Congress

‘Weaponized’ agency: Ramaswamy, Musk attack SEC after diversity ruling setback

Published

2 years ago

December 12, 2024

Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk are joining other Trump allies in slamming the Securities and Exchange Commission after a federal appeals court threw out the regulator’s approval of board diversity rules from the Nasdaq exchange.

Less than 24 hours after the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided in favor of conservative groups that had challenged the rules, Ramaswamy, Musk and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said the decision underscored what they see as underlying issues with Wall Street’s top regulator.

“When an agency like the SEC is so repeatedly & thoroughly embarrassed in federal court for flouting the law, it loses its legitimacy as a law enforcement body,” said Ramaswamy, who is heading up the so-called Department of Government Efficiency alongside Musk, in a post on X.

Musk called the SEC “just another weaponized institution doing political dirty work” in a post of his own, while Lee said the SEC “cannot be trusted.”

The attacks could offer a preview of the potential scrutiny that awaits the SEC in the incoming administration, as President-elect Donald Trump and his team look to overhaul the federal government and slash spending. Leading that charge from the outside will be Ramaswamy and Musk’s DOGE, an advisory panel that is expected to look at everything from cutting regulations to forcing the federal workforce back to the office.

The SEC has long been a popular target for conservative groups, lawmakers and business titans, including Musk. The billionaire owner of X, Tesla chief executive and Trump’s highest-profile backer has repeatedly clashed with the agency in recent years, including during the first Trump administration. Most recently, the SEC has been investigating Musk’s $44 billion purchase of X, which was then called Twitter.

An SEC spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the posts by Ramaswamy, Musk or Lee.

The Nasdaq rules were designed to require companies listed on the exchange to publicly disclose data about their board members and to have at least two members who identify as having diverse backgrounds — or for the company to explain why they don’t have those individuals in place.

But the Fifth Circuit found that the proposals “cannot be squared” with federal securities laws and that the SEC had “intruded into territory outside its ordinary domain” by approving them.

The decision, handed down more than three years after the SEC’s approval order, was the latest in a string of legal defeats for the Gary Gensler-led SEC.

Financial industry and conservative groups have launched a wide-ranging effort in recent years to knock down critical SEC rules in the courts — and particularly in the conservative-majority Fifth Circuit. An SEC spokesperson said late Wednesday that the agency is reviewing the Nasdaq ruling.

How the SEC handles the legal challenges going forward could fall on the shoulders of Trump’s pick to lead the agency, Paul Atkins. Earlier this month, the president-elect tapped the former SEC commissioner and Wall Street adviser to replace Gensler next year. If confirmed, Atkins is widely expected to pursue a business-friendly agenda that could entail walking back certain rules and lawsuits pursued by Gensler’s SEC.

Dennis Kelleher, who leads the financial reform advocacy group Better Markets, told Blue Light News that the federal court ruling had little to do with the SEC or the merits of Nasdaq’s rules. Instead, he said, “it is about a biased kangaroo court weaponized with Trump-appointed judges who reflexively side with the industry against government rules regardless of facts, law or policy.”

“The goal of the industry is to turn the SEC from an effective cop on the Wall Street beat to a toothless tiger that does not do its job and cannot do its job,” Kelleher said. But, he warned, “undermining and crippling the SEC is undermining the United States capital markets, which is the jet fuel for our economy.”

Congress

Texas Republican is under House Ethics investigation

Published

1 hour ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House Ethics Committee said in a statement Monday it is investigating Rep. Lance Gooden, a four-term Texas Republican.

It’s unclear what the committee is probing, but the Office of Congressional Conduct, an independent investigative branch of the House, sent over findings regarding Gooden to the committee June 10.

The Ethics panel plans to release an update on its investigation by Nov. 9. Committee representatives declined to comment beyond the statement.

In 2021, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint asking for an investigation into Gooden’s apparent failure to report his stock trades in a timely manner, which is a requirement under a federal law known as the STOCK Act. The complaint was sent to the OCC.

Congress

Congressional Black Caucus members break with Jeffries, endorse against Thanedar in Michigan House race

Published

2 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A handful of members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Monday broke with Democratic Party leadership to endorse Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney in his bid to primary Rep. Shri Thanedar, an unusual move given that sitting members of the same party rarely endorse against each other.

Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford (Nev.), the former chair of the CBC, and Lateefah Simon (Calif.) called McKinney a “fighter.” Rep. Ilhan Omar (Mich.) praised McKinney as “the only trusted candidate” in the race. And Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) touted McKinney for “never [losing] sight of the people.”

“We need Donavan in Congress,” said Pressley.

The race between McKinney and Thanedar, who was elected in 2022, is the latest battleground in the ongoing ideological clash between the Democratic establishment and its progressive flank.

McKinney is hoping to capitalize on the latest wave of progressive successes in primaries, but Thanedar retains the power of the incumbency — and the backing of House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar.

Thanedar’s 2022 election marked the first time since 1955 that the majority-Black city of Detroit didn’t have a Black lawmaker representing it in Congress. And he won two years ago only after Adam Hollier, who was viewed as his most credible primary challenger, was disqualified from the ballot.

“It’s not just about having Black representation, but that is a part of what appropriate representation looks for,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who had previously backed McKinney, told Blue Light News. “You have a majority-Black district, and I think that there is certainly an appetite to see that again, or to at least make sure that a Black candidate has the opportunity to present themselves.”

In a phone call, Thanedar emphasized that he has worked closely with members of the CBC during his time in office, noting that the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) was a mentor of his and, in addition to Jeffries, he has the endorsement CBC members like Rep. Bennie Thomspon (D-Miss.).

“I am fully aware that I am representing the Blackest city in America and I’m proud of it,” Thanedar, who is Indian-American, said. “My story is like Detroit’s story — I struggled through poverty, never say die, never gave up and I have that resilience that Detroit has. The resilience of Detroit is what my life is about.”

McKinney on Monday said he was “honored” by the endorsements.

“Millions of lives across the country have been made immeasurably better because of the hard work these members have done in Congress, and I look forward to working alongside these incredible leaders to pass critical legislation to protect voting rights, get big money out of our politics, and ensure all families have access to the resources they need to not just survive, but to truly thrive,” he said in a statement.

Congress

Fetterman says Democrats were ‘horribly wrong’ to try eliminating Senate filibuster

Published

3 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is backpedaling on his previous calls to eliminate the filibuster in the Senate — which is a critical bulwark against “a fill-in-the-blank government with new laws, deregulation or procedures of its choosing,” he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Monday.

“A Senate without the filibuster [would become] a Senate that ignored the voices of the minority and everyday people,” he wrote, elaborating on previous comments. Last month, he told Katie Miller that Democrats were “so wrong” about opposing the filibuster.

“We cannot become a smaller version of the House of Representatives,” he wrote in his op-ed.

In 2022, Fetterman campaigned to abolish the filibuster, a 60-vote rule that effectively requires a supermajority to pass most legislation. His argument on the trail — which remains on his campaign website as of Monday afternoon — was that the rule stood “in the way of getting things done for Pennsylvanians.”

At that time, many Senate Democrats and activists argued the same publicly, as the party attempted to pass a sweeping overhaul of elections that Democrats said would better protect voting rights. But two then-Democratic senators, Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) — protested against throwing out the rule, saying it would hurt the party’s priorities in the long run.

Ultimately the filibuster survived and Democrats did not pass their voting rights bill, with much of the party base heaping scorn on Manchin and Sinema.

Now, with Republicans holding a government trifecta, the power dynamic has flipped.

President Donald Trump is now urging Republican senators to kill the filibuster, which has stalled passage of the SAVE America Act. He turned the screws on Majority Leader John Thune on Monday, demanding that Thune keep the Senate in session until the GOP-backed elections bill passes.

“John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

The filibuster has been a block against GOP-championed causes, Fetterman argued: “We could have extreme policies such as nationwide abortion restrictions, backpedaling on LGBT rights, repeal of birthright citizenship and limited voting rights across the country. … Republicans could fundamentally change the entire government and country with a simple majority vote.”

With the midterms approaching, Democrats face a tight battle to win back the Senate. The next time they have a trifecta, the filibuster will — once again — be a thorn in the party’s side, complicating the passage of key priorities.

Democrats “will once again have to find common ground with our Republican colleagues,” Fetterman said. “We will need to abandon our worst impulses as a party and work together to find solutions to the problems Americans face.”