Trump claims US is global ‘laughing stock’ following attacks; Johnson prepares for crucial House speaker vote: Live
President-elect rages on Truth Social after violence in New Orleans and Las Vegas, blaming opposition for indicting him rather than focusing on national security
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has raged on Truth Social that the US is “a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World!” in response to Wednesday’s suspected terror attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, the second of which saw one of his friend Elon Musk’s TeslaCybertruck’s blown up outside a Trump-owned luxury hotel in the Nevada city.
“This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership,” the president-elect declared.
“The DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job.
“They are incompetent and corrupt, having spent all of their waking hours unlawfully attacking their political opponent, ME, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside violent SCUM that has infiltrated all aspects of our government, and our Nation itself.”
He continued: “The USA is breaking down - A violent erosion of Safety, National Security, and Democracy is taking place all across our Nation.”
Meanwhile, Mike Johnson may have Trump’s backing to retain his position as Speaker of the House, but Friday’s vote could go to multiple rounds given his slim majority, forcing him to negotiate with holdouts in his own party.
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COMMENT: After New Orleans, will Donald Trump abandon the Middle East to its own devices?
Mary Dejevsky writes:
Whatever the truth of the New Year atrocity in New Orleans, it will serve as a reminder of how foreign conflicts, and specifically Middle East conflicts, can play out at home, to fatal effect.
It may be that the driver of the pick-up truck, who was killed in a shoot-out with police, was a troubled individual using the Isis emblem as no more than a flag of convenience, even if his background, his past military career, his contacts and the weapons at his disposal might suggest otherwise.
But the connections have been drawn. The spectre conjured up is not of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, but of a rather similar pick-up truck attack in New York City in 2017, conducted in the name of Isis, and the ever-looming memory of 9/11.
And the effect, intended or not, will be as a destructive rebuke to the largely failed Middle East policy of the outgoing president Joe Biden, and a warning to the incoming administration of Donald Trump.
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After New Orleans, will Donald Trump abandon the Middle East to its own devices?
The New Year truck attack may be a harbinger of revived Islamist terrorism on US soil, but it is also a rebuke to Joe Biden’s failed foreign policy – and, says Mary Dejevsky, an unforeseen and unwelcome red flag for the incoming administration
Trump insists he was ‘right about everything’ despite falsely tying New Orleans attack to immigration
President-elect Donald Trump has insisted that he was “right about everything” after falsely connecting the New Orleans attack to migrants.
“Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World!” Trump said on Truth Social. “This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership.”
At least 15 people have been killed and dozens were injured when a truck drove into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Authorities have said that they believe the driver wasn’t “solely responsible.”
Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, D.C.
Trump insists he was ‘right’ despite falsely tying New Orleans attack to immigration
At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured when a truck drove into a crowd on Bourbon Street in the early hours of New Year’s Day
More than one-third of US states no subject to Pornhub ban
More than a third of US states have now introduced restrictions for online adult content, blocking access to popular pornographic websites such as Pornhub.
From 1 January, 2025, there are 17 states with restrictions in place after Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee became the latest to enforce over-18 age verification laws for viewing porn sites.
Anthony Cuthbertson reports.
Pornhub ban now covers more than a third of US states
Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee are the latest to restrict access to adult websites
Man who died in Tesla Cybertruck explosion was active-duty US Army solider, officials say
The person who authorities believe died in the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck packed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel was an active-duty U.S. Army soldier, three U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Two law enforcement officials identified the man inside the futuristic-looking pickup truck as Matthew Livelsberger. The law enforcement officials spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Three U.S. officials said Livelsberger was an active-duty Army member, who spent time at the base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a massive Army base in North Carolina that is home to Army special forces command. The officials also spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details of his service.
Continue reading...
Man who died in Tesla Cybertruck explosion was active-duty US Army solider, officials say
The person who law enforcement officials believe died in the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck packed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel was an active duty U.S. Army soldier
Fox News declares the ‘real losers’ in the MAGA civil war over visas
After carefully tip-toeing around the growing tensions that have rocked the GOP in recent days, Fox News appears to have finally found a narrative it can sell right-wing viewers on the MAGA civil war over immigrant visas.
Justin Barangoa reports.
Fox News declares the ‘real losers’ in the MAGA civil war over visas — the Democrats
“The only real losers in the wake of this kerfuffle are the Democrats and liberal talking heads who hoped that they were watching MAGA tear itself apart,” a Fox News columnist argued this week.
Watch: Johnson blames Biden’s ‘wide open border’ for New Orleans attack carried out by US citizen
Judge rejects Giuliani’s attempt to keep trial witness list secret
An upcoming trial in a federal court in Manhattan will determine if Rudy Giuliani can exempt his multi-million dollar Florida condominium from a list of property he must hand over to mother-and-daughter election workers trying to collect on their $150m defamation judgment against him.
The case has exploded into a lengthy legal back and forth, with dozens of court filings and briefings about the state of Giuliani’s assets and whether he has complied with court orders to turn them over to the election workers.
Here’s Alex Woodward with the latest.
Judge rejects Giuliani’s attempt to keep witness list secret in upcoming trial
The former New York mayor is hoping to keep his Palm Beach condo away from defamed election workers seeking to collect nearly $150 million he owes them
Biden to convene homeland security meeting in Situation Room
Per the White House:
At 12:15 pm ET, President Biden will convene members of his homeland security team in the Situation Room to receive an update on the investigation into the terrorist attack in New Orleans.
Biden to honor Liz Cheney and others with Presidential Citizens Medal
Former Representative Liz Cheney, who bucked her Republican Party as a strong critic of President-elect Donald Trump and some of his allies, will be one of the 20 people given the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the country's highest civilian honors, by President Joe Biden on Thursday.
The medal is awarded to U.S. citizens who have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens,” the White House said in announcing the recipients.
The presidential medals, which go through a less rigorous approval process than other awards like Medals of Honor or acts of clemency, represent an opportunity for a president to showcase those who have fought for causes he championed.
Cheney, a one-time Republican member of Congress, served as vice chair of the House of Representatives select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. In October, she urged Americans to reject Trump's “depraved cruelty” as she rallied alongside Democratic White House candidate Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the presidential election.
Biden is reportedly considering a pre-emptive pardon to protect her from retribution by the next administration. Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, said last month he backed a call for the FBI to investigate Cheney over her role leading the congressional probe.
Congressman Bennie G. Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi who served as the chairman of the Jan. 6 House select committee, will also be awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal.
Other honorees include attorney Mary Bonauto, who fought to legalize same-sex marriage and argued before the Supreme Court in the landmark marriage-equality case Obergefell v. Hodges, and lawyer and activist Evan Wolfson, a leader of the marriage-equality movement.
Veterans, health-care advocates and former lawmakers with close, decades-long ties to Biden are also on the list.
They include former senators Ted Kaufman, a Democrat from Delaware, and Chris Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, as well as two-time NBA champion and former senator Bill Bradley, a New York Democrat.
Chief Justice Roberts warns elected officials not to ignore decisions
Roberts, who will mark 20 years at the top of the court later this year, released his year-end report on this week, in which he warned of increasing attacks to the legitimacy of the court.
The court has come under increased scrutiny ever since it moved to a decisive six-three conservative majority largely put in place by President-elect Trump during his first tenure in the White House from 2017 to 2021.
“In a democracy – especially in one like ours, with robust First Amendment protections – criticism comes with the territory,” the chief justice wrote.
But he denounced what he considered four areas that threaten the independence of the judiciary: violence, intimidation, disinformation and threats to defy lawfully entered judgments.
Alex Woodward has more.
Chief Justice Roberts warns elected officials not to ignore Supreme Court decisions
’These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected,’ Roberts writes in his annual report
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