Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., was knocked out of the Senate leader race after the first secret ballot on Wednesday morning, during which none of the three candidates received a majority of the votes.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune was ultimately elected as the new Republican Senate leader and the majority leader of the upper chamber in the new Congress after winning a second secret ballot.

Sources told Fox News that Scott received the least number of votes during the first ballot. The senators advanced to a second secret ballot between only Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Thune received the most votes on the first ballot with 23, but fell short of a majority, needing four more. Cornyn posted 15 votes, despite having only one public endorsement beforehand. Scott received 13 votes in the ballot before being knocked out of the race.

A candidate must receive 27 votes, a majority of the 53-member conference, in order to win.

Thune received 29 votes and Cornyn got 24 on the second ballot, according to Thune’s office, making Thune the new Senate majority leader in the next Congress.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Trump and President Biden both pledged a smooth transition between administrations, as they met at the White House on Wednesday morning. 

‘I look forward…to having a smooth transition. We’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated, what you need,’ President Biden said as cameras and reporters were briefly allowed in the Oval Office for the meeting.

Speaking second, Trump emphasized that ‘politics is tough and in many cases it’s not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today.

‘I appreciate very much the transition that’s so smooth. It will be as smooth as it can get, and I very much appreciate that, the former and future president added.

Trump returned to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue just over a week after his sweeping election victory, as he made his first stop back at the White House in nearly four years. He arrived at the White House at the invitation of Biden, the politician he knocked out of the 2024 presidential race.

For Biden – who ended his own re-election bid in July, a month after his disastrous debate performance against Trump reignited questions over whether the 81-year-old president was physically and mentally up for another four years in the White House and sparked calls for him to drop out of the race – the meeting with his predecessor and now successor was likely awkward.

Trump spent years verbally eviscerating Biden and his performance in the White House. And even after Biden ended his re-election bid, Trump continued to slam the president and his successor atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket – Vice President Kamala Harris.

And Biden, for a couple of years, has labeled Trump a threat to the nation’s democracy.

But Biden, a traditionalist, wants to ensure a smooth transition between administrations.

Biden’s offer to Trump to visit the White House was an invitation he himself was never accorded.

Four years ago, in the wake of his election defeat at the hands of Biden, Trump refused to concede and tried unsuccessfully to overturn the results.

Breaking with longstanding tradition, Trump didn’t invite Biden to the White House. And two weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters aiming to upend congressional certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory, Trump left Washington ahead of the presidential inauguration of his successor, becoming the first sitting president in a century and a half to skip out on a successor’s inauguration.

According to sources, incoming White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and current White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients were in attendance on Wednesday as Trump and Biden met behind closed doors.

‘President Biden’s decision to welcome President-elect Trump to the White House is a tribute to normalcy in the presidential transition process. What was denied to Joe Biden following his election, is being restored to Biden’s credit,’ veteran political scientist Wayne Lesperance told Fox News.

Lesperance, the president of New Hampshire-based New England College, called the invitation by Biden ‘ a remarkable gesture in that it legitimizes Trump’s return to power by the nation’s leading Democrat and, hopefully, will be met with a commitment to orderly transitions in the future.’

The meeting will be the first between Biden and Trump since they faced off on June 27 in Atlanta, Georgia, in their one and only debate.

The two presidents – along with Harris and Trump’s running mate and now vice president-elect, Sen. JD Vance – stood next to each other on Sept. 11 in New York City’s Lower Manhattan, at ceremonies for the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

This was Trump’s second meeting at the White House with a departing president.

Eight years ago, after defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump sat down at the White House with President Barack Obama, who was finishing up his second term steering the nation.

‘We now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed. Because, if you succeed, then the country succeeds,’ Obama told Trump at the time.

While a tradition, the meeting between the incoming and outgoing presidents is not mandated.

President-elect Donald Trump threw his full support behind House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to lead the House again during a closed-door meeting with GOP lawmakers on Wednesday.

Trump told current and incoming members that he backed Johnson ‘100%’ hours before Republicans are set to elect their leaders for the 119th Congress, sources said. Johnson was not facing any significant challenges, but a group of conservative members are threatening to slow the process down by demanding a recorded vote rather than unanimous consent for the speaker.

One member of the hardline-right House Freedom Caucus told Fox News Digital that Trump’s strong support for Johnson will likely negate any significant opposition the Louisiana Republican was facing.

Trump told Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., to ‘stick together’ in the next congressional term, two sources said.

