Steps Toward a Denuclearized North Korea

President Trump Meets with Cabinet Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump met with his Cabinet to discuss a range of pressing domestic and foreign policy issues. The President instituted a crucial step toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula by designating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, announcing that the Treasury Department will be imposing "the highest level of sanctions" on Pyongyang over a two-week period. The Cabinet meeting also focused on a range of domestic policy issues, including the historic tax cuts bill passed by the House of Representatives last week. "We're going to give the American people a huge tax cut for Christmas," said President Trump. "Hopefully that will be a great, big, beautiful Christmas present." If the bill becomes law, the United States would go from being "one of the highest-taxed nations in the world to one of the lowest-taxed." Tax reform comes amid the Administration's continued efforts to reduce government spending. "We'll be submitting plans on health care, plans on infrastructure, and plans on welfare reform – which is desperately needed in our country – soon after taxes," President Trump said. Trump Administration Hard at Work on 'the Crisis Next Door' New data compiled by the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) reveals the opioid crisis in the United States is more severe than previously thought. Opioid-involved overdose deaths doubled in the past 10 years and quadrupled in the past 16 years, and drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death in the United States, outnumbering traffic crashes or gun-related deaths. President Trump has committed to deploying the tools of government to confront this intolerable epidemic head-on. Learn more about the problem and the Trump Administration's plan of attack here. The White House Christmas Tree Has Arrived! Yesterday afternoon, serenaded by Christmas carols, the National Christmas Tree Association presented the White House Christmas Tree to First Lady Melania Trump and Barron Trump at the North Portico. This year's Christmas tree is a 19.5-foot balsam fir selected by White House Chief Usher Timothy Harleth. The tree was grown at Silent Night Evergreens in Endeavor, Wisconsin, and will reside in the Blue Room for the 2017 holiday season. See highlights from the presentation here. Photo of the Day President Donald J. Trump holds a cabinet meeting | November 20, 2017 (Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen) POTUS TODAY Today, President Trump will continue a White House Thanksgiving tradition by pardoning the National Thanksgiving Turkey in a ceremony in the Rose Garden. The two turkeys chosen to come to Washington are fittingly named Drumstick and Wishbone. This year's ceremony marks the 70th anniversary of the National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation, which began with President Harry Truman in 1947. Watch the pardoning live at 1pm ET.