Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown ahead of the holidays with the House passing a short-term bill hours before a midnight deadline. It was then swiftly passed through the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden. This comes after President-elect Donald Trump excoriated a bipartisan government funding bill Wednesday afternoon, throwing the stopgap measure into the bin. Further chaos ensued Thursday when Republicans brought another version of the bill, made to appease Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, to the House floor where it was rejected by 38 Republicans and the vast majority of the Democratic caucus.
The House Ethics Committee secretly voted earlier this month to release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, NBC News reported. The decision is a reversal from last month, when the 10-member panel voted along party lines not to release the report after Gaetz resigned from Congress after being named Trump's attorney general pick. The report is expected to be made public before the end of the year.
And on Tuesday, House Democrats rejected Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's bid to serve as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. With Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., campaigning by phone on his behalf, Democrats elected Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, who was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer.
In Georgia, a three-judge panel ruled that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office be disqualified from prosecuting the state election interference case against Trump and others, putting the fate of the case in limbo. Trump had argued Willis improperly profited from the hiring of special prosecutor Nathan Wade, with whom she had a romantic relationship. Willis' office filed a notice of intent to appeal the decision.
Also, Luigi Mangione was indicted in New York on first-degree murder and other charges Tuesday in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione was flown from Pennsylvania to Manhattan on Thursday to face federal charges in addition to the state charges.
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