Today in Politics, Bulletin 264. 12/5/25

… The J6 pipe bomber suspect arrested yesterday has reportedly confessed to authorities that he is a Trump supporter who believed that the 2020 election was stolen. NBC: “The man charged with planting two pipe bombs near the Democratic and Republican party HQs on the eve of the J6 attack on the Capitol told the FBI he believed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Brian Cole Jr. is cooperating with the FBI.”

… Multiple media outlets, including Fox, confirmed the reporting that Cole was a Trump supporter who believed his lies that the election was stolen.

… Cole’s attorney is also reportedly going to argue that his client is covered by the very broad language of the blanket pardon that Trump gave to J6ers, so his client should go free thanks to Trump. And he has a pretty damn good legal argument on that.

… Dep. FBI Director Dan Bongino was on Hannity’s Fox show: Q - “You put a post on X after this happened and said there’s a massive cover-up - that they don’t want you to know who it is because it’s either a connected anti-Trump insider or an inside job. Bongino: I was paid in the past for my opinions. One day I will be back in that space but that’s not what I’m paid for now. I’m paid to be your deputy director and we base investigations on facts.”

… So he admitted that he lied and invented right-wing conspiracies for years to make money as a talk-show host but claims that now he is telling the truth because he works for the government. Got it.

… Bongino responded to the criticism mocking him for admitting his entire career was a fraud with (yet another) post on social media: “I was today years old when I discovered that media figures were unaware that I was a political opinion commentator before my tenure here.”

… Grammy-winning recording artist Sabrina Carpenter won her battle against the White House after they used her song in a repulsive ICE hype video. They deleted the video and surrendered after Sabrina’s scathing reply got to 138 million views on X.

… Politico: “Soccer may be the world’s most popular pastime, but much about Friday’s lottery draw setting the match schedule for next summer’s World Cup has been programmed with just one fan in mind. Never before has the sports governing body given out a peace prize to a politician eager for one, or booked the Village People and Andrea Bocelli to play alongside.”

… “Trump’s appearance on the Kennedy Center stage will be at least his 7th encounter this year with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who has logged more face time with Trump this year than any world leader. But that is beginning to weaken Infantino, as the FIFA president faces newfound internal opposition for his over-the-top courtship of Trump.

… “6 international soccer officials across 3 continents reveal widespread frustration with Infantino’s decision to side with Trump even as WH policies cause chaos for World Cup-bound teams, fans and local organizers, clashing with Infantino’s promise to have a tournament that welcomes the world. Infantino did not inform his 37-member FIFA Council before creating the FIFA Peace Prize this year. Over the past year, at least 3 of FIFA’s 8 VPs have publicly or privately expressed their concerns about the lengths Infantino is willing to go to please Trump.”

… “Nothing threatens to awaken opposition to Infantino as much as his decision to invent a FIFA Peace Prize just as Trump began to complain in Oct about being passed over for one from the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Infantino fully bypassed the FIFA Council in deciding to create and award the prize to Trump. Even the VPs who were given a heads-up ahead of time say they were simply being told after the decision was made.”

… Trump was asked about it heading into the building: Q - “Mr President, have you been told that you’re going to receive the inaugural FIFA peace prize today? Trump: I have been told. There’s a rumor about it. That would be a great honor. I settled 8 wars.”

… When FIFA announced last month it was creating the new award, the press release said that the winner will be “an individual who has helped to unite people all over the world in peace.” When presented with the gold medal, Trump grabbed it immediately out of the case and put it around his own neck, smiling like a kid in T-Ball who just got his participation trophy at the post-season pizza party.

… Trump on receiving the fake award: “This is truly one of the great honors of my life.”

Photo by Getty Images

… Right after receiving the award, Trump said we should change the name of American football so it doesn’t conflict with the international game: “When you think about it, this is football, there is no question. We have to come up with another name for the other one.”

… Charlie Kirk’s former co-host Andrew Kolvet, who is now running operations at TPUSA after Kirk’s death, posted this: “Every new attack aimed at Pete Hegseth makes me want another narco drug boat blown up and sent to the bottom of the ocean.”

… Hegseth responded: “Your wish is our command, Andrew. Just sunk another narco boat.” He then posted the video of another homicide committed by DOD.

… New ‘Pentagon correspondent’, 23-year-old Lance Johnston: “Absolutely no laws were broken in ‘Signal Gate’. No classified information was leaked whatsoever. Fantastic news for security!”

… CNN: “Alleged traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on Sept 2 were not heading toward the US, Adm Bradley told lawmakers yesterday, per people briefed.
Instead they were heading to link up with another vessel that was bound for Suriname.”

… Sen. Intel Committee Chair Tom Cotton on CNN: Q - “Did you see any evidence of them trying to use a radio in the video you saw? Cotton: Well I saw lots of evidence of them standing on the boat that had been capsized. Q - That wasn’t my question. Did you see any evidence? Cotton: No, I didn’t.”

