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Trump gets permission to seek dismissal of hush money case

NEW YORK — A New York judge on Friday granted Donald Trump permission to seek dismissal of the criminal case in which he was convicted in May of 34 felony counts involving hush money paid to a porn star in light of his victory in the November 5 U.S. presidential election.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan formally delayed the sentencing of Trump, which had been scheduled to take place Tuesday. Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office this week asked Merchan to consider deferring all proceedings in the case until after Trump, 78, finishes his four-year presidential term, which begins on January 20.

Lawyers for Trump, a Republican, have argued that the case must be dismissed because having it loom over him while he is president would cause “unconstitutional impediments” to his ability to govern.

Bragg’s office said it would argue against dismissal, but he agreed that Trump deserves time to make his case through written motions.

Merchan on Friday set a December 2 deadline for Trump to file his motion to dismiss and gave prosecutors until December 9 to respond. The judge did not set a new date for sentencing or indicate how long proceedings would remain on hold. Merchan also did not indicate when he would rule on Trump’s motion to dismiss.

Representatives for Trump’s campaign and for Bragg’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The case stemmed from a $130,000 payment Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it.

A Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to cover up his reimbursement of Cohen. It was the first time a U.S. president — former or sitting — had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offense.

Trump pleaded not guilty in the case, which he has sought to portray as a politically motivated attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to interfere with his campaign.
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Democrat Casey concedes to Republican McCormick in Pennsylvania Senate contest

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA — Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania conceded his reelection bid to Republican David McCormick on Thursday, as a statewide recount showed no signs of closing the gap, and his campaign suffered repeated blows in court in its effort to get potentially favorable ballots counted.

Casey’s concession comes more than two weeks after Election Day, as a grindingly slow ballot-counting process became a spectacle of hourslong election board meetings, social media outrage, lawsuits and accusations that some county officials were openly flouting the law.

Republicans had been claiming that Democrats were trying to steal McCormick’s seat by counting “illegal votes.” Casey’s campaign had accused Republicans of trying to block enough votes to prevent him from pulling ahead and winning.

In a statement, Casey said he had just called McCormick to congratulate him.

“As the first count of ballots is completed, Pennsylvanians can move forward with the knowledge that their voices were heard, whether their vote was the first to be counted or the last,” Casey said.

The Associated Press called the race for McCormick on November 7, concluding that not enough ballots remained to be counted in areas Casey was winning for him to take the lead.

As of Thursday, McCormick led by about 16,000 votes out of almost 7 million ballots counted.

That was well within the 0.5% margin threshold to trigger an automatic statewide recount under Pennsylvania law. 

But no election official expected a recount to change more than a couple hundred votes or so, and Pennsylvania’s highest court dealt Casey a blow when it refused entreaties to allow counties to count mail-in ballots that lacked a correct handwritten date on the return envelope.

Republicans will have a 53-47 majority next year in the U.S. Senate. 
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Dr. Oz nominated to oversee Medicare, Medicaid

WASHINGTON — Mehmet Oz, a renowned heart surgeon and television host best known for “The Dr. Oz Show,” has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS.

If confirmed by the Senate, Oz will oversee two of the nation’s most vital health insurance programs, which provide coverage for elderly and low-income Americans.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1960, Oz is the son of Turkish immigrants — Dr. Mustafa Oz, a thoracic cardiovascular surgeon, and Suna Oz.

Raised in Wilmington, Delaware, Oz graduated from Harvard University in 1982 with a degree in biology before earning joint medical and master of business administration degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Penn’s Wharton School in 1986.

Oz built his medical career as a prominent cardiac surgeon in New York City, where he developed innovative medical devices and authored bestselling health books that have been translated into many languages, including Turkish.

His rise to national fame began after he appeared as a regular guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” He launched “The Dr. Oz Show” in 2009, which ran for 13 seasons, dealing with topics on health and wellness, and won nine Emmy Awards.

Trump also noted Oz’s multiple TV awards in a written statement after he nominated him for the CMS position, adding Oz “taught millions of Americans how to make healthier lifestyle choices.”

Meeting Trump

In a statement in 2022 to The Associated Press, Oz said he first met Trump in 2004 or 2005, when he asked the future president for permission to use his golf course to organize an event for his children’s charity.

