Delusional, insane, stupid, brain-dead.....

Greenland, oil and ‘all hell’ in the Middle East: Takeaways from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago press conference

From a new era of American imperialism to an enduring bitterness toward a criminal justice system he maintains unfairly targeted him, here are our top takeaways.

By Irie Sentner

Donald Trump ran on a series of big promises — and with Inauguration Day fast approaching, he’s attempting to preview on what he’ll try to turn into reality.

In a wide-ranging press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, the president-elect forecasted the MAGA vision he’ll work to make real when he reclaims the White House in less than two weeks. From a new era of American imperialism to an enduring bitterness toward a criminal justice system he maintains unfairly targeted him, here are our top takeaways.

‘Drill, baby, drill’

Trump slammed an action President Joe Biden took Monday that banned offshore drilling across 625 million acres of U.S. ocean, promising to “reverse it immediately” and instead “drill, baby, drill” — the official slogan of his platform’s energy policy. He said energy costs will be brought down “to a very low level,” which he said would decrease costs across the board.

In a statement, the White House said Biden had issued the drilling ban — which covers the entire East and West Coasts of the continental U.S.; the eastern Gulf of Mexico; and parts of Alaska — because the president “determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential.”

“It feels like the whole ocean,” Trump said, adding: “Nobody else does that. I’m going to have it revoked on Day One,” even if it requires going to the courts.

Trump acknowledged that it would be “hard” to bring down consumer prices, saying “someone else has screwed something up,” but promised to bring them down by slashing energy costs through deregulation.

“I think you’re going to see some pretty drastic price reductions,” Trump said.

A new age of American imperialism

Trump really wants the Panama Canal. And Greenland. And Canada.

Soon after his son Donald Trump Jr. and other representatives touched down in Greenland, Trump reemphasized his desire to bring the massive Arctic territory under U.S. control — which the Danish prime minister promptly shot down.

Trump also slammed the late former President Jimmy Carter — who will lie in state on Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol ahead of his funeral on Thursday — for selling the U.S.-built Panama Canal to Panama, and said the canal was currently “under discussion.”

Asked by a reporter if he could “assure the world” he would not use “military or economic coercion” in his efforts to bring the Panama Canal and Greenland under U.S. control, Trump quickly replied “no.”

“I’m not going to commit to that,” Trump said. “It might be that you’ll have to do something.”

And the president-elect again said he hoped to turn Canada — the second-largest country in the world by surface area — into an American state, arguing the U.S. is paying far too much to its northern ally and adding that he’d consider using “economic force” to bring the country under U.S. control. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shot back that “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”

Slamming the ‘injustice department’

Trump again bashed the Department of Justice, which he has contended for years is part of a “deep state” unfairly targeting him through “lawfare.” He called Jack Smith, the special counsel who had conducted two investigations into Trump, “a deranged individual” and a “nutjob” who will “execute everybody.”

But Trump praised Florida federal Judge Aileen Cannon, who oversaw the Mar-A-Lago classified documents case and ultimately dismissed it, for temporarily blocking the publication of Smith’s final report — a decision that came down during the press conference.

“So, he wanted to do a report just before I took office, probably,” Trump said of Smith. “It’ll be like a fake report, just like the investigation was a fake investigation. … Why should he be allowed to write a fake report? That’s great news.”

‘All hell’ in the Middle East

Trump promised that if the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas are not returned by the time he retakes the Oval Office, “all hell will break loose in the Middle East.”

“It will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone,” Trump said.

Asked to elaborate, Trump reiterated “all hell will break out. I don’t have to say anymore, but that’s what it is.”

Trump is a close ally of conservative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose 15-month military operation in Gaza in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre has razed the territory and displaced nearly 2 million people, according to the U.N. Netanyahu and Hamas are inching toward a ceasefire agreement, but it has been delayed over the names of hostages to be released, because Hamas says no one knows the condition of all the hostages.

Trump vs. windmills

Trump ramped up his attacks on an old foe — windmills — saying he would “try and have a policy where no windmills are being built.”

The president-elect has long railed against wind turbines, which he said Tuesday are “littered all over our country” like “dropping garbage on a field.” He also again raised the false theory that windmills are “driving the whales crazy, obviously” — a claim the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has denied.

Musk’s meddling

Trump brushed aside criticism of his close ally Elon Musk, who has garnered backlash in recent weeks for endorsing a far-right German political party and saying the British prime minister should be jailed over the country’s response to child sexual exploitation.

“He likes people … that tended to be conservative,” Trump said. “I don’t know the people. I can say Elon is doing a good job. Very smart guy.”

The president-elect himself said he didn’t “know the people you’re talking about,” adding that Musk “said some negative things about a couple of people that are running for office, but that’s not so unusual.”

Seeks to block release of report that says he gets fucked in the ass..

Trump seeks to block release of special counsel report

Tom Geoghegan and James FitzGerald

Lawyers for Donald Trump have asked the Department of Justice (DoJ) to not release a special counsel's report setting out its investigations into the US president-elect.

Jack Smith led two probes into Trump, one on alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and another on his apparent mishandling of classified documents.

Both cases have been shelved, but Mr Smith's detailed report was due to be released in the coming days.

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Trump's lawyers urged him to end the "weaponisation of the justice system" and hand the report to them.

The correspondence alleges Mr Smith did not have the legal authority to submit the report because he was unconstitutionally picked to do the job and was politically motivated. Mr Smith is yet to publicly respond.

Trump's legal team received a draft copy of the report at the weekend.

On Tuesday, US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who oversaw the classified documents case, temporarily blocked Mr Smith or Garland from "releasing, sharing, or transmitting" the report.

She ordered the release be put on hold until a higher appeals court, the Eleventh Circuit, considered an emergency appeal from two of Trump's co-defendants in the case.

Trump praised Cannon as a "brilliant judge with great courage" at a press conference, shortly before she issued her decision.

However, it is "far from clear" if Judge Cannon had the jurisdiction to block the release, said Daniel Charles Richman, a professor at Columbia University Law School.

The two investigations led to criminal indictments against Trump but both have since been dismissed, partly due to a longstanding DoJ policy not to prosecute a sitting president.

The former president had pleaded not guilty and denied all wrongdoing.

Federal regulations decree that any special counsel probe must conclude with a report to the justice department and Garland has previously said he would release all such reports.

During his time away from the White House, Trump faced an array of legal cases, which were successfully delayed and thwarted by his lawyers and allies.

The administration of the Democratic president, Joe Biden, faced accusations from Trump's opponents that they brought cases against the Republican too slowly, while Trump's supporters argued that the prosecutions were politically motivated.

One of Mr Smith's two cases concerned Trump's attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden.

Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the case ended up in legal limbo after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump was partially immune from criminal prosecution over official acts committed while in office.

Mr Smith later refiled his case, but wound it down after Trump's 2024 election win.

He was also leading a case against Trump over his alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House following his first presidency - charges that Trump also denied.

This case faced a roadblock of its own when the Trump-appointed judge dismissed the charges, arguing Mr Smith was improperly appointed to lead the case. Again, Mr Smith hit back - this time with an appeal - but later abandoned this, too.

DoJ guidance prevents the criminal prosecution of a sitting president. Mr Smith clarified that this legal protection also applied to the prosecution of a private citizen who was subsequently elected president.

The news was celebrated by the Trump campaign, which hailed it as a "major victory for the rule of law".

Mr Smith is also reportedly expected to leave his job before Trump returns to the White House on 20 January and carries out a threat of sacking him.

Despite his recent legal wins, Trump still faces sentencing on Friday after being found guilty in New York last year on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up payments made to a porn star.

With less than two weeks until Trump is re-inaugurated as US president, the judge has refused a request to delay, although he has previously made clear he will not consider giving Trump a custodial term.

Out of control

Apple urged to withdraw 'out of control' AI news alerts

Zoe Kleinman, Liv McMahon and Natalie Sherman

Apple is facing fresh calls to withdraw its controversial artificial intelligence (AI) feature that has generated inaccurate news alerts on its latest iPhones.

The product is meant to summarise breaking news notifications but has in some instances invented entirely false claims.

The BBC first complained to the tech giant about its journalism being misrepresented in December but Apple did not respond until Monday this week, when it said it was working to clarify that summaries were AI-generated.

Alan Rusbridger, the former editor of the Guardian, told the BBC Apple needed to go further and pull a product he said was "clearly not ready."

Mr Rusbridger, who also sits on Meta's Oversight Board that reviews appeals of the company's content moderation decisions, added the technology was "out of control" and posed a considerable misinformation risk.

"Trust in news is low enough already without giant American corporations coming in and using it as a kind of test product," he told the Today programme, on BBC Radio Four.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ), one of the world's largest unions for journalists, said Apple "must act swiftly" and remove Apple Intelligence to avoid misinforming the public - echoing prior calls by journalism body Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

"At a time where access to accurate reporting has never been more important, the public must not be placed in a position of second-guessing the accuracy of news they receive," said Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary.

