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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...In announcement, state’s Democratic chair touts grassroots and new media organizing success in closely divided state
Wisconsin Democratic leader Ben Wikler joined the race to lead the Democratic National Committee on Sunday, promising “to take on Trump, Republican extremists, and move our country forward”, as the party looks to rebuild from its losses in the November election.
In a video posted on social networks, Wikler, 43, touted his state party’s success in organizing to flip 14 state legislative seats and send Senator Tammy Baldwin back to Washington DC in November, and in previously campaigns to win control of the state supreme court and re-elect governor Tony Evers. Wikler, a former podcaster, Air America radio producer and headline writer for The Onion, also stressed his new media expertise.
Continue reading...Email from mother, published in the New York Times, said he mistreated women and displayed a lack of character
The family dynamics of Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, have burst out into the open after an email from his mother criticizing her son over his treatment of women and calling him an “abuser of women” was leaked to a newspaper.
A 2018 email from Penelope Hegseth accused her son of routinely mistreating women and displaying a lack of character.
Continue reading...Boris Epshteyn, Susie Wiles and JD Vance hold outsized influence in the president-elect’s administration selections
Donald Trump’s picks for the incoming administration are being shaped by a combination of different power centers including one-man influences like top Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn and combined groups led by chief of staff Susie Wiles and vice-president-elect JD Vance.
The president-elect appears to have settled on a number of cabinet nominees himself without being aggressively pushed by advisers, including Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, Marco Rubio for secretary of state and Russ Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget.
Continue reading...US expert who predicted outcome says models showed voters were unhappy with economy but did not seek sweeping transformation
Despite Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the presidential election, a political scientist who developed a model that correctly predicted his sweep of battleground states warns that voters have not necessarily given the president-elect a mandate to make radical changes.
In a paper released with little fanfare three weeks before the vote, Cornell University professor of government Peter Enns and his co-authors accurately forecast that Trump would win all seven swing states, based on a model they built that uses state-level presidential approval ratings and indicators of economic health.
Continue reading...Hegseth’s conspiracy theory- and falsehood-laden book American Crusade depicts Islam as historic enemy of west
Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth, who has the crusader motto “deus vult” tattooed on his arm, has put bigoted anti-Muslim rhetoric at the center of several of his published books, according to a Guardian review of the materials.
Hegseth, especially in 2020’s American Crusade, depicts Islam as a natural, historic enemy of the west; presents distorted versions of Muslim doctrine in “great replacement”-style racist conspiracy theories; treats leftists and Muslims as bound together in their efforts to subvert the US; and idolises medieval crusaders.
Continue reading...Son of Vietnamese refugees beats Michelle Steel in seat drawn to give Asian Americans stronger voice in capital
Democrat Derek Tran ousted Republican Michelle Steel in a southern California House district Wednesday that was specifically drawn to give Asian Americans a stronger voice on Capitol Hill.
Steel said in a statement: “Like all journeys, this one is ending for a new one to begin.” When she captured the seat in 2020, Steel joined Washington state Democrat Marilyn Strickland and California Republican Young Kim as the first Korean American women elected to Congress.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Retired US army general and former Pence aide tapped for newly conceived role to negotiate amid ongoing war
Donald Trump has picked Keith Kellogg to serve as a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, a newly conceived role given the ongoing war between the two countries.
Kellogg, an 80-year-old retired US army lieutenant general, would start in the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its third year.
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Donald Trump has used the fentanyl crisis gripping the US to support his ambition to impose trade tariffs on China. It gives the incoming US president an opportunity to both appear to be addressing the narcotics emergency, while also reinforcing one of his key aims in terms of US trade.
China is the dominant source of chemical precursors used by Mexican cartels to produce fentanyl, while Chinese money launderers have also become key players in the international drug trade, US authorities say.
Trump has said that, as soon as he gets into office, he will impose a 25% tariff on “ALL products coming into the United States” from Mexico and Canada.
He says the tariffs will remain in place until both countries clamp down on migrants and drugs crossing the border into the US.
Trump also says he will impose a further 10% tariff “above any additional tariffs” on all products coming into the US from China.
