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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told lawmakers on Wednesday that he would pull the plug on the cryptocurrency industry if he had the power.

"I've always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etcetera," he said in response to a question from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D.-Mass., about the use of cryptocurrencies by terrorists, drug traffickers and rogue nations to finance their activities. "If I was the governments, I'd close it down."

Dimon, regarded by many as America's most prominent banker, said bad actors use digital currencies to launder money...

Trump ally Kash Patel, who's been touted as a possible acting attorney general should Trump win the presidency, is vowing to target members of the media and government.

The United States’ commitment to Ukraine took a devastating blow on the Senate floor on Wednesday. Senators insist the saga isn’t over quite yet.

Both parties quickly moved to resuscitate border negotiations that could clear the way for delivering tens of billions of dollars to U.S. allies Ukraine and Israel after the GOP blocked President Joe Biden’s spending request on Wednesday afternoon. Republicans are expected to make a new offer to Democrats, which Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said could bring his party back to the negotiating table.

“This is not the end,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), the top GOP negotiator. “Reset and say: ‘Let’s keep doing the work.’”

Still, there’s no clear pathway forward and Democrats and Republicans alike are throwing around ideas to unstick negotiations. The impasse boils down to Democrats being unwilling to enact the type of restrictive border policies that Republicans prefer and the GOP arguing the Democratic concessions so far — mostly on asylum — would barely decrease migrant flows.

Republicans have insisted they'll only greenlight aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan if they get a deal to tighten border restrictions. There's a long way to go on that front, but if there’s any silver lining from Wednesday’s face plant of a vote, it’s that senators haven’t given up yet.

What’s more, President Joe Biden cracked the door open to further Democratic concessions, declaring Wednesday he is “willing to make significant compromises” and praising the baritone, even-keeled Lankford as a “decent guy.” In a best-case scenario, those comments and prodding from leadership from both parties to finish the job could unstick stalled negotiations.

“I hope there’s an agreement to go back to the negotiating table and to put in place negotiators who are charged with getting an agreement. I don’t think we do have that now,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). “The important thing is to have leadership provide a directive to get this done.”

Still, there’s certainly an enthusiasm gap between Lankford and Murphy, who along with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) are now guiding the talks. Murphy said the forthcoming GOP offer would determine whether the talks resume since they fell apart nearly a week ago.

“If the room is just a forum to make unreasonable demands, then I’ve got other things I can do with my time,” Murphy said. “But if we’re actually going to sit down and negotiate, and Republicans are going to move and we’re going to move, then let’s sit down and talk.”

Lankford said processing asylum claims much more quickly and cutting down mass release of migrants into the United States are must-haves for Republicans. Asked why he was more optimistic than his Democratic partner, Lankford cracked: “Maybe he needs more ice cream. … He is committed to getting an outcome.”

Still, someone’s going to have to blink. Democrats are resisting full-scale border security policy changes demanded by Republicans that would reshape asylum, parole and detention law — and everyone’s got their own ideas.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who has been involved in the bipartisan negotiations, suggested that Biden and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell should cut a deal. Republicans are pushing Biden himself to get more personally involved and some negotiators believe that the White House may be more willing to compromise than congressional Democratic leaders.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has in meetings endorsed some of the policies Republicans are pushing, while Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said clinching a deal will require a “higher level of engagement” with the White House.

“It's going to require their involvement this time,” Bennet said of McConnell and Biden, longtime Senate colleagues. “I've had conversations this morning with Republicans, I’m having conversations this afternoon with Republicans. None of those discussions are going away.”

And Lankford acknowledged that he, Murphy and Sinema can only get things to a certain point, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, McConnell, Speaker Mike Johnson and Biden can finish the deal and sign off on it. Lankford said he’s working with both the White House staff and Johnson’s staff to try and find middle ground with Murphy and Sinema.

Still, it’s a tough moment to reset, given the raw emotions over the failed test vote on Wednesday set up by Schumer. The Senate is slated to go on recess for the holidays at the end of next week, though many senators said they hoped the Senate would try to finish the work before the end of the year.

There is a full week scheduled for recess before Christmas, and if negotiations keep plodding along, some senators think the chamber should use it.

“If I gotta be here on forking Christmas Day I will, because Ukraine funding needs to be done. I’m willing to stay here 24/7 to get it done,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.).

Jennifer Haberkorn and Anthony Adragna contributed to this report.

Congress is preparing to extend its deadline for untangling a complicated fight over warrantless government surveillance – which will mean yet another headache for House GOP leaders.

Top lawmakers are attaching a short-term extension of the government wiretapping power known as Section 702 to a sweeping defense policy bill, according to seven aides and lawmakers familiar with the text of the bill.

The extension would give Congress until April 19 to figure out how to reauthorize Section 702, named for its specific section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The provision is meant to target foreigners abroad but has long stoked controversy for its ability to sweep in Americans.

Whether to attach a surveillance powers extension was one of the final sticking points on the defense bill, whose text is now finalized and expected to be released later Wednesday. Both the House and Senate still need to pass the defense bill, and there is bipartisan backlash already brewing over the decision to attach a surveillance extension.

Conservatives privately urged Speaker Mike Johnson to separate the two issues. His decision not to do so promises to complicate a final vote on the defense bill, a typically must-pass proposal that could come to the House floor as soon as next week.

“This was a total sell-out of conservative principles and a huge win for Democrats,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) tweeted of the defense deal, pointing to the surveillance extension among other provisions as reasons she would be opposed.

But the extension will give the House time to resolve his chamber’s two competing long-term overhaul proposals for the surveillance authority: one from the Judiciary Committee and one from the Intelligence Committee.

Both bills would make major changes to Section 702, such as limiting the number of FBI personnel who are able to conduct searches and imposing new penalties for surveillance violations. The bills also would implement new auditing and reporting requirements for the program, as well as change the larger surveillance law the authority is housed under as well as a related surveillance court that fields requests for wiretapping power.

But the two committees have split over when a warrant should be required for searching 702-collected data for Americans' information.

The Intelligence Committee bill would require a warrant for so-called “evidence of a crime” searches, which aren’t related to foreign intelligence and comprise a small subset of searches. The committee is expected to easily advance its bill on a bipartisan basis on Thursday.

“I think it’s going to pass unanimously. I think it’s a fabulous product. I think it’s the answer to solve the problem,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a member of the panel, told POLITICO.

Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday advanced its own sweeping bill on a 35-2 vote.

“I know our approach will have its critics. … [But] I believe we have struck the right balance here and perhaps the only balance that can pass the House at this time,” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said about the bill.

The Judiciary bill would impose a warrant requirement for searching 702-collected data for Americans’ information. However, it builds in exceptions including for “emergency situations,” if an individual has consented to the search or for some cybersecurity-related searches.

The legislation also makes broader surveillance reforms, including preventing data brokers from being able to sell consumer information to law enforcement.

The two no votes on Wednesday came from Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell (Calif.) and Hank Johnson (Ga.).

“This bill ignores the extensive remedial measures the FBI and the Justice Department has taken,” Swalwell said.

John Sakellariadis and Connor O’Brien contributed.

The House is lining up a final vote to

The House voted Wednesday evening in favor of legislation striking down federal regulations targeting gas-powered vehicles which, according to the White House, are designed to "accelerate the transition to electric vehicles."

In a 221-197 vote, the House approved the Choice in Automobile Retail Sales (CARS) Act with 216 Republicans and five Democrats voting in favor. A group of more than a dozen Republican lawmakers, led by Reps. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., introduced the legislation in July in response to the Biden...

A suspect accused of six murders across Texas during a day-long shooting spree was previously charged with assaulting a family member and bailed out by a non-profit progressive group, according to local reports.

Shane James, 34, is accused of killing six people and injuring others in Bexar County and Austin. James, who served as a U.S. Army Infantry officer from February 2013 to August 2015, is charged with several counts of capital murder.

In January 2022, James was charged with aggravated assault against his mother, father and sister, Fox San...

Gabe Gore, who was appointed as St. Louis' top prosecutor by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson in May after Kim Gardner's sudden resignation, announced Wednesday that he is running for a full term in 2024.

NEW ST. LOUIS PROSECUTOR SAYS HE'S 'ENFORCING THE LAWS' AMID NOTABLE VIOLENT CRIME CRACKDOWN

Gore, a Democrat, was a St. Louis attorney and a partner in the Dowd Bennett law firm until his recent appointment. He has not previously run for public office.

He took over as the city's top prosecutor at a time when Gardner faced heavy criticism. Her turbulent...

