Politics
Hegseth hints major defense spending increase, reveals new details on Trump’s anti-narcoterrorism operations
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth offered new details Saturday about how he personally authorized the Trump administration’s first strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel off Venezuela on Sept. 2, telling Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson that he watched the strike live in the Pentagon after giving the green light.
Earlier in his keynote remarks, Hegseth declared that President Donald Trump is the true heir to Ronald Reagan’s “peace through strength” doctrine, accusing past bipartisan leaders of drifting into endless wars.
After his speech, Hegseth sat down with Tomlinson for a Q&A that revealed new details about the Sept. 2 operation, which he said was the first in a series of more than 20 U.S. strikes targeting cartel-linked narco-terrorist networks across the Caribbean.
He also sharply rejected reporting that he had instructed U.S. forces to kill all individuals on the boat.
AS TRUMP’S STANDOFF WITH MADURO DEEPENS, EXPERTS WARN THE NEXT MOVE MAY FORCE A SHOWDOWN
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gives a speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum, Saturday, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. (Caylo Seals/Getty Images)
“Does anybody here from the Washington Post? I don’t know where you get your sources, but they suck,” Hegseth said when asked if he had ever issued such an order. “Of course not… you don’t walk in and say, ‘Kill them.’ It’s just patently ridiculous.”
Hegseth also said it took “a couple of weeks, almost a month” to build the intelligence required for the first strike. He said the Pentagon had to reorient assets that had been focused “10,000 miles around the other side of the world for a very long time.”
He kept strike authority at his level only for the initial operation due to its “strategic implications.”
CAPITOL HILL REVOLT THREATENS TRUMP’S VENEZUELA PLAYBOOK AMID CARIBBEAN STRIKE OVERSIGHT
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivers the keynote address at the Reagan National Defense Forum, Saturday, in Simi Valley, Calif. (Fox News / Pool)
“The briefing that I received before that strike was extensive, exhaustive,” he said. “Military side, on the civilian side, lawyers, intel analysts, red-teaming… all the details you need to strike a designated terrorist organization.”
Hegseth said the target was part of an organization President Trump had formally designated as a terrorist group.
“My job was to say execute or don’t execute,” he said.
He approved the strike.
HEGSETH TO HIGHLIGHT REBUILDING THE ‘ARSENAL OF FREEDOM’ IN SPEECH AT REAGAN NATIONAL DEFENSE FORUM
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivers the keynote address at the Reagan National Defense Forum, Saturday, in Simi Valley, Calif. (Fox News / Pool)
According to Hegseth, he viewed the mission feed “for probably five minutes or so” before moving to other tasks once the strike shifted to tactical execution.
Hours later, Hegseth said he was informed by commanders that a second strike was necessary.
“There had to be a re-attack, because there were a couple of folks that could still be in the fight,” he said, citing access to radios, a possible link-up point with another boat and remaining drugs on board.
“I fully support that strike,” he said. “I would have made the same call myself.”
He added that re-attacks are common in combat zones and fell “well within the authorities of Admiral Bradley,” who now oversees strike decisions. Hegseth said he no longer retains approval authority for subsequent missions.
Addressing questions about survivor protocols, Hegseth pointed to a later incident involving a semi-submersible drug vessel.
“In that particular case, the first strike didn’t take it out, and a couple of guys jumped off and swam,” he said. After the vessel was struck again and sank, U.S. forces retrieved the survivors.
“We gave them back to their host countries,” he said, adding that the situation “didn’t change our protocol” but reflected different circumstances.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS BACK TRUMP’S VENEZUELA MOVES FOR NOW AS ESCALATION UNCERTAINTY LOOMS
Fox News Channel’s Shannon Bream, right, interviews Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought at the Reagan National Defense Forum Saturday, in Simi Valley, Calif.
Hegseth argued that the operations have already had a deterrent effect. “We’re putting them at the bottom of the Caribbean… it will make the American people safer.”
Tomlinson pressed Hegseth on President Trump’s public statement that he did not oppose releasing the unredacted video of the first strike.
“We’re reviewing it right now,” Hegseth said, citing concerns over “sources, methods,” and ongoing operations.
Hegseth said defense spending is one of the issues that “keeps [him] up,” adding that he was recently in Oval Office meetings about the FY26 and FY27 budgets.
Asked directly whether defense spending as a share of GDP will rise, he replied: “I think that number is going up,” while declining to get ahead of President Trump.
“We need a revived defense industrial base,” he said. “We need those capabilities. We need them yesterday.”
Tomlinson also asked whether Hegseth regretted using Signal ahead of combat operations in Yemen, referencing a recently closed inspector general review.
“I don’t live with any regrets,” Hegseth said. “I know exactly where my compass is on our troops.” He argued that morale has surged under Trump.
“The revival of the spirit inside our military… the desire to join and re-enlist is at historic levels,” he said.
Asked whether he prefers troops equipped with more AI-enabled tools or autonomous systems replacing them, Hegseth said the modern battlefield requires both.
“It has to be both,” he said. “What AI is doing to ten, 100, 1,000-x the speed of sensing… is critical.”
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Tomlinson ended with a traditional Reagan Forum question: who Hegseth wants to win the Army–Navy game.
“Well, I’m with Navy,” he said, before adding that the Marine Corps “stood strong” during political “nonsense” in recent years.
Politics
Trump says ‘60 Minutes’ is ‘worse’ under new ownership following Marjorie Taylor Greene interview
“60 Minutes” is back in President Trump’s crosshairs.
Trump went after the prestigious CBS News program following an interview Sunday with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), his once ardent ally who is leaving Congress in January.
Correspondent Lesley Stahl had a brutally candid sit-down with Greene, who went into detail on her break with the president. Trump has called Greene a traitor, which Green said has led to death threats to her and her family. Greene also said the president is not focusing on the issues most important to his supporters and that many of her colleagues only support him out of fear.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform blasting Greene and CBS News, which earlier this year paid him $16 million to settle a lawsuit he filed over the network’s handling of an interview with his 2024 opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump’s post said the reason Greene “went BAD is that she was JILTED by the President of the United States. (Certainly not the first time she has been jilted),” and called her a “low IQ traitor.”
But Trump added that his “real problem” with the interview is that parent company Paramount allowed the program to air. Trump had praised CBS News since Paramount was acquired by Skydance Media run by David Ellison, who along with his father Larry has a warm relationship with the president.
Trump has also spoken positively about the hiring of Bari Weiss as editor in chief for CBS News. Weiss took on the role after Paramount acquired her heterodox digital news platform the Free Press. She met Trump when he recently sat for a “60 Minutes” interview.
But the good vibes didn’t last long.
“THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP, who just paid me millions of Dollars for FAKE REPORTING about your favorite President, ME!” Trump wrote. “Since they bought it, 60 Minutes has actually gotten WORSE!”
Trump ended his missive by demanding “a complete and total APOLOGY, though far too late to be meaningful, from Lesley Stahl and 60 Minutes for her incorrect and Libelous statements about Hunter’s Laptop!!!”
Representatives for CBS News did not respond to a request for comment.
Greene’s falling out with Trump began when she supported the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. She has since sided with Democrats on funding subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, has been critical of the White House policy on Israel and complained the White House has not focused seriously enough on voter concerns about the rising cost of living.
The one-time loyalist who was frequently seen in a red “Make America Great Again” cap, also called out her fellow Republican members of Congress who she said support Trump out of fear of retribution.
“I think they’re terrified to step outta line and get a nasty Truth Social post on them,” Greene said.
Asked if her colleagues are supportive of Trump privately, Greene said “it would shock people how they talk about him” behind the scenes.
“I watched many of my colleagues go from making fun of him, making fun of how he talks, making fun of me constantly for supporting him, to when he won the primary in 2024 they all started — excuse my language, Lesley — kissing his ass and decided to put on a MAGA hat for the first time,” Greene said.
Politics
DC sandwich-throwing case was a laughingstock in court, jurors reveal
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Jurors who deliberated on the case of a man who threw a sub sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in Washington, D.C., said the courtroom was often filled with giggles as witnesses testified and lawyers bantered.
One juror told CBS News that many in the packed courtroom struggled to keep a “straight face” during the proceedings. The accused, Sean Dunn, was ultimately acquitted on his misdemeanor charge of simple assault.
“I mean,” the juror said, “it was a thrown sandwich.”
“I thought we’d be out of there quickly. This case had no ‘grounding.’ He threw a sandwich at the agent because he knew it wouldn’t hurt,” another juror said. “A reasonable person wouldn’t think a sandwich is a weapon.”
MAN CHARGED WITH FELONY AFTER ALLEGEDLY WHACKING FEDERAL AGENT WITH SANDWICH AMID TRUMP’S DC CRIME CRACKDOWN
Sean Dunn is accused of tossing a Subway sandwich at a federal agent in Washington, D.C. (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)
“It seemed to me like an open and closed type of thing,” a third juror told the outlet. “It was kind of ridiculous.”
“We asked each other: If we only look at this case, can someone really do harm to someone wearing a ballistic vest by throwing a sandwich?”
The trial lasted three days, and jurors deliberated for seven hours before handing down a verdict on Nov. 6. After it was read, Dunn hugged his lawyers in the courtroom.
