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Stock market today: S&P 500, Dow notch fresh records as Wall Street shrugs off Trump’s tariff threat

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Stock market today: S&P 500, Dow notch fresh records as Wall Street shrugs off Trump’s tariff threat

US stocks on Tuesday shrugged off President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico, with two major indexes securing fresh records.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose nearly 0.6% to nab a record close, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also jumped about 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) reversed earlier losses to finish the day up around 0.3% as it reclaimed another back-to-back record.

The index had been under pressure for most of the day after drugmaker Amgen (AMGN) tumbled as much as 12% on weight-loss data that failed to impress Wall Street. Shares pared losses by the end of the trading session, closing down around 5%.

Markets were initially caught off guard by Trump’s pledge late Monday to slap big tariffs on the US’s biggest trading partners on his first day in office. His comments fired up trade war fears and dented Wall Street’s hopes that Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent would rein in any extreme moves by the new administration.

Carmaker stocks, both domestic and abroad, fell on the heels of Trump’s “America First” push. Nissan (7201.T) and Honda Motor (HMC), which have auto plants in Mexico, came under pressure, along with Ford (F), General Motors (GM), and Stellantis (STLA).

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Outside of possible tariffs, investors also digested the release of the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting ended Nov. 7, which showed officials prefer a gradual pace of interest rate cuts if the economy remains on solid footing.

“Participants anticipated that if the data came in about as expected, with inflation continuing to move down sustainably to 2% and the economy remaining near maximum employment, it would likely be appropriate to move gradually toward a more neutral stance of policy over time,” the minutes read.

Some officials noted that a resurgence of inflation, which has remained sticky, along with a downturn in the labor market, could force the central bank to pause its easing cycle.

The release sets the stage for the October reading of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, on Wednesday.

LIVE 13 updates
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  • Dow, S&P 500 secure fresh records

    It was another record-setting day on Wall Street as investors shrugged off President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico.

    Both the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) each secured record closing highs, with all three major indexes finishing the session in the green.

    The benchmark S&P 500 rose nearly 0.6%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also jumped about 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) reversed earlier losses to finish the day up around 0.3%.

  •  Josh Schafer

    Americans are feeling better about the labor market

    After several months of downbeat data to end the summer had workers feeling sour about the prospect of finding a new job, consumers feelings about the labor market may be rounding a corner.

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    On Tuesday, fresh data from the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence survey for the month showed the difference between respondents who believe jobs are “plentiful” and those saying jobs are “hard to get” ticked up for the second-straight month. The metric, known as the labor market differential, ticked up to a reading of 18.2% in November, up from the cycle low of 12.7% seen in September.

    “This slightly improved read on the jobs market is certainly boosting confidence and if it weren’t an election year, it would be the sole focus of consumers,” Wells Fargo senior economist Tim Quinlan wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday.

    Overall, the upbeat labor market outlooked helped propel consumer confidence to a reading of 111.7 in November, above the 109.6 seen in October and the highest level in more than a year.

    “November’s increase was mainly driven by more positive consumer assessments of the present situation, particularly regarding the labor market,” said Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board. “Compared to October, consumers were also substantially more optimistic about future job availability, which reached its highest level in almost three years.”

  •  Josh Schafer

    Fed officials see gradual interest rate cuts with a pause possible if ‘inflation remained elevated’

    Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s November meeting released on Tuesday showed officials prefer a “gradual” interest rate cutting cycle if the economy continues on it’s current trajectory.

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    “Participants anticipated that if the data came in about as expected, with inflation continuing to move down sustainably to 2 percent and the economy remaining near maximum employment, it would likely be appropriate to move gradually toward a more neutral stance of policy over time,” the minutes read.

    But recent sticky inflation prints have caught officials’ attention. In a recent speech, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman highlighted that in the past few months, when measures of inflation excluding gas and autos have largely moved sideways, the Fed’s progress toward its 2% goal has “stalled.” Should that trend continue, the central bank may opt to pause interest rate cuts.

    “Some participants noted that the Committee could pause its easing of the policy rate and hold it at a restrictive level if inflation remained elevated, and some remarked that policy easing could be accelerated if the labor market turned down or economic activity faltered,” the minutes read.

  • Alexandra Canal

    Rivian stock climbs on $6.6 billion loan

    Rivian stock (RIVN) is jumping, rising over 4% in afternoon trade.

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    Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian tells us why:

    Late Monday, Rivian said it won a “conditional commitment” from the Department of Energy (DOE) for a $6.6 billion loan, highlighting the company’s improving capital condition.

    The loan, part of the DOE’s Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) program, would support the construction of Rivian’s upcoming assembly plant located outside of Atlanta.

    Rivian paused development of the site back in March due to concerns about its capital position. At the time, Rivian said building its upcoming R2 vehicles at its existing Normal, Ill., plant instead would save the company over $2 billion in costs.

    If finalized, the new DOE loan would restart Rivan’s plans to develop the Georgia assembly plant.

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    “This loan would enable Rivian to more aggressively scale our US manufacturing footprint for our competitively priced R2 and R3 vehicles that emphasize both capability and affordability,” CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement. “A robust ecosystem of US companies developing and manufacturing EVs is critical for the US to maintain its long-term leadership in transportation.”

    Read more here.

  • Alexandra Canal

    Bitcoin retreats in push to $100,000

    Bitcoin prices (BTC-USD) retreated about 2% on Tuesday as the cryptocurrency’s bid to reach the $100,000 milestone lost steam.

    The largest digital currency, which posted its longest losing streak since Trump’s election win, traded just around $92,500 per token in early afternoon trade.

    Trump’s win pushed bitcoin prices to all-time highs in the immediate aftermath of the election, with the administration viewed as generally more friendly to the alternative asset class.

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    In July, Trump attended a bitcoin conference in Nashville and has since pledged to usher in more supportive regulation. His promises also include appointing a crypto Presidential Advisory Council and firing current SEC Chair Gary Gensler.

    But markets are now weighing new promises from the President-elect, which include possible tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian imports. That could lead to more risk-aversion sentiment on Wall Street.

    Other crypto-adjacent names mimicked bitcoin’s moves to the downside.

    Shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR), which owns nearly 280,000 bitcoins, dropped around 3%. Last week, the company announced the purchase of an additional 51,780 bitcoins for $4.6 billion. The company now holds $16.5 billion worth of bitcoin.

    Coinbase (COIN), which allows crypto trading on its platform, saw shares fall roughly 2%.

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  • Alexandra Canal

    Amgen drags Dow lower after weight loss drug data fails to impress

    Amgen (AMGN) was the biggest laggard in the Dow on Tuesday, falling as much as 12% after its weight loss drug met Wall Street expectations but was only on par with competitors like Eli Lilly (LLY).

    Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani reports:

    The company reported 20% weight loss from the drug MariTide in patients after 52 weeks in a phase II study. By comparison, current market leaders Eli Lilly (LLY) and Novo Nordisk (NVO) have products that provide weight loss between 14% and 24%. Analysts on an investor call with Amgen Tuesday morning characterized the data as “in line” with the currently available products.

    Mizuho’s healthcare sector expert Jared Holz said, on the surface, the data would draw more interest, but because Amgen is late to the weight-loss market — with a phase III trial still needed — it is at a disadvantage.

    In addition, “AMGN did not disclose which dose it plans to move forward, but would guess that the higher doses are driving better weight loss so need to consider how the side effect profile looks in these specific formulations,” Holz wrote in a note to clients.

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    Read more here.

  • Alexandra Canal

    Mexico, Canada respond to Trump’s tariff threats

    Mexico will retaliate if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his recent tariff threats, the country’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said.

    Late on Monday, Trump said in a post to his Truth Social account that he plans to enact a 25% tariff on all Mexican and Canadian imports. He said the levies would remain in effect until those countries address illegal immigration to the US and drug trafficking.

    Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that tariffs would lead to increased job losses and inflation. “To one tariff will come another and so on, until we put our common businesses at risk,” she told reporters in a briefing.

