Breaking News : The latest on Trump’s presidential transition…. Read More

What you need to know
• Trump taps loyalists: President-elect Donald Trump has announced a controversial string of picks for his upcoming administration, including former Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general and former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. Here’s who he has selected so far for his new team.

• Senate hurdle: Gaetz and other Cabinet picks will be subject to Senate approval, setting up the potential for a provocative confirmation process. Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Senate would vet all of Trump’s nominees during the process. Top Senate Democrats are calling on the House Ethics Committee to release its report on Gaetz, who resigned from Congress after becoming Trump’s AG pick, as the panel was set to vote on whether to release it this week.

• GOP sweep: Republicans will hold their majority in the House of Representatives, CNN projects, securing a monopoly on power in Washington with control of the White House and majorities in both chambers of Congress.

A federal judge on Thursday agreed to delay a trial set for next month for a US Capitol riot defendant, saying there is a “real possibility” that President-elect Donald Trump could pardon him after taking office next year.

William Pope had been set to go on trial early next month for several misdemeanor charges stemming from his involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. But days after Trump’s reelection last week, he asked the judge to postpone the trial until after Trump takes office, citing the president-elect’s campaign pledge to pardon some people who took part in the attack.

US District Judge Rudolph Contreras, an Obama appointee, said during a hearing Thursday that there is a “real possibility” Trump will eventually pardon Pope.

Contreras said that the “conservation of resources” warranted holding off on the impending trial since going through jury selection would be a “significant burden” on the public as well as the court if a trial began only for Trump to later pardon Pope.

When a Justice Department attorney argued that the possibility of a pardon “is not a significant reason” to put off the trial and brought up the fact that other judges in Washington, DC, have recently been denying requests by January 6 defendants to delay proceedings in their cases, Contreras said a multi-day trial is much different than sentencing hearings, which have continued in the wake of Trump’s win.

No new trial date has been set, and the parties are planning to reconvene in mid-December to search for a new date for next year.