Trump transition live updates: Trump taps longtime ally as agriculture secretary

Trump has announced Howard Lutnick as his commerce secretary pick.

The appointment requires Senate confirmation.

CEO of investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick has been serving as co-chair of the Trump Transition team alongside Trump's former Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon, spending the past two weeks at the Trump Transition War Room he has set up at Mar-a-Lago recommending and vetting potential candidates for Trump's administration officials.

Lutnick has frequently joined Trump on the campaign trail and hosted numerous fundraisers for Trump alongside some of the major Republican donors like John Paulson, Duke Buchan and Woody Johnson.

The billionaire businessman was also vying for the job of treasury secretary, sources said, competing against investor and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, who has also been considered a top contender for the role.

Lutnick's aggressive push to be tapped as Trump's treasury secretary as he spent hours with the president-elect nearly every day as a co-head of the transition team had frustrated some close to Trump, sources said.

Elon Musk has been a close ally of Lutnick, publicly endorsing him for the treasury spot recently and often seen together at events, including at the AFPI gala last week.

He had donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee in 2017 and most recently donated $5 million to pro-Trump super PAC Make America Great Again Inc.

Lutnick has been a vocal advocate for cryptocurrency, speaking at the annual Bitcoin Conference in Nashville earlier this year where Trump and RFK Jr. also spoke.

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

Nearly 100 House Democrats urged House Ethics Committee leadership on Tuesday in a letter to immediately release their draft report of allegations into "serious misconduct" by former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.

In the letter -- which was led by Illinois Democratic Rep. Sean Casten and sent to committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., and ranking member Susan Wild, D-Penn. -- the members wrote that "given the seriousness of the charges against Representative Gaetz," withholding any findings of their investigation might "jeopardize the Senate's ability to provide fully informed, constitutionally required advice and consent regarding this nomination."

"Representative Gaetz's abrupt resignation from Congress should not circumvent the Senate's ability to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities," the letter, signed by 97 Democrats, stated.

Speaker Mike Johnson has insisted the report should not be publicly released, as Gaetz is now a former member of the House. He has also stressed that the same principle should apply to potential access for senators reviewing the nominees.

-ABC News' Isabella Murray, Lauren Peller and John Parkinson

House Speaker Mike Johnson denied that he has discussed the details of the draft ethics report on Matt Gaetz with House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, and further denied that President-elect Donald Trump or Gaetz have pressured him to bury the report.

“I haven’t talked to Michael Guest about the report. I talk to all my colleagues but I know where the lines are. I have no idea about the contents of the report,” Johnson told reporters as he walked back to his office after his news conference this morning.

Despite persistent questions, Johnson maintained his position that Gaetz’s resignation from the House last week should put an end to the ethics inquiry.

“My job is to protect the institution and I have made very clear that I think it’s an important guardrail for our institution that we not use the House Ethics Committee to investigate and report on persons who are not members of this body,” Johnson declared. “Matt Gaetz is not a member of the body anymore.”

Johnson denied that Gaetz or Trump had pressured him to block release of the draft report, repeating that the speaker “has no involvement” in the ethics report and “can’t direct the ethics committee to do anything.”

“I’ve simply responded to the questions that have been asked of me about my opinion on whether that should be released. Matt Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress and so we don’t issue ethics reports on non-members,” he said. “I think it’s an important guardrail for us to maintain for the interest of the institution so that’s my position.”

“I wouldn’t have that conversation with [Gaetz]. Because that’s not appropriate for us to do that,” Johnson continued. “President Trump respects the guardrails of our institution as well, and I’m very guarded about those things. So neither of those gentlemen would breach that.”

-ABC News’ Jay O’Brien, John Parkinson, Lauren Peller, Isabella Murray

Billionaire Elon Musk is throwing his support behind Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, as allegations continue to surface surrounding what witnesses told the House Ethics Committee regarding the former congressman.

"Matt Gaetz has 3 critical assets that are needed for the AG role: a big brain, a spine of steel and an axe to grind," Musk wrote on X. "He is the Judge Dredd America needs to clean up a corrupt system and put powerful bad actors in prison."

"Gaetz will be our Hammer of Justice," he added.

Musk also directly addressed the allegations against Gaetz, stating that he considers them "worth less than nothing."

Musk's public support for Gaetz comes as the billionaire continues to play a large role in Trump's transition, as ABC News has previously reported.