Election 2024 Live Updates: Musk Joins First Call Between Trump and Zelensky

California man arrested for trying to trespass at Mar-a-Lago

A California man has been arrested for trespassing at President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property.

Zijie Li, 39, of the Los Angeles region, was detained on Thursday for trespassing despite being warned. He was previously detained for attempting to enter the property.

According to authorities, Li attempted to breach security at Mar-a-Lago many times because he wanted to talk with Trump.

Li had previously visited Palm Beach four times, driving up to a checkpoint but not attempting to enter Mar-a-Lago, per NBC Miami.

Will Trump’s Truth Social merge with Musk’s X?

Rumors have started circulating following President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory that billionaire Elon Musk may merge X, formerly Twitter, with Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social.

X has approximately 611 million active monthly users and is valued at around $9.4 billion. In recent weeks, Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), has surged past X Holdings, valued at $10 billion.

Following Trump’s victory in this year’s presidential election, in which he secured both the popular vote and more Electoral College votes than Vice President Kamala Harris, some have raised concerns about what a potential partnership between Musk, a vocal supporter of the president-elect, and Trump could look like.

During an interview appearance on CNN on Wednesday, Kara Swisher, a business and internet journalist, said, “I would suspect he would try to merge Truth Social” with X.

Read More: Will Truth Social Merge With Elon Musk’s X? Rumors Swirl

Musk demands ‘punishment’ for Jack Smith

Elon Musk has called for special counsel Jack Smith to be “punished” over his election-fraud case against Donald Trump.

“Jack Smith’s abuse of the justice system cannot go unpunished,” the Tesla CEO and top Trump ally wrote on X on Friday.

Musk’s criticism comes as Republicans in Congress have demanded Smith preserve all records related to the case.

House Republicans demand Jack Smith preserve case records amid ‘purge’ fears

A pair of U.S. House Republicans are demanding that special counsel Jack Smith keep records in the election-fraud case against Donald Trump.

In a joint letter to Smith, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Barry Loudermilk, said they were concerned that Smith’s office “may attempt to purge relevant records” after Trump won a second term.

Smith has asked the judge overseeing the Trump case to suspend all deadlines – evidence that the Justice Department is winding down its prosecutions of Trump ahead of his inauguration in January.

The DOJ does not prosecute sitting presidents.

The 2026 Senate midterm map looks rough for Democrats

Republicans clinched control of the Senate on Tuesday, setting up a challenging situation for Democrats to overcome in 2026.

Earlier this week, Republicans flipped three Senate seats in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana, tipping the chamber’s control away from the Democrats. As of Friday, the Republicans have 52 Senate seats and the Democrats 45.

Before this week’s election, Democrats held a narrow majority of 51 seats (including four independents who caucus with the party), while the Republicans had 49.

Democrats trailed Republicans in all political races on Tuesday, with President-elect Donald Trump winning the White House, Republicans securing a Senate majority and the GOP possibly maintaining a GOP majority in the House. Not all House races have been called as of Friday morning.

Unlike the House, where candidates are up for reelection every two years, senators serve six-year terms.

Thirty-three Senate seats are open for election on November 3, 2026. Of those, 20 are held by Republicans and 13 by Democrats.

The following states will have Senate seats up for election that year: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

JD Vance tells anyone who predicted Trump loss, to question their assumptions

Vice President-elect JD Vance has told anyone that predicted that Donald Trump would lose the 2024 election to reevaluate their assumptions of the president-elect.

“If you were confident that Donald J. Trump was going to lose, maybe you should question what else you ‘know’ about him,” he wrote on X on Friday.

“Maybe the people who misled you about his electoral chances have misled you about other things. In the words of Cormac McCarthy, “If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?”

Donald Trump win ‘raises questions’ about Social Security in long term

President-elect Donald Trump’s election win is likely to have “significant implications” and “raises questions” for funding for the Social Security program, experts have told Newsweek.

Republican Trump will become the 47th president following his decisive defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris on November 5. Among his campaign pledges, Trump promised to nix taxes levied on Social Security income, which is paid by around 40 percent of current recipients, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Under current rules, individuals who have an income between $25,000 and $34,000 per year are subject to taxes on up to 50 percent of their Social Security income. If they earn more than this, as much as 85 percent of benefits can be subject to tax.

