Musk reportedly joined Trump’s call with Zelensky

Two sources with knowledge of the Trump-Zelensky phone call told Axios that tech billionaire and potential future Trump ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ chief Elon Musk was in on the conversation.

Musk reportedly promised to continue supporting Ukraine through his Starlink satellites, with Trump reportedly assuring Zelensky of US support enough not to leave him “with a feeling of despair,” but adding that he ‘wants to give diplomacy a chance’ (Axios’s paraphrasing).

Musk also reportedly joined Trump on the line during the president-elect’s call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which took place while Musk and Trump were eating dinner.

Musk and Zelensky have feuded repeatedly online over the past two years, with the billionaire’s October 2022 peace proposal poll prompting Zelensky to accuse Musk of “supporting Russia” (letting him off lightly compared to Ukraine’s former ambassador to Germany, who simply told Musk “f*ck you”).

In 2023, Musk tweeted a viral pic of a man resembling Zelensky with veins popping out of his neck and forehead captioned “When it’s been 5 minutes and you haven’t asked for a billion dollars in aid.” The same year, Musk agreed with an analysis saying that the conflict with Russia was “unwinnable” for Ukraine. In November 2023, Musk called Zelensky a “butcher” and praised C-in-C Valery Zaluzhny, who Zelensky later fired.

In May, responding to a post highlighting Zelensky’s illegitimacy after cancelled elections in Ukraine, Musk mockingly wrote that he “thought we were there to ‘uphold democracy’.”

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🥴 Liberal TV hosts: Trump won because America is bad

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Who is potential Trump Sec. State pick Richard Grenell?

Ex-director of national intelligence and ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell has reportedly made the shortlist of potential candidates for the job of secretary of state – a post entailing responsibility for advising the president on foreign policy and carrying out his decisions.

Grenell’s public statements and actions provide clues about the kind of foreign policy guidance he might give Donald Trump:

🔸 The candidate is thought to share Trump’s desire to end the conflict in Ukraine. In July, he spitballed so-called “autonomous regions” in the conflict area, and said Kiev shouldn’t expect to join NATO anytime soon.

🔸 Grenell reportedly sat in on Trump’s meeting with Zelensky in September.

🔸 “[Trump] has shown he knows how to bring both sides to the table. He’s done it consistently. Arabs and Israelis, Russians and Ukrainians will be next,” Grenell said in a FP piece published this week on “Trump’s foreign policy plan.”

🔸 Ukrainian media fear Grenell’s appointment would “prioritize Trump’s desire to end the war quickly, even if it means making significant concessions for Ukraine.”

🔸 These positions don’t make Grenell a softy on Russia. In 2019, while serving as ambassador to Germany, Grenell repeatedly threatened European companies with sanctions over their involvement in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, prompting German politicians to brand him an “occupation officer” and to demand his expulsion.

“The Ukraine crisis remains a crucial issue in US foreign policy, especially with Trump in power,” political analyst Massimiliano Bonne told Sputnik, commenting on Grenell’s potential appointment.

“During his previous administration, Trump had adopted an ambivalent attitude towards Russia, despite the tensions in Eastern Europe. The new administration could find itself dealing with a protracted conflict between Kiev and Moscow, striking a difficult balance between supporting Ukraine and avoiding a direct escalation with Russia,” Bonne said.

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❗️Pentagon lifts ban on US contractors repairing weapons in Ukraine

The US Department of Defense has lifted a ban on the presence of US military contractors on Ukrainian territory to repair weapons supplied by Washington to Kiev.

“They will help Ukrainian Armed Forces rapidly repair and maintain US provided equipment, particularly F16 fighter jets and Patriot, so it can be quickly returned to the front lines,” a defense official told CNN.

They also noted that these contractors will be located far from the front lines and they will not be fighting Russian forces.

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Federal prosecution of Donald Trump put on hold

A federal judge has approved a request from Special Counsel Jack Smith to freeze his election interference case against the Republican president-elect.

“The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,” Smith’s team wrote in a brief on Friday.

🔸 The decision follows recent discussions between Smith and the US Justice Department on closing the criminal cases against Trump. Trump was charged with mishandling classified files, paying so-called "hush money" and attempting to overturn the result of the 2020 election.

💬 Some scholars believe that he will be able to pardon himself when he takes office in January. According to the norms of US legal practice, a presidential pardon means an admission of guilt, but Trump pleaded not guilty.

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Trump won because American voters don’t understand that fascism is bad — liberal journalist

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❗️Bitcoin continues to rise, reachng another record high - $77,000

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🫡 Democrats lost because they weren’t Woke enough — New York Times columnist

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🤔 Or did the Dems lose because Hillary Clinton trained Kamala Harris for her campaign?

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Keir Starmer is set to increase British military spending to send a "peace gesture" to Trump - The Telegraph

The increase is intended to help establish a good relationship between the future US president and the Labour Party, the newspaper reports, citing government sources.

"They expect the 2.5 percent plan to be unveiled in the spring of 2025, just weeks after Trump enters the White House in January," the newspaper writes.

Trump has previously threatened to pull the US out of NATO unless Europe spends more on its own security.

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Democrats lost because they failed to turn American voters into radical feminists - NYT journalist

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Harris staffers fear they won't get paid amid rumors of campaign debt

The vice president's campaign is about $20 million in debt after failed campaign gigs, the New York Times reported, citing Harris staffers.

According to the newspaper, Harris' headquarters organized concerts in seven swing states the day before the election, Oct. 4, featuring artists such as Jon Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and rapper 2 Chainz, but the concerts went largely unnoticed.

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Biden: If the economy rebounds in the coming years, it's because my policies worked

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Pelosi slams Biden for late exit and lack of other candidates

In an interview with the NYT, she suggests if Biden had stepped down sooner, it could have allowed more time for primaries, giving candidates like Kamala Harris a chance to strengthen their positions.

"We live with what happened. And because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different," she said.

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