NATO ups its support for Ukraine as the United States pursues peace talks, the Trump administration freezes asylum and visa reviews from 19 countries, and a watchdog exposes billions of taxpayer dollars in fraud under Biden-era diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
It’s Thursday, December 4, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251204-member-exclusive">video version</a> can be seen on The Daily Wire:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nato-pressures-putin-trumps-immigration-freeze-12-4-25/id1576594336?i=1000739652455" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">NATO Wants A Say On Ukraine</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1009649 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/NATO-Backs-Ukraine-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/NATO-Backs-Ukraine-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/NATO-Backs-Ukraine-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/NATO-Backs-Ukraine-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/NATO-Backs-Ukraine-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/NATO-Backs-Ukraine.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
Topline: The United States continues to facilitate talks between Russia and Ukraine while other NATO countries rally support for Kiev.
NATO wants to be more involved in the discussions on Ukraine than it has been recently. Almost every foreign minister for NATO met in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss that and the broader approach to Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was notably absent from the meeting — the first time in over two decades that the U.S. secretary of State had missed a gathering like this. Though that didn’t deeply concern many officials because Rubio has built up a lot of trust among NATO allies. 
Rutte digs in: The United States has been trying to find an end to the war that both sides can live with. But NATO’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte, has made plans to keep funding Ukraine through 2026 and maybe longer if necessary.
“We have to make sure that whilst [peace talks] take place and we are not sure when they will end, that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to keep the fight going, to fight back against the Russians, but also in the strongest possible position when peace talks really get to a point where they sit at the table,” Rutte <a href="https://x.com/TRTWorldNow/status/1996176461934534920">said</a> on Wednesday.
Some members of the NATO alliance have poured money into a program to buy U.S. weapons for Ukraine to the tune of about $1 billion a month.
Moscow talks: The Kremlin said Tuesday that it couldn’t find a compromise it could agree with after U.S. officials met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow said that some of the American proposals have been good — likely in reference to the early framework that received so much pushback from Ukraine and the rest of Europe.
Moscow seems to be dead set on territorial gains over what it has control of already, however. Putin has repeatedly signaled that he wants all of the Donbas region, which he does not have full control over.
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump’s Immigration Moves After National Guard Shooting</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1009647 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/22Countries-Of-Concern22-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/22Countries-Of-Concern22-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/22Countries-Of-Concern22-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/22Countries-Of-Concern22-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/22Countries-Of-Concern22-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/22Countries-Of-Concern22.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
Topline: The Trump administration halts more immigration following the D.C. shooting of two National Guard troops by an Afghan migrant.
Trump has already halted the processing of asylum applications and put a pause on visas, but there is a lot more being done. The Trump administration has directed U.S. citizenship and immigration services to look at 19 countries that it says are of concern as potential hotbeds of terrorism. Those countries include Afghanistan and several others in the Middle East, in Africa, and in South Asia.
The Trump administration wants USCIS, the agency that vets immigration applications, to scrutinize individuals who are applying or have been accepted to some programs. What this looks like in practice is the administration halting all processing of any legal immigration applications from individuals from these 19 countries.
For those who have been accepted to become green card recipients or citizens already, swearing in ceremonies have been put on pause as the Trump administration more thoroughly vets them.
National Guard shooting: The Department of Homeland Security now says this individual was barely vetted. Interestingly, when the United States left Afghanistan during the botched withdrawal from the country, the alleged shooter had no criminal background check. Nor did he have a biometrics check, cyber background check, or financial background check.
Nor was he the only one who came through this way. There were about 77,000 others admitted into the country through what&#8217;s called Operation Allies Welcome.
This lax vetting has already been pointed out before. A government watchdog came out months after the withdrawal and said the vetting was poor and minimal at the time. In some known cases, individuals were “vetted,” let into the country through this program, and then only after were their links to terrorism discovered.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">The SBA Program Spending Taxpayer Money On DEI</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1009645" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/DEI-Funding-Funnel-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/DEI-Funding-Funnel-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/DEI-Funding-Funnel-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/DEI-Funding-Funnel-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/DEI-Funding-Funnel-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/DEI-Funding-Funnel.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: New investigations from Peter Schweizer’s Government Accountability Institute have revealed just how much taxpayer money has been funneled through federal DEI initiatives – sparking more allegations of widespread fraud and corruption under the Biden administration that still needs to be rooted out.
Morning Wire spoke with Seamus Bruner, director of research at the Government Accountability Institute, about what&#8217;s being called the “DEI Industrial Complex.” (This interview has been edited for clarity.)
Morning Wire: Your team has done extensive research on what&#8217;s being called the “DEI Industrial Complex.” We&#8217;ve had our own investigative reporter, Luke Rosiak, digging into this and revealing some pretty alarming findings. First, what kinds of potential abuses are we seeing related to DEI in the federal government?
Bruner: This our latest exposé, and we give Luke a great shout out in it. He&#8217;s done amazing work on this Small Business Administration program. It&#8217;s called 8(a). Kind of an unwieldy title, but the devil is in the details with this. It&#8217;s a multi-billion dollar pass through scheme that rewards minority contractors or people who are “disadvantaged,” which has a very loose definition. I mean, perhaps even just not having access to internet when you&#8217;re way up in your mountain cabin in Yosemite or wherever could qualify you. But you have these firms that set up, Native American firms or any other sort of minority group — Native Americans have been pretty blessed by this program to the tune of billions of dollars. And it turns out that they&#8217;re not disadvantaged at all. The shareholders wear Rolex watches and are very wealthy. Well, in turn, this allows them to partner with real big firms like the Boston Consulting Group or McKinsey &amp; Company or firms that are not at all disadvantaged, and they receive no bid contracts under this program. And for anybody who knows anything about a no bid contract, it&#8217;s about as corrupt as it can be.
Morning Wire: Right. Why are we just now learning about this corruption?
Bruner: The program has been around for decades, but only under the Biden administration did the quotas triple. It really exploded just in the last several years. There was a USAID program, the contracting officials at USAID were taking bribes, over $1 million in bribes. We&#8217;ve also seen a $100 million contract. The minority contractor got 65% of that $100 million. So, well over $50 million. They only did a small fraction of the work.
Morning Wire: Do you think the DEI movement in particular really ratcheted this up – is that the culprit here in terms of the scale that we&#8217;re seeing now?
Bruner: Yeah, absolutely. President Trump, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, and Treasury Secretary Bessent deserve credit. They really kicked off the investigations into this. The problem is that even though the Trump administration has declared war on DEI in the federal government, this isn&#8217;t necessarily called a “DEI program.” We&#8217;re seeing this across all kinds of sectors, especially in education. They&#8217;re getting rid of the word “DEI” and they&#8217;re using new words – “disadvantaged” or what have you. And the problem is, that there are “disadvantaged” people in America and we do want to support them and help them. But when you are giving multi-billion dollar conglomerates contracts under the banner of being “disadvantaged,” it hurts everybody.

MRN_251204_V!

Morning Brief: NATO Steps Up For Ukraine, Trump Expands Immigration Crackdown, & More Biden DEI Fraud

Morning Brief: NATO Steps Up For Ukraine, Trump Expands Immigration Crackdown, And SBA Funds DEI

Afghanistan

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Donald Trump

Immigration

Joe Biden

Kelly Loeffler

Marco Rubio

Morning Wire

NATO

Russia

Small Business Administration

Ukraine

The Biden administration “barely vetted” the Afghan migrant accused of shooting two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C. last week, a Homeland Security official revealed Tuesday.
The alleged shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, didn’t undergo multiple standard background checks after he arrived in the United States in 2021 as part of the Biden administration’s “Operation Allies Welcome” program that brought over 77,000 individuals from the war-torn nation following the botched withdrawal of American troops, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News host John Roberts.
The Biden administration allowed Lakanwal into the U.S. because of his past work with federal agencies operating in Afghanistan, including the CIA, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/national-guardsmen-shooting-suspect-worked-with-the-cia-agency-head-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> last week. He received asylum in April, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rahmanullah-lakanwal-mental-health-case-worker-emails/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to CBS News.
“We saw with this terrorist here, he was barely vetted, there was no biometric vetting, there was no criminal background check, cyber background check, financial background check. Really, they took some people and they just took them at their word, that&#8217;s a huge problem,” McLaughlin said.
“And it really can&#8217;t be overstated what the Biden administration did to this country in putting it in danger. So, I would say absolutely the vetting process is an issue, but these countries of origin too,” McLaughlin added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
The damage that the Biden administration did to this country cannot be overstated.
President Trump and Secretary Noem are putting an end to the reckless policies that allowed millions of illegal aliens and foreigners into our country unvetted. The vetting process will now… <a href="https://t.co/wRC6hi377D">pic.twitter.com/wRC6hi377D</a>
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/1995956782712455534?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
<div class="p-rich_text_section">
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President Donald Trump was quick to turn off immigration pipelines following the recent attack.
</div>
The federal government halted asylum decisions and stopped issuing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-department-orders-posts-to-refuse-visas-to-afghan-nationals?author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=State+Department+Takes+Action+On+Afghan+Nationals+Following+Trump+Pledge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">visas</a> to Afghans. On Tuesday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued new guidance to pause the processing of all immigration applications for individuals from 19 “high risk countries.”
The targets of the halt include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela, countries that were subject to travel <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-06-10/pdf/2025-10669.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">restrictions</a> enacted in June.

Job Biden Speaks At Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) In San Diego

Biden Admin ‘Barely Vetted’ Afghan Terror Suspect Accused Of Shooting National Guard Troops In D.C.

Biden Admin 'Barely Vetted' Afghan Terror Suspect Accused Of Shooting National Guard Troops In D.C.

Washington D.C.

