Month: November 2025

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is pushing back against reports that she’s eyeing a future White House bid, days after revealing she will leave Congress early next year. The Georgia Republican, who announced Friday she will resign in January following a public split with former President Trump, said online speculation about a 2028 presidential campaign is unfounded.

TIME Magazine and NOTUS reported that Greene had privately discussed running for president, but she dismissed those accounts in a lengthy post on X, calling the reporting a “complete lie.” She added, “I’m not running for President and never said I wanted to and have only laughed about it when anyone would mention it.”

Greene — once one of Trump’s most visible allies — has recently broken with GOP leadership over issues including health care costs, spending negotiations and the government shutdown. Trump has since withdrawn his support and publicly criticized her, fueling questions about her political future. Her resignation announcement on Friday surprised colleagues and immediately triggered speculation about potential Senate, gubernatorial or presidential ambitions, all of which she has rejected.

Greene posted her resignation message on Friday, stating she ran for Congress in 2020 believing “Make America Great Again meant America First” and she asserted she’s had one of the most conservative voting records in Congress. “However with almost one year into our majority, the legislature has been mostly sidelined, we endured an 8 week shut down wrongly resulting in the House not working for the entire time, and we are entering campaign season which means all courage leaves and only safe campaign re-election mode is turned on,” she said.

Responding to the latest reports, Greene argued that pursuing the presidency “requires traveling all over the country, begging for donations all day everyday to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, arguing political talking points everyday to the point of exhaustion, destroying your health and having no personal life in order to attempt to get enough votes to become President all to go to work into a system that refuses to fix any of America’s problems.” She said she is “not motivated by power and titles,” contending that the “Political Industrial Complex has destroyed our country and will never allow someone like me or you to rise to power and actually solve the crises that plague all of us.”

Since entering Congress in 2021, Greene has built a national profile as a staunch conservative firebrand. Her decision to depart — and her sudden fallout with Trump — has reshaped her political trajectory and left supporters in her northwest Georgia district expressing disappointment. Greene has not indicated what she plans to do after leaving office, insisting only that she is not preparing for a presidential run.

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As officials from the United States, Ukraine and Europe continued intensive negotiations in Geneva this weekend over the peace proposal from the U.S. aimed at halting the nearly three-year war in Ukraine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the latest round as the most “productive” to date.

Rubio said the delegations were working through revisions in hopes of narrowing remaining disagreement, with top U.S. officials — including Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, envoy Steve Witkoff and senior national security advisers — meeting with Kyiv’s representatives as President Donald Trump signaled that further bargaining was still possible.

Rubio said that “I think this was a very, very meaningful – I would say probably best – meeting and day we’ve had so far in this entire process, going back to when we first came into office in January. But there’s still some work left to do and that’s what our teams are going to be doing right now … We’re making some changes and adjustments in hopes of further narrowing the differences and getting closer to an outcome that both Ukraine and the United States can be comfortable with,” Rubio said, promising updates after additional meetings.

Similarly, Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said after meeting with Rubio that “We have very good progress and we are moving forward to the just and lasting peace.”

Following a call with French president Emmanuel Macron later on Sunday, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy posted that “our teams in Geneva are working with partners, and it is very important that there is a practical result and that it brings Ukraine and all of Europe closer to reliable peace and security.”  Zelenskyy also addressed the U.S. and Trump, saying in part “we count on our partners to hear our arguments. The leadership of the United States is important, we are grateful for everything that America and President Trump are doing for security, and we keep working as constructively as possible,” writing in part that “the crux of the entire diplomatic situation is that it was Russia, and only Russia, that started this war, and it is Russia, and only Russia, that has been refusing to end it throughout the full-scale invasion.”

The draft 28-point peace plan shared with both Ukraine and Russia includes highly contentious measures: ceding additional territory in the Donbas, recognizing Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk as Russian, sharply reducing Ukraine’s military and blocking any future NATO membership. It also calls for Moscow’s reintegration into global institutions, including a return to the G8. Critics in Washington and Europe have warned the terms resemble Russian demands rather than a balanced settlement.

Confusion over the proposal’s authorship deepened the debate. Some lawmakers said it reflected a “wish list” from Moscow, but the State Department insisted it represents the Trump administration’s position, informed by input from both Kyiv and the Kremlin. Ukrainian officials have struck a cautious tone, saying the plan contains elements aligned with their priorities but still requires significant changes.

Despite public friction — including Trump’s criticism of Ukraine and European allies —  Zelenskyy has emphasized continued engagement, urging partners to strengthen air defenses amid ongoing Russian strikes and stressing that any agreement must provide durable security.

