Here's the latest
• Fight brewing over oversight: President Donald Trump said Democrats are “illegally threatening Republicans,” as his administration escalated its warnings about potential oversight investigations. Rep. Robert Garcia, who will chair the House Oversight Committee, told CNN the White House is trying to intimidate Democrats.
• Trump pushes for defense funding: The president urged GOP Senate leaders to “immediately” advance a reconciliation bill that would provide $350 billion in funding before Democrats come to power.
• Iran policy shift: Trump also shifted gears once again in his approach to the war with Iran, writing on social media that the US doesn’t “need a deal” with Tehran and ordering his vice president to turn his focus elsewhere.
• Change in Mississippi: Scott Colom is projected to win a Senate seat, becoming the first Democrat that voters in deep-red Mississippi have elected to the chamber in more than four decades.
Updates
(18)Blanche: No ongoing criminal investigations into incoming lawmakers over talk of probes
Amid a flurry of comments made by incoming Democratic lawmakers around the investigations they want to pursue into the administration, Attorney General Todd Blanche said Thursday that while “free speech is allowed” their rhetoric “should worry Americans.”
Democratic lawmakers have said they will launch investigations into the conduct of the administration now that they will have control of the House and Senate.
Blanche, during a press conference Thursday, said there were no ongoing criminal investigations “into words that that incoming senators or congressmen have said.”
He added: “You can be critical of this administration. You can certainly be critical of me and critical of President Trump. But there can come a point when when a criticism becomes a threat, and then when a threat becomes something criminal.”
Blanche told reporters that he’s not saying that line has been crossed yet.
“I’m not trying to say anything sensational,” Blanche added.
“The issue is when it becomes actually criminal,” he said, noting that if someone can’t do their job because of investigative threats “there could be a problem there.”
“I am optimistic, as the president is, that we will have a Relationship with congress that is productive,” he said. “I certainly am optimistic that there will be cooperation, but we will see.”
Trump downplays prospect of Jimmy Lai's release ahead of China visit
President Donald Trump acknowledged today that efforts to free former Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai from a Chinese prison face an uphill battle, saying that while he’d discussed Lai’s case with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, there remains “great animosity there.”
“As you know, I’ve gotten others out, and recently, I’ve gotten others out. Jimmy Lai is a little bit of a different story,” Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt. “And I spoke at length with President Xi about Jimmy Lai. I don’t know Jimmy Lai, but I know the whole story, and there’s a great level of hatred there. I’m using a nice word.”
Trump’s comments come just four days ahead of a scheduled trip to Asia, where he’s scheduled to stop in the Philippines and Shenzhen, China, where he’s expected to meet with Xi.
Trump has previously said he’s raised the issue of detained political prisoners during meetings with the Chinese leader. In July, Pastor Ezra Jin was released shortly after Trump raised his case during an earlier visit to Beijing.
But the Hong Kong media tycoon, who was sentenced to twenty years in prison earlier this year, remains in custody despite calls from the administration for his release. The 78-year-old self-made billionaire was among the highest-profile government critics charged since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law in 2020.
Speaking today, the US president said he discussed Lai’s case with Xi “in great detail, and he agreed to other people,” but added “he has not agreed to Jimmy Lai.”
Incoming Senate Democrat won’t say if he’ll back Schumer for leader
Democratic Sen.-elect Chris Pappas refused to say if he’ll back Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer for another term in charge of the caucus.
“I look forward to continuing to talk with him about what I need to be successful for the people of New Hampshire, and I think senators individually are going to have those conversations. I’ve always said we’ll see who’s running and throws their hat into the ring,” he told reporters.
“I think what we’re interested in is making sure that we have a new way of doing business, that the voices of American voters are going to be heard in these halls, and I think it’s incumbent on all of us who just won tough elections to bring those voices with us to the table.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who has said he would back Schumer, dismissed concerns that a possible challenge from Sen. Chris Van Hollen could divide the caucus.
“Chris Van Hollen is a great colleague, he’s a good friend, and I have not heard that he’s actually running for majority leader, but I’m supporting Chuck Schumer,” said Blumenthal, adding he’s “excited by the new ideas and energy that my colleagues, new colleagues, will bring to the Senate, and most importantly, need to have a conversation about how to make the Senate work better. That’s one of the main goals here, and it’s a priority for me to make sure that the Senate rules and the procedures and the way we operate produce more results.”
GOP senator frustrated Trump has not said how $350B defense funding request would be used
Republican Sen. Mike Rounds is frustrated that President Donald Trump is demanding the Senate pass $350 billion for defense funding but his administration has not provided Capitol Hill with the critical and necessary details of how the funding would be used.
The member of the Senate Armed Services Committee is also angry that the administration has cut Democrats out of crucial classified briefings on the war that he believes could build Democratic support for the funding Trump is demanding.
Rounds said it’s not clear if the party-line reconciliation bill Trump wants can even get 51 votes among GOP senators.
“But just the fact that we haven’t seen from them the actual things that they would fund it with and so forth makes it extremely difficult in the time period to actually get it done,” he said, noting they may need to pursue another way to pass it, like a supplemental that could be attached to a must-pass government funding bill.
Democrats are wary of providing more money for the war when voters have said they want it over.
“I think they need to have and invite in our Democrat colleagues to some of the classifieds that the Democrats have not been privy to yet, and once they get that, I think there’s a better shot maybe at even getting 60 votes than what there would be to get 50,” Republican votes, he said.
Asked to explain why Democrats are being excluded from classified briefings, Rounds said sternly, “I don’t know, and I have expressed my frustration with the administration directly to the people that have not been providing (it).”
He said those people have said their “hands are tied” on the matter. He did not answer directly when asked by CNN if Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was blocking Democrats from these briefings.
Rounds described Democrats as “partners” who over the years have helped pass critical national security laws and funding and said it is “wrong” that they are not invited to the same classified briefings he is invited to.
“And that is part of the problem we have up here right now. And I have expressed it specifically to members of the administration on multiple occasions. Multiple occasions. It has to be resolved,” he said.
Van Hollen says there's a demand for “bold leadership” as he considers Schumer challenge
Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he’s still undecided on launching a bid for Senate majority leader, but he has talked to current Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer as calls within the caucus grow for change at the top.
“I’m still actively listening to members,” Van Hollen told CNN on Thursday.
Pressed on an argument from Schumer’s allies that he helped lead Democrats to commanding victories in the midterm elections, Van Hollen said it is not about individuals, but “this is about a demand in the country for change and bold leadership.”
“But we need to talk to my colleagues about what they think the best path forward would be,” he added.
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Elissa Slotkin held a press conference this week announcing they will not back Schumer in closed-ballot elections later this month. Several incoming Democratic senators have also expressed a desire for new leadership.
Asked if he had spoken to Schumer, Van Hollen responded, “He and I have had a conversation.”
Kalshi cuts ties with Donald Trump Jr.
Donald Trump Jr. is no longer a paid adviser to the prediction market Kalshi, the company said Thursday.
A Kalshi spokesperson said this was a mutual decision, and that they’re cutting ties because Trump Jr. is a major investor in Polymarket, another leading prediction platform.
“We have mutually agreed to end Don’s advisory role after his firm’s significant investment in a competitor this past summer,” the Kalshi spokesperson said. “We are grateful for his contributions in helping us market Kalshi to more customers.”
But his investment firm’s stake in Polymarket have been public since August 2025, and industry watchers have speculated that the move is tied to Republicans’ blowout losses in the midterms. A perception of coziness with the Trump family could be a liability with congressional Democrats and newly elected Democratic attorneys general in key states.
Kalshi named Trump Jr. as a paid “strategic adviser” shortly before President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. When asked about possible conflicts of interest, Kalshi leaders often note that they’ve hired advisers from both political parties.
Trump Jr.’s involvement with Kalshi and Polymarket has hung over both companies as they pushed for, and have largely received, friendly treatment from Trump administration regulators who oversee the industry. But both companies, Trump Jr. and federal officials have all adamantly denied that he ever tried to improperly lobby the federal government.
Kalshi co-founder Luana Lopes Lara has previously said “we have never asked for any favors” from Trump Jr., and “he has never done any regulatory ask” to help the company.
A spokesman for Trump Jr. didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The news was first reported by Bloomberg. CNN has a partnership with Kalshi and uses its data to cover major events. CNN employees aren’t permitted to trade on prediction sites.
Trump urges Senate to "immediately" advance partisan bill including $350B defense funding
President Donald Trump urged Republican Senate leaders, who will no longer control the chamber come January, to “immediately” advance a reconciliation bill that would provide $350 billion in defense funding.
“I am calling on Senate Leadership to IMMEDIATELY move on the 350 Billion Dollar Reconciliation Bill to give our brave Warriors the DECISIVE ADVANTAGE they deserve,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Republicans must deliver for our Warriors. The Democrats never will. The time is NOW.”
Trump claimed that Democrats want to “BLOCK and RESIST this historic investment in our National Security,” adding that, “They want to leave our Warriors weak, and unguarded.”
At a press briefing on Tuesday, Hegseth said “this lame-duck period is critically important for funding of our department; $350 billion at a minimum for reconciliation is what we believe is needed to make a generational and historic investment in this department.”
