Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Trump’s pick as Director of National Intelligence, is set to join the incoming president at the Army-Navy game on Saturday, a source familiar with the situation told NewsNation’s Libbey Dean.
The annual game will take place in Landover, Md., outside of Washington, D.C.
Gabbard will attend alongside Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for Defense secretary, who is set to also meet with the president-elect at the game. The Washington Post
first reported Hegseth’s attendance.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is also set to attend
the game.
Gabbard has recently been in the spotlight
as she courts senators ahead of her confirmation hearing for her position in the Trump administration. Though, nearly half a dozen sources indicated to The Hill that the former Hawaii representative is facing an uphill battle as she meets with lawmakers.
Her nomination has sparked concern
from some of the country’s closest allies over whether the U.S. will remain a trusted partner for sharing critical, sensitive information.
Vice President-elect JD Vance, who is also attending the rivalry matchup, also confirmed Friday that he invited Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran recently acquitted of
a negligent homicide charge in New York City, to the game.
“Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone,” Vance wrote in a post on the social platform X
, replying to a reporter from NOTUS, which first reported on the invitation.
NewsNation is owned by Nexstar, which also owns The Hill.
New Jersey assemblyman Mike Inganamort (R) urged the Biden administration to take action against the mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey and other parts of the country.
“This needs engagement for the from the federal level,” Inganamort told Chris Stirewalt on NewsNation’s “The Hill,” referencing President-elect Trump’s post calling for the drones to be show down
. “I appreciate the president elect weighing in, but we still have about a month left of the Biden administration.”
There have been mounting reports of sightings in New Jersey, New York and, according to Philadelphia’s WPVI-TV, multiple reports
of flying objects within Delaware and Philadelphia counties. The Pentagon on Wednesday denied
that any foreign country was behind the mysterious drones that have flown near sensitive U.S. military sites in New Jersey.
“I think that President Biden and the Biden administration are overdue to show leadership here, to show some creativity, to show some, you know, proactive leadership in in controlling the situation and taking these drones down in a safe and secure way,” Inganamort added.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas suggested that the drones reportedly spotted are not “nefarious” nor a “threat.”
“We know of no threat or nefarious activity, and I want to repeat, Wolf, that if we learn of any cause for concern, we will be transparent in our communication,” Mayorkas told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer
Friday.
Trump on Friday evening called for authorities to shoot down the drones
and suggested the government must know more about the mysterious sightings.
“Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country. Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge. I don think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shot them down!!! DJT” the incoming president wrote on Truth Social.
Lawmakers in the northeastern part of the country — areas where the drones have been reportedly spotted — sent a letter
Thursday to the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Federal Aviation Administration demanding a briefing on the drones.
NewsNation is owned by Nexstar, which also owns The Hill.
A federal appeals court in Washington denied a request from the social platform TikTok that would effectively delay the ban of the app next month.
The rejection comes after the company sought to stop the ban
Monday, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to temporarily block the law that could ban the app next month from going into effect Jan. 19 as it prepares to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In response to a request for comment, a TikTok spokesperson said the app is prepared to take the case to The Supreme Court.
“As we have previously stated, we plan on taking this case to the Supreme Court, which has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech. The voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world will be silenced on January 19th, 2025 unless the TikTok ban is halted,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The rule was signed into law in April and requires TikTok to break ties with ByteDance, its China-based parent company, before the deadline next month or it will be banned in the U.S. Some lawmakers have already told Apple and Google to prepare
for the app’s removal.
The app had argued that the injunction, which would have paused the ban from taking effect, would “permit the Supreme Court to consider this case in a more orderly fashion” and “give the incoming Administration time to determine its position on this exceptionally important matter.”
The Justice Department also asked the court
to reject TikTok’s bid to stop the ban.
Although the request was ultimately denied, TikTok can still turn to the Supreme Court since it asked the appeals court to make a decision by Monday and will still have time to file a motion with the high court to block the law from taking effect.
On Friday, TikTok seemed hopeful in turning to the Supreme Court, saying in a statement Friday the court has “an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue.”
The second time’s a charm for President-elect Trump — at least when it comes to an election win getting him the establishment recognition he has always sought.
Trump has received a display of homage at home and abroad since winning November’s contest over Vice President Harris. It’s the kind of public pomp that eluded him after his shock victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The nature of this acclaim is eliciting an unusual level of glee from Trump — a man who biographers say has never quite left behind the outer-borough imprint of his upbringing in Queens, N.Y., where his family’s wealth was never enough to buy him full entrée into the Manhattan cultural elite.
