Foreign
Matt Gaetz withdraws as Trump’s nominee for attorney general
Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to become attorney general after days of debate over whether to release a congressional report on sexual misconduct allegations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.
Foreign
Fresh Israeli Airstrikes In Gaza Kill 25 Palestinians Including Children
Fresh Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 25 Palestinians, according to medics.
The casualties on Friday included at least eight people in an apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp and 10 others in the town of Jabalia, among them seven children.
Efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have yet to succeed.
Sources involved in the negotiations told Reuters on Thursday that Qatar and Egypt had resolved some points of contention but key issues remain unresolved.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza following Hamas-led attacks on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023.
The attacks resulted in the deaths of 1200 people and the abduction of over 250 hostages, according to Israeli reports.
Israel states that approximately 100 hostages are still being held, though it is unclear how many remain alive.
Gaza authorities report that Israel’s ongoing campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians and displaced the majority of the 2.3 million residents.
Much of the territory has reportedly been devastated by the conflict.
Foreign
Biden signs bipartisan funding bill to keep government open
President Biden signed the stopgap funding bill that will keep the government open until March, punting the thornier issues surrounding the nation’s finances to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
A bloated 1,500-page funding measure was exploded by Trump and his top ally Elon Musk earlier this week as they demanded a pared-down version.
The parties were able to cobble a stopgap bill together Friday evening, which passed the Senate early Saturday morning.
The package funds the government at current levels until March 14, 2025, and includes $100 billion in hurricane relief funds and $10 billion in aid to farmers.
With the stopgap funding only running until March, an almost certain clash is looming between Trump and GOP spending hardliners when Congress reconvenes in January.
“The bipartisan funding bill I just signed keeps the government open and delivers the urgently needed disaster relief that I requested for recovering communities as well as the funds needed to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge,” Biden said in a statement after inking the deal.
The post Biden signs bipartisan funding bill to keep government open appeared first on New York Post.
Foreign
Russia jails Ukraine resident 16 years for treason
A military court in Russia’s southern city of Rostov-on-Don on Friday sentenced an unnamed resident of eastern Ukraine’s Lugansk region to 16 years in prison for “high treason,” according to Russia’s FSB security service.
Moscow regularly imposes heavy sentences on individuals it accuses of spying for Ukraine and has consistently imprisoned Ukrainians both in Russia and in occupied territories.
The sentencing coincided with President Vladimir Putin’s call for security services to adopt “tough” anti-terror measures, with a particular focus on military counter-intelligence, as the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine nears its third year.
Putin urged the special services to “identify spies and traitors” and “disrupt the work of foreign security services.”
Prosecutors claimed the accused had passed information about the Russian armed forces to Kyiv’s security services.
The FSB, as reported by Russian news agencies, stated that the man was found guilty of state treason, aiding terrorist activities, and the illegal handling and transport of explosives.
The court ordered him to serve his sentence in a high-security penal colony.
The TASS news agency released a video of the man’s arrest, showing FSB officers stopping a car, dragging a man out, throwing him to the ground, and handcuffing him before taking him to the local FSB headquarters.
The video, filmed by the FSB, featured the man—his face blurred — stating that he had been recruited by Ukraine’s SBU security service in 2016.
Russia frequently publishes confession videos filmed by the FSB after arrests.
Meanwhile, independent Russian media reported that an activist had died by suicide on Thursday in a Rostov detention centre, shortly after being sentenced to 16 years in prison, also in the Rostov region.
The Mediazona website confirmed with prison officials that Roman Shved, a 39-year-old anarchist sentenced for an arson attack on a government building following the Kremlin’s 2022 military mobilisation, had died in the detention centre.
Several social media channels reported that Shved had taken his life just hours after being sentenced.
Russia has prosecuted thousands of its citizens for opposing the Ukraine conflict.
AFP
-
News15 hours ago
Abuja stampede: Wike orders free medical treatment for victims
-
News22 hours ago
FG allocates N960bn for aircrafts, security equipment in 2025
-
Sports14 hours ago
Arsenal’s top coach not happy over Bukayo Saka’s injury
-
Opinion14 hours ago
IBADAN, OKIJA, ABUJA AND THE DEATHLY FATE OF MEKUNUS
-
Entertainment23 hours ago
One Billion Users, But Controversies Mount Up For TikTok
-
Metro23 hours ago
‘It’s been hard, even a cup of rice is now a luxury for us’ – Abuja stampede survivors recount ordeal
-
News22 hours ago
Appeal Court bans Customs from confiscating rice outside land, other borders
-
News23 hours ago
Anambra Govt Mourns Victims Of Tragic Stampede In Okija, Launches Probe