Latest news with #SpecialCounsel
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Trump picks right-wing lawyer and podcaster who promoted 2020 election lies as watchdog agency head
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's pick to lead a federal watchdog agency is a former right-wing podcast host who has praised criminally charged influencer Andrew Tate as a 'extraordinary human being' and promoted the false claim that the 2020 election was rigged. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Paul Ingrassia would lead the Office of Special Counsel, an agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers that is also responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act, which restricts the partisan political activities of government workers. Trump described Ingrassia in a social media post on Thursday as a 'highly respected attorney, writer and Constitutional Scholar.' Ingrassia was most recently working as the White House liaison for Homeland Security after briefly serving in the liaison position at the Justice Department. Ingrassia called his nomination the 'highest honor.' Ingrassia didn't immediately respond to a message on Friday. 'As Special Counsel, my team and I will make every effort to restore competence and integrity to the Executive Branch — with priority on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal workforce and revitalize the Rule of Law and Fairness in Hatch Act enforcement,' Ingrassia wrote on social media. Ingrassia worked for a law firm whose clients included Andrew and Tristan Tate, the influencer brothers charged in Britain and Romania with rape and human trafficking. Ingrassia has described Andrew Tate, the former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist, as an 'extraordinary human being' and 'the ancient ideal of excellence.' 'It is for this reason that he and his brother have become public enemies number one and two in the eyes of the Matrix, the deep state, and the satanic elite that attempt to systematically program and oppress all men from womb-to-tomb – a form of communism that not even Karl Marx, in his wildest dreams, could have imagined,' Ingrassia wrote in a 2023 social media post. Ingrassia that same year published a Substack post titled 'Free Nick Fuentes,' criticizing then-Twitter's decision to suspend the account of the far-right activist who has used his online platform to spew antisemitic and white supremacist rhetoric. Ingrassia was seen in 2024 at a rally where Fuentes spoke, The Intercept reported. Ingrassia previously told NPR that he did not intend to go the impromptu Fuentes rally, which was near another event, adding: 'I had no knowledge of who organized the event, observed for 5-10 minutes, then left.' The day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Ingrassia wrote on social media: 'This 'war' is yet another psyop to distract Americans from celebrating Columbus Day.' Days later, he wrote: 'I think we could all admit at this stage that Israel/Palestine, much like Ukraine before it, and BLM before that, and covid/vaccine before that, was yet another psyop.' Ingrassia has also promoted the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, publishing a piece in November that argued that Trump's win over Kamala Harris proved 'beyond all doubt' that the 2020 race was 'fraudulent.' The Office of Special Counsel is an independent agency separate from Justice Department special counsels, who are appointed by the attorney general for specific investigations, like Jack Smith. Trump in February fired the previous special counsel, Hampton Dellinger, leading to a legal battle. A federal judge in Washington initially ruled that Dellinger's firing was illegal, but a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit later ruled that the Trump administration could replace Dellinger while the legal battle played out. Dellinger ultimately abandoned his fight to get his job back, acknowledging that he was facing likely long odds before the Supreme Court.
Washington Post
5 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Trump taps right-wing lawyer to head U.S. Office of Special Counsel
President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would nominate Paul Ingrassia, a 30-year-old lawyer and former right-wing podcast host, to lead the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent watchdog agency that oversees federal personnel issues and plays a crucial role in protecting whistleblowers within the government. 'Paul is a highly respected attorney, writer, and Constitutional Scholar, who has done a tremendous job serving as my White House Liaison for Homeland Security,' Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. 'Paul holds degrees from both Cornell Law School and Fordham University, where he majored in Mathematics and Economics, graduating near the top of his class. Congratulations Paul!'
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Trump taps Paul Ingrassia to head US Office of Special Counsel
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday announced his intention to nominate Paul Ingrassia to lead the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. In a post on Truth Social, Trump praised Ingrassia for doing "a tremendous job" in his current role as White House liaison for homeland security. "As Special Counsel, my team and I will make every effort to restore competence and integrity to the Executive Branch — with priority on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal workforce and revitalize the Rule of Law and Fairness in Hatch Act enforcement," Ingrassia said in a post on X. Ingrassia, an attorney, briefly served as the White House liaison for the Department of Justice shortly after Trump returned to office in January. However, according to ABC News reporting in February, he was reassigned to the Department of Homeland Security after pushing for the hire of candidates who exhibit "exceptional loyalty" to president. The push resulted in clashes with the Justice Department's chief of staff, ABC News reported. During Trump's first term, he also worked at the White House National Economic Council, according to his LinkedIn. It is unclear what position he held at the council.
