{"id":815399,"date":"2024-12-28T03:21:17","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T09:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/28\/try-to-make-sense-of-rfk-jr-s-employee-screening-questions\/"},"modified":"2024-12-28T03:21:17","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T09:21:17","slug":"try-to-make-sense-of-rfk-jr-s-employee-screening-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/28\/try-to-make-sense-of-rfk-jr-s-employee-screening-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Try to Make Sense of RFK Jr.\u2019s Employee Screening Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump\u2019s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, is already taking applications for people to work for him\u2014and they include some bizarre questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Puck News <\/span>reported<\/a> Friday that the <\/span>anti-vaccine<\/a> activist has a form on his \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d website where applicants can respond to a series of questions by selecting some odd pre-written <\/span>responses<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Job hunters have to fill out a 90-minute questionnaire that <\/span>recommends<\/a> one be \u201cwell rested, have recently eaten, and will not be disturbed\u201d before beginning. The questions themselves seem to concern personality traits, with applicants having to choose <\/span>responses<\/a> such as \u201cModesty doesn\u2019t become me,\u201d \u201cI get upset when people don\u2019t notice how I look when I go out in public,\u201d and \u201cI can usually talk my way out of anything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kennedy has some unusual views, including believing that the Covid-19 <\/span>pandemic<\/a> was planned, AIDS isn\u2019t<\/span> caused by<\/a> HIV,\u00a0 and that <\/span>WiFi causes cancer<\/a>, so it\u2019s not a big surprise that he would have an unusual application process. However, at this point, Kennedy has not even begun his Senate confirmation hearings, let alone been sworn into Trump\u2019s Cabinet, so these applications don\u2019t meet federal hiring standards and laws.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Kennedy is confirmed, it will be interesting to see if his application process faces legal challenges, especially since many federal agencies are unionized. Trump has pledged to <\/span>purge<\/a> the civil service of his opponents and is putting Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of \u201c<\/span>government efficiency<\/a>,\u201d which effectively means massive cuts to government programs and the firing of civil servants in large numbers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kennedy\u2019s strange hiring standards may not initially hold up, but if Trump and his new friends get their way on overhauling the civil service, these kinds of unusual applications could become the norm in the federal bureaucracy, to the detriment of the government actually functioning well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ex\u2013Fox 5 New York host and Trumpian acolyte Greg Kelly uncharacteristically dropped the hammer on one of the president-elect\u2019s Cabinet picks, warning that his former network colleague\u2014defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth<\/a>\u2014has \u201cserious baggage\u201d that makes him \u201cblackmailable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was once accused of sexual assault, falsely,\u201d Kelly said on Newsmax, his current home network, Wednesday. \u201cI would never in a billion years pay that person a dime. That doesn\u2019t sound like a fighter. That sounds like somebody who\u2019s blackmailable. And I\u2019m not comfortable with that individual being the secretary of defense.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kelly, the son of New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, was <\/span>accused<\/a> of raping and impregnating a woman in 2011 before the charges were dropped a year later by the Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hegseth, meanwhile, has been under fire since Donald Trump tapped him to lead the Pentagon, primarily over a shocking 2017 police report that revealed the Army veteran was accused of raping an attendee at a Republican women\u2019s conference in Monterey, California. Hegseth has also <\/span>admitted<\/a> to several other scandals, including five affairs that he had during his first marriage. Some of Hegseth\u2019s former Fox colleagues have accused him of being \u201c<\/span>handsy<\/a>\u201d and groping them. Nearly a dozen of his former co-workers have spoken to various media outlets to warn that his drinking habits are \u201cconcerning,\u201d and some noted that they had smelled alcohol on Hegseth as recently as last month.<\/span><\/p>\n

Republicans at the forefront of the Senate confirmation process have also taken note of Hegseth\u2019s drinking problem. In an interview with CNN earlier this week, Republican Senator Kevin Cramer specified that Hegseth needed to stay away from the bottle and offer a promise of sobriety before taking the reins of the country\u2019s military intelligence. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Even Hegseth\u2019s own mother couldn\u2019t defend the <\/span>white nationalist-connected<\/a> conservative, <\/span>accusing<\/a> her son in a scathing 2018 email following his separation from his second wife of \u201cusing women for his own power.\u201d (Penelope Hegseth has since publicly changed her tune\u2014on Wednesday morning, she appeared on <\/span>Fox News<\/a> to beg people to support her son for defense secretary.)<\/span><\/p>\n

But beyond the unsavory misconduct, Kelly\u2019s gripe with Hegseth is that he\u2019s an unqualified candidate who simply hasn\u2019t demonstrated enough loyalty to Trump to warrant such a title.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPete Hegseth is no Matt Gaetz,\u201d Kelly said, referring to the legally embattled ex-congressman who was practically <\/span>forced to drop<\/a> his attorney general nomination last month over sex trafficking allegations. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t done nearly enough for MAGA to warrant the Department of Defense job. And he\u2019s got serious baggage. Serious baggage. It happens sometimes. Not every pick is perfect.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Trump, meanwhile, has drilled down on his endorsement of the former Fox host. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPete Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe,\u201d Trump wrote on <\/span>Truth Social<\/a> Friday morning. \u201cHe was a great student\u2014Princeton\/Harvard educated\u2014with a Military state of mind. He will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense Defense, one who leads with charisma and skill. Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Fox News\u2019s \u201cPatriot of the Year\u201d loves the United States so much that he wants to completely reshape it\u2014starting with the country\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n

Speaking to a crowd he referred to as \u201cfriends\u201d during the network\u2019s sixth annual Fox Nation Patriot Awards Thursday night, President-elect Donald Trump signaled his full intentions to enact sweeping changes to the process by which the nation chooses its leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re going to do things that have been really needed for a long time. No, we are going to look at elections,\u201d Trump <\/span>said<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to have paper ballots, one-day voting, voter ID, and proof of citizenship, a little thing like proof of citizen\u2014\u201d Trump continued before trailing off on a rant about <\/span>voting laws in <\/span>California, which, like many other states around the country, doesn\u2019t require voters to show photo ID at the booth. Instead, the Golden State asks its denizens to register to vote with either their Social Security number, their driver license number, or their California ID number.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Trump, speaking after being named “Patriot of the Year” by Fox — note the Fox “hard news” anchor in the crowd applauding him — says “we are gonna do things that have been really needed for a long time. And we are gonna look at elections.” pic.twitter.com\/nc7RD1BLwm<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

Trump\u2019s late-night ode to election fraud (despite having been relatively mum on the issue since winning his race in November) is a neon-emblazoned sign that his administration has no intention of dropping his 2020 voter fraud conspiracy\u2014even if actual voter fraud is, statistically, a relative nonissue in U.S. elections.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A <\/span>statewide audit<\/a> out of Georgia, the epicenter of Trump\u2019s baseless theory, revealed in September that just 20 noncitizens out of 8.2 million residents existed on the state\u2019s voter roll. Out of those 20, only nine participated in elections years ago, before ID was required as a part of the voter verification process. The other 11 individuals were registered but never actually voted, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.<\/span><\/p>\n

Critics argue that restrictions on the front end of the electoral process\u2014such as one-day voting and requiring day-of voter ID\u2014would minimize voter turnout and limit the democracy\u2019s ability to represent its constituents. This would especially be true in high-density areas like the nation\u2019s biggest cities, where those stipulations would significantly drain resources (i.e., the number of volunteers required) and require more time to process, potentially leading to delays.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s continued focus on the nativist nonissue belies the fact that it is, of course, already illegal and impossible for noncitizens to vote in U.S. elections, including in Georgia, where the individuals who fell through the cracks in the system accounted for just 0.00024390243902439 percent of the state\u2019s voting population.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Meanwhile, Trump has said nothing about campaign finance reform, an electoral issue that has, over the last few decades, increasingly placed politicians in the pockets of major corporations and billionaire donors. Project 2025\u2014which Trump <\/span>briefly disavowed<\/a> before his <\/span>allies<\/a> <\/span>practically admitted<\/a> postelection that it was the blueprint all along\u2014has actually <\/span>promoted<\/a> the opposite, advocating that the incoming Trump administration loosen campaign finance laws, raise limits on campaign contributions, and oppose Federal Election Commission reforms that could help the agency enforce the laws regarding the country\u2019s elections.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Heritage Foundation, the far-right think tank behind Project 2025, has also urged Trump\u2014a man who used his own campaign funds to <\/span>foot his legal fees<\/a>\u2014to appoint FEC commissioners who won\u2019t enforce the law.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Russian state media thinks Tucker Carlson might be acting as a back channel between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. <\/p>\n

