Principals

1. Gaetz stuns GOP
2. Knowing John Thune
3. Trump Jr. ally offered top slot
4. Biden-Xi meet
5. US-China trade
6. Special relationship
7. House Foreign Affairs chair admits ‘mistake’

PDB: Mike Johnson wins GOP support to remain speaker

Biden heads to Lima for APEC … Jerome Powell to speak in Texas … NBC: DOJ employees in freakout mode over Gaetz pick

Trump’s picks start to blindside Republicans

Until about Tuesday evening, Republicans were pretty dang happy with Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks. And then came the flurry: Pete Hegseth for Defense, Tulsi Gabbard for intelligence director and Matt Gaetz for attorney general. The last one, a congressman who resigned his seat Wednesday evening ahead of the release of a reportedly damaging Ethics Committee report, is the most eyebrow raising pick — literally, when we asked GOP senators about it. They made clear that Gaetz is going to be tough to confirm: “I’m all about counting votes, and I would think he’s probably got his work cut out for him,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said he was concerned about Gaetz’s work to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and noted Gaetz will have an extensive background check if he goes forward. All that said, don’t expect the Senate GOP to block any of these folks en masse even as Gaetz looks like a heavy lift.

— Burgess Everett

Senate Republicans’ new point man

Before the Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard appointments stunned Senate Republicans, they were in a relatively joyful mood. That’s because midday they put an eight-month leadership election behind them, electing the mild-mannered John Thune to lead the new Senate majority, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. Thune is a wonky, and yes, relatively establishment Republican, but also someone who sought to repair his once distant relationship with Trump and has some legit conservative cred. He also got a chance last year to fill in for a sidelined Mitch McConnell, showcasing his inclusive style. He won the job winning enough Rick Scott voters on the second ballot to edge out John Cornyn, but he also faced a bunch of tough questions this week, which he navigated deftly. From the border to entitlements to tough confirmations, Thune told his colleagues on Tuesday night: “I want to do hard things.”

Trump Jr. ally offered top personnel job

Sergio Gor, the president and co-founder of Donald Trump Jr.’s publishing company, has been offered the low-profile but influential job leading Trump’s Presidential Personnel Office, Semafor reported. The job, focused in part on helping vet new appointees, is one of two essential White House gigs that have seen quiet, intense jockeying for over the last few days. Gor beat out Blake Masters, a former political candidate with ties to Peter Thiel, for the job. Meanwhile, the key position of staff secretary, responsible in part for managing paper flow to Trump in the Oval Office, is yet to be filled: Semafor is told Mike Davis, Theo Wold, and Will Scharf — who each represent different factions of the MAGA orbit — are in contention for that job.

— Shelby Talcott

Biden readies for last meeting with Xi

Joe Biden will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the last time as US president Saturday in Peru, Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant reports. Biden will reflect on bilateral efforts to counter fentanyl and restore military talks, while also raising thornier issues like Chinese hacking of US telecommunications and Taiwan. The upcoming presidential transition will color the meeting, as Chinese officials prepare for round two of the Trump trade war. Trump’s early staff picks signal a hawkish stance on China, but at least one Chinese-owned company — TikTok — is hoping for an easier road under the incoming administration. The Xi meeting is part of a broader foreign trip by Biden to APEC and the G20, during which Biden will emphasize the importance of strong US alliances. “He believes that America’s allies are vital to America’s national security,” his national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Bill would upend US-China trade relations

The US would end normal trade relations with China under a new legislative proposal introduced by the leader of the House select committee on China. The bill from Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., would establish a new tariff column for China and would gradually hike tariffs on imports in strategic and non-strategic sectors. It would also give the president new powers to block certain Chinese imports, and eliminate the de minimis exemption for low-cost shipments from China. Congress won’t pass the bill in the lame duck session, but it’s likely to factor into the trade discussion next year. “While it would be great to have this bill pass in the remaining month or so of this Congress, this legislation is crucial in starting a conversation that will be influenced by the approach of the incoming administration,” a committee aide said. A similar bill was introduced by GOP senators including Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of state pick.

