标签： North America

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed Tuesday that congressional committees will receive exclusive access to unedited footage of September’s contentious boat strike in the Caribbean, while maintaining the video will remain classified from public view. The announcement followed a classified Senate briefing attended by both Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio regarding the Trump administration’s ongoing military operations targeting alleged Venezuelan drug trafficking operations.

The briefing revealed sharp partisan divisions, with Republicans largely endorsing the administration’s aggressive stance while Democrats raised substantial legal and ethical concerns. These concerns intensified following recent reports that two survivors of the initial September 2 attack were killed in a subsequent strike while clinging to their burning vessel.

Hours before the Capitol Hill briefing, the military announced new strikes in the Pacific Ocean resulting in eight fatalities, bringing the total death toll to at least 90 since operations began. Hegseth specified that only members of the House and Senate armed services committees would view the full September footage, citing longstanding Department of Defense protocols regarding top-secret materials.

This selective disclosure occurs amid legislative pressure through a defense spending bill that would mandate Pentagon transparency with armed services committees regarding strikes in the Southern Command region. The administration’s social media announcements of strikes typically feature grainy video clips without substantive evidence of drug trafficking or detailed vessel inventories.

Republican lawmakers including Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) defended the operations as necessary for national security, with Graham explicitly framing them as part of a broader regime change objective against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Conversely, Democratic leaders including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) demanded full transparency, with Schiff preparing a formal request for congressional-wide video release. The operations have drawn diplomatic condemnation from Venezuela, with Maduro accusing the U.S. of regional destabilization and Attorney General Tarek William Saab characterizing Trump’s allegations as resource-driven envy.

Navy Admiral Frank Bradley, who acknowledged ordering the controversial second strike, is scheduled to brief armed services committees Wednesday as legal questions persist regarding the legality of attacks in international waters.

Canada has implemented significant reforms to its citizenship laws, extending automatic citizenship eligibility to children born or adopted abroad to Canadian parents who were themselves born outside the country. The new provisions, effective immediately, address what the government acknowledges as “outdated provisions” that previously left many without citizenship status.

The updated legislation requires Canadian parents to demonstrate a “substantial connection” to Canada by having resided in the country for at least three years prior to their child’s birth or adoption. This change stems from a landmark 2023 Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision that declared portions of the existing citizenship by descent laws unconstitutional.

The court’s ruling addressed consequences of a 2009 law passed under former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government that eliminated automatic citizenship for descendants of Canadians born abroad. The current Liberal administration chose not to appeal the decision, acknowledging that the previous legislation produced “unacceptable outcomes” for children of expatriate Canadians.

According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s 2024 assessment, approximately 115,000 individuals could benefit from these changes over the next five years. The reforms have not been without controversy, however. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, shadow minister for immigration, expressed concerns that the bill enables “unfettered citizenship by descent and create[s] untold citizens of convenience.”

The Conservative party, with support from the Bloc Québécois, proposed amendments that would have imposed stricter requirements including language proficiency and security checks for adult applicants. These proposed measures failed to pass in the House of Commons.

Among the immediate beneficiaries is Alfie Jones, a British-born football player recently recruited to represent Canada in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Jones qualifies through his grandmother from Alberta, illustrating how the policy changes affect real-world cases.

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has publicly challenged a Vanity Fair article that portrays the Trump administration in what she characterizes as a deliberately negative light. The 68-year-old political strategist, who made history as the first woman to hold the key West Wing position, took to social media platform X to accuse the publication of creating “an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative” by omitting “significant context” from her extensive interviews.

The controversial profile, based on nearly a dozen conversations with Wiles, contained startling character assessments of prominent administration figures. Wiles described former President Donald Trump as possessing “an alcoholic’s personality” despite his teetotalism, drawing parallels to her childhood experiences with an alcoholic father. She suggested this background made her particularly adept at handling strong personalities, noting Trump governs with the conviction that “there’s nothing he can’t do.”

Regarding Vice President JD Vance, Wiles referenced his past as a “conspiracy theorist” for approximately a decade before his political transformation into a Trump ally. When questioned by reporters, Vance responded that he only believes in conspiracy theories that are “true,” citing reports about President Joe Biden’s health as an example.

The most pointed criticisms were reserved for tech billionaire Elon Musk, who briefly led cost-cutting initiatives at the Department of Government Efficiency before departing in May. Wiles characterized Musk as an “avowed Ketamine [user]” who slept in a sleeping bag in the Executive Office Building and described him as an “odd, odd duck” whose approach to government restructuring was fundamentally flawed.

She specifically criticized Musk’s efforts to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), stating she was “initially aghast” at the proposal. While acknowledging Musk’s drive for rapid execution, Wiles asserted that “no rational person could think the USAID process was a good one.”

The White House has rallied behind Wiles following the article’s publication. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement praising Wiles for helping Trump achieve “the most successful first 11 months in office of any President in American history” and emphasizing that the entire administration stands “united fully behind her.” Neither Trump nor Musk has publicly commented on the Vanity Fair piece.