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
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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
Trump’s FCC chair sends ominous letter to Disney CEO: ‘Americans no longer trust the national news media’
After Trump threatened to strip ABC’s broadcast license and forced the network into a $15 million settlement, the president-elect’s pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission warned its parent company that Americans “no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly.”
In a letter to Disney’s CEO Bob Iger, Brendan Carr lamented the “erosion in public trust” in news media, and suggested ABC was partially to blame.
Inside Trump’s latest fight with the media, and what Carr – a Project 2025 co-author — plans to do in office:
Trump’s FCC chair sends ominous letter to Disney CEO
Brendan Carr laments ‘erosion of public trust’ in media while Trump sues newspapers and media companies
Gavin Newsom reportedly mulling immigrant support plan to combat Trump’s deportation threats
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration is drafting a plan to help undocumented immigrants in the state who could be targeted by Donald Trump’s mass deportation threats, according to Politico, which obtained a draft of a proposal.
A draft titled “Immigrant Support Network Concept” proposes the “creation of an Immigrant Support Network comprised of regional ‘hubs’ to connect at-risk individuals, their families, and communities with community systems — such as legal services, schools, labor unions, local governments, etc,” Politico reported.
The Democratic governor’s alleged efforts glimpse how some blue state leaders could be bracing for Trump’s agenda. On the other side of the country, however, New York City Mayor Eric Adams seems open to embracing Trump’s plans, as he announces his intention to loosen sanctuary protections and welcomes “border czar” Tom Homan to City Hall.
More on how New York is preparing for Trump 2.0:
America’s biggest ‘sanctuary city’ opens the doors to Trump’s border czar
Mayor Eric Adams meets with Tom Homan as Trump prepares for his mass deportation operation, says they have the ‘same desire’
‘It’s clear he’s in charge now’: Lawmakers react to Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ involvement ahead of inauguration
As President Joe Biden winds down his presidency, Trump is behaving as though he is already in office, writes Rhian Lubin.
Within the last week, Trump launched a campaign against last week’s temporary bill and issued threats against the Panama Canal and Greenland.
‘He’s in charge’: Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ involvement ahead of inauguration
Trump is behaving as though he is already in office as Biden winds down his presidency, according to Republican and Democratic lawmakers
Trump taps Katie Miller, wife of key aide Stephen Miller, for Musk’s DOGE panel
The wife of far-right activist Stephen Miller — the architect of Trump’s anti-immigration agenda in his first administration — is joining the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency.
She will join billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to recommend slashing hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal budget.
Trump taps Katie Miller, wife of key aide Stephen Miller, for Musk’s DOGE panel
DOGE panel aims to cut at least $500m a year from federal government
Matt Gaetz rose quickly to power in the House. It ended with a damning ethics report
A former attorney in northwest Florida, Matt Gaetz styled himself as a fighter for a “more open and transparent government.” In 2010, he was elected to serve in the Florida House of Representatives to represent portions of Okaloosa and Santa Rosa county.
Fourteen years later, days before Christmas, he was trying to stop a damning report about allegations of sexual misonduct and drug use during his time in Congress from becoming public.
Charting Matt Gaetz’s swift rise to power — and spectacular fall from grace
The Florida Republican is accused of ‘regularly’ paying for sex — including with a high school student — while he was a member of Congress
Just in: Bill Clinton discharged from hospital after he was admitted with fever
Former president Bill Clinton has been discharged from hospital one day after he was admitted with a fever, according to a spokesperson.
He was treated for the flu.
“He and his family are deeply grateful for the exceptional care provided by the team at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and are touched by the kind messages and well wishes he received,” Clinton’s deputy chief of staff Angel Ureña said Tuesday.
“He sends his warmest wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season to all,” he added.
Bill Clinton wishes supporters a ‘healthy holiday season’ after hospital discharge
The former president, 78, was admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center on Monday after developing a fever
Congressman who pushed for Gaetz report to be public: ‘Victory for the American people'
A Democratic congressman who tried to force the House Ethics Committee to publish its report into Matt Gaetz said the release marks a “victory for the American people.”
Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, who introduced failed legislation that would force the committee to publicly release a report, said in a statement that the “public had a right to know what was uncovered in this thorough and long-lasting investigation.”
“Matt Gaetz called it a ‘witch hunt’ — and he knew that was a lie,” he added. “He claimed it was about drinking and partying, but [the] report proves it was far worse: it wasn’t just alcohol and marijuana, it was cocaine, ecstasy, and more disturbingly it was about paying women for sex, including a 17-year-old girl.”
The allegations go “far beyond ‘partying’ — it exposes a pattern of unethical, illegal, and deeply troubling behavior,” he said.
Inside the report:
All the allegations against Matt Gaetz revealed in explosive report
A bombshell ethics investigation alleges Matt Gaetz paid for sex with a high schooler, used cocaine and ecstasy, and abused the power of his office. He denies wrongdoing. Alex Woodward reports
Ex-ethics committee chair on bombshell report: ‘Matt Gaetz has a real problem here’
A former Republican chair on the House Ethics Committee said he can’t see any GOP lawmakers in Washington, D.C., coming to Matt Gaetz’s defense in the wake of a damning report about the former congressman.
“Matt Gaetz has a real problem here,” former Rep. Charlie Dent told ABC News.
“There’s clearly issues here of sex, money, and drugs. And really, these are big issues, big problems,” he added. “Boy, this is really powerful stuff.”
If Gaetz was still in Congress, there likely “could have been an expulsion recommendation.”
“I can’t see any members of the Republican Party in Washington, D.C., in Congress coming to his defense in this matter,” he said. “He’s made his own bed, they’re going to let him lie in it.”
John Bolton: International crisis ‘more likely’ under Trump
Trump’s longest-serving national security adviser John Bolton is warning that an international crisis is “much more likely” under Trump’s incoherence around decision making when it comes to foreign policy.
“The world is more dangerous than when he was president before,” he told The Guardian.
“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,” he added. “But the risk of an international crisis of the 19th century variety is much more likely in a second Trump term. Given Trump’s inability to focus on coherent decision making, I’m very worried about about how that might look.”
The hawkish former diplomat is among prominent conservative critics of the president-elect, whom he declared “unfit” office. During debate over whether Trump can be considered a fascist, Bolton suggested that Trump is incapable of having a guiding set of principes.
“To be a fascist, you have to have a philosophy,” he told CNN earlier this year. “Trump’s not capable of that.”
Trump promises to ‘vigorously pursue the death penalty’ on Christmas Eve
After railing against President Biden for commuting the sentences of federal death row prisoners, Trump has promised to direct the Department of Justice to “vigorously pursue the death penalty” as soon as he enters office.
“As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters,” he wrote on Truth Social on Christmas Eve.
“We will be a Nation of Law and Order again! to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters. We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!” he said.
In his first term, Trump — who touts himself as America’s “most -pro-life president” — carried out 13 federal executions, more than under any president in modern history.
He has promised to make more people eligible for capital punishment, including child rapists, immigrants who kill citizens, and people convicted of drug trafficking.
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