Two illegal immigrant truckers from India were arrested Saturday for allegedly hauling 309 pounds of cocaine inside a semi-truck they were driving through Putnam County, Indiana, The Daily Wire has learned.
Gurpreet Singh, 25, and Jasveer Singh, 30, were driving from Joplin, Missouri, when they were pulled over by Indiana State Troopers, who observed that their truck was drifting, <a href="https://x.com/angelaganote/status/2008194673597124716" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to FOX59. The troopers brought in a drug-sniffing K9, who helped them locate 140-kilogram packages containing approximately 309 pounds of cocaine that were concealed in the truck&#8217;s sleeper berth.
The cache of drugs is worth an estimated $7 million, according to reports.
During the traffic stop, the illegal immigrant pair presented the troopers with their California-issued commercial driver&#8217;s licenses.
In a statement shared with The Daily Wire, the Department of Homeland Security blamed Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom for the alleged drug smuggling attempt.
“Thanks to Gavin Newsom’s reckless policies, these two criminal illegal aliens were granted commercial licenses by the state of California and were arrested for trafficking a whopping 300 pounds of cocaine inside a semi-truck,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement shared with The Daily Wire.
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“Gavin Newsom and his fellow sanctuary politicians even refused to honor an arrest detainer on one of these criminal illegal aliens in December. Sanctuary policies put American lives at risk. ICE law enforcement lodged arrest detainers to ensure these drug traffickers are not allowed back into American communities,&#8221; she said.
Gurpreet Singh crossed the southern border illegally on March 11, 2023, near Lukeville, Arizona, and was released into the country under the Biden administration, DHS told The Daily Wire.
Jasveer Singh crossed the border illegally on March 21, 2017, near Otay Mesa, California. He was arrested in December 2025 in San Bernardino for allegedly receiving stolen property, but was released after sanctuary authorities in California refused to honor a federal immigration detainer.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has since filed detainers with local authorities to ensure that they&#8217;re handed over for deportation rather than eventually released onto the streets after their latest alleged crimes, according to DHS.
During his latest encounter with police, Jasveer said he was employed as a truck driver, but that he hitched a ride with a different carrier for the latest trip, according to FOX59. He said he was instructed to haul an empty tractor-trailer to an Indian restaurant near Richmond, Indiana, to eat food and wait for his cargo load to arrive.
Meanwhile, Gurpreet said he hitched a ride from California to Joplin in a different truck before he met up with Jasveer as they headed to the same Indian restaurant, the outlet reported.
Jasveer also said that the truck lacked the required Electronic Logging Device that ensures drivers aren&#8217;t on the roads for longer than what is considered safe, according to FOX59.
The Trump administration has heavily scrutinized Newsom as it investigates the issuance of commercial driver&#8217;s licenses across the country to illegal immigrants following a string of fatal collisions.
California recently announced that it would delay its effort to cancel thousands of commercial driver&#8217;s licenses issued to foreign drivers.
The Trump administration instructed California to get it done by Jan. 5, threatening to withhold $160 million in federal funding if the state failed to make the deadline.
Newsom responded, saying their delay was a result of &#8220;federal mismanagement.&#8221;
&#8220;YOUR staff told CA DMV they were open to an extension 8 days ago. In fact, FMCSA agreed an extension made logistical sense and was reasonable (in a meeting on Dec. 18)! DMV relied on that guidance and acted accordingly,&#8221; Newsom wrote in a Dec. 31 X post.
&#8220;Only after the plan became public did your agency suddenly object,&#8221; he wrote.

Untitled design – 2026-01-05T153203.397

Illegal Immigrants Caught Hauling 300 Pounds Of Cocaine In Semi-Truck

Crime

Drugs

illegal immigrant

Illegal Immigration

India

Indiana

Truckers

U.S.

After Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to clarify President Donald Trump&#8217;s Saturday comment that the United States would &#8220;run&#8221; Venezuela following the capture and extradition of Nicolás Maduro, the president reiterated his position Sunday.
“We&#8217;re dealing with the people. We&#8217;re dealing with the people that just got supported. And don&#8217;t ask me who&#8217;s in charge, because I&#8217;ll give you an answer, and it&#8217;ll be very controversial,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One. “We&#8217;re in charge.”
Trump added that there would be elections in Venezuela “at the right time.” 
“We&#8217;re going to run it, fix it,” he said. “It&#8217;s a broken country. There&#8217;s no money. There&#8217;s inflation, like we would have had if I didn&#8217;t win this election, we would have been Venezuela on steroids.”
When asked whether he believed America was back in the business of nation-building, Trump said rebuilding the Venezuelan economy would be good for the country. 
“We’re in the business of having countries around us that are viable, successful and where the oil is allowed to freely come out, because that&#8217;s good, it gets the prices down. That&#8217;s good for our country,” Trump said. “This is Venezuela, our area, the ‘Donroe Doctrine,’” a play on words riffing on the Monroe Doctrine to describe his Trump-branded approach to American leadership in the Western Hemisphere. 
Trump said that he was inspired to take action against Maduro because of the drugs coming into the United States from Venezuela. Over the last few months, the War Department has conducted strikes on more than 30 boats suspected of running drugs, many of them coming from Venezuela. Trump said that drugs coming by sea into the United States were down 97%.
During his conversation with reporters, Trump called for Mexico to take more action to stop drug trafficking. 
“You have to do something with Mexico,” Trump said. “Mexico has to get their act together, because they&#8217;re pouring through Mexico, and we&#8217;re gonna have to do something. We&#8217;d love Mexico to do it. They&#8217;re capable of doing it. But unfortunately, the cartels are very strong in Mexico.”
Trump was also asked about Greenland and whether he had any plans to take control there. He said he wanted to focus on Ukraine and Venezuela for the next few months, but believed it was a strategically important country. 
“We need Greenland from a national security situation. It&#8217;s so strategic right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” Trump said. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”

President Trump Returns To The  White House After Spending Holidays In Florida

Trump Says U.S. Is ‘In Charge’ Of Venezuela, Vows To ‘Run It, Fix It’

Donald Trump

Executive

Global Politics

Nicolas Maduro

Politics

Venezuela

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) believes Congress could soon play a larger role in the actions taken by the Trump administration against Venezuela.
Biggs spoke with The Daily Wire’s AmericaFest pre-show to discuss the recent actions against the South American nation and what it means in terms of border anti-drug policies as a border state lawmaker.
“Where we’re heading is Venezuela, effectively, has declared a narcoterrorist drug war on the United States of America. And we are engaged right now in trying to prevent them from getting to our country, and we’re trying to leverage, quite frankly, economically for Maduro to basically say, &#8216;Okay, we’re done being an exporter of narcoterrorism,&#8217;” he said.
Recently, the United States government has seized oil tankers with ties to the South American country, as Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro has not ceded power.
“Until he’s willing to do that, you’re going to see some action, and my guess is you’re going to see Congress be much more involved in this come January,” Biggs said.
When asked if there should be a formal declaration of war from Congress, he said, “The checklist that has to be gone through before there can be any kind of an attack on them, a kinetic attack on them, is the same thing that you would see in any other kind of threat or theater in the world.”
“We know who they are, we know that they&#8217;re drug runners, we know what they&#8217;re carrying, we know where they&#8217;re going. All that has to be confirmed, and they will stop; they won&#8217;t do it if they can&#8217;t answer all of those checkpoints,” Biggs continued.
However, he’s predicting that Congress will eventually be part of the process, as the situation could be “accelerated.”
The Republican is currently running for Arizona governor in a primary with businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson and Rep. David Schweikert.
Both Biggs and Robson have been endorsed by President Donald Trump, and whoever wins the primary will face off against Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs in November in one of the nation’s most competitive gubernatorial races. The Cook Political Report ranks the general election as a “toss-up.” Trump won the key battleground state in 2024.
Running to replace Biggs in Congress is former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who’s been a leading voice on border-related issues for years.
On the border, which has gone largely quiet since Trump took office, Biggs said it serves as proof that “we didn’t need new laws, we just needed to enforce the old ones.”
“We still have some problems — Arizona’s still the number one human and drug trafficking corridor,” he said. “We have it in our state, [and] we’re going to have to shut that down, but I will tell you, the morale is high from those who guarded the border, the Border Patrol guys and gals,” the congressman said.

Andy Biggs

Congressman Explains What Actions Could Come Next Against Venezuela’s ‘Narcoterrorist Drug War’

