Karoline Leavitt, who served as Trump’s campaign spokesperson, has been named press secretary for the incoming president. Leavitt’s age, 27, is making more news than her selection because will be the youngest-ever press secretary to call on and wrestle with a room of hostile reporters.
Knight on Gaetz: Is he worth 'political capital' for Trump?Chad Groening, AFN.net Looking ahead to Senate nomination hearings, a newspaper columnist predicts Matt Gaetz will run into a political fight if Donald Trump proceeds with his nomination to be the next U.S. attorney general. Trump’s decision for Gaetz to lead the U.S. Justice Department may have shocked Capitol Hill and the public more than any other name the president-elect has announced. Only minutes had gone by, in fact, before liberal Republican senators publicly stated they would vote against Gaetz as attorney general. 
Robert Knight, a columnist for The Washington Times, says Gaetz will run into “tough” opposition from lawmakers who despise his in-your-face personality that is not welcomed in Washington. “There are Republicans who don't like him. Democrats hate him,” Knight says. “It'll be a tough sled uphill for him." Regarding a recess appointment for Gaetz, Knight says Trump would be burning “political capital” so early on in his term for that controversial move. "He may well have to do some recess appointments,” Knight says. “But trying to do it the normal way, right now, would be the best way to go about it just to show that he is not the megalomaniacal character they made him out to be.” |
Her selection for press secretary, which was announced late last week, beats Ron Zieger, who was 29 when he worked for President Richard Nixon.
Despite her young age, Leavitt (pictured at right) worked in the White House during Trump’s first term, too. She worked as assistant press secretary for Kayleigh McEnany, who is now at Fox News.
"Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator. I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American People as we, Make America Great Again,” Trump said in a statement.
A second Trump appointment is Doug Collins, a former Georgia congressman, who will serve as director of Veterans Affairs.
The new director of the VA will oversee a federal agency in which 9 million military veterans are enrolled in its medical care and 1 million received disability compensation, according to The Military Times.
Reacting to the choice of Collins, former Air Force fighter pilot Derek Jones tells AFN he personally knows Collins through Jones’ military chaplaincy work at Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. Collins received the organization’s highest award, the Torchbearer Award, when the congressman was advocating for religious liberty in the armed forces.
"I am 100 percent thrilled that Collins is known to me," Jones says.
Collins, 58, served in Congress from 2013 to 2021, where he may be best known for defending Trump during his first impeachment from a seat on the House Judiciary Committee.
An article by the Times said he voted in favor of important veterans bills such as the Choice Act, in 2014, and the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act in 2017.
After his nomination was made public, Collins vowed to “fight tirelessly to streamline and cut regulations in the VA, root out corruption, and ensure every veteran receives the benefits they've earned.”
Collins also served as chaplain in the Navy before switching to the Air Force after the 9/11 terrorist attack. After being deployed to Iraq, in 2008, he is currently a colonel in the Air Force Reserve, according to the Times story.
When his work starts at Veterans Affairs, the former congressman will confront a secular and leftist environment that must be reformed, Jones says.
“The VA has gone way overboard on its wokeness and its open hostility to Christianity over the last four years,” Jones advises. “Which has been rapid and people don’t realize it.”
Jones says Collins is the “right guy” to make those reforms and improve the VA.
