Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China sends global markets into turmoil: Live updates
President-elect flexes muscles on world stage after securing brace of legal wins
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Your support makes all the difference.President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to impose massive tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico with the aim of stopping drug smuggling, an announcement that left the markets reeling in fear of a new trade war with Beijing.
The threatened double-digit tariffs would likely have major impacts on key sectors of the US economy, including auto manufacturing, crude oil and agriculture, all of which involve trade with the targeted countries.
The measures could also further drive inflation, hitting the American consumer.
Meanwhile, Trump is reportedly planning to grant his cabinet nominees “sweeping security clearances” and delay their being subjected to FBI background checks until his own officials have taken over the bureau.
The Republican spent Monday evening celebrating a major legal victory after Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith moved to drop the the federal election interference and classified documents cases against him.
Citing a precedent that prevents a sitting president from being charged, Smith said his team is treating Trump as a current president and asked for the cases to be abandoned.
Smith stressed that the reason for the motions had nothing to do with the strength of the evidence collected, which he believes is strong.
Trump lashes out at NYT and its ‘third rate writer’ after report on president-elect’s aide’s adoring letters
Trump threatens China, Mexico and Canada with new tariffs. But what does this actually mean for Americans’ pockets?
Trumpworld turns on one of its own: Boris Epshteyn faces internal probe over pay-to-play scheme
Trump’s Cabinet and staff tracker: Here’s who is among the White House appointments so far
Donald Trump Jr. says White House might kick out legacy media
The Trump administration might kick traditional journalists out of the White House press room and replace them with online media personalities, according to Donald Trump, Jr.
“We had the conversation about opening up the press room to a lot of these independent journalists,” Trump said on his Rumble show “Triggered.”
”Why not open it up to people who have larger viewerships, stronger followings?” he added.
Trump, who said he recently talked about the idea with his father, president-elect Donald Trump, claimed such a step was necessary because outlets like The New York Times “lied” and had been “adverse to everything.”
Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for a future GOP administration that has influenced Trump administration proposals and appointees, also suggested booting out standard White House beat reporters.
Trump rails against those who brought ‘empty’ criminal cases against him
After federal prosecutors signaled their plans to abandon the criminal cases against Trump, the president-elect celebrated his legal victory by insulting prosecutors, judges and district attorneys.
On Truth Social, Trump called the cases “empty and lawless” declaring they should have never been brought against him because they wasted “$100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars.”
As he has done in the past, Trump claimed the cases were politically motivated and brought by Democrats.
He insulted Fulton County DA Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade, two people who oversaw the Georgia federal election interference case and faced accusations of misconduct. Claiming Wade has “zero experience”, Trump accused the two of taking vacations together using the money Wade was paid with.
He lashed out at Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, claiming Bragg did not want to bring the New York hush-money case against Trump but did so at the behest of the Justice Department. The New York case was separate from federal criminal inquiries.
Trump also accused New York AG Letitia James of unethically and “probably illegally” campaigning on a platform of holding Trump accountable.
“It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON,” Trump said.
Majority of Americans say they are happy with Trump’s transition
A majority of Americans are satisfied with Donald Trump’s election victory and approve of the transition process into his new administration, according to a CBS/YouGov poll released on Monday.
According to the poll, 59 percent of respondents approve of the transition process and 55 percent are happy or satisfied with Trump’s victory.
That support, however, is highly fractured on partisan lines, with 95 percent of Republicans optimistic or excited about Trump compared with just 15 percent of Democrats.
Majority of Americans happy with Trump transition despite cabinet controversies
Trump voters highly supportive of cabinet nominations like Marco Rubio and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Elon Musk confirms X is limiting people’s ability to share news
Elon Musk has appeared to confirm that his social media company X, formerly Twitter, throttles traffic to other websites by stifling any posts that contain outside links.
Paul Graham, an influential tech investor and essayist, had complained on Sunday about X’s “deprioritization of tweets with links in them,” saying it made it harder to “find out what’s going on.”
“Just write a description in the main post and put the link in the reply. This just stops lazy linking,” Musk replied.
Graham then questioned why it should be any less “lazy” for him to link to one of his essays in a reply rather than an initial post, but Musk had not responded further as of Monday evening.
Io Dodds reports.
