President Obama Lifts Restrictions On Cuban Rum And Cigars

Led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democrats in California have “reached a $50 million agreement to shore up state and local legal defenses against the incoming Trump administration just a week ahead of the president-elect’s inauguration. Half the money would go to fending off any mass deportation plan the new president might enact early in his administration,” Politico reports. “The move — the first of its kind in the nation that positions California to lead a second term resistance against Trump — comes as Republicans bash state Democratic leaders for focusing on the highly partisan issue even as the southern part of the state suffers from historically devastating fires.”

“Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, has voiced strong opposition to removing the names of Confederate generals from US military bases, repeatedly saying the names should be changed back,” CNN reports.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is privately urging his members to use upcoming hearings on President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees to hold their “feet to the fire,” Politico reports.

“Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed to reporters Monday there’s “been some discussion” of tying California wildfire aid to a debt limit increase, after GOP members raised the issue with Donald Trump in several meetings at the President-elect’s Florida resort this weekend,” Politico reports.

“U. S. flags at President-elect Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club are back to flying at full height,” the AP reports. “Flags are supposed to fly at half-staff through the end of January out of respect for former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec. 29. A large flag on Trump’s property in Palm Beach was initially lowered to half-staff according to protocol but has since been raised in the days after Carter was buried Thursday in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.”

Punchbowl News: “Trump went all out trying to butter up House Republicans while he hosted them at his Florida club this weekend. It’s clear these meetings were less about substance and more about sweetening up the members who hold the keys to his agenda. They were given signed swag, dined on steak and lobster and eagerly posed for pictures with Trump and Elon Musk.” “We’re told Trump was in his element, and at one point, even cracked a joke about the assassination attempt on his life, saying something along the lines of: ‘It would be a ding on God if, after the million-to-one chance that bullet didn’t kill me, he didn’t let me win!'” “The flurry of meetings offers a preview of how hands-on Trump plans to be with Capitol Hill.