Highlights from Dec. 11, 2025
- INDIANA REDISTRICTING VOTE: Indiana state senators rejected a Republican-drawn congressional map that would have eradicated the state’s two Democratic-held districts. President Donald Trump had championed the legislation and threatened to support challengers to any Republican who voted against it.
- LETITIA JAMES: A federal grand jury in Virginia did not indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to a federal law enforcement source and another person familiar with the matter. It was the Justice Department's third try to indict James following pressure from Trump.
- HEALTH CARE VOTES: The Senate failed to pass two partisan health care bills ahead of a key Dec. 31 deadline to avoid steep insurance premium increases for millions of people.
- OIL TANKER SEIZED: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. plans to seize oil aboard the tanker that was seized off Venezuela this week. The seizure is the latest escalation as the U.S. has built up a military presence in the region.
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Republican-led House votes to overturn Trump executive order on bargaining rights
The House today approved a measure to reinstate collective bargaining rights to federal workers, a step toward restoring labor union protections for nearly 1 million federal employees.
The rare bipartisan vote, 231-195, marks the first time the House has voted to nullify an executive order from Trump this term.
Twenty Republicans voted with Democrats in supporting the bill, which was introduced by Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, a Democrat, and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a Republican. The bill now heads to the Senate.
“This is solidarity in action. I’m proud of the bipartisan coalition who passed this bill,” Golden wrote on X.
Trump says Republicans and Democrats 'can work on health care together'
In a rare moment of bipartisanship appreciation, Trump said tonight at the Congressional Ball that Republicans and Democrats can work together on health care.
"I really believe we can work on health care together and come up with something that's going to be much better, much less expensive for the people, less expensive for our nation," Trump said. "But really, most importantly, better and less expensive for the people."
Earlier in the day, the Senate rejected health care bills even though premiums are set to increase in January.
Trump went on to say that "sometimes we don’t work together, but we come up with great ideas together, and that is true."
"So tonight, we’re going to set aside all political differences. We’re not going to criticize each other. We’re going to love each other. And we’re going to come together, not as Democrats and Republicans, but as fellow Americans, to give thanks for this nation, which is so great indeed," he said.
Trump says he's pardoning election-denying former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters
Trump said on social media tonight that he is pardoning Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk who promoted false claims about the 2020 election and was convicted on state charges in connection with a security breach of Mesa County’s voting system.
"Democrats have been relentless in their targeting of TINA PETERS, a Patriot who simply wanted to make sure that our Elections were Fair and Honest," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
"Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the 'crime' of demanding Honest Elections. Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!" he added.
The pardon is largely symbolic, since Peters was convicted of state crimes, which are not shielded by presidential pardon power.
Peters was convicted last year of four felony and three misdemeanor charges in connection with the breach. She was sentenced to nine years in prison.
The Associated Press reported Monday that a federal judge turned down Peters' request to leave prison while she appeals her conviction.
In a statement tonight, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said, “The idea that a president could pardon someone tried and convicted in state court has no precedent in American law, would be an outrageous departure from what our constitution requires, and will not hold up.”
Trump last month offered similarly symbolic pardons to his former attorney Rudy Giuliani and 76 other people who have been tied to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, including attorneys Sidney Powell, John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro, as well as his former chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Trump says 'we'll see' about attending Europe meeting on Russia-Ukraine war this week
Trump declined to say definitively this evening whether he will travel to Europe this weekend for a meeting to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war.
"Well, there's a meeting on Saturday. We'll see whether or not we attend the meeting," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
"They want me to attend. They want us to attend. And we'll be attending the meeting on Saturday in Europe if we think there's a good chance, and we don't want to waste a lot of time. We think it's negative. We, you know, we, we want it to get settled," he added.
During a roundtable with business leaders yesterday, Trump said he could be headed to the meeting, but he similarly said a final decision had not been made and "we don’t want to be wasting time."
Trump signs executive order seeking to ban states from regulating AI companies
Trump signed an executive order this evening that seeks to limit states' ability to regulate artificial intelligence and prevent the enforcement of existing state laws.
