January 7, 2024 - Presidential transition news

As President-elect Donald Trump wrapped his remarks in Florida, a New York appeals court hearing Trump’s request to postpone his Friday sentencing for his conviction in the hush money case got underway in Manhattan.

Trump on Tuesday filed an emergency request to stay his sentencing scheduled for Friday while he appeals his conviction, after Judge Juan Merchan, the trial judge, rejected his demand to stop the sentencing.

The New York Appellate Division, First Department, scheduled a hearing on the emergency request for 12:30 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Remember: Trump is appealing his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, arguing it should be tossed because of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling and because Trump is now president-elect.

Merchan has rejected both of those arguments, scheduling the sentencing for Friday and prompting Trump’s attorneys to go to the appeals court to try to halt the sentencing.

However, Merchan signaled he would not sentence Trump to any punishment.

If the appeals court rules against Trump after Tuesday’s hearing, there are still other appeals avenues he could pursue to try to block Friday’s sentencing.

A Meta logo is displayed during the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair in Paris, on May 22, 2024.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he thought Meta had “come a long way” after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced it would get rid of fact checkers on Facebook and Instagram and replace them with user-generated “community notes,” similar to Elon Musk’s X.

Contorno asked if Trump thought the decision by Meta was a direct response to threats Trump has made to Zuckerberg in the past.

“Probably. Yeah, probably,” Trump said.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”

“We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory, the Gulf of America — what a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate,” Trump said as he addressed reporters at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump reiterated his call for Mexico to help stop illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border and his pledge to impose tariffs on Mexico.

GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that she will be introducing legislation to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” moments after Trump said it in the news conference.

“I’ll be introducing legislation ASAP to officially change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to its rightful name, the Gulf of America!” Greene posted on X.

This post has been updated with Greene’s comments.

Donald Trump delivers remarks at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump expressed confidence in the Republican-majority Congress during remarks from Mar-a-Lago.

“They’re great. So we have a wonderful Republican Congress. We have a leader that I have a lot of confidence in. I think he’s going to be hopefully a great leader, a great speaker,” Trump said, referring to House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was reelected to lead the chamber last week.

Trump also praised the new Senate majority leader as well. “And we have a leader, by the way, in the Senate, I think has been great. John Thune has been doing a fantastic job.”

President-elect Donald Trump promised to deliver “drastic price reductions,” in part by boosting energy production, after previously saying it’s “very hard” to bring down prices once they’ve risen.

Trump specifically pledged to reduce prices on food, echoing a promise he made repeatedly during his campaign.

During an interview with Time magazine in November, Trump acknowledged it would be “very hard” to bring down the price of goods from where they are currently, even as he expressed optimism for his plan to lower prices through increasing domestic oil production.

“I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard. But I think that they will,” Trump told Time in November.

More context: Many economists and industry experts are skeptical that increased oil production — if even feasible at a time when the US is already drilling record amounts of oil — would usher in lower prices for consumers.

For instance, on the food front, many manufacturers built smaller plants throughout the country to avoid some transportation costs, particularly after energy prices skyrocketed after Russia invaded Ukraine. Although energy prices have since gone down a lot, the cost of transporting food remains elevated, due in part to truck driver shortages. That’s put upward pressure on the wages of truck drivers, which in turn get passed down to consumers at grocery stores.

CNN’s Elisabeth Buchwald contributed reporting to this post.

Special Counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks in Washington, DC, on August 1, 2023.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday praised the decision by Judge Aileen Cannon to block the public release of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his investigations into Trump.

“He was thrown off the case in disgrace. Why should he be allowed to write a fake report? It’ll only be a fake report. That’s great news,” Trump said when asked about the decision by a reporter at Mar-a-Lago.

Cannon previously dismissed Smith’s classified documents case against Trump because Cannon ruled Smith’s appointment as special counsel violated the constitution, which is what Trump appears to be referencing in his comments.

Trump again dismissed the cases against him as “fake,” railed against Smith and called him “deranged” while praising Cannon as a “brilliant judge.”

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday hedged on his desire for “one big beautiful bill” to pass his sweeping agenda during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, saying his his open to his priorities being split among different bills if it speeds up the process.

Republicans have publicly and privately acknowledged the enormous task ahead in tying together a sprawling package that includes new immigration laws, energy policies and a complex tax overhaul — along with an increase of the national debt limit and spending cuts to federal programs.

