House Speaker Mike Johnson has a slim shot at keeping his gavel Friday, as dozens of Republicans reportedly remain uncommitted to supporting the staunch ally of President-elect Donald Trump.
Representative Thomas Massie vowed Thursday night that he wouldn’t vote for Johnson, even under threat of torture.
During an interview on One America News’s The Matt Gaetz Show, Massie was asked by the titular former congressman and failed attorney general nominee whether an opportunity to lead a committee might sway him to support the embattled speaker.
“Oh no, you can pull all my fingernails out, you can shove bamboo up in them, you can start cutting off my fingers. I am not voting for Mike Johnson tomorrow,” Massie declared.
Massie is among several Republicans to voice their concerns about Johnson, whose chaotic efforts to pass government spending legislation last month led several small government–type Republicans to question whether he is truly invested in gutting the federal government.
Massie’s defection is a big deal: Assuming that everyone is present and voting, Johnson can only afford to lose one Republican vote, according to The Hill. There are currently more than a dozen lawmakers who signaled last week that they weren’t yet committed to supporting Johnson, including Representatives Chip Roy, Victoria Spartz, Rich McCormick, and Andy Harris.
Johnson seems to remain optimistic about his chances. When asked Friday morning whether he thought he would win the first ballot, which is set to take place at noon, Johnson replied, “I think so.”
Trump published marching orders for Republicans on Truth Social Friday, urging them to support Johnson but mostly complimenting himself.
“Good luck today for Speaker Mike Johnson, a fine man of great ability, who is very close to having 100% support,” Trump wrote. “A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party, and yet another acknowledgment of our 129 year most consequential Presidential Election!!—A BIG AFFIRMATION, INDEED. MAGA!”
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The man who allegedly detonated fireworks inside a Tesla Cybertruck in front of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, was reportedly a supporter of the president-elect.
Law enforcement officials identified Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Green Beret, as the deceased driver of the Cybertruck in Wednesday’s incident, according to CNN.
A senior law enforcement official told The Daily Beast Thursday that Livelsberger was a “big” Donald Trump supporter, a fact that had been uncovered through conversations with Livelsberger’s family and loved ones.
Dean Livelsberger, the uncle of the deceased, told The Independent Thursday that his nephew “loved” Trump.
“He used to have all patriotic stuff on Facebook, he was 100 percent loving the country,” said Dean Livelsberger.
“He loved Trump. He was always a very, very patriotic soldier, a patriotic American. It’s one of the reasons he was in Special Forces for so many years. It wasn’t just one tour of duty,” he added. Livelsberger had served as an operations master sergeant in the Army Special Forces, on active duty in Germany, but was on leave at the time of his death, three officials told CNN.
Online, Livelsberger once criticized John Bolton, Trump’s ex-national security adviser, who wrote a scathing rebuke of his former boss in his memoir.
“Bet Bolton got a hefty chunk from the DNC and other slimy donors to put the book out,” Livelsberger wrote in a Facebook comment under an article about Bolton, according to The Daily Beast.
While the symbolic nature of the incident appears to refer to the partnership between the president-elect and Elon Musk, Livelsberger’s motive is still unknown. Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill suggested Thursday that the incident, which injured seven people, was likely a suicide.
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Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts echoed Donald Trump while hitting back at critics who’ve suggested that federal judges may have political biases.
In his 2024 Year End report on the federal judiciary, published Tuesday, Roberts conflated violence and intimidation with genuine criticism of the courts’ decisions. He listed suggestions of political bias among doxxing and disinformation as some of the “illegitimate activity” that threatens independent judges.
“Public officials, too, regrettably have engaged in recent attempts to intimidate judges—for example, suggesting political bias in the judge’s adverse rulings without a credible basis for such allegations,” Roberts wrote.
“Within the past year we have also seen the need for state and federal bar associations to come to the defense of a federal district judge whose decisions in a high-profile case prompted an elected official to call for her impeachment,” Roberts continued, likely referring to Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee who tossed out the classified documents case against the president-elect last year.
At every turn of that case, Cannon slowed proceedings, and ultimately defied precedent. Her shocking final decision resulted in the dissolution of charges against a political candidate who then reportedly put her on the short list for attorney general (he would later find even worse candidates).
“Attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed,” Roberts continued. “Public officials certainly have a right to criticize the work of the judiciary, but they should be mindful that intemperance in their statements when it comes to judges may prompt dangerous reactions by others.”
Last year, Trump was so persistent in “suggesting” that New York state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who oversaw his hush-money trial, and his family were politically biased that he was landed with a hefty gag order. This, however, earned no mention from Roberts, but probably only because it had to do with a state case, not a federal one. No other reason.
Roberts’s remarks echo those of Trump, who, impossibly, complained about publicly criticizing judges and has suggested it should be illegal to do so.
