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      Several Trump administration picks targeted with bomb threats and ‘swatting’, FBI confirms – live updates

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      Democrat Derek Tran has won election to the US House of Represenatives in California’s 45th congressional district, beating incumbent Michelle Steel.The AP has called the race for Tran after a weeks-long count. Republicans already control the US House, as well as the Senate, but picking up the seat is a big win for Democrats, who lost it to Steel in 2020.Although Steel initially had a commanding lead, the race became neck and neck as election workers tallied more ballots.Derek Tran, who won his race for California’s 45th district today, flipped one of just three seats for Democrats this election.The other two pick-ups for Democrats were elsewhere in California and Oregon.Tran, an attorney and Army veteran, defeated two-term Republican Michelle Steel, largely by focusing on her record on abortion rights. Steel had twice co-sponsored a nationwide abortion ban, called the Life at Conception Act, but later withdrew her support from the bill.Despite criticism from Donald Trump, who called Tran a “Radical Left Puppet of Communist China”, Tran was able to dodge such criticism as the son of war refugees from Vietnam. He will be the district’s first Vietnamese American representative.He said his win “is a testament to the spirit and resilience of our community. As the son of Vietnamese refugees, I understand firsthand the journey and sacrifices many families in our district have made for a better life.”Democrat Derek Tran has won election to the US House of Represenatives in California’s 45th congressional district, beating incumbent Michelle Steel.The AP has called the race for Tran after a weeks-long count. Republicans already control the US House, as well as the Senate, but picking up the seat is a big win for Democrats, who lost it to Steel in 2020.Although Steel initially had a commanding lead, the race became neck and neck as election workers tallied more ballots.Iowa representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican, has won reelection to the House of Representatives, the Associated Press announced after a recount. Miller-Meeks’ lead over her opponent, Democrat Christina Bohannan, was less than a percentage point. Although Miller-Meeks had declared victory, the AP had not called the race because the margin was close enough that it could prompt a recount – which Bohannan’s campaign called for on 14 November.“This is a delaying tactic to thwart the will of the people,” the Miller-Meeks campaign said of the recount, adding that it wasted taxpayer dollars. “A recount won’t meaningfully change the outcome of this race as the congresswoman’s lead is mathematically impossible to overcome.”Miller-Meeks’ victory gives Republicans 220 seats in the House to Democrats’ 214 (the AP has yet to call one remaining House race). It also marks the first time in three decades that Iowa will have an all-Republican congressional delegation.A little-known Florida-based drones company said on Wednesday it had appointed Donald Trump Jr as an adviser – then saw its stock price surge.The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly has more on the president-elect’s son:“Don Jr joining our board of advisors provides us unique expertise we need as we bring drone component manufacturing back to America,” said Allan Evans, chief executive of Unusual Machines.By mid-morning on the New York stock exchange, company shares had climbed as high as $11.67, more than double the day’s opening price.Unusual Machines also said Trump Jr, the oldest son of the president-elect, was among its investors. A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission listed Trump Jr as the second-biggest shareholder.In a press release that described Trump Jr as “a globally recognized business leader” and “best-selling author”, Evans said he would “bring a wealth of experience”.Trump, typically referred to as Don Jr, has spent most of his adult life working for his father’s company, the Trump Organization, on real estate and branding. But he has risen to political prominence since his sister Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, distanced themselves from Donald Trump following his defeat by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and incitement of the January 6 attack on Congress by Trump supporters who tried in vain to overturn his loss.A host of Trump appointees experienced bomb threats today. To recap the day:

      Several Trump appointees were confirmed to have been targets of bomb threats at their homes on Wednesday. The FBI confirmed it is investigating the threats. Those targeted include: Pete Hegseth, Matt Gaetz, Elise Stefanik, Howard Lutnick and Lee Zeldin.

      Trump named some new people to round out his second administration. He added Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health; Jim O’Neill as deputy health secretary; John Phelan as Navy secretary and Keith Kellogg as a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

      House speaker Mike Johnson said he would host a meeting with Republican lawmakers and the two leaders of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to discuss government cuts next week.

      A lawsuit was dismissed against Fox News brought by Ray Epps, a Donald Trump supporter who became the subject of a rightwing conspiracy theory about the January 6 attack and sued the outlet for defamation.

