Tuesday morning news: December 31, 2024

Trump endorses Johnson for speaker » President Trump has given Mike Johnson his endorsement to continue serving as Speaker of the House, but Johnson still hasn’t secured the support he needs from his fellow Republican lawmakers.

Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie says he won’t vote for Johnson despite Trump’s endorsement Monday.

That means Johnson can’t afford to lose any more Republican votes when the new Congress convenes to choose a Speaker Friday. But a few GOP lawmakers, like Tennessee’s Tim Burchett, are still non-committal.

BURCHETT: I’ll make up my mind Friday or so when we do the votes. I’ll pray about it.

Some GOP critics are upset with Johnson for working with Democrats to pass a spending deal this month. Johnson allies like New York Congresswoman Claudia Tenney are pushing back.

TENNEY: What some of these people that are frustrating to see -my own colleagues- say is that, “Well, why does he work with Democrats?” We have to work with Democrats.

Burchett and Tenney talking to Fox News and Fox Business, respectively. If there’s a delay in choosing the House speaker, that could delay the official certification of the 2024 election results and swearing-in of new House members.

China hacks Treasury Department » The U.S. Treasury Department says it’s been hacked by China. Details from WORLD's Travis Kircher.

TRAVIS KIRCHER: Hackers acting on behalf of the Chinese government breached the U.S. Treasury's online guardrails earlier this month and stole documents.

That according to a report by Reuters news service, citing a letter the U.S. Treasury sent to lawmakers. Reuters obtained that letter yesterday.

In it, the Treasury characterized the hack as a, quote, major incident...but said none of the documents were classified.

The hackers allegedly bypassed a third-party security provider by stealing a key, or password, providing access to the Treasury's computer system.

The Treasury Department says the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency...as well as the FBI...are investigating.

For WORLD, I'm Travis Kircher.

SOUND: [Tearful reunions]

Ukraine POWs freed in prisoner swap with Russia » The sounds of tearful reunions as Ukrainian prisoners of war reunite with their families.

It came after Russia and Ukraine took part in a prisoner swap of nearly 200 POWs each. That’s according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Among the Ukrainian POWs: soldiers captured by Russian forces from the front lines in places like Snake Island. The POWs also included two civilians.

SOLDIER: [Speaking Russian]

This soldier, in Russian, says he's euphoric. He says he doesn't fully understand that he's really free, although both he and his family have waited for this moment. He goes on to call this the second birthday of his life.

Zelenskyy credited the United Arab Emirates for negotiating the exchange.

Biden sending another $2.5 million to Ukraine » President Biden says the U.S. is sending another $2.5 billion dollars in weapons to Ukraine, working to meet the White House’s goal of spending all available money for Ukraine before Donald Trump takes office.

SINGH: We are committed to using that full authority that Congress has allotted to us.

That was Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh weeks after Trump’s election win.

The aid package announced Monday lets the military pull existing stock from shelves to get weapons to the battlefield faster, and also pays for longer-term weapons deliveries.

Also Monday, the Treasury Department announced it’s sending another $3.4 billion dollars to Ukraine to cover the salaries of first responders, school employees, healthcare, and other government workers as that country combats Russia’s invasion.

Southern tornado cleanup » Monday was cleanup day for a lot of people after powerful storms roared through the Southern U.S. over the weekend.

The National Weather Service says it’s confirmed at least 30 tornadoes touched down as it works through about 50 reports of tornado damage spanning from Texas to South Carolina.

In Alvin, Texas, Donald Duncan tells KTRK a tornado ripped the roof off his home as he was about to celebrate a late Christmas with family.

DUNCAN: One of the boys said, “My ears are ringin’.” The next thing you know, the glass just busted out. When the glass busted out, the tornado came through (whoosh noise). And that’s when it ripped off the roof.

Neither he nor his 10 family members inside were hurt.

The storms knocked out power to tens of thousands of people across several states, and also resulted in a handful of deaths.

Trump, GOP will push for federal voting changes » Republicans want to overhaul the U.S.’s voting procedures, and they’re planning to act quickly on that in the new Congress.

They want all voters to show a photo ID and prove citizenship every time they cast a ballot. Wisconsin Republican Congressman Bryan Steil says it’s a reasonable way to restore public confidence in elections.

STEIL: Photo ID is essential. You need it to board an airplane, to buy a six-pack of beer or open a bank account. I think it’s appropriate that you need photo identification to be able to vote.

Some Democrats say the GOP proposals go too far, and could make it harder for people to vote. Michigan Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson would prefer to see more federal funding for election offices.

BENSON: My job is also to make sure everyone has access to identification and gets their license or gets their state ID. And so what we really need are more resources from the federal government that helps us get people IDs before they implement or add more onerous identification requirements.

The proposed changes have the strong support of President-elect Trump.

I'm Mark Mellinger.

Straight ahead: reviewing the top pro-life news stories of 2024. Plus, the story behind a popular Christmas song.

This is The World and Everything in It.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.