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Gallego says he will give Hegseth ‘opportunity’ to ‘explain’ past comments

Sen.-elect Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) declined to say on Sunday whether he intends to vote to confirm President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, former Fox News co-host Pete Hegseth, saying he will allow him to explain his controversial past comments.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” anchor Jake Tapper noted that Hegseth has said women should not serve in combat roles and that the Joint Chiefs chair should be fired for being “too woke.”

“I’m going to give him an opportunity to, number one, explain himself, and I’ll give that to all these Cabinet members,” Gallego said when asked about those comments in the interview and whether he will vote for confirmation.

Gallego, who deployed to Iraq with the Marines, said he will approach each confirmation hearing and vote from the perspective of what is best for his Arizona constituents.

“The most important things that I’m going to use for all the metrics of everybody that’s running is, number one, are you going to protect and serve the Constitution of the United States? Number two, is this going to be beneficial to Arizona, and are you, where relevant, you know, going to help us bring down the cost of everything that’s in Arizona and the country in general?”

“So, you know, I’m not going to jump ahead and say yes or no,” Gallego continued. “I’ll give him his opportunity as part of my constitutional duties, but I think he has to answer for a lot of what he has said in the past.”

Hegseth is one of several controversial picks that Trump has made for his Cabinet.

In addition to reports about Hegseth’s past comments, news that Hegseth was investigated in 2017 for an alleged sexual assault incident has come into focus in recent days since Trump announced his appointment.

The Monterey Police Department confirmed an investigation of an “alleged sexual assault” at a home in October 2017 between the late-night hours and early morning. A summary of the report said the victim suffered a contusion to their right thigh, but the city did not release the report or additional details. The city did not indicate whether charges were filed in the case nor whether Hegseth was named the aggressor.

Vanity Fair reported that Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, along with attorneys, spoke with Hegseth about the sexual assault allegation Thursday.

Hegseth told Trump’s team the allegation stemmed from a consensual encounter, according to Vanity Fair.

Hegseth was an infantry officer in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021. After graduating from Princeton University in 2003, he went on to serve tours in Guantanamo Bay from 2004 to 2005, in Iraq from 2005 to 2006 and in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012, according to the Army National Guard.

For the past decade, he has been a Fox News personality and host of its weekend “Fox & Friends” program.

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Arab Americans in swing state urge Trump to follow through on promises to end conflict in Gaza

Leaders in Dearborn, Michigan, who helped power President-elect Trump to victory in the critical swing state penned a letter urging him to make good on his promise to bring peace to Gaza.

“We are urging your administration and transition team to apply your political influence in demanding an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon and Palestine,” reads a letter to Trump released by the MENA (Middle East North Africa) American Chamber of Commerce. “This aligns to the commitment toward lasting peace which you made.”

The letter comes after a movement in Dearborn that started as a protest to President Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza eventually resulted in Trump’s shocking victory in both Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, Michigan, two cities with large Arab American populations.

JOE MANCHIN: THE AMERICAN PEOPLE PICKED TRUMP. NOW IS THE TIME TO DELIVER SOLUTIONS FOR EVERYONE

Those votes contributed to Trump’s victory in the critical swing state of Michigan, which the president-elect won by just under 1.5 percentage points.

Trump made outreach to the Muslim community in Michigan a priority in the stretch run of his successful campaign, earning the endorsement of multiple community leaders in the Dearborn and Metro Detroit areas.

But while Trump has yet to take office, the MENA American Chamber of Commerce argued that the president-elect’s significant political influence could be useful in bringing a quicker end to the conflict.

IN ELECTION VICTORY, TRUMP’S GAINS WENT BEYOND THE BATTLEGROUNDS

“We urge you to call for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon and Palestine while crafting a long-lasting peace in the region,” the letter reads. “Further, we believe your team’s leadership will be instrumental in advancing productive U.S.-Lebanese relations.”

The group also acknowledged Trump’s commitment to peace, noting that it aligned with the values of the Arab American community.

