After a tumultuous year at Fox News that included the network’s own “Brain Room” warning hosts and anchors not to trust his “disinformation,” pro-Trump columnist John Solomon is no longer a paid contributor with the network.A Fox News spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Beast that Solomon is no longer affiliated with the conservative cable outlet. Solomon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.While Solomon’s hits on Fox News have dried up in recent months—he has not appeared since July—he has remained a regular presence on the Fox Business Network’s stridently pro-Trump shows hosted by Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo. In his recent appearances, he has been identified solely as the editor-in-chief of his right-wing digital outlet Just The News, or as the author of Fallout, his latest book, which was heartily endorsed by President Donald Trump.The last time he was identified as a Fox contributor on its airwaves was during an Oct. 14 appearance on Bartiromo’s morning FBN show. Solomon’s Twitter account does not list Fox News in his bio.Fox News Internal Document Bashes Pro-Trump Fox Regulars for Spreading ‘Disinformation’After a long journalistic career that included stints at The Washington Times, The Washington Post, and The Daily Beast, Solomon came to prominence in the right-wing media ecosystem following Trump’s election.As the chief creative officer for Circa News, he teamed up with current Fox News contributor Sara Carter on a number of articles that set the table for Trumpworld’s “Spygate” narrative, resulting in his becoming a fixture on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program.After joining The Hill as executive vice president of digital video in 2017, Solomon’s questionable reporting—which repeatedly pushed narratives that Trump was the victim of a liberal “deep state” plot—caused tension in the newsroom, prompting The Hill to move him to the opinion side in 2018. Despite Solomon’s own employer labeling his work as strictly “opinion,” Hannity would continue to call Solomon an “investigative reporter” during his guest appearances, despite Fox management reportedly telling him to stop.At the height of the impeachment drama over Trump attempting to coerce Ukraine to investigate his own political opponent, Joe Biden, Fox News officially hired Solomon as an on-air contributor in Oct. 2019. The network’s timing on his hire was especially eyebrow-raising as the journalist had just been repeatedly named in the impeachment whistleblower’s complaint, prompting Solomon’s colleagues to unload on him.Solomon’s opinion pieces at The Hill, meanwhile, helped fuel Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to dig up dirt on now-President-elect Joe Biden, something that was laid out in full during the impeachment hearings. After it was revealed that Solomon had been in frequent contact with Giuliani and his Ukrainian associates, The Hill’s editor-in-chief Bob Cusack announced that the newspaper was “conducting a meticulous review” of Solomon’s columns on Ukraine.Solomon would leave The Hill at the end of 2019 in order to start his own conservative media venture, Just The News. In Feb. 2020, The Hill’s internal investigation found that Solomon published misleading columns and the paper shouldn’t have presented them as news articles. It also criticized Fox News for identifying Solomon as an “investigative journalist” at the time.At the same time, Fox News’ research team compiled a briefing book on Ukraine and impeachment for news broadcasts that warned colleagues that Solomon lacked credibility as he played an “indispensable role” in a Ukrainian “disinformation campaign.”Leaked Memo: Colleagues Unload on John Solomon, the Journo Who Kicked Off Trump’s Ukraine ConspiracyRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Peru, the world's No.2 copper producer and for years one of Latin America's fastest growing economies, has seen a litany of presidents ousted from office or imprisoned on allegations of corruption over the past three decades. This week, it was the turn of centrist Martín Vizcarra, who was controversially removed from office by an opposition-dominated Congress on corruption charges, plunging the country into turmoil just five months before elections in April. Vizcarra was not the first and is unlikely to be the last to be ousted in a country all too accustomed to political upheaval.