Although the two later met at social events, the most well-known public moment was during the 2016 presidential campaign when Oz interviewed Trump on his television show, in which Trump revealed his medical records.

In 2018 — during his first term as president — Trump appointed Oz to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.

While praised for his ability to communicate complex medical issues, Oz faced criticism for promoting unproven health products and for alleged conflicts of interest in endorsing commercial products.

The controversy peaked in 2014, when he was called to testify before a Senate subcommittee about his promotion of weight loss products with questionable scientific backing.

While Oz has not been found to be involved in medical weight loss fraud, his remarks on his television program have been used in campaigns to market weight loss products and sell them online in many countries.

Political aspirations

Oz entered the political arena in late 2021 because of what he saw as a failure of the U.S. to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. He announced his candidacy for a U.S. Senate seat in the eastern state of Pennsylvania as a Republican.

Despite receiving Trump’s endorsement, his campaign was scrutinized over his dual U.S.-Turkish citizenship. Opponents, including President Joe Biden, also criticized Oz for running for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania when his longtime home was in New Jersey.

Opponents have criticized Oz for showing a lack of loyalty to the U.S. after a photo of him voting in the 2018 Turkish presidential election was posted on the official Facebook account of the Turkish Consulate General in New York.

Oz also starred in Turkish Airlines’ multimillion-dollar Super Bowl commercial in 2018. As a brand ambassador in 2021, he appeared in a 4-minute, in-flight briefing video, featuring the airline’s COVID-19 safety protocols.

Oz has often said that he maintains dual U.S.-Turkish citizenship to care for his mother, who lives in Turkey and has Alzheimer’s disease.

He served in the Turkish army in the early 1980s to retain his Turkish citizenship. Sixty days of training was mandatory for citizens who reside in foreign countries. Facing such criticism when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022, Oz said he would renounce his Turkish citizenship if elected. He lost the race to Democrat John Fetterman.

Despite retreating from the public eye after his Senate loss, Oz’s nomination to lead the CMS marks a return to national prominence.

If confirmed, he will oversee a $1.1 trillion budget and programs that provide health care to nearly half of the U.S. population.

As the Senate considers his nomination, Oz faces the challenge of transitioning from media personality to federal administrator, taking on a pivotal role in shaping the future of American health care.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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Emboldened North Korea awaits second Trump administration

WASHINGTON — In his first message aimed at Washington since the U.S. presidential election, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has expressed his unwavering determination to hold onto nuclear weapons, U.S. analysts say.

At a conference with army officials last Friday, Kim vowed to bolster his country’s nuclear capabilities “without limit,” while condemning Washington for its nuclear deterrence strategies with Seoul.

“The U.S., Japan and South Korea will never get away from the responsibility as the culprits of destroying the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the region,” Kim said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. “The most important and critical task for our armed forces is preparations for a war.”

Nuclear rhetoric

Evans Revere, former acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, interpreted Kim’s remarks, which were made 10 days after the election, as a message directed to President-elect Donald Trump, whom he met with face-to-face three times from 2018 to 2019.

“Kim Jong Un is making clear to President-elect Trump that everything has changed since their previous meetings,” Revere told VOA Korean via email Tuesday. “Pyongyang has become a de facto nuclear weapons state and will not give up its treasured sword, as it once called its nuclear deterrent.”

Nuclear talks between then-President Trump and North Korea’s supreme leader collapsed during their Hanoi summit in February 2019, after Trump rejected the lifting of sanctions in exchange for Kim’s offer to dismantle one major nuclear facility. Since then, Pyongyang has not slowed the ramp-up of its nuclear capabilities.

In one of its latest moves, just five days before the U.S. election, the regime tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile called Hwasong-19 that could potentially reach most of the United States mainland.

“Having already developed a credible deterrent, complete with sophisticated medium- and long-range delivery systems, North Korea wants to be accepted, or at least acknowledged, as a nuclear power,” Revere said.

Kim is trying to remind the incoming U.S. president that “the door to denuclearization has now been firmly closed and he will be dealing with a DPRK that intends to keep its nuclear arsenal,” said Revere.

DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea.

