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Donald Trump Tag

Former CEO ExxonMobil Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump's choice for Secretary of State, will face the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today for his confirmation hearing. You can expect him to face questions about Russia since ExxonMobil has agreed to numerous deals with Russian state companies to drill in the Arctic. Questions will also include topics like climate change and human rights. You can watch the confirmation with us as I live blog.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has begun his confirmation hearing for attorney general. We have a live stream in this post. This is expected to be one of the most tense confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet. The Democrats will ask Sessions about his record on civil rights and female rights. However, the GOP holds the majority in the Senate so more than likely he will receive confirmation.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that President-elect Donald Trump backs his plan to appeal the Affordable Care Act only if the government has a replacement at the same time:
“He called after seeing an interview that I had done [talking about] that we should vote on Obamacare replacement at the same time,” Paul said in an interview on Monday. “He said he was in complete agreement with that.”

Jared Kushner, husband of Trump's oldest daughter Ivanka, was appointed a Senior Adviser to president-elect Trump, news outlets reported Monday afternoon. Kushner married Ivanka in 2009. The couple have three children together. Kushner owns the New York Observer and played a key role in Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Before assuming the role of Senior Advisor Kushner must traverse two fairly significant hurdles -- federal anti-nepotism laws and his participation in Trump-family businesses that might be a conflict of interest to his tentative White House gig.

At the Golden Globe awards Sunday night, Meryl Streep used her stage time to attack Donald Trump. She lamented the fact that such a vulgarian won the election. The funniest thing about her speech is how she frames the importance of being respectful of other people, a quality she clearly doesn't think Trump possesses. Does everyone recall how respectful movies and TV were to George W. Bush? Streep lives in an alternate reality where everyone has always played fairly with each other.

So the American intelligence community has declassified a report that supposedly shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign to influence the election in favor of President-elect Donald Trump. However, the report includes circumstantial evidence. They provided no concrete evidence that shows Putin sat down with his Kremlin cronies to orchestrated a campaign to make Hillary Clinton lose. They also concentrated on RT, formerly known as Russia Today, with a brief mention of the phishing schemes that led to Wikileaks publishing emails from the DNC and Hillary campaign chair John Podesta.

"We're going to build a big, beautiful wall and Mexico will pay for it!" President-elect Trump bragged while campaigning. Mexico said they would definitely not pay for a wall, but it looks like we might. Trump's transition team indicated the border wall was a top priority and that the incoming administration hopes to have Congressional approval of funding by as early as April.

The Clean Air Moms Action, part of the Environmental Defense Action Fund, has started a $100,000 campaign against President-elect Donald Trump's EPA nominee Scott Pruitt. The campaign will use children's health concerns in ads in Washington, D.C. and six states that have "senators who could swing the confirmation vote." What an original technique! Using children to attack your opponent because you don't hate children, do you? Yeah, well, evidence has shown that Pruitt embraces science. Also, the EPA has done a stellar job with environment disasters, haven't they?

Republicans gathered on Capitol Hill with Vice President-elect Mike Pence to discuss Obacamare where he announced that President-elect Donald Trump plans to use executive action to repeal the law:
“It will be an orderly transition to something better ... using executive authority to ensure it’s an orderly transition," Pence told reporters. "We’re working now on a series of executive orders that will enable that orderly transition to take place even as Congress appropriately debates alternatives to and replacements for ObamaCare.”

Until recently, it wasn't known which of the living presidents would attend Trump's inauguration. Jimmy Carter was quick to accept the invitation but George W. Bush had reasons to skip the event due to the many clashes between Trump and Jeb Bush. Bill Clinton had an even more obvious reason to be busy that day. It turns out everyone is going, even Hillary. New York Magazine reports:
Bill and Hillary Clinton Will Attend the Trump Inauguration Bill and Hillary Clinton have decided to attend the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States, according to two sources with knowledge of their plans. The Clintons will join former Presidents George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, who have also announced that they will attend. George and Laura Bush said today that they would be present “to witness the peaceful transfer of power.”

Sean Spicer, who will serve as Donald Trump's White House press secretary, has been invited to the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics by former Obama adviser David Axelrod. Some students are objecting to the appearance for trite and obvious reasons. The Chicago Maroon reported:
Incoming Trump Press Secretary Visit to IOP Sparks Controversy The Institute of Politics (IOP) announced Thursday it is hosting president elect Donald Trump’s choice for press secretary, Sean Spicer, for a discussion with IOP Director David Axelrod first week of winter quarter. The announcement drew criticism from some students who say they may protest the IOP’s perceived normalization of hostility toward the press by the incoming president.

The House Republicans sure do know how to get the ball rolling on a new session. They kept control, but still can't seem to operate properly! Someone seriously needs to provide a proper communications course for all Republicans in D.C. In one of their first moves, the House Republicans caused a fuss over the weekend after Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) proposed changes to an independent watchdog group, the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). According to the media, House Republicans gutted their own independent watchdog group and that Republicans wanted more power. In other words, mass hysteria! A close look at the amendment, which I notice missing from many articles, shows that Goodlatte actually attempted to strengthen the OCE by pushing it farther from the House, thus making it even more independent, and making sure the board does not violate the rights of those accused. But if the Republicans had rolled out the idea a tad better, they may have avoided the backlash and not been forced to retreat with their tails between their legs.

In a New Year's announcement, North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un stated that his nation was on the verge of launching its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) - a missile capable of both carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching the United States. This threat could President-elect Donald Trump's first major foreign policy challenge, coming as it does after nuclear bomb tests of varying success by the North Koreans.