U.S

Dec. 24 (UPI) — Americans are not in a jolly mood when it comes to spending for the holidays, with a majority saying it’s been difficult to afford things, according to a CBS News/YouGov survey released Wednesday.

The nationally representative sample of 2,267 U.S. adults was interviewed between Dec. 15 and 17, and asked 16 questions about the holidays and the economy in general.

With items costing more now than they did last year, respondents cut down on gifts, entertainment and travel.

When asked about things to buy for the holiday, 58% said it would be difficult, including 17% “very difficult” and 41% “somewhat difficult.” Conversely, 8% said it will be “very easy to afford” and 34% “somewhat easy.”

Regarding prices compared with last year, 27% said they cost “a lot more,” 44% “a little more,” 24% “the same” and 5% “little less” or “lot less.”

People with lower incomes obviously are struggling more.

For family incomes under $50,00, it is “difficult to afford” for 71% versus 56% for $50,000 to $100,000 versus 58% more than $100,000.

Based on the type of gifts, 42% say they are buying fewer gifts for others, 32% less for food and drinks, 48% for airlines/travel and 50% for entertainment. Of those categories, more spending was 5% for airlines/travel, 6% for entertainment, 16% gifts for others, and 17% food and drinks.

Despite financial concerns, the respondents are more positive this holiday season with 48% saying they feel “grateful,” 43% “happy,” 39% “stressed,” 29% “excited,” 29% “exhausted” and 23% “sad.”

People are preferring to avoid paying for things on credit. It breaks down to 45% using no credit, 30% using some, 16% using mostly credit and 9% using all credit.

People were also asked about the economy in general, with 32% saying it is good and 63% bad.

Thirty-two percent of people said their financial situation was good for them, down from 39% in July. Since January is has been in the 30s.

Compared with past years, 41% said it is worse in 2025, 36% not changed and 22% better.

Inflation is on people’s minds with 76% saying their income hasn’t kept up with their income, which is close to 75% in July and 77% in February. The annual inflation rate in the United States is 2.7% ending in November compared with 3.0% in September 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Respondents were negative about the job market with 5% saying it’s “very good,” 29% “fairly good,” 32% “fairly bad,” 20% “very bad” and 14% not sure. The national unemployment rate was 4.6%, released by the U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics, reflecting the labor market status for November.

Among the bright spots, more Americans rate the condition of the stock market as good than bad, especially for those whom the market’s performance matters a lot to their finances. The stock market was listed as 10% “very good,” 32% “fairly good,” 14% “fairly bad,” 6% “very bad” and 38% “not sure.”

Another good sign is gas prices, with 32% saying they are going down compared with 12% in October. Only 20% say fuel prices are going up vs. 34% in October, with 33% saying the are the same vs. 38% two months ago.

The current average is around $2.85 per gallon for unleaded, compared with $3.04 a year ago, according to AAA. The highest average was $5.02 on June 14, 2022.

The sample was weighted to be representative of adults nationwide, according to gender, age, race and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as 2024 presidential vote. The margin of error is 2.5 points.

Dec. 24 (UPI) — A million more files that might pertain to the former Jeffrey Epstein case have been found and will be released in weeks, federal officials announced on Wednesday.

Officials with the office of the U.S. attorney for Southern New York said they found more than a million more records and will review and redact those subject to the Epstein Files Transparency Act and release them.

“We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible,” the Justice Department said in a post on X.

“Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks,” the Justice Department said. “The department will continue to fully comply with federal law and President [Donald] Trump’s direction to release the files.”

The files were located in the Southern District of New York, which is based in New York City, and by the FBI, both of which forwarded them to the Justice Department for processing and eventual release as required by law.

The recently enacted Epstein Files Transparency Act required the Justice Department to release all Epstein-related files after reviewing them and redacting certain types of information, including the identities of victims, child abuse materials and others.

All files were to be released no later than Dec. 19, which is the date that the Justice Department released hundreds of thousands of files, some of which were completely redacted and blacked out.

The Justice Department posted them on its Epstein Library webpage, where all released documents are to be deposited and made available to the general public via a dedicated search engine.

Despite posting hundreds of thousands of files, the department earlier said hundreds of thousands more files also will be released after undergoing review and redactions.

Some lawmakers have accused the Justice Department of violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act by not posting all available files by the deadline.

Officials said they have a large team of attorneys reviewing each file and redacting information as required and will post all additional documents as soon as possible.

The new batch of more than a million files that might be related to the Epstein case will greatly complicate and slow that process.

Epstein was a financier and convicted sex offender who hung himself while jailed in Manhattan in 2019 amid federal charges accusing him of sex trafficking of minors and related offenses.

Dec. 24 (UPI) — Sean “Diddy” Combs’ attorney filed an expedited federal appeal in seeking his immediate appeal from federal prison on the hip-hop mogul’s two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

The appeal was filed Tuesday with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City, seeking an acquittal or vacating his conviction and remand for resentencing.

In the 84-page appeal, attorney Alexandra A.E. Shapiro argued U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian “acted as the 13th juror” and found that Combs “coerced,” “exploited” and “forced” his girlfriends to have sex and led a criminal conspiracy, which “trumped the verdict.

The speedy appeal process was granted last month. The federal governor’s brief is due by Feb. 20 and Comb’s reply is due by March 13.

Combs, 56, is serving a 50-month prison sentence. He is now in a low-security prison in Fort Dix, N.J. He was moved there after being detained in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., since his arrest on Sept. 16, 2024.

On July 2, a jury in Manhattan convicted Combs after two days of deliberations and a six-week trial. He was found not guilty of one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.

Later that day, Subramanian denied his bail request because he said it would be impossible for him to prove he does not pose a danger.

The defense proposed travel restrictions, regular drug testing and a $1 million bond co-signed by himself, his mother, his sister and the mother of his oldest daughter.

