ABC under fire for Trump settlement as GOP allies grilled on threats to jail Jan 6 committee Democrats: Live
ABC News settles defamation suit ahead of trial as Donald Trump staffs up his incoming administration
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Your support makes all the difference.ABC News on Saturday agreed to a $15 million settlement stemming from Trump’s defamation suit involving a broadcast about E. Jean Carroll, who herself had successfully sued the president-elect for defamatory statements.
According to court documents, anchor George Stephanopoulos and the network were sued after Stephanopoulos wrongly said that the ex-president was found liable for rape at civil trial; he was actually found liable for sexual “abuse” for the incident dating back to 1996.
The decision by the network to reach a settlement with Trump was met with accusations of cowardice online from critics who argued that the company should have fought the lawsuit at trial.
Meanwhile, one of Donald Trump’s last remaining opponents in the GOP seems to have come to terms with the future of the Republican Party as a Trumpified political movement.
“MAGA is the Republican Party and Donald Trump is the Republican Party today,” Mitt Romney says in a new interview.
This weekend the president-elect also named several more picks for his administration on Saturday, including Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes to run an intelligence board, and staunch loyalist foreign policy adviser Richard Grenell as a presidential envoy for special missions.
Pharma ceo says there’s ‘more common ground’ after Mar-a-Lago meeting with RFK
Big Pharma executives reportedly had a series of surprisingly cordial meeting in recent days with Donald Trump and Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at Mar-a-Lago, despite Kennedy being an outspoken critic of the industry.
During the December confab, which reportedly included the CEOs of Pfizer, Eli Lilly and the trade group PhRMA, Trump reportedly talked about lowering drug costs and increasing U.S. manufacturing of medicines.
The president-elect also steered things back on course when Kennedy began discussing his opinions on the potential link between vaccines and autism, a theory that’s been widely discreditted. Trump reportedly suggested more study would help reduce vaccine hesitancy, according to The Washington Post.
“Probably shouldn’t say too much about it, but it was all you can imagine, and a little bit more,” Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks told the Economic Club of Washington this week of the meeting. “There’s often more common ground than you’d think just reading the newspapers.”
Photos: Crowd cheers Trump and his allies at Army-Navy game
‘How do you like that?’: Man hurls coffee at George Santos in Time Square
Former congressman George Santos reportedly had a cup of coffee thrown on him as he walked through Times Square in New York City recently, according to a viral video.
In the clip, the former congressman, who pleaded guilty in August to identity theft and wire fraud charges, reacts with a mix of shock and anger, saying, “What the f*** is wrong with you?”
It’s unclear who threw the coffee at Santos, though the video begins with an unnamed man speaking into camera saying, “This guy has got [the] audacity to show his face?”
JD Vance, Daniel Penny spotted at Army-Navy game
Vice president-elect JD Vance and Daniel Penny were among the notable figures spotted on Saturday in Donald Trump’s box at the Army-Navy football game.
The president-elect is reportedly en route.
Trump names Devin Nunes to Intelligence Advisory Board
Donald Trump has named Devin Nunes, CEO of his Truth Social platform, to lead the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, an independent body that advises the executive branch.
In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump said Nunes, a former California congressman, “will draw on his experience as former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and his key role in exposing the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, to provide me with independent assessments of the effectiveness and propriety of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s activities.”
Chicago mayor responds to Trump administration threats of arrest over immigration policies
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson defended his city’s immigration “sanctuary” policies on Saturday and responded to threats from the Trump administration to prosecute him.
“What the Trump administration has called for is for local police departments around the country to behave as ICE agents. In sanctuary cities, that is not permissible,” the mayor told CNN.
The city’s sanctuary policies bar local police from assisting in deportations and don’t ask people their citizenship status when they use city services.
Johnson added that these provisions still allow immigration authorities to go after migrants accused of criminal offenses.
“Once they are arrested and they are in custody, then the law, of course, is fully prepared to prosecute,” he said, adding, “Look, no one is going to harbor or protect criminals, whether you have come here as an immigrant or undocumented or otherwise.”
The comments came after Trump border czar Tom Homan threatened to prosecute Johnson if he gets in the way of the administration’s plans to carry out an unprecedented national deportation operation upon taking office.
“If your Chicago mayor doesn’t want to help, he can step aside,” Homan said this week during an event in Chicago. “But if he impedes us — if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien — I will prosecute him.”
Trump’s border czar reveals which city is first for mass deportations
Tom Homan told Democratic officials to ‘get the hell out of the way’ of his sweeping anti-immigrant agenda
Trump mocks Chris Christie with bizarre drone-themed post
Donald Trump continued his long-running public animosity towards former New Jersey Governor and Republican presidential rival Chris Christie, posting a mocked up photo on Saturday showing Christie eating McDonalds being delivered by drones.
The crude post appeared to be a reference to the spate of drone sightings above New Jersey in recent weeks.
New York officials outraged over drone sightings call for new powers
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is calling on Washington to do more about the mysterious drones spotted in recent weeks above the Northeast.
The governor said in a statement on Saturday on X that drone activity prompted officials to shut down Stewart Airfield in New Windsor for about an hour last night.
“This has gone too far,” Hochul said in the statement, calling on Congress to pass the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act, a bill that would reform drone policy and hand more authority over to states.
More details in our full story.
New York governor demands action on mystery drones after airfield shut down
White House has said threats from drones are ‘not credible’ and most sightings are likely just regular aircraft
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