Trump47 Cabinet Picks & First 100 Days Agenda

  • Thread starter Thread starter nycfan
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies: 2K
  • Views: 40K
  • Politics 

Dr. Mehmet Oz had up to $33 million in companies doing business with agency he'd run​


www.usatoday.com

Dr. Mehmet Oz had up to $33 million in companies doing business with agency he'd run

Dr. Mehmet Oz is Trump’s pick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Oz held stocks in companies doing business with Medicare.
www.usatoday.com www.usatoday.com

"...Oz, Trump’s choice to run Medicare, Medicaid and the insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act, owned up to $33.7 million stock in these companies when he filed a financial disclosure during his unsuccessful 2022 campaign for Senate in Pennsylvania.

The TV talk show host owned between $280,000 and $600,000 in UnitedHealth Group and between $50,000 and $100,000 in CVS Health, which both provide health insurance plans under Medicare Advantage.

He also owned between $5.8 million and $26.7 million in Amazon and between $1.6 million and $6.3 million in Microsoft, two major technology providers for the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services, the agency he would run. ...

Accountable.US, a left-leaning group that compiled some of the research, said it reviewed filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and was unable to find evidence that Oz sold stocks in Amazon or Microsoft since the 2022 filing.

“All nominees and appointees will comply with the ethical obligations of their respective agencies,” Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the Trump-Vance transition, said in a statement to USA TODAY when asked if Oz still owns these stocks.

Oz will be required to fill out the same form after his official nomination as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. ..."
 
www.nytimes.com

Trump’s Pick as Mideast Adviser, Massad Boulos, Is a Truck Salesman

The lore around Massad Boulos, Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law, is that he is a billionaire dealmaker. Records show otherwise.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Trump’s Middle East Adviser Pick Is a Small-Time Truck Salesman​

The lore around Massad Boulos, Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law, is that he is a billionaire dealmaker. Records show otherwise.

"...Mr. Boulos has been profiled as a tycoon by the world’s media, telling a reporter in October that his company is worth billions. Mr. Trump called him a “highly respected leader in the business world, with extensive experience on the international scene.”

The president-elect even lavished what may be his highest praise: a “dealmaker.”

In fact, records show that Mr. Boulos has spent the past two decades selling trucks and heavy machinery in Nigeria for a company his father-in-law controls. He is chief executive of the company, SCOA Nigeria PLC, which made a profit of less than $66,000 last year, corporate filings show.

There is no indication in corporate documents that Mr. Boulos, a Lebanese-American whose son is married to Mr. Trump’s daughter Tiffany, is a man of significant wealth as a result of his businesses. The truck dealership is valued at about $865,000 at its current share price. Mr. Boulos’s stake, according to securities filings, is worth $1.53.

As for Boulos Enterprises, the company that has been called his family business in The Financial Times and elsewhere, a company officer there said it is owned by an unrelated Boulos family.

Mr. Boulos will advise on one of the world’s most complicated and conflict-wracked regions — a region that Mr. Boulos said this week that he has not visited in years. The advisory position does not require Senate approval. ..."
 
(Cont'd)

"...In October, The Times asked him about his wealth and business dealings.

“Your company is described as a multibillion-dollar enterprise,” a reporter said. “Are you yourself a billionaire?”

Mr. Boulos said he did not like to describe himself that way, but that journalists had picked up on the label.

“It’s accurate to describe the company as a multibillion-dollar—?” the reporter followed up.

“Yeah,” Mr. Boulos replied. “It’s a big company. Long history.”

...But in a subsequent interview on Tuesday, Mr. Boulos said that he had only meant to confirm that other news outlets had written — incorrectly — that he runs such a company.

In another call, on Wednesday, he said he was referring to his father-in-law’s companies, which he said were collectively worth more than $1 billion, though the company he runs is not.

... He confirmed that he has no relationship with Boulos Enterprises. Asked why he had never corrected the record, he said that he made a practice of not commenting on his business.

... Mr. Boulos has a history of small business ventures. Corporate records in Nigeria tie him to a restaurant, some inactive construction companies and to Tantra Beverages, a now-defunct company that was set up to sell an “erotic drink” that “gives men and women the ultimate stimulating push,” according to its manufacturer.

... Any significant wealth, he said on Tuesday, comes from the family of his wife, Sarah Fadoul Boulos.