Prosecutor Maurene Comey also opposed the request.

“There is serious, serious conduct here that will mandate a lengthy period of incarceration,” Comey said.

He was sentenced on Oct. 5, along with five years of supervised release after his prison term and a maximum fine of $500,000. Comb has an estimated $400 million net worth.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” the judge said. “These letters, all those letters that I saw, show that you have a universe of people who love you. Let them lift you up now, just like you’ve lifted them up for so many years.”

His expected release date is May 25, 2028, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Shapiro wrote prosecutors failed to provide their case and noted girlfriends and third parties were adults who “willingly and enthusiastically” participated in so-called freak-offs, which are days-long, drug-fueled sexual encounters.

And the sentence was illegal because it was “draconian.”

She said the enhanced sentence violates his constitutional rights.

Shapiro also noted her client had already served 16 months of his sentence, which is the average one for what he was convicted of.

“If the court does not overturn Combs’ conviction, it should release him immediately and instruct the district court to resentence him only for the conduct of which he was convicted,” the filing reads.

This case isn’t Combs’ only legal situation with more than 70 civil lawsuits filed. In October, Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee announced he would represent 120 accusers.

The alleged victims include children, teens and adults. There are short-term and long-term romantic partners.

He has denied all of the allegations and claimed that security footage in which Combs is seen beating ex-R&B star Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fin was altered. His ex-girlfriend testified during the trial.

During sentencing, he addressed the court after he submitted a four-page letter to the judge that included an apology to the victims.

Combs apologized to Fin and another ex-girlfriend, identified as “Jane.”

“I want to personally apologize again to Cassie Ventura for any harm or hurt that I caused to her, emotionally or physically. My actions were disgusting, shameful and sick,” Combs said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday, seeking to block nearly $12 million in cuts to the group.

Earlier this month, the federal government “abruptly terminated” grants to the group, the lawsuit says.

The funding supported numerous public health programs, including efforts to prevent sudden unexpected infant death, strengthen pediatric care in rural communities and support teens facing substance use and mental health challenges.

“AAP does not have other sources of grant funding to replace the federal awards, and without the necessary funds it must immediately terminate its work on its dozens of programs that save children’s lives every day,” says the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “Within a few weeks, AAP will have to begin laying off employees dedicated to this critically important work.”

The suit alleges Health and Human Services made the cuts in retaliation for the doctors’ group speaking out against the Trump administration’s positions and actions.

The doctors’ group has been vocal about its support for pediatric vaccines and has publicly opposed the agency’s positions. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who helped lead the anti-vaccine movement for years — is seeking to broadly remake federal policies on vaccines. Earlier this year, the pediatrics group released its own recommendations on COVID-19 vaccines, which substantially diverged from the government’s recommendations.

The group also supports access to gender-affirming care and has publicly criticized Health and Human Services positions on the topic, saying it opposes what it calls the government’s infringements on the doctor-patient relationship.

“The Department of Health and Human Services is using federal funding as a political weapon to punish protected speech, trying to silence one of the nation’s most trusted voices for children’s well-being by cutting off critical public health funding in retaliation for speaking the truth,” Skye Perryman, president and chief executive officer of Democracy Forward, said in a statement. Perryman’s organization is representing the doctors’ group in the case.

A spokesman for Health and Human Services could not immediately be reached for comment.

Mark Del Monte, CEO and executive vice president of the 67,000-member doctors’ group, said the organization depends on its relationship with the federal government.

“We need this partnership to advance policies that prioritize children’s health. These vital child health programs fund services like hearing screenings for newborns and safe sleep campaigns to prevent sudden unexpected infant death,” he said in a statement. “We are forced to take legal action today so that these programs can continue to make communities safer and healthier.” 

Ungar writes for the Associated Press.

Dec. 24 (UPI) — Special counsel Jack Smith is requesting that the full video of his deposition before the House Judiciary Committee on his investigations into President Donald Trump be released to the public.

Smith’s attorneys sent a letter to committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Thursday asking that his closed-door deposition be released. During the deposition, Smith defended his decision to file charges against Trump for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election.

“Mr. Smith respectfully requests the prompt public release of the full videotape of his deposition. Doing so will ensure that the American people can hear the facts directly from Mr. Smith, rather than through second-hand accounts,” wrote Lanny A. Breuer and Peter Koski, Smith’s lawyers, in the letter.

“We also reiterate our request for an open and public hearing. During the investigation of President Trump, Mr. Smith steadfastly followed Justice Department policies, observed all legal requirements, and took actions based on the facts and the law. He stands by his decisions,” the letter said.

“I was there. There is no reason not to release the video and transcript,” Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said in reply to a CBS News reporter’s post about the letter on X, The Hill reported. “If @Jim_Jordan refused Jack Smith’s request for a public hearing – like every other Special Counsel – because he allegedly wanted to avoid the 5-minute rule, he got that.”

Jordan has said he had not ruled out public testimony.

Smith’s opening remarks were published by The Hill.

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power,” Smith said.

“Our investigation also developed powerful evidence that showed President Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in January 2021, storing them at his social club, including in a bathroom and a ballroom where events and gatherings took place.

“He then repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his continued retention of those documents,” he said.

Smith said during his testimony that he’d do it again with the same facts.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., told The Hill on the day of Smith’s testimony that he wouldn’t be against public testimony.

“I do think that we’re dealing with unprecedented events here, so it’s entirely appropriate. And I think people on both sides, maybe for different reasons, think that what happened here bears scrutiny,” Kiley said.

Dec. 24 (UPI) — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Tesla Model 3 sedans, which might have a deadly flaw in the emergency door release mechanism.

The NHTSA investigation covers about 180,000 Model 3 sedans and is in reaction to recent media reports and a defect petition that suggest the occupants of the Tesla sedans and first responders had trouble using the emergency door release mechanisms after a crash, Electrek reported.

The NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation’s probe into the matter applies to the 2022 model year Tesla Model 3 sedans and their electronic door handles.

“The petition cites that the mechanical door release is hidden, unlabeled and not intuitive to locate during an emergency,” the ODI said.

The problem might have contributed to several deaths in fatal crashes, according to media reports.

The front manual emergency door release latch is located ahead of the window switches, which many passengers accidentally pull instead of using the door-opening button, which could damage the door window.

The rear doors are more complicated to open, which makes it important for Model 3 owners to learn how to use the emergency door mechanisms and to explain how to their passengers.

Instructions are included in the owner’s manual. A Tesla dealership can show owners how to use the mechanisms and afterward show their passengers how to use them in an emergency and to prevent damaging windows via accidental deployments.

Those who are unsure of whether their Tesla Model 3 sedan is subject to the investigation can do a search on the NHTSA recall page by entering their respective state and license plate number or the vehicle identification number or year, make and model.

The results will reveal if the vehicle is subject to a recall in this matter or any other.

Dec. 24 (UPI) — Three days following a massive San Francisco blackout that disrupted its driverless operations, Waymo said it will upgrade its fleet to better handle future power outages.

Saturday’s outage, which was sparked by a substation fire that damaged local infrastructure, left about 130,000 customers without power at its peak and 21,000 still offline by Sunday, according to Pacific Gas and Electric.

“We’ve always focused on developing the Waymo Driver for the world as it is, including when infrastructure fails,” the company said Tuesday.

Traffic gridlock followed as lights went dark with videos showing Waymo cars stalled across the city.

“We directed our fleet to pull over and park appropriately so we could return vehicles to our depots in waves,” Waymo wrote. “This ensured we did not further add to the congestion or obstruct emergency vehicles during the peak of the recovery effort.”

The Alphabet-owned company said it will take three immediate steps.

According to Waymo, it will update its vehicles to recognize regional outages, strengthen emergency response protocol and expand training and coordination with local first responders and city officials.

“Backed by 100M+ miles of fully autonomous driving experience and a record of improving road safety, we are undaunted by the opportunity to challenge the status quo of our roads, and we’re proud to continue serving San Franciscan residents and visitors,” Waymo officials continued in Tuesday’s blog.

Waymo operates ride-hailing services in San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

It recently surpassed 450,000 weekly rides and expects to exceed 20 million total trips by year’s end.

“In San Francisco, we’ll continue to coordinate with Mayor [Daniel] Lurie’s team to identify areas of greater collaboration in our existing emergency preparedness plans,” the company stated.

Dec. 24 (UPI) — President Donald Trump’s newly tapped special envoy to Greenland, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, has denied suggestions the United States is “trying to conquer” the island, which belongs to Denmark.

Landry made the remarks Tuesday during an appearance on Fox News’ The Will Cain Show.

He said the United States wants an open dialogue with the people of Greenland, which is self-governing, to understand what they want.

“What are they looking for?” Landry said. “What opportunities have they not gotten? Why haven’t they gotten the protection that they actually deserve.”

He added that the United States “has always been a welcoming party.”

“We don’t go in there trying to conquer anybody and trying to … take over anybody’s country,” Landry added. “We say, ‘Listen, we represent liberty, we represent economic strength, we represent protection.'”

Trump named Landry his special envoy to Greenland on Monday, sparking concern from the Danish foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who summoned the U.S. ambassador in response. Rasmussen said the appointment showed that the United States has not given up on Trump’s idea of trying to buy Greenland from Denmark.

“We insist that everyone, including the U.S., must show respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Rasmussen said.

Greenland is a territory of Denmark, but controls its own government. Trump has discussed the possibility of annexing the island nation, saying the United States needs it for national and world security.

“I think we’re going to get it, one way or another,” Trump said in a televised speech in March.

Trump announced his appointment of Landry as special envoy in a post on Truth Social on Monday.

“Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our national security and will strongly advance our country’s interests for the safety, security and survival of our allies and, indeed, the world. Congratulations Jeff!” Trump posted.

BRUSSELS — The European Union’s executive arm on Wednesday warned that it would take action against any “unjustified measures” after the U.S. State Department barred five Europeans it accuses of pressuring U.S. technology firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints.

The Europeans were characterized by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “radical” activists and “weaponized” nongovernmental organizations. They include the former EU commissioner responsible for supervising social media rules, Thierry Breton.

Breton, a businessman and former French finance minister, clashed last year on social media with tech billionaire Elon Musk over broadcasting an online interview with Donald Trump in the months leading up to the U.S. election.

The European Commission, the EU’s powerful executive branch and which supervises tech regulation in Europe, said that it “strongly condemns the U.S. decision to impose travel restrictions” and that it has requested clarification about the move. French President Emmanuel Macron also condemned it.

“If needed, we will respond swiftly and decisively to defend our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures,” the commission said in a statement, without elaborating.

Rubio wrote in an X post on Tuesday that “for far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose.”

“The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship,” he posted.

The European Commission countered that “the EU is an open, rules-based single market, with the sovereign right to regulate economic activity in line with our democratic values and international commitments.”

“Our digital rules ensure a safe, fair, and level playing field for all companies, applied fairly and without discrimination,” it said.

Macron said that the visa restrictions “amount to intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty,” he posted on X.

Macron said that the EU’s digital rules were adopted by “a democratic and sovereign process” involving all member countries and the European Parliament. He said that the rules “ensure fair competition among platforms, without targeting any third country.”

He underlined that “the rules governing the European Union’s digital space are not meant to be determined outside Europe.”

Breton and the group of Europeans fell afoul of a new visa policy announced in May to restrict the entry of foreigners deemed responsible for censorship of protected speech in the United States.

