The man, who told reporters his name was Travis, said he was imprisoned in Syria for several months. The State Department said it was aware of an American found outside Damascus and was “seeking to provide support.”
What's next in Biden pardons
President Biden plans more acts of clemency before he leaves office. Here’s what people are lobbying for.
Louisville basketball coach grateful for free sneakers, hot wife amid tough schedule: ‘A pretty good life’
The Louisville men’s basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak with a win over UTEP on Wednesday night, but a grueling stretch of games could put the Cardinals back in trouble.
Even so, head coach Pat Kelsey is still counting his blessings.
Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey argues a call with referee Bert Smith during the Duke game in Louisville, Kentucky, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
During his post-game presser after Louisville edged UTEP 77-74, Kelsey was asked how he’s dealing with a tough schedule that featured a loss to Duke on Sunday, UTEP on Wednesday and big game against rival Kentucky on Saturday.
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His reply?
“I mean, we get a bunch of free sneakers, I wear sweatsuits to work, my kids are healthy, my wife’s hot – I’ve got a pretty good life,” Kelsey said as the room full of reporters broke out in laughter.
“We get to play college basketball. We get to play in the Yum Center. We get to get ready for UTEP. My dad used to say it all the time. I would say, ‘Hey dad, you got to go to work today?’ He would say, ‘Son, I get to go to work today.’”
Louisville Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey gives instructions before the start of the UTEP Miners game at KFC Yum! Center. (Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images)
Kelsey admitted that while this stretch of the schedule hasn’t been easy, he’s proud of the team’s efforts.
“The schedule’s been a little bit difficult. We’ve had some adversity, but the guys have been awesome. The process has been great. The results will take care of themselves.”
Terrence Edwards Jr. had 22 points on Wednesday night to help Louisville snap a three-game losing streak ahead of a big matchup with No. 5 ranked Kentucky.
Louisville Cardinals forward Khani Rooths goes for a shot against UTEP Miners forward Elijah Jones, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. (IMAGN)
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The Cardinals are 6-4 this season with Kelsey as head coach. He was hired earlier this year after Kenny Payne, a former Cardinals player, was fired after going 12-52 in two historically bad seasons.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Trump invites China’s Xi to next month’s inauguration : NPR
Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen on Nov. 20. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has invited Xi to next month’s inauguration in Washington, D.C.
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Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been invited to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next month.
Karoline Leavitt, the incoming White House press secretary, told Fox News on Thursday that the inaugural committee had extended an invite to Xi and other foreign leaders, but she did not offer details of who else was invited beyond the Chinese president. CBS News was the first to report on the invites.
“This is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just allies but our adversaries and our competitors too,” Leavitt said on Fox.
She added that it’s “to be determined” whether Xi accepts the invitation.
Leavitt described inviting foreign dignitaries as “precedent.” But an invitation to a leader like Xi is not the norm, according to Allan Lichtman, a professor of politics at American University.
“It is precedent to invite some dignitaries like ambassadors, but not foreign heads of state, certainly not a head of state who is not an ally,” Lichtman said in an email to NPR.
Trump has taken a hard line against China. Though during his first term, he often touted a strong relationship with Xi, and has said they had “great chemistry.”
But the first Trump administration imposed tariffs on some products from China, and Trump has recently threatened further tariffs in his second term.
In a post last month on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump threatened a 10% tariff on goods coming into the U.S. from China because of the amount of fentanyl and other drugs entering the U.S. from there. It’s not yet clear if the tariff will be actualized.
Conservative group lists ‘woke radical leftists’ it wants fired from DOJ under Pam Bondi
A conservative research group has sent a letter to President-elect Trump’s Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi calling on her to fire a number of Department of Justice (DOJ) workers who it says are “woke radical leftists and donors” who cannot be trusted to carry out Trump’s agenda.
In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) wrote to Bondi urging her to sack the individuals who currently work for the agency’s Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division, claiming that they have pushed transgender issues, worked for George Soros-linked organizations and donated to radical left-wing politicians and groups. The voting section is tasked with enforcing federal laws that protect the right to vote.
“These people are woke radical leftists and donors who have no place in the Department of Justice,” the group writes in the letter signed by AAF President Thomas Jones. “In order to restore the American people’s trust in election integrity and a neutral civil service, they must be fired and replaced with America-first attorneys who will execute on the agenda the American People voted for in November.”
A conservative research group has sent a letter to President-elect Trump’s Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi calling on her to fire a number of Department of Justice (DOJ) workers who it says are “woke radical leftists and donors” who cannot be trusted to carry out Trump’s agenda. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images, left, and Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images, right.)
CONSERVATIVE GROUP COMPILES LIST OF ‘WOKE’ SENIOR OFFICERS THEY WANT PETE HEGSETH TO FIRE
The letter, which rails against the “deep state” terrorizing the country and “threatening democracy itself,” was also addressed to Harmett Dhillon, President-elect Trump’s nominee for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Bondi is the former Florida Attorney General.
The letter zeroes DOJ employees —Janie Sitton, Catherine Meza, Daniel Freeman, John “Bert” Russ IV and Dana Paikowsky — and attempts to make a case as to why they are unfit to work at the agency. AAF also promises to share more information on “problematic staff” in the future.
Sitton, the group says, is being singled out for her promotion of the transgender agenda and donating to leftist politicians.
In 2000, while working for the DOJ, Sitton authored an article that called for the adoption of a new legal system deemed “transgender jurisprudence” and stated the need to “rethink” the basic known “assumptions and constructs upon which our society and laws are based.”
Sitton even took issue with common traditions such as identifying a newborn infant as a boy or girl based on the child’s sex, arguing that society has been wrong to assume or assign a gender to infants, the AAF says.
Sitton, the group says, is being singled out for her promotion of the transgender agenda and donating to leftist politicians. (Adobe Stock)
Paikowsky, the group says, has worked for years pushing far-left political agendas, including pushing for prisoners to vote, and has deep ties with Soros-linked organizations.
WHO IS PAM BONDI, TRUMP’S NEW PICK FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL?
In addition to donating to liberal politicians, Paikowsky’s LinkedIn shows that she worked as a policy associate for the Open Society Foundations, an organization founded to the billionaire financier.
Shortly after graduating from Harvard Law School, Paikowsky then went to work for the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) as a fellow for the Equal Justice Works program while also working as a legal intern for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. The CLC has received significant funding from Soros in recent years, according to the AAF.
A 2019 law review article she wrote for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review suggested an extensive framework to turn “jails into polling places” and described numerous examples of local elections across the nation, including local district attorney races, where a small number of inmate voters could have changed the election results, according to the AAF.
The group also slams Meza, who is an attorney at the voting division, for supporting gun control while she was chief counsel for the NAACP and claiming that she had accused people of not wearing masks or observing proper social distancing rules as forms of voter intimidation in 2020.
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Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a press conference while on a break from President-elect Trump’s hush money trial outside Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2024, in New York City. (Getty)
Russ made the list for being an attorney for the DOJ who had filed a 2021 complaint against Georgia’s election integrity initiatives. The complaint accused the state of having racist intentions by prohibiting unsolicited absentee ballots from being mailed to voters, requiring voter identification and prohibiting the potential bribing of voters with food and drinks at polling places.
Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ’s Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Fox News Digital also asked the agency whether each of those named in the letter would like to respond.
It’s not the first time the AAF has sought to influence the makeup of the federal government under Trump. Last week, the group compiled a list of “woke” senior officers they want Pete Hegseth to sack, should he be confirmed to lead the Pentagon.
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FBI missed ‘basic step’ in intelligence ahead of Jan. 6 riot : NPR
FBI and ATF law enforcement push out supporters of then-President Donald Trump as they protested inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
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The FBI worked to identify domestic extremists who planned to be in Washington, D.C., the day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021, but failed to take a “basic step” that could have helped law enforcement prepare ahead of the event, according to a new report from the Justice Department’s internal watchdog.
The long-awaited report from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s office comes nearly four years after a crowd of Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to prevent Congress from certifying President Biden’s election win. The report looks at how the FBI handled its intelligence and informants, known as confidential human sources, ahead of the event.
The report found that the FBI had a supporting role on Jan. 6, with the U.S. Capitol Police and the Washington, D.C., police department in the lead. Still, the FBI “recognized the potential for violence and took significant and appropriate steps to prepare,” including trying to identify known domestic extremists who planned to be in the D.C. region for Jan. 6.
But the inspector general’s office determined that the FBI failed to canvass its field offices ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, to identify any intelligence, including from informants, about potential threats that day to Congress’ certification of Biden’s electoral win. Such a step is common practice for the bureau ahead of a large event, and the failure to do so ahead of Jan. 6 was “a basic step that was missed,” FBI deputy director Paul Abate told the watchdog.
The FBI in the weeks after the attack initially incorrectly told Congress that it had done that basic step of canvassing field offices about potential threats, the watchdog found.
No undercover employees
The report also found no evidence that the FBI had undercover employees in the protest crowds or at the Capitol on Jan. 6, although the watchdog determined that 26 FBI informants were in D.C. on the day. The report said three of the informants were tasked by the FBI with traveling to Washington specifically to report on domestic terrorism subjects who might be attending the event.
None of the informants, the report said, were authorized to enter the Capitol or a restricted area, or to break the law. However, the inspector general’s review found that four of them did enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, and an additional 13 entered the restricted area around the Capitol. None of them have faced charges, the report says.
Trump, who is entering the White House for a second term next month, has promised to pardon Jan. 6 defendants. Among those requesting pardons are the leaders of two right-wing extremist groups — the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers — who were convicted of attempting to overthrow the government by using force during the attacks.
Trump in an interview with Time magazine said he would look at each situation case-by-case, leaving open the possibility of pardons even for violent offenders.
“We’re going to look at each individual case, and we’re going to do it very quickly, and it’s going to start in the first hour that I get into office. And a vast majority of them should not be in jail,” Trump said in the interview, according to a transcript published on Thursday. “A vast majority should not be in jail, and they’ve suffered gravely.”
Malibu wildfire forces celebrities to flee luxury homes as devastation spreads
Franklin wildfire spreads through Malibu community
Evacuation orders and warnings have gone out to 20,000 Southern California residents as firefighters battled a wind-driven wildfire in Malibu that burned near celebrities’ seaside mansions. (Credit: Associated Press)
Thousands of people have vacated their homes in Malibu due to the Franklin Fire setting the city ablaze, including a litany of high-profile residents.
On Monday, fires spread throughout the area, exacerbated by dry land and Santa Ana winds. According to Cal Fire, six buildings have been damaged and nine have been destroyed. Only 7% of the blaze has been contained.
Dick Van Dyke, Jane Seymour and Brooke Burke and other stars took to social media to share their devastation for their community, many fleeing with their children and beloved animals.
MALIBU WILDFIRE SURROUNDS DICK VAN DYKE’S HOME; 98-YEAR-OLD STAR ‘SAFELY EVACUATED’
A map depicts the approximate location of Jane Seymour, Dick Van Dyke and Mark Hamill’s homes as wildfires continue to tear through Southern California. (Fox News)
Dick Van Dyke
Treasured legend Van Dyke told his followers he and his longtime love, wife Arlene Silver, had to leave Malibu.
“Arlene and I have safely evacuated with our animals except for [our cat] Bobo escaped as we were leaving. We’re praying he’ll be ok and that our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires,” Van Dyke wrote on his official Facebook page Wednesday.
Dick Van Dyke fled his Malibu home with his wife and most of his pets. He located his cat Bobo when he returned home. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images; Apex/Mega)
Hours later, the veteran actor commented that he’d reunited with his feline friend.
“We found Bobo as soon as we arrived back home this morning. There was so much interest in his disappearance that Animal Control was called in to assist. But, thankfully, he was easy to find and not harmed,” Van Dyke shared.
On Thursday morning, Van Dyke appeared on the “Today” show and recounted the harrowing evacuation process.
