Pres. Trump & First Lady take NORAD Santa Tracker children's calls; Justice Dept says it will take several more weeks to release all Epstein files

In this weekend's episode, three segments from the Washington Journal's annual Holiday Author Series this past week. First: a conversation with journalist, documentary filmmaker, and MS Now contributor Trymaine Lee on his book "A Thousand Ways to Die: The True Cost of Violence on Black Life in America" Then: Free speech advocate Greg Lukianoff -- President & CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression -- discusses his book "The War on Words." Finally: George Washington University professor Casey Burgat joins us for a discussion about his book "We Hold These 'Truths': How to Spot the Myths that are Holding America Back." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Christmas Eve, President Donald Trump & First Lady Melania Trump take children's NORAD Santa Tracker calls and speak to U.S. military servicemembers overseas; Members of Congress of both parties post their holiday greetings; Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) releases his annual Festivus Report on Government Waste. He says he has identified $1.6 trillion worth; Bipartisan group of Senators sign a letter calling for an audit of the Justice Department's slow release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, they say, in violation of the law that set a deadline of 30 days after enactment. Justice Department says it may take several more weeks to release all the files now that a million more have been identified; European leaders condemn the Trump Administration blocking of five Europeans who monitor online hate and disinformation from traveling to the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls them "leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex"; National Guard troops to deploy to New Orleans; White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller calls for the firing of all producers on the CBS News show '60 Minutes' who protested the pulling of a report on the Trump Administration's deportation of Venezuelan men to a prison in El Salvador. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

United Nations Security Council holds an emergency meeting on U.S. military actions against Venezuela; European leaders stand with Greenland in response to President Donald Trump latest moves toward his stated goal of having the U.S. own the island; Supreme Court turns down President Trump plan to plan to deploy National Guard troops in Illinois and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) joins faith leaders to condemn what they call 'chaos' that federal immigration agents were sowing with their operations in Minneapolis; Commerce Department says U.S. economy grew at a very strong 4.3 percent annual rate in the third quarter of the year; more than 20 Democratic State Attorneys General sue the Trump Administration over its plan to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump announced a new fleet of ships Monday, known as the "Golden Fleet," as he revealed he approved plans for two new "very large battleships." Trump said the new ships would be "100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built," in an address from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First: A discussion with Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York on his confrontation with Republican leadership for not acting on expiring ACA subsidies. Then: a conversation with John Della Volpe – polling director at the Harvard Institute of Politics. We'll talk about the Institute's latest youth poll – showing growing pessimism among young Americans about the direction of the country. Finally: we'll talk about President Trump's executive order blocking artificial intelligence regulations at the state level with Neil Chilson – former Chief technologist for the FTC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Justice Department released the first batch of files on the late sex offender and accused trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, but Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche say not all of the files will be released by today's deadline as required under law; President Donald Trump announces deals with nine pharmaceutical company to lower drug prices; President travels to North Carolina for a speech on affordability and to support Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley; Federal court hearing in the last surviving case against President Trump over his alleged role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol; Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds an end-of-the-year news conference, getting questions on the U.S. policy towards Venezuela, moving to Phase 2 of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and talks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

White House and Democratic lawmakers weigh in on President Donald Trump's Wednesday night primetime TV year-end address, during which the president highlighted what he sees as his achievements after almost a year in office; Democrats make a last-ditch effort to get a vote to extend expiring Affordable Care Act health insurance premium subsidies; Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announces new rules that aim to prohibit gender-affirming care for transgender youth; President Trump signs an Executive Order to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, to ease restrictions and allow for more research. We will talk about it with Axios reporter Herb Scribner (30); White House says the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has been renamed by the board of trustees the Trump-Kennedy Center, but there are questions about whether it would take an act of Congress; House votes to require the gray wolf be removed from the Endangered Species Act list; Pope Leo XIV names a new Catholic Archbishop of New York, who is from Chicago, like the pope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Four House Republicans sign a discharge petition introduced by Democrats to force a vote an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits in defiance of the wishes of Republican Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA); House votes on a bill to criminalize providing gender-affirming care to minors; House votes on bill to prohibit the President Donald Trump from striking alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific and carrying out military strikes against Venezuela without Congressional authorization under the War Powers Act; Senate passes the $900 billion National Defense Authorization Act, sending to the president to be signed into law; Senate also passes a bill to provision to reverse a provision in the NDAA concerning safe operation of military helicopters around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport; President Donald Trump delivers an address to the nation tonight from the White House; former special counsel Jack Smith testifies in closed session before the House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating his investigations of alleged criminal conduct of Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) says there will not be a vote on an amendment to extend expiring Affordable Care Act enhanced premium subsidies as part of a House Republican health care bill this week, and some moderate Republicans are not happy about it; Labor Department releases a jobs report that was delayed due to the federal government shutdown that shows 105,000 jobs lost in October, then in November, 64,000 jobs gained and the unemployment rate rising to 4.6 percent; Vice President JD Vance talks about the economy at a factory near Allentown, Pennsylvania; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tells Senators & House Members in closed briefings the Pentagon will not release the full video of the second strike against an alleged illegal drug carrying boat in the Caribbean in September that reportedly killed survivors of the first strike, due to its classified and top-secret nature. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also took part in the briefing; FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford says to the House Aviation Subcommittee the FAA was not consulted before a provision was included in the House-passed defense authorization bill about military helicopter flights near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that some Members and the NTSB Chair say will decrease safety; White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in an interview with Vanity Fair, says President Trump has “an alcoholic’s personality" and Vice President JD Vance is a “conspiracy theorist"; a statue of a civil rights leader Barbara Rose Johns replaces a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in representing Virginia in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall collection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress is back to work today, and health care remains the top issue. The House is expected to vote this week on an extension of the expiring health care tax credits along with Republicans’ alternative proposal… Over in the Senate, debate continues on the annual Defense policy bill… And reaction continues to the two mass shootings that happened over the weekend on opposite sides of the world….Authorities continue to work to find the suspect who opened fire at Brown University…killing at least two students and injuring nine others… Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened his government to come up with ways to tighten gun ownership rules…following an attack in Sydney's Bond-eye Beach that killed at least 15 people and injured at least 40 others at a Hanukkah celebration…Prime Minister Albanese called the attack an act of antisemitic terrorism…. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices