Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs taken from prison to hospital late at night – Page Six
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs taken from prison to hospital late at night – Page Six
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs taken from prison to hospital late at night Page SixExclusive | Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs taken to hospital under cover of darkness: sources New York Post Diddy Reportedly Rushed to Hospital While Awaiting Trial Us WeeklyProsecutors Say Sean Combs Distributed Meth, Hallucinogens in New Indictment Yahoo! VoicesProsecutors add two more women to Sean Combs case BBC.com
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Champs Leverkusen beat Hoffenheim when down to 10 men
Champs Leverkusen beat Hoffenheim when down to 10 men
Victor Boniface has scored on his return to action as 10-man Bayer Leverkusen defeated lowly Hoffenheim 3-1 to move within six points of leaders Bayern Munich.
********* forward Boniface, who had missed some three months due to injury and was the subject of recent transfer speculation, opened the scoring in the 15th minute on Sunday.
Jeremie Frimpong doubled the lead four minutes later against injury-hit Hoffenheim.
Patrik Schick came on for Boniface for the second half and fired his 14th goal of the season into the top left corner in the 51st.
Alejandro Grimaldo was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 61st, and Hoffenheim were on the scoreboard two minutes later when Gift Orban poked home in a goalmouth scramble, less than a minute after coming on.
Grimaldo’s exit was also bad news for Leverkusen’s newly signed Emiliano Buendia who had had come on at half-time but then leave again for tactical reasons.
The game became scrappy and tempers flared briefly when Florian Wirtz went down after contact with Hoffenheim’s Tom Bischof but Leverkusen held on to an overall comfortable victory.
Second-placed Leverkusen are battling to keep pace with Bayern, who they host in a fortnight, and are seven points ahead of third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt who were held 1-1 by Wolfsburg in the other Sunday game.
In Frankfurt, substitute Can Uzun headed the equaliser in the 81st minute, after Arthur Theate’s header was earlier superbly saved by Wolfsburg goalkeeper Kamil Grabara, while Hugo Ekitike was denied by the crossbar.
Wolfsburg had taken a 50th-minute lead from an own goal by Tuta, under pressure from Mohamed Amoura and involved in a big misunderstanding with goalkeeper Kevin Trapp.
Frankfurt are without a victory in their last three games, having been held 2-2 at Hoffenheim last week and then lost 2-0 at Roma in the Europa League on Thursday.
The game in Leverkusen had also featured the first announcement via a public address system when referee Robin Braun explained that Leverkusen’s Nathan Tella was deemed offside by video review before being fouled for a potential penalty.
The Public Announcement project is being trialled in nine ******* stadiums from this weekend onwards.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders says he was “not particularly happy” with RFK Jr.’s performance at hearings, citing “deep concerns”
Sen. Bernie Sanders says he was “not particularly happy” with RFK Jr.’s performance at hearings, citing “deep concerns”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, said Sunday that he was “not particularly happy” with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presentation before Senate committees last week, though he would not say how he plans in the panel’s vote to advance Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
“I will vote when I’ll vote. But anybody who watched that hearing understands my deep concerns about Kennedy,” Sanders said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, is the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee and also sits on the Senate Finance Committee, which Kennedy appeared before last week. The Finance Committee announced Sunday that it will vote on whether to advance RFK’s nomination Tuesday.
The Vermont independent outlined where he thinks Kennedy is right, pointing to his comments about the nation being unhealthy, about life expectancy relative to other wealthy countries and issues with the food industry. But he stressed that Kennedy “continues to believe that autism is caused by vaccines,” and was not aligned with him on issues like universal healthcare and targeting the pharmaceutical industry to lower prescription drug prices.
Sanders also argued that “the conspiracy theories” that Kennedy has entertained are “not unlike what we’re hearing all over the Trump administration.”
The comments come after Kennedy was grilled on his vaccine stance, among other things, during the hearings last week, as his advancement out of committee — and confirmation by the Senate more broadly — remains in question.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, said he’s been “struggling” with Kennedy’s nomination due concerns he may undermine faith in vaccines. And without support from Democrats and independents on the committee, Cassidy’s opposition could tank a favorable recommendation for Kennedy. In a floor vote before the full Senate, Republicans can lose just three votes to confirm Kennedy without support across the aisle.
Though Kennedy, 71, dropped out of the presidential race to endorse President Trump in August, he previously sought the Democratic nomination and has close ties to the party as the as the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Robert F. Kennedy.
Sanders, asked whether he would help Republicans to confirm Kennedy, said he will make his decision in the days ahead, noting that although he’s voted for some of Mr. Trump’s nominees, though he’s voted against most.
Kaia Hubbard
Kaia Hubbard is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.
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No-kill shelter ends relations with Southern California city, will no longer take in animals
No-kill shelter ends relations with Southern California city, will no longer take in animals
The Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center announced it stopped taking in animals and serving as the city’s shelter as of Saturday, Feb. 1, due to a lack of funding and other ongoing issues.
In a Facebook post on Jan. 30, SPARC said the issues it had with the city included stalled contract negotiations, unmet promises and a lack of financial backing.
“The City had committed to building a dedicated shelter funded by a bond, but this promise has never materialized, and no funds have been allocated over the past 13 years,” said the shelter’s statement.
SPARC said that the city was contributing less than 8% of the shelter’s operating expenses, and that SPARC had not received an increase in monthly fees since 2018 – thus creating a “financially unsustainable situation.”
On Jan. 31, the city responded to the shelter’s announcement with a statement that addressed SPARC’s mention of funding.
“For over a decade, the City has provided financial support to SPARC, contributing $150,000 annually in taxpayer funds to assist with its operations,” stated the city’s response. “Additionally, we allocate nearly $100,000 per year for animal control services through the Santa Paula Police Department.”
Officials also noted that in 2023, the city provided SPARC with an additional $20,000 through the American Rescue Plan Act Nonprofit Emergency Relief Fund.
Both sides said they met numerous times to discuss negotiations, but that they were not able to successfully come to an agreement.
As a result, SPARC said it will no longer be able to take in owner-surrendered or stray animals.
“If you need to surrender a **** or find a stray, please contact the City of Santa Paula at 805-525-4478 for further assistance,” said the non-profit.
However, SPARC said it will continue to provide low-cost or free spay and neuter services to the public. Although these services will still be provided, the center is asking for the community’s help to find homes for their over 100 animals.
“Please visit our Facebook page and share our adoptable animals to help them find loving families,” said the shelter’s statement.
In the meantime, the city of Santa Paula said effective on Feb. 1, it will take on responsibility for “municipal animal services.”
The city also said it is actively working on a transition plan to ensure that stray, surrendered and abandoned animals continue to receive care.
“We will provide more details on our plans in the coming weeks, including resources for residents needing assistance,” said the city. “In the meantime, residents with animal-related concerns can continue to contact the Santa Paula Police Department’s Animal Control Officer at 805-525-4474.”
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Full transcript of “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Feb. 2, 2025
Full transcript of “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Feb. 2, 2025
On this “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” broadcast, moderated by Margaret Brennan:
Sen. Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia
Rep. Brian Mast, Republican of Florida
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont
Frank Figliuzzi, former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, and CBS News justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane
Hanna Siegel, sister of freed hostage Keith Siegel
Click here to browse full transcripts from 2025 of “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
MARGARET BRENNAN: I’m Margaret Brennan in Washington.
And this week on Face the Nation: President Trump picks a tariff fight with America’s top trade partners, federal workers brace for another tumultuous week, and the fallout continues from Mr. Trump blaming diversity policies for the midair collision of an Army ****** Hawk and a passenger jet.
Washington and the rest of the world are waking up to what feels like a new reality show, as President Trump continues to make good on his campaign promises, despite the confusion and controversy surrounding some of them.
We will talk with the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Virginia’s Mark Warner, Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican Brian Mast.
On the good news front, American Keith Siegel has a happy family reunion following his release from ****** captivity.
It’s all just ahead on Face the Nation.
Good morning, and welcome to Face the Nation.
One of the president’s biggest campaign promises was to enact steep tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. Saturday night, he did just that. And the move has already sparked international backlash and sent chills through the financial world.
We begin with senior White House and political correspondent Ed O’Keefe, who is traveling with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Panama – Ed.
ED O’KEEFE: Margaret, good morning.
These are sweeping tariffs, the present using a 1977 law to suggest there is now an extraordinary threat from fentanyl and ******** immigration and that all three countries are failing to address those challenges.
So, starting Tuesday, there will be 25 percent tariffs on all ******** exports, 25 percent tariffs on most ********* exports, 10 percent tariffs on ********* energy exports and 10 percent tariffs on all goods from China.
This morning, the president acknowledged this could lead to higher prices, writing: “Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe and maybe not,” he wrote on his social media platform, “but we will make America great again and it will all be worth the price that must be paid.”
MARGARET BRENNAN: This has triggered a trade war. Canada’s prime minister announced tariffs on American beer, bourbon, wine, lumber, fruits, clothing, appliances.
So, Ed, what else should we expect is coming that could hurt American consumers?
ED O’KEEFE: Well, we should anticipate there could be a **** for tat here, because the orders that the president signed Saturday night give him the authority to keep raising tariffs on the three countries if they respond in kind. And that could contribute to an uptick in inflation, which we have seen in recent weeks.
Now, the ********* prime minister, Justin Trudeau, spoke directly to Americans last night, warning the tariffs – quote – “will put your jobs at risk,” potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities.
And he said Canada’s planned dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs will raise American grocery and gas prices. And while President Trump accused Mexico of having an alliance with drug cartels, President Claudia Sheinbaum said: “If such alliances exist anywhere, they exist in the U.S. gun shops that sell high-powered weapons to criminal groups.”
And China says it firmly deplores and opposes this move and will take necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests. It is planning to protest these tariffs to the World Trade Organization.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Ed, what’s on Secretary Rubio’s agenda in Panama?
ED O’KEEFE: Yes, well, you know, Rubio, of course, the first Latino secretary of state, so he is taking his first overseas mission here to Central America and the Caribbean to reiterate President Trump’s concern that China now has too much influence over the Panama Canal.
The Panamanians insist they have full control – Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Thanks, Ed.
We go now to Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner. He is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and joins us from Palm Beach, Florida.
Good morning to you, Senator.
SENATOR MARK WARNER (D-Virginia): Good morning, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you have any sense yet what the cost of these tariffs could be for Virginia, which does have a wine industry, for example?
SENATOR MARK WARNER: Yes.
Well, first of all, Margaret, I think we might want to call this the Donald Trump Super Bowl tax with the big game coming next week, if – avocados, tomatoes, beer from Mexico, prices going to go up. The question around cars, I have read already about $3,000 of additional price on cars, up to $10,000 on trucks, because we have actually integrated very well our auto production with Canada and Mexico.
I think as well about the fact that for years we have been encouraging businesses to leave China and nearshore to a place like Mexico. Now that is going to end up costing consumers more. And for industries like ours, like the wine industry, where we are growing rapidly in Virginia, those folks are going to get socked as well.
