Latest news with #Gorka
Sky News AU
16 hours ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
Trump advisor encourages Australia to further invest in defence to show US it takes threats to national security 'seriously'
A senior advisor to President Donald Trump has issued a warning to Australia over its defence spending, suggesting it needed to improve in order to strengthen its relationship with the United States. Sebastian Gorka, who serves as the deputy assistant to the president and the senior director for counterterrorism in the Trump administration discussed Australia's defence investment during an exclusive interview with Sharri Markson on Sky News on Wednesday. Australia's investment in defence has come under the spotlight in the past week, after it was highlighted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) that the government risks falling behind in its military preparedness amid rising global threats. In the report, former home affairs deputy secretary Mark Ablong concluded "the failure of this year's budget to meet that responsibility will make all Australians less secure". "Without urgent, coordinated and well resourced responses to those challenges, Australia risks a brittle and hollowed defence force, diminished industrial sovereignty, and compromised national security in a volatile Indo Pacific region," he wrote. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese brushed off the report, sticking by Labor's investment in defence, but the US has sent the message it is not satisfied with Australia's commitment. Mr Gorka said his relationship with Australian representatives had been positive so far, describing Australia as one of America's "closest partners in national security". "I think what (President Trump's) said to NATO nations, what he did in the first administration to get those who weren't paying enough into the collective defence alliance that is NATO and how he got them to do so speaks for itself. only been here for, what, four months. And I've had several meetings with our colleagues, our Australian counterterrorism, national security colleagues. It has been a delight," he said. However, he said Australia had to take national security seriously and the manner in which it responds to threats will determine how strong its relationship with the US will be. "I say to you what I say every nation. You are measured by how seriously you take the threats to your citizens, to your sovereignty. And if you wish to be understood as friends, as allies, and partners, that requires certain traits and certain behaviours to be met," Mr Gorka said. "Committing to your own defence so we are stronger together is clearly one of them So the people of Australia, the government they choose will decide the exact percentages of GDP, but I think the President will have an opinion when he meets with his Australian counterpart." Mr Gorka's comments come after US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth last week flagged Australia needed to lift its investment to about 3.5 per cent of GDP to his counterpart Defence Minister Richard Marles during a meeting in Singapore. The Deputy Prime Minister later said Mr Hegseth raised the issue of defence spending after the US had asked its NATO allies to raise their spending. "I wouldn't put a number on it. The need to increase defence spending is something that he definitely raised and you have seen the Americans in the way in which they have engaged with all of their friends and allies asking them to do more and we can completely understand why America would do that," he told ABC's Afternoon Briefing. "What I made clear is that this is a conversation that we are very willing to have and it is one that we are having already... but we want to make sure that we are contributing to the strategic moment that we all face. "We have done a lot already, but we are absolutely up for having this conversation and we want to calibrate our defence spending to meet the strategic moment that we all face."
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Gemma Atkinson ‘struggles' through race – but raises £17,000 for East Lancs charity
Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Marquez took part in the Great Manchester Run on Sunday (May 18), raising thousands for an Edenfield charity. Gemma, a former Hollyoaks actress from Bury, took part in the 10K run with fiancé Gorka. The radio presenter struggled but managed to complete the run. At the time of writing, her efforts have helped raise more than £17,000 for Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary. Gemma, who is ambassador and president of the animal sanctuary, said: 'We are just home. Hand on heart, I cannot thank you all enough. You have made more than [£17,000] for Bleakholt. Last year we raised £10,000 so in my head I wanted to get more than that. Gemma Atkinson with a cat (Image: Bleakholt) 'Gorka loved it – I hated it. It wasn't fun, there was nothing fun about it. I didn't enjoy the run. I enjoyed the atmosphere, the day, the people. 'If you did it and you're not a runner, well done. It is tough and I struggled.' The money will go towards Bleakholt's Project Purrfect, which is a £300,000 renovation and extension of its cattery which will help more neglected and abandoned cats in the region. The extension will allow the sanctuary to house at least another 100 cats while also improving the welfare of the cats they look after. Sanctuary manager Karen Weed said: "We are blown away by the money Gemma and Gorka have raised for our Project Purrfect. "We are so thankful to them for doing the AJ Bell Great Manchester Run for us and for everyone who sponsored them. "This is a massive boost as we begin Project Purrfect this year, which is a £300,000 renovation and extension of our cattery which will help more neglected and abandoned cats in the north-west. "Only this weekend we had five large kittens left in a plastic box on site. Every penny Gemma and Gorka raised will go straight to Project Purrfect."
