Trump teases control of Greenland and Panama as Matt Gaetz fires back at explosive report: Live
Gaetz stands accused of buying and using illegal drugs and paying for sex with a high schooler
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 is signalling his incoming administration’s readiness to expand U.S. territory, with recent out-of-nowhere snipes at Panama and Greenland.
After seemingly joking about Canada becoming the “51st” state, the incoming president fired off ominous messages alleging the Panama Canal and Greenland pose serious economic and national security threats to the United States.
He claimed the Panama Canal is a “rip-off” that the country “will immediately stop,” and that the “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” — rattling diplomatic relationships less than a month before he returns to the White House.
Meanwhile, allies of House Speaker Mike Johnson are urging the president-elect to reaffirm his support for the Republican leader after Democrats and some Republicans blocked the Trump- and Elon Musk-led campaign to derail the stop-gap funding bill before Christmas, averting a government shutdown.
The House of Representatives is also reeling after an ethics committee report into former congressman Matt Gaetz “determined there is substantial evidence” that he paid tens of thousands of dollars for sex and used illicit drugs while he was a member of Congress.
How will a second Trump presidency impact the tech world in 2025?
Illegal drugs and sex with a minor: All the allegations against Matt Gaetz revealed in explosive report
Trump taps Katie Miller, wife of key aide Stephen Miller, for Musk’s DOGE panel
Speaker’s allies call for Trump to back him to avoid another round of Republican civil war
Greenland prime minister balks at Trump’s renewed play for territory: ‘We are not for sale’
The leader of Greenland has flat-out rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s renewed interest in purchasing the massive Arctic island from Denmark, insisting that the territory is not on the market.
“Greenland is ours,” Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said in a statement on Monday. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
Egede’s comment comes after the incoming president announced that he wanted to revisit the idea of buying the semi-autonomous land from Denmark. During his first term in the White House, Trump expressed a desire to make a “large real estate deal” because “strategically” it would be “very nice.”
Read more:
Greenland leader balks at Trump’s renewed play for territory: ‘We are not for sale’
The leader of Greenland has flat-out rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s renewed interest in purchasing the massive Arctic island from Denmark, insisting that the territory is not on the market.
Lord Mandelson ‘open to working with Farage to win over Trump’
Lord Mandelson is reportedly set to call on Nigel Farage to help him win over Donald Trump in his new role as UK ambassador to the US.
He is said to be ready to work with the Reform UK leader, as part of an attempt to persuade the president-elect not to target Britain with tariffs.
Experts have warned of a looming trade war after Mr Trump himself said: “Tariff is my favourite word”, and promised to implement 10 to 20 per cent tariffs on all goods coming into the country – a figure that rises to 60 per cent for those from China.
Read more:
Peter Mandelson ‘open to working with Farage to win over Trump’
Nigel Farage, who has been a close ally of Donald Trump since his 2016 presidential election campaign, has offered his services to Lord Mandelson to act as a link to the president-elect
Biden cheered by Democrats and civil rights groups for commuting dozens of death row sentences
Civil rights groups who were anxiously preparing for the onset of Donald Trump’s presidency breathed a sigh of relief on Monday as President Joe Biden announced the largest single-day commutation of federal death row inmates in modern history.
The White House announced early Monday morning that the president would commute the sentences of 37 inmates awaiting execution in the federal prison system. Now, just three people will remain on death row following the commutations: mass murderers Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers.
Read more:
Biden cheered by civil rights groups for commuting dozens of death row sentences
Biden’s announcement leaves Democrats breathing easier after Hunter, ‘Kids for Cash’ clemency news
Watch: Ethics report finds ‘substantial evidence’ Matt Gaetz violated statutory rape law
‘We are not for sale’: Greenland prime minister balks at Trump’s renewed play for territory
The leader of Greenland has flat-out rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s renewed interest in purchasing the massive Arctic island from Denmark, insisting that the territory is not on the market.
“Greenland is ours,” the territory’s prime minister Múte Egede said in a statement on Monday. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
Justin Barangoa reports.
Greenland leader balks at Trump’s renewed play for territory: ‘We are not for sale’
The leader of Greenland has flat-out rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s renewed interest in purchasing the massive Arctic island from Denmark, insisting that the territory is not on the market.
Biden to decide on US Steel acquisition after no consensus on national security risks
A powerful government panel on Monday failed to reach consensus on the possible national security risks of a nearly $15 billion proposed deal for Nippon Steel of Japan to purchase U.S. Steel, leaving a decision to President Joe Biden, a longtime opponent of the deal.
Continue reading...
Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensus
A powerful government panel has failed to reach consensus on the possible national security risks of a nearly $15 billion proposed deal for Nippon Steel of Japan to purchase U.S. Steel
Who is Matt Gaetz’s wife, Ginger? The woman proudly standing by her man amid sex allegations
Ginger Gaetz beams as she stands beside her husband in loved-up photos curated on her Instagram page.
The 30-year-old wife of the former Florida congressman and Donald Trump’s original pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, proudly describes herself as his “wifey” in her profile bio.
Her supportive posts about Gaetz, 42, signaled an intent to stand by him as he battled resurfaced sexual allegations from his past.
She also stood by him after he announced he was withdrawing from the process of becoming Trump’s next attorney general.
Read more:
Who is Matt Gaetz’s wife, Ginger? The woman standing by her man amid sex allegations
Gaetz’s 30-year-old wife Ginger describes herself as his ‘wifey’ in her Instagram profile bio. Rhian Lubin reports
Biden signs defense bill despite objections to ban on transgender health care for military children
President Joe Biden on Monday signed into law a defense bill that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China‘s growing power and boosts overall military spending to $895 billion despite his objections to language stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children in military families.
Biden said his administration strongly opposes the provision because it targets a group based on gender identity and “interferes with parents’ roles to determine the best care for their children.” He said it also undermines the all-volunteer military’s ability to recruit and retain talent.
“No service member should have to decide between their family’s health care access and their call to serve our nation,” the president said in a statement.
Continue reading...
Biden signs defense bill despite objections to ban on transgender health care for military children
President Joe Biden has signed the annual defense authorization bill into law despite his objections to language banning transgender health care for military children
Eric Trump posts Amazon shopping cart of other countries
Further adding fuel to the fire over his father’s comments about the US taking over the Panama Canal, adding Canada as a 51st state, and purchasing Greenland, Eric Trump posted the following to his X account this evening:
Who are the three federal death row inmates Biden chose not to save?
Joe Biden made history on Monday and commuted the sentence of nearly everyone on federal death row to life in prison without parole, sparing 37 people from the execution chamber.
Biden, whose (in)famous 1994 crime bill expanded the list of crimes eligible for a death sentence, framed the decision as part of his wider commitment to criminal justice reform.
“I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden said in a statement. “Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”
The commutation decision falls short of Biden’s original, and unprecedented, broader 2020 campaign promise to seek to entirely eliminate federal capital punishment, and Monday’s announcement leaves in place three death sentences for some of the most notorious killers in recent U.S. history.
Josh Marcus looks at who they are.
The three federal death row inmates Biden chose not to save
Outgoing president decided to spare 37 condemned prisoners from the death chamber – but not three others
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments