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Americans rate Trump’s Cabinet picks in new poll

Americans rate Trump’s Cabinet picks in new poll

While a majority of American voters questioned in a new Fox News poll say they are hopeful about the re-election of President-elect Donald Trump, they are divided when it comes to the president-elect’s top nominees who will likely serve in his upcoming second administration. Fifty-four percent of respondents in the survey, which was conducted Dec. 6-9 and released on Wednesday, said Trump’s election victory last month in the White House race over Vice President Kamala Harris made them hopeful. However, when asked about the president-elect’s cabinet selections, which include some unconventional nominees, 47% of those polled said they approved, with 50% disapproving. It was the same response when asked about billionaire Elon Musk serving as a close adviser to the president-elect during the transition from President Biden’s administration to the Trump administration, with 47% approving and 50% disapproving. TRUMP ALLIES TURN UP THE HEAT ON GOP SENATE HOLDS IN NOMINATION SHOWDOWN Two other polls also conducted in recent days and released on Wednesday shed additional light on how Americans feel about the incoming administration and how Trump’s handling the process of building out his government. According to a CNN poll, 54% of Americans say they expect Trump to do a good job as president once he takes over the White House.  Additionally, 55% said they largely approve of how the president-elect is handling the transition. That is a higher percentage compared to eight years ago, when Trump first won the White House, but it is still well behind other recent presidents, according to CNN polling. CHECK OUT OUR NEW FOX NEWS POLL ON TRUMP AND HIS TRANSITION Meanwhile, 47% of people questioned in a Marist Poll gave the former and future president a thumbs up when it comes to how he is handling the transition, with 39% disapproving and 14% unsure. Not surprisingly, the polls point to a massive partisan divide on the question. In the Marist survey, 86% of Republicans approved of how the GOP president-elect is handling the transition. However, 72% of Democrats disapproved. Among independents, 43% disapproved and 38% approved. “Although more people support Trump’s transition than oppose it, more independents are taking a wait-and-see position than more partisan voters,” Marist Institute for Public Opinion Director Lee Miringoff said. Miringoff added that “a note of caution for President-elect Trump is that fewer voters approve of the transition than gave a thumbs up to either Biden or Obama at this point.” GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR? The release of the polls came as Trump’s cabinet picks continued to meet with senators on Capitol Hill ahead of confirmation hearings starting next month. Trump named his nominees for his cabinet and his choices for other top administration officials at a faster pace than he did eight years ago after his first White House victory. However, his transition has already faced some setbacks, including his first attorney general nominee, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, ending his bid for confirmation amid controversy over allegations he paid for sex with underage girls. Trump last weekend made his first international trip since winning last month’s election, and he was courted by world leaders during a stop in Paris. Trump will be inaugurated Jan. 20. Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

DC councilman a step closer to facing expulsion after law firm finds he violated code of conduct

DC councilman a step closer to facing expulsion after law firm finds he violated code of conduct

Washington, D.C., councilman Trayon White edged closer to expulsion this week after an investigative report found he violated multiple city code of conduct provisions.  Despite being arrested by the FBI on a federal bribery charge in August, White, a Democrat representing Ward 8, recently secured a third term on Election Day in a landslide victory.  While the federal criminal case remains pending, the report, commissioned by an ad hoc committee and conducted by the law firm Latham & Watkins LLP, was submitted to the council on Monday following an independent probe into whether White violated applicable D.C. law, the D.C. Code of Conduct, or Council Rules. The council is meeting next Monday to deliberate the findings and consider whether to recommend sanctions against White.   The councilman has pleaded not guilty to allegations he accepted $156,000 in cash payments in exchange for using his position to pressure government employees at the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) and Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) to extend several D.C. contracts. The federal complaint says the contracts were valued at $5.2 million and were for two companies to provide “Violence Intervention” services in D.C. DC COUNCILMEMBER FACING FEDERAL BRIBERY CHARGES WINS LANDSLIDE RE-ELECTION, BUT COLLEAGUES MAY OUST HIM D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson established the ad hoc committee in August. White has declined multiple offers to meet with the committee since.  Councilman Kenyan McDuffie, who chairs the ad hoc committee, said the investigation found “substantial evidence” that White’s alleged conduct connected to the bribery claims violated several provisions of the D.C. Council’s Code of Official Conduct, FOX 5 DC reported. McDuffie said that the report does not support allegations White violated residency requirements outlined in the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973. DC COUNCILMAN STUFFED POCKETS WITH ENVELOPES OF CASH IN ALLEGED BRIBERY SCHEME, FEDS ALLEGE  White has not publicly commented on the report’s findings.  The investigation spanned 11 weeks and involved 22 interviews with officials from multiple D.C. agencies, including DYRS, ONSE and the Office of Risk Management; current and former members of White’s staff; leaders in the violence intervention community and other individuals believed to have information related to the allegations against White.  The law firm also reviewed relevant documents and records obtained from D.C. agencies and thousands of emails from the official accounts of White and his staff. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The report says White declined both requests to be interviewed by the law firm. 

Trump border czar meeting with NYC Mayor Adams despite sanctuary city status

Trump border czar meeting with NYC Mayor Adams despite sanctuary city status

Incoming border czar Tom Homan will meet with New York City Mayor Eric Adams in the Big Apple on Thursday where they will discuss the city’s ongoing migrant crisis and ways of deporting criminal illegal migrants who have been terrorizing the city’s streets. The pair is scheduled to meet at City Hall at 1 p.m. and then hold a press conference at 3 p.m., according to the mayor’s office.  The main focus of the meeting is to weed out migrant criminals in the sanctuary city and deport them, as opposed to those who are undocumented, a source familiar with the matter tells the New York Post.  VIOLENT VENEZUELAN GANG TREN DE ARAGUA SPREADS TO ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST REMOTE STATES Homan, a hardliner on immigration, has vowed to enforce Trump’s promised crackdown on illegal immigration and carry out his mass deportation agenda. Homan has said he wants to primarily deport those migrants who pose a threat to national security and public safety.  Adams has at times been critical of the federal government, including the Biden Administration, for its lack of financial support over the last four years as New York City has struggled to cater for the unprecedented influx of migrants — costing taxpayers billions of dollars. The blue city has seen more than 225,000 migrants arrive since 2022, a surge that coincided with a spike in migrant crime in the city with the bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua getting a foothold in the city.  Migrant arrivals have dropped sharply in recent weeks, with Adams attributing the dip to executive orders by the Biden administration that have limited the ability to claim asylum in the U.S. and have been tied to a sharp drop in apprehensions at the border itself. He also linked it to strategies taken by the city itself to help relocate migrants, including case management and offering tickets to 47,000 migrants so they can reach their “preferred destinations.”  Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding to sanctuary cities who do not cooperate with Trump’s deportation agenda.  ‘WE’VE TURNED THE CORNER’: BLUE CITY ANNOUNCES SHUTTERING OF MIGRANT SHELTERS AS NUMBERS DROP The city’s sanctuary city status stems from a 1979 class action suit brought against then-Gov. Hugh L. Carey and Mayor Ed Koch that resulted in the “Callahan Decree” – which instituted a right-to-shelter for homeless men. It has since been used as a tool to attempt to shelter homeless migrants who have descended on the city. Adams has previously criticized it being applied to migrants.  Adams has been taking a more hawkish approach to illegal immigration in recent weeks, announcing that 25 shelters are in the city and state are being closed in the next few months. He has also suggested that immigrants charged with crimes do not necessarily deserve due process. “We’re going to continue looking for more sites to consolidate and close, and more opportunities to save taxpayer money, as we continue to successfully manage this response,” Adams said on Tuesday. Adams has taken a more muscular approach to illegal immigration than some of his Democratic counterparts in other blue cities across the country, some of whom have promised resistance to the plan by the incoming Trump administration. He has indicated his willingness to work with Homan on the deportation of illegal immigrants with criminal convictions while stressing the importance of work authorization, case management and protection from deportation for those who have not committed violent crimes while here. “I would like to speak with our border czar and find out what his plans are. Where our common grounds are, we can work together. And I strongly believe, my history is sitting down with those across the aisle with different ways of thinking and sit down and share my ideas,” Adams said last week.  “I believe I have some ideas that could deal with this issue, and we can reach what the American people have been saying to us: secure our borders, address the people who are committing violent acts in our country and make sure that … our citizens are going to be safe.” Adams apparent shift to the right even left some speculating that Adams may rejoin the Republican Party, a prospect he didn’t rule out last week.  Meanwhile, voters in the state of New York support the deportation of illegal immigrants, according to a new poll. The Siena College New York State Poll found that 54% of respondents say the state should support any Trump administration efforts to deport migrants living illegally in the state, compared to 35% of respondents who oppose the plans. Strong support for President-elect Donald Trump’s deportation plan was found throughout the state, including New York City. Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.

Sen. Bernie Sanders says upcoming term will ‘probably’ be his last

Sen. Bernie Sanders says upcoming term will ‘probably’ be his last

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. — who just won re-election to another six-year Senate term last month — has said that his upcoming term will likely be his last. “I’m 83 now. I’ll be 89 when I get out of here. You can do the figuring. I don’t know, but I would assume, probably, yes,” Sanders said when asked if his fourth term will be his final term, according to Politico. Fox News Digital reached out to Sanders’ office to request comment from the senator. BERNIE SANDERS EXCORIATES DEMOCRATIC PARTY, CALLS CAMPAIGN ‘DISASTROUS’ AFTER TRUMP VICTORY The left-wing lawmaker, who took office in 2007, will begin another Senate term next month. He had previously served in the House chamber for 16 years from early 1991 through early 2007.  Sanders lost a Democratic presidential primary bid to Hillary Clinton in 2016, then tried again during the next presidential election cycle, but ultimately dropped out. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who is currently 91-years-old, won re-election in 2022 at the age of 89, and will be 95 by the end of his current term. BERNIE SANDERS ADMITS ‘ELON MUSK IS RIGHT’ TO SLASH PENTAGON WITH DOGE: ‘LOST TRACK OF BILLIONS’ Sanders unloaded on the Democratic Party after President-elect Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the presidential contest last month. “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well,” Sanders declared. “Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign?” he asked.  SENATE REJECTS BERNIE SANDERS’ EFFORT TO BLOCK WEAPONS SALES TO ISRAEL CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not,” he said in the statement.

Biden commutes 1,500 jail sentences, grants pardons for 39 others: ‘Largest single-day grant of clemency’

Biden commutes 1,500 jail sentences, grants pardons for 39 others: ‘Largest single-day grant of clemency’

President Biden has commuted jail sentences for nearly 1,500 people and granted 39 pardons, marking the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history, the White House announced Thursday morning. Sentences were commuted for inmates placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and who “have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities,” according to the announcement. The 39 individuals pardoned were convicted of non-violent crimes. WHO ELSE MIGHT BIDEN PARDON AFTER HE SPARED HUNTER FROM SENTENCING? “The President has issued more sentence commutations at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same point in their first terms,” the White House said. The move comes as the president faces bipartisan scrutiny for pardoning his son, Hunter, of felony gun and tax charges. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.