The accolades and invites have come thick and fast this time.
Trump was invited to France last weekend at the behest of President Emmanuel Macron. The main occasion was a ceremony marking the reopening of the ornate Notre Dame Cathedral.
The trip also included a meeting between Trump, Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the French president’s official residence, the Élysée Palace.
Macron told Trump it was a “great honor for the French people” to welcome the president-elect.
According to the Associated Press, “an actual red carpet was rolled out for Trump as Macron bestowed the kind of full diplomatic welcome that France offers sitting American presidents, complete with trumpets blaring and members of the Republican Guard in full uniform.”
While in Paris, Trump also met with Britain’s Prince William.
Their meeting lasted 40 minutes, during which the pair “discussed a range of global issues but focused on the importance of the UK/U.S. special relationship,” according to the BBC.
Trump also seemed to be lining up a more unusual — and controversial — manifestation of global acclaim when it emerged he had invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to his Jan. 20 inauguration.
Xi looks set to decline. But CNN has reported that Trump’s team has also approached other leaders to join the festivities.
The names mentioned are cut from similar right-wing-populist cloth to Trump, including
Italian premier Giorgia Meloni and Argentinian President Javier Milei.
But it isn’t just on the world stage where Trump is getting to enjoy the garlands of a newly-elected president in a more uncomplicated fashion than was the case eight years ago.
On Thursday, Trump rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange — an accolade that, somewhat surprisingly, he had never previously enjoyed during his decades as a New York-based property developer.
A beaming Trump announced this was “a tremendous honor.” The occasion was also intended to mark him being named as Person of the Year by Time magazine.
The magazine’s editors are always eager to emphasize that the title is intended to recognize the person who has had the greatest impact during the year, whether positive or negative. Infamously, Adolf Hitler was accorded the title — which was then ‘Man of the Year’ — in 1938.
But Trump didn’t let such caveats bother him, especially since this was his second time being named by the magazine. He was also Person of the Year in 2016. But it was “better this time,” he said.
As if all that were not enough, Trump is the object of affection of some business magnates with whom he has previously had rocky relationships.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos set off a media firestorm when it was announced just before the election that the Washington Post, of which Bezos is also the owner, would not endorse any candidate.
That was seen by many liberals as a preemptive bending of the knee by Bezos. Soon after the election, Bezos followed up by declaring that he was “optimistic” about a second Trump term.
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, who Trump had once threatened to jail if he ever returned to power, journeyed to Mar-a-Lago to have dinner with the president-elect late last month. This week, it emerged that Meta will give $1 million to help fund Trump’s inauguration celebrations.
Elon Musk, reportedly the world’s richest man, was never a Trump enemy. But Musk has ascended to a new level, spending well over $100 million to help Trump get elected.
Musk, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, will head Trump’s efforts to cut down on purportedly wasteful spending once the new administration is sworn in.
Trump appears to be enjoying the acclaim so much in part because it is taking place against a backdrop where criticism is relatively muted — at least by the standards of the past decade.
Liberals seem more dispirited than energized by Trump’s victory this time around — perhaps because his election win was not that much of a shock, nor shadowed by the allegations of foreign interference that swirled in 2016.
There are, to be sure, plenty of Americans both enraged and fearful about his coming presidency.
But the generally damp mood among the anti-Trump “resistance” suggests there will not be street protests of the scale seen in the massive Women’s March that took place the day after his 2017 inauguration.
There will, for sure, be controversies and tribulations soon to come.
But for now, Trump is more than happy to bask in the admiration of a domestic and global establishment that is seeking his favor.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is demanding answers related to the drones
spotted in the skies of New Jersey and around the country.
“I don’t know what’s going on. Neither do the agencies who have responsibility for and that’s why I’ve demanded answers from them, at the very least, to tell us what they are doing to determine what’s going on,” Blumenthal told CNN’s Erin Burnett Friday.
Blumenthal’s concern comes as there have been mounting reports of sightings in New Jersey, New York and, according to Philadelphia’s WPVI-TV, multiple reports
of flying objects within Delaware and Philadelphia counties.
Earlier on Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas suggested
that the mysterious drones reportedly spotted in the skies of New Jersey and around the country are not “nefarious” nor a “threat.”
“We know of no threat or nefarious activity, and I want to repeat, Wolf, that if we learn of any cause for concern, we will be transparent in our communication,” Mayorkas told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Friday.
But Blumenthal signaled that he wants more than just reassurance from officials.
“I want the evidence. I want the facts. I want the systemic results that they have. Make it public,” Blumenthal said.
