DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Trump’s Campaign Promises. The scoreboard.

It’s funny that Elon somehow is gonna be different than Carl Icahn. If nobody remembers him, that’s because in trumps first term, he hired this billionaire to help reduce spending and regulations. Dude lasted 7 months and was outta there.

But somehow, this billionaire will be different from the last…

Things are becoming more clear why top republicans such as Johnson want the ethics committee report to remain hidden. Not that Republicans at this time care about such trivial things.......

Woman told House Ethics Committee she saw Gaetz have sex with a minor, lawyer says

The attorney who represents two women who were witnesses in the House Ethics Committee probe into former congressman Matt Gaetz said Friday that one of his clients told the panel she saw the congressman having sex with a minor.

“My client testified to the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed Matt Gaetz having sex with a minor,” said attorney Joel Leppard, whose clients sat for closed-door testimony before the committee as part of the now-dropped investigation into the Florida Republican.

The committee had been probing allegations that Gaetz may have “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.” Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, including ever having sex with a minor or paying for sex.

Asked Friday about the testimony, first reported on by ABC News, a spokesperson for Gaetz told CNN that “Merrick Garland’s DOJ cleared Matt Gaetz and didn’t charge him.”

The Department of Justice had separately pursued a yearslong sex-crimes investigation into Gaetz but ultimately decided last year not to pursue criminal charges against him.

The investigations have drawn renewed attention in recent days after President-elect Donald Trump earlier this week announced his intention to nominate Gaetz to serve as attorney general in his incoming administration.

If approved for the role by the Senate, Gaetz would take over DOJ, the nation’s top law enforcement agency, and be in control of the investigative files that detail the evidence the FBI uncovered in the sex trafficking investigation against him.

The Justice Department deemed the files too sensitive to release even to the House Ethics Committee.

Gaetz’s resignation from Congress to prepare for the confirmation process effectively ended the congressional investigation, as the panel only has jurisdiction over a member when they are serving in Congress.

Democrats immediately began calling for the release of the committee’s long-awaited findings – a call that Leppard echoed Friday, arguing that “democracy demands transparency.”

Late Thursday, Republicans canceled a scheduled Friday meeting with Democrats on the panel that was expected to address the report, sources told CNN. And House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday he does not think the panel’s findings should be released and that he was “going to strongly request” the committee not do so.

Gaetz is just one of a number of provocative picks that Trump has made for his Cabinet, including veteran-turned-Fox News host Pete Hegseth, whose nomination is already facing questions of viability from the president-elect’s transition team.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/15/politics/matt-gaetz-ethics-committee/index.html

One difference may be that Elon paid 100 million dollars to be there. And you can bet he's going to get every penny's worth of that 100 million. That used to be a crime too.

Well, consider who was the benefactor of that $100M and whether or not that benefactor always lives up to his end of the bargain.

That's certainly true and another aspect to consider. But most of the people trump screws over aren't as rich and powerful as Elon is. At this point anything could happen and nothing would surprise me.

trump is doing what trump does. Sewing as much chaos as possible while everything else is an afterthought.

Yep…and to add on another wrinkle, he’s also beginning a state of mental decline. Could make for quite the perfect storm.

Inside the conservative hunt for partisans in the federal government before Trump takes over

In mid-September, as tech billionaire Elon Musk intensified his efforts to elect Donald Trump as president, a wave of letters arrived at the Department of Transportation, asking the agency to turn over any emails and text messages that federal workers sent about the world’s wealthiest man and his sprawling technology empire.

The requests were like thousands of others sent in the past two years by Trump-allied groups seeking to identify perceived partisans within the federal government. Some have focused on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, others on employees who shared “off the record” information with reporters and on emails referencing “climate change.”

It’s a massive fishing expedition that has already sent a chill through federal agencies bracing for Trump’s second term.

With Trump set to return to the White House with a promise to shrink the federal government and eliminate civil servants seen as obstacles to his agenda, the groundwork laid by these groups could serve as a road map for a mass purging of personnel.

Unclear is whether the incoming Trump administration intends to utilize the work of these groups as the president-elect pursues a long-standing goal of eliminating disloyal career bureaucrats. A spokesperson for his transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

“We have a pretty good handle on where the problem sectors are, who the problematic individuals are and what the problematic tactics are,” said Mike Howell, executive director of the Heritage Foundation Oversight Project, which is responsible for a substantial share of the requests. “We’ve been planning for some time what to do if there’s turnover in the administration.”

Howell estimates his group has submitted around 65,000 requests to federal agencies under the Freedom of Information Act, a law that governs public access to records produced by the government. And he is not alone. America First Policy Institute, a group with close ties to Trump’s transition team, has also requested agencies turn over training materials about diversity programs and any records that outline all senior level positions.

Another conservative organization, the American Accountability Foundation, recently published the names of 60 “targets” in the Department of Homeland Security who the organization believes would stand in the way of Trump’s plans for large-scale deportation and other sweeping immigration policies. The list includes senior-level employees who donated to Democratic candidates or causes, previously worked for groups that advocate for more liberal immigration policies or posted on social media about their efforts to assist immigrants who arrived in the US seeking legal status.

“If the president wants to be able to execute on the agenda that the American people told them they want, they can’t have liberal activists in (Senior Executive Service) positions,” said Tom Jones, the conservative activist and former Capitol Hill aide behind the American Accountability Foundation.

Howell and Jones said they have not had direct conversations with either Trump’s campaign or people involved in the transition, but both expressed confidence that the incoming administration is clued in on their work. America First Policy Institute did not respond to requests for comment.

“We run in similar circles, and they’re aware of what we’re doing,” Jones said.

Trump as a candidate vowed to reinstate a 2020 executive order known as Schedule F, which gave him power to commence mass firings of federal employees who could be impediments to his agenda. Neither his campaign nor his transition team have said how he intends to put Schedule F in place and what effect it could have on the country’s 2 million federal employees working in the US and abroad.

While Trump distanced himself from the Heritage Foundation during the campaign over Project 2025 – the organization’s much-maligned blueprint for a second term – the organization remains a key resource for the transition team as it works to staff thousands of positions in Trump’s new government.

America First Policy Institute also has close ties to Trump’s transition. The chair of the organization’s board is Linda McMahon, the head of the Small Business Administration under Trump and the co-chair of his transition team. McMahon is also a potential candidate to serve as commerce secretary in a second Trump term.

On Wednesday, Trump stopped by an event held by the organization at his Mar-a-Lago club and briefly addressed the crowd, according to a visit posted online, and he spoke the next day at the AFPI gala.

The efforts have alarmed agency officials and unions representing federal workers. One source for a union representing Environmental Protection Agency workers characterized the effort as the potential weaponization of internal agency emails. In response, the source said that EPA employees are “putting as little as possible in any written form.”

The union for EPA employees has submitted its own requests for information to get names of EPA employees who may be at risk, but it has not received a response because the agency’s FOIA office has been inundated with requests from Trump allies.

In some agencies, submissions from Howell’s group make up the vast majority of the records requests they have received. The Department of Transportation, for example, has received about 1,600 FOIA requests through the first nine months of 2024, and about 1,075 came from three people all tied to the Heritage Foundation Oversight Project, according to a CNN review of the agency’s FOIA logs.

In his hunt for alleged partisans, Howell has requested from multiple agencies records that might uncover conspiracies to subvert the president-elect’s expected purging by asking for emails that include “Trump” and “reduction in force.”

Many of the records requests remain unfulfilled, logs show. Howell said that agencies have stonewalled or delayed many of their FOIA letters, but that could change when a new administration comes in.

The EPA union source said their counter strategy now is a public relations campaign. They’re forging alliances with members of Congress and outside groups in hopes of bringing to light how Trump-aligned groups are already targeting federal employees and hoping public shaming and outrage may protect them.

“Make no mistake: our union will not stand by and let any political leader – regardless of their political affiliation – run roughshod over the Constitution and our laws,” Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing about 800,000 workers, said in a recent statement.

