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      Senior Biden aide commits to giving Ukraine avalanche of military assistance

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      The White House has gamed out a last-minute strategy to bolster Ukraine’s war position that involves an avalanche of military assistance and sweeping new sanctions against Russia, according to a background briefing from a National Security Council spokesperson.National security adviser Jake Sullivan met with the head of the office of the Ukrainian president Andriy Yermak for more than an hour on Thursday, committing to provide Ukraine with hundreds of thousands of additional artillery rounds, thousands of rockets and hundreds of armored vehicles by mid-January, according to the briefing shared with the Guardian.The US is also pledging to support Ukraine’s manpower challenge, offering to train new troops at sites outside Ukrainian territory. This comes alongside a nearly finalized $20bn in loans, which will be backed by profits from immobilized Russian sovereign assets.The United States is tying that to a number of new sanctions to come in the coming weeks, all with the intent of complicating Russia’s ability to sustain its war effort and boosting Ukraine’s bargaining power at the negotiation table that could lay the groundwork for a future settlement.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe White House’s latest move comes a little more than a month in advance of Donald Trump’s inauguration, when the US may unload an all-new strategy for a ceasefire altogether.According to a Reuters report, the president-elect’s team is quietly developing a peace proposal for Ukraine that would effectively sideline Nato membership and potentially cede significant territory to Russia, signaling a dramatic shift from current US policy. Trump, for his part, has often stated that he would end the Ukraine and Russia war within 24 hours.Still, Ukrainian officials, including Yermak and Ambassador Oksana Markarova, have been meeting with key figures in Trump’s transition team this week, including JD Vance, Florida representative and potential National security adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s pick for Russia and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, in a bid to secure continued support.These meetings carry heightened urgency, particularly after House speaker Mike Johnson blocked a vote on $24bn in additional aid to Ukraine. The Pentagon has nonetheless committed to sending $725m in military assistance this week, the largest shipment since April. More

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      Raw milk CEO whose products have been recalled may lead US raw milk policy

