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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."

Now that President-elect Donald Trump has won reelection, America's problems will be his to solve in less than three weeks when he's sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. Now, one Republican strategist is warning that Trump's incoming administration will have an uphill battle to follow through on his campaign promises.

Politico reported Saturday that the recent wave of terror attacks and cybersecurity breaches from foreign actors underscore the problems that await Trump after his January 20th inauguration ceremony. In addition to the deadly attack on New Orleans' Bourbon street that killed 14 people (and injured dozens more) in the early morning hours of New Years' Day and the Cybertruck detonation in Las Vegas that injured seven, a Chinese cyberattack compromised the U.S. Treasury Department.

Donald Trump's re-election win in November has led to him being showered with cash from previous donors as well as corporate interests hoping to either stay on his good side or find future favor with the president-elect, reports the New York Times.

On Saturday morning the Times reported the president-elect has raked in a "staggering sum" to be used for his Jan. 20 inauguration as well as to fund a "super PAC called Make America Great Again Inc. and its associated nonprofit group, which is expected to be used by Mr. Trump’s team to back his agenda and candidates who support it, while opposing dissenters."

A ruling by New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan on Friday that he will hold a sentencing hearing for Donald Trump next week, while indicating there will be no jail time, is a blow to the president-elect's attorneys who wanted to see their client's hush money convictions tossed out entirely.

During an appearance on CNN on Saturday morning, former U.S. Attorney Michael Moore explained that what the judge is doing is "unusual" but makes sense should Trump's attorneys want to contest the ruling.

Sitting down with with hosts Amara Walker and Danny Freedman, Moore was asked, "What happens on this January 10th sentencing then? I mean, is it just a formality?"

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

"I mean, it pretty much is a formality," Moore conceded. "It's a little funny because the judge went ahead and said, look, he took the arrows out of the quiver for Trump's team, saying, you don't have to be here, we're not going to take a lot of time, I'm' not going to put you in jail, nothing's going to happen to you."

"Basically, you can just get on a Zoom link. I'm going to say thank you. you've been convicted by a jury. The court imposes sentence, gives you an unconditional discharge –– meaning there's nothing that happens to you, no jail, no probation, no nothing –– but we just closed the book on this case and I think that's pretty much all that happens on that day," he elaborated.

"I mean, is this is this justice? I mean, what are we looking at here?" Freedman asked.

"Well, I mean, it's unusual," Moore replied. "Judges really don't do that. And even this judge was careful in his order to say, you know, 'I'm not trying to prejudge,' but essentially to take away the argument that somehow the former, the president-elect may be in jeopardy of going to jail."

Watch below or at the link.

Disgraced and ousted former Long Island Rep. George Santos (R) had some crucial tips for former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) – but not for his political career or new hosting gig.

Instead, Santos – at Gaetz’s request – offered the former Florida congressman make-up advice and expressed concern for his appearance. The moment came Friday on a segment titled “Makeup-Gaetz” on his new One American News Network program, “The Matt Gaetz Show.”

The federal government is lowering flags to half-staff to honor the late former President Jimmy Carter, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered the same for state government buildings there.

But Democrats say a MAGA county executive in the state is refusing requests to lower flags for Carter.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) read off a prayer on Friday shortly after being re-elected to House speaker, but experts say he flubbed his assertion it was recited daily by President Thomas Jefferson.

“I was asked to provide a prayer for the nation," Johnson told his colleagues on Friday, according to a report in The Daily Beast. "I offered one that is quite familiar to historians and probably many of us. It is said each day of his eight years of the presidency and every day thereafter until his death, President Thomas Jefferson recited this prayer."

Elon Musk, the billionaire X owner, said Friday night that new modifications were on the way for users of his social media platform.

The algorithm changes, which Musk said he hoped would result in a more satisfying user experience, were announced – unsurprisingly – via a post on his X platform.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) narrowly avoided the embarrassment of failing to get a majority of votes to keep the speaker's gavel on Friday, when the 119th Congress was sworn in. But a new report suggests that a faction of far-right House Republicans is likely to give him plenty of headaches over the next two years.

Politico reported Friday evening that Johnson securing the 218 votes necessary to be speaker came with conditions. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who is a member of the arch-conservative House Freedom Caucus, told the outlet that there would be potential "consequences" for the speaker if he failed to uphold his end of the bargain on certain sticking points.

A political cartoonist for The Washington Post is quitting her job — and posted an explanation on Substack accusing the paper of censoring her mockery of billionaires, including the paper's owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

"I’ve worked for the Washington Post since 2008 as an editorial cartoonist," wrote Ann Telnaes. "I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations — and some differences — about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now."