‘Homegrown rising star’: Justin Bibb tapped to lead Democratic Mayors Association
Matthew Busch/Bloomberg via Getty Images,
(WASHINGTON) — The Democratic Mayors Association will appoint Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb as the organization’s next president during its meeting on Saturday, a source familiar told ABC News.
Representing the new coalition of Democratic up-and-comers, Bibb, who is Black and 37, has been labeled a “homegrown rising star.” He will be succeeding Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.
“Democratic Mayors are uniquely poised for this moment. We know how to lead, and we know how to get things done. Mayor Bibb is a proven leader of his city, and I know will do a fantastic job at the helm of the Democratic Mayors Association,” Gallego said in a statement to ABC News.
Bibb will be overseeing the group, which reaches as many as 500 current and former mayors, at a time of reflection as the party looks to rebuild and recoup from its election losses and figure out who is best positioned to lead it as Donald Trump begins his second presidential term. The Democratic National Committee is also in the throes of selecting new leadership and will be electing a slate of officers on Feb. 1.
(Martin O’Malley, a former Democratic mayor of Baltimore, is one of the leading candidates for DNC chair.)
As it moves forward, the party as a whole is looking to strike a balance between effectively messaging against Trump and Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress, working with the incoming administration on issues key to the Democratic mayors’ cities and reestablishing its brand with key facets of its base who turned to the GOP — or stayed home — last November.
“Over the next four years, Democratic mayors will play a pivotal role in communicating the Democratic Party’s message, combating misinformation — particularly about our cities, which Trump repeatedly attacks – and continuing to deliver results locally, keeping their communities safe and creating and connecting people to opportunity,” a source familiar with the DMA’s plans told ABC News.
In a recent interview with the Ohio-based news site Signal Cleveland, Bibb said he’s uninterested in being part of any formal Trump “resistance.”
“I think Clevelanders and the American people are tired of ‘the resistance,'” Bibb said. “They’re tired of the bickering between Democrats and Republicans. They are tired of this left vs. right debate.”
For his part, Bibb said that despite uncertainty, the DMA, under his leadership, will move forward with “unity.”
“While there is uncertainty and concern on the eve of the Inauguration, the Democratic Mayors Association is clear in its mission,” Bibb said in a statement to ABC News. “We will stand together. We are going to deliver. We are going to move forward with positive action and real results. Our time is now.”
Bibb is currently running for a second term as mayor.
Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who served as a Biden and Harris campaign co-chairman, said the group is lucky to have Bibb at the helm.
“Nobody knows better than Democratic Mayors on how to deliver,” Landrieu said in a statement. “Now is the time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. This work is more important now than ever, and we are lucky to have Mayor Bibb leading the way.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump kicked off his second term with a flurry of executive actions on immigration, Jan. 6, health policy and more.
More orders are expected Tuesday amid fallout from his first moves, including his issuing pardons for more than a thousand rioters convicted in connection with the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and his effort to end birthright citizenship.
Meanwhile, lawmakers will continue to question and process the president’s Cabinet picks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been sworn in as other nominees, including Elise Stefanik for ambassador to the United Nations, face confirmation hearings.
Federal employee union sues over DOGE, pushes back on executive orders
In the hours after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union for federal employees filed a lawsuit against Trump and the Office of Management and Budget, while also calling on Congress to protect government workers’ jobs.
The lawsuit alleges that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
“DOGE has already begun developing recommendations and influencing decision-making in the new administration, even though its membership lacks the fair balance required by FACA and its meetings and records are not open to public inspection in real time,” the complaint alleges.
AFGE National President Everett Kelley has also gone on the offense over Trump’s flurry of executive orders to eliminate federal telework and diversity programs, to freeze federal hiring and to re-introduce at-will employment policies that would make it easier to fire some federal employees.
Kelley asked Congress to intervene to save federal workers from being fired at will.
“AFGE will not stand idly by as a secretive group of ultra-wealthy individuals with major conflicts of interest attempt to deregulate themselves and give their own companies sweetheart government contracts while firing civil servants and dismantling the institutions designed to serve the American people,” Kelley said in a statement.
