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Trump sets up Republican showdown by bashing spending bill and putting government funding in doubt: Live

The bill, championed by GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson, would have kept agencies running at current funding levels through the end of March 2025

Oliver O'Connell,Joe Sommerlad,Gustaf Kilander
Wednesday 18 December 2024 18:20 EST
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Donald Trump says ‘something strange is going on’ with drone sightings

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President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance seem to have guaranteed a showdown with Republican lawmakers after demanding that the House and Senate effectively force the federal government to shut down, rather than pass a stopgap funding bill.

The bill, championed by GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson, would have kept agencies running at current funding levels through the end of March 2025.

In a statement posted to X by Vance, he and Trump moaned that the bill does address the nation’s statutory debt ceiling and accused legislators of “considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney.”

They urged passage of “a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give... the Democrats everything they want.”

Trump cheerleader Elon Musk also posted on X dozens of times, spreading false claims about the bill and urging lawmakers to reject it.

It comes after the announcement earlier in the day from Congress that the results of an ethics investigation into now-former congressman Matt Gaetz will be made public after a secret vote to share the findings reversed and earlier decision.

Judge refuses to toss out bribery charge against NYC mayor

A federal judge said Tuesday that he won’t dismiss a bribery charge against New York Mayor Eric Adams because prosecutors described the allegations adequately in an indictment.

Judge Dale E. Ho wrote in an opinion that an indictment unsealed against the Democrat in September sufficiently details alleged bribery crimes, preventing dismissal of the charge prior to an April trial.

Adams has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges stemming largely from his relationships with several Turkish government officials and businesspeople from 2015 to 2022. The indictment alleged that he accepted tens of thousands of dollars in overseas travel benefits and illegal campaign donations from people seeking to buy his influence.

Read more:

Judge refuses to toss out bribery charge against NYC mayor

A federal judge says he won't dismiss a bribery charge against New York Mayor Eric Adams

Larry Neumeister18 December 2024 04:00

DC lawmakers frustrated as officials reject drone conspiracies – but provide no real answers

The rash of mysterious drone sightings across New Jersey continues to cause panic down the US east coast — and on Capitol Hill, frustrations are bubbling.

Joe Biden’s administration, with just over one month left in office, is heading into the holiday season in full lame-duck mode. As rumors of a ceasefire in Gaza being “close” raise the hopes of some Democrats eager to see the president pull out a final legacy-defining win, more are becoming vocal about the failure of the broader administration to address what is quickly becoming a source of serious misinformation.

Read more:

DC lawmakers frustrated as officials provide no clear answers on drone sightings

ANALYSIS: From Iranian ‘mother-ships’ to federal conspiracies to a Star Wars prop, a lack of official information means the drone scare is generating more heat than light, writes John Bowden

John Bowden18 December 2024 03:00

Trump meets TikTok CEO as platform fights US ban

Donald Trump reportedly met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on Monday to discuss the app’s potential ban by the US government.

The two men reportedly had a meeting at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, according to NBC News.

In the days leading up to the meeting, Trump had expressed some degree of sympathy for the company, saying he had a “warm spot” for the app, and promising that he’d “take a look” at the ban.

Read more:

Trump meets TikTok CEO as platform fights US ban

President-elect tried to ban TikTok in 2020 but changed his tone on it once he realized it could help him win

Graig Graziosi17 December 2024 22:00

Republican report suggests Liz Cheney be criminally investigated because of work on Jan 6

Republicans released a 128-page report Tuesday which suggested that former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney be investigated for her work probing the January 6 Capitol riot.

The report looked at the “failures and politicization” of the now-dissolved January 6 Committee, claiming that President-elect Donald Trump was unfairly blamed for the attack.

“Speaker Pelosi’s multimillion-dollar Select Committee was a political weapon with a singular focus to deceive the public into blaming President Trump for the violence on January 6 and to tarnish the legacy of his first Presidency,” it says.

The conclusion argues that the FBI should investigate Cheney, claiming that her contact with witness Cassidy Hutchinson, a former Trump White House aide, amounted to witness tampering.

“January 6th showed Donald Trump for who is really is – a cruel and vindictive man who allowed violent attacks to continue against our Capitol and law enforcement officers while he watched television and refused for hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and leave,” Cheney said in a statement, according to The Hill.

She went on to note that “Chairman [Barry] Loudermilk’s (R-Ga.) ‘Interim Report’ intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence, and instead fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did. Their allegations do not reflect a review of the actual evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth. No reputable lawyer, legislator or judge would take this seriously.”

Gustaf Kilander17 December 2024 21:47

The rise and fall of Justin Trudeau as Canadian prime minister is on the brink

After nearly 10 years at the country’s helm, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing growing calls from his own party to resign.

Mr Trudeau’s latest crisis has been sparked by the sudden resignation of his finance minister Chrystia Freeland, amid a row over how best to handle US President-elect Donald Trump’s threatened trade tariffs.

Once the poster-boy for liberal politics, his popularity has waned and his approval rating has dipped below 30 per cent several times this year.

So what went wrong?

The rise and fall of Justin Trudeau as Canadian prime minister is on the brink

The Canadian prime minister was once a poster boy for liberalism but he now faces the latest in a series of crises that threaten his future

Rachel Clun17 December 2024 21:30

Pennsylvania state senator mistakes Star Wars prop for drone

Gustaf Kilander17 December 2024 21:00

Trump formally clinches presidency with Electoral College win

Donald Trump has formally won the Electoral College and the presidency after Texas’ electors handed him the state’s 40 electoral votes Tuesday.

After Trump’s election win on November 5, his victory was formalized Tuesday as presidential electors gathered across the U.S.

It takes 270 electoral votes to win the Electoral College — Trump won 312 last month to Vice President Kamala Harris’s 226.

The votes of each state will be sent on to Congress next month, where Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance will be declared the next president and vice president before they take office at noon on January 20.

Gustaf Kilander17 December 2024 20:55

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