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Trump transition live updates: Sen. Ted Cruz meets with Matt Gaetz amid AG nomination

Cruz is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Last Updated: November 20, 2024, 11:14 PM EST

President-elect Donald Trump is sticking by his controversial selection of former Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general. Trump was asked if he was reconsidering his pick as he attended Tuesday’s SpaceX launch in Texas with Elon Musk. "No," Trump replied.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to announce his picks for top jobs inside his administration, most recently naming nominees for commerce and transportation secretaries and administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Nov 12, 3:45 pm

Tracking those Trump has named to serve in his Cabinet, administration

Ahead of his return to power in January, Trump is announcing who he wants to fill Cabinet positions and other key roles inside his administration.

They include some of his staunchest allies on Capitol Hill and key advisers to his 2024 campaign.

Here is a running list of the people Trump has selected, or is expected to select, to serve in his administration.

Nov 19, 2024, 9:04 PM EST

Trump picks Linda McMahon for education secretary

President-elect Donald Trump announced he is nominating Linda McMahon, a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive and the former Small Business Services secretary, to lead the Department of Education.

In this July 25, 2022, file photo, Linda McMahon, former administrator of the US Small Business Administration, speaks during the America First Policy Institute's America First Agenda summit in Washington, D.C.
Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE

McMahon, who served as Trump's Small Business Services administrator for two years, has no teaching or experience but served one year on the Connecticut State Board of Education.

Her appointment must be approved by the Senate.

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

Nov 19, 2024, 7:22 PM EST

Texas land commissioner offers 1,400 acres to Trump for 'deportation facilities'

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is offering the incoming Trump administration 1,402 acres the office has purchased along the Texas-Mexico border to be used for a mass deportation operation, according to a letter on Tuesday to the president-elect.

Buckingham said she's offering the land "to be used to construct deportation facilities."

"My office is fully prepared to enter into an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the United States Border Patrol to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation's history," Buckingham wrote.

The move shows that despite the governors of border states California and Arizona pledging to not aid the Trump administration's mass deportation plans, the incoming administration will have allies in Republican-led states.

Buckingham said she is "100% on board" with the incoming administration's promise to deport criminals in an interview with Fox News, which was the first to report the news.

The plot of land is in Starr County, about 35 miles west of McAllen, Texas. The Texas General Land Office purchased it from a farmer in October to facilitate Texas' efforts to build a wall.

"It's essentially farmland, so it's flat, it's easy to build on," Buckingham told Fox News. "We can very easily put a detention center on there -- a holding place as we get these criminals out of our country."

-ABC News' Armando García

Nov 19, 2024, 6:37 PM EST

House Ethics Committee to meet behind closed doors Wednesday

The bipartisan House Ethics Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon to discuss its report on the investigation of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who resigned from office last week after Trump chose him as his nominee for attorney general.

Matt Gaetz talks before President-elect Donald Trump speaks during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla.
Alex Brandon/AP

It’s not entirely clear if the committee will hold a vote on whether to release the report.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller, John Parkinson and Will Steakin

Nov 19, 2024, 6:37 PM EST

Dr. Oz picked as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator

Dr. Mehmet Oz has been selected to serve as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Trump announced.

The agency is within the Department of Health & Human Services. The position requires Senate confirmation.

Trump indicated that Dr. Oz will work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take on chronic diseases.

Mehmet Oz visits the facility of INVAMED, which produces medical devices for more than 70 countries, in Ankara, Turkey on May 02, 2024.
Ahmet Serdar Eser/Anadolu via Getty Images

Oz, a former heart surgeon turned TV talk show host, unsuccessfully ran for Senate in Pennsylvania in 2022, losing to Democratic Sen. John Fetterman.

Fetterman told reporters Tuesday that as long as Oz protects Medicare and Medicaid, he's open to confirming him.

"He's not my first choice and certainly, Trump was definitely not my first," Fetterman said. "We're going to have to work with these individuals, and if he's about protecting and preserving Medicaid and Medicare, then, I don't know why that's controversial."

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