This blog is closing now, thanks for following along. Here is the full story on Trump choosing Pam Bondi to replace Matt Gaetz as his nominee for attorney general:
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
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.
Gaetz, the former Florida representative, withdrew from consideration as attorney general amid allegations including sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl, drug use and misappropriating campaign funds. His rapid fall came after likely opposition from Republican senators who had squirmed at the notion of approving his nomination, all as the House ethics committee mulled releasing its investigation into his alleged misconduct. Meanwhile, CNN reported that the woman who said she had sex with Gaetz when she was a minor had had a second sexual encounter with him, involving an adult woman.
Rainn, the US’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, wrote that Gaetz’s decision “was in response to survivors and advocates using their voices to demand accountability”. Other women’s rights and empowerment groups, including UltraViolet, acknowledged that it was right for Gaetz to withdraw, while also pointing out that Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees include several others accused of sexual abuse and misconduct.
A handful of Republican senators reacted to Gaetz’s withdrawal, issuing a variety of responses. The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, called the decision “appropriate”, according to the Washington Post. Meanwhile, the senator Cynthia Lummis told CNN that it was good that Gaetz recognized he was a distraction, and that this will allow Trump to appoint someone “equally tenacious” to lead the justice department.
The scrutiny around Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, grew as police unveiled an investigative report into the former Fox News host that further detailed the sexual assault allegations surrounding him. According to the report, Hegseth assaulted a woman after he took her phone, blocked the door to a hotel room and prevented her from leaving.
Meanwhile, the woman who publicly accused Robert F Kennedy Jr of sexual assault when she worked for him as a babysitter said she was motivated to do so when he released a campaign ad based on a famous advertisement for his uncle, President John F Kennedy. “I literally was just watching the Super Bowl and saw the ad and thought: ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me,’” Eliza Cooney told USA Today.
US President Joe Biden has responded to the ICC issuing arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, calling it an “outrageous” decision. In a short statement, he said: “The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania called Dave McCormick to concede a closely fought race in Pennsylvania. The race was decided by less than a quarter of a point. In a post on X, he said: “During my time in office, I have been guided by an inscription on the Finance Building in Harrisburg: ‘All public service is a trust, given in faith and accepted in honor’.”
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'Outrageous': Biden responds to ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders
US President Joe Biden has responded to the ICC issuing arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant, calling it an “outrageous” decision.
In a short statement, he said:
The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.
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Pam Bondi’s elevation to lead the justice department would also come as a result of extraordinary serendipity, after Trump picked Gaetz almost on a whim after he decided against more conventional lawyers.
The selection process for major positions has involved Trump pulling up each candidate on a bank of screens at his Mar-a-Lago club and looking for various qualities, including their perceived loyalty and how they might play on television.
Trump did not like the initial list of names that included Mark Paoletta, the former counsel at the White House office of management and budget; Missouri’s attorney general, Andrew Bailey; and Robert Giuffra, co-chair of the New York law firm Sullivan and Cromwell, and decided he preferred a pugilist like Gaetz.
But the Gaetz nomination sank after a series of meetings on Wednesday with Republican senators. Later that evening, they broadly expressed to the Trump team their continued opposition to the Gaetz nomination, the people said.
On Thursday morning, Trump called Gaetz and told him that it was clear he did not have the votes in a rare moment of realpolitik for Trump. Gaetz agreed and took himself out of the running, one of the people said.
Gaetz told associates after he announced he was withdrawing his nomination that he faced the reality that at least three senators – Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski – and senator-elect John Curtis would vote against him and block his confirmation, the people said.
From his Mar-a-Lago club, Trump said in a statement: “I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be attorney general. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect.”
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The Federal Aviation Administration plans to convene a corrective action review board in the coming weeks to consider safety concerns about engines on Boeing 737 Max airplanes after two bird-strike incidents on Southwest Airlines planes in 2023.
The FAA said it is addressing an issue with the CFM Leap-1B engine and is collaborating with Boeing, CFM and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
The Seattle Times, which reported the plan earlier, said the FAA could issue instructions to pilots for changes during procedures during takeoff until Boeing develops a permanent fix that could extend delays to certification of the Max 7 and Max 10 models.
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After meeting with US senators on Capitol Hill, Matt Gaetz determined that his nomination was “becoming a distraction to the critical work of the new Trump administration”, he explained on X.
“There’s a sense of relief about it, of course. I think he did a pretty noble thing, frankly, an honorable thing by getting out himself,” said Kevin Cramer, the Republican senator from North Dakota.
A lawyer who represents two women who say they were paid by Gaetz for sex also said his clients are “relieved to have this chapter behind them”.
Here is our video report:
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Reuters: McKinsey is in the final stages of negotiating a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve a US criminal investigation into the consulting firm’s work helping opioid manufacturers boost sales that allegedly contributed to a deadly addiction epidemic, people familiar with the matter said.
McKinsey is in talks to pay more than $600m to resolve the longstanding US Department of Justice investigation, which also encompasses findings of civil violations, the people said.
The settlement, expected to be unveiled before the end of the year, would result in prosecutors seeking to dismiss criminal charges against McKinsey after a period of time as long as the company abides by the agreement’s terms.
Analysis: Tesla’s path in China clears as Musk courts both Trump and Xi
If it pays to have friends in high places, few among us can claim to be better placed than Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and one of the only people to have cosy relationships with both Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. His commercial and political connections to both may prove pivotal as the feud between the US and China plays out over the next four years, particularly as Trump promises steep tariffs.
Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, once supported Joe Biden. But his relationship with the current US president soured over the past four years as, among other perceived insults, Musk felt that the White House gave Tesla, his car and green energy company, “the cold shoulder”. Trump, meanwhile, has described Tesla as “incredible” even while pledging to do away with subsidies for electric vehicles. This year, Musk formally endorsed Trump as the presidential candidate, campaigned for him online and off and donated more than $100m to his re-election effort.
Musk’s loyalty has been rewarded with his appointment as the leader of a newly created Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which, despite its name, will be an advisory body, not a government agency. Perhaps more important for the global economy than his official role will be the influence he has on the dynamic between the leaders of the world’s two superpowers. With a trade war that was started by Trump and expanded by Biden, and mounting geopolitical tensions, the US-China relationship has been tumbling downhill for years, with negative global consequences, not least for consumers in the US and China, who have seen prices rise as a result.
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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.
Trump settled on Bondi soon after Gaetz, his first pick, withdrew from the running earlier on Thursday. Trump was told by advisers that she was a good alternative because she has allies across the Republican party as well as inside Trump’s world, according to people familiar with the matter.
“I am proud to announce former attorney general of the Great State of Florida, Pam Bondi, as our next attorney general of the United States. Pam was a prosecutor for nearly 20 years, where she was very tough on Violent Criminals,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
“Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again. I have known Pam for many years – She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as attorney general!”
Bondi has been inside Trump’s orbit for some time, and is widely seen to have demonstrated her loyalty to Trump during his first term, when she helped with his impeachment defense, and more recently when she repeatedly attended Trump’s criminal trial in New York.
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Longtime Trump ally Roger Stone has congratulated Bondi, saying he is “confident she will clean out the nest of corruption at our currently politicised DOJ”.
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Bondi would be third female US attorney general if confirmed
If confirmed, Pam Bondi would be the third woman to serve as attorney general, after Janet Reno, who served in the role from 1993-2001, and Loretta Lynch, who served in the role from 2015-2017.
Updated
Pam Bondi has replaced Matt Gaetz as Trump’s choice for attorney general.
Gaetz withdrew Thursday amid continued fallout over a federal sex-trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed as the nation’s chief federal law enforcement officer.
The announcement caps a turbulent eight-day period in which Trump sought to capitalize on his decisive election win to force Senate Republicans to accept provocative selections like Gaetz, who had been investigated by the justice department before being tapped last week to lead it. The decision could heighten scrutiny on other controversial Trump nominees, including Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, who faces sexual assault allegations that he denies.
“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,” Gaetz, a Florida Republican who one day earlier met with senators in an effort to win their support, said in a statement.
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Bondi is a longtime Trump ally and was one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial when he was accused – but not convicted – of abusing his power as he tried to condition US military assistance to Ukraine on that country investigating the then former vice-president Joe Biden.
She has been a chair at the America First Policy Institute, a thinktank set up by former Trump administration staffers.
Bondi is from Tampa and spent more than 18 years as a prosecutor. She was Florida’s first female attorney general.
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Trump announces Pam Bondi as his choice to replace Matt Gaetz as attorney general
Trump has announced his choice to replace Matt Gaetz as attorney general: the former Florida attorney general and one of Trump’s defence lawyers.
In a statement on Truth Social, he said:
I am proud to announce former Attorney General of the Great State of Florida, Pam Bondi, as our next Attorney General of the United States. Pam was a prosecutor for nearly 20 years, where she was very tough on Violent Criminals, and made the streets safe for Florida Families. Then, as Florida’s first female Attorney General, she worked to stop the trafficking of deadly drugs, and reduce the tragedy of Fentanyl Overdose Deaths, which have destroyed many families across our Country. She did such an incredible job, that I asked her to serve on our Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during my first Term — We saved many lives!
For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans - Not anymore. Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again. I have known Pam for many years — She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!
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Matt Gaetz has added to his earlier statement on his decision to withdraw his attorney general nomination.
“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,” Gaetz said in an earlier statement.
“There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as attorney general. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1,” he added.
Hours later, in a response to a post from the vice-president-elect, JD Vance, he added that he looks “forward to continuing the fight to save our country”, adding: “Just maybe from a different post.”
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Some more context on that offer of land from Texas: Trump has said he plans to begin his deportation efforts on the first day of his presidency. He frequently attacked illegal immigration during his campaign, linking a record spike in unauthorized border crossings to issues ranging from drug trafficking to high housing prices.
There are an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally, the Associated Press reports. Questions remain about how people would be identified and where they would be detained.
The president-elect’s transition team did not say whether they would accept Texas’s offer but sent a statement.
“On day one, President Trump will marshal every lever of power to secure the border, protect their communities, and launch the largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrant criminals in history,” Karoline Leavitt, the transition spokesperson for Trump and JD Vance, said Wednesday.
The Texas general land office did not disclose the amount paid for the land, but Buckingham stated the previous owner resisted the creation of a border wall.
A 1.5-mile (2.4km) stretch of border wall was built under the Republican governor, Greg Abbott, in 2021 on that land. Buckingham said with the recent purchase, the state had created another easement for more border wall construction.
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Pennsylvania senator Bob Casey concedes to Republican Dave McCormick
The Democratic senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania has called Dave McCormick to concede a closely fought race in Pennsylvania. The race was decided by less than a quarter of a point.
In a post on X, Casey said: “During my time in office, I have been guided by an inscription on the Finance Building in Harrisburg: ‘All public service is a trust, given in faith and accepted in honor’.”
Updated
Texas offers land to use as staging area for mass deportations – report
In case you missed this yesterday, Texas is offering a parcel of rural ranchland along the US-Mexico border to use as a staging area for potential mass deportations under the president-elect Donald Trump.
The property, which Texas originally bought last month, is located in rural Starr county in the Rio Grande valley. Republican Dawn Buckingham, the Texas land commissioner, sent a letter 14 November to Trump extending the offer.
“We do hear through back channels that they are taking a look at it and considering it. But we just want them to know we’re a good partner. We’re here. We want to be helpful,” Buckingham told the Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday.
The property has no paved roads and sits in a county with one public hospital and limited local resources. But Buckingham stressed its location.
“We feel like this is actually very well-located. The land is very flat there. It’s adjacent to major airports. It’s also adjacent to a bridge over the river,” Buckingham said. “So if it’s helpful, then I would love to partner up with the federal government. And if it’s not, then we’ll continue to look to ways to be helpful to them.”
The land offer is the latest illustration of a sharp divide between states and local governments on whether to support or resist Trump’s plans for mass deportations of immigrants living in the US illegally. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles city council voted to become a “sanctuary” jurisdiction, limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities to carry out deportations.
Texas leaders have long backed aggressive measures on the border to curb crossings, including installing razor-wire barriers and passing a law last year that would allow law enforcement to arrest people who cross the border illegally.
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Today so far
Matt Gaetz, the former Florida representative, withdrew from consideration as attorney general amid allegations including sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl, drug use and misappropriating campaign funds. His rapid fall came following likely opposition from Republican senators who had squirmed at the notion of approving his nomination, all as the House ethics committee mulled releasing its investigation into his alleged misconduct. Meanwhile, CNN reported that the woman who said she had sex with Gaetz when she was a minor had had a second sexual encounter with him, involving an adult woman.
Rainn, the US’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, wrote that Gaetz’s decision “was in response to survivors and advocates using their voices to demand accountability”. Other women’s rights and empowerment groups, including UltraViolet, acknowledged that it was right for Gaetz to withdraw, while also pointing out that Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees include several others accused of sexual abuse and misconduct.
A handful of Republican senators reacted to Gaetz’s withdrawal, issuing a variety of responses. The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, called the decision “appropriate” according to the Washington Post. Meanwhile, the senator Cynthia Lummis told CNN that it was good that Gaetz recognized he was a distraction, and that this will allow Trump to appoint someone “equally tenacious” to lead the justice department.
The scrutiny around Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, grew as police unveiled an investigative report into the former Fox News host that further detailed the sexual assault allegations surrounding him. According to the report, Hegseth assaulted a woman after he took her phone, blocked the door to a hotel room and prevented her from leaving.
Meanwhile, the woman who publicly accused Robert F Kennedy Jr of sexual assault when she worked for him as a babysitter said she was motivated to do so when he released a campaign ad based on a famous advertisement for his uncle, President John F Kennedy. “I literally was just watching the Super Bowl and saw the ad and thought: ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me,’” Eliza Cooney told USA Today.
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Revealed: trans rights case at US supreme court features doctors previously discredited by judges
The doctors have been dismissed by judges across the US as “conspiratorial”, “deeply biased”, “far off” and deserving “very little weight”.
But their testimonies were nonetheless submitted by the state of Tennessee in defense of an anti-trans law the US supreme court will consider in December, in one of the most important cases of the court’s session and among the most consequential LGBTQ+ rights cases in its history.
In US v Skrmetti, the court will weigh whether transgender youth have a constitutional right to access healthcare treatments endorsed by every major medical association in the country, who say the care improves patients’ mental health and reduces the suicide risks of vulnerable teens. The case originated with three trans youth and their parents who sued Tennessee last year over its ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors, arguing the care was medically necessary and “life-saving”. The outcome could have profound implications for trans rights, bodily autonomy and the government’s authority over people’s private healthcare decisions.
If the court’s conservative supermajority upholds Tennessee’s ban, it would, in effect, be siding with doctors who, LGBTQ+ advocates and trans healthcare experts say, have repeatedly peddled misinformation and, in some cases, espoused religious doctrine in the name of science. Six doctors who filed expert declarations for Tennessee have a history of advocating against trans healthcare, and five of them have previously been rebuked or discounted by judges due to their backgrounds.
Four of those doctors cited by the Tennessee attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, to defend the ban have been linked to a rightwing Christian legal group and have profited from their continued testimony on gender-affirming care, and three of them have never provided trans youth healthcare, according to research from Accountable.US, a progressive watchdog organization, which shared its findings with the Guardian.
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The Guardian’s David Smith offers this analysis of Matt Gaetz’s whirlwind rise and fall:
Florida congressman Gaetz had styled himself as a “Maga” bomb thrower, adopting the Trump playbook of riding out any scandal and turning the tables on his accusers. He vehemently denies the allegations and points out that a justice department investigation into sex-trafficking claims involving underage girls had ended with no federal charges against him.
The brazenness worked until it didn’t. The miasma of scandal that trailed Gaetz around Capitol Hill was too odorous. His unpopularity with colleagues was a bridge too far. Not even Trump’s patronage was enough to save his Senate confirmation. Finally, in a supposedly post-scandal era in which “nothing matters”, something mattered.
One theory is that Gaetz was a sacrificial lamb, a decoy that will ease the path of similarly outlandish selections such as the Russian sympathiser Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth (also accused of sexual assault) as defence secretary and anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy Jr as health secretary.
That probably credits the 45th and soon-to-be 47th president with too much guile and cunning. As a former White House official once observed, Trump does not play “the sort of three-dimensional chess people ascribe to decisions like this. More often than not he’s just eating the pieces.”
Can Gaetz take back his seat in Congress?
Could Matt Gaetz return to his seat in Congress after resigning?
In short, no.
At length … Gaetz’s inclusion in the 119th Congress could come down to Florida governor Ron DeSantis, and its secretary of state Cord Byrd.
Politico reports:
A congressional aide indicated that Gaetz’s membership status for the 119th Congress is effectively up to his home state, telling Politico: “The official roll for the 119th Congress will be prepared with the Certificates of Election received from the States.”
The names provided by Florida of candidates who were “regularly elected” to the House under the state and federal laws will be eligible to take their seats in January, the aide continued.
Gaetz has not yet said publicly what he wants to do. And he did not respond to questions from Politico about what his future might hold.
But if he wants to come back to the Hill, he may argue his assertion that he won’t serve in the new Congress may be conditional: He specified that he wouldn’t take the oath “to pursue the position of Attorney General in the Trump Administration,” which is now off the table.
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Anti-Trump conservative news site the Bulwark is has an interesting piece suggesting that Trump himself asked Gaetz to withdraw from the nomination:
Eight days after making the snap decision to nominate Matt Gaetz to be the nation’s next attorney general, Trump phoned him Thursday morning to tell him he wouldn’t get confirmed, according to a source briefed on the conversation. The president-elect explained that Republican senators were too troubled by the sex scandals and investigations surrounding Gaetz and that the constant and salacious distractions had doomed him.
“You don’t have the votes,” Trump said, according to the source. “These senators aren’t moving.”
The Guardian has not verified this reporting. Reporting from Axios and CNN earlier this week detailed Trump’s personal calls to Republican senators urging them to confirm Gaetz, but the nomination fell apart quite rapidly, as my colleague Martin Pengelly detailed today.
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Elon Musk, who Trump has tapped to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), has also faced allegations of sexual misconduct and overseeing a culture of sexual harassment at his companies.
Guardian Opinion columnist Arwa Mahdawi recapped them recently:
In 2021, for example, just weeks after the billionaire’s “Texas Institute of Technology” quip, a Tesla factory worker called Jessica Barraza filed a complaint alleging the car company had a “pervasive culture of sexual harassment … including frequent groping on the factory floor.” Barraza claimed she was frequently propositioned and subject to comments like “Look at those titties” and “She’s got cakes”. Barraza is just one of a number of former Tesla workers who have filed sexual harassment lawsuits against the Musk-led company.
These issues aren’t confined to Tesla. Last week SpaceX (the entrepreneur’s rocket company) and Musk were sued by eight engineers who said they were illegally fired in 2022 for raising concerns about alleged sexual harassment and discrimination against women. The plaintiffs allege that they experienced harassing comments from co-workers that “mimicked Musk’s [Twitter] posts” and created a hostile work environment. The court filings claim Musk also participated in a video making light of sexual misconduct which, inter alia, demonstrated the “correct” way to spank a co-worker. “Musk trumpets SpaceX as the leader to a brave new world of space travel, but runs his company in the dark ages – treating women as sexual objects to be evaluated on their bra size,” the complaint proclaims. Tesla and SpaceX deny any wrongdoing.
The SpaceX lawsuit coincided with a new Wall Street Journal report about the entrepreneur’s behaviour headlined “Musk’s boundary-blurring relationships with women at SpaceX.” Those blurred boundaries being that he, to quote the piece: “had sex with an employee and a former intern, and asked a woman at his company to have his babies”
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The progressive women’s group UltraViolet has celebrated Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal from consideration as attorney general, but noted that several others among Donald Trump’s nominees have also been accused of sexual abuse.
Shaunna Thomas, executive director at UltraViolet, wrote:
Gaetz isn’t the only abuser who should have no place in our government. Trump has nominated an abhorrent cabinet of abusers thus far; including Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who was nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services; and Pete Hegseth, who was nominated to lead the Department of Defense. Both Hegseth and Kennedy have long records of allegations of sexual abuse–and in RFK, Jr’s case, owned up to groping his children’s babysitter. Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Education, Linda McMahon, is also being sued for enabling child sex abuse.
The Republican-controlled US House on Thursday passed a bill that would give the government broad powers to punish non-profit organizations it deems support “terrorism”.
This was the second time members voted on the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, or HR 9495. Last week, after suspending House rules to fast-track the bill, the lower chamber failed to garner the two-thirds majority required to pass. This time, after passing the House committee on rules, the bill – requiring only a simple majority to pass – survived by a vote of 219-184. Fifteen Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the measure.
The bill, which gives the treasury the power to strip non-profits it claims support “terrorism” of their tax-exempt status, does not require the treasury to adhere to any evidentiary standard in releasing its findings. Although groups targeted could appeal to the IRS or the courts for review, simply being identified as a supporter of terrorism could have a chilling effect on advocacy groups, critics warn.
In the days since the first vote last week, non-profit organizations that have historically worked closely with Democrats have pushed against the passage of the bill, arguing that it would give Donald Trump sweeping powers to crack down arbitrarily on his political opponents in civil society. Thirty-seven fewer Democrats supported it during the Thursday vote than last week.
The bill merges the non-profit measure with another, uncontroversial measure that would grant tax relief to Americans unjustly imprisoned abroad.
“A sixth-grader would know this is unconstitutional,” said the Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, during debate over the bill on Monday. “They want us to vote to give the president Orwellian powers and the not-for-profit sector Kafkaesque nightmares.”
Nikki Haley, the former UN ambassador and Republican presidential hopeful, criticized two of Donald Trump’s cabinet picks, calling his choice for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, “a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer” and Robert F Kennedy Jr, tapped for health secretary, a “liberal Democrat” with no background in relevant policy.
“So now she’s defended Russia, she’s defended Syria, she’s defended Iran, and she’s defended China,” Haley said of Gabbard on her SiriusXM radio show on Wednesday. “No, she has not denounced any of these views. None of them. She hasn’t taken one of them back.
“This is not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer,” Haley continued, adding that the director of national intelligence “has to analyze real threats” to US security.
Gabbard, 43, is a former progressive congresswoman who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 but who has since become a Republican.
Kennedy, 70 and a scion of a famous political family turned vaccine conspiracy theorist, ran for the Democratic nomination this year before switching to run as an independent and then dropping out to back Trump.
Haley said: “He’s a liberal Democrat, environmental attorney, trial lawyer who will now be overseeing 25% of our federal budget and has no background in healthcare. Some of you may think RFK is cool, some of you may like that he questions what’s in our food and what’s in our vaccines, but we don’t know, when he is given reins to an agency, what decisions he’s going to make behind the scenes.”
Haley was governor of South Carolina before becoming UN ambassador in Trump’s first administration, resigning in 2018. This year, she ran second to Trump in the Republican presidential primary – a race in which she called her opponent “unhinged”, “diminished”, “confused” and not “mentally fit”, and said voting him into office would be “like suicide for our country”.
Still, after Trump won the Republican nomination, Haley endorsed him. No job offer has been forthcoming.
Today so far
Here’s a look at where things stand:
Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration as Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general. In a full statement on Thursday, Gaetz, who has been swept in a series of sexual allegation controversies, said: “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.”
Donald Trump has released a statement on Matt Gaetz’s attorney general nomination withdrawal, saying on Truth Social. “I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be attorney general. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect,” he said.
According to CNN, the woman who says she had sex when she was 17 years old with then-Representative Matt Gaetz told the House ethics committee that she had two sexual encounters with him at one party in 2017. The CNN report cites unnamed sources, who claim that the second sexual encounter, not previously been reported, included another adult woman.
Rainn, the US’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, has issued a response to Matt Gaetz’s attorney general nomination withdrawal, saying, “This decision was in response to survivors and advocates using their voices to demand accountability.” “We could not reconcile the justice department – the department responsible for providing survivors with avenues for justice – being led by an alleged abuser of women,” it said.
Incoming Senate majority leader John Thune says that he respects Gaetz’s decision to withdraw. “I think everybody has to make a decision that’s good for them and for their family,” Thune said, according to CNN.
A handful of Republican senators reacted to Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal, issuing a variety of responses. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell called the decision “appropriate” according to the Washington Post. Meanwhile, senator Cynthia Lummis told CNN that it was good that Gaetz recognised he was a distraction, and that this will allow Trump to appoint someone “equally tenacious” to lead the justice department.
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A woman accusing Robert F Kennedy Jr of sexual assault says she chose to speak out following his release of a campaign ad based on an advertisement of his uncle and former president, John F Kennedy.
Martin Pengelly reports for the Guardian:
“I literally was just watching the Super Bowl and saw the ad and thought, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me,’” Eliza Cooney told USA Today.
Released when Kennedy was running for president as an independent, the ad attracted criticism from members of the famous Democratic political family. Kennedy Jr apologized – but kept the ad online.
Nine months later, after dropping out of the presidential race and backing Donald Trump, Kennedy is Trump’s nominee for US health secretary.
A hugely controversial choice given his promotion of vaccine conspiracy theories and other disputed health claims, Kennedy is also one of a number of Trump cabinet picks to be accused of sexual misconduct.
Cooney initially told Vanity Fair about how she went to work for Kennedy in 1998, when she was 23 and he was a 45-year-old environmental attorney. Describing a series of unwanted advances, she said Kennedy ultimately “came up behind her … and began groping her, putting his hands on her hips and sliding them up along her rib cage and breasts”, before being interrupted by someone walking into the room.
For the full story, click here:
The liberal super-PAC American Bridge 21st Century also responded to Matt Gaetz’s attorney general nomination withdrawal, saying:
“Donald Trump simply didn’t care that he was nominating someone who allegedly preyed on children, engaged in sex trafficking, and bragged about it to anyone who would listen. Trump didn’t see a predator in Matt Gaetz; he saw a loyal henchman who would carry out his revenge fantasies and put their MAGA allegiance ahead of their commitment to the country.
“Republicans in Congress who chose the path of least resistance and decided not to release the House Ethics Committee’s report on Gaetz are complicit in letting an accused sexual predator come within an arm’s reach of becoming the top cop in the nation. If they have a shred of integrity they will release the report and shed light on why Gaetz chose to leave his only job as a member of the House of Representatives.
“Matt Gaetz is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Trump choosing predators and extremists to fill out major cabinet positions in his administration.”
US's largest anti-sexual violence organization on Gaetz's withdrawal: 'Survivors will not be silenced'
Rainn, the US’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, has issued a response to Matt Gaetz’s attorney general nomination withdrawal, saying, “This decision was in response to survivors and advocates using their voices to demand accountability.”
“We could not reconcile the justice department – the department responsible for providing survivors with avenues for justice –— being led by an alleged abuser of women. RAINN heard you, Matt Gaetz heard you, and survivors will not be silenced.
“For the other nominees facing allegations of sexual assault: We ask the relevant Senate committees to gather and consider all the facts before voting on any such nomination …
Sexual assault happens to someone in the US every 68 seconds. It occurs in our places of business, our schools, our doctors’ offices; urban or rural, in private and in public. Every single political appointee will have to confront their role in sexual assault response, prevention and recovery. And it starts now.”
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Matt Gaetz has responded to Donald Trump’s statement following his decision to withdraw his nomination for attorney general.
In response to Trump who said Gaetz “has a wonderful future”, Gaetz wrote: “Thank you President Trump!” on X.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied the sexual assault allegations surrounding him and resigned from Congress shortly after Trump announced his nomination last week.
It remains to be seen what Gaetz’s political future holds, now that he is no longer a representative in the House.
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Matt Gaetz reportedly called Donald Trump and JD Vance separately to inform them of his attorney general nomination withdrawal, CNN reports, citing a source familiar with the call.
In a statement on Thursday, Trump said Gaetz “did not want to be a distraction” while JD Vance has yet to release a statement.
New Senate majority leader Thune says he respects Gaetz's decision to drop out
Incoming Senate majority leader John Thune says that he respects Gaetz’s decision to withdraw.
“I think everybody has to make a decision that’s good for them and for their family,” Thune said, according to CNN. “And, you know, for whatever reason, he decided not to pursue it, so we respect the decision.”
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Florida senator Rick Scott says he is “disappointed” about Gaetz’s withdrawal.
“I’m disappointed. I’ve known Matt since I started running for governor, and he was a smart guy, worked hard,” Scott told CNN. “I had a great, great working relationship with him”.
When asked about who should be nominated to the role now that Gaetz has withdrawn, Scott told CNN that “the American public has completely lost trust of the federal government, and so we’re going to have to have somebody in there that goes and creates trust.”
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Speaking to a reporter, Representative Michael Guest, who chairs the House Ethics Committee, said that Gaetz’s withdrawal should end the discussion about whether the committee should “continue to move forward in this matter.”
This comes as just a day ago, the House ethics committee was deadlocked regarding the release of a report examining allegations of sexual misconduct against Gaetz.
Lawmakers from both parties had called for the report to be released before the Senate was scheduled to vote on whether to confirm Gaetz’s nomination as attorney general.
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Republican senators welcome Gaetz's decision to step aside
More Republican Senators are reportedly reacting to the news of former representative Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal from the nomination for attorney general.
Here’s a quick roundup of some responses:
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell called the decision “appropriate” according to the Washington Post.
Senator Cynthia Lummis told CNN that it was good that Gaetz recognised he was a distraction, and that this will allow Trump to appoint someone “equally tenacious” to lead the justice department.
“He must have gotten some signals yesterday during conversations that he was having with senators that this was going to be a distraction,” Lummis reportedly said.
Senator Susan Collins expressed that she was “surprised” but “pleased” with Gaetz’s decision, adding that he “has put country first, and I’m pleased with his decision”.
Senator Roger Wicker referred to the withdrawal as a “positive development”.
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Republican senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma describes Matt Gaetz’s decision to withdraw as “probably a good decision”.
“I think because of the reports that were coming out, it was probably a good decision” Mullin told reporters, adding that “I’m sure he talked to the President about it first.”
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Ethics committee were told of second sexual encounter between Gaetz and 17-year-old – report
According to CNN, the woman who says she had sex when she was 17 years old with then-Representative Matt Gaetz told the House ethics committee that she had two sexual encounters with him at one party in 2017.
The CNN report cites unnamed sources, who claim that the second sexual encounter, not previously been reported, included another adult woman.
The network also states that after being asked for comment regarding the new allegations, the former representative announced that he was withdrawing from the attorney general nomination.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.
The other woman in the alleged second sexual encounter, who was an adult at the time, has also denied taking part in the encounter, according to multiple sources familiar with her ethics testimony, CNN reported.
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Republican senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina says that he respects former Representative Matt Gaetz’s decision to withdraw from the attorney general nomination.
His statement reads:
I respect former Representative Matt Gaetz’s decision to withdraw his name from consideration and appreciate his willingness to serve at the highest level of our government.
He is very smart and talented and will continue to contribute to our nation’s wellbeing for years to come.
I look forward to working with President Trump regarding future nominees to get this important job up and running.
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Trump on Gaetz's withdrawal: 'He was doing very well but ... did not want to be a distraction'
Donald Trump has released a statement on Matt Gaetz’s attorney general nomination withdrawal, saying on Truth Social:
I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be attorney general.
He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!
Gaetz reportedly informed Trump late Thursday morning that he will be withdrawing his nomination, ABC reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.
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The reactions to Matt Gaetz’s surprise withdrawal of his attorney general nomination are coming in.
First up is California’s Democratic representative Eric Swalwell, who took to X and wrote:
“As I said repeatedly last week, Matt Gaetz is never, ever becoming Attorney General.
Like ever.”
Matt Gaetz withdraws as nominee for attorney general in Trump administration
Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration as Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, saying his “confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition”.
In a full statement on Thursday, Gaetz, who has been swept in a series of sexual allegation controversies and whose nomination has received widespread backlash from Democrats and former White House officials, said:
“I had excellent meetings with senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. 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.
There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as attorney general. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1. I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.”
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Hegseth on 2017 sexual assault allegations: 'I was completely cleared'
Pete Hegseth, who arrived on Capitol Hill moments ago ahead of his visit with JD Vance and Republican senators, has repeated his denial of the 2017 sexual assault allegations against him.
Addressing reporters on Thursday morning, Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary said:
“As far as the media is concerned, it’s very simple. The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared, and that’s where I’m gonna leave it.”
The New York Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at South Carolina’s Republican representative Nancy Mace over her attempts to ban trans people from using bathrooms on Capitol Hill that match their gender identity.
The Guardian’s Anna Betts reports:
The new restrictions, introduced by Republican representative Nancy Mace and supported by the GOP speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, bans transgender people, including congressional members, officers and employees, from using the single-sex bathrooms and other facilities in the Capitol and House office buildings that correspond to their gender identity.
The effort targets Democrat Sarah McBride, the first out transgender person elected to the US House of Representatives from Delaware, who is set to take office in January.
In a press interview on Wednesday evening, Ocasio-Cortez stood up for McBride and criticized Mace and the Republican lawmakers backing the bill, telling reporters that the proposed restrictions are “endangering all women and girls”.
For the full story, click here:
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In an MSNBC interview set to air this weekend, former president Bill Clinton said the Democratic party has to “learn to talk to people in ways they can relate to.”
Speaking to the outlet following the Democrats’ loss to Donald Trump and the Republican party during presidential election, Clinton – who campaigned for Kamala Harris – said:
“Politics is the only business in which you can prove your authenticity by not knowing anything… I think that’s a problem and we’ll pay for it unless we get over it, but that’s a problem for the Democrats too.
We have to learn to talk to people in ways that they can relate to that explains that. That’s why…I did my best to help this time. I don’t want to go to any big rallies and big television things. I just wanted to get in the country.
Just go out and talk to people because I think that we’re behind in the sense that a lot of the small-town and rural people are now highly sophisticated and how they get their information. And there are zillions of new websites now all trying to advance their sort of conservative to right-wing radical cause. And a lot of times we’re not playing on the same field and we’re not even being heard. So I just said, send me out there and I’ll see if I can do some good. I have no idea if I did, but I tried.”
Illinois senator and army veteran Tammy Duckworth: Hegseth 'not qualified' to be defense secretary
Speaking to ABC, Illinois Democratic senator and retired army national guard lieutenant colonel Tammy Duckworth criticized Pete Hegseth’s belief that women should not play in a combat role.
Duckworth, who is a combat veteran of the Iraq war where she served as a army helicopter pilot before losing both legs during an attack in 2004, said:
“Obviously I have my personal opinions but as a US senator, my job will be to determine whether or not he is qualified to be secretary of defense, and frankly, it shows me that he’s not because he doesn’t understand the realities of modern warfare.
We’re not talking about the Revolutionary War, where there’s a line behind which … this is combat and that’s not combat. If you were in the green zone … Baghdad, you were in a combat zone, whether you were a helicopter pilot like myself or a truck driver, which, by the way, is a job that women have been doing since world war one. So it just showed me that he really doesn’t understand modern warfare and is therefore not qualified to be secretary of defense.”
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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy – heads of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency – have suggested that Donald Trump could require government employees to work in the office five days a week as part of reducing the federal workforce.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
“Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in a Wednesday op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. Trump has tapped both men to lead the newly created department of government efficiency.
The two men, who have no prior experience in government, also suggested Trump would undertake “large-scale firings” and relocate government agencies outside of Washington.
Musk requires employees at SpaceX and Tesla to work in person and has described it as a moral issue.
“People should get off the goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bullshit,” he said in 2023.
For the full story, click here:
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Trump transition team says 2017 report 'corroborates' what Hegseth attorneys have said
A spokesperson for Donald Trump’s transition said that the police report “corroborates what Mr [Pete] Hegseth’s attorney’s have said all along”, the Associated Press reports.
“The incident was fully investigated and no charges were filed because police found the allegations to be false,” the spokesperson said.
The report, however, does not state that Monterey police found the allegations to be false. The offence code in the report was listed as “rape: victim unconscious of the nature of the act”.
The report ended with the reporting police officer writing, “I recommend this case report be forwarded to the Monterey county district attorney’s office for review.”
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According to the report, the woman, identified as Jane Doe, “stated she observed Pete Hegseth acting inappropriately” with women at the conference, adding that he told her she was a “nice guy”.
The report stated:
“Hegseth would rub the women on their legs and Jane Doe thought that his actions were inappropriate. Jane Doe had texted [redacted] that Hegseth was giving off a ‘creeper’ vibe. The women thought Hegseth was ‘dreamy’ and wanted pictures with Hegseth. Jane Doe stated she had also taken a picture with Hegseth, earlier in the day …”
The report went on to add:
“Jane Doe stated she remembered walking out of the bar and assumed Hegseth followed her because she argued with Hegseth near the pool. The argument was about Hegseth’s actions with the women at the conference. Jane Doe remembered Hegseth tell her that he was a nice guy.
Jane Doe stated the next memory she had was when she was in an unknown room. Jane Doe did not know where she was and how she got to the room. Hegseth was in the room with her. Jane Doe remembered having her phone and Hegseth inquired to whom Jane Doe was texting. Hegseth took her phone from her hands. Jane Doe stated she got up and tried to leave the room, but Hegseth blocked the door with his body. Jane Doe remembered saying ‘no’ a lot. Jane Doe stated she did not remember much else.”
The woman then recalled being on a bed or a couch with Hegseth over her, with his dog tags hovering over her shirt. She added that she saw Hegseth “fully nude” during this incident.
According to the woman, her next memory was when Hegseth ejaculated on her stomach before throwing a towel at her and asking, “Are you okay?”
The woman’s last memory is of her walking into her room. She told the police that she did not remember how she got back to her room.
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Pete Hegseth to visit Capitol as details from 2017 sexual assault report emerge
Good morning,
The scrutiny around Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, grows as police unveiled an investigative report into the former Fox News host that further detailed the sexual assault allegations surrounding him.
The 22-page report released by police dates back to 12 October 2017. It includes allegations from a woman who told police that she was sexually assaulted by Hegseth after drinking at a hotel bar in Monterey, California following a Republican women’s event where Hegseth spoke. According to the report, Hegseth assaulted the woman after he took her phone, blocked the door to a hotel room and prevented her from leaving.
The police report’s release follows recent news of “a detailed memo” on the alleged assault which a friend of the accuser sent to the Trump transition team. Hegseth has insisted the encounter was consensual but paid the woman an unknown sum after she signed a nondisclosure agreement.
Emerging details of the alleged assault come as Hegseth is set to visit Capitol Hill today. The former Fox host is expected to meet with JD Vance and Republican senators ahead of his confirmation process.
Here are other developments in US politics:
The Senate has rejected Bernie Sanders’ effort to block arms sales to Israel which the Vermont senator introduced out of concerns over the mass killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Joe Biden is set to sign the Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act today which will reauthorize the national research, surveillance and awareness program on heart disease.
Trump is likely to choose Johns Hopkins surgeon Martin Makary – who raised concerns about various public health issues including opposing vaccine mandates – as head of the Food and Drug Administration.
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