Trump news live: Morning Joe hosts accused of 'bending the knee' with secret Mar-a-Lago meeting

Morning Joe host Joe Scarbrough anticipated criticism for his trip to meet Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Social media users on X accused the MSNBC anchors of ‘bending the knee’ with their first meeting with the president-elect in years.

‘@Morning_Joe is officially dead,’ wrote Georgia PeachForver46. ‘They literally went to Mar-a-Lago to bend the knee & capitulate. @morningmika @JoeNBC that's not journalism or telling truth to power. It's pathetic.’

‘Bend the knee to the King in order to save their careers’, wrote Vince Langman with a crying laughter emoji.

'Wow—Morning Joe and wife symbolically bending the knee to the new President! They’re still crazy Left but at least recognizing reality,' Michael Carozza wrote.

Scarborough tried to get ahead of the backlash by saying: ‘Don't be mistaken, we are not here to defend or normalize Donald Trump.

‘We are here to report on him and to hopefully provide you insights that are going to better equip all of us in understanding these deeply unsettling times, and I am reminded of what Marty Garron, legendary editor told his Washington Post editors back in the first term: “We are not going to war, we are going to work.” So let's go to work now’.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have revealed they visited president-elect Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago over the weekend.

The Morning Joe stars said on Monday they traveled 'personally' to meet with Trump on Friday in order to 'restart communications and set a 'new approach.'

By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor in Rio de Janeiro

The White House hit back at the Kremlin Monday after it said reports the U.S. was providing Ukraine authorization to use long-range weapons inside Russia was ‘fueling the fire’ of the conflict.

‘The fire was lit by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This notion of fuel on the fire is simply a side issue to the main issue,’ White House Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer told reporters in Rio where President Biden is attending the G20 summit.

Other Russian allies of Vladimir Putin have said the move could lead to World War II. Donald Trump, Jr. used similar language, saying the outgoing administration is trying to start World War III with the reported move before his father can resolve the conflict.

The White House refused to confirm reports that the Biden Administration had given the new authorization – even while defending efforts to ramp up support at ‘every phase’ of the war. ‘I obviously have seen the reports, and I don’t have anything to confirm for you,’ Finer said.

He said throughout the conflict the U.S. has been ‘extraordinarily successful in providing Ukraine what they needed in the moment that they needed it,’ with artillery and long-range ammunition. ‘We have done this at every phase of the conflict, including the provision of ATACMs for the Ukrainians to use inside their own borders, which obviously took place earlier this year,’ he said.

He also cited ‘a significant escalation that involves the deployment of a foreign country’s forces on its own territory’ – Russia deploying thousands of North Korean troops as it seeks to retake territory that Ukraine seized inside its Kursk territory.

US President Joe Biden's decision to give Ukraine the green light to blast targets inside Russia with US-supplied long-range missiles may trigger a broader war and lead to yet more bloodshed, former American military chiefs and analysts warn.

Retired Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis warned yesterday that allowing Kyiv to use America's ATACMS rockets even in a limited capacity would 'enrage Putin and likely broaden the war' just weeks before Donald Trump arrives in the White House.

'I feel it's going to enrage Putin, which is problematic... ATACMS are not going to make a major difference quite frankly, but what it will do is put Mr. Trump as he assumes the presidency in a much worse situation.

'What we don't need at this late hour is the Biden administration exacerbating a pretty bad situation,' he told Fox News.

Biden's decision, which signals a dramatic U-turn in US policy, comes as Russian and Ukrainian forces are fighting to gain as much territory as possible ahead of Trump's return to the Oval Office amid fears the president-elect may seek to force a ceasefire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long pressed his Western allies to allow his country to strike military targets deeper inside Russia, saying the ban had made it impossible for Kyiv to try to stop Russian attacks on its cities and electrical grids.

Senior Russian politicians have declared President Joe Biden has taken a 'big step towards World War Three' after his administration reportedly gave the green light for Ukraine to blast targets inside Russia with US-supplied long-range missiles.

The decision, which comes on the eve of the 1000th day of war in Ukraine amid the dying days of the Biden administration, heralded a torrent of apocalyptic warnings from Russian lawmakers.

'This is a very big step towards the beginning of the Third World War,' said Putin-loyalist Vladimir Dzhabarov, deputy chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the upper house and a retired security service general.

He slammed the move from Biden - 'a departing old man who will no longer be responsible for anything in two months'.

Hardline Liberal-Democatic party leader Leonid Slutsky said: 'Biden has apparently decided to end his presidential term and go down in history as Bloody Joe.

'It will mean only one thing - direct US participation in the military conflict in Ukraine, which will inevitably entail the harshest response from Russia, based on the threats that will be created for our country.'

Russian senator Andrey Klishas said: 'The West has decided on a level of escalation that could end with the remnants of Ukraine completely losing their statehood.'

Putin himself is yet to respond to the major change in Western policy.

The hosts of Fox & Friends praised President Donald Trump for meeting with MSNBC' Morning Joe hosts last weel after they called him a fascist and compared him to Adolf Hitler.

'Just a short time ago this morning, the host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe program announced that they privately met face-to-face with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Friday,' reported Bill Melugin from Palm Beach.

'They said it was their first meeting with him in seven years and that while they disagree with him on a variety of topics, they agreed to reopen lines of communication, saying they don’t want to just talk about Donald Trump. They want to start talking to him again.'

'We’re just hearing that, too. Bill,' Brian Kilmeade replied. 'That is probably the most magnanimous thing any individual in America has done in a long time.

'For three years, they called fascist Hitler every day. And to every panel, there was nobody even to say ever since Harold Ford left that building, there was not one person saying anything nice about Trump. And for him to take that was a breakfast. “

'It just shows you, though, that he does want to smooth things over' Ainsley Earhardt added. 'Maybe he is going to unite our country.'

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's salubrious neighbourhood was visited by one of America's famous 'Trump Trains' over the weekend, sparking outrage amongst local liberals, MailOnline can reveal today.

The cortege of cars, all decorated with Trump banners and flags to celebrate the election win, processed through Montecito where several people stood on street corners to give drivers the middle finger.

One proud parent said on social media: 'Our daughter and her friend participated in the Trump Train in Montecito, Cal today. Naturally, the liberals were in rare form' - a nod to the swearing locals.

Images from the procession showed the scale of the so-called 'Trump Train' as it went through Montecito. Some vehicles had flags in the back, others had painted the sides with the Stars and Stripes. Drivers wore MAGA caps.

Incoming president Donald Trump has confirmed he is ready to declare a national emergency and use the military to deport illegal immigrants from America.

Responding to a post on Truth Social made by activist Tom Fitton, who said the 'incoming Trump administration [are] prepared to eclare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program', Trump wrote: 'TRUE!!!'

Trump has long promised not only to curb illegal immigration, but to deport those who currently live in the US.

He said just days after winning the 2024 election that his fight to deport an estimated 11million people would have no 'price tag.'

He told NBC: 'Really, we have no choice. When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag.'

The American Immigration Council estimated that the cost of a mass deportation on the scale that Trump wants could cost $315billion.

This cost includes impacts of lost labour.

Donald Trump's MAGA faithful were outraged after it was leaked that Mitch McConnell hatched a plot to stall his Cabinet nominations in the Senate.

The backlash began after a now-deleted tweet from New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer claimed McConnell told colleagues 'there will be no recess appointments' for the president-elect's cabinet members.

'Message to Trump Team: "There will be no recess appointments" Sen. Mitch McConnell said tonight at a Washington gathering,' Mayer wrote on X at around 8 pm Sunday.

Trump has promised to use the strategy to defy Congressional oversight and bypass the Senate confirmation process when appointing people to senior administration positions.

He has demanded that the incoming GOP Senate leader back his use of recess appointments. McConnell recently stepped down from his position as GOP leader in the Senate and was replaced by South Dakota Senator John Thune.

Still, the 82-year-old McConnell seemed confident about his prediction. It's unclear if he will run for re-election in 2026 at 84 and could feel less influenced by his desire to keep his seat.