Summary
That’s all for our live coverage for the day, thanks for following along. Some key stories from the day:
Indiana Republicans rejected an effort to redraw the state’s congressional map, a stunning and blunt rebuke of Donald Trump.
Trump attacked Indiana Republican lawmakers who rejected redistricting, a vote that prompted infighting among Republicans.
Kilmar Ábrego García, long targeted by the Trump administration, was freed from an immigration detention facility in Pennsylvania after a federal judge in Maryland ordered his release.
A federal grand jury declined to indict Letitia James, the New York attorney general, on mortgage fraud charges for the second time in a week, an embarrassing blow to the Trump justice department.
The US Senate rejected competing proposals to address the imminent expiration of subsidies for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans, greatly increasing the chances that healthcare costs will soon rise to unaffordable levels for millions.
Senior Democratic lawmakers condemned the US seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker, one saying Donald Trump is “sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela”.
Trump signed an executive order that seeks to halt any laws limiting artificial intelligence and block states from regulating the rapidly emerging technology.
Free speech advocates accused Trump of “shredding civil liberties” after the White House said it planned to require visa applicants from dozens of countries to provide social media histories for vetting.
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Donald Trump may push to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana, according to a Washington Post report citing six unnamed people familiar with the discussions.
The newspaper said the changes could include reducing oversight of marijuana and its derivatives to the same level as some common prescription painkillers. The moves would not legalize or decriminalize marijuana, but rather reduce obstacles to research and help support legal businesses, according to the report.
A White House official told the paper that no final decisions have been made, and other US agencies did not immediately comment. The report noted that the president previously said he was “looking at reclassification”, saying, “Some people like it, some people hate it.”
Trump signs AI executive order meant to block state restrictions
Trump has signed an executive order on artificial intelligence that aims to block laws that limit AI and restrict states from regulating the technology.
At a signing ceremony, the president praised AI companies investing in the US, saying, “If they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you could forget it … We want to have one central source of approval.”
Trump’s order calls for the US attorney general to establish an AI “litigation task force” that would be responsible for challenging state laws. Republicans earlier this year failed to pass a moratorium meant to prevent new state AI laws for ten years.
State leaders and civil liberties groups across the country have pushed back against Trump’s order, arguing it would empower corporations while hampering efforts to reduce the harmful consequences of AI.
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Trump declines to commit to US attendance at Ukraine meeting
Donald Trump declined to commit that the US would send a representative to participate in Ukraine talks in Europe this weekend.
“We’ll see whether or not we attend the meeting,” the president said in the Oval Office, Reuters reported. “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 if we think it’s negative.”
His waffling comes after he hinted earlier this week that he could walk away from supporting Ukraine and called for the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to accept his proposal to cede territory to Russia.
Trump’s press secretary earlier today said it was “still up in the air” whether the US believed “real peace can be accomplished”, adding, “The president is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war, and he is sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting.”
Trump claims pardon for Tina Peters, but doesn't have power to free her
Donald Trump wrote on social media that he was granting a “full pardon” for Tina Peters, a convicted Colorado election clerk, even though he does not have authority to pardon or free her as she is serving a sentence on state charges.
Peters, the former Mesa county clerk, was convicted last year for her role in breaching election data in search of evidence of fraud and sentenced to nine years.
Trump has repeatedly called for her release and threatened earlier this year to take “harsh measures” if she was not freed. The president wrote on his Truth Social platform this evening: “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!”
Presidential pardons, however, do not apply to state convictions. Jared Polis, Colorado’s Democratic governor, who does have clemency authority in her case, has said he won’t pardon her.
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Trump warns of land strikes on Venezuela drug shipments
Donald Trump again suggested that the US would “soon” carry out land strikes on drug shipments in Venezuela, which would mark a dramatic escalation of his campaign against Nicolás Maduro.
Defending his administration’s strikes against boats that allegedly have ties to drug trafficking, the president claimed “drug traffic by sea is down by 92%”. The source and context of that figure was unclear, and Trump continued by saying: “Nobody can figure out who the 8% is.” He then added: “We’ll start that on land, too. It’s going to be starting on land pretty soon.”
Trump has repeatedly warned of potential land attacks, but his administration has not offered further details. His comments come as his administration is facing increasing scrutiny over its seizure of an oil tanker.
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Trump attacks Indiana GOP Senate leader: 'I hope he loses'
Donald Trump has criticized Rod Bray, the Republican state senate leader of Indiana, after GOP representatives rejected a redistricting measure.
The White House had supported the proposed redrawing of the congressional map, with the president threatening to support primary opponents of Republicans who voted against redistricting.
Asked about the vote, Trump responded: “I wasn’t working on it very hard. It would’ve been nice … You had one gentleman … Bray, whatever his name is, I heard he was against it. He’ll probably lose his next primary. I hope he does. He’s done a tremendous disservice.”
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Republican infighting over Indiana redistricting vote
Republicans in Indiana and across the country are sparring over the state GOP’s rare break with Donald Trump with lawmakers’ vote against redistricting.
Earlier today, Republican state lawmakers rejected an effort to redraw Indiana’s congressional map, with a plan that would have added two more GOP-friendly seats to Congress.
Mike Braun, Indiana’s GOP governor, wrote on social media after the vote that he was “very disappointed that a small group of misguided State Senators have partnered with Democrats to reject this opportunity to protect Hoosiers with fair maps and to reject the leadership of President Trump”. The decision, he said, would “carry political consequences”, adding he would work with Trump to “challenge these people who do not represent the best interests of Hoosiers”.
Meanwhile, Kevin Kiley, a GOP congressman from California, applauded Indiana Republicans for “taking a principled stand against mid-decade gerrymandering and rejecting the ‘eye for an eye’ mentality that has caused this redistricting war to spin out of control”. Kiley’s district is due to be redrawn under California Democrats’ redistricting that was launched in response to Texas’ gerrymandering.
Earlier this week, Trump threatened to support primaries against Republicans in Indiana who opposed redistricting. GOP state senator Spencer Deery criticized the outside pressures, telling the AP, “The federal government should not dictate by threat or other means what should happen in our states.”
JD Vance, the vice president, attacked Rod Bray, the Senate leader in Indiana, accusing Bray of telling the administration he would support redistricting while fighting against it behind the scenes.
“That level of dishonesty cannot be rewarded, and the Indiana GOP needs to choose a side,” Vance said.
Kilmar Ábrego García released from immigration detention, lawyer says
Kilmar Ábrego García, the Salvadorian national who has been subject to relentless attacks by the Trump administration, has been freed from immigration detention, his lawyers confirmed to the AP.
He plans to return home to Maryland, his attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said. Our earlier coverage of the judge’s order for his release:
Indiana Republicans’ rejection of a redistricting effort that would have favored the GOP marks a major break from Donald Trump and comes after the president threatened to back primary opponents for those who didn’t support the redrawn congressional maps.
“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 social media on Wednesday, the day before the vote. “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.”
Late last month, Michael Bohacek, a Republican Indiana state senator, announced he was opposing redistricting after Trump used a slur for people with intellectual disabilities to insult a political opponent. Bohacek, whose child has down syndrome, said he was an “unapologetic advocate for people with intellectual disabilities” and the president’s “choices of words have consequences”.
Heritage Action, a conservative 501(c)4 associated with the group behind Project 2025, also suggested before the vote that Indiana Republicans would suffer if they didn’t support the redrawn maps, writing on social media, “President Trump has made it clear to Indiana leaders: if the Indiana Senate fails to pass the map, all federal funding will be stripped from the state. Roads will not be paved. Guard bases will close. Major projects will stop. These are the stakes and every NO vote will be to blame.”
Indiana Republicans vote down redistricting in major blow to Trump
Indiana Republicans have rejected an effort to redraw the state’s congressional map, a stunning and blunt rebuke of Donald Trump and Republican efforts to reconfigure the state’s congressional districts to add two more Republican-friendly seats.
The measure failed 19-31, with 21 Republicans joining 10 Democrats in rejecting the new maps.
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US targets Nicolás Maduro's family with new sanctions
The US has issued new sanctions targeting the family members of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, and six crude oil tankers, Reuters reports.
The US treasury department announced sanctions against three nephews of Maduro’s wife and oil tankers and shipping companies allegedly linked to them.
The targeted oil tankers “have engaged in deceptive and unsafe shipping practices and continue to provide financial resources that fuel Maduro’s corrupt narco-terrorist regime”. The sanctions come as the Trump administration has dramatically escalated its pressure campaign against Maduro, including with the seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker.
Democrats and others have criticized the administration over its boat strikes and the seizure, warning the US was “sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela”.
More background in our coverage here:
Trump administration creates new militarized zone along California border
The US’s southern border is poised to become more militarized following an announcement by Trump administration officials that armed forces would now oversee 760 acres of public land for a three-year period.
The US Department of Interior said in a statement that jurisdiction over this acreage – located in California’s San Diego and Imperial counties – would be transferred to the US navy “to establish a National Defense Area to support ongoing border security operations”.
Expansive portions of the border region have been deemed militarized zones since April. This designation permits US military members to capture migrants and those whom they allege are illegally on US army, navy or air force bases, according to the AP. The classification also enables more criminal charges which, in turn, could mean greater prison terms. AP notes that more than 7,000 service members have been sent to the US border, as well as military surveillance equipment.
More background here:
'Shoving Americans off a cliff': Democrats condemn ACA vote
Democrats have forcefully condemned Republicans over the failure to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, with votes today that threaten to increase healthcare costs to unaffordable levels for millions of Americans.
The US Senate earlier rejected competing proposals that would have addressed the approaching expiration of subsidies for plans under the ACA, also known as Obamacare. Premium tax credits for roughly 21.8m enrollees of the plans are on track to expire by the end of December. A bill supported by Democrats laying out a three-year extension failed, with only four Republicans supporting.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate minority leader, said:
Senate Republicans just shoved the American people off the side of a cliff with no parachute and with an anchor tied to their feet. Republicans just blocked the Democrats’ bill for a clean, simple extension of the ACA tax credits, the last chance they had to ensure people’s premiums do not skyrocket in the coming months.
Republicans, Schumer added, were “fighting like hell to kick people off insurance … [and] give sweet giveaways to billionaires and the ultra-rich”.
Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, said the Republicans’ proposal was a “cruel joke”. Republicans, she said in a video message, “never wanted to lower healthcare costs in the first place”.
For more background:
Trump ally and MyPillow founder, Mike Lindell, announces bid for Minnesota governor
Mike Lindell, a pillow salesman and election conspiracist, is running for governor of Minnesota, he announced on Thursday.
Lindell, an ally of Donald Trump’s and major player in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, joins a crowded Republican primary in the left-leaning state, where his pillow company, MyPillow, is headquartered.
Tim Walz, the Democratic governor, is running for a third term after a stint as the party’s vice-presidential nominee ended in defeat for the Democrats. He has faced criticism for his handling of a wide-ranging fraud scandal that took advantage of the state’s social services system, which is sure to be a feature of the 2026 governor’s race.
Lindell, 64, has faced multiple defamation lawsuits over his false election claims and has been ordered to pay millions of dollars as a result. His finances are in a dire position, he has told the courts, because of what he called “lawfare”. He has not relented from his position that the 2020 election was stolen.
Grand jury again declines to indict Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges
A federal grand jury has declined to indict New York attorney general Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges for the second time in a week, according to a person familiar with the matter, in an embarrassing blow to the Trump justice department as the president has sought retribution against one of his political rivals.
The department has attempted to twice file new charges against James after a judge dismissed an indictment against her after determining the prosecutor handling the case had not been properly appointed.
A decision by a federal grand jury is extremely rare.
Department of Justice uses Franklin the Turtle illustration to recruit deportation judges
The Trump administration, for the second time, has used the popular children’s book character, Franklin the Turtle, in their social media posts.
The Department of Justice posted a mock-up of Franklin, decked out in court dress, holding a gavel behind a bench, with the title “Franklin Becomes a Deportation Judge”, as part of their social media campaign to recruit more justices for the immigration court system.
Earlier this month, the Franklin series publisher condemned the use of the character in a post on X by defense secretary Pete Hegseth, which portrayed the turtle in a military helmet and vest, with a US flag on his arm, and a drug-laden boat exploding in the background, titled “Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists”. Kids Can Press said it was an “unauthorized” use of the character.
Trump is 'sick of meetings just for the sake of meetings', White House says as Ukraine peace talks continue
Earlier today, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the White House may send a representative to meet with European and Ukrainian officials this weekend if it feels like a meeting is “worthy” of the US’s time.
“It’s still up in the air whether we believe real peace can be accomplished and we can truly move the ball forward,” Leavitt told reporters. “The president is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war, and he is sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting. He doesn’t want any more talk. He wants action.”
“He wants this war to come to an end, and the administration has spent more than 30 hours this just in the past couple of weeks, meeting with the Russians and Ukrainians and the Europeans,” Leavitt said.
She added that Trump is “aware” of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s updated peace proposal, but offered no further comment.
Here's a recap of the day so far
The Senate failed to advance either of the two competing bills that would determine the future of the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of this year. Both the Republican proposal – which would see government payments of $1,000 into the health savings accounts (HSAs) for people enrolled in bronze or catastrophic exchange plans – and the Democratic legislation – which puts forward a three-year extension of Obamacare subsidies – failed to achieve the 60 votes needed to advance.
The White House said that those onboard the seized tanker off the coast of Venezuela are being interviewed and the US intends to “seize the oil” following the legal process. At today’s briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the tanker currently undergoing a forfeiture process, and the US has a “full investigative team on the ground on the vessel”. She also repeated the attorney general’s announcement yesterday that the tanker was “a sanctioned shadow vessel” carrying “black market” Iranian oil.
During a fiery hearing on Capitol Hill, several Democrats called for homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, to resign. Representatives on the House homeland security committee criticized Noem on her leadership of the department, the force and scope of ICE arrests, and the profiling of Black and Brown Americans. One Democrat said that the DHS is the “the greatest threat to the homeland right now”. Earlier, a protester interrupted Noem, screaming “end the deportations” and even quoting a line from The Exorcist.
A federal judge in Maryland has ordered the release of Kilmar Ábrego García from ICE custody on Thursday, and he will be advised on his release conditions in his separate Tennessee criminal case. The case of Ábrego, a Salvadorian national who was a construction worker in Maryland, has become a proxy for the partisan struggle over Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration policy and mass deportation agenda.
The US wants Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the Donbas region, and Washington would then create a “free economic zone” in the parts Kyiv currently controls, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Previously, the US had suggested Kyiv should hand over the parts of Donbas it still controlled to Russia, but the Ukrainian president said on Thursday that Washington had now suggested a compromise version in which Ukrainian troops would withdraw, but Russian troops would not advance into the territory.
Updated
In response to reporters’ questions today about the failed Republican legislation in the Senate that proposes an alternative to extending Affordable Care Act subsidies, the press secretary was vague about what Donald Trump saw as a viable path forward.
Karoline Leavitt said that the press would “hear more on that soon” and he was committed to lowering health care premiums for Americans.
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House votes down long-shot impeachment resolution against Trump
Democrats may be in the minority in the House of Representatives, but that did not stop Texas congressman Al Green from introducing an impeachment resolution against Donald Trump.
Green, who was censured by the House earlier this year for interrupting a speech by the president, accuses Trump of breaking his oath by calling for the execution of six Democratic lawmakers who recorded a video reminding military members that they can refuse illegal orders. The resolution also alleges Trump “fostered a political climate in which lawmakers and judges face threats of political violence and physical assault.”
In a letter announcing the resolution, Green wrote: “I will take a stand to protect government of the people, by the people, for the people. I will take a stand to impeach this abuser of presidential power. I will do so even if I must stand alone, because for me, on this issue, it is better to stand alone than not stand at all.”