She is the daughter of Michel Zouhair Fadoul, a citizen of France and Burkina Faso who spent decades assembling a patchwork of logging, construction and automobile distribution companies throughout West and Central Africa.

The Times could find no indication, either in company documents or records from the corporate data provider Sayari, that Mr. Boulos has a direct stake in these businesses — other than the truck dealership...."
 
(Cont'd)

"...Massad Boulos met Sarah Fadoul through family in Lebanon and married young, she has said. Both studied in Texas, she has said in interviews on podcasts targeting the elite in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria.

Mr. Trump has referred to Mr. Boulos as a lawyer and ABC News has reported that he graduated with a law degree from the University of Houston. But the school said it has no record of that. Instead, he graduated from a separate school, the University of Houston-Downtown, in 1993 with a bachelor of business administration degree. ..."
 


“…Previous attempts to do so have faltered. Daylight Saving Time was first introduced during World War I to assist with the nation’s industrial productivity during the Great War – not, as popular rumors frequently suggest, to give farmers more day time during harvest.

Daylight Saving Time was kept permanent during most of World War II, also for reasons to do with industry and energy. During the gas crisis in the 1970s, the country once again tried making Daylight Saving Time permanent, only for public approval to plummet after complaints of children being hit by cars while waiting for the bus at night. [I assume they mean in dark morning] …”

amp.cnn.com

Trump says GOP will try to eliminate Daylight Saving Time | CNN Politics

President-elect Donald Trump said on Friday the Republican Party would try to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, calling it “inconvenient” and “costly.”
amp.cnn.com amp.cnn.com

But the key may be that this is one of the few things that Musk/Ramaswamy can actually get done fairly easily.

To the extent it’s debated, Businesses have usually indicated a preference to make Daylight Saving Time permanent (to have more daylight after school and work hours), BTW.
 
Last edited:

Trump eyes privatizing U.S. Postal Service, citing financial losses​

Trump feuded with the mail agency in his first term. Privatizing it could shake up consumer shipping and business supply chains.

“President-elect Donald Trump has expressed a keen interest in privatizing the U.S. Postal Service in recent weeks, three people with knowledge of the matter said, a move that could shake up consumer shipping and business supply chains and push hundreds of thousands of federal workers out of the government.

Trump has discussed his desire to overhaul the Postal Service at his Mar-a-Lago estate with Howard Lutnick, his pick for commerce secretary and the co-chair of his presidential transition, the people said. Earlier this month, Trump also convened a group of transition officials to ask for their views on privatizing the agency, one of the people said.

Told of the mail agency’s annual financial losses, Trump said the government should not subsidize the organization, the people said. …”
 
“Trump loyalist Kash Patel’s chances to become the head of the FBI are looking better and better.

This week, Patel held meetings with 17 Republican senators, including Utah Sen.-elect John Curtis, around Capitol Hill, many of whom publicly indicated their support for his nomination. The resignation of his would-be predecessor Christopher Wray also smoothed the path for the president-elect’s pick to helm the agency after his confirmation, and Trump world is confident in the road forward.

Asked in the Capitol Hill hallways about Wray’s decision, Patel promised he would “be ready to go on Day One.”

But the Trump transition was prepared for more pushback, as the initial outlook on the nomination was murky. Patel has been known to spout conspiracies about the 2020 election, pushed supplements that he claimed could reverse the Covid-19 vaccine, and suggested he may prosecute journalists. Trump’s former Attorney General Bill Barr reportedly once said Patel would become deputy FBI director “over my dead body.” Patel has suggested he would shut down the FBI headquarters to create a “museum of the deep state” and promised to target political opponents.

The incoming Trump team was “braced for impact,” said one transition official granted anonymity to speak candidly, adding, “We were ready for this to be more of a fight. … It hasn’t turned out that way.” …”

 

The Week CEOs Bent the Knee to Trump​

Companies abandoned him after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Now, they are rushing to curry favor with the president-elect as he prepares to return to the White House.​


Gift link —> https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy...f7?st=c1xLhE&reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink


“… Gathered behind red velvet ropes were senior executives at Visa, Meta Platforms, Goldman Sachs, Charles Schwab and Citadel, according to people who were present. Real-estate and aerospace magnate Robert Bigelow was spotted in the crowd, as was investor Bill Ackman.

… Titans of the business world are rushing to make inroads with the president-elect, gambling that personal relationships with the next occupant of the Oval Office will help their bottom lines and spare them from Trump’s wrath.

