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US Will Control Venezuelan Oil Sales ‘Indefinitely,’ Energy Secretary Says

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The Trump administration said Wednesday it will control Venezuela’s oil sales “indefinitely” in the wake of deposed strongman ruler Nicolás Maduro’s capture.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright asserted the US will market and sell Venezuelan crude, with proceeds held in US-controlled accounts that he said “can flow back” to Venezuela, a day after President Trump said Venezuela would turn tens of millions of barrels of oil over to the US.

“Instead of the oil being blockaded, as it is right now, we’re gonna let the oil flow … to United States refineries and around the world to bring better oil supplies, but have those sales done by the US government,” Wright said at Goldman Sachs’ Energy, CleanTech & Utilities Conference in Aventura, Fla., on Wednesday.

The US will first move to sell millions of barrels of Venezuelan crude currently stuck in storage because of US sanctions and a blockade, and then take over the sale of ongoing production for the foreseeable future, according to the energy secretary.

“We’re going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela, first this backed-up stored oil, and then indefinitely, going forward, we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela into the marketplace,” Wright said. (Read more from “US Will Control Venezuelan Oil Sales ‘Indefinitely,’ Energy Secretary Says” HERE)

Trump Administration Confirms Military Option Remains on Table in Effort to Bring Greenland Closer to U.S. Control

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The White House says discussions are underway about strategies to bring Greenland into closer alignment with the United States — and officials acknowledge that the potential involvement of U.S. military resources remains among the options being reviewed.

In comments provided to Reuters, administration officials described Greenland as a key national security priority due to its strategic Arctic position and rising international competition in the region. The president, they said, views U.S. influence in the Arctic as essential to countering growing Russian and Chinese activity.

According to the White House statement, Trump and senior advisers are evaluating “a range of options” related to the island, emphasizing that the commander-in-chief always retains the ability to utilize the military if necessary. Internal deliberations have reportedly intensified in recent days, with advisers examining multiple diplomatic and strategic pathways to strengthen U.S. control or partnership with Greenland.

The renewed push comes despite repeated objections from Greenlandic leaders, who have dismissed any notion of transferring sovereignty or becoming part of the United States. Those objections have not slowed discussions within the administration, one senior U.S. official told Reuters, asserting that the issue remains firmly on the president’s agenda for the remainder of his term.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated the administration’s position, calling Greenland essential to American defense strategy and deterrence efforts in the Arctic. The administration argues that U.S. control — formal or otherwise — would bolster Western security capabilities across the North Atlantic and Arctic passageways.

Officials are said to be weighing several scenarios, including a full territorial purchase or a Compact of Free Association (COFA) arrangement. Under a COFA-style agreement, Greenland would retain self-governance while entering into a deep strategic and economic partnership with the U.S., similar to existing agreements with certain Pacific island nations. No estimated purchase figure has been discussed publicly.

While military options remain formally available, administration aides emphasized that Trump prefers to pursue negotiations first and continues to frame the effort as a diplomatic initiative rooted in deal-making. The president, they noted, is inclined toward an agreement if favorable terms can be reached.

Trump has long argued that Greenland’s position between North America and Europe makes it uniquely valuable from both a defense and transportation standpoint. In December, he appointed Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry to serve as U.S. envoy overseeing the Greenland initiative, signaling the administration’s commitment to advancing the effort.

Notorious Socialist Dictator Nicolás Maduro Perp Walked Ahead Of Facing ‘Full Wrath Of American Justice’; Someone Made a Huge Profit Predicting Maduro’s Capture

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By New York Post. Deposed socialist Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro arrived at a New York City jail Saturday night, hours after U.S. military forces captured him in Caracas, and awaits arraignment on four criminal charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy.

A 12-second video posted to X late Saturday by the White House’s Rapid Response account shows Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents escorting an apparently handcuffed Maduro, wearing a hat and grasping a water bottle, through the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn (MDC Brooklyn). In the video, which the social media account captioned “Perp walked,” the ex-leader can be heard saying “good night” in both English and Spanish, as well as “happy new year” in English — apparently his first public remarks since being taken into U.S. custody.

Another one of MDC Brooklyn’s current inmates is Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. The pretrial detention facility’s previous inmates notably include sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.

Combs’s lawyers wrote that several courts “have recognized that the conditions at [MDC Brooklyn] are not fit for pre-trial detention” in a 2024 motion for bail. Maxwell also reportedly took issue with the jail’s accommodations during her stay, with the Jeffrey Epstein accomplice having complained of its allegedly abusive guards and plentiful rats.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a Saturday morning post to X, vowed Maduro “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.” (Read more from “Notorious Socialist Dictator Nicolás Maduro Perp Walked Ahead Of Facing ‘Full Wrath Of American Justice’” HERE)

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Someone Made a Huge Profit Predicting Maduro’s Capture. Here’s What Happened

By Axios. Traders and speculative bettors earned huge profits on prediction markets because of the capture of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro.

Why it matters: Though the capture of Maduro seemed to come out of the blue for many Americans, some were ahead of the curve, netting them thousands of dollars.

These bets — many of which were on Maduro’s capture, and are now on what happens next to the ousted leader — will renew longstanding questions about inside information and access to prediction markets.

Driving the news: Traders on Polymarket appeared to anticipate Maduro’s capture late Friday night, before President Trump announced it early Saturday morning.

The market for whether or not Maduro would be out of power climbed shortly before 10pm ET on Friday, after hovering in the low single digits for weeks, per the Wall Street Journal.

What appears to be a newly created account appeared to invest $30,000 Friday in Maduro’s exit. After Maduro went into custody Saturday morning, that same investor netted $436,759.61.

(Read more from “Someone Made a Huge Profit Predicting Maduro’s Capture. Here’s What Happened” HERE)

Trump Expands Child Care Funding Freeze Beyond Minnesota

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The Trump administration is widening a federal freeze on child care funding beyond Minnesota as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ramps up a nationwide review aimed at rooting out fraud.

Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill announced Tuesday that the agency froze all federal child care payments to Minnesota as officials investigate allegations of widespread fraud in the state’s subsidy system. The funding freeze will extend to other states as federal officials review how taxpayer dollars are used, according to multiple reports.

“HHS has a clear duty to verify the proper use of taxpayer funds,” spokesman Andrew Nixon said in a statement, as reported by the New York Post. “The documentation process exists to rule out fraud and confirm that funds are supporting legitimate child care providers.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pushed back after the Trump administration moved to freeze federal child care funding in the state, accusing the White House of using fraud concerns to justify the action.

“This is Trump’s long game. We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue – but this has been his plan all along. He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” Walz wrote.

President Donald Trump said that investigators expect to uncover large-scale abuse elsewhere, including in California. (Read more from “Trump Expands Child Care Funding Freeze Beyond Minnesota” HERE)

How Many Chinese Visa Holders Have To Be Charged Before Trump Stops Importing Them Into Our Universities?

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How many Chinese nationals with access to America’s university system have to be prosecuted before President Trump shuts off their ability to attend such institutions?

It’s a question worth asking given the recurring nature of these individuals being charged by U.S. officials for alleged actions that could harm the security and national interests of the United States.

On Friday, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that Youhuang Xiang, a J-1 visa holder and post-doctoral researcher from China, has been “charged with smuggling Escherichia coli (E. coli) into the U.S. and making false statements about it.” Xiang was conducting post-doctoral research at Indiana University.

“This is yet another example of a researcher from China – given the privilege to work at a U.S. university – who then allegedly chose to take part in a scheme to circumvent U.S. laws and receive biological materials hidden in a package originating from China,” the FBI director said in an X post.

According to the Washington Examiner, “The Food and Drug Administration says certain types of E. coli can be life-threatening, leading to kidney failure or the development of high blood pressure, in addition to contaminating meat and crops.” In addressing the latter point, Patel said that such biological materials could “inflict devastating disease to U.S. crops and cause significant financial loss to the U.S. economy.”

(Read more from “How Many Chinese Visa Holders Have To Be Charged Before Trump Stops Importing Them Into Our Universities?” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Report: Dept. of Veterans Affairs Orders End to Abortions, Abortion Counseling at Facilities

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In a sweeping reversal to the Biden administration’s pro-abortion agenda, the Trump administration has barred the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from aborting the unborn babies of veterans and their dependents.

The restriction follows a memo from Joshua Craddock, deputy assistant attorney general of the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) on December 18 to the VA stating that the department is not allowed to perform abortions under any provision of the law, the Hill reported.

The memo revoked a Biden-era OLC opinion that allowed the VA to provide abortions and abortion counseling to pregnant veterans and their dependents. The pro-abortion Biden administration promulgated a rule in September 2022 allowing veterans and covered dependents to obtain taxpayer-funded abortions in cases of rape and incest and to protect the life or health of the pregnant woman, as well as abortion counseling. The Biden administration issued the rule in response to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, a 1973 ruling that had invented a constitutional right to abortion.

Screenshots purportedly obtained by the outlet of a separate internal VA memo, dated December 22 and sent to the leaders of the department’s 18 regional integrated service networks, states that the agency “must comply” with the OLC’s memo and that the VA will no longer provide abortions or abortion counseling “effective immediately.”

The internal memo also notes that nothing about the VA’s policy “prohibit[s] providing care to pregnant women in life-threatening circumstances, including treatment for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages.” (Read more from “Report: Dept. of Veterans Affairs Orders End to Abortions, Abortion Counseling at Facilities” HERE)

U.S. Flexes Military Might as Trump Gives Chilling Warning to Venezuela’s Maduro if He Plays ‘Tough’

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President Trump on Monday warned Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro against taking military action against the United States, telling reporters from Florida that “if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’s ever able to play tough.”

The remark came after Trump was asked why Maduro should take “seriously” Washington’s pressure campaign to force him to leave office after stealing the past two presidential elections in that country and running a narcoterrorist state.

“He could do whatever he wants. We have a massive Armada formed; the biggest we’ve ever had, and by far the biggest we’ve ever had in South America,” Trump said. “He could do whatever he wants. It’s alright, whatever he wants to do.”

It came hours after US Southern Command showed off the efforts of roughly 2,200 Marines training in the Caribbean this month in a series of eye-popping photos on Monday as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Maduro.

Part of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Force, the troops were pictured firing mortar systems in live-fire drills during “reconnaissance, selection and occupation of position” maneuvers recently and training on first-person view attack drones in Puerto Rico, as well as conducting flight operations aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima in the Caribbean Sea. (Read more from “U.S. Flexes Military Might as Trump Gives Chilling Warning to Venezuela’s Maduro if He Plays ‘Tough’” HERE)

Trump Admin Dramatically Scales Back Work Permits For Asylum Seekers

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The Trump administration is dramatically scaling back the timeframe in which asylum seekers and other foreign nationals can have valid work permits in the U.S.

Work permits issued to foreign nationals who’ve applied for asylum or other humanitarian programs will only be valid for 18 months rather than five years, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Thursday. The decision marks the latest action by the agency tasked with managing the country’s immigration system, since two National Guard members were ambushed by an Afghan man shortly before Thanksgiving.

“Reducing the maximum validity period for employment authorization will ensure that those seeking to work in the United States do not threaten public safety or promote harmful anti-American ideologies,” USCIS Director Joe Edlow said in a public statement.

“After the attack on National Guard service members in our nation’s capital by an alien who was admitted into this country by the previous administration, it’s even more clear that USCIS must conduct frequent vetting of aliens,” Edlow continued.

The maximum validity period for initial and renewed Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) will be scaled back for foreigners admitted as refugees, granted asylum and granted a withholding of removal order, according to USCIS. The timeframe will additionally change for aliens with pending applications for asylum, withholding of removal, adjustment of status and suspension of deportation, among other categories. (Read more from “Trump Admin Dramatically Scales Back Work Permits For Asylum Seekers” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Trump Administration Eyes Major Expansion of Foreign Entry Restrictions

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The Trump administration is preparing to dramatically broaden U.S. travel restrictions in response to last week’s deadly attack on two West Virginia National Guard members near the White House, with officials signaling that as many as 30 nations may soon be added to a new immigration blacklist.

A senior administration source confirmed that the list — which already targets 19 “countries of concern” — is set to grow “significantly,” and could continue expanding based on evolving security assessments.

“We will be announcing the list soon,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday, declining to identify specific countries. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who has taken a hard-line stance on immigration, teased the announcement Monday night on X, calling the proposal a “full travel ban.”

In her post, Noem urged Trump to include “every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies” on the restricted list. She argued the United States cannot allow foreign nationals to “slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to AMERICANS.”

“WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE,” she wrote in all caps.

The proposal comes amid a sweeping crackdown following the Thanksgiving eve shooting that killed National Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically injured Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, outside the White House complex. Authorities arrested 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national accused of opening fire during a confrontation.

The attack has reignited security concerns surrounding Afghan resettlement programs and immigration vetting processes.

Prior to the shooting, the White House had already announced a freeze on asylum decisions and ordered a review of more than 720,000 green card holders from the 19 countries currently on the restricted list.

The State Department has since paused all visa issuance for individuals traveling on Afghan passports.

Lakanwal’s immigration history is now under intense political scrutiny. A former member of a CIA-backed elite Afghan military unit that helped battle the Taliban, he was evacuated to the U.S. in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome — a program launched by the Biden administration following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

He was granted asylum in April, placing him on track to obtain a green card next year.

Photo credit: Flickr

Democrats Explicitly Tell Spy Agencies, Military To Disobey Trump

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Democratic Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin posted a video to social media Tuesday morning in which she and five of her congressional colleagues called for the military and the intelligence community to “stand up” to President Donald Trump’s administration.

The half-dozen Democratic lawmakers who took part in the video titled, “Don’t give up the ship,” had all served as military or intelligence officers. In her X post of the video, Slotkin stated the lawmakers seek to “directly” tell service members and intelligence personnel that the “American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution.”

“We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now,” Slotkin, a former CIA officer, said in the video she appeared in alongside Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Democratic Pennsylvania Reps. Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan, Democratic New Hampshire Rep. Maggie Goodlander and Democratic Colorado Rep. Jason Crow.

“Americans trust their military,” said Houlahan, a former Air Force officer.

“But that trust is at risk,” added Deluzio, a former officer in the Navy.

“This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens,” Kelly, a former Navy officer, said in tandem with Crow, a former Army officer, and Slotkin. (Read more from “Democrats Explicitly Tell Spy Agencies, Military To Disobey Trump” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr