Summary
Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Updated
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.”
