Hegseth said US troops had ‘duty’ to refuse unlawful orders from Trump in resurfaced interview: Latest

President Donald Trump will announce a $12 billion program that will see the Department of Agriculture dole out taxpayer funds to bail out American farmers who have been hit hard by low crop prices and decreased demand for their products as a result of the president’s tariff policies.

A White House official confirmed to The Independent that Trump would unveil the program on Monday during a roundtable event at the White House alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

Read more from White House Correspondent Andrew Feinberg:

This morning, the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in a case between Trump and Rebecca Slaughter, the former head of the Federal Trade Commission, whom Trump fired earlier this year for not aligning with his agenda.

In what is set to be another major case for Trump’s authority, the justices will be deciding whether the president had the authority to fire Slaughter.

According to 90 years of precedent, the president is not allowed to fire the heads of independent agencies, such as the FTC, for any reason other than “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”

But since taking back the White House, Trump has interpreted Supreme Court landmark rulings and Constitutional amendments as a light suggestion

The president and his allies are proponents of the “unitary executive theory” – the idea that the president has complete control over the entire executive branch.

Defending himself against Greene, the president claimed she “went BAD” because “she was JILTED by the President of the United States.”

“Marjorie is not AMERICA FIRST or MAGA, because nobody could have changed her views so fast, and her new views are those of a very dumb person,” Trump wrote.

Among his insults, Trump called Greene a “Rotten Apple,” “Traitor,” and “low IQ.”

The president went on to demand that “60 Minutes” interviewer Lesley Stahl lied about the Hunter Biden laptop controversy

When someone commented, “Your Dad would have loved Trump,” Nancy shot back, “Do some homework before you make a fool of yourself. My dad LOATHED Trump.”

Tom Murray has the full story…

Former representative Colin Allred has announced that he will not be running for the Texas Senate to avoid a “bruising” primary.

Instead, Allred will be running to become the representative for Texas’s new 33rd congressional district.

“In the past few days, I’ve come to believe that a bruising Senate Democratic primary and runoff would prevent the Democratic Party from going into this critical election unified against the danger posed to our communities and our Constitution by Donald Trump and one of his Republican bootlickers Paxton, Cornyn, or Hunt,” he wrote on X.

Democratic firebrand Jasmine Crockett is widely expected to run for the Texas Senate.

The incumbent John Cornyn is battling with other Republicans ahead of the primaries, as his hold on the seat looks increasingly uncertain.

He faces pressure Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Representative Wesley Hunt.

Donald Trump joked about renaming the Kennedy Center after himself as he compered the performing arts venue’s annual awards evening on Sunday.

“This place is hot,” the president said during his remarks at the 48th annual Kennedy Center Honors, as he admired the building’s latest makeover, carried out to his own specifications. “The Trump-Kennedy Center. I mean, the Kennedy Center. I’m sorry. This is terribly embarrassing.”

Joe Sommerlad has the full story…

Pete Hegseth repeatedly warned of Trump giving illegal military orders in 2016, in resurfaced interview clips, which come as the Secretary of Defense becomes increasingly mired in controversy over his alleged “double-tap” strike.

“You’re not just gonna follow that order if it’s unlawful,” Hegseth said on Fox and Friends in March 2016, referring to army officials.

“The military’s not gonna follow illegal orders,” he said on an appearance on Fox Business during the same month.

At the time, Trump claimed that military lawyers and officials should ignore the rules of war to meet their goals.

The news comes after Pete Hegseth allegedly ordered officers to “kill everybody” on board an alleged Venezuelan drug boat.

A strike was launched at the vessel shortly before the survivors were bombed in a second attack.

Experts have warned that Donald Trump’s top-pick to lead the Federal Reserve could send inflation soaring.

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, is expected to take over from the incumbent Jerome Powell, whom Trump has repeatedly clashed with.

However, economist Justin Wolfers has warned the president against appointing a loyalist to the role.

“We’ve seen it happen in other countries like Turkey—you appoint a loyalist, the loyalist puts in place policies that reflect the president’s idiosyncratic, utterly bizarre, dreamtime views about how the economy works,” Wolfers told MS NOW. “And what happened in Turkey was inflation rose to 80 percent.”

The truce in China and the United States’ trade war should hold into next year, according to experts.

Economists told The Telegraph that exports remain a key driver in the economies of both countries, so it makes sense for each nation to continue trading as normal for now.

“We believe exports will remain a key driver for growth next year,” an analyst at Citi told the publication. “In our base case, the US-China trade truce will likely be sustained through 2026 despite being fragile.”

Duncan Wrigley from Pantheon Macroeconomics added that Chinese economic growth could continue, even if the EU clamps down on imports.

Much of that growth will be driven by exports to Africa.

“November’s data suggest this approach remains viable, despite US tariffs, with shipments to non-US markets rising 12.1pc,” Wrigely told The Telegraph. “That said, some developed markets are likely to take protectionist measures, as President Macron said with respect to the EU.”

“Exports to the Global South should remain resilient, though growth rates to markets like Africa may slow given the meteoric rises this year,” he added.

Donald Trump has claimed that immigrants from the “fourth world” were coming into America, before he took office.

However, scholars have not normally defined any country as being “fourth world.”

Even the use of “third world” has become increasingly outdated, with economists generally using the term Economically Less Developed Countries.