Closing summary
As always, it’s been a busy day in the world of US politics. Here are some of the highlights:
The House of Representatives will be starting their Christmas break a day early. This news comes hours after four Republicans joined with the Democrats to sign a petition forcing a vote on legislation that will extend for three years premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act healthcare plans.
A federal judge said that the Trump administration cannot stop members of Congress from making unannounced visits to immigrant detention facilities. This is pending the outcome of lawsuit from twelve Democratic representatives after multiple lawmakers were blocked from entering.
Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, says the real motive behind the huge US military buildup in the Caribbean is oil: his country has the largest proven reserves in the world.
Dan Bongino confirmed his exit from the FBI. Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and NYPD officer has also hosted several TV show, including guest-host stints on both The Sean Hannity Show and The Mark Levin Show. He later launched the Bongino Report and The Dan Bongino Show.
The Senate has confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become Trump’s Nasa administrator, placing an advocate of Mars missions and a former associate of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as the space agency’s 15th leader, Reuters reports.
Dan Newhouse – one of two remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump over his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol – has announced that he will not be running for re-election in 2026.
Former special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two now-dropped criminal cases against Donald Trump, defended his investigation before a House panel this morning, telling lawmakers that the basis for the prosecutions “rests entirely with President Trump and his actions”.
Ro Khanna said on Wednesday morning that he’s giving the justice department the “benefit of the doubt” that it will make the Epstein files public by Friday – and warned there would be repercussions if it doesn’t. Khanna, one of the sponsors of the law requiring the release of the investigative files relating to the late sex offender by 19 December, told NBC News that DoJ officials have not responded to requests for information about how and when the files will be made public.
The US military carried out a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing four men, according to defense secretary Pete Hegseth.
Donald Trump delivered a speech from the White House. It revisited well-trodden territory, totting out all the major Maga talking points.
Updated
The president did not address his administration’s escalating campaign against Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Here’s more analysis from the Guardian’s international team, on what we know so far:
One bit of news: Trump announced that 1,450,000 military service members will receive a $1,776 “warrior dividend” check in the mail before Christmas.
The money to pay service members would come from tariff revenues, the president said. The US has collected more than $200bn in tariffs this year as a result of new duties imposed by Trump, according to customs and border protection.
But the US supreme court considers arguments that the new tariffs are illegal, and if the duties are ruled unconstitutional, the government may be liable to repay companies that have paid those fees – leaving far fewer funds for the administration to use to pay out service members.
Other than that, not much more to report – this was a brief one.
Updated
Trump is repeating lies that fact-checkers have repeatedly debunked.
He falsely claimed that he secured $18tn in investment, that crime was at record levels under Joe Biden, that 25 million migrants entered the US under Biden, that prices of eggs have fallen this year. He claimed that he is cutting drug prices by 600%, which is impossible.
Here’s a fact check from earlier this month, that addresses many of Trump’s talking points today:
Updated
The president’s speech so far revisited well-trodden territory, totting out all the major Maga talking points.
He began by criticizing his predecessor, Joe Biden, and trotted out familiar lines from his campaign rallies – boasting about his immigration policies and tariffs. Most major TV networks in the US are airing the speech, which was billed as a policy review.
Updated
Donald Trump addresses the country
The White House has said Trump will be highlight the administration’s actions during over the past year and revealing priorities for 2026.
But the speech, which Trump will be delivering from the White House Diplomatic Room, comes as the administration is escalating campaign against Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro.
The president ordered “a total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. The administration has also struck more than 20 vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean near Venezuela as part what the administration said was an effort to combat drug trafficking in the region.
Updated
The US military launched a fresh round of deadly strikes on foreign vessels earlier this week, killing eight people in strikes on Monday.
The US Southern Command posted footage of the strikes on social media then, as well, announcing it had hit three vessels in international waters.
The US has now more than 20 vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean near Venezuela as part of Donald Trump’s escalating campaign in the region, which he has said is targeting drug trafficking. At least 90 people that the administration has said are suspected drug smugglers have been killed.
Updated
US struck another vessel in the Pacific
The US military carried out a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing four men, according to defense secretary Pete Hegseth.
In a post on Twitter/X, Hegseth wrote: “Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. A total of four male narco-terrorists were killed, and no US military forces were harmed.”
Updated
The House of Representatives will be starting their Christmas break a day early, PBS Newshour’s Lisa Desjardins reports. Instead of leaving Washington DC on Friday, lawmakers will begin their departures as early as tomorrow afternoon.
This news comes hours after four Republicans joined with the Democrats to sign a petition forcing a vote on legislation that will extend for three years premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act healthcare plans.
After failing to negotiate a compromise with GOP leaders, the four Republicans opted to sign a discharge petition sponsored by House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries that will compel a vote on the Democrats’ bill.
Updated
When asked about her chances of beating JD Vance in a hypothetical presidential race, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she’s confident that she would “stomp” Vance in a presidential race, should the two ever go head-to-head.
In a clip on Twitter/X, reporter Pablo Manríquez asked the congresswoman about a Verasight poll that showed that 51% of people surveyed would choose Ocasio-Cortez over Vance in a 2028 race.
Ocasio-Cortez told Manríquez:
These polls years out are – they are what they are. But let the record show, I would stomp him.
Updated
The US department of health and human services (HHS) has terminated several multi-million-dollar grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics following the association’s criticisms of health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s policies.
The funding cuts, which affect projects focused on issues including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and early identification of autism, were first reported by the Washington Post and made without prior notice to the AAP.
In a statement to the Guardian, AAP CEO, Mark Del Monte, said: “AAP learned this week that seven grants to AAP under the US Department of Health and Human Services are being terminated.
“This vital work spanned multiple child health priorities, including reducing sudden infant death, rural access to health care, mental health, adolescent health, supporting children with birth defects, early identification of autism, and prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, among other topics.”
Del Monte added: “The sudden withdrawal of these funds will directly impact and potentially harm infants, children, youth, and their families in communities across the United States. AAP is exploring all available options, including legal recourse, in response to these actions.”
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told the Washington Post that the grants were terminated because they no longer align with departmental priorities. The Guardian has contacted HHS for comment.
HHS terminated the funding after noting that the AAP’s materials used what the department characterized as “identity-based language”, including references to racial disparities and the term “pregnant people”, according to administration officials cited by the Washington Post.
One letter terminating a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on birth defects and infant disorders pointed to language in grant materials that are “not aligned with current CDC and HHS priorities”, the paper reported.
Read the full story here:
Updated
House Republicans meanwhile have passed a healthcare package that does not include an extension for expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Although moderate Republicans have put pressure on their party leadership to hold a vote on extending the enhanced premium tax credit, GOP refused to bring to the floor bipartisan legislation that would extend the subsidies with reforms.
Amid pressure from constituents who depend on the subsidies to afford healthcare, four moderate Republicans joined a Democratic discharge petition to extend the tax credits for three years – without requiring any changes to the program. That petition will be voted in January, after the holiday recess.
Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, was the only member from his party who joined Democrats in voting against the package on Wednesday.
Updated
A federal judge said that the Trump administration cannot stop members of Congress from making unannounced visits to immigrant detention facilities.
This is pending the outcome of lawsuit from twelve Democratic representatives after multiple lawmakers were blocked from entering.
Lawmakers have also been arrested for protesting outside immigration detention centers and facilities, or attempting to enter them.
US district judge Jia Cobb in said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policies that deemed immigration field offices “off-limits for congressional oversight” and required seven days’ notice for visits were “contrary to law and in excess of DHS’s statutory authority.”
Lawmakers have insisted on their right to visit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities unannounced, saying that these facilities have historically failed to meet certain standards of safety and hygiene.
The blockade prompted a sharp rise in the international oil price as traders factored in the growing possibility of disruption to global supplies.
The price of Brent crude shot up by 1.5% to reach almost $60 a barrel on Wednesday afternoon, after the price fell below $60 a barrel for the first time since 2021 earlier this week.
Wednesday’s jump put an end to the steady slide in the global oil markets throughout the month as political leaders inched towards a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine that could lead to the full return of Russian oil barrels to the market.
How important is Venezuela to global oil supplies?
Venezuela is home to the world’s largest oil reserves but produces about 0.8% of the world’s output because of struggles in the wider economy and its state-owned oil company.
It exports about 900,000 barrels of oil a day, mostly to buyers in China, a fraction of the almost 22m barrels of oil produced by the US. Still, oil is the main source of foreign revenue, with profits from the sector financing more than half of the government’s budget.
Market analysts at Goldman Sachs said the loss of Venezuelan crude exports owing to Trump’s blockade could cause the market to tighten slightly in the short-term, which would lead to higher prices. But in the longer-term, a political upheaval that would allow for an influx of western oil companies into the country could
Vnezuela requests UN security council meeting to discuss 'US aggression'
Venezuela has requested that the United Nations Security Council meet to discuss “ongoing US aggression”, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.
Per Reuters, “a UN diplomat” has said a meeting would likely be scheduled for next week.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump ordered “a total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.
It reamins unclear how the blockade would work. The president could instruct US Coast Guard to seize vessels carrying Venezuelan crude pil, as he did last week. The US has already moved thousands of troops and nearly a dozen warships, to the region.
Dan Bongino confirms he will be leaving the FBI in January
Dan Bongino confirmed his exit from the FBI.
“I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January,” he wrote in a statement posted on X. “I want to thank president Trump, [attorney general Pam] Bondi, and [FBI director Kash] Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose. Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you. God bless America, and all those who defend her.”
Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and NYPD officer has also hosted several TV show, including guest-host stints on both The Sean Hannity Show and The Mark Levin Show. He later launched the Bongino Report and The Dan Bongino Show.
In May, Bongino cried during an appearance on Fox News where he complained about the sacrifices he made to take up his role as FBI deputy director.
“I gave up everything for this. I mean, you know, my wife is struggling … I stare at these four walls all day in DC, you know, by myself, divorced from my wife. Not divorced, but I mean, separated. And it’s hard,” he said.
In 2018, Bongino, who has frequently perpetuated conspiracy theories of a so-called deep state plot against Trump, said: “My entire life right now is about owning the libs.”
The FBI declined to comment.
Updated
Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, says the real motive behind the huge US military buildup in the Caribbean is oil: his country has the largest proven reserves in the world.
And while this is not entirely the case – the country has almost a fifth of all known global reserves, but it accounts for less than 1% of world production – Colombia’s leftist president, Gustavo Petro, has described the three-month campaign against Caracas as “a negotiation about oil” and has little to do with concerns about drugs making their way onto US soil.
The US state department has consistently denied that the strikes, which have killed at least 90 people, have anything to do with the recent strikes. But Trump has proved happy to reach an understanding with authoritarian leaders elsewhere, leading critics of the US president to conclude that there must be another motive at work.
Read more about where Venezuela stands in the global oil landscape here:
Updated
Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender member of Congress, made pointed remarks about two anti-trans bills being promoted by House Republicans.
“All Republican politicians care about is making the rich richer and attacking trans people,” McBride told reporters at the Capitol. “They are obsessed with trans people. I actually think they think more about trans people than trans people think about trans people. They are consumed with this, and they are extreme on it.”
After hearing debate on the floor on Wednesday, the US house of representatives entered into recess without voting on the two bills. Votes are instead expected later this week.
On the steps of the Capitol this morning, McBride questioned why Republicans would put forward two bills inserting the government into medical decisions without addressing the Affordable Care Act credits expiring in two days.
“They would rather have us focus on and debate a misunderstood and vulnerable 1% of the population instead of focusing in on the fact that they are raiding everyone’s healthcare in order to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest 1%,” McBride said.
The anti-trans bill introduced by representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia would criminalize parents and providers for providing gender-affirming care to children, putting parents at risk of being “literally jailed for affirming their transgender child and following medical best practices,” McBride said.
Another bill introduced by representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas, and co-sponsored by Greene, would ban Medicaid from funding gender-affirming care for minors.
Updated
What action is Trump taking against Venezuela’s oil industry?
The US president wants a blockade of oil tankers under sanctions to stop them entering and leaving Venezuela.
Here’s an explainer detailing what that means:
Updated
Donald Trump tells reporters that Venezuela 'illegally took' US oil and 'we want it back'
Donald Trump, who announced blockade on sanctioned oil tankers to and from Venezuela, has ramped up his rhetoric.
He told a press gaggle that Venezuela “illegally took” US oil.
“They took all of our energy rights, they took all of our oil from not that long ago, and we want it back. But they took it, they illegally took it.” he said.
The administration has moved thousands of troops and nearly a dozen warships – including the world’s largest aircraft carrier – to the sea north of Venezuela in the past couple of weeks.
Updated
Trump appears to confirm Bongino's exit from FBI saying he 'wants to go back to his show'
In the last few minutes Donald Trump appears to have confirmed reports that deputy FBI director Dan Bongino is leaving his role on the eve of the highly anticipated release of the Epstein files, telling reporters that Bongino wanted to go back to his podcast.
“Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show,” Trump said.
Updated
After the publication of those Vanity Fair interviews with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles yesterday, the Washington Post (paywall) has caught up with the photographer for the piece, Christopher Anderson. We couldn’t resist this anecdote he shared about Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s aggressive mass deportation agenda.
Anderson was asked, “Were there moments you missed? Anything that happened that’s on the cutting room floor?” He replied:
I don’t think there’s anything I missed that I wished I’d gotten. I’ll give you a little anecdote: Stephen Miller was perhaps the most concerned about the portrait session. He asked me, ‘Should I smile or not smile?’ and I said, ‘How would you want to be portrayed?’ We agreed that we would do a bit of both. And then when we were finished, he comes up to me to shake my hand and say goodbye. And he says to me, ‘You know, you have a lot of power in the discretion you use to be kind to people.’ And I looked at him and said, ‘You know, you do, too.’
Senate confirms private astronaut and Musk ally Jared Isaacman as Nasa chief
The Senate has confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become Trump’s Nasa administrator, placing an advocate of Mars missions and a former associate of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as the space agency’s 15th leader, Reuters reports.
Updated
Dan Newhouse, one of two remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, will not seek re-election next year
Dan Newhouse – one of two remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump over his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol – has announced that he will not be running for re-election in 2026.
“I am announcing today that I will not seek reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives,” Newhouse wrote in a statement shared on Twitter/X. “Serving the Fourth District of Washington has been the honor of my life, and this decision comes with no reservations or remorse, only gratitude for the tremendous opportunity to have represented my home state in Congress.”
Newhouse, 70, was one of ten pro-impeachment Republicans in the House; David Valadao of California is now the last one standing, and he has filed to run for re-election.
Newhouse represents a safe GOP seat, which he narrowly defended against a Trump-backed primary challenger last year. Trump has called him a “Weak and Pathetic RINO” (Republican in name only) who “voted to, for no reason, Impeach me”.
Updated
Johnson says Trump's response to Reiner deaths was 'not the way I would've done it'
Earlier, Mike Johnson said that Donald Trump’s response to the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner was “not the way I would’ve done it”. The House speaker told CNBC:
I don’t communicate the same way; I am my own person, and I speak from my voice. The president and I address issues differently sometimes. That’s not the way I would have done it; it’s not the way I have done it. That’s my comment on it. I don’t know what else I can say.
He called the couple’s deaths “an unspeakable family tragedy” that “speaks to the rampant evil and violence in our society of which there’s root causes of that that we try to address as well, but it’s ultimately a human heart issue”.
Trump was lambasted from both sides of the aisle on Monday after he blamed Reiner’s apparent killing on what he described as the acclaimed Hollywood director’s dislike of him. Celebrities and lawmakers condemned the president’s remarks as “petty” and “disgusting”.
Updated
In more unserious news, the White House has installed plaques along Donald Trump’s so-called “Presidential Walk of Fame” with less-than-flattering descriptions of his predecessors that read as though they could’ve been lifted straight from one of the president’s Truth Social posts, caps and all.
A plaque at the front of the the walkway outside the West Wing says it was “conceived, built, and dedicated” by Trump “as a tribute to past Presidents, good, bad and somewhere in the middle, who served our Country, and gave up so much in so doing”.
Indeed Trump’s plaque touts his 2024 victory following the “unprecedented Weaponization of Law Enforcement against him, as well as two assassination attempts”. It also claims that he has “delivered” on his promise to bring about the “Golden Age of America”, and parrots his usual claims about all the wars he’s ending, securing the border and deporting alleged gang members.
For Joe Biden, meanwhile, who doesn’t have a portrait like the other former presidents and is instead represented by a picture of an autopen, extracts from the plaque read:
Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst President in American History. Taking office as a result of the most corrupt Election ever seen in the United States, Biden oversaw a series of unprecedented disasters that brought our Nation to the brink of destruction.
But despite it all, President Trump would get Re-Elected in a Landslide and SAVE AMERICA!
The plaques also repeat Trump’s usual claims about inflation, renewable energy and immigration under the Biden administration.
For Barack Obama, extracts from his plaque read:
Barack Hussein Obama was the first Black President, a community organizer, one term Senator from Illinois, and one of the most divisive political figures in American History.
Obama also spied on the 2016 Presidential Campaign of Donald J. Trump, and presided over the Russia, Russia, Russia [?] Hoax, the worst political scandal in American History.
It also takes a dig at Obama for passing “the highly ineffective ‘Unaffordable’ Care Act” and signing “the one-sided Paris Climate Accords”.
And while Bill Clinton’s plaque notes several policy achievements, Trump has taken the opportunity to point out his wife Hillary’s 2016 loss to Trump.
In 2016, President Clinton’s wife, Hillary, lost the Presidency to President Donald J. Trump!
Updated
A reminder that Jack Smith’s appearance at the Capitol this morning came after the committee’s Republican chair, Jim Jordan of Ohio, subpoenaed him for a closed-door deposition. Smith had requested a public hearing.
Speaking to reporters outside the interview room, Democratic lawmakers said Smith’s testimony should have been conducted in public.
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the panel’s top Democrat, said a public hearing would have been “absolutely devastating to the president”.
“He’s answered every single question to the satisfaction of any reasonable-minded person in that room,” Raskin said of Smith, in comments reported by Reuters.
Democratic representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington said Smith told lawmakers that Trump’s conduct in seeking to overturn the 2020 election, culminating in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, could have been “catastrophic” for American democracy.
Smith tells lawmakers he could prove that Trump engaged in a 'criminal scheme' to overturn 2020 election
Further to that, Jack Smith told lawmakers his team had found “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump engaged in a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election and prevent the lawful transfer of power.
Trump also “repeatedly tried to obstruct justice” to keep secret his retention of classified documents found during an FBI search in Mar-a-Lago, Smith said.
Smith said he and his team found “powerful evidence that showed Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in January 2021, storing them at his social club, including in a bathroom and a ballroom where events and gatherings took place”.
Republican lawmakers have expressed outrage at disclosures from the DoJ that investigators sought information from a wide range of conservative organizations as part of the probe into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and also obtained limited cell phone data from at least eight Republican senators during the period around the US Capitol attack.
Smith has said his prosecutors followed DoJ policy and were not influenced by politics. According to the excerpts, he told lawmakers in his opening statement that the records were “relevant to complete a comprehensive investigation”.
January 6 was an attack on the structure of our democracy in which over 100 heroic law enforcement officers were assaulted. Over 160 individuals later pled guilty to assaulting police officers that day.
Exploiting that violence, President Trump and his associates tried to call members of Congress in furtherance of their criminal scheme, urging them to further delay certification of the 2020 election. I didn’t choose those members; President Trump did.
Updated
Smith defends Trump probes in House testimony saying basis for prosecutions 'rests entirely with Trump and his actions'
Former special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two now-dropped criminal cases against Donald Trump, defended his investigation before a House panel this morning, telling lawmakers that the basis for the prosecutions “rests entirely with President Trump and his actions”.
According to excerpts from his opening statement seen by the Guardian, Smith said:
The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts.
Smith gave private testimony to the Republican-controlled House judiciary committee following months of disclosures from Trump appointees at the justice department and Republican lawmakers intended to discredit Smith’s probe and bolster Trump’s claims that the cases were an abuse of the legal system.
A reminder that Smith and his team secured indictments in 2023, accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified documents following his first term in office and plotting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election. Smith dropped both cases after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a DoJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
“If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether the president was a Republican or Democrat,” Smith told the committee.
I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election. We took actions based on what the facts and the law required.
Updated
Justice department must release Epstein files by Friday or risk repercussions, says law's co-sponsor
And in another headache for the GOP, representative Ro Khanna said on Wednesday morning that he’s giving the justice department the “benefit of the doubt” that it will make the Epstein files public by Friday – and warned there would be repercussions if it doesn’t.
Khanna, one of the sponsors of the law requiring the release of the investigative files relating to the late sex offender by 19 December, told NBC News that DoJ officials have not responded to requests for information about how and when the files will be made public.
But he noted the department had successfully moved to unseal grand jury records in the case, which he takes as an indication they’re trying to comply.
Until the 19th, let’s give some benefit of the doubt, given that they’ve been supporting these judicial rulings. And then we’ll see.
Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, if the information is not made public by Friday then “the justice department officials would be breaking the law”, Khanna said.
While they likely would not face charges during this administration, “they could be subject to prosecution given the federal law, and the statute of limitations will likely run into a new administration”, the California Democrat said, meaning a future president could charge officials for not complying with the law.
They also “could be hauled in front of Congress, the oversight committee”, and “there could be federal lawsuits” over any inaction, he said.
Updated
Also speaking to CNN and echoing those sentiments, Mike Lawler of New York, another of the swing-district House Republicans that signed onto Hakeem Jeffries’s petition, said:
I represent my district. My district elected me … and my view is that I have a job to do on behalf of my constituents.
We exhausted every effort to find an agreement within our conference. If folks chose not to find a path forward, they left us with no option but to sign that three-year discharge. If they don’t want that to pass, then they should be working to find an alternative vehicle.
He added that Mike Johnson has a “very difficult job” and that while the speaker hasn’t been able to unify House Republicans behind a plan including ACA credit extensions, “my frustration is not at him”.
I’m here to do a job. I’m not here to be a potted plant or a vote just for leadership. I’m here to represent my constituents and get something done. This requires bipartisan compromise.
Updated
Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, of Pennsylvania, who was one of the Republicans to sign a discharge petition to force a vote on a Democratic-backed bill to extend the ACA tax credits for three years, has told CNN that he rebelled against his party leadership because “we have a job to do”.
I don’t want to say he [speaker Mike Johnson] didn’t take it seriously, but we just have a difference of opinion on something that’s very, very important to us, and, you know, we’ve all shared with him, we have a job to do and that’s to represent our people back home.
He said that whether or not Johnson scheduled a vote before the end of the week or in the new year was “a question for him”. He added:
We’ve done our job and gotten it across the 218 threshold. It’s coming for a vote. It’s going to pass.
Asked if the speaker has lost control of the House, the congressman said he “wouldn’t say that” but that he felt Johnson could’ve handled the situation differently.
“We’ll see what the Senate does. That’s really the next question,” he added.
Updated
'I have not lost control of the House,' Johnson insists after major rebellion over ACA subsidies
Meanwhile, Mike Johnson, the House speaker, has insisted he has “not lost control” of the House, after four swing-district Republicans joined with Democrats to force a vote on extending the soon-to-expire ACA tax credits for three years.
The beleaguered speaker told reporters earlier:
I have not lost control of the House.
We have the smallest majority in US history. These are not normal times. There are processes and procedures in the House that are less frequently used when there are larger majorities. That’s when you have the luxury of having 10 or 15 people who disagree on something, you know you don’t have to deal with it.
The blow to him and his team was down to the “razor-thin margin” he has to manage, he said.
Updated
Earlier on the House floor, Hakeem Jeffries again urged Mike Johnson, the speaker, and Republicans to bring a vote on the extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies to the floor before the House goes into recess tomorrow for the rest of the month.
The House minority leader said:
Republicans need to bring the Affordable Care Act tax credit extension bill to the floor today.
Under no circumstances should we leave this Capitol this week before voting on an extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credit bill.
Updated
More from Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis’s hearing before the Georgia Senate committee Wednesday morning.
In increasingly combative testimony, senator Greg Dolezal pressed for more information about how money flowed through Willis’ office, asking if state and federal grant money is potentially co-mingled when it reaches the county’s financial office. She said she doesn’t have a DA credit card or a separate checking account.
Willis returned to a description of the state’s failure to fund the testing of rape kits.
Dolezal asked of Willis’ understanding of how forfeiture money can be used. Willis said she refers to experts within her office when touching forfeiture money. Asked if forfeiture money would be used to pay Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor, she said she was unaware if they were or not.
“Are you and Jim Jordan working together?” she asked Dolezal, who said he had not been in contact with him.
Dolezal showed documents indicating that Wade had been paid from forfeiture money. Willis said her understanding was that he had been paid from professional services funds, but that she essentially “turned in a bill” to the county and let them sort it out.
Dolezal then asked why she hired outside counsel for the Trump case.
“Because we were drowning,” she replied. All her attorneys had major cases, with the prosecution of the murders of Kennedy Maxie and Secoriea Turner - two children – of the highest priority, she said. “It became obvious to me that I needed a lawyer that could manage this team,” she said. The $250-an-hour salary is “insulting” for an attorney of his caliber and expertise, Willis added.
Nine attorneys were working on the case at the peak, Willis said, describing the virtues of Anna Cross and John Floyd and noting the diversity of the team.
But different people are needed for different things, and the people of Fulton County elected me to make those decisions, and I know y’all want to come in and be daddy and create QAnon committees that will judge prosecutors and have these committees, but unfortunately for you, I won this vote by 68% this time, 87 in the Democratic, 68%, the general, 72% last time.
So the people of Fulton County have selected me to make these choices and I make them and my city and county are safer because I make them.
Updated
As former special counsel Jack Smith arrived for his closed-door deposition before the GOP-led House judiciary committee this morning, his attorney Lanny Breuer told reporters:
In today testifying before this committee, Jack is showing tremendous courage in light of the remarkable and unprecedented retribution campaign against him by this administration and this White House.
As Chris noted earlier, Smith didn’t take any questions as he entered the committee’s room for his first appearance on Capitol Hill since he was forced to drop charges against Donald Trump after his re-election.
My colleague George Chidi has more from Fani Willis’s testy hearing before the Georgia Senate committee this morning, where senators are trying to pin down details about how Willis decided to prosecute Donald Trump and pay for that prosecution.
“It’s a dumb-ass question.” Willis said of a question about her hiring practices and interviews of potential attorneys after her election. Senator Greg Dolezal is asking whether she had been hiring staff with the intent to prosecute Trump for election interference.
“I didn’t know he was going to commit a crime prior to me taking office. It’s factually impossible,” she replied.
There were 18,000 unindicted cases going back six or seven years, stacked in cardboard boxes in the office. “The office was in absolute chaos” when she entered, Willis said.
Dolezal asked the cost of the election interference case. “I don’t want to speculate to numbers,” Willis said. “Whatever it cost, they tried to steal the rights of thousands of Georgians. It couldn’t have been enough.”
Asked about federal funding, she said she has some federal seizure money, but “the truth is I don’t know the correct answer”. Her annual budget is about $40m, she said.
An element of the state’s inquiry is to determine if Willis misspent federal money in pursuit of the Trump case. Dolezal pushed for more information about her financial expenditures, but Willis responded with criticism about the state’s spending priorities about funding .
“She’s pontificating on everything from rape kits ... the answer isn’t ‘let me talk about rape kits’,” Dolezal said.
“I’m answering my question!” she said, loudly, when interrupted by Dolezal.
Willis was represented at the hearing by former Georgia governor Roy Barnes, who regularly instructed Willis not to answer questions about her deliberative process.
“This is a witch hunt,” Barnes said. “This has always been a witch hunt.”
Updated
Top House Democrat demands immediate vote on extending healthcare subsidies
Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has called on Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker, to immediately allow a vote on legislation to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits for another three years.
“Mike Johnson should bring the bill to the floor immediately,” Jeffries wrote on X, after a discharge petition to force a vote on the measure over Johnson’s objections received the 218 signatures necessary for its success, thanks to four Republican defectors.
It is unclear when Johnson will bring the bill up for a vote. While he must do so within a certain period of time, the House is also set to go on recess after tomorrow through the end of the year, and the measure could wind up being considered in January – at which point the ACA tax credits will have expired.
FCC chair defends actions in Kimmel controversy
Democratic senators have challenged Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr on comments he made related to comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who was briefly pulled from the air by ABC after criticizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk in the wake of his murder.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr told a conservative podcaster in response to Kimmel’s comments. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota brought up his comments, and asked Carr: “Do you think it is appropriate to use your position to threaten companies that broadcast political satire?”
The FCC chair replied by referring to the public interest standard, which dates back to a 1934 federal law and is today viewed as vague.
“I think any licensee that operates on the public airwaves has a responsibility to comply with the public interest standard, and that’s been the case for decades,” Carr replied.
Massachusetts’s Patrick Markey later took him to task for the FCC’s investigation of a San Francisco broadcaster. “This is government censorship, plain and simple,” Markey said.
Carr replied: “Broadcasters understand, perhaps the first time in years, they’re going to be held accountable to the public interest, to broadcast hoax rules, to the news distortion policy. I think that’s a good thing.”
In her questioning, Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin called Carr “a parrot for president Trump” who has “diminished the independence of the FCC.”
Fani Willis, who unsuccessfully prosecuted Trump, faces off with Georgia lawmakers
Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis is testifying before a Georgia Senate committee at the state Capitol in Atlanta this morning about her expenditures related to the Trump investigation, and came out firing.
“I doubt that anyone will have trouble hearing me,” she said when asked to move closer to the microphone by senator Greg Dolezal.
She described herself as a “murder prosecutor” and cited a long career in the law and general success in her office when asked for her background, noting a 30 percent decrease in the murder rate since taking office. “Best to ever do it,” she said of her tenure so far in Fulton County. “I sit here with a 92 percent conviction rate.”
Dolezal, leading the initial questions, began by asking about the transition team and interviews about hiring and firing attorneys after taking office. Dolezal asked specific questions about the role of Nathan Wade in the process of hiring and in the anticorruption department. A personal relationship between Wade and Willis ultimately derailed the prosecution of Donald Trump.
“He was a special prosecutor. He did not work for me as an employee … What I would call him is a lawyer with a distinguished resume,” she said.
Willis said in testimony that she didn’t trust Dolezal, and questioned state support for district attorney’s offices. “If you want to look at some legislation, you should look at paying DAs across this country more money because they do not make enough money and it is very hard for people to recruit DAs at the state pay.”
“I had no idea that these criminals were going to commit a crime,” Willis said of her early days in office in 2021. “I was unable to look for talent for a case that didn’t exist.”
“I was already district attorney when this all came to light … when Raffensberger went on Good Morning America or whatever … I know that you’ve got black people confused and saying that I was running on prosecuting Donald Trump … that is a lie,” Willis said, referring to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger.
Updated
Dissident Republicans force House vote on Democratic bill to extend ACA subsidies
In a major setback for speaker Mike Johnson and the House GOP, four Republicans have joined with all Democrats to sign a petition forcing a vote on legislation that will extend for three years premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act health care plans.
Johnson, along with Donald Trump and many other Republicans, oppose extending the credits, which will expire at the end of the year and lowered premiums for enrollees of plans purchased through the landmark law’s exchanges. But some moderate Republicans were nervous about allowing health care costs to increase, and after failing to reach an agreement with House GOP leadership, they this morning signed a discharge petition to force a vote on a Democratic-backed bill to extend the tax credits for three years. The four Republicans are Mike Lawler of New York, and Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie, all of Pennsylvania.
While the bill must now receive a vote, it remains to be seen if the House will take action before it recesses for the holidays at the end of the week. Should it pass, it will also need to be approved by the Republican-controlled Senate.
Updated
Jack Smith has arrived for his deposition before the Republican-led House judiciary committee, which will take place behind closed doors.
There were many reporters hoping to talk to the former special counsel as he entered the committee’s room, but he did not answer their questions.
FCC chair Carr to face congressional grilling in wake of Jimmy Kimmel controversy
The Donald Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, will soon make his first appearance before Congress since sparking an uproar with comments seen as pressuring ABC to temporarily pull comedian Jimmy Kimmel from the air.
ABC indefinitely suspended Kimmel’s show over statements he made following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which prompted Carr to say that he wanted broadcasters to “take action” on Kimmel, and: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Though ABC eventually reinstated Kimmel, the episode is sure to be raised when Carr appears before the Senate commerce committee for a hearing that should begin shortly. He will be joined by commissioner Olivia Trusty, a Republican, and Anna Gomez, a Democrat.
Here’s more about Carr:
Updated
Jack Smith to make first appearance on Capitol Hill since dropping charges against Trump
Jack Smith, who as justice department special counsel brought two criminal cases against Donald Trump that were scuppered by his re-election win, will be appearing for a behind-closed-door testimony before the House judiciary committee today.
Smith had offered to testify publicly, but the Republican judiciary committee chair Jim Jordan opted to subpoena Smith for a private deposition, in which he will be questioned by lawmakers. That means we won’t know much about what he had to say, but some of the representatives who attend the session may reveal details after the fact. We’ll let you know if we hear anything.
Donald Trump’s White House was shaken on Tuesday after Vanity Fair published a piece based on nearly a dozen interviews with the US president’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, in which she holds forth in a very candid fashion about the administration’s inner workings. Here’s more on what she said, and why it caused such a stir:
Wiles has given her own, unvarnished thoughts about Trump’s administration, revealing details and opinions that presidential aides usually save for memoirs long after they have left power.
From calling out Pam Bondi, the attorney general, over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, to criticising Elon Musk over the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAid), Wiles has offered an unusually candid look inside the White House, after maintaining a low profile for much of Trump’s term.
