US military says it carried out lethal strike on vessel in Pacific, killing four, as Trump addresses country – as it happened

As always, it’s been a busy day in the world of US politics. Here are some of the highlights:

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  The House of Representatives will be starting their Christmas break a day early. This news comes hours after four Republicans joined with the Democrats to sign a petition forcing a vote on legislation that will extend for three years premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act healthcare plans.

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  A federal judge said that the Trump administration cannot stop members of Congress from making unannounced visits to immigrant detention facilities. This is pending the outcome of lawsuit from twelve Democratic representatives after multiple lawmakers were blocked from entering.

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  Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, says the real motive behind the huge US military buildup in the Caribbean is oil: his country has the largest proven reserves in the world.

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  Dan Bongino confirmed his exit from the FBI. Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and NYPD officer has also hosted several TV show, including guest-host stints on both The Sean Hannity Show and The Mark Levin Show. He later launched the Bongino Report and The Dan Bongino Show.

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  The Senate has confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become Trump’s Nasa administrator, placing an advocate of Mars missions and a former associate of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as the space agency’s 15th leader, Reuters reports.

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  Dan Newhouse – one of two remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump over his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol – has announced that he will not be running for re-election in 2026.

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  Former special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two now-dropped criminal cases against Donald Trump, defended his investigation before a House panel this morning, telling lawmakers that the basis for the prosecutions “rests entirely with President Trump and his actions”.

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  Ro Khanna said on Wednesday morning that he’s giving the justice department the “benefit of the doubt” that it will make the Epstein files public by Friday – and warned there would be repercussions if it doesn’t. Khanna, one of the sponsors of the law requiring the release of the investigative files relating to the late sex offender by 19 December, told NBC News that DoJ officials have not responded to requests for information about how and when the files will be made public.

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  The US military carried out a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing four men, according to defense secretary Pete Hegseth.

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  Donald Trump delivered a speech from the White House. It revisited well-trodden territory, totting out all the major Maga talking points.

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The White House has said Trump will be highlight the administration’s actions during over the past year and revealing priorities for 2026.

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But the speech, which Trump will be delivering from the White House Diplomatic Room, comes as the administration is escalating campaign against Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro.

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The president ordered “a total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. The administration has also struck more than 20 vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean near Venezuela as part what the administration said was an effort to combat drug trafficking in the region.

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The US military carried out a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing four men, according to defense secretary Pete Hegseth.

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In a post on Twitter/X, Hegseth wrote: “Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. A total of four male narco-terrorists were killed, and no US military forces were harmed.”

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Venezuela has requested that the United Nations Security Council meet to discuss “ongoing US aggression”, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.

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Per Reuters, “a UN diplomat” has said a meeting would likely be scheduled for next week.

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On Tuesday, Donald Trump ordered “a total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.

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It reamins unclear how the blockade would work. The president could instruct US Coast Guard to seize vessels carrying Venezuelan crude pil, as he did last week. The US has already moved thousands of troops and nearly a dozen warships, to the region.

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Dan Bongino confirmed his exit from the FBI.

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“I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January,” he wrote in a statement posted on X. “I want to thank president Trump, [attorney general Pam] Bondi, and [FBI director Kash] Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose. Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you. God bless America, and all those who defend her.”

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Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and NYPD officer has also hosted several TV show, including guest-host stints on both The Sean Hannity Show and The Mark Levin Show. He later launched the Bongino Report and The Dan Bongino Show.

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In May, Bongino cried during an appearance on Fox News where he complained about the sacrifices he made to take up his role as FBI deputy director.

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“I gave up everything for this. I mean, you know, my wife is struggling … I stare at these four walls all day in DC, you know, by myself, divorced from my wife. Not divorced, but I mean, separated. And it’s hard,” he said.

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In 2018, Bongino, who has frequently perpetuated conspiracy theories of a so-called deep state plot against Trump, said: “My entire life right now is about owning the libs.”

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The FBI declined to comment.

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The US president wants a blockade of oil tankers under sanctions to stop them entering and leaving Venezuela.

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Here’s an explainer detailing what that means:

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Donald Trump, who announced blockade on sanctioned oil tankers to and from Venezuela, has ramped up his rhetoric.

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He told a press gaggle that Venezuela “illegally took” US oil.

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“They took all of our energy rights, they took all of our oil from not that long ago, and we want it back. But they took it, they illegally took it.” he said.

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The administration has moved thousands of troops and nearly a dozen warships – including the world’s largest aircraft carrier – to the sea north of Venezuela in the past couple of weeks.

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In the last few minutes Donald Trump appears to have confirmed reports that deputy FBI director Dan Bongino is leaving his role on the eve of the highly anticipated release of the Epstein files, telling reporters that Bongino wanted to go back to his podcast.

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“Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show,” Trump said.

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The Senate has confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become Trump’s Nasa administrator, placing an advocate of Mars missions and a former associate of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as the space agency’s 15th leader, Reuters reports.

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Dan Newhouse – one of two remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump over his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol – has announced that he will not be running for re-election in 2026.

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“I am announcing today that I will not seek reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives,” Newhouse wrote in a statement shared on Twitter/X. “Serving the Fourth District of Washington has been the honor of my life, and this decision comes with no reservations or remorse, only gratitude for the tremendous opportunity to have represented my home state in Congress.”

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Newhouse, 70, was one of ten pro-impeachment Republicans in the House; David Valadao of California is now the last one standing, and he has filed to run for re-election.

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Newhouse represents a safe GOP seat, which he narrowly defended against a Trump-backed primary challenger last year. Trump has called him a “Weak and Pathetic RINO” (Republican in name only) who “voted to, for no reason, Impeach me”.

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wearing navy suit speaks while standing behind podium and small microphone”,”caption”:”Dan Newhouse debates the articles of impeachment against Donald Trump at the Capitol, on 18 December 2019.”,”credit”:”Photograph: AP”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1766002892000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”15.21 EST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1766003923000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”15.38 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1766003573000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”15.32 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”15.32″,”title”:”Dan Newhouse, one of two remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, will not seek re-election next year”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Wed 17 Dec 2025 21.51 EST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Wed 17 Dec 2025 07.17 EST”},{“id”:”694306878f080663f19375eb”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Earlier, Mike Johnson said that Donald Trump’s response to the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner was “not the way I would’ve done it”. The House speaker told CNBC:

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n

I don’t communicate the same way; I am my own person, and I speak from my voice. The president and I address issues differently sometimes. That’s not the way I would have done it; it’s not the way I have done it. That’s my comment on it. I don’t know what else I can say.

n

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He called the couple’s deaths “an unspeakable family tragedy” that “speaks to the rampant evil and violence in our society of which there’s root causes of that that we try to address as well, but it’s ultimately a human heart issue”.

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Trump was lambasted from both sides of the aisle on Monday after he blamed Reiner’s apparent killing on what he described as the acclaimed Hollywood director’s dislike of him. Celebrities and lawmakers condemned the president’s remarks as “petty” and “disgusting”.

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Further to that, Jack Smith told lawmakers his team had found “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump engaged in a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election and prevent the lawful transfer of power.

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Trump also “repeatedly tried to obstruct justice” to keep secret his retention of classified documents found during an FBI search in Mar-a-Lago, Smith said.

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Smith said he and his team found “powerful evidence that showed Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in January 2021, storing them at his social club, including in a bathroom and a ballroom where events and gatherings took place”.

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Republican lawmakers have expressed outrage at disclosures from the DoJ that investigators sought information from a wide range of conservative organizations as part of the probe into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and also obtained limited cell phone data from at least eight Republican senators during the period around the US Capitol attack.

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Smith has said his prosecutors followed DoJ policy and were not influenced by politics. According to the excerpts, he told lawmakers in his opening statement that the records were “relevant to complete a comprehensive investigation”.

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n

January 6 was an attack on the structure of our democracy in which over 100 heroic law enforcement officers were assaulted. Over 160 individuals later pled guilty to assaulting police officers that day.

n

Exploiting that violence, President Trump and his associates tried to call members of Congress in furtherance of their criminal scheme, urging them to further delay certification of the 2020 election. I didn’t choose those members; President Trump did.

n

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Former special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two now-dropped criminal cases against Donald Trump, defended his investigation before a House panel this morning, telling lawmakers that the basis for the prosecutions “rests entirely with President Trump and his actions”.

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According to excerpts from his opening statement seen by the Guardian, Smith said:

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n

The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts.

n

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Smith gave private testimony to the Republican-controlled House judiciary committee following months of disclosures from Trump appointees at the justice department and Republican lawmakers intended to discredit Smith’s probe and bolster Trump’s claims that the cases were an abuse of the legal system.

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A reminder that Smith and his team secured indictments in 2023, accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified documents following his first term in office and plotting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election. Smith dropped both cases after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a DoJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

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“If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether the president was a Republican or Democrat,” Smith told the committee.

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n

I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election. We took actions based on what the facts and the law required.

n

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And in another headache for the GOP, representative Ro Khanna said on Wednesday morning that he’s giving the justice department the “benefit of the doubt” that it will make the Epstein files public by Friday – and warned there would be repercussions if it doesn’t.

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Khanna, one of the sponsors of the law requiring the release of the investigative files relating to the late sex offender by 19 December, told NBC News that DoJ officials have not responded to requests for information about how and when the files will be made public.

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But he noted the department had successfully moved to unseal grand jury records in the case, which he takes as an indication they’re trying to comply.

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n

Until the 19th, let’s give some benefit of the doubt, given that they’ve been supporting these judicial rulings. And then we’ll see.

n

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Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, if the information is not made public by Friday then “the justice department officials would be breaking the law”, Khanna said.

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While they likely would not face charges during this administration, “they could be subject to prosecution given the federal law, and the statute of limitations will likely run into a new administration”, the California Democrat said, meaning a future president could charge officials for not complying with the law.

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They also “could be hauled in front of Congress, the oversight committee”, and “there could be federal lawsuits” over any inaction, he said.

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Meanwhile, Mike Johnson, the House speaker, has insisted he has “not lost control” of the House, after four swing-district Republicans joined with Democrats to force a vote on extending the soon-to-expire ACA tax credits for three years.

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The beleaguered speaker told reporters earlier:

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n

I have not lost control of the House.

n

We have the smallest majority in US history. These are not normal times. There are processes and procedures in the House that are less frequently used when there are larger majorities. That’s when you have the luxury of having 10 or 15 people who disagree on something, you know you don’t have to deal with it.

n

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The blow to him and his team was down to the “razor-thin margin” he has to manage, he said.

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Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has called on Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker, to immediately allow a vote on legislation to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits for another three years.

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“Mike Johnson should bring the bill to the floor immediately,” Jeffries wrote on X, after a discharge petition to force a vote on the measure over Johnson’s objections received the 218 signatures necessary for its success, thanks to four Republican defectors.

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It is unclear when Johnson will bring the bill up for a vote. While he must do so within a certain period of time, the House is also set to go on recess after tomorrow through the end of the year, and the measure could wind up being considered in January – at which point the ACA tax credits will have expired.

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Democratic senators have challenged Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr on comments he made related to comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who was briefly pulled from the air by ABC after comments he made following the murder of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

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“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr told a conservative podcaster in response to Kimmel’s comments. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

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Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota brought up his comments, and asked Carr: “Do you think it is appropriate to use your position to threaten companies that broadcast political satire?”

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The FCC chair replied by referring to the public interest standard, which dates back to a 1934 federal law and is today viewed as vague.

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“I think any licensee that operates on the public airwaves has a responsibility to comply with the public interest standard, and that’s been the case for decades,” Carr replied.

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Massachusetts’s Patrick Markey later took him to task for the FCC’s investigation of a San Francisco broadcaster. “This is government censorship, plain and simple,” Markey said.

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Carr replied: “Broadcasters understand, perhaps the first time in years, they’re going to be held accountable to the public interest, to broadcast hoax rules, to the news distortion policy. I think that’s a good thing.”

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In her questioning, Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin called Carr “a parrot for president Trump” who has “diminished the independence of the FCC.”

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• This post was amended on 18 December 2025. A previous version mischaracterised the comments made by Jimmy Kimmel in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder.

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Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis is testifying before a Georgia Senate committee at the state Capitol in Atlanta this morning about her expenditures related to the Trump investigation, and came out firing.

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“I doubt that anyone will have trouble hearing me,” she said when asked to move closer to the microphone by senator Greg Dolezal.

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She described herself as a “murder prosecutor” and cited a long career in the law and general success in her office when asked for her background, noting a 30 percent decrease in the murder rate since taking office. “Best to ever do it,” she said of her tenure so far in Fulton County. “I sit here with a 92 percent conviction rate.”

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Dolezal, leading the initial questions, began by asking about the transition team and interviews about hiring and firing attorneys after taking office. Dolezal asked specific questions about the role of Nathan Wade in the process of hiring and in the anticorruption department. A personal relationship between Wade and Willis ultimately derailed the prosecution of Donald Trump.

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“He was a special prosecutor. He did not work for me as an employee … What I would call him is a lawyer with a distinguished resume,” she said.

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Willis said in testimony that she didn’t trust Dolezal, and questioned state support for district attorney’s offices. “If you want to look at some legislation, you should look at paying DAs across this country more money because they do not make enough money and it is very hard for people to recruit DAs at the state pay.”

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“I had no idea that these criminals were going to commit a crime,” Willis said of her early days in office in 2021. “I was unable to look for talent for a case that didn’t exist.”

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“I was already district attorney when this all came to light … when Raffensberger went on Good Morning America or whatever … I know that you’ve got black people confused and saying that I was running on prosecuting Donald Trump … that is a lie,” Willis said, referring to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger.

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In a major setback for speaker Mike Johnson and the House GOP, four Republicans have joined with all Democrats to sign a petition forcing a vote on legislation that will extend for three years premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act health care plans.

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Johnson, along with Donald Trump and many other Republicans, oppose extending the credits, which will expire at the end of the year and lowered premiums for enrollees of plans purchased through the landmark law’s exchanges. But some moderate Republicans were nervous about allowing health care costs to increase, and after failing to reach an agreement with House GOP leadership, they this morning signed a discharge petition to force a vote on a Democratic-backed bill to extend the tax credits for three years. The four Republicans are Mike Lawler of New York, and Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie, all of Pennsylvania.

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While the bill must now receive a vote, it remains to be seen if the House will take action before it recesses for the holidays at the end of the week. Should it pass, it will also need to be approved by the Republican-controlled Senate.

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The Donald Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, will soon make his first appearance before Congress since sparking an uproar with comments seen as pressuring ABC to temporarily pull comedian Jimmy Kimmel from the air.

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ABC indefinitely suspended Kimmel’s show over statements he made following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which prompted Carr to say that he wanted broadcasters to “take action” on Kimmel, and: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

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Though ABC eventually reinstated Kimmel, the episode is sure to be raised when Carr appears before the Senate commerce committee for a hearing that should begin shortly. He will be joined by commissioner Olivia Trusty, a Republican, and Anna Gomez, a Democrat.

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Here’s more about Carr:

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Jack Smith, who as justice department special counsel brought two criminal cases against Donald Trump that were scuppered by his re-election win, will be appearing for a behind-closed-door testimony before the House judiciary committee today.

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Smith had offered to testify publicly, but the Republican judiciary committee chair Jim Jordan opted to subpoena Smith for a private deposition, in which he will be questioned by lawmakers. That means we won’t know much about what he had to say, but some of the representatives who attend the session may reveal details after the fact. We’ll let you know if we hear anything.

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We will get a sense later in the day on whether the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has any misgivings about Donald Trump’s strategy towards Venezuela, when a war powers resolution intended to halt his escalation against the country comes up for a vote.

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Proposed by Democrat James McGovern, the resolution would require the president to remove troops from the country’s vicinity. It has 39 Democratic co-sponsors, and, perhaps crucially, three Republicans: Don Bacon of Nebraska, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. The latter two are not on good terms with the president.

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Votes are expected at 5.30pm at the latest, and we will find out if it has the support to pass. When defense secretary Pete Hegseth and secretary of state Marco Rubio briefed lawmakers on the Venezuela strategy on Tuesday, many Republicans said they agreed with the administration’s actions. Here’s more on that:

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The markets are closely watching how such a blockade would actually be imposed.

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The price of US crude jumped more than 2% after Trump’s announcement – Brent was up $1.41, or 2.4%, at $60.33 a barrel at 10:18 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.42, or 2.6%, to $56.69 a barrel.

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Oil prices have been at near five-year lows due to progress on Ukraine peace talks; however, the risk to the Venezuelan supply is now driving it up again.

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“Venezuelan oil production accounts for around 1% of global output, but supplies are concentrated among a small group of buyers, mainly Chinese teapot refiners, the U.S., and Cuba,” Muyu Xu, senior oil analyst at Kpler told the Associated Press.

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Trump in his Truth Social message didn’t have any detail on how a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers might be enforced, or if he would direct the coast guard to seize vessels like he did last week.

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His administration has moved thousands of troops and nearly a dozen warships – including the world’s largest aircraft carrier – to the sea north of Venezuela in the past couple of weeks.

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It’s clear the move targeting oil, Venezuela’s main source of income, is aimed at further squeezing Nicolás Maduro’s government.

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Venezuela affirmed its sovereignty over all natural resources and its right to free navigation and trade in the Caribbean Sea despite “warmongering threats”, the government said in a statement on Tuesday. It condemned Trump’s “irrational military blockade” order as a “grotesque threat” aimed at “stealing” the country’s wealth.

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