Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Donald Trump and JD Vance watched 125th Army-Navy college football game with guests Pete Hegseth and Daniel Penny in Maryland at 3 p.m. Eastern time
Independent Premium
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
US President-elect Donald Trump attended the Army-Navy football game today alongside a collection of allies, cabinet picks, and controversial figures.
JD Vance, Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, and Daniel Penny joined Trump.
Penny was recently acquitted of a homicide charge over a 2023 incident in which he put a homeless man who was yelling at passengers into a chokehold for nearly six minutes. Penny has become a cause célèbre on the right since.
Hegseth, a veteran and former Fox News anchor, has faced accusations of rape and alcohol abuse, which he denies.
Later on Saturday, ABC News agreed to a $15 million settlement in a defamation suit with Trump over a broadcast about the E. Jean Carroll case.
Trump, meanwhile, has vowed to scrap Daylight Saving Time (DST) and is reportedly considering scrapping a car crash reporting requirement that Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk strongly opposes.
And officials across the East Coast are expressing frustration over continued mysterious drone spottings in the airspace above New Jersey and nearby states.
This week, the leaders of the tech industry made a concerted push too woo Donald Trump, who has long been a critic, accusing platforms of unfairly silencing him and going after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for his ownership of the Washington Post.
Here’s how it all went down.
Facebook founder appears to be moving to mend fences with the president-elect after years of rocky relations
Online retail giant’s founder Jeff Bezos joins Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg in making a generous donation to the president-elect
Donald Trump is hosting Apple CEO Tim Cook for a Friday evening dinner at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort
Donald Trump has announced two new additions to his administration, naming Bill White as ambassador to Belgium and nominating Troy Edgar to be deputy Homeland Security secretary.
A Washington, D.C.-area restaurant worker has reportedly been fired for saying she might refuse to serve Trump administration officials, according to Fox News.
The decision comes after the server spoke out about the influx of new Trump admininistration officials soon to be dining out around the Capitol.
“I personally would refuse to serve any person in office who I know of as being a sex trafficker or trying to deport millions of people,” Suzannah Van Rooy, a server at Beuchert’s Saloon on Capitol Hill, told the Washingtonian. “It’s not, ‘Oh, we hate Republicans.’ It’s that this person has moral convictions that are strongly opposed to mine, and I don’t feel comfortable serving them.”
ABC has agreed to pay $15 million as part of a settlement with Donald Trump after the president-electsued the network and host George Stephanopoulos for defamation.
In March, Stephanopoulos pressed congresswoman Nancy Mace about her support for the former president despite a judge finding him “liable for rape by a jury,” he said.
“Donald Trump has been found liable for defaming the victim of that rape by a jury,” Stephonopoulos. “It’s been affirmed by a judge.”
Juries in New York found Trump liable for defaming and sexually abusing E Jean Carroll after he repeatedly called her a liar for speaking publicly about allegations that he assaulted her in the 1990s. Trump has appealed the nearly $90 million in judgments against him.
Alex Woodward reports.
Host George Stephanopoulos incorrectly claimed Trump was held civilly liable for rape
Big Pharma executives reportedly had a series of surprisingly cordial meeting in recent days with Donald Trump and Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at Mar-a-Lago, despite Kennedy being an outspoken critic of the industry.
During the December confab, which reportedly included the CEOs of Pfizer, Eli Lilly and the trade group PhRMA, Trump reportedly talked about lowering drug costs and increasing U.S. manufacturing of medicines.
The president-elect also steered things back on course when Kennedy began discussing his opinions on the potential link between vaccines and autism, a theory that’s been widely discreditted. Trump reportedly suggested more study would help reduce vaccine hesitancy, according to The Washington Post.
“Probably shouldn’t say too much about it, but it was all you can imagine, and a little bit more,” Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks told the Economic Club of Washington this week of the meeting. “There’s often more common ground than you’d think just reading the newspapers.”
Former congressman George Santos reportedly had a cup of coffee thrown on him as he walked through Times Square in New York City recently, according to a viral video.
In the clip, the former congressman, who pleaded guilty in August to identity theft and wire fraud charges, reacts with a mix of shock and anger, saying, “What the f*** is wrong with you?”
It’s unclear who threw the coffee at Santos, though the video begins with an unnamed man speaking into camera saying, “This guy has got [the] audacity to show his face?”
Vice president-elect JD Vance and Daniel Penny were among the notable figures spotted on Saturday in Donald Trump’s box at the Army-Navy football game.
The president-elect is reportedly en route.
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
