{"id":29710,"date":"2026-02-09T08:52:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T08:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=29710"},"modified":"2026-02-09T08:52:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T08:52:25","slug":"senate-confirms-trump-envoys-to-uk-turkey-italy-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=29710","title":{"rendered":"Senate Confirms Trump Envoys To UK, Turkey, Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate accepted three ambassadors chosen by President Donald Trump. They will be stationed in the UK, Turkey, and Italy, respectively. Warren Stephens, Tom Barrack, and Tilman Fertitta not only received votes from all Republicans but also saw several Democrats flip and vote in favor of their nominations.<\/p>\n

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The Senate voted 59 to 39 earlier this week to make Stephens the new ambassador to the UK and Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas\u2019s Republican Party stepped out in favor of Stephens, an investment banker from his home state. He called him a \u201cfamily man, businessman, philanthropist, and patriot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cotton stated, \u201cHe is the right person to lead our strong, special relationship with the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Until January, Stephens was the President and CEO of Stephens Inc., an investment banking company based in Little Rock.<\/p>\n

Federal Election Commission records show that Stephens gave $1 million to \u201cOur Principles PAC,\u201d a group that was against Trump\u2019s first run for president.<\/p>\n

But in 2019 and 2020, he gave money to groups that supported Trump. In 2024, he gave $3 million to MAGA Inc., the main Super PAC that backed Trump, according to FEC documents.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWarren has always wanted to work for the United States full-time. As the top diplomat for the U.S.A., he will now have the chance to do that, representing the U.S.A. to one of America\u2019s most respected and cherished allies, Trump said in December.<\/p>\n

The Senate voted 60-36 to confirm Barrack, a private equity executive and longstanding Trump loyalist.<\/p>\n

Barrack and Trump have been friends since the 1980s. Before starting Colony Capital, a private equity firm, he worked for the Reagan government. He helped Trump\u2019s 2016 campaign and served as chair of his inaugural committee in 2017.<\/p>\n

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The Senate voted 83 to 14 to make Fertitta the US ambassador to Italy.<\/p>\n

Fertitta is the CEO of Landry\u2019s, a hospitality company that runs restaurants, hotels, casinos, and other entertainment venues. Trump selected him for the job in December of last year. He is also the owner of the Houston Rockets, an NBA team.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the Senate unanimously approved the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act, or DEFIANCE Act, a bipartisan effort to strengthen legal protections for individuals targeted by nonconsensual deepfake imagery.<\/p>\n

The bill now proceeds to the House of Representatives for consideration.<\/p>\n

The measure would allow individuals depicted in sexually explicit deepfake images or videos \u2014 digital fabrications created without their consent \u2014 to pursue civil damages of at least $150,000 per violation against persons responsible for creating or sharing such content.<\/p>\n

Legislators who supported the bill said existing legal frameworks are insufficient to address the growing prevalence of deepfake technology and the unique harms it causes.<\/p>\n

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They noted the legislation builds on earlier federal and state laws aimed at curbing nonconsensual intimate imagery, but expands the scope and clarity of remedies available under federal civil law.<\/p>\n

Deepfake content \u2014 synthetic media produced using artificial intelligence and machine learning \u2014 has surged in recent years, raising concerns in Washington about privacy, harassment, fraud, and national security.<\/p>\n

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Lawmakers from both parties have pushed a series of proposals in recent sessions to update laws governing digital impersonation and nonconsensual imagery.<\/p>\n

The DEFIANCE Act creates a federal civil right of action, enabling private individuals \u2014 not just government prosecutors \u2014 to seek monetary damages in federal court.<\/p>\n

The bill would supplement state laws that vary widely in enforcement and penalties related to deepfake and revenge-porn imagery.<\/p>\n

Supporters have argued that civil remedies are crucial because many victims face ongoing reputational harm and emotional distress long after illicit content is published. Civil suits, proponents say, can provide both compensation and deterrence.<\/p>\n

If the House approves the DEFIANCE Act and the president signs it into law, the new provisions would expand legal avenues for victims of nonconsensual deepfakes and related digital forgeries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Getty Images This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion. The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate accepted three ambassadors chosen by President Donald Trump. They will be stationed in the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29712,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29710\/revisions\/29712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}