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Linda McMahon testifies before the Senate Health, Education, and Labor Committee during a nomination hearing as Secretary of Education in Washington, DC, USA, on Feb. 13, 2025.
Education Dept’s future in question as McMahon begins confirmation process
McMahon said that she would present a plan for downsizing the department that Republican senators would be able to get on board with. She said that while there were areas of the DOE that could be eliminated, states would still receive federal funding for schools. Project 2025 has laid out a plan for moving the core responsibilities of the DOE – like civil rights enforcement, student loans, and research – to other federal agencies in order to dismantle the department without fully eliminating it, a step that would require congressional approval.
Conservatives have sought to get rid of the DOE since it was created in 1979, arguing that educational decisions should be made by the states alone. The department doesn’t control curriculums or teachers, but it does provide outsized financial support for low-income areas and helps cover the higher costs of educating students with greater needs.
Meanwhile, the Senate officially confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary in a largely party-line vote on Thursday. All Democrats opposed his nomination, while all Republicans supported it, except for Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell. McConnell, who survived polio as a child, broke with his party due to Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance.Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, testifies at a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, January 30, 2025. She is a controversial nominee due to her previous suggestions of support for autocrats and U.S. adversaries, including the recently toppled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Senate hearings: Gabbard and RFK Jr. make it out of committee
Two of Donald Trump’s more controversial cabinet picks, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, made it through key committee votes on Tuesday, moving closer to securing confirmations when the full Senate votes.
Vaccine skeptic, environmentalist, and health secretary pick RFK was confirmed in a party-line vote by the Senate Finance Committee. His only potential Republican holdout, former doctor and Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, said he decided to support RFK after a series of conversations with him about “the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda.”
Ahead of her hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Gabbard, Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, secured two yeses from key Republicans who had been on the fence about her nomination – Sens. Todd Young and Susan Collins. While Tulsi made it out of the committee thanks to a party-line vote, there are still several Republican senators who have not committed to voting for her when it comes time for her full Senate vote, including Sens. Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, and John Curtis.
We will be watching the Senate tomorrow as it convenes to hold a full vote to confirm Pam Bondi to lead the Justice Department as attorney general.
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump's nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Jan. 30, 2025.
Trump’s rockiest Cabinet picks get spicy hearings
It was a rough few days for Donald Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The day before the confirmation hearings got underway, his cousin, Caroline Kennedy called him a “predator” and said the Senate should reject his nomination.
RFK Jr. went on to struggle through his appearance in front of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, botching answers to questions on Medicare and raising questions about his chances of being confirmed. In a second appearance on Thursday, this one in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, he had another rough go, clashing with Sen. Bernie Sanders over vaccine safety and effectiveness and stumbling over Medicare questions once again.
FBI head nominee Kash Patel had his own raucous hearing on Thursday, though he tried to smooth over some concerns about his fitness to lead by distancing himself from conspiracy theories he’d previously sympathized with, like QAnon. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse tore into Patel, saying “There is an unfathomable difference between a seeming facade being constructed around this nominee here today and what he has actually done and said in real life when left to his own devices.”
Nonetheless, both Kennedy and Patel could squeak through the Senate. If they do, Republicans would still face their biggest confirmation challenge. Director of National Intelligence pick Tulsi Gabbard was also put through the wringer on Thursday in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. She faces, perhaps, the longest odds of any Trump Cabinet pick, and the GOP will likely struggle to confirm her in the days to come.Independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville, Tenn., on July 26, 2024.
RFK Jr. to endorse Trump
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the strongest third-party US presidential candidate in a generation, has reportedly decided to leave the race and cash in his chips – with Donald Trump.
The eccentric, conspiracy-minded, anti-corporate crusader – best known for his vaccine skepticism – polls around 5% nationally and in key swing states. He has drawn outsized support from Black, Latino, and young voters.
RFK Jr. is expected to formally announce his withdrawal in a big speech in Arizona on Friday and is in talks with the Trump campaign about a formal endorsement. Trump, who is also campaigning from the Grand Canyon state that day, has said he’d be open to giving RFK a position in his administration if he wins.
How will this affect the race? RFK’s endorsement would certainly counterprogram the climax of the DNC and could deliver Trump a few extra points worth of voters that he’ll need in a tight election. Polling has consistently shown RFK drawing more Trump-leaning voters than Biden-leaning ones.
Still, bringing aboard RFK – a conspiracy-theory aficionado whose brain has been eaten by a worm and who recently admitted to a bizarre bear-killing cover-up – could also play into one of the Democrats’ main strategies, says Clayton Allen, the US director at Eurasia Group.
“If he joins the Trump campaign,” says Allen, “that may exacerbate the Democrats’ “weird” attacks.”
Talibans and their supporters gather in front of the American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 14, 2024, to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the take over. They decided to celebrate according to the Afghan calendar.
Hard Numbers: Taliban fires baby-faced cops, EU slaps tax on Tesla, Morocco pardons cannabis cultivators, Panama starts deportations, RFK Jr in signature scandal
281: Taliban security forces have found themselves in a hairy situation: 281 of them have been dismissed for failing to grow beards, which the fundamentalist religious group says is in accordance with Islamic laws. The crackdown came from Afghanistan’s morality ministry, which has detained more than 13,000 people for “immoral acts” over the last year.
19: The European Commission said Tuesday it will place a 19% tax on sales of Tesla automobiles manufactured in China — a steep surcharge, but far from the worst-case-scenario. Though the proposed tax is 9 percentage points higher than the levy applied to most foreign-made cars, it is far less than the 47% rate Brussels applies to Chinese EV manufacturers.