    The companies most exposed to the tariffs include automakers with plants in Mexico, such as Nissan, Honda Motor (HMC), Ford (FORD), Stellantis (STLA), and General Motors (GM), among others.

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    “Why impose a tax that puts them at risk?” Sheinbaum asked. “It’s not acceptable.”

    The Mexican leader said she plans to send a letter to Trump, urging for more dialogue and collaboration between the two countries.

    Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday morning that he’s agreed to meet with his provincial and territorial counterparts this week to discuss US-Canada relations.

    “This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on,” Trudeau said. “And that’s what we’ll do.”

  • Dani Romero

    New home sales slump to lowest level in almost two years

    Sales of new single-family homes plummeted in October to the lowest level in about two years as mortgage rates remained elevated during the month.

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    New home sales dropped 17.3% in October to a seasonally adjusted rate of 610,000 units, down from September’s revised rate of 738,000, according to Census Bureau data released on Tuesday. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a pace of 725,000.

    The median sales price of new houses sold was $437,300, up from $426,300 the previous month.

    Mortgage rates marched higher during the month of October, discouraging buyers from purchasing a new home.

    Builders have adapted accordingly. DR Horton (DHI) CEO Paul Romanowski told investors and analysts on the homebuilder’s fourth quarter earnings call in late October that the company’s executives “expect incentives will have to remain elevated in order to maintain affordability and monthly payments that our buyers are looking for.”

  •  Josh Schafer

    Consumer confidence rises to highest level since July 2023

    American consumers continue to feel more upbeat about the outlook for the US economy.

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    The latest US consumer confidence index reading from the Conference Board was 111.7, above the 109.6 seen in October and the highest level in more than a year. The expectations index, which is based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, ticked up 0.4 points to 92.3, significantly above the threshold of 80 that typically signals recession ahead.

    Less than 64% of respondents said they believe a US recession is “somewhat” or “very likely” in the next 12 months, marking the lowest number of consumers fearing an incoming recession since the Conference Board began asking the question in July 2022.

    “November’s increase was mainly driven by more positive consumer assessments of the present situation, particularly regarding the labor market,” said Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board. “Compared to October, consumers were also substantially more optimistic about future job availability, which reached its highest level in almost three years.”

    In November, 33.4% of consumers said jobs were “plentiful,” down from the 34.1% seen in October. But the number of respondents saying jobs were “hard to get” also fell to 15.2% from 17.6% seen the month prior.

  • Alexandra Canal

    Stocks open mixed

    US stocks opened mixed to kick off Tuesday’s trading session, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) dropping 0.3% after the index notched its latest record.

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    The S&P 500 (^GSPC) inched up roughly 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) jumped about 0.4% as investors weighed the latest tariff threat from President-elect Donald Trump.

  • Dani Romero

    Home price growth slowed in September

    US home prices rose in September, but the pace of price increases moderated on an annual basis.

    The S&P Case-Shiller National Home Price Index increased 3.9% from a year ago, a smaller increase from the 4.2% annual gain seen in August.

    Prices rose 0.3% over the prior month in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, unchanged from August’s monthly increase.

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    The index tracking home prices in the 20 largest metropolitan areas gained 0.2% in September from August, lower than a Bloomberg consensus estimate of 0.3% and August’’s 0.4%. The 20-city index jumped 4.6% compared to last September. August’s annual gain was 5.2%.

    “Home price growth stalled in the third quarter, after a steady start to 2024,” Brian Luke, head of commodities, real & digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, wrote in a press release. “The slight downtick could be attributed to technical factors as the seasonally adjusted figures boasted a 16th consecutive all-time high.”

  • Jenny McCall

    Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.