      Democrats are criticizing Kamala Harris’s campaign for failing to critically analyze her loss and any missteps she made.
      Democrats are criticizing Kamala Harris and her campaign for not critically analyzing her run or acknowledging any errors that could have contributed to her loss.Harris participated in a video call to thank donors, clips of which spread around the internet, with one Democratic National Committee official calling the call essentially “just patting each other on the back”, despite Harris’s loss.Separately, Pod Save America released an episode yesterday with several Harris campaign officials which has received pushback for failing to hold the campaign to account for its decisions and saw the aides defensive rather than reflective of any mistakes.For more on how some Democrats are reacting to the Harris post-mortems, the Guardian’s Robert Tait has the full story:House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that he would host Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on Capitol Hill next Thursday to talk about ways to cut the government as part of the two men’s Department of Government Efficiency effort.In a post on Musk’s platform, X, Johnson said Republican House and Senate members were invited to “discuss major reform ideas to achieve regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions, and cost savings—& revive the principle of limited government!”While it’s called a “department,” the new effort is not a department of the government – a president cannot unilaterally create a department. Instead, it is expected to offer suggestions to Trump on places to cut, which could include entire agencies and programs.Musk has previously said the government should have 99 agencies, a seemingly arbitrary number, instead of the several hundred it has now. Earlier today, he suggested getting rid of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency tasked with protecting consumers from predatory behavior in the finance sector.A report released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that abortions decreased by 2% in 2022, the year Roe v Wade was overturned.Since Roe’s demise, abortion restrictions and bans in some states have closed off or limited access in those places – though other states have increased access.More from the Guardian’s Carter Sherman in the full story here:Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to lead the environmental protection agency, said on X that a pipe bomb threat targeting his home “was sent in with a pro-Palestinian themed message”.He and his family weren’t home, he said, and are safe. Zeldin added: “We are working with law enforcement to learn more as the situation develops.“We are thankful for the swift actions taken by local officers to keep our family, neighbors, and local community secure.”Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he chose Keith Kellogg to serve as a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, a newly created role as the two countries remain at war and the US’s support for Ukraine will be a key decision for Trump’s incoming administration.Kellogg previously served as a national security adviser to Trump and to former vice president Mike Pence in Trump’s first term.“I am very pleased to nominate General Keith Kellogg to serve as Assistant to the President and Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Keith has led a distinguished Military and Business career, including serving in highly sensitive National Security roles in my first Administration. He was with me right from the beginning! Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!”The choice comes after reports last week that Trump was considering Richard Grenell for the role. Grenell served as intelligence chief during Trump’s first term.More members of Trump’s cabinet have emerged as subjects of bomb threats today. So far, those known to have had their residences targeted are:

      Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary and part of his transition team, whose home was threatened, Bronx outlet News 12 reported.

      Lee Zeldin, the environmental protection agency pick, who saw his Long Island home threatened, News 12 in Long Island reported.

      Matt Gaetz, the initial nominee for attorney general who has since withdrawn, had his Florida home targeted, various news reports said.

      Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Trump’s UN ambassador choice, confirmed her home in New York was targeted.

      Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary pick, whose home was targeted.
      Those targeted appear to be physically safe, and law enforcement has responded to check their homes for any devices or threats, several outlets have reported.The FBI has confirmed bomb threats and swatting incidents against Trump cabinet picks.In a statement, the agency said it is “aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees” and working with other law enforcement agencies to respond.“We take all potential threats seriously and, as always, encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement,” the statement said.Fox News has welcomed the dismissal of a defamation case brought by Ray Epps, a Donald Trump supporter who became the subject of a rightwing conspiracy theory about the January 6 attack.A Fox News Media statement referred to other dismissed lawsuits when it said: “Following the dismissals of the Jankowicz, Bobulinski, and now Epps cases, Fox News is pleased with these back-to-back decisions from federal courts preserving the press freedoms of the first amendment.”Epps, now 63, is a former US marine and ex-member of the Oath Keepers militia who traveled from Arizona to Washington on 6 January 2021, as Trump sought to overturn his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden. Epps was eventually sentenced to probation for his role in the attack on Congress that ensued, a riot linked to nine deaths and over which Trump was impeached but acquitted.After becoming subject to claims he was a covert government agent who stirred Trump supporters to cause trouble, Epps was forced into hiding.At his own sentencing, Epps said: “I have learned that truth is not always found in the places that I used to trust.”He filed suit against Fox in July last year. The suit said: “In the aftermath of the events of January 6, Fox News searched for a scapegoat to blame other than Donald Trump or the Republican party. Eventually, they turned on one of their own.”The suit cited Fox News hosts including Laura Ingraham and Will Cain but most prominently Tucker Carlson, who it said “was bluntly telling his viewers that it was a fact that Epps was a government informant. And they believed him.”Carlson was not a target of the suit – a lawyer for Epps said he “was an employee of Fox when he lied about Ray, and Fox broadcast those defamatory falsehoods. Fox is therefore fully liable for Mr Carlson’s statements.”Carlson was fired by Fox in April 2023, shortly after it settled (for $787.5m) a defamation suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over the advancement of Trump’s electoral fraud lie.Carlson has since flourished as an independent voice in far-right media, retaining influence with Trump as the president-elect prepares to return to power in January.Pete Hegseth, nominated to be Donald Trump’s defense secretary, was among several cabinet nominees and appointees of the president-elect who were targeted with bomb threats and so-called swatting on Wednesday, the Guardian has learned.A report also emerged that former congressman Matt Gaetz, who was briefly Trump’s first choice for US attorney general but stood aside after eight days amid a sexual misconduct scandal, was also targeted.A spokesperson for Trump confirmed threats against some of his cabinet picks but did not initially give any names or say how many people had received threats.But Hegseth, the military veteran steeped in controversy over his conservative views after being selected, was understood to be among the number, according to two people familiar with the developments.Reports by the Trump transition team that multiple Trump appointees and nominees were targeted by bomb threats and swatting comes amid a season of heightened concerns about political violence – and following two assassination attempts against Trump himself.On 13 July, a shooter fired into the crowd during an open-air Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, injuring two attendees and killing one. Trump was grazed by the gunfire but emerged almost entirely uninjured.Two months later, on 15 September, a suspect was caught while pointing a gun toward Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf course, where Trump was golfing. He was apprehended the same day.Both incidents prompted the Trump and Harris campaigns to adopt heightened security for the duration of the race. After the Pennsylvania shooting, Trump frequently appeared at rallies behind bulletproof glass.Elise Stefanik, the congresswoman and Trump’s appointee for ambassador to the United Nations, confirmed on X that there was a bomb threat at her home.“This morning, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, her husband, and their three year old son were driving home to Saratoga County from Washington for Thanksgiving when they were informed of a bomb threat to their residence,” her X post says.Law enforcement responded immediately, she noted, “with the highest levels of professionalism.” More

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      Democrats criticize Harris for ‘self-congratulatory’ review of election loss

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      Some Democratic figures have accused Kamala Harris’s campaign of being self-congratulatory after a series of recent public appearances from the candidate and her senior staff in which they declined to admit making any errors that could have contributed to her defeat.Some of the criticism was aimed at Harris herself, following a video call to thank campaign donors in which the vice-president expressed pride in her failed race for the White House.She appeared to boast that the coalition assembled during her three-and-a-half-month campaign after succeeding Joe Biden as the Democrats’ nominee ranked among the “best political movements”. She insisted it would have “a lasting effect”, despite it ending in a decisive loss to Donald Trump, something she and her supporters warned beforehand would be a catastrophe.“I am proud of the race we ran, and your role in this was critical,” the vice-president said in a 10-minute address. “What we did in 107 days was unprecedented. Think about the coalition that we built, and we were so intentional about that – you would hear me talk about it all the time.”Although she admitted the election “didn’t turn out like we wanted”, she noted that the campaign raised nearly $1.5bn dollars, a record, and praised the success in fundraising from grassroots donors – despite reportedly ending the race $20m in debt and sending post-election fundraising emails to donors.After some of the vice-president’s key staffers also appeared on a podcast billed as dissecting reasons for the defeat, one member of the Democratic National Committee’s finance team called the Harris campaign “self-congratulatory” .Lindy Li told NewsNation she was “stunned that there was no sort of postmortem or analysis of the disastrous campaign”.“It was just patting each other on the back,” she said. “They praised Harris as a visionary leader, and at one moment during the call, she was talking about her Thanksgiving recipe.”Referring to a Pod Save America podcast posted on Tuesday in which Harris’s key aides discussed the $1bn-plus campaign spend, Li said: “They failed to mention that hundreds of millions of dollars went to them and their friends right through these consulting firms.“These consultants were the primary beneficiaries of the Harris campaign, not the American people.”One explanation on the podcast by Stephanie Cutter, a Harris adviser, on why the vice-president had declined to break with Biden despite the president’s persistently low approval ratings drew criticism.“She felt like she was part of the administration. So why should she look back and cherry pick some things that she would have done differently when she was part of it?” Cutter told the podcast. “She had tremendous loyalty to President Biden. So the best we could do, and the most that she felt comfortable with was saying like, look, vice-presidents never break with their presidents.”One X user posted: “If the guys at pod save America don’t have an episode just straight shit talking all these losers who helped us lose im never listening to another episode. [Because] wtf was this nonsense.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAnother podcast guest, David Plouffe, a former adviser to Barack Obama, was criticised after claiming: “It’s really hard for Democrats to win battleground states.” He said the party needed “to dominate the moderate vote” to win future elections.Jeet Heer, a writer for the leftwing Nation magazine responded: “Is it too much to ask for a little humility and self-reflection from the people whose strategies failed badly?”Another social media user posted: “Anybody with more than two brain cells who’s committed to building up the democratic party would be analyzing the depressed voter turnout numbers. But the dudes at pod save America have no goal other than reliving their glory days.”The discussion, which also included Harris’s campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, and Quentin Fulks, the campaign’s deputy manager, was also ridiculed by some on the right.Bill O’Reilly, a former Fox News host, told NewsNation: “It’s kind of like the New York Jets. You guys follow the football, nobody did anything wrong, and they’re 3-8 … I hope people see the absurdity of this.”James Carville, a veteran Democratic strategist and the architect of Bill Clinton’s 1992 election win, criticised aides who advised Harris not to go on the Joe Rogan podcast before election. Trump, by contrast, granted a three-hour interview to Rogan.“If I were running a 2028 campaign and I had some little snot-nosed 23-year-old saying, ‘I’m going to resign if you don’t do this,’ not only would I fire that motherfucker on the spot, I would find out who hired them and fire that person on the spot,” Carville said in a foul-mouthed video rant posted on social media. “I’m really not interested in your uninformed, stupid, jackass opinion as to whether you go on Joe Rogan or not.” More

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      The Guardian view on the Lebanon ceasefire: a lasting regional peace must go through Gaza | Editorial

