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December 18, 2025

7 entries on this date.

White House officials threatened to withhold Smithsonian funds unless it complied with content review by January 13

White House Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought sent a letter to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III on December 18, 2025, warning that federal funds for the Smithsonian are "only available for use in a manner consistent" with Executive Order 14253 and stating that materials the Smithsonian had submitted that fall "fell far short of what was requested." The letter demanded current exhibition descriptions, programming files, draft plans for upcoming shows, and internal curatorial guidelines, and set a January 13, 2026 deadline for compliance.

President Trump signed the FY2026 NDAA, barring transgender athletes at military academies and ending Pentagon DEI offices

On December 18, 2025, President Donald Trump signed S.1071, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (Public Law 119-60), into law. The act bars individuals whose sex is male from competing on female-designated teams at the U.S. military service academies and prohibits the Department of Defense from maintaining any diversity, equity, and inclusion office or plan or recognizing employee resource groups organized around characteristics including sexual orientation or gender identity. The Senate passed the conference version 75-22 and the House 312-112.

JTF Southern Spear killed five across two suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 27th-28th strikes, ~104 campaign deaths

On December 18, 2025, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out two successive lethal strikes on vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean — the 27th and 28th of the campaign — killing five people in total, according to U.S. Southern Command. The command asserted the boats were operated by designated terrorist organizations on known narco-trafficking routes but provided no charges, evidence, or attempt at interdiction or arrest. The strikes pushed the campaign's reported cumulative death toll past 100.

DOJ sued Illinois election board to compel release of 8.3 million voters' driver's license and Social Security data

On December 18, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the executive director of the Illinois State Board of Elections in federal court in Springfield, seeking the state's complete voter-registration list -- including every registrant's date of birth, address, and driver's license number or partial Social Security number -- for roughly 8.3 million voters. The suit, signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, was one of four DOJ filed that day, also against Wisconsin, Georgia, and the District of Columbia, bringing DOJ's nationwide total to 22 such lawsuits.

DOJ sued D.C.'s Board of Elections to compel release of voters' unredacted driver's license and Social Security data

On December 18, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the District of Columbia Board of Elections in federal court, seeking to compel production of D.C.'s complete voter-registration database -- including every registrant's date of birth, address, and driver's license number or partial Social Security number -- after the board had turned over only a limited list citing D.C. privacy law. The suit, docketed as United States v. Evans, was one of four DOJ filed that day, also against Wisconsin, Illinois, and Georgia, bringing DOJ's nationwide campaign to 22 such lawsuits.

DOJ sued Georgia's secretary of state to compel release of voters' driver's license and Social Security numbers

On December 18, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in federal court in Macon, seeking to compel him to turn over Georgia's full voter-registration database including addresses, driver's license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers. Raffensperger had already given DOJ the state's public voter-roll data on December 8 but refused the additional sensitive fields, citing a Georgia statute barring their disclosure; DOJ's complaint alleges the refusal violates the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. The suit was one of four DOJ filed that day -- also against Wisconsin, Illinois, and the District of Columbia -- in a nationwide campaign that had by then sought voter data from at least 26 states.

DOJ sued Wisconsin to compel voter data after bipartisan elections commission refused as unlawful

On December 18, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the State of Wisconsin in federal court in Madison, seeking the state's full voter-registration list -- including voters' full names, dates of birth, addresses and driver's license numbers -- a week after the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission voted against the request, with both Republican and Democratic commissioners saying compliance would be illegal under state law. The suit was one of four DOJ filed that day, also against Illinois, Georgia, and the District of Columbia, bringing DOJ's nationwide total to 22 such lawsuits.