President Donald Trump is nominating Vice Adm. Brad Cooper to take over as the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East.

The military services are scrambling to nail down details and put together new guidance to start removing transgender troops from the force.

The U.S. will withdraw about 600 troops from Syria, leaving fewer than 1,000 to work with Kurdish allies to counter the Islamic State group.

Five former secretaries of defense are calling on Congress to hold immediate hearings on President Donald Trump’s recent firings of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and several other senior military leaders.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has upheld a fraud conviction against Elizabeth Holmes.

President Donald Trump has launched his second bid to oust all transgender troops from the military, and once again it will be headed to the courts to sort it out.

It's unclear who'll take over at the Pentagon and the military services when the top leaders all step down Monday as President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, has publicly faced senators for the first time.

Pete Hegseth will try to convince members of the Senate Armed Services Committee he should be the next secretary of defense.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press that the U.S. needs to keep troops deployed in Syria to prevent the Islamic State group from reconstituting as a major threat.

U.S. and Chinese military officers have resumed talks that were frozen after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022.

A federal judge on Friday will decide whether disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes should serve a lengthy prison sentence for duping investors and endangering patients while peddling a bogus blood-testing technology.

Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has been sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for duping investors in the failed startup that promised to revolutionize blood testing but instead made her a symbol of Silicon Valley ambition that veered into deceit.

The fate of hard-nosed technology executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani is now in the hands of a jury that will weigh criminal charges alleging he joined disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, his former partner, in an elaborate fraud that jarred Silicon Valley.

The fraud conviction of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes could do more than just send a once-celebrated billionaire to prison for years.

The jury that will weigh 11 charges of fraud and conspiracy against former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes finally got the case late Friday after a three-month trial that captivated Silicon Valley.

A jury weighing the fate of fallen Silicon Valley star Elizabeth Holmes has had its first chance to listen to recordings of her boasting to investors about purported breakthroughs in blood-testing technology.

Gen. Mark Milley has been the target of more political intrigue in two years as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff than any of his recent predecessors were in four.

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis testified Wednesday in the trial of fallen tech star Elizabeth Holmes, saying the entrepreneur misled him into believing she was on the verge of rolling out a blood-testing breakthrough that he hoped would help save lives of troops in battle.

Elizabeth Holmes once seemed destined to fulfill her dream of becoming Silicon Valley's next superstar.

Jury selection in the fraud trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes began Tuesday, casting a spotlight on the fallen Silicon Valley star now facing felony charges alleging she duped elite financial backers, customers and patients into believing that her startup was about to revolutionize medicine.

FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2020, file photo, U.S. and South Korean army soldiers stand guard during South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young's visit to Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. President Donald Trump had demanded South Korea pay billions more to keep American troops on its soil. Initially, Trump insisted the South Korean government pay five times as much as it previously had. The South Korean government refused. In addition to trying to squeeze more money out of Seoul, Trump had questioned the need for U.S. military exercises with South Korea, calling them wasteful and an affront to North Korea.

They bolstered their case with accounts from the rioters themselves, some of whom said they were acting on Trump's orders. The former president's defense team insists Trump's speech near the White House was protected under the First Amendment. And they argue he shouldn't be on trial in the Senate because he is no longer in office — an argument Democrats reject. To underscore their point, Democrats showed videos using rioters own words. Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said he expects the defense will wrap up in less than a day.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, right, greets Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist as he arrives at the Pentagon, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021, in Washington. The only senators who voted against Austin were Republicans Mike Lee of Utah and Josh Hawley of Missouri. Before heading to the Pentagon, Austin wrote on Twitter that he is especially proud to be the first Black secretary of defense. Austin retired in 2016 after serving as the first Black general to head U.S. Central Command. The House and the Senate approved the waiver Thursday, clearing the way for the Senate confirmation vote.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, confirmed that the confirmation vote on Austin would be conducted Friday. Austin, a 41-year veteran of the Army, has promised to surround himself with qualified civilians and include them in policy decisions. Many of them opposed a similar waiver in 2017 for Jim Mattis, former President Donald Trump's first secretary of defense. He emphasized on Tuesday that he will follow Biden’s lead in giving renewed attention to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. As a career Army officer, Austin had little reason to learn the intricacies of nuclear policy, since the Army has no nuclear weapons.

President-elect Joe Bidens pick for national intelligence director Avril Haines arrives for a confirmation hearing before the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington. Neither Blinken nor Biden's other nominees for national security Cabinet posts encountered substantial opposition Tuesday. “When it comes to intelligence, there is simply no place for politics — ever,” she told the Senate Intelligence Committee. The House majority leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer, indicated Tuesday that the full House would consider an Austin waiver bill on Thursday. Like Blinken, Austin said he views China as the leading international issue facing Biden's national security team.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)The insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was both stunning and predictable, the result of a Republican Party that has repeatedly enabled President Donald Trump's destructive behavior. But the violent siege on Capitol Hill offers a new, and perhaps final, moment of reckoning for the GOP. Before they left, a handful of Republican senators and more than 100 Republican House members were set to oppose the vote to certify Joe Biden's presidential victory. And while there were obvious cracks in Trump's grip on the Republican Party, his fiercest detractors came from a familiar pool of frequent critics. Anthony Scaramucci, a former Trump, often has harsh words for Trump, but offered his harshest on Wednesday for Trump's Republican enablers.

Following the Nov. 3 election and subsequent recounts in some states, as well as unsuccessful court challenges, the outcome is clear, they wrote, while not specifying Trump in the article. The former Pentagon chiefs warned against use of the military in any effort to change the outcome. “Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory,” they wrote. Biden has complained of efforts by Trump-appointed Pentagon officials to obstruct the transition. In reversing himself, Miller cited “recent threats issued by Iranian leaders against President Trump and other U.S. government officials.” He did not elaborate, and the Pentagon did not respond to questions.

Retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, the Biden administrations choice to be secretary of defense, speaks at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020. Well, today I’m learning about Twitter,” Austin, 67, tweeted mid-morning. Under the law, a service member must be out of uniform for at least seven years before serving as defense secretary. Austin retired in 2016. Austin's Twitter video treads a careful line between touting his military career and emphasizing his current status as a civilian.

“For all four years, this is someone who at every opportunity tried to stretch presidential power beyond the limits of the law,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss. I think he’s done tremendous damage in the last several weeks.”Jeopardizing the peaceful transfer of power was hardly Trump's first assault on the traditions of the presidency. He rage tweeted at members of his own party and used government property for political purposes, including the White House as the backdrop for his renomination acceptance speech. Trump used National Guard troops to clear a largely peaceful protest across from the White House for a photo-op. He held superspreader events at the White House and contracted the virus himself.

Retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, the Biden administrations choice to be secretary of defense, speaks at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020. In the past, they’ve opposed naming recently retired military officers to a post typically occupied by civilians, yet they don't want to defy their party's incoming president nor be seen as blocking history. Before announcing that he'd settled on Austin, Biden was facing pressure from activists over a lack of diversity in some of the key posts of the Cabinet he was building. Now the Mattis period at the Pentagon is viewed by some as an argument against waiving the rule again. Thankfully, Biden is neither, so the circumstances don’t support a waiver.”___Weissert, Burns and Mascaro reported from Washington.

Biden countered the concerns by arguing that Austin knows that a Pentagon chief's duties are different from those of a military officer. But the requirement for a congressional waiver makes getting him installed as Pentagon chief more complicated than usual. Austin retired in 2016 after 41 years in the Army and has never held a political position. Some prominent Democrats opposed the Mattis waiver, and among those who voted for it, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island expressed doubts. Biden has known Austin at least since the general's years leading U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq while Biden was vice president.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of defense, according to four people familiar with the decision. Biden selected Austin over the longtime front-runner candidate, Michele Flournoy, a former senior Pentagon official and Biden supporter who would have been the first woman to serve as defense secretary. Biden also had considered Jeh Johnson, a former Pentagon general counsel and former secretary of homeland defense. Like Mattis, Austin would need to obtain a congressional waiver to serve as defense secretary. When Austin retired in 2016, Obama praised his “character and competence,” as well as his judgment and leadership.