The resolution had virtually no chance of success, and just a few minutes ago, the chamber voted down the measure. Ahead of the vote, top Democrats announced their intention to vote “present” on the resolution, rather than in support. Here’s the rationale, from minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, whip Katherine Clark and caucus chair Pete Aguilar:
“Impeachment is a sacred constitutional vehicle designed to hold a corrupt executive accountable for abuse of power, breaking the law and violating the public trust. The effort traditionally requires a comprehensive investigative process, the collection and review of thousands of documents, an exacting scrutiny of the facts, the examination of dozens of key witnesses, congressional hearings, sustained public organizing and the marshaling of the forces of democracy to build a broad national consensus. None of that serious work has been done, with the Republican majority focused solely on rubber stamping Donald Trump’s extreme agenda.”
The motion to table, or kill, the resolution succeeded, with 237 in favor. 140 members voted against tabling, and 47 voted present, all of which were Democrats. A total of nine lawmakers did not vote.
In April, Democratic congressman Shri Thanedar introduced an impeachment resolution against Trump, but withdrew it before it was voted on.
The press secretary today has repeated, incorrectly, that the consumer price index (CPI) has “slowed” to an average of 2.5%.
However, the most recent data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a 3% annual increase – a 0.3% increase from the month prior, and the same rate as when Trump returned to office in January.
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White House says those onboard vessel are being interviewed, and US will seize oil following legal process
The press secretary added that the oil tanker vessel is currently undergoing a forfeiture process, and the US has a “full investigative team on the ground on the vessel”. Leavitt added that individuals on board the vessel are being interviewed and “any relevant evidence is being seized”.
“The vessel will go to a US port, and the United States does intend to seize the oil,” she said. “However, there is a legal process for the seizure of that oil, and that legal process will be followed.”
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White House says oil tanker seizure was about enforcing 'administration's sanction policy'
When asked today whether Operation Southern Spear is “about drugs or about oil”, Karoline Leavitt said that Tuesday’s seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela happened after the justice department “requested and was approved for a warrant to seize a vessel”.
The press secretary repeated the attorney general’s announcement yesterday that the tanker was “a sanctioned shadow vessel” carrying “black market” Iranian oil.
“The president is committed to stopping the illegal flow of drugs into our country. He’s also fully committed to effectuating this administration’s sanction policy,” Leavitt said.
Updated
Senate fails to advance competing healthcare bills that determine future of Obamacare subsidies
The Senate failed to advance either of the two competing bills that would determine the future of the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of this year.
By a vote of 51-48, the Republican offering – led by GOP senators Bill Cassidy, who chairs the Senate health committee, and Mike Crapo, the chair of the upper chamber’s finance committee – failed to receive the 60 votes needed. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky broke ranks with his party, and joined Democrats to vote no on the bill.
A reminder that this legislation wouldn’t extend the ACA credits, but is built around government payments of $1,000 into the health savings accounts (HSAs) for people enrolled in bronze or catastrophic exchange plans, which typically have high deductibles.
Shortly after, the Democratic proposal to extend Obamacare subsidies for three years didn’t clear the 60-vote hurdle, also failing on a 51-48 margin. However, it did receive yes votes from four Republicans: Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska.
Updated
In a short while we’ll hear from press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is holding a White House briefing for reporters.
We’ll bring you the key lines here.
‘Censorship pure and simple’: critics hit out at Trump plan to vet visitors’ social media
Free speech advocates have accused Donald Trump of “shredding civil liberties” and “censorship pure and simple” after the White House said it planned to require visa applicants from dozens of countries to provide social media, phone and email histories for vetting before being allowed into the US.
In a move that some commentators compared to China and others warned would decimate tourism to the US, including the 2026 Fifa World Cup, the Department for Homeland Security said it was planning to apply the rules to visitors from 42 countries, including the UK, Ireland, Australia, France, Germany and Japan, if they want to enter the US on the commonly used Esta visa waiver.
The checks will be carried out when a traveller applies for their Esta and “will require Esta applicants to provide their social media from the last five years” as well as “telephone numbers used in the last five years” and “email addresses used in the last 10 years”, government documents show.
“The seriousness of this move should not be downplayed,” said Jemimah Steinfeld, the chief executive of Index on Censorship in London. “Through a simple search any posts critical of Trump and his administration could be revealed and then what? Will admission to the USA be predicated on being nice about the president? That would be censorship pure and simple and the result will extend far beyond as people start to self-censor to keep the door to the USA open to them.”
Here’s the full story:
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Ukraine holds talks with US on security guarantees under proposed peace deal, Zelenskyy says
Over on our Europe live blog, my colleague Jakub Krupa has been covering the latest news that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said a “constructive and in-depth discussion” has been taking place with the United States on security guarantees.
The meeting was attended by US state secretary Marco Rubio, defence secretary Pete Hegseth, peace envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, generals Keane and Grynkewich, commissioner Gruenbaum, as well as Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte.
“We greatly value the active engagement of the American side at all levels – not only in working to end the war, but also in ensuring Ukraine’s security and preventing a new Russian invasion,” Zelenskyy said.
He said the discussion “reflects the seriousness of America’s intentions and its clear focus on achieving outcomes.”
“Security guarantees are among the most critical elements for all subsequent steps. We have already got the negative experience of the Budapest Memorandum. Everyone remembers this, as well as the occasions when Russia repeatedly violated all its other commitments. That is why it is essential that this document on security guarantees provides concrete answers to what concerns Ukrainians the most: what actions partners will take if Russia decides to launch its aggression again,” he explained.
Separately, earlier Shaun Walker reported from Kyiv that the US is pushing Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the Donbas and create a “free economic zone” in the parts of the region Kyiv now controls.
Previously, the US had suggested Ukraine should hand over the parts of Donbas it still controls to Russia, but now Washington has suggested a compromise version in which Ukrainian troops would withdraw, but Russian troops would not advance into this territory, said Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine did not believe the plan was fair without guarantees that Russian troops would not simply take over the zone after a Ukrainian withdrawal. He said if Ukraine did agree to such a scheme, there would need to be elections or a referendum to ratify it.
Noem then left the hearing early for a meeting regarding Fema, she told members of Congress. Hecklers could be heard outside the room as she left.
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Democrat says Noem's DHS is 'greatest threat to the homeland right now'
In an exchange that got quite fiery just now, Democrat LaMonica McIver said that “the greatest threat to the homeland right now is a Department of Homeland Security that the American people no longer trust”.
Under Noem, McIver said, “the threat [to the United States] is coming from inside the building”.
McIver listed actions taken by DHS under Noem including the systematic dismantling of oversight, the fueling of bigotry and the targeting of vulnerable communities, as breaking the trust between the department and the people.
“Oversight is not optional,” McIver said. “Republicans on this committee may be willing to hand over their constitutional duty in order to kiss this administration’s butt cheeks – but I will not.”
Under Noem, the New Jersey congresswoman went on, DHS had become “unproductive and malicious” and said the secretary is “deeply unqualified for the post you hold”. She later added that the Trump administration had turned the department into “a political weapon”.
She later asked Noem if she agreed that using DHS resources to target members of Congress was an abuse of power, which Noem didn’t hear as she was talking about something else. McIver said she would’ve heard if she’d stopped talking for the question, to which Noem then said she was “talking crazy”.
A reminder that McIver was charged with assaulting federal agents after a chaotic scuffle outside an immigration detention facility in Newark on 9 May. In her remarks to Noem, she also referred to the treatment of senator Alex Padilla who was forcibly removed from a press conference in Los Angeles in June and handcuffed after he tried to ask Noem a question about immigration enforcement in the city.
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Almost a dozen House Republicans sign on to discharge petition for Obamacare extension
Eleven House Republicans signed on to a discharge petition, sponsored by GOP representative Bryan Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Maine Democrat Jared Golden.
If the petition receives the required 218 signatures, it would force a vote on the House floor on legislation that extends the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for two years, with new income limits.
“If these protections expire, millions of Americans will be hit with premium increases they simply cannot afford, forcing impossible choices about their health, their finances, and their futures,” Fitzpatrick said. “They deserve a concrete solution now, not promises of one later.”
Four Democrats have signed the petition so far, but in order to be successful most will have to sign on.
According to Punchbowl News, the House’s top Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries, said that they’ll make a decision about the discharge petition after the Senate votes on dueling bills to determine the future of Affordable Care Act subsidies later today.
As Noem faces questions from lawmakers during the House homeland security committee, congressman Seth Magaziner chided the secretary for the arrest of several veterans and family members of service members.
“These people are not the worst of the worst, a purple heart recipient, a military spouse, the father of three Marines,” he said.
Another Democrat, New York representative Dan Goldman, played the widely shared video of an ICE officer pushing a woman to the floor at an immigration court in New York City. The officer was initially relieved of his duties, but Goldman said that he was reinstated “three days later”.
“I sent you a letter and asked you what investigation was done and why was he reinstated. You did not answer that letter,” Goldman said.
Noem insisted that the investigation was complete was “surprised” that the congressman’s office had not received a copy. “I’m going to ask my staff about that,” the secretary added.
Thompson and Noem are going back and forth on the asylum application of Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the 29-year-old Afghan national who has been charged with shooting two national guard members in DC, killing one of them.
Lakanwal came to the US in September 2021 under an Operation Allies Welcome program that gave some Afghans who had worked for the US government entry visas to the US.
Thompson said today that the suspect’s asylum application was approved by the Department of Homeland Security under Donald Trump. Noem, however, pushed back.
“The asylum application moved forward under all of the information and vetting processes that were put in place under the Biden administration, which is when vetting happened, and that’s what President Trump has changed,” she said.
Federal judge orders release of Kilmar Ábrego García from immigration detention
A federal court in Maryland has ordered the release of Kilmar Ábrego García from ICE custody on Thursday, and he will be advised on his release conditions in his separate Tennessee criminal case.
The case of Ábrego, a Salvadorian national who was a construction worker in Maryland, has become a proxy for the partisan struggle over Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration policy and mass deportation agenda.
Trump administration officials have waged a relentless public relations campaign against Ábrego, repeatedly referring to him as a member of the MS-13 gang, among other things, despite the fact he has not been convicted of any crimes. His attorneys have denounced the criminal charges.
As Noem began speaking today, a heckler interrupted her, screaming “end the deportations”.
The homeland security committee chair, representative Andrew Garbarino, called on the Capitol police to remove the disruptor.
Top Democrat on House homeland security calls for Noem to resign
Mississippi congressman Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House homeland security committee, chastised DHS secretary Kristi Noem in his opening remarks today and called for her resignation.
“Rather than sitting here and wasting your time and ours more with more corruption, lies and lawlessness, I call on you to resign. Do a real service to the country and just resign,” the lawmaker said. “That is if president Trump doesn’t fire you first.”
Earlier, Thompson said that under Noem’s direction the DHS has “illegally tased, maced, punched and even shot Americans, black and brown. Americans in particular have been racially profiled, detained and locked up and sometimes with tragic consequences”.
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Homeland security secretary to appear before House committee
In a short while Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, will face questions from representatives on the House homeland security committee.
This comes amid reports that Donald Trump and his administration is frustrated with Noem’s performance.
