Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of August 25

Iowa Democrat wins pro Trump district in special election

CDC director ousted, top officials resign after RFK Jr. push to change vaccine policy

Susan Monarez was ousted Wednesday, weeks into her tenure as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after she faced pressure to change vaccine policy. Several senior CDC officials announced their resignations shortly after, plunging the public health agency into turmoil.

Monarez was pressed for days by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., administration lawyers and other officials over whether she would support rescinding certain approvals for coronavirus vaccines, according to two people with knowledge of those conversations. Kennedy, who has a long history of anti-vaccine advocacy, and other officials questioned Monarez on Monday on whether she was aligned with the administration’s efforts to change vaccine policy, the people said.

Monarez, who was a longtime federal government scientist before President Donald Trump nominated her to lead the CDC, declined to commit to support changing coronavirus vaccine policy without consulting her advisers, two people said. That prompted Kennedy to urge her to resign for “not supporting President Trump’s agenda,” one of the people said.

Monarez declined to immediately resign and enlisted Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), chairman of the Senate’s health committee who cast a pivotal vote for Kennedy’s confirmation after securing commitments to protect vaccines, said three people with knowledge of those conversations. Cassidy privately pushed back on Kennedy’s demands, the people said, further angering Kennedy, who lambasted Monarez for involving the Administration officials instructed Monarez to either resign or be fired, the people said.

The Trump administration’s new weapon against foes: Mortgage filings (Washington Post)

Trump and other officials raised allegations of mortgage fraud last week against Cook, a prominent economist put on the Fed board by President Joe Biden. The Justice Department is investigating the claims now, and Trump says the allegations alone are enough for him to push her out of her seat. Additionally, the Justice Department received a criminal referral over the real estate records of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has filed multiple lawsuits against both Trump administrations. And in July, Trump publicly accused Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) — who led impeachment proceedings against the president as a House member — of mortgage fraud.

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In a statement Monday, Cook said Trump “purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so.”

“I will not resign,” she said. “I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”

Cook’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said Tuesday that Trump’s attempt to fire Cook was based solely on a referral letter and lacked “any factual or legal basis. We will be filing a lawsuit challenging this illegal action.”

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Mortgage fraud cases brought by the Justice Department typically involve people using false information to get a loan they wouldn’t otherwise qualify for. But convictions are relatively rare: In fiscal 2021, 58 mortgage fraud offenders were sentenced in the federal system, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Between 2017 and 2021, the number of offenders fell by almost 70 percent.

People who are prosecuted could include those who tell lenders they plan to use a house as a primary home, but actually plan on using it as a second home or rental property, for example. Mortgage originators see primary homes as less-risky assets, so they offer lower mortgage rates on them. The allegations against James, Schiff and Cook all center on which of their properties were designated as primary residences.

Still, legal experts say public mortgage records don’t always indicate fraud because they can leave out agreements that borrowers have with their lenders about the properties, or information they disclosed during the application process, such as where they plan to live most of the time. Individual counties or lenders might also have different definitions of primary residences.

Republican politicians booed at Alabama Town Hall

Governor Newsom continues to troll Trump. Now he has a storefront with items that mock similar maga merch.

https://store.gavinnewsom.com/the-patriot-shop/

One of the items is a $100 bible “Signed by Gavin Newsom, America’s Favorite Governor!”. It’s probable this item was never in stock but the other things appear to be real.

Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth Ready to Change Defense Department's Name (Newsweek)

President Donald Trump says he wants to change the name of the Department of Defense back to its original title: the Department of War.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, the president said, in part, "It just sounded bad to me, 'On behalf of the Department of Defense?' Defense? I don't want to be defense only. We want defense but we want offense, too, if that's OK. As the Department of War, we won everything, and I think we're going to have to go back to that."

GOP Rep. calls for LGBTQ+ activists to be classified as terrorists

Schubert made his comment on an X post from Libs of TikTok, an anti-LGBTQ+ account run by Chaya Raichik. Raichik’s post noted that the person who killed two people in a Catholic school shooting on Tuesday was reportedly trans. Additional reporting on the shooter’s diary suggests that they may have de-transitioned, making their exact gender identity unclear.

But while right-wingers have rushed to blame the shooter’s gender identity for the shooting — even though the vast majority of mass shootings are carried out by cisgender men — Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said on Thursday that investigators have not identified a specific explanation for why the shooter targeted the church.

Sigh I know this is the extreme end but the president labels people threats for being in opposition to him already, so fuck. Just. FUCK.