Democrats plan probes of Musk, Miller, corporate America after midterm rout
Democrats plan probes of Musk, Miller, corporate America after midterm rout
By Tim Reid
WASHINGTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Tech megabillionaire Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s newly appointed White House chief of staff, Stephen Miller, and some large companies will likely be targets of congressional probes when Democrats take control of Congress in January, senior lawmakers said on Sunday.
In television appearances, US Representative Robert Garcia of California and US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, set to lead the House Oversight and Senate Banking committees, vowed aggressive oversight after their party’s sweeping midterm election victory.
Meanwhile, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries indicated he and his fellow Democrats would back an impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Garcia, who is the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said investigations will focus on Musk’s involvement in the Department of Government Efficiency’s firing of federal workers last year, and Miller’s role in Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown.
“I think there’s a lot of interest, not just from our committee, but from committees across the Congress to speak to Mr. Musk,” Garcia told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Warren said some companies should be ready for congressional investigations. She did not name any of the companies.
“If you’ve been making your profits by cheating American families and scamming your investors, you’d better get ready for some investigations, serious ones,” Warren told CBS’s “Face the Nation” program.
DEMOCRATS FOCUS ON MILLER, HEGSETH
Miller — whom Garcia called the architect of a “horrific, unjust” immigration policy — has been promoted to White House chief of staff.
“Stephen Miller is at the center of the major policy decisions that are happening in the administration, and so it does deserve oversight and investigation,” Garcia told CNN.
Voters delivered a historic rebuke to Republicans in Tuesday’s midterm election, but with Miller as White House chief of staff, the Trump administration is expected to continue its aggressive approach to immigration enforcement, amplify cultural conflicts and give no ground to a Democratic-controlled Congress, say officials and experts who spoke to Reuters.
The crackdown on immigration, which included operations in which two people were fatally shot in Minnesota by federal agents, has proven widely unpopular. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in October found that only 37% approved of Trump’s handling of immigration, down from 50% when he took office.
Jeffries, who will become speaker of the US House in January, said on Sunday that Democrats would support a measure to impeach Hegseth, a congressional process that could remove him from office.
Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican and Trump critic who leaves Congress in January after a Trump-backed primary defeat this year, has said he will reintroduce articles of impeachment against Hegseth soon. Jeffries said he is a “hard yes” on backing that measure.
“Pete Hegseth has got to go,” Jeffries told ABC’s “This Week,” citing the defense secretary’s oversight of the unpopular Iran war launched by Trump in February, which has led to a spike in gas prices.
“I believe there will be incredibly strong support for that resolution,” Jeffries added.
Attorney General Todd Blanche signaled on Sunday that the Trump administration was prepared to battle the Democrats in Congress, calling threats by some Democrats to target administration officials and allies “not something we can tolerate in this country.”
“If that’s what this new incoming leadership wants to do, we are ready,” said Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump. “If you work in this administration, you have a lawyer. It’s me.”
(Reporting by Tim Reid in Washington; Additional reporting by Abigail Summerville, Brad Heath and Tom Polansek; Editing by Sergio Non and Nia Williams)
HONG KONG, Nov 9 (Reuters) – China is willing to pursue stronger ties with Iran, China’s special envoy to the Middle East Zhai Jun said in talks with Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran’s
The county council hopes to create a “thriving waterside destination” in Staveley.
Supplies of a life saving drug for UK children with epilepsy could run out within months.
Chip giant Nvidia’s board announced Sunday it had opened a probe into chief executive and co-founder Jensen Huang after he acknowledged an affair with a woman US officials say was working for Chinese intelligence, a claim Beijing denied.Nvidia said in a statement it had opened an independent probe “in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.”
Jensen Huang admits to an affair, saying: “There is no excuse for what I did.” Nvidia’s investigation will look at reports that Huang was “the target of a foreign intelligence effort”.
As car horns blared out in central Kyiv and campaigners waved bright flags calling for the release of captured soldiers, a woman with long dark hair stood in large sunglasses with a banner draped over her shoulders.Kyiv does not have a say over who Moscow releases at any given time.
Kenyan police said investigations started after a key suspect was arrested in Tanzania last week.
At least six people were killed in the shooting, and three bodies of the suspect’s family members were found at their home.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the verdict must be respected, while the party’s secretary-general calls the outcome “catastrophic”.
National Highways says the closure is due to a police-led incident first reported at 05:45 GMT.
By Valerie Volcovici and Simon Jessop ANTALYA, Turkey, Nov 9 (Reuters) – Leaders of the COP31 climate summit urged the world to accelerate the fight against global warming as rising temperatures and
GENEVA, Nov 9 (Reuters) – This year is on track to be one of the four hottest on record, driven by a powerful El Niño and perpetuating a warming streak of more than a decade, a UN report showed on
Scientists are predictng this could be the hottest year on record as the COP31 climate summit opens.
The attack, which Poland’s defense minister described as an “act of terror,” left six people dead aside from the gunman and 15 wounded.
Nottingham City Council says the incident has been reported to Nottinghamshire Police.
New petrol or diesel cars are due to be phased out by 2030 and by 2035 all new cars must be zero emission.
(Corrects paragraph 3 spelling of ‘battled’) BEIJING, Nov 9 (Reuters) – A fire broke out at a high-rise residential building in Taiyuan, the capital of China’s northern province of Shanxi, killing at
In a cramped workshop in the heart of Addis Ababa, seamstresses are busy turning out reusable sanitary pads — a vital resource in Ethiopia, where many girls go without because of the cost and taboos.On a recent morning at the Nigat Kokeb School in Addis Ababa, sanitary pads were distributed to about a dozen young girls.
By Yuliia Dysa KYIV, Nov 9 (Reuters) – Larysa Ryndova hurried to see her husband as if they were going out on a first date — makeup on and perfume spritzed in the car.
Once lauded as the “Taylor Swift of tech”, Huang is mired in scandal after an affair with a suspected Chinese spy.
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