President Donald Trump has called New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and a “total nut job.” Mamdani has called Trump’s administration “authoritarian” and described himself as “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.”
So their first-ever meeting, scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m. EST at the White House, could be a curious and combustible affair.
Despite months of casting each other as prime adversaries, the Republican president
and new Democratic star have also indicated an openness to finding areas of agreement that help the city they’ve both called home.
Trump, in a Fox News Radio interview Friday morning, said he expected the meeting will be “quite civil.” Mamdani, a democratic socialist who takes office in January, said he sought the meeting with Trump to talk about ways to make New York City more affordable.
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For weeks, a Tennessee special election was flying under the radar in a heavily Republican congressional district. But now funding from President Trump’s allies and an appearance by former Vice President Kamala Harris have turned the Dec. 2 contest into a marquee political battle with potential consequences for next year’s midterms.
The race is the first for federal office since the Nov. 4 elections, when Democrats cruised to victories that were framed as a referendum on Trump. Now Republicans want to change the storyline, sinking money into the campaign and inviting Trump to visit the state after holding a virtual rally last week.
Failing to run up the score — or worse, losing the seat — would be a sign of weakness, emboldening Democrats as they try to take back control of the U.S. House. If places like Tennessee’s 7th congressional district seem within reach, the party could expand its list of targets next year.
▶ Read more about Tennessee’s special election
The president insists he’s not threatening Democratic lawmakers for recording a video reminding military service members that they shouldn’t obey illegal orders.
“I’m not threatening them, but I would say they’re in serious trouble,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News Radio. “I’m not threatening death.”
Trump previously posted of those participating in the video, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” He subsequently shared a separate post that suggested, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
Trump said Friday that the Democratic lawmakers “are bad people,” suggesting, “In the old days, if you said a thing like that, that was punishable by death.”
He added: “These are people that, in my opinion, broke the law. Now what happens to them? I can’t tell you. But they broke the law.”
President Trump in a radio interview on Friday said he wants an answer from Zelenskyy on his 28-point peace plan by Thursday, but says an extension is possible to finalize terms.
“I’ve had a lot of deadlines, but if things are working well you tend to extend the deadlines,” Trumps said in an interview on “The Brian Kilmeade Show” on Fox News Radio. “But Thursday is it — we think an appropriate time.”
The president said in an interview Friday on Fox News Radio that New York City’s mayor-elect has “a different philosophy” but said he gives him “a lot of credit” for his campaign and said, “He ran a good race.”
“I think we’ll get along fine. Look, we’re looking for the same thing. We want to make New York strong.”
Trump was asked about some of Mamdani’s comments challenging him directly and said, “I’m a little hard too, in all fairness.”
He said he expects they’ll be talking about the New York Police Department and Trump’s immigration crackdown in their meeting.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether cameras will be allowed into the meeting. Trump’s daily schedule said it will be private, but the president often invites in a small “pool” of reporters at the last minute.
The president has had some dramatic public Oval Office faceoffs this year, including an infamously heated exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in March. In May, Trump dimmed the lights while meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and played a four-minute video making widely rejected claims that South Africa is violently persecuting the country’s white Afrikaner minority farmers.
A senior Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions said Trump had not put a lot of thought into planning the meeting with the incoming New York mayor — but said Trump’s threats to block federal dollars from flowing to the city remained on the table.
— Michelle L. Price, Aamer Madhani and Anthony Izaguirre
The IRS issued guidance Friday for workers eligible to claim the deduction for tips and overtime income for tax year 2025.
Notice 2025-69 provides clarification on how to determine the amount of their deduction if a worker didn’t receive a separate accounting from their employer for cash tips or qualified overtime on returns.
The IRS says it’s in the process of updating income tax forms and instructions for taxpayers to use this filing season that will assist them in claiming these deductions.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania says she has yet to hear from one Republican colleague expressing concern about President Trump’s social media post accusing her and five other Democratic lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH.”
“Not a single member has reached out to me, either publicly or privately,” Houlahan said Friday morning at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol. “And with this I am profoundly disappointed in my colleagues.”
She said she was “dumbfounded by the silence” and viewed Trump’s remarks as a threat against her life and an explicit embrace of political violence.
Houlahan, an Air Force veteran, made the comments as part of a news conference promoting a bill that would prohibit the administration from spending any funds sending U.S. troops into direct hostilities with Venezuela.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Ukraine has to confront the possibility of losing its dignity or risking the loss of a key partner as it figures out how to respond to a U.S. peace proposal.
“This is one of the most difficult moments in our history,” Zelenskyy said in a video address to the nation.
“Currently, the pressure on Ukraine is one of the hardest. Ukraine may now face a very difficult choice, either losing its dignity or the risk of losing a key partner.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s national interest “must be taken into account” in talks over the proposal, and vowed to work constructively.
“We do not make loud statements, we will work calmly with America and all partners,” Zelenskyy said. “There will be a constructive search for solutions with our main partner.”
▶ Read more about the Russia-Ukraine war
The International Committee of the Red Cross is reducing hundreds of positions as top donors, including Germany and the United States, have cut humanitarian aid spending even as the number of conflicts has grown in recent years.
The Geneva-based organization, which focuses on protecting civilians and noncombatants in places of conflict, said Friday it was cutting the equivalent of about 2,900 full-time positions. That will leave it with about 15,000 worldwide.
Its assembly approved a budget of 1.8 billion Swiss francs (about $2.2 billion) for 2026, down 17% from this year, and it’s planning to boost efficiencies and focus more on in-the-field operations.
ICRC says it will focus on the “most critical” conflict zones, including Congo, Sudan, Ukraine and the Mideast conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Many humanitarian organizations have cut jobs and spending as traditional Western donors have reduced aid outlays this year, while increasing defense spending.
The mayor-elect of New York appears to be on his way to Washington meet with President Trump.
He posted a selfie on X, the social media site, sitting in a plane shortly after 8:30 a.m. He added an airplane emoji.
The White House meeting between the two men is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.
The Trump administration says its plan to dismantle the Education Department offers a fix for the nation’s lagging academics — a solution that could free schools from the strictures of federal influence.
Yet to some school and state officials, the plan appears to add more bureaucracy, with no clear benefit for students who struggle with math or reading.
Instead of being housed in a single agency, much of the Education Department’s work now will be spread across four other federal departments. For President Trump, it’s a step toward fully closing the department and giving states more power over schooling. Yet many states say it will complicate their role as intermediaries between local schools and the federal government.
▶ Read more about the Education Department
The Supreme Court is to meet in private Friday with a high-profile issue on its agenda — President Trump ’s birthright citizenship order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.
The justices could say as soon as Monday whether they’ll hear Trump’s appeal of lower court rulings that have uniformly struck down the citizenship restrictions. They haven’t taken effect anywhere in the United States.
If the court steps in now, the case would be argued in the spring, with a definitive ruling expected by early summer.
The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed on the first day of his second term in the White House, is part of his administration’s broad immigration crackdown.
▶ Read more about Trump’s order on birthright citizenship
Trump has called New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and a “total nut job.” Mamdani has called Trump’s administration “authoritarian” and described himself as “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.”
So their first-ever meeting, scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m. EST at the White House, could be a curious and combustible affair.
Despite months of casting each other as prime adversaries, the Republican president and new Democratic star have also indicated an openness to finding areas of agreement that help the city they’ve both called home.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist who takes office in January, said he sought the meeting with Trump to talk about ways to make New York City more affordable. Trump has said he may want to help him out — although he has also falsely labeled Mamdani as a “communist” and threatened to yank federal funds from his hometown.
But for both men, the meeting offers opportunities beyond any areas of potential bipartisan agreement.
The two men are convenient political foils for each other, and taking the other one on can galvanize their supporters.
▶ Read more about their upcoming meeting
The Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production.
The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the coast of Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore Alabama, since 1995, because of concerns about oil spills. California has some offshore oil rigs, but there has been no new leasing in federal waters since the mid-1980s.
Since taking office for a second time in January, Trump has systematically reversed former President Joe Biden’s focus on slowing climate change to pursue what the Republican calls U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.
▶ Read more about the plans for new oil drilling
Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has informed the White House he’ll leave his post in January, according to two senior administration officials.
The move comes as the White House is working on a new peace plan aimed at bringing an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine that is being largely coordinated by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin. That plan calls for major concessions by Kyiv, including ceding territory to Russia and abandoning certain weaponry.
The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity about Kellogg’s expected departure from the administration. They declined to comment on why Kellogg was departing. News of Kellogg’s expected exit was first reported by Reuters.
Kellogg was initially named special envoy for Ukraine and Russia during Trump’s presidential transition. But his role shrank as Witkoff, a real estate developer turned diplomat, emerged as the president’s chief interlocutor with Putin and his advisers.
▶ Read more about Kellogg’s departure
Trump has further loosened tariffs on Brazil as part of his effort to lower consumer costs for Americans. The decision, released Thursday, affects coffee, fruit and beef, among other goods.
The White House said last week that Trump was rolling back some worldwide tariffs that were originally announced in April.
However, Brazil said that didn’t affect levies that Trump had enacted in July to punish the country for prosecuting his political ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Thursday’s decision harmonizes Trump’s plans, ensuring that neither the April nor July tariffs apply to certain products.
Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have been negotiating over trade, which could further reduce tariffs.
Trump stepped up his attacks against ABC and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday, urging the network to “get the bum off the air” in a social media post sent shortly after the comic’s latest episode ended.
The president this week had also expressed anger at the network’s chief White House correspondent, Mary Bruce, for questions she asked in an Oval Office meeting, which his press staff followed with a 17-point memo listing grievances against ABC News.
Trump’s latest attack against Kimmel came two months after ABC temporarily suspended the comic for remarks made following the assassination of GOP activist Charlie Kirk. ABC lifted the suspension following a public outcry.
Kimmel’s show Wednesday night began with a blistering monologue about Trump. Trump struck back in a Truth Social post sent at 12:49 a.m. Eastern. “Why does ABC Fake News keep Jimmy Kimmel, a man with NO TALENT and VERY POOR TELEVISION RATINGS, on the air? Why do the TV Syndicates put up with it?” Trump said.
▶ Read more about Trump and Kimmel
Trump on Thursday accused half a dozen Democratic lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” after the lawmakers — all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community — called on U.S. military members to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders.”
The 90-second video was first posted early Tuesday from Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s X account. In it, the six lawmakers — Slotkin, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan — speak directly to U.S. service members, whom Slotkin acknowledges are “under enormous stress and pressure right now.”
Trump on Thursday reposted messages from others about the video, amplifying it with his own words. It marked another flashpoint in the political rhetoric that at times has been thematic in his administrations, as well as among some in his MAGA base. Some Democrats accused him of acting like a king and trying to distract from the soon-to-be-released files about disgraced financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
▶ Read more about the video and Trump’s response