In this photo released by the U.S. Navy, Vice Adm. Sam Paparo speaks to sailors about the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima off Mayport, Florida, Sept. 20, 2017. Navy via AP)DUBAI – The top U.S. Navy official in the Mideast said Sunday that America has reached an “uneasy deterrence” with Iran after months of regional attacks and seizures at sea, even as tensions remain high between Washington and Tehran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. He described having a “healthy respect” for both Iran’s regular navy and the naval forces of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. “We have achieved an uneasy deterrence. That uneasy deterrence is exacerbated by world events and by events along the way,” the vice admiral said.

President-elect Joe Bidens first wave of Cabinet picks and choices for his White House staff have prized staying power over star power, with a premium placed on government experience and proficiency as he looks to rebuild a depleted and demoralized federal bureaucracy. President-elect Joe Biden has prized staying power over star power when making his first wave of Cabinet picks and choices for White House staff, with a premium placed on government experience and proficiency as he looks to rebuild a depleted and demoralized federal bureaucracy. “Collectively, this team has secured some of the most defining national security and diplomatic achievements in recent memory — made possible through decades of experience working with our partners,” Biden said Tuesday as he unveiled his national security team. His choice for national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was the deputy to that post under President Barack Obama. ___EDITOR'S NOTE — Jonathan Lemire has covered the White House and national politics for The Associated Press since 2013.

Flournoy, a politically moderate Pentagon veteran, is regarded by U.S. officials and political insiders as a top choice for President-elect Joe Bide to choose to head the Pentagon. Michele Flournoy, a politically moderate Pentagon veteran, is regarded by U.S. officials and political insiders as a top choice for the position. If confirmed, Flournoy would face a future that is expected to involve shrinking Pentagon budgets and potential military involvement in the distribution of a coronavirus vaccine. She has been outspoken on American foreign and defense policy, particularly over the past year. The Defense Department is one of three Cabinet agencies — the others being Treasury and Veterans Affairs — that have never been led by a woman.

President Donald Trump has fired Esper. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday, an unprecedented move by a president struggling to accept election defeat and angry at a Pentagon leader he believes wasn't loyal enough. I would like to thank him for his service.”In a letter to Trump, Esper referred to his efforts to keep the Pentagon apolitical -- a resistance that often angered Trump. Esper didn't thank Trump, but he also didn't openly criticize the president or his policies. “President Trump’s decision to fire Secretary Esper out of spite is not just childish, it’s also reckless.”Former military leaders weighed in.

“People need to understand how dangerous a moment we are in.”There are plenty of others weighing the same decision. But Mattis and Coats, like former White House chief of staff John Kelly and former national security adviser H.R. The White House punched back with an aggressive attack campaign aimed at discrediting her through a barrage of statements, interviews and denunciations from the lectern in the White House briefing room. “The White House knows if they show this is a very costly thing to do they will scare people from going forward," he said. He added that while more people are still considering coming forward, the White House tactics have worked to some extent — dissuading one senior official who had been on the cusp of speaking out.

WASHINGTON – Federal officials intercepted an envelope addressed to the White House that contained the poison ricin, a U.S. law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Saturday. A preliminary investigation indicated it tested positive for ricin, a poison found naturally in castor beans, the U.S. official said. The U.S. official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Federal investigators were working to determine where the enveloped originated and who mailed it. In 2014, a Mississippi man was sentenced to 25 years in prison after sending letters dusted with ricin to President Barack Obama and other officials.

As he engaged in nuclear arms talks with Kim, Trump dismissed intelligence officials' assessments that North Korea would never give up its nuclear weapons. Trump told Woodward that the CIA has no idea how to handle Pyongyang. Critics said that by meeting Kim, Trump provided the North Korean leader with legitimacy on the world stage. Kim wrote to Trump that he believed the deep and special friendship between us will work as a magical force." But the sources did not provide details and told Woodward, according to the book, that they were surprised Trump had disclosed it.

The relationship between the nation's military community and the Republican president has been strained repeatedly over the course of Trump's turbulent first term. Trump's relationship with the nation's military community has been frequently strained. Biden leaned into the debate Tuesday, calling the Trump administration's handling of the Russian intelligence an absolute dereliction of duty." Erik Hendriks lost his 25-year-old son in an April 2019 attack that intelligence officials believe may be tied to the Russian bounties. He admitted, however, that many of his close friends from the military community continue to support Trump.

President Donald Trump points during his campaign rally at the BOK Center in downtown Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, June 20, 2020. The political world was genuinely surprised to see thousands of empty seats at Trump's comeback rally in Oklahoma over the weekend. And perhaps more importantly, the finger-pointing inside Trump's campaign will intensify ahead of a possible staff shakeup. ___2020 Watch runs every Monday and provides a look at the week ahead in the 2020 election. ___Catch up on the 2020 election campaign with AP experts on our weekly politics podcast, Ground Game.

Addressing newly minted officers graduating from West Point last Saturday, Trump said, We are ending the era of endless wars. In targeting Germany, Trump cast his troop cut not as an improvement for U.S. national security but as economic punishment for Germany. This is the kind of antagonism toward allies that bothered Trump's first defense secretary, Jim Mattis, so much that he quit. At the time of his resignation in December 2018, Mattis was upset by Trump's sudden decision later amended to remove all American troops from Syria, abandoning their Kurdish partners. In Congress, Republicans as well as Democrats have answered Trump's Germany announcement with strong caution.

And now Lafayette Square. Trump had briefly been forced to take shelter in the emergency White House bunker and flames had risen from St. Johns Church across from the executive mansion. Lafayette Square was ordered to be cleared. The White House quickly produced a slick ad celebrating the triumph. Some observers believe Trump may be able to cast aside Lafayette Square too.

Walking behind Trump from left are, Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley crafted a low public profile in his first eight months on the job, but that changed after the walk. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)WASHINGTON In his first eight months as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley carefully crafted a low-key public profile. He knew that splashy and sassy were unlikely to endear him to his boss, President Donald Trump. Milley is known in the military as a charismatic leader who commanded troops during several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

FILE - In this June 1, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump arrives to speak in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. Trump has remained largely silent on that, except to argue that a strong economy is the best antidote. Sometimes youll see some horrible things like we witnessed recently," he said, referring to Floyd's death at a White House meeting Monday with law enforcement officials. Before his 2016 run, Trump spent years pushing the false claim that President Barack Obama, the nations only black president, was not born in the United States. The fact is the mainstream media wont give the president the credit he deserves for improving lives in the black community, Scott said.

Trump has remained largely silent on that, except to argue that a strong economy is the best antidote. But those who flooded the streets after Floyds death want to know what he plans to address the systemic racism they believe is at fault and what Trump himself believes. Sometimes youll see some horrible things like we witnessed recently," he said, referring to Floyd's death at a White House meeting Monday with law enforcement officials. Before his 2016 run, Trump spent years pushing the false claim that President Barack Obama, the nations only black president, was not born in the United States. The fact is the mainstream media wont give the president the credit he deserves for improving lives in the black community, Scott said.

WASHINGTON Utah Sen. Mitt Romney on Monday became the latest prominent Republican to cast doubt on his support for President Donald Trump's reelection, saying he would stay quiet about whom he'll be supporting in November. Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, told reporters on Capitol Hill that I'm not going to be describing who I'll be voting for." In 2016, Romney said publicly that he would support neither Trump nor Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The relationship between Trump and Romney is acrimonious. Romney was the only GOP senator to support removing Trump from office after the president's impeachment trial earlier this year.

Barrs comments in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday were his most detailed explanation yet of what unfolded outside the White House earlier this week. They come after the White House and others said repeatedly that the attorney general ordered officers to clear the park. Earlier in the week, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters it was Barr who made the decision to push back the security perimeter outside the White House on Monday morning. Barr said it was a Park Police tactical commander an official he never spoke to who gave the order for the law enforcement agencies to move in and clear the protesters. Members of the National Guard were present but didn't engage with the protesters, Barr said.

He later watched with dismay Trump's hard-line response to the police killing of George Floyd and the civil unrest that followed. Lund, who is white, now plans to vote a straight Democratic ticket and rejects any effort by Trump to put a silver lining on the nation's pain. "Even the most die-hard Trump supporters are exhausted.Trump is leading a nation grappling with unemployment rates not seen since the Great Depression. She said she wasn't going to support Trump before Floyds death but is now considering recruiting new Democratic voters. But back in Wisconsin, a state Trump narrowly carried four years ago, the restaurant worker Lund isn't so sure.

