Trump scores major legal victory as election interference and classified docs cases are abandoned: Live updates
President-elect was handed legal wins as he works to fill his cabinet
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump, the president-elect, was handed another legal win on Monday when federal prosecutors asked a judge in D.C. to dismiss the federal election interference indictment against him and an appeals court judge to abandon their attempt to re-instate the classified documents case.
Citing the precedent that prevents a sitting president from being charged, Jack Smith said he and his team would treat Trump as a current president and asked that the federal cases be abandoned.
Smith stressed that the reason for the motion had nothing to do with the strength of the case.
The indictment accused Trump of pushing false claims of voter fraud after the 2020 presidential election in an attempt to overturn results and return to power. Prosecutors claimed Trump engaged in a so-called fake electors scheme to do so. Ultimately, his actions, according to Smith, inspired a mob of supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6.
Shortly after, Smith filed a motion to abandon the appeal in the 11th Circuit to reinstate docs case against Trump, which was initially dismissed by Judge Aileen Cannon. However, the appeal to re-instate the case against co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira remains.
Trump sought to delay or dismiss the case against him, along with the other criminal cases he faced.
GOP senators warned they must ‘step up’ to approve Trump Cabinet picks or face recess appointments
Trump reportedly plans to kick trans troops out of the military within days of inauguration
America’s first trans member of Congress isn’t taking Nancy Mace’s rage bait
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Trump plans to fire 15,000 transgender troops, report says
President-elect Donald Trump is planning an executive order that would remove all transgender troops from the US military, according to a report by The Times.
Such an order could be signed as soon as Inauguration Day on January 20, 2025, when the newly sworn-in president returns to the White House.
It is estimated there are approximately 15,000 active service transgender personnel across the branches of the US military.
According to The Times, they would be medically discharged, deeming them unfit to serve. There would also be a ban on trans people joining the armed services — as was the case in the first Trump administration, when already serving trans personnel were permitted to keep their jobs.
“These people will be forced out at a time when the military can’t recruit enough people,” a source familiar with Trump’s plans told the paper. “Only the Marine Corps is hitting its numbers for recruitment and some people who will be affected are in very senior positions.”
Those who fought the trans ban in the first Trump administration have been preparing for a similar move when he takes office again.
“Should a trans ban be implemented from day one of the Trump administration it would undermine the readiness of the military and create an even greater recruitment and retention crisis, not to mention signaling vulnerability to America’s adversaries,” Rachel Branaman, executive director of Modern Military Association of America, an organization that campaigns on behalf of LGBT+ military personnel and veterans, told The Times.
“Abruptly discharging 15,000-plus service members, especially given that the military’s recruiting targets fell short by 41,000 recruits last year, adds administrative burdens to warfighting units, harms unit cohesion, and aggravates critical skill gaps,” she said. “There would be a significant financial cost, as well as a loss of experience and leadership that will take possibly 20 years and billions of dollars to replace.”
America’s first trans member of Congress isn’t taking Nancy Mace’s rage bait
With Republicans determined to make her arrival in Congress a spectacle, Sarah McBride is decidedly shutting it down as a “distraction” from their agenda.
America’s first openly transgender member of Congress has been far from the most vocal candidates on the Democratic side after their party sustained losses in the Senate and presidential races, while seeing the balance of power change little in the House.
But McBride, an incoming representative from Delaware, now finds herself in the center of the House GOP’s crosshairs.
John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.
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Despite saying he has ‘no idea’ what it is, Trump’s cabinet is filling up with Project 2025 authors
Donald Trump said he has “no idea” who’s behind it. His presidential transition chair and the man he picked to be the secretary of commerce said he wouldn’t touch it. “They made themselves nuclear,” he said.
But the authors of Project 2025 — a 900-page playbook from a right-wing think tank for the next Republican president’s agenda — are all over Trump’s incoming administration.
Alex Woodward reports.
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Trump claimed Kim Jong Un missed him but North Korea’s leader has a different message
On the campaign trail over the summer, Donald Trump claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “misses me,” and that relations between their two countries would improve with a second Trump term.
At a defense expo in Pyongyang this week, the North Korean dictator had a very different message, as Josh Marcus reports.
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Full story: Marjorie Taylor Greene threatens funding cuts to sanctuary cities
Firebrand Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is gloating about cuts she could help enable as part of Elon Musk’s government efficiency drive.
MTG told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures what she has in store for her new subcommittee covering the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The subcommittee will operate under the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, headed by Rep James Comer of Kentucky, and will work alongside DOGE, led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, ostensibly to cut government waste and spending when Donald Trump becomes president.
Greene promised a “deep dive” into every government department and program, with one recommendation being to have leaders of so-called “sanctuary cities”, whose policies protect immigrants, explain why they deserve federal funding.
Continue reading...
Marjorie Taylor Greene threatens funding cuts to sanctuary cities and NPR
Speaking on Fox News, Georgia lawmaker said mayors and governors would have to explain why they deserve funding if they ‘harbor illegal criminal aliens’
Don Jr is helping Trump pick most controversial cabinet of modern times
Donald Trump Jr. has emerged as the most influential Trump family member in the transition as the president-elect builds the most controversial cabinet in modern U.S. history, according to a half dozen sources with knowledge of his role, elevating inexperienced loyalists over more qualified candidates for top positions in his administration.
Trump, who fiercely prizes loyalty, has long relied on family members for political advice, but which relative has his ear is known to vary.
This time, it is Don Jr., who has helped cabinet contenders sink or rise to the fore - from championing Senator JD Vance as Trump's running mate to blocking former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from joining the cabinet, according to the sources, who include donors, personal friends and political allies.
Don Jr. is due to join conservative venture capital fund 1789 Capital, although one of the sources said he will continue to host his politics-focused podcast and support candidates that espouse Trump's brand of politics.
He will provide advice to his father in the White House, the source added, although they cautioned that Don Jr. was unlikely to be involved in day-to-day deliberations.
Don Jr. and the Trump-Vance transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
In addition to ensuring candidates are loyal to his father, Don Jr. typically seeks out contenders who embrace an anti-establishment worldview, including protectionist economic policies, and a reduction in military interventions and overseas aid, according to a handful of the sources and Don Jr.'s own comments on social media site X and in public.
Two of the candidates Don Jr. championed may face a rocky confirmation process in the Senate: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump plans to nominate as the top U.S. health official, and Tulsi Gabbard, who Trump plans to nominate as intelligence chief.
Kennedy is an environmental activist who has spread misinformation on vaccines. Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, implied that Russian President Vladimir Putin had valid grounds for invading Ukraine and stirred controversy when she met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the midst of his bloody crackdown on dissidents in 2017.
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