NEW YORK: President-elect Donald Trump on Monday named former Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency as he continues to build out his future administration with loyal supporters.
Trump, in a statement, said Zeldin, who mounted a failed bid for governor of New York in 2022, would “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.”
Zeldin, who left Congress in 2023, was a surprising pick for the role. His public appearances both in his own campaigns and on behalf of Trump often had him speaking about issues like the military, national security, antisemitism, US-Israel relations, immigration and crime.
He was among the Republicans in Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. While in Congress, he did not serve on committees with oversight of environmental policy.
In 2016 he pushed to change the designation of about 150 square miles of federal waters in Long Island Sound to state jurisdiction for New York and Rhode Island. He wanted to open the area to striped bass fishing, which is allowed in state waters but banned in the federal area.
Trump often pointed to Zeldin’s performance in the 2022 gubernatorial race — where the Republican did far better than had been expected against Gov. Kathy Hochul — when he insisted he could be competitive in his Democratic home state. While Trump didn’t win New York, he did far better than he had during previous elections, particularly in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.
The announcement comes after Trump selected longtime adviser Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner, to be the deputy chief of policy in his new administration and named Rep. Elize Stefanik as his nominee for US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Confirming the Miller appointment, Vice President-elect JD Vance posted a message of congratulations Monday on X and said, “This is another fantastic pick by the president.” The announcement was first reported by CNN.
Miller is one of Trump’s longest-serving aides, dating back to his first campaign for the White House. He was a senior adviser in Trump’s first term and has been a central figure in many of his policy decisions, particularly on immigration, including Trump’s move to separate thousands of immigrant families as a deterrence program in 2018.
Miller has also helped craft many of Trump’s hard-line speeches, and was often the public face of those policies during Trump’s first term in office and during his campaigns.
Since leaving the White House, Miller has served as the president of America First Legal, an organization of former Trump advisers fashioned as a conservative version of the American Civil Liberties Union, challenging the Biden administration, media companies, universities and others over issues such as freedom of speech and religion and national security.
He was also a frequent presence during Trump’s campaign this year, traveling aboard his plane and often speaking ahead of Trump during the pre-shows at his rallies.
Miller drew large cheers at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden during the race’s final stretch, telling the crowd that, “your salvation is at hand,” after what he cast as “decades of abuse that has been heaped upon the good people of this nation — their jobs looted and stolen from them and shipped to Mexico, Asia and foreign countries. The lives of their loved ones ripped away from them by illegal aliens, criminal gangs and thugs who don’t belong in this country.”
“We stand here today at a crossroads,” he went on, casting the election as “a choice between betrayal and renewal, between self-destruction and salvation, between the failure of America or the triumph of America.”
Because it is not a Cabinet position, the appointment does not need Senate confirmation.
Trump names Lee Zeldin to lead EPA, Stephen Miller to be deputy chief of policy
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Trump names Lee Zeldin to lead EPA, Stephen Miller to be deputy chief of policy
Trump makes a victor’s return to Washington and pledges a ‘smooth’ transition of power from Biden
Biden called Trump “Mr. President-elect and former president” before settling on “Donald”
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump made a victor’s return to Washington on Wednesday, visiting the White House for a nearly two-hour meeting with President Joe Biden and committing to a straightforward transition of power as the president-elect moves quickly to build out his new administration.
Sitting in front of a crackling fire in the Oval Office, the former rivals shook hands as reporters looked on. Biden called Trump “Mr. President-elect and former president” before settling on “Donald.”
“Congratulations,” the Democrat told the Republican. “I look forward to having, like they said, a smooth transition,” Biden said. “Welcome. Welcome back.”
Trump replied, “Thank you very much,” saying that “politics is tough. And it’s, in many cases, not a very nice world. But it is a nice world today, and I appreciate it very much.”
He said the transition between the outgoing and incoming administrations “will be as smooth as it can get and I very much appreciate that, Joe.” Trump, who has long disputed his 2020 election loss to Biden, did not invite Biden to the White House during the transition four years ago.
The scene put in stark relief the remarkable political rebound for Trump, who departed Washington in January 2021 as a diminished, politically defeated leader after helping incite a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol. Today, he is preparing to come back to power with what he and his GOP allies see as a mandate for governance.
