House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was selected to lead the GOP conference again during a closed-door vote on Wednesday.

The vote was unanimous, two sources in the room told Fox News Digital, despite conservatives threatening to protest Johnson getting full support.

The internal election was delayed by roughly an hour and a half as Johnson met with his GOP critics to ‘hash it out,’ two other sources told Fox News.

It comes after President-elect Donald Trump addressed House Republicans earlier in the day and said he was ‘100%’ behind Johnson, multiple sources in the room told Fox News Digital.

It’s been a meteoric rise for the Louisiana Republican, who was a relatively little-known lawmaker when he was elected to succeed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., after he was ousted by all House Democrats and eight fellow Republicans.

Johnson has endured much of the same chaos as McCarthy while presiding over a razor-thin House majority, with GOP rebels weaponizing the small margin in efforts to force the conference to pass more conservative policy.

But Johnson did not face any significant challengers on Wednesday, nor was he expected to with House Republicans on track to hold onto the chamber majority in the 119th Congress.

It could be a different story in January, when he will need a majority of the entire House chamber to be elected speaker.

McCarthy infamously had to endure 15 rounds of House votes and was forced to make concessions to a small group of holdouts in exchange for their support.

With Johnson projected to win just a slim single-digit majority again, he can afford little opposition – or risk paralyzing the House under a new Trump administration.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., ran uncontested for their current roles and are expected to win.

While President-elect Donald Trump has yet to announce who will be at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), he has indicated several steps he would take to slash ‘gender-affirming’ care for minors across the country.

In a video posted to Truth Social in February 2023, Trump said his plan ‘to stop the chemical, physical and emotional mutilation of our youth’ would involve issuing an executive order directing all federal agencies to halt any programs that support or promote sex changes at any age.

‘I will then ask Congress to permanently stop federal taxpayer dollars from being used to promote or pay for these procedures and pass a law prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states,’ Trump said in the video.

Trump announced plans to ban any hospital or healthcare provider involved in gender-transition treatments for minors from participating in Medicaid and Medicare. He also pledged to support legal actions allowing affected individuals to sue doctors who performed these procedures on minors.

‘The Department of Justice will investigate Big Pharma and the big hospital networks to determine whether they have deliberately covered up horrific long-term side effects of sex transitions in order to get rich at the expense of vulnerable patients,’ Trump added.

Trump honed in on transgender issues during the last leg of his campaign with a successful ad that focused on men in women’s sports and Vice President Kamala Harris’ track record of ushering in sex change procedures for incarcerated people in California.

‘Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you,’ the narrator of Trump’s campaign ad said. Experts say the TV spot had a substantial influence on swing voters.

Over the last four years, the Biden-Harris administration used federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, to expand access to surgical procedures for minors. Under Biden, HHS created a regulation that interpreted ‘sex discrimination’ within the Affordable Care Act to include gender identity and sexual orientation.

The expanded definition under Title IX meant that any medical provider not offering sex change procedures for any age was at risk of losing federal funding under the Biden-Harris regulation. The rule was blocked by the Supreme Court in August. 

In June, health officials in the Biden administration urged the international transgender health nonprofit, World Professional Association for Transgender Health, to omit the age limit in its guidelines for transgender surgical procedures for adolescents – and succeeded – according to unsealed court documents.

More than 25 states in the U.S. have enacted bans and restrictions on surgical procedures and hormonal prescriptions for transgender youth. Roughly 24 states still permit gender transition surgeries and drugs for children.

In recent days, Trump has been announcing his administration’s appointments much quicker than he did during his first term. HHS candidates Fox News Digital has learned include Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Eric Hargan, former HUD Secretary Ben Carson, Seema Verma, Paul Mango, Joseph Ladapo, Roger Severino, Brian Blase and Joe Grogan.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Trump-Vance transition team for comment.

President-elect Trump will soon choose his nominee to lead the nation’s intelligence community and is believed to be considering a former Democrat. 

Tulsi Gabbard, a former Hawaii House Democrat, is on a short list of contenders for director of national intelligence, multiple sources have confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Former Utah Republican House Rep. Chris Stewart is also in ‘active discussions’ with the transition team about the role, a source said. 

Stewart resigned from the House in 2023 to be with his wife when she had health issues. He co-founded lobbying firm Skyline Capitol with Trump’s former national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, who was also rumored to be considered for an administration job. 

Gabbard, a veteran and active duty Army reservist, served in the House as a Democrat from 2013 to 2021, before joining the Republican Party and campaigning for Trump in his most recent race for president. She is now a co-chair of the Trump transition team. 

In September, Gabbard told Fox News Digital she would be ‘honored’ to join a Trump administration and added that bringing an end ‘to the influence of the military industrial complex,’ working to prevent World War III and bringing the U.S. back ‘from the brink of nuclear war’ would be among her priorities.

She was reportedly interested in the defense secretary job, but Trump is reported to have promised that appointment to former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, also an Army veteran.

Gabbard has criticized Democrats as ‘pro-censorship’ and ‘anti-freedom,’ but her criticisms have extended to Republicans, as well. She has spoken out against U.S. involvement in the Middle East and criticized Trump during his first administration for the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. 

Gabbard controversially met with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2017 during the country’s civil war. She was opposed to the U.S. arming Syrian rebel groups and said she was ‘ready to meet with anyone if there’s a chance it can help bring about an end to this war.’

Gabbard was reportedly placed on a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) watchlist for terrorists known as ‘Quiet Skies’ earlier this year. 

The program allows federal air marshals to follow U.S. citizens and collect information on their behavior in an effort to stop threats ‘posed by unknown or partially known terrorists.’ 

‘As I was traveling, I ended up in 30 to 45 minutes of going through screening every time I would go to the airport to fly,’ she told Fox’s One Nation. ‘I noticed air marshals, I noticed K-9 teams. There were things that I saw and noticed that were highly unusual. But the deepest pain and harm and stress that’s been caused by this is that, forever going forward, I will always be looking over my shoulder, wondering if and how my government is surveilling me.’

In Congress, she co-sponsored legislation that would ban first-time use of nuclear weapons and often decries politicians who ‘beat the drums of war and ratchet up tensions.’

Gabbard, who is a Fox News contributor, could not be reached for comment. 

Trump, on Tuesday tapped John Ratcliffe, his former director of national intelligence, to lead the CIA. 

The director of national intelligence leads an office that advises the president, National Security Council and Homeland Security Council on national security matters. Any nominee for the role must be confirmed by the Senate or appointed on an acting basis. 

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.’ 

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.

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.

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.’