“It was coming over the hill. You [could] see it,” he said of the fire. “I was trying to crawl to the car. I had exhausted myself. I couldn’t get up. And three neighbors came and carried me out and came back and put out a little fire in the guest house and saved me.”
Mark Hamill provided some levity amid the wildfire raging across Malibu. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images)
Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill could not evacuate Malibu due to the Franklin wildfire. The “Star Wars” actor alerted fans on social media that he was in lockdown.
“Please stay safe everyone! I’m not allowed to leave the house, which fits in perfectly with my elderly-recluse lifestyle,” the 73-year-old wrote.
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Brooke Burke
Former “Dancing with the Stars” champion and TV personality Burke said she and her family are safe after evacuating their Malibu home. The mother of four shared photos on her Instagram, including one of her standing beside a firefighter who seemed to be canvasing the area.
Brooke Burke gave an update on her family after evacuating Malibu. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images; Brooke Burke Instagram)
“Prayers for Malibu…what a community. We love our home & we fight to protect it & somehow we remain disaster after disaster honoring this sacred space . I’m so grateful for all of our friends that have reached out & family, gardeners, helpers , neighbors & the 1000+ firstresponders, law enforcement, volunteers, & workers that helped save so much. So grateful for all the brave firefighters trying to navigate the uncertainty of Mother Nature & wicked winds,” she wrote.
In a separate video shared on her Instagram story, Burke told followers her children, animals and home were all safe.
“Just heartbroken for our friends and neighbors who can’t say the same thing. … Wild times in Malibu,” she said.
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Jane Seymour
On Wednesday, actress Seymour shared eerie images of Malibu ablaze on her Instagram.
Jane Seymour shared a photo of the raging fire. (Jane Seymour/Instagram)
“The fires in our community are a stark reminder of how quickly life can change. Thankfully, my family and I were able to evacuate safely, but my thoughts are with everyone who is still in harm’s way, the brave firefighters risking everything to protect us, and the many who call Malibu home,” she wrote. “Let’s continue to support each other, stay informed, and remain hopeful. Our community is strong, and together we’ll see through these challenging times.”
Jane Seymour photographed the exterior of her home, showing how close the fire was to her property. (Jane Seymour/Instagram)
In a separate post, Seymour shared video of the raging fire, writing that she and her family had to flee the area.
“While the Franklin Fire continues to burn in Malibu and has gotten extremely close to our home, we remain evacuated and we are safe. We are deeply grateful for the amazing firefighters and the incredible band of Malibu volunteer firefighters who are risking everything to protect our homes and our community,” she wrote.
“This fire reminds us of the strength, the bravery, resilience, and compassion that bind us together in the hardest of times. Let’s continue to support and uplift one another, as we always do.
Jane Seymour, who lives in Malibu, was forced to evacuate her home with her family. (Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
“To everyone fighting the flames and keeping us safe, thank you. Your courage is extraordinary.”
Mira Sorvino
Mira Sorvino says she and her family successfully fled Malibu. (Andrew Toth/WireImage/Getty images)
Actress Mira Sorvino extended prayers to her community in Malibu after evacuating. The “Mighty Aphrodite” star wrote to X, “All my Malibu friends and neighbors I pray that you are safe. We evacuated in the middle of the night, kids and pets all accounted for! Scary times!!”
Sorvino and her husband, actor Christopher Backus, have four children together, two of whom are under the age of 18.
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Cher
Cher reportedly evacuated her home in Malibu due to the Franklin Fire. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
Cher was forced to evacuate her Malibu home, The New York Times first reported. A representative for the singer told Fox News Digital that the singer, 78, “has not returned home yet.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to several additional stars who own property in the area.
Trump picks Kari Lake to lead Voice of America : NPR
Kari Lake, pictured at the Republican National Convention in July, is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Voice of America.
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President-elect Donald Trump says Kari Lake, a local television news anchor-turned-MAGA politician, will lead the federally funded broadcaster Voice of America.
If successful, the move would put a loyalist at the helm of a news outlet that Trump sought to bring to heel under his appointee during the final year of his first term. Trump officials sought to strip the network and its parent agency of their independence during his first term, including actions later found to be illegal and in one case, unconstitutional.
But Trump doesn’t have the authority to unilaterally install Lake; the hire is dependent on a bipartisan board beneath the chief executive of its parent agency.
Voice of America (VOA), which is funded by Congress, operates in nearly 50 languages and reaches an estimated 354 million people weekly across the globe. It is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the government agency that oversees all non-military, U.S. international broadcasting.
Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social that Lake will be appointed by and work closely with the incoming head of that agency, “who I will announce soon.”
A free press is central to VOA’s mission: It aims to bring unfettered reporting to places that do not have it, and show political debate and dissent in the U.S. even when that reflects critically on the administration in power.
Trump’s White House took the unprecedented step in spring 2020 of openly attacking VOA in public statements over its perceived failures to explicitly blame the Chinese government for the pandemic.
On Wednesday, Trump wrote that Lake and his as-yet-unnamed agency leader will “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media.”
Lake, who ran unsuccessfully for an Arizona U.S. Senate seat this year and for governor in 2022, has made a political name for herself in part by denying election losses (both hers and Trump’s in 2020) and railing against the mainstream media, of which she was once a part.
She left her job at the Phoenix Fox affiliate in 2021 after over two decades and a series of controversies, including sharing COVID-19 misinformation during the pandemic.
In her speech at the Republican National Convention this summer, Lake accused the “fake news” of spending “the last eight years lying about President Donald Trump and his amazing, patriotic supporters,” and said they had “worn out your welcome.”
On Wednesday, Lake said she looks forward to starting at VOA, which she described as a “vital international media outlet dedicated to advancing the interests of the United States by engaging directly with people across the globe and promoting democracy and truth.”
“Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide,” Lake tweeted.
That’s not exactly the organization’s stated mission, however. On its website, it says it is “committed to providing comprehensive coverage of the news and telling audiences the truth.”
What is Voice of America?
VOA was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda in Germany.
“We bring you Voices from America,” said announcer William Harlan Hale in the first German-language program. “Today, and daily from now on, we shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good for us. The news may be bad. But we shall tell you the truth.”
By the end of World War II, it was broadcasting 3,200 programs in 40 languages every week, presenting America — and modeling a free press — to the world.
VOA was able to continue and even expand its operations during the Cold War. And when the United States Information Agency was established in 1953, VOA became its largest element.
Today, its over 2,000 employees produce radio, digital and television content, distributed by a network of satellite, cable, FM and MW and some 3,500 affiliate stations.
VOA calls itself the largest U.S. international broadcaster; others include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Martí.
The Voice of America building stands in Washington, D.C.
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Is VOA editorially independent?
From its beginning, government officials debated the balance VOA should strike between reporting the news and furthering U.S. foreign policy. Over the years, the broadcaster has taken several steps to safeguard its editorial independence, in practice and in policy.
In the late 1950s, VOA employees drafted a formal statement of principles to protect the editorial integrity of their broadcasts, which became the official VOA Charter in 1960. President Gerald Ford signed it into law in 1976 .
There are three main guidelines: VOA news will be “accurate, objective and comprehensive;” “represent America, not any single segment of American society” and cover not only U.S. policies but “responsible discussions and opinion” about them.
Taking a step further, the 1994 U.S. International Broadcasting Act enshrined in U.S. code a “firewall” that prohibits any U.S. government official from interfering in the objective, independent reporting of news.
“The firewall ensures that VOA can make the final decisions on what stories to cover, and how they are covered,” the broadcaster says.
That firewall came under threat during the first Trump administration, as NPR has reported.
What happened to VOA during Trump’s first term?
Despite the VOA being owned by the federal government, the White House singled it out for attack during the first Trump administration, particularly during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020.
The White House accused the broadcaster of amplifying Chinese government propaganda about the country’s efforts to contain the virus, which it denied.
It was in that context that the Republican-led Senate finally confirmed conservative filmmaker Michael Pack to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, two years after Trump first nominated him.
Pack’s arrival rattled VOA even before he got there: Two top officials resigned as soon as he was confirmed.
Further fueling fears of political interference, Pack quickly stripped most of the agency’s senior leadership of their authority and fired the chiefs of the government-sponsored broadcast networks for foreign audiences, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.
“My job really is to drain the swamp, to root out corruption and to deal with these issues of bias, not to tell journalists what to report,” Pack told the pro-Trump website The Federalist at the time.
Throughout his seven-month tenure at VOA’s parent agency, Pack faced multiple accusations of meddling in its process — from making personnel moves like reassigning VOA leaders and refusing to extend foreign employees’ work visas, to editorial decisions like removing several controversial stories from its website after publication.
Under Pack’s leadership, the agency also investigated one of its own VOA White House reporters for perceived anti-Trump bias and rescinded the firewall meant to ensure editorial independence from partisan interference.
A formal federal investigation also said Pack engaged in “waste or gross waste of government resources” in paying a private firm $1.6 million to investigate agency executives he considered insufficiently loyal (they were ultimately exonerated). Such work is ordinarily done by government attorneys.
The Biden administration swiftly removed several Trump loyalists from the U.S. Agency for Global Media and VOA itself after taking office in 2021. A federal inquiry released in 2023 found that Pack repeatedly engaged in abuses of power and gross mismanagement — including, but not limited to, violating journalists’ independence. A federal judge found that Pack had violated constitutional free speech protections of the network’s journalists.
Is Lake’s leadership a sure thing?
The chaos of the Pack era led to congressional reform — most notably, the creation of the International Broadcasting Advisory Board (IBAB).
The IBAB is an independent federal entity made up of seven people: six experts in mass communications and international affairs, appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and a seat for the secretary of state. No more than three of the president’s appointees can be from the same political party.
The Senate confirmed its six new members last December.
The board’s stated mission is to ensure the editorial independence and enhance the impact of the work carried out by the U.S Agency for Global Media. It also plays a role in the appointment and removal of heads of the agency’s entities.
The heads of VOA and others “may only be appointed or removed if such action has been approved by the Board,” according to its bylaws.
Notably, VOA welcomed a new director — former Freedom House president and longtime Washington Post reporter and editor Michael
Abramowitz — in June.
It’s not clear when or whether the board would meet to decide to replace Abramowitz. Trump has not yet said whom he intends to appoint to lead the parent U.S. Agency for Global Media, a position that requires Senate confirmation.
The board has not yet responded to NPR’s request for comment.
Tide turns in favor of Trump DOD pick Pete Hegseth after Matt Gaetz failure
The pick by President-elect Trump to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, seems to be on track to get enough GOP Senate support to be confirmed, despite facing a handful of allegations ranging from sexual assault, excessive drinking and fund mismanagement, all of which he has denied.
One Republican senator told Fox News Digital that they weren’t aware of any GOP senators who are a “hard no” on confirming Hegseth.
Hegseth “certainly” doesn’t seem to be in a position where he may feel pressured to withdraw, they added.
GOP ATTORNEYS GENERAL OFFER SUPPORT FOR TRUMP FBI PICK KASH PATEL, URGE SENATORS TO DO THE SAME
Pete Hegseth makes his way to a meeting with Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., in the Russell building on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)
This is much different than the landscape for former Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s previous selection to be attorney general, who faced several definitive “no” votes from senators.
Contending with the significant lack of support espoused most candidly behind closed doors, Gaetz withdrew from the process just days after being selected.
Republicans will have a 53-47 majority in the next Senate, and there is only room for Trump nominees to lose a few GOP votes, assuming no Democrats choose to back them.
MANCHIN, SINEMA TANK SCHUMER LAME-DUCK EFFORT TO SECURE DEM MAJORITY ON TOP LABOR BOARD
Gaetz withdrew himself from the confirmation process. (Reuters)
However, as the Republican senator conveyed, Hegseth doesn’t appear to have lost any Republicans in the upper chamber at this point, including more moderate lawmakers such as Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
Hegseth met with both of them this week on Capitol Hill. According to Collins, “I had a good substantive discussion that lasted more than an hour.”
