Mychael Schnell discusses Donald Trump’s administration picks with The Hill’s Julia Manchester. The President elect has made several announcements, tapping Elise Stefanik as UN Ambassador.
Former ICE Chief Tom Homan named new ‘border czar’. Trump also names Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff.
Elon Musk’s role in Trump’s administration continues to grow, spending almost every day since the election at Mar-a-Lago. Democrats voice concern that the President Elect has yet to sign transition agreements, missing several deadlines.
Former ICE Chief Tom Homan named new ‘border czar’. Trump also names Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff.
Elon Musk’s role in Trump’s administration continues to grow, spending almost every day since the election at Mar-a-Lago. Democrats voice concern that the President Elect has yet to sign transition agreements, missing several deadlines.
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NewsTranscript
00:00In just under one week since Donald Trump became the 47th president-elect of the United
00:12States, Trump's cabinet is beginning to take shape as his transition team looks to
00:16make a seamless move to the White House.
00:19Republican lawmakers who have been faithful supporters of Trump are aiming for key administration
00:24positions as the president-elect will most certainly have full control of Congress.
00:29Joining me now to break it all down is The Hill's national political reporter, Julia
00:32Manchester.
00:33We're going to take a closer look at how the Trump administration is taking shape and other
00:36news from Washington.
00:37Julia, thanks for joining us.
00:39Good to see you, Michael.
00:40Let's talk about these beginning cabinet appointments.
00:42We had a new one just this morning.
00:43Elise Stefanik, congresswoman from New York, U.S. ambassador to the UN.
00:48There's also been Tom Homan as borders are, and of course, Susie Wiles as White House
00:53chief of staff.
00:54What's your take on these beginning cabinet appointments?
00:57How is it setting the tone for what the Trump administration is going to look like?
01:00Look, it's no surprise.
01:01For someone like Elise Stefanik, we know that she and Tom Homan have proved their loyalty
01:06to former President Trump.
01:07Loyalty is a huge thing to Trump, I should say, president-elect Trump.
01:11Big factor in all of this, but they also match up with his agenda.
01:15For someone like Tom Homan, he is a hardliner on immigration.
01:19Stephen Miller, who we understand will once again have a senior advisor role or administration
01:23role.
01:24That's right.
01:25Deputy chief of staff, it looks like.
01:26He's someone who's a hardliner on immigration, and with an administration who wants to start
01:30on day one with these mass deportations, it's going to be important for them to have someone
01:35who's going to have people that support that, and these two men certainly fit that bill,
01:39so no surprise there.
01:40For Elise Stefanik, I think she's emblematic of the very pro-Israel stance this administration
01:46is going to take.
01:47We know that she had that very viral moment roughly 11 months ago in front of the presidents
01:51of a number of Ivy League schools when she asked them a very simple question about whether
01:58the genocide of Jews, her words, was acceptable on college campuses, and she got a lot of
02:03bipartisan praise from Democrats and Republicans for asking that question, but she has always
02:09had this very pro-Israel stance.
02:11She was seen as a vice presidential contender-
02:13She was mentioned on the short list.
02:15... for a while.
02:16Yes, definitely on the short list, and during that time, she actually gave an address to
02:19the Knesset, Israel's parliament, over the summer, so she is someone who is seen very
02:25vocally pro-Israel, and with the United Nations, you have a lot of Republicans and conservatives
02:29who have been critical of the UN and their stance on Israel, so it makes sense she's
02:33in there.
02:34I wonder if House Republicans are thrilled about it because it's going to have their
02:36numbers slimmed down for this majority, but that's a whole other conversation for a whole
02:40other time.
02:41Let's stick on the cabinet appointments because one that we're waiting for is Secretary of
02:45State.
02:46Secretary of State is one of the most important positions within an administration's cabinet.
02:49Some names that are being floated, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, former presidential candidate,
02:54Vivek Ramaswamy, maybe Rick Grenell.
02:57Talk to me about what you're hearing about who is potentially going to have that Secretary
03:00of State job.
03:01Rick Grenell, obviously an alum of the Trump administration.
03:04He has been floated for this position for quite some time, but it's interesting looking
03:08at Marco Rubio and Vivek Ramaswamy, very different parts of the Republican Party.
03:13I think a lot more ... I don't want to say establishment because Trump is the establishment
03:19of the Republican Party now, but Marco Rubio might appeal to a more broad swath of Republicans.
03:26He is popular with moderate or more centrist Republicans, and he's also been able to prove
03:30himself with more MAGA-like Republicans, but Vivek Ramaswamy certainly seen as a figure
03:37who is emblematic of the populist MAGA-esque part of the Republican Party.