The Heritage Foundation Oversight Project has released scores of documents and emails related to various controversies that have animated conservatives in recent years, including names of hundreds of people involved. However, it so far has not published a list of federal employees for the Trump administration to target, though Howell did not rule it out.

[b]“It’s not our decision who gets hired and fired, and what we aim to do is make it transparent,” Howell said. “It’s my hope they’re subject to termination, and if you have shown a proclivity to hard left positions, you shouldn’t be working for the government.” [/quote]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/16/politics/foia-requests-federal-government-partisans/index.html

"Stand back and stand by."

At this point I want to see my life to get easier and my investments to grow not decline every time a global issue arises.

Trump picks fracking company CEO Chris Wright as next Department of Energy secretary

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/16/politics/chris-wright-energy-secretary-trump/index.html

Can we say conflict of interest boys and girls?

Who better to understand the issues of the industry than a person in the industry? It makes no sense to have a person who grows soy beans talking about energy issues.

So it's better to appoint someone with a financial conflict of interest? The excuses never stop.

The flip side to that is that the DoD hired Esper, a Raytheon executive, to run the DoD. During that time, Raytheon engaged in business deals with the DoD that ultimately ended up on 60 Minutes for massive price gouging, and also engaged in what would be $950M in fraudulent arms dealings.

We have to be cautious that we don't have foxes running hen houses.

Trump picks Dr. Oz to run Medicare and Medicaid, Linda McMahon for Education, Lutnick for Commerce

https://apnews.com/article/trump-co...cabinet-79cdda378e2affb85722323160306b30

Read, discuss and laugh where you feel it's applicable.

Remember, trump's claim is that he only hires the best people.

How many TV personalities are we going to have in the Executive branch?

Yes.

Who better to look out after my energy investments…

Don't forget about "wrestlin'"!

We won't have a final count until he's done. It's obvious he is an avid FOX News viewer and feels that Fox And Friends hosts are "the best people" to be in charge of our government.

And that a doctor who sold quack medicine on a TV show should be in charge of medicare and medicaid.

The entire Trump cabinet is ridiculous picks, everyone is in position to tank an institution. It’s literally a fox in every hen house admin. Today, it’s WWE exec Linda McMahon tapped to run education. Because we should all be as smart as WWE fans… ffs, you can’t make this up.

It would be laughable if it wasn’t so damn serious.

Betsy DeVos was the worst pick to run a Department as I have seen in my lifetime. Absolutely awful. Worse than Hagel. She was terrible across the board in her decisions, her slow-rolling, and just about everything she did for the Ed Dept. She had no business being in that position and no qualifications, and even some conflicts of interest.

McMahon seemed to be less scandal-ridden than DeVos was last time around when they were both in their respective roles, but good lord, what in the hell qualifications does she have to run that position? I suppose if he wants to shut it down, maybe she'd be good at that...

That’s his plan. I think all these picks he’s making are part of his plan to destroy what’s left of our institutions. When the institutions seem to fail, he’ll declare himself dictator.

And I and a majority of the left will never forgive this treason. They are all responsible and easy to hate.

BTW- I love that the FAFO dolts are being rejected by their families for the holidays. I don’t want THOSE PEOPLE around my table, either.

She is the board chair of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank that was formed in 2021 by McMahon, Larry Kudlow and other advisers from the first Trump administration.

AFPI has raised millions of dollars since it was founded and has been described as a “White-House-in-waiting,” planning potential policy proposals for Trump’s second term.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/19/politics/linda-mcmahon-education-secretary-trump/index.html

Trump is calling the election an overwhelming mandate from the people. NOPE. The voters gave dems the boot because they we’re in office when Trump’s financial mess git the hardest. That’s some mandate Donny.

Not sure if mandate is the right word, but he's actually correct here. Voters sent a message. DNC didn't pick up on it 4 years ago when they lost big down-ticket, so hopefully they are listening this time. The more Democrats keep their heads in their butts, the longer this will continue.

It was a result of Covid. 179 out of 195 recognized nations suffered from the same post covid inflation we had. It was a global issue. Not a trump or biden issue. Sadly the democrats didn't get that message across to the voters.

Obedience, just like all of his appointees.