Latest news with #HomelandSecurityAdvisoryCouncil
Int'l Business Times
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Kristi Noem Reviewing Terminating DHS Employees Who 'Don't Like Us' and 'Don't Support' Immigration Efforts
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kristi Noem said that she is exploring ways to fire employees who "don't like us" or "don't support what we are doing," raising alarms about potential political retaliation. The remarks came Wednesday during the inaugural meeting of the Trump administration's new Homeland Security Advisory Council, held at DHS headquarters, according to Axios . Noem, who was confirmed earlier this year, used her opening comments to criticize the department's workforce and blame her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, for what she described as a culture of inertia. "What we have to be aware of is that we're working with the department that for the last four years hasn't been required to do much," she said. "There's a lot of people here that don't support what we're doing." Noem's rhetoric reflects a broader push by the Trump administration to reassert political control over DHS operations. Over the past few months, officials have requested that employees working on legal immigration processes volunteer to assist with deportation activities, per CBS News. Among its 22 Trump-appointed members are figures like former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, billionaire tech investor Marc Andreessen and conservative commentator Mark Levin. The group is tasked with offering "real-world" guidance on department operations, but critics say it also signals an intent to reshape DHS in line with Trump's hardline immigration and national security agenda. While Noem said during the meeting that she is looking to advisers for ways to remove employees who "don't like us," it remains unclear what legal mechanism she could use to fire career civil servants. Originally published on Latin Times
Global News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Global News
Trump taps Rudy Giuliani for Homeland Security Advisory Council
U.S. President Donald Trump announced his appointments to the Homeland Security Advisory Council on Tuesday, tapping his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, among other lawmakers, businesspeople, a high-level campaign adviser and a right-wing news commentator. The announcement, made by Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, says the council will provide 'real-time, real-world and independent advice on homeland security operations.' Story continues below advertisement Notable names include Giuliani — former New York City mayor and one of the lawyers who acted as a mouthpiece and questioned the result of the 2020 U.S election, which was won by former president Joe Biden — and right-wing political commentator Mark Levin. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Giuliani later faced a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers, a case he lost before going on to endorse Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign. View image in full screen Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City, speaks before President Donald Trump, taking the stage at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on October 27, 2024, in New York City. Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images The 81-year-old lawyer gained a reputation in court for losing his cool while claiming that the defamation lawsuit left him penniless. He was disbarred in New York City in July 2024 after a court found he repeatedly made false statements about Trump's 2020 election loss. The Manhattan appeals court ruled Giuliani, who had his New York law license suspended in 2021 for making false statements around the election, was no longer allowed to practice law in the state. Story continues below advertisement The list also includes several acting state governors and senators, such as Henry McMaster, Governor of South Carolina, who will act as committee chair, and Joseph Gruters, State Senator, Florida, as vice chair. 'This new-look, America First HSAC will draw upon a deep well of public and private sector experience from homeland security experts committed to fulfilling President Trump's agenda,' the announcement says. Corey Lewandowski, who helped lead Trump's campaign in 2016 and is currently a chief adviser to Noem, has also been appointed to the committee, as has Chris Cox, the founder of a group called 'Bikers for Trump,' a collective of motorcycle enthusiasts. The Homeland Security Advisory Council will hold its first meeting at DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C. on July 2nd, 2025. — With files from The Associated Press
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
War Hawks led by podcaster Mark Levin are pushing Trump to bomb Iran and using misinformation to make the case: report
A network of GOP war hawks, led by conservative talk show host Mark Levin, is quietly pushing President Donald Trump to abandon his plans for diplomacy and bomb Iran, according to a report. The disinformation-led campaign, however, is at odds with Trump's allies, who are urging him to remain diplomatic when dealing with Iran, sources told Politico. Levin, a Fox News host whom Trump recently appointed to the 'revamped' Homeland Security Advisory Council, met with the president at the White House last Wednesday. During their meeting, Levin warned Trump that Iran was just days away from building a nuclear weapon – claims Trump's own intelligence team has said are not accurate. Levin urged Trump to let the Israeli government bomb Iranian nuclear sites instead of completing the nuclear deal that has been in talks since April, according to the report. A successful deal, for which the two-month deadline is fast approaching, would keep Israel from striking Iran. Israel also assured the White House that it will not attack Iran's nuclear facilities unless Trump signals that negotiations with Iran have failed, sources told Axios. Meanwhile, Levin has long been waging a public tête-à-tête with Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who also attended the meeting. Another MAGA loyalist taking issue with Witkoff's efforts is Rupert Murdoch, whose right-leaning paper, the New York Post, has suggested that Witkoff is serving as a mouthpiece for Qatar. The allegations against Witkoff have left Trump's inner circle agitated, as his team sees the attacks on Witkoff as undermining the talks. Meanwhile, Murdoch has also been complaining about Witkoff's efforts to friends, according to the report. 'They're trying to push the president to make a decision that's not what he wants,' a senior administration official told Politico. 