Today in one sentence: The Supreme Court appeared ready to make it easier for Trump to fire independent government officials despite federal law restricting the president from removing them without cause; Trump’s former personal lawyer resigned as U.S. attorney for New Jersey after a federal appeals court upheld that she’d been serving in the position unlawfully; Trump announced a $12 billion bailout to help farmers hurt by his tariffs; Senate Republicans circulated competing health care proposals ahead of a vote on a Democratic plan to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of December; Trump said he was “a little bit disappointed” in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hours after the Kremlin praised Trump’s new National Security Strategy because it aligns with "our vision"; Trump suggested Netflix’s proposed $83 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” as Jared Kushner’s private equity fund is backing Paramount’s hostile takeover of the company; days after pardoning Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife in a federal bribery and conspiracy case, Trump said Cuellar showed “a lack of LOYALTY”; and 42% of Americans approved of the job Trump was doing as president, while 55% disapproved.

1/ The Supreme Court appeared ready to make it easier for Trump to fire independent government officials despite federal law restricting the president from removing them without cause – a major expansion of presidential power. During arguments over Trump’s removal of Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, the conservative majority cast doubt on the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor precedent that prevents at-will firings of commissioners. Several justices called that precedent a “dried husk,” and Justice Neil Gorsuch said it was “poorly reasoned,” while the three liberal justices warned the move would “destroy the structure of government” and hand presidents “massive, uncontrolled, unchecked power.” The court has already allowed Trump’s dismissal of Slaughter and other commissioners to take effect and is expected to issue a full ruling next year. (NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Axios)

2/ Trump’s former personal lawyer resigned as U.S. attorney for New Jersey after a federal appeals court upheld that she’d been serving in the position unlawfully. The 3rd Circuit said the Trump administration’s maneuvering to keep Alina Habba in the job without Senate confirmation violated federal vacancies law, prompting Attorney General Pam Bondi to call the situation “untenable.” Habba said she was stepping down “to protect the stability and integrity of the office,” adding, “do not mistake compliance for surrender,” while Bondi vowed to appeal the decision and said Habba intends to return if the ruling is reversed. In New Jersey, Habba’s duties will now be divided among three existing prosecutors, as judges and lawyers sort through delays and questions in cases that involved her, part of a wider wave of court challenges that have also disqualified other Trump-installed U.S. attorneys in Virginia, Nevada, California and potentially New York. (Politico / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / Axios / CNBC)

  • The Justice Department continues to list Lindsey Halligan as U.S. attorney despite a court ruling finding her appointment invalid and voided the indictments of James Comey and Letitia James. Federal judges in Virginia struck or annotated her name on new filings and said they found it “difficult to reconcile” her continued role with Judge Cameron McGowan Currie’s order. Prosecutors, however, said they kept her name on filings only because the Office of Legal Counsel told them to do so. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche accused the judges of a “campaign of bias and hostility” and said Halligan was following department direction. (New York Times / CNN / Axios)
  • A federal grand jury declined to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on bank fraud and false statement charges, days after a judge threw out the original case because Lindsey Halligan had been improperly installed as interim U.S. attorney after the 120-day appointment window had expired. Judge Cameron Currie ruled that all actions flowing from Halligan’s defective appointment were invalid. Because Halligan was the sole prosecutor who signed the indictments of James and James Comey, the judge set both cases aside. (NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Politico)
  • Records show Trump signed two mortgages in the mid-1990s that each required him to use a different Palm Beach home as his primary residence, even though he appears to have lived in neither and rented both out. The arrangement matches or exceeds the conduct his administration has called evidence of mortgage fraud in its cases against officials like Lisa Cook and Letitia James. (ProPublica)

3/ Trump announced a $12 billion bailout to help farmers hurt by his tariffs. In retaliation, China cut purchases of U.S. soybeans to near zero for months, which pushed down prices until October when Beijing agreed to buy 12 million metric tons this year and 25 million metric tons annually for the next three years. The White House said up to $11 billion will be paid as one-time “bridge” payments through the Farmer Bridge Assistance program for major row crops, with the rest set aside for commodities the program does not cover. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, said Trump “wants credit for trying to fix a mess of his making,” while some farm groups warned that government support doesn’t replace stable markets. (Associated Press / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Bloomberg / NBC News / Washington Post)

