U.S. seizes oil tanker near Venezuela; Federal Reserve cuts interest rates again
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Trump said at a White House event this afternoon that the U.S. had seized an oil tanker off Venezuela.
What to know today
- FED DECISION: The Federal Reserve reduced interest rates by a quarter-point in its third cut this year. President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not lowering them sooner.
- OIL TANKER SEIZED: The U.S. military seized an oil tanker off Venezuela, Trump told reporters this afternoon at a White House event; he said this week that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s “days are numbered.”
- EPSTEIN FILES: A federal judge in New York granted the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury records in Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case.
Trump puts renewed pressure on Indiana state senators to approve new GOP-drawn map
Trump continued to rail against Indiana Senate Republican leader Rod Bray and other state GOP lawmakers in a social media post tonight that threatened primary challenges against state senators who oppose redistricting efforts to boost the party's prospects in next year's midterms.
"Bray and his friends are the favorite Republicans of Hakeem Jeffries, Crazy Nancy Pelosi, and Cryin’ Chuck Schumer. Anybody that votes against Redistricting, and the SUCCESS of the Republican Party in D.C., will be, I am sure, met with a MAGA Primary in the Spring," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
"If Republicans will not do what is necessary to save our Country, they will eventually lose everything to the Democrats. Rod Bray and his friends won’t be in Politics for long, and I will do everything within my power to make sure that they will not hurt the Republican Party, and our Country, again," he added.
Bray did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump's primary threats come two days after a panel of state lawmakers advanced a Republican-drawn congressional map for a vote by the state Senate.
Trump for weeks has sought to raise primary challenges as a threat to state lawmakers who oppose redistricting after Bray said last month that the chamber lacked the support needed to pursue redistricting efforts.
Bray is up for re-election in 2028.
Advocacy group sues to have Trump's image removed from national park passes
The environmental advocacy nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity wants Trump’s image removed from the 2026 national park passes, and it's suing to try to make that happen.
The lawsuit says the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) requires the secretaries of interior and agriculture to hold an annual photography contest, and the winning person’s photo appears on the annual pass for the year.
“The official rules governing the contest require that 'the photo must be taken on federal public lands or waters' and any submissions that are 'are highly controversial, inappropriate, indecent or obscene' are disqualified. The rules allow disqualification of images that have been 'noticeably and/or excessively altered,'" attorneys for the Center for Biological Diversity wrote.
But on Nov. 25, they said, the Interior Department announced that the Annual America the Beautiful Pass would bear an image of Trump instead of the winner of this year’s contest: an image of Glacier National Park.
“The Interior Department’s bait-and-switch betrays the expectations of the thousands of people who participate in the contest and is directly at odds with the public participation mandates of the statute. It also undermines the stability of this well-established program and the conservation, recreational, and educational outcomes FLREA provides,” they wrote.
The group is asking a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to declare the Trump administration in violation of the FLREA and to prevent the administration from displaying an image of Trump on the passes.
Trump says CNN should be sold as part of any Warner Bros. deal
Trump said today he thinks it’s “imperative” that CNN is sold as its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, gears up for a proposed merger with Netflix and faces a hostile takeover bid from Paramount.
“I think CNN should be sold, because I think the people that are running CNN right now are either corrupt or incompetent,” Trump told reporters during a roundtable with business executives at the White House.
“I don’t think they should be entrusted with running CNN any longer. So I think any deal should — it should be guaranteed and certain that CNN is part of it or sold separately,” he added. “I think CNN should be sold along with everything else.”
GOP congressman says he doesn’t like it when Trump 'kisses Russia's a--'
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., tore into Trump’s recent comments about Europe and Russia and called on him to change course.
“I don’t like when he trashes Europe and kisses Russia’s a--. Don’t like it,” he told a small group of reporters today just off the House floor.
Bacon, who represents a swing district and is not seeking re-election next year, said Trump’s strategy is “terrible” and “there’s probably been no worse national security strategy written since the ’30s.”
