
How gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, who's life inspired two movies, plotted with murderous IRA terrorists By JOHN LEE Published: 19:04, 24 November 2024 | Updated: 19:09, 24 November 2024 e-mail View comments The full, breathtaking scope of Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger's collaboration with IRA terrorists is revealed today in a new Daily Mail podcast, From Bomb To Ballot: The History of Sinn Fein . Martin Ferris, a former IRA gunrunner and prisoner who became a parliamentarian, confirms in his first ever major interview that Bulger was central to buying guns and explosives in Boston in 1984. But it is John Crawley, an Irish-American US Marine who left the US to join the IRA, who unveils the true, jaw-dropping breadth of Bulger's conspiracies with the separatist organization that for 30 years carried out a savage terrorism campaign in Ireland, Britain, and Europe. The FBI pursued Bulger for many years and moved him to Number 1 on its Most Wanted list in 2011 after the death of Osama Bin Laden. Bulger achieved a grisly mythical status in the annals of crime and has been played in Hollywood movies on a number of occasions, most notably by Johnny Depp in Black Mass. A fictional Irish-American mobster played by Jack Nicholson that was inspired by Bulger was also central to Martin Scorsese classic, The Departed. Podcast All episodes Play on Apple Spotify Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger (pictured on his way back to jail after a court hearing in 2018) collaborated with IRA terrorists by selling them weapons in 1984 John Crawley, an Irish-American US Marine who left the US to join the IRA, unveils the true, jaw-dropping breadth of Bulger's conspiracies with the separatist organization John Crawley gives in From Bomb to Ballot a riveting first person account of his dealings with Bulger and the subsequent voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in the swordfish trawler the Boston crook purchased for him. Crawley speaks in episode 4 of his first meeting with Bulger at the infamous Triple Os bar in Boston. 'I met him in Triple Os, the famous bar upstairs. He had a bit of an office up there. We were brought up, me and another guy. I call him Mark,' he said. 'As we were going in, I said to the guy bringing me up, I said, 'Whitey in here?' 'Don't call him Whitey,' he says, 'don't call Whitey to his face. He hates it'. 'I said, 'well, thanks for telling me. What do I call him?' 'Jim.' OK. 'Cause I would have gone in there and said, 'hello, Whitey'. So, it would have been on the wrong foot right away.' Crawley explained that the IRA leader and later politician Martin McGuinness sent him back to the US to buy weapons. However, after initial meetings with the Boston criminal underworld, he was told not to complicate things. Crawley said they told him to obtain false driving licenses to buy firearms in gun shops. And 'Whitey' was the man to organize this. Bulger was the notorious leader of the Winter Hill Gang in the 1970s. He is pictured in 1953 after one of his arrests Bulger was transferred to Alcatraz, the notorious maximum security prison in San Francisco Bay, as one of the last batch of jailbirds sent there before it closed in 1963 Bulger also raised $1 million - a lot of money in 1984 – to buy weapons and explosives. He then bought the trawler – the Valhalla – which carried the deadly load out of Gloucester Harbor in Massachusetts. Crawley explained that the last person they saw as their fateful voyage began was Whitey Bulger waving them goodbye on the pier at Gloucester. He revealed the true involvement of Bulger in the minutiae of the operation: 'He was back there [on the harbor] with a radio scanner listening to local police. 'Whitey said that if the cops came he was going to come down and ram their car and we were to scatter and just take off, you know.' On board the Valhalla were 91 rifles, eight submachine guns, 13 shotguns, 51 handguns, 11 bulletproof vests, 70,000 rounds of ammunition, and an array of hand grenades and rocket warheads. Crawley, a US citizen of Irish descent, joined the US Marine Corps in 1975 – just after the end of the war in Vietnam – and spent four years training, eventually joining their elite recon unit. He was so well regarded that he was asked to be an elite drill instructor, like Gunnery Sergeant L Hartman in the Stanley Kubrick's film Full Metal Jacket, which he said was an accurate representation of the Marine Corps at that time. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, senior IRA member Martin Ferris was leaving Fenit Harbour in Kerry, on board another trawler, the Marita Ann. Bulger (pictured in his 2011 mugshot) was eventually captured, aged 81, in Santa Monica, California, on June 22, 2011 after 16 years at large Daily Mail journalist John Lee re-examines Northern Ireland's blood-soaked history, featuring ex-terrorists, victims, and politicians. Listen wherever you get your podcasts . Crawley explained that the IRA leader and later politician Martin McGuinness (pictured a decade later in 1994) sent him back to the US to buy weapons They performed a treacherous transfer of the arms in the middle of the Atlantic, but not before the Valhalla was hit by a hurricane. Crawley recounted in From Bomb to Ballot: 'And I remember thinking, you know, that's all we need now, the hurricane hit us. And I don't know how we survived it. I really don't. We were just battered to bits.' But there was an informer in their midst. It later emerged that Bulger was an FBI informant, but Ferris and Crawley believe the mole was on the Irish side, a Kerry 'friend' of Ferris. 'We were compromised before we left,' Ferris said. Crawley said a notorious IRA informant betrayed them: 'Sean O'Callaghan 100 per cent informed on us. 100 per cent. He boasted about it. He rejoiced in it. He reveled in it.' Both Crawley and Ferris were captured by the Irish Navy in a stunning operation off the Skellig Rock – where Star Wars sequel The Last Jedi was filmed – and they went to jail for a decade. Bulger was eventually captured, aged 81, in Santa Monica, California, on June 22, 2011 after 16 years at large and 12 years on the FBI 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was beaten to death in prison in Oklahoma, while in a wheelchair, in 2018. He was 89 years old. Whitey Bulger's rise to the top of the Boston mob Boston mob kingpin James 'Whitey' Bulger is remembered as a charismatic and ruthless leader whose name was linked to 19 murders and countless gruesome events involving victims being tortured, bound in heavy chains, shot and buried in cellars with their teeth removed to prevent identification. He also famously torched the Brookline birthplace of John F Kennedy and relished in taking cat naps after shooting people in the head. Once the head of South Boston's 'Winter Hill Gang', Bulger's mark on American organized crime is just as pronounced as the stain he left on the FBI's reputation as he managed to evade prosecution for decades, sitting atop the Most Wanted list for 16 years before his arrest in 2011. It emerged in Bulger's 2013 trial that he had served as an FBI informant as far back as 1975, though he always denied it. The deal gave Bulger virtual impunity to commit any crime he wanted for decades - except for murder. Bulger was ultimately convicted of killing at least 11 people in 2013 and was serving two life sentences at the time of his death. Bulger was born in September 1929 about four miles north of Boston in the town of Everett. He was the eldest of six children in an Irish-American family. His father, James Sr, worked as a docker, but found himself unemployed after losing an arm in an accident. Due to the poverty that ensued, the family moved to a social housing project in the tough neighborhood of South Boston when Bulger was eight years old. Yet while his siblings studied hard and did well at school, Bulger started veering off the straight and narrow from a young age. By the time he reached his teens, he already had a reputation as a street fighter and a thief. Unsurprisingly he had also come to the attention of local police officers, who nicknamed him 'Whitey' because of his distinctive blond hair. Bulger is seen in a pair of undated mugshots released by the FBI It was at the age of 14 that he was first arrested for theft. By now, he was a member of a street gang called 'the Shamrocks' and convictions soon followed for assault, robbery, extortion and forgery. Spells in juvenile detention centers did little to deter him from becoming a one-man crime wave. Nor did a stint in the US Air Force, which he joined at the age of 18. After training as an aircraft mechanic, he was stationed initially in Kansas and then Idaho. But he ended up in military prison over a number of assaults and was arrested for going absent without leave at one stage. He managed to leave the forces with an honorable discharge, however, and returned to Boston. It was at this point that his burgeoning criminal career took a crucial twist. In 1956, the 25-year-old Bulger was sent to a federal jail for the first time after being convicted of armed robbery and hijacking. According to some reports, he was one of the inmates given LSD and other substances as part of a CIA research program into mind-control drugs. What is certain is that he was such a troublesome prisoner that he was ultimately transferred to Alcatraz, the notorious maximum security prison in San Francisco Bay, as one of the last batch of jailbirds sent there before it closed in 1963. After doing time in two other institutions, Bulger eventually emerged a free man in 1965 following nine years in custody. Unlike many felons, he never boasted about his incarceration. 'To him,' said William Chase, an FBI agent who spent years pursuing Bulger, 'prison time was evidence of failure.' Back on the streets, he was determined to do two things: stay out of jail and establish a criminal empire. Though he at first took jobs as a janitor and construction worker, Bulger quickly got involved in bookmaking, debt-collecting and acting as an underworld enforcer. Before long, he managed to take over a small-time operation called the Winter Hill Gang and transform it into Boston's most ruthlessly efficient crime syndicate. Its main areas of activity were drug running, gambling and prostitution. Bulger based his modus operandi on the Mafia, which controlled the city's northern suburbs. But unlike some of his Italian counterparts, he was supremely disciplined. Not only did he not while away lazy afternoons over long lunches in neighborhood restaurants, Bulger appeared not to have any vices. He didn't drink, didn't smoke, never used credit cards, didn't even gamble. What little time he spent away from his nefarious business was largely devoted to body-building and reading. He always had an interest in history, especially anything involving Adolf Hitler. Much of his energy also went into trying to become a master of disguise. He dyed his hair different colors and wore varying styles of glasses, although most observers agree that he found it impossible to mask his thick Boston accent. Another thing that Bulger struggled to hide was his volcanic temper. Even in seemingly casual conversations, he was prone to explosive outbursts. Meanwhile, his propensity for extreme violence shocked both hardened criminals and police alike. Rivals and enemies were brutally killed either by Bulger himself or on his direct orders. His former right-hand man Kevin Weeks later said: 'He stabbed people. He beat people with bats. He shot people. Strangled people. Run over 'em with cars. After he would kill somebody, it was like a stress relief, y'know? He'd be nice and calm for a couple of weeks. Like he just got rid of all his stress.' Given such brazen criminality, it wasn't long before questions were asked about how he was allowed get away with it. The answer was a long time coming and, when it did, it was a shocking one: Bulger had been operating as an FBI informer since the mid-1970s. From his perspective, it was a perfect arrangement. He tipped off his Bureau handler and childhood friend, John Connolly, about other criminal activity in Boston in return for being allowed to proceed unimpeded with his own activities. The information he passed on virtually wiped out the Mafia presence in the city. It was the 1990s before the Boston Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Agency, angered at the FBI's failure to act, launched their own investigation. After being tipped off by Connolly — who was later jailed for ten years for obstructing justice — that the authorities were on to him, Bulger vanished on December 23, 1994. During his years on the run with girlfriend Catherine Grieg, various sightings were reported from locations as diverse as New Zealand, Canada, Italy and along the US Mexican border. He and Grieg ended up in Santa Monica, California, where they posed as married retirees from Chicago. After al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011, Bulger succeeded him as No 1 wanted fugitive on the FBI's 'Ten Most Wanted' list. One of the many aliases Bulger used while on the run was that of James Lawlor, a man who Bulger found living on the street in the Los Angeles area. The two men resembled each other so much that Bulger could use Lawlor's driver's license and other identity papers. In return, he paid Lawlor's rent, according to the Boston Globe. Catherine Greig and Whitey Bulger are seen in June 1998. They were on the run for 16 years, and posed as a retired couple from Chicago in Santa Monica Playing a crucial role in Bulger's capture was Miss Iceland of 1974, Anna Bjornsdottir, who lived near him and Grieg in Santa Monica. While she was visiting Iceland, the actress who worked under the name Anna Bjorn saw a news report about the authorities' hunt for Bulger. She recognized him as the quiet retiree she knew from her neighborhood and called the FBI, which arrested him in June 2011. Bjornsdottir later claimed a $2million reward. When police raided his Santa Monica apartment, they found several fiction and non-fiction books about criminals, including 'Escape From Alcatraz.' Police also found some $800,000 in cash and an arsenal of weapons in the modest apartment where Bulger and Greig had lived for years as Charles and Carol Gasko. In his 2013 trial, Bulger was convicted of 11 murders, including the strangulation of a woman. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on a charge that he strangled a second woman. A witness said Bulger insisted that the women's teeth be pulled to obscure their identity. Bulger refused to testify at his trial claiming he had been given immunity from prosecution by federal agents. He steadfastly denied being an FBI informant, but close links between some FBI agents in Boston and Bulger's Winter Hill Gang in the 1970s and 1980s have been well documented. Former FBI agent John Connolly was sentenced to prison after being convicted in 2002 of effectively becoming a member of the gang. His trial, which featured 72 witnesses and 840 exhibits, produced chilling testimony worthy of a pulp novel. It heard harrowing tales of teeth being pulled from the mouths of murder victims to foil identification and the strangulation of a mobster's girlfriend who 'knew too much.' In June 2013, Bulger went on trial accused of 32 counts of racketeering, which included allegations that he was complicit in 19 murders. The two-month hearing, which included testimony from more than 70 witnesses, resulted in him being convicted of 11 of the murders. It also heard evidence that Bulger supplied the arms and ammunition used in the IRA's Marita-Ann gunrunning escape in 1984, which resulted in current Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris being jailed for ten years. Sentencing him to two life sentences plus five years, the judge told Bulger that he had been involved in 'unfathomable' crimes that involved 'agonizing' suffering for his victims. Five years into his sentence, Bulger had just been transferred to USP Hazelton, a high security prison, when he was found dead overnight on October 30, 2018. A prison source said wheelchair-bound Bulger was in general population when three inmates rolled him to a corner, out of view of surveillance cameras, beat him in the head with a lock in a sock, and attempted to gouge his eyes out with a shiv. The source said he hadn't even been processed at the West Virginia facility when he was killed. But someone who knew he was being transferred put the word out - the killer had to know he was coming. 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AT&T's T short percent of float has fallen 7.98% since its last report. The company recently reported that it has 107.43 million shares sold short , which is 1.5% of all regular shares that are available for trading. Based on its trading volume, it would take traders 3.53 days to cover their short positions on average. Why Short Interest Matters Short interest is the number of shares that have been sold short but have not yet been covered or closed out. Short selling is when a trader sells shares of a company they do not own, with the hope that the price will fall. Traders make money from short selling if the price of the stock falls and they lose if it rises. Short interest is important to track because it can act as an indicator of market sentiment towards a particular stock. An increase in short interest can signal that investors have become more bearish, while a decrease in short interest can signal they have become more bullish. See Also: List of the most shorted stocks AT&T Short Interest Graph (3 Months) As you can see from the chart above the percentage of shares that are sold short for AT&T has declined since its last report. This does not mean that the stock is going to rise in the near-term but traders should be aware that less shares are being shorted. Comparing AT&T's Short Interest Against Its Peers Peer comparison is a popular technique amongst analysts and investors for gauging how well a company is performing. A company's peer is another company that has similar characteristics to it, such as industry, size, age, and financial structure. You can find a company's peer group by reading its 10-K, proxy filing, or by doing your own similarity analysis. According to Benzinga Pro , AT&T's peer group average for short interest as a percentage of float is 1.70%, which means the company has less short interest than most of its peers. Did you know that increasing short interest can actually be bullish for a stock? This post by Benzinga Money explains how you can profit from it. This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and was reviewed by an editor. © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, has appealed to Judges across the nation to change negative perception of the judiciary in the public domain. Kekere-Ekun led this out on Monday, in Abuja, while declaring open the Court of Appeal 2024 Justices Annual Conference, themed “Judicial Introspection.” She said: “There is a growing negative perception of the judiciary. We must all individually and collectively work towards changing this negative perception and I must say that at the last meeting of the NJC, we did state when the press release was made, that while the court will look at the complaints, we will look into genuine complaints as we also stand to support our judges and justices. READ MORE: Alleged Defamation: Ekiti Court Grants Human Right Activist, Farotimi N50m Bail “We are looking at ways to make sure that where frivolous allegations are made, there are consequences.” “Now, the issue of conflicting decisions is one of great concern in our community at present time, and one of the reasons that we have conflicting decisions is because many panels do not hold conferences to discuss all reserved judgments. It is strongly recommended that conferences be held. “I cannot overemphasise this point. We are an appellate court for a reason, and the reason is that several heads are better than one. So holding conferences, and exchanging opinions and ideas on matters that come before us is extremely essential.Nvidia's stock dips after China opens probe of the AI chip company for violating anti-monopoly laws
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SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Colorado secured what it said was record insurance coverage for quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter as the star duo opted to rather than sit out and prepare for the NFL draft. Colorado would not disclose the amount of insurance coverage each received, citing privacy laws. Coach Deion Sanders and athletic director Rick George both said it was the largest in college football history. “We happen to have two players that are probably going to be the first two picks of the NFL draft,” Sanders said Monday. “We all know who those two are and they have received, I think, the highest number of coverage that has ever been covered in college football. It far exceeds anyone that has ever played this game of college football.” While college programs maintain insurance policies for their athletes in case of injury, Colorado