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President-elect Donald Trump - as we reported earlier - responded angrily to Joe Biden’s pardon.
But he himself pardoned several allies and friends in own final days in office among the 70 people granted clemency in 2021.
Continue reading...Congressman launches bid to unseat colleague from key role in committee to sharpen resistance to Trump
Jamie Raskin, the Maryland congressman who spearheaded the second impeachment of Donald Trump, has announced a bid to unseat a veteran Democratic colleague from a key role in a Capitol Hill committee as part of a party drive to sharpen its opposition in preparation for Trump’s return to the White House.
After days of speculation, Raskin said he would challenge Jerrold Nadler of New York for the post of ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives’ judiciary committee.
Continue reading...‘Deep state’ critic who has threatened to shut down agency’s headquarters could face tough confirmation battle
Donald Trump’s plan to nominate as FBI director the “deep state” conspiracy theorist Kash Patel, a virulent critic of the bureau who has threatened to fire its top echelons and shut down the agency’s headquarters, is facing blowback in Congress as US senators begin to flex their muscles ahead of a contentious confirmation process.
Politicians from both main parties took to the Sunday talk shows to express starkly divergent views on Patel, whom Trump announced on Saturday as his pick to lead the most powerful law enforcement agency in the US. The move is dependent on the incumbent FBI chief, Christopher Wray, who Trump himself placed in the job in 2017, either being fired or resigning.
Continue reading...Jim Himes, Joe Courtney and John Larson report threats to their homes, a day after Trump cabinet picks targeted
Several Democratic members of Congress from Connecticut have been targeted by bomb threats on their homes, the lawmakers or their offices said on Thursday.
Jim Himes, Joe Courtney and John Larson all reported that their homes were the subject of bomb threats. Police who responded said they found no evidence of a bomb on the lawmakers’ properties.
This happened a day after a number of Donald Trump’s most prominent cabinet picks and appointees reported that they had received bomb threats and “swatting attacks”, in which perpetrators initiate an emergency law enforcement response against a victim under false pretences.
Courtney’s Vernon home received a bomb threat while his wife and children were there, his office said.
Himes said on Thursday morning he was notified of the threat against his home during a Thanksgiving celebration with his family. The US Capitol police and Greenwich and Stamford police departments responded.
Himes extended his family’s “utmost gratitude to our local law enforcement officers for their immediate action to ensure our safety”. He added: “There is no place for political violence in this country, and I hope that we may all continue through the holiday season with peace and civility.”
Larson also said on Thursday that East Hartford police responded to a bomb threat against his home.
The threats follow an election season marked by violence. In July, a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing him in the ear and killing one of his supporters. The Secret Service later thwarted a subsequent assassination attempt at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course in Florida, when an agent spotted the barrel of a gun poking through a perimeter fence while Trump was golfing.
Among those who received threats on Wednesday were New York representative Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick to serve as the next ambassador to the UN; Matt Gaetz, Trump’s initial pick to serve as attorney general; Oregon representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who Trump chose to lead the Department of Labor, and former New York congressman Lee Zeldin, who has been tapped to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
Mike Rounds submitted bill that needs supermajority to pass, unlikely even in GOP-controlled Senate next year
A bill that would accomplish Donald Trump’s goal of abolishing the federal Department of Education has been introduced into the US Senate.
The Republican senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota introduced the bill, called the Returning Education to Our States Act, on Thursday. If passed, the bill would see $200bn in funding and the work of the education department redistributed to other federal agencies and states.
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Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to Donald Trump, has said that he and the president-elect have “no concerns at all” regarding Pete Hegseth’s confirmation by the Senate as the next US secretary of defense.
During an appearance on NewsMax, Lewandowski was asked if Trump had any concerns about Hegseth and his nomination, to which Lewandowski responded: “We have no concerns at all.”
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In a new interview on Friday, Matt Gaetz revealed that he will not be returning to Congress next year.
Speaking to conservative talk show host Charlie Kirk, Gaetz, who withdrew his attorney general nomination yesterday, said:
“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” CNN reports.
“There are a number of fantastic Floridians who’ve stepped up to run for my seat, people who have inspired with their heroism, with their public service. And I’m actually excited to see northwest Florida go to new heights and have great representation… I’m going to be fighting for President Trump. I’m going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have. But I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress.”
“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
Continue reading...In a Washington farce for the ages, the far-right Republican has withdrawn from consideration for US attorney general – how did it happen?
Donald Trump decided to nominate Matt Gaetz as attorney general last Wednesday, during a flight home from Washington, where the president-elect had visited Joe Biden at the White House. The pick proved as surprising as it was controversial. Just eight days later, after a week of relentless hullabaloo, Gaetz withdrew from contention.
It was a Washington farce for the ages. But how did it happen?
Continue reading...Following statement from Mike Johnson, McBride says: ‘I’m not here to fight about bathrooms, I’m here to … bring down costs facing families’
Sarah McBride, the incoming congresswoman and first openly transgender person elected to the US House of Representatives, on Wednesday shared a statement on social media in response to the House banning trans people from using single-sex bathrooms on Capitol Hill that match their gender identity.
Earlier in the day, the House speaker, Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson, issued a statement “regarding facilities throughout the US Capitol complex”.
Continue reading...Democrat Susan Wild says committee chair Michael Guest mischaracterized meeting and committee will reconvene in December; Markary opposed Covid vaccine mandates
The Federal Reserve must not remove Wells Fargo’s $1.95tn asset cap until the bank has fixed its risk management and compliance issues, top Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren told the US central bank on Wednesday, reports Reuters.
In a letter to Fed chair, Jerome Powell, and the central bank’s regulatory chief, Michael Barr, Warren said the Fed must reject Wells Fargo reported appeal to have the punishment imposed in 2018 lifted until it “can show that it can properly manage the risks associated with running a large bank”.