Arizona

Military

South America

President Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. had &#8220;hit&#8221; an area in Venezuela where boats are loaded with drugs, marking the first known time Washington has carried out land operations in Venezuela since a pressure campaign began against President Nicolas Maduro&#8217;s government.
&#8220;There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,&#8221; Trump said.
&#8220;We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area&#8230; it&#8217;s the implementation area. That&#8217;s where they implement, and that is no longer around.&#8221;
It was not immediately clear what target was hit nor which part of the U.S. government acted.
Asked if the CIA had carried out the attack, Trump said: &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to say that. I know exactly who it was but I don&#8217;t want to say who it was.&#8221;
Trump has previously said that he has authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.
On a radio show last week, Trump made vague comments about an apparent U.S. operation against a &#8220;big facility&#8221; in Venezuela.
The Central Intelligence Agency, the White House, and the Pentagon have not publicly elaborated on those comments and declined to comment on questions posed by Reuters. The Venezuelan government has not commented on the incident Trump described and there have been no independent reports from Venezuela of it.
Primazol, a chemical plant in Zulia state which suffered a fire on Christmas Eve, has denied online rumors that the blaze was what Trump alluded to in his comments. The company also said the fire was quickly extinguished and was under investigation. Nearby residents told Reuters they heard an explosion, saw the fire and smelled chlorine.
The Venezuelan communications ministry, which handles all press requests for the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
Trump&#8217;s administration has previously touted its success in taking out suspected drug trafficking vessels, and the Pentagon has posted footage of several of its strikes on social media.
The lack of response by U.S. national security agencies had raised questions about whether the incident Trump mentioned was carried out covertly. Such an operation would likely limit the ability of U.S. officials to speak on the matter.
Last month, Reuters reported that the U.S. was poised to launch a new phase of Venezuela-related operations, as the Trump administration escalates pressure on Maduro&#8217;s government.
At the time, two U.S. officials said covert operations would likely be the first part of the new action against Maduro.
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The U.S. mission has primarily focused on military strikes against suspected drug trafficking vessels and has prompted intense oversight from Congress. More than 100 people have been killed in more than 20 strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
Earlier this month, U.S. military leaders briefed lawmakers on an incident in September in which an American strike killed 11 people but left several survivors who were killed in a second strike ordered by Admiral Frank Bradley.
Congressional Democrats have questioned whether the second strike was conducted in accordance with international law.
Trump&#8217;s administration has overseen a massive U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, including more than 15,000 troops.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Erin Banco and Idrees Ali; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk, David Gregorio and Rosalba O&#8217;Brien)

UK Hosts President Trump And First Lady Melania Trump For State Visit – Day Three

U.S. Hits Drug Boat Loading Facility In Venezuela, Trump Says

Cartels

World

Editor’s note: This week, we’re reprinting some of our best stories from the past year. This piece, originally published in September, discusses the dangerous drug sold at gas stations across the country derived from kratom.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary says his agency is working to get ahead of what could be the “fourth wave” of the deadly opioid crisis by targeting a substance derived from the kratom plant that is being sold to young people in gas stations and vape shops all across the nation.
The concentrated compound, 7-hydroxymitragynine, known as 7-OH, is up to 13 times more potent than morphine, according to Makary. Deceptive marketing and easy access are helping fuel its spread, luring in an increasing number of young Americans.
“We can’t get caught flat-footed again,” Makary recently <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-9RKbVl_m8">warned</a>. “We got burned with fentanyl, we got burned with prescription drugs. We cannot get behind the eight ball again. This may be the fourth wave of the opioid epidemic. Concentrated, synthetic, 7-OH may be the fourth wave of the opioid epidemic.”
“7-OH, people need to know, is an opioid,” he emphasized. “You can walk down the street in almost any neighborhood in America and buy an opioid.”
The kratom plant is native to Southeast Asia. In its natural state, some people find it to have healthful and medicinal qualities. The FDA has made clear that it’s not focusing on the natural kratom leaf. They’re targeting concentrated and synthetic forms of kratom, or 7-OH.
At the end of July, the FDA recommended that 7-OH be classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, making it illegal to sell or possess. The agency says it’s an opioid that comes with significant health risks, including addiction and overdose.
Some people may not have even heard of kratom before, but they’ve likely seen kratom-derived 7-OH products in gas stations, corner stores, vape shops, or even online. Kratom, overall, is a billion-dollar industry in the U.S. – and it’s growing fast. In just a few years, the industry is expected to almost double in size.
7-OH is sold in a variety of forms, including powders, vapes, drinks, pills, and products that appeal to children, such as <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-steps-restrict-7-oh-opioid-products-threatening-american-consumers?utm_source=chatgpt.com">fruit-flavored gummies and even ice cream cones</a>.
<div id="attachment_967745" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-967745" class="wp-image-967745 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-530276352-864x576.jpg" alt=" In this photo illustration, a bottle with Kratom liquid and bags of capsules with the herbal supplement Kratom inside are seen on May 10, 2016 in Miami, Florida. " width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-530276352-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-530276352-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-530276352-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-530276352.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Joe Raedle/Getty Images</div>
These products are often inaccurately labeled concerning their 7-OH content, and can be disguised or marketed as merely the kratom plant. There’s also no federal age restriction on these products, though <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/kratom-targeted-crackdowns-states-cities-rcna166661">several states</a> now prohibit the sale of such products to minors.
As far as widespread harm, especially to young Americans, the data are mixed – or perhaps underreported, and too early to tell.
The CDC says there have been some overdose deaths associated with kratom products, but often other substances were also involved. There was also a <a href="https://project.tampabay.com/investigations/deadly-dose/kratom-overdose-deaths-florida-mitragynine-testing/">recent report</a> from the Tampa Bay Times that links kratom products to hundreds of deaths just in the state of Florida, over the past decade. Additionally, more and more anecdotal accounts of 7-OH-related addictions and deaths fill the web, though they remain unverified.
A toxicologist and emergency physician from Albany Medical Center, Dr. Alicia Tudor, believes kratom-related harms are being underreported, specifically regarding overdoses.
“I’ll see it in the emergency department and then probably more often in the addiction clinic that I work at as well,” Tudor <a href="https://cbs6albany.com/news/wellness-watch/ballston-spa-mother-advocates-for-kratom-regulation-after-sons-death-controlled-substance-legislation-bill-protest-overdose-toxicology">told</a> WRGB.
Toxicology tests are not always given when patients come in for an overdose, she said. “Then the results would come back, you know, weeks later, and at that point, the patient’s been discharged and doing better,” Tudor added.
<div id="attachment_967751" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-967751" class="wp-image-967751 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2228201310-864x576.jpg" alt="Cari Scribner with photos of her son, Nickolas, on Thursday, July 31, 2025, in her home Ballston Spa, NY. " width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2228201310-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2228201310-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2228201310-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2228201310.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Jim Franco/Albany Times Union via Getty Images</div>
New York mother Cari Scribner wants action taken on these highly concentrated kratom products. Her 27-year-old son, Nickolas, died last year from what appears to have been a kratom-related death.
Scribner <a href="https://cbs6albany.com/news/wellness-watch/ballston-spa-mother-advocates-for-kratom-regulation-after-sons-death-controlled-substance-legislation-bill-protest-overdose-toxicology">says</a> her son started using the products to manage anxiety, depression, and insomnia, believing it was merely an “all natural herbal, energy, and health supplement.”
In a similar tragedy, Makary relayed the contents of a letter from a grieving stepfather of a young man who had finally quit addiction, only to purchase 7-OH without being aware of its contents.
“He called me on May 31 to tell me he had stopped at the vape shop to buy a vape and was offered a fruity pill, and was told that it was kratom,” Makary read the letter aloud. “He said that he took the pill and became addicted, and should have done his research. He died the night he took two 20 mg 7-OH pills. The wrapper was at his bedside. There were no other drugs or alcohol in the house.”
While kratom has been widely used in the U.S. for some time, concentrated 7-OH has only risen in popularity within the last five years. Ultimately, the FDA is moving to stop the substance from causing more widespread harm before it’s too late.
And it’s not just the FDA taking action. Florida is leading the way on the state level. Earlier this month, Florida AG James Uthmeier announced an emergency rule to classify 7-OH as a Schedule I controlled substance. GOP Gov. Mike DeWine has also <a href="https://governor.ohio.gov/media/news-and-media/governor-dewine-calls-on-pharmacy-board-to-schedule-+kratom-compounds-as-illegal-drugs">urged</a> the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to designate synthetic and natural kratom compounds as illegal drugs. Additionally, a number of other states have moved to add age restrictions for 7-OH or limitations on concentrations of the compound.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is currently reviewing the FDA’s recommendation to effectively ban 7-OH.

Kratom

Best Of 2025: This Drug Is Sold in Your Gas Station. It May Trigger the ‘Fourth Wave’ Of The Opioid Crisis.

Health

Prescription Drugs

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to clear the way for making marijuana a Schedule III drug, which brings along reforms in how the federal government regulates the substance.
The order means the drug will no longer be classified under Schedule I, which is at the same level as heroin, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/18/trump-pot-reclassification-cannabis-stocks-medicare-cbd.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNBC</a>. This does not make it legal nationwide, but it allows for more research and enables marijuana sellers in states where it’s legal to take advantage of tax write-offs at the federal level, <a href="https://www.marijuanamoment.net/trump-signs-executive-order-to-reclassify-marijuana-by-removing-it-from-schedule-i/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marijuana Moment</a> reported.
“Today I’m pleased to announce that I will be signing an executive order to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance with legitimate medical uses,” the president said at an event in the Oval Office on Thursday.
“We have people begging for me to do this. People that are in great pain. For decades, this action has been requested by American patients suffering from extreme pain, incurable diseases, aggressive cancers, seizure disorders, neurological problems, and more, including numerous veterans with service-related injuries and older Americans who live with chronic medical problems that severely degrade their quality of life,” he continued.
The president stressed that the order does not mean that recreational marijuana is legal nationwide.
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“I want to emphasize that the order I am about to sign is not the legalization; it doesn&#8217;t legalize marijuana in any way, shape, or form and in no way sanctions its use as a recreational drug,” he said. Twenty-four states have made recreational marijuana legal, with many more having laws regarding its medical use.
However, the reclassification got some conservative pushback before it was formally announced in recent days.
Over two dozen Republican lawmakers sent a letter to the president earlier on Thursday opposing the reclassification.
“Reclassifying marijuana would send the wrong message to our children, worsen addiction, undermine public safety, and hand billions in tax relief to the marijuana industry and foreign criminal cartels. Marijuana has no proven medical value, increases roadway danger, and fuels addiction,” Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) posted to X.
“We must keep it classified as a Schedule I substance under DEA regulations and put families, public safety, and America’s future FIRST!” he added.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doobie-debate-blazes-groups-urge-trump-to-reject-flawed-weed-reclassification-push" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a> reported in August that roughly 50 groups also sent a letter opposing the move, writing that the president has “an opportunity to make a stand for the safety of children across America by opposing the flawed proposal to reschedule marijuana.”

