Trump named Time’s ‘Person of the Year’ as his Cabinet picks lobby for Senate support

In a Time magazine interview published Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump shed some light on his plans for the Department of Education, which he has repeatedly said he would get rid of.

Abolishing the department or merging it with another – like he proposed during his first term – would require an act of Congress.

When asked by Time magazine what he means, Trump called for a “virtual closure of Department of Education in Washington.”

More context: Almost every public K-12 school district in the nation currently receives federal funds distributed by the Department of Education. The amount varies by district, largely depending on the number of students from low-income families and the number with disabilities.

States and local school boards already have authority that can’t be superseded by the federal government, but those federal funds come with strings attached.

One possible way to address the bureaucratic red tape, and give more power to the states, would be to deliver federal funds through what is called a “block grant,” which comes with fewer restrictions.

The Department of Education has a number of other responsibilities, too. It administers the federal student loan and financial aid programs and has an Office of Civil Rights that is charged with investigating alleged discrimination complaints at colleges and K-12 schools.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, warned that the transition and outside GOP groups need to be cautious about unleashing a pressure campaign against GOP senators who raise questions about Cabinet nominees, warning that alienating members with attacks early can cost them for years to come.

“It’s a risk you want to avoid,” he added.

Tulsi Gabbard arrives for a meeting at the Hart Senate Office Building on December 10, in Washington, DC.

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, will meet with two Republican senators today, according to a source familiar.

Gabbard is expected to met with Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty at 1:30 p.m. ET and then with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune at 2:30 p.m. ET, the source said.

Sen. John Fetterman walks toward the Senate Chambers on March 23, in Washington, DC.

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman said he expects to bring up a series of allegations against Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, when the two men sit down for their first meeting later today.

“I know there haven’t been any formal charges or criminal ones. But it’s all — one of the things that I’m sure, perhaps, might come up in that conversation today,” Fetterman told CNN when asked about the claims of misconduct by Hegseth, including excessive drinking and sexual assault. “But I am aware there are some allegations, of course.”

Notably, Fetterman is not ruling out support for Hegseth ahead of the meeting, which will make him the first Senate Democrat to sit down with Trump’s defense pick.

“We’re just going to have a straight up conversation,” Fetterman said.

Fetterman dismissed potential backlash from his own party for meeting with one of Trump’s most contentious Cabinet selections. He has already met with another of Trump’s picks: Rep. Elise Stefanik, who Trump has chosen for US ambassador to the United Nations.

“I’m not sure why it’d be controversial to anybody, if he’s the individual who could potentially be the next secretary of defense. I’m not just a senator for Pennsylvania, for my voters or Democrats — it’s for all of us,” he said, adding that he has received “a lot” of supportive calls into his office, asking him to have the conversation with Trump picks.

Earlier today, Hegseth told CNN he is not approaching meetings with Democrats any differently than his GOP sitdowns.

President-elect Donald Trump declined to say whether he supports a two-state solution to resolve the Israel-Hamas war and did not say whether he supports Israel annexing the West Bank, a departure from two positions he held during his first administration.

More background: Trump’s backing away from a two-state solution contradicts the plan he proposed during his first administration that was intended to serve as a framework to realize a two-state solution, which included plans for Israel to begin removing its settlements in the West Bank. Trump also facilitated the normalization of relations between Israel and Arab countries in the Middle East, known as the Abraham Accords, paving the way for potential diplomacy between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Trump did not rule out allowing Israel to annex the West Bank, pointing to the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel as an inflection point in his view on relations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. When asked if he would prevent Israel from annexing the West Bank, Trump said, “We’ll see what happens.”

Following the signing of the Abraham Accords, Trump said the normalization agreements were part of a strategy that “prioritized peace in the region over West Bank annexation.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu temporarily suspended annexation efforts in the wake of the Abraham Accords being signed.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins said Thursday that she was “impressed” by Elon Musk during a one-on-one meeting that she held with the tech billionaire last week, and she praised his appointment to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the coming Trump administration.

