Thursday morning news: September 4, 2025

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KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Russia-China » Music and fanfare as Beijing held a Chinese military parade Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un joined Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the festivities.

President Trump criticized the spectacle on social media, writing that the three leaders were conspiring against the United States. But he told reporters Wednesday.

TRUMP: I thought it was a beautiful ceremony. I thought it was very, very impressive. But I understood the reason they were doing it and they were hoping I was watching. And I was watching. My relationship with all of them is very good. We're gonna find out how good it is over the next week or two.

Meanwhile, Russian leader Vladimir Putin met with reporters after returning to Moscow, calling China a powerhouse of the global economy. He also addressed Trump's calls for a peace deal in Ukraine.

PUTIN: [Speaking in Russian]

Putin says he's ready to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy if Zelenskyy wants to come to Moscow. Ukraine's foreign minister called that proposal unacceptable.

Polish president visits White House » Trump’s remarks came as he welcomed the new president of Poland at the White House just one month after he was sworn into office.

TRUMP:  He had an incredible race. Uh, he came from behind and he won, uh, very handily. The people have fallen, have taken to him immediately.

Trump had taken the unusual step of endorsing Nawrocki in the elections earlier this year. For his part, the Polish president said the two countries share a bond.

NAWROCKI:  The Polish American relations are very important, very strong.

And he said it is now better than ever.

The two leaders reaffirmed a strong defense partnership, including Poland’s continued investment in U.S. military equipment. And President Trump told reporters that the United States will keep a robust troop presence in Poland.

There are currently more than 8,000 US servicemembers stationed there.

Venezuela boat strike » The Trump administration says a military strike that annihilated a Venezuelan boat in the Caribbean this week took out members of the Venezuela-based Tred De Aragua gang.

 It's the first lethal operation since the American warships arrived near Venezuela. The strike took out a speed boat, killing all 11 on board.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio:

RUBIO:  The president of the United States is going to wage war on narco terrorist organizations. This one was operating in international waters, headed towards the United States to flood our country with poison and under President Trump. Those days are over.

Over the years, the standard procedure might be for the US military to shoot out the engine block. Or the Coast Guard might board the boat and detain the crew.

But with the cartels and gangs designated as foreign terrorist organizations, the Pentagon can now shoot to kill.

The goal of the military operation in the region is to cut off drug trafficking routes and networks coming out of Venezuela.

Drug bust » Meantime, in Texas federal authorities are announcing what they say is the biggest seizure of meth-making chemicals in US history.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro:

PIRRO:  We announced a very significant seizure of two shipments of chemicals shipped on two different vessels on the high seas and route to the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, from China to Mexico.

Authorities stopped two shipments in the Port of Houston carrying over 300,000 kilos of precursors destined for labs controlled by the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico.

Officials say it is highly likely that the cartel would have refined the chemicals into methamphetamines and then smuggled the drugs across the U.S. border.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons:

LYONS:  Had these precursors made at a destination, they would've made hundreds of thousands of pounds of methamphetamine with profits of over half a billion dollars, which would led to more American deaths here.

He said it took two 18-wheeler trucks to transport all of the chemicals to a DHS storage facility.

Epstein-related news conference » Victims of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein joined a group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday to demand the release of all files related to the Epstein case.

LACERDA: My name is Marina Lacerda. I was one of dozens of girls that I personally know who were forced into Jeffrey's mansion in New York City when we were just kids.

The GOP-led Oversight Committee has released tens of thousands of pages connected to the Epstein investigation.

But an effort led by Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie aims to force the release of all the case files.

Massie took a jab at House Speaker Mike Johnson over a nonbinding resolution directing the Oversight Committee to continue its Epstein probe.

MASSIE:  When you wanna kill the momentum, when you wanna kill initiative, you introduce a placebo, a different bill that does nothing, and then try to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people. That's not going to happen this time. We demand real accountability.

President Trump has called the issue a Democrat-led hoax and a political distraction. He says no matter how many pages the Justice Department releases, it won’t be enough to satisfy some people.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: how a U.S. Olympic rule change could affect female sports overall. Plus, preparing to walk on the moon, and learning a thing or two about our own planet along the way.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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