This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The U.S. military destroyed another purported drug-smuggling vessel Tuesday, but this time it was on the Pacific side of South America.
U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth posted video of the exploded boat, stating: "Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.
"The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route, and carrying narcotics," Hegseth continued.
"There were two narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. Both terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.
"Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere. Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people. There will be no refuge or forgiveness – only justice."
This is the eighth known U.S. attack on a vessel since Sept. 2, with the other seven targeting vessels in the Caribbean Sea.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday voiced support for the action, saying at the White House: "The bottom line, these are drug boats. If people want to stop seeing drug boats blown up, stop sending drugs to the United States."
Hegseth is receiving plenty of positive and negative feedback to his announcement on X, including:
"Why do all of these peaceful, simple fisherman have $60,000+ in motors on their fishing boats?"
"That is clearly a bunch of poor fishermen just trying to feed their families. Seriously, everyone knows that you need 3 outboard motors to catch the really fast fish!"
"Congrats bro we get it you are killing random people with 0 evidence of a crime and then you're posting the killcam as if it's a highlight reel. This admin is not one of peace, it is a typical regime change admin looking out for the neocons."
"You going to provide any evidence, arrest and try them like civilized countries do? Or just going to kill whomever you please, same as every other warmongering regime in the American Empire?"
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A video reveals a big rig barreling at full speed into a line of stopped vehicles on a California highway.
Apparently the driver, who reportedly was arrested and accused of driving under the influence, never even tried to slow down:
The evidence:
Reported the X member who posted the video: "I'm sure this wreck has nothing to do with the 25% of CDLs in Gavin Newsom's California being improperly issued…"
The issue of impaired drivers, under the influence or foreigners who are unable to read English signs and communicate, suddenly has grown in recent months. Multiple big rigs have been involved in accidents, which because of their size, weight and speed, often are the subject of nightmares.
A report from a Fox affiliate said in addition to the three people killed, others were injured in the "horrific chain-reaction crash."
It happened on the westbound lanes of 10 Freeway Tuesday.
Highway patrol officers confirmed the preliminary review confirms traffic had slowed or stopped when the driver of a big rig simply barreled into the victims.
Eight vehicles ultimately were involved.
The driver arrested was identified as a 21-year-old man from Yuba City.
Texas congressman Tony Gonzalez (R) has been accused of having an affair with a woman on his staff who died after setting herself on fire.
35-year-old Regina Aviles perished in the blaze at her Uvalde home in September. While Gonzalez has publicly mourned Aviles as a "kind soul," anonymous sources told the Daily Mail that their relationship ran deeper than he let on.
A Gonzalez spokesman "refused to deny the affair when repeatedly offered the opportunity by the Daily Mail," the outlet noted.
The timeline of the relationship was not made clear, but one source told the Daily Mail that it lasted "for some time" and that Aviles' husband, Adrian Aviles, knew about the affair at the time of her death.
A source told the Daily Mail that Aviles and her husband split after he learned about her affair, but they continued to raise their eight-year-old together.
Adrian, who runs a video surveillance business, had installed cameras at the home they once shared, the Mail noted.
Police used footage from the cameras to verify that Regina was alone when she poured gasoline on herself and burst into flames on September 13. She was airlifted to a hospital, where she died the next morning from her injuries.
Aviles' family has insisted that her death was accidental.
“The last thing she said is, ‘I don’t want to die,” her mother, Nora, told the San Antonio Express News.
The mother has also said that Aviles was distressed about her estranged husband spending the weekend with their son at the time she died.
Aviles had been the regional director for Gonzalez since 2021, and she was often seen with the Texas congressman, who represents a border district including San Antonio, Uvalde, and El Paso.
After Aviles' death, Gonzales, a married father of six, restricted press access at a research facility where he was scheduled to appear, according to KSAT-TV.
Sources told the Mail that Gonzalez also did not attend Aviles' funeral, and her mother, Nora, told the New York Post that she did not remember seeing him there, although she noted she was emotional and may have missed him.
Gonzalez's office released a furious statement that did not directly address the affair rumors, instead accusing "political bottom feeders" of exploiting Aviles' gruesome death.
“To see political bottom feeders distort the circumstances around her passing is truly sickening. Tony Gonzales remains laser-focused on delivering historic achievements for Texas and condemns any attempts to misuse this tragedy," the person said.
Meanwhile, Aviles' bereaved mother told the New York Post that the affair claims are "completely false."
