AIRCRAFT CARRIER DEPLOYED TO CARIBBEAN: The Trump administration is ratcheting up its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, as the White House intensifies its campaign against alleged drug-traffickers. In a social media post this afternoon, Pentagon spokesperson SEAN PARNELL announced that the Navy had ordered the USS Gerald Ford, the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean. The carrier is set to be accompanied by three destroyers. The deployment “will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity” of the U.S., Parnell wrote. The move marks a significant escalation in the U.S.’s military presence in the Caribbean at a time when the Trump administration has used unprecedented military action to kill so-called narco-terrorists, our own Paul McLeary reports. Earlier today, Secretary of Defense PETE HEGSETH announced that the U.S. military had conducted another lethal strike against a vessel in the Caribbean Sea — the 10th such operation since September. Hegseth did not provide any evidence that the vessel was involved in trafficking drugs. According to a social media post from Hegseth, all six people aboard the vessel died in the overnight strike. He said that the military had targeted the boat because it was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang, which the Trump administration has designated as a foreign terrorist organization for its drug trafficking operations. The Thursday night strike was the third U.S. military attack on drug boats just this week — following two strikes in the Pacific Ocean. SANCTIONS FOR PETRO: In another escalatory move, the Trump administration announced sanctions on Colombian President GUSTAVO PETRO today, ramping up pressure on the leftist leader, our own Eric Bazail-Eimil reports. “Since President Gustavo Petro came to power, cocaine production in Colombia has exploded to the highest rate in decades, flooding the United States and poisoning Americans,” said Treasury Secretary SCOTT BESSENT in an announcement on the decision. Trump has turned up his threats against Petro in recent weeks as tensions between Washington and Bogota have boiled over. The U.S. president halted aid to the country and bashed Petro as an “illegal drug dealer” over the weekend, prompting Bogota to recall Colombian Ambassador to the U.S. DANIEL GARCÍA-PEÑA on Monday. Just Thursday, the Colombian Foreign Ministry confirmed that García-Peña would return to the U.S. BRUSSELS BUNGLES THE DEAL: Belgium is giving Hungary a run for its money as the EU’s problem sibling. Plans for the European Union to use frozen Russian assets to cover a €140 billion loan for Ukraine are on hold until at least December, thanks to Belgium’s efforts to derail the scheme, our European colleagues report. Belgian leader BART DE WEVER succeeded in delaying the financing move during talks with European leaders late Thursday over concerns that Belgium, which holds most of the frozen assets, would face retaliation from Moscow. The delay is a blow for Ukraine after a week of tentative optimism, as Trump announced long-awaited sanctions on Russian energy and the EU followed suit with a package of sweeping sanctions Wednesday. ALSO READ: Von der Leyen and Costa fail to cash in on Trump smacking Putin SPEAKING OF SANCTIONS…: Russia’s top economic envoy, KIRILL DMITRIEV, is in the U.S. today to meet with Trump administration officials just days after the new sanctions announcement. Dmitriev, who heads up Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, wrote in a post on X this morning that he had arrived in the U.S. to “continue the U.S.-Russia dialogue,” adding that the visit had been “planned a while ago,” per an invitation from the U.S. Conversations “must continue with the full understanding of Russia’s position and respect for its national interests,” Dmitriev insisted in his post. Dmitriev is set to meet with special envoy STEVE WITKOFF in Miami on Saturday, our own Diana Nerozzi reports. His visit comes on the heels of canceled meetings between Secretary of State MARCO RUBIO and Russian Foreign Minister SERGEY LAVROV, as well as an abandoned face-to-face with Trump and Russian leader VLADIMIR PUTIN. |