— Morgan Chalfant

UK ambassador on ‘winner’ Starmer, special relationship

UK Ambassador Karen Pierce said in an interview with Semafor that she expects Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s stature as a “winner” to undergird a strong relationship with Trump. Pierce also praised early Trump appointees Mike Waltz and Susie Wiles, who she called “an excellent operator, very courteous, very efficient.” Pierce, a rare European diplomat who forged warm connections to Trump’s circle, is also the subject of intrigue in London, where former Blair aide Peter Mandelson is rumored to be replacing her. She noted that the government has not chosen her successor and joked that she will have to be “dragged out by my fingernails.”

— Ben Smith

Foreign Affairs chair detained at airport

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul was detained by police at Dulles International Airport earlier this month in an incident that he described as “the result of a poor decision” to mix Ambien and alcohol, Semafor’s Kadia Goba reported. A McCaul spokesperson confirmed the incident, describing the congressman as “a nervous flyer” who took the popular sleep aid Ambien and consumed alcohol before boarding a flight home to Texas. McCaul ultimately missed that flight, he told Semafor, adding that he was disoriented from the combination of the medication and alcohol, subsequently locking himself out of his cell phone. He was later found by police, who assumed McCaul was intoxicated and detained him, according to a spokesperson.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Some Republican national security hawks in the Senate are already discussing how to derail Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be director of national intelligence.

Playbook: Donald Trump’s move to tap Matt Gaetz for attorney general came together late: the now ex-Florida congressman was not on the shortlist as of Monday and Trump, egged on by Boris Epshteyn, made the decision aboard his plane just yesterday.

Axios: President Biden asked Trump for help advocating for a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas during their White House meeting.

WaPo: Congressional Republicans seem unlikely to get in Trump’s way as he tests them with his policy positions and Cabinet selections.

White House

• President Biden and Donald Trump called for a smooth transition of power during their two-hour meeting in the Oval Office.

• Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is likely to “end millions of dollars in debt.” — Axios

Congress

• House Republicans nominated Mike Johnson to retain the speaker’s gavel. They also struck a deal to raise the threshold for the motion to vacate.

Transition

• Karoline Leavitt and Scott Jennings are frontrunners for the role of Donald Trump’s White House press secretary. — Politico
• Howard Lutnick is also making a play to be Trump’s Treasury secretary. — Bloomberg
• Melania Trump turned down a meeting with first lady Jill Biden at the White House. — NYT
• Nikki Haley called Trump “shallow” for his announcement that she wouldn’t be joining his administration, adding she had said she wasn’t interested in a post but had been contacted by his transition team.

Results

• Republicans won enough seats in the House to control the lower chamber, completing the party’s sweep of the White House and Congress.

Outside the Beltway

• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is reviving her congestion-pricing plan. — NYT

Economy

• US inflation rose in October.

Business

• Amazon set up an e-commerce storefront to compete with Temu.

Courts

• Special counsel Jack Smith and his staff plan to resign before Donald Trump takes office.
• US prosecutors charged a government worker with leaking classified information regarding Israeli plans to attack Iran.
• The FBI seized the phone of Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan.

Polls

• Nearly three-fourths of Republican voters have favorable views of Elon Musk, a 20-percentage-point increase from a year earlier, according to Morning Consult.

National Security

• Donald Trump’s transition team is working on a list of military officers to fire, possibly including the Joint Chief of Staff. — Reuters

Foreign Policy

• European governments are pushing the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors to pass a resolution to pressure Iran over its alleged poor cooperation. — Reuters

Environment

• The Biden administration endorsed a controversial deal that may pave the way for the construction of a road through a wildlife refuge in Alaska.

Technology

• Semiconductor manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices will lay off 4% of its global workforce.

Media

• Kamala Harris avoided an interview with Joe Rogan due to concerns about backlash from progressives. — FT

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Kamala Harris’ campaign gave $500,000 to Al Sharpton’s National Action Network before he interviewed her on MSNBC, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

What the Right isn’t reading: Requests for birth control and abortion pills have increased in the US since Donald Trump won the election.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Elana Schor, Morgan Chalfant

Reporters: Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

John Moolenaar is a Republican congressman from Michigan and the chair of the House select committee on China.

John Fetterman is a Democratic senator from Pennsylvania.