Trump Reclassifies Marijuana At Federal Level: ‘We Have People Begging For Me To Do This’

Marijuana

Social Issues

Trump Administration

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton suggested Sunday that the Trump administration might soon begin to “murder” Americans.
Moulton, who is running for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, made the radical claim during an appearance on CNN in which he suggested that the administration’s actions against narcoterrorists in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean may be replicated against Americans.
“The President of the United States and his secretary of Defense are conducting murder on the high seas. They&#8217;re committing murder and Americans should care,” <a href="https://x.com/RNCResearch/status/1997768199379505464">said</a> Moulton. “None of us like drug traffickers, but we have laws that say that drug traffickers don&#8217;t get summarily executed, and if it&#8217;s happening off the coast of America with people that we don&#8217;t know, just give it time before Donald Trump starts doing the same kind of thing to people we do know right here at home.”
The administration has declared major drug cartels in South America as terror groups, and positioned roughly 15,000 troops in the Caribbean Sea to combat narcoterrorists trafficking fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the United States. The U.S. military has destroyed roughly two dozen boats and submarines in international waters that the administration said were trafficking illicit drugs.
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Democrats ramped up criticisms of the Trump administration’s war on drugs after a report from The Washington Post last month claimed that War Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a “kill them all” order carried out against survivors of a destroyed drug-running vessel.
Top military officials have contested the report. Adm. Mitch Bradley said in a closed-door hearing in Congress last week that Hegseth never gave such an order. In one September incident that has become the basis for Democratic claims of war crimes, Bradley made the call to send a follow-up strike against a vessel that he deemed was still a threat.
Democrats have pushed to have the classified video of the follow-up strike made public. Sen. Tom Cotton, who has seen the video, appeared on NBC News on Sunday and said he had “no problem” with releasing it as long as doing so does not risk national security.
“I will say that the [Department of War] may have valid concerns about revealing what we know about tactics and techniques that these cartels are using or about our sources or methods,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tom-cotton-has-no-problem-with-releasing-video-of-drug-boat-double-tap">said</a> Cotton. “I would trust Secretary Hegseth and his team to make the decision about whether they can declassify and release the video. But again, there’s nothing remarkable on that video in my opinion.”

Seth Moulton

Dem Congressman Suggests Trump Will ‘Murder’ Americans Like Narcoterrorists

Congress

Department of Defense

Department of War

Drug Cartels

Fentanyl

Massachusetts

Pete Hegseth

GOP Sen. Tom Cotton has no objections to releasing the full video of the U.S. military strike on a drug boat that has become central to Democratic claims of war crimes committed by the Trump administration.
The Arkansas senator appeared on NBC News’ “Meet The Press” on Sunday and defended the actions taken by the U.S. military to curb the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States, specifically striking vehicles used to ferry drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
One incident in September has sparked accusations from Democrats that War Secretary Pete Hegseth committed a war crime after a second military strike was ordered on a drug boat that was not destroyed by an initial missile.
The accusations against Hegseth began after The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/28/hegseth-kill-them-all-survivors-boat-strike/">reported</a> that the War secretary gave an order to “kill them all.” Top military officials have since testified to Congress that no such order was given, and Republican lawmakers who have seen the mission order have said that no such language exists in the order that would direct military personnel to commit war crimes.
Senate Republicans, including Cotton, have also reviewed the footage of the second strike on the drug boat and said that the strike did not constitute a war crime because the vessel, though damaged and capsized, still represented a valid military target and could have been used to call in additional narcoterrorists. Cotton said Sunday that he would have “no problem” releasing the video to the public, though the military may have national security reasons for not wanting the footage public.
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“I personally don&#8217;t have any problem with” releasing the footage, Cotton <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-december-7-2025-n1313135">said</a>. “It&#8217;s not gruesome. I didn&#8217;t find it distressing or disturbing. It looks like any number of dozens of strikes we&#8217;ve seen on Jeeps and pickup trucks in the Middle East over the years.”
“I will say that the department may have valid concerns about revealing what we know about tactics and techniques that these cartels are using or about our sources or methods,” he added. “I would trust Secretary Hegseth and his team to make the decision about whether they can declassify and release the video. But again, there&#8217;s nothing remarkable on that video in my opinion.”
Adm. Mitch Bradley testified to Congress last week, denying that Hegseth gave a “kill them all” order. Bradley said that while Hegseth was present to watch the first strike delivered against the drug boat in September, the War secretary left to attend to other matters. Bradley gave authorization for the second strike after assessing that the vessel was still a threat.
Hegseth’s orders at that point had not <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/even-the-new-york-times-isnt-sold-on-washington-post-hegseth-hit">specified</a> what to do if a drug boat was not completely destroyed in an initial strike, according to reporting from The New York Times.
Democrats have continued to push the story, alleging that Hegseth authorized a war crime and should be held accountable. Lawmakers have also <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/07/second-strike-democratic-lawmakers-demand-transparency-00679899">pushed</a> for release of the video depicting the second strike on the boat and suggested that service members who take part in illegal orders could be formally punished.

Tom Cotton

Tom Cotton Has ‘No Problem’ With Releasing Video Of Drug Boat Double-Tap

A former Honduran president who was convicted of helping drug smugglers import 400 tons of cocaine into the United States walked free on Monday after receiving a pardon from President Donald Trump.
Juan Orlando Hernandez, who received a 45-year sentence last year, was released from a federal prison in West Virginia after writing a letter to Trump in late October, arguing that he was the target of a political prosecution and was set up by the Biden administration. Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115629406693931908">announced</a> on Friday that he was planning on granting Hernandez &#8220;a Full and Complete Pardon.&#8221; The president said that &#8220;according to many people that I greatly respect,&#8221; Hernandez was &#8220;treated very harshly and unfairly.&#8221;
Hernandez&#8217;s wife confirmed on Tuesday morning that her husband was a free man.
&#8220;After nearly four years of pain, waiting, and difficult trials, my husband Juan Orlando Hernández RETURNED to being a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump,&#8221; Ana García de Hernández <a href="https://x.com/anagarciacarias/status/1995796971739656532">said</a>.
Hernandez was convicted in a U.S. court of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States in what prosecutors called a &#8220;corrupt and violent drug-trafficking conspiracy,&#8221; CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/us-arrests-indicts-former-honduran-president-juan-orlando-hernandez/">reported</a>. Hernandez was also accused of using money he received from drug trafficking &#8220;to enrich himself, finance his political campaigns, and commit voter fraud, including in connection with the 2013 and 2017 Honduran presidential elections.&#8221;
In his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/12/02/us/politics/hernandez-letter.html">letter</a> to President Trump pleading for mercy, Hernandez argued that his conviction was based on &#8220;uncorroborated statements from drug traffickers, one of whom even recorded a video exposing senior members of the Honduran radical left party, Libre, discussing bribes with traffickers, yet admitted during my rigged trial that they had no evidence to support their accusations against me.&#8221;
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Hernandez&#8217;s letter was given to Trump by the president&#8217;s adviser and longtime ally Roger Stone hours before the president said he was going to pardon the former Honduran president, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/12/02/us/trump-ukraine-putin-news#hernandez-honduras-trump">reported</a>.
Trump&#8217;s decision to free a former Central American president who was convicted of a massive drug trafficking scheme was criticized by some on the Right and the Left, especially since Trump is currently taking out suspected Venezuelan drug runners and pressuring Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to curb drug trafficking into the United States.
&#8220;Why would we pardon this guy and then go after Maduro for running drugs into the United States? Lock up every drug runner! Don’t understand why he is being pardoned,&#8221; Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) <a href="https://x.com/SenBillCassidy/status/1995213682406760812">said</a> last week after Trump announced his plan to pardon Hernandez.
Trump <a href="https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1995264956262949278">told</a> reporters on Sunday that &#8220;many of the people of Honduras said that it was a Biden setup.&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t mean Biden, look, Biden didn&#8217;t know he was alive,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;But it was the people that surrounded the Resolute Desk, that surrounded Biden when he was there. &#8230; [Hernandez] was the president of the country, and they basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country, and they said it was a Biden administration setup, and I looked at the facts and I agreed with them.&#8221;
The U.S. investigation into Hernandez <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/31/americas/honduras-juan-orlando-hernandez-dea-intl">began</a> in 2013, and he was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/juan-orlando-hern%C3%A1ndez-former-president-honduras-indicted-drug-trafficking">indicted</a> in early 2022. The indictment charges that between 2004 and 2022, Hernandez protected drug runners who trafficked hundreds of thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the United States, and, in return, Hernandez and other Honduran officials received millions of dollars. Drug cartels in Honduras have long worked with cartels in countries such as Venezuela and Colombia to transport drugs into the United States, according to the Justice Department.
Trump&#8217;s pardon of Hernandez comes as Honduras is in the middle of a close presidential election, with results showing a &#8220;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2dgp8mvmno">technical tie</a>&#8221; between right-wing candidate Nasry Asfura and liberal Salvador Nasralla. Trump endorsed Asfura, saying that the candidate has the &#8220;confidence&#8221; of the United States.
&#8220;If Tito Asfura wins for President of Honduras, because the United States has so much confidence in him, his Policies, and what he will do for the Great People of Honduras, we will be very supportive,&#8221; Trump wrote last week. &#8220;If he doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is.&#8221;

