MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – One would think that running a profitable legal marijuana industry would be just about the easiest thing in the world, but don’t tell that to the Democrat leadership of Minnesota, which allowed wokeness and apparent corruption to grind their legalization rollout into dust.

Wherever one lands on the benefits or increasingly evident harms of marijuana legalization, once a state decides to do it, it has a responsibility to do it in a way that most benefits all the citizens. Of course, Gov. Tim Walz and the Minnesota Democrats made it all about social equity.

The 2023 legalization legislation mandated that for a year and a half, only Indian reservations could obtain licenses, a form of reparations similar to when New York mind-numbingly mandated that only people with previous marijuana convictions could open stores.

The upshot is that today, several dispensaries in the state have no product and others have a dwindling supply. One dispensary operator told me with a sigh, ‘We might get a new supply next week.’

And that’s not all, because the state has not approved enough licenses for transporting the product, much of it is sitting at farms, unable to get to market.

But the worst part of this, one very much related to the current scandal over fraud committed by Somali groups supposedly feeding kids, is that the legislation provides millions of dollars in grants and loans to start weed shops based on wokeness and DEI.

For example, the CanStartUp program ‘is a loan program available to new cannabis microbusinesses,’ in which a non-profit hands out the taxpayer cash ‘with priority given to social equity applicants.’

‘Social Equity Applicants,’ can be roughly read to mean no White guys.

Dr. Scott Jensen, one of several Republicans seeking to stop Walz from winning a third term next year, said it is part of a pattern with Walz and his cronies.

‘The Walz team has repeatedly been characterized by a willingness to play political hardball by picking winners and losers, focusing on preserving voting blocks, rewarding loyalty over competence, ignoring employee input, and squashing transparency,’ Jensen told me.

John Nagel, a former state trooper running as a Republican against Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., had a harsher assessment.

‘Minnesota Democrats are recreating the exact conditions that led to the Feeding Our Future scandal, only this time they’re doing it inside the state’s new marijuana industry,’ he said. ‘When you look at the pattern, it’s unmistakable. The same political class that let Feeding Our Future flourish is now designing the cannabis market using the same toolkit—DEI language as political cover, nonprofit intermediaries with insider ties, and almost no accountability.’

He’s got a point. Why does Minnesota need to hand out millions of dollars to nonprofits to teach people how to sell weed? It’s not hard, just hang up a sign and ring up the sales.

This kind of corruption is nothing new. In the 1920s, Democratic Party machines gave out no-show patronage jobs down at the docks. Today, they hand out needless multimillion-dollar DEI contracts. It’s the same game.

The job of the government is to make things run efficiently for all citizens, not to infuse every project or policy with DEI initiatives that are little more than payoffs to loyal voter groups. Nationwide, the amount of money shelled out for this nonsense is in the billions.

In the wake of the Feeding our Future scandal, it is obvious that the nonprofits involved in this DEI weed initiative must be investigated. How can anyone now trust that the money isn’t being abused?

The cherry on top of this abysmal situation is that the inability of legal dispensaries to serve their clientele is driving people back to the black market, which will result in increased marijuana arrests, the very thing this legislation was meant to prevent in the first place.

It’s honestly amazing.

Meanwhile, few people here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes even know any of this is happening, because the local news media, which simply calls this all a ‘logistics problem,’ acts more like accomplices than arbiters of truth.

Walz and the Democrats in Minnesota have no more benefit of the doubt when it comes to shady laws that shower money on DEI-driven nonprofits. It’s time to see where these millions of dollars to train up the next generation of cannabis workers really went.

Perhaps the state can show that spending these millions of dollars had some positive result for Minnesota, but right now, it seems far more likely that the money just went up in smoke.

President Donald Trump pushed back on a rumor that he was looking to replace Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and told reporters that he believes she has been ‘fantastic.’

‘I read a story recently that I’m unhappy with Kristi — I’m so happy with her… We have a border that’s the best border in the history of our country. Why would I be unhappy? She’s fantastic, actually,’ Trump told reporters during a roundtable with business leaders on Wednesday.

The president’s remarks follow a recent report from MS Now stating that a White House official said that Noem was on ‘very thin ice.’ The report claimed that Trump was looking to replace Noem as early as January, and that White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller was leading the push to replace her.

According to the report, Miller and other White House officials were frustrated with Noem because they were displeased with the pace at which she was working to build new detention centers. Additionally, the report claimed that several governors had called Trump to voice complaints about Noem’s handling of FEMA and disaster relief funds.