So this is a – remember, Donald Trump got hired trying to lower – saying he was going to lower grocery prices.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR MARK WARNER: Two weeks in, he’s doing something that’s going to do the absolute opposite.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we will track the impact of this trade war.
Senator, I want to switch topics. You are, as we said, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. We watched that hearing this week for Tulsi Gabbard. She had two particular exchanges with Republican senators, Todd Young and James Lankford, who pressed her to say that Edward Snowden was a traitor.
Lankford said it was a softball, but listen to what happened.
(Begin VT)
SENATOR TED BUDD (R-North Carolina): Did he betray a duty, did he betray the trust of the American people? Which is – according to Merriam-Webster, that’s the definition of a traitor.
FORMER REPRESENTATIVE TULSI GABBARD (D-Hawaii): Edward Snowden broke the law and he released this information in a way that he should not have. He also acknowledged and exposed information that was unconstitutional.
SENATOR JAMES LANKFORD (R-Oklahoma): Was he a traitor at the time when he took America’s secrets, released them in public, and then ran to China and became a Russian citizen?
FORMER REPRESENTATIVE TULSI GABBARD: Senator, I’m focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again.
(End VT)
MARGARET BRENNAN: You have worked closely with these senators. I know they’re Republicans and you’re from a different party, but when you speak to them privately, do you think they can get over that, her refusal to call him a traitor, and actually vote to confirm her or even move her out of committee?
SENATOR MARK WARNER: Listen, Margaret, Edward Snowden released more information, probably did as much damage to our intelligence community as anyone in history.
And the fact that Ms. Gabbard, who actually had legislation to pardon Edward Snowden – she called him a brave whistle-blower – couldn’t bring herself to call him a traitor, I think, is disqualifying just on plain judgment.
What would that – what signal, if she got in, would that send to the I.C. workers or contractors? Is she going to suddenly enforce the law, if she called Snowden a brave whistle-blower? And
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR MARK WARNER: what I’m particularly concerned about, Margaret, is, our sharing of information with our allies, that’s not written into law. That’s based on trust.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR MARK WARNER: Will they really trust to share their intelligence with us if she can’t call out one of the worst traitors in recent American history as such, as a traitor?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think she can even make it out of committee and make it to a full vote on the floor of the Senate?
SENATOR MARK WARNER: I know there are a number – our committee is historically the most bipartisan. We check our partisan hats at the door.
There is enormous MAGA pressure that – as we have seen, put on senators who are willing to stand up. We will know this coming week. But – and it’s not just Snowden. It was America’s most powerful intelligence tool is a law called – or something we call Section 702. She left us totally confused on her views on that.
And as well her lack of judgment, whether it’s going to visit Assad when he was head of Syria, whether it was taking trips paid for by sketchy groups, or echoing Putin’s comments that somehow NATO started the war in Ukraine…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR MARK WARNER: … that is not the judgment of somebody that would run 18 intelligence communities – agencies.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we will watch to see those Republican senators.
I want to ask you as well about what’s happening at the FBI and the Justice Department. President Trump, he campaigned on this promise to restructure the government. Seems like he’s implementing that this week. So far, between the FBI and Justice Department, we have seen at least 20 terminations.
Some are calling this a purge, but is it overstating it if we’re seeing 20 people lose their jobs?
SENATOR MARK WARNER: Well, if you are suddenly taking out the most experienced folks at Justice or at the FBI, how does that make us stronger?
And what he’s saying is, every FBI agent that somehow touched the January 6 investigation – that was a comprehensive investigation. I have been told there were – almost half of all the FBI agents at least had some involvement. Remember, this was a case that was taken up against these rioters all across the country.
If you’re suddenly going to get rid of all of those, that could be thousands.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR MARK WARNER: What does that mean for our cybersecurity? What does it mean for our trafficking and stop against fentanyl and other drugs? What does it mean in terms of serious crime investigations?
This would be devastating.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, that’s – well, our reporting is that the order was for a list to be drawn up of those 1,500 or so people who worked on those cases. We’re going to try to get to the bottom of whether they’re actually going to be fired or not. That’s not clear.
SENATOR MARK WARNER: But, Margaret – Margaret, it – we have seen – but we have seen, you get your name on these lists. It’s like – it’s like Trump’s potentially ******** offer to buy out all the federal employees, where we have no money in the budget for.
But we had a great tragedy this week in D.C. with the air – the ******.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR MARK WARNER: We are already short air traffic controllers. If suddenly 2,000 or 3,000 air traffic controllers were to say, hey, I’m going to take this buyout, our airspace couldn’t operate.
And yet he’s doing this so recklessly and, frankly, again…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is it being offered to them?
SENATOR MARK WARNER: … without legal authority.
Pardon me. Say again?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is that open to – is it being offered to air traffic controllers?
SENATOR MARK WARNER: All federal employees. My understanding, went out to two million federal employees this offer, which, again, OPM does not have that authority to start with. That was who it came from.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR MARK WARNER: But it is – I can tell you, with lots of federal employees, we got chaos on steroids going on.
And we had heard from Trump’s supporters, the OMB director, for example, that he wanted to traumatize federal workers. Well, that is happening. And these workers are the folks that inspect our fruit, our milk, our eggs.
What happens if they all quit?
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you – and I know many of those people live in the state of Virginia. They are your constituents.
I want to ask you about your former partner on the Intelligence Committee Marco Rubio, now secretary of state. He told a podcaster this week the president made the decision to cancel security protection for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served during the first term, because he looked through a threat versus cost risk assessment.
I know you’re briefed on intelligence. Did the threat from Iran to assassinate former U.S. officials go away?
SENATOR MARK WARNER: No.
I have seen no intelligence that would indicate that that threat has been diminished.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But Secretary Rubio endorsed this.
SENATOR MARK WARNER: I think this is payback. And it’s not just Pompeo.
Listen, I have not seen any intelligence. And, here, I agree with my partner Tom Cotton, the now-chair of the Intel Committee. We have seen nothing to indicate less threat, and also taking out, for example – down the security detail for former General Chief of Staff Mark Milley, this is all about retribution.
And he’s putting people’s lives in danger, which is just unbelievable. And I wish more people would stand up.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator, thank you for your time this morning.
SENATOR MARK WARNER: Thank you, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Face the Nation will be back in a minute. Stay with us.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we’re joined now by Florida Republican Congressman Brian Mast, who is the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which has oversight over the State Department and its programs.
He joins us from Fort Pierce, Florida.
Good morning to you.
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST (R-Florida): Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to start first on the tariffs that were announced overnight by President Trump. You know there’s a free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. President Trump negotiated it during his first term.
The tariffs may violate that deal. If he’s invoking tariffs on a national security basis, can you explain the threat posed by Canada?
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Yes, and he was – President Trump, that is to say, was very specific in his executive order, outlined that it’s specifically related to fentanyl. It’s specifically related to human trafficking.
And there’s a trust, but verify situation that has to go on here.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Through Canada?
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Through Canada as well, absolutely, fentanyl through Canada, human trafficking through Canada, also with China in that mix for fentanyl as well.
That was specifically outlined in it. And until that comes to an end, this is what’s going to be on the table. And bear in mind as well that USMCA reauthorization is coming up in the coming-up months and years.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you don’t believe that this violates the trade agreement, the treaty?
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: The violation has been to the United States of America. It’s been to our sovereignty. It’s been to our people. We’ve been taken for granted.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right, but Congress votes on these things. So…
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: And I will make sure certainly, as the Foreign Affairs chairman, that we give every single authority as we go through State Department reauthorization, to make sure that this moves forward, as well as purging of people throughout the State Department, other agencies, where we’re freezing aid.
These are all very important and necessary steps to make sure that we secure America. And we’re going to support that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I’m sorry. Can I follow up on what you just said there?
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Please do.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You want to authorize purging of State Department personnel? What does that mean exactly?
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Well, if you want to take a look at the State Department, where DEI has been a priority over, let’s say, diplomacy on many accounts, I can give you hundreds of examples of where they were authorizing…
MARGARET BRENNAN: What proof do you have of that?
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Sure, let’s list them off, half-a-million dollars to expand atheism in Nepal, $50,000 to do, let’s see, a transgender opera in Colombia, $47,000 to do an LGBTQ trans comic book in Peru, $20,000 a pop to do drag shows in Ecuador.
Shall I continue with more examples of where DEI was a priority?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Oh, it certainly seems like there could be a review of things. Foreign aid, as you know, is less than 1 percent of the entire federal budget. So we’re talking small amounts of money by comparison. But when…
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: We’re still talking about tens and tens of billions of dollars.
And if you want to go to somebody else, on the other side of the aisle, Samantha Power, she had a worthy goal, although it was a stupid goal. She said she was hoping to get the amount of foreign aid, U.S. aid dollars that go to actual aid up to 30 cents on the dollar from 10 cents on the dollar. That’s a major problem that we have this agency that that’s all that goes abroad…
MARGARET BRENNAN: I think you’re talking about…
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: … when it should be the American worker’s dollar.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I think now you’re talking about the USAID, the aid agency…
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Yes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: … which is a – separate from the State Department currently and has about $40 billion worth…
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Which is likely going to be rolled more closely under Secretary Rubio.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Tell – yes, tell me about that, because that’s where I was going.
Has the Trump administration informed you of plans to dismantle or significantly shrink this agency?
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: This is something that I’m working on very specifically, in conjunction with Secretary Rubio, to make sure that there’s the appropriate command-and-control of these agencies, where, again, to make that same point, right now, maybe 10 to 30 cents…
MARGARET BRENNAN: They already report to the secretary of state.
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: But 10 to 30 cents on the dollar is what actually goes to aid. So there’s not the right amount of command-and- control that’s going on with the way that it’s set up currently.
And let’s make another point on this as well.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congress – Congress authorizes and earmarks funding.
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Most of these dollars – most of these dollars that go out of USAID, 70-plus percent don’t come from U.S. growers, U.S. farmers, U.S. ranchers, or go through us ports. And that’s another big problem for America.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So – I’m sorry. If Congress already authorizes and earmarks the funding, just to be very clear, you’re not endorsing getting rid of USAID as a separate department, which already reports to the secretary of state, are you?
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: I would be absolutely for, if that’s the path we go down, removing USAID as a separate department and having it fall under one of the other parts of United States Department of State, because of its failure.
I just went over the numbers twice with you in the amount of aid that actually makes it into the hands. I mean, you could you could almost say – this is a little bit hyperbole – but there’s probably more dollars that go towards state dinners around the D.C. Beltway than what actually goes into rice and beans abroad.
That’s the state of what’s going on with USAID. And Samantha Power said no less herself.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I think every single administration authorizes reviews, could increase efficiencies. There are plenty of people who propose bringing it more under the authority of the State Department. Madeleine Albright tried to do that. That’s not a new MAGA idea.
I think the question here, though, is about how you do it. Do you still believe that in the law signed in the 1960s that Congress has to sign off on any changes to USAID? Or do you think President Trump can just make all of this happen through executive order?
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: So, all of those examples that you just gave of those historical figures, the difference is now the job is going to get done.
It’s going to be 99.99 percent of cents on the dollar actually go towards what it’s intended, instead of people around the Beltway.
MARGARET BRENNAN: OK, so you’re talking about – you’re talking about…
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: That’s what’s going to happen. That’s the change.
MARGARET BRENNAN: … efficiencies in aids versus restructuring.
So let me ask you about that. Well, like I said…
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Well, that requires restructuring, 100 percent. You can’t create that efficiency just by wishing it into existence.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Sure.
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: You have to restructure where the failures are and put the right things in place.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Of course.
But what we’re hearing from many of these aid organizations and officials is that, can you restructure after you finish the review and not freeze funding now, immediately? I spoke to former USAID global health head Atul Gawande yesterday. He told me this isn’t a pause in foreign aid. It is a demolition of USAID.
As he put it, you can’t pause a flight in midair. That’s what’s happening.
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Let’s…
MARGARET BRENNAN: This immediate freeze in funding is stopping agencies in the field from being able to do the work they do.
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Let’s say why that is so important. And let’s talk about the real facts on the ground.
The Trump administration comes in or representatives like myself that do oversight. The agencies will literally not tell us what they are writing grants for, literally, or they will lie about it, or they will tell the new political appointees under the Trump administration, I’m just not going to tell you that. Those are real things that have happened.
So the way that you make them come and answer for where they are actually sending dollars is to say, we’re freezing that. We’re putting it on hold. You need to come to us and explain what it is you’re doing, why you’re doing it and where it’s actually saving life. And guess what?
MARGARET BRENNAN: But…
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: When they don’t come explain something, that also begs the question, why were they doing it in the first place?
MARGARET BRENNAN: But the way these things work is, the contractors have to front the cash, then go to the U.S. government for reimbursement.
So when you put in an immediate freeze, that means drugs don’t get delivered. That means they don’t get distributed. That means bomb disposal units don’t get to go out there in places like Cambodia and remove ordnance or provide help to people who receive it.
That’s the pushback from aid organizations, who are saying they’re going to have to carry out layoffs in the thousands in the coming week. Does that concern you at all?
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: They will have an opportunity. It doesn’t concern me because of the grift that has been going on to the American taxpayer, the American worker.
That’s what needs to be answered for. And so you look at this. Let’s use PEPFAR as an example. You were talking about drugs going to individuals. There was a release of that hold that was put – that was authorized. But it shouldn’t be the case that the American people fund **** and AIDS drugs for 20 million people across Africa, where many of these countries are working very directly with our adversaries like China.
That is an example of them taking us for granted. We need to be asking the question, should they be weaning off of this? Should we be paying it for these very expensive **** and AIDS drugs?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Should the American worker be footing the bill for that? Those are real questions.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes, real questions, but, in the meantime, people need their drugs while you ask those questions. So that’s where the disagreement is with the aid organizations.
But let me ask you about air traffic controllers and what’s happening here at home.
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: Not with all the leaders of other countries, though. I believe I saw the leader of Kenya as one step up and say, hey, this is an example where we need to step up for ourselves and show how we can take care of ourselves. And I believe that was the president there.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you, as I was saying, about another committee you sit on, Transportation Committee.
The FAA hiring policy for air traffic controllers, including under the first Trump administration, offered equal opportunity to those with targeted disabilities, including, as the president read, hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, severe intellectual debility – disability. Excuse me.
The president singled this out, this policy, as a contributor possibly to the ******. Do you agree with the diversity policy, or do you agree with the president? I know you lost two limbs serving this country in Afghanistan. Do you hear those words and take offense to them or…
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: No, no offense. Let’s unpack it.
Number one, I will use myself as an example, right? There are things that I am suited to do, no doubt. But flying an aircraft, to stick with the subject at hand, would not be one of them. I could fly a personal – a personal aircraft.
MARGARET BRENNAN: This is air traffic controllers.
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: But to put me in charge of traffic or 150 lives, that would not be the right case for me personally, given my physical disabilities and foot pedals on an aircraft.
To go to the diversity side of it and the actual ******, yes, there were very real errors that took place both in the air traffic control tower and with the helicopter pilots, it seems. But, more systemically, is there a big hiring problem across all federal agencies, to include the FAA, where they made the priority diversity and inclusion…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN MAST: … instead of excellence and performance? Yes, that’s the case. They made the priority appearance and lifestyle and not the big deal.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman, thank you for your time today.
We will be right back with a lot more Face the Nation. Stay with us.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to independent Senator Bernie Sanders from Burlington, Vermont.
Good morning to you, Senator.
Very quickly, do you have a sense of the impact of these tariffs on your state?
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vermont): Well, it’s going to be very severe.
But this is not the only thing that worries me. Margaret, we are living in an unprecedented moment in American history. We’re looking at a rapid growth of oligarchy. We’re looking at a rapid growth of authoritarianism. And I fear that we’re looking at a rapid growth of kleptocracy as well.
And I’m going to do everything I can to work with my supporters all over this country to stand up and fight back to make sure we have an economy that works for everybody…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: … not just Elon Musk, and that we maintain American democracy. Difficult times.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator – Senator, I’m going to have to ask you more about what you mean by that on the other side of this commercial break, because I have to take it.
Stay with us. We hope all of you will as well.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to FACE THE NATION.
We return to our conversation with Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders.
Senator, thank you for sticking with us through the break.
I want to ask you about some of the rather fiery hearings you were a part of this past week, in particular with the potential Health and Human Services secretary to be, RFK Jr. You told CBS in December you think he’s right about the food industry and obesity and what he says about high prices for prescription drugs. But during the hearing, you had some sharp exchanges. Are you, at this point, decided on your vote? Will you cross over and help Republicans confirm him?
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Well, I have – Margaret, I have up to now voted for some Trump appointee. A few. I voted against most. And I’ll make my decisions next week.
Where Kennedy is right is, we are an unhealthy society. A point I’ve been making, many others have been making for a long time.
One of the things that concerns me very much, and Kennedy mentioned it, is our life expectancy. How long our people live is five years less than other wealthy countries.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: And if you’re working class in this countries, you live six or seven years lower than if you are rich. It is an issue we have to deal with. And I think the kind of addictive and poisonous food that the food industry is providing our kids is one of the factors, not many.
But when you have Kennedy come forward and saying he cannot, he believes, continues to believe, that autism is caused by vaccines, despite the fact that there have been a dozen studies over the years which disprove that, when he has other conspiracy theories, when he cannot acknowledge that if you’re going to make America healthy, we’ve got to guarantee health care to all people.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: He was not clear about the need to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and lower prescription drug costs. So, I was not particularly happy with his presentation.
MARGARET BRENNAN: On the autism point, there is no established cause of autism spectrum disorder, but one in 36 children have been identified with it, according to the CDC.
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Right.
MARGARET BRENNAN: There is concern in this space, including from your Republican colleague, Cassidy. He is a medical doctor. He said he’s struggling with the nomination because he fears Kennedy may undermine faith in vaccines.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VC)
SENATOR BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): I recognize, man, if you come out unequivocally, vaccines are safe, it does not cause autism, that would have an incredible impact. That’s your power. So, what’s it going to be? Will it be using the credibility to support lots of articles, or will it be using credibility to undermine?
(END VC)
MARGARET BRENNAN: The senator seemed to be saying, if you want my vote, answer the question. You said you haven’t decided on RFK and how you’re going to vote. Is this a red line for you?
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Well, look, I – I don’t want – I – I – I – Margaret, what I’m saying is, I just don’t go around making these announcements. I will vote when I’ll vote. But anybody who watched that hearing understands my deep concerns about Kennedy.
But I’ve got to tell you, the conspiracy theories that he is throwing out is not unlike what we’re hearing all over the Trump administration. And, to me, what is most important in terms of what’s been happening since Trump has been president is not just him having the three wealthiest people in the country stand behind him.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: And, by the way, anybody, any working person in this country should understand what that means. It means that you’re going to have a government working for the very rich, not for the working class of this country. But the movement toward authoritarianism –
MARGARET BRENNAN: But –
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Yes, go ahead. I’m sorry.
MARGARET BRENNAN: No, no, no, I want to ask you about that, but just to push you on this point, because it’s not just a matter of a vote, like, what you are saying is that someone at the top of the – the health department who is rejecting science or rejecting data that says there’s no linkage here, no proven linkage here, by not being clear and saying that’s a red line, doesn’t that lend itself to misinterpretation? Why wouldn’t you say that’s disqualifying for him?
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Because I have not said – I have not said to anybody how I will vote. It doesn’t matter. I will vote when I’ll vote. But let me just tell you –
MARGARET BRENNAN: OK, because Republicans were hoping you would help them.
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: The idea that –
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s why I’m asking you.
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Well, I know, they hope for a lot of things. It just may not happen. But I think –
MARGARET BRENNAN: Ah –
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: All right, go ahead.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Go ahead. I’m sorry.
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Look, the bottom line is, we have a health care crisis in America. We’re the only major country not to guarantee health care to all people. We pay by far the highest prices in the world, for prescription drugs. Our life expectancy is shorter than other countries. Yes, we’ve got to deal with it in a very direct and forceful manner. You’ve got to take on the insurance companies. You’ve got to move to Medicare for all. You’ve got to lower the cost of prescription drugs. We have to understand why our life expectancy is lower.
And, by the way, it’s not just health care.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: It’s the fact that so many of our working people are stressed out by inadequate incomes that that’s having an impact on not only their life spans but their well-being. Those are issues we’ve got to address.
MARGARET BRENNAN: During the campaign, then candidate Trump and Vance, they – they were very much championing working class people, as you have through the years. They said they support unions, they don’t want to tax tips, they want child care tax credits, they’re pro worker. Do you see any opportunities to work with them on specific policies and, if so, where?
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Well, if they were telling the truth and they will go forward in trying to stand up for the working class, of course I will work with them. But I’ve got to tell you, just last week what Trump did is essentially neuter the National Labor Relations Board. This is something that Bezos wanted. It’s something that Elon Musk wanted. What that means, if you are a worker right now, and there are millions of workers who want to join a union because they know unions will give you better wages and better working conditions, better benefits. What they have done is neutered that so right now union busting corporations, like Amazon and others, can do what they do against workers with impunity. That is not standing with workers. We need to raise the starvation minimum wage, which is now $7.25 an hour, to a living wage. I’ve not heard one word from the Trump administration about that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, they want to leave that up to states and corporations as well to – to make a decision, not –
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Yes, but that’s – that ain’t going to do it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Vice President Vance told us last Sunday, despite those big tech CEOs giving money to the inauguration for Donald Trump, he still believing they have too much power in big tech and that he says, you know, they’re still very much on notice in regard to his past warnings they could be broken up.
Is that a place you are also concerned and could work with him on?
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Well, I think Lina Khan, the former head of the FTC, did a great job. And if Vance wants to work with us on that, he’s right. You have right now not only more income and wealth inequality in this country than ever before, more concentration of ownership in the tech industry and in other industries. Do I think we should start breaking up some of these large corporations? Absolutely I do. And we’ll be happy to work with them if they’re serious about that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Bernie Sanders, independent from Vermont, thank you for joining us.
We’ll be right back.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: The FBI is without a permanent director at this point, although Mr. Trump’s nominee, Kash Patel, could get a vote as early as this week.
