In today’s issue:
- Syrian rebels topple Assad’s regime. Now what?
- Trump hunts for GOP consensus for Hill agenda
- New directions for Democrats
- U.S. sends more aid to Ukraine
The stunning weekend collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria marked a “fundamental act of justice,” President Biden said on Sunday.
The Assad regime’s end came after a 10-day offensive by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels, who made their way quickly across Syria and took large portions of what had been government-held land. Early Sunday, the rebels captured the capital city of Damascus, ending the Assad family’s 50-year rule — mired by 13 years of civil war and dire humanitarian conditions.
Speaking at the White House, Biden on Sunday called the fall of Assad’s “abhorrent” regime a “historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria.”
“We will remain vigilant,” Biden said. “Make no mistake, some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses.”
He added that the groups are “saying the right things now. But as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words, but their actions.”
White House advisers said the U.S. has no intention to intervene in Syria to aid rebels on the ground. But National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Saturday that the speed and scale of their rapid advance came, in part, because Assad’s chief backers — Iran, Russia and Hezbollah — had all been “weakened and distracted,” in recent months.
▪ The New York Times: Who is Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of Syria’s rebel offensive?
▪ The Wall Street Journal: Inside the 11-day blitz that toppled Assad.
▪ The Washington Post: Assad’s fall was swift and unexpected. But the signs were always there.
▪ NBC News: Assad and his family have been granted asylum in Moscow.
Assad’s defeat ended the reign of a leader who used poison gas and barrel bombs to kill thousands of his own citizens, plunging his country into 13 years of civil war, and dealt a blow to Russia and Iran’s territorial ambitions.
What happens now? The rebels today began trying to bring stability to Damascus, taking up positions outside banks and public buildings and directing traffic, as enormous questions loomed over the future of the country. They must now extend control over a country with deep divisions. The militia group that took power has a troubled past, with historic ties to both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Now, governments are watching with wariness as Syria comes under the sway of a group that the U.S. has officially labeled a terrorist organization.
Shortly before the fall of Assad’s regime on Sunday morning, President-elect Trump said the U.S. should not intervene in the rebel takeover unfolding in Damascus. HTS’s capture of the capital carries cascading geopolitical implications. In the waning days of his presidency, Biden is trying to secure his international legacy, and Trump is launching shadow foreign policy ahead of his inauguration.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the U.S. has taken notice of efforts by rebel leaders to moderate their rhetoric and downplay their Islamist roots, adding that “we will assess not just their words, but their actions.”
To work toward stability in Syria, a senior administration official told The Washington Post the White House is leaving open the possibility that Washington would remove Hayat Tahrir al-Sham from the terrorism list in order to engage with it more deeply.
“HTS is, again, saying the right things,” the official said. “So far, doing the right thing, but they are not the only group. And there’s a series of opposition groups that came that reached Damascus from the south, they’re very different.”
▪ The New York Times: As Syrian rebels take charge, freeing prisoners of Assad is a priority.
▪ Politico: The U.S. carried out a major round of airstrikes on ISIS targets on Sunday “to ensure that ISIS does not seek to take advantage of the current situation to reconstitute in central Syria,” according to U.S. Central Command.
▪ The New York Times analysis: With Assad gone, a brutal dictatorship ends. But the new risks are huge.
▪ Axios: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the collapse of Assad’s regime was a “direct result” of Israel’s military campaign against Iran and Hezbollah. The Israeli military subsequently captured territory on the Syrian side of the border in the Golan Heights, and conducted airstrikes targeting chemical weapons caches.
“Meet the Press”: Trump plans to make immediate and sweeping changes after he takes office on Jan. 20, he told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on Friday, including pardons for those convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. In the interview, which aired Sunday, Trump vowed to launch mass deportations and end birthright citizenship once he takes office. Trump added he doesn’t plan to raise the age for government programs like Social Security and Medicare, and will not make cuts to them as part of spending reduction efforts led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
The president-elect also spoke about his plan to impose tariffs on imported goods, conceding he can’t “guarantee American families won’t pay more” as a result of his plan.
“I can’t guarantee anything,” Trump said. “I can’t guarantee tomorrow.”
During the interview, the president-elect would not concede that he lost the 2020 election. Asked how he thinks Democrats stole that election but not the 2024 race, Trump said, “Because I think it was too big to rig.”
▪ NBC News: Trump says he won’t fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
▪ NBC News: Trump says he thinks Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth can be confirmed.
BOB’S SMART TAKE
It is striking to look back and see how Trump has moved the Republican Party on border security.
Trump has been running on border security and a wall specifically for nearly a decade, but that wasn’t a top priority for the party during Trump’s first year in office.
In September of 2017, my colleague and friend Paul Singer, then with USA Today, did an extensive survey that found that less than 25 percent of Republicans in Congress endorsed border wall funding. Back then, Trump listened to Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and for the most part, let them set the agenda.
This time around, Trump is driving the policy bus. He will sign a slew of executive actions on the border next month and has insisted that finishing the wall be at the top of the to-do list.
Republican lawmakers are now fully behind Trump on the border, which motivated millions of voters to the polls on Nov. 5. The GOP plan could divide Democrats, who will be nursing their election wounds for quite some time.
Eight years ago, many Republicans thought Trump got lucky and rolled their eyes at his build-a-wall initiative. Now, they are taking it much more seriously.
3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
▪ Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) last week said he will revive a bill called the Well-Being Insurance for Seniors to be at Home, or WISH, Act, which calls for creation of a federal fund for catastrophic long-term care needs, an emerging national problem among retiring baby boomers. To receive benefits, Americans would need to contribute to the proposed program through a payroll tax.
▪ A secret Pentagon war game decades ago offers a sobering conclusion about the art of nuclear de-escalation in an era in which the global nuclear arsenal is growing: escalation inevitably spirals out of control.
▪Not in good odor: The president-electis marketing an election-victory Trump-branded fragrance with an ad and social media post featuring a photo of first lady Jill Biden seated next to him in Paris on Saturday. Trump calls the limited edition $200 item “Fight, Fight, Fight.”
LEADING THE DAY
© The Associated Press | J. Scott Applewhite
WHAT’S THE PLAN? House and Senate Republicans are searching for consensus about the sequencing and details of enacting a Trump agenda in 2025, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told CNN on Sunday.
“This is a once in a generational opportunity to do a lot of things,” Cornyn said, “and I am not sure everyone is on the same page.” The senator was his party’s whip during Trump’s first term and recently lost out on his bid to be GOP leader in the Senate next year.
While many Senate Republicans argue a narrow border and energy policy bill would help deliver an early win for Trump, many House conservatives worry about squandering momentum for major tax legislation if they don’t make that the top priority in 2025.
“I am worried that everyday Americans will face a tax increase if Congress doesn’t act appropriately,” Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, told CNN. He wants Congress to focus on taxes as a first order of business when Trump is sworn in. “The president campaigned on it. It’s a priority. They should listen to the 76 million Americans who asked for tax relief.”
The Hill: Social Security beneficiaries could face longer wait times for service next year unless Congress agrees to the White House budget office’s request to increase funding for the Social Security Administration.
Trump’s rollout of his nominees, coupled with his transition team’s insufficient vetting of some picks, has created unwanted headaches for Senate Republicans. The president-elect rushed to name loyalists, some of whom immediately met with raised eyebrows among conservatives and negative revelations detailed with documents and sourced accounts in the news media. More careful FBI background checks before making his announcements could have saved Trump lost time, political capital and complications.
“At the end of the day, folks are giving a lot of leeway to the president. … If anyone goes down, it’s up to the president how he handles it,” a Senate GOP aide told The Hill.
More Trump appointees: The president-elect on Sunday said he will nominate Christopher Landau, a former Supreme Court clerk and former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, to be deputy secretary of State. He also announced his intention to appoint Michael Anton, a former aide to former President George W. Bush and to Trump during his first term, to be State Department director of policy planning.
▪ The Hill: Keep your friends (and professional defenders) close: Trump on Sunday announced his intention to appoint as “counselor” to the president a personal legal spokesperson, Alina Habba, whose practice is based in Bedminster, N.J. Trump last week swapped his original choice to be White House counsel, shifting from Bill McGinley to tap David Warrington, his campaign’s general counsel. McGinley instead is to serve as counsel to Trump’s efficiency advisory team led by Musk.
▪ The Hill: Here’s who is in the running to be chairs of influential House committees next year.
▪ The Hill: Trump’s efficiency advisers have found unexpected allies in their push to slash defense spending and tackle federal contracting. “Let’s play ball,” commented one progressive think tank observer.
▪ The Hill: On the other hand, Trump will seek major changes at the watchdog agency advocating for everyday Americans, known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It was created in the aftermath of the 2008 and 2009 financial crisis and was originally the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Big banks are not fans of the bureau but consumer advocates applaud its work.
WHERE AND WHEN
- The House will meet at noon. The Senate meets at 3 p.m.
- The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 10 a.m. Biden will address a summit of tribal nations at the Interior Department at 3:45 p.m. and will announce a Carlisle (Pa.) Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument. He will host a ball for members of Congress in the East Room at 6 p.m., joined by the first lady.
- Vice President Harris will address a tribal nations summit at 1:20 p.m. at the Department of Interior. She will join the president and first lady at the White House this evening for a holiday ball hosted with members of Congress. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will join the vice president.
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken will deliver remarks this afternoon in Washington at a State Department awards ceremony, then speak at a conference of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and finally address guests during a portrait unveiling for former secretary of State and former Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic Party presidential nominee.
ZOOM IN
© The Associated Press | J. Scott Applewhite
STRATEGY SHIFT: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) is on the rise as a Democratic voice calling for a new direction as the party seeks to regroup following stinging election losses. The Hill’s Jared Gans reports Murphy has been among the most prominent figures arguing for a new strategy to expand the party’s tent and for leaders to embrace economic populism to reconnect with voters whom the party has lost.
If followed, Murphy’s advice could result in a different outlook for the Democrats and elevate him as the party seeks the next generation of leaders.
“He brings some things to the table that are a little bit unique. … This is a guy who’s never lost an election, and he won several times when he was not the favorite in places that Democrats typically have not done well,” said Connecticut-based Democratic strategist Roy Occhiogrosso. “That’s something that he brings to the table that I think people will start paying more attention to.”
On the West Coast, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is leading the anti-Trump charge, writes The Hill’s Julia Mueller, positioning himself as a leader of the Democratic resistance as chatter builds about his potential 2028 ambitions.
After the election, Newsom moved quickly to counter the president-elect, declaring the Golden State “ready to fight” and calling a special session of the state legislature to “Trump-proof” progressive policies. The maneuvers attracted Trump’s ire, but doubled down on promises to push back and just proposed a $25 million war chest for anticipated legal battles against the new administration.
Newsom’s latest moves all add fuel to the longstanding speculation that he’s readying for a future White House run.
“He’s been running for president for two years,” said Sacramento-based Democratic strategist Steven Maviglio.
▪ Politico: Democratic governors (and 2028 hopefuls) gathered to chart path under a Trump administration.
▪ The New York Times: Did Trump drain Democrats’ energy? These Virginia races will be the first test.
▪ NBC News: A reformed anti-Trump resistance movement seeks to move forward under his second administration.
▪ The Hill: House Democrats say that they’ll skip the election protests they’ve staged on Jan. 6 in past presidential cycles, four years after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to interrupt the certification of the 2020 election results.
Florida Senate seat: Trump daughter-in-law Lara Trump, 42, said Sunday on Fox News that she’s qualified to fill a vacant Florida Senate seat, if Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is confirmed to be secretary of State, because her last name is Trump, she’s a resident of the Sunshine State and had a role this year as Republican National Committee co-chair.
ELSEWHERE
© The Associated Press | Sarah Meyssonnier, Reuters
UKRAINE: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Saturday that the Pentagon will send nearly $1 billion of additional aid to Ukraine, bringing the total of U.S. aid to Kyiv to more than $62 billion since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.
But beyond that, lawmakers see a slim chance of passing Biden’s request for $24 billion in funding related to Ukraine, as Johnson has called for any new funding to be pushed back until Trump takes office. Pro-Ukraine lawmakers are counting on strong bipartisan support in Congress to help push through the request alongside a stopgap government funding bill as some Trump allies are looking to leverage American assistance to Ukraine to force talks with Russia to negotiate an end to the war.
“Speaker Johnson doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the incoming ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said when asked about the Republican leader’s opposition to Biden’s aid request. “There’s still strong bipartisan support for it.”
Trump, meanwhile, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris on Saturday. The president-elect told NBC News that Russian leader Vladimir Putin should act to reach an immediate ceasefire with Ukraine, describing it as part of his active efforts as president-elect to end the war despite being weeks from taking office.
“Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness,” Trump wrote on social media.
Trump also said he would be open to reducing military aid to Ukraine and pulling the United States out of NATO. Those are two threats that have alarmed Ukraine, NATO allies and many in the U.S. national security community.
NORTH AMERICA: Mexico and Canada are competing for Trump’s favor ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration, each trying to make their case as the more essential North American U.S. ally. But both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum are shadow boxing, pulling back from direct conflict between the two $2 trillion economies inextricably linked to — and forced to negotiate with — the $30 trillion behemoth.
“Talking to Mexicans and Canadians, they each see that they need to get to a position where they can negotiate together with the United States,” said Earl Anthony Wayne, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico and co-chair of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute Advisory Board. “That’s not the position they’re being offered right at the moment, but I think they will try to move in that direction.”
OPINION
■ The winners and losers following the fall of Assad, by Nicholas Kristof, columnist, The New York Times.
■ Democratic attorneys general are itching to challenge Trump’s agenda, by Derick Dailey, opinion contributor, The Hill.
THE CLOSER
© The Associated Press | Dan Rapp, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
And finally … 🥚The oldest known wild bird in the world has laid an egg at the ripe age of about 74, according to U.S. wildlife officials, inspired by nature and possibly a new mate (ahem).
The very mature long-winged seabird named Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge at the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago and recently laid what experts estimate may be her 60th egg.
Wisdom and her longtime mate returned each year to the atoll in the Pacific Ocean to lay and hatch a single annual offspring, but her mate had not been seen for several years and Wisdom began interacting with another male when she returned last week, officials said.
“We are optimistic that the egg will hatch,” Jonathan Plissner, a top wildlife biologist at the refuge, enthused.
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