‘Shoving Americans off a cliff’: Democrats condemn failed healthcare votes as Obamacare subsidies set to expire – live

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Indiana Republicans’ rejection of a redistricting effort that would have favored the GOP marks a major break from Donald Trump and comes after the president threatened to back primary opponents for those who didn’t support the redrawn congressional maps.

“Anybody that votes against Redistricting, and the SUCCESS of the Republican Party in D.C., will be, I am sure, met with a MAGA Primary in the Spring,” Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday, the day before the vote. “Rod Bray and his friends won’t be in Politics for long, and I will do everything within my power to make sure that they will not hurt the Republican Party, and our Country, again.”

Late last month, Michael Bohacek, a Republican Indiana state senator, announced he was opposing redistricting after Trump used a slur for people with intellectual disabilities to insult a political opponent. Bohacek, whose child has down syndrome, said he was an “unapologetic advocate for people with intellectual disabilities” and the president’s “choices of words have consequences”.

Heritage Action, a conservative 501(c)4 associated with the group behind Project 2025, also suggested before the vote that Indiana Republicans would suffer if they didn’t support the redrawn maps, writing on social media, “President Trump has made it clear to Indiana leaders: if the Indiana Senate fails to pass the map, all federal funding will be stripped from the state. Roads will not be paved. Guard bases will close. Major projects will stop. These are the stakes and every NO vote will be to blame.”

Indiana Republicans vote down redistricting in major blow to Trump

Indiana Republicans have rejected an effort to redraw the state’s congressional map, a stunning and blunt rebuke of Donald Trump and Republican efforts to reconfigure the state’s congressional districts to add two more Republican-friendly seats.

The measure failed 19-31, with 21 Republicans joining 10 Democrats in rejecting the new maps.

US targets Nicolás Maduro's family with new sanctions

The US has issued new sanctions targeting the family members of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, and six crude oil tankers, Reuters reports.

The US treasury department announced sanctions against three nephews of Maduro’s wife and oil tankers and shipping companies allegedly linked to them.

The targeted oil tankers “have engaged in deceptive and unsafe shipping practices and continue to provide financial resources that fuel Maduro’s corrupt narco-terrorist regime”. The sanctions come as the Trump administration has dramatically escalated its pressure campaign against Maduro, including with the seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker.

Democrats and others have criticized the administration over its boat strikes and the seizure, warning the US was “sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela”.

More background in our coverage here:

Trump administration creates new militarized zone along California border

Victoria Bekiempis

The US’s southern border is poised to become more militarized following an announcement by Trump administration officials that armed forces would now oversee 760 acres of public land for a three-year period.

The US Department of Interior said in a statement that jurisdiction over this acreage – located in California’s San Diego and Imperial counties – would be transferred to the US navy “to establish a National Defense Area to support ongoing border security operations”.

Expansive portions of the border region have been deemed militarized zones since April. This designation permits US military members to capture migrants and those whom they allege are illegally on US army, navy or air force bases, according to the AP. The classification also enables more criminal charges which, in turn, could mean greater prison terms. AP notes that more than 7,000 service members have been sent to the US border, as well as military surveillance equipment.

More background here:

'Shoving Americans off a cliff': Democrats condemn ACA vote

Democrats have forcefully condemned Republicans over the failure to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, with votes today that threaten to increase healthcare costs to unaffordable levels for millions of Americans.

The US Senate earlier rejected competing proposals that would have addressed the approaching expiration of subsidies for plans under the ACA, also known as Obamacare. Premium tax credits for roughly 21.8m enrollees of the plans are on track to expire by the end of December. A bill supported by Democrats laying out a three-year extension failed, with only four Republicans supporting.

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate minority leader, said:

Senate Republicans just shoved the American people off the side of a cliff with no parachute and with an anchor tied to their feet. Republicans just blocked the Democrats’ bill for a clean, simple extension of the ACA tax credits, the last chance they had to ensure people’s premiums do not skyrocket in the coming months.

Republicans, Schumer added, were “fighting like hell to kick people off insurance … [and] give sweet giveaways to billionaires and the ultra-rich”.

Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, said the Republicans’ proposal was a “cruel joke”. Republicans, she said in a video message, “never wanted to lower healthcare costs in the first place”.

For more background:

Trump ally and MyPillow founder, Mike Lindell, announces bid for Minnesota governor

Rachel Leingang

Mike Lindell, a pillow salesman and election conspiracist, is running for governor of Minnesota, he announced on Thursday.

Lindell, an ally of Donald Trump’s and major player in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, joins a crowded Republican primary in the left-leaning state, where his pillow company, MyPillow, is headquartered.

Tim Walz, the Democratic governor, is running for a third term after a stint as the party’s vice-presidential nominee ended in defeat for the Democrats. He has faced criticism for his handling of a wide-ranging fraud scandal that took advantage of the state’s social services system, which is sure to be a feature of the 2026 governor’s race.

Lindell, 64, has faced multiple defamation lawsuits over his false election claims and has been ordered to pay millions of dollars as a result. His finances are in a dire position, he has told the courts, because of what he called “lawfare”. He has not relented from his position that the 2020 election was stolen.

Grand jury again declines to indict Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges

A federal grand jury has declined to indict New York attorney general Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges for the second time in a week, according to a person familiar with the matter, in an embarrassing blow to the Trump justice department as the president has sought retribution against one of his political rivals.

The department has attempted to twice file new charges against James after a judge dismissed an indictment against her after determining the prosecutor handling the case had not been properly appointed.

A decision by a federal grand jury is extremely rare.

Letitia James speaks before helping to distribute a Thanksgiving meal with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in New York, 27 November 2025. Photograph: Lev Radin/Shutterstock

Department of Justice uses Franklin the Turtle illustration to recruit deportation judges

The Trump administration, for the second time, has used the popular children’s book character, Franklin the Turtle, in their social media posts.

The Department of Justice posted a mock-up of Franklin, decked out in court dress, holding a gavel behind a bench, with the title “Franklin Becomes a Deportation Judge”, as part of their social media campaign to recruit more justices for the immigration court system.

Earlier this month, the Franklin series publisher condemned the use of the character in a post on X by defense secretary Pete Hegseth, which portrayed the turtle in a military helmet and vest, with a US flag on his arm, and a drug-laden boat exploding in the background, titled “Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists”. Kids Can Press said it was an “unauthorized” use of the character.

Trump is 'sick of meetings just for the sake of meetings', White House says as Ukraine peace talks continue

Earlier today, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the White House may send a representative to meet with European and Ukrainian officials this weekend if it feels like a meeting is “worthy” of the US’s time.

“It’s still up in the air whether we believe real peace can be accomplished and we can truly move the ball forward,” Leavitt told reporters. “The president is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war, and he is sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting. He doesn’t want any more talk. He wants action.”

“He wants this war to come to an end, and the administration has spent more than 30 hours this just in the past couple of weeks, meeting with the Russians and Ukrainians and the Europeans,” Leavitt said.

She added that Trump is “aware” of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s updated peace proposal, but offered no further comment.

Here's a recap of the day so far

• The Senate failed to advance either of the two competing bills that would determine the future of the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of this year. Both the Republican proposal – which would see government payments of $1,000 into the health savings accounts (HSAs) for people enrolled in bronze or catastrophic exchange plans – and the Democratic legislation – which puts forward a three-year extension of Obamacare subsidies – failed to achieve the 60 votes needed to advance.

• The White House said that those onboard the seized tanker off the coast of Venezuela are being interviewed and the US intends to “seize the oil” following the legal process. At today’s briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the tanker currently undergoing a forfeiture process, and the US has a “full investigative team on the ground on the vessel”. She also repeated the attorney general’s announcement yesterday that the tanker was “a sanctioned shadow vessel” carrying “black market” Iranian oil.

• During a fiery hearing on Capitol Hill, several Democrats called for homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, to resign. Representatives on the House homeland security committee criticized Noem on her leadership of the department, the force and scope of ICE arrests, and the profiling of Black and Brown Americans. One Democrat said that the DHS is the “the greatest threat to the homeland right now”. Earlier, a protester interrupted Noem, screaming “end the deportations” and even quoting a line from The Exorcist.

