https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/21/media/60-minutes-cecot-bari-weiss-cbs-sharyn-alfonsi

“60 Minutes” just suffered a severe blow to its credibility. Now one of its own correspondents fears the program is being “dismantled,” and some employees are threatening to quit.

The trigger: CBS News suddenly shelved a segment featuring the accounts of Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration to a notorious maximum-security prison in El Salvador.

The correspondent who reported the story, Sharyn Alfonsi, said in an internal memo that “the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship.”

According to Alfonsi and two CBS sources who spoke with CNN on condition of anonymity, the story had been fully fact-checked and legally vetted by the time the network publicized it on Friday afternoon.

But CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss weighed in with questions on Saturday morning, the two sources said. Alfonsi said Weiss “spiked the story.”

One of the main issues Weiss raised was the lack of a response from the Trump administration to the reporting.

According to Alfonsi, “we requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department.”

But the administration did not engage, which concerned Weiss. At one point, Weiss suggested that the program try to interview White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and provided Miller’s number, one of the CBS sources said.

Alfonsi argued in her memo that the administration’s strategic silence cannot be allowed to become a “veto” of a critical story.

“Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story,” she wrote. “If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.”

Trump was found unresponsive in his home in Mar-a-Lago on Monday morning and has been pronounced dead, Sheriff’s Department Watch Commander Christopher Jauregui said.

He is believed to have died of natural causes and authorities do not suspect any foul play was involved.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/nutrient-deficiency-linked-heart-disease-risk-millions-new-study-warns

U.S. strikes dozens of sites in Syria in retaliation for troops’ deaths
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/12/19/us-strikes-syria/
The U.S. military on Friday night launched a series of strikes against dozens of sites in central Syria, U.S. officials said, following an attack last weekend that killed two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter.
The strikes were ongoing and expected to target Islamic State infrastructure and weapons storage locations, said one of the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the operation. A-10 attack jets, F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, and Apache helicopters were involved along with rocket artillery fired by U.S. forces in the region, the official said.
Friday’s assault followed a Dec. 13 ambush at a military base in the city of Palmyra that killed two members of the Iowa National Guard — Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29 — and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, 54, an Iraq-born interpreter who lived in Michigan. President Donald Trump vowed after their deaths to retaliate.
No one has taken responsibility for the attack, but U.S. officials have said the Islamic State is likely to blame.

The Timeline of Republicans Fleeing to Save Themselves from Epstein fallout (So Far):

Wednesday- Dan Bongino announces he's stepping down as Deputy FBI Director
Thursday- Mike Johnson abruptly announces he is adjourning the House for the rest of the year
Friday morning- Trump's DOJ releases a redacted, incomplete trove of Epstein files in violation of a law signed by Donald Trump himself last month
NOW- Performative Trumpist Elise Stefanik abruptly announces she is withdrawing from the New York gubernatorial race and will not seek reelection for her House seat next year

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/gop-rep-elise-stefanik-drops-new-york-governors-race-rcna250154

>Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik said Friday that she is ending her campaign for New York governor and will not run for re-election to her House seat next year.

>In a lengthy post to X, Stefanik, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, wrote that she had "not come to this decision lightly for our family."

>"As we have seen in past elections, while we would have overwhelmingly won this primary, it is not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York. And while many know me as Congresswoman, my most important title is Mom," Stefanik said.

>Stefanik's surprise decision comes just days after she drew her first major challenger in the Republican primary in Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County county executive who is also a Trump ally. The party's eventual nominee will face an uphill climb in the solidly blue state, though Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul's approval rating has been under water.

>After Trump pulled Stefanik's nomination to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in March, she had teased a run for governor for months before officially launching her campaign in November.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-officials-race-meet-friday-deadline-epstein-files-2025-12-19/
WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department released a new trove of documents from its investigations into the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, bowing to pressure from lawmakers who forced their disclosure with a new law.
The release follows months of political wrangling amid rebellion by some of President Donald Trump's staunchest supporters over his administration's reluctance to make public all records tied to probes into Epstein.
Reuters is in the process of reviewing the latest documents.
The Justice Department added a note to the webpage where it posted links to the documents that said "all reasonable efforts have been made" to redact victims' personal information, but warned that some could be disclosed inadvertently.
The agency's website appeared to be struggling with visitor traffic, telling some that their attempts to view the material had been rejected.

>NOT ALL DOCUMENTS TO BE RELEASED
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News earlier in the day that the department would release hundreds of thousands of documents on Friday but not the entire cache of files relating to Epstein. He said he expected hundreds of thousands more to be released in the coming weeks as the department reviewed them to protect victims' privacy.
Trump had initially urged fellow Republicans in Congress to oppose the new law, warning that releasing potentially sensitive internal investigative records could set a dangerous precedent.
But many Trump voters accused his administration of covering up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscuring details surrounding his 2019 death, which was ruled a suicide, in a Manhattan jail, where he was awaiting trial on charges of trafficking and abusing underage girls.

https://www.wkyufm.org/news/2025-12-20/available-to-download-friday-some-epstein-files-no-longer-there-saturday-afternoon

The Department of Justice started releasing files related to the life, death and criminal investigations of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein Friday. Files continued to be posted on its "Epstein Library" website on Saturday.

