Washington Journal (12/15/2025) examines President Trump’s executive order halting state AI regulations amid global violence—15 killed in Sydney’s Hanukkah terror attack, two dead at Brown University’s shooting, and three U.S. victims in Syria’s ISIS ambush. Senator Chris Murphy defends strict gun laws, citing Connecticut’s success, while callers blame Trump, Netanyahu, media bias, and perceived government failures. Venezuela’s oil tanker seizure sparks legal debates; healthcare reform stalls over ACA subsidies and fraud claims. The episode reveals deep divides on security, governance, and policy accountability. [Automatically generated summary]
Turn on C-SPAN 2, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile video app and online at c-SPAN.org.
C-SPAN, Democracy Unfiltered.
We're funded by these television companies and more, including Charter Communications.
Charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers.
And we're just getting started.
Building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most.
Charter Communications supports C-SPAN as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front-row seat to democracy.
Coming up on Washington Journal this morning, along with your calls and comments live, we'll talk about the week ahead in Congress with Bloomberg Congressional Reporter Stephen Dennis.
And then we'll discuss the week ahead at the White House with Washington Times White House reporter Mallory Wilson.
Also, Neil Chilson, former acting Federal Trade Commission Chief Technologist and Head of AI policy for the Abundance Institute on President Trump's executive order blocking artificial intelligence regulations at the state level.
And Bill of Rights Institute President David Bobb on the history behind Bill of Rights Day, a commemoration of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution's first 10 amendments.
In today's program, we'll hear from two reporters who will preview the week ahead in Congress and the White House.
Then talk about regulating artificial intelligence and delve into the Bill of Rights.
But first, a terror attack strikes a Hanukkah celebration in Australia, killing at least 15.
On Saturday, two Brown University students were shot and killed in their classroom.
And in Syria, two U.S. soldiers and a U.S. civilian interpreter were killed in an ISIS ambush.
We're getting your reaction to any of those events for this first segment.
Here's how to reach us.
Republicans, 202748-8001.
Democrats, 202-748-8000.
And Independents 202-748-8002.
You can text us to 202-748-8003.
Include your first name in your city-state.
And we're on social media, facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and X at C-SPANWJ.
Welcome to today's Washington Journal.
Here are the front pages of the national newspapers, the Wall Street Journal, terror attack in Australia targets Jews.
Two gunmen opened fire on Hanukkah event in Sydney, killing at least 15.
Here's the New York Times, Sydney Carnage Targets Jews.
And the Washington Post, Gunmen Kill 15 at Hanukkah event in Australia.
Father-son acted together.
Jewish leaders say they warned of rising anti-Semitism.
And here's the Washington Times with the headline, anti-Semitic terror strikes down under U.S. Cities Ramp Up Security for Hanukkah celebrations after shooting kills 15.
Well, the president was at a White House Christmas event yesterday and made these comments.
Yeah, I mean, what I think about when one of these mass shootings happens is that community in Sandy Hook.
Those parents, when they see these images on television, are always having to relive the horror of that day.
And of course, it's especially tragic given that we are marking 13 years since that shooting.
What I know is that a community never ever recovers from a shooting like this.
And the trauma and the cost is not just in the lives lost.
Obviously, we are mourning most deeply for those that were killed, those that were wounded, hoping that there are no more fatalities.
But that community in Providence won't recover.
Those kids who are returning to campus are going to be looking over their shoulder, wondering whether they are going to survive their next day in class, as kids all across America do every single day that they show up in their classroom, wondering whether they someday are going to have to flee for their lives.
We think maybe at least two of the kids at this shooting had already survived a previous shooting when they were in elementary and secondary school.
That is just not a reality that we should accept in this nation for our kids.
Unfortunately, right now, we don't have the leadership in Washington to do anything, anything, to respond to the shooting this weekend.
unidentified
Yeah, well, we haven't had the wherewithal to do anything in Washington.
I mean, we did a little bit a few years ago, but of means for years and years and years.
But having said that, Rhode Island has some pretty strict gun laws.
They have universal background checks, red flag laws, waiting periods to purchase a gun.
So this is about, and we've talked about this, much more than gun violence.
It is gun violence, but the laws could be stronger, but they're stronger than other places in Rhode Island.
I mean, if you look at states like Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California that have stronger laws, we have gun violence rates, murder rates, mass shooting rates that are two to three to four times lower than states that have loose gun laws.
And many of the weapons that are used in our states for gun crimes come to our states from those states that have an ability for criminals and people with serious mental illness to buy weapons.
And this is the Associated Press with this headline.
A Brown University student survived being shot in high school.
Then came the active shooter alerts.
It says that when Brown University Junior Mia Tretta's phone began buzzing with an emergency alert during finals week, she tried to convince herself it couldn't be happening again.
In 2019, she had been shot in the abdomen during a mass shooting at her high school in Santa Clarita, California.
Two students were killed, and she and two others were wounded.
She was 15 at the time.
And then here's her quote: No one should ever have to go through one shooting, let alone two.
And as someone who was shot at my high school when I was 15 years old, I never thought that this is something I'd have to go through again.
We're getting your thoughts on the terror attack in Australia, the attack at Brown University and in Syria.
This is Cindy in Florida on the line for independence.
Good morning, Cindy.
unidentified
Good morning.
My heart goes out to all those lost in the massacre in Australia, Brown University, and in Syria.
The blame for all the violence, hatred, racism, and genocide across the globe must be placed at the doorstep of Trump and his cabinet, along with Netanyahu and his gang who continues to carry out the genocide of the Palestinians.
And Larry in Alton, Illinois, Republican line, good morning.
unidentified
Yeah, I was wondering how long it was going to take for the gun lobby to come out, but instead all we got was just a bunch of, I don't know what that was, Mimi.
This is terrible.
I mean, we got a lack of journalistic curiosity.
I don't know.
The Western world better wake up or we're going to lose it.
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky yesterday, and we are taking your calls on your reaction to the fatal events in Australia and Syria and at Brown University.
The numbers are on your screen.
Republicans are at 202-748-8001.
Democrats 202-748-8000.
And Independents, 202-748-8002.
Let's hear from Rick in Boston.
Democrat.
Good morning, Rick.
unidentified
Yeah, how you doing?
Good.
I just want to make a couple comments.
You know, I'm talking about far as like violence.
It comes right out of the White House.
Trump, since he was running for the election, talking about beating people up, punching them in the face.
And he is the guy that should have been arrested the moment he came out of that White House.
You know, and yeah, the president that just got elected didn't do nothing.
He was old.
It was time for him not to get run for a second term.
You know what I'm saying?
So the only thing left now to do, and they got the Supreme Court that's corrupt, too.
They're just as bad as Trump.
The only way we're going to turn this country around, especially as far as there's violence concerned, we got to get a lot of these people out of office, especially on the Republican side, because they've all passed no gun laws regardless who gets shot.
Like their best friend Charlie Kirk, whatever his name was, got shot and they still don't do nothing because it's all about money and whatnot.
And this violence is going to keep on coming until somebody decides that some people got to go.
Like Putin's the same way.
This guy don't want no peace.
And Trump talking about, oh, he's putting down the guy from Ukraine, talking about like he didn't want to start the war.
And this is on the opinion, the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal.
It says this.
It was a bloody 24 hours.
First, three Americans were killed and three wounded on Saturday by an ISIS terrorist and Syria security forces.
Then two students were killed and nine injured in a shooting at Brown University, whose motive is unknown as we write.
Next, at least 15 were killed and 40 injured in a terrorist attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Australia.
On Friday, Germans arrested five men, three Moroccans, a Syrian and an Egyptian, on suspicion of planning an attack on a Christmas market.
That night, a Jewish home in Redlands, California was shot up.
The Anti-Defamation League, which is in touch with the victims, says, quote, a suspect shouted anti-Semitic slurs and fired approximately 20 rounds into the home, which was clearly decorated with Hanukkah decorations.
With time, we will learn more, but for now, we can say this.
While the global war on terrorism may have ended, the global terrorist war on the rest of us hasn't.
Wonder what you think of that?
That's in the Wall Street Journal.
Here is Sam in Somerville, Massachusetts, Independent Line.
Good morning.
unidentified
Good morning.
In the U.S., here, we're all out of ideas.
We've tried nothing.
And when I hear that global terrorism snippet, it makes you wonder who are the actual terrorists.
Is it the Republicans?
Because that's what it feels like.
And if I recall correctly, during the CPAC meeting, they called themselves domestic terrorists proudly.
These are some of the worst people that we will ever be forced to live with, these Republicans.
They are terrible people, and they've been hijacked.
And they've taken control of any power that any good person has the ability to influence anything with.
All right, here's Joseph Independent in Philadelphia, Mississippi.
Good morning, Joseph.
unidentified
Yes, ma'am.
Thank you for having me.
First of all, one cult place that we seem to have in our country is in Utah.
It's a white supremacist group.
Government feds have known about it for years.
And it keeps seeing that we have these political shooters like the Sorry Son of gun that shot Charlie Kirk.
He all of a sudden just disappeared from school, Facebook, all that for a year.
And all these people that tend to shoot political parties keep disappearing in their life for a year.
So it's to believe that they've held that they've been trained up there on that white supremacist group.
Now, I don't believe the Republicans have any ties to it whatsoever, but there is some Democratic members that, you know, the company's labels are, you know, saying that, well, I don't know the man.
I just, I'm about stocks in it.
Well, stocks is stocks.
You need people on the board.
And as far as this gun law, if you can get Hollywood to quit putting purge on TV, I mean, and get it straight, then we'll be good.
But I think the country needs self-defense bullets to be rubber.
And you have to end up turning around and getting for game, hunting game.
You have to get live ammunition and you have to turn that shell casing back in with a tagged animal.
But greatly, just the public will not be able to, unless they're enforcement, to be able to get our military to be able to get, or milita to be able to get any steel, lead, or copper or brass rhymes for the simple fact that these youngsters have been propaganded by Hollywood.
That, you know, if somebody does something to you or says something, you just purge them, right?
Yeah, Ray, what can you tell us about the guns that were used in that shooting?
You said the guns were semi-automatic.
unidentified
I believe so.
That's what they reported.
Of course, you can't sometimes believe the news because they blow it out of proportion and they put stuff out to get on first and they put out misinformation.
So I don't know what they were using, but to kill that many people, it sure was enough.
Here's an article from CNN about, it says, Australia's gun laws were already among the world's toughest.
The Bondi massacre could spark even tighter controls.
It says that Australia already has some of the world's toughest gun laws, but the mass shooting could lead to even tougher rules as the realization spreads that they aren't strong enough to prevent bloodshed.
Restrictions were tightened almost 30 years ago after a lone gunman armed with semi-automatic weapons killed 35 at the Port Arthur Historic Tourist Site in Tasmania.
Massacre shocked the government of the day into action, and within two weeks, new laws dictated tough rules on who could and couldn't own a gun.
Australia's SWIFT action has been held up as an example that change is possible.
New Zealand did the same after the Christchurch massacre in 2019.
That was a massacre of 51 at two mosques at the city.
Less than a month after that, New Zealand introduced a nationwide ban on semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles.
Both countries launched amnesty and gun buyback schemes, and it says it goes on.
But I would like to find out as far as what the type of guns that were used in that attack.
And here's Sylvia in South Carolina, Republican.
Hi, Sylvia.
Good morning.
unidentified
Thank you for bringing all this out.
Evil has always been in the world ever since the Bible days.
And we have to try as hard as we can to love one another, trust the Lord to take care of us, and to have more police.
That's an important thing right now.
I dislike all the rhetoric against the police.
They're the ones that are maintaining law and order and protecting all of us.
We need to pray for this daily.
And thank you so much for bringing this attention to everybody.
Let's go ahead and not give the profit to the insurance company, but the protection to the patient by giving them access to an account, a wallet, a purse, a pocketbook, if you will, that would have up to pick your family $1,000 to $5,000 to pay those initial expenses, but also do something on the premiums with maybe a temporary extension of the enhanced premium tax credits to address it for some, those who really have high expenses.
There's an estimated billions of dollars in fraud the way the current system is currently constructed.
But if you address the fraud and particularly you address the fact that the premiums being pushed, should be the policies being pushed-have $6,000 deductibles, again, it's more about profit for the insurance company than protection for the patient.
unidentified
If we do that, I think there could be interest in a short-term extension.
And there was a question about the guns that were used in the Sydney attack.
This is the Sydney Morning Herald.
It says this speed, accuracy, precision, that's how gunmakers market the weapons used at Bondi.
It says, video of the Bondi shooters firing on a crowd on Sunday shows how quickly and repeatedly weapons that are legal in Australia can be fired before almost seamlessly reloading despite gun law reforms implemented after the Port Arthur massacre banning semi-automatic rifles.
Police are yet to reveal officially which weapons were used in the attack, but the director of the National Security Program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said it appeared that among the weapons police found at the scene, the terrorist suspects had a bolt-action high-powered rifle and shotguns.
That's at the Sydney Morning Herald.
And this is a picture, by the way, of one of the gunmen on that beach from yesterday.
Well, Democratic Senator Rafael Warnock was also on the Sunday shows.
He was feeling a little bit less optimistic about a health insurance deal being struck before the end of the year.
I hope we can fix it, but quite frankly, you ought to ask my Republican colleagues.
They have the House, they have the Senate, they have the White House.
We have given them 13 opportunities this year to stop these premiums from doubling.
And every single time they turn their backs on their own constituents, and I really do mean their own constituents, because it's people in red districts and red states who will be disproportionately impacted by these premiums that are set to double in a matter of weeks, triple for some people, quadruple for others.
I'll tell you, I was down in Evans County, Georgia, Claxton, Georgia, that provides us those wonderful fruitcakes at Christmastime.
And those folks have literally seen their labor and delivery unit close in recent years because of these draconian cuts to health care.
And if we don't do something, they may very well lose their ICU.
Can I tell you something?
If you live in Claxton, Georgia, if you live in rural America, even if you have wealth and resources and you're having a stroke and there's no ICU within a reasonable distance because of these draconian cuts, you are impaired.
This is Debbie in Williamsburg, Ohio, Independent Line.
Hi, Debbie.
unidentified
Good morning.
This isn't in regards to our health care system, which definitely needs to be taken care of.
I'm calling in regards to the business dealings that Trump seems to be making with the other countries.
When he goes to another country, it's more like he's making a business deal rather than actual government work.
And I do not understand why Kushner is going with our secretaries and things to discuss world peace and things like that.
I've noticed that it seems like we're negotiating a lot of mineral rights that are coming back to us and money that's coming back to the government when they have these negotiations.
And I am actually wondering if the Kushners over there for Trump Enterprise.
It seems like it just seems like things are being stacked in the wrong direction.
And we have enough here at home to deal with ourselves.
I ask everyone to pray for our country, and I hope everyone has a Christ-like Christmas in Godfill, Hanukkah.
We got this from Diane on Facebook about the attacks this weekend.
Just sickening.
We can't, why can't we learn to respect each other no matter their religion and beliefs?
Any conflict has to be resolved by violence.
What does that solve?
Just awful.
Absolutely awful.
And Thomas said: the U.S. has thousands of mass shooting incidents a year.
No reason to talk about any other country.
The U.S. is the world's biggest arms dealer.
I wonder how that impacts global violence.
And this is Michael in Silver Spring, Maryland, Democrat.
Good morning, Michael.
unidentified
Hi, good morning.
I just wanted to talk a little bit about I'm a Jewish American, and I want to talk about the shooting at Vondi Beach.
Yes.
So most Jewish Americans do not agree with the war that's going on in Israel.
And I've been hearing a lot of colors say, well, this is retaliation.
And these are not soldiers.
These are citizens.
These are mothers and children that do not agree with a war going on halfway across the world.
And I think that the idea that we need to get revenge on people for something a government, a formal government is doing by shooting mothers and children is a very horribly hateful thing to do.
And by espousing it, I think it's just going to start rotting us from within.
So I really hope that we can understand that killing families is not a way to get revenge on things that governments do.
