Trump claims he’s ‘not threatening death’ for Democrats but says ‘they’re in serious trouble’ as he prepares to meet Mamdani – US politics live | US news
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‘I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble’: Trump defends comments after accusing Democrats of sedition
Donald Trump defended his comments on social media, where he said a video by six Democratic members of Congress urging service members to “refuse illegal orders”, was “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
In an interview with Fox News earlier today, he said that “I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble”, when asked about his tirade on Truth social.
Trump went on to say that the lawmakers’ behavior would have constituted death in the “old days”.
“Today’s a different world,” Trump added. “It’s a meeker, milder world. But I will say this, I think what they did is really bad.”
Key events
House passes symbolic resolution to denounce ‘horrors of socialism’ ahead of Mamdani meeting at the White House
Earlier today, in a 285-98 vote, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution to denounce the “horrors of socialism”. All Republicans voted for the measure, and they were joined by 86 Democrats. The symbolic vote took place ahead of a White House meeting between Donald Trump and New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
“This is a moral vote against an ideology that has destroyed millions and millions of families,” congresswoman Maria Salazar of Florida said on the House floor today. “Unfortunately, socialism and Marxism crushes the human soul. And it’s not just my community in Miami. It’s the rest of the hemisphere and the rest of the world.”
Top oversight Democrats say former prince’s failure to respond to investigation interview ‘speaks volumes’
Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, issued a statement alongside another member, congressman Suhas Subramanyam, noting that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s failure to respond to the committee’s request for an interview “speaks volumes”.
“The documents we’ve reviewed, along with public records and Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s testimony, raise serious questions he must answer, yet he continues to hide,” the lawmakers said of the former prince, who was stripped of his royal titles last month. “Our work will move forward with or without him, and we will hold anyone who was involved in these crimes accountable, no matter their wealth, status, or political party. We will get justice for the survivors.”
As of now, Donald Trump’s meeting with Zohran Mamdani is still closed to the press. But the president said in an interview with Fox News today that he may invite members of the media (who are covering the White House today) into the Oval Office after the pair finish their sit-down.
Tens of thousands of people detained and deported during government shutdown
My colleagues, Will Craft, Andrew Witherspoon and José Olivares, have dug into the most recent US immigration data, and report that tens of thousands of people in operations nationwide during the federal government shutdown.
In total, ICE arrested and detained approximately 54,000 people and deported approximately 56,000 people during the shutdown.
The arrests have led to a marked increase in the number of people held in immigration jails, with more than 65,000 currently detained nationwide – the highest number of people in immigration detention ever.
While other federal employees were furloughed and without pay and many public services were limited or unavailable, officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) kept up enforcement operations nationwide, in line with the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration agenda. This included detaining thousands of people with no criminal record.
Bureau of Labor Statistics says it will not publish October inflation data
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that it would not publish the October consumer price index (CPI) – one of the country’s key reports for inflation data.
“BLS could not collect October 2025 reference period survey data due to a lapse in appropriations. BLS is unable to retroactively collect these data,” a statement on the agency’s website reads. The report was set to be released in November, and would serve as an important barometer for the Federal Reserve as they eye another interest rate cut at the next meeting on 10 December.
BLS said that it will publish the November CPI, as planned, on 18 December 2025.
Trump’s DoJ investigating unfounded claims Venezuela helped steal 2020 election
Aram Roston
Federal investigators have been interviewing multiple people who are pushing unfounded claims that Venezuela helped steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump, the Guardian has learned.
Two promoters of the conspiracy theory have repeatedly briefed the US attorney for the district of Puerto Rico, W Stephen Muldrow, and have shared witnesses and documents with officials, according to four sources. Muldrow declined to comment.
In addition to the Puerto Rico talks, people pushing the conspiracy have been interviewed by federal investigators for a federal taskforce in Tampa, which is looking at Venezuelan drug trafficking and money laundering, four sources told the Guardian. The US attorney’s office in Tampa declined to comment.
An investigation of this sort underscores how Trump’s justice department is becoming a major weapon in the president’s efforts to rewrite the history of his 2020 loss – while potentially strengthening the administration’s case for military action against Venezuela.
While there were a variety of conspiracy theories that helped fuel Donald Trump’s 2020 “Stop the Steal” movement – dead voters, stolen, fraudulent or forged ballots, and secret computer servers in Germany – the purported influence of Venezuela was always a central claim. It asserted that electronic voting in the US was secretly controlled by the impoverished regime, both by President Nicolás Maduro and his deceased predecessor Hugo Chavez.
Following a phone call with JD Vance, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine would work with the United States and Europe at an adviser level to work towards a peace plan for Russia’s war.
“We agreed to work together with the U.S. and Europe at the level of national security advisors to make the path to peace truly doable,” the Ukrainian president wrote on X after the nearly hour-long call.
“Ukraine has always respected and continues to respect U.S. President Donald Trump’s desire to put an end to the bloodshed, and we view every realistic proposal positively.”
