DONALD TRUMP, JR. has emerged as the most influential Trump family member in the transition as the president-elect builds the most controversial cabinet in modern US history, according to a half dozen sources with knowledge of his role, elevating inexperienced loyalists over more qualified candidates for top positions in his administration.

Mr. Trump, who fiercely prizes loyalty, has long relied on family members for political advice, but which relative has his ear is known to vary.

This time, it is Don Jr. who has helped cabinet contenders sink or rise to the fore — from championing Senator JD Vance as Mr. Trump’s running mate to blocking former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from joining the cabinet, according to the sources, who include donors, personal friends and political allies.

Don Jr. is due to join conservative venture capital fund 1789 Capital, although one of the sources said he will continue to host his politics-focused podcast and support candidates that espouse Mr. Trump’s brand of politics.

He will provide advice to his father in the White House, the source added, although they cautioned that Don Jr. was unlikely to be involved in day-to-day deliberations.

Don Jr. and the Trump-Vance transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

In addition to ensuring candidates are loyal to his father, Don Jr. typically seeks out contenders who embrace an anti-establishment worldview, including protectionist economic policies, and a reduction in military interventions and overseas aid, according to a handful of the sources and Don Jr.’s own comments on social media site X and in public.

Two of the candidates Don Jr. championed may face a rocky confirmation process in the Senate: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Mr. Trump plans to nominate as the top US health official, and Tulsi Gabbard, who Mr. Trump plans to nominate as intelligence chief.

Mr. Kennedy is an environmental activist who has spread misinformation on vaccines. Ms. Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, implied that Russian President Vladimir Putin had valid grounds for invading Ukraine and stirred controversy when she met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the midst of his bloody crackdown on dissidents in 2017.

INFLUENTIAL – TO A POINT
Don Jr. was also instrumental in lobbying his father to pick his close friend Vance as Trump’s running mate.

Vance was popular with Mr. Trump’s base, but his anti-corporate rhetoric, opposition to Ukraine aid and past comments panning some Democratic women as “childless cat ladies” gave some donors and supporters pause.

Mr. Trump was ultimately happy with Vance, giving Don Jr. extra political capital as an adviser during the transition, one of the sources added.

Not all of Don Jr.’s picks have landed jobs.

He was keen on Ric Grenell, a personal friend and former ambassador to Germany, getting secretary of state, according to a separate source familiar with the matter. His father ended up picking Senator Marco Rubio, whose views are deemed by Mr. Trump’s core supporters as too traditional and internationalist.

Two of the sources close to Don Jr. said he does not weigh in on all personnel decisions and is not working on the transition process or at Mar-a-Lago full time. He is also not expected to play a big role in vetting candidates for lower-level jobs, one of the sources close to him said.

“The reality this time is we actually know what we’re doing,” Don Jr. told Fox News earlier this month. “And it’s about surrounding my father with people who are both competent and loyal.”

FOLLOWING IN HIS SISTER’S FOOTSTEPS
Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner were prominent in his 2016 presidential campaign, the subsequent transition and throughout his first term.

This time, they are far less active, although Kushner, formerly Trump’s senior adviser who focused on the Middle East, told Reuters that he is briefing real estate investor Steve Witkoff on his new job as special envoy to the region.

“I have been working with Witkoff to get him up to speed on Trump’s past efforts,” Kushner said through a spokesperson.

A half-dozen sources close to Kushner said they expect him to be involved in Middle Eastern policy in an unofficial capacity, with the goal of normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia under an expansion of the 2020 Abraham Accords. Kushner helped broker the accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and Arab nations.

Kushner, Ivanka and sibling Eric Trump, who runs the Trump Organization business, do not plan to join the new administration, according to their representatives as well as sources.

One source close to the transition said Trump does not appear to need his family for advice as much as in the past because of aides like Susie Wiles, who helped to run the most disciplined of his election campaigns to date.

Trump has named Wiles as his chief of staff, a powerful position in Washington.

