Elon Musk scored a major victory Tuesday night when Trump announcement that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO would co-lead a new “Department of Government Effectiveness” with Vivek Ramaswamy.

This announcement reinforces the closeness that Musk seems to have managed to establish with Trump, even after the elections. But to some people in Trump’s orbit, Musk’s presence seemed authoritarian.

Musk has been so aggressive in making his case for Trump’s second term that he is stepping on the toes of the Trump transition team and may overstay his welcome at Mar-a-Lago, according to two people familiar with transition who have spent time at the Palm Beach, Fla., resort over the past week.

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Biden will meet with the families of the American hostages at the White House this afternoon, according to a US official and two sources familiar with the project. They met yesterday with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

More from the US official: “The Biden-Harris Administration has met regularly with the families of those held hostage in Gaza at the White House throughout the past year and President Biden has met with them several times, and we continue to work towards an agreement. agreement concluded as quickly as possible to return the hostages home to their families.

A Trump adviser said Elon Musk will join the president-elect this morning in Washington, D.C., for his meeting with the House Republican Conference. Musk spent last week in Palm Beach with Trump.

Senate Republicans will meet behind closed doors Wednesday to elect a new leader, capping a long-running battle divided the party and pitted a candidate backed by President-elect Donald Trump’s vocal MAGA allies against two longtime senators with institutional knowledge and deep connections within the body.

The three-way race includes Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the current whip; John Cornyn of Texas, a former whip; and Rick Scott of Florida, an outsider candidate who just won a second term. Senate Republicans held a candidate forum Tuesday evening after Congress returned from a long break.

The secret ballot election is scheduled for Wednesday morning; outgoing and newly elected senators will be able to vote, and it is unclear who will win.

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Vivek Ramaswamy, who Trump said would co-lead a new Department of Government Effectiveness with Elon Musk, said in an article on this morning, that the federal government must significantly reduce its workforce.

“Over the past two years, the Supreme Court has ruled that the administrative state is behaving in an extremely illegal manner,” he said without citing examples of such excess. “But punching the bureaucracy won’t solve the problem, the only right answer is massive downsizing.”

Ramaswamy was reacting to Trump’s official statement regarding his and Musk’s appointments. The president-elect said the effort would be “potentially the ‘Manhattan Project’ of our time,” referring to the top secret program that developed and produced the first atomic weapons, which were ultimately used against Japan at the end of the Second World War. Second War.

House Republicans must elect a leadership team today that isn’t expected to change much from the current one — thanks to a Trump-powered Republican campaign that appears likely to keep them in charge of the House for another two years .

Republicans are expected to nominate Johnson, a Trump ally, to continue presiding over the 119th Congress. Johnson and his fellow Republicans declared victory in last week’s congressional elections. several competitive races remain exceptional and NBC News has not yet predicted which party will control the chamber.

Johnson will need to win only half of his conference, an easy hurdle after the Republicans’ strong showing in the elections. But he could face a symbolic challenge today in elections behind closed doors. Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, the new chairman of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, said it was unclear whether the group would nominate anyone to run against Johnson, adding that “having two people in a race is sort of the norm” in America. .

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Trump will return to Washington today – entering the White House for the first time since he was removed from office – to meet Biden for a ceremony to mark the peaceful transfer of power.

Trump did not grant Biden the same meeting in 2020 because he refused to recognize the election results and worked to delay Biden taking office. Vice President Kamala Harris conceded defeat last week before a crowd of supporters in Washington after Trump won a decisive victory in the 2024 race.

One unanswered question is whether Vice President-elect JD Vance will be part of today’s trip to Washington. Last night, a source close to the discussions told NBC News that Vance had not yet heard from Harris about any outreach regarding a potential visit or otherwise since last week’s election.

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