U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable discussion with farmers in the Cabinet Room of the White House on December 08, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump is expected to announce a $12 billion farm aid package, which includes one-time payments to those affected by the administration’s trade policies. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. has seized a tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday, amid escalating tensions between the administration and the South American nation.
“It’s been a very interesting day, from the standpoint of news. As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” Trump said as he kicked off a roundtable event at the White House.
“Large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually. And other things are happening, so you’ll be seeing that later and you’ll be talking about that later with some other people,” Trump continued.
The oil tanker that was seized is referred to as a VLCC, or Very Large Crude Carrier, two sources told ABC News. VLCC’s are large oil tankers and can carry up to around 2 million barrels of oil.
The vessel was bound for Cuba, the sources said. The U.S. Coast Guard conducted the seizure, according to two sources.
Trump stayed mum when pressed for more details on the tanker during the roundtable event, but claimed it happened for “very good reason” and that photos would be released later.
When asked what happens to the oil on the ship, Trump said that the U.S. will likely keep it. Pressed further on who owns the tanker, Trump declined to respond.
Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves in the world, and oil exports are the government’s main source of revenue.
The U.S. hadn’t overtly interfered in oil exports during its pressure campaign on Venezuela and President Nicolas Maduro’s regime until now.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Rep. Mike Rogers speaks to reporters as he leaves the House Republican Conference meeting in the U.S. Capitol, December 10, 2025. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is dropping his end of a bipartisan probe into the military’s Sept. 2 strike that killed two survivors in the Caribbean, his spokesperson said Wednesday.
“The video and classified briefings from the Pentagon were sufficient to convince Chairman Rogers that this was a legal action,” the spokesperson told ABC News in an email. “He’s also been clear that this information needs to be shared with the rest of HASC’s members, and we expect that to happen next week.”
Rogers was among a group of lawmakers who viewed the video of the second strike during a classified briefing.
The spokesperson added that Rogers’ decision was not arbitrary.
“He sought and received the information needed and wants our members to have access to that too,” the spokesperson said.
Rogers’ decision to end his part in the congressional inquiry came after he talked privately on Tuesday with Adm. Alvin Holsey, the top commander of U.S. Southern Command who announced he plans to retire after less than a year on the job. A Pentagon official told ABC News that Holsey was “asked to retire on good terms.”
Rogers also was among those who viewed the video of the second strike during a classified briefing.
Rogers’ decision does not put an end to congressional questions into the incident, as Democrats and now several Senate Republicans are calling on the administration to release the full video of the Sept. 2 strike on an alleged drug boat.
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the committee, last month previously promised “vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.”
Wicker has notably been more willing to challenge the Pentagon’s handling of several issues than most Republicans, including military aid to Ukraine.
Wicker’s spokesman did not respond to questions about where the inquiry stands.
Reed told ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang earlier this week that he still has major questions about the Sept. 2 strike, and that the Trump administration is refusing to provide answers. Reed is calling for the video of the strike to be declassified and made public.
“I think anybody who saw that video would be quite disturbed about it,” Reed said.
Lawmakers say that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told them behind closed doors on Tuesday that he’s still reviewing whether he can release video of the strike without compromising classified information.
Democrats said that didn’t make sense because Hegseth was willing to release video of the initial strike, which was posted to President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account.
Trump on Monday backtracked on releasing the video of the Sept. 2 strike that killed two survivors as he attempted to distance himself from the controversy.
Miami Mayoral-elect Eileen Higgins speaks to supporters as she celebrates her victory at her election night party held at the Miami Women’s Club on December 09, 2025 in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
(MIAMI) — Eileen Higgins, the Democratic former Miami-Dade county commissioner set to become Miami’s next mayor after prevailing in Tuesday night’s runoff election, achieved political milestones for the city with her victory.
Higgins will become the city’s first woman to serve as mayor. She also flipped the position in the major Florida city to Democratic control after it was in Republican or independent hands for almost three decades.
