WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that Thai and Cambodian leaders have agreed to renew a truce after days of deadly clashes had threatened to undo a ceasefire the U.S. administration had helped broker earlier this year.
Trump announced the agreement to restart the ceasefire in a social media posting following calls with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.
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President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump gestures during a signing ceremony on an AI initiative in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks to guests in the Grand Foyer of the White House during the Congressional Ball, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” Trump said in his Truth Social posting.
Thai and Cambodian officials offered no immediate comment following Trump's announcement. Anutin, after speaking with Trump but before the U.S. president's social media posting, said he reiterated to Trump that Thailand’s position was to keep fighting until Cambodia no longer poses a threat to its sovereignty.
Trump, a Republican, said that Ibrahim played an important role in helping him push Thailand and Cambodia to once again agree to stop fighting.
“It is my Honor to work with Anutin and Hun in resolving what could have evolved into a major War between two otherwise wonderful and prosperous Countries!” Trump added.
The original ceasefire in July was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.
Despite the deal, the two countries carried on a bitter propaganda war and minor cross-border violence continued.
The roots of the Thai-Cambodian border conflict lie in a history of enmity over competing territorial claims. These claims largely stem from a 1907 map created while Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand maintains is inaccurate. Tensions were exacerbated by a 1962 International Court of Justice ruling that awarded sovereignty to Cambodia, which still riles many Thais.
Thailand has deployed jet fighters to carry out airstrikes on what it says are military targets. Cambodia has deployed BM-21 rocket launchers with a range of 30-40 kilometers (19-25 miles).
According to data collected by public broadcaster ThaiPBS, at least six of the Thai soldiers who were killed were hit by rocket shrapnel.
The Thai army’s northeastern regional command said Thursday that some residential areas and homes near the border were damaged by BM-21 rocket launchers from Cambodian forces.
The Thai army also said it destroyed a tall crane atop a hill held by Cambodia where the centuries-old Preah Vihear temple is located, because it allegedly held electronic and optical devices used for military command and control purposes.
Trump has repeatedly made the exaggerated claim that he has helped solve eight conflicts, including the one between Thailand and Cambodia, since returning to office in January, as evidence of his negotiating prowess. And he's not been shy about his desire to be recognized with a Nobel Peace Prize.
In an exchange with reporters later Friday, Trump credited his administration with doing a “a very good job” with its push to stem the renewed fighting.
“And we got it, I think, straightened out today,” Trump said as he hosted members of the 1980 U.S. men's hockey team in the Oval Office. “So Thailand and Cambodia is in good shape.”
Another ceasefire that Trump takes credit for working out, between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, is also under strain — just after the leaders of the African nations traveled to Washington to sign a peace deal.
A joint statement released by the International Contact Group for the Great Lakes expressed “profound concern” over the situation in Congo’s South Kivu region, where new deadly violence blamed on the Rwandan-backed M23 militia group has exploded in recent days.
The Great Lakes contact group — which includes Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and the European Union — has urged all sides “to uphold their commitments” under the deal signed last week and “immediately de-escalate the situation.”
And Trump's internationally endorsed plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is still not finalized and in limbo, with sporadic fighting continuing while a critical second phase remains a work in progress.
AP writers Jintamas Saksornchai in Buriram, Thailand, Grant Peck in Bangkok and Matthew Lee contributed reporting.
President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump gestures during a signing ceremony on an AI initiative in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks to guests in the Grand Foyer of the White House during the Congressional Ball, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump said Friday that Thai and Cambodian leaders have agreed to renew a truce after days of deadly clashes threatened to undo a ceasefire that the U.S. administration helped broker this year.
Trump announced the agreement via social media following calls with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet. He also said Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim played a key role in reaching the agreement.
The original ceasefire in July was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.
Despite the deal, a bitter propaganda war and minor cross-border violence continued.
The latest:
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee is threatening contempt of Congress proceedings against Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton if they refuse to appear for depositions as part of the committee’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement that the Clintons have “delayed, obstructed, and largely ignored the Committee staff’s efforts to schedule their testimony” for several months after subpoenas were issued in the probe of how the government handled the Epstein investigation.
Multiple former presidents have voluntarily testified before Congress, but none has been compelled to do so.
The president declined to provide details about a key provision in the U.S. peace proposal aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war. It calls for creating a free economic zone in the eastern Donbas, which Moscow wants Kyiv to give up entirely.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that Trump’s negotiating team has been opaque in detailing who would control security under Trump’s proposal for the zone.
“It’s a very complex situation, but it would work. And a lot of people want to see it work,” Trump said.
The president, who has been hammering the Fed chair and pushing for sharper rate cuts, said he thinks his role should be “a recommending” of the Fed’s key rate.
But if he did make recommendations to the chair, Trump said, “They don’t have to follow what I say.”
Trump, who could name a new chair as soon as this month, said his personal success is a sign he should be weighing in.
“I’ve done great. I’ve made a lot of money and very successful. I think my voice should be heard,” he said. “But I’m not going to make the decision based on that.”
The president said the explosion of money in college sports will be disastrous for players, universities and the U.S. Olympic team. As he sees it, competition for players will cripple athletic departments, and the financial strain will force them to cut some sports that funnel talent to U.S. Olympic teams.
“Something ought to be done, and I’m willing to put the federal government behind it,” Trump said. “But if it’s not done, you’re going to wipe out colleges. They’re going to get wiped out, including ones who do well in football.”
He did not elaborate on what more he could do on the matter but said, “Colleges cannot afford to play this game.”
Trump signed an executive order in July mandating that federal authorities clarify whether college athletes can be considered employees of the schools they play for in an attempt to create clearer national standards in the NCAA’s name, image and likeness era.
The president said he hadn’t seen the photos from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate released Friday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
“I haven’t seen it, but I mean, everybody knew this man,” Trump said.
He added that Epstein was “all over Palm Beach” and had “photos with everybody.”
“That’s no big deal,” Trump said. “I know nothing about it.”
Trump signed legislation authorizing the coin in honor of the USA hockey team’s gold medal victory over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Games in Lake Placid, New York.
One member of the team, Ken Morrow, said the tradition of crowds chanting “USA!” began at those Olympics.
That prompted Trump to quip: “I tried to take credit for that.” The chant is a mainstay at his rallies.
The president called the victory over the Soviet squad, which came in the midst of the Cold War, “one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.”
Defeating the defending gold medalists allowed Team USA to compete for the gold medal, which they won in a 4-2 victory over Finland.
“And we got it, I think, straightened out today,” Trump said at the start of the hockey event. “So Thailand and Cambodia is in good shape.”
Trump announced earlier after speaking with the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia that the two countries agreed to return to a ceasefire agreement that the U.S. administration helped mediate this year after several days of intense fighting.
The president said Friday that U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, one of his strongest supporters on Capitol Hill, has a “hell of a shot” in her bid for governor of New York.
“She’s doing phenomenally well,” he said during an event to honor the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey team. Stefanik was present at the Oval Office because she represents Lake Placid, New York, the site of the 1980 Olympics and the so-called Miracle on Ice team.
Stefanik is in a GOP primary with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is also a Trump ally and announced his campaign this month.
So far Trump doesn’t appear to be taking sides.
“We could use you in New York,” Trump said. “She’s got a little competition with a very good Republican, but she’s a great Republican. So we’ll see what happens.”
Members of the 1980 Olympic ice hockey team appeared in the Oval Office wearing the white cowboy hats they sported during the opening ceremony for the Games 45 years ago, and they brought one for the president.
Trump, a New York City native who is only photographed dressed in a suit or in golf clothes, looked the hat over and put it on. He posed for the cameras and said, “You’ve gotta take a picture.”
He then made a joke referring to Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988, who was mocked for the way he looked when he put on a helmet for a ride in a tank while campaigning.
“That was not good,” Trump said.
Trump acknowledged in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that he had pushed Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, to cut interest rates if he is made chair.
“He thinks you have to lower interest rates,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal, referring to Warsh. “And so does everybody else that I’ve talked to.”
Right now the Fed is sharply divided over whether further rate cuts are needed, with many officials pointing to inflation at nearly 3% -- above the Fed’s 2% target -- as reason to hold off on further cuts. By demanding further reductions, Trump has broken from decades of precedent under which previous administrations avoided publicly pressuring the central bank.
