The latest on Trump’s presidential transition

President Joe Biden and top officials repeatedly vowed Thursday that the federal government will be with Americans impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires for as long as it takes — but Biden couldn’t say whether that would continue when he leaves office 11 days from now.

Biden offered a message to Southern Californians during a wildfire briefing Thursday at the White House: “We are with you, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Pressed by CNN on whether he had confidence that Californians would get the aid they need from the next administration, Biden declined to say.

Biden detailed some of the longer-term impacts beyond the immediate needs in the coming days of fire containment and sheltering those displaced — pointing to mental health impacts, recovery and rebuilding — and vowed to ask Congress for additional funding.

But the reality is that the clock is running out: Biden is handing the reins of the federal government to President-elect Donald Trump long before that phase of the response begins.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that President-elect Donald Trump’s comments about turning Canada into the United States’ 51st state are just a distraction from the consequences of Trump’s tariff threats.

Trudeau, who announced earlier this week he would resign as prime minister once his party had chosen his successor, said that Canada becoming another US state was “not going to happen.”

“President Trump, who is a very skillful negotiator, is getting people to be somewhat distracted by that, by that conversation, to take away from the conversation around 25% tariffs on oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminum and lumber and concrete,” Trudeau told CNN in an interview from Washington.

Trump in November promised massive hikes in tariffs on goods coming from Mexico, Canada and China starting on the first day of his administration.

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”

That policy that could sharply increase costs for American businesses and consumers, a fact Trudeau was quick to point out Thursday. Canada, Mexico and China are the US’s biggest trade partners.

“Everything the American consumers buy from Canada is suddenly going to get a lot more expensive if he moves forward on these tariffs,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau stressed that Canadians “are incredibly proud of being Canadian. One of the ways we define ourselves most easily is, well, we’re not American.”

Vice President-elect JD Vance departs from the Senate chambers during a vote in the US Capitol on December 18, 2024 in Washington, DC.

JD Vance will resign his Senate seat effective Thursday at midnight, a Vance spokesperson told CNN, days ahead of assuming the vice presidency.

The first-term senator had to resign from his seat before he and President-elect Donald Trump are sworn into office on January 20. Now, it’s up to Ohio’s Republican governor to appoint Vance’s replacement.

Gov. Mike DeWine’s pick would serve in the Senate until 2026 and need to run in a special election to fill out the final two years of Vance’s term, which ends in 2028. They would then have to run again in 2028 for a full six-year term.

DeWine’s decision on the Senate seat could scramble another election in the Buckeye State: the race to succeed the term-limited governor in 2026, which could draw a crowded field of GOP candidates.

CNN previously reported that Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted is a leading contender to replace Vance in the Congress.

This post has been updated with additional reporting.

A significant number of Senate Democrats voted with Republicans on Thursday to advance a GOP-led bill to require the detention of undocumented migrants charged with certain crimes — a key step that puts the legislation on the verge of passage.

The bill steadily picked up support from Senate Democrats, including from battleground states where President-elect Donald Trump won last fall, after passing out of the House earlier in the week.

Democrats are under pressure to show they will act on immigration in the wake of an election cycle where Republicans attacked the party as weak on the border. In the aftermath of Trump’s win, some Democrats have said the party must do more to address voter concerns over the issue.

If the bill ultimately passes the Senate, it will hand an early win to Republicans, who chose to bring up the legislation as their first bill of the new Congress now that they control both chambers.

The bill would require the detention of undocumented migrants charged with theft or burglary. The legislation is named after a Georgia student who was killed last year while she was out for a run. An undocumented migrant from Venezuela was convicted and sentenced to life without parole in the case that reignited a national debate over immigration and crime.

The legislation still faces hurdles ahead and it is uncertain if it will make it across the finish line in the Senate.

Read more on the immigration bill here.

Donald Trump speaks to members of the media during a press conference at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump’s quest to buy Greenland from Denmark could make Ozempic and Wegovy, the weight-loss and diabetes drugs exploding in popularity, even more expensive for Americans.

Trump has cranked up the pressure on Danish officials to sell the strategically important North American island, turning to his go-to tactic: Threatening tariffs. Massive ones.

During a news conference on Monday, Trump vowed to slap “very high” tariffs on Denmark if it doesn’t sell the island to the United States. Greenland is a self-governing entity inside Denmark’s kingdom. Trump also declined to rule out using military force to seize Greenland.