We’ll bring you the latest lines as the hearing gets underway.
‘Our heroes did not sign up for this’: Duckworth slams National guard deployments at Senate hearing
Democratic senator Tammy Duckworth slammed the Trump administration’s deployment of national guard troops at a Senate armed services committee hearing today.
The Illinois lawmaker, a veteran and former Army helicopter pilot, said that “thousands of troops are deployed across the country under false pretenses”.
“Here in DC, the national guard has been performing missions that don’t help with their military training—like spreading mulch and picking up trash—but that, as we’ve sadly seen, nonetheless carry risk for our service members,” she added.
The hearing comes after two members of the West Virginia national guard were shot in downtown DC just before Thanksgiving. One soldier, Sarah Beckstrom, was killed in the attack, while another, Andrew Wolfe, was severely injured and is recovering in hospital.
“Enabling the president to send military troops into American cities under transparently flimsy pretext to meet his whims will have a dangerous and profoundly damaging impact on our military,” Duckworth said today. “Our heroes did not sign up for this.”
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, questioned how the US was able to seize an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday but “not a drug boat” – referring to the suspected drug-trafficking vessel that was the target of the 2 September double-tap strike.
Warner has been part of the chorus of lawmakers who have called for the full, unedited video of the strike to be released.
Donald Trump is in Washington today. At 4:45pm ET he’ll take part in a signing ceremony in the Oval Office. That’s closed to the press, but we’ll let you know if that opens up.
Then, he’ll deliver remarks at the Congressional ball this evening.
Also today, we’ll hear from press secretary Karoline Leavitt. At 1pm ET, she’ll hold a White House briefing, and we’ll bring you the key lines.
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Ahead of today’s vote on extending Obamacare premium tax credits, Senate Republican leaders have endorsed an alternative bill that would instead give enrollees of high-deductible plans, purchased through the ACA marketplace, payments of up to $1,500 into their health savings accounts.
In the House, Republican speaker Mike Johnson has said he does not support extending the tax credits, but that his party plans to soon introduce their own proposals to make healthcare cheaper.
Johnson’s opposition means that even if the Democratic gambit succeeds in the Senate, it is unlikely to be voted on in the House.
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Trump lashes out against Indiana lawmakers ahead of redistricting vote
The Indiana state senate is set to vote on Thursday on efforts to redraw the state’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, the latest state under pressure from the Trump administration to do so with the goal of gaining Republicans more seats in the US House of Representatives.
While efforts in Texas led to the state drawing five additional red districts – which then led to California advancing a now-approved ballot measure to create five more Democrat-friendly districts – the White House pressure campaign hasn’t found willing participants in all GOP-held statehouses. Voters in Missouri are trying to stop their state’s gerrymander with a referendum and some Republican representatives in Kansas have been speaking against the efforts.
Last month, Rodric Bray, the Indiana senate president pro tem, said that he and many others in his caucus did not believe that redistricting was the to gain control of the House.
Donald Trump lashed out at Bray on Truth Social on Wednesday, accusing Bray of enjoying being “the only person in the United States of America who is against Republicans picking up extra seats”. The president said Bray was “either a bad guy, or a very stupid one”.
“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 said. “If Republicans will not do what is necessary to save our Country, they will eventually lose everything to the Democrats.”
He continiued: “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.”
DNC launches ads in Republicans’ hometowns ahead of vote on Obamacare subsidies
As the Senate votes today on a pair of bills to address the looming expiration of premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans, the Democratic National Committee took out ads on the home town newspapers’ websites of Republicans senators who could be crucial to determining the vote.
The subsidies were created under Joe Biden, and premiums for the more than 21.8m enrollees are expected to spike to potentially unaffordable levels if they are not renewed beyond their end-of-the-month expiration.
Democrats have proposed a bill that would extend them through 2028, but will need to receive at least some Republican votes for it to succeed in the Senate. To pressure Maine senator Susan Collins, Ohio senators Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno, Texas senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and Alaska senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, the DNC has taken out ads in their local newspapers reading: “Republicans are doubling healthcare costs”, and encouraging readers to call their offices.
DNC chair Ken Martin called the Senate vote, “the difference between life and death for many Americans.”
“Working families are already struggling to afford the basics, and if they have to shell out hundreds of dollars more for their health care every month, they could be forced to choose between putting food on the table, paying their rent, or going uninsured,” he said.
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Senate to vote on dual bills on looming expiration of Obamacare tax credits
The US Senate will vote Thursday on competing bills to address the imminent expiration of subsidies for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans, but neither measure is expected to pass, greatly increasing the chances that healthcare costs will soon rise to unaffordable levels for many Americans.
The votes, part of a deal brokered between Republican majority leader John Thune and the Democratic senators who agreed to reopen the government after a historically long shutdown last month, come as premium tax credits for an estimated 21.8 million enrollees of the plans are set to expire at the end of the month. Health policy research group KFF estimates that annual premiums will more than double if the subsidies are allowed to expire.
While Democrats have proposed extending them for three years, Republicans are poised to oppose their bill, claiming that the 2010 law, commonly known as Obamacare, has failed at its promise of lowering healthcare costs, and that further tax credits would be untenable.
Read more here:
Chris Van Hollen, the Democratic senator from Maryland, was among the lawmakers speaking out against the Trump administration and its actions around Venezuela, taking to the senate floor on Wednesday to call on Congress to block Donald Trump from “using taxpayer dollars to launch a regime change war”.
“Last time I checked, the constitution of the United States gives Congress – this body – the power to decide questions of war or peace,” he said.
