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Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal trial over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election has dismissed the case, hours after special counsel Jack Smith asked to end the case. Smith is planning to release a final report into his investigations into Trump’s classified documents and election interference cases, CNN reports. Prosecutors say they will continue to pursue the case against two of Trump’s employees. JD Vance responded to the news by tweeting: “If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he may very well have spent the rest of his life in prison.” On Truth Social, Donald Trump himself wrote that the cases were “a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country”.
Donald Trump said on Monday he would sign an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on all products coming in to the United States from Mexico and Canada and additional tariffs on China. “On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump said the tariffs would remain in place until the two countries clamp down on drugs, particularly fentanyl, and migrants crossing the border illegally. In a follow-up post, Trump announced that the US “will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America”.
In a statement, Liu Pengyu, a Chinese embassy spokesperson, said China had taken steps to combat drug trafficking after an agreement was reached last year between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. “The Chinese side has notified the US side of the progress made in US-related law enforcement operations against narcotics,” Liu said. “All these prove that the idea of China knowingly allowing fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States runs completely counter to facts and reality,” Liu said.
Neither the US nor China would win a trade war, the Chinese embassy in Washington added. “About the issue of US tariffs on China, China believes that China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature,” Liu said in a statement. “No one will win a trade war or a tariff war,” Liu said.
Canada’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, released a statement saying country places the highest priority on border security and the integrity of its shared border with the US. The statement did not mention the tariffs directly. It also said that the Canada Border Services Agency, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and US Customs and Border protection “work together every single day to to disrupt the scourge of fentanyl coming from China and other countries.”
Trump and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau spoke on Monday night about trade and border security, Reuters reported, citing a Canadian source directly familiar with situation.
Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, a White House spokesperson told Reuters. “The president promised that he would attend the inauguration of whomever won the election,” said Andrew Bates, senior deputy press secretary at the White House. “He and the First Lady are going to honor that promise and attend the inauguration.”
Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner has dropped his office’s lawsuit against Elon Musk and his America Pac. Krasner had sued Musk over his super Pac’s $1m-a-day lottery, where swing state voters were entered into a drawing every day before the presidential election in exchange for signing a petition.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has said that leaders of so-called “sanctuary cities” should have to explain why they deserve federal funding and warned that they could lose their funding. Greene, who has been tapped to lead a subcommittee called the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) under Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, told Fox News she wants to question officials on whether they’re using federal funds to “harbor illegal criminal aliens”.
Trump’s pick for the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, faces renewed scrutiny over sexual assault allegations as Republican lawmakers are reportedly uncomfortable after a number of claims have surfaced. The concerns come as Hegseth was also revealed to have criticized several key US alliances, including Nato, as well as allied countries such as Turkey and international institutions such as the UN, and has said that US troops should not be bound by the Geneva conventions.
The identities of private donors funding Donald Trump’s presidential transition are being kept secret, in a break with precedent, that is obscuring which groups, businesses or wealthy individuals are supporting his second presidential launch.
Rand Paul, a Republican senator of Kentucky, has criticized Donald Trump’s proposed use of the US military to conduct mass deportations of immigrants when he returns to the White House. While Paul still supports Trump’s plans to expel millions of immigrants from the US, the lawmaker has opposed using the US military to do so, arguing that law enforcement would be better suited.
Gavin Newsom, California governor, has announced that the state may offer state tax rebates for electric vehicle purchases if the incoming Trump administration cuts the federal tax credit for electric vehicles. In a statement on Monday, Newsom said that if the Trump administration eliminates the federal tax credit for electric vehicles he would propose creating a new version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, phased out in 2023, which funded 594,000 cars and saved more than 456m gallons of fuel.
Internal rivalries spilled into public view on Monday as Boris Epshteyn, a top adviser to Donald Trump, found himself at the center of an ouster effort over accusations he asked potential administration nominees to pay monthly consulting fees in exchange for lobbying for them to the president-elect.
Internal rivalries spilled into public view on Monday as Boris Epshteyn, a top adviser to Donald Trump, found himself at the center of an ouster effort over accusations he asked potential administration nominees to pay monthly consulting fees in exchange for lobbying for them to the president-elect.
The maelstrom engulfing Epshteyn suggested that barely 20 days since Trump won the election, the knife-fight culture of the first Trump presidency, where bitter aides took any opportunity to remove rivals, had returned.
Over the weekend, David Warrington, the Trump 2024 campaign’s general counsel, finalized the main conclusions of a review into Epshteyn that found he had unsuccessfully solicited tens of thousands of dollars from potential nominees including Scott Bessent, who has been tapped to be Treasury secretary.
According to the review, one day after Trump met with Bessent for the first time in February, Epshteyn invited him to lunch at a hotel in Palm Beach, where he asked for a monthly retainer of at least $30,000 to promote his name at Mar-a-Lago in case Trump won the election.
“Mexico and Canada remain heavily dependent on the US market so their ability to walk away from President-elect Trump’s threats remains limited,” Wendy Cutler, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, and former US trade official, told AFP.
AFP reports that by citing the fentanyl crisis and illegal immigration, Trump appears to be using national security concerns as a means to break the USMCA trade deal, something that is usually allowed under the rules set by the World Trade Organization or in trade deals.
But most countries and the WTO treat national security exceptions as something to be used sparingly, not as a routine tool of trade policy.
Trump tariff deal appears to violate US-Canada-Mexico trade agreement – report
While migrant arrests reached a record during President Joe Biden’s presidency, straining US border enforcement, illegal crossings fell dramatically this year as Biden instituted new border restrictions and Mexico stepped up enforcement, Reuters reports.
More than 83% of exports from Mexico went to the US in 2023 and 75% of Canadian exports go to the country.
Trump’s threatened new tariff would appear to violate the terms of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade. The deal which Trump signed into law took effect in 2020, and continued the largely duty-free trade between the three countries.
Canada and the United States at one point imposed sanctions on each others’ products during the rancorous talks that eventually led to USMCA. Trump will have the opportunity to renegotiate the agreement in 2026, when a “sunset” provision will force either a withdrawal or talks on changes to the pact.
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Here is our full story on Trump’s tariff threats:
Canada responds to Trump's fentanyl, border comments amid tariff threat
More now from the statement from Canada’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, released on Monday evening, which says that the country places the highest priority on border security and the integrity of its shared border with the US.
The statement did not mention the tariffs directly. It also said that the Canada Border Services Agency, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and US Customs and Border protection “work together every single day to to disrupt the scourge of fentanyl coming from China and other countries.”
Trump and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau spoke on Monday night about trade and border security, Reuters reported, citing a Canadian source directly familiar with situation.
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China responds to Trump tariff threat
More now on the statement from China.
In a statement, Liu Pengyu, a Chinese embassy spokesperson, said China had taken steps to combat drug trafficking after an agreement was reached last year between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping.
“The Chinese side has notified the US side of the progress made in US-related law enforcement operations against narcotics,” Liu said.
“All these prove that the idea of China knowingly allowing fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States runs completely counter to facts and reality,” Liu said.
Neither the US nor China would win a trade war, the Chinese embassy in Washington said on Monday.
“About the issue of US tariffs on China, China believes that China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature,” Liu said in a statement.
“No one will win a trade war or a tariff war,” Liu said.
The statement from Canada’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, says that the US-Canada relationship today is balanced and mutually beneficial, particularly for american workers.
Meanwhile according to the Canadian source directly familiar with the situation who spoke to Reuters, Trump and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau had '“Good discusison” and agreed to stay in touch.
Canada says is places highest value on border security
Trump and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau spoke on Monday night about trade and border security, Reuters reports, citing a Canadian source directly familiar with situation.
Canada’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, has released a statement saying that the country places the highest priority on border security and the integrity of its shared border with the US, Reuters reports. The statement does not mention the tariffs directly.
In the small island country of Samoa, lives have been forever altered by an outbreak of the measles in 2019 that caused at least 83 deaths and 1,867 hospitalisations, mostly of babies and young children. Thousands more fell sick.
The preventable illness was able to spread through the small, closely knit population of about 200,000 due to record low vaccination rates – stemming from a medical vaccination error, the Samoan government’s public health mismanagement, and fuelled by anti-vaccination sentiment, including by Donald Trump’s pick to lead the US health department, Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Michelle Duff reports from Apia for the Guardian:
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China responds to tariff announcement: No one will win trade or tariff war
China’s embassy in Washington has responded to Trump’s announcement, saying that “no one will win a trade war or tariff war,” Reuters reports. More shortly.
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While on the campaign trail in October, Trump described “tariff” as “the most beautiful word in the dictionary”, and made clear his intentions to reduce US companies’ use of foreign goods and parts by raising their cost. The policy, he said, would strengthen the US’s international trade position and boost US job growth.
Robert Reich, former US secretary of labor, warned that the tariff doesn’t work that way. “A tariff is basically a sales tax, raising the price of almost everything you buy. It’s also regressive – taking a higher percentage out of the paychecks of working people than out of the wealthy,” he posted on social media.
Trump has previously pledged to end China’s most-favored-nation trading status and slap tariffs on Chinese imports in excess of 60% – much higher than those imposed during his first term.
Trump’s announcement on Monday of plans for tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico sparked a dollar rally. It rose 1% against the Canadian dollar and 2% against the Mexican peso, while US stock futures and share markets in Asia fell.
The Chinese economy is in a much more vulnerable position given the country’s prolonged property downturn, debt risks and weak domestic demand.
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Guardian Australia’s Greg Jericho points out that America gets a large percentage of its cars from Canada and Mexico which, under the tariff plans announced today, would likely cost consumers an extra 25%:
The billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman’s analysis of Trump’s tariffs is that they “will not be implemented, or once implemented will be removed” and that Trump is using the threat of the tariffs as a “weapon to achieve economic and political outcomes, he wrote on X.
Ackman is a Trump supporter, who may, according to a report in Fortune, be involved in work carried out by the new Department of Government Efficiency that will be headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Missouri court upholds state law banning some gender-affirming health care
A Missouri court on Monday upheld a new state law that bans some gender-affirming health care for minors, the Associated Press reports, a victory for supporters of the ban as a multitude of lawsuits against similar bans in other states continue to play out.
Republican attorney general Andrew Bailey said in a statement that Missouri is the “first state in the nation to successfully defend such a law at the trial court level.” Bailey, who tried to ban minors’ access to gender-affirming health care through rule change but dropped the effort when the law passed, is responsible for defending the legislation in court.
“I’m extremely proud of the thousands of hours my office put in to shine a light on the lack of evidence supporting these irreversible procedures,” Bailey said. “We will never stop fighting to ensure Missouri is the safest state in the nation for children.”
Every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, has opposed the bans on gender-affirming care for minors and supported the medical care for youth when administered appropriately.
Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Missouri, which are representing the plaintiffs who sued to overturn the law, on Monday said they will appeal against the ruling.
Missouri is among at least 26 states that have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.
A Louisiana civil court judge on Monday halted state agencies’ plans to forcibly clear homeless encampments in New Orleans, Reuters reports.
Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Ethel Julien issued a temporary restraining order blocking state police and two other agencies from evicting homeless people from their encampments in New Orleans or seizing their property without following city laws and due process.
Republican Governor Jeff Landry had called earlier this month for the City of New Orleans to remove a large encampment before Thanksgiving and warned he would intervene if the city did not comply.
“If a judge believes that people have a right to be on whatever public space they choose, maybe that judge should have them move into her chambers and courtroom,” Landry said after the judge issued the restraining order Monday.
Louisiana State Police spokesperson Sgt. Katharine Stegall said the agency’s legal team and the state attorney general’s Office are reviewing the order.
State police have “promptly halted activities” and are “complying with the restrictions” of the order, Stegall said.
Landry and New Orleans officials have repeatedly clashed over how to address the issue of homelessness in the city.
New Orleans city councilmember Lesli Harris said Monday that directing more resources towards moving homeless people into stable housing was “infinitely more effective than punitive sweeps” of encampments.
“Coordination between the government and service providers on the housing of people is imperative, and continuously moving people only makes it that much harder to house them,” Harris said.
Jirari points out that the tariff on goods from Canada would affect building costs in particular.
She writes that the 25% tariff announced a short while ago by Trump,
Would spike building costs dramatically.
Key materials we rely on from Canada:
$105b in cement/minerals jumping to $131b
$28B in lumber/paper to $34b
$33b in metals/tools to $42BTotal hit: $41b more for same materials. Building just got pricier.”
Tahra Jirari, the director of economic analysis at an organisation called the Chamber of Progress, which describes itself as “a new tech industry coalition devoted to a progressive society, economy, workforce, and consumer climate”, has reacted to Trump’s tariffs, pointing out that they will lead to higher prices for consumers.
In a post on X she writes, “Trump vows 25% tariff on ALL Mexico/Canada imports if elected. This means higher prices for Americans. Tariffs = taxes that YOU pay at the store. Cars, food, electronics - all cost more. Even your grocery bill would jump. Companies can’t absorb 25% - it hits your wallet.”
Trump announces plans for additional 10% tariff on goods from China over fentanyl concerns
On Truth Social, Trump has also announced that the US “will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America”.
He said that the reason for the additional tariff was Chinas failure to curb the number of drugs entering the US. His post on Truth Social says,
I have had many talks with China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl, being sent into the United States – But to no avail. Representatives of China told me that they would institute their maximum penalty, that of death, for any drug dealers caught doing this but, unfortunately, they never followed through, and drugs are pouring into our Country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before. Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
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Trump announces that he will sign an executive order to charge Mexico and Canada 'a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States'
Trump has announced on Truth Social that he will sign an executive order charging Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff “on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders”.
He writes:
On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders. This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!
Texas woman dies after receiving inadequate treatment for a miscarriage
A Texas woman has died after receiving inadequate medical treatment for a miscarriage, according to a new report from ProPublica – the fifth pregnant woman the publication has found to have died since the fall of Roe v Wade after receiving inadequate care or being denied a legal abortion.
Porsha Ngumezi, a 35-year-old mother of two, died in June 2023 after experiencing a miscarriage in Texas, where nearly all abortions are banned, ProPublica reported on Monday. Ten weeks into her pregnancy, Ngumezi started to bleed and went to Houston Methodist Sugar Land, which is part of the Houston Methodist hospital chain and located in the Houston metropolitan area. While at the hospital, Ngumezi continued to bleed for several hours. She underwent multiple blood transfusions.
Doctors who reviewed Ngumezi’s case told ProPublica that she should have been offered a dilation and curettage, or D&C, a common procedure that can be used for miscarriages and abortions to clear tissue from the uterus. However, some doctors in states with abortion bans have become hesitant to offer D&Cs, doctors said, because they are afraid of being punished for violating abortion bans – even in situations where women’s pregnancies have ended, as in Ngumezi’s case.
Rather than being offered a D&C, a doctor gave Ngumezi misoprostol, ProPublica reported. Although misoprostol is frequently used in miscarriages and abortions, it can be dangerous to give to women who are – like Ngumezi – bleeding heavily.
Trump announces three choices for White House offices
Trump has announced three choices for directors of White House offices.
The first is James Braid, who was JD Vance’s lead political staffer in the Senate, as deputy assistant to the president and director of the Office of Legislative Affairs.
The second is Matt Brasseaux, who was deputy political director of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, as deputy assistant to the president and director of the Office of Political Affairs.
The third is Alex Latcham, also as deputy assistant to the president and director of the Office of Public Liaison. Latcham was also a senior political director on the Trump campaign.
More soon.
Updated
The outgoing head of the top US public health agency urged the next administration to maintain its focus and funding to keep Americans safe from emerging health threats.
“We need to continue to do our global work at CDC to make sure we are stopping outbreaks at their source,” Dr Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview Monday with the Associated Press. “We need to keep that funding up. We need to keep the expertise up. We need to keep the diplomacy up.”
Cohen, 46, will be leaving office in January after about 18 months in the job. PDonald Trump on Friday night said he picked Dave Weldon, a former congressman from Florida, to be the agency’s next chief.
Cohen said she has not met Weldon and doesn’t know him. She previously voiced concern about Robert F Kennedy Jr, the anti-vaccine advocate and CDC critic nominated to oversee all federal public health agencies.
The CDC, with a $9.2bn core budget, is charged with protecting Americans from disease outbreaks and other public health threats.
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Today so far
Thanks for joining us today so far. Here’s a quick summary of the day’s major headlines:
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal trial over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election has dismissed the case, hours after special counsel Jack Smith asked to end the case. Smith is planning to release a final report into his investigations into Trump’s classified documents and election interference cases, CNN reports. Prosecutors say they will continue to pursue the case against two of Trump’s employees. JD Vance responded to the news by tweeting: “If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he may very well have spent the rest of his life in prison.” On Truth Social, Donald Trump himself wrote that the cases were “a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country”.
Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, a White House spokesperson told Reuters. “The president promised that he would attend the inauguration of whomever won the election,” said Andrew Bates, senior deputy press secretary at the White House. “He and the First Lady are going to honor that promise and attend the inauguration.”
Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner has dropped his office’s lawsuit against Elon Musk and his America Pac. Krasner had sued Musk over his super Pac’s $1m-a-day lottery, where swing state voters were entered into a drawing every day before the presidential election in exchange for signing a petition.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has said that leaders of so-called “sanctuary cities” should have to explain why they deserve federal funding and warned that they could lose their funding. Greene, who has been tapped to lead a subcommittee called the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) under Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, told Fox News she wants to question officials on whether they’re using federal funds to “harbor illegal criminal aliens”.
Trump’s pick for the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, faces renewed scrutiny over sexual assault allegations as Republican lawmakers are reportedly uncomfortable after a number of claims have surfaced. The concerns come as Hegseth was also revealed to have criticized several key US alliances, including Nato, as well as allied countries such as Turkey and international institutions such as the UN, and has said that US troops should not be bound by the Geneva conventions.
The identities of private donors funding Donald Trump’s presidential transition are being kept secret, in a break with precedent, that is obscuring which groups, businesses or wealthy individuals are supporting his second presidential launch.
Rand Paul, a Republican senator of Kentucky, has criticized Donald Trump’s proposed use of the US military to conduct mass deportations of immigrants when he returns to the White House. While Paul still supports Trump’s plans to expel millions of immigrants from the US, the lawmaker has opposed using the US military to do so, arguing that law enforcement would be better suited.
Gavin Newsom, California governor, has announced that the state may offer state tax rebates for electric vehicle purchases if the incoming Trump administration cuts the federal tax credit for electric vehicles. In a statement on Monday, Newsom said that if the Trump administration eliminates the federal tax credit for electric vehicles he would propose creating a new version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, phased out in 2023, which funded 594,000 cars and saved more than 456m gallons of fuel.
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Jim O’Neill, who served in the Department of Health and Human Services under George W Bush, is favored to become Donald Trump’s pick for deputy secretary of the department, the Washington Post reports. O’Neill, who went to work in Silicon Valley after leaving Washington, has invested heavily in tech ventures alongside PayPal CEO Peter Thiel. Thiel, who advised Trump’s first administration, has encouraged the president-elect to nominate O’Neill to a high-level health role in the administration.
O’Neill has been vocally critical of the food and drug administration, saying in a 2014 speech that the FDA should approve drugs “after their sponsors have demonstrated safety, and let people start using them at their own risk” and “prove efficacy after they’ve been legalized”.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, who Trump has selected to lead health and human services, favors O’Neill for the role, the Post reports, although the position still requires Senate confirmation.
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Reacting to the news that special counsel Jack Smith has dropped charges against Donald Trump in classified documents and election interference cases, Democrats say the decision “establishes that Donald Trump is above the law.”
The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly has more:
Responding to news that the special counsel Jack Smith had dropped all charges against Donald Trump for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and retention of classified information, Dan Goldman, a prosecutor turned New York Democrat and member of the House oversight committee, lamented “a shame for justice in this country”.
“It establishes that Donald Trump is above the law,” Goldman told CNN. “The supreme court put him above the law [by ruling that he had ‘absolute immunity’ for official acts] but now he appears to escape full accountability for what were crimes charged by a grand jury.”
Goldman rejected the argument that by re-electing Trump, the American people had acquitted him of all charges.
Florida congressman Mike Waltz will resign from Congress on 20 January, Donald Trump’s inauguration day, Politico and Axios report. Trump has selected Waltz to be his national security adviser.
The timing of Waltz’s resignation means the congressman will still be in Congress for the 3 January speakership vote. It also means two Florida congressional seats will be vacant until 1 April. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida also resigned from Congress after Trump named him as his attorney general pick – although Gaetz withdrew from consideration amid a House ethics investigation into sexual assault allegations against him.
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Trump election interference case dismissed
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal trial over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election has dismissed the case, hours after special counsel Jack Smith asked to end the case. In an opinion dismissing the case, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote that the charges could be brought again after Trump’s presidency.
“Dismissal without prejudice is also consistent with the Government’s understanding that the immunity afforded to a sitting President is temporary, expiring when they leave office.”
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Bidens to attend Trump's inauguration
Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, a White House spokesperson told Reuters.
“The president promised that he would attend the inauguration of whomever won the election,” said Andrew Bates, senior deputy press secretary at the White House. “He and the First Lady are going to honor that promise and attend the inauguration.”
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Just hours after Joe Biden pardoned two turkeys in an event marking the official start of the holiday season in Washington, First Lady Jill Biden received the White House Christmas tree. The Frasier fir was delivered to the White House from the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, a region recently impacted by Hurricane Helene.
