Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) admitted on Friday there may be a brief “technical shutdown” as the House continued to scramble to pass a spending bill.
The initial bipartisan deal negotiated by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was opposed by both President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, with Johnson saying Musk was communicating with him directly about his dissatisfaction with the bill. A second shorter bill, which included Trump’s demand to temporarily lift the debt ceiling, was supported by Trump and Musk, but it also failed to pass with dozens of Republican lawmakers opposing it.
Johnson spoke with MSNBC’s Ali Vitali on Friday shortly after a meeting with Johnson and other GOP lawmakers. He expressed hope that a government shutdown will be avoided, saying “options” are being discussed, including splitting the spending bill into multiple votes.
After the failure of the second vote, Trump took to Truth Social and told President Joe Biden the budget chaos was his “problem” and if there was going to be a government shutdown, “let it begin now.”
“If there is going to be a shutdown of the government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under ‘TRUMP,’” he wrote
. “This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!”
Johnson told his colleagues they need to be “big boys” and “big girls” and get these negotiations done.
He said:
I’ve already said we shouldn’t be shutting down the government. If it was a tactic that works, if it was the kind of thing that we could use effectively to get rid of this ridiculous $2 trillion deficit that we’re running, then I would say shut it down too. But the reality is it hurts real people and it also doesn’t work. Shutdowns have never been a meaningful tool for leverage. So what do we have to do? We have to be big boys and big girls. We do need to transform how we spend money in this town. We do need to avoid some of these dumpster fire fiscal cliff tactics. We are trying to get done in that room as a team.
Johnson added that Trump’s tactics can make people “uncomfortable,” but he called him a “force of nature” and said he’s heavily involved in trying to make an agreement happen.
“Trump is really involved in making sure we get the right thing done. I get it. He has a different way of doing business. That makes some people uncomfortable. The reality is he’s a force of nature. Now it is at times a disruptive force of nature,” he said.
Vitali and MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing also pressed Johnson about Musk’s involvement. A number of Democrats have taken to calling
Musk a “shadow president”
of sorts considering his direct involvement in negotiations.
“You have someone who is a brilliant disruptor and innovator, that is a voice willing to hear from. We should be willing to hear from. Does anybody here work for Elon Musk? No,” Johnson said.
“Do you think he knows that?” Vitali asked.
“We work for the Constitution and we work for the citizens who send us here. And Elon Musk, I want the input from any American who thinks they know how to build a better mouse trap. We will be better because of the ideas that Elon and [Vivek Ramaswamy] extend,” Johnson said. “But it is brainstorming and not every idea out of a brainstorm is a good idea.”
At least two people are dead and dozens hurt, some severely, after a driver plowed an SUV through a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, CNN reported on Friday.
“This is a terrible scene,” anchor Brianna Keilar said, commenting on the photos and video showing “a lot of people on the ground, people tending to them, folks who seem unresponsive.”
The driver of the car has been taken into custody, Keilar reported.
The incident took place at a Christmas market crowded with shoppers on the last Friday evening before the holiday.
Additional reporting
from CNN mentioned social media videos that CNN had verified that showed a “black car” that “drove directly into the crowd at the busy Christmas market”:
In the video, dozens of people are crowded at the market stalls when the vehicle plows directly into them. Some people can be seen running away from the car in panic, others dive into the stalls.
Bodies and debris are scattered across the narrow lane as the car turns out of the plaza.
CNN senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen reported that the car has been identified as a black BMW. German media are reporting as many as 80 people injured.
Fox News anchor John Roberts also reported on the incident, noting that there were unconfirmed reports that as many as 11 people may have been killed. Fox aired additional photographs from the scene, showing a large police presence and people attending to the wounded.
Magdeburg police posted an update that said (translated from German) the initial report was that “[e]xtensive police operations were being conducted at the Magdeburg Christmas Market. The Christmas Market in the downtown city center is closed. There will be more updates.”