The Trump administration tightens immigration restrictions following a fatal attack on National Guardsmen, illegal alien access to federal benefits comes under scrutiny, and is the United States about to strike narco-terrorists on Venezuelan soil?
It’s Monday, December 1, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251201">video version can be seen on The Daily Wire</a>:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/capital-attack-fallout-venezuelan-skies-closed-12-1-25/id1576594336?i=1000739099845" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Launches Immigration Crackdown After D.C. Shootings</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1007687" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Guardsmen-Shooting-Fallout-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Guardsmen-Shooting-Fallout-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Guardsmen-Shooting-Fallout-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Guardsmen-Shooting-Fallout-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Guardsmen-Shooting-Fallout-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Guardsmen-Shooting-Fallout.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: The tragic shooting of two National Guard members from West Virginia by an Afghan national has triggered a massive immigration response from the Trump administration. And the president does not appear to be done with his sweeping actions.
Over the course of last week and then into the weekend, President Donald Trump has taken a series of aggressive actions in response to this attack, about which some very harrowing details continue to emerge.
The attack: Police say the 29-year-old suspect approached with a revolver and was shooting at a point-blank distance. He was also reportedly shouting “Allah Akbar!”
One heroic guardsman, armed with only a pocketknife, was able to stop the shooter. The guardsman heard the gunfire, charged the shooter, and then stabbed him with the knife.
Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old woman who was one of the guardsmen shot in the attack, died as a result of her injuries. The other guardsman who was shot, Andrew Wolf, is still fighting for his life. There continues to be an outpouring of support and prayers for his recovery and his family.
The suspect was also severely wounded, but he is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/national-guard-shooting-suspect-expected-to-survive?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=National+Guard+Shooting+Suspect+Expected+To+Survive">expected</a> to survive.
Where the prosecution stands: U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charges-upgraded-against-afghan-shooting-suspect-after-national-guard-soldier-dies">said</a> that the charges have been upgraded to first-degree murder since Beckstrom’s death. Pirro said that this appears to be a case of an ambush-style attack. The FBI is even looking at this as a possible act of terrorism.
In response, President Trump said he is considering dispatching 500 more troops to the nation’s capital to keep the peace, doubling down on his earlier executive order to protect the city and quell crime.
The suspect: He came into the United States as part of Operation Allies Welcome, launched by the Biden administration after the botched 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal. Many soldiers, including Afghan and American soldiers, were killed during that process, and the Taliban was able to retake the country.
The suspect fought with a group of elite Afghan fighters known as &#8220;Zero Units.&#8221; They were all so-called “death squads” working with the CIA to help fight the Taliban. A friend of the suspect’s told the New York Post that he suffered from serious mental health issues as a result of his years in combat.
Immigration crackdown: Trump has said the United States is not admitting any more Afghan nationals. The president has ordered a review of how Afghans were vetted during and after the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Notably, tens of thousands of Afghan nationals came to the United States as refugees following the withdrawal.
The State Department has said it is refusing visas to Afghan nationals until it conducts further vetting of the country. The president has said that he will “deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Steps Up Enforcement Against Illegals Receiving Benefits</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1007689" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Illegal-Benefits-Axed-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Illegal-Benefits-Axed-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Illegal-Benefits-Axed-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Illegal-Benefits-Axed-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Illegal-Benefits-Axed-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Illegal-Benefits-Axed.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: The Trump administration is working to remove federal benefits for people who are in the country illegally.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he will “end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens.” He added that many recent arrivals depend on taxpayer-supported welfare programs while coming from “failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels.”
Bessent’s turn: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has moved to implement the president’s order. Bessent said that his department is working to cut off federal benefits to illegals and stressed that these must be preserved for American citizens.
Specifically, Bessent said the Treasury “will issue proposed regulations clarifying that the refunded portions of certain individual income tax benefits are no longer available to illegal and other non-qualified aliens.”
The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network also issued an alert to better crack down on the exploitation of the U.S. financial system by illegals who are seeking to move illegally obtained funds. 
The department <a href="https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-issues-alert-cross-border-funds-transfers-involving-illegal-aliens#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94Today%2C%20the%20U.S.%20Department,to%20move%20illicitly%20obtained%20funds">said</a> that over the past several years, the United States has witnessed a “significant volume of cross-border funds transfers, including remittances” from illegals.
MN Somalis: City Journal has reported in detail on a massive fraud scheme in Minnesota under the tenure of Democrat Gov. Tim Walz, where billions of taxpayer dollars intended for social services were funneled through fake nonprofits and shell companies, and — alarmingly — some of that money <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/minnesota-welfare-fraud-somalia-al-shabaab">ended up in the hands</a> of the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Al-Shabaab.
Much of the fraud has been traced back to Minnesota’s Somali community, where fraudsters have allegedly exploited numerous loopholes in the state’s welfare system. But the story has been overlooked for a long time.
“I think it’s fair to say there was an unwillingness or inability from Democratic state officials in Minnesota to recognize some pretty obvious alarm bells here. Claims were skyrocketing, spiraling out of control,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpQQ9nJPBhg&amp;t=216s">said</a> investigative reporter Ryan Thorpe, who helped break the story. “The reality is, the Somali community … is a voting bloc you have to win if you&#8217;re going to win political office in Minneapolis.”
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Clears The Skies Over Venezuela</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1007691" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Venezuela-Tensions-Strike-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Venezuela-Tensions-Strike-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Venezuela-Tensions-Strike-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Venezuela-Tensions-Strike-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Venezuela-Tensions-Strike-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Venezuela-Tensions-Strike.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: Tensions are escalating after President Trump announced that the airspace over Venezuela should be considered closed. The announcement has raised new questions over potential U.S. strikes inside Venezuela amid the president’s war on drug cartels.
The situation around Venezuela appears precarious. Trump on Saturday posted on <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115633041089714842">Truth Social</a>: “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
That post has again sparked predictions about when airstrikes could occur.
“We should read into it that strikes are very probably going to occur over the course of this week,” retired Admiral James Stavridis <a href="https://x.com/stavridisj/status/1994895666242257322">told</a> CNN. “When you hear the president of the United States throw that warning out there, to me it sounds like strikes are coming probably sooner rather than later.”
The fallout: Venezuela’s foreign minister called Trump’s post an “extravagant, illegal, and unjustified aggression against the people of Venezuela.” A country can’t actually close another country&#8217;s airspace, but that seems to be a technicality in this situation.
Ten days ago, the FAA had already warned about a “potentially hazardous situation” for flights over Venezuela. Commercial air traffic has avoided the area since. Venezuela has <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/venezuela-trump-airspace-migrant-repatriation-flights/">said</a> that U.S. migrant repatriation flights have stopped.
Diplomacy? The New York Times and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-declares-that-airspace-around-venezuela-should-be-considered-closed-07b748ee?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqdYROyIVy7gClY9Bq41wnncsq-Qat1oRTlqYoKx0V6tbAonb7EZrT7QkEcL4N8%3D&amp;gaa_ts=692c8335&amp;gaa_sig=FZG9XNJCxmFvKFgy6onM_3SgPB5tUMSPwJXqN2n4szJLOt3sdRVw2O24SgzgHNBcNUGqk8fn_gJ-kgAiYrOD0w%3D%3D">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported that Trump and Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan leader, spoke by phone recently. Trump confirmed the call on Sunday while speaking to reporters on board Air Force One. Trump did not provide details, but the call represents a shift after the U.S. cut off diplomatic talks in October.
Reportedly, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was on the call, as well, and Trump and Maduro spoke of the possibility of a meeting, which would be a significant shift after Trump called on Maduro to step down and authorized CIA operations in Venezuela.
Allies of the president have maintained that this is a drug operation–a very intense one, but one that will not lead to war.

MRN_251201_V2 (2)

Morning Brief: Capital Attack Fallout, No Aid For Illegals, & Venezuelan Airspace Closed?

Morning Brief: Trump Cracks Down On Afghans, No Aid For Illegals, And Clear Skies Over Caracas

Media

Minnesota

National Guard

Politics

Tim Walz

Venezuela

Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), attempted to blame President Donald Trump for the deadly shooting that took place in Washington, D.C., the day before Thanksgiving.
The suspect is an Afghan national, let into the United States during former President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration after the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, who opened fire on National Guard troops in the nation&#8217;s capital. One, SPC. Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, has died as a result of her injuries. But according to Wasserman Schultz, Trump was to blame for the horrific ambush attack.
WATCH;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Rep Wasserman-Schultz attempts to blame Trump for NG shoot*ng, cites deployments in cities and &#8220;gun violence” as causes:
“The president looks everywhere except inward to blame his own policies&#8230;and it’s pretty disgusting.&#8221;
This is what they’re actually going with here. Sick. <a href="https://t.co/BX5TAd367V">pic.twitter.com/BX5TAd367V</a>
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/1994411786204840262?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Wasserman Schultz, responding to President Trump&#8217;s plan to go back and revisit the vetting process for the Afghan nationals who were brought into the United States as refugees, noted that in order for someone to have slipped through the cracks, there had to have been failures at a number of levels.
&#8220;We need to make sure that we have tight and appropriate and proper vetting. If there were gaps that admitted this person, they would have failed over multiple levels of gaps, and this individual was trusted enough to participate in assisting our military during the war in Afghanistan,&#8221; Wasserman Schultz said.
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She then pivoted to blame Trump, adding, &#8220;The president looks everywhere except inward to blame his own policies. We need to make sure that we don&#8217;t have our military deployed in our cities, handling law enforcement responsibilities, and we need to make sure that we address gun violence. We certainly need to make sure that we always have the proper and appropriate and tight vetting processes and those should be reviewed, but it&#8217;s never the president&#8217;s fault or his policies when it comes to his reaction, and it’s pretty disgusting.&#8221;
What Wasserman Schultz failed to acknowledge, however, was the fact that people like Pentagon spokesman and Army Ranger veteran <a href="https://x.com/Surabees/status/1994030582116876620">Sean Parnell</a> had sounded the alarm even at the time, warning that some Afghans who had been trusted and had worked with American troops on the ground had betrayed them when it mattered.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Former DNC Chair Blames Trump For National Guard Shooting

