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December 19, 2025
Frustration mounts at Justice Department as it races to redact some Epstein files, sources say
(CNN) Frustration is mounting inside the Justice Department as it races to redact thousands of pages of files related to Jeffrey Epstein before they must be released Friday, multiple sources familiar with the process told CNN. A substantial number of redactions are needed, one of the sources said, and the documents each attorney is processing since Thanksgiving week can number more than 1,000 — a time-consuming task that likely will come down to the wire. The sensitivities of executive and legal privacy, victims’ protections and other concerns all could play in to the choices the lawyers must make when it comes to potential redactions.
Go to discussionEpstein's Brother Blows Up White House's Story on Trump's Innocence
(Daily Beast) As part of his attempts to minimize his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide while awaiting trial in 2019, the White House claimed this summer that Trump had never been in the financier’s workplace on Madison Avenue in New York. “The president was never in his office,” said Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, in July. However, Epstein’s own brother, Mark, told The New York Times in a report published Thursday that the future president “was in the office all the time back then.”
Go to discussion'Internal debacle': GOP lawmakers furious that Mike Johnson 'got outplayed' by Democrats
(Raw Story) Democrats repeatedly outmaneuvered Republican leadership and stalled the GOP agenda to close out the legislative year, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing heat. Under House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrats shifted the congressional agenda toward their priorities while exposing fractures within the GOP majority, and the centerpiece of Democratic success was a deliberate September strategy to frame the government shutdown around healthcare rather than President Donald Trump's federal spending cuts, reported Politico.
Go to discussion'The Titanic': 'The Ship be Sinking, It's Over'
(Mediaite) House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) went off on the Trump administration on Thursday, ramping up his regular attacks on Republicans by mocking President Donald Trump as the “Titanic” and marveling that people still aren’t jumping ship – yet. “The Republicans are losers. Why are you bending the knee at this point in time? It’s not clear to you that, as Michael Ray Richardson, the great former New York Knick, once said, ‘the ship be sinking, it’s over.’ This is the Titanic. I don’t get it,” Jeffries said at one point during his presser on Capitol Hill.
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Krugman: "Republicans will never approve subsidies adequate to make health insurance affordable."
(Raw Story) Krugman explained, "Because the Republican plan would be far stingier than the one currently in place, millions of people will be forced to drop their insurance. And as I said, because it’s the younger and relatively more healthy that will drop their coverage, the pool of those who keep their coverage will be older and sicker. And you know what happens next – premiums go up even further. No wonder that four Republican congressmen in purple districts defied Mike Johnson and voted to extend the Obamacare subsidies."
Go to discussionTrump move to dismantle climate agency blows up Senate funding deal.
(The Hill) A potential deal to fund large swaths of the federal government, including the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services, collapsed on Thursday night after Colorado senators demanded that Congress stop President Trump’s efforts to dismantle a key climate agency. A Democratic senator involved in the negotiations over passing a five-bill package of appropriations bills before Christmas said that Trump’s attempt to break up a premier weather and climate center based in Boulder, Colo., was like a “stick of dynamite” that exploded any chance of a bipartisan breakthrough on spending.
Go to discussionEx-White House cardiologist says Trump looked 'unwell' during 'manic' national address
(Raw Story) A former White House cardiologist says Donald Trump looked "unwell" during his "manic" address to the nation. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who served as Vice President Dick Cheney's cardiologist for decades, made a series of posts to X as Trump addressed the nation. Though Reiner has been critical of the president in the past, he shared genuine concern for how "unwell" the 79-year-old Commander-in-Chief looks.
Go to discussionTrump DOJ plagued by 'unprecedented errors' -- more than 1 out of 5 of its DC criminal cases are getting tossed
(Mediaite) They say a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich, but the criminal cases brought by the prosecutors at President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice are ending up toast with embarrassing frequency. But the last few months of Trump’s DOJ have drastically leveled the playing field. Many legal commentators have chalked this up in large part to the numerous top DOJ officials and career prosecutors who were fired, encouraged to resign, retired, or quit.
Go to discussionThey quit government to protest Trump. Now they are running for Congress to stop him.
(Reuters) It was Megan O'Rourke's dream job. As a top climate scientist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, she oversaw grants for research projects aimed at making food production healthier and more sustainable. But when President Donald Trump's administration began targeting funding programs associated with climate change, O'Rourke decided she could no longer work for the government and remain true to her moral compass – or the oath she swore to serve the country, not just the president.
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