CNN’s Manu Raju and Sarah Ferris contributed reporting to this post.

Donald Trump makes remarks at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump warned that if hostages still being held in Gaza are not released by the time he is inaugurated on January 20, “all hell will break out in the Middle East.”

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s pick to serve as the special envoy to the Middle East during his administration, said negotiators are “making a lot of progress” on a deal to release hostages being held in Gaza.

In remarks with the incoming president on Tuesday, Witkoff said he is “really hopeful that by the inaugural, we’ll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president.”

Witkoff said he will return to Doha, where negotiations are taking place tomorrow.

Supporters of then-President Donald Trump gather in front of the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was “looking at” the possibility of pardoning January 6 rioters charged with violent offenses as he reiterated his promise to issue pardons for others connected to the insurrection at the US Capitol in 2021.

Trump was asked at Mar-a-Lago by a reporter, “You said on your first day of office you were going to pardon January 6th defendants. Are you planning to pardon those who were charged with violent offenses?”

“Well, we’re looking at it, and we have other people in there,” Trump said.

Trump later added: “People that were doing some bad things weren’t prosecuted, and people that didn’t even walk into the building are in jail right now. So, we’ll be looking at the whole thing. But I’ll be making major pardons, yes.”

President-elect Donald Trump said that Russia’s war in Ukraine is “much more complicated” now and that it could escalate further.

Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s negotiating tactics with Ukraine during remarks at Mar-a-Lago, warning the war, “could escalate.”

“That war could escalate to be much worse than it is right now,” he added.

Asked on how soon he plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war in Ukraine, Trump said, “Well, I can’t tell you that, but I know that Putin would like to meet. I don’t think it’s appropriate that I meet until after the 20th, which I hate because you know every day people are being — many, many young people are being killed — soldiers.”

Trump then went on to claim, “That’s a war that should have never happened. I guarantee you, if I were president, that war would have never happened.”

This post has been updated with additional remarks from Trump.

President-elect Donald Trump continued his attacks on the Biden administration’s role in the transition of power ahead of his return to the White House later this month.

Speaking from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump said the Biden administration is “trying everything they can to make it more difficult” and is seeking to “block the reforms of the American people and that they voted for.” Later in his remarks, he pointed to two examples of areas where he felt the Biden administration was making the transition difficult.

Trump characterized the various legal challenges he faces as an effort by Democrats to “embarrass” him. Later, he accused Democrats of “playing with the courts” hurt him.”

“Remember, this is a man that said he wants to transition to be smooth,” he said of President Joe Biden. “Well, you don’t do the kind of things — you don’t have a judge working real hard to try and embarrass you.”

His comment comes as he’s expected to be sentenced in the New York hush money trial on Friday after he was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May. Trump has sought to delay the sentencing, but a judge denied Trump’s request Monday.

Trump also pointed to President Biden signing an executive action on Monday that will ban future offshore oil and gas development in parts of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, seeking to make it harder for Trump to ramp up offshore drilling when he takes office.

“They say we’re going to have a smooth transition. All they do is talk. It’s all talk. Everything they do is talk, ‘we’re going to have a smooth transition.’ And then they take 625 million acres, and they essentially landmark it, so you can’t ever drill there again. Well, we’re going to be drilling soon,” he said.

His attacks on the Biden administration’s role in the transition come after he posted on social media on accusing Biden of making the transition “as difficult as possible.”

President-elect Donald Trump did not rule out using the military to wrest control of the Panama Canal and Greenland during remarks to the press on Tuesday.

Asked directly whether he would rule out using “military or economic coercion” to see through his goal of gaining those territories, the president-elect responded, “no.”

His apparent openness to using the military to achieve those goals comes despite his promises to avoid wars once he is sworn in.

“I’m not going to start a war,” Trump said during his victory speech after winning the 2024 election. “I’m going to stop wars.”

Since his election, Trump has repeatedly raised his interest in acquiring both the Panama Canal and Greenland. His remarks on Tuesday were the first time he has suggested using the military to do so.

Asked later whether he would also use the military against Canada, which he has also floated the US acquiring, Trump replied: “No, economic force.”

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Trump doesn't rule out using military to take control of Panama Canal

02:33 - Source: CNN

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump complained Tuesday about the “difficult situation” his team is inheriting from the Biden administration in the economy.