The RSF also said Apple's intervention was insufficient, and has repeated its demand that the product is taken off-line.

Series of errors

The BBC complained last month after an AI-generated summary of its headline falsely told some readers that Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had shot himself.

On Friday, Apple's AI inaccurately summarised BBC app notifications to claim that Luke Littler had won the PDC World Darts Championship hours before it began - and that the Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal had come out as gay.

This marks the first time Apple has formally responded to the concerns voiced by the BBC about the errors, which appear as if they are coming from within the organisation's app.

"These AI summarisations by Apple do not reflect – and in some cases completely contradict – the original BBC content," the BBC said on Monday.

"It is critical that Apple urgently addresses these issues as the accuracy of our news is essential in maintaining trust."

The BBC is not the only news organisation affected.

In November, a ProPublica journalist highlighted erroneous Apple AI summaries of alerts from the New York Times app suggesting it had reported that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been arrested.

A further, inaccurate summary of a New York Times story appears to have been published on January 6, relating to the fourth anniversary of the Capitol riots.

The New York Times has declined to comment.

RSF said the false, AI-generated headline about Mr Mangione in December showed "generative AI services are still too immature to produce reliable information for the public".

On Tuesday, it said Apple's plan to update the feature to clarify when notifications are summarised with AI to users "doesn't fix the problem at all".

"It just transfers the responsibility to users, who - in an already confusing information landscape - will be expected to check if information is true or not," said Vincent Berthier, head of RSF's technology and journalism desk.

Apple said its update would arrive "in the coming weeks".

It has previously said its notification summaries - which group together and rewrite previews of multiple recent app notifications into a single alert on users' lock screens - aim to allow users to "scan for key details".

"Apple Intelligence features are in beta and we are continuously making improvements with the help of user feedback," the company said in a statement on Monday, adding that receiving the summaries is optional.

"A software update in the coming weeks will further clarify when the text being displayed is summarization provided by Apple Intelligence. We encourage users to report a concern if they view an unexpected notification summary."

The feature, along with others released as part of its broader suite of AI tools was rolled out in the UK in December. It is only available on its iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max handsets running iOS 18.1 and above, as well as on some iPads and Macs.

Apple is not alone in having rolled out generative AI tools that can create text, images and more content when prompted by users - but with varying results.

Google's AI overviews feature, which provides a written summary of information from results at the top of its search engine in response to user queries, faced criticism last year for producing some erratic responses.

At the time a Google spokesperson said that these were "isolated examples" and that the feature was generally working well.

What fucking crap....

Trump threatens "very high" tariffs on Denmark over Greenland

From BBC

US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened "very-high" tariffs on Denmark if it resists his effort to take control of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.

Asked on Tuesday if he would rule out using military or economic force in order to take control of the strategically-important island, he said: "No, I can't assure you on either of those two."

"I can say this, we need them for economic security," he said.

Trump's remarks came as his son, Donald Trump Jr, visited Greenland on the same day.

Before arriving in the capital Nuuk, Trump Jr said he was going on a "personal day-trip" to talk to people, and had no meetings planned with government officials.

When asked about Trump Jr's visit to Greenland, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish TV that "Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders" and that only the local population could determine their future.

She agreed that "Greenland is not for sale", but stressed Denmark needed very close co-operation with the US, a close Nato ally.

Last-minute pollution waivers

Biden administration grants California last-minute pollution waivers

The EPA has just over two weeks to grant the state’s remaining requests to regulate trains and trucks.

By Blanca Begert

The Biden administration granted California permission Friday to enforce its zero-emission rules for lawn mowers and leaf blowers, a longtime object of Republican ire and a likely target of the Trump administration.

Besides approving California’s rule outlawing the sale of small gas- and diesel-powered engines, EPA also granted waivers Friday for emissions rules for refrigerated trucks and off-road vehicles like mining trucks and bulldozers.

The moves are some of President Joe Biden’s last attempts to safeguard California’s progressive climate policies from President-elect Donald Trump a little over two weeks before he takes office with a promise to dismantle the state’s regulations.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of the waivers — which grant California the authority to set stricter-than-federal emissions regulations under the Clean Air Act — gives the state’s nation-leading rules an extra layer of protection from Trump and his allies. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) pledged Friday that the Republican-led House would prioritize ending electric vehicle policies and other Democratic climate efforts.