He added, “This fight is about fairness, accountability, and the integrity of our government. Federal employees are not the problem—they are the solution. They deserve to have their voices heard in decisions that affect their work, their agencies, and the public they serve.”
-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson
Federal judge sets hearing on Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order
President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order on birthright citizenship will face its first legal test in a Seattle courtroom on Thursday morning.
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour scheduled a 10 a.m. hearing on Thursday to consider a request made by four states to issue a temporary restraining order against Trump’s executive order.
Earlier Tuesday, the attorneys generals of Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Illinois sued Trump over the order, which they said would disenfranchise more than 150,000 newborn children each year.
They described Trump’s executive order as the modern equivalent of the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision. The 14th Amendment repudiated Scott establishing what the plaintiffs called a “bright-line and nearly universal rule” that Trump now seeks to violate.
“President Trump and the federal government now seek to impose a modern version of Dred Scott. But nothing in the Constitution grants the President, federal agencies, or anyone else authority to impose conditions on the grant of citizenship to individuals born in the United States,” their emergency motion said.
Coughenour — who was nominated to the bench by former President Ronald Reagan — will likely be the first judge to weigh in on Trump’s executive order.
-ABC News’ Laura Romero and Peter Charalambous
Federal government directed to put DEI employees on leave
All federal employees working on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and initiatives must be put on paid administrative leave by Wednesday at 5 p.m., according to an Office of Personnel Management memo obtained by ABC News.
The decision comes as the Trump administration shuts down the relevant DEI offices and programs across the federal government.
The directive follows President Donald Trump’s signing of executive orders Monday to dismantle federal DEI programs, as part of Trump’s larger campaign vow to reverse and upend the diversity efforts across the country, in the public and private sectors.
-ABC News’ Ben Siegel
DC Police Union dismayed by Jan. 6 pardons
The Washington, D.C., Police Union, which represents officers from the Metropolitan Police Department expressed “dismay” over the recent pardons granted to those who violently attacked police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“As an organization that represents the interests of the 3,000 brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect our communities, our stance is clear – anyone who assaults a law enforcement officer should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, without exception,” the union said in a statement.
“We remain steadfast in our mission to protect the rights and interests of all police officers and to ensure that justice is applied fairly and consistently,” the statement continued.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Trump set to meet with moderate House Republicans
President Donald Trump is set to meet with a group of moderate House Republicans on Wednesday afternoon at the White House, multiple sources told ABC News.
Some of the members who will attend include Nebraska Rep. Don Baco and New York Rep. Mike Lawler, among others.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Lauren Peller
Trump says he pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht
Trump said he signed a “full and unconditional pardon” for Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for running the black market site Silk Road.
“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright [sic] to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” Trump said on Truth Social. “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”
Ulbricht, who ran Silk Road between January 2011 and October 2013, was found guilty of allowing users to buy illegal drugs, guns and other unlawful goods anonymously. Prosecutors said the narcotics distributed through the site, which the FBI called the”Amazon of illegal drugs,” were linked to the deaths of at least six people.
Trump looking at whether to ‘turn off the tap’ on weapons to Ukraine
When asked whether he will “turn off the tap” when it comes to sending weapons to Ukraine, Trump told reporters Tuesday that he is “looking at that.”
“We’re talking to Zelenskyy. We’re going to be talking with President Putin very soon, and we’ll see what, how it all happens,” Trump said during a briefing in the Roosevelt Room.
Trump added that the European Union should be supporting Ukraine more, saying the war affects them more than the United States.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Kash Patel hearing tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29
The Senate Judiciary Committee has tentatively scheduled a confirmation hearing for Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to be the FBI director, on Jan. 29, committee ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told reporters Tuesday.
Durbin stressed he will not be voting to advance Patel’s nomination following an in-person meeting with the nominee and a reading of his book, “Government Gangsters.”
“After meeting with him and doing this study, I’ve come to the conclusion that Kash Patel has neither the experience, the judgment or the temperament to serve as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to take on this awesome responsibility to keep America safe,” Durbin said.
Durbin said he was also concerned with Patel’s recounting of Jan. 6 during their meeting.
