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Republicans Float Elon Musk As House Speaker Alternative

By
Madeleine Jackson
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Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Republicans are keeping their options open…

On Thursday, multiple Republicans suggested Elon Musk become the next Speaker of the House.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) suggested Elon Musk serve as Speaker in a Thursday morning post on X following contentious debates over the continuing resolution (CR).

“The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress . . . ,” Paul wrote.

“Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it .  . . nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds).”

Later Thursday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she would be open to supporting Musk to replace Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a post quoting Paul.

“I’d be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House. DOGE can only truly be accomplished by reigning in Congress to enact real government efficiency,” Greene wrote on X.

“The establishment needs to be shattered just like it was yesterday. This could be the way,” she added.

Musk is the co-leader of President-elect Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), an advisory panel focused on cutting spending and the size of the federal government.

The Speaker is not required to be an elected member of the House.

Trump Defends House Speaker Amid Mutiny Threats

By
Madeleine Jackson
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2
Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Is House Speaker Mike Johnson on the brink of betrayal?

President-elect Trump on Thursday said Speaker Johnson (R-La.) can likely remain in the leadership role if he cracks down on spending, while Johnson is reorganizing plans to fund the government ahead of Friday’s deadline to avert a shutdown.

“If the Speaker acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats, which will economically and, in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain speaker,” Trump told Fox News Digital in an interview on Thursday morning.

Some GOP lawmakers have questioned their support for Johnson over to his handling of the end-of-year spending deal, which has thrown his grasp on his gavel into uncertain territory ahead of the critical Jan. 3 vote.

On Wednesday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) pledged to oppose Johnson on the House floor next month and a handful of other Republicans are not saying if they will support him.

When asked why he wouldn’t back his fellow Republican, Massie told The Hill it was due to “all the grievances I had this summer, when we tried to vacate. And then this bill.”

Trump told Fox News Digital that he warned Republicans against supporting legislation that doesn’t tackle the debt limit, calling for those lawmakers to be primaried.

“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” he said.

One House Republican told the Washington Examiner that House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) is the most likely replacement for Johnson if House Republicans decide they need new leadership.

Emmer is among the most experienced leaders of the House Republicans, having led the National Republican Congressional Committee from 2019 to 2023 before being elected Republican whip in 2022.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) was floated by the House Republican as the second most likely House speaker replacement.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) was floated as the third most likely candidate by the House Republican, a consistent favorite among the conservative wing of the party.

Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was a leading figure in pursuing an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. He unsuccessfully ran for the speakership in October 2023, losing to Johnson

Report: Fani Willis Disqualified As Prosecutor on Trump Georgia Election Case

By
Madeleine Jackson
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2

A Georgia appeals court on Thursday disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D)’s office from the 2020 election interference case against President-elect Trump

The panel described Willis’s relationship with ex-special prosecutor Nathan Wade as a “significant appearance of impropriety.” 

The court declined to outright dismiss Trump’s indictment, but disqualifying Willis’s office throws the future of the case further into doubt.

The Hill reports:

“After carefully considering the trial court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office,” the court wrote in its ruling.  

“The remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring,” it continued. 

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said the “whole case has been a disgrace to justice.” 

“It was started by the Biden DOJ as an attack on his political opponent, Donald Trump,” he said, “They used anyone and anybody, and she has been disqualified, and her boyfriend has been disqualified, and they stole funds and went on trips.” 

Trump said the case “should not be allowed to go any further.” 

“There is no way such corrupt people can lead a case, and then it gets taken over by somebody else,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “It was a corrupt case, so how could it be taken over by someone else?” 

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

New Poll Reveals Shocking Opposition To Trump’s Tariff Plan

By
Madeleine Jackson
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4
The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Slightly more than half of voters in the U.S. oppose President-elect Trump’s plan to tariff proposal.

The poll, released Wednesday, comes as Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico and increase tariffs on China.

While 51 percent of respondents opposed Trump’s tariff plan, 38 percent supported it, the survey showed.

The majority of Democrats, 89 percent, Republicans, 76 percent, and independents, 53 percent, also opposed the plan, the poll found.

More independents, 34 percent, supported Trump’s tariff plan than Republicans, 12 percent, and Democrats, 7 percent, the survey showed.

Trump’s tariff threats have been met with a mix of reactions from global leaders, especially those from two of America’s top trading partners, Canada and Mexico. Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned earlier this week, citing Trump’s tariff plans in her resignation letter.

“Our country today faces a grave challenge,” Chrystia Freeland said in a letter addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25 per cent tariffs.”

“We need to take that threat extremely seriously,” she added. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war. That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment.”

In her letter, Freeland argued for “pushing back against ‘America First’ economic nationalism with a determined effort to fight for capital and investment and the jobs they bring.”

“That means working in good faith and humility with the Premiers of the provinces and territories of our great and diverse country, and building a true Team Canada response,” she added. 

Trump hit back at Freeland’s “toxic” behavior.

“The Great State of Canada is stunned as the Finance Minister resigns, or was fired, from her position by Governor Justin Trudeau,” Trump wrote in a Monday night post on Truth Social while mocking, again, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor.” 

“Her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada,” he added. “She will not be missed!!!” 

D.C. Waitress Fired After Vowing To Refuse Service To Trump Officials

By
Madeleine Jackson
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4

A Washington, D.C.-based server has been fired after proudly saying in an interview that she planned to refuse service to Trump officials.

The server was previously employed by Beuchert’s Saloon on Capitol Hill. She took part in a report by Washingtonian magazine about how the service industry would respond to President-elect Donald Trump’s team if they patronized her place of employment.

Most individuals who were interviewed remained anonymous, but Suzannah Van Rooy provided her real name. 

“I personally would refuse to serve any person in office who I know of as being a sex trafficker or trying to deport millions of people,” the server told the outlet, as The Daily Wire previously reported. “It’s not, ‘Oh, we hate Republicans.’ It’s that this person has moral convictions that are strongly opposed to mine, and I don’t feel comfortable serving them.”

“People were a lot more motivated the first time around to do those kinds of shows of passion. This time around, there is kind of a sense of defeat and acceptance,” Van Rooy added. “But I hope that people still do stand up to this administration and tell them their thoughts on their misbehavior.”

Beuchert’s Saloon denounced Van Rooy’s comments and confirmed she was no longer employed there, per Fox News Digital. The neighborhood restaurant and bar called her statements “reprehensible” and “unforgivable.”

“Recent comments made by a member of staff who had no authority to speak on behalf of our entire restaurant have been, quite rightly, flagged as inappropriate, hostile, intolerant, and unacceptable. This staff member does NOT speak for us as a restaurant,” Beuchert’s Saloon said in a statement.

Beuchert’s saloon provided a follow-up after the backlash from the employee’s comments.

“Not only do Ms. Van Rooy’s comments clearly violate our zero-tolerance policy on discrimination, but her decision to sign into our social media accounts in the middle of the night to post her own rhetoric in wildly offensive responses to comments is a further breach of conduct and protocol. She has no authority to speak on our behalf, and her comments do not reflect the positions of over twenty other people who make up our staff,” the statement said.

“For these reasons as well as the sheer dismay and disgust we feel at her unforgivable behavior, Ms. Van Rooy has been dismissed immediately. Our staff and families (many of whom are personally offended by Ms. Van Rooy’s comments about them) are still reeling from what Ms. Van Rooy said and did, and we as a restaurant are simply horrified to be associated with base prejudice.”

Report: New Charges Filed Against Attempted Trump Assassin

By
Madeleine Jackson
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1
Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

The state of Florida charged Ryan Wesley Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate President-elect Trump at one of his Florida golf courses, with attempted felony murder, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced Wednesday.

The charge stems from Routh’s attempt to escape law enforcement following the alleged assassination attempt. Moody said that when Routh fled the scene, law enforcement shut down traffic, which caused an accident that nearly killed a young girl. 

“As a result of that, we felt compelled to seek justice on her behalf and her family that will never be the same as they cope with her injuries,” the state attorney general said.

In her announcement, Moody said state law enforcement received a “lack of cooperation and support” from federal officials investigating the alleged assassination attempt. She accused them of blocking access to the crime scene, evidence and witness interviews, and said when the state expressed interest in charging Routh over the girl’s injuries, it was discouraged from doing so.

“It was made known that they intended to shut down our investigation and invoke federal jurisdiction in doing so,” she said, adding that Florida authorities decided to continue their investigation regardless.

Routh is accused by federal prosecutors of plotting to kill Trump as he golfed earlier this year, staking out the perimeter of the president-elect’s course near its sixth hole for about 12 hours until he was noticed and fled.

He faces five charges, including counts saying he attempted to assassinate a major political candidate while possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number despite being a convicted felon, and has pleaded not guilty.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

Trump Approval Surges Aheads While Biden Sinks To New Low

By
Madeleine Jackson
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5
Joe Biden via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Biden is fading…

President Joe Biden’s approval rating sank to a new low in a Marquette University Law School poll released this week.

According to the survey of 1,063 adults across the country, just 34% of the country approves of the way Biden “is handling his job as president,” while 66% disapprove, putting him underwater by a shell-shocking 32 points.

That’s the worst net approval rating Biden has posted in the poll since taking office. It appears that the president’s decision to go back on his word and pardon his son, Hunter Biden, for any crimes he may have committed over a more than decade-long period, may have contributed to his plummeting popularity. Just 29% of respondents said they approved of the pardon, while 71% disapproved.

Fifty-three percent, meanwhile, say that they approved of the way President-elect Donald Trump handled his job during his first term in office.

The plunge in the president’s approval was also fueled by soaring inflation – which started spiking in the summer of 2021

Biden has not achieved a positive net approval rating since July 2021. His previous low of -30 came this summer.

The president’s approval stands in the mid-30s to low-40s in the latest national surveys, including the most recent Fox News national poll, where Biden stands at 41% approval.

The president has faded from the news cycle over his last half-year or so in office after he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race in late July 

GOP Interim Report Accuses Jan. 6 Committee Member Of ‘Witness Tampering’

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Tyler Merbler, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    The newly released report by Republicans examining the “failures and politicization” of the now-disbanded House Jan. 6 committee also included a recommendation to open a criminal investigation into former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney.

    The 128-page interim report focuses on complaints the Jan. 6 select committee was improperly constituted and unfairly pinned blame on President-elect Trump.

    “Speaker [Nancy] 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,” the report states.

    The House GOP subcommittee, chaired by Congressman Barry Loudermilk, has accused Cheney of improper coordination with key witness Cassidy Hutchinson, claiming she engaged in witness tampering by “colluding” on testimony.

    The interim report shows texts between Hutchinson and Alyssa Farah Griffin, another former White House aide, and accuses Farah Griffin of acting as a backchannel between the two women.

    It later notes that Hutchinson reached out to Cheney, with the lawmaker in her own book noting she advised the aide to seek an attorney as “every witness deserves an attorney who will represent their interests exclusively.”

    According to The Hill, Cheney would likely assert that any actions she took through her work on the panel are protected by the Speech or Debate Clause, which protects lawmakers from court action related to their work.

    Outlets noted that witness tampering could also be an uphill battle in court, as such charges typically relate to encouraging a witness to lie or shift their story.

    Cheney strongly rebuked the interim report’s findings in a lengthy statement:

    “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 noting the numerous Republican witnesses who testified before the panel.

    “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.”

