November 19, 2024: Trump's Mass Deportation Plan and Military Use, New Testimony Against Gaetz Unveiled, Anonymous Celebrity Sues Attorney for Diddy Victims Alleging Extortion, and More.
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Welcome back to Unbiased. Today is Tuesday, November 19th, and this is your daily news rundown. In today's episode, we'll touch on Trump's nomination of Chris Wright and Mike Waltz, plus some updates in the investigation into Matt Gaetz, Trump's plan to declare a national emergency for mass deportations, Biden's $100 billion request for disaster relief, and more. So without further ado, let's get into today's stories.

Over the course of the last week or so, we've covered 12 of Trump's picks for his executive office and cabinet. Today, we're going to cover two more. Chris Wright, who was nominated for the position of Energy Secretary, and Mike Waltz, who Trump selected for the position of National Security Advisor. Let's first start with Chris Wright and the role of Energy Secretary. So the Energy Secretary is a cabinet position and is therefore subject to Senate confirmation.

As with all other heads of departments, the Energy Secretary oversees all agencies and offices within that department. So in this case, the Energy Secretary will oversee the Office of Electricity, Office of Nuclear Energy, Office of Science, many, many others.

The Energy Secretary also advises the President on matters of energy and nuclear security. They help push the President's energy agenda forward, as well as the President's policy objectives.

Now, the stated mission of the Energy Department is to ensure America's security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. But like most positions, the role changes a little bit based on each administration's priorities.

So as an example, under the Biden administration, the energy department played a more significant role in leading the energy transition away from fossil fuels and toward wind, solar, nuclear, and other forms of non-carbon energy. But as we know, under Trump's next administration, the energy department is going to be more focused on

on fossil fuels and drilling, as well as cleaner energy like nuclear energy, but definitely more so on fossil fuels than the Biden administration was. And just to be clear, it's not that the Biden administration hasn't been focused on drilling. It was just more focused on shifting towards clean energy. In fact, the Biden administration approved more permits

for oil and gas drilling on public lands than Trump's first administration did. And currently, the United States is the world's largest crude oil producer, which wasn't always the case. So again, it's not that the Biden administration wasn't focused on fossil fuels and drilling, and now all of a sudden Trump's administration is going to, you know, come in and change things completely. It's just that Trump's administration will be more focused on

on oil and drilling rather than shifting towards non-carbon energy hence the appointment of chris wright who is the ceo and founder of a denver-based fracking company called liberty energy a little bit about wright personally he does not have any experience in politics

Liberty Energy currently fracks 20% of the onshore wells nationally and is involved in roughly 10% of the United States' total energy production. So his company plays a pretty major role in the United States when it comes to energy. As far as his views on energy and climate, Wright has said their quote is no such thing as clean or dirty energy. All energy sources have positive and negative effects.

End quote. On climate, Wright has acknowledged a link between burning fossil fuels and climate change, but has expressed doubt that climate change is linked to worsening weather. He also says the policies aimed at reducing the impact of climate change are misguided and alarmist. In fact, it was Wright's company, Liberty Energy, that got a federal court to pause a Biden administration rule that required companies to disclose climate-related risks.

Wright's LinkedIn says, quote, I am all in on energy from my start in nuclear, solar, and geothermal to my current efforts in oil and gas and next generation geothermal. I don't care where energy comes from as long as it is secure, reliable, affordable, and betters humans' lives, end quote. So that's a little bit about Wright. Let's move on to Mike Waltz.

Unlike cabinet positions, the position of national security advisor does not require Senate confirmation. The national security advisor, who is a member of the National Security Council, helps guide the president's decision-making when it comes to homeland security, national defense, and foreign affairs.

And in times of crisis, you can typically expect to find the national security advisor in the Situation Room or the Presidential Emergency Operations Center updating the president on the latest happenings when it comes to these crises. Personally, Walt is a three-term Republican congressman from Florida, and he was the first Green Beret to be elected to Congress.

He has served as chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Waltz served 27 years in the U.S. Army and National Guard and served worldwide as a special forces officer with multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa.

For his actions in combat, he was awarded four Bronze Stars, including two with Valor. Waltz has also worked as a policy advisor in the Pentagon during George W. Bush's administration and is currently

currently one of Congress's most hawkish members with regard to China. He was the first member of Congress to call for a full U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing over the Chinese Communist Party's enslavement, forced labor, and internment camps of ethnic minorities in China. And a little fact as well before we move on, Walt's wife, who is also a combat veteran herself, was Trump's Homeland Security advisor during his first administration.

So that is a little bit about Wright, and now we can move on to the next story, which is an update in the investigations into Matt Gaetz. So when we spoke about the nomination of Matt Gaetz to the position of U.S. Attorney General last week, we also touched on some of the investigations that he has faced while serving in Congress.

One of those investigations was by the DOJ, which ultimately declined to bring charges after Gates had allegedly paid women in the Bahamas for sex. The other was an investigation by the House Ethics Committee over allegations that Gates had sex with a minor, paid women for sex, and misused campaign funds.

The Ethics Committee was still investigating Gaetz when he stepped down from his position last week following his nomination from Trump. Once Gaetz stepped down, the Ethics Committee lost jurisdiction in the matter, therefore they can no longer investigate, and

Now there are questions as to whether the public will ever get answers as to the findings of that investigation. We still don't know whether we'll ever see that ethics committee report, which was originally supposed to be released last Friday. But this latest update, there's actually multiple updates here. The first one we'll go over comes from an attorney representing two women who testified before the House Ethics Committee about their encounters with Gates.

So a Florida attorney has come forward and told ABC News that Gates paid both of his adult female clients for sex and that one of his clients witnessed Gates having sex with a third woman who was 17 years old at the time. So for clarity, this attorney that spoke to ABC News represents two adult females. Both of those women testified that they had sex with Gates himself.

as adults and were paid for it. One of those adult females testified that she witnessed Gates having sex with one of her friends at a house party back in July 2017, a friend that was 17 years old at the time, but that Gates stopped having sex with her after he learned she was underage. So two different accusations here. One accusation that Gates paid for sex with adult women, a separate accusation that Gates had sex unpaid with a minor.

The attorney told ABC News, quote, her understanding was that Matt Gaetz did not know she was a minor and that when he learned that she was a minor, he broke off things and did not continue a sexual relationship until she turned 18.

End quote. The attorney was then asked, okay, just to be clear, both of your clients testified that they were paid by Representative Gates to have sex, to which the attorney replied, quote, that's correct. The house was very clear about that and went through each. They essentially put the Venmo payments on the screen and asked about them, and my clients repeatedly testified, what was this payment for? That was for sex. End quote.

The attorney for the two adult women is now calling on the Ethics Committee to release its report, which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to discuss that report and possibly vote on its release.

Now, a parallel storyline, and this is also news that broke today, is that a quote, unknown and unauthorized third party gained access to multiple depositions of witnesses tied to the investigations into Gates. The materials include the sworn deposition of that 17-year-old minor, and we don't know much. We just know that this person went into the server and got these documents. So I'll keep you updated as more develops there. But on a final note,

This is also related to Gates. People on Capitol Hill who were granted anonymity to speak said that numerous Republican lawmakers have delivered a letter to Trump and his team telling him that they see the nomination of Gates as controversial and that he has little chance of being confirmed in the Senate. As we've discussed, Gates does need all but two Republican senators to vote for his confirmation. So let's take a quick break here. When we come back, we'll talk about Trump's mass deportation plans and some quick hitters.

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So if you have a free weekend coming up, now's the time to book a trip to the Perryville Lodge just outside of Baltimore. Or if you're in the Virginia area, check out the lodge in Williamsburg. Head to greatwolf.com to book your stay today. Welcome back. Let's move on to our next story, which is that Trump has seemingly confirmed his plan to declare a national emergency for purposes of mass deportations. Many of you have heard of the

Many media outlets are saying that this means that Trump will essentially militarize the country and conduct mass raids on American families. Others say that it simply means that the military will provide a support role, providing logistics support to ICE and CBP. So let's talk about this.

