Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested he was backing down from his threat to court-martial Mark Kelly and would instead seek to reduce his retirement pay.
In a video with other Democratic lawmakers, Kelly said troops had a responsibility not to obey illegal orders. The video came after the Trump administration began striking alleged drug boats off the coast of Venezuela.
Hegseth called the video "seditious" in a statement on Monday.
"Therefore, in response to Senator Mark Kelly's seditious statements — and his pattern of reckless misconduct — the Department of War is taking administrative action against Captain Mark E. Kelly, USN (Ret)," the Defense Secretary said. "The department has initiated retirement grade determination proceedings under 10 U.S.C. § 1370(f), with reduction in his retired grade resulting in a corresponding reduction in retired pay."
"To ensure this action, the Secretary of War has also issued a formal Letter of Censure, which outlines the totality of Captain (for now) Kelly's reckless misconduct. This Censure is a necessary process step, and will be placed in Captain Kelly's official and permanent military personnel file," he continued. "Captain Kelly has been provided notice of the basis for this action and has thirty days to submit a response. The retirement grade determination process directed by Secretary Hegseth will be completed within forty five days."
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), the former Democratic vice presidential nominee, cited President Donald Trump's attacks on his state as he announced he was dropping out of the race for another gubernatorial term.
"I can't give a political campaign my all," Walz said in a statement, noting that it was "an extraordinarily difficult year for our state."
Walz pointed to an ongoing daycare fraud investigation in the state.
"Donald Trump and his allies – in Washington, in St. Paul, and online – want to make our state a colder, meaner place," Walz observed. "They want to poison our people against each other by attacking our neighbors. And, ultimately, they want to take away much of what makes Minnesota the best place in America to raise a family."
Trump recently amplified the false claim that Walz was behind the murder of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D).
On Jan. 6, 2021, author and ethnographer Noelle Cook drove to Washington, D.C. On Capitol Hill, she was shocked to come upon a scene of people smashed against the walls of Congress and emergency responders taking away the body of Ashli Babbitt, the Air Force veteran who was shot dead by police as she attempted to crawl through a broken window and into the Speaker’s Lobby, outside the House chamber.
Cook had not shown up to take part in the “Stop the Steal” rally, which ended in the storming of the U.S. Capitol by rioters who believed Donald Trump’s lie that Joe Biden stole the 2020 election.
As a researcher and amateur photographer, Cook thought the rally might inspire a project.
“I had never done anything MAGA before, so I thought I would just go down and take photographs of the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally because the signs and stuff are always visually interesting,” Cook told Raw Story, of that day now five years gone.
“It was very surreal. It was almost like this sinister carnival, where there was celebratory activity, and also I heard so much violent rhetoric everywhere — people talking about hanging people.”
After Cook returned home to Maryland, she spent three weeks processing images. Then she decided to follow the first 100 women who were arrested for their actions on January 6.
Scouring court records, news reports and social media, Cook looked for patterns.
What she discovered was that many of these women, like herself, had entered middle age.
Cook immersed herself in the stories of two such women, Yvonne St. Cyr and Tammy Butry.
To Cook, the two women embraced “conspirituality,” a term scholars use to describe a quickly growing ideology that blends New Age spirituality, anti-vaccination advocacy, anti-government extremism and conspiracy theories.
A potent mix, it ultimately brought St. Cyr and Butry to the Capitol on January 6.
“I had no intention of studying QAnon or conspiracies or anything, but I kind of followed these women where they led me, which was straight into conspiracies,” Cook said.
‘They get their community online’
St. Cyr and Butry were both in the mob that forced its way into the Capitol.
St. Cyr led a crowd through the tunnels below the main corridors and chambers, coaching rioters in a collective push to open the doors.
Butry, wearing a blue Trump flag as a cape, marched around inside the Capitol, taking selfies and a swig of Jack Daniel’s, Cook writes.
The riot failed to stop certification of the election. Biden became president. St. Cyr would be sentenced to 30 months in prison, Butry to 20 days.
On the page, Cook examines how a combination of personal trauma and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic made women like St. Cyr and Butry more susceptible to conspiracy theories, as they were exposed to more and more online.
“Most of these women that I talk to, middle-aged women, don't have that much opportunity to socialize anymore, and they get their community online,” Cook said.
During the pandemic, such women found themselves with little time to leave their homes, especially while caring for children or aging parents or both. Turning to Facebook groups and other online communities, they found guidance and community.
“I think conspiracies serve as a coping mechanism for many people,” Cook said.
‘Validated and vindicated’
In interviewing participants in the Jan. 6 riot, Cook said, she has “not talked to anybody personally who regrets that day.”
Last January, on his first day back in office, Trump pardoned nearly 1,600 January 6th defendants. That, Cook said, provided a corroboration of many conspiracists’ beliefs.
“It's worse because Trump pardoned all of them, and so they all feel validated and vindicated,” Cook said.
“I keep getting told, ‘See, I told you, this is going to come true.’”
The same goes for Trump’s appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Known before entering office for campaigning against vaccines, Kennedy has used his position to roll back vaccine guidance — actions conspiracists frequently support.
“They're going to celebrate until the kids all start dying of some preventable disease,” Cook said.
Conspiracists continue to look to the Trump administration for what they see as validation of their beliefs, Cook said, particularly adherents of QAnon, the far-right movement whose premise involves Trump waging war on Satan-worshipping cannibalistic pedophiles, among supposed Democratic elites in Hollywood and the federal government.
“It's a wink and a nod all the time, and that keeps people energized,” Cook said.
“For so long as people with authority continue to stoke the fire and continue to throw out the little crumbs here and there to keep people invested, I don't know how it does change, because I feel like everyone was more emboldened and felt a lot more empowered when Trump was reelected this time.”
‘Facts don’t really matter’
Cook did not try to convince St. Cyr or Butry their beliefs were wrong. Rather, she observed and listened.
“That's the problem here with conspiracists, facts don't really matter much,” Cook said. “It’s feelings.
“What you're asking people to do [by asking them to change] is take away their daily purpose, their sense of belonging and their sense of community, which is a really hard thing to do.”
Conspiracists don’t typically change beliefs until it affects them personally, Cook said — as in the case of Erica Roach, a one-time QAnon and anti-vaccine adherent who left Trump’s MAGA movement after January 6, as Raw Story recently reported.
“There's nothing really anyone can do, I don't think, to extract people until they have a reason to see it themselves,” Cook said.
“When you're dealing with such outrageous, outlandish myths and stories and fabrications, it's really hard to convince people otherwise.”
Donald Trump has gone on a late night Truth Social binge, posting nearly 100 times in the middle of the night.
The president uses the social media platform to announce administration updates and to take aim at his critics, but a flurry of reposts were made by Trump in the early hours of January 5. Many of the posts appeared to be reposts of his own Truth Social comments, which were screen recordings or screenshots of political commentary.
Posts made by the president touched on immigration in the US, Venezuela, and one denounced the "thieving government". The post reads, "Tell me again, why do we pay tax money to a broken, lying, thieving government?"
It marks one of 89 posts made by the president in the span of an hour. One post appeared to praise tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, with the video seemingly confirming the Tesla head will back the Republican Party in the midterms later this year.
The post reads, "Elon Musk is reportedly going all-in funding Republicans to help President Trump take back full control in the November midterms." Trump also made reposts on voter ID laws and repeated a debunked claim on Ilhan Omar.
Trump reposted a comment from Mila Joy, which reads, "Ilhan Omar - money laundering, racketeering, bribery, kickbacks, conspiracy, campaign finance abuse, defrauding investors and employees... (Not to mention immigration fraud for marrying her brother.) Lock her up then boot her out."
Rumors that Omar's ex-husband Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is secretly her brother, and married her to illegally gain residency in the United States, have circulated since 2016 during her run for Minnesota state legislature, when a right-wing website briefly posted, then deleted, what was purported to be an Instagram screenshot that showed Elmi with Omar's children by a previous marriage, and calling them "nieces."
There is no evidence for the claim other than this now-deleted, unsubstantiated screenshot. Trump also shared a TikTok clip which saw Venezuelans thank Trump for the capture of president Nicolás Maduro.