California officials have been calling for Biden’s EPA to grant waivers for eight of its rules for over a year. Friday’s decisions come on the heels of two other waivers EPA issued in December covering the state’s tailpipe pollution rules for cars and trucks.

State officials welcomed the new waivers. “U.S. EPA’s decision again recognizes California’s right under the Clean Air Act to take action to address its compelling and extraordinary air quality challenges and protect the health of its residents,” California Air Resources Board spokesperson Dave Clegern said in an email.

The small off-road engine rule that requires sales of spark-ignition engines like leaf blowers, lawn mowers and portable generators to be zero-emissions starting last year has been a longtime target of congressional Republicans. In 2023 they tried to block EPA from using funds to approve a waiver request for the rule, which state regulators approved in 2021.

The off-road diesel fleet rule starts phasing out the oldest and highest-emitting heavy-duty engines from operation starting in 2024.

The transport refrigeration unit rule approved Friday requires trucks, trailers, railcars and shipping containers to use lower-emitting refrigerants and requires non-truck units to meet stricter particulate matter standards. The waiver was only partially granted as the EPA did not act on a piece of the rule requiring diesel fleets to turn over at least 15 percent of their trucks to zero emissions each year.

California is still waiting on three more waivers for some of its more controversial rules that have already been hit with industry lawsuits. It’s currently unable to enforce the Advanced Clean Fleet rule, its zero-emission truck purchasing mandate that was supposed to take effect starting as early as last year for fleets at the state’s ports.

It’s also waiting on waivers for its emissions rule for ferries and tugboats, and its rule for zero-emissions locomotives, which is facing a legal challenge from the Association of American Railroads.

 

It will be one long shit stain across this "country"....

Trump’s one-bill two-step perplexes GOP senators

GOP senators are questioning the president-elect’s commitment to “one powerful bill.”

By Ursula Perano and Jordain Carney

If Donald Trump thought he was settling the GOP’s most important strategy dispute, Senate Republicans are not getting the message.

Less than 24 hours after Trump endorsed “one powerful bill” to carry his domestic policy agenda, a dozen senators said in interviews that the legislative path to its enactment remains an open question. It underscores the mounting confusion as Republicans feel pressure to show quick progress on border, energy and tax priorities.

The senators do agree on this: They’re ready to follow Trump’s lead. But they’re not convinced he is firmly planted yet in the one-bill camp.

Trump fueled the latest uncertainty Monday morning in an interview where he acknowledged he wasn’t necessarily wedded to any plan: “I’m open to either way as soon as we get something passed as quickly as possible,” he told radio host Hugh Hewitt.

Asked what he thought Trump wanted, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) responded with a laugh: “What day is it?”’

It’s an early reality check heading into a second Trump term. The returning president’s decision-making isn’t exactly reliable, raising the risk that Republicans who presume to know what he wants might soon find themselves crosswise with his actual wishes. The stakes are huge, with the call over whether to move one bill or two having major implications for whether Trump can follow through on his campaign pledges before potentially losing unified GOP control of Washington in two years.

“I’ve heard the president say that he’s now on the ‘one’ side, but he doesn’t oppose the ‘two’ side,” said incoming Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who will play a lead role in advancing tax cuts that Trump wants. “We still need a plan.”

Republicans on both ends of the Capitol had been privately hoping that Trump would publicly make a play call, ending the debate that has split the top two congressional leaders. Newly minted Senate Majority Leader John Thune wants two bills, allowing for a quick border-focused package, while Speaker Mike Johnson, mindful of uniting his tiny House majority, has thrown his weight behind just one.

They need to settle on a plan as soon as possible: To unlock the budget reconciliation process needed to skirt a Democratic filibuster, Republicans have to quickly agree on the fiscal parameters of their agenda. And answering the one-bill-or-two question is a prerequisite for doing so.

Democrats looked on with amusement Monday, recalling their own internal turmoil over reconciliation in 2021 and 2022 — with a president in Joe Biden who sent clearer signals about what he wanted.

“Good luck,” said Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.). “I think that Donald Trump agrees with whoever he speaks with last, so that’s why you have the ‘one bill, two bills’ [debate]. … If you don’t know if you’re gonna go for one package or two, you can’t really start negotiations.”

Some Senate Republicans insist the House should be the first to act anyway, given the House GOP’s struggles to come together last Congress, when they had a high-water mark of 222 seats. Now, Johnson will have no more than 220 votes at full strength, with one vacancy already and two others anticipated after Trump’s inauguration.