Senate GOP Conference Chair Tom Cotton said earlier this week that Senate Republicans have pledged “to do everything humanly possible to pass a reconciliation bill” before the Democratic majority takes over the next Congress.
ICE deported 483,200 people in last fiscal year, an agency record
Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 483,200 people in fiscal year 2026, according to newly released federal figures, marking an agency record and underscoring the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
The Department of Homeland Security touted the number of ICE deportations last fiscal year, which ended September 30, as the “highest number of deportations in the agency’s history.” The total surpassed the 442,640 deportations it conducted in fiscal year 2025, which held the previous record.
ICE also continues to carry out a high number of monthly arrests. In September, the agency recorded more than 42,000 arrests.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the brave men and women of ICE, who just broke more historic records,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. “Fiscal Year 2026 saw the highest number of ICE deportations and arrests for any year in ICE’s history.”
President Donald Trump recently conceded in a “60 Minutes” interview that his immigration policy “might be too tough,” but senior administration officials maintain that there has not been a change in policy.
For more data, see the CNN immigration tracker.
Jeffries hasn’t spoken with Trump
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is likely to wield the speaker’s gavel in the next Congress, indicated he hasn’t spoken with President Donald Trump since the election.
“(If) the president calls, I’ll have a conversation with him about the type of things that need to happen to make life better for the American people,” the Democrat told CNN.
Johnson defends handling of Epstein issue as Massie forces House vote later this month
House Speaker Mike Johnson accused Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of “ginning this up to get attention” when asked about Massie forcing a second vote over the Jeffrey Epstein case files and defended Republicans’ stance on the issue.
“Okay, so I haven’t seen this. We’ll look at it, but it’s just they’re just ginning this up to get attention, the DOJ has already committed to full disclosure, and so far as I know, they have been working on that and have done it,” he told CNN when asked about the effort by Massie.
Massie is forcing a vote using a procedural tool known as a discharge petition, which can circumvent leadership to bring bills to the floor.
“We reached 218 signatures yesterday, which by our calendar means that we could have a vote on this before November 30,” Massie told CNN earlier Thursday, adding he predicted a “successful outcome” with “unanimous or nearly unanimous passage” in both chambers.
The discharge petition would build on earlier legislation pushed by Massie – the Epstein Files Transparency Act – allowing suits to be brought against the Justice Department for withholding or redacting files related to the Epstein investigation in violation of the original law.
Johnson pushed back on the idea he and Republicans should have handled the matter differently ahead of midterms.
“We always handled this with care to protect victims and to get all the information out to the public. You have to do both of those things. Thomas Massie has never given a darn about that,” he said.
Democrats have used Johnson’s resistance to this Massie effort to broadly criticize Republicans as protecting associates of Epstein. Johnson has maintained that the Massie efforts do not protect the victims of Epstein. However, many of the victims themselves have supported greater transparency in relation to the files. Johnson again tried to defend against the attacks, calling the move a political stunt.
“Every bit of the evidence that has been gathered that has not exposed victim names should be out in the public. I believe Attorney General Todd Blanche agrees with that. I believe the Department of Justice does. The administration does. We’re all on the same page. We don’t need legislators taking political stunts here,” he said.
Why Colom's Senate win in deep-red Mississippi holds deeper meaning
Scott Colom, 43, will become the first Black person elected to statewide office in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era. He’s also the first Mississippi Democrat to be elected in the chamber in more than four decades.
CNN’s Jake Tapper explains why Colom’s win in deep-red Mississippi is so historic:
CNN's Jake Tapper explains why Scott Colom’s win in deep-red Mississippi is so historic.
Trump tells Vance to turn his focus away from Iran: "We don't need a deal"
President Donald Trump today shifted gears once again in his approach to the war with Iran, writing on social media that the US doesn’t “need a deal” with Tehran and ordering his vice president to turn his focus elsewhere.
“We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed!” Trump posted on Truth Social. “We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!”
Trump also said he was directing his Vice President JD Vance, who had been tasked with leading negotiations between the US and Iran, “to focus his complete and total attention” on rooting out corruption and crime in Democratic states and cities.
Trump’s comments come as diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran have accelerated in recent days – with both countries quietly negotiating a sensitive agreement that could avert a return to all-out war and open the door to broader talks.
The president told CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday that he was “not looking” to escalate the war.
On Monday, Trump told reporters in the White House briefing room: “At this point, it won’t be necessary, taking the military action.”
After Republicans suffered a brutal defeat in last week’s midterm elections, top White House officials have accelerated discussions over the need to end the war.
Trump himself has admitted that the war with Iran was largely responsible for the shellacking delivered to his party, but he has insisted he would not act differently if he had a chance to do things over.
Rep. Garcia: White House "is trying to intimidate us," but it "is not going to work"
The likely next House Oversight Chairman Robert Garcia joins CNN’s Kaitlan Collins to respond to a White House letter warning that the Trump administration “will not be extorted.”
The likely next House Oversight Chairman Robert Garcia joined CNN’s Kaitlan Collins to respond to a White House letter warning that the Trump administration “will not be extorted.”
“The idea that the president, the attorney general, the White House legal team is trying to intimidate us is not going to work,” he said.
US attorney sends document preservation letter to Dem senator investigating Trump admin
The US attorney for the Southern District of Texas sent a document preservation letter to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, accusing him of attempting to “intimidate citizens” for associating with President Donald Trump — days after the Connecticut lawmaker sent letters to a slew of companies and Trump administration officials asking them to cooperate with investigations.
The move is an escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to push back against Democratic oversight.
“Congress is not a weapon to be wielded against the American people,” US Attorney Aaron Reitz said in a post on X that included a screenshot of his letter to Blumenthal. “I’m taking the first step to stop this abuse of power.”
Some background: Blumenthal will chair a key Senate investigative panel when Democrats take control of Congress in January. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will soon have the power to issue subpoenas as part of their probes into the Trump administration.
The letters from Blumenthal were sent to crypto companies, White House ballroom donors, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr — offering some insight into what he hopes the panel will focus on.
CNN’s Kaanita Iyer contributed to this post.
Trump says Democrats are "illegally threatening" GOP as they vow congressional probes
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Democrats are “illegally threatening Republicans,” as his administration escalates its threats against Democrats who have vowed to investigate the president and his administration when they take over Congress.
“In order to deflect from MASSIVE BLUE STATE CORRUPTION & CRIME, they are at it again, illegally threatening Republicans with knowingly false accusations and charges. Other than cheating, this is how they won the Midterms - But we won’t let our Country go to hell!” Trump said on Truth Social.
It comes after the White House counsel yesterday sent the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia, a letter warning that the administration would not be “extorted” and that potential congressional probes could “cross the line” into “criminality.”
Garcia told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins last night that Trump’s lawyers “don’t understand the Constitution,” stressing the importance of providing checks and balances on the executive branch.
“The idea that the president, the attorney general, the White House legal team is trying to intimidate us is not going to work,” he said.
Trump also compared Democratic efforts to investigate the administration to a “relentless effort” to obtain his personal tax returns.
“After one year of intense work, these brilliant Democrat inspired accountants FOUND NOTHING except that I paid my taxes and did everything right,” Trump said.
After six years of Trump’s tax returns were made public in 2022, CNN reported that the president paid very little in federal income taxes the first and last year of his first term, claiming huge losses that limited his tax bill.
Judge says Peltola campaign’s request for absentee voter rejects list is "not reasonable"
A judge ruled Wednesday that a request for voter data in Alaska’s tight Senate race from the campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola was “not reasonable,” given the timing of the request for the state’s stretched elections division.
With the race against her opponent, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, remaining too early to call, Peltola’s campaign filed a lawsuit last week seeking a list of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected, and the reasons for that rejection, to determine that qualified voters had been accepted.
But Alaska Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Matthews said in a ruling yesterday that the timing of the request from the Peltola campaign “could simply not be worse.”
Lists of voters who cast absentee ballots are readily available, but procuring the data requested by the Peltola campaign, while redacting private voter information like addresses, would require the division to build or procure a new software system, Matthews said, adding that the request could not take resources away from the division’s primary responsibilities.
Alaska gives mail-in ballots between 10 to 15 days — 10 days if sent from the US, 15 from overseas — to be returned to the elections office.
“(The Alaska Division of Elections) is actively in the middle of counting ballots. It has active deadlines it must meet,” the judge said.
“The Division asserts its staff is actively working long hours to accomplish its fundamental responsibility — administering elections.”
Midterm elections brought "millennial cringe" to Washington
The newest cohort of lawmakers are bringing their millennial energy to Washington during the post-election orientation this week. CNN’s Aleena Fayaz explains why their excitement is making waves online.
The newest cohort of lawmakers are bringing their millennial energy to Washington during the post-election orientation this week.
CNN’s Aleena Fayaz explains why their excitement is making waves online.
Scott Colom reflects on campaign and celebrates Mississippi Senate win
Democratic Sen.-elect Scott Colom addressed a crowd of supporters after his historic projected win in Mississippi’s Senate race Wednesday evening.
Democrat Scott Colom addressed a crowd of supporters after his historic projected win in Mississippi’s Senate race.