As Trump continues to manufacture a cover story for armed conflict with Venezuela, I'm calling on Congress to block him from using taxpayer dollars to launch a regime change war. Tune in: https://t.co/zlFewzXVeL
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) December 10, 2025
The Department of Homeland Security has signed a nearly $140m contract to purchase six Boeing 737 planes for deportation operations.
The contract, signed with the Virginia-based firm Daedalus Aviation, was first reported by the Washington Post on Wednesday and later confirmed by DHS.
In a statement to the Guardian confirming the purchase, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said: “This new initiative will save $279m in taxpayer dollars by allowing ICE to operate more effectively, including by using more efficient flight patterns.”
She added: “President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to quickly and efficiently getting criminal illegal aliens OUT of our country.”
Read more here:
Trump plans to appoint US general to lead Gaza security force - report
The Trump administration is planning to appoint an American two-star general to command the international stabilization force (ISF) in Gaza, Axios reports, citing two unnamed US officials and two unnamed Israeli officials.
The UN security council last month approved the creation of the ISF to provide security and stablization for the region for at least two years, which would include securing humanitarian aid corridors and working on the “permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”. The stablization forces comes from Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, which also includes the disarmament of Hamas, the demilitarization of Gaza and the creation of the board of peace to oversee governance of Gaza and will ultimately be chaired by Trump.
This means that should Trump appoint a US general to head the stabilization force, the US will be in command of not just overseeing the governance of the enclave but also its security force.
Two unnamed Israeli officials told Axios that UN ambassador Mike Waltz told Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, of these plans and stressed that having an American general in charge should give Israel confidence. “Waltz even said he knows the general personally and stressed he is a very serious guy,” one Israeli official said to Axios.
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Jeff Merkley, the Democratic senator from Oregon, on Wednesday attempted to pass via unanimous consent a bill prohibiting Donald Trump from taking unauthorized military action in Venezuela.
“As we stand here in this chamber, President Trump is preparing to launch a war, a war on Venezuela – without a declaration of war, without a congressional authorization, without a congressional appropriation of funds,” Merkley said. “So I’ve come to the floor to reassert the constitutional role of Congress over this decision of going to war.”
Senate Republicans blocked the attempt, according to Senate Democrats.
BREAKING: @SenJeffMerkley just took to the Senate floor to try to pass a bill prohibiting Trump from taking unauthorized military action in Venezuela.
— Senate Democrats (@SenateDems) December 11, 2025
Senate Republicans blocked it. pic.twitter.com/DWxhda9Kp2
Merkley on Wednesday also called for an investigation into potential insider trading by fossil-fuel billionaires close to the Trump administration, following a Guardian investigation that revealed that Robert Pender, an energy lawyer, and Michael Sabel, a former investment banker, had purcased millions of shares in the company they co-founded just days after a meeting with senior White House officials.
“Dirty oil and gas bucks are fueling the Trump administration, which should outrage all of us. This latest reporting portrays a pattern of pay-to-play donations and favorable actions by the administration,” said Merkley, a senior member of the Senate appropriations and budget committees.
Read more here:
Since Donald Trump’s election victory, Hasan Piker has become an in-demand voice in “the real world” for his views on the beleaguered political left, and especially that inordinately fretted-over demographic, young men.
In this feature, the Guardian’s Steve Rose speaks to Piker about how he became one of the biggest voices on the US left:
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Senate to question military leaders on Trump's national guard deployments
Senators for the first time are poised to question military leaders over President Donald Trump’s use of the national guard in US cities, an extraordinary move that has prompted legal challenges as well as questions about states’ rights and the use of the military on US soil.
The hearing on Thursday before the Senate armed services committee is expected to feature tough questioning for Pentagon leaders over the legality of the deployments, which in some places were done over the objections of mayors and governors.
The hearing will bring the highest level of scrutiny to Trump’s use of the national guard outside of a courtroom since the deployments began and comes a day after the president faced another legal setback over his muscular use of troops in larger federal operations.
Trump has justified the use of the military in US cities by saying the national guard is needed to support federal law enforcement, protect federal facilities and combat crime.
Democratic senator Tammy Duckworth said she had threatened to hold up the annual defense bill if Republican leadership continued to block the hearing, which she said is long overdue. Duckworth told the AP:
Donald Trump is illegally deploying our nation’s service members under misleading if not false pretexts.
Duckworth, a combat veteran who served in the Illinois national guard, said domestic deployments have traditionally involved responding to major floods and tornadoes, not assisting immigration agents who are detaining people in aggressive raids.
According to the AP, Duckworth said she has questions for the military about how Trump’s deployments are affecting readiness, training and costs. She also wants to know if guard members will have legal protections if an immigration agent wrongfully harms a civilian. Duckworth said:
I’m deeply concerned that our nation’s military is being put in jeopardy by these policies.
The hearing comes two weeks after two West Virginia national guard members deployed to Washington were shot just blocks from the White House in what the city’s mayor described as a targeted attack.
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Tourists to the United States would have to reveal their social media activity from the last five years, under new Trump administration plans.
The mandatory new disclosures would apply to the 42 countries whose nationals are currently permitted to enter the US without a visa, including longtime US allies Britain, France, Australia, Germany and Japan.
In a notice published on Tuesday, the US Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) said it would also require any telephone numbers used by visitors over the same period, and any email addresses used in the last decade, as well as face, fingerprint, DNA and iris biometrics. It would also ask for the names, addresses, birthdates and birthplaces of family members, including children.