03:42I think Marco Rubio might have a little bit of an advantage having experience working
03:46in foreign policy in the Senate on the Intelligence Committee, but it's interesting to see these
03:51two names floated as we're seeing very different kinds of Republicans being floated for these
03:56positions.
03:57Yeah, absolutely.
03:58Stacking up, like you mentioned, to get the ball rolling on day one.
04:02Someone who may not be in the cabinet, but is likely going to be very close to the president
04:05elect throughout his administration, Elon Musk.
04:08He was obviously a huge surrogate for Trump on the campaign trail in the final stretch
04:12to election day.
04:14He won't serve in the cabinet, but he's likely to be a key advisor here.
04:17He's already been on at least one call with Vladimir Putin, a foreign leader, with the
04:22president elect.
04:23What do you make of Elon Musk's involvement right now in politics and around Trump, and
04:28how do you see him contributing to a Trump administration?
04:30Well, you don't have to look any farther than some of the events at Mar-a-Lago since former
04:34President Trump, now President-elect Trump's victory.
04:37Elon Musk was literally in the Trump family photo.
04:39He is golfing with the Trumps.
04:41Kai Trump, Donald Trump Jr.'s daughter, posted a picture with him.
04:45He is very close.
04:46He is in that inner orbit of the Trump world, the Trump family.
04:51What that tells us is that he certainly has Donald Trump's ear.
04:54The fact that he's putting him on phone calls with foreign leaders, very important foreign
04:59leaders, really speaks a lot.
05:01For Elon Musk, even if he doesn't have an official role within the administration, I
05:06don't even know if that necessarily matters because he has Donald Trump's ear and we know
05:10that Donald Trump is listening to those around him.
05:13So we've spoken about who could be in the cabinet.
05:15Now let's talk about who's not going to be in the cabinet because Donald Trump went on
05:18too social yesterday and he said Nikki Haley, I'm sorry, over the weekend and said Nikki
05:22Haley and Mike Pompeo are not going to serve in my administration.
05:26Of course, two former very key figures in the first Trump administration.
05:30What do you make of this?
05:31Nikki Haley, particularly, it's been such a rocky relationship with the president elect,
05:36supporting him, primarying him, running against him and then endorsing him, but she didn't
05:41appear on the campaign trail with him.
05:42What do you make of this new development?
05:43Well, look, there were also some reported tensions between the two of them when she
05:47was a UN ambassador.
05:48So they have clashed in the past.
05:50There's been that tension.
05:52She primaried him and was a very vocal critic of his.
05:56I mean, it took a while for her, for the two of them to come back around to each other.
06:00And like you said, we didn't see her on the campaign trail.
06:02It never seemed like a full-
06:04Exactly.
06:05So there was always that tension between the two of them.
06:08So I actually don't think this is particularly surprising.
06:11I don't even know if it's particularly surprising to someone like Nikki Haley.
06:15Like I said, Trump is someone who values loyalty and for better or for worse, she hasn't always
06:21been loyal to Trump.
06:22Mike Pompeo, I wouldn't say he's been as critical of the former president, but there have been
06:28some shades of criticism, like with the classified documents case.
06:33So certainly a departure from where Mike Pompeo was during the first administration, obviously
06:38had two very critical high level roles.
06:41So it's that loyalty factor.
06:43But also, look, Trump wants to bring in potentially new people.
06:47Remember, he has a new orbit around him, people like Elon Musk, Susie Wiles.
06:51So he's sort of getting these, he's probably getting these new names floated that could
06:56mean that older names, names that have been in past administrations may get kicked out.
07:00A lot can change in four years, basically saying that.
07:02So when we talk about the transition, it's not just the idea of making sure that your
07:05cabinet is ready, but there's actually a legitimate transition period and process here.
07:11The Trump campaign though, hasn't actually signed on to that transition process.
07:14Can you break down what exactly is happening here and what the ramifications could be?
07:18Yeah.
07:19So what you have right now is essentially the Trump transition team basically making
07:23these decisions, making these decisions known publicly.
07:26I think it's interesting because they're actually calling on Senate Republicans to fast track
07:32a lot of these cabinet nominations, putting pressure on them.
07:36And he's sort of, in a way, Donald Trump throwing a carrot to the three people, Rick Scott,
07:42John Thune, and John Cornyn, the three senators vying for Mitch McConnell's position as Senate
07:46majority leader saying, hey, we should fast track these, a process that's normally used
07:50in emergencies, but Donald Trump trying to push them to do it this time, Florida Senator
07:54Rick Scott automatically raising his hand, absolutely.
07:57Very quickly.
07:58Yeah.
07:59Very quickly.
08:00The other two, I mean, supportive, but maybe not as enthusiastic as Rick Scott is.
08:05So you're trying to see them do as much of this as possible.
08:08You're likely going to see a lot of these executive orders that Donald Trump wants to
08:14carry out, stuff on immigration that's probably going to be pre-written before day one so
08:20we can quickly get it out of the way.
08:22So the process is being fast tracked across the board.
08:25Sure.
08:26Let's go back to Elise Stefanik for a second, because I mentioned it, but I want to dive
08:28into this idea right now.
08:30Republicans haven't officially clinched the majority of the House, but they're on the
08:33precipice.
08:34They need two more seats right now.
08:35They're at 216.
08:36Of course, it's the race to 218 for the majority.
08:39If Elise Stefanik, well, actually, first off, the majority, if Republicans get it, is likely
08:44to be very slim, ultra thin majority, similar to what we've seen for the past two years.
08:49Now, if Elise Stefanik is taken out of the House Republican conference to put at the
08:54UN, what does that mean for House Republican majority?
08:58I mean, it's already going to be thin.
09:00It's going to get even more thinner.
09:01Well, it means it could get even more thin.
09:05I would imagine a special election after a replacement would be held at some point, and
09:09I think that seat, correct me if I'm wrong, Michael, it's in a rural part.
09:15Very safe red.
09:16Yes, very safe red.
09:17Very red.
09:18At the same time, though, Republicans, they're on fragile ground in the House, even if they
09:22have this, and you're more of an expert on this than I am, but Speaker Johnson is going
09:27to want to hold on to that speakership, and we know that speakerships in the past two
09:30years or so aren't guaranteed, particularly among Republicans.
09:35Maybe it creates, I don't know, you know more about this than I do, but maybe it creates
09:39an interesting scenario for them going forward.
09:42Big question is going to be when does Stefanik officially go to the UN, and when does her
09:45successor get nominated, get elected, because within that time, Republicans are going to
09:49be down a vote, and it could be crucial.
09:51And you're going to see a lot of choreography.
09:52Absolutely.
09:53I want to get back now to that House control.
09:58Break down where exactly the race for the House is.
10:00I mentioned there are 216 seats right now.
10:03Republicans have, Democrats have 209.
10:06There are 10 seats up for grabs.
10:07We're waiting for a lot of seats in California.
10:08Am I right?
10:09Yeah, California, Southern California, that area.
10:12Not surprising there.
10:13Look, we look at California as this heavily blue state, but Trump made inroads there at
10:18the top of the ticket on election night, and we're seeing that really trickle down to a
10:22number of these House seats.
10:23We know that Republicans have held a number of deep red House seats in California, but
10:28I think you're starting to see the Trump effect, that impact that you also saw in other, you
10:33know, New York, for example, even in deep red Florida, which is now officially deep
10:36red.
10:37You've seen more of a turnout that has impacted down ballot races, so we're just waiting for
10:42those to come in.
10:43Push the House to the side.
10:44Let's go back to the Senate quickly.
10:45You alluded to it, the leadership race right now between John Thune, between John Cornyn
10:51and Rick Scott.
10:52Break down where Trump currently is on this.
10:55He hasn't officially endorsed one candidate, but some of his allies have a favorite, and
10:59you mentioned the appointments.
11:01Yeah, so we talked about Elon Musk and how important Elon Musk is.
11:05Even if he doesn't have an official role within the administration or the government, he has
11:08the presidency.
11:09Elon Musk has endorsed Rick Scott, Florida Senator, won election by 12 points in that
11:15state.
11:16I think that's very important because we know that, like I said, a lot of these pro-MAGA
11:22figures like Elon Musk, like Charlie Kirk, for example, from Turning Point USA, they're
11:26getting behind Rick Scott and going against people like John Thune and John Cornyn, even
11:31sort of painting Cornyn and Thune, who are conservatives, very conservatives, they're
11:36painting them as rhinos, a Republican in name only.
11:39So it goes to show there might be this internal battle brewing within the Senate and in the
11:44Republican Party over the pro-MAGA or the MAGA-esque wing and maybe the non-MAGA wing
11:50of the party.
11:51So it's fascinating to see that play out.
11:53We would have said months ago that Rick Scott would be a long shot for this position.
11:57We know that he's clashed with McConnell in the past and by extension clashed with people
12:01like Thune and Cornyn who have been on McConnell's side.
12:04So the fact that he's getting this far is very notable.
12:07And also worth noting, it's a secret ballot.
12:09So Trump allies can push as much as they want, but it's going to be a real question of does
12:13that actually resonate among the senators when they go and vote on Wednesday?
12:17I want to get back to the presidential race quickly, Julia, because we got a call finally
12:21for Arizona, which means that President-elect Trump officially swept all seven battleground
12:27states.
