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On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) said DNI nominee Tulsi Gabbard is “someone who is likely a Russian asset,” and “considered to be, essentially, by most assessments, a Russian asset.” Wasserman Schultz said,
The post Wasserman Schultz: Gabbard ‘Likely a Russian Asset’ appeared first on Breitbart.
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President Biden awkwardly stood in the back corner of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) family photo on Saturday, as other prominent world leaders were spotted front and center.
Chinese Premier Xi Jinping was placed in the front-center of the photo, next to Peruvian president Dina Boluarte. Boluarte hosted the world leaders in Lima for this year’s APEC summit.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was seen in the front row on Xi’s right, along with Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Pictures show Biden smiling and laughing with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra of Thailand while the family photo was being taken. This weekend, Biden had closed-door meetings with a variety of leaders, including Boluarte and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
TRUMP APPOINTS TULSI GABBARD AS DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: ‘FEARLESS SPIRIT’
The photograph’s placement of Biden, who is leaving office in January, departs from where American leaders typically stand. Last year, Biden was center in the 2023 APEC family photo, which was hosted in San Francisco. Trudeau and Xi were on Biden’s right.
In 2017, former President Trump stood towards the front-center of that year’s APEC family photo, along with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
HERE ARE THE MOST TALKED-ABOUT CANDIDATES FOR TOP POSTS IN TRUMP’S ADMINISTRATION
The conference came nearly two weeks after the 2024 presidential election, where Vice President Harris lost to Trump in a huge upset victory. Biden met with the Republican leader this week to discuss the transition process.
“I look forward… to having a smooth transition. We’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated, what you need,” the Democratic president said to Trump during the meeting.
“I appreciate very much the transition that’s so smooth,” Trump replied. “It will be as smooth as it can get, and I very much appreciate that.”
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for the third and final time on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru on Saturday, in the wake of the U.S. presidential election.
“The United States has recently concluded its elections,” Xi told Biden. “China’s goal of a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relationship remains unchanged.”
“China is ready to work with the new US administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences, so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-US relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi continued.
Their meeting comes as President-elect Trump — who has long talked tough on China, even as he occasionally expressed his admiration for Xi’s strength as its leader — is set to return to the White House.
He has vowed to impose a 60-percent tariff on Chinese goods, as well as general tariffs of 10-to-20 percent on all imports.
Chinese authorities previously told The Hill they don’t want a trade war and stressed the importance of the stability of global production and supply chains.
During Trump’s first term, his trade policies included steep tariffs on Chinese goods and a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
During Xi’s opening remarks, he emphasized the importance of good U.S.-China relations.
“When the two countries treat each other as partner and friend, seek common ground while shelving differences and help each other succeed, our relationship would make considerable progress. But if we take each other as rivals or adversary, pursue vicious competition, and seek to hurt each other, we would roil the relationship or even set it back,” Xi said.
Biden’s opening remarks also highlighted the partnership between China and the U.S.
“We are the most important alliance – or the most important relationship in the entire world, and how we’re getting along together can impact the rest of the world. And so our two countries can not let any of this competition veer into conflict. That’s our responsibility and over the last four years I think we’ve proven it’s possible to have this relationship,” Biden said.
Xi used his speeches during the summit to reject protectionism. Conversation surrounding APEC thus far has largely focused on heightened trade and security rivalry between the U.S. and China.
Earlier this year, Biden and Xi spoke on the phone as a “check-in” following a commitment between the two to take concrete actions to improve the relationship between the two countries, including discussing China’s anger at Washington’s support for Taiwan and China’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Mike Huckabee (R), Arkansas’s former governor and newly appointed U.S. ambassador to Israel, commended President-elect Trump for selecting Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense.
“I think he’s going to be just as disruptive, which needs to happen at the DOD. They’ve been so focused on being woke and being diverse that nobody wants to join them,” Huckabee said Friday on NewsMax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight.”
He said the Fox News host and Army National Guard officer could boost recruitment levels which are at an all-time low, which Huckabee blamed on recent diversity and inclusion efforts.
Huckabee compared their attempts to increase enlistment to a “social experiment” that Hegseth could help end.
“The military has always been a meritocracy. It’s never been some social experiment,” the Republican said.
“So if Pete Hegseth goes in and gets rid of some of these folks who politically got their jobs rather than for military capacity, God bless him. Good for him.”
However, some lawmakers have questioned Hegseth’s selection after sexual assault allegations surfaced in addition to his lack of experience in military leadership.
Others have joined Huckabee in praising Trump’s choice in hopes that he would cure the armed forces of “woke” generals.
“I’m thrilled with these appointments so far, because every one of them pretty much are disruptive. These are not people who go into just oil the machinery that’s already running,” Huckabee said, noting Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) selection for attorney general.
“They want to come in and make some serious, positive changes so these agencies start working for the good and working for the American people rather than working for somebody’s left-wing agenda.”
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Charlamagne Tha God is having trouble understanding how President Joe Biden could be all smiles while hosting President-elect Donald Trump at the White House this week, as Democrats repeatedly smeared Trump as a “fascist” and a “threat to democracy” during the campaign.
The post Charlamagne tha God Baffled by Biden Welcoming Trump to White House: ‘What Happened to the Fascist Talk?’ appeared first on Breitbart.
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President-elect Trump on Saturday announced he would nominate Chris Wright, a donor and fracking company leader, to serve as his Energy secretary.
“Chris has been a leading technologist and entrepreneur in Energy. He has worked in Nuclear, Solar, Geothermal, and Oil and Gas,” Trump said in a statement announcing the pick. “Most significantly, Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American Shale Revolution that fueled American Energy Independence, and transformed the Global Energy Markets and Geopolitics.”
Wright, a Trump donor, is the CEO of Liberty Energy, a fracking and oilfield services company. Wright will require Senate confirmation to lead the Department of Energy.
In addition to that role, Trump said Wright would serve on a newly formed Council of National Energy being led by his nominee for Interior secretary, Doug Burgum.
That council will focus on cutting regulations and increasing investments to ramp up oil and gas production. Trump has pledged to increase drilling upon taking office, even as the U.S. set records for oil production under the Biden administration, and he has signaled support for the fracking industry.
The Energy Department oversees oil and gas production and exports, as well as the nation’s nuclear weapons program.
Fracking, which is short for hydraulic fracturing, is an oil and gas extraction technique that kicked off the “shale revolution” greatly boosting companies’ energy production potential and helping to make the U.S. the world’s top producer of oil and gas.
The technology is controversial however, because of oil and gas’s contribution to climate change, as well as fracking’s links to earthquakes and childhood cancers.
Trump ally and donor Harold Hamm, an energy executive, recently told publication Hart Energy that Wright was his top choice for energy secretary.
Rachel Frazin contributed
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President-elect Donald Trump announced that Chris Wright, the CEO and founder of Liberty Energy, will lead the Department of Energy in his new administration.
“I am thrilled to announce that Chris Wright will be joining my Administration as both United States Secretary of Energy, and Member of the newly formed Council of National Energy,” Trump said in a statement released Saturday.
The newly-elected president wrote that Wright “has been a leading technologist and entrepreneur in Energy.”
“He has worked in Nuclear, Solar, Geothermal, and Oil and Gas,” Trump’s statement read. “Most significantly, Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American Shale Revolution that fueled American Energy Independence, and transformed the Global Energy Markets and Geopolitics.”
The key Cabinet position announcement comes after Trump made independent energy and bolstering oil and gas production a cornerstone of his campaign. While on the campaign trail, Trump pledged to expand fracking and lift a pause on liquefied natural gas exports, which marks a sharp contrast with his predecessor.
LEAVE THE OIL TO ME: TRUMP VOWS TO UNLEASH US ENERGY, UNDO KEY BIDEN RULES IN 2ND TERM
“They annihilated your steel mills, decimated your coal jobs, assaulted your oil and gas jobs and sold off your manufacturing jobs to China and other foreign nations all over the world,” Trump said of the Biden administration during a campaign event in Pennsylvania last month.
The president-elect has also vowed to use his second White House term to re-exit the Paris climate accord, undo strict emissions standards for vehicles and power plants, and bolster production of U.S. oil and gas, including through fracking.
Trump’s nominees and administration picks during his second administration are being publicly announced at a much faster pace than during his first administration in 2016, which the transition team attributed to Trump’s commitment to putting “America first.”
EPA’S NEW RULE TO CHARGE OIL AND GAS COMPANIES FOR EMISSIONS COULD FACE A TRUMP RECKONING
“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin, giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail — and his Cabinet picks reflect his priority to put America First. President Trump will continue to appoint highly qualified men and women who have the talent, experience and necessary skill sets to Make America Great Again,” Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital when asked about Trump’s speedy roll-out of Cabinet picks.
Under his first administration, Trump tapped former Texas Gov. Rick Perry for the position, before Dan Brouillette took the position over in 2019. Trump did not announce his choice of Perry until Dec. 14, 2016, putting him ahead of his first term’s nomination process.
On the energy front, Trump also reportedly plans to install an “energy czar” to scale back energy and climate regulations implemented under the Biden administration, and also already named former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin as his pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.
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President-elect Trump on Saturday announced he was appointing Will Scharf, one of his personal attorneys, as White House staff secretary in his incoming administration.
Scharf represented Trump as one of his lawyers during a hearing on presidential immunity before the Supreme Court and was a regular on television defending Trump amid his hush money trial in Manhattan.
Staff secretary is a lower-profile position that carries significant importance within the White House. The staff secretary manages paper flow to the president and typically is in close proximity to the commander-in-chief. Rob Porter and Derek Lyons held the role during Trump’s first term.
“Will is a highly skilled attorney who will be a crucial part of my White House team,” Trump said in a statement. “He has played a key role in defeating the Election Interference and Lawfare waged against me, including by winning the Historic Immunity Decision in the Supreme Court.”
Scharf made an unsuccessful run for Missouri attorney general earlier this year, losing in a primary to incumbent Andrew Bailey. Trump endorsed both men in the primary.