“Tonight, our city chose a new direction,” Higgins told supporters on Tuesday night.
The win marks another win for Democrats after a spate of election victories in November and a closer-than-expected special congressional election in Tennessee earlier this month.
She prevailed in the majority-Hispanic city amid concerns among Democrats over losing support among Latino voters in last year’s elections.
Higgins, in an interview with ABC News on Monday, said that she has served a Republican-leaning district for years as a “proud Democrat” and that she knows she could only win if Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike turn out for her.
But that does not mean she would check her Democratic affiliation at the door.
“People know I serve in a nonpartisan race, but I bring my Democratic values with me. … I’m proud to be a Democrat, but the people here know I’m going to serve everybody. I always have and I always will,” Higgins told ABC News.
One of her main focuses was on affordability, particularly as it pertains to housing, building on an issue that has been top of mind for voters nationwide in many polls and one that Democratic candidates, such as New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, honed in on in their own races.
She also campaigned on improving public transit and infrastructure, which ties into one area where she believes she will be able to work with the White House. Asked if there’s anywhere she can see herself collaborating or working with the Trump administration, Higgins said she has worked with senior administration officials across both of President Donald Trump’s terms, particularly on infrastructure.
“And I think we can find areas where we can collaborate together. … when it comes to things that matter to our community, I’m open to working with anyone on any party, and I have a proven track record of working with whoever’s in the White House, both during President Trump’s first term, his second term, and then, of course, working well with President Biden when he was president as well,” Higgins said.
Asked about where she might clash with the president or advocate for a different approach, Higgins said, “For me, the treatment of immigrants is front and center.”
She brought up how a significant amount of Miami-Dade County residents are immigrants covered under Temporary Protected Status, a program meant to safeguard immigrants from some countries from deportations. The administration has repeatedly attempted to end protections for immigrants enrolled in the program, including Venezuelans, claiming it is no longer in the national interest to continue offering protections..
“The federal government has said they are going to remove protections for all of those people, and they just have done that for Venezuelans. I fear for the economy of Florida, should that happen. And I hope and will continue to advocate for change in direction so that we can move forward as one of the strongest economies in the world,” Higgins said.
She faced off against Republican candidate and former City Manager Emilio Gonzales. While the race was technically nonpartisan, campaigning fell along partisan lines to an extent.
The national Democratic Party also lent Higgins support by making calls and recruiting volunteers. Trump, meanwhile, posted on social media on Sunday, “Vote for Republican Gonzalez. He is FANTASTIC!”
The election also came after a judge ruled earlier this year that city officials could not push elections back to 2026 without voter approval, after the Miami city council voted, and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez signed off, on canceling November’s elections and holding them in 2026 instead.
They had argued the alignment with statewide elections would lower costs and increase turnout, but the decision was met with pushback for being done via ordinance rather than a vote from the public.
Gonzales, who had sued the mayor and council, told ABC affiliate ABC Miami on Tuesday night, “Listen, I feel great. I have to feel great. Obviously I don’t like the result, but you know what? Bigger issue: we had an election. Six months ago, we weren’t sure we were going to have an election … we need to all do everything we can to make sure that [Higgins] succeeds, because if she succeeds, our city will succeed.”
Carl Juste/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric in a speech on Tuesday night, repeatedly attacking Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar and complaining about immigration outside of Europe.
“Let’s have a few from from Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. Do you mind? But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime. The only thing they’re good at is going after ships,” Trump said as he addressed supporters in Pennsylvania.
The speech was billed as an event to sell his economic agenda, but quickly devolved into a campaign-style speech filled with derogatory insults.
Trump specifically took aim at Omar, a Somali American who represents Minnesota. He appeared to purposefully mispronounce her name and referred to Omar’s hijab as a turban.
“I love her, she comes in, does nothing but b—-. She’s always complaining. She comes from a country where, I mean, it’s considered about the worst country in the world, right?” Trump said.
“She should get the hell out. Throw her the hell out,” Trump added.
His supporters then launched into “send her back” chants about the congresswoman, who is an American citizen.
Omar responded to the remarks, the latest in Trump’s attacks on her and Somali immigrants, in a post on X late Tuesday.
“Trump’s obsession with me is beyond weird. He needs serious help. Since he has no economic policies to tout, he’s resorting to regurgitating bigoted lies instead. He continues to be a national embarrassment,” she wrote.
Trump admits to saying ‘s—hole countries’
Trump on Tuesday also recalled a 2018 meeting in which he told a group of senators behind closed doors that the U.S. shouldn’t accept immigrants from “s—hole countries” such as Haiti.
When it was reported at the time, Trump himself flatly denied using the expletive.
“Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor troubled country,” Trump wrote on X, then known as Twitter.
ABC News reported that in the 2018 Oval Office meeting with senators, Trump expressed frustration over the visa lottery program and asked those in the room why they would want people from Haiti, Africa and other “s—hole countries” coming into the United States.”
In his denial then, Trump accused Democrats in the meeting of making up comments attributed to him and said that he “probably should record future meetings.” Notably, the president back then did not deny he suggested that America should admit more immigrants from places such as Norway — comments that were confirmed by multiple sources with direct knowledge of the conversations.
But in his speech on Tuesday, Trump embraced the expletive as he boasted about pausing immigration applications from what he called “third-world countries” including “hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries.”
Someone in the audience then yelled the word “s—hole.”
“I didn’t say ‘s—hole,’ you did,” Trump quipped. “Remember, I said that to the senators. They came in, the Democrats, they wanted to be bipartisan, so they came in and they said, ‘This is totally off the record, nothing mentioned here, we want to be honest,’ because our country was going to hell.”
“And we had a meeting, and I say, ‘Why is it we only take people from s—hole countries,’ right? Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden? Just a few? Let’s have a few from from Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. Do you mind? But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.”
ABC News’ Justin Gomez and Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) sits for an interview at the Pennsylvania State Capitol on June 11. (Peter W. Stevenson/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
(HARRISBURG, Pa.) — Editor’s note: The story’s headline has been updated.
In the wake of the firebombing of his official residence earlier this year, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is now facing questions about how he is spending tax dollars on security improvements for his private home.
A GOP-led committee in the state legislature voted Tuesday to issue three subpoenas seeking records related to, among other things, roughly $1 million in security upgrades to his personal home in the suburbs of Philadelphia. The Intergovernmental Operations Committee is also seeking documents concerning “several charter flights arranged for the Governor’s Office” in mid-January.
The three subpoenas will be sent to the Pennsylvania State Police, the open records officer in the local township of Shapiro’s private residence and the charter flight company. They have until Jan. 16, 2026, to comply.
In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for the governor called the move a “partisan attack” and said they’ve already provided some information.
“The Pennsylvania State Police and independent security experts conducted thorough reviews to pinpoint security failures, review protocols, identify gaps, and make concrete recommendations for improvements to the Governor’s security. As a direct result of those recommendations, security improvements have been put in place to keep the Governor and his family safe,” the spokesperson said. “The Shapiro Administration has repeatedly responded to lawmakers’ inquiries on this matter and publicly released a substantial amount of information about the security improvements put in place by PSP without compromising those security protocols.”
The Democratic governor is among several contenders rumored for his party’s presidential nomination in 2028. As his political star has risen, so too have the threats against him and other high-profile figures.
The security improvements were recommended following the arson attack on the official governor’s residence in Harrisburg in April.
The attack occurred in the middle of the night, hours after the Shapiro family hosted more than two dozen people for the first night of Passover. Some Republicans in the legislature have said that while proper protections are appropriate — particularly amid rising political violence — they charge the governor has not been transparent.
