Republican Matt Van Epps beat Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn in yesterday's special election for former Rep. Mark Green’s congressional seat in Tennessee.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee today released several images and video clips showing what they say is the private island that was owned by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The new photos and videos of the island, which is in the U.S. Virgin Islands, don’t include any people. They instead show some exterior structures and interiors, including a pool area, some bedrooms and bathrooms, a phone with some labeled names redacted, a library with a large desk and blackboard, a marble shower room containing built-in benches, and the like.
Committee Democrats said in the news release that they have also received records related to Epstein from J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank, which they intend to release to the public after a review.
Calling the new images “disturbing,” ranking member Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said in the release that the committee’s Democrats “are releasing these photos and videos to ensure public transparency in our investigation and to help piece together the full picture of Epstein’s horrific crimes. We won’t stop fighting until we deliver justice for the survivors.”
House Oversight Democrats
House Oversight Democrats
House Oversight Democrats
House Oversight Democrats
House Oversight Democrats
Garcia said the photos and footage were obtained through an Oversight Committee request to the Department of Justice.
Congress is waiting for the federal government’s collection of files it has on Epstein, which Congress has required through legislation Trump recently signed into law.
Republican Matt Van Epps held off a challenge from Democrat Aftyn Behn yesterday in the special election in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, with voters delivering both a result and a broader message.
The result preserves a House seat that the GOP badly needs, given how slim its majority is. But the margin — a 9-point win for Van Epps in a district Trump carried by 22 points last year — bolsters Democratic optimism heading into next year’s midterms.
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A group of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing to vote on whether the agency should scrap its long-standing recommendation that every baby get a hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of birth.
The shot — universally recommended for newborns in the U.S since the early 1990s — is credited with driving down cases of acute hepatitis B infections in kids by 99%. The virus, which can be passed from mother to baby during childbirth, can lead to liver disease and early death. There is no cure.
Despite its success, the hepatitis B vaccine has become the latest target of skeptics who question whether the benefits of the shot outweigh potential risks.
A vaccine given on “day one has a risk of neonatal fever, which causes more interventions” like blood work to determine the cause of the fever, said Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who practices at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on X that Trump will unveil a rollback of federal fuel standards later this afternoon.
Leavitt linked to a Fox News report that said Trump’s announcement “will unveil a ‘reset’ of federal fuel standards that heightened under the Biden administration, which the White House said will save ‘$109 billion in total’ for American families.”
“Happening today at the White House,” Leavitt wrote in the post before quoting the top of the article. Fox News was first to report Trump’s announcement.
The action will target Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards that are set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Those standards, first implemented in 1975 under President Gerald Ford, regulate the fuel efficiency of U.S. vehicles.
The CEOs of Stellantis and Ford will join Trump for the announcement, spokespersons for the companies confirmed to NBC News.
Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said in a statement that he looks forward to working with the Trump administration on “environmentally responsible policies” that would allow customers to choose “the vehicles they want at prices they can afford.”
Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement that the company appreciates Trump’s efforts to align “fuel economy standards with market realities.”
“We can make real progress on carbon emissions and energy efficiency while still giving customers choice and affordability,” he said.
A General Motors spokesperson said in a statement provided by the White House that the company also supports the change.
“We have long advocated for one national standard that upholds customer choice and provides the auto industry long-term stability,” the GM spokesperson’s statement said. “As we review the proposal, we remain committed to offering the best and broadest portfolio of electric and gas-powered vehicles on the market.”
Trump announced today that he would pardon Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who was indicted last year on bribery and money laundering charges.
In his Truth Social post, Trump accused Democrats of working to “attack, rob, lie, cheat, destroy, and decimate anyone who dares to oppose their Far Left Agenda, an Agenda that, if left unchecked, will obliterate our magnificent Country.”
“Because of these facts, and others, I am hereby announcing my full and unconditional PARDON of beloved Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar, and Imelda,” Trump said in the post, referring to Cuellar’s wife, who also faces charges.
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Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are distancing themselves from the growing controversy around the September attack when the military launched a second strike on an alleged drug boat in Venezuela, killing survivors of the initial attack. Hegseth said yesterday that he watched the first strike live, but left for other meetings before learning a second strike took place. NBC’s Peter Alexander reports for “TODAY.”
During the final, chaotic days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., stood as an unwavering champion for resettling the Afghan nationals who had aided America and its allies.
“We have failed in our obligation to help many of these Afghans who risked their lives, and in many cases died, for the cause of their own country in assistance to the United States, and we owe them to help them get into our country with these visas,” Barr said then in an interview with Kentucky Educational Television.
Now a Senate candidate, Barr saw his remarks resurface and quickly go viral last week after the shooting of two National Guard members — one of whom died — in Washington, D.C. Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who served alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Lakanwal pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges including first-degree murder.
“I don’t believe we owe anything to foreigners from Afghanistan, but I do believe our politicians owe it to the American citizens that they’re supposed to represent, to not flood our country with thousands of people from the 3rd world who don’t share our values and never will,” businessman Nate Morris, one of Barr’s rivals in the GOP primary, wrote in a social media post sharing a clip from the interview.
The clash offered a preview of how the topic could jam other Republicans running in competitive primaries next year, from the already hostile Kentucky race to Sen. John Cornyn’s re-election battle in Texas and campaigns for governor in Florida and South Carolina.
It’s also a fight that reflects shifting goalposts for a GOP in which even legal immigration has become a source of debate. The attack on Guard members — which officials have said was targeted — validated warnings from several leading figures on the right, including Vice President JD Vance, who had argued that resettling Afghan refugees could yield tragic consequences.
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An Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Minneapolis is currently underway, a senior law enforcement official said.
It comes one day after Trump said that Somalis should “go back to where they came from” and made disparaging remarks about Somalia. Minneapolis has a large Somali population, and NBC News previously reported that ICE was planning an operation in Minneapolis-St. Paul this week.
The Department of Homeland Security also announced this morning that, beginning today, federal law enforcement agents would be conducting immigration operations in New Orleans.
The FBI field office in New Orleans announced a joint enforcement effort with Louisiana State Police to deter assaults on federal officers and attempts to obstruct law enforcement actions during the immigration operation.
Democratic Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García’s handpicked successor is officially getting a challenge.
Mayra Macías is a lifelong Democrat and Chicago native who has worked on Latino advocacy and promoting former President Joe Biden’s agenda. She announced her candidacy today as an independent in Illinois’ 4th Congressional District. If elected, Macías said she would caucus with Democrats.
“I’ve really focused my whole career on building and serving and making sure that we’re fighting for quality education, health care and affordable housing,” Macías said. “Under the Trump administration, we’re seeing a lot of this progress rolled back.”
García’s surprise retirement announcement in early November created a firestorm and drew a rebuke from his own party. His plans were known only to his chief of staff, Patty Garcia (no relation). Because the congressman announced his retirement after the filing deadline to run, Patty Garcia was the only one to file the required signatures before the deadline to run as a Democrat in March.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Trump’s special envoy tasked with negotiating an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as his son-in-law, for a “constructive” five-hour meeting yesterday, but more work needs to be done, Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy adviser to Putin, said in a video the Kremlin posted online.
Nearly four years after Putin’s full-scale invasion of his smaller neighbor, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are grappling with an empowered Russia, with Ukraine on the back foot both on and off the battlefield. Kyiv’s troops, facing a dire manpower crisis, cling to strategic hubs, and a major corruption scandal has shaken President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government and forced the removal of his top negotiator.
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James Solomon was elected mayor of Jersey City yesterday, thwarting former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s bid for a political comeback.
Addressing supporters who had gathered to watch returns and cheer him on, Solomon said: “Now, the mission is clear. The work begins tonight. And the work that we have to do is make Jersey City affordable.”
Solomon, a City Council member since 2017, defeated McGreevey in a runoff after they finished first and second in a general election last month with seven candidates on the ballot.
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The Trump administration indicated yesterday that it will begin withholding SNAP benefits from recipients in most Democratic-led states starting next week after those states refused to provide the Agriculture Department with data including recipients’ names and immigration statuses.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said during a Cabinet meeting that 29 Republican-led states have complied but that 21 states, including California, New York and Minnesota, have refused to provide the data, which was requested in February. Rollins has said her department requested the info to “root out … fraud.”
“So as of next week, we have begun and will begin to stop moving federal funds into those states, until they comply and they tell us and allow us to partner with them to root out this fraud and to protect the American taxpayer,” Rollins said at the White House meeting.
Close to 42 million people in the U.S. receive benefits for food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
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Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is endorsing Rep. Angie Craig in the Minnesota Senate primary, which is already dividing high-profile Democrats.
Buttigieg is the latest former — and potentially future — presidential contender to weigh in on the race. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., endorsed Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan last month in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith.
Buttigieg’s decision to back Craig is his first foray into a contested Senate primary this election cycle, as Democrats contend with multiple Senate nominating contests across the country.
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More than a week after a federal judge tossed the Trump administration’s cases against two of the president’s top political foes, the Justice Department is weighing whether to re-indict former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
And the Justice Department is considering taking that step without the legal complications caused by the previous “unlawful” actions of Lindsey Halligan as the purported top federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Nov. 24 that the Justice Department would file an “immediate appeal“ of a federal judge’s order dismissing the cases against Comey and James. But prosecutors have yet to do so.
A source familiar with the deliberations said yesterday that the department is considering seeking new, untainted indictments instead of pursuing the appeals. CNN and Reuters previously reported on the deliberations.
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Van Epps won the hotly contested special election for a deep-red congressional seat in Tennessee yesterday, NBC News projects, beating back a Democratic challenge for the longtime GOP district.
Though Trump carried the 7th Congressional District by 22 points in 2024, Republican super PACs poured millions into defending the seat as Van Epps faced off against Aftyn Behn, a Democratic state representative. Democrats spent almost as much trying to capture it, as Trump’s political standing has taken a hit this year and the Democratic Party made gains in November elections in New Jersey, Virginia and other states.
Still, this red district remained reliably Republican. Van Epps, an Army veteran and former state official, ran on reliably MAGA themes and promised to continue the legacy of Mark Green, a Republican who resigned from the seat this year.
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The Trump administration yesterday halted immigration applications submitted by nationals from 19 countries that already faced restrictions on travel to the United States, according to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memo.
“USCIS has considered that this direction may result in delay to the adjudication of some pending applications and has weighed that consequence against the urgent need for the agency to ensure that applicants are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” the agency said in a four-page policy memo.
“Ultimately, USCIS has determined that the burden of processing delays that will fall on some applicants is necessary and appropriate in this instance, when weighed against the agency’s obligation to protect and preserve national security,” it added.
The New York Times first reported the immigration pause, which applies to both green card and citizenship applicants.
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