He added that his constituents are also concerned about the reported sightings.
“People are texting me. Constituents are alarmed, and I am alarmed as well as much by the lack of disclosure and transparency as the suspicion about what may be going on,” Blumenthal said.
The Pentagon on Wednesday denied
that any foreign country was behind the mysterious drones that have flown near sensitive U.S. military sites in New Jersey.
Other lawmakers in the region of the country have expressed concern, as well, and sent a letter
Thursday to the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Federal Aviation Administration demanding a briefing on the drones.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrats from New York, along with New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker (D) and Andy Kim (D) asked agencies how they are working “to identify and address the source of recent unmanned aerial system activity.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Friday blasted “specious disinformation that threatens the advance of lifesaving medical progress” after The New York Times
reported that a lawyer linked to Robert F. Kennedy has petitioned the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine.
McConnell, a polio survivor, warned that “efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous.”
“Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts,” McConnell said in a statement, clearly referring to Kennedy, President-elect Trump’s choice to head
the Department of Health and Human Services.
The New York Times reported Friday that a lawyer helping Kennedy hire federal health officials for the incoming Trump administration has petitioned the federal government to revoke approval for the polio vaccine.
The Times reported that the lawyer, Aaron Siri, has waged a battle against a variety of vaccines, having filed a petition seeking to stop the distribution of 13 other vaccines.
Siri, who represented Kennedy during his presidential campaign, filed the polio-related petition in 2022 on behalf of the Informed Consent Network.
The issue of banning polio vaccines strikes close to home for McConnell, who battled polio as a young boy.
One of McConnell’s earliest memories is of receiving treatment at Warm Springs, Georgia, the same place President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited throughout his life to find relief from the crippling disease.
McConnell said he was spared the physical ravages suffered by Roosevelt and thousands of other Americans in the first half of the 20th century because of “modern medicine and a mother’s love.”
“From the age of two, normal life without paralysis was only possible for me because of the miraculous combination of modern medicine and a mother’s love. But for millions who came after me, the real miracle was the saving power of the polio vaccine,” he said.
“For decades, I have been proud to work with devoted advocates – from Rotary International to the Gates Foundation – and use my platform in public life to champion the pursuit of cures for further generations. I have never flinched from confronting specious disinformation that threatens the advance of lifesaving medical progress, and I will not today,” he declared.
McConnell’s statement may portend a bruising battle over Kennedy’s nomination.
Kennedy, a longtime Democrat, founded the non-profit group, Children’s Health Defense, which describes itself as dedicated to ending childhood health epidemics by eliminating toxic exposure.
It has been described by media organizations as an anti-vaccine advocacy group that has filed close to 30 federal and state lawsuits against vaccine and other public health mandates over the past four years.
If confirmed, Kennedy would oversee the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.
Kennedy, however, told NPR in a November interview
that “we’re not going to take vaccines away from anybody.”
But he also claimed that “right now the science on vaccine safety particularly has huge deficits in it.”
“We’re going to make sure those scientific studies are done and that people can make informed choices about their vaccinations and their children’s vaccinations,” he pledged.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas suggested that the mysterious drones reportedly spotted in the skies of New Jersey and around the country are not “nefarious” nor a “threat.”
“We know of no threat or nefarious activity, and I want to repeat, Wolf, that if we learn of any cause for concern, we will be transparent in our communication,” Mayorkas told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Friday.
His response comes as there have been mounting reports of sightings in New Jersey, New York and, according to Philadelphia’s WPVI-TV, multiple reports
of flying objects within Delaware and Philadelphia counties.
The Pentagon on Wednesday denied
that any foreign country was behind the mysterious drones that have flown near sensitive U.S. military sites in New Jersey.
President-elect Trump on Friday evening called for authorities to shoot down the mysterious drones
that have been seen in the skies of New Jersey and around the country.
When asked about his response to Trump’s request, Mayorkas reiterated that they have not seen anything “unusual” nor is there any “threat.”
“We can’t just shoot a drone out of the sky,” Mayorkas said, after underscoring that their authority is “very limited.”
“We have gone to Congress repeatedly asking for more authority to counter drone activity, and we have also asked for more authority to give to the state and local officials under our supervision, because it correctly notes those authorities need to be expanded,” Mayorkas said.
Pod Save America host Jon Favreau ripped into Meta CEO Mark Zuckeberg for donating $1 million
to President-elect Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Friday.
“There are few humans more full of s— than Mark Zuckerberg for like all of the values he professed that Facebook had and that his company has and all this bullshit,” Favreau said in the clip posted to X
.