On Monday, the White House firmly denied the report and accused MS Now of running a false narrative.

‘Everything about this is total Fake News. Secretary Noem is doing a great job implementing the President’s agenda and making America safe again. MS Now continues to beclown themselves by inventing narratives that simply are not true,’ White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin also weighed in on the report in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital, saying, ‘I can’t speak for the president, but I’ve seen more credible reporting on Big Foot.’

During the roundtable on Wednesday, Trump also shut down rumors that he was dissatisfied with War Secretary Pete Hegseth over the controversial U.S. military strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats. Trump said his feelings about Hegseth’s work were ‘very much the opposite’ of what was being reported and he called the war secretary ‘phenomenal.’

Trump joked that he would ‘have to think about’ Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who was sitting at the table, before going on to praise him. The president similarly praised Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Education Secretary Linda McMahon.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom, Preston Mizell and Bonny Chu contributed to this report.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is facing her first major test before the House of Representatives on Thursday.

Noem is appearing before the House Homeland Security Committee for a hearing on worldwide threats, an event that is meant to be annual but has not happened in multiple recent years.

She’s set to testify alongside National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent and Michael Glasheen, Operations Director of the FBI’s National Security Branch.

‘I’m sure she’ll talk about border, I’m sure she’ll talk about drugs, I’m sure she’ll talk about China, hopefully an update on what’s happening with cybersecurity. I mean it’s a very important hearing. I’m glad she’ll be there,’ House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital.

It’s Noem’s first major national security-focused hearing before the House of Representatives since taking charge of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) earlier this year.

It comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill warn about the potential for hostile countries like Venezuela, Iran and China exploiting U.S. vulnerabilities in national security. 

‘I’m always concerned about that. I’ve been concerned about that for years. I mean, thousands of known and suspected terrorists came across the southern border over the last four years. Luckily, it’s been closed up, but they’re still here,’ Garbarino said.

‘I’m gonna look forward to hearing from the FBI, you know, what’s being done, what they’re doing to track down the people that are already here.’

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, lawmakers will likely grill Noem about the activities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carrying out President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

‘We don’t get much information, in the interim, from the administration. You write letters, and what you get back is an acknowledgment of the letter, but very little facts,’ said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the top Democrat on the committee. ‘Obviously, the administration’s stand on immigration is not one that we agree with, especially how they’re doing it.’

He accused ICE agents of treating people with ‘total disrespect’ because they ‘look Hispanic.’

‘I think that she has to address it,’ Thompson said.

Noem’s appearance comes hours after Axios reported that she and border czar Tom Homan had a falling out behind the scenes, though the outlet also reported that neither are in danger of losing their positions any time soon.

Senate Democrats have tried to tie the looming expiration date for Obamacare subsidies to the affordability issues slamming households, but Senate Republicans argue that their counterparts are manufacturing it to score political points next year.

The phrase ‘sticker shock’ became a common rallying cry from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., during and after the government shutdown that he used to illustrate what Americans could experience if the Biden-era credits were to expire.

‘Our bill is the only bill that will prevent this crisis from happening,’ Schumer said. ‘It’s the last train out of this station. We urge our Republican colleagues, for the sake of the American people, to get on that train.’

But Senate Republicans contend that Democrats’ proposal to extend the subsidies for another three years is designed to fail and provide the party with a political weapon entering into the 2026 midterm election cycle.

‘I think the Democrats politically embrace this affordability issue, and then them asking for a three-year extension does nothing but throw gasoline on the fire of affordability of healthcare,’ Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Fox News Digital.

Marshall is one of several Senate Republicans who have put together an alternative plan to Schumer’s strategy. His ‘Marshall Plan’ marries Democrats’ desire to extend the subsidies for a year with Republicans’ demands that the credits be done away with in favor of health savings accounts (HSAs).

Republicans are instead running with a plan from Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the chairs of the Senate health and finance panels, that would abandon the enhanced subsidies in favor of HSAs. That proposal is also expected to fail, leaving the Senate with little time to move ahead with an alternative before the subsidies expire.

Still, there are ongoing talks between both sides of the aisle to find a compromise. Republicans contend that Schumer is acting as a roadblock to those talks, instead sidelining members reaching across the aisle in favor of a workable solution.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital that Republicans were equally concerned about ‘sticker shock,’ and he argued that Cassidy and Crapo’s plan would go a long way to keeping prices low for Americans.

