Politics

HONOLULU (AP) — As with many voters on Maui, Joshua Kamalo thought the race for president wasn’t the only big contest on the November ballot. He also was focused on a hotly contested seat for the local governing board.

He made sure to return his ballot in the virtually all vote-by-mail state early, doing so two weeks before Election Day. A week later, he received a letter telling him the county couldn’t verify his signature on the return envelope, jeopardizing his vote.

And he wasn’t the only one. Two other people at the biodiesel company where he works also had their ballots rejected, as did his daughter. In each case, the county said their signatures didn’t match the ones on file.

“I don’t know how they fix that, but I don’t think it’s right,” said Kamalo, a truck driver who persevered through traffic congestion and limited parking options to get to the county office so he could sign an affidavit affirming that the signature was indeed his.

He said he probably wouldn’t have bothered to fix it if the South Maui county council race wasn’t so close. The co-founder of his employer, Pacific Biodiesel, was the candidate who ended up on the losing side.

Kamalo’s experience is part of a broader problem as mail voting rises in popularity and more states opt to send ballots to all voters. Matching signatures on returned mail ballot envelopes to the official ones recorded at local voting offices can be a tedious process, sometimes done by humans and sometimes through automation, and can lead to dozens, hundreds or even thousands of ballots being rejected.

If the voter can’t correct it in time, the ballot won’t count.

“There’s been a big push toward mail voting over the last few years, and I think the tradeoffs aren’t always clear to voters,” said Larry Norden, an elections and government expert at the Brennan Center for Justice.

He said it’s important for states and local governments to have procedures that ensure large numbers of eligible mail ballot voters aren’t being disenfranchised.

The use of mail ballots exploded in 2020 as states looked for ways to accommodate voters during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight states and the District of Columbia now have universal mail voting, in which all active registered voters are mailed a ballot unless they opt out.

At least 30 states require election officials to notify voters if there is a problem with their mail ballot and give them a chance to fix — or “cure” — it. Some have complained that the timeframe allowed to do that is too short.

Nevada, a key presidential battleground, is among the states that mails a ballot to all registered voters. In November, county election offices rejected about 9,000 mail ballots primarily because of signature problems.

That didn’t affect the outcome of the state’s presidential race, which Donald Trump won by 46,000 votes, but it could have changed the outcome in some down ballot races. Some state legislative seats in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and had more than half of the rejected mail ballots, were decided by just several hundred votes. The North Las Vegas City Council race, also in Clark County, was decided by just nine votes.

“We’ve had signature curing problems since we adopted universal mail-in voting during the pandemic in 2020, and it seems to be getting worse,” said Sondra Cosgrove, history professor at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas and executive director of Vote Nevada, a civic organization. “This is something that’s a crisis level that needs to get fixed.”

The potential for signature match problems to affect closes races has led some voting rights groups in the the state to call for an overhaul of the verification process.

“We have to find the best option going forward for people that is more accessible, that gets their votes and ballots counted on time, because it’s crazy when you think about the difference-maker being eight or nine votes,” said Christian Solomon, the state director of Rise Nevada, a youth-led civic engagement group.

Nevada voters already took one step toward a potential fix in November when they approved — by 73% — a constitutional amendment that will require voters to present identification to vote. When voting with a mailed ballot, a driver’s license or Social Security number will be required in addition to the signature. Voters will need to approve the amendment a second time in two years for it to take effect.

Dave Gibbs, president of the Repair the Vote PAC, which wrote the amendment, said he was inspired by a a law passed in 2021 in another presidential swing state, Georgia.

That state ended its signature check process and instead now requires voters to submit their driver’s license number or state identification card number when returning a mailed ballot, said Mike Hassinger, spokesman for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. Most voting there is done early but in-person.

Critics say such ID requirements would be too burdensome for states, like Hawaii, where mailed ballots account for the vast majority of voting.

On Maui, the number of rejected mail ballots prompted a lawsuit challenging the results of the local county council election, where the winning margin was just 97 votes.

The lawsuit alleges that hundreds of ballots weren’t counted because the county clerk wrongly claimed they arrived in envelopes with signatures that didn’t match the one on file. Attorney Lance Collins said his clients wanted a new election in the race between Tom Cook and his client, Kelly King.

Six voters submitted declarations saying they were told their ballot envelope signature was deficient when, in their view, there was nothing wrong with it.

Collins said under the state’s administrative rules, a returned ballot envelope is presumed to be that of the voter and should be counted unless there is evidence to suggest it’s not the voter’s. He also said the county’s rejection rate was significantly higher than the national average.

Maui County’s attorneys responded in a court filing that its signature verification process followed the law. On Dec. 24, the state Supreme Court unanimously agreed and declared Cook the winner. The justices said the clerk provided voters with reasonable notice and opportunity to correct the deficiency on their ballot envelopes.

Even so, many voters on Maui have shared similar stories about being informed their signatures didn’t match. Resident Grace Min, who was not part of the lawsuit, was among those who received one of the letters.

“I just find it highly unusual that my (ballot) signature would not have matched my signature,” she said.

She had been paying particular attention to the county government race that she knew would be close, so it was important for her to make sure her vote was counted. She emailed an affidavit confirming the ballot was hers, but also had questions about the verification process and was concerned the time allowed for curing ballots was so short.

“I just have to imagine there had to have been people who didn’t fix their signature,” Min said, “and that doesn’t seem very fair.”

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s latest Democratic governor was sworn into office on Wednesday, as Josh Stein succeeded Roy Cooper in a top elected position for the second time in eight years.

During a small ceremony inside the old Senate chamber of the 1840 Capitol building, Stein took the oath from Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby. His wife, Anna, family and friends and state officials watched, including Cooper.

“Today I stand before you humbled by this responsibility, grateful for this opportunity and ready to get to work for you, the people of North Carolina,” Stein said in a speech.

By defeating GOP Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in November by almost 15 percentage points, Stein continued a run of Democrats leading the executive branch in the nation’s ninth-largest state, even as Republicans have recently dominated the General Assembly and appellate courts. Democrats have won eight of the last nine gubernatorial elections since 1992.

Stein had been attorney general for the past eight years, following Cooper in the elected law-enforcement post.

Cooper was barred by the state constitution from seeking a third consecutive gubernatorial term.

Cooper, who delivered opening remarks, said to his successor: “Governor, this will be the best job you have ever had.”

Stein’s powers have already been challenged by Republican lawmakers, who last month overrode a Cooper veto of a wide-ranging measure that erodes the governor’s authority to manage elections, fill appellate court vacancies and pick his own Highway Patrol commander. Cooper and Stein sued recently to block the Highway Patrol and state election board changes.

Stein made no direct references to the legal battles Wednesday. He praised Cooper’s leadership and urged bipartisanship and the rejection of “the politics of division, fear and hate that keep us from finding common ground” to succeed in priorities that he highlighted.

“The time is now to build a safer, stronger North Carolina, where our economy continues to grow and works for more people, where our public schools are excellent and our teachers are well paid, where our neighborhoods are safe and our personal freedoms are protected,” Stein said.

He also said the state must “act with urgency” to help western North Carolina recover from the historic flooding caused by Hurricane Helene in September, particularly with housing, small businesses and infrastructure. Congress last month approved legislation that will bring at least $9 billion more in storm aid to North Carolina.

Stein planned Thursday to announce in Asheville executive orders to support Helene recovery efforts.

Stein, 58, grew up in Charlotte and Chapel Hill, the son of a noted civil rights lawyer. He graduated from Harvard Law School and gained notice as the campaign manager for John Edwards when he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998. He also served as a Raleigh-area senator before being elected attorney general for the first time in 2016.

Stein, who is the state’s first Jewish governor, placed his hand for the oath Wednesday on an 1891 edition of the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible provided by a woman whose ancestors settled in Charlotte and later in Statesville in the 1850s, according to Stein’s office.

Stein and Cooper then participated in the formal transfer of an historic embossing device that creates the state seal — a symbol of the governor’s authority.

Wednesday’s ceremony of close to 100 people was livestreamed. A larger, outdoor inauguration for Stein and other elected members of the Council of State is set for Jan. 11.

Since the state constitution says their terms begin Jan. 1, many council members took formal oaths Wednesday including new Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt, State Auditor Dave Boliek and Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green.

