Trump shares Christmas message as Denmark responds to Greenland threats by boosting defense: Live
Danish defense minister says country will spend $1.5 billion to ensire ‘stronger presence’ in Arctic
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 posted his traditional rambling Christmas message calling out various foes, taunting adversaries, reiterating his desire for U.S. territorial expansionism — retaking the Panama Canal, incorporating Canada into the union, and buying Greenland.
A Danish official said an announcement that the country is boosting defense spending for Greenland, was an “irony of fate.”
Troels Lund Poulsen, the Danish defense minister, told the paper Jyllands-Posten Tuesday that the country plans to spend a “double-digit billion amount” in krone — about $1.5 billion — to make sure they have a “stronger presence” in the Arctic.
Trump said the “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for the U.S., which operates a base in the territory’s northwest.
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 and might be targeted for some kind of annexation or purchase.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is 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
Trial of man accused in Trump assassination attempt in Florida pushed back to September
A man accused of attempting to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump in South Florida won’t be tried until September 2025, a federal judge ruled this week.
Ryan Routh’s trial will begin Sept. 8 instead of the previously scheduled Feb. 10, 2025 start date, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon said in an order released on Monday.
Routh, 58, a Hawaii resident, has pleaded not guilty.
Routh’s attorneys had asked the judge to delay the trial until no earlier than next December, saying they needed more time to review the evidence against him and decide whether to mount an insanity defense.
Routh owned 17 cellphones and numerous other electronic devices, and there are hundreds of hours of police body camera and surveillance videos that have been provided to the defense, Routh’s attorneys argued during a hearing two weeks ago in Fort Pierce, Florida.
In her order, Cannon said she wanted to err on the side of providing more time given the seriousness of the allegations, but that starting the trial no earlier than December would be an excessive amount. A September trial date didn’t amount to an “unreasonable delay,” she said.
The judge said that any insanity defense or any request related to Routh’s mental competency must be made by early February. Any visit to the scene of the assassination attempt must be made by the end of February.
Prosecutors say Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15, 2024 at his West Palm Beach country club. Before Trump came into view, Routh was spotted by a Secret Service agent. Routh allegedly aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot. Prosecutors say he left behind a note describing his intentions.
He was arrested a short time later driving on a nearby interstate.
Routh’s charge of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate carries a potential life sentence in the event of a conviction. Other charges include assaulting a federal officer and three firearms counts. He is being held without bail at the federal jail in Miami.
Routh’s arrest came two months after Trump was shot and wounded in the ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service acknowledged failings leading up to that shooting but has said security worked as it should have to thwart the potential Florida attack.
Trump’s Ukraine-Russia envoy slams Kremlin’s Christmas Day attack
Trump’s chosen Ukraine-Russia envoy, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, slammed Russia’s Christmas Day attack on Ukraine in a post on X.
“Christmas should be a time of peace, yet Ukraine was brutally attacked on Christmas Day,” he said. “Launching large-scale missile and drone attacks on the day of the Lord’s birth is wrong. The world is closely watching actions on both sides. The U.S. is more resolved than ever to bring peace to the region.”
John Bolton warns: I’m ‘very worried’ about how Trump would handle ‘much more likely’ international crisis
John Bolton, President-elect Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, said that an international crisis is “much more likely” during the Republican’s second term.
Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security adviser from 2018 to 2019, told The Guardian the president-elect has an “inability to focus” and bases his decisions on personal relationships and “neuron flashes.”
“It’s typical Trump: it’s all braggadocio,” Bolton told the outlet. “The world is more dangerous than when he was president before. The only real crisis we had was COVID, which is a long-term crisis and not against a particular foreign power but against a pandemic.”
Read more:
John Bolton warns of ‘much more likely’ international crisis under Trump
Bolton once said he doesn’t think Trump is ‘fit for office’
Matt Gaetz sends fundraising message after bombshell House Ethics report: ‘I need your help’
Hours after the publication of a bombshell report revealing “substantial evidence” that Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, the former congressman issued a fundraising plea through his recently launched political action committee.
