The president-elect will address a Phoenix crowd on Sunday
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Donald Trump is set to give his first “first rally-style speech” since his election victory in Phoenix on Sunday.
Before the president-elect takes the stage, a group of other prominent Republicans will speak, including actor Rob Schneider, embattled former Congressman Matt Gaetz and Senator Ted Cruz.
The event — AmericaFest 2024 — comes one day after Trump threatened to retake the Panama Canal in a lengthy post on Truth Social on Saturday night.
Trump accused Panama of charging American vessels “exorbitant prices” to use the vital waterway that acts as a shortcut linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
“The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the U.S.,” Trump vented.
“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” he stridently added, referring to a 1977 treaty.
Earlier his daughter-in-law Lara Trump announced she was no longer running for the Senate.
“After an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, and encouragement from so many, I have decided to remove my name from consideration for the United States Senate,” she said.
Key Points
Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose two trips — which hadn’t been publicly reported — paid for by a billionaire Republican donor, a new Congressional report reveals.
In the wake of ProPublica’s explosive 2023 report into Thomas’ failures to disclose his ties to wealthy donor Harlan Crow, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee conducted a 20-month investigation into the ethics challenges at the Supreme Court.
The report — spanning 97 pages plus 824 pages of supporting documents — was released Saturday, detailing two additional trips paid for by Crow that Thomas hadn’t previously disclosed. More broadly, the report also captured an array of conflicts of interest and undisclosed gifts by justices, prompting the panel to recommend the nation’s highest court establish an enforceable code of conduct.
Catch up here.
All of the gifts Justice Thomas has accepted from a Republican donor are valued at $4.75 million, according to a new report
Actor Rob Schneider, former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and Sen. Ted Cruz will speak to the crowd before Donald Trump headlines AmericaFest 2024 on Sunday.
Schneider opened with a speech that included addressing Democrats as to why he believed “you lost” the presidential election.
Among wide-ranging comments about Democrats’ policies, the comedian delivered one particularly harsh line: “You lost because flying Haitians into Ohio in the middle of the night just to increase your voting base is kind of a shady thing to do. Now I have no problem with legal immigration. I’m just not sure Haiti is sending us their best cat-eating rapist cannibals.”
The line was met with mixed reactions, prompting Schneider to apologize: “Sorry. That was too much even for me.”
The offensive claim comes months after Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance amplified unsubstantiated allegations that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating pets. Local officials and police swiftly debunked those claims and Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine even wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about the dangers of spreading such harmful rhetoric.
Donald Trump has named the producer behind The Apprentice as his special envoy to the UK.
The president-elect said Mark Burnett would bring “a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition” to the role.
British producer Mr Burnett helped build Mr Trump’s profile but distanced himself from the tycoon during the 2016 presidential contest.
Announcing the envoy role, Mr Trump said: “It is my great honor to appoint Mark Burnett as the special envoy to the United Kingdom.
Read the full story.
US president-elect Donald Trump said Mark Burnett ‘will work to enhance diplomatic relations’
Republicans are calling for Elon Musk to be the new speaker of the House amid contentious negotiations over a spending deal to avoid a government shutdown.
“The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress . . . Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk,” Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky wrote on X on Thursday. “Think about it . . . nothing’s impossible (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds).”
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia also piped in on X: “DOGE can only truly be accomplished by reigning in Congress to enact real government efficiency. The establishment needs to be shattered just like it was yesterday. This could be the way.”
Josh Marcus has the full story.
Republicans line up behind Musk as Democrats hammer GOP for unelected ‘President Musk’
President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to retake the Panama Canal in a lengthy post on Truth Social.
Trump accused Panama of “ripping off” American vessels by charging “exorbitant prices” to use the vital waterway that acts as a shortcut linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Without it, ships would be forced to sail a much farther distance around South America’s rocky Cape Horn.
Trump was referring to the 1977 treaty over the canal’s status, which transferred control of the canal from the U.S. to Panama at the end of the 20th century.
Read more
Trump accused Panama of charging American vessels ‘exorbitant prices’ to use the vital waterway
President-elect Donald Trump’s team has snapped back at claims that Elon Musk is running the show after the billionaire played a significant role in tanking a spending bill that would have averted a government shutdown.
Musk helped topple House Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposed bipartisan congressional spending bill by slamming it early Wednesday, which was followed later by a joint statement from Trump and JD Vance warning Republicans not to support it.
“Stop the steal of your tax dollars!” Musk wrote on his social media platform X that he threatened funded primary challenges against anyone who voted for the budget deal, a threat Trump later echoed in a post of his own.
The optics that Musk is pulling the strings have prompted Trump’s incoming White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, to hit back about who is really in charge.
Read more
Democrats have mocked the tech billionaire’s big-foot influence with the incoming administration
Billionaire Elon Musk saw a sharp 10 percent increase in his odds of being Speaker of the House on Polymarket, the crypto-based betting platform, after several lawmakers suggested him for the job.
Musk, who has quickly ascended as a close ally of Donald Trump, proved just how powerful political influence is this week when he managed to convince Republicans in Congress to oppose the bipartisan spending bill that finally passed on Friday.
Wielding his influence on the social media platform he owns, X, Musk sent out more than 150 posts urging Republicans to break from the bill backed by the current Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
Ariana Baio reports.
Tesla billionaire has been suggested for the role by Senator Rand Paul among others
After the debacle in Congress this week, all eyes are now on Mike Johnson ahead of a vote in two weeks as to whether he should stay on as Speaker.
Earlier this week we reported he could be challenged for the speaker’s chair in the new year as Republican critics draw up a list of potential replacements.
Some rebels in his party are angry at his handling of the stop-gap bill to fund the federal government through March 14, dubbed a “dumpster fire” by some Republicans.
Read more below.
Some rebels in the GOP are angry at Johnson’s handling of the stop-gap bill to fund the federal government through March 14
Lara Trump dropped out of the running for the Senate on Saturday evening, teasing a “big announcement” to come in January.
Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law was floated as a possible replacement for Marco Rubio, the president-elect’s choice for secretary of state.
Two weeks ago Trump announced she was also stepping down from her role as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
“After an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, and encouragement from so many, I have decided to remove my name from consideration for the United States Senate,” Trump shared in a post on X.
“I do have a big announcement that I’m excited to share in January, so, stay tuned,” she added.
Catch up below
Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law was floated as a possible replacement for Marco Rubio, the president-elect’s choice for secretary of state
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