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.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.”
This comes as Trump wished a “Merry Christmas to all” on Truth Social.
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.
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.
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Colombia’s president denounces ‘American fascist’ Colombian-American calling for public executions of immigrants
Far-right Republican figure Valentina Gomez, who has made headlines for stunts like taking a flamethrower to banned books, is now calling for public executions for any immigrant in the country illegally who “rapes or kills an American.”
“They don’t deserve deportation. They deserve to be ended,” she says in a video moments after shooting an effigy tied to a chair in the back of the head.
The caption reads “Public executions for any illegal that rapes or kills an American.” The video posted on X has been flagged for potentially violating the platform’s “rules against Violent Speech.”
Gomez, who is Colombian-American, came sixth in an eight-person primary for Missouri’s secretary of state, and last week she said she’s moving to Texas to challenge congressman Dan Crenshaw’s seat
Colombia’s own president called her an “American fascist.”
“She is not just an American fascist. She is Colombian,” Gustavo Petro wrote in Spanish. “And being a migrant, what she wants is to unleash hatred against migrants. Most Americans are killed by Americans.”
ICYMI: Biden vetoes legislation that would have allowed Trump to add more judges to the federal judiciary
President Joe Biden has vetoed legislation that would have added dozens of judges to the federal judiciary, dealing a blow to Trump’s incoming administration and his plans to build on his first term’s radical reshaping of the courts with more right-leaning judges.
The bipartisan bill would have awarded roughly 66 new federal judicial slots over the next three presidential terms. Trump would have been able to appoint a first batch of 25.
The bill passed the Senate unanimously in August but lingered in the Republican-controlled House for months, until after Trump’s victory in the 2024 election. It cleared the House on a largely party-line in December.
The JUDGES Act would have increased the number of trial court judges in 25 federal district courts in 13 states, including California, Florida and Texas, in six waves every two years through 2035.
The bill “seeks to hastily add judgeships with just a few weeks left” in the current Congress, Biden wrote in a letter to lawmakers Monday night.
“The House of Representatives’ hurried action fails to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the new judgeships are allocated, and neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate explored fully how the work of senior status judges and magistrate judges affects the need for new judgeships,” he added.
“The efficient and effective administration of justice requires that these questions about need and allocation be further studied and answered before we create permanent judgeships for life-tenured judges,” the letter continued.
The bill “would create new judgeships in states where senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies,” efforts that suggest “concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now,” according to Biden.
John Bolton: 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.
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Trump wants to purchase Greenland. How would that actually work?
Greenland’s strategic military and economic interests — compounded by two-thirds of the territory falling within the Arctic Circle — make the island attractive to Trump and other U.S. politicians over the years. So what would an attempt to acquire or seize Greenland actually look like?
Trump wants to purchase Greenland. How would that actually work?
President-elect has indicated the U.S. will make Greenland purchase a priority in post about new ambassador to Denmark
Watch: Rudy Giuliani dressed up as Santa to promote his coffee
As his financial woes look ever bleaker in light of the $150 million defamation ruling against him in favor of two Georgia election workers he falsely accused of interfering in the 2020 election, Rudy Giuliani appears to be resorting to more unusual efforts to raise cash.
Broke Rudy Giuliani dresses up as Santa in odd coffee ad
Former New York mayor is promoting his coffee amid financial woes after being found liable for defamation of two Georgia election workers
Biden’s Christmas gift: A new (old) national bird
Joe Biden isn’t taking it easy on Christmas Eve.
The president signed 50 bills into law Tuesday evening.
Most of them won’t make headlines—one names a post office, while another deals with congressional pensions—but one is just too weird to ignore.
On December 24, 2024, the bald eagle became the national bird of the United States.
While the eagle has always been the de facto national symbol, that status was never enshrined into law, a fact that prompted a Minnesota man and eagle obsessive named Preston Cook to lobby for the change.
These are some of the most notorious January 6 rioters could pardon when he returns to the White House
More than 1,500 people who have been criminally charged in connection with a mob’s assault on the Capitol — fuelled by his bogus narrative that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and stolen from him — are now awaiting potential pardons for alleged crimes live-streamed to millions of viewers.
Trump could issue mass amnesty to hundreds of defendants as soon as his first day in office, maintaining that even violent offenders could be granted clemency on a “case-by-case” basis.
Here are some of their stories:
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
How Kamala Harris is celebrating Christmas Eve
With Donald Trump and Elon Musk dominating the headlines, we’ve heard a little less these days from Vice President Kamala Harris.
So what has she been up to?
On Christmas Eve, at least, she and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff checked out homemade ornaments from Washington-area students.
Denmark boosts funds for Greenland defense after Trump threats
People often say to take Trump seriously but not literally.
It seemed on Monday that Denmark was doing both, announcing a funding package to defend Greenland worth at least $1.5 billion.
The timing, however, was apparently coincidental.
Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told the BBC the announcement falling as Trump toyed with somehow buying Greenland was an “irony of fate.”
Trump wants to purchase Greenland. How would that actually work?
President-elect has indicated the U.S. will make Greenland purchase a priority in post about new ambassador to Denmark
Are you part of the lucky 1m taxpayers getting a check this month?
The Internal Revenue Service is sending unclaimed stimulus checks of up to $1,400 to 1 million US taxpayers in the coming weeks.
Here’s why the payments are going out — and how to find out if you’re eligible for the credit.
Katie Hawkinson has the details.
The IRS is sending unclaimed stimulus checks. Here’s how to see if you’re eligible
These payments will be automatically sent to eligible taxpayers by the end of the month
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