Wednesday morning news: December 3, 2025

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Drugboat fallout: Hegseth defends double tap, Democrats call for his ouster » The Trump Administration is doubling down in its defense of a double strike.

Lawmakers in both parties are concerned the second strike on a suspected drugboat from Venezuela three months ago could be a war crime. But the White House is defending the follow-up hit, which targeted survivors of the initial strike as a lawful act of self-defense.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is distancing himself from the second strike, saying he didn’t see survivors in the water while watching the initial strike live, didn’t stick around for the conclusion, and that the admiral in charge -Frank Bradley- made the right call in ordering the second hit.

HEGSETH: Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.

Hegseth, making those comments during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

Meantime, as lawmakers in both parties step up their scrutiny of the strike, some are calling for Hegseth’s ouster. Democratic Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal:

BLUMENTHAL: Hegseth trying to shift the blame and make Admiral Bradley the fall guy ought to be reason to ask for his resignation or fire him.

Admiral Bradley is expected to give a classified briefing to lawmakers overseeing the military Thursday.

U.S.-Russia talks ‘productive’ » U.S. and Russian leaders met for five hours of talks at the Kremlin Tuesday. But where the effort to end Russia’s war on Ukraine goes from here is unclear.

A senior adviser to Russian leader Vladimir Putin called the talks constructive, but says a lot of work remains. The adviser also says a compromise hasn’t been found on the issue of Ukraine ceding territory to Russia, and says there will be no resolution without that.

President Trump sounded determined Tuesday.

TRUMP: Our people are over in Russia right now to see if we can get it settled. Not an easy situation, let me tell you. What a mess.

Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff presented the White House’s peace proposal to Putin and key aides. Some analysts criticized the plan at first for being tilted in Russia’s favor, but it’s since undergone revisions to give Ukraine more of a fair shake.

Tennessee special election result » After Democrats won prominent races in places like Virginia and New Jersey last month, Republicans were hoping for a bounceback win in Tennessee last night. They got it, but it wasn’t easy.

Republican Matt Van Epps held Tennessee’s 7th District Congressional seat for the GOP in Tuesday’s special election, fending off Democrat Aftin Behn.

Van Epps won by a solid, roughly 10-point margin. But it was still a relatively close result, considering President Trump won the district by more than 20 points three times.

Analysis from Hunter Baker is just a few minutes away in our Washington Wednesday segment.

Immigration sweep planned for Minnesota amid fraud scandal » As President Trump blames Minnesota’s Somali community for a huge fraud scheme involving the state’s social services, leaders in Minneapolis are bracing for immigration enforcement operations in the next few days.

Those operations will focus on unauthorized Somali immigrants living in that city. Mayor Jacob Frey promises local police won’t support Immigration and Custom Enforcement, or ICE, activity.

FREY: Our values and our commitment to the Somali community, to every community of immigrants and people in our city, is rock solid and will be unwavering.

As part of the recently uncovered fraud scheme, Somali immigrants are suspected of funneling U.S. taxpayers’ money to an Al Qaeda-linked terror group in Somalia.

D.C. National Guard shooter formally charged » The suspect in last week’s D.C. shooting that killed one National Guard member and left another fighting for his life now formally faces murder and assault charges.

The Afghan national made a court appearance remotely from his hospital bed. U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro says she’s throwing the book at him.

PIRRO: We are pursuing everything. There is nothing off the table right now.

The suspect, who was shot himself in the encounter not far from the White House, said he was in pain and couldn’t open his eyes. An attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Dells pledge $6.25 billion to fund ‘Trump accounts’ » The technology mogul Michael Dell and his wife are pledging more than $6 billion dollars to supercharge so-called ‘Trump accounts’ that allow families to invest in the stock market for their kids.

Under the program, the Treasury Department will deposit $1,000 dollars into investment accounts for all American children born between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028.

But the Trump accounts are actually available to any American child under 18. Michael Dell says his gift won’t cover babies getting the $1,000-dollar seed money. Instead, he says:

DELL: Our gift will cover most of the children that are 10 and under that are not part of the federal program, the 0- to 2-year-olds, and who also live in ZIP codes where the median income is $150,000 dollars or less.

The Dells say the accounts won’t officially launch until July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of American independence.

I am Mark Mellinger.

Straight ahead: Washington Wednesday. Hunter Baker sizes up what happened in Tennessee last night. And later, exploring the friendship between Tolkien and Lewis, and the lessons it holds for us today.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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