Latest news with #EricSchmitt
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Republican senator employs aide fired by DeSantis over neo-Nazi imagery
A staffer for Missouri Republican senator Eric Schmitt was previously fired from Ron DeSantis's unsuccessful presidential campaign after making a video containing neo-Nazi imagery, and later peddled far-right conspiracy theories in a Marco Rubio-linked thinktank. Nate Hochman's job in the hard-right senator's office, along with earlier Trump appointments to executive agencies, suggest to some experts there are few barriers to far-right activists making a career in Republican party politics. The Guardian contacted Eric Schmitt's office for comment. Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told the Guardian: 'Hochman's position shows once again that there are no guardrails against extremists in the GOP nowadays.' She added: 'Racism, antisemitism and other abhorrent beliefs don't seem to stop extremists from appointments with far-right politicians, including in the highest office of the presidency.' Hochman, 26, has worked for Schmitt since February, according to congressional information website LegiStorm, a development that was first noted on political newsletter Liberal Currents. He has also posted dozens of times to X to publicize Schmitt's initiatives, media appearances, and speeches. The Guardian reported last September on Hochman's previous job at America 2100, an organization founded in 2023 as a thinktank. The organization was founded by Mike Needham, who served as Marco Rubio's chief of staff from 2018 to 2023 when Rubio was a senator and who is once again his chief of staff at the state department. In that and subsequent reporting, it was revealed that Hochman's work for America 2100 was focused on producing videos, some of which targeted Haitian migrants in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, and others that rehearsed conspiracy theories about LGBTQ people and human rights organizations. This was the latest in a string of scandals in the young operative's political career. In July 2023 he was fired from the presidential campaign of Florida governor Ron DeSantis after retweeting a pro-DeSantis, anti-Trump video. As the Guardian reported, the video portrayed a ''Wojak' meme, a sad-looking man popular on the right, against headlines about Trump policy failures before showing the meme cheering up to headlines about DeSantis and images of the governor at work', all to the tune of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill. Finally, it superimposed DeSantis on to ranks of marching soldiers and a Sonnenrad – a Norse symbol frequently appropriated by neo-Nazis. As Hochman departed the campaign, Axios reported he had made the video but endeavored to make it 'appear as if it was produced externally'. Just a year earlier, Hochman seemed a rising conservative star, with a clutch of prestigious fellowships, a staff position at National Review, and a growing media profile as a key spokesman of the national conservative movement. That trajectory shifted after never-Trump conservative outlet the Dispatch revealed details of a Twitter spaces recording of a 2022 conversation between Hochman and white supremacist Nick Fuentes. In that exchange, Hochman complimented Fuentes, saying, 'You've gotten a lot of kids based' and calling him 'probably a better influence than Ben Shapiro on young men'. Following his DeSantis exit, beyond America 2100, Hochman's writing at a paleoconservative and other far-right outlets embraced the extreme positions characteristic of the so-called new right. In the American Spectator during 2024, he heaped praise on Salvadorian dictator Nayib Bukele; endorsed far-right publisher Jonathan 'L0m3z' Keeperman arguing that masculinity is under feminist attack; and echoed the 'Sailer strategy' first coined by neo-eugenicist writer Steve Sailer, proposing that Republicans should ignore minority voters and 'go where the ducks are' by maximizing white turnout. Another column entitled 'Was it Worth the Empanadas?' portrayed immigration in the terms of the 'Great Replacement' style conspiracy theory, asserting that it would 'dismantle and replace both America and the civilization that gave birth to it, affecting (sic) perhaps the first transfer of power from one people and civilization to another'. Liberal Currents first noted rhetorical parallels between Hochman and his new boss since he joined Schmitt's staff. For example, while Hochman wrote in May last year that America 'is not an 'idea', or a 'universal nation', or an economic zone, or a low-tax parking space for global capital – it is our home', on 30 April Schmitt delivered a Senate floor speech decrying 'the international elite – the so-called 'citizens of the world' – who see our country as a global economic zone, a giant shopping mall with an airport attached', and deployed similar rhetoric in an X post earlier that month. And after Hochman tweeted about federal border czar Tom Homan as 'the perfect embodiment of the middle American radical' – a term popularized by white nationalist writer Sam Francis – Schmitt began posting about how the government 'has been at war with middle America'. On the other hand, Schmitt – as a US senator, and previously as Missouri attorney-general – occupied hard-right positions long before Hochman joined his team. In a 2022 interview with Glenn Beck, Schmitt echoed the 'Great Replacement' conspiracy theory, claiming that Democrats and the Biden administration were 'fundamentally trying to change this country through their illegal immigration policy'. He later dismissed reporting on the comments as 'woke journalism'. Hochman is just one activist with far-right links who has found employment in the second Trump administration. Darren Beattie, for example, served as a speechwriter in the first Trump administration but was fired in 2018 after CNN revealed he had spoken at a 2016 HL Mencken Club meeting also attended by white nationalists including Richard Spencer and Peter Brimelow. Despite this dismissal, Trump appointed him in late 2020 to the US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, though Biden dismissed him from the commission in early 2022. After leaving the White House, Beattie launched the rightwing media outlet Revolver News, raising funds by selling pro-Trump merchandise including shirts that read 'It's OK to deny 2020' and promoting conspiracy theories that January 6th was an 'FBI setup'. Then in February, Beattie was appointed to the state department's top public diplomacy role as acting under-secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs. Beirich, the extremism expert, said 'It's a sad, shameful fact that the GOP now mainstreams extremist ideas – and harbors those that proliferate them.'
Fox News
29-05-2025
- General
- Fox News
Senate Republicans plan hearing on Biden's alleged cognitive decline cover-up
FIRST ON FOX — Senate Republicans plan to launch their own investigation next month that delves into the alleged "conspiracy" behind former President Joe Biden's cognitive decline. Sens. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and John Cornyn, R-Tx., announced plans to hold a Senate Judiciary hearing on June 18 to probe into the alleged cover-up of the 82-year-old former president's mental decline while in office by the media and those closest to him. The lawmakers are still gathering witnesses for the probe, which would be the first full congressional committee hearing on the subject. "It's time to expose how a cadre of Biden aides and family members were the de-facto commander-in-chief, while President Biden was sidelined," Schmitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "I look forward to getting the American people the answers they deserve." Both lawmakers contended that Biden's decline was hidden for "years." Cornyn argued that the country depended "on having a president who has the mental capacity to do the job, and it's clear that President Biden did not, so we must use this hearing to uncover the facts." "For this conspiracy between the mainstream media, Joe Biden's family, and his inner circle to have hidden the impairment of the President of the United States for years, and lied consistently to the American people about his capacity to make decisions, which are solely vested by the Constitution, is unacceptable," he said in a statement to Fox News Digital. Both Schmitt and Cornyn join a growing chorus of Republicans demanding answers about what really went on behind-the-scenes during Biden's presidency. In the House, lawmakers are pushing to create a select committee that would investigate the Biden administration's alleged cover-up. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., is leading the charge to create the panel and introduced legislation on Thursday to start the committee that would dive into "the potential concealment of information from the American public," regarding Biden's health. And House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., has called on several high-ranking staffers from the Biden White House to participate in transcribed interviews regarding their alleged roles in covering up the former president's decline. Comer called on former director of the Domestic Policy Council Neera Tanden, former assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini, former senior adviser to the first lady Anthony Bernal, former deputy director of Oval Office operations Ashley Williams and Biden's physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, to participate. The growing fervor by Republicans to uncover whether Biden's allies and family hid concerns about his health from the public comes on the heels of the release of "Original Sin" by CNN host Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson. Their book claimed that the Biden White House was trying to control the narrative surrounding the former president's health, and that his allies worked to cover up his decline.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump is trying to make government workers more like those in Corporate America: Easier to fire
