
Seat switching, oversold tickets cause drama at pre-inauguration Trump dinner
"I didn't want to get out of my seat because I didn't want to lose it," said one guest at President Trump's pre-inauguration Candlelight Dinner.
Watch CBS News
Ed O'Keefe is CBS News' senior White House and political correspondent reporting for all CBS News platforms.
He is part of the team covering President Trump and covered all four years of Joe Biden's presidency. O'Keefe previously reported on the 2024 presidential election, including Biden's decision to exit the race and the quick emergence of Vice President Harris as the Democratic candidate. He served as a floor reporter at the 2024 Democratic and Republican conventions. In 2020, he was lead correspondent for the Biden-Harris campaign, the Democratic presidential primaries, and at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Since 2018, O'Keefe has helped lead coverage of election nights and the ensuing days from CBS News' Election Headquarters in New York City. He also helped lead CBS News' hours-long coverage of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the United States Capitol.
From the White House to the campaign trail, O'Keefe's reports stretch from the politics of the moment to how policy enacted in Washington affects the nation and the world. His reporting has taken him to Canada to assess President Trump's trade war; to Guatemala to see why people immigrate to the United States and ignore warnings about the dangers of doing so; to Las Vegas to interview service workers eager for tax breaks on tipped wages; and to multiple states for lengthy conversations with voters grappling with their choice for president. Along the way, he's interviewed dozens of presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial candidates.
Since joining CBS News in April 2018, O'Keefe has contributed to coverage of the July 2024 assassination attempt on Trump; the 2018 and 2022 midterm elections; the contentious confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh; funerals for late presidents and senators; the record-long 2019 federal government shutdown; and the blackface and sexual misconduct scandals that rocked Virginia state government that same year.
Before CBS News, O'Keefe spent more than a dozen years with The Washington Post covering federal agencies, federal employees, Congress, and presidential elections. A proud Guatemalan-Irish-American, he is a lifetime member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and once served as one of the group's national vice presidents. He grew up in Delmar, New York, and attended American University in Washington.
"I didn't want to get out of my seat because I didn't want to lose it," said one guest at President Trump's pre-inauguration Candlelight Dinner.
No president has ever exercised this constitutional power, but "this remains a significant possibility in the eyes of the White House," one source said.
The 46th president's successes and failures — and the predecessors who invite the closest comparisons to Joe Biden as he leaves office.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine named Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the Senate seat that Vice President-elect JD Vance is vacating.
Bezos, Musk and Zuckerberg are the three richest people in the world, according to Forbes.
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has accepted an invitation from President-elect Donald Trump to meet with him at his Mar-a-Lago estate, multiple sources said.
Offer letters is expected to go out Monday to political appointees in Trump's incoming administration, sources say.
In the closing days of his administration, Biden plans to travel to California to dedicate the Chuckwalla National Monument, sources said.
President Biden is weighing giving preemptive pardons to perceived enemies of President-elect Donald Trump to shield them from possible "retribution."
Several candidates under consideration to replace Trump's defense pick, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst.
President-elect Donald Trump is considering replacing former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, his embattled pick for defense secretary, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Sources familiar with the transition tell CBS News that President-elect Donald Trump is considering naming Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as pick for Defense Secretary.
President-elect Donald Trump announced Gaetz as his nominee to be attorney general last week.
If confirmed, this will be Russ Vought's second time as OMB director. He authored a chapter of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for a GOP administration.
Linda McMahon is a co-chair of President-elect Donald Trump's transition team and was the Small Business Administrator in his first term.