Trump endorses Johnson for speaker re-election but loses E Jean Carroll appeal: Live

Elon Musk is getting closer and closer to Donald Trump, quite literally.

The world’s wealithest man has been staying in a cottage at Mar-a-Lago, just behind the main house.

After carefully tip-toeing around the growing tensions that have rocked the GOP in recent days, Fox News appears to have finally found a narrative it can sell right-wing viewers on the MAGA civil war over immigrant visas.

Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump pledged to arrest, detain and deport people living in the country without legal permission as part of his “day one” agenda. The president-elect promises to deploy federal, state and local law enforcement into immigrant communities he says are “poisoning the blood of the country,” relying on stories of violent crime to support a brutal crackdown that could impact millions of families.

Here’s a look at what steps Trump plans to take when he enters office:

MyPillow founder Mike Lindell has once again found himself staring down the wrong end of a seven-figure lawsuit, this time being dragged into court by a merchant cash advance firm that accuses the election fraud conspiracist of ducking out on nearly $1.5 million in outstanding debt.

Justin Rohrlich has more:

Special counsel Jack Smith has handed over what remains of the classified documents case against Donald Trump to the U.S. attorney’s office in Florida.

The filings with the U.S. court of appeals show Smith’s team of prosecutors formally withdrawing from the case, and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe taking over.

Trump is accused of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago state and obstructing efforts from federal law enfrocement agenices to retrieve them after he left office. The case was dismissed by Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon, which Smith’s team appealed. Following Trump’s election victory, and the likelihood he would fire Smith and order the investigations to come to an end, Smith announced he was effectively shutting them down.

He is expected to issue a report with his office’s findings.

Georgia’s attorney general Chris Carr is calling on the state’s Supreme Court to reject an appeal from Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who was removed from prosecuting the sprawling criminal case against Trump and his allies.

Earlier this month, Georgia’s Court of Appeals struck down a lower court decision and argued Willis should be taken off the case, arguing that her former romantic relationship with a special prosecutor amounted to a “significant” conflict of interest that warranted her dismissal.

Willis filed a notice of appeal shortly after the ruling.

U.S. attorney Matthew Graves is stepping down as the chief federal prosecutor in Washington D.C., effective January 16, four days before Donald Trump takes office.

Graves’s office has overseen the largest investigation in Justice Department history with the prosecution of hundreds of people in connection with the January 6 attack on the Capitol — defendants Trump has promised to pardon as soon as he enters office.

“Serving as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has been the honor of a lifetime,” Graves said in a statement Monday. “I am deeply thankful to Congresswoman Holmes Norton for recommending me; to President Biden for nominating me; and to Attorney General Garland for placing his trust in me.”

To date, roughly 1,600 people have been charged in connection with the attack, with nearly 1,100 receiving sentences, including sentences for the convictions of the first seditious conspiracy cases in decades.

“Because politically motivated violence and destruction rip at the fabric of our society, Mr. Graves made federally prosecuting such crimes a priority,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

Here’s a look at some of the most notorious January 6 defendants that Trump could pardon when he returns to the White House.

After calling Elon Musk a “toddler” after the X owner profanely attacked his right-wing critics, Steve Bannon declares there isn’t a MAGA “civil war” on immigrant workers because Musk is “not tough enough” and “folded” on the issue amid the far-right backlash.

Rhian Lubin explains the visa program driving a wedge between Trump’s MAGA base and big business Republicans and Silicon Valley billionaires.

Moments after telling Mike Johnson he has his “full support,” Elon Musk is already entertaining doubts about the House Speaker ahead of a crucial election for the speakership, with Republican representatives desperate for the approval of Trump and the world’s wealthiest person taking their cues from them.

Musk told Johnson that he has his “full support” after Trump gave johnson his endorsement.

Then Musk responded to a post from Republican congressman Thomas Massie, the only Republican representative who has said outright he will not be supporting Johnson.

“I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan,” Massie said Monday. “We’ve seen Johnson partner with the democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget.”

“You might be right,” Musk replied, “but let’s see how it goes.”