| President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, Fox News host and Minnesotan Pete Hegseth, is facing renewed scrutiny. Hegseth was flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member in 2021 due to a bicep tattoo that is associated with white supremacist groups, the Associated Press reports. In another report published this weekend, Hegseth paid a conservative group staffer in 2017 who accused him of sexual assault as part of a nondisclosure agreement, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post . Hegseth denied sexual assault and says he agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to the woman because he feared the matter would result in an immediate termination from Fox, according to his lawyer’s statement. A detailed memo was sent to the Trump transition team this week by a woman who said she is a friend of the accuser. The memo alleged Hegseth raped the woman in his room after drinking at a hotel bar. The memo has set off debate among senior Trump transition officials, but so far Trump has stood behind Hegseth.
Trump has been naming all those cabinet nominees at a breakneck pace. And those picks are reflective of just how much he has remade the Republican Party in his own image. On Sunday, Donald Trump Jr. said any pushback from the Washington establishment regarding his father’s unconventional cabinet picks proves the nominees are the type of disruptors voters are asking for. “And it’s about surrounding my father with people who are both competent and loyal. They will deliver on his promises. They will deliver on his message. They are not people who think they know better, as unelected bureaucrats,” Trump’s son said. In 2016, Trump stocked his administration with choices from traditional Republican and business circles. Today, Trump appears to be valuing loyalty and personal allegiance above political experience. NPR laid out the 2024 picks and the 2016 picks side-by-side to exemplify just how different the new cabinet could look. Trump’s picks will need to be approved by the Senate, which has a Republican majority.
With Republicans gaining full control in the House and Senate, President-elect Donald Trump’s administration has the capacity to make significant changes to reproductive health policies and abortion access. Under Minnesota law, abortion is legal at any point during pregnancy. The president-elect has said he won’t sign a federal abortion ban and that decisions about abortion restrictions should be left up to the states. But Trump has not said explicitly that he would veto national abortion restrictions. Our health reporter Erica Zurek spoke to health and legal experts, doctors and advocates in Minnesota who are monitoring the incoming administration for hints about what federal changes to abortion could mean for the state.
President Biden authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied long-range nuclear missiles for deeper strikes inside Russia. That eases limitations on the weapons as Russia deploys thousands of North Korean troops in attempts to reclaim hundreds of miles of territory seized by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pressing Biden for months to allow Ukraine to use the missiles to strike deeper into Russia. Biden had been opposed to Ukraine using the missiles for that purpose due to concerns of escalation that could plunge the U.S. and other NATO members into direct conflict with Russia.
An election judge in Hubbard County is facing felony charges for allegedly allowing unregistered voters to cast ballots. Matt Sepic reports prosecutors say Timothy Michael Scouton, who served as head judge at a precinct in rural Badoura Township, allowed 11 people to vote even though they had not registered. Scouton allegedly told his fellow election judges not to use application forms, but rather to have voters sign the back of the registration book.
Iowa political pollster J. Ann Selzer is retiring. Selzer has long been a trusted voice in the polling industry and has predicted the state’s margins with an accuracy few others came close to. When her last poll before Election Day showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump in Iowa, it created a political shock wave and gave many Democrats false hope. Ultimately, Trump carried the state by 13 points. Selzer said in a column in the Des Moines Register that she decided over a year ago she would retire after the 2024 election. She also released a 19-page review of the poll on Sunday, writing, “I’ll continue to be puzzled by the biggest miss of my career.”
ICYMI — our last Politics Friday episode of 2024 aired on Friday. Colleagues Clay Masters and Matt Alvarez put together a wonderful mini-doc looking back on the last election cycle, starting with Clay’s time covering the Iowa caucuses. Make sure to give it a listen. We’ll be back in January. | 
