Sunday, Dec 08th
Last update09:37:01 AM GMT
Political Glance
The records put an end to a monthslong controversy over whether Winfrey was paid for endorsing the former Democratic presidential nominee.
Rumors exploded in November that Harris campaign paid the former talk show host for her support after a story by the Washington Times cited Federal Election Commission finance records showing that Winfrey's company, Harpo Productions, received $1 million from Harris.
People in President Joe Biden’s orbit are weighing the possibility of him issuing preemptive pardons to people who may be targeted by President-elect Donald Trump, according to multiple media reports Thursday.
Politico, CNN and USA Today all reported that senior White House aides are having serious discussions about pursuing pardons for some of Trump’s political enemies out of concern he will pursue criminal indictments against them. CNN reports that Biden administration officials and prominent defense attorneys are also involved in those discussions.
Donald Trump’s transition team on Tuesday signed an agreement to allow the US justice department to conduct background checks on his nominees and appointees, after a weeks-long delay.
The step lets transition aides and future administration staffers of the Republican president-elect obtain security clearances before he is inaugurated on 20 January to access classified information about government programs, an essential step for a smooth transition of power. It also allows those nominees who are up for confirmation by the US Senate to face the background checks lawmakers want before voting on them.
President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration is withdrawing just two days after his selection was announced, citing the "gravity" of the job.
Trump selected Chad Chronister, the sheriff in Hillsborough County, Florida, to lead the DEA on Sunday. At the time, Chronister called it the "honor of a lifetime" and said he was “deeply humbled by this opportunity to serve our nation.”
But on Tuesday, Chronister posted on X that he'd reconsidered.
"Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I’ve concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration," Chronister wrote.
This is the second Trump administration pick to withdraw. Trump's first choice for attorney general, former Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, dropped out of contention amid questions about whether he could be confirmed by the Senate.
Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News host who’s President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to oversee the Pentagon, was forced out of top roles at two veterans groups, according to a new bombshell report from The New Yorker.
Hegseth was forced to resign his roles at both Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America due to “serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct,” the outlet reported Sunday night. The former Army National Guard officer also faces allegations he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017, though Hegseth maintains the encounter was consensual.
Elon Musk’s massive 2018 pay package from Tesla — which was worth $56 billion and helped catapult him to the title of richest man in the world — must be rescinded, a Delaware judge reaffirmed Monday.
Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that Tesla, which asked her to reconsider her original ruling in January, failed to prove that its compensation plan for the Tesla CEO was fair. She stuck with her original decision that the company’s board was under too much influence from Musk when it approved the massive payment in the form of stock options.
As shell-shocked Democrats try to understand why working-class Americans – once the cornerstone of their political base – chose a billionaire over them, progressives argue the path forward is to champion “popular and populist” economic policies.
Democratic recriminations have intensified in the nearly seven days since their devastating electoral losses, which may yet deliver a new era of unified Republican governance in Washington, after Donald Trump stormed to a second term while his party easily flipped the Senate and is on the verge of winning a majority in the House. Divisions have deepened, with progressives blaming the party’s embrace of corporate America and swing-state Democrats accusing the left of tarnishing its appeal with ex-urban and rural voters.
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