The president has since called Venezuela a "dead" country in need of investment. "Venezuela, right now, is a dead country," Trump said. "We have to bring it back. We're going to have to have big investments from the oil companies to rebuild the infrastructure."
"The oil companies are ready to go," Trump continued. "They're going to go in. They're going to build the infrastructure. We built it to start off with many years ago. They took it away. You can't do that."
Jimmy Kimmel has issued a warning to Donald Trump ahead of his return to late night television.
The Live! host will be back on air from tonight (January 5), and picked up a Critics' Choice Award for Best Talk Show the day before. Using his speech to thank the president, Kimmel mocked Trump and says the administration had given his team a "banner couple of weeks" to break down.
Kimmel has been clear with his stance against Trump and has infuriated the president on more than one occasion. Trump had called for Kimmel's show to be axed in a furious rant on Truth Social, while Kimmel often suggests during his opening monologue that the president is watching live.
Speaking at the Critics' Choice Awards last night, Kimmel said, "And most of all, I want to thank our president, Donald Jennifer Trump, without whom, we would be going home empty handed tonight."
"So thank you, Mr. President, for all the many ridiculous things you do each and every day. It’s been a banner couple of weeks, and we can’t get wait to get back on the air tomorrow night to talk about them."
Kimmel will return to his late night talk show today. The host had used his final show of 2025 to talk of a "hard year" for the Live! programme, which was briefly suspended from September 17 to September 22.
The suspension followed threats from Donald Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to revoke ABC's license over Kimmel's material. Massive viewer outrage prompted the network to reinstate the show the following week.
Kimmel became visibly emotional during the monologue, telling viewers: "I just want to say that we appreciate your support, your enthusiasm, and not just for watching. This year, you literally pulled us out of a hole, and we cannot thank you enough personally."
Kimmel said that part of what made the year difficult was the "many awful and destructive acts" occurring throughout the United States. He emphasized the importance of his show and similar programs in helping viewers cope.
"When I hear from people who tell me that they watch our show, and the shows that my friends and colleagues do on the other channels, and that it makes them feel less crazy, it makes me feel less crazy too," Kimmel said.
Jimmy Kimmel roasted Trump after winning the Critics Choice Award for Best Talk Show:
“I want to thank our president, Donald Jennifer Trump, without whom, we would be going home empty handed tonight. So thank you, Mr. President, for all the many ridiculous things you do each and… pic.twitter.com/uHbdIAfBTN — Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) January 5, 2026
Critics pounced on JD Vance on Sunday after the vice president scrambled to answer a common question about the Trump administration's motives for attacking Venezuela.
Vance over the weekend took to X to explain the administration's attack on Venezuela on a purported mission to stop fentanyl trafficking, considering the controversial drug doesn't flow from there.
"First off, fentanyl isn't the only drug in the world and there is still fentanyl coming from Venezuela (or at least there was)," he claimed, adding, "Cocaine is bad too!"
That response didn't sit well with numerous political observers, including Jennifer Jenkins, who is running for U.S. Senate in Florida.
"Fifth - and this is me speaking as an American who’s tired of being lied to: Thanks for admitting it. This was never about fentanyl. It’s oil," she added to Vance's text. "I don’t want another forever war sold with better branding. And neither do most Americans."
News insider David Clinch replied by saying, "On the surface this reads like 'America First' and re-establishing some kind of lost status, when in fact it is a retreat from America’s status as the World’s only true Super Power to an old 'Great Powers + Spheres of Influence' status that suits Russia and China just fine."
Literary editor Eric Nelson made a historical comparison:
“Are we just supposed to allow a communist to steal our stuff in our hemisphere and do nothing? Great powers don't act like that.”— JD Vance
“It’s either war or the end of Italy’s name as a great power.”—Mussolini
Legal analyst Marcy Wheeler, of EmptyWheel, was stunned by what she called a serious "admission" about the administration's earlier moves.
"WOWOWO. @JDVance confesses the Administration has been lying about the murderboat strikes," she wrote Sunday. "Will he report @StephenM to be prosecuted to Pam Bondi?"