JUDGE CALLS CASE INVOLVING ALLEGED SANDWICH-THROWING FORMER DOJ WORKER ‘SIMPLEST CASE IN THE WORLD’
FBI and Border Patrol officers speak with Sean Charles Dunn after he allegedly assaulted law enforcement with a sandwich on Aug. 10, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)
During the trial, Dunn’s legal team insisted he threw the sandwich in protest of President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., and it was not a violent attack.
“I believe that I was protecting the rights of immigrants. And let us not forget that the Great Seal of the United States says, E Pluribus Unum,” Dunn said after the verdict was read. “That means, from many, one, every life matters, no matter where you came from, no matter how you got here, no matter how you identify, you have the right to live a life that is free.”
Video of the incident quickly went viral, with Dunn being heralded as a hero by residents throughout the city.
FBI and Border Patrol officers arrest Sean Charles Dunn after he allegedly assaulted law enforcement with a sandwich along the U Street corridor in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 10, 2025. (Andrew Leyden/Getty Images )
Dunn’s lawyers did not dispute that Dunn threw the sandwich at a CBP officer outside a nightclub, though they insisted it was done as an “exclamation point” to express his negative feelings about the National Guard’s deployment within the nation’s capital.
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“It was a harmless gesture at the end of him exercising his right to speak out,” defense attorney Julia Gatto said during the trial. “He is overwhelmingly not guilty.”
Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.
Politics
In first year in Senate, Schiff pushes legislation, party message and challenges to Trump
Five months after joining the U.S. Senate, Adam Schiff delivered a floor speech on what he called “the top 10 deals for Donald Trump and the worst deals for the American people.”
Schiff spoke of Trump and his family getting rich off cryptocurrency and cutting new development deals across the Middle East, and of the president accepting a free jet from the Qatari government. Meanwhile, he said, average Americans were losing their healthcare, getting priced out of the housing market and having to “choose between rent or groceries.”
“Trump gets rich. You get screwed,” the Democrat said.
The speech was classic Schiff — an attempt by the former prosecutor to wrangle a complex set of graft allegations against Trump and his orbit into a single, cohesive corruption case against the president, all while serving up his own party’s preferred messaging on rising costs and the lack of affordability.
It was also a prime example of the tack Schiff has taken since being sworn in one year ago to finish the final term of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a titan of California politics who held the seat for more than 30 years before dying in office in 2023.
Schiff — now serving his own six-year term — has remained the unblinking antagonist to Trump that many Californians elected him to be after watching him dog the president from the U.S. House during Trump’s first term in the White House. He’s also continued to serve as one of the Democratic Party’s most talented if slightly cerebral messengers, hammering Trump over his alleged abuses of power and the lagging economy, which has become one of the president’s biggest liabilities.
Schiff has done so while also defending himself against Trump’s accusations that he committed mortgage fraud on years-old loan documents; responding to the devastating wildfires that ripped through the Los Angeles region in January; visiting 25 of California’s 58 counties to meet more of his nearly 40 million constituents; grilling Trump appointees as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; and struggling to pass legislation as a minority member of a profoundly dysfunctional Congress that recently allowed for the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history.
It’s been an unusual and busy freshman year, attracting sharp criticism from the White House but high praise from his allies.
“Pencil Neck Shifty Schiff clearly suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that clouds his every thought,” said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson. “It’s too bad for Californians that Pencil Neck is more focused on his hatred of the President than he is on the issues that matter to them.”
“He’s been great for California,” said Rep. Robert Garcia of Long Beach, ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee who endorsed Schiff’s opponent, former Rep. Katie Porter, in the Senate primary. “He’s not afraid of taking on Trump, he’s not afraid of doing tough oversight, he’s not afraid of asking questions, and it’s clear that Donald Trump is scared of Adam Schiff.”
“While he may be a freshman in the Senate,” said Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), “he’s certainly no rookie.”
Attempts to legislate
Before he became known nationally for helping to lead Trump’s first-term impeachments and investigate the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump’s supporters, Schiff was known as a serious legislator. Since joining the Senate, he has tried to reclaim that reputation.
He has introduced bills to strengthen homes against wildfires and other natural disasters, give tax relief to Los Angeles fire victims, strengthen California’s fire-crippled insurance market, study AI’s impact on the American workforce, reinstate a national assault weapons ban and expand federal tax credits for affordable housing.
He has also introduced bills to end Trump’s tariffs, rein in the powers of the executive branch, halt the president and other elected officials from getting rich off cryptocurrencies, and end the White House-directed bombing campaign on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.
None of that legislation has passed.
Schiff said he’s aware that putting his name on legislation might diminish its chances of gaining support, and at times he has intentionally taken a back seat on bills he’s worked on — he wouldn’t say which — to give them a better shot of advancing. But he said he also believes Democrats need to “point out what they’re for” to voters more often, and is proud to have put his name on bills that are important to him and he believes will bring down costs for Californians.
As an example, he said his recent Housing BOOM (Building Occupancy Opportunity for Millions) Act is about building “millions of new homes across America, like we did after World War II, that are affordable for working families,” and is worth pushing even if Republicans resist it.
“As we saw with the healthcare debate, when Republicans aren’t acting to bring costs down, when they’re doing things that make costs go up instead, we can force them to respond by putting forward our own proposals to move the country forward,” he said. “If Republicans continue to be tone deaf to the needs of the American people, with President Trump calling the affordability issue a hoax, then they’re gonna get the same kind of shellacking that they did in the election last month.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), a staunch ally, called Schiff a “legislative genius” who is “giving people hope” with his bills, which could pass if Democrats win back the House next year.
“He has a vision for our country. He has knowledge of issues par excellence from all of the years that he’s served. He’s a strategic thinker,” she said. “I wouldn’t question how he decides to take up a bill just because what’s-his-name’s in the White House.”
Mike Madrid, a Republican consultant, said Schiff’s prominent position on Trump’s enemies list of course hurts his chances of passing legislation, but the hyper-partisan nature of Congress means his chances weren’t great to begin with.
Meanwhile, being seen as working for solutions clearly serves him and his party well, Madrid said, adding, “He’s probably accomplishing more socially than he ever could legislatively.”
Criticism and praise
For months, Trump and his administration have been accusing several prominent Democrats of mortgage-related crimes. Trump has accused Schiff of mortgage fraud for claiming primary residency in both California and Maryland, which Schiff denies.
So far, nothing has come of it. Schiff said that he has not been interviewed by federal prosecutors, who are reportedly skeptical of the case, and that he doesn’t know anything about it other than that it is “a broad effort to silence and intimidate the president’s critics.”
Schiff’s supporters and other political observers in the state either ignored the issue when asked about Schiff’s first year, were dismissive of it or said they saw it as a potential asset for the senator.
“Adam Schiff is a person of great integrity, and people know that,” Pelosi said.
“Probably one of the best things that could happen to Schiff is if Trump actually goaded the [Justice Department] to charge him for mortgage fraud, and then for the case to be thrown out in court,” said Garry South, a veteran Democratic strategist — noting that is what happened with a similar case brought against New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James.
“He’s really benefited from having Trump put a target on his back,” South said. “In California, that’s not a death knell, that’s a life force.”
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), who chairs the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, which Schiff sits on, said California represents a big part of the nation’s agriculture industry and having Schiff on the committee “is a good thing not just for California, but for our overall efforts to support farmers and producers nationwide.”
“I have known Sen. Schiff since we served in the House together, and we are both committed to advocating farmers’ and rural America’s needs in a bipartisan way,” Boozman said. “We look forward to more opportunities to advance these goals together.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has “a cordial, professional relationship” with Schiff, a spokesperson said.
Corrin Rankin, chairwoman of the California Republican Party, declined to comment. Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco, the leading Republican in the race for governor, did not respond to a request for comment.
Looking ahead
What comes next for Schiff will depend in part on whether Democrats win back a majority in Congress. But people on both sides of the political aisle said they expect big things from him regardless.
Garcia said Schiff will be “at the center of holding the Trump administration accountable” no matter what happens. “Obviously, in the majority, we’re going to have the ability to subpoena, and to hold hearings, and to hold the administration accountable in a way that we don’t have now, but even in the minority, I think you see Adam’s strong voice pretty constant.”
Kevin Spillane, a veteran GOP strategist, said he doesn’t make much of Schiff’s economic messaging because voters in California know that Democrats have caused the state’s affordability crisis by raising taxes and imposing endless regulations.
But Schiff is already “the second-most important Democrat in California” after Newsom, he said, and his hammering on affordability could propel him even further if voters start to see him as working toward solutions.
Rob Stutzman, another Republican consultant, said he can see Schiff in coming years “ascend to the Feinstein role” of “the caretaker of California in the U.S. Congress” — someone with “the ability to broker deals” on hugely important issues such as water and infrastructure. But to do so, Stutzman said, Schiff “needs to extract himself from the political meme of being a Trump antagonist.”
Schiff said he knew heading to the Senate as Trump returned to the White House that he would be dividing his time “between delivering for California and fighting the worst of the Trump policies.” But his efforts to fix the economy and his efforts to resist Trump are not at odds, he said, but deeply intertwined.
“When people feel like the quality of life their parents had was better, and the future for their kids looks like it’s even more in doubt, all too many are ready to entertain any demagogue who comes along promising they alone can fix it. They start to question whether democracy really works,” he said. “So I don’t think we’re going to put our democracy on a solid footing until we have our economy on a solid footing.”
Times staff writer Ana Ceballos in Washington contributed to this report.
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