We turn now to Frank Figliuzzi, he is a former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, who joins us from Houston. And here, CBS News justice correspondent Scott Macfarlane.
And you cover justice and FBI. A lot happening in both of the departments. And I want to bottom line first with Frank, if I could, digging into your experience here. If you can help us understand the reporting from Andres Triay and Pat Milton that the executive assistant directors, those in national security, cyber, criminal division, are being forced to resign, retire or face termination. What does it mean to have those positions forced out?
FRANK FIGLIUZZI (Retired FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence and Author of “The FBI War: Inside the Bureau’s Code of Excellence”): Yes, when you combine that essential layer of leadership, executive assistant directors control multiple operational divisions. So, at least a half a dozen of those reportedly are gone. And then you get down to the level of at least two or three special agents in charge in the field, including Miami, Washington field office. You are starting to lose too much experience. And if this plays out next week as reportedly it might, with regard to dismissing hundreds or thousands of special agents in the field who have touched January 6th cases or Trump related cases, this makes America less safe. This is not reduction, this is not efficiency, it makes America less safe when you lose that much expertise this quickly.
MARGARET BRENNAN: OK. Just to follow up there, Scott Macfarlane, what Frank was referring to is a list that was requested. CBS’ Rob Legare actually obtained the memo from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, who was previously the personal attorney for Donald Trump.
SCOTT MACFARLANE: Yes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: He ordered the acting director of the FBI to compile everyone who was an employee who was assigned to the 1,500 January 6th cases. There were also eight executives pushed out.
Is this a legal and lawful order? Are FBI officials going to actually fire the people on these lists?
SCOTT MACFARLANE: The list is required, and must be produced by 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday according to our latest reporting. Whether it is produced is a different question. But the bottom line here is that such a list, Margaret, would include FBI employees from every FBI field office across the country. This is not just a Washington investigation. The January 6th cases went nationwide.
What’s more, a lot of the names that are going to be on this list, according to my reporting, are already public domain. They’re in the court filings, they’re in the court docket, they’re already out there. So, it’s going to be difficult to mask anybody’s name or anybody’s identity.
Whether this is legally permissible is a different question. Whether these firings are legally permissible is a different question. We know the acting FBI director, in a memo sent to his employees, he emphasized that there are robust protections. His word is robust protections for FBI agents against employment actions.
Feels to me like there’s an galvanization of FBI employees, if they want to fight this, to try to make some effort to push back. Whether they do so is a different question.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s why was asking, is it actually going to be firings or is this actually just going to be, you can’t do what – what the president’s team is pressing to do.
Brian Fitzpatrick, you know him from covering The Hill, he’s a Republican from Pennsylvania, used to be an FBI agent, gave CBS a statement I want to read here. He says he wants to emphasize to the administration, “line level street agents have little to no control over the office to which they’re sent, the cases to which they’re assigned, and leads which they are asked to cover. Much like the military, they go where they are told and perform the investigative duties that their chain of command orders them to do.”
Frank, I know you know this, but that is a Republican explaining the basic function of how law enforcement works. It sounds like there’s going to be pushback on the potential of these firings.
FRANK FIGLIUZZI: Yes, indeed. It’s been reported by multiple media outlets that the acting director pushed back very hard and very loudly against the DOJ request. And reportedly he may have been threatened with termination himself. Interest only enough, both the acting director and acting assistant director would be on that list. They both worked January 6 related cases or Trump related cases. So, we’ve got a potential standoff that’s here.
But yes, line agents did nothing outside of the law or attorney general guidelines. They simply worked criminal cases, in many cases gained convictions and guilty pleas. And if they were literally all to be pushed out the door, we would be talking about thousands of FBI agents. There’s only 14,000 agents in the field and we’d be talking close to 6,000 of them who worked such cases.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And, Scott, we were just talking about Kash Patel, the boss isn’t in place yet. He was asked under oath before Congress if he knew of some of these actions that were underway literally as he was testifying. He said he didn’t know anything about the firings. Is this going to – is it credible and is it going to be a problem for his confirmation?
SCOTT MACFARLANE: This might have been simultaneous, Margaret. These questions, including from Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey were happening as a lot of this communication was going back and forth over terminations, resignations, retirements.
Kash Patel has been on a trajectory towards confirmation as the next FBI director almost from the jump. The one vote I’ve been watching closely, Thom Tillis, the North Carolina Republican, up for re-election in 2026, he introduced Kash Patel and validated him.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SCOTT MACFARLANE: It seems nobody has jumped up this weekend to say, I’m now opposed.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Scott Macfarlane, it’s going to be another interesting week in Washington. Thank you for bottom lining it.
We’ll be right back.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: The temporary cease-fire between Israel and ****** is still holding and three more hostages were released yesterday, including American Israeli dual national Keith Siegel. His niece, Hanna Siegel, is here with us this morning.
Good morning.
You’ve been waiting for this for over 400 days. How is your uncle doing?
HANNA SIEGEL (Niece of Freed U.S. Israeli Hostage Keith Siegel): I’m – first, thank you for having me. I’ve been dreaming about being here today.
He’s – he’s doing OK. He’s – he’s lost some weight. He’s pale. But he’s strong. And he’s doing OK. Somehow. We’re incredibly grateful.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I mean we’ve seen the video and the images of him being reunited with family members. Will your father, his brother, see him soon?
HANNA SIEGEL: Yes. Yes. He’s on his way. We’ve been staggering the family visits so as not to overwhelm him. But, yes, we are all – we are all going to see him. And actually his youngest daughter, Shir, got engaged a month before October 7th. And so the wedding planning began and then abruptly came to a stop as both of her parents, Keith and my aunt Aviva (Ph), who was released in the November 2023 deal, were taken hostage. So, what we’ve talked about is that, you know, someday we’re all going to get together and throw an absolutely epic wedding. And that’s what we’re looking forward to now.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you’ve been an advocate for the family here in Washington, both with the Biden and the Trump administrations. In your view, do you think this deal, this hostage release, would have happened without American pressure?
HANNA SIEGEL: No, definitely not. And I do want to say, so the Biden team, Jake Sullivan, Brett McGurk, President Biden, Secretary Blinken, Bill Burns, they were so tireless in their commit to get this deal done. But the really amazing thing is that the minute that President Trump was elected, his team started working hand in glove with the Biden administration. We felt no break in the commitment to get Keith home. Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler, along with President Trump, started working hand in hand with the Biden team. And I don’t know what other issue you can say that about with these administrations.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
HANNA SIEGEL: The Trump team really did push it over the finish line. And we’re incredibly grateful, incredibly grateful to – to all of them for the work that they did.
I also just want to say the Qatari negotiators, mediators, who were part of the November 2023 deal were also instrumental. And then what I’ve learned in this completely bizarre experience is that there is a whole industry of people, NGOs, who work on hostage negotiations on behalf of families. We worked with Global Reach, Mickey Bergman, Stacia George and Eric Lebson, they’re a non-profit. We would not have gotten Keith home without them.
So, it was just a tremendous group effort across the board, across political lines, and that’s heartening.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You told us back in April on this program that you were worried, quote, “it’s not arguably in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s political interest to close a deal” And you were worried he was going to sink it. He has announced phase two of the hostage framework begins getting negotiated tomorrow, Monday. Do you think he’s incentivized now to actually see this deal through?
HANNA SIEGEL: I think that the Trump team has done a really tremendous job of putting serious pressure on him and that that is making a difference. I think that he – you know, we’re ecstatic that Keith is home, but it took almost 500 days. And that is in part because of Netanyahu.
This deal was available for months. The Biden team was working on it. And – and he wouldn’t come to the table often. I mean there are – this is such a complicated issue, but I am worried – I think this is a really fragile deal, as we all understand. And so, you know, I have a lot of faith in the Trump team and in all of the people working on this to put serious pressure on him to see it through.
I think what we’ve seen is that diplomacy and political agreement is the only way to get all of the hostages home. And, you know, we’re – we’re one of the lucky ones, but there remain five American citizens and dozens of other hostages who still need to come home.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And the remains of some of those Americans wouldn’t come through until phase three.
HANNA SIEGEL: Yes. Yes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And phase two, we know, ***** Alexander, a uniformed IDF soldier, who is a U.S. citizen –
HANNA SIEGEL: Yes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The deal would have to continue to work to actually bring him home. Sagui Chen, we’re waiting on him to be released as well.
HANNA SIEGEL: Exactly. Exactly.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, I – I emphasize that because when we talk about deals and diplomacy, these are lives at risk. And if the deal doesn’t continue to stay in place, they may be at risk.
HANNA SIEGEL: And – and these – and these are Americans.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
HANNA SIEGEL: These are Americans who need to come home.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Hanna, thank you.
HANNA SIEGEL: Thank you so much, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And congratulations.
HANNA SIEGEL: Thank you.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s great news.
HANNA SIEGEL: Thank you for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll be right back.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Before we go, “CBS Evening News” co-anchor and presidential historian John Dickerson has some thoughts on the tone of those Oval Office moments following tragedy.
(BEGIN VT)
JOHN DICKERSON (voice over): After the deadliest air ****** in 20 years in America, President Trump responded, as presidents have before.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for our nation.
In moments like this, the differences between Americans fade to nothing compared to the bonds of affection and loyalty that unite us all.
JOHN DICKERSON (voice over): Differences fade because we are all reminded of the basic truth, that we are all human and life is fragile.
In such rare moments, a president can transform private grief into public meaning. These presidential moments live in our collective memory.
Ronald Reagan addressing the nation after the Challenger disaster.
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.
JOHN DICKERSON (voice over): George W. Bush at Ground Zero.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The nation sends its love and compassion.
JOHN DICKERSON (voice over): Barack Obama singing at the Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (singing): Amazing grace.
JOHN DICKERSON (voice over): In speech, by bull *****, in song, and now, by executive memorandum. That’s how Donald Trump used the Oval Office where Reagan had eulogized the Challenger astronauts. Though the president had earlier declared an hour of anguish for our nation, for him, the hour only lasted a few minutes. He spent much of the remainder of this unique moment distributing blame.
TRUMP: I put safety first. Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first. And they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen.
JOHN DICKERSON (voice over): The starkest claim, the one behind the Oval Office signing ceremony, that diversity programs had caused the ****** that killed 67.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a presidential memorandum titled Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety. In light of the damage done to aviation safety by the Biden administration’s DEI and woke policies.
JOHN DICKERSON (voice over): When asked what proof he had that diversity was the culprit, and the president said he had no proof but didn’t need any.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I’m trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this ******.
TRUMP: Because I have common sense, OK. And, unfortunately, a lot of people don’t.
JOHN DICKERSON (voice over): The president’s certainty about the ******, despite the lack of proof, suggested for many Americans that the common sense he was referring to was that diversity means things automatically go wrong when people of color are in charge. In one press conference he traveled the entire length of the emotional register, from asserting that the differences between Americans fade to returning the focus to those differences.
(END VT)
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s it for us today. Thank you for watching. Until next week, for FACE THE NATION, I’m Margaret Brennan.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
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I Was Willing To Do Anything To Save My Baby. A Nurse Made A Suggestion That Almost Cost Me My Life.
I Was Willing To Do Anything To Save My Baby. A Nurse Made A Suggestion That Almost Cost Me My Life.
The author with her 5-week-old daughter in the ICU in 2012. Courtesy of Kelsey Francis
When my daughter was only 5 weeks old, she stopped breathing in my arms. After a panicked drive to the emergency room, she tested positive for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common respiratory virus that peaks in the winter months and which most people recover from after experiencing only mild cold-like symptoms.
Almost everyone has been infected by age 2. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 58,000 to 80,000 children under the age of 5 are hospitalized each year due to complications caused by an RSV infection. Infants under 6 months of age are at the greatest risk for complications.
We learned my daughter’s breathing problem was RSV-induced apnea. The virus was causing bronchiolitis; the small airways in her lungs were inflamed and her immature brain was “forgetting” to breathe when breathing became difficult. She needed to stay in an isolated pediatric intensive care unit, hooked up to oxygen and closely monitored, until her body worked through the virus.
For eight days, I kept watch from a cot next to her crib. She received respiratory therapy twice a day and her apnea set off flashing red alarms around the clock. Twice I was told she might need to be put on a ventilator. With every alarm, I feared she was on the edge of death.
During those eight days, breastfeeding her became increasingly difficult. The wires and tubes wrapped around her tiny body paired with her shallow breathing made it almost impossible. The hospital sent lactation consultants to show me how to use a double breast pump. They said that if she wasn’t nursing enough, my milk would dry up. The doctors said she should start on formula, and I should pump every two hours. At that point, I didn’t care what I had to do or what the doctors had to do. I just wanted my baby to survive.
Once home, I was convinced I’d never sleep again for fear of more episodes of apnea. We purchased a specialized baby monitor with a pad of highly sensitive sensors slipped under her mattress that would set off an alarm if she stopped breathing.
For a week, the alarm went off at least two or three times a night. I drank mug after mug of lactation teas made of fenugreek, milk thistle and fennel. My daughter’s hunger increased, so after every nursing session, I offered her formula. My nipples were cracked and bleeding.
At my postpartum checkup, I told a nurse about our harrowing experience with RSV and my dwindling milk supply. Big tears fell on my paper gown as I explained how I felt like an absolute failure. She did not reassure me.
“Your breast milk has lifesaving antibodies. If you don’t produce enough now, your brain will stop signaling your body to make milk. You need to stay on top of this,” she said.
That was all I needed to hear. I wiped my face and nodded.
Yes, I will do anything for my baby to get better. Absolutely anything.
The nurse explained that there were medications I could take — medications that were not Food and Drug Administration approved for producing breast milk, but that could be taken “off label” because an unusual side effect was lactation. They were given to treat nausea and vomiting caused by certain drugs prescribed for Parkinson’s disease. She said the reason they weren’t FDA approved was because of a controversy around a small group of elderly people who were given the medication intravenously for Parkinson’s disease and then suffered cardiac arrest. She also said the formula companies didn’t want mothers to know about this medication: “You know how corporations are.”
I didn’t ask questions. I wasn’t old, I didn’t have Parkinson’s disease, and I wasn’t at risk for a heart attack.
The nurse handed me a prescription for domperidone and told me I couldn’t go to a chain pharmacy to have it filled — I needed a compounding pharmacy where a pharmacist would have access to the raw ingredients.
On that day in the exam room, if someone had drawn a map that directed me through a dark and craggy forest and told me to visit a 100-year-old witch who lived in a dilapidated cottage at the end of a 5-mile dirt road who could dip me in a magical potion that would allow rivers of milk to flow from my breasts, I would have done it. I would have walked hundreds of miles blindfolded. I would have slayed a dragon and collected its blood in a vial made from a unicorn *****. If my breast milk was going to save my baby’s life, I would have done whatever it took.
On my way out the door, she said, “The doctors don’t really understand how domperidone works, so if you have any questions, just call me.”
Finally, I had hope. I was to take 30-milligram capsules three times a day for two weeks, then call the nurse to check in. Every day I ingested 90 mg of domperidone and waited for the rivers of milk to flow. Instead, I was only met with trickles when the breast pump whirred to life. And when I nursed, my baby wailed in hunger because my body was “failing” to nourish her.
After a week on the drug, I began experiencing dizzy spells. They left me drenched in panicked sweat, my heart racing. Sometimes I lost my balance, bumping into counters and walls. I blamed it on sleep deprivation. My daughter’s apnea was less frequent, but her feedings were increasing. She was insatiable. And when I wasn’t pumping, I was trying to nurse. I was so focused on keeping my baby alive — my nervous system on high alert — that I ignored everything that was going on in my body.
After two weeks, I called the nurse. I told her I hadn’t noticed an increase in milk production.
“Are you sure you’re taking it three times a day?” she asked.
There was an accusatory tone in her voice. Was I being overly sensitive? Struggling to come down from the high-alert adrenaline rush of witnessing my baby struggle to breathe dozens of times?
“Just make sure you stay on it. You can’t stop taking it too quickly,” she warned.
I assumed she meant my milk could dry up. I didn’t ask her to elaborate. I didn’t ask questions and I didn’t do Google research. I was too busy keeping my baby alive.
For another eight weeks, I swallowed the capsules. And when the prescription ran out, I didn’t call the nurse or the compounding pharmacy. My daughter was now 4 months old. I had been supplementing with formula for over two months and her pediatrician was happy with her weight gain. More and more I fed her formula and less and less she got breast milk. I was ashamed and I felt like a failure, but my baby was alive and thriving. The magic capsules hadn’t worked, but the formula had.
Two days after the prescription ran out, I noticed I couldn’t push together the snaps on my daughter’s onesies after I changed her diaper. And over the course of a week, my hands grew increasingly weaker. I felt uncoordinated and I struggled to open a can of soup. It was as if I were wearing thick mittens on my hands all the time. I looked like a toddler when brushing my teeth or tying shoes.
I told myself it was all related to the physical changes that take place after nine months of pregnancy, childbirth and the exhaustion of life with a newborn. I developed insomnia. My baby was now sleeping better, but I was not. I’d lie in bed, restless and wide awake because the muscles in my arms and legs would twitch and spasm whenever I was resting. My mind raced in a way I had never experienced before. The whole left side of my body felt weak. I thought I might have had a stroke. Dark thoughts about our plaster ceiling falling, crushing both me and my baby, invaded my thoughts. I believed I was dying. I knew I was dying.
My husband convinced me to see a doctor. He drove to the emergency room where my left foot dragged across the linoleum of the exam room.
“I think this is neurological,” said the doctor, his voice serious. I was admitted overnight for testing and observation.
Over two weeks, I was examined by neurologists and had MRI scans. Doctors hooked electrodes and wires to my thighs and calves for nerve conduction studies, which made my muscles jump and tighten. They collected vials of blood to rule out mysterious viruses and infections. The left side of my body had muscle atrophy. For some reason, my nervous system was misfiring.
Doctors said they were ruling out demyelinating conditions like ALS or multiple sclerosis. Maybe it was Lyme disease. Possibly a tumor on the spinal cord.
All the tests were inconclusive. Multiple neurologists weighed in. One suggested I was suffering from postpartum depression; another said I probably had a conversion disorder caused by trauma and stress.
After doctors determined I wasn’t dying of a neurological disease, one finally asked me if I had recently stopped taking any medication. He was the first to suggest that my symptoms looked a lot like symptoms of withdrawal. It was only then that I mentioned I had been taking a “supplement” to help produce more breast milk but had stopped it a few weeks earlier because it hadn’t worked.
“This drug is blacklisted. And you were taking three times the recommended amount. How in the hell did you get it?” the doctor asked.
He determined that I had been not only experiencing symptoms of domperidone overdose, but once I abruptly stopped taking it, I was experiencing symptoms of withdrawal.
The pressure to breastfeed at all costs nearly cost me my life. Thankfully there was no formula shortage in 2012, so I was able to feed my baby. But I felt guilty about how much formula I was having to give her and shame because my body was “failing” to produce milk.
In December of 2023, the FDA released a warning about abruptly stopping the drug. There were no such warnings when it was given to me in 2012.
When you normally fill a prescription, it comes with pages and pages of fine-print literature explaining possible side effects. But because domperidone is not FDA approved for the production of breast milk, my prescription came with no paperwork. I was not instructed to taper my dosage, nor was I told to never stop cold turkey.
There are dozens of online forums dedicated to the discussion of domperidone. They are filled with success stories and horror stories and questions about dosing and side effects. It does work for some mothers, but for those whom it doesn’t work, they are often told, “take more.” If a regular over-the-counter allergy or pain medicine doesn’t work for you or causes adverse side effects, do you simply take more of it?
Without FDA approval on the drug for lactation, there isn’t extensive FDA research about side effects and possible complications for lactating mothers. In 2023, Health Canada launched a yearlong investigation into domperidone and its side effects for use when breastfeeding. But in the U.S, information has been scant. Instead, women have to wing it and guess at dosing. And they aren’t always given proper information about how to taper off the drug.
I physically recovered, but it required two months of physical and occupational therapy to fully regain my coordination and strength. The mental and emotional toll took years to work through.
I had been afraid my baby would die from RSV.
I felt shame over my inability to breastfeed.
I felt guilty over the need to feed her formula.
And now I was angry at having been pressured to take a drug in order to relieve the fear, shame and guilt. What I needed to hear when breastfeeding wasn’t going well after my daughter’s illness was, “You’ve been through hell. Feed her formula. It’s OK. You’re a good mom.”
My daughter is 12 years old now. She’s healthy and thriving. I’ve stayed quiet about this story because I was afraid of what people might think. But breaking the cycle of guilt and shame women feel about their bodies, about their pregnancies, and about their parenting choices is absolutely necessary. I’m on the other side of that craggy forest now and I refuse to wear the blindfold.
Kelsey Francis lives, teaches and writes in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. Her essays have appeared in Adirondack Life Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post and elsewhere. You can read more of her work at kelseyfranciswrites.com.
Do you have a compelling personal story you’d like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we’re looking for here and send us a pitch at *****@*****.tld.
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Fever add 6-time All-Star DeWanna Bonner in free agency: Reports – The Athletic – The Athletic
Fever add 6-time All-Star DeWanna Bonner in free agency: Reports – The Athletic – The Athletic
Fever add 6-time All-Star DeWanna Bonner in free agency: Reports – The Athletic The AthleticSources: Bonner joins Fever on one-year deal ESPNDoyel: 2025 WNBA Finals are in October. After the Fever’s offseason, clear your calendar. IndyStarVeteran All-Star DeWanna Bonner signs with Indiana Fever in surprise free agency move Yahoo SportsWNBA free agency: DeWanna Bonner reportedly signs with Fever in latest key addition for Caitlin Clark’s team CBS Sports
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Ontario to remove U.S. alcohol from shelves after Trump’s tariffs announcement
Ontario to remove U.S. alcohol from shelves after Trump’s tariffs announcement
Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during a campaign stop at Walker Construction in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, January 31, 2025.