Sources said Trump also promised to ‘carry out the largest deportation operation in history,’ sources said, which earned cheers from House Republicans.

He also gave shoutouts to Elon Musk, who was in the room with him, as well as his incoming Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who he tapped to be his new U.N. ambassador, sources said. 

Trump also predicted the GOP could win liberal states like California and New York in the next election — and mused about running a fourth time. 

‘I suspect I won’t be running again unless you do something else, unless you say he’s so good we’ve got to figure something out,’ he joked to a gathering of House Republicans ahead of their closed-door leadership elections in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. 

‘It’s nice to win. It’s always nice to win. A lot of good friends in this room. So, you know, we had, like, historic kind of numbers, especially for the president,’ Trump said. ‘But the House did very well, and I think we’re responsible for helping you.’

Trump’s appearance came as lawmakers returned to Washington for a lame duck session before the next term. Republicans are poised to keep their narrow majority in the House and have won control of the Senate, granting them far greater ease next term at getting conservative legislation to the president’s desk.

Trump went on: ‘We won, which is great because Republicans aren’t supposed to be winning the majority.’ 

‘We won it every way — all seven swing states by a lot … New Jersey is right, just a few points. It’s got them very worried because they said, well, next time if we go up even a fraction of what we went up, you’re going to win New York, you’re going to win new Jersey, you’re going to win places that weren’t winnable. California too.’ 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced his endorsement of Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., on Wednesday morning ahead of the 9:30 a.m. leadership elections.

‘This morning, I’ll be voting for Rick Scott for GOP Leader, as I did two years ago. In 2022, I helped lead the charge for Rick against McConnell & I’m proud to stand with him again.

For 12 yrs, I’ve been unequivocal that we need to change GOP Leadership—and now we finally will,’ he wrote on X.

The last minute endorsement comes as a blow to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is from Cruz’s home state and also running for leader.

Cornyn’s office did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.

On Tuesday night, after a leader candidate forum led by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Cruz told reporters, ‘We had a robust and very substantive conversation.’

However, he wouldn’t say whether he was decided on his vote or if he was planning to support Cornyn.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., is also running for leader, alongside Cornyn and Scott.

Both Thune and Scott were endorsed by their home state counterparts, Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., respectively.

Scott is also publicly endorsed by Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Mike Lee, R-Utah, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.

Thune has the support of Rounds, Sens. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Steve Daines, R-Mont.

Cornyn has been publicly backed by Sen. Josh Hawley.

With three candidates vying for a 27-vote majority in the 53 member conference, it’s possible that the secret ballot election could advance to a second ballot.

If one of the candidates is knocked out in the first ballot, it’s very likely that some candidates, even those who have endorsed others, will choose to back a different candidate.

Former First Lady Melania Trump said she questions whether First Lady Jill Biden’s ‘concern was genuine’ following the first assassination attempt against President Trump in July, due to her rhetoric about her husband in the days leading up to the incident. 

Trump, in an interview with French publication ‘Paris Match’ last month, said that Jill Biden ‘took the initiative to contact me directly’ after ‘someone tried to murder my husband in Pennsylvania’ during his rally on July 13.

‘I do question, however, whether Jill’s concern was genuine as a few days prior she referred to my husband as ‘evil’ and a ‘liar,’’ Trump said. ‘It was obvious that the onslaught of rhetoric from Democrat leaders and the mainstream media was so deeply embedded in our nation’s consciousness it prompted an attempt to assassinate Donald.’ 

Mrs. Trump’s interview was conducted before President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. 

President-elect Trump is in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday for meetings with House Republicans on Capitol Hill and will return to the White House for the first time since leaving in 2021 Wednesday for a meeting with President Biden. 

Mrs. Trump, however, will not attend the meeting at the White House. 

‘Her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success,’ her spokesperson said. 

Meanwhile, in the interview, Mrs. Trump said that while she was ‘relieved to learn my husband was safe, it was evident that the forces behind this wicked behavior won’t come to an end.’ 

‘Simply put, they want Donald out.  They won’t stop. Has the concept of ‘respect’ become antiquated?  Can opposing sides prioritize decency, come together, and coexist?’ she questioned. ‘Doubtful, as the Democrat political engine peddles harsh words, vile names, and labels our nation’s 45th President ‘a threat to democracy.’’ 

She added: ‘People today are so desensitized they actually joke about killing a former U.S. President.’ 

Mrs. Trump said that ‘it is undeniable that this type of speech created a toxic political environment.’ 

