After weeks of the White House trying to persuade House Republicans — including Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — not to support a petition demanding the full release of the Epstein Files, President Donald J. Trump is now urging GOP lawmakers to vote YES on next week’s bill directing the Justice Department to release all documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Trump continues to publicly dismiss the matter as a “Democrat hoax.”

President Donald J. Trump mocked Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and her earlier claim that she had received death threats and felt her “life was in danger” following his recent critical posts about her. Trump referred to her as “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene” and added, “I don’t think her life is in danger. Frankly, I don’t think anyone cares about her.”

Jeffrey Epstein survivors released a video calling on Congress to release the Epstein files.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department plans to designate the Cartel de los Soles (“Cartel of the Suns”)—a Venezuelan criminal and drug-trafficking organization allegedly led by President Nicolás Maduro and senior members of Venezuela’s armed forces—as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Rubio stated that the group is responsible for acts of terrorist violence carried out by or alongside other terrorist organizations, as well as for smuggling drugs into the United States and Europe.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Venezuela: "We may be having some discussions with Maduro and we’ll see how that turns out. They would like to talk."

Footage of a Ukrainian Air Force Osa SAM system, modified to fire R-73 missiles, knocking down Russian attack drones over central Ukraine this weekend.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has issued a statement regarding Friday’s incident involving the illegal boarding and seizure of the Marshall Islands–flagged tanker M/V Talara while it was transiting international waters in the Strait of Hormuz. According to CENTCOM, the M/V Talara was seized in the Gulf of Oman after IRGC operatives arrived by helicopter and forcibly boarded the vessel. The IRGC then redirected the tanker toward Iran, where it now remains in the Clarence Strait off the coast of Qeshm Island. CENTCOM stated: “Iran’s use of military forces to carry out an armed boarding and seizure of a commercial vessel in international waters is a blatant violation of international law, undermining freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce. We call on Iran to explain to the international community the legal basis for its actions.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has formally condemned today’s Gen Z protests outside Mexico City’s National Palace, saying, “Violence should never be used as a means to bring about change.” View quoted note →

A delegation from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) reparations commission will meet with British officials and lawmakers this week to discuss addressing the historical injustices of slavery and colonialism and their continuing effects, according to Reuters.

Top Trump Administration officials — including Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — along with other senior military and White House staff, met at the White House for at least the third consecutive day on Friday to brief President Trump and discuss potential military operations in Venezuela, according to sources who spoke with CBS News.

Brendan Carr, Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has posted a screenshot of a Truth Social post from earlier today in which President Donald J. Trump called on NBC to fire Seth Meyers.

In private conversations with senior officials and aides, President Donald J. Trump has discussed Venezuela’s vast oil reserves—estimated at more than 300 billion barrels, the largest in the world. Trump reportedly received an offer from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro several weeks ago, proposing to grant the United States access to much of those reserves without the need for military action. Despite this, Trump is said to have halted those talks and suspended further negotiations with Caracas. However, on Friday, a senior administration official speaking anonymously to The New York Times said the discussions are “not entirely dead” — and suggested that the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), its carrier strike group, and other U.S. military movements in the Southern Caribbean are intended to increase pressure on President Maduro.

Ukraine has launched a major drone-swarm attack against Russia, targeting the oil refineries in Volgograd and Samara.

Major anti-corruption protests have erupted outside Mexico’s National Palace in Mexico City following the cartel killing of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo. Demonstrators attempting to push through police barricades are clashing with security forces, with many calling for President Claudia Sheinbaum to resign.

President Zelensky said that Russia must pay for the war, and that the best way for this to happen is through releasing to Ukraine the nearly $300 billion in Russian assets frozen in European banks, primarily in Belgium. Ukraine already receives the interest generated by this Russian money, and the European Union attempted to move forward with transferring the assets in the form of loans that would be guaranteed by the future war reparations Moscow is expected to pay. However, the initiative failed, with another attempt planned for early 2026.

A peace agreement has been reached in Qatar between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 rebels, marking a major step toward ending the conflict in eastern Congo.

BBC issues formal apology to Trump over selective edits of his Jan. 6 speech.

The Syrian Liberal Party is urging President Ahmed al-Sharaa to hold Iran accountable for its actions against the Syrian people during the civil war and to demand $500 billion in compensation from Tehran.

The U.K. Office of Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reports a possible “incident” in the Arabian Sea near the Strait of Hormuz, about 20 nautical miles off the coast of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates. According to initial assessments, the Marshall Islands–flagged oil tanker M/T Talara was ambushed and seized this morning by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Gulf of Oman. The vessel had departed earlier from the Port of Ajman in the UAE for a short voyage to Singapore. The British maritime risk management firm Vanguard stated that the Talara was surrounded by three IRGC fast-boats near the Strait of Hormuz, roughly 20NM from the UAE coastline, before communications were lost and the tanker abruptly changed course toward Iran.

Insane footage captures a Ukrainian long-range cruise missile striking what appears to be a surface-to-air missile launcher near the port of Novorossiysk on Russia’s Black Sea coast.