It’s not clear if Trump was specifically complaining about rates set by the Federal Reserve or by the bond market. Trump has clashed over the years with Jerome Powell, his handpicked Fed chair.

Mortgage rates, where the Fed has less influence, have jumped in recent months even after the Fed started cutting rates in September.

Trump said that inflation is “at a level we’ve never had before.” While the cost of living remains high, the rate of inflation has eased sharply since peaking at a four-decade high of 9.1% in mid-2022.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday complained about “no water” coming from showers and reiterated that he would end electric car mandates as part of a broader rant about environmental and energy efficiency requirements.

Some context: Trump’s comments hark back to complaints he had made about water in the context of toilets toward the end of his first administration.

“People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once,” Trump said in 2019. “So (the) EPA is looking at that very strongly at my suggestion.”

It’s unclear what exactly Trump is referring to or what regulatory changes would be involved, but his comments are part of a broader criticism about what he sees as burdensome environmental requirements to make communities more energy efficient.

President Jimmy Carter waves after signing the Panama Canal Treaty in Panama on June 16, 1978.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday repeated his criticism of Jimmy Carter’s decision to hand control of the Panama Canal back over to Panama during his presidency while suggesting the United States got the bad end of that deal.

“The Panama Canal is a disgrace,” Trump said from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. “What took place at the Panama Canal, Jimmy Carter gave it to them for $1 and they were supposed to treat us well.”

During his presidency, Carter, who died Dec. 29 at age 100, negotiated treaties that provided for the handover of the crucial waterway, which had been built and controlled by the US, to Panama. Trump has previously said he would seek to regain control of the canal — a suggestion which the government of Panama immediately dismissed.

Trump has not explained how he would compel a friendly, sovereign nation to cede its own territory.

His criticism of Carter comes as the 39th president’s body is scheduled to arrive in Washington to lie in state at the US Capitol later Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday delivered familiar criticisms against President Joe Biden’s record on foreign policy while speaking to the press at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump slammed Biden’s handling of crises in Afghanistan, Russia, and Syria.

During his first term, Trump said, “we had no wars.”

“We defeated ISIS,” he added. We had no wars. Now I’m going into a world that’s burning with Russia and Ukraine and Israel.”

His remarks come in spite of the ISIS-inspired truck attack that killed 14 people in New Orleans on New Year’s Day.

Trump repeated his claim that he would have withdrawn from Afghanistan “with dignity and strength, as opposed to looking like a bunch of fools with 13 dead and many, many, badly, horrifically injured.”

Trump said Biden’s mangled handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal inspired Russia to invade Ukraine.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump again promised to try to undo the action that President Joe Biden took to permanently ban future offshore oil and gas development in parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Trump continued, “And we will drill, baby, drill. We’re going to be drilling in a lot of other locations, and the energy costs are going to come way down.”

More context: Biden on Monday announced the executive action that will prevent oil companies from leasing waters for new drilling in 625 million acres of ocean. The action invokes the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, a law that gives presidents broad authority to withdraw federal waters from future oil and gas leasing and development.

The law does not give presidents explicit authority to revoke the action and place federal waters back into development, meaning Trump would have to get Congress to change it before he could reverse Biden’s move.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump railed against the “weaponization of justice” by Democrats and attacked special counsel Jack Smith during his remarks from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday morning.

Trump then went onto criticize Judge Juan Merchan and his handling of the hush money case.

“We have a judge in New York, who’s a very crooked judge. I’m under gag order, I can’t even talk about aspects of the case that are the most vital aspects,” Trump said.

Some background: Lawyers for Trump are asking a federal judge for permission to intervene in an effort to block the release of Smith’s final report on the two federal investigations into the president-elect.

Merchan has denied Trump’s request to postpone his Friday sentencing for his hush money conviction, the judge said in a filing Monday.

Federal judge blocks release of report: Judge Aileen Cannon today blocked the release of Smith’s final report on his investigations into Trump.

Her order prevent Smith and the Justice Department from moving forward with releasing the report until the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals has time to review the emergency motion by Trump’s co-defendants to block the report’s release.

The New York Appellate Division, First Department, scheduled a hearing on the emergency request for 12:30 p.m. ET Tuesday.

