Wednesday, January 8 | By Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch |
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| ▪ Greenland, Panama Canal in Trump's sights ▪ Carter lies in state at the Capitol ▪ Meta will no longer fact-check content ▪ Who will lead Canada next? |
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©️ The Associated Press | Evan Vucci |
Trump signals he means it on Greenland, Canada |
President-elect Trump, transactional to his core, argued Tuesday that Denmark should sell Greenland to the United States to benefit global security. He pressed Panama to forfeit control of the canal that America completed in 1914. And he vowed that "economic force" could benefit the U.S. trade relationship with Canada, an ally he derided as a potential 51st state. Trump's taunts and global peeves aired during a stream-of-consciousness news conference included criticism of President Biden for ordering an offshore oil drilling ban along most U.S. coastlines two weeks before his successor's Inauguration. Upshot: Plenty of headlines, including rebukes from leaders in Denmark, Panama and Canada, and furious eye-rolling from Democrats at home. "The Panama Canal is a disgrace," the president-elect said. "They were supposed to treat us well. They don't." What was Trump's purpose? Canadians chalked it up to "gaining leverage." He "has long used bombastic rhetoric as a negotiating and posturing tool," reports The Hill's Brett Samuels. And Trump's muscular messaging is well received among "America First" supporters, including in Congress. Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of NATO member Denmark, would be an unlikely target for the use of military force. France's foreign minister warned Trump against threatening the "sovereign borders" of the European Union. The president-elect has a history of relying on confrontation and sometimes stunts — litigation, public derision, threats of tariffs and manufactured facts — to try to gain something he values to benefit allies while knocking perceived foes off-balance. "This is an example of persuading people that what they thought was settled isn't settled," Jon Alterman, senior vice president and Zbigniew Brzezinski chair in global security and geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Hill. ▪ The New York Times: Dripping faucets and seizing Greenland: With Trump, some things don't change. ▪ Bloomberg News analysis: Trump's Panama, Greenland threats signal unchained second term. Trump shared footage Tuesday on Truth Social of the Trump-branded red, white and blue jet with Donald Trump Jr. aboard landing in Greenland. Ostensibly, the president-elect's son was there to shoot video for a podcast. The younger Trump met with no officials during his trip but captured images of some Greenlanders wearing "Make America Great Again" caps. Meanwhile at Mar-a-Lago, the president-elect had less to share with inquiring reporters about how soon his policies can lower inflated prices, how he'll end the war between Russia and Ukraine (which he told voters he'd do before taking office), details behind major budget, immigration and tax legislation pending with Republicans in Congress and why he believes that "obviously" windmills "are driving the whales crazy." |
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Smart Take
with Blake Burman |
| Have congressional Democrats fully recognized one of the takeaways of the 2024 election? When House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) spoke before Congress on Friday, he began by addressing high costs and immigration. It's not an accident, as those were the key issues in November. However, on Tuesday, 159 House Democrats voted against the Laken Riley Act, which would require the detention of undocumented immigrants charged with crimes like theft and burglary. Forty-eight Democrats did vote for the bill. That's more than the 37 who voted for it in the last Congress. Question to consider: Does this signal more Democrats want to work with Republicans on immigration, or have many still not moved their positions, even after the election? |
Burman hosts "The Hill" weeknights, 6p/5c. NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill. |
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- Tens of thousands of people are fleeing to escape at least four wind-whipped wildfires engulfing parts of the Los Angeles area, including Pacific Palisades. Officials warn the worst is yet to come. Biden, scheduled to depart Santa Monica and fly out of Los Angeles today, received a phone briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency late Tuesday, according to the White House, and urged residents in affected areas to heed evacuation orders.
- Two bodies were discovered Monday in a wheel well of a JetBlue plane in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after a flight from New York City. It's among a string of recent airline security challenges, including one involving an unticketed passenger charged last month with sneaking onto a Delta Air Lines flight from New York City bound for Paris.
- Thousands of longshoremen from Maine to Texas could walk off the job next week if long-running contract issues are not resolved, leading to a costly strike.
