Raw Story

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is backing off plans to terminate disaster relief workers as a major winter storm bears down on much of the country.

Bloomberg News reviewed an internal email sent this week to some FEMA officials instructing them to “cease offboarding” some of FEMA’s Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees (CORE) and promised updated guidance would follow, but the message did not explain the reasoning for the revised order.

"The pause comes as a winter storm is expected to bring heavy snow, ice and extreme cold across a wide swath of the U.S.," the outlet reported. "FEMA lost more than 3,700 employees — or about 14 percent of the agency — between January and November last year, according to newly released federal workforce data."

The Trump administration has cut into the federal workforce by culling temporary and probationary workers and encouraging veteran employees to leave with incentive packages.

The House passed a Homeland Security appropriations bill last week that urged FEMA to maintain sufficient staffing, including reservists and CORE workers, and Senate Democrats sent a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem asking her to pause the terminations while the full Senate considers the measure.

FEMA said in a statement that officials were following standard protocol and activating its national response center and dismissed reports of staffing cuts as “manufactured drama.”

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee voted Wednesday to hold both Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas to testify about their knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein.

“They possessed information directly relevant to the investigation,” said Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the chair of the committee. “The Clintons had documented relationships with Epstein and Maxwell, evidenced by numerous photographs, flight log records, wedding invitations, and other materials.”

The committee approved holding the Clintons in contempt on Wednesday afternoon, which, if passed in full and ultimately referred to the Justice Department, could result in criminal charges that could land both the Clintons in jail for up to one year and fines of up to $100,000 each. The House is expected to vote on the bill in "two weeks," Comer has said.

The measure was met with opposition by Democratic members of the committee, including Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), who accused Comer and Oversight Republicans of having a double standard in terms of their focus on the Clintons, and apparent lack of focus on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s continued violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), which required the Justice Department to release all Epstein files by Dec. 19.

“It is shameful, illegal, and unconstitutional that the Department of Justice has released 1% of the files! Where is the pressure to get Pam Bondi to release the files?” Garcia said.

“Instead, your focus and the committee is focused on whoever you perceive to be your enemies and the enemies of Donald Trump. Because let’s be clear: we want to talk to President Bill Clinton, we want him to answer our questions! We also want to understand why Pam Bondi refuses to release all the files.”

Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) moved to add an amendment to the committee’s measure to hold the Clintons in contempt, an amendment that would hold Bondi in contempt over her continued violation of the EFTA. The proposal, however, was shot down by the committee’s Republican majority.

Donald Trump’s attempt to claim Greenland has alarmed global observers, with commentator Sabrina Haake arguing that the former president’s rhetoric is empowering authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin. Writing on her Substack, Haake warned that Trump’s threats against Greenland and disregard for NATO undermine the “rule-based global order,” giving Russia leverage in its war against Ukraine and emboldening other rogue actors. She said Trump’s actions send a signal that sovereignty and international law are negotiable, weakening decades-long alliances across Europe and NATO and creating real-world consequences far beyond Greenland — with Ukrainians already paying the price for the precedent Trump set.

Watch the video below.

Trump’s Greenland push gives Putin ammo, threatens NATO and global order: analyst Trump’s Greenland push gives Putin ammo, threatens NATO and global order: analyst

A hearing room for the House Oversight Committee erupted into laughter Wednesday after the committee chair, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), blanked on a question asked by a Democratic committee member.

Wednesday’s hearing saw the committee fiercely debate whether to hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for defying a congressional subpoena to testify about their connections to Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. Challenging the measure was Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), who pressed Comer on whether the committee had already been informed that the Clintons were willing to testify on the record.

“It's my understanding that you guys have received correspondence by phone, email and a written letter from the attorneys from the Clintons offering to [testify] on the record, with you, with the staff... is that correct?” Stansbury asked.

“I didn't... I wasn't paying attention to your question,” Comer admitted, sparking an eruption of laughter in the room, including from Stansbury, who moved to ask her question again, albeit more slowly.

“Okay – we're pursuant to a motion you brought for contempt, and the claim is that you have made reasonable accommodations and that [the Clintons] have not been responsive,” Stansbury repeated.

“But they have transmitted correspondence to all of the members of the committee – including yourself – including a letter from their attorneys stating that they have offered by phone, by email to meet with you, on the record, to give sworn statements. Is that correct?”

Comer’s first reaction was to speak of how the Clintons had been given “five months” to appear before Congress before being pressed by Stansbury again: “yes or no,” she asked.

“You all are trying to create a false narrative!” Comer fired back. “You've had five months, you should have gotten to the Clintons before the contempt vote!”

Stansbury asked once more for Comer to answer her question, but was met with silence as Comer’s aides could be seen speaking with him quietly.

“Just to be clear for the public, his staff are advising the chairman to not answer that question,” Stansbury alleged.

Comer fired back at Stansbury once more.

“No, the staff said they couldn't understand what the hell you were saying because you blabbered for three minutes!” Comer said.

President Donald Trump lamented that he couldn't "screw" people whom he didn't like during a rant at the World Economic Forum.

While speaking to CEOs in Davos on Wednesday, Trump bragged that companies were building plants in the U.S.

"It's amazing what's going on. Look, it's amazing. We've never had anything like it or close. Nobody else has it," he remarked. "I don't even ask anybody how you're doing now. It's like everybody is making so much money."

"And we have so many people in this room that have done a job," he continued. "I said, you've doubled your net worth since I've been president, right? He said, yeah, even more than that. They would say even more. We're doing even better than that."

But Trump's remarks took a turn as he spotted a few perceived enemies in the room.

"In a way, I'm jealous. In a way, I'm upset. There are a couple of people in the room," he said. "I can't stand them, and they've become very rich. There's nothing I can do about it."

"I would screw them if I could, but I can't do it, right?" he added. "I can't do it. I would have had a chance, or I could just take them and say, you can't do what Apple's doing, but you're not allowed to do that, Newt Gingrich, right? We can't do it."

"But I would love to do it, really, you know? It's one of those things, but everybody's making a lot of money."

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom was captured on video laughing Wednesday while listening to President Donald Trump’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

During his speech, which lasted over an hour and saw him confuse Iceland with Greenland, Trump lavished praise on his own administration for the “help” it provided the city of Los Angeles last year, referring to his immigration raids that saw state leaders declare a state of emergency.

“We’re gonna help the people in California, we want to have no crime. I know Gavin was here – I used to get along so great with Gavin when I was president, Gavin’s a good guy,” Trump said, as C-SPAN footage showed Newsom listening near the back of the large auditorium.

“If he needed it, I would do it in a heartbeat, we did help them a lot in Los Angeles. If I were a Democrat governor, I would call up Trump, I’d say ‘come on in, make us look good,’ because we’re cutting crime down to nothing!”

Following Trump’s remarks about “cutting crime down to nothing,” Newsom could be seen cracking a large smile and laughing, shaking his head while standing near the back of the room.