Politics

By Joey Roulette

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to helm NASA, a private astronaut and close ally of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is a central figure of a speedy, commercial-focused side of the space industry who would face unfamiliar political challenges as an administrator.

Jared Isaacman, the CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments, has made landmark visits to space on two ambitious SpaceX missions, including the first-ever privately funded spacewalk in September.

In accepting Trump’s decision, he envisioned a “thriving space economy” and vowed to “usher in an era where humanity becomes a true spacefaring civilization.”

But the path to pursuing a faster, more privatized human spaceflight agenda is expected to involve a delicate political tango of trimming costly, entrenched programs and wooing lawmakers to increase the space agency’s $25 billion budget.

“He’s going to definitely push NASA, but he’ll do it in a positive way,” said Garrett Reisman, a retired NASA astronaut who has been an adviser to SpaceX.

Musk had recommended Trump pick Isaacman and has since told associates he sees the tech billionaire as someone who will get things done at NASA, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

“He is a man (of) high ability and integrity,” Musk said Wednesday of Isaacman on his X platform.

Targets at NASA for Trump and Musk’s cost-cutting agenda that Isaacman is expected to eye include the agency’s over-budget, $24 billion Space Launch System rocket and the in-development Gateway space station poised to sit in a lunar orbit, according to people familiar with the transition team’s space plans.

Other projects expected to face scrutiny include the agency’s goal to return soil samples from Mars – another top NASA priority alongside its Artemis moon program.

While likely to face pushback from lawmakers, cuts to expensive NASA programs could mean boosts to companies such as SpaceX that have embraced cheaper and faster means of getting to space and offering rockets to the government as a privately owned service.

That approach has contrasted with the space agency’s traditional method of company contracting where companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin build spacecraft that the agency itself owns, controls and fully funds.

Trump’s first NASA administrator, former Oklahoma congressman Jim Bridenstine, proved adept at navigating those political challenges. He was instrumental in winning budget boosts for NASA’s flagship crewed space exploration program and upping its dependence on private companies.

Bridenstine in a statement Wednesday night urged for Isaacman’s Senate confirmation, saying his “vision for pushing boundaries, paired with his proven track record of success in private industry, positions him as an ideal candidate to lead NASA into a bold new era of exploration and discovery.”

Since Trump’s first term, NASA has focused heavily on returning humans to the moon. But the Artemis program using NASA’s powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to send astronauts to space and Musk’s Starship rocket to land them on the moon has faced budget blowouts and delays, pushing the planned landing back to 2027.

NASA’s reliance on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, providing astronaut rides to the International Space Station at a cheaper price than previous options, has reinforced the agency’s commercial cost-savings strategy. It has also galvanized a industry culture that threatens the future of NASA’s older and far more expensive SLS rocket, built mainly by Boeing and Northrop Grumman with a countrywide workforce of 28,000.

“Administrator-nominee Isaacman, if confirmed, will face challenges as he leads NASA into the future,” said Dan Stohr, CEO of the industry group Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, which counts Boeing and Lockheed Martin as members.

“Budget limitations, workforce, and infrastructure needs will all play a role in shaping NASA’s future,” Stohr added.

NASA’s current administrator, Bill Nelson, said he spoke with Isaacman to congratulate his tentative nomination and feels “basically optimistic” about the future of NASA under Trump.

“I think the relationship between Elon Musk and the president-elect is going to be a benefit to making sure that the funding for NASA is there, so I see that as a positive,” Nelson told a press conference on Thursday.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

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By Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Former U.S. President Barack Obama, who has mostly stayed quiet in the weeks since Vice President Kamala Harris’ election loss, on Thursday urged a new generation of American leaders to talk with people they disagree with.

In a speech at a “Democracy Forum” sponsored by his foundation, the former president said he was convinced that a renewed commitment to pluralist principles was essential to ensure the survival of democracy.

“The alternative is what we’ve seen here in the United States and in many democracies around the globe – not just more gridlock, not just public cynicism, but an increased willingness on the part of politicians and their followers to violate democratic norms, to do anything they can to get their way.”

Obama discussed the “power of pluralism” with thousands of live and online attendees at a deeply divided time in U.S. history and an unsettling one for Democrats as Republican Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Building lasting majorities that supported justice required “framing our issues, our causes, what we believe in, in terms of ‘we’ and not just ‘us and them,’” he said.

But that did not mean rolling over when opponents abused power, he said. “That’s a problem. And when that happens, we fight for what we believe in.”

While Obama, 63, remains in high demand to campaign for his fellow Democrats, some in the party are calling for a crop of younger leaders to take the baton after Harris lost every battleground state and the popular vote and Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

“I think he’d be the first to agree,” David Axelrod, former senior adviser to Obama, told Reuters. “I think he would say he’s run his race and we need others to step up.”

“Time marches on, and I think that he would say … we need a whole array of leaders, and there are young leaders in the Democratic Party who are dynamic and very much in touch with the times who can step up and play a big role.”

November’s disappointing results for Democrats, including support eroding among working-class and Latino voters, sparked an angry blame game inside the party and an effort by some to push for fresh talent.

“I’ve always been an advocate for a new generation of leadership in the party and I think that people are yearning for that,” Representative Seth Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts, told Reuters.

“It doesn’t mean that the Obama magic is totally gone, but Obama’s not going to be a future president. Obama’s not running for Senate. We need to hear from newer voices that can better represent the fears and struggles that Americans face today.”

Obama and his wife Michelle campaigned around the country and remain enormously popular within the party base, wielding influence behind the scenes through fundraising and a deep network of allies and former staff.

But despite fundraising success and resonant speeches, Obama was unable to help propel Harris to victory this year. Democratic nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also failed to win the presidency in 2016 despite his backing.

Advisers from his one-time inner circle who joined Harris’ campaign after President Joe Biden stepped aside are drawing fire for failing to admit any mistakes in how they handled the 2024 cycle.

A day after the Nov. 5 election, the Obamas issued a statement congratulating Trump and saying “progress requires us to extend good faith and grace – even to people with whom we deeply disagree.”

Obama made history as the first Black president of the United States and racked up comfortable margins of victory over his Republican opponents when he ran: more than seven percentage points in 2008 and nearly four in 2012.

But American politics has changed since then, some strategists say.

“His two wins do seem that much more remarkable in retrospect, given how much of the coalition that Republicans have built around Trump has been around racial politics,” said Jeff Timmer, chief operating officer of the Lincoln Project, a political consulting group of former Republicans opposed to Trump who worked to elect Harris and Biden before her.

Obama campaigned heavily for Biden, who won in 2020, but his words on the campaign trail this year backfired at least once. At a stop in Pennsylvania, he seemed to lecture Black men over their reluctance to vote for a woman, drawing criticism from some Black activists.

Down-ballot demand for the former president this year was high, though. Democratic congressional candidates such as Senator-elect Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Senator-elect Ruben Gallego of Arizona sought Obama’s help, got it, and won.

“Is this the ultimate turning the page on the Obama years? Maybe,” said Michael Feldman, a communications consultant and former adviser to Al Gore, reflecting on the 2024 election. “Will he still be and will she (Mrs. Obama) still be the two most popular figures within the party for the foreseeable future? The answer is absolutely.”

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by Heather Timmons; Editing by Heather Timmons, Deepa Babington and Diane Craft)

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PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The think tank behind Project 2025, the conservative blueprint linked to President-elect Donald Trump, is launching an effort to back Trump’s imperiled selection for secretary of defense in its latest attempt to wield influence in the incoming Republican administration.

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said Thursday that his group will spend $1 million to pressure senators unwilling to back Pete Hegseth, whose nomination to lead the Pentagon has come into question due to his views on women serving in combat and reports about his personal behavior. A number of Republican senators have declined to commit to backing Hegseth or have asked for more information about his drinking and treatment of women.

“It’ll be messaging right now with their constituents about how out of step they are with the Trump agenda,” Roberts said in an interview, who argued that criticism of Hegseth was being driven by “the establishment.”

Roberts’ announcement that he will support Hegseth is the latest sign that Project 2025, which Trump disavowed amid Democratic criticism during his campaign, is newly ascendant as Trump returns to the White House. The president-elect has picked several of its authors and contributors to key positions.

Roberts spoke to The Associated Press during an event at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate, after he said he saw Trump at another event Wednesday also attended by other incoming members of the president-elect’s Cabinet. Roberts did not say whether he met privately or would meet privately with Trump.

Project 2025 includes proposals to reclassify thousands of federal workers so they could be fired and eliminate or curtail several government agencies. Facing Democratic criticism over the blueprint, Trump sought to distance himself from it and denied knowing who was behind it, even as the proposal was drafted by longtime allies and former officials in his administration.