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      Mark McAfee, a California raw milk producer whose products have been recalled several times recently due to bird flu contamination, said he has been approached by Robert F Kennedy Jr’s team to guide the upcoming administration on raw milk policy.McAfee, whose dairy products were recalled after state officials detected bird flu virus in milk samples, said that the transition team for Kennedy, the nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, asked him to apply for a position advising on raw milk policy and standards development. The idea, he told the Guardian, would be to create a “raw milk ordinance”, mirroring the existing federal “standard milk ordinance”.Kennedy is a notable fan of raw, or unpasteurized, milk, including McAfee’s products. If confirmed, he has said, he would work to remove restrictions on raw milk, which the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have so far advised against consuming.Kennedy’s team did not respond immediately to the Guardian’s request for comment.If McAfee, whose farm is the largest producer of raw milk in the US, were to gain a role in the upcoming administration, it would be in line with the upcoming administration’s broader edict to put industry heads in roles regulating the very products they sell.Trump has also appointed oil executive Chris Wright for secretary of energy, and Wall Street executive Howard Lutnick for commerce secretary.McAfee’s Raw Farm in Fresno supplies raw milk and milk products to grocery stories across California, and has the unique distinction of supplying the kefir used in the smoothies at Los Angeles’s celebrity-approved Erewhon market.Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate when he ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, interviewed McAfee for a documentary about raw milk released earlier this year. She told McAfee that Kennedy was a fan, and drinks his milk when he is home in Malibu. In a post on X in October, Kennedy said that with Trump in office, the FDA’s “war on public health” would end, as would its “aggressive suppression” of raw milk.Raw milk, which is not heated to kill harmful pathogens, has been linked to the outbreak of bacterial infections including a strain of E coli that can cause kidney failure. McAfee’s farm has also been involved in several lawsuits stemming from a salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 171 people in California last year.The federal government does not regulate the sale of raw milk – states do – but the FDA prohibits the interstate sale of unpasteurized milk for human consumption. In 2008, McAfee’s company pleaded guilty to putting “pet food” stickers on its raw milk in order to illegally sell it across state lines for human consumption.McAfee and other proponents of raw milk have claimed that it has more beneficial enzymes and diverse probiotics than pasteurized milk. The current FDA and researchers have countered that milk is not, in fact, a significant source of probiotics in the first place, and that the bacteria found in raw milk – which come through infected udder tissues, or the dairy environment including soil and cow manure), and milking equipment – are not the kinds that benefit our digestive systems.But the consumption of raw milk has come under particular scrutiny this year amid a bird flu, or H5N1, outbreak, which included the first documented human cases of the virus. No known cases of bird flu virus have been confirmed in people who drank raw milk, although there are three cases in North America where the source has not been identified. Contact with raw milk and the handling of raw milk, however, has been associated with infections – especially among dairy workers.Research suggests that milk carries huge amounts of viral particles. “The most infectious thing from the cows is the milk,” said Meghan Davis, a molecular epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University studying environmental health. In some cases, cows that tested negative for H5N1 in their respiratory tracts were found to be carrying the virus in their milk.Consuming raw milk amid the bird flu outbreak, Davis said, is inherently risky. While most people who have been infected with bird flu have reported mild illnesses, people with compromised or suppressed immune systems could experience more severe symptoms. And as more people are infected, the virus is more likely to mutate and develop more infectious or severe strains that could affect the broader population.“The impact of another pandemic would be awful,” said Davis. “Especially of a pandemic that really affects our food-producing animals as well as people.”Cats who have drunk infected raw milk have exhibited severe neurological symptoms and died.Still, McAfee vehemently denies that raw milk could be implicated in any such risks.“This is the newest platform for the FDA to attack us,” McAfee said. “There are no reported illnesses in the United States regarding [bird flu] and raw milk. Zero. But yet they say the sky is falling.”Like other proponents of raw milk, he has suggested that milk from infected cows boosts immunity to bird flu by passing on antibodies. Antibodies to H5N1, however, have not been found in raw milk products, and cow antibodies would not confer immunity to humans.This week, Raw Farm voluntarily recalled all milk and cream products made between 9 and 27 November after tests found bird flu virus in retail samples and dairy storage and bottling sites. The California department of food and agriculture also quarantined the farm and suspended the distribution of Raw Farm product produced on or after 27 November. More

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      Former US officials alarmed over Tulsi Gabbard’s alleged ‘sympathy for dictators’

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      Nearly 100 former US diplomats and intelligence and national security officials have called for the Senate to hold closed-door briefings on Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence for her alleged “sympathy for dictators like Vladimir Putin and [Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad]” and other concerns.In an open letter, the officials blasted Tulsi Gabbard, a former presidential candidate and representative from Hawaii, for her lack of experience in the field of intelligence, embracing conspiracy theories regarding the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, and “aligning herself with Russian and Syrian officials” after an “uncoordinated” meeting with Assad in Damascus in 2017.The letter was signed by the former deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman, the former Nato deputy secretary general Rose Gottemoeller, the former national security adviser Anthony Lake, as well as a number of other former ambassadors, intelligence and military officers, and other high-ranking members of the national security apparatus.It was addressed to the current Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and to the incoming majority leader John Thune, a Republican.In the letter, the officials called on the Senate to “fully exercise its constitutional advice and consent role … including through appropriate vetting, hearings, and regular order”. It called for Senate committees to consider “all information available” in closed sessions to review Gabbard’s qualifications to manage “the protection of our intelligence sources and methods”.Gabbard and her supporters have denounced similar attacks as a smear campaign, saying that her record of anti-interventionism in Syria and Ukraine has been misrepresented by her political enemies.In Washington, she has staked out a unique foreign policy position as a strong supporter of Israel and the “war on terror” – but also as a critic of US rivalries with countries like Russia and Iran (she strongly criticised Trump’s decision to assassinate the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani as an “illegal and unconstitutional act of war”).“When it comes to the war against terrorists, I’m a hawk,” she told a Hawaiian newspaper in 2016. “When it comes to counterproductive wars of regime change, I’m a dove.”But many in Washington’s tightly knit foreign policy and intelligence community see Gabbard as dangerous. The concerns listed in the open letter included Gabbard’s public doubts of Assad’s use of chemical weapons against civilians in spite of “US intelligence reports and overwhelming public reporting” corroborating the attacks.They also noted her online posts after the Russian invasion “insinuating that US-funded labs in Ukraine were developing biological weapons and that Ukraine’s engagement with Nato posed a threat to Russian sovereignty”.Her public sympathy for Putin and Assad, the letter said, “raises questions about her judgement and fitness”.“These unfounded attacks are from the same geniuses who have blood on their hands from decades of faulty ‘intelligence’,” and who use classified government information as a “partisan weapon to smear and imply things about their political enemy”, Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Gabbard with the Trump team, told ABC News in response to the letter.Activists have told the Guardian that staffers from both parties had expressed concern during a 2018 hearing with a Syrian ex-military whistleblower that Gabbard could leak details of the person’s identity. A person with knowledge of high-level intelligence discussions said that there were concerns over Gabbard’s other contacts in the region as well. More

