‘The Unrestricted War' Premieres at Capitol Hill, Followed by Panel
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The Hill
19 minutes ago
- The Hill
Bipartisan senators push for Trump to keep portions of Biden-era AI rule
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) urged the Trump administration Thursday to maintain some parts of an artificial intelligence (AI) chip export framework laid out by former President Biden. In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the bipartisan duo called for the administration to keep provisions incentivizing companies to maintain most of their computing infrastructure for leading AI models in the U.S. and mandating 'robust' guardrails on data centers abroad. 'While the Diffusion Rule was rightfully criticized for being overly complicated and burdensome, it is essential that the Administration issues a replacement that keeps the center of gravity for AI infrastructure in the United States and imposes strong, robust security requirements on overseas facilities,' the pair wrote. Biden released the AI diffusion rule in his final days in office. The rule, which placed caps on chip sales to most countries other than a select few U.S. allies, faced sharp pushback from the semiconductor industry. The Trump administration rescinded the rule shortly before it was set to go into effect in May, arguing it would 'have stifled American innovation and saddled companies with burdensome new regulatory requirements.' Several months later, the administration has yet to offer a replacement. A group of Republican House members urged Lutnick earlier this month to provide a 'stable exporting structure' to take the place of the diffusion rule. However, a new framework may not be coming. Semafor reported Tuesday that the administration is weighing whether to scrap efforts to replace the rule. This comes after Trump unveiled his AI Action Plan last week, which underscored a shift in policy toward China, focusing less on export restrictions and more on boosting the adoption of American technology abroad. Seemingly in line with this approach, the Trump administration is allowing Nvidia to sell its H20 chips to China once again. After initially placing new restrictions on H20 sales in May, the administration gave the chipmaker the green light earlier this month. The decision has faced pushback from multiple fronts, with former national security officials, several Democratic lawmakers and at least one Republican member voicing concerns about the decision.
The Hill
19 minutes ago
- The Hill
Democrats blast Bessent over Trump baby accounts ‘backdoor for privatizing Social Security' remarks
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is facing heavy backlash from Democrats over a Wednesday remark in which he talked about 'a backdoor for privatizing Social Security.' 'In a way, it is a backdoor for privatizing Social Security,' Bessent said Wednesday during an event with Breitbart News, discussing 'Trump accounts.' These are savings accounts the Trump administration has proposed for kids born between 2024 and 2028 in which the government will put $1,000. It was a part of President Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' that he signed into law earlier this year. Social Security has long been a third rail in politics, and Democrats were quick to accuse Bessent of suggesting he and the administration saw the accounts as a future replacement for Social Security. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) said in a post on the social platform X Wednesday that Bessent was 'saying the quiet part out loud.' ''In a way, it is a backdoor for privatizing Social Security.' – Scott Bessent,' Luján said in his post, which featured a clip of Bessent's comments. 'That means gutting the promise our seniors earned and dismantling Social Security as we know it.' In his own post on X Wednesday, Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) offered an opinion similar to Luján's. 'Trump Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent said the quiet part out loud: Trump-Republicans want to privatize Social Security, turning it from a dependable safety net to a risky profit center for moneyed special interests at the expense of everyday Americans,' Reed said in his post. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said on X that 'Republicans' ultimate goal is to privatize Social Security.' 'And we know that there isn't a backdoor they won't try to make Wall Street's dream a reality,' he added. Later on Wednesday, Bessent sought to clean up his remarks by arguing the new accounts would bolster Social Security. He said in a post on X that 'Trump Baby Accounts are an additive benefit for future generations, which will supplement the sanctity of Social Security's guaranteed payments.' 'This is not an either-or question: our Administration is committed to protecting Social Security and to making sure seniors have more money,' he added. In an appearance on CNBC's 'Squawk Box' Thursday, Bessent said he was 'I was giving an interview, and I was talking about the $1,000 baby bonds that every American citizen, every newborn, is going to get.' 'The Democrats hate this program because the — it brings capitalism and markets to every American, not just their constituents at the upper end, and over time, the compounding is going to be an incredible supplement to Social Security, not a replacement. It is a compliment,' he added.
The Hill
19 minutes ago
- The Hill
Brennan, Clapper: Trump administration seeks to ‘rewrite history' with Obama claims
Former CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper used a joint op-ed to push back on claims from the Trump administration that Obama-era intelligence officials misrepresented conclusions about its review of Russia's effort to influence the 2016 election. 'Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and John Ratcliffe, the Central Intelligence Agency director, have over the past month claimed that senior officials of the Obama administration manufactured politicized intelligence, silenced intelligence professionals and engaged in a broad 'treasonous conspiracy' to undermine the presidency of Donald Trump. That is patently false,' the duo wrote in The New York Times. The intelligence community concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election with the aim of aiding President Trump in the contest. The pair then list a suite of reports that backed that conclusion, from Trump-appointed special counsel John Durham to a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report prepared under now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 'Every serious review has substantiated the intelligence community's fundamental conclusion that the Russians conducted an influence campaign intended to help Mr. Trump win the 2016 election,' the two wrote. Amid pressure on the Trump administration to release files related to the prosecution of deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, the Trump team has released several other tranches of documents. Gabbard, in particular, has released a memo and documents she said shows Clapper withheld information from the American public, including that there was 'no indication of a Russian threat to directly manipulate the actual vote count.' That was never in dispute though, and intelligence officials said at the time that Russia was unable to manipulate vote counts. The documents released by Gabbard show intelligence officials discussing that Russia was unable to change any votes. Gabbard later released a report from House Intelligence Republicans casting doubt on whether Russia aimed to help Trump versus sow chaos in the U.S., but most other assessments back the conclusion the adversary did so with the hopes of boosting the president. But beyond the documents released, Gabbard and others have largely talked about the intelligence community's review of the 2016 election as part of a conspiracy to damage Trump, undermine his victory, and boost the largely-debunked Steele Dossier. 'Contrary to the Trump administration's wild and baseless claims, there was no mention of 'collusion' between the Trump campaign and the Russians in the assessment,' they wrote. 'We have testified under oath, and the reviews of the assessment have confirmed, that the dossier was not used as a source or taken into account for any of its analysis or conclusions,' they added. They also reiterated that the assessment made no judgment about the impact Russia's moves had on the outcome of the election. 'While some state and local electoral boards and voter information and registration systems were accessed by Russian intelligence, the assessment made clear that none of those types of systems were involved in counting votes,' they wrote. 'Russian influence operations might have shaped the views of Americans before they entered the voting booth, but we found no evidence that the Russians changed any actual votes.' Clapper and Brennan go on to describe efforts to keep their intelligence work shielded, understanding the influence it would have on the election, calling it a 'remarkable irony' to have Trump figures release it now. 'The real politicization is the calculated distortion of intelligence by administration officials, notably Mr. Trump's directors of national intelligence and the C.I.A., positions that should be apolitical. We find it deeply regrettable that the administration continues to perpetuate the fictitious narrative that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 election,' they wrote. 'It should instead acknowledge that a foreign nation-state — a mortal enemy of the United States — routinely meddles in our national elections and will continue to do so unless we take appropriate bipartisan action to stop it.'
