DONALD TRUMP

$1.7 billion flowed through Donald Trump’s businesses while serving as president.

Time - Less than a week after his election, Trump began calling on congressional leaders to let him make recess appointments. That would mean that if Congress adjourns for more than 10 days, he can appoint his chosen nominees without Senate confirmation. This would be a dangerous and unprecedented move in the history of cabinet appointments.Sadly, both the incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have expressed openness to the idea. They should be careful: going down that road will both weaken a key constitutional guardrail in our system and eventually may end with them staring at a collection of Democrats’ own recess appointments. 

Newsweek -  President-elect Donald Trump has suggested that Mexico and Canada should become a U.S. state if they want to continue receiving subsidies from their neighboring country. Trump has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico unless the countries reduce the flow of migrants and drugs into the U.S. He defended his tariffs plan telling NBC News' Meet the Press on Sunday that the U.S. subsidizes Mexico for almost $300 billion a year, as well as Canada for around $100 billion annually.

"We're subsidizing Canada to the tune of over $100 billion a year. We're subsidizing Mexico for almost $300 billion. We shouldn't be—why are we subsidizing these countries? If we're going to subsidize them, let them become a state," Trump said. "We're subsidizing Mexico and we're subsidizing Canada, and we're subsidizing many countries all over the world. All I want to do is have a level, fast, but fair playing field."

They both say they're 6'3." Who's lying?

Via Brian Krassenstein

Donald Trump says he'd 'absolutely' consider taking the U.S. out of NATO. 

Washington Post  - In a 45-minute interview with NBC News’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday and was recorded on Friday, Trump said members of the now-defunct House select committee tasked with investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol should be in jail.

“Everybody on that committee … for what they did, yeah, honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said, including former congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), the top Republican on the Jan. 6 panel. The committee, which shuttered when Republicans took back the House in January 2023, consisted of seven Democrats and two Republicans: Cheney and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois). The panel was chaired by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Mississippi).

The committee concluded that Trump actively inspired his supporters to commit violence in his name as he attempted to remain in office despite losing the 2020 election. News outlets, including The Washington Post, have said that Biden is considering preemptive pardons for individuals he and his team believe might face legal threats from the incoming Trump administration. 

NBC News -  As he did on the campaign trail and in his first term, Trump made false, misleading or exaggerated claims. We fact-checked his interview with “Meet the Press.”