U.S. Will Send Ukraine at Least $275 Million in New Weapons

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U.S. Will Send Ukraine at Least $275 Million in New Weapons

(Headline USA) The Pentagon will send Ukraine at least $275 million in new weapons, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The latest tranche of weapons comes as both Ukraine and Russia push to gain an advantage.

In rapid succession this week, President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the authority to fire longer-range missiles deeper into Russia and then Russian President Vladimir Putin formally lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

U.S. officials contend that Russia’s change in nuclear doctrine was expected, but Moscow is warning that Ukraine’s new use of the Army Tactical Missile System inside Russia on Tuesday could trigger a strong response.

One American official said the U.S. is seeing no indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.

The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid package has not yet been made public.

Asked Tuesday if a Ukrainian attack with longer-range U.S. missiles could potentially trigger use of nuclear weapons, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov answered affirmatively.

He pointed to the doctrine’s provision that holds the door open for it after a conventional strike that raises critical threats for the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Russia and its ally Belarus.

A U.S. official said Ukraine fired about eight ATACM missiles into Russia on Tuesday, and just two were intercepted.

The official said the U.S. is still assessing the damage but that the missiles struck an ammunition supply location in Karachev, in the Bryansk region.

The weapons in the new package of aid for Ukraine include an infusion of air defense, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, as well as 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, Javelin anti-armor munitions and other equipment and spare parts, U.S. officials say.

The weapons will be provided through presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Pentagon quickly to pull supplies from its shelves to speed them to Ukraine’s front line.

Trump’s upcoming move to the White House has triggered a scramble by the Biden administration to rapidly spend congressionally approved funding.

The Biden administration would have to rush $7.1 billion in weapons from the Pentagon’s stockpiles to spend all of those funds before Trump is sworn in.

That includes $4.3 billion from a foreign aid bill passed by Congress earlier this year and $2.8 billion still on the books in savings due to the Pentagon recalculating the value of systems sent.

As part of the wider effort, the administration also is on track to disperse its portion of a $50 billion loan to Ukraine, backed by frozen Russian assets, before Biden leaves the White House, according to two senior administration officials.

The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly, said the U.S. and Ukraine are now in “advanced stages” in discussing terms of the loan and are looking to complete the process for the $20 billion portion of the mammoth loan that the U.S. is backing.

The goal is to get it done before the end of the year, one official said.

Trump has criticized U.S. support for Ukraine and derided Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “salesman.”

The president-elect vowed to end the war in Ukraine and said he will “get it resolved very quickly.”

Last week, Trump reiterated the message.

“We’re going to work very hard on Russia and Ukraine. It’s got to stop. Russia and Ukraine’s gotta stop,” he said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Bill Clinton Takes Veiled Swipe at Hillary Clinton’s Failed 2016 Election Bid

Julianna Frieman
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Bill Clinton Takes Veiled Swipe at Hillary Clinton’s Failed 2016 Election Bid

(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Former President Bill Clinton took a veiled swipe at wife Hillary Clinton for her failed 2016 presidential election bid in an interview Sunday following the historic election loss of Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Sunday Morning, Clinton told CBS’s Tracy Smith that he believes the U.S. is close to electing its first female president—but said he thinks she is more likely to be a Republican woman than a Democrat.

“Do you think it’s more to do with party than gender?” Smith asked.

“No,” Clinton responded. “Although I think it would probably be easier for a conservative Republican woman to win.”

Earlier in the CBS News reporter’s line of questioning, Clinton said “maybe” Americans are not yet ready for a female president while reflecting on Harris and his wife’s defeat by Republican President-elect Donald Trump.

However, he did say Hillary Clinton could have become president in 2008 if she were the Democrat nominee instead of former President Barack Obama.

“I think in some ways we’ve moved to the right as a reaction to all the turmoil,” he told Smith. “And I think if Hillary had been nominated in 2008, she would’ve walked in, just like Obama did.”

Clinton suggested culture wars made it tougher for both Democrat female candidates to find their footing at the ballot box.

“Well, I think all these cultural battles that we’re fighting make it harder in some ways for a woman to run,” the former president said.

Trump won a decisive 2024 victory over Harris, taking home the popular vote, the Electoral College—including all seven battleground states—and both chambers of Congress.

The Republican president-elect received 312 electoral votes, while Harris got 226 votes.

In 2016, Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton but won the Electoral College at 306 votes compared to the Democrat woman’s 232 votes.

Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and The American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.

Border Patrol Agent Charged for Conspiring w/ Drug Cartels

Ken Silva
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Border Patrol Agent Charged for Conspiring w/ Drug Cartels

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A U.S. Border Patrol agent has been charged with conspiring with drug traffickers, allowing some 60 kilograms of cocaine to cross the border in about three months.

According to the Justice Department’s criminal complaint, the Border Patrol agent, Jorge J. Jiminez, accepted bribes from narcotics smugglers in exchange for helping them bypass inspection at the I-19 checkpoint in Arizona.

“On the day of a transportation attempt, Jiminez would, while on duty, and dressed in his U.S. Border Patrol uniform, provide real time information as to his lane assignment and the status of the K-9s to the coordinators through electronic communication,” the Nov. 5 criminal complaint stated.

“One of the coordinators would then relay that to the narcotic trafficker who would then send a vehicle through the identified lane of the checkpoint during the window of time provided by Jiminez … Jiminez would then pass those vehicles through his assigned lane without inspection.”

The government’s investigation into Jiminez’s corruption entailed undercover agents passing unmarked cars through his checkpoint, to see how he acted.

“To gauge whether Jiminez acted differently towards the loaded vehicles versus unloaded vehicles, agents in unmarked cars passed through Jiminez’s assigned lane on the days in question. In each instance he asked the standard Border Patrol check-point questions. He did not ask those same questions to the loaded vehicles,” the criminal complaint said.

Jiminez’s alleged conspiracy ended in October, when he was no longer assigned at the border checkpoint. But the DOJ said that between June and September, he allowed a whopping 60 kilograms of coke to enter the U.S.

Jiminez received $400 per kilogram of coke he helped cross the border, putting the total bribe amount at nearly $25,000.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Whistleblower: FEMA Told Elderly Disabled Veteran He Was Domestic Terrorism Threat

Ken Silva
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Whistleblower: FEMA Told Elderly Disabled Veteran He Was Domestic Terrorism Threat

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency sat through two congressional hearings yesterday, promising them that FEMA isn’t biased against Trump supporters, and that the recent incident of FEMA workers avoiding pro-Trump homes was isolated.

“I do not believe that this employee’s actions are indicative of any widespread cultural problems at FEMA,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said of her now-fired employee, who told about 11 staffers under her supervision that they should “avoid homes advertising Trump.” (The fired worker, for her part, claims that avoiding pro-Trump homes is an agency-wide policy at FEMA.)

But after the two hearings, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., announced that he received another whistleblower disclosure about FEMA’s anti-Trump bias. According to Comer, the whistleblower was with a FEMA contractor who visited the home of an elderly disabled veteran’s family around Oct. 10.

“While there, [the FEMA contractor] recommended that the family remove Trump campaign materials and signs from their house and yard, stating that his FEMA supervisors view Trump supporters as domestic terrorists,” Comer said.

“The elderly homeowners were so frightened by this and afraid that they would not recover their loss that they removed the signs. Nevertheless, FEMA has not returned to their residence. This took place not in Florida, but Georgia.”

The hearings that took place prior to Comer’s disclosure were about the federal government’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

While lawmakers were conducting an oversight hearing looking at the overall response by FEMA to the devastating storms, they were particularly focused on reports about the agency avoiding helping some Americans based on their political beliefs.

Some 7,500 FEMA workers were still deployed as of last week in states hit by Helene and Milton. Criswell asked lawmakers to ensure that FEMA and its partners have adequate resources in the following months, saying “the road ahead is long.”

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Leftist Associated Press Slashes Staff by 8%

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Leftist Associated Press Slashes Staff by 8%

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The Associated Press learned that lying and pushing far-left propaganda to Americans don’t work after the organization was forced to fire 8% of its workforce because nobody wants to consume the AP’s content.

The AP announced on Monday that it would begin offering buyouts and laying off selected employees. This is part of a plan to reduce its staff by approximately 8% and “accelerate a transition to a digital-first organization.”

The AP said those eligible for buyouts would learn of the offer—severance pay and partial health coverage for 18 months—by the end of Monday. Those fired would know about it over the next few weeks.

“They’ve pulled the plug out of the bathtub, and we’re watching the water go down the drain,” Gabriel Kahn, who helps run the media, economics and entrepreneurship program at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, told the AP.

Daisy Veerasingham, the AP’s president and CEO, also sent the memo to its employees on Monday, stating that everybody knows that “this is a time of transformation in the media sector.”

“Our customers — both who they are and what they need from us — are changing rapidly. This is why we’ve focused on delivering a digital-first news report. We now need to accelerate on this path,” she wrote.

Vin Cherwoo, president of the News Media Guild, also discussed the AP reaching a deal with its union to offer the buyouts.

