The cyclist in Virginia who became known nationwide after a photo of her flipping off President Trump's motorcade in 2017 went viral is now a public official. Juli Briskman was elected earlier this week as a supervisor in her home Algonkian District in Loudoun County.
"It is very clear to me that the voters of district backed me up on my sentiment toward the Trump agenda and the Trump administration," said Briskman, a Democrat who beat the Republican incumbent with 52 percent of votes.
The famous photo, taken by a reporter traveling in Trump's motorcade, was captured after the president left his Trump National Golf Club in Loudoun County, a suburban area just northwest of Washington DC. Briskman subsequently lost her job with a government contractor in the fallout.
However, Briskman credits her campaign's focus on local issues, and not Trump, for its success in the election. "We just went out and talked to thousands and thousands of voters and made sure they knew that my values matched their values," she said. "And that it was time for a change."
<i>Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images</i>
As supervisor-elect, Briskman said she is now focused on her policy priorities, which include affordable housing, public school investments, and sustainability. On environmental policy, for instance, Briskman says she will work to ensure that Loudoun County furthers its adherence to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, a decades-old state initiative to preserve the bay that relies heavily on local governments.
Notably, Trump National Golf Club exists in her new jurisdiction.
Briskman victory was part of a blue wave that swept across Virginia in the election Tuesday. For the first time in 26 years, Democrats were voted into the majority in the state's House of Delegates and the State Senate. The governor. Ralph Northam, is also a Democrat, giving the party full control of what was once considered a reliable Republican state.
"I'm not going to lie, the 'Trump effect' was in play in the county, in my district, and all over Virginia," Briskman said, referring to a sense of disillusionment felt by voters — and reflected in electoral outcomes — towards the Republican Party. "We've gone from a red to a purple to a blue state since I've lived here."
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