A state appeals court has upheld decisions that denied a company a permit to build a golf course near a state park along Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shoreline.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources had approved a permit that would have allowed Kohler Company to fill in wetlands during construction of an 18-hole golf course in Sheboygan County near Kohler-Andre State Park.

WISCONSIN GOV EVERS VETOES BILL TO BAN GENDER TRANSITION TREATMENTS FOR KIDS

But an administrative law judge later overturned the DNR's decision granting that permit, and a...

Democrat Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown on Tuesday reinstated a member of his state's hate crime task force who posted numerous antisemitic social media posts, including a claim that the babies murdered in the brutal Oct. 7 Hamas attack were "fake."

Zainab Chaudry, an anti-Israel activist who serves as the director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) Maryland office, was suspended from the Maryland Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention on Nov. 21 after her posts surfaced.

"Upon further review, it was determined...

The actor has been missing from the public eye since April 2023, as he battled an undisclosed life-threatening condition.

Colombia and Brazil have destroyed 19 illegal gold mining sites and equipment in the Amazon rainforest.

Washington — A bill to approve tens of billions of dollars in emergency spending that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and other priorities hit an expected roadblock on Wednesday, when a key test vote in the Senate failed.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York pushed ahead with the procedural vote to advance the bill, known as an emergency supplemental, despite Republicans saying they would not support it without stricter U.S.-Mexico border security measures.

The vote on advancing the measure was 49 to 51, falling short of the...

The Biden administration delays a ban menthol cigarettes after pressure from civil rights groups who argued a ban would unfairly target Black smokers.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked further debate on a $100 billion-plus proposal to aid Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — which also includes border funding — citing its lack of stricter border policy changes.

The mostly party-line 49-51 vote did not reach the 60-vote threshold to continue debate on the bill. The Senate GOP for weeks threatened to stop it from advancing absent an agreement to add more conservative border policy changes. But those border talks, which recently stalled, are still significantly short of a deal.

Congressional leaders signaled they aren't giving up on passing more aid money, but it's tough to see a path forward since Republicans have said they won't clear it without significant border policy adjustments.

“You're not going to find something that gets every Democrat or Republican,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said Wednesday morning. “But we need to find something that gets hopefully the majority of both.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Wednesday morning tried to barter with Republicans, suggesting they could offer a border amendment to the supplemental package before its final vote, an offer he made publicly on Tuesday that was quickly panned by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Schumer said Democrats would “not interfere with the construction of that amendment" and that there would be no conditions — but it would have to pass at a 60-vote threshold.

“It’s they who have injected border into the Ukraine issue, even though the two are unrelated. And now they’re getting a golden opportunity to offer border at 60 votes,” Schumer said. “If that is not good enough for them, then what are they doing?”

McConnell made clear that wouldn't fly with Republicans and they still planned to block the supplemental spending bill.

“I’ve spent months highlighting the undeniable links between the threats we face in Europe, in the Middle East, and in the Indo-Pacific,” McConnell said on the floor Wednesday morning. “But Democratic leadership appears to be telling us today that they’re willing to risk each of these urgent priorities to avoid fixing our own borders right here at home.”

Speaker Mike Johnson has backed tying support for the the supplemental to border policy changes as well, especially given conservative opposition to sending more money to Ukraine could tank any bill in the House otherwise. That's bolstered some Senate Republicans who’ve framed this as a must-have.

“We believe that securing our own homeland, protecting American citizens should take precedence," said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).

The Senate is slated to head out of town Thursday and only has one more week of session scheduled until the new year. Senate Democratic leadership had hoped to pass the supplemental package before the holiday break.

At this point, that timeline is looking increasingly unlikely. While the White House has struck an especially urgent tone for Ukraine cash, saying it's imperative if Ukraine is going to keep countering Russia, it's not clear when, exactly, that funding would run out.

The U.S. has $4.66 billion left in presidential drawdown authority for Ukraine, which is how America transfers weapons directly to the battlefield. And there is also $1.1 billion in existing resources available to backfill U.S. stocks.

"We may reach a point where we cannot sustain the current level of security assistance support to Ukraine but until we get to that point, if ever, our spending decisions are informed by multiple factors, including Ukraine's immediate needs, equipment availability, and our capacity to replenish resources, ensuring that our aid is both strategic and sustainable," said DOD spokesperson Maj. Charlie Dietz.

Lara Seligman contributed to this report.