“No one disputes that the governor should have reasonable and appropriate security protection or that the governor should have access to transportation for reasonable and appropriate travel associated with this role,” state Sen. Jarrett Coleman, chairman of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, told the committee as he made a motion to authorize the subpoenas. “But no administration — Republican or Democrat — should be allowed to operate in the shadows and refuse to provide basic data about their decisions when millions of dollars of taxpayer funds are involved and precedents are being set.”
The subpoenas were authorized on party-line votes of 7-4. Committee Democrats objected to the formal requests for records, Sen. Jay Costa dubbing it a “fishing expedition.”
The subpoenas seek, among other things, records from the Pennsylvania State Police related to “any construction, landscaping/hardscaping, equipment and installation” as well as related legal services at the governor’s private family home, as well as police body camera footage from the grounds between Sept. 20, 2025, and Nov. 19, 2025.
They also seek texts, emails, and other communications between the State Police, the construction services and the local township related to the upgrade work that could shed light on how decisions were made about the upgrades.
They also seek records and correspondence from the township, including communications between the local zoning officer and Shapiro or his wife.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) speaks at a news conference in the U.S. Capitol on December 1, 2025, in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote a letter to Secretary of the Navy John Phelan on Tuesday expressing concern about the Navy’s review of Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy Captain who serves on the committee.
The letter, which was shared with ABC News, comes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked Phelan to review Kelly for “potentially unlawful conduct” after the Arizona senator was featured in a video with five other Democrats who have served in the military and U.S. intelligence telling service members they could refuse illegal orders, according to a memo posted on social media by the Pentagon.
In the memo, Hegseth requests that he be briefed on the outcome of the review by no later than Dec. 10.
The Democrats on the committee, except for Kelly, condemned the review in the letter.
“We believe this ‘review’ along with the Department of Defense’s social media post announcing a ‘thorough review’ of Senator Kelly’s actions, ‘which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings’ is inappropriate, threaten the separation of powers established by our Founding Fathers, amount to a purely political exercise seeking to threaten legitimate and lawful actions by a duly elected Senator, and politicize our military justice system,” the senators wrote.
Kelly has criticized the Trump administration for threatening him with legal action. He has continued to post on social media slamming President Donald Trump and his officials over their policies.
“When Pete Hegseth tweeted he was investigating me, Gabby laughed and laughed,” Kelly said during an event last week, referring to his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords. “She realized two things. One, that guy’s a joke, and two, I’m not backing down.”
In the letter, these Democratic senators wrote to Phelan that “the theory that a sitting Member of Congress should be subject to disciplinary action entirely unrelated to their service, particularly for simply restating the law as articulated in the UCMJ and the Manual for Courts-Martial, sets an incredibly dangerous precedent.”
The letter dismissed the review as a “baseless and patently political undertaking” and argued that it violates the separation of powers.
“Senator Kelly has been elected twice by the people of Arizona as their representative and voice in the Senate. The idea that the Department would try to undo or undermine the will of Arizona’s citizens is a direct affront to our democratic system of government,” the senators wrote.
The senators also challenged the idea that the review could be conducted impartially, citing social media posts from Trump and Hegseth that they say have made “fair proceedings impossible.”
Following the video’s posting in November, Trump wrote on social media that the video demonstrated “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Trump and the White House subsequently denied that he was threatening the lawmakers with execution.
The senators said that statements like this, coupled with a directive from Hegseth to Phelan that he brief Hegseth on the review by Dec. 10, “demonstrate an outright, brazen abuse of power intended to influence the military justice process and intimidate and silence a U.S. Senator for purely political purposes.”
Kelly responded to the call for a review during a press conference earlier this month.
“I will not be intimidated by this president. I am not going to be silenced by this president or the people around because I’ve given too much in service to this country to back down to this guy,” Kelly said at the time.
In their letter, the Democratic senators said that a review of Kelly raises “significant legal concerns” about Kelly’s constitutional protections under a number of statutes.
“The impartiality of our military and the military justice system to fairly uphold the Constitution and the law are paramount to our nation,” the senators wrote.
ABC News has reached out to Phelan for comment.
ABC News’ Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
Linda McMahon, US education secretary, during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Education has moved to terminate one of former President Joe Biden’s most popular student loan forgiveness plans — impacting millions of Americans — through a proposed joint settlement with the state of Missouri on Tuesday.
The pending agreement ends the Saving on a Valuable Education or “SAVE” plan, which is home to over 7 million student loan borrowers. It marks a major victory for the Trump administration’s efforts to claw back Biden-era policies, including Biden’s numerous efforts to implement student loan debt cancellation.
Officials in the Trump administration’s Education Department, who’ve decried those policies for months, suggested that the administration is righting a wrong by ending the “deceptive scheme” of student loan forgiveness.
The Biden administration touted the plan for including $0 payments for anyone making $16 an hour or less, lowering monthly payments for millions of borrowers, and protecting borrowers from runaway interest if they are making their monthly payments.
“The law is clear: if you take out a loan, you must pay it back,” Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in a release from Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s department on Tuesday. “Thanks to the State of Missouri and other states fighting against this egregious federal overreach, American taxpayers can now rest assured they will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for illegal and irresponsible student loan policies.”
The Biden administration launched the SAVE Plan, which it dubbed the most affordable payment plan ever, after the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s previous signature debt relief program in 2023.
SAVE was one of several income driven repayment (IDR) plans, which calculate payment size based on income and family size, aimed at easing the repayment process as a pandemic-era pause ended.
Several Republican-led states, including Missouri, sued the Biden administration over the plan, and a federal appeals court blocked the program in 2024.
The announcement on Tuesday would mark an end to those lawsuits.
McMahon, a vocal critic of student loan forgiveness, has said the administration will no longer allow American taxpayers to take on debts that are not their own.
“The Biden Administration’s illegal SAVE Plan would have cost taxpayers, many of whom did not attend college or already repaid their student loans, more than $342 billion over ten years,” McMahon wrote in a post on X. “We will not tolerate it.”.
Her agency’s already saddled Federal Student Aid (FSA) Office will provide support to borrowers currently enrolled in selecting a new, “legal repayment plan,” the department said.
The department said borrowers will have a limited time to find a new payment plan. However, FSA’s Loan Simulator tool will estimate monthly payments, determine repayment eligibility and select a new plan that best fits those borrowers’ needs and goals, the department said.
Some student loan advocates worry the proposed agreement unleashes chaos on borrowers.
“The 7+ million borrowers enrolled in SAVE will face higher monthly loan payments — and may lose out on months of progress toward loan forgiveness,” Michele Zampini, associate vice president of federal policy & advocacy at The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) wrote in a statement.
Protect Borrowers Deputy Executive Director and Managing Counsel Persis Yu said the move strips borrowers of the most affordable repayment plan that would help millions to stay on track with their loans while keeping a roof over their head.
“This settlement is pure capitulation–it goes much further than the suit or the 8th Circuit order requires,” Yu wrote in a statement to ABC News. “The real story here is the unrelenting, right-wing push to jack up costs on working people with student debt.”
Under that bill, the plans will be replaced with two separate repayment plans: a standard repayment plan and the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), a new income-based repayment plan coming July 1, 2026.
(WASHINGTON) — More than 20 years ago, the Supreme Court outlawed the execution of intellectually disabled people convicted of capital crimes as “cruel and unusual” punishment forbidden by the Eighth Amendment.
In a major case from Alabama before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the justices are asked to clarify who qualifies as “intellectually disabled” and what role intelligence quotient — also known as IQ — test scores play in making the determination.
Joseph Clifton Smith, an Alabama man who brought the case, confessed to a 1997 murder during a robbery, but challenged his death sentence on grounds he has had “substantially subaverage intellectual functioning” since a young age.
Smith has taken five separate IQ tests over nearly 40 years, scoring 75 in 1979, 74 in 1982, 72 in 1998, 78 in 2014 and 74 in 2017.