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      US House hearing with Secret Service descends into screaming match

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      A hearing examining the Secret Service’s response to the assassination attempts against Donald Trump went off the rails on Thursday, when a screaming match broke out between the agency’s acting director, Ronald Rowe, and a Republican representative.The hearing, hosted by the House taskforce established shortly after the first assassination attempt against Trump in July, was meant to explore the steps that the Secret Service has taken to improve security measures of protectees, but Pat Fallon, a Republican of Texas, took the questioning of Rowe in a different direction.Fallon displayed an enlarged photo from a commemoration of the September 11 attacks in New York, which both Joe Biden and Trump attended earlier this year. Fallon accused Rowe, who was standing directly behind Biden and Kamala Harris in the photo, of taking the place of the special agent in charge that day and endangering the president’s security for the sake of a photo op.Rowe replied that the special agent in charge had been just out of the picture’s view, and he attacked Fallon for politicizing the September 11 attacks.“I actually responded to Ground Zero. I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center,” Rowe said.“I’m not asking you that,” Fallon interrupted, raising his voice. “Were you the special agent in charge?”Rowe yelled back: “I was there to show respect for a Secret Service member that died on 9/11.”Fallon suggested that Rowe, who is not expected to stay on as director once Trump takes office in January, had placed himself in better view to “audition” for the role in case Harris won the presidency.“Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes,” Rowe told Fallon.“I’m not,” Fallon replied. He accused Rowe: “You endangered President Biden’s life, Vice-President Harris’s life, because you put those agents out of position.”Rowe denied that charge, telling Fallon: “You are out of line.”The chair of the committee, Republican Mike Kelly, repeatedly banged his gavel until the shouting subsisted. The heated exchange came as the Secret Service faces intense scrutiny over its security practices, which attracted widespread condemnation following the assassination attempt against Trump.The agency was pilloried for failing to ensure proper safety precautions at Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman wounded the then presidential candidate and fatally shot an attendee named Corey Comperatore. Rowe’s predecessor, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned amid bipartisan criticism of her agency’s handling of security at the rally.At the hearing on Thursday, Rowe described the events surrounding the assassination attempt as an “abject failure”.“July 13 was a failure of the Secret Service to adequately secure the Butler Farm Shows site and protect president-elect Trump,” Rowe said. “That abject failure underscored critical gaps in Secret Service operations, and I recognize that we did not meet the expectations of the American public.”Rowe offered his condolences to Comperatore’s family and outlined a series of changes his agency had pursued since the July attack, including creating an aviation unit for drone surveillance of protection sites and streamlining communication with local authorities.“Let me be clear: there will be accountability, and that accountability is occurring,” Rowe told the taskforce. “It is essential that we recognize the gravity of our failure. I personally carry the weight of knowing that we almost lost a protectee and our failure cost a father and husband his life.”Since its formation in July, the taskforce has conducted 46 interviews and reviewed roughly 20,000 pages of documents, Kelly reported on Thursday. The taskforce is expected to release a final report on its findings in the coming days. More

