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Dan Bongino, a former U.S. Secret Service agent who ran unsuccessfully for office and gained fame as a conservative pundit with TV shows and a popular podcast, has been chosen to serve as FBI deputy director. President Donald Trump announced the appointment Sunday night in a post on his Truth Social platform, praising Bongino as a man of incredible love and passion for our Country. He called the announcement great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice. The selection places two staunch Trump allies atop the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency at a time when Democrats have raised alarms that the Republican president could seek to use the FBI to target his adversaries. Bongino would serve under Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist who was sworn in as FBI director at the White House on Friday and who has signaled his intent to reshape the bureau, including by relocating hundreds of employees from its Washington headquarters and placing greater emphasis on the FBI’s traditional crime-fighting duties. The deputy director serves as the FBI’s second-in-command and is traditionally a career agent responsible for the bureau’s day-to-day law enforcement operations. The position does not require Senate confirmation. But Bongino, like Patel, has never served in the FBI, raising questions about their experience level when the U.S. is facing escalating national security threats. Natalie Bara, president of the FBI Agents Association, wrote in an internal newsletter to members sent Sunday before Bongino’s selection was announced that Patel had agreed during a January meeting with her that the FBI deputy director should continue to be an on-board, active Special Agent as has been the case for 117 years for many compelling reasons, including operational expertise and experience, as well as the trust of our Special Agent population. The two are inheriting an FBI gripped by turmoil as the Justice Department over the past month has forced out a group of senior bureau officials and made a highly unusual demand for the names of thousands of agents who participated in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Bongino served on the presidential details for then-Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, before becoming a popular right-wing figure. He became one of the leading personalities in the Make America Great Again political movement to spread false information about the 2020 election, which Trump and allies have continued to maintain was marred by widespread fraud even though such claims have been widely rejected as false by judges and former Trump attorney general William Barr. For a few years following Rush Limbaugh’s death in 2021, he was chosen for a radio show on the same time slot of the famous commentator. Bongino worked for the New York Police Department for several years in the 1990s before joining the Secret Service. He began doing commentary on Fox News more than a decade ago, and had a Saturday night show with the network from 2021 to 2023. He is now a host of The Dan Bongino Show, one of the most popular podcasts, according to Spotify. Bongino ran for a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland in 2012 and for congressional seats in 2014 and 2016 in Maryland and Florida, after moving in 2015. He lost the three races. During an interview last fall, Bongino asked Trump to commit to forming a commission to reform the Secret Service, calling it a failed agency and criticizing it for the two assassination attempts last year. That guy should have been nowhere near you, Bongino said about the man who authorities say camped outside Trumps golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, before he was spotted with a rifle. During the same interview, Trump praised the Secret Service agent who saw the rifles barrel coming out of a bush. Patel and Bongino will succeed the two acting FBI leaders, Brian Driscoll and Rob Kissane, who have led the bureau since the departure in January of former Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump in 2017 and held the job for the next seven years before resigning at the end of the Biden administration to make way for his chosen successor. Adriana Gomez Licon and Eric Tucker, Associated Press Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report.
Category:
E-Commerce
The ubiquitous food delivery app DoorDash will pay almost $17 million to settle claims that it unfairly used customer tips to subsidize the wages of its delivery workers in New York City, rather than letting drivers keep the tips on top of their guaranteed pay, Attorney General Letitia James said Monday. James said DoorDash used the wage model between May 2017 and September 2019. The company would guarantee workers a base payment for each delivery but was factoring tips into that equation, only paying workers for whatever the tips didn’t cover, according to the attorney general. DoorDash also did not make it clear to customers that their tips were being used to offset worker wages, said James, a Democrat. This is just fundamentally unfair, she said at a news conference in Manhattan. Customers had no reason to believe that these tips were being used by DoorDash to reduce its costs.” The company will pay $16.75 million in restitution that will be distributed to DoorDash workers who made deliveries between May 2017 and September 2019 in New York. Eligible workers will be contacted by a settlement administrator. In a statement, DoorDash said, “While we believe that our practices properly represented how Dashers were paid during this period, we are pleased to have resolved this years-old matter and look forward to continuing to offer a flexible way for millions of people to reach their financial goals. The company said the old pay model is no longer in use.