'There's clearly a lobby for war with Iran vs. those who are more aligned with the president, that know he is the one that has been able to bring them to the negotiating table.' Levin's lobbying brought on a coordinated response in defense of Trump and Witkoff's diplomacy, including from former Fox News host Tucker Carlson who slammed Levin's outlandish claims. 'There is zero credible intelligence that suggests Iran is anywhere near building a bomb, or has plans to. None,' Tucker wrote on X. 'So why is Mark Levin once again hyperventilating about weapons of mass destruction? To distract you from the real goal, which is regime change – young Americans heading back to the Middle East to topple yet another government.' Trump, who ran on the promise to end 'endless wars,' is now stuck in the middle, leaving some allies unsure of whether he will stand his ground or break. 'Levin and Murdoch are all over Trump all the time — I actually think they hurt their case because I know Trump,' one longtime Trump confidant told Politico. 'Once he's kind of made his mind up, you can come at it later from a different angle, but you keep pressing, he digs in.' Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Politico that Trump 'has always been willing to listen to a wide range of voices on every issue – but ultimately, he is the final decision maker.' 'With respect to Iran, President Trump has made his own opinion clear: he would like to pursue diplomacy and make a deal, but IF Iran makes a deal impossible, President Trump has options on the table,' she said. Trump sounded skeptical on Monday about a potential Iran deal, telling reporters that the Iranians are 'just asking for things that you cannot do.' 'They do not want to give up what they have to give up — you know what that is: They seek enrichment. We can't have enrichment,' he said. 'We want just the opposite. And so far they are not there. I hate to say that because the alternative is a very, very dire one.' Other MAGA figures such as Charlie Kirk and Jack Posobiec have also urged Trump to stick to diplomacy, while Vice President JD Vance also came to Witkoff's defense after the meeting, the Politico report noted. Trump's team is set to have more talks with Iran on Thursday. Witcoff recently gave Iran a proposal that would allow Tehran to enrich uranium at low levels but eventually become part of a regional consortium, according to Politico. With Trump now in the middle, people on both sides of the debate are unsure whether he will press on for diplomacy or change his mind, as he's done before. Trump, who has threatened to bomb Iran if they don't agree, could end up acting on the threat at the last minute. '[Trump is] very solid in what he wants and letting Witkoff do his thing,' one person close to the talks told Politico. 'But depending on who he hears from, he may move a little bit.' Trump's current favoritism of diplomacy over military action also shines a light on the growing rift between Washington and Israel as the two nations stay at odds over Iran. 'The president is not going to support war… But I'm telling you, these guys won't take no for an answer,' a longtime Trump ally told Politico. 'This is why there's a breach in the Bibi-President Trump relationship. ... Israel isn't reading the room. The MAGA movement doesn't support military operations.' The Independent has reached out to the White House for comment.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tucker Carlson Is Begging Trump to Ignore His Old Fox News Ally
Tucker Carlson has warned President Donald Trump not to heed his former Fox News colleague Mark Levin's advice, which he claims will 'end his presidency.' Levin, a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, was reportedly at the White House this week to lobby for war with Iran, claiming the Islamic Republic is 'weeks away' from developing a nuclear weapon—a claim Carlson dismissed as 'a lie.' 'There is zero credible intelligence that suggests Iran is anywhere near building a bomb, or has plans to. None,' Carlson stated in a fiery post on X. 'Anyone who claims otherwise is ignorant or dishonest.' The former Fox News host argued that the same warnings made by Levin about Iran's nuclear capabilities have been recycled for decades without evidence, and suggested that he and other interventionists are more concerned with regime change than nuclear proliferation. 'If the U.S. government knew Iran was weeks from possessing a nuclear weapon, we'd be at war already,' Carlson said. 'Iran knows this, which is why they aren't building one. Iran also knows it's unwise to give up its weapons program entirely. Muammar Gaddafi tried that and wound up sodomized with a bayonet. As soon as Gaddafi disarmed, NATO killed him. Iran's leaders saw that happen. They learned the obvious lesson.' He added: 'So why is Mark Levin once again hyperventilating about weapons of mass destruction? To distract you from the real goal, which is regime change—young Americans heading back to the Middle East to topple yet another government. 'Virtually no one will say this out loud. America's record of overthrowing foreign leaders is so embarrassingly counterproductive that regime change has become a synonym for disaster. Officially, no one supports it. So instead of telling the truth about their motives, they manufacture hysteria: 'A country like Iran can never have the bomb! They'll nuke Los Angeles! We have to act now!' Carlson pointed out that two of Iran's neighbors—Pakistan and Israel—already possess nuclear weapons, yet Levin never mentions them. 'It's not the weapons he hates. It's the ideology of the Iranian government.' Furthermore, an attack on Iran would result in the deaths of 'thousands of Americans' and plunge the U.S. into a third world war, he added, due to the Islamic Republic's extensive ties to Russia and China. 'An attack on Iran could very easily become a world war. We'd lose,' he wrote. 'Many Americans would die during a war with Iran. People like Mark Levin don't seem to care about this. It's not relevant to them. Instead they insist that Iran give up all uranium enrichment, regardless of its purpose. They know perfectly well that Iran will never accept that demand.' Carlson concluded: 'The one thing that people like Mark Levin don't want is a peaceful solution to the problem of Iran, despite the obvious benefits to the United States. They denounce anyone who advocates for a deal as a traitor and a bigot. They tell us with a straight face that Long Island native Steve Witkoff is a secret tool of Islamic monarchies. They'll say or do whatever it takes. They have no limits. These are scary people. Pray that Donald Trump ignores them.' The two Fox alumni have previously clashed on a number of occasions, most recently during a spat last month in which Levin called Carlson 'a little b-----d' after he criticized him for claiming the term 'neocon' was a euphemism for 'Jew.'