“This one remained standing."
— ABC News (@ABC) November 25, 2024
First lady Jill Biden received the 2024 White House Christmas tree, a Frasier fir from the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, a community recently impacted by Hurricane Helene. pic.twitter.com/CPqKq27kh9
Jack Smith is planning to release a final report into his investigations into Donald Trump’s classified documents and election interference cases, CNN reports.
Attorney general Merrick Garland will publicly release the report, as he has past special counsel reports, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN. However, it remains unclear how much information will be included in the reports.
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Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has dropped his office’s lawsuit against Elon Musk and his America Pac. Krasner had sued Musk over his super Pac’s $1m-a-day lottery, where swing state voters were entered into a drawing every day before the presidential election in exchange for signing a petition.
Teddy Schleifer of Puck News first posted a screen capture of the court case today, marking it “Discontinued and Ended”.
A Philadelphia judge had rejected Krasner’s request for an injunction, on the basis that Musk’s lottery violated state election laws, on 4 November.
Donald Trump has declined to sign presidential transition paperwork that requires disclosure of private donors. The memorandum of understanding, which requires an incoming president to disclose the names of private donors and caps their donations at $5,000, would give Trump access to up to $7.2m in federal funding.
Here’s Robert Tait with more:
Sidestepping it means Trump can raise unlimited amounts of cash from rich backers to finance his return to the White House while concealing what they are being promised in return.
He is the first incoming president not to sign the federal transition funding agreement, which is dictated by the Presidential Transition Act.
Transition funds are typically raised to pay for staff, office space and travel needed to put together an administration.
Trump’s decision to avoid the standard procedure has alarmed ethics experts, who warn that it enables wealthy individuals to influence the makeup of a new administration without their names or potential conflicts of interest being disclosed.
It also means the president-elect can accept unlimited donations from foreign donors, who – in contrast to rules prohibiting foreigners from contributing to election campaigns – are legally allowed to donate to transitions.
Chuck Schumer, Senate majority leader, has scheduled Senate Democrats’ leadership elections for 3 December, according to reports.
According to CNN, the leadership elections will start at 9:30am, per a Democratic leadership aide.
Meanwhile, the Democratic national committee announced earlier today that it will select its next chair during a 1 February vote. The committee also plans to hold four forums for candidates in January.
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Donald Trump slams federal cases against him
Trump has broken his silence on the decisions by prosecutors to drop the election interference charges and the classified documents case against him.
In a post on Truth Social, the president-elect said: “These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought.”
He continued:
Over $100m Dollars of taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME. Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before. They have also used State Prosecutors and
District Attorneys, such as Fani Willis and her lover, Nathan Wade (who had absolutely zero experience in cases such as this, but was paid MILLIONS, enough for them to take numerous trips and cruises around the globe!), Letitia James, who inappropriately, unethically, and probably illegally, campaigned on “GETTING TRUMP” in order to win Political Office, and Alvin Bragg, who himself never wanted to bring this case against me, but was forced to do so by the Justice Department and the Democrat Party.
It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
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While the case involving classified documents case will be dropped against Donald Trump, prosecutors say they will continue to pursue the case against two of his employees.
According to CNN, special counsel Jack Smith said that while he is dropping the prosecution of Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents, prosecutors will proceed with the case against two of his employees – Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira – who are co-defendants in the case.
Both individuals, who work for Trump, are accused of assisting the former president in obstructing the federal investigation into sensitive government documents.
CNN noted that the case is now before the 11th US circuit court of appeals, which is reviewing a judge’s order dismissing all charges.
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Vice-president-elect JD Vance has responded to the news that prosecutors have dropped election interference charges and the classified documents case against Donald Trump.
“If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he may very well have spent the rest of his life in prison,” Vance wrote. “These prosecutions were always political.”
He continued: “Now it’s time to ensure what happened to President Trump never happens in this country again.”
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Trump team responds to dismissed cases
In statement, Steven Cheung, the communications director for the president-elect, said: “Today’s decision by the DOJ ends the unconstitutional federal cases against President Trump, and is a major victory for the rule of law.
“The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country,” he added.
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Prosecutors also dropping classified documents case against Trump
Federal prosecutors have also moved today to abandon the classified documents case against Donald Trump, similarly to the election interference case, in light of longstanding justice department policy that says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution – even though Trump has not yet been inaugurated.
The announcement in an appeals court filing in Florida came shortly after the similar filing was made by prosecutors in Washington DC, where they asked to dismiss the case accusing Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, the Associated Press reports.
The move amounts to a predictable but nonetheless stunning conclusion to a criminal case that just one year ago had been seen as the most perilous legal threat that he faced. It reflects the practical consequences of Trump’s electoral victory, ensuring he enters office free from scrutiny over his hoarding of top secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after leaving office in January 2021 – conduct that prosecutors said had jeopardized national scrutiny.
The dismissal had been foreshadowed in recent weeks by the revelation that special counsel Jack Smith was evaluating how to wind down both that case and a separate pending prosecution he brought charging Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Justice department legal opinions dating back decades say sitting presidents cannot be indicted or prosecuted while in office and the government’s filings today indicate that, although unprecedented, they have decided this also applies to a president-elect who was charged while still a private citizen.
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Smith still agrees with Trump's prosecution
The government’s motion to dismiss the election interference case against Donald Trump also says that the prohibition on cases going forward against the president-elect “is categorical” but notes that it “does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government stands fully behind”.
