In May, U.S. energy officials <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-found-chinese-inverters-2025-05-14/">released</a> bombshell findings about China’s ability to turn out the lights across America. Rogue communications devices were found inside Chinese solar power inverters. In addition, undisclosed cellular radios were found inside Chinese batteries. These Chinese Communist Party sabotage efforts are reminiscent of CCP-tied Huawei’s infiltration of our communications network, which gave Beijing the ability to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/23/politics/fbi-investigation-huawei-china-defense-department-communications-nuclear/index.html">disrupt our nuclear arsenal communications</a>.
Beijing seeks the ability to remotely access and destroy the systems upon which Americans depend for everyday life and upon which our military depends to project power across the globe. The U.S. rightly began to remove Huawei technologies from our market <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-050547906.html?guccounter=1">in 2019</a> because of security risks. Since then, ironically, we’ve allowed China to flood our market with network-connected technologies such as routers, drones, cranes, healthcare devices, cameras, green tech, and more, which collectively constitute a deeper penetration of our vital systems. This trend must be reversed through new laws and better law enforcement to block and remove all Chinese network-connected technologies. 
American tax dollars should not fund technologies that facilitate Chinese espionage and sabotage efforts. At the federal level, Congress should ban federal procurement of Chinese network-connected technologies. Congress should also codify President Trump’s Information and Communications Technology <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/05/17/2019-10538/securing-the-information-and-communications-technology-and-services-supply-chain">executive order</a> from 2019 and fund ICT programs to block CCP tech. During March 2025 testimony, former Biden Administration official Dr. Rush Doshi <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/oS_aZXE6W0k">argued</a> that codifying Trump’s order “would let us prohibit certain [Chinese] goods,” especially power converters and network-connected technologies, “from being in the U.S. market.”
States must excise CCP network-connected technologies from their critical infrastructure and government systems. For example, Texas’ 2021 <a href="https://www.jw.com/news/insights-texas-lone-star-infrastructure-protection-act/">Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act (LIPA)</a> forbids Texas businesses and government from contracting with China, Russia, North Korea and Iran on critical infrastructure, especially if foreign parties would gain remote access or control of the infrastructure. A 2023 Nebraska law <a href="https://flood.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-flood-applauds-bipartisan-work-ban-state-funds-huawei-equipment">prohibits</a> the state from providing public funds to telecommunications providers that have not yet removed Huawei 5G hardware from their cell towers. Utah passed a 2024 law to end procurement of Chinese technologies such as computers and routers. All states should adopt these measures.
Furthermore, the U.S. must enforce the rule-of-law. The Chinese Communist Party has made tremendous gains at the expense of the U.S. in part because the U.S. and its allies have failed to enforce their own laws upon malicious CCP agents and entities. At a fundamental level, the two legal systems are incompatible because <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/statement-national-security-advisor-robert-c-obrien-011521-2/">China’s laws require businesses to engage in espionage for the party-state</a>, while America’s laws require data privacy. America must pivot and crush CCP lawlessness. Consumer fraud and data privacy laws must be tightened, and robust enforcement actions must be taken by both federal agencies and state attorneys general. 
In March 2025, the FCC’s Council on National Security <a href="https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/fcc-investigating-china-companies-national-security/743316/">opened an investigation</a> into several telecommunications companies, including Huawei, for engaging in unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent business practices such as selling banned equipment in the United States. The FCC can go further by revoking telecom licenses from corrupt entities. Meanwhile, other federal agencies must get in the fight.
State AGs must enforce the law against Chinese manufacturers that embed hidden backdoors in products, and American companies that “white-label” such products must also be held accountable. For example, according to the federal <a href="https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/resources/contec-cms8000-contains-backdoor">Cybersecurity &amp; Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)</a> the Chinese company Contec sells healthcare monitors with embedded backdoors that provide Beijing with access to patient data along with the ability to manipulate readings of a patient’s vitals. AGs should investigate Contec for potential violations of consumer and medical data protections. As a recent FDA Safety Communication states, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/cybersecurity-vulnerabilities-certain-patient-monitors-contec-and-epsimed-fda-safety-communication">Florida-based Epsimed</a>, which sells Contec products in the U.S., should also be investigated.
These security concerns are amplified by ethical concerns. Chinese green energy technologies are not only riddled with backdoors, they often <a href="http://www.cecc.gov/events/hearings/from-cobalt-to-cars-how-china-exploits-child-and-forced-labor-in-the-congo">rely on slave labor</a>. Too many environmental activists have been hoodwinked into promoting cheap CCP hardware to “save the planet,” all while supporting slave labor and compromising our energy grid.
The United States <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-050547906.html?guccounter=1">2019 actions against Huawei</a> were a strong step, but since then we’ve lost ground. Rapid and concerted action is needed to protect our way of life against Chinese Communist Party sabotage, and to build an economic system based upon rule-of-law rather than communist infiltration and subversion.
* * *
Michael Lucci is the Founder and CEO of State Armor, a 501(c)(3) non-profit advocating for state solutions to the global threats posed by the CCP. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

TOPSHOT-CHINA-TECHNOLOGY-AI

CCP In The Machine: How China’s Tech Continues To Infiltrate American Hardware

Attorney General

China

Communism

Espionage

Foreign Policy

Opinion

Spying

Technology

Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel said on Monday that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, also a Democrat, violated campaign law when she announced her 2026 gubernatorial bid in a government building in January. According to Nessel&#8217;s office, however, the state law does not provide any mechanism for punishing Benson, who oversees elections and campaign finance, The Detroit News <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/19/michigan-dana-nessel-finds-secretary-of-state-jocelyn-benson-violated-campaign-finance-law-governor/83726371007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
On January 22, days after she accidentally posted her campaign announcement on social media, Benson officially launched her 2026 bid for Michigan governor inside the Richard H. Austin Building, which houses the Department of State in Lansing. As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michigan-dem-secretary-of-state-launches-bid-for-governor-hours-after-accidental-announcement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> at the time, Benson was criticized for likely violating Michigan law, which <a href="https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-169-257" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prohibits</a> “a person acting for a public body” from using “funds, personnel, office space, computer hardware or software, property, stationery, postage, vehicles, equipment, supplies, or other public resources to make a contribution or expenditure or provide volunteer personal services.”
Nessel&#8217;s office wrote on Monday that Benson &#8220;invited members of the press inside the Austin Building&#8221; and then &#8220;conducted a press conference, professionally dressed, during the day, in the lobby of the building that houses her office.&#8221;
&#8220;She gave no indication that would lead a reasonable person viewing the press conference to believe that she was there on her &#8216;personal time.&#8217; Instead, the circumstances would lead a reasonable person to believe that Secretary Benson was acting as Secretary of State with the authority of the Department of State, which is a &#8216;public body,&#8217; to invite members of the press inside her office building,&#8221; the attorney general added.
Those who break the law are guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to up to a year in prison or a fine of up to $1,000. Despite finding that the Democratic gubernatorial candidate broke the campaign law, the Michigan Department of Attorney General said it cannot impose a fine or civil penalty on Benson because the law excludes the secretary of state, according to <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/19/attorney-general-jocelyn-benson-broke-campaign-finance-law-governor-campaign/83726457007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Detroit Free Press</a>. The attorney general&#8217;s office said that the &#8220;unequal treatment&#8221; in the law &#8220;is something the Legislature may want to consider addressing.&#8221;
Nessel&#8217;s office did not respond to a Daily Wire request to comment.
Michigan Republican state Rep. Jay DeBoyer told The Daily Wire that he disagrees with the attorney general&#8217;s conclusion that the office cannot pursue a punishment for Benson. The law gives the Secretary of State&#8217;s office the obligation to refer the attorney general&#8217;s findings back to the AG for a punishment, according to DeBoyer.
&#8220;If the secretary of state chooses not to refer this, that is an absolute dereliction of duty,&#8221; DeBoyer said.
&#8220;The opinion that was put out by the attorney general&#8217;s office, although finding that there was a violation, seemed to hedge in the direction of &#8216;There&#8217;s nothing we can do about it,'&#8221; he added. &#8220;There actually is, but it requires the secretary of state&#8217;s office to operate in an ethical manner and do what they should do, which is refer this to the attorney general&#8217;s office.&#8221;
Aric Nesbitt, the Michigan Republican Senate minority leader also running for governor, blasted Nessel&#8217;s office, telling The Daily Wire that the attorney general is protecting &#8220;her Democrat ally.&#8221;
&#8220;While AG Nessel, the top law enforcement official in the state, targets Trump with ridiculous lawsuits, she shields her Democrat ally from accountability,&#8221; Nesbitt said. &#8220;This double standard reeks of partisan bias, undermining election integrity. Michiganders deserve an attorney general who enforces the law, not one who holds herself and her allies above it.&#8221;
Benson&#8217;s campaign communications director, Alyssa Bradley, said on Monday, &#8220;We understand the Attorney General is issuing a new interpretation of the law.&#8221;
&#8220;We look forward to continuing the conversation with Michiganders about Jocelyn Benson&#8217;s vision to make our state the best place to be a kid, raise a kid, and call home by lowering housing costs, making our schools among the best in the nation, and standing up for our rights and freedoms,&#8221; Bradley added.
Benson defended her decision to announce her bid inside her office building in January, saying she didn&#8217;t want people to stand outside in the <a href="https://world-weather.info/forecast/usa/lansing/january-2025/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">frigid</a> Michigan winter weather. She also argued that other candidates could use the space for campaign announcements, a carve-out in the campaign law that would put Benson in the clear. Nessel&#8217;s office rejected that argument, writing that her &#8220;belief was misplaced.&#8221;

Jocelyn Benson

Michigan Dem AG Finds Dem Secretary Of State Violated Campaign Law, But Won’t Punish Her

2026 Midterms

Elections

Michigan

Politics

Remember the scene from the TV special “The Mystery of Al Capone&#8217;s Vaults” in which Geraldo Rivera tried to open Al Capone&#8217;s vault, finally did, and there was nothing inside?
The reveal of the Epstein files was like that. And this has led to speculation that the Epstein files are still secretly somewhere, and the lack of justification for more material being out there is demonstrated by the lack of material.
This sort of stuff is annoying. I want all the Epstein files exposed, every single piece of them — all of it unredacted as much as humanly possible. Theoretically, the only information that should be redacted is information to protect the victims, certainly nothing to protect the allegations against perpetrators.
I want to know exactly who Jeffrey Epstein was, who was opping him — because the question of how he made his money is a serious question — and why law enforcement basically allowed him to gallivant around performing atrocities against young women on behalf of powerful men with his girlfriend, paramour, and co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
But that did not happen on Thursday, and I think these distractions are not great for the Trump administration.
The Trump administration has very serious work. I keep saying this because it&#8217;s important: I want the Trump administration to be highly successful. And there are important things to do.
We need to rebuild the American military. We need to rebuild the American economy and unleash its dynamism. We need to get our debt under control. We need to cleanse DEI from all aspects of the federal government. We need to reshape America&#8217;s foreign policy around rising threats like China.
There is much to do and not a lot of time to do it. So these sorts of shiny-object distractions that don&#8217;t materialize into anything are a problem. And I think they lend credence to the opponents of the Trump administration, which I absolutely don&#8217;t want to happen.
Thursday was a s***show when it came to the Epstein files.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2148-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
On Wednesday, Pam Bondi, the attorney general of the United States, announced she would be releasing new Epstein files showing names that have not been released before, unseen materials.
So everyone was waiting for the release of this information. Then, on Thursday morning, pictures started being released of social media influencers who were holding up binders that supposedly contained new Epstein information.
So, ok, fine. It&#8217;s an odd way to release it, but can we see what&#8217;s in it?
Then, over the course of the day, it turned out there was basically nothing in the binders; it was full of information that we already knew.
By the way, this is the second time this has happened. We were told that the JFK files were going to be released and that was going to explode everything. And that never happened. Because guess what? We pretty much know all there is to know about the JFK assassination.
There’s a conspiratorial angle that the Right seems to have fallen in love with: Unanswered questions must be answered in the most perverse possible way. Thinking that if the evidence isn&#8217;t there, but we just keep saying that there is a lack of evidence, and lack of evidence is actually proof of evidence… That kind of thinking is not rational.
I&#8217;m willing to follow this evidence wherever it leads. I want the answers the same as everyone else. The Epstein case is unlike the JFK assassination, where the assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald and there&#8217;s a plethora of video, forensic, and documentary evidence available. In the Epstein case, we really don&#8217;t know what the hell happened.
We still don&#8217;t know any of the key questions, such as who was running him, and if he was an opp, what exactly he was doing? Who were the people on the island? What kind of tapes are there?
All of those questions are unanswered. So I understand why there is so much dyspepsia over the Epstein case. But if you&#8217;re going to do a reveal, that means you better have some goods, something better come out. And it didn&#8217;t come out yesterday.
And I think people are right to be frustrated about it.
The release strategy was weird, and when it turned out there was nothing to it, the repercussions began.
The reason I’m sad about all of this is because there are serious things to be done. Trump has appointed an amazing cabinet. He&#8217;s got a big agenda, things to do, and a short time to do them.
These sorts of distractions are getting in the way of Trump doing what needs to be done.

