Clash at U.N. could prove costly for Cuban rep
Cuban First Secretary Richard Tur de la Concepcion’s confrontation last month with Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., has already resulted in him being booted from America.
People were interested in these podcasts
Now “Seen, Heard & Whispered” has learned it could also cost him a $200,000-a-year salary.
Mr. Concepcion had been campaigning to take a U.N. role in helping control how the international body spends its money.
He can forget that now after trying to take on Mr. Waltz.
The U.S. ambassador was delivering a speech denouncing Cuba’s leaders as corrupt when members of the Cuban delegation advanced toward the rostrum.
Mr. Waltz said an American official was using a phone to record the Cuban delegation’s behavior when Mr. Concepcion sought to slap the phone away and bully the U.N. into cutting off his speech.
That led to Mr. Concepcion’s expulsion from the U.S., which hosts the U.N.
No time to confirm Supreme Court justice
With Democrats poised to have a significant Senate majority next year, Republicans are resigning themselves to the notion that President Trump won’t be able to confirm a new Supreme Court justice for the rest of his tenure.
The GOP will retain control for nearly two more months, but “Seen, Heard & Whispered” has been told that even if one of the justices were to retire immediately, there probably isn’t enough time to get a replacement through the arduous process.
“Won’t work with the calendar,” one nomination expert said. “No time.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Mr. Trump’s third pick from his first term, was pushed through in a month in 2020.
She was nominated on Sept. 26, 2020, and confirmed on Oct. 26, but that was before an election.
Now, with Thanksgiving and Christmas near, along with the looming change in control, the headwinds are likely too strong.
And if a confirmation doesn’t happen now, it’s probably off the books.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, mused to reporters that the new Democratic majority would never confirm a strong conservative Trump pick and would instead leave the post empty.
That’s the same approach Republicans used to hold open the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia for more than a year after his death in 2016.
“That means no Supreme Court justice will be confirmed under President Trump’s administration unless something happens in the next six weeks,” Mr. DeSantis said.
Democrats will hold at least 54 seats, and that number could rise depending on the outcome of several races still not called.
Justice Clarence Thomas, 78, hasn’t hinted at any retirement. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., 76, considered retiring before this year’s term, but determined to stay on the bench.
Florida plane crash has local ties
Politico reporter Daniel Lippman, known in Washington for Politico’s Playbook, lost his second cousin this week in last weekend’s Florida plane crash.
Helen Sharp passed away Sunday when the Learjet 60 heading from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas crashed in Palm Beach County. The video of the crash has gone viral, as has the wrenching audio of the pilot’s radio traffic describing the rapid descent.
The crash is under review, but a guess is that the private jet encountered ice during a storm.
Ms. Sharp was on board with her husband, Adam, and their two children, Emma and Charlie. The couple’s friends and nanny were also on board.
Mr. Lippman posted a photo of the family on social media, writing, “Rest in peace my sweet cousin Helen and her beautiful family.”
SCOTUSblog founder faces $1 million forfeiture over fraud
A federal judge has ruled that Tom Goldstein, a major mover in Supreme Court circles before his ignominious conviction for tax evasion, will have to forfeit a million dollars from the sale of his home.
Goldstein, once a prominent lawyer who argued more than 40 cases before the justices and founded the influential SCOTUSBlog, led a secret life, hidden from his family and friends, as a big-time gambler.
He was sentenced in July to six years in prison.
Goldstein has appealed the conviction, but he’s also been fighting to keep as much of his assets as possible — including the money from the sale of his home.
The Justice Department argued he should forfeit nearly $2 million since the home was obtained through a bogus loan application that omitted his poker debts.
Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby said Thursday that he must give up only $1 million because Goldstein will also repay his mortgage company.
“Mr. Goldstein’s full re-payment of the NFM loan supports reducing the amount of the forfeiture money judgment requested by the government,” Judge Griggsby wrote.
• Seen, Heard & Whispered is a weekly column taking you inside the conversations happening in Washington’s power corridors, the moves being made and the whispers that explain what’s really going on in the nation’s capital. Email tips to whispered@washingtontimes.com. Click here to receive this in your inbox every Friday morning.
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.