Latest news with #ChrisCoons

CNN

21-07-2025

Politics
CNN

An inside look at one of the most coveted offices in the US Capitol

An inside look at one of the most coveted offices in the US Capitol Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) gives CNN's Dana Bash a tour of his office once occupied by the late Senator John McCain, as well as a "hideaway" that offers an impressive view and backdrop for bipartisan discussions both senators are known for. 02:17 - Source: CNN Vertical Politics of the Day 16 videos An inside look at one of the most coveted offices in the US Capitol Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) gives CNN's Dana Bash a tour of his office once occupied by the late Senator John McCain, as well as a "hideaway" that offers an impressive view and backdrop for bipartisan discussions both senators are known for. 02:17 - Source: CNN Democrats walk out before vote for controversial Trump nominee Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans voted on Thursday to advance the nomination of Emil Bove, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, to a federal judgeship, over the loud protests of Democrats. 01:42 - Source: CNN Trump's 'Manosphere' problems Influential podcasters with large audiences of millennial and Gen Z men helped propel President Donald Trump to victory in 2024. Now some of those same voices are sharing criticisms of the current administration. CNN's Steve Contorno breaks it down. 01:56 - Source: CNN Trump DOJ fires federal prosecutor in Epstein case Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor in the case against accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, has been fired from her job in the Southern District of New York, according to people familiar with the situation. 01:56 - Source: CNN Bernie Sanders calls Trump's GOP 'cult of the individual' Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tells CNN's Anderson Cooper that Republicans developed an almost Stalinist-type devotion to President Donald Trump. 00:45 - Source: CNN This Native American senator brings Oklahoma ranch style to Washington Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) gives CNN's Dana Bash a tour of his Capitol office, which showcases his Cherokee heritage and rancher lifestyle. 02:35 - Source: CNN Ex-Trump business associate on Trump's friendship with Epstein CNN's Erin Burnett speaks with former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino COO Jack O'Donnell about one of President Trump's previous interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. 02:27 - Source: CNN Fearing ICE crackdown, this family self-deports Fearing increased immigration enforcement, undocumented immigrant Julio Mendoza and his American wife, Sasha, made the difficult decision to self-deport to Mexico with their three children, all of whom are US Citizens. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez reports. 01:35 - Source: CNN How Trump's image is changing inside Russia Once hailed as a pro-Kremlin figure, President Donald Trump's image is changing inside Russia. It comes after Trump vowed further sanctions on the country if a peace agreement with Ukraine is not reached in 50 days. CNN's Chief Global Affairs Correspondent is on the ground in Moscow with the analysis. 01:41 - Source: CNN Rep. Jasmine Crockett responds to Trump saying she should take IQ test CNN's Laura Coates speaks with Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) about President Donald Trump's comments that she and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should take an IQ test. 01:05 - Source: CNN Trump says interest in Epstein files is 'pretty boring stuff' President Donald Trump said he doesn't understand his supporters' continued interest in the Epstein files, calling it "boring," while also reiterating his call for anything 'credible' to be released. 00:56 - Source: CNN Trump's fight with MAGA base over Epstein explained President Trump is at odds with some of his own supporters over after his Attorney General Pam Bondi declined to release more documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case. CNN's Erin Burnett explains the feud inside Trump's MAGA movement. 02:20 - Source: CNN Supreme Court ruling will allow mass firings of Education Department employees The Supreme Court on Monday said President Donald Trump may proceed with his plan to carry out mass layoffs at the Department of Education in the latest win for the White House at the conservative high court. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty reports. 01:34 - Source: CNN Trump demands Russia reach peace deal within 50 days President Donald Trump made several announcements on Monday aligning him more firmly with Ukraine's defense against Russia's invasion than ever before. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh breaks down the two main developments that could drastically impact the ongoing war. 01:34 - Source: CNN MTG warns of 'big' blowback in MAGA world over handling of Epstein case CNN's Manu Raju spoke with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) who is demanding "transparency" from President Donald Trump's administration when it comes to information related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and warned that the issue could stoke "significant" blowback from the right wing of the party. 01:04 - Source: CNN MAGA faithful weigh in on Epstein files debate At a conservative conference in Florida, Trump supporters share their views on the Epstein files fallout with CNN's Donie O'Sullivan. 01:40 - Source: CNN

