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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will appeal her disqualification from the election interference case against Donald Trump by the Georgia Court of Appeals.
Hours after the Georgia Court of Appeals announced that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified from prosecuting the election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday (December 19), Willis’ office declared its intent “to petition the Supreme Court of Georgia” to appeal the decision in a motion filed with the court. There has been no further comment from Willis or her office.
Willis’ debarment from the highly intricate case came after the three-judge panel of the Georgia Court of Appeals overturned the trial judge’s decision earlier in the day, by a vote of 2-1. Judge Scott McAfee had ruled in March that Wills could remain on the case despite revelations that she had been in a romantic relationship with the lawyer she brought on to handle the prosecution, Nathan Wade. The defense attorneys in the case seized upon that information, forcing Willis to testify about the relationship in January of this year.
The three judges on the Court of Appeals panel are all Republicans. The Georgia Supreme Court is also predominately composed of Republican judges. Appealing the decision comes with a high risk – if the Georgia Supreme Court upholds the lower court’s decision, it would effectively scuttle the case which is the last standing prosecution against Trump. Sentencing in his “hush money” case in New York City has been delayed, and the Department of Justice opted to drop its cases against the president-elect citing the precedent of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Former Georgia prosecutor Chris Timmons said that “it’s a tough call to say whether the Court of Appeals got it right,” in an interview with the New York Times adding that “their reasoning was that the people lost confidence in the case.” But he also noted that Judge McAfee, who is a conservative, saw enough merit in Willis to continue on the case and cited Willis having “won re-election in a landslide, suggesting that Fulton County at least has confidence in her.”
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Tech billionaire Elon Musk is being hammered for using his influence and X, formerly Twitter, to force a government shutdown to aid Donald Trump.
Tech billionaire and Tesla founder Elon Musk is exerting outsized influence over President-elect Donald Trump, with some seeing him aiming to force a shutdown of the federal government. Democratic lawmakers and observers are pointing to how Musk has been using the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to amplify calls to do so as House Majority Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to get the stop-gap bill passed with two days to go. In a post on X, Musk wrote: “Shutting down” the government (which doesn’t actually shut down critical functions btw) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill.”
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1869476312278286359
He would also post that any member of the House of Representatives who voted for it “deserves to be out in 2 years.” Musk was joined by former Republican presidential candidate and co-chair of the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Vivek Ramaswamy, who also blasted Johnson and the bill. The call to “kill the bill” was amplified by MAGA supporters, and Trump himself said he was against the bill to raise the debt ceiling on Wednesday (Dec. 18). When asked if those actions weighed on the GOP members, Arizona Representative Andy Biggs replied, “I think it’s having an effect on some people. I think it probably is.”
The moves by Musk have earned him scorn from Democrats. “If this is the type of power he has, then he is going to be the unelected co-president of this country and we’ve got to be super blunt about it,” said Florida Representative Maxwell Frost, who had a back-and-forth with Musk on X afterward. Vermont Representative Becca Balint echoed his statements. “I’m going to be talking to my folks back home in Vermont who voted for Trump: You thought you voted for Trump, but in fact, Trump just caved to Musk,” she said to Axios.
The pressure is now on Johnson to come up with a plan to satisfy conservatives – one proposal reportedly would include a “clean CR” and dropping $100 million in disaster aid and $30 billion for farmers. Both moves would greatly affect Trump’s base. Johnson’s position is also shaky with a slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives, as his vote to remain Speaker takes place Jan. 3.
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Former Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker has been chosen by Donald Trump as his ambassador to the Bahamas.
On Tuesday (Dec.17), President-elect Donald Trump picked the former football star and Republican political candidate Herschel Walker to be the American ambassador to the Bahamas. Trump announced the choice on his Truth Social online platform, citing his past athletic record and former role in his first administration as the co-chairman of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. “Herschel has spent decades serving as an ambassador to our nation’s youth, our men and women in the military, and athletes at home and abroad,” Trump wrote.
The position has been empty for over a decade, mainly due to the Senate failing to move forward with nominations for the role. President Joe Biden nominated Calvin Smyre in 2022, and both of Trump’s picks in his first administration were also stalled. The pick demonstrates Trump’s preference for those loyal to him to fill his Cabinet – former Georgia senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue have also been appointed to positions, with the former chosen to run the Small Business Administration and the latter chosen as U.S. Ambassador to China. Trump’s ties to Walker go back to the running back’s time with the New Jersey Generals, the 1980s USFL team that the former president owned.