AI companies “want to be in the United States, and they want to do it here, and we have big investment coming. But if they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you could forget it,” Trump said at a signing ceremony in the Oval Office, flanked by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other key White House officials.
The order comes on the heels of a failed push to enact similar policy in Congress in late November, which followed a similar unsuccessful attempt in July. House Republicans recently tried to include a provision in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act asserting that only the federal government could legislate AI; the effort faced backlash, and the language was eventually removed.
W.Va. governor gives 'hopeful news' on shot National Guardsman
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey offered some "hopeful news" today about Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, the National Guard member who was shot in the head during a deadly attack last month near the White House.
Morrisey said Melody Wolfe, the guardsman’s mother, told him that her son is “smiling and he’s moving more of his right side, even sitting in a chair for a few hours.”
“It’s been reported that his communication’s improving, although not verbally, which is an important sign for his progress,” Morrissey said. “I know that Andy’s parents are optimistic, but we want to note that there’s an intense rehabilitation period ahead.”
He said Wolfe's parents had asked him to "please ask for more prayers. And that’s what we’re going to do again today. They’re working, and I think Mom and Dad are grateful for the support that so many West Virginians have shown during this difficult time."
Wolfe was shot and Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed in a targeted shooting the day before Thanksgiving. An Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, has been charged and has pleaded not guilty.
House speaker calls Indiana Senate vote 'disappointing'
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called the Indiana Senate's vote against a new Republican-drawn congressional map "disappointing" but said he remains optimistic about his party's chances to boost its majority in next year's midterms.
"As I’ve said all along, whatever the maps are presented by every state, I have to win those, and we will," Johnson told reporters.
"I’m very, very bullish about the midterms. I know that we are going to win and grow this majority because they have a great record to run on. We have better candidates, better message, and we have a lot to show the people, so we’ll continue our momentum," he added.
Federal Reserve reappoints all regional bank presidents after Trump officials float changes to the process
The board of the Federal Reserve System said today that it had reappointed all regional Fed bank presidents, just days after the Trump administration began suggesting that it wanted to make major changes to the reappointment process.
Regional bank presidents in the Fed’s 12 districts across the country wield nearly as much influence over interest rates as the seven permanent, Senate-confirmed Fed governors do.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Dec. 3 that he planned to propose a new rule related to appointing regional Fed presidents.
Senators ask AI companies to commit to safety disclosures, citing teen suicides
A bipartisan group of senators is calling on leaders in the artificial intelligence industry to commit to publicly disclose more information about how the industry thinks about risk, including possible harms to children.
The group, led by Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Katie Britt, R-Ala., sent letters today to eight tech companies that are working on leading-edge AI models. The senators wrote that companies have been inconsistent in their transparency practices, including how much information they publicly disclose and when.
“In the past few years, reports have emerged about chatbots that have engaged in suicidal fantasies with children, drafted suicide notes, and provided specific instructions on self-harm,” the senators wrote.
“These incidents have exposed how companies can fail to adequately evaluate models for possible use cases and inadequately disclose known risks associated with chatbot use,” they wrote.
The letters are a sign of the stepped-up scrutiny AI is getting in Congress, especially in the wake of teen suicides that families have blamed partly on AI chatbots. Two senators introduced legislation in October to ban companies from offering AI chatbots to minors entirely, and there was bipartisan backlash last month after the industry sought federal help to pre-empt state efforts to regulate AI.
Indiana Senate rejects GOP-drawn congressional map in a major rebuke of Trump
The Indiana Senate voted against a new Republican-drawn congressional map today, rejecting a bid led by Trump to boost the party in next year’s midterm elections.
The vote was a rare and stunning instance of elected Republicans rebuking Trump, who had pressured Indiana lawmakers for months to pass new district lines. The GOP leaders of the state Senate had long resisted joining the unusual mid-decade redistricting battle playing out across the country, saying there wasn’t enough support in the chamber for a new map that was designed to dismantle the state’s two Democratic-controlled districts.
They ultimately agreed to hold a vote to settle the issue, as Trump and national Republicans pledged to back primary challengers to those who opposed the map and as a growing number of Indiana lawmakers faced violent threats and harassment.
But even after the state House approved the new map last week, it failed in the Senate by a vote of 31-19.