“As far as the new effort on government efficiency — I can never remember how it’s pronounced, I will admit — I had an excellent 70-minute meeting with Elon Musk. And I was very impressed,” Collins said during an interview at a conference held by the bipartisan “No Labels” organization in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

“What impressed me the most, is he really listened. Now, I’m not sure he accepts all of what I said,” Collins added.

Why it matters: The Maine lawmaker is one of a handful of moderate Republican senators poised for an influential role in Washington over the next few years, wielding a potentially decisive vote on Trump administration initiatives in a closely divided GOP Congress.

Her comments on Musk and DOGE — the newly formed executive department proposing to make the federal government leaner and more efficient by reviewing its budget and operations from top to bottom — indicated her openness to the program.

More from Collins: Collins described her conversations with Musk about defense procurement — an area of keen interest for Musk, whose companies have received tens of billions from US government contracts and programs — saying she emphasized the importance of giving smaller companies with new military technology a chance to break through the “encrusted bureaucracy” at the Department of Defense.

She praised the “outside perspective” provided by Musk and DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy, and endorsed their push to end remote work for federal employees.

The senator also emphasized the burden of growing “mandatory” government spending programs, and previewed a reformist approach to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which she’ll chair in the new Congress.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the now-defunct House January 6 committee, said he “would accept” a preemptive pardon if one was issued by President Joe Biden.

“It’s [the president’s] prerogative,” the Mississippi Democrat told CNN. “If he offers it to me — or other members of the committee — I think, I would accept it. But it’s his choice.”

Thompson’s comments come after President-elect Donald Trump told NBC that the panel’s members, including Thompson and former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, should “go to jail.”

Sources tell CNN that senior Biden White House aides and administration officials are discussing potential preemptive pardons or legal aid for people who might be targeted for prosecution by Trump.

President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with Time magazine published Thursday that he will “terminate” emission rules from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that would push the US auto market toward electric vehicles and hybrids.

The EPA in March rolled out the new tailpipe emission rules and targeted 35% to 56% of all new car sales be EVs by 2032, and 13% to 36% for plug-in hybrids.

The Biden administration has pushed back against the description of the rule as a “mandate,” with White House climate advisor Ali Zaidi saying that it was flexible and encouraged consumer choice.

The rule, if enacted, would reduce planet-warming emissions by 7 billion metric tons.

President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth meets with Sen. John Cornyn at the US Capitol on December 10 in Washington, DC.

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, denied opposing the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” after new CNN reporting from KFile found that he has said LGBTQ people serving openly in the military reflects a Marxist agenda.

On Thursday, Hegseth appeared to walk back his earlier remarks about DADT, telling CNN, “Oppose the repeal? No, I don’t,” and calling reports on his previous comments, “more false reporting.”

In his 2024 book “The War on Warriors” and in subsequent media promotions this year, Hegseth described both the original “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) policy and its repeal in 2011 as a “gateway” and a “camouflage” for broader cultural changes that he claims have undermined military cohesion and effectiveness.

In a 2015 appearance on Fox News, Hegseth also argued these policies like repealing DADT “erode standards” in favor of political goals like social engineering.

Meetings on the Hill: Hegseth is meeting with more lawmakers today in his bid to garner enough support for confirmation in the Senate.

Asked how he plans to approach his first official meeting with a Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, this afternoon, Hegseth said, “I’m the same person in all the meetings.”

“There’s nothing political about the DoD. We want to make sure politics is not a part of it. So meeting with Democrats, just like meeting with Republicans, is a huge part of our approach,” he said.

This post has been updated with more of Hegseth’s past comments. CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck contributed reporting to this post.

President-elect Donald Trump suggested he will focus on those who were convicted of nonviolent crimes, who he said have been “greatly punished,” when issuing pardons for those convicted in connection with the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

“I’m going to do case-by-case, and if they were non-violent, I think they’ve been greatly punished,” he said. “I’m going to look if there’s some that really were out of control.”

In the interview, which was conducted last month, Trump said “a vast majority” of those who were convicted and given prison sentences “should not be in jail.” Nearly 1,200 people either have pleaded guilty or were found guilty at trial for crimes connected to the January 6 attack, according to the Justice Department. More than 645 defendants were ordered to serve some jail time.

In an interview with NBC News that took place last week, Trump reiterated his commitment to pardoning those involved in the January 6 attack but did not rule out issuing pardons for people who were charged with assaulting police officers.

“These people have been there, how long is it? Three or four years? You know, by the way, they’ve been in there for years, and they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open,” he told NBC News.

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday he was considering inviting more people to his inauguration who might be “a little risky” after he invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend his swearing-in ceremony in Washington, DC, in January.

“But we like to take little chances, but that’s not a bad chance,” he added.

Incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday morning confirmed that Trump had invited Xi to the inauguration, and sources tell CNN Trump personally extended the invitation.

Trump on Thursday didn’t say whether Xi had accepted his invitation to attend the inauguration when asked about it by a reporter.

Trump was at an event in New York honoring him after he was named Time’s “Person of the Year” for the second time. He was joined by Vice President-elect JD Vance, several of his incoming Cabinet picks and members of his family, including his wife, Melania, and his daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany.

President-elect Donald Trump arrives to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

He stood by Vice President-elect JD Vance, incoming first lady Melania Trump and his daughters Ivanka and Tiffany Trump.

There was a banner behind Trump that featured the Time magazine cover of him being named “Person of the Year” for the second time.

Watch the moment below:

President-elect Donald Trump reiterated his plan to use the military to deport migrants who entered the US illegally and said he will push his use of the military “up to the maximum level of what the law allows” for deportations.

US law says the military cannot be used to enforce domestic laws without an act of Congress. Trump told Time Magazine in an interview published on Thursday that was conducted last month that he believes illegal immigration into the US can be categorized as “an invasion of our country,” and said he would request the use of the National Guard and local law enforcement to supplement the military’s efforts in deporting migrants.

Trump also suggested he may build new detention facilities to house migrants even as he negotiates with other nations to receive deported migrants, and again threatened allies with tariffs if they do not agree to receive migrants deported from the US.

“I want them out, and the countries have got to take them back, and if they don’t take them back, we won’t do business with those countries, and we will tariff those countries very substantially. When they send products in, they will have substantial tariffs, and it’s going to make it very hard for them to do business with us,” he continued.

Trump reiterated his promise not to separate families with mixed immigration status, saying he “would much rather deport them together.”

Robert Kennedy Jr. speaks with others before a ceremony with President-elect Donald Trump at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday December 12, in New York.

President-elect Donald Trump said his administration will study the safety of childhood vaccines and rising levels of autism diagnoses, and suggested he may eliminate some vaccines if he views them as “dangerous.”

Trump told Time magazine in an interview conducted last month that he’s going to direct Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic and his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, to study the rising rates of autism diagnoses. He said he would consider getting rid some vaccines for children, falsely suggesting autism may be caused by vaccines.

Scientists have repeatedly debunked the theory that vaccines cause autism. But despite that evidence, many anti-vaccine advocates, including Kennedy, have called for greater research into the subject.

When asked if he believes autism is caused by vaccines, Trump said he’s “going to be listening to” Kennedy, who he said he’s instructed to study any links between vaccines and autism and left the door open for eliminating some vaccinations from the childhood vaccine schedule.

More context: Since Kennedy suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump in August, the president-elect has regularly expressed skepticism about the safety and efficacy of vaccines in his public remarks. During an interview with NBC News on Sunday, Trump again falsely suggested vaccines may cause autism and floated the possibility of eliminating some vaccines while praising others as “incredible.”

