“President-elect Donald Trump is in advanced talks to settle litigation in New York and California involving allegations of fraud at the now-defunct Trump University, according to people familiar with the matter–an agreement that would resolve a major legal headache before he enters the White House,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Lawyers for all the parties have been working toward a settlement valued somewhere in the range of $20 million to $25 million.”
President-elect Donald Trump has settled on Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) for attorney general, Bloomberg reports.
“It wasn’t immediately clear if Trump has formally offered the job to Sessions… A Trump aide on Thursday night called Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a one-time Trump rival who was under serious consideration for the role, to tell him the job was instead going to Sessions.”
New York Times: “While Mr. Sessions is well liked in the Senate, his record as United States attorney in Alabama in the 1980s is very likely to become an issue for Democrats and civil rights groups expected to give it close scrutiny.”
President-elect Donald Trump will meet this weekend with one of his fiercest critics: 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, a senior Republican source told CNN.
The two men are set to meet this weekend to discuss “governing moving forward” and potentially a role for Romney in Trump’s Cabinet.
CNBC says Romney will discuss the secretary of state position with Trump.
Washington Post: “These seven men, as well as Trump’s adult children and a few others, will make up an unusual power grid in a capital city used to a hierarchical structure. Trump is presiding over concentric spheres of influence, designed to give him direct access to a constellation of counselors and opinions.”
“Such an approach also risks bringing confrontation or even paralysis as feuding factions work to further their own goals, edge out adversaries or distract Trump — as happened more than once during his presidential campaign.”
“As president, his associates said, Trump will seek rather than shun competing advice. His presidency will be governance as a series of ongoing conversations.”
Fox News announced that it will air a new one-hour special in which Donald Trump gives a tour of his famously ostentatious residence and shows off his material possessions for viewers, the Daily Beast reports.
“Mary Jo White, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, on Monday announced that she would step down two years before the end of her term, clearing the way for President-elect Donald Trump to reshape the way Wall Street is regulated,” the Washington Post reports.
“The resignation creates a massive opportunity for Trump early in his term to make changes to investor protections and other Wall Street regulations, part of what is widely expected to be a broad effort by the new administration to scale back what Republicans consider cumbersome federal rules that slow economic growth.”
Donald Trump told 60 Minutes that he hasn’t decided yet on whether he’ll appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton.
Said Trump: “I’m going to think about it.”
However, he that Clinton “did some bad things,” but that ultimately the Clintons are “good people. I don’t want to hurt them, I don’t want to hurt them. They’re, they’re good people. I don’t want to hurt them.
President-elect Donald Trump 60 Minutes that his role of appointing a Supreme Court justice is “very important” — and that he plans to appoint pro-life justices.
Said Trump: “I’m pro-life. The judges will be pro-life.”
Asked specifically whether he wants the Supreme Court to repeal the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, he said: “If it ever were overturned, it would go back to the states.”
Asked if that meant some women would be unable to receive abortions, assuming their home states ban them, he added: “Yeah, well, they’ll perhaps have to go, they’ll have to go to another state.”
The full transcript of his interview is now available.
“President-elect Donald Trump is so disgusted with Chris Christie’s handling of the Bridgegate scandal that he’s kicking the New Jersey Gov. out of his inner circle,” the New York Post reports.
Said one source close to the transition team: “Trump thought it was shameful that Christie didn’t take the fall for [convicted aide] Bridget Kelly. Trump is really angry that Christie is sending a soccer mom to jail. He believes 100 percent that Christie was behind it all.”
Bloomberg: “With his stunning election victory on Tuesday night, Trump now confronts more potential conflicts of interest than any other president in U.S. history. How — or even whether — the billionaire navigates this minefield could have sweeping implications at home and abroad.”
“How Trump, the first billionaire to become president, will handle these investments and other conflicts will face intense scrutiny, with little precedence to guide him or the public. No laws exist that will require him to distance himself from the Trump Organization. While he will be required to continue to file asset disclosures, presidents are otherwise mostly exempt from the 1978 Ethics in Government Act — an exception derived from the belief that such rules could keep commanders-in-chief from making tough decisions.”
“Lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump are formally requesting the postponement of a trial scheduled to begin later this month in a federal class-action fraud suit over his Trump University real estate seminar program,” Politico reports.
“Attorneys for Trump said the looming jury trial should not divert him from the ‘critical and all- consuming’ work of preparing for the presidency.”
The Kremlin said on that President-elect Donald Trump’s foreign policy approach was “phenomenally close” to that of President Vladimir Putin, giving Russia hope that tattered U.S.-Russia relations could gradually be improved, Reuters reports.
Gabriel Sherman: “If you’re one of the millions of Americans wrestling with the question of how Donald Trump will govern as president, consider this: His inner circle doesn’t know either.”
“Since Tuesday’s stunning election result, I’ve spoken with Trump advisers and GOP officials in Washington about the state of Trump’s transition planning to get a sense of what kind of place the Trump White House will be. What they describe is a candidate who is still something of a mystery, even to them.“
Said one: “It is basically a blank slate that needs to be filled in.”
Los Angeles Times: “After having pledged to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton, Trump faces a dilemma: He can either drop the matter and risk angering his supporters, or charge ahead with a criminal inquiry targeting his vanquished political foe, something never before done in U.S. history.”
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