“This is going to start in the House, because we’re going to be focused on nominations,” said Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), who served in the House until just last week. “On the other hand, if they can’t get it done, then we’ll take a look at another way.”

Tuberville added: “I’m for whatever the House can get done. We’ve got nothing to say about it. …[But] we’ve got to get it done pretty quickly.”

If Trump settles definitively on one large bill, several GOP senators told POLITICO on Monday they will go along with that plan. While there are myriad looming fights over the specifics of the bill — including Trump’s suggestion Sunday that tariffs could help pay for it — the conference is largely deferring to him on the topline decisions.

“We just need to all get on the same page. And I think now that President Trump has expressed a preference for one bill, that’s where I expect us to go,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said.

Yet some senators are continuing to argue for a two-bill approach. They include such Trump allies as Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who said he still wants border-related legislation done first, and incoming Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who plays a key role as a gatekeeper to the reconciliation process.

“The threat levels I see, I think we would be smart to increase military spending and give the money Trump needs to deport people and secure the border early on, and I just think the national security implications of delay are pretty significant,” Graham said.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the No. 2 GOP leader, said he, too, still saw the wisdom in a two-bill approach: “You secure the border, that makes this president happy, that makes the base happy.” But he said Republican senators are “likely going to meet with [Trump] relatively shortly” to discuss things further. Two people familiar with the planning, granted anonymity to discuss a private meeting, said that Senate Republicans are expected to meet with Trump on Wednesday.

Caught uncomfortably in the middle of it all is Thune, who officially became GOP leader last week and has had a bumpy relationship with Trump in the past.

Thune last month became the first prominent Republican to sketch out a blueprint for enacting the GOP policy agenda. During a closed-door retreat last month, he told his members they would pursue one quick bill focusing on the border, defense and energy, saving the trickier subject of taxes for a subsequent bill.

Still, Thune and Trump have spoken regularly as of late, including about their reconciliation approach. Speaking to Hewitt on Monday, Trump paid heed to the Senate leader even as he backed Johnson’s plan for now: “We have a lot of respect for Sen. Thune, as you know. He may have a little bit of a different view.”

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of leadership, spoke for many of her GOP colleagues in saying she could back a one- or two-bill approach — and prefers above all something that can pass.

“It’s become clear that the conversation’s evolving,” she said. “And so, I would say, I’m sure Thune will be on board with the president, I would imagine. But I don’t know.”

Goes full Musk

Zuck goes full Musk, dumps Facebook fact-checking program

Meta will replace it with so-called community notes like on the X platform. The content moderation changes won’t be rolled out in the EU for now.

By Csongor Körömi, Pieter Haeck and Daniella Cheslow

Facebook's parent company Meta will end its third-party fact-checking program and move to a so-called community notes model, company chief Mark Zuckerberg announced today.

“We’re going to get back to our roots, and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms," Zuckerberg said in a video statement on Meta's corporate website.

"More specifically, we're going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes, similar to X, starting in the U.S,” he added.

The company has no plans to end fact-checking in the EU, the company clarified at POLITICO's request, and will review its EU content moderation obligations before making changes.

The move comes as Meta, and other tech giants, attempt to cozy up to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration in Washington. Meta has also put a longtime Republican in charge of global policy and put top Trump ally Dana White on its board of directors.

Trump's pick to head the Federal Communications Commission Brendan Carr commented on an X post containing Zuckerberg's announcement with a meme showing the actor Jack Nicholson nodding enthusiastically.

Carr has pledged to destroy what he calls the "censorship cartel" of Big Tech.

Facebook launched its fact-checking system with external partners in December 2016, in response to growing criticism of the company's role in the U.S. election that saw Donald Trump's first victory.

Other platforms, such as Twitter, also began using outside fact-checkers — until billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk bought the platform in 2022. The site introduced a feature in which users, instead of outside checkers, could add community notes to viral posts.

In addition to social networks Facebook and Instagram, Meta also owns and operates the WhatsApp messenger platform.

The move comes less than two weeks before the inauguration of Trump's new administration in the U.S., which will also see Musk take on a new role overseeing the newly created "Department of Government Efficiency."

Immigration bill?

Immigration bill first up for House Republicans

By Daniella Diaz and Nicholas Wu

We’re watching Democrats closely today as House Republicans put their first substantive piece of legislation on the floor for the 119th Congress.

It’s the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia nursing student murdered last February, and it would require the detention of any undocumented migrant charged with theft or burglary. It's also an early test of how Democrats will approach border issues after losing control of the White House and Senate in last year’s election.

Speaker Mike Johnson challenged Democrats this morning to join Republicans in passing the bill: “It can't be just empty rhetoric. It's got to be action, and we're going to give them the opportunity to take action with us.”

When the House first took it up last March, 37 House Democrats crossed party lines to support it, joining all Republicans who voted. We’re closely watching whether that number grows today.

A whip alert sent to House Democrats this morning said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the lead Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, “strongly opposes this bill" and outlined the reasons why, including "ratchet[ing] up the number of mandatory detentions without increasing funding to carry them out." But it did not formally urge a no vote.

A Senate vote on advancing the legislation is expected to happen Friday, POLITICO scooped yesterday. With 52 Republican senators expected to support it — Sen.-elect Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) won’t be sworn in until next week — eight Democrats or independents would have to come along to break a likely filibuster and ultimately pass the bill.

On Monday, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) became the first and only Democrat to co-sponsor the legislation, as Punchbowl News first reported.

“Laken Riley’s story is a tragic reminder of what’s at stake when our systems fail to protect people," Fetterman told POLITICO in a statement. "No family should have to endure the pain of losing a loved one to preventable violence. Immigration is what makes our country great. I support giving authorities the tools to prevent tragedies like this one while we work on comprehensive solutions to our broken system.”

Giving conflicting guidance

GOP leaders still giving conflicting guidance on reconciliation plans

Mike Johnson says he still thinks one bill is the way to go. John Thune says he wants more guidance from Trump.

Meredith Lee Hill

Congressional Republicans are still waiting on more guidance from Donald Trump on their complex legislative priorities, as the incoming president is set to meet with senators on Wednesday.

On the House side: Speaker Mike Johnson pressed his disparate House Republican conference in a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning to stay united, as the party has struggled to get on the same page regarding how to pass GOP priorities including the border, energy and tax cuts.

In the meeting, Johnson didn’t delve into the details of his one-track reconciliation strategy, according to four Republicans in the room who were granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting. Johnson is still trying to hammer out those plans with Senate Majority Leader John Thune — who is pushing for two separate packages.

“We still remain convinced over here that the one-bill strategy is the best way to go. But there are some senators who have a different view,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday morning.

On Trump, Johnson added: “I think the president still prefers one big beautiful bill.”

Johnson’s urging for unity Tuesday morning comes as some House GOP hardliners are planning to raise the benefits of a two-track process in meetings with Trump at Mar-a-Lago later this week, according to two Republicans familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to candidly discuss it. Some conservatives are wary of one massive legislative package, and are privately raising concerns about quickly tackling the border as a top priority.

House GOP leaders also warned their conference Tuesday morning that the budget reconciliation process — which is new to a wide swath of younger members — is a major undertaking and will require an aggressive House schedule.

On the Senate side: Thune has resisted emphasizing his prior preference for a two-track plan that would separate taxes, allowing lawmakers to pass priorities on the border sooner. But he’s not embracing the one-track plan either, saying he wants to hear from Trump.

“It would be good to get his assessment and kind of the lay of the land and what his priorities are early on,” Thune said in a brief interview.

The two Republican leaders aren’t outright fighting, saying they just need to work out a strategy but are united on the underlying policies. But the one- vs. two-bill plan is critical to passing any GOP priorities, and how quickly Johnson and Thune can come to a decision will have major ramifications for the outlook for Trump’s sweeping agenda. A massive bill means it could collapse under its own weight, given the vast ideological differences within the party, but going with two pieces of legislation could risk failing to pass anything on taxes at all.

Other issues: No matter how many bills Republicans pursue, House hardliners are demanding “transparency” around the process — suspicious of leaders who have a tendency of working out major pieces of legislation in private meetings.

Some House Republicans, including senior members, are expressing private concerns that Trump may “embolden” Freedom Caucus rebels by holding court with them at Mar-a-Lago this Friday night.

A wide array of Republicans are also leery of Trump holding so many one-on-one meetings this weekend with several key House GOP factions — who are all pushing their own strategies and agendas — given Trump’s tendency to agree with people he’s spoken with most recently. That could cause more problems for the ongoing strategy disagreements between House and Senate Republicans over the way forward, as precious legislative days tick by.

“There is a pattern there, isn't there?” said one House GOP lawmaker.