The Trump administration has revived a push to reclassify federal workers as at-will employees. They'd lose many of the job protections that career civil servants currently enjoy, and would be easier to fire. Critics argue it could undermine apolitical government jobs and face legal challenges. The Trump administration is trying to revive a measure that would make government workers who currently enjoy strong civil-service employment protections more like those in Corporate America: easily fireable. For now, many federal workers can't be fired for their political affiliations and can only be fired for a justifiable cause. Trump's move would change that by classifying them as employees who determine or make policy. They could, therefore, be fired for any legal reason with little to no notice. "This will allow agencies to quickly remove employees from critical positions who engage in misconduct, perform poorly, or undermine the democratic process by intentionally subverting Presidential directives," says the proposed Office of Personnel Management rule, which was introduced in a different iteration during Trump's first term and revived through an executive order this year. It is now open for comment until June 7. The move would ease the way for additional cuts to the federal workforce after the Trump administration's first major round of federal firings in February faced legal challenges and resulted in many workers getting reinstated. "I do expect to be Schedule F at some point. Personally, it's totally bullshit," a current Social Security Administration manager said. "This gets into the whole history of the civil service and the politicization of civil service, and whether as a public policy you think that's a smart idea or not; I do not." Some advocates for changing civil service status have pointed toward reducing administrative bloat, or federal bureaucrats wielding too much power. Two Republicans — Senators Eric Schmitt and Rick Scott — introduced a bill in 2023 that would make all executive branch workers at-will, saying that the current system disincentivizes efficiency while rewarding mediocrity. "President Trump was overwhelmingly elected in November to shake up Washington—and that starts with holding unelected government bureaucrats accountable," Schmitt said in a statement to BI. Similarly, the House-passed iteration of what Trump called his "big beautiful bill" would offer federal workers the option of opting in to at-will employment in exchange for having to pay less into retirement funds. At-will federal employees would function more like political appointees, who typically turn over when a new presidential administration takes office. Career civil servants, on the other hand, who do things like man Social Security phone lines or work IT for government websites, have certain protections so they can carry on with their work, regardless of which political party is in charge. The proposed rule has garnered over 16,000 comments, and the comment period has been extended by two weeks. For context, Webb Lyons, the former general counsel at OPM during the Biden-Harris administration, said that a Biden-era rule on civil service protections garnered 4,000 comments — "by far the most comments that we received on any regulation while I was at OPM for almost four years," he said. Next, the agency will review comments and finalize the rule. If it resembles the current proposal, it could represent a seismic shift. "This would be an unprecedented rollback of protections that were intended to ensure a non-partisan civil service can balance those interests of the President with their duty to uphold the Constitution and follow the law," Devin O'Connor, a senior fellow at CBPP and former White House Senior Advisor, said. There's already been a sneak peek into what the new classification, called "Schedule Policy/Career," would look like at the Social Security Administration. A mid-April memo seen by Business Insider from the previous acting commissioner at the SSA, Leland Dudek, outlined plans to reclassify large swaths of the agency's workers as Schedule P/C. The left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said the order would cover around 10,000 positions across the agency, including workers in roles like evaluating disability benefits applications and maintaining information technology. As of 2024, CBPP said, around 19 positions were classified as political appointees at SSA. "With Social Security, the sort of unofficial mission that people talk about every day is get the right check to the right person at the right time. That's a very apolitical job," Kathleen Romig, the director of Social Security and disability policy at CBPP and an SSA alum, said. Romig said that the proposed changes across SSA are a "broad brush." There's also the question of whether a mass reclassification could face an uphill legal battle: A brief from Elisa Walker, a senior fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance and an SSA alum, found that the reclassifications may run afoul of a provision in the Social Security Act that stipulates the agency can have no more than 20 full-time roles that are policy-making. "Congress specifically built in these kinds of protections to keep the agency by and large nonpolitical. I think that context is really important," Walker said. "That is exactly why they wrote this provision — to prevent this kind of short-term politicization of the agency." The Social Security administration said in a comment that it is "committed to protecting Social Security and eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in the federal government." "Some in the media have erroneously reported that SSA's optimization effort includes terminating employees in non-mission critical positions," the agency said. "However, this is not true. In fact, the number of SSA employees involuntarily removed from federal service so far this fiscal year amounts to one-tenth of one percent of our total employees." Romig said the threat of getting fired or having to toe the party line could also impact how SSA employees approach their work or how safe they feel expressing their views. One SSA worker who's been with the agency for 30 years echoed that concern: "I think everyone realizes that that means that since you are a political appointee, you could also just be let go with little or no protection or ability to fight against that. So one misstep and you could be gone." Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at jkaplan@ or Signal at julianakaplan.33. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely. Read the original article on Business Insider
Fox News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Florida Sen Moody rolls out measure to expedite removal of criminal illegal immigrants
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ashley Moody will roll out a measure on Wednesday that will expedite the removal of criminal illegal immigrants from the United States involved in gangs, foreign terrorist organizations or convicted of any felony on U.S. soil, Fox News Digital has learned. Moody, R-Fla., is expected to introduce her legislation Wednesday morning, titled "The Expedited Removal of Criminal Aliens Act." Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., is co-sponsoring the legislation. Moody's team told Fox News Digital that the legislation is "critical" to supporting the Trump administration's immigration priorities. "Following four years of systematic dismantlement of our country's immigration and national security structure under Joe Biden, the American people gave President Trump a mandate to clean up Biden's mess," Moody told Fox News Digital. "Democrats and lower-level partisan judges, however, have sought to block his efforts at every turn." Moody told Fox News Digital that they have claimed that "dangerous criminal illegal aliens and MS-13 gang members like Kilmar Abrego Garcia are just family men living quiet lives in America, and they couldn't be more wrong." "Democrats have fought against the quick removal of illegal aliens who have committed atrocious crimes against children or even those that have been convicted of murder," Moody said. "It makes no sense." Moody's bill authorizes the expedited removal of an immigrant who is a member of a criminal gang or organization; a member of a foreign terrorist organization or has provided material support to such an organization; or has been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor. Those potential felony or misdemeanor convictions include any assault of a law enforcement officer, any sexual offense, any crime of domestic violence, any stalking offense, any crime against children or any violation of a protection order. "Today we are finally putting common-sense immigration policies first by introducing legislation to authorize the expedited removal of dangerous criminals and prevent activist-judges from keeping known terrorists, criminals and gang members on American soil and endangering our communities," Moody told Fox News Digital. Moody's bill comes amid a court battle over Abrego Garcia — the Salvadorian migrant and alleged MS-13 member who was deported from Maryland to El Salvador in March. Abrego Garcia was suspected of partaking in labor/human trafficking, according to a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations report obtained by Fox News. The report also stated that "official law enforcement investigations" revealed that Abrego Garcia was a member of the notorious gang MS-13, which Trump has designated as a terror organization. A Homeland Security Investigations report also notes that in October 2019, the Prince Georges County Police Gang Unit identified Abrego Garcia as a member of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang. Abrego Garcia was also recently revealed to have a record of being a "violent" repeat wife beater, according to court records filed in a Prince George's County, Maryland, district court by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez. The Trump administration has continued to maintain it was right to deport Abrego Garcia to CECOT, despite many Democrats suggesting he was wrongly deported, even going as far as to say he was kidnapped by the administration.
Bloomberg
15-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Senators Revive Bill to Break Big Tech's Grip on Pentagon Deals
A bipartisan pair of senators is reviving a bill to break the grip that tech giants like Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. 's Google have on the Pentagon's cloud computing and artificial intelligence contracts. The Protecting AI and Cloud Competition in Defense Act is set to be reintroduced on Thursday by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Republican Eric Schmitt of Missouri, according to people familiar with the matter. A version of the bill is also being introduced for the first time in the House, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not public.