Trump reposted another user's post on social media on Monday that reads, quote, good news reports are the incoming Trump administration prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program. End quote. Trump added to his repost, quote, true with three exclamation points. So as we know, Trump's Trump campaigned

on a mass illegal immigration deportation effort, prioritizing those with criminal records. So what could this look like? Well, let's look at the 1950s when President Dwight D. Eisenhower carried out the biggest mass deportation of undocumented workers in U.S. history. As many as 1.3 million people are said to have been deported, though it's also thought that that number may be highly exaggerated. If you look at

Prior presidential terms, $1.3 million in the span of a month is a lot. Obama deported $1.1 million over the course of four years. Trump deported roughly $1.5 million in his first term. Biden is on track to do the same. But Eisenhower's operation, which, again, didn't last long, it was about a month, was done in coordination with the Mexican government, which wanted Mexican nationals to return to the country to alleviate a labor shortage.

Originally, the head of Border Patrol tried to get the National Guard involved, but since the U.S. military is not supposed to be used to enforce domestic laws, he failed to get that authorization. So instead, the government utilized Border Patrol resources. And on the first day, Eisenhower sent out the INS, which was the precursor to ICE,

and apprehended nearly 4,800 people that day. INS is said to have targeted farm workers, kitchens, and restaurants. Those that were arrested were detained until they were deported and ultimately sent back to Mexico via plane, trucks, trains, and boats.

After about a month, the arrests stopped because the government could not sustain those arrests without the trucks, planes, and boats to deport people. But a glimpse into that operation can sort of give us an idea as to what we can expect in the next Trump administration. As we talked about, the U.S. military cannot be used to enforce domestic laws, and it's likely that if the

Trump tried to use the military, the Supreme Court would step in and reject that attempt. This does change a bit if Trump successfully declares a national emergency. And I say successfully because when Trump previously tried to declare a national emergency to secure funding for the border wall, multiple states sued.

arguing that no national emergency existed. However, that national emergency did remain in existence until the end of his presidency. Now, I wish I could give you a definition as to what a national emergency is, but you may be surprised to find out that federal law does not tell us what classifies as a national emergency.

Presidents have discretion to declare them, and then it's essentially up to the courts to determine whether the emergency was properly declared. So we would likely see challenges here. It's almost a guarantee, as we did in 2019. If Trump were to successfully declare an emergency, the National Guard could be deployed across the country. But note that

If it's used, if the National Guard is used in the context of supporting southern border personnel, this type of deployment has been utilized by both Trump's first administration as well as Biden's current administration. So that type of deployment isn't exactly new or unprecedented. They're providing support at the southern border.

Now, if the National Guard were dispersed throughout the country for purposes of carrying out this mass deportation effort and detaining people, that would certainly be a different scenario. And again, we would likely see a legal challenge. Regardless, though, Trump will certainly utilize the resources of ICE and CBP for this deportation effort because he can do that with or without the declaration of a national emergency.

As far as what we can expect to see, some experts are expecting to see roadblocks and stop-and-frisk operations around the southern border specifically. We may also see similar raids of farms and restaurants like we saw in the 1950s. But again, I see that kind of action being challenged in the courts because laws and rights of non-citizens have significantly changed since the 1950s.

One expert who has decades of experience in the military and Secret Service says he believes the military will be less boots on the ground and more involved with intelligence. And Trump's former deputy secretary of Homeland Security, as well as he's also the co-author of Project 2025, his name is Ken Cuccinelli, echoed the same. He told News Nation that the goal is to make illegal entry impractical.

and that the military presence would involve physical presence at the border and reconnaissance assets, not tanks or planes.

