The audio tape of President-elect Donald Trump’s New York City sentencing hearing was released to the public on Friday giving insight into the unprecedented conviction against a former president where Trump was ultimately sentenced to an unconditional discharge.

"This has been a very terrible experience," Trump, who virtually attended the criminal trial sentencing hearing, told the New York City courtroom on Friday morning. "I think it's been a tremendous setback for New York and the New York court system."

"This is a case that Alvin Bragg did not want to bring. He thought it was from what I read and from what I hear, inappropriately handled before he got there. And a gentleman from a law firm came in and acted as a district attorney," the president-elect continued. "And that gentleman, from what I heard, was a criminal or almost criminal in what he did. It was very inappropriate. It was somebody involved with my political opponent." 

"I think it's an embarrassment to New York and New York has a lot of problems, but this is a great embarrassment," he added.

DONALD TRUMP SENTENCED WITH NO PENALTY IN NEW YORK CRIMINAL TRIAL, AS JUDGE WISHES HIM 'GODSPEED' IN 2ND TERM

At one point, Trump leaned forward, looking at Judge Juan Merchan, and referenced the November election, suggesting that it represented a repudiation of this case.

"It's been a political witch hunt," Trump explained. "It was done to damage my reputation so that I'd lose the election. And obviously, that didn't work. And the people of our country got to see this firsthand because they watched the case in your courtroom. They got to see this firsthand. And then they voted, and I won."

Assistant District Attorney Josh Steinglass stated that there was "overwhelming evidence to support the jury's verdict" and was critical of Trump, claiming the president-elect "has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has placed officers of the court in harm's way" with the comments he publicly made during the trial.

"I very, very much disagree with much of what the government just said about this case, about the legitimacy of what happened in this courtroom during the trial and about President Trump's conduct fighting this case from before it was indicted, while it was indicted, to the jury's verdict, and even to this day," Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche said in response to the prosecution.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: SUPREME COURT ALLOWS TRUMP TO BE TAINTED AS A FELON. BUT THERE'S A CATCH

During the hearing, Judge Juan Merchan defended the actions he took along the way. 

"The imposition of sentence is one of the most difficult decisions that any criminal court judge is called to make," Merchan said, noting the court "must consider the facts of the case along with any aggravating or mitigating circumstances."

Merchan reflected on the case, saying that "never before has this court been presented with such a unique set of circumstances." The judge said it was an "extraordinary case" with media interest and heightened security but said that once the courtroom doors were closed, the trial itself "was not any more unique or extraordinary" than any other case.

Merchan acknowledged that Trump is afforded significant legal protections but argued that "one power they do not provide is the power to erase a jury verdict."

"Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you assume the second term in office," Merchan said at the close of the hearing.

Merchan's unconditional discharge sentence means there is no punishment imposed: no jail time, fines or probation. The sentence also preserves Trump's ability to appeal the conviction. 

"After careful analysis, this court determined only lawful sentence that permits entry of judgment of conviction is an unconditional discharge," Merchan said Friday. "At this time, I impose that sentence to cover all 34 counts." 

Trump’s team said in court that they will appeal the conviction, and he will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 20. 

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Friday in a fast-tracked case over the future of TikTok, a Chinese-owned social media app that will be barred from operating in the U.S. in just nine days barring divestiture or eleventh-hour intervention from the high court.

At issue is the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, a law signed by President that passed Congress in April with bipartisan approval. The act gave TikTok either nine months to either divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or be removed from U.S.-based app stores and hosting services. 

On Friday, lawyers for the Biden administration reiterated their argument that TikTok’s Chinese ownership poses a "grave" national security risk for American users. 

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar cited risks that China could weaponize the app, including by manipulating its algorithm to prioritize certain content or by ordering parent company ByteDance to turn over vast amounts of user data compiled by TikTok on U.S. users.

"We know that the PRC has a voracious appetite to get its hands on as much information about Americans as possible, and that creates a potent weapon here," Prelogar said. "Because the PRC could command ByteDance [to] comply with any request it gives to obtain that data."

"TikTok's immense data set would give the PRC a powerful tool for harassment, recruitment and espionage," she added. 

'HIGHLY QUALIFIED': FORMER STATE AGS URGE SENATE TO CONFIRM BONDI TO LEAD JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Earlier in oral arguments when TikTok was presenting its case, justices on the bench as a whole appeared skeptical of the company's core argument, which is that the law is a restriction of speech.

"Exactly what is TikTok's speech here?" Justice Clarence Thomas asked in the first moments of oral arguments, in an early sign of the court's apparent doubt that the law is in fact a First Amendment violation. 

At the conclusion of oral arguments, it remained unclear as to how the Supreme Court might proceed in the matter— though a ruling or order is expected before the Jan. 19 ban comes into force.

The Supreme Court and its 6-3 conservative majority have historically been deferential to Congress on matters of national security.

 The divestiture law in question passed Congress last year with strong bipartisan support— as well as the guidance of top Justice Department officials, who worked directly with House lawmakers to write the bill and help it withstand possible legal challenges.

But the arguments also comes at a time when President-elect Donald Trump has signaled possible support for TikTok. His attorneys filed an amicus brief last month urging the Supreme Court to delay the ban until he is sworn in as president.

If the goal of China and ByteDance, through TikTok, is "trying to get Americans to argue with each other," said Chief Justice John Roberts, "I’d say they are winning."

Noel Francisco, TikTok’s lawyer, sought to frame the case Friday primarily as a restriction on free speech protections under the First Amendment, which the company argues applies to TikTok’s U.S.-based incorporation.

First Amendment protections must be considered under strict scrutiny, which requires the government to sustain a higher burden of proof in justifying a law's constitutionality. More specifically, the law must be crafted to serve a compelling government interest and be narrowly tailored to achieve that interest — a test TikTok says the law fails to meet.

It's a difficult legal test to satisfy in court. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit used it last month in considering the divestiture law, and still voted to uphold it— meaning that justices could theoretically consider the case under strict scrutiny and still opt to uphold the law— and the looming Jan. 19 ban.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted Friday that the case before them appears to be the first one to be heard by the court centered directly on the ownership of a platform or app, rather than speech.

The liberal justice also questioned whether the court might consider the divestiture requirement under the law as a data control case, not properly a free-speech issue, as TikTok's legal team has sought to frame it.

Weighing the case as a data control case would trigger a lower level of scrutiny— a point that Francisco also acknowledged.

Francisco told justices in oral arguments Friday that the U.S. government has "no valid interest in preventing foreign propaganda," and that he believes the platform and its owners should be entitled to the highest level of free speech protections under the U.S. Constitution.

Francisco told Chief Justice John Roberts that he believes the court should grant TikTok First Amendment protections because it is operating as a U.S.-incorporated subsidiary. 

The TikTok attorney was also grilled over the Chinese government’s control over the app, and ByteDance’s control over the algorithm that shows certain content to users.

Asked by Justice Neil Gorsuch whether some parts of the recommendation engine are under Chinese control, Francisco said no.
"What it means is that there are lots of parts of the source code that are embodied in intellectual property, that are owned by the Chinese government" and which a sale or divestiture would restrict, he said.  "It doesn't alter the fact that this is, being operated in the United States by TikTok incorporated."

TRUMP SAYS FATE OF TIKTOK SHOULD BE IN HIS HANDS WHEN HE RETURNS TO WHITE HOUSE

Unless justices intervene, or TikTok’s owners agree to sell, the app will be barred from operating in the U.S. by Jan. 19.
Oral arguments center on the level of First Amendment protections that should be granted to TikTok and its foreign owner, ByteDance.

This is not the first time the Supreme Court has grappled with whether or not full First Amendment protections should be extended to foreign speakers. In previous cases, they have ruled that speech by a foreign government or individuals is not entitled to the full protections. 

The Biden administration, for its part, will argue that the law focuses solely on the company’s control of the app, which attorneys for the administration argue could pose "grave national security threats" to Americans rather than its content.

Lawyers for the administration will also argue that Congress did not impose any restrictions on speech, much less any restrictions based on viewpoint or on content, and therefore fails to satisfy the test of free speech violations under the First Amendment. 

The court’s decision could have major ramifications for the roughly 170 million Americans who use the app. 

Justices agreed in December to hold the expedited hearing and will have just nine days to issue a ruling before the ban takes place on Jan. 19. 

Home renovation projects can be a logistical nightmare for homeowners and contractors, often bogged down by outdated tools or a complete lack of software. While modern solutions exist, the industry remains scattered, with many companies relying on inefficient systems—or skipping […]

The post Beams raises $9M in Series A funding to simplify home renovations for UK homeowners and contractors first appeared on Tech Startups.

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. The second week of the year is usually a busy one for startup news, and 2025 is no exception. From CES product launches to M&As and funding […]

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The European Commission (EC) has given the greenlight for Synopsys to acquire Ansys, though the companies must sell-off various software products as part of the proposed remedies. Chip design software maker Synopsys revealed last January its plans to acquire Ansys, a simulation software developer that helps engineers model and analyze the physical behavior of products, such as chips, […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Businesses dependent on the physical supply chain — the network of facilities and transportation systems used to move materials from one location to another — chain face a number of challenges, from staff shortages to increasing customer expectations. The pressures aren’t easing up. According to a survey from Prologis, a real estate investment trust, two-thirds […]

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When Elon Musk launched his own AI startup, xAI, he touted a key advantage over his competitors: access to the vast trove of data from his newly acquired social media platform Twitter. By implementing new API fees on the network he quickly renamed X, Musk locked out other AI companies, maintaining exclusive access for his own models. And he began using X’s millions of users to test the results.

Musk has been using this distribution channel since xAI launched its first version of the Grok large language model, adding features like trending story summaries and AI-generated questions on posts as well as releasing the Grok chatbot (initially) to X users exclusively. Now, a slew of new AI features is coming. Per the findings of reverse engineer Nima Owji, the platform appears to be developing AI-powered post enhancements, including a feature that lets Grok modify your tweets. The chatbot also appears to be adding location-based queries, letting users ask about things nearby, like grocery stores.

xAI’s takeover of the platform once known as Twitter is so unmistakable that even its branding has crept into X’s most visible real estate, with “xAI Grok” now commanding prominent placement...

Read the full story at The Verge.

Fortnite Festival, the game’s Rock Band-like music mode where you play along with real songs, is getting local multiplayer for up to four people on PlayStation and Xbox on January 14th.

Currently, you can only play Fortnite Festival multiplayer online, but with this change, you’ll be able to get your former Rock Band back together and jam out on the same TV screen — well, with a major asterisk. Fortnite Festival currently only supports certain Rock Band guitar controllers, so if you’re on vocals or drums, you’ll be relegated to playing on a controller.

Epic Games didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment about when drum kit or microphone support might be added to Fortnite Festival.

The new local multiplayer mode is being added as part of season 7 of Fortnite Festival. The featured artist for the season is rumored to be virtual pop star Hatsune Miku — and Epic Games is has already dropped a hint that she might be joining Fortnite soon.

How you ever wondered how some of President-elect Donald Trump's appointees and nominees make money? We're starting to find out.

Just like House members, senators, and congressional candidates, Trump's nominees are required to file personal financial disclosures before they assume office or are confirmed by the US Senate.

Those disclosure reports, along with their ethics agreements, include details of each person's assets, sources and amounts of recent income, and other details of their personal finances.

The documents are likely to reveal information like Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth's salary at Fox News, Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi's compensation for lobbying, and the sprawling assets of the billionaires working for the administration.

As of Friday, January 10, only one of these disclosures has been made public. This story will be updated as more become available.

Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget

Russell Vought is Trump's nominee to be the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, a role he served during the second half of Trump's first administration.

His financial disclosure shows that he brought in more than $542,000 in both salary and bonuses from the Center for Renewing America, a pro-Trump think tank, and its affiliated advocacy group, Citizens for Renewing America. Vought serves as the president for both organizations.

He's made thousands in extra income on the side, including $15,000 from the Republican National Committee for helping to prepare the policy platform for the party's convention.

He also received a $4,000 honorarium from Hillsdale College on September 19, the date that he appeared on a panel during the conservative institute's Constitution Day celebration in McLean, Virginia.

His assets include various mutual and index funds, along with between $1,000 and $15,000 in Bitcoin, which generated more than $1,000 in income last year. As part of his ethics agreement, Vought agreed to sell off that Bitcoin within 90 days of his confirmation.

• Delta reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped analyst expectations on Friday.
• Revenue from premium seats was a major bright spot for the airline.
• Shares soared more than 9% in trading following the announcement.

People are clamoring for premium air travel, and Delta Air Lines is cashing in on that demand.

The airline reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue on Friday, both of which beat Wall Street estimates. Massive growth in premium seat sales helped send shares up more than 9% in trading Friday.

Revenue from Delta's premium cabins, which include Delta One, Domestic First Class, and Delta Premium Select, increased 8% to over $5.2 billion in the quarter, versus a 2% growth in its main cabin.

Despite taking up a small fraction of an aircraft's cabin, premium seats generated $20.5 billion in revenue during 2024, just $4 billion shy of the amount brought in by economy.

For 2024, Delta reported $61.6 billion in total revenue, up 6% over 2023.

Delta President Glen Hauenstein said baby boomers have played a big role in driving that premium demand.

"Being a boomer myself, I'm proud of us driving our premium results," Hauenstein said during the company's earnings call on Friday. He expects younger generations to account for more premium demand as the older generation of consumers ages out.

"The newer generation is wealthier, and we have a bigger share of that generation. So excited not only for today as the boomers are driving it but excited for tomorrow as we pass it on to the next generations," Hauenstein said.

In recent years, Delta has introduced updated premium cabins and opened new and expanded Delta SkyClub lounges. The airline also recently opened its first DeltaOne business-class lounge in New York.

Americans are clamoring to go to Europe

Demand for international travel gave Delta a boost during the final quarter of 2024.

Transatlantic revenue increased by 6% despite a 2% capacity cut. Revenue from transpacific flights increased by 19%, but that required an outsize 24% capacity increase.

It looks like the strong demand for transatlantic travel will continue into 2025. Hauenstein said Americans' continued desire to travel to Europe during the early months of this year is due to the strong US dollar and will not compromise demand for flights this summer.

"You go to a restaurant in New York and then go to a restaurant in Europe, you'll see a vast difference in the bill," he said. "This is a great time to travel to Europe. People are seeing that."

Delta expects first-quarter 2025 revenue to be 7 to 9% higher than the same period in 2024.

Delta's lucrative credit card partnerships continued their hot streak.

The airline earned $2 billion in the quarter by selling frequent flyer miles to American Express to be offered as rewards card holders. That's up 14% from the same period in 2023.

• Meta is dropping many of its DEI initiatives, BI confirmed.
• The company sent a memo announcing the changes on Friday.
• Meta's VP of human resources said the legal and policy landscape in the US was changing.

Meta is rolling back its DEI programs, Business Insider has learned.

The company's vice president of human resources, Janelle Gale, announced the move on its internal communication platform, Workplace, on Friday, which was seen by BI.

"We will no longer have a team focused on DEI," Gale wrote in the memo.

"The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing," she wrote. "The Supreme Court of the United States has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI."

She added the term DEI has "become charged" partly because it is "understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others."

Meta is the latest company to back away from DEI in the wake of a backlash, legal challenges, and the reelection of Donald Trump as US president.

