Photo: The Canadian Press NDP leader Jagmeet Singh leaves the Prime Minister's office in the West Block after taking part in a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and fellow opposition leaders on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he won't play Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's games by voting to bring down the government on an upcoming non-confidence motion. The Conservatives plan to introduce a motion that quotes Singh's own criticism of the Liberals, and asks the House of Commons to declare that it agrees with Singh and has no confidence in the government. The motion is expected to be introduced on Thursday and the debate and vote are set for Monday. Singh said he is not going to trigger an election when he believes Poilievre would cut programs the NDP fought for. "I'm not going to be playing Pierre Poilievre's games. I have no interest in that. We're frankly not going to allow him to cut the things that people need. I want to actually have dental care expanded, I want people to actually start to benefit from the pharmacare legislation we passed," Singh said. With the NDP's expected support, the Liberals should survive this next confidence vote brought forward by the Conservatives. The Tories have vowed to bring forward non-confidence motions every chance they get. The party will have two more opposition motions after this one, which are expected to continue to call for non-confidence. The NDP are scheduled to have their opposition day on Friday. Earlier on Tuesday, Singh did acknowledge that the Conservatives have a sizeable lead on the NDP in public opinion polls, while giving a campaign-style speech to visiting party staffers from across the country. Most pollsters in Canada have recorded a roughly 20 point lead for the Conservatives over both the Liberals and NDP for the last few months. The non-confidence vote was scheduled after Speaker Greg Fergus intervened to pause a filibuster on a privilege debate about a green technology fund. The Conservatives have said they would only end that debate if the NDP agree to topple the government or if the Liberals turn over unredacted documents at the centre of the parliamentary gridlock.NEW YORK (AP) — No ex-president had a more prolific and diverse publishing career than Jimmy Carter . His more than two dozen books included nonfiction, poetry, fiction, religious meditations and a children’s story. His memoir “An Hour Before Daylight” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2002, while his 2006 best-seller “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” stirred a fierce debate by likening Israel’s policies in the West Bank to the brutal South African system of racial segregation. And just before his 100th birthday, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation honored him with a lifetime achievement award for how he wielded “the power of the written word to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding.” In one recent work, “A Full Life,” Carter observed that he “enjoyed writing” and that his books “provided a much-needed source of income.” But some projects were easier than others. “Everything to Gain,” a 1987 collaboration with his wife, Rosalynn, turned into the “worst threat we ever experienced in our marriage,” an intractable standoff for the facilitator of the Camp David accords and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. According to Carter, Rosalynn was a meticulous author who considered “the resulting sentences as though they have come down from Mount Sinai, carved into stone.” Their memories differed on various events and they fell into “constant arguments.” They were ready to abandon the book and return the advance, until their editor persuaded them to simply divide any disputed passages between them. “In the book, each of these paragraphs is identified by a ‘J’ or an ‘R,’ and our marriage survived,” he wrote. Here is a partial list of books by Carter: “Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President” “The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East” (With Rosalynn Carter) “Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life” “An Outdoor Journal: Adventures and Reflections” “Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age” “Always a Reckoning, and Other Poems” (With daughter Amy Carter) “The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer” “Living Faith” “The Virtues of Aging” “An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood” “Christmas in Plains: Memories” “The Hornet’s Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War” “Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis” “Faith & Freedom: The Christian Challenge for the World” “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” “A Remarkable Mother” “Beyond the White House” “We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work” “White House Diary” “NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter” “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power” “A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety”None
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Mystery drone sightings continue in New Jersey and across the US. Here’s what we knowSustainability in the HimalayasNEW YORK, Dec. 06, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Insight Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: INAQ) announced today that its stockholders have approved an extension of the time period by which the Company has to consummate an initial business combination (the “Business Combination Period”) from December 7, 2024, to March 7, 2025 (the "Extended Termination Date"). The extension was made through the adoption of the Fourth Extension Amendment to the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “Charter”), which was filed today with the Delaware Secretary of State. Adoption of the Fourth Extension Amendment required approval by the affirmative vote of at least 65% of the Company’s outstanding shares of common stock. The proposal was approved by the Company’s stockholders holding 4,950,037 shares, representing approximately 75.93% of the Company's outstanding shares of common stock. About Insight Acquisition Corp. Insight Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: INAQ) is a special purpose acquisition company formed solely to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Insight Acquisition Corp. is sponsored by Insight Acquisition Sponsor LLC. For additional information, please visit insightacqcorp.com. About Alpha Modus Alpha Modus is engaged in creating, developing and licensing data-driven technologies to enhance consumers' in-store digital experience at the point of decision. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Cornelius, North Carolina. Alpha Modus is party to a business combination agreement with Insight Acquisition Corp. ( INAQ ) whereby Alpha Modus plans to become a publicly trading company (the “Business Combination”). For additional information, please visit alphamodus.com . Contacts: Insight Acquisition Corp. Chelsea Saffran csaffran@Insightacqcorp.com Alpha Modus Shannon Devine MZ Group +1(203) 741-8841 shannon.devine@mzgroup.us
