Highlights from Dec. 4, 2025
- NO INDICTMENT: A grand jury today declined to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News. James is a frequent political target of President Donald Trump and previously brought a fraud lawsuit against him. The move comes less than two weeks after her first case was dismissed.
- SUPREME COURT DECISION: The Supreme Court today allowed Texas to use a redrawn congressional district map in next year's midterm elections. The new map could add up to five more Republican House seats.
- PIPE BOMB SUSPECT ARRESTED: The FBI has arrested a suspect in the investigation into pipe bombs planted near the Republican and Democratic national party headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021, a federal law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said.
- PEACE DEAL SIGNING: Trump delivered remarks at the signing of a peace and minerals agreement with the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The signing took place at the newly renamed U.S. Institute of Peace, which the State Department said yesterday it has renamed for Trump, amid the president’s lobbying for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end various conflicts around the world.
White House brings in new architect for Trump’s sprawling $300 million ballroom
The White House has brought in a new architect to work on Trump’s “vision” for his massive $300 million ballroom project, officials said today.
Shalom Baranes, head of Shalom Baranes Associates, has “joined the team of experts to carry out President Trump’s vision on building what will be the greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office — the White House Ballroom,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement.
Trump touts achievements, offers respects to National Guard members who were shot
Trump struck an optimistic tone tonight at the National Christmas Tree Lighting, highlighting his administration's immigration crackdown and economic policies.
"On this holiday season, our border is secure. Our spirit is restored. Most secure border we've ever had in the history of our country," Trump said.
"Our economy is thriving. Inflation has stopped. Our nation is strong, and America is back, bigger and better, stronger, better than ever before," he added.
Trump also offered his respect to the two National Guard members who were shot last week while they were patrolling in Washington, saying "I want to pay my highest respect to those two great guardsmen, you know who I'm talking about, they paid, in one case, the ultimate and the other, Andrew, is getting better. Sarah, unfortunately, is watching from high, watching from heaven."
Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, were shot in the head in what officials have described as a "targeted" attack near the White House last week.
Beckstrom died from her wounds, while Wolfe remains hospitalized.
Vance says antisemitism isn’t ‘exploding’ on the right
Vice President JD Vance, reflecting today on his first year in office, said he disagrees with fellow Republicans who have warned of a rise in antisemitism in their party.
“Judging anybody based on their skin color or immutable characteristics, I think, is fundamentally anti-American and anti-Christian,” Vance said in an interview with NBC News. “I do think it’s important to call this stuff out when I see it. I also, when I talk to young conservatives, I don’t see some simmering antisemitism that’s exploding.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has positioned himself as a potential Vance rival in the 2028 presidential race, raising his profile in part by condemning what he sees as an escalation of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment. Cruz has singled out young conservatives who pressed Vance with questions about Israel at a recent political event, and he criticized Tucker Carlson, a Vance ally who hosted a Holocaust denier on his podcast.
“Do I think that the Republican Party is substantially more antisemitic than it was 10 or 15 years ago? Absolutely not,” Vance said. “In any bunch of apples, you have bad people. But my attitude on this is we should be firm in saying antisemitism and racism is wrong. ... I think it’s kind of slanderous to say that the Republican Party, the conservative movement, is extremely antisemitic.”
Vance offered the comments — his first on the subject since Cruz began raising it — in an interview in his West Wing office, wading into an issue that has roiled his party in recent weeks amid a broader focus on antisemitism by the Trump administration.
U.S. Southern Command says it conducted a new ‘lethal kinetic strike’ on alleged drug boat
U.S. Southern Command said today that the Defense Department carried out another “lethal kinetic strike” at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s direction on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that killed four men.
“On Dec. 4, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization,” U.S. Southern Command wrote on X.
The Pentagon has repeatedly said targeted vessels are traveling along known drug routes and carrying narcotics when the United States conducts its strikes. U.S. Southern Command offered a similar explanation today, saying intelligence “confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and transiting along a known narco-trafficking route.”
Biden commerce secretary to join Costco board as company sues over Trump’s tariffs
Costco Wholesale said today that it has nominated Gina Raimondo, who was commerce secretary in the Biden administration, to its board of directors.
Raimondo led the Commerce Department, which plays a major role in overseeing U.S. trade policy, for the entirety of Joe Biden’s term as president. From 2015 to 2021, she was the Democratic governor of Rhode Island.
Costco filed a lawsuit last week seeking a refund of tariffs it has paid this year under Trump’s country-specific tariff program. It also asked a trade court to prohibit the Trump administration from collecting any more of the customs duties.
Supreme Court allows Texas to use new congressional district map drawn to favor Republicans
The Supreme Court today allowed Texas to use a new congressional district map in next year’s midterm elections that was drawn to maximize Republican political power.
Granting an emergency application filed by Gov. Greg Abbott, the conservative majority paused a lower court ruling that said the map was unlawful because Republican lawmakers, at the direction of the Trump administration, explicitly considered race when they drew new districts.
The unsigned order said Texas is “likely to succeed on the merits of its claim,” including that the lower court “failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith” in assessing the Legislature’s motives.
The ruling appeared to be 6-3, with the three liberal justices dissenting.
New H-1B visa vetting takes aim at foreign workers with ties to regulating online content
The State Department is adding a new level of screening for highly skilled foreign workers looking to come to the U.S., telling consular officers in a new internal memo to be on the lookout for H-1B visa applicants complicit in the censorship of Americans.
The Trump administration has repeatedly raised concerns about what it sees as restrictions of freedom of speech, taking specific aim at Europe and the Digital Service Act, which regulates illegal content, hate speech and disinformation posted online.
“All aliens are subject to this policy, but you should consider its application H-1B nonimmigrants in particular,” reads the cable, dated Tuesday, “as many work in or have worked in the tech sector, including in social media or financial services companies involved in the suppression of protected expression.”
Reuters first reported the memo. The State Department did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The directive, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and sent to all U.S. embassies and overseas posts, instructs the screening officers to “thoroughly explore” employment histories “to ensure no participation such activities” by reviewing résumés, LinkedIn profiles or other professionally oriented sites.
The memo highlights key activities that could fall under the policy, including “combatting ‘misinformation,’” “disinformation” and “malinformation”; combating “infodemics” and “false narratives”; “pre-buttal”; “fact-checking”; content moderation; compliance; “online safety”; and “trust and safety.”’
“If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States, you should pursue a finding that the applicant is ineligible,” the cable says.
Grand jury declines to indict N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James, less than two weeks after the first case was dismissed
The Justice Department today failed to secure an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News.
The case was presented to the grand jury less than two weeks after the original criminal case against her was dismissed.
James, a frequent political target of Trump who had successfully brought a fraud lawsuit against him, had previously been indicted by a grand jury on one charge of bank fraud and another making false statements to a financial institution.
James has denied any wrongdoing.
D.C. Circuit pauses order blocking deployment of National Guard on streets of Washington
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has paused an order blocking the Trump administration from deploying members of the National Guard on the streets of the nation’s capital while the appeals process proceeds.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb's order never went into effect, because she had paused her ruling until Dec. 11 to allow the administration to appeal.
The Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on the Illinois National Guard emergency docket case, which may have an impact on this case.
House Democrats say they 'saw or heard nothing' to justify second September strike on alleged drug boat survivors
Following the meeting with Adm. Bradley on Capitol Hill, the top Democrats on the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees said in a statement that “we saw or heard nothing today to convince us that the decision to strike the vessel a second time was justified.”
"The video we saw today showed two shipwrecked individuals who had no means to move, much less pose an immediate threat, and yet they were killed by the United States military. Regardless of what one believes about the legal underpinnings of these operations, and we have been clear we believe they are highly questionable, this was wrong," Reps. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Jim Himes, D-Conn., said in the statement.
