Monday morning news: December 1, 2025

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U.S., Ukraine talks: Trump says ‘good chance’ for a deal » President Trump says he thinks there’s ‘a good chance’ of a coming deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war following peace talks between the U.S. and Ukraine in Florida Sunday.

TRUMP: We want to stop people from being killed. It doesn’t have much to do with us, but I’d like to see if we could save a lot of souls.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the four-hour-long talks productive, but he added the situation’s still fragile and there’s more work to be done.

RUBIO: It’s not just about the terms that ends [sic] fighting, it’s about also the terms that set up Ukraine for long-term prosperity.

Along those lines, the plan being discussed would create a development fund to help Ukraine invest in fast-growing industries. Plus, the U.S. would help modernize Ukraine’s natural gas infrastructure.

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling to Russia today, where he’s slated to work on the peace proposal some more with that country’s leader, Vladimir Putin.

President Trump has said he won’t meet with Putin or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy until both countries have preliminarily agreed to a peace deal.

Trump invites parents of shot West Virginia Guard members to White House » The families of those two West Virginia National Guard members shot in Washington, D.C. last week have received invitations to the White House.

An Afghan national gunned down Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe and Specialist Sarah Beckstrom just blocks from the White House. Beckstrom died, while Wolfe is still fighting for his life.

Both were deployed to D.C. as part of the president’s crime crackdown in the nation’s capital. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey tells Fox News:

MORRISEY: Everyone in the state is zeroed in on how we can send as many prayers as possible to Andrew. And a lot of people are asking questions about how such an unfathomable, evil act occurred.

Funeral arrangements for Beckstrom are still in the works. President Trump spoke with her parents and says they’re devastated. He says the White House will honor both soldiers when their families are ready, but he wants them to take their time.

Netanyahu requests pardon in corruption trial » Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asking for a pardon to end his ongoing corruption trial.

Netanyahu is facing fraud and other charges, accused of exchanging political favors with wealthy supporters. He rejects those charges.

Sunday, Netanyahu formally asked Israel’s president to grant a pardon, claiming the trial has divided the country. Here’s a portion of Netanyahu’s address, interpreted through a translator.

NETANYAHU: I am certain, as are many others in the nation, that the immediate end of this trial will greatly help to lower the flames and promote the broad reconciliation that our country so desperately needs.

Netanyahu added his personal interest would’ve been to let the trial run all the way to acquittal but says ending it is best for Israel’s national interest.

The Office of the Israeli President called the pardon request extraordinary. Though the president has broad discretion to grant a pardon, requests are generally only reviewed once legal proceedings have ended.

Lawmakers support review of Trump Administration drug boat strikes » Lawmakers in both chambers of Congress say they’re taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of U.S. military strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.

Democratic Virginia Senator Tim Kaine says he’s especially troubled by a recent Washington Post report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth verbally ordered all crew members of one strike on a boat from Venezuela killed in September, possibly leading to a follow-up attack taking out survivors of the initial strike.

KAINE: It's a clear violation of the DOD's own laws of war, um, as well as international laws about the way you treat people who are in that circumstance and so this rises to the level of a war crime if it's true.

Kaine on CBS’s Face the Nation.

The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee say they’ll be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts.

Hegseth says the strikes on suspected drugboats have been lawful.

President Trump says he’s not sure if there was a follow-up attack in the strike reported by the Washington Post, but he says Hegseth didn’t order a second strike and wouldn’t have approved of one.

Winter weather travel nightmare » A massive blast of wintry weather caused all kinds of travel headaches Sunday for people headed back from Thanksgiving celebrations.

The storm dumped several inches of snow across the Midwest, including about eight and a half at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, where hundreds of flights were canceled and delayed.

That left travelers like Tara Tharpe, who was hoping to fly from Atlanta to Chicago, in limbo.

THARPE: If it’s delayed, we got some family here who’s on standby to come back and pick us up, so we will see how it goes.

Thousands of people lost power in Wisconsin. And in west Michigan, where they got a foot of snow in some spots, hundreds of churches told worshipers to stay home and watch services online.

Black Friday sales hit record » Black Friday sales in the U.S. were up 4 percent this year over last.

That was driven mostly by record online sales of $11.8 billion dollars, up $1 billion from 2024, according to Adobe Analytics.

Nichole MacDonald sells clothing accessories and was happy with the turnout for her small business.

MACDONALD: I didn't know what to expect because all everything we're hearing is how consumers are pulling back, you know, they're concerned about the economy, and so it's really nice to see shoppers, uh, showing up and supporting small business.

Now the cold water. Salesforce says people were buying fewer items at checkout this year, and part of the reason for the record spending was higher prices for the things people were buying.

I'm Mark Mellinger.

Straight ahead: Looking at how much discretion judges have to reopen cases long considered final in today’s Legal Docket. And later, the Bible passage Rosa Parks looked to for strength.

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