Trump has ‘great meeting’ with DC mayor ahead of inauguration and suggests Canada could become 51st state: Live updates

From state-level restrictions on abortion access to laws regulating ticket sales after Taylor Swift’s Eras tour chaos and new rules for selling guns, Kelly Rissman takes a look at the some of the new laws going in effect across the country this year.

Chip Roy, a Republican representative from Texas known for clashing with both leadership and the MAGA wing of his party over spending issues, made clear on Tuesday that House Speaker Mike Johnson still has work to do in order to win another term.

He’s not alone; several GOP representatives are undecided how they plan to vote on January 3, when lawmakers will convene to determine who wields the gavel in the House.

Right-wing billionaire Elon Musk has changed his name to “Kekius Maximus” on X, the social media platform he owns, signaling support for a type of cryptocurrency.

The world’s richest man also updated his profile photo to an edited picture of “Pepe the Frog,” a meme that has been co-opted by hate groups.

Katie Hawkinson has more:

Justin Caporale — one of the Trump campaign staffers who reportedly verbally abused staff at Arlington National Cemetery this summer — has been hired by the president-elect for his “external operation” as “Executive Producer for Major Events and Public Appearances.”

Caporale “has been with me right from the beginning of a very incredible journey, helping to produce our Historic Rallies and Events, including the Republican National Convention, Madison Square Garden, McDonalds commercial, and even my seriously viral ‘Garbage Truck ride,’” Trump announced Tuesday.

“Once he finishes what will be our magnificent Inauguration presentation, Justin will continue to serve my external operation as Executive Producer for Major Events and Public Appearances,” Trump added. “Congratulations Justin. Keep up the GREAT work!”

With rumors swirling of a potential end to the honeymoon period between Trump and Musk — sources report that Trump is already becoming “annoyed” with his wealthy friend — Mike Bedigan takes a look back at their often tumultuous relationship:

Happy birthday Donald Trump Jr? The president-elect’s oldest son said ringing in the New Year at his father’s Mar-a-Lago compound will be “a little rough.”

“My birthday is New Year’s Eve,” he said on his Triggered podcast this week. “I get older … I was a kid, New Year’s Eve was a lot better because it was like, there’s always something to do. There’s always a party.”

Now, he says, “it’s sort of like amateur night.”

“I get to be around a thousand drunk people giving me their political opinions that I don’t necessarily want to hear,” he said. “While I love Mar-a-Lago, it’s sort of like, you know, the, you know, by about midnight when everyone’s like, you know, 12 beers deep or whatever it is they’re drinking, you know, the close talking opinions.”

Trump is allegedly “100 percent” annoyed with Elon Musk and the ubiquity and media attention that follows the world’s wealthiest man.

“There’s a Chinese saying,” one person close to the president’s campaign said, “‘two tigers cannot live on one mountaintop.’”

In his annual year-end report, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts condemned the “illegitimate activity” aimed at undermining the independence of the judiciary.

The court — which has faced an avalanche of criticism for rulings that threaten federal agencies, upended reproductive healthcare access and got Trump off the hook for criminal charges — is under intense scrutiny as Trump enters office with a 6-3 conservative majority on the bench.

Roberts says the number of violent threats facing the judiciary has more than tripled over the last decade.

“These tragic events highlight the vulnerability of judges who sign their names to the decisions they render each day and return home each night to communities, where they remain involved as neighbors, volunteers, and concerned citizens,” Roberts said.

He said violence, intimidation, disinformation and threats to defy court judgments “undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable.”

A federal appeals court upheld a ruling against Donald Trump after he challenged a jury’s verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming a former magazine writer.

What you need to know about E. Jean Carroll’s case against the former president, and what’s next:

TV doctor Mehmet Oz, Trump’s nominee to lead the agencies overseeing federal healthcare programs, once said uninsured Americans have “no right to health,” in 10-year-old remarks that have resurfaced since his nomination to the incoming administration.

During a 2013 address to the National Governor’s Association, Oz told attendees that uninsured people should be given “a way of crawling back out of the abyss of darkness, of fear, over not having the health they need” in a “festival-like setting” with physicians.

“Because they don’t have the right to health, but they have the right to access a chance to get that health,” he added.