Democratic National Committee

Shooting

On Friday, President Trump detonated a political thunderclap, <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115629010097815862">declaring</a> that any document former President Joe Biden signed with the autopen is null and void—a sweeping reversal that, by Trump’s count, would wipe out roughly 92% of Biden’s executive actions.
Trump framed the autopen saga as a usurpation of presidential authority by “Radical Left Lunatics” who “circled Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk,” insisting that Biden himself “was not involved in the Autopen process.” And if Biden now claims otherwise? Trump warned he’d be charged with perjury.
The announcement did not emerge in a vacuum. For more than a year, reports—from watchdogs to congressional investigators—have painted a picture of a presidency increasingly outsourced to staff as Biden’s cognitive decline accelerated. In March 2025, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-pardons-signed-autopen-on-vacation-watchdog-finds?utm_source=chatgpt.com">detailed</a> findings from the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project showing that Biden’s December 30, 2022 pardons had been signed with the exact same autopen signature while Biden vacationed in the Virgin Islands. Although some high-profile documents—such as Hunter Biden’s pardon and Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 race—appear hand-signed, numerous explosive pardons, including those for Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, the January 6 Committee, and members of the Biden family, bore the same autopen imprint.
Kyle Brosnan, the Oversight Project’s chief counsel, has called the situation “troubling,” noting that the power to issue pardons belongs solely to the president as a constitutional principle. Coupled with Special Counsel Robert Hur’s description of Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” Brosnan argued the evidence suggests Biden “wasn’t really running the White House. It was the staff.”
Meanwhile, further reporting revealed that Biden did not individually approve names for the mass clemency actions signed during his final months. Staff revised lists based on Bureau of Prisons updates and ran the final versions through the autopen without re-presenting them to Biden, according to aides and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/13/us/politics/biden-pardon-autopen-trump.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare">New York Times</a>. Biden insisted he “made every decision,” but the admission that actions were carried out “orally” and executed by staff—primarily Staff Secretary Stefanie Feldman, who managed the autopen—only fueled concerns.
The Trump White House, the DOJ, and the House Oversight Committee have been conducting parallel investigations, reviewing what may exceed one million documents bearing Biden’s autopen signature. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt summarized the administration’s view bluntly: Biden “handed the power of the presidency to an autopen.”
And Trump, with characteristic finality, says those documents are done.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

Trump Nukes Biden Legacy: Declares All Autopen-Signed Orders ‘Null And Void’

autopen

The Biden administration justified bringing the suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, over to the United States because he had worked with U.S. government entities, including the CIA, in Afghanistan, according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Lakanwal, 29, who entered the U.S. as part of the Biden administration&#8217;s Operation Allies Welcome, allegedly shot the National Guard members only blocks from the White House, leaving them in critical condition.
“In the wake of the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation,” Ratcliffe told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/who-dc-national-guardsmen-shooting-suspect-what-know-about-afghan-national-rahmanullah-lakanwal">Fox News Digital</a>.
On September 3, 2021, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas <a href="applewebdata://081DAEB6-AD7B-4068-B92F-3A46194A02BF/v">introduced</a> Operation Allies Welcome, saying it was “the ongoing effort to bring Americans home, and to bring vulnerable Afghans to the United States and support their resettlement.  The President of the United States has the authority to designate a federal agency to lead a federal response.  Last Friday, he designated the Department of Homeland Security as the lead federal agency to coordinate Operation Allies Welcome to help ensure unity of effort, clear roles and responsibilities, synchronized priorities, and effective coordination across the federal government.”
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“The federal government has been focused on the screening and vetting of individuals evacuated from Afghanistan,” he continued. “The Department of Homeland Security remains ever vigilant against attempts by foreign adversaries to exploit vulnerable populations as a means of gaining access to the U.S. for nefarious purposes.  Consequently, as part of a collaborative, interagency effort that includes DHS, the Departments of Defense and State, the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center, and other agencies, the Federal Government has established a robust screening and vetting architecture with the dual goals of protecting the homeland and providing protections for vulnerable Afghans.”
“We have a moral imperative to protect them, to support those who have supported this Nation,” he stated. “We have an obligation to do so in a way that protects our national security and preserves public safety.”

John Ratcliffe faces Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing

National Guardsmen Shooting Suspect Worked With The CIA, Agency Head Says

Crime

The Biden administration&#8217;s free-for-all admission of refugees from Afghanistan after it botched the United States&#8217;s withdrawal from the country allowed the man who opened fire on National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., into the country.
The suspect, 29-year-old Afghan national <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/afghan-national-in-custody-for-national-guard-attack-was-in-country-illegally?author=Cameron+Arcand&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Afghan+National+In+Custody+For+National+Guard+Attack+Was+In+Country+Illegally" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rahmanullah Lakanwal</a>, entered the United States in 2021 as part of President Joe Biden&#8217;s &#8220;Operation Allies Welcome,&#8221; which allowed roughly 77,000 Afghan nationals into the country, the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Wire late Wednesday. That very program was exposed for allowing terrorists and countless unvetted individuals to go free into the United States.
Nearly a year after the last American troops left the war-torn country, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General&#8217;s office discovered that federal officials lacked sufficient information to vet the evacuees and in some cases didn&#8217;t have the accurate or complete  backgrounds on the individuals. The report concluded that the Biden administration &#8220;admitted or paroled evacuees who were not fully vetted&#8221; even though they posed &#8220;a risk to national security and the safety of local communities.&#8221;
To add to security concerns, hundreds of Afghans walked off American military bases, where they were being housed until their resettlement was completed, before they were fully vetted, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-giant-can-worms-some-afghans-leave-us-military-bases-before-2021-10-01/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in October 2021.
The Biden administration&#8217;s poor vetting standards allowed an Afghan man into the United States who allegedly plotted an Election Day terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS. The Department of Justice <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/afghan-national-arrested-plotting-election-day-terrorist-attack-name-isis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, last year after he allegedly &#8220;took steps to liquidate his family’s assets, resettle members of his family overseas, acquire AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition&#8221; to carry out his attack.
Lakanwal allegedly shot two West Virginia National Guard soldiers blocks from the White House on Wednesday afternoon.
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem condemned the attack in a statement shared with The Daily Wire
&#8220;I will not utter this depraved individual’s name,&#8221; Noem said. &#8220;He should be starved of the glory he so desperately wants. These men and women of the National Guard are mothers, fathers, sisters, daughters, children of God, carrying out the same basic public safety and immigration laws enshrined in law for decades.&#8221;
&#8220;The politicians and media who continue to vilify our men and women in uniform need to take a long hard look in the mirror. Bryon and I will be praying hard for these two National Guardsmen, their families, and every American who puts on uniform to defend our freedom,&#8221; she added.
President Donald Trump described the attack as a &#8220;monstrous ambush,&#8221; slamming the Biden administration for allowing the alleged shooter into the United States.
“This attack underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation. The last administration let in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world,&#8221; Trump said Wednesday.
The FBI is looking into the attack as a possible act of terrorism. The Trump administration announced Wednesday that &#8220;processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols.
The protection and safety of our homeland and of the American people remains our singular focus and…
— USCIS (@USCIS) <a href="https://twitter.com/USCIS/status/1993882694640415163?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">November 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
Daily Wire Editor Emeritus <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-one-is-on-joe-biden-ben-shapiro-reacts-to-national-guard-shooting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ben Shapiro reacted</a> to the shooting late Wednesday, and said that Biden was entirely to blame for the attack
“This one is on Joe Biden, pure and simple,” Shapiro said. “I don’t know who else to blame. Honestly. It is your job to make sure that some of the most predictably terror-minded people on earth don’t come into the United States.”
As of Wednesday evening, the two victims were in critical condition, FBI Director Kash Patel said at a press conference.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-FIRE-BIDEN