In a wide-ranging interview with Politico published yesterday, Trump said Russia had a stronger negotiating position than Ukraine in talks to end the war that began nearly four years ago. He also called European leaders “weak” and said their countries are “decaying.”
House passes annual defense policy bill, sending it to the Senate
The House tonight passed the National Defense Authorization Act on a bipartisan 312-112 vote.
The legislation includes a provision that would restrict Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget for fiscal year 2026 until he provides the video of military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.
The measure now heads to the Senate.
‘We need to come up with something’: House Republicans struggle to agree on a health care plan
House Republicans vow to vote on a health care plan next week before the leave for the holidays. They just can’t agree on what should be in it.
Insurance premiums are set to skyrocket for millions of people in the new year if Congress fails to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire on Dec. 31.
Bowing to conservatives, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and his leadership team are moving forward with a proposal that wouldn’t extend those subsidies but would instead offer people some funds to defray health care costs.
Meanwhile, Republicans facing tough races in next year’s midterms say any health care package moving forward must be bipartisan and extend the subsidies.
Trump announces launch of 'gold card' for visa applications
At a roundtable event with business executives this afternoon, Trump said his administration is now accepting applications for a new "gold card" immigrant visa that's similar to a green card.
"We just launched the Trump gold card," he told reporters at the White House.
"People just buying them, somewhat like a green card, but with big advantages over a green card," he added. "This is much better than a green card."
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the cost of the gold cards are $1 million for a person and $2 million for a corporation.
‘I love an underdog’: Trump-Zohran Mamdani voters are at the center of an unexpected relationship
Adalberto Rodriguez wasn’t someone who paid much attention to politics — until Trump faced a criminal trial in New York City last year.
Rodriguez, 30, who lives in Brooklyn, felt he saw similarities between his own legal troubles and what he believed was “political lawfare” Trump dealt with in his city. Soon, he was all-in on Trump, attending rallies in the Bronx and Philadelphia and at Madison Square Garden. He proudly voted for Trump in 2024.
This year, Rodriguez became enthralled with another New York City political figure on the rise: Zohran Mamdani, now the mayor-elect.
“I pray for these two guys specifically,” Rodriguez said in an interview. “And that’s pretty much the first time in my life I’ve ever had such a level of excitement towards any politician. It’s funny, because a lot of people think that I’m joking or trolling or trying to stir the pot. I get that all the time. I know it’s going to sound silly, but it actually is the opposite.”
Trump says he will speak with Thailand and Cambodia as border fighting threatens ceasefire
Trump said this afternoon that he would have phone calls tomorrow with Thailand and Cambodia as fighting along the border between the two Southeast Asian countries threatens to unravel a ceasefire he pushed for.
“I think I can get them to stop fighting,” he told reporters at a White House event. “I think I’m scheduled to speak to them tomorrow.”
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the latest fighting, which began Sunday. Both countries have blamed the other for the renewed clashes, which have killed 10 people in Cambodia, including an infant and eight Thai soldiers.
It is some of the worst fighting since July, when Thailand and Cambodia engaged in five days of combat stemming from longstanding territorial disputes. The fighting stopped when Trump threatened to halt trade talks with both countries, and they signed a ceasefire in Malaysia in October in a ceremony that Trump presided over.
Trump warns that Colombia's president will have 'big problems if he doesn't wise up'
Trump said today that he hasn't considered talking to Colombian President Gustavo Petro about fighting narcotraffickers while warning that Petro "will be next."
"He’s been fairly hostile to the United States," Trump said. "He’s going to have himself some big problems if he doesn’t wise up."
Trump went on to say Petro “better wise up” to avoid military action.
"Colombia is producing a lot of drugs. They have cocaine factories that they make cocaine, as you know, and they sell it right into the United States," he said. "So he better wise up, or he’ll be next. He’ll be next, too, and I hope he’s listening. He’s going to be next."
Trump also said this week that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s “days are numbered.”
Trump says he might be going to a meeting next weekend to discuss Ukraine
Trump said during a roundtable with business leaders this afternoon that he could be headed to a meeting this weekend to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war.
"They would like us to go to a meeting over the weekend in Europe," Trump said.
"We’ll make a determination depending on what they come back with. We don’t want to be, we don’t want to be wasting time. Sometimes you have to let people fight it out, and sometimes you don’t," he added.
Trump this week urged Ukraine to hold elections during its war with Russia, which began in February 2022. Ukraine hasn't held presidential elections since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected in 2019.
Trump reacts to Fed rate cut and weighs in on GDP growth
Trump reacted to the Federal Reserve's cutting interest rates today in remarks at a business roundtable at the White House.
"In the old days, when you announced really good results in this country, the stock market went up, and that's the way it should be. And we're going back to that, because otherwise you can never really attain true greatness," Trump said.
He said that instead of 3% or 4% GDP growth, it should be 20% or 25%. "I don't know why it can't be," he said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that the U.S. is expected to end 2025 with 3% GDP growth.
Trump said today: "The market should go up, and we should keep driving it up and have it keep going up. ... Growth doesn't mean inflation."
He then called Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell "a stiff."
U.S. seizes oil tanker off Venezuela, Trump says
The U.S. military has seized an oil tanker off Venezuela, Trump told reporters this afternoon as his administration continues to escalate its military presence in the region.
“As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” Trump said. “Large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually.”
Trump did not provide details about the matter but said it was an “interesting day.” He also hinted that more may unfold, as “other things are happening.”
Trump told Politico in an interview published yesterday that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s “days are numbered.” He also declined to comment on whether the U.S. could send troops to the country in the interview.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett calls Fed rate cut 'a small step' in the right direction
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett today called the Federal Reserve's decision to cut rates by a quarter of a point "a step in the right direction, but a small step."
"The fact is that they’ve been way behind getting the rates down," he said.
Hassett also spoke about Trump's short list for a new Fed chair nominee, saying Trump will make a decision “in the next week or two.”
Hassett added that there are “excellent candidates” and that he is honored to be on the list.
Pennsylvania Republicans' likely nominee for governor didn't appear onstage at Trump's rally
Curiously absent on the stage at Trump’s affordability rally in Pennsylvania was state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the favorite to be the party’s gubernatorial nominee in a faceoff with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro next year.
Though state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the party’s 2022 nominee for governor, has continued to flirt with a run himself, state Republicans have rallied around Garrity in hope of providing her a smooth path to the nomination, with which they eagerly await the chance to give Shapiro a run for his money.
Yet in what was essentially Trump’s first rally of the 2026 midterm elections, the woman likely to be the party’s standard-bearer in Pennsylvania was not among the state officials who spoke onstage, though she did attend the rally.
What’s more, Trump said onstage that he believed Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., would have won the governor's race had he decided to get in. Meuser opted against a run this year.
“Dan Meuser has been a great congressman,” Trump said. “He was thinking about running for governor. I think you would have won if you ran, but, you know, in a selfish way, I like you in Washington even better.”
Garrity’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about why she was not onstage.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party sought to capitalize on her absence in a release titled “STACY SNUBBED,” saying the rally had “no mention of Stacy Garrity — despite her years of fully embracing Trump and his policies that are killing jobs, hurting local businesses, and stripping away health care.”
A divided Fed cuts interest rates again as economic concerns persist
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut its influential interest rate for the third time this year as it tries to balance rising inflation with a labor market that appears to have weakened in recent months.
The move could provide a boost to the U.S. economy, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell has recently warned that there is no risk-free path for the central bank to take.
The cut of a quarter point — a cautious move by the Fed — could make it cheaper for average Americans who hold a mortgage, have credit card debt or need to take out or refinance a personal loan. It would also help businesses borrow at lower rates.
The rate cut had been anticipated by investors, but some doubt remained after a few members of the Fed’s committee expressed concerns that lower interest rates could push consumer prices higher.
The Fed’s “target range” is now set at its lowest level since late 2022.
Trump revives slur while discussing immigrants from Somalia and other ‘disgusting’ nations
President Donald Trump on Tuesday denigrated immigrants from “shithole countries,” reviving a comment he used during his first term in office that sparked criticism.
