Here's the latest
• Health care costs: With Obamacare recipients facing skyrocketing costs in the new year, the latest health care plan from GOP lawmakers does not fulfill President Donald Trump’s call to send federal funds directly to enrollees.
• Epstein files: House Democrats have released small batches of new information from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate as the Justice Department faces a Friday deadline to release its files on the late sex offender. Polls show many Americans believe Trump knew something about Epstein’s wrongdoing before it became public.
• Ukraine talks: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with European officials in Berlin this week. The Trump administration’s push for a peace deal has run up against some of the most intractable issues for ending Russia’s war in the country.
• Venezuela pressure campaign: The US ratcheted up sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government and seized an oil tanker last week. Trump has left the door open for further military intervention in the region.
GOP Sen. Rand Paul calls on US to reassess military presence in Syria after attack
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky on Sunday called on the US to reconsider its involvement in Syria, after two American soldiers and a civilian translator were killed in an ambush attack in the Badia region Saturday.
“Yes, the people who killed our soldiers should be punished, but really we need to reassess whether or not we should have troops in Syria to begin with,” Paul said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
He added that “a couple of hundred troops in Syria are more of a trip wire than a strategic asset. I don’t think they deter war.”
President Donald Trump vowed to “retaliate” after Saturday’s attack, which was carried out by a lone ISIS gunman, according to US Central Command.
The soldiers were on a mission “in support of on-going counter-ISIS / counter-terrorism operations in the region,” a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement.
US troops have operated for years across multiple locations in Syria, including at the Al-Tanf garrison in Homs province, where they trained Syrian partner forces as part of the wider fight against ISIS. The attack comes a month after Syria joined the US-led coalition against ISIS, which was formed in 2014.
Poll: Trump's support among MAGA Republicans softens as concerns on economy remain widespread
A new poll from NBC News and SurveyMonkey finds President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains deeply underwater, as the economy remains a top concern.
Overall, the survey finds Trump’s approval rating at 42% approve to 58% disapprove. That’s similar to the current CNN Poll of Polls, which finds Trump’s approval rating at 40% approve to 59% disapprove among high-quality surveys conducted between mid-November and early December, including the new poll.
Among all Americans, just 21% strongly approve, down from 26% close to the 100-day mark of Trump’s second term. Among Republicans who say they support the MAGA movement more than the party, there’s been a larger drop: 70% strongly approve of Trump now, down from 78% in April. Republicans who align more with the party than with MAGA already expressed much lower strong approval for Trump, and it remains at a significantly lower level (38% strongly approved in April, 35% do now).
That shift comes at the same time the share of Republicans who consider themselves primarily MAGA has declined. While 57% of Republicans said they felt more a part of the MAGA movement than a supporter of the party back in April, that’s dropped to 50% in the new poll.
The survey finds that 27% of Americans call the economy the issue that matters most right now, slightly ahead of threats to democracy at 23%, with health care third at 17%.
Methodology: The NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll was conducted online November 20 to December 8 among 20,252 adults nationwide, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.
Key Trump administration headlines from around the world
As we bring you the latest on health care subsidies and the Epstein files, catch up on the other headlines from the Trump administration:
Syria attack: President Donald Trump said that there will be “very serious retaliation” after two US soldiers and one civilian interpreter were killed in an ambush in Syria on Saturday. Three others were wounded in the attack, which was carried out by a single ISIS gunman, per US officials.
Ukraine talks: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he will travel to Berlin to speak with European leaders as Germany hosts peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. US envoy Steve Witkoff, as well as European and Ukrainian delegations are expected to attend the further negotiations on a US-backed plan. The French presidency said the goal is “finally having a very solid common ground between Americans, Europeans, and Ukrainians” in peace negotiations with Russia, after talks among these countries’ officials in Paris on Friday.
Venezuela tensions: The US ratcheted up sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government and seized an oil tanker last week. Trump has left the door open for further military intervention in the region. Three nephews of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, as well as another Maduro-affiliated businessman, were 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 DOJ’s deadline to release Epstein case files is approaching. Catch up here
Last month, President Donald Trump signed a bill directing the Department of Justice to publicly release all its Jeffrey Epstein-related files. The deadline to do so is this Friday.
It isn’t clear how the Justice Department will release the related files or if the information will remain tied up in ongoing investigations.
Here’s what you should know:
What are the Epstein files: The Epstein files are made of over 300 gigabytes of data, paper, video, photographs and audio that live within the FBI’s main electronic case management system, “Sentinel.” These records would include investigative reports and records from the FBI Miami field division’s original Epstein investigation.
Why there’s interest in the case: The case has continued to fascinate the public years after Epstein’s death due to his ties to powerful people. Epstein’s death by suicide before trial launched conspiracy theories and deprived many of his accusers a public airing of his conduct. Division between Republican lawmakers mounted this year, with some calling for transparency from Trump and the Department of Justice.
House Oversight Committee: In November, the House Oversight Committee released 20,000 pages of documents the GOP-led panel received from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein. He mentioned Trump by name multiple times in emails over the last 15 years with an associate and an author in Trump’s orbit. It’s unclear what new information, if any, is stuffed in the boxes of evidence within the Justice Department set to release this week.
Photos released: Last week, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released photos from Epstein’s estate showing the many powerful figures in the late sex trafficker’s orbit, including Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Steve Bannon, Bill Gates, Richard Branson and others. In a statement, a White House spokesperson said House Democrats were “selectively releasing cherry-picked photos with random redactions to try and create a false narrative.”
The Epstein legislation: The bill, formally titled the Epstein Files Transparency Act, was passed by the House in November by a vote of 427 to 1. The Senate then agreed through unanimous consent to deem the bill passed as soon as it was received from the House. Upon announcing his signing of the bill, Trump framed the release of the files as a transparency effort he pushed through Congress and using the moment to criticize Democrats over their past associations with Epstein.
What Americans think: A recent Reuters-Ipsos poll asked whether Americans believed that Trump was not aware of Epstein’s alleged crimes before they became public. Just 18% said it was “somewhat” or “very” likely that Trump didn’t know. Fully 60% said it was “not too” or “not at all” likely that Trump didn’t know. Even among Republicans, slightly more felt Trump was probably aware (39%) than leaned toward him not knowing (34%). Trump, again, has not been accused of wrongdoing in the Epstein case, and has denied involvement.
CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg, Alejandra Jaramillo, Haven Orecchio-Egresitz, Kara Scannell, Evan Perez, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Julia Benbrook, Alayna Treene, Annie Grayer, Kaitlan Collins and Aaron Blake contributed reporting.
Congress doesn't appear on track to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Here's what to know
House Republicans unveiled a narrow health care package on Friday that does not extend soon-to-expire enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies — the latest sign that Congress is unlikely to avert skyrocketing insurance premiums for millions of Americans in the new year.
What’s in the proposal: The GOP plan includes measures aimed at reducing drug costs and lowering premiums for certain Obamacare enrollees, but it would not extend the enhanced subsidies. It also fails to fulfill President Donald Trump’s call to send federal funds directly to enrollees to offset health costs.
How we got here: The fight over extending the enhanced subsidies was central to this year’s government shutdown, and has remained bitterly contested on Capitol Hill in recent weeks as the benefits’ expiration on December 31 approaches.
The release of the House GOP plan came after the Senate tried and failed to pass dueling health care plans last week, the latest sign of partisan stalemate over the issue.
What comes next: GOP leaders plan to put the package on the floor this week, which will be the House’s final work week of 2025. But it remains unclear whether the proposal has the support to pass out of the chamber, much less win over the entirety of the House Republican conference.
Americans are feeling the squeeze: Monthly premiums under Affordable Care Act policies will soar next year. With the lapse of enhanced subsidies looming, some Americans face agonizing trade-offs between cutting back on necessities or forgoing coverage altogether.
Week in review: Trump's economic message, feud with Venezuela and more
Last week was another busy one at the White House, with President Donald Trump issuing mixed messages on the economy and deepening his pressure campaign against Venezuela’s government, among other top headlines.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins was in Washington to cover it all:
