Amanda Head had a chance to attend a private screening of “My Son Hunter,” an upcoming movie directed by Robert Davi which dives into the drug-fueled past of First Son, Hunter Biden.
Watch and hear Amanda’s unfiltered thoughts of the film below:
By President Of Ukraine - https://www.flickr.com/photos/165930373@N06/54169325552/, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=156221279
Ukraine has agreed to a peace deal with Russia that was brokered by the United States, but a cautious Volodymyr Zelensky warned “much work” remains to be done.
“Following the meetings in Geneva, we see many prospects that can make the path to peace real,” Zelensky wrote in an X post on Tuesday. “There are solid results, and much work still lies ahead.”
This morning, I spoke with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom @Keir_Starmer. It was a good and very productive conversation.
I thanked the Prime Minister for the condolences he expressed to the Ukrainian people. Last night, Russia launched another attack – at a time when… pic.twitter.com/8twO1mYLLr
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 25, 2025
A U.S. military official in Abu Dhabi told CBS News Driscoll spent hours negotiating Tuesday with Russian representatives, going in and out of meetings all day.
“We remain very optimistic,” the official said. “Secretary Driscoll is optimistic. Hopefully, we’ll get feedback from the Russians soon. This is moving quick.”
It is not clear who else is in the U.S. delegation in Abu Dhabi. A U.S. official told CBS News on Tuesday that a Ukrainian delegation was also there and has been in contact with Driscoll and his team.
A source with knowledge told CBS News that Driscoll was working in Abu Dhabi off of a revised version of the White House’s 28-point proposal, following productive negotiations in Geneva.
Former Special Counsel Jack Smith is expected to appear publicly before Congress later this month to answer questions about his high-profile investigations into President Donald Trump—a development Republicans say is long overdue as concerns grow over the Justice Department’s handling of politically charged cases.
Smith, who was appointed by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022, will testify before the House Judiciary Committee on January 22, according to an announcement made Monday night by Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH).
The upcoming hearing follows Smith’s closed-door interview with House lawmakers last month, where he reportedly claimed he had proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election—an assertion likely to draw close scrutiny from Republicans, who have argued that the federal government has repeatedly applied one set of standards to Trump and another to Democrats.
Smith’s testimony is expected to focus on the two major investigations he previously led: one involving Trump’s alleged actions following the 2020 election, and another involving the handling of classified records after Trump left office.
“Jack has been clear for months he is ready and willing to answer questions in a public hearing about his investigations into President Trump’s alleged unlawful efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his mishandling of classified documents,” Smith’s attorney, Lanny Breuer, said in a statement to NBC News.
Smith testified for roughly nine hours in the closed-door session, but has since pushed to make his remarks public. According to the report, Smith later demanded that House Republicans release the “full videotape” of his nine-hour testimony.
Both the transcript and video were released a week later, after Republicans said the public deserved transparency about an investigation that many conservatives view as a continuation of Washington’s long-running legal campaign against Trump.
In his closed-door testimony, Smith reportedly claimed he had proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump committed a crime related to efforts to challenge the 2020 election outcome. Supporters of Trump, however, have argued that contesting election procedures and raising objections—especially through legal channels—is not unusual in American politics and has occurred in disputed elections in the past, including challenges by Democrats to Republican victories.
Smith also addressed his classified-documents case, claiming his office uncovered evidence that Trump “willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in January 2021, storing them at his social club, including in a bathroom and a ballroom where events and gatherings took place.”
The documents investigation centered on materials stored at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida residence and private club. Republicans have questioned whether Trump was treated fairly compared to other officials who were also found to have mishandled classified materials, arguing that selective enforcement undermines public trust in the justice system.
Smith’s public appearance on January 22 is likely to intensify debate over whether the Justice Department and federal prosecutors have been used as political weapons—particularly as the country heads deeper into a contentious election cycle and voters demand answers about government power, transparency, and equal justice under the law.
Democrats and Republicans have split sharply over President Donald Trump’s decision to carry out strikes in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, with a growing number of Democratic lawmakers calling the operation unconstitutional and some openly urging impeachment.
