In The Past 24 Hours Or So

Your Daily Dose of Trump and His Administration News

•  John Durham, the U.S. attorney handpicked by Attorney General William Barr to investigate the origins of the probe into the Trump campaign and Russian election interference has reportedly found no evidence to support claims from conservatives that the case was a setup by U.S. intelligence officials. Durham  told the Justice Department’s inspector general, who conducted his own probe, that he has found no evidence to support claims that a Maltese professor who spoke with former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos was secretly a U.S. intelligence asset.

• Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the House Judiciary Committee to proceed with drafting impeachment articles against President Trump.

• A group of mental health professionals led by three preeminent psychiatrists will deliver a petition to House Judiciary Committee urging them to consider Trump’s “dangerous” mental state when crafting articles of impeachment.

• Karen McDougal, who had an affair with Donald Trump before he was president after they met at the Playboy Mansion in 2006, sued Fox News on Thursday. She accused host Tucker Carlson of intentionally defaming her on his television show.

• Today’s Commerce report shows U.S. goods and services trade deficit in 2019 will either be first or second highest since 2008. Goods trade gap is down this year with Trump’s main tariff target China, but up with Canada, Mexico, EU, Japan, SKorea, Malaysia, Argentina and Brazil.

• President Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to void a subpoena from the House that seeks the president’s financial records from his accounting firm.

• At a lunch for the UN Security Council, Trump says US may take trade action against member countries that are not contributing enough to NATO.

• President Trump, Melania Trump took part in National Christmas Tree lighting.

• A new satellite image indicates North Korea may be preparing to resume testing engines used to power satellite launchers and intercontinental ballistic missiles at a site Trump previously claimed was dismantled, according to experts who analyzed the photo.

• The White House directed Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer to block an effort to pass a resolution formally recognizing Turkey’s genocide of the Armenian people. This is the 3rd time the White House has directed a Republican senator to block the resolution.