Trump blasted for ‘obsession’ over Greenland by Democrats as he returns to Capitol Hill: Live

The Trump campaign team was handed questions in advance of a Fox News town hall in Iowa in January last year, according to a new book.

Politico’s Alex Isenstadt writes in Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power that many of the president-elect’s advisers did not want him to show up to the event moderated by Brett Baier and Matha MacCallum. They were “still peeved at Fox, whose coverage they continued to find antagonistic, and did not want the former president to do the prime time event,” according to exerpts shared by CNN.

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

Donald Trump is considering declaring a national economic emergency in order to create the legal grounds for introducing his program of steep tariffs against rival nations, according to CNN.

Even before taking office, the president-elect has threatened tariffs of as much as 10 percent on global imports and 60 percent on Chinese goods, plus a 25 percent import surcharge on Canadian and Mexican products.

Such duties are intended to provide a boost to American manufacturing but experts have warned that, in practice, they could backfire by upending trade flows, raising costs and inviting harmful retaliatory measures.

Joe Sommerlad reports.

Matt Gaetz, the former Florida Republican congressman turned cable news anchor, has revealed he is “starting to think about running for governor” of the Sunshine State in 2026 in place of two-term incumbent Ron DeSantis.

“I have a compelling vision for the state,” Gaetz told The Tampa Bay Times.

Joe Sommerlad has the story.

The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday said no bids were submitted for this week’s oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — a sale the state has challenged as too restrictive and at odds with a 2017 law aimed at opening the refuge’s sweeping coastal plan to exploration and development.

Monday was the deadline for companies to submit bids, the agency said.

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Georgia GOP firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene has promised to introduce a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America as soon as possible.

Greene took to President-elect Donald Trump’s platform Truth Social to share a clip of the former and incoming president pitching the name change.

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned that every country must honor the sanctity of borders no matter how powerful or where they are, indirectly responding to President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. should take over Greenland and the Panama Canal.

Ariana Baio reports.

President Joe Biden is being blasted after he tried to inject a bit of levity into a briefing on the California widlfires by announcing he had become a great-grandfather.

However, the comment didn’t land and was condemned online given the disaster that was unfolding just miles away.

Andrew Feinberg reports.

Elon Musk has lashed out at California fire officials, baselessly accusing them of putting DEI measures over “saving lives and homes,” as MAGA supporters are spreading conspiracy theories on social media about the catastrophic wildfires ripping through Los Angeles County.

Musk joined President-elect Donald Trump in pointing fingers over the fires that have so far spread to more than 20,000 acres across Southern California.

Rhian Lubin reports.

Donald Trump is doubling down on his desire to purchase Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, despite the country not being for sale.

Since December, the president-elect has floated the idea of acquiring Greenland “for purposes of national security” – a similar idea that he pitched during his first administration. He even sent his eldest son Donald Trump Jr. to the island on Tuesday in a bizarre publicity stunt.

While the United States is no stranger to making land purchases, it has not done so since the 1940s when it purchased a small island that is now part of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

It’s an expensive endeavor that requires justification and approval by the Senate.

From the Louisiana Purchase to the Alaska Purchase and even leasing Guantánamo Bay, here are territories the U.S. has purchased:

Trump is expected to meet with House Republicans at Mar-a-Lago this weekend.

Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., among those headed to Florida, said he supports the House’s one-bill approach.

Hern said he agrees with what those who suggest with one big bill, “You’re not going to get everything that you want.”

“So how do we put something together that everybody can get something?” Hern said.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, a member of GOP leadership who invited the president-elect to meet with senators, said, “I think he needs to hear what our impressions are in terms of how we’re going to get where we all want to go.”

She said she could go with one or two bills.

“But I still think the two-bill strategy is better simply because I think we can get a victory in early, which will show the American people and the president we mean business,” she said.

During his first term, Trump was known for changing his mind, a habit that members of Congress became accustomed to as they navigated his presidency.

Trump ally Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said Trump just “wants all of it done.”

“He supports the one bill, but he also wants both,” he said. “Either one. If it takes two, it takes two.”