1/ Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was warned by a senior adviser last summer that he should “expect Congress to become unhinged� if the White House withheld security aid to Ukraine. In a June 27 email, Mulvaney wrote Robert Blair: “Did we ever find out about the money for Ukraine and whether we can hold it back?� Blair replied that it was possible, but to “Expect Congress to become unhinged� if the White House tried to rescind spending passed by the House and Senate. Blair also warned that withholding the aid could add to the narrative that Trump was pro-Russia. Mulvaney’s email came a week after Trump initially asked about holding back the Ukraine assistance and around the same time Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukraine to conduct internal investigations into Joe Biden and his son. (New York Times / CNN)

2/ Rudy Giuliani held a backchannel call in 2018 as part of a shadow diplomatic effort aimed at removing President Nicolas Maduro from power. Giuliani and then-Rep. Pete Sessions participated in the Sept. 2018 phone call with Maduro to negotiate his exit and reopen Venezuela to business. Giuliani also met then-national security adviser John Bolton around the time of the call to discuss a plan to ease Maduro from power. White House officials said they did not know why Giuliani was involved. (Washington Post / CNN)

3/ Trump’s tariffs backfired and led to job losses and higher prices, according to a Federal Reserve study. While the tariffs did reduce competition for some U.S. industries, the tariffs more than offset the effects of rising costs and retaliatory tariffs, the study found. (MarketWatch)

4/ The White House warned that it would “take action� if North Korea tests another long-range or nuclear missile, according to national security adviser Robert O’Brien. North Korea recently warned that failure to offer a new initiative regarding Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program could result in an unwanted “Christmas gift� from Kim Jong Un. (Reuters)

5/ The Taliban agreed to a temporary ceasefire in Afghanistan in hopes of reaching a peace agreement with the United States, which has demanded a ceasefire before any peace negotiations can begin. Taliban officials did not say when the ceasefire would begin and there has been no immediate response from Washington. (The Guardian)