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Trump Transition, Standing Rock, MDMA: Your Wednesday Briefing
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Good morning.
Here’s what you need to know:
• Trump to go on a victory tour.
Starting Thursday, President-elect Donald J. Trump will hold postelection rallies in swing states that were crucial to his victory, his transition team has said. His first stop will be Cincinnati.
Mr. Trump will also visit Indiana on Thursday to announce a deal with the air-conditioning company Carrier to keep roughly 1,000 jobs that had been slated to move to Mexico in the state.
• Busy day ahead.
Mr. Trump is expected to nominate Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary, one of several appointments that could be announced today. Mr. Mnuchin, the Trump campaign’s finance chairman, has deep ties to Hollywood and Wall Street but no government experience.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump dined with Mitt Romney, a contender for secretary of state. Earlier in the day, he appointed Elaine Chao and Tom Price to lead the transportation and health and human services departments.
Here’s a list of those picked for cabinet positions, and of candidates for posts not yet filled.
• C.I.A. director’s warning for Trump.
John Brennan, the C.I.A. director, told the BBC that Mr. Trump’s pledge to scrap the Iran nuclear deal would be “disastrous” and could lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
• Covering the president-elect.
Mr. Trump, who has been communicating with the public through social media rather than by giving news conferences, proposed two unconstitutional measures in a single tweet: forbidding the burning of the American flag and stripping culprits of American citizenship.
The episode raises a question for reporters: Is everything Mr. Trump posts on Twitter news?
• Pipeline protests.
As many as 2,000 veterans plan to serve as human shields for Dakota Access Pipeline protesters near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.
The Army Corps of Engineers said it would close off access to the protesters’ campsite by Monday, and the governor issued an evacuation order this week.
In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved the expansion of a pipeline linking the country’s oil sands with a port in British Columbia, a move condemned by environmental groups.
• “It was like driving into hell.”
That was a fire department lieutenant in Tennessee describing the wildfires that have forced thousands to flee.
Three people died and 14 others were injured, officials said Tuesday.
• Important vote in Europe.
Austria could elect the first far-right head of state in post-World War II Europe on Sunday.
As support for populist parties rises, new research suggests that Europeans have become more critical of democracy. “The warning signs are flashing red,” one scholar said.