November 12, 2024: Trump's Cabinet Nominations and Executive Office Appointments Plus How These Picks Affect Congress, Louisiana 'Ten Commandments' Law Temporarily Blocked, and More.
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Welcome back to Unbiased. Today is Tuesday, November 12th, and this is your daily news rundown. I haven't given this reminder in a little bit, but if you love the unbiased approach that this episode provides and you feel more informed after listening, please go ahead and leave my show a review on whatever platform you listen, share the show with your friends, and if you're watching on YouTube, please just go ahead and hit that thumbs up button and subscribe to the channel if you're not already. All of those things really help me out.

Before we get into today's episode, I do just want to note a couple of quick things. Number one, obviously my studio is a little brighter today. It's undergoing some renovations, so you know, just deal with it, but it'll be back dark again soon. The second thing, I've seen all of your requests recently, whether it's through Instagram, DM, email, topic submission forms on my website. I have seen them all. Here's what I'll say. Number one, I wish I had a team. I really do. There are so many things you've asked me to touch on, and I'm unfortunately only one person with

only so many hours in a day. So please just understand that I may not be able to get to every request, but I will do my best to touch on the topics that have been most frequently requested. The second thing I want to say is that a good amount of the topic requests

was actually request a fact check claims being made on social media. So I'll get to those on Thursday in my weekly Rumor Has It segment. That is why I had the segment in the first place. So we'll clear up these claims, whether it be FEMA denying funding, the no voter ID laws in states that went blue, Harris paying for endorsements, the difference in votes between this election and last election. We'll get into all of that on Thursday.

The last thing I want to say is that I am going to try to slowly chip away at important topics throughout this week. I'm still playing catch up from the election in a sense. So today we'll mainly touch on Trump's cabinet nominations and executive office appointments.

and how those things are shaping up, and then we'll finish with some quick hitters. But over the course of tomorrow and Thursday, I'll touch on topics that you've submitted and requested, and if we have to continue on into next week, we'll do that. Maybe I'll do one or two topic requests per episode. We'll just have to see. But all of this to say, I am doing my absolute best. I'm trying to get as much into these episodes as I can, but please just bear with me. And now, without further ado...

Let's get into today's stories. Donald Trump's executive office and cabinet are slowly taking shape, so let's talk about them. First, the president's cabinet and the executive office are two different things. The executive office of the president, or EOP as it's called, is overseen by the president's chief of staff, and it's a group of people that provide direct support to the president. Unlike the president's cabinet, EOP members can be chosen without Senate confirmation.

The EOP consists of four agencies that advise the president in key policy areas, the White House Office, the National Security Council, the Council of Economic Affairs, and the Office of Management and Budget. The EOP is actually not provided for in the Constitution. Instead, it was created by FDR in 1939. So again, the EOP is essentially a support system for the president. Now, the president's cab

it is different. So we have 15 executive departments in the executive branch, right? The Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of the Interior, Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of State, Department of Transportation, Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Under each of these departments, we have agencies and offices. So under the Department of Health and Human Services, there's the FDA, the CDC, the NIH, etc. Under the Department of Justice, we have the FBI, the DEA, the ATF, etc.,

The heads of each department oversee the agencies and offices within that department. So the president's cabinet consists of each head of department, 15 departments, 15 cabinet members. Each cabinet member gets the title secretary. So DOE secretary, HHS secretary, DHS secretary, etc. The only exception here is the head of the DOJ. This person is the Attorney General of the United States, not DOJ secretary.

And the thing with cabinet members is that not only are they appointed by the president, but they are confirmed by the Senate. So they're a little different than the EOP in that sense. The EOP is completely in control of the president, whereas the members of the president's cabinet are subject to Senate confirmation.

Also, an interesting fact about the cabinet is that they each play a role in the presidential line of succession. So if anything were to happen to the president, then the VP takes over. But from there, it goes Speaker of the House, Senate President pro tempore. And then the line of succession continues with the cabinet offices in the order in which the departments were created.

So now that we have that baseline knowledge, let's talk about who Trump has picked, what purpose they serve, and we'll touch a little bit on each of their backgrounds.

We're going to talk about five picks today. There's more in the pipeline, but I think five is a good starting point for one episode. The first pick Trump made was his White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles. Wiles was his campaign co-manager during this 2024 presidential election and will be the first ever female chief of staff.

As I mentioned, the chief of staff is the president's top aide and has a lot of responsibility. We talked about overseeing the executive office of the president, but included in that and in addition to that, she will oversee all daily operations and staff activities, essentially serve as the manager of the White House. She's responsible for putting together the president's staff and making sure the president's legislative goals are getting fulfilled.

accomplished by working with Congress on the legislative agenda. So Wiles has a lot of responsibility. As for Wiles personally, she is 67 years old, has a long career history of working for Republican politicians and their campaigns. Most notably, she worked for Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign.

Rick Scott's successful campaign for governor of Florida in 2010. She managed Governor Ron DeSantis' successful campaign for governor of Florida and briefly ran the 2012 presidential campaign of former Utah Governor John Huntsman, who eventually dropped out and endorsed Mitt Romney.

I mentioned that she ran Trump's 2024 national presidential campaign as campaign co-manager, but she was also involved in his 2016 and 2020 campaigns in Florida specifically. So the presidential campaign, but, you know, centered on Florida. In fact, in 2016, Trump thought that he should have been doing better than he was in Florida, and he got on Wiles for it, saying that she was too low energy and too quiet.

She pushed back telling him that if you wanted someone to set their hair on fire, she was not the person for the job. But if you wanted to win Florida, then he should let her do her job. He ultimately let her do her job. He ended up winning Florida that year with 49% of the vote and Florida had gone to Obama in the last two elections.

So that is her deal. In remarking on Wiles, Trump said, quote, End quote.

Moving on to Trump's second pick, Tom Homan, who has been named the border czar. Now, before we get into Homan and who he is, I do want to make a few notes about this role. So this this role is not in Trump's cabinet. This is not a head of any department. This is a unique role created by Trump, not subject to Senate confirmation. And if you're wondering how a role can just be created, that's just how the EOP works.

Since the EOP was created in 1939, the individual offices have grown in size and number. Some have been formed by Congress, others created by presidents as presidents need them. They're continually changing based on each president's needs and priorities.

Obviously, we know one of Trump's top priorities is the border and immigration. So he created this role called the border czar. This is a new role. And you might remember border czar was the name Trump gave to Harris. And I had told you guys at the time that that was not actually her role. Yes, her role was to identify those issues in Central America, prompting this surge in immigration. But it wasn't specifically the border czar because that role didn't even exist in

in the Biden administration. So again, the border czar is this new role not subject to Senate confirmation. And the next president doesn't even have to have a border czar. These roles are changing based on who is in office. So now that we know that, let's talk about Tom Homan. Homan is a former police officer and border patrol agent and a staunch supporter of the idea that if you are here illegally, you need to leave and come back the legal way.

Under Obama's administration, he served as the ICE executive associate director and was actually given the presidential rank award by Obama in 2015. Under Trump's administration in 2016, he served as acting director of ICE between January 2017 and June 2018. But because his role was never confirmed by the Senate, he actually retired a year and a half into that role. However, while serving, he did play a vital role in Trump's crackdown on immigration. And he was also a member of the

he has received a lot of criticism specifically for his role in the zero tolerance policy at the border. That is the policy that led to the separation of families, which Trump ultimately signed an executive order to exempt families from in 2018. But Holman's role in that specifically was this.

While serving as acting director of ICE, he wrote this memo to DHS Secretary Nielsen describing a suggested zero tolerance policy. That proposed policy, which was ultimately enforced, included three suggestions to secure the border. One of those suggestions was separating individuals at the border who presented as a family unit. And as mentioned, this did lead to the separation of families at the border. And Trump did ultimately have to sign this executive order, which exempted families from

from the zero tolerance policy. But that suggestion came from him, which is why he received a lot of the criticism. A couple of other notes, Homan is also a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and he contributed to Project 2025's Mandate for Leadership book. Now, a contributor is different than an author in that as a contributor, you...

are not authoring any portions of Project 2025, but rather giving your expert opinion for the authors to consider. So in this case, Holman did not author any portions of Project 2025, but did offer his expert opinion on immigration. And

And lastly, Homan serves as the president and CEO of a nonprofit called Border 911, which, quote, educates the American public about the facts of a non-secure border, end quote. In selecting Homan, Trump said, quote, I am pleased to announce that the former ICE director and stalwart on border control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump administration in charge of our nation's borders. The borders are including, but not limited to, the southern border, the northern border, all maritime and aviation security.

I've known Tom for a long time, and there's nobody better at policing and controlling our borders. Likewise, Tom Holman will be in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic and long-awaited for job." One final note that I want to make here before we move on to the next pick is this—

The border czar is different than the DHS secretary, right, or the head of the Department of Homeland Security. And the reason I say this is because it is unclear what the extent of Homan's power and role will be as the border czar, because not only is this a new role, but managing immigration requires coordination between several agencies within the DHS. And it's ultimately overseen by the DHS secretary, not Homan.

But speaking of the DHS secretary, Trump nominated South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem for this role. As mentioned, the DHS secretary oversees the offices and agencies within the DHS, which include U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, TSA, FEMA, and others. So let's talk a little bit about Noem's history with immigration.

In 2010, she supported an attempt by Senate Republicans to stop an Obama administration lawsuit challenging an Arizona immigration law. In other words, she supported the immigration law. She has called for punishment of sanctuary cities, and she actually got herself banned from some of the tribal lands in her state after she made comments about tribal leaders focusing more on benefiting from drug cartels than their children.

More recently, she was on the shortlist of VP picks for Trump, but that changed when excerpts of her book were released, which included a story about her killing her 14-month-old wire-hair pointer dog when it was not displaying the signs of an ideal hunting dog. In response, Noem said the book is filled with painful and vulnerable stories and that the anecdotes were meant to show that she does not pass her responsibilities onto anyone, even when they are hard.

As DHS secretary, Noem will be working alongside Bordersar Tom Homan, as well as Stephen Miller, who we will touch on when we come back from this very quick break. Continuing on with Trump's appointments and nominations, Trump selected Stephen Miller as his deputy chief of staff for policy with an advisory role on immigration plans. What that means is he'll have a lead role in writing Trump's immigration agenda and

And also keep in mind here, this role as White House deputy chief of staff for policy is a role within the EOP, not Trump's cabinet, right? The cabinet, again, is only for heads of departments. I just want to reiterate that because that ultimately tells us who is and is not subject to Senate confirmation.

But Miller worked in the White House during Trump's first term, both as director of speech writing and as a senior advisor. Miller is another staunch hardliner when it comes to immigration. Back in 2020, he told NBC News that a second Trump term would be focused on keeping asylum down, outlawing sanctuary cities, punishing those sanctuary cities that don't immediately turn over illegal immigrants that have been arrested, and expanding the travel ban with tougher screenings. The

Back in May, so this past May, Miller criticized a Senate immigration bill along with other Republicans, which in their eyes did not provide for any deportations, but rather made it more efficient to process those for entry into America.

After leaving the White House, Miller started a group called America First Legal, which has a mission of, quote, opposing the radical left's anti-jobs, anti-freedom, anti-faith, anti-borders, anti-police, and anti-American crusade. End quote. America First Legal essentially is in the business of, quote,

filing lawsuits against the Biden administration and other democratic governments to challenge laws, policies, etc. America First Legal is also one of the more than 100 conservative organizations that backed Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation.

Moving on to secretary of state, which is a cabinet position and otherwise known as the head of the Department of State. Trump is expected to pick Florida Senator Marco Rubio. This has not been confirmed yet, at least not as of 1230 Eastern Time this afternoon. Rubio was also on Trump's VP shortlist, but obviously didn't make the cut. If he is confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first Latino secretary of state.

and would be in charge of carrying out foreign policies through the State Department. In other words, he would be Trump's chief foreign affairs advisor. He would be responsible for conducting negotiations related to U.S. foreign affairs, advising the president on the appointment of U.S. ambassadors, ministers, etc., participating in international conferences, supervising the administration of immigration law abroad, and more.

A little bit about Rubio himself. He has served in the Senate since 2011, and he actually ran for president in 2016 against Trump. You might remember the now famous nicknames exchange between the two during that election, Trump calling Rubio Little Marco, Rubio pointing out Trump's small hands, but eventually Rubio dropped out of the race and did endorse Trump. Rubio currently serves on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Foreign Relations. And

and is known as a foreign policy hawk. Rubio recently voted against a $95 billion Ukraine aid bill and has called on Ukraine to negotiate to end the war with Russia. When Russia initially invaded Ukraine, Rubio called Putin a killer and said, quote, I wish I could share more, but for now, I can say it's pretty obvious to many that something is off with Putin, end quote.

As for what's currently going on between Israel and Hamas, Rubio initially said he did not support a ceasefire and that Hamas was 100% to blame for the deaths of Palestinians, though it is unclear where he currently stands as that comment was made in the first couple months of the war. He more recently voted against a package that provided emergency funding to Israel, arguing that the bill should have also included more money for border enforcement.