“They play the ref, they start screaming about ‘The judge is no good,’ and ‘This one’s no good,’ and ‘They’re slow’ and ‘They’re lousy judges’ and ‘The judge should be impeached,’ and all of this crap, when you have a brilliant judge that’s doing the right thing,” Trump ranted during an 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting in Concord, North Carolina, in October.
“I really believe it’s illegal what they do, and I know there’s some great lawyers in there who are gonna look at it, because what they do is so obvious, what they’ve done to the Supreme Court, even with the protection of their houses, you’re not supposed to be allowed to march in front. They didn’t stop it,” he continued.
Trump has also claimed that judges would often “give a bad ruling” in an attempt to silence critics, but unsurprisingly gave no evidence to support that claim.
In any case, it’s difficult to imagine how Roberts, terrified of suggestions of political bias, will weather the coming four years under Trump, who intends to utilize the highest court in the land to make sweeping changes to the schema of rights and continue to deregulate the federal government. Trump will likely get away with everything he wants—in many such cases, he already has.
Last year, Roberts found himself behind the steering wheel of the most conservative court in a century for the decision in Trump’s presidential immunity case. The Supreme Court’s ruling in that case single-handedly opened the door for Trump’s return to the White House and cemented this court’s conservative lean for decades to come.
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Conservatives are somehow blaming the horrific New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans on DEI, or “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives. On Wednesday, an attacker drove an ISIS flag–decorated truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street, killing 15 people before exchanging fire with law enforcement. The suspect has now been identified as U.S. Army veteran Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar.
“The priority of the last four years has been DEI, not IEDs,” New York Republican Representative Dan Meuser told Fox News on Thursday. “You talk to anyone who’s willing to speak within these agencies, that’s what their focus has been.… President Trump’s a serious guy, he’s bringing in serious people. It’s not about DEI; it’s about the safety and security of the American people.”
Conservative commentator Robby Starbuck, who’s been railing against diversity and inclusion for months on X, likewise blamed DEI for the attack: “6 months ago the New Orleans FBI office was doing DEI hiring events. Maybe they should have been more focused on hiring the best people who are good at catching terrorists instead? Hiring solely to ‘increase diversity’ is a threat to national security for everyone. DEI must end.”
Right-wing YouTuber Benny Johnson also piled on. “An FBI Agent with a nose ring who can barely speak coherent English sentences told the media that a terrorist driving a truck with an ISIS flag killing 10 Americans is NOT a terrorist attack!?!” Johnson wrote on X. “Seriously. Listen to this. We need Kash Patel NOW!”
The video in question is of FBI Special Agent Alethea Duncan, who happens to be a Black woman with a nose ring, speaking perfect English as she simply debriefs reporters in New Orleans, noting that the FBI had not classified the attack as a terrorist act yet. The agency did so later as more information came out.
These commentators are talking as though “DEI hires” were the ones to drive a truck through a busy crowd. There’s a clear pattern in the racist dog whistling: delegitimizing and attacking any Black person working in a professional capacity.
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Fox News is pulling the plug on the right’s conspiracies about the New Orleans terrorist attack.
Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones pressed Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry on Thursday, asking the MAGA state leader to explain how the American people can have confidence in how the investigation is being handled when conservative leadership is spreading so much misinformation about the attack.
“I hate to jump on you, but there’s conflicting information,” Jones said. “On one hand you’re telling the people that it is safe, but then you have co-conspirators that are out there. And then to layer on that of getting all the information, we just had your attorney general—your chief law enforcement officer—she says she hasn’t even been briefed about those people they brought into custody.
“So, if your chief law enforcement officer is not being briefed about the people that are out there, how can the people have confidence?” Jones continued.
“Well look I can tell you this, I am in the city right now, I’m going to attend the Sugar Bowl this afternoon, I will be around. We are going to be briefing the media, hopefully, about mid-morning. I don’t know about the comments the attorney general made. Again, that’s part of why we try not to engage in speculation,” Landry said.
when you’ve lost Fox & Friends … pic.twitter.com/yrFuNhaRey
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 2, 2025
The harsh critique was leveled after Landry told the network he was “convinced” the city was safe, despite reports from the FBI that the suspect, U.S. Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, did not act alone.
“Look, I think one of the most important things is to make sure that each one of those victims did not die in vain,” Landry said on-air. “All of them had come to the city in order to enjoy the city, in order to enjoy some entertainment and bring in the new year.
“Y’all had a guest earlier who was an eyewitness who said the same thing, is that we can’t live in fear,” he added.
The governor is also facing backlash for a tone-deaf social media post he made in the wake of the attack, sharing a photo of himself giving a thumbs-up at a local steakhouse just 10 minutes away from the scene of the crime.
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