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Jared Kushner uses private email for White House business
You don't have to be a former presidential hopeful to draw heat over using private email for work. Politico has revealed that presidential senior adviser (not to mention son-in-law) Jared Kushner has been using a private email account to conduct White House business. He has used the account since December to discuss event planning, media coverage and "other subjects" with both key White House members and advisers, including former strategist Steve Bannon, ex-chief of staff Reince Priebus and National Economic Council leader Gary Cohn, among others. The account was set up in December as part of the transition, but it's been in use well since President Trump took office.
Trump's pick for NASA's new leader sparks mixed reactions
After weeks of rumors, the White House has officially picked a new NASA leader... and he's already proving to be controversial. President Trump has announced his intention to nominate Rep. Jim Bridenstine, an Oklahoma Republican and former executive director of Tulsa's Air and Space Museum, as the new permanent administrator following the exit of Charles Bolden in January. Some in the space industry are fond of him, but there are also vocal objections to his background -- there are concerns he'll politicize an agency that's supposed to be interested solely in the pursuit of science.
Obama's science advisors are reportedly still hard at work
The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), a group meant to provide the president and White House officials with scientific and technological analyses and advice, has largely emptied out since Donald Trump took office. But as STAT News reports, a fair amount of Obama-era OSTP staffers have kept up their work. "It is certainly true that MANY of the former OSTP staffers are working, in a variety of ways, to fill the void," John Holdren, the OSTP director under Obama, told STAT.
Pros weigh in on phishing the White House
Just before Anthony Scaramucci's 15 minutes -- er, I mean 10 days -- of White House fame were up, a man in the UK (who imaginatively calls himself "Email Prankster") had some choice words with him via email. Nothing weird there you think? Except that he did it while posing as former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. Not that getting "the Mooch's" metaphorical goat was expected to be difficult. Especially after he went ballistic on New Yorker reporter Ryan Lizza for merely mentioning his enemies. No, the remarkable thing was that Scaramucci was one of many the prankster fooled among Trump's totally cyber-savvy and not-chaotic White House cabinet of curiosities.
CNN: Email 'prankster' catfished White House personnel
Ready for another story about political emails? CNN reports tonight that a person described as a "prankster" from the UK emailed several White House officials and successfully fooled them into believing he was a colleague. That included a message claiming to be from senior adviser Jared Kushner to Homeland Security advisor Tom Bossert, which teased out a response from Bossert that included his personal email address. The emailer tweets under the handle SINON_REBORN, where he has posted screenshots of the emails.
House science chairman thinks climate change is 'beneficial'
Forget the piles of peer-reviewed research accumulated by scientists over decades, climate change is actually great news for mankind. Or so says Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the Republican head of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. In a baffling editorial titled "Don't Believe the Hysteria Over Carbon Dioxide", Smith complains that Americans are being brainwashed by "alarmists' claims" (read: scientific consensus) and urges readers to consider the many perks of atmospheric armageddon. For example, churning carbon dioxide into the environment is no biggie because plants love the stuff. "A higher concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere would aid photosynthesis, which in turn contributes to increased plant growth. This correlates to a greater volume of food production and better quality food," Smith writes, referencing uncited "studies" while ignoring reams of research that show any benefit would be canceled out by other climate factors, such as drought and temperature increases.
Elon Musk’s Hyperloop 'approval' seems to be from the White House
Earlier today, we reported that Elon Musk and The Boring Company had reportedly been given verbal government approval to build a Hyperloop that would connect New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC, according to a tweet posted by Musk.
Afghan girls robotics team will compete in the US after all
An all-girl robotics team from Afghanistan that was denied a visa to participate in the First Global Challenge robotics competition will be allowed to enter the US after all. The White House confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reversed the visa denials for the six teen girls, reportedly after President Trump personally intervened.
Senators question Trump’s approach to cybersecurity
The consequences of a large-scale cyberattack on critical infrastructure was well-documented in May when the UK's healthcare system was brought to its knees by ransomware. Now, despite President Trump promising to develop a "comprehensive plan to protect America's vital infrastructure from cyberattacks", White House senators are pushing the president to take meaningful action following evidence that something similar could be on the cards for the US.
States vow to block any vehicle emissions standards rollback
California isn't the only state that will openly defy the White House if it rolls back any of the vehicle emission standards set by the Obama administration. The attorneys general of New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington District of Columbia, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont have sent a letter to EPA chief Scott Pruitt, warning him that they will sue the the agency if it abolishes those rules.
Even Republicans think Trump tweets too much
If you spend all of your time on social media, you probably aren't devoting enough time and attention to doing the job you're paid to do. For the current leader of the free world, however, Twitter is a megaphone that he is loathe to surrender. But, according to a poll conducted by Morning Consult and Politico, the presidential Twitter habit is too much even for people on his own side. The document says that 53 percent of Republicans and 51 percent of Trump voters now feel that the official "tweets too much."
Trump withdraws US from Paris climate change agreement
President Trump has announced that the US will be withdrawing from the Paris Accord. The president made the statement today from the White House Rose Garden. The international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was made in 2015 and President Obama signed the US on last November. The 143 countries that have ratified the agreement recognize a number of goals, which include limiting global temperature increases to less than 2 degrees Celsius.
EPA pulls climate science web pages to reflect White House views
President Trump and Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt aren't exactly fans of climate science, and they're scaling back the EPA's website to reflect their views. The EPA has started implementing a site revision that will "reflect the approach of new leadership." As you might surmise, that means that mentions of climate change, regulation and Obama-era policies are on the chopping block -- the language endorsing the Clean Power Plan is "out of date," the EPA claims. And unfortunately, that means axing information that has been around for multiple administrations.
Trump administration is killing its open data portal
Reversing yet another Obama-era practice, the Trump administration announced on Friday that it will not only be keeping its visitor logs secret for five years after Trump leaves office, but will be shuttering the Open.gov portal. This is where the previous administration posted visitor logs, financial disclosures and data on White House staff.
White House hires Lyft manager for a key transportation role
It's tempting to oversimplify the ridesharing industry into an ideological battle: Lyft is the kinder, more generous outfit that donates to the ACLU, while Uber is a champion of hyper-capitalism that makes political compromises in the name of its bottom line. However, the truth is that both of these companies are complex beasts that reflect a wide range of views. Case in point: President Trump's administration has unveiled plans to nominate Lyft's General Manager for Southern California, Derek Kan, as the Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy. And it's not as if he's suddenly revealing his political stance, as this is really a logical next step given his career.
The White House is saving all of Trump's deleted tweets
Five days after Trump's inauguration, news leaked that his staff was continuing to use email linked to a private server. While that's not illegal (though hypocritical, given Hillary's election pillorying), it requires those using non-government emails to disclose them. If that doesn't happen -- if those messages aren't forwarded to an official account and stored for posterity -- the offender violates the Presidential Records Act. It seems the same could apply to Trump's tweets: The White House has agreed to the US National Archives' request that they save every one, including those he deletes.
Trump's quiet war on data begins
Two months into the Trump presidency, there's still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the new administration. One big area of concern is how the executive branch will deal with the vast amounts of data collected by the government. Federal agencies like NASA and EPA conduct countless studies crucial to understanding our impact on climate change. Labor Department surveys are vital to determining the economic health of the country. Will the administration manipulate data that contradicts its political views? Will information become a tool of oppression? Turns out there's a simpler, but potentially just as troublesome possibility: The White House could simply make it disappear.
The Engadget Podcast Ep 26: The Sounds of Science
Managing editor Dana Wollman and senior editor Nathan Ingraham join host Terrence O'Brien on the latest episode. First Dana and Nathan face off in the latest installment of Flame Wars, tackling the latest news around Google Voice, struggling streaming service Tidal and the Note 7. Then all three will try to unravel the first week of Donald Trump's presidency and what it means for science in particular.
Trump administration freezes grants and contracts at the EPA (updated)
Donald Trump's administration has frozen all grants and contract operations at the Environmental Protection Agency, ProPublica reports. The freeze could disrupt critical, ongoing projects such as toxic cleanups and water quality testing, and it may impact the EPA's budget allocations. The EPA currently has $6.4 billion worth of federal contracts, which it uses to organize clean-up and testing services across the country. It's unclear how long the freeze will be in place or whether it will impact only new grants.
The White House's Spanish-language website is gone, for now
Under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the White House maintained a Spanish-language version of its official website, while the Obama administration also updated its companion Twitter account, @LaCasaBlanca. Since noon on Friday, just after President Donald Trump took the oath of office, the White House's Spanish-language website has been down and the associated Twitter account empty.