During a rally in Pennsylvania on affordability, Trump touted his administration’s decision to pause immigration from dozens of countries, including Somalia.
“I’ve also announced a permanent pause on third world migration, including from hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries,” he said. Then, reflecting on his 2018 meeting with senators during which he referred to certain nations as “shithole countries,” Trump said, “Remember I said that to the senators?”
He said, “Our country was going to hell. And we had a meeting, and I say, ‘Why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right?’ Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few? Let us have a few from Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Do you mind?’”
Trump pointed specifically to Somali immigrants, questioning why the U.S. has so many immigrants from the African nations and so few from European nations.
Misconduct complaint filed against judge who attended Trump political event
A judicial misconduct complaint has been filed against 3rd Circuit Judge Emil Bove for attending Trump’s remarks on the economy on Tuesday night in Pennsylvania.
Gabe Roth, executive director of the nonprofit judicial accountability group Fix the Court, filed the complaint, writing, “There is no prohibition, of course, against a federal judge attending an event at which a President is speaking. But last night’s event in Pennsylvania — prominent conservative voices are calling it a 'rally,' so that’s what I will call it here — was a far cry from the State of the Union or a state dinner for its abject partisanship."
"It should have been obvious to Judge Bove, either at the start of the rally or fairly close to it, that this was a highly charged, highly political event that no federal judge should have been within shouting distance of," the complaint continues.
Roth lists several examples of the partisan nature of the event, including Trump’s remarks about the “radical left,” the 2020 election, calling former President Joe Biden a “son of a bitch” and Democrats "bad" and "sick" people, and his calls to deport a Democratic member of Congress.
“The Code of Conduct for U.S. Judge is fairly clear here,” Roth writes. “Canon 2 states that a judge 'should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities.' Attending a Trump event — and not leaving when it became clear that the speech was, in fact, a partisan rally — violates this canon.”
“In the coming days, if it hasn’t happened already, there will be questions from reasonable and unbiased observers as to whether Judge Bove’s attendance imperils his impartiality when assigned cases in which Trump is on either side of the 'v.,'" Roth writes.
Third Circuit Chief Judge Michael A. Chagares, to whom this complaint was directed, administers the misconduct complaint process for the circuit and has the authority to investigate any allegation or complaint brought forward. Consequences often include admonishment, reprimands, or, in serious cases, censure.
“I believe Judge Bove has violated multiple Canons of the Code of Conduct, should be admonished for his behavior and should be subject to any other discipline under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act that the Chief Judge and the Judicial Council deem fit,” Roth concluded.
House Republicans want to vote on a health care plan, but there's no consensus
House Republicans left a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill this morning saying they want to vote on a health care plan before leaving for the holidays, but indicated there is no consensus on what that plan would look like.
“The consensus is we need to come up with something,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said, adding, “I think you’ll see us working pretty much around the clock to try to come up with something in a positive way.”
Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., said he would support several plans that have been floated that include a short term extension of the Obamacare tax credits. He said all of these plans, including the short-term extensions, are "preferable to the alternative," in which Americans will pay more for health care insurance or lose coverage altogether. “You know, and then upward pressure on premiums across the country. That’s not something I’m willing to accept," he said.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said “health care is unbelievably complicated.” He added, “You’re not going to reform and bring down costs overnight.”
This comes as the Senate is expected to take up dueling health care proposals tomorrow from Democrats and Republicans.
DOJ argues Jan. 6 plaque must list nearly 4,000 officers' names
The Trump Justice Department argued Tuesday that the legally mandated plaque meant to honor the officers who protected the Capitol on Jan. 6 does not exist, claiming that the current plaque, which remains unhung, doesn’t qualify because it lists 21 law enforcement agencies rather than the names of roughly 3,646 individual officers who responded to the Capitol during the siege.
The Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus required the Architect of the Capitol to obtain and hang the plaque by March 2023, more than 2.5 years ago.
In response to a June 2025 lawsuit filed by former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and current MPD officer Daniel Hodges, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy S. Simon of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia argued in a Tuesday filing that the plaque with the name of 21 law enforcement entities “is not the plaque directed by the statute” because it should have approximately 3,648 individual names on it.
