President Donald Trump’s top Cabinet officials overseeing national security are expected back on Capitol Hill on Tuesday as questions mount over the swift escalation of U.S. military force and deadly boat strikes in international waters near Venezuela.
Defense Secretary , Secretary of State and others are set to brief members of the House and the Senate amid congressional investigations into that killed two survivors of an initial attack on a boat allegedly carrying cocaine. Legal experts say it could have been a war crime, or murder. On the eve of the hearings, the U.S. military announced targeting “designated terrorist organizations,†killing eight more people.
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Delayed jobs reports show more Americans struggling to find work
The United States gained a decent 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October as federal workers departed after cutbacks by the Trump administration, the government said Tuesday in delayed reports. And the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, highest since 2021.
Hiring has clearly lost momentum, hobbled by uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of high interest rates the Federal Reserve engineered in 2022 and 2023 to rein in inflation.
American companies are mostly holding onto the employees they have. But they’re as they struggle to assess how to use artificial intelligence and how to adjust to Trump’s unpredictable policies, especially his double-digit taxes on imports from around the world.
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US-led peace efforts between Russia and Ukraine appear to be picking up momentum
The Ukrainian president says proposals being for a deal to end the fighting in Russia’s of his country could be finalized within days, after which American envoys will present them to the Kremlin before possible further meetings in the U.S. next weekend.
A draft peace plan during talks in Berlin on Monday is “not perfect†but is “very workable,†Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters, while cautioning that some key issues — notably what happens to Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces — remain unresolved.
But as the spotlight shifts to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin may balk at some of the proposals thrashed out by officials from Washington, Kyiv and Western Europe, including postwar for Ukraine.
Zelensky: ‘We are very close’ to a deal on security guarantees
The security proposal discussed in Berlin will be based on Western help in keeping the Ukrainian army strong, an official from a NATO nation said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
“Europeans will lead a multinational and multi-domain force to strengthen those troops and to secure Ukraine from the land, sea and air, and the U.S. will lead a ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism, with international participation,†the official said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated Tuesday that Russia wants a comprehensive peace deal, and that if Ukraine seeks “momentary, unsustainable solutions, we are unlikely to be ready to participate.â€
“We want peace — we don’t want a truce that would give Ukraine a respite and prepare for the continuation of the war,†he told reporters. “We want to stop this war, achieve our goals, secure our interests, and guarantee peace in Europe for the future.â€
White House denies conflicts
“It seems like another example of the pay-to-play administration,†said Kedric Payne, who leads the ethics program at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington. “There is clearly a perception that in order to get favorable policies and acts from the administration, a company needs to provide a financial benefit to the president.â€
Trump Media did not respond to specific questions about the arrangement. “Neither the President nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest,†White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
How a Trump Media deal with a crypto firm exposes potential conflicts of interest
was under siege for more a year, told enforcement action was likely as part of an aggressive Biden administration the cryptocurrency industry. Then Donald Trump , and the company’s legal peril dissipated.
By August, announced it was plunging roughly $1 billion worth of assets into — Trump’s social media company, which had since its 2021 launch.
Legal and ethics experts say ’s journey from investigative target to Trump business partner provides a case study of as Trump family businesses enter lucrative arrangements with federally regulated companies, some of which have benefited from action taken by his administration.
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Hegseth and Rubio are expected back on Capitol Hill as questions mount over boat strikes
Hegseth, Rubio and others are set to brief members of the House and the Senate behind closed doors as the U.S. is building up its presence with warships, flying fighter jets near Venezuelan airspace and as part of against Venezuelan President , who has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from office.
Trump’s Republican administration has not sought any authorization from Congress for action against Venezuela. But lawmakers objecting to the military incursions are pushing war powers resolutions toward potential voting this week.
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Trump administration says White House ballroom construction is a matter of national security
The Trump administration said in a court filing Monday that the president’s construction project must continue for unexplained national security reasons and because a preservationists’ organization that wants it stopped has no standing to sue.
The filing was in response to a lawsuit filed last Friday by the asking a federal judge to halt President Donald Trump’s project until it goes through multiple independent reviews and a public comment period and wins approval from Congress.
The administration’s 36-page filing included a declaration from Matthew C. Quinn, deputy director of the U.S. Secret Service, the agency responsible for the security of the president and other high-ranking officials, that said more work on the site of the former is still needed to meet the agency’s “safety and security requirements.†The filing did not explain the specific national security concerns; the administration has offered to share classified details with the judge in a private, in-person setting without the plaintiffs present.
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A timeline of Trump’s fights with media, including the BBC and Jimmy Kimmel
Here’s a look at key moments in Trump fights with the media in his second term:
1. Sept. 22:
2. Sept. 15:
3. July 18:
4. July 18:
5. July 2:
6. May 1:
7. Feb. 12:
8. December 2024:
Trump sues BBC for $10 billion, accusing it of defamation over editing of president’s Jan. 6 speech
The 33-page of broadcasting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump,†calling it “ †the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
It accuses the BBC of “splicing together two entirely separate parts of President Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021†in order to â€intentionally misrepresent the meaning of what President Trump said.†It seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.
The to Trump over the edit of the speech he gave before his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. But the publicly funded BBC rejected claims it had defamed him, after .
BBC chairman Samir Shah had called the edit an “error of judgment,†which triggered the resignations of the BBC’s
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