In the 24 hours after President Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday, three other top civilian leaders at the Pentagon quit or were ousted, replaced by Trump loyalists with controversial pasts. The "apparent purge" ushered in "hardcore MAGA-ites" at the top level of the Defense Department, Spencer Ackerman reports at The Daily Beast, and "it is currently unknown what mandate the new loyalists have at the Pentagon with over two months remaining in the Trump administration."The lame-duck change in leadership has "put officials inside the Pentagon on edge and fueled a growing sense of alarm among military and civilian officials, who are concerned about what could come next," USA Today reports. "This is scary, it's very unsettling," one defense official told CNN. "These are dictator moves." Another senior defense official added "it appears we are done with the beheadings for now," at least at the Pentagon.The Pentagon's No. 3 official, acting Undersecretary for Policy James Anderson, was replaced by his acting deputy, retired Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, a controversial Fox News regular who withdrew his nomination for Anderson's spot because the GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee wouldn't confirm him. Anderson himself was holding the No. 3 job because Trump fired the Senate-confirmed Pentagon policy chief, John Rood, in February.Esper's chief of staff, Jen Stewart, was replaced by Kash Patel, a former senior aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) who played a leading role in crafting a dubious FBI "unmasking" memo and made a cameo in Trump's impeachment. Patel has a "very close" working relationship with new acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, an administration official told CNN.And Trump named Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a top aide to former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn also implicated in the Nunes "unmasking" imbroglio, as the Pentagon's defense intelligence chief. He replaces Joseph Kernan. "That Ezra Cohen-Watnick is the acting undersecretary of defense for intelligence would be comical if it weren't so terrifying," a former Trump National Security Council official told The Daily Beast.There are concerns that Miller, former head of the National Counterintelligence Agency, is in over his head. But at least he gets "high marks for his competence and integrity," Ackerman reports, and according to a former colleague, he "would not take part in a coup to keep Trump in office after the president lost re-election."More stories from theweek.com Michael Cohen thinks Trump will skip Biden's inauguration so the cameras can't capture him as 'a loser' Trump wants to be forced out Mitch McConnell's amazing filibuster of his own bill

Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.V.) vowed to oppose ending the filibuster and packing the Supreme Court in a Monday interview on Fox News, two actions many Democrats have called for over the past several months.Former president Obama has voiced support for ending the filibuster as a "Jim Crow relic" even though he himself used it to stall the confirmation of Justice Samuel Alito in 2006. During and after the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in October, progressive Democrats pressured more moderate colleagues to support packing the court, or expanding the number of justices on the bench.However, Manchin promised in his interview with Bret Baier not to support potentially drastic moves by other Democrats. The comments were significant because if the Republican senators from Georgia are both defeated in runoff elections, the Senate will likely be tied at 50-50. In that case, Manchin would be able to scrap initiatives by simply withholding his support."I commit to you tonight, and I commit to all of your viewers and anyone else who's watching…when they talk about packing the courts, or ending the filibuster, I will not vote to do that," Manchin said. "Brett, this system, this Senate is [such a] unique body in the world. It was made to work together in a bipartisan way, and once you start breaking down those barriers, then you lose everything."Manchin also denounced support by members of his own party for efforts to "defund the police" and even to institute Medicare for All, which he said was practically impossible to pay for."I'm a proud moderate conservative Democrat. Maybe there's not many of us left but I can tell you what this country wants is moderation," Manchin said. "It was wrong for this many people to be split, for us not to be able to have a mess that didn't scare the bejeezus out of people and when you're talking about basically the Green New Deal and all this socialism, that's not who we are as a Democratic Party."The West Virginia senator has stuck with Democrats on a number of key issues, including voting for President Trump's impeachment and against the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett. However, Manchin broke with Democrats to vote for Senator Tim Scott's police reform bill, and also voted to confirm Trump nominees Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch to the Court.

Peru's Congress voted Monday to impeach and oust President Martin Vizcarra over allegations he took kickbacks from developers while serving as a regional governor in 2014. After an impeachment trial that lasted nearly eight hours, the motion to remove the popular centrist president was approved by 105 votes to 19, with four abstentions – far exceeding the 87 votes needed to impeach. "The resolution declaring the vacancy of the presidency of the republic has been approved," declared Congress leader Manuel Merino, who under the constitution will take over the presidential functions until the end of the current term in July 2021. Mr Vizcarra declared he was leaving office with his head "held high," and ruled out taking legal action to resist Congress's decision. "I leave the government palace as I entered two years, eight months ago: with my head held high," he said, surrounded by his ministers on the patio of the government house, adding he would leave immediately for his private home. "I'm leaving with a clear conscience and with my duty fulfilled," said Mr Vizcarra, who enjoyed record levels of popularity in his 32 months in office. People held marches and banged pots and pans in a show of support for him in Lima and other cities after his impeachment. Mr Vizcarra's tumultuous presidency ended in a similar fashion to that of the man he replaced, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker who was forced to resign under threat of imminent impeachment over corruption allegations in 2018.

Peru's Congress voted Monday to impeach and oust President Martin Vizcarra over allegations he took kickbacks from developers while serving as a regional governor in 2014.

Peru’s president faced a second impeachment vote in less than two months Monday over new accusations of corruption in the latest jolt to one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Opposition lawmakers contend Martín Vizcarra took over $630,000 in bribes in exchange for authorizing two construction contracts while governor of Moquegua, a province in southern Peru with a population of about 180,000. The allegations are being investigated by the chief prosecutor’s office but Vizcarra has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.

The Trump campaign announced on Sunday that Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) will oversee the recount in Georgia.President-elect Joe Biden leads President Trump in Georgia by about 10,000 votes. There are still some votes left to count, and as of now the race is considered too close to call, although Biden does not need the state's 16 electoral votes to win the presidency. In Georgia, the losing candidate can request a recount if the margin of victory is within 0.5 percent.Without providing any evidence, a Trump campaign spokesman alleged there was "a lack of transparency in the tabulation process, especially given the reports of irregularities and improper ballot harvesting in Georgia." Collins also released a statement, saying that Republicans "stand by the ideal that every eligible voter should be able to vote legally and have it be counted."On Tuesday, Collins lost a special election to fill one of Georgia's open Senate seats. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, advanced to the runoff, set for Jan. 5. Collins has been one of Trump's staunchest allies in Congress, defending him during his impeachment trial.More stories from theweek.com Does it matter if Donald Trump never concedes? Trump will reportedly start reading obituaries of dead people who almost certainly didn't vote Trump's flurry of 'campaign defense fund' emails have fine print about retiring Trump's campaign debt

* Utah senator and 2012 candidate says GOP won policy battle * US election: Joe Biden begins transition work – live coverageDonald Trump, stewing at the White House, reportedly approached by Jared Kushner about conceding the election but as yet unmoved, is “the 900lb gorilla when it comes to the Republican party”, Utah senator and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said on Sunday.The presidential election was called for Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate, on Saturday, when Pennsylvania moved into his electoral college column four days after the vote.Trump, who responded with defiance – and by playing golf – “will have an enormous impact on our party going forward”, Romney told NBC’s Meet the Press.“I believe the great majority of people who voted for Donald Trump want to make sure that his principles and his policies are pursued. So yeah, he’s not disappearing by any means. He’s the 900lb gorilla when it comes to the Republican party.”Romney is a relative moderate in Trump’s party and a relatively independent voice – he was the only Republican senator to vote for impeachment but he also voted to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court with unprecedented and many say unseemly haste.“The presidential race,” he said on Sunday, considering Republican victories in congressional, state and local elections, “was more a matter of a referendum on a person. And that when it came to policy, we did pretty well.”In an interview with CNN’s State of the Union, Romney elaborated, claiming: “Republicans overall did better than Democrats overall in this election. So it comes down to a question about what does America want in terms of policy.“It’s pretty clear they don’t want the Green New Deal,” he said, starting to tick off progressive policy goals not necessarily shared by Biden or offered on his platform.“Pretty clear they don’t want Medicare for All, don’t want higher taxes, don’t want to get rid of oil and gas and coal. The American people are more conservative than they are progressive, so to speak, and any argument to the contrary I think is going to be met with a lot of resistance from the American people, and from members of Congress.”Regardless of such political fights to come, Trump is still claiming without evidence that widespread voter fraud meant his election defeat was rigged.Asked on NBC what he would like to see the president do differently, Romney said: “We’re not going to change President Trump or his nature in the waning days of the presidency. And so I don’t think I’m going to be giving him advice as to what to do.“Clearly, the people in the past, like myself, who lost elections, have gone on in a way that said, ‘Look, I know the eyes of the world are on us. The eyes of our own people are on the institutions that we have. The eyes of history are on us.’“In a setting like this, we want to preserve something which is far more important than our self or even our party. And that is preserve the cause of freedom and democracy here and around the world.“But the president’s going to do what he has traditionally done, what he’s doing now … and by the way, he has every right to call for recounts. Because we’re talking about a margin of 10,000 votes here, or less in some cases [in fact just Georgia]. And so a recount could change the outcome. He wants to look at irregularities, pursue that in the court.“But if, as expected, those things don’t change the outcome, why, he will accept the inevitable.”NBC host Chuck Todd did goad Romney into slightly harsher words about Trump’s behaviour.“I think it’s fine to pursue every legal avenue that one has,” Romney said. “But I think one has to be careful in the choice of words. I think when you say that the election was corrupt or stolen or rigged, that that’s unfortunately rhetoric that gets picked up by authoritarians around the world.“And I think it also discourages confidence in our democratic process here at home. And with a battle going on right now between authoritarianism and freedom, why, I think it’s very important that we not use language which can encourage a course in history which would be very, very unfortunate.”

Emboldened by the president’s election defeat, some Republican leaders are speaking out as others vie for the Trumpist mantle * US election 2020 live: follow the latest news * Trump v Biden – full resultsFor four years he commanded their unflinching loyalty. They protected him from impeachment, tacitly approved as children at the border were prised from their parents and placed in cages, and looked the other way as peacefully protesting Americans were gassed for a photo opportunity.Now, in the death throes of Donald Trump’s presidency, as the president refuses to concede the election to Joe Biden, Republicans who once stood shoulder to shoulder with the man who reshaped their political party to his will are scrambling to distance themselves from his unfounded claims that the election is being stolen from him.“Outrageous, uncalled for and a terrible mistake,” the Maryland governor, Larry Hogan, said of Trump’s erratic pursuit of his false allegations; “very disturbing,” according to the Pennsylvania senator Pat Toomey; and “reckless” in the words of the former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.This breaking of ranks by growing numbers of senators, congressmen, governors and other elected officials – coming only after Trump’s cause appeared lost – heralds a looming battle for the future direction of the Republican party with its figurehead gone from the stage.Those now openly critical after years of silence must weigh up the consequences of speaking out while there remain loyalists inside the party determined to carry the banner of Trumpism into the 2024 election and beyond. That faction includes Republican senators such as Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, and the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, a staunch Trump ally who has urged the president to “fight on, exhaust all options” in his futile effort to prove widespread election fraud.“Trumpism will remain because he is such a wildly popular figure among their base. But, you know, it’s always been pragmatic for many Republicans,” said Jason Stanley, professor of philosophy at Yale University and author of the bestseller How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them.“There’s some portion of the Republican party supporting him mainly because he’s Trump, and he’s owning the libs and saying racist things. And then another group is supporting him because he’s pushing through the hardest-right policies.“I expect the Republican party will prioritise whatever mechanism they need to dominate the courts, to keep suppressing the vote, to make sure that they can, as a minority party, remain in control of the levers of government.”Stanley questioned the timing of those who appear to be breaking free from Trump by speaking out now.“The Republican party has been doing this anti-democratic thing since well before Trump,” he said.“They’ve been acting like the Democrats are not legitimate, and they have no responsibility to co-govern with the Democrats and their sole purpose is to get the Democrats out and rule as a minority party.“I mean, we’ve had four years of this. When people do what is minimally expected that doesn’t mean you should be filled with praise for them … Norms have been so broken that we’re asking whether we should praise people when the president is obviously trying to rig and steal the election.”It remains to be seen if more moderate senior Republicans who have been critical of Trump, such as Mitt Romney, senator for Utah, will hold sway when the party plots its course for the Biden presidency.Romney released a sternly worded statement on Friday that said Trump’s assertions the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen were wrong. “[It] damages the cause of freedom here and around the world, weakens the institutions that lie at the foundation of the Republic, and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions,” he wrote.Other Republican figures are still on board the Trump train, even as it jumps the rails, including the fiercely loyal DeSantis, Cruz, Cotton, the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham and apologists such as Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, and Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Trump’s personal lawyer widely ridiculed for his appearance in the recent Borat movie.All have backed the president’s false claims of malfeasance publicly, overlooking the fact they were made without evidence.“Those are the most dangerous politicians we have. They have placed zero value on democracy,” Stanley, the Yale professor, said.“Some of them, like Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz, you know, might be more dangerous in various respects than Trump.”