‘This relentless vilification deepened the political divide in America, and now compromises those individuals who dare to stand-up for their own beliefs,’ she said. ‘We are dangerously close to the edge of a different type of societal change.  It is time to be introspective, rewire ourselves, and discover the root cause of this egoism.  It is incumbent upon every American to begin posing these questions in order to ensure the survival of our nation. We now live in a post-respect world.’ 

She added: ‘I guess nothing in politics is sacred anymore.’ 

President-elect Trump, after the second assassination attempt against him in September, in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, also blamed Democrats’ rhetoric for the violence. 

‘Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out,’ Trump said in September.

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday predicted the GOP could win liberal states like California and New York in the next election — and mused about running a fourth time. 

‘I suspect I won’t be running again unless you do something else, unless you say he’s so good we’ve got to figure something out,’ he joked to a gathering of House Republicans ahead of their closed-door leadership elections in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. 

‘It’s nice to win. It’s always nice to win. A lot of good friends in this room. So, you know, we had, like, historic kind of numbers, especially for the president,’ Trump said. ‘But the House did very well, and I think we’re responsible for helping you.’

Trump’s appearance came as lawmakers returned to Washington for a lame duck session before the next term. Republicans are poised to keep their narrow majority in the House, and have won control of the Senate, granting them far greater ease next term at getting conservative legislation to the president’s desk.

Trump went on: ‘We won, which is great because Republicans aren’t supposed to be winning the majority.’ 

‘We won it every way — all seven swing states by a lot … New Jersey is right, just a few points. It’s got them very worried because they said, well, next time if we go up even a fraction of what we went up, you’re going to win New York, you’re going to win new Jersey, you’re going to win places that weren’t winnable. California too.’ 

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to soon appoint a Ukrainian peace envoy to lead negotiations on ending the war with Russia, multiple sources told Fox News Digital. 

‘You’re going to see a very senior special envoy, someone with a lot of credibility, who will be given a task to find a resolution, to get to a peace settlement,’ one of the sources said. 

‘You’re going to see that in short order.’ 

The job is not expected to be a salaried role – from 2017 to 2019, Kurt Volker had served as special representative to Ukrainian negotiations on a volunteer basis. 

Trump has been rolling out appointee names at lightning pace of those he wants to fill his Cabinet and advise him on top issues. 

He picked Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., to serve as his national security advisor and sources have told Fox News he’s settled on Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to lead the State Department. 

Trump has designated Steven Witkoff to be his special envoy to the Middle East. 

Trump has long insisted he could negotiate an end to the war with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Few details have been given about how he would do this. 

A report last week by the Wall Street Journal suggested Vice President-elect Vance’s controversial suggestions from the campaign trail are now being pushed by multiple advisers close to the president-elect.

Some advisers are reportedly encouraging Trump to push Kyiv to agree to terms that would freeze the frontlines by creating an 800-mile-long demilitarized zone and allow Russia to keep the land it has illegally seized, which amounts to roughly 20% of Ukraine.

It has also been suggested that Kyiv should agree not to pursue NATO membership for 20 years, a stipulation that critics of this plan argue kowtows to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A Washington Post report on Sunday also claimed Trump had spoken with Putin, where the president-elect told the Russian leader not to escalate the war. Trump’s transition team would not confirm or deny the call. 

Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report. 

This election cycle, the political landscape in the United States has witnessed significant transformations, particularly among Hispanic and Native American communities. Traditionally associated with the Democratic Party, these groups have shown signs of shifting their allegiances toward the Republican Party.

Tuesday, November 5th, will go down in history as one of the world’s greatest political comebacks. After years of politicized investigations and the entire bureaucratic state coming after him, Donald Trump secured an electoral landslide and won back the White House.

By focusing on the kitchen table issues that matter to all Americans, regardless of their identity – inflation, illegal immigration, foreign affairs, public safety – Donald Trump was able to expand not only his electoral map but also his electorate.

Despite both Republicans and Democrats courting the Hispanic and Native American votes, exit polls from Tuesday night found that President Donald Trump received support from almost 65% of Native American voters and 45% of Hispanic voters.

However, these trends are not just unique to the American Southwest. In North Carolina, the once loyally blue Lumbee shifted 36 points to the right in 2020, giving Donald Trump critical votes necessary to win the state. In 2024, Donald Trump expanded his victory amongst tribal members, receiving 63% of the vote in Lumbee-heavy Robeson County.

When studying this trend and understanding the impact it will have on election outcomes in the future, it is important to look at why Native American and Latino voters shifted. On the issues, like many Americans, the traditional cultural values of both Hispanics and Native Americans simply do not align with the woke left.

