Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his wife Cheryl Hines arrive before President-elect Donald Trump speaks during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans say they have a mandate to govern. But an uneasy question is emerging: Will there be any room for dissent in the U.S. Congress?

Even before taking office, Trump is challenging the Senate, in particular, to dare defy him over the nominations of Matt Gaetz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other controversial choices for his Cabinet and administration positions.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here’s the latest:

Key Nevada swing county certifies election results

A key swing county in Nevada voted 3-1 Friday to certify the election results, months after it initially refused to sign off on the primary results.

Washoe County later reversed course on the primary when county lawyers made clear that state law mandates approval absent clerical errors.

Commissioners Friday heard more than two hours of public comment that ranged from praise for transparency in ballot counting to criticism of unsubstantiated claims of mishandling computer thumb drives, unsecured piles of ballots and scanners subject to cyber hacking. One woman warned commissioners that “President Trump will be coming for you” if they certified the vote.

In Clark County, home to Las Vegas, commissioners certified the results after more than an hour of public comment, including election conspiracy theorists twice breaking into the pledge of allegiance in unison. Some thanked the county commissioners for running a smooth election while others questioned how Donald Trump and the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Sam Bown, lost in the county despite Trump winning the state.

All 17 counties in Nevada certified election results that now go to the secretary of state’s office for the statewide canvass set for Nov. 26. Losing candidates have until Nov. 20 to request a recount.

Trump taps campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt for same post in White House

President-elect Donald Trump has named Karoline Leavitt, his campaign press secretary, to serve as his White House press secretary.

Leavitt, 27, currently a spokesperson for Trump’s transition, would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. That distinction previously went to Ronald Ziegler, who was 29 when he took the position in 1969 in Richard Nixon’s administration.

Trump said Friday in a statement that Leavitt did a “phenomenal job” on his campaign, describing her as “smart, tough” and as someone who “has proven to be a highly effective communicator.”

The White House press secretary typically serves as the public face of the administration and historically has held daily briefings for the press corps.

Leavitt, a New Hampshire native, is seen as a staunch and camera-ready advocate for Trump who is quick on her feet and delivers aggressive defenses of the Republican in television interviews.

She was a spokesperson for MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump, before joining his 2024 campaign. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to incumbent Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas.

During Trump’s first term in office, Leavitt worked in the White House press office. She then became communications director for New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, whom Trump has tapped to serve as his U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Jill Biden gets building named for her at Delaware community college where she used to teach

First lady Jill Biden’s name is now on a building at the Delaware community college where she once taught.

Biden attended Friday’s dedication of the Jill T. Biden Student Success Center at Delaware Technical Community College – Stanton Campus in Newark, Delaware.

She started teaching English at Delaware Tech in 1993 and left in 2009 after her husband, Joe Biden, became vice president and they moved to Washington. She then started teaching English and writing at Northern Virginia Community College’s campus in Alexandria, which she has continued while she serving as first lady.

Biden often says teaching “isn’t just what I do, it’s who I am.”

“I tell my students that you never know where life will take you and today is my own reminder of that,” she said at the dedication ceremony. “Even though Joe and I have been to God knows how many dedication ceremonies, I never imagined that anything would be named after me.”

A plaque bearing her likeness also was unveiled.

Larry Kudlow will not be in next Trump administration

Larry Kudlow, the Fox Business host who served as Trump’s former director of the National Economic Council, will not be taking a job in his next administration.

Fox News Media said in a statement Friday that Kudlow “recently signed a new deal to continue hosting his eponymous program on FOX Business and has no plans to leave his current role helming one of the highest rated shows on the network.”

Kudlow had been considered a possible contender to lead the National Economic Council or the Treasury Department.

Trump defense pick had been flagged by fellow service member as possible ‘Insider Threat’

Pete Hegseth, the Army National Guard veteran and Fox News host nominated by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Defense, was flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member due to a tattoo he has that’s associated with white supremacist groups.

