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☆ Why Trump and Elon Musk want key administration officials to be confirmed without a floor vote
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-16 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

AdvertisementDonald Trump wants the next GOP senate leader to give him greater power to staff vacancies. Trump wants to use the president's recess appointment power in a major way. Like Trump, Musk is a big believer in flexing the recess appointment power. Related storiesIn his push for recess appointment power, Trump argued it was about ensuring he could staff up in a timely manner. Officials installed via recess appointment can only serve until Congress' next session.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Elon Musk, Matt Gaetz, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, It's, Casey Burgat, Sen, John Thune of, Mitch McConnell of, Thune, Bret Baier, JD Vance's, Ronald Reagan's, hasn't, Kennedy, Sarah Binder, George W, Bush, John Bolton, Don McGahn, McGahn, Ed Whelan, Whelan, Burgat Organizations: White, Trump, Human Services, GOP, Legislative, George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, Fox News, Republicans, Center, Biden, Brookings, United Nations, Public Policy Center Locations: Washington, Florida, John Thune of South Dakota, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky

☆ Trump’s election sparks speculation and infighting over future Supreme Court vacancies
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-09 | by ( John Fritze | Paula Reid | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The attention on potential Supreme Court vacancies has so far been driven entirely by forces outside the court – and rampant speculation based on a series of murky clues and past practices. “No questions could even be raised about their physical or mental health.”Ed Whelan, a former Supreme Court clerk and legal commentor, said he agreed with Leo’s take. The process of moving a Supreme Court nominee takes considerable time – often several months. The Supreme Court did not respond to a request for comment. It is also fairly common when a new administration comes to town to talk about these things.”’CNN Chief Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic contributed to this report.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito –, Sonia Sotomayor, Joe Biden, Trump, “ Alito, Mike Davis, Stephen Breyer, Biden’s, “, Bill Clinton, Thomas, Alito, Leonard Leo, Charles Cooper, scoffed, ” Cooper, ” Ed Whelan, Leo’s, ” Whelan, Davis, Leo, ” Davis, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Amy Coney Barrett, Roe, Wade, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Barack Obama’s, Biden, John Roberts, George W, Bush, Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, –, Andrew Oldham, Neomi Rao –, Judge James Ho, Martha, Ann Alito, Washington –, Ann Alito’s, Martha Alito, Roberts, Josh Blackman, ” ’, Joan Biskupic Organizations: CNN, III, Supreme, GOP, Trump, DC Circuit, Circuit, Washington, South Texas College of Law Houston, ” ’ CNN Locations: Washington, Trump, New Orleans, Virginia, New Jersey

☆ How the Russian prisoner swap that freed Evan Gershkovich unfolded over two years
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-01 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Carol-Lee-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Carol E. Lee | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The effort took on extra urgency in March 2023, when the Russians arrested Gershkovich, a senior administration official said. Days later, NBC News reported that a deal that could have sprung Navalny, Gershkovich and Whelan had been in the works. After Biden and Scholz met on Feb. 9, Scholz told Biden he was on board. Vice President Kamala Harris also discussed the prisoner swap with Scholz, telling him that Krasikov was a critical component of getting a prisoner swap with Russia, a White House official said. That was when he called the Slovenian prime minister to make sure his country was ready to release the Russian in their custody.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Brittney Griner, Biden, Viktor Bout, Paul Whelan ’, Whelan, Paul Whelan, Antony Blinken, “, ” Blinken, Sergei Lavrov, Gershkovich, Blinken, Lavrov, ” Lavrov, ”, ” Gershkovich, Alexei Navalny, Navalny, Vadim Krasikov, Zelimkhan, Olaf Scholz, Krasikov, Griner, Whalen, Joe Biden, Scholz, Kamala Harris, Jake Sullivan, Elizabeth Whelan, Sullivan, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Kurmasheva, ” Biden Organizations: Wall Street, Marine, AP, NBC News, Berlin, White, Biden Locations: Russia, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Berlin, Moscow, Germany, Chechen, Russian, U.S, Nevada, Slovenian

☆ Jailed US citizen Paul Whelan seen in rare video at Russian penal colony
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Humeyra Pamuk | Thomson Reuters | Humeyra Pamuk Is A Senior Foreign Policy Correspondent Based In Washington Dc. She Covers The U.S. State Department | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who was detained and accused of espionage, stands inside a defendants' cage during his verdict hearing in Moscow, Russia June 15, 2020. Arrested in 2018 in Russia, Whelan was convicted of spying charges in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony in Mordovia, a Russian region notorious since Soviet times for its penal colonies. "Today was the first time I've seen what he really looks like since June 2020," his brother David Whelan said in an email. He said the Russia Today had showed up in the prison in May to film Whelan and when he declined to participate, the prison staff retaliated against him. In the video, Whelan tells the questioner that he will not answer his questions.

Persons: U.S . Marine Paul Whelan, Maxim, Paul Whelan, Whelan, Biden, David Whelan, Trevor Reed, Konstantin Yaroshenko, Washington, Brittney, Viktor Bout, Antony Blinken, Evan Gershkovich, Humeyra Pamuk, Josie Kao Organizations: U.S . Marine, REUTERS, Rights, Kremlin, Russia, Wall Street, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, United States, Mordovia, Russian, American, Ukraine, U.S, Yekaterinburg, Gershkovich

☆ Blinken spoke with Paul Whelan, American detained in Russian prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gives his remarks to the media after attending the U.N. Security Council meeting in New York, U.S., August 3, 2023. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsWASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone on Wednesday with American citizen Paul Whelan, who is being held in a Russian prison, according to a source familiar with the call. Blinken told Whelan to "keep the faith and we’re doing everything we can to bring you home as soon as possible," CNN reported, citing a source. The United States has designated Whelan as "wrongfully detained," a term that effectively says the charges are bogus and the case is politically driven. U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, visited Whelan in May in the prison in eastern Russia where he was being held.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Eduardo Munoz, Paul Whelan, Blinken, Whelan, Lynne Tracy, Eric Beech, Humeyra Pamuk, Rami Ayyub, Alistair Bell, Deepa Babington Organizations: . Security, REUTERS, Rights, CNN, U.S ., United, Thomson Locations: New York, U.S, Moscow, United States, Russia

☆ US envoy to Russia visits detained American Paul Whelan in prison- embassy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - U.S. ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy on Thursday visited American citizen Paul Whelan in the prison he has been held in Mordovia in eastern Russia, the U.S. embassy said. "Paul has been wrongfully detained in Russia for more than 4 years, and his release remains an absolute priority. The U.S. government will continue to engage Russian authorities on his case so Paul can come home as soon as possible," the embassy said in a tweet. Whelan, a former U.S. marine, was arrested in December 2018, held for 18 months in Lefortovo prison in Moscow and jailed for 16 years in June 2020 on spying charges. The United States has designated Whelan as "wrongfully detained", a term that effectively says the charges are bogus and the case is politically driven.

☆ Despite GOP criticism of the prisoner swap that freed Brittney Griner, Fiona Hill said Trump was 'not particularly interested' in freeing Paul Whelan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Critics, including Trump, asked why Brittney Griner was freed while Paul Whelan remains jailed. Hill said Trump wasn't "particularly interested in Paul [Whelan]'s case" while in office. "If I made that deal the Dems would chant, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA!" "I also have to say here that President Trump wasn't especially interested in engaging in that swap for Paul Whelan," Hill said. However, she added, Whelan, Griner, and Reed were all caught up in what she called "political games" while doing things that "seemed completely ordinary."

☆ Biden chose humanity over geopolitics with Griner release
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But President Joe Biden’s decision to exchange WNBA star Brittney Griner for Viktor Bout goes beyond the exchange’s bottom line. And it prompted top Republicans to charge that he had prioritized a basketball superstar over an ex-marine who benefited from a vocal political pressure campaign on Biden. This adds another layer of complication for Biden as he seeks to get Whelan free, since it involves another government and would require German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to potentially agree to supersede his country’s own legal system. While Biden is being castigated by some political opponents in Washington for doing a bad deal, administration officials insisted that he got the best one on offer. It was a choice between bringing home one particular American, Brittney Griner, or bringing home none,” a senior administration official told reporters on Thursday.

And a catastrophe for Paul," David Whelan said. The Whelan family was similarly frustrated in April, when another former Marine held in Russia, Trevor Reed, was released in a prisoner exchange. David Whelan said that at the time, they were not warned that his brother was not included in the swap. "Paul Whelan has been let down and left behind at least three times by 2 Presidents," the group said in a statement. David Whelan added that his parents are in their 80s, and it will be another Christmas without their son since he was detained four years ago.

With winter approaching at the penal colony where Griner was being held, Biden faced a singularly presidential decision. Griner’s wife, who arrived in Washington on Wednesday, was invited to an early morning meeting at the White House set for Thursday. Cherelle Griner waited at the White House for a short period of time before it became clear the planned meeting with Sullivan had shifted. The White House described her suffering “intolerable circumstances” during her detention. At the White House, Biden met with Griner’s wife for the first time to show her the letter he was sending in response.

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