Category:
E-Commerce
Donald Trump could be about to escalate the trade war with China. A proposal, unveiled Friday, would slap fees on any Chinese-built vessels, as well as Chinese shipping companies, that enter U.S. ports. That could bring in millions of dollars to the government, but just like the 10% tariffs on Chinese goods Trump has imposed, that move would likely result in even higher prices for consumers (as well as possible retribution from China on U.S. imports). The fees are unprecedented and are meant to chip away at Chinas dominance in the shipping space. In 2023, more than half the worlds commercial ships were built in China and many large U.S. retailers depend on the country for goods. Nothing has been finalized yet, but with consumers still trying to figure out how much tariffs will increase their day-to-day expenses, this adds another layer of financial concern. Heres where things stand now. What is the Trump administration proposing? The Office of the United States Trade Representative is proposing fees of up to $1.5 million per port call for Chinese-made vessels. The fleets of most shipping companies typically contain Chinese-made ships, given that countrys widespread reach in the industry. Shipping companies with fleets that have 50% or more Chinese-built vessels would face fees of up to $1 million per U.S. port call. Operators with fleets comprised of 25% to 50% Chinese-built vessels would pay up to $750,000 per call. For operators with a fleet that has 25% or fewer Chinese-made ships, the fee would be $500,000 per call. Making stops at multiple ports, which many ships do, could result in multiple port fees.Virtually all international shipping companies would be somewhat affected. The largest would likely be Cosco, a Chinese company that’s the worlds biggest shipping company in terms of capacity. When would these fees go into effect? The proposal is currently in a public comment period through March 24. Once that has closed, the administration will decide whether to implement the new fees. Why is the Trump administration considering imposing port fees? The potential fees come following an investigation that began during the Biden administration, looking into whether China was involved in unfair practices in the logistics and shipbuilding industries. On January 17, the U.S. Trade Representative issued a finding that called Chinas targeting of the sector unreasonable, adding Beijings targeted dominance of these sectors undermines fair, market-oriented competition, increases economic security risks, and is the greatest barrier to revitalization of U.S. industries, as well as the communities that rely on them. How much would this impact shipping costs? The increased cost for maritime shipping companies could be substantial. Lars Jensen, CEO of Demark-based Vespucci Maritime, which advises shipping companies, tells the Wall Street Journal that container ship costs will increase tenfold. That comes on top of the cost surges of the past several months. Last July, the cost to ship a 40-foot container of products from Shanghai to New York jumped as high as $10,000. Those have since eased back, with the Drewry World Container Index now putting the price at $5,126 for the week ending February 20 (which is still considerably higher than pre-pandemic rates). Why dont companies use U.S.-built commercial ships? There really arent many commercial shipbuilders in the U.S. China is, by far, the market leader for that category (an area once dominated by Western nations). Ships that arent built in China, which accounts for 51% of the shipbuilding industry, generally come from South Korea (26%) or Japan (14%). Europe accounts for 5% of the total. The U.S. shipbuilders that are still around largely focus on making ships for the U.S. Navy and have struggled to find workers. How much will the port fees impact retail prices? The ultimate impact port fees will have on retail prices will depend on how this proposal unfolds. Port fees, however, are generally passed down from carriers to shippers (generally retail businesses), which ultimately pass along the cost to consumers. As far as which industries and products would be affected, its likely to be a wide swath. This would be essentially a tax on many imported goods, regardless of their point of origin. Manufacturing is likely to be heavily impacted, as are automakers and consumer electronic companies and, basically, any business that relies heavily on global supply chains. Retailers that sell items including apparel, shoes, toys, furniture, electronics, and household appliances are also likely to feel the impact of port fees. Grocery stores may, as well, since so many food products come from other countries.
Category:
E-Commerce
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