While the pledge will put more money in the pockets of beneficiaries in the short term, experts have warned that it could impact Social Security’s funding coffers. The SSA’s 2023 Trustees Report released earlier this year found that trust funds that shore up the country’s largest benefit system for retirees, survivors of deceased workers and disabled people is due to run out of funds in 2035.

By then, recipients are projected to receive only 79 percent of their full benefits unless action is taken by Congress to ensure its solvency.

“This Trump win could have significant implications for Social Security,” Cliff Ambrose, founder and wealth manager at Apex Wealth, told Newsweek. “His proposed tax cuts, aimed at reducing payroll taxes, could further strain the Social Security Administration’s funding, as payroll taxes are a primary funding source for Social Security benefits.”

Messages of support at Harris’s residence

Messages of support and gifts, such as flowers, have been left at Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence this morning, according to a post on X.

Democrats hoped Trump’s ‘bro’ vote gamble would fail, they were wrong

Democrats hoped that Donald Trump’s gamble on the “bro” vote would backfire. But on Tuesday, the young men of America proved them wrong.

Trump pulled off one the greatest political comebacks in modern history in the early hours of Wednesday, winning enough electoral votes to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris and return to the White House for a second term. He is also projected to win the popular vote.

Key to Trump’s victory? The young men he courted with appearances on podcasts and livestreams hosted by influencers like Joe Rogan, Theo Von, Adin Ross and the Nelk Boys. The same young men that Democrats thought were all talk and no bite.

Exit poll data shows men aged 18-29—a group that’s typically disengaged politically —broke for Republicans for the first time in the last four elections, decisively choosing Trump as their next president by a whopping 13-point margin.

For Alan Shindelman, a 27-year-old photographer in New York City, the 2024 election and Trump’s candidacy marked “the first time I ever took an interest in politics,” he told Newsweek.

Read More: Democrats Hoped the Bros Wouldn’t Show. But They Did

What’s to come on Inauguration Day

Prsident-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will be swearing in to take office on Jan. 20, 2025. Inauguration Day happens every four years and occurs in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

Vance will be sworn in first and will say the following oath of office:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

Meanwhile, Trump will swear in at around noon, after Vance does so, and will recite the following:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Erdogan hopes for better Turkish-U.S. relationship under Trump

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is hopeful that a second Donald Trump term would repair strained relations between their two countries.

Erdoğan, who called to congratulate Trump on his victory on Wednesday, said that he and the president-elect had been able to “achieve results through telephone diplomacy accordingly” during his first term.

“I do not anticipate any issues in this regard during this term,” he added in his speech in Istanbul today.

Erdoğan added he also expects Trump to “abandon the erroneous policies of the previous administration” on Gaza.

“You know Trump has promised to end the conflicts initiated by Israel. We want that promise to be fulfilled and for Israel to be told stop”, Erdoğan said.

Did Olivia Rodrigo tell Trump to stop using her song? What we know

An alleged comment on TikTok from singer Olivia Rodrigo telling President-elect Donald Trump to not use one of her popular songs is going viral, however there is no proof the pop star actually posted it.

In celebration of Trump’s election win, the Team Trump account posted to TikTok on Wednesday a three-photo long carousel with the caption, “we did it, America” that featured Rodrigo’s song “Déjà vu.” The video has garnered over 1.5 million likes at the time of publishing.

Trump’s team has gotten in trouble before using artists’ music without permission, with the band White Stripes threatening to sue him. After Trump’s team posted the video with Rodrigo’s popular hit, the song disappeared from the Team Trump’s TikTok video and Rodrigo’s alleged comment went viral.

“ew don’t use my sound ever again ty,” the comment allegedly said.

However, as of Thursday morning, Rodrigo’s alleged comment was no longer on the post, and Newsweek could not independently verify that the singer wrote it. Some commenters on the post are claiming that the Team Trump account removed the comment.

Newsweek also saw other TikToks with the “Déjà vu” sound still audibly playable on the platform.

Newsweek has reached out to Rodrigo’s communications team as well as Trump’s campaign for comment.

Did Fetterman’s immigration flub on Rogan push the podcaster into Trump’s corner?

When Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience just days before the election, Rogan introduced a controversial theory about immigration, suggesting that Democratic Party aimed to “import voters” into swing states.

Rogan said, “This is a big fear that people have—that you’re rigging the system and that this will turn all these states into essentially locked blue states, like California is,” Rogan said to Fetterman.

