Tag Archives: President Donald Trump

CNN: Was fatal US strike on Venezuelan ‘drug boat’ legal?

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A strike carried out by US forces on a boat in the Caribbean Sea – which the White House says killed 11 drug traffickers – may have violated international human rights and maritime law, legal experts have told BBC Verify.

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that US forces destroyed a vessel which he said had departed from Venezuela. He said the boat was operated by the Tren de Aragua cartel and was carrying drugs bound for the US.

US defence officials have so far declined to offer details on the strike, footage of which Trump shared on Truth Social, including what legal authority they relied upon to justify it.

BBC Verify reached out to a range of experts in international and maritime law, with several saying that US may have acted illegally in attacking the vessel.

The US is not a signatory to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, but the US military’s legal advisors have previously said that the US should “act in a manner consistent with its provisions”.

Under the convention, countries agree not to interfere with vessels operating in international waters. There are limited exceptions to this which allow a state to seize a ship, such as a “hot pursuit” where a vessel is chased from a country’s waters into the high seas.

“Force can be used to stop a boat but generally this should be non-lethal measures,” Prof Luke Moffett of Queens University Belfast said.

But he added that the use of aggressive tactics must be “reasonable and necessary in self-defence where there is immediate threat of serious injury or loss of life to enforcement officials”, noting that the US moves were likely “unlawful under the law of the sea”.

Are US strikes on alleged cartel members legal?

Experts have also questioned whether the killing of the alleged members of the Tren de Aragua cartel could contravene international law on the use of force.

Under Article 2(4) of the UN charter, countries can resort to force when under attack and deploying their military in self-defence. Trump has previously accused the Tren de Aragua cartel of conducting irregular warfare against the US, and the state department has designated the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation.

But Prof Michael Becker of Trinity College Dublin told BBC Verify that the US actions “stretches the meaning of the term beyond its breaking point”.

“The fact that US officials describe the individuals killed by the US strike as narco-terrorists does not transform them into lawful military targets,” he said. “The US is not engaged in an armed conflict with Venezuela or the Tren de Aragua criminal organization.”

“Not only does the strike appear to have violated the prohibition on the use of force, it also runs afoul of the right to life under international human rights law.”

Prof Moffett said that the use of force in this case could amount to an “extrajudicial arbitrary killing” and “a fundamental violation of human rights”.

“Labelling everyone a terrorist does not make them a lawful target and enables states to side-step international law,” he said.

Notre Dame Law School Professor Mary Ellen O’Connell told BBC Verify that the strike “violated fundamental principles of international law”, adding: “Intentional killing outside armed conflict hostilities is unlawful unless it is to save a life immediately.”

“Sometimes armed groups waging war against governments deal in drugs to pay for their participation in conflict. There is no evidence the gang President Trump targeted is such a group.”

But US officials have been quick to defend the strike. Republican Senator Lindsay Graham wrote on X that the strike was the “ultimate – and most welcome – sign that we have a new sheriff in town”.

His fellow Republican senator, Bernie Moreno from Ohio, wrote: “Sinking this boat saved American lives. To the narco traffickers and the narco dictators, you’ll eventually get the same treatment.”

A White House official told BBC Verify that Trump had authorised the strike on the boat, which they said was crewed by Tren de Aragua members, after it left Venezuela. The official added that the president was committed to using all means to prevent drugs reaching the US.

The Pentagon has declined to share the legal advice it obtained before carrying out the strike.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News: “we’ve got incredible assets and they are gathering in the region… those 11 drug traffickers are no longer with us, sending a very clear signal that this is an activity the United States is not going to tolerate in our hemisphere.”

Can Trump launch attacks without Congressional approval?

Questions have also been raised as to whether the White House complied with US law in authorising the strike. The US constitution says that only Congress has the power to declare war.

However, Article II – which lays out the president’s powers – says that “the president shall be Commander in Chief of the Army” and some constitutional experts have suggested that this grants the president the power to authorise strikes against military targets. Trump administration sources have previously cited this provision when defending US strikes on Iran.

But it is unclear whether that provision extends to the use of force against non-state actors such as drug cartels.

Rumen Cholakov, an expert in US constiutional law at King’s College London told BBC Verify that since 9/11, US presidents have relied on the 2001 Authorization of Use of Military Force Act (AUMF) when carrying out strikes against groups responsible for the attacks.

“Its scope has been expanded consistently in subsequent administrations,” he added. “It is not immediately obvious that drug cartels such as Tren de Aragua would be within the President’s AUMF powers, but that might be what “narco-terrorists” is hinting at.”

Questions also remain as to whether Trump complied with the War Powers Resolution, which demands that the president “in every possible instance shall consult with Congress before introducing United States Armed Forces into hostilities”.

How did the US conduct the strike?

It is unclear what method the US used to launch the attack. Trump did not offer details in his news conference in the Oval Office and the Department of Defense has failed to offer further information.

In Venezuela President Maduro has yet to respond to the US strikes, but his Communications Minister Freddy Ñáñez has suggested that the footage released by the White House may have been generated using AI. In a post to X, he suggested that water in the video “looks very stylized and unnatural”.

BBC Verify has run the clip through SynthID – Google’s AI detection software – and found no evidence that the footage is fake.

The strikes come amid reports that the US has deployed several naval warships to the region in support of anti-narcotics operations against Venezuela.

We’ve not been able to track all of these vessels. But using information from publicly-available onboard trackers, and videos on social media, we’ve potentially identified four of them in the region.

A ship identifying itself as the USS Lake Erie – a guided missile cruiser – last transmitted its location in the Caribbean Sea on 30 August, east of the Panama Canal on 30 August.

Two others identifying themselves as the USS Gravely and USS Jason Dunham last transmitted their locations in mid-August, at the American base in Guantanamo Bay. A fourth, the USS Fort Lauderdale, transmitted its location north of the Dominican Republic on 28 August.

Trump – who has long sought to oust Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro – has authorised a US$50m reward for any information leading to his arrest. The Venezuelan leader claimed victory in last year’s elections, widely viewed as rigged by international observers.

The consensus seems to be that it was illegal. Only Trump’s merry band of misfits, suck-ups, and sycophants seems to think otherwise.

US strike on ‘Venezuela drug boat’: What do we know, and was it legal?
Experts suggest the strike – which killed 11 alleged cartel members – may be illegal under international law.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdjzw3gplv7o

There is a growing possibility that the boat Dear Leader ordered a missile strike on, killing 11 people, could have been carrying migrants fleeing the Venezuelan Maduro dictatorship

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The Resistance
🚨There is a growing possibility that the boat Dear Leader ordered a missile strike on, killing 11 people, could have been carrying migrants fleeing the Venezuelan Maduro dictatorship. You don’t pack…

https://www.facebook.com/RiseUpAndResist/posts/1376461623846512

CBS News: Trump says the U.S. military destroyed a boat operated by Tren de Aragua off Venezuela. Here’s what to know about the gang.

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The deadly U.S. military strike in the Caribbean this week on a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela is the latest measure President Trump has taken to combat the threat he sees from the Tren de Aragua gang.

The White House has offered few details on Tuesday’s attack and insists the 11 people aboard were members of the gang. The criminal organization, which traces its roots to a Venezuelan prison, is not known for having a big role in global drug trafficking but for its involvement in contract killings, extortions and human smuggling.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned Wednesday that the United States will keep assets positioned in the Caribbean and strike anyone “trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco terrorist.”

U.S. officials have yet to explain how the military determined that those aboard the vessel were Tren de Aragua members. The strike represents a paradigm shift in how the U.S. is willing to combat drug trafficking in the Western Hemisphere and appears to send a combative message to governments in the region as well as drug traffickers.

Tren de Aragua operations spread beyond Venezuela

Tren de Aragua originated more than a decade ago at an infamously lawless prison with hardened criminals in Venezuela’s central state of Aragua. The gang has expanded in recent years, recruiting from among the more than 7.7 million Venezuelans who have fled economic turmoil in their homeland and migrated to other Latin American countries or the U.S.

Mr. Trump and administration officials have consistently blamed the gang for being at the root of the violence and illicit drug dealing that plague some U.S. cities. Mr. Trump has repeated his claim — contradicted by a declassified U.S. intelligence assessment — that Tren de Aragua is operating under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s control.

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump described Aurora, Colorado, as a “war zone” overrun with members of the gang. Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain rejected that characterization, explaining the gang was tied to organized violent crime concentrated in three apartment complexes in the city. 

Chamberlain said earlier this year his department had counted a total of nine confirmed Tren de Aragua members who passed through Aurora in the last two years.

The size of the gang is unclear. Countries with large populations of Venezuelan migrants, including Peru and Colombia, have accused the group of being behind a spree of violence in the region.

Authorities in Chile first identified the gang’s operations in 2022. Prosecutors and investigators have said the group initially engaged primarily in human trafficking, organizing unauthorized border crossings and sexual exploitation, but over time, members have expanded their activities to more violent crimes, such as kidnapping, torture, extortion and became more involved in drug trafficking.

While Tren de Argua has dominated ketamine trafficking in Chile, unlike other criminal organizations from Colombia, Central America and Brazil, it has no large-scale involvement in smuggling cocaine across international borders, according to InSight Crime, a think tank that last month published a 64-page report on the gang based on two years of research.

“We’ve found no direct participation of TdA in the transnational drug trade, although there are cases of them acting as subcontractors for other drug trafficking organizations,” said Jeremy McDermott, a Colombia-based co-founder of InSight Crime.

McDermott added that with affiliated cells spread across Latin America, it would not be a huge leap for the gang to one day delve into the drug trade.

Landlocked Bolivia and Colombia, with access to the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea and a border with Venezuela, are the world’s top cocaine producers.

Trump designated Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization

On his first day in office, Mr. Trump took steps to designate the gang a foreign terrorist organization alongside several Mexican drug cartels. The Biden administration had sanctioned the gang and offered $12 million in rewards for the arrest of three of its leaders.

Mr. Trump’s executive order accused the gang of working closely with top Maduro officials — most notably the former vice president and one-time governor of Aragua state, Tareck El Aissami — to infiltrate migration flows, flood the U.S. with cocaine and plot against the country. A U.S. intelligence assessment released earlier this year found minimal contact between the gang and low-level officials in the Venezuelan government but said there was no direct coordination between the gang and the government.

In March, Mr. Trump also declared the group an invading force, invoking an 18th century wartime law that allows the U.S. to deport noncitizens without any legal recourse. Under the Alien Enemies Act, the administration sent more than 250 Venezuelan men to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, where they remained incommunicado and without access to an attorney until their July deportation to Venezuela.

A U.S. appeals court panel this week ruled that Mr. Trump cannot use that law to speed deportations of people his administration accuses of being Tren de Aragua members. A final ruling on the matter, however, will be made by the Supreme Court.

The Trump administration alleged the men deported to the prison were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, but provided little evidence. One justification officials used was that the men had certain kinds of tattoos allegedly signifying gang membership, including crowns, clocks and other symbols. But experts have said tattoos are not reliable markers of affiliation to the gang. 

Trump cites the gang in justifying the military strike

The U.S. has not released the names and nationalities of the 11 people killed Tuesday. It also has not offered an estimate of the amount of drugs it says the boat was carrying.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday told reporters the U.S. military will continue lethal strikes on suspected drug trafficking vessels, but he dodged questions on details of the strike, including if the people in the boat were warned before the attack.

But, he said, Mr. Trump “has a right, under exigent circumstances, to eliminate imminent threats to the United States.”

“If you’re on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl or whatever, headed to the United States, you’re an immediate threat to the United States,” he told reporters in Mexico City during a visit to Latin America.

Venezuela’s government, which has long minimized the presence of Tren de Aragua in the South American country, limited its reaction to the strike to questioning the veracity of a video showing the attack. Communications Minister Freddy Ñáñez suggested it was created using artificial intelligence and described it as an “almost cartoonish animation, rather than a realistic depiction of an explosion.”

Hegseth responded that the strike “was definitely not artificial intelligence,” adding he watched live footage from Washington as the strike was carried out.

The strike shows that the U.S. government is “quite literally deadly serious” in its targeting of drug traffickers, said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

But he questioned whether the link to Tren de Aragua has more to do with the “familiarity” that Americans now have with the gang.

“I certainly hope that the U.S. government has the intelligence and we are not shooting first and asking questions later,” Berg said.

Eleven Venezuelans murdered without due process!

