Congress
Stefanik eyed for top Trump administration post
One of President-elect Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters in the House is on the short list to become his next ambassador to the United Nations, according to five people familiar with the potential appointment.
Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) tops the list of people the Trump transition team is considering for the influential diplomatic post.
Stefanik has repeatedly attacked the United Nations over accusations that the world body is antisemitic. Last month she called for a “complete reassessment of U.S. funding of the United Nations” in response to efforts by the Palestinian Authority to expel Israel from the United Nations as war rages in the Middle East.
On the domestic front, Stefanik has emerged as one of Trump’s most outspoken supporters. She gained national prominence during Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2019 with fiery defenses of the former president, and refused to certify the 2020 election results after the Jan. 6 insurrection, backing Trump’s false claims of a stolen election.
Stefanik this year drew praise from Republicans and Jewish leaders after she grilled college presidents in a House hearing on their handling of campus demonstrations over the Israel-Gaza war.
Her questioning over whether calling for the genocide of Jewish students considered bullying — and subsequent equivocations from the higher education leaders — led to the resignations of the Harvard and University of Pennsylvania presidents.
Stefanik and the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
At the United Nations, international diplomats are bracing for a drastically more combative U.S. administration when Trump takes office. Four foreign diplomats working on U.N. issues — all granted anonymity to freely discuss a sensitive matter — say they expect Trump to steeply cut funding to U.N. programs and withdraw from the World Health Organization and U.N. Global Compact on Migration.
Whomever Trump picks as ambassador, would be the standard-bearer of this more hostile approach.
The role is seen as a stepping stone in American politics, underscoring Stefanik’s reputation as a rising star in the Trump-era GOP. Past U.S. envoys to the United Nations have become secretary of State (Madeleine Albright), national security adviser (John Bolton) and even U.S. president (George H.W. Bush.) Trump’s former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley ran unsuccessfully for president in the 2024 primary cycle before dropping out to endorse Trump.
Tapping Stefanik for a top administration job would trigger a special election in her New York district, which poses a risk if Republicans have a narrow one- to two-seat majority in the House, control over which is still up for grabs. Still, the seat is in a region that has not elected a Democrat to the House in a decade.
Eric Bazail-Eimil and Jack Detsch contributed to this report.
Congress
Rep. Mike Lawler ‘accosted’ by Sen. Rand Paul’s son
Rep. Mike Lawler on Wednesday said he was accosted by the son of Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday night with a 10-minute “reprehensible” antisemitic rant.
The New York Republican told reporters the interaction occurred when he was on his way to a restaurant with at least one journalist. He said William Paul approached him and shouted at him and said he would blame “your people” if Rep. Thomas Massie loses his reelection bid.
“My people?” Lawler asked.
“Yeah, you Jews,” Paul replied.
Lawler said he told Paul that he isn’t Jewish and the senator’s son apologized before launched into an antisemitic diatribe.
“At one point, he said that he hates Jews and hates gays and doesn’t care if they die. And I think that’s fucking disgusting,” Lawler said.
The conversation, he said, ended soon thereafter, with Paul flipping him off and tripping on his way out the door.
In a post to X late Wednesday afternoon, Paul said he “had too much to drink and said some things that don’t represent who I really am.”
“I’m sorry and today I am seeking help for my drinking problem,” he added. A spokesperson for Sen. Rand Paul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I think it speaks to a larger issue, obviously, in society and what we’re seeing among young people and what we see online, and this is the level of hatred and vitriol, frankly, that some of my Jewish colleagues experience, that many of my constituents experience,” said Lawler.
Lawler represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, which is home to about 90,000 Jews, or about 12 percent of the district’s population.
“I’m not going to stop standing up for my constituents. I’m not going to stop standing up for the Judeo-Christian values that are at the core of our nation, our Constitution, our rule of law,” he said.
Congress
Lawmakers’ prescription data at risk after data breach
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill were informed this week of a data breach involving the congressional medical office that may have compromised personal information — including their prescription history.
The intrusions occurred March 1 and 3 and targeted RXNT, a medical software provider used by the Office of the Attending Physician to manage care for members of Congress, according to letters sent this week to affected individuals that were reviewed by Blue Light News.
Brian Monahan, the Capitol’s attending physician, is making personal calls to staff and lawmakers whose data are affected, according to one person contacted by phone this week and alerted that their prescription history was among those breached.
RXNT’s software is intended to “securely transmit prescription information to pharmacies for fulfillment,” Monahan’s office explained in the letters to patients. Among the data accessed in the RXNT breach includes names, birthdays, addresses, prescription information, doctor information and pharmacy information.
Under federal law, the data breach has to be reported within 60 days of the intrusion being discovered. RXNT notified the attending physician’s office on the last possible day allowed under federal health privacy rules. That, in turn, might have delayed the OAP’s review of the impact of the breach on Capitol Hill patients, according to two people familiar with the timeline and granted anonymity to share private deliberations.
It is not clear what foreign or domestic entity conducted the breach and where the sensitive data on lawmakers’ health could end up.
Financial data, insurance information and Social Security numbers were not compromised, nor were any patient records maintained by the Office of the Attending Physician that were not shared with RXNT. Such records, which include extensive information on lawmakers’ health history and medical treatments, “remain secured within the walls of Congress” and are “not cloud based,” according to the notice shared with affected patients on Capitol Hill.
“The OAP only provides the minimum information required to process prescription services,” the letter reads.
The Office of the Attending Physician operates several small medical clinics on the Capitol campus where Navy medical personnel handle both emergencies and primary health care for lawmakers, while also providing vaccinations and minor medical services for congressional aides. Staff are able to procure prescriptions through the OAP in limited circumstances, including for official travel and follow-up care.
Congress
Speaker calls allegations against Chuck Edwards ‘serious’
Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday the allegations against Rep. Chuck Edwards are “serious” and that he has spoken to the North Carolina Republican — who reportedly denied them all.
Johnson also noted an ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation into sexual misconduct and harassment accusations against Edwards, who is alleged to have had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a staffer, among other things.
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