Joseph DeTrani, former U.S. special envoy for six-party denuclearization talks with North Korea, said Kim would still want to meet with Trump, but the terms this time would be drastically different.

“I think Kim Jong Un is open to a dialogue with President-elect Trump’s administration, once it is in place,” DeTrani told VOA Korean via email Tuesday.

DeTrani said Kim would come to another potential summit with Trump “from a position of strength,” given his alliance and defense treaty with Russia. Russia and North Korea have committed to coming to the aid of the other if attacked.

Other experts cautioned, however, against reading too deeply into what Kim said.

New alliance

Sydney Seiler, former national intelligence officer for North Korea on the U.S. National Intelligence Council, said that Kim’s latest remarks provide little insight into how Kim may handle the incoming Trump administration.

“Kim Jong Un is exploring the benefits available in being an active member of the axis of upheaval: states such as Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran who seek to overturn the existing rules-based order and justify using force to achieve their objectives,” Seiler told VOA Korean via email Tuesday.

Seiler said that Kim has begun to enjoy benefits in his cooperation with Russia — cash, food and fuel aid, assistance with weapons of mass destruction, and conventional capabilities, and diplomatic recognition and acceptance of North Korea’s nuclear status.

“Why would he reach out to Donald Trump when he has friends like Vladimir Putin?” he asked.

In June, Kim and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty, which calls for Russia and North Korea to immediately assist each other militarily if either of them is attacked by a third country. Russia and North Korea respectively ratified the treaty into law earlier this month.

Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction, told VOA Korean via email Tuesday that Kim does not need Trump for assistance and sanctions relief as he used to because of his new alliance with Putin.

Samore said another Trump-Kim meeting won’t be very high on Trump’s agenda.

“Trump’s top foreign policy issues will be ending the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and imposing tariffs on China,” he said. “In contrast, the Korean situation is pretty stable and quiet, and nobody thinks another Trump-Kim summit will produce big results.”

VOA Korean Service asked the U.S. State Department about Kim’s latest message toward the U.S. but did not receive a reply by the time this article was published.

In a response to an inquiry made by VOA Korean earlier this month, the State Department spokesperson reiterated the U.S. commitment to protect South Korea from any North Korean nuclear attack.

“President Biden reaffirmed the U.S. extended deterrence commitment to the ROK using the full range of U.S. defense capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, and missile defense capabilities, and that any nuclear attack by the DPRK against the ROK will be met with a swift, overwhelming and decisive response,” the spokesperson said.
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Gaetz withdraws name as Trump’s attorney general nominee

Former Republican Representative Matt Gaetz is withdrawing his name from consideration as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general.

“I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz wrote on social media platform X.

The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee failed Wednesday to reach agreement on whether to release findings from its nearly finished investigative report on Gaetz.

The panel’s chair, Republican Representative Michael Guest, emerged from a lengthy committee meeting, saying, “There was no agreement by the committee to release the report.” He declined further comment.

Gaetz was accused of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use before he was picked by Trump to become the country’s top law enforcement official in the administration that takes office on January 20.

ABC News and The Washington Post reported that the committee had obtained documents that showed Gaetz paid two women who appeared before the committee as witnesses a total of more than $10,000 between July 2017 and late January 2019. The women, who were over the age of 18 at the time of the payments, told the panel that some of the money was for sex.

A Trump transition spokesperson defended Gaetz in a statement.

“The Justice Department received access to roughly every financial transaction Matt Gaetz ever undertook and came to the conclusion that he committed no crime. These leaks are meant to undermine the mandate from the people to reform the Justice Department,” with Gaetz at the head of the agency, the spokesperson said.

Several U.S. senators, Democrats and Republicans alike, were demanding that the report be released so they could consider the scope of Gaetz’s background as they undertook their constitutionally mandated role of confirming or rejecting a new president’s Cabinet nominees.

Hours after Trump named him as a nominee, Gaetz, 42, resigned from Congress, even though he had just been reelected to a fifth term. His resignation ended the House Ethics Committee’s investigation, which had been nearing a conclusion.

Gaetz was in the Capitol on Wednesday to meet with some of the senators who would have voted on his nomination.

The Senate has not voted to reject a presidential nominee for a Cabinet position since 1989, with members of both political parties giving wide deference to new presidents to fill top-level jobs with appointees of their choosing.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he met with Gaetz and Vice President-elect JD Vance, still a sitting senator, and told them there would be “no rubber stamps, no lynch mobs” in the confirmation process.

“These allegations will be dealt with in committee, but [Gaetz] deserves a chance to confront his accusers,” Graham told reporters.

The Justice Department investigated the allegations against him but last year declined to bring any charges.

Gaetz, like other Trump nominees for top government jobs, has been a vocal supporter of the president and his Make America Great Again agenda.

Gaetz, however, angered some fellow Republican lawmakers in the House in 2023 by spearheading the effort to oust then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
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Matt Gaetz withdraws from consideration for top law enforcement job

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general of the United States, former Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, withdrew himself from consideration Thursday. As VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, Gaetz was facing a tough confirmation process due to various criminal allegations.
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Trump nominee for top law enforcement position faces legal questions

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated longtime ally Republican Representative Matt Gaetz for the nation’s top law enforcement position, attorney general of the United States. As VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, Gaetz is expected to face a tough confirmation process.
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US House panel: No agreement on release of report on Trump’s attorney general nominee

The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee failed Wednesday to reach agreement on whether to release findings from its nearly finished investigative report on former Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general. 

The panel’s chair, Republican Representative Michael Guest, emerged from a lengthy committee meeting, saying, “There was no agreement by the committee to release the report.” 

He declined further comment. The other nine committee members — four Republicans and five Democrats — also did not comment immediately. 

Gaetz was accused of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use before he was picked by Trump to become the country’s top law enforcement official in the new administration that takes office on January 20. 

Two news outlets, ABC News and The Washington Post, reported that the committee had obtained documents that showed Gaetz paid two women who appeared before the committee as witnesses a total of more than $10,000 between July 2017 and late January 2019. The women, who were over the age of 18 at the time of the payments, told the panel that some of the money was for sex. 

A Trump transition spokesman defended Gaetz in a statement. 

“The Justice Department received access to roughly every financial transaction Matt Gaetz ever undertook and came to the conclusion that he committed no crime. These leaks are meant to undermine the mandate from the people to reform the Justice Department,” with Gaetz at the head of the agency, the spokesman said. 

Several U.S. senators, Democrats and Republicans alike, are demanding that the report be released so they can consider the scope of Gaetz’s background as they undertake their constitutionally mandated role of confirming or rejecting a new president’s Cabinet nominees. 

Hours after Trump named him as a nominee, Gaetz, 42, resigned from Congress, even though he had just been reelected to a fifth term. His resignation ended the House Ethics Committee’s investigation, which had been nearing a conclusion. 

It remained uncertain whether the panel would divulge what conclusions lawmakers had reached. With the allegations hovering over him, Gaetz quickly became Trump’s most controversial selection for his Cabinet, although the president-elect has continued to support him and has been making calls to lawmakers to bolster his chances of confirmation. 

Gaetz was in the Capitol Wednesday to meet with some of the senators who will decide his fate. The Senate has not voted to reject a presidential nominee for a Cabinet position since 1989, with members of both political parties giving wide deference to new presidents to fill top-level jobs with appointees of their choosing. 

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he met with Gaetz and Vice President-elect JD Vance, still a sitting senator, and told them there would be “no rubber stamps, no lynch mobs” in the confirmation process. 

“These allegations will be dealt with in committee, but [Gaetz] deserves a chance to confront his accusers,” Graham told reporters. 

The Justice Department investigated the allegations against him but last year declined to bring any charges. 

Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee that will consider the Gaetz nomination asked the FBI to release the evidentiary file from its investigation. 

That material would include interviews with a woman who said she was paid to have sex with Gaetz when she was 17. Gaetz has denied the accusations. 

Representative Dean Phillips, a Democrat who previously served on the House Ethics Committee, said Gaetz’s situation — a former member of Congress nominated for one of the most powerful jobs in the U.S. government — is an argument in favor of releasing the report. 

“He’s not just gone [from the House]. He’s now been nominated for a very important position in this country, which is the chief legal officer, if you will, of the country. It would seem bizarre and incongruent with any ethical principle to not release it,” Phillips said. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who leads the narrow Republican majority in the House, has said he is opposed to the release of the as-yet unfinished report by the House Ethics Committee because Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress. But reports about wrongdoing by other former members of Congress have been released in a few instances in the past. 

Ultimately, the Senate, which Republicans will control by at least a 52-48 margin next year, will decide whether to confirm Gaetz, who has never worked at the Justice Department or served as a prosecutor at any level of government. 

But Gaetz, like other Trump nominees for top government jobs, has been a vocal supporter of the president and his Make America Great Again agenda. 

Gaetz, however, angered some fellow Republican lawmakers in the House in 2023 by spearheading the effort to oust then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who eventually was replaced by Johnson.
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Trump picks former acting attorney general as US envoy to NATO

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named Matt Whitaker, a former acting attorney general from his first presidency, as the U.S. ambassador to NATO, the cornerstone Western military alliance whose member countries Trump has criticized for not spending enough money on defense.

In a statement, Trump described Whitaker, 55, as “a strong warrior and loyal patriot” who “will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended” and “strengthen relationships with our NATO allies and stand firm in the face of threats to peace and stability.”

As with several of Trump’s choices for positions in his new administration, the nomination of Whitaker to the 32-country North Atlantic Treaty Organization based in Brussels is unusual in that his professional background does not match the job to which he is being named. Whitaker has a long career as a lawyer but is not steeped in foreign or military policy.

Whitaker, like numerous other Trump appointees, has been an ardent Trump loyalist. Whitaker has been a vocal critic of the two federal criminal cases brought against Trump that are now likely to be erased as he assumes power again on January 20.

During his first administration, Trump goaded other NATO countries that did not meet the alliance’s military spending goal: 2% of their national economic output. As he left office in 2021, six of the NATO countries were spending that much on defense. But 23 of the 32 do now as the threat of Russian aggression against nearby NATO countries mounted after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which is not a NATO country but wants to join.

During his presidency, Trump assailed the countries who were not spending enough on defense, saying they were in arrears in their “dues” to NATO.

“NATO was busted until I came along,” Trump said at a political rally earlier this year. “I said, ‘Everybody’s going to pay.’”

Trump said that “one of the presidents of a big country” at one point asked him whether the U.S. would still defend the country if they were invaded by Russia even if they “don’t pay.”

“I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ They couldn’t believe the answer.”

“No, I would not protect you,” Trump recalled saying to that president. “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.”

Under the NATO treaty, member nations are obligated to protect each other militarily if they are attacked. The obligation has been invoked only once in the 75-year history of the alliance that was formed in the aftermath of World War II. That was when other NATO countries joined the United States in fighting al-Qaida in Afghanistan after the terrorist group attacked the U.S. in 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.

Whitaker, a former federal prosecutor in the Midwestern state of Iowa, served as acting attorney general between November 2018 and February 2019, as special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was ending.

Before then, Whitaker was chief of staff to Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, before being picked to replace his boss after Sessions was fired amid Trump’s lingering outrage over his decision to withdraw from the Russia investigation. Whitaker held the acting attorney general position for several months without Senate confirmation, until William Barr was confirmed as attorney general in February 2019.

Other appointments

Trump has been making new top appointments to his nascent administration on an almost daily basis.

Late Tuesday, he named Linda McMahon as his nominee to lead the Education Department, even though Trump and some Republican lawmakers want to abolish the agency and hand over most education policy decisions and much of the current federal funding to state and local control.

McMahon served as the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s previous term in office and is well known for her decadeslong role, along with her husband, in helping lead World Wrestling Entertainment.

“Linda will use her decades of leadership experience, and deep understanding of both education and business, to empower the next generation of American students and workers and make America number one in education in the world,” Trump said in a statement. “We will send education back to the states, and Linda will spearhead that effort.”

Also on Tuesday, Trump announced he’d nominate Wall Street financier Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary in his new administration.

Additionally, the president-elect picked Dr. Mehmet Oz, a longtime television show host, as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees the government’s two key health insurance programs for older Americans and impoverished people. Trump backed Oz’s failed attempt to win a Senate seat in Pennsylvania in 2022.
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