Trump and Musk send DC in tailspin with spending bill attacks as government shutdown nears: Live updates
The proposed continuing resolution, championed by GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson, would have kept agencies running at current funding levels through to mid-March 2025
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump and JD Vance appear to have guaranteed a bitter showdown with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill after demanding that the House and Senate effectively force the federal government to shut down, rather than pass a stop-gap funding bill championed by GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Johnson’s bipartisan deal would have kept agencies running at current funding levels through to mid-March 2025 but the president-elect and his deputy issued a statement on Wednesday complaining that the bill does not address the nation’s statutory debt ceiling, urging the passage of a “streamlined” alternative version “that doesn’t give... the Democrats everything they want.”
The duo have already been rebuked by the White House, which warned: “Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hard-working Americans and create instability across the country.
“President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance ordered Republicans to shut down the government and they are threatening to do just that – while undermining communities recovering from disasters, farmers and ranchers, and community health centers.”
Democrats have meanwhile mocked tech billionaire Elon Musk’s undue influence over the incoming administration, with Senator Bernie Sanders ironically praising “President Elon Musk” on X.
CNN anchor presses MAGA lawmaker on GOP’s ‘banana republic’ Liz Cheney investigation
CNN anchor Jim Acosta confronted Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) on Wednesday over a House Republican subcommittee siding with President-elect Donald Trump and concluding that former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney should be prosecuted for investigating what occurred when Trump incited an attack on the U.S. Capitol after losing the 2020 election.
‘Isn’t this banana republic stuff?!” Acosta wondered at one point.
Justin Barangoa reports.
‘Isn’t this banana republic stuff?!’ CNN host to GOP rep on Liz Cheney investigation
“Is this about Trump getting revenge and House Republicans going along with it?” CNN’s Jim Acosta wondered during a heated exchange with Rep. Tim Burchett on Wednesday.
Watch: ‘You cannot run the world’s greatest democracy by tweet’, says Democrat rep
New poll: Americans view both Musk and Trump equally favorably
Elon Musk, clad in tuxedo and black tie, took the stage at President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort shortly after the election with all the swagger of the winning candidate himself.
“The public has given us a mandate that could not be more clear, the clearest mandate. The people have spoken. The people want change,” Musk told the audience of Trump’s biggest donors, campaign leaders and appointment seekers. “We are going to shake things up. It’s going to be a revolution.”
Except the so-called mandate was not one he won from American voters, and Trump may grow weary of the overwhelming attention Musk is attracting.
Continue reading...
Americans view Musk and Trump equally favorably, says new poll
Is that going to be a problem for them?
Fox host demands Speaker Johnson defend spending bill to Elon Musk
Mike Johnson got an early taste of what was to come yesterday when Steve Doocy of Fox and Friends confronted him with a Musk social media post live on air in which the billionaire expressed disdain for his new spending bill, forcing the speaker to respond on the spot.
Here’s what he had to say.
Fox and Friends host demands Speaker Johnson defend spending bill to Elon Musk
House Republican leader challenged over tech billionaire’s opposition to latest stop-gap funding deal
Fox News anchor gushes over Trump’s new hairdo
Harris Faulkner seemed incredibly impressed with the new hairstyle Trump sported this week at Mar-a-Lago, quipping that it represents the “winds of winning” and that it showed he was “leaning into the victory” he scored over Kamala Harris in last month’s election.
Here’s Justin Baragona on adulation that might have embarrassed Kim Jong-un.
Fox News anchor gushes over Trump's new hairdo, calls it ‘the winds of winning’
After her co-hosts argued that Trump was probably just suffering from hat hair, Harris Faulkner added: “I mean, this man has probably sold more hats than anyone on the planet in recent years.”
Watch: Why is the ethics committee releasing the Matt Gaetz report?
Here’s some pretty blunt analysis about why the House ethics committee may have voted to release the report on Matt Gaetz, courtesy of Kasie Hunt’s CNN This Morning panel.
Ouch.
Alex Woodward filed this report yesterday.
House reverses course and plans to release Matt Gaetz ethics report
Now-former congressman at center of years-long probe into allegations of sexual misconduct
Tucker Carlson’s helped ‘kill’ possible defense secretary’s nomination
The former Fox News anchor convinced Trump not to nominate former secretary of state and CIA director Mike Pompeo to be the next secretary of defense, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Several people close to Trump believed that Pompeo was set to take over at the Pentagon.
But Carlson reportedly argued that he was a risky choice, alleging that he was a warmonger.
The conservative journalist pointed to a list of grievances, such as Pompeo’s alleged plans to kill Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, several people familiar with his thinking told The WSJ.
Gustaf Kilander has this report.
Tucker Carlson’s helped ‘kill’ possible defense secretary’s nomination: Report
Several people close to Trump believed that Mike Pompeo was set to take over at the Pentagon
Trump pardoning Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes would be ‘frightening’ for democracy, judge says
The judge overseeing the case of a criminally convicted far-right militia leader warned that the prospect of a potential pardon “is frightening and ought to be frightening to anyone who cares about democracy in this country.”
Stewart Rhodes, who founded the far-right anti-government military group the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of seditious conspiracy for orchestrating an attack culminating in a violent attempt to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss.
The president-elect has vowed to pardon “most” rioters who have been charged in connection with the Capitol assault of January 6 2021 but District Judge Ahmit Meta expressed disquiet regarding Rhodes at a sentencing hearing in DC yesterday.
Here’s Alex Woodward with the full story.
Trump pardoning Oath Keepers founder would be ‘frightening’ for democracy, judge says
Far-right militia leader was sentenced to 18 years in prison for conspiring to commit an act of treason
ICE’s $230m budget shortfall might delay Trump’s mass deportation plans
The president-elect could face major funding obstacles with his “day one” plan to carry out mass deportations – a process that could cost an estimated $88bn – given that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is already facing budget shortfalls.
ICE, which is tasked with handling border crime and enforcing immigration laws, reportedly has a $230m budget shortfall, two officials familiar with the figure told NBC News.
Ariana Baio has more.
ICE’s $230 million budget shortfall might delay Trump’s mass deportation plans
Federal immigration agencies would need billions more in funding to carry-out mass deportation of an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants
AOC hits back after Trump mocks her defeat in House Oversight Committee leadership contest
The president-elect offered some faux-sympathy to progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after she was beaten to the chairmanship of the above panel by veteran Gerry Connolly earlier this week, with many detecting the puppet-mastery of Nancy Pelosi at work behind the scenes.
“Really too bad that AOC lost the Battle for the Leadership Seat in the Democrat Party,” Trump gloatedon Truth Social.
“She should keep trying. Someday, she will be successful!”
This was the New Yorker’s response:
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