December 16, 2025

Good Tuesday evening. In this edition: Hegseth rejects calls to release video of "double tap" Caribbean boat strike.

• Plus, jobs report, health care, Susie Wiles and Capitol statue.

Boat Strikes

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rejected bipartisan congressional demands to publicly release video of the U.S. military's Sept. 2 "double tap" strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean that targeted two survivors of an initial attack.

• "In keeping with longstanding Department of War policy, Department of Defense policy, of course, we're not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public," he told reporters on Capitol Hill.

While top congressional leaders have viewed the unedited footage, most members of Congress have been kept in the dark.

• Secretary Hegseth said members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees will be allowed to see the video on Wednesday, but that lawmakers without direct military or national security oversight will not.

President Trump initially said he supported releasing the video, telling reporters earlier this month "whatever they have, we'd certainly release, no problem."

• He later reversed course, saying he would defer to Secretary Hegseth's judgment.

Secretary Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio spent the morning on Capitol Hill providing classified briefings to all members of Congress on the military's ongoing strikes against alleged drug-running boats, including the Sept. 2 attack.

• For months, lawmakers have been demanding more information about the military operation that's seemingly part of a broader campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Secretary Rubio described the operation as a "counter drug mission" targeting "terrorist organizations" that are "undermining the security of Americans, killing Americans, poisoning Americans."

• "This has been a highly successful mission that's ongoing … and we're pleased to be here today to update Congress on how that's developing and how that's moving forward," he told reporters.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) defended the legality of the strikes, saying President Trump has "both the authority and the obligation to protect our homeland."

• "Pursuant to this constitutional authority and the law of armed conflict, the president determined that the United States is in non-international armed conflict … and that is with designated terrorist organizations and their affiliates," he said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) criticized Secretary Hegseth for withholding the video from most lawmakers.

• "The administration came to this briefing empty-handed," he told reporters. "If they can't be transparent on this, how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean? Every senator is entitled to see it."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also called on the Pentagon to release the footage to all members, saying there was "no doubt" the operation was legal.

• "I think the video should be given to everybody in Congress," he told reporters. "I don't think most Americans give a damn about the video. I'd like all of us to see it."

Sen. Graham, a defense hawk, said he would also like greater clarity about the operation’s ultimate objective, arguing it should result in regime change in Venezuela.

• "I want to know what's going to happen next. Is it the policy to take Maduro down? It should be, if it's not," he said. "And if he goes, what's going to happen next? I'd like a better answer as to what happens when Maduro goes."

Watch the remarks from Secretaries Hegseth and Rubio as well as Speaker Johnson and Sens. Schumer and Graham.

In other news…

• The U.S. economy added 64,000 jobs in November after losing 105,000 jobs in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its first jobs report since the government shutdown. The October decline marked the third time in six months that payrolls saw a net negative level. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose last month to 4.6% from 4.4% in September, its highest level since September 2021. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report was a sign of a "strong, American First economy," highlighting gains in the private sector. "Since President Trump took office, 100% of the job growth has come in the private sector and among native-born Americans — exactly where it should be," she wrote on social media.
  
  

• Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) backtracked on his plan to give moderate Republicans an amendment vote on extending the expiring Obamacare subsidies when the House considers a GOP health care package on Wednesday. GOP moderates are planning on offering amendments during the Rules Committee meeting tonight but it's unclear which, if any, might be allowed. The moderates may instead rally behind a discharge petition to try to force a vote on an extension. Regardless, no extension will be approved by Congress before lawmakers head home for the holiday recess, meaning the subsidies will expire at the end of the year.
  
  

• Vice President JD Vance defended White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles after the publication of a Vanity Fair interview in which she offered candid assessments of senior administration officials. In the interview, Ms. Wiles called the VP a "conspiracy theorist" and said his shift from a "Never Trumper" to a MAGA leader was "sort of political." "Sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist. But I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true," VP Vance responded, describing Ms. Wiles as "the best White House chief of staff that I think the president could ask for."
  
  

• Congressional leaders unveiled a new statue of civil rights icon Barbara Rose Johns, replacing one of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in the U.S. Capitol. In 1951, Ms. Johns was just 16 years old when she organized a student walkout to protest her school's inferior facilities compared with those of the town's white high school. Her fight against segregation eventually became one of the cases considered in Brown v. Board of Education, leading to the landmark Supreme Court ruling that declared school segregation unconstitutional. Family members of Ms. Johns, who died in 1991, were on hand to witness the unveiling ceremony in Emancipation Hall.

For your radar…

• The House votes Wednesday on House Republicans' health care legislation, which does not include an extension of the ACA subsidies. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN starting at 9am ET.
  
  

• FCC Chair Brendan Carr (R) and commissioners Anna Gomez (D) and Olivia Trusty (R) testify Wednesday before the Senate Commerce Committee. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN3 at 10am ET.
  
  

• President Trump delivers a primetime address to the nation on Wednesday night. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it will be about "all of his historic accomplishments over the past year, and maybe teasing some policy that will be coming in the new year, as well." Watch LIVE on C-SPAN at 9pm ET.

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