Walker’s most recent political foray was in 2022 when he challenged the incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in Georgia. The race was bogged down with scandal as Walker, who ran on a platform of anti-abortion, was revealed to have paid for the procedures for two girlfriends. He also was forced to disclose the identities of two other children who he hadn’t acknowledged – which came after his comments criticizing absentee fathers, pointedly in Black households. The former Heisman Trophy winner was also found to have lied about graduating from the University of Georgia at the top of his class and of having an elite role in law enforcement.
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Donald Trump met with the CEO of TikTok at his Florida estate, as the social media company is fighting a potential ban in the U.S.
On Monday (Dec. 16), President-elect Donald Trump met with Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. The sit-down comes weeks before the social media company is set to undergo a potential ban in the United States. TikTok made an emergency request before the Supreme Court to block a law that would require the company’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell it off before Jan. 19, 2025. The law was signed by President Joe Biden earlier this year. “The Act will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration,” TikTok’s lawyers said in the filing. “This, in turn, will silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern.”
The emergency application asked for a decision to be made by Jan. 6. Their reasoning for this was so that they could “coordinate with their service providers to perform the complex task of shutting down the TikTok platform only in the United States” if the justices decide to let the ban proceed. A 90-day extension could be enacted if the company is to be sold, but the Chinese government has protested the sale of the algorithm that powers the social media app, and TikTok says that such a sale is impracticable.
Trump previously supported a ban on TikTok but in a press conference later that day, he said that his incoming administration would review the situation. “We’ll take a look at TikTok,” he said. “I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok, because I won youth by 34 points. There are those that say that TikTok has something to do with that. TikTok had an impact.” Trump’s former solicitor general, Noel Francisco, has represented TikTok in court. Trump joined the platform in June, gaining millions of followers. But his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, did capture the majority of 18-to-29-year-olds who voted in the 2024 presidential election.
Jelly Roll was spotted shaking hands and smiling with president-elect Donald Trump at a UFC match New York City’s Madison Square Garden last month, leading to controversy surrounding the country star’s political opinions. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news However, Jelly cleared the air alongside his wife […]
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Donald Trump’s claims of presidential immunity to dismiss his hush money conviction were struck down by the presiding judge in New York, dealing him a temporary loss.
On Monday (Dec. 16), New York District Court Judge Juan Merchan ruled that Donald Trump cannot use presidential immunity as a reason to overturn his felony conviction in the “hush money” election interference case. The decision is a blow to the president-elect weeks before he is set to return to the White House and comes after he has already seen several wins in other court cases against him.
“The People’s use of these acts as evidence of the decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the executive branch,” wrote Judge Merchan in a 41-page document detailing the ruling. Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to covering up an affair he had with adult film star Stormy Daniels, which was overseen by his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who paid Daniels $130,000. Trump would eventually repay Cohen.
The ruling is not the definitive ending to this case. Judge Merchan has paused sentencing in the case several times, and prosecutors have signaled that they wouldn’t stand in the way of putting the case on hold until after Trump has served his time in office. While the conviction does carry a potential sentence of up to four years in prison, Judge Merchan can uphold the conviction but not impose any prison time or any other punishment. Trump can also argue for the conviction to be thrown out if he chooses to take it to the conservative Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor concerning presidential immunity in June.
Representatives for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment. Steven Cheung, a spokesman for President-elect Trump, called the decision “a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity,” adding: “This lawless case should have never been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed.”
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Chris Rock’s monologue for SNL jabbed at multiple figures in the news, including Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the CEO of UnitedHealthcare who was killed in midtown Manhattan.
Last Saturday’s (Dec. 14) episode of Saturday Night Live was hosted by veteran comedian Chris Rock. His opening monologue wasted no time in going after multiple people prominent in today’s news but started off with a playful jab at show director Lorne Michaels for “25 great years of Saturday Night Live!” (The show is currently celebrating 50 years on the air.) Rock was a former cast member on the show from 1990 to 1993 and has hosted SNL three times in 1996, 2014, and 2020. He took a shot at Diddy first by bemoaning having to walk by a pack of “baby oil-sniffing dogs.”
He continued by talking about the capture of Luigi Mangione, the suspected shooter of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in midtown Manhattan earlier this month. “I really feel sorry for the family,” Rock began. “Everybody’s fixated on how good-looking this guy looks. If he looked like Jonah Hill, no one would care. They’d already given him the chair already — he’d be dead. But he actually killed a man — a man with a family, a man with kids. I have condolences. This is a real person, you know? But you also got to go, ‘You know, sometimes drug dealers get shot.’”
