Summary
Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
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House Democrats are expressing concerns about Republican speaker Mike Johnson’s decision yesterday to remove the head of the chamber’s intelligence committee, whose stances had run afoul of Donald Trump. Johnson yesterday fired the committee’s chair, Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican who was a vocal supporter of security assistance to Ukraine. According to the Associated Press, Johnson justified Turner’s firing by saying, the “intelligence community and everything related to [the committee] needs a fresh start”.
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Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who parroted Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election as his attorney, has settled a defamation suit brought against him by two Georgia election workers. The case centers around statement Giuliani made about Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss after Trump’s election defeat, for which a judge ordered him to pay $148.1m in 2023. Under the terms of the deal, Giuliani said he will be allowed to keep his personal belongings and two residences.
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In some of the more unusual appointments Donald Trump has made since winning re-election, the president-elect says three movie stars – Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight – will serve as his “special ambassadors” to Hollywood. “They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK – BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!” Trump wrote.
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TikTok’s head will reportedly attend Trump’s inauguration, and be seated on the dais at the Capitol. The popular social media app is set to be banned on Sunday, unless its China-based owner finds a buyer for its US operations – or the supreme court steps in.
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The Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has named the state’s attorney general, Ashley Moody, to the Senate seat being vacated by Marco Rubio. Donald Trump has nominated Rubio to serve as secretary of state, and he likely has the support he needs to win Senate confirmation.
Key events
Lauren Gambino
As the Senate considers a Republican-led immigration bill, immigration advocates who oppose the legislation are urging Democrats not to take the bait.
After losing the Senate and the White House in the November elections, many swing-state Democrats have embraced stricter immigration controls. Last week, most Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the legislation, which would require federal authorities to detain undocumented immigrants charged with theft-related crimes. It would also allow state attorneys general to sue the federal government if they believe their states have been harmed by its failure to enforce immigration laws.
Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of the immigration advocacy group, America’s Voice, called the bill, known as the Laken Riley Act, “bad policy” and “also bad politics”.
“Democrats are never going to get the credit for voting for this,” she said. “The GOP is always going to attack them,” she said, adding: “Democrats really need to get their act together, because more bills like this are coming for sure, and they need to have a strategy, and then they need to provide a contrast. And what they’re doing right now is just playing in the GOP turf.”
The bill is named in honor of the Georgia nursing student who was killed last year by a Venezuelan man who had entered the country illegally in 2022, according to ICE. Republicans need the support of seven Senate Democrats to pass the bill, after the House approved it earlier this month. Dozens of Senate Democrats voted to open debate on the measure, but it remains unclear if Republicans can win enough votes for final passage.
Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, called the bill an “attack on our due process” protections and warned that it would help clear the way for Trump to follow through on his threat of mass deportations, particularly in parts of the country that are more hostile to immigration. Advocates were paying special attention to how Democrats vote on the bill.
“Believe me,” she added, “They’re hearing from their constituents when they’re not upholding their responsibility and often their promises during their campaigns.”
Lauren Gambino
Immigration advocates say they are prepared to use “all the tools in the toolbox” to guard their communities against the “cruelty” of Donald Trump’s possibly unprecedented enforcement agenda.
“We have been preparing for a long time for this moment,” Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of the immigration advocacy group, America’s Voice, told reporters on Thursday. “This isn’t our first rodeo.”
Since Trump’s election in November, immigration groups have been holding Know Your Rights training and urging families to be prepared in the event a loved one is detained or deported. They have also been ramping up the pressure on local and state leaders to take action now to shield undocumented immigrants from Trump’s promise of militarized raids and large-scale deportations.
“The immigrant rights movement has never stood on the sidelines when our communities are under attack and this will not be the case now,” said Greisa Martínez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream Action, which supports Dreamers.
“When policies harm our people, we organize,” said Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA. “When Ice overreaches, we’ll litigate. When local leaders fail to act, we demand better.”
Unlike in Trump’s first-term, Democrats have already shown far more of an openness to the incoming administration’s hardline immigration agenda after steadily losing voters’ trust on the issue of border security – a major issue in the 2024 presidential election. But advocates say they believe Americans will once again turn against the “cruelty” and “fear-mongering” at the heart of Trump’s immigration agenda.
“When Americans saw the real harms and impacts of Trump’s agenda during his first time in office, they revolted against it,” Cárdenas said. “We expect that will happen again.”
Joan E Greve
As she spoke on the Senate floor about Pete Hegseth‘s nomination, Senator Tammy Duckworth displayed a framed copy of the Soldier’s Creed, which hung over her bed at Walter Reed Medical Center as she recovered from an attack on her helicopter in Iraq that took her legs.
“These words helped me find a strength I needed when I needed it the most, because they reminded me of who I was and that I was a proud member of the greatest fighting force on the face of the earth, whose duty it was to live up to the sacrifices of my fellow soldiers,” the Illinois Democrat said.