People below 70 are generally considered to have an intellectual disability, but major American medical groups urge a holistic assessment that also looks at social and practical skills.
The groups note that standardized test scores alone should not be conclusive. Smith’s score of 72, for example, could be 69 when factoring the 3-point margin of error.
“Intellectual disability diagnoses based solely on IQ test scores are faulty and invalid,” attorneys for the American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association told the court in a legal brief. “But IQ test scores remain relevant; IQ tests are a scientifically valid means to ascertain estimates of an individual’s intellectual ability. The key is to understand both the value of IQ tests and their limits.”
Smith, who allegedly suffered physical and verbal abuse as a child, consistently functioned two grade-levels below his placement in school, according to court documents. Smith’s school classified him as “Educable Mentally Retarded” in 7th grade before he eventually dropped out.
Two lower federal courts ruled that a holistic analysis of Smith’s IQ scores and other evidence, including his behavioral history and school records, proved he is intellectually disabled and should spend life behind bars rather than face execution.
Alabama wants the justices to toss out that assessment.
“Joseph Smith is not intellectually disabled, and the Eighth Amendment does not override the death sentence he earned for murdering Durk Van Dam,” the state argued in its brief to the court. “Whether and how to weigh multiple IQ scores is left to state discretion.”
The state says intellectual disability can only be proven by an IQ score of 70 or less by a preponderance of the evidence.
The Supreme Court’s decision in the case will determine whether Smith lives or dies.
More broadly, the ruling could determine how many other borderline intellectually disabled people on death row could be able to convert their death sentences into life behind bars.
By one estimate, as many as 20% of the 2,100 people on death row in the U.S. may have some degree of intellectual disability, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
A ruling in the case — Hamm v. Smith — is expected by the end of June 2026.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announces the formation of a Long Island Coalition of Business and Political Leaders against proposals to increase New York’s corporate tax rate in Mineola, New York, on Nov. 17, 2025. Howard Schnapp/Newsday RM via Getty Images, FILE
(NEW YORK) — Bruce Blakeman, the Republican county executive of Nassau County in New York, announced Tuesday that he will run for governor of the Empire State.
His announcement sets up a potentially contentious primary against U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, in a primary that now pits two major allies of President Donald Trump against each other in what was already a challenging race for Republicans.
“We want to put New York first. We want to make it more affordable. We want to make New York safer, and we want to make people in New York happy again,” Blakeman said in an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday morning announcing his campaign.
Blakeman was first elected as Nassau County Executive in 2021 after previously serving on the Hempstead Town Council and as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
He received some attention in recent years for signing a county law in 2024 banning using masks to hide one’s identity, and a separate one that banned transgender people from participating in women’s sports at places owned by the county.
Any Republican candidate could face a steep challenge winning statewide in New York, which voted for Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris for president in 2024 by around 13 percentage points – although that marked a rightward shift from 2020, when then-Vice President Joe Biden won the state by around 20 percentage points.
Blakeman, asked on Fox News if a Republican in New York has a chance to become governor, pointed to his success in winning in a county where Democrats outnumber Republicans as a sign of his appeal among “crossover” Democrats and among different groups. According to data from the New York State Board of Elections, Nassau County had around 70,000 more active registered Democratic voters than Republican voters as of Nov. 1.
His entrance into the race comes around a month after Stefanik, a close ally of Trump, announced her own run for governor and collected several endorsements, including from local county Republican groups and the chairman of the New York Republican Party.
The winner of the Republican primary could end up taking on incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is running for reelection and has made combatting Trump a major focus in recent months. Hochul faces her current lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Bernadette Breslin, a spokesperson for Elise Stefanik’s campaign, called Blakeman “an early Christmas present” for Hochul and said Blakeman is getting in the way of “Republicans’ best chance to win.”