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      Unsurprisingly, Joe Biden struck an upbeat, optimistic note on Tuesday as he announced a US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah. “It reminds us that peace is possible,” said Mr Biden, as the deal brought to an end the 14-month conflict, during which close to 4,000 people lost their lives and hundreds of thousands were displaced.For the outgoing American president, who has signally failed to restrain Israel’s excesses after the heinous Hamas massacre of 7 October 2023, the agreement amounts to a valedictory breakthrough after months of weak and ineffective diplomacy. More importantly, it affords the suffering people of Lebanon some respite, after a bombing campaign and ground invasion that paid scant regard to the appalling impact on civilian lives. For the 60,000 citizens of Israel forced to flee the country’s northern border region by Hezbollah rockets, there is the prospect of a return home after spending more than a year in displacement camps.Peace on Israel’s northern front will inevitably spark hopes of wider progress, as the disgraceful, savage destruction of Gaza continues to the south, and hope dwindles for surviving Israeli hostages held captive there. But it would be unwise to overstate the catalytic potential of an agreement that was made on the terms of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and to suit his interests.Crucially, Hezbollah’s weakness meant that Israel was able to decouple the Lebanon and Gaza wars, reaching a ceasefire that leaves it with a free hand in the latter. Based on a UN security council resolution that ended the 2006 Lebanon war but was never fully implemented, the deal will oblige Israeli forces to depart and Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon. This time the buffer zone created is more likely to stick. Hezbollah is currently in a state of disarray, denuded of leaders, infrastructure and military hardware.With the live threat of a powerful Iranian proxy on Israel’s doorstep removed, Mr Netanyahu is free to double down on his bellicose objectives elsewhere – notably in relation to Tehran. In Gaza, meanwhile, he has shown no willingness to engage in peace talks brokered by Qatar, which suspended its mediating role this month in exasperation. The unconscionable death toll there now stands at more than 44,000 – the vast majority women and children.In a region on the brink, any lasting settlement must go through Gaza and involve the creation of realistic conditions for a viable Palestinian state. As Óscar Romero, the martyred Salvadoran bishop, once wrote, “Peace is not the silence of cemeteries / Peace is not the silent result of violent repression” – a warning that resonates starkly in Gaza’s ongoing tragedy. But Mr Netanyahu has no desire to be a peacemaker, as he attempts to dodge a corruption trial, and an election that would empower the anger of voters following 7 October. His interest lies rather in perpetuating a sense of national emergency; and in indulging far-right members of his cabinet who could bring him down, and who dream of new settlements in a broken, ethnically cleansed Gaza.As Donald Trump prepares to replace Joe Biden in the White House, the world must hope that his appetite for imposing immediate solutions opens up new possibilities. For now, welcome developments in the north offer little comfort to the desperate inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. More

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      Canada PM under pressure to stand up to Trump over tariff plan; US motorists could face higher gas prices – live

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      Other members of Canada’s parliament are calling on prime minister Justin Trudeau to ready a “war room” for the coming battle over tariffs with the United States.“The only thing a bully responds to is strength. So where is our plan to fight back?” Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, asked Trudeau. “Where is the war room?”“I don’t think the idea of going to war with the United States is what anyone wants. What we will do is stand up for Canadian jobs,” Trudeau said. “Stand up for the prosperity we create when we work together.”Meanwhile, members of Canada’s liberal and conservative parties are debating ways Trudeau could promote a “Canada First” policy or work collaboratively with “our US partner.”In an election post-mortem today, top Harris campaign officials said there was little else Kamala Harris could have done to win the 2024 election.Speaking on the podcast “Pod Save America”, David Plouffe, Jen O’Malley Dillon, Quentin Fulks and Stephanie Cutter said Harris couldn’t have distanced herself further from Joe Biden because she was loyal and faced backlash over inflation that’s hurt incumbent politicians across the globe this year.“She had tremendous loyalty to President Biden,” Cutter said. “Imagine if we said, ‘Well, we would have taken this approach on the border.’ Imagine the round of stories coming out after that, of people saying, ‘Well, she never said that in the meeting.’”Plouffe added that the campaign’s internal polling never showed Harris leading president-elect Donald Trump.“We didn’t get the breaks we needed on Election Day,” he said. “I think it surprised people, because there was these public polls that came out in late September, early October, showing us with leads that we never saw.”Fulks noted that Democrats could learn from how Republicans support their own, even amid controversy.“Democrats are eating our own to a very high degree, and until that stops, we’re not going to be able to address a lot of the things that just need to be said,” he said.During a thank-you call today, Kamala Harris told small-dollar donors that they helped to raise $1.4 billion over the course of her 107-day campaign.“The outcome of the election, of this election, obviously, is not what we wanted. It is not what we worked so hard for, but I am proud of the race we ran and your role was critical — what we did in 107 days was unprecedented,” she said. “The fight that fueled our campaign, a fight for freedom and opportunity, did not end on November 5th.”Harris’s running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, joined the call and urged supporters to “find the place in your community to heal both yourselves and your community.” He acknowledged feels of grief that supporters might be feeling and added, “You did everything that was asked.”Donald Trump’s team has announced that it has signed transition paperwork with the White House, which the incoming administration appeared to be dodging after failing to sign the agreement by its 1 October due date. The agreement, which directs $7.2m in federal funding to the transition, requires the incoming presidential administration to agree to an ethics pledge and cap private donations.The announcement that Trump’s team had signed the memorandum of understanding with the White House came in a press release from Trump’s chief-of-staff Susie Wiles.“After completing the selection process of his incoming Cabinet, President-elect Trump is entering the next phase of his administration’s transition by executing a Memorandum of Understanding with President Joe Biden’s White House. This engagement allows our intended Cabinet nominees to begin critical preparations, including the deployment of landing teams to every department and agency, and complete the orderly transition of power,” she said.Speaking from the White House, Joe Biden has announced a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah.“Under the deal reached today, effective at 4am tomorrow local time, the fighting across the Lebanese-Israeli border will end,” he said. “This is designed to be a permanent cesation of hostility.”Explaining the terms of the deal, Biden said, the Lebanese army will take control of the region as Israel withdraws its forces over the next 60 days. Hezbollah will not be allowed to rebuild its infrastructure. “There will be no US troops deployed in southern Lebanon,” he said, adding that the US and France would continue to provide support to Lebanon. If Lebanon fails to abide by the terms of the agreement, Biden said, Israeli retains the right to defend itself.“Now Hamas has a choice to make,” Biden said, gesturing to the ongoing war in Gaza. “Over the coming days, the United States will make another push – with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others – to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.”A day after Elon Musk claimed to have met with “senior military officers,” the Pentagon told reporters it was not aware of any meetings with Trump transition officials, the Washington Post reports.“The president-elect’s transition team has not contacted the department yet to conduct those transitions, so I’m not aware of any official meetings,” Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder told reporters. Donald Trump’s transition team has declined to sign paperwork that would require the incoming administration to agree to an ethics pledge and cap private donations, which has slowed the transition.Yesterday, Musk claimed to have met with “senior military officers today” in a social media post responding to a statement from Vivek Ramaswamy about government efficiency.“In a meeting with senior military officers today, they told me that it now takes longer to renovate stairs (24 months) in the Pentagon than it took to build the WHOLE Pentagon (16 months) in the 1940s!!” Musk wrote.Speaking at an emergency gathering of the Canadian parliament today, Justin Trudeau urged unity while leaders of two of the country’s largest industrial and oil-rich provinces raised concerns over US-Canada relations, Reuters reports.The premier of Ontario, the country’s industrial heartland, said Trump had good reason to be worried about border security.“Do we need to do a better job on our borders? 1,000 percent … we do have to listen to the threat of too many illegals crossing the border,” Doug Ford told reporters. “We have to squash the illegal drugs, the illegal guns.”Ford has called on Trudeau to abandon the U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade deal in favor of a bilateral agreement with the US, and called Trump’s comparison of Canada to Mexico “the most insulting thing I have ever heard”.Likewise, the premier of the oil-rich province of Alberta said yesterday that Trump had valid concerns over border security.“We are calling on the federal government to work with the incoming administration to resolve these issues immediately, thereby avoiding any unnecessary tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S.,” Danielle Smith said in a social media post. She added, “The vast majority of Alberta’s energy exports to the U.S. are delivered through secure and safe pipelines which do not in any way contribute to these illegal activities at the border.”A federal judge has rejected Rudy Giuliani’s request to reschedule a January trial date for after Donald Trump’s inauguration. The judge has ordered Giuliani to pay two Georgia election workers $148 million for spreading falsehoods after the 2020 election. The 16 January trial had been set to determine whether Giuliani would have to relinquish assets such as a Palm Beach condo and Yankees World Series rings to pay the judgement.“My client regularly consults and deals directly with President-elect Trump on issues that are taking place as the incoming administration is afoot as well as inauguration events,” Giuliani’s attorney Joseph Cammarata said. “My client wants to exercise his political right to be there.”“The defendant’s social calendar does not constitute good cause [to delay the trial],” US District Court Judge Lewis Liman said. He did suggest that he would be open to moving the trial forward a few days.Other members of Canada’s parliament are calling on prime minister Justin Trudeau to ready a “war room” for the coming battle over tariffs with the United States.“The only thing a bully responds to is strength. So where is our plan to fight back?” Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, asked Trudeau. “Where is the war room?”“I don’t think the idea of going to war with the United States is what anyone wants. What we will do is stand up for Canadian jobs,” Trudeau said. “Stand up for the prosperity we create when we work together.”Meanwhile, members of Canada’s liberal and conservative parties are debating ways Trudeau could promote a “Canada First” policy or work collaboratively with “our US partner.”Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is discussing the United States’ proposed tariffs with the leader of the opposition, Pierre Poilievre, before the Canadian parliament. Poilievre has criticized Trudeau, calling on him to “put Canada first” in its relations with the United States and do more to fix Canada’s “broken borders” and “liberalization of drugs”.“The prime minister’s disastrous legalization and liberalization of drugs has the Americans worried,” Poilievre said. “Where’s the plan to stop the drugs and keep our border open to trade?”Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is expected to speak shortly at today’s gathering of the nation’s parliament, just a day after Donald Trump threatened to levy 25% tariffs against the US’s northern neighbor.Trudeau spoke with Trump earlier today, and said “it was a good call,” adding that they “obviously talked about laying out the facts, talking about how the intense and effective connections between our two countries flow back and forth.”Donald Trump’s team is discussing pursuing direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, hoping a fresh diplomatic push can lower the risks of armed conflict, according to two people familiar with the matter, Reuters reports.Several in Trump’s team now see a direct approach from Trump, to build on a relationship that already exists, as most likely to break the ice with Kim, years after the two traded insults and what Trump called “beautiful” letters in an unprecedented diplomatic effort during his first term in office, the people said.The policy discussions are fluid and no final decisions have been made by the president-elect, the sources said.Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment.What reciprocation Kim will offer Trump is unclear. The North Koreans ignored four years of outreach by outgoing president Joe Biden to start talks with no pre-conditions, and Kim is emboldened by an expanded missile arsenal and a much closer relationship with Russia.
      We have already gone as far as we can on negotiating with the United States,” Kim said last week in a speech at a Pyongyang military exhibition, according to state media.
      During his 2017-2021 presidency, Trump held three meetings with Kim, in Singapore, Hanoi, and at the Korean border, the first time a sitting US president had set foot in the country.Their diplomacy yielded no concrete results, even as Trump described their talks as falling “in love.” The US called for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons, while Kim demanded full sanctions relief, then issued new threats.North Korea has sent troops to fight alongside Russia in its war with Ukraine.Donald Trump’s pledge to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports in his first day in office does not exempt crude oil from the trade penalties, two sources familiar with the plan told Reuters today.Oil producers already warned that tariffs on crude would drive up the price of gas for US motorists, the FT reported earlier.“A 25% tariff on oil and natural gas would likely result in lower production in Canada and higher gasoline and energy costs to American consumers while threatening North American energy security,” Lisa Baiton, head of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, told the business-focussed newspaper.In the vagaries of the markets and geopolitics, oil prices rose earlier on news of Trump’s tariffs pledge, over predictions they would discourage production, thereby raising prices, but now have dropped slightly, Reuters reports, on news of a pending ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, apparently because Wall Streeters, leaping 10 steps ahead, imagine it could lead to a relaxing of sanctions on Iran and therefore a glut of oil supply, suppressing prices…. More

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      The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s tariffs: protectionism is no longer taboo in politics | Editorial

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      Donald Trump’s broadside against America’s three largest trading partners, with whom it runs a $500bn trade deficit, should surprise no one. Since 2016, both Mr Trump and Mr Biden have departed from established norms in international trade. The two presidencies diverged significantly in approach: Mr Biden emphasised systemic reform while Mr Trump relied on rhetoric and theatrics. Although both administrations faced criticism for driving up costs through tariffs and industrial policy, global events were primarily behind rising prices.Mr Trump’s self-declared fondness for tariffs is closely tied to his ability to authorise them unilaterally, bypassing Congress under claims of national security. This may explain his recent announcement of plans to impose 25% tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% on Chinese imports, unless these countries address alleged issues of illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling. The US president-elect clearly sees tariffs as more than mere policies; they are a calculated means of gaining leverage. By threatening to impose them, Mr Trump is signalling a desire to negotiate – but only on his terms.Mr Trump’s trade tactics reshaped relations with Mexico and Canada, setting the stage for a 2026 review of the 2019 agreement he secured with the US’s neighbours. However, his approach faltered with China. Despite the first Trump administration imposing $112bn in tariffs and threatening to levy $500bn more, Beijing negotiated a 2020 trade deal but did not, after Covid, meet its commitments, leaving Mr Biden to continue the confrontation.Trade involves sacrifices to achieve gains. Cheaper consumer goods might lead to fewer domestic jobs or lower wages in certain industries. Increased imports can mean a reduction in local manufacturing. Running a trade deficit is not necessarily harmful, but it requires an activist policy to ensure that the pain is not geographically concentrated. For decades, the neoliberal economic order championed a vision of a borderless world, where goods and services flowed freely with minimal barriers. This ideal dominated global trade policy and corporate strategy, rendering “protectionism” taboo in mainstream debate. However, since the global financial crash, scepticism about globalisation has steadily grown.An increasing focus on justice, sustainability and better working conditions has reshaped trade priorities worldwide. There has also been a growing shift toward producing goods closer to home, either through increased domestic manufacturing or by developing nearby supply chains. However, wealthy nations, led by the US, have consistently resisted granting poorer countries the flexibility to modernise, while claiming exceptions to rules they enforce on others. During the pandemic, the US prioritised its pharmaceutical industry profits over global vaccine access, blocking life-saving doses for developing countries.Globalisation’s decline began long before Mr Trump, with his protectionist policies reflecting rather than driving this shift. The retreat from globalisation will probably continue, fuelled by geopolitical tensions, post-pandemic supply chain restructuring, and rising demands for equitable trade. Mr Trump’s policies, however, will make an uncertain world even more volatile. His suspicion of win-win deals will make it harder for policymakers around the world who seek to balance their national interests with the need for global cooperation. More

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      Biden will attend Trump’s inauguration in January, says White House

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      President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, a White House spokesperson said on Monday.“The president promised that he would attend the inauguration of whomever won the election,” said Andrew Bates, senior deputy press secretary at the White House, Reuters reported.“He and the First Lady are going to honor that promise and attend the inauguration.”The president-elect did not attend Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, which came days after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.Earlier this month, the US president welcomed Trump back to the White House – another tradition Trump eschewed after losing the 2020 election- with Biden promising a transfer of power that is “as smooth as it can get”.“We’re looking forward to having, like we said, a smooth transition. We’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated, what you need, and we’re going to get a chance to talk about some of that today,” Biden said earlier this month. “Welcome back.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionTrump’s decision to skip Biden’s inauguration was not without precedent, but he was the first president to skip his successor’s inauguration in more than 150 years and his then outgoing administration was represented by then outgoing vice-president Mike Pence. More

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      Donald Trump slams federal cases against him after special counsel moves to drop them – live

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      Trump has broken his silence on the decisions by prosecutors to drop the election interference charges and the classified documents case against him.In a post on Truth Social, the president-elect said: “These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought.”He continued:
      Over $100m Dollars of taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME. Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before. They have also used State Prosecutors and
      District Attorneys, such as Fani Willis and her lover, Nathan Wade (who had absolutely zero experience in cases such as this, but was paid MILLIONS, enough for them to take numerous trips and cruises around the globe!), Letitia James, who inappropriately, unethically, and probably illegally, campaigned on “GETTING TRUMP” in order to win Political Office, and Alvin Bragg, who himself never wanted to bring this case against me, but was forced to do so by the Justice Department and the Democrat Party.
      It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
      Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, a White House spokesman told Reuters.“The president promised that he would attend the inauguration of whomever won the election,” said Andrew Bates, senior deputy press secretary at the White House. “He and the First Lady are going to honor that promise and attend the inauguration.”Just hours after Joe Biden pardoned two turkeys in an event marking the official start of the holiday season in Washington, First Lady Jill Biden received the White House Christmas tree. The Frasier fir was delivered to the White House from the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, a region recently impacted by Hurricane Helene.Jack Smith is planning to release a final report into his investigations into Donald Trump’s classified documents and election interference cases, CNN reports.Attorney general Merrick Garland will publicly release the report, as he has past special counsel reports, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN. However, it remains unclear how much information will be included in the reports.Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has dropped his office’s lawsuit against Elon Musk and his America Pac. Krasner had sued Musk over his super Pac’s $1m-a-day lottery, where swing state voters were entered into a drawing every day before the presidential election in exchange for signing a petition.Teddy Schleifer of Puck News first posted a screen capture of the court case today, marking it “Discontinued and Ended”.A Philadelphia judge had rejected Krasner’s request for an injunction, on the basis that Musk’s lottery violated state election laws, on 4 November.Donald Trump has declined to sign presidential transition paperwork that requires disclosure of private donors. The memorandum of understanding, which requires an incoming president to disclose the names of private donors and caps their donations at $5,000, would give Trump access to up to $7.2m in federal funding.Here’s Robert Tait with more:Sidestepping it means Trump can raise unlimited amounts of cash from rich backers to finance his return to the White House while concealing what they are being promised in return.He is the first incoming president not to sign the federal transition funding agreement, which is dictated by the Presidential Transition Act.Transition funds are typically raised to pay for staff, office space and travel needed to put together an administration.Trump’s decision to avoid the standard procedure has alarmed ethics experts, who warn that it enables wealthy individuals to influence the makeup of a new administration without their names or potential conflicts of interest being disclosed.It also means the president-elect can accept unlimited donations from foreign donors, who – in contrast to rules prohibiting foreigners from contributing to election campaigns – are legally allowed to donate to transitions.Chuck Schumer, Senate majority leader, has scheduled Senate Democrats’ leadership elections for 3 December, according to reports.According to CNN, the leadership elections will start at 9:30am, per a Democratic leadership aide.Meanwhile, the Democratic national committee announced earlier today that it will select its next chair during a 1 February vote. The committee also plans to hold four forums for candidates in January.Trump has broken his silence on the decisions by prosecutors to drop the election interference charges and the classified documents case against him.In a post on Truth Social, the president-elect said: “These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought.”He continued:
      Over $100m Dollars of taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME. Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before. They have also used State Prosecutors and
      District Attorneys, such as Fani Willis and her lover, Nathan Wade (who had absolutely zero experience in cases such as this, but was paid MILLIONS, enough for them to take numerous trips and cruises around the globe!), Letitia James, who inappropriately, unethically, and probably illegally, campaigned on “GETTING TRUMP” in order to win Political Office, and Alvin Bragg, who himself never wanted to bring this case against me, but was forced to do so by the Justice Department and the Democrat Party.
      It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
      While the case involving classified documents case will be dropped against Donald Trump, prosecutors say they will continue to pursue the case against two of his employees.According to CNN, special counsel Jack Smith said that while he is dropping the prosecution of Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents, prosecutors will proceed with the case against two of his employees – Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira – who are co-defendants in the case.Both individuals, who work for Trump, are accused of assisting the former president in obstructing the federal investigation into sensitive government documents.CNN noted that the case is now before the 11th US circuit court of appeals, which is reviewing a judge’s order dismissing all charges.Vice-president-elect JD Vance has responded to the news that prosecutors have dropped election interference charges and the classified documents case against Donald Trump.“If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he may very well have spent the rest of his life in prison,” Vance wrote. “These prosecutions were always political.”He continued: “Now it’s time to ensure what happened to President Trump never happens in this country again.”In statement, Steven Cheung, the communications director for the president-elect, said: “Today’s decision by the DOJ ends the unconstitutional federal cases against President Trump, and is a major victory for the rule of law.“The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country,” he added.Federal prosecutors have also moved today to abandon the classified documents case against Donald Trump, similarly to the election interference case, in light of longstanding justice department policy that says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution – even though Trump has not yet been inaugurated.The announcement in an appeals court filing in Florida came shortly after the similar filing was made by prosecutors in Washington DC, where they asked to dismiss the case accusing Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, the Associated Press reports.The move amounts to a predictable but nonetheless stunning conclusion to a criminal case that just one year ago had been seen as the most perilous legal threat that he faced. It reflects the practical consequences of Trump’s electoral victory, ensuring he enters office free from scrutiny over his hoarding of top secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after leaving office in January 2021 – conduct that prosecutors said had jeopardized national scrutiny.The dismissal had been foreshadowed in recent weeks by the revelation that special counsel Jack Smith was evaluating how to wind down both that case and a separate pending prosecution he brought charging Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.Justice department legal opinions dating back decades say sitting presidents cannot be indicted or prosecuted while in office and the government’s filings today indicate that, although unprecedented, they have decided this also applies to a president-elect who was charged while still a private citizen. More

