There is a lot on our radar along with Santa’s sleigh…

• • The Justice Department is dipping into the National Black Toner Cartridge Strategic Reserve as it redacts tens-of-thousands of pages of the Epstein files. Even so, the scandal continues to grow in a way not seen since the days of Monica Lewinsky.
• Larry Nassar, the disgraced onetime MSU sports doctor, is now a part of the scandal. A note allegedly from Epstein celebrates their shared perverted interest in vulnerable teenage girls. The FBI says the letter is a fake – and we know that Kash Patel would never tell a lie. The newly released files also show Trump was an Epstein Frequent Flyer … after saying for months he never flew on Lolita Airlines.
• Attorneys General are increasingly in the political bullseye. Democrats in the U.S. House may be joined by some Republicans to impeach Pam Bondi over the Epstein files debacle, even as Bondi continues to fail in efforts to indict New York AG Leticia James. In Michigan, state House Republicans are mulling over an attempt to impeach Attorney General Dana Nessel, something that would be totally symbolic but make MAGA Republicans feel good.
• The MAGA movement may need to get some couples therapy after an unhinged verbal brawl at the Turning Point USA weekend conference. We’ll be joined later in the podcast by Politico senior Adam Wren who’s been covering Turning Point’s efforts to be a major political force.
• The next key political battle in Michigan: a special election for the state Senate. The primary for replacing now-Congresswoman Kristen McDonald Rivet is set for February 3 … a swing district that will determine control of the state Senate for 2026. We’ll take a look at the candidates on both sides.
• CBS News has gone from The Gold Standard for broadcast news to the toilet with Trump-favorable censorship of 60 Minutes. Murrow, Cronkite, Severeid, et. al. are spinning in their graves, and the very much alive Katie Couric calls it a “disgrace.”
• First it was the Donald Trump Institute for Peace, then the Kennedy Center, Trump Saving Accounts, Trump $1 coins. Now Donald Trump has decided an entire class of battleships will bear his name…and he’ll play a role in designing them because, he says, “I’m a very aesthetic person.” Is the world’s first gold-plated Navy fleet in our future? And will he continue his years-long business of licensing use of his name on other people’s projects?
• Trump has raised the possibility of awarding himself a $1-billion settlement of the lawsuit he’s filed against the government he runs…in effect, judge, jury and beneficiary. Why stop at a billion? Why not a trillion or gazillion? Of course he’ll say tariffs will cover the check.

We’re joined this week by Adam Wren, a national political correspondent for POLITICO, based in the Midwest. He is a contributor to POLITICO Magazine, Playbook and West Wing Playbook, focusing on Donald Trump’s remaking of the federal government and the Democratic response to his return to power ahead of what could be a wide-open 2028 presidential contest. Wren previously served as a national politics features correspondent at Business Insider. He has also written for The New York Times and Washington Post. Originally from Ohio, Adam graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University and has a master’s from Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill School of Journalism.

You can find Adam online X/Twitter and Instagram.