The Pentagon says it has blown up three more boats in the eastern Pacific, killing eight people. Black-and-white video posted to social media Monday by U.S. Southern Command shows three vessels erupting in flames. The Pentagon claimed, without evidence, the boats were carrying drugs in international waters. The latest strikes bring the Pentagon’s announced death toll to 95 since early September. The ACLU and other rights groups have condemned the strikes as “murder” and state-sanctioned killings of civilians who were denied due process. The attacks came as President Trump signed an executive order Monday declaring fentanyl to be a “weapon of mass destruction.”

President Donald Trump: “No bomb does what this is doing. Two hundred to three hundred thousand people die every year, that we know of. So we’re formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.”
Virtually no illicit fentanyl comes to the United States from either Colombia or Venezuela. Last year, the CDC reported about 48,000 deaths from synthetic opioids — not the 200,000 to 300,000 deaths claimed by Trump.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s government has accused Trinidad and Tobago of participating in piracy, after it aided the U.S. government’s seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker last week. Trinidad and Tobago officials said Monday they would grant U.S. forces access to the Caribbean nation’s airports in the coming weeks, as the Pentagon continues to build up forces ahead of a possible attack on Venezuela.

On Capitol Hill, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are urging fellow House lawmakers to back resolutions seeking to prevent President Trump from launching an unauthorized war on Venezuela.

In Gaza, another winter storm has worsened the humanitarian catastrophe faced by tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians who’ve been forced to shelter in tents for a third consecutive winter. Civil Defense crews are struggling to reach people trapped under the rubble of homes that had been damaged by Israeli attacks before this week’s storms caused them to collapse. With no proper housing, many Palestinians have been forced to choose between living in unsafe homes or makeshift tents.

Mahmoud Basal: “A citizen’s alternative to leaving this building is the risk of a collapsed tent. A tent, without a doubt, cannot be safe for citizens. It cannot protect them from the cold, the winter, floods, stray dogs, rodents or diseases. Therefore, all the alternatives currently available to citizens in Gaza are dangerous and difficult.”

The U.N.’s migration agency reports nearly 800,000 displaced Palestinians are at heightened risk of dangerous flooding in low-lying, rubble-filled areas of Gaza. At least 14 people lost their lives in a winter storm last week. Israel has blocked humanitarian aid shipments of tents bound for Gaza, claiming the aluminum poles used to erect them are a “dual use” item that could be repurposed for military activities.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to violate the October 10 ceasefire agreement. Witnesses say Israeli military vehicles opened fire today on the northern parts of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, while other areas inside the military-controlled “yellow line” came under airstrikes and artillery fire. This comes as new satellite images show Israel continues to demolish buildings in areas it’s occupied since the ceasefire. Later in the broadcast, we’ll speak with the award-winning investigative journalist Aram Roston about his new report in The Guardian titled “’They’re trying to get rich off it’: US contractors vie to rebuild Gaza, with 'Alligator Alcatraz' team in the lead.”

In Sydney, Australia, thousands of people have gathered near the site of Sunday’s mass shooting in Bondi Beach to mourn the 15 people killed in an attack on the Jewish community on the first night of Hanukkah. At least 22 people remain hospitalized. The Sydney Opera House was illuminated with a Hanukkah menorah as memorial events honoring the victims were held across Australia.

On Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the father and son duo behind the massacre had traveled to the Philippines before the assault and were inspired by the Islamic State movement.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: “It would appear that there is evidence that this was inspired by a terrorist organization, by ISIS. Now, some of the evidence which is being procured, including the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized, are a part of that radical perversion of Islam, is absolutely a problem.”

A Pakistani man living in Australia who shares the same name as one of the Bondi Beach gunmen says he fears for his safety, after he was misidentified in widely shared social media posts that were amplified by mainstream news outlets. Thirty-year-old Naveed Akram of New South Wales says his photograph circulated widely on platforms including X and Facebook alongside accusations that he was one of the killers, and that his requests to have the posts taken down went unanswered. Some of those false reports were then published by news outlets in India and Israel.

In Rhode Island, the manhunt for the gunman who killed two students and injured nine others at Brown University on Saturday has entered its fourth day. The two students who were killed have been identified as 18-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and 19-year-old Ella Cook. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a new person of interest.

This comes as FBI Director Kash Patel is facing criticism for posting on social media to promote the agency’s work in tracking down a person of interest in the shooting prematurely, only to release the individual from custody hours later. In the wake of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Patel also claimed on social media that a shooter was in custody, even though the shooter had not yet been apprehended. We’ll speak with one of the survivors, Brown University student Zoe Weissman, after headlines.

Federal prosecutors in California have indicted four members of a left-wing group named the Turtle Island Liberation Front on charges they plotted to bomb multiple targets in Orange County and Los Angeles beginning on New Year’s Eve.

Bill Essayli: “This investigation was initiated in part due to the September 2025 executive order signed by President Trump to root out left-wing domestic terror organizations in our country, such as antifa and other radical groups like the Turtle Island Liberation Front.”

The indictment relies heavily on a paid FBI confidential informant. It was announced by Bill Essayli, a former California Republican lawmaker whom the Trump administration named interim U.S. attorney for the Central District of California in April. He’s now serving as first assistant U.S. attorney, after a federal judge ruled in October he’d been serving unlawfully as the district’s top prosecutor since July, since he was never confirmed by the Senate.

The indictment comes just days after FBI National Security Branch Operations Director Michael Glasheen appeared before the House Committee on Homeland Security, where he struggled to back up his claims that antifa was the “primary concern” and the “most immediate violent threat” facing the United States. This is Glasheen being questioned by Democratic Congressmember Bennie Thompson.

Michael Glasheen: “We share the same view. When you look at the data right now, you look at the domestic terrorist threat that we’re facing right now, what I see from my position is that’s the most immediate violent threat that we’re facing on the domestic side.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson: “So, where is antifa headquartered?”

Michael Glasheen: “What we’re doing right now with the organization” —

Rep. Bennie Thompson: “No, uh-uh. Where, in the United States, does
antifa exist, if it’s a terrorist organization and you’ve identified it as number one?”

Michael Glasheen: “We are building out the infrastructure right now.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson: “So, what does that mean?”

The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced plans to eliminate up to 35,000 healthcare jobs this month. Many of the targeted positions are currently unfilled and include doctors, nurses and support staff. The agency has already lost 30,000 employees this year. The advocacy organization VoteVets said, “it is abundantly clear that Republicans and the Trump administration want to strangle the VA until it all gets privatized.”

In public health news, measles cases are continuing to rise across the United States. According to the CDC, the number of confirmed measles cases has topped 1,900 this year — higher than any year since the U.S. declared the disease eliminated in 2000. In South Carolina, there were 129 confirmed cases this month; 250 people are quarantining. This comes as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to express skepticism about vaccinating children. Meanwhile, in California, Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed two prominent scientists, Dr. Susan Monarez and Dr. Debra Houry, who left the CDC earlier this year, to help lead the state’s new Public Health Network Innovation Exchange. Dr. Monarez, the former director of the CDC, was fired less than a month into her tenure after she clashed with the administration over vaccine policy. The CDC’s former chief medical officer, Dr. Houry, resigned shortly after Monarez was fired.

President Trump is suing the BBC for $10 billion over edits to a speech he gave to his supporters on January 6, 2021, just before they stormed the Capitol. Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, and Deborah Turness, the head of BBC News, resigned over the edit last month. It follows similar suits by Trump against big media firms. Earlier this year, ABC agreed to pay Trump $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit he brought over comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos. Trump also reached a $16 million settlement with Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, after he claimed an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris was selectively edited.

In California, Rob Reiner’s son Nick has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the stabbing deaths of his parents at their home in Los Angeles. On Monday, President Trump provoked widespread outrage after he blamed the killings on Reiner’s anti-Trump views. On social media, Trump wrote, “Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”

Those comments drew backlash even from some members of Trump’s own party. Kentucky Republican Congressmember Thomas Massie wrote, “Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered. I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid? I challenge anyone to defend it.” At the White House, President Trump later doubled down on his attacks on Rob Reiner.

Kristen Holmes: “Mr. President, a number of Republicans have denounced your statement on Truth Social after the murder of Rob Reiner. Do you stand by that post?”

President Donald Trump: “Well, I wasn’t a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person, as far as Trump is concerned. … I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all, in any way, shape or form. I thought he was very bad for our country.”