Washington, DC

1. Hill studies Netflix-WBD
2. More to come on Epstein
3. US targets Venezuelan oil
4. Graham’s 2026 agenda
5. UAE deal scrutiny
6. Ukraine peace talks

Washington View: The 2025 media lesson

Trump in Palm Beach … Congress out until 2026 … Gold and silver hit all-time highs

We’re thrilled to announce that Karey Van Hall is joining our team as Washington editor in January as Semafor looks to expand in DC (more to come on that). Formerly of Politico, USA Today, and Reuters, Karey will bring a wealth of experience to our Washington coverage.

Congress scrutinizes Warner Bros. battle

Lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol are preparing for possible hearings on Netflix and Paramount’s battle for Warner Bros. Discovery — but a bill to stop or alter any deal is likely out of reach, Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller reports. Atop the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said his aides and those of committee Chairman Mike Lee, R-Utah, are “working on” a potential hearing. Their House counterpart, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., said similar conversations are happening with Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and that they’re weighing potential witnesses. “We’ll make a decision on it soon,” Fitzgerald added. Still, several lawmakers signaled any related legislation is likely a long shot for next year. A White House official told Semafor that Trump “maintains good relationships with both bidders for Warner Brothers, and is neutral in this bidding war.”

More still to come in Epstein saga

If the Trump administration was hoping Friday’s deadline to release the Jeffrey Epstein files would move the storyline into the background, they were sorely mistaken: The Justice Department did not release all of the documents, and the tranche that was released included hundreds of fully redacted papers. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche defended DOJ’s decision to not release all of the files by the 30-day deadline, telling NBC News that the administration also has to also comply with laws protecting victims. Meanwhile, some photos initially released disappeared from the DOJ website, including one of Trump; the DOJ said they were removed after victims raised concerns. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., accused the administration of a cover up, while Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., are already advocating for contempt proceedings against Attorney General Pam Bondi.

— Shelby Talcott

Trump targets Venezuelan tankers

The Trump administration is escalating its campaign against Venezuela’s main source of revenue. The US boarded a supertanker transporting oil on Saturday and began pursuing another vessel on Sunday, an escalation that followed the administration sanctioning multiple vessels shipping Venezuelan oil. The US is still pursuing the Bella 1, a sanctioned tanker that had been on its way to Venezuela and wasn’t carrying oil when the US started following it. Notably, the tanker boarded on Saturday was not on the public list of US-sanctioned vessels, The New York Times reported. The weekend actions are part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to push out Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, who tried to test US plans by recently ordering his country’s navy to escort some vessels, an action Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed on Friday.

— Shelby Talcott

Graham plots reconciliation push

Republicans aren’t settled on whether to pursue another party-line reconciliation bill, but Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is done waiting. “It would be political malpractice not to do another reconciliation,” he told Semafor. Graham said he’s planning to kick off the process with a budget resolution early next year and envisions the eventual legislative product including military funding, health care legislation, and a grant program for states that assist ICE in immigration enforcement. President Donald Trump and GOP leaders aren’t yet committed to passing such a bill, though several Republicans — including Senate Majority Leader John Thune — say it’s a possibility in the absence of a bipartisan deal on health care. Trump would rather that Republicans kill the legislative filibuster, but they won’t, which may leave another reconciliation bill as the last, best chance to pass major legislation this Congress.

— Burgess Everett

Sacks, Witkoff could face ethics probe

The State Department’s independent watchdog is reviewing a request from two Democratic senators to investigate whether Trump officials broke ethics rules in connection with deals involving the United Arab Emirates, according to correspondence shared with Semafor. The department’s inspector general wrote to Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., this month confirming that it was evaluating their request for an investigation of the involvement by Trump aides Steve Witkoff and David Sacks in a decision to allow the export of advanced US-made chips to the UAE. Witkoff and Sacks’ work on the issue drew scrutiny from the senators as a result of their reported financial ties to the UAE in the cryptocurrency space. “The office owes Congress a full investigation,” Warren said in a statement, arguing the information is necessary for lawmakers as they consider potential ethics guardrails in cryptocurrency legislation.

— Morgan Chalfant

Hopes fade for Ukraine peace deal

Trump won’t have a peace deal to end the Ukraine war by Christmas — not without an unlikely and dramatic shift in Russia’s posture. US and Ukrainian officials characterized weekend conversations in Florida as constructive, while Russia dismissed its own talks with the US side. In his year-end press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed confidence that Moscow would achieve its military aims in Ukraine and showed no willingness to compromise on a peace deal. Meanwhile, US intelligence assessments still find Russia’s goal remains to capture all of Ukraine, Reuters reported — findings that undermine Trump’s pronouncements about Putin’s willingness to deal. US negotiators are “overestimating Putin’s willingness to end the war,” Graham said on NBC, calling for the passage of his secondary sanctions legislation to turn the screws on Russia.

“Here’s some holiday cheer for our embattled profession: Successful modern political figures don’t hide from journalists,” Ben writes in his weekly column. “They may not like us; they may recognize the reality that legacy media doesn’t have the power it once did. But they retreat into friendly bubbles at their peril.

“That was true of Joe Biden. And if anyone was in doubt about this, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is proving it again. He’s a fluent communicator and former TV host in what’s usually a fairly popular role, and he still seems to have the president’s support. He has some ideas that many Americans might welcome, from his controversial efforts to masculinize the military to his deputy Stephen Feinberg’s attempts to modernize the gear. But he’s only figured out half of Trump’s media strategy — the public conflict — without realizing that Trump is in on the joke.”

Beltway Newsletters

Playbook: Ninety-five percent of MAGA-aligned President Trump voters say they have a positive view of him, compared with only 70% of non-MAGA Trump voters, according to the POLITICO Poll.

Axios: “It is clearly the place to be. Friday, Gaza. Saturday, Ukraine,” a Western diplomat said about the Shell Bay Club outside Miami which has become a new hub for high-level diplomacy.

White House

• At a speech closing the Turning Point USA confab in Phoenix, Vice President JD Vance declined to disavow white nationalist associations within the MAGA movement, saying he did not “bring a list of conservatives to denounce and deplatform.”
• President Trump and his allies have raised almost $2 billion for his favored political causes and pet projects since the 2024 election. — NYT

Congress

• Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., will not seek reelection. Stefanik is also no longer running for New York governor, and President Trump quickly endorsed Republican Bruce Blakeman in the race instead.
• Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said former President Bill Clinton should address recently released photos showing him with Jeffrey Epstein.

Outside the Beltway

• Fewer Americans who celebrate Christmas are taking part in religious traditions associated with the holiday, like going to church, according to new Gallup polling.

Inside the Beltway

• The Trump administration is threatening to withhold Smithsonian Institution funding if it does not submit museum content for a detailed review. — WaPo