WASHINGTON: Conspiracy theories about vaccines. Secret meetings with dictators. An enemies list.
President Donald Trump’ s most controversial Cabinet nominees — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel — flooded the zone Thursday in back-to-back-to-back confirmation hearings that were like nothing the Senate has seen in modern memory.
The onslaught of claims, promises and testy exchanges did not occur in a political vacuum. The whirlwind day — Day 10 of the new White House — all unfolded as Trump himself was ranting about how diversity hiring caused the tragic airplane-and-helicopter crash outside Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport.
And it capped a tumultuous week after the White House abruptly halted federal funding for programs Americans rely on nationwide, under guidance from Trump’s budget pick Russ Vought, only to reverse course amid a public revolt.
“The American people did not vote for this kind of senseless chaos,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, earlier.
It was all challenging even the most loyal Republicans who are being asked to confirm Trump’s Cabinet or face recriminations from an army of online foot-soldiers aggressively promoting the White House agenda. A majority vote, in the Senate which is led by Republicans 53-57, is needed for confirmation, leaving little room for dissent.
Here are some takeaways from the day:
Tulsi Gabbard defends her loyalty — and makes some inroads
Gabbard is seen as the most endangered of Trump’s picks, potentially lacking the votes even from Trump’s party for confirmation for Director of National Intelligence. But her hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee offered a roadmap toward confirmation.
It opened with the chairman, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, swatting back claims that Gabbard is a foreign “asset,” undercover for some other nation, presumably Russia. He said he reviewed some 300 pages of multiple FBI background checks and she’s “clean as a whistle.”
But Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the panel, questioned whether she could build the trust needed, at home and abroad, to do the job.
Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, defended her loyalty to the US She dismissed GOP Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, when he asked whether Russia would “get a pass” from her.
“Senator, I’m offended by the question,” Gabbard responded.
Pressed on her secret 2017 trip to meet with then-Syrian President Bashir Assad, who has since been toppled by rebels and fled to Russia, she defended her work as diplomacy.
Gabbard may have made some inroads with one potentially skeptical Republican. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, asked whether Gabbard would recommend a pardon for Edward Snowden. The former government contractor was charged with espionage after leaking a trove of sensitive intelligence material, and fled to residency in Russia.
Gabbard, who has called Snowden a brave whistleblower, said it would not be her responsibility to “advocate for any actions related to Snowden.”
Picking up one notable endorsement, Gabbard was introduced by one of the Senate’s more influential voices on intelligence matters, Richard Burr, the retired Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pressed again on vaccine safety
Kennedy faced a second day of grilling to become Health and Human Services secretary, this time at the Senate Health committee, as senators probed his past views against vaccines and whether he would ban the abortion drug mifepristone.
But what skeptical Democratic senators have been driving at is whether Kennedy is trustworthy — if he holds fast to his past views or has shifted to new ones — echoing concerns raised by his cousin Caroline Kennedy that he is a charismatic “predator” hungry for power.
“You’ve spent your entire career undermining America’s vaccine program,” said Sen. Chris Murphy D-Connecticut “It just isn’t believable that when you become secretary you are going to become consistent with science.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, took the conversation in a different direction reading Kennedy’s comments about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in which he said in a social media post: “It’s hard to tell what is conspiracy and what isn’t.”
“Wow,” Kaine said.
Kennedy responded that his father, the late Robert F. Kennedy, told him that people in positions of power do lie.
But Kennedy’s longtime advocacy in the anti-vaccine community continued to dominate his hearings.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., choked back tears when she told Kennedy that his work caused grave harm by relitigating what is already “settled science” — rather than helping the country advance toward new treatments and answers in health care.
But Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, immediately shifted the mood saying his own sons are fans of the nominee and he thanked Kennedy for “bringing the light” particularly to a younger generation interested in his alternative views.
Pressed on whether he would ban the abortion drug mifepristone, Kennedy said it’s up to Trump.
“I will implement his policy.”
A combative Kash Patel spars with senators over his past
Kash Patel emerged as perhaps the most combative nominee in a testy hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee as the nominee to lead the FBI.
Confronted with his own past words, writings and public comments, Patel, a former Capitol Hill staffer turned Trump enthusiast, protested repeatedly that his views were being taken out of context as “unfair” smears.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, read aloud Patel’s false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election and another about his published “enemies list” that includes former Trump officials who have been critical of the president.
“’We’re going to come after you,’” she read him saying.
Patel dismissed her citations as “partial statement” and “false.”
Klobuchar, exasperated, told senators: “It’s his own words.”
Patel has stood by Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol and produced a version of the national anthem featuring Trump and the so-called J6 choir of defendants as a fundraiser. The president played the song opening his campaign rallies.
During one jarring moment, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., asked Patel to turn around and look at the US Capitol Police officers protecting the hearing room.
