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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Aug 17, 2026

After Killing Hundreds in Boat Strikes, the US Military Expands Its Anti-Cartel Campaign Onto Land in Latin America as Hegseth Announces Joint Operations With Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala

In the year since the US military began bombing boats it accused of carrying drugs off Latin America's Caribbean and Pacific coasts, it has killed more than 200 people in over 60 strikes, offering little public evidence that those killed were the "narco-terrorists" the administration says they were. On August 17, 2026, the Associated Press reported that the Trump administration is now extending that lethal campaign from the sea to land, pursuing arrangements that would put US forces on the ground in allied nations across the region. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the expansion during a trip to Panama. At the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition meeting in Panama City on August 12, 2026, he said Colombia's newly inaugurated president, Abelardo de la Espriella, had requested that the US join Colombia's fight against narco-terrorism and had authorized joint military operations; Colombia became the 19th member of the administration's "Shield of the Americas" initiative. Hegseth said Honduras and Guatemala had agreed to joint operations as well, following Ecuador, which launched joint missions with US forces in March 2026. Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo publicly denied reaching any such agreement, saying it would be illegal without his congress's approval. The following day, August 13, at a jungle warfare drill in Panama, Hegseth described what the land phase would look like: the same effect as the boat strikes, applied ashore, with traffickers treated as targets on par with ISIS or al-Qaida. The administration has designated 20 Latin American criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations, and the campaign has already included the January 2026 US operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Congress has never authorized force in the campaign. Sen. Tim Kaine, who has repeatedly forced war powers votes, wrote to President Trump on August 3, 2026 that more than 65 kinetic operations had killed more than 220 people and urged him to halt what Kaine called an illegal operation. In May 2026, Reps. Greg Casar, Jesús "Chuy" García and Sara Jacobs led 17 colleagues in demanding the Pentagon suspend the joint US-Ecuador operations after reporting that a bombed site was a civilian dairy farm. Republicans including Rep. Maria Salazar have defended the joint operations as legally grounded in existing bilateral security agreements. Analysts warn the ground campaign risks civilian casualties and a sovereignty backlash in partner countries that could outlast the administration.

“Taken together, the interventions conducted under the banner of the “Donroe” Doctrine appear to follow a partisan playbook: the endorsement of favored candidates, the placement of political allies, the weaponization of tariffs and sanctions, and, where those fail, the application of direct military force.”
Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) · Aug 17, 2026

Aug 17, 2026· Updated

Trump's Own Bank Regulator Grants a National Charter to the Trump Family's Crypto Firm — the First Time a Sitting President's Company Has Been Approved to Run a Bank

On Friday, August 14, 2026, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — a bureau of the Treasury Department headed by a Trump appointee, Comptroller Jonathan Gould — granted preliminary conditional approval for a national trust bank charter to World Liberty Trust Company, the banking arm of World Liberty Financial. World Liberty Financial was co-founded by President Trump and his sons Donald Jr., Eric and Barron alongside Zach Witkoff, son of Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff; an entity tied to the president and his family owns roughly 38 percent of the business. It is the first time in American history that a company owned by a sitting president's family has been cleared to operate a federally chartered bank. The charter, which is conditional and does not authorize the bank to open until preopening requirements are met, would let World Liberty issue and redeem its dollar-backed stablecoin USD1 — more than $4 billion in circulation — and hold digital assets in custody as a fiduciary, without the middlemen it currently pays. It may not issue loans or take direct deposits. Within hours, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, announced the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act, which would bar senior government officials and their families from owning or controlling a bank. Nine Senate Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders signed on. The White House said the president's holdings sit in discretionary accounts run by third parties and that there are no conflicts of interest; World Liberty said the charter subjects it to permanent federal supervision that will outlast the administration. Warren had pressed the OCC in January to halt its review until Trump divested, and was rebuffed.

