Trump set for court Friday morning after failing to delay hush money sentencing: Live
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.
As Trump was in Washington, the Supreme Court declined to stop the sentencing for his New York hush money conviction, which is slated for Friday in a Manhattan courtroom, just 10 days before the inauguration.
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.
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?
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
Gov. Andy Beshear rails against acrimony of national politics; calls for common sense governing
Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear railed against the acrimony of national politics Wednesday night as he called for a common-sense approach to governing that meets the everyday needs of families worried about access to affordable health care and the availability of good-paying jobs.
Beshear, who has raised his national profile since winning reelection in 2023 in the GOP-dominated state, touted Kentucky’s record-setting pace of economic development since he took office. Those achievements were the result of “pushing out that national noise” and finding common ground, he said.
The governor’s most pointed comments were aimed at the tone of the national political discourse as he delivered his annual State of the Commonwealth speech to state lawmakers.
Read on...
Gov. Andy Beshear rails against acrimony of national politics in calling for common sense governing
Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has railed against the acrimony of national politics in his annual State of the Commonwealth speech
Watch: Trump and Obama share laugh at Jimmy Carter’s funeral
Trump and Obama share laugh as presidents unite for Jimmy Carter’s funeral
Barack Obama and Donald Trump shared a laugh at Jimmy Carter’s funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday, 9 January. All five living current and former US presidents including Joe Biden, Bill Clinton and George W Bush were in attendance at the ceremony honoring the life of the 39th president, who died on 29 December at the age of 100. Thursday’s funeral is the final tribute to the longest-living president as the six-day proceedings come to an end. Previous funeral services and ceremonies took place at the U.S. Capitol, the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, and in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
Fetterman to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Senator John Fetterman will meet with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in the near future, CBS News reports.
“I think that one, he's the president, or he will be officially,” the Pennsylvania lawmaker told CBS News in an interview. “And I think it's pretty reasonable that if the president would like to have a conversation — or invite someone to have a conversation — to have it. And no one is my gatekeeper.”
Fetterman expects immigration and Greenland will be topics of discussion.
Trump attorney file further brief to head off release of Jack Smith report
Donald Trump’s attorneys have filed another appellate court brief to block Jack Smith’s report into the then-president’s role in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case calling it “another attempted political hit job which sole purpose is to disrupt the Presidential transition and undermine President Trump’s exercise of executive power.”
While Trump is not listed as a defendant as Smith removed Trump from the case following his election win in November, his employees Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira still are, and the case is still active. The brief is filed to prevent information potentially damaging the president-elect from being made public.
“Attempting to publish the Final Report evidences complete disregard for the district court, which found that Smith is unconstitutionally appointed and funded. Instead of respecting that ruling, [Attorney General Merrick Garland] seeks to defy the district court by publishing the Final Report in a manner inconsistent with the rule of law and the principles of constitutional governance,” attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote.
They call on the court to block the entire report, even the separate volume on election interference and January 6, which has nothing to do with this appeals court or the Florida district court, from which this entire saga developed.
“The Government ignores the fact the Volumes cross-reference each other; they are not siloed,” they wrote.
They also claimed that “there is no way” to stop members of Congress from leaking the report, if they are allowed to see the volume on the classified documents case, “especially to attack President Trump.”
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