Column One: Pack Rat In The Mouse House

Yambo's Treasury Secretary pick, a billionaire who has been accused of evading taxes, says that “the most important economic issue of the day” is extending Trump’s tax cuts for the ultra rich. WELL OF COURSE HE DOES. Via Rolling Stone: Scott Bessent spoke about his economic plans while sitting for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.

According to her spokesperson, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not attend Donald's inauguration, and no one can blame the California Democrat. Donald repeatedly mocked Pelosi and her husband, Paul, after he was violently attacked in 2022 by a hammer-wielding Trump supporter. Of course, there is a list of other apparent reasons.

On this day in 1966 NBC-TV in the US bought The Monkees television series and slotted it into their 1966 autumn schedule. The Monkees, Last Train to Clarksville. First Draft: Irked In January. Rewire News Group: National Network of Abortion Funds Removes Executive Director. Professional Left Podcast: Our Last Podcast Of The Biden Administration. Attention space nerds!

Maybe $2 million or so feels like chump change to a Kennedy, especially one who hopes to join the Billionaire Bros club of the Trump administration, but even Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has to know that hundreds of thousands in yearly compensation is nothing like what he called an “unpaid” position as founder, chairman and general counsel of the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense. New reporting from The Daily Beast reveals that Kennedy owned up to the truth in financial disclosure forms - eventually. In personal financial disclosure forms required for all presidential candidates, Kennedy initially reported that he had earned $731,470.53 in 2022 and 2023.

ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani court on Friday sentenced the country’s already-imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife to 14 and seven years in jail after finding them guilty of corruption, officials and his lawyer said. It’s yet another blow for the former premier who has been behind the bars since 2023. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The couple are accused of accepting a gift of land from a real estate tycoon in exchange for laundered money when Khan was in power. Prosecutors say the businessman, Malik Riaz, was then allowed by Khan to pay fines that were imposed on him in another case from the same laundered money of 190 million British pounds ($240 million) that was returned to Pakistan by British authorities in 2022 to deposit to the national exchequer. Khan has denied wrongdoing and insisted since his arrest in 2023 that all the charges against him are a plot by rivals to keep him from returning to office. Bibi was taken into custody by prison officials after the announcement of the verdict, according to officials.

President-elect Donald Trump’s second inauguration will be attended by some of America’s most influential billionaires and politicians as well as some foreign leaders and celebrities who have embraced the incoming President. Read below for some of the notable guests who will be in attendance. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Politicians President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, along with their respective spouses First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, are set to revive the tradition of defeated presidential candidates sharing the inauguration stage with the election winners.