Responding to news that unemployment jumped to a four-year high of 4.6%, President Donald Trump lashed out at the “fake news” media and claimed he could slash that number by more than half, to 2%.

In a Truth Social post, the president claimed that the “only” reason unemployment “ticked up” is because “we are reducing the Government Workforce by numbers that have never been seen before.”

He also mischaracterized the unemployment rate as 4.5%, not 4.6%, the official and widely-reported number.

Trump then explained how he could reduce the unemployment rate.

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“I could reduce Unemployment to 2% overnight by just hiring people into the Federal Government, even though those Jobs are not necessary,” he wrote.

Trump’s remarks align with comments made one day earlier by Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, as CNN’s Alayna Treene noted.

When asked why the president had claimed that unemployment is down during his Wednesday primetime address, Hassett appeared to suggest that federal government jobs should not be part of the calculation.

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“If you look at the numbers, then there’s really one big factor that explains the difference, and that is that because of tightening government spending,” Hassett told Treene. “We’ve reduced federal employment by 250,000 workers.”

“And so if you adjust the unemployment rate for the fact that there’s been a large loss for government workers, for federal government workers, then you get numbers that are consistent with what the president’s saying.”

Trump finished his post by writing, “I wish the Fake News would report the 4.5% correctly. What I am doing is the only way to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

I pressed National Economic Director Kevin Hassett this morning on why the president chose to exaggerate some of the economic stats he cited in his address last night — specifically the idea that unemployment is down (it’s up, from 4% when he entered office to most recently 4.6%) pic.twitter.com/4WXli1jhRf

— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) December 18, 2025

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The U.S. Department of Justice will fail to meet the legally required Friday deadline to release all Epstein files to Congress, releasing only part of the material.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche “told Fox News that the Justice Department would release ‘several hundred thousand’ documents on Friday, ‘and then over the next couple weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more,'” as The Hill reported.

“So today is the 30 days when I expect that we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today. And those documents will come in in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with, with all of the investigations into, into Mr. Epstein,” Blanche said.

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“What we’re doing is we are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim, their name, their identity, their story to the extent it needs to be protected is completely protected,” Blanche added.

Critics weighed in on the Friday deadline.

“The bottom line: The Trump administration is missing today’s legal deadline to release the Epstein files,” wrote Politico senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney. “Blanche says many will be released on a rolling basis over next couple of weeks. Curious what percentage of total files ‘several hundred thousand’ is.”

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) posted a copy of that law and highlighted the word “all,” and this passage: “Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act…”

The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol asked, “Who’s selecting which files are released when? Nonpartisan career people (lol)? Or Bondi, Blanche, and Patel? Has Trump been shown some files? Has he had a say in what’s being released, and when and how?”

U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) wrote: “President Trump must comply with the law and its deadline to release all the Epstein files. The victims of Jeffrey Epstein deserve justice, and the country deserves transparency and accountability.”

Journalist Marcy Wheeler accused Blanche of “breaking the law.”

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President Donald Trump faces devastation and humiliation if former Special Counsel Jack Smith is successful with his bid to testify in public before Congress, says a prominent Democrat, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD).

Despite requesting a public hearing, Smith delivered a closed-doors deposition this week before the House Judiciary Committee. As Special Counsel, Smith oversaw two major indictments of Donald Trump, one involving alleged election interference and the other involving his alleged removal, retention, and refusal to return classified documents.

Smith’s attorneys are petitioning Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan to allow their client to testify in an open forum, according to Politico.

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“[We] reiterate our request for an open and public hearing,” Smith’s lawyers wrote to Jordan. “During the investigation of President Trump, Mr. Smith steadfastly followed Justice Department policies, observed all legal requirements, and took actions based on the facts and the law. He stands by his decisions.”

The attorneys also requested the full eight-hour video of Smith’s sworn deposition be released to the public in full.

“According to portions of his statement shared with POLITICO, Smith argued the evidence in his office’s possession would have provided proof of the President’s criminal behavior ‘beyond a reasonable doubt.'”

In his opening statement, Politico had reported, Smith “maintained that this team found evidence to prove ‘beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.’”

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Democrats opposed holding Smith’s deposition in private, and “have argued the decision to hold the private deposition deprived the American public of important information about the president and amounted to an effort to distort the record of Smith’s testimony.”

Congressman Raskin, the Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee, remains hopeful Chairman Jordan will allow Smith to testify in public.

Speaking to Politico on Thursday, Raskin said, “I think somebody should prepare Donald Trump for it, because he will be devastated and humiliated by what he hears.”

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