1. MEDIAWATCH: The firestorm over CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’ decision to pull a segment from last night’s “60 Minutes” broadcast is rising. CNN’s Brian Stelter has a closer look at the timeline behind Weiss’ move. The segment, zooming in on the experiences of Venezuelan men deported to El Salvador’s CECOT prison, was viewed by Weiss on Thursday and got the OK for publicity on Friday. In total, the segment was screened five times and “cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” a number that is high for the program, Stelter notes. On Saturday, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi learned that Weiss “spiked” the story reportedly over a lack of voices from the Trump administration and some language phrasing. In addition to Weiss’ defense of the decision last night, she also addressed the controversy on this morning’s editorial call. The story “did not advance the ball,” Weiss told staffers, adding that they need “to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera.” But some people at CBS are “threatening to quit over this," per Stelter. The backdrop: Paramount Skydance is adding a personal finance guarantee from Larry Ellison in its latest move to beat out Netflix’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, Bloomberg’s Molly Schuetz reports. Ellison “agreed to provide an irrevocable personal guarantee of $40.4 billion in equity financing for Paramount’s proposed $108.4 billion offer for Warner Bros.” 2. THE EPSTEIN FILES: Expect yet another round of files related to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to drop later this afternoon, per Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). It’ll be the latest batch in a trickle of releases that have gone against the original deadline to release all the files by Dec. 19. And the criticism is ramping up: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is introducing a resolution pushing the Senate to pursue legal action against the DOJ over “its blatant disregard of the law” in “releasing heavily redacted documents and refusing to release the complete Epstein files,” as our Inside Congress colleagues scooped. Epstein survivors are out with a new statement this morning condemning the DOJ as having “violated the law” both by “withholding massive quantities of documents, and by failing to redact survivor identities,” per CBS’ Scott MacFarlane. 3. THE 51ST STATE?: Trump’s appointment of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland stirred some concern in the Danish territory this morning, and set off bigger alarms in Denmark, POLITICO’s Seb Starcevic reports. Landry thanked Trump for the post, calling it an “honor” to work to “make Greenland a part of the U.S.” While Greenland PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen doubled down on the right to self-determination, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told local media he was “deeply outraged” and planned to summon their U.S. ambassador. “Out of nowhere, there is now a special U.S. presidential representative, who, according to himself, is tasked with taking over Greenland. This is, of course, completely unacceptable," he said, per Reuters. 4. WAR AND PEACE: Simmering tensions between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff are laid bare in new reporting by NBC’s Abigail Williams and colleagues, detailing how Witkoff has tried to end-run Rubio to take on Ukraine negotiations alone. “Rubio was scheduled to attend peace talks with Ukrainian officials in Switzerland, but Witkoff had set off early in what some officials saw as a bid to beat him to the punch.” The State Department pushed back in a statement to NBC, saying: “There is no rift between the two and has never been,” adding that Rubio and Witkoff “have a close working relationship and are personal friends.” Top-ed: “Russia isn’t winning. Putin wants to fool you,” by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for WaPo: “Fortunately, the opportunity for President Donald Trump to end this conflict on favorable terms for Ukraine, America and the West has not passed. But he must not continue to make the same miscalculation that his predecessor made in 2022.” For your radar: Thailand and Cambodia agreed today to hold talks on Dec. 24 on resuming the months-old ceasefire, after weeks of renewed conflict along their shared border has seen at least 80 dead, Reuters’ Rozanna Latiff and Mandy Leong report. It’s a significant step back toward diplomacy, after Trump helped broker the original truce but was unable to bring both countries back to the table as the conflict reemerged. Dance of the superpowers: China has its eyes set on the U.S. seizures of Venezuelan oil tankers, with the foreign ministry denouncing the moves as a violation of international law that “infringes upon other countries’ sovereignty and security,” per Bloomberg. 5. TALES FROM THE CRYPTO: “Top DOJ Official Shut Down Enforcement Against Crypto Companies While Holding More Than $150,000 in Crypto Investments,” by ProPublica’s Corey Johnson and Al Shaw: “To prevent possible violations of the federal conflicts of interest statute, [Deputy AG Todd] Blanche promised to dump his digital assets no later than 90 days after his Senate confirmation in March … But about a month into the job — before divesting — Blanche issued a memo that ordered an end to investigations into crypto companies, dealers and exchanges.” Legal experts say Blanche’s directives “violated the conflicts of interest law and his ethics agreement.” Blanche and the DOJ did not comment. 6. IMMIGRATION FILES: DHS is tripling its “exit bonus” for undocumented immigrants who self-deport from the U.S. before the end of the year, bumping up the financial incentive from $1,000 to $3,000, plus free airfare, CBS’ Nicole Sganga scoops. … In the push toward increased law enforcement against immigrants, gun enforcement in major cities like Baltimore has slowed down to, in some cases, record lows, Reuters’ Brad Heath scoops. … A federal judge is hearing arguments today on whether Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be returned to immigration detention after being released for a week, per AP. 7. WINDS TO THE EAST: “Trump Halts Five Wind Farms Off the East Coast,” by NYT’s Maxine Joselow and Lisa Friedman: “The Trump administration on Monday said it would pause leases for five wind farms under construction off the East Coast … The decision leaves just two intact wind farms in U.S. coastal waters … The Interior Department’s description of its decision said the Pentagon had produced classified reports that found the wind farms posed national security risks and that an unclassified report from the Energy Department had found that wind farms could interfere with radar systems.” 8. HEY BIG SPENDERS: “Hundreds of Big Post-Election Donors Have Benefited From Trump’s Return to Office,” by NYT’s Karen Yourish and colleagues: “Since President Trump was elected a second time, he and his allies have raised nearly $2 billion for his favored political causes and passion projects. … [NYT] traced a large portion of the funds raised — more than half a billion dollars’ worth — back to 346 donors who each gave at least $250,000. It also found that more than half of them have benefited, or are involved in an industry that has benefited, from the actions or statements of Mr. Trump, the White House or federal agencies.”
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