Today in one sentence: Trump “can’t guarantee anything” when asked whether his promised tariffs would increase prices for Americans; Trump confirmed that he will "most likely" pardon his supporters involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and that members of the Jan. 6 committee “should go to jail” for investigating him; Trump suggested he’ll end birthright citizenship; Trump plans to have Robert F. Kennedy Jr. investigate the repeatedly debunked conspiracy theory that vaccines cause autism; Trump confirmed that he has no plans to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell; Elon Musk spent over $250 million supporting Trump’s reelection, including $20 million to a super PAC that was named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg; Lara Trump resigned as co-chair of the Republican National Committee amid speculation that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will appoint her to fill the Senate seat vacated by Marco Rubio, who Trump tapped for secretary of state; Trump appointed venture capitalist and podcaster David Sacks as "White House A.I. and Crypto Czar" to guide policies on artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and online free speech; and 62% of Americans think it’s the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage while 44% say the quality of their healthcare is excellent (11%) or good (33%).

1/ Trump “can’t guarantee anything” when asked whether his promised tariffs would increase prices for Americans, in an NBC interview. “I think tariffs are the most beautiful word. I think they’re beautiful. It’s going to make us rich,” Trump said. Economists, however, have argued that Trump’s proposal to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, along with a 10% tariff on Chinese goods, would raise prices for U.S. consumers since tariffs are paid by American companies importing the products and not by the exporting countries. When informed that economists agree that Americans would pay higher prices as a result of his plan, Trump dismissed the claim, saying, “I don’t believe that.” And when asked to guarantee American families wouldn’t pay more, Trump replied: “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow.” (Politico / CBS News / Associated Press / NPR)

  • Trump details sweeping changes he’ll carry out on day one and beyond in an exclusive interview. “Trump vowed to launch a mass deportation effort, impose tariffs and pardon many convicted in the Jan. 6 attack.” (NBC News)
  • READ: The full transcript of Trump’s interview with “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker

2/ Trump confirmed that he will “most likely” pardon his supporters involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. “I’m going to be acting very quickly […] First day,” Trump said. “They’ve been in there for years, and they’re in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn’t even be allowed to be open.” Trump said there “may be some exceptions” to his pardons “if somebody was radical, crazy,” but didn’t rule out pardoning people who had pleaded guilty “because they had no choice.” On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump tried to overturn his 2020 election loss by encouraging his followers to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell” to stop Congress from certifying Biden as president. “You have to show strength and you have to be strong,” Trump said. In response, House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment against Trump for “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the riots at the Capitol that left five people dead. Seven days after the attack, Trump was impeached for a second time, with 10 Republicans joining Democrats in the vote. Trump is the only U.S. President to have been impeached twice. The Senate then voted to acquit Trump for the second time in 13 months. Trump also said that members of the Jan. 6 committee “should go to jail” for investigating him. The bipartisan committee voted unanimously to subpoena Trump. Their final report concluded that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 presidential election, failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol, and unanimously voted to refer the crimes to the Justice Department for prosecution. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / The Hill / HuffPost)

3/ Trump suggested he’ll end birthright citizenship, saying “you have to” deport everyone who is in the country illegally. Trump also suggested that mixed immigration status families should be deported together, claiming he has “no choice” but to deport everyone, including U.S. citizens with undocumented family members. “I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back,” Trump said. About 4.7 million households in the U.S. are defined as mixed status, with at least one undocumented resident, and an estimated 48% of the 2.8 million households with undocumented residents include at least one U.S.-born child. Trump previously called birthright citizenship “frankly ridiculous” because someone can “have a baby on our land, you walk over the border, have a baby — congratulations, the baby is now a U.S. citizen.” Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution and states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” (NBC News / Politico / Axios / New York Times)

4/ Trump plans to have Robert F. Kennedy Jr. investigate the repeatedly debunked conspiracy theory that vaccines cause autism. “I think somebody has to find out,” Trump said. “I mean, something is going on. I don’t know if it’s vaccines. Maybe it’s chlorine in the water, right? You know, people are looking at a lot of different things.” The theory that vaccines cause autism started in 1998 paper in the Lancet arguing that measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines were causing autism. The article has since been retracted and the author has been stripped of his medical license. Hundreds of studies have repeatedly found childhood vaccines to be safe, and the CDC estimates that between 1994 and 2023, childhood vaccines prevented 1.3 million premature deaths and 32 million hospitalizations. The World Health Organization has also ruled out a connection between autism and the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. The rise in autism diagnoses is attributed to increased screening and awareness. Nevertheless Trump said he was “open to anything.” Trump has tapped Kennedy, the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine activist group, to run Health and Human Services. (New York Times / NBC News / STAT / The Guardian)

5/ Trump confirmed that he has no plans to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. “I don’t see it,” Trump said, acknowledging the legal and practical barriers to removing Powell, who was originally appointed by Trump in 2017. Powell’s term expires in 2026. “I think if I told him to, he would,” Trump added. “But if I asked him to, he probably wouldn’t.” After Trump appointed Powell, he repeatedly criticized Powell for not moving quickly enough to lower interest rates, and instead explored whether he could fire or demote him after the Fed raised interest rates a number of times. When Powell was asked recently whether he would resign if Trump pressured him to leave, he replied simply: “No.” (Bloomberg / New York Times / NBC News)

6/ Elon Musk spent over $250 million supporting Trump’s reelection, including $20 million to a super PAC that was named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which framed Trump’s abortion stance as moderate to attract swing voters. Musk donated $20.5 million to the RBG PAC, which attempted to argue that Trump and Ginsburg agreed on abortion. Trump, however, has repeatedly took credit for the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade, which came after three Trump-appointed justices voted to eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion after 49 years. After Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died – less than two months before 2020 the presidential election – Trump and Senate Republicans confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Ginsburg’s granddaughter, Clara Spera, said the family condemned the use of her grandmother’s name and that doing so to “support Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, and specifically to suggest that she would approve of his position on abortion, is nothing short of appalling.” The RBG PAC “has no connection to the Ginsburg family and is an affront to my late grandmother’s legacy.” Since the election, Trump selected Musk to advise him on cutting spending across the federal government as a co-chair of his “Department of Government Efficiency” initiative. (Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)

7/ Lara Trump resigned as co-chair of the Republican National Committee amid speculation that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will appoint her to fill the Senate seat vacated by Marco Rubio, who Trump tapped for secretary of state. “It is something I would seriously consider,” Lara Trump said. “If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100% consider it.” DeSantis is also rumored to be Trump’s top choice for defense secretary if his current choice, Pete Hegseth, fails to be confirmed. Hegseth is facing allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and alcohol abuse. Lara Trump is married to Eric Trump. (Associated Press / Axios / NBC News / ABC News / New York Times)

8/ Trump appointed venture capitalist and podcaster David Sacks as “White House A.I. and Crypto Czar” to guide policies on artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and online free speech. Sacks, a longtime ally of Elon Musk and JD Vance, has supported Trump through fundraising and public endorsements despite initially criticizing him after Jan. 6. Sacks will also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology. The appointment reflects Trump’s alignment with tech entrepreneurs and his goal of positioning the U.S. as a global leader in AI and cryptocurrency. (CNBC / ABC News / Bloomberg)

  • Trump selected Rodney Scott, a key architect of restrictive immigration policies like Title 42, as CBP Commissioner. Trump also tapped Caleb Vitello and Tony Salisbury for leadership roles in ICE and Homeland Security. Brandon Judd, head of the National Border Patrol Council, was nominated as ambassador to Chile. Trump’s immigration plans include large-scale deportations and a return to policies such as the Remain in Mexico program, spearheaded by advisors Tom Homan and Stephen Miller, signaling a return to hardline approaches. (Politico)
  • Trump appointed his personal criminal defense lawyer Alina Habba as Counselor to the President. Habba’s legal career has been marked by contentious courtroom tactics, public criticism, and rebukes from judges for frivolous litigation. (Rolling Stone)

poll/ 62% of Americans think it’s the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage. In 2017, Trump and Republicans attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and John McCain joined with all 48 Senate Democrats to rejected the bill that would have increased the number of people who are uninsured by 15 million. (Gallup)

poll/ 44% Americans say the quality of their healthcare is excellent (11%) or good (33%) – down 10 percentage points since 2020. 28% say their healthcare coverage is excellent or good – four points lower than the average since 2001. (Gallup)

✏️ Notables.

  1. The U.S. announced an additional $988 million in military aid to Ukraine as part of a broader effort to bolster Kyiv before a potential shift in policy under Trump. The latest package adds to $725 million in recently announced aid drawn from Pentagon stockpiles, as part of the over $62 billion in military aid provided since Russia’s invasion in 2022. (Associated Press / ABC News)

  2. The Air Force deferred the decision on the future of its next-generation jet fighter to Trump. The delay shifts the multibillion-dollar decision on whether to prioritize piloted jets like the F-35 or unmanned drones to Trump as Elon Musk and his allies have pushed for replacing piloted aircraft with drones. (Wall Street Journal)

  3. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez launched her candidacy for ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, aiming to lead Democratic oversight efforts against the incoming Trump administration. AOC, currently vice-ranking member of the committee, would become the youngest Democratic committee leader if elected. The Oversight Committee’s leadership will be critical for Democrats in confronting Trump’s policies and preparing for potential subpoena powers if they regain the House majority in 2026. (NBC News / Politico / Axios)

  4. A U.S. appeals court has upheld a federal law banning TikTok due to national security concerns, citing the potential for Chinese government access to user data and influence over platform content. The court ruled that Congress acted within its authority to protect U.S. interests by banning TikTok unless its Chinese ownership is severed, dismissing First Amendment challenges brought by TikTok and its users. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times)

  5. The EPA banned two cancer-causing chemicals – trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene – commonly used in dry cleaning and other industries. The ban, finalized under the Biden administration, aims to eliminate trichloroethylene and restrict perchloroethylene use to certain industrial applications with strict safety measures. Both chemicals are linked to cancers and organ damage. The bans, however, face potential challenges under the Congressional Review Act and the incoming Trump administration. (New York Times)

  6. The USDA mandated nationwide testing of raw milk for bird flu, requiring farms and dairy processors to comply and report positive samples to federal authorities. The new rules aim to address the virus’s rapid spread in dairy herds, and identify transmission risks to humans through exposure to raw milk. Experts criticized earlier voluntary guidelines as inadequate and emphasized the potential for the virus to evolve into a strain transmissible among humans. The testing program will begin on Dec. 16 and expand beyond six initial states, with uncertainty about its continuation under the incoming Trump administration. (New York Times / NBC News)

  7. Trump announced his new line of perfumes and colognes called “Fight, Fight, Fight,” using a photo of himself with Jill Biden. The caption read: “A FRAGRANCE YOUR ENEMIES CAN’T RESIST!” (Axios / CBS News)

Five years ago today: Day 1054: Justified.