It's unclear who'll take over at the Pentagon and the military services when the top leaders all step down Monday as President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.

The goal is to inject political loyalists deep into the workings of government, perhaps more so than any other recent president.

The Trump administration will also push to fill the thousands of political appointments across government as soon as possible, another source told Reuters

Neither Lara Trump nor Vivek Ramaswamy will join the Senate. But it’s likely the president-elect didn’t really go to the mat for their appointments.

The question the Senate confirmation process must address is whether the department’s tradition of independence will be supplanted by a new value: loyalty.

Thirteen billionaires and ten individuals from television or the entertainment industry will be part of Donald Trump's cabinet, which will be sworn in on Monday, January 20. The political circle of the 47th President of the United States will be one of the most unconventional in history.

Some of Trump's closest advisers have raised concerns over investigations into alien life, as the president-elect is poised to return to the White House.

Democratic states' attorneys general launched a legal bid this week to defend Biden administration policies on immigration, the environment and guns, just days before Donald Trump takes office on Monday.

Finally, completely discredited “race science” theories have returned, often focusing on bogus IQ studies. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has promoted them on his social media platform, X, as has Trump, who has blamed violence by immigrants on “bad genes .”

The confirmation process for President-elect Donald Trump's incoming Cabinet is underway. After a Tuesday hearing with Trump's defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, several other key members of the incoming administration went before the committees overseeing the agencies that Trump wants them to run.

Six of President-elect Trump's nominees are facing senators on Wednesday, including Sen. Marco Rubio and Pam Bondi.

Wealthy hedge fund executive Scott Bessent – whose confirmation hearing for treasury secretary is slated for Thursday – has hundreds of millions of dollars in assets and owns property from North Dakota to the Bahamas.