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14 minutes ago

Trump moves inauguration indoors to chamber Jan 6 rioters ‘desecrated’ four years ago: Live updates

President-elect says he has ordered inauguration and speeches to take place in the Capitol Rotunda ‘as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985’

Oliver O'Connell,Joe Sommerlad,Gustaf Kilander
Saturday 18 January 2025 01:00 GMT
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Kristi Noem won't say if she will withhold disaster aid if Trump asks

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The inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will be moved indoors to the Capitol Rotunda on Monday because frigid temperatures are expected in the nation’s capital.

It’s set to be the coldest inauguration day in four decades.

“I have ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has overseen a number of January 6 cases, said during a sentencing hearing Friday that her recent visit to the Capitol served as a reminder that “people came in and desecrated that beautiful space,” Politico reported.

This comes as South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem – Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security and best known for bragging about shooting dead her dog Cricket in her memoir – was pressed by senators at her confirmation hearing on Friday on whether she would dare stand up to the president-elect if he threatened to withhold federal disaster relief funding from blue states.

Noem suggested she would adhere to the law while adding that “leadership has consequences”.

14 minutes ago

How TikTok grew from a fun app for teens into a potential national security threat

If it feels like TikTok has been around forever, that’s probably because it has, at least if you’re measuring via internet time. What’s now in question is whether it will be around much longer and, if so, in what form?

Starting in 2017, when the Chinese social video app merged with its competitor Musical.ly, TikTok has grown from a niche teen app into a global trendsetter. While, of course, also emerging as a potential national security threat, according to U.S. officials.

On April 24, President Joe Biden signed legislation requiring TikTok parent ByteDance to sell to a U.S. owner within a year or to shut down. TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, filed a lawsuit against the U.S., claiming the security concerns were overblown and the law should be struck down because it violates the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the federal law banning TikTok beginning Jan. 19 unless it’s sold by ByteDance.

Here’s how TikTok came to this juncture:

How TikTok grew from a fun app for teens into a potential national security threat

If it feels like TikTok has been around forever, that’s probably because it has, at least if you’re measuring via internet time

David Hamilton18 January 2025 01:00
59 minutes ago

Trump blasts FBI’s now-shuttered DEI office and hints at an investigation ahead of White House return

President-elect Donald Elect Donald Trump has indicated that he may order an investigation of the FBI’s shuttered Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

“We demand that the FBI preserve and retain all records, documents, and information on the now closing DEI Office—Never should have been opened and, if it was, should have closed long ago,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. “Why is it that they’re closing one day before the Inauguration of a new Administration? The reason is, CORRUPTION!”

The office was closed last month, following Trump’s November election win.

“In recent weeks, the FBI took steps to close the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), effective by December 2024,” the FBI told Fox News Digital Thursday.

Read more:

Trump blasts FBI DEI office and hints at an investigation ahead of White House return

President-elect accuses FBI of ‘corruption’ after it closes down Office of Diversity and Inclusion before his inauguration

Gustaf Kilander18 January 2025 00:15
1 hour ago

Obama pushed Chuck Schumer to convince Biden to drop out, citing his own ‘frigid relationship’ with the president

Following last June’s disastrous debate performance by President Joe Biden, Barack Obama urged then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to be the bearer of bad news and convince Biden to drop out of the race, saying his own “fragile relationship” with the president prevented him from being the “best messenger.”

According to a deep-dive investigation by The New York Times, which was adapted from an upcoming book by reporters Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater, Schumer sat down with Biden in the president’s Delaware house last summer and told him he’d “go down in American history as one of the darkest figures” if he stayed in and lost to Donald Trump.

“The roughly 45-minute conversation, which took place on a screened-in porch overlooking a pond, was more pointed and emotional than previously known, and helps to explain how Mr. Biden came to the decision just over a week later to end his campaign,” the Times reported.

Read more:

Obama pushed Chuck Schumer to convince Biden to drop out

‘You may be a better one,’ the former president told the Democratic Senate leader while urging him to speak to Biden about dropping out.

Justin Baragona17 January 2025 23:30
2 hours ago

Eight years ago 500,000 marched in DC against Trump. He has returned and so has the protest - just on a smaller scale

It’s been 8 years since nearly half a million demonstrators descended on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to protest Donald Trump’s presidency on his first full day in office.

The inaugural Women’s March at the time was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. Many sported pink knit “pussyhats,” a reference to Trump’s own words in the 2005 Access Hollywood tape, in which he bragged about “grabbing [women] by the pussy.”

“We are the popular vote!” some chanted, a reminder that he hadn’t captured the hearts of the majority of Americans, having lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes.

“Welcome to your first day, we will not go away!” other marchers promised.

Read more:

Eight years after the Women’s March, a new protest is planned for Trump’s return

The 2017 Women’s March became famous for its hats and crowd size. Now, that Trump is returning to the White House, the march will be back but organizers tell Kelly Rissman that they expect a much smaller turnout

Kelly Rissman17 January 2025 22:45
3 hours ago

Debt and deficits are set to reach record levels, Congressional Budget Office projects

Debt and deficits are set to reach record levels, the Congressional Budget Office projected Friday.

The federal government will spend $2.7 trillion more than it collects by 2035, the office indicated.

That kind of borrowing means that the total debt held by the American people will reach $52 trillion — 118.5 percent of the U.S. economic output.

During his confirmation hearing this week, Trump’s Treasury Secretary nominee, Scott Bessent, said he’s “concerned, because several times the Treasury of the United States has been called upon to save the nation.”

“Whether it was the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War II or the recent covid epidemic, Treasury — along with the full government and Congress — has used its borrowing capacity to save the union, to save the world and to save the American people,” he added, according to The Washington Post. “What we currently have now, we would be hard-pressed to do the same.”

Gustaf Kilander17 January 2025 22:00
3 hours ago

Sen. Bill Cassidy announces support for Hegseth

Sen. Bill Cassidy announced his support for Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.

“The President’s pick for Secretary of Defense, Mr. Hegseth, has impressive academic qualifications, conducted himself very well in the Senate Armed Services hearing, and has a commendable record of service in uniform. He assured me he will surround himself with a strong support team,” said Cassidy. “I will vote for his confirmation.”

Gustaf Kilander17 January 2025 21:40
3 hours ago

‘Majority of ticketed guests will not be able to attend’ inauguration 'in person’

The majority of ticketed guests will not be able to attend the inauguration in person, according to a notice just sent to the hill.

“The House Sergeant at Arms (SAA) has been informed by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) that the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies will be held inside the U.S. Capitol,” the notice said, according to Punchbowl News. “As a result, the majority of ticketed guests will not be able to attend the ceremonies in person, although offices are welcome to distribute tickets to constituents in the manner they think best, if they would like to do so.”

“It is our understanding from the JCCIC that all Members of Congress will be invited to the indoor ceremony,” the notice added. “With the exception of tickets in sections three (3) and four (4), House Members of JCCIC recommend that your offices relay to constituents that their tickets will be commemorative. A decision on the seating of ticket sections three (3) and four (4) is still in development by JCCIC.”

Gustaf Kilander17 January 2025 21:20
3 hours ago

Biden sets record and commutes sentences of 2,500 non-violent drug offenders in final days as president

President Biden will commute the sentences of roughly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses, the White House announced on Friday.

“This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars,” Biden said in a statement. “I am proud of my record on clemency and will continue to review additional commutations and pardons.”

The announcement, coupled with Biden’s decision last month to commute the sentences of about 1,500 people put on home confinement during the Covid pandemic, means the Democrat has issued the most individual pardons and commutations of any president, according to The Associated Press.

Read more:

Biden commutes sentences of 2,500 non-violent drug offenders in final days in office

Sweeping commutations come after Biden lessened sentences of 1,500 people last month

Josh Marcus17 January 2025 21:20
4 hours ago

WATCH: Kristi Noem Pressed On Role Of Trump Border Czar Tom Homan

Kristi Noem Pressed On Role Of Trump Border Czar Tom Homan
Gustaf Kilander17 January 2025 21:00
4 hours ago

‘People came in and desecrated that beautiful space’

On Monday, Trump will be inaugurated in the Capitol Rotunda, where his supporters laid siege to the Congress just four years previously.

On Friday, one of the participants in the riot, Brian Kelly, was sentenced to 10 days in prison by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, according to Politico.

“I only wish the rest of the country could see some of the things I see,” she said before handing down the sentence.

“This may be, based on what happens outside these courthouse walls, the last one of these. I don’t know,” she added.

Chutkan noted she had never been to the Capitol before paying her respects during the lying-in-state of President Jimmy Carter. After overseeing a number of January 6 cases, she said the visit was a reminder that “people came in and desecrated that beautiful space.”

Gustaf Kilander17 January 2025 20:40

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