As for China, he's been an outspoken critic. He co-sponsored bipartisan legislation supporting the international standing of Taiwan. Another piece of legislation banning imports suspected to be made with forced labor in China. He also introduced legislation to close loopholes to prevent China, Russia and other U.S. adversaries from circumventing tariffs.

So, those are the five people we are covering today. We'll continue to touch on Trump's cabinet and EOP as the days go on, but I will try to break them up a bit, and I really want to do this in a way that makes sense because I don't want to take too much time away from other news just to cover these appointments separately.

and selections. I mean, look at this episode alone. We're almost 20 minutes in and, you know, we haven't talked about anything else. So I'll have to see how I'm going to do this. But like I've said a few times now, please just bear with me while I try to navigate these next few weeks and get you as much information as possible.

Now onto the other related story I wanted to touch on, and this is how these nominations and selections affect Congress, because some of these individuals being picked are members of Congress, and you cannot continue to work in Congress if you're picked for a position elsewhere. So depending on which election tracker you look at, you'll see different numbers for the House of Representatives.

But as of 1.45 Eastern time this afternoon, News Nation had called 219 seats for Republicans, 210 seats for Democrats, with six still undecided. But a party needs 218 seats to claim a majority. So according to these News Nation numbers, Republicans do have the majority.

Now, two of Trump's appointments so far are Republicans in the House. That's Representative Elise Stefanik, who was named as U.N. ambassador, and Representative Mike Waltz, who is the reported pick for national security advisor. Voters will have to elect replacements for both of them. Still, though, Republicans in the House will most likely have the numbers to keep the majority.

In the Senate post election, we have 52 Republicans and 47 Democrats. So far, the only senator that will serve in a position under Trump is Rubio. But again, that won't alter the makeup of Congress at all. Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis will appoint a replacement for Rubio until a special election can be held during the 2026 midterms. And DeSantis will almost certainly select a Republican to fill Rubio's spot.

So again, we shouldn't really expect too much change to Congress despite Trump's picks so far. But obviously, if he takes too many people from their congressional positions, we might see more of a change. Finally, let's do...

Just a few quick hitters before we close out this episode. First, a federal judge has temporarily blocked a Louisiana law that requires the Ten Commandments to be posted in public schools. You probably remember Louisiana lawmakers enacted a law that required the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms on easily readable posters.

Following that enactment, a lawsuit was brought alleging a violation of the separation of church and state and a gross infringement on the rights of students. When that lawsuit was filed, the challenging party asked for what's called a preliminary injunction, which temporarily blocks the enforcement of the law while that lawsuit is pending. So that is what the judge granted here.

So the lawsuit will continue. The state can appeal this preliminary injunction, but for now, the lawsuit will proceed and Louisiana will not be able to enforce that law in the meantime. In some other news, Judge Mershon, the judge overseeing Trump's hush money case, as the media and many others call it, has delayed making a decision as to whether Trump's criminal charges will be tossed in light of the Supreme Court's recent presidential immunity decision.

Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. But following that, the Supreme Court said that former presidents do have immunity from criminal prosecution in certain situations. It depends on the actions that the president took. So it's now up to Judge Marchand to see if that immunity applies to the actions at the center of this case.

Leading up to this delay, Trump's team and the prosecution had asked for a stay, otherwise known as a pause on the decision. And now both sides will have a week to argue what the judge should do in light of the Supreme Court's decision. Trump will argue that his case should be dismissed, but it's unclear what the prosecution will argue at this point.

And lastly, actually second to last story, the EPA finalized a new climate rule which requires high emitting oil and gas producers to pay a fee charged by the government for wasting methane above a certain threshold by venting or flaring it into the atmosphere rather than capturing it. The methane fee will be charged until the companies fix the leaks. And

And this fee was paired with financial incentives for oil and gas companies to fix leaky pipelines or infrastructure. And then the last story I have for you is one that I actually just saw right before I hit record. I screenshotted it just to share it with you. It says the FAA bans U.S. flights to Haiti for 30 days after planes were struck by gunfire.

So this story, from what I've seen of it, basically the Spirit Airlines flight took off from Florida. It was landing in Haiti and it was struck by multiple gunshots. And right now, these gangs in Haiti are trying to prevent travel into the country. So I guess this is one of the measures they took. The plane then diverted and it ultimately landed in Haiti.

the Dominican Republic, I believe. And so this news comes on the heels of that, that the FAA has banned U.S. flights to Haiti for 30 days. So that is what I have for you today. Thank you so much for being here. Have a fantastic night and I will talk to you tomorrow.

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