But he acknowledged the political reality that Democrats wanted to use healthcare as a cudgel in the coming months.

‘I think that’s the concern that a lot of us have on our side of the aisle, is that there’s a group of Democrats that don’t want to fix this problem, and they want to use it as a political product,’ he said. ‘I think there’s a group of us on our side of the aisle that really would like to fix it, along with some Dems. I just don’t know if there’s enough Dems to come along and to take what we think is a reasonable approach on this.’

Other Republicans told Fox News Digital that the subsidies, which were passed and then enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic under former President Joe Biden, are just another addition to a 15-year-long affordability crunch brought on by the passage of Obamacare.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital that Obamacare has ‘always been pricey,’ and that Democrats were attempting to inject $83 billion in taxpayer money directly to insurance companies with their proposal.

‘Democrats have always tried to hide that fact by sending more and more money to insurance companies during COVID,’ he said. ‘They did it again with these Biden COVID bonus subsidies, and they set an expiration date, which is coming up at the end of this month. That’s what this is all about.’

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital that healthcare ‘has been an ongoing train wreck since Obamacare,’ and that Democrats jammed the subsidies through Congress without Republican input and set up the fast-approaching cliff.

‘I mean, they’re just doubling down on the stupid,’ Schmitt said.

There are two Obamacare proposals destined for failure on Thursday as the deadline to extend Biden-era subsidies inches closer, and both Senate Republicans and Democrats hope that a bipartisan path forward can be paved after the dust settles.

Senate Democrats are going full speed ahead with their three-year extension of the Obamacare enhanced premium subsidies, which Republicans are expected to block over a lack of reforms in a plan that they have nearly all charged as unserious.

And the GOP’s plan, which would abandon the subsidies altogether in favor of health savings accounts (HSAs), is expected to be blocked by Senate Democrats over the inclusion of anti-abortion restrictions and concerns that healthcare premium prices would still skyrocket.

But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle hope that once the plans go down in flames, they can begin the work of crafting a bipartisan solution.

‘I think the question would be, are there the Democrats who, outside of their leadership, are actually interested in the solution, and not just an issue? You know, who want to work with some Republicans,’ Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital.

‘I can’t predict what’s going to happen, but there’s still a fairly high level of interest among members on our side, and I think some on the Dem side too,’ he continued. ‘But I think that, at least for now … I’m guessing they’ve been asked to stand down, you know, let them, let them get their messaging vote on it, and we’ll see what happens.’

Bipartisan negotiations have been ongoing in the background, but both sides have opted to go with partisan plans instead. Should both fail, it leaves them little time to address the issue before Congress leaves Washington, D.C., next week until the New Year. 

‘I would hope that we could still negotiate in the near term,’ Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said. 

Republicans argue that the subsidies are riddled with fraud and have drawn a red line on more stringent enforcement of the Hyde Amendment, which prevents taxpayer dollars from funding abortions.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who has been working with Republicans on a plan, said that the Hyde Amendment argument was ‘not going to happen’ with his Democratic caucus colleagues.

‘Their insistence on that, and maybe that will go away, but their insistence on that basically means these premium increases are going to hammer the American people, and frankly, I don’t understand why — this should be a bipartisan,’ King said. ‘Let’s get together and figure this thing out.’

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital he hoped that the failed votes ‘brings everybody to the negotiating table, and then we’ll get serious about a bipartisan solution.’

But Cornyn believed that it would likely be a problem that lawmakers would deal with in January, after the subsidies expire.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans argue that Schumer and Senate Democrats are using their plan as a political cudgel, painting the GOP into a corner on a position that they won’t support, and then using it down the line in the 2026 midterms should the subsidies expire.

‘There’s a very simple solution for them. If they really believe that is the Democratic strategy, they can defeat it by simply voting for this measure,’ Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado appeared in public Thursday for the first time in 11 months in Norway as her daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize award on her behalf.

Machado had been in hiding since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas. Her recognition came after mounting a peaceful challenge to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government.

The crowd chanted, ‘Freedom!’ as Machado stepped onto the hotel balcony in Oslo, Norway, and waved to her supporters before joining them in singing Venezuela’s national anthem.

In an audio recording of a phone call published on the Nobel website, Machado said she wouldn’t be able to arrive to Oslo in time for the award ceremony, but that many people had ‘risked their lives’ to get her there.

‘I am very grateful to them, and this is a measure of what this recognition means to the Venezuelan people,’ she said.

Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the Nobel Prize in her place, saying that her mother ‘wants to live in a free Venezuela’ and ‘will never give up on that purpose.’ 

‘That is why we all know, and I know, that she will be back in Venezuela very soon,’ Sosa added.

Outside the hotel, Machado interacted and hugged people in the crowd, as they snapped pictures and sprinkled her with chants of ‘President! President!’

‘I want you all back in Venezuela,’ Machado said.

Machado’s appearance came after President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced the U.S. seized a Venezuelan oil tanker, a move that could further strain relations with Maduro’s government, which already is subject to extensive U.S. sanctions targeting the country’s oil sector.

Since September, U.S. military strikes have targeted alleged narcotraffickers near Venezuela at least 22 times, killing 87 people. Trump has also recently said Maduro’s ‘days are numbered’ and refused to rule out a ground operation in Venezuela. 

Steve Yates, senior research fellow for China and national security policy at The Heritage Foundation, said on ‘Fox News @ Night’ on Wednesday thatMachado’svisitoverseaswas an opportunity to get ‘greater international support’ for her cause, adding that Trump might benefit from having more of America’s allies in Europe support a ‘non-invasion’ approach.

The Venezuelan opposition leader has previously been outspoken in her support for the Trump administration’s actions against Maduro’s regime and the country’s narcotrafficking network.

After the award was announced in October, the newly minted Nobel Peace Prize winner dedicated the award to both Trump and the ‘suffering people of Venezuela.’

Machado said during a ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ interview last month that Venezuela was standing at the ‘threshold of freedom,’ highlighting her new ‘freedom manifesto’ that envisions a future without the Maduro regime.

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Trump administration is weighing whether to pursue terrorism-related sanctions against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), as officials review allegations the agency has ties to Hamas and consider steps that could further pressure its leadership and operations, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. 

The United Nations agency provides aid, schooling, healthcare, shelter and social services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. U.N. officials have described UNRWA as the backbone of Gaza’s aid effort during the two-year war between Israel and Hamas, but the Trump administration has accused the group of ties to Hamas – an allegation the agency vehemently disputes.

Washington, once UNRWA’s biggest donor, froze funding in January 2024 after Israel accused roughly a dozen staff members of involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the war.

In October, Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to UNRWA as a subsidiary of Hamas.

‘UNRWA’s not going to play any role in it,’ Rubio said at the time when asked whether the agency would assist in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. ‘The United Nations is here. They’re on the ground. We’re willing to work with them if they can make it work, but not UNRWA. UNRWA became a subsidiary of Hamas.’

Reuters reported it was unclear whether recent internal discussions focused on sanctioning the entire agency or specific officials or operations, and that U.S. officials have not yet settled on what type of sanctions they might pursue.

The sources said the State Department has discussed declaring UNRWA a ‘foreign terrorist organization,’ or FTO – a step that would financially isolate the agency.

Any broad move against UNRWA could disrupt refugee aid across the region, as the agency is already facing a severe funding crisis. Such sanctions would be highly unusual, since the U.S. is both a U.N. member and the host nation of the body that created the agency in 1949.

William Deere, who heads UNRWA’s Washington office, said the group would be ‘disappointed’ if officials were discussing an FTO designation, calling such a step ‘unprecedented and unwarranted.’

He pointed to multiple investigations – including one by the U.S. National Intelligence Council – that concluded UNRWA remains a neutral and essential humanitarian actor.

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. The U.S. and Israel have maintained tough positions towards the agency, particularly in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

President Donald Trump in February reaffirmed that the U.S. would not fund UNRWA. In the executive order, Trump said that ‘UNRWA has reportedly been infiltrated by members of groups long designated by the Secretary of State as foreign terrorist organizations, and UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.’

When the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in April 2025 demanded Israel work with UNRWA, Washington backed Israel, saying it was under no obligation to work with the agency and had ‘ample grounds to question UNRWA’s impartiality.’

UNRWA announced in August 2024 the end of an investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services into whether its staff participated in the attacks, as Israel claimed.

The probe examined 19 employees and resulted in nine dismissals over evidence that ‘could indicate’ involvement. The investigation found one case with no evidence of involvement and nine others in which ‘the evidence obtained by OIOS was insufficient’ to prove participation, the agency said.

Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf and Reuters contributed to this report.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged a Ukrainian woman with helping to carry out dozens of cyberattacks on critical U.S. infrastructure, working with Russian-backed hackers, according to newly unsealed indictments.

