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What Happened Today – December 10, 2025

Pay $1 million and Commerce Secretary Lutnick welcomes you to America as one of the “perfect people.” Show up poor and you get fighter jets circling your coast, your tanker seized, 7,000 troops at a militarized border.

The gold card makes it official: there are two Americas now, and wealth is the visa. While Trump sells citizenship to CEOs in a White House roundtable, DHS is buying its own fleet of 737s for deportation flights, months after trying to buy engineless planes from Spirit Airlines. ICE submitted body camera footage to a federal judge weeks ago, then told a watchdog no records exist. The FBI spent years getting France to hand over an alleged Russian smuggler. Now ICE wants to deport her to Belarus, a country with no extradition treaty, where we can never get her back.

The price of citizenship is now listed. Your representatives need to hear from you: this two-tier system is the policy, not the bug. Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

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Today's Quote
Switching to Calibri achieved nothing except the degradation of the department’s official correspondence.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on December 10, 2025 as the U.S. seized a Venezuelan tanker in escalating tensions.
Yesterday's Most Read

Justice Department repeals 50-year-old civil rights rules barring policies that disproportionately harm people of color, skips public comment process.

Today’s GovBrief News


DEI 1 of 16

Rubio orders State Department to switch back to Times New Roman, calling Biden's accessibility-driven Calibri adoption a "degradation" of official correspondence.

Memo with order: "Return to Tradition"

Source: NBC News

December 10, 2025

Economy 2 of 16

Federal Reserve cuts rates for third time this year in divided 9-3 vote, signals just one more cut in 2026 as Trump prepares to replace Powell.

3 dissents for first time in 6 years

Source: CNBC

December 10, 2025

Economy 3 of 16

Powell says federal data may overstate job creation by 60,000 per month, meaning economy could actually be losing 20,000 jobs monthly since April.

Next job reports due next week

Source: The Wall Street Journal

December 10, 2025

Military 4 of 16

US forces seize oil tanker off Venezuela coast one day after fighter jets flew over Gulf, Caracas condemns "piracy" and "blatant theft."

1 million barrel oils daily

Source: France 24

December 10, 2025

Courts 5 of 16

Federal judge blocks DHS rule criminalizing "unusual noise" near federal buildings after activists arrested or threatened for using megaphones on public sidewalks.

Rules took effect same day announced

Source: KGW Portland

December 10, 2025

Courts 6 of 16

Federal judge orders Trump to end National Guard deployment in Los Angeles and return 4,000 troops to Newsom's control, White House vows appeal.

$134 million deployment cost

Source: Fox Los Angeles

December 10, 2025

Courts 7 of 16

Montana judge blocks school voucher program that required families to waive special education rights in exchange for funding that "often would not cover basic needs."

$5,000 to $8,000 per student

Source: ABC Missoula MT

December 10, 2025

Courts 8 of 16

Third federal judge orders release of Epstein records in a week, granting DOJ request to unseal 2019 grand jury materials one day after Maxwell ruling.

Law required release within 30 days

Source: NBC News

December 10, 2025

Immigration 9 of 16

DHS signs contract to buy six Boeing 737s for deportation flights, building its own fleet after failed attempt to purchase engineless planes from Spirit Airlines.

Nearly 600,000 deported this year

Source: UPI

December 10, 2025

Immigration 10 of 16

FBI spent years extraditing woman accused of smuggling aviation tech to Russia, now ICE wants to deport her to Belarus where US cannot get her back.

No extradition treaty with Belarus

Source: The Independent

December 10, 2025

Immigration 11 of 16

ICE tells watchdog it has "no records" of body camera footage from Chicago operation despite submitting video clips to federal judge weeks earlier.

Court ordered cameras in October

Source: The New York Times [gift link]

December 10, 2025

Immigration 12 of 16

Interior Department transfers most of California's border jurisdiction to Navy, extending militarized zones to fourth state as border arrests hit 1960s lows.

Over 7,000 troops now deployed along border

Source: The Associated Press

December 10, 2025

Immigration 13 of 16

Trump officially launches "gold card" program selling path to citizenship for $1 million, with Commerce Secretary promising buyers will be "perfect people."

$2 million if company fees

Source: Spectrum News

December 10, 2025

Congress 14 of 16

House passes defense bill withholding quarter of Hegseth's travel budget until Pentagon releases unedited boat strike videos to Congress.

312-112 bipartisan vote

Source: Politico

December 10, 2025

Congress 15 of 16

Rep. Mace (R-SC) introduces bill to rename former Black Lives Matter Plaza after Charlie Kirk, three months after conservative influencer was killed at Utah college.

BLM lettering removed in March

Source: WUSA Washington

December 10, 2025

Fighting Back 16 of 16

New York Times says it "won't be deterred" from reporting on Trump's health, responds to president calling coverage treasonous with pledge to continue scrutiny.

Oldest person ever elected presidet

Source: Deadline

December 10, 2025