“Tell me: how can we ask these warriors to train and perform at the absolute highest standards if we’re going to confirm a guy who doesn’t seem to care enough to prepare to lead them in any way?”
Hegseth is set to be confirmed as secretary of defense, as one of the final Republican holdouts, Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, announced on Tuesday that she would support his nomination, but Duckworth implored her Republican colleagues to prioritize national security over party politics.
“Part of being a leader is knowing when you’re not competent enough to do the job. Well, Mr Hegseth, you are not technically proficient. You are not tactically proficient, and your nomination is an insult to those brave enough to be serving our nation. So you, sir, are a no go at this station,” Duckworth said.
“I am voting no on Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be secretary of defense, and if my colleagues cared more about keeping our nation strong than genuflecting to Donald Trump, then they should have the courage to vote no as well.”
Joan E Greve
Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat of Illinois, bashed Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s controversial pick for defense secretary, as “unfit” to lead the Pentagon.
“Our troops deserve better than a guy who was seemingly only nominated because he used to host Trump’s favorite TV show on Fox News,” Duckworth said in a Senate floor speech moments ago.
Duckworth cited reports that Hegseth led two non-profits into financial ruin through his mismanagement of funds, claims that Democrats highlighted repeatedly during Hegseth’s contentious confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
“The only thing Hegseth has ever run, he’s run into the ground. The only major organizations he’s ever led, he’s led into debt,” Duckworth said. “Pete Hegseth is unqualified. He is unprepared. He is unethical. And most of all, he is unfit.”
Underscoring Hegseth’s lack of qualifications, Duckworth pointed to a particularly embarrassing moment during his confirmation hearing, when he could not name the member countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) alliance.
“This was shocking, and yet not surprising from a man whose main form of policy education has come from reading the Fox News teleprompter,” Duckworth said.
“This was pitiful, yet predictable from a guy who said that we women do not belong in combat, who’s dared to claim that the military is lowering its standards so that we poor, fragile, fairer sex and, God forbid, us moms can serve. Well, the only standards being lowered today are the ones for secretary of defense.”
Giuliani reaches deal to resolve defamation suit from Georgia election workers
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who parroted Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election as his attorney, has settled a defamation suit brought against him by two Georgia election workers.
The case centers around statement Giuliani made aabout Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss after Trump’s election defeat, for which a judge ordered him to pay $148.1m in 2023. Under the terms of the deal, Giuliani said he will be allowed to keep his personal belongings and two residences. Here’s more:
Blinken heckled over Israel policy at final press conference as secretary of state
Antony Blinken held his last press conference as secretary of state today, but was interrupted repeatedly by journalists who have been critical of US policy towards Israel, one of whom was carried out by security:
Drop Site News captured the moment independent journalist Sam Husseini was removed from the briefing room by security officers at state department headquarters in Washington DC:
Reuters reports that Husseini and Max Blumenthal, who was also escorted out of the briefing, both work for outlets that have been sharply critical of US foreign policy and opposed to Israel’s invasion of Gaza:
Blinken has faced criticism for providing Israel with weapons and diplomatic support since the latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while also drawing accusations of genocide in a World Court case brought by South Africa and of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the allegations. The assault has displaced nearly Gaza’s entire 2.3 million population and drawn the concern of the world’s main hunger monitor.
‘Why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May?’ Max Blumenthal, editor of the Grayzone, an outlet that strongly criticizes many aspects of US foreign policy, called out to Blinken, before he was escorted out.
Blinken, who leaves office on Monday when the administration of President-elect Donald Trump takes over, calmly asked for quiet while he delivered his remarks, and later took questions from reporters.
He has been frequently heckled at appearances in Washington since the Gaza conflict began. Demonstrators camped outside his Virginia home for months and repeatedly threw red paint – resembling blood – on cars carrying Blinken and his family.
A new poll released today indicates that the Biden administration’s steadfast support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza may have cost Kamala Harris crucial voters in the November presidential election that sent Donald Trump back to the White House.
The survey, by the pro-Palestinian Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project and YouGov, found that of the voters who supported Biden in 2020 but did not back Harris last year, 29% said “ending Israel’s violence in Gaza” was their reason.
That was the most-cited concern among those surveyed, coming above the economy and immigration, two of the focuses of Donald Trump’s campaign.
In the six swing states that Trump won last year after Biden carried them in 2020, the war in Gaza was the second-biggest concern, after the economy.
Former special counsel Jack Smith was able to make public his report detailing his failed attempt to prosecute Donald Trump for attempting to overturn the 2020 election, but a court order continues to block release of a second report outlining the case against the president-elect for allegedly hiding classified documents. The Guardian’s Robert Tait reports that Democrats are pressuring outgoing attorney general Merrick Garland to have it released:
Democrats are pressing Merrick Garland, the US attorney general, to use his last days in office to release the second volume of the special counsel’s report about Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents.
The demand comes after the justice department this week published the first part of Jack Smith’s report, which looked at the president-elect’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including inciting a violent mob to attack the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.