“Dearborn, Michigan, a city with the highest concentration of Arab Americans outside the Middle East, turned red in this presidential election due to your genuine outreach to our community and our belief that you are the optimal choice for our democracy, economy, and matters of foreign policy,” the letter said. “The over 3.5 million MENA Americans, some of whom reside in the swing states, are proud to have contributed to your margins of victory, particularly in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Your success is a testament to your resonance with the values and concerns of MENA Americans.”

Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

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‘Family Ties’ Star Justine Bateman Says Trump Victory Removed ‘Suffocating Cloud’ on Free Speech: ‘We Went 1984 on Ourselves’ Under Biden

Actress and filmmaker Justine Bateman is applauding the return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House as a liberating force for all those who value freedom of speech and expression.

The post ‘Family Ties’ Star Justine Bateman Says Trump Victory Removed ‘Suffocating Cloud’ on Free Speech: ‘We Went 1984 on Ourselves’ Under Biden appeared first on Breitbart.

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Minnesota election judge faces felony charges over accepting unregistered votes

A Minnesota election judge is being charged after allegedly accepting people who were not properly registered to vote in the 2024 election.

Timothy Michael Scouton, who served as the head election judge for the Badoura Township Precinct in Hubbard County, Minnesota, is being charged with one count of accepting the vote of an unregistered voter and one count of neglect of duty by an election official, both felonies, according to a report from Fox 9.

Police say they were notified by an election auditor that 11 voters did not complete proper registration forms, yet were allowed to vote despite not being able to complete the forms that are used to authenticate their identity.

VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD PROBE INVOLVING 2500 APPLICATIONS CONFIRMED BY PA. ELECTION OFFICIALS

Those votes were allowed despite Scouton reportedly completing his election judge training and head election judge training in July, the report notes.

Authorities spoke with another judge who worked with Scouton on the night of the election, with the judge telling police that Scouton instructed her not to use the proper registration forms. Another judge working with Scouton told police that she was not aware of the proper forms and was instructed by Scouton to have voters sign the back of a book.

DOJ ONCE OK’D LAW AT CENTER OF YOUNGKIN VOTER ROLL-CULLING ORDER FEDS NOW SUING TO BLOCK

Scouton was arrested on the charges by the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office, who said he “declined to provide a statement.”

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Secretary of State acknowledged that the charges against Scouton were “very serious.”

“These allegations are extremely serious and must be fully and thoroughly investigated,” the Secretary of State’s office said in a statement to Fox 9. “Election judges take an oath to administer elections in accordance with the law, a deliberate failure to do so is unlawful and a betrayal of the public trust. Minnesota’s elections rely on the dedication and public service of 30,000 people and they are required to conduct their work fairly, impartially, and within the letter of the law. The Hubbard County Auditor took prompt and correct action in notifying local authorities of the uncovered discrepancies so they could investigate.”

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Johnson says ‘bias would be to vote for the people that President Trump wants’ for upcoming administration

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Sunday that his “bias would be to vote for the people that President Trump wants” for the upcoming administration.

“My bias would be to vote for the people that President Trump wants to serve [by in his] administration,” Johnson told NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt on “The Hill Sunday.” “Again, as a U.S. senator, I’m probably the minority view here; I don’t particularly like being the human resource department of administration.”

“Again, the top picks, lifetime appointments, I have no problem with that, but you start getting down to … the lesser agencies here, or positions, it’s really ridiculous what we do,” Johnson continued, adding that he’d “much rather spend time on oversight and investigations.”

President-elect Trump has selected a few controversial people for roles in his incoming administration, including right-wing firebrand and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for attorney general. While Gaetz had been a strong supporter of the president-elect during his time in Congress, he also had some rough relationships within his party, notably having an ongoing public feud with ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Gaetz will most likely have to earn votes in the upper chamber to claim the role of attorney general, which Republicans will have control of next year, but GOP senators have expressed reservations about casting their votes for him. 

The Florida Republican, who resigned from the House immediately after the announcement, has recently been the subject of a probe by the House Ethics Committee looking into whether he had taken part in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, alongside other allegations. He has denied allegations of wrongdoing, but Gaetz’s resignation essentially kills the probe by taking himself out of the panel’s jurisdiction.

Johnson said Sunday that he had not “seen the efforts report on Matt Gaetz,” but he also said that Trump’s pick for attorney general is “an incredibly effective advocate for the president.”

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

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Speaker Johnson opposes releasing Matt Gaetz’s House Ethics report: ‘Open a Pandora’s box’

House Speaker Mike Johnson explained his opposition to releasing the House Ethics Committee report on Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., on Sunday.

Johnson, R-La., made the comments during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” with host Shannon Bream. He argued that releasing such a report after Gaetz’s resignation could open a “Pandora’s box.” Gaetz resigned from Congress last week shortly after President-elect Trump nominated him to serve as U.S. attorney general.

Bream began by asking Johnson whether he was aware of the contents of the ethics report, which pertained to alleged sexual misconduct.

“I don’t know anything about the contents of the report because the way the rules work, of course, the speaker of the House can’t put a thumb on the scale or be involved in an Ethics Committee report. What I do know is that the comments about there being a precedent for releasing reports is not exactly accurate,” Johnson said.

MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT

“There’s a very important reason for the tradition and the rule that we always have – almost always followed – and that is that we don’t issue investigations and ethics reports on people who are not members of Congress. I’m afraid that that would open a Pandora’s box because the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee is limited to those who are serving in the institution. That’s its very purpose. And I think this would be a breach of protocol that could be dangerous for us going forward in the future,” he added.

MATT GAETZ FACES GOP SENATE OPPOSITION AFTER TRUMP SELECTION FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL

ABC News reported on Thursday that a woman testified to the ethics committee that she had sexual relations with Gaetz when she was 17 years old. The House investigation ceased when Gaetz resigned on Wednesday.

Gaetz told Fox News Digital in response to the new report, “These allegations are invented and would constitute false testimony to Congress. This false smear following a three-year criminal investigation should be viewed with great skepticism.”

The chief counsel for the House Ethics Committee declined to comment when asked by Fox News Digital.

REPUBLICANS PROJECTED TO KEEP CONTROL OF HOUSE AS TRUMP PREPARES TO IMPLEMENT AGENDA

Fox News Digital also reached out to Gaetz’s congressional office for comment.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) had previously spoken to the woman, now in her 20s, according to ABC, as part of its years-long investigation into Gaetz related to accusations of sex trafficking and obstruction of justice.

The DOJ ultimately did not press charges, and Gaetz has consistently denied all wrongdoing.

Details of the matter could come out if Gaetz goes through the Senate confirmation process to lead the department that once investigated him.

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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested he would want to see the report.

“I think there should not be any limitation on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation, including whatever the House Ethics Committee has generated,” he told reporters.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Tyler Olsen contributed to this report

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Gonzales: Targeting workers instead of convicted criminals for deportation means ‘government has failed us’

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) said Sunday that targeting others besides convicted criminals for deportation means “government has failed us.”

“You know, if we’re going after the guy that’s picking tomatoes or the nurse at the local hospital and we’re not going after the convicted criminal, then our government has failed us,” Gonzales told ABC News’s Martha Raddatz on “This Week.”

President-elect Trump, a member of Gonzales’s party, pushed a mass deportation plan throughout his bid for the presidency this year. He promoted a “Day 1 agenda” mostly centered on border and immigration crackdowns. At many rallies, the president-elect said, “On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history.”

“You know, our country was built on those fleeing persecution, and it would be, it would be just absolutely terrible if we don’t protect those that are doing it the right way,” Gonzales said. “Legal immigration should never be mixed with these hardened criminals.”

Last week, in response to a question from journalist Cecilia Vega on CBS’s “60 Minutes” about the possibility of going forward with “mass deportation without separating families,” Tom Homan, Trump’s pick for “border czar” in his upcoming administration said “there is” and that “Families can be deported together.”

Homan later said in an interview this month that “U.S. citizens” and “legal immigrants are perfectly safe, for God’s sakes.”

Trump has said that mass deportations will be aimed at people in the U.S. illegally, chiefly those with a criminal record.

“If the message is ‘We’re here to deport your abuelita,’ that’s not gonna work well,” Gonzales said Sunday, using the Spanish word for grandmother.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.

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Schiff on Gaetz’s AG nod: ‘He’s not only unqualified. He is really disqualified’

Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on Sunday that he considers former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), President-elect Trump’s choice for attorney general, “disqualified” for the top law enforcement job in the country.

“I think he’s not only unqualified. He is really disqualified,” Schiff said in CNN’s “State of the Union” interview with Jake Tapper.

“Are we really going to have an attorney general who has credible allegations he was involved in child sex trafficking, potential illicit drug use, obstruction of an investigation, who has no experience serving in the Justice Department, only being investigated by it?” Schiff continued.

Schiff suggested that Trump is trying to test how far the Congress will go as the former president prepares for a second term with Republican control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“But Jake, I think the whole point with these nominees, several of them, is their unqualification, is there affirmative disqualification,” Schiff said. “That’s Trump’s point because what he wants to do with these nominees is establish that the Congress of the United States will not stand up to him with anything.”

“If they will confirm Matt Gaetz, they will do anything he wants,” Schiff said.

The Ethics panel has for years been investigating Gaetz, exploring whether he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other allegations. He has vigorously denied allegations of wrongdoing, and the Department of Justice, which previously investigated whether he had sex with a 17-year-old, declined to charge him with a crime.

However, that Ethics Committee investigation came to an abrupt end Wednesday when Gaetz resigned from the House shortly after Trump nominated him to serve as attorney general. The Ethics panel does not have jurisdiction over former members of Congress.

It is unknown what path the panel will follow with its Gaetz report. Some Republican senators, however, have pushed for the Senate Judiciary panel to be granted access to the report and the probe’s findings as they go through the vetting process.

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Trump inner circle shares McDonald’s meal as Donald Jr. jokes ‘Make America Healthy Again starts tomorrow’

President-elect Trump and members of his inner circle shared a McDonald’s meal aboard Trump’s private plane, with Donald Trump Jr. posting a photo Sunday morning and joking that the Trump campaign’s mission to make Americans healthier will have to wait a day.

Trump and his entourage included Elon Musk, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Donald Trump Jr. and, perhaps most surprisingly, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary. Kennedy, an outspoken critic of processed foods, was pictured with McDonald’s food and a Coca-Cola.

Trump Jr. captioned the photo, “Make America Healthy Again starts TOMORROW.”

The group had traveled to New York City on Saturday to attend UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, the site of Trump’s historic campaign rally last month. 

TRUMP FLANKED BY TOP ALLIES, CABINET PICKS AT UFC 309: ‘USA, USA’

Kennedy has not been shy about sharing his opinions about the president-elect’s diet.

“The stuff that he eats is really, like, bad,” Kennedy told podcaster Joe Polish on Monday.

“Campaign food is always bad, but the food that goes onto that airplane is, like, just poison,” he said of the food aboard Trump’s private plane. “You have a choice between – you don’t have the choice, you’re either given KFC or Big Macs. That’s when you’re lucky, and then the rest of the stuff I consider kind of inedible.”

DEMOCRATIC COLORADO GOVERNOR COMMENDS TRUMP FOR NOMINATING RFK JR. AS HHS SECRETARY

Kennedy also vowed earlier this month to clear out “entire departments” within the Food and Drug Administration for “not doing their job.”

Kennedy endorsed Trump after suspending his own presidential campaign, becoming one of Trump’s most prominent surrogates and incorporating the “MAHA” (Make America Healthy Again) movement into his closing argument to voters. 

Kennedy has already begun asking ordinary Americans to make suggestions about what policies and people should be put in place as HHS secretary, launching a website called “Policies for the People” that allows people to nominate, suggest and vote for the leaders and policies they want to see coming from the Trump White House.

Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

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