It adds, “based on the department’s interpretation of the Constitution, the Government moves for dismissal without prejudice”, and says that the government has conferred with Trump’s defense lawyers and they do “not object to this motion”.
A grand jury in Washington DC decided in August 2023 that there was cause to indict Trump, “charging the defendant with four felony offenses in connection with his efforts to interfere with Congress’s certification of the 2020 presidential election and the lawful transfer of presidential power”.
From the moment Joe Biden’s victory was declared in November 2020, Trump made both legal and vocal challenges to the result and declared it fraudulent. Then, on January 6, 2021, the day that both houses of Congress were due to meet to certify the results, Trump held a rally urging supporters to “fight” against the result, after which thousands from the crowd went from the White House to the US Capitol and some fought with police and broke in, in a violent assault.
Lawmakers were evacuated as the mob took over the halls, offices and House chamber, but many hours later a shaken congress convened in the early hours of January 7 and belatedly certified Biden’s victory. Trump was impeached for inciting insurrection but cleared by the Senate.
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The filing then goes on to say that Jack Smith’s office consulted with the justice department’s office of legal counsel “whose interpretation of constitutional questions such as those raised here is binding” on department prosecutors, which is what Smith, as special counsel, is.
It notes that, essentially after “special consideration” precedent relating to sitting presidents applies here, even though Trump is only president-elect and will not be inaugurated until 20 January 2025, when Biden, having metaphorically taken the keys to the White House from Trump four years ago, will hand them back.
“As a result, this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant inaugurated.”
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The government points out in its filing the motion to dismiss the election interference case against Donald Trump: “It has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the United States Constitution forbids the criminal indictment and subsequent federal prosecution of a sitting President.”
It notes that American society has never faced the situation before where a private citizen (as Trump became after he left the White House on 20 January 2020 and Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president) has been indicted and a prosecution is underway “when the defendant is elected president”.
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Prosecutors dismiss case against Trump over efforts to overturn 2020 election
Special counsel prosecutors dismissed the criminal case against Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a court filing Monday, as they bowed to the reality that it would not be completed or proceed to trial before Trump returns to the presidency next year.
The withdrawal in the case marked the end of the years-long legal battle between Trump and the special counsel, Jack Smith, and reflected the extraordinary ability of Trump to sidestep an indictment that would have sunk the presidential bid of anyone else.
Trump’s election victory was always going to spell the end of the criminal cases against him due to justice department policy that prohibits prosecutors from taking criminal action against a sitting president. But the preemptive withdrawals showed how Trump used politics to beat the legal system.
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In a court filing, Smith says he and his team were faced with the unprecedented situation of the impending criminal prosecution of a sitting president being forbidden.
The document says: “After careful consideration, the Department has determined … this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated.”
BREAKING: Jack Smith moves to dismiss the case against Trump in Washington. https://t.co/eYG5XB5EF5 pic.twitter.com/vjhui5KDcz
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 25, 2024
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Jack Smith files motion to drop election interference charges against Trump
Special counsel Jack Smith has filed a motion to drop all charges against Donald Trump in the federal election interference case against the president-elect.
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Interim summary
If you’re just joining us now, here is a recap of what has happened today so far:
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has said that leaders of so-called “sanctuary cities” should have to explain why they deserve federal funding and warned that they could lose their funding. Greene, who has been tapped to lead a subcommittee called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, told Fox News she wants to question officials on whether they’re using federal funds to “harbor illegal criminal aliens”. When asked whether such cities and states would lose federal funding, Greene said: “If they use their police officers and resources to harbor and protect illegal criminal aliens, then absolutely.” So-called “sanctuary” cities are places around the country that don’t cooperate with the federal government on enforcing harsh immigration policies.
Trump’s pick for the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, faces renewed scrutiny over sexual assault allegations as Republican lawmakers are reportedly uncomfortable after a number of claims have surfaced.
The concerns come as Hegseth was also revealed to have criticized several key US alliances, including Nato, as well as allied countries such as Turkey and international institutions such as the UN, and has said that US troops should not be bound by the Geneva conventions.
Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to Donald Trump, said that he and the president-elect have “no concerns at all” regarding Pete Hegseth’s confirmation by the Senate as the next US secretary of defense. During an appearance on NewsMax, Lewandowski was asked if Trump had any concerns about Hegseth and his nomination, to which Lewandowski responded: “We have no concerns at all.”
The identities of private donors funding Donald Trump’s presidential transition are being kept secret, in a break with precedent, that is obscuring which groups, businesses or wealthy individuals are supporting his second presidential launch.
Rand Paul, a Republican senator of Kentucky, has criticized Donald Trump’s proposed use of the US military to conduct mass deportations of immigrants when he returns to the White House. While Paul still supports Trump’s plans to expel millions of immigrants from the US, the lawmaker has opposed using the US military to do so, arguing that law enforcement would be better suited.
Gavin Newsom, California governor, has announced that the state may offer state tax rebates for electric vehicle purchases if the incoming Trump administration cuts the federal tax credit for electric vehicles. In a statement on Monday, Newsom said that if the Trump administration eliminates the federal tax credit for electric vehicles he would propose creating a new version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, phased out in 2023, which funded 594,000 cars and saved over 456m gallons of fuel.
Joe Biden has pardoned his final White House turkeys. The president pardoned two turkeys from Minnesota, Peach and Blossom, named after the Delaware state flower, the Peach blossom, which symbolizes resilience, Biden said. After pardoning the turkeys, Biden said: “It’s my last time to speak here as your president during the season and give thanks and gratitude, so let me say to you, it’s been the honor of my life, I’m forever grateful.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump endorsed Jimmy Patronis for Florida’s first congressional district, which was previously held by former representative Matt Gaetz. Gaetz said he wouldn’t take his seat after being nominated as attorney general – later pulling out of the process amid concerns over sexual misconduct claims.
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The White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, says conversations on a Lebanon-Israel ceasefire are positive and going in the right direction, according to Reuters.
“We’re close,” he reportedly said.
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Damian Williams, the United States attorney for the southern district of New York, has announced that he would resign on 13 December, about a month before Donald Trump’s inauguration.
In statement on Monday, Williams said that the decision was “bittersweet” adding that “it is bitter in the sense that I am leaving my dream job, leading an institution I love that is filled with the finest public servants in the world” and that “it is sweet in that I am confident I am leaving at a time when the Office is functioning at an incredibly high level – upholding and exceeding its already high standard of excellence, integrity, and independence”.
He continued: “That success is due to the career attorneys, staff members, and law enforcement agents of this Office. Working with them during my tenure has been a privilege of a lifetime. They are worthy custodians of this Office’s tradition of doing the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons. They are patriots. They are my family. And I will miss them dearly.”
Edward Kim, currently serving as Williams’s deputy, will take over on an acting basis as US attorney for the southern district of New York, according to the announcement.
Earlier this month, Trump said he would nominate former Securities and Exchange Commission chair Jay Clayton for the position.
The position requires confirmation by the US Senate.
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Donald Trump endorses Jimmy Patronis to fill Matt Gaetz's congressional seat
In a post on Truth Social, the president-elect endorsed Jimmy Patronis for Florida’s tfirst congressional district, which was previously held by former representative Matt Gaetz.
Trump wrote:
Jimmy Patronis, Chief Financial Officer for the Great State of Florida, has done a tremendous job as CFO, where he also serves as the State’s Fire Marshall, and as an important member of the Florida Cabinet. I hear that Jimmy is now considering launching a Campaign for Congress in Florida’s 1st Congressional District!”
A fourth generation Floridian from the beautiful Panhandle, and owner of an iconic seafood restaurant, Jimmy has been a wonderful friend to me, and to MAGA. As your next Congressman, Jimmy would work tirelessly alongside of me to Grow our Economy, Secure our Border, Stop Migrant Crime, Strengthen our Incredible Military/Vets, Restore American Energy DOMINANCE, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment.
Should he decide to enter this Race, Jimmy Patronis has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, JIMMY, RUN!
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Trump adviser says he and Trump have 'no concerns at all' about Hegseth nomination
Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to Donald Trump, has said that he and the president-elect have “no concerns at all” regarding Pete Hegseth’s confirmation by the Senate as the next US secretary of defense.
During an appearance on NewsMax, Lewandowski was asked if Trump had any concerns about Hegseth and his nomination, to which Lewandowski responded: “We have no concerns at all.”
“Pete is eminently qualified to be the secretary of defense, the issue is that he’s outside of the box thinking, he’s not the traditional military industrial complex choice,” he added.
Later in the interview, Lewandowski said that with “53 Republican US senators, we’re going to get all of our nominees through”.
This comes as Hegseth, a 44-year-old former Fox News host and army veteran, is facing scrutiny over allegations of sexual assault and has come under fire for his extreme positions and past remarks.
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Biden participates in his last White House turkey pardon
Joe Biden participates in his final White House turkey pardon.
This morning, the president pardoned two turkeys from Minnesota, Peach and Blossom, named after the Delaware state flower, the Peach blossom, which symbolizes resilience, Biden said.
After pardoning the turkeys, Biden said: “This event marks the official start of the holiday season here in Washington.”
He continued: “It’s also my last time to speak here as your president during the season and give thanks and gratitude, so let me say to you, it’s been the honor of my life, I’m forever grateful.”
The tradition of the turkey pardon dates to 1947 when the National Turkey Federation, which represents turkey farmers and producers, first presented a national Thanksgiving turkey to President Harry Truman.
Here are some photos from the event:
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Gavin Newsom, California governor, has announced that the state may offer state tax rebates for electric vehicle purchases if the incoming Trump administration cuts the federal tax credit for electric vehicles.
In a statement on Monday, Newsom said that if the Trump administration eliminates the federal tax credit for electric vehicles he would propose creating a new version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, phased out in 2023, which funded 594,000 cars and saved over 456m gallons of fuel.
Funding for the new rebate system could come from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the statement adds, “which is funded by polluters under the state’s cap-and-trade program”.
“Consumers continue to prove the skeptics wrong – zero-emission vehicles are here to stay,” Newsom said. “We will intervene if the Trump administration eliminates the federal tax credit, doubling down on our commitment to clean air and green jobs in California.”
He continued: “We’re not turning back on a clean transportation future – we’re going to make it more affordable for people to drive vehicles that don’t pollute.”
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Rand Paul, a Republican senator of Kentucky, has criticized Donald Trump’s proposed use of the US military to conduct mass deportations of immigrants when he returns to the White House.
While Paul still supports Trump’s plans to expel millions of immigrants from the US, the lawmaker has opposed using the US military to do so, arguing that law enforcement would be better suited.
During a Sunday interview with CBS News’s Face the Nation, Paul was asked how immigration authorities should carry out mass deportations.
“What we know now about the immigration authorities who would have to be charged with rounding these individuals up, there are just 6,000 agents, 41,000 detention beds to carry out the assignment of rounding up millions of undocumented people, potentially. How do you suggest they implement it?” asked the CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan.
Paul criticized plans to use the military for deportation as “illegal”, adding: “If they send the army into New York and you have 10,000 troops marching carrying semi-automatic weapons, I think it’s a terrible image, and I will oppose that.”
Read more about the remarks here:
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My colleague Robert Tait reported this morning that the identities of private donors funding Donald Trump’s presidential transition are being kept secret, in a break with precedent, that is obscuring which groups, businesses or wealthy individuals are supporting his second presidential launch.
The president-elect has managed to maintain secrecy regarding his financial backers by neglecting to sign an agreement with the outgoing Biden administration.
This agreement would have imposed strict limits on private funding in exchange for up to $7.2m in federal funding for his transition efforts.
Read more about it here:
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Marjorie Taylor Greene calls for leaders of 'sanctuary cities' to defend need for federal funding
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has said that leaders of so-called “sanctuary cities” should have to explain why they deserve federal funding and warned that they could lose their funding.
Greene, who has been tapped to lead a subcommittee called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, told Fox News that she would “like to talk to the governors of sanctuary states and the mayors of sanctuary cities and have them come before our committee and explain why they deserve federal dollars if they’re going to harbor illegal criminal aliens in their states and their cities”.
When asked whether such cities and states would lose federal funding, Greene said: “If they use their police officers and resources to harbor and protect illegal criminal aliens, then absolutely.”
So-called “sanctuary” cities are places around the country that don’t cooperate with the federal government on enforcing harsh immigration policies.
The interviewer also asked Greene where she sees as the “most government waste” to which she responded: “It’s all over, every single government department, program, grant programs, contracts, it is everywhere.”
She said she would do a “deep dive” into all government departments and programs.
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Vice-president Kamala Harris and her former running mate, Governor Tim Walz, are hosting a call on Tuesday to thank their supporters.
The call has been scheduled for 3pm ET on Tuesday, and is described as a “national grassroots call” featuring Harris and Walz to thank their supporters. “Learn how to stay involved in this fight” the description adds.
Harris is scheduled to arrive in California on Monday, after vacationing in Hawaii with her husband, Doug Emhoff, since Tuesday.
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A new survey conducted CBS News has found that most Americans say they approve of Donald Trump’s handling of the presidential transition process.
The new poll, released this morning, also found that 31% of respondents reported feeling “happy” about Trump’s win, while 24% said they were satisfied. In contrast, 23% said they were dissatisfied, and 21% reported feeling angry.
Among Democratic voters surveyed, 50% reported feeling scared about what Trump will do as president, and 35% expressed concern.
In contrast, a majority of Republicans surveyed said that they were excited for Trump’s second presidency, and 41% reported feeling optimistic.
Overall, CBS reports that Republicans today are more enthusiastic about Trump’s presidency now than they were in 2016 when he was first elected.
Meanwhile, Democrats say they feel more scared about what Trump might do than they did in 2016, with many believing he will threaten their rights and freedoms.
Who has Trump picked for cabinet over the weekend
In the last three days Donald Trump finished up making his major cabinet announcements.
If you missed them, here is a quick roundup.
Trump chose Brooke Rollins, president of the America First Policy Institute, to be agriculture secretary.
Trump named Scott Bessent, a longtime hedge-fund investor who taught at Yale University for several years, to serve as treasury secretary.
Trump picked Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget. Vought was OMB chief during Trump’s previous term in office and has been deeply involved in Project 2025 in recent years.
Trump announced Sebastian Gorka, a former Breitbart writer and longtime rightwing Maga supporter, as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counter-terrorism in his second administration.
Trump named Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Oregon representative, as his nominee for labor secretary. Chavez-DeRemer recently lost her re-election bid for the House of Representatives.
Dr Janette Nesheiwat, a double board-certified medical doctor, a regular Fox News contributor, is Trump’s pick for surgeon general.
Alex Wong, a former state department official will serve as deputy national security adviser.
Trump also said he would nominate the Johns Hopkins surgeon and writer Marty Makary to lead the Food and Drug Administration.
Trump announced Scott Turner as his pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Trump announced Dave Weldon, a former representative and a medical doctor, as his choice for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth faces scrutiny over sexual assault claims and Nato views
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
This morning, we start with news that president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has previously criticized several key US alliances, including Nato, as well as allied countries such as Turkey and international institutions such as the UN, and has said that US troops should not be bound by the Geneva conventions.
This comes as Hegseth is also facing scrutiny over allegations of sexual assault and misconduct from 2017. Police did not press charges at the time, and Hegseth has maintained that the encounter was consensual and has denied any wrongdoing.
Last week, the police report detailing the allegations and incident was made public, and since then, concerns around Hegseth’s path to confirmation have grown, with some Republican lawmakers reportedly uncomfortable with the series of sexual misconduct allegations against Hegseth and Trump’s other cabinet picks.
As Hegseth faces a potentially challenging Senate confirmation process next year, concerns continue to arise regarding his qualifications for the position, as well as about his controversial views and past statements.
In other news:
The prominent Republican US senator, James Lankford of Oklahoma said on Sunday that Congress would not give blanket approval to Trump’s controversial cabinet picks.
Public health experts are concerned that if confirmed, Trump’s selection for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr could jeopardize access to pharmaceutical drugs in favor of more experimental treatments.
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