DONALD TRUMP

 NY Times - President-elect Donald J. Trump on Monday failed to overturn a $5 million judgment that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued to a federal appeals panel that a lower court in Manhattan had erred by allowing two women to testify in the Carroll trial that he had also sexually assaulted them. The lawyers also argued that the court should not have allowed Ms. Carroll’s lawyers to play the recording of the “Access Hollywood” conversation in which Mr. Trump bragged in vulgar terms about grabbing women by the genitals.

The appeals court rejected Mr. Trump’s request for a new trial in the case, which produced the smaller of two defamation judgments against him. “Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” the opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said. It was unsigned but issued by a panel that included the judges Denny Chin and Susan Carney — appointed by President Barack Obama — as well as Myrna Perez, appointed by President Biden.

Newsweek -  A new Gallup poll released on December 27 showed Trump has a positive approval rating going into the new year, with 51 percent of Americans approving of how he's handling his transition into power versus 44 percent who disapprove.

Donald Trump backs H-1B visa program supported by Elon Musk

Daily Beast - President-elect Donald Trump’s social media posts about annexing Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal startled America’s allies and delighted foreign foes. In Russia, the statements were interpreted to mean that Trump isn’t really opposed to foreign wars of conquest after all.To them, Trump’s tirades revealed that—just like Russian President Vladimir Putin—Trump would be delighted to invade any country that couldn’t fight back. He would expect accolades and a lavish victory parade after seizing foreign territories, just like the fallout from Russia stealing Crimea in 2014.Trump infamously described the annexation of Crimea as a “genius” and “savvy” move.