January 18, 2017 C-SPAN News http://MOXNews.com
Scott Pruitt testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on his nomination to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Trump administration (ROUND #1)
(ROUND #2)
January 18, 2017 MSM News http://MOXNews.com
President Obama held his the final news conference of his presidency. He answered questions on a range of topics, such as his future plans and issues that would compel him to speak out. Those issues include systematic discrimination, voter suppression, and efforts to silence dissent. He defended his decision to commute the sentence of Chelsea Manning, who in 2013 received a 35-year jail sentence for passing hundreds of thousands of classified military documents to WikiLeaks. The president said due process had been served. He ended the briefing on an optimistic note, saying “I believe in the American people,” and a “good luck” to the press corps.
January 12, 2017 C-SPAN News
Ben Carson testified at a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on his nomination to be Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) secretary in the Donald Trump administration. Dr. Carson, a former neurosurgeon and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, spoke extensively about his childhood growing up in poverty, and answered questions on a variety of housing issues, including rental vouchers, tribal housing, and federal backing of mortgage loans. He was also asked to reconcile his personal views on poverty and LGBT rights with HUD’s responsibility in adjudicating fair housing access cases.
January 12, 2017 C-SPAN News http://MOXNews.com
Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS) testified at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on his nomination to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the Donald Trump administration.
Due to a power outage beginning 14 minutes into the hearing, there is no video for approximately 53 minutes.
January 12, 2017 C-SPAN News
The House Armed Services Committee met and voted down party lines 34-28 to pass a waiver that would allow retired Gen. James Mattis to become the next defense secretary. The law requires a defense secretary be removed from uniformed military service for at least seven years. Earlier, the Senate voted in favor of the waiver.
January 12, 2017 C-SPAN News
Retired Gen. James Mattis, the Trump administration’s Defense Secretary nominee, discussed a number of topics at his confirmation hearing including U.S.-NATO relations, Russia, U.S. intelligence reliability, the defense budget and military readiness. He testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. On NATO, Mr. Mattis called it the most successful military alliance. He acknowledged President-elect Trump’s skepticism of NATO but added that in conversations with him, Mr. Trump has shown an openness on the topic. The President-elect has also questioned U.S. intelligence. Mr. Mattis said he has a “very high, high degree of confidence” in the nation’s intelligence community. To wrap up the more than three-hour long hearing, senators voted to pass a bill out of committee to give Gen. Mattis a waiver allowing him to serve as Defense Secretary even though he’s only been out of military service since 2013. Under existing law, there is a 7 year wait period for retired military officers to serve as Defense Secretary.
January 10, 2017 C-SPAN News
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was joined by the heads of the FBI, CIA, and the National Security Agency in testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on their collective investigation and findings on Russian influence in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The men reiterated many of the points made in their unclassified report on Russia’s influence, including their conclusion that Russian President Vladimir Putin was directly involved. In his first congressional appearance since the election, FBI Director James Comey faced sharp questioning on whether his agency was investigating potential connections between either of the presidential campaigns and Russian officials, and he said he couldn’t comment on whether or not such an investigation was ongoing.
January 10, 2017 C-SPAN News
Senator Lindsey Graham questions the integrity of the 2016 election and Russian hacking of the election at the confirmation hearing of Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be attorney general in the Donald Trump administration.