Trump team says Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal brokered by Biden is actually Trump's win

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration kept President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration closely apprised of its efforts to broker the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah that took effect early Wednesday, according to the outgoing Democratic administration.

Trump’s team, meanwhile, was quick to spike the football and claim credit for the rare spot of good news for a Democratic administration that's been dragged down by the grinding Mideast conflict.

“Everyone is coming to the table because of President Trump,” Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice for his national security adviser, said in a post on X on Tuesday, shortly before the Israel Cabinet signed off on the agreement. “His resounding victory sent a clear message to the rest of the world that chaos won’t be tolerated. I’m glad to see concrete steps towards deescalation in the Middle East.”

The Biden administration's reported coordination with Trump's team on its efforts to forge the ceasefire in Lebanon is perhaps the highest-profile example of cooperation in what's been a sometimes choppy transition period.

Trump's transition team just Tuesday reached a required agreement with President Joe Biden’s White House that will allow transition staff to coordinate with the existing federal workforce before Trump takes office on Jan. 20. There has been some coordination on high levels between the outgoing Biden and incoming Trump teams, including talks between Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Waltz.

Biden in Rose Garden remarks on Tuesday cheered the ceasefire agreement as a critical step that he hoped could be the catalyst for a broader peace in the Mideast, which has been shaken by nearly 14 months of war following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities," Biden said. "What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed — I emphasize, will not be allowed — to threaten the security of Israel again.”

White House officials are now hopeful that a calm in Lebanon will reinvigorate a multi-country effort at finding an endgame to the devastating war in Gaza, where Hamas is still holding dozens of hostages and the conflict is more intractable.

Biden said the U.S., as well as Israel, will engage in talks in the coming days with officials from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey to try to get Gaza talks back on track.

But during Biden's moment of success in a conflict that has roiled his reputation at home and abroad, the specter of the incoming Trump administration loomed large.

Trump’s senior national security team was briefed by the Biden administration as negotiations unfolded and finally came to a conclusion on Tuesday, according to a senior Biden administration official. The official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity on a call organized by the White House, added that the incoming Trump administration officials were not directly involved in the talks, but that it was important that they knew “what we were negotiating and what the commitments were."

Trump's team and allies, meanwhile, said there was no doubt that the prospect of the Republican president returning to power pushed both sides to get the agreement done.

Waltz, in addition to giving Trump credit for the ceasefire deal coming together, added a warning to Iran, Hezbollah's chief financial backer.

“But let’s be clear: The Iran Regime is the root cause of the chaos & terror that has been unleashed across the region. We will not tolerate the status quo of their support for terrorism," Waltz said in his post.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, also gave a shoutout to the incoming administration, while giving a nod to Biden's team.

“I appreciate the hard work of the Biden Administration, supported by President Trump, to make this ceasefire a reality,” Graham said in a statement.

Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Washington group Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said the moment magnifies that Iran — which he said would have needed to approve of Hezbollah agreeing to the ceasefire — is carefully weighing what lays ahead with Trump.

"There’s zero doubt that Iran is pulling back to regroup ahead of Trump coming into office," said Goldberg, a National Security Council official in Trump's first administration. “It’s a combination of Israeli military success and Trump’s election — the ayatollah has no clothes and he knows we know.”

The Biden White House is also holding on to a sliver of hope that the Lebanon ceasefire deal could help reinvigorate a long sought after Israel-Saudi normalization deal.

The official said a “lot of work has been done” to get such an agreement on track “but clearly where we are in Gaza is holding us back.”

Biden has said his administration was tantalizingly close to reaching a deal between the Middle East’s two most important powers shortly before the Hamas attack sent tremors throughout the region. He has speculated that the emerging normalization deal was part of Hamas’ motivation in carrying out its attack on Israel when it did.

Just weeks before the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat beside Biden on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly and marveled that a “historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia” seemed within reach — a diplomatic advance that the Israeli leader predicted could lead to lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

The so-called normalization push, which began during Trump’s first administration and was branded the Abraham Accords, is an ambitious effort to reshape the region and boost Israel’s standing.

The Biden White House plans to keep the incoming Trump administration looped in on its efforts and “anything that we will do on this ... we won’t do this unless they know what we’re doing," the Biden administration official said.

Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Zeke Miller and Chris Megerian contributed reporting.

President Joe Biden walking out to speak at a news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

MIAMI (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo, the league's leading scorer this season, was unexpectedly held out of the Milwaukee Bucks' NBA Cup game at the Miami Heat on Tuesday night with swelling in his left knee.

He had been expected to play until about an hour before the game. The team had Antetokounmpo listed as probable with a strained left calf, and then the knee issue evidently flared up.

“I never know,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said, about 90 minutes before game time and moments after the team said there was an issue with the knee. “Honestly, that's breaking news to me, too, right now.”

The Bucks beat Miami 106-103 with Damian Lillard leading the way with 37 points and 12 assists. Milwaukee outscored Miami 60-30 from 3-point range.

Rivers got told about an hour before the game that Antetokounmpo was out, then huddled with coaches and adjusted the game plan accordingly. Even after the game, Rivers still wasn't clear on what had happened and what flared with Antetokounmpo's knee.

“Giannis doesn't miss many games,” Rivers said. “Whatever it is, I'm sure it was the right thing to do.”

Milwaukee doesn't play again until hosting Washington on Saturday. The NBA — under the player participation policy that went into effect last season — has a rule stating that “unless a team demonstrates an approved reason for a star player not to participate in a game,” it must have the star players “for all national television and NBA In-Season Tournament games.”

Antetokounmpo, a two-time MVP, obviously qualifies as a star player by league definition, and the game in Miami was both nationally televised on TNT and an NBA Cup game. The league fined the Atlanta Hawks $100,000 earlier Tuesday for violating the policy by holding Trae Young out of a Cup game against Boston on Nov. 12, after a probe concluded he could have played.

Antetokounmpo — the reigning Eastern Conference player of the week, an award he has captured 24 times — not playing against the Heat does not necessarily mean there will even be a league investigation. The eight-time All-Star is averaging a career-best 32.4 points on 61% shooting this season, and he played in 16 of Milwaukee's first 17 games.

“Listen, the way he plays and how he works, there’s going to be things like this," Rivers said. “And when they come, you just deal with them.”

Khris Middleton, Milwaukee's three-time All-Star forward who has yet to play this season after undergoing surgery on both ankles in the offseason, is ramping up toward a return by getting some 5-on-5 work in on the practice floor.

But there doesn’t seem to be a timetable for a return to games.

“He’s not ready to play yet, but he’s working hard,” Rivers said Tuesday. “He’s gone through 5-on-5. We’ve done some of that. The next steps are getting on the floor, but I can’t tell you when that’s going to happen.”

Rivers noted that Middleton has been playing 4-on-4 for some time and cautioned against reading too much into 5-on-5 work.

“I don’t know what the difference is,” Rivers said. “We added a guy, so I wouldn’t make that big of a deal about it. The key is we just try to get him back on the floor. He’s got to go through the process.”

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Charlotte Hornets' Moussa Diabate fouls Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo during the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Milwaukee. The Bucks won 125-119. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo reacts during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Milwaukee. The Bucks won 125-119. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)