Happy Wednesday! It feels like we’ve been shot out of a cannon and back into Capitol Hill chaos. Capitol Hill is quite active again. Here’s what’s happening:

• Breaking: Sen. John Thune was elected as the next Senate GOP leader.
• Trump visited Capitol Hill this morning.
• Biden and Trump met in the Oval Office.
• The defense world is fuming over Trump’s Defense secretary pick.
• Elon Musk has an official role in the Trump administration.

I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send tips, commentary, feedback and cookie recipes to cmartel@thehill.com. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here.  

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) will be the next Senate GOP leader, replacing retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has held the top leadership job for the past 18 years. Thune will be the majority leader. 

Keep in mind: “Thune has served as Senate Republican whip, the No. 2-ranking position in the Senate GOP leadership, since 2019, and largely managed operation of the Senate floor since McConnell suffered a concussion from a fall in 2023.” (The Hill)

How the vote went down: Two sources told The Hill that Thune beat Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) by a vote of 25-24 in the second ballot. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) collected 13 votes in the first ballot.

Tidbit: Vice President-elect Vance was spotted in the Senate for the vote. 📹 Watch

In the House: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is expected to keep his job, but there has been some grumbling from conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus. FWIW, Trump praised Johnson as a “good guy” this morning while addressing the caucus.

🗨️ Live blog of updates from the leadership votes

©  AP

President-elect Trump is taking a brief break from rapid-fire announcements for his upcoming administration to take a joy ride around Washington today.

First up on the agenda was a meeting with House Republicans. They’re a rowdy bunch, so it could pay dividends for Trump to assert his authority within the caucus early.

📹 Watch Trump walk on stage to greet House Republicans

Trump walked on stage to a crowd of adoring House Republican fans. A source told The Hill’s Mychael Schnell that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) referred to Trump as the “comeback king.”  📸 Photo from a source

Former first lady Melania Trump won’t be joining Trump today, but Trump’s new BFF, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, came along.

Trump then whisked off to take a look at his new home come January. President Biden invited Trump to the White House to keep the long-standing transition tradition intact, but it’s been both polite and awkward from what we can see.

Biden congratulated Trump, who then responded: “Politics is tough, and in many cases it’s not a nice world. But it is a nice world today.”

©  AP

Well, that’s a cool dinner setting: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) held a dinner for incoming first-term lawmakers. Politico’s Olivia Beavers posted a 📸 photo of the setup.

📸 Capitol Hill is back to bustling

Spotted: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was seen in the Senate this morning. 📸 Photo from Axios’s Stef Kight

Making history!: The New York Times’s Annie Karni 📸posted a photo of Sens.-elect Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) on Capitol Hill. “History in the making – two Black women Senator-elects at the same time, for the first time,” Karni wrote.

Aw, this was a cute moment: ABC News’s Allison Pecorin posted that “Sen. Tim Kaine’s staff claps for him as he returns to his office for the first time since winning re-election in Virginia.” 📹  Watch the clip

Five House races are still uncalled as of this morning, according to Decision Desk HQ’s figures. Four of the five races are in California.

Where those stand: Two of those races favor the Democratic candidate, two favor the Republican and one is still a toss-up.

If you’re wondering why California takes so long to count votes: It’s expected because of the state’s rules over mail-in voting. Time has a helpful explainer

President-elect Trump has been rolling out advisers and Cabinet picks at a flash pace. The latest picks:

• ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ co-anchor Pete Hegseth: Defense secretary
• Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk: Co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency
• Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy: Co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency
• Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R): Ambassador to Israel
• Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe: CIA director
• New York businessman Steven Witkoff: Middle East special convoy

The most surprising pick is Hegseth, whom Trump nominated to lead the Department of Defense. He’s an Army veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but he’s known to most as a Fox News anchor. He’s been an ally of Trump for years, and now, as The New York Times pointed out, he’ll “run the Pentagon and lead 1.3 million active-duty troops.”

The national security and defense world is surprised and critical of this pick. One defense industry lobbyist put it bluntly to Politico: “Who the f— is this guy?”

Expect a shake-up in the industry: Trump has railed on the defense world’s “woke” policies. Hegseth is expected to carry out Trump’s priorities.

Read The Washington Post’s reporting: ‘Pete Hegseth has said exactly how he will shake up the Pentagon’

Plus, via Axios: ‘What MAGA means for the Pentagon and its weapons’

In short: Trump is rewarding Republicans who backed him during his first impeachment trial in 2020.

For context: “Of the eight GOP lawmakers who were part of Trump’s team to push back on allegations he withheld aid to Ukraine for political reasons, three are set to join his Cabinet; one is Speaker of the House and a staunch ally; and one became Trump’s chief of staff in his first administration.” Read Emily Brooks and Brett Samuels’s reporting

📝 List of Trump’s Cabinet picks

Special counsel Jack Smith, who has been at the helm of President-elect Trump’s federal criminal cases, plans to resign before Trump takes office.

His plan: Smith is planning to finish his work before Trump’s inauguration. Then, he and his team will resign.

What we know: “It is not clear how quickly he can finish this work, leaving uncertain whether it could be made public before the Biden administration leaves office. But several officials said he has no intention of lingering any longer than he has to, and has told career prosecutors and F.B.I. agents on his team who are not directly involved in that process that they can start planning their departures over the next few weeks, people close to the situation said.” (The New York Times)

Related: ‘Trump promised to get revenge. Here are his targets.’

🥣 Celebrate: Today is National Indian Pudding Day!

🎈 Hey, no thanks: Two slackliners broke the world record by walking across a rope between two hot air balloons at a high altitude. 📹 Watch the footage

The House and Senate are in. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in Washington. (all times Eastern)

• This morning: Biden met with President-elect Trump in the Oval Office.
• 12:30 p.m.: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters. 💻 Livestream
• 1:15 p.m.: Biden receives his daily briefing.
• 4 p.m.: House Republican leaders hold a news conference. 💻 Livestream

Have you ever noticed your furniture shifting and wondered how that happened? Yeah, so did this family.

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