Trump’s praise for Mamdani upends Republican talking points as they bond over New York, working class and FDR – US politics live

12.57am GMT

The armies of lefty America and of Maga were assembled ready to watch their champions do battle. After all, Donald Trump had called Zohran Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and “total nut job.” The incoming democratic socialist New York mayor in turn had called the Republican US president a “despot” and “fascist”.
But anyone expecting to see fists fly and shirts torn in the Oval Office was in for a disappointment. Trump, 79, and 34-year-old Mamdani actually got on rather well. In fact beautifully, bewilderingly, bizarrely well. Instead of Batman v Superman, this was Toy Story besties Woody and Buzz Lightyear.
Perhaps the old left v right binaries really are dead. This was a case of game recognising game – of Queens recognising Queens. Trump is now on much better terms with Zohran Mamdani than Marjorie Taylor Greene, his fellow Republican. Mamdani got a warmer reception from Trump than from the leaders of his own party – a world turned upside down.
The buddy movie began with Trump sitting behind the Resolute Desk and Mamdani standing to his side, a statuette of George Washington behind him. “We have one thing in common – we want this city of ours that we love to do very well,” the president said, referring to New York.
He added: “I think you’re going to have hopefully a really great mayor. The better he does – the happier I am. I will say there’s no difference in party, there’s no difference in anything, and we’re going to be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York.”
That great thud was the sound of White House reporters’ jaws hitting the floor of the Oval Office. That shredding noise was the sound of Republican strategists destroying their playbook to demonise Mamdani as the Marxist face of the Democrats.

Related: I ❤ NY: Queens recognises Queens as Trump gives Mamdani warm reception

12.47am GMT
Trump posts photos of himself with Mamdani, calls visit 'a Great Honor'

Three weeks ago, Donald Trump posted on his social network 20 photographs of his marble makeover of the bathroom in the Lincoln Bedroom. A few days later, his party was heavily defeated in elections as voters complained that he was more focused on redecorating the White House than bringing down the cost of living.
Today, after claiming that he is focused on affordability at a friendly meeting with the mayor-elect of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, the president shared photographs of himself, grinning and giving a thumb-up sign, with Mamdani in the White House.

A screenshot of images Donald Trump posted on on his social media platform of Zohran Mamdani’s White House visit.

Trump’s caption for the photos was a sharp departure from his previous rhetoric about Mamdani being a “communist lunatic”. It was, Trump wrote on his social media platform, “a Great Honor meeting Zohran Mamdani, the new Mayor of New York City!”

Updated at 1.00am GMT

12.04am GMT

The highly anticipated Oval Office meeting between Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani – the mayor-elect of New York City, the US president’s beloved home town – was hardly the combustible tête-à-tête many had predicted. For the moment at least, the two New Yorkers appeared relaxed, smiling and cautiously optimistic about the work they might accomplish together.
Neither revived their hot campaign trail rhetoric, in which they cast each other as diametrically opposed political adversaries. Trump had labeled Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and urged voters to back his opponent, the former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. In turn, Mamdani assailed Trump as a “despot” and pledged to be the president’s “worst nightmare”.

Related: ‘I’ll stick up for you’: key moments from the cordial Trump-Mamdani meeting

11.50pm GMT
Trump's praise for Mamdani upends Republican talking points, explodes heads across political spectrum

Republicans and pro-Trump media outlets were gravely disappointed by the lack of fireworks at Friday’s Oval Office meeting between New York’s mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, and Queens native Donald Trump, who had attacked the democratic socialist as “a 100% Communist lunatic,” before showering him with praise at the meeting Mamdani requested.
In the hours before the meeting, the encounter was described by Fox News as Trump’s “showdown with socialism” and equated to a prize fight and billed as “the Battle of the Ages: capitalism versus communism” on pillow salesman Mike Lindell’s TV outlet.
As Mamdani made his way to Washington on Friday morning, Rick Scott, a Republican senator from Florida, shared the selfie he posted from his flight with the ominous caption: “Here’s the new face of the Democrat party — a literal communist — on his way to the White House to be schooled by President Trump.”
In the end, the meeting went so well for Mamdani that the Democratic Socialists of America mocked the Fox “showdown” graphic in a post that said simply: “Socialism won! Join DSA”.

A Bluesky post from the Democratic Socialists of America on Friday mocked a Fox News graphic that described the Trump-Mamdani meeting as a “showdown witch socialism”.