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©️ The Associated Press | Andrew Harnik
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CARTER'S LEGACY: The remains of former President Jimmy Carter arrived in Washington for the last time Tuesday to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda until his funeral Thursday at Washington National Cathedral. Members of Congress paid their respects, and the public was invited to file past the 39th president's casket. Biden is expected to speak Thursday at the funeral. Vice President Harris delivered one of three eulogies Tuesday, lauding Carter at the Capitol for his contributions to environmentalism and conservation, his work with Habitat for Humanity and his successful efforts in 1978 to broker a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. "He served the people, and he left the world better than he found it," Harris said. "And in the end, Jimmy Carter's work, and those works, speak for him — louder than any tribute we can offer." COURTS: U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Justice Department from releasing special counsel Jack Smith's report on Trump's two prosecutions, granting a request from his legal team. The ruling from Cannon comes after Trump's two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago documents case asked her to bar the release of both sections of Smith's report, including that dealing with Trump's election interference case. Cannon's ruling came as Trump offered her lavish praise during Tuesday's news conference. "The judge in Florida, Judge Cannon, was brilliant and tough," Trump said, adding that she was "a very strong and very brilliant judge." In New York, Judge Ellen Gesmer of the state's midlevel appeals court on Tuesday declined to suspend Trump's Friday sentencing on his hush money criminal conviction. Gesmer rejected Trump's emergency petition to immediately halt the proceeding, which is set to cement his status as a felon before he returns to the White House. Trump is expected to ask a full panel to stop the sentencing from moving forward while he appeals two rulings by Judge Juan Merchan allowing his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star to stand. But Trump has requested a hearing date of Jan. 27, a week after the inauguration, when the case is expected to be frozen. CONGRESS: Senate Republicans, led by Trump on Tuesday, are waging an all-out assault on Biden administration regulations implemented in recent months. In the weeks ahead, GOP senators will bring an array of Congressional Review Act resolutions to unwind various regulations, and they're expected to pick up some Democratic support from moderates, such as Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). The Hill's Alexander Bolton reports they need to act quickly on the deregulatory front because a joint resolution disapproving of Biden-era rules needs to be introduced under strict time requirements. "It's a target-rich environment," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). "I think the most important thing is for us to have sort of internal discussion and prioritization. It would be good to have some initial successes." ▪ The Hill: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is urging the Department of Justice to rescind a number of internal opinions dealing with a president's military powers while asking for clarification on domestic use of America's forces. ▪ MSNBC analysis: How 30-year-old Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), sworn in Friday, went from clickbait to Congress. ▪ The Hill: The House on Tuesday passed legislation named after the slain Georgia student Laken Riley that would require detention of migrants arrested for theft. It cleared the chamber in a 264-159 vote, with 48 Democrats joining all Republicans in support. ▪ The Hill: Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that his meeting with former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) has left him with more questions as she looks to win confirmation in the coming weeks to lead the U.S. intelligence community. ▪ CNN: The Senate Homeland Security Committee's confirmation hearing for South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Trump's pick for Department of Homeland Security secretary, is scheduled for Jan. 15. FOREIGN POLICY: Trump has vowed to bring a swift end to Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, but that may prove complicated as he faces an escalating hybrid war carried out by Russia against NATO's allies in Europe, and Moscow's attempts to attack the U.S. These hybrid tactics are intentionally hard to trace, and NATO allies on the front lines of tensions with Russia say the alliance isn't doing enough to keep up. "Whether the level of deterrence in that domain is sufficient, probably the answer is not yet," Estonian Ambassador to the U.S., Kristjan Prikk, told The Hill in a conversation at the Atlantic Council last month. "But, unfortunately when it comes to resilience, it's not an end state that can be declared… It's a constant process to maintain and increase the level of resilience." Meanwhile, there's a hope-for-the-best attitude among U.S. officials and America's allies for Trump's policy choices in Asia. They express uncertainty over whether progress made during the Biden administration to deepen relations with, and between, Indo-Pacific partners may get torn up by Trump. Some fear Trump could fragment alliances that Biden created by focusing too much on bilateral and dealmaking ties. Or he may withdraw military and economic support in the region as a gesture of goodwill toward China's autocratic president, Xi Jinping. But Trump's selections of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for secretary of State, and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) as national security adviser instill confidence in some skeptics of a balanced approach to the region. |
- The House is scheduled to meet at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. The Senate convenes today at 11 a.m.
- President Biden and first lady Jill Biden begin their day in California before departing Santa Monica for a return to Washington that includes a stop in Los Angeles. They are expected back at the White House by 8 p.m.
- The vice president is in Washington. She will add her signature to those of some of her predecessors in the drawer of the ceremonial vice presidential desk at 4:15 p.m.
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Paris where he will meet with his counterpart, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, and later with French President Emmanuel Macron.