Moscow, meanwhile, has publicly acknowledged receiving the proposal. Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Security Council, “I believe that it could also form the basis for a final peace settlement, but this text has not been discussed with us in detail,” adding, “I believe the reason is the same: the U.S. administration has not yet managed to secure the agreement of the Ukrainian side, as Ukraine is opposed to it.” He also claimed, “Apparently, Ukraine and its European allies are still under the illusion that they can inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield.”

U.S. officials say additional meetings — including one with Russian representatives — are expected as diplomacy accelerates. Whether the proposal can be reshaped into a mutually acceptable agreement remains unclear, but negotiators on all sides say time and battlefield realities are tightening the pressure for a breakthrough.

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Current and former political leaders from both sides of the aisle gathered at Washington National Cathedral on Thursday for the funeral of former Vice President Dick Cheney, whose decades in public life made him one of the most consequential figures in modern U.S. politics. Cheney, who died Nov. 3 at age 84 from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, was remembered by family, colleagues and longtime aides during the service.

President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden were among those in attendance, along with former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Al Gore and Dan Quayle.  Also present were prominent lawmakers and conservative figures, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sens. Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham, Bill Kristol, Hugh Hewitt and former national security adviser John Bolton. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were not invited, according to officials familiar with the arrangements.

President George W. Bush, who relied on Cheney as a central partner throughout his presidency, delivered one of the service’s principal eulogies. He recalled the unusual moment in 2000 when Cheney, then leading Bush’s vice-presidential search, urged him to consider reasons not to choose him. “At such a moment, most in this position would have jumped at the chance. But Dick stayed detached and he analyzed it,” Bush said, noting that despite Cheney’s reservations, he ultimately trusted his own instincts. He remembered telling his father of the choice and hearing, “Son, you couldn’t pick a better man.” Bush later captured the broader sentiment among the mourners as he described Cheney as “a gentleman by nature, and a true man of the west,” reflecting both the divisive and unifying chapters of Cheney’s long career in public service.

The service drew political leaders across the spectrum, as well as Cheney’s daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney, who later broke with the Trump-era GOP. She and her father became outspoken critics of Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 attack, and both declared in 2024 that they would vote for Kamala Harris.

Liz Cheney honored her father with a tribute that intertwined personal memories and her father’s views on American civic duty. She described how her father’s passion for history shaped her childhood, recalling long visits to Civil War battlegrounds where he insisted on reading every sign. She said the turning point in his life came after hearing President John F. Kennedy challenge students to dedicate themselves to the nation. “I think this is the moment my dad decided what direction his life should take,” she said. Although Kennedy inspired him, Liz Cheney emphasized that her father’s commitment to country always outweighed party loyalties. “Dick Cheney became a Republican, but he knew that bonds of party must always yield to the single bond we share as Americans,” she said. “For him, a choice between defense of the Constitution and defense of your political party was no choice at all.”

Other speakers included Cheney’s longtime cardiologist, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, and former Pentagon press secretary Pete Williams, who shared stories dating back to Cheney’s tenure as defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush. Williams recounted Cheney’s refusal to accept his resignation in 1991, when Williams learned he was about to be publicly outed. “He wouldn’t hear of it,” Williams said, recalling Cheney’s daily calls afterward to ensure he was doing well.

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Amazon has begun distributing refunds connected to its $2.5 billion settlement with federal regulators, with automatic payments rolling out to eligible Prime members starting November 12 and continuing through December 24. The payout follows accusations from the Federal Trade Commission that the company steered users into Prime subscriptions and obstructed attempts to cancel.

When the settlement was announced, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said, “The evidence showed that Amazon used sophisticated subscription traps designed to manipulate consumers into enrolling in Prime and then made it exceedingly hard for consumers to end their subscription.” He later added, “We are putting billions of dollars back into Americans’ pockets, and making sure Amazon never does this again.”

Amazon, while agreeing to the settlement, denied wrongdoing and noted it chose to resolve the dispute to avoid a lengthy legal fight, saying at the time that “Amazon and our executives have always followed the law.”

Under the agreement, Prime members who enrolled between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025, may qualify for refunds of up to $51. Automatic payments are going to users who either enrolled through or attempted to leave via the company’s “challenged enrollment flow,” including versions of the Universal Prime Decision Page, Shipping Option Select Page, Prime Video enrollment flow, or Single Page Checkout. These customers must also have used no more than three Prime benefits within a year.

Most eligible shoppers don’t have to take any action, according to the FTC. Payments will arrive via PayPal or Venmo and must be accepted within 15 days, though customers who prefer a check can simply ignore the digital refund; Amazon will then mail a check to the default address on file, which must be cashed within 60 days.

For Prime users who do not receive an automatic refund, a claims process will open December 24. The FTC says notices with instructions will be sent no later than January 26, 2026. A separate claims window will also launch next year for any additional eligible customers who did not receive refunds during the initial November–December payment period.

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