Erstmeldung:
Gegenwärtig finden auf dem Magdeburger Weihnachtsmarkt umfangreiche Einsatzmaßnahmen der Polizei statt. Der Weihnachtsmarkt in der Innenstadt ist geschlossen. Es wird nachberichtet.
Volkstimme, the local Magdeburg newspaper, reported
that the driver of a black SUV “dabei hat er Absicherungen durchbrochen und auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt mehrere Menschen überfahren,” (he broke through safety blockages and ran over several people at the Christmas market.”
“Laut Augenzeugen habe er einen Zickzack-Kurs quer über das gesamte Marktgelände gesteuert – offenbar, um möglichst viele Besucher zu erfassen. Beim Versuch, zu wenden, sei er von Polizisten gestoppt und festgenommen worden. Zur Identität des mutmaßlichen Täters gibt es noch keine Informationen,” the report continued. (Eyewitnesses say the driver steered a zig-zag course through the whole market area, apparently to hit as many people as possible. As he tried to turn, he was stopped by the police and arrested. There is no information yet about the alleged perpetrator’s identity.)
The latest updates have the death toll at two
, and 68 people injured
, at least 15 of whom had serious injuries, CNN anchor Jake Tapper reported.
CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance added that local German media were reporting that the driver had been identified as “a Saudi doctor,” and there were reports that local police suspected there was an explosive device
in the driver’s car.
Tapper also reported that local German authorities were saying that the suspect is a doctor from Saudi Arabia who has been in Germany since 2006.
Sadly, the dead have been confirmed as an adult and a toddler.
Additional updates
from Volkstimme include that the alleged perpetrator had been living in Bernberg, a town about 30 miles south of Magdeburg, and police were conducting an investigation there.
“Wir haben einen Tatverdächtigen in Gewahrsam genommen” (We have taken a suspect into custody), Magdeburg police confirmed Friday afternoon.
#Magdeburg
Wir haben einen Tatverdächtigen in Gewahrsam genommen.
CNN anchor Dana Bash asked Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) to react Friday to Elon Musk’s endorsement of a far-right party in Germany, which has long neo-Nazi ties.
“On his platform last night, Elon Musk endorsed
the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany, AfD for short, saying, quote, ‘Only the AfD can save Germany.’ Now, this is a group that has been labeled as extremist by Germany’s own government. One of its founders has been charged in the past with promoting Nazi slogans. I saw that you noticed this on X. Can you talk about your reaction to this?” Bash asked the Democratic senator.
“Yeah. I mean, this is not normal. So AfD is essentially the neo-Nazi party in Germany. They exist to try to rehabilitate
the image of the Nazi party. And they have all sorts of very dangerous ideas about ridding Germany of anyone who is not naturally born in that country. They are an extremist group,” Murphy replied, adding:
And it is just extraordinary that maybe the most important advisor to the president of the United States, somebody that has been, you know, parading around the halls of Congress as a key advisor to the president, is endorsing a neo-Nazi party inside Germany.
“What does it tell you?” Bash pressed.
“I mean, I don’t know what it tells me. What we know is that what Elon Musk thinks tends to eventually be what the president of United States thinks. And if the United States takes an official position in favor of neo-Nazis in Germany. I mean, it is absolutely catastrophic, absolutely catastrophic for the people of Germany, for Europe, and ultimately for the United States. So, listen, we saw that tweet overnight last night. And I think we should be talking more about what it means for Trump’s foreign policy if he’s going to be doing business with neo-Nazis abroad,” Murphy concluded.
Musk later replied to the segment on X, wildly claiming, “What a huge liar. The AfD policies are identical to those of the US Democratic Party when Obama took office! I don’t think there is a single difference.”
What a huge liar.
The AfD policies are identical to those of the US Democratic Party when Obama took office! I don’t think there is a single difference. https://t.co/b6daIRijPH
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) dismissed scathing criticism of him from President-elect Donald Trump – including calls for his ouster – on Friday during an interview with Fox News after he and nearly 40 other Republicans voted against a Trump-backed bill to avert a government shutdown.
Roy
reminded Fox News host John Roberts that former Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) called
Trump a “cancer” before he ultimately joined the first Trump administration to run the Department of Energy.
On America Reports, Roberts noted Trump
was furious at Roy and other Republicans for voting against the bipartisan bill to keep the government running.
“He’s now taken aim at you, saying that you, Chip Roy, you’re getting in the way of what he wants done, and he’s encouraging Republicans in Texas to primary you,” Roberts said. “I mean, you’ve really poked the bear here,” Roy replied:
Yeah. Look, at the end of the day, my job is to honor God, my family, the Constitution, and my voters – the voters who sent me here. That is what drives me. But I am working tirelessly to get what the president wants. I think the president knows that at the end of the day – look, politics are politics. Rick Perry called President Trump a cancer and then ended up in his cabinet. I’m not worried about politics.
I’m worried about the American people. I’m worried about inflation. I’m worrying about a $5 trillion debt ceiling increase with no spending cuts. The president is rightly motivated to block Chuck Schumer’s abuse, but we Republicans here in Congress, in the House have an obligation to get it done correctly. That’s what we’re working to try to do on behalf of the president and our constituents and our obligations under the Constitution.
Thursday, Trump took aim at Roy in a pair of posts on his Truth Social account. In one post, Trump wrote
:
The very unpopular “Congressman” from Texas, Chip Roy, is getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory – All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself. Republican obstructionists have to be done away with. The Democrats are using them, and we can’t let that happen. Our Country is far better off closing up for a period of time than it is agreeing to the things that the Democrats want to force upon us. Biden is President, and it’s his obligation to properly lead.
We’re there to do the right thing, and we can’t agree with what Biden and the Democrats are demanding. Weak and ineffective people like Chip have to be dismissed as being utterly unknowledgeable as to the ways of politics, and as to Making America Great Again. Put “America First,” and go for the Victory, even if it means shutting the Government down for a period of time. We had an overwhelming Victory just four weeks ago, and we’re not going to let the Democrats forget it so quickly!
Trump also called on
Texas voters to oust Roy in the 2026 GOP primary:
Chip Roy is just another ambitious guy, with no talent. By the way, how’s Bob Good doing? I hope some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary. He won’t have a chance!
Washington Post White House economics reporter Jeff Stein is “stunned” by the number of Republican lawmakers who chose to defy Donald Trump
and Elon Musk by voting against the spending bill.
Earlier this week, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced his bipartisan spending bill, negotiated with Democrats, to keep the government open until March. However, the bill died when Musk and the president-elect came out against him, leading to the creation of a smaller spending bill on Thursday night.
However, 38 Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the bill despite urging from Trump and Musk. Deficit hawks in the GOP were opposed to Trump’s demand that the debt ceiling be raised for two years.
I’m not a Congressional reporter so maybe this is unsurprising to those who are, but I’m honestly still kind of stunned by how many House Republicans — 38! — defied **Trump and Musk** to vote against the spending bill last night
“I’m not a Congressional reporter so maybe this is unsurprising to those who are, but I’m honestly still kind of stunned by how many House Republicans — 38! — defied **Trump and Musk** to vote against the spending bill last nigh,” wrote Stein on X, formerly Twitter.
He added, “1 GOP strategist told me today: ’38 shows weakness, and it feeds on itself. You either need to bring these people to heel or make an example of them — if you can do this with no penalty, this is going to only embolden people.’”
“Massive implications for the policy fights on taxes & spending next year w/ tiny House margins,” Stein concluded.
Miller posted to X, formerly Twitter, “If the men & women who keep our country safe won’t get paid during a shutdown, then neither should Members of Congress. I’m putting my money where my mouth is.”