This post has been updated with additional information.

President-elect Donald Trump listens as Hussain Sajwani, CEO of DAMAC Properties, speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced an Emirati billionaire will invest at least $20 billion for data centers across the United States, a decision he said was “inspired” by his own election.

Trump announced the donation from Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday. Sajwani owns DAMAC Properties, a property-development company based in Dubai.

Sajwani, who Trump described as a “very respected gentleman,” will be “investing at least $20 billion over a very short period of time into the United States, and they may go double, or even somewhat more than double.”

Trump has previously vowed to expedite the permitting process for construction projects that invest at least $1 billion in the US.

DAMAC’S connection with the Trump Organization extends beyond Trump’s first term. For instance, the real estate development group played a direct role in helping the Trump Organization build an 18-hole golf course in Dubai that opened in 2017. The deal was first announced in 2013.

Trump sought to distance himself from the Trump Organization. Once first elected president, he resigned from all management roles. However, he continues to own it.

Who is Sajwani? He has spearheaded several recent investments in data centers across Southeast Asia. Sajwani and his family have maintained close ties with Trump. However, in 2017 Trump said he turned down a $2 billion investment from him that would be allocated toward the Trump Organization.

“I didn’t have to turn it down, because as you know, I have a no-conflict situation because I’m president,” Trump said at the time. “It’s a nice thing to have, but I don’t want to take advantage of something.”

Sajwani, dubbed “The Donald of Dubai,” was one of the few international business investors that upheld a strong relationship with Trump in the immediate aftermath of the Capitol storming on January 6, 2021.

Sajwani helped cement the 2013 deal between Trump and DAMAC to build the Dubai golf course, from which the Trump Organization has collected several million dollars in management fees, filings indicate.

This post has been updated with more details on DAMAC.

Lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump are asking a federal judge for permission to intervene in an effort to block the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on the two federal investigations into the president-elect.

If Judge Aileen Cannon won’t let Trump join the effort, his lawyers are asking that he be allowed to participate as a friend of the court. Trump’s former co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira have asked Cannon to schedule a hearing on Friday about their request to block the report’s release.

Nauta and De Oliveira have asked Cannon as well as the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the special counsel’s office from transmitting his report to Attorney General Merrick Garland and prohibit the Justice Department from releasing any report by Smith to the public.

Trump’s lawyers argue in a filing Tuesday that releasing the report would amount to “disrupting and interfering with President Trump’s transition efforts and harming the institution of the Presidency.”

His lawyers repeatedly refer to Smith as a “private citizen” in reference to the fact that Cannon has ruled that the process used to appoint the special counsel was illegal. That decision to dismiss the case was appealed, but the issue has not been resolved.

While the Justice Department has dropped its case against Trump, given his re-election and DOJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president, prosecutors are seeking to revive the case against Nauta and De Oliveira.

President-elect Donald Trump is delivering remarks from Mar-a-Lago Tuesday morning.

Trump’s remarks come a day after Congress certified his 2024 electoral victory and less than two weeks before he is set to be sworn in for his second term.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that Republicans intend to increase the debt limit in the reconciliation process, calling the increase as a “necessary step” to ultimately reduce spending.

“If it runs through regular order and regular process, and as a standalone or as part of the appropriations for example, then you have to have both parties negotiating and we feel like we’re in better stead to do it ourselves,” Johnson said at a House leadership news conference.

Johnson stressed that a debt limit increase would be met with reducing the “size and scope of government” and “to reduce spending in a meaningful way.”

“Raising the debt limit is a necessary step so that we don’t give the appearance that we’re going to default in some way on the nation’s debt. That’s important the bond markets and the stability of the dollar and all the rest. But that does not mean that we have any intention whatsoever or will tolerate spending up to the new debt limit,” Johnson said.

Asked by CNN’s Manu Raju if he would be open at all to cuts to Medicare, Johnson said, “No, look, the President (elect) has made very clear, Social Security and Medicare have to be preserved and we are not, no one is coming in with the intention of cutting benefits in any way or anything.”

Speaker Mike Johnson told Republicans in a closed-door meeting that they will form smaller working groups of members to try to find consensus on their policy positions before drafting legislation to implement Donald Trump’s agenda, according to members who attended today’s conference meeting.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer will lead the effort.

The process is expected to take months to play out.