In the immediate aftermath of the meeting, a Fox Business anchor David Asman was stunned, saying: “Just one word—wow.”
“Commie Mamdani as the president has [been’ referring to his guest in the Oval Office there for the past several months, uh, looked like best friends with president Trump now,” he added.
On Friday morning a host on the slavishly pro-Trump outlet Newsmax, Todd Starnes, posted a fantasy of how rough the meeting would be for Mamdani. “SCENARIO: Mamdani enters the Oval Office today only to be greeted by Tom Homan who then personally escorts the Communist back to Uganda.”
By Friday afternoon, Starnes was puzzled by the very different reality “I thought Mamdani was supposed to be a fascist dictator?” he asked. “What the heck is going on at the White House?”
As Aaron Fritschner, an aide a Democratic congressman, Don Beyer of Virginia, pointed out: “Republicans spent the whole day in the House making everyone revote on the ‘horrors of socialism’ resolution specifically over Mamdani, it’s literally the only thing we did today, and hours later Trump says ‘he has the same ideas I have.’ It’s just beautiful.”
The fact that Mamdani seemed to charm Trump into submission also baffled even some of his supporters. Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan congresswoman who is a fellow democratic socialist and DSA member, shared video of Trump telling Mamdani it is fine to call him a fascist with that words: “What the heck just happened?”

Updated at 12.18am GMT

11.16pm GMT
Mamdani shares clip of Trump nodding as he said ‘working people were left behind’ in New York

Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, just posted video of Donald Trump nodding in agreement with him as he told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that, during his campaign, “what we found, time and again, is that working people were left behind in the politics of our city, and what we’re looking to do is put those people right back at the heart of our politics, so that we don’t have a situation where we’re in the wealthiest city in the history of the world, and yet one in five can’t even afford $2.90 for a Metro card”.
Mamdani was responding to a question from a correspondent for the far-right outlet Newsmax who had asked him if he accepted that, because “Democrats have run New York City for a long time … do you see Democrat policy specifically as being a problem?”
Mamdani, who ran partly as a critic of the Democratic establishment, began his reply by saying: “Look, I think that there are many things in our city where we have to own the responsibility of it, things that existed long before the president was the president, and those are also part of the message of our campaign, was to take on a broken politics of the past. And I ran against a number of candidates who represented different versions of that past.”

Updated at 11.45pm GMT

10.41pm GMT
Mamdani and Trump bond over FDR, New Deal president attacked as a socialist by Republicans

At one point during the exchange with reporters in the Oval Office, Zohran Mamdani took a moment to mention that he appreciated seeing a painting of another New York president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, among the portraits in Donald Trump’s White House.
“One thing I also appreciated is in our meeting to appreciate a portrait of FDR, and the incredible work that was done with the New Deal, and also in thinking about what it can look like when the federal government and New York City government work together to deliver affordability, it can be transformative,” Mamdani said.
Trump then took credit for selecting the “great portrait of FDR” hanging in the cabinet room he redecorated. “When the mayor saw that portrait, he said, ‘Sir, do you mind if I have a picture taken by that? It’s an amazing portrait.’”

Updated at 10.47pm GMT

10.28pm GMT

Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor-elect, walked out of their meeting on Friday afternoon with an unlikely alliance, agreeing to work together on housing, food prices and cost-of-living concerns that have defined both their political appeals to working-class voters.
“We agreed a lot more than I would have thought,” Trump said in the Oval Office, sometimes jumping in to shield Mamdani from aggressive questioning from the press.
The sit-down – which many had anticipated would be contentious, given months of intense rhetoric in which Trump branded Mamdani a “communist lunatic” – instead produced camaraderie, warm words and concrete pledges of cooperation between the Republican president and the self-described democratic socialist who secured a commanding electoral victory earlier at the beginning of November with over 50% of the vote.
“I feel very confident that he can do a very good job,” Trump said after the meeting, offering praise for his ideological opposite. “The better he does, the happier I am. I will say there’s no difference in party. There’s no difference in anything, and we’re going to be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York.”

Related: Trump and Mamdani form an unlikely alliance at White House meeting

10.01pm GMT
Standing next to Trump, Mamdani describes his conversations with Trump voters in Queens

During their Oval Office exchange with reporters, which was staged in a familiar fashion for this White House, with Donald Trump seated behind his desk and his guest forced to stand, Zohran Mamdani referred to conversations he had, last November, with Queens residents who voted for Trump in the 2024 election.
Mamdani even said that he spoke with a pharmacist who told him that Trump’s father, Fred, had been a customer.
Some of those conversations, days after the election, were recorded and featured in a social media video posted on Mamdani’s YouTube channel before he launched his mayoral campaign. In the video, voters told Mamdani that Trump’s promise to lower the cost of living was a major factor in their decision. He told them that he planned to run for mayor on a platform of freezing rents, making buses free and making universal child care a reality.
Here is that November 2024 video:

Zohran Mamdani’s conversations with Trump voters in November 2024.