5,000: Legaliiiize it! Moroccan King Mohammed VIpardoned roughly 5,000 people convicted or wanted for illegal cannabis cultivation. Morocco is an odd bird in the weed world, as it is a major producer of marijuana, and cultivation, export, and medical use are all legal — but recreational use and cultivation for such use are not. The King hopes the pardons will encourage farmers to stick with legal cultivation efforts.
29: Panama on Monday began deporting undocumented migrants on US-funded flights, sending home 29 Colombians with criminal records. Panama and the US agreed in July to work together to stem the flow of hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing northward through the perilous Darien Gap, which lies along the Colombia-Panama border.
110,000: Fringe presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is in hot water in Arizona after the revelation that the 110,000 signatures meant to give him ballot access in that state were not collected by his own campaign. Rather, they were gathered by a PAC backing Kennedy, which may violate laws forbidding PACs and campaigns from coordinating.Russian-American journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Alsu Kurmasheva, who is in custody after she was accused of violating Russia's law on foreign agents, attends a court hearing in Kazan, Russia May 31, 2024.
Hard Numbers: Russia jails another US journalist, Latinos warm to RFK Jr., Paris tightens security for Olympics, India looks to roll in the deep, HIV prevention milestone for Africa
6.5: A Russian court revealed on Monday that Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was sentenced on Friday to 6.5 years in prison for “spreading false information” about the Russian army. Kurmasheva, a dual citizen who works for the US-funded Radio Free Liberty/Radio Europe service in Prague, was arrested while visiting her family in Russia in October. Her husband says the charges relate to a book of profiles of anti-war Russians that Kurmasheva edited. She is the second American journalist that Russia has sentenced to a lengthy prison term in the past four days alone.
24: ¿Latinos por Roberto? A new poll shows 24% of US Hispanic voters support third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. That’s nearly 10 points above the national average. Respondents were split 36 to 36 on Biden vs. Trump. The poll was taken before Biden dropped out of the race, but it illustrates the increasingly uphill battle that Democrats face in keeping the support of a traditionally blue voting group. Read our in-depth look at the “Latino vote” here.
30,000: France is not messing around when it comes to security for the Paris Olympics, which begin later this week. Authorities will deploy 30,000 police throughout the event, rising to 45,000 during peak times. Alongside them will be 15,000 French military personnel and nearly 2,000 foreign police. Security officials have already conducted hundreds of raids, arresting members of far-right, far-left, and jihadist groups suspected of planning attacks. At least two plots have reportedly been broken up already.
4: India wants to get into the deep-sea mining game as it tries to secure supplies of rare minerals critical for its economy and energy transition. New Delhi has already won several licenses for the Indian Ocean, but it’s eyeing a bigger prize: a vast swathe of the Pacific between Mexico and Hawaii. Experts say it will take India at least four years to develop the required skills and technology to compete with Asian rival China. In the meantime, international authorities are still working out rules for deep-sea mining.
56: For the first time ever, a majority of new HIV infections occurred outside of sub-Saharan Africa, a UN report says. The milestone, based on numbers from 2023, reflects sustained progress against the disease by governments in Africa – where new infections have fallen 56% since 2010. Globally, new infections have fallen 39% during that time. But experts warn that case numbers are currently rising elsewhere in the world, particularly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and north Africa.
Independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced 'No Spoiler' pledge for the upcoming elections at a campaign stop in Brooklyn, NY on May 1, 2024.
Will RFK Jr. make the debate?
Last week, President Joe Biden and Donald Trump agreed to debate on CNN on June 27 and on ABC News on Sept 10. Under the rules laid out by the networks, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could qualify to participate.
History lesson: Only two independent candidates have ever qualified for a general election debate. The last time was Ross Perot in 1992, when he faced off against Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush and saw a boost in thepolls from the spectacle.
Kennedy’s about halfway to qualifying. The rules saycandidates must attract 15% support in four national polls and have ballot access in enough states to theoretically win 270 electoral votes – the minimum to capture the Electoral College.
Kennedy has met the polling requirements in two polls and is close on multiple others. But the ballot requirement could be more complicated. Kennedy is officially on the ballot in five states worth 35 electoral votes. Kennedy’scampaign claims that it has submitted enough signatures to make it in 10 other states worth 166 electoral votes, pending approval by state election officials. He has until June 20 to make up the difference.
Why it matters: Kennedy appearing beside Trump and Biden would further legitimize his campaign. It would also complicate Biden and Trump’s debate strategy – which could prove particularly difficult for Biden, who has stumbled during harder-to-rehearse speaking endeavors in recent months.Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
What’s driving (some) Republicans to donate to a Democrat?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been raking in donations from GOP donors since he announced he would be challenging Joe Biden to be the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee. He has also been making headlines for propagating conspiracy theories and refusing to toe the party line.
The most recent controversy came last week, when RFK Jr. was accused of spreading a racist and antisemitic conspiracy theory by suggesting that COVID-19 was “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. Democrats, including RFK’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, have condemned his remarks, with some calling for him to be disinvited from addressing the House at Thursday’s hearing on censorship.
Who is RFK Jr? The nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and son of JFK’s attorney-general, Bobby Kennedy, RFK Jr has gained notoriety as a prominent vaccine skeptic. His campaign, which has seen poll numbers as high as 20% among Democratic primary voters, aims to limit the influence of corporate money in politics, is against the government’s COVID response and seeks to cut US military aid to Ukraine.