Trump appointees

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A Trump-nominated prosecutor is facing backlash over past remarks praising a Nazi sympathizer involved in the Jan. 6 riot as “extraordinary,” and citing biblical Jews in Egypt to defend slavery. Ed Martin, currently serving as interim U.S. Attorney for D.C., is up for Senate confirmation — and top Democrats are demanding a rare hearing to scrutinize his record.

Last year, Martin praised Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, described by the Department of Justice as a Nazi sympathizer and white supremacist, as an “extraordinary man, extraordinary leader” during an award ceremony held at President Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump faced backlash from Jewish leaders for allowing the event to take place at his property.

Hale-Cusanelli would show up to work at a naval weapons station with a “Hitler mustache” and tell coworkers that “Hitler should have finished the job.” He also has a history of trafficking in antisemitism. In 2020, Hale-Cusanelli posted an online video railing against what he called a “Hasidic Jewish invasion” of Lakewood, New Jersey, and compared the Orthodox community there to a “plague of locusts.” He also harassed online a Jewish man in Ocean County, New Jersey, before Jan. 6 and threatened to visit his home on Shabbat. No charges were filed in that incident.

Hale-Cusanelli was later sentenced to four years on felony and misdemeanor charges for breaching the U.S. Capitol. Hale-Cusanelli was among the 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants Trump pardoned when he returned to office in Jan.

In his introductory remarks at the Bedminster event, Martin hugged Hale-Cusanelli and encouraged the crowd to welcome him with a round of applause. “It’s one of the goals of many of us to make sure that the world, and especially America, hears more from Tim Hale, because he’s extraordinary,” Martin said.

In a 2017 CNN appearance, Martin defended then-Senate candidate Roy Moore’s controversial comments about the so-called upsides of American slavery — invoking the biblical story of Jews in Egypt. “What he said was families still loved each other when they existed,” Martin argued. “When the Jews were in bondage for, you know, years, they still loved each other.”

Martin was the deputy director of the Republican National Convention’s 2024 platform committee.

Sen. Adam Schiff of California, who is Jewish, said he plans to place a hold on Martin’s nomination to delay a confirmation vote.

Days after firing eight Joe Biden-era appointees from the board of the US Holocaust Memorial Council, including former second gentleman Doug Emhoff, US President Donald Trump tapped eight new members.

Among them are shock jock Sid Rosenberg, who was a Trump surrogate during last year’s campaign, and Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, the founding editor and publisher of Yated Ne’eman, a leading haredi Orthodox publication. Alex Witkoff, son of Trump’s diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff, was also on the list.

They will replace Emhoff and a number of Biden administration officials, including Susan Rice, Tom Perez and Ron Klain, all of whom Trump abruptly dismissed from the board this week.

The eight new names will join 41 other members currently sitting on the council, including a number of other Biden appointees, the Washington Post reported. The board oversees the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Board members have often been political appointees and serve five-year terms. It is highly unusual to dismiss groups of members midway through their terms.

Rosenberg, a longtime personality on conservative AM radio, is a fierce Trump defender who spoke at an October campaign rally for the president held at Madison Square Garden. During that profanity-laced speech, Rosenberg cracked a joke about parallels to an infamous 1939 pro-Nazi rally held at the same venue.

Rosenberg has also advocated heavily for Israel in recent months, making several visits to the country. He interviewed Trump live from Israel on the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7, 2023, and was touring Israel when the president appointed him to the board this week — a juxtaposition he remarked was “surreal.”

In comments to Israeli media, he added that the appointment “isn’t just a personal milestone — it’s a chance to make a real impact in the fight for memory, education, and justice. Especially now, when Jew-hatred is rising and history is being distorted, I’m ready to step up in an even bigger way.”

The list of appointees also included Barbara Feingold, a board member for the Republican Jewish Coalition; Betty Schwartz, who previously served on the board and is the daughter of a survivor who was one of the Holocaust museum’s founders; Ariel Abergel, who has worked for Fox News as well as in the first Trump White House; Robert Garson, president of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers; and Fred Marcus.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday withdrew the nomination of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to serve as U.S. Surgeon General, days after right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer criticized the nominee, and simultaneously announced a new pick who has close ties to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Trump confirmed Nesheiwat's withdrawal in a Truth Social post and praised forthcoming nominee Dr. Casey Means for “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials,” referring to the “Make America Healthy Again” slogan.

"Dr. Casey Means has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History. Congratulations to Casey! Secretary Kennedy looks forward to working with Dr. Janette Nesheiwat in another capacity at HHS," Trump wrote.