9.49pm GMT

Several observers of the meeting between Trump and Mamdani pointed out on social media that, by embracing the popular young mayor-elect instead of confronting him, Donald Trump seemed to upend well-laid Republican plans to make the democratic socialist the face of the Democratic party, as strategy to cast Democrats as extremists.
John DeLillo, a writer, posted a satirical version of the disconnect on social media with this imaginary dialogue between the House speaker, Mike Johnson, and the president:

mike johnson: we are going to make zohran mamdani the face of the democratic party
donald trump: and what a beautiful face it is! look at that smile! we love zohran mamdani, don’t we folks

9.44pm GMT
'Pretty sure Zohran just charmed Donald Trump into agreeing that he’s a fascist'

A close ally of New York’s mayor-elect, the city comptroller Brad Lander, responded to the Donald Trump telling Zohran Mamdani that it is fine to call him a fascist by posting on social media: “Pretty sure Zohran just charmed Donald Trump into agreeing that he’s a fascist.”

9.41pm GMT
Key moments from cordial Trump-Mamdani Oval Office news conference

The surprisingly cordial Oval Office meeting between Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist mayor-elect of New York City, and Donald Trump, the Queens native who tried and failed to keep him from being elected, just concluded.
Despite the best efforts of a slate of correspondents from pro-Trump outlets selected by the White House to ask the pair questions, Trump and Mamdani refused repeated attempts to goad the two men into conflict.
Here are some of the key moments:

Mamdani said that his meeting with the president was “productive” and “focused on the place of shared admiration and love – which is New York City and the need to deliver affordability to New Yorkers”.
Trump repeatedly stepped in to defend Mamdani from hostile questioning from outlets like the New York Post and Fox News, When Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich pressed Mamdani about whether he considers Trump to be a “fascist”, the president offered the mayor-elect an unusual life raft. “That’s OK,” Trump said while tapping Mamdani’s arm. “You can just say it, it’s easier than explaining it.”
When the same Fox correspondent tried to frame Mamdani as a hypocrite for flying to the meeting from New York instead of taking a train, which is better for the environment, Trump said “I’ll stick up for you” and pointed out that it is much faster to fly and the mayor-elect is busy.
When asked by a reporter whether he would live in New York under Mamdani’s leadership, Trump said “absolutely”. “We agree on a lot more than I would have thought,” Trump said. “I want him to do a great job, and we’ll help them do a great job.”
For his part, Mamdani was relentlessly focused on the issue of making New York a more fair and affordable place to live, refusing to be knocked off course even by questions from the Pizzagate conspiracist Jack Posobiec who falsely accused Mamdani of planning to tax white New Yorkers more than New Yorkers of color.
Trump wished Mamdani success in running the city he called home: “I think he wants to make it greater than ever before, and if he can, we’ll be out there cheering.”
Trump stressed that he admired Mamdani’s political campaign and distanced himself from how own previously vitriolic denunciations of the democratic socialist as a communist. “I think he’s different, and that can be in a very positive way”, Trump said. “He has a chance to do something really great for New York ... we’re going to be helping him”.
Asked by a reporter if he agrees with his Republican ally Elise Stefanik’s characterization of Mamdani as a “jihadist”, Trump dismisses that as campaign rhetoric and says: “I met with a man who’s a very rational person”.
Trump tried hard to attach himself to Mamdani’s focus on affordability. “I congratulated him, and we talked about some things in very strong common like housing and getting housing built, and food and prices,” Trump said. While the president has insisted for months that prices have gone down during his administration, a false claim that is contradicted by government data, his sagging poll numbers make it plain that the public is not buying this big lie. Having previously said that he didn’t want to hear the word “affordability” again, casting is as “a Democratic hoax”, Trump spent much of the appearance with Mamdani stressing that this is one of their shared concerns.

Updated at 10.01pm GMT

9.14pm GMT
Trump dismisses his ally's characterization of Mamdani as 'a jihadist' as campaign rhetoric

Asked by a reporter if he agrees with his Republican ally Elise Stefanik’s characterization of Mamdani as a “jihadist”, Trump dismisses that as campaign rhetoric and says: “No, I don’t… I met with a man who’s a very rational person”.

Updated at 10.16pm GMT

9.10pm GMT

Throughout this spray with the media, after his meeting with Zohran Mamdani, Trump has been exceptionally cordial.
He’s extolled how the mayor-elect “came out of nowhere” and praised his campaign and staff. Trump also defended Mamdani from adversarial lines of questioning, including being pressed by Fox News about why the mayor-elect flew to DC, and whether he believes the president to be a “fascist”. Trump even wished Mamdani success in running the city he called home: “I think he wants to make it greater than ever before, and if he can, we’ll be out there cheering.”

9.04pm GMT
Trump says he 'absolutely' would live in New York under Mamdani

When asked by a reporter whether he would live in New York under Mamdani’s leadership, Donald Trump says “absolutely”, after his meeting with the mayor-elect today.
“We agree on a lot more than I would have thought,” Trump said. “I want him to do a great job, and we’ll help them do a great job.”
Trump added: “I always feel very, very comfortable being in New York, and I think much more so after the meeting.”