“Donald Trump attempted a coup. He incited a violent insurrection.”
The podcaster said he was fine with Zuckerberg holding a dinner meeting with the incoming president but thought a large donation was preposterous.
“I would not have even been this annoyed over the fact that Zuckerberg sat down with Trump and had dinner. It’s like, okay, you want to have dinner? He’s the president of the United States. You run one of the biggest companies in the world,” Favreau reasoned.
“Like, fine, make peace, whatever. Donate a million dollars to inauguration when Meta has not donated money to any other inauguration? Now you’re like in the Trump business. Now you’re just giving him money.”
He called the gesture “disgusting.”
“You’re not just like not saying mean things about him or even saying nice things,” Favreau added.
“You’re giving him money? A million dollars. It’s disgusting.”
However, Zuckerberg isn’t the only business owner cozying up with Trump. Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon, contributed
the same amount to Trump’s inauguration under the company name while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is planning to make a personal donation
.
Trump’s inauguration will take place on Jan. 20, 2025.
President-elect Trump and anchor George Stephanopoulos will sit for depositions next week in Trump’s defamation case against ABC News, a judge ruled Friday.
Trump sued the network and the anchor in March
after Stephanopoulos repeatedly said on air that a jury found Trump “liable for rape” in a lawsuit brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Following a discovery hearing on Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette Reid ordered both
Trump and Stephanopoulos to sit for depositions next week that could last up to four hours each. Trump’s deposition will take place in person in Florida, while Stephanopoulos’ deposition may take place remotely, the judge said.
Trump’s defamation case revolves around Stephanopoulos’s March 10 interview of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) on “This Week.” While questioning the congresswoman about her endorsement of Trump, Stephanopoulos stated 10 times that the jury had found Trump liable for rape.
When Trump previously accused Carroll of defamation for continuing to described it as rape, a federal judge rejected Trump’s claim
, saying the characterization was still substantially true because New York’s legal distinction between rape and sexual abuse “is minimal.”
Trump’s lawsuit against ABC is now moving closer to trial after the network’s dismissal attempt was denied in July when a judge rejected several defenses
ABC mounted, including that it is protected by a fair reporting privilege.
The Hill has reached out to spokespeople for Trump and ABC for comment.
The case is one of several defamation lawsuits the president-elect has brought against media organizations.
He is suing CBS News for $10 billion
over claims it edited a “60 Minutes” interview during the campaign with Vice President Harris to cast her in a positive light.
Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize board
, which concerns a statement it issued defending its awards for stories detailing Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, also remains pending.
Supreme Court may revive challenge to Calif. car rule
The Supreme Court indicated Friday it will take up a case that could revive industry efforts to axe California’sstricter-than-federal vehicle emissions standards.
The high court granted a petition from companies and groups representing oil refiners and biofuel producers that seeks to revive their lawsuit against the Biden administration’s reinstatement of California’s clean cars program.
In 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave California the OK to enforce rules that required car companies to sell new cars in the state that produced less pollution.
The industry and red states sued over this action. They have argued the Biden administration was essentially allowing California to act as “a junior-varsity EPA.”
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out their challenge on a technicality — saying they could not bring the case forward because they did not sufficiently prove how it would harm them.
On Friday, the Supreme Court said in a brief order that it would hear their effort to revive the case. The court declined their request to hear the underlying argument, though, only saying it would address the circuit court’s reason for tossing it.
Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.
November 2024 was Earth’s second warmest month in 175 years of record-keeping, and the year is all but certain to be the warmest on record, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Wildfire smoke wafting across the country from North America West blazes may be leading to cardiac and respiratory issues thousands of miles away, a new study has found.
The Biden administration is sprinting to finalize the unfinished pieces of its climate policy, from fully disbursing Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds to getting final regulations out the door.
As Congress’ holiday recess approaches, lawmakers are locked in talks on efforts to speed up approvals for the nation’s energy projects.
“We made progress and are still at the table working in good faith,” House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said in a statement to The Hill.
“We must get this right and are still working on a handful of issues that could unlock a deal.”
The hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus is backing a two-step approach to tackle parts of President-elect Trump’s agenda on border, taxes and energy amid an internal clash over the approach.
Senate Democrats were livid after Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), two longtime members of their caucus, voted Wednesday to block President Biden’s nominee, Lauren McFerran, to serve another five-year term on the National Labor Relations Board. Read more
New Jersey officials are growing increasingly worried about the now-regular spotting of drones over the state, with lawmakers calling for answers and more transparency from federal agencies. Read more