Juan Orlando Hernandez

Trump Frees Former Honduran President Convicted Of Flooding U.S. With Cocaine

Trump Frees Former Honduran President Who Was Convicted Of Flooding U.S. With Cocaine

drug trafficking

Pardon

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Advocates and angel families who lost children to the opioid epidemic applauded news Monday that President Donald Trump had signed the SUPPORT Act, legislation that strengthens resources for Americans facing substance use disorders.
Trump signed the legislation into law on Monday afternoon, reauthorizing and revising programs within the Department of Health and Human Services addressing substance use disorders, overdoses, and mental health.
Sandy Snodgrass, the mother of a victim named Bruce, and co-founder of Fentanyl Fathers and Angel Army, said simply: “The SUPPORT Act and Bruce’s Law will simply save the lives of young Americans.”
Another bereaved father, Greg Swan, thanked the president for listening to the story of his grieving family, noting that Trump created the original SUPPORT Act back in 2018. Monday&#8217;s action renewed the law with the addition of &#8220;Bruce&#8217;s Law,&#8221; written by Snodgrass, he said.
&#8220;Now we are empowered and backed by the Support Act to go into all 26,727 reluctant USA High Schools and preach the dangers of fentanyl as a bereaved army, the Angel Army,&#8221; said Swan, who is co-founder of Fentanyl Fathers and Angel Army. &#8220;110,000 lives will be saved by youth alone &#8211; and you can double that by the number of bereaved parents who WILL NOT have to have an empty chair for their &#8216;Tiny Tim.&#8217;”
Drew Siegel, co-founder of Victoria&#8217;s Voice, said that his organization is &#8220;forever grateful&#8221; to Trump and his administration for &#8220;answering the prayers of millions of bereaved parents, siblings, friends, and families across our country.&#8221; Drew&#8217;s sister, Victoria, is also a victim of a drug overdose.
&#8220;This is for you, Victoria,&#8221; he said simply. &#8220;We love you, and we miss you every day.”
<div id="attachment_1008249" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/angel-families-praise-trump-for-signing-law-to-combat-substance-abuse/president-trump-speaks-on-progress-made-combatting-opiod-crisis-in-east-room-of-white-house" rel="attachment wp-att-1008249"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1008249" class="wp-image-1008249 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1052957848-864x576.jpg" alt="U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an East Room event at the White House October 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Trump hosted an event to mark the one-year anniversary of the administration's declaration of combating the opioid crisis. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1052957848-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1052957848-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1052957848-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1052957848.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an East Room event at the White House October 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Trump hosted an event to mark the one-year anniversary of the administration&#8217;s declaration of combating the opioid crisis. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)</div>
Robert Branner, co-founder of Fentanyl Fathers, described the legislation as &#8220;a lifeline for American families.&#8221;
&#8220;It is an Act designed to save lives, strengthen communities, and protect our children from a crisis that is touching every corner of this nation,&#8221; he argued. &#8220;I stand here as a Father who lost a daughter because she did not know the dangers of taking a pill that was not prescribed to her. She didn’t know it could be laced with fentanyl. She didn’t know one single pill could stop her heart. She didn’t know because she was never taught.&#8221;
Branner says the new law matters for all Americans, recognizing that &#8220;prevention is protection.&#8221;
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&#8220;It invests in education, awareness, treatment, and support,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It brings resources to schools, families, and communities so our children do not grow up uninformed, unprotected, and unaware. If my daughter had received the education that the SUPPORT Act encourages, if she had been taught early about the dangers of unprescribed opioids she might still be here today. And I know I am not alone. Families across this country have the same story, the same pain, the same loss.&#8221;
&#8220;The SUPPORT Act is an equalizer,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It doesn’t pick and choose which families to help. It reaches across race, class, background, and zip code because addiction and fentanyl do not discriminate. Education, prevention, and support should not either. &#8230; It saves lives. It strengthens families. And it gives our children the knowledge they need to survive in a world where one pill can take everything.”

Angel Families Praise Trump For Signing Law To Combat Substance Abuse

Opioid Crisis

White House

President Donald Trump said on Monday that he&#8217;s open to green-lighting strikes inside of Mexico &#8220;to stop drugs&#8221; from crossing into the United States.
Trump spoke with reporters in the Oval Office about targeting &#8220;narco-terrorists&#8221; in the Caribbean Sea, and said he would be &#8220;okay&#8221; with using that same strategy to take out out drug runners on land — even if they&#8217;re inside of Mexico.
&#8220;Would I launch strikes in Mexico to stop drugs? That&#8217;s okay with me,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Whatever we have to do to stop drugs. I looked at Mexico City over the weekend. There&#8217;s some big problems over there.&#8221;
Asked if he would seek Mexico&#8217;s permission before launching a strike on drug traffickers inside of the country, Trump said, &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t answer that question.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;ve been speaking to Mexico. They know how I stand,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;We have lost hundreds of thousands of people to drugs, so now we&#8217;ve stopped the waterways. We know every route. We know the addresses of every drug lord. We know their address. We know their front door. We know everything about every one of them. They&#8217;re killing our people. That&#8217;s like a war.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;We have lost hundreds of thousands of people a year&#8230; and much of it comes through Mexico. So, let me just put it this way — I am NOT happy with Mexico.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/MzvJreOuEM">pic.twitter.com/MzvJreOuEM</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1990517686544273579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The president said he would be &#8220;proud&#8221; to conduct land strikes on drug cartels, adding that he would &#8220;probably&#8221; go to Congress before striking inside of a foreign country. Trump also discussed potentially hitting &#8220;cocaine factories&#8221; inside of Colombia.
The Trump administration has been criticized by Democrats and some Republicans for taking out suspected drug runners in international waters without congressional authorization. Trump has ordered 11 strikes in the Caribbean Sea in the past two months, killing over 80 suspected drug traffickers.
The Trump administration says that at least 85% of drug trafficking through waterways has been stopped following the &#8220;narco-terrorist&#8221; strikes, but most illegal drugs are <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/fentanyl-smuggling/">snuck</a> into the United States on land, coming in through ports of entry. Most fentanyl trafficked into the United States comes from Mexico or China and is driven across the U.S. southern border in passenger vehicles, <a href="https://www.gao.gov/blog/fentanyl-continues-be-leading-cause-overdose-deaths.-whats-being-done-combat-trafficking-united-states">according</a> to the Government Accountability Office.
Mexico has said that it would not approve of U.S. military operations on its soil.
“We reject any form of intervention or interference. That’s been very clear, Mexico coordinates and collaborates, but does not subordinate itself,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-04-08/mexico-warns-against-potential-u-s-drone-strikes-on-cartels">said</a> in April.
NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-administration-planning-new-mission-mexico-cartels-current-forme-rcna241167">reported</a> earlier this month that the Trump administration is considering <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-may-send-u-s-troops-to-mexico-to-target-cartels">deploying troops</a> to Mexico to target drug cartels with drones. Six Mexican cartels were designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the State Department just weeks after Trump was sworn in for his second term.

‘Whatever We Have To Do’: Trump Says He’s ‘OK’ With Striking Inside Mexico ‘To Stop Drugs’

Mexico

The United Kingdom has stopped sharing intelligence with the United States on drug boats in the Caribbean to stay out of major counter-narcotics strikes in the region.
While controlling multiple territories in the Caribbean, the U.K. has long helped the U.S. interdict drug smugglers in the open sea, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/politics/uk-suspends-caribbean-intelligence-sharing-us">reported</a>. But as the mission becomes more lethal, the U.K. no longer wants to be involved.
The intelligence blackout began over a month ago.
The Department of War has launched more than a dozen strikes on boats, killing 76 people.
Believing that the strikes violated international law, the U.K. started to worry that its intelligence was helping the U.S. locate the vessels before obliterating them.
Trump administration officials have <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DepartmentofWar/videos/4345830319036573/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defended</a> the strikes, saying the drug traffickers are “operating under the control” of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Some legal experts, however, have questioned President Donald Trump&#8217;s authority to act on the threats without congressional approval.
Brian Finucane, a former State Department legal adviser, recently told The Daily Wire that “the strikes are not legal” and lack justification.
“The precedent that this administration seems to be invoking are strikes the U.S. has taken over the course of the last 20-plus years in the context of the U.S. war on terror against groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS,” he said. “But those precedents are really irrelevant and a red herring with respect to the strikes we’re seeing in the Caribbean and now the Pacific.”
“For the first time, the U.S. government designated criminal entities, drug trafficking organizations as foreign terrorist organizations,” he explained. “But those assertions seem to be undermined by the U.S. Intelligence community.”
Dr. Nicholas Creel, law professor at Georgia College and State University, believes the strikes are legal, pointing to roughly five out of 30 examples of “instances where we moved first and somebody died” where the president actually received congressional approval.
“What a lot of people lose in this is if we do agree that the president has the authority to respond to attacks, who is it that gets to define an attack is? It has to be the president,” Creel said. “It necessarily cannot be Congress.”
“That’s why we chose this word to give the president the authority to respond to these attacks so it has to be that decides what this attack is. And if you or I think this is not an attack, fine, but we’re not the president.”
He continued: “Pretty much every president since FDR would have to have been said to have acted unconstitutionally in terms of the war powers, which seems a bit odd. If it’s that common a practice, is it really, I mean, just because people are doing it doesn’t mean it’s legal, but at the same time, if everybody is basically doing it? Is it really illegal?”

Trump/Starmer

UK Now Refuses To Share Certain Intelligence With United States Over Drug Boat Strikes

UK Stops Sharing Certain Intelligence With US Over Drug Boat Strikes

Colombia

United Kingdom

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