Senate confirms former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as top federal prosecutor for the nation's capital
Pirro, a former county prosecutor and elected judge, was confirmed 50-45. Before becoming the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in May, she co-hosted the Fox News show 'The Five' on weekday evenings, where she frequently interviewed Trump.
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Winnipeg Free Press
27 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Trump wields influence over GOP and keeps potential successors vying for his favor
WASHINGTON (AP) — Although President Donald Trump has not directly said he thinks JD Vance should be the heir to his 'Make America Great Again' base of support, he acknowledged this week that his vice president is probably the favorite to succeed him 'at this point.' But even as he promoted Vance, Trump also made sure to mention Secretary of State Marco Rubio, telling reporters at the White House on Tuesday that his administration's top diplomat is 'somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form' on a future political ticket. The remarks reflect the massive influence the Republican president currently has over his party. They also serve to promote two of Trump's top advisers without telegraphing the president's singular preference for a successor. Not definitively anointing Vance, or any other Republican, keeps those hoping to succeed Trump vying for his favor, both inside his administration and in the wider Republican field of possible contenders. Speaking with reporters following an executive order signing at the White House, Trump was asked if Vance were the 'heir apparent to MAGA.' 'I think most likely, in all fairness, he's the vice president,' Trump said. 'I think Marco is also somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form. … It's too early obviously, to talk about it, but certainly he's doing a great job and he would be, probably favorite at this point.' When Trump selected the then-39-year-old Vance over other more established Republicans — including Rubio — as his running mate last year, many theorized that Trump was planning for the future of his political movement, angling for a vice president who could carry MAGA forward. Vance has embraced the role at every turn, doing the president's bidding on everything from his relationship with Ukraine to the fight over records related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal. Trump, meanwhile, has not hesitated to give Vance high-visibility assignments. As the White House promotes mid-decade redistricting efforts in Texas — and acknowledges it would like the notion to expand to other states — Vance is expected Thursday to discuss redrawing district lines with Gov. Mike Braun during a trip to Indiana. While there, Vance will also headline a fundraiser for the Republican National Committee, which he serves as treasurer. In June he traveled to Los Angeles trip to tour a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a mobile command center amid clashes between protesters and police and outbreaks of vandalism and looting following immigration raids across Southern California. And earlier this year, Vance was in swing congressional districts in his role as lead cheerleader for Trump's signature tax cut and spending law, an assortment of conservative priorities that Republicans dubbed the 'One Big, Beautiful Bill.' He also lobbied senators on Capitol Hill, working to swing GOP holdouts to support the legislation, and in July cast a tie-breaking vote to get the measure passed in the Senate. He's also taken on a robust role related to foreign policy, holding meetings of his own with world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a trip to New Delhi, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. Rubio, who has described Vance as among his closest friends in politics, said on Fox News Channel on Sunday that he felt Vance 'would be a great nominee if he decides he wants to do that.' Other Republicans mentioned as possible 2028 contenders are already making the rounds of early-voting states. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks at a GOP fundraiser in South Carolina this weekend, and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders headlines an event in that state later this month. Both have taken pains to stay in the president's good graces. Not every Republican contender has gone that route. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who lost the 2016 nomination to Trump, has been visiting early-voting states, too, but he voted against the president's signature legislative measure. And Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp — who has long harbored ambitions to run for president but has a complicated history with Trump — recently said he was sitting out of a Senate race in his state, a decision telegraphed by some as an indication Kemp might be eyeing the 2028 White House race. ___ Kinnard can be reached at
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
The Democrats won't be in the dumps for long
It's not news that Canada needs. Our party in the United States, the Democratic Party, which we've always favoured over the less progressive Republicans, appears to be in dire straits. Typical of its troubles is a Wall Street Journal poll saying the party has reached a 35-year-low in public esteem, with 63 per cent of voters holding a negative view. The Democrats are despondent and divided from their election defeat. Their credibility has taken a hit on account of their apparent cover-up of Joe Biden's cognitive decline. They are being steamrollered in Congress by the Republicans. They lack a coherent message, a strong leader. It is all happening when, more than ever, a strong Democratic Party is needed to restrain the authoritarian impulses of Donald Trump, who is going so far as to have Barack Obama investigated. But the party's condition isn't as dire as it is being made out to be. Much of what we're seeing is not unusual for a party in the months after losing a presidential election. Since first being based in Washington in 1978, I've seen the same pattern repeatedly. Initially it's all doom and gloom for the defeated party. Then the midterm elections come and that party invariably makes big gains and all the griping and crying and bad media stops. Andrew Coyne: The final obstacle to Trump's dictatorship may be the people he needs to borrow from Trump says Vance 'most likely' to lead as Republican nominee in 2028 It's only