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      Trump rally shooting hearing descends into screaming match between Secret Service chief and Republican congressman – live

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      During the House hearing on the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, a screaming match broke out between the acting director of the US Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, and the Republican congressman Pat Fallon.Fallon displayed an enlarged photo from a commemoration of the September 11 attacks in New York, which both Joe Biden and Trump attended this fall. Fallon accused Rowe, who was standing directly behind Biden and Kamala Harris in the photo, of taking the place of the special agent in charge and endangering the president’s security for the sake of a photo op.Rowe replied that the special agent in charge was just out of the picture’s view, and he accused Fallon of politicizing the September 11 attacks.“I actually responded to Ground Zero. I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center,” Rowe said.Fallon interrupted, telling Rowe, “I’m not asking you that.” He then suggested that Rowe, who is not expected to stay on as director once Trump takes office, stood where he did to “audition” for keeping his job, if Harris won the presidency.The exchange devolved into shouting, with Rowe yelling at Fallon, “Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes!”“I’m not,” Fallon replied. He accused Rowe, “You endangered president Biden’s life, vice-president Harris’ life, because you put those agents out of position.”Rowe denied that charge, telling Fallon, “You are out of line.”Democrat Adam Gray won a seat in California’s 13th congressional district on Tuesday, unseating Republican congressman John Duarte. The result concludes what was the last remaining undecided US House contest in the 2024 cycle.Gray won by a margin of fewer than 200 votes according to a tally completed this week.Duarte defeated Grayin 2022 by just 564 votes, one of the closest margins in the country.Democrats now hold 215 seats in congress, and Republicans have a narrow majority with 220 seats.Ro Khanna, a Democratic congressman from California, said he was ready to collaborate with the Department of Government Efficiency.He did not exactly say if he would join the congressional caucus formed to assist DOGE, which is not a formal department. Here’s what Khanna wrote, on X:
      I’m ready to work with @doge , @elonmusk + @VivekGRamaswamy to slash waste. I have a track record of doing so. I led the charge to get TransDigm to refund $16 million after investigative reporting exposed price-gouging. Let’s look to the Truman Committee and ensure Americans get their money’s worth with DOD spending.
      NBC News reports that a Secret Service spokesman defended acting director Ronald Rowe from Republican congressman Pat Fallon’s claim that he compromised security by attending a ceremony to commemorate 9/11.Rowe was at the event in New York attended by Joe Biden and Donald Trump “to honor the victims of that tragic day, including the members of the Secret Service who were killed. All detail personnel were present and had complete access to their protectees during the memorial,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.NBC also reports that Fallon accused Rowe of starting their shouting match in a congressional hearing meant to explore Trump’s attempted assassination in July, saying “he started screaming, he wouldn’t answer questions.”Independent Maine senator Angus King is raising pointed questions about the suitability of Pete Hegseth as a potential Pentagon leader as he makes the rounds on Capitol Hill this week, telling the Guardian that some of Trump’s candidates “thus far do not appear to have the requisite background or experience for the important posts in question.”King, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee which would confirm a new Defense Secretary, has not committed to supporting Hegseth’s nomination and noted that he is not meeting Hegseth today, though stopped short of an outright rejection.As an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, King’s vote is not expected to be decisive.“Senator King will hear all nominees make their case when they come before the committees of jurisdiction and make his decisions on each as they come to the Senate floor,” his office tells The Guardian.Here’s the moment acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe and Republican congressman Pat Fallon got into it at a hearing looking into the assassination attempt targeting Donald Trump:While details remain closely guarded, House speaker Mike Johnson revealed the incoming non-department Department of Government Efficiency initiative spearheaded by tech billionaire Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would be “bipartisan.”During an afternoon press conference, Johnson claimed several Democratic colleagues have already expressed interest in the government efficiency project, though he did not specify who.“Government is too big. It does too many things, and it does almost nothing well,” Johnson said.Earlier in the week, Democratic congressman Jared Moskowitz announced he would join the DOGE caucus, making him the first lawmaker from the party to support the effort.“I will join the Congressional DOGE Caucus, because I believe that streamlining government processes and reducing ineffective government spending should not be a partisan issue. I’ve been clear that there are ways we can reorganize our government to make it work better for the American people,” Moskowitz said.According to Johnson, the day unfolded with a series of closed-door meetings, beginning with Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, who chairs the newly formed caucus. They discussed a newly released 60-page report mostly focused on targeting federal staffers who telework.During the House hearing on the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, a screaming match broke out between the acting director of the US Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, and the Republican congressman Pat Fallon.Fallon displayed an enlarged photo from a commemoration of the September 11 attacks in New York, which both Joe Biden and Trump attended this fall. Fallon accused Rowe, who was standing directly behind Biden and Kamala Harris in the photo, of taking the place of the special agent in charge and endangering the president’s security for the sake of a photo op.Rowe replied that the special agent in charge was just out of the picture’s view, and he accused Fallon of politicizing the September 11 attacks.“I actually responded to Ground Zero. I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center,” Rowe said.Fallon interrupted, telling Rowe, “I’m not asking you that.” He then suggested that Rowe, who is not expected to stay on as director once Trump takes office, stood where he did to “audition” for keeping his job, if Harris won the presidency.The exchange devolved into shouting, with Rowe yelling at Fallon, “Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes!”“I’m not,” Fallon replied. He accused Rowe, “You endangered president Biden’s life, vice-president Harris’ life, because you put those agents out of position.”Rowe denied that charge, telling Fallon, “You are out of line.”The EV credit is a product of Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act – a boost of investment into clean energy and climate action – and was created to make EV’s more affordable.Rolling the credit back will further stall US EV transition, critics say.The Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in July killing the subsidy may hurt Tesla sales a little but would be “devastating” to its US EV competitors, like General Motors.After meeting with incoming senate majority leader John Thune, Elon Musk told reporters he thinks we should get rid of all tax credits for electrical vehicle purchasers.“We just need to make sure we spend the public’s money well,” Musk said.Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will soon head the non-government agency Department of Government Efficiciency, are in meetings all day with Republicans on Capitol Hill.Senator Rick Scott of Florida has doubled down on his support for Pete Hegseth.“I admire people who are willing to put on the uniform and lead troops into battle,” Scott told reporters after a meeting with Trump’s pick for secretary of defense. “When he goes in the Department of Defense, he will walk in with the mentality that he’s going to take care of our warfighters.”CNN’s Jake Tapper questioned Scott earlier this week over support for Hegseth in light of sexual assault accusations against him. Scott denounced the anonymous accusers, but when Tapper asked if Hegseth should release his accuser from their non-disclosure agreement so she could be interviewed, Scott said “absolutely not.”Pete Hegseth is continuing his quest to convince Republican senators that he is qualified to lead the defense department. His nomination has been rocked by a sexual assault allegation, and reports of his excessive drinking, financial mismanagement and marital infidelities. Today, a Republican senator whose views on Hegseth are seen as key to his chances of getting the job – Iowa’s Joni Ernst – said she was not yet ready to vote for his confirmation, and called for “a very thorough vetting process”. Hegseth has insisted he is not dropping out of contention for the job, telling reporters in the Capitol that he has Donald Trump’s support, and won’t go anywhere until that changes.Here’s what else is going on today:

      Ronald Rowe, the acting Secret Service director, acknowledged an “abject failure” by the agency in preventing the first assassination attempt against Trump.

      Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are expected to meet with Republicans in the Capitol to discuss their Department of Government Efficiency – which is not actually a department, nor a part of the government.

      Republican House majority leader Steve Scalise hinted that the party wants to pass legislation to enact Trump’s priorities within days of his inauguration.
      Should Republican senator Joni Ernst decline to support Pete Hegseth for defense secretary – a decision that could strike a fatal blow to his chances of winning Senate confirmation – it won’t be without risks.Politico heard from an unnamed Republican senator who hinted that Ernst could face a primary challenge orchestrated by Donald Trump if she rejects his appointee to lead the Pentagon:
      “If Joni votes no, she’s going to have a hard time with her reelection campaign,” said one GOP senator, noting that during any floor vote Hegseth, Trump “will be taking names.”
      The Republican House majority leader Steve Scalise told CNBC that lawmakers will be sharing ideas with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy about how to downsize government during their meeting today.“One of the things we’re going to be talking about with Elon [Musk] and Vivek [Ramaswamy] today, a lot of our members have ideas, have been working on various committees on things to do just that, to cut government waste, to identify and root out a lot of inefficiencies in government. And we’re going to be working hand in hand,” Scalise said.He singled out federal employees who work from home, saying they were undercutting the governments ability to function:
      It’s a refreshing idea that we’re going to actually make government work better and make your taxpayers go further. There are probably 75% of federal employees here in Washington that still are not showing up to work under the excuse of Covid. Covid’s been over for years, and yet you might wait right now, months and months, to get a passport renewed. Some people are waiting years to get a tax return process from three years ago because those employees aren’t showing up for work, so it’s hurting families all across this country. You know, those are the kind of inefficiencies we’re going to be looking at all across the board.
      In a sign of how quickly House Republicans would like to move on accomplishing Trump’s priorities, Scalise said they are working with the president-elect’s transition teams on a bill that will be ready “for January”. Trump will be inaugurated on the 20th of that month.Speaking to NBC News as he traversed the Capitol between meetings with Republican senators weighing his nomination for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth said that he would continue standing for the job as long as he had Donald Trump’s support.“As long as [President-elect Trump] supports me, which he told me this morning. I’ll be here,” Hegseth told the network. More

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      House ethics committee to vote on publication of Matt Gaetz report

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      The House ethics committee will on Thursday vote on whether its long-awaited report investigating allegations of sexual misconduct and potential illegal activities involving former Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz will be made public.The report in question details allegations that Gaetz engaged in illicit drug use, misuse of campaign funds and sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl, and allegations of obstructing the House investigation. Gaetz has consistently denied the claims.The move comes weeks after Gaetz’s resignation from Congress and his withdrawal as a potential Trump administration nominee when it became clear he did not have enough support from senators to survive a confirmation hearing. Democrats, led by Representatives Sean Casten and Steve Cohen, attempted to force the report’s release through privileged resolutions, arguing that transparency is crucial.Casten’s resolution, sent to the House two days before the vote, said that withholding the report would “undermine the committee’s credibility and impede the safety, dignity, and integrity of legislative proceedings”.But should the committee side with chair and Mississippi Republican Michael Guest, the vote would fall flat, following the argument that the panel’s investigative jurisdiction ends when a member leaves Congress.“He’s no longer a member,” Guest told reporters on Thursday. “He is no longer going to be confirmed by the Senate because he withdrew his nomination to be the attorney general.”But if the committee vote comes to an impasse – a possibility due to the 50-50 ideological split – a full floor vote would be brought to the House on Thursday night, putting all lawmakers on record.The decision would either grant or hide public access to a report that has been years in the making, and which allegedly contains detailed findings about claims of sexual misconduct involving an underage girl and potential drug use.The report’s potential revelations could have significant political implications, particularly as Gaetz is rumored to be considering a bid for Florida governor in 2026 or seeking another role in the incoming Trump administration.The investigation, which has gone on for years, gained additional scrutiny after Gaetz’s associate Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty in 2021 to paying women and an underage girl for sexual services. More

