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A foreign leader who has been dubbed a "neofascist" is on a secret mission to meet Donald Trump, according to a report.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who announced in 2023 she was separating from her partner, with whom she has a daughter, after he was recorded making sleazy comments, is reportedly "flying to the US Saturday to meet President-elect Donald Trump," according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the plans.

A Washington, D.C., insider reminded MSNBC viewers on Saturday about the time Donald Trump reportedly rejected a request for funds from the now-deceased Jimmy Carter.

Longtime Washington insider Jonathan Alter, who wrote a book about Trump's criminal trial, has previously commented about the President-elect's state-based criminal case.

Billionaire Mark Cuban on Saturday explained why he thinks fellow mega-rich Americans are kissing Donald Trump's proverbial ring.

Cuban, who has found himself in Trump's crosshairs in the past, took to social media over the weekend to give his insider perspective on why people like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are trying to woo Trump.

Donald Trump is already undercutting Republican U.S. Senator John Thune (R-SD), the Senate majority leader, according to a new report.

The break involves planning for priorities when it comes to passing legislation in Trump's upcoming term. Thune has been pitching fellow lawmakers on a plan that involves two separate bills, one for border and energy, and one for tax cuts.

President-elect Donald Trump has signaled he plans to focus the first months of his administration on passing border security legislation, which means another main goal — extending his 2017 tax cut package — will have to take a back seat.

This means that the estimated $4.6 trillion cost of extending the tax cuts (which primarily benefit the richest Americans) could cause potential chaos among House and Senate Republicans in the 119th Congress. Adding that much to the federal deficit is likely to ruffle the feathers of House Freedom Caucus members like Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who has indicated that he wouldn't vote for any new federal spending without offsetting budget cuts.

Despite reports that Judge Juan Merchan will not impose any jail time on Donald Trump at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Jan. 10, the president-elect will walk away still facing a loss of rights as a convicted felon.

Unless an appellate court steps in and tosses all 34 of Trump's felony convictions for business fraud, he will spend the rest of his life with what the New York Times' Peter Baker called a "brand on his forehead" as a convicted criminal.

Discussing the upcoming sentencing hearing on MSNBC on Saturday morning with host Alex Witt, law professor and former House select committee lead Jan. 6 investigator Tim Heaphy explained that, as a convicted felon, the president-elect will find some of his rights curtailed.

ALSO READ: Poor Trump supporters are about to get a rude awakening — but we shouldn't be celebrating

"Once Donald Trump is sentenced, he officially becomes a convicted felon. What is the legal significance of this?" host Witt asked.

"Tremendous, Alex," he replied. "There's obviously a legal consequence any time someone has a felony conviction: can't possess a firearm, in some states you can't vote unless your rights are restored; lots of lateral consequences of conviction that afflict men and women across the country every day."

"Those are the legal consequences, the reputational consequence of having a felony conviction," he added. "So while it's not a period of incarceration or monetary penalty, there are still collateral consequences just by having the status of being a convicted felon."

"Hang on," the stunned MSNBC host interrupted. "You're saying a president of the United States would not be able to vote. There are certain states in which he could, Mar-a-Lago being his primary residence. I know they tried to restore a felon's ability to vote in the state of Florida. Could Donald Trump potentially not vote down the road?"

"It depends on the state of residence, right?" the attorney explained. "Voting is a state function, Alex, as you know. The rules that govern elections are state laws. I don't know exactly what the law is in Florida, but, yes, in some states a felony conviction precludes participation with many civil rights including the right to vote, the right to possess a firearm, lots of others."

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During an appearance on MSNBC to discuss Judge Juan Merchan instructing Donald Trump and his lawyers that he will go forward with sentencing in the hush money trial, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance stated she thinks the judge may have a few surprises still in store.

Speaking with host Katie Phang about the Jan. 10 court date related to now-president-elect's conviction by a jury on 34 counts of falsifying business records, Vance said the judge had no choice when it comes to not incarcerating the newly-elected Trump.

However, she predicted Judge Merchan will use the hearing to send a message to the country.

ALSO READ: Merrick Garland's last task and the explosive evidence that could save America

"Why not just sentence him for the 34 felonies that a jury found him guilty for and just hold it in abeyance until he's done serving in office?" Phang, herself a former prosecutor, asked.

"So let me try to talk you off the ledge of this one a little bit, Katie, and we'll see if it works," Vance replied. "I think what the judge is doing here is he's trying to send a final message about the rule of law to a country that disregarded it when it voted to re-elect Donald Trump"

"And here's the technical legal skinny behind what he's doing," she continued. "Almost certainly if he had sentenced Donald Trump to custody and tried to incarcerate him, that sentence would have been suspended. And even if he imposed the conditions that we traditionally associate with a criminal conviction, fines or a term of probation and supervised release following the pronouncement of sentence, those two would have been reversed on appeal by an appellate court because they would have infringed on the presidency."

"Whether we like it or not, that's how the law would look," she admitted.

"Judge Merchan is doing the best he can in a really terrible situation that none of us wanted to be in to try to at least send home a message that there is still, if not accountability for Donald Trump, accountability for others," Vance told the host. "That the criminal justice system can be used in virtually all cases. Look, I know neither one of us finds that to be completely satisfying, and I think we need to acknowledge that that's a problem here, but this is a judge who I think still has another couple of tricks up his sleeve."

Watch below or at the link.

In a recent post to his blog, veteran journalist Dan Froomkin argued that mainstream media outlets' coverage of President-elect Donald Trump has been dismal in its grasp of who Trump is on a fundamental level. He then relayed advice from another experienced reporter on how journalists can more accurately cover the incoming administration over the next four years.

On his website Press Watch, Froomkin argued that Trump should be viewed not merely as a politician, but as a "proverbial snake-oil salesman." He opined that media outlets that failed to "situate Trump’s words and actions in the context of an ongoing con" were engaging in "deception" by "failing to tell the central story." Froomkin cited Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston, who referred to the 45th and 47th president of the United States as "the greatest con artist in the history of the world."

Following up on a high-profile opinion piece he wrote for the New York Times calling billionaire Elon Musk a "national security risk," retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré wondered aloud on MSNBC how the U.S. government allowed itself to be put at the mercy of the billionaire.

With Musk now having the ear of president-elect Donald Trump, Honoré claimed the danger to America from within has reached a new level.

Speaking with "The Weekend" co-host Michael Steele, the man who was widely praised for his leadership in coordinating military relief efforts in gulf states after Hurricane Katrina, listed off the government's overly extensive reliance on the controversial wealthiest man in the world.

ALSO READ: Revealed: The secret Republican plot to disenfranchise millions of voters

"Elon Musk has already shown us in the Ukraine situation, he is not unconcerned about using that leverage to his advantage against the interests of an ally of the United States, and getting concessions, and getting whatever he thinks that he needs in that scenario. How dangerous is that aspect of this?" host Steele prompted his guest.

"Well, right now, we never want to get into a single source of intelligence, a single source of communication," the retired general replied. "I don't know how we got into this mess contracting with one contractor, SpaceX, doing rockets for us as well as controlling communications."

"There have been many reports and suspects that some of these systems were not optimized to help the Ukrainians," he continued. 'We have been dealing in Haiti and the Kenyan forces were only given one Starlink, one Stalink in that fight."

"So, I don't know how the U.S. government –– we have the National Reconnaissance Office, we got Space Command, we got NASA," he detailed. "How in the hell the people in Washington have subjugated our intelligence and our communications to a private company. Why in the hell did we do that? And it is going to get worse, Michael."

You can watch below or at the link.

Reacting to Judge Juan Merchan compelling Donald Trump to undergo a sentencing hearing next week related to his multiple hush money convictions, former RNC chair and current MSNBC host Michael Steele stated that the president-elect will never shed the stain of being known as a convicted criminal.

Acknowledging the president-elect will not be getting any jail time, as Merchan indicated in his Friday ruling, Steele said the judge's maneuvering left Trump with nowhere to go to clear his name and that is entirely appropriate.

As he explained to his MSNBC co-hosts, "But here is the beauty. That is why I keep saying those two words: 'still convicted.'"

ALSO READ: Merrick Garland's last task and the explosive evidence that could save America

"When the jury says you are guilty, that is the seminal moment in any criminal case is when the jury of your peers say, 'You did it and you are guilty for it.' When the judge comes back and goes, ''Okay, they found you guilty, you are guilty. I've got a range of things I do to you,' and all the judge is saying, 'Okay, I will acknowledge the fact you are now coming in in a week's time as the new president of the United States ––you are still convicted. I may not fine you, I may not give you jail time, but you will not be able to erase what that jury did.


"By the judge saying what he is saying, that is an important piece," he added. "So everyone don't get tripping out about 'Oh, my god. He didn't give him any time, he's not making him pay.' He's still convicted. Two words, baby, that's all it takes."

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A panel discussion on MSNBC's "The Weekend" was disrupted with laughter on Saturday morning after co-host Symone Sanders Townsend read a post that Donald Trump had just put up on Truth Social moaning about how he has been treated.

In the midst of a discussion on a ruling from Judge Juan Merchan that Donald Trump will still have to sit for a sentencing hearing next week even though it has been implied he will see no jail time, Sanders Townsend pointed out the the president-elect was addressing it at the same time on his main social media platform in two rambling posts.

With Sanders Townsend reading from the Trump post, dryly telling her co-hosts, "The president-elect has thoughts on his social media site. –– he is not happy about this," she then did a dramatic reading of Trump claiming, "There has never been a President who was so evilly and illegally treated as I. Corrupt Democrat judges and prosecutors have gone against a political opponent of a President, ME, at levels of injustice never seen before."

ALSO READ: Poor Trump supporters are about to get a rude awakening — but we shouldn't be celebrating

"In case it wasn't clear!" co-host Alicia Menendez laughed at Trump's mention of "me."

That led co-host Michael Steele to interject, "Me! I'm the president! Waaaaa, waaaaa."

You can watch below or at the link.

Following a day when Donald Trump angrily responded to a ruling from Judge Juan Merchan that there will be a sentencing hearing next week related to the president-elect's hush money conviction, he doubled down on Saturday morning by fuming about his other legal issues with two rants, each mentioning special counsel Jack Smith.

Taking to his Truth Social account, Trump once again complained that he has been "so evilly and illegally treated" unlike other presidents.

In the first of two rambling posts, on Truth Social, he wrote, "I never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge by a corrupt judge who is just doing the work of the Biden/Harris Injustice Department, an attack on their political opponent, ME! He created a case where there was none. Keeps a 'gag order”' on me so that I can’t talk about how crooked he is. The Fake News knows all about it, but they refuse to talk. He may be the most conflicted judge in New York State history. The accountant testified, with total corroboration, that the records were perfect & totally above board. A legal expense was called, on the books, a legal expense. There was nothing else it could have been called. This was the so-called falsifying of records. I was hiding nothing, everything was out in the open for all to see."