“His description of what happened in this Capitol building on Jan. 6 defies reality. I tried to pin him down on some of the things he said,” Durbin said, noting that after Trump’s pardons of the rioters on Monday, he didn’t know if the FBI would continue to track and monitor them — particularly the ones who were recently released.
“He calls it a haphazard riot. What the hell is a haphazard riot? That’s how he describes Jan. 6,” Durbin said. “I said I was here. … Unfortunately for the law enforcement, there were a lot of injuries and some death.”
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Trump says he’ll impose tariffs on the European Union
During his AI infrastructure announcement, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on the European Union, as he has done with Canada, China and Mexico.
“It’s not just China. China is an abuser, but the European Union is very, very bad to us,” Trump told reporters after the announcement. “They treat us very, very badly. They don’t take our cars. They don’t take our cars at all. They don’t take our farm products. Essentially, they don’t take very much. We have a $350 billion deficit with the European Union.”
“They treat us very, very badly, so they’re going to be in for tariffs.”
Trump says looking at Feb. 1 date for tariffs
Trump said he is eyeing Feb. 1 as the date to start implementing his tariffs on China and Mexico.
Trump defends pardoning Jan. 6 convicts
Trump was asked about pardoning the Jan. 6 rioters during a news conference Tuesday and dodged a question about pardoning violent Jan. 6 convicts, including one who admitted to attacking an officer.
The president dodged the question, claiming he would look into it, before changing the subject to murders around the country that he claimed yielded no arrests.
He repeated his claim that the people pardoned were unjustly prosecuted, including the head of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
“The cases that we looked at, these were people that actually love our country, so we thought a pardon would be appropriate,” he said.
Trump was asked about the pardons again, as well as Vice President J.D. Vance’s statement last week in which he opposed pardoning rioters who assaulted officers, but the president again claimed the rioters were unfavorably treated.
CEOs tout ‘Stargate’ joint AI infrastructure project with Trump
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Oracle’s Larry Ellison joined President Donald Trump at the White House to tout the $500 billion investment in the “Stargate” venture.
“We will immediately start deploying $100 million … because of your success,” Son said.
The businessmen said they plan on using artificial intelligence for various projects, including medical research.
“I’m thrilled we get to do this in the United States of America,” Altman said.
Trump said he will be helping “a lot through emergency declarations because we have an emergency — we have to get this stuff built.”
Trump meets with GOP leadership
The meeting between President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune started around 3:20 p.m. ET in the Oval Office, according to the White House.
Trump is still expected to take more executive actions on Tuesday, as well as make an infrastructure announcement.
Tech billionaires to visit White House, per source
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Oracle’s Larry Ellison are expected to be at the White House Tuesday afternoon, according to a source familiar with the matter.
President Trump is set to announce $500 billion in private sector investment to build artificial intelligence infrastructure. It’s a joint venture of three companies — OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle — collectively called Stargate.
Last month, Trump announced with SoftBank’s Son in Mar-a-Lago that SoftBank would invest $100 billion in US projects over the next four years, creating 100,000 jobs. Those investments will focus on infrastructure that supports AI, including data centers, energy generation, and chips, according to a source.
The new announcement Tuesday has “overlap” with SoftBank’s previous commitment of $100 billion, according to a source, who clarifies that this is not an entirely separate commitment.
– ABC’s Selina Wang
Trump’s 1st sit-down interview will air on Wednesday
President Donald Trump’s first sit-down interview of his second term will be with Fox’s Sean Hannity in the Oval Office.
It will air on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET, the network announced.
During the interview, Trump will “discuss the executive orders he’s signed thus far, his first 100 days in office and news of the day,” according to the release from the news channel.
During his first term, Trump sat down with ABC News’ David Muir for his first interview. That interview took place just five days after he was sworn into office in 2017.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
Trump’s tariff plans are still taking shape, despite pledges for Day 1 action
Tariffs were not in the executive orders Trump signed on Monday night and he suggested he’s still undecided on how far they might go — which investors are reading as a good sign, reflected by the rallying market on Tuesday.
Trump said he was now targeting Feb. 1 as a potential target date for tariffs to take effect against Mexico and Canada, which he said could be as high as 25%. He said any plans for blanket tariffs are “not ready” just yet.
