Early Edition: October 21, 2025

U.S. CARIBBEAN OPERATIONS 

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump announced he was sending two survivors of a U.S. strike on a suspected drug-running boat to their home countries for “detention and prosecution.” But on Monday, Ecuador said it had released one of the men “after prosecutors said they had no evidence he committed a crime in the South American nation.” The Colombian man, who survived the strike and was repatriated, remains hospitalized. The Associated Press reports.

Ecuador’s contradictory assessment of the survivor’s guilt is part of a wider trend. Although the Trump administration claims the people they’re targeting in the Caribbean are “narco-terrorists,” “records and interviews with 20 people familiar with the route or the strikes, including current and former U.S. and international officials, contradict the administration’s claims,” the Washington Post reports. Family members of the 11 men killed in September in the first attack said the men had been taking marijuana and cocaine from Venezuela to Trinidad, but said they did not work for the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, as the Trump administration claimed.

On Monday, Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, called for a hearing to examine the Trump administration’s military strikes in the Caribbean. “We have also yet to see any evidence to support the president’s unilateral determinations that these vessels or their activities posed imminent threats to the United States of America that warranted military force rather than law enforcement-led interdiction,” he said. Holding such a hearing would be up to House Republican leadership. Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson “has kept the House in recess during the three-week government shutdown.” Eric Schmitt reports for the New York Times.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio–who sought the ouster of Venezuela’s autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, for years while a U.S. senator–is leading the administration’s aggressive campaign against Venezuela. “In his unusual double role as Trump’s top diplomat and national security adviser, Rubio has been able to execute quickly on policies he has been advocating for over a decade,” Lara Seligman, Vera Bergengruen, and Kejal Vyas report for the Wall Street Journal.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR – CEASEFIRE

The White House has deployed its top aides to Israel in an effort to preserve the fragile cease-fire deal brokered between Israel and Hamas. Vice President J.D. Vance is joining U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner on the ground today, Neri Zilber and Abigail Hauslohner report for the Financial Times. The high-level visits come as American officials are “increasingly concerned that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, could dismantle the U.S.-brokered agreement.” Katie Rogers and Luke Broadwater report for the New York Times.

Meanwhile, countries are skittish about contributing troops to an international security force that would be tasked with maintaining peace in Gaza. “Diplomats and other officials from several countries who are familiar with the situation say there has been little progress on when the force might be assembled because of confusion over the force’s mission, which appears to be the most serious stumbling block.” The New York Times reports.

With the cease-fire in effect, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the “much-criticized aid group run by U.S. security contractors and backed by Israel,” has suspended its operations in Gaza,  Natan Odenheimer, Adam Rasgon, and David M. Halbfinger report for the New York Times.

On Monday, Hamas handed over a body that it says is a hostage. There has been anger in Israel that Hamas has not returned all deceased hostages. “Before Monday, Hamas had handed over all 20 living hostages and 12 out of 28 deceased hostages under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal that began on 10 October.” Mallory Moench reports for the BBC.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR 

Ukraine and its European allies put out a statement this morning calling for negotiations to end the war with Russia with “the current line of contact” as “the starting point of negotiations.” The statement was signed by Ukrainian President ​​Volodymyr Zelenskyy; the leaders of nine countries including France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy; and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It comes after “Trump urged Zelenskyy to surrender the entire Donbas region to Vladimir Putin, although he later endorsed a freeze of the current front lines.” Josephine Cumbo reports for the Financial Times.

OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Japan elected its first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, described by the Washington Post as a “firebrand nationalist and security hawk.” Takaichi “will face her biggest test yet as she deals with fresh uncertainty about Japan’s military and economic alliance with the United States. She is expected to meet next week in Tokyo with Mr. Trump, who has rattled Japanese officials with tariffs and suggestions that the country should pay more for the presence of American troops in the region,” Javier C. Hernández reports for the New York Times.

British defense officials are investigating a possible cyberattack in which Russian-linked hackers stole sensitive military documents and posted them on the dark web. The documents contained “details of eight bases in the country, including two used by the U.S. military.” Phillip Walter Wellman reports for Stars and Stripes.

Iraq said Monday that it will keep a small group of U.S. military advisers, between 250 and 350 personnel, to coordinate with U.S. forces in Syria in the fight against ISIS. Qassim Abdul-Zahra reports for the Associated Press.

U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a pact on Monday that would boost investment in Australia’s rare earths and critical minerals, in an effort to counter China’s outsized role in the market. “China currently controls about 70% of rare earths mining and 90% of the processing of the materials, which are found in everything from defence equipment to computer chips and cars,” Natalie Sherman reports for BBC News. On Monday, the bank Goldman Sachs “flagged mounting risks to global supply chains of rare earths and other critical minerals,” Reuters reports. Meanwhile, the two leaders touted the deal at the White House on Monday, but “it is unclear how concrete the agreement is or how soon mineral supply to the United States could be ramped up.” Zolan Kanno-Youngs reports for the New York Times.

U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS

Republican senators are saying they will oppose Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel after Politico reported on the candidate’s racist text messages. Paul Ingrassia told fellow Republicans in a group chat that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and that he has “a Nazi streak,” Daniel Lippman reports for Politico. On Monday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he hopes the White House withdraws the nomination. Hailey Fuchs reports for Politico.

Colleges and universities have largely rejected the White House’s offer to obtain more federal funding in exchange for aligning their institutions with the Trump administration’s priorities. “The University of Arizona rejected the Trump administration’s compact on Monday, joining Brown University, Dartmouth College, M.I.T., the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California and the University of Virginia,” Alan Blinder reports for the New York Times. Vanderbilt University did not reject the proposal outright, but made clear it had reservations. Only the University of Texas suggested it might sign the compact, but it had not given a formal response by October 20, the White House’s deadline for signing. The New York Times Michael C. Bender reports that the Trump administration is now scrambling to enlist a new set of schools.

A group of dozens of officials from across the government, including U.S. intelligence officers, are participating in an effort to seek retribution on the president’s perceived enemies. The Interagency Weaponization Working Group has been meeting since at least May trying to “root out” people who are perceived to have misused government power against Trump. Jonathan Landay, Sarah N. Lynch, and Phil Stewart report for Reuters.

The U.S. Coast Guard has purchased two private jets for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for $172 Million. DHS described the purchase as a “matter of safety,” but it was not immediately clear where the funding for the jets came from. Catie Edmondson reports for the New York Times.

The U.S. Army is tapping private equity groups to help the service fund a $150 billion infrastructure overhaul. Steff Chávez and Antoine Gara report for the Financial Times.

U.S. IMMIGRATION

Congressional Democrats announced on Monday that they are launching “an investigation into reports of misconduct by federal agents during immigration arrests across the country, focusing on the detainment of American citizens.” Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said their investigations will focus on “how long American citizens have been held and whether they were allowed to call a lawyer.” Although they can begin an investigation on their own, they “can’t subpoena anyone without the support of a majority of Republicans.” Jesus Jiménez report for the New York Times.

Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman is asking the New York City Police Department “to arrest and even charge federal agents working in the city if they break New York’s laws.” Gwynne Hogan reports for The City.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled on Monday that the Trump administration’s deployment of the National Guard to Portland, Oregon can proceed. The decision lifted a temporary block on the deployment, which had been placed on it by Judge Karin Immergut of the Federal District Court for the District of Oregon. Judges Bridget Bade and Ryan Nelson, both Trump appointees, acknowledged that some of the protests have been peaceful, but wrote that some have turned violent. In a dissent, Judge Susan Graber, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, disputed this characterization of the situation in Portland. She wrote that “Today’s decision is not merely absurd, it erodes core constitutional principles,” including state control over the National Guard and the First Amendment right to assemble and protest. Within a few hours of the decision, another Circuit judge called for a larger group of the Ninth Circuit judges to reconsider the panel’s decision (en banc). Anna Griffin and Mattathias Schwartz report for the New York Times.

Illinois officials are asking the U.S. Supreme Court “to leave in place a lower court order blocking the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops in the Chicago area in a case with implications for the use of state-based military forces in other American cities,”  Ann E. Marimow reports for the New York Times. On Friday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow it to move ahead with the deployment while the lower courts “consider the city and state’s lawsuit challenging the legality of the move.” The Supreme Court’s decision could come as early as this week.

On Monday, lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey asked the judge to dismiss the Justice Department’s case against him, calling it a vindictive and selective prosecution. They also said that Trump’s pick for interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, is serving unlawfully in the role. The Washington Post reports.

Halligan initiated a long text exchange with Lawfare’s Anna Bower and then insisted that the entire conversation was off the record. Bower with the account at Lawfare. Fani Willis, the prosecutor who brought charges against Trump for election interference in Georgia, is now being scrutinized by the Justice Department for a trip she took to the Bahamas. The New York Times reports.

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