During a Thursday broadcast of the state-controlled channel Solovyov Live, host Vladimir Solovyov <\/span>spoke<\/a> to his guest, U.S. expert Malek Dudakov, and referred to Carlson\u2019s recent <\/span>Moscow interview<\/a> with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, which was posted that same day on X. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhat is important here is that the man who came to talk to Lavrov spent the last six months shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump. Obviously, he didn\u2019t just come to conduct an interview. He has something to say. Apparently, he has a message that he is bringing,\u201d Solovyov said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dudakov agreed, saying, \u201cYes, we currently see quite a few similar emissaries.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems Viktor Orb\u00e1n is again planning to meet with Trump, and after that, he may come to Russia once again. There are people who are willing to pass messages back and forth, indirectly,\u201d Dudakov continued. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Carlson\u2019s interview was very sycophantic toward Trump and Putin, lending some credibility to Dudakov\u2019s theory. Six months ago, Carlson interviewed Putin himself, and was so deferential to the Russian leader that Putin even <\/span>mocked<\/a> him afterward. Still, Carlson is liked enough by the Russian government that his show has aired on <\/span>Russian TV channels<\/a>, although his producer claims that was without permission. <\/span><\/p>\n

Russian strategy has focused on using fear of nuclear war against the U.S. over its support of Ukraine, and Carlson\u2019s interview with Lavrov was very much in line with that goal, according to <\/span>The Daily Beast<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on the brink of global war. Why isn\u2019t anyone talking about it?\u201d Carlson said during the episode\u2019s introduction. The rest of the interview was framed around how the U.S. could avert doomsday by ceasing to back Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Trump promised during his presidential campaign to end the war in Ukraine quickly, a possibility that Putin has seemingly <\/span>dismissed<\/a>. But if Carlson, as well as pro-Putin leaders such as Orb\u00e1n, are carrying messages from Russia to the president-elect, negotiations related to the war could be in the pipeline. They will likely favor Putin and Russia over Ukraine, though. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is on the rise.<\/p>\n

The progressive breakout began notifying her colleagues Thursday that she intends to run for ranking member on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, the key investigative arm of the legislature and one of the most influential positions in the House.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At least three lawmakers who had discussions with Ocasio-Cortez confirmed the bid, reported <\/span>NBC News<\/a>. The 35-year-old currently serves as the vice ranking member on the committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her race, which pits her against a senior member of the committee\u2014Virginia Representative Gerry Connolly\u2014will serve as a measure of Democratic priorities in the wake of a brutal November election, as the caucus weighs whether to continue to reward and back its longtime leaders or lean into its up-and-coming changemakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fellow progressives are already endorsing her for the job. In an interview with NBC News, Representative Ro Khanna described Ocasio-Cortez as \u201cvery collaborative\u201d and someone who \u201chelps lift up all members.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cShe has been so passionate about the work of this committee for two years as vice chair, and we need progressives moving into leadership in our Congress and country to enact a working-class agenda,\u201d Khanna told the network. \u201cI\u2019m all in for her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The top spot became an open race after Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin <\/span>challenged<\/a> New York Representative Jerry Nadler to become the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. In a letter to his colleagues announcing his candidacy, Raskin warned that the next four years under Donald Trump would be \u201cthe fight of our lives,\u201d pointing to the incoming Republican trifecta as well as a \u201ccomplicit Supreme Court waiting in the wings\u201d and a \u201cdominant media propaganda system parroting all the lies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where we will wage our front-line defense of the freedoms and rights of the people, the integrity of the Department of Justice and the FBI, and the security of our most precious birthright possessions: the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the rule of law, and democracy itself,\u201d Raskin wrote, referring to the House Judiciary Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On Wednesday, Nadler bowed out of the race, caving to <\/span>internal party pressures<\/a> that demanded a younger face for the coveted position. His exit came with a full endorsement of Raskin, 61, who will effectively waltz into the position in a race with no other challengers.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What else is happening in the Democratic Party:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Pete Hegseth\u2019s lawyer is resorting to threats to help his client\u2019s nomination to secretary of defense. <\/p>\n

Tim Parlatore told CNN\u2019s Kaitlan Collins Thursday night that the sexual misconduct allegations against the former Fox & Friends<\/i> Weekend<\/i> host were \u201cextortion,\u201d in his opinion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cQuite frankly, with the violation of the [confidential settlement] agreement, if he is not confirmed as the secretary of defense, we may still bring a civil extortion claim against her,\u201d Parlatore <\/span>said<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Pete Hegseth’s lawyer on CNN threatens Pete Hegseth’s sexual assault accuser with a defamation lawsuit if he’s not confirmed as secretary of defense pic.twitter.com\/Coh58ZYZ0A<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

Parlatore said that the agreement between Hegseth and his accuser was not a nondisclosure agreement but a confidential settlement between the two parties, and claimed that the accuser and one of her friends had violated it. The lawyer added that Hegseth\u2019s accuser was free to speak publicly but faced the risk of a defamation lawsuit. <\/span><\/p>\n

This flies in the face of what Republican senators have been saying in recent days to defend Hegseth. Senators Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott <\/span>each attacked<\/a> the credibility of Hegseth\u2019s accuser for remaining anonymous and not coming forward. Now it appears that she will be hit with a defamation lawsuit and branded as an extortionist if she starts speaking publicly. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kevin Roberts, president of the powerful Heritage Foundation and architect of the Project 2025 manifesto, is throwing his <\/span>organization\u2019s heft<\/a> (and cash) behind Donald Trump\u2019s nominee. However, the president-elect is reportedly <\/span>souring on Hegseth<\/a>, and last month, his team began compiling a list of <\/span>alternative candidates<\/a> for secretary of defense. With Hegseth\u2019s nomination reportedly <\/span>hanging on by a thread<\/a>, Trump might have to deal with the same embarrassment he faced with <\/span>Matt Gaetz<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Read what else Republicans have said about Hegseth\u2019s accuser:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The crypto industry is about to have another friend inside the White House.<\/p>\n

In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump announced the appointment of Paypal COO <\/span>David Sacks<\/a> to a new position with an influential-sounding title: \u201cWhite House A.I. & Crypto Czar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIn this important role, David will guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness,\u201d Trump <\/span>wrote<\/a> late Thursday. \u201cDavid will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas. He will safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship. He will work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the U.S. David will also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump continued to pile on the praise for his prominent Silicon Valley backer in a follow-up post, promising that the tech executive has the \u201cknowledge, business experience, intelligence, and pragmatism to MAKE AMERICA GREAT in these two critical technologies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The new role\u2014and his appointment of a longtime tech billionaire to initiate it\u2014underscores Trump\u2019s growing intent to leverage D.C. to the better benefit of Silicon Valley. A member of the \u201cPaypal Mafia,\u201d Sacks will be the latest associate of Peter Thiel to enter the echelons of the executive branch, following fellow Paypal co-founder Elon Musk and Vice President\u2013elect JD Vance, who has had a long work history with the <\/span>anti-tax billionaire<\/a>. Trump has also tapped Thiel\u2019s colleagues to run critical agencies: Jared Isaacman, who financed Musk\u2019s SpaceX initiative, was nominated to run NASA earlier this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sacks is a part of a contingent of tech bros, including Musk and Thiel, who have leveraged their immense wealth, power, and influence to unite conservatives and former leftists behind a cynical and conspiratorial reactionary vision against liberalism. As The New Republic<\/i>\u2019s Jacob Silverman noted<\/a> in 2022, Sacks has spent years \u201cquietly becoming the leading practitioner of a new right-wing sensibility that has emerged in the political realignments provoked by Trumpism and the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn foreign policy, it offers a blend of isolationism, Trumpist nationalism, suspicion of the deep state, and the anti-empire realism of <\/span>John Mearsheimer<\/a>,\u201d Silverman wrote. \u201cDomestically, the vision is more muddled, a series of angry poses, a politics of pique, much of it playing out on Twitter, Callin, YouTube, Rumble, Substack, and other online media, especially among people who may have once counted themselves on the left but now can\u2019t countenance the sight of homeless encampments.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But despite his political affinity for Trump\u2019s politics, Sacks hasn\u2019t always been on the president-elect\u2019s side. In the immediate wake of January 6, the longtime Republican said on his podcast, All-In,<\/i> that Trump was \u201cclearly\u201d responsible for the insurrection because \u201che is the one who put forth this theory that the election was stolen and was constantly repeating it for the last two months\u201d and had \u201cdisqualified himself from being a candidate at a national level.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIf you want to see this mob as a gun, I think he loaded the gun,\u201d Sacks <\/span>said<\/a> at the time. \u201cHe pointed it in a certain direction, but did he tell them to storm the Capitol? No, not specifically. I think therefore it\u2019d be a very hard case to prosecute, but I think, you know, prosecuting him in a court of law is sort of unnecessary and redundant. I mean, I think that in the eyes of the public, politically, he is\u2014I think most see that he\u2019s culpable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Read more about David Sacks:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With Pete Hegseth\u2019s nomination for secretary of defense is in trouble on Capitol Hill, he still has the support of a powerful conservative backer: Project 2025 architect and Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts. <\/p>\n

Roberts <\/span>said<\/a> Thursday that his organization plans to spend $1 million to lobby senators unwilling to back the former Fox News personality accused of <\/span>sexual assault<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019ll be messaging right now with their constituents about how out of step they are with the Trump agenda,\u201d Roberts <\/span>told<\/a> the Associated Press in an interview, saying that \u201cthe establishment\u201d was behind the opposition to Hegseth.<\/span><\/p>\n

The conservative think tank also has a lot of supporters in the Republican Party, and Roberts\u2019s move could sway Republican senators who are put off by Hegseth\u2019s personal views and the <\/span>allegations against him<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly denied that he had anything to do with the conservative Project 2025 manifesto, despite his running mate JD Vance and multiple campaign staffers having links to the project. Since he won the election, however, Trump has made <\/span>staff picks<\/a> with close ties to the policy plan, and his allies have spoken openly about adopting some of its policy proposals, such as eliminating the <\/span>Department of Education<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If Roberts is openly supporting Hegseth and backing up lobbying efforts with cash, it could signal that Trump\u2019s nominee is Project 2025\u2013approved. It may also be an effort to curry favor with the president-elect in exchange for something else. <\/span><\/p>\n

With Trump no longer in campaign mode, his administration\u2019s true motives and affiliations no longer have to be hidden or explained away. Likewise, the unpopular people and organizations who support him don\u2019t have to keep their distance. Project 2025 and its leaders are now operating openly to defend the president-elect in exchange for being able to implement their <\/span>horrific agenda<\/a> for America.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Read more about Trump\u2019s Project 2025 ties:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Tulsi Gabbard\u2019s PAC spent thousands in political funds to help get her personal manifesto on The<\/i> New York Times<\/i> bestseller list, Forbes<\/i><\/a> reported Thursday.<\/p>\n

