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

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.

“Oppose the repeal? No, I don’t,” he told CNN. He called it “more false reporting.”

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.

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.

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is expected to meet with Sen. John Fetterman on Thursday, according to a source familiar with the plans, marking Hegseth’s first meeting with a Democrat.

As Hegseth works to shore up support on Capitol Hill, he met Wednesday with some Republicans who have been critical of Trump, including Sens. Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins and Todd Young, who did not support Trump’s reelection bid.

Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, also expressed an openness on Wednesday to supporting Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, along with other choices Trump has made to fill key positions.

“I don’t know enough about him, but it seems like he’s going to have his 53 votes, so he’s going to be that guy,” he said of Patel, who has been on Capitol Hill meeting with Senate Republicans this week.

Fetterman said he had just met with Trump’s pick to be ambassador to the United Nations, Rep. Elise Stefanik, and he’s “willing to meet with these people because they’re probably going to have the votes” to be confirmed in the Senate.

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, two sources familiar with the plans tell CNN.