(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump, speaking at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, blasted President Joe Biden’s final actions before leaving office.
Trump accused the outgoing administration of not providing a “smooth transition.”
Trump kicked off the presser by announcing a $20 billion investment in the U.S. from DAMAC Properties, a Middle East-based company. He said the investments will focus on building new data centers across the Midwest and Sun Belt.
He quickly shifted focus, however, to criticizing the Biden’s recent moves — including a ban all future offshore oil and natural gas drilling off America’s East and West coasts.
“We are inheriting a difficult situation from the outgoing administration, and they’re trying everything they can to make it more difficult,” Trump said.
On Biden’s oil drilling ban, Trump vowed: “I will reverse it immediately. It’ll be done immediately. And we will drill baby drill.”
The president-elect also claimed he would rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”
“What a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate. It’s appropriate,” he said.
Trump, who last held a news conference in mid-December, is speaking to the press one day after his 2024 election victory was certified by Congress. The Monday ceremony, which marked a return to a peaceful transition, came exactly four years after a mob violently stormed the Capitol and disrupted the counting of President Biden’s electoral win.
Republicans are preparing for Trump to visit Washington on Wednesday, ABC News has learned. Currently, lawmakers are debating how best to fund Trump’s major policy initiatives once he is back in the White House.
This is Trump’s second news conference since becoming president-elect.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Online holiday shopping soared to a fresh record high in 2024, driven by an array of e-commerce discounts and adoption of AI-fueled shopping assistants, according to data released on Tuesday by Adobe.
E-commerce sales topped $240 billion in November and December, climbing nearly 9% when compared with the gift-buying season a year prior, data showed.
The data indicated that three product categories accounted for more than half of the online holiday spending: electronics, apparel and home goods.
Spending on cosmetics totaled nearly $8 billion, jumping more than 12% compared to a year prior. That marked the largest year-over-year spending increase for any product category, the data showed.
Discounts helped drive strong sales for some high-priced items, Adobe said, pointing to a 20% jump in units sold for expensive goods.
The fresh data indicated a spike in use of shopping assistants powered by generative AI, suggesting the technology has seeped into the retail sector’s busiest time of the year.
Traffic to retail sites from generative AI-powered chatbots skyrocketed 1,300% over November and December when compared to the same period a year prior, the data showed.
The share of consumers arriving via AI shopping assistants remains modest, however, Adobe said. Shoppers arrived at retail sites via links shared by the chatbots.
“The 2024 holiday season showed that e-commerce is being reshaped by a consumer who now prefers to transact on smaller screens and lean on generative AI-powered services to shop more efficiently,” Vivek Pandya, a lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement.
The e-commerce data comes weeks after initial indicators pointed to a robust holiday shopping season.
Overall holiday spending surged in 2024, blowing past expectations and outpacing customer purchases over the gift-buying season last year, according to data released by Mastercard SpendingPulse last month.
The end-of-year flex of consumer strength marks the latest indication of resilient U.S. buying power, which has kept the economy humming despite a prolonged stretch of high interest rates.
Gross domestic product grew at a solid 2.8% annualized rate over three months ending in September, the most recent quarter for which data is available.
The labor market has slowed but proven sturdy. The unemployment rate stands at 4.2%, a historically low figure.
Consumer spending accounts for nearly three-quarters of U.S. economic activity.
The increase in holiday spending coincided with an initial bout of relief for borrowers, as the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a total of one percentage point over the final few months of the year.
However, interest rates still stand at a historically high level of between 4.25% and 4.5%.
Lower interest rates typically stimulate economic activity by making it easier for consumers and businesses to borrow, which in turn fuels investment and spending. But interest rate cuts usually influence the economy after a lag of several months, meaning the recent lowering of rates likely had little impact on holiday spending.
(CANYON VILLAGE, Wyo.) — In a new court filing, federal prosecutors allege the suspect who took a hostage and got into a shootout with Yellowstone National Park rangers in July ranted that he “refuse[s] to fraternize with race-traitors that support non-whites or Jews.”
The Wyoming U.S. Attorney made the filing on Monday in an attempt to gain ownership over the suspect’s guns and vehicles, which are in the possession of the federal government but not owned by them. In the filing, federal prosecutors call the suspect’s actions an act of terrorism.