At the core of both Hispanic and Native American cultures lies a deep respect for the family unit, traditional gender roles, respect for elders, tradition, God and the sacredness of life. These long-standing cultural values align better with the Republican Party.

Another key issue, particularly for tribes and Hispanic voters in New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada, is illegal immigration. While Democrats wrongly assumed Hispanic voters would align with their open-border immigration policies, Hispanics, just like all Americans, want safer communities, too. Native Americans witnessed the Biden-Harris administration roll out the red carpet and (x amount of funding) to non-citizens, while many of our own Native American populations don’t have access to running water or electricity.

President Trump’s straightforward immigration policy resonates with all Americans.

The concept of the American Dream is also a powerful motivator for many Hispanic and Native American voters. Native Americans on the reservation have experienced some of the highest rates of poverty, destruction and despair as a result of socialist policies – as well as many Hispanics who’ve left communist countries like Cuba and Venezuela. We have a natural distrust of big government socialist policies advanced by far-left Democrats – as many Americans should.

No amount of gaslighting from the Harris-Walz campaign could erase the tangible economic results delivered under Trump’s presidency. Native Americans and Hispanics, like all Americans, have hope and aspirations for a better future, rooted in the belief that anyone, regardless of their background, can succeed through hard work and determination. Trump’s policies emphasized this narrative and delivered opportunity and progress.

As a Native American and Hispanic woman from the heart of Indian country, Gallup, New Mexico – which is also in a Hispanic majority state, I have worked to bridge the gap between the Republican Party and Native and Hispanic communities. For the first time in recent memory, Donald Trump’s Republican Party made it their mission to earn the trust and support of these communities, and it paid off.

Though it was not enough to win in a state like New Mexico, Donald Trump’s outreach to our community put him within six points of winning, a five point improvement from 2020.

In the last week of his campaign, President Trump came to our state and spoke directly to our communities. New Mexico was never in play this cycle, but he seized the opportunity to make inroads and pushed the needle closer, improving his performances and appealing to a new group of mobilized voters.

Groundwork has been laid, a presence has been felt and a movement has begun. Flipping a reliably blue state takes time and with the Republican National Committee and Trump apparatus committed to improving Hispanic and Native American outreach in rural communities that were once reliably blue, we can begin to build a stronger bridge into these communities.

The potential for Hispanic and Native American communities to lean towards the Republican Party becomes increasingly plausible. Their traditional values, concerns over illegal immigration, economic aspirations, and the enduring hope of the American Dream create a complex interplay that influences their political choices.

These shifts have the potential to impact American electoral politics permanently and put states like New Mexico, Nevada and California in play for Republicans in the years to come. 

Elisa Martinez is both Hispanic and Native American. She is a registered tribal member of the Navajo Nation. She ran for US Senate in New Mexico in 2020. She is a former Trump surrogate (2020), Native Americans for Trump coalition advisory board member and former press secretary for the Republican National Hispanic Assembly.

After President-elect Donald Trump announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency, an effort to root out government waste, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., criticized Trump’s decision, suggesting he had tapped two people to execute the job of one person.

‘The Office of Government Efficiency is off to a great start with split leadership: two people to do the work of one person,’ Warren said in a post on X, sarcastically adding, ‘Yeah, this seems REALLY efficient.’ 

Musk and Ramaswamy ‘will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,’ Trump said in a statement.

Trump noted that the team, nicknamed ‘DOGE,’ ‘will provide advice and guidance from outside of government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.’

Musk has invited the public to share their thoughts about what should and should not be slashed.

‘All actions of the Department of Government Efficiency will be posted online for maximum transparency. Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know! We will also have a leaderboard for the most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining,’ he tweeted.

Ramaswamy dropped his bid for the GOP presidential nomination and endorsed Trump back in January.

‘DOGE will soon begin crowdsourcing examples of government waste, fraud, & and abuse. Americans voted for drastic government reform & they deserve to be part of fixing it,’ he tweeted.

Warren also criticized Trump’s decision to tap Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary, claiming that he is not qualified for the role.

‘A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense. I lead the Senate military personnel panel. All three of my brothers served in uniform. I respect every one of our servicemembers. Donald Trump’s pick will make us less safe and must be rejected,’ she declared in a post on X.

Hegseth is an author and Army veteran who earned two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge, according to his website.

His last day with Fox was Tuesday.

Trump said in a statement that Hegseth ‘will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.’