US-POLITICS-JUSTICE-EPSTEIN

The Epstein Release Fiasco

Ben Shapiro

Federal Government

Ghislaine Maxwell

Jeffrey Epstein

kash patel

Pam Bondi

Nearly two dozen state attorneys general have determined that the best use of their time is to meet daily and look for ways they can undermine President Donald Trump — and the agenda the American people voted to see implemented.
According to a <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/27/democrats-taking-trump-musk-winning-00206310?nname=playbook&amp;nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&amp;nrid=00000155-9c90-dad1-ad7d-fed474bb0000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> published Thursday by POLITICO, 23 state attorneys general all login for a daily call so that they can better &#8220;coordinate their plans&#8221; to block, stall, or otherwise impede the efforts being made by the Trump administration — which thus far have been primarily focused on cutting waste, fraud, and abuse, protecting women and girls in athletics, and keeping Americans safe from criminal illegals.
&#8220;They share updates on the seven cases they have moving through federal courts and argue about whether to treat Elon Musk as a lawful arm of the government or an uncredentialed interloper to it. They plot where to respond next, leveraging timezone differences to expand the workday,&#8221; the report noted.
Democrats are in a very different position than they were in 2017 after Trump was elected the first time, POLITICO pointed out. In 2017, for example, Trump had won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote — which gave pundits leverage to declare his victory as somewhat &#8220;less-than&#8221; — and major protests erupted across the nation almost immediately.
Trump currently enjoys higher favorability ratings and approval ratings than he did in 2017, and a majority of Americans support many of the agenda items his administration has already begun to implement.
In addition, the speed with which the Trump administration has worked to get the ball rolling, particularly with regard to gaining control of the southern border and beginning to execute a plan for mass deportations — along with cutting waste, fraud, and abuse via the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative — has left Democrats flat-footed and unable to grasp at a singular issue around which they can rally.
The solution, according to Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez, is a coordinated effort led by state AGs: &#8220;Right now in the United States, the Democratic AGs are the only group of people who are united and working to prevent some of these unconstitutional actions from continuing.&#8221;
Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings agreed, adding, &#8220;We talk each and every day these days, and you’d think we start to get tired of it, but we’ve just grown closer over time. And in the next four years, we’re going to grow very close.&#8221;
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has already predicted that their efforts will end in failure, arguing that they are doing little more than &#8220;playing politics&#8221; and delaying the inevitable.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
TRUMP WILL ‘PREVAIL’: Attorney General Pam Bondi tells <a href="https://twitter.com/marthamaccallum?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@marthamaccallum</a> that the Democrat state attorneys general suing to stop DOGE from exposing waste and abuse are playing politics — and will fail. <a href="https://t.co/VZmEM3BdzN">pic.twitter.com/VZmEM3BdzN</a>
&mdash; Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1890538657225785578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;The president of course is going to prevail, he&#8217;s looking out for our tax dollars,&#8221; Bondi told Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum in mid-February.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

All The State Democrat Attorneys General Are Meeting Daily To Undermine Trump

Democrats

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Donald Trump

Executive

Illegal Immigration

Farm groups filed a lawsuit against Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, after he hired an environmental prosecutor paid by outside funds.
The <a href="https://www.wpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2025.02.20-004-Complaint.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complaint</a>, posted by Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR), states that Kaul hired Karen Heineman last year as a special assistant attorney general to focus on prosecuting people and businesses violating the Badger State’s environmental regulations. Heineman’s position, however, is funded through the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center at New York University Law School, which was started in 2017 with a $5.6 million grant from Michael Bloomberg’s nonprofit.
Bloomberg is a climate activist and former mayor of New York City.
The aim of the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center was to hire lawyers in blue states to push back against President Donald Trump’s deregulations in his first term, and the center is still funding these attorneys now.
The current lawsuit against the Wisconsin AG was filed by the Wisconsin Dairy Alliance, Venture Dairy Cooperative, and Lane Ruhland, a lawyer who has worked for Republicans in the past.
Kim Bremmer, executive director of the Venture Dairy Cooperative, told WPR that it was unconstitutional and unlawful for the state Department of Justice to have an agreement with the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, saying it denies due process and equal protection.
“If anyone could just privately fund an assistant attorney general position, then we all should be doing it,” Bremmer told the outlet.
Earlier this month, Republicans in Wisconsin proposed a bill that would prevent Kaul from hiring staff members using outside funds, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/06/republicans-look-to-bar-doj-employees-funded-by-outside-organizations/78255090007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
&#8220;Allowing out-of-state billionaires to instigate or control investigations or prosecutions of Wisconsinites is unacceptable,&#8221; Republicans wrote in a memo about the bill. &#8220;The Attorney General&#8217;s duty is to represent and serve the people of Wisconsin, not to accommodate the bidding and agenda of out-of-state billionaire partisan activists who buy their way into our DOJ offices.&#8221;
“I’m proud of the work the Wisconsin Department of Justice does to protect clean air and clean drinking water,” Kaul said in a statement to WPR. “With the harm that pollution causes in many communities across the state, better resourcing the enforcement of our environmental laws shouldn’t be controversial.”
Bremmer, however, told WPR that the “desirable outcome would be that this is ruled unconstitutional” so that this sort of funding scheme “doesn’t happen in the future … to try to keep as many agendas out of the DOJ as possible.”
The lawsuit aims to require Wisconsin’s Department of Justice to terminate its agreement with the SEEIC, eliminate any special assistant attorney general positions, and prohibit future arrangements to fund prosecutors this way.
Wisconsin is not the only state to fund leftist prosecutors through the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center. The <a href="https://stateimpactcenter.org/about/fellows-program/apply" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> currently lists funded positions available in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Minnesota, the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Connecticut.  The website also previously noted that it funds attorneys in the AG offices of numerous states, including Delaware, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. – all states with Democrat control.
In a statement to The Daily Wire, SEEIC energy director Jessica Bell insisted that while the organization pays the attorney&#8217;s salaries, &#8220;the fellows’ sole duty of loyalty is to the attorney general in whose office they serve.&#8221;
&#8220;All work performed by the fellows is entirely identified and managed by the respective government official,&#8221; she added.
Republicans have raised concerns about the Bloomberg-funded initiative for years, with former West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bloomberg-network-climate-lawyers-ag" target="_blank" rel="noopener">telling</a> Fox News in 2020 that this was “a fundamental question of ethics and who&#8217;s running our government.”
&#8220;When you actually get to place someone in under a specific agenda and then pay them and they’re within the office, that starts to call into question whether there are multiple masters within an attorney general office and that starts to really stink,” Morrisey said at the time.
This story has been updated to include comment from the SEEIC.

Michael Bloomberg

Democrat Wisconsin AG Sued For Hiring Environmental Prosecutor Funded By Michael Bloomberg

Courts

Wisconsin

President Trump ran on a platform of upholding the Constitution and defending the rights of all Americans. Seventy-seven million Americans elected him to depoliticize the Department of Justice and return the rule of law to our country.
President Trump is keeping his promise to the American people.
He has put together a top-notch team to lead the Justice Department. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was confirmed last week, is an experienced and dedicated public servant with an outstanding record. Kash Patel is on track for confirmation as FBI Director as soon as this week and he will bring much-needed reforms to our nation’s preeminent law enforcement agency.
Todd Blanche, President Trump’s nominee to be the Deputy Attorney General, is another critical piece to restoring trust and accountability in the Justice Department. He must be confirmed quickly.
First and foremost, Todd is a decent and honorable man. He’s not a product of the Washington elite, the Ivy League, or the Ivory Tower. Todd achieved success the old-fashioned way — through grit, hard work, and determination.
Todd started with the Justice Department as a paralegal while putting himself through law school at night. He eventually became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. Practicing before perhaps the country’s most demanding court, Todd helped to enforce federal laws and prosecute violent criminals.
After many years with the Justice Department, Todd entered private practice, defending clients in the same courts where he once argued as a prosecutor. He handled some of the most high-profile and sensitive cases in New York. And he did it like everything else in his career, with discipline, passion, and conviction.
Todd Blanche is a uniquely qualified nominee to help lead the Justice Department at this pivotal moment in its history.
He knows the Department inside and out. Todd has experienced it as a junior paralegal juggling the demands of a young family and a legal education. He’s experienced it as a prosecutor representing “We, the People” against violent criminals and dangerous felons. And he’s seen it from the outside as a litigator defending clients against federal prosecutions. Todd understands the rule of law because he’s been on both sides of the courtroom. He knows the demands on the prosecution to do justice and he knows the challenges of the defense to zealously represent a client. He knows how — when our legal system works as designed — justice is done.
Importantly, Todd also has seen how our system of justice can be weaponized and misused for partisan purposes. He’s defended President Trump against politicized prosecutions at the state level and from the Biden-Harris Administration. He knows firsthand how politically ambitious prosecutors can abuse the powers of their office to target and harass political opponents. Todd’s been successful in fighting for President Trump and defending the fundamental American principle of impartial justice for all.
Todd Blanche is a credit to our country and exactly the kind of humble public servant we need now more than ever. He will make a great Deputy Attorney General of the United States.
* * *
Congressman Jim Jordan represents Ohio’s 4th District and serves as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Lawyers Attend Pre-Trial Hearing In Trump Documents Case

Why Todd Blanche Is The Right Man For Deputy Attorney General

House Judiciary Committee

Jim Jordan

U.S. House of Representatives

A coalition of more than a dozen Republican attorneys general warned <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/costco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Costco</a> on Monday that its embrace of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies may expose it to legal risks in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action. 
Led by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, the group wrote in a letter to CEO Ron Vachris that the company should ditch any DEI policy and adopt a merit-based approach. Last week, Costco shareholders overwhelmingly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/costco-shareholders-reject-anti-dei-proposal-spark-backlash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot down</a> an effort to pass an anti-DEI measure. 
“Although Costco’s motto is ‘do the right thing,’ it appears that the company is doing the wrong thing—clinging to DEI policies that courts and businesses have rejected as illegal,” the Republican officials wrote. “Costco should treat every person equally and based on their merit, rather than based on divisive and discriminatory DEI practices.”
Approximately 98% of the retailer&#8217;s shareholders reportedly voted last week to block a resolution from the National Center for Public Policy Research on merit-based hiring. Costco’s decision to maintain DEI practices comes after other companies, such as McDonald’s, Target, and Walmart, have all rolled their policies back. 
“Inexplicably, Costco has doubled down on DEI,” the AGs wrote. “Last month, Costco’s board of directors unanimously recommended that shareholders vote against a proposal requiring Costco to study and report on financial risks associated with its DEI policies.”
The Republican officials cited the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action and said the company’s position “raises concerns about Costco’s compliance with State and federal laws.” They added that Costco should rethink its decision, pointing to a recent <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> from President Donald Trump eliminating DEI from the federal government and encouraging private companies to do the same. 
“And beyond eliminating legal exposure, repealing its DEI policies would provide Costco with time to deal with other important issues, such as questions regarding the alleged connection between Costco products and slave labor in China,” the letter said. 
The attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia signed the letter. They asked Costco to respond within 30 days stating whether the company would still stand by its policies. 
Costco chairman Hamilton James has said that the company’s DEI initiatives are meant to help their employees feel “included and appreciated and that they transmit these values to our customers.” 
Costco has several <a href="https://consumersresearch.org/woke-alert/woke-alert-costco/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DEI initiatives</a> in place, including a “<a href="https://mobilecontent.costco.com/staging/resource/img/25w03130/2d_SupplierInclusion_FY24.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supplier inclusion program</a><a href="https://mobilecontent.costco.com/staging/resource/img/25w03130/2d_SupplierInclusion_FY24.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">.</a> &#8221; The company <a href="https://mobilecontent.costco.com/staging/resource/img/25w03130/2a_Inclusion_FY24.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tracks</a> the number of non-white men it has employed and placed in management positions to measure how &#8220;inclusive” it is.

US-RETAIL-COSTCO

Republican AGs Say Costco Faces Legal Risks Over ‘Divisive’ DEI Policies

Costco

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Social Issues

Supreme Court

Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) complained on Tuesday that Pam Bondi, President Donald Trump&#8217;s nominee to serve as attorney general, had not reviewed each individual case prior to Trump pardoning the vast majority of those charged with January 6-related crimes.
Schiff shared a video on social media from Bondi&#8217;s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, during which he&#8217;d specifically asked her whether she would review the individual cases — and she&#8217;d said that she would review anything she was asked to review.
&#8220;Pam Bondi, last week on pardons for Jan 6 offenders: &#8216;I will look at every case on a case-by-case basis,'&#8221; Schiff captioned the clip. &#8220;Donald Trump, yesterday: &#8216;Full pardons.&#8217; No review. No accountability. Nothing.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Pam Bondi, last week on pardons for Jan 6 offenders: &#8220;I will look at every case on a case-by-case basis&#8221;
Donald Trump, yesterday: &#8220;Full pardons&#8221;
No review. No accountability. Nothing. <a href="https://t.co/4q95vfau4G">pic.twitter.com/4q95vfau4G</a>
— Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenAdamSchiff/status/1881710788194550216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A number of critics took to X to point out the rank hypocrisy of Schiff, who had himself received just hours earlier a preemptive pardon from former President Joe Biden for his role on the January 6th Select Committee, daring to say anything at all about who Trump chose to pardon — especially when he&#8217;d also remained silent when Biden also issued blanket pardons to several members of his immediate family.
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But then a few noted that Bondi had only answered questions in the committee hearing regarding what she would do if confirmed to serve as the 87th U.S. Attorney General — and because members of his party had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-democrats-put-arbitrary-hold-on-pam-bondi-nomination" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arbitrarily delayed</a> the vote that would move her nomination forward out of committee, she had not yet even had a full vote in the Senate.
&#8220;Per Judiciary Committee <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/committee/rules" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rule</a> I.3, any member of the Committee may request an item on the Committee’s agenda be held over for a minimum of seven days. Holds are common practice in the Senate Judiciary Committee,&#8221; a notice issued on Wednesday by the committee read. &#8220;Pursuant to this rule, the Minority will hold Bondi’s nomination for seven days. As a result of this hold, which goes into effect tomorrow, the Committee will not meet in person for this week’s executive business meeting.&#8221;
A Judiciary Committee vote on whether or not to move Bondi&#8217;s nomination to the full Senate is now scheduled to take place on January 29th.

Pam Bondi Attends Confirmation Hearing To Be Attorney General

Adam Schiff Complains Bondi Isn’t Doing The Job His Party Is Blocking Her From Getting

