Lara Trump Steps Down as RNC Co-Chair, Addresses Speculation About Future in Senate

Lara Trump will step down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee as she considers a number of potential options with her father-in-law, President-elect Donald Trump, set to return to the White House.

Among those possibilities is replacing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump tapped to be the next secretary of state. If Rubio is confirmed, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will choose who takes the seat through the remainder of Rubio’s term, which expires in 2026.

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“It is something I would seriously consider,” she told the Associated Press in an interview. “If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100% consider it.”

Elected as RNC co-chair in March, Lara Trump was a key player in the Republicans retaking the White House and control of the Senate while maintaining a narrow House majority. What she does next could shape Republican politics, given her elevated political profile and her ties to the incoming president.

Read More: The Lara Trump Project

The idea of placing a Trump family member in the Senate has been lauded in some Republican circles. Among the people pushing for her to replace Rubio is Maye Musk, mother of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

“The Senate is an old man’s club. We desperately need a smart, young, outspoken woman who will reveal their secrets,” she posted on X. Lara Trump is 42.

Elon Musk, who was with Lara Trump on election night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, responded to his mother’s post: “Lara Trump is genuinely great.”

Led by chairman Michael Whatley and Lara Trump, the RNC invested heavily in recruiting roughly 230,000 volunteers and an army of lawyers for what it called its “election integrity” effort, four years after Donald Trump lost his reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden, citing false or unproven theories about voter fraud. Outside groups such as Turning Point Action and Musk’s America PAC took a greater responsibility for advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts.

While Whatley will remain RNC chairman, Lara Trump said she felt she had accomplished her goals in the co-chair role.

“With that big win, I kind of feel like my time is up,” she said. “What I intended to do has been done.”

Lara Trump praised Musk’s new endeavor, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a nongovernmental task force headed by Musk and and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. They’ve been tapped to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations as part of Trump’s “Save America” agenda for his second term.

“I really don’t think we’ve seen movement like this in our federal government since our country’s founding in many ways,” she said. “And I think if they are successful in what they plan to do, I think it is going to be transformative to America in a great way.”

She said she expects a different presidency this time, beginning with the structure of the administration: While Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner served as White House advisers in his last administration, Lara Trump said she doesn’t see any family member taking any position in the White House this time around with her father-in-law.

“He really wants to get in there and do a good job for the four years, and that’s all he wants to serve,” she said. “Four years, and he’s out.”

Lara Trump also says she expects the Republican Party to be more unified than it has ever been. When she became co-chair in May, the Trump campaign and the RNC merged, with staffers fired and positions restructured. She said the result could spell trouble for GOP lawmakers who do not agree with Trump’s agenda.

“The whole party has totally shifted and totally changed,” she said. “I think people are feeling a little more bold in coming out with their political views.”

—Linderman reported from Baltimore and Mendoza from Santa Cruz, California.

source https://time.com/7200714/lara-trump-leaves-rnc-co-chair-senate-future-politics-speculation/

Biden Says Assad’s Fall in Syria Is a ‘Fundamental Act of Justice’

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Sunday that the sudden collapse of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad is a “fundamental act of justice” after decades of repression, but it was “a moment of risk and uncertainty” for the Mideast.

Biden spoke at the White House hours after after rebel groups completed a takeover of the country after more than a dozen years of violent civil war and decades of leadership by Assad and his family. Biden said the United States was unsure of Assad’s whereabouts, but was monitoring reports he was seeking refuge in Moscow.

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The outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump were working to make sense of new threats and opportunities across the Middle East.

Biden credited action by the U.S. and its allies for weakening Syria’s backers — Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. He said “for the first time” that they could no longer defend Assad’s grip on power.

“Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East,” Biden said, after a meeting with his national security team at the White House.

Trump said Sunday that Assad had fled his country, which his family had ruled for decades, because close ally Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, “was not interested in protecting him any longer.”

Those comments on Trump’s social media platform came a day after he used another post to decry the possibility of the U.S. intervening militarily in Syria to aid the rebels, declaring, “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.” The Biden administration had no intention of intervening, according to President Joe Biden’s national security adviser.

The U.S has about 900 troops in Syria, including forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held northeast to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group. Biden said he intended those for troops to remain, adding that U.S. forces on Sunday conducted “dozens” of what he called “precision air strikes” on Islamic State camps and operations in Syria.

The Syrian opposition that brought down Assad is led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The Biden administration has designated the group as a terrorist organization and says it has links to al-Qaida, although Hayat Tahrir al-Sham says it has since broken ties with al-Qaida.

“We will remain vigilant,” Biden said. “Make no mistake, some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses.” He added that the groups are “saying the right things now.”

“But as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words, but their actions,” Biden said.

Assad’s fall adds to an already tense situation throughout much of region on many fronts, including Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and its fragile cease-fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, 2025, made a connection between the upheaval in Syria and Russia’s war in Ukraine, noting that Assad’s allies in Moscow, as well as in Iran, the main sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah, “are in a weakened state right now.”

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, a veteran of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, wrote on own social media Sunday to express skepticism about the insurgents.

“Many of ‘the rebels’ are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they’ve moderated. Time will tell,” he said, using another acronym for the group.

Trump has suggested that Assad’s ouster can advance the prospects for an end to fighting in Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February 2022.

Trump wrote that Putin’s government “lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine” and the Republican called for an immediate cease-fire, a day after meeting in Paris with the French and Ukrainian leaders.

Daniel B. Shapiro, a deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said the American military presence will continue in eastern Syria but was “solely to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS and has nothing to do with other aspects of this conflict.”

“We call on all parties in Syria to protect civilians, particularly those from Syria’s minority communities to respect international military norms and to work to achieve a resolution to include the political settlement,” Shapiro said.

“Multiple actors in this conflict have a terrible track record to include Assad’s horrific crimes, Russia’s indiscriminate aerial bomb bombardment, Iranian-back militia involvement and the atrocities of ISIS,” he added.

Shapiro, however, was careful not to directly say Assad had been deposed by the insurgents.

“If confirmed, no one should shed any tears over the Assad regime,” he said.

As they pushed toward the Syrian capital of Damascus, the opposition freed political detainees from government prisons. The family of missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice renewed calls to find him.

“To everyone in Syria that hears this, please remind people that we’re waiting for Austin,” Tice’s mother, Debra, said in comments that hostage advocacy groups spread on social media. “We know that when he comes out, he’s going to be fairly dazed & he’s going to need lots of care & direction. Direct him to his family please!”

Tice disappeared in 2012 outside Damascus, amid intensification of what became a civil war stretching more than a decade.

We’ve remained committed to returning him to his family,” Biden said at the White House. “We believe he’s alive, we think we can get him back but we have no direct evidence to that yet. And Assad should be held accountable.”

The president added: “We have to identify where he is.”

source https://time.com/7200675/president-joe-biden-comments-assad-fall-syria-rebel-groups/

Trump Speaks Out on Abortion, His Absent Medical Records, and Who He Plans to Pardon

President-elect Donald Trump met with NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker for his first televised broadcast network interview since his win in the November presidential election against Vice President Kamala Harris.

As the U.S. and the rest of the world prepares for Trump’s return to the White House in January, there is much discussion about what the President-elect plans to do once he takes office alongside his Vice President, J.D. Vance.

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In the sit-down interview, which took place on Friday, Dec. 6 and aired on Sunday, Dec. 8, Trump covered a range of high-profile topics, including his plans related to abortion, immigration, tariffs, and his controversial Administration selections. He also spoke about his foreign policy plans.

Here are some of the key topics Trump spoke out about in his televised interview as he prepares for his second presidency. 

Abortion

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Trump has often applauded himself for the ruling. Throughout the 2024 election, abortion played a large role as the Trump-Vance ticket went head-to-head with Harris and her VP pick, Tim Walz. Trump argued he would not sign a federal ban on abortion when elected, while the Harris-Walz ticket argued that Trump would further restrict abortion rights if re-elected.

When asked whether he would restrict abortion pill access, Trump told Welker: “I’ll probably stay with exactly what I’ve been saying for the last two years. And the answer is no.”

This comes after Vance tried to seem more moderate on abortion in the vice presidential debate, in contrast to his previous comments. Standing on the podium, Vance said that the Republican party needs “to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue where they frankly just don’t trust us.”

Plans to pardon 

Welker asked Trump, who was convicted during a high-profile hush-money trial earlier this year, whether he plans to pardon Jan. 6 rioters when in office. Trump stated that he will give “first day” consideration of whether he will pardon people convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

“We’re going to look at individual cases, but I’m going to be acting very quickly,” he said, adding that he’ll be looking at this his “first day” as the “people have been in there [jail] for years.” 

Amid reports that Biden may seek to pre-emptively pardon political figures who could be in Trump’s crosshairs, the President-elect spoke out once again against the Jan. 6 committee, including Liz Cheney, saying: “For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail.”

Read More: What Donald Trump’s Win Means for Abortion

Defending his Administration picks  

Trump defended his controversial pick of Fox News host Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, a selection that has been marked by a series of allegations and concerns.

“He’s a very smart guy,” Trump told Welker, saying he had confidence Hegseth would be confirmed by the Senate. “I’ve had a lot of senators call me up to say he’s fantastic.”

He also defended his pick of Kash Patel as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), who has been deeply critical of the FBI in the past. In an interview last year with former White House Chief Strategist and right-wing agitator Steve Bannon (conducted before Bannon’s incarceration), Patel said he “will go out to find the conspirators not just in government but in the media.” 

When asked by Welker if he will fire current FBI Director Christopher Wray, who still has three years remaining in his 10-year term, in order for Patel to take charge, Trump said he is “not happy with him.”

“It would sort of seem pretty obvious that if Kash gets in, he’s going to be taking someone’s place,” Trump continued.

Trump continued to defer to Patel and his pick for Attorney General, Pam Bondi, when pushed by Welker to say whether he will go after his political opponents, including investigator Jack Smith, saying he wants Bondi to do “what she wants to do.”

President Joe Biden

Trump was also asked if he has plans to direct Patel to go after President Joe Biden, to which the President-elect said, “I’m really looking to make our country successful; I’m not looking to go back into the past… Retribution will be through success.”

He stated that he would not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Biden, something he proposed on Truth Social in June, “unless I find something that I think is reasonable.”

He also called out Biden’s recent choice to pardon his son Hunter Biden after previously stating that he would not, saying: “I always knew he was going to give him a pardon.”

Medical records   

Trump will be the oldest U.S. President by the end of his term—and age was a big discussion throughout the election, particularly when it was Biden going head-to-head with Trump. When Harris took over the race from Biden, she released her medical report to the public, in which her physician said she “possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.” The Harris campaign called on Trump to be equally transparent about sharing his medical records, but he did not do so during the election. 

Read More: The Controversy Over Donald Trump’s Absent Medical Records, Explained

The most recent medical report publicly shared by Trump was featured in a Nov. 20, 2023, Truth Social post, which included a screenshot of a letter from Dr. Bruce Aronwald, sharing little detail but saying the former President was in “excellent health.”

Welker asked Trump if he plans on releasing his full medical records, rather than just a letter.

“I would and I think anybody should,” he said, before adding: “Sure, I have no problem with it.”

Health care

On wider matters of health care, Trump continued to express his dissatisfaction with Obamacare, but did not elaborate on a moment in his September debate with Harris, in which when Trump was asked whether he had a plan for health care reform, his answer was: “I have concepts of a plan.” 

“Obamacare stinks,” he said on Meet the Press. “If we come up with a better answer, I would present that answer to Democrats and to everybody else and I’d do something about it.”

Tariffs 

Trump has caused much discussion with his proposed tariffs on all products imported from America’s trading partners: Mexico, Canada, and China. When Welker pointed out that experts have said such tariffs could impact the prices of a range of imported goods, from cars to electronics, Trump defended his idea.

“I’m a big believer in tariffs. I think tariffs are the most beautiful word. I think they’re beautiful. It’s going to make us rich,” he said.

Read More: How Trump’s Tariffs Could Impact Top Imports From Mexico, Canada, and China

When asked if he could guarantee the tariffs would not impact pricing for the average American he said:  “I can’t guarantee anything, I can’t guarantee tomorrow.”

Immigration

Trump emphasized that immigration will be one of the first things he will begin working on when he returns to the White House. Throughout the campaign, Trump promised a slew of new policies regarding immigration, including mass deportations, ending birthright citizenship, and reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” policy.