“Sadly, it is apparently what is needed,” he told the AP. “They’ve been seeking revenue for a while and have had difficulty getting it.”

People on Twitter ruthlessly criticized the AP, blaming the recent news on the organization itself.

“Everyone is starting to get their news from [Twitter] now instead, tired of the bias. I could advise the AP on how to survive, but they’re too arrogant to listen to common sense,” reporter for the Arizona Sun Times Rachel Alexander wrote.

She also stated that journalists at the AP always had a leftist bias, adding that the AP’s Style Guide, with its “Orwellian word and phrase instructions,” made the situation only worse for conservative journalists.

“The fast-changing conditions? People want the media to report the news. They don’t like being lied to. They don’t like gaslighting,” @PeterDeGiglio wrote.

CNN was also forced to lay off its employees after the network started losing viewers because people stopped consuming the mainstream media. MSNBC was another leftist network that lost its viewers.

Athletes Turn Trump’s ‘YMCA’ Fistpump into Hot Dance Craze

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Athletes Turn Trump’s ‘YMCA’ Fistpump into Hot Dance Craze

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The culture in the United States started to change after American athletes began doing President-elect Donald Trump’s iconic YMCA fistbump dance during the sports games.

CNN Sports reported that the dance is “being used as a celebration for big plays, shots and wins for American athletes,” which is very unusual since athletes did not behave this way when Trump won the 2016 election.

NFL’s San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, a public Trump supporter, is considered the pioneer of this massive cultural movement. CNN Sports reported that he celebrated his team’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a dance the weekend after Trump’s reelection.

“I think you know the answer to that question,” Bosa told the San Francisco Chronicle. “All the guys wanted me to do it. I wasn’t even going to do it, but the boys reminded me. And it was fun.”

Bosa danced just weeks after he wore a Make America Great Again hat, for which the NFL fined him $11,255 for making political statements on the field.

Another athlete who became famous for performing the iconic Trump dance was UFC champion Jon Jones, who allowed Trump to hold his heavyweight title belt last weekend.

On Nov. 17, multiple NFL players performed the Trump dance, including Detroit Lions defensive end Za’Darius Smith, Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers and Tennessee Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley.

“I’ve seen everyone do it. I watched the UFC fight last night and Jon Jones did it. I like watching UFC, so I saw it and thought it was cool,” Bowers told Safid Deen of USA Today.

CNN Sports also reported that U.S. men’s soccer national team star Christian Pulisic imitated Trump after winning over Jamaica in the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal on Monday in St. Louis.

“I saw everyone doing it yesterday in the NFL. I saw Jon Jones do it, and we were just having a bit of fun. I thought it was a pretty fun dance,” he said. “It’s not a political dance. It was just for fun. I saw a bunch of people do it and thought it was funny, so I enjoyed it.”

However, it wasn’t just American athletes who adopted Trump’s iconic dance. On Nov. 17, British golfer Charley Hull danced while walking down the fairway at the Pelican Golf Club in Florida at The ANNIKA event.

People online spread the rumor that the NFL could ban the iconic dance, but the organization later stated that it “has no issue” with Trump dance celebrations.

Even though Bosa started this massive trend, he wasn’t the first athlete to perform the dance. MLB players used iconic Trump gestures back in July after the first assassination attempt.

Pa. Gov. Slammed for Lying about Blatant Election-Theft Attempt

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Pa. Gov. Slammed for Lying about Blatant Election-Theft Attempt

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Gov. Josh Shapiro, D–Pa., was criticized by conservatives for not preventing election fraud in his state and then lying about leftists trying to steal the election for former Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.

On Monday, after Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court stated for the second time that the election officials cannot count illegal ballots after the election was over, Shapiro released a letter in which he tried to defend himself and partisan election officials by writing that there was “a lack of legal clarity surrounding undated mail-in ballots.”

“As counties continued counting ballots from the 2024 general election and a mandatory statewide recount begins in the U.S. Senate race, they were confronted with a lack of legal clarity surrounding undated mail-in ballots that caused significant confusion and put counties in a challenging legal position,” he wrote.

Shapiro then noted that county officials “were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t,” potentially facing “legal challenges.”

Conservatives on Twitter quickly criticized Shapiro for lying about what happened.

“Josh Shapiro just released a new letter lying about the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He claims there was a lack of clarity about the law. There was no lack of clarity. [She] announced what she was doing! Liar!” Senior Editor at Human Events, Jack Posobeic, wrote.

Posobeic also published a video in which he mocked Shapiro, pointing out that his chances of becoming president of the United States in 2028 had become very low.

Sen. Kim Ward, R-Pa., also criticized Shapiro, claiming that his letter “is nothing but excuses” and that the Democratic officials ignored the law, even though “there was no confusion” in it.

“Stop protecting lawbreakers, Governor. Pennsylvanians deserve accountability, not a false narrative,” she wrote.

Assistant News Director of Florida’s Voice Eric Daugherty also stated that Shapiro wanted the election commissioners to steal the state election because he never sent police to arrest the officials who declared they were defying a court order by counting illegal ballots.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Bucks County Board of Commissioners Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia also tried to defend herself by claiming that her comments about violating the Pennsylvania Supreme Court were taken out of context and blaming “misinterpretation of [an] inartfully worded statement on [her] part.”

“Please don’t send me to jail because I announced to the world my intent to deliberately break the law,” Senior Writer Mark Hemingway of the Real Clear Investigations wrote, clearly mocking Ellis-Marseglia.

Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer also criticized Ellis-Marseglia, comparing her to a child “caught with their hand in the cookie jar.”

“She got caught,” he wrote.

LA Passes ‘Sanctuary’ Law for Illegals Despite Past Complaints Over Border Crisis

Luis Cornelio
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LA Passes ‘Sanctuary’ Law for Illegals Despite Past Complaints Over Border Crisis

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a “sanctuary city” ordinance prohibiting local resources from being used to assist federal deportation efforts targeting illegal aliens. 

The 13-0 vote responds to President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to launch the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history following the outgoing President Joe Biden’s open border policies. 

Mayor Karen Bass, a former member of Congress, and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto championed the ordinance’s passage. The ordinance will take effect 10 days after being signed by the mayor. 

“Especially in the face of growing threats to the immigrant communities here in Los Angeles, I stand with the people of this city,” Bass said on Nov. 12. “This moment demands urgency. Immigrant protections make our communities stronger and our city better. … Los Angeles stands together.” 

Soto echoed Bass’s sentiments in her own statement: “By passing this law today, we’re making sure that no city resources or staff will be used to deport our friends, family, neighbors and co-workers.” 

The ordinance codifies an executive directive and resolution by former Mayor Eric Garcetti, who is now serving as Biden’s U.S. ambassador to India. 

According to The New York Times, the measure also bars city employees from questioning individuals about their immigration status or citizenship. The Los Angeles Police Department has followed similar policies since 1979. 

The move comes despite Bass’s months-long concerns about rampant immigration draining city resources. 

In November 2023, Bass joined the mayors of Chicago, Denver, Houston and New York in demanding federal intervention to address the surge of illegal aliens. 

The demands for a meeting came a month after Los Angeles struggled to house newly arrived illegal aliens.

Nearly a year later, the Biden-Harris administration showered Los Angeles with $21.8 million for housing and other taxpayer-funded services for illegal aliens. 

Leftist Host Ridicules Allan Lichtman Over ‘Stupidly Wrong’ Kamala Prediction

Luis Cornelio
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Leftist Host Ridicules Allan Lichtman Over ‘Stupidly Wrong’ Kamala Prediction

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Liberals are turning on one of their own, with Keys to the White House creator Allan Lichtman becoming their latest target. 

Young Turks co-founder and host Cenk Uygur mocked Lichtman as a “loser” and “deluded” after his 13 Keys formula incorrectly predicted Vice President Kamala Harris would win the 2024 election.

“Say whatever you want, but I’m not going to stand for personal attacks,” Lichtman said during Tuesday’s Piers Morgan Uncensored show episode. His comments responded to Uygur’s reiteration that the formula would fail.

“Brother, you got it wrong! You were preposterously and stupidly wrong!” Uygur said, raising his voice as he berated Lichtman. 

Lichtman raised a finger and demanded Uygur stop calling him “stupid.”

The history professor added, “I admitted I was wrong, I don’t need you to call me stupid. … who taught you manners?” 

Uygur doubled down, snapping, “Hey Allan, you deserve a tall glass of shut-up juice. So can you shut up for a second and let someone who knows what they’re doing talk!” 

Lichtman, visibly frustrated, shook his head and accused Uygur of “blasphemy.” He interjected, “I will not sit here and stand for personal attacks or blasphemy against me.” 

“Blasphemy against you? Who the hell are you? Are you Jesus Christ, you loser?” Uygur shot back. 

Also on the show were TikTok influencer Harry Sisson and political analyst Juan Williams, who appeared to laugh at the heated exchange between Lichtman and Uygur. 

Lichtman’s 13 Keys formula had correctly predicted nine of the 11 elections since 1984 but failed with Harris in 2024 and Al Gore in 2000.  

Since Trump reclaimed the White House and Republicans regained control of both chambers of Congress, Democrats have embarked on a soul-searching journey to understand what went wrong in the 2024 election. 

Trump’s Budding Bromance w/ Elon May Have Big Implications for Humanity

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Trump’s Budding Bromance w/ Elon May Have Big Implications for Humanity

(Headline USA) Donald Trump headed to Brownsville, Texas, on Tuesday to watch one of Elon Musk’s companies test its Starship rocket, the latest sign of a deepening bond between the president-elect and the world’s richest man.

Tuesday’s outing was a remarkable display of intimacy between the two, one with implications for American politics, the U.S. government, foreign policy and even the possibility of humans reaching Mars.

“Good luck to Elon Musk and the Great Patriots involved in this incredible project!” Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media website, while en route to Texas.

Musk spent around $200 million to help Trump beat Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential race, and he’s been given unparalleled access.

He’s counseled Trump on nominees for the new administration, joined the president-elect’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and been tapped to co-chair an advisory panel on cutting the size of the federal bureaucracy.

Musk also joined Trump at a meeting with House Republicans in Washington and sat next to him at an Ultimate Fighting Championship match in New York. The trip to Texas for the rocket launch was Trump’s third time outside Florida since the election.

Democrats—including presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton—have frequently been swayed by their billionaire friends toward particular political outcomes, such as the interests of BlackRock and George Soros in waging war in Ukraine.

For Trump, though, who often finds himself the wealthiest man in the room and has been able largely to maintain his political independence through self-financing, Musk’s support and friendship are something of a novelty. His visionary influence in arenas such as artificial intelligence, green energy and space travel could turn Trump’s already transformative presidency into an inflection point for humanity.

In addition to political influence, Musk could benefit personally as well. SpaceX, his rocket company, has billions of dollars in government contracts and the goal of eventually starting a colony on Mars.

He’s also CEO of Tesla, which manufactures electric vehicles, and has battled with the Biden administration’s partisan regulators over safety concerns involving autonomous driving.

To top if off, Musk owns the social media company X, formally known as Twitter, which he has harnessed as an influential perch to promote Trump and his agenda, countering the leftist echo chamber that dominates much of social media, mainstream media, Hollywood and elsewhere.

“Stop the Swamp!” Musk wrote on Tuesday as he shared a warning that entrenched Washington interests were trying to undermine Trump before his inauguration.

Before the election, Musk rejected the idea that he was expecting any favors in return for supporting Trump in the presidential race.

“There is no quid pro quo,” he posted on X in September. “With a Trump administration, we can execute major government reform, remove bureaucratic paperwork that is smothering the country and unlock a new age of prosperity.”

The relationship between Trump and Musk was not always so close.

Two years ago, Trump was mocking Musk in stump speeches and Musk was saying it was time for Trump to “hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.”

“Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America,” Musk wrote on social media.

But Musk gradually became more critical of the Biden administration and the radical leftist movement that had consumed the Democrat party, and he ultimately found that Trump’s conservative movement was much more welcoming to the ideas of classical liberalism, while the modern left has become increasingly authoritarian.

He swiftly endorsed Trump after the former president survived an assassination attempt in July and became a central figure in Trump’s orbit, appearing at times more like his running mate than Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Trump started boasting about Musk’s accomplishments at campaign rallies, such as when Starship’s reusable rocket booster returned to the launch tower and was caught by mechanical arms.

“Those arms grab it like you grab your baby, just like you grab your little baby. And it hugged it and just put it down, and there it was,” Trump said.

Musk was with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort on election night and has spent much of the two weeks since there.

Trump’s granddaughter Kai Trump posted a photo of her with Musk at one of Trump’s golf resorts, writing that Musk was “achieving uncle status.”

Last week, Musk appeared in a golden ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, seated in the center of the room as a guest of honor at an event. Trump, in his remarks at the black tie event, said Musk’s IQ is “about as high as they can get” and praised him as “a really good guy.”

“He launched a rocket three weeks ago and then he went to Pennsylvania to campaign because he considered this more important than launching rockets that cost billions of dollars,” Trump said.

He joked about Musk’s constant presence at Mar-a-Lago, saying, “He likes this place. I can’t get him out of here.”

He added, “And you know what, I like having him here.”

Musk was so heralded by Trump’s crowd that he was invited to speak on stage at the event after Trump, in which he spoke of the president-elect’s victory like he was his running mate.

“The public has given us a mandate that could not be more clear,” Musk said of the election results.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

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