EJ Antoni, Trump’s Pick For Labor Statistics Chief, Was At Capitol On January 6 – As It Happened

EJ Antoni, Trump’s pick to oversee job numbers, was at the Capitol on January 6

The White House confirmed to NBC News on Wednesday that EJ Antoni, the conservative economist Donald Trump has chosen to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was in the crowd of Trump supporters that surrounded the Capitol on January 6 2021.

A man of Antoni’s appearance, wearing a red varsity jacket, was caught on video posted on the conservative social network Parler walking through the crowd of Trump supporters massed outside the west side of the Capitol about 10 minutes before the mob broke through police lines and into the building.

That video, archived by ProPublica, shows the man in what appears to be a varsity jacket with the University of Pennsylvania crest on it walking away from that entrance to the Capitol at about 1.51 pm that day.

According to NBC News, the man also appears in other footage recorded on the east side of the Capitol building during the riot.

Approached for comment by NBC News, the White House confirmed that the man in the images was Antoni.

“These pictures show EJ Antoni, a bystander to the events of January 6th, observing and then leaving the Capitol area,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers wrote to NBC News. “EJ was in town for meetings, and it is wrong and defamatory to suggest EJ engaged in anything inappropriate or illegal.”

Antoni, who attended a Catholic high school and then St Charles Borromeo Seminary in the Philadelphia suburbs, likely has family links to the University of Pennsylvania, which is also Trump’s alma mater.

The economist’s full name, given on a commencement program from Northern Illinois University, is Erwin J Antoni III. Graduates of the University of Pennsylvania include an Erwin J Antoni, who played varsity baseball, basketball and soccer, from the class of 1948, and an Erwin J Antoni Jr, who graduated in 1978.

As Americans try to learn more about Antoni, given the sudden prominence of the previously obscure economist, his taste in art has also been a subject of online discussion.

In a podcast appearance in 2023, Antoni acknowledged that a painting of a battleship behind him during the recording was from the fleet of Nazi Germany.

Asked by the podcast host if the ship was the Bismarck, which engaged in naval battles with British forces in 1941, Antoni said it was. “The Bismarck, yep, in all his glory,” Antoni said.

A 2023 podcast appearance by EJ Antoni in which he acknowledged that the painting behind him was of the Bismarck, a battleship from the fleet of Nazi Germany.

Antoni used the same painting as the backdrop for subsequent media appearances during and after the 2024 election campaign.

A 2024 interview with economist EJ Antoni.

Key events

Closing summary

This bring our live coverage of the second Trump administration to a close for the day, but we will return on Thursday morning. Here are the latest developments:

Donald Trump said that he plans to extend the federal takeover of the DC Metropolitan Police for more than the legally mandated 30 days. “I don’t want to call national emergency. If I have to I will. But I think the Republicans in Congress will approve this pretty much unanimously,” Trump said.
Trump promised ‘very severe consequences’ if Vladimir Putin doesn’t agree to ceasefire at their Friday meeting in Alaska. He didn’t, however, elaborate on what those penalties will be.
Trump took part in a virtual meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders ahead of his summit in Alaska with Putin which the German chancellor described as “constructive”. Zelenskyy confirmed that Trump said he would call him right after the meeting with Putin.
At the Kennedy Center, Trump announced that he would host this year’s honors himself.
California governor Gavin Newsom, who revels in trolling Trump on social media, used the president’s bizarre writing style to promote a news conference on his state’s plan to counter Texas gerrymandering, scheduled for Thursday at 11:30am Pacific Time.
The White House announced that Trump revoked an executive order issued by his predecessor, Joe Biden, which made it government policy to promote competition throughout the US economy. Unlike many of Trump’s orders, this one, which ended 72 federal initiatives to fight corporate monopolies and aid workers and consumers, was released without any publicity at all.
Trump’s pick to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, EJ Antoni, was in the crowd outside the Capitol on January 6 2021 when Trump supporters rioted in a failed effort to keep him in office.

Kari Lake plans to replace non-partisan Voice of America news with far-right Newsmax and One America News

Kari Lake, the former Arizona news anchor Donald Trump put in charge of dismantling Voice of America, the congressionally funded broadcaster mandated to deliver news to countries without free speech, told a federal judge on Wednesday that the broadcaster does not need hundreds of journalists because it is in talks to fill its airwaves with reporting from two far-right broadcasters: Newsmax and One America News.