increased disability coverage for its entire roster in the Alamo Bowl. Sanders, the coach of the No. 20 Buffaloes, ensured his QB son and received larger policies since both are expected to be among the top 10 selections in the upcoming NFL draft. “It was his idea we should get disability insurance for our athletes for this game to ensure that they played and if there was some kind of injury that they would be well taken care of," George said. “So, we worked together on that. We’re excited about it. We think it’s great that all our players are playing in the game. That’s what all bowl games should be like.” Colorado (9-3, No. 23 CFP) will face the 17th-ranked BYU Cougars (10-2, No. 17 CFP) in the Alamo Bowl on Saturday. While most teams are scrambling with starters opting out of bowl games this year to enter the transfer portal or NFL draft, the Buffaloes did not lose any player on their two-deep roster. “It’s more than what I got (when he played at Kansas State),” Colorado linebackers coach Andre’ Hart said. “They gave us a helmet and said pop this on your leg and get out there and play. For them to get that (increased insurance coverage), I just think it’s beneficial. To talk about where the game is, where it’s going and how leadership is taking care of the players, I thought that’s excellent.” Shedeur Sanders completed 337 of 454 passes for 3,926 yards and 35 touchdowns this season. Many scouting services have Sanders rated as the top quarterback in this year's draft. Hunter received the Heisman Trophy as a two-way standout at cornerback and wide receiver. He had 92 receptions for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns and as a cornerback had four interceptions, broke up 11 passes and limited the opposition to 22 receptions on 688 defensive snaps. “They’ve taken care of us, everybody,” Colorado running back Micah Welch said. “It really means a lot to have every teammate up here. That's a big thing. What I like about Coach Prime, they’re taking care of us.” ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up . AP college football: and Raul Dominguez, The Associated PressNoneThe RSM Classic Scores
When Robert F Kennedy Jr was running as an independent candidate at this year's US election, he attracted a series of bizarre headlines. "RFK Jr says doctors found a dead worm in his brain," screamed The New York Times. "RFK Jr admits to dumping a dead bear in Central Park," said NPR. "Feds open probe into RFK Jr for allegedly decapitating a dead whale," reported Fox News. The 70-year-old had been seen as a potential spoiler in a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. But by the time Kamala Harris replaced the president on the Democratic ticket, his campaign had faltered and was running out of money. Opinion polls suggested he could still draw votes away from Trump, however, in what was then expected to be a very close contest. And despite having previously described RFK Jr as the "most radical left candidate in the race", the now president-elect sought — and received — his endorsement. That support has now been rewarded with the promise of a major new job; Trump has nominated RFK Jr to be his secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). It is a sprawling federal agency tasked with overseeing everything from vaccines to Medicare to food safety. So what exactly does RFK Jr mean when he promises to "Make America Healthy Again"? And why are some public health experts so alarmed? A 'dangerous' record on vaccines RFK Jr is part of one of America's most famous political dynasties. He is named after his father, former US attorney-general Robert F Kennedy, and is the nephew of former president John F Kennedy. He made his own mark as an environmental lawyer, focusing on issues such as water pollution. But it is his vaccine activism that is generating the most attention now that he is in line for a role in Trump's second-term administration. RFK Jr has promoted disproven claims, including that childhood vaccines cause autism. He has also been accused of fuelling vaccine scepticism in Samoa ahead of a deadly measles outbreak that killed 83 people there in 2019 . Vaccination rates had fallen after two babies died the previous year from incorrectly mixed and administered mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) shots. RFK Jr visited the Pacific nation several months before the outbreak, writing later that the trip was organised by a local vaccination critic. He has since denied bearing any responsibility for the measles outbreak in Samoa, telling a documentary that he "never told anybody not to vaccinate" . "I didn't, you know, go there for any reason to do with that," he said. But Helen Petousis-Harris, a New Zealand-based vaccinologist who worked to try to rebuild confidence in Samoa's vaccination program, said RFK Jr weakened an "already fragile trust". "A person who has the status of RFK Jr just I guess further amplifies what those local anti-vaccine advocates had been saying," she said. "And there's a big price to pay, isn't there? I mean, these were children's lives." RFK Jr has rejected the assertion that he is an "anti-vaxxer" and he insisted shortly after Trump's election victory that if vaccines were "working for somebody, I'm not going to take them away". "I'm going to make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them," he told NBC News. Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, points out control over vaccines in the US resides with the states, not the federal government. But he argues RFK Jr could try to change which vaccines can be accessed free of charge under health insurance. And he believes he will do "everything in his power to foment distrust in them". "I've never seen a darker day for public health than I have since the election," he said. "I just call this simply a poke in the eye of science." RFK Jr's position on vaccines is partly behind a split in his famous family. His cousin and outgoing US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy recently described his views as "dangerous". "I grew up with him so I've known all this for a long time and others are just getting to know him," she told the National Press Club in Canberra. An overhaul of America's eating habits Along with what he says will be a crackdown on big pharma, RFK Jr is promising to overhaul America's food system. He ahs called for new limits on food additives and dyes, highlighting differences between the artificial colours used in American-made breakfast cereals and those used in the same products produced in Canada. "It's literally poisoning our kids," he told Fox News in September. He has also pledged to remove ultra-processed foods from school lunches as part of an effort to end what he describes as the "chronic disease epidemic". "President Trump has told me that he wants to see measurable, concrete results within two years in terms of a measurable diminishment in chronic disease among America's kids," he told NBC earlier this month . Some of RFK Jr's stances on nutrition have found support across a broad political spectrum in the US. Author Michael Pollan, who has spent decades advocating for healthier eating, told Politico he agreed with many of RFK Jr's criticisms of the US food system. "The way we're eating is the biggest threat to public health," he said. But he added that he did not support RFK Jr's nomination. "I think he's completely unfit and that's because of his stance on vaccines," he said. Richard Besser, a former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) under Barack Obama, believes there is merit in some of the goals RFK Jr is pursuing. But he also does not support his appointment as DHHS secretary. "One of the challenges very frequently with people who are big spreaders of misinformation is that some of what they spread is good," Dr Besser said. "If we had a secretary who said, 'Let's take on childhood nutrition,' that's great. "But you want to make sure that they're coming in and saying, 'Let's bring in the best and the brightest around this topic,' ... not pulling in ideas that may not be based on science, may be based on fear or misleading information." The 'MAHA' movement RFK Jr has called for fluoride to be removed from public drinking water, warned against seed oils, and criticised what he has called the "aggressive suppression" by federal regulators of unpasteurised milk and psychedelics. He has attracted a social media following under the hashtag "Make America Healthy Again", or "MAHA", a spin on Trump's famous slogan. "How it feels knowing RFK Jr is about to go head to head with the food and pharmacy industries," one TikTok user posted alongside the #crunchymom hashtag. RFK Jr has also recently been linked to controversial Australian personality Pete Evans. An advocacy group founded by RFK Jr is publishing a children's cookbook with the former celebrity chef who has previously been accused of spreading medical misinformation. Professor Gostin said there had long been some level of scepticism towards American public health institutions, but that distrust increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. "I think perhaps science and public health lacked the necessary humility during the pandemic, and that's part of the problem," he said. "But the solution isn't to tear down science and evidence, because we have no alternative." 'Pretty wild ideas' RFK Jr's appointment will need to be confirmed by the Senate, and while Republicans are set to take control of the chamber, that does not guarantee approval. Trump's pick for attorney-general, Matt Gaetz, recently withdrew his name from consideration after senators demanded to see the detail of sexual misconduct allegations against him. "The end of the Matt Gaetz nomination could play out in the form of the Senate willing now to confirm whoever is put in front of them," said Sara Rosenbaum, professor emirata at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health. "Although, interestingly, the Senate was sort of able to ward [Gaetz's appointment] off before it came to an actual 'no'. "So whether this, in fact, means that they are still rigorous and moving through the candidates in a meaningful way, considering the candidates in a meaningful way, remains to be seen." If he is confirmed, the president-elect has joked he will let RFK Jr "go wild for a little while". "Then I'm going to have to maybe rein him back," Trump said in the lead-up to the election. "Because he's got some pretty wild ideas but most of them are really good, I think." Additional reporting by ABC
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