Trump vows more strikes soon; GOP keeps Tennessee seat but Dems gain ground

Straight Arrow News

2 hours ago

Transcript

00:00The White House doubles down, defending the strikes that blew drug boats out of the water

00:05and the follow-up shot that killed the survivors.

00:08Plus, Republicans hang on in Tennessee as Democrats fall short in a key House race.

00:14But is the shrinking margin a red flag for the GOP?

00:18And new lawsuits after that deadly UPS plane crash.

00:22Families say the jet should never have been in the air.

00:24The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world.

00:33These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News.

00:38Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli.

00:40We begin this morning with President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,

00:44both defending the administration's boat strike campaign,

00:48while also distancing themselves from the most explosive detail.

00:51The second strike that killed the survivors of that September 2nd attack in the Caribbean.

00:57At a cabinet meeting Tuesday, both men insisted they didn't know a follow-up strike had even happened.

01:03Somebody asked me a question about the second strike.

01:05I didn't know about the second strike.

01:06I didn't know anything about people.

01:08I wasn't involved in it.

01:09I knew they took out a boat.

01:11But I would say this, they had a strike.

01:15Hegseth echoed that, saying he witnessed the first strike,

01:18but stopped watching, and left before the second one happened.

01:22I watched that first strike lot.

01:24As you can imagine, at the Department of War, we got a lot of things to do.

01:27So I didn't stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever,

01:30where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs.

01:34So I moved on to my next meeting.

01:36A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the,

01:39which he had the complete authority to do,

01:41and by the way, Admiral Bradley made the correct decision

01:44to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.

01:47The White House now says Vice Admiral Mitch Bradley ordered that second strike.

01:52Lawmakers from both parties want answers,

01:54some even questioning whether killing survivors could constitute a war crime.

01:59Democrat John Garamendi says there's no reason to hide behind classified briefings,

02:03writing,

02:04If Hegseth believes his actions were lawful,

02:07he should not be afraid to explain himself to Congress in full view of the nation,

02:11instead of burying this potentially criminal activity in closed-door meetings.

02:16But the administration isn't backing down.

02:18Instead, Hegseth is doubling down on the mission, and so is the president.

02:22Trump says the boat operation has choked off drug routes,

02:25and that the next phase is coming inside Venezuela.

02:29And we're going to start doing those strikes on land, too.

02:32You know, the land is much easier.

02:33It's much easier.

02:35And we know the routes they take.

02:36We know everything about them.

02:38We know where they live.

02:39We know where the bad ones live.

02:41And we're going to start that very soon.

02:43It would mark a major escalation,

02:45as the administration already acknowledges,

02:47at least 21 maritime strikes and more than 80 people killed so far.

02:51All of the dead labeled narco-terrorists.

02:54Vice Admiral Bradley is set to brief lawmakers on Thursday.

02:57The Trump-backed candidate in Tennessee's special election for an open U.S. House seat

03:03claimed victory Tuesday.

03:05Military veteran and former state general services commissioner Matt Van Epps

03:09defeated Democratic state representative Afton Bain

03:12for Tennessee's 7th congressional district.

03:15The seat opened up after Republican Mark Green resigned in July,

03:19saying he had received a private sector opportunity too exciting to pass up.

03:24President Trump congratulated Van Epps on social media,

03:27saying he won despite what he called the radical left,

03:30throwing, quote, everything at him.

03:33He had dubbed Bain the AOC of Tennessee.

03:36Democrats, however, are touting the results as a partial win,

03:39pointing out they shrank the GOP's big advantage

03:42in a district Republicans have held since 1983.

03:45Van Epps won by nine points,

03:48a significant drop from the 21-point margin Mark Green won by just last year.

03:53Part of a broader pattern of Democrats posting stronger-than-expected numbers

03:57in special elections this year,

03:59with the key 2026 midterms now less than a year away.

04:03The Afghan national, legally in the U.S.,

04:06accused of ambushing two National Guard members just blocks from the White House,

04:11is now charged with murder, assault with intent to kill,

04:14and multiple gun offenses.

04:1629-year-old Romanala Lackenwall appeared in court Tuesday by video

04:21from a D.C. hospital, where he's recovering from gunshot wounds.

04:25Prosecutors say Lackenwall drove 3,000 miles to Washington for a targeted strike,

04:30opening fire as Guard members walked near the Farragut West Metro Station

04:34the day before Thanksgiving.

04:36Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, there on the right,

04:39just 20 years old, was killed.

04:41Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition.

04:46Charging documents say Lackenwall shouted,

04:49Allah Akbar, as he fired and was trying to reload when another Guard member shot him.

04:54This image, released by the Justice Department,

04:57shows him bending down next to the wounded soldiers after the attack.

05:00You can see him on the right side of the screen there.

05:03A judge called the government's case exceedingly strong

05:06and ordered him held without bond.

05:08Federal officials say additional charges are likely.

05:11Lackenwall's next court appearance is set for mid-January.

05:14Later today, two wrongful death lawsuits are expected to be filed

05:19over last month's fiery UPS cargo plane crash in Louisville that killed 14 people.

05:25Attorneys for the families of 45-year-old Angela Anderson and 37-year-old Trina Chavez

05:30are suing UPS, Boeing and GE, among others.

05:34Chavez worked at Grade A Auto Parts and Recycling.

05:36One of the businesses destroyed by the impact of the plane crash and resulting fire.

05:41Remember this?

05:42Anderson was there dropping off scrap when the plane hit.

05:45The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo plane went down during takeoff on November 4th

05:50after its left engine detached, triggering a massive fireball.

05:55The crash killed all three crew members on board and 11 people on the ground.

05:59Another 23 people were injured.

06:01A preliminary report from the NTSB found fatigue cracks in the engine mount and signs of overstressed

06:07failure.

06:08Key findings, the families say, point to years of warnings missed or ignored.

06:13The lawsuits accused the companies of negligence.

06:16In a statement, attorney Robert Clifford said the jet was, quote,

06:19old, tired and well beyond its useful life.

06:23The U.S.-led peace talks with Russia aimed at ending the war in Ukraine now involve Vladimir Putin.

06:29He met Tuesday in Moscow with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

06:34President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is also part of the negotiating team.

06:38The Kremlin called the meeting useful but says there's still no compromise to end the war.

06:43Russia says territory remains the central issue.

06:46Putin is now accusing European governments of pushing changes to the American peace proposal

06:51in an effort to block the process.

06:54He's also insisting it's pointless to negotiate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,

06:59who is meeting with European leaders this week, if Zelensky refuses to withdraw from areas

07:04Moscow claims as Russian soil.

07:06U.S. officials say there are no plans for another Trump-Putin meeting at this point.

07:10That depends entirely on progress in these talks, which both sides say will continue.

07:16Finally this morning, remember that Fabergé winter egg we told you about last week?

07:21The one that experts thought might fetch as much as $26 million?

07:25Well, it turns out that was actually a conservative estimate.

07:29In London on Tuesday, the rare crystal and diamond masterpiece, you see it right there,

07:34sold for, get this, 22.9 million pounds.

07:37Say what?

07:38That's like $30 million.

07:40Setting a new world record for any Fabergé piece ever sold at auction.

07:45They call it the Mona Lisa of decorative arts.

07:48A four-inch rock crystal egg carved with platinum snowflakes and encrusted with 4,500 diamonds.

07:56Inside, a tiny jeweled basket of quartz flowers.

07:59Fabergé's nod to spring.

08:01Originally crafted in 1913 for Tsar Nicholas II to give to his mother, it then disappeared for decades.

08:08Just 43 imperial Fabergé eggs survive, and just a handful are still in private collections.

08:13This one now holds the crown again.

08:17And I have to say, I would hate to be the handler of that.

08:20The orders have to be pretty specific, right?

08:22Don't break it.

08:24Don't crack it.

08:25And whatever you do, don't drop it.

08:27No pressure, right?

08:29Oh, and by the way, you break it, you pay a lot of money.

08:33All right, before we head out, here's what we're tracking today.

08:35Billionaire spacewalker Jared Isaacman is back on Capitol Hill at 10 a.m., testifying before a Senate science panel after President Trump polled and reinstated his nomination to run NASA.

08:48At 10, a major First Amendment fight in Tennessee, where news organizations, including the Associated Press, challenged the state's execution protocols.