The myth linking vaccines and autism grew out of a 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield that was published in the medical journal The Lancet and later retracted. Wakefield had been compensated by a law firm intending to sue manufacturers of the MMR vaccine, and in 2010, he lost his medical license. In 2011, The Lancet retracted the study after an investigation found that Wakefield altered or misrepresented information on the 12 children who were the basis for the conclusion of his study. Several subsequent studies trying to reproduce the results have found no link between vaccines and autism.

Many studies have shown that vaccines aren’t linked to autism, including the shot that protects against measles, mumps and rubella, the preservative thimerosal and the pace at which children receive vaccines. Autism diagnoses have been increasing — up from one in 150 children in 2000 to about 1 in 36 children in 2020. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that’s largely because of more equitable identification that’s now reaching groups who didn’t have access to care before.

Autism and vaccine researchers have argued that continued focus on vaccines saps resources away from research that could improve autism identification and treatment and has led to declines in vaccination, leading to outbreaks of preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough.

Ukrainian servicemen take part in military exercises at an unspecified location in the Donetsk region on July 26, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

President-elect Donald Trump said he “vehemently” disagrees with allowing Ukraine to use US-provided weapons to strike inside Russia, and that by doing so the US is “escalating this war and making it worse” in a lengthy interview as Time magazine’s 2024 “Person of the Year.”

President Joe Biden gave long-awaited authorization to Ukraine in November to use powerful US-provided long-range weapons, called Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, inside Russia. The authorization was a key request from Ukraine for months.

Remember: Throughout his campaign, Trump repeatedly cast doubts on continuing US support to Ukraine in its war against Russia, and vowed to end the war once he was in office. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he wants to work “directly” with Trump and is open to his ideas on ending the war.

Trump declined to say in his interview with Time if he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the election, but was pushed repeatedly on the question of if he would “abandon” Ukraine president.

“[T]he number of dead soldiers that have been killed in the last month are numbers that are staggering, both Russians and Ukrainians, and the amounts are fairly equal … the numbers of dead young soldiers lying on fields all over the place are staggering,” he said.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) head Mike Whitaker announced he will be stepping down on January 20, 2025, the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Whitaker became administrator in October 2023, to begin a five-year term. He previously served as deputy administrator from 2013 to 2016, and was also the FAA’s chief NextGen officer, responsible for the modernization of the FAA’s air traffic control system, moving from radar to satellite enabled surveillance.

Whitaker notably clashed with SpaceX CEO and Trump ally Elon musk over the agency’s oversight of rocket launches, but an FAA spokesperson told CNN that Whitaker had some personal family issues that arose this year, which factored in the decision.

Musk called on Whitaker to resign in September, after Whitaker had testified before Congress and faced tough questions about the agency’s oversight of SpaceX.

Whitaker reiterated in his letter that despite the transition, air travel will remain “steady,” noting that the agency has plans in place to handle the transition of leadership.

His tenure included a major focus on quality control problems at U.S. plane maker Boeing following the January 5 incident in which a door plug blew off of a 737 Max flown by Alaska Airlines. In his farewell memo, Whitaker highlighted those actions.

“… it has not been business as usual for Boeing,” Whitaker said. “We have dramatically increased oversight, including more inspectors and closer scrutiny over production. We are also making sure the company implements a robust safety management system, which will be crucial to an enduring safety culture.”

This post has been updated with more reporting on Whitaker’s departure.

China's President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump are seen together in Beijing in November 2017.

President-elect Donald Trump invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration in January in Washington, DC, according to incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Leavitt confirmed reporting by CBS News on Fox News Thursday morning that the invitation had been extended.

Trump personally extended the invitation to Xi, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, was asked on Wednesday at a press briefing if China had received an invite from the incoming Trump administration for the upcoming inauguration and if China will attend.

“Currently, I have no information to release,” he said.

Trump said in a recent interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that his communication with Xi has become somewhat regular.

“We’ve had communication as recently as this week,” Trump said of the Chinese leader in the interview, which was aired over the weekend.