Continue reading...Panel met on Wednesday but didn’t reach a decision on releasing the report on Trump’s controversial AG pick
The House ethics committee deadlocked on releasing a report examining allegations of sexual misconduct against Matt Gaetz, the former Republican representative and Donald Trump’s choice to lead the US justice department, after the panel met behind closed doors on Wednesday.
Emerging from the meeting after roughly two hours, most members of the panel declined to offer details on their discussion, but the Republican chair, Michael Guest, told reporters that there was “not an agreement by the committee to release the report”.
Continue reading...Members of Congress call on president to pardon or commute sentences before he leaves White House
More than 60 members of Congress have written to Joe Biden calling on him to use his presidential clemency powers to reunite families, address unfair sentencing policies, and begin to tackle the scourge of mass incarceration, which they said was eroding “the soul of America”.
Biden has 61 days left before he leaves the White House in which he could pardon or commute the sentences of incarcerated Americans. The letter, signed by a number of prominent Democratic politicians and spearheaded by the progressive politician Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, urges Biden to act while he still can.
Continue reading...President-elect picks prominent donor and co-chair of transition team as education secretary; Trump won’t rethink Gaetz for attorney general despite mounting scrutiny
President-elect Donald Trump will join billionaire Elon Musk for a SpaceX launch in Texas later today, as reported by Reuters.
This will be the sixth test flight to space for SpaceX’s Starship rocket. The test launch is planned for 5pm ET.
Continue reading...Former Republican congressman from Wisconsin was also a cast member on MTV’s The Real World: Boston
Donald Trump has named Sean Duffy, a former Republican congressman from Wisconsin,and former cast member of the MTV show The Real World, to serve as the secretary of transportation. He was also a co-host on Fox Business but left that role on Monday, according to Fox News Media.
Duffy served in Congress from 2011 until 2019. Before being elected to public office, he was district attorney for Ashland county, Wisconsin, from 2002 to 2008 and previously had a reality TV show role. Duffy was a cast member on The Real World: Boston in 1997 where he would meet his wife, Fox news contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy.
Continue reading...Far-right Florida congressman to get top justice job; former Democrat Gabbard frequently appeared with Trump on the campaign trail
Mehdi Hasan writes for the Guardian today, asking “Is Donald Trump a foreign policy dove?”
You can read it here …
Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, that means casualties are worse.
Continue reading...Trump also suggests to House Republicans he might seek a third term in office, which is prohibited by US constitution
Donald Trump met with Joe Biden on Wednesday and promised a transfer of power that is “as smooth as it can get”, as the outgoing US president pledged his administration’s every possible resource to pave the way for his successor.
The two men, longtime political rivals who must now work together again to pass the reins of power, shook hands as they met in the Oval Office. Introducing Trump as both a former president and now president-elect, Biden congratulated him on his victory.
Continue reading...Tesla CEO and onetime Republican presidential hopeful put forward to lead department to ‘dismantle government bureaucracy’
Joe Biden is meeting with two foreign leaders at the White House today.
At 11.15am, he will speak with Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, then with Indonesia’s president, Prabowo Subianto, at 2pm.
Continue reading...Trump’s win in the state gives him 301 electoral votes, even as Democratic incumbent is re-elected to Senate
Donald Trump has won his sixth battleground state of the 2024 election, flipping the state for the Republicans early on Saturday, by beating Kamala Harris in Nevada.
The president-elect has 301 electoral college votes so far, well beyond the 270 point he surpassed early on Wednesday to take the White House, over Democratic rival Kamala Harris, and the Republican has now won six of the seven battleground states. On Saturday morning only Arizona remained to be called.
Trump wins the presidency – how did it happen?
With Trump re-elected, this is what’s at stake
Abortion ballot measure results by state
Continue reading...Unnamed official of Iranian guard told a contact in September to create a plan to kill Trump, complaint says; judge grants Jack Smith’s ask to pause proceedings after election result
A federal judge has struck down a Biden administration policy that aimed to ease a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants who are married to US citizens.
The program, lauded as one of the biggest presidential actions to help immigrant families in years, allowed undocumented spouses and stepchildren of US citizens to apply for a green card without first having to leave the country.
The temporary relief from deportation brought a brief sense of security to some 500,000 immigrants estimated to benefit from the program before Texas-based U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker put it on hold in August, days after applicants filed their paperwork.
Barker ruled yesterday that the Biden administration had overstepped its authority by implementing the program and had stretched the legal interpretation of relevant immigration law “past its breaking point.”
The short-lived Biden administration initiative known as “Keeping Families Together” would have been unlikely to remain in place after Donald Trump took office in January. But its early termination creates greater uncertainty for immigrant families as many are bracing for Trump’s return to the White House.
CNN’s latest projection of the crucial races to gain control of the House has Republicans ahead in ten of the contests, with, according to their projections, only six victories needed to tip them over the magic 218 for control.
Continue reading...McCormick ousts incumbent Democratic Bob Casey after contentious and expensive race, widening party’s majority
The Republican Dave McCormick won the Senate race in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Thursday, denying the Democratic incumbent, Bob Casey, a fourth term and expanding his party’s majority in the upper chamber. Despite the call from the Associated Press, Casey has refused to concede the race, as the top state election official reported that tens of thousands of ballots remained uncounted.
When the AP called the race at 4.09pm ET on Thursday, two days after polls closed in Pennsylvania, McCormick led by 0.5 points. The narrow margin raised the possibility of a recount, although Casey faces an uphill climb in overcoming McCormick’s lead of roughly 30,000 votes.
Trump wins the presidency – how did it happen?
Full presidential election results and map
Abortion ballot measure results by state
Republicans retake control of the Senate
Senate, House and governor results
Continue reading...