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      Biden to participate in final Christmas tree lighting ceremony as president

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      Joe Biden is set to take part in the annual national Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Washington DC on Thursday evening, for the final time before leaving the White House.This year, the centerpiece of the 102-year tradition will be a 35ft red spruce from the George Washington and Jefferson national forests in Virginia.The event, which is scheduled to begin at 6pm ET, will be held at the Ellipse park just south of the White House and will feature performances by Adam Blackstone, Stephen Sanchez, James Taylor, the War and Treaty, and others.For the Bidens’ last Christmas at the White House, Jill Biden chose the theme A Season of Peace and Light for the holiday decorations, which she unveiled on Monday.“As we celebrate our finally – final holiday season here in the White House, we are guided by the values that we hold sacred: faith, family and service to our country, kindness toward all of our neighbors, and the power of community,” the first lady said.Inside the White House, one of the centerpieces of the holiday decorations is the Christmas tree.This year, it is an 18.5ft Fraser fir tree from Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm in North Carolina.The farm is in Newland in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a region that was recently devastated by Hurricane Helene.“The Cartner family lost thousands of trees to the storm,” the first lady said last week at the tree arrival ceremony. “But this one remained standing – and they named it Tremendous for the extraordinary hope that it represents.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAt the tree arrival ceremony, Jill Biden was joined by the congresswoman Virginia Foxx, as well as members of the North Carolina national guard and their families, who are working to rebuild after Hurricane Helene.“This tree recognizes your tremendous strength and service,” she told them.In an interview with the Associated Press, Sam Cartner Jr, one of three brothers who owns the farm, said that they wanted to be “an uplifting symbol for the other farmers and other people in western North Carolina that have experienced so many losses”. More

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      Bahamas rejects Trump proposal to take in deported migrants

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      The Bahamas has rejected a proposal from the incoming Trump administration to take in deported people, as the president-elect seeks to follow up on pledges to slash immigration.Donald Trump’s team has drawn up a list of countries to which it wants to deport migrants when their home countries refuse to accept them, according to NBC News.But the Bahamas said it had “reviewed and firmly rejected” the plan.Prime Minister Philip Davis’s office said his government had received a proposal from the Trump transition team “to accept deportation flights of migrants from other countries”.“Since the prime minister’s rejection of this proposal, there has been no further engagement or discussions with the Trump transition team,” the statement added.Other countries that Trump is considering include Turks and Caicos, Panama, and Grenada, sources told NBC.The president-elect based his successful White House run on vicious anti-immigrant rhetoric, blaming them for a supposed national crime wave and promising to carry out mass deportations.Trump’s team made no immediate comment on Thursday about the Bahamas’ rejection of the proposal, which appeared to reveal one part of how he plans to enact radical immigration reform when in office.The deportation plan could mean that people are permanently displaced in countries to which they have no links.It is not clear if the deported people would be allowed to work – or what pressure Trump may apply to get countries to agree, NBC reported.The US government has struggled for years to manage its southern border with Mexico, and Trump on the campaign trail targeted voters by claiming an “invasion” is under way by migrants he says will rape and murder Americans.At rallies, Trump repeatedly railed against undocumented immigrants, attacking those who “poison the blood” of the United States.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionHe has vowed to tackle migrant gangs using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 – which allows the federal government to round up and deport foreigners belonging to enemy countries.Trump also promoted the fictitious story that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents’ pets.The incoming president last month said he was bringing back the hardline immigration official Tom Homan to oversee the country’s borders.Homan led immigration enforcement during part of Trump’s first administration.A British plan to deport its asylum seekers to Rwanda was dropped earlier this year when the Labour party took power under Keir Starmer after ousting the Conservatives. More