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During an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Symone Sanders Townsend joined in to talk about the chaos surrounding Rep. Matt Gaetz's nomination to be Donald Trump's next attorney general and the cloud being cast over it by a reportedly "damaging" House Ethics Committee report.

With the Florida Republican meeting with GOP senators this week and attempting to downplay accusations he engaged in drug and sex parties with underaged women reportedly alleged in the report, Sanders Townsend wondered aloud why the wife of Gaetz has not come forward to defend her husband.

She also singled out Fox News personality Pete Hegseth who is having to deal with a police report that details an alleged sexual assault in 2017 as he works toward becoming Trump's next Defense Department secretary.

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With host Joe Scarborough stating he didn't think Gaetz wouldn't be confirmed regardless of the sex party accusations, Symone Sanders offered, "I don't want to sound like people are saying, 'Oh, well, you don't think the sexual assault allegations and the rape allegations as it relates to Pete Hegseth are serious and the paying underaged women for sex is serious.' I think it is very serious frankly."

"And does Matt Gaetz have a wife? Does Pete Hegseth have a wife?" she asked. "I want to hear from the wives, honey, and what the hell is going on up in the House? That is another story entirely."

She later added, "Matt Gaetz's basic qualification for the attorney general is that he was a lawyer for a hot second? I mean, he lost his bar license in Florida, frankly, over the last year and a half, and had to have it reinstated because he didn't pay his dues. This is about the basic qualifications and these other things, these salacious details, are cherries on top, like I said, of a very nasty, already unqualified cake."

Watch below or at the link.

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Just two weeks and two days before Election Day, the Trump campaign website blared, "Trump Campaign to Host Black Men’s Barbershop Talk Roundtable Event in Philadelphia, PA with Congressman Byron Donalds."

The program promised to "focus on the challenges facing Black men today, including economic struggles, community safety, and the negative impact of Kamala Harris’ policies on the Black community."

"Attendees will discuss how Trump’s policies delivered real results for Black Americans, and how he plans to continue building on that success when he returns to office. This event offers an opportunity for Black men to share their experiences and hear directly from leaders committed to creating positive change."

That was just one of numerous events featuring the outspoken Florida Republican U.S. Congressman, who has stridently supported and devoutly defended Donald Trump, traveling across the country, speaking in support of the former president and now-future president on the campaign trail, at rallies, in interviews, and on social media.

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Exactly one week before Election Day, the Trump campaign website promoted another event with Donalds: "Team Trump on Tour in Atlanta, Georgia Featuring Rep. Byron Donalds," announcing the Florida congressman would "deliver remarks at a Team Trump on Tour event" on October 31.

There were numerous other Trump rallies and events advertising Congressman Donalds as a key speaker, especially in the final days of the campaign in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania: "Team Trump Announces Bus Tour Across Pennsylvania."

Donalds was advertised to speak at events in Pennsylvania's Monroeville, Hazle Township, Lansdale, Downington, New Castle, and others.

It wasn't just Pennsylvania, and it wasn't just in the final push to reach 270.

"Team Trump to Hold an Agenda 47 Policy Tour in Bermuda Run, North Carolina Featuring Representative Byron Donalds, Representative Dan Bishop, and Kash Patel, Former Chief of Staff for the Department of Defense," read one announcement back in September, for an event in North Carolina.

Then there was the announcement for Trump's now-infamous rally at Madison Square Garden.

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The published speaker lineup reads almost like a who's who of Trump's new Cabinet and top advisor picks. Congressman Donalds' name is fourth on the list, just below Trump's incoming Vice President JD Vance, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and Trump's nominee for Ambassador to the United Nations, Elise Stefanik.

Congressman Donalds has been a devoted, top Trump surrogate, but now he says he is "not surprised" he has not been asked to join the incoming Trump administration, not at any level.

"Are you not surprised that you have not been named? Have you had a conversation about being a part of the administration at all?" Donalds was asked Wednesday on CNN, in an interview (video below) discussing criticism of Trump for having picked not a single Black American for his Cabinet. It also appears Trump has not named any Black person to any top administration position.

Others, too, have noticed the incoming Trump administration currently has no Black Americans listed for any top roles.

US population vs Trump nominees
As percent of US population: •White men: 30% •Women: 51% •People of color: 40% •Black: 12% Trump's nominees so far: •White men: 68% •Women: 20% •People of color: 16% •Black: 0% •Men credibly accused of sexual assault: 12% Meritocrisy! pic.twitter.com/V0jlYt3oyE — Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) November 17, 2024

"All I will say I am not surprised that I have not been named, but that does not mean I'm not gonna do other things in the future," Donalds said, appearing reserved and tight-lipped.

"Have you, has he asked you?"

"Uh, no," Donalds replied, "there's some other things that I'm looking at going forward. I'm not gonna talk about them now."

"We'll see what happens," is all Donalds would share.

The Florida Republican is still defending Trump.

"What we, what Donald Trump's election is about is bringing competency and reality back to D.C. in the White House, making sure that the job gets done on behalf of the American people," he also said on CNN, "regardless of their race, regardless of their religion, regardless of their creed."

Watch the video below or at this link.

Donalds: All I will say is, I am not surprised that I have not been named, but that does not mean I'm not going to do other things in the future.
Coates: Has they asked you? Donalds: No, there are some other things that I’m looking at pic.twitter.com/Bl3LXGRbG3 — Acyn (@Acyn) November 21, 2024

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Donald Trump will re-enter the White House in two months with a Republican trifecta, which could set the stage to weaken or repeal the Affordable Care Act.

The former president is a longtime opponent of Barack Obama's signature achievement, and some high-ranking Republicans have made clear they would like to roll back the law's Medicaid expansion, raise the uninsured rate, undo patient protections and increase premium costs, reported NPR.

"The Republican plans — they don't say they are going to repeal the ACA, but their collection of policies could amount to the same thing or worse," said Sarah Lueck, vice president for health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "It could happen through legislation and regulation. We're on alert for anything and everything. It could take many forms."

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GOP lawmakers weren't able to repeal Obamacare during Trump's first year as president in 2017, despite having majorities in both the House and Senate, and the president-elect and his Republican allies have not made clear what changes they would make to the law's popular protections.

"Trump will do whatever he thinks he can get away with," said Chris Edelson, an assistant professor of government at American University. "If he wants to do something, he'll just do it."

Subsidies that reduce premium costs are set to expire at the end of next year unless lawmakers extend them, and Trump could make some changes to ACA protections through executive orders from his first day in office.

"The early executive orders will give us a sense of policies that the administration plans to pursue," said Allison Orris, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Early signaling through executive orders will send a message about what guidance, regulations and policy could follow."

Weakening ACA's protections could cause costs to explode for many Americans covered under the law.

"It's definitely a terrifying thought," said Dylan Reed, a 43-year-old Colorado man who suffers from the autoimmune disease scleroderma. "I would probably survive. I would just be in a lot of pain."

A cornerstone of President-elect Donald Trump's second-term agenda is the mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. And his recent call to use emergency powers to deploy the U.S. military on U.S. soil is now being publicly slammed by a top Senate Republican.

Earlier this week, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he would make a national emergency declaration that would allow for the military to be called up to assist his administration with mass deportations. And his nominations of immigration hard-liners like South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem for Homeland Security Secretary and his former Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief Tom Homan as border czar signal that his Cabinet would be taking an especially radical approach to undocumented immigrants.

But on Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said on the far-right network Newsmax that he would not be in favor of Trump deputizing the military to serve as his deportation force. He maintained that the people carrying out Trump's deportations need to be part of a "police enforcement domestic agency," rather than U.S. military personnel.

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"I'm not in favor of sending the army in uniforms, into our cities, to collect people. I think it’s a terrible image and that’s not what we use our military for,” he said.

