The 2025 New Mexico legislative session is a 60-day session.  It begins January 21 and ends on March 22, 2025. Legislation is already being prepared for the upcoming session by the legislature.  Democrats will hold a sizable majority in both legislative chambers.  In the NM  House,  Democrats have  the majority with  44 Democrats to 26 Republicans. In the NM Senate, Democrats have the majority with 28 Democrats to 14 Republicans.

New Mexico Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, announced that New Mexico Democratic lawmakers are crafting a crime package for the upcoming 60-day session that could include setting up a new trust fund to bolster behavioral health treatment programs statewide. Although  the bills are still being finalized, Stewart said the legislative  package will concentrate  on expanding mental health and substance abuse and drug treatment options. The goal is to have treatment programs all over the state.  Senator Stewart said the legislation will include  bills dealing with firearm safety and the large number of individuals deemed incompetent to stand trial.

According to Stewart, the money needed to expand such programs will come from the creation of a new state trust fund that would spin off annual distributions in future years. Lawmakers have already created such trust funds for early childhood programs, statewide conservation projects and higher education amid an ongoing state revenue boom.  Surging oil production in southeast New Mexico’s Permian Basin has resulted in the state having a projected $13.4 billion in revenue for the coming budget year,  or about $660 million above current spending levels.

CONFLICT WITH THE GOVERNOR

Stewart said the crime package Senate Democrats are crafting has been developed largely without input from the Governor’s Office.  She said it will address many of Governor  Lujan Grisham’s crime-related priorities. It will  include  changes to how the state deals with repeat offenders who are found incompetent to stand trial.

While New Mexico’s violent crime and property crime rates both dropped in 2023 compared to the previous year, the state still posted the nation’s second-highest violent crime rate. New Mexico also had the nation’s fourth-highest suicide rate in 2022. According to Kaiser Family Foundation data more than one-third of adult state residents reported anxiety or a depressive disorder in 2023,.

This past summer, spiking violent crime rates were  a major point of conflict between Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and legislative leaders from both parties. Lujan Grisham called lawmakers into a special session in July, but that session was adjourned after five hours and none of her legislative crime-related packaged passed. Democrats rebuffed several of the governor’s public safety proposals, saying they weren’t ready and could cause more harm than good. That included reforms to what happens to those deemed incompetent to stand trial.  Lujan Grisham said after the special session that legislators should be “embarrassed at their inability to summon even an ounce of courage to adopt common-sense legislation” intended to make New Mexicans safer.

State lawmakers responded to the Governors criticism by highlighting data showing millions of dollars allocated for public safety initiatives over the past 5 years that has gone unspent by the Lujan Grisham administration, due largely to high public safety position vacancy rates and other staffing issues.

Senate Republican Minority Leader William Sharer, R-Farmington, said  he would need to study further the proposed crime legislation before deciding whether he would support it. Sharer said he’s not convinced spending more money on treatment programs will fix New Mexico’s crime problem and he said this:

“Something changed in the last few decades. … The crime problems in Albuquerque weren’t in Albuquerque 20 years ago, at least not at this level.”

LEGISLATORS LOOK AT OVERHAULING BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SYSTEM

According to the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis (NCHW),  the number of behavioral health providers in New Mexico has increased in recent years.  NCHW also found the gap between the projected demand and supply of addiction and mental health counselors is expected to steadily grow over the next decade.

On November 18, the Legislative Finance Committee meet and discussed overhauling the states behavioral health system.  Senator Mimi Stewart, whose Senate district encompasses Albuquerque’s International District said this:

“We just don’t have a good, solid statewide behavioral health system.”

Stewart noted it was  former Gov. Susana Martinez’s dismantling of the state’s previous mental health care system in 2013 that caused the problem.  A decade ago, then-Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration largely dismantled the state’s behavioral health care system by freezing the Medicaid funding of several key providers, alleging fraud and abuse. Martinez brought in 5 out of state providers who eventually failed and left the State. The New Mexico providers were cleared by the Attorney General, but many of them simply went out of business and  the system has never fully recovered.

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH FUNDING GOES UNSPENT

In addition to a crime package, state lawmakers will likely do something about New Mexico’s less-than-adequate behavioral health system. It’s clear that New Mexico lawmakers know there’s not enough behavioral health resources to handle the issues. It’s also clear that throwing money at the system is not making it better, especially when its not spent.

Analysts with the Legislative Finance Committee revealed that between 2020 and 2024, state leaders earmarked more than $660 million for behavioral health resources and initiatives but only spent around $46 million, roughly 8%, and that’s only part of the funding identified.  New Mexico state lawmakers have expressed dissatisfaction which was supposed to be a well-funded behavioral health system but which is in fact deficient. Sen. George Muñoz said this:

“I mean, if we had a grade it’d be F, right?  … The [behavioral health] system is failing us, and it’s creating crime, homelessness, a lot of other social issues. So we got to get it fixed, or start that direction really quickly. It’ll be a five-to-seven-year fix, but I mean that amount of money sitting around, not getting used is just unreal. … Out of a billion dollars, can you name one thing that we fixed in mental health?”

Lawmakers learned the “Interagency Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative,” which was created in 2004 to oversee the statewide behavioral system, has not had a leader in over a year. State Rep. Jack Chatfield asked this: “Why is the reason that, with that much funding, we don’t have a director?” Legislative Finance Committee analyst Eric Chenier responded  “We haven’t found the right candidate at this point,” said Eric Chenier, a Legislative Finance Committee analyst. House Minority Leader, Rep. Gail Armstrong reacted by saying “Why would we trust them now to do something that they were supposed to be doing for the last 20 years?”

PROPOSED SOLUTION

During the November 18 meeting of  the Legislative Finance Committee,  LFC  analysts proposed a solution to address the failure to spend monies allocated and restructure the States Behavioral Health System.  Specifically, it was propose  to restructure the state’s behavioral health system into several, regional districts that will focus on figuring where the gaps are and how to fix them. Adrian Avila, a Legislative Finance Committee analyst said this:

“The reality is, the tailoring of the system needs to be done at the local, regional level. They know what their gaps are, and if they don’t, let’s facilitate them to figure out what those gaps are.”

State lawmakers suggested there’s still a lot of work to be done ahead of the legislative session, but there’s hope two months out.  Said state Rep. Meredith Dixon said this:

“I’m very optimistic. We have heard that a number of committees in the interim are working on proposals, very expansive proposals. They’ve had the time to really dive deep into these issues and work together”

Links to quoted and relied upon news source material are here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/news/senate-democrats-crafting-crime-package-with-focus-on-expanding-behavioral-health-programs/article_78ec01c6-a078-11ef-9e08-df607138e74e.html#tncms-source=home-featured-7-block

https://www.kunm.org/kunm-news-update/2024-11-12/tues-bernco-commissioners-consider-off-duty-weed-use-more

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/state-lawmakers-discuss-overhauling-behavioral-health-system-in-new-mexico/

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

According to one study, more than 3,200 people charged with crimes since 2017 in New Mexico have been released back into the community after being found incompetent to stand trial. More than 5,350 of the 16,045 dismissed charges were felonies. The dismissals include those charged with first-degree murder, trafficking controlled substances, kidnapping and abuse of a child.

During the 2025 session, the Legislature should seek to create a “mental health treatment court” to function as outreach and a treatment court for the drug addicted and the mentally ill, in a mandatory hospital or counseling settings, and not involving jail incarceration. There is a major need for the construction and staffing of mental health facilities or hospitals to provide the services needed for the mentally ill and drug addicted.

Defendants charged with lesser crimes have been repeat offenders caught in a cycle of being charged, released, arrested again, charged again, and let go after court-ordered evaluations showed they cannot participate in their own defense and ruled they were mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Legislature must strengthen and expand New Mexico’s mental health commitment laws, coupled with full funding for mental health facilities and the courts. District attorneys and public defenders must be made a part of the solution by expanding the state mental health commitment laws and allowing the filing of civil mental health commitments that go beyond existing 3-day, 7-day and 30-day evaluation commitments and mandate prolonged mental health treatment.

District judges should be required to order district attorneys to file “involuntary commitment” proceedings against criminal defendants who are found incompetent to stand trial and who would be released without further criminal prosecution for crimes committed.

The 2025 Legislature should enact the governor’s proposal for the involuntary civil commitment of criminal defendants charged with a serious violent offense, a felony involving the use of a firearm, and those defendants who have also been found incompetent to stand trial two or more times in the past 12 months.

The Legislature should also enact the governor’s proposed bill that will broaden the definitions of danger to oneself and danger to others in New Mexico’s involuntary commitment statute that mandates involuntary treatment for people with mental illness. The law should mandate district attorneys to initiate involuntary civil commitments and allow a judge to mandate outpatient treatment.

It should allow individuals, whether first responders, family members or community members who work with mentally ill individuals on the streets, to request involuntary outpatient treatment.

New Mexico has historical surplus revenues with an astonishing $3.6 billion in reported surplus revenue. Now is the time to create a statewide a mental health court and dedicate funding for the construction of behavioral health hospitals and drug rehabilitation treatment facilities.

Funding for district attorneys and public defenders with dedicated personnel resources for the filing and defending of civil mental health commitments must be included.

A statewide mental health court with mandatory civil commitments will get treatment to those who need it the most, help get the unhoused off the streets and help families with loved ones who resist any mental health treatment.”

Far more needs to be done. Warehousing the mentally ill, drug addicted or the unhoused who are mentally ill or drug addicted in jails for crimes committed is simply not the answer. It does not address treatment, nor is it much of a solution.

 

Isaac and Sharon Eastvold are long time community activists.  They founded the Fair Heights Neighborhood Association on October 11, 1993.  Both have been residents of City Council District 7 since its inception and residents of City Council District 5 which became District 7 because of redistricting. They have also been members of the Neighborhood Stormwater Drainage Management Team since May 31, 2021.  Isaac and Sharon Eastvold were the founding members of the Friends of the Albuquerque Petroglyphs (FOTAP).  This organization was instrumental in securing city council and community support for the establishment of Petroglyph National Monument on June 27, 1990.  Isaac was awarded one of two pens used by President George H.W. Bush to sign the establishment act.

GREEN STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE DEFINED

Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) is a method of sustainable stormwater management that focuses on treating stormwater runoff prior to it entering waterways by mimicking and working with living, natural systems. It is an approach to managing stormwater runoff in ways that mimic the natural environment as much as possible, using plants, soil, and stone to filter and manage stormwater more effectively, reducing how much enters our sewer systems, and protecting our rivers and streams.

Urban areas have lots of hard surfaces  such as roofs, roads, parking lots, etc.,  that don’t allow water from rain, snow, and ice to soak into the ground naturally, so the runoff collects pollutants and litter on its way down the drain, and overwhelms our sewer systems, which can overflow into our rivers and streams.

Green stormwater infrastructure tools allow runoff to get soaked up by plants, filter into the ground, or evaporate into the air. Some systems also slowly release the water into a sewer once wet weather and the threat of overflows have passed.

https://www.bernco.gov/public-works/public-works-services/water-wastewater-stormwater/stormwater/green-stormwater-infrastructure-and-post-construction-stormwater-management/

https://water.phila.gov/gsi/

The link to read the city ordinance to include Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) in city medians and landscaping buffers is here:

Click to access O-2024-008.pdf

EDITOR’S DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this guest column by Isaac and Sharon Eastvold are those of the Eastvolds  and do not necessarily reflect those of the www.petedinelli.com blog. The Eastvolds have not paid for and they have not been paid any compensation to publish their guest column.  They  have given their consent to publish their column  on www.PeteDinelli.com as a public service announcement especially to the residents and voters of District 7 to enlighten them on what is going on in District 7.

Following is the  guest column Isaac and Sharon Eastvold submitted for publication:

HEADLINE: GREENWASHING ALBUQUERQUE

             The City is moving ahead with another so called “green” project. They also called the ART (Albuquerque Rapid Transit) project on Central Ave.“green.” That project cut down over 500 trees, and got rid of electric busses. There seemed to be no end to cost overruns.

             Like ART, the new Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) “Pilot Project” being touted by Councilor Tammy Feibelkorn proposes to retrofit older neighborhoods with an impossible, destructive burden. Costs are already running into millions and headed for even greater overruns. The money for all of this is coming from, you guessed it, your tax dollars.

             Directly affected residents were not informed by Councilor Feibelkorn that millions for this GSI Project were hidden in the Municipal Bond election. These bonds never fail to pass. Impacted residents seldom know all the things tucked out of sight which are part of their vote. Factual concerns, questions and petitions have been ignored by Councilor Feibelkorn and City consultants. Written comments which opposed putting GSI in the bond mysteriously disappeared when mailed to the full council and the Mayor.

             GSI involves excavations of streets for what are called “bump outs” or “bio swales.” These would be nine feet wide from the curb, nine inches deep and of varying lengths between driveways. The city claims that these excavations will capture stormwater and infiltrate it to groundwater below the swale. 

             However, according to USGS data report 1162 (https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/dr1162), the water table depth in this project area varies from 150-500 feet. The preferred placement of bioswales should be 5-18 feet over the water table (EPA.com).

             In addition, the City’s own GeoTest,Inc, (https://fbtcloud.com/s/izff5nDTydLa03Z) has found clay levels 6 to 9 feet down that would prevent infiltration. It could spread stormwater laterally, with time, and cause subsidence of adjacent streets and structures.

             Albuquerque is not an area known for heavy rain. In fact, meteorologist have been calling our yearly rains “non-soons” instead of “monsoons.” The last significant rain occurred in 2021 with 3, one-inch separate rain storms. Some stormwater went over the curb on a short stretch of Summer between Alvarado and La Veta NE. This was not caused by heavy rains. Instead, it was caused by two improperly resurfaced sections of street key to normal, mid-heights gravity flow: 1) Summer and 2) Marble. Correcting the resurfacing of these two short sections of street would restore the intended gravity flow of stormwater to the San Mateo (8 ft) and San Pedro (4 ft) main drains.

              The GSI “Pilot Project” also proposes cement underground stormwater storage tanks. As an example, one tank is planned on La Veta Dr. between Summer and El Encanto. This will not be connected to the city’s storm drain system. This captured water has no way of infiltrating to the groundwater table. The “bump outs ” and tanks can not meet the Rio Grande NM/Texas Compact rule of returning withheld water to the river in 96 hours (4 days). 

             The dark, moist place, of underground tanks would provide inviting habitat for the Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes now plaguing Albuquerque.

(https://www.cabq.gov/environmentalhealth/urban-biology/mosquitoes/aedes-aegypti-the-yellow-fever-mosquito)

             Politicians, including Mayor Keller and Councilor Feibelkorn, if they hope to be re-elected, should learn from the “greenwashed” and miserably failed ART disaster on Central Blvd. Cost overruns were monumental. The GSI “pilot project” promises to be yet another expensive misuse of tax payer’s municipal bond money. 

            Concerned citizens can support any beautification of the neighborhood or city that is well researched and truly environmentally sound. They can not support ignoring good alternatives that efficiently resolve real problems.

             Good alternatives do exist, but have been ignored.  What the city is proposing will only benefit the bottomless pockets of a small cadre of consultants. The result will be the degradation of long established mid-heights neighborhoods. 

DINELLI COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

It is safe to say that the overwhelming majority of residents of mid heights District 7, who City Councilor Tammy Feibelkorn represents, are unaware of how the so called Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) “pilot project” will impact their property and neighborhood. The “pilot project” is being imposed by the Keller Administration on mid-heights neighborhoods east and west of San Mateo. District 7 residents essentially were never informed that millions were in the city’s municipal bond election for this “pilot project.”  District 7 residents feel their concerns and questions have been largely ignored by City Councilor Tammy Feibelkorn and the Keller Administration.

MAYOR KELLER AND CITY COUNCILOR TAMMY FIEBELKORN

During the last  three years she has been an Albuquerque City Councilor, Tammy Fiebelkorn has exhibited a pattern of downright hostility towards constituents who oppose or who disagree with her votes on policy and legislation.  Although known for attending the District 7 Neighborhood Coalition meetings to give updates on what is happening in her district, she repeatedly takes issue with those who disagree with her at the meetings and who ask her to reconsider positions.  She simply refuses to change her mind and then goes out of her way to offend.  She has told the officers of the District 7 Neighborhood Coalition, which boasts membership of 10 neighborhood associations, that the coalition is not reflective of District 7 needs and concerns.

What is the most troubling is that City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn, in addition to promoting Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) “Pilot Project” as describe by the Eastvold’s, she promotes her own personal agenda with little or no concern and many times with no input from  her constituents.

There are  7 major examples of City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkcorn promoting her own personal agenda at the expense of her constituents:

Progressive Democrat Fiebelkorn teamed up with then Progressive District 6 City Councilor President Pat Davis, who left the council, to sponsor a City Council Redistricting map. The new map would have gutted both her own District 7 and Davis’s District 6. The redistricting map carved out a large portion of District 7 that was clearly more conservative or in order to add the more progressive Nob Hill area in District 6 to Fiebelkorn’s District 7 in order to enhance her own reelection chances. It was classic gerrymandering, but thankfully the City Council rejected the redistricting.

Fiebelkorn is a staunch supporter of Safe Outdoor Spaces which are city sponsored managed homeless encampments with 40 designated spaces for tents that allows for upwards of 50 people, require hand washing stations, toilets and showers, require a management plan, 6 foot fencing and social services offered.  She voted for the changes to the city zoning laws that now allow Safe Outdoor Spaces in all 9 City Council Districts. Fiebelkorn  sponsored legislation that failed that would have empowered the City Planning Department to unilaterally approve all Safe Outdoor Space Applications and totally eliminate the public’s right to challenge and appeal the applications and eliminated City Council intervention. Mayor Tim Keller supported the legislation as part of his ABQ Forward Plan.

Fiebelkorn supported and voted for major amendments to the city’s zoning laws that would have allowed the development of both “casitas”and “duplexes” in all existing residential developments and areas of town as permissive uses eliminating  appeal rights of adjoining property owners in order to double or triple the city’s density. Mayor Keller wanted the doubling or tripling of density in all quadrants of the city to address the city’s so called housing shortage and it  would have disastrous effects on the character of  established neighborhoods.  All the amendments to the city zoning laws Fiebelkorn voted for and advocated for  and Mayor Keller advocated for favored developers at the expense of homeowners and especially historical areas of the city. Mayor Tim Keller supported the legislation as part of his ABQ Forward Plan.

Fiebelkorn sponsored the “Residential Protection Ordinance” which was voted down by the city council. The ordinance was nothing more than an attempt at rent control which has been rejected by the New Mexico legislature repeatedly and which Fiebelkorn unsuccessfully promoted. Mayor Tim Keller supported the legislation.

Fiebelkorn sponsored the “Residential Rental Permit Ordinance” which was voted down by the city council. The resolution was an attempt to limit and place caps on ownership of short term rentals and enact regulations of  the “bed and breakfast” rental  industry in the city. Mayor Tim Keller supported the legislation.

Fiebelkorn is sponsoring  legislation to amend the city’s building code that will  require all rental housing units in the city be equipped with cooling systems that can keep temperatures at or below 80 degrees in the summer. Fiebelkorn  said what  was being done was  adding cooling to the list of basic necessities  in rental structures. Fiebelkorn said “I’ll point out that 80 degrees is still pretty warm, but that is just the baseline that everyone in our community should expect, no matter how much or how little they can afford to pay for rent.” The problem is the 80-degree threshold would essentially ban the use of swamp coolers and require installation of A/C refrigerated air or conversions averaging a cost of between $5,000 to $15,000 per unit. More than 43% of Albuquerque apartments buildings were constructed before 1980 and many have not been retrofitted with central air conditioning. Fiebelkorn showed her ignorance by not realizing any costs associated with upgrades of cooling systems will be passed on to renters contributing to the shortage of affordable housing. The bill was given a “do not pass” recommendation in committee and remains to be voted on by the full council.   The Keller Administration objected to the committee’s do not pass recommendation.

City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn is a very staunch and very vocal animal rights advocate. Twice  she has complained about the city’s treatment of animals. The first was in June, 2022 when she alleged that farm animals at the Albuquerque Bio Park Heritage Farm  were being neglected, not being properly fed nor given appropriate veterinarian care and suffering from poor conditions she claimed she witnessed.  An investigation concluded the accusations were false. The most recent complaint occurred November 2024 when she complained of the city’s program, authorized by city ordinance and funded by city council, to eradicate and kill pigeons nesting and which were posing a health risk at city hall

2025 MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Mayor Keller has already made it known he is running for a third 4 year term as Mayor in 2025 with at least 2 candidates mulling a race against Keller  and one other who has announce. Republican Eddy Aragon, the right wing radio talk show host who ran against Keller 4 years ago has already announced his candidacy.

It is more likely than not that Tammy Fiebelkcorn will be seeking a second term to the Albuquerque City Council in 2025. Informed sources are saying that dissatisfaction with her has become so great by many of  her District 7 constituents that they are actively seeking a candidate to run against her.

Let’s hope strong candidates are found to run against both Mayor Tim Keller and Tammy Fiebelkorn and their collaboration on legislation will come to an end.

Albuquerque City Councilor Renee Grout has introduced for city council enactment 3 city ordinances and amendments to make major changes to how the city is dealing  with the homeless encampments.  She has introduced legislation that will change rules about public camping, abandoned shopping carts, and the use of public parks in general.  Grout says the 3 measures are intended to curb the effects of unhoused encampments, make public spaces safer and improve the quality of life of all residents.

The blog article is an analysis of all 3 measures.

AMENDMENTS TO  THE PARKS ORDINANCE

The first amends the existing ordinance on the use of city parks and prohibits camping, fires, shopping carts, and  deals with  use of playground equipment and vandalism. The public encampment regulations further define the prohibitions on public camping in unauthorized areas such as parks, streets and sidewalks.  The changes are  intended to curb littering, vandalism, drug use,  and illegal camping.

The amendments to the Parks Ordinance contain the following prohibitions:

1. No Camping. No person will be allowed to camp or construct or erect any tent, building or other structure whether permanent or temporary, in a park  for the purpose of staying in the park  overnight or be allowed extension of electrical utilities except by written permission of the Mayor. An exception would be allowed for youth organizations camping with adult supervision for one night only and with written permission or a permit  from the Mayor and the  Director of the Parks & Recreation Department.

 

2. Shopping Carts Prohibited.  Shopping carts would be prohibited in all  City parks,  city open spaces, and the parking areas that serve these facilities. Any shopping  cart, whether empty or containing any merchandise or belongings, may be confiscated and either returned to the cart owner, recycled, or otherwise disposed of.

 

3. Wrongful Use of Playground Equipment. Unless otherwise posted, the  use of playground equipment is reserved for children. Adults would be allowed in playground areas or within 50 feet of playground areas only when  accompanied by a child under the age of 12, unless the 50-foot buffer extends  beyond the Park boundary. This buffer may include gazebos, benches, and  tables,

 

4. Children Park Designations. The Mayor may designate certain parksas “Children’s Parks” and restrict access by adults unless they are  accompanied by a child under the age of 12. Users must follow playground  guidelines and restrictions. During park operating hours, no person shall  engage in any conduct that deprives park visitors of the intended use of the  playground equipment.

 

5. Vandalism of Park Grounds. The existing law provides “No person in a park shall damage, cut, carve, transplant or remove any tree or plant or injure the bark or pick the flowers or  seeds, of any tree or plant.”  The ordinance will be amended to provide (in bold and italicized)  that  “No …  person [shall] attach any rope, wire, hammock, or other contrivance to any tree or plant. No person shall damage grass by leaving personal items in grass areas for extended periods.”

 

6. No Feeding of Wildlife. No person in a park shall give or offer or attempt to give to any animal or bird any food, tobacco, alcohol, or other known noxious or injurious substances to any bird or wild animal. Park users shall clean up and  remove all food scraps and wrappers that could attract wild animals.

 

7. No Fires. Fires would only  be allowed in permanent grills  provided by the City for cooking.

 

8. Vending of Merchandise. Vending would be  allowed only  by  licensed vendors in designated areas only with a valid permit from the Department of Parks & Recreation. Food vendors must carry all other permits required by the Environmental Health Department, the Fire Marshal, and any  other regulatory agencies.

 

9. Advertising signs and 2 banners may be allowed only on outfield fences in baseball and softball parks. The “batter’s eye” portion of all outfield fences, defined as the area directly behind the pitcher from the batter’s perspective, shall be kept clear of all  signs, banners, and other visual distractions.

 

• Dog Exercising. Any person may exercise dogs with or without leash in parks designated by the Mayor with times prescribed.

 

The link to review the entire ordinance is here:

https://htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/o-56-673abd707d89b.pdf

Councilor Grout said this about her proposed changes to city park usage ordinance:

“We should be able to go and play catch with the ball, play soccer, have picnics in the park and not worry. Sometimes, people use them to sleep. You know, you can take a nap in the park, that’s fine. But there’s not supposed to be overnight camping. …  Parents should be able to know that the children can run around and play in … playground[s]. There shouldn’t be a fear of stepping on a needle, that has happened. … There have been children that have stepped on needles in parks. … They see people that are passed out in parks. … Our children should not be subject to seeing this in a public park. … We just want our children and our grandchildren and neighbors to be able to enjoy our beautiful, public spaces.”

“SHOPPING CART ABANDONMENT” PREVENTION ORDINANCE

The second ordinance deals with shopping cart theft and abandonment. Shopping carts are stolen from grocery stores and businesses and often used by the homelessness to transport their personal belongings.  Metal shopping carts range in price from anywhere from $159 to $250.

Abandoned shopping carts can pose safety hazards and contribute to neighborhood blight.  This ordinance would make it illegal to possess shopping carts outside of a retailer’s property. Possession of a cart would result in a petty misdemeanor and could include fines or jail time. However, a judge would be able to give a community service sentence instead. The resolution would place far more responsibility on businesses to prevent shopping cart thefts and would require businesses to submit a plan to the city on steps they’re taking to keep carts secure.  The ordinance would allow the city to collect abandoned shopping carts and hold them for up to 30 days before being considered “forfeited.”  Businesses would have 7 days to pick up their shopping carts for a $25 fee. An extra $5 will be tacked on for every day after. Forfeited carts would be recycled, donated, or repaired and sold.

City Councilor Grout said this about the shopping cart ordinance:

“As a business owner, we are responsible for what makes our business tick, and they just need to be more responsible for the carts. … We see them all over. We see abandoned carts. … We don’t want it to be a burden on businesses, but they should be responsible for, what makes the business go around. Shopping carts are part of that, and so they need to take care of them.”

The link to review the entire shopping cart ordinance is here:

https://htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/o-57-673abd7d003f8.pdf

PUBLIC CAMPING ORDINANCE

The third ordinance makes illegal “public camping” in unauthorized areas such as parks, streets and sidewalks.

The ordinance defines “CAMP”  as “ To occupy an area for the purpose of establishing or maintaining a  permanent or temporary place to live, or to occupy an area with an apparent intent to remain in that location for 24 hours or more.”

CAMP FACILITIES are defined in the act as “Tents, huts and any other temporary structures or shelters.”

An ENCAMPMENT is defined as “An area where an individual or individuals have erected  one or more tent or structures or placed personal items on public property with the apparent intent to remain in that location for 24 hours or more.  An  area will not be deemed an encampment merely because any individuals are  present on public property or because individuals have temporarily placed  personal items on public property.”

The ordinance is straight forward making it unlawful to camp on public property and it states:

“Except as otherwise authorized by ordinance or by rules issued by the Department of Parks and Recreation, it shall be unlawful for any person to camp, or maintain an encampment, in any publicly owned area, including any street, sidewalk, right of way, park, or open space. It shall further be unlawful  for any person to refuse to remove an encampment from public land after  receiving a notice instructing them to remove the encampment, or to set up an  encampment after being ordered to remove one from a particular location.  A  person does not violate this ordinance if the person is merely sitting, sleeping  or lying on public property on a temporary basis.”

The new ordinance will also make it unlawful for any person to maintain personal property, including camp facilities or camp paraphernalia, on public property after that person has received a notice instructing them to remove the items.

Violation of the ordinance is a petty 5 misdemeanor and, upon conviction be subject to a fine not exceeding $500 or by imprisonment not exceeding 90 days or both (§ 1-1-99)

The link to review the camping  ordinance is here:

Click to access o-58-673abd810f065.pdf

All 3 ordinances have been referred to the City Council Finance, Government and Operations Committee for hearings. Final action on the measures will likely occur after January 1.

OBJECTIONS RAISED AND RESPONSES

Anami Dass, chair of the city’s Human Rights Board, had harsh words  of the  measures dealing with prohibitions on public camping saying  the measures amount to little more than an “attack on rights.”  Dass said this:

“Life for some of us is hard enough — we don’t need the individuals we elected to represent all of us introducing ordinances designed to take tents away from people who literally have no alternative. … These ordinances are going to be up for final action around Christmas, and the Council will be debating Grout’s proposals to make life even worse for unhoused people … I think it’s time we consider what it is we are becoming, and who we would rather be instead.”

Councilor Grout said this in response to the criticism:

“It is not an attack on the homeless community at all. The taxpayers have been very generous with their money. We have spent millions of dollars on contracts with nonprofit providers to help them with services, getting them into shelters, getting them into housing.”

“We spent $85.9 million from 2020 to 2024 on contracts with social service providers — that doesn’t even include federal funding.  We just budgeted $4 million to operate the Gibson Gateway Center and we’ve spent $100 million rehabbing it. In fiscal year 2024 we spent $13.5 million in housing vouchers. We’re also remodeling the Gateway West — the Westside shelter.”

“We need to help our less fortunate people, but we can’t allow them to just run amok in our community. …  Families often tell [me] they feel unsafe in their neighborhood parks. … We all have to live by rules whether we like it or not.”

“Homelessness is not a crime — but a lot of the behavior is. We need to get them into safe shelter. We need to get them into safe spaces, because they deserve better than just being on the street in my opinion.”

“There’s nothing wrong with having boundaries. … If somebody wants to camp out or live outside, that’s their business — but they have to do it in certain areas. It can’t just be anywhere they want.”

“We’re codifying it because it’s documented in several places, in the traffic code, in the [Integrated Development Ordinance], the criminal code, it’s in the open space [code] — it’s even mentioned in the parks ordinance. … It’s mentioned, but not really defined. This is getting it better defined.”

Links to quoted and relied upon news sources are here:

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/tents-shopping-carts-park-use-proposed-rules-could-change-how-albuquerque-addresses-the-homeless-crisis/

https://www.koat.com/article/city-council-proposals-to-make-public-spaces-safer/62932205

https://citydesk.org/2024/trio-of-ordinances-seeks-to-curb-effects-of-encampments/

Click to access o-58-673abd810f065.pdf

EXISTING STATE STATUTES AND CITY ORDINANCES

The State of New Mexico and the City of Albuquerque have enacted 8 laws and ordinances enacted to protect the general public health, safety, and welfare and to protect the public’s peaceful use and enjoyment of property. The specific statutes and ordinances are:

1. NMSA 1978, Section 30-14-1 (1995), defining criminal trespass on public and private property.
2. NMSA 1978, Section 30-14-4 (1969), defining wrongful use of property used for a public purpose and owned by the state, its subdivisions, and any religious, charitable, educational, or recreational association.
3. Albuquerque City Ordinance 12-2-3, defining criminal trespass on public and private property.
4. Albuquerque City Ordinance 8-2-7-13, prohibiting the placement of items on a sidewalk so as to restrict its free use by pedestrians.
5. Albuquerque City Ordinance 10-1-1-10, prohibiting being in a park at nighttime when it is closed to public use.
6. Albuquerque City Ordinance 12-2-7, prohibiting hindering persons passing along any street, sidewalk, or public way.
7. Albuquerque City Ordinance 5-8-6, prohibiting camping on open space lands and regional preserves.
8. Albuquerque City Ordinance 10-1-1-3, prohibiting the erection of structures in city parks.

All the above laws are classified as “non-violent crimes” and are misdemeanors.  The filing of criminal charges by law enforcement are discretionary when the crime occurs in their presence. The City of Albuquerque and the Albuquerque Police Department have  agreed that only citations will be issued and no arrests will be made for “nonviolent crimes”  as part of a federal  court approved settlement agreement  in  a decades old federal civil rights lawsuit dealing with jail overcrowding.

US SUPREME COURT CASE GRANTS PASS V. JOHNSON

 On June 28, the United State Supreme Court announced its ruling in the case of Grants Pass v. Johnson where the court held that local laws effectively criminalizing homelessness do not violate the U.S. Constitution and do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. The case challenged a municipality’s ability to bar people from sleeping or camping in public areas, such as sidewalks and parks. The case is strikingly similar in facts and circumstances and laws to the case filed against the City of Albuquerque over the closure of Coronado Park.

The case came from the rural Oregon town of Grants Pass, which appealed a ruling striking down local ordinances that fined people $295 for sleeping outside after tents began crowding public parks. The homeless plaintiffs argued that Grants Pass, a town with just one 138-bed overnight shelter,  criminalized them for behavior they couldn’t avoid: sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go.

Meanwhile, municipalities across the western United States argued that court rulings hampered their ability to quickly respond to public health and safety issues related to homeless encampments.  The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over the nine Western states, ruled in 2018 that such bans violate the Eighth Amendment in areas where there aren’t enough shelter beds.

The United States Supreme Court considered  whether cities can enforce laws and take action against or punish the unhoused for sleeping outside in public spaces when shelter space is lacking. The case is the most significant case heard by the high court in decades on the rights of the unhoused and comes as a rising number of people in the United States are without a permanent place to live.

In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the Supreme Court  reversed a ruling by a San Francisco-based appeals court that found outdoor sleeping bans amount to “cruel and unusual punishment” under the United States Constitution. The majority found that the 8th Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment does not extend to bans on outdoor sleeping in public places such as parks and streets.  The Supreme Court ruled  that cities can enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outdoors, even in West Coast areas where shelter space is lacking.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority:

“Homelessness is complex. Its causes are many. So may be the public policy responses required to address it. … A handful of federal judges cannot begin to ‘match’ the collective wisdom the American people possess in deciding ‘how best to handle’ a pressing social question like homelessness. … Cities across the West report that the 9th Circuit’s involuntary test has crated intolerable uncertainty for them.”

Gorsuch suggested that people who have no choice but to sleep outdoors could raise that as a “necessity defense,” if they are ticketed or otherwise punished for violating a camping ban.

A bipartisan group of leaders had argued the ruling against the bans made it harder to manage outdoor encampments encroaching on sidewalks and other public spaces in nine Western states. That includes California, which is home to one-third of the country’s homeless population.

Homeless advocates argue that allowing cities to punish people who need a place to sleep would criminalize homelessness and ultimately make the crisis worse. Cities had been allowed to regulate encampments but couldn’t bar people from sleeping outdoors.

Progressive Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketangi Brown Jackson dissented. Sotomayor read from the bench the dissent and said this:

“Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime. … Punishing people for their status is ‘cruel and unusual’ under the Eighth Amendment. … It is quite possible, indeed likely, that these and similar ordinances will face more days in court. … It is possible to acknowledge and balance the issues facing local governments, the humanity and dignity of homeless people, and our constitutional principles. … [But the majority instead] focuses almost exclusively on the needs of local governments and leaves the most vulnerable in our society with an impossible choice: Either stay awake or be arrested.”

Attorney Theane Evangelis, who represented Grants Pass before the high court, applauded the ruling, saying the 9th Circuit decision had “tied the hands of local governments.”  Evangelis said this:

“Years from now, I hope that we will look back on today’s watershed ruling as the turning point in America’s homelessness crisis.”

The Supreme Courts ruling comes after homelessness in the United States has peaked and grown 12% last year to its highest reported level, as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more people. More than 650,000 people are estimated to be homeless, the most since the country began using a yearly point-in-time survey in 2007. Nearly half of them sleep outside. Older adults, LGBTQ+ people and people of color are disproportionately affected, advocates said. In Oregon, a lack of mental health and addiction resources has also helped fuel the crisis.

The Link to a quoted and relied upon news sources are here:

https://www.koat.com/article/supreme-court-oregon-homelessness/61453397

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

There is a fine balance between assisting those experiencing homelessness while also enforcing laws that are designed to protect public health, safety and welfare and the peaceful use and enjoyment of public lands by the public such as parks. The Albuquerque City Council and Mayor Keller are on opposite sides on many issues, with one notable exception and that is how to deal with the unhoused and that unhoused encampments should not be allowed.

The Keller Administration has gone so far as to implement a formal homeless encampment removal policy that establishes the priority of what encampments to target first. The policy provides a timeline for which individuals must be notified of an encampment clearing. It provides for storage of personal belongings by the city free of charge. It authorizes the city to dispose of personal property seized that is abandoned.

The proposed ordinances and amendments to the existing ordinances as proposed by City Councilor Renee Grout represent a good faith effort to deal with problematic encampments. However, her proposals are in fact an overlap or a redundancy to existing state laws and city ordinances calling into question what will be accomplished, if anything, if enacted. As it stands under existing law, unhoused squatters or campers can be charged with criminal trespassing, unlawful use of public property, interference with sidewalk usage and street rights of way and unlawful nighttime camping in public parks. The city also has an aggressive encampment clearance policy.

The shopping cart abandonment ordinance is somewhat unique and clever at the same time, but it essentially places burdens on businesses who are victims of crime and stolen property when it’s the thief that needs to be charged. Victims of stolen shopping carts should not be required to pay the city $25 for the return of their stolen property and an extra $5 a day thereafter when they are told to pick up their property.  Metal Shopping carts cost anywhere from $150 to $250  and unhoused who pilfer them could be charged with theft or possession of stolen property, but that in fact never happens.

https://shopcarriage-trade.com/shopping-carts/metal-shopping-carts?srsltid=AfmBOooTNUlOWTnmaowgzlgrL2YLx5ZHAamn23Sx0ACJo-QUq9euP_VJ

The United States Supreme Court has given cities the green light to enforce vagrancy laws when it comes to the unhoused. Unhoused who have no interest in any offers of shelter, beds, motel vouchers or alternatives to living on the street force the city to make it totally inconvenient for them to “squat” anywhere they want and must force them to move on. After repeated attempts to reason with them to move on, citations and arrests are in order. Until the problem is solved, the public perception will be that very little to no progress has been made despite millions spent to deal with what Mayor Tim Keller proclaims as the “challenge of our lifetime.”

Links to related blog articles are here:

Mayor Tim Keller Creates 5 Separate Gateway Shelters To Deal With “Challenge Of Our Lifetime”; City’s $200 Million Financial Commitment To Unhoused; Keller Embellishes By Doubling Unhoused Numbers As He  Fails To Deal With Those Who Refuse Services And Getting Them Off Streets

City Revising Removal Of Homeless Encampment Policy; South Central And International District Area New Target  For Clean Ups; Action Long Overdue To Enforce Existing City Ordinances

 

City Creates “Shelter Connect Dashboard” Identifying Unhoused Shelter During Winter Months; City’s Unsheltered Data Breakdown; City’s Financial Commitment To The Unhoused; Given City’s Commitment To Homeless, Crisis Should Be Manageable But Has Only Gotten Worse Under Mayor Tim Keller

 

 

On November 1  President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden for federal felony gun and tax convictions reversing his pledge not to pardon his son or commute his son’s sentence after convictions in  two cases one in Delaware and the other in California. The pardon itself is sweeping in scope and goes way beyond the two recent federal felony convictions and covers the time frame of January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.

The pardon comes weeks before Hunter Biden’s sentencing was to happen after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges. The pardon also comes less than two months before  Donald Trump is set to return to the White House. The pardon ends a long running saga that began in December 2020 when Hunter Biden publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation.

https://apnews.com/article/biden-son-hunter-charges-pardon-pledge-24f3007c2d2f467fa48e21bbc7262525

https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/01/politics/hunter-biden-joe-biden-pardon/index.html

Following is the full statement released by President Biden on the pardon of his son Hunter Biden:

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.

The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.

No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.

For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”

The link to the news source is here:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/12/01/statement-from-president-joe-biden-11/

The pardon reads in full as follows:

Executive Grant of Clemency
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States of America

To All to Whom These Presents Shall Come, Greetings:

Be It Known, That This Day, I, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, Pursuant to My Powers Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, Have Granted Unto

ROBERT HUNTER BIDEN

A Full and Unconditional Pardon

For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto signed my name and caused the Pardon to be recorded with the Department of Justice.

Done at the City of Washington this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth.

The link to the news source is here:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/12/01/statement-from-president-joe-biden-11/

In June, Biden categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son faced trial in the Delaware gun case, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.” As recently as Nov. 8, days after Trump’s victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Biden, saying, “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.”

President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden have repeatedly and publicly stood by  Hunter Biden as he descended into serious drug addiction and as he  threw the Biden family life into turmoil. First Lady Jill Biden attended the first trial while the President maintained his distance. The president’s political rivals have long used Hunter Biden’s myriad mistakes as a political weapon against his father.  One Republican law maker in a congressional  hearing, displayed photos of the drug-addled Hunter Biden  half-naked in a seedy hotel.

House Republicans sought to use Hunter Biden’s years of questionable overseas business ventures in a since-abandoned attempt to impeach President Biden, who strenuously denied involvement in his son’s dealings or benefiting from them in any way.

HUNTER BIDEN REACTS

Hunter Biden has signed his name on a legal acknowledgment of the pardon and he issued the following statement:

“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction — mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” Hunter Biden said in a statement to Fox News. “Despite all of this, I have maintained my sobriety for more than five years because of my deep faith and the unwavering love and support of my family and friends.”

“In the throes of addiction, I squandered many opportunities and advantages,” he continued. “In recovery we can be given the opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded. I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”

On November 1 Hunter Biden’s legal team filed “Motions to Dismiss” the federal cases in Los Angeles and Delaware asking the judges handling his gun and tax cases to immediately dismiss them, citing the pardon.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hunter-biden-says-he-never-take-his-clemency-granted-after-receiving-pardon-from-his-father

REPUBLICANS REACT

Not at all surprising, many Republicans were down right hostile and  quick to condemn the pardon on social media, calling it an effort to “avoid accountability” and casting President Joe Biden  as a “hypocrite.”

“His FBI and DOJ raided Barron’s bedroom and Melania’s closet at Mar-a-Lago,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said on X, referring to the federal search of Trump’s home in Florida in connection with the now-dismissed classified documents case against him. “Joe Biden is a liar and a hypocrite, all the way to the end.”

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said on X that Biden “will go down as one of the most corrupt presidents in American history.”

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the House Oversight Committee, said on X, “It’s unfortunate that, rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability.” Comer’s committee has sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department recommending charges against Hunter Biden.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the decision “shocked” him.

“I’m shocked Pres Biden pardoned his son Hunter  whe said many, many times he wouldn’t & I believed him.  Shame on me,” he said on X.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/congressional-reaction-president-joe-biden-pardons-hunter-rcna182375

DEMOCRATS REACT

Some Democrats weighed in on the pardon. Governor Jared Polis, D-Colo., criticized Biden’s decision and said this on X:

“While as a father I certainly understand President @JoeBiden’s natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country. …  This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation.”

Similarly, Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton of Arizona said he thought Biden “got this one wrong” and  said on X.:

“This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution. … Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers.”

Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland spoke about the possibility of a pardon and offered  a possible explanation of what a pardon’s basis could be. Raskin  said this to CNN:

“There is a defense called selective prosecution. …  If you can show that the government has a set of cases that all look alike, but they pick one person out to prosecute based on, say, a political animus towards the person, which essentially is the claim that Donald Trump has been making about why he was targeted, the power exists for the president to show mercy for people who have committed crimes and either suffered some kind of injustice in the process or the punishment is disproportionate.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/congressional-reaction-president-joe-biden-pardons-hunter-rcna182375

TRUMPS REACTION TO PARDON AND HIS OWN RECORD OF PARDON ABUSE

Biden is not the first president to deploy his pardon powers to benefit those close to him.  He learned that lesson from none other than Donald Trump. In his final weeks in office, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in law, Jared Kushner, as well as multiple allies convicted by  special counsel Robert Mueller’s in the Russia investigation. Trump over the weekend announced plans to nominate the elder Kushner to be the U.S. envoy to France in his next administration.

Trump said in a social media post on December 1  that Hunter Biden’s pardon was “such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice. …  Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” Trump asked, referring to those convicted in the violent Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

People need to be reminded of what Trump’s record on pardons really is as outlined in this MSNBC report by Steve Benen:

“First, Jan. 6 criminals are not “hostages.”

Second, if we’re going to talk about pardons, abuses, and miscarriages of justice, Trump might not like where the conversation ends up.

… Trump’s record on pardons is arguably the worst in American history. During his first term, he effectively wielded his pardon power as a corrupt weapon, rewarding loyalists, completing cover-ups, undermining federal law enforcement, and doling out perverse favors to the politically connected.

Trump’s list of scandalous pardon abuses is so long, it could be a lengthy book. The names should be familiar: Paul Manafort. Michael Flynn. Steve Bannon. Roger Stone. Seven different Republican members of Congress who were locked up for corruption crimes.

Trump saw presidential pardons as get-out-of-jail-free cards for his friends and associates, engaging in the kind of brazen corruption that would’ve defined his term were it not eclipsed by other breathtaking scandals.

If prominent GOP voices want Biden to pay a political price for pardoning his son, fine. He said he wouldn’t do this, then he did it anyway, and in the process, he invited political attacks that are rooted in fact for a change.”

But if Trump thinks he has the moral high ground on the issue, that’s bonkers.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/problem-trumps-reaction-hunter-biden-pardon-rcna182413

THE HUNTER BIDEN CHARGES REVIEWED

Hunter Biden was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of 3 felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.  He had been set to stand trial in September in the California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.

David Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware who negotiated the plea deal, was subsequently named a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland to have more autonomy over the prosecution of the president’s son. Hunter Biden said he was pleading guilty in that case to spare his family more pain and embarrassment after the gun trial aired salacious details about his struggles with a crack cocaine addiction. The tax charges carry up to 17 years behind bars and the gun charges are punishable by up to 25 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines were expected to call for far less time and it was possible he would have avoided prison time entirely.

Hunter Biden was supposed to be sentenced this month in the two federal cases, which the special counsel brought after a plea deal with prosecutors that likely would have spared him prison time fell apart under scrutiny by a judge. Under the original deal, Hunter was supposed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses and and would have avoided prosecution in the gun case as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years. But the plea hearing quickly unraveled last year when the judge raised concerns about unusual aspects of the deal. The younger Biden was subsequently indicted in the two cases.

Hunter Biden’s legal team this weekend released a 52-page white paper titled “The political prosecutions of Hunter Biden,” describing the president’s son as a “surrogate to attack and injure his father, both as a candidate in 2020 and later as president.”

The younger Biden’s lawyers have long argued that prosecutors bowed to political pressure to indict the president’s son amid heavy criticism by Trump and other Republicans of what they called the “sweetheart” plea deal.

https://apnews.com/article/biden-son-hunter-charges-pardon-pledge-24f3007c2d2f467fa48e21bbc7262525

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Many are condemning President Joe Biden for issuing a pardon of his son and some going so far as saying that it will taint his entire legacy as President. That is highly doubtful and ridiculous at best. In all likelihood the pardon will be nothing more than a footnote in history.  No one should be surprised by President Joe Biden’s pardon given Trumps repeated threats to go after his political enemies as he rewards his loyalists. Trump has vowed to pardon what he calls the J-6 Hostages who stormed the capitol at his urging to overthrow the 2020 election and where as many as 5 people were killed. When Trump pardons his J-6 convicted felons, it will be a clear gross misuse of power and a miscarriage of justice by Trump.  Congressional Republicans will no doubt applaud his actions as the compassionate thing to do, even though people got killed as members of congress coward in fear as the the doors of the Senate Chamber were being breached and Vice President Mike Pence was swept to safety.

On November 25, the following news story was posted by the national news agency CNN:

HEADLINE: Special Counsel Jack Smith Drops Election Subversion And Classified Documents Cases Against DonaldTrump By Paula Reid, Tierney Sneed and Devan Cole, CNN Staff Reporters

“Special counsel Jack Smith is dropping the federal election subversion and the mishandling of classified documents cases against President-elect Donald Trump, seeking the cases’ dismissal in court filings Monday.

Trump has said he would fire Smith once he retook the office, shattering previous norms around special counsel investigations.

“The [Justice] Department’s position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated,” Smith wrote of the election subversion case in a six-page filing with US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, DC. “This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant.”

Chutkan formally dismissed the case without prejudice Monday afternoon.

Smith’s criminal pursuit of Trump over the last two years for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election and his mishandling of classified documents represented a unique chapter in American history: Never before has a former occupant of the White House faced federal criminal charges.

Though the election subversion case culminated this summer in a landmark Supreme Court ruling that said Trump enjoyed some presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, Trump’s strategy of delay in the case ensured that a trial never got underway before the November election.

In the election case Trump faced in Washington, DC, Smith charged the former president over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, a plot that culminated in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

“The Government’s position on the merits of the defendant’s prosecution has not changed,” Smith said in the filing.

Chutkan had been deciding how much of Trump’s conduct at the center of the case was shielded by immunity after prosecutors last month laid out their arguments for why the Supreme Court’s ruling should have no impact on the case. After Trump won reelection this month, prosecutors asked Chutkan to pause a series of postelection deadlines in the case as they weighed their next steps.

In the documents case brought in Florida, Trump was indicted for allegedly taking classified national defense documents from the White House after he left office and resisting the government’s attempts to retrieve the materials.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges in both cases.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung in a statement called the move “a major victory for the rule of law. … The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country. ” 

TRUMP EMPLOYEES STILL FACE APPEAL

Smith, in a filing with a federal appeals court, said that prosecutors were keeping their case on mishandling classified documents alive against two of Trump’s employees.

The case is before the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which is reviewing Judge Aileen Cannon’s order dismissing all charges.

The co-defendants are Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, who work for Trump and are accused of helping the former president obstruct a federal investigation into sensitive government documents taken from his first administration. Both have pleaded not guilty.

“The special counsel’s decision to proceed in this case, even after dismissing it against President Trump, is an unsurprising tribute to the poor judgment that led to the indictment against Mr. De Oliveira in the first place,” John Irving, a defense attorney for De Oliveira, said. “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. If they prefer a slow acquittal, that’s fine with us.”

A lawyer for Nauta, Stanley Woodward, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

DISMISSING WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Smith said he was seeking to drop the charges against the president-elect “without prejudice,” which would keep the door open for charges to be brought again in the future, calling the presidential immunity Trump will have as “temporary.”

Smith said he consulted with Justice Department lawyers on the question and that they also weighed the possibility of pausing the case until Trump no longer had the immunity of the presidency protecting him.

Ultimately, however, the department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded that the bar on prosecuting sitting presidents is “categorial,” including for indictments handed up before a defendant enters office.

“Accordingly, the Department’s position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated. And although the Constitution requires dismissal in this context, consistent with the temporary nature of the immunity afforded a sitting President, it does not require dismissal with prejudice,” Smith wrote.

In her ruling on Monday, Chutkan noted the unusual circumstances.

“Dismissal without prejudice is also consistent with the Government’s understanding that the immunity afforded to a sitting President is temporary, expiring when they leave office,” the judge wrote.

STATE CASES WILL CONTINUE AGAINST TRUMP

As president, Trump will not have the power to interfere with the prosecutions brought against him by state authorities in Georgia and New York. However, the courts in those cases will still have to work out immunity questions and issues raised by his return to the White House.

Last week, the judge overseeing Trump’s criminal hush money case in New York postponed his sentencing indefinitely. A jury in the state convicted Trump earlier this year on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment made during the 2016 campaign to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who alleged a prior affair with the president-elect. (Trump denies the affair.)

And Trump is still working to stave off prosecution in Georgia, where he is a defendant in a sprawling case that accuses him and several allies of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in the Peach State.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/25/politics/trump-special-counsel-jack-smith/index.html

Links to other news stories are here:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jack-smith-files-drop-jan-6-charges-donald-trump-rcna181667

https://abcnews.go.com/US/special-counsel-jack-smith-moves-dismiss-election-interference/story?id=116207758

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

It was inevitable with the landmark Supreme Court Case giving Trump immunity from prosecution that Special Council Jack Smith would dismiss both federal cases against Trump.  The Trump 6 Supreme Court disciples of John G. Roberts, Jr., Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito, Jr. Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett  succeeded in undermining  our federal criminal justice system and ensured that Trump returned to the White House with unfettered power. The 6 did so at the expense of our democracy and history will not be too kind to them laying  much blame on the damage they have done to our democracy.

All six Supreme Court Justices know full well that no one is above the law, yet they carved out a special  exception to benefit Donald Trump claiming the decision is for the benefit of all  future Presidents. They knew if the two federal criminal cases against Trump proceeded to trial after the election he would simply  order the Justice Department to dismiss the cases or simply pardon himself. They also knew if Trump was not elected, he would have likely be tried, convicted and do jail time on the Federal charges.

As the saying goes, elections have consequences. The 2024 presidential election was in fact  one of the most consequential elections in our history. Control of the Presidency and congress is now Republican as is the United States Supreme Court.  It was the economy and inflation that swept Trump to a decisive victory. Exit polls showed that the voting public were extremely disgruntled if not downright hostile with the direction the country is going, with inflation out of control. Voters were far more were concerned about making a decent living, angered over grocery and gas prices, as opposed to any threat Trump posed to democracy. Voters simply believed they were better off when Trump was President the first time believing all his lies. Voters chose to forget the 4 years of total chaos Trump brought upon the county and his failure to deal with the pandemic that killed millions worldwide and in the United States and that had a strangle hold on the country and that destroyed the economy.

In the end, voters simply ignored Trump’s flawed character, the multimillion dollar civil judgements against him for sexual assault and slander, his criminal conduct in the private sector and while in office, his fraud in securing millions in loans in New York, the  multiple state criminal convictions and pending federal criminal charges, his two impeachments, his misogyny and racism, his threat to democracy, his attempt to overthrow the government with all his lies that the election was rigged and stolen from him, his attacks on woman’s rights and civil rights, his partiality to racists groups such as the Proud Boys, his promotion of racist policies and his cult following of Christian fundamentalist who totally ignored his immorality, multiple marriages and affairs and praised him as the second coming.

Trump and his Republican Party will overreach declaring they have a mandate to do whatever they damn well want with no guard rails. There will be no intervention from the Trump appointed Supreme Court of right-wing conservative disciples who have given him immunity from prosecution making him above the law. As the saying goes elections have consequences. But that includes unintended consequences. Trumps agenda will go way beyond what people thought they were voting for. It’s not at all likely voters will be any better off financially than they are now in two years under a Trump second presidency let alone the 4 years to come.

It’s only a matter of time before the general public turns on Trump as they did 4 years ago once they realize they have been had once again. Stupid is as stupid does. The public turned on Republican President George W. Bush after he was elected by a popular vote and the Republicans lost congress. It will happen again. Voters have now voted for the return of chaos. Based on Trump’s agenda, and his cabinet appointments, chaos is exactly what we will get with millions getting hurt in the process. This is what happens when the big lie replaces reality and personal finances outweigh preservation of our democracy.

President elect Donald Trump has completed assembling his Cabinet and senior staff for his second term in the White House before taking office on January 20, 2025. Trump must nominate Cabinet Secretaries for government agencies and other top administration jobs that require United States Senate Advise and Consent confirmation mandated by the US Constitution.

Trump has announced the appointment of at least 9 individuals that are extremists who are clearly some of the most unqualified individuals whose only qualification is blind loyalty to Trump and who will have the ultimate goal to carry out Trumps political MAGA  agenda. Their goal is to undercut our  country’s military hierarchy, destroy the  Department of Justice and US law enforcement agencies, reveal  to our enemies the country’s security secrets, destroy our  national health care structure and  dismantle and destroy government agencies.

