Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
Trump’s news conference & confirmation hearings

Trump’s news conference & confirmation hearings

Last updated on: January 12, 2017 at 5:45 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

Trump’s news conference & confirmation hearings 2017-01-11T19:46:53-05:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Donald Trump held his first news conference since winning the election. He said that he now believes the Russians were probably responsible for the Democratic National Committee e-mail hacks, but he blasted the report that Russia has compromising information on him, singling out CNN for its reporting and Buzzfeed for publishing the unverified document.

Also, confirmation hearings for Trump’s cabinet are underway. His attorney-general nominee, Jeff Sessions, said that abortion and same-sex marriage are “settled law.” He also expressed positions different from Trump on keeping out Muslims, deporting illegal immigrants, waterboarding, and Russia’s alleged interference with the election.

Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson clashed with Marco Rubio on his Russia ties, but agreed that Russia was a threat. The Exxon CEO also stated his agreement with man-made climate change.

From Trump concedes for first time Russia likely behind DNC hacking: ‘I think it was Russia’ – Chicago Tribune:

In a combative and freewheeling news conference, President-elect Donald Trump said for the first time Wednesday that he accepts Russia was behind the election year hacking of Democrats that roiled the White House race. Looking ahead, he urged Congress to move quickly to replace President Barack Obama’s signature health care law and insisted anew that Mexico will pay the cost of a border wall.

The hour-long spectacle in the marbled lobby of Trump’s Manhattan skyscraper was his first news conference since winning the election in early November, and the famously unconventional politician demonstrated he had not been changed by the weight of his victory.

He defiantly denied reports that Russia had collected compromising personal and financial information about him, lambasting the media for peddling “fake news” and shouting down a journalist from CNN, which reported on the matter. His family and advisers clapped and cheered him on throughout.

[Keep reading. . .]

From Dana Milbank, Washington Post:

Sessions promised to recuse himself from decisions involving the Clinton emails and the Clinton Foundation. He said he would respect legal abortion and same-sex marriage, and he acknowledged that women and gay people are victims of hate crimes. Unlike his new boss, he said Muslims as a group could not be denied entry into the United States, and he didn’t dispute the intelligence community’s findings that Russia interfered in the election.

He said the administration would not seek to deport all immigrants here illegally. He opposed waterboarding. He pledged to enforce gun and environmental laws. He said the NAACP does “tremendous good.” He called the Voting Rights Act “one of the most important” laws, embraced “proper deference to the media” by prosecutors and boasted about working with Ted Kennedy.

“The Department of Justice must never falter in its obligation to protect the civil rights of every American, particularly those who are most vulnerable,” Sessions said, promising to “ensure access to the ballot for every eligible American voter.” The nominee said he would honor the “promise that our government is one of laws, not of men.”

[Keep reading. . .]

From Nicole Gaouette, CNN:

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of state broke with his future boss on key foreign policy issues at his confirmation hearing Wednesday, backing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, denouncing Russian aggression in Ukraine, and affirming his belief in climate change.

Former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson came under fire during the day-long appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from Democrats and, notably, from Republican Marco Rubio. The sometimes hostile questioning from the Florida lawmaker on a variety of topics was significant because if Rubio votes against Tillerson’s nomination that could kill it in committee since Republicans have only a one-vote margin on the panel.

[Keep reading. . .]

Photo of Jeff Sessions by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51041266

Government

Donald Trump

Donald Trump & Russia

Jeff Sessions

Rex Tillerson

Previous Post

January 12, 2017

Interfaith service surprise

Next Post

January 12, 2017 Trump and the prosperity gospel

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"While she worked for Trump she was a tool's tool!"

reg

Luther on Tools

"I know wired earbuds are making a comeback (I never stopped using them as I ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

"VCRs, tape decks, and cassette players are all having a revival among a segment of ..."

Tom Hering

Luther on Tools

"As a (retired) lawyer I see potential liability from sharing things like power or sharp ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: 1 Peter teaches that Christians should submit to every human authority for the Lord's sake.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »