Trump transition updates: Trump taps longtime ally as agriculture secretary

President-elect Donald Trump has announced he's nominating former congressman Peter Hoekstra to be the United States ambassador to Canada.

The role requires Senate confirmation for approval.

Most recently, Hoekstra served as chairman of the Michigan Republican Party. He previously served as the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's first term.

"Pete is well-respected in the Great State of Michigan - A State we won sizably," Trump wrote in a statement on Wednesday.

"In my Second Term, Pete will help me once again put AMERICA FIRST. He did an outstanding job as United States Ambassador to the Netherlands during our first four years, and I am confident that he will continue to represent our Country well in this new role," Trump added.

-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh

In a fiery floor speech on Wednesday, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis took his GOP colleagues to task for missing votes on Monday that he said could have helped Republicans block the Democratic effort to install lame-duck lifetime judiciary appointments.

Trump has made clear he wants Republicans to make every effort to block Democrats from advancing judicial nominations.

The Senate is again expected to be in quite late Wednesday evening trying to process judicial nominations, a process necessary because Republicans are objecting to placing votes on these nominees on the Senate calendar.

Republicans will be powerless to stop this if all Democrats show up to vote, as Democrats have the majority necessary to move nominees through. But there were enough Democratic absences on Monday that a full Republican showing could have defeated some of the nominations.

Tillis didn't mince words on the Senate floor Wednesday as he called out his colleagues for missing votes.

"I think the American people are on board with me: We have to show up for work, right?" he said.

"We've got work to do here and I understand there are all kinds of good reasons but there's no excuse to let Chuck Schumer force these judicial nominations down our throat," Tillis said. "We've got to show up for work."

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Reporters caught former Rep. Matt Gaetz re-entering the Capitol on Wednesday evening to continue meetings he has been having with senators and Vice President-elect JD Vance.

"It's been going great," Gaetz, Trump's pick for attorney general, said. "Senators have been giving me a lot of good advice. I'm looking forward to a hearing. Folks have been very supportive, and they've been saying we are going to get a fair process. So it's a great day of momentum for the Trump-Vance administration."

Asked if he had any reaction to the House Ethics Committee being deadlocked on whether to release its report on him, Gaetz said he hasn't been tracking the developments.

"I'll be honest with you, I've been focused on what we've got to do to reform the Department of Justice. I've been meeting with senators. I haven't been paying much attention to that," Gaetz said.

Gaetz said he hasn't spoken to Trump today but "had a great time with the vice president-elect talking about how we are going to end weaponization at the Department of Justice."

"We are going to tackle fentanyl. We are going to ensure that we don't have the DOJ involved in censorship anymore and make sure that we get the country back on track and are there for President Trump's total fulfillment of his promise on his immigration agenda," Gaetz continued.

Asked if he was confident he could be confirmed, Gaetz dodged.

"It was a great day," he said.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Donald Trump’s transition meetings Wednesday have been focused in part on the treasury secretary role, with hedge fund manager Scott Bessent emerging as a favorite, sources with knowledge of the proceedings told ABC News.

However, the sources cautioned that no decision has been made until Trump announces it.

Bessent has been a frequent presence at Mar-a-Lago and has met with the president-elect often. He’s become a favorite pick partly because he’s viewed as a credible choice with the necessary markets and macroeconomic knowledge for the role, according to sources.

Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan and former Federal Reserve board governor Kevin Warsh have also been in meetings with Trump about the role, according to the sources.

Veteran Investor Kyle Bass posted on X, “Scott Bessent is eminently more qualified than Howard Lutnick to run the U.S. Treasury. Scott understands markets, economics, people, and geopolitics better than anyone I’ve ever interacted with. Markets have already anticipated a Bessent choice. Lutnick is not Trump’s answer.”

In response, Trump adviser Elon Musk wrote, "Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas (Lutnick) will actually enact change."

-ABC News' Selina Wang, Katherine Faulders and John Santucci