Donald Trump's inauguration in January is approaching. US tech companies want to cover part of the costs. All developments in the news blog.
2:20 a.m.: Amazon plans to donate $1 million to Donald Trump's inauguration, as well as providing another $1 million by streaming the event for free on Amazon Video. Founder Jeff Bezos will meet Trump in person to strengthen the relationship after both spoke in the summer. Bezos publicly praised Trump after an attempted attack. Trump is becoming increasingly open towards tech companies, which he previously blamed for his 2020 election defeat.
Facebook parent Meta also announced that she donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration. Founders Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump met privately at Mar-a-Lago two weeks ago.
5.40 a.m.: Donald Trump will appoint his loyal supporter Kari Lake from Arizona as head of the US national broadcasting service “Voice of America”. The Republican announced this on his Truth Social platform.
Lake worked for many years as a news anchor at local television station Fox 10 Phoenix in Arizona. She later switched to politics. She represents a radical orientation of the Republican Party. In November, she failed in her bid for an open Senate seat in Arizona. She was already defeated in the state's gubernatorial election in 2022. Lake did not recognize her defeat at the time; Instead, she spread unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about election fraud.
The 55-year-old still has to be formally appointed by the future management of the responsible broadcasting authority – the “US Agency for Global Media” (USAGM for short). The agency oversees all government-funded foreign broadcast programs in the United States that are not controlled by the military. Trump announced that he would soon fill the leadership of USAGM. Appointment to this position requires Senate approval.
Trump said Lake and the incoming USAGM leadership would “work closely to ensure that America's values of freedom and independence are broadcast FAIRLY and ACCURATELY around the world” – contrary to the “lies told by the fake news.” .” media”. Trump regularly questions the credibility of established media outlets. Critics fear that he could try to use “Voice of America” for his political agenda.
3 a.m.: US President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to his inauguration in January. This was reported by multiple sources to CBS News. Xi was apparently invited in early November, shortly after the November 5 presidential election, but it was not clear whether the invitation was accepted, the broadcaster reported. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump's team also plans to have other foreign dignitaries attend the ceremony on January 20th. Among other things, consideration is being given to inviting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who recently visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago and is therefore still weighing up whether he will attend, according to the report.
Although Trump's advisers are harsh critics of Xi – including Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz – Trump apparently continued to believe in the importance of closer relationships between leaders for international negotiations. Trump said in an interview with NBC News that he got along very well with Xi. However, the president-elect had announced that he would impose additional 10 percent tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing did not do more to stop trade in the highly addictive drug fentanyl. During his election campaign, he also threatened tariffs of over 60 percent on Chinese goods.