But NPR identified more than a dozen files released by the DOJ on Friday that are no longer available Saturday afternoon, including one that shows President Trump's photo on a desk among several other photographs. The removed files also show various works of art, including those containing nudity.

On its website, the Justice Department directs people to report any files that should not have been posted by notifying the agency using a dedicated email address. A statement at the top of each page of the website said: "In view of the Congressional deadline, all reasonable efforts have been made to review and redact personal information pertaining to victims, other private individuals, and protect sensitive materials from disclosure."

The DOJ acknowledged, though, "because of the volume of information involved, this website may nevertheless contain information that inadvertently includes non-public personally identifiable information or other sensitive content, to include matters of a sexual nature."

The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the files were no longer available.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/fbi-deputy-director-dan-bongino-leave-post-january-rcna249789

Dan Bongino, a former conservative podcaster who became the No. 2 official at the FBI under the Trump administration, announced Wednesday that he is leaving the bureau next month.

"I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January. I want to thank President Trump, AG Bondi, and Director Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose. Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you," he wrote in a post on X.

Trump appeared to confirm Bongino's departure earlier Wednesday when asked by a reporter about Bongino's future as deputy director at the bureau.

"Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show," Trump said.

The president tapped Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and NYPD officer, for the post in February.

NBC News previously reported that Bongino considered resigning in July after the FBI and Justice Department issued a joint memo saying they had completed an "exhaustive" review of investigative files relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and that no other people would be charged in the case and the agencies would not be releasing any more information.

Sources told NBC News at the time that Bongino got into a heated argument with Attorney General Pam Bondi after the release of the memo, which had sparked outrage from some Trump supporters.

Before joining the administration, Bongino hosted a podcast where he alleged there had been a massive coverup involving the Epstein files.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/federal-judge-weighs-trumps-claim-of-immunity-from-civil-litigation-over-capitol-attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorneys for President Donald Trump urged a federal judge on Friday to rule that Trump is entitled to presidential immunity from civil claims that he instigated a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta didn’t rule from the bench after hearing arguments from Trump attorneys and lawyers for Democratic members of Congress who sued the Republican president and allies over the Jan. 6. 2021, attack.

Trump spoke to a crowd of his supporters at the “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House before the mob’s attack disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying Democratic President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

Trump’s attorneys argue that his conduct leading up to Jan. 6 and on the day of the riot is protected by presidential immunity because he was acting in his official capacity.

“The entire point of immunity is to give the president clarity to speak in the moment as the commander-in-chief,” Trump attorney Joshua Halpern told the judge.

The lawmakers’ lawyers argue Trump can’t prove he was acting entirely in his official capacity rather than as an office-seeking private individual. And the U.S. Supreme Court has held that office-seeking conduct falls outside the scope of presidential immunity, they contend.

https://nypost.com/2025/12/13/us-news/georgia-woman-ashley-wasielewski-suffered-severe-burns-after-being-doused-with-toxic-chemical-in-random-park-attack/

A Georgia woman suffered severe burns to her face and body after being doused with a toxic chemical in a random attack while she was strolling through a park — and her sadistic assailant is still on the loose.

Ashley Wasielewski, 46, was walking laps around Forsyth Park in Savannah Wednesday night after attending a Christmas program at a nearby church when a stranger approached her from behind and poured the corrosive liquid over her head, according to her devastated friends and family.

She let out a blood-curdling scream as the chemical burned her skin, ate through her clothing, and melted her car’s key fob in her pocket.

“She was instantly like, ‘Why are you pouring water on me?’ And then her skin started to burn,” said her close friend Connor Milam, who described Wasielewski as a giving person who often volunteered in her community and provided essential items to the homeless.

“She looked down and her pants were starting to burn off her body. She started screaming. They didn’t rob her. They didn’t take anything from her. This was a random person in the park who went out of their way to disfigure another human being.”

Wasielewski was rushed to the Augusta Burn Center, where she’s being treated for second- and third-degree burns over half her body, including her face, scalp, hands and legs, according to her son Westley.

Today’s political consensus crosses all ages, demographics and party lines: 3 out of 4 Americans think the economy is in a slump. It is not just in their heads. Economic growth this year has been practically stagnant, save for one exception, economists say.

Billions of dollars invested by California-based tech giants in artificial intelligence infrastructure accounted for 92% of the nation’s GDP growth this year.

But, so far, little evidence exists that their ventures are expanding opportunities for everyday Americans.

“You have to watch out for AI investments — they may continue to carry the economy or they may slow down or crash, bringing the rest of the economy together with them."

Even in California itself, where 4 of the top 5 AI companies are, the AI boom has yet to translate into tangible pocketbook benefits. Consumer confidence in the state has reached a five-year low. And AI fueled a wave of cuts, cited in 48,000 job losses nationwide this year.

“It is evident that the U.S. economy would have been almost stagnant, absent the capital expenditures by the AI industry,”

The top 10 stocks listed in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index far outperforming the rest of the market. And the few who benefited from dividends fueled much of the rest of this year’s economic growth, with the vast majority of U.S. consumption spending attributed to the richest 10% to 20% of American households.

“There were ripple effects into high-end travel, luxury spending, high-end real estate and other sectors of the economy driven by the financial elite."

“Obviously, that’s not a recipe for sustainable growth,” he said.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2025-12-18/u-s-economy-was-stagnant-in-2025-with-one-exception