Trump rings in 2025 with Melania and Elon Musk at Mar-a-Lago during MAGA ‘civil war’ over visas: Live
President-elect is pushing support for Mike Johnson ahead of Friday’s crucial House Speaker vote
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump closed out 2024 next to Elon Musk as the president-elect’s allies and elements of his MAGA coalition continue to feud with the world’s wealthiest man over support for skilled immigrant workers.
Asked why Trump had changed his tune about H-1B visas, he said he “always felt we have to have the most competent people in our country.”
“We need competent people,” he said from Mar-a-Lago. “We need smart people coming into our country. We need a lot of people coming in. We’re going to have jobs like we’ve never had before.”
Speaking of immigration, the president-elect on Wednesday suggested a migrant carried out the car attack that killed 10 people in New Orleans on New Year’s Eve, even though authorities later named a U.S. citizen as suspect.
Trump will attend Jimmy Carter’s funeral on January 9, set to be a national day of mourning for the nation’s 39th president, who died at age 100 on December 29.
Meanwhile, Trump is making calls to rally support for House Speaker Mike Johnson, as representatives prepare to vote for who wields the gavel on January 3. Johnson can’t afford to shed Republican votes with his slim majority, through several GOP lawmakers are still undecided.
Trump Cabinet picks ordered to stay off social media amid ugly MAGA visa battle
Musk has been staying at $2,000-a-night Mar-a-Lago cottage – just hundreds of feet from Trump’s main house
Bettina Anderson tells critics ‘God is on her side’ amid Donald Trump Jr relationship drama
What are H-1B visas and what has Trump said about them in the past?
As Trump returns to the White House, and Putin’s forces advance – what next for Ukraine in 2025?
Bettina Anderson tells critics ‘God is on her side’ amid Donald Trump Jr relationship drama
Donald Trump Jr’s rumored new girlfriend Bettina Anderson appeared to take a swipe at her critics after she was spotted dining with the president-elect’s eldest son at a Mar-a-Lago Christmas feast.
Earlier this month, the 46-year-old political scion appeared to end his engagement to fiancée Kimberley Guilfoyle. Amidst reports of the break-up, Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host, was tapped to be Donald Trump’s incoming ambassador to Greece.
As the rumor mill whirls in the wake of the new relationship, Anderson, a 38-year-old model and Palm Beach socialite, took to Instagram to share a defiant message with her dissenters, posting a video of a narrator quoting the book of Exodus from the Bible.
“So let them lie. Let them manipulate. Let them talk. You just be still, because when God is on your side, who can stand against you?,” the speaker said in the now disappeared clip from her Instagram story.
James Liddell has more.
Bettina Anderson tells critics ‘God is on her side’ amid Don Jr relationship drama
Anderson shared the defiant message after attending a Mar-a-Lago Christmas do besides the Trump family
Trump cabinet picks ordered to stay off social media
Bannon may deny the existence of a civil war within Trump’s camp but the president-elect’s incoming White House chief of staff has nevertheless chosen this moment to order his cabinet picks not to post on social media without approval from the transition team.
“While this instruction has been delivered previously, I am reiterating that no member of the incoming administration or Transition speaks for the United States or the President-elect himself,” Susie Wiles said in a memo, according to The New York Post.
“Accordingly, all intended nominees should refrain from any public social media posts without prior approval of the incoming White House counsel.”
Gustaf Kilander has more.
Trump Cabinet picks ordered to stay off social media amid ugly MAGA visa battle
‘All intended nominees should refrain from any public social media posts without prior approval of the incoming White House counsel,’ Susie Wiles warned in memo
Steve Bannon: There’s no MAGA ‘civil war’ because Musk is ‘not tough enough’
Even though it appears the “America First” hardliners appeared to lose their recent dust-up with conservative tech bros over H-1B worker visas when Trump publicly sided with the latter, his former White House chief strategist is still declaring victory over Elon Musk, calling him “embarrassing” .
And, according to Bannon, who previously branded Musk a “toddler” after the X owner profanely attacked his right-wing critics, there never was a MAGA “civil war” in the first place because Musk is “not tough enough” to start one and “folded” on the visa issue as soon as the spat turned ugly.
Justin Baragona has the latest.
Steve Bannon says there’s no MAGA ‘civil war’ because Elon Musk is ‘not tough enough’
“They folded – I mean, it was embarrassing,” Steve Bannon said on Monday, referencing Elon Musk’s tweets over the weekend when he said the H-1B visa program needed to be “reformed.”
Georgia’s top Republicans call on state’s highest court to shut down Fani Willis
The Peach State’s Attorney General Chris Carr is calling on the state’s Supreme Court to reject an appeal from Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who was removed from prosecuting the sprawling criminal case against Trump and his allies.
Governor Brian Kemp then jumped in: “Agreed!... Georgians deserve safe communities and partisan politics out of our courtrooms.”
Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, who is expected to jump into the race for governor, joined in, occusing Willis of having “orchestrated a political charade against President Trump.”
