Trump fires top US general in abrupt shakeup at Pentagon
CNN
President Donald Trump fired the top US general on Friday night in a move that had been expected for weeks.
President Donald Trump fired Joint Chiefs Chairman Charles Q. Brown in an abrupt shakeup at the Pentagon Friday night. In an announcement on his Truth Social platform, Trump called Brown a “fine gentleman” and an “outstanding leader,” while hinting at more firings to come. “Finally, I have also directed [Defense] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth to solicit nominations for five additional high level positions, which will be announced soon,” he wrote. The firing had been anticipated for weeks, with rumors about the impending dismissal circulating around the Pentagon. But speculation about the termination of Brown and others became more serious when a formal list was recently shared with some Republican lawmakers. Trump has railed against what he called “woke” generals and officers, and Brown was a frequent target of right-wing criticism. Many officials in the Pentagon openly wondered whether Brown would be fired quickly after Trump’s inauguration. But Trump and Brown were pictured next to each other at the Army-Navy football game in December, signaling a potential warming of relations between the two men. In his first term, Trump appointed Brown to the Chief of the Air Force, a position he held until former President Joe Biden nominated him to be the Joint Chiefs Chair in October 2023. Brown’s term was scheduled to end in 2027. Hegseth had also called for Brown’s termination. In November, just days before Trump picked Hegseth to lead the Pentagon, Hegseth said, “First of all, you’ve got to fire the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.”
Pipe bomb suspect told FBI he targeted US political parties because they were ‘in charge,’ memo says
The man accused of placing two pipe bombs in Washington, DC, on the eve of the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol told investigators after his arrest that he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election was stolen and that he wanted to target the country’s political parties because they were “in charge,” prosecutors said Sunday.
The train’s main line only came into service in 2023, under a new program aiming to create an alternative to the Panama Canal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traded freezing, missile-tormented Kyiv on Sunday for the frescoed dining room at Mar-a-Lago, where he hoped to gain President Donald Trump’s sign-off on a revised 20-point peace plan to end the war in his country.
More than 30 million people are under winter weather alerts across the Midwest and Northeast early this week with another storm threatening to upend travelers’ plans on what is expected to be one of the busiest travel days this holiday season.
The night was warm and muggy over New Castle Air Force Base in Delaware, the kind of heat that clung to the metal skins of the alert fighter jets lined along the runway.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives here Sunday as his frozen capital of Kyiv comes under assault by Russian missiles and drones, a deadly reminder from the war’s aggressor that its attacks would continue even amid accelerated peace talks.
A Cuban immigrant who had built a new life working at a Kentucky scrapyard died on Christmas Day from severe burns suffered in last month’s UPS cargo plane crash, raising the death toll to 15, officials said.
At least 15 people were killed and 19 injured after a passenger bus plunged into a ravine on the Inter-American Highway in western Guatemala, authorities said on Saturday.
A reform-minded mayor is taking charge of New York City just as the largest police department in the country is finding its stride in its stability, touting a drop in gun violence and homicides while its current leadership stays intact.
When patients come to Eric Frankenfeld’s chiropractic practice with insurance woes, his wife, Lisa, the office manager, tells them not to worry because she’ll work with them to keep care affordable.
Emel McDowell was in a New York City jail when a guard yelled out his name. A single envelope slid through the metal bars into his cell. He stared at the return address in disbelief.
Vivek Ramaswamy barreled into politics as a flame-thrower willing to offend just about anyone. He declared America was in a “cold cultural civil war,” denied the existence of white supremacists, and referred to one of his rivals as “corrupt.” Two years later, Ramaswamy says he wants to be “conservative without being combative.”
The “Epstein files” saga will spill into 2026, despite a deadline earlier this month to release the records.