Since 2022, a series of transportation programs initiated by conservative governors in Texas, Florida, and Arizona have sent hundreds of thousands of migrants to Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York City, and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. But only one of those states was considered a swing state; This election, there were seven swing states: the “Blue Wall” states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and the Sun Belt states of Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia. Arizona was one of the states who shipped migrants (nearly 30,000) to D.C., NYC, and Chicago. Migrants, however, cannot vote in presidential elections until they become U.S. citizens, and then it’s not possible to guess whether they would support a Democratic or Republican candidate.

Rather than directly challenging the baseless theory, Fetterman responded with a non-confrontational acknowledgment, saying, “Immigration is always going to be a tough issue in this nation,” before moving on. However, the soundbite was already captured.

Read More: Did John Fetterman Help Nudge Joe Rogan Into Donald Trump’s Corner?

‘What Pennsylvania deserves’: Bob Casey speaks on vote counts

Sen. Bob Casey has shared a statement on X, commenting on the fact that there are still 100,000 votes to be counted in Pennsylvania.

Scalise says Musk will be ‘very involved’ in Trump administration

GOP House majority leader Steve Scalise said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is going to be “very involved” in Donald Trump’s second term administration.

“Let’s right-size government,” he said on Fox News today. “Elon Musk is going to be very involved in that.”

Scalise added that if Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House, which they look set to do, then their top priority will be renewing tax cuts from Trump’s first term.

“We laid it out as a first 100-day agenda,” he said. “We would put things like renewing the Trump tax cuts, many of those which expired that we passed in 2017. We want to renew those cuts so that families don’t see a tax increase.”

Map reveals New York City’s shift to Republicans from 2020 to 2024

New York City is seen as a Democratic Party stronghold, but the 2024 presidential election results showed a marked shift toward the Republican Party in many parts of the city.

Initial result data from Tuesday’s vote showed President-elect Donald Trump received 100,000 more votes than he did in 2020, and while that did not gain him the state, it did appear to weaken the Democrats’ hold.

Overall, 67.7 percent of NYC voters chose Vice President Kamala Harris, compared to 30.45 percent for Trump. In 2020, President Biden won 76.19 percent against Trump’s 22.69 percent.

“New York City is a complex place with a recent history of electing mayors from both of the two parties. If you’re interested understanding the 2024 election results in the city, looking to Mayor Adams 2021 victory would be a good guide,” Heath Brown, Associate Professor of Public Policy at John Jay College, told Newsweek Friday.

“He won the general election against Republican Curtis Sliwa with 67% of the vote. That’s the exact same percentage Vice President Harris got on Tuesday, suggesting Democrats remain the majority in the city, but are not in total control.”

Map comparisons of results from the two elections showed a strong blue result across much of the city four years ago, with an overall weakening of that vote this time around.

Trump made a 5 percent gain in Manhattan, 6 percent in Brooklyn, 11 percent in both the Bronx and Queens, and 8 percent on already Republican-leaning Staten Island.

Hakeem Jeffries reacts to racist text messages being sent across U.S.

Minority Leader of the U.S House of Representatives Hakeem Jeffries has reacted to the news of racist text messages being sent out to people across the U.S.

Trump claims Gov. Newsom trying to ‘kill’ California

Donald Trump has accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom of “trying to kill our nation’s beautiful California.”

The criticism comes one day after Newsom called a special session “to “safeguard California values and fundamental rights in the face of an incoming Trump administration.”

“Governor Gavin Newscum is trying to KILL our Nation’s beautiful California,” President-elect Trump said on Truth Social today.

“For the first time ever, more people are leaving than are coming in. He is using the term “Trump-Proof” as a way of stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to “Make California Great Again,” but I just overwhelmingly won the Election.”

List of celebrities who say they’re moving overseas after Trump win

Donald Trump’s presidential election win over Kamala Harris has sparked ire among a host of celebrities, with some going as far as to declare they will leave the U.S. rather than live under his rule for the next four years.

Hours after polls closed across the U.S. on Tuesday night, Republican nominee Trump was declared the winner following a hotly-contested race that saw Harris step in just months ahead of Election Day after President Joe Biden dropped out.

Addressing supporters from Florida as the results showed they were in his favor, Trump said: “This was a movement like nobody’s ever seen before, and frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There’s never been anything like this in this country and maybe beyond, and now it’s going to reach a new level of importance because we’re going to help our country heal.”

Trump touted a “political victory that our country has never seen before” and promised the “golden age” of the United States. He described his voter group as “the most unified coalition,” citing his gains among Black and Hispanic voters.

Read More: Full List of Celebrities Moving Abroad After Donald Trump’s Win

Period tracking app refuses to disclose data to American authorities

The team behind menstrual health and period tracking app Clue has said it will not disclose users’ data to American authorities, following Donald Trump’s reelection.

The message comes in response to concerns that during Trump’s second presidency, abortion bans that followed the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022 will worsen and states will attempt to increase menstrual surveillance in order to further restrict access to terminations.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has blocked a bill in the state that would have banned law enforcement from enforcing search warrants for menstrual data stored in tracking apps on mobile phones or other electronic devices, according to the Houston Chronicle. And other states have passed or attempted to pass bills that would require medical care facilities and providers to report why women received abortions, as well as other personal information.

Newsweek has reached out to Clue, the Trump campaign and Youngkin for comment via email.

In a statement on TikTok, female and male staff members at Clue, based in Berlin, stand together with arms crossed, along with a text on screen that reads: “We have never and will never disclose any member’s private health data to any authority. If we are ever subpoenaed, we will not comply.”

Judge grants Jack Smith motion to extend filing deadlines in Trump case

Judge Tanya Chutkan has approved Jack Smith’s motion.

Jack Smith urges judge to postpone all filing deadlines in the Trump federal case

On Friday, special counsel Jack Smith asked a judge in Washington to postpone all filing dates in the federal case alleging President-elect Donald J. Trump of attempting to overthrow the 2020 election.

The plea to delay the investigation for nearly a month comes as prosecutors consider whether to pursue the matter at all now that Mr. Trump has returned to the White House.

Putin ally says Trump ‘in no way our friend’

Russian TV host Vladimir Solovyov, a prominent ally of Vladimir Putin, said that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is “in no way” a friend of Russia.

Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States this week, defeating his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“We won’t bargain about our constitutional territories, Solovyov said on his program Evening with Vladimir Solovyov. “But [we] can discuss with Trump whether we’re going to take Berlin. ‘OK, we’re not going to take Berlin today,’ figuratively speaking. I mean, it’s a question of the system of relations.

“But Trump will demand something different. He has repeatedly said that the most important thing is that there should be no alliance between Russia and China. And he needs to crash the oil price so that it badly reflects on Russians. In no way is he our friend or relative.”

Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin and the Trump campaign via email for comment.

Despite global isolation due to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has found China an economic lifeline and a geopolitical ally, particularly in their shared goal of countering U.S. influence.

Trump asks Robert Lighthizer to take on US trade policy

President-elect Donald Trump has asked Robert Lighthizer to run U.S. trade policy as Trump works on putting together his cabinet, per The Financial Times. Lighthizer held the same position when Trump initiated a trade war with China.

People familiar with negotiations inside Trump’s transition team said Lighthizer was urged to return to the main trade post despite having campaigned for a different position, including commerce secretary.

Suspects arrested in connection with plot to assassinate Trump

Two people have been arrested in New York, and one remains at large, in connection with an Iranian plot to assassinate U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders, and several Iranian dissidents, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

“There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump. We have also charged and arrested two individuals who we allege were recruited as part of that network to silence and kill, on U.S. soil, an American journalist who has been a prominent critic of the regime. We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security.”

“The charges announced today expose Iran’s continued brazen attempts to target U.S. citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran,” added Director of the FBI Christopher Wray. “The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a designated foreign terrorist organization — has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down Americans on U.S. soil and that simply won’t be tolerated. Thanks to the hard work of the FBI, their deadly schemes were disrupted. We’re committed to using the full resources of the FBI to protect our citizens from Iran or any other adversary who targets Americans.”

Minnesota school district sends message out regarding racist texts to students

Hopkins Public Schools in Minnesota shared a message to parents regarding the racist texts being received by students following the election.

The letter read in part, “What we know so far is that a handful of our students reported receiving messages on their personal devices.”

Could Kamala Harris replace Sonia Sotomayor on Supreme Court?

A CNN legal analyst suggested Vice President Kamala Harris could be nominated to the Supreme Court.

Attorney Bakari Sellers, who was a Democratic member of the South Carolina House of Representatives for eight years, said that 70-year-old liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor could retire from the Supreme Court, allowing President Joe Biden to nominate Harris.

Harris was San Francisco District Attorney and California Attorney General before being elected senator, and then vice president. While electing an attorney with no judicial experience to the Supreme Court is unusual, it is not unprecedented.

Former Presidency George W. Bush nominated John Roberts as Supreme Court chief justice, even though Roberts had never been a judge. However, Roberts had extensive experience arguing cases before the Supreme Court, which Harris does not have.

When four Democratic Party-aligned independents are considered, Democrats currently have a 51-49 majority in the Senate, which votes by simple majority on presidential nominations to the Supreme Court.

Republicans just won a Senate majority in the November 5 elections, but the new senators will not take their seats until January, allowing Biden a narrow window to nominate a Supreme Court judge if Sotomayor agrees to retire.

Speaking to CNN’s John Berman, Sellers suggested that putting Harris on the Supreme Court would give the vice president a new role after she was defeated by Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election while also guaranteeing a long-term liberal seat.

He suggested it could be rushed through before Trump takes the presidency.

“I think that’s actually a very good plan. I think it’s something that should happen,” he said.

“You know, Justice Sotomayor has been a more than able justice. I know that she may be having some personal issues that she contends with while serving on the bench. But, you know, I don’t want Justice Sotomayor to be another Ruth Bader Ginsburg in terms of staying too long.”

Sen. Tim Scott: ‘Let’s get to work

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) commented on President-elect Trump’s election and Republicans winning a 53-seat majority in the U.S. Senate.

“President-elect Trump’s and Republicans’ resounding victories across the country are good news for the American people and our nation’s future,” he wrote in a release. “I’m thrilled to be a part of a Republican majority in the Senate that will work with President-elect Trump to bring back secure borders, a peace through strength, foreign policy, and an economy of low unemployment, low inflation, and greater opportunity for hardworking Americans who have been left behind by the Biden-Harris administration. Let’s get to work!”

Trump says he will not sell shares of Truth Social

President-elect Donald Trump has said on Truth Social that he has no plans of selling shares of the platform in a post this morning.

Leonard Leo slams retirement speculation about Alito and Thomas

Prominent conservative activist Leonard Leo has said that there is no rush to replace Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.

Donald Trump’s second term would allow him to nominate two new justices to replace Bush-appointees Alito and Thomas, aged 74 and 76 respectively.

On Wednesday, Trump ally and Republican judicial advocate, Mike Davis, predicted that Alito was “gleefully packing up his chambers” after the election was called for Trump.

But Leo, co-chair of the conservative Federalist Society which has played a key role in appointing conservative justices, criticized the speculation.

“No one other than Justices Thomas and Alito knows when or if they will retire, and talking about them like meat that has reached its expiration date is unwise, uninformed, and, frankly, just crass,” he said.

Elon Musk joins Trump call with Zelenskyy

Elon Musk reportedly joined President-elect Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.

Zelenskyy was somewhat reassured by what he heard from the president-elect, two sources who spoke with Axios.

The call lasted about 25 minutes, per the outlet, and contained more words of congratulations from Zelenskyy to Trump. The president-elect said that he will offer Ukraine support.

Long-time Texas Democratic chair resign after crushing party defeats

The longtime chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, Gilberto Hinojosa, announced his resignation Friday after “devastating” election loses in his state.

Hinojosa, who first became chair in 2012, said he was stepping down and “passing the torch to the next generation,” as he called on party leaders to reevaluate in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory and Republicans taking the Senate. The U.S. House has not yet been called but is tipping red.

“In the days and weeks to come, it is imperative that our Democratic leaders across the country reevaluate what is best for our party and embrace the next generation of leaders to take us through the next four years of [Donald] Trump and win back seats up and down the ballot,” Hinojosa, said in a statement.

“That is why today I’m announcing that I’ll be stepping aside in the new year … and passing the torch to the next generation.”

Texas has voted red for the past 30 years and 2024 was no exception, as Trump made surprising gains in the state’s Hispanic-majority south.