8.56pm GMT

When Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich pressed Mamdani further about whether he considers Trump to be a “fascist”, the president offered the mayor-elect an unusual life raft. “That’s OK,” Trump said while tapping Mamdani’s arm. “You can just say it, it’s easier than explaining it.”

Updated at 8.59pm GMT

8.49pm GMT

In an incredibly cordial display, Donald Trump evaded a question from a reporter about the president’s previous threats about sending troops to New York City.
“I think that we have known murderers and known drug dealers and some very bad people,” Trump said. “Actually, maybe more than anything else, [Mamdani] wants to have a safe New York … We can talk about anything you want, if you don’t have safe streets, it’s not going to be a success. So we’re going to work together.”

8.46pm GMT
Mamdani said that meeting with Trump was 'productive' and 'looks forward to working together'

Mamdani said that his meeting with the president was “productive” and “focused on the place of shared admiration and love – which is New York City and the need to deliver affordability to New Yorkers”.
When answering a question from a reporter about his past criticisms of Donald Trump, including calling him a “despot”, Mamdani said that his meeting today “focused not on places of disagreement, which there are many, and also focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers”.
Trump, for his part, made a joke in response: “I’ve been called much worse than a despot. It’s not that insulting.” He added that Mamdani might “change his mind after we get to working together”.

Updated at 8.53pm GMT

8.41pm GMT
Trump says he and Mamdani had a 'great meeting' and congratulates mayor-elect on victory

Donald Trump welcomed the press into the Oval Office after his meeting with Zohran Mamdani, which he characterized as “great”.
“I congratulated him, and we talked about some things in very strong common like housing and getting housing built, and food and prices,” Trump said. “And the price of oil is coming way down, and anything I do is going to be good for New York.”

8.17pm GMT
Mamdani arrives at the White House

Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s mayor-elect, has arrived at the White House. The press pool note that they did not lay eyes on him. A short while ago, the White House communications director, Steven Cheung, teased members of the press waiting outside the West Wing: “Too late guys! Y’all are too slow,” he wrote on social media. However, it appears that Mamdani entered through a different entrance.

7.52pm GMT
House passes symbolic resolution to denounce 'horrors of socialism' ahead of Mamdani meeting at the White House

Earlier today, in a 285-98 vote, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution to denounce the “horrors of socialism”. All Republicans voted for the measure, and they were joined by 86 Democrats. The symbolic vote took place ahead of a White House meeting between Donald Trump and New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
“This is a moral vote against an ideology that has destroyed millions and millions of families,” congresswoman Maria Salazar of Florida said on the House floor today. “Unfortunately, socialism and Marxism crushes the human soul. And it’s not just my community in Miami. It’s the rest of the hemisphere and the rest of the world.”

7.34pm GMT
Top oversight Democrats say former prince's failure to respond to investigation interview 'speaks volumes'

Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, issued a statement alongside another member, congressman Suhas Subramanyam, noting that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s failure to respond to the committee’s request for an interview “speaks volumes”.
“The documents we’ve reviewed, along with public records and Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s testimony, raise serious questions he must answer, yet he continues to hide,” the lawmakers said of the former prince, who was stripped of his royal titles last month. “Our work will move forward with or without him, and we will hold anyone who was involved in these crimes accountable, no matter their wealth, status, or political party. We will get justice for the survivors.”

Updated at 7.53pm GMT

6.44pm GMT

As of now, Donald Trump’s meeting with Zohran Mamdani is still closed to the press. But the president said in an interview with Fox News today that he may invite members of the media (who are covering the White House today) into the Oval Office after the pair finish their sit-down.

6.38pm GMT
Tens of thousands of people detained and deported during government shutdown

My colleagues, Will Craft, Andrew Witherspoon and José Olivares, have dug into the most recent US immigration data, and report that tens of thousands of people in operations nationwide during the federal government shutdown.
In total, ICE arrested and detained approximately 54,000 people and deported approximately 56,000 people during the shutdown.
The arrests have led to a marked increase in the number of people held in immigration jails, with more than 65,000 currently detained nationwide – the highest number of people in immigration detention ever.
While other federal employees were furloughed and without pay and many public services were limited or unavailable, officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) kept up enforcement operations nationwide, in line with the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration agenda. This included detaining thousands of people with no criminal record.

Related: Tens of thousands of people were detained and deported during US government shutdown

6.10pm GMT
Bureau of Labor Statistics says it will not publish October inflation data

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that it would not publish the October consumer price index (CPI) – one of the country’s key reports for inflation data.
“BLS could not collect October 2025 reference period survey data due to a lapse in appropriations. BLS is unable to retroactively collect these data,” a statement on the agency’s website reads. The report was set to be released in November, and would serve as an important barometer for the Federal Reserve as they eye another interest rate cut at the next meeting on 10 December.
BLS said that it will publish the November CPI, as planned, on 18 December 2025.