Hegseth, who has downplayed the role of military members and veterans in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and railed against the Pentagon’s subsequent efforts to address extremism in the ranks, has said he was pulled by his District of Columbia National Guard unit from guarding Joe Biden’s January 2021 inauguration. He’s said he was unfairly identified as an extremist due to a cross tattoo on his chest.

This week, however, a fellow Guard member who was the unit’s security manager and on an anti-terrorism team at the time, shared with The Associated Press an email he sent to the unit’s leadership flagging a different tattoo that’s been used by white supremacists, concerned it was an indication of an “Insider Threat.”

Trump officially taps North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to serve as Secretary of the Interior

Trump has also picked Burgum to serve as chair of a new National Energy Council.

Trump had revealed his cabinet pick at a gala Thursday night, but issued a statement Friday confirming his pick.

He says the new energy council Burgum will lead will be “very important” and consist of all departments and agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation.

“This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” he said.

Burgum will also have a seat on the National Security Council, he says.

Trump ran on a platform of dramatically expending gas and oil drilling, often repeating the mantra, “Drill baby, drill.”

Burgum grew close to Trump during the campaign and the governor was one of Trump’s finalists for running mate.

President-elect Trump has added two new people to his White House staff

Steven Cheung will be communications director and Sergio Gor will run the personnel office. Both have worked with Trump for years and their positions could prove highly influential in the new administration.

Speaker Johnson says he ‘strongly request’ Ethics Committee not release its report on Gaetz

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Friday the House Ethics Committee should not release its highly-anticipated report into now former Rep. Matt Gaetz after his nomination to be attorney general.

“I’m going to strongly request that the Ethics Committee not issue the report, because that is not the way we do things in the House,” Johnson said. “And I think that would be a terrible precedent to set.”

His comments are a departure from his remarks Wednesday, when he said, “The Speaker of the House is not involved in that and can’t be involved in that.”

This comes as the bipartisan panel faces growing pressure from the Senate to conclude its years-long probe into the Florida Republican and release the findings in a report before his Cabinet confirmation process begins. But now that Gaetz has resigned from Congress, the committee technically has no jurisdiction over him and would have to conclude its investigation. It’s unclear if lawmakers will vote to release the report anyway given the circumstances.

Trump’s pick to lead Defense Department was accused of sexual assault in 2017

Pete Hegseth, a popular Fox News host who is Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Defense, was accused of sexual assault in 2017 after a speaking appearance at a Republican women’s event in Monterey, California, according to a statement released by the city. No charges were filed in the case.

Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, told The Associated Press the allegations were “completely false.”

“This was investigated by the police at the time and they found no evidence,” Parlatore said.

Monterey City officials declined to release a police report that documented the accusations and instead issued a brief statement Thursday night in response to press inquiries.

Sen. Dick Durbin: Trump's Justice Department picks show he'll ‘weaponize’ the department

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., says President-elect Donald Trump’s picks to lead the Justice Department show “he intends to weaponize the Justice Department to seek vengeance.”

Trump this week announced he intends to nominate former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of his fiercest defenders in Congress, as attorney general and two of his personal lawyers, Todd Blanche and John Sauer, as deputy attorney general and solicitor general. Blanche led the legal team that defended Trump at his hush money trial earlier this year and Sauer successfully argued his presidential immunity case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Durbin said Trump “viewed the Justice Department as his personal law firm during his first term” and that the picks show that they're poised to “do his bidding.”

“The American people deserve a Justice Department that fights for equal justice under the law,” Durbin said. “This isn’t it.”

Trump wants to end ‘wokeness’ in education. He's vowed to use federal money as leverage

Donald Trump’s vision for education revolves around a single goal: to rid America’s schools of perceived “ wokeness ” and “left-wing indoctrination.”

The president-elect wants to forbid classroom lessons on gender identity and structural racism. He wants to abolish diversity and inclusion offices. He wants to keep transgender athletes out of girls’ sports.

Throughout his campaign, the Republican depicted schools as a political battleground to be won back from the left. Now that he’s won the White House, he plans to use federal money as leverage to advance his vision of education across the nation.

Trump’s education plan pledges to cut funding for schools that defy him on a multitude of issues.

Hakeem Jeffries says transparency is always best when it comes to high-ranking officials

But he’s not ready to declare whether the House Ethics Committee should give its investigative report of former Rep. Matt Gaetz to senators weighing his nomination for attorney general.

Jeffries says he needs to speak with the lead Democrat on the panel and he doesn’t want to get ahead of that discussion.

Jeffries also says he won’t respond to every Trump nomination or statement, calling it a “distraction.” He encouraged the Senate to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities.

“Advice and consent should mean something. It certainly doesn’t mean rolling over and giving any administration, Democratic or Republican, what they want,” Jeffries said.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries questions Trump's Cabinet picks

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries says Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail that America would have the best administration possible, but his nominees so far raise the question of whether the president-elect is fulfilling that promise.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Jeffries particularly singled out Trump’s choice of anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., by way of example, the best America has to offer? Will he and others give us the best opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the American people?"

He says the answer is clear.

Transgender-rights advocates say the election of Trump and his allies marks a major setback

Election victories for Donald Trump and other candidates whose campaigns demeaned transgender people reinforced a widespread backlash against trans rights. For America’s LGBTQ-rights movement, it adds up to one of the most sustained setbacks in its history.

For transgender Americans, it’s personal: There is palpable fear of potential Trump administration steps to further marginalize them. But there's also a spirit of resilience — a determination to persevere in seeking acceptance and understanding.

“I just went through an election where I couldn’t watch a sports event on TV without seeing a commercial where trans people were portrayed as monsters,” said Jennifer Finney Boylan, a transgender author who teaches at Barnard College in New York.

Anti-trans momentum has been growing for several years, with Republican-governed states enacting dozens of laws restricting trans people’s options for medical care, sports participation and public restroom access.

Voters held divided views on Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

That's according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide. About 4 in 10 voters had a very or somewhat favorable opinion of Kennedy, and roughly 4 in 10 had a very or somewhat unfavorable view. Slightly more than 1 in 10 did not know enough about Kennedy to have an opinion.

Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance may be at odds with many voters’ interests, if he’s confirmed to lead the Health and Human Services Department. About half of voters said they wanted the government to be “more involved” in ensuring children are vaccinated for childhood diseases. About one-quarter said the government’s current involvement is “about right,” and only about 2 in 10 wanted the government less involved. Roughly 3 in 10 parents of children under 18 years old want the government less involved, compared to about 2 in 10 voters without children under 18.

About 6 in 10 voters said they wanted the government more involved in ensuring that Americans have health care coverage, and a similar share said they wanted the government to take a bigger role in forgiving medical debt. About three-quarters wanted the government more involved in lowering the cost of prescription drugs. In an election where pocketbook concerns were a primary focus, more than half of voters said they were “very concerned” about their health care costs.

WHO says global vaccine efforts have saved an estimated 154 million lives

In a report released in April, the U.N.’s World Health Organization said global immunization efforts have saved an estimated 154 million lives over the past half-century, roughly equivalent to six lives every minute of every year. More than 101 million lives were those of children.

Asked in Geneva on Friday about the nomination of anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris told reporters it’s up to member countries — the U.S. is one of the biggest funders and sources of technical support to the U.N. agency — to decide who they appoint.

She also said vaccines were “absolutely critical” to good health outcomes.

“Vaccines are the reason so many more of us have survived to adulthood than we ever did before,” said Harris. “Vaccine-preventable diseases have disappeared in the communities … where vaccination has been widely available and has been widely taken up.”

Trump is already testing Congress and daring Republicans to oppose him

After a resounding election victory, delivering what President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans said is a mandate to govern, an uneasy political question is emerging: Will there be any room for dissent in the U.S. Congress?

Trump is laying down a gauntlet even before taking office , in particular, to dare defy him over the nominations of , and other controversial choices for his .

The promise of unified government, with the Republican Party’s sweep of the White House and GOP majorities in the House and Senate, is making way for a more complicated political reality as congressional leaders confront anew what it means to line up with Trump’s agenda.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024