Live: Pete Hegseth confirmed as Pentagon head after JD Vance breaks tie

Just as Donald Trump is galvanising the world with all his wildness, Anthony Albanese has clearly decided that stability and calm is the best persona he can offer voters as our own election approaches.

Read Laura Tingle’s full analysis here:

Trump’s administration has fired the independent inspectors general of more than a dozen major government agencies late on Friday, local time, US media reports.

The agencies include the departments of defense, state, transportation, veterans affairs, housing and urban development, interior, and energy, Washington Post said, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

The New York Times said the purge affected 17 agencies but spared the Department of Justice inspector general, Michael Horowitz.

The Post said the firings “appeared to violate federal law, which requires Congress to receive 30 days’ notice of any intent to fire the inspectors general”.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the reports.

An inspector general is an independent position that conducts audits, investigations and inspectors into allegations of waste, fraud and abuse.

They can be removed by the president or the agency head, depending on who nominated or appointed them.

Most of those dismissed were appointees from Trump’s 2017-2021 first term, the Post reports, saying those affected had been notified by emails from the White House personnel director that they had been terminated effective immediately.

Reuters

Trump and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass got into a heated debate at a fire emergency briefing in Pacific Palisades, California.

Residents expressed their frustration over being prevented from returning to their homes sooner.

Cr Bass said debris was causing the delay and residents’ safety was the city’s priority. Trump urged the mayor to speed up the process.

“You have emergency powers just like I do. And I’m exercising my emergency powers. You have to exercise them also,” he said.

The US Senate is heading towards a vote on confirming South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary, placing her at the head of a sprawling agency that will be essential to both national security and Trump’s plans to squash illegal immigration.

Noem received some support from Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee when it voted 13-2 earlier this week.

Republicans have also expressed confidence in her determination to lead border security and immigration enforcement.

Noem will be entering a job that six people cycled through during the first Trump administration. 

Her political stock took a momentary dip when she released a book last year containing an account of her killing her hunting dog, as well as a false claim that she once met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

With AP

Denmark has agreed to discuss the Arctic region with Washington after Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen had his first phone call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rasmussen and Rubio held a 20-minute conversation in a “good and constructive tone”, discussing Ukraine, European security and the situation in the Middle East, the Danish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The State Department said Rubio had “reaffirmed the strength of the relationship” between the two countries in the call.

Trump has expressed an interest in making Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, part of the United States. He has not ruled out using military or economic power to persuade Denmark to hand it over.

Greenland’s strategic location along the shortest route from Europe to North America, vital for the US ballistic missile warning system, has made it a priority for Trump.

Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, on January 15 said she had spoken on the phone with Trump and told him that it is up to Greenland itself to decide on any independence.

The Financial Times reported last week’s call between Frederiksen and Trump was fiery, with Trump insisting he was serious about his determination to take over Greenland. The paper cited European officials.

“Arctic security was not on the agenda, but it was agreed that it will be discussed between the United States, Denmark and Greenland at a later date,” the Danish ministry said on Friday.

Greenland’s prime minister, Mute Egede, who has stepped up a push for independence, has repeatedly said the island is not for sale and that it is up to its people to decide their future.

With Reuters

Trump tells reporters he is honoured to have Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense following his confirmation.

When asked if he was worried about any of his other nominations in the Senate, Trump responds with a simple “no”.

Hi Peter!

The three Republican senators who voted against Hegseth were Senators Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell.

We’ve heard from McConnell who says Hegseth had failed to demonstrate that he had the ability to effectively manage an organisation as large and complex as the military.

“Mere desire to be a ‘change agent’ is not enough to fill these shoes,” he said in a statement.

Murkowski and Collins voted against Hegseth in a procedural test vote on Thursday.

“I was very surprised that Collins and Murkowski would do that,” Trump told reporters on Friday morning.

Trump has named Jared Novelly as his pick for ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.

Novelly is “a highly respected philanthropist” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“He will fight hard to protect our Nation’s interests in the Indo-Pacific, and always put AMERICA FIRST.”

Novelly is the chair of Crest Sports and Entertainment, a Sydney-based venture capital firm.

It is the parent company of the Australian professional men’s basketball team the Illawarra Hawks.

According to New Zealand’s foreign minister, Winston Peters, US-New Zealand relationship priorities include:

• Advancing Pacific priorities
• Growing bilateral trade
• Increasing collaboration in important sectors for New Zealand, such as space

We are still waiting to hear who the Australian ambassador will be.

Trump talked up Hegseth moments before Vance cast the tiebreaking vote to confirm him.

“We have a great secretary of defense and we’re very happy,” Trump said as he boarded Air Force One after surveying fire devastation in California.

He said he didn’t care that McConnell voted against confirming him because the “important thing is winning”.

With AP

Trump has met with residents and firefighters as he visited the fire-affected area of the Palisades fire.

He said he would work with California Governor Gavin Newsom to respond to the Los Angeles fires after earlier floating doing away with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Trump has sharply criticised California’s response to the wildfires, which have caused widespread destruction this month.

Three massive fires still threaten the region.

With Reuters

The former Fox News host Pete Hegseth has been confirmed as the next US Defense Secretary in a tie-break vote.

Hegseth was confirmed after a 50-50 vote in the Senate, when Vice-President JD Vance came to the chamber to break the tie, after three Republicans joined every Democrat and independent in voting no.

He is the second US cabinet nominee in history to be confirmed in a tie-break.

President Donald Trump has ended the federal security detail for Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert who advised him on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Fauci faced regular threats to his life and has received federal protection for years.

Dr Fauci is the latest in a string of former aides-turned-critics of Mr Trump to see their federal protection cancelled despite ongoing threats to their lives.

Read more here: 

As mentioned earlier, the State Department has ordered a sweeping freeze on new funding for almost all US foreign assistance.

The US provides more foreign aid globally than any other country, budgeting about $US60 billion in 2023, about 1 percent of the US budget.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s order, sent by cable to US embassies worldwide, specifically exempted emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt.

The cable spells out the execution of the aid-freezing executive order President Donald Trump signed on Monday.

The cable stated the freeze was necessary to ensure that “appropriations are not duplicated, are effective, and are consistent with President Trump’s foreign policy”.

The freeze includes funding for anti-HIV program, the President’s Emergency Relief Plan for AIDS Relief, and does not appear to allow for assistance to Ukraine to continue.

The State Department agency overseeing refugee and resettlement sent guidance to the resettlement agencies it works with, saying they had to immediately “suspend all work” under the foreign assistance they were receiving.

While there was little clarity in the guidance, the notification suggests resettlement agencies that work with refugees, including Afghans who arrived on special immigrant visas, might have to halt their work at least temporarily.

With AP

Donald Trump has signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization.

There are concerns the move could reverse progress made in fighting disease and increase pandemic risks.

Reporter Annika Burgess has unpacked what the move means for global health here:

Good afternoon (or good morning to our NT and WA readers)!

Thank you for joining us today.

There is a lot of news coming out of the US as Donald Trump continues to make sweeping changes in the early days of his presidency.

Meanwhile, the State Department ordered a freeze Friday on new funding for almost all US foreign assistance, making exceptions for emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt.

Stick with us as we unpack what has been happening in US politics.