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By Nathan Layne

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) – Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said she had a great meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at his Florida resort and voiced optimism that they would find common ground despite their past clashes.

Bowser met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home for about 45 minutes on Monday, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said on Tuesday. The meeting was arranged at Bowser’s request, the spokesperson said.

The three-term Democratic mayor has had an adversarial relationship with Trump, a Republican who on the campaign trail threatened a federal takeover of Washington, a city he depicted as ineffectively managed and riddled with crime. 

Bowser said in a statement late on Monday that the two discussed their shared priorities for Trump’s second term, which begins with his inauguration in Washington on Jan. 20.

“President Trump and I both want Washington, DC to be the best, most beautiful city in the world and we want the capital city to reflect the strength of our nation,” Bowser said.

“We discussed areas for collaboration between local and federal government, especially around our federal workforce, underutilized federal buildings, parks and green spaces, and infrastructure,” she said.

Trump did not comment on the meeting, and a spokesperson for his transition team did not provide details. 

Bowser and Trump met in 2016 prior to his first inauguration, but their relationship was strained at times during his first term, flaring up in 2020 during Black Lives Matter protests that followed the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white Minnesota police officer who knelt on his neck.

At the height of the protests, Bowser declared a small but symbolic patch of land opposite the White House “Black Lives Matter Plaza” and encouraged peaceful demonstrations while denouncing violence and looting.

When in May 2020 Trump threatened protesters who came near the White House with “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons,” Bowser shot back with a comment calling Trump a “scared man” and accusing him of trying to divide the country.

During his 2024 campaign, Trump often derided Washington as poorly managed, taking aim at Bowser’s leadership. In a January 2024 speech in Las Vegas, he vowed to have the federal government grab control of Washington and “clean it up” so that it was “no longer a nightmare of murder and crime.”

While many U.S. cities saw a downturn in violent crime in 2023, Washington recorded 274 homicides, the highest level in more than two decades. Violent crime in the district has dropped sharply in 2024, however, with Metropolitan Police Department data showing there have been 190 homicides this year.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in West Palm Beach, Florida; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Howard Goller)

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania court on Tuesday ruled 6-1 that the secretary of state has the authority to direct counties not to allow “unauthorized third party access” to voting machines or risk having those machines decertified and unable to be deployed for elections.

The Commonwealth Court said the Department of State does not have to reimburse counties when they decertify machines, a defeat for Fulton County in a dispute that arose after two Republican county commissioners permitted Wake Technology Services Inc. to examine and obtain data from Dominion voting machines in 2021.

That led the state elections agency to issue a directive against such third-party access based on concerns it could compromise security. Fulton’s machines were decertified as a result of the Wake TSI examination and the secretary of state was sued by the county as well as Republican county commissioners Randy Bunch and Stuart Ulsh.

Fulton had argued it had broad authority over the voting machines, while the secretary of state said that “would mean that every county board of elections can do whatever it wants” with electronic voting systems under their authority to inspect elections, “an absurd and unreasonable result,” wrote Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer for the majority.

She said a 1937 state election law gave county election boards broad power, but state lawmakers amended it “to give the secretary an important role in ensuring statewide consistency and safety” regarding electronic voting systems. The state and local power balance over elections and voting equipment, the majority said, helps “protect and provide for free and fair and secure elections.”

“There is no conflict between those provisions, and it is entirely possible — indeed necessary — for county boards of elections to fulfill their powers and duties while heeding the secretary’s report and directives,” Jubelirer wrote for the majority.

The Department of State issued a statement saying it was pleased with the decision and that the adminstration of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro “is committed to ensuring the free and secure administration of elections, and today’s decision recognizes that the secretary is empowered to keep voting systems secure from unauthorized third-parties seeking to undermine confidence in Pennsylvania’s elections.”

The Fulton County board, through chief clerk Stacey Shives, declined comment about the decision. Messages seeking comment were left Tuesday for Fulton County’s lawyers, Tom Carroll and Jim Stein.

The officials in Fulton, a 15,000 population county in rural central Pennsylvania, brought in Wake TSI and allowed another outside inspection as part of an effort to find the sort of election fraud that then-President Donald Trump falsely claimed existed after his 2020 reelection loss. Fulton heavily supported Trump in all three of his presidential campaigns. Ulsh is no longer an elected county commissioner.

