Donald Trump has hit out at the Bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde, who conducted a Tuesday morning prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral he attended, calling her “a Radical Left hard line Trump hater” and saying she had been “ungracious” by calling upon him to show “mercy” towards LGBT+ children and migrants.
“Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one,” the president fumed, demanding an apology.
Trump has also said that he would be open to his billionaire ally Elon Musk or Oracle boss Larry Ellison buying the US arm of Chinese social video app TikTok from parent company ByteDance after granting it a 75-day reprieve on being banned in the US.
Asked by reporters at the White House on Tuesday whether he would be happy for Musk to make the acquisition, he answered: “I would be, if he wanted to buy it. I’d like Larry to buy it, too.”
He has meanwhile moved to threaten China with a 10 percent tariff in retaliation for its alleged spread of fentanyl, pardon Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road illegal drugs marketplace, and announce a $500bn AI infrastructure project.
AOC rebukes Elon Musk: ‘In this country, we hate Nazis’
The Democratic Congresswoman has offered this pointed response to Musk’s “Roman” salute on Monday:
Musk has denied that his gesture really was a Nazi salute and some debate over the matter erupted on Capitol Hill yesterday at the confirmation hearing for Trump’s choice to be the US ambassador to the United Nations, Elise Stefanik, who hotly denied that it was and fell out with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy on the subject.
For what it’s worth, this is what far-right agitator Nick Fuentes had to say about it:
For more on the radicalization of the world’s richest man, here’s Anthony Cuthbertson.
Joe Sommerlad22 January 2025 13:15
India scrambles to appease Trump amid fears over worker visas
The South Asian superpower has expressed its readiness to collaborate with the US to identify and repatriate thousands of its citizens reportedly living illegally in America.
New Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar discussed “irregular migration” on Tuesday after Trump took office, according to the US State Department.
India has committed to helping repatriate as many as 18,000 of its citizens living illegally in the US, Bloomberg News reports, a move which is being interpreted as an attempt by India to placate the new American president and avoid a trade war.
Maroosha Muzaffar reports.
Joe Sommerlad22 January 2025 12:55
Watch: Trump reacts to bishop’s plea for mercy at prayer service
Joe Sommerlad22 January 2025 12:35
Cop who survived Capitol riot injuries condemns Trump’s pardons: ‘I feel betrayed’
Here’s the other side of the coin.
Graig Grazosi has this on former DC Metropolitan police officer Brian Fanone’s response to the pardons.
Joe Sommerlad22 January 2025 12:15
Watch: January 6 rioter thanks Trump for pardon and reveals first thing he’s going to do after release
Watch: January 6 rioters react to Trump pardon after release
A January 6 rioter has thanked Donald Trump for his pardon and revealed the first thing he is going to do upon his release. Kevin Loftus appeared in shock at the presidential pardon as he was released from a detention center on Tuesday (21 January). He said: “I’m going to get that thing framed, dude, and put it on the wall, I swear to God. Because people like us don’t have them.” Mr Loftus then revealed he was going to go get a steak, adding: “The big one. You know, the big, the big porterhouse. It’s already arranged. But until I get there, it’s going to be all the stuff I seen on TV that I couldn’t have.”
Joe Sommerlad22 January 2025 11:55
Trump promotes crypto on social media from the White House
The president has wasted little time in raising conflict of interest concerns by cheerily promoting his latest business venture on Truth Social.
This was his unconvincing justification for doing so when quizzed about it by reporters in the Oval Office yesterday.
Since we’re on the subject, here are a few more of his answers for the press yesterday, which saw him reveal that he removed the security detail for his former national security adviser John Bolton (despite credible threats against his life from Iran) because he is, in Trump’s opinion, “a very dumb person”.
He also failed to answer on why it was appropriate to pardon a Capitol rioter who assaulted a police officer, expressed sympathy for the super-rich preferring powerful showers and got his American economic history wildly wrong.
Joe Sommerlad22 January 2025 11:35
Trump sued by 22 states and pregnant women over ‘flagrantly illegal’ birthright citizenship order
It’s only the early morning of the new president’s second full day in office and already his actions to tackle illegal immigration are facing strong legal challenges.
Here’s Alex Woodward with the very latest.
Joe Sommerlad22 January 2025 11:15
Trump announces up to $500bn investment in AI project
The president yesterday announced investments worth up to half a trillion dollars for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence by a new partnership formed by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank.
The new entity, Stargate, will start building out projects needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House.
Joe Sommerlad22 January 2025 10:55
Trump pardons imprisoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht
The president announced on Tuesday that he has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website for selling illegal drugs and other contraband goods like hacking equipment and stolen passports.
Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after a high-profile prosecution that highlighted the role of the internet in black markets and ended with him being convicted on seven counts, including conspiracy and money laundering.
The president posted on his Truth Social platform that he had spoken to Ulbricht’s mother on his first full day in office at the White House to deliver the news:
Here’s a little background on Trump’s latest controversial clemency gesture, following the mass pardoning of Capitol rioters.
Joe Sommerlad22 January 2025 10:35
Trump threatens China with 10% tariff over fentanyl claims
The president issued a fresh threat against the rival superpower on Tuesday, hinting he could hit Beijing with 10 per cent tariffs on all imports, which can come into force as soon as 1 February, a move coming despite his “very good” call with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping last Friday.
“We’re talking about a tariff of 10 per cent on China, based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada,” Trump said.
“Probably February 1 is the date we’re looking at.”
Here’s more from Shweta Sharma.
Joe Sommerlad22 January 2025 10:15
