Month: December 2025

President Donald Trump on Monday introduced a $12 billion federal assistance package aimed at helping American farmers absorb the financial blow of the prolonged trade conflict with China. Trump announced the initiative during a White House event joined by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, lawmakers, and farmers from across the country.

Trump said the program will be funded through tariff revenue, arguing that “This money would not be possible without tariffs.” He added that “This relief will provide much-needed certainty to farmers as they get this year’s harvest to market and look ahead to next year’s crops,” noting that the support is also intended to ease food costs for consumers.

During Monday’s event, Rollins and Bessent emphasized the administration’s promise to strengthen the agricultural sector. Rollins said $1 billion would be held back to ensure assistance reaches specialty crop producers as well. She argued that farmers are still recovering from the “Biden years,” claiming Trump’s trade approach is creating new market opportunities despite the turbulence caused by tariffs.

According to administration officials, roughly $11 billion will be directed to crop producers through one-time payments under the Department of Agriculture’s Farmer Bridge Assistance program. The remaining funds will support farmers not covered under the main program. Rollins said payments will begin rolling out in the coming weeks and must be distributed by Feb. 28, 2026.

The announcement follows steep losses in U.S. soybean sales after China halted purchases in retaliation for U.S. tariffs. China—historically the largest buyer of American soybeans—had resumed limited purchases under a preliminary trade understanding reached in October. The White House previously said the agreement would lead to at least 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybean purchases in the last two months of 2025, but analysts have warned that imports may fall short of normal levels.

Farmers nationwide have reported tightening margins as they contend with low crop prices, high input costs, and the ongoing fallout from the trade war. Prices for corn, soybeans, and cotton have fallen over the past two years, while some growers say they continue to face significant financial strain. Bessent said U.S. soybean prices have risen as much as 15% since the October agreement, adding that China is buying in a “perfect cadence.”

The administration began exploring farm relief as early as October, with initial estimates suggesting more than $10 billion in potential support. Those discussions were stalled by a 43-day government shutdown.

Alongside the aid announcement, Trump pledged to ease environmental rules for agricultural machinery manufacturers, saying federal regulations “don’t do a damn thing except make it complicated,” and warned companies to lower equipment prices once those restrictions are lifted. Trump said Monday that he expects China to buy “even more than he promised to do,” while administration officials insisted Beijing remains on track to meet its commitments. The White House says the new aid program is designed to stabilize farmers until markets more fully recover.

China’s reengagement with U.S. agriculture follows a period in which Beijing looked to suppliers in Argentina and Brazil. In October, the Treasury Department announced a $20 billion currency swap agreement with Argentina, a move some U.S. farmers criticized as giving an advantage to foreign competitors. Bessent later said Treasury made a profit on the swaps, though that provided little reassurance to growers awaiting long-promised federal support.

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Alina Habba, the former personal attorney to Donald Trump who was appointed earlier this year to serve as acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, announced Monday that she is resigning. The move from Habba follows a decisive federal appeals court ruling that found she had been installed in the role without proper legal authority.

In a statement posted to X, Habba wrote that “as a result of the Third Circuit’s ruling, and to protect the stability and integrity of the office which I love, I have decided to step down in my role as the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey,” adding later, “do not mistake compliance for surrender.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed she had accepted Habba’s resignation, saying the appeals court’s decision had made it “untenable for her to effectively run her office.” Bondi, who criticized the ruling, said Habba will continue serving as a “senior advisor to the Attorney General for U.S. Attorneys” and that the Justice Department intends to appeal the decision. She added that Habba hopes to return to the job if the ruling is overturned.

Habba’s departure ends a months-long dispute over whether she could legally lead the New Jersey office without Senate confirmation. The controversy began in August, when a federal judge ruled she was serving “without lawful authority,” a decision upheld unanimously last week by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Although Bondi attempted to keep her in place by designating her a “Special Attorney to the Attorney General,” the courts’ findings continued to cast doubt on her authority, prompting delays in several proceedings.

Before her appointment, Habba represented Trump in high-profile civil and defamation cases. Her legal work has drawn increasing scrutiny: last month, a federal appeals court upheld a $1 million sanction against her and Trump for filing a frivolous lawsuit targeting former FBI Director James Comey and Hillary Clinton.

The administration’s broader effort to place Trump-aligned attorneys in top federal prosecutor roles has faced repeated setbacks. Judges across multiple jurisdictions have rejected similar appointments, including the recent removal of Lindsey Halligan—another Trump ally—from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia. That ruling also led to the dismissal of criminal cases involving Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, and a grand jury last week declined to revive the James case.

Tensions escalated further on Monday when Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a joint statement rebuking judges who questioned Halligan’s authority, accusing them of “engaging in an unconscionable campaign of bias and hostility.” The statement said that “Lindsey and our attorneys are simply doing their jobs: advocating for the Department of Justice’s positions while following guidance from the Office of Legal Counsel. They do not deserve to have their reputations questioned in court for ethically advocating on behalf of their client. This Department of Justice has no tolerance for undemocratic judicial activism.”

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A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Justice Department from accessing or using materials taken from a longtime associate of ex-FBI Director James Comey, adding a significant hurdle as prosecutors consider reviving a dismissed criminal case.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued the emergency order Saturday in response to a lawsuit brought by Columbia law professor Daniel Richman, a close friend and former attorney for Comey. Richman argues the government violated his Fourth Amendment rights by holding on to—and continuing to search—a full copy of his computer despite the limits of earlier warrants.

In her four-page ruling, Kollar-Kotelly wrote that “Richman is likely to succeed on the merits of his claim that the government has violated his Fourth Amendment right … by retaining a complete copy of all files on his personal computer … and searching that image without a warrant.” She instructed prosecutors to “identify, segregate, and secure” the data, bar access without court approval, and comply with her directives by Monday morning. The order is in effect through Dec. 12 unless modified.

Richman’s devices were imaged under warrants obtained between 2017 and 2020 during a separate leak inquiry opened after President Donald Trump fired Comey. That investigation ended in 2021 with no charges, but according to both Richman’s lawsuit and court filings reviewed by Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, the government appeared to have kept the full computer image instead of only the material authorized under the warrants. Fitzpatrick warned last month that prosecutors conducting this year’s renewed investigation into Comey seemed to have accessed that data again—this time without obtaining a new warrant—potentially exposing attorney-client communications and other protected material.

The DOJ’s first indictment accused Comey of misleading and obstructing Congress regarding whether he had authorized Richman to share information with reporters. That case collapsed in late November when U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie dismissed it without prejudice after finding that lead prosecutor Lindsey Halligan’s appointment was “invalid.”  The Justice Department had since signaled plans to pursue another indictment, reportedly within weeks, prompting Richman’s emergency request to block any further use of the seized materials. Prosecutors must now respond to his lawsuit by Tuesday, while the restraining order prevents the department from touching the data until at least Friday unless the judge lifts it.

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