Donald Trump celebrated a “very good Deal for the American people,” and announced on Truth Social that Congress has come to an agreement on the American Relief Act of 2024, which will fund the government and provide emergency hurricane relief for areas of the country affected by storms earlier this year.

Trump was also pleased that the debt ceiling deadline will be pushed back by two years — to January 30, 2027 — as part of the deal.

“A VERY important piece, VITAL to the America First Agenda, was added as well – The date of the very unnecessary Debt Ceiling will be pushed out two years, to January 30, 2027. Now we can Make America Great Again, very quickly, which is what the People gave us a mandate to accomplish,” Trump wrote.

Despite Trump’s celebration, it seems as though Democrats may not have been aware such a deal was struck.

Axios’s Stephan Neukam wrote in a post on X that sources familiar with the Democrat’s stance on the deal “have been left in the dark,” and that any deal that was struck was between House Republicans.

President-elect Donald Trump’s co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita and chief pollster Tony Fabrizio sat for an interview with Politico and revealed what they believed helped Trump secure victory in the 2024 election.

Fabrizo said Trump was unhappy with some of the speakers at his Madison Square Garden rally — a rally during which a right-wing podcaster called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage and made other disparaging remarks about latinos and Jewish people — but that Joe Biden insulting Trump supporters after the event “saved” the campaign from an extended negative news cycle.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been,” Biden said after the rally.

Elsewhere in the interview, LaCivita said he does not believe that the impact of the visual of Trump after the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt has been fully appreciated.

He said the visual of Trump, bleeding, with his fist in the air after the shooting conveyed that “Americans get knocked down, but they always fight back.”

“And that visual is as quintessential America as the f****** flag is,” he said.

President Joe Biden took part in an interview with MeidasTouch, recorded on December 16:

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a new report showing that deportations are at their higest level since 2014.

According to the report, ICE deported 271,484 immigrants to nearly 200 countries in the last fiscal year, making 2024 the year with the highest number of deportations in the last decade.

The report covered a time period of October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024.

Kate Devlin, The Independent’s Whitehall editor, filed this report today:

President-elect Donald Trump has lashed out at a Texas Congressman — and a fellow Republican — who is opposing GOP efforts to force a government shutdown.

“The very unpopular “Congressman” from Texas, Chip Roy, is getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory – All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Republican obstructionists have to be done away with.”

Ray Epps, the Trump supporter who became the center of a right-wing conspiracy theory accusing him of being a federal plant meant to incite Trump loyalists to violence, appears to be planning to sue Fox News again for defamation.

Epps’ first lawsuit, filed in 2023, accused Fox News of defaming him by allegedly spreading the conspiracy theory on its network. His case was dismissed earlier this year for “failure to state a claim.”

Fox News celebrated the ruling at the time.

“Following the dismissals of the Jankowicz, Bobulinski, and now Epps cases, FOX News is pleased with these back-to-back decisions from federal courts preserving the press freedoms of the First Amendment,” Fox News said in a statement

Now it appears Epps is planning to file an amended complaint to push the issue. Fox News’s attorneys plan to petition for the case to be dismissed, arguing that the amendments “fail to cure the defects the Court identified in the original complaint.”

Attorneys for defamed election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss say the former New York City mayor “has not turned over a single dollar,” nor has he turned over a “number of specific items of personal property that he has been unambiguously ordered” to hand over — including the title to Mercedes Benz convertible, keys to his Manhattan penthouse, valuable sports memorabilia and home furnishings.

Alex Woodward has the full story.

Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary nominee, said he has not received a personal apology from the U.S. Military Academy West Point after they mistakenly claimed Hegseth had never applied or attended the school.

Though the military academy issued a statement to news outlets apologizing for the mishap last week, Hegseth told Fox News on Tuesday, “I haven’t heard from West Point.”

“Nothing,” Hegseth added.

Last week, Jesse Eisinger, an editor at the news outlet ProPublica said they were planning to report that Hegseth had never applied to West Point, despite saying so, because the military academy affirmed to the outlet twice they had no record of this.