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here on bbc news. >> congratulations look forward to having, like we said, smooth transition. >> politics is tough and many cases it is not a very nice world but it is a nice world today and i appreciate it very much. >> the president-elect again was gracious, came with a detailed set of questions. it was again the substantive. -- again substantive. ♪ ben: in the last few minutes, it's been confirmed it is a clean sweep for the republican party as they retain control of the house of representatives. that news comes as donald trump holds what are described as cordial, gracious, and substantive transition talks with joe biden at the white house lasting two hours.

we will be assessing mr. trump's picks for his top team and the implications for america and the wider world. also on the program, united nations secretary general tells small are the leaders th have every right to be angry over what they call the colossal injustice of climate change. we will be live at the cop29 summit in baku to assess the chances of that injustice being remedied. in the last few minutes, it's been confirmed that donald trump's republicans have retained control of the house of representatives. that gives them a clean sweep of the white house, and both chambers of congress. they needed 218 seats to retain control of the house. the final number is expected to be between 220 and 222, a narrow majority. earlier, mr. trump met joe biden at the white house for two hours today to discuss the transition of power in the united states.

mr. trump thanked the president for making that transition, in his words, as smooth as you can get. it is mr. trump's first visit to washington since his election triumph last week and a far cry from what happened four years ago when controversially mr. trump refused to see you joe den face to face as he refused the election results. mr. trump has been announcing more of the names of the people who will make up the top team in his administration in january when he takes office. among them, the richest man on the planet, elon musk, is reported. from our north american editor sarah smith. sarah: he is back, donald trump savoring his victory and making a triumphant return to washington. it does all look remarkably cordial considering -- >> mr. president-elect, former president, donald, congratulations. sarah: president biden is trying

to demonstrate his commitment to the peaceful transfer of power. pres. biden: we can make sure that you are accommodated, what you need. welcome. president trump: thank you very much. politics is tough. in many cases, not a nice world but it is a nice world today and i appreciate it very much. sarah: maybe the enormous fire melting the frosting is between the two men who have not met since the debate that ended joe biden's candidacy. donald trump four years ago reviews that he lost the election. >> hopefully it is not a long-term goodbye. sarah: his victory lap around washington included meeting congressional republicans, and he is taking credit for many -- too.ing many of them reelected,

pres. trump: thank you very much. nice gathering. it is nice to win. sarah: the full-blown romance between donald trump and elon musk. he is practically a part of the family now, has landed the job by radically slashing spending and drastically reshaping government, making it much smaller and supposedly more efficient. >> your money is being wasted and the department of government efficiency will fix that. sarah: for defense secretary, he has picked a tv presenter from fox news. he is an army combat veteran but he has no experience of government, and lots of ideas about sweeping changes to the military. >> first of all, you have to fire the chairman of the joint chiefs, secretary of defense, but any general and ball admiral involved in any of the dei woke -- has got to go.

sarah: he does look like a loose cannon. going badly wrong. the drummer was very likely not to be seriously hurt. are the confidence inspiring for the armed rces seemed to be under his command. when he takes over, donald trump plans to make dramatic changes and he is appointing staunch loyalists he thinks will make it happen. ben: a short time ago the white house press spokeswoman karine jean-pierre gave a flavor of the mood of those two hours of transition talks at the white house between joe biden and donald trump. >> it was indeed very cordial, gracious, and substantive. i mentioned at the top, national security was discussed, domestic policy issues were discussed. i had an opportunity to speak with the president in the oval office before coming out to do this press briefing because i wanted to make sure that i got what the president wanted to share with all of you. so certainly everything i am

saying is sanction, if you will, by the president. he wanted you all to know that the president-elect was again gracious, came with a detailed set of questions. ben: that is the white house view of those talks. as we have been reporting, republicans have retained control of the house of representatives, and in the senate also controlled by the republicans, they have now elected john thune as their new leader. he defeated the man that donald trump wanted, suggesting may be the senate might just retain a certain distance from the president-elect. john thune had this to say to the press a short time ago. >> we have a mandate from the american people, a mandate not only to clean up the mess left by the biden, schumer agenda but also tdeliver on president trump's priorities. we will make sure that the president and his team have the tools and support they need to enforce border security laws and remove the violent criminals who are wreaking havoc in every one

of our states. we will work to make america prosperous again by streamlining the bureaucratic machine and overturning costly biden-harris regulations. ben: let's analyze the very busy events in washington right now with our senior north american correspondent gary o'donoghue at the white house and also from our washington bureau david willis. david, let's start with you. as we been reporng the last few minutes, it is emerged, donald trump has a clean sweep of congress and the republicans, the white house, both chambers of congress. he is going to be pretty unassailable, isn't he? david: absolutely right. we knew about the senate. two seats there in favor of the republicans, and it is being confirmed by media here in the last hour or so that republicans are on course as we thought to

retain their majority in the house of representatives. between 218 seats, somewhere between 220 adnd 222. it is a slim majority, but you are right, ben, really confirms donald trump's grip on their legislature, congress, and it will enable him of course to push through his cabinet nominees and his radical right-wing agenda which includes of course immigration reform and tax cuts. the leader of the house, mike johnson, talked to reporters a short while ago. he called this a new day for america. ben: to gary athe white house, those two hours of transition talks, let's just reflect on those. such a far cry from the same time four years ago. gary: same time four years ago,

there was precisely zero because donald trump did not invite joe biden here. it is even longer than donald trump spent here with barron in 20 16. frankly it is really surprising because they don't like one another, these two, they don't have anything approaching a similar worldview, moral view, whatever you want to call it. it's amazing they found two hours to talk, but they did. we know that ukraine was a part of that because a national security adviser told us that that had come , joe biden had made the case that supported ukraine was in america's national interest, and interestingly, shaping the argument, the logic of that argument in terms of spend this money and you keep america out of wars. remember, that is donald trump's big boast, that he was not involved in any wars, so there will be an attempt to spin that

for the president. as for the rest of it, gracious and cordial the press secretary said. she said there was a back-and-for which sounds like a euphemism for something or the other. also donald trump we are told came with a detailed set of questions but she wouldn't say what they were. ben: david willis, back to you. we are getting quite a lot of donald trump's picks for his team as we have been reflecting. elon musk is perhaps the most eye-catching of all of them. david: that's right. he is to lead or head this government body that will look to ensure greater efficiency in the federal government then. that is something that mr. musk had been widely tipped to do, perhaps returning the favor for the babydog of support that he afforded donald trump particularly in the latter

months of donald trump's presidential campaign. it is interesting to note that mr. musk in the past has talked about trimming about $2 trillion from the federal government expenditure, which means, given a total annual spending of around $6.5 trillion, american government spending, that would mean that if he succeeds, he would be saving about a third of the cost of funding the federal government then. ben: gary, very brief word on you from the picks that we have seen so far. the common thread seems to be, you have to be a real ultra loyalist to donald trump to be a part of his team. gary: you have. it is fair to say that most presidents pick people agreeing with them, but yes, this does go perhaps a step further. one of my journalistic colleagues said it is very interesting that in terms of the

government efficiency, they have two leaders of it, which doesn't sound very efficient, but there you go. they are planning to cut $2 trillion from the federaludget . by independence day of 2026. ben: gary and david, many thanks to both of you. marco rubio, as we have been speculating yesterday, is also donald trump's pick for secretary of state. you are watching bbc news. stay tuned. ♪

ben: let's bring you more on donald trump's appointments for his top team he would as i mentioned a couple minutes ago, we are hearing now that mr. trump has now officially nominated the florida senator marco rubio for secretary of state, a crucial role in

american foreign policy. marco rubio, who, as we were reflecting yesterday, at the time, widely speculated that he would be secretary of state, is a hawk especially on china. today, donald trump said in a statement, marco rubio is a very powerful voice for freedom and a fearless warrior who will never back down to our adversaries. that is what donald trump is saying about marco rubio, a powerful voice for freedom and a fearless warrior who won't back down to our adversaries. and we can also get more than on the news that david willis was telling us about that elon musk, the richest man in the world, is joining donald trump at his meeting today -- didn't join him at that meeting with house republicans -- did join him at that meeting with house republicans. in a further side of the building nears key role in the new administration, elon musk,

the boss of tesla and spacex, will oversee, as david was telling us, the department of government efficiency. his task will be slashing public expenditure, public spending. another wealthy trump ally and former republican presidential candidate, vivek ramaswamy, will also run the new department. at a trump round in october, elon musk said the federal budget could be cut by at least $2 trillion. just to give you an idea of what that means, to put it in perspective, the total federal spending for this year is around $6.75 trillion, according to congressional budget office. defense spending alone is estimated to be $1.9 trillion. well, let's talk now to the senior reporter at the independent, a musk expert.

thank you for being with us. what do you make of this elon musk appointment? >> it's very interesting. i love the concept of a government efficiency commission with two heads. it is something like from medieval times. i think it's important to note that the department of government efficiency is not yet and may never be a governmental department. although it says department on the title, trump says it will operate outside of government. of course, we need congress to authorize the formation of a new government office. it may end up being an advisory panel similar to the grace commission, a panel that ronald reagan convened in 1982. most of them, if i recall, did not get needed. how much influence this will

actually have on the federal government, on the composition of the federal government is hard to say. but i do think it is a marker of musk's closeness to trump and his ongoing business, and that ll be the most important and decisive thing here. we have heard about musk sitting in on these meetings with world leaders. clearly, someone close to trump and someone who he admires in many ways. sort of at the bottom of everything else, every other formal account he may receive from the government, and that is likely to exist as long as the men don't get tired of each other. ben: this figure that he has talked about, cutting $2 trillion worth of federal spending. that is an eye watering sum. we were just getting those figures of total government spending being something like