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ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who tried to restore virtue to the White House after the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, then rebounded from a landslide defeat to become a global advocate of human rights and democracy, has died. He was 100 years old . The Carter Center said the 39th president died Sunday afternoon, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died in November 2023, lived most of their lives. The center said he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. As reaction poured in from around the world, President Joe Biden mourned Carter’s death, saying the world lost an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian” and he lost a dear friend. Biden cited Carter’s compassion and moral clarity, his work to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless and advocacy for the disadvantaged as an example for others. “To all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility,” Biden said in a statement. “He showed that we are a great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.” Biden said he is ordering a state funeral for Carter in Washington. A moderate Democrat, Carter ran for president in 1976 as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad grin, effusive Baptist faith and technocratic plans for efficient government. His promise to never deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter said. Carter’s victory over Republican Gerald Ford, whose fortunes fell after pardoning Nixon, came amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over race, women’s rights and America’s role in the world. His achievements included brokering Mideast peace by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David for 13 days in 1978. But his coalition splintered under double-digit inflation and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His negotiations ultimately brought all the hostages home alive, but in a final insult, Iran didn’t release them until the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, who had trounced him in the 1980 election. Humbled and back home in Georgia, Carter said his faith demanded that he keep doing whatever he could, for as long as he could, to try to make a difference. He and Rosalynn co-founded The Carter Center in 1982 and spent the next 40 years traveling the world as peacemakers, human rights advocates and champions of democracy and public health. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, Carter helped ease nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiate cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, the center had monitored at least 113 elections around the world. Carter was determined to eradicate guinea worm infections as one of many health initiatives. Swinging hammers into their 90s, the Carters built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The common observation that he was better as an ex-president rankled Carter. His allies were pleased that he lived long enough to see biographers and historians revisit his presidency and declare it more impactful than many understood at the time. Propelled in 1976 by voters in Iowa and then across the South, Carter ran a no-frills campaign. Americans were captivated by the earnest engineer, and while an election-year Playboy interview drew snickers when he said he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times,” voters tired of political cynicism found it endearing. The first family set an informal tone in the White House, carrying their own luggage, trying to silence the Marine Band’s traditional “Hail to the Chief" and enrolling daughter, Amy, in public schools. Carter was lampooned for wearing a cardigan and urging Americans to turn down their thermostats. But Carter set the stage for an economic revival and sharply reduced America's dependence on foreign oil by deregulating the energy industry along with airlines, trains and trucking. He established the departments of Energy and Education, appointed record numbers of women and nonwhites to federal posts, preserved millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness and pardoned most Vietnam draft evaders. Emphasizing human rights , he ended most support for military dictators and took on bribery by multinational corporations by signing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He persuaded the Senate to ratify the Panama Canal treaties and normalized relations with China, an outgrowth of Nixon’s outreach to Beijing. But crippling turns in foreign affairs took their toll. When OPEC hiked crude prices, making drivers line up for gasoline as inflation spiked to 11%, Carter tried to encourage Americans to overcome “a crisis of confidence.” Many voters lost confidence in Carter instead after the infamous address that media dubbed his “malaise" speech, even though he never used that word. After Carter reluctantly agreed to admit the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979. Negotiations to quickly free the hostages broke down, and then eight Americans died when a top-secret military rescue attempt failed. Carter also had to reverse course on the SALT II nuclear arms treaty after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Though historians would later credit Carter's diplomatic efforts for hastening the end of the Cold war, Republicans labeled his soft power weak. Reagan’s “make America great again” appeals resonated, and he beat Carter in all but six states. Born Oct. 1, 1924, James Earl Carter Jr. married fellow Plains native Rosalynn Smith in 1946, the year he graduated from the Naval Academy. He brought his young family back to Plains after his father died, abandoning his Navy career, and they soon turned their ambitions to politics . Carter reached the state Senate in 1962. After rural white and Black voters elected him governor in 1970, he drew national attention by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Carter published more than 30 books and remained influential as his center turned its democracy advocacy onto U.S. politics, monitoring an audit of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. After a 2015 cancer diagnosis, Carter said he felt “perfectly at ease with whatever comes.” “I’ve had a wonderful life,” he said. “I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.” Sanz is a former Associated Press reporter.
President-elect Donald Trump announced his nominations to lead key offices tasked with delivering his campaign promise of cutting fossil fuel regulations and increasing oil and natural gas production to lower energy prices and inflation. During his campaign, as we’ve detailed , Trump vowed to exit the “ horribly unfair ” and “ disastrous ” Paris Agreement, which he will be able to do more quickly the second time around. His agenda also includes reversing environmental rules limiting carbon emissions and other pollution from vehicles and power plants . > Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are To achieve his promise to “drill, baby, drill,” Trump pla n s to expedite the approval of federal permits and leases, open new public land for drilling, approve natural gas pipeline projects and undo a temporary pause on approvals for new liquefied natural gas projects. He has also said he would claw back any unspent funds from President Joe Biden’s signature climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides billions to boost clean energy production, improve energy efficiency and encourage electric vehicle adoption. Reuters reported on Dec. 16 that Trump’s transition team recommends undoing many of the Biden administration’s plans to support EVs. This includes ending requirements that federal agencies purchase EVs, redirecting money away from building charging stations and terminating the IRA’s $7,500 EV tax credit. The team calls for rolling back fuel economy and vehicle emissions standards to 2019 levels, among other policy recommendations. Trump’s picks to accomplish many of these goals — Lee Zeldin for the Environmental Protection Agency, Doug Burgum for the Department of the Interior and Chris Wright for the Department of Energy — will need to go through confirmation hearings in the Senate, a process that can begin before Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. We reviewed what each has said about climate change and the environment. Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world. Lee Zeldin, EPA On Nov. 11, Trump announced Lee Zeldin, an attorney, Army veteran and former congressman, as his choice to head the EPA , the agency responsible for protecting human health and the environment. If confirmed, he would be in a position to relax the agency’s vehicle emissions standards and rollback the Biden administration’s more stringent regulations on power plants, which particularly target coal-fired plants. A native of New York, Zeldin represented areas of Long Island, first as a state senator, from 2011 to 2014, and then as a House representative from 2015 to 2023. While he has supported some legislation that protects the environment, particularly for his home district, he has limited experience in environmental policy and his record on climate change issues has been described as mixed. While in Congress, Zeldin participated in bipartisan efforts to preserve and restore the Long Island Sound, an estuary between New York and Connecticut important for commercial fishing, tourism and other economic development. He also worked to prevent the sale and development of Plum Island, an 840-acre federal island in the Sound. In 2018, he opposed a proposal by Trump’s Interior Department to open up coastlines, including Long Island, to oil and gas drilling. Zeldin did not get involved in House committees working on environmental policy (he was part of the Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees). Still, he participated in some related caucuses, including the Congressional Estuary Caucus , the Long Island Sound Caucus , the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus and the Conservative Climate Caucus . The latter, created in 2021, acknowledges on its website that the “climate is changing” and that “decades of a global industrial era that has brought prosperity to the world has also contributed to that change.” The group further states that with innovation, “fossil fuels can and should be a major part of the global solution,” and aims to “fight against radical progressive climate proposals.” In 2014, Lee told the editorial board of Newsday, a Long Island newspaper, that he was “not sold yet” on climate change being a serious problem and that it “would be productive if we could get to what is real and what is not real.” Zeldin’s involvement in environmental issues in Congress was reportedly the result of efforts from his constituents following Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Areas he represented in Long Island were hit hard by the storm. Long Island’s coastal communities, which include popular beaches on Fire Island, the Hamptons and Montauk, have and will continue to be impacted by sea level rise, coastal erosion, warmer temperatures and severe storms — all of which can affect local businesses and the economy. In a 2016 episode of a climate change docuseries — in which Zeldin verbally committed to joining the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus — he acknowledged that the threat of climate change was “very real” for his district. “I think that there is more of an awareness and a willingness to recognize that climate change is real,” Zeldin said , “and Congress is more and more open-minded toward identifying those solutions.” Zeldin’s involvement in these efforts didn’t necessarily translate into support for bills protecting the environment. In his eight years in Congress, he cast 203 “anti-environment” votes and 32 “pro-environment” votes, according to the environmental group League of Conservation Voters, which gave him a lifetime score of 14%. Among many other votes, Zeldin voted against the Inflation Reduction Act; against creating an office of climate resilience in the White House; in favor of cutting environmental funding, including to the EPA; and in favor of removing the U.S. from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Exiting the U.N. framework — which failed in 2022, but may resurface in a second Trump administration – goes beyond the act of withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement and would make it much harder to rejoin the accord. The League of Conservation Voters’ scorecard included two of Zeldin’s votes in favor of actions designed to protect people from pollution caused by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS , so-called “forever” chemicals that break down very slowly in the environment. One of those bills would have required the EPA to set a drinking water standard for certain PFAS, although Zeldin did vote against an amendment to that bill that would have prohibited companies from releasing unlimited amounts of PFAS into bodies of water. (The Biden EPA has since taken additional action on PFAS, including finalizing a drinking water standard for six of the chemicals in April.) Zeldin got Trump’s attention by becoming one of his more loyal defenders during the president-elect’s 2019 impeachment. In 2022, backed by Trump , Zeldin ran unsuccessfully for governor of New York. During that campaign, he proposed to lower energy costs and create jobs by reversing a state ban on fracking and approving new pipelines. He also opposed a 2021 law that set a goal for all new passenger cars and trucks sold in the state to be zero-emissions by 2035. In a statement announcing the nomination, Trump praised Zeldin’s legal background and his loyalty to his “America First” policies. “He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet,” Trump wrote . In response to Trump’s intention to nominate him, Zeldin pledged in a Nov. 11 post on X to “restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs,” adding, “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.” (It’s worth noting, however, that the number of motor vehicle and parts manufacturing jobs under Biden, as of November, were higher than at any point under Trump.) “Day 1 and the first 100 days, we have the opportunity to roll back regulations that are forcing businesses to be able to struggle,” Zeldin told Fox News later the same day. “There are regulations that the left wing of this country have been advocating through regulatory power that ends up causing businesses to go in the wrong direction.” Doug Burgum, Department of the Interior On Nov. 15, Trump announced former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who has close ties to fossil fuel industry executives, as his pick to lead the Interior Department , which is responsible for managing federal lands, minerals and waters, including leases for oil and gas drilling. Burgum is also slated to lead Trump’s National Energy Council, created to “oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape,” and regulations, according to Trump’s statement . The new council will work with all agencies and departments involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, Trump added. Burgum, a software investor and former Microsoft executive who had a short run as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2023, doesn’t deny that the planet is warming, but has downplayed the problem and argued that innovation alone will solve it. In an interview with CNN in July 2023 he acknowledged “the climate is changing” but avoided answering whether he believed it was caused by human activity or the burning of fossil fuels. (He also remained quiet when a similar question was asked during the first debate for the Republican primary.) “It’s not about climate change that we need be worried about,” he said during the second Republican presidential primary debate in September 2023. “It’s about the Biden climate policies that are actually the existential threat to America’s future.” North Dakota ranks third nationwide in crude oil reserves and production and relies on the industry for jobs and revenue. During his two terms as governor, which started in 2016, Burgum built alliances with oil and gas companies that supported him financially and politically. He has a longstanding relationship with Harold G. Hamm, the billionaire chairman of Continental Resources, a giant oil company and the largest leaseholder in the Bakken oil field in North Dakota and Montana. Hamm has contributed to Burgum’s campaigns for governor, his company donated to the super PAC that supported Burgum’s run for president and he invested $250 million in a pipeline project championed by Burgum. Burgum’s family