Trump shares Christmas message as Denmark responds to Greenland threats by boosting defense: Live

Denmark is boosting defense spending for Greenland. A Danish official said Tuesday that the timing of the announcement, coming as President-elect Donald Trump made comments that the U.S. should own the territory, was an “irony of fate.”

This comes as Trump wished a “Merry Christmas to all” on Truth Social.

Troels Lund Poulsen, the Danish defense minister, told the paper Jyllands-Posten Tuesday that the country plans to spend a “double-digit billion amount” in krone — about $1.5 billion — to make sure they have a “stronger presence” in the Arctic.

Trump said Sunday that the “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for the U.S. The U.S. military operates a base in northwest Greenland.

After seemingly joking about Canada becoming the “51st” state, the incoming president fired off ominous messages alleging the Panama Canal and Greenland pose serious economic and national security threats to the United States and might be targeted for some kind of annexation or purchase.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is reeling after an ethics committee report into former congressman Matt Gaetz “determined there is substantial evidence” that he paid tens of thousands of dollars for sex and used illicit drugs while he was a member of Congress.

Key Points

• Trump promises to ‘vigorously pursue the death penalty’ in Christmas Eve message

• All the allegations against Matt Gaetz revealed in explosive report

• Greenland prime minister balks at Trump’s renewed play for territory

• Biden vetoes legislation that would have let Trump add more judges

• Speaker’s allies call for Trump to back him to avoid another round of Republican civil war

• Denmark boosts funds for Greenland defense after Trump threats

• Trump administration might let police reform stall even more than it did under Biden

Watch: Stephen A. Smith reverses position on President-elect Donald Trump

16:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Nigel Farage willing to work with Lord Mandelson to secure Trump trade deal

15:30 , Archie Mitchell

Nigel Farage has said he would be willing to help incoming ambassador to the US Lord Mandelson negotiate with the Trump administration.

Labour peer Lord Mandelson has indicated he believes the Reform UK leader, a friend of Mr Trump, could serve as a link between the British Government and the Republican president-elect.

Downing Street would not be drawn on whether Sir Keir Starmer would like Lord Mandelson to work with Mr Farage, saying when asked only that the Prime Minister had “already started to begin to build a relationship with President-elect Trump”. But No10 insiders have made clear Mr Farage will not be being used as a bridge between Sir Keir and Mr Trump.

Read more:

Farage willing to work with Lord Mandelson to secure Trump trade deal

Trump issues unusually short Christmas message

15:02 , Gustaf Kilander

From halibut and hot dogs to unlikely friendships: This is what happens inside the Senate lunch room

14:45 , Eric Garcia

During President Joe Biden’s final major address on the economy, he did what he does best: wax poetic about the old days of the United States Senate, the institution that defined him. He told an especially instructive story about when he returned to the Senate as vice president and went into the Senate dining hall, where a central dining room table used to stand. That’s were Democrats and Republicans would once meet and talk.

“You walk in — a long table sitting, I guess, 16, 18 people on the right, parallel with the table,” he said. “And you walk through an archway, and there was a table going the other way. One was the Democratic table. One was Republican table. And when there weren’t enough to sit at any one table, then they all sit together.”

Read more:

Inside the Senate lunchroom: From Mormon hot dogs to Alaskan halibut

Denmark boosts defense spending for Greenland following Trump’s ‘ownership’ comments

14:22 , Gustaf Kilander

Denmark is boosting defense spending for Greenland. A Danish official said Tuesday that the timing of the announcement, coming as President-elect Donald Trump made comments that the U.S. should own the territory, was an “irony of fate.”

Troels Lund Poulsen, the Danish defense minister, told the paper Jyllands-Posten Tuesday that the country plans to spend a “double-digit billion amount” in krone — about $1.5 billion — to make sure they have a “stronger presence” in the Arctic.

Trump said Sunday that the “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for the U.S. The U.S. military operates a base in northwest Greenland.

The president-elect’s comments are an expansion of what he said during his first term, when he suggested that the U.S. buy Greenland.

“Greenland is ours,” the territory’s Prime Minister Múte Egede said in response on Facebook Monday. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our years-long struggle for freedom. However, we must continue to be open to cooperation and trade with the whole world, especially with our neighbours.”

Texas buys billboards in Central America warning migrants of danger of rape and abuse on journey to US

14:00 , Alex Woodward

The state of Texas is paying an estimated $100,000 to install on blunt and at-times graphic billboards across Mexico and Central America in the coming weeks in the hopes of deterring future illegal immigration.

The Independent’s Josh Marcus reports:

Texas buys billboards in Central America warning migrants of danger of rape

Trump calls for death penalty against violent offenders

13:00 , Josh Marcus

The political fallout remains ongoing for Joe Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of most people on federal death row to life in prison.

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Donald Trump promised to “vigorously” pursue the death penalty against violent offenders.

“As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters,” Trump wrote. “We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!”

Trump oversaw a historic 13 federal executions in office, the most of any modern U.S. president.

Here’s more on the Biden commutations.

The three federal death row inmates Biden chose not to save

‘Confused’ congresswoman tracked to nursing home shines spotlight on troubling aging issues facing lawmakers

12:00 , Alex Woodward

The discovery by a local newspaper of a “confused” Texas Republican congresswoman living in an assisted care facility after she dropped out of sight last month has triggered concerns about aging lawmakers clinging to their powerful roles in the face of fears about diminishing competence.

The Independent’s John Bowden reports:

Aging DC in the spotlight after ‘confused’ lawmaker found living in a nursing home

Trump’s FCC nominee sends ominous letter to Disney CEO: ‘Americans no longer trust the national news media’

11:00 , Alex Woodward

After Trump threatened to strip ABC’s broadcast license and forced the network into a $15 million settlement, the president-elect’s pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission warned its parent company that Americans “no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly.”

In a letter to Disney’s CEO Bob Iger, Brendan Carr lamented the “erosion in public trust” in news media, and suggested ABC was partially to blame.

Inside Trump’s latest fight with the media, and what Carr – a Project 2025 co-author — plans to do in office:

Trump’s FCC chair sends ominous letter to Disney CEO

Colombia’s president denounces ‘American fascist’ Colombian-American calling for public executions of immigrants

10:00 , Alex Woodward

Far-right Republican figure Valentina Gomez, who has made headlines for stunts like taking a flamethrower to banned books, is now calling for public executions for any immigrant in the country illegally who “rapes or kills an American.”

“They don’t deserve deportation. They deserve to be ended,” she says in a video moments after shooting an effigy tied to a chair in the back of the head.

The caption reads “Public executions for any illegal that rapes or kills an American.” The video posted on X has been flagged for potentially violating the platform’s “rules against Violent Speech.”

Gomez, who is Colombian-American, came sixth in an eight-person primary for Missouri’s secretary of state, and last week she said she’s moving to Texas to challenge congressman Dan Crenshaw’s seat

Colombia’s own president called her an “American fascist.”

“She is not just an American fascist. She is Colombian,” Gustavo Petro wrote in Spanish. “And being a migrant, what she wants is to unleash hatred against migrants. Most Americans are killed by Americans.”

ICYMI: Biden vetoes legislation that would have allowed Trump to add more judges to the federal judiciary

09:00 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden has vetoed legislation that would have added dozens of judges to the federal judiciary, dealing a blow to Trump’s incoming administration and his plans to build on his first term’s radical reshaping of the courts with more right-leaning judges.

The bipartisan bill would have awarded roughly 66 new federal judicial slots over the next three presidential terms. Trump would have been able to appoint a first batch of 25.

The bill passed the Senate unanimously in August but lingered in the Republican-controlled House for months, until after Trump’s victory in the 2024 election. It cleared the House on a largely party-line in December.

The JUDGES Act would have increased the number of trial court judges in 25 federal district courts in 13 states, including California, Florida and Texas, in six waves every two years through 2035.

The bill “seeks to hastily add judgeships with just a few weeks left” in the current Congress, Biden wrote in a letter to lawmakers Monday night.

“The House of Representatives’ hurried action fails to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the new judgeships are allocated, and neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate explored fully how the work of senior status judges and magistrate judges affects the need for new judgeships,” he added.

“The efficient and effective administration of justice requires that these questions about need and allocation be further studied and answered before we create permanent judgeships for life-tenured judges,” the letter continued.

The bill “would create new judgeships in states where senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies,” efforts that suggest “concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now,” according to Biden.

John Bolton: I’m ‘very worried’ about how Trump would handle ‘much more likely’ international crisis

08:00 , Alex Woodward

John Bolton, President-elect Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, said that an international crisis is “much more likely” during the Republican’s second term.

John Bolton warns of ‘much more likely’ international crisis under Trump

Trump wants to purchase Greenland. How would that actually work?

07:00 , Alex Woodward

Greenland’s strategic military and economic interests — compounded by two-thirds of the territory falling within the Arctic Circle — make the island attractive to Trump and other U.S. politicians over the years. So what would an attempt to acquire or seize Greenland actually look like?

Trump wants to purchase Greenland. How would that actually work?

Watch: Rudy Giuliani dressed up as Santa to promote his coffee

06:00 , Alex Woodward

As his financial woes look ever bleaker in light of the $150 million defamation ruling against him in favor of two Georgia election workers he falsely accused of interfering in the 2020 election, Rudy Giuliani appears to be resorting to more unusual efforts to raise cash.

Broke Rudy Giuliani dresses up as Santa in odd coffee ad

Biden’s Christmas gift: A new (old) national bird

05:00 , Josh Marcus

Joe Biden isn’t taking it easy on Christmas Eve.

The president signed 50 bills into law Tuesday evening.

Most of them won’t make headlines—one names a post office, while another deals with congressional pensions—but one is just too weird to ignore.

On December 24, 2024, the bald eagle became the national bird of the United States.

While the eagle has always been the de facto national symbol, that status was never enshrined into law, a fact that prompted a Minnesota man and eagle obsessive named Preston Cook to lobby for the change.

These are some of the most notorious January 6 rioters could pardon when he returns to the White House

04:00 , Alex Woodward

More than 1,500 people who have been criminally charged in connection with a mob’s assault on the Capitol — fuelled by his bogus narrative that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and stolen from him — are now awaiting potential pardons for alleged crimes live-streamed to millions of viewers.

Trump could issue mass amnesty to hundreds of defendants as soon as his first day in office, maintaining that even violent offenders could be granted clemency on a “case-by-case” basis.

Here are some of their stories:

The notorious January 6 rioters Trump could pardon

How Kamala Harris is celebrating Christmas Eve

03:00 , Josh Marcus

With Donald Trump and Elon Musk dominating the headlines, we’ve heard a little less these days from Vice President Kamala Harris.

So what has she been up to?

On Christmas Eve, at least, she and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff checked out homemade ornaments from Washington-area students.

Denmark boosts funds for Greenland defense after Trump threats

02:45 , Josh Marcus

People often say to take Trump seriously but not literally.

It seemed on Monday that Denmark was doing both, announcing a funding package to defend Greenland worth at least $1.5 billion.

The timing, however, was apparently coincidental.

Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told the BBC the announcement falling as Trump toyed with somehow buying Greenland was an “irony of fate.”

Trump wants to purchase Greenland. How would that actually work?

Are you part of the lucky 1m taxpayers getting a check this month?

02:08 , Josh Marcus

The Internal Revenue Service is sending unclaimed stimulus checks of up to $1,400 to 1 million US taxpayers in the coming weeks.