If the men & women who keep our country safe won’t get paid during a shutdown, then neither should Members of Congress.
Miller, a former Trump aide accused
of domestic abuse by Trump’s former press secretary, included a screenshot of a letter he sent to the Capitol’s chief administration officer. The letter read:
Should Congress fail to reach an agreement to fund the government before the funding deadline at midnight tonight, December 20, 2024, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will go without pay during a shutdown. This includes the men and women serving in our military, those protecting our borders, ensuring the safety of our skies for air travel, and the workers providing critical counseling and services to millions of Americans.
Simply put, this will happen for one reason: Congress will have failed to do its job.
As a result, Congress should face the same circumstances it imposes on others. Therefore, I request that my net salary be withheld until the funding lapse is resolved. If federal workers and members of the military are not being paid, I will not accept pay either.
The letter included a handwritten quote from President Ronald Reagan: “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has been scrambling
to reach a spending deal in time to avoid a shutdown. Johnson’s initial deal, negotiated in advance with Congressional leaders, was rejected by President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
Johnson told reporters Friday to “stay tuned — we’ve got a plan.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged questions about why President Joe Biden has not spoken about the looming government shutdown
.
Jean-Pierre blamed President-elect Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), and billionaire Elon Musk after the House failed to pass a spending bill on Thursday evening — after nearly 40 House Republicans voted it down. A spending bill to keep the government open had been negotiated between Democrats and Republicans before Trump and Musk killed the bill earlier this week.
During a press briefing on Friday afternoon, Jean-Pierre ignored multiple questions from reporters regarding Biden’s silence on the budget crisis. Below is a transcript of the exchange:
REPORTER: We hear that message from you, but why aren’t we hearing that directly from the president? Why haven’t we seen or heard from President Biden himself?
Jean-Pierre: This is a strategy that we have done many times before. Not the first time. And this is for Republicans in Congress, in the House specifically to fix. They created this mess. There was a bipartisan agreement. There was there was a bipartisan agreement…And so what we want to do and what the president wants to make sure we do is he is stands to ready to help get a bipartisan deal through. That’s what he wants to see.
And, you know, this is something that Republicans should own here. What they tried to jam at the 11th hour doesn’t reflect. And what the deal what that bipartisan deal that they came up with, obviously with Democrats and, you know, Republicans are showing a disregard for the American public.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) boasted that House Republicans defied Donald Trump on Friday night after the GOP conference did not accede to the president-elect’s demand.
The House overwhelmingly passed a three-month resolution to fund the government into March just hours ahead of a potential government shutdown. On Wednesday, Trump demanded the legislation raise or eliminate the debt ceiling, which limits the amount of amount the federal government may incur. In response, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) withdrew
a pending bill and introduced a new one with a debt ceiling raise the next day.
“Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible,” Trump told
Fox News Digital on Thursday.
However, the bill the House passed on Friday did not include a debt ceiling provision, which reportedly displeased the president-elect.
“Trump is NOT happy that the spending deal doesn’t include the debt ceiling, according to [a] person who spoke with him this p.m.,” Politico’s Burgess Everett posted
on X. “Not clear he’ll publicly try to stop the bill in the Senate but Trump’s not thrilled the bill doesn’t contain his main ask[.]”
Massie, who votes against most bills – including this one – hailed the lack of a debt ceiling provision, calling it an “institutional victory” for Congress. After the vote, CNN reported
:
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky called Speaker Mike Johnson’s handling of the situation “not that great,” saying he had a lack of “situational awareness” to know the first bill wouldn’t pass. He also expressed frustration at adding a debt limit increase into the bill, after President-elect Donald Trump demanded it on Thursday. “In some sense, there’s an institutional victory here, which is the president said jump, and we didn’t jump,” Massie said.
Massie and Trump have a bit of a history. In 2020, the congressman, nicknamed “Mr. No
, voted against emergency pandemic relief, prompting Trump to call him a “third rate Grandstander
.” Regardless, Trump endorsed
Massie in the next election cycle.
