AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File

CBS News abruptly yanked a “60 Minutes” segment on Sunday that revealed conditions inside a notorious Salvadoran prison where the Trump administration has sent Venezuelan migrants.

Why?: The New York Times’s Michael M. Grynbaum reports that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss “requested numerous changes to the segment,” which led to it being pulled.

This sparked fierce backlash. The segment’s correspondent, Sharyn Alfonsi, bashed the decision as “political.” 

From Alfonsi, per the Times: “Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) pushed CBS to explain its decision.

Weiss’s reasoning: NPR reports that Weiss doesn’t want the segment to air without first getting an on-the-record statement from the Trump administration.

NEW: Weiss addressed the situation on a morning call today. She said the reporting “didn’t advance the ball,” arguing other news outlets had reported the conditions at the prison, per CNN’s Brian Stelter.

Weiss reportedly said on the CBS call: “The only newsroom I’m interested in running is one in which we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest editorial matters with respect, and, crucially, where we assume the best intent of our colleagues. Anything else is absolutely unacceptable.” More from the transcript of the call

Stelter also reports that “people are threatening to quit over this.”

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The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer writes that “CBS and CNN Are Being Sacrificed to Trump.”

The gist: “Media conglomerates want the president’s permission for mergers—and control of news outlets is at stake.”

Paramount has revised its hostile takeover offer to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.

The big change: “billionaire Larry Ellison [has agreed to] to personally guarantee $40.4 billion of equity financing for the deal and publish records related to the family trust that backstops it.” (WSJ)

Tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela are rising. President Trump is ramping up his pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. But The Hill’s Laura Kelly and Filip Timotija report that Trump’s end game is muddled.

What we know: Trump has not ruled out war with Venezuela. There has also been speculation the Trump administration wants a regime change. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle. And people way smarter than me on that say that [Maduro] will.”

Plus: The administration also moved to designate the Venezuelan government as a foreign terrorist organization and placed new sanctions on Maduro’s relatives. “This comes on top of a months-long campaign of controversial and fatal military strikes against speedboats in the Caribbean allegedly trafficking drugs.”

Read Kelly and Timotija’s reporting on the escalating tension between the U.S. and Venezuela

Related read in The Atlantic: ‘Trump Discovers Maduro’s Achilles’ Heel: After months of strikes, tankers are a new, and smarter, target.’

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released just a portion of the highly anticipated Jeffrey Epstein files on Friday, the deadline mandated by federal law. But the batch of files, their heavy redactions and the messy rollout have only sparked more questions and criticism.

For example: At least 16 Epstein files, one of which included a photo of President Trump, were removed from the DOJ’s website over the weekend. (The Trump photo was later reposted.)

The DOJ posted on social media that “photos and other materials will continue being reviewed and redacted consistent with the law in an abundance of caution as we receive additional information.”

Oh, and: The DOJ also called on the public to contact the DOJ if they notice any “information that should not have been posted.” 😅

Lawmakers in both parties are unhappy with the level of redactions. Democrats and other critics argue the heavy redactions are not in compliance with the law. The DOJ says it will release more files in the coming weeks, though the bipartisan law mandated that all files be released by last Friday.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) is pushing for the Senate to sue the Justice Department over the partial disclosure of files. And some lawmakers have threatened to hold Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt.

GOP Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) says he thinks the Trump administration made a “big mistake” by only partially releasing the Epstein files. “This will just plague them for months and months more,” Paul told ABC News’s “This Week.”

The gist of the files released: There were no new major revelations. Photos show Epstein with former President Clinton; actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker; musicians Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross; and news anchor Walter Cronkite.

President Trump has appointed Jeff Landry as his special envoy to Greenland, the Danish territory he has long wanted to turn into a U.S. territory.

^ Yes, Jeff Landry, the sitting governor of Louisiana.

Landry understands the assignment: Landry thanked Trump in a social media post, pledging “to make Greenland a part of the U.S.” He also said this new role won’t affect his role as governor.

Greenland and Denmark are furious: The leaders of Greenland and Denmark issued a joint statement emphasizing that Greenland cannot be annexed. “You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security,” they wrote.

As a reminder — why does Trump want Greenland?: He argues the territory is essential to U.S. national security.

— Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will swear in Zohran Mamdani (D) as New York City’s next mayor in a public ceremony on Jan. 1., per The Hill’s Alexander Bolton.

— Trump has threatened to withhold Smithsonian funds if the museum institution doesn’t submit additional documentation for the Trump administration’s sweeping content review. 

— American Airlines loyalty members will no longer receive miles and rewards when purchasing basic economy fares. 

— Rapper Nicki Minaj made a surprise appearance at Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest conference on Sunday.

— The Trump administration triples its “exit bonus” to $3,000 for migrants who self-deport before the new year.

The New York Times: Hundreds of Big Post-Election Donors Have Benefited From Trump’s Return to Office

The Washington Post: How Trump and DOGE broke the U.S. government

The Wall Street Journal: How Putin Got His Preferred U.S. Envoy: Come Alone, No CIA

The Hill: Trump’s attempted takeover of DC golf courses sets off controversy

Op-ed in The New York Times: How We Got to This Marco Rubio Moment

President Trump has denied disaster aid to Colorado in the wake of wildfires and flooding, Gov. Jared Polis (D) announced Sunday.

Polis accused the president of playing "political games" and urged him to reconsider.

The Hill's Rachel Frazin reports that Trump's denial comes "as his administration is expected to try to downsize the Federal Emergency Management Agency and spend less federal money on disaster response." Read more here.

The administration has suspended leases for several major offshore wind projects on the East Coast. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum cited "national security concerns" for the pause.