    Economic data: S&P CoreLogic 20-city (August); New home sales (October); Conference Board Consumer Confidence (November); Richmond Fed manufacturing index (November), FOMC Meeting Minutes (November meeting)

    Earnings: Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Autodesk (ADSK), Best Buy (BBY), Burlington Stores (BURL), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Dell (DELL), HP (HPQ), Kohl’s (KSS), Manchester United (MANU), Urban Outfitters (URBN), Workday (WDAY)

    Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

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    Wall Street still hasn’t got a handle on Trump

    US finalizes $7.86B chips manufacturing award for Intel

    Trump pledges 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, 35% on China

    How a breakup could upend Google (and the tech world)

    Best Buy stock sinks after broad earnings miss

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    Bitcoin retreats from $100K in worst spell since Trump’s win

    4 ways Bessent’s honeymoon as Trump’s Treasury pick could end

  • Brian Sozzi

    Flash analysis: Another ugly quarter from Best Buy

    Looking for some pre-holiday cheer? Well, you won’t find any in the earnings out of Best Buy (BBY) this morning.

    A couple of things stood out:

    I can’t say the report is surprising, given the discretionary category weakness we have seen in earnings reports this month from Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), Home Depot (HD), and Lowe’s (LOW). But the declines for Best Buy suggest it will have a slog of a holiday season.

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    Yahoo Finance senior reporter Brooke DiPalma will have coverage on Best Buy throughout the morning, so stay plugged in here. Yahoo Finance will also be serving up live analysis out of the gate at 9 a.m. ET today — which you can catch here.

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Wheelchair curler Steve Emt’s path from drunk driver to three-time Paralympian

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Wheelchair curler Steve Emt’s path from drunk driver to three-time Paralympian

American Steve Emt competes in Sunday’s mixed doubles match against Italy, which the U.S. won.

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Maja Hitij/Getty Images

Anyone watching the Winter Paralympics has probably taken note of Steve Emt, who — along with Laura Dwyer — is representing Team USA in the Games’ first-ever mixed doubles event.

Their performance is one thing: The pair notched three dramatic, back-to-back wins in the round-robin tournament to reach the semifinals, marking the first time the U.S. has qualified for a medal round in wheelchair curling since the 2010 Paralympics.

After losing to Korea in the semifinals, Emt and Dwyer will face Latvia in the bronze medal match on Tuesday, in the hopes of winning the U.S. its first Paralympic medal in wheelchair curling.

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But it’s their teamwork and attitude on ice that really set them apart. Emt, in particular, has charmed the internet, with his booming baritone delivering a steady stream of encouragement to his doubles partner and demands to the granite stones they’re sliding (“curl!” “sit!”).

“I have three older siblings. I was always on the basketball court getting beat up by them, so I had to assert myself on the court, around the kitchen table, everything,” he said when asked about his deep voice this week.

Steve Emt and Laura Dwyer celebrate during a match this week.

Steve Emt and Laura Dwyer have made sure to celebrate their wins, of which there have been many throughout this wheelchair curling mixed doubles round-robin tournament.

Maja Hitij/Getty Images


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While Emt, 56, is competing in a new event, he’s no stranger to the sport: The 10-time national champion and three-time Paralympian is the most decorated Paralympic curler in U.S. history.

But he didn’t know what curling was until he got recruited off the street just over a decade ago.

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Emt, who is 6 feet, 5 inches tall, was enjoying a day in Cape Cod, Mass., in 2013 when a stranger with slicked-back hair approached and asked if he was local. Emt replied that he lived in Connecticut and suspiciously asked why.

“He said, ‘Well, I train with the Paralympic rowing team here in the Cape. I saw you pushing up the hill back there. With your build, I could make you an Olympian in a year,’” Emt recalled, referring to his wheelchair. “And I heard ‘Olympics,’ I’m like: Let’s go. What the hell is curling?”

After their conversation, Emt drove home and did some research, confirming that curling was not related to weightlifting, as he originally suspected.

“I went back two weeks later and I threw my first stone, and it just bit me,” he said.

Before long, Emt was making the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Massachusetts to spend the weekend training with that stranger-turned-coach, Tony Colacchio. He made the U.S. wheelchair curling team in 2014 and competed at his first world championship in 2015. Emt made his Paralympic debut in Pyeongchang in 2018, five years after that fateful encounter.

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Emt, speaking to reporters in October, said the sport of curling has changed him as a person, mellowing him out. But the existence of the sport as a competitive outlet for athletes with disabilities changed his life.

Emt had been an all-star high school athlete, an Army West Point cadet and a UConn basketball walk-on before a drunk driving incident paralyzed him from the waist down at 25 years old.

“I’m a jock … I need to compete, and I didn’t have anything going on in my life,” Emt said. “Seventeen years after my crash, I had a hole, and then [Colacchio] came along and stalked me into the sport.”

By that point, Emt had spent years working as a middle school math teacher, a high school basketball coach and a motivational speaker. The latter has been his full-time job for almost a decade, taking him to over 100 schools across the country each year. He tells those teenagers about the chance Colacchio took on him, encouraging them to “be a Tony.”

“Go sit with that kid at lunch that’s sitting alone … smile [at] somebody in a hallway, get your heads out of your phones, get your heads out of the sand,” he continued. “We’re all going through something … and a simple ‘hello’ or ‘good morning,’ it could change their day. It could change somebody’s life.”

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Why Emt now shares his story 

This is the third Paralympics for Emt, who is already eyeing Salt Lake City 20

This is the third Paralympics for Emt, who is already eyeing Salt Lake City 2034.

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Emt wasn’t always so willing to open up. For the first half a year after his 1995 crash, he told everyone a deer had run in front of his car rather than admit he had gotten behind the wheel drunk.

“I was lying to myself, I was lying to everybody around me,” he said. “I didn’t want kids to look at me in my hometown, in the state, and everyone around the country, as a drunk driver. I wanted them to look at me as a stud athlete and a great person.”

Emt had been a “stud athlete”: His talents in high school basketball, soccer and baseball made him a star in his hometown of Hebron, Conn., and earned him a spot on the basketball team at West Point.

But he dropped out two years later, after his father’s sudden death from a heart attack. He went home to Connecticut and eventually enrolled at UConn, where he walked on to its storied basketball team, joining future NBA greats like Donyell Marshall. Emt says, with a chuckle, that he had 38.7 seconds of playing time in his two years.

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Emt was wearing his Big East championship jacket the night of his 1995 accident, which he says left him for dead on the side of the highway. When he woke up from a coma a few days later, he learned he would never walk again.

And he didn’t want to tell people why, until a newspaper reporter approached him six months later wanting to tell his story — and encouraged him to be honest. He said the opportunity to “come clean” helped him accept what he’d done and forgive himself.

“That’s my label: Yeah I’m a curler, yeah I’m a speaker, yeah I’m a drunk driver,” he said. “I’m in a wheelchair because of a drunk driving crash, and I want you to know it and I want you to learn from me.”

Emt first got into motivational speaking about eight months after his accident, and has been doing it ever since. He calls it his therapy.

He says that and curling — which is about shaking hands with competitors instead of smack-talking them — has helped him slow down and appreciate the little things. Relocating to Wisconsin and the chiller pace of Midwest life has also helped. And he says he cherishes the platform that curling has given him.

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“I want people to know: ‘Hey, when you’re ready to talk, I’m here for you.’ This is what I do, from my speaking to my curling, whatever it is, there are so many opportunities to be successful again,” he said. “When you wake up and you’re told you’re never going to walk again, it’s like, what do I do now? … And I just want people to know that there are so many avenues out there, so many things to do.”

Emt, the oldest Paralympian on Team USA, originally aimed to make it to three Games. But he’s now eyeing even more, as he’d like to compete on home turf in Salt Lake City in 2034 (two Games away).

“I’m going to be like 90 years old competing at the Paralympics,” he laughed.

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Map: 2.3-Magnitude Earthquake Reported North of New York City

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Map: 2.3-Magnitude Earthquake Reported North of New York City

Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 3 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “weak,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown.  All times on the map are Eastern. The New York Times

A minor, 2.3-magnitude earthquake struck about 12 miles north of New York City on Tuesday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The temblor happened at 10:17 a.m. Eastern in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., data from the agency shows.

The Westchester County emergency services department said in a statement that it had not received any reports of damage.

As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.