“We never have. And it's actually been illegal for over 100 years to bring the Army into our cities. [The] Army and our military are trained to shoot the enemy. They're not trained to get a warrant to do what they're doing ... I'm all for remain in Mexico. I will not support an emergency to put the Army into our cities, I think that's a huge mistake."

Paul is likely referring to the Posse Comitatus Act, which was passed in the 19th century to prevent federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement affairs. As the Brennan Center for Justice explains, the lone exception to the Posse Comitatus Act is the Insurrection Act, which a president can invoke with or without the consent of a state government to suppress a rebellion.

The idea for using the military to assist with mass deportations originally came from Russ Vought, who is the founder of the Center for Renewing America (one of the partner organizations supporting the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025). According to a Washington Post profile of Vought published earlier this year, he proposed characterizing the influx of undocumented immigrants as a foreign "invasion" that would require deploying the military as a means of fighting back, claiming wartime powers.

"We showed that millions of illegal aliens coming across, and Mexican cartels holding operational control of the border, constitute an invasion,” Vought wrote in a September 2022 essay.

“This is where we need to be radical in discarding or rethinking the legal paradigms that have confined our ability to return to the original Constitution.”

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However, Sen. Paul's public objection to the idea means that Trump could face significant resistance in Congress not just from Democrats, but also from Republicans. And there's a possibility that the plan could also be ruled unconstitutional by the federal judiciary if human rights groups fight it in court.

Two of Donald Trump's personal lawyers who were rewarded with plum appointments in the Department of Justice may be sidelined from dealing with the ongoing hush money trial overseen by Judge Juan Merchan.

Speaking with host Ana Cabrera, MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin explained the ethical bind attorneys Todd Blanche, nominated to be Deputy Attorney General and Emil Bove, slated for Principal Associate Deputy AG, will find themselves in as they are poised to assume their new roles.

"Let's not forget Trump has tapped two of his defense attorneys in the hush money case, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, for senior roles in the Justice Department in his incoming administration. If this case does drag out, what impact could that have?" the MSNBC host asked.

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"I think it causes a conflict of interest for Todd Blanche and Emil Bove because, if for example Ana, they can continue to brief the issue about whether this case should exist into a future Trump presidency, if Todd Blanche and Emil Bove are then in the Department of Justice, the department itself will have an interest in getting involved in the case on behalf of the executive office of the president."

"There are interests for the office of the president that are different than the interests that Trump as an individual has," she added. "And Emil Bove and Todd Blanche having represented the president in his personal capacity will have that conflict and may have to even recuse themselves from the department's involvement in this case in the future."

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Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) revealed this week that Republican senators had developed a plan to confirm President-elect Donald Trump's nominations, including former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as attorney general, before the new president is sworn in.

During a Wednesday interview on Real America's Voice, Tuberville vowed to overcome the objections of Democrats despite sexual misconduct allegations against Gaetz and Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth.

"We're in charge, and if we back up, it's like this Matt Gaetz and Pete Hexeth, all these people that are being nominated," Tuberville said. "Hey, it should be a no-brainer. Prove to me he's a criminal. If you do, I won't vote for him. But until then, he's in."

Host Steve Bannon argued that Republican senators had to be ready to confirm Trump's nominations before his inauguration.

"And then on the 20th, you hit them with a third wave of flood the zone with executive orders and everything the president's going to do," Bannon opined. "Would you be supportive of that to get the confirmations of at least these frontline big things starting right after you guys are sworn in?"

"Oh, yeah. That'll be done. We've already planned that," Tuberville replied. "We're sworn in January 3rd, but I think it's a couple of days after that. But we should have the sec def, the attorney general, the secretary treasurer."

"You put AG in that?" Bannon asked, referring to Gaetz's nomination to be attorney general.

"Oh, number one," Tuberville insisted. "The Democrats did this last time."

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"Not one Democrat voted against any nominees," he added. "We're fighting for our country. And we better wake up and smell the roses, because if we don't, we're going to lose this country."

"It's going to be gone. And we're not going to have the second chance of a Donald Trump."

Watch the video below from Real America's Voice or click the link here.