Tulsi Gabbard explains why she won’t call Edward Snowden a ‘traitor’ ahead of tough committee vote
Tulsi Gabbard appears to be seeking to assuage senators’ concerns about her nomination in a new opinion piece explaining why she thought “traitor” was too harsh a word for Edward Snowden. Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence (DNI), did not endorse Snowden’s whistleblowing actions during her confirmation hearing, but her refusal to call him a traitor left some Republicans unsettled. She admitted that Snowden’s release of classified information to the media “harmed our national security” but also “revealed illegal and unconstitutional government programs that conducted mass surveillance of millions of Americans’ data.” Gabbard elaborated in a Newsweek op-ed. “Given the interest by committee members about whether Edward Snowden should be called a ‘traitor,’ here’s what I shared with the Senate Intelligence Committee in the closed session about why I do not casually throw around that term: Treason is a capital offense, punishable by death, yet politicians like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former US Senator Mitt Romney have slandered me, Donald Trump Jr. and others with baseless accusations of treason.” TOP SENATE INTELLIGENCE DEM GRILLS GABBARD IF EDWARD SNOWDEN IS ‘BRAVE’: ‘VERY TROUBLING’ “Snowden should have raised his concerns about illegal surveillance through authorized channels, such as the Inspector General or the Intelligence Committee, instead of leaking to the media,” she wrote. Gabbard struck a different tone as a Democratic member of the House, when she introduced a resolution with former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., calling for all charges to be dropped against Snowden. She also put forth a bill that would have offered additional whistleblower protection for people like Snowden. ‘WARRIOR WHOSE VOTE CANNOT BE BOUGHT’: HUNDREDS OF VETS POUR OUT IN SUPPORT OF TULSI GABBARD FOR DNI “If it wasn’t for Snowden, the American people would never have learned the NSA was collecting phone records and spying on Americans,” she said on Joe Rogan’s podcast in 2019. Snowden, who now lives in exile in Russia, leaked classified documents about global surveillance programs that pitted national security concerns against privacy concerns. If confirmed as DNI, Gabbard said she would not protect those who go outside authorized whistleblower channels to leak classified information, but she would also establish a hotline directly to herself for whistleblowers. Gabbard added that she would institute proper oversight to protect against illegal intelligence collection programs and conduct security clearance reform to minimize access to highly classified intelligence. She also promised to end “weaponization” of the intelligence community and pointed to the Iraq War as a prime “failure of intelligence.” “This disastrous decision led to the deaths of thousands… And it led to the rise of ISIS, the strengthening of al-Qaeda and other Islamist Jihadist groups, and the emboldening of Iran.” TULSI GABBARD CONFIRMATION FATE TO BE TESTED WITH KEY COMMITTEE VOTE During her confirmation hearing, Gabbard was also pressed on her past meetings with then-Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, her previous Section 702 of FISA stance and her views on Russia. While Intel Committee Chair Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has continued to promote Gabbard for the role. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., initially a skeptic, announced Tuesday morning he would support Gabbard’s confirmation in a committee vote after receiving written assurances about her perspective on whistleblowers. Gabbard will likely need the support of every single Republican on the committee, assuming no Democrats vote in her favor. None of the Democratic senators have said they will vote to advance her nomination. She clinched support from other GOP skeptics – Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, after her hearing. Gabbard still has not won the support of Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Jerry Moran, R-Kan., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and John Curtis, R-Utah. Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
Trump Health Secretary nominee RFK Jr clears Senate Finance Committee confirmation vote
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will advance to the next step in his effort to become Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary. The vaccine skeptic and environmental crusader who ran for the White House in 2024 before ending his bid and endorsing Trump sustained his bid for a cabinet position in the 47th president’s administration. The 27-member panel of 14 Republicans and 13 Democrats on the Senate finance committee approved Kennedy’s advancement by a party line vote of 14-13. Kennedy’s controversial nomination has progressed slowly as the president’s other choices have been moving through the upper chamber and several have been confirmed and sworn in. Even Trump’s controversial Defense Secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, made it past committee and ultimately was confirmed with Vice President Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. TRUMP HEALTH SECRETARY NOMINEE RFK JR. SURVIVES HEATED HEARINGS Kennedy survived back-to-back combustible Senate confirmation hearings last week, where Trump’s nominee to lead 18 powerful federal agencies that oversee the nation’s food and health faced plenty of verbal fireworks over past controversial comments, including his repeated claims in recent years linking vaccines to autism, which have been debunked by scientific research. TRUMP HEALTH SECRETARY NOMINEE RFK JR. SURVIVES HEATED HEARINGS During the hearings, Democrats also spotlighted Kennedy’s service for years as chair or chief legal counsel for Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit organization he founded that has advocated against vaccines and sued the federal government numerous times, including a challenge over the authorization of the COVID vaccine for children. While no Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee were expected to vote to confirm Kennedy, the spotlight was on Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana physician and chair of the Senate Health Committee. Cassidy issued a last minute endorsement indicating a party line vote for Kennedy. HEAD HERE FOR LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS BACK IN THE WHITE HOUSE “Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” Cassidy told Kennedy at the end of Thursday’s confirmation hearing. Cassidy’s office confirmed Sunday evening that the senator and Kennedy had been speaking earlier that day. The 71-year-old Kennedy, a scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty, launched a long-shot campaign for the Democrat presidential nomination against President Joe Biden in April 2023. But six months later, he switched to an independent run for the White House. Kennedy made major headlines again last August when he dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Trump. While Kennedy had long identified as a Democrat and repeatedly invoked his late father, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his late uncle, former President John F. Kennedy – who were both assassinated in the 1960s – Kennedy in recent years built relationships with far-right leaders due in part to his high-profile vaccine skepticism. Trump announced soon after the November election that he would nominate Kennedy to his Cabinet to run HHS. Kennedy, whose outspoken views on Big Pharma and the food industry have also sparked controversy, has said he aims to shift the focus of the agencies he would oversee toward promotion of a healthy lifestyle, including overhauling dietary guidelines, taking aim at ultra-processed foods and getting to the root causes of chronic diseases. “Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong. It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,” Kenendy said Thursday as he pointed to chronic diseases. “And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.” With Republicans controlling the Senate by a 53-47 majority, Kennedy can only afford to lose the support of three GOP senators if Democrats unite against his confirmation on the floor of the chamber.
JD Vance to attend AI summit in Paris, French official says
U.S. Vice President JD Vance will attend a two-day high-level summit focusing on artificial intelligence in Paris next week, his first scheduled trip abroad since taking office, a French diplomatic official said Tuesday. The AI Action Summit on Feb. 10-11 will gather heads of state and top government officials, CEOs and other actors involved in the tech sector, which has been shaken up by galloping advances. Vance has not made any official foreign trips since his inauguration last month. The White House had no immediate comment. VP VANCE CALLS ON US ‘TO DO A BETTER JOB’ WITH AVIATION SAFETY AFTER ‘INCREDIBLY HEARTBREAKING’ DC PLANE CRASH The French diplomatic official spoke on condition of anonymity as the list of top attendees has not been made official yet. China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang is among those expected to attend the summit, which will be co-presided over by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The summit will take place at the Grand Palais, last year’s Olympic venue for the fencing and taekwondo competitions. A dinner with top officials and CEOs is also scheduled at the Elysee presidential palace. Vance’s trip comes after U.S. President Donald Trump last month talked up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence by a new partnership of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank. The new entity, Stargate, will start building data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House. Meanwhile, Chinese AI model DeepSeek’s emergence has shaken up the tech sector, offering companies access to the technology at a fraction of the previous cost and providing the potential to push other AI companies to improve their models and bring down prices. Vance in the past has acknowledged some harmful AI applications, but said at a July Senate hearing that he worries that concern is justifying “some preemptive overregulation attempts that would frankly entrench the tech incumbents that we already have.”
House delays key vote on Trump budget bill after conservative fury over spending cuts
A key vote to advance a massive conservative policy bill has been delayed, putting House Republicans behind in their ambitious schedule to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda. The House Budget Committee had initially aimed to go through and approve the legislation this week, but a source familiar with planning told Fox News Digital that is no longer the case. It comes after conservatives on the panel rejected multiple offers by House GOP leaders on where to set a baseline for cutting federal spending, urging senior Republicans to seek deeper cuts ahead of negotiations with the Senate. “I guess they want to get the resolution out. I do, too. I want to get it out of committee, have an up or down vote. But if you set that floor too low, that’s all that’s going to be achieved,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who sits on the House Budget Committee, told Fox News Digital on Monday. “I have no confidence that they would exceed whatever level we put in there.” SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN Norman is one of several members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus who sits on the budget committee. With just a razor-thin majority in the House – and by extension, on committees – Republicans can afford dissent from just one or two members to pass anything along party lines. It’s a significant hurdle facing the GOP as they seek to use their House and Senate majorities to pass a sweeping conservative policy overhaul via the budget reconciliation process. By lowering the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to 51 out of 100, the maneuver allows the party in power to skirt its opposition to advance its agenda – provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters. The House of Representatives already has a simple majority threshold. Republicans are hoping to use reconciliation to pass a broad swath of Trump’s policy goals, from more funding at the border to removing taxes on tipped and overtime wages. But conservatives have also demanded that any reconciliation bill also reduce the national deficit by pairing new spending with extreme cuts in federal dollars going elsewhere. The first step in the reconciliation process is getting the bill through Congress’ budget committees, which then directs other committees to find areas for cuts and policy changes under their specific jurisdictions. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said that guidelines for spending cuts would be a “floor” not a “ceiling.” Fox News Digital was told that GOP leaders initially presented what amounted to a $300 billion floor for cuts, paired with $325 billion in new defense and border spending. BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS Conservatives later rejected another offer that amounted to a rough total of $900 billion in spending cuts, with about $300 billion in new spending, Fox News Digital was told. Norman said he wanted the floor set to $2 trillion or $3 trillion. Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., another Freedom Caucus member on the budget panel, said he was optimistic about reaching a deal, but that there were “a lot of conversations about starting the process from the most conservative position possible.” “The Senate is not as interested in fiscal responsibility, so we recognize the need to set parameters for authorizing committees that encourage that… from the beginning,” Cline said Monday. Johnson said he wanted the bill to advance through committee this week with a goal of passing an initial House version by the end of February. Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office for comment. The speaker said on “Fox & Friends” Monday morning of reconciliation talks, “Republicans are working right now to negotiate what that looks like. We don’t want to blow a hole in the deficit by extending the Trump-era tax cuts, for example, but we’re definitely going to get that extended. So we got to find those savings.”
Hidden Strength: South Sudan | Africa’s New Directions
Informal sector business owners and vendors are the backbone of South Sudan’s economy. South Sudan is the world’s youngest nation. Despite its rich cultural diversity and natural resources, the country faces immense challenges, including economic instability and governance issues exacerbated by continuing conflicts. The informal sector, a lifeline for many South Sudanese, plays a critical role in sustaining the nation’s fragile economy. Hidden Strength unveils the stories of resilience within the informal economy of Juba. Through expert interviews and local business owners, the film demonstrates how honest livelihoods can be forged even in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. Adblock test (Why?)
Thousands of displaced Sudanese return to Gezira state, post-RSF
NewsFeed Thousands of people are returning home to Wad Madani in Sudan for the first time since the Sudanese army regained control of the Gezira state capital in January. But many are finding their homes looted and damaged after a year under RSF control. Published On 4 Feb 20254 Feb 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Is this the death of the English major?
We’re examining the global decline in demand for English degrees as students increasingly turn to STEM fields, fearing an English degree won’t lead to high-paying jobs. Is an English degree simply about analysing rhyme schemes and bragging about reading Ulysses? We speak with students and recruitment managers to uncover the causes and effects of this academic trend. Do employers prioritise communication skills, or do they value technical expertise more? And does avoiding the humanities at university really guarantee a high-paying job? Adblock test (Why?)