Russian state TV airs nude pics of Melania Trump

A Russian state television network congratulated Melania Trump on her husband’s reelection as president of the United States by showing nude photographs of her on live television, according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

On the show 60 minutes, Russian television presenters, husband and wife Yevgeny Popov and Olga Skabeyeva, spoke about Donald Trump’s reelection and showed numerous photos from Melania Trump’s modeling days on screen, including nude photographs from a GQ profile in 2000.

One in four Americans say the election was the most stressful event of the year

Election anxiety has been rife among Americans this year, according to a recent survey carried out in its aftermath.

YouGov’s poll, conducted the day after Election Day, among 2422 U.S. adults, found that compared to other events in their lives over the past 12 months, 26 percent of Americans said the 2024 election was the most stressful.

Polls throughout summer pointed to a nail-bitingly close race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, though in the end Trump won by a comfortable margin, securing a second non-consecutive term in the White House.

‘Don’t clap for that’: Ted Cruz’s daughter cringes when father mentions Trump in victory speech

Sen. Ted Cruz’s daughter made a face and said “Don’t clap for that” when her father mentioned President-elect Donald Trump in his victory speech on Tuesday.

JD Vance praises Susie Wiles after she’s named Trump’s chief of staff

Vice President-elect JD Vance praised Susie Wiles as a “huge asset” after she was named as Donald Trump’s next chief of staff.

“This is great news. Susie was a huge asset to President Trump on the campaign and will be a huge asset in the White House. She’s also just a really good person. Onward!” he wrote on X.

Wiles is the first cabinet appointment for Trump’s second administration, with Republicans jostling for the remaining roles.

Trump stock soars after he says he has no plans to sell shares

Trump Media stock soared Friday after the president-elect said he has no plans to sell off his shares in the Truth Social parent company.

“There are fake, untrue, and probably illegal rumors and/or statements made by, perhaps, market manipulators or short sellers, that I am interested in selling shares of Truth,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning.

“THOSE RUMORS OR STATEMENTS ARE FALSE. I HAVE NO INTENTION OF SELLING!” he added, calling for an investigation into “the people who have set off these fake rumors.”

DJT shares shot up more than 10% after the post.

Tez Cruz claims Biden is ‘full of joy’ after Harris loss

President Joe Biden is delighted that Vice President Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump, according to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

The incumbent withdrew his bid for re-election on July 21, amid reported pressures from senior Democrats following his weak debate performance against Trump. The manner in which many believe he was “pushed out” has now been touted as a contributing factor in Harris’s defeat, sparking mockery from conservatives who say Biden is now indulging in the post-election regrets of his own party.

“We’re going to wrap up by pointing out the one man in America on the Democrat side who is not sad, and who is actually full of joy,” Cruz said during the most recent episode of his Verdict podcast. “I’m not going to tell you his name, but it rhymes with Boe Jiden.”

His co-host, Ben Ferguson, added: “I’ve never seen a bigger grin on – and we’ll change his name – ever, even on days he thought [were] the best day of his life.”

Read More: Joe Biden ‘Full of Joy’ After Harris Loss: Ted Cruz

McCormick declares Pennsylvania race ‘done’ despite Casey refusal to concede

The Associated Press called Pennsylvania’s crucial Senate race for Republican Dave McCormick Thursday after he led incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey by more than 30,000 votes.

But call sparked controversy as more than 90,000 votes were still outstanding.

As of Friday morning, Casey has refused to concede.

During an appearance on Fox News this morning, McCormick argued the race was over.

“I think this is done,” McCormick he said. “It’s been clear for some time that the math didn’t work, that there was no path to winning for Senator Casey, which is why I think the AP called it. They see the same numbers we see.

“I’ve been there. It’s tough to give it up.

“The counting will continue, but the fact of the matter is there is no way- there is no path to victory for Senator Casey.”

Casey has argued that all the votes must counted.

“We must allow that process to play out and ensure that every vote that is eligible to be counted will be counted, ” he wrote on X. “That is what Pennsylvania deserves.”

Trump ally suggests trying to purchase Greenland again

Georgia Representative Mike Collins, a staunch ally of President-elect Donald Trump, has appeared to float the idea of the United States once again trying to purchase Greenland.

On Thursday, Collins posted an image on X (formerly Twitter) of Trump’s winning 2024 Electoral College map with the addition of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. The island was colored in red, appearing to suggest it would vote Republican if admitted to the union. “Project 2029,” he wrote in the caption, potentially suggesting such a purchase could be achieved if Republicans win again in 2028.

Representative Collins frequently shares memes on social media, even dubbing himself the “Memer of Congress” on a business card. He has credited friends and staffers with helping him source funny content to share online, according to The Hill.

His latest post depicting Greenland had been viewed 3.1 million times by Friday morning.

Read More: Donald Trump Ally Suggests Trying to Purchase Greenland Again

Burgum says world leaders ‘excited’ about Trump’s second term

Gov. Doug Burgum claimed he knows “first-hand” that America’s allies are happy for a second Donald Trump term.

The North Dakota governor, whose name has been floated for several key positions in Trump’s new cabinet, said he’d recently met with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

“I can tell you world leaders are excited about President Trump being back in office,” he said on Fox News.

“They know his policies are going to support allies, and we’re going to have maximum pressure on our adversaries.”

Burgum says Trump’s in ‘very different’ position for cabinet than 2016 as people ‘flock’ for roles

Gov. Doug Burgum, whose name has been floated for several key positions in Donald Trump’s new cabinet, says the president-elect is in a very different position than he was in 2016.

“The talent that is showing up, that’s very different from 2016 when Donald Trump won unexpectantly,” said Burgum, on Fox News this morning.

“I mean now, for every position, he has 20 qualified people banging on the door wanting to get a job.

“He will have the pick of the litter in putting together a fantastic team to help in driving this country forward.”

The Republican North Dakota appears poised to step into an energy-related role in the next administration. Burgum was also reportedly on Trump’s shortlist as running mate but was passed over for JD Vance.

Israel appoints new U.S. ambassador

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed Yechiel Leiter as the new ambassador to the United States.

Pennsylvania-born Leiter, a rabbi, historian and former chief of staff at the Finance Ministry under Netanyahu, replaces Mike Herzog, a retired general and the brother of Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

Leiter son was killed last year fighting in Gaza.

1600 Newsletter: Democrat post-mortem continues but Trump’s transition effort is already in full swing, writes Carlo Versano

The nation is still grappling with the results of the 2024 election, some 48 hours after the race was called early Wednesday morning for Donald Trump.

There’s plenty of data to pour over in the coming days and weeks to make sense of President-elect Trump’s victory over Vice President Harris. But while the 2024 post-mortem continues, the Trump transition effort is in full swing as the former president’s team prepares for his second term.

The Washington rumor mill is churning with speculation around Trump’s appointments to key posts in his new administration. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he’ll help craft health care policy for Trump. The tech world is waiting to see what role, if any, Elon Musk might take in a Trump White House, and other business leaders are already in the mix for top government positions.

Buckle up for a busy period between now and Trump’s inauguration in January.

By Carlo Versano, Newsweek’s U.S. Election editor

Read more from the 1600 and Newsweek newsletters here.

Judge strikes down Biden administration’s immigration policy

A judge has struck down a Biden administration policy aimed at protecting immigrant spouses from deportation.

The program allowed foreign spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to apply for a green card without first having to leave the country.

US District Judge J. Campbell Barker, appointed by President-elect Donald Trump during his first term, accused Biden’s executive branch of overreach in his ruling.

Barker had previously replaced the program on hold, filing a legal challenge that accused the Biden administration for pushing it through for “blatant political purposes.”

Rogan calls on Trump to ‘unite people’

Joe Rogan has called on President-elect Donald Trump to “unite people” when he takes office in January.

Rogan declared his support for Trump in the 2024 presidential election against Vice President Kamala Harris the night before polls opened. He credited Tesla CEO Elon Musk with his decision to endorse Trump.

On his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, which reaches millions of listeners, said Trump had a chance to make “real tangible change,” but urged him not to further divide people.

“He’s got to unite people. He’s got to not attack the left, not attack everybody, let them all talk their sh*t, but unite. Now it’s time to unite everybody,” said Rogan.

What will Harris do now?

Vice President Kamala Harris has been unsuccessful in her bid to become the next president, and come January 20, 2025 she will be out of political office for the first time since 2004.

Harris has served as San Francisco District Attorney, California’s Attorney General and the Golden State’s junior senator, before being elected vice president in 2020, scoring a number of historic firsts along the way: first woman, African American and Indian American in either of the former two offices and the latter. She was also the first Indian American senator.

When President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance enter the White House early next year, Harris’ 20 year run of uninterrupted public service will be broken- but that doesn’t mean she won’t return to the political scene in the future. In her concession speech on November 6, Harris said, “I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign—the fight: the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness, and the dignity of all people. A fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. That is a fight I will never give up.”

Read More: What Will Kamala Harris Do Now? Next Steps After Election Defeat

Ambassador warns Filipinos in U.S. illegally to leave now, before they’re deported

The Philippine ambassador to the U.S. is urging Filipinos living in America illegally “not to wait to be deported.”

Donald Trump repeatedly promised to carry out the biggest mass deportation effort in U.S. history, during his campaign.

“My advice is for them not to wait to be deported,” ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez, told reporters, referring to Filipino illegal immigrants.

“Because I can see that the administration of President Trump is really going to be very strict with the immigration policy that he intends to put in place.”

What stops Trump running a third term?

The 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution limits American presidents to just two terms in office.

The first U.S. president, George Washington, began the tradition when he stepped down after his two terms.

That unofficial tradition continued until Franklin D. Roosevelt who was in office for our terms, from 1932 to 1944. He died in 1945.

After his death, the U.S. House of Representatives made a proposal to limit presidents to two terms. It was finally ratified in 1951.

Union leaders says Democrats ‘failed to address’ key issues for working class

A union leader has spoken out about his thoughts on why Kamala Harris didn’t win the support of workers during the election campaign.

The president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), Jimmy Williams, wrote a thread of posts on X, formerly Twitter, after the election, saying he spent the last several months speaking to thousands of union members across the Rust Belt about the election.

While Harris did as well as Biden with union voters or better, according to some exit polls, Williams believes there are some notable reasons she didn’t didn’t win.

“The Democratic Party has continued to fail to prioritize a strong, working class message that addressed issues that really matter to workers,” he wrote.

Read More: Democrats ‘Failed To Address’ Key Issue For Workers, Union Leader Says

Around 50,000 expected at Washington D.C. protest ahead of inauguration

Tens of thousands of protesters are expected at the ‘People’s March on Washington’ just two days before the inauguration.

The protest is being held against Donald Trump and policies which organizers warn will strip the rights of immigrants, women and the LGBTQ+ community.

Organizers, who include the Women’s March and reproductive rights coalition Abortion Access Now, estimate 50,000 will join the protest on January 18m, according to their permit application.

Who is Susie Wiles? Trump’s pick for chief of staff

Veteran Florida political strategist Susie Wiles became President-elect Donald Trump’s first cabinet pick yesterday as he named her incoming White House chief of staff.

The daughter of NFL star Pat Summerall, Wiles began her career in the 1970s, working for New York Rep. Jack Kemp in Washington D.C. She later joined Ronald Reagan’s campaign and worked in his White House as a scheduler.

When Wiles moved to Florida, she worked with several local politicians, including helping Rick Scott get elected as governor. In 2016, she got involved with the Trump campaign and helped run his Florida efforts, a state which helped him cinch the oval office.

In 2018 she helped Ron DeSantis’s successful gubernatorial campaign. But when the two later fell out, the Florida governor urged Trump to cut ties with her. Instead, she went onto lead Trump’s primary campaign which was full of knowing digs and insults at DeSantis, AP reports.

Wiles once again joined his campaign team in 2024, first his successful presidential run.

Trump is said to respect and listen to Wiles, praising her as “incredible”.

Chief of staff would be a very different kind of role for Wiles who typically eschews the limelight, preferring to work in the background.

Who might be in Trump’s next cabinet?

Now that Donald Trump has won the 2024 election, the race for his Cabinet is on.

Multiple media outlets have reported that people are already floating names for who will fill key roles in a second Trump administration, and that the president-elect’s transition team is racing to put together a shortlist after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s election.

Here’s a list of key contenders and what their roles might be in a second Trump administration, according to recent media reports:

• Secretary of defense – Trump’s former secretary of state and CIA director Mike Pompeo
• Secretary of state – Florida Senator Marco Rubio
• Health secretary – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Florida surgeon general Dr. Joseph Ladapo
• Treasury secretary – Robert Lighthizer, who was Trump’s top trade representative in his first administration, Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee or Jay Clayton, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• CIA director – Trump’s former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe

Read more and the list in full: Who Might Be in Trump’s New Cabinet? List of Reported Contenders