Trump’s conversation with Obama draws speculation at Jimmy Carter’s funeral: Live updates
Incoming commander-in-chief lashes out at long-standing Democratic foe over natural disaster engulfing Hollywood as his expansionist ambitions met with mockery
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump attended the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter on Thursday, sitting alongside other surviving commanders-in-chief. Much attention was devoted to whom he spoke and there was speculation over a moment where he and Barack Obama appeared to share a joke.
Earlier, the president-elect called on California Governor Gavin Newsom to resign over the wildfires currently rampaging through Los Angeles, which have already killed five people, destroyed more than 1,000 structures and forced 150,000 residents to evacuate.
The president-elect accused Newsom, city mayor Karen Bass, and Joe Biden of “gross incompetence” and declared the City of Angeles “a total wipeout” on his Truth Social platform.
“It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!”
Newsom, however, has hit back, angrily attacking Trump for attempting to “politize” the tragedy as his office accused the president-elect of engaging in “pure fiction” in his social media posts speculating on the environmental catastrophe.
Meanwhile, the incoming commander-in-chief’s dreams of using military force to annex Greenland and rename the Gulf of Mexico have been met with ridicule at home and abroad, with Denmark, France, Germany, and Britain declining to take him seriously.
New York's highest appeals court declines to block Trump's sentencing in hush money case
Biden still believes he could have beaten Trump and says successor ‘very complimentary’ in private
Trump rants about Biden’s offshore 625 million acre drilling ban, ‘That’s like the whole ocean!’ (It’s just 2 percent)
What does Donald Trump want with Greenland?
Watch: Bragg says his job is to continue to give voice to jury’s verdict in Trump’s hush money case
Fetterman confirms he will meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Senator John Fetterman confimed he will meet with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago soon, quipping he wants to be appointed “Pope of Greenland.”
He added: “I am not just the Senator for Democrats in Pennsylvania. I’m the Senator for everyone in Pennsylvania and my state picked Donald Trump as president.”
Watch below:
Was Maria Bartiromo almost a heartbeat from the presidency?
The symbiotic relationship between Fox News and President-elect Donald Trump nearly reached new levels during the most recent presidential campaign, according to a new book by Politico political reporter Alex Isenstadt.
While the president-elect has already appointed or nominated at least a dozen Fox News personalities to his upcoming administration, Isenstadt reports in his forthcoming book Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power that Trump seriously considered making one his favorite hosts his running mate.
Justin Barangoa reports.
Trump ‘seriously’ considered choosing Maria Bartiromo as his VP, new book claims
Trump was ‘dead serious’ about tapping the MAGA host as his running mate, according to a new book
Exclusive: Pompeo says Trump will finish the Ayatollahs in Iran
The “rotten to the core” Khamenei regime is a “paper tiger” whose time is up, Mike Pompeo has told Iranians campaigning for democracy.
Mr Pompeo, a former secretary of state under President-elect Donald Trump, made the comments while addressing a conference held by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Paris just ahead of his former boss being inaugurated as US president on 20 January.
The Independent’s political editor David Maddox reports.
Trump will finish the Ayatollahs in Iran, says Mike Pompeo
Exclusive: Trump’s former secretary of state and foreign policy chief told an Iranian pro-democracy conference in Paris that the change of administration in Washington will mark an end to the current regime in Tehran
All the awkward interactions between presidents at Jimmy Carter’s funeral
Instances when all five living presidents come together are rare. But for Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday, they were all there.
President-elect Donald Trump was the first to arrive alongside former and future First Lady Melania Trump. Barack Obama, the Clintons, Bushes and Bidens were also in attendance. Michelle Obama was the only living first lady who was absent, with reports claiming she was in Hawaii.
Outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff were the last to take their seats among a sea of lawmakers and members of previous administrations. Given the funeral’s proximity to the election — and the heated rhetoric over the past few years — some notably awkward moments were spotted by those watching the service.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
All the awkward interactions between presidents at Jimmy Carter’s funeral
Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, not known for being best buddies, engaged in some friendly chit-chat and shared a few laughs
15,000 doctors sign letter begging Senate to reject RFK Jr for health secretary
More than 15,000 doctors have signed a letter imploring the US Senate to reject Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation for secretary of health and human services.