Gaetz — who was Donald Trump’s first pick for U.S. attorney general — is accused of violating federal and state laws against statutory rape, prostitution, illicit drug use and abusing the power of his office.
The results of a years-long House Ethics Committee investigation is a “sham witch hunt — just like the ones they conducted against President Trump,” Gaetz said in an email through his Florida Firebrand PAC Monday.
Read more:
Matt Gaetz sends fundraising message after bombshell ethics report
The former congressman used the publication of a damning report to raise money for his PAC
Aspiring MAGA congresswoman performs mock ‘execution’ of migrant in disturbing campaign video
Aspiring congresswoman and controversial MAGA cheerleader Valentina Gomez has sparked outrage once again after posting a video in which she appears to simulate executing an immigrant.
The 25-year-old, who tried and failed to be elected as the Missouri Secretary of State earlier this year, said in the disturbing clip that undocumented persons who committed violent crimes “deserve to be ended.”
In the video, posted to X on Monday, Gomez is seen firing a handgun into the back of the head of a dummy tied to a chair with a black bag over its head.
Read more:
Aspiring MAGA congresswoman performs mock ‘execution’ of migrant in disturbing video
Valentina Gomez, who lost the race to become Missouri Secretary of State earlier this year, that undocumented persons who committed violent crimes ‘deserve to be ended’
Watch: Stephen A. Smith reverses position on President-elect Donald Trump
Nigel Farage willing to work with Lord Mandelson to secure Trump trade deal
Nigel Farage has said he would be willing to help incoming ambassador to the US Lord Mandelson negotiate with the Trump administration.
Labour peer Lord Mandelson has indicated he believes the Reform UK leader, a friend of Mr Trump, could serve as a link between the British Government and the Republican president-elect.
Downing Street would not be drawn on whether Sir Keir Starmer would like Lord Mandelson to work with Mr Farage, saying when asked only that the Prime Minister had “already started to begin to build a relationship with President-elect Trump”. But No10 insiders have made clear Mr Farage will not be being used as a bridge between Sir Keir and Mr Trump.
Read more:
Farage willing to work with Lord Mandelson to secure Trump trade deal
Downing Street would not be drawn on whether Sir Keir Starmer would like Lord Mandelson to work with Mr Farage, but No10 insiders have made clear he will not be used as a bridge between the PM and Mr Trump
Trump issues unusually short Christmas message
From halibut and hot dogs to unlikely friendships: This is what happens inside the Senate lunch room
During President Joe Biden’s final major address on the economy, he did what he does best: wax poetic about the old days of the United States Senate, the institution that defined him. He told an especially instructive story about when he returned to the Senate as vice president and went into the Senate dining hall, where a central dining room table used to stand. That’s were Democrats and Republicans would once meet and talk.
“You walk in — a long table sitting, I guess, 16, 18 people on the right, parallel with the table,” he said. “And you walk through an archway, and there was a table going the other way. One was the Democratic table. One was Republican table. And when there weren’t enough to sit at any one table, then they all sit together.”
Read more:
Inside the Senate lunchroom: From Mormon hot dogs to Alaskan halibut
Senators might lose their ‘French working week’ under Trump. That could be a very good thing, writes Eric Garcia
Denmark boosts defense spending for Greenland following Trump’s ‘ownership’ comments
Denmark is boosting defense spending for Greenland. A Danish official said Tuesday that the timing of the announcement, coming as President-elect Donald Trump made comments that the U.S. should own the territory, was an “irony of fate.”
Troels Lund Poulsen, the Danish defense minister, told the paper Jyllands-Posten Tuesday that the country plans to spend a “double-digit billion amount” in krone — about $1.5 billion — to make sure they have a “stronger presence” in the Arctic.
Trump said Sunday that the “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for the U.S. The U.S. military operates a base in northwest Greenland.
The president-elect’s comments are an expansion of what he said during his first term, when he suggested that the U.S. buy Greenland.
“Greenland is ours,” the territory’s Prime Minister Múte Egede said in response on Facebook Monday. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our years-long struggle for freedom. However, we must continue to be open to cooperation and trade with the whole world, especially with our neighbours.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments