Trump sides with Musk over H-1B visas in growing MAGA rift on immigration: Live

President José Raúl Mulino of Panama brushed off U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s baseless claim that Chinese soldiers are “operating the Panama Canal,” calling it “nonsense.”

In a Christmas Day message on Truth Social, Trump sarcastically wished a merry Christmas to “the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal” and “making certain that the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in ‘repair’ money, but will have absolutely nothing to say about anything.”

Ariana Baio reports on the Panamanian leader’s response.

Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary praised President-elect Donald Trump’s continued fascination with annexing Canada as an American state, saying there was “something great” about it because it would form “the most powerful country on earth.”

Having spent the past few weeks taunting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by offering to make him a “governor” of “the 51st state,” the incoming president upped the ante with a Christmas message to the United States’ neighbor to the north. Besides recommending that hockey great Wayne Gretzky run to be “the Governor of Canada,” Trump also claimed that Canadians’ taxes would massively drop if they joined the American union.

In 2013, during the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, that number was down to 42 percent. Back in 2006, it stood at 69 percent.

The annual Health and Healthcare survey was conducted between November 6 and 20. That same poll found that fewer Americans are rating U.S. health care coverage and quality in a positive way.

Gustaf Kilander has the details.

According to industry group The Toy Association, nearly 80 percent of U.S. toys are manufactured in China, one of the countries the President-elect has threatened to target with immediate charges on exports.

“There is an absolute deluge of interest,” a Republican fundraiser told ABC News.

The donations have included a variety of big names in the tech and finance world.

Amazon, Meta, Uber, and Ford are all reportedly planning $1 million donations, as are hedge fund manager Ken Griffin and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Josh Marcus has the details.

Mike Bedigan has the story.

Donald Trump’s incoming border czar says the administration’s plans for a mass deportation operation will include jailing immigrant families together in detention centers before they are removed from the country.

“We’re going to need to construct family facilities,” Tom Homan told The Washington Post in a recent interview. “How many beds we’re going to need will depend on what the data says.”

While cable news networks CNN and MSNBC continue to see a massive post-election drop in their television ratings, a new Associated Press poll finds that most Americans are worn out since Donald Trump’s electoral victory and have tuned out from political news.

Conducted by the AP and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in early December, the survey found that roughly two-thirds of respondents said they “have recently felt the need to limit media consumption about politics and government because of overload.” Some participants explained why they felt fatigued and needed to step away.

Here’s Justin Barangoa:

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her agency will need to start taking “extraordinary measures,” or special accounting maneuvers intended to prevent the nation from hitting the debt ceiling, as early as January 14, in a letter sent to congressional leaders Friday afternoon.

“Treasury expects to hit the statutory debt ceiling between January 14 and January 23,” Yellen wrote in a letter addressed to House and Senate leadership, at which point extraordinary measures would be used to prevent the government from breaching the nation’s debt ceiling — which has been suspended until Jan. 1, 2025.

The department has in the past deployed what are known as “extraordinary measures” or accounting maneuvers to keep the government operating. But once those measures run out the government risks defaulting on its debt unless lawmakers and the president agree to lift the limit on the U.S. government’s ability to borrow.

“I respectfully urge Congress to act to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” she said.

Donald Trump is claiming victory after a judge ruled that the Biden administration must turn over purchasing records accounting for $1.4 billion Congress allocated to build a wall on the Mexico border, a federal judge in Texas said Friday.

The records will help track materials that Texas alleges the federal government auctioned off in violation of a court order, Bloomberg Law reports.

Judge Drew Tipton of the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, a Trump appointee, demanded the records at the end of a virtual hearing that Texas requested to determine if the federal government had unlawfully gotten rid of wall materials in anticipation of Trump’s reelection.

The president-elect wrote on Truth Social:

BREAKING: In a major, crucial WIN for America, and our National Security, a Federal Judge in Texas, based on papers we filed just a few days ago, has PROHIBITED the Biden Administration from selling any materials designated for the Border Wall, that has been wrecked by Biden and his cronies, and which I am going to rebuild in order to protect our Country from violent migrant crime, fentanyl smuggling, sex trafficking, terror attacks, and other heinous, Nation ending disasters. The Judge has also ordered an investigation into the illegal selling of the materials, which will expose just how corrupt and anti-American Radical Democrats are. I am honored to be joined in this vital case by the Great States of Texas and Missouri, and applaud Judge Drew Tipton for doing the right thing for our Country. We have to protect our Borders, and Save America. MAGA!