Adam Schiff

Congress

January 6

Pardon

U.S. Senate

The following is an edited transcript of an interview between Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley and Tennessee Attorney General John Skrmetti on a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/landmark-battle-skrmetti-defends-law-protecting-minors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Saturday edition of Morning Wire</a>. 
It’s being called the most significant case of the current Supreme Court term — United States v. Skrmetti. The attorney general sat down with us to discuss his pivotal role in the case and his defense of a state law aimed at protecting minors from transgender medical procedures.
* * *
JOHN: Joining us now is Tennessee’s Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. Attorney General, thank you so much for coming on. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday on what is setting up to be a landmark case on transgender medical procedures on minors. Your name is on this marquee case, it’s you against the federal government: United States v. Skrmetti. So, safe to say, no one is more attuned to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessees-ban-on-child-sex-changes-heads-to-the-supreme-court-live-blog" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what happened this week</a> than you. First, how do you feel the day went for your case? 
SKRMETTI: I thought it went very well. I can&#8217;t predict outcomes, you don&#8217;t know what the court&#8217;s going to do and the justices have months to deliberate. So without talking “horse race” here, I thought the day went well for us. My solicitor general Matt Rice did a great job making our case. I was very happy with his oral argument. The argument went long, which I think reflects that the justices care a lot about this, recognize there are some complexities here from a legal perspective, and that this could be a very consequential precedent. And so they want to get it right. So I thought they explored many issues very thoroughly, and I thought we put out a great case for Tennessee.
JOHN: Yeah, what were some of the questions from the justices that stuck out to you, that could be key in their decision-making?
SKRMETTI: Again, you don&#8217;t want to prognosticate too much, but I think the sex discrimination questions were very important. There was one lengthy line of questioning, but there were a number of questions about how this case might fit into existing sex discrimination case law. And I think that&#8217;s probably going to be a very significant issue for the outcome of the case. I think I can prognosticate that much. But the question is: Is this a sex discrimination case in a constitutional sense? Our position is, it is not, because you&#8217;re not treating like people differently. The argument is because boys can get testosterone, but girls can&#8217;t, and girls can get estrogen, but boys can&#8217;t, that you&#8217;re discriminating on the basis of sex. But our position is there&#8217;s not some universal distribution of hormones out there. You don&#8217;t just give boys testosterone. Anytime a drug is prescribed, it is for the purpose of treating a particular condition. And the evaluation of whether the drug is appropriate depends on that condition. There&#8217;s not some universal access to any given drug. So, if you&#8217;re giving a boy testosterone, for a testosterone deficiency, that&#8217;s relieving medical problems. That&#8217;s curing harms. If you give a girl testosterone for a psychological condition, gender dysphoria, it will create a host of physiological problems – potential lifelong loss of fertility, potential lifelong loss of sexual function. Depending on which hormone you&#8217;re talking about, you can have lifelong problems with blood clots, with tumors, with puberty blockers, bone density disorders, and all of them cause potential lifelong cognitive impairments. So the use of the drug is very contingent on which condition you&#8217;re addressing with it.
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/landmark-battle-skrmetti-defends-law-protecting-minors/id1576594336?i=1000679563780" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
JOHN: Part of this is encapsulated in the concept of off-label usage of drugs. Can you explain what that means for our audience?
SKRMETTI: Sure. So the FDA, kind of adopting the perspective that I just articulated, only evaluates drugs for certain uses. They don&#8217;t say, &#8220;This drug is good, everybody can get as much of it as they want.&#8221; They say, &#8220;This drug is appropriate for treating this condition.&#8221; So, a lot of times, a drug will be approved to treat certain conditions. The FDA doesn&#8217;t have sufficient research to evaluate whether it&#8217;s appropriate for other conditions, but doctors can still sometimes prescribe it. They can prescribe off-label, which means even though the drug is not approved for that use, the doctors have made an informed medical decision to use it in that context, but they&#8217;re still subject to regulation. The state has, for hundreds of years, been regulating the practice of medicine. Even though doctors have a great deal of latitude, there are legal limits on what they can do. Oftentimes those limits are in place because the potential harms dramatically outweigh the potential benefits. The state has made a judgment that it is simply not appropriate to let doctors do what they would otherwise be inclined to do. Of course, those are fairly limited circumstances. We give a lot of latitude to doctors. We have a lot of respect for their training and for their decision-making, but there&#8217;s still a role for regulation there.
JOHN: When your team researched the evidence, the medical justification for why you think this is a fair law in the first place, what did you find in terms of the efficacy of these gender transition procedures for minors? Is there evidence backing up what pro-trans activists will claim about this?
SKRMETTI: Every systematic review of the evidence has determined that there is little to no benefit to minors. There are individual studies – there was some of this in the court. You can attack any given individual study on either side, there are always arguments to be made, but the systematic reviews of the overall research literature have consistently shown no benefit to minors. That&#8217;s why European countries that pioneered the use of these procedures on kids have since reversed course. It&#8217;s not because they suddenly got very politically conservative. It&#8217;s because they looked at the evidence and they determined that, for kids, the risks far outweigh the benefits, that the unexplained dramatic increase in the number of cases was very concerning, that there simply wasn&#8217;t a medical justification for the broad adoption of these treatments in the juvenile context. So they&#8217;ve greatly restricted the availability of these treatments. And that same review of evidence informed Tennessee&#8217;s decision.
JOHN: Now, I wanted to ask you about the parental rights aspects of this law. The pro-trans activists have tried to argue that Tennessee’s law could violate parent’s rights. What do you make of that argument?
SKRMETTI: So when the case was originally filed, there was both the constitutional argument, involving sex discrimination, and a parental rights argument. We won both in the Court of Appeals in the Sixth Circuit. The United States only petitioned for cert on the 14th Amendment issue, and so when the court granted that petition, the only question before them is the equal protection sex discrimination claim. So, the parental rights issue is still lurking out there. Justice Barrett addressed that briefly. Now, there are other situations where parents aren&#8217;t allowed to do what they&#8217;d otherwise be inclined to do. We give parents a great deal of latitude with their children but that doesn&#8217;t mean that they can do whatever they want, particularly in situations where you&#8217;re talking about severely adverse consequences in the long run. Parents can&#8217;t just go ahead and let their kids engage in conduct like that because the kids can&#8217;t meaningfully consent, and the parents can&#8217;t consign them to a life of dealing with the consequences for many, many different choices. This is an area where the state&#8217;s power is near its apex, protecting kids from serious harm.
<div id="attachment_838675" style="width: 816px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-838675" class="size-large wp-image-838675" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188237026-806x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 04: Transgender rights supporters and opponent rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court as the high court hears arguments in a case on transgender health rights on December 04, 2024 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in US v. Skrmetti, a case about Tennessee's law banning gender-affirming care for minors and if it violates the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee." width="806" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188237026-806x576.jpg 806w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188237026-300x214.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188237026-768x549.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188237026.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 806px) 100vw, 806px" />Credit: Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images.</div>
JOHN: Now, as we’ve documented here at the Daily Wire, Tennessee’s law was inspired by an investigation into Vanderbilt’s gender clinic by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-could-be-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-gender-ideology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matt Walsh</a> that got the attention of a lot of people not just in the state but across the country. And now over two dozen states have laws similar to Tennessee’s How will this ruling of impact those state laws?
SKRMETTI: Well, presumably if Tennessee&#8217;s law is constitutionally sound, then the other half of the states in the country that have adopted similar laws will similarly survive constitutional scrutiny, and it will allow those states to exercise their sovereign authority to regulate the medical profession in a way that protects kids. So, this is definitely a case that will have broader consequences than just within the borders of Tennessee.
JOHN: A larger question, about the cultural context of this: We just saw an election where Republicans gained 10 points or more in almost every single state, even in very deep blue areas – even if they didn&#8217;t vote for Trump, they moved in the direction of Republicans. And one of the most cited issues was the transgender agenda. Do you see this year as a turning point on this issue? 
SKRMETTI: So I think it&#8217;s an issue that&#8217;s front of mind for a lot of people because the country has moved, at least in part, very, very far, very, very fast over the past few years. We&#8217;ve just seen radical changes in the rhetoric, in mainstream conversations about gender identity. To tell someone 10 years ago this would be the big case of this term at the Supreme Court, I think, would have baffled most Americans. So it&#8217;s something that people are reacting to. But I do think, even if there is a political element to it with respect to the election, it&#8217;s really important to note that this is not a political issue for a lot of people. This was a bipartisan piece of legislation. It was supported by members of both sides of the aisle when it came through the Tennessee legislature. The people advocating for this include, of course, traditional Christian conservative groups, traditional constitutional conservative groups, but also groups that probably don&#8217;t align with us on a lot of issues. There are medical groups that are fairly non-political. There are LGB groups that are very concerned about what they term “transing the gays.” So this is a coalition that&#8217;s much broader than just one side of the political divide. There are a lot of people who are really worried that we have adopted an approach to gender identity issues that&#8217;s going to leave a lot of kids very hurt.
JOHN: There’s certainly evidence that the national sentiment has shifted on this. Final question. The justices will deliver their decision this summer. In the meantime, how does Tennessee handle this particular law in the intervening months?
SKRMETTI: So, our law is currently in effect, and we will enforce it. That means we&#8217;re going to be protecting Tennessee kids from these lifelong treatments. One important fact is, the science shows, the evidence shows most kids dealing with gender dysphoria will outgrow it. It&#8217;s a hard thing to deal with, it&#8217;s a hard thing for everybody to deal with, but most of these kids who are being steered toward these life-altering treatments would be fine if they were just given time – and we want to make sure they have that time.
JOHN: Well, attorney general, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us.
SKRMETTI: Thank you. Take care.
JOHN: That was Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and this has been a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/landmark-battle-skrmetti-defends-law-protecting-minors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Saturday edition of Morning Wire</a>.
***
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AG Skrmetti

‘A Very Consequential Precedent’: AG Skrmetti Unpacks Landmark Supreme Court Case

'A Very Consequential Precedent': AG Skrmetti Unpacks Landmark Supreme Court Case

Children

Gender

gender ideology

Matt Walsh

minors

Morning Wire

SCOTUS

Tennessee

Transgender

Pam Bondi, President-elect Trump’s nominee for U.S. Attorney General, is the most experienced career criminal prosecutor ever slated to be the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. She has more criminal trials under her belt as a prosecutor than any modern U.S. Attorney General, and possibly more than every previous one.
In our nation’s history, there have been 86 U.S. Attorneys General. Those 84 men and two women each had distinguished careers as state governors, members of Congress, U.S. Attorneys, a Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy, a law school dean, state and federal judges, state attorneys general and a district attorney. Some of them acted as criminal prosecutors at the state or federal level for periods of time.
Much of the commentary about Bondi has centered around her media hits and campaign appearances in support of President Trump, or her role on the team that defended the president during his impeachment hearings. Some critics or skeptics of Bondi suggest that those roles prove that she is somehow too loyal to Trump and thus won’t be able to fulfill her responsibilities as Attorney General. One has to wonder if those same critics would have taken issue with the fact that President John F. Kennedy appointed his brother to be the Attorney General.
But to us, the top prosecutor of the United States should have prosecution experience. Lots of it.
None of the 86 prior U.S. Attorneys General spent 18 years as a local criminal prosecutor handling every type of case from domestic violence to homicide and capital cases. Pam Bondi has.
Several former Attorneys General tried criminal cases as prosecutors. For example, Edwin Meese, the 75th U.S. Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan, was a Deputy District Attorney in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office for eight years, and handled hundreds of cases, including a capital case. Janet Reno, the 78th Attorney General under President Bill Clinton, was a line prosecutor in the Miami-Dade County State’s Attorney’s Office, but didn’t try any cases. Later, after she was elected as the State’s Attorney for that office, she tried a smattering of high-profile cases, but was not known as “trial dog,” a person who has mastered and tried myriad criminal cases.
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The Justice Department is a massive federal agency. It’s composed of 40 separate organizations, employs more than 115,000 people, and oversees all federal prosecutions. The 94 U.S. Attorneys, spread across the country, handle the bulk of federal prosecutions. Leading that organization is a massive undertaking for anyone.
Bondi served as Attorney General for Florida from 2011-2019. The Florida Attorney General’s Office is one of the largest in the country, employs almost 1,300 people, and is spread across 14 offices throughout the Sunshine State. That office, like the U.S. Justice Department, handles a wide variety of criminal and civil matters.
If extensive criminal trial experience as a prosecutor and leading a large state attorney general’s office matters — and it certainly does for us — then Pam Bondi stands out in the crowd and is uniquely qualified to be the next Attorney General of the United States.
* * *
Cully Stimson is the Deputy Director of The Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center for Legal &amp; Judicial Studies, where he and Zack Smith serve as Senior Legal Fellows. Both are former federal prosecutors, and Stimson also served as a local, state, and military prosecutor.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.