The four others are: Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate; Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, leaders of HateAid, a German organization; and Clare Melford, who runs the Global Disinformation Index.

Rubio said the five had advanced foreign government censorship campaigns against Americans and U.S. companies, which he said created “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the United States.

The action to bar them from the U.S. is part of a Trump administration campaign against foreign influence over online speech, using immigration law rather than platform regulations or penalties.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Sarah Rogers, the U.S. under secretary of state for public diplomacy, called Breton the “mastermind” behind the EU’s Digital Services Act, which imposes a set of strict requirements designed to keep internet users safe online. This includes flagging harmful or illegal content like hate speech.

Breton responded on X by noting that all 27 EU member countries voted for the Digital Services Act in 2022. “To our American friends: ‘Censorship isn’t where you think it is,’” he wrote.

Cook writes for the Associated Press. AP journalist Angela Charlton contributed to this report from Paris.

Dec. 24 (UPI) — The United States imposed travel bans on former European Union technology commissioner Thierry Breton and four other campaigners against online hate and disinformation, alleging they had forced U.S. social media platforms to limit Americans’ first amendment rights.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Tuesday that the five had “led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize and suppress” the views of Americans with whom they disagreed.

“These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states — in each case targeting American speakers and American companies,” added Rubio who described the five as “agents of the global censorship-industrial complex.”

Beton was singled out by U.S. Under Secretary of State Sarah Rogers as the “mastermind” of European laws that require social media that operate in the 27-country bloc to adhere to content moderation and other standards to protect users, and children in particular, from harm.

That affects the big U.S. tech players, including Google and Meta, by requiring stricter monitoring of content or face fines up to 1% of global annual turnover.

Rogers named the others banned from entering the United States as Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of Berlin-based non-profit HateAid, Clare Melford, co-founder of the London-headquartered Global Disinformation Index, and Briton, Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

Breton, who served as the commissioner for the EU’s internal market from 2019 to 2024, likened the move to McCarthyism in the late 1940s and early 1950s and pointed out that the Digital Services Act was voted into law by 90% of MEPs.

“To our American friends: ‘Censorship isn’t where you think it is,” he said.

Brussels condemned the visa bans, saying Wednesday that freedom of expression was a core value that Europe shared in common with United States, but that the EU had sovereignty in regulating economic activity and that its digital laws were fairly applied without prejudice.

The visa bans also came under strong criticism from French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who said that safeguards on Europe’s digital space, which had been adopted by democratic means in Europe, could not be dictated from the outside.

He insisted the legislation contained no extraterritorial provisions and therefore had no impact on the United States.

The dispute dates back to an August 2024 warning Breton issued to Elon Musk that an interview with then presidential candidate Donald Trump that he planned to stream on his X platform must not breach the Digital Services Act.

According to Rogers, Breton’s letter contained a sinister recap of X’s legal duties under the DSA and referenced ‘formal proceedings’ for alleged ‘illegal content’ and ‘disinformation.'”

If it began to sound a lot like Christmas earlier than usual this year, it wasn’t your imagination.

Halloween wasn’t even over before Spotify users began curating songs about mistletoe, snow and presents under the tree.

Holiday playlists created on Spotify in the U.S. jumped 60% in October over last year, the Swedish audio company said. Some Spotify users started crafting holiday playlists as early as summer.

“It’s a combination of wanting to feel good and nostalgia, and these are testing times,” said Talia Kraines, editorial lead for pop at Spotify. “Somehow Christmas music brings comfort and I think that’s a real part of it.”

Indeed, eight of the top 10 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for the week that ended Saturday were Christmas songs, with the top five being familiar holiday classics, including Mariah Carey’s 1994 hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Brenda Lee’s 1958 recording of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” released in 1984.

On-demand streams for holiday music in the U.S. increased 27% to 8.3 billion this year, compared to a year ago, according to L.A.-based data firm Luminate.

The popularity of music streaming has helped to fuel a surge in users seeking out more holiday music, and earlier in the year.

The change has been driven by technology. In the pre-streaming era, consumers would play Christmas music through CDs and, records or catch tunes on the radio during the winter months.

But the rise of Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services opened the floodgates by offering large libraries of songs on demand.

The new platforms created and marketed holiday playlists, making it easier for consumers to discover seasonal songs and add new ones to their own song collections.

“You used to have a bunch of Christmas albums around and rotate them through as you’re decorating the house or wrapping the presents,” said Dave Bakula, vice president of analytics and data insights at Iconic Artists Group. “The availability of all the music, all the time is such an incredible gift that streaming services have given us.”

For musicians and record labels, holiday music also has taken on growing importance.

Vince Szydlowski, executive vice president of commerce at Universal Music Enterprises, the centralized global catalog division of Universal Music Group, said he starts planning the year’s campaign for holiday music in January.

“For UMG and many of the artists that you associate with holiday music, it will be the most important time of the year, without a doubt,” Szydlowski said. “In some cases, especially with certain legendary artists, it could make or break their year.”

Artist Brenda Lee performs at the “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” concert at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville in 2015.

(Laura Roberts / Invision / AP)

One campaign Universal Music Enterprises worked on was promoting Elton John’s 1973 holiday song “Step into Christmas.” The song was featured in Amazon Prime Video’s holiday movie “Oh. What. Fun,” starring Michelle Pfeiffer.

John posted viral social media videos with the song playing in the background that drew more than 100 million views.

Those efforts helped boost the track’s consumption by 44% this year compared to last year, according to Universal Music Group, citing data from Luminate.

“It’s a very comprehensive campaign in which to continue to boost that track visibility among the holiday perennials,” Szydlowski said.

Many of the popular Christmas songs in the U.S. date back decades, making it challenging for new, original holiday songs to break through.

Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has been the longest-running number one song in Billboard Hot 100 history at 21 weeks, according to Billboard.

The holidays are an important time for older artists like Brenda Lee, whose rendition of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” remains a winter hit.

In November 2023, Lee’s version of the song topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for the first time, 65 years after the song’s debut, making Lee, then 79, the oldest woman to top the Hot 100, according to UMG.

Then there are artists like the late Nat King Cole, known for hits like the holiday classic “The Christmas Song,” and Dean Martin, who died in 1995 and whose rendition of “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” is especially popular during winter months.

Nat King Cole in 1963. “The Christmas Song” became one of his enduring hits.

(Capitol Records Archives)

Another source of appeal for Christmas music is that it‘s timeless.

It isn’t really affected by trends and the songs highlight themes like love, hope, joy and family that remind us of our friends, family and past Christmases, said Jimmy Edwards, president of Iconic Artists Group.

“It’s the one music that you can share it together from any age. As Nat would say, from one to 92, right?” Edwards said, referencing a lyric from Cole’s “The Christmas Song.” “Those emotional bonds you have with that music stay with you forever … It promotes the best of us and all the good things. That’s why people love it so much.”

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Dec. 23 (UPI) — A judge in Oregon ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration cannot require states to account for how deportations have affected their populations in order to receive emergency or disaster preparedness funds.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Amy Potter’s ruling came in response to a lawsuit from 11 states challenging new requirements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which they argued created undue burdens on access to hundreds of millions of dollars that could be used to prepare for floods, storms, acts of terrorism and other potential catastrophes.

The ruling is a setback for President Donald Trump as he has sought to remake the federal agency that is central to responding to disasters after earlier calling for it to be dissolved.

The ruling concerned a new FEMA policy that shortened the duration of grants to states from three years to one. The agency argued that the shorter period would allow it to better gauge the effectiveness of how states were using the money.

FEMA also required states to provide updated figures on their populations to reflect the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation efforts. Population counts have traditionally been the responsibility of the U.S. Census Bureau.

A group of 11 states – including Michigan, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Kentucky – sued in response to the new requirements.

They argued that the requirements violated the Administrative Procedures Act and imperiled funding used for outreach programs in Hawaii, the deployment of emergency management personnel in North Carolina during tropical storms and staff to respond to flash floods in Maryland.

“This abrupt change in policy is particularly harmful to local emergency management,” wrote Potter.

In Oregon, affected funds were used to help cover the expenses of local emergency managers across the state, she wrote.

Dec. 23 (UPI) — An explosion Tuesday afternoon at a nursing home in eastern Pennsylvania killed at least two and left many injured and missing, local officials said.

The explosion took place at 2:15 p.m. EST at the Silver Lake Nursing Home in the borough of Bristol. It originated in the nursing home’s basement and caused a fire and part of the building to collapse, a Bucks County spokesperson told NBC News.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro traveled to the nursing home’s location and told media a gas leak is suspected of causing the deadly explosion and fire.

Shapiro commended the actions of police, firefighters and other first-responders to help others and minimize potential casualties.

The nursing home has 174 beds, most of which were occupied, and a worker told WCAU that about 50 people usually are inside the building.

The nursing home is located about 20 miles south of Philadelphia, and most of its residents are between ages 50 and 95.

The explosion shook nearby buildings and caused a response from fire departments and first responders in Pennsylvania’s Montgomery, Bucks and Philadelphia Counties, plus another from Burlington County in New Jersey.

This is a developing story.

Dec. 23 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of Education has signaled that next year it will resume garnishing wages of people who’ve defaulted on their student loans.

The change, reported by multiple news outlets, comes after a years-long respite on garnishment that began as a pandemic-era economic relief measure. The resumption follows other Trump administration efforts to recoup past-due student loan debt.

The department intends to notify about 1,000 borrowers who have defaulted on their debt that it will begin seizing parts of their paychecks, The Washington Post reported Monday. The initial notices will go out the week of Jan. 7, with more going out to borrowers each month, according to the paper.

Roughly 5.3 million borrowers have not made student loan payments, with many having fallen behind before the federal government stopped collecting on defaulted loans nearly six years ago, the Post reported.

A borrower is considered to be in default on their loan when they have not made a payment for more than 270 days. Up to 15% of their pay can be garnished as a result.

After returning to power earlier this year, the Trump administration has sought to undo Biden-era policies meant to ease the burden of student loans on borrowers. The department announced in April that it would again require defaulted borrowers to make payments on their loans and has sought to tighten rules for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

The Trump administration has defended its approach, saying it’s holding irresponsible borrowers accountable for loans that have cost taxpayers billions.

However, the Student Borrower Protection Center criticized the department for resuming garnishments, saying the measure is used without oversight and has been used to unjustifiably seize wages from hundreds of millions during the pandemic.

“At a time when families across the country are struggling with stagnant wages and an affordability crisis, this administration’s decision to garnish wages from defaulted student loan borrowers is cruel, unnecessary, and irresponsible,” Persis Yu, the group’s deputy executive director and managing counsel, said in a statement. “As millions of borrowers sit on the precipice of default, this administration is using its self-inflicted limited resources to seize borrowers’ wages instead of defending borrowers’ right to affordable payments.”

Dec. 23 (UPI) — A Delaware state trooper and a shooting suspect are dead after an incident occurred before 2 p.m. EST at a Division of Motor Vehicles office in New Castle, Del.

Neither the deceased officer’s name nor the suspect’s name were released as law enforcement investigated the matter, USA Today reported.

No information has been provided about potential injuries to others, but local police are assessing them.

Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer confirmed the shooting and said there was no active threat against the public in a post on X.

“Law enforcement acted swiftly to secure the scene, and the shooter has been confirmed deceased,” Meyer said. “State and local law enforcement are on the scene and coordinating response efforts.”

He asked the public to avoid the area and said updates would be released when available.

Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings sent “senior prosecutors” to the scene to help with the investigation, WDEL reported.

No information was initially provided regarding the shooting’s circumstances, and all Delaware DMV offices were closed for the day as of 3 p.m.

Hessler Boulevard and Route 13 were closed in the area near the New Castle DMV location.

New Castle is about 6 miles south of Wilmington, Del.

Former Nebraska U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, a conservative who rebuked political tribalism and stood out as a longtime critic of President Trump, announced Tuesday he was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Sasse, 53, made the announcement on social media, saying he learned of the disease last week and is “now marching to the beat of a faster drummer.”

“This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase,” Sasse wrote. “Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.”

Sasse was first elected to the Senate in 2014. He comfortably won reelection in 2020 after fending off a pro-Trump primary challenger. Sasse drew the ire of GOP activists for his vocal criticism of Trump’s character and policies, including questioning his moral values and saying he cozied up to adversarial foreign leaders.

Sasse was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict the former president of “ incitement of insurrection ” after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. After threats of a public censure back home, he extended his critique to party loyalists who blindly worship one man and rejected him for his refusal to bend the knee.

He resigned from the Senate in 2023 to serve as the 13th president of the University of Florida after a contentious approval process. He left that post the following year after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy.

Sasse, who has degrees from Harvard, St. John’s College and Yale, worked as an assistant secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush. He served as president of Midland University, a small Christian university in eastern Nebraska, before he ran for the Senate.

Sasse and his wife have three children.

“I’m not going down without a fight. One sub-part of God’s grace is found in the jawdropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more,” Sasse wrote. “Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived.”

Dec. 23 (UPI) — U.S. consumers showed steady confidence this holiday season, with retail spending up 4.2% from last year, according to preliminary data via Visa released Tuesday.

Despite ongoing economic challenges, shoppers continued to buy especially tech and personal items. The analysis — based on Visa payments data from Nov. 1 over a seven‑week period — excluded auto, gas and restaurant categories and wasn’t adjusted for inflation.

Michael Brown, principal U.S. economist at Visa, said the “underlying surprise” was that U.S. consumer spending “is holding up reasonably well in light of softer consumer confidence than we had this time last year and a number of headwinds and concerns about inflation.”

In-store purchases made up 73% of total spending, though online sales rose by 7.8% and were the main source of growth fueled by convenience and early holiday deals.

Brown said the 2025 holiday season signaled a clear change in shopping habits, driven in part by artificial intelligence reshaping how consumers discover products and compare prices.

“We are seeing consumers use AI in a big way in comparison shopping and then helping to narrow down that perfect gift,” Brown told CNBC.

Electronics saw the strongest gains, with sales up 5.8%, driven by demand for newer, high-powered devices linked to the AI boom.

Apparel and other accessories rose 5.3% and general merchandise retailers offering one-stop shopping recorded a 3.7% increase.

But home-focused categories lagged. Spending on building materials and garden supplies slipped 1% and furniture and home furnishings were nearly flat edging up just 0.8%.

Although overall retail growth appears solid, the figures are not adjusted for inflation, meaning actual inflation‑adjusted gains were likely smaller once Consumer Price Index data was fully factored in.

Meanwhile, a recent survey found that 41% of Americans intended to cut back on holiday spending this year, which was up six points from 2024.

“This is the first holiday shopping season where roughly half of the consumers in that survey responded that they are going to leverage AI for one of those two tasks,” Brown added.

Dec. 23 (UPI) — The Department of Justice Tuesday released a third cache of files from the Jeffrey Epstein case, including flight logs that show President Donald Trump flew on Epstein’s plane more than has been reported.

The logs show Trump flew on Epstein’s plane at least eight times in the 1990s. One of those flights included an unnamed 20-year old woman.

The documents are released to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which became law on Nov. 19, though the Justice Department didn’t release all the files on time.

Epstein was an American billionaire financier who was a convicted sex offender. He died by suicide in jail while awaiting trial.

The information about the flights comes from an email sent in January 2020 from a New York federal prosecutor to an unnamed person. The email doesn’t accuse Trump of any wrongdoing.

“For your situational awareness, wanted to let you know that the flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware), including during the period we would expect to charge in a [Ghislaine] Maxwell case,” the email said.

Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice, is serving time for sex trafficking.

It said Trump “is listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four flights on which Maxwell was also present. He is listed as having traveled with, among others and at various times, Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Eric,” it said.

“On one flight in 1993, he and Epstein are the only two listed passengers; on another, the only three passengers are Epstein, Trump, and then-20-year-old [redacted]. On two other flights, two of the passengers, respectively, were women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case.”

The Justice Department said there were multiple references to Trump in the latest release. It called some of the mentions “untrue and sensationalist claims.”

“The Department of Justice has officially released nearly 30,000 more pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already,” the department said on X.

“Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims.”

WASHINGTON — President Trump has announced a bold plan for the Navy to build a new, large warship that he is calling a “battleship” as part of a larger vision to create a “Golden Fleet.”

“They’ll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,” Trump claimed during the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

According to Trump, the ship, the first of which will be named the USS Defiant, will be longer and larger than the World War II-era Iowa-class battleships and will be armed with hypersonic missiles, nuclear cruise missiles, rail guns, and high-powered lasers — all technologies that are in various stages of development by the Navy.

The announcement comes just a month after the Navy scrapped its plans to build a new, small warship, citing growing delays and cost overruns, deciding instead to go with a modified version of a Coast Guard cutter that was being produced until recently. The sea service has also failed to build its other newly designed ships, like the new Ford-class aircraft carrier and Columbia-class submarines, on time and on budget.

Meanwhile, the Navy has struggled to field some of the technologies Trump says will be aboard the new ship.

