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Trump delivers first rally-style speech since election win as he threatens to retake Panama Canal: Live

The president-elect addressed a Phoenix crowd on Sunday

Rhian Lubin,Mike Bedigan,Kelly Rissman
Monday 23 December 2024 02:00 GMT
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Congress Narrowly Averts Government Shutdown — And Rejects Trump’s Debt Ceiling Commands

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Donald Trump gave his first rally-style speech since his election victory in Phoenix on Sunday.

At the event — AmericaFest 2024 — he discussed immigration, defended some of his most controversial cabinet picks, and laid out his plans for when he takes office on January 20, which he referred to as “liberation day.”

Trump also repeated his threats of retaking the Panama Canal.

“We’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we’re being ripped off everywhere else,” he said.

On Truth Social Saturday, Trump accused Panama of charging American vessels “exorbitant prices” to use the vital waterway that acts as a shortcut linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

“The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the U.S.,” Trump vented.

“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” he stridently added, referring to a 1977 treaty.

The 78-year-old Republican also echoed his plans to impose tariffs against the European Union, Canada and Mexico. He said he wouldn’t let the E.U. turn the U.S. into a “dumping ground.”

Donald Trump picks Apprentice producer to be special envoy to UK

Donald Trump has named the British producer behind The Apprentice reality TV series as his special envoy to the UK.

The president-elect said Mark Burnett would bring “a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition” to the role.

Mr Burnett, 64, was instrumental in significantly raising the profile of Mr Trump in the US when he was appointed as the main host in the north American version of The Apprentice.

Here’s the full story.

Donald Trump picks Apprentice producer to be special envoy to UK

US president-elect Donald Trump said Mark Burnett ‘will work to enhance diplomatic relations’

Kelly Rissman23 December 2024 02:00

WATCH: Donald Trump Threatens To Retake Panama Canal

Donald Trump Threatens To Retake Panama Canal
Kelly Rissman23 December 2024 01:00

The Palestinian-Americans suing the State Department over Gaza

Ahmed Moor thinks about his family in Gaza every day. His uncle has been seeking shelter from the relentless Israeli airstrikes for more than a year, and finding none. He has lost cousins and extended family to sniper fire and bombing.

Now, the Palestinian-American father of three is suing Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the State Department for their role in the carnage, accusing them of violating U.S. law by providing the weapons and support for Israel’s devastating onslaught.

Moor joined a group of Palestinians and their families in filing the lawsuit against the State Department for failing to adhere to a 1997 law. The Leahy Law prohibits U.S. assistance to foreign security forces that are credibly implicated in gross human rights violations.

Richard Hall has the story.

‘They are complicit’: Why Palestinian-Americans are suing the State Dept over Gaza

Ahmed Moor is part of a group of Palestinians and their families who are suing the State Department for breaking US law in its support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Kelly Rissman23 December 2024 00:00

GOP congresswoman living in care facility after she was found wandering ‘confused’

A Texas congresswoman is living in a care facility for senior citizens after being found wandering and confused in her old neighborhood, despite being a current elected representative, a Dallas-area news outlet has reported.

The Dallas Express reports that Kay Granger, a retiring congresswoman representing Tarrant County in the House of Representatives, now lives full-time at an assisted living facility. A spokesperson denied that Granger was “in memory care” in a statement to NBC News on Sunday, but did not dispute the Express’s reporting indicating that Granger relocated to the facility after she was “found wandering lost and confused in her former Cultural District/West 7th neighborhood” in Fort Worth.

Nor did the spokesperson dispute a claim from the facility’s executive director that Granger lives there. Tradition Senior Living’s Taylor Manziel told the Express: “This is her home.”

Granger, according to Fort Worth Magazine and other outlets, was present in the Capitol as recently as November for the unveiling of her congressional portrait. But she did not participate in votes last week as the single-digit Republican majority in the House of Representatives fought to pass several funding bills aimed at preventing a government shutdown at the end of Friday.

Catch up on the saga here.

Republican congresswoman living in care facility after found wandering ‘confused’

Kay Granger, the current congresswoman representing Tarrant County in Texas, now lives full-time at an assisted living facility

Kelly Rissman22 December 2024 23:00

Elon Musk will not become the president, Trump reassures Arizona crowd

Speaking at AmericaFest on Sunday, Trump dismissed a rumor that he might “cede the presidency” to his “best buddy” Elon Musk.

“No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,” Trump said. “And I’m safe. You know why he can’t be? He wasn’t born in this country.”

The president-elect’s reassurance comes after The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board eviscerated Trump and Musk in an op-ed after the spending bill “fiasco,” in which legislation meant to keep the government open was effectively thwarted by the 78-year-old Republican and the tech billionaire this week.

Trump “on the advice of Elon Musk blew up the end-of-session budget bill without a plan for getting another one passed,” the board wrote.

“There are bad omens here for 2025 and the ability of Republicans to govern,” the board said. “The immediate result has been a fiasco by any measure.”

Read more here.

Wall Street Journal flames Trump and Musk over ‘budget fiasco’

The editorial board said ‘there are bad omens here for 2025’ and questioned the ‘ability of Republicans to govern’

Kelly Rissman22 December 2024 22:30

Trump nominates Stephen Alexander Vaden as deputy secretary of the department of agriculture

The president-elected named Judge Stephen Alexander Vaden as his deputy secretary of agriculture in a Truth Social Post on Sunday shortly after he gave a rally-style speech in Arizona. “In my First Term, Stephen was the General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture, and a Member of the Board of the Commodity Credit Corporation, where he won two cases before the United States Supreme Court, relocated and reorganized the Agencies that comprise the Department to better serve Rural America, and engaged in substantial regulatory reform,” Trump wrote.

“Stephen joined the USDA on Day One of my First Term, and left in December 2020 after I nominated him, and the U.S. Senate confirmed him, to continue to serve the American People as an Article III Judge on the Court of International Trade,” he said.

Kelly Rissman22 December 2024 22:00

Texas Republican Rep. Kay Granger found in retirement facility after months out of the public eye

The discovery by a local newspaper of “confused” Texas Republican Representative Kay Granger, 81, in an assisted care facility on Saturday after she dropped out of sight last month has retriggered concerns about aging lawmakers clinging to their powerful roles in the face of fears about diminishing competence.

Age became a political issue in 2024 as in no other election cycle in the modern era of American politics, touching on former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Peloisi, the late California Representative Dianne Feinstein, President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump and other aging leaders.

With the presidential election now in the rear-view mirror, a troubling picture is increasingly emerging of Washington.

John Bowden has the full story.

Aging DC in the spotlight after ‘confused’ lawmaker found living in a nursing home

Washington showed its gray hair in 2024. More reckonings are likely on the horizon

Kelly Rissman22 December 2024 21:30

WATCH: “They better be careful,” Trump says, repeating tariff threats against EU

“They better be careful”: Trump repeats tariff threats on EU
Kelly Rissman22 December 2024 21:00

Biden admin looks to lock in legacy on immigration and death penalty

The Biden administration is using its waning days in office to make a final mark ahead of the incoming Trump White House.

It announced Friday it would forgive another $4.28 billion in student debt for 54,900 borrowers who pursued careers in public service, bringing Biden’s total to some $180 billion of forgiveness overall, the largest sum of debt forgiveness from any president in U.S. history.

At the same time, the administration said it would scrap further forgiveness proposals from the U.S. Department of Education, noting “uncertainty around the implementation” given Trump’s impending inauguration.

“The Department at this time intends to commit its limited operational resources to helping at-risk borrowers return to repayment successfully,” Education Secretary Migual Cardona wrote in official notices.

Josh Marcus has the full story.

Biden admin wants to lock in migration and death penalty policies as it drops others

Administration announced intention to drop student loan proposals and a proposed rule on transgender sports bans

Kelly Rissman22 December 2024 20:45

ICYMI: Lara Trump will not run for the Senate

Lara Trump dropped out of the running for the Senate on Saturday evening, teasing a “big announcement” to come in January.

Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law was floated as a possible replacement for Marco Rubio, the president-elect’s choice for secretary of state.

Two weeks ago Trump announced she was also stepping down from her role as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.

Rhian Lubin has the full story.

Lara Trump drops out of running for the Senate, teases ‘big announcement’

Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law was floated as a possible replacement for Marco Rubio, the president-elect’s choice for secretary of state

Kelly Rissman22 December 2024 20:15

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