“All of President Trump's investment holdings are held in fully discretionary accounts managed by independent third-party financial institutions. There are no conflicts of interest.”
Anna Kelly (R) · Aug 17, 2026

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Aug 16, 2026

Eight Days After Being Sworn In, Attorney General Todd Blanche Refuses to Pledge That the Justice Department Will Act Independently of the White House — "No Attorney General Should Ever Pledge That"

In his first Sunday-show interview as attorney general, Todd Blanche was asked by NBC's Kristen Welker on the August 16, 2026 edition of "Meet the Press" whether he could pledge that the Justice Department would always act independently of the White House. He answered: "No, I'm not going to pledge that. And no attorney general should ever pledge that." Blanche went further, saying he would of course weigh President Trump's views in individual prosecution decisions, while insisting that Trump does not call him to order specific prosecutions and would never ask him to do anything unethical or illegal. In the same interview he declared the $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" permanently dead — "There is no fund, there will be no fund" — and said he "absolutely" supports U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, whose handling of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool case Trump had publicly demanded she revisit. The remarks landed eight days after the Senate confirmed Blanche 50-49, with Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski joining every Democrat in opposition over precisely this concern — that Trump's former personal defense lawyer could not separate himself from the president. Post-Watergate norms have generally insulated Justice Department charging decisions from White House direction; Blanche's answer amounted to a public rejection of that convention. Congress was in August recess when he spoke, muting the immediate congressional response.

“I absolutely support US attorney Pirro, as does President Trump.”
Todd Blanche (R) · Aug 16, 2026

Aug 16, 2026· Updated

The DNC Adopts a Resolution Calling on Congress to Abolish ICE — and a Second Resolution Calling to Reform It — as Jeffries Refuses to Back Abolition

At the Democratic National Committee's summer meeting in Austin, Texas, the DNC Resolutions Committee voted 25-12 on Thursday, August 13, 2026 to advance Resolution 27, which urges congressional Democrats to pass legislation eliminating US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and winding down the federal immigration detention system. The committee also advanced a separate resolution calling for ICE to be reformed rather than abolished. Both were bundled into a larger package and adopted by the full membership on a unanimous voice vote on Saturday, August 15 — leaving the party formally on record for two contradictory positions at once. Resolution 27 was introduced by Michele Johnson, a DNC committeewoman from Louisiana, who argued the party's caution is why voters do not trust it. Marge Hoffa, vice chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, objected that the DNC would be contradicting its own record of demanding reform. DNC Chair Ken Martin downplayed the vote, noting that official party positions are set in the quadrennial platform. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" the next morning, declined to endorse abolition and instead called for "dramatic, bold and transformational" reform — unmasking agents, body cameras, judicial warrants and state-level criminal accountability. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), on the same program, said he has called for abolishing ICE. Republicans moved immediately to make the vote a midterm issue: RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said Democrats "made it official," and the White House called the party "extreme radical Democrats."

“The masks should come off. Body cameras should come on.”
Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) · Aug 16, 2026

Aug 16, 2026· Updated

DOJ Creates $1.7B "Anti-Weaponization Fund"; Trump Drops IRS Lawsuit

The Trump administration's Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" on May 18, 2026, as part of a deal in which President Trump agreed to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. The fund — formally called the "Truth and Justice Commission" — draws from the Treasury's permanent Judgment Fund and requires no new Congressional approval. It would compensate anyone claiming they were targeted by Biden-era "weaponization," including roughly 1,600 individuals charged in connection with the January 6 Capitol attack.

“I've said repeatedly, it's dead. There is no fund, no money went from the Treasury to any account, there were no commissioners established. There is no fund, there will be no fund.”
Todd Blanche (R) · Aug 16, 2026

DNC Locks In South Carolina as the First 2028 Primary and Cuts Iowa From the Early Window, as New Hampshire's Entire Delegation Vows the Granite State Will Vote First Anyway

On Saturday, August 15, 2026, the Democratic National Committee, meeting for its summer session in Austin, Texas, gave final approval to the party's 2028 presidential nominating calendar. The vote ratified a July 24, 2026 decision by the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee and ends Iowa's run at the front of the Democratic calendar, which began in 1972. The approved schedule runs six contests over six weeks: South Carolina on January 22, 2028, Nevada on February 1, New Hampshire on February 8, New Mexico on February 15, Michigan on February 22, and Virginia on February 29 — all before Super Tuesday. Party leaders framed the order as an effort to front-load states with large Black and Latino electorates, a coalition Democrats lost ground with in 2024. DNC Chair Ken Martin called it the most diverse calendar in the party's history. New Hampshire is the flashpoint. State law requires the New Hampshire secretary of state to schedule the presidential primary at least seven days before any similar contest anywhere in the country, which sets the statute on a collision course with the DNC's February 8 slot and raises the prospect that New Hampshire again holds an unsanctioned first primary and has its delegates penalized. The state's four Democratic members of Congress — Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and Reps. Chris Pappas and Maggie Goodlander — condemned the decision in a joint statement when the Rules and Bylaws Committee acted in July, and Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte and the Republican leadership of the New Hampshire House said the state would hold the first primary regardless. Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart urged DNC members to reject the calendar, warning that abandoning a rural Midwestern state cedes ground Republicans intend to occupy — the Iowa GOP plans to caucus first in 2028 regardless of the Democratic schedule. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez welcomed New Mexico's addition to the early window.

“We need a Midwest and a truly rural state to be among the first four states if we hope to build sustainable and lasting majorities that enact real and meaningful change.”
Rita Hart (D-IA) · Aug 15, 2026

Trump Orders the Navy to Rip the Electromagnetic Catapults Out of the Next Ford-Class Carrier and Go Back to 1950s Steam — and the Navy Starts Studying Whether to Move the Island to Match His WWII Aesthetic

On August 13, 2026, President Trump signed a national security memorandum, "Rebuilding the United States Navy and America's Shipbuilding Industrial Base," directing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to deliver a plan within 60 days to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam catapults and hydraulic elevators on the future USS Doris Miller (CVN-81), a Ford-class carrier already under construction. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the future USS John F. Kennedy and the future USS Enterprise keep EMALS; the reversal starts with the fourth ship. The same memo opens the door to foreign-built warships and foreign ship designs — a direct conflict with House and Senate NDAA language restricting construction in foreign yards — and directs planning for a fifth public shipyard. Two days later, on August 15, The Washington Post reported that the Navy is separately studying whether to relocate the carrier "island" — the multistory command tower — from its aft position toward the middle of the ship, because Trump prefers the look of World War II-era carriers. The aft island placement was a deliberate design choice to free deck space near the catapults and reduce turbulence on landing. The Navy examined moving it during Trump's first term and concluded the cost and delay would be, in one former senior official's words, "extraordinary." EMALS production on CVN-81 is roughly 50 percent complete. General Atomics, the manufacturer, warned that "changing course now would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration risks." Plans call for up to 10 Ford-class carriers over four decades at a projected $22 billion each. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) — a former Navy combat pilot with a master's in aeronautical engineering who sits on Armed Services — was the sharpest congressional voice against the order. Congress was in August recess, limiting on-record reaction.

“I've launched off the front of aircraft carriers hundreds of times, have a Master's degree in aeronautical engineering, and am a test pilot and even I wouldn't suggest to the Navy how to engineer specific systems on its ships.”
Mark Kelly (D-AZ) · Aug 15, 2026

A 3 A.M. White House Email Summoning Five Agencies to a "Brainstorm Call" on Colorado Surfaces in Court — Days After the State Refused to Free Tina Peters, and Weeks Before Hundreds of Millions in Grants Were Cut

An email written at roughly 3 a.m. on December 15, 2025 by Emily Underwood, a deputy assistant to the president and senior policy strategist, went to officials at the Departments of Energy, Transportation, Interior and Agriculture and at the Office of Management and Budget under the subject line "brainstorm call." Recipients were told to be "prepared to discuss immediate actions that your department or agency can take with respect to Colorado," and to "prioritize Colorado for the purposes of ensuring grants and federal support are in line with administration priorities." The email was sent a month after Colorado refused to move Trump ally Tina Peters — the Mesa County clerk convicted in state court over the 2020 election-equipment breach — to federal custody, and days after the state declined to give effect to Trump's clemency declaration for her. Hours after the email went out, Trump called Gov. Jared Polis "weak and pathetic" on live television. In the weeks that followed, federal agencies froze hundreds of millions of dollars owed to Colorado, denied disaster aid for fires and flooding, cut more than $600 million from 38 Colorado-affiliated energy projects, and announced plans to disband the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. The email surfaced publicly at an August 11, 2026 hearing in Colorado's lawsuit against the administration and was first reported by the Denver Post on August 13-14. Senior U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson said from the bench that he had "never seen anything like it." Attorney General Phil Weiser called it proof of "an unconstitutional scheme"; Colorado's two senators and its House Democrats called it weaponization of the federal government. A White House spokeswoman denied the call had anything to do with Peters and said the president was using "lawful and discretionary authority."

“The shocking White House email discussed in court earlier this week proves what we have long suspected: the White House orchestrated an unconstitutional scheme to weaponize the federal government to attack and punish Colorado for its lawful decisions over elections and our criminal justice system.”
Phil Weiser (D-CO) · Aug 14, 2026

Oklahoma Becomes the Third Republican-Led State to Move Against the Country’s Largest Muslim Civil Rights Group — Stitt Orders an "Intelligence-Based Assessment" of CAIR and Asks Washington to Designate It a Terrorist Organization

On August 12, 2026, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed an executive order directing the state Departments of Public Safety and Homeland Security to conduct an "intelligence-based assessment" of whether the Muslim Brotherhood, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or people acting in their name pose a terrorist or public-safety threat in Oklahoma. If investigators find evidence of support for those organizations, the order directs state law enforcement to recommend that the federal government designate them as foreign terrorist organizations. Oklahoma is the third Republican-led state to act. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR "foreign terrorist organizations" and "transnational criminal organizations" by proclamation on November 18, 2025, a designation that also bars them from acquiring land in Texas; CAIR chapters sued, arguing the proclamation chilled protected speech. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a similar executive order on December 8, 2025. On March 4, 2026, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee temporarily enjoined the Florida order on First Amendment grounds, finding it operated as a prior restraint by threatening private parties with loss of government benefits for associating with CAIR. Florida's legislature responded in March 2026 with HB 1471, empowering the head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to label organizations as domestic or foreign terrorist groups, and DeSantis used that law against CAIR-Florida in July 2026. The state actions follow a November 2025 executive order from President Trump aimed at designating certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as foreign terrorist organizations. The U.S. State Department has never designated the Muslim Brotherhood or CAIR as terrorist organizations. Oklahoma State Senate Democratic Leader Julia Kirt condemned Stitt's order, noting it was issued without evidence and warning it raises the risk of hate crimes.

“What we do know is that CAIR works to protect the civil rights of Oklahoma Muslims in the face of ongoing profiling and discrimination.”
Julia Kirt (D-OK) · Aug 13, 2026

Congressional Black Caucus Asks Attorney General Blanche and FBI Director Patel for a Federal Review of Nolan Wells's Death, as Mississippi's Governor Blames Civil Rights Activists

Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old Black college athlete from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, went missing on July 4, 2026, after taking a boat to Horn Island — a barrier island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast — with a group of white friends for an Independence Day gathering. His body was recovered from the island's shoreline days later. State authorities have said he may have accidentally drowned; his family disputes that account, and a second, family-commissioned autopsy produced findings the family says the first did not. On August 12, 2026, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-N.Y.) and caucus members sent a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel asking the Justice Department to determine whether an independent federal review — including a possible civil rights investigation — is warranted, and demanding a written response within seven days. The letter said that "more than 30 days after his disappearance and death, significant questions remain unanswered about the events of July 4, 2026." The Justice Department confirmed receiving the letter and said the appropriate personnel were "reviewing it carefully." The caucus made its case publicly on August 13 at the National Association of Black Journalists convention, where Wells's parents appeared alongside Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), attorney Ben Crump, and the Rev. Al Sharpton. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the state's only Black member of Congress, had already called for FBI involvement in late July, citing the state's history and inconsistencies between the two autopsies. Ocean Springs is not in Thompson's district. Mississippi's Republican statewide officials have pushed back on the pressure campaign. Gov. Tate Reeves blamed Crump and Sharpton for threats made against witnesses in the case, saying they were "stoking division for personal gain," and Attorney General Lynn Fitch defended the handling of the investigation by state and local law enforcement. Federal authorities separately arrested three people over alleged violent threats connected to the case, and the family's attorney has said a grand jury review could come within 30 days.

“Here we are again today, here for the loss of another black young man in our community. That is the reason why we’re asking for the accountability: to make sure that this is not just swept under the rug.”
Lucy McBath (D-GA) · Aug 13, 2026

Trump Was Smuggled Off Air Force One in a Catering Truck to Escape an Iranian Threat in Turkey — and Congress Learned About It From the Press a Month Later

Leaving the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, in July 2026, President Trump boarded Air Force One and then, at the direction of the Secret Service, quietly got back off. He was driven across the tarmac inside an airport catering truck — the kind normally used to load meals and supplies — and put aboard a smaller Air Force C-32A, which flew him out separately. The original 747 departed as a decoy, still carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, other White House staff and the traveling press corps. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew with Trump on the smaller jet. The trigger, according to officials, was intelligence about an Iranian cell with a shoulder-fired missile capable of downing the aircraft. None of it was disclosed at the time. The episode became public only on August 10, 2026, through reporting by The Washington Post and The New York Times, roughly a month after it happened. Trump confirmed it the next day, saying he was simply following the Secret Service — "I just follow what they'd like to do" — and downplaying the danger to the people left on the decoy: "I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk. Because that would be the plane, I think, that they would be more likely to go for." White House communications director Steven Cheung defended the operation, saying the administration uses "every tool at our disposal." The bipartisan Gang of Eight — the congressional leaders and intelligence committee heads who receive the government's most sensitive briefings — was not told. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded an immediate classified briefing, calling it "unacceptable that Congress was kept in the dark." House Intelligence ranking member Jim Himes said flatly, "We were not briefed," and Sen. Mark Warner, his Senate counterpart, was not briefed either, according to his office. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called the episode "unprecedented" and "surreal," and Sen. Chris Coons faulted Trump for leaving his own Cabinet and the press aboard the decoy. Republican congressional leaders largely declined to comment.

“I understand putting a priority on the president's security, but frankly, this was just a despicable incident of disrespect for the press and for members of his own Cabinet.”
Chris Coons (D-DE) · Aug 13, 2026

ICE Moves to Buy Up to $20 Million of Electric Shock Gloves, Drawing Denunciations From a Dozen Congressional Democrats

On Monday, August 10, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security posted a procurement notice signaling that Immigration and Customs Enforcement intends to buy thousands of "Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter" devices — marketed as the G.L.O.V.E., or CTG-5 — from Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky, on a no-bid basis. The gloves function as ordinary patrol gloves until an officer presses a switch, at which point they deliver a painful electric shock on contact. Reporting by Axios and CBS News on August 12 put the value of the planned purchase at $10 million to $20 million, with deliveries to be completed by the end of March. ICE and DHS have described the device as a "conductive distraction and de-escalation device." A DHS spokesperson said ICE "is constantly assessing the needs of our officers in the field to ensure they have the tools and equipment necessary to safely arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our country," and the agency said its officers "regularly receive ongoing use of force training." Within 48 hours at least a dozen congressional Democrats — four senators and eight House members — publicly condemned the plan, most of them on social media. Several tied the purchase directly to the roughly $70 billion in ICE and Customs and Border Protection funding Congress approved in June over Democratic objections, and several used the occasion to renew calls to abolish the agency. Reps. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) and Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) had introduced the Melt ICE Act in January to dismantle DHS. No congressional Republican was on record defending or criticizing the purchase in the first days of coverage.

“This is just not the government people want. A government so sadistic and cruel that it delights in using your hard-earned tax dollars to buy gloves that shock people upon contact.”
Chris Murphy (D-CT) · Aug 13, 2026

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