Broadly speaking, high tariffs on Denmark might not cause significant trouble for American consumers because Denmark is not a huge trading partner with the United States. Danish goods account for less than half of 1% of total US imports.

However, the United States did import around $5.7 billion worth of pharmaceutical products from Denmark in 2023, according to the most recent annual United Nations trade data compiled by Trading Economics.

That figure is likely even higher for 2024 because Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical giant, makes one of the hottest drugs on the market: Ozempic.

Americans have increasingly turned to Ozempic and its sister drug, Wegovy, which have been approved to fight diabetes and obesity, respectively.

Ozempic is so popular that Novo Nordisk’s market value has skyrocketed to almost $300 billion.

If Trump imposes steep tariffs on Denmark, it could at least temporarily increase the consumer price of the highly sought-after Ozempic and Wegovy, according to trade experts.

Read more about how Trump’s plans for Greenland could impact Ozempic prices.

CNN’s Meg Tirrell contributed to this report.

President-elect Donald Trump will solve Russia’s war in Ukraine “very quickly,” Elon Musk said on Thursday.

“I think President Trump … is going to solve that conflict, I think very quickly,” Musk said in a livestream alongside the co-leader of far-right German party AfD Alice Weidel on X.

“It’s now been in somewhat of a stalemate for a few years, and all that’s happened over the past few years is hundreds of thousands of people dying, but for no gains,” he said. “And the longer this conflict goes on, the more Ukraine weakens relative to Russia.”

Elon Musk is seen in Beverly Hills, California, on May 6, 2024.

Elon Musk has praised the co-leader of the far-right German party Alternative for Germany (AfD) as “very reasonable” on Thursday, in a livestream alongside party co-leader Alice Weidel on X, the latest high-profile sign of the tech billionaire’s involvement in European politics.

Musk, a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, compared the political climate in Germany to that in the United States, saying that people were unhappy and demanded change when voting for Trump in November. Germany holds its own election February 23.

“If you are unhappy with the situation, you must vote for change, and that is why I’m really strongly recommending that people vote for AfD,” Musk said.

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 trans-Atlantic tensions ahead of Trump’s second term.

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.

Sen. John Fetterman is seen at the Capitol on December 19, 2024.

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania confirmed that he has accepted an invitation from President-elect Donald Trump to meet, stressing that he will “have a conversation with anyone” in service of his constituents.

“President Trump invited me to meet, and I accepted. I’m the Senator for all Pennsylvanians— not just Democrats in Pennsylvania. I’ve been clear that no one is my gatekeeper. I will meet with and have a conversation with anyone if it helps me deliver for Pennsylvania and the nation,” Fetterman said in a statement to CNN.

A source familiar with the meeting said that it will take place at Mar-a-Lago.

CBS first reported that Fetterman accepted an invitation to meet with Trump at his Florida club.

Fetterman is also supporting a GOP-led immigration bill that will be up for vote this Thursday afternoon in the Senate. The Pennsylvania senator is a co-sponsor of the “Laken Riley Act,” which would require the detention of undocumented migrants charged with theft or burglary. The legislation is named after a Georgia student who was killed last year while she was out for a run. It faces an uncertain future in the Senate.

The House vote was 264 to 159, with 48 Democrats voting with Republicans in support.

This post has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Matt Stiles contributed to this report.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, during a press conference in Washington, DC, on January 7, 2025.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that believes one large policy bill to enact President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda will ultimately happen — despite some Senate Republicans advocating for two bills.

“We will align both chambers, and we will move forward. I have said clearly the preference over here is one bill and that is because I have a much larger group of members to work with and a more diverse caucus,” Johnson said. “If you put it all together, you greatly increase the probability of success in getting it all done. That’s why we have this position. It still remains, as you heard, as recently as last night, um, the President Trump’s preference, and I think that that’s ultimately is what’s going to happen.”

Trump, who initially said he wanted “one big, beautiful bill” said on Wednesday that it “doesn’t matter” if it’s one or two – “the end result is going to be the same.”

Johnson also said he spoke to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Vice President-elect JD Vance at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral this morning, where they talked about the single bill strategy.

“The pieces are coming together. But I will say this, I am very confident that we are going to get this accomplished,” Johnson told reporters outside his office.

“Everyone is rowing in the same direction,” he continued. “The sequence and how we do it is being decided now, and just wait. You’ll see. It’s going to work.”

Johnson also said he “bears no ill will” toward others who want two bills.

“The idea that we would be, that there would be any difference of opinion about this, that that’s some sort of existential threat to the package or that we’re in trouble or something is just nonsense. This is part of the process. We are a deliberate body,” he said.

Asked if he would be open to working with Democrats with issues like state and local tax deductions (SALT) to earn their support, Johnson said, “Of course. We welcome all Democrats to vote for a good package. This is gonna be great legislation.”

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has scheduled confirmation hearings next week for Doug Burgum for secretary of the Interior and Chris Wright for secretary of Energy.

Burgum’s hearing will be at 10 a.m. ET on January 14 and Wright’s hearing will be at 10 a.m. ET on January 15.

Wright will also serve as a member on the newly formed Council of National Energy, which Trump said will consist of all agencies involved in the “permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, transportation” of energy. Burgum will be the chairman.

Burger served two terms as governor of North Dakota and is a former Microsoft executive. In the role, Burgum would inherit the agency that oversees natural resources, public lands and Indian affairs from Secretary Deb Haaland, a former member of Congress who made history as the first Native American Cabinet secretary.

Wright is the CEO of Denver-based fracking company Liberty Energy. In addition to his company’s work on fracking oil and natural gas, Wright also sits on the board of a modular nuclear reactor company and has talked about the potential of nuclear energy.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a press conference at Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, on Thursday.

At his final appearance at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany, outgoing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged Ukraine to continue fighting against Russia’s invasion, and said that Russia has now suffered more than 700,000 casualties since 2022.

“To my brave Ukrainian teammates, and to my friends who have already given and sacrificed far too much, let me urge you to stay in the fight,” said Austin at a news conference after the meeting.

Austin’s comments come after Keith Kellog, President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming special envoy to Ukraine, said that he would like to find a resolution to the war within the first 100 days of the new administration.

Austin added that the UDCG “is built to succeed, built to adapt and built to last.”

“Free people must refuse to replace an open order of rules and rights with a violent world of force and fear,” Austin said. He noted that the casualties Russia has suffered is “more than Moscow has endured in all of its conflicts since World War II combined.”

“Russian casualties in Ukraine now surpass two thirds of the total strength of the Russian military at the start of Putin’s war of choice,” he said.

Biden administration’s final aid package: The Biden administration has announced the final tranche of military aid it will send to Ukraine, amounting to about $500 million.

The last package comes as the White House prepares to announce another round of sanctions on Russia, expected at the end of this week. US officials have argued they are trying to give Ukraine the greatest leverage possible ahead of possible negotiations to end the war this year. There had been an expectation that the White House could impose more sanctions on Russia before the looming inauguration and amid persistent Ukrainian pressure.

Sen. John Cornyn said he intends to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after meeting with President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be Health and Human Services secretary on Thursday.

Cornyn is a senior Republican who sits on the Senate Finance committee, which has jurisdiction over advancing Kennedy’s nomination.

Asked by CNN’s Manu Raju if Kennedy had expressed his previous false claim that childhood autism is linked to vaccines, Cornyn said they did not specifically discuss autism, but added that Kennedy is “not the first person” who has expressed that view and called it a “serious concern.”

Cornyn said he had asked Kennedy about his views on the regular childhood vaccine schedule, and that Kennedy had told him those shots are “well-tested and time-tested for safety.”

A boy looks through a border wall separating Mexico from the United States in November in Tijuana.

When Altagracia left Honduras to embark on the monthslong journey to the US-Mexico border, she had two clear goals on her mind: Reach the United States to claim asylum and reunite with her children living there.

But after leaving her hometown of Siguatepeque, in Honduras’ central highlands, she learned that Donald Trump had won the US election touting a crackdown on immigration – one that she feared could shrink her chances of reaching the US after a nearly 3-month trip through central America and Mexico.

Speaking from a shelter in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca in December, the 39-year-old told CNN she was racing against the clock to reach the US’s southern border with Mexico before Trump’s January 20 inauguration.

“We’ve been told that when Trump starts, he won’t let us in,” Altagracia, who asked CNN not to share her last name over fears it would impact her asylum claim in the US, said on a phone call.

Altagracia is one of several migrants CNN spoke to who are racing to reach the US-Mexico border before Trump returns to the White House.

Her concerns, she says, stem from Trump’s rhetoric around mass deportations and closing the border altogether.

Read more on migrants who spoke to CNN here.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr heads to a meeting with Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) on Capitol Hill on January 8 in Washington, DC. Trump's nominees for his incoming administration continue to meet with senators on Capitol Hill, weeks before his inauguration.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wouldn’t say whether he’s had to walk back any of his views on vaccines as he tries to shore up support from enough senators to be confirmed as Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary.

