Rumors circulated online in December 2025 that a startup company backed by Donald Trump Jr.'s venture capital firm was granted a $620 million loan from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).

The U.S. is participating in extrajudicial killings of people in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean, claiming, without evidence, that the murdered men are involved in the narcotics trade. The Washington Post reported last week that after one strike, Hegseth issued a verbal order to "kill everyone" on board one boat.

Shortly after the Trump administration carried out its first known attack on an alleged drug vessel in the Caribbean in early September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared with his old colleagues on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends” to brag about the precision of the operation.

Lawmakers are pressing Hegseth to release unedited footage and specific orders related to a series of strikes.

The order does not issue a federal framework immediately, but includes numerous “tools” to push back on some state laws in the meantime.

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday overturned President Donald Trump's decision to halt all new permits for wind energy projects.