CBP said the new changes to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (Esta) application were required in order to comply with an executive order issued by Donald Trump on the first day of his new term. In it, the US president called for restrictions to ensure visitors to the US “do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles”.
The plan would throw a wrench into travel for the World Cup, which the US is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico next year. Fifa has said it expects to attract 5 million fans to the stadiums, and millions more visitors to the US, Canada and Mexico.
Tourism to the US has already dropped dramatically in Trump’s second term, as the president has pushed a draconian crackdown on immigrants, including recent moves to ban all asylum claims and to stop migration entirely from more than 30 countries.
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US House passes bill to bolster Europe’s defence, in apparent rebuke to Trump’s foreign policy strategy
The US House has approved a sweeping defence bill that bolsters Europe’s security, in what appears to be sharp rebuke to Donald Trump’s mounting threats to downgrade Washington’s ties to traditional allies and Nato.
The bipartisan vote came just days after the publication of a White House national security strategy that said Europe faced “civilisational erasure” and made explicit Washington’s support for Europe’s nationalist far-right parties – rattling EU leaders and opening up a seismic shift in transatlantic relations.
By contrast, the House’s $900bn Pentagon is notable for its pro-Europe orientation and its clampdown on Trump’s authority to reduce troop numbers, move equipment or downgrade Nato-linked missions.
The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – which now advances to the Senate – carries a robust $8bn more than the funding Trump requested in May.
It leans hard into European defence, barring troop levels on the continent from falling below 76,000 for more than 45 days and blocking the removal of major equipment.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said ahead of the vote:
President Trump and congressional Republicans are restoring American strength, defending our homeland, standing with our allies, and ensuring the United States remains the most powerful and capable military force the world has ever known.
In the national security strategy published last week, Trump lambasted Europe as an over-regulated, censorious continent lacking in “self-confidence” and facing “civilisational erasure” due to immigration.
The document openly supported far-right European parties, questioned the continent’s commitment to peace and indicated that its security is no longer a top US priority.
When Pete Hegseth was made Donald Trump’s secretary of war, there was shock and consternation. Since then he has put highly classified plans to bomb Yemen on a group chat and ordered executions of Venezuelans in the sea, reportedly insisting they “kill everybody”, even when the survivors who were seen clinging to a boat could pose no threat.
The former Fox News talkshow host holds one of the most powerful jobs in the world and has come to it with a clear ideology. He wants to bring his “warrior culture” to the US military. Joseph Gedeon, a breaking news reporter for the Guardian US, tells Nosheen Iqbal:
His whole thing is about what he calls the warrior ethos. His whole message is that America fights with one hand tied behind its back because of lawyers, oversight and cultural distractions.
Now strikes on Venezuelans in the Caribbean Sea have led to him being accused of war crimes and a damning report into his handling of classified information has come back. Can he survive? Listen to the latest episode of the Guardian’s Todqay in Focus podcast for a discussion on this:
Opening summary
US lawmakers have shared their concerns over escalating tensions between the US and Venezuela after US forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
Senator Rand Paul told NewsNation, as reported by the Hill, that the action “sounds a lot like the beginning of a war” and it was not “the job of the American government to go looking for monsters around the world, looking for adversaries and beginning wars”.
The major escalation of Donald Trump’s four-month pressure campaign against the South American country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, was described by the Venezuelan government as “an act of international piracy”.
Trump confirmed the operation on Wednesday, saying:
We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela – a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually.
“It was seized for a very good reason,” the US president added, declining to say who owned the vessel.
Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, posted footage of the seizure on X. She said the tanker had been sanctioned by the US for “multiple years” due to its “involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations”.
Venezuela’s government said in a statement that the seizure “constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy”.
It continued:
Under these circumstances, the true reasons for the prolonged aggression against Venezuela have finally been revealed … It has always been about our natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people.
Also speaking to NewsNation, senator Chris Coons said that while he did not know the details of the incident, he was “gravely concerned that [Trump] is sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela”.
In other developments:
Donald Trump launched a new program that will allow wealthy foreign individuals to buy a US “golden visa” for $1m, and trailed a “platinum” version for $5m. “A direct path to Citizenship for all qualified and vetted people. SO EXCITING! Our Great American Companies can finally keep their invaluable Talent,” Trump wrote on Wednesday on social media.
The US Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it was cutting interest rates by a quarter point for the third time this year, as the embattled central bank appeared split over how best to manage the US economy.
The US House voted 312-112 to pass a sweeping defense policy bill on Wednesday that authorizes $900bn in military programs, including a pay raise for troops and an overhaul of how the Department of Defense purchases weapons.
The governor of Washington, Bob Ferguson, declared a statewide emergency on Wednesday in response to heavy rain in the Pacific north-west state since an atmospheric river smacked the region a day earlier with rains that triggered mudslides and washed out roads and submerged vehicles.
A senior Democratic senator is calling for an investigation into potential insider trading by fossil-fuel billionaires close to the Trump administration, after a Guardian investigation raised questions about an unusual share-buying spree. Robert Pender and Michael Sabel, the founders and co-chairs of Venture Global, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) company headquartered in Virginia, bought more than a million shares worth almost $12m each, just days after meeting with senior Trump officials in March.
Immigrant students across the US have experienced increased bullying, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdowns causing declines in attendance and a “culture of fear” among immigrant students in public schools, according to a new survey of high school principals. Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access (Idea) conducted a “nationally representative” survey of more than 600 principals about the toll of raids and deportations, and how schools were responding.
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