The event at Mar-a-Lago was to launch an exchange-traded fund, or ETF, called Azoria U.S. Meritocracy that is looking to target companies with diversity, equity and inclusion practices by excluding them from the fund. Its CEO, James Fishback, is close to Vivek Ramaswamy, the entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate in charge of the new Department of Government Efficiency with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Roberts introduced himself on Thursday as someone from Project 2025, and the small crowd laughed.

He noted he is good friends with Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, another group that laid the groundwork beforehand for a second Trump administration. Rollins has been nominated to serve as Trump’s agriculture secretary.

Roberts said groups like the Heritage Foundation and America First Policy Institute were “close collaborators on the Trump agenda.” He called the second Trump term the “beginning of the golden era of America’s next chapter.”

“I think we’re in the middle of a re-founding of this country,” he said.

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Trump’s Middle East Envoy Headed to Israel, Qatar for Gaza Cease-fire Talks, Sources Say

US President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy has initiated diplomatic efforts in Qatar and Israel to facilitate a cease-fire in Gaza, traveling to both countries to secure the release of hostages before the incoming White House takes over on January 20, a source briefed on the talks told Reuters.

Steve Witkoff, a real estate investor with strong business ties in Israel and the Gulf but no formal diplomatic experience, met with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in late November and aims to build on ongoing but so far unsuccessful efforts led by Biden’s administration, Qatar, and Egypt.

While Biden’s team will remain the primary US negotiator, the incoming envoy’s discussions signal Qatar’s reengagement as a mediator after temporarily stepping back, the source said.

Hamas negotiators are also expected to return to Doha for further talks as well, the source alleged, noting that there are plans for new talks, but “no specific date has been set.”

While Biden’s team has not directly coordinated with Witkoff, they see his efforts as exploratory and an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the key issues, according to a US official.

In a post on the Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump warned of “hell to pay” if the hostages were not freed before his inauguration. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Reuters that the president-elect’s comments reflect a bipartisan urgency to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

“I think the president-elect’s statement reinforces that,” Blinken said, noting these goals are shared by both administrations.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Smartmatic won’t be required to give Fox News a trove of information about U.S. federal charges against the voting machine company’s co-founder over alleged bribery in the Philippines, a judge ruled Thursday.

Fox News and parent Fox Corp. sought the information to help fight Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation suit over broadcasts about the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Smartmatic says its business was gutted when Fox aired false claims that the election-tech company helped rig the voting.

Fox says it was simply reporting on newsworthy allegations made by then-President Donald Trump and his allies.

At the same hearing, Judge David B. Cohen also turned down Smartmatic’s request to question two Fox Corp. board members. The company has already questioned others.

The Aug. 8 indictment of Smartmatic co-founder Roger Piñate and two other executives concerns a geographically distant matter: Smartmatic’s efforts to get work in the Philippines between 2015 and 2018.

But Fox maintains the criminal case is pertinent to Smartmatic’s business prospects, and therefore to the election-tech company’s claims about what it lost and stands to lose because of Fox’s 2020 coverage.

“As of Aug 8, governments will have to take into account the risks of doing business with a company (where some executives have been) accused of serious corruption by the U.S. Department of Justice,” Fox lawyer Brad Masters told a New York court Thursday.

He asked the court to order Smartmatic to provide any documents that it has given to the DOJ for the bribery investigation; any customer inquiries about the criminal charges; and any staff communications about the matter and its impact on the company.

The indictment accuses Piñate and two other Smartmatic executives of scheming to pay over $1 million in bribes to a Filipino election official to deploy the company’s machines and pay promptly for them. Federal prosecutors say the payments were made through sham loan agreements and via a slush fund created by overcharging for the machines.

Piñate, who has served as Smartmatic’s president, and at least one of the other executives have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to violate the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to money laundering. It’s unclear from court records whether the third executive has entered a plea or has an attorney who can comment on the charges.

Boca Raton, Florida-based Smartmatic itself isn’t charged in the criminal case. The company put the executives on leave and sought to reassure voters that elections are “conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency.”

Smartmatic’s lawyers contend the indictment is irrelevant to the defamation suit, which is about election-fraud claims that Trump’s attorneys made on Fox News programs.

The indictment is “merely an allegation,” Smartmatic attorney Caitlin Kovacs argued Thursday. She suggested Fox wanted to “play prosecutor to the jury” and “accuse Smartmatic of a crime that they didn’t commit.”

Cohen denied two similar requests from Fox while the federal investigation was ongoing. He said Thursday that the indictment didn’t change his mind.

“It’s a mere accusation. It raises no presumption of guilt,” he said.