US-POLITICS-CONSERVATIVES

Bondi Has The Proven Experience To Be Attorney General

Florida

Heritage Foundation

Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/james-lankford" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Lankford</a> (R-OK) defended former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump&#8217;s nominee for U.S. Attorney General, this week after she promised to remove anti-Trump individuals from the department.
Lankford made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CNN&#8217;s &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; with Dana Bash when asked about whether Bondi would weaponize the department to go after Trump&#8217;s political opponents.
&#8220;[Trump] wants to make sure that the people that are around him in the Cabinet are at least directionally the right direction,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This has been a question, quite frankly, since the Kennedy administration, when President Kennedy put his brother in as attorney general.&#8221;
Bash then played a clip of remarks that Bondi made in the past on Fox News:
<blockquote>BONDI: The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones. The investigators will be investigated, because the deep state, last term for President Trump, they were hiding in the shadows. But now they have a spotlight on them.
And they can all be investigated. And the house needs to be cleaned out.</blockquote>
Lankford said that he did not agree with the notion that Bondi&#8217;s comments were indicative of her pursuing &#8220;retribution&#8221; for Trump.
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&#8220;I think it&#8217;s trying to be able to get us back to neutral and to balance on that,&#8221; he said, adding that in the past, there were &#8220;individuals within the FBI, and that was very well — known after President Trump came on in 2016 — that there were members of the FBI that hated him that were in senior leadership that were working to be able to undercut him, Peter Strzok, multiple others that were actively working to try to undercut the president.&#8221;
&#8220;I think it&#8217;s entirely appropriate for Pam Bondi to step in and to say, or whoever that is as attorney general, to be able to step in and say, we&#8217;re not going to allow someone to try to undercut the President of the United States in this Department of Justice,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;You have got to actually be balanced and about justice, not about attacking the president.&#8221;
He said anyone trying to undercut the president at the department &#8220;should be gone&#8221; immediately.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;I don&#8217;t see any evidence of that kind of retribution.&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorLankford?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenatorLankford</a> downplays Trump&#8217;s threats of payback at DOJ but tells <a href="https://twitter.com/DanaBashCNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DanaBashCNN</a> &#8220;if someone is in the Department of Justice right now that is actively trying to undercut the president, they should be gone.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/6HbEwvSGv2">pic.twitter.com/6HbEwvSGv2</a>
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSOTU/status/1860720493424246886?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2024</a></blockquote>

2024 Republican National Convention TW

GOP Senator Defends Trump AG Pick Pam Bondi For Promising To Gut DOJ’s Anti-Trump Lawyers

Department of Justice

James Lankford

Media

Trump Administration

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said on Friday that he will not rejoin Congress in January after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-matt-gaetz-withdraws-name-from-ag-consideration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">withdrawing</a> his name from consideration for attorney general.
Gaetz told conservative commentator Charlie Kirk during an interview, “I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/22/politics/gaetz-not-rejoining-congress/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
The former Florida congressman resigned from the 118th Congress earlier this month after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for attorney general. His withdrawal from AG consideration on Thursday <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/can-matt-gaetz-make-a-house-comeback-next-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prompted</a> journalists to immediately begin exploring whether Gaetz could return to the House next year to serve since he won his November election.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Matt Gaetz tells Charlie Kirk he does not plan to return to Congress:
“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress.” <a href="https://t.co/VVOCoBfu5T">pic.twitter.com/VVOCoBfu5T</a>
&mdash; The Recount (@therecount) <a href="https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1860006982553416149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The nomination of Gaetz, a staunch Trump loyalist, was immediately criticized by Democrats and some Republicans, who expressed concern over the investigations into Gaetz over alleged sexual misconduct. Gaetz announced his decision to drop out of attorney general consideration on Thursday after meeting with senators on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. He said it was “clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
The House Ethics Committee has weighed releasing a report on Gaetz after looking into the sexual misconduct allegations against him. CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/politics/matt-gaetz-second-sexual-encounter-minor/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on Thursday that the Ethics Committee was told of a second alleged sexual encounter between Gaetz and a 17-year-old girl in 2017. According to CNN, Gaetz announced that he was withdrawing his name 45 minutes after reporters had asked for comment from him on the second allegation.
Trump tapped former Florida Attorney General <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republicans-praise-bondi-following-nomination-shell-be-an-incredible-attorney-general" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pam Bondi</a> to replace Gaetz as the attorney general nominee on Thursday, a move praised by Gaetz.
&#8220;@PamBondi is a stellar selection by President Trump for Attorney General,&#8221; Gaetz <a href="https://x.com/mattgaetz/status/1859753489062154581" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X. &#8220;Pam and I worked closely together when she was Florida’s Attorney General and I chaired Criminal Justice in the state house. She’s a proven litigator, an inspiring leader and a champion for all Americans. She will bring the needed reforms to DOJ.&#8221;
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To fill Gaetz&#8217;s seat, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis called for a special election, and Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd <a href="https://www.pnj.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/11/21/matt-gaetz-special-election-salzman-rudman-running-to-fill-seat/76450951007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> an election date would be announced as soon as possible. Republicans hold a slim majority in the House, but the party isn&#8217;t concerned about losing Gaetz&#8217;s seat as Florida&#8217;s 1st district is deep red.
Gaetz told Kirk on Friday, “There are a number of fantastic Floridians who’ve stepped up to run for my seat, people who have inspired with their heroism, with their public service. And I’m actually excited to see Northwest Florida go to new heights and have great representation.&#8221;
“I’m going to be fighting for President Trump,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I’m going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have. But I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress.”
Daniel Chaitin contributed to this report.

Matt Gaetz

Matt Gaetz Says He Will Not Rejoin Congress After Withdrawing From AG Consideration

2024 Election

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