The Latest: Former Trump aides appear in Wisconsin over 2020 election fraud charges

Two onetime attorneys for President Donald Trump and an aide who all worked on Trump’s 2020 campaign appeared Monday for a preliminary hearing in Wisconsin on felony forgery charges related to a fake elector scheme.

The Wisconsin case is moving forward even as others in the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia have faltered. A special prosecutor last year dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Another case in Nevada is still alive.

The hearing comes a week after Trump attorney Jim Troupis, one of the three who were charged, tried unsuccessfully to get the judge to step down in the case and have it moved to another county. Troupis, who served one year as a judge in the same county where he was charged, also alleged that all of the judges in Dane County are biased against him and he can’t get a fair trial.

Here’s the latest:

US, Paraguay sign agreement setting out legal basis for American troops in the country

The United States and Paraguay have signed an agreement laying out the legal framework for American troops to be stationed the in the South American country and clearing the way for further defense and intelligence cooperation between the two as the Trump administration steps up military operations throughout the western hemisphere.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Paraguayan Foreign Minister Ruben Ramirez signed the so-called “status of forces” agreement on Monday at the State Department. Both men hailed the deal as a step forward in relations that would enhance already strong counter-terrorism and -narcotics measures.

Such agreements outline the legal requirements and immunities for U.S. troops to be present in other countries, although there was no immediate announcement of any deployments to Paraguay.

California hires two former CDC officials who rebuffed Trump, Kennedy

California is hiring two former top federal health officials, state officials said Monday.

Susan Monarez, the former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is helping California launch an effort to maintain trust in science-driven decision-making and improve public health infrastructure.

Monarez is being joined by Dr. Debra Houry, CDC’s former chief medical officer. Both will be advisors, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced.

The White House fired Monarez in August when she fell out of favor with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after only one month on the job. Houry and some other top CDC officials resigned in protest.

A few Republicans speak out against Trump post on Reiner

A few Republican members of Congress are calling out President Donald Trump’s insensitive social media post regarding the deaths of director-actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele.

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky tweeted ox X that regardless of how one felt about Reiner, “this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered.”

Rep. Mike Lawler of New York said of Trump’s post: “This statement is wrong. Regardless of one’s political views, no one should be subjected to violence, let alone at the hands of their own son. It’s a horrible tragedy that should engender sympathy and compassion from everyone in our country, period.”

And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia tweeted: “This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies. Many families deal with a family member with drug addiction and mental health issues. It’s incredibly difficult and should be met with empathy especially when it ends in murder.”

NY Attorney General Letitia James makes first comments on the repeated efforts to revive a criminal case against her

James said Monday she isn’t spending a lot of time thinking about the Trump administration’s repeated efforts to revive a criminal case against her.

James, a Democrat, made her first public comments about the matter at an unrelated press conference after the news last week that a second federal grand jury had declined to indict her on charges related to her purchase of a home in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020.

“I don’t really spend a lot of time focused on this campaign of retribution,” said James. “I’ve got a lot of work on my hands — standing up and defending the rights of New Yorkers, protecting them from harms coming from Washington, D.C.”

A judge last month threw out an indictment charging James with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution, ruling that the prosecutor who brought the case at Republican President Donald Trump’s urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

“I’ve got a job to do,” said James, who had pleaded not guilty to the earlier indictment and denies any wrongdoing.

Poll shows health costs are a rising concern among Americans

About 3 in 10 Americans cite the cost of health care as the most urgent health problem facing the country, and about one-quarter say the health care system is in “crisis,” according to a new Gallup poll released Monday.

The poll also shows that only 16% of Americans are satisfied with the cost of health care in the U.S.

The findings from the survey conducted in November come as Congress has yet to address the spiking health insurance premium costs facing millions of Americans when Affordable Care Act health subsidies expire at the start of the new year.

It also comes as health expenses have risen across the board in response to a variety of factors, including inflation and the increasing use of expensive medications such as GLP-1 weight loss drugs.

Hunter Biden disbarred in Connecticut after complaints about federal convictions

Biden agreed to the penalty and admitted to violating the state’s attorney conduct rules, but he did not admit to committing any crimes.

His father, former President Joe Biden, pardoned him last year after he was convicted of three felonies relating to a 2018 gun purchase and pleaded guilty to failing to pay federal taxes. He previously was disbarred in Washington, D.C.

A Connecticut judge ordered the disbarment on Monday. Hunter Biden did not speak and he and his lawyer appeared via video at the virtual court hearing in Waterbury.

The judge found that Hunter Biden violated several lawyer ethics rules, including engaging in conduct “involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”

In a court document, Hunter Biden admitted to some but not all of the misconduct allegations. The judge also cited the Washington disbarment. He was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1997, a year after graduating from Yale Law School.

White House views Russian openness to Ukraine joining the EU as a big deal

The U.S. officials who briefed reporters after Witkoff and Kushner met with Zelenskyy and other European officials in Berlin over the last two days said such an offer over Ukraine joining the EU would be a major concession by Moscow. But Russia has previously said it doesn’t object to Ukraine joining the EU.

Trump to join Berlin dinner via phone

The U.S. president, who’s been briefed twice on the Berlin talks, plans to dial in to a dinner Monday evening that Witkoff and Kushner will attend with European leaders.

The negotiators and others involved in the peace talks will likely meet in Miami or elsewhere in the United States this weekend to continue their work, according to the U.S. officials.

Proposed security guarantees would go before the Senate

A proposal that would offer Article 5-like security guarantees to Ukraine — a key component of ongoing peace talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine — would need Senate approval, according to U.S. officials.

The officials did not specify whether it would need to be ratified like a treaty, which requires two-thirds approval from the Senate, or another resolution that would call for lower vote thresholds.

Still, it’s a sign of confidence from the administration that the pending proposal could win broad support from the Senate.

Berlin talks lead to progress on Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations

There’s now consensus on about 90% of the U.S.-authored peace plan aimed at ending Russia’s war on Ukraine, according to U.S. officials.

The officials, who weren’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said robust negotiations between Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team led to progress on narrowing differences on security guarantees Kyiv said must be provided to Ukraine as well as the contentious issue on Moscow’s demand that Ukraine concede land in the eastern Donbas.

Kushner and Witkoff are expected to meet over dinner Monday evening with Ukrainian as well British, German and French leaders for further talks. President Trump is expected to call into the dinner from Washington.

— Aamer Madhani

Wisconsin preliminary hearing for 1 of 3 former Trump aides postponed

The preliminary hearing for one of three former aides to President Trump has been postponed in Wisconsin amid questions about what statements he made to prosecutors could be admitted in court.

The judge said Monday he would set a later date to hold the hearing for Ken Chesebro, an attorney who advised Trump’s campaign.

The preliminary hearing is continuing for two other defendants. They are Jim Troupis, who is Trump’s 2020 campaign attorney in Wisconsin, and Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in 2020.

All three face 11 felony forgery charges related to Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss in Wisconsin.

Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland said he would hold an evidentiary hearing to get more details about comments Chesebro made to Wisconsin investigators and whether they can be admitted in court.

FBI says investigation thwarted planned New Year’s Eve terrorist attacks

First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli made the announcement during a Los Angeles news conference Monday morning.

He said the defendants are suspected to be members of a “far left, anti-government terrorist organization” called Turtle Island Liberation Front. He said they planned to set off the improvised explosive devices at five businesses in Los Angeles and Orange County on New Year’s Eve.

The four people were each charged with conspiracy and possession of an explosive device and officials intend to file additional charges, Essayli said.

One of the people arrested described the organization as an “anti-capitalist, anti government movement” that calls for associates to “rise up and fight” against capitalism, he said.

4 charged with plotting New Year’s Eve attacks in Southern California, prosecutors say

Federal authorities on Monday announced the arrests of four alleged members of an extremist group who are suspected of planning coordinated bombing attacks on New Year’s Eve across Southern California.

The suspects were arrested last week in Lucerne Valley, a desert city east of Los Angeles, where they were suspected of preparing to test improvised explosive devices ahead of the planned bombings, according to the federal criminal complaint filed Saturday. They’re members of an offshoot of a pro-Palestinian group dubbed the Turtle Island Liberation Front, the complaint said.

They each face charges including conspiracy and possession of a destructive device, court documents show.

The group is alleged to have been plotting to set off a series of bombings at multiple targets in California beginning on New Year’s Eve and also planned to target Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and vehicles, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media.

▶ Read more about the California arrests

Russia indicates it’s open to Ukraine joining EU as part of peace deal to end war, US officials say

It comes as the latest round of talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. envoys ended Monday and as Kyiv faces Washington’s pressure to swiftly accept a U.S.-brokered peace deal while confronting an increasingly assertive Moscow.

Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said on social media that “real progress” had been achieved at the talks in Berlin with President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as European officials. The talks lasted roughly 90 minutes, after a five-hour session Sunday.

The U.S. government said in a social media post on Witkoff’s account after Sunday’s meeting that “a lot of progress was made.”

The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.

▶ Read more about the Russia-Ukraine war

US Army identifies Iowa guardsmen killed in Syria

The two Iowa National Guard members who the U.S. military says were killed by the Islamic State Group in Syria on Saturday have been identified, the U.S. Army announced Monday.

The soldiers were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25 of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, from Marshalltown.

The Army said in Monday’s announcement that the incident is under investigation. President Trump said Saturday that “there will be very serious retaliation” for the attack, which also killed an American interpreter.

Former Trump attorneys and aide from 2020 campaign in Wisconsin court

Onetime attorneys and a former aide to President Trump during the 2020 election are in a Wisconsin court for a preliminary hearing related to charges they face related to a fake elector plan.

The hearing began Monday in a county courthouse just blocks from Wisconsin’s state Capitol where the Republicans met in 2020 in an attempt case the state’s 10 electoral college ballots for Trump even though he’d lost the state.

Former Trump attorneys Jim Troupis and Ken Chesebro and former Trump aide Mike Roman each face 10 felony forgery charges. The judge was deciding Monday whether there was probable cause to take the case to trial.

The Wisconsin case is moving forward even as similar ones in the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia have faltered.

A new national ‘bee’ for American history and civics

The Trump administration is unrolling a new scholarship competition that will include a televised “civics bee” testing high schoolers on their knowledge of America’s founding.

The Education Department announced its new Presidential 1776 Award on Monday, promising scholarships totaling $250,000 for three winners.

The contest has three rounds: an online test, regional in-person semifinals and a national final in Washington in June.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon says the contest gives students a chance “to push themselves, learn our history, and take pride in the principles that unite us.”

It’s being organized and supported by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation.

The Trump administration has sought to promote “patriotic education” even as the president works to eliminate the Education Department.

Without evidence, Trump blames Reiner’s death on his politics

President Trump responded to the reported killing of a Hollywood cultural icon and his wife with a striking political attack on the victims.

In a social media post, Trump said without evidence that Rob Reiner’s death was due to his opposition to Trump and his policies — in Trump’s words, “the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”

Appeals court allows Trump administration to keep control of California National Guard troops for now

The Trump administration won’t immediately have to give up control of California National Guard troops it deployed to Los Angeles in June.

A federal judge’s order returning command of the troops to the state was set to take effect Monday, but a federal appeals court put it on hold.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Friday granted in part a temporary stay sought by the Republican administration while it considers an appeal of the judge’s order.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco ruled last week that Trump officials had to relinquish command of the troops and stop deploying them in Los Angeles, but he put the decision on hold until Monday.

The 9th Circuit panel refused to block the second part of the order requiring an end to the troop deployment in Los Angeles, where about a 100 troops remained.

In an extraordinary move, President Donald Trump called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops in June without Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approval to further the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts. The number had dropped to several hundred by late October, but California remained steadfast in its opposition to Trump’s command of the troops.

Latest round of talks between Ukraine and the US conclude

The latest round of talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. envoys ended Monday as they and European allies seek an end to Russia’s nearly four-year war.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who’s working as an outside adviser, were in the German capital for the peace talks.

The U.S. and Ukrainian delegations, along with European officials, met for about 90 minutes Monday. That follows a five-hour session Sunday.

The U.S. government said in a social media post on Witkoff’s account after Sunday’s meeting that “a lot of progress was made.”

▶ Read more about talks with Ukraine

Court battle begins over California’s new congressional map designed to favor Democrats

The fight over California’s new congressional map designed to help Democrats flip congressional House seats will go to court Monday as a panel of federal judges considers whether the district boundaries approved by voters last month can be used in elections.

The hearing in Los Angeles sets the stage for a high-stakes legal and political fight between the Trump administration and Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s been eyeing a 2028 presidential run. The lawsuit asks a three-judge panel to grant a temporary restraining order by Dec. 19 — the date candidates can take the first official steps to run in the 2026 election.

Voters approved California’s new U.S. House map in November through Proposition 50. It’s designed to help Democrats flip as many as five congressional House seats in the midterm elections next year. It was Newsom’s response to a Republican-led effort in Texas backed by President Donald Trump.

▶ Read more about California’s redistricting effort

Another blue wave? Meet the Democrat trying to make it happen and the Republican trying to stop her

Even though Republican Brian Jack is only a first-term congressman, he has become a regular in the Oval Office these days. As the top recruiter for his party’s House campaign team, the Georgia native is often reviewing polling and biographies of potential candidates with Trump.

Lauren Underwood, an Illinois congresswoman who does similar work for Democrats, has no such West Wing invitation. She is at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue working the phones to identify and counsel candidates she hopes can erase Republicans’ slim House majority in November’s midterm elections.

Although they have little in common, both lawmakers were forged by the lessons of 2018, when Democrats flipped dozens of Republican-held seats to turn the rest of Trump’s first term into a political crucible. Underwood won her race that year, and Jack became responsible for dealing with the fallout when he became White House political director a few months later.

Underwood wants a repeat in 2026, and Jack is trying to stand in her way.

▶ Read more about Underwood and Jack

Ruben Gallego emerges as key Democratic figure in Latino voter outreach

The Arizona Democrat is emerging as a crucial surrogate for a party desperately seeking to win back the Latino support that slipped in 2024 with the election of President Trump. His fall travels have included trips to New Jersey, Virginia and Florida, where he campaigned for Democrats who went on to win their elections. Strategists say Gallego is flexing his muscle as a rising star for the party while also laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential run despite not being a household name like California Gov. Gavin Newsom or U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

It’s a role Gallego is expected to continue next year, when Democrats hope to break Republicans’ hold on Congress and counter Trump’s agenda.

“Ruben Gallego is going to be our not-so-secret, secret weapon,” said Maria Cardona, a longtime Democratic operative and member of the Democratic National Committee.

Gallego is among the Democrats named as possible 2028 contenders who had the busiest travel calendar in 2025. He stumped for Democratic female candidates in New Jersey’s and Virginia’s gubernatorial races and Miami’s mayoral race.

▶ Read more about Gallego

Trump pledges retaliation after 3 Americans are killed in Syria attack that the US blames on IS

Trump said Saturday that “there will be very serious retaliation” after two U.S. service members and one American civilian were killed in an attack in Syria that the United States blames on the Islamic State group.

“This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” he said in a social media post.

The American president told reporters at the White House that Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was “devastated by what happened” and stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops. Trump, in his post, said al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack.”

U.S. Central Command said three service members were also wounded in the ambush Saturday by a lone IS member in central Syria. Trump said the three “seem to be doing pretty well.” The U.S. military said the gunman was killed in the attack. Syrian officials said the attack wounded members of Syria’s security forces as well.

▶ Read more about the attack

Former Trump aides set to appear in Wisconsin over 2020 election fraud charges

Two onetime attorneys for President Donald Trump and an aide who all worked on Trump’s 2020 campaign were scheduled to appear Monday for a preliminary hearing in Wisconsin on felony forgery charges related to a fake elector scheme.

The hearing on Monday comes a week after Trump attorney Jim Troupis, one of the three who were charged, tried unsuccessfully to get the judge to step down in the case and have it moved to another county. Troupis, who was joined by the other two defendants in his motion, alleged that the judge did not write a previous order issued in August declining to dismiss the case. Instead, he accused the father of the judge’s law clerk, who was a retired judge, of actually writing the opinion.

Troupis, who served one year as a judge in the same county where he was charged, also alleged that all of the judges in Dane County are biased against him and he can’t get a fair trial.

▶ Read more about the hearing