Team Trump released a video Monday obtained exclusively by Blaze News highlighting President-elect Donald Trump's nominees, who the Trump team says will "Make America Wealthy Again."Trump's nominees include Kevin Hassett for director of the National Economic Council, Howard Lutnick for secretary of commerce, and Scott Bessent for secretary of the treasury. Team Trump told Blaze News that the nominees will work in the administration to prioritize American workers and industry jobs as well as "permanently establish" Trump's tax cuts and eliminate taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security. 'We have the potential for the Golden Age here, because if we unleash US energy independence, energy dominance, I think we have the potential here to do a massive amount of deregulation.'"The American people gave President Trump a mandate to Make America Wealthy Again by restoring our economy to be even better than his first term," Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition team, told Blaze News. "From Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent's experience as transformative leaders on Wall Street to Kevin Hassett's proven policy record from President Trump's first term, these nominees are ready to invest in the American people," Leavitt continued. "Together, they form a team of economic experts dedicated to fighting for working families and Making America Wealthy Again." Lutnick has been a "transformative leader" on Wall Street for the last 40 years. Lutnick began his career in 1983 at Cantor Fitzgerald, quickly ascending to president and CEO by the impressive age of 29. A pivotal moment in Lutnick's career was in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks that claimed the lives of hundreds of his employees, including his brother and his best friend. As a tribute, Lutnick committed himself to rebuilding the firm to support the families of those whose lives were lost and to "provide a source of hope and strength for survivors." Bessent, the founder and CEO of Key Group, has overseen businesses across several key industries like agriculture, hospitality, publishing, and real estate. He has also played a key role in some of the largest and most profitable trades, making him a "well-equipped" candidate to oversee the treasury. "We have the potential for the Golden Age here, because if we unleash U.S. energy independence, energy dominance, I think we have the potential here to do a massive amount of deregulation," Bessent said in the video. Hassett has also been at the forefront of many economic and policy debates ranging from taxes and trade to substance abuse and deregulation. Hassett also holds extensive economic credentials, including serving as the 29th chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, holding a doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and currently serving as managing director at the Milken Institute.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa has held meetings with several of President-elect Donald Trump's nominees over the last few weeks, some of whom have had better reception than others. On Monday, Ernst met with Tulsi Gabbard, who is nominated for director of national intelligence, and Kash Patel, who is nominated for director of the FBI. Ernst gave positive remarks about both candidates, calling Gabbard a "strong and proven leader" as well as praising Patel's experience, saying he "will create much-needed transparency" and that he shares her "passion for shaking up federal agencies." While Ernst has had kind words for some nominees, she refrained from making similar comments last week about Pete Hegseth, whom Trump nominated to lead the Department of Defense. One source told Blaze News that Ernst has served as a 'useful proxy' for former leader Mitch McConnell and other old guard Senate Republicans, effectively going against the grain of the incoming administration.After the first meeting between Ernst and Hegseth, the senator held back from endorsing the nominee but rather reiterated that they had a "frank and thorough conversation." U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be secretary of defense Pete Hegseth leaves a meeting with U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) at the U.S. Capitol on December 4, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesSpeculation swirled about Ernst's possible disapproval of Hegseth. The surface-level assumption was that Ernst, who has spent her career fighting against sexual assault in the military, was unable to reconcile her advocacy with the allegations surrounding Hegseth. However, sources close to the Senate revealed to Blaze News that there may be a deeper underlying motive. Multiple sources close to the Senate confirmed to Blaze News that Ernst was actively lobbying against Hegseth's nomination. One source told Blaze News that Ernst has served as a "useful proxy" for former leader Mitch McConnell and other old guard Senate Republicans, effectively going against the grain of the incoming administration.Her hesitation to endorse Hegseth sparked an immense pressure campaign from Trump's allies. As a result, Ernst eventually committed to meeting with Hegseth again and insisted that "he deserves the opportunity to lay out his vision for our warfighters at a fair hearing."Ernst is expected to meet with Hegseth again on Monday. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

An elementary teacher in Texas is currently on leave after she allegedly revoked bathroom privileges for her entire first-grade class, and some students ended up wetting themselves and going home with soiled clothing.On Wednesday, students in Ashley Barrera's first-grade class allegedly began misbehaving in the hallway at Bartlett Elementary School in Conroe, a city of 103,000 residents about 40 miles north of Houston. In reprisal, Ms. Barrera reportedly took away their bathroom privileges in apparent defiance of the district's Student Code of Conduct.'There was a puddle of urine under the chair that nobody came to help with, and nobody came to clean her up for the remainder of the day.'A report from KPRC, which can be viewed here, indicated that students may have been denied access to the bathroom for up to three hours between lunch and afternoon dismissal. During that time, multiple students "ended up peeing on themselves," according to a message Barrera reportedly sent to parents later that day.In the alleged message, Barrera apologized for the incident but also seemed to suggest that the students were somehow in the wrong."I had talk [sic] with the students about how important it is to use our thing appropriately, but please have a talk with them about that as well," she apparently wrote without explaining what "our thing" is.Far from taking her side, parents are outraged that students were denied access to the restroom and were then allegedly forced to sit in wet, dirty, smelly clothing."If I sent my child to this school smelling like that, they would call CPS and have me investigated and try to have my child