Here’s why the payments are going out — and how to find out if you’re eligible for the credit.

Katie Hawkinson has the details.

The IRS is sending unclaimed stimulus checks. Here’s how to see if you’re eligible

‘Confused’ congresswoman tracked to nursing home shines spotlight on troubling aging issues facing lawmakers

02:00 , Alex Woodward

The discovery by a local newspaper of a “confused” Texas Republican congresswoman living in an assisted care facility after she dropped out of sight last month has triggered concerns about aging lawmakers clinging to their powerful roles in the face of fears about diminishing competence.

The Independent’s John Bowden reports:

Aging DC in the spotlight after ‘confused’ lawmaker found living in a nursing home

Trump administration might let police reform stall even more than it did under Biden

01:30 , Josh Marcus

In the final weeks of his administration, Joe Biden has sought to shore up his criminal justice legacy, issuing pardons and commutations to reformed offenders, while removing most people from federal death row.

However, in another key area, policing, the Biden administration’s progress could stall once Trump takes over.

During the last four years, the Biden administration has secured just one federal oversight agreement, known as a consent decree, with a department investigated for misconduct.

Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing

The DOJ has investigated 12 departments this administration, but so far only this month’s agreement with Louisville has translated into more long-lasting, binding reform steps.

Trump, who has frequently called for harsher, law-and-order-style policing, and who has been critical of past police reform efforts, is unlikely to do as much as Biden on this front, leaving the future status of these agreements in doubt.

Biden also failed to pass a long-sought police reform bill after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020.

Here’s more on Biden’s death penalty policy as the administration comes to a close.

Biden flips the script on drone drama with aerial Christmas tour

01:17 , Josh Marcus

The Biden administration has spent weeks trying to assure the public there’s nothing to fear about drones and aircraft spotted buzzing over New Jersey and other states.

Trump would have solved drone mystery by now, claims Johnson

On Christmas Eve, it highlighted a different kind of drone, taking viewers on an aerial tour through the White House’s Christmas decorations.

It may not quell the raging conspiracy theories about the drones, but it is still a pretty cool video.

Watch below.

‘It’s clear he’s in charge now’: Lawmakers react to Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ involvement ahead of inauguration

01:00 , Alex Woodward

As President Joe Biden winds down his presidency, Trump is behaving as though he is already in office, writes Rhian Lubin.

Within the last week, Trump launched a campaign against last week’s temporary bill and issued threats against the Panama Canal and Greenland.

‘He’s in charge’: Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ involvement ahead of inauguration

Texas buys billboards in Central America warning migrants of danger of rape and abuse on journey to US

00:30 , Josh Marcus

The state of Texas is paying an estimated $100,000 to install on blunt and at-times graphic billboards across Mexico and Central America in the coming weeks in the hopes of deterring future illegal immigration.

The Independent’s Josh Marcus reports:

Texas buys billboards in Central America warning migrants of danger of rape

ICYMI: Here are all the allegations against Matt Gaetz

00:00 , Alex Woodward

As a sitting member of Congress, Matt Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old high school student, used cocaine and ecstasy, and spent thousands of dollars on sex- and drug-fueled partying, according to a bombshell report from the House Ethics Committee.

Monday’s report found “substantial evidence” the now-former Republican congressman “regularly” paid for sex and met women through a “sugar dating” website through a former associate who has since pleaded guilty to sex trafficking.

We combed through the report.

All the allegations against Matt Gaetz revealed in explosive report

Trump continues posting debunked January 6 conspiracy theory

Tuesday 24 December 2024 23:44 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump is the latest prominent Republican to claim a recent Justice Department watchdog report vindicates theories that the federal government somehow provoked or guided the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump shared a video of sports commentators Stephen A. Smith making a similar point.

In fact, the Justice Department report in question found “no evidence” undercover FBI agents joined in on the riots, though confidential bureau sources were near the riot on January 6.

Here’s what you need to know about the actual FBI presence that day.

Video: Aspiring MAGA congresswoman performs mock ‘execution’ of migrant

Tuesday 24 December 2024 23:24 , Josh Marcus

Aspiring congresswoman and controversial MAGA cheerleader Valentina Gomez has sparked outrage once again after posting a video in which she appears to simulate executing an immigrant.

The 25-year-old, who tried and failed to be elected as the Missouri Secretary of State earlier this year, said in the disturbing clip that undocumented persons who committed violent crimes “deserve to be ended.”

In the video, posted to X on Monday, Gomez is seen firing a handgun into the back of the head of a dummy tied to a chair with a black bag over its head.

“It’s that simple, public executions for any illegal that rapes or kills an American. They don’t deserve deportation, they deserve to be ended,” she says.

Mike Bedigan reports.

Aspiring MAGA congresswoman performs mock ‘execution’ of migrant in disturbing video

Canal threats, money-laundering claims and a hotel battle: Trump’s long, weird history with Panama

Tuesday 24 December 2024 23:00 , Alex Woodward

Trump rattled North American diplomatic relations over the weekend with a threat to retake the Panama Canal, two-and-a-half decades after the U.S. transfered control of the vital global trade route to Panama.

The Independent’s Josh Marcus dives into Trump’s long strange trip with the Central American country:

Canal threats and a hotel battle: Trump’s long, weird history with Panama

Colombia’s president denounces ‘American fascist’ Colombian-American calling for public executions of immigrants

Tuesday 24 December 2024 22:37 , Alex Woodward

Far-right Republican figure Valentina Gomez, who has made headlines for stunts like taking a flamethrower to banned books, is now calling for public executions for any immigrant in the country illegally who “rapes or kills an American.”

“They don’t deserve deportation. They deserve to be ended,” she says in a video moments after shooting an effigy tied to a chair in the back of the head.

The caption reads “Public executions for any illegal that rapes or kills an American.” The video posted on X has been flagged for potentially violating the platform’s “rules against Violent Speech.”

Gomez, who is Colombian-American, came sixth in an eight-person primary for Missouri’s secretary of state, and last week she said she’s moving to Texas to challenge congressman Dan Crenshaw’s seat

Colombia’s own president called her an “American fascist.”

“She is not just an American fascist. She is Colombian,” Gustavo Petro wrote in Spanish. “And being a migrant, what she wants is to unleash hatred against migrants. Most Americans are killed by Americans.”

Trump’s Christmas Eve message promises to expand death penalty

Tuesday 24 December 2024 22:30 , Alex Woodward

Trump, who touts himself as America’s “most pro-life” president, continues to attack Presidnet Joe Biden after he announced the largest single-day commutation of federal death row inmates in modern history.

The White House announced early Monday morning that the president would commute the sentences of 37 inmates awaiting execution in the federal prison system, which Trump has pushed to expedite once in office.

Biden explicitly said in his announcement that he could not let Trump do that.

“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” he wrote.

On Christmas Eve, Trump hpromised to direct the Department of Justice to “vigorously pursue the death penalty” as soon as he enters office.

“As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Trump’s Christmas Eve meltdown over Biden’s commutation of death row prisoners

Matt Gaetz sends fundraising message after bombshell House Ethics report: ‘I need your help’

Tuesday 24 December 2024 22:00 , Alex Woodward

Hours after the publication of a bombshell report revealing “substantial evidence” that Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, the former congressman issued a fundraising plea through his recently launched political action committee.

Matt Gaetz sends fundraising message after bombshell ethics report

John Bolton: I’m ‘very worried’ about how Trump would handle ‘much more likely’ international crisis

Tuesday 24 December 2024 21:30 , Alex Woodward

John Bolton, President-elect Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, said that an international crisis is “much more likely” during the Republican’s second term.

John Bolton warns of ‘much more likely’ international crisis under Trump

Can Trump actually try to buy Greenland?

Tuesday 24 December 2024 20:52 , Alex Woodward

Trump’s territorial ambitions have added another strange new wrinkle to the transition process.

It’s highly unlikely that the president-elect will have any success in convincing the governments of either Greenland or Denmark to sever the ties between the European country and its autonomous North American territory, it’s worth looking into the process of how the U.S. acquires new territories — and how that territory could be classified.

The Independent’s John Bowden explains:

Trump wants to purchase Greenland. How would that actually work?

Republican senator endorses Trump’s calls to seize Panama Canal

Tuesday 24 December 2024 20:10 , Alex Woodward

Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn told Fox News that voters gave Trump a “mandate” after suggested that his administration would try to seize control of the Panama Canal.

“The American people have given President Trump a mandate,” she told the network Monday night.

“They are tired of our nation not putting Americans first,” she added. “So, when it comes to dealing with the Panama Canal and making certain that China is not being advantaged in this, and America disadvantaged, of course. Let’s put this issue on the table and talk about it.”

x.com

On Truth Social, Trump – who has also suggested that the United States should launch campaigns to seize Canada and Greenland — said the nation “has a vested interest in the secure, efficient, and reliable operation of the Panama Canal, and that was always understood.”

“We would and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands! It was not given for the benefit of others, but merely as a token of cooperation with us and Panama,” he added. “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. To the Officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly!”

More on Trump’s relationship to Panama from The Independent’s Josh Marcus:

Canal threats and a hotel battle: Trump’s long, weird history with Panama

Trump’s FCC chair sends ominous letter to Disney CEO: ‘Americans no longer trust the national news media’

Tuesday 24 December 2024 19:45 , Alex Woodward

After Trump threatened to strip ABC’s broadcast license and forced the network into a $15 million settlement, the president-elect’s pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission warned its parent company that Americans “no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly.”

In a letter to Disney’s CEO Bob Iger, Brendan Carr lamented the “erosion in public trust” in news media, and suggested ABC was partially to blame.

Inside Trump’s latest fight with the media, and what Carr – a Project 2025 co-author — plans to do in office:

Trump’s FCC chair sends ominous letter to Disney CEO

Gavin Newsom reportedly mulling immigrant support plan to combat Trump’s deportation threats

Tuesday 24 December 2024 19:10 , Alex Woodward

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration is drafting a plan to help undocumented immigrants in the state who could be targeted by Donald Trump’s mass deportation threats, according to Politico, which obtained a draft of a proposal.

A draft titled “Immigrant Support Network Concept” proposes the “creation of an Immigrant Support Network comprised of regional ‘hubs’ to connect at-risk individuals, their families, and communities with community systems — such as legal services, schools, labor unions, local governments, etc,” Politico reported.

The Democratic governor’s alleged efforts glimpse how some blue state leaders could be bracing for Trump’s agenda. On the other side of the country, however, New York City Mayor Eric Adams seems open to embracing Trump’s plans, as he announces his intention to loosen sanctuary protections and welcomes “border czar” Tom Homan to City Hall.

More on how New York is preparing for Trump 2.0:

America’s biggest ‘sanctuary city’ opens the doors to Trump’s border czar

‘It’s clear he’s in charge now’: Lawmakers react to Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ involvement ahead of inauguration

Tuesday 24 December 2024 18:30 , Alex Woodward

As President Joe Biden winds down his presidency, Trump is behaving as though he is already in office, writes Rhian Lubin.

Within the last week, Trump launched a campaign against last week’s temporary bill and issued threats against the Panama Canal and Greenland.

‘He’s in charge’: Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ involvement ahead of inauguration

Trump taps Katie Miller, wife of key aide Stephen Miller, for Musk’s DOGE panel

Tuesday 24 December 2024 18:00 , Alex Woodward

The wife of far-right activist Stephen Miller — the architect of Trump’s anti-immigration agenda in his first administration — is joining the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency.

She will join billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to recommend slashing hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal budget.

Trump taps Katie Miller, wife of key aide Stephen Miller, for Musk’s DOGE panel

Matt Gaetz rose quickly to power in the House. It ended with a damning ethics report

Tuesday 24 December 2024 17:35 , Alex Woodward

A former attorney in northwest Florida, Matt Gaetz styled himself as a fighter for a “more open and transparent government.” In 2010, he was elected to serve in the Florida House of Representatives to represent portions of Okaloosa and Santa Rosa county.

Fourteen years later, days before Christmas, he was trying to stop a damning report about allegations of sexual misonduct and drug use during his time in Congress from becoming public.

Charting Matt Gaetz’s swift rise to power — and spectacular fall from grace

Just in: Bill Clinton discharged from hospital after he was admitted with fever

Tuesday 24 December 2024 17:11 , Alex Woodward

Former president Bill Clinton has been discharged from hospital one day after he was admitted with a fever, according to a spokesperson.

He was treated for the flu.

“He and his family are deeply grateful for the exceptional care provided by the team at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and are touched by the kind messages and well wishes he received,” Clinton’s deputy chief of staff Angel Ureña said Tuesday.

“He sends his warmest wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season to all,” he added.

Bill Clinton wishes supporters a ‘healthy holiday season’ after hospital discharge

Congressman who pushed for Gaetz report to be public: ‘Victory for the American people’

Tuesday 24 December 2024 17:00 , Alex Woodward

A Democratic congressman who tried to force the House Ethics Committee to publish its report into Matt Gaetz said the release marks a “victory for the American people.”

Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, who introduced failed legislation that would force the committee to publicly release a report, said in a statement that the “public had a right to know what was uncovered in this thorough and long-lasting investigation.”

“Matt Gaetz called it a ‘witch hunt’ — and he knew that was a lie,” he added. “He claimed it was about drinking and partying, but [the] report proves it was far worse: it wasn’t just alcohol and marijuana, it was cocaine, ecstasy, and more disturbingly it was about paying women for sex, including a 17-year-old girl.”

The allegations go “far beyond ‘partying’ — it exposes a pattern of unethical, illegal, and deeply troubling behavior,” he said.

Inside the report:

All the allegations against Matt Gaetz revealed in explosive report

Ex-ethics committee chair on bombshell report: ‘Matt Gaetz has a real problem here’

Tuesday 24 December 2024 16:30 , Alex Woodward

A former Republican chair on the House Ethics Committee said he can’t see any GOP lawmakers in Washington, D.C., coming to Matt Gaetz’s defense in the wake of a damning report about the former congressman.

“Matt Gaetz has a real problem here,” former Rep. Charlie Dent told ABC News.

“There’s clearly issues here of sex, money, and drugs. And really, these are big issues, big problems,” he added. “Boy, this is really powerful stuff.”

If Gaetz was still in Congress, there likely “could have been an expulsion recommendation.”

“I can’t see any members of the Republican Party in Washington, D.C., in Congress coming to his defense in this matter,” he said. “He’s made his own bed, they’re going to let him lie in it.”

John Bolton: International crisis ‘more likely’ under Trump

Tuesday 24 December 2024 16:02 , Alex Woodward

Trump’s longest-serving national security adviser John Bolton is warning that an international crisis is “much more likely” under Trump’s incoherence around decision making when it comes to foreign policy.

“The world is more dangerous than when he was president before,” he told The Guardian.

“The only real crisis we had was Covid, which is a long term crisis and not against a particular foreign power but against a pandemic,” he added. “But the risk of an international crisis of the 19th century variety is much more likely in a second Trump term. Given Trump’s inability to focus on coherent decision making, I’m very worried about about how that might look.”

The hawkish former diplomat is among prominent conservative critics of the president-elect, whom he declared “unfit” office. During debate over whether Trump can be considered a fascist, Bolton suggested that Trump is incapable of having a guiding set of principes.

“To be a fascist, you have to have a philosophy,” he told CNN earlier this year. “Trump’s not capable of that.”

Trump promises to ‘vigorously pursue the death penalty’ on Christmas Eve

Tuesday 24 December 2024 15:45 , Alex Woodward

After railing against President Biden for commuting the sentences of federal death row prisoners, Trump has promised to direct the Department of Justice to “vigorously pursue the death penalty” as soon as he enters office.

“As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters,” he wrote on Truth Social on Christmas Eve.

“We will be a Nation of Law and Order again! to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters. We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!” he said.

In his first term, Trump — who touts himself as America’s “most -pro-life president” — carried out 13 federal executions, more than under any president in modern history.

He has promised to make more people eligible for capital punishment, including child rapists, immigrants who kill citizens, and people convicted of drug trafficking.

Canal threats, money-laundering claims and a hotel battle: Trump’s long, weird history with Panama

Tuesday 24 December 2024 15:20 , Alex Woodward

Trump rattled North American diplomatic relations over the weekend with a threat to retake the Panama Canal, two-and-a-half decades after the U.S. transfered control of the vital global trade route to Panama.

Josh Marcus dives into Trump’s long strange trip with the Central American country:

Canal threats and a hotel battle: Trump’s long, weird history with Panama

Biden vetoes legislation that would have allowed Trump to add more judges to the federal judiciary

Tuesday 24 December 2024 15:17 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden has vetoed legislation that would have added dozens of judges to the federal judiciary, dealing a blow to Trump’s incoming administration and his plans to build on his first term’s radical reshaping of the courts with more right-leaning judges.

The bipartisan bill would have awarded roughly 66 new federal judicial slots over the next three presidential terms. Trump would have been able to appoint a first batch of 25.

The bill passed the Senate unanimously in August but lingered in the Republican-controlled House for months, until after Trump’s victory in the 2024 election. It cleared the House on a largely party-line in December.

The JUDGES Act would have increased the number of trial court judges in 25 federal district courts in 13 states, including California, Florida and Texas, in six waves every two years through 2035.

The bill “seeks to hastily add judgeships with just a few weeks left” in the current Congress, Biden wrote in a letter to lawmakers Monday night.

“The House of Representatives’ hurried action fails to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the new judgeships are allocated, and neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate explored fully how the work of senior status judges and magistrate judges affects the need for new judgeships,” he added.

“The efficient and effective administration of justice requires that these questions about need and allocation be further studied and answered before we create permanent judgeships for life-tenured judges,” the letter continued.

The bill “would create new judgeships in states where senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies,” efforts that suggest “concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now,” according to Biden.

Trump blasts Biden for commuting death row prisoners

Tuesday 24 December 2024 15:00 , Alex Woodward

Trump, who touts himself as America’s “most pro-life” president, continues to attack Presidnt Joe Biden after he announced the largest single-day commutation of federal death row inmates in modern history.

“Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Christmas Eve. “When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!”

The White House announced early Monday morning that the president would commute the sentences of 37 inmates awaiting execution in the federal prison system, which Trump has pushed to expedite once in office.

Biden explicitly said in his announcement that he could not let Trump do that.

“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” he wrote.

Here are the stories of the three federal death row inmates Biden chose not to save:

The three federal death row inmates Biden chose not to save

Matt Gaetz ‘got a great note’ from Trump… on a month-old story

Tuesday 24 December 2024 14:45 , Alex Woodward

Matt Gaetz shared a photograph of a printed-out article in The Federalist about the former congressman’s ethics probe.

“I got a great note from President Trump!” Gaetz shared Monday night, hours after the House Ethics Committee shared “substantial evidence” he paid tens of thousands of dollars for sex, including with a high school student, and frequently used cocaine and ecstasy while in office.

“Matt very unfair!” reads the note, drawn in Trump’s classic thick Sharpie print.

The article, however, is from November,