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8/29/25: Today's Trump Highlights-

edited August 30 in Off-Topic
(1) • Stephen Miller: Robert F Kennedy Jr is ‘crown jewel of this administration’

(2) • RFK Jr peddles dubious health claims: As leaders at Centers for Disease Control quit after director’s firing, Kennedy stokes controversy with pet theories.

(3) • New Acting C.D.C. Director has no medical or scientific training.
Edited excerpts from The New York Times report:
On Thursday, the Trump administration selected Jim O’Neill, a former biotechnology executive and the deputy to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to serve as the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Critics in Congress said the pick leaves the nation’s premier public health agency under the leadership of an official without medical or scientific training .

In an email sent to C.D.C. staff on Thursday night, Mr. Kennedy said that he was “committed to working with you to restore trust, transparency and credibility” to the agency. Tapping Mr. O’Neill as acting director would “help advance this mission,” he added. Mr. O’Neill was confirmed as the deputy secretary of health and human services in June, and also was a speechwriter for the department from 2002 to 2008. In the interim, he worked closely with Peter Thiel, the billionaire and Republican megadonor. .

O’Neill also served as the chief executive of SENS Research Foundation, a longevity nonprofit that aimed to cure aging-related conditions, and has long criticized the Food and Drug Administration as too cautious in approving drugs. He has suggested that the agency approve drugs as soon as they are demonstrated to be safe, even without data on effectiveness.

During the Covid pandemic, he indicated support for a number of unproven coronavirus treatments and preventives, including ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine and vitamin D. He has also been critical of vaccine mandates.

In a social media post on Friday afternoon Mr. O’Neill wrote: “The Trump administration is rebuilding trust and refocusing CDC on its core mission of keeping America safe from infectious disease.”
(4) • US appeals court rules most of Trump’s sweeping global tariffs illegal
Excerpts from The Guardian report:
A US appeals court ruled on Friday that most of Donald Trump’s new tariffs are illegal, upholding a ruling from the federal court of international trade that the president’s declaration of an economic emergency to justify sweeping tariffs violates a 1977 law and the US constitution, which reserves taxation for the Congress.

The split decision from the US court of appeals for the federal circuit in Washington DC addressed the legality of what Trump calls “reciprocal” tariffs imposed as part of his trade war in April, as well as a separate set of tariffs imposed in February against China, Canada and Mexico.

The court ruled that the president does have the legal authority to impose narrow, sectoral tariffs, like those on steel and aluminum imports, but he far exceeded his power with the global tariffs on imports he first declared in April. The case, which is expected to be appealed to the US supreme court, hinges of Trump’s broad interpretation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The appeals court ruled on two cases, one brought by five small businesses and the other by 12 Democratic-led US states, which argued that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs. The US constitution grants Congress, not the president, the authority to issue taxes and tariffs, and any delegation of that authority must be both explicit and limited, according to the lawsuits.

Another court in Washington DC ruled that IEEPA does not authorize Trump’s tariffs, and the government has appealed that decision as well. At least eight lawsuits have challenged Trump’s tariff policies, including one filed by the state of California.
(5) • Trump accused of using mortgage fraud allegations as ‘weapon of choice’ to attack Fed

(6) • Court blocks Trump bid to end protections for 600,000 Venezuelans- Homeland Security attacks ‘activist’ judges


Free Source Links:
(Report 1:) The Guardian
(Report 2:) The Guardian
(Report 3:) The New York Times   (Link should be free)
(Report 4:) The Guardian
(Report 5:) The Guardian
(Report 6:) The Guardian
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