The Latest: Trump says US has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela amid mounting tensions with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

It’s the Trump administration’s latest push to increase pressure on Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the U.S.

The seizure was led by the U.S. Coast Guard and supported by the Navy, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

A day earlier, the U.S. military flew a pair of fighter jets over the Gulf of Venezuela in what appeared to be the closest that warplanes had come to the South American country’s airspace since the start of the administration’s pressure campaign.

Trump has previously said land attacks are coming soon but has not offered any details on location.

The Latest:

Oil companies offer $279M for Gulf of Mexico drilling rights

A Department of Interior auction Wednesday was the first of 30 sales planned for the Gulf under Republican efforts to ramp up U.S. fossil fuel production.

The sale came after Trump’s administration announced plans to allow new drilling off Florida and California for the first time in decades, drawing bipartisan pushback about impacts on tourism.

Thirty companies submitted bids, including industry giants Chevron, Shell and BP. An industry official said the takeaway from the sale was that under Trump, the Gulf “is open” for business, in contrast to the Biden administration, which limited new oil leases to address climate change.

▶ Read more about the planned oil lease sale

House passes defense bill to set Pentagon budget and raise troop pay

The House has voted to pass a sweeping defense policy bill that authorizes $900 billion in military programs.

The bill includes a pay raise for troops and an overhaul of how the Department of Defense buys weapons. It comes at a time of increasing friction between the Republican-controlled Congress and how Trump’s administration has handled the military.

The White House has signaled “strong support” for the must-pass legislation and says it is in line with Trump’s national security agenda. Yet tucked into the over-3,000-page bill are several measures that push back on the Department of Defense.

▶ Read more about the bill

USS Gerald R Ford plays role in US effort

to seize oil tanker

The Coast Guard members that seized the tanker were taken to that ship by a helicopter from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, a U.S. official confirmed to The Associated Press.

The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Ford is operating in the Caribbean Sea and arrived last month in a major show of force, joining a fleet of other warships that have been increasing pressure on Maduro.

Trump confirmed to reporters that U.S. forces seized a “large tanker.” Asked what would happen to the oil aboard the tanker, Trump said, “Well, we keep it, I guess.”

— By Konstantin Toropin

Zeldin says he’s finalizing a MAHA agenda for the EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing an agenda of priorities to align with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy J.’s Make America Healthy Again movement.

EPA director Lee Zeldin teased that the framework would include replacing lead pipes, cleaning up the nation’s most contaminated sites and combating food waste, among other initiatives.

Wednesday’s announcement was made on a call with MAHA activists. It comes as some of Kennedy’s supporters have been criticizing the EPA’s recent actions related to pesticides. Some released a petition last week calling for Trump to fire Zeldin.

Zeldin said he attended a MAHA holiday party this week and has since held an hourlong meeting with a group of MAHA activists at the EPA headquarters. He implored the activists to reach out if they wanted to help craft his agency’s MAHA agenda.

Tony Lyons, head of the advocacy group MAHA Action, complimented Zeldin and blamed the media for the recent tensions.

“So many people are trying to drive wedges and we want to build bridges,” Lyons said.

Trump muses on narrow House majority while praising Johnson

The president said Speaker Mike Johnson, who has been under fire from his rank-and-file as of late, is doing a great job despite his circumstances.

“I think Mike Johnson is great,” Trump said. Commenting on the GOP’s majority, he continued: “He’s had a majority of two, three, four, and back to two (votes). We actually had one. So we were one heart attack away from disaster.”

Trump also said, “I think few people could’ve done that job.”

Trump threatens president of Colombia

Trump was asked if he has spoken to Colombian president Gustavo Petro after having conversations in recent weeks with the leaders of Mexico and Venezuela amid his pressure campaign and push to combat drug trafficking, but Trump dismissed the idea.

Trump said Petro has been “fairly hostile to the United States.”

“He better wise up or he’ll be next. He’ll be next,” Trump said. “I hope he’s listening. He’s going to be next.”

Trump expects to speak with Thailand, Cambodia leaders on Thursday as truce crumbles

“I think I can get them to stop fighting. Who else can do that?” Trump said in an exchange with reporters in which he also repeated his exaggerated claim of settling eight wars around the globe, including a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia, since his return to the White House. “Every once in a while, one will flame up again and I have to put out that little flame. I have to put it out, but we’re going to put it out again.”

Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating Wednesday, with hundreds of thousands of displaced people in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters.

The latest fighting was triggered by longstanding territorial disputes and it followed a skirmish Sunday that wounded two Thai soldiers.

Trump meeting with Warsh in hunt for new Fed chair

The president said he’ll meet with former Fed governor Kevin Warsh as Trump looks to appoint the next Fed chair.

Trump added that he wants someone who will lower interest rates. “Our rates should be the lowest rates in the world,” he said.

Warsh is among a short list of candidates to replace Chairman Jerome Powell after his term ends in May.

Trump says Zelenskyy ‘has to be realistic’

President Trump said Wednesday that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “has to be realistic” about the war in Ukraine and mused about when Ukraine was next holding elections.

The comments came after Trump spoke with the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, who discussed Ukraine “in pretty strong terms,” the U.S. president said.

Trump said European leaders would like a meeting this weekend with both the U.S. and Ukraine, and “we’ll make a determination depending on what they come back with.”

In recent days, Trump has pushed Zelenskyy to get on board with a proposed peace plan to end the war in Ukraine that Russia started in 2022.

“I think he has to be realistic,” Trump said of Zelenskyy during a question-and-answer session with reporters. “I do wonder about, you know, how long is it going to be until they have an election?”

Trump says he’s ‘not involved’ in Warner Bros. Discovery bids but that he may be involved in decisions

The president was asked about Paramount Skydance’s hostile takeover bid for the company behind CNN, including the fact that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has also been involved in several peace negotiations on behalf of the Trump administration, is one of the investors behind the bid.

Trump said that he thinks CNN has been “spreading poison” and that “you have some good companies bidding on it.”

“I will be probably involved, maybe involved in the decision. It depends,” Trump said.

Trump wanted interest rate cut ‘at least double’ what Fed opted for

The president said the Fed’s latest quarter-point reduction was a “rather small number” and should have been at least twice that.

He complained that the Fed is killing economic growth by keeping interest rates higher than he would like.

“They’re so afraid of inflation,” Trump said. “That’s what they’re doing, they kill the growth.”

Trump said rates should be driven down further to boost economic growth beyond its latest expansion.

“If there is inflation, that’s OK, then we can slow it down. But we should be able to do a lot better than 3 or 4%,” he said.

Maduro tells supporters Venezuela is ‘prepared to break the teeth of the North American empire if necessary’

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s remark came during a speech before a ruling-party organized demonstration in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. He did not address the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

Maduro, flanked by senior officials, said that only the ruling party can “guarantee peace, stability, and the harmonious development of Venezuela, South America, and the Caribbean.”

“And the only president who has the preparation, the history, and the unwavering support of the people and the armed forces … is named Nicolás Maduro,” he added.

Trump unrolls ‘gold card’ visa aimed at keeping foreign talent

The White House started taking online applications for the new path to citizenship, which the president pitched as a tool for U.S. companies hoping to hire foreign students.

Trump said business chiefs including Apple CEO Tim Cook complained it was too risky to hire foreign students without certainty they can stay in the country. With the new card, he said, “you’ll be able to buy a card and keep that person in the United States.”

A card costs $1 million for individuals and $2 million for companies.

It comes even as the Trump administration presses some colleges to reduce foreign enrollment. Numbers of new foreign students coming to the U.S. fell sharply this year amid a federal crackdown

Private funeral held for West Virginia National Guard member shot in DC

Spc. Sarah Beckstrom was laid to rest with full military honors Tuesday at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a news release.

Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe were ambushed as they patrolled a subway station three blocks from the White House on Nov. 26. Beckstrom died from her injuries the next day.

Wolfe’s family expects he will be in acute care for another few weeks, the governor said.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who was also shot during the confrontation, has been charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

Trump says US seized oil tanker off coast of Venezuela

The president told reporters about the seizure as he appeared at an unrelated White House roundtable Wednesday afternoon.

He did not immediately offer additional details.

The announcement comes as the administration has undertaken a large military buildup and a series of deadly strikes on boats that it has alleged are carrying drugs in the Caribbean.

What would the Miami mayor-elect tell Trump?

Democrat Eileen Higgins’ victory in Miami’s mayoral election deals a blow to Trump.

The Republican president has appeared dismissive on economic worries, blaming Democrats for using the term “affordability” as a “hoax.” Higgins said she would tell Trump to “think deeply” and that the concerns are real.

Higgins has been very critical of Trump on immigration and is vowing to look at legal options to end an agreement between city police and federal immigration agents.

▶ Read more on what Higgins’ win means for Trump.

The New York Times says it won’t be deterred from writing about Trump’s health

The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.”

In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and “we should do something about it.”

The news outlet said Wednesday it won’t be deterred by Trump’s “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president’s health.

▶ Read more about The Times and Trump

Oil companies offer $278M for Gulf drilling rights

It’s the first offshore lease sale in the region since 2023.

Wednesday’s Department of Interior auction was the first of 30 sales planned for the Gulf under Republican efforts to ramp up U.S. fossil fuel production.

The sale came after the Trump administration announced plans to allow new drilling off Florida and California for the first time in decades, drawing pushback including from Republicans worried about impacts on tourism.

Wednesday’s sale was mandated by the sweeping tax-and-spending bill approved by Republicans over the summer.

Thirty companies submitted bids, including industry giants Chevron, Shell and BP.

Bove faces judicial ethics complaint over attending Trump’s Pennsylvania speech

Judge Emil Bove’s attendance at Trump’s speech Tuesday in Pennsylvania violated the federal Code of Judicial Conduct, a courts ethics watchdog said in a complaint filed Wednesday.

Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, said in the complaint that Bove’s presence at the event that included charged partisan attacks violated the code’s admonitions to judges to refrain from political activity and avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

“It should have been obvious to Judge Bove, either at the start of the rally or fairly close to it, that this was a highly charged, highly political event that no federal judge should have been within shouting distance of,” Roth’s complaint said.

Trump appointed Bove, the president’s former lawyer, to a lifetime seat on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The complaint was filed with the 3rd Circuit’s judicial council.

Fed cuts key interest rate but signals higher bar for future reductions

The move that could attract ire from Trump, who has demanded steep reductions to borrowing costs.

In a set of quarterly economic projections, Fed officials signaled they expect to lower rates just once next year.

Wednesday’s cut reduced the rate to about 3.6%, the lowest it has been in nearly three years.

Miami mayor-elect calls anti-immigrant rhetoric ‘distressing’

Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayor’s race on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump to end her party’s nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.

In a briefing the day after her historic win as the first woman elected mayor of the south Florida metropolis, Eileen Higgins decried elected officials’ use of “language that is demeaning, that is cruel, that is disrespectful about the people who live in the city of Miami.”

She also called Miami “the tip of the spear of the affordability crisis in America.”

Campaigning as a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan race, Higgins on Tuesday defeated a Republican endorsed by Trump, ending Democrats’ nearly three-decade losing streak leading the Hispanic-majority city. Higgins said she has heard of many people in Miami who were worried about family members being detained.

UK, Australia are ‘full steam ahead’ on submarine deal with US

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has kicked off a series of meetings with British and Australian counterparts in Washington that are aimed at moving forward with the large nuclear submarine building and technology sharing pact between the three nations known as known as AUKUS.

Ahead of the meetings, the British defense minister said he’s “all in” following a U.S. review of the deal.

“Those reviews are now done,” U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey told reporters Wednesday. He added that “all three of us are now determined to reboot AUKUS with a new commitment and a new determination in particular to deliver.”

The deal was originally inked in 2021. The Pentagon recently determined that the agreement was in the U.S. national security interest.

It includes the sale of three U.S.-built nuclear-powered submarines to Australia starting in 2032.

Crockett running for Senate is ‘greatest’ thing for GOP, Speaker Johnson says

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters outside his office in the Capitol, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

“I’m absolutely delighted that Jasmine Crockett is running for Senate in Texas,” Johnson said, eagerly rubbing his hands together.

The House GOP speaker called the liberal firebrand “the face of the Democratic Party,” and compared Crockett to New York’s new mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

“Good luck with that,” he said. “What Jasmine is trying to sell will not be purchased by the folks in Texas, that is my prediction.”

He said, “I want her to have the largest, loudest microphone that she can every single day,” he said, “and we look forward to having that election down there.”

Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to see boat strike video

The Republican speaker said he missed the classified briefing with Hegseth and Rubio this week because he was working with House GOP lawmakers on their emerging health care proposals.

Johnson would not say if the video should be widely released, in part because he said he had not viewed it.

“We’ll see,” he said.

Because of his timing conflict with the classified briefing, he said Hegseth and Rubio would meet with him separately at a later date.

US secretary of state rules out ‘woke’ Calibri font

Marco Rubio has ordered that all diplomatic correspondence must return to the more traditional Times New Roman font.

It reverses a Biden-era shift to the less formal typeface that Rubio said was wasteful, confusing and unbefitting the dignity of official U.S. government documents.

His cable sent to all U.S. embassies and consulates Tuesday said the 2023 shift to the sans serif Calibri font was the result of misguided diversity, equity and inclusion policies pursued by his predecessor, Antony Blinken. Rubio’s cable, obtained by The Associated Press, said Blinken’s switch “was promised to mitigate accessibility issues for individuals with disabilities.”

It says the change had cost the department $145,000 but offered no supporting evidence. The cable was first reported by The New York Times.

Budget office puts cost of health subsidy extension at nearly $83 billion over 10 years

A three-year extension of expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits would increase federal deficits by nearly $83 billion over the next decade, according to a new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

The Senate will vote on competing health plans on Thursday. The three-year extension of the subsidy is being pitched by Senate Democrats, but it is not expected to pass.

The CBO also estimates that enacting the Democratic plan would increase the number of people with health insurance by about 400,000 next year, 3 million in 2027 and 4 million in 2028.

Gross premiums, the amount consumers would pay before a tax credit is applied, have already been set for 2026. But CBO says they would fall by 5.7% in 2027 and 9% in 2028, because people who enroll in ACA plans would be healthier than they would be without the extension.

Judge orders Trump to end California National Guard troop deployment in Los Angeles

The Trump administration must return control of the troops to the state, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco ruled Wednesday.

Breyer granted a preliminary injunction against Trump’s extraordinary move to use state Guard troops without the governor’s approval. He put the decision on hold until Monday.

California argued that conditions in Los Angeles had changed since Trump first took command of the troops and deployed them in June. The administration initially called up more than 4,000 California National Guard troops. By late October, only a 100 or so remained in the Los Angeles area. Justice Department lawyers said they are still needed to protect federal personnel and property.

The Republican administration extended the deployment until February while also trying to use California Guard members in Portland, Oregon.