4/ Senate Republicans circulated competing health care proposals ahead of a vote on a Democratic plan to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of December. The Democratic bill, which would keep the pandemic-era tax credits in place for three years, is expected to fail. Republicans, however, haven’t coalesced around a single alternative plan, but instead have floated ideas ranging from sending money into health savings accounts and expanding catastrophic plans, to a two-year extension with new income caps and minimum premium payments, to proposals that would replace the subsidy structure with health savings accounts. If Congress does nothing, the enhanced subsidies will lapse and roughly 20 million enrollees will face higher premiums in January, with many seeing monthly costs that could more than double. (NPR / New York Times / Axios / Washington Post / The Hill / Politico / Wall Street Journal)

5/ Trump said he was “a little bit disappointed” in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hours after the Kremlin praised Trump’s new National Security Strategy because it aligns with “our vision.” Trump told reporters that Zelenskyy hadn’t read the latest U.S. peace proposal and that “Russia’s fine with it.” Zelenskyy, however, said the U.S.-brokered negotiations remain divided because Kyiv, Washington, and Moscow have different visions for Donbas and that Ukraine needed clearer commitments from Western partners on how they would respond if Russia launched another attack. Trump Jr., meanwhile, claimed that Ukraine’s leaders were prolonging the war for political reasons, called the country more corrupt than Russia, and said his dad “may” end U.S. support if Kyiv doesn’t agree to a peace deal with Moscow. (Politico / Bloomberg / Reuters / The Guardian / BBC / ABC News / CNBC / Bloomberg / The Guardian)

6/ Trump suggested Netflix’s proposed $83 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” as Jared Kushner’s private equity fund is backing Paramount’s hostile takeover of the company. The Netflix deal requires approval by antitrust regulators and Trump said he will “be involved” in that process. Paramount, meanwhile, is telling shareholders that its $108 billion bid faces fewer regulatory hurdles than Netflix’s cash-and-stock deal for Warner’s studio and streaming assets, and it says all foreign investors have agreed to forgo governance and board rights to stay outside CFIUS review. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Axios / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)

7/ Days after pardoning Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife in a federal bribery and conspiracy case, Trump said Cuellar showed “a lack of LOYALTY.” Cuellar filed to run for reelection as a Democrat the same day he received a pardon from Trump. He told Fox News he remains a conservative Democrat and said “I don’t vote party, I vote for what’s right for the country.” (Politico / Axios / Associated Press / NBC News)

poll/ 42% of Americans approved of the job Trump was doing as president, while 55% disapproved. Independents’ approval dropped to 31%, down from 41% in July. Approval among white college-educated men fell to 40%, down from 47% in June. Meanwhile, Republican approval remains at 91%. (New York Times)

⏭️ Notably Next: The 2026 midterms are in 330 days.

✏️ Weekend Notables.

  1. The Supreme Court agreed to review Trump’s executive order targeting birthright citizenship, even though the policy has been blocked at every level of the lower courts and has never taken effect. The administration claims the 14th Amendment was never meant to cover children of undocumented or temporary visitors. (Associated Press / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)

  2. An immigration judge ordered the release a Brazilian immigrant who once was engaged to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s brother and shares custody of their 11-year-old son. ICE arrested Bruna Ferreira on Nov. 12 in Massachusetts and moved her to a Louisiana detention center. Her attorneys said she has lived in the U.S. since early childhood and previously received protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. (Associated Press / Washington Post)

  3. The newly restructured CDC vaccine panel voted 8–3 to end the long-standing recommendation that all newborns get a hepatitis B shot at birth, keeping the birth-dose guidance only for infants born to mothers who test positive or have unknown status. The change came over objections from medical groups and CDC experts who said the birth dose has decades of evidence behind it and warned the rollback will lead to more preventable infections. Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill will decide whether to adopt the recommendations, as critics warned the panel “presented no information and no data” to justify the change and said the process has shifted away from scientific review. (Associated Press / NPR / Reuters / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)

  4. A federal judge in Florida has ordered grand jury transcripts from old Jeffrey Epstein investigations to be unsealed. The Epstein Files Transparency Act forces the Justice Department to post unclassified Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell records by Dec. 19, but it also lets the government redact victim details and withhold files tied to active probes or classified matters. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post / Axios)

Three years ago today: Day 688: "Hope and dignity."
Four years ago today: Day 323: "No choice."
Five years ago today: Day 1419: "I literally don't know."
Eight years ago today: Day 323: Puppet.