Trump gets warm welcome from House Republicans in 1st stop back in Washington
Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead. Via Flickr
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump was greeted with a standing ovation from House Republicans at his first stop back in Washington on Wednesday.
“It’s nice to win,” Trump said as he took the stage at the conference’s internal meeting at the Hyatt Regency near the Capitol.
Ahead of his arrival, House Speaker Mike Johnson celebrated Trump as the “comeback king.”
Trump smiled and shook Johnson’s hand and other top GOP brass on stage, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has been named as Trump’s U.S ambassador to the United Nations.
The meeting comes as Republicans inch closer to a majority in the House. While ABC News has not yet projected which party will control the chamber, Republicans are two seats away from the threshold with a dozen races still undecided.
House Republicans took an early victory lap as they came back to town Tuesday for the lame-duck session, saying they are prepared to enact Trump’s agenda on Day 1 of his administration come January.
“I just want to thank everybody,” Trump told the room. “You’ve been incredible. We worked with a lot of you to get you in, and you helped me, and you helped me too.”
As the press was being escorted out of the room, pool reporters noted Trump told lawmakers: “I suspect I won’t be running again unless you do something else, unless you say he’s so good we’ve got to figure something out.”
The friendly atmosphere comes ahead of Trump’s sit-down with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office, a return of a White House tradition that Trump flouted in 2020.
Trump landed at Joint Base Andrews for the first time since leaving office in January 2021 flanked by billionaire Elon Musk, a sign of some of the new faces that may dominate Trump’s orbit in his second term.
This is Trump’s first public appearance since his speech in the early hours after Election Day. He’s since huddled at Mar-a-Lago, where he’s been rolling out picks for Cabinet roles and other administration positions.
Musk has been weighing in on the decisions, ABC News previously reported.
On Tuesday, Trump announced Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would lead a what he’s calling a new “Department of Government Efficiency” to provide outside guidance on reforming federal agencies and cutting government “waste.”
Former U.S. President and current Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks about the economy, inflation, and manufacturing during a campaign event at Alro Steel on August 29, 2024 in Potterville, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
(ATLANTA) — A federal judge in Atlanta on Tuesday issued a temporary injunction ordering Donald Trump and his campaign to stop using a song co-written by the late musician Isaac Hayes at their events.
The song “Hold On, I’m Coming,” published in 1966, was played at Trump rallies and can be heard in campaign videos that were posted online, according to court documents reviewed by ABC News. The judge did not order that these videos be taken down, according to a statement from Trump representative Ronald Coleman.
“The campaign had already agreed to cease further use,” Coleman told ABC News in a statement. “We’re very gratified that the court recognized the First Amendment issues at stake and didn’t order a takedown of existing videos.”
Isaac Hayes III, Hayes’ son, said in a social media post last month that he was demanding $3 million in licensing fees from Trump and his campaign for unauthorized use of the song “Hold On, I’m Coming.” Trump and his partners played the song over 150 times without permission, court documents said.
“We won,” Isaac Hayes III posted on Instagram on Tuesday after the hearing. “@realdonaldtrump has been barred from playing @isaachayes music forever.”
The injunction stops the campaign from playing the song pending further proceedings, Coleman told ABC News, and the court would consider a motion for reconsideration based on copyright ownership if appropriate.
“The campaign has a license to play the music through an agreement with BMI and ASCAP,” the Trump campaign said in a statement emailed to ABC News in response to the ruling, referring to performance rights groups Broadcast Music Inc and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
Neither Isaac Hayes III nor attorneys for Isaac Hayes Enterprises — the company that handles licensing for Hayes’ estate — have responded to ABC News’ request for statements. Neither sides’ attorneys have responded to ABC News regarding any decision made on money allegedly owed to Isaac Hayes Enterprises.
The song was popularized by the music duo Sam & Dave in 1966 and reached No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 at the time, according to court documents. Hayes, who wrote the song with David Porter, passed away at age 65 in 2008, but his estate is the current owner of right and title to the song, the court documents noted.
After Trump and his campaign played the song in 2020 as “outro” music at one of their events, a cease-and-desist letter was sent to the Trump campaign on behalf of Isaac Hayes Enterprises, according to court documents.
The Donald J. Trump for President campaign, Republican National Committee (RNC), conservative advocacy group Turning Point, National Rifle Association (NRA), American Conservative Union and BTC were named as defendants on the complaint filed by Isaac Hayes Enterprises last month, for hosting events and uploading videos where the song was played, according to court documents.
The motion was withdrawn on Tuesday by Hayes Enterprises as to Turning Point, NRA and RNC, the court noted.
Hayes is part of a group of musicians who have called for Trump to stop playing their music at his events, which include Beyoncé, the Foo Fighters, Jack White and Celine Dion.
Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(PHILADELPHIA) — Vice President Kamala Harris will face a National Association of Black Journalists panel in Philadelphia on Tuesday where race in her campaign will be a likely topic, something she has shied away from focusing on — a stark contrast from her 2019 run for president.
At a similar NABJ panel interview in July, former President Donald Trump got into a fiery back-and-forth with reporters and falsely questioned Harris’ race.
“So I’ve known her a long time, indirectly, not directly, very much, and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said during that heated exchange. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
Harris — the child of an Indian mother and Jamaican father, both immigrants to the United States — has not directly responded to Trump’s comments. In an August interview with CNN, after being asked to comment on the personal attacks Trump has lobbied at the vice president surrounding her racial identity, Harris dodged.
“Same old, tired playbook,” she told the network. “Next question, please.”
And when asked to comment on the same attacks during ABC News’ debate last week, instead of speaking about her own racial identity, Harris chose a more generic answer.
“I think it’s a — a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president who has consistently over the course of his career attempted to use race to divide the American people,” she told ABC News’ David Muir.
MORE: READ: Harris-Trump presidential debate transcript Harris is not new to people questioning her so-called “Blackness.” During her presidential run in 2019, Harris faced questions about whether she was Black enough to identify as a Black candidate.
“I’m Black, and I’m proud of being Black,” Harris said on “The Breakfast Club” radio show in February of that year. “I was born Black. I will die Black, and I’m not going to make excuses for anybody because they don’t understand.”
Harris’ 2019 campaign also put a larger focus on race compared to her current run for president.
At the NBC debate in 2019, Harris strong-armed her way into the opportunity to take on then-Vice President Joe Biden on efforts to desegregate public schools, specifically school busing programs.
“As the only Black person on this stage, I would like to speak on the issue of race,” Harris said, interjecting as the moderators were moving on to someone else.
During that debate, Biden brought up his ability to work with politicians across the aisle, fondly recounting his relationship with segregationist Sens. James O. Eastland of Mississippi and Herman E. Talmadge of Georgia. Harris, who directly benefited from busing programs, jumped in to respond.
“It was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing,” Harris continued. “And you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.”
In another departure from her time as a candidate in 2019, as vice president, and as Biden’s running mate during his bid for reelection, Harris hardly mentions one of her top issues: Black maternal mortality.
In 2020, Harris had a section on her website’s issues page devoted to “Health Justice For Black Communities,” with a commitment to “fight to end the Black maternal mortality crisis.” Now, her website only says she’ll “combat maternal mortality” more generally. She introduced the Maternal CARE Act to tackle the issue while in the Senate. The bill mentioned “Black women” 10 times.
Despite being asked multiple times by reporters about the unsubstantiated claims made by Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating residents’ pets, Harris has declined to comment.
ABC News has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment on the shift between her two presidential campaigns, and whether this is part of political calculation ahead of the general election. They have not responded by the time of publication.
The NABJ discussion will take place at the headquarters of Philadelphia’s NPR station WHYY and will be moderated by Politico’s Eugene Daniels, WHYY’s Tony Mosely, and theGrio’s Gerren Keith Gaynor.
“We look forward to our members and student journalists hearing from Vice President Harris as our panel asks the tough questions that are most pressing to the communities served by NABJ members,” NABJ President Ken Lemon said in a statement last week.
Her NABJ appearance marks her third high-profile interview since announcing her candidacy — following sit-downs with CNN and WPVI-TV in Philadelphia.
(WASHINGTON) — In the wake of Donald Trump’s Election Day triumph, Republicans hope to leverage their control of the White House and Congress to pass a sweeping new agenda for the U.S.
Key to making that happen is the Republicans’ Senate leader, a role that’s been held by Mitch McConnell for 18 years. The Kentucky senator, 82, announced his intention to step down in January, igniting a ferocious lobbying campaign to replace him.
Senate Republicans will choose a successor on Wednesday, via secret ballot. With the Senate returning to Republican control following three years with a Democratic majority, McConnell’s successor will wield even more power than he has in recent times.
The Senate is also charged with confirming Trump’s Cabinet nominees, making them a vital stepping stone as he asserts control ahead of his second term as president.
For months, two longtime McConnell allies have been the main figures in the race: Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. Both are considered pragmatists and deal-makers, raising plenty of money for the party.
Speaking to Fox News after the election, Thune gave his take on Trump’s policy plans.
“That’s an agenda that deals with economic issues, taxes, regulations, energy dominance,” Thune said. “That deals with border security and, as always, national security.”
Cornyn emphasized the national debt in an interview with Fox News.
“I know the challenges we have in terms of $35 trillion in debt, more money being paid on interest than on defense spending, and then obviously the broken border and so many other issues,” he said.
However, Trump’s Election Day success gave rise to a third possibility: Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. A staunch ally of the president-elect, he was the first lawmaker to join Trump in the New York courtroom during his hush money trial earlier this year.
“Whoever’s going to be the Republican leader needs to work with President Trump,” Scott said in an interview with ABC News’ Rachael Bade. “It’s probably better to have a good relationship than not.”
It’s also possible Scott’s candidacy is designed to elicit concessions from McConnell’s successor and push the entire Senate further to the right.
The Senate’s far-right members aren’t interested in working with their Democratic counterparts on policy, instead focusing on government spending.
“I think we need to do everything we can to counter the policies and ideology of the left,” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson told ABC News.
Some also want a leader who will let the government shut down if elements of the Republican agenda aren’t met — a shift from McConnell, who avoided such shutdowns.
As the vote looms, Scott’s allies are imploring Trump to endorse him in the hope it will propel him to victory.
Senate Republicans told ABC News that the president-elect won’t have much sway because the election is held by secret ballot, with Republican senators voting for their leader on Wednesday. The party gathered behind closed doors Tuesday evening to hear arguments
Despite this, he took to his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday to demand that the person who wanted the job agree to recess appointments. This would allow him to temporarily install appointments to federal vacancies without Senate approval.
Within hours of Trump’s post, all three candidates essentially agreed.
