Mr. Trump also confirmed that Senator Marco Rubio was his choice to be secretary of state and said he had offered Tulsi Gabbard the job of director of national intelligence. Earlier he met with House Republicans and visited President Biden in the White House.

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota is set to lead the Senate as majority leader in the new Congress, after Republicans flipped the chamber in the 2024 elections.

The South Dakotan will take over in January at the turn of the new Congress, when Republicans are expected to control the government trifecta.

U.S. Senate Republicans will gather behind closed doors on Wednesday to pick their next leader in the face of a public pressure campaign by supporters of President-elect Donald Trump who favor the long-shot bid of a hardline Trump loyalist.

The South Dakota Republican failed in his first try for the Senate but came back to defeat a chamber leader. Now he will be the leader himself.

U.S. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota was chosen by his peers to lead his Republican senators in the 119th U.S. Congress.

Sen. John Thune has won an internal election among Republican senators to become the chamber’s next majority leader