Progressive Democrats have led the backlash, accusing the administration of launching an illegal military action without congressional authorization. Several lawmakers argue that the operation amounts to an invasion of a sovereign nation and violates both the Constitution and the War Powers Act.
“Many Americans woke up to a sick sense of déjà vu,” Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) a member of the House’s progressive “Squad,” wrote on X over the weekend. “Under the guise of liberty, an administration of warmongers has lied to justify an invasion and is dragging us into an illegal, endless war so they can extract resources and expand their wealth.”
Ramirez called for Congress to pass a War Powers Resolution introduced by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., aimed at blocking further military action against Venezuela, and said Trump “must be impeached.”
Many Americans woke up to a sick sense of deja vu. Under the guise of liberty, an administration of warmongers has lied to justify an invasion and is dragging us into an illegal, endless war so they can extract resources and expand their wealth.
— Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (@repdeliaramirez) January 3, 2026
Omar’s resolution seeks to reassert Congress’ constitutional authority over war-making and would require the administration to halt hostilities unless lawmakers explicitly approve them.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) echoed those concerns, criticizing Trump for bypassing Congress to launch what he described as a war with Venezuela. Goldman said the administration failed to provide lawmakers with “any satisfactory explanation” for the strikes.
“This violation of the United States Constitution is an impeachable offense,” Goldman said in a statement. “I urge my Republican colleagues in the House of Representatives to finally join Democrats in reasserting congressional authority by holding this president accountable.”
Other Democrats struck a more cautious tone. Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-Md.) stopped short of naming Trump but wrote on X that “invading and running another country without a congressional declaration of war is an impeachable offense,” while also questioning whether impeachment is the most effective strategy. “Whether it makes sense to pursue impeachment as the best strategy to end this lawlessness is a tactical judgment that our Caucus needs to seriously deliberate,” she wrote.
In California, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) a gubernatorial hopeful, said he would not rule out supporting impeachment when asked by reporters, according to the Pleasanton Weekly.
Progressive candidates running for office also weighed in. Kat Abughazaleh, a Democrat seeking an open House seat in Illinois, called Trump a “war criminal” in a post on Bluesky and demanded Congress “halt this conflict and impeach” the president.
Still, Democrats are not unified in their opposition. A number of more centrist lawmakers have either defended the administration’s actions or argued that the removal of Maduro serves U.S. national security interests. Some Democrats have described the operation as a targeted effort to remove a destabilizing authoritarian leader rather than the start of a broader war, while others have said the administration should now work with Congress to define limits and next steps.
Republicans, for their part, have largely rallied behind Trump. GOP leaders characterized the operation as a decisive blow against a longtime adversary of the United States and a win for regional stability.
Senior Republicans have also pushed back on claims that the administration violated the Constitution, arguing that the action was a limited law enforcement or counterterrorism operation rather than a traditional military engagement requiring prior congressional approval.
While impeachment calls are growing among progressives, Democratic leadership has so far stopped short of endorsing that approach
Elvert Barnes, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Trump has big plans…
President-elect Donald Trump shared that he plans to immediately pardon “most” rioters accused or convicted of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 after his inauguration.
“It’s going to start in the first hour,” Trump told Time Magazine Thursday, during an interview for his feature as the publication’s 2024 Person of the Year. “Maybe the first nine minutes.”
However, Trump has remained vague on the exact details. More than 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack, their conduct ranging from trespassing misdemeanors to assaulting police and seditious conspiracy against the U.S. government.
In court filings, many rioters have expressed they expect immediate relief once Trump returns to the White House. Their lawyers have asked judges to delay sentencing, trials and other proceedings as Inauguration Day nears. However, Judges have largely denied those requests.
Top leaders of the right-wing extremist Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, many convicted of sedition, face decades in prison for their roles in the riot, leading to questions about just how far Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons will go.
Prosecutors in court filings Wednesday argued to a judge that, although Trump’s pardons might erase the penalties for Jan. 6 rioters, they won’t “unring the bell of conviction.”
“In fact, quite the opposite,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Holvey wrote. “The defendant would first have to accept the pardon, which necessitates a confession of guilt.”
On Thursday, President Biden commuted jail sentences for nearly 1,500 people and granted 39 pardons, marking the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.
Sentences were commuted for inmates placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and who “have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities,” according to the announcement. The 39 individuals pardoned were convicted of non-violent crimes, the White House said.
“I will take more steps in the weeks ahead. My Administration will continue reviewing clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second chances,” Biden said.
Thursday’s pardons come as the president has faced bipartisan criticism for pardoning his son, Hunter, of felony gun and tax charges.
Trump is facing criticism after a photo emerged of him with the infamous Philadelphia mon boss, Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino.
Trump posed for the photo obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer with Merlino earlier this month at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach. The two, along with an unidentified third man, flash Trump’s customary “thumbs-up” hand signs and smiles while wearing golfing attire.
The photo is likely to renew concerns that Trump still lacks the sort of protective political infrastructure that would prevent a candidate for president from taking a picture with a convicted mobster whose last stint in federal prison ended in mid-2020.https://t.co/ngigx6rW8Y
“President Trump takes countless photos with people. That does not mean he knows every single person he comes in contact with,” said a Trump spokesperson after The Inquirer shared a copy of the photo with his campaign.
Merlino was convicted in 2001 in a racketeering case and served a decade in federal prison and is known for connections to mob with operations in Philadelphia and Atlantic City. After his release, he relocated to Boca Raton, Florida before being arrested again in 2018 on a gambling-related charge.
Trump has recently come under fire for his contact with controversial public figures like Kanye West and Nick Fuentes.
Last year Trump hosted a dinner while the rapper also known as Ye was in the middle of his anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi meltdown. West was also accompanied by Nick Fuentes, one of the most infamous white nationalists and Holocaust deniers in the country. Trump has asserted that he was unaware Fuentes would be attending the dinner.
Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America,
Progressive Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) is being slammed online as “unhinged” for using violent rhetoric implying that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, “has to be knocked over the head, like hard.”
Cruz responded to the controversy simply by posting a meme to X.
In response to a question about how Democrats can win elections specifically in the red state of Texas, Crockett said, “I think that you punch, I think you punch, I think you OK with punching.”
“It’s Ted Cruz,” she went on. “I mean, like this dude has to be knocked over the head, like hard, right? Like there is no niceties with him, like at all. Like you go clean off on him.”
Responding to the clip, the White House’s “rapid response” X account, called Crockett “another unhinged Democrat inciting violence.”
Here's another unhinged Democrat inciting violence: @RepJasmine Crockett says you should "punch" your opponents, then says Senator @tedcruz "has to be knocked over the head, like, hard." pic.twitter.com/7EtKYiVCCa
Crockett was recently warned by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to “tread very carefully” after calling for Elon Musk to be “taken down.”
Popular conservative account “Libs of TikTok” also chimed in, calling for Crockett to be investigated.
“Rep Jasmine Crockett: I am totally against violence! Rep Jasmine Crockett on the same day: Knock Ted Cruz over the head and punch your opponents,” the account said, adding, “The Democratic Party is the party of violence and hypocrisy.”
Cruz responded to Libs of TikTok’s post about Crockett claiming to be against violence with a meme that read: “You keep using that word… I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) commented: “Pro tip: don’t say things like this, whether you’re in Congress or not.”
Crockett came under fire last week as well for saying during a “Tesla Takedown” online call that, “all I want to see happen on my birthday is for Elon to be taken down.”
“I have learned, as I serve on the DOGE Oversight committee, that there is only one language that the people that are in charge understand right now, and that language is money,” she said.
Crockett has said that her calls to action are “nonviolent” and are about figuratively “fighting” for democracy.
Law schools across the country are abandoning their decades-long principles going woke and the move could prove disastrous for attorneys, current law students, and prospective law students across the nation.
Let Amanda break down the situation in the video below.
Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.
Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is on the fence about supporting Kevin McCarthy but one condition could push her over the edge.
Boebert, who recently won a razor-thin re-election bid, says that she will only support the California Republican if there is a mechanism to easily remove him from the top post.
According to The Hill, while at a Turning Point USA conference in Phoenix, Boebert said, “We have to have an accountability mechanism on the Speaker of the House.”
“This is third in command for the presidency of the United States of American,” she said in an interview with “Real America’s Voice,” a conservative channel. “And we are going to strip away the one check-and-balance that members of Congress have?”
Some House Republicans have expressed the desire for any lawmaker to call a motion to vacate the Speaker chair to make it easier to remove someone from the leadership post.
Earlier this month, House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Scott Perry along with six other Republicans released a list of conditions for the next Speaker.
The requests in the letter include:
Restore any member’s ability to make a “Motion to Vacate the Chair” and force a vote on removing the Speaker. Former Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a founding Freedom Caucus member, helped propel former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) toward retirement by making a motion to vacate the chair in 2015.
Require at least 72 hours from release of final bill text before it gets a vote on the House floor.
Bar House GOP leadership and leadership-affiliated PACs from getting involved in primaries. The McCarthy-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund was active in many House primaries boosting McCarthy-friendly candidates in the 2022 cycle.
Increase the number of Freedom Caucus members in committee chairmanships and on the House Rules Committee.
Decline to raise debt ceiling without a plan to cap spending and balance the federal budget in 10 years.
Do not “return to the blind embrace of earmarks.” The practice of directing federal spending to a specific recipient or project was brought back in this Congress as “community project funding” after a decadelong ban. The House Republican Conference last month overwhelmingly voted against an internal proposal to ban the practice.
Use “must-pass” bills like the annual defense authorization bill and the farm bill as leverage to secure conservative priorities and “check the Biden administration.”
Create a “Church Committee”-style panel to target “weaponized government.” While McCarthy and House Republicans have promised extensive investigations into the Biden administration and alleged politicization of federal agencies, some, like Roy, think the plans do not go far enough.
“Negotiations after that are just a wish list,” she said. “There’s no accountability attached to the promises.”
Vice President Kamala Harris discussed her plan to reduce the cost of living in a town hall hosted by Oprah Winfrey on Thursday. The recently-anointed Democratic nominee stated that she would achieve this by lowering the prices of essential items.
The question posed to Harris was straightforward enough and, quite frankly, on the minds of most persuadable voters: “What will you do to lower costs?”
Here’s exactly what she said:
“Yeah. I first of all, thank you both for being here and yours is a, a story I hear around the country as I travel, and in terms of both rightly, having the right to have aspirations and dreams and ambitions for your family and working hard and finding that the American dream is for this generation and so many recently far more elusive than it’s been, and we need to deal with that. And there are a number of ways. One is bringing down the cost of everyday necessities, including groceries.”
Yesterday’s Michigan town hall has since been ridiculed by numerous MAGA celebrities.
During the 90-minute livestreamed interview, where Harris also took questions from the audience, the vice president discussed a number of key 2024 topics, such as abortion rights, immigration and gun violence.
A number of Donald Trump‘s supporters have mocked Harris for her at times lengthy responses during the event in the key swing state, with some suggesting that the vice president’s answers were a “word salad.”
This might be the worst world salad ever in the political career of Kamala Harris.
The whole time you could feel Oprah wanted her to stop.
The audience looks like they’re realizing how gone Kamala is.
During the interview, Harris told Winfrey that Americans are an “optimistic people,” adding: “Americans, by character, are people who have dreams and ambitions and aspirations. We believe in what is possible. We believe in what can be, and we believe in fighting for that.
“That’s how we came into being because the people before us understood that one of the greatest expressions for the love of our country—one of the greatest expressions of patriotism—is to fight for the ideals of who we are, which includes freedom to make decisions about your own body; freedom to be safe from gun violence; freedom to have access to the ballot box; freedom to be who you are and just be, to love who you love openly and with pride; freedom to just be.”
Reflecting on the perceived train wreck, politico and MAGA influencer Collin Rugg concluded, “After watching this and then watching the debate, I realize how much practice she had for that debate.”
“This interview is what Harris sounds like on a normal day.”
And television appearances as a presidential candidate don’t get friendlier than this…