Trump says the U.S. military destroyed a boat operated by Tren de Aragua off Venezuela. Here’s what to know about the gang.
The deadly U.S. military strike this week on a boat allegedly carrying drugs​ from Venezuela is the latest measure President Trump has taken to combat the threat he sees from the Tren de Aragua gang.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-boat-tren-de-aragua-gang-venezuela

Knewz: Trump appointee deals legal blow to the president

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Trump appointee deals legal blow to the president
The decision marks the second time in a week that a Trump-appointed judge ruled against the administration’s efforts.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/trump-appointee-deals-legal-blow-to-the-president/vi-AA1LYtO7

Raw Story: Trump all but confirms plot to meddle in major [New York City] election

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President Donald Trump all but confirmed his well-reported plot to interfere in the New York City mayoral race on Thursday evening, reported Politico’s Emily Ngo.

Asked by reporters whether he is working on making a candidate withdraw from the race, Trump said, “No, I don’t like to see a communist become mayor. I won’t tell you that. And I don’t think you can win, unless you have one on one.” His remarks appeared to reference Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a young Muslim with ties to the Democratic Socialists of America, and his main challenger, disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani earlier this year but is still running in the general election under a separate ballot line.

“I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one on one,” Trump continued. “And I think that’s a race.”

This follows reporting that Trump is considering extending an offer of a position in his administration to incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is running far behind either Mamdani or Cuomo, to make him end his campaign. It also comes after Adams reportedly met with a Trump adviser in Miami, despite his public denials that he is considering any such offer.

Also potentially in contention for a job offer to exit the race is the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Mamdani since his victory in the race, calling him a “Communist Lunatic” and even suggesting at one point that he would use his executive power to somehow overturn the election result.

Trump all but confirms plot to meddle in major [New York City] election

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-mamdani

Alternet: ‘Proudly ignorant’ Trump blasted for rewriting a history he doesn’t understand

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From universities to museums, President Donald Trump is making a concerted effort to purge institutions of what MAGA Republicans call a “woke” version of U.S. history.

But historians and Trump opponents are pushing back, stressing that discussing the darker side of U.S. history is not bashing the United States but rather, is an effort to learn from mistakes of the past and avoid repeating them. Presidential historian Jon Meacham, a frequent guest on MSNBC, often describes frank discussions as part of the journey toward a “more perfect union.”

In an opinion column published by The Guardian on September 4, Sidney Blumenthal — a former adviser to ex-President Bill Clinton and ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — argues that Trump is trying to whitewash U.S. history even though he has a painfully limited knowledge of it.

“Of all the presidents, Donald Trump — the man who would remake the Smithsonian and alter its presentation of ‘how bad slavery was,’ as he put it — is surely the most ignorant of American history itself,” Blumenthal laments. “What Trump doesn’t know fills the Library of Congress, whose chief librarian he has fired, along with driving out the heads of the National Archives and the National Portrait Gallery, as well as dissolving programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities and defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which as a result, has paused the acclaimed ‘American Experience’ documentary series.”

The former Clintons adviser adds, “Trump claims he is tearing down the entire federal support for history in order to reveal the true story.”

A Trump White House aide, Blumenthal notes, bragged that one of Trump’s goals is to “get the woke out of the Smithsonian.”

“But this gospel of positive-thinking twaddle aside, Trump, proudly ignorant though he is, has for years articulated a vision of American history,” Blumenthal warns. “That vision does not emphasize the strides the nation has made through tumultuous struggle since the abolition of slavery. Instead, it honors those who defended slavery, committed treason to preserve it and claim it to be a worthy American ‘heritage.’ Trump has repeatedly sought to shield the Confederate statues and symbols erected as tribute to the ‘lost cause’ myth.”

Blumenthal continues, “He has expressed and unqualified admiration for Robert E. Lee as a quintessential American hero almost always coupled with belittling remarks about (President Abraham) Lincoln. His view of history squarely aligns him with neo-Confederates, not least those who carried the Confederate flag at the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection on 6 January 2021 and whom he subsequently pardoned. Trump’s version of history is not, however, simply reactionary nostalgia, or treacly kitsch for the restoration of ‘Uncle Herschel,’ the ‘Old-Timer’ to the Cracker Barrel logo. His use of the culture war is a key element to advance his policy agenda.”

‘Proudly ignorant’ Trump blasted for rewriting a history he doesn’t understand

https://www.alternet.org/trump-sidney-blumenthal-smithsonian

Atlantic: The World No Longer Takes Trump Seriously

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At parades and in the halls of global power, America has been sidelined.

The leaders of Russia, China, and North Korea are not good men. They preside over brutal autocracies replete with secret police and prison camps. But they are, nevertheless, serious men, and they know an unserious man when they see one. For nearly a decade, they have taken Donald Trump’s measure, and they have clearly reached a conclusion: The president of the United States is not worthy of their respect.

Wednesday’s military parade in Beijing is the most recent evidence that the world’s authoritarians consider Trump a lightweight. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and North Korea’s maximum nepo baby, Kim Jong Un, gathered to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. (Putin’s Belarusian satrap, Alexander Lukashenko, was also on hand.) The American president was not invited: After all, what role did the United States play in defeating Japan and liberating Eurasia? Instead, Trump, much like America itself, was left to watch from the sidelines.

But the parade was worse than a mere snub. Putin, Xi, and Kim stood in solidarity while reviewing China’s military might only weeks after Putin came to Alaska and showed no interest in moving to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. The White House tried to spin that ill-advised summit into at least a draw between Putin and Trump, but when the Kremlin’s dictator shows up with no interest in negotiation, speaks first at a press conference, and then caps the day by declining a carefully planned lunch and flying home, that’s a humiliation, not an exchange of views.

Nor has Trump fared very well with the other two members of this cheery 21st-century incarnation of SPECTRE. In the midst of Trumpian chaos, Xi is adroitly positioning China as the new face of international stability and responsibility. He has even made a show of offering partnership to China’s rival and former enemy India: Chinese diplomats last month said that China stands with India against the American “bully” when Trump was, for some reason, trying to impose 50 percent tariffs on India.

Likewise, the North Koreans, after playing to Trump’s ego and his ignorance of international affairs during meetings in the president’s first term, have continued their march to a nuclear arsenal that within years could grow to be larger than the United Kingdom’s. Trump was certain that he could negotiate with Kim, but the perfumed days of “love letters” between Trump and Kim are long over. Pyongyang’s leadership seems to know that it costs them little to humor Trump politely, but that they should reserve serious discussion for the leaders of serious countries.

Trump responded to his exclusion from the gala in Beijing by acting exactly like the third-tier leader that Xi, Putin, and Kim seem to think he is. As the event was taking place, Trump took to his social-media site—of course—to express his hurt feelings with a cringe-inducing attempt at a zinger. “May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.”

Now, the reality is that Russia, China, and North Korea are conspiring against America, but it is beneath both the dignity and the power of an American president to whine about it. Trump continued his unseemly carping with a demand that China recognize the valor of the Americans who died in the Pacific:

The big question to be answered is whether or not President Xi of China will mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that The United States of America gave to China in order to help it to secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader. Many Americans died in China’s quest for Victory and Glory. I hope that they are rightfully Honored and Remembered for their Bravery and Sacrifice!

This message does not exactly project confidence and leadership; instead, it sounds like the grousing of a man beset by insecurities. A more self-assured commander in chief would have ignored the parade and, if asked about it, would have said something to the effect that the United States has always respected the sacrifices of our allies in World War II. But not Trump: He petulantly declared that he would not have attended even if the cool kids had invited him.

Authoritarians are unfortunately in good company in treating Trump as an incompetent leader. Even America’s allies have recognized that Trump may be their formal partner, but that they mostly get things done with the American president by soothing his ego and working around him. After Trump emerged from the summit in Anchorage essentially parroting Putin’s talking points, seven top European leaders rushed to Washington to tell Trump that he had done well and that they truly, really respected him, but that perhaps he should hold off on being a co-signer of Kremlin policy.

Trump’s damage to American power and prestige would be less severe if the president had a foreign policy and a team to execute it. He has neither: Trump ran for president mostly for personal reasons, including to stay out of prison, and his foreign policy, such as it is, is merely an extension of his personal interests. He holds summits, issues social-media pronouncements, and engages in photo ops mostly, it seems, either to burnish his claim to a Nobel Prize or to change the news cycle when issues such as the economy (or the Jeffrey Epstein files) get too much traction.

Worse, Trump is no longer surrounded by people who care about foreign affairs or can competently step in and create consistent policy. In his first term, Trump had a secretary of defense, James Mattis, who helped to create a national-defense strategy, a document that Trump might have ignored but was at least promulgated to a national-security establishment that needed direction from someone, somewhere. Now, at the Pentagon, Trump has Pete Hegseth, who shows little apparent inclination or ability to think about complexities.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was supposed to be one of the new “adults in the room,” but he has instead become a man in a Velcro suit, with the president sticking jobs and responsibilities onto him without any further guidance. He has been reduced to sitting glumly in White House press sprays with foreign leaders while Trump embarrasses himself and his guests. Meanwhile, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, is spending her time trying to root out the spies she thinks hate the president. Unfortunately, the agents she’s hunting are Americans, which must bring a smile to Xi’s face and perhaps even produce a belly laugh from former KGB officer Putin.

America is adrift. It has no coherent foreign policy, no team of senior professionals managing its national defense and diplomacy, and a president who has little interest in the world beyond what it can offer him. Little wonder that the men who gathered in Beijing—three autocrats whose nations are collectively pointing many hundreds of nuclear weapons at the United States—feel free to act as if they don’t even think twice about Trump or the country he leads.

What do you expect when you turn your country over to a narcissistic grifter with dementia, 6 bankruptcies, and 34 felony convictions?

The World No Longer Takes Trump Seriously
At parades and in the halls of global power, America has been sidelined.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/09/trump-parade-china-putin-xi-kim/684113

ABC News: Army extends orders for DC National Guard through Nov. 30: Officials

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The president could still cut the order short or extend them, officials said.

The Army is extending orders for the Washington, D.C., National Guard to remain on active duty in the nation’s capital through Nov. 30, two U.S. officials told ABC News Thursday.

President Donald Trump could still cut the mission shorter than Nov. 30 if desired — or extend the deployment past that date, the officials noted. That essentially leaves the deployment open-ended for now.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll signed off on the plan on Wednesday, enabling Brig. Gen. Leland D. Blanchard II, commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, to update the initial orders.

The Nov. 30 plan for the estimated 950 members of the D.C. Guard, which has not been previously reported, does not apply to the other 1,300 troops deployed to D.C. from other states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina, and West Virginia. Those troops remain under the control of their governors with many of them already under orders to remain through the end of December, one of the officials said.

Blanchard alluded to the plan in a video message on X released Thursday.

“Our mission is not complete,” he said. “I’ve made the decision to extend the encampment as we continue to work to ensure everyone that walks these city streets is safe.”

Trump mobilized the D.C. National Guard last month to address what he insisted was “out of control” crime.

Since then, troops have been seen hanging out around the National Mall and other low-crime areas, often posing with tourists or spreading mulch as part of Trump’s “beautification” project.

According to the latest update provided by the Guard, troops have cleaned roadways, collected more than 677 bags of trash and disposed of five truckloads of plant waste in coordination with the U.S. National Park Service.

The decision to extend the Guard through Nov. 30 was a practical one, sources told ABC News. Instead of reupping orders every 14 to 29 days as is typical, the troops can plan on the extended stay.

National Guard troops typically leave other full-time civilian jobs during the deployment, and this would allow their employers to make other arrangements, officials say.

The plan also ensures there would be no gap in pay or benefits, which can happen when tours of duty need to be reapproved several times.

A spokesperson for Joint Task Force-DC told ABC News that all Guards members who are deployed to D.C. have already been extended beyond initial orders — some which would have lapsed on Sept.10 — in order to secure their eligibility for benefits including pay and health care.

The Siege of Washington will continue until 30 November. Herr Trump ist der Sieg!

Army extends orders for DC National Guard through Nov. 30: Officials
The Army is extending orders for the D.C. National Guard to remain on active duty in the nation’s capital through Nov. 30, two U.S. officials told ABC News Thursday.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=125266247

Washington Post: How Stephen Miller is running Trump’s effort to take over D.C.

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The deputy White House chief of staff has emerged as a key enforcer of the D.C. operation in the month since Trump federalized the local police department.

From the head of the conference table in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, Stephen Miller was in the weeds of President Donald Trump’s takeover of policing in the nation’s capital.

The White House deputy chief of staff wanted to know where exactly groups of law enforcement officers would be deployed. He declared that cleaning up D.C. was one of Trump’s most important domestic policy issues and that Miller himself planned to be involved for a long time.

Miller’s remarks were described to The Washington Post by two people with knowledge of the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House business. The result is a behind-the-scenes glimpse of one of Trump’s most trusted aides in action, someone who has emerged as a key enforcer of the D.C. operation in the month since Trump federalized the local police department and deployed thousands of National Guard troops to patrol city streets. While widely seen as a vocal proponent for the president’s push on immigration and law and order, Miller’s actions reveal how much he is actually driving that agenda inside the White House.

“It’s his thing,” one White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. “Security, crime, law enforcement — it’s his wheelhouse.”

Miller’s team provides an updated report each morning on the arrests made the night before to staff from the White House, Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security, among others. The readouts include a breakdown of how many of those arrested are undocumented immigrants.

He has also led weekly meetings in the Roosevelt Room with his staff and members of the D.C. mayor’s office. Last week, he brought Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to two people briefed on the meeting. It’s unclear why Bessent attended the meeting.

A person familiar with Bessent’s thinking said he was encouraged by D.C. officials’ enthusiasm and collaborative tone.

Miller frequently frames Trump’s approach to crime-fighting as a moral and spiritual war against those who oppose him.

“I would say to the mayors of all these Democrat cities, like Chicago, what you are doing to your own citizens is evil. Subjecting your own citizens to this constant bloodbath and then rejoicing in it is evil,” Miller said on Fox News last week. “You should praise God every single day that President Trump is in the White House.”

Trump has signaled that his crackdown on cities will continue, recently naming Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore and Oakland, California, as places that might require federal intervention. Critics have characterized the moves as counterproductive, a waste of federal resources and illegal. Supporters see the effort as bringing long-awaited relief to cities afflicted by violent crime.

In D.C., crime was already trending down before Trump moved to take over the police department, according to city data. But rates have decreased further when comparing the 15 days before the Aug. 11 order with the 15 days after Trump’s operation, with violent crime decreasing by roughly 30 percent and property crime decreasing by roughly 16 percent.

Since Trump initiated an unprecedented incursion into D.C. affairs, the city has transformed from a place that proudly welcomed immigrants into one primed for their deportations. D.C. police officers now work with agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who have detained people in front of schools and restaurants. Park Police officers, now operating as beat cops, have chased vehicles with tinted windows, fake tags and broken headlights — a major departure from a city policy to avoid pursuits that pose safety threats. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has attributed the drop in crime to the federal surge.

Miller and others close to Trump have celebrated the changes in Washington, which they see as a winning political issue and central to their plans to host a series of events for America’s 250th birthday next year. White House officials expect the increased federal law enforcement presence to continue in the District through the end of 2026 — a period that would not only come after the semiquincentennial celebrations but also the midterm elections. D.C. officials have not publicly committed to that timeline.

This week, members of the Republican National Committee were briefed on a call about the D.C. crime operation, getting data on arrests and talking points for how to tout the initiative in their states.

Bowser and other top D.C. officials have gone out of their way to show willingness to work with Trump and his staff, positioning themselves as allies in his public safety crackdown. They see that tactic as their best chance at maintaining power given D.C.’s unique status under the U.S. Constitution, which grants Congress ultimate say over city laws and budgets.

Miller has been less involved in working directly with the mayor.

City Administrator Kevin Donahue, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah and the D.C. police department’s executive assistant chief Jeffrey Carrol have all attended Miller’s weekly meetings in the Roosevelt Room.

Bowser has maintained a separate line of communication with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, with Bondi speaking with Bowser sometimes daily, the White House official said.

Last week, as Trump’s complaints about the mayor escalated, Bondi and Wiles met with Bowser at the White House. Soon after, Bowser gave White House officials an executive order to review — which ultimately ordered indefinite coordination between the city and federal law enforcement officials. The president has since changed his tune on Bowser, holding her up as an example of how blue-city mayors should behave.

“Everyone at the White House is pleased with Mayor Bowser and the ongoing partnership,” a White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share internal thinking.

Miller has made a point of being seen around the city since Trump infused it with federal troops. Last month, he appeared at a D.C. police station to address line officers and visited Union Station with Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Over the weekend, Miller and his family walked around the National Mall.

“Beautiful day to take in our monuments,” his wife, Katie Miller, wrote on X. “Thank you President Trump for Making DC Safe Again!”

She posted a picture in front of the Reflecting Pool, which stretches between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. Stephen Miller looked at his children and pointed toward the camera.

As deputy chief of staff, Miller oversees Trump’s domestic policy agenda. But he also serves in the lesser-known role of homeland security adviser, directing roughly 40 federal law enforcement officers in the Homeland Security Investigation division assigned to work on D.C. crime. Miller and his deputy on homeland security matters — a veteran law enforcement officer whose name the White House has declined to publicize — are also in close contact with the other federal and D.C. law enforcement agencies, the White House official said.

White House officials emphasized that Miller is acting on behalf of the president, who is personally invested in producing a successful operation. The officials said that his top domestic policy priority at the moment is reducing crime in large cities nationwide. Every day, those around him say, Trump inquires about the details of the D.C. operation. He has asked questions about the people arrested and how many guns and drugs officers seized from the streets, the White House official said.

“As President Trump has said himself many times, making D.C. safe and beautiful again is a top priority for the entire Trump Administration,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson. “The results of the highly successful operation speak for itself. President Trump has driven down crime in the District, removed countless violent criminals from the streets, and kick-started beautification efforts to make D.C. the greatest city in the world.”

Miller and his homeland security deputy, along with Terry Cole, the Drug Enforcement Administration chief whom Trump named D.C.’s “emergency police commissioner” last month; Gady Serralta, director of the U.S. Marshals Service; Bondi; and representatives from the FBI have all met with Trump a handful times since Trump signed the emergency declaration about D.C., according to the White House official.

By law, Trump’s federalization of the D.C. police force lasts 30 days and is set to expire next week. The White House has not announced its next steps, but those who know Miller say he almost certainly has a plan.

We must remember that Stephen Miller is an unrepentant bigoted racist whose #1 goal in life is to make America white again. The actions they are taking in L.A. and D.C. are targeted at Democrat mayors; the many Republican mayor of cities with HIGHER crime rates are getting a free pass. This is all about racism and politics, not public safety.

How Stephen Miller is running Trump’s effort to take over D.C.
The deputy White House chief of staff has emerged as a key enforcer of the D.C. operation in the month since Trump federalized the local police department.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/09/05/trump-dc-takeover-stephen-miller-white-house

No paywall:

How Stephen Miller is running Trump’s effort to take over D.C.
The deputy White House chief of staff has emerged as a key enforcer of the D.C. operation in the month since Trump federalized the local police department.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-stephen-miller-is-running-trump-s-effort-to-take-over-dc/ar-AA1LW0Uf

CNN: US considers banning Iranian diplomats from shopping at Costco during UN meeting

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… The movements of Iranian diplomats are severely limited in New York, but one proposal being floated would bar them from shopping at big, members-only wholesale stores like Costco and Sam’s Club without first receiving the express permission of the State Department.

Such stores have been a favorite of Iranian diplomats posted to and visiting New York because they are able to buy large quantities of products not available in their economically isolated country for relatively cheap prices and send them home.

It was not immediately clear if or when the proposed shopping ban for Iran would take effect, but the memo said the State Department also was looking at drafting rules that would allow it to impose terms and conditions on memberships in wholesale clubs by all foreign diplomats in the US….

So what’s to stop them from pre-ordering a shitload of stuff from Amazon and having it delivered to their hotel?

Being so mean and petty seems pointless to me. It only reinforces the idea we are enemies. Smother them with kindness and let them go shopping, and you might change their impressions of the United States.

US considers banning Iranian diplomats from shopping at Costco during UN meeting | CNN
The movements of Iranian diplomats are severely limited in New York, but one proposal being floated would bar them from shopping at big, members-only wholesale stores like Costco and Sam’s Club without first receiving the express permission of the State Department.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/middleeast/us-ban-iranians-shopping-costco-during-un-latam-intl