The Navy spent hundreds of millions of dollars and more than 15 years trying to field a railgun aboard a ship before finally abandoning the effort in 2021.

Laser technology has seen more success in making its way onto Navy ships in recent years, but its employment is still limited. One system that is designed to blind or disable drone sensors is now aboard eight destroyers after spending eight years in development.

Developing nuclear cruise missile capabilities or deploying them on ships may also violate non-proliferation treaties that the U.S. has signed with Russia.

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing plans, told the Associated Press that design efforts are now underway for the new ship and construction is planned to begin in the early 2030s.

Both Trump and Navy Secretary John Phelan spoke about the new Trump-class warship as a spiritual successor to the battleships of the 20th century, but historically that term has referred to a very specific type of ship — a large, heavily armored vessel armed with massive guns designed to bombard other ships or targets ashore.

This type of ship was at the height of prominence during World War II, and the largest of the U.S. battleships, the Iowa-class, were roughly 60,000 tons. But after World War II, the battleship’s role in modern fleets diminished rapidly in favor of aircraft carriers and long-range missiles. The U.S. Navy did modernize four Iowa-class battleships in the 1980s by adding cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles, along with modern radars, but by the 1990s all four were decommissioned.

According to a newly created website for the “Golden Fleet,” this new “guided missile battleship” is set to be roughly the same size as Iowa-class battleships but only weigh about half as much, around 35,000 tons, and have far smaller crews — between 650 and 850 sailors.

Its primary weapons will also be missiles, not large naval guns.

Trump has long held strong opinions on specific aspects of the Navy’s fleet, sometimes with a view toward keeping older technology instead of modernizing.

During his first term, he unsuccessfully called for the return to steam-powered catapults to launch jets from the Navy’s newest aircraft carriers instead of the more modern electromagnetic system.

He has also complained to Phelan about the look of the Navy’s destroyers and decried Navy ships being covered in rust.

Phelan told senators at his confirmation hearing that Trump “has texted me numerous times very late at night, sometimes after one (o’clock) in the morning” about “rusty ships or ships in a yard, asking me what am I doing about it.”

On a visit to a shipyard that was working on the now-canceled Constellation-class frigate in 2020, Trump said he personally changed the design of the ship.

“I looked at it, I said, ‘That’s a terrible-looking ship, let’s make it beautiful,’” Trump said at the time.

He said Monday he will have a direct role in designing this new warship as well.

“The U.S. Navy will lead the design of these ships along with me, because I’m a very aesthetic person,” Trump said.

Phelan said the new USS Defiant “will inspire awe and reverence for the American flag whenever it pulls into a foreign port.”

Toropin and Madhani write for the Associated Press.

Dec. 23 (UPI) — The federal government is suing Washington, D.C., to ease its gun-ownership laws, which are the strictest in the nation.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed the suit Monday in federal court seeking to declare the laws unconstitutional and prevent the District from enforcing them. The laws ban most semiautomatic rifles and other firearms from being registered with the police department. This makes any possession of those guns illegal. AK-47s and AR-15s are among those that are illegal. Those owning those guns can face misdemeanor charges and fines.

The action “underscores our ironclad commitment to protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “Washington, D.C.’s ban on some of America’s most popular firearms is an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment — living in our nation’s capital should not preclude law-abiding citizens from exercising their fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”

The suit cites District of Columbia v. Heller, which was decided by the Supreme Court in 2008. Before Heller, the District made it illegal to carry unregistered firearms but it also banned the registration of handguns. The Heller decision said that people can have guns in their homes for self-defense.

After Heller, the District updated its gun laws and included a registry and training requirements. But it still makes assault rifles impossible to register.

The suit filed by the Justice Department argues the merit of the law.

“D.C.’s current semi-automatic firearms prohibition that bans many commonly used pistols, rifles or shotguns is based on little more than cosmetics, appearance, or the ability to attach accessories, and fails to take into account whether the prohibited weapon is ‘in common use today’ or that law-abiding citizens may use these weapons for lawful purposes protected by the Second Amendment. Therefore, the District’s restrictions lack legal basis,” the filing said.

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, a Democrat, said in a statement Monday, reported by the Washington Post, that the District would “vigorously defend our right to make decisions that keep our city safe.”

“Gun violence destroys families, upends communities, and threatens our collective sense of safety. MPD has saved lives by taking illegal guns off our streets — efforts that have been praised by our federal partners,” Bowser said. “It is irresponsible to take any steps that would lead to more, and deadlier, guns in our communities, especially semi-automatic rifles like AR-15s.”

Lawyers from Everytown Law, a gun safety organization, said the city’s gun bans are legal.

“The legal consensus is clear: assault weapon bans are constitutional. Since the Supreme Court’s rulings in Bruen and Rahimi, federal courts have repeatedly affirmed that these laws are consistent with the Second Amendment,” Bill Taylor, deputy director of Second Amendment litigation at Everytown Law, said in a statement. “Assault weapons are designed for mass devastation, and we look forward to supporting D.C. as it defends this critical common-sense safety measure.”

District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro told prosecutors in August not to enforce felony charges for the city’s ban on openly carrying rifles and shotguns in public or the city’s ban on magazines that hold more than 10 bullets.

JOHANNESBURG — The U.S. government has signed health deals with at least nine African countries, part of its new approach to global health funding, with agreements that reflect the Trump administration’s interests and priorities and are geared toward providing less aid and more mutual benefits.

The agreements signed so far, with Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda among others, are the first under the new global health framework, which makes aid dependent on negotiations between the recipient country and the U.S.

Some of the countries that have signed deals either have been hit by U.S. aid cuts or have separate agreements with the Trump administration to accept and host third-country deportees, although officials have denied any linkage.