Gabbard founded the leadership PAC Defend Freedom, Inc., in March. Although it initially reported having no cash on hand, the PAC would go on to spend $33,000 of its donors\u2019 funds on a bunch of copies of Gabbard\u2019s book.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The book, For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind,<\/i> debuted in fourth place on The New York Times<\/i> hardcover nonfiction bestseller list<\/a> during the week of May 4, but it was flagged for bulk purchases, as large orders might have affected its ranking. The book stayed on the list for one more week.<\/p>\n

At least some of those bulk purchases came from Gabbard\u2019s PAC: On July 11, Defend Freedom made the first of <\/span>four disbursements for \u201cprinting\u201d to BulkBooks<\/a>, a book wholesaler based in Franklin, Tennessee, that specializes in large orders. The disbursements totaled $33,000.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor a limited time, Defend Freedom PAC supporters who gave $100 or more received Tulsi Gabbard\u2019s NYT bestselling book For Love of Country,<\/i>\u201d Gabbard spokesperson Erika Tsuji confirmed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Authors normally receive royalties for book copies purchased wholesale, which indicates that Gabbard profited personally from the bulk order (rather than if her PAC had requested copies from the publisher directly). Her spokesperson didn\u2019t comment on this when asked over email. <\/span><\/p>\n

While this is not illegal, it is shady. \u201cShe is not a federal candidate or an officeholder, so she is allowed to personally profit when her PAC buys her book with donors\u2019 funds,\u201d campaign finance attorney Brett Kappel explained to Forbes<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Gabbard has shifted hard from an edgy Democrat to an unflinching, QAnon-adjacent Donald Trump loyalist. This book, and the subsequent bestseller scam, is straight from her new alt-right grifter playbook.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Rudolph Giuliani is facing more legal action from two Georgia election workers who successfully sued him for defamation<\/a> in December last year. <\/p>\n

Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss <\/span>asked<\/a> a New York federal judge Thursday to impose \u201csevere\u201d sanctions and hold the former Donald Trump lawyer and ex\u2013New York City mayor in civil contempt after Giuliani failed to turn over discovery documents related to the seizure of his property to settle the defamation ruling against him. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Giuliani ignored an October 28 court order to turn over the documents within 14 days and then disregarded a November 22 court order specifying a mandatory four-day window to produce the documents. After the November 26 deadline came and went with no action from Giuliani, Freeman and Moss\u2019s attorneys told the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that \u201cthe time has come for Court to hold Mr. Giuliani in contempt for violating both the October 28 and November 22 Orders, and enter a contempt sanction it finds appropriate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The MAGA gadfly has desperately tried to <\/span>delay<\/a> and disregard the legal proceedings against him for falsely accusing Freeman and Moss of manipulating ballots during the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, resulting in Trump supporters sending the pair death threats, engaging in harassment, and protesting at their homes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Last month, Giuliani even cited Trump\u2019s upcoming inauguration in a motion to <\/span>delay<\/a> his trial, only to be <\/span>denied<\/a> by the judge, sending him into a pathetic rant. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s punishment for being the one who revealed first Joe Biden\u2019s 30-year criminality,\u201d Giuliani whined at the time. \u201cHe\u2019s been trying to torture me, stop me, take everything away from me since then.\u201d It wasn\u2019t clear if he was complaining about Biden or the judge in the case, Lewis J. Liman. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear if Trump will bail out his former lawyer with a pardon, as the president-elect has already stiffed Giuliani on <\/span>unpaid legal fees<\/a>. Giuliani has already had to give up some of his prized possessions to Freeman and Moss, including luxury watches, a diamond ring, and a 1980 Mercedes-Benz. He also blew off another <\/span>legal deadline<\/a> in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. If Giuliani is held in contempt, the next penalty he faces could be prison. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Read more about Giuliani:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump\u2019s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, is already taking applications for people to work for him\u2014and they include some bizarre questions.\u00a0 Puck News reported Friday that the anti-vaccine activist has a form on his \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d website where applicants can respond to a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":815400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22850,22106],"tags":[6697,11786],"class_list":{"0":"post-815399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-employee","8":"category-sense","9":"tag-employee","10":"tag-sense"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}