Facebook founder Mark Zuckerbeg made the trek to Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday, where he met with President-elect Donald Trump and members of his soon-to-be second administration.

The Meta CEO was seen with a large security and staff presence while at Trump’s private Palm Beach club in the evening, a person with direct knowledge told POLITICO.

On Fox News, Trump deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller confirmed POLITICO’s reporting that Zuckerberg was there, saying he “has made it very clear about his desire to be a supporter of and a participant in this change that we’re seeing all around America, all around the world, this reform movement that Donald Trump is leading.”

A spokesperson for Meta also confirmed the meeting, saying in a statement that Zuckerberg was “grateful” for an invitation to join Trump for dinner, and meet with other members of the incoming administration. The spokesperson said: “It’s an important time for the future of American innovation.”

Trump in recent years has publicly railed against Zuckerberg, criticizing his decision to give hundreds of millions of dollars toward election infrastructure in 2020, which Trump described as election interference. Trump has repeatedly suggested Zuckerberg should be imprisoned, and threatened to do so if he spent similarly toward election infrastructure this year.

But both men in recent months have suggested they were coming around to each other. Trump in October told the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast that he was feeling better about Zuckerberg, saying it was “nice” that he was “staying out of the election” this time, and expressing gratitude for Zuckerberg calling him after the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“We’ll see what comes of that,” Miller told Fox News of the interest Zuckerberg expressed in working in conjunction with Trump. “And Mark, obviously he has his own interest and he has his own company and his own agenda, but he’s made clear he wants to support the national renewal of America under Trump’s leadership.”

President-elect Donald Trump said his conversation Wednesday with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was “wonderful” and “very productive.” She, in turn, described their phone call as “excellent.”

Their upbeat readouts on the call marked a contrast from earlier in the week, when Trump warned he would impose a 25 percent tariff on all goods from Mexico if it doesn’t stop the flow of migrants and drugs across their shared border – and Sheinbaum fired back by warning that her country could retaliate with tariffs of its own.

“Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”

Sheinbaum did not say in her post on X that Mexico had agreed to stop migration but that they discussed her country’s ongoing efforts to address the issue. “I shared with him that the migrant caravans are no longer reaching the border because they are being dealt with in Mexico,” she said.

The leaders said they also discussed joint efforts to address the illegal drug trade.

“We also talked about what can be done to stop the massive drug inflow into the United States, and also, U.S. consumption of these drugs,” Trump said. “It was a very productive conversation!”

Elon Musk said Wednesday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should be abolished, calling for the elimination of an agency that would potentially regulate the future payments business of the Musk-owned X platform.

“Delete CFPB,” Musk, who is leading an effort on behalf of President-elect Donald Trump to shrink the size of the federal government, wrote in a post on X. “There are too many duplicative regulatory agencies.”

Trump on the campaign trail called for easing regulation of the financial industry generally but didn’t explicitly call for the elimination of the CFPB, which Republicans have railed against for years. The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint, which Trump sought to distance himself from during the campaign, recommended the agency be shut down.

Trump is widely expected to rein in the Biden-era CFPB’s regulatory agenda and ease enforcement against companies, as he did during his first term in office. But eliminating the agency entirely, as Musk appears to be proposing, would require an act of Congress.

Republicans and the financial industry have long targeted the CFPB for what they consider its overly aggressive regulation, though efforts to take down the agency in Congress and in the courts have largely been unsuccessful. GOP lawmakers, even under Republican control, have lacked the votes to eliminate or defund the CFPB. And more recently the Supreme Court earlier this year upheld the agency’s funding structure as constitutional.

Musk’s statement comes less than a week after the CFPB finalized a regulation that would expand its oversight of big tech companies that offer payment and digital wallet apps. That would potentially include X, which has explored ways to enter the payments business.

Musk said when he purchased X, previously known as Twitter, that he wanted to transform the site into an “everything app” that included the ability of users to store money and send payments. Since then, X Payments has obtained licenses to transmit payments from dozens of state regulators.

The CFPB declined to comment. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Robert Weissman, the co-president of Public Citizen, a progressive watchdog group, criticized Musk’s call to eliminate the CFPB as “intolerable corruption.”

“Asking the world’s richest person, with a direct interest in a wide range of business lines, to run a project to review the federal government’s overall operations is absurd and fundamentally corrupt — and this issue highlights exactly why,” Weissman said in a statement.

Musk’s post came in response to a video clip of the prominent investor Marc Andreessen telling podcaster Joe Rogan that he believes that the CFPB was “terrorizing” tech firms and start-ups that want to compete with big banks.

Andreessen’s venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, invested in a company, LendUp Loans that was shut down by the CFPB over allegations of illegal marketing and fair lending violations. At the time, the CFPB noted that the company, which pitched itself as a payday lender alternative, had been backed by Andreessen’s firm, among other prominent venture capitalists.

The Washington Post reported earlier this week that Andreessen is among the Silicon Valley moguls who have been involved in the planning for the Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump advisory panel helmed by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Speaker Mike Johnson is staring down what could be a one-vote majority to enact the House GOP agenda in the first months of the second Trump era. The practical effect will be that every member of his conference has the potential to be the next Sen. Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema, who had outsized power to snarl Democrats’ priorities under President Joe Biden.

Who will have the biggest sway in the tiny House GOP majority?

Frustrated conservatives: There are scores of examples just this Congress of a small bloc of conservative lawmakers sinking legislation because it didn’t align with their ideology, didn’t slash spending enough or failed to include their favored policy provisions. Three hard-liners on the Rules Committee — Reps. Chip Roy of Texas , Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Ralph Norman of South Carolina — often prevented legislation from hitting the floor and are poised to be headaches again for Johnson next year. 

SALT-y big staters: Republicans from the high-tax states of New York, New Jersey and California are vowing to try again to expand the federal deduction for state and local taxes as part of any tax bill next year, after a GOP Congress capped it in 2017. They’ll have big leverage if they want to flex it, though conservatives have generally opposed all efforts to sweeten the deduction. Look for potential pressure from members including
Mike Lawler
of New York,
Jeff Van Drew
of New Jersey and
Young Kim
of California.

Higher office aspirants: Republicans who run for state-wide office back home could deplete Johnson’s stable of votes if they’re out of Washington campaigning. Lawler, Reps. Kevin Hern (Okla.) and Byron Donalds (Fla.) are seen as potential candidates for governorships. It will be an attendance factor to keep an eye on for expected tight votes.

The actuarial caucus: Not to ruin your Thanksgiving dinner prep, but one undercooked dinner plate could sideline enough House Republicans to (temporarily) prevent votes on controversial legislation. Three members of the House (all Democrats) passed away during the current Congress. There will be 13 members of Congress at the start of the next session older than 80, including three Republicans:
Hal Rogers
of Kentucky,
John Carter
of Texas and
Virginia Foxx
of North Carolina.

When will we know what Johnson has to work with? After three weeks of counting, Democrat Adam Gray moved ahead of GOP Rep. John Duarte on Tuesday night in California’s Central Valley. If that lead holds, as well as those in two other uncalled races, Republicans would likely have a 217-215 majority in the House for much of Trump’s first 100 days, given the expected departures of Republican Reps. Michael Waltz of Florida, Elise Stefanik of New York and Matt Gaetz of Florida. And a reminder: A 216-216 vote would fail.

Paul Atkins, a veteran regulator and influential voice on financial policy, is emerging as a leading candidate to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission under President-elect Donald Trump, according to four people familiar with the transition.

No final decision has been made, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations. But Atkins was recently invited to interview with Trump, one of the people said. Trump is expected to announce his pick for Wall Street’s top regulator soon.

Others whose names have been floated for SEC chair include Brian Brooks, the one-time acting comptroller of the currency, and former SEC General Counsel Robert Stebbins.

Atkins, if picked and confirmed, would rejoin the SEC after a 16-year hiatus from the agency. He served as a commissioner from 2002 to 2008, a tenure that began shortly after the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals and ended just before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Atkins has since led his consulting firm Patomak Global Partners, whose clients have included banks, cryptocurrency companies and financial trading firms.

Atkins, Patomak and the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Wall Street has eagerly awaited Trump’s pick for SEC chair since his election this month. The agency has pursued a sweeping and controversial agenda under its current chair, Gary Gensler, spurring a backlash from the financial industry and the cryptocurrency lobby. But Trump’s choice for the SEC is expected to pursue a lighter-touch approach to overseeing financial firms and the markets.

The next SEC chair will also be tasked with helping to hammer out the regulation of the $3 trillion crypto market. The SEC has argued that much of crypto falls under its remit, but the industry has protested — saying that digital asset trading needs more express rules from Congress.

In April, Atkins, while speaking at a Federalist Society event, called the lack of clear regulations around crypto a “fundamental underlying issue” that the SEC needs to address.

The SEC is expected to have only three members of its five-person commission in place when Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Last week, both Gensler and Commissioner Jaime Lizárraga, a fellow Democrat, announced their plans to step down on Jan. 20 and Jan. 17, respectively.

Bloomberg News earlier reported that Trump’s team was considering Atkins for SEC chair.

The new member: Rep.-elect Johnny Olszewski (D-Md.)

