The top agent at the F.B.I.’s New York field office vowed in a defiant email to his staff to “dig in” after the Trump administration targeted officials involved in the investigations into the Jan. 6 attack — and praised the bureau’s interim leaders for defending its independence.
“Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the F.B.I. and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and F.B.I. policy,” wrote James E. Dennehy, a veteran and highly respected agent who has run the largest and arguably the most important field office in the bureau since September.
Mr. Dennehy, through a representative in New York, declined to comment.
The email, viewed by The New York Times, came after the Justice Department ordered the F.B.I. on Friday to collect the names of bureau personnel who helped investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, raising the possibility that Mr. Trump’s political appointees plan to purge career bureau officials, including rank-and-file field agents. That number could reach 6,000 — or about a sixth of the bureau’s 38,000 employees, according to the F.B.I.
At least nine high-ranking officials have been forced out since Mr. Trump’s inauguration, plunging the bureau into confusion. Mr. Dennehy wrote that those removals had spread “fear and angst within the F.B.I. ranks.”
That sense of dread was stoked by a remarkable questionnaire sent to bureau employees, asking them to describe what, if any, role they had in investigating and prosecuting Jan. 6 rioters.
The form requires the employees to say if they collected evidence, provided support services, interviewed witnesses, executed search warrants or testified at trial — basic activities of F.B.I. employees during the normal and lawful course of their duties. They have until 3 p.m. Monday to complete the forms.
Finance bosses are calling on the City regulator to axe diversity targets in a Donald Trump-style pushback against DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion).
Several financial chiefs have directly approached Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) chief executive Nikhil Rathi to voice their concerns over proposed DEI rules, warning they will “only create jobs in HR”.
Banks and investment firms have dialled up their campaign in recent months, warning the regulations would hamper growth.
The issue has also been raised during industry meetings with the regulator.
One City chief warned that ‘the majority of the [finance] industry has long been unconvinced by the rationale’ behind the DEI drive
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The pushback follows the watchdog’s 2023 consultation which tabled that companies would be required to create and publish official diversity and inclusion plans with board-level oversight.
One City chief, who challenged Rathi over the proposals, said: “The majority of the [finance] industry has long been unconvinced by the rationale for this. We’ve made our concerns clear for a long time and will continue to do so.”
He described tougher DEI targets as problematic, adding they just “add more bureaucracy and red tape”, The Telegraph reports.
While another industry insider told the newspaper: “There is a risk the FCA is on course to introduce a cumbersome reporting regime. The only certainty of its impact will be to create jobs in HR.”
MORE DEI MADNESS:
One City chief described tougher DEI targets as problematic, adding they just ‘add more bureaucracy and red tape’
GETTY
Speaking on a podcast last week, Rathi indicated the FCA would now await direction from the Labour Government before proceeding with any plans.
“Before we move forward we’ll want to understand exactly what the Government wants to do more broadly for all companies, not just financial services, and make sure anything we do dovetails with that,” he said.
And Tory frontbenchers have warned Chancellor Rachel Reeves that the FCA’s diversity drive could cost the City up to £1billion.
Kemi Badenoch has accused the watchdog of “overreach” – and claimed its diversity plans risk hindering Labour’s much-hailed growth plans.
Another industry source who met privately with the FCA said there was “an undercurrent of ‘we must do something, this is something, therefore we must do this’”.
Tory frontbenchers have warned Rachel Reeves that the FCA’s diversity drive could cost the City up to £1billion
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A recent poll of 500 City executives by JLP found one in three bosses believe DEI has gone too far.
The Institute & Faculty of Actuaries recently abandoned plans for strict diversity rules following member opposition.
The City pushback mirrors developments stateside, where President Trump has issued an executive order ending what he termed “radical and wasteful government DEI programmes”.
A FCA spokesman said: “With the Government planning work on employment rights, equality actions plans and pay gaps, we’re considering next steps following our consultation with the Prudential Regulation Authority.”
Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, hadn’t seen the likes of this since the major protests of the 1990s that led to the fall of ex-dictator Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. On Saturday, February 1, tens of thousands of students took to the streets of this reputedly rebellious city, 80 kilometers from Belgrade, to denounce “corruption” and demand “justice,” three months after the collapse of the awning of the local train station.
Occurring on November 1, 2024, this tragedy, which claimed 15 lives, triggered anger that remains strong in the country, despite the resignation of the prime minister, Milos Vucevic, announced on January 28. “[President Aleksandar] Vucic is trying to cover up what happened, but a lot of people are waking up,” asserted Stasa Janbric, a 24-year-old engineering student, who blames the accident on the strongman of this Balkan country of 6.6 million inhabitants.
Brandishing red-painted hands, the students, supported by thousands of Serbs of all ages, lashed out at their president, a 54-year-old nationalist who has ruled their country for over 10 years, allowing corruption, mafia and nepotism to proliferate. Together, they blocked the city’s three bridges across the Danube for three hours, before thousands of young people spent the night on one of them in an atmosphere of anger mixed with moving displays of fraternity.
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Reform UK will hold the “largest ever rally in modern British political history” in just under two months’ time, Nigel Farage has said.
Thousands of supporters, candidates, party top brass and more will head to the Arena Birmingham on March 28 – and Farage has vowed that “we are only just getting started”.
“Reform has all the momentum in British politics and we are only just getting started,” the party leader said.
“May 1 is our first real test and we are kicking off our campaign with something that’s never been done before.
‘Reform has all the momentum in British politics and we are only just getting started,’ Farage said
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“I can’t wait to show you all what we’ve been planning.”
The rally comes as the surging party kicks off a slew of local election campaigns across the country.
And in a veiled swipe at cancellations across the nation, a party statement on Sunday said: “County council elections are currently due to take place in 88 days – and Reform UK will be aiming to win seats all over the country.
“To announce our campaign, we will be hosting the biggest ever launch rally in modern British political history.
LATEST ON REFORM UK:
Reform UK will be kicking off its county council and mayoral election campaign from the 15,800-seater Arena Birmingham
GOOGLE/REFORM UK
“This will be held at the Arena Birmingham on March 28, and Nigel Farage will be joined by many thousands of supporters alongside our new Mayoral and local election candidates.”
The venue is the fourth-largest indoor arena in Britain – and can host up to a fraction under 16,000 people.
And before the announcement, Reform UK’s chief whip Lee Anderson said: “This will be huge. Make sure you get a ticket early as these will go quicker than Oasis tickets!”
While deputy leader Richard Tice, after the news, said: “All the fun, energy and passion is with Reform UK.”
‘All the fun, energy and passion is with Reform UK,’ Richard Tice said
PA
The announcement follows a week in which seven polls have placed Reform UK ahead of the Conservatives – and one, from pollsters at Find Out Now, has put the party in front of Labour too.
Find Out Now’s head of research Tyron Surmon told GB News: “The 2024 General Election saw the lowest combined vote share for the two major parties in British history, with Labour and the Conservatives together getting 57 per cent of the vote.
“In Find Out Now’s latest voting intention polling this has gone even lower – now at 44 per cent – with Reform now as the largest party.
“Reform have almost doubled in support since last July, driven equally by winning over a fifth of 2024 Conservative voters, and almost half of those who didn’t vote last time but said that they would if there were an election now.
“No other party has grown their voter base in this way.”
PANAMA CITY (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Panama’s president Sunday on the opening stop of his first foreign trip as America’s top diplomat as President Donald Trump increased pressure on Washington’s neighbors and allies, including a demand for the Panama Canal to be returned to the United States.
A day after Trump announced he was imposing major tariffs on Canada and Mexico, prompting retaliation from those countries, Rubio was taking perhaps a less confrontational and more diplomatic approach cordially greeting Panama’s foreign minister, although neither he nor President José Raúl Mulino spoke publicly at their meeting.
Rubio then planned to tour an energy facility and later the canal, the object of Trump’s intense interest.
Mulino has said there will be no negotiation with the U.S. over ownership of the canal, and some Panamanians have staged protests over Trump’s plans.
On Sunday, about 200 people marched in Panama City, carrying Panamanian flags and shouting “Marco Rubio out of Panama,” “Long live national sovereignty” and “One territory, one flag” while the meeting was going on. Some burned a banner with images of Trump and Rubio after being stopped short of the presidential palace by riot police.
Mulino said he hoped Rubio’s visit would focus on shared interests such as migration and combating drug trafficking. Rubio’s trip, however, comes as a U.S. foreign aid funding freeze and stop-work orders have shut down U.S.-funded programs targeting illegal migration and crime in Central American countries.
Rubio will be pressing Trump’s top focus — curbing illegal immigration — but has also said he will be bringing the message that the U.S. wants to reclaim control over the Panama Canal despite intense resistance from regional leaders to combat China’s growing influence in the hemisphere.
In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece on Friday, Rubio said mass migration, drugs and hostile policies pursued by Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela have wreaked havoc, and port facilities at the either end of the canal are run by a China-based company, leaving the waterway vulnerable to pressure from the Beijing government.
“We’re going to address that topic,” Rubio said a day earlier. “The president’s been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again. Obviously, the Panamanians are not big fans of that idea. That message has been brought very clear.”
The American-built canal was turned over to the Panamanians in 1999 and they object strongly to Trump’s demand to hand it back.
Despite Mulino’s rejection of any negotiation over ownership, some believe Panama may be open to a compromise under which canal operations on both sides are taken away from the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports company, which was given a 25-year no-bid extension to run them. An audit into the suitability of that extension is already under way and could lead to a rebidding process.
What is unclear is whether Trump would accept the transfer of the concession to an American or European company as meeting his demands, which appear to cover more than just operations.
Rubio’s trip, which will also take him to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, comes amid a freeze in U.S. foreign assistance. The State Department said Sunday that Rubio had approved waivers for certain critical programs in countries he is visiting but details of those were not immediately available.
Associated Press writer Juan Zamorano contributed to this report.