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Source: United States Geological Survey | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Eastern. Shake data is as of Tuesday, March 10 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern. Aftershocks data is as of Tuesday, March 10 at 2:18 p.m. Eastern.

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Ed Martin, outspoken Justice Department lawyer, is formally accused of ethical violations | CNN Politics

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Ed Martin, outspoken Justice Department lawyer, is formally accused of ethical violations | CNN Politics

Ed Martin, an outspoken Trump administration official, is facing attorney discipline proceedings in Washington, DC, for a letter he sent to Georgetown Law about its diversity programs, the district’s professional conduct investigator announced on Tuesday.

Martin is formally accused of violating his ethical codes as an attorney for telling Georgetown Law’s dean last year that his Justice Department office wouldn’t hire students because of the school’s diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives programs, according to the filing from Hamilton Fox, the disciplinary counsel for DC who acts as a quasi-prosecutor on attorney discipline matters.

Unlike unsolicited complaints, Fox’s formal disciplinary complaint kicks off professional conduct proceedings for Martin in which he will need to respond and could be sanctioned or ultimately lose his law license.

Fox’s announcement on Tuesday marks the first major bar discipline proceeding against a high-profile administration official or attorney supporting President Donald Trump during Trump’s second term. Several Trump lawyers faced disciplinary proceedings after the efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election, including Rudy Giuliani, who lost his law license.

“Acting in his official capacity and speaking on behalf of the government, he used coercion to punish or suppress a disfavored viewpoint, the teaching and promotion of ‘DEI,’” Fox wrote in the complaint. “He demanded that Georgetown Law relinquish its free speech and religious rights in order to continue to obtain a benefit, employment opportunities for its students.”

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Martin was removed from the top prosecutor job in DC after senators made clear he would not be confirmed to the role, but has remained at the Justice Department in several roles, including as pardon attorney.

“Mr. Martin knew or should have known that, as a government official, his conduct violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States,” Fox wrote.

Martin is being represented by a Justice Department attorney, a source told CNN.

A spokesperson for DOJ attacked Fox’s complaint. “The DC bar’s attempt to target and punish those serving President Trump while refusing to investigate or act against actual ethical violations that were committed by Biden and Obama administration attorneys is a clear indication of this partisan organization’s agenda,” DOJ said.

Martin had sent the letter to Georgetown Law while serving temporarily as US attorney for DC, a prominent Justice Department position, and told the school his federal prosecutors’ office wouldn’t hire Georgetown’s law school students. It came at a time when the Trump administration was beginning to crack down on universities for their DEI efforts.

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In his letter, Martin claimed a whistleblower told him that the school was teaching and promoting DEI.

Martin also violated attorney ethics rules by contacting judges of the DC court directly, Fox alleged, rather than going through official channels, once he was informed he was under investigation for his professional conduct. The DC Court of Appeals ultimately signs off on attorney discipline findings.

Early last year, Fox’s office had formally asked Martin to respond to a complaint it received by a retired judge regarding the Georgetown letter.

Martin instead wrote to the judges on the DC court complaining about Fox.

“In that letter, he stated that he would not be responding to Disciplinary Counsel’s inquiry, complained about Disciplinary Counsel’s ‘uneven behavior,’ and requested a ‘face-to-face meeting with all of you to discuss this matter and find a way forward,’” Fox wrote.

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“He copied the White House Counsel ‘for informational purposes because of the importance of getting this issue addressed,’” Fox said.

The top judge in the DC courts told Martin the court wouldn’t meet with him about the disciplinary matter and that he would need to follow procedure.

With Fox’s complaint, there will now be several steps ahead of bar discipline authorities looking at Martin’s action, and Fox didn’t specify how Martin should be reprimanded or punished if the discipline boards and the court ultimately determine he violated his ethical codes.

Spokespeople for the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday morning.

In recent days, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced her office would have a more powerful role in reviewing attorney discipline complaints against Justice Department attorneys, potentially setting up an approach that could keep the department at odds with the bar on behalf of DOJ attorneys facing their own individual disciplinary proceedings.

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CNN’s Paula Reid contributed to this report.

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