Donald Trump once publicly speculated that Time would never name him the news magazine’s “Person of the Year.”

Now, the honor has been bestowed on him twice.

Time on Thursday named Trump as this year’s choice, recognizing the president-elect as the individual or group deemed to have wielded the greatest influence on global affairs “for good or for ill.” To celebrate the unveiling of the magazine cover, Trump will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump sat for a wide-ranging interview with the magazine last month.

To celebrate the unveiling of the magazine cover, Trump will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump sat for a wide-ranging interview with the magazine last month.

Time announced Trump’s selection on X Thursday morning.

Trump’s selection mirrors his first recognition in 2016, when Time named him Person of the Year after his unexpected rise to the presidency. This time, the unveiling caps a remarkable comeback and a resurgence that has the potential to upend modern American politics.

Despite the magazine’s dwindling circulation, Time’s Person of the Year remains an annual cultural touchstone and the distinction has become an obsession of sorts for Trump throughout the years. A Time cover naming him Person of the Year in 2009 hung in several of his golf clubs, The Washington Post reported nearly a decade later, though no such issue was ever printed.

Pete Hegseth is seen as he meets with Sen. John Cornyn at the US Capitol on December 10.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, has repeatedly criticized policies allowing gay people to serve openly in the US military, calling them part of a “Marxist” agenda to prioritize social justice over combat readiness.

In his 2024 book “The War on Warriors” and in subsequent media promotions this year, Hegseth described both the original “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) policy and its repeal in 2011 as a “gateway” and a “camouflage” for broader cultural changes that he claims have undermined military cohesion and effectiveness.

In a 2015 appearance on Fox News, Hegseth also argued these policies like repealing DADT “erode standards” in favor of political goals like social engineering.

DADT was implemented under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s and allowed gay people and lesbians to serve in the military — provided they did not disclose their sexuality. Military officials were also barred from asking military members their sexual orientation. If a troop’s orientation came to light, it could lead to their discharge.

The policy was repealed during the Obama administration, allowing openly gay service members.

Hegseth writes in his book that he was initially ambivalent to the change but came to regret his passive stance, describing the repeal as a “breach in the wire” that opened the door for broader cultural and ideological changes in the military.

A former Fox News host, Hegseth, 44, joined the Minnesota Army National Guard in 2002 and served for nearly 20 years before retiring as a major. He deployed to Guantanamo Bay, where he served as an infantry platoon leader, and later served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was awarded two Bronze Stars, among other awards for his service.

Read the full story.

President Joe Biden walks to the Rose Garden to deliver remarks at the White House on November 26.

President Joe Biden will announce Thursday that he is commuting the sentences of some 1,500 individuals and pardoning 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes, CNN has learned – marking a broad use of the presidential clemency power just weeks from the end of Biden’s administration.

The president, who has come under growing pressure to grant more clemencies before he leaves office, will also promise that additional action will be announced in the weeks to come.

The nearly 1,500 individuals whose long sentences will be commuted Thursday were placed on home confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic, and were deemed to have demonstrated a clear commitment to rehabilitation and reintegration into their communities, sources said. The 39 people being pardoned were convicted of non-violent crimes, and considered to have demonstrated records of meaningfully giving back to the country.

“They are individuals who have secured employment, advanced their education, served as caretakers for their children and family members, and have really reintegrated into the tapestry of their communities,” an administration official familiar with the announcement told CNN. “They include individuals who faced incredible challenges in life and have really now shown resilience and seeking to overcome those challenges.”

While CNN has not obtained a full list of names of the clemency recipients, sources provided several examples of individuals being pardoned.

Among them: A decorated military veteran described as having devoted much of his time helping members of his community including the sick and elderly; a nurse who is said to have helped during natural disasters and was at the forefront of vaccination efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic; as well as an addiction counselor recognized for his dedication to mentoring young men of color.

Read more about the Biden administration’s clemency plans ahead of Trump’s return to the White House.