RFK Jr. faces Senate showdown, Venezuela jets confront US warship: Unbiased Updates, Sept. 5, 2025
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced combative questioning on Capitol Hill. Senators pressed him on vaccines, CDC firings and COVID-19 data.
Plus, two Venezuelan fighter jets confronted a U.S. Navy destroyer in international waters, showing force after American warships shot down a suspected cartel drug boat.
Also, a federal appeals court ruled that the controversial migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades, otherwise known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” can remain open for now.
These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Friday, Sept. 5, 2025.
Senators call for RFK Jr. to resign during heated DC hearing
It was a heated day on Capitol Hill on Thursday as a Senate hearing quickly escalated into a political fight over vaccines. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced calls to resign, with Democrats criticizing his attempts to fire top scientists and limit access to COVID shots.
Republicans also questioned why Kennedy canceled mRNA research and replaced the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel with skeptics.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a doctor himself, accused Kennedy of breaking promises he made during his confirmation. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., warned that decades of vaccine progress could be put at risk.
Kennedy, however, pushed back strongly. He argued that agencies have been dishonest and claimed he’s the one restoring trust in science.
The tense back-and-forth led to some of the day’s most explosive exchanges:
Kennedy: “There’s a big difference, senator, between established science and the scientific establishment, which has been co-opted by the pharmaceutical industry.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt.: “Hold on, so you’re telling me, you’re telling the American people that the American Medical Association, representing hundreds of thousands of people, have been co-opted and that they should not trust their doctors … Everybody is corrupt but you?
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.: “Do you think the vaccine did anything to prevent additional deaths?”
Kennedy: “Again. I would like to see the data and talk about the data. I’m not going to–“
Warner: “You have had this job for eight months, and you don’t know the data about whether the vaccine saved lives?”
Sen. Michael Bennett, D-Colo.: “The people that you have put on that panel after firing the entire —
Kennedy: “You are evading the question.”
Bennett: “No, I’m asking the questions here, Mr. Kennedy … On behalf of parents and schools and teachers all over the United States of America who deserve so much better than your leadership. That’s what this conversation is about, Mr. Chairman.”
Kennedy: “Senator, they deserve the truth and that’s what we’re going to give them for the first time in the history of that agency.”
Vice President JD Vance took to X afterward, criticizing senators who grilled Kennedy. He said they were trying to lecture and “gotcha” Kennedy and are “full of s— and everyone knows it.”
Venezuelan fighter jets confront US warship: DOD officials
Defense officials say two armed Venezuelan fighter jets flew close to a U.S. Navy warship in international waters. It was a bold display of force that the Pentagon is calling “highly provocative.”
The Department of Defense (DOD) said the jets flew directly over the U.S.S. John Durham, a guided-missile destroyer taking part in counter-narco-terror operations.
In a statement on X, the Pentagon called the maneuver “an attempt to interfere with our mission.”
— Department of Defense
(@DeptofDefense) September 5, 2025
The move comes as tensions with Caracas escalate.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has ordered drones and warships to patrol the coast, calling U.S. ships a “criminal and bloody threat.”
Earlier this week, the U.S. military sank what it said was a Venezuelan cartel drug boat, killing eleven suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang. It’s a gang that the Trump administration has labeled a foreign terrorist organization.
Putin warns Western troops in Ukraine would be ‘legitimate targets’
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a new warning to the West: any troops sent to Ukraine would be “legitimate targets” for Russian attacks.
The warning follows French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that over twenty countries have committed to offering security guarantees for Ukraine once the war concludes. This includes a multinational force operating on land, in the air and at sea.
Putin brushed that off, saying NATO has “no place” in Ukraine if a peace deal is reached.
However, he added that if troops arrive now, in the middle of the war, Russia would consider them “legitimate targets for destruction.”
President Donald Trump, for his part, has repeatedly said there will be no U.S. boots on the ground.
As for peace talks, Putin claims he’s willing to host Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Moscow, but nowhere else.
Zelenskyy reiterated he’s willing to talk, but a meeting in Moscow is a non-starter.
DOJ investigates Fed Governor Lisa Cook as Trump pushes to remove her
The Justice Department has opened an investigation into Fed Governor Lisa Cook, examining allegations of mortgage fraud linked to properties she purchased in 2021.
A referral from federal housing chief Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist who alleges Cook improperly claimed two primary residences to secure better loan terms, prompted the investigation.
“This really has nothing to do with the fed. It has much to do with public officials. If you’re going to be in charge of the Federal Reserve, damn, you better sure know how to fill out a mortgage application. And boy, it’s awfully weird that she potentially saved a lot of money by making so-called clerical errors, which were not clerical errors.”
— Bill Pulte, U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director
Cook, who has challenged Trump’s move to oust her from the central bank, claimed the charges are political and designed to give the White House control over an institution meant to be independent.
The Justice Department has urged a judge to approve her immediate removal.
Cook’s lawyers argue she can only be fired for cause and that she never committed fraud.
Appeals court permits ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention site to remain open
A federal appeals court has approved keeping the migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades open. In a 2-to-1 decision, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the site falls under state—not federal—jurisdiction. That means its legality cannot be challenged in federal court.
Environmentalists argued the Trump administration bypassed required impact studies when it opened the facility, and a lower court ordered that operations cease. But the appeals court stated that keeping the site open is “in the public interest.”
Florida officials reported that the facility was nearly empty by the end of August. It’s uncertain whether more migrants will be sent there before deportation.
102-year-old becomes oldest person to summit Japan’s Mount Fuji
Kokichi Akuzawa, 102, became the oldest person to summit Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest peak, soaring more than 12,000 feet.
Akuzawa admitted he almost turned back but continued climbing with his 70-year-old daughter, granddaughter and friends from a local hiking club.
He spent three months training — waking up at 5 a.m. for long walks and climbing one mountain a week.
This is not his first time in the record books; he was 96 when he first earned the title of the oldest person to climb Fuji.
Now, he’s broken his own record.
More from Straight Arrow News:
Student loan ‘payment reversals’ make it harder for borrowers to repay debt
Gabrielle Perry borrowed $137,000 to earn her master’s degree in public health and become an epidemiologist. Her career of choice allowed her to secure a high-paying job in New Orleans, and she’s on track to pay off her student loans in less than two years.
That timeline is unusual. But the Trump Administration’s recent changes to student loan debt rules motivated her to speed up her repayment process. Earlier this year, Perry attempted to pay off a $20,000 student loan debt to her servicer, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA).
MOHELA only accepted $11,000.
What happened to Perry is called a payment reversal — a process in which money is returned to a customer’s bank account. It’s common with purchases from sites and services such as PayPal and Stripe. Typically, a payment reversal occurs when someone purchases an item that is no longer in stock, was charged more than once, or when a payment is reported as fraudulent.
In retail, it’s often a sign that companies are doing their due diligence. For student loan borrowers, payment reversals can have negative consequences. Read the full story now >
The post RFK Jr. faces Senate showdown, Venezuela jets confront US warship: Unbiased Updates, Sept. 5, 2025 appeared first on Straight Arrow News.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