Trump has previously hinted that he has made his choice to replace the current Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who Trump has sharply criticized for not lowering rates quickly enough. He also has referred to Kevin Hassett, his top economic adviser, as a “potential Fed chair,” seemingly anointing Hassett as the favorite.
But in the Journal interview he suggested Warsh is the front-runner.
“I think the two Kevins are great,” Trump said.
A West Virginia National Guard member who was shot last month in the nation’s capital is being transitioned from hospital acute care to inpatient rehabilitation, a doctor said Friday.
Staff. Sgt. Andrew Wolfe was airlifted to MedStar Washington Hospital Center with a critical gunshot wound to the head on Nov. 26. Wolfe and Spc. Sarah Beckstrom were ambushed as they patrolled a subway station three blocks from the White House. Beckstrom died the next day.
Wolfe has “made extraordinary progress” and can stand with assistance, Dr. Jeffrey Mai, a MedStar neurosurgeon, said in a news release. Wolfe’s family chose not to disclose the location of his rehabilitation.
Beckstrom was buried in a private funeral on Wednesday.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who was also shot during the confrontation, has been charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
Top Democrats in Congress are making it clear they want the public and members of Congress to see video of a Sept. 2 military strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack on a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean.
The Democratic leaders in both congressional chambers -- Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries -- as well as the top Democrats on committees on national intelligence -- Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Jim Himes -- signed a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calling for members of Congress to see the full, unedited video of the strike. They also say the video should be released publicly, though with precautions to make sure sensitive intelligence information is not revealed.
Hegseth has told lawmakers that he is weighing whether to hand the video over to Congress, including whether that would reveal classified information. The Trump administration has released edited videos of the overall campaign on social media for the last several months.
Spokesperson Abigail Jackson said House Democrats are “selectively releasing cherry-picked photos with random redactions to try and create a false narrative.”
House Democrats released 19 photos from Epstein’s estate on Friday without captions or context. It included a black-and-white image of Trump alongside six women whose faces were blacked out. The committee did not say why their faces were blacked out.
Jackson said the Trump administration has done more to help Jeffrey Epstein’s victims than Democrats, by releasing thousands of pages of documents.
Trump signed a bill compelling the Justice Department to release case files last month, reversing course after he opposed the bill for months.
The fighting is rooted in a history of enmity over competing territorial claims. These claims largely stem from a 1907 map created while Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand maintains is inaccurate.
Tensions were exacerbated by a 1962 International Court of Justice ruling that awarded sovereignty to Cambodia, which still riles many Thais.
Thailand has deployed jet fighters to carry out airstrikes on what it says are military targets. Cambodia has deployed BM-21 rocket launchers with a range of 30-40 kilometers (19-25 miles).
According to data collected by public broadcaster ThaiPBS, at least six of the Thai soldiers who were killed were hit by rocket shrapnel.
The Thai army’s northeastern regional command said Thursday that some residential areas and homes near the border were damaged by BM-21 rocket launchers from Cambodian forces.
The Thai army also said it destroyed a tall crane atop a hill held by Cambodia where the centuries-old Preah Vihear temple is located, because it allegedly held electronic and optical devices used for military command and control purposes.
President Donald Trump says Thai and Cambodian leaders have agreed to renew a truce after days of deadly clashes had threatened to undo a ceasefire the U.S. administration had helped broker earlier this year.
Trump announced the agreement to restart the ceasefire in a social media posting on Friday following calls with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.
The original ceasefire in July was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. Despite the deal, the two countries carried on a bitter propaganda war and minor cross-border violence continued.
Department of Justice attorneys made that argument in responding to a lawsuit against the White House by the National Association for the Deaf.
Government lawyers haven’t elaborated on how doing so might hamper the portrayal Trump seeks to present to the public. But overturning policies encompassing diversity, equity and inclusion have become a hallmark of his second administration.
The association sued the White House in May, saying not using American Sign Language interpretation at press briefings or when Trump gives remarks prohibits “meaningful access to the White House’s real-time communications” to the Deaf community and hard of hearing.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately comment Friday.
President Donald Trump’s administration is ending the temporary status that has allowed more than 4,500 Ethiopians to live and work in the United States for more than three years.
The decision announced Friday by the Department of Homeland Security comes as the White House moves to put more immigrants in the U.S. eligible for deportation. Ethiopia is the latest in a string of countries to lose Temporary Protected Status.
DHS said that conditions in Ethiopia have improved and no longer pose a serious threat to the safety of returning Ethiopian nationals.
Ethiopians in the U.S. with no other lawful status have 60 days to voluntarily leave the country, said DHS. After Feb. 13, 2026, DHS may arrest and deport Ethiopians whose TPS has been terminated.
During the Biden administration, the number of people protected by TPS grew significantly. Nearly 1 million Venezuelans and Haitians were protected. President Trump has already ended TPS for Venezuelans, Hondurans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, Ukrainians, and thousands of people from Syria, Afghanistan, Nepal and Cameroon.
Trump successfully harnessed voter anxiety over the economy, immigration and crime last year to retake the White House — and lift plenty of other Republicans into office with him. But as the party tries to keep its grip on complete control in Washington, that strategy may be harder to replicate.
Republicans have lost a series of elections over the past month, some resoundingly. The latest setbacks came this week when a Democrat won the Miami mayor’s race for the first time in three decades. Democrats also won a special election in a historically Republican district in Georgia.
There are also signs that Trump’s influence over his party has its limits, and he failed Thursday to persuade Indiana state senators to approve a new congressional map that could have helped Republicans pick up two more seats.
Perhaps most concerning for Republicans, Trump is losing ground on the very issues that powered his comeback victory last year, potentially undermining his utility as a surrogate for the party’s candidates in the midterm elections. Only 31% of U.S. adults now approve of how he’s handling the economy, down from 40% in March, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Trump was sued on Friday by preservationists seeking an architecture review and congressional approval over his White House ballroom project.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is asking a federal court to stop Trump’s White House ballroom project until it goes through comprehensive design reviews and public comments and wins approval from Congress.
The National Trust argues that Trump, by fast-tracking the project, has committed multiple violations of the Administrative Procedures Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, while also exceeding his constitutional authority by not seeking congressional approval for a project of this scale.
Trump, a Republican, already has bypassed the federal government’s usual building practices and historical reviews when he razed the East Wing of the White House. He has more recently fired the initial architects for a ballroom that itself would be nearly twice the size of the White House before East Wing’s demolition.
House Democrats released a selection of photos from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, including some of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the former Prince Andrew.
The 19 photos released by Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee were a small part of more than 95,000 they received from the estate of Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting sex trafficking charges.
The photos released Friday were separate from the case files that the Department of Justice is now compelled to release.
The photos were released without captions or context and included a black-and-white image of Trump alongside six women whose faces were blacked out. The committee did not say why their faces were blacked out.
Trump has signed an executive order aimed at blocking states from crafting their own regulations for artificial intelligence, saying the burgeoning industry is at risk of being stifled by a patchwork of onerous rules while in a battle with Chinese competitors for supremacy.
Members of Congress from both parties, as well as civil liberties and consumer rights groups, have pushed for more regulations on AI, saying there is not enough oversight for the powerful technology.
But Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that “there’s only going to be one winner” as nations race to dominate artificial intelligence, and China’s central government gives its companies a single place to go for government approvals.
A bipartisan group in Congress is urging the Education Department to add nursing to a list of college programs that are considered “professional,” adding to public outcry after nurses were omitted from a new agency definition.
The Trump administration’s list of professional programs includes medicine, law and theology but leaves out nursing and some other fields that industry groups had asked to be included. The “professional” label would allow students to borrow larger amounts of federal loans to pursue graduate degrees in those fields.
The president will sign a bill awarding Congressional Gold Medals to members of the U.S. men’s ice hockey team who defeated the heavily favored Soviet Union team during the Cold War.
Held in Lake Placid, New York, the game is widely regarded as one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports.
President Donald Trump reacts to guests in the Grand Foyer of the White House during the Congressional Ball, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania greet guests in the Grand Foyer of the White House during the Congressional Ball, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
