BY ELLEN MITCHELL AND FILIP TIMOTIJA |
© Alex Brandon, The Associated Press |
Surprise U.S. strikes on Venezuela and the capture of that country's president, Nicolás Maduro, are putting the crescendo on a combative first year at the Pentagon for Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth, who with President Trump rechristened the Department of Defense as the Department of War, has sought to restore a "warrior ethos" to the military, something illustrated by his remarks about the successful operation to drag Maduro to the United States.
He said the operations showed the "sheer guts and grit, gallantry and glory of the American warrior," while saying Maduro "f'd around and found out." |
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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is escalating the Trump administration's attacks on Minnesota by freezing all federal funding to the state's childcare providers.
Day care operators and advocates have few answers about how the sudden stoppage will impact their communities. They said the restriction is putting providers at risk of closure and low-income families at risk of being unable to afford childcare.
Federal health officials this week announced they were freezing any further allotments under the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) — to all states, though Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O'Neill specifically targeted Minnesota in an interview on Friday. |
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BY JULIA MANCHESTER, LAURA KELLY, RACHEL FRAZIN, REBECCA BEITSCH AND ELLA LEE |
President Trump sent shockwaves throughout the world when the U.S. successfully carried out an operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The large scale operation took place in the early hours of Saturday and involved more than 150 U.S. aircraft. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were swiftly charged in the Southern District of New York and are en route to New York aboard the USS Iwo Jima. Trump made several headlines during a news conference detailing the operation, including his announcement that the U.S. will run the South American country until a new government is installed. |
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BY ELLEN MITCHELL AND FILIP TIMOTIJA |
At 10:46 p.m. EST on Friday, President Trump pulled the trigger on a plan to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, following months of rising tensions and failed diplomacy.
The mission, known as "Operation Absolute Resolve," was a culmination of months of planning and rehearsals by U.S. military officials and the intelligence community, according to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine. The groundwork for the operation was laid by the U.S. intelligence community, which tracked Maduro for months to "understand how he moved, where he lived, where he traveled, where he ate, what he wore," Caine said at a Saturday morning press conference alongside Trump. |
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The Senate will vote next week on a bipartisan war powers resolution to block President Trump from continuing military action against Venezuela — a vote that takes on heightened importance after U.S. forces attacked the South American nation and arrested President Nicolás Maduro early Saturday.
The resolution to block the administration from engaging in further hostilities against Venezuela is privileged, which means Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) cannot stop it from coming to the floor. The measure is sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
It needs only a simple majority to pass the Senate. |
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President Trump on Saturday said the operation in Venezuela, which culminated with strikes on the capital and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, were part of what he coined the "Don-roe Doctrine."
Trump said under Maduro, Venezuela hosted "foreign adversaries in our region and acquiring menacing offensive weapons that could threaten U.S. interests and lives, and they use those weapons last night." "All of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy, dating back more than two centuries, and not anymore," Trump said. "All the way back, it dated to the Monroe Doctrine. And the Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we've superseded it by a lot, by a real lot. They now call it the 'Don-roe Doctrine." |
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BY ELLA LEE AND REBECCA BEITSCH |
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, face cocaine importation conspiracy charges and other counts in an indictment newly unsealed Saturday after their capture.
The four-count superseding indictment, which also charges other Venezuelan government officials and allies, alleges Maduro leveraged government power to protect and promote vast criminal conduct — from drug trafficking to terrorism — for the benefit of himself and his allies. "This cycle of narcotics-based corruption lines the pockets of Venezuelan officials and their families while also benefiting violent narco-terrorists who operate with impunity on Venezuelan soil and who help produce, protect, and transport tons of cocaine to the United States," the indictment reads. |
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President Trump on Saturday said Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado "doesn't have the support" within Venezuela to be its next leader after U.S. troops captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and said she was not consulted prior to the operation.
"I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader," Trump said at a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort hours after the attack. "She doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country." Trump said the administration did not talk to Machado about the attack and possibility of leading Venezuela. He leaned on Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as Maduro's successor, who he claimed was sworn in as the country's president. Trump said he would work with her as the U.S. will "run" Venezuela until there is a peaceful transfer of power. |
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The Trump administration's move to capture and remove from power Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday has sparked a political crisis in the South American country after more than a decade under the strongman's rule.
Maduro, whom the U.S. government views as an illegitimate leader, and his wife were taken to New York to face charges, and reportedly arrived in the state late Saturday afternoon.
President Trump said earlier in the day that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela's new leader, but she later appeared to dismiss that remark by saying Maduro is the country's "only president." She told citizens in a televised address that the U.S. military's attack was "barbarity" and demanded the U.S. release Maduro and Cilia Flores. |
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BY ANNE ZIMMERMAN AND NIKKI ROHLOFF | OPINION | Every tax season at our small accounting offices, we see the same story unfold. Small business owners show up with boxes of receipts and worry etched on their faces. They track mileage, save every invoice, and agonize over classifications. They play by the rules because they have no choice.
Their Fortune 500 competitors play an entirely different game — increasingly, without referees.
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OPINION | Move over, Soccer Moms. Forget Joe the Plumber. Never mind those Bernie Bros.
The 2026 midterm elections will be decided by America's sick — the people who spend their annual health insurance deductibles by Valentine's Day each year. The ones who stay in dead-end jobs for the health care benefits. The ones who fear returning to the days before ObamaCare when insurance companies could knock you off the rolls just for getting sick. |
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For several weeks, with peace talks at a critical moment, Ukraine faced a power vacuum. It had no energy minister amid rolling blackouts caused by Russian strikes. No justice minister as a corruption scandal flared. And no presidential chief of staff to lead negotiations with the United States.
Now, with a flurry of appointments, President Volodymyr Zelensky is moving to fill the void, in one of the most consequential reshuffles of the war. |
President Trump's threat to intervene in Iran's protests carries new urgency for Tehran now that the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has raised uncertainty around how far the president is willing to go.
Trump said Friday that Washington was "locked and loaded" to come to the aid of Iranian protesters if Tehran cracks down harshly on them. A day later, the U.S. military launched strikes on the capital of Venezuela, an Iran ally, and brought Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to the U.S. to face criminal charges.
"It confirms that Trump is unpredictable and truly everything is on the table vis a vis Iran," said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, a think tank in London. |
One person was killed and two others wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a car in the Russian border region of Belgorod, local officials said Sunday, ahead of peace talks to end the nearly 4-year-old war in Paris this week.
Belgorod regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said a young child was among the wounded.
In Ukraine, three people were wounded in the Kharkiv region in drone strikes overnight into Sunday, the country's State Emergency Service said. |
President Donald Trump's intervention in Venezuela will test Americans' appetite for regime change, inserting a new and unpredictable element ahead of midterm elections this year that have so far been dominated by domestic issues.
Democrats immediately began arguing that overnight action on Saturday was an abandonment of Trump's promise to focus on improving lives at home, while many Republicans insisted it was an expansion, rather than a shift, in Trump's "America First" mantra. |
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