• A federal judge in Maryland has ordered the release of Kilmar Ábrego García from ICE custody on Thursday, and he will be advised on his release conditions in his separate Tennessee criminal case. The case of Ábrego, a Salvadorian national who was a construction worker in Maryland, has become a proxy for the partisan struggle over Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration policy and mass deportation agenda.

• The US wants Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the Donbas region, and Washington would then create a “free economic zone” in the parts Kyiv currently controls, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Previously, the US had suggested Kyiv should hand over the parts of Donbas it still controlled to Russia, but the Ukrainian president said on Thursday that Washington had now suggested a compromise version in which Ukrainian troops would withdraw, but Russian troops would not advance into the territory.

In response to reporters’ questions today about the failed Republican legislation in the Senate that proposes an alternative to extending Affordable Care Act subsidies, the press secretary was vague about what Donald Trump saw as a viable path forward.

Karoline Leavitt said that the press would “hear more on that soon” and he was committed to lowering health care premiums for Americans.

House votes down long-shot impeachment resolution against Trump

Democrats may be in the minority in the House of Representatives, but that did not stop Texas congressman Al Green from introducing an impeachment resolution against Donald Trump.

Green, who was censured by the House earlier this year for interrupting a speech by the president, accuses Trump of breaking his oath by calling for the execution of six Democratic lawmakers who recorded a video reminding military members that they can refuse illegal orders. The resolution also alleges Trump “fostered a political climate in which lawmakers and judges face threats of political violence and physical assault.”

In a letter announcing the resolution, Green wrote: “I will take a stand to protect government of the people, by the people, for the people. I will take a stand to impeach this abuser of presidential power. I will do so even if I must stand alone, because for me, on this issue, it is better to stand alone than not stand at all.”

The resolution had virtually no chance of success, and just a few minutes ago, the chamber voted down the measure. Ahead of the vote, top Democrats announced their intention to vote “present” on the resolution, rather than in support. Here’s the rationale, from minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, whip Katherine Clark and caucus chair Pete Aguilar:

“Impeachment is a sacred constitutional vehicle designed to hold a corrupt executive accountable for abuse of power, breaking the law and violating the public trust. The effort traditionally requires a comprehensive investigative process, the collection and review of thousands of documents, an exacting scrutiny of the facts, the examination of dozens of key witnesses, congressional hearings, sustained public organizing and the marshaling of the forces of democracy to build a broad national consensus. None of that serious work has been done, with the Republican majority focused solely on rubber stamping Donald Trump’s extreme agenda.”

The motion to table, or kill, the resolution succeeded, with 237 in favor. 140 members voted against tabling, and 47 voted present, all of which were Democrats. A total of nine lawmakers did not vote.

In April, Democratic congressman Shri Thanedar introduced an impeachment resolution against Trump, but withdrew it before it was voted on.

The press secretary today has repeated, incorrectly, that the consumer price index (CPI) has “slowed” to an average of 2.5%.

However, the most recent data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a 3% annual increase – a 0.3% increase from the month prior, and the same rate as when Trump returned to office in January.

White House says those onboard vessel are being interviewed, and US will seize oil following legal process

The press secretary added that the oil tanker vessel is currently undergoing a forfeiture process, and the US has a “full investigative team on the ground on the vessel”. Leavitt added that individuals on board the vessel are being interviewed and “any relevant evidence is being seized”.

“The vessel will go to a US port, and the United States does intend to seize the oil,” she said. “However, there is a legal process for the seizure of that oil, and that legal process will be followed.”

White House says oil tanker seizure was about enforcing 'administration's sanction policy'

When asked today whether Operation Southern Spear is “about drugs or about oil”, Karoline Leavitt said that Tuesday’s seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela happened after the justice department “requested and was approved for a warrant to seize a vessel”.

The press secretary repeated the attorney general’s announcement yesterday that the tanker was “a sanctioned shadow vessel” carrying “black market” Iranian oil.

“The president is committed to stopping the illegal flow of drugs into our country. He’s also fully committed to effectuating this administration’s sanction policy,” Leavitt said.

Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House, 11 December 2025. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP