Trump vows more strikes soon; GOP keeps Tennessee seat but Dems gain ground
The White House stands by its shoot-to-sink policy in the Caribbean, including the subsequent shot that killed survivors. Now, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explains what he was doing when those shots were fired.
Plus, Republicans keep a House seat in Tennessee, but Democrats slash the margin in half from last year. Is that slimmer win a warning sign for the GOP?
And new lawsuits after the UPS cargo plane crash that killed 14 in Louisville, Kentucky. Families say the jet was “old, tired and beyond its useful life.”
These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Wednesday, December 3, 2025.
Pressure grows over 2nd boat strike, Hegseth stands by commander’s call to ‘sink the boat’
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are both defending the Trump administration’s boat-strike campaign. However, they’re also distancing themselves from the newest detail: the second strike that killed the survivors of the Sept. 2 attack in the Caribbean.
In a cabinet meeting on Monday, both men insisted they didn’t know a follow-up strike had even happened.
“Somebody asked me a question about the second strike. I didn’t know about the second strike,” Trump said. “I didn’t know anything about people. I wasn’t involved in it. I knew they took out a boat. But I would say this, they had a strike.”
Hegseth echoed that, saying he witnessed the first strike but stopped watching and left before the second one happened.
“I watched that first strike live. As you can imagine, at the Department of War, we got a lot of things to do, so I didn’t stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever, where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs,” Hegseth said. “So I moved on to my next meeting. A couple of hours later, I learned that the commander had made the, which he had the complete authority to do, by the way, Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.”
The White House now says Vice Adm. Mitch Bradley ordered that second strike.
Lawmakers from both parties want answers, with some even questioning whether killing survivors could constitute a war crime.
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., says there’s no reason to hide behind classified briefings
“If Hegseth believes his actions were lawful, he should not be afraid to explain himself to Congress in full view of the nation, instead of burying this potentially criminal activity in closed-door meetings.”
But the administration isn’t backing down. Instead, Hegseth is doubling down on the mission, and so is the president.
Trump says the boat operation has choked off drug routes and that the next phase is coming, inside Venezuela.
“We are going to start doing those strikes on land, too. You know the land is much easier. It’s much easier,” Trump said. “And we know the routes they take, we know everything about ’em. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live. And we’re gonna start that very soon, too.”
It would mark a major escalation, as the administration already acknowledges at least 21 maritime strikes and more than 80 people killed so far. The administration has labeled all of the dead “narco-terrorists.”
Vice Adm. Bradley is set to brief lawmakers on Thursday.
Van Epps wins special election for Tennessee US House seat
The Trump-backed candidate in Tennessee’s special election for an open U.S. House seat claimed victory on Tuesday. Military veteran and former state general services commissioner Matt Van Epps defeated Democratic state representative Aftyn Behn for Tennessee’s 7th congressional district.
The seat opened up after Mark Green resigned in July, saying he had received a private sector opportunity “too exciting to pass up.”
President Trump congratulated Van Epps on social media, saying he won despite what he called the “radical left” throwing “everything at him.”
Democrats, however, are touting the results as a partial win, pointing out they shrank the GOP’s huge advantage in a district Republicans have held since 1983.
Van Epps won by nine points, a significant drop from the 21-point margin Mark Green won by last year. It’s part of a broader pattern of Democrats posting stronger-than-expected numbers in special elections this year.
Judge says case against DC National Guard shooting suspect is ‘exceedingly strong’
The Afghan national, legally in the U.S., accused of ambushing two National Guard members just blocks from the White House, is now charged with murder, assault with intent to kill and multiple firearm offenses.
Twenty-nine-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal appeared in court Tuesday by video from a D.C. hospital where he’s recovering from gunshot wounds.
Prosecutors say Lakanwal drove 3,000 miles to Washington for a targeted strike. He allegedly opened fire as the guard members walked near the Farragut West Metro Station the day before Thanksgiving.
Army specialist Sarah Beckstrom, just 20 years old, was killed.
Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition.
The charging documents say Lakanwal shouted “Allahu akbar” as he fired, and was trying to reload when another guard member shot him.
An image released by the Justice Department shows him bending down next to the wounded soldiers after the attack.
A judge called the government’s case “exceedingly strong” and ordered him held with bond.
Federal officials say additional charges are likely. Lakanwal’s next court appearance is set for mid-January.
Victims’ families to sue over UPS crash, companies accused of negligence in new lawsuit
Two wrongful death lawsuits are anticipated to be filed Wednesday concerning last month’s fiery UPS cargo plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky, which resulted in 14 fatalities.
Attorneys representing the families of 45-year-old Angela Anderson and 37-year-old Trinadette “Trina” Chavez are suing UPS, Boeing and GE, among others.
Chavez worked at a Grade A auto parts and recycling business — one of the businesses destroyed by the impact. Anderson was there dropping off scrap when the plane hit.
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo plane crashed during takeoff on Nov. 4 after its left engine detached, triggering a massive fireball.
The crash killed all three crew members on board and 11 people on the ground. Another 23 people were injured.
A preliminary report from the NTSB found “fatigue cracks” in the engine mount and signs of “overstress failure,” key findings the families say point to years of warnings missed or ignored. The suits accuse the companies of negligence.
In a statement, attorney Robert Clifford said the jet was “old, tired and well beyond its useful life.”
Putin meets with US envoy, no breakthrough in Ukraine peace talks
The U.S.-led peace talks with Moscow, focused on ending the war in Ukraine, now include Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Tuesday in Moscow, the Kremlin held a meeting with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is also part of the negotiations.
Putin called the meeting “useful,” but said there’s still no compromise to end the war.
Russia emphasized that territory continues to be the main issue. Putin has now accused European governments of modifying the American peace proposal in an attempt to “block” the process.
He also insists that negotiating with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is meeting with European leaders this week, is pointless if Zelenskyy refuses to withdraw from areas Moscow claims as Russian territory.
U.S. officials say there are currently no plans for a future Trump-Putin meeting.
That depends entirely on the progress of these talks, which both sides say will keep going.
Fabergé egg smashes records, sells for more than $30M
Remember the Fabergé winter egg we mentioned last week? Well, even though experts originally believed it might fetch as much as $26 million, it turns out that was a humble estimate.
In London on Tuesday, the rare crystal and diamond masterpiece sold for 22.9 million pounds, which is more than $30 million. The egg set a new world record for any Fabergé piece ever sold at auction.
Auctioneers call it the “Mona Lisa” of decorative arts: a four-inch rock-crystal egg carved with platinum snowflakes and encrusted with forty-five hundred diamonds.
Inside, a small jeweled basket of quartz flowers — Faberge’s tribute to spring.
Originally crafted in 1913 for Czar Nicholas II to give to his mother, it then vanished for decades. Just 43 Imperial Fabergé eggs survive, and only a handful remain in private collections.
This one now takes the crown, again.
More from Straight Arrow News:
Supreme Court weighs free speech rights of anti-abortion ‘crisis pregnancy center’
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a New Jersey case that could influence the ability of states to regulate private organizations that promote controversial viewpoints. During an hour and a half of oral arguments, several justices seemed sympathetic to claims by a chain of “crisis pregnancy centers” that a New Jersey investigation seeking information on their donors violated the First Amendment.
The case hinges on whether First Choice Women’s Resource Centers has met a legal standard to challenge the New Jersey attorney general’s subpoena in federal court, rather than in state.
But the arguments — and questions from justices — centered on the organization’s First Amendment rights. Read the full story now>
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
