December 15, 2025 • 14 mins
In this Briefing, Jon Decker covers major global and domestic developments shaping today’s headlines. Decker examines recent mass shootings in the United States and Australia, the evolving conflict in Syria involving U.S. troops, and mounting challenges in Congress over healthcare legislation. He also analyzes diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, highlighting the urgency, geopolitical stakes, and complex negotiations involved.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the White House Briefing Room for Monday, December fifteenth.
I'm John Decker. President Trump reacts to the mass shootings
in Rhode Island and in Australia, and the attack on
three Americans in Syria by a member of the Syrian
security forces. The clock is ticking on Congress to pass
(00:22):
legislation that would prevent health insurance premiums from rising for
twenty four million Americans who receive their insurance through Obamacare,
and the US and Ukraine have another round of talks
in Berlin aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine. But
we begin this Monday with communities both here in the
(00:44):
US and in Australia dealing with the aftermath of mass shootings.
As we begin this Monday, the manheunt in Providence, Rhode
Island for a suspect in Saturday's shooting at Brown University continues.
A person of interest in police custody will be released
on Monday. A gunman open fire at Brown on Saturday,
(01:08):
killing two people and injuring nine others. The shooting took
place in a Brown engineering building on Saturday afternoon. Police
immediately launched a manhunt for the killer. On Saturday, law
enforcement released a video of a person dressed in black
and walking on a sidewalk near the scene of the shooting.
(01:30):
That individual in the video remains a person of interest,
but officials are continuing to look for additional video evidence
and continue to canvass the surrounding neighborhood for more footage.
Police have examined security camera video from Brown's campus, but
that footage has not yet yielded new information. On Sunday,
(01:53):
in the White House, President Trump paid his respects to
the victims of that mass shooting in Rhode Island.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I want to just pay my respects to the people. Unfortunately,
two are no longer with us Brown University, nine injured,
and two are looking down on us right now from
heaven now.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Brown's president said she believed the shooting happened inside a
final review session for a Principles of Economics class where
most of the students in the class were freshmen or sophomores.
Both law enforcement and officials at Brown University lifted a
shelter in place order on Sunday when they determined that
there was no additional threat. Brown has canceled most remaining
(02:38):
final exams and classes, and They also said that students
are free to leave the campus. Meanwhile, across the world,
another mass shooting, this one in Australia, has shocked that nation.
The father and son accused in Australia's deadliest mass shooting
in nearly thirty years had six licensed firearms at the scene.
(03:01):
That assault by two gunmen on a Hanukah celebration at
Sydney's Bondai Beach killed fifteen people and has stunned the
entire country of Australia, which already has strict firearms regulations
in place and very little gun violence. Authorities in Australia
(03:22):
describe this attack as a terrorist attack on the Jewish community.
Also on Sunday, at the White House, President Trump paid
his respects to the victims of that mass shooting in Australia.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Likewise, in Australia, as you know, there was a terrible attack.
Eleven did, twenty nine badly wounded, and that was an
antisemitic attack obviously, and that I just want to pay
my respects to everybody.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Now Australia's Prime Minister is calling for tougher gun laws.
He's saying that leaders will discuss limits on the number
of guns that can be licensed and also conduct a
review of like sinces over time. Authorities have identified one
suspect as a fifty year old man who was killed
by police at the scene, and the other as his
(04:09):
twenty four year old son, who was taken to a
hospital under police custody. Officials in Australia have not yet
named the suspects. As for Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albinis,
he called the shooting an act of anti Semitism and
of pure evil. He pledged to continue to respond to
(04:29):
anti Semitism and urged Australians to stand with the Jewish
community now. Tough gun controls were introduced in Australia after
a nineteen ninety six shooting killed thirty five people in
the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur. Australia banned most automatic
and semi automatic guns. They introduced strict licensing requirements, and
(04:53):
they also implemented a gun buyback program, and those tighter
gun laws have been credited were a significant reduction in
deaths from firearms. Also over the weekend, an investigation continued
into the attacker who killed three Americans in an ambush
on US forces in Syria. That attacker was a member
(05:15):
of the Syrian security forces who was set to be
fired for holding extremist views. Syria is now investigating whether
that government had direct ties to ISIS, to the Islamic State,
or if he simply adopted its ideology. On Sunday, President Trump,
at a holiday reception at the White House, paid his
(05:38):
respects to those US service members and an interpreter who
were killed in Syria.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I must say in Assyria also, we had an attack
in Syria, and we had three great patriots terminated by
bad people and not the Syrian government.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
It was ISIS.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Syrian government fought by our side. The new president fought
by our side. But I just want to pay my
respects to the families. We also had three injured, but
two of them are already out.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Of the hospital and once soon going to be okay.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
But we lost through so it was a rough It was.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
A rough day.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Now, the US has around one thousand troops stationed in Syria.
Most of those troops are in the eastern portion of
that country, down from around two thousand in April. The
President has promised retaliation for that attack on US forces,
but it's not clear what that attack will look like
I can.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Tell you in Syria. There will be a lot of
damage done to the people that did it.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
They got the person, the individual person, but there'll be
big damage.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Done back here at home. The attention will turn this
week to healthcare and whether Congress can find a solution
to what is expected to be rising healthcare premiums for
a significant percentage of Americans. Senator Bill Cassidy on Sunday,
a Republican from Louisiana, expressed cautious optimism about a bipartisan
(07:09):
compromise on extending Enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. Cassidy was
on CNN. He's the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions Committee. He says that talks are underway on
a deal that would couple the Republican proposal for health
savings accounts with a version of the Democratic proposal that
(07:32):
would temporarily extend those tax credits. Cassidy worked last week
on the Republican proposal that was shot down in the Senate.
Democrats also had their own proposal to stave off the
expiration of the healthcare subsidies. That proposal also failed in
the US Senate. As for House Republicans. They unveiled a
(07:55):
narrow healthcare package on Friday to address rising costs, but
their plan does not extend the expiring Enhanced Affordable Care
Act subsidies. Republicans are discussing staging a vote on an
amendment to the healthcare package that would extend the ACA subsidies.
If that vote happens, it will take place at two
(08:17):
pm on Tuesday. On Friday, in the Oval Office, I
had an opportunity to ask the President about what the
next step is for Republicans, for Democrats, for all lawmakers
as it relates to the possibility, the real possibility of
premiums going up for twenty four million Americans if there
(08:38):
is no extension of those Affordable Care Act subsidies. Let's
listen to the question I asked the President in the
Oval Office and the reply that he gave me.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
This year, those extended Obamacare subsidies expire. What's your message
to those twenty four million Americans who will see their
insurance premiums go.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I'll make you so many because you know, obviously you're a.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Stink, a fad for Democrats here, obviously a provider of
bad news for Republicans. Let me just say something the Republicans.
I think I can speak for Tom and most other people.
I think what most Republicans.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
Want to see, what is what I want to see,
and I leave it to them, and hopefully they're going
to put great legislation on this desk right here. We
want to see all of the money that's been squandered
and given to insurance company because Obamacare is horrible health insurance.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
It's far too expensive and it always has been. But
what it really is is a way of making insurance
companies rich. We want the money not to be paid
at all to insurance companies.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
You know, insurance.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Companies have gone up seventeen hundred percent over a short
meaning the stock seventeen hundred.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Percent over a short period of time, and.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
They've taken in hundreds of billions and even trillions of dollars.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
And we want the money to go to the people.
Speaker 6 (10:03):
They'll go in the form of a insurance account, health
care account, or any other form that we can create
with a lot of different forms. We want to give
the money to the people and let the people buy
their own great health care and.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
They'll save a lot of money and it'll be great. Now,
the problem we have is that the Republicans are not
at all controlled by the insurance companies, but you know
it is the Democrats. The Democrats have received hundreds of
millions of dollars. They're totally controlled by the insurance companies.
So we might not get too many of the votes,
(10:38):
but I actually think.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
We get some Democrat votes. So I don't know how you.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Feel about the time, but everybody wants to see this happen, everybody,
you know. I put it out and all of a sudden,
we've taken over in a positive way. The Republicans have
taken over healthcare in a positive way. I want to
see the billions of dollars go to the people, not
to the insurance companies, and I want to see the
people go out and buy themselves great healthcare, much better
(11:06):
healthcare at.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Very little costs. That's what I want. And it's so
simple now.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
As you know, when I have an opportunity to ask
questions to the president, I always think to myself, what
would be a question or what would be the questions
that those out in America would want to ask the
president at this time? And that was my thinking when
I pose that question to the president, what would be
the question that would be posed to the President by
(11:32):
those twenty four million Americans whose healthcare insurance premiums are
going to rise significantly at the beginning of this year.
That is my only focus. I have no dog in
this fight. I simply ask questions, tough but fair questions
to every president, Democrat and Republican. I am not a Sickophan.
(11:53):
I am not a sicka fan for either party. Google me.
You will see that I ask tough questions to Republican
presidentdents and to Democratic presidents, and I will continue to
do so. So I'm not in any way offended by
the President's remarks. I actually got a significant response from
the President in the Oval Office on Friday. As for
(12:13):
what comes next, even if that House legislation does clear
the full House of Representatives, the Senate is not likely
to take any further major action on healthcare this week,
and that leaves those enhanced premium subsidies all but certain
to lapse at the end of this year. Finally, over
the weekend, more talks trying to end the war in Ukraine.
(12:37):
President Trump's top representatives held five hours of talks with
Ukrainian President Zelenski in Berlin. On Sunday, and the US
is hailing progress in those talks, which took place on Sunday.
The talks will continue on Monday, and several European leaders
plan to join now. President Trump late last week said
(13:00):
he was invited to join these Berlin talks, but he
publicly doubted the trip would be worthwhile, so he sent
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, his son in law, after
Zelenski indicated flexibility on Ukraine's negotiating stance. As for Russia,
Russian officials have said the US peace plan is a
(13:21):
good basis for discussion, but they haven't said whether they
would accept it, and many European officials have expressed doubt
that the Kremlin is looking to wind down the war.
They say that Europe and all of NATO countries face
the risk that if Russia prevails in Ukraine, Russia will
set its sights on conflict with other European neighbors. Throughout
(13:44):
the recent weeks of talks that have taken place involving
the US and Ukraine, even the talks that have taken
place between the US and Russia, Russia continues to bombard
Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure in Ukraine. So based upon that,
it does not appear as if Russia is in any
(14:05):
rush to end the war in Ukraine anytime soon. As
for the President's schedule for Monday, three items on the
President's schedule. At three pm in.
Speaker 7 (14:14):
The Oval Office, the President will participate in a Mexican
Border Defense Medal presentation, and then after that the President
will participate in two separate Christmas receptions.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
One at four fifteen pm and the other at eight
fifteen pm. Those will all take place on the main
floor of the White House. That's the White House Briefing
Room for Monday, December fifteenth. I'm John Decker. Have a
good one.
Welcome to the White House Briefing Room for Monday, December fifteenth.
I'm John Decker. President Trump reacts to the mass shootings
in Rhode Island and in Australia, and the attack on
three Americans in Syria by a member of the Syrian
security forces. The clock is ticking on Congress to pass
(00:22):
legislation that would prevent health insurance premiums from rising for
twenty four million Americans who receive their insurance through Obamacare,
and the US and Ukraine have another round of talks
in Berlin aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine. But
we begin this Monday with communities both here in the
(00:44):
US and in Australia dealing with the aftermath of mass shootings.
As we begin this Monday, the manheunt in Providence, Rhode
Island for a suspect in Saturday's shooting at Brown University continues.
A person of interest in police custody will be released
on Monday. A gunman open fire at Brown on Saturday,
(01:08):
killing two people and injuring nine others. The shooting took
place in a Brown engineering building on Saturday afternoon. Police
immediately launched a manhunt for the killer. On Saturday, law
enforcement released a video of a person dressed in black
and walking on a sidewalk near the scene of the shooting.
(01:30):
That individual in the video remains a person of interest,
but officials are continuing to look for additional video evidence
and continue to canvass the surrounding neighborhood for more footage.
Police have examined security camera video from Brown's campus, but
that footage has not yet yielded new information. On Sunday,
(01:53):
in the White House, President Trump paid his respects to
the victims of that mass shooting in Rhode Island.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I want to just pay my respects to the people. Unfortunately,
two are no longer with us Brown University, nine injured,
and two are looking down on us right now from
heaven now.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Brown's president said she believed the shooting happened inside a
final review session for a Principles of Economics class where
most of the students in the class were freshmen or sophomores.
Both law enforcement and officials at Brown University lifted a
shelter in place order on Sunday when they determined that
there was no additional threat. Brown has canceled most remaining
(02:38):
final exams and classes, and They also said that students
are free to leave the campus. Meanwhile, across the world,
another mass shooting, this one in Australia, has shocked that nation.
The father and son accused in Australia's deadliest mass shooting
in nearly thirty years had six licensed firearms at the scene.
(03:01):
That assault by two gunmen on a Hanukah celebration at
Sydney's Bondai Beach killed fifteen people and has stunned the
entire country of Australia, which already has strict firearms regulations
in place and very little gun violence. Authorities in Australia
(03:22):
describe this attack as a terrorist attack on the Jewish community.
Also on Sunday, at the White House, President Trump paid
his respects to the victims of that mass shooting in Australia.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Likewise, in Australia, as you know, there was a terrible attack.
Eleven did, twenty nine badly wounded, and that was an
antisemitic attack obviously, and that I just want to pay
my respects to everybody.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Now Australia's Prime Minister is calling for tougher gun laws.
He's saying that leaders will discuss limits on the number
of guns that can be licensed and also conduct a
review of like sinces over time. Authorities have identified one
suspect as a fifty year old man who was killed
by police at the scene, and the other as his
(04:09):
twenty four year old son, who was taken to a
hospital under police custody. Officials in Australia have not yet
named the suspects. As for Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albinis,
he called the shooting an act of anti Semitism and
of pure evil. He pledged to continue to respond to
(04:29):
anti Semitism and urged Australians to stand with the Jewish
community now. Tough gun controls were introduced in Australia after
a nineteen ninety six shooting killed thirty five people in
the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur. Australia banned most automatic
and semi automatic guns. They introduced strict licensing requirements, and
(04:53):
they also implemented a gun buyback program, and those tighter
gun laws have been credited were a significant reduction in
deaths from firearms. Also over the weekend, an investigation continued
into the attacker who killed three Americans in an ambush
on US forces in Syria. That attacker was a member
(05:15):
of the Syrian security forces who was set to be
fired for holding extremist views. Syria is now investigating whether
that government had direct ties to ISIS, to the Islamic State,
or if he simply adopted its ideology. On Sunday, President Trump,
at a holiday reception at the White House, paid his
(05:38):
respects to those US service members and an interpreter who
were killed in Syria.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I must say in Assyria also, we had an attack
in Syria, and we had three great patriots terminated by
bad people and not the Syrian government.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
It was ISIS.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Syrian government fought by our side. The new president fought
by our side. But I just want to pay my
respects to the families. We also had three injured, but
two of them are already out.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Of the hospital and once soon going to be okay.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
But we lost through so it was a rough It was.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
A rough day.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Now, the US has around one thousand troops stationed in Syria.
Most of those troops are in the eastern portion of
that country, down from around two thousand in April. The
President has promised retaliation for that attack on US forces,
but it's not clear what that attack will look like
I can.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Tell you in Syria. There will be a lot of
damage done to the people that did it.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
They got the person, the individual person, but there'll be
big damage.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Done back here at home. The attention will turn this
week to healthcare and whether Congress can find a solution
to what is expected to be rising healthcare premiums for
a significant percentage of Americans. Senator Bill Cassidy on Sunday,
a Republican from Louisiana, expressed cautious optimism about a bipartisan
(07:09):
compromise on extending Enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. Cassidy was
on CNN. He's the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions Committee. He says that talks are underway on
a deal that would couple the Republican proposal for health
savings accounts with a version of the Democratic proposal that
(07:32):
would temporarily extend those tax credits. Cassidy worked last week
on the Republican proposal that was shot down in the Senate.
Democrats also had their own proposal to stave off the
expiration of the healthcare subsidies. That proposal also failed in
the US Senate. As for House Republicans. They unveiled a
(07:55):
narrow healthcare package on Friday to address rising costs, but
their plan does not extend the expiring Enhanced Affordable Care
Act subsidies. Republicans are discussing staging a vote on an
amendment to the healthcare package that would extend the ACA subsidies.
If that vote happens, it will take place at two
(08:17):
pm on Tuesday. On Friday, in the Oval Office, I
had an opportunity to ask the President about what the
next step is for Republicans, for Democrats, for all lawmakers
as it relates to the possibility, the real possibility of
premiums going up for twenty four million Americans if there
(08:38):
is no extension of those Affordable Care Act subsidies. Let's
listen to the question I asked the President in the
Oval Office and the reply that he gave me.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
This year, those extended Obamacare subsidies expire. What's your message
to those twenty four million Americans who will see their
insurance premiums go.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I'll make you so many because you know, obviously you're a.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Stink, a fad for Democrats here, obviously a provider of
bad news for Republicans. Let me just say something the Republicans.
I think I can speak for Tom and most other people.
I think what most Republicans.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
Want to see, what is what I want to see,
and I leave it to them, and hopefully they're going
to put great legislation on this desk right here. We
want to see all of the money that's been squandered
and given to insurance company because Obamacare is horrible health insurance.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
It's far too expensive and it always has been. But
what it really is is a way of making insurance
companies rich. We want the money not to be paid
at all to insurance companies.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
You know, insurance.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Companies have gone up seventeen hundred percent over a short
meaning the stock seventeen hundred.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Percent over a short period of time, and.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
They've taken in hundreds of billions and even trillions of dollars.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
And we want the money to go to the people.
Speaker 6 (10:03):
They'll go in the form of a insurance account, health
care account, or any other form that we can create
with a lot of different forms. We want to give
the money to the people and let the people buy
their own great health care and.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
They'll save a lot of money and it'll be great. Now,
the problem we have is that the Republicans are not
at all controlled by the insurance companies, but you know
it is the Democrats. The Democrats have received hundreds of
millions of dollars. They're totally controlled by the insurance companies.
So we might not get too many of the votes,
(10:38):
but I actually think.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
We get some Democrat votes. So I don't know how you.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Feel about the time, but everybody wants to see this happen, everybody,
you know. I put it out and all of a sudden,
we've taken over in a positive way. The Republicans have
taken over healthcare in a positive way. I want to
see the billions of dollars go to the people, not
to the insurance companies, and I want to see the
people go out and buy themselves great healthcare, much better
(11:06):
healthcare at.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Very little costs. That's what I want. And it's so
simple now.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
As you know, when I have an opportunity to ask
questions to the president, I always think to myself, what
would be a question or what would be the questions
that those out in America would want to ask the
president at this time? And that was my thinking when
I pose that question to the president, what would be
the question that would be posed to the President by
(11:32):
those twenty four million Americans whose healthcare insurance premiums are
going to rise significantly at the beginning of this year.
That is my only focus. I have no dog in
this fight. I simply ask questions, tough but fair questions
to every president, Democrat and Republican. I am not a Sickophan.
(11:53):
I am not a sicka fan for either party. Google me.
You will see that I ask tough questions to Republican
presidentdents and to Democratic presidents, and I will continue to
do so. So I'm not in any way offended by
the President's remarks. I actually got a significant response from
the President in the Oval Office on Friday. As for
(12:13):
what comes next, even if that House legislation does clear
the full House of Representatives, the Senate is not likely
to take any further major action on healthcare this week,
and that leaves those enhanced premium subsidies all but certain
to lapse at the end of this year. Finally, over
the weekend, more talks trying to end the war in Ukraine.
(12:37):
President Trump's top representatives held five hours of talks with
Ukrainian President Zelenski in Berlin. On Sunday, and the US
is hailing progress in those talks, which took place on Sunday.
The talks will continue on Monday, and several European leaders
plan to join now. President Trump late last week said
(13:00):
he was invited to join these Berlin talks, but he
publicly doubted the trip would be worthwhile, so he sent
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, his son in law, after
Zelenski indicated flexibility on Ukraine's negotiating stance. As for Russia,
Russian officials have said the US peace plan is a
(13:21):
good basis for discussion, but they haven't said whether they
would accept it, and many European officials have expressed doubt
that the Kremlin is looking to wind down the war.
They say that Europe and all of NATO countries face
the risk that if Russia prevails in Ukraine, Russia will
set its sights on conflict with other European neighbors. Throughout
(13:44):
the recent weeks of talks that have taken place involving
the US and Ukraine, even the talks that have taken
place between the US and Russia, Russia continues to bombard
Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure in Ukraine. So based upon that,
it does not appear as if Russia is in any
(14:05):
rush to end the war in Ukraine anytime soon. As
for the President's schedule for Monday, three items on the
President's schedule. At three pm in.
Speaker 7 (14:14):
The Oval Office, the President will participate in a Mexican
Border Defense Medal presentation, and then after that the President
will participate in two separate Christmas receptions.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
One at four fifteen pm and the other at eight
fifteen pm. Those will all take place on the main
floor of the White House. That's the White House Briefing
Room for Monday, December fifteenth. I'm John Decker. Have a
good one.
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