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Chinese President Xi Jinping has reportedly declined to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration next month in Washington, despite the president-elect personally extending an invitation to the foreign leader.

Xi, whose over two decades in power as China’s president has been described by experts – and President Joe Biden – as “dictatorial,” had been invited as an inauguration guest by Trump shortly after he defeated Vice President Kamala Harris, CBS News reported Wednesday night, citing multiple sources.

Republican lawmakers and allies on Thursday seized on a Senate report showing President Joe Biden's administration has auctioned off materials used to craft the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The conservative Daily Wire posted a video Thursday claiming, "Weeks before Trump takes office, Biden is racing to auction off unused border wall materials."

President-elect Donald Trump's plan to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters might enrage Trump's political opponents — as well as Trump's own supporters, who were led to believe he would go further than what he appears to be planning, a conservative analyst told CNN's Jake Tapper on Thursday.

In his TIME Magazine interview this week, Trump suggested he would pardon most of the people who stormed the Capitol — but said he would review each case individually, leaving open the possibility that only nonviolent offenders will see pardons. That would exclude most people who were jailed for long periods of time.

Morgan Wallen, the controversial chart-topping country music star, pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of reckless endangerment for throwing a chair off the roof of a downtown Nashville bar earlier this year, according to media reports.

Wallen received a suspended sentence of about two years – 11 months and 29 days – for each count, “except seven days incarceration which will be served in a DUI Education Center,” Judge Cynthia Chappell told Wallen during a hearing Thursday in Tennessee’s Davidson County. “The remainder of that sentence will be served on supervised probation.”

President-elect Donald Trump knows just about everything there is to know when it comes to automation, he boasted Thursday.

The curious brag came in a lengthy Truth Social post on Thursday afternoon, where the MAGA leader said he had just finished meeting with leaders of the International Longshoremen’s Association.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) tried to play up his credentials as a fan of New Jersey native rock legend Bruce Springsteen as part of his new campaign for governor — but had to backtrack after savvy internet users noted peculiar discrepancies between his Spotify Wrapped screenshot and the actual service.

According to The Washington Post, Gottheimer posted on X "what appeared to be a screenshot of his Spotify Wrapped, the streaming music service’s end-of-year report on users’ listening habits. Gottheimer’s top five songs for 2024 were all Springsteen: 'Thunder Road,' 'Because the Night,' 'Glory Days,' 'Badlands' and 'The Rising.' He wrote an accompanying message: 'No surprises here … Fun fact: My first ever concert was at Meadowlands to see The Boss!'"

MSNBC's Thursday afternoon political panel broke out laughing after The Bulwark's Charlie Sykes lodged a unique jab at one of Donald Trump's potential Cabinet picks.

The segment came following a video of Pete Hegseth denigrating LGBTQ service members in the military and questioning their ability to do their jobs. Trump's secretary of defense pick said various military branches want women in their forces to put them on a recruitment poster.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) on Thursday was forced to clarify that she’s "still a Republican" after saying moments earlier that she was "more comfortable" without a party label than with "an identity as a Republican," Politico reported.

The comments from the moderate senator, who has come under fire from MAGA world for her potential opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees, came during a discussion in Washington hosted by the group No Labels.

The left and right want to stop the practice of lawsuits used to silence their critics, and a new bill could finally make it happen.

The one law that could have helped is the PRESS Act, which the GOP-led House already passed. However, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) blocked the vote when it came to the Senate this week.

President-elect Donald Trump wants his new administration to work together with more purpose than the last — and that means exacting promises of loyalty immediately from those joining it, and reprisals against those who dared oppose him last time, Brian Karem wrote for Salon on Wednesday.

This comes as Trump insiders reveal details about his transition team's rigorous new loyalty test for prospective officials.

Rupert Murdoch has been battling his children for the past several weeks after seeing an episode of "Succession" on HBO, and now bankers are worrying about the Fox Corp. founder's next move, the Financial Times reported.

It began when Murdoch attempted to revoke his irrevocable trust, which previously divided his assets equally among all his children. Now, it seems Murdoch wants to consolidate power around his son, Lachlan Murdoch, who has been closest to his ideological beliefs in running their conservative platforms.

As a candidate, Donald Trump campaigned — and won — this year on the promise he would lower prices for Americans angry after the COVID pandemic’s inflation brought steep price increases, but now he’s backtracking, saying he’s not sure he will actually be able to fulfill those vows.

Outrage at Trump, and the people who voted for him based on that pledge, was palpable on Thursday.

In early June, Federalist Society President Eugene Meyer announced his retirement from the right-wing judicial outfit. Meyer made it clear, however, that he wasn't leaving right away and planned to stick around until a suitable replacement was found.

The Federalist Society is still deciding on that replacement. The New Republic's Steve Kennedy discussed that search in an article published Thursday, stressing that the group has been enormously influential on the right.