natural that in the wake of the Trump defeat, there is dissent and finger pointing and division among the Democrats. It's standard fare to be trailing well behind the honeymooning victors in the polls. It's hardly surprising to appear rudderless given that in the American system, there is no opposition party leader as such. And it's to be expected that with the Republicans in control of the House, the Senate and the White House, they are having their way. But despite their follies, the Democrats currently lead the Republicans in generic polls for Congressional control. The Trump victory has not translated in a boost in support for Republicans. In three polls released Wednesday, he was an average of negative-seven in favourability ratings. Only 38 per cent of Americans say the country is on the right track. What is being overlooked by those attacking the Democrats is their talent pool. The party is stacked with talent. There's California Governor Gavin Newsom, there's former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Representative Ro Khanna, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. That doesn't include firebrand representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who political analyst Nate Silver and others are already touting as the favourite to win the party's 2028 nomination. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez's prominence, however, is one of the reasons the party is said to be doing so poorly. She's dragging the party to the far left. She is therefore deemed to be a gift to Republicans. That could well be the case. It could also be old-think, another example of an out-of-touch establishment mentality, discounting how American politics has changed and is changing. Polls by Gallup and AtlasIntel show AOC scoring a higher positive impression than Mr. Trump. An Emerson College poll shows her neck-and-neck with Vice-President J.D. Vance. AOC has passion and star power. She is inheriting Bernie Sanders's base of support. As a Latina, that base potentially extends to Hispanic America. At the age of just 35, her base extends to the youth of the country. She represents generational change in spades. Clobbering all comers in fundraising, she brought in almost US$10-million in the first quarter of this year. The party needs a fighter who connects with working people; AOC is that too. An anti-establishment rising star like her is hardly an example of a party in decline. On the Republican side, Mr. Trump has been scoring foreign policy wins, but they aren't vote-getters. The party just received rotten economic numbers, leading Mr. Trump to idiotically blame it on his statistics chief and, in banana-republic style, fire her. Most every economist is of the view that the Trump trade war will spark high inflation, handing the Democrats the affordability issue. His recently passed 'big beautiful bill' is getting a big ugly reception for cutting into social security and catering to the rich. The Epstein controversy is fracturing unity in the party's base. This is all going to help Democratic Party disarray go away. In keeping with precedent, we can expect the party to vigorously reassert itself by the midterms, just like it did in the midterms in 2018. We recall how down in the dumps the Democrats were after losing to Mr. Trump two years earlier. It didn't last.
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
The Howard Stern Show, a radio fixture since the 1980s, is said to be ending soon
The Howard Stern Show, which has been on the air now for more than 40 years, first on terrestrial radio and since 2005 on SiriusXM satellite radio, is said to be on the verge of ending. Article content Reports in Britain's tabloid The Sun and elsewhere say that the host's latest five-year contract expires in the fall, but that it won't be renewed. Article content 'Stern's contract is up in the fall and while Sirius is planning to make him an offer, they don't intend for him to take it,' an unnamed insider told the paper. 'Sirius and Stern are never going to meet on the money he is going to want. It's no longer worth the investment.' Article content Article content The insider added that Sirius may strike a deal for Stern's library of content. 'But as far as him coming back to doing the show, there's no way they can keep paying his salary.' Article content Article content 'If Sirius isn't going to give Stern a good offer, I don't think it would have anything to do with his ratings,' the source said. 'It's more likely everything to do with the political climate.' Article content The source added: 'After you saw what happened with Stephen Colbert, it's like they just can't afford to keep him going.' Article content The comparison is an apt one. Colbert, host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, was told last month that the show would end in May 2026. It was a move that many — not least Donald Trump himself — suggested was influenced by Colbert's criticism of the now U.S. president over the years. Article content Similarly, Stern has in recent years become openly critical of Trump. In 2020 he called on Trump to resign from his first term as president for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. When Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. mocked him, he sarcastically referred to the the younger Trump as a 'wit' and a 'genius.' Article content Article content And in 2023, Trump posted on social media that 'The real Howard Stern is a weak, pathetic, and disloyal guy, who lost his friends and MUCH of his audience.' He added: 'I did his show many times in the good old days, and then he went Woke, and nobody cares about him any longer.' Article content Article content Stern's radio persona has evolved over the decades. Originally known as a 'shock jock' broadcaster — his move to SiriusXM was in part a way to get away from the censorship regulations of terrestrial radio — he gradually became a more serious and politically savvy interviewer. Article content Guests on his show have included U.S. President Joe Biden, who gave his first on-air interview while in office to Stern in April 2024, and U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, who spoke to him last October, just weeks before the nation went to the polls. Article content Stern, 71, got his start on radio in the late 1970s, with The Howard Stern Show beginning in 1981 on WWDC, a radio station near Washington, D.C. It moved to WNBC in New York the following year, and in 1985 landed at WXRK, where it stayed until its move to SiriusXM in 2005.