Read More: What Donald Trump’s Win Means For Immigration

Trump doubled down on some of these policies, arguing that he will be focused on deporting migrants who came to America illegally and have criminal records first, but that eventually the aim would be for all illegal immigrants to be deported. 

“Well, I think you have to do it… it’s a very tough thing to do. But you have to have, you know, you have rules, regulations, laws. They came in illegally,” he said. “The people who have been treated very unfairly are the people who have been online for 10 years [waiting] to come into the country.” 

When asked by Welker about mixed immigration families—some whereby the parents might be in the U.S. illegally but the children are there legally—and if the plan is to deport the families together, Trump said, “I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.”

On the topic of Dreamers—undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents—Trump said he was willing to work with Democrats on a plan, and that he wants to see them remain in the country.

“We’re talking many years ago, they were brought into this country many years ago, some of them are no longer young people, and in many cases, they become successful,” he said. “We’re going to have to do something with them.”

source https://time.com/7200652/donald-trump-abortion-immigration-adminstration-medical-records-tv-interview/

Cameo’s CEO Steven Galanis on Rebuilding After the Pandemic and Embracing Influencers

(To receive weekly emails of conversations with the world’s top CEOs and decisionmakers, click here.)

It’s just a few seconds of video, but for the recipient, a Cameo message can mean the world. Steven Galanis, co-founder and CEO, turned the idea of personalized celebrity messages into a platform, where fans can request anything from birthday wishes to a cheeky roast.

In 2018, Cameo was honored as one of TIME’s 50 Genius Companies. The following year, it was named as one of the fastest growing online marketplaces, by venture capital firm Andresseen Horowitz. The pandemic further fueled its success as celebrities looked for new ways to make money while consumers increasingly moved online, launching Cameo’s value to $1 billion by 2021. However, as COVID-19 restrictions eased, sales slumped, wiping out 90% of Cameo’s value by March 2024.

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Galanis is convinced Cameo is more than a pandemic-era novelty. Through its CameoX pilot, which lowered the platform’s entry requirements, Cameo has welcomed 31,000 new self-enrolled  creators in the past 18 months, including NFL coaches, popular creators like Anthony Polcari, actors like Melissa Benoist, and politicians like George Santos. The company says the new approach has generated millions in bookings. And in March, Cameo raised an additional $28 million. Galanis, whose first entrepreneurial venture involved planning campus parties as a student, believes the platform gives a new class of creators a way to monetize their fame. He spoke with TIME about how Cameo is adapting to a post-pandemic world, artificial intelligence, and the changing nature of fame.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

You led Cameo from its first paying customer to unicorn status, to then see much of that market value evaporate. Cameo’s now hiring again. Has the momentum shifted in your favor?

Yeah, we absolutely think so. The two years prior to this March, when we closed our new financing, were two of the worst years that I’ve ever had in my life. We’d built a world class brand with an exceptional team, and as we had to quickly respond to changing dynamics, coming out of COVID, unfortunately, we had a lot of great people that we weren’t able to keep on the team anymore. That’s something, as a CEO, that always lives with you. 

So many times, you have your big success, you have your big failure, and then you take those lessons and get to do it at the next company. I’m really grateful for our investors and our team, that they’ve believed in me and allowed us the second shot to build a company that we don’t think has reached near its potential yet.

How is Cameo adapting to a post-pandemic world?

Cameo isn’t just a COVID story. Cameo had been [one of] the fastest growing consumer marketplace in the world in both 2018 and 2019, so coming into COVID, business was growing really fast. We absolutely exploded during COVID, and as the COVID-bump ended—instead of having to buy a Cameo for their Mom’s birthday—they could go see them in person, or they could go to a restaurant, or they could go to a concert, or they could travel. The revenge spending led to a big drop in the core business for us.

But at the same time, we were still way up from where we were. And I think one thing people get caught up on is when you go up to infinity and you come down, that’s just a rocky thing and that leads to a valuation crashing, raising money, layoffs, and all the crazy stuff that happened. But I will tell you, if you drew a straight line from 2019 to 2024, I think anybody would have taken that line at the time.

What advice would you give to other emerging leaders on a similarly explosive but unsustainable trajectory?

Devin, one of my co-founders, had a billion loops on Vine and never made $1 from it. These are problems that are really personal to us. In the last eight years, since starting Cameo, there’s been hype cycles. When I started, it was all about micromobility. Then it was AR and VR, and then there was a blockchain cycle. All of a sudden it became the creator economy. Then web 3.0. And now it’s AI. 

When I see founders get in trouble, it’s because they keep chasing the hot thing as opposed to doing the thing that’s in their personal zone, what I call the Ikigai: the intersection of what they love, what they great at, what the world needs, and what they can get paid for. I think anytime founders find themselves out of that, it really does get difficult to get through the tough days.

In May 2023, Cameo started opening up the platform to just about anyone through the CameoX pilot programme. Why?

If you go back and you look at our original slogan, it was always “personalized videos from your favorite people.” Who your favorite people are is different for different people.

When we actually looked back at the data from March of 2020 to May of 2023, we saw there were over 100,000 people that had applied to join the platform that we hadn’t let on. And when we looked at those people, the reason we hadn’t let them on, most of them were under this 25,000 follower threshold at the time they applied. And when we looked back, there were hundreds, if not thousands of people that could have been valuable contributors to our marketplace that we weren’t able to get so there were actors whose hit Netflix show hadn’t come out yet. There were rappers who had just blown up on SoundCloud, but we missed them when they were emerging. And we’ve always been a place for emerging talent to make money until they become the biggest person in the world. 

AI video is improving quickly, to the point where it’s difficult to tell the difference between a deep fake of a celebrity and an authentic video. How is Cameo adapting?

One thing that is really important about the Cameo brand: if you get it on Cameo, it’s real. When you look at sports, you might want to buy a jersey of the team you support. You can go buy a fake one on the side of the streets, but if you want the real thing, you’re going to go buy the officially licensed thing. I believe the Cameo watermark, in an age of deep fakes, is the digital certificate of authenticity. 

We’ve dabbled with generative AI and these models ourselves. We had a pretty cool launch of Cameo Kids about a year and a half ago where we partnered with a lot of the top animated IP and brought them to life through generative AI. So you can book Cocomelon or Peppa Pig, or Paw Patrol or Sesame Street on Cameo Kids, and that’s all powered by generative AI. 

[With] let’s say a talent who’s dead like Marilyn Monroe or James Dean, there are people who hold their life rights. What if we could create a model and bring them back to life so their fans could continue to enjoy them? 

We’re not an AI company. We are excited about some of the developments in AI and how that could make our business better and more efficient. But we believe authenticity is always going to matter, and we want to be at the forefront of being authentic in the deep fake world.

source https://time.com/7200525/cameo-steven-galanis-interview/

Trump Says U.S. Shouldn’t Intervene in Syria as Opposition Forces Gain Ground

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria amid an opposition offensive that has reached the capital’s suburbs, declaring in a social media post, “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.”

Trump’s first extensive comments on the dramatic rebel push came while he was in Paris for the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral. He argued that Syrian President Bashar Assad did not deserve U.S. support to stay in power.

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Assad’s government has been propped up by the Russian and Iranian military, along with Hezbollah and other Iranian-allied militias, in a now 13-year-old war against opposition groups seeking his overthrow. The war, which began as a mostly peaceful uprising in 2011 against the Assad family’s rule, has killed a half-million people, fractured Syria and drawn in a more than a half-dozen foreign militaries and militias.

The insurgents are led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which the United States has designated as a terrorist group and says has links to al-Qaida, although the group has since broken ties with al-Qaida.” The insurgents have met little resistance so far from the Syrian army.

The Biden administration has suggested that their fast-moving advances toward Damascus demonstrate just how distracted those countries are by the war in Ukraine and other conflicts, but said that the U.S. is not backing the offensive and has not suggested the U.S. military will intervene.

The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria, including U.S. forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held northeast to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group.

Syrian opposition activists and regional officials have nonetheless been watching closely for any indication from both the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration on how the U.S. would handle the sudden rebel advances against Assad.

The United Nations’ special envoy for Syria called Saturday for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition” in Syria.

In his post, Trump said Russia “is so tied up in Ukraine” that it “seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years.” He said rebels could possibly force Assad from power.

The president-elect condemned the overall U.S. handling of the war, but said the routing of Assad and Russian forces might be for the best.

“Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!” he wrote in Saturday’s post.

An influential Syrian opposition activist in Washington, Mouaz Moustafa, interrupted a briefing to reporters to read Trump’s post and appeared to choke up. He said Trump’s declaration that the U.S. should stay out of the fight was the best outcome that the the Syrians aligned against Assad could hope for.

Rebels have been freeing political detainees of the Assad government from prisons as they advance across Syria, taking cities. Moustafa pledged to reporters Saturday that opposition forces would be alert for any U.S. detainees among them and do their utmost to protect them.

Moustafa said that includes Austin Tice, an American journalist missing for more than a decade and suspected to be held by Assad.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham renounced al-Qaida in 2016 and has worked to rebrand itself, including cracking down on some Islamic extremist groups and fighters in its territory and portraying itself as a protector of Christians and other religious minorities.

While the U.S. and United Nations still designate it as a terrorist organization, Trump’s first administration told lawmakers that the U.S. was no longer targeting the group’s leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

source https://time.com/7200601/donald-trump-advises-against-us-involvement-syria-conflict/

What Trump’s New AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks Means For the Tech Industry

For much of 2024, one of President-elect Donald Trump’s staunchest allies in Silicon Valley was David Sacks, an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and co-host of the popular podcast All-In. On his podcast and social media, Sacks argued that Trump’s pro-industry stances would unleash innovation and spur growth in the tech industry. In June, Sacks hosted a fundraiser for Trump in San Francisco that included $300,000-a-person tickets.

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Now, Sacks has been rewarded with a position inside the White House: the brand-new role of “AI & crypto czar.” It’s unclear how much power this role actually has. It appears that this will be a part-time role, and that Sacks will remain with his VC fund Craft. This murkiness, and the fact that Sacks will not have to go through the Senate confirmation process, is drawing concerns over conflict of interest and lack of oversight. Regardless, Sacks will start the Administration with Trump’s ear on key policy decisions in these two rapidly growing sectors. Leaders inside both industries largely cheered the decision.

“A whole-of-government approach that collaborates closely with private industry is essential to winning the AI race, and a designated AI leader in the Administration can help do that,” Tony Samp, the head of AI policy at the law firm DLA Piper, tells TIME. 

Sacks and Trump

Sacks has long been close to the center of Silicon Valley’s power structure. A member of the “PayPal mafia,” he was that company’s chief operating officer for several years, and grew close with Elon Musk, who has also been tasked with a new role in Trump’s Administration. While many Silicon Valley leaders espoused pro-Democrat views especially during the Obama years, Sacks became increasingly vocal in his conservative stances, especially around the Russia-Ukraine war and fighting censorship on tech platforms. His podcast All-In is currently the third most popular tech podcast on Apple Podcasts, according to Chartable.

After the Jan. 6 insurrection, Sacks said that Trump had “disqualified himself from being a candidate at the national level again.” But he threw his weight behind Trump this year, including during a speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in July, in which he warned Republicans of a “world on fire.” At one lavish fundraiser, Sacks lobbied for Trump to pick J.D. Vance as his running mate. Sacks also hosted Trump on All-In, and complained that it was “so hard to do business” during the Biden Administration.

Sacks’ views on AI

Sacks is a player in the AI ecosystem himself: this year, he launched an AI-powered work chat app called Glue. He has often expressed support for a freer ecosystem empowering AI companies to grow, and has argued that most of what’s on the internet should be available for AI to train upon under fair use.

“This appointment is another signal that startups and venture capital will be a central focus of the incoming Administration’s approach to AI,” says Nik Marda, the technical lead for AI governance at Mozilla. “This also means particular issues like promoting open source and competition in AI will be at the forefront.” 

Sacks has advocated for the integration of AI technology into warfare and national security tools. On an All-In episode in April, he said he hoped Silicon Valley companies would become more involved with U.S. defense efforts. “I do want the United States, as an American, to be the most powerful country. I do want us to get the best value for our defense dollars. The only way that’s going to change is if the defense industry gets disrupted by a bunch of startups doing innovative things,” he said. (Just this week, OpenAI announced a partnership with the defense contractor Anduril.)

Sacks has also come out strongly against AI models displaying any sort of censorship. In this way, Sacks is aligned with Musk, whose AI model Grok will generate controversial images that other AI models will not, including a Nazi Mickey Mouse. 

