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President-elect appeared virtually in Manhattan Criminal Court, vowing to file another appeal against the case he branded an act of ‘lawfare’ by political enemies
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Donald Trump was sentenced to “unconditional discharge” by Justice Juan Merchan in New York on Friday — just 10 days before his second inauguration — after being found guilty in his hush money trial last year.
The president-elect appeared virtually for the hearing and reiterated his objections to the case, repeating his claim that he was “very, very unfairly treated.”
Sentencing occurred after Trump’s multiple attempts to stop it failed. Ultimately, the Supreme Court declined to intervene, with justices ruling 5-4 in favor of allowing Merchan to proceed.
Trump was convicted on all 34 counts of falsifying business records by a jury of New Yorkers last May. Prosecutors said he misrepresented reimbursement payments to his lawyer, Michael Cohen, as legal fees. Cohen paid off adult film star Stormy Daniels in October 2016 to buy her silence ahead of the election about an alleged extramarital affair.
Trump insisted he would be filing a fresh appeal. He will be the first person convicted of a felony to hold the office of the presidency.
Donald Trump has tossed expansionist rhetoric at U.S. allies and potential adversaries with arguments that the frontiers of American power need to be extended into Canada and the Danish territory of Greenland, and southward to include the Panama Canal.
Trump’s suggestions that international borders can be redrawn — by force if necessary — are particularly inflammatory in Europe. His words run contrary to the argument European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are trying to impress on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But many European leaders — who’ve learned to expect the unexpected from Trump and have seen that actions don’t always follow his words — have been guarded in their response, with some taking a nothing-to-see-here view rather than vigorously defend European Union member Denmark.
Several officials in Europe — where governments depend on U.S. trade, energy, investment, technology, and defense cooperation for security — emphasized their belief that Trump has no intention of marching troops into Greenland.
“I think we can exclude that the United States in the coming years will try to use force to annex territory that interests it,” Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said.
Steven Gill Bradbury, a Project 2025 contributor, will be the next United States Deputy Secretary of Transportation
Katharine MacGregor will serve as the next United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior.
David Fotouhi will serve as the next Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
James P. Danly will be our next United States Deputy Secretary of Energy.
Paul R. Lawrence, a Project 2025 contributor, will serve as the next Deputy Secretary Of Veterans Affairs.
Additionally, Trump announced that Casey B. Mulligan, who is named as a small contributor in Project 2025, will serve as the Chief Counsel for Advocacy at the United States Small Business Administration.
Meta Platforms and Amazon are both rolling back diversity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, the latest in a string of major U.S. companies to withdraw from such work ahead of the White House comeback of Donald Trump, who has long railed against “woke” policies and diversity.
Meta plans to end its DEI programs altogether in training, hiring, and picking suppliers, according to an internal memo seen by Axios, citing a “changing” legal and policy landscape.
The change is the latest major rightward shift at Meta, which announced earlier this week it would ax fact-checking on its platforms Facebook and Instagram, long the target of criticism from the right.
This week, the company also added Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO and Trump ally Dana White to its board, in a move seen as an attempt to gain favorable treatment from the new administration.
Rudy Giuliani has been held in contempt of court for the second time in a week on Friday a federal judge in Washington, D.C., lambasted the former New York City mayor for repeatedly attacking a pair of election workers he defamed despite a court order that blocks him from repeating false statements against them.
Read more from Alex Woodward
Trump’s former attorney faces contempt sanctions twice in one week
President Joe Biden on Friday trumpeted yet another positive jobs report and the economy he helped shape in remarks at the White House just days ahead of his farewell address to America.
Biden’s administration is the only one in American history to see new jobs created every single month of his four-year term.
His comments on the economy will likely be part of his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office Wednesday night.
“How and why did we make such progress?” Biden asked regarding the economy in remarks in the Roosevelt Room of the West Wing. “We did it by fundamentally changing the economic policy of this country after decades of trickle down economics that primarily benefited those at the very top.”
Read more from Andrew Feinberg:
President dings ‘trickle down’ economics for the ‘very top’ ahead of his farewell address Wednesday
Senator Roger Wicker, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Jack Reed, the ranking member, were briefed about the FBI report on Pete Hegseth, Defense Secretary nominee, with just days until his Senate confirmation hearing.
In preparation for the confirmation hearing, which is expected to raise various questions about Hegseth’s qualifications, Wicker and Reed read the FBI report – the only committee members permitted to do so, per NBC News.
Hegseth’s confirmation hearing is set to take place Tuesday morning
Nigel Farage is set to host ‘the biggest inauguration party’ in Washington DC with Donald Trump, the president-elect’s family, Elon Musk, senior Republicans and the UK’s new ambassador to the US Lord Mandelson all expected to attend
Read more here:
Exclusive: Nigel Farage is set to host ‘the biggest inauguration party’ in Washington DC with Donald Trump, the president-elect’s family, Elon Musk, senior Republicans and the UK’s new ambassador to the US Lord Mandelson all expected to attend
President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East is trying to work on securing a ceasefire deal with Israel and Gaza before Trump takes office on January 20, according to a new report.
The envoy is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday amid ceasefire talks between the U.S., Qatar, Israel and Palestine.
Steve Witkoff, a real estate investor who Trump has tapped as envoy to the Middle East, met with the Qatari prime minister to discuss the most recent developments.
Denmark officials allegedly spoke with President-elect Donald Trump’s team about increasing U.S. military pressence on Greenland, sources told Axios.
The report comes days after Trump said he would not rule out using the military to take over Greenland – an autonomous territory of Denmark that the president-elect has claimed he wants the U.S. to control. He claims it is necessary for national security purposes.
Publicly, the Prime Minister of Denmark and the Premier of Greenland have said Greenland is “not for sale” and rebuked Trump’s comments.
According to the new report, the Danish government reiterated those remarks to Trump but also expressed a readiness to work with the incoming Trump administration regarding Greenland.
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