“Tell them you’re proud of what you did. Tell them you’re proud that you raised money off of people that assaulted their colleagues, that pepper sprayed them, that beat them with poles,” Schiff said.
Patel fired back: “That’s an abject lie, you know it. I never, never, ever accepted violence against law enforcement.”
Patel said he did not endorse Trump’s sweeping pardon of supporters, including violent rioters, charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement,” Patel said.
In another Cabinet development, Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee advanced Trump’s budget nominee Russ Vought toward confirmation after Democrats boycotted the meeting in protest.
Vought was an architect of Project 2025 and influential in the White House memo to free federal funding this week, which sparked panic in communities across the country. Advocacy organizations challenged the freeze in court, and the White House quickly rescinded it, for now.
Conspiracies, espionage, an enemies list: Takeaways from a wild day of confirmation hearings
https://arab.news/yhgc9
Conspiracies, espionage, an enemies list: Takeaways from a wild day of confirmation hearings
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- Kennedy faced a second day of grilling to become Health and Human Services secretary
- Gabbard is seen as the most endangered of Trump’s picks
Bangladeshi students, who ousted former PM Hasina, set to launch political party
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- The student group is finalizing plans to launch the new party during an event likely on Wednesday
- Nahid Islam, a student leader and adviser to the interim government, is expected to lead the party as convener
The Students Against Discrimination (SAD) group spearheaded the protests that began as a student-led movement against public sector job quotas but quickly morphed into a broader, nationwide uprising that forced Hasina to flee to India as the unrest peaked in early August.
The student group is finalizing plans to launch the new party during an event likely on Wednesday, said the sources who did not want to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media.
Nahid Islam, a student leader and adviser to the interim government that took charge of Bangladesh after Hasina’s exit, is expected to lead the party as convener, the sources said.
Islam has been a key figure in advocating for student interests within the interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, which has been at the helm of Bangladesh since August 2024. He is expected to resign from his current role to focus on leading the new political party.
Islam did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Yunus has said that elections could be held by the end of 2025, and many political analysts believe that a youth-led party could significantly reshape the country’s political landscape. Yunus has said he was not interested in running.
Yunus’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the launch of the student-led political party.
The South Asian nation has been grappling with political unrest since Hasina left following weeks of protests during which more than 1,000 people were killed.
Officials from Hasina’s former government and security apparatus systematically committed serious human rights violations against the protesters during the uprising, the UN human rights commission said this month.
Hasina and her party deny any wrongdoing.
Ukrainian drone attack sparks fire at industrial site in Russia’s Ryazan region, governor says
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Falling debris from destroyed Ukrainian drones sparked a fire at an industrial enterprise in Russia’s Ryazan region, the governor of the region southeast of Moscow said on Monday.
“According to preliminary information, there were no injuries, material damage is being assessed,” Governor Pavel Malkov said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Malkov did not say what enterprise was on fire. Baza, a news Telegram channel that is close to Russia’s security services, reported that Ukrainian drones targeted the Ryazan oil refinery, which is owned by Rosneft.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Reuters could not independently verify the Baza report. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Sonali Paul)
Philippines, Japan agree to further enhance defense partnership
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- Japan, Philippines to enhance military exchanges and strategic dialogue
- Security ties strengthened amid shared concerns over China’s regional actions
MANILA: Japan and the Philippines agreed on Monday to further deepen defense ties in the face of an “increasingly severe” security environment in the Indo-Pacific region, Japanese defense minister Gen Nakatani said on Monday.
Nakatani met his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro in Manila for a meeting in which the two ministers tackled regional security issues, including the maritime situation in the East and South China Seas.
“The security environment surrounding us is becoming increasingly severe and that it is necessary for the two countries as strategic partners to further enhance defense cooperation and collaboration to maintain peace and stability in Indo-Pacific,” Nakatani said through a translator.
Nakatani said the Philippines and Japan have agreed to deepen cooperation on military exchanges, establish a high-level strategic dialogue among its military and deepen information sharing.
Security ties between the two US allies have strengthened over the past two years as Japan and the Philippines share common concerns over China’s increasingly assertive actions in the region.
Last year, Manila and Tokyo signed a landmark military pact allowing the deployment of their forces on each other’s soil.
Japan and China have repeatedly faced off around uninhabited Japanese-administered islands that Tokyo calls the Senkaku and Beijing calls the Diaoyu.
The Philippines and China have also clashed frequently in the South China Sea around disputed shoals and atolls that fall inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone.
Nakatani visited military bases in the northern Philippines on Sunday, including a naval station that houses a coastal radar that Japan donated as part of its 600 million yen ($4 million) security assistance in 2023.
Manila was one of the first recipients of Tokyo’s official security assistance, a program aimed at helping boost deterrence capabilities of partner countries.
In December, the two countries signed a second security deal in which Japan agreed to provide the Philippine navy rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIB) and additional coastal radar systems.
US pressures Ukraine to nix its UN resolution demanding Russian forces withdraw
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- But Kyiv refused to pull its draft resolution, and the UN General Assembly will vote on it Monday
- Trump administration is seeking a vote on its proposal in the more powerful UN Security Council
UNITED NATIONS: The US has pressured Ukraine to withdraw its European-backed UN resolution demanding an immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine in favor of an American proposal that does not mention Moscow’s invasion, a US official and a European diplomat said Sunday.
But Ukraine refused to pull its draft resolution, and the UN General Assembly will vote on it Monday, the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two European diplomats said.
The 193-nation General Assembly then is expected to vote on the US draft resolution, according to the diplomats and the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because private negotiations are still ongoing.
The Trump administration is also seeking a vote on its proposal in the more powerful UN Security Council. China, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, scheduled a vote on the US resolution for Monday afternoon.
The dueling resolutions – the first since the invasion – highlight the tension between the US, Ukraine and European countries in the five weeks since President Donald Trump took office and has opened talks with Russia after years of isolation in a bid to end the war. European leaders were dismayed that they and Ukraine were left out of preliminary negotiations between the US and Russia last week.
The General Assembly has become the most important UN body on Ukraine because the Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, has been paralyzed by Russia’s veto power.
There are no vetoes in the General Assembly, and its votes are closely watched as a barometer of world opinion. However, its resolutions are not legally binding, unlike those adopted by the Security Council.
Since Russian forces crossed Ukraine’s border on Feb. 24, 2022, the assembly has adopted half a dozen resolutions condemning the war and demanding the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops.
The assembly votes have shown strong global opposition to Russia’s conflict, and the votes on the rival resolutions Monday will be closely watched to see if that support has waned – and to assess support for Trump’s effort to bring a speedy end to the war.
One European diplomat said there has been intense lobbying and arm-twisting on the rival resolutions. The US official said the US is trying to get Ukraine and the Europeans to back down on their draft. It comes as Trump plans to host French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday in Washington.
The United States believes “this is the moment to commit to ending the war. This is our opportunity to build real momentum toward peace,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement late Friday.
He said that “while challenges may arise, the goal of lasting peace remains achievable” and that the resolution would “affirm that this conflict is awful, that the UN can help end it, and that peace is possible.”
The Ukraine resolution, co-sponsored by the 27-nation European Union, refers to “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation” and recalls the need to implement all previous assembly resolutions “adopted in response to the aggression against Ukraine.”
It singles out the General Assembly’s demand that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders” and its demand to immediately halt all hostilities.
And it calls for “a de-escalation, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine.”
The very brief US draft resolution acknowledges “the tragic loss of life throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict” and “implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.” It never mentions Moscow’s invasion.
Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told reporters last week that the US resolution was “a good move.”
Russia also suggested an amendment, seeking to add the phrase “including by addressing its root causes” so the final line of the US resolution reads, “implores a swift end to the conflict, including by addressing its root causes, and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.”
Trump administration eliminating 1,600 USAID jobs in the US
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- USAID said on its website that all direct hires except essential workers will be put on leave
- An earlier notice sent to staff said about 2,000 US positions would be eliminated
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration said on Sunday it was placing all personnel at the foreign assistance agency USAID, except leaders and critical staff, on paid administrative leave and eliminating 1,600 positions in the United States.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has led an effort to gut the US Agency for International Development, the main delivery mechanism for American foreign assistance and a critical tool of US “soft power” for winning influence abroad.
“I regret to inform you that you are affected by a Reduction in Force action,” said an email sent to one of the workers being fired that was reviewed by Reuters. Those who got the note will be let go from federal service effective April 24, the email said.
USAID said on its website that just before midnight on Sunday US Eastern Time, all direct hires except essential workers will be put on leave and 1,600 USAID personnel in the US would be cut.
An earlier notice sent to staff and reviewed by Reuters said about 2,000 US positions would be eliminated.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Friday, a federal judge cleared the way for the Trump administration to put thousands of USAID workers on leave, a setback for government employee unions that are suing over what they have called an effort to dismantle it.
Two former senior USAID officials estimated that a majority of some 4,600 USAID personnel, career US Civil Service and Foreign Service staffers, would be placed on administrative leave.
“This administration and Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio are shortsighted in cutting into the expertise and unique crisis response capacity of the US,” said Marcia Wong, one of the former officials. “When disease outbreaks occur, populations displaced, these USAID experts are on the ground and first deployed to help stabilize and provide aid.”
Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on January 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe.
The administration has approved exceptions to the freeze totaling $5.3 billion, mostly for security and counter-narcotics programs, according to a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters that included limited humanitarian relief.
USAID programs got less than $100 million in exemptions, compared to roughly $40 billion in programs it administered annually before the freeze.