Trump-linked officials consider targeting banking regulators and polio vaccine, reports say – US politics live | Donald Trump

JD Vance has invited Daniel Penny, who was this week acquitted of charges in the chokehold death of an unhoused man on a New York City subway, to attend the annual army-navy football game this weekend.

Writing on X, Vance said:

Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone.

I’m grateful he accepted my invitation and hope he’s able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage.

Penny has been a cause celebre for the right, with one Republican lawmaker saying he should be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor.

US government institutions intended to stabilize the financial system during emergencies may be on the chopping block once Donald Trump is inaugurated, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Officials on his transition team are looking at ways to eliminate or downsize institutions like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which was created after the Great Depression to prevent the bank runs that wiped out American’ savings at the onset of that long-lasting economic crisis.

Any such changes would require action from Congress, which may be difficult to pull off. Here’s more on what Trump is thinking of doing, from the Journal:

In recent interviews with potential nominees to lead bank regulatory agencies, Trump advisers and officials from his newfound Department of Government Efficiency have, for example, asked whether the president-elect could abolish the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., people familiar with the matter said.

Advisers have asked the nominees under consideration for the FDIC, as well as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, if deposit insurance could then be absorbed into the Treasury Department, some of the people said.

Any proposal to eliminate the FDIC or any agency would require congressional action. While past presidents have reorganized and rebranded departments, Washington has never shut down a major cabinet-level agency and rarely closed other agencies like the FDIC that are not.

Bank executives are optimistic that President-elect Donald Trump will ease a host of regulations on capital cushions and consumer protections, as well as scrutiny of consolidation in the industry. But FDIC deposit insurance is considered near sacred. Any move that threatened to undermine even the perception of deposit insurance could quickly ripple through banks and in a crisis might compound customer fears.

After several banks failed last year, customers panicked about whether their deposits were safe at smaller banks. Many fled to the biggest of big banks that are perceived to be so important that the government would never let them fail. Since then, banks have been calling for wider deposit insurance protections to keep smaller banks competitive.

Aaron Siri, the lawyer that the New York Times reports has been sitting in on Robert F Kennedy Jr’s interviews with potential hires to fill the upper ranks for the department of health and human services, has a long history of challenging the certifications of vaccines.

He has filed petitions against the vaccines for polio, hepatitis B and other diseases, and also gone to court to challenge Covid-19 vaccine mandates. However, it remains unclear if Siri himself is looking for a role in health and human services, which Donald Trump nominated Kennedy to lead, or if he’ll remain outside government.

From the Guardian’s Ed Pilkington, here’s more of what we know about Siri’s involvement in the transition to Trump’s second term:

Good morning, US politics blog readers. We have fewer than 40 days to go until Donald Trump is inaugurated president of the United States, and more signs are emerging of how he might follow through on his plans to transform the country. The New York Times reports that Aaron Siri, a lawyer who has filed petitions challenging the approvals of vaccines against polio and several other diseases, has been by health and human services secretary nominee Robert F Kennedy Jr’s side as he has interviewed candidates for jobs in the department. It’s yet more evidence that, if he is confirmed, Kennedy could insert his discredited anti-vaccine views into the government.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump’s transition team is exploring ways to downside or combine major banking regulators, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a key stabilizer of the sector that was created in the wake of the Great Depression. While the country has come a long way since that era-defining financial crisis, bank collapses still happen, and expect tons of pushback if the second Trump administration follows through on the plan.

Here’s what else is going on today:

• Joe Biden is starting his day early, with a virtual meeting of G7 countries at 9.30am ET.

• House Republicans announced their committee chairs for the next Congress. Notable, Biden nemeses Jim Jordan and James Comer will remain as chairs of the judiciary and oversight committees, respectively.

• Xi Jinping is not expected to attend Trump’s inauguration, CBS News reports, after the president-elect invited the Chinese president.