Carlos Osorio | Reuters
Ontario will pull all American alcohol from its government-run liquor shelves beginning Tuesday in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on ********* imports.
Outlets of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario will also take U.S. products out of its catalog so other retailers can’t order or restock those items, according to a Sunday statement by Premier Doug Ford.
“Every year, LCBO sells nearly $1 billion worth of American wine, beer, spirits and seltzers. Not anymore,” Ford said. “There’s never been a better time to choose an amazing Ontario-made or *********-made product.”
Ford’s announcement came just hours after ********* Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slapped retaliatory tariffs of 25% against $155 billion of U.S. goods.
The LCBO is one of the largest wholesalers of alcohol, selling more than 1.1 billion liters of alcohol products in Ontario in 2023. According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Canada primarily imports hard liquor from America with an estimated $320 million in sales. The U.S.’s second main export destination for liquor as of October 2024 is Canada, with a $25.9 million trade value, according to the OEC.
In a statement provided to CNBC, the LCBO said it will be stopping all sales of U.S. alcohol products online and in stores “indefinitely,” adding that it is the “importer of record” for all American alcohol into Ontario. LCBO currently lists more than 3,600 products from 35 U.S. states, the statement added.
The move follows other similar ********* premiers’ announcements of retaliation to the tariffs, including Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston directing the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation to remove all American alcohol from their shelves on Tuesday and British Columbia Premier David Eby directing the BC Liquor Distribution Branch to “immediately stop buying American liquor from “red states” and remove the top-selling “red-state” brands from the shelves.”
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Editorial: Spread of hate crime sign of broader societal decay and major issue for Anthony Albanese
Editorial: Spread of hate crime sign of broader societal decay and major issue for Anthony Albanese
This weekend’s spate of attacks — including Sunday’s graffiti in Dalkeith — should prove to the Prime Minister that anti-Semitism is a national issue which demands a definitive statement.
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Transcript: Sen. Bernie Sanders on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Feb. 2, 2025
Transcript: Sen. Bernie Sanders on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Feb. 2, 2025
The following is the transcript of an interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Feb. 2, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Independent Senator Bernie Sanders from Burlington, Vermont. Good morning to you, Senator. Very quickly, do you have a sense of the impact of these tariffs on your state?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Well, it’s going to be very severe, but this is not the only thing that worries me. Margaret, we are living in an unprecedented moment in American history. We’re looking at a rapid growth of oligarchy. We’re looking at a rapid growth of authoritarianism. And I fear that we’re looking at a rapid growth of kleptocracy as well. And I’m going to do everything I can to work with my supporters all over this country to stand up and fight back to make sure we have an economy that works for everybody, not just Elon Musk, and that we maintain American democracy. Difficult times.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator- Senator, I’m going to have to ask you more about what you mean by that on the other side of this commercial break, because I have to take it. Stay with us. We hope all of you will as well.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to “Face the Nation.” We return to our conversation with Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders. Senator, thank you for sticking with us through the break. I want to ask you about some of the rather fiery hearings you were a part of this past week, in particular with the potential Health and Human Services Secretary to-be RFK Jr. You told CBS in December you think he’s right about the food industry and obesity and what he says about high prices for prescription drugs. But during the hearing, you had some sharp exchanges. Are you, at this point, decided on your vote? Will you cross over and help Republicans confirm him?
SEN. SANDERS: No, I have- Margaret, I have up to now, voted for some Trump appointees. A few. I voted against most, and I’ll make my decisions next week. Where Kennedy is right is, we are an unhealthy society- a point I’ve been making, many others have been making for a long time. One of the things that concerns me very much, and Kennedy mentioned it, is our life expectancy. How long our people live is five years less–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Yep–
SEN. SANDERS: –than other wealthy countries. And if you’re working class in this country, you live six or seven years lower than if you are rich. It is an issue we have to deal with. And I think the kind of addictive and poisonous food that the food industry is providing our kids is one of the factors, not many. But when you have Kennedy come forward in saying he cannot- he believes- continues to believe that autism is caused by vaccines despite the fact that there have been a dozen studies over the years which disprove that. When he has other conspiracy theories- when he cannot acknowledge that if you’re going to make America healthy, you’ve got to guarantee health care to all people. He was not clear about the need to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and lower prescription drug costs. So I was not particularly happy with his presentation.
MARGARET BRENNAN: On the autism point, there is no established cause of autism spectrum disorder, but one in 36 children have been identified with it. According to the CDC, there is concern in this space, including from your Republican colleague, Cassidy. He is a medical doctor. He said he’s struggling with the nomination because he fears Kennedy may undermine faith in vaccines. Take a listen.
[SEN. BILL CASSIDY SOT]
SEN. CASSIDY: I recognize, man, if you come out unequivocally, vaccines are safe, it does not cause autism. That would have an incredible impact. That’s your power. So what’s it going to be? Will it be using the credibility to support lots of articles, or will it be using credibility to undermine
[END SOT]
MARGARET BRENNAN: The Senator seemed to be saying, If you want my vote, answer the question you said you haven’t decided on RFK and how you’re going to vote. Is this a red line for you?
SEN. SANDERS: Well, look I don’t want to- I- Margaret, what I’m saying is I just don’t go around making these announcements. I will vote when I’ll vote. But anybody who watched that hearing understands my deep concerns about Kennedy, but I got to tell you, the conspiracy theories that he is throwing out is not unlike what we’re hearing all over the Trump administration. And to me, what is most important in terms of what’s been happening since Trump has been president, it’s not just him having the three wealthiest people in the country stand behind them. By the way, anybody, any working person in this country, should understand what that means. It means that you can have a government working for the very rich, not for the working class of this country, but the movement toward authoritarianism. Yeah, go ahead. I’m sorry.
MARGARET BRENNAN: No- No, I want to ask you about that, but just to push you on this point, because it’s not just a matter of a vote, like what you are saying is that someone at the top of the health department who is rejecting science or rejecting data that says there’s no linkage here, no proven linkage here, by not being clear and saying that’s a red line, doesn’t that lend itself to misinterpretation? Why won’t you say that’s disqualifying for him?
SEN. SANDERS: Because I have not said- I have not said to anybody how I will vote. It doesn’t matter. I will vote when I vote, but let me just tell you–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Okay, because Republicans were hoping you would help them. That’s why I’m asking you.
SEN. SANDERS: Well, I know they hope for a lot of things that just may not happen. But I think- go ahead.
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Go ahead. I’m sorry.
SEN. SANDERS: Look, the bottom line is, we have a health care crisis in America. We’re the only major country not to guarantee health care to all people. We pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Our life expectancy is shorter than other countries. Yes, we’ve got to deal with it in a very direct and forceful manner. You got to take on the insurance companies. Got to move to Medicare for All, got to lower the cost of prescription drugs. We have to understand why our life expectancy is low. And by the way, it’s not just health care. It’s the fact that so many of our working people are stressed out by inadequate incomes that that’s having an impact on not only their lifespans, but their well being. Those are issues we’ve got to address.
MARGARET BRENNAN: During the campaign then candidate Trump and Vance, they were very much championing working class people, as you have through the years. They said they support unions. They don’t want to tax tips. They want child care tax credits. They’re pro-worker. Do you see any opportunities to work with them on specific policies? And if so, where?
SEN. SANDERS: Well, if they were telling the truth and they will go forward in trying to stand up for the working class, of course I will work with them. But I got to tell you, just last week, what Trump did is essentially neuter the National Labor Relations Board. This is something that Bezos wanted. It’s something that Elon Musk wanted. What that means if you are a worker right now- and there are millions of workers who want to join a union, because they know unions will give you better wages and better working conditions, better benefits, what they have done is neuter that. So right now, union busting corporations, like Amazon and others, can do what they do against workers with impunity. That is not standing with workers. We need to raise the starvation minimum wage, which is now seven and a quarter an hour, to a living wage. I’ve not heard one word from the Trump administration about that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, they want to leave that up to states and corporations as well to make a decision–
SEN. SANDERS: –That- that ain’t going to do it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Vice President Vance told us last Sunday, despite those big tech CEOs giving money to the inauguration for Donald Trump, he still believes they have too much power in big tech and that he says they’re still very much on notice. In regard to his past warnings they could be broken up. Is that a place you are also concerned and could work with him on?
SEN. SANDERS: Well, I think Lina Khan, the former head of the FTC, did a great job, and if Vance wants to work with us on that. He’s right. You have right now, not only more income and wealth inequality in this country than ever before, more concentration of ownership in the tech industry and in other industries. Do I think we should start breaking up some of these large corporations? Absolutely, I do, and we’d be happy to work with them if they’re serious about that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent from Vermont, thank you for joining us. We’ll be right back.
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The blogger who helped spark Nvidia’s $600 billion stock collapse and a panic in Silicon Valley
The blogger who helped spark Nvidia’s $600 billion stock collapse and a panic in Silicon Valley
Last Friday afternoon, Jeffrey Emanuel sat down in his Brooklyn apartment and started writing a blog post. For hours, he pounded away on his keyboard while his wife kept their young children occupied and brought him food. Emanuel worked late into the night, and by early Saturday morning he had written nearly 12,000 words.
Emanuel’s manifesto made the case for shorting the hottest company in the stock market, Nvidia Corp. NVDA, due to a number of shifting tides in the artificial-intelligence world, including the emergence of a China-based company called DeepSeek. He published his thesis on his personal blog and then shared it with the Value Investors Club website and across Reddit, X and other platforms. When he checked his blog’s analytics later on Saturday morning, Emanuel saw that 35 people were reading the post. Not bad traffic for a personal blog built into the website of his YouTube transcription-service side project, he thought.
But then the post started to go viral.
By Saturday night, Emanuel could see that 1,500 people across the world were reading his blog post at a given moment. Well-known venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya shared Emanuel’s post on Nvidia’s short case with his 1.8 million X followers. Successful early stage investor Naval Ravikant shared the post with his 2.6 million followers. Jared Friedman, a partner at venture-capital firm Y Combinator, referred to it in a post that was reposted by the official Y Combinator account. Morgan Brown, a vice president of product and growth at Dropbox, pointed to it in a thread that was viewed over 13 million times. Emanuel’s own X post got nearly half a million views. He also quickly gained about 13,000 followers on the platform, going from about 2,000 to more than 15,000 followers.
In an interview with MarketWatch, Emanuel said that at one point the traffic crashed his website, so people started sharing an archive link, which his website-analytics tool couldn’t track.
But one thing it did pick up was that by the end of the night, the city with the most concurrent readers was San Jose, Calif. — near where Nvidia’s corporate headquarters is located.
Emanuel’s argument shook Silicon Valley not because he claimed that the big U.S. technology companies were misleading or deceitful. His main point was simply that they were nowhere near as smart and efficient as Wall Street was touting them as. The big tech companies had built and trained their artificial-intelligence breakthroughs using tremendous amounts of data and advanced computing resources that required them to pay for Nvidia’s data-center hardware, which is sold at very high gross margins. Emanuel pointed out that a China-based company, DeepSeek, had recently launched its own top-notch AI product using fewer expensive chips. In other words, DeepSeek had achieved what the big AI companies had, but with far less money. What countless Wall Street firms and investment analysts had seemingly missed was being pointed out by some guy in his apartment.