In a sworn declaration filed in court on Wednesday, Lake told the judge, Royce Lamberth, that under her leadership, the US Agency for Global Media is “contracting with domestic news networks to obtain lawful permission to use, translate, and disseminate their content on USAGM-controlled means of transmission.”

“The goal is to share content of these other networks, which reflect different perspectives and tones, with the populations to which we are statutorily required to broadcast”, Lake added. “USAGM has already reached such an agreement with One America News Network and is engaged in ongoing discussions with Newsmax in pursuit of a similar agreement. The plan is to reach out to other networks to achieve similar agreements.”

Both One America News and Newsmax are openly partisan channels that work to elect Republican candidates and support Trump.

Voice of America was known for its rigorously non-partisan journalism and provided news and information to countries where independent reporting is rare or impossible.

EJ Antoni, Trump’s pick to oversee job numbers, was at the Capitol on January 6

According to NBC News, the man also appears in other footage recorded on the east side of the Capitol building during the riot.

Approached for comment by NBC News, the White House confirmed that the man in the images was Antoni.

As Americans try to learn more about Antoni, given the sudden prominence of the previously obscure economist, his taste in art has also been a subject of online discussion.

In a podcast appearance in 2023, Antoni acknowledged that a painting of a battleship behind him during the recording was from the fleet of Nazi Germany.

Asked by the podcast host if the ship was the Bismarck, which engaged in naval battles with British forces in 1941, Antoni said it was. “The Bismarck, yep, in all his glory,” Antoni said.

A 2023 podcast appearance by EJ Antoni in which he acknowledged that the painting behind him was of the Bismarck, a battleship from the fleet of Nazi Germany.

Antoni used the same painting as the backdrop for subsequent media appearances during and after the 2024 election campaign.

A 2024 interview with economist EJ Antoni.

Trump signs executive order to cut regulations on commercial space firms, boosting Musk and Bezos

Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to cut regulations for the commercial space firms, like those owned by billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, speed the licensing process and eliminate environmental reviews for launches and reentry vehicles.

The order directs the transportation secretary, former reality TV star and Fox News host Sean Duffy, to “eliminate outdated, redundant, or overly restrictive rules for launch and reentry vehicles,” according to a White House fact sheet.

Trump also called for Duffy to “reevaluate, amend, or rescind” Part 450, a section of the Federal Aviation Administration’s licensing process for launches.

The executive order could be a boon to Musk’s SpaceX, which is planning test flights of its Starship rocket. Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, donated heavily to Trump’s campaign and served as a special government employee at the start of his second term, helping to degrade and dismantle multiple government agencies.

Bezos, whose firm Blue Origin also stands to gain from the cut in regulation, intervened late in the 2024 election campaign to bar his newspaper, the Washington Post, from publishing an endorsement of Trump’s rival, Kamala Harris.

Trump revokes Biden’s executive order to promote competition in US economy without explaining why

The White House announced on Wednesday that Donald Trump has revoked an executive order issued by his predecessor, Joe Biden, in 2021 which made it government policy to promote competition throughout the US economy.

Unlike many of Trump’s orders, this one, which ended 72 federal initiatives to fight corporate monopolies and aid workers and consumers, was released without any publicity at all.

There was no televised signing ceremony in the Oval Office, and no written explanation as to why the initiatives to protect consumers and workers were ended.

The initiatives brought to a quiet end by Trump’s order on Wednesday included government efforts to: lower the cost of hearing aids, by allowing them to be sold over the counter; make it easier for airline passengers to get refunds for shoddy baggage handling or in-flight wifi; make it easier for workers to change jobs, by banning or limiting noncompete agreements on employees; guarantee farmers, motorists and iPhone users the right to repair their own vehicles or devices without voiding warranty protections.

Biden’s order also directed the agriculture department to make it easier for cow, pig and poultry farmers to sue slaughterhouses who refused to pay them agreed upon rates and asked the Federal Trade Commission to establish rules for internet providers and tech companies’ use of data.

Lina Khan, then chair of the Federal Trade Commission, called it “an important cross-government effort to re-center antimonopoly policy as a key tool for promoting a fair and thriving economy” that empowered the FTC “to address unchecked market concentration and promote fair competition”.

When Biden’s order was issued, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote that it included “many of the reforms I’ve been pushing to increase competition in the U.S. economy” and “puts power back in the hands of consumers and workers and reorients the economy towards everyday Americans instead of those of ultra-wealthy corporations and their executives.”

Newsom teases Thursday redistricting announcement in mock Trump style

California governor Gavin Newsom, who revels in trolling Donald Trump on social media, just used the president’s bizarre writing style in a post on X to promote a news conference on his state’s plan to counter Texas gerrymandering, scheduled for Thursday at 11:30am Pacific Time.

Here’s the post in full, which is clearly intended as a parody of Trump’s hyperbolic, all-caps style:

HUGE “HISTORIC” EVENT — THURSDAY 11:30AM PACIFIC IN LOS ANGELES!!! A “BEAUTIFUL RALLY” / PRESS CONFERENCE WITH GAVIN CHRISTOPHER NEWSOM & STRONG DEMS. DEMOCRATS WILL DESTROY GREG ABBOTT’S “TOTALLY RIGGED MAPS.” TREMENDOUS WORK IS BEING DONE. DONALD TRUMP (THE CRIMINAL PRESIDENT) GET READY FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PAYBACK YOU’VE EVER SEEN!!! COULD BE THE WORST DAY OF YOUR LIFE AS YOUR PRESIDENCY ENDS (DEMS RETAKE CONGRESS!). AMERICA WILL BE LIBERATED — “LIBERATION DAY” MANY ARE CALLING IT!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GCN

Donald Trump has named David Rosner chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc), where he has served since June 2024 as a commissioner, the agency announced on Wednesday.

The appointment of Rosner, a Democrat whose nomination to the commission was supported by then Senator Joe Manchin, is expected to be temporary. In June, Trump nominated two Republicans to the commission who are awaiting Senate confirmation.

Ferc, which has a maximum of five members, regulates the power grid, liquefied natural gas projects and interstate transportation of oil and natural gas. It currently has just three members, after Mark Christie, a Republican, left last week.

In June, Trump nominated Laura Swett to take Christie’s place and the president is expected to name her to become chair once the Senate confirms her.

If both of Trump’s nomines are confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, Ferc would then have a 3-2 Republican majority.

Rosner, who has worked in energy in and out of government for two decades, said he was honored to be named.

Last year, the environmental group Friends of the Earth ran a campaign calling on the Senate, then controlled by Democrats, to block Rosner’s nomination, calling him “a paid cheerleader for the LNG boom”.

Trump has said he wants to open pipelines to bring natural gas from Pennsylvania’s gas fields to states in the north-east. The projects have been opposed by states.

Illinois judge rejects Texas attorney general’s request to order arrest of Texas Democrats

A judge in Adams County, Illinois just rejected a request from the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, to order the arrest of Democrats from the Texas state legislature who left Texas to block a Republican plan to redraw congressional districts.

In a petition filed last Thursday, Paxton had asked the court in a conservative county that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump to honor so-called quorum warrants – civil arrest orders issued by Dustin Burrows, the Republican speaker of the Texas state house – and order Illinois police officers to “effectuate the civil arrest” of the Democratic lawmakers.

In the ruling, which was posted online by Aarón Torres of the Dallas Morning News, the judge ruled that the Illinois circuit court “does not have the inherent power to direct Illinois law enforcement officers, or to allow the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives of the State of Texas, or any officer appointed by her, to execute Texas civil Quorum Warrants upon nonresidents temporarily located in the State of Illinois”.

Federal judge strikes down Trump rule that allows religious exemption for birth control coverage

Today, a US federal judge struck down rules from 2018 that allow employers to not provide insurance coverage for birth control on religious or moral grounds, Reuters is reporting.

During Donald Trump’s first term in office, the supreme court ruled that employers were eligible for religious exemptions when it comes to providing health insurance that covers women’s birth control.

The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, requires employers to offer health insurance with access to contraception, but stipulates that they can apply for religious exemptions. The 2018 rules, however, offered a blanket exemption.

According to Reuters, Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia said there was a gap between how vast the exception is, and the number of employers who would need it.

Carter Sherman

Planned Parenthood clinics treated people who rely on Medicaid at more than 1.5m visits in 2024, new research published on Wednesday shows.

But the reproductive health giant’s ability to treat those patients is now in jeopardy due to Republicans’ efforts to “defund” Planned Parenthood by kicking it out of Medicaid.

Donald Trump’s tax and spending package, passed in July, bans Planned Parenthood from receiving reimbursements from Medicaid, the US government’s insurance program for low-income people. After Planned Parenthood sued over the ban, a judge temporarily stopped it from taking effect.