also leases 200 acres of land to Continental for oil and gas extraction, which has resulted in up to $50,000 in royalties since late 2022, according to a CNBC report, based in part on Burgum’s financial disclosure statement . These ties have been useful for Trump. In April, Burgum, who endorsed Trump in January, helped put together a dinner with oil and gas executives at Mar-a-Lago. Based on anonymous sources, the Washington Post reported that during the dinner, Trump suggested the group should raise $1 billion for his campaign — a “deal” for helping the industry, including by reversing drilling restrictions in Alaska and offering more oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2017, Burgum created North Dakota’s first Department of Environmental Quality to protect the environment. “Preserving our natural resources for current and future generations is a top priority,” he said at the time. And in 2021, during a conference with the oil industry, he announced a goal for the state to be carbon-neutral, or to offset all CO2 emissions , by 2030. He often summarizes his approach to climate change with the phrase “innovation over regulation,” casting carbon neutrality as an economic opportunity that allows for the continued use of fossil fuels. He is particularly supportive of carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies , which trap carbon dioxide emissions before they are released into the atmosphere and either use the gas or store it deep underground. (Other technologies can remove CO2 directly from the air.) “We can reach carbon neutrality in the state of North Dakota by 2030 without a single mandate, without any additional regulation. We can get there just through the innovation and the different geology that we have,” Burgum said in an event with the secretary of energy in 2021, noting that his state has 252 billion tons of underground storage capacity. When the CO2 is stored, carbon capture technologies can reduce emissions and combat climate change. But the technology remains expensive and is not used yet at scale. According to a 2023 Congressional Budget Office report , only 15 carbon capture facilities existed in the U.S, as of September of that year, capable of capturing up to about 0.4% of the nation’s annual CO2 emissions, with nearly all of the captured CO2 pumped into oil wells to enhance oil recovery. Even if all of the 121 other facilities in development came to fruition, the report added, carbon capture would account for only about 3% of the country’s emissions. Scientists view carbon capture as an important tool for cutting emissions from the hardest-to-decarbonize industries, such as steel and cement. But given the high costs and other challenges , it’s not considered a very viable option for reducing the bulk of the world’s carbon emissions. The former governor championed an $8 billion pipeline project backed by Republican megadonors that include Hamm’s Continental. The pipeline would go through five states, capture CO2 from ethanol plants and bring it to North Dakota to be stored. This and two other underground pipeline projects have faced concerns from landowners , who resist having CO2 flowing under their property or fear losing their lands by eminent domain. Burgum says he supports an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy that includes both fossil fuels and renewable sources, but he often criticizes funding for alternative fuels. He has said , for example, that funds for electric vehicles included in the IRA subsidize China, even though the investments are designed to build out American capacity. The IRA, notably, also provided significant support for carbon capture and storage. Burgum supports Trump’s idea of trying to lower energy prices by increasing oil and gas production. As we have explained , this is unlikely to be very effective, especially long term since prices are set in a global market and are subject to global supply and demand. Last year, he joined Republican governors urging Biden to “unleash American energy” and end regulations “restricting domestic production.” “Our economy is being crushed by Biden’s energy policies, which are raising the cost of every product you buy, not just the gasoline at the pump,” he said during the first Republican presidential primary debate in August 2023. “Our future is unlimited, but we’ve got to focus on innovation, not regulation. We’ve got to cut the red tape.” As we’ve written , the U.S. has been producing crude oil at record levels for two consecutive years. U.S. presidents, we’ve explained, have little control over the price people pay for gasoline. Gasoline prices increased after the pandemic as global demand for oil increased and as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Chris Wright, Energy Department Trump announced on Nov. 18 that he had selected Chris Wright, the CEO of Liberty Energy, a fracking and oilfield services company based in Denver, to lead the Energy Department. As energy secretary, Wright would be responsible for the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, oversee energy conservation programs, make decisions about liquified natural gas export permits and lead research at the department’s 17 national laboratories . Wright, who describes himself as a shale gas pioneer and “tech nerd turned entrepreneur,” trained as an engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley and has been in the fracking business since the early 1990s, which is the source of his fortune. Similar to Burgum, Wright is close to Hamm, the billionaire founder of Continental Resources, and serves as a director of a lobbying group Hamm founded. Wright accepts that climate change is occurring, but argues that its effects are being exaggerated and that the world has a moral imperative to continue using fossil fuels to lift people out of poverty. “Climate change is a real and global challenge that we should and can address,” he wrote in an introductory letter to a report his company published this year. “However, representing it as the most urgent threat to humanity today displaces concerns about more pressing threats of malnutrition, access to clean water, air pollution, endemic diseases, and human rights, among others.” “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition, either,” he said in a video he posted on LinkedIn in 2023. The “term carbon pollution is outrageous,” he added. In making his case that people are overly concerned about climate change, Wright has sometimes trafficked in common climate myths and misled about the science. When talking about the increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, for example, his company’s report calls CO2 “plant food” and focuses on its benefits — “increased agricultural productivity and a significant increase in global plant matter, grasses, trees, and plankton.” As we’ve written , the notion that CO2 is “plant food” is commonly spread by those who deny the reality of climate change or minimize its impact. More CO2 is not good for all plants and some changes that come with it, like drought and heat, are frequently harmful to plants. The argument is also a form of cherry-picking, as it ignores many profoundly negative consequences of climate change. “Fortunately, to date,” the Liberty Energy report also reads, “there is no observed increase in the key extreme weather events: hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and weather-related drought.” Wright recently claimed the same in a LinkedIn post, citing a table from chapter 12 of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. Jim Kossin , a climate scientist and an author of the cited chapter in the IPCC report, told us in an email that focusing on the single table, which describes whether detectable climate change trends have emerged, is “very misleading.” “The requirements for formal detection are very strict and can only provide a yes or no answer. But the effects of climate change are not described by a binary yes or no answer,” he