"I don’t think it has any merit,” she said.
President Trump is cutting off all U.S. subsidies to Colombia, accusing the leftist president of the world's largest cocaine producer of failing to stop the manufacture and flow of illegal drugs.
"President Gustavo Petro, of Colombia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia,” Trump wrote.
This is not the first time Trump and President Gustavo Petro have clashed. While visiting New York in September for the United Nations General Assembly, Petro denounced Trump and encouraged U.S. soldiers to disobey the commander-in-chief.
The State Department swiftly responded by revoking Petro's visa.
Now, Trumps says he will cut off all U.S. support for Petro's country if he does not do more to target illegal drugs.
“It has become the biggest business in Colombia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America,” he added.
“AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA,” Trump declared. “The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc.”
Trump capped his message to President Petro with a threat.
"Petro, a low rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America, better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely."
In addition to ending subsidies to Colombia, Trump has pledged to bring new tariffs against the U.S. ally, which was one of the top recipients of foreign aid before USAID was largely shuttered by Trump this year.
Trump has surged military assets to the Caribbean region, with much of the pressure being directed at Nicolas Maduro, the left-wing dictator of Venezuela, which neighbors Colombia.
Since September, Trump has carried out a campaign of deadly airstrikes against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean, prompting criticism from Petro and others who accuse Trump of murdering innocent fishermen without due process.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Sunday that a strike had taken out the members of a far-left Colombian rebel group, but Petro pushed back and claimed the boat belonged to a "humble family."
The first known survivors of Trump's strikes include a Colombian national who is being repatriated to his homeland to face prosecution.
“We are glad he is alive and he will be prosecuted according to the law,” Petro told the AFP.
While President Petro insists his government is fighting back against drug traffickers, cocaine production in his country is at an all-time high.
President Trump was forced to quickly board Air Force One because of "increased security measures" at Palm Beach International Airport, Fox News reported.
The Secret Service found a suspicious hunting platform Friday near the airport, just one day before Trump arrived for a weekend at Mar-A-Lago.
The hunting stand had a direct line of sight to where Trump's plane lands at the airport, FBI director Kash Patel said.
"Prior to the President’s return to West Palm Beach, USSS discovered what appeared to be an elevated hunting stand within sight line of the Air Force One landing zone," FBI director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital.
"No individuals were located at the scene. The FBI has since taken the investigatory lead, flying in resources to collect all evidence from the scene, and deploying our cell phone analytics capabilities."
The authorities shared a picture of the hunting stand, which was found in a tree during "advance security preparations" before Trump's arrival in Palm Beach.
“The U.S. Secret Service is working closely with the FBI and our law enforcement partners in Palm Beach County. During advance security preparations prior to the Palm Beach arrival, which included the use of technology and comprehensive physical sweeps, our teams identified items of interest near Palm Beach International Airport,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
As Trump departed Florida on Sunday, he boarded Air Force One using a small flight of stairs as a precaution, a White House official told Fox.
Secret Service came under intense scrutiny for security failures after Trump was bloodied by a sniper's bullet at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.
A second attempt on Trump's life was thwarted weeks later by a Secret Service agent who noticed a rifle poking from the fenceline of Trump's West Palm Beach golf course.
The gunman in that attempt, Ryan Routh, was found guilty last month, and he faces life in prison.
While speaking with reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump ripped Democratic Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones, who was recently caught wishing death on a Republican politician and his children. Democrats have defended Jones, who has refused to drop out.
"You mean the animal that wanted to kill somebody who should not be allowed to be running for that office?" Trump said when asked about Jones.
"He’s a third-rate intellect, he’s a guy who – I’ve never seen anybody say what he said, that he wanted to kill his opponent’s children – he wanted to kill his opponent," Trump said. "I can’t imagine anybody voting for Jay Jones. Look, you would think he’s totally discredited. I would think he wouldn’t even be allowed to do that; anybody would be put in prison for what he said."
President Donald Trump has confirmed that two men who survived a military strike on a drug smuggling vessel will be sent to their respective countries.
In an announcement on Saturday, Trump confirmed that the two men on the drug-running vessel will be sent to Ecuador and Colombia to face prosecution for the illegal and nearly fatal drug-running enterprise.
The two men were on board a semi-submersible vessel believed to be transporting fentanyl and other narcotics along a well-known smuggling route toward the United States.
The strike on the vessel marked the sixth strike that the U.S. military has made on suspected drug-running vessels in the Caribbean under the leadership of Trump.
Trump has vowed to crush Central and South American drug cartels both by closing down the southern border, but also by using lethal military force to disrupt the trafficking of deadly drugs that kill countless Americans every year.
For years, drug cartels have had carte blanche to run their deadly cargo through the Caribbean Sea and across the southern border, but those days are over as long as Trump is in the White House.
Trump celebrated the strike in a post on Truth Social saying, "It was my great honor to destroy a very large drug-carrying submarine that was navigating toward the United States on a well-known narcotrafficking transit route. U.S. intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics."
Alongside this post, Trump released the footage of the strike that destroyed the vessel in a similar fashion to the last few strikes on drug smuggling vessels.
For the first time, those participating in smuggling deadly drugs have something to fear. Simply seizing random amounts of smuggled drugs isn't enough to truly deter cartel activity.
Furthermore, Trump has avoided a massive legal headache as he no longer has to worry about detaining prisoners of war who have the legal right to contest their detention in the American court system.
Instead, these smugglers have gone to their respective countries, where their cases will be handled. The cases will likely be open and shut, and those smugglers can expect to spend some time behind bars, which is still better than being dead.
On the home front, Trump is already dealing with growing legal challenges as Democrats have predictably chosen to side with drug-smuggling cartels and launch spurious lawsuits against Trump's use of military force against cartels.
Of course, it's not just Democrats who have an issue with Trump starting a hot war against cartels. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has been a staunch critic of Trump's use of force and claims that the military strikes on drug smuggling vessels are illegal.
It remains to be seen what will happen with these legal challenges, but it's refreshing to see America's trillion-dollar military used to directly defend the homeland instead of waging meaningless wars on the other side of the globe.
President Donald Trump has worked overtime to put a dent in the narcotics traffickers roaming international waters, and he's clearly proud of the ongoing strikes as he has decided to authorize the release of videos showing drug traffickers getting blown out of the water.
According to Fox News, Trump authorized the U.S. military to strike a "very large drug-carrying submarine" in the waters of the Caribbean Sea, and he's letting the public see the video of the operation.
Two narco-terrorists died in the strike, and two others were captured alive.
The president took to his Truth Social account to talk about the strike, indicating that it was a "great honor" to see the drug submarine destroyed by the precision U.S. military strike.
In a statement posted to his Truth Social account, President Trump said the vessel was carrying mostly "fentanyl and other narcotics" toward the U.S. on a "well known narcotrafficking transit route."
That single interdiction alone, the president claimed, prevented the deaths of at least 25,000 Americans.
"It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE," Trump wrote in the statement. "U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl… There were four known narcoterrorists on board. Two of the terrorists were killed.
📹 DESTROYED: Confirmed DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE navigating towards the United States on a well-known narcotrafficking transit route.
"Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea." - President Trump pic.twitter.com/N4TAkgPHXN
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 18, 2025
Trump added, "The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution."
Fox News noted:
Fox News previously confirmed that two survivors were rescued by the U.S. Navy after the strike and were being held aboard an American warship. Trump’s statement is the first official acknowledgment of their identities and nationalities.
Users across social media weighed in on the successful strike.
"Can't believe they're actually trying that. Would be hilarious if it wasn't so despotic," one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "Couldn't we do the same thing to cartel mansions? Just a thought..."
It'll be interesting to see what targets Trump approves next.
Fox News host Jesse Watters is constantly under fire from the left, including his rivals in the liberal media, who are always on the hunt for a negative story about him.
According to the Daily Mail, Watters is now facing criticism -- at least from the radical liberal media -- over the way he reportedly met his now-wife, which included an admission that he let the air out of her tires at work so that she would need a ride home.
That was reportedly the story that Watters told in a clip on Fox News in 2022, drawing shock from his co-hosts.
The woman, who was 25 at the time, was Emma DiGiovine, who is married to Watters. It was noted that at the time of the alleged tire-deflating incident, Watters was married to another woman who he had also met at work.
In the clip, Watters admits to letting the air out of DiGiovine's tires as they were both leaving work, with the hopes that she would ride home with him, which ultimately worked.
"When I was trying to get Emma to date me, first thing I did, let the air out of her tires," Watters said in the clip. "She couldn't go anywhere, she needed a lift. I said, 'Hey you need a lift?' She got right into the car."
His co-hosts at the time expressed shock at the admission, and Watters admitted that the woman was unaware of his moves at the time it was happening.