If the ban moves forward, experts warn that it could cripple the entirety of the US healthcare social safety net.

Republicans have long sought to defund Planned Parenthood over the organization’s commitment to providing abortions. But Planned Parenthood does not rely on Medicaid to fund its abortion provision as it is already illegal to use federal dollars, including Medicaid, to pay for the vast majority of abortions. The 1.5m visits documented in Wednesday’s research paper, which was published in the medical journal Jama, only include visits for reasons other than abortion.

“Planned Parenthood has filled a very important role in the reproductive healthcare safety net for people living on low incomes,” said Kari White, executive and scientific director at Resound Research for Reproductive Health. White was the lead author on the research paper released on Wednesday. “Other providers have counted on them to do so. They just don’t have the capacity to step in and fill the place that Planned Parenthood has had in the safety net.”

The state department has approved potential sales of munitions, precision bombs and precision rockets to Nigeria, according to a statement from the Pentagon. The estimated cost totals $346 million.

Texas Democrats hold press conference in Chicago

Several Texas Democratic lawmakers are now speaking about their redistricting fight alongside Indiana Democrats. They’re joining the legislators to push back against the president’s push for Indiana governor Mike Braun to redraw the state’s congressional map – in a similar vein to Texas governor Greg Abbott.

Today, state representative Gene Wu, who is also chair of the Texas House Democrats, said that “we need more people to join us”.

He added that if Texas Republicans continue to “block the will of the people” Democrats will make to “nullify their actions”.

A number of Indiana Democratic lawmakers said that they stand in solidarity with their Texas counterparts. “We need to support them and stand with them, otherwise our people will be subjected to ever changing districts, none of which are representative,” said Indiana state representative Ed DeLaney.

Here’s a recap of the day so far

At the Kennedy Center today, Donald Trump announced that he would host this year’s honors himself – scheduled for December. But some of the biggest news came out of the far-reaching press conference he held after announcing this year’s honorees (which include ‘Rocky’ star and fervent Trump supporter Sylvester Stallone).
Trump promised ‘very severe consequences’ if Vladimir Putin doesn’t agree to ceasefire at their Friday meeting in Alaska. He didn’t, however, elaborate on what those penalties will be. He also floated the idea of a trilateral summit with Volodymyr Zelenskyy “almost immediately” after his individual meeting with Putin.
The president said that he’s eyeing an extension of the initial 30-day limit for the federal takeover of the DC Metropolitan Police. “I don’t want to call national emergency. If I have to I will. But I think the Republicans in Congress will approve this pretty much unanimously,” Trump said. He added that any discussions about DC statehood are “ridiculous” and “unacceptable”.
When it comes to the surge of federal law enforcement on DC streets, a White House official said 43 arrests were made on Tuesday night –twice the total of the previous evening. More than 1,450 officers participated, about half of which were from the city’s police department, while only 30 national guard troops were deployed of the roughly 800 that defense officials have said are expected to arrive for the mission.
The city’s Democratic mayor, Muriel Bowser, has sought a cordial working relationship with the president since his return to the White House, but changed her tone on Tuesday, urging residents and voters during a social media event “to protect our home rule and get to the other side of this guy and make sure we elect a Democratic House so that we have a backstop to this authoritarian push”.
At his Kennedy Center appearance today, the president continued to disparage Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. “He’s truly incompetent,” Trump said. He went on to reveal that he’ll be naming the nomination for Powell’s replacement “sometime in the next week”. He’s down to “three of four names,” he added. A reminder that Powell’s term ends in May.
Additionally, on the foreign diplomacy front, the president took part in a virtual meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders today which the German chancellor described as “very good” and “constructive”. Zelenskyy confirmed that Trump would call him straight after the Friday meeting with Putin to talk it through details.
And finally, for now at least, a federal appeals court lifted a lower court’s injunction that required the state department to continue making payments to foreign aid contractors. In a 2-1 decision, the appellate panel effectively granted a Trump victory – allowing the administration to cut billions in congressionally appropriated funding for foreign assistance.

We can soon expect to hear from Texas Democrats in Chicago, who will join several Indiana Democratic lawmakers who are pushing back against the president’s pressure campaign to redraw their own state’s congressional map.

White House says dozens arrested in DC as mayor warns of ‘authoritarian push’

Chris Stein

The White House said on Wednesday that law enforcement made dozens of arrests in Washington DC overnight after federal agents and national guard troops fanned out across the city as part of Donald Trump’s campaign to quell a “crime crisis” that local officials say does not exist.