nearly 7 trillion. that would be a third of the total federal spend. >> i have seen experts say that this is not possible, others say that if this was possible, it would do a lot of damage to the economy, damage to people's lives. i think a lot of people who voted for trump didn't believe that he is someone who would cut one third of the federal budget. especially for social security and medicare. those are things that people would be surprised and angry if he cut. ring fenced those and make deeper cuts elsewhere. we can get an idea of what this will look like and musk's approach from things from his takeover of twitter, shock and ockham the blitzkrieg. he ended getting rid of either firing or voluntary redundancy, when the way the people saw the way things were going, about 75% of the people at twitter. massive cuts to the

organization. they fired human resources people. they often lost track of who was working for them. at one point, they fired a cleaning company, didn't replace it, and things were getting dirty, people would have to bring their own toilet paper. x still exists. many would have thought it would have collapsed. it is private, so we don't have the data, it's not a public company, but our reporting shows that they struggled from technical details. is it more profitable, more vital? i don't think so. but has it been completely ideologically transformed? yes. ben: it could be a roller coaster ride. thank you for talking us through what elon musk might do in government. that is a senior reporter at the independent. thank you for your time. since the election, pundits have

been trying to gauge what is donald trump's response to the israel-gaza war. today the scrutiny turns to his appointments on israel and the middle east. mike huckabee, the former governor of arkansass set to be the next u.s. ambassador to israel. his selection which does require senate confirmation, was widely welcomed by israeli officials. >> it is clear that mr. huckabee, who is a regular visitor to israel, has unique understanding of this country and the entire region, the challenges we face, the routes to peace, and what is needed to be able to get there. these appointments are very much welcomed by israel's government. ben: a warm welcome for mike huckabee from the israeli government. let's give you a flavor of what mr. huckabee has said in the past. he has said there is really no such thing as a palestinian. he argues all of the west bank

belongs to israel. >> i have to be careful saying this because people would get upset. there is no such thing as palestinian. there is such complexity to that. there is really is no such thing. that has been a political tool to try and force land away from israel. ben: let's discuss that appointment and others now with david satterfield, former u.s. ambassador to lebanon and turkey under president trump, appointed by president biden as special envoy for middle east humanitarian issues. thank you very much for being with us. what do you think of mike huckabee's appointment to u.s. ambassador to israel? david: it is for every president to appoint his ambassadors. who he believes will reflect faithfully his policy. i believe ambassador designate huckabee has indeed said just that, that he will be carrying out policies of the president.

ben: some of his comments in the past, as we have been quoting, are pretty controversial. david: well, every administration in modern american history including the previous trump administrion supported the goal of a negotiated settlement between israel and the palestinians. and whether or not that policy will be continued into the second term or not, that is a matter for the administration to determine. but the recognition of the palestinians as a party, as an entity with which israel needs to negotiate, needs to discuss outcomes, for both people's six, that has been a constant in u.s. politics. certainly we believe is in the interest of the united states, and as i said, of all the peoples considered. ben: i suppose the most

immediate priority would be to get a cease-fire in gaza. do you think the new u.s. administration of donald trump, when it comes into the white house early next year, will do very much to try and pursue that? david: it's not a question of what the incoming administration or indeed this outgoing administration is trying to do. the hands in which the future of the gaza conflict lie right now are those of hamas which has rejected for two months now any discussion of a cease-fire with the release of hostages. and of course the government of israel. external parties, notably the united states, very much want to see a cease-fire achieved. president trump says he wants to see an end to this conflict. but like it or not, the reality is that the determinative parties don't include the united states, international community.

they are hamas in gaza, the government of israel. ben: it is no secret that benjamin netanyahu sees donald trump as a really staunch ally, good friend in the way that he did not see joe biden. they had arguments, mr. netanyahu and joe biden. donald trump and he seemed to see eye to eye. david: whether they see eye to eye or not, and indeed on some issues during the previous administration of president-elect trump, there were disagreements, but whether it is a matter of this agreent or agreement, when you get to the issue of gaza and the campaign there, i really believe the existential and quite different views of the government of israel and hamas are e critical factors here. now, the united states supports israel firmly today, it undoubtedly will continue to do so and should into the future, but it is really a matter for

hamas, which has agency here. let's not forget that. to be willing to come to the table and discuss the cease-fire which we believe is reasonable which israel has supported but which hamas has declined to respond to four months now. ben: david satterfield, former u.s. ambassador to lebanon and turkey, thank you for being with us and share your thoughts. let me tell the viewers, we have also heard in the last couple minutes, donald trump has chosen the former democratic congresswoman tulsi gabbard to serve as director of national intelligence. much more on that coming up. for announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james.

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