Trump said Means, if confirmed, would work alongside Kennedy to “reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and ensure Great Health, in the future, for ALL Americans.”

The Surgeon General oversees the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, a group of more than 6,000 uniformed officers who are public health professionals, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Means, who attained both undergraduate and medical degrees at Stanford University, has held research positions at the National Institutes of Health, New York University and Oregon Health & Science University.

She’s a proponent of metabolic health, when your body processes food in a way that keeps your blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and weight within a healthy range.

Kennedy is a longtime supporter of Means and her brother Calley Means, characterizing them both as children’s health and chronic disease experts during an August interview after he ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump.

Calley Means, according to Kennedy, worked on his presidential campaign and had also advised Trump regarding health policy.

The siblings, coauthors of the self-help health book "Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health," became MAGA darlings and key architects of the offshoot movement now known as Make America Healthy Again.

Dr. Means quickly became a fixture in right-wing media. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. cited one of her many media appearances as “the catalyst” for his Capitol Hill roundtable in September titled “American Health and Nutrition: A Second Opinion,” which featured panelists including Dr. Means and Kennedy, who linked chronic illness to “metabolic dysfunction” and criticized seed oils, processed foods, the food pyramid, microplastics, and a host of other factors blamed for the poor health of America’s children.

In a podcast appearance with Tucker Carlson — which now has over 3.7 million views on YouTube — Dr. Means questioned the necessity of vaccinating infants according to the CDC-recommended schedule, specifically Hepatitis B, calling it “emblematic of how we are put on the pharma treadmill from the moment we are born in this country, for reasons that are very strange.”

Nesheiwat’s withdrawal marks the second time the White House has pulled a nominee for a top health position shortly before their Senate confirmation hearing.

According to her website, Nesheiwat is a board-certified medical doctor who served as a medical news correspondent and medical director at CityMD. She previously worked as a medical contributor at Fox News.

Loomer on Sunday shared a lengthy post accusing Nesheiwat of being "entangled in an intricate medical malpractice litigation," and highlighted her past support of the Covid vaccine. While serving as a Fox News contributor, Nesheiwat encouraged of the use of the vaccine and boosters.

We have many vaccines in existence that treat a variety of non-life threatening diseases but to have a COVID vaccine, i.e. a Pfizer or Moderna mRNA that will actually save you from dying is a gift from God," Nesheiwat wrote in Fox News opinion piece.

Loomer, who has been influential in the removal of Trump aides, said Nesheiwat's support for Covid vaccines "render her unfit for the role of United States Surgeon General, and she should not be confirmed by the US Senate to hold the position."

The right-wing activist also hammered Nesheiwat for an alleged "promotion of DEI-focused initiatives." Trump is a fierce critic of diversity equity and inclusion programs and in January banned federal agencies from implementing DEI programs, fired federal employees who worked in DEI roles and threatened to cut federal funding to schools that maintain DEI practices.

President Donald Trump has nominated Paul Ingrassia, a former podcast host with a long history of inflammatory remarks, to head the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

“Paul is a highly respected attorney, writer, and Constitutional Scholar, who has done a tremendous job serving as my White House Liaison for Homeland Security,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social announcing the nomination Thursday night.

Ingrassia is a far-right former podcaster and commentator with a lengthy list of incendiary comments. He has called for Jan. 6 to be declared a national holiday to honor the “peaceful protest against a great injustice affecting our electoral system” and dismissed the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel as a “psyop.”

He has worked for and praised “manosphere” influencer Andrew Tate, who’s facing rape and human trafficking charges, calling him an “extraordinary human being.” He has referred to Tate as “a dissident of authoritarianism” — a title he has said applies as well to white nationalist Nick Fuentes, the rapper Ye and Trump.

He has also called for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to be jailed, and referred to former Vice President Mike Pence as an “FBI asset.”

Ingrassia graduated from Cornell Law in 2022, joined conservative think tank The Claremont Institute later that year, became a leader in the New York Young Republican Club, and then went on to be a frequent presence at Trump rallies and Mar-a-Lago in 2023 and 2024.

He’s currently working as the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security and was formerly the administration’s liaison to the Justice Department, where he’d been seen walking the halls, touting the president’s agenda and telling people he was acting as the “eyes and ears” of the White House.

His post at the Office of Special Counsel will require Senate confirmation.

The OSC is an independent federal investigative and prosecuting agency, tasked with shielding federal employees from prohibited personnel practices, including retaliation for whistleblowing.

The agency head is confirmed to a five-year term, but Trump fired then-OSC head Hampton Dellinger earlier this year. Dellinger, a Biden nominee who was confirmed to the post last year, fought his dismissal in court but eventually dropped the suit.