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Trump already testing unity with Congressional Republicans to get his biggest campaign promises approved: Live

The president-elect weighed in on a reconciliation package, reportedly telling the House Speaker he prefers one piece of legislation

Oliver O'Connell,Joe Sommerlad
Sunday 05 January 2025 07:00 GMT
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Trump makes unfounded claim hush money trial was ‘rigged’ after guilty verdict

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President-elect Donald Trump wants one reconciliation package rather than the GOP leadership’s two-bill strategy, re-elected House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly informed Republicans Saturday — a sign that Trump may be already testing the unity of his party.

Johnson told fellow Republicans that Trump hopes for “one big beautiful bill” that would address border security, energy and tax cuts, Politico reported. All three were some of his biggest campaign promises.

The president-elect’s preference aligns with House Ways & Means Chair Jason Smith, who has pushed for just one piece of legislation rather than the two that Senate Majority Leader John Thune has favored.

The news comes after Johnson was re-elected as speaker after an initial struggle to get enough votes due to the incredibly tight margin in the House.

While a new Congress has already begun, Trump is now required to make a pitstop before he takes office.

New York Judge Juan Merchan ordered the president-elect to appear for sentencing in his hush-money case just ten days before his inauguration. Merchan indicated Trump wouldn’t be jailed. Trump slammed the order in a Saturday morning Truth Social post as “a fake, made up charge by a corrupt judge.”

A majority of Republicans say they are confident in 2024 vote count after Trump win: poll

A majority of Republicans — about 6 in 10 — say they are confident that the votes in the 2024 presidential election were counted correctly after Donald Trump’s victory, according to a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Before the election, however, another poll showed that most Republicans were skeptical of the integrity of the vote count.

In October, a poll showed that just 2 in 10 Republicans were confident.

From the time he lost the 2020 election through his election victory in November, Trump had expressed doubt about the accuracy about the country’s elections — including on Election Day.

“A lot of talk about massive CHEATING in Philadelphia,” he baselessly wrote in a Truth Social post on November 5.

Kelly Rissman5 January 2025 07:00

ICYMI: Fox News hosts condemn Biden for suggesting Trump should learn ‘decency’ from Jimmy Carter

Fox News hosts condemn Biden for suggesting Trump should learn ‘decency’ from Jimmy Carter
Katie Hawkinson5 January 2025 06:30

Two and a Half Men star Jon Cryer brands Trump’s second term a ‘clown show already’

Two and a Half Men alum Jon Cryer is pessimistic about President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, predicting that things are “not going to get better.”

The 59-year-old actor and outspoken Kamala Harris supporter shared his opinions with paparazzi ahead of Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

While outside of Los Angeles International Airport, Cryer was approached by a TMZ reporter who asked how he was feeling about the incoming president.

Keep reading:

Inga Parkel5 January 2025 05:00

CNN’s Jim Acosta slams Trump’s ‘fake news’ immigrant lie in New Orleans attack

Frustrated CNN news host Jim Acosta accused Donald Trump himself Thursday of peddling “fake news” with his repeated lie that the deadly New Orleans truck attacker was an immigrant.

Read more:

CNN’s Acosta rips Trump’s ‘fake news’ immigrant lie in New Orleans attack

‘When there’s an act of terrorism in this country, the incoming president should tell the truth to the American people. Isn’t that what the president should do at all times?’ news host asks Trump supporters

Mary Papenfuss5 January 2025 03:30

Trump wants one reconciliation bill, not two: report

President-elect Donald Trump already appears to be testing the unity among Congressional Republicans.

He voiced support for one reconciliation package rather than two, which the GOP leadership had endorsed, newly re-elected House Speaker Mike Johnson informed Republicans Saturday, sources familiar with the matter told Politico.

Johnson told fellow Republicans that Trump hopes for “one big beautiful bill” that would address border security, energy, and an extension of his 2017 tax cuts, the outlet reported.

The president-elect’s preference aligns with that of House Ways & Means Chair Jason Smith, who has pushed for just one piece of legislation rather than the two that Senate Majority Leader John Thune has favored. Thune wanted one bill to be dedicated to tax and the other bill to be dedicated to the border and energy.

Kelly Rissman5 January 2025 02:56

Murder rates drop for third year in a row as Trump complains nation is ‘breaking down’

The number of murders is expected to drop for the third year in a row — despite President-elect Donald Trump railing that the nation is suffering from high crime rates.

Read on:

Murder rates drop for third year in a row as Trump claims nation is ‘breaking down’

Rates of violent crime also dropped, by nearly 3.3 percent in 2024 from 2023, data shows

Kelly Rissman5 January 2025 02:00

ICYMI: Surveillance footage shows moment Cybertruck explodes outside Trump Las Vegas hotel

Surveillance footage shows moment Cybertruck explodes outside Trump Las Vegas hotel
Katie Hawkinson5 January 2025 00:30

COMMENT: Never mind Badenoch and Farage – Starmer’s real task is dealing with Trump and Musk

One thing that Keir Starmer should not do, as he seeks to manage the relationship with the incoming president of the United States, is leak private details of his phone calls with him.

So it is unlikely that the prime minister was responsible for telling The Times that Donald Trump “veered off on a series of tangents” in their conversation on 18 December. The president-elect said that so many birds were being killed flying into wind turbines in the US that the coyotes were growing fat. If Starmer, or anyone acting on his behalf, did leak it, it could prove quite the misstep.

This is harmless stuff by Trump’s standards, reflecting his known antipathy to “windmills”, as he called them, in a public post on Truth Social yesterday. But the breach of confidence will make it harder for Starmer to engage with the unpredictable fireball coming his way.

Read more:

How Keir Starmer handles Donald Trump and Elon Musk is critical

It’s not just Starmer’s premiership at stake here. If the president-elect and his billionaire pal become a bigger threat than they already are, UK democracy may also be at their mercy, writes John Rentoul

John Rentoul4 January 2025 22:30

What happens if the US bans TikTok?

With every passing day, the US government inches closer to doing something unprecedented: banning a social media app used by an estimated 170 million Americans each month.

But what would happen next?

Read more:

What happens if the US bans TikTok?

TikTok wouldn’t simply vanish off your smartphone – but in the long term, banning the Chinese video app could rip the heart out of American youth culture, writes Io Dodds

Io Dodds4 January 2025 21:30

MSNBC panel erupts into laughter reading Trump weekend rant about being ‘evilly’ treated by courts

MSNBC panel members burst into laughter while reading President-elect Donald Trump’s most recent social media rant.

“There has never been a President who was so evilly and illegally treated as I,” Trump wrote. “Corrupt Democrat judges and prosecutors have gone against a political opponent of a President, ME, at levels of injustice never seen before.”

Read more:

MSNBC panel laughs reading Trump weekend rant about being ‘evilly’ treated by courts

President-elect will be sentenced in his hush-money case on January 10

Katie Hawkinson4 January 2025 21:00

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