This article is an in-depth review of the 9 most troubling individuals Trump has selected to serve in his second term. The POSTSCRIPT to this article contains a listing of Trump’s other appointments.

ATTORNEY GENERAL: PAM BONDI

The most controversial announced appointment was Matt Gaetz for Attorney General. On November 21, Gaetz withdrew from consideration as Attorney General under a  scandal involving a House investigation into whether he engaged in drug use, sex trafficking and sexual misconduct with underage children for money. Trump immediately announced that former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will be his next nominee for U.S. attorney general.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-picks-pam-bondi-attorney-general-1989893

Bondi has spent the last decade defending Trump, including being defense council in one of Trump’s impeachment trials.  A central question is whether Bondi will follow through on threats she has made in television interviews to investigate what she called out-of-control federal prosecutors and FBI agents. Bondi said this:

“The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones,” Bondi said on Fox News last year after Trump was indicted in Georgia on charges of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. “The investigators will be investigated.”  Bondi called the prosecutors who charged Trump with crimes members of “the deep state” as she spread a false conspiracy theory that DOJ prosecutors and FBI agents were part of a secret cabal trying to undermine Trump. Bondi, without citing evidence, said that since they were no longer “hiding in the shadows … they can all be investigated.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/pam-bondi-attorney-general-justice-department-rcna181493

On November 22, The Washington Post reported that  Trump plans to fire the entire team that worked with special counsel Jack Smith to pursue two federal prosecutions against him, including career attorneys typically protected from political retribution. Trump is also said to be planning to assemble investigative teams within the Justice Department to hunt for evidence in battle ground states that fraud tainted the 2020 election. The proposals offer new evidence that Trump’s intention is to dramatically shake up the status quo in Washington and  to focus heavily on the Department of Justice and that at least some of his agenda is fueled not by ideology or policy goals but personal grievance and vendetta.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/11/22/trump-jack-smith-prosecutors-firing-justice-department-investigation/

One of the first order of business for Trump will be to demand the resignations of all United States Attorney’s which he did when he was first elected 8 years ago and no doubt appoint private attorneys who will do his bidding, including prosecute his opposition and anyone who got in his way.

DEFENSE SECRETARY NOMINEE: PETE HEGSETH

Hegseth served as an officer in the Army National Guard and did tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, earning two Bronze Stars. He is currently a co-host for “Fox & Friends Weekend.” Trump has pledged to fire generals involved in the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal and to eliminate “woke” initiatives that focus on diversity and equity in the military.

Secretary of Defense designate Pete Hegseth has railed against women in the military saying women  should not be in combat, voiced support for troops accused of and in some instances, convicted of war crimes, and advocated for the firing of the military’s most senior officers accused of supporting so-called “woke” policies. Trump’s decision to place Hegseth into the top Pentagon job means he is set to put his ideas into action and clash directly with most current Pentagon leadership.

CREATING COMMISSION TO TARGET MILITARY FIRINGS

In various podcasts and interviews one of Hegseth’s biggest claims has been that senior military leadership has allowed the “politicization” of an apolitical military force. Hegseth told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in June that he believes, without offering any proof or names, roughly a third of the military’s most senior officers are “actively complicit” in the politicization of the US military. Speaking out in his book, Hegseth railed against what he described as “woke, CRT, DEI things, gender stuff” that has “seeped into” the military. Hegseth said this:

“I would say over a third [of the military] are actively complicit, and then you have a lot of grumblers who are sort of going along, trying to resist the nonsense as much as they can, but they’re not fundamentally changing it.”

As of 2023, there were roughly 800 general and flag officers in the US military. Among the generals that Hegseth has suggested should be fired is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown. Brown became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2023 after serving as the Air Force Chief.  He was nominated by then-President Trump. Brown, the first Black man to serve as the Air Force chief, has been a target of conservatives before due to perceptions that he is “woke” or political. Barring Trump taking any action against him, Brown is set to serve as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until 2027.

Hegseth has embraced the concept of  creating “a commision” of former military that would “know who to go after.” Hegseth said this:

“You have to start with people who can say, ‘OK, I know who the political animals were in those places,’ because that’s the challenge of a new administration. … Everyone’s going to jump up and down and say, ‘I was this, or I was never really for that,’ because they want to preserve their careers. And you have to have somebody that’s able to call balls and strikes.”

It has been reported that the Trump transition team is compiling a list of senior current and former U.S. military officers who were directly involved in the withdrawal from Afghanistan and exploring whether they could be court-martialed for their involvement. Officials working on the transition are considering creating a commission to investigate and gathering information about who was directly involved in the decision-making for the military, how it was carried out, and whether the military leaders could be eligible for charges as serious as treason.

Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, has criticized the Afghanistan withdrawal, saying the U.S. lost the war and wasted billions of dollars. In his book “The War on Warriors,” Hegseth wrote, “The next president of the United States needs to radically overhaul Pentagon senior leadership to make us ready to defend our nation and defeat our enemies. Lots of people need to be fired. The debacle in Afghanistan, of course, is the most glaring example.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-transition-team-compiling-list-current-former-us-military-office-rcna180489

NO WOMAN IN COMBAT

Hegseth has severely criticized the Obama-era decision to open up all combat jobs in the military to women, saying it has lowered the military’s standards, made units less effective, and overall made the military less lethal. Hegseth said this  in  an interview with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro in June:

“Women shouldn’t be in combat at all. They’re life-givers, not life-takers. I know a lot of wonderful soldiers, female soldiers, who have served, who are great. But they shouldn’t be in my infantry battalion,”

Asked if he doesn’t “like women in combat,” Hegseth responded, “No … because everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat means casualties or worse.”

Women serve in combat jobs across the military services and have successfully completed some of the military’s most grueling training courses. More than 140 women have finished Army Ranger School, and in 2020, a woman joined the ranks of Army Special Forces for the first time after completing the Army’s Special Forces Qualification Course. In 2021, a woman qualified to join Naval Special Warfare Command for the first time.

CAMPAIGN TO PARDON SERVICEMEN ACCUSED OF WARCRIMES

CNN reported in 2019 that Hegseth, while working at Fox News, privately encouraged Trump to pardon some United States servicemen accused of war crimes. Trump went on to pardon two service members, Army Maj. Matthew Golsteyn and 1st Lt. Clint Lorance,  and restore the rank of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who had been demoted.

Before Trump’s pardons, Golsteyn was charged with the 2010 murder of an Afghan civilian, to which he pleaded not guilty, and Lorance was found guilty of second-degree murder for ordering his troops to fire on three men on a motorcycle in Afghanistan.

The Trump pardons went against the advice of then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other senior military leaders, who had told Trump that a presidential pardon could potentially damage the integrity of the military judicial system. But defenders of Gallagher and other service members accused or convicted of war crimes have defended Trump’s move as having the backs of military warfighters who are simply doing the dirty work others won’t do.

Hegseth said this in an interview regarding the cases of Gallagher, Golsteyn, and Lorance:

“We sent them to do these really dangerous, dirty, difficult things that no one else would do, and then sort of like the line from A Few Good Men, and then we challenge the manner in which they do it.”

CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Allison Jaslow, an Iraq War veteran, harshly criticized Hegseth’s position, saying such advocacy on behalf of service members convicted of war crimes should be disqualifying. Jaslow said this:

“The active lobbying to pardon convicted war criminals can and should disqualify Pete Hegseth from being Secretary of Defense over any other criticism that may be brought against him, and I hope the United States Senate understands that as they consider his nomination.”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/14/politics/trumps-pentagon-pick-hegseth-clash-military-leadership/index.html

SEXAUL ASSAULT SETTLEMENT

Pete Hegseth’s attorney confirmed to NBC News that Hegseth paid a woman an undisclosed amount after she accused him of sexual assault. Timothy Parlatore, Hegseth’s attorney, said this in a statement:

“In 2023, Hegseth paid the complainant as part of a civil confidential settlement agreement and maintains his innocence. This is a situation where a consensual encounter occurred and, unfortunately, the woman had to come up with a lie to explain why the woman had not come back to her husband’s room that night. …  It wasn’t reported until days later until there was pressure from her husband. It was fully investigated by police and video surveillance as well as multiple eyewitness statements show that she was the aggressor.”

Authorities in Monterey investigated the allegation in 2017 and did not file charges against Hegseth.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-defense-pick-pete-hegseth-denies-sexual-assault-allegation-rcna180535

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.

President-elect Donald Trump announced he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting a man whose views public health officials have decried as dangerous in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research, Medicare and Medicaid. Kennedy founded one of the most prominent anti-vaccine groups in the country and has promoted the debunked claim that childhood vaccines cause autism. Kennedy vowed to purge entire departments at the Food and Drug Administration to root out corruption.

Kennedy is best known for his criticism of childhood vaccines. Again and again, Kennedy has made his opposition to vaccines clear. In July, he said in a podcast interview that “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective” and told FOX News that he still believes in the long-ago debunked idea that vaccines can cause autism.

In a 2021 podcast he urged people to “resist” CDC guidelines that advise when kids should receive routine vaccinations. Kennedy said this:

“I see somebody on a hiking trail carrying a little baby and I say to him, ‘Better not get them vaccinated.”

Repeated scientific studies in the U.S. and abroad have found no link between vaccines and autism. Vaccines have been proven safe and effective in laboratory testing and in real world use in hundreds of millions of people over decades. The World Health Organization credits childhood vaccines with preventing as many as 5 million deaths a year.

Kennedy also has said he would make a controversial recommendation to remove fluoride from drinking water, although fluoride levels are mandated by state and local governments. The addition of the mineral has been cited as leading to improved dental health and is considered safe at low levels.

During the campaign, Kennedy said Trump had asked him to “reorganize” agencies including the CDC, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration. Kennedy has pushed against processed foods and the use of herbicides like Roundup weed killer. He has long criticized the large commercial farms and animal feeding operations that dominate the industry.

Trump said Kennedy would target drugs, food additives and chemicals. Trump said this  in a post on his Truth Social site announcing the appointment:

“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health.  [Kennedy will] end the Chronic Disease epidemic” and “Make America Great and Healthy Again!”

https://apnews.com/article/trump-rfk-hhs-health-kennedy-f40ee2398e3a280c1586eecdd80bdf7c

MEDICARE AND MEDICAID ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES (CMS): DR. MEHMET OZ

Trump has nominated Dr. Mehmet Oz, a physician, TV personality and former Republican candidate for Senate, who Trump endorsed, to run Medicare and Medicaid as administrator for the CMS. Oz has espoused conflicting visions for healthcare. Prior to running for office, Oz supported health insurance mandates and proposed a Medicare Advantage for All program. However, by 2022, Oz said he would back repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Trump said this in his announcement on social media platform Truth Social :

“America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again.”

Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., said this:

“Even putting aside the raft of alarming pseudoscience Dr. Oz has previously endorsed, it is deeply disappointing to see someone with zero qualifications being announced to head up such a critical agency. … I am also profoundly concerned by the extreme anti-abortion views Dr. Oz holds.  CMS has oversight over a wide range of reproductive health care issues and the last thing women in America need is more extremist Republicans getting involved in their personal health care decisions.”

EDUCATION SECRETARY: LINDA MCMAHON 

On November 20, Trump  named his transition co-chair Linda McMahon as his pick to serve as the next Secretary of the Department of Education. McMahon, a major Republican donor and a former pro-wrestling executive, served as the administrator of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. She was appointed in 2017 and resigned in 2019 to become the chair of America First Action, a pro-Trump super PAC.  McMahon is also the former CEO of the WWE, which she co-founded with her husband, Vince McMahon. Linda McMahon has ZERO background in education.

It’s likely Trump will task McMahon with overseeing the department’s demise after Trump  repeatedly called for abolishing the agency on the campaign trail. It  will  be difficult to get rid of the entire department, which delivers federal funding to nearly every public K-12 school in the country and manages the $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio.

Shutting down and abolishing the department will require an act of Congress. Under the new education secretary, the department may use the formal regulatory process to undo changes the Biden administration made to Title IX that sought to expand protections for LGBTQ+ students. A new rule could potentially say that Title IX prevents trans students from playing on girls’ sports teams, something Trump campaigned on.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/19/politics/linda-mcmahon-education-secretary-trump/index.html

On November 22, South Dakota Republican Senator Mike Rounds  introduced a bill in the Senate to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. Rounds said this in a news release

“We all know local control is best when it comes to education. … Local school boards and state Departments of Education know best what their students need, not unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.”

Rounds’ Returning Education to Our States Act proposes redistributing the work of the Education Department to other federal departments.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/congressional-republicans-continue-introduce-bills-eliminating-department-education/story?id=116115168

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN LAWSUITE FILED

A lawsuit filed in October alleges Linda McMahon knowingly enabled the sexual exploitation of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) employee as early as the 1980s. She denies the allegations. The suit alleges McMahon, her husband, the WWE and TKO Group Holdings, the league’s parent company, knowingly allowed employee Melvin Phillips Jr. to use his position as ringside announcer to sexually exploit children.

The lawsuit  alleges Phillips would recruit children to work as “Ring Boys,” helping him set up and take down wrestling rings at WWE events. However, the job was a guise for sexually exploiting the children, which Phillips would do even in front of wrestlers and executives in the locker area, the lawsuit alleges. He also would often film his sexual abuse, according to the filing.

The suit was filed in October in Baltimore County, Maryland, on behalf of 5 John Does, who say they were ages 13 to 15 when Phillips met and recruited them to work as “Ring Boys.” Each of them say they suffered mental and emotional abuse as a result of the alleged abuse. “Phillips lured and manipulated the young boys with promises of meeting famous wrestlers and attending the highly popular wrestling shows, experiences that were otherwise unattainable for these kids,” the lawsuit alleges. “[The McMahons, WWE and TKO Holdings] allowed Phillips and others to engage in, and foster, the WWE’s rampant culture of sexual abuse.”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/business/linda-mcmahon-abuse-wwe-trump-education/index.html

DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE NOMINEE: TULSI GABBARD

Gabbard, a four-term Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who ran against President Biden in the 2020 primaries, left the Democratic party in 2022 but did not officially become a Republican until earlier this year. She is a National Guard veteran who served two tours of duty in the Middle East and has long been critical of the Democratic establishment, especially of the country’s engagement in wars in that region.

The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is a position that was created in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in order to make sure America’s national security apparatus was working together and sharing information about the most critical threats. The job typically requires confirmation by the Senate Intelligence Committee which in the past has reviewed the nominee’s financial disclosures and an FBI background check. Those reviews are conducted to ensure a DNI nominee doesn’t have any large outstanding debts or connections to foreign governments that might compromise them in coordinating the work of thousands of intelligence officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Gabbard has no experience and no background in intelligence nor law enforcement, yet she will be in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Administration (NSA) and other agencies. Gabbard will be tasked with overseeing the country’s 16 other intelligence agencies, and some of the country’s most secret national security programs. Intelligence analysts are most concerned that Gabbard, in the role of director of national intelligence, might be motivated to censor intelligence conclusions critical of Russia and shut down funding for potentially fruitful investigations.

Gabbard has a history of making statements about countries like Russia and Syria that have raised more than a few concerns about her allegiance to American interests and questions about her judgment. Some people, including Hillary Clinton,  Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz  and Senator Tammy Duckworth have gone so far as to label her a Russian Asset.

Gabbard has frequently appeared to take positions more favorable to foreign leaders widely considered not just American adversaries but, in some cases, brutal dictators, including the presidents of Syria and Russia, raising questions from allies and critics alike. Gabbard notably met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria in 2017, and said in 2019 that he was “not an enemy of the United States.”

In early 2022, she echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rationale for the country’s invasion of Ukraine, pinning the blame not on Moscow but on the Biden administration’s failure to acknowledge “Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO”,  a popular strain of thought in right-wing circles.

HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY NOMNEE: KRISTI NOEM

Kristi Noem, a Republican who has served as South Dakota governor since 2019, is a staunch Trump loyalist  and will  help oversee Trump’s immigration crackdown in a second term. Noem, 52, is a former state legislator and four-term congresswoman who was elected governor of South Dakota in 2018 and reelected in 2022. Her profile grew during the Covid-19 pandemic, when she rejected mask mandates and social distancing.

Noem is best-known nationally for the controversy that followed the publication of an excerpt of her memoir in which she revealed she’d shot and killed a family dog, a 14-month-old wirehair pointer named Cricket, in a gravel pit because the dog was “untrainable” and “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with.” Facing backlash, Noem defended her actions, writing on X that her book had “more real, honest, and politically INcorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping.” She also retracted a story in the book about a meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. It turned out that such a meeting never happened.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s ascension to Homeland Security (DHS) secretary-in-waiting came as a shock. The former member of Congress hasn’t worked in the department and does not have any  law enforcement background. DHS is complex, and only the Defense Department has more employees. It also includes the federal agency tasked with cybersecurity and election security, and an in-house intelligence office.

Noem’s elevation is an indication that Trumps immigration policy will be run out of the White House by his two immigration hardliners and extremists, incoming Deputy Chief of Staff for policy Stephen Miller and Trump’s “Border Czar” Tom Homan, both early choices that signaled Trump is serious about his pledge to conduct mass deportations. Noem, with her limited experience in the policy area, will likely focus her attention on the numerous other agencies within DHS, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation Security Administration and Secret Service.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/13/kristi-noem-dhs-trump-policy-00189513

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/13/politics/who-is-kristi-noem-homeland-security/index.html

DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY: OLIGARCKS ELON MUSK AND VIVEK RAMASWAMY

Trump announced that Elon Musk, a billionaire backer, and Ramaswamy, another billionaire and a  former primary rival who endorsed Trump, would lead an effort to slash government spending and regulations. They are expected to conclude their work by July 4, 2026, just a few months before the midterm elections. Trump said the effort would partner with the Office of Management and Budget, but would provide guidance from “outside of Government.” Musk in particular has extensive financial holdings with government contractors that could complicate an official government job.

Since Trump announced his plans for a “Department of Government Efficiency,” or “DOGE”,  both Musk and Ramaswamy have talked up their big plans to slash government regulations and spending while downsizing the federal workforce.  Despite its name, it won’t actually be a government “department,” like the Department of Education or the Department of Homeland Security. Creating a government agency would require approval from Congress. The effort won’t even be inside the government.

Both Musk and Ramaswamy have put forth some of their ideas for government reform. Musk has pledged to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, though he has offered few specifics about what he would look to cut. The total amount of discretionary spending in the federal budget is about $1.7 trillion, and Trump has pledged not to cut Social Security and Medicare, two of the government’s largest expenses. During a late-October town hall on X, Musk suggested his ideal spending cuts could trigger economic pain for people.

“We have to reduce spending to live within our means. … And, you know, that necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity.”

On November 21, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy outlined a plan  for Trump to oversee a massive reduction in the federal workforce, arguing the employees won’t be needed after Trump eliminates “thousands of regulations” in his next administration.

Musk and Ramaswamy, singled out in a Wall Street Journal op-ed federal employees “who view themselves as immune from firing thanks to civil-service protections.” The duo pointed to recent Supreme Court decisions to argue the incoming president has the executive power to nullify many regulations unilaterally without Congress, pursue “large-scale firings” of federal workers and relocate some agencies outside of Washington. They said “a drastic reduction in federal regulations” would require vastly fewer federal employees.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/11/20/musk-ramaswamy-federal-workforce-trump-admin/76458753007/

One area Musk targeted after the panel was announced was spending on medical research.

Ramaswamy, meanwhile, said on X that the government shouldn’t appropriate money for programs that have expired. Ramaswamy said this:

“There are 1,200+ programs that are no longer authorized but still receive appropriations,” he wrote. “This is totally nuts. We can & should save hundreds of billions each year by defunding government programs that Congress no longer authorizes. We’ll challenge any politician who disagrees to defend the other side.”

Ramswamy’s post prompted some users to note that among those expired programs is veterans’ health care, one of the largest expenses in that bucket.

Ramaswamy, the founder of the biotech company Roivant Sciences, had a laser focus on slashing the federal bureaucracy during his time as a GOP presidential primary candidate. Speaking with NBC News as a candidate, he outlined his desire to use what’s known as “reduction in force” regulations to trim the federal workforce while also shuttering a number of federal agencies.  Ramaswamy predicted he would overcome any legal challenges because he wasn’t proposing to fire individual career officials, who are covered by civil service protections, but to institute widespread layoffs, eliminating jobs altogether.

Ramaswamy also sought to eliminate the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Education Department; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and the Food and Nutrition Service within the Agriculture Department.

Speaking recently with conservative media personality Tucker Carlson on X, Ramaswamy predicted Republicans could trigger a mass exodus from the federal workforce by simply mandating a five-day, in-office workweek across the government, estimating that “25%” of civil servants would hit the exits soon after.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamys-new-department-government-efficiency-rcna179906

Links to other relied upon and quoted news sources are here:

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4985802-trump-cabinet-nominees-second-term/

https://www.livenowfox.com/news/trumps-cabinet-picks-those-still-in-running

https://www.koat.com/article/donald-trump-key-position-picks-second-administration/62872388

https://www.koat.com/article/donald-trump-top-cabinet-administration-picks/62951888?utm_source=koat&utm_medium=recirc&utm_campaign=top-picks-koat

RECESS APPOINTMENTS

Now that Republicans control both the Senate and House, Trump wants Republicans to help him use a special procedure called “recess appointments” that would allow him to install Cabinet appointees and even a Supreme Court justice without confirmation hearings nor a single vote on confirmation. In theory, Trump’s push for broad recess appointment power could allow him to disregard the Senate confirmation process entirely.  This would mean that as many as 1,200 positions requiring Senate confirmation could be filled without even an FBI background check or a confirmation hearing.

Trump could get his choices confirmed with just 50 votes because of Vice President-elect JD Vance’s tie-breaking power. With Republicans projected to hold 53 seats, Democrats can’t stop a nomination on their own. But they can force Republicans to grind it out. The Senate would need to vote on adjournment. The Constitution also requires the House to approve the Senate breaking for over three days. A 2014 Supreme Court decision held that the Senate would need to recess for at least 10 days.

There’s a way for Trump to avoid the House’s need to sign off on a lengthy break. Under Article II of the Constitution, Trump has the power to force an adjournment if the House and Senate are divided on what to do. Time is the only true limit on recess appointments.

Officials installed as a “recess appointment” can only serve until Congress’ next session. If Trump uses this power immediately upon taking office, officials or judges could only stay through the next Senate session, in January 2027.  Otherwise, there is virtually nothing Senate Democrats could do to stop the process. Adjournment votes can’t be meaningfully filibustered.

In his push for recess appointment power, Trump is arguing  it is about ensuring he could staff up in a timely manner.  According to the Center for Presidential Transition, it took President Trump twice as long on average to get his nominees approved during his first three years in office (115 days) than it did Ronald Reagan’s presidency (56.4) days. Through late November 2023, it took President Biden roughly 109.6 days on average. The center also found that while the Senate filibuster is part of the reason for delays, even complete control of Congress hasn’t sped things up.

Not everyone is convinced that ensuring he could staff up in a timely manner is Trump’s sole motivation, particularly when many of his early selections illustrate how much he will elevate controversial choices like Gaetz, Gabbard, Hegseth  and Kennedy.

Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at Brookings,  said this:

“From the president’s perspective, I suppose he would see this as a shortcut to take his favorite list of appointees and put them in for temporary appointments.”

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, who won the race to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as Senate Majority Leader,  said this:

“All options are on the table, including recess appointments.  [However] you have to have all Republican [Senators]  vote to recess as well. The same Republicans … that might have a problem voting for somebody under regular order might be the same Republicans that have a problem voting to put the Senate into recess.”

Casey Burgat, the director of the Legislative Affairs Program at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management told Business Insider had this to say:

“It’s just been made so explicit and used as a strategy in and of itself that even though former presidents made recess appointments, they didn’t say this part, and there wasn’t widespread fear about what it means and why they are using it now.”

https://www.businessinsider.com/what-are-recess-appointments-musk-trump-cabinet-senate-explainer-2024-11

ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY

When it comes to all of Trump’s cabinet appointments, the single most important  qualification to him is absolute loyalty to him and qualifications do not matter. His clown car appointments are a clear message that he intends to dismantle government and rebuild it in his own image. What is also clear is that Project 2025 is indeed the conservative blue print do centralize more power than ever in the Presidency with no checks and balances by congress and the courts.

It was the economy and inflation that swept Trump to a decisive victory. Exit polls showed that the voting public were extremely disgruntled if not downright hostile with the direction the country is going, with inflation out of control. Voters were far more were concerned about making a decent living, angered over grocery and gas prices, as opposed to any threat Trump posed to democracy. Voters simply believed they were better off when Trump was President the first time believing all his lies. Voters chose to forget the 4 years of total chaos Trump brought upon the county and his failure to deal with the pandemic that killed millions worldwide and in the United States and that had a strangle hold on the country and that destroyed the economy.

In the end, voters simply ignored Trumps flawed character, the multimillion dollar civil judgements against him for sexual assault and slander, his criminal conduct in the private sector and while in office, his fraud in securing millions in loans in New York, the  multiple state criminal convictions and pending federal criminal charges, his two impeachments, his misogyny and racism, his threat to democracy, his attempt to overthrow the government with all his lies that the election was rigged and stolen from him, his attacks on woman’s rights and civil rights, his partiality to racists groups such as the Proud Boys, his promotion of racist policies and his cult following of Christian fundamentalist who totally ignored his immorality, multiple marriages and affairs and praised him as the second coming.

Trump will be our President come January 20 and there will be a peaceful transfer of power, unlike 4 years ago when Trump promoted an insurrection. The country will get the President it has elected. Voters will get a clown car of a cabinet filled with people who have no business being appointed and whose goal is to destroy the very agencies they will head. The reality is that with his appointments he is following the Project 2025 agenda (see postscript below on Project 2025).

There may be a peaceful transition of power, but come January 20, four years of total chaos will commence. Trump has already said he can only serve another term but hinted that may change if people really want to change that.  With Trumps announced appointments, it his clear he intends to gut the Department of Justice, the military leadership, our health care system and dismantle government to carry out his personal vendetta.

Trump and his Republican Party will overreach declaring they have a mandate to do whatever they damn well want with no guard rails. Trumps selections for cabinet positions also indicate there will be no checks and balances from congress in that some Senate Republicans are already indicating a willingness to forego their “advise and consent” of appointments an allow for “recess appointments”.  There will be no intervention from the Trump appointed Supreme Court of right-wing conservative disciples who have given him immunity from prosecution making him above the law.

As the saying goes elections have consequences. But that includes unintended consequences. Trumps agenda will go way beyond what people thought they were voting for. It’s not at all likely voters will be any better off financially than they are now in two years under a Trump second presidency let alone the 4 years to come. His imposition of tariffs and the effects of mass deportation on the agricultural work force will have an impact as will corporate greed and refusal to reduce consumer prices. It may be the “economy stupid” but in reality a President can do little to bring down the cost of goods and services which is subject to the laws of supply and demand, and corporate profits and sure greed.

It’s only a matter of time before the general public turns on Trump as they did 4 years ago once they realize they have been had once again. Stupid is as stupid does. The public turned on  Republican President George W. Bush after he was elected by a popular vote and the Republicans lost congress. It will happen again. Voters have now voted for the return of chaos. Based on Trump’s agenda, and his cabinet appointments, chaos is exactly what we will get with millions getting hurt in the process. This is what happens when the big lie replaces reality and personal finances outweigh preservation of our democracy.

__________________________________________

POSCRIPT

The full list of Trump’s Cabinet picks and other top staff appointments with links  are as follows:

• White House Chief of Staff: Susie Wiles who served as co-chair of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, previously worked on his 2016 campaign, as well as Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign. She is longtime strategist and registered lobbyist for business interests and political campaign.

• Secretary of State: Marco Rubio, Florida US Senator
• Attorney General: Pam Bondi (See above article)
• Deputy Attorney General: Todd Blanche.  He  is best known for representing Trump  in the 2024 criminal trial in New York
• HHS Secretary: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (See above article)

• Office of Management and Budget Director: Russ Vought, a  co-author of Project 2025 who served as a platform policy director for the Republican National Committee. Vought argued  for conservative blueprint Project 2025 that  the OMB director “should present a fiscal goal to the President early in the budget development process to address the federal government’s fiscal irresponsibility.”

• U.N. Ambassador: Elise Stefanik. She is the U.S. representative for New York’s 21st congressional district. As chair of the House Republican Conference since 2021, she is the fourth-ranking House Republican.

• “BORDER CZAR”: Tom Homan served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trumps’s last administration and will be in charge of the nation’s borders.  Homan argued that “families could be deported together”, including America born children, when asked about Trump’s pledge to carry about mass deportations  immediately upon entering office.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/10/politics/tom-homan-border-czar-ice-donald-trump/index.html

• Defense Secretary: Pete Hegseth (See above article)
• Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Doug Collins

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/14/politics/doug-collins-department-of-veterans-affairs-secretary/index.html

• National Security Adviser: Michael Waltz. Waltz represents Florida’s 6th congressional district.  Waltz is a combat-decorated Green Beret still serving as a colonel in the U.S. Army National Guard, and a former White House and Pentagon policy advisor. He is the first Green Beret to be elected to Congress.
• Interior Secretary: Doug Burgum, Governor of North Dakota, was on Trump’s list for Vice President.
• Secretary of Energy: Chris Wright, the CEO of Liberty Energy, North America’s second largest hydraulic fracturing company.
• Secretary of Transportation: Sean Duffy is a former reality TV star who was one of Trump’s most visible defenders on cable news, Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years, was a member of the Financial Services Committee and chairman of the subcommittee on insurance and housing.
• Secretary of Commerce: Howard Lutnick, an American businessman, who succeeded Bernard Gerald Cantor as the head of Cantor Fitzgerald. Lutnick is the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Group.
• Secretary of Education: Linda McMahon (See above article)
• Secretary of the Treasury: Scott Bessen, 62, is the founder of Connecticut-based hedge fund Key Square Group

• Secretary of Labor: Lori Chavez-DeRemer is a first-term Republican representative from Oregon who narrowly lost her House seat.  She was one of only a few House Republicans to support major pro-union legislation, and she split her district’s union endorsements with her Democratic opponent, Janelle Bynum, earning nods from ironworkers, firefighters and local Teamsters.

• White House Counsel: William McGinley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_McGinley

• U.S. Ambassador to NATO: MatthewWhitaker who served as acting attorney general during Trump’s first term. Whitaker will lead the US mission to NATO during a period where the defensive alliance may still be facing one of its toughest challenges ,  how to continue to support Ukraine in its war against Russia. He is also likely to be tasked with increasing pressure on countries in the alliance to increase their defense spending – renewing an effort that Trump undertook in his first term.
• Secretary of Homeland Security: Kristi Noem (See above article)
• HUD Secretary: Scott Turner

https://apnews.com/article/housing-secretary-trump-scott-turner-nfl-727417b56d0e1f85a40eaf5f7d13d42f

• CIA Director: John Ratcliffe is an attorney who served as the director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021. He previously served as the U.S. representative for Texas’s 4th district from 2015 to 2020. During his time in Congress, Ratcliffe was regarded as one of the most conservative members.
• Director of National Intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard (See above article)
• EPA Administrator: Lee Zeldin

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/11/politics/lee-zeldin-epa-administrator/index.html

• Solicitor General: Dean John Sauer who argued Trumps immunity claim before United States Supreme Court

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/14/congress/solicitor-general-pick-00189754

• FDA Commissioner: Marty Makary

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/trump-picks-dr-marty-makary-johns-hopkins-surgeon-fda-chief-rcna180883

• Secretary of Agriculture: Brooke Rollins

(https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/23/politics/brooke-rollins-trump-agriculture/index.html)

• CDC Director: David Weldon
• FCC Chairman: Brendan Carr.  Carr wrote the FCC chapter in ‘Project 2025” and now he will be running the agency

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/18/media/brendan-carr-trump-fcc-nominee-project-2025/inde

• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator: Dr. Mehmet Oz (See above article)
• Surgeon General: Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a Fox news contributor

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/11/22/trump-fox-news-surgeon-general/76510351007/

• U.S. Ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee,

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/12/politics/mike-huckabee-israel/index.html

• U.S. Ambassador to Canada: Pete Hoekstra

https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/trump-nominates-pete-hoekstra-ambassador-to-canada/

• U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York: Jay Clayton who  is an American attorney who was the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from May 4, 2017, until December 23, 2020
• Department of Government Efficiency: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (See above article)
• Deputy Chief of Staff: Dan Scavino

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Scavino

• Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Adviser: Stephen Miller

https://apnews.com/article/trump-stephen-miller-policy-immigration-9cc6ad3118779b23bff88022ca5e2260

• Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political and Public Affairs: James Blair

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-white-house-senior-staff-1985212

• Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Personnel: Taylor Budowich

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-white-house-senior-staff-1985212

• Presidential Personnel Office head: Sergio Gor

https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2024/11/15/donald-trump-steven-cheung-communications-director-sergio-gor-personnel-director

• White House Communications Director: Steven Cheung

https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2024/11/15/donald-trump-steven-cheung-communications-director-sergio-gor-personnel-director

• White House Press Secretary: Karoline Leavitt, Campaign Press Secretary

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/karoline-leavitt-youngest-ever-white-house-press-secretary/

The link to relied upon news source is here:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-might-be-in-donald-trump-cabinet/

Links to related blog articles are here:

 

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