5.38pm GMT
Trump’s DoJ investigating unfounded claims Venezuela helped steal 2020 election

Federal investigators have been interviewing multiple people who are pushing unfounded claims that Venezuela helped steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump, the Guardian has learned.
Two promoters of the conspiracy theory have repeatedly briefed the US attorney for the district of Puerto Rico, W Stephen Muldrow, and have shared witnesses and documents with officials, according to four sources. Muldrow declined to comment.
In addition to the Puerto Rico talks, people pushing the conspiracy have been interviewed by federal investigators for a federal taskforce in Tampa, which is looking at Venezuelan drug trafficking and money laundering, four sources told the Guardian. The US attorney’s office in Tampa declined to comment.
An investigation of this sort underscores how Trump’s justice department is becoming a major weapon in the president’s efforts to rewrite the history of his 2020 loss – while potentially strengthening the administration’s case for military action against Venezuela.
While there were a variety of conspiracy theories that helped fuel Donald Trump’s 2020 “Stop the Steal” movement – dead voters, stolen, fraudulent or forged ballots, and secret computer servers in Germany – the purported influence of Venezuela was always a central claim. It asserted that electronic voting in the US was secretly controlled by the impoverished regime, both by President Nicolás Maduro and his deceased predecessor Hugo Chavez.

Related: Trump’s DoJ investigating unfounded claims Venezuela helped steal 2020 election

Updated at 5.48pm GMT

5.09pm GMT

Following a phone call with JD Vance, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine would work with the United States and Europe at an adviser level to work towards a peace plan for Russia’s war.
“We agreed to work together with the U.S. and Europe at the level of national security advisors to make the path to peace truly doable,” the Ukrainian president wrote on X after the nearly hour-long call.
“Ukraine has always respected and continues to respect U.S. President Donald Trump’s desire to put an end to the bloodshed, and we view every realistic proposal positively.”
Earlier in an address to the nation, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was facing “one of the most difficult moments in history” after being presented with a 28-point peace plan drafted by the US, which pressured Kyiv to concede territory to Russia, among other things, in order to end the war.
Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians they were facing the pressure of either losing a key partner, the US, or dealing with “an extremely difficult” winter ahead.
Trump said in a radio interview earlier that he thinks Thursday – Thanksgiving - is an appropriate deadline for Ukraine to accept the proposal.

Related: Ukraine risks losing partner or its dignity, warns Zelenskyy, as Trump sets Thanksgiving deadline to accept deal – Europe live

Updated at 5.38pm GMT

4.49pm GMT
'I'm not threatening death, but I think they're in serious trouble': Trump defends comments after accusing Democrats of sedition

Donald Trump defended his comments on social media, where he said a video by six Democratic members of Congress urging service members to “refuse illegal orders”, was “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
In an interview with Fox News earlier today, he said that “I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble”, when asked about his tirade on Truth social.
Trump went on to say that the lawmakers’ behavior would have constituted death in the “old days”.
“Today’s a different world,” Trump added. “It’s a meeker, milder world. But I will say this, I think what they did is really bad.”

Updated at 4.50pm GMT

4.39pm GMT
Trump says he and Mamdani will 'get along fine' ahead of White House meeting

In an interview with Fox News today, Donald Trump said that he will “get along fine” with New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
“We’re looking for the same thing. We want to make New York strong,” Trump said. “There’s such a different philosophy.”
The president also said the he gives “a lot of credit” to Mamdani’s run. “They did a successful run, and we all know that runs are not easy,” he added.

4.30pm GMT

On Capitol Hill, Swalwell served for eight years on the House intelligence committee, including the CIA subcommittee, and was a key Democratic voice on national security and election interference issues. He is also a founding member of the Future Forum caucus, aimed at representing young voters in Congress.
Polling shows the contest lacks a clear frontrunner after the former vice-president Kamala Harris and California senator Alex Padilla declined to run. The former representative Katie Porter led early surveys, but has struggled to shake off concerns about her temperament after she threatened to walk out of a local television interview and after footage surfaced of her berating a staff member. Porter has since apologized for her behavior but reports suggest Democratic strategists are searching for an alternative.
Other Democrats include the former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the former state attorney general and US representative Xavier Becerra and the former state controller Betty Yee. The two most prominent Republicans running for governor are the Riverside county sheriff Chad Bianco and the former David Cameron adviser Steve Hilton. The field could expand further, with developer Rick Caruso reportedly weighing a run.
Earlier this month, a housing official in the Trump administration referred Swalwell to the justice department for a potential federal investigation, based on mortgage and tax fraud allegations that the representative has denied. The official, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, has made similar allegations against several of the president’s perceived political enemies, including California senator Adam Schiff and New York attorney general Letitia James.
Swalwell also faced scrutiny over an alleged relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence operative a decade ago. The House ethics committee later closed its inquiry without findings of wrongdoing, but Republicans continue to use it as a basis of attacks against him.