12:28We also, though, found out that Ruben Gallego won in the state of Arizona.
12:32So a split there, right?
12:33Trump winning the state, but Gallego admitting that open Senate seat.
12:37Is it possible that we may see a legal fight from Carrie Lake here?
12:40We know that she is engaged in conversations about the 2020 election being stolen.
12:44Are we expecting any challenges for her race?
12:46I mean, it's possible, but I don't think she has as much ground to stand on this time.
12:50I mean, I think in 2020, a lot of it was fueled by Donald Trump, you know, pushing this legal
12:55fight.
12:56Or I should say in 2022, it was from Donald Trump pushing the legal fight from 2020.
13:02And I think in general, Republicans want to be able to consolidate their wins and move
13:07on.
13:08So there could be the possibility for a distraction if she were to do that.
13:12And overall, though, I think you're going to see, I mean, this is just emblematic of
13:16the split ticket voting.
13:18We've seen in Arizona, Nevada, Florida, to an extent, Florida had an abortion ballot
13:23measure that got a majority, didn't get enough to pass, but it got a majority of votes.
13:27But Donald Trump won that state.
13:29I was talking to a Republican strategist today who said, that's great for us this cycle,
13:33but we do have some concerns going into 2026 and 2028, because Democrats are going to be
13:39figuring out or trying to figure out how they win back those voters who split their tickets.
13:43Yeah.
13:44Last thing, Julia, one more policy question on the Trump administration.
13:47The transition team says it has plans to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords.
13:51Talk to me about this.
13:52Look, this isn't the first time.
13:53We know that Trump did it in 2016.
13:55Biden then came back into the Paris Climate Accords.
14:00Not unexpected, Donald Trump really wanting to push non-renewable energy and also from
14:04an environmental standpoint.
14:06But also, look, Donald Trump has voiced a lot of skepticism about these global alliances.
14:12It clashes with that America First message, so no surprise there.
14:16This was expected.
14:17All right.
14:18Julia Manchester, thank you so much.
14:19Great being with you.
14:22We're now taking a closer look at the growing humanitarian crisis at the southern border.
14:26With January's presidential inauguration nearing very quickly, Texas authorities are bracing
14:31for a potential migrant surge and an increasing number of unaccompanied children are making
14:36this journey alone.
14:38What risks do they face and how are officials responding?
14:41News Nation's Jorge Ventura joins us from Eagle Pass, Texas with the latest.
14:46I'm here on the Eagle Pass border.
14:47Right behind us is the Rio Grande, one of the deadliest crossing points throughout the
14:51southern border.
14:53Border Patrol agents and Texas DPS already seeing a spike in migrant encounters, but
14:56also a growing number of unaccompanied children traveling alone.
15:00Just this past weekend, Texas DPS encountered a group of over 100 migrants that included
15:0513 children, some young at seven years old.
15:08These children often rely on strangers to guide them through cartel-controlled areas,
15:12adding extreme risk to their already dangerous journey.
15:15Texas DPS reports a surge in unaccompanied minors with over 100 children arriving alone
15:20in the first half of October.
15:22Many mark with colored wristbands by cartels, signaling payment for crossing through dangerous
15:26areas.
15:27When these children encounter authorities, they often have a note with them with a sponsor
15:31address.
15:32Recently, a group of unaccompanied minors was found with addresses to sponsors in states
15:35like New York, California, Colorado, and Florida.
15:39As of November 1st, the Department of Health and Human Services is caring for over 6,000
15:43unaccompanied children, working to reduce that average stay to just 34 days while prioritizing
15:48their safety.
15:49As more children cross alone, the surge is already a reality here in Eagle Pass, even
15:53before the election results were known.
15:55Now authorities are preparing for what could be even a bigger influx as January's inauguration
16:00approaches.
16:01Now, authorities say they're getting ready for any possible scenarios with anticipated
16:05surge before January's inauguration.
16:06Texas has now ramped up security under Operation Lone Star.
16:10In Brownsville and El Paso, National Guard soldiers alongside local law enforcement are
16:14running intense battle-ready drills.
16:16Captain Daniel Mannin of Task Force East says these exercises keep teams prepared for
16:21swift coordinated action if these larger groups do arrive.
16:24In Eagle Pass, where I am, National Guard soldiers from Texas and Louisiana are mortified
16:29in key sections with razor wire expanding that border wall in Cameron and Maverick County.
16:33Officials believe these measures could help manage that surge, but say they will remain
16:37on high alert until January.
16:41And that's today's Daily Debrief.
16:42I'm Michael Schnell.
16:43Be sure to like, share and subscribe to The Hill's YouTube channel and come back here
16:47soon for The Intersection between politics and policy.