Trump has a history of using the threat of tariffs as a governing style.
Urging Mexico to crack down on border crossings in 2019, Trump threatened to slap a tariff on the country within 10 days through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) but relented after Mexico committed to specific measures.
Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger sent an internal memo praising officers following the pardons made by President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden. The memo was obtained by ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott.
Manger said that “when there is no price to pay for violence against law enforcement, it sends a message that politics matter more than our first responders.”
Manger cited the pardons from Trump for Jan. 6 rioters and from Biden for commuting the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a man convicted of the murder of two FBI agents in 1975.
“Police willingly put themselves in harm’s way to protect our communities. When people attack law enforcement officers, the criminals should be met with consequences, condemnation and accountability,” Manger said.
DOGE gets official government website
The page currently consists of a simple landing page displaying a logo featuring the iconic Shiba Inus from the original “doge” meme.
The official page comes after President Donald Trump’s executive order on Monday night creating the now solely Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. The order notably stated that the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) will be renamed the U.S. DOGE Service and placed under the Executive Office of the President.
DOGE will terminate on July 4, 2026, as Musk has previously detailed, and each agency in the Trump admin must create a DOGE Team, according to the order.
– ABC’s Will Steakin
Trump to meet with Republican leaders at White House
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House at 2 p.m., sources told ABC News.
At 3 p.m. ET, other GOP leaders from both chambers — including Steve Scalise, Lisa McClain and John Barrasso — will meet with Trump as well at the White House, sources said.
The White House has not yet formally released a schedule for Trump.
-ABC’s Katherine Faulders, Rachel Scott, Lauren Peller and Allison Pecorin
Trump’s 1st executive orders quickly face lawsuits
Eighteen states and the city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit challenging the president’s executive order to cut off birthright citizenship Tuesday, calling it a “flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage.”
The lawsuit accused Trump of seeking to eliminate a “well-established and longstanding Constitutional principle” by executive fiat.
A union representing thousands of federal employees also sued the Trump administration Monday evening over an executive order that makes it easier to fire career government employees, alleging the directive would violate the due process rights of its members.
“The Policy/Career Executive Order directs agencies to move numerous employees into a new excepted service category with the goal that many would then be fired,” the lawsuit alleged.
– ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Peter Charalambous
Coast Guard commandant fired in part over DEI efforts: Source
Admiral Linda Fagan, who served as the Coast Guard Commandant and was the first woman to lead a U.S. armed forces branch, was “relieved of her duties” by Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffman.
A source with knowledge of the decision said Fagan was fired in part because of her Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in the Coast Guard.
“She has served a long and illustrious career and I thank her for her service,” according to a memo to the workforce obtained by ABC News.
Admiral Kevin Lunday is now acting commandant.
Trump promised to go after who he called “woke” generals in the military during his 2024 campaign. His nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said he will follow through on that issue.
-ABC’s Luke Barr
Reverend urges Trump to have ‘mercy’ on LGBTQ community, migrants
The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, during the prayer service at Washington National Cathedral, directed a message for President Donald Trump, who was seated in the front row.
“Let me make one final plea. Mr. President, millions have put their trust in you. And as you said, you have felt the providential hand of our loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” she said.
Budde said there are LGBTQ citizens of all political creeds who now ‘fear for their lives.” She also referenced migrants who may not be in the U.S. legally but are devoted neighbors, workers and parents.
“Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land,” she said.
Stefanik backs US withdrawing from WHO, pushes for UN reform
Rep. Elise Stefanik is facing senators for her confirmation hearing to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The ideological divide between Republicans and Democrats over the utility of global organizations has taken center stage. Stefanik zeroed in on reform.
“Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests, antisemitic or engaging in fraud, corruption, or terrorism,” she said. “We must invest in programs to strengthen our national security and deliver results to increase the efficacy of U.N. programs. We must drive reform.”
She also defended Trump’s decision to withdraw from another global body: the World Health Organization.
“I support President Trump’s decision to walk away from WHO,” she said, arguing it had “failed on a global stage in the Covid pandemic for all the world to see, and instead spewed CCP talking points that I believe led to not only false information, but dangerous and deadly information across the globe.”
As Trump attends service, Episcopal Church leaders express concern about immigration actions
Episcopal Church leaders on Tuesday released a letter urging Trump to “exercise mercy” in his approach to immigration policy.
While the service Trump is currently attending incorporates many faiths, the National Cathedral itself is part of the Episcopal Diocese in Washington.
“Even as we gave thanks for a peaceful transfer of power, we learned from news reports that the new presidential administration has issued a series of executive orders that are a harbinger of President Trump’s pledge to deport undocumented immigrants at a historic scale, restrict asylum, and direct other immigration actions,” the church leaders wrote in a letter.
“We read this news with concern and urge our new president and congressional leaders to exercise mercy and compassion, especially toward law-abiding, long-term members of our congregations and communities; parents and children who are under threat of separation in the name of immigration enforcement; and women and children who are vulnerable to abuse in detention and who fear reporting abuse to law enforcement.”
Trump and Vance attend interfaith prayer service
President Trump and Vice President Vance are attending an interfaith prayer service at Washington National Cathedral.
It’s the first public appearance for Trump since Monday night’s inaugural festivities.
First lady Melania Trump, second lady Usha Vance and Trump’s children are there as well.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican Rep. Mike Lawler are some of the lawmakers in attendance.
Trudeau responds to Trump tariff threats
Standing alongside his cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed President Trump’s proposed tariffs, stating firmly that if the U.S. proceeds with the measure, Canada will not hesitate to respond in kind.
“Everything is on the table,” Trudeau said adding, “We are prepared for every possible scenario.”
ABC News’ Aleem Agha
‘For us and the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico’: Mexican president
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to Trump’s various decrees issued after the inauguration in a point-by-point statement.
Sheinbaum said Trump’s decrees concerning the emergency zone of the southern border and the Migrant Protection Protocols were no different than the orders made during Trump’s first term.
“We will always act in the defence of our independence, the defense of our fellow nationals living in the U.S. We act within the framework of our constitution and laws. We always act with a cool head,” she said in her statement.
Sheinbaum however pushed back on Trump’s decree to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
“For us and the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico,” she said.
-ABC News’ Anne Laurent and Will Gretsky
Rubio promises State Department will focus on making America ‘stronger,’ safer,’ and ‘more prosperous’
After being sworn in as the nation’s 72nd secretary of state, Marco Rubio promised that every action taken by the department would be determined by the answer to three questions: “Does it make us stronger? Does it make us safer? And does it make us more prosperous?”
Rubio gave remarks in Spanish as well, giving thanks to God, his family present and not present, including his parents, who he said came to the U.S. in 1956 — and that the purpose of their lives was that their children could realize dreams not possible for them.
“It’s an incredible honor to be the secretary of state of the most powerful, best country in the world,” he continued in Spanish, giving thanks to Trump for the opportunity.
Rubio also echoed themes from Trump’s inaugural address and reiterated the president’s agenda.
“As far as the task ahead, President Trump was elected to keep promises. And he is going to keep those promises. And his primary promise when it comes to foreign policy is that the priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States. It will be furthering the national interest of this country,” Rubio said.
– ABC News’ Shannon Kingston
Confirmation hearing begins for Trump’s VA pick
Doug Collins, Trump’s choice to lead the Veterans Affairs Department, will face questions from lawmakers as his confirmation hearing gets underway.
Collins, a former congressman, is a Navy veteran who currently serves as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command.
He was the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment, and had defended the president.
Rubio is sworn in by JD Vance as secretary of state
After being unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Monday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was officially sworn in by Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday morning.
Rubio joined ABC’s “Good Morning America” ahead of the ceremony, where he discussed Trump’s pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, TikTok and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Rubio sidestepped directly weighing on the pardons, saying his “focus needs to be 100% on how I interact with our counterparts, our adversaries, our potential enemies around the world to keep this country safe, to make it prosperous.”
When asked about Trump’s campaign pledge to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on Day 1, Rubio contended the matter is more complex and that negotiations would not be played out in public.
