The day so far
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Revelations from White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in a series of remarkably unguarded interviews with Vanity Fair caused quite a stir today. Among the key tidbits were Wiles directly contradicting the official administration line when she said that Trump’s real goal in striking alleged drug boats in the Caribbean is indeed regime change in Venezuela, not the so-called “war on drugs”. She also said that Trump was “wrong” to tie former president Bill Clinton to Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal activity. And while she doesn’t think Trump is on a retribution tour, she conceded that the case of Letitia James “might be the one retribution”. “When there’s an opportunity [for score settling], he will go for it,” she said of the president.
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Also in those interviews, Wiles said that Trump has “an alcoholic’s personality”; JD Vance “has been a conspiracy theorist for a decade” and his conversion to Trumpism was “sort of political” when he was running for the Senate; and attorney general Pam Bondi “completely whiffed” her early handling of the Epstein files.
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There were also striking comments about Elon Musk’s ketamine use and his dismantling of USAID, the latter of which Wiles said left her “initially aghast”. Wiles also disclosed that she had warned Trump against pardoning the most violent participants in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and pressed him to delay his decision on sweeping trade tariffs, but was unable to change his mind in either case. “The tariff decision has been more painful than I expected,” she said.
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Naturally, Wiles slammed the Vanity Fair stories as a “disingenuously framed hit piece”, claiming that a lot of what she said was taken out of context. Meanwhile members of the Trump administration, including Vance and Bondi, presented a united front, rallying around her on social media to express their support and vouch for her loyalty.
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Trump has also reportedly stood by Wiles. He told the New York Post that he has a “possessive and addictive type personality” and didn’t take offence at her choice of words. “I didn’t read it, but I don’t read Vanity Fair — but she’s done a fantastic job,” he said. “I think from what I hear, the facts were wrong, and it was a very misguided interviewer, purposely misguided.”
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Elsewhere, Pete Hegseth said the defense department will not publicly release unedited video of the controversial 2 September double-tap boat strike that killed two survivors from an earlier attack on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean. “Of course we’re not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth said. He said members of the House and Senate armed services committees would be allowed to review the footage; however, he made no commitment to sharing it with the full Congress, despite a defense policy bill calling for its release.
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Unemployment climbed to 4.6% in November, the highest it’s been in almost four years, and the economy gained 64,000 jobs that month after losing 105,000 in October amid the federal government shutdown, according to delayed figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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And on that note, Trump will be giving a national address from the White House at 9pm ET tomorrow. According to press secretary Karoline Leavitt, the president will be talking “about all of his historic accomplishments over the past year” and possibly “teasing some policy that will be coming in the new year as well”. There’s still time to clear your diary.
Key events
Closing summary
Our live coverage of Donald Trump’s second presidency is wrapping up. We’ll be back on Wednesday. Here are the latest developments:
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Donald Trump has ordered “a total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro. The move comes amid an escalating campaign by the Trump administration against Maduro that has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela, which have killed dozens of people. Here’s more.
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Trump signed a proclamation that further restricts and limits the entry of foreign nationals to the United States, the White House said. The US has imposed full restrictions and entry limitations on nationals from five countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria – in addition to the initial list of 12 countries. Full restrictions have also been imposed on individuals holding Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents, the White House said. More here.
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Trump believes “there’s nothing he can’t do, nothing, zero” as US president, the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, said in a rare interview that shines an unvarnished spotlight on his second administration. Speaking to Vanity Fair, Wiles described Trump – who is teetotal – as having “an alcoholic’s personality”, an insight she ascribed to her relationship with her late father, the broadcaster and NFL star Pat Summerall, who had alcoholism. “High-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink. And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities,” Wiles said in a series of 11 interviews she gave to the author Chris Whipple. The Guardian’s Robert Tait brings us the full story.
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The BBC is preparing to argue Trump’s $10bn court case against it should be dismissed, arguing it has no case to answer over the US president’s claims he was defamed by an episode of Panorama. The development comes after Trump filed a 33-page complaint to a Florida court on Monday, accusing the broadcaster of “a false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory and malicious depiction” of the president in the documentary. More here.
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The Pentagon will not make public the full video of a September attack in the Caribbean that killed two individuals as they were clinging to the wreckage of a burning boat, Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. The strike has been the most controversial development in Trump’s campaign against Venezuela, which has seen US forces blow up vessels alleged to be transporting narcotics from the South American country to the United States, seize an oil tanker and threaten further military action against the president, Nicolás Maduro. Legal experts have raised concerns that US forces may have committed a war crime by killing the survivors of an initial air strike on 2 September, and that the campaign is illegal. More here.
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US congresswoman Ilhan Omar has warned that Trump’s repeated personal attacks and dehumanising rhetoric are fuelling a climate of political violence that could have dangerous consequences. Speaking days after the president called for her to be thrown out of the country, Omar said Trump’s incendiary language reaches “the worst humans possible” and encourages them to act. Here’s the full story by David Smith.
Venezuela’s government said it rejected Trump’s “grotesque threat,” responding to the US president’s order to impose a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, Reuters reports.
Texas congressman Joaquin Castro, a Democrat, called the blockade “unquestionably an act of war.”
“A war that the Congress never authorized and the American people do not want,” Castro said on the social media platform X.
During an interview on CNN, the outgoing GOP House member Marjorie Taylor Greene denounced President Donald Trump for his remarks related to the murders of Rob and Michele Reiner.
“I thought that statement was absolutely completely below the office of the president of the United States, classless, and it was just wrong,” Greene told Kaitlan Collins on “The Source.”
On Monday, Trump took to social media to mock the director, calling him “tortured and struggling”, prompting backlash from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Before his death, Reiner had repeatedly criticized the president.
“MAGA faithful reacted big time and they called it out,” Greene said.
Green’s comments come less than a month after she announced she would be stepping down from office starting in January. In recent months, the Georgia congresswoman has become a staunch critic of the Trump administration, also expressing a misalignment with the Republican Party.
“I think the dam is breaking,” she said, referring to recent Republican breaks with Trump.
Gary Clemons, a Democrat who serves as president of Louisville’s chapter of United Steelworkers Local, won the special election for Kentucky’s state senate seat for District 37.
The Jefferson County clerk’s unofficial election result report shows Clemons, an Army veteran, received 3,752 votes out of the total 5,178 votes cast. Clemons defeated Republican Calvin Leach, also an Army veteran and a former state Senate candidate, and Libertarian Wendy Higdon, founder of the Louisville Tea Party.
Leach won a total of 1,297 votes, while Higdon won 121.
My colleague Sanya Mansoor writes the latest on the tech deal between the US and UK:
Downing Street insists the $40bn Tech Prosperity Deal between the US and UK that is on hold is not permanently stalled. The BBC reported on Tuesday evening that the prime minister’s office claimed that the UK remains in “active conversations with US counterparts at all levels of government” about the wide-ranging deal for the technology industries in both countries to cooperate.
The agreement, previously billed as historic, was paused after the US accused the UK of failing to lower trade barriers, including a digital services tax on US tech companies and food safety rules that limit the export of some agricultural products. The New York Times first reported British confirmation that negotiations had stalled.
“We look forward to resuming work on this partnership as quickly as possible,” a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement. She added that the UK government is committed to ensuring a “bond” with the US “and working together to help shape the emerging technologies of the future”.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read the full story:
The blockade on oil tankers coming in and out of Venezuela is the latest development in Donald Trump’s monthslong campaign against Nicolás Maduro.
Last Wednesday, the US seized the Skipper oil tanker that was traveling across the Caribbean carrying Venezuelan crude. The tanker was thought to be loaded with about 2m barrels of Venezuela’s heavy crude, according to the New York Times. The Venezuelan government accused the US of “blatant theft” and described the seizure as “an act of international piracy”, further heightening tensions between the two countries.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon said it had carried out strikes on three boats it accused of trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean, killing eight people. Since 2 September, at least 95 people have been killed in more than 20 separate strikes, most off the coast of Venezuela.
Several lawmakers have called on the administration to release video footage showing a 2 September attack, but defense secretary Pete Hegseth has refused to do so, calling the video “top secret” and claiming that releasing the video to the public violates “longstanding Department of War policy.”
Experts have also debated whether the air campaign is legal.
Trump orders blockade on tankers in and out of Venezuela
President Donald Trump said he is ordering a full blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela.
“The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping. For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” reads the post on Truth Social.
He added: “I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”
CDC adopts recommendation to limit hepatitis B vaccines for newborns
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) decided to remove the well-established recommendation that all newborns in the country receive a hepatitis B vaccine.
The CDC now recommends a birth dose of the vaccine only for babies whose mothers test positive for hepatitis B infection, and in cases where the mother’s status is unknown.
“Individual-based decision-making, referred to on the CDC immunization schedule as shared clinical decision-making, means that parents and health care providers should consider vaccine benefits, vaccine risks, and infection risks, and that parents consult with their health care provider and decide when or if their child will begin the hepatitis B vaccine series,” reads a statement released today by the CDC.
Many medical and public health leaders have denounced the new recommendation, with groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly recommending that all infants receive the vaccine within 24 hours of birth.
Last week, Ronald G Nahass, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said that this recommendation “ignores established science.”
“This will result in more disease, more suffering, more confusion and yes, less trust,” he added.
Tiago Rogero
The US has designated the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest and most powerful illegal armed criminal group, as a foreign terrorist organisation.
The notorious drug-trafficking militia with its roots in far-right paramilitary forces, is present in at least 20 of Colombia’s departments, and dominates people- and drug-smuggling routes through the Darién Gap. It has also battled unsuccessfully against leftwing rebels for control of criminal networks along the Venezuelan border.
In recent years, the group has attempted to present itself as a political movement similar to Colombian insurgent factions groups, which would grant it different conditions at peace talks, but it is not widely considered to have concrete political aims.
In a statement on Tuesday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, described the Gulf Clan – which calls itself the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) – as a “violent and powerful criminal organisation with thousands of members” whose “primary source of income is cocaine trafficking, which it uses to fund its violent activities”.
Read the full story:
In Chicago, Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino returned to the city Tuesday with dozens of federal immigration agents, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The return follows a series of clashes across the Chicago area in recent months, as the city has become one of the epicenters of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Agents have previously used violent tactics in the city, including body-slamming and deploying tear gas in residential neighborhoods.
The Tribune reports that, today, agents made arrests at supermarkets and tamale stands. Bovino told reporters on a street corner that “we never left.”
It’s still unclear how long agents are expected to remain in the area.
“I am aware of the presence of Greg Bovino and masked federal agents conducting immigration enforcement activity in the Chicago area, including the Little Village community just days before the holidays, a time when families should be together, not living in fear,” said Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson in the social media platform X.
The mayor added in a separate post: “This activity is occurring alongside a film crew, which appears to be using these raids to create content at the expense of traumatizing families. The crew’s presence turns these operations into a spectacle, showing a disregard for the humanity of those impacted.”
A federal judge in Washington is expected to side with the Trump administration in a lawsuit brought by a preservationist group that sought to stop work on a $300 million White House ballroom on the site of the demolished East Wing, Reuters reports.
After hearing arguments in a case brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, US district judge Richard Leon said today that he was unlikely to issue the temporary restraining order that would halt the construction.
The preservationist group is accusing Donald Trump and federal agencies of building the 90,000-square-foot project without legally required reviews, including by Congress, or approvals.
The judge said the group had failed to show that “irreparable harm” would come from the construction moving forward. Another hearing is expected to be scheduled for January.
The Department of Homeland Security accused US congresswoman Ilhan Omar of pulling a “PR stunt” after she said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped her son in Minnesota.
“ICE has absolutely ZERO record of its officers or agents pulling over Congresswoman Omar’s son. With no evidence, it is shameful that Congresswoman Omar would level accusations to demonize ICE as part of a PR stunt,” DHS posted on X.
“Allegations that ICE engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE,” reads the post.
Omar told the Minnesota broadcaster WCCO on Sunday that her son had stopped by ICE agents over the weekend after Donald Trump ordered an operation targeting Minneapolis’ Somali population.
“Yesterday, after he made a stop at Target, he did get pulled over by [ICE] agents, and once he was able to produce his passport ID, they did let him go,” Omar said in the interview.
Several states are suing the Trump administration for blocking the release of more than $2 billion in federal funding for electric vehicle infrastructure.
Colorado, California, and more than a dozen other blue states argue that the decision to halt the funding is unlawful on grounds that the transportation department is overstepping its constitutional authority.
The $2.5b in funding was approved by Congress in 2022 during the Biden administration, and states claim the Trump administration refused to approve new money for the programs.
“The Trump Administration’s illegal attempt to stop funding for electric vehicle infrastructure must come to an end,” said California attorney general Rob Bonta in a statement. “This is just another reckless attempt that will stall the fight against air pollution and climate change, slow innovation, thwart green job creation, and leave communities without access to clean, affordable transportation. While the Administration is busy finding ways for their Big Oil donors to profit, California will continue to fight for its people, environment, and innovation.”
The five-year programs created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act were intended for building or repairing electric vehicle chargers. According to Bonta, the transportation department and the federal highway administration have refused “all new obligations of funds” since the spring of 2025.
Here’s my colleague Chris Stein’s report on Pete Hegseth’s refusal to release the full unedited video of of the 2 September double-tap stirke in the Caribbean that killed two individuals as they were clinging to the wreckage of a burning boat.
As Chris notes, the strike has been the most controversial development in Donald Trump’s campaign against Venezuela, with legal experts raising concerns that US forces may have committed a war crime.
Trump further restricts foreign nationals entry to US, White House says
Donald Trump has signed a proclamation further restricting and limiting the entry of foreign nationals to the United States, the White House announced today, with a particular emphasis on African countries.
Per today’s announcement, the US has imposed full restrictions and entry limitations on nationals from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria – in addition to the initial list of 12 countries (see below).
Full restrictions have also been imposed on individuals holding Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents, as well as Laos and Sierra Leone, which were both previously partially restricted.
The White House said it was also adding partial restrictions on an additional 15 countries, most of them in Africa: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The proclamation also continues the previously imposed full restrictions on nationals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen; and continues partial restrictions on nationals from Burundi, Cuba, Togo, and Venezuela.
The day so far
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Revelations from White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in a series of remarkably unguarded interviews with Vanity Fair caused quite a stir today. Among the key tidbits were Wiles directly contradicting the official administration line when she said that Trump’s real goal in striking alleged drug boats in the Caribbean is indeed regime change in Venezuela, not the so-called “war on drugs”. She also said that Trump was “wrong” to tie former president Bill Clinton to Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal activity. And while she doesn’t think Trump is on a retribution tour, she conceded that the case of Letitia James “might be the one retribution”. “When there’s an opportunity [for score settling], he will go for it,” she said of the president.
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Also in those interviews, Wiles said that Trump has “an alcoholic’s personality”; JD Vance “has been a conspiracy theorist for a decade” and his conversion to Trumpism was “sort of political” when he was running for the Senate; and attorney general Pam Bondi “completely whiffed” her early handling of the Epstein files.
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There were also striking comments about Elon Musk’s ketamine use and his dismantling of USAID, the latter of which Wiles said left her “initially aghast”. Wiles also disclosed that she had warned Trump against pardoning the most violent participants in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and pressed him to delay his decision on sweeping trade tariffs, but was unable to change his mind in either case. “The tariff decision has been more painful than I expected,” she said.
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Naturally, Wiles slammed the Vanity Fair stories as a “disingenuously framed hit piece”, claiming that a lot of what she said was taken out of context. Meanwhile members of the Trump administration, including Vance and Bondi, presented a united front, rallying around her on social media to express their support and vouch for her loyalty.
-
Trump has also reportedly stood by Wiles. He told the New York Post that he has a “possessive and addictive type personality” and didn’t take offence at her choice of words. “I didn’t read it, but I don’t read Vanity Fair — but she’s done a fantastic job,” he said. “I think from what I hear, the facts were wrong, and it was a very misguided interviewer, purposely misguided.”
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Elsewhere, Pete Hegseth said the defense department will not publicly release unedited video of the controversial 2 September double-tap boat strike that killed two survivors from an earlier attack on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean. “Of course we’re not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth said. He said members of the House and Senate armed services committees would be allowed to review the footage; however, he made no commitment to sharing it with the full Congress, despite a defense policy bill calling for its release.
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Unemployment climbed to 4.6% in November, the highest it’s been in almost four years, and the economy gained 64,000 jobs that month after losing 105,000 in October amid the federal government shutdown, according to delayed figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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And on that note, Trump will be giving a national address from the White House at 9pm ET tomorrow. According to press secretary Karoline Leavitt, the president will be talking “about all of his historic accomplishments over the past year” and possibly “teasing some policy that will be coming in the new year as well”. There’s still time to clear your diary.