“A physical plaque containing that list of names has not been made,” Jason McIntyre, the executive director of facility operations for the Architect of the Capitol, wrote in an attached declaration. “The ‘plaque’ referenced in the Architect’s testimony before the House Appropriations subcommittee on April 8, 2025, referred to a plaque that lists the names of approximately twenty-one law enforcement entities not the approximately 3,648 individual names provided to the Architect.”
Simon also argued that the “intangible harms” that Dunn and Hodges say they suffered as a result of the failure to hang the plaque “are not sufficiently concrete to constitute an injury-in-fact.” The harms Dunn and Hodges cited, Simon argued, “flow from the subsequent independent actions of third parties, they are not plausibly traceable to the Architect’s alleged failure to install the plaque called for by the Act, nor would they be redressed by compliance with the Act.”
Senate Democrats express concern over investigation of Sen. Mark Kelly
Twelve Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday wrote a letter to John Phelan, the secretary of the Navy, expressing concerns about a review he’s conducting of Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a retired U.S. Navy captain, regarding a video he participated in with other Democratic former military and intelligence officers now serving in Congress.
“We believe this ‘review’ along with the Department of Defense’s social media post announcing a ‘thorough review’ of Senator Kelly’s actions, ‘which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings’ is inappropriate, threaten the separation of powers established by our Founding Fathers, amount to a purely political exercise seeking to threaten legitimate and lawful actions by a duly elected Senator, and politicize our military justice system,” the Democratic senators wrote in yesterday’s letter, shared with NBC News by a Senate aide.
They also called the review “a baseless and patently political undertaking,” and “a precipitous and unjustified departure from the constitutional mandate of the separation of powers.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the review of Kelly's conduct, which is due today, after he appeared in a video last month alongside other Democratic lawmakers urging military and intelligence officers to “refuse illegal orders.” Later that week, President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of “seditious behavior” that could be “punishable by death.”
The letter was signed by Sens. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Gary Peters of Michigan, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Angus King of Maine (an independent who caucuses with Democrats).
NY judge orders release of Epstein grand jury records from 2019
A federal judge in New York granted the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury records in Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case.
In his order, U.S. District Judge Richard Berman cited the law that Congress passed last month that required the DOJ to release all of its records related to Epstein, calling the act’s language “clear.”
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander launches congressional bid
Brad Lander, the outgoing New York City comptroller, announced Wednesday that he’s running to represent New York’s 10th Congressional District, setting up a Democratic primary challenge to Rep. Dan Goldman.
In his campaign launch video, Lander, a close ally of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, said that the current challenges “can’t be solved with strongly worded letters or high dollar fundraisers, and not by doing AIPAC’s bidding,” referring to the pro-Israel lobbying group.
“Our mayor can have an ally in Washington instead of an adversary in his own backyard,” Lander said. “At a moment of dark oppression, we can shine by fighting back together. While the oligarchy drives an affordability crisis, they shouldn’t be able to buy a seat in Congress. While our neighbors are being demonized and attacked, we can put our bodies on the line to protect them. New York is for everyone.”
House Democrat files impeachment articles against RFK Jr.
Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens, who is running for an open Senate seat in Michigan, formally introduced articles of impeachment Wednesday against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., though they have virtually zero chance of advancing through the Republican-controlled House.
She had vowed to do so in September, arguing that his actions and public remarks had jeopardized public health, increased the cost of health care and cut important medical research programs. The New York Times first reported that Stevens had filed the articles.
In a brief interview Tuesday night, Stevens said she had heeded the call of pro-science groups, who had warned that Kennedy’s 10-month tenure leading HHS has cost American lives and that he must be removed.
Federal Reserve prepares to cut interest rates for a third time this year
The Federal Reserve is expected to lower interest rates today for the third time this year.
Traders overwhelmingly expect a relatively small 0.25% cut, the same size as the last two cuts.
But the Fed’s rate-setting meeting in Washington is taking place in the fog of a data blackout, the result of the prolonged federal government shutdown this fall.