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      Lame duck Biden pardons Thanksgiving turkeys as the world burns

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      This is the way Biden world ends. Not with a bang but a gobble.Joe Biden, 82, once the defender of democracy and saviour of America’s soul, is heading for the door, about to trade the nuclear codes for golf clubs and beach loungers. Power is as fickle as fame.But on a crisp, sunny Monday he pulled off one last win over old rival Donald Trump by drawing surely the biggest crowd ever seen at the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardoning. And he knows how obsessed Trump is with crowd sizes.“They tell me there’s 2,500 people here today,” said Biden, standing at the presidential lectern on the south lawn and quipping, “looking for a pardon.”He laughed and so did the crowd. When a downbeat Trump held this event at the end of his own presidency in 2020, there were shouted questions such as “Mr President, will you be issuing a pardon for yourself?” Biden has ruled out a last-minute pardon for his son, Hunter, convicted on federal gun charges.But a mischief-maker with a dark sense of humour might have named this year’s turkeys Nancy and Barack, after the two Democrats who hastened the president’s exit from the election race after his disastrous TV debate against Trump.Instead the two white-plumed birds, raised in Minnesota, were called Peach and Blossom, named after the official state flower of Biden’s home state, Delaware.Wearing his trademark aviator sunglasses, Biden, marking his final holiday season at the White House, could not resist remarking: “And by the way, Delaware has a long history of growing peaches. In fact, the peach pie in our state is one of my favorite. It’s a state dessert!”He added: “Peach blossom flower also symbolises resilience, which is, quite frankly, fitting for today.”It was ostensibly a comment about the turkeys’ resourcefulness in avoiding the Thanksgiving dinner table. Some might also have detected a poignant acknowledgement that, even Biden talked turkey, a man his allies branded a fascist is down at Mar-a-Lago preparing to hammer America’s democratic institutions all over again.George HW Bush made it an annual tradition to formally pardon a Thanksgiving turkey, though tales of the birds being spared from dinner tables go back to Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. Biden recalled that, in the past four years, he has continued the tradition by pardoning Peanut Butter and Jelly, Chocolate and Chip and Liberty and Bell. “And today, Peach and Blossom will join the free birds of the United States of America.”As he continued, Peach could be heard gobbling. “Yeah, I hear you,” Biden said, as the crowd laughed. “Peach wants to speak a little bit here.”Peach weighs 41lbs, loves to eat tater-tot-topped hotdish, enjoys cross-country skiing, dreams of seeing the Northern Lights and lives by the motto, “Keep calm and gobble on”, the president quipped. Blossom weighs 40lbs, loves to eat cheese curds and watch boxing, dreams of visiting each of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes and lives by the motto: “No fowl play, just Minnesota nice”.The turkeys had travelled 1,100 miles over 16 and a half hours, listening to their favourite music, including the song Living on a Prayer. Biden added: “Well, fellas, your prayer is going to be answered today. Based on your temperament and commitment to being productive members of society, I hereby pardon Peach and Blossom.”And so the lame duck pardoned the turkeys.As is customary, Biden then promised to close on a more serious note. He acknowledged that this would be his last time speaking here as president during this season. “So, let me say to you: It’s been the honour of my life. I’m forever grateful.”There were characteristic reflections on those who have lost loved ones, the importance of family and how America is the greatest country on earth. “And that’s not hyperbole,” he added, as if anticipating dissenters. “We are.“No matter what, in America, we never give up. We keep going. We keep the faith. We just have to remember who we are. We’re the United States of America. There is nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together.”It is a line that Biden uses often at the end of his speeches. But on Monday it sounded like a plea from a man whose legacy is imperilled. With Trump’s promise of mass deportations, gutting of the federal bureaucracy and “America first” isolationism, a presidency that once seemed so consequential is at risk of fading fast.Despite the big crowd, Biden’s turkey farewell felt more muted than that of Barack Obama who, despite the knowledge that Trump was looming, managed to remain cheerful fire off a “a corny-copia of dad jokes about turkeys”. Obama that day seemed demob happy; Biden like a man in denial.Peach and Blossom will now head to an agricultural centre in Minnesota to help promote the state and educate future farmers. Biden, riding off into a sunset of his own, may find retirement brings far less peace. More