Stay up to date with live coverage of the Trump administration and national politics Tuesday as President Donald Trump travels to Pennsylvania to deliver a speech on the economy.
He is slated to travel to Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, a red-leaning district to make his speech. He’s expected to discuss inflation, taxes and the Federal Reserve’s upcoming meeting. His speech is expected to start at 6:10 p.m. EST.
Meanwhile, KISS rocker Gene Simmons testified before the Senate Tuesday to discuss the American Music Fairness Act.
“Having spent my career in the music and entertainment industry, I understand the vital importance of this issue. The American Music Fairness Act represents sound public policy,” Simmons said in a statement.
Follow live updates on President Trump and national politics for the latest news, analysis and more from Washington:
National Guard Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, who was shot in the DC terror attack the day before Thanksgiving, is making considerable progress, standing up Tuesday for the first time since the shooting, President Trump said.
"Andrew stood up today, and people even can't believe it," he said. "Let's hope it continues."
Still, Wolfe has a long road to recovery ahead of him.
"He didn't speak. He's not ready for that yet," the president said. "I mean, [he] got [shot] in the head, but he got up and, boy, they're so happy. It's amazing."
WASHINGTON — Conservative Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett were uncharacteristically mum during arguments in a blockbuster case revolving around Vice President JD Vance that could upend campaign finance in the midterm elections.
The two justices kept their cards close to the vest when examining a constitutional challenge against limits on coordinated spending between political parties and their preferred candidates, rendering it difficult to glean which way the high court was leaning.
The nine Supreme Court justices. REUTERS
“The coordinated spending limits range from $60,000 to $4 million, depending on the race and location,” Noel Francisco, an attorney for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), argued.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) grilled a radio broadcasting executive for his opposition to the American Music Fairness Act elsewhere in the hearing.
"I would invite you, sir, to come to Nashville with me. Come to Tennessee with me," Blackburn told Henry Hinton, Inner Banks Media president and CEO.
"I'd love to," responded Hinton, who chairs the board for the National Association of Broadcasters.
"And do a roundtable with me, with some of these musicians and entertainers. And I will guarantee you, you will hear quite a different story. This is an issue of fairness. This is an issue of meeting the constitutional prerogative," Blackburn continued.
"You have to compensate creators. They have that right. And sir, broadcast has blocked this. You wouldn't be in business if you didn't have access to spectrum. You wouldn't be in business if the FCC didn't give you a license. You wouldn't be in business if there was not music to play. So this is the fairness issue."
"Mr. Chairman, if you'll indulge me, for Mr. Simmons, not on the bill itself, but my youngest son. His name is Diego. He's ten years old. He has quickly fallen in love — not with the bass, but the electric guitar," Padilla said. "What advice do you have for him?"
"Have a fallback position," Simmons deadpanned, prompting the Senate hearing room to erupt in laughter.
Gene Simmons, a founding member of the rock band Kiss, walks through the US Capitol on Dec. 9, 2025 in Washington, DC. Getty Images
"And I say this seriously," Simmons continued after the attendees quieted down, "because since the advent of downloading and file sharing, where artists are actually getting minuscule amounts, barely able to get by."
Simmons did give the tyke a tip by noting that he saved up money to launch Kiss while working first as a teacher, at a real estate firm and as some sort of assistant to a Puerto Rican government official.
"I was making $23,000 a year when that meant a lot of money. But doing the Jewish way of living with your mother, not paying rent, and so on. So I amassed a large enough amount so that I could support the band. We were forming together without managers and everything else."
Simmons later asked Padilla what kind of music his son liked.
Simmons just took a moment to explain why he says the phrase "God Bless America" with pride.
"People think I say it for a sound bite. I'm the, I'm the proud son of a concentration camp survivor. And, for me, those words mean something, and we should all get over the cornball art ... and realize where we're living," Simmons said.
"I'm the proud son of a concentration camp survivor. And, for me, those words mean something, and we should all get over the cornball art ... and realize where we're living," Simmons said. Getty Images
"I've done very well because America gave a first generation legal immigrant the chance to do well," he added. "And it was not easy. I had to learn the language."
"I had to ... stop talking like this," Simmons also said, dipping into an accent apparently mimicking his Jewish refugee ancestors from Hungary. "Dress British. Think Yiddish. You know what I mean?"
The American music industry has treated its star performers "worse than slaves," Kiss rocker Gene Simmons told US senators in a hearing Tuesday.
"When you work hard and you get to the top, what do you got? Zippo. Rooney. That's not the American way," Simmons said, before urging the lawmakers to back the American Music Fairness Act.
The American music industry has treated its star performers "worse than slaves," Kiss rocker Gene Simmons told US senators in a hearing Tuesday. Getty Images
"You cannot let this injustice continue. It looks like a small issue. There are wars going on and everything, but our emissaries to the world are Elvis and Frank Sinatra. That is who," he added.
