Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Liveupdated

Trump returns to MSG for UFC fight night as he picks oil CEO Chris Wright for energy secretary: Live

Donald Trump returned to Madison Square Garden tonight after naming fracking CEO Chris Wright as his pick for energy secretary

Oliver O'Connell,Rhian Lubin
Sunday 17 November 2024 23:40 GMT
Comments
Related video: Jake Tapper shares five words he ‘never contemplated using’ to describe Trump’s cabinet pick

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Donald Trump has returned to Madison Square Garden tonight to attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the New York City arena.

The president-elect returned to the famed venue just weeks after his controversial campaign rally there. Attendees met him with thundering cheers as he entered alongside UFC CEO Dana White, billionaire ally Elon Musk, cabinet pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Popular podcaster Joe Rogan also attended, greeted Trump with a friendly handshake.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to fill key posts in his second administration and tonight named fracking CEO Chris Wright as his choice for energy secretary.

Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development and one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change.

Trump's transition team is also firefighting serious allegations surrounding Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Pete Hegseth for defense secretary.

A woman who gave testimony to the House Ethics Committee probing Gaetz claims that she witnessed him having sex with a minor, her lawyer told ABC. Gaetz denies all wrongdoing.

The president-elect's transition team is also reportedly "stunned" by a sexual assault allegation regarding Hegseth that only emerged within 48 hours of announcing him for the top defense job, CNN reports. He denied all the accusations.

Trump accuses Iowa pollster of ‘possible election fraud'

Donald Trump has slammed the Iowa pollster behind the Des Moines Register’s respected Iowa Poll and accused her of “possible election fraud.”

Ann Selzer has announced her retirement just weeks after the survey incorrectly showed Vice President Kamala Harris with a 3 percentage point lead over Trump in the state.

“A totally Fake poll that caused great distrust and uncertainty at a very critical time,” Trump wrote on Truth Social tonight. “She knew exactly what she was doing.

“Thank you to the GREAT PEOPLE OF IOWA for giving me such a record breaking vote, despite possible ELECTION FRAUD by Ann Selzer and the now discredited “newspaper” for which she works. An investigation is fully called for!”

Rhian Lubin17 November 2024 23:40

Inside the Harris campaign’s 15-week, $1.5 billion spending spree that has left Democrats looking for answers

The Harris campaign burned through $1.5 billion in a failed bid to send the vice president to the White House, and now Democrats are searching for answers after the stunning defeat.

Kamala Harris’s 15-week operation splashed out on celebrity concerts, social media influencers, an Oprah town hall event, and ramped up its advertising campaign and ground game at an average cost of roughly $100 million a week, according to The New York Times.

The biggest expense, according to the outlet, was the campaign’s advertising spend – including producing television and digital ads – which amounted to $494 million between July 21 and October 16.

Read more.

Harris campaign’s $1.5 billion spending spree leaves Democrats looking for answers

The Harris campaign splashed out on celebrity concerts, social media influencers, an Oprah town hall event, and ramped up its advertising campaign and ground game

Rhian Lubin17 November 2024 23:21

WATCH: Biden approves Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to strike inside Russia for first time

Biden approves Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to strike inside Russia for first time
Graig Graziosi17 November 2024 21:50

WATCH: Biden sends climate warning to President-elect Trump in historic Amazon speech

Biden sends climate warning to President-elect Trump in historic Amazon speech

President Joe Biden sent a climate warning to President-elect Trump in a historic speech in the Amazon. Biden became the first sitting US president to visit the Amazon rainforest on Sunday (17 November). In a passionate speech, he discussed his most “significant climate law in history”, which created “hundreds of thousands of good paid, clean jobs”. In what appeared to be a direct message to Trump, Biden warned: “I will leave my successor and my country with a strong foundation to build on if they choose to do so. It’s true, some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that’s underway in America, but nobody, nobody can reverse it.”

Graig Graziosi17 November 2024 21:36

Biden approves Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to strike inside Russia for first time

Joe Biden has authorised Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to strike hundreds of miles inside Russia for the first time, according to reports.

The decision marks a major policy shift and comes after Russia warned that Moscow would see the move to allow the use of US-made missiles as an “escalation.” With Biden leaving office in two months, president-elect Donald Trump has indicated he will limit American support for Ukraine and pledged end the war quickly once he takes office in January.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has campaigned for months to allow Ukraine’s military to use US weapons to hit Russian military targets far from its border, and retains important allies in both parties in Congress.

READ MORE:

Biden approves Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles inside Russia for first time

The move by the United States comes two months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office

Graig Graziosi17 November 2024 21:10

Biden insists that “nobody” can reverse the “clean energy revolution”

Joe Biden addressed a crowd today in Brazil, where he visited the Amazon Rainforest on his way to the G20 Summit in Rio de Janiero.

He insisted that “nobody” — just months before his successor President-elect Donald Trump takes office — can reverse the “clean energy revolution.”

“I will leave my successor and my country with a strong foundation to build on if they choose to do so,” Biden said. “It’s true, some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that’s under way in America, but nobody, nobody can reverse it.”

Biden speaks on his climate legacy amid concerns over incoming Trump administration
Graig Graziosi17 November 2024 20:42

Elon Musk wants this man to be Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary

Donald Trump’s search for someone to lead the Treasury Department continued over the weekend while one of his new close allies placed his thumb on the scale.

Elon Musk, the Twitter/X/Tesla/SpaceX CEO and top Trump booster, has been increasingly hanging around Mar-a-Lago and the president-elect himself in the days since Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election. Having put a considerable sum behind backing Republicans this cycle, Musk seems eager for a return on his investment — he is now publicly urging the incoming president towards one of the two men seen as finalists for the job of Treasury secretary.

On Saturday — the same day he appeared alongside the president-elect at the UFC championship at Madison Square Garden — Musk made his appeal public.

READ MORE:

Elon Musk wants this man to be Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary

One candidate has near-constant access to the president-elect. Will that give him the edge he needs?

Graig Graziosi17 November 2024 20:11

Trump’s Cabinet tracker: Here’s who is among the White House appointments so far

President-elect Donald Trump is filling key posts in his second administration, putting an emphasis so far on aides and allies who were his strongest backers during the 2024 campaign.

Here’s a look at who he’s selected so far.

READ MORE:

Trump’s Cabinet tracker: Here’s who is among the White House appointments so far

Here is who Donald Trump has chosen to fill key cabinet positions in his second administration

Graig Graziosi17 November 2024 19:27

Donald Trump shares photos from UFC fight, of him with RFK Jr

Graig Graziosi17 November 2024 19:08

Iowa pollster Ann Selzer to retire after ‘big miss’ predicting Kamala Harris win in Iowa

Ann Selzer, the pollster behind the Des Moines Register’s respected Iowa Poll, has announced her retirement just weeks after the survey incorrectly showed Vice President Kamala Harris with a 3 percentage point lead over Donald Trump in Iowa.

Just before Election Day, the poll showed Harris leading Trump 44-47 among likely voters. The news was a last minute injection of hope for Democrat voters desperate to keep Trump out of the White House.

Those hopes turned to ash on Election Day; Trump defeated Harris soundly, 56 to 43 per cent.

Selzer penned a guest column in the Des Moines Register announcing her retirement. After the poll failed to reflect reality, she called it a “big miss” and theorized that her poll may have “energize[d] and activate[d] Republican voters who thought they would likely coast to a victory.”

READ MORE:

Pollster Ann Selzer to retire after ‘big miss’ predicting Kamala Harris win in Iowa

Selzer said she has been planning to retire after 2024 for at least a year

Graig Graziosi17 November 2024 18:43

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in