taken away from me. So how is it OK for my child to go to school clean, prepared, and come home smelling like that?" said Joseph McCauley, a father of one of the children who had an accident, according to KTRK.Amber Johnson, whose daughter is likewise in the class, offered even more disturbing details. "These kids are traumatized and humiliated," she claimed. "They were made fun of. They were crying, begging, pleading, and asking multiple times to go to the restroom, and they were refused."Yet another student told his mother, Ashley Chancey, about his desk partner's humiliation after she wet herself in her seat."He said there was urine all over the little girl. There was a puddle of urine under the chair that nobody came to help with, and nobody came to clean her up for the remainder of the day," Chancey recalled, according to the Daily Mail.The boy further indicated that the poor girl was "absolutely mortified" after "the class erupted in laughter," Chancey explained.Exactly how many students had accidents that day is unclear. A letter from Principal Charita Smith made reference to "both students who, upsettingly, had accidents," an indication that there had been only two. But Amber Johnson claimed she had heard that as many as six students had soiled themselves."THESE KIDS WERE MADE TO SIT IN THEIR P*SS CLOTHES ALL DAY LONG," she wrote on Facebook. She further alleged that parents were not informed about the incident until "2 minutes before DISMISSAL."Johnson described Barrera's alleged punishment as "inhumane" and claimed it could cause health problems such as urinary-tract infections."This is sick," she posted to Facebook.KPRC received reports of similar issues in Barrera's classroom lately. The outlet also heard that another teacher was in the room during the incident, but district administrators told KPRC they could not verify that information.Barrera has been placed on leave, it was confirmed to the outlet.According to Lonestar Live, Principal Smith sent the following letter home to parents:This afternoon, we were made aware of a situation in a first-grade classroom in which restroom privileges were revoked. I have spoken with the parents of both students who, upsettingly, had accidents. The class will have a current staff member to serve as the substitute teacher for the remainder of the week while we complete our investigation into the matter. This incident is not indicative of the safe and loving environment we foster at Bartlett Elementary. I thank you for your support and continued partnership. Charita Smith, Bartlett Elementary Principal.Blaze News reached out to Principal Smith but did not receive a response.H/T: Corey DeAngelisLike Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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Donald Trump speaks with Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. | Photo: Peter Kramer / NBC via Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump gave a murky answer when NBC’s Kristen Welker asked whether he would protect TikTok from its impending ban during a Meet the Press interview on Sunday. He didn’t say he would save the app from its ban but did seem to imply that ByteDance should sell it. After its argument that the ban is unconstitutional came up short in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals last week, ByteDance is requesting an injunction to stop the ban from taking effect until the Supreme Court can hear its appeal, and it now faces an uphill legal battle. If ByteDance’s motion isn’t granted, it has to sell TikTok by January 19th or face its expulsion from the US. Welker asked Trump what he would do after ByteDance’s failed appeal of the ban: This week a federal court upheld a law that could result in TikTok being banned. You said you’re going to rescue TikTok when you get into office. Are you going to take steps to protect it? Trump’s response praised his campaign’s use of the platform before deflecting the question: I used TikTok very successfully in my campaign. I have a man named TikTok Jack, he was very effective, obviously, because I won youth by 30 percent. All Republicans lose youth. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s changing. And last time we were down 30 percent with youth. This time we were up 35 percent with youth. And I used TikTok, so I can’t really, you know, I can’t totally hate it. It was very effective. But I will say this, if you do do that, something else is going to come along and take its place. And maybe that’s not fair. And really, what the judge actually said was that you can’t have Chinese companies. In other words, they have the right to ban it if you can prove that Chinese companies own it. That’s what the judge actually said. @nbcnews President-elect Donald #Trump weighs in on a potential ban on TikTok that could take effect one day before he assumes the White House if the app’s Chinese parent company does not divest. ♬ original sound - nbcnews Pressed again on if he would “protect TikTok” once he’s in office, Trump responded: I’m going to try and make it so that other companies don’t become an even bigger monopoly. A TikTok sale to an American company would be one way to achieve that. Trump’s position has been murky since he started positioning himself opposite of the Biden administration’s support of a ban — something Trump pushed for during his last term. Over the last several months, that’s included his Truth Social video urging people who “want to save TikTok” to vote for him and told CNBC in March that getting rid of the platform would only benefit Facebook, which he called an “enemy of the people.”

iPhone owners in Norway can now select Vipps as their default mobile payment app. | Image: Vipps A Norwegian payment app called Vipps is the first service to take advantage of a new, more open iOS ecosystem thanks to EU regulations. Starting today, Norwegians can use Vipps for tap-to-pay transactions and online payments, and they can even set the app as the default payment option on their iPhones, as reported by MacRumors. It’s all thanks to commitments Apple made in response to scrutiny from EU regulators. Since its launch a decade ago, Apple Pay has been the only way to use tap to pay on an iPhone. That’s changing with iOS 18.1, which makes tap-to-pay via NFC available to third-party developers for the first time. Apple committed earlier this year to open up the API after EU regulators ruled Apple Pay anti-competitive. This pressure from the EU has recently forced Apple to open up the famously locked-down iPhone in unprecedented ways, from adding RCS support to letting you delete pretty much any app you want from your phone. But unlocking the NFC chip is a particularly interesting test case since it could usher in a whole bunch of new and helpful ways to use your phone — or create a mess of competing payment and ID storage platforms that don’t cooperate with each other. Either way, it’s going to be a big deal, and the first step forward into that new era comes from a small financial organization in Scandinavia.