Attack On National Guardsmen Further Exposes Biden’s Botched Afghanistan Withdrawal

Washington DC

Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro minced no words when he reacted to the Wednesday shooting of two National Guardsmen by an Afghan national near the White House.
&#8220;These are the wages of Joe Biden&#8217;s awful foreign policy combined with his awful immigration policy,&#8221; Shapiro said. &#8220;Remember: Joe Biden decided that in perfectly cowardly and ignominious fashion, the United States was going to flee Afghanistan and leave the entire country in the hands of the Taliban.&#8221;
Two National Guardsmen were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/afghan-national-in-custody-for-national-guard-attack-was-in-country-illegally">shot</a> in an apparent ambush. The suspect, an Afghan national named Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was also reportedly shot and taken into custody at the scene.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Breaking news on the National Guard terrorist attack <a href="https://t.co/zKhTW8Gafc">pic.twitter.com/zKhTW8Gafc</a>
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1993870619797016627?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Shapiro asserted that Biden could have executed a withdrawal from Afghanistan in a more responsible manner, and noted that the chaotic mess that resulted was the reason Biden&#8217;s State Department had then implemented the refugee policies that allowed this terrorist and others entry into the United States with far less vetting they might otherwise be subjected to.
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Ultimately blaming &#8220;Joe Biden&#8217;s cowardice and idiocy,&#8221; Shapiro explained, &#8220;The result of this is that you end up with terrorists in the United States — and you remember, the original goal of this entire operation was to keep terrorists out of the United States and, in fact, to deny a safe haven to terrorists in Afghanistan and to keep terrorists outside of America&#8217;s borders.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s failure on top of failure on top of failure,&#8221; he added. &#8220;When you bring in huge numbers of people from countries that do not like the United States and whose cultures are, in fact, not assimilative to American values, then you can&#8217;t be surprised when stuff like this happens. You cannot.&#8221;
&#8220;This one is on Joe Biden, pure and simple,&#8221; Shapiro concluded. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know who else to blame. Honestly. It is your job to make sure that some of the most predictably terror-minded people on earth don&#8217;t come into the United States.&#8221;

Untitled design (77)

‘This One Is On Joe Biden’: Ben Shapiro Reacts To National Guard Shooting

The Biden administration pressured at least 11 American airports to house illegal immigrants despite security warnings, a shocking new Senate report revealed Tuesday.
The Biden White House directed the Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to identify airports where illegal migrants could be held and processed, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/bombshell-report-alleges-biden-team-pushed-airports-house-migrants-risking-safety" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Fox News, citing the 47-page report, entitled &#8220;Flight Risk.&#8221; In some instances, the Biden administration asked federal agencies to &#8220;divert &#8230; resources&#8221; to support the illegal migrants.
&#8220;The Biden-Harris administration made airports and aviation less secure,&#8221; the report states, &#8220;by allowing and encouraging aliens to shelter at U.S. airports, by allowing improperly vetted aliens to fly into and throughout the United States, and by diverting needed federal air marshals to the border.&#8221;
Officials tasked with the effort, however, weren&#8217;t shy about their concerns, internal emails showed.
&#8220;We have received a request from the WH to determine if there are available facilities on airport or surrounding areas… This is an immediate ask so please prioritize this effort,&#8221; one FAA official wrote to the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Boston Logan Airport, on October 6, 2023.
A Department of Transportation official responded: &#8220;Yikes, this is definitely Fox News fodder in the making.&#8221;
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FAA officials recognized they needed federal approval to house migrants in terminals and other airport facilities under grant-assurance rules, but &#8220;ignored them most of the time when airports used their facilities to house aliens,&#8221; the report stated.
The airport authority also pushed back on the request, saying they&#8217;re &#8220;not designed or resourced to manage the intake of migrant populations,&#8221; adding that it &#8220;would create a host of unintended safety and security consequences.&#8221;
Still, the Boston airport accommodated 352 migrants, shelling out $779,000 on security, cleaning, and transportation.
The targeted airports included Boston Logan, Chicago O’Hare, and New York’s JFK. And they were asked to shelter migrants inside terminals, hangars, or auxiliary buildings.
In Chicago, O&#8217;Hare Airport hosted up to 900 migrants, housing them in a shuttle terminal.
The effort resulted in 329 service calls to police and 26 arrests between April 2023 and February 2024 for crimes that included thefts, disorderly conduct, and a death investigation.
The &#8220;asylum seekers [we]re not restricted to the staging area,&#8221; Chicago officials said at the time.
At JFK airport, the migrant issue resulted in a security breach, after Kleber Loor-Ponce, &#8220;an alien from Ecuador&#8230; ran past a security post into ‘the secure area at [JFK],’ toward two runways.&#8221;
When he was arrested, officers &#8220;found a box cutter and pair of scissors on his person.&#8221;
Department of Transportation officials were also instructed to step in, with some told to create a &#8220;Know Your Rights&#8221; guide for migrants while working with states that track buses delivering border crossers across the country.
Some officials were also &#8220;encouraged to remind local transit agencies that federal grants could be used to move migrants.&#8221;