Scharf is the latest Trump attorney to get rewarded with an administration job. Trump earlier this week announced Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and John Sauer, all of whom represented him in the past year, were being tapped for senior roles in the Justice Department.
A former federal prosecutor, Scharf has worked alongside Sauer at James Otis Law Firm, representing Trump in both his presidential immunity fight as well as an appeal of his gag order imposed in his federal election interference criminal case.
Scharf declined to comment on his appointment.
He previously was employed at CRC Advisors, a public relations firm founded by conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo, who played a central role in moving the Supreme Court to the right and choosing Trump’s nominees.
Scharf himself worked on the confirmations of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s two most recent Supreme Court picks.
A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Scharf also previously worked in the office of then-Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) as policy director.
Updated at 4:19 p.m. EST
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With Republicans sweeping to a red trifecta in last week’s elections, stunningly capturing the White House and majorities in the House and Senate, Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is cutting a different tone, compared to his pre-election hype where he posited a Democrat win in the Senate and then potentially getting rid of the filibuster, among other radical proposals.
Ending the filibuster rule – which requires 60 votes to pass bills – would have made it easier for Democrats to supercharge their agenda and essentially railroad any Republican opposition.
Schumer and the Democrats tried to kill the filibuster in 2022 when they had 50 votes – the vice president could have broken the tie – but Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema refused to toe the Democratic party line. They eventually became Independents.
FILIBUSTER: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE POLITICAL DELAY TACTIC
With Manchin and Sinema leaving the Senate, Schumer was confident of having at least 50 Senate seats after this year’s election with a then-potential Vice President Walz breaking the tie on a filibuster vote.
“We got it up to 48, but, of course, Sinema and Manchin voted no; that’s why we couldn’t change the rules. Well, they’re both gone,” Schumer told reporters on the Tuesday during the week of the Democratic convention, according to NBC News.
“Ruben Gallego is for it, and we have 51. So, even losing Manchin, we still have 50.”
The result would have essentially meant one-party rule in the Senate, with Schumer also toying with expanding voting rights nationwide by passing the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
He also discussed a potential rule change to codify abortion rights in federal law, a party priority after Roe v. Wade was overturned, which would have faced staunch Republican opposition and lacking a path to 60 Senate votes.
Schumer also posited reforming the Supreme Court by slapping 18-year term limits on justices and touted reversing the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling, which determined that presidents are immune from prosecution for some “official acts.”
He has previously announced his intention to move legislation that would expand the Supreme Court from nine to 13 members.
But this week, he went to the floor of the Senate to tell Republicans to essentially go easy on their legislative colleagues on the other side of the aisle, since Republicans will have a 53-to-47 majority.
“To my Republican colleagues, I offer a word of caution in good faith,” Schumer said.
“Take care not to misread the will of the people, and do not abandon the need for bipartisanship. After winning an election, the temptation may be to go to the extreme. We’ve seen that happen over the decades, and it has consistently backfired on the party in power.”
“So, instead of going to the extremes, I remind my colleagues that this body is most effective when it’s bipartisan. If we want the next four years in the Senate to be as productive as the last four, the only way that will happen is through bipartisan cooperation.”
Schumer’s about face wasn’t lost on Byron York, chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner and a Fox News contributor.
“The short version of that is: Please don’t do to us what we were going to do to you,” York writes in the Washington Examiner.
“Schumer is obviously concerned that Republicans might embrace a scheme to eliminate the filibuster and pass all sorts of consequential legislation with no Democratic input at all. That wouldn’t be bipartisan!”
“Fortunately for Schumer, Republicans have been more principled than Democrats when it comes to the legislative filibuster, and to the filibuster in general. Republicans realize that even though they will have the majority for the next two years, they might be back in the minority at any time after that. So Schumer will not get it good and hard the way he planned to give it to Republicans.”
York writes that Schumer’s “brand of hypocrisy is particularly egregious” since he was advocating changing Senate rules on a partisan basis to eliminate the minority party’s ability to demand a higher standard of approval for controversial legislation, as opposed to advocating to get a particular bill across the line.
“He was. And then, when Schumer’s party loses, he instantly turns around and becomes Mr. Bipartisanship. For that, there should be a word that goes beyond mere hypocrisy.”
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., will replace Schumer as Majority Leader and is planning to make ushering in President-elect Trump’s immigration agenda the first item on his to-do list when he succeeds. He has not indicated that he intended to vote on the filibuster rule.
He said repairing the economy is also near the top of his list. As crucial elements of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 passed by Trump are set to expire in 2025, Thune said Republicans will take action through the budget reconciliation process to renew them.
The trifecta will make Trump’s agenda easier to pursue without opposition from a Democratic majority. Republicans held a governing trifecta from 2017 to 2019. The GOP achieved much of their agenda, including sweeping tax reform and confirming justices to achieve a conservative majority in the Supreme Court.
But Thune said he would protect the filibuster rule, even if it stands in the way of the Trump agenda it hopes to advance.
Fox News’s Jamie Joseph, Julia Johnson and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
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On Saturday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Cavuto Live,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said that the country is seeing another Hitler with President-Elect Donald Trump. While discussing the 2024 elections, Clyburn said that the country has swung back and
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