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Another Trump pick has Theranos ties

Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata

Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos is an investor in troubled blood-testing company Theranos, according to her federal disclosure documents. That makes her the second Trump nominee to have ties to Theranos, following confirmed Defense Secretary James Mattis (who actually served on the Theranos board).

DeVos doesn't break out how much stock she holds, except to say it's valued north of $1 million.

It does not appear that DeVos plans to divest the Theranos stake, if confirmed. She does, however, plan to sell her positions in many other investments, including stakes in dozens of private equity funds.

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Jonathan Swan
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Scoop: Gina Haspel threatened to resign over plan to install Kash Patel as CIA deputy

CIA Director Gina Haspel. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

CIA Director Gina Haspel threatened to resign in early December after President Trump cooked up a hasty plan to install loyalist Kash Patel, a former aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), as her deputy, according to three senior administration officials with direct knowledge of the matter.

Why it matters: The revelation stunned national security officials and almost blew up the leadership of the world's most powerful spy agency. Only a series of coincidences — and last minute interventions from Vice President Mike Pence and White House counsel Pat Cipollone — stopped it.

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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

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Lachlan Markay
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John Weaver, Lincoln Project co-founder, acknowledges “inappropriate” messages

John Weaver aboard John McCain's campaign plane in February 2000. Photo: Robert Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

John Weaver, a veteran Republican operative who co-founded the Lincoln Project, declared in a statement to Axios on Friday that he sent “inappropriate,” sexually charged messages to multiple men.

  • “To the men I made uncomfortable through my messages that I viewed as consensual mutual conversations at the time: I am truly sorry. They were inappropriate and it was because of my failings that this discomfort was brought on you,” Weaver said.
  • “The truth is that I'm gay,” he added. “And that I have a wife and two kids who I love. My inability to reconcile those two truths has led to this agonizing place.”
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