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Donald Trump has endorsed the current speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, for re-election ahead of Friday’s crucial vote when Congress returns from its holiday recess.
Speaker Johnson, who narrowly averted a government shutdown before Christmas, hopes to hold onto the gavel but needs the support of 218 lawmakers so cannot afford more than one GOP rebellion, given his side’s slim majorty of 219 to 215.
Taking to Truth Social to call for Republican unity, the president-elect backed the incumbent by hailing Johnson as “a good, hard working, religious man.”
“He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN,” he said. “Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement.”
Meanwhile, a federal appeals court has upheld a ruling against the president-elect after he challenged a jury’s verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming former magazine columnist E Jean Carroll.
“Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings, and has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial,” three appellate judges wrote in their decision Monday.
Former speaker Newt Gingrich on Johnson: ‘I could never do his job’
Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich is among GOP voices throwing their support to Mike Johnson’s bid to hang on to the speakership.
“I tell everybody, I was a pretty effective speaker. I could never do his job,” Gingrich told 77 WABC. “He has no margins. Any two or three members can rebel at any moment.”
This Friday, House members will gather to cast their votes for speaker in the new Congress, and Johnson can only afford to lose one Republican vote from his extremely slim caucus. Republicans hold only a 219-215 majority.
At least one Republican representative, Thomas Massie, has said outright he will not be supporting Johnson.
Watch: Peruvian shamans share bizarre Trump-Putin predictions for 2025
Peruvian shamans share bizarre Trump-Putin predictions for 2025
Peruvian shamans have predicted a bizarre alliance in 2025 between US President-elect Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin which would exclude China and potentially trigger a third World War. In an annual ritual on Friday, 27 December, the group also predicted natural disasters in Canada and Japan and advised wearing gold to prevent betrayals in the upcoming Year of the Snake. The shamans blew smoke and waved flowers on images of world leaders such as Mr Trump, Mr Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping during cleansing rituals atop San Cristobal Hill in Lima.
Musk to Mike: ‘You have my full support’
After firing off dozens of posts this month to derail a bipartisan spending bill helmed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Elon Musk says the Republican congressman has his “full support.”
After the House passed a third attempt at the stop-gap bill, Johnson told reporters he spoke with both Trump and Musk an hour before votes started.
Full story: Trump endorses Mike Johnson for House Speaker days before crucial vote
Trump’s key endorsement ahead of Friday’s vote to determine who wields the gavel sends a clear signal to House Republicans to line up behind Johnson, who has faced some resistance from the GOP’s far-right flank after inter-party chaos nearly derailed a must-pass spending bill hours before a government shutdown.
Retired Army general declares Musk a ‘national security risk’ in brutal NYT op-ed
Elon Musk has been branded a “national security risk” by a former US army general, who cited his concerns over the tech billionaire’s close ties with the Chinese government.
Lieutenant General Russel L Honoré, who retired in 2008, highlighted Musk’s history of appeasing and praising the Chinese Communist Party and his multiple business deals with the party, particularly in the modern space race.
In a scathing op-ed, published in The New York Times, Honoré noted that Musk and his company SpaceX already face federal reviews for failing to provide details of meetings with foreign leaders, but said that such infractions were “just the beginning of my worries.”
Mike Bedigan has more.
Fox News declares the ‘real losers’ in the MAGA civil war over visas – the Democrats
After carefully tip-toeing around the growing tensions that have rocked the GOP in recent days, Fox News appears to have finally found a narrative it can sell to right-wing viewers about the MAGA civil war currently ongoing over the thorny issue of immigrant visas.
According to the conservative cable news giant, “infighting” is “how politics ought to work” and Democrats who were “giddy” over the right tearing itself apart over highly-skilled immigrant workers are the “real losers” while MAGA is merely having a “civilized debate” over the matter.
Got that guys?
Justin Baragona has a full report.
E Jean Carroll camp ‘gratified’ by appeals court decision
Here’s what Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan had to say about today’s appeal’s court ruling in a short statement to The Independent:
“Both E Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today’s decision. We thank the Second Circuit for its careful consideration of the parties’ arguments.”
Speaker Johnson says he’s ‘honored and humbled’ by Trump’s endorsement
Here’s the current House GOP leader’s typically grovelling response to the president-elect’s post just now.
And here’s US Attorney General One America News presenter Matt Gaetz’s take:
Trump claims Bill Gates asked to visit Mar-a-Lago in apparent message to Musk
As tensions flare between Musk and the president-elect’s MAGA allies, Trump himself posted what appeared to be a personal message to the SpaceX and Tesla boss on Truth Social over the weekend claiming that fellow billionaire Bill Gates had asked to come to Mar-a-Lago.
Trump suggested the Microsoft co-founder had requested an invite to his Florida estate and encouraged Musk to join them.
“Where are you? When are you coming to the ‘Center of the Universe,’ Mar-a-Lago. Bill Gates asked to come, tonight. We miss you and x! New Year’s Eve is going to be AMAZING!!!” the Republican wrote.
Trump then signed the message “DJT”, as is his custom.
Here’s Kelly Rissman to attempt to get to the bottom of it.
Breaking: Trump denied new trial in first E Jean Carroll case against him
A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling against the president-elect after he challenged a jury’s verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming a former magazine writer.
Monday’s decision from a three-judge panel with New York’s 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals follows a May 2023 verdict awarding E Jean Carroll $5m for the former president’s ongoing defamation by denying claims that he sexually assaulted her in a department store in 1996.
In January, a second jury in a separate trial ordered Trump to pay Carroll more than $83m in damages for his defamatory statements about the former Elle magazine writer.
Trump argued the verdict from the 2023 judgment should be tossed out on his claims that the trial judge should not have let jurors hear testimony from two other women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
One of those women, Jessica Leeds, testified that Trump groped her on a plane in the late 1970s.
Another woman, former People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff, said Trump forcibly kissed her at Mar-a-Lago in 2005.
Trump’s lawyers also said jurors also should not have listened to his comments on the so-called Access Hollywood tape, on which the president-elect brags about grabbing women’s genitals.
“Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings, and Trump “has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial,” appellate judges wrote in their decision on Monday.
Here’s the very latest from Alex Woodward.
