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OMB nominee Russ Vought pledges to divest from Bitcoin upon confirmation

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A newly released financial disclosure for Russell Vought, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Office of Management and Budget, shows he has both Bitcoin and college savings plans among his assets.

Vought, a prominent contributor to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 who led the powerful office during the first Trump administration, is on track to lead the agency a second time around in reviewing federal regulations and developing the president’s budget.

He lists Bitcoin valuing between $1,001 and $15,000 among his assets, but he has pledged to get rid of them “as soon as practical but not later than 90 days after my confirmation,” according to a letter addressed to the OMB’s alternate designated agency ethics official, Laurie E. Adams.

In addition to his $542,204 salary from the conservative think tank he founded, the Center for Renewing America, and it’s advocacy arm, Citizens for Renewing America, Vought reported more than $5,000 in income from the Republican National Committee for preparing the party’s policy platform for the 2024 Republican National Convention.

He has two 529 education investment accounts each worth $50,001 to $100,000. He has 401k and 403b retirement accounts sponsored by his former employers, but Heritage and Center for Renewing America won’t be paying into the accounts any longer. He’s also invested in more than a half-dozen index funds.

Vought earned honorariums from Hillsdale College and American Global strategies for $4,000 and $5,000 each, along with a $500 payment for an article published in World Magazine titled “Taking on the Military Caste” about Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s battle against the Pentagon over abortion.

He has also pledged to resign his positions with both Center and Citizens for Renewing America and his role at America First Legal upon his confirmation, though he did not report income from the conservative nonprofit group.

Vought will appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Jan. 15 for his first confirmation hearing. He will also testify before the Senate Budget Committee, but that hearing is not yet scheduled.

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Bipartisan House effort aims to kill ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

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A bipartisan House effort is afoot to kill the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund created by the Justice Department that could pay allies of President Donald Trump, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the effort ahead of a formal announcement.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) have drafted text and are taking steps to unveil the legislation soon, the people said.

Speaker Mike Johnson raised the level of urgency to block the fund among some congressional skeptics when he refused to say Wednesday whether violent Jan. 6 convicts should have access to the taxpayer money.

Fitzpatrick said in an interview Wednesday he’s waiting to hear back from the Justice Dpartment regarding a list of questions he sent Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche seeking more information about who will be able to access the fund, which was created pursuant to a settlement between Trump and the IRS.

Fitzpatrick said his constituents and others “don’t want a DOJ slush fund that has not been described or explained to anybody.”

Blanche is meeting with GOP senators Thursday morning, some of whom are want to curtail or block the fund through the immigration enforcement package Senate Republicans are planning to advance today.

Johnson would be unlikely to bring the Fitzpatrick-Suozzi legislation to the House floor, but Fitzpatrick has been involved in multiple efforts this Congress to use discharge petitions to pass bipartisan bills over GOP leaders’ objections.

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House Oversight confronts toughest Epstein interview to date

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Sarah Kellen, a former assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, told congressional investigators Thursday she was “sexually and psychologically abused” by the convicted sex offender, according to a copy of her prepared opening statement.

Kellen — who is sitting for a closed-door, transcribed interview with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of its investigation into the late, disgraced financier — has presented a quandary for lawmakers as to whether she should be regarded as victim or an accomplice to Epstein in carrying out his crimes.

Speaking with reporters before the start of the interview, House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said he suspected it would be the hardest conversation with a witness to date.

“I know how the Department of Justice viewed her. I don’t know how the Oversight Committee will view her,” Comer said. “Obviously she’s presumed innocent, she’s going to have due process, and I appreciate her being here today.”

He noted, “We have a lot of questions about everything from the day-to-day activities to what she saw and what she knows.”

According to the prepared remarks, Kellen described details of the abuse that she endured at the hands of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the only convicted co-conspirator in the Epstein case who is now serving 20 years in prison for her part in the sex trafficking scheme.

“Jeffrey made certain I knew that defying him would cost me my life,” Kellen said, per the pre-written opening statement. “I was a silent body in a chair beside men who started and ended wars.”

Kellen was one of four women viewed as possible co-conspirators as part of the 2008 non-prosecution agreement many have argued allowed Epstein to continue to prey on young women and girls for years. Kellen, who was ultimately never prosecuted or charged, described the government’s scrutiny of her as a total blindside.

“The federal government of the United States branded me a criminal in a secret deal with my own abuser, without ever once speaking to me,” she said in her prepared remarks.

Kellen also recounted to the Oversight panel that she was raised in a “religious cult” and married at the age of 17. After her divorce, she was excommunicated from her community. A man said he would introduce her to Epstein under the auspices that he was a “scout for Victoria’s Secret.” She later got a job as Epstein’s assistant and said he only paid her once the sexual abuse began.

“I have read articles online labeling me as Ghislaine’s Lieutenant; that is a gross misrepresentation,” she said, according to the prepared statement. “I was a literal indentured slave; in fact, she even referred to me as her slave and minion.”

Erica Orden contributed to this report.

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Blanche to meet with senators

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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will meet with a group of Senate Republicans today at 11 a.m., a person familiar with the planning said.

The meeting comes as Republicans try to finalize their reconciliation bill and address concerns from members about the Justice Department’s new “anti-weaponization” fund.

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