Trump speaks to China’s Xi Jinping days before inauguration
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(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump said on Friday he spoke to China’s President Xi Jinping about TikTok and other issues as he prepares to take office in a matter of days.
Trump confirmed the call in a post on his social media platform, calling it a “good one” for both nations.
“It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately,” Trump said. “We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects. President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!”
The call came just before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a bipartisan law that could see TikTok banned in the U.S. after Jan. 19 unless its Chinese-owned parent company sells the widely popular app.
The Biden administration doesn’t plan to take action to immediately force TikTok go dark, ABC News has reported, instead leaving it to the incoming Trump administration to implement.
Trump, who tried to ban TikTok in his first term, has now promised to save it. He met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew at his Mar-a-Lago club in December, and Chew plans to attend Trump’s inauguration, sources told ABC News.
In addition, Trump had extended an invitation to Xi to attend Monday’s ceremony in Washington. Though experts noted it was unlikely Xi would attend.
But Xi’s special representative, Vice President Han Zheng, will attend, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced Friday.
“We stand ready to work with the new U.S. government to enhance dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly pursue a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relationship and find the right way for the two countries to get along with each other,” the spokesperson added.
(WASHINGTON) — Ahead of Linda McMahon’s hearing to become the next secretary of the Department of Education, America’s state teachers of the year for 2024 have said they worry the future of public education is under direct attack.
De’Shawn C. Washington, the 2024 Massachusetts teacher of the year, said he will be heartbroken if the Department of Education is dismantled under McMahon.
“This is a great opportunity to invest even more in our children right now, instead of retracting,” Washington told ABC News. “To pull further in, to watch those seeds grow and become a harvest, so that our country could thrive.”
President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order to abolish the Department of Education. The order, which has not been signed yet, reportedly calls for the education secretary to submit a proposal to diminish the department and urges Congress to pass legislation to get rid of it.
McMahon has vowed to carry out the president’s policies, and her allies have said they believe she has the business acumen to make budget cuts as she sees fit.
The looming department changes could be devastating for vulnerable students, according to Jeff Keller of Virginia. Keller warned shuttering the federal agency could mean students will have less protections and schools will have less oversight.
“When I think about what the Department of Education means, it means safeguarding kids’ civil rights,” Keller told ABC News.
“Whether that’s students with disabilities having the ability to get into the building and to get around the building … whether that’s safeguarding, you know, racial minorities to make sure that educational outcomes are equitable for them — I mean, I think it’s across the board,” Keller said.
Colorado’s Jessica May said she fears her students’ basic needs won’t be met if the department is abolished.
“What I am most afraid of is they are not going to get the attention and the care and the dedication that they need to survive, to live,” May said.
However, abolishing the Department of Education can only be done if Congress passes legislation to eliminate it. Clare McCann at American University said it is illegal to “uncreate” the department without congressional authorization — and it would require 60 votes in favor of the legislation in the Senate to pass.
Still, these teachers, who were all awarded their states’ top teaching honors in 2024, said they’re a nervous group right now.
Zach Arenz, the New York teacher of the year, predicted lost educators, increased class sizes and a widening achievement gap in which wealthy communities get wealthier through school voucher programs.
“All of these things are going to lead to a weak public education system,” he told ABC News. “If our public education system isn’t successful, there is no future.”
Arenz said he hopes teachers are listened to moving forward. Kentucky’s Kevin Dailey said he is also worried about student opportunities, arguing a conservative school voucher push would privatize the public school system and enrich private businesses.
“Kentucky schools receive over $1 billion a year in federal funds [from the Department of Education] in order to facilitate the growth of our communities,” Dailey told ABC News. “Kentuckians, not just teachers, not just public school students, but Kentuckians believe in strong public schools.”
McMahon is ‘in over her head’
McMahon, the president’s pick to carry out his vision for injecting school choice throughout the nation’s schools, will go before lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Her nomination to become the next secretary of the Department of Education has been loathed by many top educators.
“She’s well in over her head,” Greg Kester, the 2024 Missouri teacher of the year, told ABC News. Kester has been teaching over 30 years and said McMahon is a step down from billionaire Betsy DeVos, Trump’s first education chief, arguing education isn’t McMahon’s “calling.”
However, McMahon earned a teaching certification from East Carolina University before pivoting to the wrestling arena. McMahon spent most of her career as a business executive and wrestling mogul, and the president has praised her for her knowledge of both business and education.
But Indiana’s Eric Jenkins told ABC News there’s a distinct difference between the two fields.
“There are similarities between business and education, but the core difference — the purpose,” Jenkins said. “So the purpose of a business is to increase profits. The purpose of education is to increase opportunity for all students.”
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency made sizable cuts to the Department of Education this week, slashing critical independent research contracts at the department’s Institute of Education Sciences worth nearly $900 million. Jenkins said he embraces a department that works to create efficiency — so long as the budget cuts don’t hamstring students.
“What brings us together, these different state teachers, regardless if they’re blue or red, is that we see those numbers actually as our students’ faces,” Jenkins said. “I think that’s where we’re coming from, is that we truly see the faces and the impacts that cuts are going to make.”
Conservatives such as Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, said McMahon has the business mindset to create innovative solutions for all students.
However, Virginia’s Keller said he disagrees, noting the nation’s next education chief should run the country’s public school system like it’s the “backbone” of society, not a corporation.
“I don’t think you got to be a K-12 teacher, but I do think you have to have a mindset that understands schools don’t exist for the benefits of teachers or the benefit of students: They exist for the benefit of society,” Keller said. “It’s not a business. We’re not in business. That’s not what schools are.”
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin said Sunday that President Donald Trump is the only one who has the ability to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate to end the war with Ukraine.
“Putin knows the one person that can truly change the war is the United States,” Mullin told co-anchor Jonathan Karl on ABC News’ “This Week.” “If we went all-in for Ukraine, if we went all-in with the resources we have, from air superiority to the weapons that we can deploy to Ukraine, Putin knows at that point he would be in an extremely negative position.”
“I think that being the opportunity for President Trump to talk to Putin and say, ‘Listen, we want to end the war. We don’t want to have to engage more, but we’re not going to allow you to move forward. So let’s negotiate a peace deal here, or you’re going to force our hand to be farther involved.'”
Trump announced via social media on Wednesday that his team would begin negotiations with Putin to end the nearly 3-year-long war. Trump said he and Putin discussed an end to the war in which Ukraine cedes territory captured by Russia and gives up its ambitions to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), two major concessions for Ukraine.
Many world leaders argue Trump has given into Putin’s demands before negotiations begin. Trump added that he informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about his call with Putin after it concluded.
Trump originally made no mention of whether Ukraine would be involved in negotiations, but later said that they would “of course” be involved.
National security adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Saudi Arabia this week, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Waltz, Rubio and Witkoff are expected to meet with top Russian officials, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The specific timing of the trip is not clear, and it is unclear whether Ukraine will be involved in the talks.
Mullin said he is looking for a scenario in which both parties are present at the negotiating table.
“I know the negotiations are moving forward, and we want to have Ukraine and Russia both at the table, and I think the negotiations go better if both sides are looking for a peace deal, because they’re at a neutral position,” Mullin said.
“What President Trump is doing here is actually really smart. He’s meeting with Zelenskyy. He’s having conversations with him. You’re seeing [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio. You saw, you saw that the senators and representatives both met with Zelenskyy while they were in Munich, and you’re seeing them also meeting with Putin in Saudi Arabia,” Mullin said. “What that is doing, Jon, is, that’s putting both people, getting them in separate rooms, talking about what they will accept, and then finding out a negotiation path forward before you bring them to the table. A lot of times, bring people to the table too fast, Jon, it’ll blow up.”
Mullin also defended Elon Musk’s efforts to overhaul the federal government.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began directing mass layoffs after their deferred resignation program ended on Feb. 12. Initially, DOGE has its sights set on probationary employees, individuals with only a couple of years of service, which is nearly 200,000 government workers.
“Anytime you take over a situation, like Elon Musk has had many opportunities and many experiences with taking over businesses, you have to start cutting some of the fat. And unfortunately, the number one expense we have in the United States government right now is payroll,” Mullin said.
Karl noted that the largest expenses in the federal budget are for entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security.
Musk has promised transparency in his actions, and many Democratic lawmakers have called for him to testify in front of Congress. Whether he does should be left to Trump, Mullin said.
“That’s up to President Trump. Keep in mind, President Trump put in Musk to be a consultant, just like many successful corporations around the world, including myself, that have hired consultants to come in and look at it from an unbiased perspective,” Mullin said.
(WASHINGTON) — After facing angry questions from constituents at a town hall last week, Georgia Republican Rep. Rich McCormick is back on Capitol Hill with a new message for Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency: Show a little compassion.
McCormick faced ‘boos” as he fielded questions from furious constituents in his suburban Atlanta district.
“People are concerned about what DOGE is, what it can do, what its powers are, if they’re overstepping the law. They’re concerned about the rapidity of the moves and people losing their benefits,” McCormick said.
McCormick said he is heading to the White House Tuesday afternoon for a previously scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump. If given the chance, he plans to convey some of his concerns about DOGE to the president directly.
“I think some of their actions have been too rapid to adapt to — for real people. I mean, you’re talking about Republicans, too. We’re not just talking about Democrats,” he said.
“I’m all for trimming the government; I am all for also doing it in a deliberate manner that allows people to adjust to their lifestyles … We’re talking about people who are struggling and have to make big decisions,” he added.
He said Republicans have a strong message, but it’s at risk of being lost.
“You can lose that message with just one attitude. And if nothing else, we have to be careful with how we message this so it doesn’t come across as discompassionate,” he said. “In my opinion, we have to be a little more — give people a little more to adjust, who are about lose their jobs.”
“It’s very hard for me to adjust,” he said referencing the “lightning speed” pace of changes from the new administration.
“I think we can have better coordination between the executive branch and the legislative branch … just for if nothing else — we can be one team, one fight moving forward,” he added.
Republican Rep. Cliff Bentz of Oregon also got an earful from constituents at a town hall last week. His message for Musk? Don’t leave Congress in the dark.
“I think the group is learning as it goes. You can tell this by the fact that they rehired some of the people they fired, so that’s a good thing — it shows that they’re listening and paying attention to what they’re doing,” Bentz.
“I would tell him he needs to reach out to Congress and let us know what they have in mind before they do it. So we at least have some sort of heads up.”