WASHINGTON WASHINGTON (AP) Freshman Sen. Tom Cotton has risen to the ranks of potential 2024 Republican presidential contenders by making all the right enemies. By lining up behind President Donald Trumps law-and-order recipe for controlling civic unrest, hes making even more. Representing a state that has turned increasingly Republican in recent years, Cotton faces reelection in November with no Democratic opponent. Senator Cotton is standing with President Trump to take on China and keep America great, the announcer says. Hes a really serious guy.Cotton served one House term before being elected to the Senate in 2014, defeating Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor.

WASHINGTON Scores of retired military and defense leaders are denouncing President Donald Trump and accusing him of using the U.S. Armed Forces to undermine the rights of Americans protesting police brutality and the killing of George Floyd. The condemnation Friday came in an op-ed in The Washington Post, signed by 89 former defense officials, and in a letter in support of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, signed by 55 retired military leaders. The president also threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy federal troops to quell the protests. In the letter released by the Biden campaign, leaders including retired Gen. Merrill McPeak, an Air Force chief of staff in the 1990s, call on Trump to stop tarnishing the military by deploying its forces against peaceful protesters. Those of us who have served believe the greatness of our military -- and the greatness of our nation -- depends upon the calls for change in the streets today becoming votes for change in November, the 55 military leaders wrote.

Barrs comments in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday were his most detailed explanation yet of what unfolded outside the White House earlier this week. They come after the White House and others said repeatedly that the attorney general ordered officers to clear the park. Earlier in the week, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters it was Barr who made the decision to push back the security perimeter outside the White House on Monday morning. Barr said it was a Park Police tactical commander an official he never spoke to who gave the order for the law enforcement agencies to move in and clear the protesters. Members of the National Guard were present but didn't engage with the protesters, Barr said.

FILE - In this April 1, 2020, file photo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. But he has stayed closely aligned with the president's national security policies and kept in his good graces. The possibility of using the Insurrection Act, which has not been invoked since the 1992 rioting in Los Angeles, had been discussed in the White House but never explicitly proposed publicly by Trump. The president has suggested he would use all available military force, however, if state governors couldn't stop the violence. Asked Wednesday about Esper's standing with Trump, the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, offered something less than a ringing endorsement.

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told The Associated Press that the decision was reversed after Esper's visit to the White House. Helmeted forces formed a ring around Lafayette Park across from the White House. The clampdown followed a weekend of demonstrations outside the White House. He was also angry about the news coverage revealing he had gone to the secure White House bunker during Fridays protests. Trump on Wednesday acknowledged he visited the bunker Friday but claimed he was only conducting an inspection as protests raged outside the White House gates.

The most serious new charge Wednesday was an accusation of second-degree murder against Derek Chauvin, who was caught on video pressing his knee to Floyds neck. The three other officers at the scene were charged for the first time with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Protests were still big, but largely peaceful in California, where NBA stars Steph Curry and Klay Thompson marched with protesters in Oakland. The new second-degree murder charge alleges that Chauvin caused Floyds death without intent while committing another felony, namely third-degree assault. The protests have also taken root overseas, including in Athens, London, Helsinki, Rotterdam and Bogota, among other cities.

FILE - In this April 1, 2020, file photo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. The president has suggested he would use all available military force, however, if state governors couldn't stop the violence. Asked Wednesday about Esper's standing with Trump, the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, offered something less than a ringing endorsement. He became Trumps second Pentagon chief after his first, retired Gen. Jim Mattis, resigned in December 2018 in a policy dispute. Milley, the Joint Chiefs chairman, also has taken heat from critics for his role in managing the response to the protests.

The criticism was all the more remarkable because Mattis has generally kept a low profile since retiring as defense secretary in December 2018 to protest Trump's Syria policy. But hes speaking out after this past weeks protests in response to the death of George Floyd in police custody. Mattis called on Americans to "unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. Mattis said of the protesters that Americans should not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution," Mattis said.