NBC News reports: Federal officials Wednesday rejected claims the mysterious drones spotted in New Jersey are coming from an Iranian “mothership.” Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., said Wednesday on Fox News that the unidentified flying objects in his state’s skies are coming from an Iranian vessel off the East Coast — a claim the Defense Department flatly denied. Drew, who …

Axios reports: Meta donated $1 million to President-elect Trump’s inaugural fund, the social media giant confirmed to Axios late Wednesday. Big Tech CEOs have been working to gain access and influence with Trump since he won the election last month, “Neither Zuckerberg nor Meta donated to Trump’s inaugural fund in 2017 or to President Biden’s fund in 2021,” per the …

Variety reports: After years of protracted legal turmoil in the Ramones estate, the future of Netflix‘s film adaptation of Mickey Leigh’s memoir “I Slept With Joey Ramone” with Pete Davidson attached to star could be in doubt, due to a new arbitration that also saw a director of the groundbreaking punk-rock group’s parent company removed. The decision was a legal …

The Huffington Post reports: Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly said that President-elect Donald Trump’s victory puts Americans in “a very, very dangerous world,” stressing that he plans to spend his final two years in the Senate pushing back against the growing Trump-fueled isolationism within the GOP. While McConnell has worked to significantly move the country to the right — much …

The New York Times reports: With students at many colleges wrapping up final exams this week and preparing for their winter break, a number of schools, including Harvard, U.S.C. and Cornell, are advising their international students to return to campus before President-elect Donald J. Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20. “A travel ban is likely to go into effect soon …

The New Republic reports: The Trump Organization on Wednesday announced a new project in Saudi Arabia: Trump Tower Jeddah. The two companies have spent about $532 million on this residential apartment site, which is expected to be completed in four years. The Trump Organization relies a lot on Saudi Arabia, as the company’s real estate deals in the United States …

Politico reports: The Justice Department sent a message Wednesday to Jan. 6 defendants: Accepting a pardon from Donald Trump is “a confession of guilt” for your crimes. “[A] pardon at some unspecified date in the future … would not unring the bell of conviction,” federal prosecutors argued in a Jan. 6 case before U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols. “In fact, …

The Raleigh New & Observer reports: With North Carolina Republicans set to lose their veto-proof supermajority come 2025, state lawmakers took their final vote Wednesday on a bill that takes away power from incoming Democrats in the executive branch, overturning a veto with a party-line 72-46 vote. Protesters shouted from the gallery overlooking the state House chamber after the vote. …

The CBC reports: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that Kamala Harris’s loss in the U.S. presidential election was a setback for women’s progress — and cited several recent incidents that he said suggest women’s rights are under attack by “regressive” and “reactionary” political forces. In an address to an Ottawa gala for Equal Voice, Trudeau said politicians who are …

Florida Politics reports: Retired Lieutenant General Mike Flynn flopped after filing a defamation suit against Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson for $50 million. Now, an appeals court Judge is upholding the lower court decision in favor of Wilson. Judge Hunter W. Carroll ruled in favor of Wilson on Wednesday in the 2nd District Court of Appeal. Flynn at the lower …

The Washington Post reports: The House on Wednesday passed an $895.2 billion defense policy bill, after Democrats blasted the inclusion of a provision — pushed at the 11th hour by Speaker Mike Johnson — to prohibit the military’s health-care system from providing specialized treatments to the transgender children of U.S. service members. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed 281 …

The Associated Press reports: The suspect in the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO plans to fight extradition to New York to face murder charges, but officials hope to get him back with what’s called a governor’s warrant. The process could happen quickly or take more than a month. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office on Wednesday had not yet asked …

Fox News reports: Dozens of Republican state attorneys general are backing Kash Patel, whom President-elect Trump has chosen to lead the FBI in his next administration. In a letter to incoming Senate Republican leader John Thune, R-S.D., who currently serves as Senate minority whip, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., 24 Republican attorneys general advocated for Patel to be the …

Law & Crime reports: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is putting another lender on notice that the terms of a recent loan to his bedding company are “usurious, unconscionable, and thus unenforceable.” Last week, in Carver County District Court, the pro-Donald Trump election denier sued named and unnamed defendants over a triple-digit interest rate on a $1.559 million loan taken out …

Huntsville’s ABC affiliate reports: A former pastor at a Decatur church was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sodomy, a Morgan County circuit judge told News 19. Danny Duane Pitts was found guilty of second-degree sodomy by a Morgan County jury on October 24. On Wednesday, Circuit Judge Charles B. Elliott sentenced Pitts to 20 years in the Alabama …

The Hill reports: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is expected to keep his gavel in the next Congress after receiving glowing reviews from President-elect Trump. But if there is any kind of revolt from Johnson’s conservative detractors during the Jan. 3 Speaker vote, no Democrats will step in to save him, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) warned on Wednesday. “I …

Politico reports: Donald Trump is expected to be named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” — and to celebrate the unveiling of the cover, the president-elect will ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning, according to three people familiar with the plans granted anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge the plans. Last …

The New York Times reports: The F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, told bureau employees on Wednesday that he intends to resign in January, bowing to the reality that President-elect Donald J. Trump had publicly declared his desire to replace him. The announcement comes after Mr. Trump said in late November that he intended to nominate Kash Patel, a longtime loyalist, …

ABC News reports: A New York Police Department bulletin issued Tuesday emphasized the heightened risk environment for health care executives following last week’s brazen killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Viral posts online have listed the names and salaries of several health insurance executives, multiple “Wanted” signs featuring corporate executives have been posted throughout Manhattan and users on social …

The Associated Press reports: President-elect Donald Trump is expected to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, the ceremonial start of the day’s trading, according to four people with knowledge of his plans. It will be a notable moment of recognition for Trump, a born-and-bred New Yorker who gave up living full time in his …