Earlier this month, Georgia’s Court of Appeals struck down a lower court decision and argued Willis should be taken off the case, arguing that her former romantic relationship with a special prosecutor amounted to a “significant” conflict of interest that warranted her dismissal.
Willis filed a notice of appeal shortly after the ruling.
Here’s Alex Woodward with the full story.
DA Fani Willis booted from Trump’s election interference case in Georgia
Appeals court ruling determined her relationship with special prosecutor warrants dismissal
Exclusive: Cash advance firm sues Mike Lindell for refusing to pay back $1.5m loan
Election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell is being dragged into court by a merchant cash advance firm that accuses the MyPillow CEO of ducking out on nearly $1.5m in outstanding debt.
Justin Rohrlich has more.
Cash advance firm sues Mike Lindell for refusing to pay back $1.5 million loan
Exclusive: Lindell said his legal woes are not his priority, telling The Independent, “I’m trying to run companies and get rid of the electronic voting machines. That’s my focus.”
DC Mayor says she had a ‘great meeting’ with Trump
Muriel Bowser had this to say about her latest encounter with the president-elect ahead of his inauguration next month:
The duo first met in late 2016 to discuss Trump’s last swearing-in and started out on friendly terms, until falling out badly over the policing of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Washington in response to the killing of George Floyd in summer 2020 and then the Capitol riot six months later.
Speaking of which, US attorney Matthew Graves, the chief federal prosecutor charged with taking action against the pro-Trump insurrectionists, announced yesterday that he will be stepping down on January 16, four days before the Republican is sworn-in once again.
Here’s Alex Woodward again with a look at some of the most notorious January 6 defendants that Trump could now pardon when he returns to the White House.
The notorious January 6 rioters Trump could pardon
Hundreds of defendants admitted to their crimes or were convicted by juries after attacking police, threatening lawmakers or conspiring against the government. Trump could wipe their slates clean, Alex Woodward reports
Nearly half of Republican voters support using military to lock up immigrants in camps
Almost 50 percent of conservatives believe the US military should be used to detain undocumented immigrants in camps until they can be deported, according to polling from the non-partisan Public Religion Research Institute.
Trump has already suggested that his administration would deploy the Armed Forces for what he is calling the “largest mass deportation operation” in American history.
He also has vowed to invoke a 226-year-old law to detain immigrants in camps.
The poll shows that Trump’s base appears to support the plans, even as most Americans likely oppose them.
Here’s more from Gustaf Kilander.
Almost half of Republicans support using military to lock up immigrants in camps
Forty-six percent of Republicans support deploying the military to conduct mass deportation raids and detaining immigrants in camps
Trump’s border czar derides Jasmine Crockett for saying he is in over his head
Tom Homan, the former acting director of has been Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tapped by Trump to lead the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, has hit back at Texas Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett after she said he had bitten off more than he could chew.
Crockett warned MSNBC on Saturday that the plan would see the separation of families in her state and many others and result in people being held in encampments.
Homan took to Newsmax last night to dismiss her criticism.
“So, look, I don’t know who this lady is,” he said.
“I don’t care about what they say about Tom Homan, because I’ve done this job for a long time.”
He added that Trump has been given a mandate by the electorate to fix the border and save lives and denounced the Biden administration’s policies on immigration and border security.
“President Trump is going to secure this border and save lives just not of Americans, but of aliens, too,” Homan said.
In a recent interview with The Washington Post, the czar said he plans to reinstate policies that will hold families in detention centers, a point Crockett cited in her interview with MSNBC.
“All of a sudden, the discussion goes from family detention to family separation,” Homan responded.
“Family detention is the complete opposite of family separation.”
With all of that in mind, here’s Alex Woodward with a look at what steps Trump plans to take to tackle the issue when he enters office on January 20.
Family detention, raids and ‘no price tag’: Trump’s deportation plan comes into focus
Migrant families will be given impossible choices under Tom Homan’s agenda while Trump invokes wartime law and surges law enforcement across the country, Alex Woodward reports
Bitcoin rally inspired by Trump stalls as year draws to a close
The president-elect’s comprehensive election win over Kamala Harris on November 5 inspired the world’s biggest digital currency to record highs, with investors excited by the prospect of a crypto-friendly commander-in-chief.
But the digital asset wavered at $92,556 in London at 6.44am this morning, according to Bloomberg, which is about $15,700 below the record high it set in mid-December.
Smaller rivals like Ether and Dogecoin, a favorite with the memestock crowd, also struggled for energy.
Trump’s support for more favorable regulations and a national Bitcoin reserve lifted digital assets considerably in response to the election but scaled-back expectations for interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve have cooled that frenzy of late.
Elon Musk has been staying at $2,000-a-night Mar-a-Lago cottage — hundreds of feet from Trump’s main house
The Tesla and SpaceX boss has actually been getting closer and closer to the president-elect, quite literally.
Mike Bedigan reports.
Musk has been staying at a Mar-a-Lago cottage — right next to Trump’s main house
The news of Musk staying at Mar-a-Lago comes as concerns continue to grow in Washington about the extent of the SpaceX boss’ influence over Trump
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