Politics
Johnson Installs Crawford on Intelligence Panel, Pulling It Closer to Trump
Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday appointed Representative Rick Crawford of Arkansas as the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, a move that was seen as aligning the powerful panel more closely with the agenda of President-elect Donald J. Trump.
The appointment of Mr. Crawford came amid much consternation on Capitol Hill over Mr. Johnson’s sudden and unexpected removal on Wednesday of Representative Michael R. Turner of Ohio, who had served for three years as the top Republican on the panel and had at times been critical of Mr. Trump.
Mr. Turner had been an influential, and increasingly lonely, G.O.P. voice in support of America’s traditional role in intelligence-gathering operations and supporting allies abroad.
But he had voted to certify President Biden’s victory over Mr. Trump in 2020. Mr. Crawford, by contrast, voted to object to the 2020 election results. While Mr. Turner played a pivotal role in the Republican push on Capitol Hill to continue sending aid to Ukraine for its battle against Russian aggression, Mr. Crawford has at times voted against funding Kyiv’s war effort.
And in the wake of his abrupt ouster, Mr. Turner told people that Mr. Johnson had informed him that he was being removed because of “concerns from Mar-a-Lago,” according to two people familiar with the conversations.
Since Mr. Johnson made his move, Democrats and some Republicans have blasted the decision to remove Mr. Turner, who was known for working in a bipartisan manner. Appointment to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is one of the most serious jobs in Congress, and the lawmakers selected for the job are trusted with some of the nation’s most sensitive information.
“Mike Turner has robustly promoted the safety of the American people and the free world, and his unjustified ouster is likely being applauded by our adversaries in Russia and China,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, said on Thursday, calling it “shameful.”
Mr. Turner was not trusted among top aides to Mr. Trump, but was nevertheless blindsided by his defenestration.
The Ohioan was among a group of committee chairmen who visited Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago last weekend, where Trump aides presented Mr. Turner with a birthday cake with a candle. He appeared in a good mood and spoke briefly with Mr. Trump at the event, according to people who observed them.
But beyond the niceties, displeasure with Mr. Turner was brewing. Mr. Trump and his top aides have long viewed members of the intelligence community as adversaries, and some close to Mr. Trump view Mr. Turner as being too close to what they pejoratively call “the deep state.”
According to one person familiar with the matter, the president-elect was “not happy” to hear that Representative Mike Waltz of Florida, a member of the Intelligence Committee who is in line to be his national security adviser, had proposed bringing on a top aide of Mr. Turner’s for his National Security Council staff.
At the same time, members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, with whom Mr. Trump is close, have been angry with Mr. Turner since last year, when they accused him of being “reckless” in raising alarms about a national security threat during debate over the renewal of a key provision in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
But both Mr. Johnson and Mr. Trump’s advisers have been adamant that the president-elect made no direct order to fire Mr. Turner.
Mr. Johnson said the decision to remove Mr. Turner from the panel was his alone and noted that the Ohioan would still serve as the House’s point person to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“The House Intel Committee will play a pivotal role in this work in the new Congress, and Rick Crawford will provide principled leadership as its chairman,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement announcing Mr. Crawford’s appointment.
A person close to Mr. Johnson said the speaker viewed him as the choice of the former speaker, Kevin McCarthy, and that Mr. Johnson wanted to select his own team.
Mr. Johnson said on Wednesday that the intelligence community and everything related to the panel “needs a fresh start.”
But the change at the top of the intelligence committee was seen as a victory for the so-called America First wing of the party in a long-simmering civil war within the G.O.P.
Mr. Crawford is seen as less reliable in his support of Ukraine aid than Mr. Turner. The two men voted similarly with regards to renewing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
In a statement, Mr. Crawford said he planned to serve as a check on the intelligence community.
“Without aggressive oversight and vigorous protection of Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights, the I.C. is prone to give in to mission creep and skirt U.S. laws,” he said. “In all our work, I pledge to preserve Americans’ constitutional rights even as we work to support the I.C. in doing everything required to collect indispensable information from our foreign adversaries.”
Mr. Johnson started remaking the committee last year to be more aligned with Mr. Trump when he appointed Representatives Ronny Jackson of Texas, Mr. Trump’s former White House physician, and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the former leader of the House Freedom Caucus.
He will soon have more appointments to make. In addition to the departure of Mr. Waltz, Representative Elise Stefanik of New York is also expected to join the Trump administration, creating two more vacancies.
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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