And Michael on CNN, the headline is a 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor, and a French citizen.
These are the victims of the Bondi Beach shooting.
There's a picture there of the little girl that was taken on the beach before the shooting happened.
And that's at CNN if you'd like to take a look at that.
Well, on a different topic, yesterday, Republican Senator Jim Banks, he's a member of the Armed Services Committee, defended the seizure of the oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela and the administration's overall strategy there.
The president is doing exactly what he was elected to do, to take out and strike the narco-terrorists who are flooding drugs into this country.
This oil tanker, for example, it was designated as illegal activity by the Biden administration, sending oil to Iranian terrorists to give more money to Venezuela to fuel their drug trade.
President Trump was right to confiscate the oil tanker, and he's right to hold the narco-terrorist accountable.
As far as I'm concerned, a member of the not just the Armed Services Committee, but as a United States Senator, I know everything that I need to know, and that's that President Trump is doing what he's supposed to do as commander-in-chief to save American lives, our sons, our daughters, our neighbors, our family members who have been affected by drug overdoses, and hold those who are responsible for it accountable.
71% of Americans support what President Trump is doing on that front, and I stand with him too.
Well, it shows if we can interdict the tanker, why can't we interdict the boats carrying drugs as well?
I've said repeatedly, the Maduro regime has been brutal to the Venezuelan people.
And I think the Biden administration made a huge error when a couple years back the Venezuelans voted overwhelmingly to get rid of Maduro and they didn't put enough pressure on getting him out.
But that still begs the question is, what is President Trump's theory of the case?
Is it regime change?
We've got a mass of forces almost unprecedented in the region.
And I think the president needs to come to Congress and the American people if his goal is to further increase pressure on Maduro and potentially launch forces.
unidentified
But this is very different.
This is economic pressure, and they've already sanctioned six additional ships.
So do you foresee a quarantine, a blockade?
What are you expecting because of this latest escalation?
Well, you'd think as a member of the so-called Gang of Eight where we're supposed to be briefed on everything, I would have the answer to that.
I don't.
I do not know what this president's goal vis-a-vis Venezuela is.
Again, particularly since he makes the accusation that we're trying to stop the narco drug traffickers and the vast majority of the drugs come from Ecuador and Colombia, Venezuela may be a by station.
But I don't think the president has made the case.
unidentified
You heard him the most recently saying that land attacks could be pretty soon and he's going to hit horrible people.
Well, constantly making these threats, whether it's Venezuela, Colombia, elsewhere, we all know the history of American intervention in Central America and South America over the last hundred years has not been a great story.
And I feel many of these sailors, for example, are homeported in Norfolk and in my state.
And I'm hearing from parents saying, is my son or daughter going to be in harm's way?
They ask legitimate questions as well in terms of the strikes against the drug boats.
Are they even legal?
And I think the president owes those parents and owes Congress and the American people an explanation of what his goal is.
15 years ago, when they came out with that Obamacare proposal, the Unaffordable Care Act, it did exactly the opposite of every single thing they promised.
Premiums have skyrocketed in some categories up to 70 or 90 percent in the last 15 years.
They will continue to skyrocket.
So the Democrats' proposal right now is subsidize it further.
They want the American taxpayer to give billions of dollars to insurance companies in a program that is just riddled with fraud, waste, and abuse.
We're not going to do that.
Republicans are bringing common sense solutions.
We are bringing solutions forward that will actually lower the premiums for all Americans.
It's long overdue, and we've got some great ideas to do it.
Okay, George, and speaking of Nancy Pelosi, there's a, she's on the front page of today's USA Today.
It's an exclusive interview done by Susan Page.
The headline in 20 terms, she broke new ground, preparing for exit, quote, you can't make yourself a lame duck.
You could read that at USA Today if you're interested.
Well, coming up later today on the Washington Journal, we'll talk about President Trump's executive order blocking artificial intelligence regulations at the state level with Neil Chilson, former acting Federal Trade Commission Chief Technologist and Head of AI policy for the Abundance Institute.
But first, after the break, Bloomberg Congressional Reporter Stephen Dennis previews the week ahead in Congress.