Welcome to the online version of From the policy deskan evening newsletter bringing you the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News Politics team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
It was another busy day on Capitol Hill with a long list of confirmation hearings for the Trump administration’s incoming nominees. Jonathan Allen reviewed them all and offers his takeaway. Plus, Andrea Mitchell looks at the long road that led to the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the role played by the outgoing and incoming presidents.
—Adam Wollner
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Pam Bondi takes her turn on the bench during a day packed with confirmation hearings
Six of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees faced Senate confirmation hearings Wednesday, previewing a parade of political and political fights that will define his second term.
The person in the hottest seat was former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick to be the next attorney general of the United States. He faced questions about whether he would stand up to a president who had ousted the two men he had previously nominated to be attorneys general, as Ben Kamisar and Ryan J. Reilly report in their recap of their day on Capitol Hill.
Courtesy of Jonathan Allen, here are the key takeaways from the Bondi hearing, as well as the parade of hearings from other Cabinet candidates who appeared before senators.
Bondi wouldn’t say Trump lost in 2020: Bondi pointedly refused to say Trump lost the 2020 election fairly after being questioned by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., at his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“President Biden is the president of the United States. He was duly sworn in and is the president of the United States,” Bondi said. “There was a peaceful transition of power. “President Trump left office and was overwhelmingly elected in 2024.”
Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the panel, noted that Bondi did not give him a yes or no answer.
Bondi later refused to retract her earlier statement that Trump had won Pennsylvania in 2020, and criticized Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., for interrupting her.
“I’m not going to be intimidated by you,” he told Padilla.
Democrats question Bondi about Trump’s (and Kash Patel’s) influence: Bondi told Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, R.I., that he would not use the attorney general’s power to attack political adversaries, even though Trump has often called for his rivals to be investigated and prosecuted.
“There will never be an enemies list within the Department of Justice,” Bondi said.
Last month, Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that decisions about who to investigate and who to prosecute would rest with Bondi and Kash Patel, his pick to head the FBI.
Patel has said that judges, lawyers and journalists should be prosecuted for what is seen as inappropriate conduct of investigations into Trump after the 2020 election. Bondi defended Patel, to an extent.
“I don’t think he has an enemies list,” Bondi said, adding that “Kash is the right person right now for this job.”
But he told senators they would have to ask Patel directly about his promotion of QAnon conspiracy theories.
Nobody ruined his chances of confirmation: In addition to Bondi, the following candidates also attended the hearings: Marco Rubio, for Secretary of State; Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation; John Ratcliffe, for director of the CIA; Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy; and Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The bottom line: None of them seemed to say anything that could cost them Republican support, portending a smooth road ahead.
Read more conclusions from the day’s hearings →
Biden and Trump seek credit after long road to Gaza ceasefire deal
By Andrea Mitchell
After 15 tortuous months of fruitless talks, there is finally a ceasefire and hostage agreement in Gaza, and two American presidents are taking credit: one for the exit, the other for the entry.
Even before President Joe Biden announced the agreement, President-elect Donald Trump proclaimed it on Truth Social before issuing a lengthy statement that read, in part: “This EPIC ceasefire agreement could only have happened as a result of our historic victory in November.” and “We’ve accomplished a lot without even being in the White House.”
An hour and a half later, Biden said from the White House: “This agreement was developed and negotiated under my administration, but its terms will be implemented, for the most part, by the next administration. And these last few days we have been talking as one team.”
When asked how much credit he gave to Trump’s team, he responded: “I told my team to coordinate closely with the incoming team to make sure we all speak with the same voice, because that’s what American presidents do.” .
But collaboration apparently only goes so far. As Biden was leaving, a reporter shouted: “Who deserves credit for this, Mr. President? You or Trump?” Biden stopped short, turned and said, breaking into a smile: “Is that a joke?” and he left.
In fact, Trump pressured Hamas to reach a compromise when he threatened on multiple occasions that “there will be a lot to pay” if Hamas did not reach an agreement before taking office.
That warning also put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to close the deal. Negotiators also credited Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, for resolving last-minute issues in recent days.
It was a dramatic ending: According to a senior administration official, American, Israeli and Qatari negotiators in Doha, Qatar (and the Hamas team in the same building below) thought they had finally sealed the deal at 3 a.m. Wednesday. . But a few hours later, Hamas made new demands. After more haggling, he backed off and that’s how it stayed.
The talks nearly collapsed on July 31, when Israel eliminated Ismail Haniyah, the Hamas negotiator, while he was in Tehran. Then, a month later, negotiations came to a complete halt when American hostage Hersh Goldberg and five others were killed in a tunnel in Rafah on August 31.
What followed changed the balance of power in the region. Israel responded to Iran’s missile attack by destroying its air defenses. Israel then killed Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon, resulting in a US-brokered ceasefire there. Finally, Iran lost its other major ally, Syria, when Bashar al-Assad’s regime collapsed. With Iran severely weakened, Hamas was more willing to reach a deal.
None of that would have happened without intense, non-stop negotiations for 15 months by White House envoy Brett McGurk, 19 trips by CIA Director William Burns, and 13 visits by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, each with stopovers in several countries. And McGurk is now heading to Cairo to implement the agreement and ensure the hostages begin returning home. It doesn’t matter who gets the credit.
🗞️ Today’s top stories
- 👋 See you later, goodbye: Biden will deliver a farewell address from the Oval Office on Wednesday night. Read more →
- 🏃He is running: Former Bernie Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir is preparing a last-minute bid to lead the Democratic National Committee. Read more →
- ⬅️ On departure: Chairman Mike Johnson has informed Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, that he will no longer be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Read more →
- 🔴 Succession: Vivek Ramaswamy is in talks about filling Vice President-elect JD Vance’s Senate seat in Ohio. This is a change for Ramaswamy, who in November said his work alongside Elon Musk in Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency would remove him from consideration for the Senate job. Read more →
- 📚 Next on the reading list: As Vice President Kamala Harris considers her next steps, she’s thinking about writing a book. Read more →
- ➡️Job offers: A key position in the incoming Trump administration remains unaddressed: administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, heads the list of potential nominees. Read more →
- 🇲🇽 Tariff rate: Trump’s plans to impose steep tariffs on Chinese imports could have an unintended consequence: boosting manufacturing in Mexico. Read more →
- ⚖️ In the courts: The Supreme Court heard a challenge to a Texas law aimed at preventing young people from accessing pornographic content online. Read more →
- 👀 ‘If you want to take it outside…’: Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, got into a heated exchange at a House hearing that culminated with Mace challenging Crockett by asking if he wanted to “take him outside.” Read more →
That’s all from the Politics Department for now. Today’s newsletter was written by Adam Wollner and Ben Kamisar.
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