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Early Wednesday morning, President Trump said he plans to call for a “major investigation” into voter fraud, despite the fact that he won the election. He said he wants to probe “those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal, and even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time).” He added, “Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!” The tweets followed a series of baseless claims the former reality star told congressional leaders on Monday: that 3 million to 5 million people illegally voted in the November 2016 election. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump’s statement was “based on studies and evidence people have presented to him.” Despite winning the Electoral College over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, Trump has been fixated on losing the popular vote, and he has consistently made unsupported claims about voter fraud since before ballots were cast. |
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President Trump’s top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, will leave his post at Goldman Sachs with a payout worth more than $100 million. The former second-in-command at the Wall Street firm has been tapped by the commander-in-chief to head the National Economic Council. Cohn worked at the investment bank for 25 years, but he was forced to cut ties with the company in order to follow government ethics rules. Goldman announced it will pay Cohn $65 million for long-term bonuses, pay out stock awards worth $35 million and allow Cohn to sell $23 million in locked-up shares. After taxes, he will end up with just over $100 million. |
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An emergency rescue helicopter carrying an injured skier crashed in central Italy on Tuesday, killing six people. Though it was not involved in the recent avalanche rescue mission, it was in the same area where 17 people have been found dead in and around a hotel that was covered in rubble and snow. The helicopter, en route from Campo Felice, crashed against the side of a mountain. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but an investigation has been opened. |
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A top manager at Russia’s biggest cybersecurity firm, tasked with investigating hacks, has been arrested and reportedly charged with treason. Kaspersky Lab confirmed Wednesday that Ruslan Stoyanov, head of the company’s computer incidents investigations unit, was arrested in December 2016, along with a senior Russian FSB intel officer. Both reportedly face treason charges for undisclosed reasons. According to a company spokeswoman, the charges have nothing to do with Kaspersky’s operations and allegedly date back to before Stoyanov was hired. According to USA Today, it wasn’t clear whether the charges have anything to do with allegations that Russian hackers have attempted to meddle with elections abroad, most famously including the United States.
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George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984" has seen a huge surge in sales after Donald Trump's White House introduced the idea of "alternative facts" over the weekend. The novel, about a totalitarian state that depends on propaganda to control its citizens, made it onto Amazon's best-sellers' chart on Monday, just after the White House press secretary was widely criticized for misstating facts. After Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway explained that the inaccurate information provided by the press secretary was actually just "alternative facts," sales of "1984" just kept climbing, making it to the top spot on Tuesday night, according to CNN. The surge in demand has now reportedly prompted the publisher, Penguin, to start making more copies, with a 75,000 copy reprint ordered this week. It's unclear if Conway's comments are to thank for the novel's newfound popularity, but the timing certainly suggests that the White House's "facts" fiasco reminded many people of Orwell's Ministry of Truth. |
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President Trump is expected to sign a number of executive orders on Wednesday which would restrict immigration from Syria and six other Middle Eastern or African countries, according to a number of people briefed on the matter in a Reuters report. Another one of the orders will reportedly block visas from being issued to Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Trump's purported restrictions may also include a temporary ban on admitting refugees from countries until the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security can increase the intensity of vetting. Additionally, The New York Times reported on Tuesday night that it is Trump's intention to sign an executive order on Wednesday which would direct federal funds to be shifted towards building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. |
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Peter Thiel, the billionaire, Trump-supporting tech mogul who personally financed the destruction of Gawker over a personal grudge, reportedly gained New Zealand citizenship in 2011. The typical process for obtaining citizenship in New Zealand, The New York Times reported Wednesday, includes living in the island country for at least 70 percent of the year. Thiel has not done so, but he reportedly does own “lavish properties” there, including an estate on “sensitive land,” which the PayPal founder purchased for roughly $10 million. |
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The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday that no criminal charges would be filed against two Los Angeles police officers involved in the 2014 fatal shooting of Ezell Ford, a 25-year-old mentally challenged African-American man. Prosecutors determined that Officers Antonio Villegas and Sharlton Wampler acted lawfully in self-defense during the incident in which they allege the officers approached Ford because he was acting suspiciously and may have been trying to get rid of an illegal substance. "The evidence indicates that Ford was on top of Wampler, struggling to obtain Wampler's primary service weapon and posing an immediate threat to his safety and his partner's safety," according to the report. "In fear for their lives, Villegas and Wampler each responded with deadly force." |
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President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to "send in the Feds" to Chicago if authorities "don't fix the horrible 'carnage' going on." He went on to lament the "228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings," referring to a Chicago Tribune report out Monday that highlighted the city's gun violence epidemic. Yet he also appeared to be taking his cues from a guest on the O'Reilly Factor, who, shortly before Trump's remarks, said he couldn't think of any word other than "carnage" to describe Chicago's situation. O'Reilly then suggested Trump send in the National Guard, and a short time later Trump took to Twitter to announce that he'd send in the "Feds." Trump has previously commented on Chicago's gun violence, urging Mayor Rahm Emanuel in early January to seek federal help if city authorities could not resolve the problem on their own.
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President Trump is expected to order the construction of a border wall with Mexico in an executive order on Wednesday, according to the New York Times. An executive order to direct federal funds to cover the wall's construction is slated to be signed during an appearance by the president at the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday, the New York Times reported, citing White House officials. He has claimed that the wall, a central promise of his campaign, is vital to keeping illegal immigrants out of the country. The executive order for the wall's financing is set to be signed Wednesday in tandem with another order issuing a temporary ban on refugees from Middle Eastern countries. Trump hinted at the news on Twitter on Tuesday night, writing, "Bid day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow. Among many other things, we will build the wall!"
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