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©️ The Associated Press | Thibault Camus |
WHOSE TRUTH?: Meta has ended its U.S. fact-checking efforts, which were initiated in 2016, citing too many "mistakes" and too much censorship. The program will be replaced with a community-driven system similar to X's Community Notes. The move by CEO Mark Zuckerberg is seen as a win for conservatives who complained that online fact-checking favored Democrats. The company is also making changes to its content moderation policies around political topics and undoing changes that reduced the amount of political content in user feeds, Zuckerberg said. The decision marks a sharp reversal for the major social media company, quickly prompting questions about the firm's direction as Trump heads back to the Oval Office. "Meta, like all companies, wants to make life as simple for themselves as they possibly can," said Peter Loge, a former adviser in the Obama administration and current director of George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs. "The President of the United States and others don't like fact-checking, so Meta will take fact-checking away. It's a company saying, 'We're getting a lot of flak from a lot of important people.'" TIKTOK: The fate of TikTok, one of the U.S.'s most-used social media platforms, is in the balance this week. On Friday, representatives of TikTok's parent company ByteDance will ask the Supreme Court to halt a looming ban later this month. Lawmakers argue the Chinese-owned app poses a national security threat, and Biden signed legislation that will require ByteDance to sell the app by Jan. 19. If it fails to do so by the deadline, TikTok will no longer be available to download, and internet service providers will be legally prohibited from allowing access. Axios: TikTok's sister app Lemon8 has been sponsoring posts on TikTok encouraging users to migrate to Lemon8 amid a looming ban threat. IN VIRGINIA, Virginia Democrats held on to a state Senate seat and a state House seat during Tuesday's special elections. Republicans maintained control of another state Senate seat. None of the victories were upsets, given the districts' leanings, but Democrats closely watched turnout for hints at their performance after losing November's presidential election. |
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©️ The Associated Press | Mark Schiefelbein |
INSIDE CANADA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Monday announcement that he will resign was the last card that Canada's deeply unpopular prime minister, who had set his party on course to lose a national election, had left to play. The political levers he has pulled — proroguing Parliament until late March — will give the Liberal Party a chance to reinvent itself without him. But they will also leave Canada weakened as it braces for Trump, who has threatened the country with crippling tariffs. It appears to be a gamble Trudeau is willing to take. Polls show the Liberal Party lagging significantly behind the Conservative Party ahead of a general election slated to take place by October. As the Liberals search for a new leader, Conservatives are leaning on Pierre Poilievre, the populist leader who rode a wave of discontent with Canada's COVID-19 policies, putting him on the cusp of becoming prime minister — and ending a decade's worth of Liberal rule. Poilievere on Tuesday slammed Trump's idea of making his country America's 51st state. "Canada will never be the 51st state. Period. We are a great and independent country," Poilievre wrote on the social platform X. BBC: Who might replace Trudeau as Liberal Party leader? SYRIA: The Biden administration has eased sanctions blocking transactions with the transitional Syrian government following the ousting of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad. The move marks a gesture of outreach between the U.S. and Hay'at Tahrir al Sham (HTS), which is designated as a terrorist group in the U.S. The sanctions relief allows for American businesses and nongovernmental organizations to contribute to Syria's reconstruction under the transitional government, particularly in the form of essential services such as electricity, energy, water and sanitation. The U.S. has called for HTS to carry out the transition to a Syrian government that is inclusive of civil society, in particular minorities and women, as necessary to establish relations. ▪ ABC News: The first international commercial flight since the fall of Assad landed Tuesday at the Damascus airport, arriving from Qatar. ▪ Financial Times: Germany is at the helm of efforts within the European Union to ease sanctions on Syria. ▪ Politico: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday that Turkey is ready to step in if Syria breaks up. GAZA: Trump on Tuesday repeated warnings that all hell will break loose in the Middle East if hostages kidnapped from Israel and held by Hamas in Gaza are not released before his inauguration on Jan. 20. "It will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone," Trump said. "All hell will break out. I don't have to say anymore, but that's what it is." Steve Witkoff, Trump's incoming special envoy to the Middle East, said at the same press conference that there's been progress on efforts to release about 100 hostages held in Gaza, saying he's hopeful a deal will be achieved ahead of the inauguration. He plans to return to Doha this week. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said repeatedly that the administration is working to try to conclude a hostage release and ceasefire deal with all parties before the end of Biden's term in office. ▪ The Washington Post: Israel signed domestic deals worth around $275 million to produce its own heavy bombs and raw materials for defense in a bid to reduce its reliance on imports. ▪ The New York Times: Ireland has formally joined South Africa's genocide case against Israel, according to a statement on Tuesday from the International Court of Justice. |
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- The legacy of Bidenomics: Maybe not much at all, by Catherine Rampell, columnist, The Washington Post.
- Banning TikTok won't solve your data-security problem, by Jason L. Riley, columnist, The Wall Street Journal.
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©️ The Associated Press | University of Birmingham |
And finally … 🦕 It's a prehistoric traffic jam. Scientists in the U.K. recently discovered that at least five dinosaurs crossed an intersection in Oxfordshire some 166 million years ago, leaving behind 200 footprints that researchers have dubbed the "dinosaur highway." The discovery last summer is the most significant finding of dinosaur tracks in the U.K. in decades, chalked up to a quarry worker who spotted bumps on the ground. "For something of this scale to have been preserved for so long, giving us a snapshot of what tropical Oxfordshire looked like 166 million years ago — when these animals were just going about their day — it's pretty special," Kirsty Edgar, a professor of micropaleontology at the University of Birmingham in England who helped lead the excavation, told The Washington Post. "It's the closest we'll get to a time machine." |
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