The White House News

President-elect Trump announced on Tuesday night that he intends to appoint Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), to lead the Department of Education.

His announcement, which was posted on Truth Social, came hours after two sources told Fox News that McMahon was likely to be picked.

“It is my great honor to announce that Linda McMahon, former Administrator of the Small Business Administration, will be the United States Secretary of Education,” Trump’s statement read.

“As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families,” the press release added. “Linda served for two years on the Connecticut Board of Education, where she was one of fifteen members overseeing all Public Education in the State, including its Technical High School system.”

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McMahon, who served as administrator of the Small Business Administration in the first Trump administration, is the wife of Vince McMahon. The couple both co-founded WWE in 1980.

“Linda will use her decades of Leadership experience, and deep understanding of both Education and Business, to empower the next Generation of American Students and Workers, and make America Number One in Education in the World,” Trump’s statement concluded. “We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort.”

McMahon served in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019. When she resigned, she wrote that the role had been “immensely rewarding.”

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“While it has truly been the honor of a lifetime to serve our country in this Administration, it is time for me to step down and return to the private sector,” McMahon wrote in 2019. “I wish to thank the President and I will continue to be a strong advocate for him and his policies.”

Trump has previously floated the idea of disbanding the Department of Education, which began operating in 1980. The agency’s website says that its mission is to “promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access for students of all ages.”

Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told Fox News host Martha MacCallum last week that the Department of Education “doesn’t really add any value anywhere. DeVos advised that the opportunity for Trump to radically change the department is “wide open.”

“Take the power away from the Department of Education, block-grant those funds, continue to invest in education, but get it down to a much more local level where better decisions are made on behalf of students,” DeVos said. “The bureaucrats at the Department of Education aren’t doing the job. They haven’t done the job for more than four decades to close the achievement gaps — they’ve only widened.”

Fox News Digital’s Joshua Comins contributed to this report.

A Syrian national was charged after allegedly funneling more than $9 million in U.S.-funded humanitarian aid to terrorist organizations — including al Qaeda.

According to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office, District of Columbia, 53-year-old Mahmoud Al Hafyan was charged in a 12-count indictment for allegedly diverting more than $9 million in U.S.-funded humanitarian aid intended for Syrian civilians to armed combatant groups.

The groups included the Al-Nusrah Front (ANF), which is a designated foreign terrorist organization affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq, the release said.

“This defendant not only defrauded the U.S. government, but he also gave the humanitarian aid he stole to a foreign terrorist organization,” U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves said. “While this foreign terrorist organization fought with the cruel al-Assad regime, the people who were supposed to receive the aid suffered.”

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According to the indictment, Al Hafyan had access to U.S.-funded humanitarian aid after positioning himself as the head of a non-governmental organization (NGO). Authorities said that he managed 160 NGO employees at the humanitarian station in Syria.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that the NGO Alf Hafyan headed was awarded $122 million between January 2015 through November 2018. The agency noted that the money was intended to provide food and medical supplies in the war-torn country.

Along with at least two co-conspirators, Al Hafyan directed food kits valued at millions of dollars to commanders leading ANF. The designated foreign terrorist organization’s primary objective was the overthrow of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has a long-documented history of conducting mass executions of civilians, suicide bombings and kidnappings.

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To make it look like NGO was dispersing the kits to war-affected families in Syria, they allegedly inflated the amount of food kits received and falsified beneficiary logs, the agency said.

According to the affidavit, obtained by Fox News, Al Hafyan threatened the NGO’s employees who refused to comply to follow his orders to defraud. Along with threatening noncompliant workers, Al Hafyan forced employees at the NGO to donate portions of their salaries to support the terrorist organization.

“Not only was Al Hafyan supporting violent terrorists, but he was stealing money from the U.S. government that was meant for humanitarian efforts. This public indictment is the culmination of years of work,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani of the Washington Field Office Counterterrorism Division.

Authorities said that the Syrian national sold the humanitarian kits on the black market to ANF commanders for this personal benefit.

“Al Hafyan and his coconspirators falsified beneficiary logs and inflated the number of food kits received by war-affected families in the Syrian villages of Bweiti, Lof, [and] Mazratt-Sh,” the agency said.

Vice President-elect JD Vance will be making the rounds on Capitol Hill this week, arranging meetings between key GOP senators and Trump cabinet picks Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth, a source told Fox News Digital. 

“President Trump’s incoming administration is moving at an accelerated schedule in order to make good on getting key nominees confirmed in order to start delivering for the American people,” Brian Hughes, a Trump-Vance Transition spokesman, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Rep. Collins (VA), Rep. Gaetz (DOJ), Pete Hegseth (DOD), and Rep. Stefanik (UN) will all begin their meetings this week with additional Hill visits to continue after the Thanksgiving recess.”

GOP senators say Vance, a Republican from Ohio elected to the Senate in 2022, is taking the lead in reaching out to gather support for Trump’s controversial nominees.

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President-elect Trump announced Gaetz as his pick for attorney general Wednesday, an unexpected selection that took many, including fellow House Republicans, by surprise.

Gaetz almost immediately resigned from Congress after Trump tapped him for the job.

If confirmed, Gaetz will head the Justice Department after Trump is sworn in for his second term in January.

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Gaetz, a longtime Trump ally, had been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which subpoenaed him as recently as September for an ongoing investigation into alleged sexual misconduct with a minor. Gaetz in response told the panel he would “no longer voluntarily participate” in its probe.

It is unlikely the investigation itself would block Gaetz’s path to confirmation in the Republican-led Senate, though it could make it more difficult.

Trump also nominated former FOX personality Pete Hegseth to serve as his secretary of defense. 

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Hegseth, 44, an Army National Guard veteran who served tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, previously hosted FOX Nation’s “Patriot Awards,” which is the network’s version of a Hollywood awards show honoring heroes like first responders. 

Hegseth was nominated even though he has no senior military or national security experience.

Vance, who missed all of Monday night’s votes in addition to the first vote on Tuesday, received backlash from several senators.

The Vice President-elect initially said his reasoning for missing the meetings was to join Trump and be part of the interviews for potential candidates for the next FBI director, among other open spots. 

“I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45,” Vance wrote in a post on X. 

Vance has since backtracked and deleted the post from X. 

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.