How they got here: Olszewski won this blue-tinted seat, dispatching conservative Republican influencer Kimberly Klacik 58 percent to 40 percent. The two ran to replace longtime Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D).

Inside the campaign: Olszewski, the sitting Baltimore County executive, effectively cleared the Democratic primary field once he jumped into the contest following Ruppersberger’s decision to stand aside. He lined up endorsements from statewide Democratic luminaries like Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Sen.-elect Angela Alsobrooks, former Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Rep. Steny Hoyer and Ruppersberger.

He eventually won the primary with more than 78 percent of the votes.

The issues he’ll focus on: He pitched voters on bringing lessons learned from his years in local government to Washington. Olszewski vowed to lower the cost of living and ensure protection of reproductive rights, as well as touting his support for a bipartisan immigration bill that ultimately didn’t make it into law.

There’s also important matters locally, like securing federal funds to support reconstruction of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Background: Olszewski was a public school teacher and served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2006 until 2015.

More recently, he won a contested 2018 primary (by 17 votes!) and became Baltimore County executive in December of that year. He won reelection to that position in 2022.

Campaign ad that caught our eye: A group of three voters, decked out in their Baltimore Orioles finest, championing their support for “Johnny Oooooooooo.”

Of note: You’ll see the Orioles gear a lot around Olszewski. (O’s, Johnny O, get it?) Most recently, Hill watchers saw him wearing an Orioles baseball cap for good luck during the House office lottery. (Though, much like the Orioles season, the end result was less than hoped for.)

We’re spotlighting new members during the transition. Want more? Meet Rep.-elect John McGuire (R-Va.).

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named former national security aide and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg as a special envoy to Russia and Ukraine, commissioning him to lead negotiations to end the war.

In a statement, Trump said that Kellogg, who served as national security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, “was with me right from the beginning” and “will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!”

The move is not likely to allay anxieties among European allies that Trump will attempt to pursue peace between Russia and Ukraine. Western leaders are concerned that Trump’s terms could come at Ukraine’s long-term expense, including by pressuring Kyiv to give up territory or not providing Ukraine with adequate security guarantees to deter Russian aggression in the future.

Kellogg, 80, has held a senior foreign policy role at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute and in that role has voiced skepticism of U.S. support for Ukraine.

In June, he and former national security aide Fred Fleitz unveiled a Ukraine policy plan that, among other things, conditioned further U.S. aid on Kyiv’s participation in peace talks with Moscow.

It is also unclear whether Trump’s team will design the role such that it would require Senate confirmation. As of 2023, special envoys are potentially subject to Senate confirmation, though the Biden administration has managed to circumvent that law, as exhibited by the appointment of special climate envoy John Podesta.

Kellogg, however, is not expected to face sharp opposition from Senate Republicans if subjected to a formal confirmation process.

We’re chatting with former Cabinet members, chiefs of staff and government leaders from now to Jan. 20 to get a sense of what the incoming administration might face as it takes the reins.

Today we’re talking to Tommy Thompson, the former governor of Wisconsin who also served as Health and Human Services secretary in the George W. Bush administration. Thompson joined Wisconsin Republicans on election night to celebrate President-elect Donald Trump’s victory earlier this month.

What advice do you have for the next Cabinet secretary?

The issues that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is focusing on are the same issues that I addressed when I was secretary. That is: obesity, diabetes, food safety and food security. My advice would be to appoint the right people to help lead the many divisions under Health and Human Services. That’s what makes you a successful secretary.

What’s one thing you didn’t know that you wish you did before you got into the job?

I was shocked when I got there to see how broad and how deep the Department of Health and Human Services affects the American people. There isn’t a human in the country that is not touched a daily basis by decisions made by the department. Whether it’s the food you eat, the drugs you take, the programs you receive, whether you’re elderly, a child or in high school or daycare, there isn’t anything that the department in some respect doesn’t touch.

What do you see as the biggest obstacle facing the next administration?

One of the biggest things always is that there are entrenched bureaucrats. There’s a saying in the Department of Health and Human Services that “in four years they will be gone and I will still be here.” They can out-wait a secretary quite easily, and they know that. The idea that they will be there after the secretary leaves so things don’t change is a huge problem in all federal departments. So what Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are doing [with their Department of Government Efficiency] is smart. If they can somehow reorganize and slim down the bureaucracy and make it more transparent and more accountable, then every secretary who comes in will be better served.

Where did you go to have a meltdown?

My way of regrouping is always to go to my farm in Elroy, Wisconsin. I would spend a few days there, getting on the tractor and doing some hard physical work and seeing the beauty of the land and the opportunities of growth with crops. It’s a great way to rehabilitate yourself.

Want more? Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says career government workers are key to meeting goals.