"And then when they find out we're not treating our stars right. In other words, worse than slaves," Simmons thundered.
"Slaves get food and water. Elvis and Bing Crosby and Sinatra got nothing for their performance."
Simmons in his opening statement also discussed the relevance of American music, making the case that granting artists rights to their music through new legislation would give them the payments they deserve worldwide.
"I want to talk about why this is called the American music," he said. "Last time I checked, Zimbabwe, it gave the world no music. I can't sing you a French song. ... It's America's music that rules this planet. Elvis, baby, the King."
"It's America's music that rules this planet. Elvis, baby, the King," Simmons said. Getty Images
"Elvis never got a penny for all the times, all the millions of times that his music was played around the world. If you go to Africa, you ain't nothing, buddy. You hear that music? That is our emissary that's bigger and cooler and better than any foreign minister that goes on," he went on.
"American culture spreads with our music, with our pop culture," Simmons added.
KISS frontman Gene Simmons thanked President Trump for his "leadership" on music issues during a Senate hearing Tuesday.
"I was happy to see many of you this Sunday. Where? Kiss our little band, was honored at the Kennedy Center with President Trump," Simmons said in a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property hearing.
"I'm proud to say I first met President Trump years before he got into politics. And I'm happy to remind everyone here in this room that our President Trump signed the Music Modernization Act in 2018. This bill updated copyright protection for the digital era," added the rocker.
"I'm proud to say I first met President Trump years before he got into politics. And I'm happy to remind everyone here in this room that our President Trump signed the Music Modernization Act in 2018," Gene Simmons said. Getty Images
"The world is changing," he went on. "Legislators need to be informed on all of these things because let's face it, you do the work of the people. We elect you, and we hope and we expect you to do the will of the people."
Simmons expressed hope that Republicans and Democrats would come together to rectify "an injustice" in the industry by passing the American Music Fairness Act, which would give songwriters and artists exclusive copyright ownership of their recordings even and provide compensation for radio play.
WASHINGTON — Rep. Nancy Mace let a “minor miscommunication” blow up into a profane “spectacle” when she repeatedly cussed at cops for being late to escort her through a South Carolina airport, an internal investigation has found.
Mace (R-SC), 47, had expected Charleston Airport Police to walk with her to her gate promptly after being dropped off on the morning of Oct. 30 — but flew into a rage when a supervisor who misidentified her car delayed the congresswoman’s meetup with law enforcement, according to the 10-page report.
Rep. Nancy Mace had a problem when flying out of Charleston Airport. REUTERS
The South Carolina gubernatorial hopeful arrived at an unexpected location in a “grey/silver BMW” rather than a “white” one, as the supervisor — who the report said “read the email quickly and pass[ed] on incorrect information unintentionally” — had stated.
President Trump warned in a new interview that Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s “days are numbered” and refused to rule out sending US ground troops to depose the left-wing leader.
The president stressed in the sitdown with Politico released Tuesday that Maduro could not be allowed to stay in power as the administration cracks down on South American drug trafficking, but declined to tip his hand about what the US could or would do to cause regime change.
Trump speaks at a roundtable meeting at the White House on Monday, Dec. 9, 2025. AFP via Getty Images
When reporter and “The Conversation” podcast host Dasha Burns asked how far Trump was willing to go to oust Maduro, the president merely responded, “I don’t want to say that.”
President Trump said in an interview Monday that Ukraine should hold new elections despite its ongoing war with Russia, warning that Kyiv would soon reach a point “where it’s not a democracy anymore.”
“I think it’s time. I think it’s an important time to hold an election,” the president told Politico reporter Dasha Burns. “They’re using war not to hold an election, but, uh, I would think the Ukrainian people would, should have that choice.”
Trump discussed Ukraine in a new interview with POLITICO. Getty Images
Under Ukraine’s constitution, elections cannot be held during period of martial law — which President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed in response to Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Under normal circumstances, the terms of Zelensky and Ukraine’s parliament would have ended in May and August 2024, respectively.
A Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday ordered the release of grand jury records tied to the criminal case of notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell — but warned that the material would not yield “new information of any consequence.”
Federal prosecutors must publish the records — including search warrants and grand jury testimony — because of the law President Trump signed last month compelling the release of all Epstein-related documents, Judge Paul Engelmayer found.
Ghislaine Maxwell's mugshot. Her grand jury records were ordered to be released. The Metropolitan Detention Center
But the judge cautioned that the new records would not reveal any bombshells to members of the public that followed Maxwell’s 2021 trial, where she was convicted of multiple sex crimes for helping Epstein abuse girls as young as 14.