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Top Trump Adviser Deems Politico ‘Gutter Press' in Live Interview Meltdown
A senior adviser to President Donald Trump called Politico 'a joke,' 'gutter press,' and 'fake news' during an enraged outburst in the middle of a live interview at a conference put on by the outlet. The meltdown at the Politico Security Summit came after Dasha Burns, Politico's chief White House correspondent, fact-checked counterterrorism adviser Sebastian Gorka to his face. Burns had asked Gorka how the Trump administration knows whether the people it's deporting are gang members. 'You mean the tattoos—MS-13 on the knuckles—doesn't help,' Gorka fired back. He was referring to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man accidentally deported by the Trump administration and held against court orders in an El Salvador megaprison. 'The tattoo did not say MS-13,' Burns said, before quickly adding, 'I don't want to get into it.' The question of whether four symbols tattooed on Abrego Garcia's hand represent the gang MS-13 has become a political flashpoint. Critics have accused Trump of photoshopping the actual characters 'MS-13″ onto Abrego Garcia's knuckles alongside the symbols in attempt to mislead the public. The White House maintains that the tattoos are obviously a sign of gang affiliation. Burns' fact-check appeared to set Gorka off. 'Oh, of course you don't,' he raged. 'It's just accidents... See, this is why Politico is a joke. This is why you are gutter press and fake news.' 'You're sitting here, live, defending a member of MS-13,' he continued. 'That's why I regret coming here, because this isn't journalism. This is protecting those who hate America. Shame on you. We are saving lives.' From there, Gorka went on a lengthy rant that saw him accuse Politico of failing to adequately cover the stories of 'children and women' who are the victims of violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. 'We have covered those stories,' Burns pushed back. Gorka interrupted her and continued to rage about Politico until Burns finally managed to change the subject. Despite the outburst, the interview continued for another 10 minutes, with Gorka assuming a tone that was combative—but less outright enraged. The White House and Politico did not immediately return the Daily Beast's requests for comment on the incident. Gorka, 54, is a British-American far-right talk show host. He was tapped as a deputy assistant in the White House during Trump's first term and quickly developed a reputation as an aggressive, hostile, and condescending interview subject. After seven months, he departed the role after he failed to pass security clearance checks. But Gorka was brought back as a deputy assistant and senior director for counterterrorism for Trump's second term. Burns, 33, is a former NBC News reporter who joined Politico in 2025 to report on Trump's White House and help author its flagship newsletter, the Playbook. Later on Thursday, Gorka took to social media to tout the interaction on stage with Burns. 'Sometimes you just have to take the Fight straight to the #FakeNews,' he wrote. 'Is @politico on the side of terrorists?' Trump's administration has often railed against mainstream reporting outlets, including Politico, for critical coverage of the president. In February, the White House seized control of the press pool covering the president. It is also in the midst of a legal battle with the Associated Press after banning the wire service from the press pool for its refusal to adopt Trump's preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘So what?': Gorka dismisses judge rulings on deportations
A top White House counterterrorism official denied that the United States is skirting due process in its treatment of cartel members, and dismissed moves by federal judges to block deportations of suspected drug traffickers. Sebastian Gorka, the National Security Council's director of counterterrorism, insisted at POLITICO's Security Summitthat gang members were subject to special national security laws rather than the normal rights of people accused in the U.S. — including a criminal trial — and that federal judges whose rulings disputed that notion were incorrect. 'Well so what? Could they be wrong? Could a judge possibly be wrong?' Gorka said. 