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Trump DOJ slammed for ‘spying on lawmakers;’ president-elect picks Kimberly Guilfoyle for White House job: Live

President-elect rebuked by Republican House Intelligence Committee chair over Department of Justice actions during his first administration

Oliver O'Connell,Joe Sommerlad,Ariana Baio
Wednesday 11 December 2024 14:30 EST
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Jimmy Kimmel wades in on Donald Trump’s latest administration

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Donald Trump has been attacked by Republican Representative Mike Turner, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, after it emerged that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had spied on members of Congress and dozens of staffers during his first administration.

Responding to the new report into the matter by Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Turner told CNN the Trump DOJ had committed a “grave constitutional violation” and described the department’s conduct as “outrageous”.

The president-elect has meanwhile nominated his son’s fiancee, Kimberly Guilfoyle, to serve as the next United States ambassador to Greece, making her the latest Trump family member to join his administration.

Guilfoyle is a close ally of the president-elect’s family and helped out his election campaigns in both 2020 and 2024.

“I look forward to delivering on the Trump agenda, supporting our Greek allies, and ushering in a new era of peace and prosperity,” she wrote in an X post accepting the honor.

However, the development comes amid rumors that she and Donald Trump Jr have split up, after he was pictured with Florida socialite Bettina Anderson.

The couple have not commented on the speculation.

Joe Biden names the one thing Trump did that he was ‘stupid’ for not copying

President Joe Biden said he was “stupid” for not doing what president-elect Donald Trump did during his first term — signing the checks sent to the public during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I signed the American Rescue Plan, the most significant economic recovery package in our history, and also learned something from Donald Trump,” Biden noted during his economic speech at the Brookings Institution Tuesday.

Biden said that Trump “signed checks for people for 7,400 bucks...and I didn’t,” adding that it was “stupid,” drawing laughter from the crowd.

Read more:

Joe Biden names the one thing Trump did that he was ‘stupid’ for not copying

Trump ‘signed checks for people for 7,400 bucks ... and I didn’t,’ outgoing president says

Gustaf Kilander11 December 2024 19:30

FBI director Christopher Wray will resign ahead of Trump’s plan to replace him with Kash Patel

FBI Director Christopher Wray has signaled his intention to quit his post next month ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president, creating a vacancy that Trump intends to fill with loyalist Kash Patel.

Wray reportedly told FBI employees at an agency town hall that he would step down in January, nearly two and a half years before the expiration of the ten-year term he was sworn in for in August 2017.

Read more:

FBI director Christopher Wray will resign ahead of Trump’s plan to replace him

Wray’s term would have ended in 2017 without Trump’s intervention

Andrew Feinberg11 December 2024 19:18

CNN conservative pundit Scott Jennings scorched by colleague for trying to manufacture ‘clip for the internet’

Accusing CNN political commentator Scott Jennings of attempting to create a viral moment during a heated exchange on the Daniel Penny trial, correspondent Audie Cornish told the right-wing pundit that he wanted “a clip for the internet” while mockingly posing for a picture.

During Tuesday night’s broadcast of CNN NewsNight, the panel debated over Penny being acquitted in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man with mental health issues who acted threateningly towards subway passengers. The verdict was met with both applause and anger, with conservatives saying “justice has prevailed” and calling Penny a “hero.”

Read more:

CNN’s Scott Jennings scorched by colleague for trying to manufacture a viral moment

Scott Jennings repeatedly tried to bait Audie Cornish into saying he didn’t have any values and wasn’t a Christian

Justin Baragona11 December 2024 19:00

An Alabama couple were ardent Trump supporters. Then their trans son told them he wanted to die

Carolyn Fisher will never forget the moment her son told her he wanted to die.

It was November 3, two days before the presidential election. Fisher’s 16-year-old non-binary son, who uses he/they pronouns, was part of an online suicide pact with three other transgender and non-binary teens in Florida, Alabama and Tennessee. The friends who’d met on Discord had agreed to die by suicide if former president Donald Trump won the 2024 election.

Read more:

For one Alabama family, Trump’s anti-trans rhetoric nearly cost them their son’s life

Once news outlets called the election for Trump in the early hours of November 6, panic ripped through the LGBTQIA+ community and hotlines saw a dramatic surge in calls. Michelle Del Rey reports

Michelle Del Rey11 December 2024 18:30

Trump’s latest DOJ nominee is taking aim at trans rights and elections

The president-elect’s nominee to oversee the federal government’s enforcement of civil rights has spent the last year leading a legal crusade against transgender Americans, signaling where Trump could start with his “day one” pledge to roll back discrimination protections.

Harmeet Dhillon, founder of the Center for American Liberty, has filed a barrage of attention-grabbing lawsuits on behalf of right-wing activists against gender-affirming healthcare and school policies and state and local laws designed to protect LGBT+ people across the country.

Dhillon also supported efforts to reverse election results in states Trump lost in 2020, and she steered the Trump campaign’s 2024 “election integrity” team in Arizona, a hotbed for bogus election conspiracy theories in the wake of Trump’s loss.

Here’s more from Alex Woodward.

Trump’s pick for DOJ deputy is taking aim at trans rights and elections

Conservative activist Harmeet Dhillon is at the forefront of a legal campaign against LGBT+ protections

Joe Sommerlad11 December 2024 18:00

Matt Gaetz is heading to OAN. Will anybody even watch him there?

The self-described MAGA “firebrand”, who dropped out last month as Trump’s choice for attorney general amid ongoing sexual misconduct allegations, has finally secured another full-time job now that he’s no longer in Congress.

After news leaked on Monday night that he had agreed to host a primetime show for the little-watched right-wing conspiracy channel One America News (OAN), the network made it official on Tuesday with a press release and promotional video.

Gaetz taking the plunge and becoming a conservative talking head is hardly a surprise but will anybody be watching?

Justin Baragona considers the question.

Matt Gaetz is now officially heading to OAN. Will anybody even watch him there?

It appears that Gaetz chose One America News over its much-larger rival Newsmax

Joe Sommerlad11 December 2024 17:30

John Fetterman joins Truth Social

The Pennsylvania Democratic Senator has not only joined Trump’s social media platform but opens with a very MAGA-friendly dismissal of the hush money case against the president-elect as “bulls***”, perhaps thinking ahead about his own electoral future.

Joe Sommerlad11 December 2024 17:00

‘Freeloaders’: Guilfoyle’s past criticism of Greece emerges after she is nominated as new US ambassador

Will be fun watching her explain this one in Athens.

Joe Sommerlad11 December 2024 16:40

Republican senator warns Hegseth his confirmation hearing will be ‘unpleasant’

How’s it all looking for Trump’s pick for defense secretary?

Not good, according to Texas Republican John Cornyn, who had this to say after meeting with him on Capitol Hill.

“I just told him and his wife, I said this is going to be a very difficult process on all of you,” Cornyn told reporters this week, according to The Hill.

“I’ve been through a lot of Supreme Court nomination fights, including Brett Kavanaugh, and that may pale in comparison to what may be thrown at Pete.”

Hegseth is likely to receive a brutal grilling from Democrats over allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017, has a drinking problem and has mismanaged not one but two veterans’ associations, all of which the nominee denies.

Cornyn, who said he intends to back Hegseth despite it all, has since repeated his warnings to Rob Schmitt on Newsmax, declaring that the candidate is in for “a very unpleasant process for him and his family.”

The Texan continued: “It’s important for all of these nominees to come around and answer questions. I told Pete this is gonna be a very unpleasant process for him and his family, having been involved in the Kavanaugh hearings.

“I know there will be unnamed accusations and some things that are going to be hurtful, not only to him and his family, but he’s ready for that, his wife is ready for that, and I’m confident he will be confirmed.”

John Cornyn
John Cornyn (AP)
Joe Sommerlad11 December 2024 16:20

The power broker North Carolina senator caught in the middle of Trump’s confirmations fight

A Republican trifecta in Washington should be a good sign for a bipartisan dealmaker like Thom Tillis.

Instead, Eric Garcia reports, he’s getting squeezed by all sides as he faces re-election.

The Republican Senator stuck in the middle of Trump’s confirmations fight

A Republican trifecta in Washington should be a good sign for a bipartisan dealmaker like Thom Tillis. Instead, Eric Garcia reports, he’s getting squeezed by all sides as he faces re-election

Joe Sommerlad11 December 2024 16:00

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