The Premier of Greenland is speaking out strongly after an "insane" and "disrespectful" social media post from Stephen Miller's wife.
Katie Miller, wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, caught some flak on Saturday after making what some described as an insane one-word comment about the nation of Greenland. Miller's post was a simple yet heavily labeled map of Greenland, but the entire allied nation was colored in with the red, white, and blue consistent with the U.S. flag. She included a single word in the caption.
"SOON," she wrote.
But the leader of Greenland didn't take too kindly to that, issuing a statement on Sunday insisting that Miller's post still "changes nothing."
"Let me state this calmly and clearly from the outset: there is neither reason for panic nor for concern. The image shared by Katie Miller, depicting Greenland wrapped in an American flag, changes nothing whatsoever," Premier of Greenland, Jens Frederik Nielsen, wrote this weekend. "Our country is not for sale, and our future is not decided by social media posts. That said, the image is disrespectful. Relations between nations and peoples are built on mutual respect and international law — not on symbolic gestures that disregard our status and our rights."
The Premier added, "We are a democratic society with self-government, free elections, and strong institutions. Our position is firmly grounded in international law and in internationally recognized agreements. This is not in question. Naalakkersuisut (Government of Greenland) continues its work calmly and responsibly. We engage in dialogue, safeguard our interests, and uphold the international rules that also bind our partners. There is no reason for panic. But there is every reason to speak out against a lack of respect."
JD Vance on Sunday scrambled to answer a common question about the Trump administration's motives for attacking Venezuela.
The notion that Venezuela was a target due to fentanyl has been a common theme since Trump first began ordering military strikes on ships from that region. It has been pushed forward or at least allowed to slip by, but statistics have shown Venezuela produces almost none of that drug.
Vance over the weekend attempted to explain this clear contradiction.
"You see a lot claims that Venezuela has nothing to do with drugs because most of the fentanyl comes from elsewhere. I want to address this: First off, fentanyl isn't the only drug in the world and there is still fentanyl coming from Venezuela (or at least there was)," the V.P. claimed. "Second, cocaine, which is the main drug trafficked out of Venezuela, is a profit center for all of the Latin America cartels. If you cut out the money from cocaine (or even reduce it) you substantially weaken the cartels overall. Also, cocaine is bad too!"
He then went on to admit where fentanyl comes from.
"Third, yes, a lot of fentanyl is coming out of Mexico. That continues to be a focus of our policy in Mexico and is a reason why President Trump shut the border on day one," he wrote Sunday. "Fourth, I see a lot of criticism about oil. About 20 years ago, Venezuela expropriated American oil property and until recently used that stolen property to get rich and fund their narcoterrorist activities. I understand the anxiety over the use of military force, but are we just supposed to allow a communist to steal our stuff in our hemisphere and do nothing? Great powers don't act like that. The United States, thanks to President Trump's leadership, is a great power again. Everyone should take note."
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the top-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, argued Sunday that his House colleague Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) had just moments earlier accidentally given “the game away” by revealing President Donald Trump’s disregard for the legislative branch of government, and his method of weaponizing his own party's capitulation.
Jordan appeared on CNN Sunday and, when asked about the contradictions between Trump’s purported “America First” ideology and his unprecedented attack on and takeover of Venezuela on Saturday, repeatedly claimed that he trusted Trump’s judgement.
Himes, appearing on CNN with Dana Bash just moments after Jordan, zeroed in on one particular phrase Jordan uttered multiple times.
“I hope you can play that interview over and over again because he gave the game away. He said over and over again 'I trust the president' – he's being asked to explain an imperial adventure,” Himes said.
“An imperial adventure from the guy who was going to be America First and not get into stupid wars, and his answer is 'I trust the president.' That is giving the game away because two-thirds of my Republican colleagues in the Congress wake up every single morning and say 'what can I do today to prove my loyalty to the president,' and Jim Jordan appears to be unaware that our whole system is set up to provide checks and balances.”
An act of war requires approval for Congress, and even more, plans for major military operations, are traditionally communicated to who are known as the “Gang of Eight,” a bi-partisan group of congressional leaders. Neither was done prior to the Trump administration’s attack on Venezuela, and even more than 24 hours after the attack on Sunday, Himes – who’s a member of that Gang of Eight as the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee – said he still hadn’t been briefed.
“Still haven't gotten a phone call! Well after the operation yesterday, a staffer at the office of the Secretary of Defense called the staff on the Intelligence Committee, but no,” Himes said.
“This is a long pattern and a particularly egregious example of a pattern of this administration not giving a hoot about the United States Congress, which by the way, Jim Jordan just sort of gave the game away. I hope you can play that interview over and over again because he gave the game away.”
Regarding Jordan’s remarks, Himes suggested that the lack of scrutiny from Jordan – the chair of the House Judiciary Committee – along with the lack of scrutiny from other Republican lawmakers, showed that they had effectively ceded their oversight role to Trump, who, in turn, has used that power to pursue controversial actions such as his administration’s attack on Venezuela.
“The job of a member of Congress is to approach the president with skepticism, with push back!” Himes continued. “So again, I hope you can play that video over and over again so America can see the fact that they no longer have a Congress.”
Donald Trump made a comment over the weekend that stunned political observers and experts alike, and had some asking, "Is this real?"
The president on Saturday was discussing his administration's successful mission to capture the leader of Venezuela, as well as his wife, when Trump made the remark.
"All the way back it dated to the Monroe Doctrines. And the Monroe Doctrine is a big deal. But we've superseded it by a lot. By a real lot," Trump said. "They now call it the Donroe Document. I don't know. It's Monroe Doctrine. We sort of forgot about it."
Regarding Trump's "Donroe Doctrine" comment, Dem Congresswoman Madeleine Dean said it was revealing.
"He talked about the Monroe Doctrine, tried to call it the Donroe Doctrine. The only reason anybody would talk about the Monroe Doctrine and in some vain moment, call it the Donroe Doctrine, is if you are in an expansionist war," she added, claiming, "The president revealed his hands."
The comment stood out to others online, too.
Chuck Todd, host of the Chuck ToddCast, asked, "Who needs The Onion. Hey kids, let’s talk about the 'Donroe Doctrine.'"
Democratic strategist Michelle Kinney, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Seneca Project, a federal Super PAC, also chimed in:
"Oh my god how is this real."
The New Yorker's John Cassidy posted a profane meme asking, "What the f----?"
Professor Christopher Rhodes noted, "I write about the Monroe Doctrine (as well as Manifest Destiny) in my new book and discuss how Trump has seemed to embrace those principles in his new term."
"But now he's not only invoking the Monroe Doctrine but making a literal mockery of it," he further added. "Disturbing times."
Diplomat Tom Malinowski added, "It’s called the Putin doctrine in Europe and the Xi Jinping doctrine in Asia."
Ex-GOP strategist Jeff Timmer also said, "The Donroe Doctrine = Trump is the stupidest motherf------ oaf in this, or any any hemisphere."
JD Vance was accused this weekend of being a hypocrite, as political observers threw the vice president's prior remarks back in his face in the wake of the Trump admin's military strike in Venezuela.
After Trump announced the successful mission to capture Venezuela's leader and his wife, Vance took to social media to voice his support for the venture some have deemed "regime change."
"The president offered multiple off ramps, but was very clear throughout this process: the drug trafficking must stop, and the stolen oil must be returned to the United States. Maduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says. Kudos to our brave special operators who pulled off a truly impressive operation," Vance wrote before adding, "And PSA for everyone saying this was 'illegal': Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. You don't get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas."
Instantly, people reminded Vance of his earlier positions.
"I assume you guys also didn’t go to Congress. I remember when you were against regime change and when you said that we should stop being the world police. What happened?"
Krassenstein went on to say, "It’s strange how just 7 months ago, JD Vance was condemning the failed 'experiment' of nation-building and warning against 'foreign meddling in other countries’ affairs,' even boasting that Trump was 'shifting away' from those exact policies."
"Now those principles seem to have vanished," he added. "At this point, it’s fair to ask whether Vance actually has a consistent foreign-policy worldview, or whether his only ideology is aligning himself with whatever position Trump happens to take in the moment."