'If you're a terrorist of a [foreign terrorist organization], it's not a traffic ticket. You don't go to county court, you're a member of a federally designated terrorist organization. It's really that simple. If you're a wife beater and a human trafficker, goodbye.' Gorka's comments follow decisions by federal judges that have contradicted President Donald Trump's deportations of suspected gang members not yet convicted of a crime. But he was referring specifically to the high-profile case of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the administration has accused of being a member of the MS-13, which it has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Officials have also accused him of having "involvement" in human trafficking. He has not been charged with a crime. Abrego Garcia entered the country illegally around 2011 and lived in Maryland for more than a decade. He was deported from the U.S. in March and sent to a prison in El Salvador. He currently remains there, although the Supreme Court has upheld a lower court's order to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. due to a legal directive preventing his deportation because of threats to his life. The U.S. designated eight cartels and criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations in February, a strong sanction that allows American authorities to remove suspected members from the country in certain circumstances. 'When an organization is designated by the secretary of State as a foreign terrorist organization, every single stinking member is a terrorist by U.S. law,' Gorka said. 'There is no need for them to be adjudicated as a terrorist.' Since the administration has designated cartels and gangs as terror groups, Trump has not made an end-around due process rights, Gorka said. 'Due process has never been skirted; this is another fake news canard,' he said, criticizing POLITICO's coverage of the case. The groups listed by the Trump administration include Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, MS-13, and Tren de Aragua. Gorka said that as many as 110,000 Americans die from illicit drugs imported by criminal gangs annually, including fentanyl. 'We have tens of thousands of criminals here,' Gorka said, but did not provide specifics on how the Trump administration is identifying suspected gang members. 'We actually treat these people as illegals. We're going to use the full force of the law to identify, neutralize, and remove them.'
Politico
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Politico
‘So what?': Gorka dismisses judge rulings on deportations
A top White House counterterrorism official denied that the United States is skirting due process in its treatment of cartel members, and dismissed moves by federal judges to block deportations of suspected drug traffickers. Sebastian Gorka, the National Security Council's director of counterterrorism, insisted at POLITICO's Security Summit that gang members were subject to special national security laws rather than the normal rights of people accused in the U.S. — including a criminal trial — and that federal judges whose rulings disputed that notion were incorrect. 'Well so what? Could they be wrong? Could a judge possibly be wrong?' Gorka said. 'If you're a terrorist of a [foreign terrorist organization], it's not a traffic ticket. You don't go to county court, you're a member of a federally designated terrorist organization. It's really that simple. If you're a wife beater and a human trafficker, goodbye.' Gorka's comments follow decisions by federal judges that have contradicted President Donald Trump's deportations of suspected gang members not yet convicted of a crime. But he was referring specifically to the high-profile case of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the administration has accused of being a member of the MS-13, which it has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Officials have also accused him of having 'involvement' in human trafficking. He has not been charged with a crime. Abrego Garcia entered the country illegally around 2011 and lived in Maryland for more than a decade. He was deported from the U.S. in March and sent to a prison in El Salvador. He currently remains there, although the Supreme Court has upheld a lower court's order to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. due to a legal directive preventing his deportation because of threats to his life. The U.S. designated eight cartels and criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations in February, a strong sanction that allows American authorities to remove suspected members from the country in certain circumstances. 'When an organization is designated by the secretary of State as a foreign terrorist organization, every single stinking member is a terrorist by U.S. law,' Gorka said. 'There is no need for them to be adjudicated as a terrorist.' Since the administration has designated cartels and gangs as terror groups, Trump has not made an end-around due process rights, Gorka said. 'Due process has never been skirted; this is another fake news canard,' he said, criticizing POLITICO's coverage of the case. The groups listed by the Trump administration include Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, MS-13, and Tren de Aragua. Gorka said that as many as 110,000 Americans die from illicit drugs imported by criminal gangs annually, including fentanyl. 'We have tens of thousands of criminals here,' Gorka said, but did not provide specifics on how the Trump administration is identifying suspected gang members. 'We actually treat these people as illegals. We're going to use the full force of the law to identify, neutralize, and remove them.'
