aacj

Top 5 US news stories

December 3 2025

Greg Loving

03 Dec 2025 • 6 min read

Federal officers at Toluca International Airport, outside Mexico City, escorting prisoners bound for the U.S. GABINETE DE SEGURIDAD DE MEXICO/REUTERS

Mexico Extradites 55 Cartel Leaders to U.S. in Secret Airborne Operation

White House Scraps Upcoming Fed Interviews; Hassett Seen as Front-Runner

GOP Retains Tennessee House Seat; Narrower Margin Raises 2026 Concerns

Trump Disparages Somali Immigrants Ahead of Planned Minneapolis ICE Operation

Trump Emissaries Discuss Ukraine Peace Proposals in 5-Hour Kremlin Meeting

1. Mexico Extradites 55 Cartel Leaders to U.S. in Secret Airborne Operation

MEXICO CITY—Dozens of Mexico’s most dangerous prisoners, cuffed hand and foot, boarded army jets under heavy guard this year, a rogue’s gallery of cartel leaders responsible for smuggling tons of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine to insatiable U.S. buyers. The men were rousted from prisons, where money and corruption provided them with weapons, cocaine, booze, women and phones to run their lucrative underworld empires from behind bars, coordinating drug shipments as well as ordering killings and kidnappings, U.S. and Mexican officials said. The prisoners had no idea of their destination. “Welcome to America!” said Derek Maltz, interim head of the Drug Enforcement Administration when he greeted the first batch of prisoners as they disembarked nine months ago. A second group arrived in August, a total of 55 men who face charges that could keep them locked in maximum-security prisons for the rest of their lives. The prisoners represent the top echelons of Mexico’s biggest criminal organizations—the Sinaloa, Jalisco New Generation and Zetas cartels. They include Rafael Caro Quintero, who is charged with killing DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985 and has dodged extradition to the U.S. for decades. All are in custody without bail.

WSJ

2. White House Scraps Upcoming Fed Interviews; Hassett Seen as Front-Runner

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration canceled a slate of interviews set to start this week with a group of finalists to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve as President Trump again suggested he had made up his mind about who should lead the central bank. Trump’s team informed candidates that interviews scheduled for Wednesday with Vice President JD Vance had been canceled, according to people familiar with the matter. No reason was given for the decision. A person familiar with the matter said the cancellation was because of a scheduling conflict for the vice president. The person said it wasn’t clear if the meetings would be rescheduled. Longtime Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett, considered the front-runner, was among those expected to meet with Vance and White House officials about the job, a person close to him said. Other finalists for the job include former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and sitting Fed governor Christopher Waller.

WSJ

3. GOP Retains Tennessee House Seat; Narrower Margin Raises 2026 Concerns

Matt Van Epps, a Republican former state official and Army veteran, won a special election for the House on Tuesday in Tennessee, holding off a surprisingly stiff Democratic challenge in an overwhelmingly Republican district that drew a flood of national attention and money. Mr. Van Epps’s victory over Aftyn Behn, a Democratic state representative from Nashville, was called by The Associated Press. With 95 percent of votes counted on Tuesday night, he was leading by nearly nine percentage points. The result is a boon in the short term for President Trump and his party, which had worried that its narrow House majority would grow even slimmer. But the relatively tight margin in such a deep-red district nonetheless represents a warning shot about the party’s vulnerabilities heading into the 2026 midterm elections. Mr. Trump carried the seat by 22 percentage points a little over a year ago. The Seventh Congressional District, which stretches from Kentucky to Alabama and includes part of downtown Nashville, had been drawn by G.O.P. state lawmakers specifically to elect a Republican.

NYT

4. Trump Disparages Somali Immigrants Ahead of Planned Minneapolis ICE Operation

WASHINGTON—President Trump lashed out against immigrants from Somalia, saying he didn’t want them in the U.S. and describing them in disparaging terms ahead of an expected federal operation against Somalis in Minneapolis. “I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you…their country is no good for a reason,” Trump said Tuesday, speaking at a cabinet meeting at the White House. “We’re at a tipping point,” he said, adding that the country would “go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.” The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning an operation in Minneapolis targeting the city’s Somali immigrant community, according to an administration official familiar with the matter. About 40,000 Minnesota residents were born in Somalia, according to 2024 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. ICE will send roughly 100 officers and agents from around the U.S. to help with the operation, which is intended primarily to target Somali immigrants with final deportation orders, the administration official said. The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area is home to the largest Somali-American community in the U.S.; most of its members are either citizens, permanent residents or hold other forms of legal status.

WSJ

5. Trump Emissaries Discuss Ukraine Peace Proposals in 5-Hour Kremlin Meeting

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia held talks for nearly five hours late Tuesday with Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, negotiating with the two U.S. emissaries as Washington pushed for an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine. The negotiators discussed the substance of U.S. peace proposals but did not delve into the wording of any provisions, reach any specific compromises or agree to a new summit between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump, the Kremlin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, told journalists after the marathon talks concluded. “The discussion was very useful, constructive and very substantive and lasted for not five minutes but five hours,” Mr. Ushakov said. During the talks, Mr. Putin went through the U.S. proposals that the Kremlin had received in four documents ahead of the meeting, Mr. Ushakov said.

NYT

December 3 1992: First SMS text message is sent

We are temporarily pausing our podcasts as we revamp our app so any article can be read as audio

Found a mistake? Have a news tip or feedback to share? Contact our newsroom using the button below:

citizen journal offers three flagship products: a daily national news summary, a daily Kansas news summary, and local news and school board summaries from 29 cities across 5 states. Use the links in the header to navigate to national, kansas, and local coverage. Subscribe to each, some, or all to get an email when new issues are published for FREE!

Brought to you by (click me!)

Sources