Fulton replaced the voting machines, which were impounded by the court during the dispute over allowing others to access them.

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PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s planning to attend the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter.

Asked about it as he walked into a New Year’s Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trump responded, “I’ll be there.” Pressed on whether he’d spoken to members of Carter’s family, Trump said he’d rather not say.

Funeral services honoring Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, will be held in Georgia and Washington, beginning Jan. 4 and concluding Jan. 9.

Trump was a frequent and fierce critic of Carter on the campaign trail ahead of November’s election, using the rising inflation rates of the 1970s to unfavorably compare President Joe Biden to Carter and his administration.

But the president-elect was gracious about the former president in posts on his social media site after Carter’s death Sunday, writing that the nation “owed him a debt of gratitude.”

“While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our Country, and all it stands for,” Trump wrote of Carter. “He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect.”

Wearing a tuxedo as he entered the festivities, Trump took a few minutes of questions from reporters on various topics. He was asked about the possibility of a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, but said only, “We’re going to see what happens.”

The president-elect added of hostages seized more than a year ago by Hamas, “I’ll put it this way: They better let the hostages come back soon.”

Trump also said he thought 2025 would be a “great year” and “we’re going to do fantastically well as a country.”

“There’s a whole light over the whole world, not just our country. They’re a lot of happy people,” Trump said of recent weeks.

Asked about his resolutions for the new year, Trump said, “I just want everybody to be happy, healthy and well.”

Trump later took the stage to briefly address the crowd ringing in the new year at Mar-a-Lago and promised “to do a great job as your president.”

Biden, for his part, spent New Year’s Eve celebrating the wedding of his niece Missy Owens in Greenville, Delaware. Biden and first lady Jill Biden cut short their traditional holiday trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands to attend the ceremony.

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DOVER, Del. (AP) — Sarah McBride made history in Delaware as the first openly transgender state senator in the United States. Now she’s making history again, recently elected as the first openly trans member of Congress.

Her political promotion has come during a reckoning for transgender rights when legislation in Republican-governed states around the country aims to curb their advance. During an election where a deluge of campaign ads and politicians demeaned trans people, McBride still easily won her blue state’s only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

But even before she is sworn in, her reception from congressional Republicans has been tumultuous. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina targeted her by proposing to ban transgender people from U.S. Capitol restrooms that correspond to their gender identity — a ban that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., enacted.

McBride tried to defuse the situation, saying she would follow the rules. “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms,” the 34-year-old wrote in a statement.

Here are other takeaways from AP’s reporting about McBride:

Growing up in Wilmington, Delaware, McBride was the type of child who practiced Democratic political speeches in her bedroom at a makeshift podium. By high school, she had worked on multiple campaigns, including that of Beau Biden, the president’s late son and former Delaware attorney general.

Though she seemed destined to work in politics, McBride once felt revealing her gender identity would derail those ambitions. She was 21 and the president of American University’s student government when she came out as transgender, first to her friends and family and later in a public post that went viral.

Says McBride, “Coming out was without question the hardest thing that I had ever done up until that point. And yet it was still relatively easy compared to the experiences of so many people.”

Her parents have been her biggest supporters, but they worried for her. One of their first calls after McBride came out was to their pastor, the Rev. Gregory Knox Jones of Westminster Presbyterian, a progressive church where Sarah was a youth elder and Jill Biden is a member.

“We talked about the fact that this was your child. You love your child,” Jones recalled. “You can’t think of losing a son. You’ve gained a daughter.”

David McBride, Sarah’s father, said that kind of support has made all the difference for their family. “Our life and Sarah’s life have been made by the response that we and she got first from our friends, our church, our community.”

McBride would go on to forge a trail through a rapid series of firsts. During college, she became the first openly transgender woman to intern at the White House. At a reception there, she met and later fell in love with a young lawyer, Andrew Cray, a trans man and LGBTQ+ health policy advocate.

As an activist at 22, McBride was instrumental in helping pass a transgender nondiscrimination law in Delaware. She worked as the spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBTQ-rights group. In 2016, she became the first openly trans person to speak at the Democratic National Convention.