Republicans keep voting for bills they say they don't like

Yahoo

20-07-2025

Politics
Yahoo

Republicans keep voting for bills they say they don't like

WASHINGTON — Two weeks after he cast a decisive vote to pass a sweeping domestic policy bill that cuts Medicaid by about $1 trillion, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced a bill to repeal some of those cuts. 'Now is the time to prevent any future cuts to Medicaid from going into effect,' Hawley said in a statement. It sparked mockery from the normally mild-mannered Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who posted on X: 'Just so I'm clear… he's introducing a bill….to repeal the bill… he voted for….two weeks ago?' Hawley said he feared the party's megabill would cause long-term harm if the Medicaid cuts are fully implemented, but still voted for it because it will deliver more hospital money for Missouri in the first four years. 'You can't get everything you want in one piece of legislation. I like a lot of what we did. I don't like some of it,' he told reporters after unveiling his own measure on Tuesday. The move represents a trend in Congress during President Donald Trump's second term. Republican lawmakers across the ideological spectrum keep casting votes in favor of bills even while warning that they're deeply flawed and may require fixing down the road. In some cases, lawmakers explicitly threaten to vote 'no' on bills before eventually folding and voting 'yes.' It isn't unusual for lawmakers to back legislation they call imperfect. But this year, that contrast has become more stark. It comes as Trump has solidified his grasp over the GOP base, resulting in lawmakers growing increasingly leery of crossing him and risking their political futures. Nowhere has that dynamic been more pronounced than with the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, whose members have repeatedly threatened to oppose bills before acquiescing under pressure from Trump. With Trump's megabill, they complained about red ink: It's expected to add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. 'What the Senate did is unconscionable,' Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said in a Rules Committee meeting, vowing that 'I'll vote against it here and I'll vote against it on the floor.' He ultimately voted for that bill, unamended, after conservatives were told Congress would consider future bills to lower the debt. In the House, a faction of swing-district Republicans voted for clean energy cuts in the "big, beautiful bill" while voicing their hope that the Senate would undo them. That didn't happen, and nearly all of them voted for the legislation regardless. Across the Capitol, after Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, cast another key vote to approve the megabill, she said she 'struggled mightily with the impact on the most vulnerable in this country, when you look to Medicaid and SNAP,' and called on the House to make changes. They didn't. The House passed it as written and sent it to Trump to become law. "Do I like this bill? No. But I tried to take care of Alaska's interests,' Murkowski told NBC News after the Senate vote earlier this month. 'But I know, I know that in many parts of the country, there are Americans that are not going to be advantaged by this bill. I don't like that,' she added. In another case, Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., who represents a battleground district with a high share of Medicaid recipients, threatened to vote against the entire Senate bill if it maintained the steeper cuts to the program. 'I will not support a final bill that eliminates vital funding streams our hospitals rely on, including provider taxes and state directed payments,' he said in a statement, urging the Senate to 'stick to the Medicaid provisions' in the earlier House version of the bill; 'otherwise, I will vote no.' Valadao's request was ignored. Five days later he voted for the Senate bill when it returned to the House, securing final passage. (His office didn't respond to queries about the contradiction.) In the end, just three Republicans who expressed concerns about Medicaid voted against the bill: Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who had just announced he wouldn't seek re-election, as well as Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick R-Pa., who are set to face tough races in next years midterms. And Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who consistently voted against the megabill throughout the process over deficit concerns, is now facing the threat of a Trump-backed primary challenge. A similar trend occurred on the $9 billion package of spending cuts to NPR, PBS and foreign aid that passed Congress this week and was sent to Trump's desk. In the run-up to the votes, multiple Republicans expressed serious concerns with the substance of the bill, its deference to the executive branch and the damage it could do to bipartisan dealmaking on government funding if one side can undo the parts it doesn't like on a party-line basis. 'I suspect we're going to find out there are some things that we're going to regret. Some second and third order effects. And I suspect that when we do we'll have to come back and fix it,' said Tillis, before voting in favor of the bill. Tillis told NBC News that he was 'trying to have a positive view about how this rescission is going to be implemented' and that if he's unsatisfied it will change his attitude to future rescission bills. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the chair of the Armed Services Committee, said he was troubled that Congress wasn't detailing which programs were cut and deferring to the White House. 'It concerns me — as perhaps approaching a disregard for the constitutional responsibilities of the legislative branch under Article I,' said Wicker, who voted for the bill. 'And in this situation it will amount to the House and Senate basically saying: We concede that decision voluntarily to the executive branch.' This article was originally published on