Read More: Elon Musk’s New AI Data Center Raises Alarms Over Pollution

However, there will be many AI thinkers competing for influence in Trump’s White House, including Marc Andreessen, who wants AI to be developed as fast as possible, and Musk, who has warned of the technology’s existential risks. 

Sacks and crypto

Sacks’ new czar role also includes oversight of crypto. Crypto investors were largely cheered by his appointment, because he is supportive of the space and will likely reinforce Trump’s intentions of offering light-touch regulation. Sacks has invested significantly in Solana, a cryptocurrency attached to its own blockchain that was previously championed by Sam Bankman-Fried. Sacks’ VC fund Craft also invested in the crypto companies BitGo and Bitwise.

Trump, in his announcement of Sack’s appointment, wrote that Sacks 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.” Sacks joins several other recent pro-crypto Trump appointees, including new SEC chair nominee Paul Atkins. The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) under Biden, in contrast, was very aggressive in suing crypto companies it deemed were violating securities laws.

Trump, meanwhile, has been eager to claim credit for the crypto’s recent successes. When Bitcoin crossed $100,000 for the first time, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, “YOU’RE WELCOME!!!”

Read More: What Trump’s Win Means for Crypto

Concerns about conflict of interest

While Sacks is supportive of both industries, it is unclear how much power he will actually have in this new role. Bloomberg reported that Sacks will be a “special government employee”—a part-time role that doesn’t require him to divest or publicly disclose his assets, and sets a maximum number of 130 working days a year. A Craft spokeswoman told Bloomberg that Sacks would not be leaving the VC firm.

It remains to be seen whether Sacks will have a staff, or where his funding will come from. Other related government agencies, like the Department of Commerce, will likely have completely different workflows and prerogatives when it comes to AI. “Czar roles can be a bit funky and more dependent on relationships and less dependent on formal authorities,” Marda says.

Suresh Venkatasubramanian, an AI advisor to Biden’s White House starting in 2021, expressed concern about the lack of oversight of this new position, as well as the conflicts of interest it could lead to. “The roles and responsibilities described in the press announcement describe a lot of what the director of OSTP [Office of Science and Technology Policy] does,” he tells TIME. “The only difference is lack of oversight. Especially given that this particular appointment is of someone who has investments in AI and crypto, you have to wonder whether this is serving the interest of the tech industry, or a particular few individuals.”

source https://time.com/7200518/david-sacks-new-white-house-ai-crypto-czar-trump-administration/

Amber Glenn Becomes First U.S. Woman in 14 Years to Win Figure Skating Grand Prix Final

GRENOBLE, France — Amber Glenn has soared to the top of international figure skating and proved she belonged there Saturday with an historic victory in the Grand Prix Final.

Glenn became the first American to win the women’s Grand Prix Final competition since Alissa Czisny 14 years ago as three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto had to settle for third place.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

That continues a stunning breakout season at the age of 25 for the Texas-born skater, who is unbeaten in 2024-25, and caps a year which began with her first U.S. national title in January. Glenn admitted it’s hard to get used to being on the top step of the podium.

“I’m exhausted,” she said. “It has been a whirlwind of a season and I’ve kind of struggled with this imposter syndrome. Just: ‘Oh, no, no, I’m not winning. That’s not me.’ And I’m just happy my hard work is finally showing, and this is a great event, and I’m honored to even be here.”

Skating last in the six-woman field against five Japanese skaters, there was little sign of the pain which had bothered Glenn in Thursday’s short program.

Glenn started with an emphatic triple axel and overcame a slight wobble part-way through her free skate — doubling a planned triple salchow and slightly under-rotating a triple flip — to finish strongly and score a total 212.07 for the win.

Mone Chiba, a silver medalist at both her Grand Prix events this season, was second again on 208.85. World champion Sakamoto had been out of form in the short program but recovered with a strong free skate to the musical “Chicago” for bronze on 201.13.

The U.S. could win two more titles later Saturday. Ilia Malinin leads the men’s event ahead of the free skate and Madison Chock and Evan Bates lead the ice dance.

source https://time.com/7200575/amber-glenn-us-wins-figure-skating-grand-prix-final/