CPI Up 2.7% -- The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% over the last two months to an annual rate of +2.7%, easing slightly from September’s 3% rate. This is the first CPI update since October, when the federal government shut down. Eleven months into his second term, President Trump is putting the blame on his predecessor, Joe Biden, for ‘record’ inflation, which hit 9.1% during the heart of the COVID pandemic in June 2022. After 11 months of Biden’s term, the CPI was 6.8%, up from just 1.4% when he took office that previous January. For today’s front page, we have moved center-right never-Trumper Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s 'Business on Business – and It Isn’t Good' to the left column to make space for pro-MAGA Contributing Pundit Rich Corbett’s column, 'Now Democrats Have the Answer for Inflation?' [Chart: Bureau of Labor Statistics]
It’s Showtime, Folks – Friday, December 19, marks the Justice Department’s deadline to release more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed by President Trump 30 days earlier. While Republicans and Democrats alike eagerly anticipate a treasure-trove of evidence tied to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison term, it remains to be seen how much of the evidence will be redacted, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. There’s also the question of enforcement of the deadline, as the House and Senate are out of session and have gone home for the holidays. --TL
________________________________________________
THURSDAY 12/18/25
EU Considers Russian Assets to Ukraine – The 27-nation European Union is in Brussels Thursday to discuss using 210 billion euros (US$247 billion) in frozen Russian assets to supply Ukraine in its war defense in 2026 and 2027, The New York Timesreports. EU member Belgium is balking because most of those assets are contained in its banks, and its leaders fear Russian retaliation.
Donald Tusk, prime minister for EU member Poland, says his country could be under threat if Ukraine does not get the frozen funds and is forced to capitulate.
Leaders, Tusk said, are engaged in “a very difficult process” of trying to come to an agreement with a group of more critical countries “theoretically most at risk than some sort of retaliatory or financial risk from Russia.” (--The Guardian)
Get Off My Lawn! – Trump says he has turned around Biden’s failed country to hottest in the world.
“Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess,” Trump practically shouted, surrounded by Christmas trees in an address from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room that was much like one of his campaign rallies replete with claims of winning the 2024 election by a landslide, except this one took him less than 19 minutes.
Trump said he has brought drug prices down 94% for Americans, with wages “all going up much faster than inflation” [in its fact-check Thursday morning, Marketplace says wages are rising 3.5%, a drop from 4% at the end of the Biden administration] and that he has brought in “a record $18 trillion” in investments into the US, “orchestrated by my favorite word, tariffs.”
“I am bringing prices down and I’m bringing them down fast,” he said, while blaming the Biden administration’s “open” border for free education and housing for illegal immigrants paid for by citizens’ taxes.
He said he would soon announce a new Federal Reserve chairman to replace Jerome Powell, whose term ends next May. Trump said he stopped the “invasion” at the border, with zero illegal crossings and undocumented immigrants returned to their countries.
Trump promised an improving economy in 2026 from tax cuts in his One Big Beautiful bill and a “Warrior Dividend” of $1,776 for 1.45 million active military service members, “and the checks are already on the way.”
•••
Special Counsel Defends Investigations – Ex-special counsel Jack Smith defended his office’s two investigations against Donald J. Trump for his complicity in the January 6th attacks on the US Capitol and for taking classified documents from his first administration to Mar-a-Lago, in an eight-hour closed door deposition Wednesday with members of the House Judiciary Committee.
“The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by the grand juries in two different districts,” Smith said, according to a copy of a portion of his statement, as reported by Politico.
•••
Bongino to Leave FBI – After President Trump told reporters Wednesday that Dan Bongino wanted to step down from his post as FBI deputy director to return to his work as a popular conservative podcaster, Bongino did just that. He posted on social media that he would resign in January, after nine months in which he clashed with Justice Department leadership and the FBI’s workforce, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In his social media post, Bongino thanked Trump for the “opportunity to serve with purpose.” – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa