The return of President-elect Trump is motivating some of Hakeem Jeffries' House Democrats to shove aside older colleagues for top committee spots.

Why it matters: The party can't manage another two years under gerontocracy, many Democrats tell us, even if challenging committee leaders is frowned on.

• "There is growing anxiousness among younger members to get their chance," one senior House Democrat told us.
• "Some of them need to be put out to pasture," a ranking House Democrat told us about their party's committee leaders.

🥊 The challengers aren't young either, but they're going after Democratic committee leadership members in their late 70s.

• Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), 60, is challenging Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), 76, as ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee. Grijalva announced a cancer diagnosis in April and said he won't seek reelection.
• Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), 61, is considering a challenge to Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), 77, as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
• Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), 72, is trying to unseat Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), 79, as ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee. Scott's health has long been a concern and he's been absent the last two weeks.

👀 What they're saying: "I think the question we should all be asking ourselves is, 'Do we have people who are ready to roll up their sleeves and fight like hell?'" Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) told us.

• "In many of those instances you have the people already, and in others some people may not feel they do," she added.

The bottom line: Some Democrats see this as a moment to strike on House GOP-style term limits for committee leaders.

• "We may be seeing some shift in the norm of whether or not that gets you in hot water," said Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), a champion of term limits.
• Foster said Dems recognized the "tremendous boost when Kamala Harris took over for Joe Biden" as the Democratic presidential nominee.

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— Andrew Solender

Trump was eager to jaw GOP senators into supporting Matt Gaetz's nomination, as we scooped earlier this week. Today, he used that intel to tell Gaetz to drop out.

• 🛑 "You don't have the votes," Trump told Gaetz, as The Bulwark first reported and we have confirmed.
• Trump didn't wait long. He quickly named former Florida AG Pam Bondi as his next U.S. attorney general nominee.

Why it matters: Republicans were bracing for an institutional showdown over recess appointments, or the Senate GOP voting down its own president's nominee. But Trump pulled the plug on Gaetz after eight days.

• His rapid exit startled GOP senators who'd heard the former lawmaker out this week.

"I know they felt very optimistic yesterday evening," Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told us today. He was one of several who met with Gaetz yesterday.

• Gaetz's only ask during the meetings was for a Judiciary Committee hearing, according to a person familiar with the matter.
• Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said bluntly "there was no path" for Gaetz, but he was "surprised it happened this quick."

The bottom line: Gaetz understood too many Senate Republicans were likely to stand in his way, a source familiar told us.

• That list included Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Sen.-elect John Curtis (R-Utah), the New York Times reported.
• Incoming Senate GOP leader John Thune can only lose three Republicans while still confirming Trump nominees.

— Stef Kight, Juliegrace Brufke and Hans Nichols

McConnell, the outgoing Senate GOP leader, will chair the Senate Rules Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, he said today.

• Collins will chair the full Appropriations Committee.
• As subcommittee chair, McConnell will play a critical role in decisions around defense spending. He's repeatedly raised alarms about the U.S. military being underfunded.
• "America's national security interests face the gravest array of threats since the Second World War," McConnell said in a statement today.

Between the lines: McConnell is using his seniority to leapfrog Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), who had been in line to chair Rules.

— Stef Kight

A late-night deal with Republicans has kept outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on track to break McConnell's record for confirming judges.

• Schumer axed four judicial nominees in exchange for a path to passage for over a dozen judges through the end of the year. Those four didn't have the votes either way, his office told us.

Why it matters: Republicans pulled Schumer to the negotiating table after dragging out judicial confirmation votes past midnight.

• Senate Democrats have confirmed 221 judges under the Biden administration — just 13 short of the GOP record from Trump 1.0.

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— Stephen Neukam