The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday unveiled a series of regulatory actions designed to effectively ban gender-affirming care for minors, building on broader Trump administration restrictions on transgender Americans.

The sweeping proposals — the most significant moves this administration has taken so far to restrict the use of puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgical interventions for transgender children — include cutting off federal Medicaid and Medicare funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to children and prohibiting federal Medicaid funding from being used on such procedures.

President Donald Trump 's politically charged prime-time speech Wednesday night sought to blame Democrats for economic challenges in a rehash of his recent messaging that has so far been unable to calm public anxiety about the cost of groceries, housing, utilities and other basic goods. He also claimed that tariffs revenue would cover $1,776 “warrior dividends” to U.S. troops for Christmas, but a senior administration official later told The Associated Press that the checks would be funded with pre-approved housing money.

Here’s the latest:

Wisconsin judge on trial for helping immigrant does not testify

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, who is accused of helping a Mexican immigrant evade federal authorities, is not taking the stand. Her attorneys presented less than an hour’s worth of witnesses in her defense, and jurors were likely to get the case later Thursday after closing arguments.

The highly unusual obstruction and concealment charges against a sitting judge are an extraordinary consequence of Trump’s immigration crackdown. Dugan’s supporters say Trump is looking to make an example of her to blunt judicial opposition to immigration arrests.

Prosecutors have tried to show that Dugan intentionally interfered with a federal immigration task force’s efforts to arrest 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz as he left her courtroom. A defense lawyer told the jury that she had no intention of obstructing agents, and was following a draft courthouse policy saying court personnel should refer agents looking to make courthouse arrests to supervisors.

▶ Read more about developments at the judge’s trial

Trump administration to announce sweeping restrictions on transgender care for youth

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is set to unveil a series of regulatory actions designed to effectively ban gender-affirming care for minors.

The sweeping proposals will include cutting off federal Medicaid and Medicare funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to children and prohibiting federal Medicaid funding from being used on such procedures. The same funding restrictions would apply to a smaller health program, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, according to a federal notice posted Thursday morning.

The rules, which are not yet final, build on other Trump administration actions targeting transgender Americans but mark the most significant actions it has taken against gender-affirming care for children so far.

US announces new sanctions on Iran’s alleged shadow fleet

The U.S. Treasury Department is imposing sanctions on 29 additional ships it says are involved in the shipping of Iranian petroleum products.

Authorities say the vessels are a part of Iran’s “shadow fleet,” which U.S. officials say is used to sell oil to raise money for Iran’s government and its support for extremist groups.

Since January, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on more than 180 ships linked by authorities to the Iranian oil and gas trade. The newest round of sanctions, announced on Thursday, also applies to the shipping companies that operate the tankers.

The sanctions prohibit the designated groups from holding assets in the U.S. or doing any business with U.S. businesses or individuals.

Senate Democrats call for judiciary hearing on legality of Trump’s boat strike campaign

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee say there needs to be a public hearing on the legality of Trump’s campaign to destroy vessels alleged to be carrying drugs, which has killed at least 99 people in 26 known strikes.

“These strikes are extrajudicial killings and shocking violations of fundamental principles of due process and the right to life under U.S. and international law,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote to the Republican chair of the committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Senators have been able to review a legal opinion from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel that puts forward a legal argument to justify the strikes, but the document has not been made public.

US hits 2 more ICC judges with sanctions over Israel prosecutions

The two International Criminal Court judges have been involved in cases investigating Israeli officials for possible war crimes.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that he had designated judges Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia for penalties that can include a freezing of assets in U.S. jurisdictions and a ban on travel to the United States.

The pair are the latest in a series of ICC judges and staff targeted by the Trump administration for approving or advancing criminal complaints about both Israel and the United States, neither of which are members of the court.

“The ICC has continued to engage in politicized actions targeting Israel, which set a dangerous precedent for all nations,” Rubio said in a statement. “We will not tolerate ICC abuses of power that violate the sovereignty of the United States and Israel and wrongly subject U.S. and Israeli persons to the ICC’s jurisdiction.”

