Politics
F.D.A. Nominee to Face Grilling Over Cutbacks and Policy Shifts
Dr. Marty Makary may face sharp questions from senators about whether he will defend the Food and Drug Administration against staff cutbacks and industry pressure on Thursday, although he is still expected to sail through his confirmation hearing to become the agency’s commissioner.
Dr. Makary built his reputation as a contrarian in the medical field, gaining widespread notice by speaking out about medical errors. Those close to him have remarked on his willingness to agree with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, on a variety of issues.
As a pancreatic cancer surgeon and health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Makary has been viewed by some as a study in contrasts. He has written several books criticizing what he considers flaws in medical orthodoxy that result in recommendations backed by scant evidence.
Yet he also drew attention from the Trump team as a Fox News personality with more controversial views, like his relatively early predictions that Covid would fade as a concern and that widespread immunity would take hold long before it did.
Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, an assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine, said that it was not clear which is the “true Marty Makary.”
She said that was an important question, given some of Mr. Kennedy’s pronouncements. The health secretary has suggested that the F.D.A. should lift constraints on risky products like raw milk, which can be rife with bacteria, and had embraced hydroxychloroquine, a drug briefly used as a Covid therapy before its risks were deemed to exceed any benefit.
“I’m hoping, and kind of desperately hoping,” she said, “that just a top-line overall priority for him is to maintain the integrity and independence of the agency.”
Mr. Kennedy has already begun to signal shifts in vaccine policy, an area Dr. Makary would also oversee at the F.D.A. Mr. Kennedy has expressed an interest in examining the safety of vaccines that have been on the market for decades and that protect millions of American children and adults against debilitating diseases.
The agency has vast regulatory authority over products including prescription and over-the-counter drugs, medical devices, tobacco and about 80 percent of the food supply.
The F.D.A. has a staff of about 18,000 and a budget of about $7.2 billion. Among its many oversight roles, the agency regulates artificial intelligence software used to scan medical images, an area where the agency has been dismissed as too permissive in its approvals.
If confirmed, Dr. Makary would first encounter tensions among staff members, who have been whipsawed by the Trump administration’s aggressive cost-cutting measures in recent weeks.
The staff endured an initial round of about 700 layoffs, decimating some product-review teams that ensure the safety of medical devices such as surgical robots and systems that deliver insulin to people with diabetes. Those firings were followed by some job reinstatements.
On Tuesday, panic swept through some quarters of the agency when the Trump administration put about two million square feet of the agency’s Maryland office space up for possible sale before backing off. Concern also spread when the lease to a key drug-safety lab in St. Louis was posted as savings on the “Wall of Receipts” advertised by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. (The agency said on Wednesday that the lab would remain open.)
Further staff cuts are expected.
“What are the F.D.A. resources going to look like in an environment where it seems like the current approach is slashing and burning, without any kind of thoughtful deliberation?” asked Dr. Aaron S. Kesselheim, a Harvard professor of medicine who has studied the F.D.A.
In documents filed with the Office of Government Ethics, Dr. Makary pledged to step away from millions of dollars in financial interests. Those steps include resigning from his role as co-owner of Global Appropriateness Measures, a company that scans health data for signs of inappropriate medical care with clients including health plans and physician groups. He also said he resigned from positions at Sesame, a telehealth company that provides weight-loss medications, and from MedRegen, a pharmaceutical company, and others.
There are many other issues that Dr. Makary would face, including a new review that Mr. Kennedy pledged to undertake on the safety of abortion pills. Tobacco companies could emerge emboldened after the Biden administration failed to advance cigarette restrictions, and after having heavily contributed to President Trump’s campaign. The president’s decision to impose tariffs could affect the supply of essential medicines from overseas.
He will also be expected to advance Mr. Kennedy’s goal of ending what he has described as corruption in public health agencies, closing the revolving door between the F.D.A. and the industries it regulates. Dr. Makary will be expected to work with the Make American Healthy Again coalition, which is banking on the administration to identify and remove unhealthy food additives.
Those priorities are already appearing to clash, though: The new acting chief of the F.D.A. food division, Kyle Diamantas, comes directly from a law firm where he was defending the maker of infant formula, a regulated product, against claims that it harmed premature babies.
Politics
Republican House leader signals plan to begin contempt proceedings against Bill and Hillary Clinton
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GOP House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said he plans to commence contempt of Congress proceedings against Bill and Hillary Clinton for ignoring the committee’s subpoenas related to its ongoing probe into the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
In July, a bipartisan House Oversight Subcommittee approved motions to subpoena Bill and Hillary Clinton and a slew of other high-profile political figures to aid its investigation looking into how the federal government handled Epstein’s sex trafficking case.
The subpoenas were then sent out in early August, and the Clinton’s were scheduled to testify Dec. 17-18.
“It has been more than four months since Bill and Hillary Clinton were subpoenaed to sit for depositions related to our investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s horrific crimes. Throughout that time, the former president and former secretary of state have delayed, obstructed, and largely ignored the committee staff’s efforts to schedule their testimony,” Comer said in a press release issued Friday evening.
DOJ CLEARED TO RELEASE SECRET JEFFREY EPSTEIN CASE GRAND JURY MATERIALS
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“If the Clintons fail to appear for their depositions next week or schedule a date for early January, the Oversight Committee will begin contempt of Congress proceedings to hold them accountable.”
Comer’s threats come as Democrats from the House Oversight Committee released a new batch of photos obtained from Epstein’s estate, which included further images of the disgraced financier with powerful figures like President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton. Thousands of images were reportedly released, with potentially more to come.
Other high-profile figures subpoenaed by the Oversight Committee include James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales.
FEDERAL JUDGE APPROVES RELEASING GHISLAINE MAXWELL CASE GRAND JURY MATERIAL
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Jeffrey Epstein. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
In addition to testimony from these individuals, Comer and the Oversight Committee issued subpoenas to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for all documents and communications pertaining to the case against Epstein.
In September, the committee released tens of thousands of pages of Epstein-related records in compliance with the subpoena, and the Oversight Committee indicated the DOJ would continue producing even more records as it works through needed redactions and other measures that must occur before they are released.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Jeffrey Epstein and President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
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Politics
Kristi Noem grilled over L.A. Purple Heart Army vet who self-deported
The saga of a Los Angeles Army veteran who legally immigrated to the United States, was wounded in combat and self-deported to South Korea earlier this year, became a flashpoint during a testy congressional hearing about the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was grilled Thursday on Capitol Hill about military veterans deported during the immigration crackdown launched earlier this year, including in Los Angeles.
“Sir, we have not deported U.S. citizens or military veterans,” Noem responded when questioned by Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.).
Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) speaks during a hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security on Thursday. He was joined on a video call by Sae Joon Park, a U.S. military veteran who self-deported to South Korea.
(Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press)
An aide then held up a tablet showing a Zoom connection with Purple Heart recipient Sae Joon Park in South Korea. The congressman argued that Park had “sacrificed more for this country than most people ever have” and asked Noem if she would investigate Park’s case, given her discretion as a Cabinet member. Noem pledged to “absolutely look at his case.”
Park, reached in Seoul on Thursday night, said he was skeptical that Noem would follow through on her promise, but said that he had “goosebumps” watching the congressional hearing.
“It was amazing. And then I’m getting tons of phone calls from all my friends back home and everywhere else. I’m so very grateful for everything that happened today,” Park, 56, said, noting that friends told him that a clip of his story appeared on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show Thursday night.
The late-night host featured footage of Park’s moment in the congressional hearing in his opening monologue.
“Is anyone OK with this? Seriously, all kidding aside, we deported a veteran with a Purple Heart?” Kimmel said, adding that Republicans “claim to care so much about veterans, but they don’t at all.”
Park legally immigrated to the United States when he was 7, grew up in Koreatown and the San Fernando Valley, and joined the Army after graduating from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks in 1988.
Sae Joon Park received a Purple Heart while serving in the Army.
(From Sae Joon Park)
The green card holder was deployed to Panama in 1989 as the U.S. tried to depose the nation’s de facto leader, Gen. Manuel Noriega. Park was shot twice and honorably discharged. Suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, he self-medicated with illicit drugs, went to prison after jumping bail on drug possession charges, became sober and raised two children in Hawaii.
Earlier this year, when Park checked in for his annual meeting with federal officials to verify his sobriety and employment, he was given the option of being immediately detained and deported, or wearing an ankle monitor for three weeks as he got his affairs in order before leaving the country for a decade.
At the time, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Park had an “extensive criminal history” and had been given a final removal order, with the option to self-deport.
Park chose to leave the country voluntarily. He initially struggled to acclimate in a nation he hasn’t lived in since he was a child, but said Thursday night that his mental state — and his Korean-language skills — have improved.
“It hasn’t been easy. Of course, I miss home like crazy,” he said. “I’m doing the best I can. I’m usually a very positive person, so I feel like everything happens for a reason, and I’m just trying to hang in there until hopefully I make it back home.”
Among Park’s top concerns when he left the United States in June was that his mother, who is 86 and struggling with dementia, would die while he couldn’t return to the county. But her lack of awareness about his situation has been somewhat of a strange blessing, Park said.
“She really doesn’t know I’m even here. So every time I talk to her, she’s like, ‘Oh, where are you?’ And I tell her, and she’s like, ‘Oh, when are you coming home? Oh, why are you there?’” Park said. “In a weird way, it’s kind of good because she doesn’t have to worry about me all the time. But at the same time, I would love to be next to her while she’s going through this.”
Politics
Video: Trump Signs A.I. Executive Order
new video loaded: Trump Signs A.I. Executive Order
transcript
transcript
Trump Signs A.I. Executive Order
Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that would limit individual states in regulating the artificial intelligence industry.
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“It’s a big part of the economy. There’s only going to be one winner here, and that’s probably going to be the U.S. or China. You have to have a central source of approval. When they need approvals on things, they have to come to one source. They can’t go to California, New York.” “We’re not going to push back on all of them. For example, kids’ safety — we’re going to protect. We’re not pushing back on that. But we’re going to push back on the most onerous examples of state regulations.”
By Shawn Paik
December 11, 2025
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