Samson Fussner, the suspect who died in the shootout, allegedly made inflammatory comments about immigrants, African Americans and Jews while holding a woman hostage in her dorm room and in texts ahead of the shootout, according to federal prosecutors.
The filing claims Fussner had engaged in the “planning of and preparation to carry out a terrorist attack against the United States, its citizens and their property,” ultimately culminating in the events of the shootout and hostage kidnapping.
Fussner complained in texts to his brother about the local diversity, saying he lived in a “hellscape” and would “go postal” if he stayed in Yellowstone longer.
He allegedly also texted his brother that he was obsessed with the woman he later kidnapped for a couple of hours, calling her “German stock.” During the kidnapping, he told the woman he did not like “how America was bringing in non-Americans” and wanted to “make a statement because politics in America are messed up,” the complaint read.
Fussner had also been spewing white supremacist and antisemitic views for months before the shootout, according to the filing.
Just after midnight on July 4, Yellowstone’s 911 dispatch center received a report that a woman had been held against her will by a man with a gun in her dorm residence. She reported that Fussner threatened to kill her and others, including plans to allegedly carry out a mass shooting.
Fussner, of Milton, Florida, was confronted by Yellowstone law enforcement rangers early the next morning July 4 while allegedly shooting a semi-automatic rifle toward a dining facility at Canyon Village, according to NPS. Approximately 200 people were in the facility at the time, NPS said.
During an exchange of gunfire, Fussner was shot by law enforcement rangers and died at the scene, NPS said. A ranger was also shot in a lower extremity, the service noted.
Fussner was an employee of Xanterra Parks and Resorts, a private business authorized to operate in Yellowstone.
(NEW YORK) — A man accused of killing a woman by setting her on fire as she slept on a New York City subway train last month pleaded not guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder and other charges.
The suspect, Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, who police said is an undocumented migrant from Guatemala, appeared in Brooklyn Criminal Court and pleaded not guilty to first- and second-degree murder and arson stemming from the horrific killing of Debrina Kawam, who police said was homeless and sleeping on a subway car when she was attacked.
Kawam, 57, was originally from Toms River, New Jersey, the New York Police Department said.
Kawam was asleep on a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn on the morning of Dec. 22 when she was set ablaze allegedly by the 33-year-old Zapeta-Calil, who stuck around to watch her burn, according to police.
The victim’s brother appeared in court and met with local clergy to discuss plans for an upcoming memorial service.
Kawam, known to her classmates as “Debbie,” grew up in Little Falls, New Jersey. She went to Montclair State University to study business and marketing and worked for a time at Merck. She filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Family and friends are expected to gather to remember Kawam on Jan. 12 for a memorial service at First Baptist Church in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, according to clergy members who attended Zspres-Calil’s arraignment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump’s legal blitz to halt his sentencing in his criminal hush money case in New York continued Tuesday morning with his lawyers filing a 502-page lawsuit against Judge Juan Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump’s lawyers asked a New York appeals court to stop the proceedings in the president-elect’s hush money case — including his Jan. 10 sentencing — and to dismiss his conviction outright based on a claim of presidential immunity.
“Justice Merchan’s erroneous decisions threaten the institution of the Presidency and run squarely against established precedent disallowing any criminal process against a President-Elect, as well as prohibiting the use of evidence of a President’s official acts against him in a criminal proceeding,” the filing argued.
Defense lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove claimed that Trump’s “undisputed absolute immunity” extends to his time as president-elect — an argument that Judge Merchan roundly denied last week.
The lawyers also claimed that the jury’s verdict was “erroneous” because they saw evidence related to official acts.
“President Trump brings this Article 78 proceeding to redress the serious and continuing infringement on his Presidential immunity from criminal process that he holds as the 45th and soon-to-be 47th President of the United States of America,” the filing said.
Trump was found guilty in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
The president-elected faces up to four years in prison, but Merchan last week indicated that he would sentence Trump to an unconditional discharge — effectively a blemish on Trump’s record, without prison, fines or probation — saying that would strike a balance between the duties of president and the sanctity of the jury’s verdict.
(GREENLAND) — Donald Trump, Jr., son of President-elect Donald Trump, arrived in Greenland on Tuesday after emphasizing that the trip is just a personal one, indicating he is not meeting with government officials.
His trip comes as his father continues to float the possibility of the U.S. purchasing and taking over Greenland, an autonomous territory administered by Denmark. Trump had also suggested the possibility during his first administration.
Abut the same time as his eldest son landed, the president-elect, celebrating his son and his advisers’ trip to Greenland, floated a “deal” that he claims “must happen,” while not elaborating on what deal that is.
“Don Jr. and my Reps landing in Greenland. The reception has been great. They, and the Free World, need safety, security, strength, and PEACE! This is a deal that must happen,” Trump wrote in a social media post Tuesday morning. “MAGA. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
Danish officials have continued to emphasize that Greenland is not for sale.
Traveling on a Trump plane, Donald Trump Trump Jr. landed in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday morning, joined by incoming White House Director of the Presidential Personnel Office Sergio Gor, incoming White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political and Public Affairs James Blair, and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Trump Jr. posted photos of himself and others in Greenland on X on Tuesday, writing, “Greenland is beautiful!!!”
On Monday, Trump Jr. discussed the visit while emphasizing that it is not a political trip.
“No, I am not buying Greenland,” Donald Trump Jr. said on Monday on his podcast show on Rumble. “Funny enough, I’m actually going on a very long personal day trip to Greenland tomorrow [Tuesday].”
“So, I’m going as a tourist. But apparently someone leaked that, so it made all sorts of news, so I figured I’d address it here. No meetings with the government officials, none of that. But I do love Greenland,” Trump Jr. said.
A source familiar with the matter told ABC News that Donald Trump Jr. is visiting Greenland just for the day to shoot videos for a podcast and reiterated he’s not scheduled to meet with any government officials or political figures.
President-elect Trump, on Monday, mentioned his son’s visit in a post on his social media platform, and wrote, “Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation.”
The president-elect had reintroduced his proposal to take over Greenland in December during his announcement of Ken Howery as United States Ambassador to Denmark.
“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity. Ken will do a wonderful job in representing the interests of the United States,” Trump wrote in the announcement.
On Christmas, Trump claimed in a social media post that Greenland needs the United States to be there for “national security purposes,” before adding, “and we will!”
During his first administration, Trump tried to buy the country; however, the United States ended up giving the island $12 million for economic development instead.
Officials from Greenland and Denmark have pushed back both explicitly and implicitly against Trump’s stated desire to purchase the territory.
In December, Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede wrote in a statement, “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale.”
Separately, The Independent reported on Tuesday that the king of Denmark has adjusted the Danish coat of arms to show symbols representing Greenland and the Faroe Islands, the two autonomous territories administered by Denmark.
(TIBET) — At least 126 people were killed and more than 188 others were injured as a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Tibet’s holy city on Tuesday, according to Chinese state media.
The earthquake occurred in Dingri County, Shigatse City, Tibet, just after 9 a.m. with a focal depth of 10 kilometers, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre. More than 3,600 houses had collapsed, state media said.
The U.S. Geological Survey placed the earthquake’s magnitude at 7.1, pinpointing the epicenter in Xizang, the local name for the Tibet Autonomous Region.
“The region near the India and Eurasia plate boundary has a history of large earthquakes,” the USGS said in a summary of the quake. “In the past century, there have been 10 earthquakes of magnitude 6 and greater within 250 km of the January 7, 2025, earthquake.”
The Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s exiled spiritual leader, said in a statement that he was “saddened” to learn of the deadly earthquake.
“It has caused the tragic loss of many lives, numerous injuries, and extensive destruction to homes and property,” he said. “I offer my prayers for those who have lost their lives and extend my wishes for a swift recovery to all who have been injured.”
The Chinese media also reported that as of 10 a.m. local time, multiple aftershocks were recorded, the largest of which was 4.4.
The death toll has risen steadily in the hours since the earthquake, according to Xinhua, a state media outlet. First reported at 53, with about 60 other injured, it climbed hours later to about 95 dead and 130 injured, the outlet reported.
(WASHINGTON) — Special Counsel Jack Smith issued his first response Tuesday to an effort by Donald Trump’s co-defendants to have the judge who tossed his classified documents case issue an emergency order blocking Smith’s final report on the investigation.