It was not entirely clear what this would mean for China as Trump has previously pledged to end China’s most-favoured-nation trading status and slap tariffs on Chinese imports in excess of 60% - much higher than those imposed during his first term.
The reasons for the China tariff, Trump said, was their failure to curb the supply of drugs into the US. China is a major producer of the chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl.
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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.”
Continue reading...Michael Anton, national security official in first Trump term, reportedly removed name from contention over feud
A frontrunner to be deputy national security adviser in Donald Trump’s administration reportedly withdrew from the running after learning that he would have to work with Sebastian Gorka, the president-elect’s choice as counter-terrorism adviser.
Michael Anton, a conservative speech writer and national security official in Trump’s first presidency, removed his name from contention over Gorka’s appointment against a backdrop of acrimonious past relations between the pair, the Washington Post reported.
Continue reading...Revealed: Pete Hegseth writes scathingly of key institutions and says ‘If you love America, you should love Israel’
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, has attacked several key US alliances such as Nato, allied countries such as Turkey and international institutions such as the United Nations in two recent books, as well as saying US troops should not be bound by the Geneva conventions.
At the same time, the man who would head America’s gigantic military has tied US foreign policy almost entirely to the priority of Israel, a country of which he says: “If you love America, you should love Israel.”
Continue reading...Democrat Tammy Duckworth says Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard are unqualified for roles Trump wants them to fill
A prominent Republican US senator pledged on Sunday that Congress would not give blanket approval to Donald Trump’s controversial cabinet picks ahead of the congressional confirmation process, as a leading Democrat challenged the qualifications of some of them to serve.
Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma predicted lawmakers in the upper chamber will have tough questions in particular for the former Democratic congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, who was chosen by the president-elect as director of national security for his second administration.
Continue reading...Choice of president of America First Policy Institute completes top cabinet picks for president-elect
Donald Trump has chosen Brooke Rollins, president of the America First Policy Institute, to be agriculture secretary.
“As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American Farmers, who are truly the backbone of our Country,” the US president-elect said in a statement.
Continue reading...Trump’s former national security adviser says Gorka is the ‘worst cabinet appointment in recent American history’
Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton has laid into Sebastian Gorka, the president-elect’s pick for counter-terrorism chief, as a “conman” whose selection is not “going to bode well for counter-terrorism efforts when the [national security council’s] senior director is somebody like that”.
Trump praised Gorka, an immigrant from Hungary, as a “tireless advocate for the America First Agenda and the MAGA Movement”.
Continue reading...Russell Vought led the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term and is pushing for a workaround to install president-elect’s picks
Even before Donald Trump tapped Project 2025 architect Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a second time, Vought’s thinktank had gotten to work in recent weeks lobbying for recess appointments – a means by which Trump could attempt to circumvent the US Senate’s confirmation process.
Vought, who served as director of the OMB during Trump’s first term and of the thinktank he launched in 2021, is advocating for the archaic method to install Trump’s nominees, including Vought himself and some of Trump’s most heavily criticized picks.
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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...Karl Rove says in Wall Street Journal that Trump has ‘created chaos and controversy’ before he’s even in office
As Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump’s first nominee for attorney general, withdrew after eight days amid allegations of sexual misconduct and more, and as Trump’s new pick, Pam Bondi, faced scrutiny of her own, a leading Republican strategist rebuked the president-elect for bringing “chaos” back to Washington.
“Inadequate vetting, impatience, disregard for qualifications and a thirst for revenge have created chaos and controversy for Mr Trump before he’s even in office,” said Karl Rove, once known as George W Bush’s “Brain”, in the Wall Street Journal.
Continue reading...Ex-Florida attorney general is longtime Trump ally and was one of his lawyers during first impeachment trial
Donald Trump announced that he would nominate for attorney general Pam Bondi, the former Florida state attorney general, hours after the former representative Matt Gaetz withdrew in the face of opposition from Senate Republicans who had balked over a series of sexual misconduct allegations.
The move to name Bondi reflected Trump’s determination to install a loyalist as the nation’s top law enforcement official and marked another instance of Trump putting his personal lawyers in the justice department.
Continue reading...