The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they happen.
Trump considering replacing Hegseth with Florida’s DeSantis as Pentagon pick — report
US President-elect Donald Trump is considering Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to replace Pete Hegseth as his nominee to run the Pentagon, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Trump’s lawyers urge judge to toss his hush money conviction
US President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers formally asks a judge to throw out his hush money criminal conviction, arguing that continuing the case would present unconstitutional “disruptions to the institution of the Presidency.“
In a filing made public today, Trump’s lawyers tell Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan that dismissal is warranted because of the extraordinary circumstances of his impending return to the White House.
“Wrongly continuing proceedings in this failed lawfare case disrupts President Trump’s transition efforts,” the attorneys continue, before citing the “overwhelming national mandate granted to him by the American people on November 5, 2024.”
Prosecutors have until December 9 to respond. They have said they will fight any efforts to dismiss the case but have indicated openness to delaying sentencing until after Trump’s second term ends in 2029.
Following Trump’s election victory last month, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed his sentencing, previously scheduled for late November, to allow the defense and prosecution to weigh in on the future of the case. He also delayed a decision on Trump’s prior bid to dismiss the case on immunity grounds.
Trump has been fighting for months to reverse the conviction, which involved efforts to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels, whose affair allegations threatened to disrupt his 2016 campaign. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Pentagon says US forces in eastern Syria struck rocket launchers, tank posing ‘imminent threat’
US forces conducted a self-defense strike today in the vicinity of Mission Support Site Euphrates, a US base in eastern Syria, against three truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers, a T-64 tank and mortars that Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder says presented “a clear and imminent threat” to US troops.
The strike occurred after rockets and mortars were fired and landed in the vicinity of the base, Ryder says. The Pentagon is still assessing who was responsible for the attacks — there are both Iranian-backed militias and Syrian military forces that operate in the area.
Ryder says the attack is not connected to the offensive that is ongoing in Aleppo, where Syrian jihadi-led rebels have advanced and taken over the city.
The US has about 900 troops in Syria to conduct missions to counter the Islamic State group.
Levin to convene judicial selection panel next week — again without vote on Supreme Court chief
Justice Minister Yariv Levin calls a meeting of the Judicial Selection Committee for December 12, but its agenda doesn’t include a vote on the next Supreme Court chief justice.
This will be the second meeting of the panel since a High Court of Justice ruling that said Levin must convene it to select a president for the top court after he avoided doing so for over a year, aiming to avoid tapping Justice Isaac Amit for the job, whom the minister views as adversarial.
Next week’s meeting will include a discussion of Levin’s bid to have the committee’s meetings livestreamed, as well as a discussion of the method by which the next chief justice and their deputy will be selected.
On that same day, the High Court is set to discuss a petition seeking to have it declare Levin in contempt of court for failing to adhere to its ruling.
Levin, a hawkish Likud party member who led the government’s stalled judicial overhaul effort, is looking to steer the court in a more conservative direction and prevent the election of liberal justice Amit, who stands to win the majority on the committee.
Amit is currently the acting president, and is expected to become the permanent president under the longstanding seniority system, which Levin seeks to upend, by which the justice with the most years on the court is elected the next president.
Levin argues that the seniority system is merely a tradition and not legally binding. He prefers conservative Justice Yosef Elron for the position, and has spent the past 13 months trying to prevent Amit’s selection.
Zev Stub contributed to this report.