If Trump’s aim is to make each of his cabinet picks more controversial than the last – he’s succeeding
First came Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host as defence secretary. Then Tulsi Gabbard, an apparent Vladimir Putin and Bashar al Assad sympathiser as intelligence chief.
Then came Matt Gaetz, under active investigation for allegedly sex trafficking a 17-year-old, as attorney general, the most powerful lawyer in the United States.
Thursday afternoon brought the nomination of Robert F Kennedy Junior, arguably the most prolific peddler of anti-vax conspiracy theories in the nation, as health secretary.
Not a shock, perhaps, given what had gone before. But in terms of upsetting the apple cart, it’s right there.
Kennedy is best known in the UK for being the son of Robert Kennedy, part of the great Kennedy political dynasty.
But on this side of the Atlantic, he’s gained a reputation for promoting baseless theories about vaccines being dangerous.
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Trump picks RFK Jr as health secretary
“I do believe no vaccine is safe and effective,” he said, while also linking childhood vaccines and autism.
Decades of research by the medical and scientific community has found no link between vaccines and autism.
In January 2022, I attended a rally headlined by Robert F Kennedy Junior in Washington DC. It took place on the stairs of the Lincoln monument.
Thousands of people, very few of them wearing masks even though the US was in the grips of the pandemic, packed together and listened to him speak.
He likened vaccine policies in the US to the actions of a totalitarian state, even suggesting Anne Frank was in a better situation when she was hiding from the Nazis.
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The week before I had been to a hospital in Florida, inside an intensive care unit where the nurses told me that up to 99% of the COVID-19 patients hooked up to ventilators and struggling to breathe were unvaccinated.
I asked Kennedy about this. He said he doubted whether it was true.
I also asked if he was enriching himself as a result of the pandemic. He denied it.
He then said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the official US health protection agency, is a “sock puppet for Moderna and Pfizer” which “manipulates data” on COVID vaccines.
If he is confirmed, he would effectively be in charge of the CDC.
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People on both sides of the political aisle are expressing shock at Kennedy’s nomination.
Some wonder whether he will defund research for infectious diseases, which could make it one of Trump’s most impactful and potentially dangerous decisions.
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Vaccine sceptic RFK Jr has been nominated as US health secretary. He abandoned his presidential campaign to endorse Donald Trump.
One thing is certain, and that is Trump rewarding loyalty.
After abandoning his own presidential campaign, Kennedy spent a huge amount of time and energy advocating for Trump in the final two-and-a-half months of the campaign.
“Promises made, promises kept,” Donald Trump Jr wrote on social media alongside a montage of photographs of himself and Kennedy.
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Kennedy will perhaps be the most difficult of president-elect Trump’s picks to get past the nomination process because notions of vaccines being dangerous is personal.
Some senators and their own families will have been touched by diseases which have vaccines.
Former senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, nearly died as a child from polio, a disease that has largely been eradicated in the USA due to vaccines.
As one observer pointed out – he and his colleagues will now vote to make an anti-vaxxer the top health official in the United States.
The United States and European Union have agreed a trade deal, says Donald Trump.
The announcement was made as the US president met European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at one of his golf resorts in Scotland.
Speaking after talks in Turnberry, Mr Trump said the EU deal was the “biggest deal ever made” and it will be “great for cars”.
The US will impose 15% tariffs on EU goods into America, after Mr Trump had threatened a 30% levy.
He said there will be an EU investment of $600bn in the US, the bloc will buy $750bn in US energy and will also purchase US military equipment.
Mr Trump had earlier said the main sticking point was “fairness”, citing barriers to US exports of cars and agriculture.
He went into the talks demanding fairer trade with the 27-member EU and threatening steep tariffs to achieve that, while insisting the US will not go below 15% import taxes.
For months, Mr Trump has threatened most of the world with large tariffs in the hope of shrinking major US trade deficits with many key trading partners, including the EU.
Ms von der Leyen said the agreement would include 15% tariffs across the board, saying it would help rebalance trade between the two large trading partners.
In case there was no deal and the US had imposed 30% tariffs from 1 August, the EU has prepared counter-tariffs on €93bn (£81bn) of US goods.
Ahead of their meeting on Sunday, Ms von der Leyen described Mr Trump as a “tough negotiator and dealmaker”.
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At least 11 people have been stabbed at a Walmart supermarket in Michigan, with six in a critical condition.
Officials say a suspect is in custody – and at this stage, it is believed the attack was a “random act” that involved a folding-style knife near the checkout area.
Sheriff Michael Shea told reporters: “Eleven is 11 too many, but thank God it wasn’t more.”
Pic: AP
The suspect, who is from Michigan, is not known to police – and was captured within three minutes thanks to “citizen involvement”.
The attack unfolded in Traverse City – and Tiffany DeFell, who was in the car park at the time, described scenes of chaos.
“It was really scary. Me and my sister were just freaking out,” she said. “This is something you see out of the movies.”
Beyond the six people in a critical condition, it is believed the remaining five were seriously hurt. All 11 are still being treated in hospital.
Pic: AP
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said: “Our thoughts are with the victims and the community reeling from this brutal act of violence.”
A Walmart spokesperson added that the retailer is working closely with law enforcement.
“Violence like this is unacceptable. Our thoughts are with those who were injured and we’re thankful for the swift action of first responders,” a statement said.
Pic: AP
At this stage, the ages of the victims is unclear – but it is not thought any of the victims were Walmart employees.
Traverse City is about 255 miles northwest of Detroit.
A US passenger plane made a dramatic plunge minutes after take-off to dodge another aircraft – injuring two cabin crew and causing passengers to shoot out of their seats.
The Southwest flight had just taken off from Burbank in California when the pilot received an alert about a nearby plane.
Data from FlightAware shows the aircraft dropped by 91m (300ft) in just 36 seconds. Those on board said they felt panicked, and some feared the plane was about to crash.
Comedian Jimmy Dore posted on X: “Pilot had to dive aggressively to avoid mid-air collision … myself and plenty of people flew out of their seats and bumped heads on ceiling, a flight attendant needed medical attention.”
Stef Zambrano saw a woman who wasn’t wearing her seatbelt thrown out of her seat, who then said: “I want to get off this plane. I want to be on the ground.”
Another passenger, Steve Ulasewicz, told NBC Los Angeles that it felt like the plane was in freefall for 10 seconds.
“People were screaming. You know, it was pandemonium. People thought the plane was going down,” he added.
The aircraft was able to continue to its destination of Las Vegas, where it safely landed without any further incident.
It is believed the Boeing 737 was in the same vicinity as a Hawker Hunter Mk. 58, a British fighter jet.
Southwest is now working with the Federal Aviation Administration “to further understand the circumstances” of the event.
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January: Footage of Washington plane crash
This is the second time in a week that a passenger plane has had to make abrupt flight manoeuvres to avoid a potential mid-air collision.
Concerns have been raised about aviation safety in the US following a series of recent incidents.
In January, a mid-air collision in Washington DC killed 67 people.
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