4.16pm GMT
Congressman Eric Swalwell announces bid for California governor, joining crowded field

Democratic representative Eric Swalwell announced on Thursday that he’s joining the race to be the next governor of California.
“No one will keep Californians safer than I will,” said the seven-term House member, who represents Alameda county, in his new campaign video. “California is the fourth largest economy in the world. So shouldn’t we be a state where you can take your first job, have your first kid, and buy your first home in the same decade?”
Swalwell, who launched a short-lived bid to be the Democratic presidential nominee in the 2020, is joining a crowded race to succeed the term-limited Gavin Newsom to be the Golden state’s next governor. Earlier this week, billionaire Tom Steyer also announced his bid for the job.

Updated at 4.20pm GMT

3.54pm GMT

A short while ago, New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani posted a selfie to X, grinning in a window seat as he flies to Washington DC to meet with Donald Trump.

3.38pm GMT
House oversight committee demands Clintons appear for in-person deposition in Epstein investigation

James Comer, the Republican chair of the House oversight committee, has written to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s lawyer to demand that the former president and former secretary of state appear for an in-person deposition on Capitol Hill to advance the committee’s ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
The committee subpoenaed the Clintons back in August, but their attorneys argued that a written submission would be sufficient as the pair have “little to contribute” to the “legitimate goal” of understanding more about Epstein’s conduct and his affiliations.
Today, Comer rejected that offer, insisting that the Clinton’s legal team admitted that their clients possess “relevant information”, and scheduled an in-person deposition for Bill Clinton on 18 December, and one for Hillary a day later.
“It is precisely the fact President Clinton and Secretary Clinton each maintained relationships with Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell in their personal capacities as private citizens that is of interest to the Committee,” Comer wrote in his letter.

3.19pm GMT

My colleague, Jakub Krupa, is covering the latest out of Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy considers the US-Russia backed plan to end the war.
Jakub reports that in a video address to the nation today, Zelenskyy warned that next week could be “very difficult” for Ukraine with a lot of political pressure coming towards Kyiv as the US hopes to force through its peace proposal.
The Ukrainian leader said that the country was facing “one of the most difficult moments of its history” and a choice “of losing a major partner [in the US] or Ukraine’s dignity”.
Zelenskyy added that he would not betray Ukraine’s national interest, and would seek to work “constructively” with the US to amend the proposed deal, so Russia cannot argue that Kyiv does not want peace.
You can follow the latest developments below.

Related: Ukraine facing choice between losing major partner or its dignity, says Zelenskyy as he considers US plan – Europe live

Updated at 3.20pm GMT

2.59pm GMT
Top House Democrat on oversight committee urges justice department to release Epstein files despite 'bogus' investigation

Robert Garcia, the ranking member on the House oversight committee, has sent a letter to the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, urging the justice department to release the complete trove of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, despite the newly launched investigation into several Democrats’ ties to the late sex offender.
“There is already a concern President Trump will attempt, on dubious legal grounds, to exploit a provision which allows DoJ to withhold information relevant to ongoing investigations,” Garcia wrote.
He added that the subpoena that the oversight committee issued in August “requires” the justice department “to release the complete, un-redacted Epstein files to the Committee, including classified information and material relevant to ongoing investigations, while protecting the identity of survivors and potential victims”.
This comes after Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which passed Congress with near-unanimous consent earlier this week.

Updated at 3.10pm GMT

2.17pm GMT
Trump has assembled least diverse US government this century, study shows

Donald Trump has assembled the least diverse US government of the 21st century, filling the corridors of power with white men at the expense of women and people of colour, research shows.
Nine in 10 individuals confirmed by the Senate in the first 300 days of the second Trump administration were white, according to the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington.
The total percentage of women confirmed was just 16%, the lowest rate among the past four administrations, including during Trump’s first term (23%).
“For the Biden administration at the one-year point it was 50% male, 50% female, and right now in the Trump administration it’s 84% male, 16% female,” Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, director of the initiative on improving inter-branch relations and government, told the Guardian in an interview at Brookings on Wednesday.
“Probably that’s the starkest contrast. But even if you go all the way back to George W Bush in 2001, Trump’s confirmed nominees are whiter and less ethnically diverse and more male than his predecessors going back that far.”
Trump claims to have broad appeal, pointing to vocal groups such as Women for Trump and incremental gains among Latino and Black voters in last year’s presidential election. But his actions as president suggest that diversity as a hiring priority has been explicitly abandoned.
He has overwhelmingly favoured white men in his appointments while firing prominent African Americans such as Gen Charles Q Brown Jr, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, and Carla Hayden, the librarian of Congress. He issued executive orders to curb diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government and is seeking to purge “divisive, race-centered ideology” from Smithsonian Institution museums.

Related: Trump has assembled least diverse US government this century, study shows

Updated at 2.40pm GMT

1.48pm GMT
Schumer calls for extension of Obamacare tax credits as healthcare talks stall on Capitol Hill

As both chambers of Congress prepare to head into Thanksgiving recess, after the government returned to work following a record-breaking shutdown, the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, is reminding lawmakers that there’s been little headway on discussions to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that are set to expire at the end of this year. Democrats were promised a vote on the extension of these subsidies, after a faction of the caucus voted with Republicans to pass a funding bill that didn’t contain any healthcare provisions – arguably the focal point of their negotiations.
“Americans are now about to fall off a healthcare cliff, and Donald Trump doesn’t even have a concept of a plan to fix it,” Schumer said. “We must extend the ACA premium tax credits NOW to lower healthcare costs for the American people.”
On the Hill, there have been alternative proposals to Obamacare subsidies, with the chair of the Senate health committee, Bill Cassidy, suggesting that the credits could be replaced with pre-paid health savings accounts. Some health policy experts have pushed pack, saying that while these would help with out-of-pocket costs, it wouldn’t help those ACA enrollees who can’t afford insurance premiums to begin with.

Updated at 2.22pm GMT

1.07pm GMT

It’s a quiet day for the president in Washington. His only scheduled event is a meeting with the New York mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, at 3pm ET.
At the moment that meeting is closed to the press. We’ll be watching to see if it opens up, and make sure to bring you the latest lines as these two New Yorkers finally come to the table.

Updated at 1.33pm GMT

12.46pm GMT

The Trump administration on Thursday announced new oil and gas drilling off California’s and Florida’s coasts, setting the stage for a political showdown – including with Sunshine state Republicans who have largely opposed petroleum development in the Gulf of Mexico.
This announcement comes as the US petroleum industry, despite contending with low crude prices, has been pushing for an entree to additional offshore drilling areas. The industry’s move for increased access also marks an effort to increase jobs and US energy independence, according to the Associated Press.
The federal government has prohibited offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which extends from Florida shores to portions of Alabama, since 1995. The ban stemmed from worries about potential oil spills.
While California does have some offshore oil development, there have not been new leases in federal waters for nearly 30 years, the AP said.
A proposed schedule for petroleum leasing in federal waters includes up to 34 auctions from 2026 to 2031; these auctions include up to six sales off California’s coastline, 21 off of Alaska’s coastline, and two in the Gulf of Mexico’s eastern portion, Politico said. The sales in Alaska would reportedly include a region that has never had oil drilling.
The move reflects Trump’s dogged efforts to roll back former president Joe Biden’s efforts against global heating. Trump has described climate change as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”, and launched a National Energy Dominance Council to boost domestic energy production, with an emphasis on fossil fuels, AP noted.
Trump has simultaneously thwarted renewable energy development including offshore windfarms. His administration has also axed billions in green energy grants, the AP said.
California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, a Trump foe weighing a presidential run, rejected offshore drilling expansion, calling it “dead on arrival”.
Offshore oil development has faced bipartisan opposition in Florida, where unblemished beaches and sparkling waters underpin the state’s $131bn tourism industry.

Related: White House announces new oil and gas drilling off California and Florida

12.32pm GMT

The Supreme Court is to meet in private Friday with a high-profile issue on its agenda – president Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.
The justices could say as soon as Monday whether they will hear Trump’s appeal of lower court rulings that have uniformly struck down the citizenship restrictions, AP reports. They have not taken effect anywhere in the United States.
If the court steps in now, the case would be argued in the spring, with a definitive ruling expected by early summer.
The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed on the first day of his second term in the White House, is part of his administration’s broad immigration crackdown.
Other actions include immigration enforcement surges in several cities and the first peacetime invocation of the 18th century Alien Enemies Act.

12.13pm GMT

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s top security official denied on Friday he had agreed to a Trump administration peace plan, and European leaders hastily sought a response to a draft that endorses most of Russia’s key wartime demands.
Washington has presented Kyiv with a 28-point plan that would require Kyiv to give up additional territory, scale back the size of its military and forever abandon hope of joining the Nato western military alliance.
Ukraine’s European allies said they had not been consulted over the plan and scheduled an urgent phone call to discuss the situation. Britain and Germany said their leaders would take part. Zelenskyy’s office did not say whether he would join in.
US officials said the plan was drafted after consultations with Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defense council, a close Zelenskyy ally who served as defence minister until July.
“This plan was drawn up immediately following discussions with one of the most senior members of president Zelenskyy’s administration, Rustem Umerov, who agreed to the majority of the plan, after making several modifications, and presented it to president Zelenskyy,” a senior US official said on Thursday.
But Umerov said on Friday he had not discussed the plan’s terms, much less approved them, according to a Reuters report.

11.56am GMT

The White House is preparing for possible turnover in the cabinet after president Donald Trump reaches the one-year mark of his term, potentially shaking up his otherwise stable team of secretaries, CNN reported on Friday, citing multiple people familiar with the discussions.
At least one agency that could see a leadership change is the Department of Homeland Security, CNN reported.
The Department of Energy, led by Chris Wright, a former Colorado fracking executive whose ties with the White House have reportedly frayed in recent months, may also be affected, the report added.

11.39am GMT
Trump to meet New York's Mamdani later today

President Donald Trump will meet with incoming New York mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday, the first in-person talks between political opposites who have clashed over everything from immigration to economic policy.
A democratic socialist and little-known state lawmaker who won New York’s mayoral race earlier this month, Mamdani requested the sit-down with Trump to discuss cost-of-living issues and public safety, Reuters reports.
The Republican president has threatened to strip federal funding from the biggest US city, while the mayor-elect has regularly criticized a range of Trump’s policies, including plans to ramp up federal immigration enforcement efforts in New York, where four in ten people are foreign-born.
The 79-year-old president, a former New York resident, has labeled Mamdani, 34, as a “radical left lunatic,” a communist and “Jew hater,” without offering evidence for those assertions.
Mamdani, who will be sworn in as mayor on 1 January, said at a press conference on Thursday: “Being a New Yorker means that you’re prepared for all situations.”

11.30am GMT
Trump accused of calling for execution of Democratic lawmakers

Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with the news that Donald Trump has been accused of calling for the “execution” of elected Democratic lawmakers following his comments on social media.
The president said the group has engaged in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH” and that they should be arrested after they posted a video in which they told active service members they should refuse illegal orders.
The video, released on Tuesday, features six Democratic lawmakers who have previously served in the military or in intelligence roles – senators Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, and representatives Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, Chrissy Houlahan and Jason Crow.
“Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this constitution,” the lawmakers said in the 90-second video. “And right now, the threats to our constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear, you can refuse illegal orders, you can refuse illegal orders, you must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution.”
That seemed to prompt a furious response from the US president. On Thursday morning, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.”
In another post, he wrote: “This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP??? President DJT.” In a third post, he added: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” He also reposted a statement that said: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
In response, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate minority leader, condemned Trump’s remarks and posted on X: “Let’s be crystal clear: the President of the United States is calling for the execution of elected officials.”
He added: “This is an outright THREAT. Every Senator, every Representative, every American – regardless of party – should condemn this immediately and without qualification.”
Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, defended Trump’s claim that the Democrats had engaged in “sedition”, describing the video as “wildly inappropriate”, adding: “It is very dangerous, you have leading members of Congress telling troops to disobey orders, I think that’s unprecedented in American history.”
Following Trump’s statements on Thursday, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic whip Katherine Clark and Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar released a joint statement condemning the remarks.
“Political violence has no place in America,” they wrote. “Representatives Jason Crow, Chris DeLuzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan and Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin all served our country with tremendous patriotism and distinction. We unequivocally condemn Donald Trump’s disgusting and dangerous death threats against members of Congress, and call on House Republicans to forcefully do the same.”
Read our full story here:

Related: Outrage after Trump accuses Democrats of ‘seditious behavior, punishable by death’

In other developments:

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will negotiate with Donald Trump on a US-backed peace plan that called on Kyiv to make painful concessions in order to end the Kremlin’s invasion of his country. Zelenskyy’s office on Thursday confirmed that he had received the draft peace plan, which was prepared by US and Russian officials, and that he would speak with Trump in the coming days about “existing diplomatic opportunities and the main points that are necessary for peace”.
The Trump administration on Thursday announced new oil and gas drilling off California’s and Florida’s coasts, setting the stage for a political showdown – including with Sunshine state Republicans who have largely opposed petroleum development in the Gulf of Mexico. This announcement comes as the US petroleum industry, despite contending with low crude prices, has been pushing for an entree to additional offshore drilling areas.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website has been changed to reflect the belief of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health and human services secretary, that there is a link between vaccines and autism, a view flatly contradicted by experts and scientifically validated studies. Public health and autism specialists roundly condemned the alteration to the CDC’s “vaccine safety” webpage, after it was changed to read: “The statement ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim.”
US district judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former president Joe Biden, temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying national guard troops to enforce the law in Washington DC without approval from its mayor. Cobb paused her ruling until 11 December to allow the Trump administration to appeal.
The justice department is investigating how two Trump allies handled the investigation into whether California senator, Adam Schiff, committed mortgage fraud, according to a copy of a subpoena obtained by the Guardian and a person familiar with the matter. The office of the deputy attorney general Todd Blanche is overseeing the inquiry, which appears to have developed as an offshoot of the main case into Schiff – a notable development since the justice department is essentially investigating activities of two close allies of the president.

Updated at 12.09pm GMT