US in quiet Middle East talks with Russia; Pentagon launches Mark Kelly review
The U.S. is quietly engaging in high-level talks with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi as the administration works to shape a peace deal for Ukraine. A proposal that once included 28 points has now been reduced to 19.
Plus, a judge dismissed the indictments against James Comey and Letitia James after ruling that the prosecutor who charged them wasn’t lawfully appointed. The White House said the Department of Justice will appeal. Comey responded in a new video.
And storms, fog and snow are already disrupting Thanksgiving week travel. Millions are on the move Tuesday, and more delays are likely as new weather systems develop.
These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025.
Army secretary meets with Russian delegation to work on revised Ukraine peace plan
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is meeting with members of the Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to try to hammer out a peace deal with Ukraine. He’s there for a second round of closed-door talks after spending several hours with a Russian delegation Monday night, according to ABC and CBS News.
These newly revealed talks come on the heels of weekend negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, between Ukrainian officials and a U.S. team led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Driscoll.
ABC News reported that, after those meetings, President Donald Trump’s original 28-point peace plan developed with Moscow has been cut to 19 points.
Among the provisions removed: a proposed amnesty for wartime actions and limits on the future size of Ukraine’s military.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his address Monday night that the plan still needs significant work.
And all of this is happening as the war grinds on.
Overnight, Russia launched a wave of strikes across Ukraine, killing at least six people and hitting city buildings and energy infrastructure.
Ukraine, meanwhile, carried out an attack in southern Russia, killing three and damaging homes.
DOJ will appeal ruling after judge tosses Comey, James indictments: White House
A federal judge tossed out the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In her 29-page ruling, Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled the indictments invalid because the prosecutor who brought them, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed.
She wrote, “All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment, including securing and signing Mr. Comey’s indictment, constitute unlawful exercises of executive power and must be set aside. There is simply ‘no alternative course to cure the unconstitutional problem.’”
Halligan never had the authority to take these cases to a grand jury, meaning the charges can’t stand.
A former Trump aide with no prior prosecutorial experience, Halligan was installed after career prosecutors reportedly pushed back on filing charges. She then secured both indictments single-handedly, which became the basis for the judge’s ruling.
Comey reacted to the ruling Monday night in a video on Instagram, saying:
“I’m grateful that the court ended the case against me, which was a prosecution based on malevolence and incompetence and a reflection of what the Department of Justice has become under Donald Trump, which is heartbreaking.”
At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared Trump’s reaction to the ruling and made it clear this isn’t the end of the road.
“His reaction was, we’ve seen this before, we have seen partisan judges take unprecedented steps to try to intervene in accountability before, but we’re not going to give up. And I know that the Department of Justice intends to appeal these rulings very soon. If they haven’t already, I may have missed it.”
— White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
And that appeal is key.
For Letitia James, the government could still try to refile charges under a lawfully appointed prosecutor.
For Comey, the timing is much tighter. His case bumped right up against the statute of limitations, and Currie signaled that the window had likely closed.
Pentagon reviewing Kelly’s video, White House says lawmakers should be held accountable
The fallout continues to grow from a video posted by six Democratic lawmakers telling U.S. troops they can refuse illegal orders.
The Pentagon confirmed Monday that it’s now conducting a formal review of Sen. Mark Kelly, the only member of the group still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It claimed his comments may have “lent the appearance of authority” by using his rank.
The White House has leaned into that scrutiny.
“I think what Sen. Mark Kelly was actually trying to do was intimidate the 1.3 million active duty service members who are currently serving in our United States armed forces with that video that he and his Democrat colleagues put out. They knew what they were doing in this video, and Sen. Mark Kelly and all of them should be held accountable for that.”
— White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
Kelly fired back with a lengthy statement detailing his decades of service from missions in Desert Storm to commanding the space shuttle, saying the administration’s response amounts to intimidation.
“If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won’t work,” he wrote. “I’ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the constitution.”
The video message angered Trump, who repeatedly posted that the lawmakers committed seditious behavior. In one post, he said their actions were punishable by death.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has defended the Pentagon review, calling the Democrats’ message “despicable, reckless and false.”
But legal experts said that actually prosecuting a retired officer for political speech would be unprecedented.
Trump health care plan delayed, Republicans push back on Obamacare extension
The expected announcement by Trump on extending Obamacare subsidies this week has been postponed due to Republican resistance.
The delay comes as millions of Americans face rising health care costs when the current Affordable Care Act tax credits expire at year’s end.
The president’s draft proposal reportedly includes a two-year extension of those subsidies, along with new eligibility requirements.
Several reports on Monday indicated that the announcement was imminent, but both CNN and MS-Now later reported that it has been delayed due to Republican pushback.
But not all Republicans are reflexively opposed.
“We gotta quit pointing fingers. We gotta start doing something with this thing. At least Trump’s proposal does something over a two-year period. It keeps people from losing their insurance, and it verifies that it’s not a bunch of fraud going on. So, anyway, I think it’s something we ought to be looking at. But we probably won’t. We’ll probably kill it in the press and anonymous sources, but it gets us to the dadgum table. Look, I don’t like the thing, but at least he’s proposing some changes. And we haven’t done anything in, what, 15 years? Everybody’s griping and moaning about it. At least Trump’s got the guts to do something about it. I say we ought to take a look at it.”
— Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.
For now, it’s uncertain if or when any subsidy extension will proceed.
Senate Republicans committed to allowing Democrats a mid-December vote on ACA subsidies as part of the agreement to reopen the government. However, by the time senators return from Thanksgiving recess, that deadline will be only a few days left.
Pre-Thanksgiving travel trouble: Storms and snow expected across several states
It’s anticipated to be another hectic travel day with millions on the roads and in the skies before Thanksgiving, and Mother Nature will likely complicate things.
From the southeast into the Carolinas, thunderstorms, fog and rain-soaked highways could slow travelers down.
Farther north, areas of the upper Midwest, including North Dakota and Minnesota, are experiencing snow, blowing drifts and low visibility.
On Wednesday, lake-effect bands off Michigan, Erie and Ontario will bring gusty winds and more snow to cities like Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland — so expect some flight delays.
Meanwhile, in Texas, a tornado tore through a community outside Houston late Monday, damaging more than 100 homes and knocking out power to thousands. Winds ripped apart roofs and sent debris flying. No one was killed.
Rare ‘Superman #1’ sells for $9 million
Three brothers cleaning out their late mother’s San Francisco home stumbled onto what looked like an old cardboard box full of newspapers and dust.
Under all of it? A pristine copy of the first Superman issue, which debuted in 1939.
Turns out it wasn’t just rare — it was record-breaking.
The book just sold for $9.12 million, making it the most expensive comic book ever auctioned.
“I think what actually really added to the story was how it was found that this was, you know, a new find that no one had ever seen before.” Lon Allen, the vice president of Heritage Auctions, said.
The family mentioned that their mom always insisted she had valuable comics hidden away, but they never believed her.
More from Straight Arrow News:
How a Minnesota church is tapping a ‘land use’ law to combat homelessness
ST. PAUL, Minn. — After moving out of her home in New Jersey, Valerie Roy lived a transient lifestyle. “In my misspent youth, I traveled and waitressed the country,” said Roy, 56. “I lived in a 1959 Chevy school bus made into an RV. It was quite the life. I kept a house, an antique and a car on the road all at one time.”
But being homeless is more expensive than Roy lets on. She owned the bus outright, but parking was a constant issue. If she showed up somewhere, someone inevitably reported her. She needed to ensure she moved the bus once a day.
The cheapest RV parks cost upward of $1,000 a month to park. Some would not allow conversions like her bus at all.
She camped near Langon Park in Roseville, a suburb north of St. Paul, Minn. Another couple had been there for a while, using drugs. When the police came to throw them out, they found they had trashed the place, Roy said.
An officer recognized Roy and put her in touch with a police liaison, who then connected her with Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. The church allowed her to park her bus in the parking lot over that summer, in 2022.
That’s where she met Gabrielle Clowdus, a former University of Minnesota researcher and founder of Settled, an organization that coordinates tiny home communities on church land.
Roy never moved back into the bus. Instead, just before Christmas that year, she became Prince of Peace’s first tiny home resident. Read the full story now>
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