“We covered a wide range of topics ranging from defense procurement reforms to the role of women in the military, sexual assault in the military. Ukraine, NATO, a wide range of issues. I obviously always wait until we have an FBI background check and one is underway in the case of Mr. Hegseth, and I wait to see the committee hearing before reaching a final decision.”
MCCONNELL’S SENATE MONEY MACHINE MAKES TRANSITION TO THUNE AS NEW ERA BEGINS
Collins met with Hegseth for a long period of time. (Mark Makela)
Murkowski refused to discuss her meeting with Hegseth, a former Fox News host, when asked by reporters.
Trump’s defense secretary choice has also met twice with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. After their first meeting earlier this month, Ernst admitted on Fox News that she wasn’t sold on Hegseth yet. But after their second meeting this week, she released a statement, saying, “As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.”
Ernst and Hegseth met twice. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Ernst is notably the first female combat veteran ever elected to the Senate and also sits on the Armed Services Committee. She is additionally a survivor of sexual assault herself, which Hegseth has been accused of but denied.
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The changing tide, seemingly in favor of Hegseth’s confirmation, was articulated by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to reporters. “You can feel the difference this week versus last week,” he said.
“Kash [Patel] is not going to have an issue. Tulsi [Gabbard] is not going to have issue. People are going to ask the questions they should, but they’re going to get confirmed,” he added of other somewhat controversial Trump picks.
China denies new report linking CCP to four sites in Cuba allegedly used to spy on the US
China is denying a new report linking it to four bases in Cuba that a think tank says allows the CCP to spy on the U.S.
The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report last week detailing facilities in Cuba that it claims China may be using to gather signal intelligence (SIGINT) on the U.S.
“The cooperation between China and Cuba is aboveboard, not targeting any third party, and does not allow any malicious slander from third parties,” Chinese foreign minister Mao Ning told reporters on Wednesday.
Cuban foreign minister Carlos de Cossio claimed reports of Chinese spying hubs in Cuba originate from “Cuba’s enemies” in the U.S. “as a way of justifying the criminal policy of economic aggression. It is absolutely false.”
CSIS analyzed over a dozen “sites of interest” in Cuba and four stuck out as most likely to be supporting China and its spying ambitions.
“These sites have undergone observable upgrades in recent years, even as Cuba has faced increasingly dire economic prospects that have drawn it closer to China,” the report’s authors said.
Each of the four sites had “observable SIGINT instrumentation,” clear physical security infrastructure and other signs of intelligence collection.
One such station located on a hill overlooking Havana, Bejucal, has been suspected of ties to Chinese intelligence for years. The complex gained notoriety for housing Soviet missiles during the Cuban missile crisis.
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During the 2016 presidential debates, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., called on Cuba to “[kick] out this Chinese listening station in Bejucal.”
According to CSIS findings, satellite imagery shows that the site was active as of March 2024 and had been for some time. There are at least five entrances to underground facilities at the base, but what the facilities contain could not be discerned by satellite imagery. Antennas dot the ground, including satellite antennas used for intercepting satellite communications.
With Havana situated just 100 miles off the coast of Florida, the site could potentially be used to collect data on U.S. rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
(CSIS/Hidden Reach/Maxar 2024)
The U.S. and China are locked in a space race and rocket launches that deliver U.S. satellites to space will likely garner a high level of interest within the CCP.
On another site on the opposite side of the island, east of the city of Santiago de Cuba, a large radio signal finding technology project is under construction, one capable of detecting signals between 3,000 and 8,000 nautical miles away.
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Cuba has a history of allowing U.S. adversaries to use its soil to snoop on U.S. communications. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union operated a SIGINT facility at the Lourdes Signals Intelligence Complex near Havana. That site monitored U.S. satellites and intercepted sensitive military and commercial telecommunications.
In recent decades, the alliance between China and Cuba has grown – and China has provided around $7.8 billion in development financing to the island nation.