Donald Trump Jr. poses for a photo in Greenland on January 7 in this photo posted to his X account.

Donald Trump Jr. landed in Greenland on Tuesday, just weeks after his father, President-elect Donald Trump, ruffled feathers by reiterating his desire to obtain control over the autonomous Danish territory.

He also published to X two photos of himself in Greenland with the caption, “Greenland is beautiful!!!”

In one of the images, Trump Jr. stands alongside Sergio Gor, who ran a Trump-aligned super PAC this election cycle.

Some context: In a Truth Social post Monday, the president-elect confirmed his son would be traveling to the island along with “various representatives” to “visit some of the most magnificent areas and sights” and again expressed his interest in taking over the vast Arctic territory, which is home to the US military’s northernmost air base.

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to speak to the press from Mar-a-Lago at 11 a.m. ET.

His remarks come a day after Congress certified his 2024 presidential election win.

Trump will be sworn into office on January 20.

House Speaker Mike Johnson delivers remarks after being reelected to the speakership in the House chamber of the US Capitol on January 3.

Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed that House Republicans will meet with President-elect Donald Trump this week and over the weekend as GOP lawmakers remain divided over how to pass Trump’s sweeping legislative agenda.

Johnson told reporters on Tuesday morning he talked to Trump last night and “probably this afternoon,” adding “I’m sure we’ll get together” when Trump is in Washington, DC, this week for former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral.

“He’s trying to jam a lot into that visit on the Hill, so we’re sympathetic to that, but he’s bringing in big groups of House Republicans to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, three days in a row, to meet with and talk with all of our team members about what’s ahead of us and the challenges and how we can accomplish all this together,” he said.

Johnson also said he plans to meet with Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Tuesday.

He said the House GOP is “convinced” that passing Trump’s tax, border and energy agenda in one bill that could pass along party lines in the Senate is the best strategy, though Thune has expressed a preference for splitting up the priorities into two bills.

“We will get the two chambers united on the same strategy,” Johnson said.

“I think the President still prefers one big, beautiful bill, as he likes to say, and there’s a lot of merit to that,” he added, referring to Trump.

Elon Musk speaks with President-elect Donald Trump as they watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas on November 19.

Elon Musk’s personal foreign policy of promoting far-right parties is sparking outrage among leaders in Europe and handing them a dilemma: How do they rebuke the tech titan without angering his new patron — Donald Trump?

Musk could easily be dismissed as a mischievous antagonist who simply loves to shock and is pursuing his own obsessions one X post at a time.

But he’s not just some troll. He’s the world’s richest man, owns some of the globe’s most strategic and influential businesses, and is wielding a mighty social media network. Musk is highlighting his enormous influence as a populist force galvanizing political provocateurs as a kind of one-man supranational non-state power.

He’s also previewing the international disruption that likely lies in store when the president-elect returns to the White House and the potential conflicts of interest ahead. Already Musk’s attacks — conveyed to his 211 million followers on X — have snapped the patience of the leaders of some of America’s closest traditional allies and stoked already elevated transatlantic tensions.

• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has been targeted by Musk for weeks, warned the SpaceX owner had crossed “a line” after he said the British minister responsible for safeguarding children should be jailed and was an apologist for rape.

• French President Emmanuel Macron accused Musk of fueling a new “international reactionary movement” and intervening in elections.

• Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said it was “worrying” that a man with such power was so directly involved in the affairs of other countries.

• The German government has already criticized the multi-billionaire for backing a far-right pro-Russia party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), in upcoming elections. Musk will host the party’s leader in an interview on X this week.

Read the full analysis.

The Senate is set to formally adopt an organizing resolution for its committees Tuesday, according to a Republican aide who says it’s expected to be approved by unanimous consent.

This will mean committees can start scheduling confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees. For instance, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has said he intends to hold confirmation hearings for attorney general pick Pam Bondi next Tuesday.

He will be able formally give one week’s notice of the hearing, as is required by his committee, once the resolution is adopted.

Donald Trump Jr. speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024.

Donald Trump Jr. will visit Greenland today, just weeks after his father, US President-elect Donald Trump, ruffled feathers by reiterating his desire to obtain control over the autonomous Danish territory.

The president-elect said his son and “various representatives” would be making the trip.