Democrats call for immediate vote on tax credit extension

House Democrats took to the Capitol steps on Thursday and demanded that House Speaker Mike Johnson schedule an immediate vote on their bill to extend an enhanced health care subsidy that expires at the end of the year.

They are not expected to get that vote until January as lawmakers break for the holiday recess. Nevertheless, the moment gave Democrats a chance to tout their success in securing a vote after four Republicans signed onto their effort.

“Under no circumstances should the House of Representative adjourn until we successfully extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit for tens of millions of Americans,” said Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. “The American people deserve a vote today, not tomorrow, not next week, not next year. Today.”

KFF, a health research organization, has projected that a large majority of enrollees in the Affordable Care Act marketplace will see on average a roughly 114% increase in their premiums next year unless the subsidy is extended.

Trump’s ‘warrior dividend’ of $1,776 to US troops will come from congressionally approved housing money

Trump in his White House address suggested the payments to 1.45 million members of the military are a Christmas bonus made possible by tariff revenues.

But that’s not really the case.

The Pentagon is distributing the checks — totaling about $2.6 billion — as one-time housing supplements, according to a senior administration official who requested anonymity to describe the payments.

That money will come from the $2.9 billion Congress provided to the Defense Department to augment existing housing allowances, as part of the tax cut extensions and expansions Trump signed into law in July.

GOP senators to Trump: Just say no (to marijuana reclassification)

More than 20 Republican senators have signed onto a letter urging Trump to keep marijuana a Schedule I drug as he prepares to potentially loosen regulations on it.

Led by North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd, they say marijuana continues to be dangerous and that allowing it to be used more widely will “undermine your strong efforts to Make America Great Again.”

“The only winners from rescheduling will be bad actors such as Communist China, while Americans will be left paying the bill,” the letter reads. The senators cited marijuana’s impact on physical and mental health, as well as road and workplace safety.

Signers on the letter include members of leadership such as Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming and stalwart Trump allies such as Sens. Jim Banks of Indiana, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee. The letter was first reported by Punchbowl News.

Trump’s glowing account of progress is at odds with his government’s own stats

Trump’s glowing account of progress under his watch Wednesday was out of tune with the experience of price-squeezed Americans and the story told by some of his government’s own statistics.

In a speech from the White House, Trump assailed the record of his Democratic predecessor and boasted expansively about his record so far. Not all of those boasts were credible.

▶ See details on how Trump’s claims on inflation, investments and election results differ from the facts

US jobless claim applications fell by 13,000 last week as layoffs remain low

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits remain in the same historically healthy range of the past few years even as concerns grow about the health of the labor market.

Hiring has clearly lost momentum, falling to an average of 35,000 since March, amid uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of high interest rates.

When the Federal Reserve trimmed its benchmark lending rate by a quarter-point, its third straight cut, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the committee reduced borrowing costs out of concern that the job market is even weaker than it appears. He warned that recent job figures could be revised downward.

Companies recently announcing job cuts include UPS, General Motors, Amazon and Verizon, and those workforce reductions can take months to show up in government data.

US consumer prices slowed unexpectedly in November, still up 2.7% from 2024

U.S. inflation slowed unexpectedly last month, the government said in a report delayed and likely distorted by the government shutdown.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that its consumer price index rose 2.7% in November from a year earlier. Yet, year-over-year inflation remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, and Americans are complaining loudly about the high cost of living.

The shutdown prevented the Labor Department from compiling overall numbers for consumer prices and core inflation in October, raising questions about how accurately the report has tracked the economy.

Kay Haigh, global co-head of fixed income and liquidity solutions at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, warned that the November numbers were “noisy ... The canceling of the October report makes month-on-month comparisons impossible, for example, while the truncated information-gathering process given the shutdown could have caused systematic biases in the data.”

Fox News poll finds voters increasingly say they’re falling behind

Nearly half of registered voters say they’re falling behind financially, according to a new Fox News poll, while a similar share say they’re holding steady and only about 1 in 10 believe they’re getting ahead.