Smartmatic is suing over shows in which Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell portrayed the company as part of a broad conspiracy to steal the 2020 vote from Trump, a Republican and the winner of this year’s election.

Federal and state election officials, exhaustive reviews in battleground states and Trump’s own then-attorney general found no widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome of the 2020 election. Nor did they uncover any credible evidence that the vote was tainted. Dozens of judges, including some whom Trump appointed, rejected his fraud claims.

Fox News ultimately aired an interview with an election technology expert who refuted the allegations against Smartmatic.

As is normal in the run-up to a civil trial, various players connected to both parties have been questioned under oath by the other side’s lawyers. These out-of-court sessions are called depositions.

Smartmatic wanted Thursday to get depositions ordered for Fox Corp. board members Chase Carey and Roland Hernandez. The two attended meetings where critical decisions were made, Smartmatic argues.

Fox lawyer Devin Anderson said there’s no indication that Carey and Hernandez “have any relevant information” to add. Smartmatic already has questioned other board members, including Executive Chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch and former House Speaker Paul Ryan, as well as Fox founder Rupert Murdoch, the attorney said.

Depositions generally aren’t made public at this stage of a case.

Smartmatic lawyer Erik Connolly said after court that the company was pursuing other information to show “that Fox Corp. controlled the disinformation spread by Fox News.”

A message seeking comment was sent to Fox. The news network is countersuing Smartmatic, claiming the defamation case violates a New York law against baseless suits aimed at squelching reporting or criticism on public issues.

Smartmatic recently settled defamation suits against One America News Network and Newsmax. Fox News settled for $787 million last year with another voting-technology company, Dominion Voting Systems.

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By Andy Sullivan, David Morgan and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON -Billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy met on Thursday with Republican lawmakers whose support they will need to win the sweeping spending cuts that President-elect Donald Trump has asked them to find.

Trump has named two entrepreneurs to a task force that aims for a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. government, which spent $6.8 trillion in the most recent fiscal year. Musk has set a target of $2 trillion in savings, though he has not said whether that would come in a single year or over a longer period.

The two chairs of the Department of Government Efficiency have called for firing thousands of federal workers, slashing regulations and eliminating programs whose authorization has expired, such as veterans’ healthcare.

That could be easier said than done. Any changes to veterans’ benefits or other popular programs that serve millions of Americans would likely encounter fierce blowback, and efforts to thin the workforce could disrupt everything from law enforcement to air traffic control.

“We want to help him in any way that we can. He’s got, obviously, a big mission. But we all think the effort they’re undertaking is long overdue,” Senator John Thune, who will lead the Republican majority next year, told reporters after meeting with Musk.

Musk, who earlier rushed through the Capitol’s crowded corridors clutching the hand of a small child, offered few details on how he will try to accomplish his sweeping cost-cutting goals.

“I think we just need to make sure we spend the public’s money well,” said Musk.

The billionaire CEO of electric car maker Tesla and SpaceX addressed only one specific policy specific, when asked about electric vehicle tax credits, responding: “I think we should get rid of all credits.” 

Musk’s companies benefit from federal contracts and tax breaks and also are subject to regulatory oversight, raising concerns that his involvement with the efficiency panel creates a conflict of interest.

Ramaswamy met separately with a group of Senate Republicans including Thom Tillis, who said afterward they discussed actions the Trump administration could take on its own, rather than those that would require legislation. “Is this an administrative action that doesn’t require congressional approval? Rock on. Do it now or do it after Jan. 20,” he told reporters.

As co-chairs of the efficiency task force, Musk and Ramaswamy, a former biotech executive, would likely have to work with Congress to secure significant reductions.

REPUBLICAN TRIFECTA

Republicans will control both chambers of Congress and the White House next year, but they may struggle to win significant reductions. While lawmakers sign off on roughly $1.7 trillion in defense and domestic programs each year, most federal spending consists of health, pension and other benefit programs that lie outside of the annual budget process. Lawmakers also have no control over interest payments, which are projected to top $1 trillion in this fiscal year.

Republican lawmakers have said they are eager to cooperate. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hard-right firebrand, will chair a House of Representatives panel to work with Musk and Ramaswamy, and Senate lawmakers have also expressed openness to the idea. Republicans secured limited spending cuts in a 2023 showdown with Democratic President Joe Biden but have been unable to agree on further reductions since then.

Trump has broken with former Republican orthodoxy by saying he will not cut benefits for the Social Security pension plan or the Medicare health plan for seniors, which together account for more than one-third of federal spending. 

Trump showed little interest in spending cuts during his first 2017-2021 term in office, when federal expenditures grew from $4 trillion to $6.2 trillion. Congress did not act on his proposal to eliminate more than a dozen small government agencies and failed to repeal Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, a central goal of the party.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan, David Morgan and Richard Cowan, additional reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis and Diane Craft)

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(Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday said he was appointing former PayPal Chief Operating Officer David Sacks to be his White House Artificial Intelligence and Crypto Czar.

“He will work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the U.S.,” Trump said in a post on his social-media site Truth Social.

Trump – who once labeled crypto a scam – embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” and to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.

Bitcoin broke $100,000 for the first time on Wednesday night, a milestone hailed even by skeptics as a coming-of-age for digital assets as investors bet on a friendly U.S. administration to cement the place of cryptocurrencies in financial markets.

Sacks is also a former chief executive of software company Zenefits and founded Yammer, a social network for enterprise users.

Trump said Sacks will also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas)

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By Bo Erickson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to consider on Thursday what to do with a report on alleged sexual misconduct and drug use by ex-congressman Matt Gaetz, who has dropped his bid to become President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general.

A pair of Gaetz-related meetings are planned.

The House Ethics Committee, which had probed the allegations, is expected to meet to discuss what to do with the findings of its investigation of Gaetz, according to a source with knowledge of the panel’s plans, who was granted anonymity to discuss its inner workings.

Thursday is also the deadline for the full Republican-controlled House to consider a motion to force the panel to release its report on Gaetz, 42, who resigned from Congress in November hours after Trump tapped him as a potential attorney general.

Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing.

Democratic Representative Sean Casten, who is leading the procedural maneuver to allow other House members to vote on whether to publicly release the Gaetz report, cited at least four examples since 1987 of the ethics panel continuing its work and releasing investigative findings after a representative resigns from Congress.

The House could vote on the proposal itself — which would require Republican support to pass — or simply vote to quash it.

The Ethics Committee — made up of five Republicans and five Democrats — is also expected to vote on potentially releasing the committee’s investigative findings into Gaetz. The panel deadlocked along party lines in a similar vote last month.

At the time, the committee’s Republican chairman, Representative Michael Guest, told reporters he had “reservations” about releasing the report because it was not yet complete. The committee’s top Democrat, Representative Susan Wild, said there was no unanimity within the panel on how to move forward with the probe.

The Ethics Committee only has jurisdiction over current members of Congress. Because Gaetz has said he does not plan to return for next year’s congressional session beginning in January, several Republicans have argued the investigation should be privately concluded.

(Reporting by Bo Erickson; Editing by Scott Malone and David Gregorio)

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NEW YORK (AP) — Bitcoin topped $100,000 for the first time as a massive rally in the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, sparked by the election of Donald Trump, rolls on.

The cryptocurrency rallied after the president-elect said he intends to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to be the next chair the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bitcoin has soared since Trump won the election Nov. 5. The cryptocurrency has climbed from $69,374 on Election Day, hitting as high as $103,713 Wednesday, according to CoinDesk. Just two years ago, bitcoin dropped below $17,000 following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

Bitcoin fell back to just under $103,000 early Thursday, but bitcoin futures are up more than 4%. Even amid a massive rally that has more than doubled the value of bitcoin this year, some experts continue to warn of investment risks.

Here’s what you need to know.

Cryptocurrency has been around for a while now. But, chances are, you’ve heard about it more and more over the last few years.

In basic terms, cryptocurrency is digital money. This kind of currency is designed to work through an online network without a central authority — meaning it’s typically not backed by any government or banking institution — and transactions get recorded with technology called a blockchain.

Bitcoin is the largest and oldest cryptocurrency, although other assets like ethereum, tether and dogecoin have also gained popularity over the years. Some investors see cryptocurrency as a “digital alternative” to traditional money, but the large majority of daily financial transactions are still conducted using fiat currencies such as the dollar. Also, bitcoin can be very volatile, with its price reliant on larger market conditions.

A lot of the recent action has to do with the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

Trump, who was once a crypto skeptic, has pledged to make the U.S. “the crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic reserve” of bitcoin. His campaign accepted donations in cryptocurrency and he courted fans at a bitcoin conference in July. He also launched World Liberty Financial, a new venture with family members to trade cryptocurrencies.

