It’s still a merry-go-round with the potential nominees being floated for America’s top diplomat. Associated Press has reported that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are out of the running for secretary of state, while over the weekend Kellyanne Conway mentioned that President-elect Donald Trump has decided to expand his search for the right person.
We did elect the star of “The Apprentice,” don’t forget.
Meanwhile, with the announcement that Nancy Pelosi would remain the top Democrat in the House, Democrats are split over the need for a new direction.
That all being said, here are five things to know for the week of Dec. 5:
Trump’s secretary of state could be a wild-card
Former Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman (Wikimedia Commons)
Current names being floated as top picks for the secretary of state are Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, an establishment favorite; former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton; and, Gen. David Petraeus who made a case for his nomination after defending 40-plus years of national service in an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, while owning up to a “slip up” of an affair with his biographer.
Other wild-cards include Exxon CEO Rex W. Tillerson and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a purple state leader who infamously imploded in his own bid for the presidency amidst campaign strife in 2012.
Sen. Bernie Sanders thanks Obama Administration for helping stop DAPL
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at University Temple United Methodist Church in Seattle on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016. (Erika Schultz/The Seattle Times via AP)
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders applauded the Obama Administration following the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announcement on Sunday that it intends to re-route the Dakota Access Pipeline.
“I appreciate very much President Obama listening to the Native American people and millions of others who believe this pipeline should not be built. In the year 2016, we should not continue to trample on Native American sovereignty,” Sanders said in a statement. “We should not endanger the water supply of millions of people. We should not become more dependent on fossil fuel and accelerate the planetary crisis of climate change. Our job now is to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels, not to produce more greenhouse gas emissions.”
It follows a months long standoff between Native Americans and their allied protesters, and a militarized police force dispatched to the area where Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners had planned to transport a half-million barrels of oil per day underneath Lake Oahe.
Ben Carson officially announced as HUD Secretary
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
The House of Urban Development, currently headed by Democratic rising star Julian Castro, will officially be taken over by retired neurosurgeon and Trump confidant Dr. Ben Carson.
“I am thrilled to nominate Dr. Ben Carson as our next Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,” Trump said in a statement. “Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities. We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic revival, very much including our inner cities. Ben shares my optimism about the future of our country and is part of ensuring that this is a Presidency representing all Americans. He is a tough competitor and never gives up.”
Opponents such as the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, have called his selection “more Trump cronyism” and a betrayal to the working-class voters who helped elect him.
Recounts begin at the behest of third-party candidates
Jill Stein, the presidential Green Party candidate, arrives for a news conference in front of Trump Tower, Monday, Dec. 5, 2016, in New York. Stein is spearheading recount efforts in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Although plans in Pennsylvania were initially canceled for a recount of votes in the general election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Green Party candidate Jill Stein has moved to request an emergency recount in the state as a federal judge ordered Michigan to begin hand counting their vote tallies by noon on Monday.
It all started after Stein raised $4.7 million for the effort, more than double what she campaigned on for president. Wisconsin’s recount began last Thursday and continued through the weekend, and little-known candidate Rocky De La Fuente has focused recount efforts on the state of Nevada.
“I’m only interested in validating the election and exposing the vulnerabilities I believe exist in our current system,” he said in a statement. “I’m not trying to change the results. If that happens, so be it, but I’m not trying to force it.”
Will Trump tweet over SNL again this week?
YouTube/Screen grab
In an unironic effort to expose “Saturday Night Live” as unfunny and “Sad!” Trump took to Twitter on Saturday evening, at the same time the show poked fun at his usage of the platform.
Alec Baldwin, who plays the president-elect for the show, responded to Trump by saying, “Release your tax returns and I’ll stop. Ha” It remains to be seen if Trump will again take to social media to blast the American television staple, but if we were hedging our bets at Briefing we’d reckon the smart money is on 3-4 tweets of disapproval this coming Saturday.