The Trump administration says the new “America First” global health funding agreements are meant to increase self-sufficiency and eliminate what it says are ideology and waste from international assistance. The deals replace a patchwork of previous health agreements under the now-dismantled U.S. Agency for International Development.

U.S. aid cuts have crippled health systems across the developing world, including in Africa, where many countries relied on the funding for crucial programs, including those responding to outbreaks of disease.

The new approach to global health aligns with President Trump’s pattern of dealing with other nations transactionally, using direct talks with foreign governments to promote his agenda abroad. It builds on his sharp turn from traditional U.S. foreign assistance, which supporters say furthered American interests by stabilizing other countries and economies and building alliances.

A different strategy

The deals mark a sharp departure from how the U.S. has provided healthcare funding over the years and mirrors the Trump administration’s interests.

South Africa, which has lost most of its U.S. funding — including $400 million in annual support — due in part to its disputes with the U.S., has not signed a health deal, despite having one of the world’s highest HIV prevalence rates.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, reached a deal but with an emphasis on Christian-based health facilities, although it has a slight majority Muslim population. Rwanda and Uganda, which each have deportation deals with the U.S., have announced health pacts.

Cameroon, Eswatini, Lesotho, Liberia and Mozambique also are among those that have signed health deals with the U.S.

According to the Center for Global Development, a Washington think tank, the deals “combine U.S. funding reductions, ambitious co-financing expectations, and a shift toward direct government-to-government assistance.”

The deals represent a reduction in total U.S. health spending for each country, the center said, with annual U.S. financial support down 49% compared with 2024.

A faith-based deal in Nigeria, a lifeline for several others

Under its deal, Nigeria, a major beneficiary of USAID funds, would get support that has a “strong emphasis” on Christian faith-based healthcare providers.

The U.S. provided approximately $2.3 billion in health assistance to Nigeria between 2021 and 2025, mostly through USAID, official data shows. The new five-year agreement will see U.S. support at over $2 billion, while Nigeria is expected to raise $2.9 billion to boost its healthcare programs.

The agreement “was negotiated in connection with reforms the Nigerian government has made to prioritize protecting Christian populations from violence and includes significant dedicated funding to support Christian healthcare facilities,” the State Department said in a statement.

The department said “the president and secretary of State retain the right to pause or terminate any programs which do not align with the national interest,” urging Nigeria to ensure “that it combats extremist religious violence against vulnerable Christian populations.”

For several other countries, the new deals could be a lifeline after U.S. aid cuts crippled their healthcare systems and left them racing to fill the gaps.

Under its deal, Mozambique will get U.S. support of over $1.8 billion for HIV and malaria programs. Lesotho, one of the poorest countries in the world, clinched a deal worth over $232 million.

In the tiny kingdom of Eswatini, the U.S. committed to provide up to $205 million to support public health data systems, disease surveillance and outbreak response, while the country agreed to increase domestic health expenditures by $37 million.

No deal for South Africa after disputes

South Africa is noticeably absent from the list of signatories following tensions with the Trump administration.

Trump has said he will cut all financial assistance to South Africa over his widely rejected claims that it is violently persecuting its Afrikaner white minority.

The dismantling of USAID resulted in the loss of over $436 million in yearly financing for HIV treatment and prevention in South Africa, putting the program and thousands of jobs in the healthcare industry at risk.

Health compacts with countries that signed deportation deals

At least four of the countries that have reached deals previously agreed to receive third-country deportees from the U.S., a controversial immigration policy that has been a trademark of the Trump administration.

The State Department has denied any linkage between the healthcare compacts and agreements regarding accepting third-country asylum seekers or third-country deportees from the United States. However, officials have said that political considerations unrelated to health issues may be part of the negotiations.

Rwanda, one of the countries with a deportation deal with the U.S., signed a $228-million health pact requiring the U.S. to support it with $158 million.

Uganda, another such country, signed a health deal worth nearly $2.3 billion in which the U.S. will provide up to $1.7 billion. Eswatini also has started receiving flights with deported prisoners from the United States.

Magome and Gumede write for the Associated Press. AP writers Evelyne Musambi in Nairobi, Kenya; Dyepkazah Shibayan in Abuja, Nigeria; Mark Banchereau in Dakar, Senegal; and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Dec. 22 (UPI) — Colorado lawmakers have called on President Donald Trump to reverse a recent decision denying state disaster aid requests in the wake of “life-threatening flooding and historic wildfires.”

In a statement Sunday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced Trump had rejected the state’s requests for help and accused the president of playing “political games.” He said the state would be appealing the decision.

“Coloradans impacted by the Elk and Lee fires and the flooding in Southwestern Colorado deserve better than the political games President Trump is playing,” Polis said.

“I call on the president’s better angels, and urge him to reconsider these requests. This is about the Coloradans who need this support, and we won’t stop fighting for them to get what they deserve,” the Democratic governor added.

Polis declared a disaster emergency on Aug. 3, for the Elk Fire and added the Lee Fire three days later. He filed an executive order by the end of August as the state revealed initial damage estimates from the fires and mudslides totaled more than $27 million.

In October, Polis declared a disaster emergency to unlock $6 million in state funding for flood response and recovery in Western Colorado.

Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet said, “Trump’s decision to deny Colorado’s request for critical federal assistance is unacceptable.”

“Communities in Western Colorado are in serious need of help after the life-threatening flooding and historic wildfires earlier this year,” Bennet added. “Trump continues to use Coloradans for political games; it is malicious and obscene.”

While a president can tap additional federal assistance with a major disaster under the Stafford Act, the Trump administration has recently denied some states’ requests for aid as it works to downsize the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The White House said Monday, “there is no politicization to the president’s decisions on disaster relief.” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson explained Trump’s decision, adding that the administration sent two firefighting planes to Colorado to help fight the fires.

“The president responds to each request for federal assistance under the Stafford Act with great care and consideration,” Jackson said, “ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”