explained. Detection and emergence can depend more on available data than on actual physical processes, Kossin added. “This is a data problem and does NOT indicate a lack of trend. It merely states that the data aren’t good enough to pass the strict requirements for formal detection,” he wrote. Indeed, elsewhere in the IPCC report, the overall message about climate change and its effects on extreme weather is very different from what Wright conveys. “It is an established fact that human-induced greenhouse gas emissions have led to an increased frequency and/or intensity of some weather and climate extremes since pre-industrial time,” a summary finding in the chapter on extreme weather reads , adding that observed changes and their attribution to human activity has strengthened since the last report in 2014, “in particular for extreme precipitation, droughts, tropical cyclones and compound extremes (including dry/hot events and fire weather).” Kossin said that the IPCC reports are “massive” and “can be complicated to navigate,” which “makes it easier to cherry pick from them to suit an agenda.” “The use of the table without providing any other context is cherry picking in its purest sense,” he wrote. In written testimony before Congress in April and in his LinkedIn post, Wright again emphasized the perks of global warming, citing a 2021 Lancet Planetary Health paper to argue that increases in heat-related deaths are “more than offset” by a reduction in cold-related deaths. The paper itself, however, cautions that while “global warming might slightly reduce net temperature-related deaths in the short term ... in the long run, climate change is expected to increase the mortality burden.” The senior author of the study told us her work was “commonly misinterpreted by climate deniers.” Wright’s foundation, Bettering Human Lives , preaches that access to fossil fuels, which the website describes as “low-impact, affordable” energy, can provide “a pathway out of poverty.” It’s true that cheap energy is important and a social good. But as we explained when addressing similar arguments from former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, it’s misleading to suggest fossil fuels are the only or best option, especially now that there are alternatives in wind and solar that are cost effective and have much smaller carbon footprints. “We know that fossil fuels have all of these other problems that renewable energy doesn’t have. And so for the future, there’s really no reason to continue burning fossil fuels,” Texas A&M climate scientist Andrew Dessler told us. That includes not only the heat-trapping carbon emissions that will further warm the planet, but also things such as particle air pollution, which in 2018 accounted for as much as 18% of all global deaths in 2018. Wright describes renewable energy sources such as wind and solar as “ unreliable and costly ,” although he has invested in newer forms of geothermal and nuclear energy. In a commentary piece published before the election, Wright said Republicans should respond to net-zero pledges — which he called “economic suicide” and “unachievable” — with the concept of “zero energy poverty.” This, he explained, “can be realized by unleashing our vast natural resources” to “deliver a future in which no one would struggle to afford their utility bills.” Echoing arguments used by Trump during the campaign, Wright went on to claim that net-zero “requires curtailing freedom and massively growing government, as evidenced by bans on gas-powered cars, natural gas appliances, and the forced closure of reliable electricity plants – all of which are driving widespread economic pain.” As we’ve written , while the Biden administration issued new energy efficiency standards for gas stoves and regulations reducing carbon emissions and other pollutants from cars and trucks, there are no bans on gas-powered vehicles or on gas cooking stoves. In terms of closing existing power plants, the Biden administration’s power plant rule only applies to coal-fired plants intending to operate long-term, as we’ve written . Under the regulation, those plants would need to use technology such as carbon capture to cut 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032 to continue running. Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page . If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, 202 S. 36th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104.
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump's transition team on Tuesday signed an agreement to allow the Justice Department to conduct background checks on his nominees and appointees after a weekslong delay. The step lets Trump transition aides and future administration staffers obtain security clearances before Inauguration Day to access classified information about ongoing government programs, an essential step for a smooth transition of power. It also allows those nominees who are up for Senate confirmation to face the background checks lawmakers want before voting on them. Teams of investigators have been standing by to process clearances for Trump aides and advisers. FILE - Susie Wiles watches as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a caucus night party in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) "This agreement with the Department of Justice will ensure President Trump and his team are ready on Day 1 to begin enacting the America First Agenda that an overwhelming majority of our nation supported on Election Day," said Susie Wiles, Trump's designate to be White House chief of staff. The announcement came a week after the Trump transition team signed an agreement with the Biden White House to allow transition staff to coordinate with the existing federal workforce before taking office Jan. 20. The White House agreement was supposed to have been signed by Oct. 1, according to the Presidential Transition Act, and the Biden White House issued both public and private appeals for Trump's team to sign on. Security clearances are required to access classified information, including on ongoing operations and threats to the nation, and the Biden White House and outside experts emphasized to Trump's team the importance of having cleared personnel before Inauguration Day so they could be fully briefed and ready to run the government. President-elect Donald Trump arrives before the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP) Republican Senators also insisted on FBI background checks for Trump's nominees before they face confirmation votes, as has been standard practice for decades. Lawmakers were particularly interested in seeing the findings of reviews into Trump's designated nominee for defense secretary, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, and for Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence. "That's why it's so important that we have an FBI background check, a committee review of extensive questions and questionnaires, and a public hearing," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Monday. John Thune, incoming Senate Republican leader, said the Trump team "understands there's going to have to be a thorough vetting of all these nominees." Susie Wiles, 67, was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. Trump named Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to be secretary of state, making a former sharp critic his choice to be the new administration's top diplomat. Rubio, 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate on the Republican ticket last summer. Rubio is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said of Rubio in a statement. The announcement punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator called a “con man" during his unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. And as Trump campaigned for the presidency a third time, Rubio cheered his proposals. For instance, Rubio, who more than a decade ago helped craft immigration legislation that included a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally, now supports Trump's plan to use the U.S. military for mass deportations. Pete Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth lacks senior military or national security experience. If confirmed by the Senate, he would inherit the top job during a series of global crises — ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies to the push for a cease-fire between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea. Hegseth is also the author of “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” published earlier this year. Trump tapped Pam Bondi, 59, to be attorney general after U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration. She was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She also was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Considered a loyalist, she served as part of a Trump-allied outside group that helped lay the groundwork for his future administration called the America First Policy Institute. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appears on Fox News and has been a critic of the criminal cases against him. Trump picked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a well-known conservative who faced sharp criticism for telling a story in her memoir about shooting a rambunctious dog, to lead an agency crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda. Noem used her two terms leading a tiny state to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. South Dakota is usually a political afterthought. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions that other states had issued and instead declared her state “open for business.” Trump held a fireworks rally at Mount Rushmore in July 2020 in one of the first large gatherings of the pandemic. She takes over a department with a sprawling mission. In addition to key immigration agencies, the Department of Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service, and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. The governor of North Dakota, who was once little-known outside his state, Burgum is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump, and spent months traveling to drum up support for him, after dropping out of the race. Burgum was a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice this summer. The two-term governor was seen as a possible pick because of his executive experience and business savvy. Burgum also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs. Trump made the announcement about Burgum joining his incoming administration while addressing a gala at his Mar-a-Lago club, and said a formal statement would be coming the following day. In comments to reporters before Trump took the stage, Burgum said that, in recent years, the power grid is deteriorating in many parts of the country, which he said could raise national security concerns but also drive up prices enough to increase inflation. “There's just a sense of urgency, and a sense of understanding in the Trump administration,” Burgum said. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ran for president as a Democrat, than as an independent, and then endorsed Trump . He's the son of Democratic icon Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated during his own presidential campaign. The nomination of Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services alarmed people who are concerned about his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines . For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Scott Bessent, 62, is a former George Soros money manager and an advocate for deficit reduction. He's the founder of hedge fund Key Square Capital Management, after having worked on-and-off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending. “This election cycle is the last chance for the U.S. to grow our way out of this mountain of debt without becoming a sort of European-style socialist democracy,” he said then. Oregon Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer narrowly lost her reelection bid this month, but received strong backing from union members in her district. As a potential labor secretary, she would oversee the Labor Department’s workforce, its budget and put forth priorities that impact workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities. Chavez-DeRemer is one of few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and would add penalties for companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws that allow employees in more than half the states to avoid participating in or paying dues to unions that represent workers at their places of employment. Scott Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” Sean Duffy is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years, sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children. A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Write is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. Wright also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. He said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. Wright also won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm. Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term. President-elect Donald Trump tapped billionaire professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to be secretary of the Education Department, tasked with overseeing an agency Trump promised to dismantle. McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s initial term from 2017 to 2019 and twice ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut. She’s seen as a relative unknown in education circles, though she expressed support for charter schools and school choice. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Brooke Rollins, who graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural development, is a longtime Trump associate who served as White House domestic policy chief during his first presidency. The 52-year-old is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration. She previously served as an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and ran a think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Trump chose Howard Lutnick, head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and a cryptocurrency enthusiast, as his nominee for commerce secretary, a position in which he'd have a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. Trump made the announcement Tuesday on his social media platform, Truth Social. Lutnick is a co-chair of Trump’s transition team, along with Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration. Both are tasked with putting forward candidates for key roles in the next administration. The nomination would put Lutnick in charge of a sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. It is also a position in which connections to CEOs and the wider business community are crucial. Doug Collins is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial, which centered on U.S. assistance for Ukraine. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential nomination, but he was acquitted by the Senate. Collins has also served in the armed forces himself and is currently a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. "We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform, and Doug will be a great advocate for our Active Duty Servicemembers, Veterans, and Military Families to ensure they have the support they need," Trump said in a statement about nominating Collins to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. Karoline Leavitt, 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. The White House press secretary typically serves as the public face of the administration and historically has held daily briefings for the press corps. Leavitt, a New Hampshire native, was a spokesperson for MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump, before joining his 2024 campaign. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term before she became communications director for New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump's choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been tapped by Trump to be director of national intelligence, keeping with the trend to stock his Cabinet with loyal personalities rather than veteran professionals in their requisite fields. Gabbard, 43, was a Democratic House member who unsuccessfully sought the party's 2020 presidential nomination before leaving the party in 2022. She endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him this fall. “I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community,” Trump said in a statement. Gabbard, who has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades, deploying to Iraq and Kuwait, would come to the role as somewhat of an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, was confirmed by the Senate in 2021 following several years in a number of top national security and intelligence positions. Trump has picked John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who served as director of national intelligence during his first administration, to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency in his next. Ratcliffe was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump's first term, leading the U.S. government's spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. “I look forward to John being the first person ever to serve in both of our Nation's highest Intelligence positions,” Trump said in a statement, calling him a “fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans” who would ensure “the Highest Levels of National Security, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.” Trump has chosen former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to serve as his pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency . Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X , “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI.” “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water,” he added. During his campaign, Trump often attacked the Biden administration's promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referring to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often told his audiences during the campaign his administration would “Drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. In a statement, Trump said Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.” Rep. Elise Stefanik is a representative from New York and one of Trump's staunchest defenders going back to his first impeachment. Elected to the House in 2014, Stefanik was selected by her GOP House colleagues as House Republican Conference chair in 2021, when former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after publicly criticizing Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik, 40, has served in that role ever since as the third-ranking member of House leadership. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. If confirmed, she would represent American interests at the U.N. as Trump vows to end the war waged by Russia against Ukraine begun in 2022. He has also called for peace as Israel continues its offensive against Hamas in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon to target Hezbollah. President-elect Donald Trump says he's chosen former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to serve as U.S. ambassador to NATO. Trump has expressed skepticism about the Western military alliance for years. Trump said in a statement Wednesday that Whitaker is “a strong warrior and loyal Patriot” who “will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended” and “strengthen relationships with our NATO Allies, and stand firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability.” The choice of Whitaker as the nation’s representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an unusual one, given his background is as a lawyer and not in foreign policy. A Republican congressman from Michigan who served from 1993 to 2011, Hoekstra was ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's first term. “In my Second Term, Pete will help me once again put AMERICA FIRST,” Trump said in a statement announcing his choice. “He did an outstanding job as United States Ambassador to the Netherlands during our first four years, and I am confident that he will continue to represent our Country well in this new role.” Trump will nominate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be ambassador to Israel. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests as it wages wars against the Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah. “He loves Israel, and likewise the people of Israel love him,” Trump said in a statement. “Mike will work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East.” Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Trump has been praised by some in this important Republican voting bloc for moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump on Tuesday named real estate investor Steven Witkoff to be special envoy to the Middle East. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and was golfing with him at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Witkoff “is a Highly Respected Leader in Business and Philanthropy,” Trump said of Witkoff in a statement. “Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud." Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Trump said Wednesday that he will nominate Gen. Keith Kellogg to serve as assistant to the president and special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as National Security Advisor to Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence. For the America First Policy Institute, one of several groups formed after Trump left office to help lay the groundwork for the next Republican administration, Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.” (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) Trump asked Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, to be his national security adviser, Trump announced in a statement Tuesday. The move puts Waltz in the middle of national security crises, ranging from efforts to provide weapons to Ukraine and worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea to the persistent attacks in the Middle East by Iran proxies and the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah. “Mike has been a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda,” Trump's statement said, "and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of Peace through Strength!” Waltz is a three-term GOP congressman from east-central Florida. He served multiple tours in Afghanistan and also worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner , was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump's priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump's first administration. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump's policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation's economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people who are in the United States illegally. Since Trump left office in 2021, Miller has served as the president of America First Legal, an organization made up of former Trump advisers aimed at challenging the Biden administration, media companies, universities and others over issues such as free speech and national security. Thomas Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. Homan, who served under Trump in his first administration leading U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was widely expected to be offered a position related to the border, an issue Trump made central to his campaign. Though Homan has insisted such a massive undertaking would be humane, he has long been a loyal supporter of Trump's policy proposals, suggesting at a July conference in Washington that he would be willing to "run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.” Democrats have criticized Homan for his defending Trump's “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings during his first administration, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. Dr. Mehmet Oz, 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime television talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz's bid for elected office. Elon Musk, left, and Vivek Ramaswamy speak before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at an Oct. 27 campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. Trump on Tuesday said Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency" — which is not, despite the name, a government agency. The acronym “DOGE” is a nod to Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, dogecoin. Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.” He added the move would shock government systems. It's not clear how the organization will operate. Musk, owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago since Trump won the presidential election. Ramaswamy suspended his campaign in January and threw his support behind Trump. Trump said the two will “pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” Russell Vought held the position during Trump’s first presidency. After Trump’s initial term ended, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought was closely involved with Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that he tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Vought has also previously worked as the executive and budget director for the Republican Study Committee, a caucus for conservative House Republicans. He also worked at Heritage Action, the political group tied to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Dan Scavino, deputy chief of staff Scavino, whom Trump's transition referred to in a statement as one of “Trump's longest serving and most trusted aides,” was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 campaign, as well as his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino had run Trump's social media profile in the White House during his first administration. He was also held in contempt of Congress in 2022 after a month-long refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. James Blair, deputy chief of staff Blair was political director for Trump's 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump's economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign this year, a driving force behind the candidate's “Trump can fix it” slogan and his query to audiences this fall if they were better off than four years ago. Taylor Budowich, deputy chief of staff Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump's 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president. Budowich also had served as a spokesman for Trump after his presidency. William McGinley, White House counsel McGinley was White House Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration, and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign. In a statement, Trump called McGinley “a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our America First agenda, while fighting for election integrity and against the weaponization of law enforcement.” Jay Bhattacharya, National Institutes of Health Trump has chosen Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health. Bhattacharya is a physician and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, and is a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. He promoted the idea of herd immunity during the pandemic, arguing that people at low risk should live normally while building up immunity to COVID-19 through infection. The National Institutes of Health funds medical research through competitive grants to researchers at institutions throughout the nation. NIH also conducts its own research with thousands of scientists working at its labs in Bethesda, Maryland. Jamieson Greer, U.S. trade representative Kevin Hassett, Director of the White House National Economic Council Trump is turning to two officials with experience navigating not only Washington but the key issues of income taxes and tariffs as he fills out his economic team. He announced he has chosen international trade attorney Jamieson Greer to be his U.S. trade representative and Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council. While Trump has in several cases nominated outsiders to key posts, these picks reflect a recognition that his reputation will likely hinge on restoring the public’s confidence in the economy. Trump said in a statement that Greer was instrumental in his first term in imposing tariffs on China and others and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, “therefore making it much better for American Workers.” Hassett, 62, served in the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He has a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and worked at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute before joining the Trump White House in 2017. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox!
Startup seeking to integrate quantum computing into real-world apps raises $10MBrookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. stock falls Friday, underperforms marketIn May 2020, the media and technology conglomerate Thomson Reuters sued a small legal AI startup called Ross Intelligence, alleging that it had violated US copyright law by reproducing materials from Westlaw, Thomson Reuters’ legal research platform. As the pandemic raged, the lawsuit hardly registered outside the small world of nerds obsessed with copyright rules. But it’s now clear that the case—filed more than two years before the generative AI boom began—was the first strike in a much larger war between content publishers and artificial intelligence companies now unfolding in courts across the country. The outcome could make, break, or reshape the information ecosystem and the entire AI industry—and in doing so, impact just about everyone across the internet. Over the past two years, dozens of other copyright lawsuits against AI companies have been filed at a rapid clip . The plaintiffs include individual authors like Sarah Silverman and Ta Nehisi-Coates, visual artists, media companies like The New York Times, and music-industry giants like Universal Music Group. This wide variety of rights holders are alleging that AI companies have used their work to train what are often highly lucrative and powerful AI models in a manner that is tantamount to theft. AI companies are frequently defending themselves by relying on what’s known as the “fair use” doctrine , arguing that building AI tools should be considered a situation where it’s legal to use copyrighted materials without getting consent or paying compensation to rights holders. (Widely accepted examples of fair use include parody, news reporting, and academic research.) Nearly every major generative AI company has been pulled into this legal fight, including OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, and Nvidia. WIRED is keeping close tabs on how each of these lawsuits unfold. We’ve created visualizations to help you track and contextualize which companies and rights holders are involved, where the cases have been filed, what they’re alleging, and everything else you need to know. That first case, Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence , is still winding its way through the court system. A trial that was originally scheduled for earlier this year has been indefinitely delayed, and even though the cost of litigation has already put Ross out of business, it’s unclear when it will end. Other cases, like the closely-watched lawsuit filed by The New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft, are currently in contentious discovery periods , during which both parties are arguing over what information they need to turn over.
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