New York Times: “The legal and ethical issues surrounding some of President-elect Donald Trump’s selections for top administration jobs, not to mention their history of eyebrow-raising public statements, are far more profound than the kinds of revelations that have killed nominations in the Senate in the past.”

“What once passed as disqualifying for a presidential nominee seems downright benign in comparison to allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use by his attorney general pick detailed in a secret congressional report, a sexual assault accusation followed by a paid settlement for his choice to head the Pentagon and an acknowledged former heroin addiction by the would-be health secretary.”

“It was not so long ago that nominees for high-level jobs and even some of the more obscure ones had to be above reproach, to the point where a relatively minor tax issue could derail them. But times are evidently changing when it comes to nominations at the dawn of the second Trump administration.”

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Russ Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget, CBS News reports.

Vought wrote a chapter of The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint — his chapter covers the “Executive Office of the President.” 

President-elect Donald Trump designated Matthew Whitaker, a conservative firebrand who filled in briefly as his acting attorney general in the first Trump administration, to serve as U.S. ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in his second administration, USA Today reports.

A Trump adviser familiar with the process explained to The Bulwark:

“None of the other attorneys had what Trump wants, and they didn’t talk like Gaetz. Everyone else looked at AG as if they were applying for a judicial appointment. They talked about their vaunted legal theories and constitutional bullshit. Gaetz was the only one who said, ‘Yeah, I’ll go over there and start cuttin’ fuckin’ heads.’”