Trump news at a glance: EU could respond to ‘unjustified’ US visa bans, official says

European leaders condemn US visa bans as row over ‘censorship’ escalates

Germany, Spain, the UK and a chorus of EU officials joined the French president in condemning the move.

The visa bans were imposed on Tuesday on Thierry Breton, the former EU commissioner and one of the architects of the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), and four anti-disinformation campaigners, including two in Germany and two in the UK.

The DSA is seen by Washington as a form of censorship while European leaders say the regulations are necessary to control hate speech, but the row threatens to become part of a far wider existing cultural and political conflict between Donald Trump’s administration and Europe.

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US justice department says it may need ‘a few more weeks’ to process 1m more Epstein documents for release

The US justice department said on Wednesday that it has been told by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the FBI that they have uncovered more than a million more documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case and processing these for release could take “a few more weeks”.

Over the weekend there was outrage from victims and legal threats over the limited initial Epstein files release despite the law requiring full disclosure of all Epstein files by 19 December.

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Federal judge blocks White House’s reductions of homeland security funding to states

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce federal homeland security funding, including for disasters, for states that do not comply with immigration enforcement policies.

US district judge Mary McElroy of Rhode Island, a 2018 Trump appointee, ruled on Monday that the latest case was “another example” of the Trump administration tying state and local government assistance to its immigration crackdown.

The Department of Homeland Security has indicated it would appeal against the latest decision.

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Trump approves deployment of 350 national guard members to New Orleans

The Trump administration is deploying 350 national guard troops to New Orleans ahead of the new year, launching another federal deployment in the city at the same time that an immigration crackdown led by border patrol is under way.

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What else happened today:

• Palau will take up to 75 migrants from the US in return for additional aid, after the tiny Pacific Island nation signed a memorandum of understanding with Washington on transfer of third-country nationals.

• Democratic US representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio sued Donald Trump on Monday to seek the removal of his name from the John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington DC. A White House spokesperson said in a statement that Trump had “stepped up and saved the old Kennedy Center”.

• Donald Trump’s recent claims that the US should keep Venezuelan oil from seized tankers are part of a broader belief in rightwing “resource imperialism”, experts say. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has escalated pressure on Venezuela, invoking drug-trafficking claims. Critics have compared the offensive to the Iraq war, citing a familiar mix of regime-change rhetoric, security pretexts and oil interests.