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President-elect claimed politicians in California were unable to put out raging fires – elevating his longstanding feud with Newsom
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President-elect Donald Trump blamed “California pols” for failing to control the outrageous wildfires that have burned more than 40,000 acres – renewing a longstanding feud with Governor Gavin Newsom.
“The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.
“Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” He added.
Newsom has already accused the incoming president of using the natural disaster to spread misinformation about California politics. He has invited the incoming president to tour California and assess the damage. Trump has not yet accepted that invitation.
Meanwhile, in another political feud, outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to Trump’s comments about making Canada a 51st state by saying he was not focused on something “that will never happen.”
“My focus has to be not on something he’s talking about that will not ever happen, but more on something that might well happen, that if he does choose to go forward with tariffs,” Trudeau said on Sunday.
Vice President-elect JD Vance drew a line in the sand for the incoming Trump administration’s pardon strategy during an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
Vance was asked how Donald Trump would handle his promise to pardon some of those Americans convicted or charged with crimes resulting from the siege of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. During his bid for the White House, Trump pledged to grant clemency to his supporters who caused lawmakers and Capitol staff to hide in fear for their lives while a violent mob battled with police inside and outside the main building for hours.
John Bowden reports:
Incoming vice president claims ‘we need to rectify’ prosecution of January 6 rioters who did not commit violence
Some January 6 rioters who were prosecuted for storming the U.S. Capitol and unlawfully entering to interrupt Congress’s certification of the 2020 election can expect pardons, incoming vice president JD Vance said.
“Look, if you protested peacefully on January the sixth and you’ve had Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned,” Vance told Fox News on Sunday.
“If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned. And there’s a little bit of grey area there,” he added.
It is unclear how many of the more than 700 people convicted of crimes on January 6 will receive a pardon. But Donald Trump is expected to uphold his promise to pardon many of them.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau brushed off Trump’s comments about making Canada the “51st state” and downplayed them as nothing more than something that “will not ever happen”.
On Sunday, Trudeau told Jenn Pskai he was not paying attention to Trump’s taunts because they’re not part of reality.
“This isn’t out of the blue, that he’s doing this,” Trudeau said. But my focus has to be – not on something he’s talking about that will not ever happen – but more on something that might well happen, that if he does choose to go forward with tariffs.”
The incoming president’s very real threat to impose a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods has created political chaos in Canada. With an already struggling economy, Canada could face economic hardships if Trump imposes the tariffs.
Disagreements over how to handle the possible tariffs pushed Trudeau to resign from his position as prime minister.
Trudeau on Trump’s annexation threat: “My focus has to be not on something he’s talking about that will not ever happen, but more on something that might well happen, that if he does choose to go forward with tariffs… we’re going to have a robust response.”
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Incoming vice president JD Vance claimed family separation policies at the border were only a “euphemism” despite admitting some families will likely be separated at the border.
“This term is something you’re gonna hear a lot in the next couple of months, the next couple of years, Shannon – family separation,” Vance told Fox News host Shannon Bream on Sunday.
“That’s a euphemism, that’s a dishonest term to hide behind the fact that Joe Biden has not done border enforcement,” Vance continued.
The vice president-elect said if an undocumented immigrant commits a crime they will be sent back to their country of origin and separated from their families.
Trump’s controversial family separation policy is expected to return in his new administration. He and his border czar, Tom Homan, have said that children of non-citizen parents will be detained and deported alongside their families but that it’s up to each family if they are deported together or separately.
In a Truth Social post early Sunday morning, President-elect Donald Trump blamed California politicians for failing to put out the wildfires that have burned more than 35,000 acres.
“The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out. Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?”
Several out-of-control factors have made the wildfires incredibly difficult to put out – like strong, dry winds, bone-dry vegetation and dwindling water supply.
Special counsel Jack Smith has completed his reports on his criminal investigations into Donald Trump and resigned from the Department of Justice.
Smith — a chief prosecutor at The Hague who was appointed to handle investigations into the president-elect for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and withhold classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago compound — delivered his final reports to Attorney General Merrick Garland on January 7.
The Hague prosecutor was appointed to oversee federal criminal investigations into the president-elect
A study from the National Consortium for The Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism found that between 1990 and 2022, 170 people with U.S. military backgrounds plotted 144 mass casualty terror attacks, representing about 25 percent of all individuals planning such crimes during this period. That proportion is more than three times the share of military veterans in the overall population.
The study also found nearly three-quarters of these offenders were motivated by far-right extremist groups and movements.
“It is not that there are more extremists among the military,” Wendy Via, CEO and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said.
However, the problem is what this small group of individuals does once they cross over into extremism.
Josh Marcus reports:
Veterans aren’t more likely to hold extremist views — but they are more likely to act on them, experts tell Josh Marcus
President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden are leaving the White House on January 20, marking the end of the president’s 50 years in politics.
But Biden, 82, insists he’s not quite ready to retreat into a slow retirement just yet. In interviews, the president has indicated he’s still got work to do to improve Americans’ lives. Jill Biden, 73, has similarly dedicated her life to others through education, but she has kept quiet about her next chapter after the White House.
Read more here
On Inauguration Day, the new US president and vice president are sworn in during a ceremony that marks the end of one presidency and the beginning of the next.
Inauguration Day falls on Monday, January 20.
Trump will take the oath of office at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The ceremony begins at 12 p.m. ET.
Every four years, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies ensures a chunk of inauguration tickets are made available to the public.
These tickets are free of charge — but they’re limited, and you’ll have to contact your local congressperson to get one.
To find your representative and senators, use Congress.gov.
President Joe Biden said he still believes he would have won the US election if he stood against Donald Trump.
The outgoing president was asked if he regretted his decision not to run for reelection during a press conference on Friday (10 January).
Biden said: “I think I would have beaten Trump, I could have beaten Trump.
“And I think that Kamala could have beaten Trump and would have beaten Trump. It wasn’t about that. I thought it was important to unify the party.”
President Joe Biden said he still believes he would have won the US election if he stood against Donald Trump. The outgoing president was asked if he regretted his decision not to run for reelection during a press conference on Friday (10 January). Biden said: “I think I would have beaten Trump, I could have beaten Trump. “And I think that Kamala could have beaten Trump and would have beaten Trump. It wasn’t about that. I thought it was important to unify the party.”
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