As a state legislator, McBride was known for her hard work. She rarely stops to eat on busy days, instead subsisting on a steady diet of coffee, heavy on the cream and sweetener.

Nowhere is her boundless energy more evident than when she talks about the minutiae of policymaking. She likes kitchen table issues: health care, paid family leave, childcare and affordable housing. In the state Senate, she chaired the health committee and helped expand access to Medicaid and dental care for underserved communities. Most of her bills got bipartisan support.

Her signature accomplishment was helping pass paid family and medical leave in Delaware. It was personal for McBride.

Her partner, Cray, was 27 when he was diagnosed with oral cancer. Within a year, the prognosis was terminal. They moved up their wedding plans, asking the Rev. Gene Robinson, a friend and the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, to officiate.

They married on the rooftop of their apartment building in August 2014. Cray died four days later at the hospital.

In her 2018 memoir, McBride wrote a chapter titled “Amazing grace,” about “beautiful acts of kindness” she witnessed during the last weeks of Cray’s life.

“A lot of times when people go through loss, it can be either faith-crushing or faith-affirming. And for me, it was faith-affirming,” she said.

In the decade since, she often asks herself, “What would Andy do?” And she seeks to follow his example of compassion and “principled grace” toward anti-LGBTQ politicians. “His kindness, his decency has provided for me a North Star.”

Some activists criticized McBride for not fighting back more forcefully against the Capitol bathroom ban. She agrees it’s important for trans people to access public facilities, but says she will respond with grace.

“At the end of the day, our ability to have a pluralistic, diverse democracy requires some foundation of kindness and grace,” McBride said. “And I believe in that so strongly that even when it’s difficult, I will seek to summon it.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for this content.

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PHOENIX (AP) — An appeals court has rejected an Arizona official’s argument that felony charges against him for delaying certification of his rural county’s 2022 election results should be dismissed because he has legislative immunity.

In an order Tuesday, the Arizona Court of Appeals concluded Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby’s duty to certify the election results wasn’t discretionary. The court also said certifying election results is an administrative responsibility and that legislative immunity doesn’t apply to Crosby’s situation.

Crosby and Cochise County Supervisor Peggy Judd, both Republicans, were criminally charged after they balked at certifying the results. Two months ago, Judd pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to perform her duty as an election officer and was sentenced to probation.

Crosby has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and interference with an election officer. His trial is scheduled for Jan. 30.

Dennis Wilenchik, one of Crosby’s lawyers, said his client will ask the state Supreme Court to review the matter. Wilenchik said moving the certification’s date by a few days wasn’t a criminal act and that Crosby should be immunized.

“If it’s just a rubber stamp then why is it (certification) needed at all?” Wilenchik said.

The Cochise County results were ultimately certified past the deadline after a judge ordered Judd and Crosby to carry out their legal duties. Judd and Supervisor Ann English, the board’s lone Democrat, finally approved the canvass, allowing the statewide certification to go forward as scheduled.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on entities in Iran and Russia, accusing them of attempting to interfere in the 2024 U.S. election.

The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement the entities – a subsidiary of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and an organization affiliated with Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU) – aimed to “stoke socio-political tensions and influence the U.S. electorate during the 2024 U.S. election”.

“The Governments of Iran and Russia have targeted our election processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns,” Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley Smith, said in the statement.

“The United States will remain vigilant against adversaries who would undermine our democracy.”

Russia’s embassy in Washington said in a statement to Reuters: “Russia has not and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, including the United States.”

“As President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed, we respect the will of the American people. All insinuations about ‘Russian machinations’ are malicious slander, invented for use in the internal political struggles in the United States,” the spokesperson added.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republican Donald Trump was elected president in November, beating Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and capping a remarkable comeback four years after he was voted out of the White House.

The Treasury said the Cognitive Design Production Center planned influence operations since at least 2023 designed to incite tensions among the electorate on behalf of the IRGC.

The Treasury accused the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE) of circulating disinformation about candidates in the election as well as directing and subsidizing the creation of deepfakes.

The Treasury said CGE also manipulated a video to produce “baseless accusations concerning a 2024 vice presidential candidate.” It did not specify which candidate was targeted.

The Moscow-based center, at the direction of the GRU, used generative AI tools to create disinformation distributed across a network of websites that were designed to look like legitimate news outlets, the Treasury said.

It accused the GRU of providing financial support to CGE and a network of U.S.-based facilitators in order to build and maintain its AI-support server and maintain a network of at least 100 websites used in its disinformation operations.

CGE’s director was also hit with sanctions in Tuesday’s action.

An annual U.S. threat assessment released in October said the United States sees a growing threat of Russia, Iran and China attempting to influence the elections, including by using artificial intelligence to disseminate fake or divisive information.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Katharine Jackson; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Chizu Nomiyama, Angus MacSwan and Alistair Bell)

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PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The cars begin lining up early in the morning to be screened by Secret Service agents under white tents near the fence that surrounds President-elect Donald Trump’s vast south Florida estate.

Famous figures such as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Tesla and X owner Elon Musk pop up at breakfasts, luncheons and other social gatherings held daily at the opulent Mar-a-Lago club.

Over the weekend, Mike Love, one of the original members of the Beach Boys, performed the band’s greatest hits under an outdoor tent there as Trump, trailed by Secret Service agents, wandered through the crowd, swinging his fists to the music, according to videos posted online. At other parts of the evening, he stood next to his wife, Melania, near the pool, bobbing his head to the music.

The resort is the “Center of the Universe,” Trump declared on social media Friday, adding, “Bill Gates asked to come, tonight.” Representatives for Trump and Gates didn’t clarify if the Microsoft co-founder did indeed join the parade of figures making the trip to Mar-a-Lago.

But the president-elect’s post reflects the way his resort, where he’s largely been holed up since the election, has become a salon and celebration for his movement. For the people he’s selected for his administration — and those who seek to get jobs or curry favor with the incoming president — it’s the place to be.

Sightings of those turning up there, usually in photos posted online or in the occasional public event, offer a glimpse into the workings of Trump’s incoming White House and how he is setting priorities for office.

The winter holidays have been another occasion for Trump’s celebrations and for big names to come visit.

A representative for Zuckerberg confirmed he joined Trump for a dinner the night before Thanksgiving. A Christmas Eve video showed Trump in one of the resort’s ballrooms full of guests, dancing to one of his favorite songs, the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.,” while his daughter Ivanka sat in a gilded chair nearby.

It’s not clear what Trump planned for New Year’s Eve — he has traditionally held a bash at the resort — but in his social media post on Friday, he boasted, “New Year’s Eve is going to be AMAZING!!!”

During dinners with friends and family, Trump uses the Spotify account on his tablet to play many of the same tunes that were ubiquitous at his campaign rallies. One night, his guest of honor was Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Another night, the honor went to Akie Abe, the widow of slain Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. And, yes, that was Argentine President Javier Milei doing Trump’s “Y.M.C.A.” dance between the tables at a gala dinner.

During the day, Trump often golfs at his nearby course with friends, relatives and allies, like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Overall, the vibe is a mix of south Florida’s monied social scene overlaid with the power dynamics of an executive job fair.

“He’s surrounded by a lot of old friends,” Graham said. “I just know that everybody I know wants some job.”

Musk has been a constant presence at the club, so much so that Trump’s granddaughter, Kai, wrote on X that he was “achieving uncle status.” Trump has tasked Musk and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy with leading the Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental task force formed to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations.

Kevin Roberts, president of the think tank behind Project 2025, spoke at a December event with investors at the club. One of the guests at the small function was health care executive Dr. Peter Lamelas, later tapped by Trump to be U.S. ambassador to Argentina.

Sometimes Trump relaxes for dinner alongside club members and guests under the yellow and white awnings in the courtyard. Other times, he will address large groups for black-tie events in the ballrooms. At a recent gala for a nonprofit led by Lt. Gen Michael Flynn, the song ″God Bless the U.S.A.,” a favorite of Trump’s, cued the president-elect’s entrance.

“We’re off to a really good start,” Trump told people gathered for the event. He then inquired about the whereabouts of Tom Homan, whom he has tapped to be border czar, and joked that Homan was from “central casting.”

“Just relax, Tom. I want you to relax and get ready for the big push,” Trump said.

Trump shared with the party guests that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, whom he threatened with a 25% tariff on all imported goods unless she does more to tackle illegal border crossings and drug flows, “has made progress.”