Then on Monday things got real. Nvidia’s stock plummeted about 12.5% at market open and continued falling from there. By the end of the day, the slide had wiped out nearly $600 billion from Nvidia’s market capitalization — the largest single-day market-cap drop to date for any company.
Matt Levine, the prominent Bloomberg News financial columnist, noted the online chatter that claimed Emanuel’s post “was an important catalyst” for the stock-market selloff and said it was a “candidate for the most impactful short research report ever.”
Emanuel spent the rest of the week booked solid as hedge funds paid him $1,000 per hour to speak on the phone and give his take on Nvidia and AI.
“I’m so exhausted, I’m losing my voice practically,” said Emanuel. “It’s been the most surreal experience of my life.”
As Emanuel noted in his blog post, “The Short Case for Nvidia Stock,” he has professional experience working in financial markets. A native of New Rochelle, N.Y., Emanuel studied math at Reed College in Portland, Ore., before heading to Wall Street, where he worked at several investment funds, including as an analyst at Millennium Management and Balyasny Asset Management, two of the biggest multimanager hedge funds.
But Emanuel, 42, also told MarketWatch that he’s been obsessed with neural networks since 1998 and was an early adopter of both crypto and AI. In 2021, Emanuel ditched Wall Street and started Pastel Networks, a blockchain company that provides decentralized storage, AI solutions and other services for Web3 developers. But he continued to carefully follow developments in Silicon Valley and the stock market. This experience in both the investing and the tech worlds led him to conclude that Nvidia is overvalued.
Last Friday he was chatting with a friend who works at a hedge fund about why he thought Nvidia’s days of outperformance were numbered. This was a few days after DeepSeek released its R1 model and nobody on Wall Street seemed to notice.
“Every single bank has a super-bullish buy rating on Nvidia. It’s like the blind leading the blind — they have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about,” Emanuel told MarketWatch. “All of their arguments have become totally divorced from reality.”
MarketWatch checked this claim and found that 61 out of 67 analysts rated Nvidia as a buy as of the morning of Jan. 31. Six analysts, including one from Deutsche Bank, gave the stock a hold rating. None gave it a sell rating.
“They try to defend their arguments by saying, ‘Well, we talk to industry experts.’ But that’s like asking the barber if you need a haircut,” Emanuel said.
Emanuel’s argument ran counter to the bullish Wall Street sentiment that has surrounded Nvidia during its epic run. Nvidia has helped drive the entire U.S. stock market over the past year. In 2024, it became the largest U.S. company by market cap and one of the most actively traded stocks by retail investors, and its 171.2% gain helped lift the S&P 500 SPX by 23.3% last year.
Throughout this time, Nvidia investors were pricing in that it would be one of the — if not the single — main beneficiary of the AI craze. The market saw big tech companies like Microsoft MSFT, Meta META and Google parent Alphabet GOOGL GOOG spending hundreds of billions of dollars to gobble up Nvidia’s hardware to build their AI data centers, and it expected that money to keep flowing as long as Nvidia’s GPUs were better than the competition’s.
The gist of Emanuel’s argument is as follows:
Some of the most influential tech companies have determined that deep learning and AI are the biggest technological advances since the advent of the internet. In order to integrate that technology into their businesses, those companies have to build and train their AI, which takes a lot of data and computing resources. Nvidia sells the key hardware these companies need, and the margins on its most sophisticated chips are enormous.
But a few things are changing that are proving this might not be sustainable, Emanuel says.
For one, AI companies have been using scaling laws that essentially say the more data that is used to train an AI model, the better it gets. But Emanuel wrote that the industry may be running low on quality data to train that AI — that is, a potential “data wall” is looming that could slow down AI scaling and reduce some of that need for training resources.
Emanuel also posed the question of what happens to the training hardware after the AI is trained. GPUs are constantly getting exponentially better, so after a few years, companies might not want to use old hardware anymore. This puts them on a cycle where they’re always spending more to get the best hardware. But eventually, those companies are going to want to see a return on their hefty investment.
Some of these companies, like Alphabet, have also been investing in building out their own semiconductor chips. For a while, Nvidia’s hardware has been the best for training AI, but that might not be the case forever as more companies, such as Cerebras, build better hardware. And other GPU makers like Advanced Micro Devices AMD are updating their drivers software to be more competitive with Nvidia.
On top of that, some new AI models are proving to be much more resource-efficient. This is where all the drama with DeepSeek comes in. DeepSeek launched its own AI that’s on par with the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but the real kicker was that it said it trained its AI in less time using fewer chips.
Read more: Does DeepSeek spell doomsday for Nvidia and other AI stocks? Here’s what to know.
Add all these things together — unsustainable spending and data-center building, less training data to work with, better competing hardware and more efficient AI — and you get a future where it’s harder to imagine Nvidia’s customers spending as much as they currently are on Nvidia hardware.
“By the time I finished writing the article, I said, ‘I’m convinced,’” Emanuel told MarketWatch. “It was when I realized that every one of their big hyperscaler customers was literally making their own competitive silicon, all made by [Taiwan Semiconductor] TSM, and that was already coming out and was imminently going to hit the market. I was thinking, ‘Do people realize this?’ Because I don’t think they do.”
If training and integrating AI becomes significantly cheaper, why would these big tech companies keep spending obscenely large sums of money?
For Emanuel, this called into question why Nvidia was trading at such a high price-to-earnings ratio.
“If you know that a company will only earn supersized returns for a couple years, you don’t apply a multiple. You certainly don’t put a 30-times multiple,” Emanuel told MarketWatch.
For its part, Nvidia called DeepSeek “an excellent AI advancement and a perfect example of Test Time Scaling” but added that the process of using a trained model to make predictions on new data, or inference, “requires significant numbers of Nvidia GPUs and high-performance networking.”
Emanuel’s call on Nvidia turned out to be prescient. But DeepSeek isn’t exactly new. The startup is open-source and has been publishing technical papers out in the open for the past few months. It announced DeepSeek-V3 at the end of December and then announced DeepSeek-R1 on Jan. 20. The $5.6 million training-cost statistic that many investors cited for sparking the DeepSeek market panic was actually revealed in the V3 technical paper published on Dec. 26.
So knowledge about DeepSeek had already been floating around for a few weeks before the market selloff. Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg gave DeepSeek a shout-out on the Joe Rogan podcast on Jan. 10, and Scale AI chief executive Alexandr Wang talked about DeepSeek and competitive ******** AI companies on Jan. 23. Nvidia ended that week higher.
So what was the catalyst that caused Nvidia to ****** on Monday? Emanuel has another theory that could help explain it.
He pointed to the fact that so many people in San Jose were reading his blog post. He theorized that many of them were Nvidia employees with thousands — or even millions — of dollars worth of Nvidia stock tied up in employee stock options. With that much money in a single asset, Emanuel speculated that many were already debating whether to hold the stock or sell it to lock in profits. He believes his blog post helped convince some of them to sell.
“A lot of the sell pressure you saw on Monday morning wasn’t necessarily what you might think. I believe a fair amount of that was from shares that had never been active because they had been sitting in workplace.schwab.com accounts — [restricted stock units] that employees got in some cases back in 2003 for nothing,” Emanuel told MarketWatch. “That makes a big difference because everything’s on the margin, and shares that have never moved.”
It may be hard to prove for certain that Emanuel’s post influenced Nvidia employees to sell, but the fact that it went viral on X among the Silicon Valley tech community, and that so many readers were based in San Jose, makes his case plausible.
Emanuel also told MarketWatch that he had been flooded with meeting requests from people at different hedge funds who read his post and wanted to talk to him about AI. That showed that people on Wall Street were paying attention to his blog post and may have placed trades on Monday based on the information he presented.
Those Wall Street firms were also happy to pay top dollar to book Emanuel as a consultant, showing that they took his ideas seriously. Emanuel had done some contract work as an investment analyst on the side in the past, but he raised his hourly rate to $500 after the blog post went viral. When his calendar started filling up, he doubled it to $1,000.
Although Emanuel has been collecting contracting fees because of his bearish call on Nvidia, he said he never actually held a short position on the stock.
“I’m just writing out of intellectual curiosity, not to make money directly,” he told MarketWatch. “I didn’t come in with an agenda and try to prove a conclusion. I’m the most bullish on AI.”
And while the points Emanuel laid out in his blog post might be bearish for Nvidia, he still thinks they paint a positive future for AI.
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SEC’s Republican-led commission tightens oversight of probes, sources say
SEC’s Republican-led commission tightens oversight of probes, sources say
The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
Lawyers at the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) have been told they need to seek permission from the politically appointed leadership before formally launching probes, two sources briefed on the matter said, in a marked change in procedure that could slow down investigations.
The change, which has not been previously reported, was made under new leadership at the SEC since President Donald Trump took office, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the move has not been made public.
Typically five commissioners, including the chair, oversee the independent agency. Currently, the Commission has three members — two Republicans and one Democrat. Commissioners are appointed by the president.
In recent days, some enforcement staff have been told that they will need to seek the Commission’s approval for all formal orders of investigation, which are required to issue subpoenas for testimony or documents, the sources said.
Previously, such authority had been delegated to lower-level staff. The Commission had the right of refusal — something that it didn’t always exercise.
Reuters could not determine whether the Commission had voted to formally revoke the delegation of that authority, or who ordered the change.
An SEC spokesperson declined to comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Proponents of such a change argue that it will reduce harm to individuals subject to investigations, while others say it takes away staff autonomy.
Since Trump became President, Republican Mark Uyeda is leading the agency, alongside Republican Hester Peirce and Democrat Caroline Crenshaw.
Prior chair Gary Gensler and fellow Democrat Jaime Lizárraga left the commission last month. Uyeda is holding the position of acting chair until former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, who was tapped by Trump to be SEC chairman, is confirmed. Atkins is expected to make a sharp turn away from how the Biden administration policed capital markets.
SEC enforcement staff can still informally investigate without such approval, including by sending out requests for information.
In recent history, the SEC has delegated authority to formally launch investigations to enforcement directors or other senior staff. Under the last administration, supervising attorneys below the enforcement director were able to issue such orders while during Trump’s previous administration, the SEC required approval by its two enforcement directors to formally launch probes.
The move is among the first changes in enforcement at the SEC under the new leadership, which is expected to be friendlier to industry.
While speaking on a panel at an industry conference on Tuesday, Steven Peikin, who was SEC co-director of enforcement under Republican Jay Clayton, speculated such a change could happen under the new administration.
“I think it’s a huge waste of commission resources to be focused on formal order authority,” Peikin said.
To be sure, the change does not necessarily mean fewer investigations will be launched, but it means the Commissioners are taking more control over enforcement earlier in the process.
