Welcome back to The Best & The Brightest. I’m Tara Palmeri.

Mar-a-Lago has stepped up leak patrol ever since Todd Blanche, the nominee for deputy A.G., was spotted at Swifty’s in Palm Beach on Tuesday having a poolside lunch with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who has been sourcing up around town. Raheem Kassam, the editor of The National Pulse and the guy who tweeted photos of the two, has been pressured by Trump aides to delete the post out of fear that it could tank Blanche’s standing with the president-elect and thus, his chance of even making it to the confirmation process. After all, Trump gets furious about leakers, perhaps because he prefers to pick up the phone and do the leaking himself.

In tonight’s issue, news and notes on the faltering nomination of Pete Hegseth and the potential domino effect it might have on other problematic Trump nominees.

But first…

🎧 Somebody’s Gotta Win: A quick plug for my podcast yesterday with Joe Hack, the former Republican chief of staff turned lobbyist, about the kinks in the confirmation process for Trump’s most controversial nominees. Joe knows more than almost anyone about which senators to watch as the deliberations unfold. Listen here or here.

💉Speaking of: A few friends reached out to direct my attention to the… unusual application form to work for R.F.K. Jr., and then presumably...