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.
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
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Speaker’s allies call for Trump to back him to avoid another round of Republican civil war
Trump administration might let police reform stall even more than it did under Biden
In the final weeks of his administration, Joe Biden has sought to shore up his criminal justice legacy, issuing pardons and commutations to reformed offenders, while removing most people from federal death row.
However, in another key area, policing, the Biden administration’s progress could stall once Trump takes over.
During the last four years, the Biden administration has secured just one federal oversight agreement, known as a consent decree, with a department investigated for misconduct.
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
The U.S. Justice Department and the city of Louisville have reached an agreement to reform the city’s police force after an investigation prompted by the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor
The DOJ has investigated 12 departments this administration, but so far only this month’s agreement with Louisville has translated into more long-lasting, binding reform steps.
Trump, who has frequently called for harsher, law-and-order-style policing, and who has been critical of past police reform efforts, is unlikely to do as much as Biden on this front, leaving the future status of these agreements in doubt.
Biden also failed to pass a long-sought police reform bill after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020.
Here’s more on Biden’s death penalty policy as the administration comes to a close.
Biden flips the script on drone drama with aerial Christmas tour
The Biden administration has spent weeks trying to assure the public there’s nothing to fear about drones and aircraft spotted buzzing over New Jersey and other states.
Trump would have solved drone mystery by now, claims Johnson
Groups of drones have been appearing nightly in string of states with little to no explanation
On Christmas Eve, it highlighted a different kind of drone, taking viewers on an aerial tour through the White House’s Christmas decorations.
It may not quell the raging conspiracy theories about the drones, but it is still a pretty cool video.
Watch below.
‘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
Texas buys billboards in Central America warning migrants of danger of rape and abuse on journey to US
The state of Texas is paying an estimated $100,000 to install on blunt and at-times graphic billboards across Mexico and Central America in the coming weeks in the hopes of deterring future illegal immigration.
The Independent’s Josh Marcus reports:
Texas buys billboards in Central America warning migrants of danger of rape
Critics argue migrants already know the risks of journey and restrictive policies put border-crossers at further risk
ICYMI: Here are all the allegations against Matt Gaetz
As a sitting member of Congress, Matt Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old high school student, used cocaine and ecstasy, and spent thousands of dollars on sex- and drug-fueled partying, according to a bombshell report from the House Ethics Committee.
Monday’s report found “substantial evidence” the now-former Republican congressman “regularly” paid for sex and met women through a “sugar dating” website through a former associate who has since pleaded guilty to sex trafficking.
We combed through 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
Trump continues posting debunked January 6 conspiracy theory
Donald Trump is the latest prominent Republican to claim a recent Justice Department watchdog report vindicates theories that the federal government somehow provoked or guided the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump shared a video of sports commentators Stephen A. Smith making a similar point.
In fact, the Justice Department report in question found “no evidence” undercover FBI agents joined in on the riots, though confidential bureau sources were near the riot on January 6.
Here’s what you need to know about the actual FBI presence that day.
Video: Aspiring MAGA congresswoman performs mock ‘execution’ of migrant
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.
“It’s that simple, public executions for any illegal that rapes or kills an American. They don’t deserve deportation, they deserve to be ended,” she says.
Mike Bedigan reports.
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’
Canal threats, money-laundering claims and a hotel battle: Trump’s long, weird history with Panama
Trump rattled North American diplomatic relations over the weekend with a threat to retake the Panama Canal, two-and-a-half decades after the U.S. transfered control of the vital global trade route to Panama.
The Independent’s Josh Marcus dives into Trump’s long strange trip with the Central American country:
Canal threats and a hotel battle: Trump’s long, weird history with Panama
Major Trump project in Panama City brought lawsuits, shoving matches and money-laundering allegations before Trump lost it in hostile takeover
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.”
Trump’s Christmas Eve message promises to expand death penalty
Trump, who touts himself as America’s “most pro-life” president, continues to attack Presidnet Joe Biden after he announced the largest single-day commutation of federal death row inmates in modern history.
The White House announced early Monday morning that the president would commute the sentences of 37 inmates awaiting execution in the federal prison system, which Trump has pushed to expedite once in office.
Biden explicitly said in his announcement that he could not let Trump do that.
“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” he wrote.
On Christmas Eve, Trump hpromised 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.
Trump’s Christmas Eve meltdown over Biden’s commutation of death row prisoners
Less than a month before Trump takes office, Biden removed 37 people from death row who were all convicted of murder charges
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