Today, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) released the following statement on her decision to vote against confirming Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense:
“Since Mr. Hegseth’s nomination last November, I have met with him and carefully reviewed his writings, various reports, and other pertinent materials. I closely followed his hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee and gathered substantial feedback from organizations, veterans, and Alaskans. After thorough evaluation, I must conclude that I cannot in good conscience support his nomination for Secretary of Defense. I did not make this decision lightly; I take my constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent with the utmost seriousness.
I commend Pete Hegseth’s service to our nation, including leading troops in combat and advocating for our veterans. However, these accomplishments do not alleviate my significant concerns regarding his nomination. Managing the Department of Defense requires vast experience and expertise as the department is one of the most complex and powerful organizations in the world, and Mr. Hegseth’s prior roles in his career do not demonstrate to me that he is prepared for such immense responsibility. His leadership of two veteran organizations was marked with accusations of financial mismanagement and problems with the workplace culture he fostered.
Although he has recently revised his statements on women in combat since being nominated, I remain concerned about the message that confirming Mr. Hegseth sends to women currently serving and those aspiring to join. Women have served our nation with distinction, overcoming immense obstacles to excel in combat and leadership roles, and they deserve to know that their leader honors and values their commitment to our nation.
While the allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking do nothing to quiet my concerns, the past behaviors Mr. Hegseth has admitted to, including infidelity on multiple occasions, demonstrate a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces. These behaviors starkly contrast the values and discipline expected of servicemembers. Men and women in uniform are held accountable for such actions, and they deserve leaders who uphold these same standards.
Above all, I believe that character is the defining trait required of the Secretary of Defense, and must be prioritized without compromise. The leader of the Department of Defense must demonstrate and model the standards of behavior and character we expect of all servicemembers, and Mr. Hegseth’s nomination to the role poses significant concerns that I cannot overlook. Given the global security environment we’re operating in, it is critical that we confirm a Secretary of Defense, however, I regret that I am unable to support Mr. Hegseth.”
BREAKING: Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she's a NO on Pete Hegseth, Trump's Defense Secretary pick.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) January 23, 2025 at 12:40 PM
BREAKING: Republican Sen. Susan Collins says she's a NO on Pete Hegseth, Trump's Defense Secretary pick. Collins is the second Republican to be against Hegseth, following Lisa Murkowski.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) January 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
U.S. Senator Susan Collins issued a statement on the nomination of Pete Hegseth to serve as Secretary of Defense.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to vote against Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. While I appreciate his courageous military service and his ongoing commitment to our servicemembers and their families, I am concerned that he does not have the experience and perspective necessary to succeed in the job.
“Our military is under tremendous pressure right now. Active conflicts in the Middle East and Europe combined with escalating threats in the Pacific, all against a backdrop of severe financial challenges and four years of ineffective leadership by the Biden Administration, make this an especially critical time for those who lead our military. The next Secretary of Defense will be responsible for managing a massive bureaucracy that includes nearly three million employees and a budget of nearly $850 billion. In addition, our next Secretary faces long-standing procurement and supply issues that continued to worsen under the Biden Administration.
“In sum, the Secretary is going to be facing a number of incredibly complex problems that are going to require highly skilled management ability. I am concerned that Mr. Hegseth does not have the management experience and background that he will need in order to tackle these difficulties. His limited managerial experience involved running two small non-profit organizations that had decidedly mixed results.
“I am also concerned about multiple statements, including some in the months just before he was nominated, that Mr. Hegseth has made about women serving in the military. He and I had a candid conversation in December about his past statements and apparently evolving views. I am not convinced that his position on women serving in combat roles has changed.
“Women comprise nearly 18 percent of our active-duty military. They continue to make critical and valuable contributions to our national defense. I have long advocated that women who wish to serve in and can meet the rigorous standards of combat roles should be able to do so. And numerous women have proved that they can accomplish this difficult feat.
“Currently, thousands of women are serving in combat roles and many others serve in non-combat functions. Their service is essential to the success of our military.
“Mr. Hegseth also appears to lack a sufficient appreciation for some of the policies that the military is required to follow because they are codified in the laws of the United States of America. While I understand his points on the importance of up-to-date and workable rules of engagement, our prohibitions against torture come from American laws and treaties ratified by the United States, including the Geneva Conventions.
“Therefore, I will vote against the nomination.”
In a series of newly unearthed podcasts, Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, appears to endorse the theocratic and authoritarian doctrine of “sphere sovereignty”, a worldview derived from the extremist beliefs of Christian reconstructionism (CR) and espoused by churches aligned with far-right Idaho pastor Douglas Wilson.
In the recordings, Hegeth rails against “cultural Marxism”, feminism, “critical race theory”, and even democracy itself, which he says “our founders blatantly rejected as being completely dangerous”.
For much of the over five hours of recordings, which were published over February and March 2024, Hegseth also castigates public schools, which he characterizes as implementing an “egalitarian, dystopian LGBT nightmare”, and which podcast host Joshua Haymes describes as “one of Satan’s greatest tools for excising Christ from not just our classrooms but our country”.
According to a report from Claire Heddles from NOTUS, 27-year-old Karoline Leavitt submitted revised campaign disclosure paperwork that shows she owes more than $300k that must be paid back due to campaign finance violations.
"Her congressional campaign committee amended 17 campaign finance reports on Thursday, noting that, over the course of three years, Leavitt took in a number of excessive contributions that she failed to report and has failed to pay back, essentially stiffing her donors," NOTUS is reporting, "The newly disclosed excessive donations essentially triples Leavitt’s campaign debt, bringing the total to $326,370 owed to vendors and contributors. (Leavitt had previously reported $105,605 in debt in a filing at the end of September 2024.)"
Another day, another call from President Donald Trump to tear down the stalls he doesn’t like in the marketplace of ideas.
Reacting to reports that CNN is planning to lay off hundreds of employees amidst a ratings crisis, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: “MSDNC is even worse than CNN. They shouldn’t have a right to broadcast — Only in America!”
It was a clear shot at MSNBC, with “MSDNC” being a portmanteau of the Democratic National Convention’s DNC and the left-leaning broadcast network. The “Only in America” part was a reference to… it’s not clear. Probably not Don King.
After an initial ratings dip following Trump’s re-election victory in November, MSNBC clawed its way back in early January to become the third most-watched basic cable network during primetime, Adweek reported. Many of its hosts have been frequent critics of Trump’s.
“These are all things meant to put Black people and other people of color back into a racial caste system where discrimination against them was legal,” Dr. Alvin Tillery tells theGrio.
Civil rights leaders and elected officials are seething after President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders to eliminate DEI federal programs and decades-old enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Advocates and legal experts say one order, which revokes the enforcement of equal employment opportunity laws, also known as Title VII under the Civil Rights Act, will have a chilling effect.
“We got a lot of people who are going to lose their jobs,” said Dr. Mary Frances Berry, a former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, appointed by President Bill Clinton, and professor emerita at the University of Pennsylvania.
On Tuesday, President Trump signed an order revoking decades-old executive orders signed by Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon that established enforcement of anti-bias measures in federal employment and contracting related to race, sex, religion, and national origin under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Trump order also revokes orders signed by President Barack Obama enforcing diversity promotion in the national security workforce and the overall federal workforce. Trump also directed all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion staff to be put on paid leave by the end of the day and eventually be laid off.
Dr. Berry points out that the need for anti-bias and diversity mechanisms for employment in the federal workforce has always existed, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, because workers who were not white were simply overlooked. “It was the culture,” she told theGro. “Taxpayers pay for contracts, and everybody has the right — any kind of taxpayer — to see to it that they … get a fair look.”
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was established by Congress to enforce the anti-bias employment measures of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. For years, the agency has been tasked with investigating and prosecuting cases of workplace discrimination. It also requires employers to report data on their employees, including their race or ethnicity.
(Thanks to the ever-essential Aaron Rupar for curating the highlights.)
This guy is obviously a Christian nationalist meathead. But the larger point is one that already has been made by the likes of Josh Marshall and by Jason Linkins in The New Republic. Right up to the president, make them all own what they say and what they do. Hang every anti-democratic piece of policy lunacy around the necks of every Republican officeholder like the stinking carcass of a dead seabird. Do it constantly, in every floor speech and across all platforms. And if you can’t do it, if you’re still deep in the narcotic dream of bipartisanship, lost civility, and destroyed “norms,” get the hell out of the way and let people who see clearly take on the job. Linkins made the essential point: Shove the presidency—the actual job of being president, and not the performance piece he’s made of it—down his throat, day after day. Do this because history says he’ll choke on it.
January 23, 2025
Read issue 1025
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I am issuing pardons to Gerald G. Lundergan and Ernest William Cromartie. I am also commuting the life sentence imposed on Leonard Peltier so that he serves the remainder of his sentence in home confinement.
****
My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats,
motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan
politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will
end.
I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that
the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over
politics. But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak
havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted
individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing
wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being
investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and
finances.
That is why I am exercising my power under the
Constitution to pardon James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden
Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden. The issuance of these
pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in
any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission
of guilt for any offense.
****
On Background from the White House
Gerald G. Lundergan
The President is
pardoning Gerald G. Lundergan. Mr. Lundergan is now 77 years old and
suffered a debilitating stroke before serving his sentence. Since his
release from prison, he has demonstrated remorse, raised money for an
in-patient treatment facility for people recovering from substance
abuse, and helped establish a nonprofit foundation dedicated to help
inmates reenter the workforce.
Ernest William Cromartie
The
President is pardoning Ernest William Cromartie. Mr. Cromartie has
dedicated his life to public service. Since his release from prison, he
has established a scholarship for underprivileged youth and is active in
his church and faith community. Mr. Cromartie’s supporters praise his
leadership and compassion.
COMMUTATION
Leonard Peltier
The
President is commuting the life sentence imposed on Leonard Peltier so
that he serves the remainder of his sentence in home confinement. He is
now 80 years old, suffers from severe health ailments, and has spent the
majority of his life (nearly half a century) in prison. This
commutation will enable Mr. Peltier to spend his remaining days in home
confinement but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes.
Mr.
Peltier is a Native American activist who is currently serving life in
prison for killing two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
and escaping from federal prison. Tribal Nations, Nobel Peace laureates,
former law enforcement officials (including the former U.S. Attorney
whose office oversaw Mr. Peltier’s prosecution and appeal), dozens of
lawmakers, and human rights organizations strongly support granting Mr.
Peltier clemency, citing his advanced age, illnesses, his close ties to
and leadership in the Native American community, and the substantial
length of time he has already spent in prison.
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