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GOP Senator Says Gaetz Investigation Report Can Be Subpoenaed After Johnson Tries to Block

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A Republican Senator is pushing back after House Speaker Mike Johnson announced his opposition to the Ethics Committee releasing the report on its years-long investigation into Matt Gaetz, who resigned abruptly from Congress Wednesday in what appears to be an attempt to block the report’s publication. Gaetz’s resignation came almost immediately after President-elect Donald Trump announced he would nominate the Florida Republican to become Attorney General, the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

Friday afternoon, Speaker Johnson repeatedly stressed his opposition to the release of the report, claiming releasing it to the public “doesn’t follow our rules and traditions,” and doing so “would open a pandora’s box.”

Johnson also told reporters, “I’m going to strongly request that the Ethics Committee not issue the report because that is not the way we do things in the House, and I think that would be a terrible precedent to set.”

READ MORE: Backlash as Trump Skips FBI Background Checks — One Nominee Called ‘Likely Russian Asset’

U.S. Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, Friday afternoon made clear the Senate has a constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent on presidential nominees, and is required to examine all evidence it can during the confirmation process. Rounds, who also has served as governor of The Mount Rushmore State, told CNN’s Manu Raju that if necessary they will subpoena the House Ethics Committee’s report on Gaetz.

“I think Senator [John] Cornyn, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, has indicated that very strongly that he believes that there may very well be a way to compel the release of that [report] through a subpoena. That committee and they do this all the time and it becomes very sensitive. We do have a process in place which includes the ability to get that type of information in many cases,” Rounds said. “And what we want to do is make good decisions based upon all the relevant facts and information that we can get.”

“We should be able to get a hold of it,” Rounds added, referring to the report.

Rounds said that after the Senate has done its due diligence on a candidate, “we decide whether or not we think that the benefit of the doubt goes to the president or if there should be a change in perhaps more advice than consent, which occasionally does happen.”

The House Ethics Committee had been investigating Gaetz for years over numerous allegations, including that he “may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct.”

In June, the Committee announced it had encountered “difficulty in obtaining relevant information from Representative Gaetz and others,” but had already spoken with more than a dozen witnesses, issued 25 subpoenas, and reviewed thousands of pages of documents in this matter.”

“Based on its review to date, the Committee has determined that certain of the allegations merit continued review. During the course of its investigation, the Committee has also identified additional allegations that merit review.”

It is widely believed the Committee also investigated allegations Gaetz may have engaged in sex trafficking of a minor and sex with a minor.

Gaetz had been under investigation by the U.S. Dept. of Justice but no charges were ever brought.

Democrats and others are also expressing anger over Speaker Johnson’s efforts to, as some have suggested, engage in a coverup.

“Unacceptable,” decried U.S Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA). “Matt Gaetz is under investigation for serious wrongdoing, including sex trafficking. Speaker Johnson joins the ranks of those willing to give him cover. The American people deserve to see this report.”

Minnesota Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison asked, “What about transparency? Let’s hear the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, about the results of the the Matt Gaetz ethics investigation. If he’s innocent, then fine. But let’s see it.”

RELATED: ‘There Were Witnesses’: Attorney for Minor Urges Release of Gaetz Ethics Report

The New York Times’ Michael Barbaro wrote, “House Speaker says it would be a ‘terrible precedent’ for the government to release a tax-payer funded report into the ethics of a future Attorney General.”

Podcaster Tommy Victor added, “Publicly demanding a cover up of a Republican-led ethics investigation into the Attorney General nominee doesn’t suggest much confidence that it will exonerate Gaetz.”

CNN’s Jim Sciutto compared Speaker Johnson’s remarks on blocking the release of the report with those he made in 2023 when he released thousands of hours of footage from the January 6, 2021 insurrection:

“Look we want the American people to draw their own conclusions. I don’t think partisan elected officials in Washington should present a narrative and expect that it should be seen as the ultimate truth on it when we know that they hid certain elements… We want transparency. We should demand it. The American people do. We trust – House Republicans trust the American people to draw their own conclusions.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: Hegseth Vetting Questioned Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegation

 

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‘Fiery Emperor Nero’: French Senator Denounces Trump and His ‘Ketamine-Fueled Jester’

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March 6, 2025

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A speech attacking President Donald Trump and Elon Musk by French Senator Claude Malhuret is going viral.

It comes as the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, in a prime-time address Wednesday urged the citizens of France to discuss extending their nuclear umbrella to Ukraine in the face of what clearly is President Donald Trump’s decision to align with Vladimir Putin and Russia over Ukraine.

Senator Malhuret, who is also a physician and an attorney, is being heralded here in America.

The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser heralded Senator Malhuret’s remarks.

READ MORE: Elon Musk Cannot Say ‘You’re Fired’ Trump Tells Cabinet

“Powerful speech about Trump’s betrayal of the democratic world,” she wrote. “My question watching this — where is the American version? Why hasn’t US’s own opposition to Trump been able to speak out with such clarity and force? Tempus fugit.”

MSNBC’s Michael Steele, the former RNC Chairman, quoted this from Malhuret’s remarks: “Washington has become the court of Nero: an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers and a buffoon on ketamine tasked with purging the civil service.”

“Regardless the language, the Truth remains the same,” Steele commented. “THIS is worth your time.”

Former Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Anton Gerashchenko, pointed to this quote from the speech:

“The defeat of Ukraine would be the defeat of Europe. The Baltic States, Georgia and Moldova are already on the list. Putin’s goal is to return to Yalta, where half the continent was ceded to Stalin.”

READ MORE: ‘Betrayal’: Trump’s Escalating Russian Alignment Condemned by Critics, Praised by Kremlin

“Perfectly expressed,” declared The New European, which published the text in English and called it “a powerful speech setting out how the continent must deal with the twin threats from America and Russia.”

The New European reports the speech included these lines:

“The king of the deal is showing what the art of the deal is all about. He thinks he will intimidate China by lying down before Putin, but Xi Jinping, faced with such a shipwreck, is probably accelerating preparations for the invasion of Taiwan.”

“Never in history has a president of the United States capitulated to the enemy,” and added, “in one month, Trump has done more harm to America than in four years of his last presidency. We were at war with a dictator, now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor.”

Speaking of Trump, he said, “in the Oval Office, the military service shirker was giving war hero Zelensky lessons in morality and strategy before dismissing him like a groom, ordering him to submit or resign.”

“Our parents defeated fascism and communism at great cost,” Malhuret said. “The task of our generation is to defeat the totalitarianisms of the 21st century. Long live free Ukraine, long live democratic Europe.”

The speech is of course in French, but there are subtitles.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Darkness’: Buttigieg Warns on Trump, SCOTUS, and Democracy

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Elon Musk Cannot Say ‘You’re Fired’ Trump Tells Cabinet

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March 6, 2025

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Amid mounting legal pushback that threatens to upend his plan to deconstruct the federal government, eliminate hundreds of thousands of employees, and slash budgets, President Donald Trump has been facing a critical question: Who’s in charge of this?

On Thursday, Trump appeared to try to get the message straight.

“President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet in person on Thursday to deliver a message: You’re in charge of your departments, not Elon Musk,” Politico reports, noting: “Trump to Cabinet: Musk has no authority to fire workers.”

“According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Musk was also in the room.”

READ MORE: ‘Betrayal’: Trump’s Escalating Russian Alignment Condemned by Critics, Praised by Kremlin

Politico adds that this is “the first significant move to narrow Musk’s mandate. According to Trump’s new guidance, DOGE and its staff should play an advisory role — but Cabinet secretaries should make final decisions on personnel, policy and the pacing of implementation.”

Earlier this week, Trump came under fire from the left when he declared, “the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over,” during his address to a joint session of Congress—given that Musk, a billionaire tech entrepreneur and federal government contractor, at least appeared to have been heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

During that speech Tuesday night, Trump, in fact, actually credited Musk with leading the organization.

“I have created the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE — perhaps you’ve heard of it,” Trump said, as NBC News reported. The President then added, “Which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight.”

Federal judges have questioned Musk’s and DOGE’s authority, and the constitutionality of the operation, as The New York Times reported, leading to them to pause some mass firings.

READ MORE: ‘Darkness’: Buttigieg Warns on Trump, SCOTUS, and Democracy

Tuesday night, Trump’s remarks on Musk heading DOGE almost immediately showed up in a court filing, as MSNBC’s and Just Security’s Adam Klasfeld quickly reported:

Despite the mass firings of countless thousands of federal government workers, Politico reports, “Trump stressed that he wants to keep good people in government and not to eject capable federal workers en masse.”

“But his administration has in recent weeks fired tens of thousands of federal workers across numerous agencies in a series of blanket terminations. A federal judge and the chair of a federal civil service board have both concluded that the terminations were not tied to performance issues — and may have violated civil service laws.”

READ MORE: SCOTUS Hands Trump a Loss in Multi-Billion Dollar USAID Case

 

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‘Betrayal’: Trump’s Escalating Russian Alignment Condemned by Critics, Praised by Kremlin

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March 6, 2025

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In the week since Donald Trump and JD Vance launched a two-on-one televised attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the American president, his administration, and his allies have escalated actions that undermine—and even endanger—Ukraine and its people on multiple fronts, leading critics to denounced President Trump’s “betrayal.”

Trump and his administration reportedly will be targeting Ukrainian refugees in the U.S., and have already crippled a key military tool vital to Ukraine’s defense, halted weapons shipments, and ordered a top Pentagon agency to suspend operations and planning against Russia’s cyber offensives. Trump’s close allies reportedly are looking to back Zelenskyy’s political opponents in Ukraine. Critics—and even Russian state propagandists—say these moves send an unmistakable signal to the world: the United States has “switched sides” in Vladimir Putin’s illegal war against Ukraine.

“The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently declared, as MSNBC reported Tuesday. “This largely aligns with our vision.”

President Trump “was asked for his reaction after the Kremlin said the White House was largely aligned with Moscow. He didn’t answer — but he didn’t have to,” observed MSNBC’s Steve Benen.

Reuters is reporting that the Trump administration will move to revoke the legal protected status of 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion to come to the United States. These refugees, under a Biden administration program, were required to pay fees, be fully vetted, and have proof of a sponsor and financial means.

READ MORE: ‘Darkness’: Buttigieg Warns on Trump, SCOTUS, and Democracy

“The move, expected as soon as April, would be a stunning reversal of the welcome Ukrainians received under President Joe Biden’s administration,” according to Reuters, which noted that at least some could be put on a fast track to deportation.

While Reuters reports its sources say the plan was in place before President Donald Trump’s and Vice President. JD Vance’s Oval Office blowup, it also comes amid moves that appear to put the Trump administration on the side of Russia and President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier this week, President Trump ordered a suspension of critical intelligence sharing with Ukraine, a move that is “expected to cripple Kyiv’s ability to target Russian forces,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Trump administration also “suspended weapons shipments to Ukraine earlier this week,” after the “contentious Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,” the Journal reported. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, “said Trump, after that meeting, had also ‘asked for a pause’ of intelligence sharing.”

For years, the CIA and other U.S. Intelligence agencies “have forged deep ties with Ukrainian counterparts,” according to the Journal. Now, that has changed.

“We have taken a step back and are pausing and reviewing all aspects of this relationship,” Trump National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told reporters Wednesday.

Trump’s decision to halt intelligence sharing “will cost civilian lives almost immediately, dismayed Ukrainians said Thursday,” NBC News reported. The President’s decision also came as European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “convened a summit in Brussels as they attempt to cope with an upended landscape in which the Trump administration appears to be treating them with hostility while seemingly warming to the Kremlin.”

In another escalation against Ukraine and an apparent move toward Russia, on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News that the war in Ukraine is “a proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia – and it needs to come to an end.”

Reuters reported that the Kremlin “said on Thursday that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s view that the Ukraine conflict is a proxy war between the United States and Russia is in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s own assessment.”

READ MORE: ‘Betrayal’: Democrats Blast Trump’s ‘Assault’ on VA Over Plan to Cut 80,000 Employees

On Thursday, Politico Europe exclusively reported that “senior members of Donald Trump’s entourage have held secret discussions with some of Kyiv’s top political opponents to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, just as Washington aligns with Moscow in seeking to lever the Ukrainian president out of his job.”

“The discussions centered on whether Ukraine could hold quick presidential elections. These are being delayed in line with the country’s constitution because Ukraine remains under martial law. Critics of holding elections say they could be chaotic and play into Russia’s hands, with so many potential voters serving on the front lines or living abroad as refugees.”

Politico notes that while the Trump administration denies interfering in Ukraine’s domestic politics, “the behavior of Trump and his officials suggests quite the opposite. Trump has accused Zelenskyy of being a ‘dictator without elections,’ and hinted he would not be ‘around very long’ if he didn’t do a deal with Russia. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has falsely accused Kyiv of canceling the election.”

University of Copenhagen award-winning professor of political science, Marlene Wind, blasted the news.

“This is just appalling. Is Trump secretly planning a coup in Kyiv by replacing @ZelenskyyUa with a pro-Russian politician?” she asked.

Bartłomiej Gajos, a historian of Russia and the Soviet Union, asked: “Is it official US policy to seek regime change in Ukraine? That would be my question to the administration if I were a journalist.”

Meanwhile, critics are also condemning Secretary Rubio’s remarks—with some calling them Russian talking points. And President Trump’s decision to target the nearly quarter-million Ukrainian refugees in the U.S. is also being denounced.

Critics Sound the Alarm

“This is nasty, heartless, un-American and dangerous,” declared veteran and veterans’ activist Paul Rieckhoff. “It’s sending innocent civilians back into a war zone to die. These are women and children and seniors. The latest move to deepen Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine. And American values. He continues to drive the knife deeper into the back of Ukraine. And NATO. Putin is celebrating. And the Statue of Liberty is weeping. Congress must exhaust every option to block this. I’d expect Canada or another good nation to step up to accept these Ukrainians. As America continues to fail and fall. And become more isolated and less safe.”

“Hold on,” said The Wall Street Journal’s chief foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimo, “didn’t President Trump just say that half of Ukraine is flattened and that his main motivation is care for innocent Ukrainian lives?”

The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser remarked, “How to see this as anything other than a betrayal of people who fled for their lives? The US welcomed them… and now we’re throwing them out, and switching sides in Putin’s war.”

Last week, Glasser wrote: “the United States of America has switched sides in the war between Russia and Ukraine. The country is no longer on the side of Ukraine.”

Late Thursday morning Glasser posted video of a French lawmaker, calling it a “Powerful speech about Trump’s betrayal of the democratic world.”

“My question watching this — where is the American version?” she asked. “Why hasn’t US’s own opposition to Trump been able to speak out with such clarity and force? Tempus fugit.”

Jesuit priest James Martin, a New York Times best-selling author, and editor-at-large of America magazine, responding to the news Ukrainian refugees may lose protections and be deported, wrote simply: “‘I was a stranger and you did not welcome me’ (Mt 25).”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: SCOTUS Hands Trump a Loss in Multi-Billion Dollar USAID Case

 

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