The letter, organized by the advocacy group Committee to Protect Health Care, calls President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Kennedy “a slap in the face to every health care professional who has spent their lives working to protect patients from preventable illness and death.”
“The health and well-being of 336 million Americans depend on leadership at HHS that prioritizes science, evidence-based medicine, and strengthening the integrity of our public health system,” the letter reads. “RFK Jr. is not only unqualified to lead this essential agency — he is actively dangerous.”
Katie Hawkinson reports from Washington, D.C.
15,000 doctors sign letter begging Senate to reject RFK Jr for health secretary
Kennedy, among other controversies, has spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine
Trump continues to rage at Newsom over LA fire response
Donald Trump continues to rage at California Governor Gavin Newsom over his handling of the wildfires sweeping Los Angeles, claiming that he is preventing water from reaching the impacted areas.
Governor Gavin Newscum should immediately go to Northern California and open up the water main, and let the water flow into his dry, starving, burning State, instead of having it go out into the Pacific Ocean. It ought to be done right now, NO MORE EXCUSES FROM THIS INCOMPETENT GOVERNOR. IT’S ALREADY FAR TOO LATE!
Republicans open to Trump’s Canada and Greenland proposal
Eric Garcia writes:
President-elect Donald Trump kicked off his first press conference of 2025 by suggesting that he would use “economic force” to coerce Canada to enter the United States. His son Donald Trump Jr visited Greenland to explore purchasing it.
In the past, Republicans would brush off these kinds of remarks as Trump’s ravings not to be regarded while they try to cut taxes, beef up defense spending and roll back social programs. They would tell reporters they hadn’t seen the tweet.
Unsurprisingly, the divide between the House and Senate would be even more stark, with the House being far more squirrelly and more devoted to Trump while the Senate is much more staid.
Continue reading...
‘It would be like Hawaii’: Republicans open to Trump’s Canada and Greenland proposal
‘There’s some good arguments,’ one Republican senator tells The Independent ahead of Trump’s return to Capitol Hill
COMMENT: Mark Zuckerberg is playing politics with Trump – and putting people’s safety at risk
Alan Rusbridger and Khaled Mansour, who sit on Meta’s oversight board, write:
Move fast and break things. If there is one saying about the ethos of the new tribe of digital entrepreneurs – sometimes known as “information oligarchs” – it’s this one, credited to Mark Zuckerburg, CEO and founder of Meta. These guys don’t hang around.
And, boy, did they move fast once they knew that the new president of the United States would be one Donald Trump. First the courtesy visits to Mar-a-Lago, then the donations. Then the re-arranging of the boards and top executive teams. And – as we saw this week – a stream of announcements about revised policies and processes to be more aligned with the thinking of the incoming administration.
No-one is pretending that Meta’s decision to think again about its approach to content moderation and fact-checking was anything other than political. Trump is surrounded by people who think of themselves as free speech absolutists. They genuinely believe that many, if not most, attempts to temper words, pictures or videos on social media amount to politically-motivated censorship. And so, barely two weeks before Trump takes office, Zuckerberg recorded a video which felt as if it was intended for an audience of one.
Continue reading...
Mark Zuckerberg is playing politics with Trump – and putting people’s safety at risk
The Meta boss has decided to ditch fact-checkers and ask users to contest facts – or create alternative ones, write Alan Rusbridger and Khaled Mansour, who sit on the company’s oversight board. Truth will take second place to rumour and we all risk paying an exorbitantly high price
Trump tells GOP lawmakers plans to make Canada ‘51st state’, report says
Donald Trump and Melania arrived in Washington, D.C. for Jimmy Carter’s funeral — but the president-elect first also met with Republican lawmakers to discuss how to make Canada part of America, according to a report.
Since winning the 2024 election, Trump has repeatedly spoken about expanding the US, including plays at Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal. Wednesday evening proved no different, when Trump reportedly met with Republican members of Congress behind-closed-doors to discuss plans to incorporate Canada into America, the Daily Mail reported.
Kelly Rissman has the story.
Melania Trump joins Donald on Hill as he tells GOP plans to make Canada ‘51st state’
The former and future first couple arrived in the nation’s capital on Wednesday ahead of Jimmy Carter’s funeral
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