Hegseth, Pete

• Inside ‘Operation Absolute Resolve,’ the U.S. Effort to Capture Maduro - The tactically precise operation successfully extracted Mr. Maduro with no loss of American life, a result heralded by President Trump amid larger questions about the legality and rationale for the U.S. actions in Venezuela.
• Coast Guard Suspends Search for Survivors of Latest Boat Strikes - The service said that conditions in the area where the search was taking place included nine-foot seas and winds approaching 50 miles per hour.
• The 2025 Politics Yearbook: Most Likely to Be Extreme and Chaotic - How much more chaotic could a second Trump term be? 2025 did not disappoint.
• 6 Takeaways on the Unwinding U.S.-Ukraine Alliance - A Times investigation reveals the inside story of the Trump administration’s chaotic push for a peace deal and its erratic role in the war.
• U.S. Kills 2 in Strike in Pacific, as Trump Pressures Venezuela - The attack was the 30th announced by the U.S. military since early September. It came days after President Trump said the U.S. had struck a coastal site related to drugs and Venezuela.
• Grim Evidence of Trump’s Boat Strikes Washes Ashore on a Colombian Peninsula - First came the scorched boat. Then the mangled bodies. Then the packets with traces of marijuana. Now, fishermen fear the ocean that feeds them.
• How Oil, Drugs and Immigration Fueled Trump’s Venezuela Campaign - New details of deliberations show how aides with overlapping agendas drove the United States toward a militarized confrontation with Venezuela.
• Rubio Meets (and Meets, and Meets … ) the Press - The secretary of state held a marathon news conference, offering little news but more respect for reporters than most others in the Trump administration.
• U.S. Strikes Islamic State Targets in Syria - American forces struck dozens of suspected ISIS sites, making good on President Trump’s vow to avenge two American soldiers and a civilian U.S. interpreter killed by the group last week.
• Trump Relies on Distortions to Support His Pressure Campaign on Venezuela - The president has a long record of making false or misleading statements. But the sheer density of them in his administration’s boat attacks and Venezuela pressure campaign is exceptional.