Fox News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Fox News' Peter Doocy reveals history of questioning Biden's mental fitness
Fox News' Peter Doocy has some unique insight on former President Joe Biden as questions continue to persist about whether there was a coverup to hide his declining mental state while serving as commander-in-chief. Doocy, a senior White House correspondent, posted multiple videos to X on Wednesday showing him questioning Biden and the White House about the then-president's cognitive decline. "I have some unique insight on President Biden, having dedicated six years of my life to covering him," he wrote. "If you are wondering why nobody asked about his mental fitness, and why nobody asked if White House staffers were covering up his decline… then you weren't paying attention." In one video, Doocy is seen questioning Biden about Special Counsel Robert Hur's report that concluded that one of the reasons Biden wasn't charged for his handling of classified Obama-era documents found in his former office and at home was because he was a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." "I'm well-meaning and I'm an elderly man and I know what the hell I'm doing. I put this country back on its feet. I don't need his recommendation," Biden replied. Doocy then asked how bad Biden's memory was and would he be able to continue to serve as president. "My memory is so bad, I let you speak," Biden shot back. Much of the media has been criticized for its reluctance to question Biden or the White House about his health concerns. The former president's health is once again in the headlines after CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson's new book, "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," was released on Tuesday. The book alleges that Biden's inner circle concealed his cognitive decline for years and was released just days after news broke that Biden had been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. In one instance, during a news briefing, Doocy questioned then-White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about a campaign event in which Biden was present. "At a fundraiser this week, President Biden told donors about how Charlottesville inspired his campaign, and according to the pool, a few mins later he told the story again nearly word for word. What's up with that?" "What I can tell you is, and I'm going to be careful not to talk about it because this was a campaign event,… the president was making very clear why he decided to run in 2019," Jean-Pierre responded. In another briefing, Jean-Pierre said Biden was making a "light-hearted joke" and "speaking off the cuff" when she was asked by Doocy about Biden's remarks that his "health is fine. It's just his brain." In another video, Jean-Pierre was asked about Biden's gaffe when he appeared to mix up French President Emmanuel Macron with François Mitterrand, the former president of France who died in 1996. "How is President Biden ever going to convince the three-quarters of voters who are worried about his physical and mental health that he's OK even though in Las Vegas he told a story about recently talking to a French president who died in 1996?" "I'm not even going to go down that rabbit hole with you," she replied. Doocy also asked if Biden had been tested for Parkinson's Disease or dementia following his disastrous debate performance against then-candidate Donald Trump. "What we shared with you was comprehensive, but he's had a full physical. We've shown the results of those this past three years," Jean-Pierre said. "We showed it just four months ago, and it is in line with what we have done, similar to President Obama, similar to George W. Bush. We are committed to continue to be transparent. We are committed to continue to show the results of those physicals, and look, it's the president's medical team that makes a decision." In another briefing, Jean-Pierre was questioned about why Biden was treated by White House staffers "like a baby." "No one treated the president of the United States, the commander-in-chief, like a baby," she replied. "That's a ridiculous claim."
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Biden fails to remember when son Beau died and Trump's election year in leaked Hur interview audio
Leaked audio shared by Axios from President Joe Biden's 2023 interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur has re-ignited serious questions about his mental sharpness, especially as he struggled to remember when his own son died and when Donald Trump was elected president. In one moment, Biden tries to recall the death of his son, Beau: "My son. Is either been deployed or is dying. And so... What was happening though?""What's much about dying? May 30, 2015, he died," said Biden. "May 2015. I think it's 2015. I'm not sure the months are, but I think that was it."Biden Struggles With Words, Key Memories In Leaked Audio From Special Counsel Hur Interview Beau Biden passed away from brain cancer on May 30, 2015, at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He was 46. In the audio, Biden also mixes up the year of Trump's 2016 victory: "Trump gets elected in November of 2017. 2016. 2016. So... That's when we left office, January of 2017. But that's when Trump gets sworn in manually." The fumbling recollections are part of a six-hour interview that Hur used to support his conclusion that Biden's memory was "significantly limited." The White House kept the audio under wraps at the time as critical moments in Biden's own life and in recent American history appeared to be completely out of reach for the former Reporter Pushes Back On Biden's Denial Of Mental Decline, Saying White House Insiders Disagree Read On The Fox News App The conversation, part of a two-day interview in October 2023, led Hur to describe Biden as a "well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory." On Fox News' The Ingraham Angle Friday night, host Laura Ingraham put it bluntly: "This is the biggest scandal that I remember in recent political history: that this man was allowed to continue as the commander in chief of the world's greatest superpower." As Ingraham said later in the segment, "We still don't really know who was making the tough calls. It obviously wasn't the man we heard on that tape."Original article source: Biden fails to remember when son Beau died and Trump's election year in leaked Hur interview audio