The President signed an order on his first day vowing to end “weaponization” of the federal government, including at the SEC. The implications of the order for the SEC remain unclear.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders says he was “not particularly happy” with RFK Jr.’s performance at hearings
Sen. Bernie Sanders says he was “not particularly happy” with RFK Jr.’s performance at hearings
Sen. Bernie Sanders says he was “not particularly happy” with RFK Jr.’s performance at hearings – CBS News
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Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats but has praised some of Robert F. Kennedy’s remarks on the food industry, tells “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that he is “not particularly happy” with Kennedy’s performance at his confirmation hearing last week. “Anybody who watched that hearing understands my deep concerns about Kennedy,” Sanders said.
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Jim talks with Florida House Speaker Danny Perez – CBS News
Jim talks with Florida House Speaker Danny Perez – CBS News
Jim talks with Florida House Speaker Danny Perez CBS NewsDeSantis, Florida GOP tensions spill out into open The HillGovernor DeSantis again blasts Florida Legislature over ******** immigration, vows to veto ‘TRUMP Act’ FOX 13 Tampa
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Trump administration’s potential FBI firings make “America less safe,” ex-FBI official says
Trump administration’s potential FBI firings make “America less safe,” ex-FBI official says
Trump administration’s potential FBI firings make “America less safe,” ex-FBI official says – CBS News
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As sources say senior FBI officials have been asked to resign or retire from top positions and others who investigated the Jan. 6 riot are undergoing review, former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi says they make “America less safe when you lose that much expertise that quickly.”
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John Hassell: Labor is open to buying back State’s rail freight network but only if ‘economically viable’
John Hassell: Labor is open to buying back State’s rail freight network but only if ‘economically viable’
The WA Labor Government has recently announced its willingness to buy back the State’s rail freight network from Arc Infrastructure, the *********-owned operator that controls it under a 49-year lease.
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Face the Nation: Sanders, Figliuzzi, Siegel
Face the Nation: Sanders, Figliuzzi, Siegel
Face the Nation: Sanders, Figliuzzi, Siegel – CBS News
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Missed the second half of the show? The latest on… the Trump administration’s potential FBI firings and RFK Jr.’s confirmation hearing.
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Gen Z grad says being unemployed is ‘harder than a 9-5’ because ‘most workers would have a breakdown’ dealing with the admin—he’s among the NEET men frozen out of the workforce
Gen Z grad says being unemployed is ‘harder than a 9-5’ because ‘most workers would have a breakdown’ dealing with the admin—he’s among the NEET men frozen out of the workforce
College-educated Gen Z men are stuck in the class of NEETs—not in employment, education, or training. Many are watching their careers derail before they’ve even started.
“It’s a full-time job trying to claim benefits, with none of the positives,” a Gen Z grad has complained in a series of TikTok videos. “Been working harder than a 9-5 employee lately,” the male user blasts in another—and the brutal wake-up call has struck a generational nerve.
The 27-year-old Joshy B (as he goes by on TikTok) has been unemployed and job hunting since graduating with a master’s in business in October.
In his popular videos, the Gen Zer from Edinburgh explains that he had hoped two degrees would secure him a place in the corporate world so he could finally escape life on a council estate (public housing).
But he’s been shocked that since tossing his graduation cap in the air, he’s instead been forced to live off employment benefits—and that that in itself can feel like a full-time job.
“The job hunt is still impossible,” he says in one video, adding that he’s competing against “over 100 applicants” for low-wage entry-level jobs and getting few interviews. “I could have been working in a warehouse and got a promotion or two, in the time it took to do that masters. Probably would have given me more of an advantage.”
Joshy explains that the government pays him £400 a month ($497) but that he has to keep track of all his job-hunting activity for the keep. “So although I do want a job, you’re spending the whole time getting ready for these weekly meetings,” he adds.
More young men are becoming NEETs than women—not in employment, education, or training
Joshy is far from alone. Gen Z graduates are discovering that their qualifications no longer guarantee a direct path to graduate schemes, high-profile jobs, or even the foot in the door they once did.
Just 10 years ago, 94% of students had either landed work or went into further education in the one year after graduating according to data from the U.K. Department for Education. In 2024, just 59% of grads had full-time jobs 15 months after graduating.
They make up the growing class of NEETs—that is, “not in employment, education or training”—with college educated men particularly hard hit. Separate data suggests that while the share of female Gen Z grads participating in the workforce has steadily increased, the participation rate for their male counterparts has nose-dived since 2023.
In the six months after graduating, another Gen Zer, Max Onken applied for 20 jobs a day and has mostly heard nothing back. He’s been hunting for two years now.
“I have now lowered the amount of applications I do because I find that so many of the adverts out there are completely bust,” Onken told The Independent. “My degree was supposed to get me a job.”
Gen Z law graduate, James Harrison, similarly spent 15 months applying for jobs—and even got rejected for a barista role at Caffè Nero—before landing his current paralegal gig.
Meanwhile, in the States, Hunter Howell, a 22 year old and grad with a degree in business administration submitted north of 1,700 job applications in his 10 months of job hunting—he only landed one full-time offer.
Likewise, on Joshy’s TikTok videos, amid the stream of hate from users calling him a “lazy scrounger”, there are the sympathies of men in similar positions.
“50 applications, 4 interviews and one year later…. Nothing,” one young male user wrote. Another man echoed: “Going through the same thing right now.”
Why aren’t male Gen Z grads finding work?
The classes of 2023 and 2024 are confronting a tougher job market than those who graduated during the Great Resignation when hiring rates and wages hit a record high.
It’s a trend that Lewis Maleh, CEO of the global recruitment agency Bentley Lewis, has witnessed too. While young college-educated women are making do by widening their job search, Maleh has seen their male counterparts try to wait it out.
“Many seem to be holding out for that “dream job” that ticks all the boxes, instead of seeing the value in starting somewhere and working their way up,” he tells Fortune, while adding that “traditionally male” jobs in tech and finance have been especially impacted by the economy.
“I also think there’s still this outdated idea of what kind of work is “acceptable” for men,” he adds. “They don’t want to take jobs they see as beneath them, even if it’s just to get by. And when you add in how complicated it is to get benefits, it’s no wonder many are feeling discouraged.”
His advice to young men? You don’t need to have it all figured out right away.
“It’s tough entering the workforce with that kind of pressure,” Maleh says. “I always tell them there’s so much value in trying different things in your 20s. Your early career is about exploring and learning… You have all those social media posts about overnight success.”
“Building a career, just like building a successful business, takes time and effort and more people need to talk about that,” he stresses.
Have you had trouble gaining employment after graduating and had to resort to unusual measures to find a job? We’d like to hear your tips. Email: *****@*****.tld
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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Rubio meets Panamanian president as Trump demands canal control and pressures US neighbors – The Associated Press
Rubio meets Panamanian president as Trump demands canal control and pressures US neighbors – The Associated Press
Rubio meets Panamanian president as Trump demands canal control and pressures US neighbors The Associated PressOn-the-Record Briefing on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s First Trip to the Western Hemisphere Department of StateRubio in Panama for canal, migration talks at start of Latin America trip Reuters.comRubio meets Panama’s leader to push Trump demand for canal DW (English)
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Rep. Brian Mast says he supports potential plan moving USAID into the State Department
Rep. Brian Mast says he supports potential plan moving USAID into the State Department
Rep. Brian Mast says he supports potential plan moving USAID into the State Department – CBS News
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GOP Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, tells “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that he is working with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “make sure there is appropriate command and control” of USAID and similar agencies. He added that he is “absolutely” in favor of USAID being folded into the State Department.
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Six Nations 2025: Jamie George returns to England squad
Six Nations 2025: Jamie George returns to England squad
Forwards
Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers), Luke Cowan-Dickie (***** Sharks), Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), Ben Curry (***** Sharks), Tom Curry (***** Sharks), Theo Dan (Saracens), Ben Earl (Saracens), Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears), Jamie George (Saracens), Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers), Ted Hill (Bath Rugby), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints), George Martin (Leicester Tigers), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (***** Sharks), Bevan Rodd (***** Sharks), Will Stuart (Bath Rugby), Tom Willis (Saracens).
Backs
Oscar Beard (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Saracens), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints), George Ford (***** Sharks), Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints), Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Harry Randall (Bristol Bears), Tom Roebuck (***** Sharks), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints), Fin Smith (Northampton Saints), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby), Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers).
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Sam Kerr’s father Roger reveals horrific injuries his mother Coral suffered after she was hit by a car in WA
Sam Kerr’s father Roger reveals horrific injuries his mother Coral suffered after she was hit by a car in WA
The horrific extent of the injuries suffered by Sam Kerr’s grandmother when she was hit by a car in December have been revealed, with the 90-year-old expected to remain in hospital for up to six months.
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With tariffs signed, Trump warns of ‘pain’ to come for Americans
With tariffs signed, Trump warns of ‘pain’ to come for Americans
A day after signing steep new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, President Donald Trump acknowledged what economists, members of Congress and even some of his own aides — in their previous lives — have been saying all along: Americans may find themselves paying the costs.
“THIS WILL BE THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA! WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!),” Trump posted, in all capital letters, on his Truth Social platform.
The message, which appeared in the hour before Trump arrived to his West Palm Beach, Florida, golf club for the second day in a row, amounted to an advance warning. Trump is serious about fulfilling his campaign promises to end ******** immigration, curb the flow of deadly drugs and rebalance continental trade. But doing so will be uncomfortable — or worse — for Americans already contending with a high cost of living.
“WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID,” Trump wrote. “WE ARE A COUNTRY THAT IS NOW BEING RUN WITH COMMON SENSE — AND THE RESULTS WILL BE SPECTACULAR!!!”
As industries brace for the new tariffs — 25% on goods from Mexico and Canada, and 10% on imports from China — it remains to be seen how long it will take for higher costs to have an impact on American consumers. The tariffs are set to go into effect Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. ET.
In a tacit acknowledgement that upside pressures could affect Americans’ gas and heating costs, Trump levied only a 10% tariff on ********* oil and gas.
Already, Canada and Mexico have moved to retaliate — reluctantly, in the case of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said during a somber address from Ottawa late Saturday: “We don’t want to be here.”
If the back-and-forth tariffs remain in place for a prolonged *******, the “pain” Trump warned of could become a reality.
But even some Trump allies have privately hoped that after implementing the harsh new duties — and proving to the world he’s willing to act decisively — Trump could eventually ease up, as long as he’s extracted some concessions.
What exactly those concessions are, however, isn’t clear. Before implementing the tariffs, Trump did not meet or speak on the telephone with Trudeau or with ******** President Claudia Sheinbaum to spell out his demands.
Trudeau said Saturday he’d been trying to reach Trump since the inauguration, but his calls have not been returned.
Briefing reporters Saturday evening, White House officials declined to lay out specific benchmarks that Canada or Mexico could reach in tightening their borders or curbing fentanyl flows that would allow the tariffs to be lifted.
And Trump himself told reporters late Friday he wasn’t looking for any concessions at all. In his social media posting Sunday morning, his rationale for the tariffs extended well beyond punishment for the illicit flow of fentanyl.
“The USA has major deficits with Canada, Mexico, and China (and almost all countries!), owes 36 Trillion Dollars, and we’re not going to be the ‘Stupid Country’ any longer,” he wrote. “MAKE YOUR PRODUCT IN THE USA AND THERE ARE NO TARIFFS!”
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