The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program is also offering up to $10 million for information leading to others tied to one of the pro-Russia hacking groups she was allegedly affiliated with.

Victoria Eduardovna Dubranova, 33, was arraigned Tuesday on a second federal indictment after being extradited to the U.S. earlier this year.

Dubranova, also known as Vika, Tory and SovaSonya, pleaded not guilty to charges related to her alleged work with two Russian-backed operations, CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn (CARR) and NoName057(16).

Prosecutors say both groups receive backing from Russian government bodies to push Russian geopolitical interests.

According to the DOJ, CARR was founded and funded by Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, and operated a popular Telegram channel with more than 75,000 followers.

Officials allege the group’s attacks caused real-world harm, including damage to public water systems that spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of drinking water.

They also cited a November 2024 breach at a Los Angeles meat processing plant that spoiled thousands of pounds of product and released ammonia.

‘Today’s actions demonstrate the Department’s commitment to disrupting malicious Russian cyber activity — whether conducted directly by state actors or their criminal proxies — aimed at furthering Russia’s geopolitical interests,’ said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. 

‘We remain steadfast in defending essential services, including food and water systems Americans rely on each day, and holding accountable those who seek to undermine them.’

NoName057(16) is described as a Russia-linked hacktivist group responsible for more than 1,500 attacks between March 2022 and June 2025.

Its targets included government agencies, telecommunications firms, the military, financial institutions and transportation authorities across Ukraine, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden.

The group also claimed responsibility for cyberattacks on Dutch infrastructure ahead of and during the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague.

These groups ‘are actively engaging in opportunistic, low-sophistication malicious cyber activity to gain notoriety and create mayhem,’ said Chris Butera, CISA’s acting deputy executive assistant director for cybersecurity.

Dubranova faces up to five years in the NoName case and as many as 27 years in the CARR matter. Trials are set for February and April 2026.

Rewards for Justice announced its $10 million reward with a pointed message aimed at other NoName participants: ‘They call themselves ‘NoName.’ But maybe YOU can name some names,’ it said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the DOJ for further comment.

A group of moderate Republicans is defying House GOP leaders to try and force a vote on extending enhanced Obamacare subsidies that expire at the end of this year.

Republicans led by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., on Wednesday filed a measure known as a discharge petition, a mechanism designed to force a vote on legislation over the wishes of leadership, provided it gets support from a majority of House lawmakers.

A dramatic series of events unfolded on the House floor as House GOP leaders worked to win support for an unrelated vote that first appeared poised to fail.

While a group of conservatives threatened to mutiny Republicans on that vote for separate reasons, several moderates also appeared to withhold their votes altogether, and Fox News Digital witnessed them in tense discussions with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other GOP leaders.

Those moderates eventually voted in favor of passing the legislation at hand before marching to the front of the House chamber to file their discharge petition. They lined up one by one to sign the document that would move their healthcare agenda full steam ahead despite Johnson signaling little appetite to entertain it.

So far, the petition has support from six House Republicans and two Democrats but is expected to grow in numbers as the clock ticks on the looming healthcare cost cliff awaiting millions across the country.

‘We know we need a temporary extension of the tax credits — with reforms — and then we can do more serious things, but we’re not gonna do serious changes to the [Affordable Care Act] in the next two or three weeks,’ Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., one of the signatories, told Fox News Digital. ‘So, we just felt like, since there doesn’t seem to be any impetus to do this, we’re gonna try to force the issue.’

Asked if he believed they would get House GOP leaders’ blessing, Bacon said, ‘Probably not.’

Fitzpatrick’s bill is aimed at advancing a two-year extension of Obamacare subsidies that Democrats expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Democrats in Congress voted twice during the pandemic to expand the availability of premium tax credits for Obamacare, also called the Affordable Care Act (ACA), to make sure more Americans had access to healthcare coverage.

A majority of House Republicans have signaled they are not open to extending them, at least not without significant reforms. Conservatives in particular have panned the enhanced subsidies as a COVID-19-era relic that benefited insurance companies rather than Americans.

But some GOP lawmakers have joined Democrats in warning that failing to extend them at least temporarily at this point will result in millions of Americans seeing their healthcare premiums skyrocket while Congress refuses to act.

Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., another Republican who signed the petition, said House GOP leaders signaled they would be ‘putting forward’ a number of healthcare reforms ‘that are very positive in nature,’ but ‘an extension of the ACA tax credits was not included in that package.’

‘So, we have been talking about and advocating for that to move forward, and so this seems like the best vehicle to do that,’ Mackenzie said. 

He told Fox News Digital, ‘The reason we’re in this mess to begin with is that things were done in a partisan fashion. And, so, I think if we want longevity and reforms and changes, we should be doing it in a bipartisan fashion.

‘It’s a time-sensitive matter, and it’s an existential matter for people back home who we care about where this is a very real problem,’ Fitzpatrick told reporters. ‘You try to do things through the normal course, you try to do things through regular order. When all those remedies are exhausted, then you’ve got to go this route, unfortunately.’

Asked if it was spurred at all by moderates’ conversation on the House floor with Johnson, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said, ‘It was clear that, given the timeframe and given some of the differences within our conference on particular issues, that a bill was not going to be put forward. And so I think we all recognize the importance of getting an extension passed.’

But it’s not clear whether House Democratic leaders, who have their own discharge petition for a three-year extension of the Obamacare subsidies, will support the bill. It likely will not succeed without buy-in from all House Democrats.

Asked if his leaders would back it, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, said, ‘Go ask them. But I think they ought to.’

Johnson, for his part, told reporters discharge petitions were ‘typically used as a tool against the majority’ but said he was ‘very sympathetic’ to moderate Republicans’ concerns.

‘We have spent many, many hours trying to find a way out of the conundrum that we’re in. With regard to those extensions, there’s a lot of people who are very concerned about Obamacare and the fact that the subsidies were created by Democrats for COVID-era limited use,’ Johnson said.

‘We just can’t get Republican votes on that for lots of reasons, not enough of them. And, so, look, my colleagues have made a decision. I don’t take it against them personally, I don’t operate that way. I have great respect for those guys, I understand the situation they’re in for their districts, and we’ll see how it plays out.’

The U.S. has seized a Venezuelan oil tanker, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday, marking a sharp escalation in tensions with Caracas.

‘We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela. Large tanker, very large. Largest one ever seized action. And, other things are happening. So you’ll be seeing that later. And you’ll be talking about that later with some other people,’ Trump said at the White House.

The move is likely to further strain relations with Nicolás Maduro’s government, which already is subject to extensive U.S. sanctions targeting Venezuela’s oil sector. It comes after U.S. military strikes have targeted alleged narcotraffickers near Venezuela at least 22 times since September, killing 87 people.

The seizure was led by the Coast Guard and supported by the Navy, a U.S. official told the Associated Press. The Coast Guard and U.S. Southern Command directed Fox News Digital back to the White House, which could not be reached for comment. 

The Trump administration is considering launching land strikes on Venezuelan territory in an effort to further ramp up pressure on Maduro, who the U.S. views as the illegitimate leader of Venezuela and the leader of the Cartel de Los Soles drug trafficking cartel. 

Trump recently said Maduro’s ‘days are numbered’ and refused to rule out a ground operation in the South American country. 

‘I don’t want to rule in or out,’ Trump told Politico. ‘I don’t talk about it.’ 

Venezuela has some of the largest oil reserves in the world and exports close to 750,000 barrels per day. Around half goes to China, according to Kplr data. 

Prior to broad sanctions, Venezuela was historically a major crude-oil supplier for the U.S.

After sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) in 2019, imports dropped sharply. Limited sanctions relief and occasional licensing, notably for Chevron, allowed some Venezuelan crude to flow again to U.S. refineries in 2024 and 2025. Trump revoked Chevron’s license to purchase oil from Caracas earlier in 2025. 

The region around Venezuela has seen the largest U.S. military buildup in decades, including the presence of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, and the deployment of 10 F-35 jets to Puerto Rico to support Southern Command operations. On Tuesday, two F/A-18 flew over the waters north of Venezuela in training. 

In November, President Trump directed airlines to steer clear of the area — a move that raised speculation among analysts that Washington was preparing for land strikes. 

Trump and Maduro recently held a phone call, but the two sides failed to come to an agreement that would have seen Maduro leave power.

Oil revenue remains the central pillar of Venezuela’s collapsing economy, with the country relying heavily on discounted exports to China and other buyers willing to navigate sanctions exposure.

The nation moves much of its crude through a shadow network of reflagged tankers, shell companies and ship-to-ship transfers designed to conceal the origin of its oil. Many vessels operate with their transponders off or spoofing locations to avoid detection.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.