Morning Report — Trump under fire in released Smith report

In today’s issue:  

• Smith report: Trump would have been convicted
• Democrats to grill Cabinet picks
• What Senate races to watch in 2026
• U.S. officials hopeful about Israel-Hamas ceasefire

President-elect Trump today confronts the unprecedented and mundane challenges of having lost the presidency and then winning it.

Jack Smith, the former special counsel who indicted Trump on charges of illegally seeking to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, said in a final report released early today that the Justice Department had evidence sufficient to convict Trump in a trial, had his 2024 election victory not made it impossible for the prosecution to continue.

The Hill: Smith defends Trump prosecution in report on election interference. A separate account of evidence that Trump allegedly broke the law by knowingly retaining classified documents remains under judicial wraps.

Trump has condemned the Justice Department for investigating him in two federal cases and successfully used the legal and political systems to dodge accusations of conspiring to interfere with a presidential election by decisively winning an election four years later. 

The president-elect used social media to bash Smith and President Biden while focusing his attention on his November victory:

“Deranged Jack Smith was unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his ‘boss,’ Crooked Joe Biden, so he ends up writing yet another “Report” based on information that the Unselect Committee of Political Hacks  and Thugs ILLEGALLY DESTROYED AND DELETED, because it showed how totally innocent I was, and how completely guilty Nancy Pelosi, and others, were. Jack is a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election, which I won in a landslide. THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN!!!”

The Justice Department overnight released a 137-page volume — representing half of Smith’s overall final report, with the volume about Trump’s other federal case, accusing him of mishandling classified documents, still confidential — to Congress just after midnight on Tuesday.

Smith, who resigned from the Justice Department last week, wrote in the document Attorney General Merrick Garland publicly released following court appeals that “but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”

Along with the historic ramifications of Smith’s report, Trump today confronts a more common challenge for a chief executive: building a government by getting Cabinet choices confirmed by the Senate. 

Senate Democrats today plan to approach what will be weeks of Cabinet confirmation hearings with tough questions for Trump’s pending nominees, hoping to use the confirmation process to inflame doubts about some candidates’ veracity, competency, qualifications and agendas.

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s controversial pick to lead the Pentagon, today begins two rounds under the Klieg lights with the Senate Armed Services Committee. He has been tutored, murder-boarded, preinterviewed and received something of a reputational makeover from his GOP supporters, who have assured Trump there are, at least as of this morning, sufficient Republican votes to make Hegseth, 44, the next secretary of Defense.

Unless he stumbles. And some Senate Democrats are prepared to make a case during the biggest job interview of his career that he is unfit to lead the military.

▪ National Review: Pete Hegseth is a walking dead nominee. 

▪ The Hill’s Niall Stanage in The Memo: Trump’s nominees reach crucial stretch.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is encouraging his Democratic colleagues to grill Trump’s Cabinet picks and tease out some of the president-elect’s reasons for selecting them. 

He met late Monday with committee Democrats ahead of Hegseth’s hearing, Axios reported. Outside groups and commentators who oppose Hegseth’s nomination have been busy floating lists of their own suggested questions.

Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran and former Fox News personality, has criticized the Pentagon’s adoption of “social justice” policies, said women should not serve in combat roles (before backtracking on that view) and denied allegations of sexual misconduct, an alleged drinking problem and accusations of mismanagement while working with multiple organization. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released lengthy, detailed questions last week to put Hegseth on notice about what’s in store. 

“How many times have you been accused of sexually harassing or sexually assaulting another individual?” she wrote.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the Armed Services panel’s top Democrat and a West Point graduate and Army veteran, questions Hegseth’s qualifications to lead the Defense Department, the largest employer in the United States. Following discussions with the candidate, the senator said Hegseth “raised more questions than answers.” 

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a former U.S. Navy combat pilot and NASA astronaut, said Hegseth “doesn’t seem prepared in any way to do this job.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who was critically wounded flying a combat helicopter in Iraq, told MSNBC Monday, “Hegseth is not qualified to run the Defense Department. He’s never run anything bigger than a 40-man platoon.”

The confirmation fireworks ahead will test Democrats’ skills at scuffing up the public perception of Trump’s executive branch, even if controversial picks win confirmation. Others in the hot seat: Kash Patel to lead the FBI, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) to serve as director of national intelligence and vaccine skeptic and former Democratic presidential challenger Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be secretary of Health and Human Services.

The confirmation process will also test Trump’s sway over Republicans now in control of the Senate. They are leery about bucking the president-elect’s team ahead of what is already a legislatively challenging year ahead for the GOP. 

Some Republican senators recall that during Trump’s first term, controversial Cabinet picks had a way of exiting their posts early. Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke resigned in 2018 while under investigation. Trump fired former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin in 2018. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned after seven months in Trump’s first Cabinet after using federal funds to pay for chartered jets.    

▪ The Hill: Democrats hope to derail Trump nominees.

▪ The Hill: A confirmation hearing is delayed a week for the president-elect’s candidate for Veterans Affairs to await an FBI background report.                    

SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN

Presidents choose the issues they want to take up, and other times the issues choose them. California was never the focus of the 2024 campaign, but it very well could be right out the gate for soon-to-be President Trump.  

Already, some Republicans are talking up the potential of having conditions tied to aid for Southern California. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told me last night it might need to be tied to raising the debt ceiling.  

“It’s not meant as a penalty, or it’s not meant to slow down the delivery. It simply means that we’ll have to expedite the discussion about the debt ceiling,” Rounds said on “The Hill” on NewsNation. “This is the time in which it needs to be done, not as a threat, but simply stating a fact.” 

Yes, there will tons of focus in the coming hours and days on Trump’s nomination hearings, but let’s also see how nominees such as Kristi Noem (for the Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency), Doug Burgum (Interior) and Lee Zeldin (Environmental Protection Agency) respond during their hearings if asked about how the incoming administration will handle California going forward.  

Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation. The Hill & NewsNation are owned by Nexstar Media Group.

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY 

▪ China’s trade surplus last year climbed to nearly $1 trillion, a record.

▪ High winds and dry vegetation are creating the conditions for new blazes in the Los Angeles area. The most destructive fires in the state’s history have killed at least 24 people and displaced more than 100,000.

▪ With Trump’s agenda in mind, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called Monday for a legislative special session to bolster local officials’ authority to help carry out future federal orders, but Republican legislators in the Sunshine State said his idea was “premature.” Meanwhile, schools nationwide brace for clashes with immigration services if migrant families and students are targeted for deportation.

LEADING THE DAY

© The Associated Press | Brynn Anderson

BATTLE FOR THE SENATE: Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff’s first reelection bid, set to be a marquee 2026 race, has both parties sharpening their knives. The GOP sees his seat as one of the best opportunities to knock off an incumbent, particularly after Trump won the state last year. But Democrats, who captured the seat in 2021 and secured a Senate majority with Georgia Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock’s victory, say Ossoff is a strong midterm incumbent. 

The first millennial elected to the Senate, Ossoff has maintained a largely low profile. He received a plum assignment on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and members on both sides of the aisle have lauded him for his constituency services. The Hill’s Caroline Vakil reports both parties agree that neither can take the high-stakes seat for granted. 

“It’s not clear what Georgia is right now,” said political strategist Fred Hicks, “other than a battleground state, an expensive battleground state, and one that will serve, I think, as a sort of an opening bell, if you will, for 2028.”

Meanwhile, several GOP Senate incumbents are already staring down the threat of primary challenges next year as friction builds between the party’s MAGA and establishment wings. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who plans to run for reelection in 2026, is facing a possible primary challenger in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a longtime Trump ally. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment, has already drawn a challenger who’s citing that impeachment support. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who was censured by his state party last year, could also face a tough fight from the right. 

These vulnerable GOP senators will be under a microscope from members of their own party as they vote on Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks and key legislation, writes The Hill’s Julia Mueller, while they also seek to appeal to the broader electorate in their home states. 

“The senators who are up this time around have watched the MAGA movement grow and understand that the tough votes they take today could be primary challenges tomorrow,” said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, a former top spokesperson in the Senate. “Senators who are on the fence of particular issues will definitely be weighing that strongly: What their backyard looks like, how strong the MAGA base is at home. It’s probably even stronger now.”

THE NEW ADMINISTRATION: Trump’s threat of tariffs against Denmark — in his aim of acquiring the island nation of Greenland — could affect one particular Danish product popular among Americans: Ozempic. Danish multinational pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk is the sole owner of semaglutide, the active ingredient in both Ozmpic and Wegovy, and tariffs on the country could potentially ramp up the already high price of the drugs. Novo Nordisk was estimated to be responsible for half of Denmark’s GDP growth in 2024. 

When reached for comment, a Novo Nordisk spokesperson said, “We will follow the situation closely; however, we will not comment on hypotheticals and speculations. The geopolitical landscape in today’s world is very dynamic, and we remain focused on our commitment to deliver lifesaving medicines to the patients we serve.”

▪ The Hill: The end of fact-checking at Meta is raising fresh concerns that its platforms will become a hotbed of disinformation as the company hands over the policing of content to users. 

▪ The Hill: California Democrats have reached a $50 million agreement to shore up state and local legal defenses against the incoming Trump administration. Half the money would go to fending off any of the incoming president’s mass deportation plans.

WHERE AND WHEN

• The House meets at 10 a.m. The Senate convenes at noon. 
• President Biden will speak at 5:30 p.m. in the East Room while issuing proclamations to establish the Chuckwalla National Monument and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in California.
• Vice President Harris is in Washington and has no public schedule.
• First lady Jill Biden is in San Francisco to speak during the “Fierce JPM Week 2025” conference at 2:30 p.m. local time as part of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research.
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken will speak about the Middle East at the Atlantic Council at 10 a.m. At 1 p.m., he will meet with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan. At 4:30 p.m., Blinken will host a virtual Foreign Affairs Policy Board meeting.

ZOOM IN  

© The Associated Press | Susan Walsh

FINAL WORDS: Biden is capping off his last week in office with a series of speeches highlighting his legacy and accomplishments in the White House as he prepares to leave the job that capped off a 50-year career in politics. In a Monday address at the State Department, Biden argued he is leaving Trump in a strong position on the world stage, making the case for continuity in U.S. efforts to counter threats posed by China’s global ambitions and Russia’s aggression.

But as he leaves office, Ukraine is struggling to retake any momentum against Moscow’s invasion, and Gaza has been devastated by a war raging since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Trump contends neither war would have started under his watch, and he is already threatening allies and calling for America’s territorial expansion. 

“New challenges will certainly emerge in the months and years ahead, but even so, it’s clear my administration is leaving the next administration with a very strong hand to play, and we’re leaving them and America more friends, stronger alliances,” Biden said. “These adversaries are weaker and under pressure. An America that once again is leading, uniting countries, setting the agenda, bringing others together behind our plans and missions.”

▪ The New York Times: A new Gallup poll showed that America’s standing in Europe has improved strikingly under Biden. 

▪ NBC News: Biden announced Monday that his administration had approved student loan relief for more than 150,000 borrowers, bringing the total number who have had their student debt cancelled under the Biden administration to more than 5 million.

▪ The Atlantic: The theory that populist economic policies can win back the working class for Democrats has been tried, and it has failed.

ELSEWHERE

© The Associated Press | Ariel Schalit

CEASEFIRE NEGOTIATIONS: Israel and Hamas are engaging in another round of ceasefire and hostage release talks in Qatar today as they near an agreement, in what marks the first sign of serious optimism inside the Biden administration in months. The agreement would see Hamas release dozens of hostages still alive after more than a year of captivity, surge humanitarian support for Palestinians, and ostensibly open a pathway for a permanent end to the war and new governance of Gaza. 

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday the U.S. is “so close to a ceasefire and hostage deal” in Gaza.

“I think there is a very distinct possibility that we get it across the line this week, before President Biden leaves office,” Sullivan said in an interview with Nexstar. “The second thing, and I think this is very important, is President Biden gave us direction to work closely with the incoming [Trump] team so that there were not different messages being sent… that there was no gap in a united American front saying, ‘This deal is important, let’s get it done.’”

Nexstar is the parent company of The Hill.

▪ CNN: Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages in the first phase of the emerging ceasefire deal, Israeli officials say.

▪ CBS News: U.S. policy on Gaza has led to widespread dissent at the State Department, with some questioning how far Washington is going in its support of Israel.

▪ The New York Times: In an upended Middle East, Trump faces a new divergence with old allies. While major ruptures are not expected, Gulf states are urging a tougher stance on Israel and a softening toward Iran.

UKRAINE: Ukraine’s troops are on the back foot against Russia along several parts of the long front line, the military is short of experienced soldiers and officials are doubtful that once Trump retakes office, military aid will continue to arrive at anything like the current rate. In Kyiv, the government watches the signals from Moscow and Washington and reiterates almost daily its desire for a “just peace.” Any thought of recovering the territory seized by Russia is on indefinite hold.

▪ NBC News: 300 North Korean troops fighting for Russia have been killed in Ukraine, South Korea says.

▪ Foreign Policy analysis: Despite its inclusive rhetoric, Syria’s new Islamist government is already setting parameters for how the country will be governed.

OPINION 

■ The Great MAGA Schism of 2025 is only getting uglier, by Eugene Robinson, columnist, The Washington Post.

■ Goodbye, cancel culture; hello “capitulation culture” under Trump, by William S. Becker, opinion contributor, The Hill. 

THE CLOSER

© The Associated Press | New Zealand Department of Conservation

And finally … Two new bombshells have entered the villa … or rather, Taiaroa Head, a rugged headland on New Zealand’s South Island. They’re the stars of a 24-hour reality TV livestream that has captivated the internet since 2016. 

Meet RLK, a 12-year-old male royal albatross, and GLG, a 14-year-old female. 

“They’re a youngish pair, but not so young that they don’t know what they’re doing,” Sharyn Broni, a Department of Conservation ranger who has worked with the birds for nearly three decades, told The Associated Press.

The show’s premise is simple: Each season, conservation rangers select an albatross couple to be the stars. A camera follows the chosen birds as they lay and incubate an egg. Their chick hatches around February, grows to adult size and finally takes flight. Drama? Rare, since royal albatrosses, whose wingspans can reach 10 feet, typically mate for life. And the rangers’ casting process is thorough — they avoid first-time parents and aggressive or grumpy personalities.

The formula is clearly working: Thousands of ardent fans tune in for the livestream each year, which caught global attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. For many, the gentle viewing — and kind comment section — make it “a real soothing place,” said France Pillière, a viewer from Montreal. 

“The only thing you see is positive,” Pillière said. “The chatters will often say it’s their best place to be.”

Stay Engaged 

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