Untitled design – 2025-11-25T114722.404

Biden Admin Pressured U.S. Airports To House Illegal Immigrants, Bombshell Senate Report Reveals

airport

Boston

Department of Transportation

Illegal Immigration

The Justice Department under former President Joe Biden reportedly subpoenaed two years of phone records belonging to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan as part of the wide-ranging “Arctic Frost” investigation involving former President Donald Trump and his allies.
Records show that the Justice Department demanded that Verizon turn over details on Jordan’s phone calls from January 2020 until April 2022. The requested information included details on inbound and outbound calls, texts, and voicemail messages, but not the content of the calls or texts. 
“They spied on President Trump. They spied on Senators. Now, we just learned, they spied on me. If they can do it to us, they can do it to you,” Jordan <a href="https://x.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1991699042175500436/photo/1">posted</a> on social media on Thursday night alongside images of the subpoena. 
The subpoena was first <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-doj-subpoenaed-jim-jordans-phone-records-covering-more-than-two-years">reported</a> by Fox News. Other records <a href="https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/11/gjsubpoena2022042589990_redacted-1_redacted.pdf">obtained</a> by the outlet show that a federal judge ordered that the request remain secret. Verizon produced the documents for the Justice Department, a source told Fox. 
“The Court finds reasonable grounds to believe that such disclosure will result in flight from prosecution, destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, and serious jeopardy to the investigation,” Judge David Baker wrote.
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Baker added that Verizon’s “employees shall not disclose the existence of the Subpoena to any other person (except attorneys for PROVIDER for the purpose of receiving legal advice) for a period of one year.”
Verizon said in a statement that it was &#8220;working tirelessly&#8221; with lawmakers in Congress looking into the Arctic Frost investigation. 
&#8220;As part of our investigation, we uncovered new information regarding Chairman Jordan and shared it with him as soon as possible,&#8221; said Verizon spokesman Rich Young. &#8220;We are committed to restoring trust through transparency and will continue to work with Congress and the administration as they examine these issues and consider reforms to expand notification protections.&#8221;
The subpoena was sent before special counsel Jack Smith took over the Arctic Frost investigation, which ended with Trump being charged with trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The Biden administration also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-justice-department-took-unprecedented-action-against-trump-bondi-reveals">turned over</a> Trump’s government-issued phone to Smith as part of the investigation and subpoenaed his personal phone records. 
In addition to Trump and Jordan, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/beyond-watergate-bidens-fbi-snooped-on-phone-records-from-gop-lawmakers-in-trump-investigation">revealed</a> last month that he had uncovered evidence that the FBI analyzed the metadata of phone calls from several Republicans in Congress, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn (TN), Cynthia Lummis (WY), Ron Johnson (WI), Tommy Tuberville (AL), Dan Sullivan (AK), Josh Hawley (MO) Bill Hagerty (TN), Lindsey Graham (SC), and Rep. Mike Kelly (PA).
The Senate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shutdown-deal-packs-a-surprise-as-republicans-strike-back-after-phone-snooping?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Shutdown+Deal+Packs+A+Surprise+As+Republicans+Strike+Back+After+Phone+Snooping">recently</a> included a provision in a government-funding bill allowing senators to sue the federal government if their phone or office records were accessed without their knowledge. The House voted on Thursday to repeal that measure — but so far, the repeal has not advanced in the Senate.

House Gop 6/04/25

Jim Jordan: Biden’s Justice Dept ‘Spied On Me,’ Seized 28 Months Of Phone Records

Arctic Frost

Congress

Department of Justice

Jack Smith

Jim Jordan

A year apart, President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden both touted September job growth — but the source of that growth couldn’t be more different. Under Trump, the federal workforce shrank, while under Biden, it expanded.
Thursday’s jobs report showed an overall increase of <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf">119,000 jobs</a>, with the bulk coming from the private sector.
“The job growth was driven almost entirely by private-sector job gains,” stated the White House in a press release. Health care and construction industries led the way — adding 43,000 and 19,000 jobs, respectively. And while the private sector grew, the public sector shrank.
“Federal government employment continued to decline in September and is down 97,000 since reaching a peak in January,” the report showed. That figure may even understate the true contraction, as workers on severance are still counted as employed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On the other hand, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_10042024.pdf#:~:text=Household%20Survey%20Data%20Both%20the%20unemployment%20rate%2C,number%20of%20unemployed%20people%20was%206.3%20million.">Biden’s September 2024 report</a> told a different story. “Employment in government continued its upward trend in September,” the report stated. Under Biden, government jobs averaged a monthly gain of 45,000.
When Trump took office, federal jobs were at a peak. He implemented a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-extends-the-hiring-freeze/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">federal hiring freeze</a> initially scheduled to end July 15, which was later extended indefinitely. Once the freeze expires, federal agencies can hire no more than one employee for every four employees who depart from federal service. The freeze makes exceptions for jobs related to immigration, law enforcement, and public safety. Trump framed the reduction as a correction of the previous administration&#8217;s growth. The hiring freeze fact sheet explains, “In the last two years of the Biden administration, the government was directly responsible for the creation of more than 1 in every 4 jobs.”
Campaigning on eliminating waste, the Trump administration says the freeze is necessary to address the “billions of dollars wasted each year on duplicative programs and frivolous expenditures that fail to align with American values or address the needs of the American people.”
Not stopping at limiting new hires, the Office of Personnel Management estimates that by the end of the year, more than 300,000 federal employees will have left or lost their jobs. The Trump administration says it hopes many of those workers transition to private-sector positions.
The strength of private-sector job growth complicates the Federal Reserve’s path. CNBC’s Steve Liesman said the report “bolsters the case of the hawks on the FOMC who have said they do not see serious deterioration in the labor market … a robust report.”
According to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, without a weakening labor market, the case for a December rate cut becomes much harder.
At November’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Powell described a difficult balance: a tight labor market alongside higher-than-desired inflation. Ultimately, the Fed decided on a rate cut to avoid further disruption to employment.
“We’re in a difficult situation,” Powell said at the National Association for Business Economics. “If we move too quickly, then we may leave the inflation job unfinished. If we move too slowly, there may be painful losses in the employment market.”
Trump Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/white-houses-hassett-says-government-shutdown-impact-means-fed-should-cut-rates-in-december-205031021.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIfT9OGeVAKKbHJR4Tc3o4i4IUGV_jwsWj6OEQ8pCpV9PPLtJmCmTCXD4cqtQ1RwqCeiHtlpYZfcCj9KieR8wHDmrBZ3JmV40xfO9AUcSvmmtUin-czVIwgJGFLU1WUxtldZKbbACfYT06DHFrn6jaTYSiXXdyPTtPvvGasDDKHL">says</a> he expects the government shutdown to knock 1.5% off of fourth quarter GDP, making now “a very bad time” to pause rate cuts despite a strengthening labor market.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden

One Year, Two Jobs Reports: How Trump And Biden Drove Job Growth In Very Different Ways

Economy

Jobs

Trump Administration

Unemployment

CNN data guru Harry Enten said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump was blowing his competition out of the water — both Republicans and Democrats — when it came to his approval rating with regard to foreign policy.
Enten spoke with CNN anchor John Berman about the latest numbers, which show Trump, nearly ten months into his second term, has a 43% approval rating on his foreign policy positions. Berman asked for context, wondering how Trump stacked up against past presidents in their respective second terms.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Trump&#8217;s foreign approval rating is up like a rocket compared to term 1.
He has the highest foreign policy approval rating at this point in his term 2 of any 21st century president.
Big reason why: Israel-Hamas conflict. E.g. His net approval is 40 pts higher than Biden&#8217;s was. <a href="https://t.co/8rzNjCphEJ">pic.twitter.com/8rzNjCphEJ</a>
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) <a href="https://twitter.com/ForecasterEnten/status/1991165239224656200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;This is one of the areas in which Donald Trump is performing significantly better than he was in term one,&#8221; Enten explained, noting that during his first term in the White House, Trump&#8217;s approval rating on foreign policy had been significantly lower at 35%. &#8220;Up like a rocket, we&#8217;re talking about 43% now, that&#8217;s an eight-point rise. On the net approval rating, that&#8217;s a double-digit rise.&#8221;
Berman noted that it was almost expected for presidents in their second terms to pivot to foreign policy and do whatever they can to cement their legacies before leaving office — and he asked Enten how Trump stacked up in that regard.
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Enten showed a graphic comparing Trump to the two other 21st-century presidents who served two terms — George W. Bush and Barack Obama — who had foreign policy approval ratings of 36% and 37% respectively, at the same point in their second terms.
&#8220;This is something I think Donald Trump really likes to look at because the bottom line is this presidents like to build their legacies off of foreign policy, and at this particular point the American people like much more of what Donald Trump’s doing on foreign policy than either of the two other twenty-first century presidents who serve at least — or served two terms,&#8221; Enten explained.
Berman asked whether Trump&#8217;s high marks on that particular issue had anything to do with how he&#8217;d responded to the war between Israel and the Hamas terrorists controlling Gaza, and Enten said it had likely been a major factor.
&#8220;The American people liked what Trump was able to do between the Israelis and Hamas,&#8221; he said — and pointed to Trump&#8217;s net approval on the Israel-Hamas conflict (+3) compared to former President Joe Biden&#8217;s (-37). &#8220;Joe Biden was 37 points below water by the end of his presidency.&#8221;

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