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mark Levin rages at ex-Fox colleague Tucker Carlson as MAGA-on-MAGA violence breaks out: ‘You little b*stard!'
Mark Levin and Tucker Carlson, two of the top pro-Trump commentators in the right-wing media ecosystem who also happen to be former Fox News colleagues, are currently embroiled in a war of words that has now seen one call the other a 'schmuck' and a 'little b*stard.' The tête-à-tête began last week when Levin, a Fox News host whom Donald Trump recently appointed to the 'revamped' Homeland Security Advisory Council, took issue with recent comments Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff made to MAGA outlet Breitbart. 'The Neocon element believes that war is the only way to solve things,' Witkoff said in the interview. 'The president believes that his force of personality, the way he is going to respond to certain situations, can bend people to do things in a better way in the interests of the United States government.' Levin, a hawkish right-winger who still believed in the WMD rationale for war in Iraq in 2014, reacted to the interview by claiming Witkoff 'talks like the fifth column isolationists' before saying he waited with 'great interest' on the deal the envoy was negotiating with Iran. 'In the meantime, rather than sloganeering against patriotic Americans who love our country, use your name-calling for the terrorist regime that has murdered Americans, tried to assassinate our president, chants death to America, and has lied its way toward a nuclear bomb,' Levin added before tweeting: 'By the way, neocon is a pejorative for Jew. Unbelievable.' It was this claim that using the term 'neocon' is somehow antisemitic – both Levin and Witkoff are Jewish – that prompted a response from Carlson, who has become the 'king of the isolationists' in the American conservative movement. Carlson, who was fired from Fox News in 2023, said that his former employer 'basically seems to turn its programming over to advocating for a war with Iran' before ridiculing Levin for his taking offense at Witkoff's take on the 'neocon element' in the GOP. 'So you have Mark Levin calling Steve Witkoff an antisemite. We've reached peak crazy, I mean, I think Witkoff is Jewish, right?' Carlson asked his guest Dave Smith, a comedian turned foreign policy critic. 'If Mark Levin is calling the Trump administration antisemitic, Steve Witkoff, we're at the end of something and the beginning of something new,' Carlson added. 'If you're calling Steve Witkoff an anti-Semite on Twitter, like, you know you're losing, right?' Carlson, who said he didn't call Levin because he would just be 'scolded' by the 'screaming' host, likely knew that the conservative pundit was going to return fire, especially since Levin spends much of his airtime raging at his critics. And that's exactly what happened this week. Midway through his syndicated radio show on Tuesday, Levin launched into an over-the-top tirade in which he repeatedly referred to his former Fox News cohort by the nickname deceased conservative radio star Rush Limbaugh bestowed on Carlson – Chatsworth Osborne Jr. 'So schmuck picks a fight with me, doesn't call me,' Levin fumed. 'You see, all the neocons are gone. So why do they keep using the word neoconservative? Notice they don't use hawk, interventionist. Neocon! Why do they keep saying neocon? Because many of the neoconservatives were old time, left-wing, Democrat Jews!' Continuing his explanation for why the term neocon is anti-Jewish, Levin said: 'Chatsworth knows it. I know it, and many of the people that use that phrase either don't know what they're talking about, but in the magazines and on the internet, they know it. So they're not going to say the Jews are dragging us into a war, they'll say Israel is, Netanyahu is. They're not gonna say the Jews this and the Jews that, so they use neocon.' Levin proceeded to use the next few minutes to claim that wanting to stop the 'Islamo-Nazi regime in Iran' means 'you're not a warmonger' but rather 'a peacemaker, only to bring it back around to Carlson's attacks on him. 'But I don't have to pretend I'm Helen Keller! That I don't see and I don't hear, and neither do you! And neither do you. And there's a whole pattern over there, with Chatsworth Osborne Jr., a whole pattern,' he raged. 'Now he's free to do what he wants. I believe in free speech. Go ahead, buy a subscription. Do whatever you want, it's perfectly fine by me. But don't screw with me, you little bastard, by twisting my words,' Levin concluded. 'And you should have picked up the phone because I would have cleared things up for you.' This isn't the first time that there's been tension between Carlson and Levin. When they were both hosting Fox News shows, Levin took issue with the now-former primetime star for being a frequent source for mainstream journalists. At the time, Ben Smith – then a New York Times columnist – revealed that despite his self-portrayal as the sworn enemy of the media establishment, Carlson had regularly dished to reporters about Fox and Trump. 'Now, I could go further into this, I'm not going to. That is a serious misunderstanding of one's role, of loyalty, and character. Let me leave it at that,' Levin said about Carlson in 2021.