In a series of 11 interviews with author Chris Whipple conducted over Trump’s first year back in office, Wiles, the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff, described the teetotal president as having “an alcoholic’s personality” and an eye for vengeance against perceived enemies.
After the publication of the piece on Tuesday, Wiles called the Vanity Fair story “a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest president, White House staff, and cabinet in history”, saying it omitted important context and selectively quoted her to create a negative narrative. A number of cabinet officials and other aides rushed to her defence – but Wiles notably has not denied any details or quotes.
Updated
Donald Trump will today travel to Dover, Delaware to witness the arrival of two US soldiers killed over the weekend in Syria, according to his White House schedule.
This evening at 9pm, the president will make an address to the nation. The White House has not yet specified what that will be about, but chances are it is aimed at reversing the slump in his approval ratings.
There will, in fact, be two war powers resolutions concerning US actions towards Venezuela before the House today.
The chamber is also expected to vote on a measure proposed by Greg Meeks, the top Democrat on the foreign affairs committee, which requires Trump to end hostilities against “presidentially designated terrorist organizations in the Western Hemisphere”, rather than Venezuela specifically.
This one has 40 cosponsors, but all are Democrats.
House to vote on resolution preventing conflict with Venezuela
We will get a sense later in the day on whether the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has any misgivings about Donald Trump’s strategy towards Venezuela, when a war powers resolution intended to halt his escalation against the country comes up for a vote.
Proposed by Democrat James McGovern, the resolution would require the president to remove troops from the country’s vicinity. It has 39 Democratic co-sponsors, and, perhaps crucially, three Republicans: Don Bacon of Nebraska, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. The latter two are not on good terms with the president.
Votes are expected at 5.30pm at the latest, and we will find out if it has the support to pass. When defense secretary Pete Hegseth and secretary of state Marco Rubio briefed lawmakers on the Venezuela strategy on Tuesday, many Republicans said they agreed with the administration’s actions. Here’s more on that:
Updated
To take it back to domestic politics for a bit, a Maga loyalist US attorney is expanding an investigation of ex-FBI and intelligence officials who angered Trump with their inquiry into claims Russia helped the US president win in 2016.
This is despite the US justice department suffering stinging recent court rejections of indictments of two foes of the US president.
Former prosecutors and legal experts call the Miami-based inquiry, which has issued some two dozen subpoenas so far, a “fishing expedition”.
The investigation’s apparent focus is to identify ways to criminally charge ex-FBI and intelligence officials who have already been investigated and effectively exonerated by two special counsels and a Republican-led Senate panel, which mounted exhaustive inquiries into Russia’s efforts to boost Trump in 2016.
Led by Jason Reding Quiñones, who is close to attorney general Pam Bondi and other key Maga allies, the inquiry accelerated with a flurry of subpoenas in November and new prosecutors to expedite what has been dubbed a “grand conspiracy” investigation.
Updated
Oil prices up 2% after Trump blockade order
The markets are closely watching how such a blockade would actually be imposed.
The price of US crude jumped more than 2% after Trump’s announcement – Brent was up $1.41, or 2.4%, at $60.33 a barrel at 10:18 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.42, or 2.6%, to $56.69 a barrel.
Oil prices have been at near five-year lows due to progress on Ukraine peace talks; however, the risk to the Venezuelan supply is now driving it up again.
“Venezuelan oil production accounts for around 1% of global output, but supplies are concentrated among a small group of buyers, mainly Chinese teapot refiners, the U.S., and Cuba,” Muyu Xu, senior oil analyst at Kpler told the Associated Press.
Updated
Venezuela condemns ‘warmongering threats’ as Trump orders oil blockade
Trump in his Truth Social message didn’t have any detail on how a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers might be enforced, or if he would direct the coast guard to seize vessels like he did last week.
His administration has moved thousands of troops and nearly a dozen warships – including the world’s largest aircraft carrier – to the sea north of Venezuela in the past couple of weeks.
It’s clear the move targeting oil, Venezuela’s main source of income, is aimed at further squeezing Nicolás Maduro’s government.
Venezuela affirmed its sovereignty over all natural resources and its right to free navigation and trade in the Caribbean Sea despite “warmongering threats”, the government said in a statement on Tuesday. It condemned Trump’s “irrational military blockade” order as a “grotesque threat” aimed at “stealing” the country’s wealth.
Updated
Good morning and welcome to our US politics blog, I’m Frances Mao taking you through the next few hours.
The immediate focus is on Venezuela after Donald Trump on Tuesday night ordered a “total and complete” blockade of sanctioned oil tankers to and from the country.
Venezuela is home to the world’s largest identified oil reserves, and its economy is reliant on oil. It has accused Washington of trying to steal its resources through “warmongering threats”.
The blockade announcement comes after US officials seized a tanker off the coast last week, the latest escalation in weeks of US naval aggression in the Caribbean.
Trump last night wrote that Venezuela was now “completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America”. He added it would “only get bigger” and “be like nothing they have ever seen before”.
Updated