Neither he nor Biden answered questions shouted by the media after their brief remarks. At one point, Biden looked at Trump, who moved his head to the side and gave a small shrug but did not respond.
After his election win in 2016, Trump met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office and called it “a great honor.” But he soon was back to heaping insults on his predecessor.
While refraining Wednesday from the bombast seen as a candidate, Trump looked at ease in the Oval Office, unlike in 2016, when he appeared nervous and subdued when meeting with Obama eight years ago.
Trump left the White House after his session with Biden without addressing the large contingent of reporters on the White House driveway waiting outside the West Wing in case he did make an appearance.
Each was joined by his chief of staff for the private meeting that is a traditional part of the peaceful handoff of power, but a ritual that Trump declined to participate in four years ago after losing to Biden.
First lady Jill Biden greeted Trump upon his arrival at the White House and gave him a handwritten letter of congratulations for his wife, Melania Trump, who did not make the trip to Washington. The letter also expressed the first lady’s team’s readiness to assist with the transition.
As Trump met with Biden, Trump sent out a fundraising email to supporters saying that he “is inside the White House right now conducting a very important meeting.”
Trump had flown from Florida in the morning, joining up with billionaire Elon Musk for a morning session with House Republicans. That discussion came as Trump prepares for a potentially unified Republican government and sweep of power.
Back in Washington for the first time since his election victory, Trump told the GOP lawmakers, “It’s nice to win.”
He received a standing ovation from House GOP members, many of whom took cellphone videos of Trump as ran through their party’s victories up and down the ballot, in what would be, under the constitutional limits, his final presidential election.
“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say he’s good we got to figure something else,” Trump said to laughter from the lawmakers.
The Constitution’s 22nd Amendment prevents presidents from running for a third term.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said of Trump’s arrival, “He is the comeback king.”
“We owe him a great debt of gratitude,” Johnson said.
Trump’s reemergence comes amid Republican congressional leadership elections — with the potential for the president-elect to place his imprint on the outcome. He endorsed Johnson’s return to the speaker’s office with the president-elect saying he is with Johnson all the way, according to a person familiar with the remarks but not authorized to publicly discuss the private meeting.
Musk joining Trump on the return to Washington comes after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has been spending much of his time at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate, and participating in discussions as the incoming Trump administration prepares to transition from Biden’s.
Trump has named Musk to a government efficiency advisory role in his incoming administration. Some close to Trump and his team now see Musk as the second most influential figure in Trump’s immediate orbit, after Susie Wiles, the campaign manager who is Trump’s incoming chief of staff.
Trump has continued to lie about widespread voter fraud that did not occur. In addition to not inviting then-president-elect Biden to the White House, Trump left Washington without attending the inauguration. It was the first time that had happened since Andrew Johnson skipped Ulysses S. Grant’s swearing-in 155 years ago.
Biden insists that he’ll do everything he can to make the transition to the next Trump administration go smoothly. That’s despite having spent more than a year campaigning for reelection and decrying Trump as a threat to democracy and the nation’s core values. Biden then bowed out of the race in July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him.
Traditionally, as the outgoing and incoming presidents meet in the West Wing, the first lady hosts her successor upstairs in the residence, But her office said Melania Trump wasn’t attending, saying in a statement that “her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success.”
When Trump left Washington in 2021, even some top Republicans had begun to decry his role in helping incite the mob that stormed the Capitol mere weeks earlier. But his win in last week’s election completes a political comeback that has seen Trump once again become the unchallenged head of the GOP.
Wednesday’s trip was not the first time Trump has returned to the Capitol area since the end of his first term, though. Congressional Republicans hosted Trump over the summer, as Trump was again solidifying his dominance over the party.
In last week’s election, Republicans wrested the Senate majority from Democrats and are on the cusp of keeping control of the House, are in the midst of their own leadership elections happening behind closed doors Wednesday. Johnson has pulled ever-closer to Trump as he worked to keep his majority — and his own job with the gavel.
Trump left Washington without visiting his party’s senators. But, while he was in town, they chose Sen. John Thune of South Dakota in a three-way race to replace outgoing GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Trump’s allies were pushing GOP senators to vote for Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.
