By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON, Associated Press

Rapper Nicki Minaj on Sunday made a surprise appearance at a gathering of conservatives in Arizona that was memorializing late activist Charlie Kirk, and used her time on stage to praise President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, calling them “role models” for young men.

The rap star was interviewed at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest convention by Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, about her newly found support for Trump — someone she had condemned in the past — and about her actions denouncing violence against Christians in Nigeria.

Erika Kirk, left, and Nicki Minaj speak during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2025, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

The Grammy-nominated rapper’s recent alignment with the Make America Great Again movement has caught some interest because of her past criticism of Trump even when the artist’s own political ideology had been difficult to pin down. But her appearance Sunday at the flagship event for the powerful conservative youth organization may shore up her status as a MAGA acolyte.

Minaj mocked California Gov. Gavin Newsom, referring to him as New-scum, a nickname Trump gave him. Newsom, a Democrat, has 2028 prospects. Minaj expressed admiration for the Republican president and Vance, who received an endorsement from Erika Kirk despite the fact he has not said whether he will run for president. Kirk took over as leader of Turning Point.

“This administration is full of people with heart and soul, and they make me proud of them. Our vice president, he makes me … well, I love both of them,” Minaj said. “Both of them have a very uncanny ability to be someone that you relate to.”

Erika Kirk, left, and Nicki Minaj stand on stage during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2025, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Minaj’s appearance included an awkward moment when, in an attempt to praise Vance’s political skills, she described him as an “assassin.”

She paused, seemingly regretting her word choice, and after Kirk appeared to wipe a tear from one of her eyes, the artist put her hand over her mouth while the crowd murmured.

“If the internet wants to clip it, who cares? I love this woman,” said Erika Kirk, who became a widow when Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September.

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Last month, the rapper shared a message posted by Trump on his Truth Social network about potential actions to sanction Nigeria saying the government is failing to rein in the persecution of Christians in the West African country. Experts and residents say the violence that has long plagued Nigeria isn’t so simply explained.

“Reading this made me feel a deep sense of gratitude. We live in a country where we can freely worship God,” Minaj shared on X. She was then invited to speak at a panel at the U.S. mission to the United Nations along with U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz and faith leaders.

Minaj said she was tired of being “pushed around,” and she said that speaking your mind with different ideas is controversial because “people are no longer using their minds.” Kirk thanked Minaj for being “courageous,” despite the backlash she is receiving from the entertainment industry for expressing support for Trump.

“I didn’t notice,” Minaj said. “We don’t even think about them.” Kirk then said “we don’t have time to. We’re too busy building, right?”

“We’re the cool kids,” Minaj said.

The Trinidadian-born rapper is best known for her hits “Super Freaky Girl,” “Anaconda” and “Starships.” She has been nominated for 12 Grammy Awards over the course of her career.

In 2018, Minaj was one of several celebrities condemning Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy that split more than 5,000 children from their families at the Mexico border. Back then, she shared her own story of arriving to the country at 5 years old, describing herself as an “illegal immigrant.”

“This is so scary to me. Please stop this. Can you try to imagine the terror & panic these kids feel right now?” she posted then on Instagram.

On Sunday on stage with Erika Kirk, Minaj said, “it’s OK to change your mind.”

PHOENIX — Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck uses bowl games as a bridge.

“It’s a celebration of the (2025) season. … The seniors and everything they’ve given to this program and really start building toward 2026,” Fleck said last week. “Every bowl game we’ve ever been associated with, that is the approach we’ve taken: to be 1-0 (in the bowl) and to continue to prepare.”

After the team arrived in Arizona on Sunday, Fleck shared with the Pioneer Press a handful of young, unsung players who have stood out during practices for Friday’s Rate Bowl against New Mexico.

These types of players are showcased the first week after the regular-season finale. The Gophers routinely give veterans much-needed rest and turn over the keys to underclassmen until prep for the Lobos hits full swing.

Looking ahead, Fleck’s top-of-mind position is linebacker. It’s a group he mentioned at points during the season, too.

“I think Ethan Stendel has done a tremendous job on defense; I know he’s young,” Fleck said. “Mason Carrier had a great bowl prep. Nate Cleveland. I love the future at linebacker in our program.”

Stendel is a true freshman from Caledonia; Cleveland is a true freshman from Hoffman Estates, Ill.; and Carrier is a redshirt freshman from Detroit Lakes. The trio played primarily on special teams: Carrier (12 games), Stendel (10) and Cleveland (seven).

The Gophers have had five receivers express plans to enter the transfer portal in January, and a sixth, senior Le’Meke Brockington, is a candidate to opt out of the bowl game. He had team highs in receptions (46) and yards (439) along with four touchdowns.

“I thought Bradley Martino had a really good bowl prep,” Fleck said. “We were a little bit limited on the receiving corps, so it was good for Bradley to dip into that piece a little bit.”

Martino didn’t play in a game this fall, but he stands 6-foot-3 and is a four-star prospect from Naples, Fla., who competed in the Navy All-American Bowl.

Gophers offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh said two young offensive lineman — redshirt freshman Brett Carroll and true freshman Kaveon Lee — were playing with the first unit during a bowl practices. Then they were called out during a meeting with the entire offense.

“So, we have their play up there (on the screen) where, ‘OK they do something really well in the play before, and then, OK, we’re critiquing them and coaching them on the next play,” Harbaugh said. “I think that’s beneficial in this time of the year.”

Fleck also mentioned D.J. Shipp, a true freshman from Eastvale, Calif. Shipp didn’t play in a game, neither did Lee, but Carroll, a well-regarded center prospect, played in two.

