Trump teases control of Greenland and Panama as Matt Gaetz fires back at explosive report: Live updates – UK Times

The discovery by a local newspaper of a “confused” Texas Republican congresswoman living in an assisted care facility after she dropped out of sight last month has triggered concerns about aging lawmakers clinging to their powerful roles in the face of fears about diminishing competence.

The Independent’s John Bowden reports:

In the final weeks of his administration, Joe Biden has sought to shore up his criminal justice legacy, issuing pardons and commutations to reformed offenders, while removing most people from federal death row.

However, in another key area, policing, the Biden administration’s progress could stall once Trump takes over.

During the last four years, the Biden administration has secured just one federal oversight agreement, known as a consent decree, with a department investigated for misconduct.

The DOJ has investigated 12 departments this administration, but so far only this month’s agreement with Louisville has translated into more long-lasting, binding reform steps.

Trump, who has frequently called for harsher, law-and-order-style policing, and who has been critical of past police reform efforts, is unlikely to do as much as Biden on this front, leaving the future status of these agreements in doubt.

Biden also failed to pass a long-sought police reform bill after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020.

Here’s more on Biden’s death penalty policy as the administration comes to a close.

The Biden administration has spent weeks trying to assure the public there’s nothing to fear about drones and aircraft spotted buzzing over New Jersey and other states.

On Christmas Eve, it highlighted a different kind of drone, taking viewers on an aerial tour through the White House’s Christmas decorations.

It may not quell the raging conspiracy theories about the drones, but it is still a pretty cool video.

As President Joe Biden winds down his presidency, Trump is behaving as though he is already in office, writes Rhian Lubin.

Within the last week, Trump launched a campaign against last week’s temporary bill and issued threats against the Panama Canal and Greenland.

The state of Texas is paying an estimated $100,000 to install on blunt and at-times graphic billboards across Mexico and Central America in the coming weeks in the hopes of deterring future illegal immigration.

The Independent’s Josh Marcus reports:

As a sitting member of Congress, Matt Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old high school student, used cocaine and ecstasy, and spent thousands of dollars on sex- and drug-fueled partying, according to a bombshell report from the House Ethics Committee.

Monday’s report found “substantial evidence” the now-former Republican congressman “regularly” paid for sex and met women through a “sugar dating” website through a former associate who has since pleaded guilty to sex trafficking.

We combed through the report.

Donald Trump is the latest prominent Republican to claim a recent Justice Department watchdog report vindicates theories that the federal government somehow provoked or guided the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump shared a video of sports commentators Stephen A. Smith making a similar point.

In fact, the Justice Department report in question found “no evidence” undercover FBI agents joined in on the riots, though confidential bureau sources were near the riot on January 6.

Here’s what you need to know about the actual FBI presence that day.

In the video, posted to X on Monday, Gomez is seen firing a handgun into the back of the head of a dummy tied to a chair with a black bag over its head.

“It’s that simple, public executions for any illegal that rapes or kills an American. They don’t deserve deportation, they deserve to be ended,” she says.

Trump rattled North American diplomatic relations over the weekend with a threat to retake the Panama Canal, two-and-a-half decades after the U.S. transfered control of the vital global trade route to Panama.

The Independent’s Josh Marcus dives into Trump’s long strange trip with the Central American country:

Far-right Republican figure Valentina Gomez, who has made headlines for stunts like taking a flamethrower to banned books, is now calling for public executions for any immigrant in the country illegally who “rapes or kills an American.”

“They don’t deserve deportation. They deserve to be ended,” she says in a video moments after shooting an effigy tied to a chair in the back of the head.

The caption reads “Public executions for any illegal that rapes or kills an American.” The video posted on X has been flagged for potentially violating the platform’s “rules against Violent Speech.”

Gomez, who is Colombian-American, came sixth in an eight-person primary for Missouri’s secretary of state, and last week she said she’s moving to Texas to challenge congressman Dan Crenshaw’s seat

Colombia’s own president called her an “American fascist.”

“She is not just an American fascist. She is Colombian,” Gustavo Petro wrote in Spanish. “And being a migrant, what she wants is to unleash hatred against migrants. Most Americans are killed by Americans.”