Elon Musk confirms that he’s limiting people’s ability to share outside news on X
The Tesla and SpaceX tycoon defended his policy on hyperlinks as a way to stop ‘lazy linking’, but without explaining what that meant
Elon Musk targets government workers by name as he recommends mass firings
Elon Musk is already identifying specific government employees with “fake jobs” as he recommends mass firings as co-chair of Donald Trump’s newly-created Department of Government Efficiency.
The billionaire re-shared a post last week that highlighted Ashley Thomas, a little-known director of climate diversification at the US International Development Finance Corporation. The original poster shared a screenshot of Thomas’s role, writing, “I don’t think the US Taxpayer should pay for the employment of a ‘Director of Climate Diversification (she/her)’ at the US International Development Finance Corporation.”
Musk captioned his re-shared post: “So many fake jobs.
Trump threatens major tariffs
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday threatened to unilaterally impose a massive consumption tax on Americans who purchase goods imported goods from three of the country’s top trading partners on the day he takes office, seemingly with no regard for the inflationary effects of such a move.
In a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he would hike the cost of Mexican and Canadian products by 25 percent by executive order if both countries did not take steps to curb what he described as unacceptable flows of drugs and migrants into the U.S. across their respective borders.
“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” he wrote.
More details in our full story.
Trump threatens Mexico, China, and Canada with tariffs over immigration and drugs
Tariffs would likely have major impact on U.S. economy and North American trade agreement Trump helped negotiate
Why a Trump aide wrote a letter telling him ‘you are all that matters to me’
One of Donald Trump’s most trusted aides reportedly wrote him a series of adoring letters including one in which she told the President-elect: “You are all that matters to me.”
Natalie Harp, a former right-wing cable television host, had been on Trump’s radar since 2019 after her story of cancer survival caught his attention and he invited her to speak at the 2020 Republican National Convention (RNC).
She later joined his staff in 2022 as a devoted aide, though she has no official title. It is also uncertain what role, if any, Harp will have in the forthcoming administration.
Mike Bedigan reports.
One of Trump’s aides wrote him letters that said ‘you are all that matters to me’
Natalie Harp, a former right-wing cable television host, has been on Trump’s radar since 2019
Megyn Kelly jokes Pete Hegseth is not marriage material
Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly attacked her ex-colleague Pete Hegseth’s marriage history but still defended him against sexual assault allegations.
Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, worked at Fox News alongside Kelly from 2014 to 2017. Kelly appeared on The Charlie Kirk Show, telling the far-right influencer she doesn’t “recommend marrying” Hegseth – before defending him against allegations of sexual assault.
“I’m gonna be honest, like looking at his marital history, it’s not an example of fidelity,” Kelly told Kirk. “I’m just gonna be honest and admit that upfront.”
Katie Hawkinson reports:
Megyn Kelly defends defense secretary pick Hegseth from sexual assault allegations
A woman accused Pete Hegseth of sexually assaulting her in Monterey, California in 2017
Former Trump aide shares ominous warning to women entering White House
Former Trump White House official Olivia Troye has issued a stark warning for women entering the incoming administration.
“The Trump White House’s chauvinistic male-dominated culture will be exacerbated by the presence of Elon Musk, JD Vance, Donald Trump Jr., Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, and other ‘bros’ in positions of authority or influence,” Troye, who served as former Vice President Mike Pence’s national security adviser, wrote on her Substack on Thursday.
“It will be an intimidating environment, but stay true to your values, even when it is uncomfortable or unpopular. Remember, you have only yourself to face in the mirror every day.”
Read more below.
Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk make crude joke about MSNBC host
Influential conservatives are joking about buying liberal news network MSNBC and standing in for top hosts. In a series of posts on Friday, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Jr., and Joe Rogan fantasized about what they would do if they owned the channel and mocked host Lawrence O’Donnell with a vulgar comment.
The exchange began when Trump claimed on X he had the “funniest idea ever” in response to the news that NBCUniversal is planning to spin off some of its cable networks, including MSNBC, and tagged Musk.
Musk then asked how much the network would cost.
“If you buy MSNBC I would like Rachael Maddow’s job,” Rogan chimed in. “I will wear the same outfit and glasses, and I will tell the same lies.”
“Ok @elonmusk & @joerogan. Since this is getting interesting I’ll throw my hat in the ring as well,” Trump responded. “I’ll mimic Lawrence O’Donnell… minus the castration of course. That’s a bridge too far.”
More details in our full story.
Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk joke about MSNBC host’s ‘castration’
Musk and friends have fantasized about buying liberal news network as parent company NBCUniversal plans to spin off various cable properties
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