What happened

President Donald Trump told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) last month that he would unfreeze funds earmarked for a $16 billion New York infrastructure project, but only if New York’s Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport were renamed for him, several news organizations reported on Thursday. Schumer declined. “There was nothing to trade,” a person close to Schumer told NBC News and Politico. Trump “can restart the funding with a snap of his fingers.”

Who said what

Trump froze funding to complete the Hudson Gateway rail tunnel connecting New York City to New Jersey in October, after threatening to punish Democrats for shutting down the government. White House budget director Russ Vought said the halt was to “ensure” the funds weren’t used “on unconstitutional DEI principles.”

Trump’s naming-rights demand “offers a fresh window” into his “ever-expanding effort to secure an outsized place in American history” by “branding nearly everything around him with his own name,” CNN said. He has already affixed his name to the Kennedy Center and U.S. Institute for Peace, as well as a class of battleship, a Trump Gold Card citizenship pathway and TrumpRx, a discount drug site launched Thursday. But attempting to “leverage the future of a massive infrastructure project to fulfill his own personal wishes” would be “perhaps his most audacious move yet.”

What next?

Trump putting “his own narcissism over the good-paying union jobs this project provides” is “ridiculous,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “These naming rights aren’t tradable as part of any negotiations, and neither is the dignity of New Yorkers.” Without the funding, the Gateway project “is set to shut down indefinitely” on Friday, Axios said.

What happened

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), America's top Jewish elected official, sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of the Gaza war, and called for new elections in Israel. 

Who said what

"Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel," Schumer said Thursday. His willingness to "tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza" is "pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows. Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah." The ruling Likud Party said in a statement, "Israel is not a banana republic but an independent and proud democracy" that elected Netanyahu. 

The commentary

Schumer's speech "landed like an earthquake" in Jerusalem because he is one of Israel's "most avid" supporters, with "one of the longest and closest relationships" with Netanyahu of any U.S. politician, Barak Ravid said at Axios. It is "grotesque and hypocritical for Americans who hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of a democratically elected leader of Israel," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said. Netanyahu has certainly not been "shy about trying to interfere in American politics," said Sen Mark Warner (D-Va.).

What next?

It is "unclear how Schumer's declaration will affect politics in Israel, where Netanyahu is very unpopular" but "polls show a majority of the public also supports many of his positions" that Washington dislikes, The Washington Post said. The next election in Israel is not scheduled until October 2026.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday that he plans to hold another vote this week on a military health care bill Republicans blocked on Wednesday.

The bill would provide $250 billion to care for veterans who became sick after being exposed to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Veteran organizations have been fighting for recognition for their maladies — which include everything from irreversible respiratory conditions to cancer — for some 15 years," explained Kelly Vlahos, a senior advisor at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) led the effort to block the bill, claiming that Democrats had inserted a "gimmick" approving $400 billion in unrelated spending. "​People take a sympathetic group of Americans ... craft a bill to address their problems, and then sneak in something completely unrelated that they know could never pass on its own," Toomey said on CNN's State of the Union, calling the tactic "the oldest trick in Washington." Schumer agreed to allow a vote on an amendment proposed by Toomey, who said he will support the bill if his amendment passes.

Comedian Jon Stewart, a vocal champion of the bill, responded by denouncing the Republicans who blocked the bill as "motherf--kers" and accusing them of "hypocrisy," "cowardice," and "cruelty."

Former President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and other lawmakers are remembering Harry Reid as "a great leader in the Senate" and "tough-as-nails strong, but caring and compassionate."

Reid, a Nevada Democrat who served as Senate majority leader from 2007 through 2014, died on Tuesday at 82. Reid was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2018, and Obama tweeted that when Reid "was nearing the end," his wife, Landra, asked people to write letters she could read to her husband, as it was difficult for him to speak on the phone. In lieu of a statement, Obama, whose landmark health care legislation was passed thanks to Reid, shared his letter.

"Here's what I want you to know: You were a great leader in the Senate, and early on you were more generous to me than I had any right to expect," Obama wrote to Reid. "I wouldn't have been president had it not been for your encouragement and support, and I wouldn't have got most of what I got done without your skill and determination." He also thanked Reid for being "a good friend," adding, "As different as we are, I think we both saw something of ourselves in each other — a couple of outsiders who defied the odds and knew how to take a punch and cared about the little guy. And you know what, we made a pretty good team."

Schumer said in a statement that Reid was "one of the most amazing individuals I've ever met" and "tough-as-nails strong, but caring and compassionate, and always went out of his way quietly to help people who needed help." Reid was a boxer in college, and Schumer said he "used those boxing instincts to fearlessly fight those who were hurting the poor and the middle class."

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) praised Reid's commitment to his home state, tweeting, "To say Harry Reid was a giant doesn't fully encapsulate all that he accomplished on behalf of the state of Nevada and for Nevada families; there will never be another leader quite like Sen. Reid. To me, he was a mentor, a father figure, and someone I trusted to always give it to me straight."

Republican lawmakers are also sharing their memories of Reid, with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) tweeting that "early in our career, we worked together to get a taxpayers bill of rights passed. Even though I am ideologically opposite I must say he did a good job representing the interests of Nevada in the U.S. Senate. As majority leader he ran a tight ship."

In its final acts before the Christmas break, the Senate confirmed dozens of President Biden's nominees, starting Friday night and ending around 2 a.m. Saturday morning, The Washington Post reports.

Former Chicago Mayor and Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was confirmed as ambassador to Japan, despite "no" votes from three Democratic senators who questioned his record on race relations.

The Senate also confirmed ambassadors to Ireland, Spain, the European Union, Vietnam, Somalia, Bahrain, Cameroon, and several other countries and international bodies, as well as nine federal judges.

More than 50 ambassadorships have remained vacant since the beginning of the Biden administration because Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) refused to allow quick confirmation votes. Cruz's blockade was meant as a protest against Biden's permissive stance on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Cruz argues that the pipeline, which would carry natural gas from Russia to Germany, would strengthen Russia's influence over Germany and other European nations.

In return for Cruz allowing the confirmation votes to go ahead, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) agreed to allow Cruz's Russian sanctions bill to be debated and voted on by mid-January.

Some things never get old. That is certainly true of juicy details about the infamous Fyre Festival, which has been an object of fascination and schadenfreude since the luxury music event collapsed in spectacular fashion in April 2017. Thanks to two new documentaries from Hulu and Netflix out this week, you can now get the entire horrifying scoop from the safety of your own home.

Here are 17 of the craziest things we learned from Hulu's Fyre Fraud and Netflix's Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened.

17. Billy McFarland lied about owning an entire island.

Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland lied repeatedly about owning Norman's Cay in the Bahamas. Reader — he did not own the island. And not only did he not own the island, but when the island's real owner found out McFarland was promoting the cay's ties to legendary drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, he promptly took it back, leaving Fyre Media without a venue for their festival just months before guests were due to arrive. [Netflix]

16. Chuck Schumer's press secretary is somehow involved.

In a blink-and-you-miss-it moment in Fyre, Sen. Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) press secretary, Angelo Roefaro, turns up in Billy McFarland's penthouse after the Fyre Festival disaster has gone down. It isn't clear what Roefaro's role is in McFarland's life — it is suggested he might be helping with PR — but the whole thing is a strange and unexpected twist in the whole fiasco. [Netflix]

15. The organizers used the fact that nobody got murdered as proof the festival wasn't a total disaster.

During a triage meeting with Fyre staff after the festival, Fyre's chief management officer, Grant Margolin, tried to calm people down by pointing out that "nobody got murdered" at the festival. Hey, always look on the bright side! [Netflix]

14. "For three days, you can become Pablo Escobar."

Part of the appeal of attending Fyre Festival was that guests were promised a chance to party on Pablo Escobar's private island. Not everyone was so sure about that marketing angle — as one person observed in Fyre Fraud, "Pablo Escobar is actually, like, a criminal who's murdered people brutally." Fair point. [Netflix & Hulu]

13. McFarland spelled "Magnisis" wrong.

Before there was Fyre, there was Magnisis, an exclusive credit card company for Millennials. Magnisis was part of what put McFarland on the map as an entrepreneur, but as he admits in Fyre Fraud, the word's first two syllables should have been spelled "M-a-g-n-e-s," not "M-a-g-n-i-s." Whoops. [Hulu]

12. Grant Margolin sent out a 1,000-word email about how the Fyre ad should be scored.

In an illustration of just how out-of-touch Fyre's leadership was, Fyre Fraud describes a nearly 1,000-word email that Margolin wrote in order to lay out his vision for the musical score for the Fyre Festival commercial. The email contains phrases like "odd meters" and "compound time signatures" and "Tiko drums (especially during more exploratory elements)." Suuure. [Hulu]

11. Fyre Festival organizers accuse locals of putting hits out on them.

One of the actual tragedies of the Fyre Festival were the workers who didn't get paid for trying to complete McFarland's delusional vision. But in Fyre, some of the festival organizers accuse Bahamans of trying to take matters into their own hands: "After the locals realized they weren't going to get paid, some of them started putting hits out on people," consultant Marc Weinstein said, "either to take them hostage and then get ransom, or just to hurt and injure." Event producer Andy King said he had to hide behind a urinal and then duck into a car in order to get away from the festival property. [Netflix]

10. Blink-182 pulled out and no one cared.

One of the funniest — if unremarked-upon — moments in both documentaries is how no guests especially seemed to care about the bands booked to play Fyre Festival. Most tellingly, everyone interviewed shrugged off the fact that headliner Blink-182 pulled out of the festival right on the eve of their performance. "[The band's] reasoning wasn't anything like, 'don't go, it's a disaster,'" one attendee told Fyre. "It was just like, 'We don't think we can put on the show that our fans would deserve.' And I've never been to a Blink-182 concert, so I don't even know what that means. So we were like, you know, it'll be fine." [Netflix & Hulu]

9. "No one is eating so therefore no one's pooping ..."

Both documentaries emphasize that plumbing was a major issue for Fyre Festival; there were just going to be too many people for the island's infrastructure to handle. One internal email meant to calm concerns suggested that the plumbing issue wouldn't be a big deal because "no one is eating, so therefore no one's pooping." Okay! [Hulu]

8. McFarland's first scam was in second grade.

In Fyre Fraud, McFarland brags that his first experience with marketing and technology was in second grade, when he ran a crayon-fixing operation. McFarland allegedly told his classmates that he would "fix" their broken crayons for a dollar a pop. [Hulu]

7. One festival attendee admitted to destroying all the tents around his own so that he wouldn't have any neighbors.

One of the Fyre Festival attendees interviewed by Fyre explained the utter chaos that broke out when guests were sent to pick out their tents. "Our strategy [to avoid having neighbors] was to sort of ransack all the tents around us," the guest said. "I just started poking holes and flipping mattresses, and my buddy pissed on a few of the beds." They sound like swell guys. [Netflix]

6. Fyre Festival's social media team began censoring the word "festival" in the comments on its accounts.

As guests started to express concerns about the Fyre Festival's organization, the event's social media team began deleting "negative" words and phrases. At a certain point, it got so bad the social media staff were apparently even blocking the word "festival." [Hulu]

5. McFarland lost a box of keys to $2 million worth of houses.

In the midst of the Fyre Festival going up in flames, McFarland admitted to losing a box of keys to more than $2 million worth of houses that elite guests were supposed to stay in. You know, as one does. [Hulu]

4. A Bahaman woman used $50,000 of her own savings to pay her workers when Fyre wouldn't.

One of the most heartbreaking scenes in Fyre is when MaryAnn Rolle, the owner of a bar-restaurant used by the Fyre Festival in the Bahamas, says she was forced to drain her own savings account to pay her workers after the Fyre team abandoned them. Rolle tearfully describes how "hurt" she is by Fyre, which owed her team some $50,000 when the organizers fled the island. [Netflix]

3. McFarland launched a new scam ... while on bail.

Truly one of the most baffling parts of the Fyre Festival story is that Billy McFarland launched a new scam while on bail for fraud related to Fyre. Running the operation through a proxy, McFarland started NYC VIP Access, which promised impossibly exclusive tickets to people on the former Fyre Festival mailing list. The worst part? Court filings indicate that 15 people gave him over $100,000 for such nonexistent tickets. [Netflix]

2. The random pilot who taught himself how to fly using Microsoft flight simulator.

Keith van der Linde was brought on by the festival to help with organization and was eventually fired for making too much sense. But one of the stranger parts of Fyre is when he admits to teaching himself how to fly his airplane using a video game. "As we're about to take off he's like, 'yeah, I bought this plane six months ago, I just got my license,'" recalled Brett Kincaid, who directed the Fyre Festival ad. "Once we were in the air I was like, 'What is he going to do?' He was like, pulling off the runway and just going straight up into the thing and killing the engine." No one ever said the Fyre Festival was boring! [Netflix]

1. The water retrieval story.

If you have seen Fyre, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The most cringe-inducing story to come out of either Fyre Festival documentary happened just before the festival was set to begin. Four 18-wheeler trucks full of water for Fyre guests had been seized by Bahaman customs over an unpaid $175,000 import fee. But Billy McFarland and his team were already drowning in debt. "Billy called," event producer Andy King recalled, "and said 'Andy, we need you to take one big thing for the team ... you're our wonderful gay leader ... will you suck d--k to fix this water problem?" King said he was shocked by the request, but got in his car to drive down to perform oral sex on the Bahaman head of customs in order to get the water back. "I got to [the custom chief's] office, fully prepared to suck his d--k, but he couldn't have been nicer," King said. The customs chief told King he would release the water on the condition that he be one of the first people Fyre eventually paid back. [Netflix]