
The Trump Republican circus gears up for another tour
CNN
Donald Trump schooled his protégés well in his politics of down-in-the-muck misinformation.
The ex-President's Washington devotees and media backers are proving they don't need him in the White House or blazing away on Twitter to stir his stew of lies, false realities, assaults on democracy, circus politics and racial grievance. The test of their approach will not be in whether it true. It's whether it works in helping House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who has anchored his own reputation to the autocratic and vengeful ex-President, to win the speaker's gavel next year. It's not as if unchained lies and cartoonish antics are the only options for the GOP.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









