| Pam Bondi. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Pam Bondi, Florida’s former attorney general, is Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the Justice Department after Matt Gaetz bowed out. A long-time defender of the former president, Bondi, 59, has repeated Trump’s claims that the department’s investigations of his conduct have been politically motivated.
The Treasury secretary search drags on, but the Wall Street Journal reported that Donald Trump is considering having Kevin Warsh head the agency with the understanding he may later be nominated to lead the Federal Reserve. (Remember he’s a former Fed board member well known to Wall Street.) Don’t worry, Gary Cohn—onetime chief economic adviser to Trump—says the president-elect has plenty of time to make up his mind.
Bitcoin is still flirting with the landmark $100,000 level, buoyed by expectations of friendly US regulation and expanding investor interest. The crypto market as a whole has gained about $1 trillion since Trump’s Nov. 5 election win, and now Coinbase is hoping to offer more tokens that were previously out-of-bounds for US exchanges. Hey Siri, what’s up? Apple is racing to develop a more conversational version of its Siri digital assistant, aiming to catch up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other voice services, people familiar said. It’s all part of an effort by the tech company to become more of a “force” in artificial intelligence. Deal undone. DirecTV called off its planned acquisition of Dish Network after failing to win over bondholders, ending an effort to create the largest US pay-TV service. Elsewhere, Couche-Tard founder Alain Bouchard said he isn’t considering a hostile takeover bid for 7-Eleven owner, Seven & i, but is keeping his proposal for a $47.3 billion buyout on the table, according to a Nikkei report. | 