President-elect Trump used a photo of first lady Jill Biden to sell his new line of perfumes and colognes in a post on Sunday.
The big picture: The image was taken from when they sat one seat away from each other at the reopening ceremony for Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral on Saturday with his new "Fight, Fight, Fight" fragrances superimposed on it and the caption "A FRAGRANCE YOUR ENEMIES CAN'T RESIST!"
President-elect Trump sat for his first network interview Sunday since winning the 2024 election — where he reaffirmed his intention to pardon Jan. 6 defendants, end birthright citizenship and implement his sweeping deportation plans.
Here's what you may have missed when newsmakers hit the airwaves this Sunday, December 8.
President Biden told reporters Sunday that the U.S. believes American journalist Austin Tice, who has been missing in Syria for 12 years, is alive and that "we think we can get him back."
State of play: The collapse of the Assad regime and the emptying of political prisons in Syria has raised new hope for the release of Tice, a freelance journalist who was abducted while reporting on the civil war in 2012.
Fans across the country learned Sunday which teams are making up the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff bracket.
The big picture: Beyond an updated playoff structure, anew era of collegiate and high school athletics is here. Name, image and likeness (NIL) deals have remolded the NCAA's competitive landscape in just a few short years.
President-elect Trump proposed in an interview aired Sunday that families with mixed immigration status should be deported together, echoing his selected "border czar" Tom Homan.
The big picture: An estimated 4.7 million households in the U.S. are defined as "mixed-status," meaning they house at least one undocumented resident and at least one citizen or legal noncitizen resident, per the Center for Migration Studies.
President-elect Trump told Kristen Welker on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he plans to give "first day" consideration of whether to pardon people convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Why it matters: In Trump's first network interview since the election, he made lots of news, making it clear he plans aggressive action from the moment he's inaugurated 43 days from now.
President-elect Trump reiterated his promises to impose tariffs and increase oil production, even if it impacts consumers.
Why it matters: By sticking to his campaign pledges, Trump would all but assure a fresh spike in inflation, which was a deciding factor in the election.
President-elect Trump reaffirmed he plans to pardon rioters who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying he will begin to "look at everything" on his "first day" back in office.
The big picture: While Trump has vowed to pardon the rioters, whom he views as "hostages," he has provided little detail on how he plans to handle the hundreds of individuals who have been convicted in the years since the riot.
President Biden's relations with House Democrats have hit rough patches before, but lawmakers tell Axios that they are at a particularly low ebb as he prepares to leave office.
Why it matters: Tensions had already been simmering after the 2024 election — but Biden's pardon of his son Hunter last week, in the words of one senior House Democrat, sent many "over the edge."
Federal probes into alleged civil rights abuses by a dozen cities' police departments haven't led to any reform agreements during the Biden administration — and are unlikely to do so in Donald Trump's second term.
Why it matters: The investigations by President Biden's Justice Department came in response to allegations of systemic, unconstitutional misconduct by the police departments, such as using excessive force and conducting illegal traffic stops.
President-elect Trump held a trilateral meeting on Saturday in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and discussed the war in Ukraine and ways to end it.
Why it matters: This is the first time Trump has met with Zelensky since the president-elect's victory in the election.
An Axios review of a new National Archives portal found just three digitized unsolved cases of lynchings, racial violence and murders of Black Americans, spawning several decades.
The big picture: The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection portal is the federal agency's latest attempt to index civil rights violations and provide a subject guide, part of an aim spelled out by law to bring justice to the victims in those cases.
Colleges across the country are shutting down expensive and expansive diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, some of which were put in place just a few years ago.
Why it matters: While students, faculty, administrators and experts all acknowledge DEI programs can be flawed, bans are prompting colleges to close up cultural centers and rewrite course catalogs — moves that can interfere with student life and threaten free speech.
President-elect Trump is threatening to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians when he takes office in January, echoing actions he tried to take during his first term.
Why it matters: Roughly 834,000 immigrants from 16 countries who entered the U.S. without authorization or overstayed visas are shielded from deportation and can legally work here because of TPS. Thousands more are eligible.
A bill that would preserve the Wounded Knee Massacre site is being blocked by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) over his push to get federal recognition for a North Carolina tribe whose legitimacy is questioned by tribal nations.
The big picture: The Wounded Knee Massacre site on Oglala Lakota land in South Dakota is a mourning place for many tribes, and the blocking of a preservation bill could create more animosity toward the Lumbee, who want to circumvent traditional routes for federal recognition.
