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
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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?
How much did it cost the US to acquire its territories?
While the United States is no stranger to making land purchases, it has not done so since the 1940s when it purchased a small island that is now part of the US Virgin Islands.
It’s an expensive endeavor that requires justification and approval by the Senate.
From the Louisiana Purchase to the Alaska Purchase and even leasing Guantanamo Bay from Cuba, here’s Ariana Baio on the territories the US has purchased.
How much did it cost U.S. to acquire its territories?
The U.S. has purchased multiple territories and states since it’s formation
Trump continues tirade against Newsom over Los Angeles wildfires
Here’s the latest rant from the president-elect on Truth Social just now, stirring the pot but helping no one:
“Fire is spreading rapidly for 3 days — ZERO CONTAINMENT. Nobody has ever seen such failed numbers before! Gross incompetence by Gavin Newscum and Karen Bass….And Biden’s FEMA has no money — all wasted on the Green New Scam! L.A. is a total wipeout!!!”
Mexican president hits back at ‘misinformed’ Trump: ‘Why don’t we call it Mexican America?’
Claudia Sheinbaum clearly enjoyed herself yesterday excoriating the US president-elect on Wednesday after he suggested that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America.
“Obviously, the Gulf of Mexico is a name recognized by the United Nations,” Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference.
She then pointed to a historic map of North America, on which parts of what is now the United States, including California and Texas, were identified as “America Mexicana”.
“Why don’t we call it Mexican America?” she said with a heavy tinge of sarcasm.
“It sounds nice, no?”
Gustaf Kilander has more.
Mexican president hits back at ‘misinformed’ Trump
‘I think that yesterday, President Trump was misinformed, with all due respect to President Trump,’ Claudia Sheinbaum stated after his Gulf of America suggestion
British Foreign Secretary gives Trump’s Arctic threats the cold shoulder
David Lammy has also been dismissing the president-elect’s posturing over Greenland.
“Let’s get serious, it’s not going happen,” he told the BBC on Thursday. “No NATO allies have gone to war since the birth of NATO [in 1949].”
Lammy continued: “We know from [Trump’s] first term that the intensity of his rhetoric and unpredictability sometimes of what he says can be destabilising.
“I suspect on Greenland he is targeting his concerns about Russia and China in the Arctic and his concerns about national economic security.
“He recognises, I am sure, that Greenland is a kingdom of Denmark.”
Millie Cooke has more.
Lammy laughs off Trump threat to grab Greenland: ‘It’s not going to happen’
Foreign secretary also hit back at Trump’s demands that the UK double its defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP
Watch: Hakeem Jeffries lambasts Trump’s Greenland takeover plans
“We are not sent to Washington to invade Greenland, rename the Gulf of Mexico or seize the Panama Canal by force,” the incredulous House Minority Leader told a press conference in DC on Wednesday.
“We were sent to Washington to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America.”
Hakeem Jeffries lambasts Donald Trump’s Greenland takeover plans
Hakeem Jeffries has lambasted Donald Trump for his threats to seize Greenland. The president-elect will be back on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, 8 January, to meet with Senate Republicans about legislative priorities. It comes after his speech at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his wish to make Canada a state, occupy Greenland, and seize the Panama Canal, not ruling out the use of the military in the latter two instances. "We are not sent to Washington to invade Greenland, rename the Gulf of Mexico or seize the Panama Canal by force. We were sent to Washington to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America," the House Minority Leader told a press conference.
Trump and Justice Alito spoke just hours before urging Supreme Court to block hush money sentencing
The president-elect spoke with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito hours before the former urged the nation’s high court to block his imminent sentencing date in his hush money trial, it emerged yesterday.
The conservative justice told ABC News he agreed to take a call from the incoming president to recommend a law clerk for a position in his administration.
“I agreed to discuss this matter with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon,” Alito confirmed to ABC.
“We did not discuss the emergency application he filed today, and indeed, I was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed,” according to the justice.
“We also did not discuss any other matter that is pending or might in the future come before the Supreme Court or any past Supreme Court decisions involving the president-elect.”
Here’s more from Alex Woodward.
Trump spoke with Alito before calling on Supreme Court to block hush money sentencing
The president-elect called the conservative justice the night before a last-ditch demand to stop his sentencing in New York
No plan to expand US military presence in Greenland, says Copenhagen embassy
The incoming commander-in-chief’s dreams of using military force to annex Greenland have been rejected by the US embassy in the Danish capital.
“There are no plans to increase the United States’s current military footprint in Greenland,” a spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday.
That hasn’t stopped Trump posting memes about his fantasies of world domination, however.
While his refusal to rule out military action to take the strategically-useful (and mineral-rich) Arctic island earlier this week drew an angry response from Denmark, France and Germany, Republicans on Capitol Hill are backing their Dear Leader.
Here’s more from Eric Garcia.
‘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
Donald Trump attacks Joe Biden and Gavin Newsom over LA fires
Good morning!
Donald Trump has lashed out at President Joe Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom 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.
“One of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning down to the ground,” the president-elect fumed on Truth Social.
“It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!”
In an earlier post on his social media platform, Trump wrote: “The fires in Los Angeles may go down, in dollar amount, as the worst in the History of our Country.
“In many circles, they’re doubting whether insurance companies will even have enough money to pay for this catastrophe.”
Here’s Rhian Lubin on some further unhelpful interventions from Elon Musk and friends.
Elon Musk uses wildfires to attack DEI practices — as MAGA spread conspiracies
Musk joined President-elect Donald Trump in lashing out at state officials and pointing fingers over the devastating fires
Why is Trump ‘obsessed’ with Greenland? It might stem from his friendship with a cosmetics billionaire...
President-elect Donald Trump is once again touting his plans to buy Greenland, the Danish territory in the Arctic.
Trump escalated rhetoric around the island during a press conference Tuesday, refusing to rule out the use of military force to get ahold of it if needed.
But where did this idea come from?
Gustaf Kilander reports.
The cosmetics billionaire behind Trump’s obsession with buying Greenland
Trump’s interest in aquiring Greenland has a long and storied history
Schumer says renaming Gulf of Mexico ‘isn’t going to help people save money at the grocery store’
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is on the same page as Hakeem Jeffries his counterpart in the House of Representatives.
Speaking about Donald Trump’s agenda, he said: “Donald Trump is in over his head. So he’s doing what he always does in times like this, distract America with crazy ideas. Renaming the Gulf of Mexico may be a zany new idea, but it isn’t going to help people save money at the grocery store.”
“If Donald Trump wants to rename a gulf to sound more patriotic, I’d say we will help him on one condition and only one condition: let’s come up w/a real plan first — not a concept of a plan — to lower prices for Americans,” Schumer continued.
“Let’s do that first. Then, Donald Trump can have his fun.”
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