At another recent event at Mar-a-Lago, this one hosted by the America First Policy Institute, the ballroom was full of recognizable Trump-world figures such as Kellyanne Conway, who served as counselor to the president, and Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and founder of Turning Point Action. A copy of the president-elect’s latest book was sitting on the chairs for guests as they arrived in gowns and tuxedos.

As he entered the ballroom, Musk was swarmed by guests, including Kash Patel, whom Trump would later select to lead the FBI, before the tech billionaire took his seat at the center table of the ballroom. Musk was later joined there by Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance.

“It’s the place to be and the place to be seen,” said Damian Merlo, a political strategist who advises the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele. Merlo was at that event as well as another event hosted by the Conservative Political Action Committee.

At a news conference Trump held recently at Mar-a-Lago, the president-elect noted the changed mood compared with his first term, saying, “Everybody wants to be my friend.”

Besides Zuckerberg, Trump has hosted other Silicon Valley executives, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

“The top executives, the top bankers, they’re all calling,” Trump said. “It’s like a complete opposite.”

Actor Russell Brand traveled this month to the club to speak at an event, where he sat with actor Mel Gibson, former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson and others. Later in the evening, he stood by a palm tree on the lawn, listening to a bagpiper in a kilt.

Brand later posted a video to X about his experience.

“Pretty amazing,” he said. “Is this real life, or am I in a dream?”

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Here’s a list of events, as provided by the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region. All times are Eastern Standard.

The state funeral begins with the arrival of the Carter family at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Georgia, at 10:15 a.m. Current and former Secret Service agents will carry Carter’s remains to the hearse and walk alongside the hearse as the motorcade departs from the medical center.

The motorcade then travels through Carter’s hometown of Plains, Georgia, for a brief pause in front of his family’s farm at 10:50 a.m. During the pause, the National Park Service will ring the historic farm bell 39 times.

The motorcade to Atlanta resumes at 10:55 a.m. It will stop at Georgia’s State Capitol for a moment of silence at 3 p.m. Carter’s remains will then be transported to the Carter Presidential Center for an arrival ceremony at 3:45 p.m. and service at 4 p.m. Following the service, he will lie in repose for mourners to pay their respects beginning at 7 p.m.

Carter continues to lie in repose.

Carter departs the Carter Presidential Center at 9:30 a.m. The late president and his family then travel to Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia, at 10 a.m., where they will board Special Air Mission 39 to travel to Washington at 10:40 a.m.

Special Air Mission 39 arrives at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, at 12:45 p.m., where Carter’s remains will be transferred with ceremony to the hearse. Carter and his family will then travel by motorcade at 1:15 p.m. to the U.S. Navy Memorial, where his remains will be transferred from the hearse to a horse-drawn caisson for a funeral procession to the U.S. Capitol at 2 p.m.

Upon arrival at the U.S. Capitol, Carter will be carried by military body bearers into the Rotunda, where members of Congress will pay their respects during a service at 3 p.m.

Carter will then lie in state while the military maintains a guard of honor. The public is invited to pay their respects from 7 p.m. to midnight.

Carter continues to lie in state.

Carter departs the U.S. Capitol at 9 a.m. The motorcade then travels to Washington National Cathedral for a brief arrival ceremony at 9:30 a.m., followed by the National Funeral Service at 10 a.m.

Upon conclusion of the service, Carter and his family will travel by motorcade at 11:15 a.m. to Joint Base Andrews, where they board Special Air Mission 39 at 11:45 a.m.

Special Air Mission 39 arrives at Lawson Army Airfield on Fort Moore, Georgia, at 2 p.m., where Carter’s remains will be transferred with ceremony to the hearse. Carter and his family then travel by motorcade to Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, arriving at 3:30 p.m., followed by a private funeral service at 3:45 p.m.

After the funeral service, the late president and his family travel by motorcade at 4:45 p.m. to the Carter residence for a private interment at 5:20 p.m. The public is invited to line the motorcade route through Plains to Carter’s final resting place. Prior to interment, the U.S. Navy will conduct a missing man formation flyover in honor of Carter’s naval service and time as commander-in-chief shortly after the motorcade’s arrival at the residence.

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