CNN host Jim Acosta and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) battled it out on the network on Wednesday.
Burchett, an ally to Donald Trump, appeared on the network. Acosta raised the issue of Matt Gaetz and questioned whether Trump had a mandate that encompassed controversial picks.
"The polls showed Americans primarily voted for Trump to fix inflation and the economy. Did the American people vote for people like Matt Gaetz to be the attorney general, or a vaccine conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. to be in public health roles?" Acosta asked. "Isn't that overreach?"
"No. Nobody would take the fight to the corrupted Justice Department that's been weaponized against Americans like Matt Gaetz. Everybody knows that," Burchett said. "And if the Justice Department had anything on Matt Gaetz, they would have brought charges. But instead they chose to throw them out."
Acosta responded, saying, "It's a holiday week. I don't want to, you know, I don't want to get too testy before we all eat some turkey."
"But Matt Gaetz, for attorney general, you were in favor of that?" the host asked.
"Absolutely," Burchett replied. "I thought he would have been an excellent choice. Nobody is hated by our Justice Department more than Matt Gaetz, and for good reason. He understands that it's not just the head person there. It's the second and third tier level people."
The GOP lawmaker further claimed the Justice Department was "weaponized against Americans," saying, "If a mom and dad went to a school board meeting, they were labeled as domestic terrorists by our current Justice Department."
The host replied, "Congressman, congressman come on."
President-elect Donald Trump's latest round of tariff threats against Mexico has exposed what the New Republic's Greg Sargent calls an "ugly MAGA scam" in his latest article.
Elaborating on this, he writes Trump is "claiming Mexico must be bullied into stopping migrants. But Mexico is *already* doing this. That's a big reason crossings have dropped."
Sargent notes that the big drop in border crossings came after months of efforts by the Biden administration to work with the Mexican government to stop the flow of migrants that overwhelmed border security forces for much of his first term.
"Trump's scam is designed to create the illusion that his fearsome threats are needed to get Mexico to act," writes Sargent. "Bank on this: Once he's in office, he will credit his threat of tariffs for getting Mexico's cooperation, even though it's already happening."
Trump has threatened tariffs against Mexico not just because of border crossings, but also for the amount of fentanyl that is flowing into the United States.
Many experts, including some who previously served in the Trump administration, have warned that there is no quick fix for slowing down fentanyl trafficking given that there is high demand for the drug and it is cheap to produce.
Some of Donald Trump's fans are outraged about his latest move involving the Navy, according to posts on the former and incoming president's social media.
Trump late Tuesday took to his Truth Social to announce several new picks, including Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who was tapped to serve as director of the National Institutes of Health. That choice was hit with
sharp criticism, with one journalist calling his appointment a "remarkable turn" — given he was a "pariah four years ago, dismissed by the then-NIH director for his 'fringe' views."
Trump also announced another pick, John Phelan, the co-founder and chairman of Rugger Management LLC, a private investment firm based in Palm Beach, Florida, to be United States Secretary of the Navy.
"His Record of Success speaks for itself - a true Champion of American Enterprise and Ingenuity!" Trump wrote, adding, "John's intelligence and leadership are unmatched."
That decision didn't sit well with some of Trump's fans.
A user identified as @WriterJanine, who shares pro-Trump content and supported former GOP lawmaker Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, said, "This one is an odd pick, unless he's going to be a businessman breaking through logjams in the supply chain."
"No military experience? Feels like you're rewarding a friend/donor so will need a better explanation," the user added.
Another user, @Xjhawkr, shares pro-Trump content and identifies as a "Navy Vet" and a "Constitutional Conservative Patriot." That user wrote, "A c--- pick!"
"As a Veteran of the U.S. Navy, I want a Sailor in charge!! Not some Wall Street billionaire with ZERO Military experience!!" they added. "You got this wrong DJT!!!"
@kprett, who shares pro-Trump memes on Truth Social, asked, "Why?"
"This guy has zero military service," the user added.
@DonnaSwimminUpstream, who shares Trump's posts directly and shares pro-Fox News content, said, "I did not read any NAVY service or experience."
A self-identified Trump voter identified as @KelceyB said, "DELL??? YOU ARE SELLING OUT THE NAVY TO TRAITORS!!"
"EVERY PICK YOU KEEP MAKING IS DOOMING OUR NATION & GOD IS P-----!" the user added. "YOU DECEIVED MILLIONS OF US, GOD’S CHILDREN OUT OF OUR VOTE & YOUR DECEIT CURSES THIS NATION!"
“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” Trump wrote.
“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem,” he said. “We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”
Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, told reporters Tuesday that Trump’s tariff threat was “like a family member stabbing you right in the heart," he said.
Ford said he found Trump's comments "unfair" and "insulting" over his comparing of Canada to Mexico.
"Canada is no Mexico," he said, noting that drugs flow up from Mexico through California into Canada. "What we need to do is take that threat seriously."
A Biden administration plan to extend a $6 billion loan for an electric vehicle manufacturer to build an E.V. factory in Georgia sent MAGA world into a tailspin Tuesday.
The plan announced Monday is reportedly part of a push to lock in Democratic climate policies before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House. But not everybody was on board, with the move stoking speculation that the loan was a veiled political attack at one of Trump's main supporters – Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
“Biden is forking over $6.6B to EV-maker Rivian to build a Georgia plant they’ve already halted,” Vivek Ramaswamy wrote to his followers on X. “One ‘justification’ is the 7,500 jobs it creates, but that implies a cost of $880k/job which is insane. This smells more like a political shot across the bow at @elonmusk & @Tesla.”
That sentiment was echoed by numerous conservative social media users.
“It’s clearly an attack on Musk for his endorsement of Trump,” X user Paul A. Szypula wrote in a reply to Ramaswamy. Notably, Ramaswamy and Musk were both tapped by Trump to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to explore ways to slash government spending.
And at least one Republican member of Congress thinks the federal loan to Rivian is a waste of government money.
“Why not just cut each person a $880,000 check?!” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) posted on social media. “The absurdity of this is the exact type of insanity that we have to stop. I can tell you right now Georgians do not support Rivian and are sick and tired of seeing tax dollars handed over to this FAILING company, federal & state!”
Greene was recently named chair of the new subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, which is expected to work with Musk's DOGE.
In the final weeks of President Joe Biden's administration, his Department of Health and Human Services is proposing a new rule for Medicare and Medicaid recipients that will likely touch off a tense confrontation with HHS secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra is now proposing that weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy be covered by Medicare and Medicaid. He said the rule is necessary to fight the ongoing obesity epidemic in the United States by making it easier for Americans to have access to proven medical solutions.
"[The proposal is] a game changer. It helps us recognize that obesity is with us,” Becerra told the Post. “It’s severe. It’s damaging our country’s health. It’s damaging our economy."
The active ingredient in those drugs, semaglutide, has been proven to be effective at helping patients achieve significant weight loss, which helps head off chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease.
In addition to allowing older Americans on Medicare to access the drugs, Becerra's proposal would make it more accessible for low-income Americans who qualify for Medicaid to get semaglutide injections as well. It would also make it more difficult for private insurers who provide Medicare Advantage plans to deny coverage to patients through the tactic of prior authorization.
"We really need to use every tool we’ve got in the toolbox... to try to keep America healthy,” Becerra said. “We should let science drive us to where we’ll go.”
Biden's HHS will officially enter the proposal into the federal register on Tuesday, which doesn't require any action from President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration to go into effect. However, RFK Jr. is likely to be against it given his public positions against vaccines — particularly weekly injections like Ozempic and Wegovy. RFK Jr. has said he would use his position atop America's public health agencies to encourage healthy eating and regular exercise (something former First Lady Michelle Obama also did as the GOP almost unilaterally opposed it).
"They’re counting on selling [Ozempic and Wegovy] to Americans because we’re so stupid and so... addicted to drugs," Kennedy said in October.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) predicted that President-elect Donald Trump would not have a very long honeymoon while in office.
