What we're covering
• Health care plans fail: The White House has vowed to roll out a new approach on health care after the Senate rejected dueling proposals from Democrats and Republicans. President Donald Trump said he believes both parties will soon be working together on the issue. Many Americans face soaring premiums with the looming expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies at the end of the year.
• Venezuela tensions: The US has announced sanctions against members of Nicolás Maduro’s family and ships it says move Venezuelan oil, as President Donald Trump continues to exert pressure on the leader following the seizure of a tanker off the coast of the country.
• Redistricting battles: Trump said he’d back a primary challenge to the GOP leader of the Indiana Senate after the state rejected his push to redraw congressional districts in Republicans’ favor.
New photos released by House panel from Epstein’s estate show Trump and other high-profile people
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have released photos today from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate showing the many powerful figures in the late sex trafficker’s orbit, including President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Steve Bannon, Bill Gates, Richard Branson and others.
Many of the men have been previously linked to Epstein, though the photos may shed new light on the extent of those relationships.
Taken collectively, the 19 images – which the committee said came from Epstein’s estate – reinforce the financier was tied in the past to a wide variety of powerful and high-profile people whose ties to him are now under significant scrutiny. One image released today shows what appears to be a bowl of novelty condoms with a caricature of Trump’s face; the bowl has a sign saying, “Trump condom $4.50,” and each condom bears an image of Trump’s face with the text, “I’m HUUUUGE!” Another showed Trump with six women with leis whose faces were redacted by the committee.
None of the released images depict any sexual misconduct nor are believed to depict underage girls. It was not immediately clear when or where they were taken, or by whom.
Trump’s ties to Epstein are well known. The two were part of the same social circles in Manhattan and Palm Beach. But Trump has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing, and he and his team have previously derided Epstein as a “creep” whom Trump expelled from his club.
The Republican-led committee obtained the images from Epstein’s estate as part of its ongoing investigation. The panel has so far released tens of thousands of documents, emails and communications that it received from the Epstein estate that continue to open new lines of investigative inquiry.
Remember: The Department of Justice is separately facing a December 19 deadline to publicly release all records amassed by federal prosecutors during the sex trafficking investigation and prosecution of Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Russia hasn't seen peace proposals from US-Ukraine talks and may not be happy with them, says Kremlin aide
Russia has not seen the new peace proposals that resulted from talks between the United States, Ukraine and Europe, a Kremlin aide said Friday, adding that it may not like them, Russian state media reported.
The aide added that the Kremlin has not seen the revised versions of the US proposals, following talks with Ukrainian officials last weekend.
“When we do see them, we might not like a lot of things. I have a feeling,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that the US has suggested that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the eastern Donbas region to create a “free economic zone.” Zelensky said the proposal had been floated as a “compromise,” with Russia seeking to gain the entirety of the region and Ukraine wanting to remain along the current line of contact and not cede territory.
Expressing frustration with Johnson, GOP congresswoman says Trump believes in bipartisan action on health care
We’re getting more reaction from lawmakers on the impasse over health care.
New York Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told CNN she hopes President Donald Trump backs the proposal that she and seven other lawmakers from both parties have introduced.
Malliotakis said “it’s very frustrating” that Speaker Mike Johnson has not given them a vote, as many Americans face skyrocketing premiums once enhanced Covid-era Obamacare subsidies expire at the end of the month.
She told CNN’s John Berman that Trump “understands that this is going to require a bipartisan solution, a bipartisan vote,” after the president predicted both parties are going to work together on the issue.
Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia again
We are now getting more information about the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from once again detaining Abrego Garcia, hours after the judge ordered him to be released from an immigration detention facility.
The temporary restraining order issued early this morning by US District Judge Paula Xinis is the latest setback in the US government’s ongoing efforts to deport Abrego Garcia, who has become a national symbol of the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies.
After being wrongly deported to El Salvador in March, Abrego Garcia was brought back to the US earlier this year to face federal criminal charges and was later held for months at an immigration detention facility in Pennsylvania. He was released from immigration custody yesterday after Xinis found that the government was unlawfully detaining him in part because there was no order of removal from an immigration judge during that period.
The judge said her order will remain in effect until she’s able to hold a hearing over the issue.
Abrego Garcia speaks: This morning, Abrego Garcia said he’s walking into his mandatory check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement with his “head held up high.”
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Veronica Stracqualursi and Julia Benbrook contributed reporting.
Here's what is on Trump's schedule today
According to the White House schedule, President Donald Trump has one event open to the press today, a bill-signing ceremony at 3 p.m. ET. We’ll let you know if we get more details on that.
Trump also will swear in the CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation and chairman of the Export–Import Bank of the United States in the Oval Office today at 1:30 p.m. ET. That is currently closed to press, but we’ll update you if that changes.
Elsewhere, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is traveling to Huntsville, Alabama, today to visit the newly relocated US Space Command headquarters and attend a designation ceremony.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will deliver the keynote luncheon address to the Homeland Security & Defense Forum at 1 p.m. ET.
The House is in at 9 a.m. ET, and the Senate is out today. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. ET from Capitol Hill. We’ll continue to update you on the latest on the battle over the extension of enhanced health insurance premium subsidies.
More conversations needed to find solution on health care, Jeffries says
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN that Democrats are willing to sit down with Republicans to chart a path forward on health care — but he doesn’t think that will happen with House GOP leadership.
He also added that Democrats will get together early next week to have conversations amongst themselves on the issue.
His remarks come after President Donald Trump predicted Republicans and Democrats will work together on health care following the Senate’s rejection of dueling proposals from both parties. Millions of Americans could see their premiums skyrocket if enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies are allowed to lapse at the end of this month.
Trump had call with Modi as India pushes for relief from US tariffs
President Donald Trump spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi by phone on Thursday, a White House official told CNN.
The conversation happened as India continues to negotiate a trade deal with Washington, after it was slapped with 50% tariffs — half of which was a direct punishment for New Delhi’s continued purchases of discounted Russian oil.
Modi described the conversation as cordial and wide-ranging.
“Had a very warm and engaging conversation with President Trump. We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments,” Modi said in a post on X.
“India and the U.S. will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity,” Modi continued.
The phone call between Trump and Modi also occurred a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to New Delhi to meet with the Indian prime minister.
Sticking points remain as US pushes for Ukraine war deal. Here's what to know
The US has suggested creating a “free economic zone” in parts of the eastern Donbas region from which Ukraine would withdraw under a deal with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday.
Zelensky said Kyiv has presented the US with an updated version of a peace plan — “not a single document, but a set of documents,” many of which need to be finalized. He said the Trump administration wants a “full understanding” of the plan’s status by Christmas.
Questions of territory remain unresolved, the Ukrainian leader said. “The Russians want the whole of the Donbas — but we, of course, do not accept this,” he explained.
Some background: Russia has been fighting in the Donbas region, which spans the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, since 2014. Moscow is now trying to secure through US-mediated peace negotiations what it has been unable to win through force of arms.
As a compromise, Zelensky said the US has discussed creating a “free economic zone” in the parts of the Donbas from which Ukrainian troops would withdraw. The Russians refer to the territory under discussion as a “demilitarized” zone, he added.
Zelensky said questions remain about who would manage the territory, and how to ensure that troop withdrawals were fair. He also questioned who would police the “free economic zone.”
What’s next? US, European and Ukrainian officials will convene this weekend in Paris for further talks on the peace plan. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it is “up in the air” whether the Trump administration will send a representative. She said President Donald Trump is “sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting.”
Yesterday, Trump said the US would help with security efforts, should a deal be reached, which “I think, a necessary factor in getting it done.”
US pressure on Venezuela is mounting. Here's the latest
The US has announced a slew of new sanctions against Venezuela, as it ramps up a pressure campaign that has included moving troops into the Caribbean, strikes on suspected drug boats, threats against its leader and seizing a tanker and its oil.
The US has killed 87 people in strikes that have destroyed 23 alleged drug boats, and Trump has repeatedly suggested action on land could come soon.
Yesterday, the US announced new sanctions on shipping companies and vessels it says help move Venezuelan oil.
As of early Friday, there were at least eight tankers under US sanctions related to Iran or Russia near Venezuelan ports, or off its coast, according to AIS shipping data reviewed by CNN and matched up with US Treasury data.
Three nephews of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, and another Maduro-affiliated businessman, were also named in the sanctions list. Two of the sanctioned nephews were previously convicted of drug trafficking charges in the US before being released in a prisoner swap.
The sanctions come after Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.
Machado, who spoke from Oslo yesterday, said the US helped her get to Norway to receive the prize. She had been in hiding in Venezuela and vowed to return, no matter who was in power.
Trump said the campaign is “about a lot of things” — including migration:
CNN’s Michael Rios, Lauren Kent, Stefano Pozzebon, Lex Harvey, Sandi Sidhu, Isaac Yee and Donald Judd contributed reporting.