The national guard arrived on the National Mall late on Tuesday, while agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), FBI and Department of Homeland Security were seen in several neighborhoods , sometimes accompanied by local police officers.

Video circulating on local media showed police and federal agents arresting at least one person that evening in Columbia Heights, home to the city’s largest Hispanic population. Other videos showed traffic stops near Kennedy street in Northwest Washington, which in years past has been the site of gang activity.

A White House official said to expect a “significantly higher” presence of national guard troops over the days to come, as well as round-the-clock patrols by federal agents, which have thus far only been present in the evenings. The administration argues the steps are necessary to fight what Trump has called an “out of control” crime problem in the nation’s capital, but local officials have disputed that characterization.

Data shows that crime rates plunged last year to the lowest levels in three decades, though the capital does have higher rates of some violent crimes compared with cities with similar populations.

Democratic lawmakers have condemned Trump’s incursion as an authoritarian move intended to distract his supporters from outrage over his refusal to make public files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, a one-time friend who has become a fixation of conspiracy theorists.

The Democratic mayor, Muriel Bowser, has sought a cordial relationship with Trump since his return to the White House, but changed her tone on Tuesday, urging residents and voters during a social media event “to protect our city, to protect our autonomy, to protect our home rule and get to the other side of this guy and make sure we elect a Democratic House so that we have a backstop to this authoritarian push”.

A White House official said a total of 43 arrests were made on Tuesday night, twice the total of the previous evening. More than 1,450 officers participated, about half of which were from the city’s police department, while only 30 national guard troops were deployed of the roughly 800 that defense officials have said are expected to arrive for the mission.

The White House said a total of 19 teams of officers from various federal agencies are in the city “to promote public safety and arrest violent offenders”, while the national guard will “protect federal assets, provide a safe environment for law enforcement officers to make arrests, and deter violent crime with a visible law enforcement presence”.

Ice conducting immigration enforcement operations with police and other federal agencies in DC – report

More than 40 Ice agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI, which does long-term investigations into transnational crimes) are working with the DC police, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agencies this week as part of Trump’s takeover of the capital to mitigate crime, NBC News is reporting.

Per NBC’s report, “they can make arrests of citizens with no nexus to immigration violations”. “Yesterday, HSI worked with other agencies in an operation near the DC Metro in Union Station; its agents told NBC News that they were not there for anything immigration related, but were surveying busy areas around DC.”

Separately, Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO, which carries out operations like arresting immigrants for immigration crimes and detaining and deporting them) is increasing its operations in DC, according to NBC. The news outlet reports that “there was a ‘targeted enforcement operation’ to arrest immigrants in a Home Depot parking lot in DC yesterday, and there have been reports of other immigrant arrests in the DC area.”

“The President was clear, he will make DC safe and beautiful again, and ICE is proud to be a part of the solution alongside our federal law enforcement partners,” an agency spokesperson told NBC about the operations. The agency is conducting both immigration enforcement operations and undertaking efforts to fight crime in support of the US Marshals Service, they said.

They said the operations were intelligence-based, and the efforts at Union Station and the Home Depot resulted in arrests of criminal undocumented immigrants convicted of assault, theft and gang activity.

“We will support the re-establishment of law and order and public safety in DC, which includes taking drug dealers, gang members, and criminal aliens off city streets,” they said.

Trump defense official led thinktank that spread lies about Tren de Aragua

José Olivares

A senior official appointed to the defense department led a thinktank that promoted fake news about the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, according to InSight Crime, a non-profit analyzing organized crime.

Joseph Humire was appointed this summer to be the head of policy focusing on the western hemisphere within the office of the under secretary of defense for policy. He was previously the executive director of a conservative thinktank focused on global security. Humire’s appointment comes as the Trump administration is ramping up its aggressive strategy against organized crime in Latin America and the Venezuelan government, which it accuses of working with TdA.

Under Humire’s leadership, the Center for a Secure Free Society thinktank published the “TdA Activity Monitor”, tracking alleged crimes by accused members of the gang throughout the US. According to InSight Crime, at least five event entries in the tracker appeared to have been “completely fabricated”. InSight Crime found zero basis for the false entries, with local police departments telling researchers the purported crimes were nonexistent. InSight Crime analyzed more than 90 of the entries, finding many relied on unverified sources.

“Some incidents are included multiple times, inflating the gang’s perceived presence and activities,” researchers found.