Appearing on CNN, Blumenthal argued that Trump's threats to slap America's largest trading partners with massive tariffs should be taken very seriously and predicted it would cause immediate tension with his campaign promise to end inflation.
"I think he's heading toward a real horror show where the consequences can't be squared with the promises he's made," Blumenthal said.
He then pointed to Trump's decision to not only enact tariffs but also appoint X CEO Elon Musk to what he described as a "hit squad" that could target Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for cuts in order to fund more tax cuts for the wealthy.
"It is very hard to make those kinds of promises and fulfill them," he said. "Republicans will be held accountable. Not only the president-elect when he takes office, but also my Republican colleagues in the United States Senate if they go along with these irresponsible policies."
Later in the interview, Blumenthal was asked about whether Trump's key cabinet picks could be confirmed without undergoing FBI background checks.
"Not responsibly," he replied. "And I think my Republican colleagues know that we cannot responsibly do our duty as senators to advise and consent to our constitutional obligation without that kind of routine vetting. Remember that these kinds of background checks are done as a mandate routinely on the guards at the White House, on FBI agents themselves... there's nothing unusual about a background check and we need them."
A national security expert sounded the alarm Tuesday that Donald Trump is expected to appoint a loyalist to "a position where he could do a lot of damage and wield a lot of power."
The president-elect will likely appoint Kash Patel to a high-profile position at either the FBI or the Justice Department, according to several reports. And since his nomination would be highly controversial, Trump is considering naming him to a position that would not require Senate confirmation.
"Patel would be an extremely controversial selection for any leadership role, including director of the FBI," said MSNBC's Willie Geist. "Patel served as a senior adviser during Trump's first term. Since leaving the White House he has repeatedly talked about using the Justice Department to go after Trump's political enemies and the media.
"The president-elect is reportedly considering naming Patel deputy director or to an appointed investigative role within the DOJ to avoid a confirmation fight in the Senate. Trump is expected to fire FBI director Christopher Wray, whom he appointed in 2017 to a 10-year term."
The transition team seems to have accepted that Patel would not be confirmed, even by a Republican-led Senate, and they want to avoid a losing battle such as the one Matt Gaetz faced before he withdrew his nomination as attorney general.
"It seems they have made the decision that Kash Patel is not confirmable, particularly after the Gaetz debacle," said NBC News correspondent Ken Dilanian.
"That may not be what he said about going after the 'deep state' – they're all for that. It's the kind of things in his background that have been out there, like, for example, he appeared to have misrepresented his role in the Benghazi case. He said at one point he was one of the lead prosecutors, and that's just not true, and other things over the years that have been raised in his background, and so the plan seems to be to install him in an appointed position where he could do a lot of damage and wield a lot of power."
"Let's make no mistake — deputy FBI director, for example, is essentially the chief operating officer," Dilanian added. "It's a hugely responsible role, or even if they set him loose investigating the investigators because it's clear that that is going to happen in some form, that Jack Smith and his team will find themselves under some kind of scrutiny. He could make a lot of mischief that way. Patel is the personification of MAGA rage about the Justice Department and the FBI."
Patel has repeatedly given interviews where he baselessly accuses the FBI of corruption and blames Democrats for the Trump prosecutions that eventually withered on the vine.
"I've covered these investigations for two years – there's not a shred of evidence that happened," Dilanian said. "In fact, it's the opposite. [Attorney General] Merrick Garland, as you were talking about before, bent over backwards to stay out of this, to appoint a special counsel, to have the political people play no role in these decisions, you know, to a fault, some people would argue, but Patel has been saying this is the deep state corrupted the FBI to go after Trump and he's going to mete out his revenge, and it looks like he's going to have a job where he'll be able to do that [and] do equal damage at the CIA, where he's also waged war on the intelligence community."
Donald Trump leveled a late-night attack against the New York Times and demanded an apology from the newspaper for its recent coverage of him.
It's not clear what triggered Trump's rant in the early hours of Tuesday. He singled out reporter Maggie Haberman, whose name he misspelled intentionally and also seemingly unintentionally, but his Truth Social post came shortly after the newspaper published a report by her and colleague Jonathan Swan on a series of passionate letters from a much younger aide.
"Will the failing New York Times apologize to its readers for getting years of 'Trump' coverage so wrong," Trump posted. "They write such phony 'junk,' knowing full well how incorrect it is, only meaning to demean. Magot Hagerman, a third rate writer and fourth rate intellect, writes story after story, always terrible, and yet I almost never speak to her. They do no fact checking, because facts don’t matter to them."
Haberman and Swan reported that Trump aide Natalie Harp would follow him to the White House after sending him a series of letters last year that raised eyebrows in his inner circle, with one letter declaring "you are all that matters to me" and another thanking him for being her "Guardian and Protector in this Life."
"I don’t believe I’ve had a legitimately good story in the NYT for years," Trump posted, "AND YET I WON, IN RECORD FASHION, THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN DECADES. WHERE IS THE APOLOGY?"
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung praised the 33-year-old Harp as a “trusted and valued” aide and said her “work ethic and dedication” had helped the candidate win re-election. Haberman also appeared Monday night on CNN to discuss the possibility that the president-elect would seek revenge against special counsel Jack Smith, who filed a motion seeking to drop the Jan. 6 case.
“There are so many unanswered questions, Kaitlan," Haberman told CNN's Kaitlan Collins. "But if the idea is that there’s lots of people around Trump and the White House who are gonna try to prevent him from doing this, I think people are sorely mistaken.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Conservatives on Capitol Hill still aren’t sold on Speaker Mike Johnson.
While Johnson won the support of the House Republican Conference behind closed doors earlier this month, he’s still got to secure majority support on the floor of the House of Representatives on Jan. 3.
“The speaker's got work to do. He's got work to do,” a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, who asked to remain anonymous so they could speak candidly, told Raw Story. “There are members who are thinking about whether they want to support him or not. He’s not there yet.”
With razor-thin margins in the House, a protest from even a handful of Republicans could cause a repeat of the start of the 118th Congress in which it took 15 votes for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy to secure the gavel.
While Johnson’s been spending more time with President-elect Donald Trump of late — including trips to Mar-a-Lago and attending a UFC fight with the former president — conservatives still aren’t convinced he’s the right GOP general to pass the party’s agenda.
“I wouldn't honestly put too much into that. I think that's just, you know, the president coming through on building goodwill with everybody, and I think that's a smart approach for him,” the Freedom Caucus member continued. “Honestly, I think it's more that members don't see somebody who's going to be strategic, make the right call, make timely calls.”
Former Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-VA) lost his primary this year, but as he heads for the exits, he’s encouraging his colleagues to replace Johnson.
“He’s been an abysmal failure,” Good told Raw Story. “Speaker Johnson has failed by every measuring stick, if you're a Republican, and so I think it would be a mistake to be voted in as speaker.”
Like many Freedom Caucus members, Good doesn’t have much respect for Johnson.
“Speaker Johnson will be a pawn and just do whatever he's told and whatever is in his best interest to be speaker. So he will do his best to be unified with President Trump's agenda, because he wants to be speaker,” Good said. “Unfortunately, what President Trump needs is a strong speaker, an effective speaker who can help drive his agenda through the House.”
This spring, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) joined Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) in her failed effort to oust Johnson by triggering a formal motion to vacate — the procedural measure used to oust McCarthy — but Johnson was saved by Democrats.
In the wake of Trump winning the popular vote and House Republicans just barely maintaining their majority, Massie says Johnson failed the GOP.
“He failed to increase our majority in an overwhelming red wave. He just made it tougher on himself, and the way he failed was not because he didn't campaign enough, but because we didn't get anything done,” Massie told Raw Story.
“So you're not happy with him and his record?” Raw Story pressed.
“Well, that would be an understatement,” Massie said.
“So will you oppose him on the floor?” Raw Story asked.
“I don't know. There’s a lot of time between now and then,” Massie said. “He's gonna have to do a 180 on a bunch of crap he shoved down our throats. Ukraine spending, for instance.”
Still, many of Trump’s biggest supporters in Congress say they’re following Trump’s lead.
“I think Mike Johnson has the support from President Trump,” Rep. Trey Nehls (R-TX) — while wearing a Trump tie — told Raw Story. “Everything that Trump pretty much says right now, we probably need to follow word for word.”
With Republicans readying to run the White House, Senate and the House in the new year, Nehls speaks for many in the GOP when he says challenging Johnson on the floor in January would be a strategic mistake.
“I just don't know how that's going to benefit us,” Nehls said. “This is what we have to do. Donald Trump's going to need four years to fix the screw-ups that we have in our country. Doing it in two years is going to be hard, and if we don't behave and follow some guidance and advice in the Trump first agenda, the America first agenda, we could lose the House in two years, and then what do we have then? Have to be careful about that.”
The other problem, yet again, facing the far-right wing of the GOP is that as united they are in their frustrations with Johnson, they still don’t have a potential replacement in mind — at least not one they’re rallying behind publicly.
“I’m not going to curse anybody by saying their name,” Massie said. “Anybody who I would want would not want me to say their name.”
Donald Trump's latest moneymaking scheme has resulted in a cease-and-desist order from a legendary American brand.
The president-elect has endorsed a series of limited-edition guitars priced up to $10,000 that so closely resemble the iconic Les Paul design that Gibson has ordered 16 Creative, which owns the Trump-backed line, to stop offering them for sale, reported Guitar World.
"The design infringes upon Gibson’s exclusive trademarks, particularly the iconic Les Paul body shape," the guitar manufacturer said in its order to Trump Guitars.
The guitars use the same single-cut body shape as the Les Paul model, two humbucker pickups, two volume and two tone controls and a 22-fret rosewood fingerboard, but the website offers no details about the hardware or electronics used, so it's not clear whether they're player-grade quality or simply "wall-hanger" displays.
The Trump-endorsed company also offers two acoustic guitars as "God Bless the USA" models.
The website mentions that parts are supplied by “multiple providers” that are “both domestic and international,” so it's not clear whether the guitars are made in the U.S., and some digital renderings of the instruments are labeled "for illustration purposes only."
"All sales are final," the website states, although guitars damaged in transit may be eligible for refunds.
Donald Trump's opponents were reprimanded Monday for meeting his election victory with a seemingly quiet resignation.
Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid wrote the anti-Trump "resistance" needs to awaken — and not roll over and accept what's coming.
"If this is what the fight against fascism looks like, it’s not much of a fight," he lamented on Monday morning. "It sounds more like a dishonorable surrender. The shift away from 'existential' rhetoric is welcome: The challenge of democracy, as I have written, is one of coming to terms with frightening electoral outcomes."
Hamid questioned the "sudden softening" of many Democrats who have gone quiet over the threat that Trump poses to American democracy,
He shamed the hyperbole Democrats used during the 2024 election cycle that now "appear[s] strangely subdued."
"Emotions of despair are different from those of hope," continued Hamid. "Hope spurs action. Despair more often leads to retreat. In this vein, a growing number of former activists are proposing rest and self-care as better, saner propositions than political action."
He cited activist David Hogg, one of the Parkland school shooting survivors, who wrote: “We’ve marched so much. We’re tired of doing the same thing over and over.”
There's a fear that protests won't work, continues Hamid, and the power of the people isn't "powerful" anymore.
For those exhausted over years of fighting back against the Tea Party and then MAGA, it makes sense to take some personal mental health time, he said.
"Despite how it might feel in this moment, there is no shame in defeat, and there should be no embarrassment in pulling back, even if temporarily. Life is too short, but it is also long," he says.
But he added it's important for Trump's victory to prompt reflection on 2024 mistakes and build better strategies for the future, and he suggested that it's time for activists to get up off the mat and begin a better persuasion campaign, even if it will be a slog.
"That’s the more difficult work, since there will be no immediate gratification to be found," Hamid wrote.
I have an additional concern about a renewed focus on deportation as someone who has studied U.S. domestic militias for more than 15 years: Some militia units may see it as their duty to assist with such efforts. In fact, local police may even deputize certain militias to help them deport immigrants.
Anti-government, but supporting national defense
Militias are generally wary of the government. They’ve even been known to use violence against politicians and other government representatives, including police. I have found in my research that the militias’ disdain for the federal government is especially strong because they believe it is too big and corrupt and takes too much of their income through taxation.
But militia members’ negative beliefs about immigration and self-declared mission to protect the country could lead them to join a national mass-deportation effort.
For some, my research finds, this perception is rooted in xenophobia and racism. Other militia members misunderstand what is required to obtain U.S. citizenship: They believe that anyone who enters the country illegally is, by definition, a criminal and has therefore already proven their intention to not follow the laws and generally be a good American. This is not true, because migrants may seek asylum regardless of their immigration status for up to a year after entering the country.
Members with both sets of motives believe that undocumented migrants are taking jobs away from more deserving citizens and are generally receiving unearned benefits from being in the country. Trump’s promises to crack down on immigration appeal to militia members of both types.
Militias, like these people training in Georgia in 2017, often want to be prepared to help defend the nation.
Militia members also believe that one of the few legitimate functions of the federal government as outlined by the Constitution is national defense. In that sense, those who believe migrants are an urgent threat could see the military’s involvement in a mass-deportation operation as consistent with a duty to defend the nation.
Some militia units in border states have been engaged in deportation efforts for a long time. They typically patrol the border, sometimes detain migrants and regularly call the U.S. Border Patrol to report their findings.
Some local police agencies, particularly sheriffs, are already asking for civilian assistance managing perceived problems with migrants. Others have hosted anti-immigration events with militias who patrol the border under an effective, if not formal, deputization of their actions.
A member of a militia group searches the U.S.-Mexico border for people seeking to cross in 2019.
Militias may also be called on directly. In the past, Trump has directly addressed militias. The most cited example is his instruction in a Sept. 29, 2020, presidential debate, directing the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” People had similar interpretations of his comments in advance of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
But I have long believed these appeals started much earlier. In 2018 Trump pardoned the men who inspired the Bundy family occupation and standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. I believe that was an early attempt to garner support from people in militia circles.
In a 2020 presidential debate, Donald Trump tells militias to ‘stand back and stand by.’
A volatile combination
The military has already been getting involved in immigration enforcement in unprecedented ways. In early 2024, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott claimed the U.S. Border Patrol was not protecting his state from an “invasion” from would-be immigrants. He deployed his state’s National Guard to an area of the border, blocking the Border Patrol from working in that section. That blockade continues.
In a second term, Trump has little incentive to restrain his rhetoric or his actions. The Supreme Court has ruled that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken while in office. Even if he does not directly appeal to private citizens to control the border or detain people whom they believe to be undocumented migrants, his official presence and hard-line stance on immigration may be enough to provide legitimacy to vigilante action.
Then-candidate Donald Trump meets with Texas state officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott, on Feb. 29, 2024, at a location on the U.S.-Mexico border seized by the state National Guard.
In November 2024, two militia members were convicted of a variety of federal offenses, including conspiracy to murder federal agents, for a plot to kill Border Patrol agents whom the men believed were failing to adequately protect the border from crossing migrants.
Not all militia members support mass deportation, especially if it involves unconstitutionally deploying military forces on U.S. soil. That’s clear from my research.
“The military is the military, and law enforcement is law enforcement,” one militia member replied when I asked some of my long-term contacts for their perspectives on Trump’s declaration to use the military. “They are separate for a reason.”
This man believes undocumented migrants pose dangers – but thinks shifting the military’s role would be even more harmful. Not all militia members are so circumspect.
Amy Cooter, Director of Research, Academic Development, and Innovation at the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, Middlebury