In the weeks since the election, Trump and his advisers have been flooded with calls from c-suite executives who are eager to get face time with the president-elect and his team at Mar-a-Lago, the private Florida club where the transition team conducts much of its planning for the second term.

A business consultant close to Trump is advising corporate clients to engage with Trump in any way they can and emphasize common goals, such as tax and regulatory changes. Clients are already angling for spots on whatever business advisory panels the new president may form.

…
Already, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, and Jeff Bezos’ Amazon has also planned a $1 million contribution.

The day before Thanksgiving, Zuckerberg, the billionaire CEO, dined with the president-elect on a patio at Mar-a-Lago. At one point, Zuckerberg and other attendees stood, hand over heart, as the club played a rendition of the national anthem sung by imprisoned defendants who are accused of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, according to people familiar with the matter.

There was no announcement that the recording was by the Jan. 6th choir, one of the people said. Zuckerberg’s Facebook had suspended Trump’s account following the riot. …”

kneel GIF
 
“A US appeals court judge has taken the rare step of revoking his decision to retire from active service on the bench, depriving Donald Trump of the ability to fill a judicial vacancy.

US circuit judge James Wynn, an appointee of Barack Obama on the fourth US circuit court of appeals based in Richmond, Virginia, disclosed his decision in a letter to Joe Biden on Friday.

It marked the first time since Trump won the 5 November presidential election that a Democrat-appointed appellate judge has rescinded plans to take senior status, a form of semi-retirement for judges that creates vacancies presidents can fill.

Two trial court judges have similarly done so, prompting complaints by conservatives including Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, who railed about an “unprecedented” spate of judges un-retiring post-election.

Thom Tillis, the Republican senator who had fought to prevent Biden’s pick to fill Wynn’s seat from winning Senate confirmation, said on X that Wynn had engaged in a “blatant attempt to turn the judicial retirement system into a partisan game”. …”

www.theguardian.com

Judge revokes decision to retire, foiling Trump’s replacement plans

James Wynn takes rare step after two trial court judges do the same, prompting conservative complaints
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
(Cont’d)

[This is why Republicans are particularly mad about this ]

“… Senate Democrats and Republicans post-election cut a deal that cleared the way for votes on about a dozen of Biden’s remaining trial court nominees in exchange for not pushing forward with four appellate court nominees, including Park.

A spokesperson for Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, has said all four lacked sufficient votes to be confirmed.

That left four seats without confirmed nominees that Trump could try to fill upon taking office on 20 January. But two vacancies were contingent upon two Democrat-appointed judges following through on their plans to leave active service.

Those judges included Wynn, 70, who in January announced plans to take senior status contingent upon a successor being confirmed. On Friday, he told Biden he had changed his mind.

“I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused,” Wynn wrote.

The Article III Project, a group run by Trump ally Mike Davis, late Friday announced it had meanwhile filed judicial misconduct complaints against the two trial court judges who likewise rescinded retirement plans post-election.

Those judges are the US district judge Max Cogburn in North Carolina and the US district judge Algenon Marbley in Ohio. Neither responded to requests for comment. …”

www.theguardian.com

Judge revokes decision to retire, foiling Trump’s replacement plans

James Wynn takes rare step after two trial court judges do the same, prompting conservative complaints
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
nycfan said:

Trump eyes privatizing U.S. Postal Service, citing financial losses​

Trump feuded with the mail agency in his first term. Privatizing it could shake up consumer shipping and business supply chains.

“President-elect Donald Trump has expressed a keen interest in privatizing the U.S. Postal Service in recent weeks, three people with knowledge of the matter said, a move that could shake up consumer shipping and business supply chains and push hundreds of thousands of federal workers out of the government.

Trump has discussed his desire to overhaul the Postal Service at his Mar-a-Lago estate with Howard Lutnick, his pick for commerce secretary and the co-chair of his presidential transition, the people said. Earlier this month, Trump also convened a group of transition officials to ask for their views on privatizing the agency, one of the people said.

Told of the mail agency’s annual financial losses, Trump said the government should not subsidize the organization, the people said. …”
Click to expand...
It's a public service. It's not supposed to make money.
 
StrangePackage said:
It's a public service. It's not supposed to make money.
Click to expand...
Do they still have that unrealistic pension funding plan? I think that's what it was. Seems like at one time they were having to fund employee pensions/retirements or something like that atypically in advance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top