Read the full memo:

Hi all,

I wanted to share some changes we're making to our hiring, development and procurement practices. Before getting into the details, there is some important background to lay out:

The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing. The Supreme Court of the United States has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI. It reaffirms longstanding principles that discrimination should not be tolerated or promoted on the basis of inherent characteristics. The term "DEI" has also become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others.

At Meta, we have a principle of serving everyone. This can be achieved through cognitively diverse teams, with differences in knowledge, skills, political views, backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. Such teams are better at innovating, solving complex problems and identifying new opportunities which ultimately helps us deliver on our ambition to build products that serve everyone. On top of that, we've always believed that no-one should be given - or deprived- of opportunities because of protected characteristics, and that has not changed.

Given the shifting legal and policy landscape, we're making the following changes:

• On hiring, we will continue to source candidates from different backgrounds, but we will stop using the Diverse Slate Approach. This practice has always been subject to public debate and is currently being challenged. We believe there are other ways to build an industry-leading workforce and leverage teams made up of world-class people from all types of backgrounds to build products that work for everyone.
• We previously ended representation goals for women and ethnic minorities. Having goals can create the impression that decisions are being made based on race or gender. While this has never been our practice, we want to eliminate any impression of it.
• We are sunsetting our supplier diversity efforts within our broader supplier strategy. This effort focused on sourcing from diverse-owned businesses; going forward, we will focus our efforts on supporting small and medium sized businesses that power much of our economy. Opportunities will continue to be available to all qualified suppliers, including those who were part of the supplier diversity program.
• Instead of equity and inclusion training programs, we will build programs that focus on how to apply fair and consistent practices that mitigate bias for all, no matter your background.
• We will no longer have a team focused on DEI. Maxine Williams is taking on a new role at Meta, focused on accessibility and engagement.

What remains the same are the principles we've used to guide our People practices:

1. We serve everyone. We are committed to making our products accessible, beneficial and universally impactful for everyone.
2. We build the best teams with the most talented people. This means sourcing people from a range of candidate pools, but never making hiring decisions based on protected characteristics (e.g. race, gender etc.). We will always evaluate people as individuals.
3. We drive consistency in employment practices to ensure fairness and objectivity for all. We do not provide preferential treatment, extra opportunities or unjustified credit to anyone based on protected characteristics nor will we devalue impact based on these characteristics.
4. We build connection and community. We support our employee communities, people who use our products, and those in the communities where we operate. Our employee community groups (MRGs) continue to be open to all.

Meta has the privilege to serve billions of people every day. It's important to us that our products are accessible to all, and are useful in promoting economic growth and opportunity around the world. We continue to be focused on serving everyone, and building a multi-talented, industry-leading workforce from all walks of life.

Do you work at Meta? Contact the reporters from a non-work email and device at [email protected]; [email protected]; and [email protected].

The Galaxy 25 has a refined design compared to last year’s model, with the Galaxy S25 Ultra looking a bit cleaner. New high-quality official-looking renders have surfaced, showing off every detail.

When it comes to smart home lighting, you have two main options: smart lightbulbs or smart outlet adapters paired with traditional lamps. Both have their place, but for me, smart bulbs offer more flexibility and control. Unlike outlet adapters, which toggle power on and off, smart bulbs give you control over brightness, color, and even dynamic scenes. If you want to take the next step in building your smart home in 2025, a set of Matter-compatible lightbulbs might be the perfect place to start. This week, I am looking at the .

A new Apple Store is opening at Miami Worldcenter this month, and Apple has shared wallpaper downloads to celebrate the occasion. Here are the details.

After the significant releases of iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2, Apple’s latest developer beta release – iOS 18.3 beta 2 – is shaping up to be significantly less eventful in terms of user-facing features and changes. However, there are things under the hood that may hint to what to expect from future iOS software and hardware. In this first episode of iOS Decoded, we take a deeper dive into iOS 18.3. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for future installments.