Going in to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl last year, Fleck boosted offensive tackle Nathan Roy, who played in the win against Virginia Tech and used that as a springboard to start all 12 games at left tackle last season.

Next season, the Gophers’ defensive line will lose senior tackles Deven Eastern and Jalen Logan-Redding and need young players to step up. The list of potentials includes Riley Sunram, a 6-5, 300-pound redshirt freshman from Kindred, N.D., and Jaylin Hicks, a 6-3, 260-pound redshirt freshman from Harlem, N.Y. Sunram and Hicks each got got a taste in eight games.

“Some of the young lineman who have actually played — D-lineman — have stepped up in a big way,” Fleck said.

Fleck also mentioned safety Zach Harden, a 6-1 true freshman from Eatonton, Ga., who saw the field in 10 games last season.

“He did a really good job,” Fleck said.

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By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, Associated Press Business Writer

Paramount is sweetening its hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with an “irrevocable personal guarantee” from Larry Ellison, who is putting up billions of dollars to back the deal for his son’s company.

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On Monday, Skydance-owned Paramount announced that Larry Ellison — the founder of Oracle and father of Paramount CEO David Ellison — had personally agreed to be responsible for $40.4 billion of equity financing for the company’s offer, as well as any damage claims.

Paramount had previously said that the Ellison family trust would be backing more than $40 billion of its bid for Warner. But Warner’s board was critical of that decision last week, arguing that Paramount had “consistently misled” shareholders about the Ellison family’s backing because a “revocable trust is no replacement for a secured commitment.”

Paramount took a swipe at that assertion on Monday — maintaining that Larry Ellison holds the majority of the trust’s assets and that Warner had not previously asked for a personal guarantee. But nevertheless, the company said, it “elected to address WBD’s current stated concerns.”

Beyond doubling down on Ellison’s backing, Paramount also said it would increased its payout if the deal is blocked by regulators. The company is now upping the breakup fee to $5.8 billion — matching what Netflix has already put on the table for its proposed transaction.

The value of Paramount’s $30 per share offer otherwise remains unchanged. But the company is extending the window for shareholders to “tender” their shares, with a deadline now set for Jan. 21.

“Paramount has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to acquiring WBD,” Paramount CEO David Ellison said in a statement, adding that his company’s offer continues to be “the superior option to maximize value for WBD shareholders.”

Paramount’s all-cash bid for all of Warner’s properties — including networks like CNN and Discovery — is valued at $77.9 billion, not including debt. But Warner’s board has urged shareholders to back the cash-and-stock deal it struck with Netflix earlier this month, which would sell its studio and streaming business for $72 billion.

The Associated Press reached out to media contacts for Warner and Netflix for further comments on Monday. In a letter to shareholders last week, Warner’s board maintained that the terms of the Netflix merger were superior, while “the PSKY offer is illusory.”

Shares of Paramount-Skydance jumped nearly 7% in Monday morning trading. Warner Bros. Discovery stock was up more than 2%, while Netflix slipped almost 0.7%.

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The Senate’s top Democrat urged his colleagues Monday to take legal action over the Justice Department’s incremental and heavily redacted release of records pertaining to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a resolution that, if passed, would direct the Senate to file or join lawsuits aimed at forcing the Justice Department to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted last month that required disclosure of records by last Friday.

“Instead of transparency, the Trump administration released a tiny fraction of the files and blacked out massive portions of what little they provided,” Schumer, D-N.Y. said in a statement. “This is a blatant cover-up.”

In lieu of Republican support, Schumer’s resolution is largely symbolic. The senate is off until Jan. 5, more than two weeks after the deadline. Even then, it’ll likely face an uphill battle for passage. But it allows Democrats to continue a pressure campaign for disclosure that Republicans had hoped to put behind them.

The Justice Department said it plans to release records on a rolling basis by the end of the year. It blamed the delay on the time-consuming process of obscuring victims’ names and other identifying information. So far, the department hasn’t given any notice when new records arrive.

That approach angered some accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the transparency act. Records that were released, including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs, court records and other documents, were either already public or heavily blacked out, and many lacked necessary context.

There were few revelations in the tens of thousands of pages of records that have been released so far. Some of the most eagerly awaited records, such as FBI victim interviews and internal memos shedding light on charging decisions, weren’t there.

Nor were there any mentions of some powerful figures who’ve been in Epstein’s orbit, like Britain’s former Prince Andrew.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday defended the Justice Department’s decision to release just a fraction of the files by the deadline as necessary to protect survivors of sexual abuse by the disgraced financier.

Blanche pledged that the Trump administration would meet its obligation required by law. But he stressed that the department was obligated to act with caution as it goes about making public thousands of documents that can include sensitive information.

Blanche, the Justice Department’s second-in-command, also defended its decision to remove several files related to the case from its public webpage, including a photograph showing Trump, less than a day after they were posted.

The missing files, which were available Friday but no longer accessible by Saturday, included images of paintings depicting nude women, and one showed a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photograph of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Blanche said the documents were removed because they also showed victims of Epstein. Blanche said the Trump photo and the other documents will be reposted once redactions are made to protect survivors.

“We are not redacting information around President Trump, around any other individual involved with Mr. Epstein, and that narrative, which is not based on fact at all, is completely false,” Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Blanche said Trump, a Republican, has labeled the Epstein matter “a hoax” because “there’s this narrative out there that the Department of Justice is hiding and protecting information about him, which is completely false.”

“The Epstein files existed for years and years and years and you did not hear a peep out of a single Democrat for the past four years and yet … lo and behold, all of a sudden, out of the blue, Senator Schumer suddenly cares about the Epstein files,” Blanche said. “That’s the hoax.”

Associated Press reporter Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.