The Republican Party secured control of the House, giving the G.O.P. a governing trifecta in Washington to enact Mr. Trump’s legislative agenda. 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.
President-elect Donald J. Trump continued his flurry of personnel announcements by making his most surprising decision yet, saying on Wednesday that he would nominate Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida to be his attorney general, putting one of his fiercest defenders in line to be the country’s top law enforcement official. And hours later, Republicans cemented their House majority, giving the party full control of Congress when Mr. Trump takes office.
The announcement on attorney general came as Mr. Trump made a triumphant return to the seat of American power that he grudgingly left four years ago, meeting in the Oval Office with President Biden and observing a decades-old tradition that he defied four years ago when he refused to accept his 2020 loss.
Mr. Gaetz, who has already submitted his letter of resignation from the House to Speaker Mike Johnson, is a provocative choice for attorney general, a position that will have direct oversight of the department that Mr. Trump has railed against for prosecuting him in a pair of cases: for retaining government documents after leaving office and for attempting to overturn the result of the 2020 election. Mr. Gaetz was himself the subject of a sex-trafficking investigation that concluded in 2023 when Mr. Biden’s Justice Department declined to bring charges.
Earlier in the afternoon, Mr. Trump said he wanted Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who became one of his most enthusiastic backers, to serve as the director of national intelligence, and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida to be his secretary of state.
In their meeting, Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden were gracious to each other in brief remarks in front of a roaring fire inside the Oval Office. After a brief handshake, Mr. Biden said he would make sure Mr. Trump had what he needed for a smooth transition. “Welcome back,” he concluded — an acknowledgment of his failure to prevent Mr. Trump’s return to power, which he had long said was a threat to the core of American democracy.
The president-elect made his own oblique reference to their differences in his response. “Thank you very much,” he said. “And politics is tough, and it’s many cases, not a very nice world. But it is a nice world today and I appreciate very much a transition that’s so smooth, it’ll be as smooth as you can get. And I very much appreciate that, Joe.”
Shortly after the meeting, Republicans in the Senate chose John Thune, the senior senator from South Dakota and their No. 2 in the chamber, to lead them in the chamber in the next Congress. Mr. Thune will replace Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate’s longest-serving leader. He defeated Senator John Cornyn of Texas, another well-respected establishment Republican, and Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who had been supported by right-wing allies of the president-elect.
After the vote, Mr. Thune said in a statement that the party was “united behind President Trump’s agenda, and our work starts today.”
Here’s what else to know:
- G.O.P. sweep: Republicans secured control of the House after holding onto a handful of critical seats in Arizona and California and defeating incumbent Democrats in major battleground districts, handing the G.O.P. a governing trifecta in Washington to enact President-elect Donald J. Trump’s agenda.
- Friendly meeting: Before the White House meeting, Mr. Trump visited a gathering of House Republicans. Mr. Trump, 78, was received in a closed-door meeting near the Capitol by jubilant House Republicans, who gave him a standing ovation as he took the stage and delivered triumphant remarks centered on his own electoral victory. Mr. Trump, who is limited to two terms as president by the Constitution, joked, “I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, ‘He’s so good we’ve got to figure something else out.”
- Elon Musk: Mr. Trump brought the influential billionaire with him to the gathering of House Republicans. Mr. Musk has ascended to a position of wide-ranging influence in Mr. Trump’s transition and along with Vivek Ramaswamy was given on Tuesday the task of leading an effort to make the government smaller and more efficient.
- Pennsylvania recount: The Pennsylvania Senate race between Bob Casey, the Democratic incumbent, and David McCormick, a Republican, will enter a “legally required statewide recount,” according to a news release from the Pennsylvania Department of State. As of Wednesday evening, Mr. McCormick leads Mr. Casey by 0.39 points, or about 26,000 votes. Results of the recount will not be published until Nov. 27, the department said.
- Harris’s next act?: Vice President Kamala Harris has not said what she might do after her loss to Mr. Trump last week, but a recent poll in her home state of California showed that if she were to run for governor there in 2026, nearly half of voters were open to supporting her.
- Melania Trump: The former first lady did not attend the White House visit with her husband. Jill Biden, the current first lady, had invited her to have tea and tour the executive mansion at the White House, in keeping with tradition for presidential spouses. But Mrs. Trump, who often eschewed the spotlight during Mr. Trump’s first term, declined.
