Trump transition updates: Trump taps longtime ally as agriculture secretary

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz announced Thursday he is withdrawing his name from consideration to be Donald Trump’s attorney general.

“I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday,” Gaetz wrote in a post on X. “I appreciate their thoughtful feedback - and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump's DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.”

“I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I'm certain he will Save America,” Gaetz wrote.

The woman who accused Pete Hegseth of sexual assault in 2017 told police at the time that he took her phone and blocked her from leaving his hotel room on the night of the incident, according to a 22-page police report obtained by ABC News.

The report, compiled in Oct. 2017 by the Monterey Police Department, provides graphic new details of an alleged altercation that now threatens to derail Hegseth's bid to become President-elect Donald Trump's Defense Secretary.

The report documents a police investigation that did not result in charges against the former Fox News star. It includes interviews with the woman, who is identified only as Jane Doe, and Hegseth, who told police that the encounter was consensual.

Read more here.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump's pick to lead the Department of Defense, is on Capitol Hill Thursday meeting with Republican senators and making his case for the job.

Hegseth is joined by Vice President-elect JD Vance, and the two huddled in Vance's office Thursday morning.

Sen. John Barrasso issued a statement this morning following his meeting with Hegseth calling him a "strong nominee."

"Pete pledged that the Pentagon will focus on strength and hard power -- not the current administration's woke political agenda," Barrasso said.

Hegseth's nomination and eventual hearing will be managed by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The top Republican on the committee, Sen. Roger Wicker, was spotted entering Vance's office and is meeting with Hegseth now.

-ABC News' Mariam Khan and Allison Pecorin

President-elect Donald Trump's pick for the director of national intelligence, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, has little experience working with the nation's spy agencies and a long track record of echoing the Russian disinformation they work to expose and to counter -- a combination her critics claim should be disqualifying.

Gabbard, who represented Hawaii as a Democrat from 2013-2021 and ran for the party's presidential nomination in 2020 before becoming a Republican earlier this year, has been accused of harboring sympathies for the Kremlin and parroting propaganda generated by Russia to justify its invasion of Ukraine.

At the outset of the conflict, Gabbard blamed the Biden administration and NATO, claiming they had provoked Russia's aggression by ignoring what she called its "legitimate security concerns" about Ukraine potentially becoming a member of the defensive alliance.

Read more here.