Lawyers for Trump’s former co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, asked Judge Aileen Cannon — who dismissed the case in July after deeming Smith’s appointment unconstitutional — to issue an order barring Attorney General Merrick Garland from publicly releasing the report by Jan. 10.
In a brief filing, assistant special counsel James Pearce confirmed the office is “working to finalize” a report and Attorney General Garland — who has the final say over what material from the report is made public — has still not determined what to release from the volume that relates to Smith’s classified documents investigation.
The office assured Judge Cannon in their filing that Smith would not release that specific volume of the report anytime before 10 a.m. Friday and that they would submit a fuller response to Nauta and DeOliveira’s emergency motion no later than 7 p.m. Tuesday evening.
The legal maneuver by Trump’s now-former co-defendants came the same day Trump’s personal lawyers sent a letter to Garland demanding he remove Smith from his post and defer the decision about the report’s release to Trump’s incoming attorney general, Pam Bondi.
“No report should be prepared or released, and Smith should be removed, including for even suggesting that course of action given his obvious political motivations and desire to lawlessly undermine the transition,” wrote Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, Trump’s defense attorneys and his picks for top posts within the Department of Justice.
Smith has been winding down his cases against the president-elect, moving to dismiss Trump’s election interference case and dropping their appeal of his classified documents case against Trump, and is expected to submit a final report about his investigations to Garland before stepping down.
(NEW YORK) — Facebook plans to replace its fact-checkers with “community notes,” a move that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said would allow the social network to return “to our roots around free expression.”
“We’re replacing fact checkers with Community Notes, simplifying our policies and focusing on reducing mistakes,” Zuckerberg said on Tuesday. “Looking forward to this next chapter.”
The changes, which will also be in place for Instagram and Threads, will lift restrictions “on some topics that are part of mainstream discourse” and will focus the company’s “enforcement on illegal and high-severity violations,” Joel Kaplan, chief global affairs officer, said in a blog post.
Meta executives sought in their statements to tie the update to what they described as a sea change in public discourse accompanying the rise of President-elect Donald Trump’s brand of politics.
Fact-checkers who were put in place in the wake of Trump’s 2016 election have proven to be “too politically biased” and have destroyed “more trust than they’ve created,” particularly in the United States, Zuckerberg said.
“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech,” Zuckerberg said.
The decision also follows Zuckerberg recent meeting with Trump at the president-elect’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. And Meta is donating to Trump’s presidential inaugural committee, marking a first for the company.
The shift in policy mirrors a series of updates that Elon Musk — a Trump ally — made after purchasing rival social network Twitter, which he’s since rebranded as X.
Kaplan on Tuesday praised the approach Musk has taken, saying X under its new owner has empowered its “community to decide when posts are potentially misleading and need more context.”
“We think this could be a better way of achieving our original intention of providing people with information about what they’re seeing — and one that’s less prone to bias,” Kaplan said.
As the company’s fact-checking capabilities have grown, they have expanded “to the point where we are making too many mistakes,” which in turn has frustrated many of the social networks’ users, Kaplan said.
“Too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in ‘Facebook jail,’ and we are often too slow to respond when they do,” he said.
ABC News’ Michael Kreisel, Zunaira Zaki and Chris Donovan contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Members of Congress, the Supreme Court and other dignitaries will gather at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday afternoon for a lying-in-state ceremony for former President Jimmy Carter.
Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver one of the eulogies for Carter, who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
Carter to head to DC for services at Capitol, Washington National Cathedral
Former President Jimmy Carter’s remains will be escorted from the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for the 39th president’s final trip to the nation’s capital.
His remains will leave the Carter Center at 11:30 a.m. ET.
The first stop in D.C. will be the U.S. Navy Memorial in honor of the former president’s service.
At 4:30 p.m. ET, members of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Cabinet, the Joint Chiefs and other officials will congregate at the U.S. Capitol for a lying in state ceremony. Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson are expected to deliver eulogies and lay wreaths.
Carter’s remains will lie in state at the Capitol from Tuesday evening to Thursday morning, allowing the public to pay respects.
On Thursday morning, former presidents and other dignitaries will attend a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral. President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy.
On Thursday afternoon, Carter’s body will return to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, for a private service and private interment. Carter will be buried next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, who died on Nov. 19, 2023, at the age of 96.