“Stuff is really buttoned down,” the source said of Trump’s current team. “He may not need the family this time like he used to.” — Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, will prioritize delivering on election tax cut pledges, he told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Sunday.

Bessent told the WSJ that tax cut measures would include making Trump’s first term tax cuts permanent, as well as eliminating taxes on tips, social-security benefits and overtime pay.

Bessent would also focus on enacting tariffs, cutting spending and maintaining the status of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, he told the newspaper in the interview.

Bessent, who has been a donor, economic adviser and booster on TV for Trump, was nominated as U.S. Treasury secretary by Trump on Friday.

Bessent has spent his career in finance, working for macro investment billionaire George Soros and noted short seller Jim Chanos, and has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.

As U.S. Treasury secretary, Bessent will essentially be the highest-ranking U.S. economic official, responsible for maintaining the world’s largest economy, from collecting taxes and paying the nation’s bills to managing the $28.6-trillion Treasury debt market and overseeing financial regulation.

The Treasury boss also runs U.S. financial sanctions policy, has influence over the U.S.-led International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other international financial institutions, and manages national security screenings of foreign investments in the United States. — Reuters

BEIJING – China’s central bank injected 900 billion yuan ($124.3 billion) into the banking system on Monday via one-year policy loans, as local governments step up selling bonds to ease debt burdens.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) lent the medium-term facility (MLF) loans to financial institutions at 2%, the central bank said in a statement. The PBOC conducts MLF operations toward the end of each month.

China’s banking system faces increasing liquidity pressure toward year-end, with local government bond issuance up sharply as Beijing steps up efforts to reduce debt risks and stimulate the struggling economy.

November issuance is expected to exceed 1.3 trillion yuan ($179.4 billion), the biggest monthly volume in a year, Reuters estimates.

“Liquidity may face some pressure this week due to maturing reverse repos, increasing bond issuance and month-end volatility in cash demand,” Citic Securities said in a note.

The PBOC is increasingly likely to reduce banks’ reserve requirements toward the year-end to ease liquidity pressure, the official China Securities Journal reported on Monday. — Reuters

LONDON – Britain and its NATO allies must stay ahead in “the new AI arms race”, British cabinet office minister Pat McFadden will say on Monday, warning that Russian cyber criminals are increasingly targeting countries that support Ukraine.

Addressing a NATO Cyber Defense Conference in London, McFadden will unveil Britain’s plans to set up a new Laboratory for AI (artificial intelligence) security to help create better cyber defense tools and organize intelligence on attacks.

In the latest warning about Moscow stepping up cyber attacks on nations backing Ukraine, McFadden will call on the U.S.-led military alliance, businesses and institutions to do “everything they can to lock their own digital doors” to protect themselves from what he called an increasingly aggressive Russia.

“Cyber war is now a daily reality. One where our defense are constantly being tested,” he will say, according to extracts of his speech released in advance.

“The extent of the threat must be matched by the strength of our resolve to combat it and to protect our citizens and systems. Seventy-five years after its foundation, it is clear we need NATO more than ever.”

Moscow has previously denied that it carries out cyberattacks, and officials have cast such accusations as attempts to incite anti-Russian sentiment.

McFadden will say AI could be weaponized against those countries supportive of Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022 to step up what he described as the daily reality of cyber warfare against Britain and its allies.

“AI is already revolutionizing many parts of life – including national security. But as we develop this technology, there’s a danger it could be weaponized against us because our adversaries are also looking at how to use AI on the physical and cyber battlefield,” he will say.

McFadden’s role as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster includes responsibility for British national and cyber security.

The new laboratory, supported with an initial 8.22 million pounds ($10.3 million) of government funding, will bring together academic and government experts to assess the impact of AI on national security and better understand its use by Russia.

“Be in no doubt: the United Kingdom and others in this room are watching Russia. We know exactly what they are doing, and we are countering their attacks both publicly and behind the scenes,” McFadden will say. “That’s why we support Ukraine in its fight to decide its own destiny.” — Reuters