Dan is a managing editor at Raw Story based in Colorado, producing and editing breaking political news.
Dan previously worked as a news associate at The Associated Press in Philadelphia, and later as local editor, breaking news editor and eventually manager at Patch, overseeing the company’s breaking news and Long Island/Hudson Valley teams.
Dan has covered major breaking stories such as mass shootings and wildfires in California, and overseen teams that covered George Santos and the Gilgo Beach serial killings.
A native of Colorado and the Philadelphia area, Dan graduated with a degree in journalism from Temple University.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper joked on Wednesday that tech billionaire Elon Musk has become President-elect Donald Trump's "id."
Tapper's quip came during a discussion with congressional reporter Kristen Holmes about House Republican efforts to torpedo a temporary spending bill.
As Holmes noted Musk has become a "mouthpiece" for Trump, Tapper interjected and called Musk Trump's "id," adding: "As if Donald Trump weren't enough of an id."
Tapper explained to viewers that a "significant number" of GOP lawmakers will not vote for any government spending bill. As such House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) must get enough GOP votes, but also secure enough Democratic votes to pass the bill.
"The way you get Democratic votes is to cut a deal with the Democrats," he said. "And that's what Speaker Johnson was attempting to do."
The next step is unclear — including whether an 11th-hour deal can be reached to raise the national debt limit.
"That is an incredibly complicated negotiation," noted reporter Manu Raju. "Typically it takes months and months to resolve."
National affairs reporter Jeff Zeleny called the situation with Trump and Musk turning on Johnson's bill "extraordinary" — and a window of things to come for the house speaker.
Calling Musk an "unelected very important ally," Zeleny called it a "mess, quite frankly."
"Is the government going to shut down? I doubt it. But boy, a preview of things to come," he said.