Republican Missouri Governor Mike Parson granted clemency to a White former Kansas City detective who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after he shot and killed a Black man at his home in 2019.
Eric DeValkenaere arrived at the home of Cameron Lamb with his partner Troy Schwalm. While Lamb was backing into his Kansas City
garage, DeValkenaere fatally shot him
. He argued his partner was in danger, that Lamb’s truck had sped from a pursuit with another car, and that Lamb was armed.
The officers were at Lamb’s home for only nine seconds before he was killed, according toThe Kansas City Star. The incident sparked outrage and generated national headlines.
Judge J. Dale Youngs ruled that DeValkenaere entered Lamb’s property with no probable cause. DeValkenaere was convicted in November 2021 and given a six-year prison sentence.
On Friday, Parson commuted the sentence as one of his final acts as governor, but did not comment specifically on his decision to commute DeValkenaere’s sentence. Parson’s office said
:
Closing out the final pending clemency petitions of his administration, Governor Mike Parson today granted 16 pardons and approved nine commutations pursuant to Article IV, Section 7 of the Constitution of the State of Missouri. Official documents have been filed with the appropriate government agencies and have been sent to the individuals.
In addition to granting 16 pardons and nine commutations, Governor Parson denied 23 clemency petitions. The Governor’s Office now effectively holds zero pending clemency petitions. When Governor Parson was sworn into office, he inherited a clemency backlog of more than 3,500 and received hundreds more since. In total, he has taken action on nearly 4,000 clemency petitions. Governor Parson prioritized providing individuals an answer, whether approved or denied.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Bakertold
KMBC in Kansas City that Parson had made a “political” decision.
“A judge issued a sentence in the case that the judge thought was appropriate, and the governor made a different decision,” she said. “He has that political power, and he used it. So, I think, maybe those questions should be posed to the governor instead of me.”
She concluded, “We won’t be run by politics. We’re really run by a victim advocacy, and that’s what Kansas City should operate on.”
The Missouri Fraternal Order of Police said Parson had corrected a “grave injustice.” The group said in a statement
:
Missouri has taken a powerful step in standing with law enforcement by correcting a grave injustice. Wrongly-convicted Kansas City Detective Eric DeValkenaere has finally had his sentence commuted by @GovParsonMO and will be home with his family for Christmas.
Eric spent over a year in prison for defending himself and his partner against a dangerous criminal — a decision no officer should ever face punishment for. This moment serves as a reminder that we must always stand with the brave men and women who put their lives on the line to keep our communities safe. Backing the blue means standing for justice.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes had a grand time at the expense of Larry Kudlow on Friday night after the Fox Business host turned in a memorable interview the day before.
Kudlow, a former economic adviser in the first Trump administration, spoke with Sens. Kevin Cramer and Cynthia Lummis on Thursday’s Kudlow, where the host asked about Republicans’ plan for the Senate, which Republicans will control come early January.
“Put the tax cuts first, put together a real reconciliation bill that includes border security and tax cuts,” Kudlow said. That’s what I want.”
Lummis responded that “the plan is to put the border security and some defense components of reconciliation out first, and then follow it up with the tax component–”
Kudlow interrupted to say, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
” He went on to explain that those provisions should be in the same bill.
On Friday’s All In, Hayes replayed snippets of Kudlow’s meltdown, stating the Fox host was “basically begging to make tax cuts an immediate priority.” Kudlow’s agonized and repetitive “no” response featured prominently in the clips.
“You can’t wait,” Kudlow later added. “You have to start in right away.”
The MSNBC host reveled in his Fox counterpart’s response.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, we need that tax cuts please!” Hayes cracked. “For all of this talk of the supposed right-wing populism and the working-class MAGA party or whatever and going after elites, it’s amazing how continuous this is. Republicans are always happy to protect the ultra-rich instead of helping people who do actually need it.”