Former Biden aide Andrew Bates asked, "Does JD Vance even know what JD Vance really stands for?" before quoting Vance in 2024:
"Who's going to fight those wars? I guarantee you it's not going to be Kamala Harris' family. It's going to be the people right here from Erie, PA. So we want peace, right?"
Antiwar news editor Dave DeCamp wrote Saturday, "'You guys are worse than the neocons."'
MS NOW's Jonathan Lemire highlighted the part about "stolen oil."
Constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis said, "Sovereign countries cannot be invaded to extract persons because they have been indicted by the United States absent Congressional authorization. Otherwise, POTUS would have unfettered, unilateral authority to start wars in the pursuit of justice, however he or she defined it."
Sovereign countries cannot be invaded to extract persons because they have been indicted by the United States absent Congressional authorization. Otherwise, POTUS would have unfettered, unilateral authority to start wars in the pursuit of justice, however he or she defined it. https://t.co/X1iR0YZBh6 — Anthony Michael Kreis, FRHistS (@AnthonyMKreis) January 3, 2026
A retired general said the "hairs on his neck stood up" when he heard one part of Donald Trump's plans for Venezuela.
Ret. Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling appeared on MS NOW on Saturday, where he was asked about the Trump administration's decision to capture the leader of Venezuela. Trump went on to say he plans to have the U.S. take control over the country, as opposed to letting the nation's constitution do its job, and didn't rule out having U.S. boots on the ground.
The host asked Hertling about the administration's plans, saying, "So, general, you used theword difficult, challenging.Would you add dangerous to thatdescription?"
He replied, "Yeah, I most certainly would.And truthfully, it brought backa whole lot of scar tissue forme. Having been in Iraq acouple of times, especially mylast tour, there was in an areathat had the Baiji oilrefineries and some of theKurdish oil fields. We tried tobring in oil companies to helpthe Iraqis figure out how towork their their oil facilitiesbetter than they had been. Andit was difficult because ofsecurity issues."
He then added, "And I kind ofreally... the hairs on my neckstood up when the presidentsaid, 'Oh, we don't have toworry about boots on the ground.We can do that.' And that wasprobably something new to theaudience today, too. Theyprobably weren't expecting thefact that we might havemilitary forces in Venezuelaand in these kind of situationsin a country that's as big asVenezuela with a 300 or with a30 million citizen population,and with a security forcebetween the army and the policeforces, measures about 300,000in Venezuela."
Concluding his answer on an ominous note, the general said, "I'mnot sure they're going to opentheir welcoming arms to allthose people that might becoming in from the various oilcompanies."
Donald Trump spurred outrage among his critics on Saturday when he boosted a conspiracy theory suggesting a top Democratic contender had a fellow politician assassinated.
Trump on Saturday posted a video that asks the question, "Did Tim Walz really have (D) Melissa Hoertman (sic) assassinated???" In fact, Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman were killed by a political assassin, Vance Boelter, who apparently supported Trump.
The video shared by Trump goes against the findings of his own Justice Department, and it raised red flags for political analysts.
MeidasTouch wrote, "Donald Trump is now reposting videos on Truth Social suggesting that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz had Melissa Hortman assassinated."
"This is objectively evil, and calling it out should not be political," they added.
Author Tara Dublin wrote, "Every accusation is a confession."
Political humorist Jesus Freakin Congress said on Saturday, "Trump didn’t even so much as mention her name when she was assassinated…"
PatriotTakes, which purports to track right-wing extremism, chimed in, "Trump did it again. This is his 2nd post pushing a conspiracy that Governor Tim Walz had Melissa Hortman murdered in her own home. Absolutely disgusting."
Minnesota political operative Richard Carlbom said, "Donald Trump is spreading sickening, dangerous disinformation about Melissa Hortman’s assassination."
"I’m calling on the MN GOP, their elected officials, and every GOP candidate for Governor to condemn this — now," he then added.
Republicans against Trump added, "Trump shared a conspiracy post on Truth Social accusing Tim Walz of ordering the assassination of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman. Absolutely disgusting . (The reality is that Hortman’s murderer was a Trump supporter.)"
