Live updates: D.C. pipe bomb suspect arrested; admiral briefs Congress on 'double tap' boat strike

First lady Melania Trump said in a statement this morning that seven more children have been reunited with their families in Ukraine.

The first lady praised the leadership and diplomacy in Russia and Ukraine to reunify the children — six boys and one girl — with their families.

"Their bridge-building has created a tangible collaborative environment — an anchor for optimism. This cooperation will continue to drive the process forward through the next phase," Trump said.

The first lady announced in early October that she had been working with Russian President Vladimir Putin on reuniting Ukrainian children who were believed to be kidnapped into Russia during the conflict.

Russia has taken thousands of Ukrainian children since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimated earlier this year that more than 200,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia or territories it controls since the war began. Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, has estimated that around 700,000 children have been displaced since Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea.

Fallout is growing over the U.S. attack on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat in September with the Pentagon now facing calls to release video of the second strike that killed survivors of the first hit. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is also facing new scrutiny for the information he shared on a Signal group chat in March about a pending military operation in Yemen. NBC’s Peter Alexander reports for "TODAY" from the White House.

Lawmakers call for video of second strike on alleged drug boat

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Florida is entering the national redistricting arms race, with a legislative committee hearing today set to kick off yet another contentious map-drawing fight.

Republicans are hoping Florida, where they have full control of state government and already represent 20 of 28 congressional districts, will be fertile ground for further shoring up the party’s narrow House majority ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

But it won’t be easy, legally or politically.

Read the full story here.

The New York Times filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon over new rules restricting how reporters cover the U.S. military, claiming they violate the First Amendment.

The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court in Washington, alleges that the 21-page agreement that Pentagon reporters were told to sign in October was unlawful and unconstitutional. Many reporters, including six at The New York Times, handed in their Pentagon access badges in protest over the policy.

Read the full story here.

The FBI has arrested a suspect in the investigation into pipe bombs planted near the Republican and Democratic national party headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021, according to a federal law enforcement official familiar with the investigation.

The arrest marks a breakthrough in a case that has stymied investigators for nearly five years.

Read the full story here.

Trump has pardoned the former chief executive of the entertainment venue company Oak View Group months after he was indicted on a federal conspiracy charge.

Tim Leiweke, 68, who remains a shareholder of the company after he stepped down as CEO in July, expressed his “profound gratitude” to Trump for the pardon.

“This has been a long and difficult journey for my wife, my daughter, and me,” Leiweke said in a statement yesterday. “The President has given us a new lease on life with which we will be grateful and good stewards.”

Leiweke was charged during the Trump administration.

A federal grand jury in Texas returned an indictment in July that accused Leiweke of conspiring with a competitor to rig the bidding process to develop the $375 million Moody Center, a 15,000-seat arena at the University of Texas at Austin, which hosts major music events, as well as basketball and other sporting events. The would-be competitor agreed to stand down in the bidding process in exchange for subcontracts.

Read the full story here.

Adm. Frank M. Bradley saw the two survivors of a September strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat as legitimate military targets based on the rules for the operation, which may have identified them as narco-terrorists, a defense official told NBC News.

The military then launched a second strike on the same boat, generating controversy over whether the second strike was legal or could potentially constitute a war crime.

Admiral Frank Bradley arrives for a closed-door meeting with lawmakers today at the Capitol. Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

Read the full story here.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will swear in Rep.-elect Matt Van Epps at 9 a.m.

Van Epps won a Tennessee special election earlier this week. The seat was vacated when former Republican Rep. Mark Green resigned earlier this year.

Once Van Epps is sworn in, Republicans will have 220 members and Democrats remain at 213 members. Republicans will again lose a member in January, when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has said she will resign.

Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., will unveil their health care plan at a press conference this afternoon on Capitol Hill. 

In a statement shared with NBC News, Schumer said Democrats’ plan will “protect ACA tax credits,” referring to the Affordable Care Act, and “lower costs for millions of Americans.” 

The Democratic plan does not currently have buy-in from Republicans. NBC reported this week that hopes of a bipartisan deal to address rising insurance premiums under Obamacare are fizzling among lawmakers in both parties.

The Democratic effort to address expiring ACA tax credits was a central issue in their fight with Republicans over a short-term extension of government funding, leading to the longest-ever government shutdown, which ended earlier this month.

Trump will hold a trilateral meeting this morning with the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and sign a "historic peace and economic agreement that he brokered," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier this week.

The meeting comes months after the two countries signed a U.S.-facilitated peace agreement in June to push for an end to decades of fighting. The agreement will help the U.S. to gain access to critical minerals in the area. 

Reuters reported that both sides have accused each other recently of violating a ceasefire.