Former Deputy Minister for Communications, Victoria Hamah
Former Deputy Minister for Communications, Victoria Hamah, believes that politics and religion are the two most unreliable domains for building trust.
Ms. Hamah shared her thoughts in a Facebook post on Saturday, January 1, 2025.
According to her, trust is difficult to establish in both political and religious spheres because they are often filled with manipulators.
“The two worst places to build trust are: 1. Politics and 2. Religion – these are places where you find the most skilful manipulators,” she wrote.
In an earlier post, she cautioned against blindly trusting people who present themselves as holy.
“Beware of those who come to you as holy people. Once they are clothed in the body, study their human nature,” she advised.
Ms. Hamah’s statement appeared to resonate with her followers, many of whom agreed with her in the comments section.
One commenter, Amelia Amemate, wrote, “Politics especially. Your reputation is often ruined before you even have a chance. Sometimes you hear things others have said about you people who don’t even know you and you just blink repeatedly.”
Another person added, “The two are not different. Religion is worse because the name of God is used to perpetrate evil.”
Ms. Hamah currently serves as the Executive Director of the Progressive Organisation for Women’s Advancement (POWA).
EE/MA
Tech billionaire Elon Musk ripped alleged “fraudulent” Treasury payments on Saturday as reports circulated that the Department of Government Efficiency has gained acces to the federal government’s payment system as the second Trump administration continues cutting what they say is government fat and overspending.
“The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups. They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once,” Musk, the chair of DOGE, posted early Saturday morning to X.
Musk’s post came just ahead of the New York Times reporting Saturday afternoon that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent granted DOGE personnel access to the payment system. The Treasury spends roughly $6 trillion per year on payments for federal agencies.
The ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, posted to social media on Saturday that he has also been informed that DOGE was granted access to the system.
DOGE ANNOUNCES MORE THAN $1B IN SAVINGS AFTER CANCELING 104 FEDERAL DEI CONTRACTS
Elon Musk is heading the Department of Government Efficiency. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Sources tell my office that Treasury Secretary Bessent has granted DOGE *full* access to this system. Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. All of it,” Wyden posted to social media site BlueSky on Saturday evening.
DOGE’s reported access to the payment system comes after the Washington Post reported on Friday that the former acting director of the Treasury, David A. Lebryk, was planning to exit the finance department of the federal government following a clash over granting DOGE access to its payment system. Lebryk oversaw the Treasury Department in the days between President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 and Bessent’s confirmation to lead the department on Jan. 27.
TOP DOGE LAWMAKER SAYS TRUMP ‘ALREADY RACKING UP WINS FOR TAXPAYERS’ WITH EFFICIENCY INITIATIVES
On Friday, reports also spread that civil servants within the Office of Personnel Management, which works as the federal government’s HR department, were reportedly locked from the office’s computer systems by DOGE.
Musk quipped on X on Saturday that working over the weekend is a “superpower,” where the “opposing team” disappear for two days.
“Very few in the bureaucracy actually work the weekend, so it’s like the opposing team just leaves the field for 2 days! Working the weekend is a superpower,” he posted.
‘DOGE’-MEETS-CONGRESS: GOP LAWMAKER AARON BEAN LAUNCHES CAUCUS TO HELP MUSK ‘TAKE ON CRAZYTOWN’
Trump officially created DOGE via an executive order signed on his first day in office. The EO outlines that government agency chiefs provide DOGE with access to internal government platforms such as, “software systems, and IT systems.”
“Agency Heads shall take all necessary steps, in coordination with the USDS Administrator and to the maximum extent consistent with law, to ensure USDS has full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems. USDS shall adhere to rigorous data protection standards,” the executive order reads.
President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on Jan. 20, 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Trump and Musk had long previewed the creation of DOGE while on the campaign trail, championing that the team would weed out overspending and fraud within the federal government. DOGE is not a government department, but instead operates as a team within the Trump administration.
Before Trump’s win in November, Musk hosted the Republican president for an interview on X in August, where Musk railed against government overspending and inflation that has gripped the nation in recent years.
President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk arrive to attend a viewing of the launch of the SpaceX Starship rocket on Nov. 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“A lot of people just don’t understand where inflation comes from. Inflation comes from government overspending because the checks never bounce when it’s written by the government. So if the government spends far more than it brings in, that increases the money supply. If the money supply increases faster than the rate of goods and services, that’s inflation,” Musk said during their conversation.
MUSK RENEWS HARSH REBUKE OF DEMS WHO REJECTED DEPORTING SEX OFFENDERS: VOTE OUT ‘EVERY ONE’
“So really we need to reduce our government spending, and we need to re-examine… I think we need a government efficiency commission to say like, ‘Hey, where are we spending money that’s sensible. Where is it not sensible?’”
Since its official creation last month, DOGE’s X account has provided updates on its work to cut government spending, including announcing last week that it has cut more than $1 billion from federal spending through now-defunct diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and personnel.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Treasury Department on Sunday morning, but did not immediately receive replies.