Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.
Today’s top stories
President-elect Donald Trump says he’ll nominate Matt Gaetz, a Florida lawmaker who’s faced repeated investigations, for attorney general. Gaetz, a Trump ally, has limited legal experience but is known for frequently challenging the Justice Department. The nomination has drawn criticism from Democrats and is causing concern among some Senate Republicans.
🎧 Gaetz was under review by the House Ethics Committee, but that probe ended last night when he resigned from the House, NPR’s Carrie Johnson tells Up First. The committee planned to release its findings as early as this week. Now, it’s unclear if that will happen. Trump says Gaetz will root out corruption within the Justice Department. He will also possibly carry out Trump’s retribution against prosecutors and his perceived enemies.
Several Democratic-led states are forming coalitions and developing plans to push back against policies they expect from the incoming administration. State leaders are making efforts to protect against what they describe as threats to democracy and constitutional norms. This comes as the GOP wins a full trifecta of power in the nation’s capital: the presidency, control of the House and a three-seat majority in the Senate.
🎧 A new group called Governors Safeguarding Democracy broadly says they’re going to work with legal experts and advocates to tackle challenges facing democracy. NPR’s Ryland Barton says Trump was not mentioned on the group’s website or announcement. The group responded to an idea floated by Trump’s incoming deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller that National Guard units from red states could execute mass deportations in blue states. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called that plan unacceptable and said he wouldn’t cooperate.
French officials are deploying thousands of police to secure a Paris stadium ahead of a soccer match tonight between the French and Israeli national teams. The match is moving forward despite calls to postpone it or change venues due to antisemitic and anti-Arab violence in Amsterdam last week when an Israeli team played there.
🎧 The match has been called high-risk, but French officials say they won’t back down in the face of antisemitic threats, NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley says. They deployed 4,000 officers, which is four times more than usual with double layers of security. Officials say fewer than 13,000 tickets have been sold for the location, which seats 80,000. Beardsley says French Jews have remarked that they feel like they’re being blamed for the war, especially the longer it goes on.
Each day this week, Morning Edition will dive deep into one of the promises President-elect Donald Trump has made for day one of his administration.
One of Trump’s clearest campaign promises is his plan to close the Department of Education. Since 1979, the federal department has overseen everything from college student loans to aid for public school special education. It doesn’t operate public schools and universities — that’s left to state and local governments. Jon Valant, an education policy expert at the Brookings Institution, says many Republicans have been calling for the Department of Education’s elimination for some time. Valant explores the reasons behind this push and the potential consequences if it were to be accomplished.