Crypto industry players have welcomed Trump’s victory, in hopes that he would be able to push through legislative and regulatory changes that they’ve long lobbied for — which, generally speaking, aim for an increased sense of legitimacy without too much red tape.

Trump made a move in that direction Wednesday when he said he intends to nominate Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins was an SEC commissioner during the presidency of George W. Bush. In the years since leaving the agency, Atkins has made the case against too much market regulation. He joined the Token Alliance, a cryptocurrency advocacy organization, in 2017.

Under current chair Gary Gensler, the SEC has cracked down on the crypto industry, penalizing a number of companies for violating securities laws. But he’s also faced criticism from industry players in the process, like the chief legal officer of Robinhood, who described Gensler’s approach toward crypto as “rigid” and “hostile.” Gensler will step down when Trump takes office.

One crypto-friendly move the SEC did make under Gensler was the approval in January of spot bitcoin ETFs, or exchange trade funds, which allow investors to have a stake in bitcoin without directly buying it. The Spot ETFs were the dominant driver of bitcoin’s price before the election — but, like much of the crypto’s recent momentum, saw record inflows postelection.

History shows you can lose money in crypto as quickly as you’ve made it. Long-term price behavior relies on larger market conditions. Trading continues at all hours, every day.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, bitcoin stood at just over $5,000. Its price climbed to nearly $69,000 by November 2021, during high demand for technology assets, but later crashed during an aggressive series of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. And the late-2022 collapse of FTX significantly undermined confidence in crypto overall, with bitcoin falling below $17,000.

Investors began returning in large numbers as inflation started to cool — and gains skyrocketed on the anticipation and then early success of spot ETFs. But experts still stress caution, especially for small-pocketed investors. And lighter regulation from the coming Trump administration could mean less guardrails.

“I would say, keep it simple. And don’t take on more risk than you can afford to,” said Adam Morgan McCarthy, a research analyst at Kaiko, adding that there isn’t a “magic eight ball” to know for certain what comes next.

Assets like bitcoin are produced through a process called “mining,” which consumes a lot of energy. Operations relying on pollutive sources have drawn particular concern over the years.

Recent research published by the United Nations University and Earth’s Future journal found that the carbon footprint of 2020-2021 bitcoin mining across 76 nations was equivalent to the emissions from burning 84 billion pounds of coal or running 190 natural gas-fired power plants. Coal satisfied the bulk of bitcoin’s electricity demands (45%), followed by natural gas (21%) and hydropower (16%).

Environmental impacts of bitcoin mining boil largely down to the energy source used. Industry analysts have maintained that clean energy has increased in use in recent years, coinciding with rising calls for climate protections

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By Gabriella Borter and Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Secret Service’s acting director will appear on Thursday before a House of Representatives panel investigating security lapses involved in two failed assassination attempts of President-elect Donald Trump.

Acting Director Ronald Rowe will testify as the task force, of seven Republicans and six Democrats, prepares to issue a final report on its probe.

“It is essential that we recognize the gravity of our failure on July 13, 2024. I personally carry the weight of knowing that we almost lost a protectee and that our failure cost a father and husband his life,” Rowe said in prepared testimony ahead of the hearing.

“This entire incident represents the failure to meet the expectations and responsibilities of the Secret Service.”

The Secret Service has faced questions over its staffing levels and communication capabilities after Trump twice survived attempts on his life during this year’s presidential campaign.

A gunman fired eight shots during a Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July, wounding Trump in the ear and killing another attendee. The gunman was shot and killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper.

Two months later, a man with a gun holed himself up near a Trump-owned golf course in Florida with what prosecutors have said was an intent to kill the then-Republican candidate while he golfed.

The suspect, Ryan Routh, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges and is awaiting trial.

Rowe has said he was “ashamed” of security lapses surrounding the Pennsylvania shooting. He defended the agency’s response in the Florida incident, commending an agent who spotted the gunman before he could open fire.

Rowe, who took over after his predecessor resigned following the Pennsylvania shooting, has vowed to hold accountable agents responsible for security lapses and said during the campaign that Trump’s protection was equal to the current president, Joe Biden.

The rally shooting shook confidence in the Secret Service, damaging its elite “zero fail” reputation for protecting presidents and high-level dignitaries to the United States.

The Secret Service has largely been exempt from Trump’s criticisms of federal law enforcement and vows to overhaul government, but the agency’s response to the Pennsylvania shooting drew bipartisan condemnation.

An interim report from the House task force, released in October, found a lack of planning between the Secret Service and local law enforcement ahead of the July rally.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Stephen Coates)

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