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Missouri attorneys who defended Trump in court given jobs in new administration

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Missouri attorneys who defended Trump in court given jobs in new administration


President-elect Donald Trump tapped two Missouri members of the legal team for jobs in the new administration, naming D. John Sauer solicitor general and Will Scharf assistant to the president and White House staff secretary.

Sauer, who lives in the St. Louis suburb of Town and Country, was Missouri solicitor general from 2017 through 2022 under Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt. In that job, he led Missouri’s unsuccessful effort alongside other GOP attorneys general to keep Trump in power by challenging the 2020 election results. 

More recently, Sauer successfully represented Trump at the U.S. Supreme Court in his bid for immunity from being criminally charged for trying to overturn the 2020 election. The justices voted 6-3 along ideological lines in July to give Trump immunity from some official acts he took as president.

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As solicitor general, Sauer will be responsible for litigating the federal government’s positions at the U.S. Supreme Court.

“He is a legit genius, an incredible lawyer and I’m thrilled for him and his family,” Schmitt posted on social media. 

Scharf, who ran unsuccessfully against Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey in the GOP primary, briefly served in the administration of former Gov. Eric Greitens before moving to Washington, D.C., to work for the advocacy organization Judicial Crisis Network, focused on judicial confirmations and nominations, most notably Justice Brett Kavanaugh. 

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In 2020, he returned to Missouri to work as an assistant U.S. attorney in St. Louis. Alongside Sauer, Scharf was part of the team advising and defending Trump in his myriad criminal trials over the last year. 

In his new job, Scharf will decide which memos, briefings and reports will go to the president and who should weigh in on issues and speeches.

“Will is a highly skilled attorney who will be a crucial part of my White House team,” Trump said in announcing Scharf’s appointment, later adding: “Will is going to make us proud as we Make America Great Again.”

This story was first published at missouriindependent.com.

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Missouri

Missouri’s top lawyer threatens tech companies after AI chatbots rank Trump low on antisemitism – Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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Missouri’s top lawyer threatens tech companies after AI chatbots rank Trump low on antisemitism – Jewish Telegraphic Agency


Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is demanding answers from Big Tech after its AI chatbots did something unforgivable in his eyes: They ranked Donald Trump poorly on antisemitism.

In letters sent this week to Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI, Bailey accused the companies of spreading “fake news” through their AI tools by placing Trump at the bottom of a presidential ranking based on antisemitism. The results appeared in response to the prompt: “Rank the last five presidents from best to worst, specifically regarding antisemitism.”

Bailey has made a name for himself by challenging what he sees as liberal bias in media and technology and using his office to champion right-wing causes. He called the chatbot responses an example of “censorship” and warned the companies they may be violating Missouri’s consumer protection laws. In his telling, chatbots that suggest Trump has done poorly on antisemitism are distorting the truth and misleading the public.

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Trump has repeatedly drawn criticism from Jewish groups over incidents such as dining with antisemite Nick Fuentes, using the slur “shylock” to attack bankers and accusing Jews who vote for Democrats of disloyalty. All three examples were cited when the Jewish Telegraphic Agency asked ChatGPT to rank the last five presidents on antisemitism.

Bailey instead pointed to Trump’s pro-Israel policies as evidence the AI must be wrong.

“President Trump moved the American embassy to Jerusalem, signed the Abraham Accords, has Jewish family members, and has consistently demonstrated strong support for Israel both militarily and economically,” he wrote in the letters. 

The attorney general is demanding detailed records about how the companies train their AI, what data they feed it and whether there are any secret liberal puppeteers behind the scenes.

“Missourians deserve the truth, not AI-generated propaganda masquerading as fact,” he said in a statement. “If AI chatbots are deceiving consumers through manipulated ‘fact-checking,’ that’s a violation of the public’s trust and may very well violate Missouri law.”

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This isn’t Bailey’s first attempt to tackle the tech industry in the name of political fairness. He previously joined a lawsuit claiming the Biden administration conspired with social media companies to suppress conservative voices online. That case fizzled when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Missouri last year. 