Watters would go on to marry DiGiovine in 2019 and then have children together.
A known jokester and overall funny guy, Watters really dug in when his co-hosts peppered him with questions after the admission.
The Daily Mail noted:
Another of his colleagues asked if he had taken the air out of other women's cars in order to get them into his own, which the Fox host implied that he may well have done.
'Is that the first time you did it, or did you use that before?' Jeannine Pirro inquired.
'It works like a charm!' he bragged.
Watters would later admit that the story was false and that he was just having fun, which is probably true given that he's one of the biggest characters on the network.
That didn't stop the leftwing media from labeling his story as "predatory."
"Not only [was Watters story] insanely creepy and predatory, but Watters also played it off like it was a perfectly normal thing to do," the hosts of the Young Turks show said at the time.
Rest assured, we don't think Watters is losing any sleep over their comments.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida – The U.S. Secret Service has discovered a "suspicious" hunting stand with a direct line of sight to where President Donald Trump exits Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport.
"USSS spotted a suspicious stand near the AF1 zone in Palm Beach," said FBI Director Kash Patel on Sunday. "The FBI is investigating."
The stand was located on Thursday, and Patel says it has not yet been connected to any specific individual.
"Prior to the president's return to West Palm Beach, USSS discovered what appeared to be an elevated hunting stand within sight line of the Air Force One landing zone," Patel told Fox News Digital.
"No individuals were located at the scene. The FBI has since taken the investigatory lead, flying in resources to collect all evidence from the scene, and deploying our cell phone analytics capabilities."
Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the Secret Service, indicated his agency is "working closely" with the FBI as well as Palm Beach County law enforcement.
He said agents came upon the hunting stand during "advance security preparations" prior to Trump's arrival in South Florida.
"There was no impact to any movements and no individuals were present or involved at the location," Guglielmi told Fox News.
"While we are not able to provide details about the specific items or their intent, this incident underscores the importance of our layered security measures," he added.
A law-enforcement source told Fox News Digital the stand appeared to have been set up "months ago."
This new probe comes weeks after Ryan Routh was found guilty of attempting to assassinate Trump from a sniper's nest as Trump was playing golf in West Pam Beach.
And on July 13, 2024, Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Some reaction online to the suspicious stand includes:
"Whoever set that stand up isn't hunting deer that close to an airport. The planes would scare the deer off. That stand was set up for one reason. To take out Trump. Needs to be fingerprinted and traced to where it was purchased."
"That's not just 'suspicious,' that's terrifying. Security isn't a luxury – it's survival when it comes to a … president. Hope the agencies stay sharp and prevent anything before it even begins."
"Protect POTUS at all costs! They're never going to stop trying and we're not even a year into his presidency."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
As resistance continues to President Donald Trump's effort to make American cities safe, the commander in chief is reminding both Antifa and Democrat governors that he has a powerful tool at his disposal, and he's not afraid to use it.
"I haven't used it, but don't forget, I can use the Insurrection Act," Trump said in a pre-recorded interview with Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures" on the Fox News Channel.
The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows the president "to use the Armed Forces to suppress insurrection or rebellion and quell domestic violence."
"Fifty percent of the presidents almost have used that. And that's unquestioned power. I choose not to, I'd rather do this but I'm met constantly by fake politicians, politicians that think that it's not like part of the radical left movement to have safety.
"These cities have to be safe. Our cities that are Democrat-run, exclusively just about, are unsafe cities. They're a disaster and I'm gonna save the cities. I didn't run on that. I ran on crime but I didn't run on straightening out the cities."
Trump has faced harsh resistance to his efforts by local officials in Chicago, but said, "The people love us, The people want us there. … They're MAGA all over the place."
Trump gave some advice to Democrat Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, explaining: "If I were him, if I were a Democrat, I'd say come on in. What do you have to lose?"
Trump indicated San Francisco would be the next city to be cleaned up of crime.
"I think they want us in San Francisco," he said, noting the city by the bay "was truly one of the great cities of the world. And then 15 years ago, it went wrong. It went woke."
"It won't be great if it keeps going like this."
Trump also blamed former President Barack Obama personally for initiating the intense law fare against him during his first term in office.
"I think it started with Obama," he said.
On his podcast on Oct. 11, Obama indicated democracy was being threatened by those who "weaponize" the justice system, hinting at Trump.
Trump told Bartiromo: "He's the one that threatened it by spying on my campaign. He started it.
"Obama spied on my campaign. And he did it knowing it was illegal."