“Elise is the strongest candidate against Kathy Hochul by a long shot. Elise has outrun President Trump on the ballot by more than any Republican in New York State including Bruce,” Breslin wrote. “Elise has led the most effective attacks on the Worst Governor in America Kathy Hochul as Bruce Blakeman has worked overtime to torpedo fellow Republicans.”
Trump has a strong relationship with Stefanik but has not made an endorsement in the governor’s race.
Asked if he’d make an endorsement on Monday as reports about Blakeman’s bid circulated, he told reporters, “I’ll think about it. But he’s great. And she’s great. They’re both great people. We have a lot of great people in the Republican Party.”
Blakeman, asked about Trump’s comments, downplayed any equivocation — saying the president does not need to endorse for now — while praising the president for his work on the economy.
“Well, I don’t think the president has to make a decision now — let’s see how it plays out,” he said.
“But let me tell you something, he’s done more for America in the last 11 months than any president in my lifetime. He’s done a great job with the economy. He’s going out now — he’s going to be in Pennsylvania today, talking about economic development, creating prosperity,” Blakeman said. “Those are the same things that I want to do in New York State. So I cherish his friendship and I appreciate his leadership.”
Hochul, meanwhile, wasted no time in tying Blakeman to Trump.
“Bruce Blakeman is another MAGA cheerleader running to do Donald Trump’s bidding in New York — and raise your costs. Not on my watch,” she wrote on X on Tuesday.
At an event on Monday, she called out both Blakeman and Stefanik, telling reporters, “Let’s see how they out-MAGA each other in a primary.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump, after initially saying he had “no problem” with releasing the video of the Sept. 2 strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea that killed two survivors, is now reversing course and deferring to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“I didn’t say that,” Trump claimed when pressed on Monday by ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott about his Dec. 3 comments.
“Whatever Hegseth wants to do is OK with me,” Trump said on Monday.
In an interview with Politico published on Tuesday morning, Trump further distanced himself from the controversy when asked if he believed the second strike on the survivors was necessary.
“Well, it looked like they were trying to turn back over the boat. But I don’t get involved in that. That’s up to them,” Trump said.
Though last week, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson spoke about Trump and Hegseth’s responsibility for the strike.
“At the end of the day, the president and the secretary are the ones directing these strikes, and any follow-up strikes that were directed by Adm. Bradley, the secretary 100% agrees with,” Wilson told reporters at a briefing at the Pentagon on Dec. 2.
ABC Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang asked the president in the Oval Office on Dec. 3, “Will you release video of that strike — so that the American people can see for themselves?”
Trump responded, “I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have, we’d certainly release no problem.”
Officials have confirmed there were four military strikes against the alleged drug boat on Sept. 2, the first strike killing nine of the 11 people aboard. About 40 minutes later, a second strike was ordered to kill the two survivors. Two additional strikes were ordered to sink the boat, officials said.
Some Democrats and legal experts have suggested that the killing of survivors could constitute a war crime.
Hegseth, who was heading to Capitol Hill on Tuesday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine to brief the “Gang of Eight” on national security matters, has not committed to releasing the video of the strike. The defense secretary cited concerns that releasing the video could expose sources or methods that would need to be protected.
Hegseth also has suggested the survivors killed posed an imminent threat.
Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee who has seen the video of the strike, pushed back on the description provided by Hegseth and other Republicans.
Smith, during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, called the video “deeply disturbing” and said “it did not appear that these two survivors were in any position to continue the fight.”
Members of Congress are attempting to pass new legislation to force Hegseth to provide lawmakers the unedited footage of the strike.
Trump was asked in the interview with Politico if Hegseth should testify under oath about the Sept. 2 strike.
“I don’t care if he does. He can if he wants. I don’t care,” Trump said. He added that he believes Hegseth is “doing a great job.”
The Sept. 2 boat strike is part of what the administration has called its “war” on drug cartels. There have been more than 20 military strikes against vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific, killing more than 80 people.
ABC News’ Rachel Scott and Mary Bruce contributed to this report.
