Good evening everyone. A short news update is included below, but before we get there, I want to level with you. This week is shaping up to be one of the most consequential we have faced. The United States is edging closer to a potential war with Venezuela, with strikes possible as early as tonight. At the same time, we are continuing to investigate credible allegations of war crimes tied to orders issued by the Secretary of Defense. And on Tuesday, a special election in Tennessee could fundamentally reshape control of the House of Representatives.
As an independent journalist and former lawyer, I am not afraid to say plainly that Pete Hegseth’s actions appear to meet the definition of war crimes. That statement has triggered 24 hours of coordinated attacks from people who do not want the truth reported.
But here is the reality: I do not care. I stand by the work. I am proud of what we have built together, and even prouder of what we are continuing to build. This newsroom exists because of you. At a moment when the White House is publicly targeting journalists by name and bot farms are working overtime to harass and silence independent reporters, your support matters more than ever.
Trump said he wasn’t aware of any second strike on wounded people, noted Pete Hegseth said didn’t know about it either, and added he would not have wanted a second strike, saying the first strike was already very lethal and “fine.”
Pete Hegseth now faces Congressional investigations led by Republicans in both chambers of Congress. Previously, the United States Senate, led by Roger Wicker the Senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, announced an investigation into Hegseth for possible war crimes violations. Now, the House Armed Services Committee has done the same.
Trump said he would release his “perfect” MRI results if needed, claimed he did not know what part of his body was scanned, and insisted it was not his brain because he had already “aced” a cognitive test, which he said the reporter would be “incapable” of doing.
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem claimed the suspect in a DC national guard shooting was radicalized in the US and blamed Biden’s administration, despite the suspect’s asylum being approved under Trump, while also defending her decision to continue deportation flights in defiance of a judge’s order and criticizing “activist” judges.
Noem further admitted that she was the one who ordered the flights to El Salvador to take off despite a court order to the contrary. This comes as contempt proceedings have restarted against the Administration.
Experts and former officials warn that the Trump administration’s mass firing of DHS civil rights watchdogs and dismantling of oversight offices has left immigration detention and enforcement with virtually no accountability, creating conditions where abuses can occur with impunity.
Donald Trump is growing increasingly nervous about this week’s special election on Tuesday, urging his supporters to vote for the Republican in the race:
Donald Trump granted clemency to private-equity CEO David Gentile—who had just begun serving a seven-year sentence for orchestrating a $1.6bn fraud that diverted investor money to luxury personal expenses—freeing him less than two weeks after he reported to prison, despite regulators’ findings that thousands of investors lost their savings and ongoing questions about any ties between Gentile and Trump.
A mass shooting at a child’s birthday party in Stockton, California left four people dead, ages 8, 9, 14 and 21, and 11 others wounded, with the suspected gunman still at large as officials say the attack appears targeted and are asking the public for help in an active, ongoing investigation.
According to NBC, several protesters in New York City were arrested after blocking streets and a parking garage in an effort to stop federal agents from conducting an immigration raid, as DHS said activists obstructed officers following social media calls to “shut down” the operation while police and federal agents worked to clear the area and restore access.
According to The Daily Beast, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is facing scrutiny after the mother of her nephew, Bruna Ferreira, accused her of downplaying their relationship following Ferreira’s detention by ICE, with Ferreira’s attorney saying she remained closely involved with Leavitt’s family, attended her son’s recent soccer game alongside them, and even chose Leavitt as her son’s godmother, contradicting White House claims that the two had not spoken in years.
Senior Ukrainian officials met US negotiators Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Florida to revise a controversial US-Russia draft peace framework ahead of planned talks with Putin, as Kyiv—under military strain and political turmoil—pushes back against proposals seen as too favorable to Moscow and insists any deal must protect Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and long-term security.
According to the Associated Press, Rubio said today’s meeting was “quite productive,” noting that negotiators made real progress toward a potential peace deal, but he stressed that “we still have work to do” and emphasized that any agreement will ultimately require addressing the position of the conflict’s other central actor, Russia.
Public health and farmworker groups have filed a legal petition urging the EPA to ban the annual spraying of 8 million pounds of medically important antibiotics and antifungals on US crops, warning that the practice is fueling dangerous drug-resistant “superbugs,” endangering farmworkers, contaminating food and water, and offering only short-term agricultural benefits at the expense of long-term public health.
