pass most — or all — of that cost onto consumers.

Read more about how tariffs impact the auto industry.

Pope Francis talks with US President Donald Trump during a private audience at the Vatican, on May 24, 2017.

Following Donald Trump’s election victory, two senior figures in the Catholic Church gave very different reactions.

In one corner was Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the president of the United States Catholic Bishops’ conference, who soon after the result was interviewed by Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), a Catholic media outlet known for being sympathetic to Trump.

Broglio, who is archbishop for the military services, seemed relaxed about the election result and spoke about why he thought Catholic voters had swung behind Trump. He raised no substantive concerns about Trump’s proposals to deport migrants, despite Pope Francis making welcoming migrants a persistent theme of his pontificate.

Striking a different tone was Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s secretary of state. He diplomatically wished President-elect Trump “much wisdom” following his victory, urged him to be a president for the “whole country” but pointed out that Trump did not have a “magic wand” to solve global problems. Parolin warned against “going to extremes” on migration, saying the Vatican supports solving problems in a “humane manner.”

The different responses point to the challenge facing Pope Francis and the Vatican as it seeks to navigate the second Trump presidency.

All of this has become even trickier terrain given the swing in support for Trump by Catholic voters along with a church hierarchy that has historically sided with Republicans on issues such as abortion, religious liberty, and gender identification. Ahead of the 2024 election, the bishops once again insisted that abortion is the “pre-eminent priority.”

While there are likely to be tensions, the Vatican will also seek out points of agreement with the Trump administration, the most obvious one being the war in Ukraine, where the pope has called for a negotiated peace and which Trump has pledged to end.

Read the full analysis.

President-elect Donald Trump has promised massive tariff hikes on goods from Mexico, Canada and China. He has also vowed to impose tariffs on all imported goods, altering the relationship the US has with its biggest trading partners.

The tariffs will likely hurt Asian countries that rely on sales to the US to boost their economies.

But Trump’s planned tariffs on Chinese goods could also benefit some countries in Southeast Asia as factories may relocate from China to other places in the region.

In 2023, the US was the number one recipient of exports from China, Vietnam, Thailand, India and Japan. Six of the top 10 places where the US gets its goods are in Asia.

But the flow of goods is not reciprocal, as the US has a trade deficit with many Asian nations, meaning that the US imports more from those countries than it exports to them. In the first nine months of 2024, the US’ largest trade deficit was with China.

Although the trade deficit with China has narrowed over the past year, deficits with countries like Vietnam and Thailand are increasing, as the US tries to move away from importing Chinese goods.

Trump says he wants to increase tariffs on all imports to shrink or eliminate the trade deficit, but economists warn his tariffs will effectively be a tax paid by Americans, driving prices up at home as companies pass on the increased cost of imports to consumers.

Read the full report.

Democrat Derek Tran will defeat GOP Rep. Michelle Steel, flipping California’s 45th Congressional District, CNN projects.

Democrats had identified the district, where President Joe Biden won by six points in 2020, as a potential flip opportunity. The district, which straddles Orange and Los Angeles County, was redrawn to keep together residents of Indian, Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese descent, and grant them greater electoral power.

Democrats looked to connect Steel to unpopular stances on abortion, pointing to her co-sponsorship of the Life at Conception Act, a bill colloquially known as a personhood law, that would recognize a fertilized egg as a person with equal protections under the 14th Amendment. The bill would effectively ban abortion in all cases and would threaten in vitro fertilization treatments. She later rescinded her support for the bill because she does “not support federal restrictions on IVF.”

Tran, a US Army veteran and local lawyer, had been outraised by Steel, one of the first Republican Korean American women elected to Congress.

The Democrat, also a local business owner, is the son of Vietnamese refugees, according to his campaign website.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer walks off the Senate floor in Washington, DC, on September 16.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he is in touch with law enforcement about the threats targeting politicians — adding that those responsible “must be held fully accountable.”

Several of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and administration appointees — some of whom are active members of Congress — were targeted by bomb threats and swatting, the Trump-Vance transition team said in a statement earlier today.

President-elect Donald Trump attends the America First Policy Institute gala at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 14.

President-elect Donald Trump’s team submitted an ethics plan guiding the conduct of its members throughout the transition period that does not appear to include provisions for one key member of the team: the president himself.

CNN has asked the Trump transition for comment on why there is no provision addressing Trump’s potential conflicts of interest.

During his first term, Trump was repeatedly criticized by ethics groups for potential conflicts of interest relating to his businesses and brands. Both Trump’s and his family’s foreign business ties have also come under intense scrutiny throughout his time in office and on the campaign trail.

Still, after winning in 2016, Trump took some nominal steps toward alleviating ethical concerns before entering the White House by pledging to relinquish control of his companies and put his business holdings in a trust, which was controlled by his two sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. He has made no such assurances this time.

Rather, Trump lately has added potential conflicts of interest with some of his latest business dealings. Much of his wealth these days is tied up in stock for Trump Media & Technology Group, a newly publicly traded company that owns his social media website TruthSocial.

While campaigning, he hawked several new products capitalizing on his name and fame, including a line of watches, some retailing for $100,000, that he launched through an opaque licensing agreement with a company of undisclosed origins. CNN traced the business to a shopping plaza in Sheridan, Wyoming, that is the registered address for dozens of other companies.

Read more about the Trump transition team’s ethics pledge.

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will head to Capitol Hill on next Thursday, December 5.

Musk and Ramaswamy, who have been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, will be speaking to House and Senate Republicans “to discuss major reform ideas to achieve regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions, and cost savings—& revive the principle of limited government,” Johnson posted on X.

The Trump-Vance transition team said Wednesday that several of Trump’s Cabinet nominees and appointees were targeted with “threats to their lives.”

The FBI released a statement which said it’s aware of the bomb threats and swatting incidents and is working with law enforcement partners.

Here’s what some of those officials are saying:

Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency pick former Rep. Lee Zeldin: “A pipe bomb threat targeting me and my family at our home today was sent in with a pro-Palestinian themed message. My family and I were not home at the time and are safe. We are working with law enforcement to learn more as this situation develops. We are thankful for the swift actions taken by local officers to keep our family, neighbors, and local community secure,” Zeldin posted on X.

Brooke Rollins, Trump’s pick to serve as agriculture secretary: “This morning, we learned that a threat was issued against our home and family. Thanks to the swift efforts by the @fortworthpd, we were unharmed and quickly returned home. I want to express my deep gratitude to the law-enforcement professionals who did their utmost, in both speed and expertise, to protect us — as they protect our community every single day,” Rollins posted on X.

Keith Kellogg speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland in March 2023.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Gen. Keith Kellogg as his pick for Assistant to the President and Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

In a statement on Truth Social the president-elect posted the following:

Rep. Elise Stefanik attends a House GOP conference on November 13 in Washington, DC.

The Trump-Vance transition team revealed in a statement on Wednesday that several of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees “were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them.”

Swatting is a criminal hoax that involves falsely reporting a crime, such as a mass shooting or bomb threat with the intention of getting police to arrive at a certain location.

“President Trump and the Transition are focused on doing the work of uniting our nation by ensuring a safe and prosperous future. With President Trump as our example, dangerous acts of intimidation and violence will not deter us,” Leavitt said.

A spokesperson for the transition declined to provide further details.

The office of New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has been selected by Trump to serve as UN ambassador, said that the congresswoman was informed of a bomb threat to their residence. “New York State, County law enforcement, and U.S. Capitol Police responded immediately with the highest levels of professionalism,” Stefanik’s office said.

The FBI released the following statement regarding the threats.

“The FBI is aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees, and we are working with our law enforcement partners. We take all potential threats seriously, and as always, encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement,” the statement read.

CNN has reached out to the US Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

This post has been updated with additional information.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at an event in Pittsburgh on September 25.

Turnout for the presidential election is not yet final, but it’s clear that fewer people voted in 2024 compared with 2020.

Comparing the two elections, Donald Trump added about 2.8 million votes to his total in his 2024 victory. Vice President Kamala Harris, on the other hand, underperformed by about 6.8 million votes compared with Joe Biden in 2020, according to CNN election results as of November 25.

Here are seven charts and maps that explain how the US popular vote, turnout in individual states and ultimately turnout in the seven key battleground states – where electoral votes were up for grabs – tell the story of Harris’ loss.

This year will end up being one of just two elections in the 21st century in which the Republican presidential candidate got more votes than the Democratic candidate. It is also one of only two times in the 21st century that the number of votes cast dropped compared with the previous presidential election. The other came in 2012, when about 2.2 million fewer votes were cast than in 2008.

Another way to look at Trump’s narrow edge in the popular vote is that he got the vote of about a third of the citizen voting-age population. A slightly smaller portion backed Harris. Another third did not vote at all.

Keep reading for more charts and graphs that help tell the story of Harris’ election loss.

President-elect Donald Trump is speeding through the transition process as he announced a flurry of picks in his administration Tuesday.

Here’s a list of his latest selections for key positions:

Here’s who Trump has picked for his Cabinet:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a campaign rally for Donald Trump on November 1 in Warren, Michigan.

President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services sent a shudder through the global health community. If confirmed as HHS secretary, Kennedy will hold considerable sway over US health policies, and his reach will extend well beyond the nation’s borders.

Kennedy has listed multiple domestic issues he wants to take on in the federal government — food supplies, fluoride, raw milk and psychedelics among them — but hasn’t said much publicly about his plans for the global mission of HHS.

Health experts fear that he could undercut decades of work to control the spread of infectious diseases such as measles, polio and HIV; hamper international research collaborations; and scuttle current efforts to increase global coordination and cooperation ahead of future pandemics.

In addition to concern that Kennedy will continue to share false or harmful information, health experts said that many of his stated beliefs run counter to longstanding global health goals and that as head of HHS, he could slash the agency’s budget.

The US is the world’s largest funder of global health programs, according to the nonprofit health policy and research group KFF. In fiscal year 2024, the US spent $12.3 billion on global health, and roughly one-seventh of that – about $1.6 billion – was funneled through agencies within HHS, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

“Ultimately, the secretary is the CEO of the largest health, medical and scientific enterprise in the world,” said Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as US surgeon general under President George W. Bush.

“The world depends on us, for our science, for our emergency capabilities, for our ability to surge and help others,” Carmona said.

Read the full story here.

Boris Epshteyn speaks in New York on January 18, 2024.

In a sign of his continued influence despite a recent internal investigation, Boris Epshteyn was seen with President-elect Donald Trump last night, a person familiar with the matter told CNN.

This comes after an internal investigation into allegations Epshteyn — sought to benefit financially from his influence on Trump — recommended Epshteyn’s access to the president-elect be limited.

More on the investigation: The internal investigation, which was confirmed by half a dozen sources and is not criminal in nature, has probed multiple instances of Epshteyn allegedly requesting payment in exchange for promoting candidates for administration positions or offering to connect individuals with people in the upcoming administration relevant to their industries, sources said.

In one instance, he allegedly requested as much as $100,000 per month in exchange for his services, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Epshteyn’s alleged activities prompted those looking into the matter to make an initial recommendation that Epshteyn should be removed from Trump’s proximity and that he should not be employed or paid by Trump entities, according to two sources.

CNN’s Sara Murray, Kristen Holmes and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.

An Ikea furniture store in Round Rock, Texas, on February 26, 2024.

The chief executive of the company behind Ikea furniture stores says President-elect Donald Trump’s planned tariffs will make it more difficult to keep its prices low, joining a growing chorus of business leaders in warning of a potential hit to people’s wallets from the levies.

“We believe tariffs will not support … international companies and international trade, with, at the end of the day, that risk turned up on the bills of customers,” Jesper Brodin, Ingka Group CEO, told CNN on Wednesday ahead of the opening of Ikea’s pop-up store on London’s Oxford Street Thursday.

Ikea is the latest business to express concern over Trump’s tariff announcement. A leading footwear industry trade group warned the tariffs on neighboring countries will lift prices on Americans. The trade group represents dozens of companies including Nike, DSW, Cros, Under Armour and Walmart. Meanwhile, shares of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler owner Stellantis all retreated on Tuesday after Trump announced tariff hike proposal on all products coming from Mexico and Canada.