New DNC vice chair sets social media ablaze after ‘radical’ posts exposed: ‘Learned absolutely nothing’
Newly elected Democratic National Committee (DNC) Vice Chair David Hogg, a 24-year-old gun control activist and emerging voice in the Democratic Party, is the DNC’s first Gen Z vice chair. He has the digital footprint to prove it. “Are you ready to go on the offense? We have to win back our young people. I’m the only candidate in this race for any of these positions that is under 30. We had a 20-point shift to the right of our young people. We must show our young people we give a damn about them, that we support them, and we invest in them,” Hogg said at the DNC’s Winter Meeting. Yet, Hogg could be backed into a defensive position as he assumes his new role as vice chair. NEW DNC VICE CHAIR PREVIOUSLY CALLED FOR ICE TO BE ABOLISHED “I have raised over $11 million in the past year to support the future of our party because I don’t just tweet,” Hogg said. “I don’t just talk the talk. I also walk the walk, and I knock the knock on doors around this country.” Hogg’s old posts have gone viral as conservative activists have sounded the alarm about his past policy positions and rhetoric against conservatives. In 2022, he rallied around several left-wing positions, including “legalizing all drugs” and “supporting a 100% tax after your first billion.” “How radical you ask? I don’t think anybody should have over $1 billion in assets there should be a 100% tax after your first billion,” Hogg posted on X in April 2022. “I think we need to do what Australia did in regards to guns. We need universal healthcare Free college for all Legalize all drugs.” DNC LAMBASTED FOR ‘BEYOND PARODY’ LEADERSHIP VOTE THAT INCLUDED SINGING, GENDER RULES: ‘CAN’T STOP LAUGHING’ Months later, he said he would prefer to own a Porsche than have kids, claiming it is better for the environment. “Like me? I’m never planning on having kids. I would much rather own a Porsche and have a Portuguese water dog and golden doodle,” Hogg posted on X in September 2022. “Long term it’s cheaper, better for The environment and will never tell you that it hates you or ask you to pay for college.” Hogg also acknowledged in 2022 that “any politician doing anything with me is in effect committing political suicide.” Conservatives on X are calling out the irony of the DNC now electing him to a leadership position. Many have pointed to Hogg’s progressive views on masculinity as a turnoff to young male voters. In 2021, Hogg called to “abolish ICE” and “defund the police not USPS.” Upon accepting the new DNC leadership position, X users are calling out Hogg for his 2022 post that said, “We have enough straight white men in power. It’d be nice to see some people who actually look like our country and not privilege.” DEMOCRATS ELECT NEW CHAIR WHO BRANDED TRUMP A ‘TRAITOR’ AS PARTY AIMS TO REBOUND FROM DISASTROUS 2024 ELECTION X users also argued Hogg’s nomination proves the Democratic Party is out of touch with its electorate. Conservatives have also trolled Hogg’s nomination, arguing that “He will help Republicans win for years to come.” Hogg garnered national attention in 2018 as a co-founder of March for Our Lives, a student-led organization launched by survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Since 2018, Hogg has become a voice of young Democrats in the mainstream media as he continues his advocacy work. After graduating from Harvard in 2023, Hogg co-founded Leaders We Deserve, a political action committee promoting young progressive candidates for state and federal office. Fox News Digital reached out to the DNC and David Hogg.
Hindenburg’s Nate Anderson reveals why he shut down firm, says stands by Adani report
Nate Anderson said that Hindenburg’s January 2023 report accusing Adani Group of “the largest con in corporate history” was a result of following “red flags” raised against the conglomerate in media reports.
‘Those who do photo-ops…’: PM Modi hits back at LoP Rahul Gandhi over ‘boring’ President speech comment
PM Modi criticized Rahul Gandhi for calling the President’s speech “boring,” accused him of using “urban Naxal” language, and slammed Congress over the caste census.