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Trump asks Supreme Court to block hush money sentencing as he ramps up threats to seize Greenland and Panama Canal: Live

Incoming commander-in-chief holds alarming press conference at Mar-a-Lago, wandering from topic to topic and threatening allied nations

Oliver O'Connell,Joe Sommerlad,Katie Hawkinson
Wednesday 08 January 2025 15:48 GMT
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Donald Trump says he won’t ‘commit’ to ruling out using military force to reclaim the Panama Canal

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Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to halt his hush money sentencing, scheduled for Friday after lower appeals courts refused to do so. The president-elect was found guilty of 34 felony counts in May 2024.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department says it will release Special Counsel Jack Smith’s findings on Trump's January 6 probe but withhold the rest of the report regarding the classified documents case, the release of which was halted by Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon.

Trump gave his first rambling press conference of the new year at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, bafflingly leaping from one topic to another.

Arranged to announce foreign investment in the US, the president-elect took the opportunity to attack Joe Biden over the transition process and refused to rule out using the military to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal. He also railed against windmills, electric heaters, water pressure, Canada, and his legal problems.

At one point, Trump said he wanted to rename the Gulf of Mexico and claimed Hezbollah might have been part of the 2021 Capitol riot.

His dark hints of military action have triggered an angry reaction from US allies over the integrity of sovereign borders.

Trump’s transition team wanted to bring on 2,000 staff. They’re falling short...

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is falling short of its goal to have 2,000 political appointees on board by Inauguration Day, a new report reveals.

Trump’s team sent out several employment offers to political appointees on Monday in an effort to meet the goal — but they’re still falling short, CBS News reports, citing two sources familiar with the situation.

Katie Hawkinson reports.

Trump’s transition team wanted to bring on 2,000 staff. They’re falling short

Trump will take office in less than two weeks, but his team is still well short of its target of appointing 2,000 new staff

Oliver O'Connell7 January 2025 20:30

Full story: Trump loses last-ditch attempt to stop hush money sentencing

An appeals court judge has rejected Donald Trump’s last-ditch attempt to stop this week’s sentencing hearing in his hush money trial.

The president-elect has desperately fought to return to the White House with a clear record. But after his latest courtroom failures to overturn his conviction and sentence, Trump is set to enter office as the first criminally convicted president in U.S. history.

Moments after a brief hearing with Trump’s attorneys and Manhattan prosecutors on Tuesday, a New York state appellate court judge issued a one-page denial of the president-elect’s latest attempt to avoid his imminent court date.

Alex Woodward reports from New York.

Trump loses last-ditch attempt to stop hush money sentencing

New York appeals court rejects president-elect’s latest move to halt his imminent sentencing date

Oliver O'Connell7 January 2025 20:10

Harris will travel to Asia, Mideast and Europe during her final week in office

Vice President Kamala Harris plans to close out her term with an around-the-world trip making stops in Singapore, Bahrain and Germany, her office said.

The trip, which is scheduled to last from Jan. 13 to Jan. 17, will be a final opportunity for Harris to address U.S. foreign policy challenges before Donald Trump takes office. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is expected to join the vice president.

Although she has not disclosed her next steps after losing the presidential election, the expansive travel suggests that Harris might want to continue playing a role on the global stage. There’s also speculation that Harris could run for governor of her home state of California.

Dean Lieberman, Harris’ deputy national security adviser, said in a written statement that “the vice president felt it important to spend some of her final days in office thanking and engaging directly with U.S. servicemembers deployed overseas, which as she has said, has been one of her greatest privileges as vice president.”

There are U.S. troops based at all three of Harris’ stops.

Read on for more details...

Harris will travel to Asia, Mideast and Europe during her final week in office

Vice President Kamala Harris plans to close out her term with an around-the-world trip

AP7 January 2025 20:00

Watch: Trump wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico

Donald Trump says he will rename ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘Gulf of America’

President-elect, Donald Trump claimed he plans to change the name of the 'Gulf of Mexico' to 'Gulf of America'. During an odd press conference on Tuesday, January 7th, 2024, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm beach, Trump said this, along with many other off-base comments. The newly elected United States President backed up his idea by stating "we do most of the work there" and claiming the Gulf is "ours". Other notable comments from Trump include calling The Panama Canal a "disgrace" and attacking Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for announcing his resignation.

Oliver O'Connell7 January 2025 19:55

What you need to know as Biden admin moves to scrub medical debt from credit reports

Unpaid medical bills will no longer appear on credit reports, where they can block people from mortgages, car loans or small business loans, according to a final rule announced Tuesday by the Biden administration.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CSPB) rule will remove $49 billion in medical debt from the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans, according to the bureau, which means lenders will no longer be able to take that into consideration when deciding to issue a loan.

Andrew Georgeson reports.

Biden admin moves to scrub medical debt from credit reports. What you need to know

Unpaid medical bills will no longer appear on credit reports, where they can block people from mortgages, car loans or small business loans

Oliver O'Connell7 January 2025 19:45

Trudeau says not a ‘snowball’s chance in hell’ Canada would become part of US

Oliver O'Connell7 January 2025 19:36

‘That’s like the whole ocean!’: Trump rants about Biden’s offshore 625 million acre drilling ban

Donald Trump ranted about Joe Biden’s 625 million acre offshore drilling ban in the Atlantic and wrongly claimed it covered almost “the whole ocean.”

“Take an acre, you have a house on a half-acre or a quarter-acre, or an acre, you have a big deal,” the President-elect exclaimed during a wild press conference on Tuesday. “Now you multiply that by 625 million acres. That’s like... it feels like the whole ocean!”

However, Trump’s math was off by some margin, as Mike Bedigan reports.

Trump claims Biden’s offshore 625 million acre drilling ban covers ‘the whole ocean’

The President-elect’s math was off by large margin during latest wild press conference at Mar-a-Lago

Oliver O'Connell7 January 2025 19:30

Watch: Aguilar says Trump ‘not entitled to his own set of facts’ regarding Jan 6

Oliver O'Connell7 January 2025 19:28

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