“Look this is a complex, tragic conflict, one that was started by Vladimir Putin that’s inflicted a tremendous amount of damage on Ukraine and also on Russia, I would argue, but also on the stability of Europe,” Rubio said. “So the only way to solve these things, we got to get back to pragmatism, but we also get back to seriousness here, and that is the hard work of diplomacy. The U.S. has a role to play here. We’ve been supportive of Ukraine, but this conflict has to end.”
White House signals Trump will make announcement on infrastructure
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said this morning that Trump will be making a a major announcement on infrastructure at 4 p.m. ET.
“I can confirm that the American people won’t be hearing from me today,” she wrote, indicating she would not hold a press briefing. “They’ll be hearing from the leader of the free world,” Leavitt said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
“Once again, President Trump will be speaking to the press later this afternoon at the White House, and we will have a big infrastructure announcement,” she added.
(WASHINGTON) — Months after she was announced to be President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Education, Linda McMahon is on the hot seat in Capitol Hill Thursday as she faces senators over the future of the agency, which the president has vowed to kill.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee is holding its hearing to grill McMahon, a businesswoman with close ties to Trump who has no teaching experience.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Department of Education has been mismanaged and has damaged education, calling it a “con job” during a news conference Wednesday. The president is expected to sign an executive order directing McMahon to submit a proposal for diminishing the department, and then the president said she should “put herself out of a job,” even though such an action would require an act of Congress.
Democratic senators have said they intend to scrutinize the nomination based on 76-year-old McMahon’s lack of experience in public education.
McMahon was interrupted by protesters during her opening statement where she defended her nomination and pushed for more school choice.
“If confirmed I will work with Congress to reorientate,” she said.
McMahon confirms that only Congress can shut down DOE
At an executive order signing event last week, President Trump said, “I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job.’”
“I want her to put herself out of a job,” Trump added.
The president has maintained that states should have control over their schools.
However, abolishing the agency can only be done if Congress passes legislation to eliminate it. Experts say it is illegal to dismantle the department without congressional authorization, which would require 60 Senate votes in favor of doing so.
HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., and ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., both pressed McMahon on whether she believes dismantling the agency can be done without Congress. McMahon responded that only Congress would be able to do so.
“The it is set up by the United States Congress, and we work with Congress. It clearly cannot be shut down without it,” McMahon told Sanders.
However, she told Cassidy she was “all for the president’s mission of returning education back to the states” and that the states would still receive federal funding.
“We want to be working with Congress. We’d like to do this right. We’d like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators can get onboard with and our Congress would get on board with that would have a better-functioning Department of Education. But it certainly requires congressional action,” McMahon said.
McMahon’s journey from WWE matriarch to DOE nominee
McMahon co-founded World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and is also the company’s former president and CEO.
Trump said he chose McMahon for being a “fierce advocate” for parental rights in education who will fight “tirelessly” to expand school choice and “spearhead” his effort to send education decisions back to the states, according to the president’s official nomination statement. The president also praised McMahon’s leadership and “deep understanding” of both education and business.
McMahon’s personal financial wealth is unclear but she reported owning assets that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars and which could potentially surpass $1 billion. The Trump loyalist was co-chair of his presidential transition team and is a long-time donor who has given tens of millions of dollars to support pro-Trump causes.
McMahon previously worked in the first Trump administration as head of the Small Business Administration (SBA). She had previously made two unsuccessful bids for U.S. Senate when she ran against current Senate Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy in 2010 and 2012, respectively. She is also Chair of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) board but will leave that position if confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Education.
McMahon has advocated for apprenticeship and workforce training programs, school choice and parental rights. Although she is not currently an educator she received her teaching certification from East Carolina University and sat on the Connecticut state board of education before her first unsuccessful senate bid. She has also served two stints on the Board of Trustees at Connecticut’s Sacred Heart University, where she is currently the treasurer.
McMahon’s scandals cast shadow over nomination
Meanwhile, McMahon’s years as a wrestling executive came with their share of alleged scandals, which has brought her experience with young people under scrutiny.