Kyiv ‘cautiously optimistic’ after discussing deep strikes in Russia with US
- Kyiv has long been lobbying for Western allies to allow long-range attacks on military targets inside Russia
- “We discussed issues of long-range strikes and Euro-Atlantic integration. And here we also are cautiously optimistic,” Sybiha said
BRUSSELS: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Wednesday he was “cautiously optimistic” after discussing with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken the possibility of conducting deep strikes on Russia as well as Euro-Atlantic integration.
Kyiv has long been lobbying for Western allies to allow long-range attacks on military targets inside Russia, while also pressing for an invitation to join the NATO alliance.
Allies including the United States have been unwilling to permit long-range attacks for fear of further escalating the conflict, and some are opposed to inviting Ukraine to join NATO.
“We discussed issues of long-range strikes and Euro-Atlantic integration. And here we also are cautiously optimistic,” Sybiha said in televised comments.
His talks with Blinken in Brussels come at a turbulent time, just one week after Donald Trump won the US presidential election. Trump has long criticized the scale of US financial and military aid to Ukraine and has vowed to end the war quickly, without explaining how.
Ukraine and its European allies fear this would mean accepting peace on Russia’s terms, which would entail large territorial losses and rule out Ukraine ever joining NATO.
The outgoing Biden administration has pledged to promptly deliver what remains of the promised aid packages before Trump’s return to the White House in January.
Sybiha said his talks in Brussels had also touched on military aid.
“We have a clear picture — a clear timeframe, clear volumes – of what will be delivered to Ukraine by the end of the year. This helps us strategically to plan our actions on the battlefield,” he said.
The assistance, he added, would include weapons and funds for arms production deals.
Russian chef and war critic found dead in Belgrade
- The death of Alexei Zimin, who has been based in London for years, marks the latest passing of a Russian expatriate critical of the Kremlin’s war
- His body was found late on Tuesday in a flat that he was renting in Belgrade while on a visit to promote his latest book, “Anglomania“
BELGRADE: A famed Russian chef who has been highly critical of Moscow’s war in Ukraine has been found dead while on a visit to Serbia’s capital, according to several sources on Wednesday.
The death of Alexei Zimin, who has been based in London for years, marks the latest passing of a Russian expatriate critical of the Kremlin’s war.
Zimin co-founded the ZIMA restaurant in London, served as senior contributor in numerous magazines and has co-authored several books, according to a ZIMA Instagram post.
His body was found late on Tuesday in a flat that he was renting in Belgrade while on a visit to promote his latest book, “Anglomania,” a source close to the investigation told AFP.
Prosecutors told the BBC that the flat was locked from the inside and the death did not appear to be suspicious, but that an autopsy was due to take place.
Born in Russia in 1971, Zimin had opened several restaurants in Moscow before leaving after Russia occupied Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he posted anti-war messages and stopped his Saturday cooking show on a pro-Kremlin television station.
“Throughout his remarkable life, Alexei accomplished a lot — he served as deputy editor-in-chief of Afisha magazine, founded Afisha.Food, also worked as editor-in-chief of Afisha World, GQ, and Gourmet,” his London restaurant ZIMA said in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
“He hosted several culinary shows, authored numerous books, and launched multiple successful restaurants,” it said.
“To us, Alexei was not only a colleague but also a friend, a close companion with whom we shared many experiences — good, kind, and at times sorrowful.”
Senior Russian naval officer killed in car bombing claimed by Kyiv
- Russia’s state Investigative Committee said an improvised explosive device had detonated in an act of terrorism, killing a serviceman whom it did not identify
- A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told Reuters that the explosion had killed Valery Trankovsky, a Russian naval captain
KYIV: A bomb planted under a car blew up and killed a senior Russian naval officer in occupied Crimea’s city of Sevastopol on Wednesday, in what a Kyiv security source said was a Ukrainian hit on one of its highest-ranking targets to date.
Russia’s state Investigative Committee, which handles probes into serious crimes, said in a statement that an improvised explosive device had detonated in an act of terrorism, killing a serviceman whom it did not identify.
A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told Reuters that the explosion had killed Valery Trankovsky, a Russian naval captain and the chief of staff of the 41st brigade of Russia’s missile ships in the Black Sea.
The operation was carried out by the SBU, which saw him as a “legitimate” target in line with the laws of war because of “war crimes” he committed, the source said. The source said he had ordered missile attacks that hit civilian targets in Ukraine, including a deadly strike on the city of Vinnytsia in July 2022.
Reuters could not independently verify Trankovsky’s precise role or his involvement in alleged war crimes.
Russia has used warships from its Black Sea Fleet, as well as strategic bombers, to conduct missile strikes on targets across Ukraine. The attacks have led to hundreds of civilian deaths and extensive damage. Moscow says it does not target civilians or civilian infrastructure.
Russia’s Kommersant newspaper cited two law enforcement sources who also identified the victim as Trankovsky, a first rank captain. It said he was chief of staff and deputy commander of the 41st brigade of Russia’s missile ships in the Black Sea.
Mash, a Telegram channel close to Russia’s security services, said he had been under surveillance for seven days before the attack.
Both the Kyiv source and Mash said the bomb had detonated on Taras Shevchenko street, which is named after Ukraine’s most famous poet.
The Investigative Committee published images of the wreckage of a car.
’LIQUIDATED’
Several pro-war Russian figures have been assassinated since the start of the war in operations blamed by Moscow on Ukraine, including journalist Darya Dugina, war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky and former submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky.
All of those people, as well as Trankovsky, were listed in Myrotvorets (Peacemaker), a huge unofficial Ukrainian database of people considered to be enemies of the country.
On Wednesday Trankovsky’s photo on the site was overwritten with the word “Liquidated” in red letters.
Russia’s Federal Security Service, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said last December it had cracked a network of Ukrainian agents in Crimea who were involved in attempts to assassinate pro-Russian figures.
It said the targets included the Moscow-installed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, and a former pro-Russian member of the Ukrainian parliament, Oleg Tsaryov.
Tsaryov survived despite being shot twice in an attack in October in Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014. A source in Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency told Reuters at the time that the shooting was an SBU operation.
The city of Sevastopol is the traditional headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and it has been heavily targeted by Ukrainian strikes during the war.
US and Polish officials open missile defense site that Russia has long protested
- The US missile defense base was originally planned under President George W. Bush as a way to protect Europe from ballistic threats from Iran
- Russia aggression, fears that have grown since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
WARSAW: US and Polish officials inaugurated a NATO missile defense base in northern Poland on Wednesday, with Polish officials welcoming it as a significant boost to the security of the country as well as of the NATO alliance at a time of war in neighboring Ukraine.
The US missile defense base, which is being integrated into NATO’s defenses, was originally planned under President George W. Bush as a way to protect Europe from ballistic threats from Iran. Poland, however, has always seen it as a form of US protection in case of Russia aggression, fears that have grown since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin has long protested the plans, and on Tuesday it denounced the base as a challenge to its own military potential that would require measures “to ensure parity.”
Polish officials, who gathered with the US ambassador and other officials, welcomed it as historic step that increases the US commitment to the security of Europe at a time of uncertainty due to the grinding war nearby. There are also concerns about whether Donald Trump will remain committed to Europe’s security when he returns to the White House in January.
“The whole world will see clearly that this is not Russia’s sphere of interest anymore,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said at the ceremony in Redzikowo. “From the Polish point of view, this is strategically the most important thing.”
Poland’s Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz called the opening of the base with its hundreds of US Navy personnel “an extraordinary event in the history of the security of Poland, the US and NATO.” He said the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are showing the importance of air defenses.
“The base in Redzikowo means the eternal presence of American and allied troops on the territory of the Republic of Poland and, strategically for Poland, it is one of the most important events in history after 1989,” he said.
The facility is equipped with the US Navy’s modern Aegis Ashore system, which can detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles in the initial phase of their flight. It is the second land element of Aegis Ashore in Europe after the first such installation went into operation in Romania in 2016.
Asked about the base during a news briefing Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had expressed his concerns to the US plans even during the Bush administration.
“We then insisted that the Americans saying all these plans are aimed against the ephemeral Iranian threat are in fact a lie, that all these plans were drawn up from the very beginning as an attempt to militarily contain our potential,” he said.
“This is the advancement of American military infrastructure on European territory toward our borders. This is nothing other than an attempt to contain our potential. And, of course, this leads to the adoption of appropriate measures to ensure parity,” Peskov added.