The results are the latest evidence that Americans’ worries about the economy have grown over the past year. Voters are about as likely to say they’re falling behind as they were in October 2024, just before the presidential election -- but only about one-third said this in June.

Similar to an AP-NORC survey released last week, which found that opinion of how Trump is handling the economy is at a low point, the Fox News poll found that about 6 in 10 voters disapprove of how Trump is handling the economy, and a similar number think the Trump administration is focused on the wrong things.

Turning Point USA meets as Trump acolytes seek to steer the youth movement

The conservative youth organization Charlie Kirk turned into a political juggernaut, convenes its flagship conference on Thursday for the first time since the assassination of its charismatic founder, testing the durability of a fractious movement that helped return Trump to the White House.

Kirk served as a unifying figure on the American right, marshaling college students, online influencers and Republican politicians. But now many of these people are skirmishing over the meaning of “America First” and the future of a movement defined more by the force of Trump’s personality than loyalty to a particular ideological project.

Vice President JD Vance, Trump administration officials, media personalities, Christian rock bands and pastors are expected at the four-day meeting in Phoenix, where thousands of attendees can participate in discussions about political organizing, religion and conservative critiques of American culture.

▶ Read more about where Turning Point USA may be turning now

Illinois senators put immigration agents and their leaders ‘on notice’ in DOJ letter

Democrats Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth wrote to the Justice Department Thursday that they are closely monitoring federal law enforcement agents involved in the Chicago-area operation dubbed “Midway Blitz” as well as other operations around the country. They want agents, officers and their leaders to be held accountable for any actions that violate people’s rights.

The 10-page letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi listed a litany of incidents gathered from media reports and civil rights groups where agents used tear gas, pepper balls, and other force on demonstrators or when carrying out arrests.

It’s a warning shot from Democrats who, although in the minority, are still seeking to conduct oversight of the administration’s actions.

The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly blamed activists in Chicago and elsewhere, saying agents are protecting themselves.

Putin adviser to meet with Witkoff and Kushner in Florida

Kirill Dmitriev, who directs Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, is expected to meet on Saturday in Miami with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as Trump continues to push for an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview a meeting that has not yet been publicly announced.

Witkoff and Kushner will sit down with Dmitriev after a meeting with Ukrainian and European officials earlier this week in which they discussed U.S. security guarantees for Kyiv, territorial concessions and other aspects of a U.S.-authored plan aimed at ending the war.

Putin warned Wednesday that Moscow will seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin’s demands. Dmitriev’s participation in the planned talks was first reported by Politico.

Trump demands Venezuela pay for seized US oil assets after calling for ‘blockade’

Trump demanded Wednesday that Venezuela return assets that it seized from U.S. oil companies years ago, justifying anew his announcement of a “blockade” against oil tankers traveling to or from the South American country that face American sanctions.

Trump cited the lost U.S. investments in Venezuela when asked about his newest tactic in a pressure campaign against leader Nicolás Maduro, suggesting his administration’s moves are at least somewhat motivated by disputes over oil investments, along with accusations of drug trafficking. Some sanctioned tankers already are diverting away from Venezuela.

“We’re not going to be letting anybody going through who shouldn’t be going through,” Trump told reporters. “You remember they took all of our energy rights. They took all of our oil not that long ago. And we want it back. They took it — they illegally took it.”

U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast amid a massive military buildup that includes the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier.

▶ Read more about Trump’s demands to Venezuela

US announces massive package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at more than $10 billion

The Trump administration has announced a massive package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at more than $10 billion that includes medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones, drawing an angry response from China.

The State Department announced the sales late Wednesday during a nationally televised address by President Donald Trump, who made scant mention of foreign policy issues and did not speak about China or Taiwan at all. U.S.-Chinese tensions have ebbed and flowed during Trump’s second term, largely over trade and tariffs but also over China’s increasing aggressiveness toward Taiwan, which Beijing has said must reunify with the mainland.

If approved by Congress, it would be the largest-ever U.S. weapons package to Taiwan, exceeding the total amount of $8.4 billion in U.S. arms sales to Taiwan during the Biden administration.

▶ Read more about the package