State Department cyber, tech cuts deeper than previously known

Politico

17-07-2025

Business
Politico

State Department cyber, tech cuts deeper than previously known

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's subcommittee on cybersecurity, said he was aware of a number of cuts of staff with specific and hard-to-replace skills. 'They have lost people with genuine expertise … in cyber, in 5G, in quantum, a whole group of people who had really exquisite skills,' Coons said. Asked to quantify the extent of cuts to the cybersecurity workforce, Coons said: 'My impression is: significant.' The cuts to cyber and tech roles at State have gone beyond the CDP. Also laid off have been staff involved in ensuring the use of secure telecommunications infrastructure by allies; and those that worked to fix problems Cyber Command identifies in the networks of U.S. allies, said Annie Fixler, director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, who has been in contact with a number those laid off. The congressional aide said that 'around half a dozen' of the staff from the Office of the Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technologies — which works on topics including AI and quantum computing — were given RIF notices, representing a 'sizeable proportion' of the small office. This aide said this office is now being merged into the CDP. It has become increasingly clear over the past few days that the reorganized State Department will have very few cybersecurity positions. The Washington Post first reported earlier this week that CDP personnel had been among those laid off, in particular those on teams that focus on global data policy. The former official confirmed that Liesyl Franz, the CDP's deputy assistant secretary for International Cyberspace Security was among those laid off. Her departure was previously reported by NextGov. Franz did not respond to a request for comment. The entire Office of Science and Technology Cooperation has also been shut down, according to a laid-off employee. Felicia Fullilove-Cashwell, a foreign affairs officer at the State Department, wrote on LinkedIn that her reduction in force letter included the words 'office abolished.' Fullilove-Cashwell said in an interview that 'it has been suggested that regional offices may take over a lot of the functions of eliminated offices,' though she argued that eliminating OSTC still hurts the relationships between civil servants and foreign officials. The elimination of OSTC was previously reported by FedScoop.

Mike Waltz pitifully tries to pin Signal scandal on Biden as he seeks U.N. ambassadorship

Yahoo

15-07-2025

Politics
Yahoo

Mike Waltz pitifully tries to pin Signal scandal on Biden as he seeks U.N. ambassadorship

Happy Tuesday! Here's your Tuesday Tech Drop, a collection of the past week's top stories from the intersection of technology and politics. Former national security adviser Mike Waltz, who left his post amid backlash over his and other top Trump officials' roles in sharing sensitive military information with a journalist via an unsecured Signal chat, appeared before the Senate on Tuesday ahead of a vote on his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Waltz tried to downplay the scandal under fierce questioning from Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Chris Coons of Delaware. At one point, he told Coons that such use of Signal had been aligned with Biden-era federal guidance, adding that no classified information was shared. He also said the White House had concluded its investigation but said he thought the Defense Department's probe is ongoing. Indeed, Politico reported Monday that two close aides of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are under investigation at the Pentagon in the matter, so any suggestion that the Signal chat was completely on the up-and-up — and that this has been affirmed by independent officials — is dubious at best. Read more at The New Republic. A senior U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official admitted that his agency has used a list compiled by Canary Mission — a controversial and shadowy website that has been accused of doxxing pro-Palestinian activists — in its efforts to target, detain and deport immigrants. Read more at CNN. After an incident in which Grok — Elon Musk's artificial intelligence tool — called itself 'MechaHitler' and spread antisemitic conspiracy theories and instructed one social media user how to commit rape, the federal government confirmed its plans to offer Musk's company, xAI, up to $200 million to institute Grok across the Defense Department. The same contract awards were offered to OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. Read more at CNBC. The FBI has reportedly been using polygraph tests to measure employees' loyalty and determine whether they have said negative things about FBI Director Kash Patel. It sounds like the conspiratorial Patel is living up to my MSNBC colleague Hayes Brown's description of him as a mixture of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and MAGA influencer Alex Jones. Read more at The New York Times. A team working under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has reportedly sought to use artificial intelligence tools to sift through emails at the nation's top spy agencies in an effort to root out people seen as disloyal to the Trump administration. As The Washington Post reported: A special team created by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has expressed a desire to gain access to emails and chat logs of the largest U.S. spy agencies with the aim of using artificial intelligence tools to ferret out what the administration deems as efforts to undermine its agenda, according to several people familiar with the matter. Read more at The Washington Post. Several Big Tech executives leaped to the defense of venture capitalist Shaun Maguire, who has been denounced for a bigoted tweet claiming New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is out to advance an 'Islamist agenda' and 'comes from a culture that lies about everything.' In response to a letter from hundreds of tech executives and employees denouncing the comments, various tech executives signed a letter calling Maguire's remarks 'the reflections of a principled thinker.' Read more at Business Insider. A far-right militia may have inspired a recent attack on an Oklahoma television station's weather radar. The vandalism comes as prominent Republicans — including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin — have fueled conspiracy theories about natural disasters being geo-engineered by nefarious actors. Read more at NBC News. This article was originally published on

'Have some sense of regret': Mike Waltz grilled hard over Signal chat row at UN confirmation hearing

Time of India