The Top Five actor also made sure to roast President-elect Donald Trump and his base of supporters by calling out the history of past American presidents and his proposed plans for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. “Menendez brothers are getting out of jail — just in time to get deported. Trump is going to deport their ass, you murdering Mexicans!” he quipped before taking aim at tech billionaire Elon Musk. “He’s working with the number one African American in the world. The richest African American in the world: Elon Musk. That’s right. He is African American. Elon’s got more kids than the Cleveland Browns. That’s right. Nobody knows how to get rid of people like a South African.”
Check out the entire monologue above.
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Donald Trump hosted a news conference this week at his Mar-a-Lago residence that covered a variety of topics for the incoming president-elect. Of Donald Trump’s comments made during the conference, some took note of the fact that he said he would consider pardoning New York Mayor Eric Adams if he is convicted.
Donald Trump, 78, was asked by media in attendance at the conference if he would consider pardoning Mayor Adams, who has been accused of abusing the power of his office by taking travel benefits from Turkey’s leadership and was accused of asking for illegal campaign donations from the nation. Trump said that Adams had been targeted unfairly by federal prosecutors, something he feels has happened to him as well regarding his legal matters in the state of New York.
Shortly after Trump’s event, Mayor Adams held a news conference on Monday and believes that he shouldn’t face charges in connection with his dealings with Turkish officials.
“I have an attorney that is going to look at every avenue to ensure I get justice,” Adams said. “I did nothing wrong.”
Adams’ defense attorney is Alex Spiro, who also represents Jay-Z and has done so for Elon Musk, a Trump ally, in the past.
Some observers believe Adams is cozying up to Trump and his political agenda concerning illegal immigration in exchange for a potential pardon should he face legal ramifications in connection to the donations from Turkey.
[h/t New York Times]
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ABC News has sparked the ire of many on social media after reports went wide that the network settled a $15 million lawsuit brought by President-elect Donald Trump. The money from the settlement will go toward a charity that will use the funds to build Donald Trump’s presidential library.
As reported by the Associated Press over the weekend, ABC News will pay $15 million as a “charitable contribution” that will be deposited into the care of a non-profit organization that will help build the library for the incoming president.
Trump brought a lawsuit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos after the veteran anchor said on-air that Trump was found civilly liable for raping E. Jean Carroll, with a jury awarding the writer $88 million in damages stemming from a pair of lawsuits filed by Carroll, who accused Trump of the assault in the 1990s. The verdicts of those matters are under appeal.
As part of the settlement, ABC News shared an editor’s note apologizing for Stephanopoulos offering his take on the legal matter in a report delivered on the This Week program. ABC will also pay $1 million to the law firm of Trump’s attorney Alejandro Brito to cover legal fees.
“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” ABC News spokesperson Jeannie Kedas said.
As the news of the settlement went wide, many were moved to outrage that the network decided to settle instead of locking into a legal fight. Some believe this is the network pledging fealty to Trump and his incoming leadership team while others have used more colorful language to describe the outcome.
On X, formerly Twitter, ABC News has found itself hammered with criticism. We have those reactions below.
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Amazon and Meta are contributing $1 million each to the inauguration fund for Donald Trump in an attempt to curry good favor with him.
According to reports, Meta and Amazon are donating $1 million to the inauguration fund for President-elect Donald Trump. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, made its announcement of the move on Wednesday (Dec. 11), weeks after founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Amazon announced its decision the following day, with Trump claiming that he would meet with Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos next week.
In addition, Amazon will livestream the inauguration ceremony on Prime Video, representing an “in-kind” donation totaling up to $1 million. Amazon also did the same with President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. “Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory,” Bezos wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Nov. 6. “No nation has bigger opportunities. Wishing @realDonaldTrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.”
The donations come after Trump’s turbulent history with Amazon and Facebook. Trump opposed a proposed ban on social media giant TikTok, claiming that Meta would benefit if it took place. “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. He also accused Facebook of interfering in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump has also blasted Bezos, calling the “Fake Washington Post” an Amazon lobbying arm and alleging that Amazon was avoiding paying U.S. Postal Service rates in full during his first presidential administration. The two seemed to reconcile after the assassination attempt on Trump’s life in Pennsylvania in July, and Bezos recently said at the DealBook Summit last week that Trump “seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. And my point of view is, if I can help him do that, I’m going to help him, because we do have too much regulation in this country.”
The moves are seen as a way to gain favor with the incoming administration – the Trump team has promised donors who contribute $1 million top-tier benefits, which include six tickets to inaugural events from January 17 to 20 as well as tickets to the ceremony and “an elegant and intimate dinner with President Donald J. Trump and Mrs. Melania Trump” on Jan. 19.