A 2024 lawsuit brought by five plaintiffs – John Does who served as the WWE ringside crew when they were teens – accused her and her husband, Vince McMahon, of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse by an announcer and executives at the company. If confirmed by the Senate, McMahon would be tasked with overseeing sexual misconduct investigations within education programs.
The McMahons have denied the claims.
Laura Brevetti, Linda McMahon’s attorney, told ABC News that the FBI investigated the decades-old allegations at the time and found no grounds to further investigate them, calling the lawsuit “baseless.”
McMahon’s allies believe she will be an agent of change, a disrupter, and the dismantler that the Department of Education needs. Skeptics also claimed that the federal agency spends too much on education without adequate academic results.
But many in the education community fear that if McMahon helps Trump abolish the agency, it could adversely impact the millions of students who rely on critical programs overseen by the department that are intended to help vulnerable students succeed, like Title I funding for students from low-income communities.
(WASHINGTON) — The future of TikTok in the U.S. hangs in the balance at the Supreme Court on Friday when the justices hear a last-ditch challenge to a law that would ban the video-sharing app in nine days unless its Chinese-based parent company sells its stake.
The momentous case — TikTok v. Garland — pits one of the world’s most popular social media platforms against all three branches of the U.S. government, which have aligned over the idea that the app poses a serious risk to national security.
Congress passed the law last April with large bipartisan majorities last year to target foreign adversary-owned platforms that collect troves of data on individual Americans and disseminate propaganda or disinformation. President Joe Biden signed it; lower federal courts have upheld it.
ByteDance, which owns TikTok and is headquartered in China, denies any malign activity in the U.S. and has argued the law violates free speech rights of the 170 million Americans it says use the app each month. It has previously ruled out a sale.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll last spring showed 34% of adults said they used the app, which matches an estimate from the Pew Research Center. Pew also reports that 63% of 13- to 17-year-olds use the platform. Together, these add up to about 103 million users.
The poll showed just 12% of adults reported using TikTok “often,” 10% said they used it “occasionally” and 12% said they use the app “rarely.”
Lower courts have rejected the company’s First Amendment challenges, saying the government’s justifications are compelling, given evidence of China’s extensive cyber espionage efforts and covert content manipulation.
“Unless TikTok executes a qualified divestiture,” Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote for the D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, “TikTok’s millions of users will need to find an alternative media of communication. That burden is attributable to the [People’s Republic of China’s] hybrid commercial threat to U.S. national security, not to the U.S. Government.”
The Supreme Court is hearing the case on an unusually fast track, just days before a ban on TikTok is set to take effect on Jan. 19. A ruling is likely, though not guaranteed, this month.
If the ban is allowed, it would become unlawful for app stores run by U.S. companies like Apple and Google to offer TikTok downloads or updates with new features or technical fixes. It would not become a crime to use TikTok, and users who have downloaded the app could likely continue to use it for now, technology experts said.
More than a dozen countries, including India, Canada, Australia, and Taiwan, have already blocked or restricted TikTok. In 2023, the U.S. government banned the use of TikTok on any federal devices.
If the ban is put on hold, it would signal that the court has serious concerns about free speech.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has historically been highly deferential to the government’s position on matters of national security, but the justices are also likely to be cautious about a precedent-setting decision that could silence a wildly popular communication tool.
One wild card in the case may be the position of President-elect Donald Trump, who once unequivocally supported banning TikTok in the U.S. but now calls it a “unique medium for freedom of expression.”
Trump asked the court in a filing late last month to pause the divestiture deadline in order to give him a chance to reach a “negotiated resolution” to save the app once he takes office on Jan. 20.
In an amicus brief, Trump’s nominee for solicitor general, John Sauer, unusually invokes Trump as someone who “alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the Government.”
Trump does not take a position on the constitutionality of the law and, legal experts said, does not provide a legal basis for the justices blocking or delaying otherwise lawfully enacted legislation unless they find it patently unconstitutional.
Both sides have already spent years trying to reach a deal to institute new privacy protections and independent oversight mechanisms that would assuage concerns of U.S. officials. TikTok had proposed creating a data security subsidiary, based in the U.S., and establishing strict limits on what user data could be accessed by Chinese authorities.
Top U.S. national security agencies ultimately deemed the proposals insufficient.