Trump, similar to Eisenhower, will also likely face logistical issues depending on the size and scope of the deportation effort. Right. So things like, you know, capacity of detention centers dealing with the current immigration court backlog, the limited number of available ICE agents, as well as the financials behind it all. And, you know, the financials may not be as much of an issue as the other elements.

But I do just want to be clear, we don't have many details on how this deportation effort would actually work. This is all just hypothetical.

The ACLU actually just filed a lawsuit against ICE on Monday seeking more details. So stay tuned there. Now let's finish with some quick hitters, a couple of Trump case updates to get us started. Starting with Trump's falsifying business records conviction, Judge Mershon has canceled Trump's sentencing. And at this point, it's not clear whether another sentencing date will be scheduled for the future or whether it'll be canceled altogether.

In a letter to the judge, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says Trump's sentencing should be postponed, possibly until 2029 when Trump leaves office. From here, Judge Mershon will have to decide whether to postpone sentencing to a later date or drop the conviction.

In a separate Trump case, this one being Trump's Georgia election interference case, the appeals court canceled oral arguments in the appeal of Fannie Willis' disqualification, potentially signaling the end of that case as well. Oral arguments were scheduled to take place on December 5th.

but the court's Monday order canceled that hearing without reasoning or explanation. A 51-year-old man with a lengthy criminal record fatally stabbed three people in random attacks across Manhattan yesterday and has since been arrested.

That first attack occurred a little before 8.30 a.m. on West 19th Street. The victim was a 36-year-old construction worker. The second attack occurred about two hours later near East 30th Street. The victim was a 68-year-old man fishing in the East River. And the third attack occurred around 10.55 a.m. around the U.N. headquarters near East 46th Street, and that victim was a 36-year-old woman.

The administrator of FEMA, Deanne Criswell, testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee today, as well as the House Oversight Committee, about the now-fired FEMA employee that told other FEMA workers to skip over Florida houses with Trump signs during disaster relief efforts. The FEMA employee says that she was told by higher-ups to do this as a way to avoid conflict, and that she then subsequently relayed that message to others.

And on the topic of disaster relief, President Biden has requested Congress authorize $100 billion in disaster relief aid in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Of that $100 billion, $40 billion would go to FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund, $24 billion would go to the Department of Agriculture to help fund it.

farmers, $12 billion would be given to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Fund for Communities, $8 billion toward road and bridge repair, $4 billion for water system upgrades, and $2 billion to the Small Business Association's Disaster Loan Program. These supplemental aid bills are common after, you know, very damaging hurricanes, and Congress must now decide whether to take it up as a standalone bill or package it up with an end-of-the-year spending bill.

In an update to yesterday's episode, Ukraine has officially launched those U.S.-provided long-range missiles into Russia. Russia says it shot down five of the missiles and damaged the sixth, and said that debris landed around a Russian military facility, but that there were no casualties or damage beyond a small fire.

It's unclear whether Putin plans to take retaliatory action towards the U.S. or other NATO countries, despite saying previously that Ukraine using these U.S. missiles to strike Russia would constitute an act of war. And finally, an anonymous male celebrity has filed a lawsuit against the attorney representing roughly 120 of P. Diddy's accusers, claiming himself to be the victim of an extortion scheme.

The unnamed plaintiff has accused the attorney of, quote, shamelessly attempting to extort exorbitant sums from him or else publicly file wildly false horrific allegations against him, end quote. The lawsuit says the attorney's firm sent him a demand letter earlier this month threatening to unleash entirely fabricated and salacious allegations of sexual assault, which include multiple instances of rape of a minor, both male and female, if the unnamed plaintiff

failed to comply with the law firm's demands.

The attorney that was sued by this unnamed plaintiff has since said, quote, I have confidence that with full public disclosure, all of this will sort itself out, end quote. That is what I have for you today. Just as a heads up for next week, the week of Thanksgiving, there will be only two episodes, Monday and Tuesday, and then I will be off for Thanksgiving starting on Wednesday. So just note that. Have a great night, and I will talk to you tomorrow.