President Donald Trump will return to his affordability tour in the new year, sharing with Americans his claims that he is “bringing our economy back from the brink of ruin,” prices have “rapidly” fallen, and there is “no inflation” — claims that are not supported by available data.

But also in the new year, as many as five million Americans who have defaulted on their student loans could start to see a portion of their wages garnished.

“It will be the first time a portion of borrowers’ paychecks has been at risk since the start of the Covid pandemic, when collection activity was halted,” CNBC reported. “Starting the week of Jan. 7, the Education Department expects around 1,000 defaulted student loan borrowers to receive notices of administrative wage garnishment, the spokesperson said. After that, the number of notified borrowers will continue to increase.”

The Department of Education expects that while there currently are five million borrowers in default, that number could rise to ten million by the end of next year.

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“Student loan holders have been under pressure from a weakening labor market, a barrage of changes to the lending system and recent trouble accessing relief programs,” CNBC noted.

The potential wage garnishment also coincides also with a dramatic rise for some Americans in their health insurance premiums. For many using the Affordable Care Act marketplaces to access health insurance, some are reporting premiums starting in January that are doubling or more.

“Student debt has been barely mentioned as a source of the affordability crisis, despite millions being pushed into higher payments and defaults,” David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, noted last week.

“Seizing wages from student loan borrowers who can’t afford to pay their bills seems like an awfully stupid and cruel thing for the Trump administration to start doing,” remarked Democratic strategist Mike Nellis. “As if people aren’t struggling enough in this economy.”

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President Donald Trump announced he will host the “Trump Kennedy Center” honors on Tuesday night, where he also floated an unexpected question.

“At the request of the Board, and just about everybody else in America, I am hosting the event,” the president wrote in the lighthearted post. Trump is the chairman of the board.

“Tell me what you think of my ‘Master of Ceremony’ abilities,” he continued.

“If really good, would you like me to leave the Presidency in order to make ‘hosting’ a full time job?” Trump asked. It was not immediately clear whether he was joking.

This is the first time a U.S. president has hosted the event, which was recorded earlier this month and will be broadcast Tuesday night.

“We will be honoring true GREATS in the History of Entertainment: Sylvester Stallone, Michael Crawford, KISS, George Strait, and Gloria Gaynor,” Trump also noted.

Also unclear is if the “Trump Kennedy Center” name will remain. The Kennedy Center was named by an act of Congress.

A Democratic Congresswoman has filed a lawsuit on Monday to remove the president’s name from the iconic memorial to the late President John F. Kennedy.

READ MORE: DOJ Issues ‘Bizarre’ Disclaimer Defending Trump in Latest Epstein Files Dump

The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a disclaimer warning aimed at protecting President Donald Trump amid its latest Epstein files dump.

The files, approximately 30,000, comprise the third batch released by the Justice Department. All files were required to be released on December 19, but the DOJ has been releasing them in batches and said it could take up to several weeks for all the files to be made available.

“The latest documents appear to contain court records, emails, and some heavily or completely redacted files,” according to CNBC.

“Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the DOJ stated in its warning posted to social media.

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“To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already. Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims.”

The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol wrote, “The Justice Department as Trump’s defense counsel. And a disreputable one at that.”

Politico senior legal affairs correspondent Kyle Cheney called the DOJ’s statement “bizarre.”

“Bizarre defensive post from DOJ saying if allegations of Trump had any credibility they would’ve been ‘weaponized’ against him. But… if they had credibility, then pursuing them, by definition, wouldn’t be weaponization.”

The Bulwark’s Sam Stein called it a “tweet that reads as if it came from Trump’s personal defense lawyer.”

Former Republican U.S. Congressman Joe Walsh added, “Technically, this tweet is coming from our government. But it sounds like & reads like it’s coming from Trump’s lawyers. Trump has so completely corrupted our Justice Department.”

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Image via Reuters