… Ranking member of House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith was asked on CNN about Cotton’s claims after their briefing on the boat: Q - “What about Tom Cotton saying that they were trying to flip a boat over that was loaded with drugs? Smith: That’s patently ridiculous. Admiral Bradley didn’t even pretend that that was the case. There there was no way they were turning this boat back over. It appears that the boat was split at least in half.”

… Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) on CNN: Q - “Are you worried about Hegseth’s leadership considering what you’re seeing here from the IG? Alford: Not one bit. I think Pete made a mistake in using Signal for some of this information. We’ve moved on from that. Q - Should he admit his mistake? Alford: Look, I’m not Pete Hegseth.”

… Speaker Mike Johnson was on Fox this morning, where they asked him about his repeated claims that he works 18 hours a day: Q - “Do you really work 18 hours a day? Johnson: More. More. And I have to, because President Trump works 21 hours a day. I’m a war-time Speaker - in a real sense.”

… Johnson on the ACA: “I wish we could rip it out from the roots and start over but it’s so deeply ingrained. It’s sinister in that way. But it has broken the system and what we have to do is go in and reform in. We have lots of ideas.”

… House Budget Committee Chair Jason Smith had Trump-supporting CNBC host Joe Kernen exasperated as he searched in vain for an answer that would allow him to blame Democrats on the looming health care crisis, with subsidies expiring at the end of the month: Q - “Does Mike Johnson have a healthcare plan? Smith: Um … Yesterday he said that we’re working on a plan.”

… Kernen did not look and sound happy when he couldn’t get anything more than that out of Smith even after follow-ups.

… Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on the reports that many House Republicans are mutinous with Johnson: “You have a lot of intelligent, hard-working people who gave up a lot of things to be here in Congress, only to find out that all they get to do is come here and rubber stamp whatever Trump wants, and that’s kind of humiliating.”

… Former Obama/Biden aide Dan Koh on CNN: “I think what we are seeing is what the founding fathers feared the most, which is the collapse of our checks and balances. The Supreme Court is supposed to be a co-equal branch of govt. It’s basically a mouthpiece for Trump at this point. Congress is supposed to be a co-equal check on the president. People are resigning rather than stand up to Trump. Even the Bureau of Labor Statistics is supposed to be an independent data agency to show the health of the economy, we don’t even have the Oct jobs report.”

… Rolling Stone: “Trump has issued more than 2,000 pardons and commutations this year - 10 times the number he pushed through in his entire first term. The presidential pardon is written into the Constitution, but Trump is not aiming for mercy or addressing objective injustices, as the founders intended. He is abusing the power to reward partisan political allies, enabling pay-for-pardon schemes, and attempting to decriminalize corruption.”

… “Trump’s pardon-palooza is not just fueled by his own bitterness at being America’s first felon president, but also a desire for obsequious signs of fealty from the people he’s let off the hook. Thanks to the Supreme Court’s disastrous presidential immunity decision, there remains the specter of more pardons for anyone who puts loyalty to Trump ahead of loyalty to the Constitution.”

… “There is a sickening rationalization creeping across our nation which says that sucking up to Trump is just the cost of doing business in America at the moment. This decays the integrity of our democracy like acid. When this insane era is over, we will need reforms that rein in the power of the executive, because many of the unwritten guardrails were rooted in a belief that virtue and character would be a self-corrective. The founders apparently did not anticipate an era in which shamelessness was considered a political superpower.”

… WH Economic advisor (and future Fed Chair) Kevin Hassett on tariffs: “Even if the Supreme Court disagrees with us, we have a backup plan that’ll get these things in place right away. So we’re gonna win either way.”

… Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA): “Dear White House, please keep having Trump advisor Kevin Hassett do TV interviews. I love how he oozes out of touch arrogance and fails to acknowledge skyrocketing health costs, increasing grocery costs and surging electricity bills. He will help Dems flip the House. Thank you.”

I’m usually pretty worn out on Friday because that is 6 days in a row doing this, and today is no exception (although I don’t work as many hours as Trump or Mike Johnson). I’m looking forward to the day off tomorrow - even though we are in a deep freeze here in Maine. Big holiday-themed plans - we are starting out at a festival in Freeport around LL Bean HQ, then up to Boothbay for a light show in the botanical gardens, then a boat parade at the harbor with fireworks. Fun, but very cold!

Thank you to everyone for reading, sharing, and subscribing. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. See you with the Weekend Bulletin on Sunday night.

… Politico: “DOJ’s No. 2 official suggested that lawyers might have a harder time winning lenient treatment for corporate clients if they’ve publicly accused the Trump admin of being lax on white-collar crime. Speaking to attorneys who advise companies on US laws that ban payment of bribes overseas, Todd Blanche insisted