Foreign
Matt Gaetz withdraws as Trump’s nominee for attorney general
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Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to become attorney general after days of debate over whether to release a congressional report on sexual misconduct allegations against him.
On X, formerly Twitter, the 42-year-old said that the controversy over his potential nomination “was unfairly becoming a distraction” to the work of the incoming Trump administration.
The report included the findings of a probe sparked by allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
Gaetz has denied the claims but said that he hoped to avoid a “needlessly protracted Washington scuffle.”
The withdrawal of Gaetz – who Donald Trump selected to be the top US law enforcement officer – represents a setback for the president-elect.
On his own Truth Social social media platform, the former and soon-to-be president said he appreciated Gaetz’s effort to become attorney general.
“He was doing very well, but at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect,” Trump added.
In his post on X, formerly Twitter, Gaetz said that Trump’s justice department “must be in place and ready” on the first day of his administration in January.
“I remain fully committed to see that Donald J Trump is the most successful president in history,” he wrote.
“I will forever be honoured that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will save America,” Gaetz added.
The shadow cast by the long-running investigation by a congressional ethics panel into a number of claims involving drugs, bribes and sex meant that Gaetz was likely to face an uphill battle when it came time to be confirmed by the US Senate.
Lawmakers – including some fellow Senate Republicans – had expressed concern about his nomination, reportedly prompting a significant closed-door effort by him and Trump to secure the necessary support.
The day before his withdrawal, the House Ethics Committee – which compiled the report – met behind closed doors to debate whether or not it should release the report into Gaetz.
The committee’s ranking Democrat, Susan Wild, said that the group had not been able to come to an agreement and was evenly divided, 5-5, on party lines.
Its chairman, Michael Guest, told reporters on Thursday that his withdrawal “should end the discussion of whether or not the ethics committee should move forward in his matter.”
“He is no longer a member of Congress, and so I think that this settles any involvement that the ethics committee should have in any matters involving Mr Gaetz,” he said.
Gaetz resigned from his House seat last week after Trump nominated him to become attorney general.
It is unclear whom Trump will nominate in his place.
The allegations stem, in part, from a woman’s claims that she attended a 2017 party with him and witnessed the then-congressman having sex with a minor.
The woman’s lawyer later said that the woman, as well as another witness, were paid by Gaetz to have sex with him.
A separate three-year federal sex trafficking investigation into Gaetz ended with no charges brought against him.
Will Matt Gaetz return to Congress?
It is unclear what will come next for Gaetz, who provided no detail on his future plans in his announcement.
President-Elect Trump said only that he has a “wonderful future” and will do “great things”.
Experts have suggested that it is unlikely that Gaetz would try to return to the House – where he was re-elected to his seat in the November election – as it would mean that the Ethics Committee report could be made public.
Senior Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have used his resignation as justification to avoid publishing the committee’s findings.
But he could return to the Capitol in the upper chamber. Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis, could appoint him to a vacant seat that is likely to be left by Senator Marco Rubio, whom Trump has nominated as his secretary of state.
Gaetz could also lobby for another position in the administration that does not require a Senate confirmation.
Who could replace him as Attorney General nominee?
Moving forward, Trump is likely to pick another attorney general nominee to carry out his agenda at the justice department – which he has described as ending “weaponised government”, protecting US borders, dismantling criminal organisations and restoring Americans’ “badly-shattered faith and confidence” in the department.
On Monday, some of Trump’s congressional allies said they were ready to begin assessing other contenders.
“This provides the president an opportunity to look at other very qualified individuals who can help to revamp the justice department,” South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds was quoted as saying by Politico.
“Probably a number of them would be very acceptable to members of the Senate, who really do want to see the president’s agenda move forward,” he added.
Rounds added that he believes that there was “some information out there that the president was not aware of when he made the original recommendation”.
Among the names so far put forward as possibilities are:
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
Former Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission Jay Clayton
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey
Utah Senator Mike Lee
Former Office of Management and Budget general counsel Mark Paoletta
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told the BBC that “an obvious candidate” would be Todd Blanche, who represented Trump in his New York criminal trial and has already been nominated to serve as deputy attorney general.
Other possibilities include Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares or senior Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton or Josh Hawley.
The latter two have suggested that they would prefer to stay in the Senate.
President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Todd Blanche took a key step on Tuesday towards becoming the top US law enforcement officer after a Senate panel approved his nomination to head the Justice Department.
The 12-10 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee was along party lines and came after two Republican senators dropped their opposition to Blanche’s nomination.
Blanche’s Senate confirmation had been held up by concerns from senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis over a $1.8 billion fund for alleged victims of politically motivated prosecution and a tax audit immunity deal with the Republican president.
Blanche issued a written order over the weekend scrapping the so-called “anti-weaponization fund” and said the audit immunity agreement with Trump, his two eldest sons and the Trump Organization would only apply “retroactively” to past tax years and not future filings.
The full Senate, where Republicans hold a majority, is expected to vote later this week to confirm Blanche as attorney general. He has been serving as acting attorney general since Trump fired Pam Bondi in April.
Senate Democrats have been united in their opposition to Blanche amid concerns he has treated the Department of Justice as an extension of the Republican president’s legal team.
“Todd Blanche has no business serving as our nation’s chief law enforcement officer,” Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said before Tuesday’s vote.
“The attorney general is supposed to be the people’s lawyer,” Durbin said. “Mr Blanche continues to operate as the president’s personal lawyer, treating the Justice Department like a law firm serving one client — the president.”
– ‘Retribution’ campaign –
Vice President JD Vance, in a post on X following the committee vote, said Blanche “will continue to serve the American people and the Trump Administration loyally, and he will make a great Attorney General.”
Blanche has been closely tied to what Democrats have dubbed a “retribution” campaign by the president against his perceived political enemies and he helped negotiate the extraordinary legal settlement between Trump and the government he controls.
The out-of-court settlement stems from Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over the illegal disclosure of his tax records by an agency contractor.
It proposed immunity from audits for past tax years and a $1.776 billion fund for people who say they were unfairly targeted by the Department of Justice, potentially including Trump supporters convicted over the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Federal judges have separately blocked the fund and condemned the tax settlement, which according to US press reports could help the president avoid past liabilities of up to $100 million.
Blanche has also come in for criticism from victims of Jeffrey Epstein over his handling of the release of investigative files about the convicted sex offender, a one-time close friend of Trump.
Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Blanche represented Trump in his New York trial over alleged “hush money” paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
He was also on the legal defense team in two federal cases brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith — for allegedly mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House and for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Both cases were dropped after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
AFP
Foreign
Man Jailed for Keeping His Mom’s Dead Body in a Freezer for Nearly 3 Years While Receiving Her Financial Benefits
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court in Wales court in Wales, United Kingdom, has sentenced Christopher Phillips, from Porthcawl, Bridgend, to two years and four months in prison after he kept the body of his deceased mother, Sylvia Phillips, in a freezer for nearly three years while continuing to receive her financial benefits.
Police were called to the property in February after concerns were raised about Sylvia’s welfare. She had not been seen by medical professionals since 2022, despite continuing to receive prescriptions and previously maintaining regular contact with healthcare services.
When officers arrived, Phillips claimed his mother was in London visiting cousins but failed to provide any further details, prompting a search of the house.
During the search, police discovered a freezer with flowers placed on top. Inside was the body of a woman in her 80s, later confirmed to be Sylvia Phillips.
Phillips initially answered “no comment” to all police questions but later pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful and decent burial of a d+ad body and fraud by false representation.
He has now been sentenced to two years and four months in prison for the offences.
Iran has executed two men convicted of spying for Israel, as authorities continue a surge in executions linked to alleged espionage during the country’s ongoing conflict with Israel and the United States.
The executions were carried out on Monday, according to Iran’s judiciary, marking the latest in a series of hangings involving individuals accused of working with Israeli intelligence since the war began in February.
“Omid Behzad and Pouria Safvat were hanged this morning for transmitting the coordinates of sensitive military and security sites to Mossad agents,” said Mizan, the media outlet for Iran’s judiciary, referring to Israel’s foreign intelligence service.
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Iranian authorities did not disclose when the two men were arrested or tried. However, Mizan said they were found guilty of “espionage and collaboration with the Zionist regime”.
“They helped the intelligence services achieve their objectives by providing them with information on military and security centres during the war,” Mizan added.
Executions in Iran have increased sharply since the conflict erupted on February 28 following large-scale US-Israeli strikes that resulted in the death of the country’s supreme leader.
According to international rights organisations, Iran remains the world’s second-highest user of the death penalty after China.
Figures released by Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-headquartered Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) showed that at least 1,639 people were executed in Iran last year, the highest annual total recorded since 1989.
On Tuesday, Amnesty criticised what it described as an “escalation” in executions after Iranian authorities confirmed the hanging of two men convicted of participating in anti-government protests during the winter.
(AFP)
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