10 things you need to know today: December 31, 2018

1. John Kelly defends White House tenure in exit interview

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who steps down on Wednesday, defended his tenure in the job in a phone interview reported by the Los Angeles Times on Sunday. The retired four-star Marine general described an administration in chaos when he arrived last summer. Kelly's supporters have credited him with steering President Trump away from missteps, including pulling American forces out of South Korea and following through on a threat to withdraw from NATO. Kelly, too, said his success should partly be assessed by what Trump did not do while Kelly was in the "bone-crushing hard job." He pushed back on reports that Trump's decision-making is emotional and divorced from fact, saying he always made sure Trump was "fully informed" about the impact of his decisions.

Los Angeles Times

2. Graham says Trump is slowing Syria troop withdrawal

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that President Trump is slowing down the withdrawal of roughly 2,000 U.S. forces from Syria. Graham, who had criticized Trump's pullout, emerged from a two-hour lunch with Trump saying he felt "a lot better" about Trump's plans. "I think we're in a pause situation where we are re-evaluating what's the best way to achieve the president's objective of having people pay more and do more," Graham said. Critics had said leaving Syria would embolden Iran and Russia, and endanger Kurdish forces who have fought alongside Americans against the Islamic State. Graham said he now believes Trump is duly "worried about Iranian influence," and will talk to Turkey to make sure it doesn't launch a feared offensive against "our allies the Kurds."

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The Associated Press The New York Times

3. Texas judge stays ruling that ObamaCare is unconstitutional

A Texas judge ruled Sunday that the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, can remain in effect pending the appeal of his ruling that it is unconstitutional. In his order issuing a stay in the controversial case, U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor said he still believed that former President Barack Obama's signature health reform law cannot stand now that Congress has eliminated the penalty for failure to comply with the individual mandate to get insurance, but that the ruling should not take effect until appellate courts confirm his ruling, which he expects them to do. "[M]any everyday Americans would otherwise face great uncertainty," he wrote. The stay likely means that ObamaCare will remain the law of the land for at least another year.

Politico

4. Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal says Trump is immoral, dishonest

Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, criticized President Trump as immoral and untruthful in an interview Sunday on ABC News' This Week. "I don't think he tells the truth," McChrystal said. McChrystal, who was forced to resign in 2010 after disparaging Obama administration officials in a Rolling Stone article, pushed back against Trump's claim that the Islamic State had been defeated, which the president made in a tweet as he announced plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. "I don't believe ISIS is defeated," McChrystal said. "There's a lot of intelligence that says there are actually more ISIS fighters around the world now than there were a couple of years ago."

The Washington Post

5. Verizon, Disney reach distribution deal

Verizon and Disney announced Sunday that they had reached a deal to keep Disney channels on Verizon's Fios fiber-optic network, a day before their distribution contract had been set to expire. The deal will preserve Fios users' access to Disney channels such as ESPN, which will air college football bowl games on New Year's Day. Other channels that would have been affected included the Disney Channel and ABC stations in New York and Philadelphia. The deal's terms weren't announced. Verizon last week said Disney had been demanding "hundreds of millions of dollars more for its programming, despite the fact that many of its key networks are experiencing declining viewership." Disney had said its history of "providing extraordinary value to consumers and distributors" was "unmatched."

USA Today

6. NYPD steps up security ahead of Times Square New Year's celebration

The New York Police Department put officers on high alert ahead of the city's big Times Square New Year's Eve celebration, where authorities expect more than 1 million people to gather to watch the New Year's Eve ball drop Monday night. "People will be safe on Monday, and they should feel safe, too," NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said. Thousands of police officers will be on patrol as revelers pack into Times Square, and the department will deploy drones to keep watch over the crowd for the first time. The NYPD told officers that there was "no known specific or credible reporting regarding a threat to New York City at this time," but the new issue of the Islamic State's propaganda magazine, Rumiyah, calls on home-grown terrorists to attack the West.

New York Post CBS Local

7. Bangladeshi prime minister wins third term in election opposition calls rigged

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling alliance won Bangladesh's election with a huge majority, extending her decade-long rule with a third term. The country's Election Commission said Monday that the alliance dominated by Hasina's Awami League won at least 287 seats in the 300-seat Parliament, with two spots still to be called. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party won just six seats, after boycotting the last vote in 2014. The opposition rejected Sunday's election as rigged, and called for a new vote. At least 17 died in election-related violence on Sunday. Hasina has been credited with improving Bangladesh's economy, but accused of rampant human rights abuses and cracking down on dissent, which she denies.

Reuters The New York Times

8. Russia detains American on spying charges

Russia's FSB state security agency has detained a U.S. citizen, Paul Whelan, saying he was taken into custody Friday "while on a spy mission," Russia's Tass news agency reported Monday. The spying charges potentially could carry a prison sentence as long as 20 years. No details on the allegations were available early Monday. U.S. officials made no immediate comment. The arrest came as U.S.-Russia relations have spiraled to a post-Cold War low point following accusations that Moscow waged a campaign to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election in favor of President Trump. Washington and Moscow also have clashed over a host of other issues, including the civil war in Syria and the Ukrainian crisis.

CBS News BBC News

9. Texas police arrest armed man heading to church

Texas police on Sunday arrested an armed man who said he was heading to a suburban San Antonio church to fulfill a "prophecy." The suspect, identified as 33-year-old Tony Albert, was wearing police tactical-style clothing, including a face shield, and carrying a loaded weapon with extra ammunition. Albert reportedly entered Las Mañanitas restaurant in Seguin, Texas, around 6:30 a.m., and asked a worker "where the nearest Baptist church is at." He left clutching a handgun, and restaurant workers locked the door and called police. An off-duty officer responded, and arrested Albert on charges of marijuana possession and weapon possession by a felon.

The Associated Press The New York Times

10. Aquaman holds onto box office lead

Aquaman held onto the top spot in the North American box office this weekend, making $51.5 million in ticket sales. The Warner Bros.' DC superhero film, which stars Jason Momoa, also led the global box office for the fourth consecutive week, bringing in $85.4 million in 78 foreign markets to bring its overseas total to $560 million and its global total to $749 million. Aquaman is now the second-highest grossing DC film behind The Dark Knight Rises. Disney's Mary Poppins Returns held onto the No. 2 spot domestically through the holidays. It earned $28 million to bring its domestic total to nearly $100 million.

Variety The Hollywood Reporter