Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we have some intriguing stories to share with you right now, and here’s what’s going on.
President-elect Donald Trump makes a key decision regarding his upcoming administration, a leading Democrat says he’ll back one of Trump’s controversial nominees, and the president-elect still has quite a few choices to make as he continues to assemble his new team—we’ll tell you what’s next.
Also, a leading magazine editor steps down following some disparaging comments, and if you’re interested in cryptocurrency, there’s a new lawsuit you need to hear about.
Jamie Dimon Responds to Trump Comment
The president-elect said on Truth Social that Jamie Dimon, the CEO of the banking firm JPMorgan Chase, will not be invited to join his incoming administration.Dimon responded by telling Bloomberg Television that he wishes “the president well.” However, he added that he hasn’t had a boss in 25 years, and that he’s not ready to start now.
So you know, many people believed that Dimon might accept a senior role in the Trump administration until just last month. At that time, the Wall Street CEO said that his chances of working at the White House were “almost nil” and that he intended to continue in his present role for the foreseeable future.
Dimon has led JPMorgan Chase for nearly 20 years, and he had been rumored for a role as Treasury secretary. He has not ruled out seeking public office after his tenure at one of the biggest banks in the world has come to a conclusion, but he says that for now, he’s staying right where he is.
So you know, JPMorgan is the largest bank in the United States, with approximately $3 trillion in deposits and a nearly $700 billion market cap, and the financial giant congratulated Trump after he won the 2024 election.
However, you should know that the relationship between Dimon and Trump has been volatile for many years.
In September 2018, Dimon told CNBC that he could defeat Trump in a head-to-head election because he was “smarter” than him. The president responded on social media by saying that Dimon is “a poor public speaker” and a “nervous mess.”
So far, Trump has already welcomed several Wall Street veterans and corporate executives into the fold, and another seasoned billionaire investor, Scott Bessent, has emerged as a top candidate to become the new Treasury secretary.
Governor Gives Update on Vaccines After Backing RFK Jr.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says he’ll support Trump’s nominee for U.S. health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but he also questioned Kennedy’s position regarding vaccines.On social media platform X, Polis said that five years ago, Kennedy helped Colorado “defeat vaccine mandates.” He also said that the nominee will “help make America healthy again” by “shaking up” both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Polis added that he hopes Kennedy leans into “personal choice” regarding vaccines, rather than outright bans, and that he’s optimistic about “taking on big pharma” and the corporate agricultural industry to “improve our health.”
However, following the governor’s comments, a spokesperson for Polis said that he still has some concerns regarding a number of RFK Jr.’s positions, including banning fluoridation in water.
According to the spokesperson, Polis is concerned about a wide range of issues, such as pesticides, lowering prescription drug costs, processed food, and heavy metals contamination.
Earlier this week, Polis reiterated that science must remain the cornerstone of our nation’s health policy, that the “science-backed decision to get vaccinated improves public health and safety,” and also that he supports some of Kennedy’s priorities, including reducing pesticide use.
So you know, Kennedy has said that none of the available vaccines are either safe or effective, and he has opposed vaccine mandates. He has also called for caps on drug prices, improving nutrition, and moving away from an agricultural system that routinely uses pesticides.
By the way, earlier this week on social media, Kennedy thanked Polis, saying he looked forward to working with the governor, and closed by saying “Let’s Make America Healthy Again.”
What’s Next for Trump Picks
To allow his Cabinet picks to hit the ground running, Trump says he’d like to use recess appointments to fill vacancies, rather than the regular Senate confirmation process.So you know, any candidate who gets in by a recess appointment gets the same status as those confirmed to those positions, but their term would expire in just two years unless the Senate takes action to confirm them under the normal process.
The U.S. Constitution says that the Senate must approve the president’s nominees for all Cabinet positions, ambassador roles, as well as a number of executive branch jobs.
At least 51 votes are needed for confirmation, and next year, the GOP will control the Senate with 53 seats. In the event of a tie, Vice President-elect JD Vance would cast the deciding vote as president of the upper chamber.
The Constitution also grants the president power to fill up all “Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.”
In other words, Trump would be able to insert nominees that likely would not get confirmed by the Senate into top positions.
In a post on X, newly elected majority leader Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said that all options are on the table to get Trump’s nominees in place, including the recess appointments.
Top Magazine Editor Resigns Suddenly
The editor-in-chief of Scientific American magazine has just walked away from her position, after calling people who voted for President-elect Donald Trump “fascists.”Laura Helmuth announced her resignation on the social media website Bluesky, after leading the magazine for four years.
So you know, Helmuth made the comments after returns showed that Trump was on track to win the recent election.
In her posts, she apologized to younger people because her generation, Gen X, was “full of ... fascists,” and she encouraged “solidarity to everybody whose meanest, dumbest, most bigoted high-school classmates” were celebrating the election results.
Helmuth later deleted the posts, which she said were “offensive and inappropriate.” However, apparently it was too little, too late.
Under her leadership, Scientific American—which has been around since 1845—endorsed both Joe Biden for president in 2020 and Vice President Kamala Harris this year, and it also published pieces in support of gender-altering surgery for minors.
Since the election, the magazine has released multiple pieces critical of Trump, including one alleging that his second administration would “attack health care from multiple angles.”
Earlier this week, Helmuth said that she was proud of the work that Scientific American did during her tenure. She also said that she was going to “take some time to think about what comes next,” and that she was going to go birdwatching.
18 States File Lawsuit Against SEC
Attorneys general from 18 states have just filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), alleging that the regulator has overstepped its authority to crack down on cryptocurrency.The lawsuit accuses the SEC of engaging in an “unlawful campaign of regulatory overreach,” and also of interfering with state sovereignty regarding the oversight of the digital asset industry, which has a current market value of $3 trillion.
So you know, the suit was filed in collaboration with a research and advocacy group called DeFi Education Fund. It named the SEC, its chairman, Gary Gensler, and five commissioners as defendants.
The lawsuit argues that the SEC’s enforcement actions against digital asset platforms undermine the sovereign power of the states and also pose risks to consumers.
Some of the states involved in the action include Florida, Texas, and Utah, as well as Kentucky, whose attorney general is leading the suit.
In a speech made earlier this week, SEC chairman Gensler defended his agency’s regulatory approach to cryptocurrency. He emphasized that the SEC does not consider bitcoin to be a security, and that its focus was on “some of the 10,000 or so other digital assets” which many courts have determined were sold as securities.
He also reiterated the importance of ensuring that broker-dealers, exchanges, and clearing agencies are registered and properly regulated regarding their business conduct.
And now, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re gonna call it a wrap for the Saturday edition (the weekend edition) of the Epoch Times News Brief.
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And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote, and this one comes to us from Steve Jobs, who said:
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.”
Jobs was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc.
For all of us here at the Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.
The Epoch Times News Brief program is written each day by David Ross.
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For now, let’s all continue to watch out for one another and have an absolutely superb day today. Bye for now.
