Beltway Insider: Biden/Trump Meet, Trump/Putin Call, Trump Cabinet Picks, Day One, Immunity Ruling Delayed, Jack Teixeira

Details

Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Sunday, 17 November 2024 09:06

Written by Janet Walker

President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump met this week in the Oval Office, to discuss the transition process, as both presented a unified front, and have stated they desire a smooth transition, as reminders of the 2020 insurrection remain.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com for the period ending November 17, 2024, decreased by 2.0% to 39.0% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness decreased by 1.3% at 55.7% of those polled. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

Beltway Insider: Biden Assures Public, Trump Elected, Democrat Regroup, 2028, Trump Picks Cabinet

Biden, Trump Meet in Oval Office

The meeting between President Joe Biden, and President-elect Donald Trump lasted for nearly two hours, as the two men discussed matters of national security, and other pressing issues.

President Biden welcomed the former president back to the White House, and the two men shook hands. The White House released the initial transcripts of the meeting, where Mr. Trump stated, "Thank you very much.  And thank you very much. And politics is tough.  And it's, many cases, not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today.  And I appreciate it very much — a transition that's so smooth it'll be as smooth as it can get. And I very much appreciate that, Joe."

"White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the meeting "substantive," and said the two men discussed national security and domestic policy issues, and Mr. Biden raised important items on Congress' to-do list," reported CBS.com.

Trump, Putin Call Disputed

A reported call between President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been denied by the Kremlin, although Putin did acknowledge a congratulatory follow-up call, with released comments. President-elect Trump stated, in the initial disputed call, he warned Putin against further aggression in its ongoing war with neighboring Ukraine. The implication of the comments angered Putin, it has been reported.

During Trump's first term he maintained a working relationship with the Russian dictator, who in 2014, had been suspended from the G8, the global governing body of eight nations who meet annually to discuss the global issues effecting every nation, including politics, economy, and pressing immediate unforeseen issues, over his initial annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. Putin, in 2017, independently withdrew membership from the G8, which then became the G7.

Although Putin has never stated as much, it is believed that his legacy goal is to reunify Soviet Union to the pre-1991 domino fall of communism across Russia, which resulted in the break away of several now independent nations, the Ukraine being one of them. By force or submission, Putin's desire is to annex all of Ukraine, for reunification of Russia to its pre-1991 U.S.S.R. state.

Mr. Trump and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who has been named Trump's Secretary of State, will need understand Putin's ultimate plan of reunification, of all lands, now independent nations, which remains the main legacy goal of Putin's reign.  

World History: A Francophile's View of the U.S. Presidential Election Part II

Fact Checking Trump

According to the Glenn Kessler, who has spent 14 years as "The Washington Post Fact Checker, nine have been devoted to dissecting and debunking claims made by Donald Trump. Indeed, no person has been fact-checked more often than Trump, as he has bested or outlasted foes — Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — who drew their share of fact checks. And no other person has consistently earned Four Pinocchio's — the badge of a committed liar — day after day, week after week."

Believing the lies, for American's, seems to be easier to believe especially as the lies reenforce their own beliefs of a cabal controlling the world, and this candidate, a billionaire in his own right can't be controlled, that the crimes he committed are fabricated, and that the 2020 election was stolen, which has not been proven anywhere.

Tossing numbers, phrases, and theories, out to the public especially in quick succession, like an automatic machine, with bravado, and the appearance of authority, as someone who would know, especially in major forums, creates chaos, plants a seed of doubt, and that's all it takes. Mr. Trump is known to exaggerate and embellish, and more importantly each statement has an ulterior motive.  

The disputed Russian call is a case in point.

Trump Cabinet Picks Cause GOP Concern

Many of the initial cabinet picks announced by President-elect trump are well known, and really didn't move the needle into the red zone of concern, until he named Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, a hardline Trumper, and believer in the 2020 Stolen campaign theory, that even diehard republican began to question the viability of Gaetz ability to be confirmed.

Past ethics violations, which have resurfaced, include sex crimes, a throughline with the Trump administration, which is really a belief that some are above the law, forced the three term Representative, who had just been elected to a fourth term, to resign, after begin named as Trump's pick for Attorney General, and days before the vote to release the Ethics report.

"Many, including voters, lawyers and lawmakers, are questioning Gaetz's credentials to serve as attorney general, pointing to a completed federal investigation and House ethics probe into allegations that he paid for and had sexual relations with an underaged girl," reported U.S. News and World Report.

Democrats have vowed he can't "resign away" the ethics report and could decide to release it publicly or forward it to the Senate as his appointment as Attorney General will need to be confirmed.

Mr. Gaetz is not the most controversial appointment, and not the only Trump pick with sexual assault allegations in their history.

World News: A Francophile's view of the U.S. Presidential Election

Early Choices

Trump has named Florida Senator Marco Rubio, as Secretary of State. The senior senator from Florida, who was elected in 2011, and re-elected for three terms, should have no problems with Senate confirmation.

John Ratcliffe, former Director of National Intelligence, has been named CIA Director. His knowledge of China's intent to dominate the world economy will aid his effort to manage intelligence collection, analysis, covert action, and counter-intelligence efforts. He should have no problems with Senate confirmation.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, and former 2024 Republican candidate for president, has been appointed as Department of the Interior, which oversees federal land and natural resources. It is doubtful that he will have trouble with senate confirmation hearings, although they could be combative, especially over Mr. Trump's plans to "drill, drill, drill."

Day One

Day One expectations for the Trump Administration have begun to surface and for many it is a resurrection of his former presidential polices. He has stated there will be many Day One Executive Orders, "tens of them."

Immigration, along the Southern Border states, has exponentially increased over the last forty years, and during Mr. Trump's first term, he allocated monies for what a wall. Initially, the wall proved a strong deterrent, however as with any obstacle those seeking to enter the United States, and especially the cartels who trafficked humans, will not allow a wall to stop the money flow. Immigration is no longer stopping caravans of people; it is stopping the cartels who have widened their money generating crimes to include human tracking. Trump has promised massive deportation on Day One. How he plans to accomplish this has yet to be presented.

The Trump administration has also made big statements on ending global conflicts and other foreign policy issues. His ability to achieve world peace, especially on day one, is doubtful. As world peace depends on third parties, and in the case of Israel and Palestine ending a 4,000-year-old generational hatred, its highly unlikely Trump's belief of foreign policy will be realized.

The Bibi Files Review – Interesting, Journalistic Exposé, Includes October 7 Footage

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been rumored to say he will serve Trump an early foreign policy win by proposing a cease-fire in Lebanon. "A close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Donald Trump and Jared Kushner this week that Israel is rushing to advance a cease-fire deal in Lebanon, according to three current and former Israeli officials briefed on the meeting, with the aim of delivering an early foreign policy win to the president-elect," reported The Washington Post.

He has also promised to release many of the January 6 insurrections, whom he has called, "political prisoners." This action, if his own sentencing is not decided by January 21, 2025, may wait. A blanket executive order releasing each January 6 insurrectionist, exposes Trump as a person with no respect for the law, and moreover no respect for the sacredness of democracy.

The Paris Climate Accord is also on Trump chopping block. A Day One Executive Order has been prepared that will remove the United States from participation. The $8 billion annual price tag paid by the United States, as part of the agreement, could be picked up by any of the more than 800 private citizen billionaires in the United States to keep the U.S. on track to meet the climate goals.

Many of the Day One Executive Orders are reenactments of his 2016 Administration policies. New to this Day One ax is the Student Transgender rights.

"In April, the Biden administration unveiled a final set of changes to Title IX to cover discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time. Trump has vowed to revoke such protections for transgender students the day he takes office," reported The Wall Street Journal.

Coronavirus Total

The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine, annually.  The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from the newer variants.

For the seven days ending November 17, 2024, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by The World Health Organization increased by 44,556 confirmed cases totaling 776,798,873. The total worldwide death toll increased by 934 to 7,074,400 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated November 3, 2024, from The World Health Organization).

NY State Judge Delays Immunity Ruling

New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, who has been accommodating to Mr. Trump's legal requests regarding his 34-count felony conviction, has set a November 19, 2024, date for both sides to present "your view of appropriate steps moving forward" according to court documents.

"Trump's lawyers had already challenged the New York verdict based on a Supreme Court ruling a month later that greatly expanded presidential immunity. Since the election last week, the lawyers have expanded that effort, saying that it would be "in the interests of justice" to end the hush money case given recent events," reported The Washington Post.

Allowing the will of the people who elected Mr. Trump to a second term, even after a New York State jury verdict, cannot be considered grounds for reversal of the jury verdict. Essentially it would be akin to allowing the states of Alabama, Texas, and Florida and every other state where Mr. Trump won the electoral college to guide and direct the legal proceedings in the New York State, a state that he did not win.

In 2016, when the crimes occurred Trump was not president, although he would go on to win the 2016 election, his action pre-January 20, 2017 that day he was sworn in, and clearly those pre November 8, 2016 are not considered immune from prosecution, a candidate campaigning for presidency is not the president, and therefore not granted immunity for actions committed while on the campaign trail.

Arguments have ranged from setting aside the entire verdict to delayed sentencing until 2028, after Mr. Trump's second term ends. In the interest of justice, it seems doubtful that the entire jury verdict would be set aside, as that message states that future success places some above the law.

The 34-felony count conviction of falsifying business records stemming from a $130,000 hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Former President Donald J. Trump Found Guilty on All Counts

Jack Teixeira Sentenced

Jack Teixeria, a National Guardsman who became infatuated with top secret government documents and his ability to access them, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for leaking the documents in a web chat room, which elevated his standing with his peers in the chat room.

"Teixeira was an information technology specialist at Joint Base Cape Cod in Massachusetts when he smuggled out images of hundreds of classified documents and posted them on Discord, a chat platform popular with video gamers," reported The Washington Post.

Teixeria expressed remorse before the sentence was pronounced. The judge made additional recommendation including that he be permitted to serve the time near his parents, and can never hold a job were he has access to sensitive documents.

For more information on President Joe Biden: Whitehouse.gov.

Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and the International Federation of Journalists.