“In nearly every meeting that President-elect Donald J. Trump holds at Mar-a-Lago, alongside him is someone who has been elected to nothing, nominated to nothing and, only a few months ago, had no meaningful relationship with him,” the New York Times reports.

“Elon Musk.”

“The world’s richest person has ascended to a position of extraordinary, unofficial influence in Mr. Trump’s transition process, playing a role that makes him indisputably America’s most powerful private citizen. He has sat in on nearly every job interview with the Trump team and bonded with the Trump family, and he is trying to install his Silicon Valley friends in plum positions in the next administration.”

“The House Republicans who took a leading role defending President-elect Trump during his first impeachment trial in 2020 are reaping the benefits,” The Hill reports.

“Of the eight GOP lawmakers who were part of Trump’s team to push back on allegations he withheld aid to Ukraine for political reasons, three are set to join his Cabinet; one is Speaker of the House and a staunch ally; and one became Trump’s chief of staff in his first administration.”

Said GOP donor Dan Eberhart: “He’s showing that he remembers who stuck with him, and he wants an administration that’s really going to put America first, and he’s not going to have kind of pushback from the establishment on what he wants to achieve.”

“President-elect Donald Trump’s Tuesday night surprise pick of a conservative commentator and television host as his Pentagon chief shocked Washington, which had expected the nominee to be a seasoned lawmaker or someone with defense policy experience,” Politico reports.

“National security officials and defense analysts had braced for surprises from Trump after experiencing his first four years in office. But even grading on that curve, they say the announcement of Fox News host and decorated Army veteran Pete Hegseth caught them totally off-guard.”

Washington Post: Trump’s pick of Pete Hegseth to lead Pentagon signals turmoil ahead.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” in his second administration, CNN reports.

A statement quoted Musk as saying that “this will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!”

“Donald Trump may be spoiling for a big fight over what to do with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as appetite grows among his advisers for the vaccine critic to get tapped for a Senate-confirmed position,” Semafor reports.

“Republicans are abuzz over Kennedy’s potential role in a Trump White House, especially after the former independent presidential candidate said last month that he’d been promised ‘control of the public health agencies.’”

“President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate John Ratcliffe to serve as his director of the CIA, the Trump-Vance transition team said Tuesday,” Politico reports.

“The former four-term Republican member of Congress served in Trump’s first term as director of national intelligence, where he burnished his reputation as a close ally of the president, and just as mistrusting of the nation’s spy agencies.”