LIVE UPDATES: World Cup 2026 draw kicks off in D.C. with President Trump receiving inaugural FIFA Peace Prize
The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel voted to roll back a recommendation that all newborns get a first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth.
Trump accepted the inaugural FIFA peace prize at the World Cup draw event at the Kennedy Center this afternoon.
“This is truly one of the great honors of my life,” Trump said, adding that they’ve “saved millions and millions of lives.”
“The Congo is an example. Over 10 million people killed, and it was heading for another 10 million very quickly,” he said.
The president thanked the leaders of Canada and Mexico in his brief remarks.
“We’ve had a tremendous relationship, working relationship, with Canada. We have our prime minister of Canada there, and we have our president of Mexico, and we’ve worked closely with those two countries,” he said. “And the coordination and friendship and relationship has been outstanding. And I want to thank you both very much.”
On the red carpet before the ceremony began, Trump was asked by reporters what he would say to those who would say the prize might conflict with his pledge to strike Venezuela.
“I mean, I settled eight wars. I don’t know that I’m getting it. I haven’t been officially noticed. I’ve been hearing about a peace prize, and I’m here to represent our country in a different sense. But I can tell you, I did settle eight wars, and we have a ninth coming, but — which nobody’s ever done before,” Trump said.
“I’ve saved millions and millions of lives, and that’s really what I want to do,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly expressed that he wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize, even joking this week that he should win one for each conflict he has helped resolve. Last month, it was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.
Though U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie last week ruled that Lindsay Halligan’s appointment as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District unlawful, Halligan’s name is still appearing across criminal information and indictments filed in the district. Per guidance sent internally around the Eastern District last week, Halligan’s name is accompanied by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and First Assistant Robert McBride.
According to a Justice Department source with knowledge of the situation, staff in the U.S. Attorney’s office has been instructed to continue to refer to Halligan as the U.S. attorney “pending appeal” of last week’s ruling.
This week, in a federal court in Virginia, several judges have expressed frustration with the Justice Department for continuing to list Halligan as the U.S. Attorney on those various court documents, due to the court ruling in the Comey and James’ cases and the fact that the Justice Department has yet to appeal that ruling.
Details of the judge’s frustration were first reported by CNN.
Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick said during a hearing earlier this week that listing Halligan’s name on charging documents “is simply not acceptable,” according to a transcript that was read to NBC News by a Justice Department source.
In several cases this week, Fitzpatrick told prosecutors he is going to strike Halligan’s name from court documents.
Magistrate Judge Lindsey Vaala has told prosecutors she is now going to annotate any new court filings with Halligan’s name on them.
On the signature page of at least one indictment issued this week, where the U.S. attorney is listed on the last page, there is now an asterisk and a reference to the Comey and James decisions in a footnote.
Trump said that he’s going to meet with the leaders of Canada and Mexico who are in Washington for the FIFA World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center today.
“We’re going to meet with both,” Trump said on the red carpet. “We’re getting along very well.”
He said he believed he had a meeting set up with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum after the event.
Sheinbaum mentioned the planned meeting with Carney and Trump during a press conference in Mexico yesterday. She said she expected to discuss trade issues with them.
From left, Italian Fifa President Gianni Infantino, President Donald Trump, Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney. Jim Watson / AFP – Getty Images
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Asked about whether he’s concerned that some World Cup host cities have crime problems, the president told reporters, “We’ll take care of that problem,” and referred to his efforts to send federal troops to American cities like Washington, D.C.
“I will tell you if they do have a problem by the time we get there, we’ll take care of that problem. We can solve that problem. I’ve proven that in D.C. and everywhere else we went,” Trump said.
The Defense Department says it has finished its review of the AUKUS submarine deal, determining that it is “in alignment with President Trump’s America First agenda.”
The Trump administration said in June that it was launching a formal review of the 2021 deal with Australia and Britain, under which the U.S. would sell Australia three to five nuclear-powered attack submarines starting in 2032. Officials said there were concerns that the sale might leave the U.S. with fewer of the submarines for itself, raising fears in Australia for the future of the deal worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
“The review identified opportunities to put AUKUS on the strongest possible footing,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement yesterday. “This review is intended to inform the President and our allies as we move forward with the historic and ambitious AUKUS agenda.”
Australia’s defense industry minister, Pat Conroy, said he was pleased the review confirmed that the AUKUS deal was moving “full steam ahead,” as Trump said in October during a visit to Washington by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. “We’ll engage constructively with its findings and its recommendations on how to improve AUKUS even further,” Conroy said.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said in a statement this morning that the decision by the CDC advisory panel to reverse its hepatitis B vaccination recommendation for newborns “is a mistake.”
Cassidy chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and had expressed concerns over the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as health and human services secretary before deciding to vote for his confirmation. Kennedy replaced members of the CDC panel with known anti-vaccine activists.
“As a liver doctor who has treated patients with hepatitis B for decades, this change to the vaccine schedule is a mistake. The hepatitis B vaccine is safe and effective. The birth dose is a recommendation, NOT a mandate,” Cassidy said.
He said before the birth dose of the hepatitis vaccine was recommended, “20,000 newborns a year were infected with hepatitis B. Now, it’s fewer than 20.”
“Ending the recommendation for newborns makes it more likely the number of cases will begin to increase again. This makes America sicker,” Cassidy continued. “Acting CDC Director O’Neill should not sign these new recommendations and instead retain the current, evidence-based approach.”
In a 2-1 decision, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that Trump has the power to fire members of the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board.
The court wrote in its opinion that under a 1935 ruling, “Congress may restrict the President’s ability to remove principal officers who wield only quasi legislative or quasi-judicial powers.”
But, it wrote, a 2020 ruling said, “Congress may not restrict the President’s ability to remove principal officers who wield substantial executive power. As explained below, the NLRB and MSPB wield substantial powers that are both executive in nature and different from the powers that Humphrey’s Executor deemed to be merely quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial. So, Congress cannot restrict the President’s ability to remove NLRB or MSPB members.”
In a dissent, Biden appointee Judge Florence Pan wrote, “My colleagues’ substantial acceptance of the government’s maximalist theory of executive power brings us closer to autocracy, harms our nation, and violates the separation of powers. I respectfully dissent.”
Amid the Trump administration’s efforts earlier this year to dismantle large swaths of the federal government, Trump fired Gwynne Wilcox, who served as a member of the National Labor Relations Board, and Cathy Harris, a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board, which handles cases brought by federal employees about personnel decisions.
In May, the Supreme Court permitted the administration’s request to fire the members of the independent agencies.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel rolled back a decadeslong recommendation that all newborns get a first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth.
The panel, formally known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — whose members Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired in June and replaced with a group that has largely expressed skepticism of vaccines — recommended that women who test negative for hepatitis B can decide in consultation with a health care provider whether their baby should get the birth dose. The group suggested waiting until at least 2 months of age for the first dose if the vaccine is not given at birth.
Read the full story here.
The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel is expected to decide today whether all newborns should routinely get hepatitis B vaccines.
The vote was delayed after a chaotic meeting yesterday when members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — whose members Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired in June and replaced with a group that has largely expressed skepticism of vaccines — debated the voting language. The vote on the hepatitis B vaccine had already been pushed back after a September meeting.
Read the full story here.
The man charged with planting two pipe bombs near the Democratic and Republican party headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol told the FBI he believed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Read the full story here.
The Indiana House of Representatives is expected to vote on the partisan redistricting bill boosted by Trump this morning. If passed, the state Senate is expected to take the bill up next week.
Read more on the effort here.
Trump will take part in the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw at the Kennedy Center today at noon in Washington. The event is shaping up to be quite Trump-tailored, from musical selections to a new “FIFA Peace Prize” that is expected to be awarded to him by FIFA President and close ally Gianni Infantino.
The question of whether the Trump administration’s immigration policies could affect players and those who want to attend matches looms large. The White House has placed travel restrictions on 19 countries, including Iran and Haiti, which have already qualified. Their fans could be subject to the ban if it remains in effect, and the administration has indicated it may expand to include even more countries.
The State Department says it is working closely with people outside the U.S. who have already bought tickets, launching a system known as “FIFA PASS” meant to expedite wait times for visa appointments and interviews.
The FIFA World Cup draw today will be viewed by millions around the globe, but the high-profile event appears to be tailored to one key player: Trump.
The celebrity-packed ceremony will determine which national teams are sorted into various groups for the 2026 men’s tournament, resulting in a schedule for most of the 48 countries that will participate. The final slots will be decided by playoff games in the spring.
The U.S., Mexico and Canada are making history as the first group of three nations to host the World Cup together. While the leaders of each host nation will attend, Friday’s draw will have some distinct Trump rally hallmarks.
Read the full story here.
NBC News