At the start of his meeting with Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, Kennedy ignored questions from CNN’s Manu Raju on whether he’s had to amend his positions and whether he still stands by his controversial views on vaccines.

Several lawmakers who have already met with Kennedy have said they’ve discussed vaccines with him and that the former independent presidential candidate has expressed an interest in questioning science around vaccines.

While going into Cornyn’s office, Kennedy told Raju that his home in Brentwood is “so far still standing” as devastating wildfires engulf the Los Angeles area.

U.S. Transportation secretary nominee Sean Duffy arrives to meet with U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) on Capitol Hill in Washington, on December 11, 2024.

Sean Duffy will appear before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation for his confirmation hearing to be transportation secretary on January 15 at 10 a.m. ET.

Duffy served in the US House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019, representing Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District. He most recently was co-host of Fox Business’ “The Bottom Line,” after first joining Fox News as a contributor in 2020.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks after the guilty verdict in Donald Trump's criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, at a press conference in New York on May 30, 2024.

New York prosecutors pushed back Thursday on President-elect Donald Trump’s assertion that a sentencing in the hush money case would jeopardize the transfer of power of the presidency this month.

Trump asserted in an emergency appeal on Wednesday that the sentencing, set for Friday, would be “uniquely taxing.” He is set to be inaugurated on January 20.

“President Trump is currently engaged in the most crucial and sensitive tasks of preparing to assume the executive power in less than two weeks, all of which are essential to the United States’ national security and vital interests,” his attorneys wrote.

The US Supreme Court is considering Trump’s request to delay his sentencing in the hush money case and is expected to hand down a decision as soon as Thursday.

Former U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe (C), U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, moves between meetings with senators in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 18, 2024 in Washington, DC.

John Ratcliffe will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee for his confirmation hearing to be CIA director on January 15 at 10 a.m. ET.

Ratcliffe, a former representative from Texas, served as the director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021 during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term – and his appointment served as a key argument for critics who believed that Trump was using the intelligence community to serve his political needs.

Trump chose Ratcliffe in November to serve as his CIA director. Ratcliffe had been high on the list of potential attorney general candidates, sources told CNN. He currently serves as co-chair at the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-linked think tank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York on September 27, 2024.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has scrapped plans to attend US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, Israeli officials told CNN on Thursday.

The prime minister hadn’t formally announced a trip to the US, but Israeli media has reported that he was expected to attend the ceremony.

News of Netanyahu’s change of plans came two days after judges involved in his long-running corruption trial announced that his next court hearing will be held on January 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration.

Netanyahu has repeatedly spoken on the phone with the incoming US president since Trump won the election in November. Both Trump and Biden are pushing Israel and Hamas to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal before Trump’s inauguration.

The New York Court of Appeals – New York’s highest court – rejected Donald Trump’s request to stay his sentencing one day before Judge Juan Merchan is set to impose a sentence on the president-elect for the May conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the hush money case.

Trump’s attorneys were notified Thursday morning that Judge Jenny Rivera denied Trump’s request, according to a letter from the Court of Appeals.

Trump has also asked the Supreme Court to block his sentencing.

Merchan signaled in an order earlier this month denying Trump’s bid to toss the conviction that when he sentenced Trump, he will not impose penalties on the president-elect, who is set to retake the White House in less than two weeks.

Trump is expected to appear virtually at Friday’s sentencing if it happens.

State prosecutors overseeing Trump’s hush money case in New York urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow the sentencing of the incoming president to continue as planned.

The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, told the justices that the high court doesn’t have jurisdiction to consider Trump’s emergency request because his appeals have not fully played out in New York courts.

Elon Musk attends a meeting at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on November 13, 2024.

Elon Musk has walked back his previous claim that he could cut at least $2 trillion from the federal budget, saying Wednesday that half that amount would be “an epic outcome.”

Musk, who has been tasked by President-elect Donald Trump to co-lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, called the $2 trillion target “the best-case outcome.”

There’s no shortage of money-saving targets in the federal government, Musk said, without offering any specifics.

Musk, the world’s richest person, is looking to downsize the federal budget and operations by slashing spending, curbing regulations and cutting the workforce. However, budget experts have scoffed at his pronouncements, saying that eliminating $2 trillion from a roughly $6.8 trillion budget is unrealistic.

Read more on Musk’s DOGE budget goals here.