Trump appointees

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I was disturbed to put it mildly by Bondi’s non answer but realized that this is a lost cause.
The constitution had a remedy that was not followed. The Senate could have convicted him and barred him from running for office again but failed.

Prosecutors could have kept on prosecuting after Trump won but seemingly unanimously believed doing so would be unconstitutional even though nothing in the constitution specifically does not prohibit it. But those with a lot more knowledge the me disagree with me.

The last chance to hold Trump accountable was the voters. We had the Democrats and Never Trump Republicans and the mainstream media bringing up this issue for four straight years(remember the “spectacular” televised Congressional hearings?). Voters who agreed that the election was stolen and other voters who thought Trump’s actions were bad but other issues were more important combined to set a precedent of getting bigly rewarded for trying to overturn an election. All we can do is live with the consequences of that precedent.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's nominated to become the next health secretary, asked the federal government to revoke its authorization of all COVID-19 vaccines in May 2021, just as vaccinated Americans began returning to a sense of normalcy after pandemic lockdowns.

The request came via a citizen petition filed by Kennedy and Meryl Nass on behalf of Children's Health Defense, a group founded by Kennedy that advocates against the recommended vaccine schedule for children.

The petition, first reported by the New York Times, asked the Food and Drug Administration to "revoke Emergency Use Authorizations for existing COVID vaccines and refrain from approving and licensing them.

It came five months after then-President Donald Trump proudly announced the FDA's green light of the vaccine was imminent.

The FDA denied the petition in its response three months later, saying it found "no basis" in the petition to pull the vaccines from the market.

In December 2021, Kennedy falsely claimed the COVID-19 vaccine was "the deadliest vaccine ever made."

Days before Kennedy filed his May 2021 petition, the CDC had just announced that fully vaccinated Americans could go without masks because it believed at the time immunization reduced a person's infectiousness. The agency would later reverse that decision after outbreaks occurred involving vaccinated individuals.

Pressed by an NBC interviewer in November whether he would have blocked the authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine had he been in government at the time, Kennedy said, "I wouldn't have directly blocked it."

"I would have made sure that we had the best science, and there was no effort to do that at that time," he said.

The Senate quickly confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state Monday, voting unanimously to give President Donald Trump the first member of his new Cabinet on Inauguration Day.

Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, is among the least controversial of Trump’s nominees and vote was decisive, 99-0.

Marco Rubio is a very intelligent man with a remarkable understanding of American foreign policy,” Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the senior-most Republican, said as the chamber opened.

It’s often tradition for the Senate to convene immediately after the ceremonial pomp of the inauguration to begin putting the new president’s team in place, particularly the national security officials.

The Senate voted Thursday to confirm John Ratcliffe as the next CIA director under President Donald Trump, approving the second high-level appointment for the new administration.

The vote was 74-25 in favor of Ratcliffe, a former congressman from Texas who served as Trump’s director of national intelligence for the last eight months of his first term. Twenty-one Democrats joined their Republican colleagues in supporting Ratcliffe's nomination.

Republican leaders failed to achieve unanimous support to fast-track Ratcliffe's nomination to the floor earlier this week and had to jump through some procedural hoops.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he opposed Ratcliffe “not because of our political difference, which of course exists — but because I am deeply worried that Mr. Ratcliffe will be unable to stand up to people like Donald Trump and Tulsi Gabbard, who are known to falsify intelligence. As CIA Director, Mr. Ratcliffe will have to make decisions based on intelligence and fact.”

During his confirmation hearing, Ratcliffe promised to keep politics out of decisions involving intelligence and said he wouldn't use loyalty tests as a basis for hiring or firing CIA personnel.

In May 2020, Ratcliffe was confirmed to be Trump's DNI by a narrow vote in the Senate of 49-44, facing sweeping Democratic opposition due to concerns about his qualifications and concerns about exaggerating national security credentials on his resume

The Senate on Thursday voted to advance Pete Hegseth's nomination to be President Donald Trump's defense secretary, putting him on a path to final confirmation at the end of the week.