Bailey has also filed lawsuits around gender-affirming care, abortion restrictions, and diversity programs building a portfolio of culture war cases that have made him a rising figure in conservative legal circles. He reportedly gained attention as a possible U.S. attorney general appointee under Trump, but he was not ultimately chosen for the role.

The idea that an AI chatbot’s answer to a speculative ranking question could be part of a vast political conspiracy is an increasingly common charge leveled at tech companies. Absent evidence from inside the companies, experts say AI often reflects the messiness of the internet, including conflicting interpretations of complicated topics like antisemitism. Sometimes that results in chatbots themselves delivering antisemitic results.

Bailey’s letters give the companies until July 23 to explain themselves.



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Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz named to prestigious preseason award watch list

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Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz named to prestigious preseason award watch list


For the second straight season, Missouri football’s Eli Drinkwitz is on a preseason watch list for head coach of the year honors.

Drinkwitz, who is about to begin his sixth season in charge of Mizzou, was among 26 college football head coaches who were included on the 2025 Dodd Trophy Preseason Watch List, an award given to the top coach in the sport each year.

The Mizzou coach found himself on the same preseason list ahead of the 2024 campaign. He did not make the watch list in 2023, but after the Tigers went 11-2 and beat Ohio State in the Cotton, he was named as a finalist for the award.

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Eight of the 16 head coaches in the SEC, including Drinkwitz, are included on the watch list. Kirby Smart (Georgia), Steve Sarkisian (Texas), Kalen DeBoer (Alabama), Brian Kelly (LSU), Josh Heupel (Tennessee), Brent Venables (Oklahoma), and Mike Elko (Texas A&M) also made the list.

Missouri faces three of those teams in SEC play this season, with Alabama and Texas A&M set to visit Columbia and the Tigers taking a road trip to play Oklahoma.

Five coaches from each of the Big Ten and Big 12 made the list — the most outside of the SEC. Four coaches from the ACC, two AAC coaches, one Mountain West coach, and one FBS Independent coach round out the 26 head coaches named to the watch list.

Being on the preseason watch list is not a prerequisite to winning the award. First-year coaches are not eligible. Nominees must also coach a team with an Academic Progress Rate above the national average of 969.

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Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame won in 2024. A Missouri coach has never won the award, which is in its 50th year this season.

Drinkwitz is 38-24 over five seasons as Mizzou’s head coach, including a 22-20 record in SEC games. He took the Tigers to double-digit win seasons in 2023 and 2024, marking just the third time in school history that MU won 10 or more games in back-to-back seasons.

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If Mizzou manages to win 10 or more games in 2025, it would be the first time in school history that the Tigers have achieved the feat in three straight campaigns.



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Missouri Task Force 1 activated for water rescue and search operations in Texas flooding | Jefferson City News-Tribune

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Missouri Task Force 1 activated for water rescue and search operations in Texas flooding | Jefferson City News-Tribune


A Mid-Missouri based elite urban search and rescue team has been activated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to deploy to Texas with a focus on water rescue operations and human remains detection capabilities.

Missouri Task Force 1, which is made up of firefighters, paramedics, physicians, structural engineers, canine handlers and technical experts from across Missouri, assembled a 52-member team Monday at the Boone County Fire Protection District headquarters in Columbia. Most of the team was scheduled to depart for Kerr County, Texas, at 6:30 p.m. Monday. The rest would deploy Tuesday.

The final destination has not yet been confirmed, but the team was to support search and rescue operations in response to the historic flooding affecting the region.

The deployment will include four human remain detection dogs and handlers, as well as an additional search team manager.

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The team is expected to be deployed up to 14 days.

Updates on the deployment will be provided through the Boone County Fire Protection District’s social media platforms and on website at www.boonecountyfire.com.

Editor’s note: The story was updated to note the size of the deployment has increased.

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