Dominic Verstegen: If I Could Have A Play Date With Anyone ...

Evan Gershkovich: “Scanning the passengers, he locked his eyes squarely on one of those prisoners—me. He said nothing, staring in silence for nearly a minute. Then he turned and walked back to his curtained-off section of the presidential jet. I was left to wonder about this man at the helm of the exchange, who appeared to hold my fate in his hands.” “When I was arrested by Russia’s security forces in 2023—the first foreign correspondent charged with espionage since the Cold War—I never stopped reporting.

“A super PAC closely aligned with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N. Y.) is circling districts that voted for their Republican incumbents by as much as 30 percentage points as it charts a course back to the majority,” Axios reports. “Democrats are cautiously optimistic that they can pull off a repeat of the 2018 ‘Blue Wave’ as Trump’s right-wing policy agenda and appointments come into view.”

“The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged global financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald with violating laws related to regulatory disclosures by so-called blank-check companies before they raise money from the public,” CNBC reports. “Cantor’s chairman and CEO, Howard Lutnick, was recently nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Commerce Department.

“The Trump transition team has started to explore pathways to dramatically shrink, consolidate or even eliminate the top bank watchdogs in Washington,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “In recent interviews with potential nominees to lead bank regulatory agencies, Trump advisers and officials from his newfound Department of Government Efficiency have, for example, asked whether the president-elect could abolish the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.” “Advisers have asked the nominees under consideration for the FDIC, as well as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, if deposit insurance could then be absorbed into the Treasury Department.”

“Donald Trump, eager to turn his inauguration into a global event, is personally extending invitations to some foreign leaders, including heads of state that have clashed with the United States in the recent past,” CNN reports.

“Amazon.com is planning a $1 million donation to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, as founder Jeff Bezos and other tech leaders shore up ties with the incoming administration,” the Wall Street Journal reports.