Hello, readers! Welcome to Tuesday's edition of On Politics. I'm Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY's congressional reporter, filling in for Kathryn Palmer, who is out this week. Here's what to know today. |
Hegseth, Rubio brief lawmakers on boat strikes |
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War, formerly Defense, Pete Hegseth again trekked to Capitol Hill on Dec. 16 to brief lawmakers on the Trump administration's lethal strikes on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean in September. Although they did not show senators and members of the House of Representatives footage of the strikes , lawmakers emerged from the classified meetings with vastly different partisan interpretations of how the briefings went. Republicans defended the Trump administration's actions, while Democrats called for more transparency. |
From the halls of the Capitol, here were a few quotes from notable Republicans: |
| • | Sec. Pete Hegseth: "We're proud of what we're doing." | | • | South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham: There's "no doubt in my mind that we have the ability to blow up these folks." | |
Democrats, meanwhile, were perturbed: |
| • | Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: "The administration came to this briefing empty-handed. If they can't be transparent on this, how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean?" | | • | Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy: "That was the shortest briefing I've ever been a part of." | |
Hegseth said the military will show lawmakers from specific congressional committees unedited video of the Sept. 2 strike on Dec. 17 before they head home for their winter break. | Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth walks on the day of a classified briefing for all senators on the situation in Venezuela on Capitol Hill on Dec. 16, 2025. Kevin Mohatt, REUTERS |
| • | Donald Trump Jr. got engaged to Florida socialite Bettina Anderson. | | • | The president's $300 million White House ballroom makeover faced an early courtroom test. | | • | USA TODAY national correspondents Trevor Hughes and Lauren Villagran spent three days with ICE agents in Kansas City and talked about what they saw on the latest episode of our podcast, The Excerpt. Listen here. | | • | Oh, and one more engagement: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, confirmed news of her upcoming nuptials with conservative media personality Brian Glenn. | |
Vanity Fair talks to Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles |
Susie Wiles, the high-powered chief of staff to President Donald Trump, was the central figure in a new (and very dishy) Vanity Fair profile. In the story, from which she has since tried to distance herself, Wiles criticized some of the administration's main accomplishments, including the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency's elimination of the United States Agency for International Development. "No rational person could think the USAID process was a good one. Nobody," she told the magazine. Wiles has since called the story, for which she offered many interviews over the course of a year, a "disingenuously framed hit piece." | White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles looks on as President Donald Trump (not pictured) speaks to the press before boarding Marine One to depart for Quantico, Virginia, from the South Lawn at the White House on September 30, 2025. Ken Cedeno, REUTERS |
Trump criticized for Reiner comments |
That dynamic was on full display in his response to the brutal slaying of actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife , Michele Singer Reiner, over the weekend. The president reacted to the news by saying they suffered from "a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME." |
Read more here about how gentle words seemed to elude him about both Reiner's death and a fatal shooting at Brown University. | | President Donald Trump said he will address the nation on Wednesday, Dec. 17 in primetime remarks from the White House. | | Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles in an interview with Vanity Fair said JD Vance has been "a conspiracy theorist for a decade." | | | | Erika Kirk and Candace Owens met for what both called a "productive" conversation months after Charlie Kirk's death. | | | | U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is the lead sponsor on a GOP bill aimed at making health care more affordable, without extending ACA subsidies. | | | | In the latest NBC News poll, enthusiasm for the president among Republicans and MAGA has dropped since April. Here's by how much. | | | | | Sign up for the news you want | Exclusive newsletters are part of your subscription, don't miss out! We're always working to add benefits for subscribers like you. | | | | | |
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