The vote was 51 to 49, with just two Republicans — moderate Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine — voting with all 47 Democrats to try to block Hegseth. He needed a simple majority to advance to a final vote.

Shortly before the vote, Murkowski became the first Republican to publicly oppose Hegseth's nomination, saying that some of the past behavior he has admitted to demonstrates a "lack of judgment" and is "unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces."

After the vote, Collins said she had raised concerns directly to Hegseth about his past comments that women should not serve in combat roles.

In his confirmation hearing, Hegseth walked those comments back, telling senators he supports women serving in combat as long as standards remain high. But Collins said in her statement she is "not convinced that his position on women serving in combat roles has changed."

Still, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who has guided Hegseth through the process, declared after the vote that Hegseth will be confirmed on Friday. Asked about Murkowski and Collins opposing him, Wicker said, “I was not surprised, and I do understand.”

n a letter Tuesday urging the Senate to reject Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination as health and human services secretary, Caroline Kennedy referred to her cousin as a "predator."

Caroline Kennedy, a former U.S. ambassador to Australia and the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, said RFK Jr. was unqualified to lead HHS, which oversees 13 federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Among her many criticisms in the letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Kennedy said that “siblings and cousins who Bobby encouraged down the path of substance abuse suffered addiction, illness and death.”

She also accused her cousin of lacking any relevant experience for the role and said he holds “dangerous and willfully misinformed” views on vaccines. She read the letter aloud in a video posted on X by her son, Jack Schlossberg.

“Bobby is addicted to attention and power,” Caroline Kennedy said, using her cousin’s nickname. “Bobby preys on the desperation of parents of sick children — vaccinating his own kids while building a following by hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not respond to shouted questions from reporters on Tuesday about the letter or his confirmation hearing this week. A spokesperson told NBC News he would not be commenting.

He is set to appear Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee for the first of two hearings.

In her letter, Caroline Kennedy referred to a 2019 outbreak of measles in Samoa as evidence of the consequences of her cousin’s anti-vaccine rhetoric. Samoa’s director general of health has accused Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of waging a disinformation campaign that stoked vaccine hesitancy at the time, though Kennedy has denied any responsibility for the outbreak.

The letter also notes RFK Jr.’s intent to continue collecting fees over lawsuits against the pharmaceutical company Merck. The suits allege that the company failed to properly warn consumers about side effects associated with its human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which reduces the risk of cervical cancer. The CDC says the vaccine has a “reassuring safety record.”

“Bobby is willing to profit and enrich himself by denying access to a vaccine that can prevent almost all forms of cervical cancer,” Caroline Kennedy wrote.

She also raised concerns about her cousin’s “personal qualities.”

“His basement, his garage and his dorm room were the centers of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks,” Caroline Kennedy said. “It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.”

Caroline Kennedy said she had refrained from speaking publicly about her cousin over the past year due to her role as a former ambassador and a desire not to comment on family members. However, she said in the letter that her father and other family members would be “disgusted” by her cousin’s actions.

“Bobby expropriated my father’s image and distorted President Kennedy’s legacy to advance his own failed presidential campaign, and then groveled to Donald Trump for a job,” she said.

“Bobby continues to grandstand off my father’s assassination and that of his own father,” she added. “It’s incomprehensible to me that someone who is willing to exploit their own painful family tragedies for publicity would be put in charge of America’s life and death situations.”

Now that The US is no longer in the WHO, this is just icing on the proverbial cake. I could be way off, but could this nomination of RFK be rejected? Hegseth just got by, by a tie breaking vote. I want to believe even some of these conservative senators have got to be considering voting no on this. Don't even get me started on Anti-Vaxxers

If Jeffrey Dahmer or Charles Manson were alive they would have also been pardoned and considered cabinet material for trump 2.0. the US is in for a wild ride.

Probably not Dahmer, as he was gay, and thus would offend the homophobic evangelical crowd. I'm sure they'd count his homosexuality against him more harshly than his serial murders and cannibalism (well, in reality, probably not... but those people just put me in a sour mood).

It was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s turn in the hot seat as he appeared before senators for the first of two hearings to be the next secretary of health and human services.

While several of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks have stirred up controversy, Kennedy’s nomination is unique in that it has drawn opposition from those on the left and the right. The 3½-hour hearing before the Senate Finance Committee gave Kennedy his highest-profile opportunity yet to address concerns.

Vaccines: As expected, Kennedy’s long history of hostility toward vaccines was a major line of questioning. Kennedy tried to get ahead of it in his opening statement, declaring he is not “anti-vaccine or anti-industry” but “pro-safety,” as Natasha Korecki reports.

But Democrats didn’t buy it. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the ranking member of the committee, pressed Kennedy about his comments on a 2023 podcast in which he said, “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.” Kennedy said the quote was taken out of context.

“I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking anything,” he said.

Abortion: Similarly, Kennedy, a former Democrat, sought to backtrack on his past comments about abortion rights, which have been a concern for conservatives.

While he was running for president last year, Kennedy said on a podcast that he would support allowing women to have abortions at full term. Days later, he walked his position back, writing on X that “abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter.”

Kennedy faced questions from senators on both sides of the aisle about his position. And he tried to align himself with Trump, saying abortion policy should be left to the states. He also added that Trump asked him to study the abortion pill mifepristone.

“I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy,” Kennedy said, a line he repeated several times at the hearing. “I serve at the pleasure of the president. I’m going to implement his policies.”

Medicaid: While Kennedy didn’t face much in the way of opposition from Republicans, he was tripped up during a line of questioning from Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., about Medicaid.

For instance, Kennedy said Medicaid premiums and deductibles were too high, saying most people who use it are “not happy.” But most people on Medicaid aren’t charged for premiums or deductibles, and polls generally show the public views the program favorably.

Bottom line: Kennedy didn’t endear himself to any Democrats, but he has yet to have any Republican senators publicly come out in opposition to him. He can afford to lose the support of only three on the Senate floor if Democrats are united against him.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Finance Committee who was a swing vote for Pete Hegseth’s nomination for defense secretary, said after the hearing: “I’m in a presumptive lean yes position, and everything he did today hasn’t eroded that position.”

In a crucial day for President Donald Trump's nominees, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel descended on Capitol Hill for confirmation hearings Thursday.

Kennedy, the nominee for health and human services secretary; Gabbard, chosen for director of national intelligence; and Patel, selected for FBI director, have all generated controversy for a similar reason: Each has launched searing criticisms of the entities they’ve been chosen to lead. Trump is testing the Republican-controlled Senate on where it will draw the line between disruption and institutionalism.

They all sought to clarify or downplay past stances or remarks that have landed them in hot water with senators who will decide whether they're confirmed.

A Republican chairman's warning for Kennedy
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, issued some pointed remarks at the end of the hearing about Kennedy's long history of anti-vaccine rhetoric. Cassidy, a doctor, said that he agrees with Kennedy on issues like processed food and obesity but that Kennedy has used "selected evidence to cast doubt" on proven treatments.

"My concern is that if there is any false note, any undermining of a mama’s trust in vaccines, another person will die from a vaccine-preventable disease," Cassidy said.

"And that is why I have been struggling with your nomination," Cassidy said, making it clear that he hasn't made up his mind about his vote and has more questions for Kennedy — a rarity for a Republican committee chair with a Trump nominee.

You may be hearing from me over the weekend," Cassidy told him.

Senator gets personal with Kennedy about autism
A tumultuous hearing that featured flailing arms, a pounding gavel and shouting matches suddenly ground to a halt when Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., spoke about her son, who has cerebral palsy, causing a silence to fall over the room.

Hassan grew emotional as she spoke of not having a day go by when she thinks “what did I do when I was pregnant with him that might have caused the hydrocephalus that has so impacted his life?” She then grew emphatic: “So please do not suggest that anybody in this body of either political party doesn’t want to know what the cause of autism is.”

It was one of many intense exchanges with Kennedy that played out Thursday. While he was given numerous chances to reject theories that vaccines cause autism, he wouldn’t do it.

Patel seeks distance from MAGA persona
Patel startled some senators with the degree to which his cookie-cutter presentation before the Judiciary Committee departed from the MAGA flamethrower persona he has exhibited for years on social media and right-wing shows.

He had said "cowards in uniform" violated the "chain of command" in discussing the response to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots — he now says the remark was about senior officials' failing to deploy the National Guard. He has called for going after people "in the media," either "criminally or civilly" — he told senators it was a "partial quotation." Patel also told senators the FBI would take "no retributive actions" on his watch, despite his previously expressed desires to punish Trump's perceived foes.

It left some members of the committee scratching their heads.

“There is an unfathomable difference between a seeming facade being constructed around this nominee here today and what he has actually done and said in real life when left to his own devices," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.. "Conduct shows character. And if you look at history, you see the danger of security chiefs in authoritarian regimes' becoming the tools of political power. The characteristics that they often show is that they are vengeful, that they are grandiose, that they are intemperate, that they are partisan and blindly loyal, that they are servile and won’t say no.”

Patel breaks with Trump on Jan. 6 pardons
Under pointed questioning, Patel made a break with Trump on his decision to issue pardons or commutations for 1,500 Jan. 6 criminal defendants, including those who confessed to assaulting police officers. Patel argued that certain violent offenders didn't deserve leniency.

“I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement, and I have, including in that group, specifically addressed any violence against law enforcement on Jan. 6,” he said. “And I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who introduced Patel and defended him throughout the hearing, said he also disagrees with Trump's move to pardon the violent rioters. "I’ve been thanking these Capitol Police officers, and I told them I actually thought that the pardons of people who did harm to police officers sucked," he said.

Gabbard grilled about Edward Snowden
As the DNI nominee, Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who's now a Republican, was grilled about her ability to oversee a U.S. intelligence apparatus she has vocally criticized and broken with over core issues for years.

She was peppered with questions from multiple Republican senators about her past praise of Edward Snowden — the former intelligence contractor who leaked a trove of classified information before he fled to Russia — as a “brave whistleblower.”

Gabbard stopped short of disowning her previous remarks or calling him a "traitor" as multiple members of the committee have, saying only that he "broke the law" and revealed important information in doing so.

"Even as he broke the law, he released information that exposed egregious, illegal and unconstitutional programs that are happening within our government that led to serious reforms," she said.

Gabbard also faced questions about her shifting positions on warrantless surveillance of foreign targets under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, from calling to repeal it to saying recently that she now supports it. She said her past opposition during congressional reauthorization was about highlighting "egregious civil liberties violations that were occurring at that time" under the program.

Separately, when Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., asked whether Russia gets "a pass in either your mind or your heart," Gabbard replied, "Senator, I am offended by the question, because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security and the interests of the American people."

The Senate confirmed former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as Interior secretary Thursday in a 79-18 vote, with the majority of Senate Democrats joining every Republican in the chamber.

Burgum, a one-time candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination-turned-visible Trump campaign surrogate, has been among the president’s least controversial nominees. He advanced out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week in a nearly unanimous vote, with only Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) voting against the nomination.

Wyden, the mastermind of the renewable energy tax credits within the Inflation Reduction Act, cited President Trump’s opposition to the cuts in opposing both Burgum and Energy secretary nominee Chris Wright, who is also unlikely to face significant Senate opposition.

“I cannot support these nominees who will carry out Trump’s policies that throw out America’s greatest advantages,” Wyden said last week.

As Interior secretary, Burgum will oversee environmental policy and the nation’s public lands. Trump has vowed on the campaign trail and in his early actions as president to expand oil and gas development and roll back environmental protections enacted under the Biden administration. In remarks at his confirmation hearing, the former governor signaled support for those priorities, saying, “We live in a time of tremendous abundance, and we can access that abundance by prioritizing innovation over regulation.”

The vote comes the day after the Senate confirmed Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin in a 56-42 vote.

Unlike Trump, Burgum has acknowledged the existence of climate change and as governor set ambitious targets of making North Dakota carbon-neutral. However, in his confirmation hearing he also suggested he would fast-track natural gas and coal development on federal lands to power artificial intelligence data centers.