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

MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski offered up a legal disclaimer on Wednesday following a Morning Joe interview with Scott Galloway that featured the entrepreneur referring to President-elect Donald Trump as a “rapist.”

Perhaps sensing that her network could face a similar situation as ABC News, which recently settled a defamation suit with the famously litigious incoming president, Brzezinski was quick to issue a clarification, as Justin Barangoa reports.

Donald Trump is claiming that insurance companies may not be able to cover the damage caused by the wildfires burning in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

In his latest Truth Social post, the president-elect said the catastrophe was “emblematic, of the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum Duo.”

He added: “January 20th cannot come fast enough!”

Trump has still not expressed any sympathy for those who have lost their homes or for the loved ones of the two people who died.

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. Let this serve, and be emblematic, of the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum Duo. January 20th cannot come fast enough!

When his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump forced him to withdraw from the 2024 election last July, President Joe Biden told Americans he’d decided that the “best way forward” for the country was for him to “pass the torch to a new generation” by standing down and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, D.C.

Donald Trump will meet with Republican senators later today, as the president-elect urges his party to combine his priorities into one massive bill.

Republicans have been weighing a complex legislative strategy that could allow them to bypass Democratic opposition to boost border spending and extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which are due to expire this year.

The president-elect will be in Washington for the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter. Senate Republican leaders extended an invite to meet him on Wednesday, Punchbowl News reported earlier.

Trump on Sunday urged his fellow Republicans in Congress to combine his priorities into one massive bill that would cut taxes, bolster border security, and increase domestic energy production. He said Republicans could cover the cost — which could amount to trillions of dollars — by raising tariffs on imported goods.

Republicans in Congress were at odds over how to proceed with Trump’s agenda, with some warning of potential failure, even as Trump himself called for quick action to pass his priorities.

With reporting from Reuters

Donald Trump is using the wildfires ravaging suburban Los Angeles to attack President Joe Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom — while completely failing to mention those who have lost their homes and businesses, or even that two people lost their lives.

In addition to an earlier post, blaming Newsom for the catastrophe, the president-elect wrote: “As of this moment, Gavin Newscum and his Los Angeles crew have contained exactly ZERO percent of the fire. It is burning at levels that even surpass last night. This is not Government. I can’t wait till January 20th!”

He then followed that with a trademark all-caps tirade: “NO WATER IN THE FIRE HYDRANTS, NO MONEY IN FEMA. THIS IS WHAT JOE BIDEN IS LEAVING ME. THANKS JOE!”

Newly-elected Rep Sarah McBride, the first openly-transgender member of Congress, criticized Republican efforts to restrict transgender youth from competing in women’s sports, saying that she is “mystified that this is a priority”.

Last Friday the House voted on its rules package, which determines how the House of Representatives will conduct itself in terms of procedure, and also outlined a series of legislation considered priority.

At the top of the list is legislation that would change the determination for compliance with Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs that receive federal dollars.

Eric Garcia reports from Washington, D.C.

Mexico’s president responded in kind to Donald Trump’s latest jibes, suggesting part of the US be renamed instead of the Gulf of Mexico.

A day after the incoming US president said the body of water between his country, Mexico and the Caribbean should be called the “Gulf of America,” Claudia Sheinbaum presented early maps of the Americas at her daily press briefing.

The Gulf of Mexico’s name has held since the early 17th century and is recognized by the United Nations, she said. Sheinbaum also joked that states including California and Texas could revert to their former name, “America Mexicana.”

“It sounds good, doesn’t it?” Sheinbaum quipped to reporters Wednesday in Mexico City.

Donald Trump is considering declaring a national economic emergency in order to create the legal grounds for introducing his program of steep tariffs against rival nations, according to CNN.

Even before taking office, the president-elect has threatened tariffs of as much as 10 percent on global imports and 60 percent on Chinese goods, plus a 25 percent import surcharge on Canadian and Mexican products.

Such duties are intended to provide a boost to American manufacturing but experts have warned that, in practice, they could backfire by upending trade flows, raising costs, and inviting harmful retaliatory measures.