That report concluded that Trump would have faced probable conviction had he not won the 2024 election, after which Smith – who resigned last week – dropped the case against him.
“It is in the public interest for the Department of Justice to expeditiously release the second volume of special counsel Smith’s report so the American people have as full an accounting as possible of Donald Trump’s lawless and criminal conduct,” said Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives’ judiciary committee.
The second volume is being withheld on the order of a US federal judge in Florida, Aileen Cannon, on the basis that it would prejudice the case of two co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who face charges of conspiring with Trump to hide a trove of documents from his first term as president at his Mar-a-Lago home.
Trump says Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight to serve as ‘special ambassadors’ to Hollywood
In some of the more unusual appointments Donald Trump has made since winning re-election, the president-elect says three movie stars – Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight – will serve as his “special ambassadors” to Hollywood.
He made it known on Truth Social, of course:
It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California. They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK – BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE! These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest. It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!
The three men, all of whom are known for their conservative beliefs, were some of the best-known stars of their eras, but these days have been eclipsed by younger generations of actors.
A Brazilian court has rejected former president Jair Bolsonaro’s bid to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Bolsonaro, who is being investigated for conspiracy against Brazil’s democracy, won’t get his confiscated passport back to be able to travel to Washington DC, a judge ruled. Here’s the whole story from Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro:
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro – who is under investigation for allegedly plotting a coup – has seen his hopes of attending Donald Trump’s inauguration dashed after a judge ruled his confiscated passport would not be returned in case the disgraced politician used it to flee abroad.
Bolsonaro’s travel document was seized by federal police last February as investigators deepened their inquiries into what they call a sprawling conspiracy to dismantle Brazil’s 40-year-old democracy.
In November, the far-right populist, who governed Brazil from 2019 until 2023, was one of nearly 40 people who were formally accused of being part of a criminal plot to stop his leftwing successor from taking power by staging a rightwing coup.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers petitioned the supreme court earlier this month, arguing their client should be allowed a six-day trip to the US in order to attend the 20 January swearing-in of Trump, the Brazilian politician’s most important foreign ally. This week Bolsonaro told the New York Times he was so excited about the prospect of seeing Trump in the flesh that he wasn’t “even taking Viagra anymore”.
Which US president should get credit for the Gaza ceasefire deal – the one in the White House, or the one who is about to be in the White House? The Guardian’s Andrew Roth untangles the question, and potential answers:
The question yelled at Joe Biden by a reporter was unapologetically blunt: “Who do you think deserves credit for this Mr President: you or [Donald] Trump?”
Biden had just finished announcing what he presented as his signature foreign policy achievement – a ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas to halt the bloody war in Gaza that has left 46,000 Palestinians and 1,700 Israelis dead. He wasn’t in the mood for that debate.
“Is that a joke?” the president asked and then walked away flanked by his vice-president, Kamala Harris, and secretary of state, Antony Blinken.
Success has many fathers. When the ceasefire in Gaza was finally announced on Thursday, they all stood up to take the credit.
Joe Biden’s farewell address to the nation last night was a “dark, ominous warning about something wider and deeper of which Trump is a symptom”, the Guardian’s David Smith writes:
There was a sting in the tail. Joe Biden’s farewell address had not seemed like a must-watch for most politics-weary Americans. Those who did dutifully tune in might have been expecting the president to deliver a yawn-inducing first draft of his White House memoir.
But after more than half a century in elected office, the 82-year-old great-grandfather had one last surprise. The prime-time speech did not mention Donald Trump by name. Instead it will be remembered for its dark, ominous warning about something wider and deeper of which Trump is a symptom.
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” Biden said.
The word “oligarchy” comes from the Greek words meaning rule (arche) by the few (oligos). Some have argued that the dominant political divide in America is no longer between left and right, but between democracy and oligarchy, as power becomes concentrated in the hands of a few. The wealthiest 1% of Americans now has more wealth than the bottom 90% combined.
The day so far
Democrats have cried foul after the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, removed Mike Turner as chair of the intelligence committee, reportedly at Donald Trump’s urging. Though Johnson denies the president-elect’s involvement, Turner is a proponent of security assistance to Ukraine, and the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, decried his replacement as “unjustified”. Meanwhile, senators are holding confirmation hearings for several of Trump’s cabinet picks, including Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary, Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency and Doug Burgum as interior secretary.
Here’s what else has happened today:
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TikTok’s head will reportedly attend Trump’s inauguration, and be seated on the dais at the Capitol. The popular social media app is set to be banned on Sunday, unless its China-based owner finds a buyer for its US operations – or the supreme court steps in.
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Ron DeSantis appointed the Florida attorney general, Ashley Moody, to the Senate seat being vacated by Marco Rubio, who Trump has nominated as secretary of state.
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Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, has pledged to allow more oil and gas drilling on federal lands in a bid to maximize energy output as interior secretary.