    On Truth Social early Wednesday, Trump hinted that Cheney “could be in a lot of trouble,” seizing on a development that has stunned Washington.

    Trump

    Report: House Panel Holds Secret Vote To Release Gaetz Ethics Findings

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    6
    Ted Eytan from Washington, DC, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    The House Ethics Committee voted secretly to release the investigatory report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

    According to reports from CNN, the committee has voted to release the ethics report despite Gaetz’s resignation from Congress last month.

    CNN reports:

    The vote, which has not previously been reported, amounts to a stark reversal for the panel after it had voted along party lines in late November not to release the results of the investigation. The decision to release the report suggests that some Republicans ultimately decided to side with Democrats on the matter, and it is unclear if the committee will once again change course now that it has voted.

    When the committee voted last month to shelve the report, Gaetz was President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be attorney general. Since then, Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration for the Senate-confirmed post, though he maintains frosty relations with many in his party and is still active in GOP politics.

    It is exceedingly rare for an ethics report to be released after a member has left Congress, though it has happened on a couple of occasions in the past. The committee revisited the issue behind closed doors earlier this month after a feud over the report spilled into public view before Thanksgiving.

    The Ethics Committee’s report concludes a years-long probe into numerous allegations against Gaetz, including whether he engaged in sexual misconduct, used illicit drugs, “shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gifts,” according to an announcement by the panel last summer.

    Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes.

    Gaetz, in a statement posted on the social platform X, pointed to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision not to charge him after investigating allegations of a sexual encounter with a 17-year-old, claiming he was “FULLY EXONERATED.” He did, however, admit to an “embarrassing” past.

    “In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated – even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years. I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18.  Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court – which is why no such claim was ever made in court,” Gaetz wrote. “My 30’s were an era of working very hard – and playing hard too. It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life.  I live a different life now.”

    Speaker Mike Johnson has spoken out against releasing the report due to Gaetz’s sudden resignation once Trump announced him as his initial attorney general choice. Johnson has acknowledged he has no role on the operations of the panel, which has traditionally operated separately from leadership.

    Gaetz, who was reelected to the seat last month prior to his resignation, has said he has no plans of returning to Congress next year.

    “I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” he told Charlie Kirk in an interview last month.

    Gaetz is also reportedly planning to join One America News Network (OANN) next month.

    Judge Rejects Trump Request To Toss Charges On Basis Of Presidential Immunity

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    4
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    Judge Juan Merchan rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s request to dismiss charges brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on the basis of presidential immunity.

    The ruling came after President-elect Trump and his team requested Merchan to overturn his guilty verdict in New York v. Trump, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that presidents have immunity for official acts. 

    Merchan ruled that the evidence presented in the trial was related “entirely to unofficial conduct and thus, receive no immunity protections.” 

    “Further, even if this Court were to deem all of the contested evidence, both preserved and unpreserved, as official conduct falling within the outer perimeter of Defendant’s Presidential authority, it would still find that the People’s use of these acts as evidence of the decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch, a conclusion amply supported by non-motive-related evidence,” Merchan writes. 

    READ:

    people-v.-djt-cpl-330.301-decDownload

    Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree stemming from the yearslong investigation related to alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

    Merchan also argued that the Court said “if error occurred regarding the introduction of the challenged evidence, such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt.” 

    Merchan rejected Trump’s presidential immunity argument but has yet to rule on President-elect Trump’s formal motion to dismiss the case altogether.

    “Today’s decision by deeply conflicted, acting Justice Merchan in the Manhattan DA Witch Hunt is a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity, and other longstanding jurisprudence,” Trump spokesman and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital. “This lawless case should have never been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed, as President Trump must be allowed to continue the Presidential Transition process, and execute the vital duties of the presidency, unobstructed by the remains of this, or any other, Witch Hunt.” 

    Cheung added: “The sooner these hoaxes end, the sooner our country can unite behind President Trump for the betterment of all Americans.”

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