Earlier in an address to the nation, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was facing “one of the most difficult moments in history” after being presented with a 28-point peace plan drafted by the US, which pressured Kyiv to concede territory to Russia, among other things, in order to end the war.
Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians they were facing the pressure of either losing a key partner, the US, or dealing with “an extremely difficult” winter ahead.
Trump said in a radio interview earlier that he thinks Thursday – Thanksgiving – is an appropriate deadline for Ukraine to accept the proposal.
‘I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble’: Trump defends comments after accusing Democrats of sedition
Donald Trump defended his comments on social media, where he said a video by six Democratic members of Congress urging service members to “refuse illegal orders”, was “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
In an interview with Fox News earlier today, he said that “I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble”, when asked about his tirade on Truth social.
Trump went on to say that the lawmakers’ behavior would have constituted death in the “old days”.
“Today’s a different world,” Trump added. “It’s a meeker, milder world. But I will say this, I think what they did is really bad.”
Trump says he and Mamdani will ‘get along fine’ ahead of White House meeting
In an interview with Fox News today, Donald Trump said that he will “get along fine” with New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
“We’re looking for the same thing. We want to make New York strong,” Trump said. “There’s such a different philosophy.”
The president also said the he gives “a lot of credit” to Mamdani’s run. “They did a successful run, and we all know that runs are not easy,” he added.
Lauren Gambino
On Capitol Hill, Swalwell served for eight years on the House intelligence committee, including the CIA subcommittee, and was a key Democratic voice on national security and election interference issues. He is also a founding member of the Future Forum caucus, aimed at representing young voters in Congress.
Polling shows the contest lacks a clear frontrunner after the former vice-president Kamala Harris and California senator Alex Padilla declined to run. The former representative Katie Porter led early surveys, but has struggled to shake off concerns about her temperament after she threatened to walk out of a local television interview and after footage surfaced of her berating a staff member. Porter has since apologized for her behavior but reports suggest Democratic strategists are searching for an alternative.
Other Democrats include the former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the former state attorney general and US representative Xavier Becerra and the former state controller Betty Yee. The two most prominent Republicans running for governor are the Riverside county sheriff Chad Bianco and the former David Cameron adviser Steve Hilton. The field could expand further, with developer Rick Caruso reportedly weighing a run.
Earlier this month, a housing official in the Trump administration referred Swalwell to the justice department for a potential federal investigation, based on mortgage and tax fraud allegations that the representative has denied. The official, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, has made similar allegations against several of the president’s perceived political enemies, including California senator Adam Schiff and New York attorney general Letitia James.
Swalwell also faced scrutiny over an alleged relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence operative a decade ago. The House ethics committee later closed its inquiry without findings of wrongdoing, but Republicans continue to use it as a basis of attacks against him.
Congressman Eric Swalwell announces bid for California governor, joining crowded field
Democratic representative Eric Swalwell announced on Thursday that he’s joining the race to be the next governor of California.
“No one will keep Californians safer than I will,” said the seven-term House member, who represents Alameda county, in his new campaign video. “California is the fourth largest economy in the world. So shouldn’t we be a state where you can take your first job, have your first kid, and buy your first home in the same decade?”
Swalwell, who launched a short-lived bid to be the Democratic presidential nominee in the 2020, is joining a crowded race to succeed the term-limited Gavin Newsom to be the Golden state’s next governor. Earlier this week, billionaire Tom Steyer also announced his bid for the job.
A short while ago, New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani posted a selfie to X, grinning in a window seat as he flies to Washington DC to meet with Donald Trump.
House oversight committee demands Clintons appear for in-person deposition in Epstein investigation
James Comer, the Republican chair of the House oversight committee, has written to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s lawyer to demand that the former president and former secretary of state appear for an in-person deposition on Capitol Hill to advance the committee’s ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
The committee subpoenaed the Clintons back in August, but their attorneys argued that a written submission would be sufficient as the pair have “little to contribute” to the “legitimate goal” of understanding more about Epstein’s conduct and his affiliations.
Today, Comer rejected that offer, insisting that the Clinton’s legal team admitted that their clients possess “relevant information”, and scheduled an in-person deposition for Bill Clinton on 18 December, and one for Hillary a day later.
“It is precisely the fact President Clinton and Secretary Clinton each maintained relationships with Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell in their personal capacities as private citizens that is of interest to the Committee,” Comer wrote in his letter.
My colleague, Jakub Krupa, is covering the latest out of Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy considers the US-Russia backed plan to end the war.
Jakub reports that in a video address to the nation today, Zelenskyy warned that next week could be “very difficult” for Ukraine with a lot of political pressure coming towards Kyiv as the US hopes to force through its peace proposal.
The Ukrainian leader said that the country was facing “one of the most difficult moments of its history” and a choice “of losing a major partner [in the US] or Ukraine’s dignity”.
Zelenskyy added that he would not betray Ukraine’s national interest, and would seek to work “constructively” with the US to amend the proposed deal, so Russia cannot argue that Kyiv does not want peace.
You can follow the latest developments below.