Denmark’s foreign ministry told CNN on Monday it had “noted the planned visit of Donald Trump Jr. to Greenland,” but said it would not be commenting further as it was “not an official American visit.”

The ministry’s comment came after Reuters reported the island’s permanent secretary for foreign affairs Mininnguaq Kleist as saying the trip was a “private visit.” It also quoted a source familiar as saying the trip was a one-day visit to shoot video footage for a podcast.

Some background: The US president-elect made headlines last month when he resurfaced his desire to obtain the vast Arctic territory, calling it an “absolute necessity” for “purposes of national security and freedom throughout the World.”

He had floated the idea of purchasing Greenland from Denmark in his first term as president, but the idea was shot down by the island’s government, which said at the time that it was “not for sale.”

Laken Riley is seen in this undated photo.

The House plans to vote on the Laken Riley Act today, the first bill to get a vote this Congress, a sign of how important addressing immigration is to congressional Republicans.

The bill, named after a Georgia student who was killed by an undocumented immigrant, would require the detention of undocumented migrants charged with theft or burglary.

This could be a tough vote for Democrats. The legislation passed last Congress with bipartisan support.

The Senate is poised to take up the act on Friday.

Remember: President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly highlighted Riley’s story while campaigning for president last year in his criticisms of the border policies of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Tulsi Gabbard arrives for a meeting at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, on December 10.

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, is expected to meet with Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Tuesday, according to spokespeople for both parties.

The meeting was rescheduled from Monday due to the inclement weather.

Some background: Gabbard, a former Democratic member of the US House who drew national attention when she met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017, has been one of the more controversial choices Trump has selected. Democrats have said that she has displayed a worrying willingness to parrot Russian talking points.

People walk along rocks with offshore oil and gas platform Esther in the distance in Seal Beach, California, on January 5.

President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview Monday he would try to undo the action that President Joe Biden has taken to permanently ban future offshore oil and gas development in parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

“I see it just came over that Biden has banned all oil and gas drilling across 625 million acres of US coastal territory. Look, it’s ridiculous. I’ll un-ban it immediately,” Trump said in a radio interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”

More context: Biden on Monday announced the executive action that will prevent oil companies from leasing waters for new drilling in 625 million acres of ocean.

The action invokes the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, a law that gives presidents broad authority to withdraw federal waters from future oil and gas leasing and development.

The law does not give presidents explicit authority to revoke the action and place federal waters back into development, meaning Trump would have to get Congress to change it before he could reverse Biden’s move.

Donald Trump departs after speaking at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania on October 5, 2024.

President-elect Donald Trump wants to put his entire agenda into a single, massive bill – and he wants it done “quickly.” But he will soon meet the realities of Capitol Hill, even under single-party Republican rule.

The president-elect is expected to meet with GOP senators today to discuss his agenda.

The challenge: Republicans are publicly and privately acknowledging the enormous task ahead in tying together a sprawling package that includes new immigration laws, energy policies and a complex tax overhaul – along with an increase of the national debt limit and spending cuts to federal programs.

Plus, they’ll have to maintain near total unanimity in a narrowly divided Congress, especially in the unruly House where Republicans are already expressing competing views on what the policy should entail.

On top of that, the Senate’s complex budget rules could rein in some of the GOP’s most ambitious agenda items, all as Republican leaders in both chambers are already divided over whether to pursue Trump’s agenda as one big bill or divide it up into two smaller ones.

Some are bracing for a rocky road ahead: As members of the House GOP Conference huddled this weekend to plot their 2025 agenda, Trump’s homeland security adviser, Stephen Miller, stressed that Republicans must unite quickly behind a policy package that delivers on Trump’s mandate from voters, while acknowledging it may fall short of their ideal bill, according to three Republicans in attendance.

Read more on the Trump’s 100-day race to accomplish a sweeping policy agenda

Donald Trump watches a video screen at a campaign rally, in Salem, Virginia, on November 2, 2024.

Congress officially certified Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election on Monday.

The Electoral College vote count went smoothly and no objections or disturbances occurred — a stark contrast to the scene from four years ago when rioters stormed the Capitol during the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who presided over the process as president of the Senate, announced the certification of the count. According to the law, that declaration will be considered final or, in legal terms, “shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons” elected president and vice president.

Trump and Vance won the election with 312 electoral votes. Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz received 226 electoral votes.

Trump will be sworn in on January 20.