Author: Stephanie Gauthier

Donald Trump’s administration has put US billionaires in the front row of its peace plan for Russia’s war on Ukraine, after a detailed Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have been exploring major business ventures with Moscow built around frozen Russian assets and a drive to tap into Russia’s roughly $2 trillion economy.

These revelations about a potential multitrillion-dollar business bonanza tied to a future settlement have prompted a wave of accusations from critics that Trump is effectively selling out Ukraine’s interests in exchange for profit.

A Recently Leaked 28-Point Peace Plan

Hidden beneath a 28-point peace plan for the war between Russia and Ukraine, this proposal had been kept secret until it was recently leaked, reportedly by Russian sources.

The investigation reveals that negotiators close to the Trump administration — including New York real estate developer Steve Witkoff, a longtime Trump ally who now serves as a special envoy in the Trump administration, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former senior White House adviser — held talks with Russian oligarchs currently under U.S. and European sanctions in a bid to build massive commercial agreements in energy, minerals, reconstruction and other sectors, with a potential value estimated at nearly $2 trillion.

«This war could go on for years, and Russia’s got a lot more people, got a lot more soldiers, you know. So I think, if Ukraine can make a deal, it’s a good thing. I think it’s great for both.»

The recently leaked 28-point U.S. peace plan for the Russia–Ukraine war would require Ukraine to cede parts of its eastern territory, limit its armed forces to about 600,000 troops, renounce NATO membership and accept Russia’s return to forums such as the G8 — terms widely criticised as leaning heavily in Moscow’s favor.

An economic opportunity

The project’s promoters present the plan as a way to turn what they describe as a destructive war into an economic opportunity, arguing that if Russia and the United States become deep commercial partners, shared economic interests could help stabilize the region and deter future conflicts.

Ukraine’s long-term security and sovereignty

But this approach has triggered a fierce backlash: European officials, analysts and other observers warn that the plan risks tilting heavily in Moscow’s favor by dangling lucrative business deals in exchange for concessions, while sidelining Ukraine’s long-term security and sovereignty.

They see the central role given to U.S. billionaires as a form of «privatisation» of peacemaking, and argue that the economic logic behind the scheme helps explain, in their view, the Trump administration’s recent push for Ukraine to accept painful territorial concessions to Russia.

Aboard Air Force One, Trump recently defended his peace initiative by telling reporters: «This war could go on for years, and Russia’s got a lot more people, got a lot more soldiers, you know. So I think, if Ukraine can make a deal, it’s a good thing. I think it’s great for both.»

The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.

— The Wall Street Journal (@wsj.com) 2025-11-29T02:11:11.980181Z

Donald Trump, whose administration is presently under fire over his declared war on drug cartels in the Caribbean, has sparked fresh controversy by using a post on Truth Social to announce that he will grant a «Full and Complete Pardon» to a former Honduran president convicted in the United States on drug trafficking and weapons charges.

Juan Orlando Hernández, a former president of Honduras, helped orchestrate a decades-long scheme that prosecutors said brought more than 500 tons of cocaine into the U.S. He was convicted in a sweeping case last year, but President Trump said on Friday that he would pardon Hernandez.

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-11-30T21:19:54.109457Z

Donald Trump announced that he would grant a «Full and Complete Pardon» to disgraced former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted in the United States on drug trafficking and weapons charges, in the same breath as he waded into Honduras’ upcoming elections.

«I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly.»

The conservative leader of Honduras

In a post on Truth Social, Trump tied his pledge of support for the country’s future leadership to Washington’s stance on Hernández and on U.S. aid to the country.

As he promoted the candidacy of conservative contender Tito Asfura, Trump wrote: «If Tito Asfura wins for President of Honduras, because the United States has so much confidence in him, his Policies, and what he will do for the Great People of Honduras, we will be very supportive.»

In the same post, Trump warned that «If he doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is.»

In his post, Trump also declared that «Additionally, I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly. This cannot be allowed to happen, especially now, after Tito Asfura wins the Election, when Honduras will be on its way to Great Political and Financial Success.»

Guilty of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States

Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, was tried in federal court in Manhattan, New York, where a U.S. jury in March 2024 found him guilty of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and of related firearms offenses, including possessing «destructive devices» such as machine guns.

«CONGRATULATIONS TO JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ ON YOUR UPCOMING PARDON.»

Donald Trump

Prosecutors accused him of turning Honduras into a «narco-state,» using the military, national police and state resources to protect and facilitate the trafficking of more than 400 tons of cocaine toward the U.S., while taking millions of dollars in bribes from major traffickers, including associates of Joaquín «El Chapo» Guzmán. After a three-week trial, Judge P. Kevin Castel sentenced Hernández in New York on June 26, 2024, to 45 years in U.S. prison and an $8 million fine, saying he was a «two-faced politician» who pretended to fight drugs while secretly protecting traffickers.

In closing his post, Trump issued a direct political call and a celebratory message, writing: «VOTE FOR TITO ASFURA FOR PRESIDENT, AND CONGRATULATIONS TO JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ ON YOUR UPCOMING PARDON. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE HONDURAS GREAT AGAIN!»

The preliminary results, which show conservative candidate Nasry «Tito» Asfura leading with around 41 percent of the vote, followed closely by Salvador Nasralla with about 39 percent and Rixi Moncada near 20 percent, come after weeks of mutual fraud accusations from both major parties, each claiming irregularities in the voting and counting process.

Honduras on Sunday will hold general elections marked by preemptive allegations of voting fraud and an intervention by the United States.

— CNN (@cnn.com) 2025-11-29T06:01:01.974196204Z

Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro has been jailed to serve a 27-year sentence over his role in an alleged coup attempt, after being taken into custody when Brazilian authorities accused him of planning to use a demonstration outside his home as cover to escape.

Jair Bolsonaro ordered to start 27-year prison term for plotting Brazil coup

— The Guardian (@theguardian.com) 2025-11-25T18:57:12Z

According to court documents, Bolsonaro was also suspected of trying to tamper with his electronic ankle monitor in the lead-up to his arrest.

«The admitted breach of electronic monitoring not only increases the risk of escape but also indicates a blatant violation of the precautionary measures»

His electronic ankle monitor

Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has overseen the coup case, has ruled that Jair Bolsonaro will remain in custody for the duration of his 27-year sentence, after ordering his pre-emptive arrest on Saturday.

The far-right former president had been under house arrest since August and was taken into custody after authorities said he tried to break or tamper with his electronic ankle monitor, leading the court to treat him as a serious flight risk.

Bolsonaro has blamed the violation of his monitoring device on «hallucinations» linked to a change in his medication, but that explanation was brushed aside in the arrest order and in subsequent votes by fellow justices.

In a written opinion backing Bolsonaro’s continued detention, Justice Flávio Dino wrote that «The admitted breach of electronic monitoring not only increases the risk of escape but also indicates a blatant violation of the precautionary measures», underscoring the court’s view that Bolsonaro knowingly defied judicial restrictions.

Let us recall that on January 8, 2023, thousands of Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters, refusing to accept his defeat in the 2022 election, stormed the three main seats of federal power on Brasília’s Praça dos Três Poderes — the National Congress, the Planalto presidential palace and the Supreme Court — vandalizing the buildings, clashing with security forces and calling for a military intervention to overturn the election results and prevent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from governing.

Trump fellow right-wing leader

Jair Bolsonaro, often described as a close ally and ideological twin of Donald Trump, has long been embraced by Trump as a fellow right-wing leader, with the two men aligned on nationalism, conservative social policies and attacks on traditional institutions and the media.

As Bolsonaro faced investigation and trial in Brazil for allegedly plotting a coup to overturn the 2022 election, Trump repeatedly rushed to his defense, calling the Brazilian proceedings a case of political persecution.

On Truth Social, Trump denounced Bolsonaro’s indictment as a «terrible thing» and demanded that authorities «LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE», framing the charges as part of a broader campaign against conservative leaders.

Brazil police take ex-president Jair Bolsonaro into custody on.ft.com/4rh2j2C

— Financial Times (@financialtimes.com) 2025-11-22T14:00:35.081259Z

A federal appeals court has refused Donald Trump’s attempt to restore his RICO case against Hillary Clinton and has upheld a penalty of nearly $1 million against President Donald Trump and his attorney Alina Habba, finding that they engaged in «sanctionable conduct» by filing a frivolous lawsuit targeting Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey.

Appeals court upholds $1M penalty against Trump in lawsuit against Hillary Clinton

— Politico (@politico.com) 2025-11-26T15:50:12Z

In its opinion, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge William Pryor Jr.  added that Trump and Habba’s accusations «were indeed frivolous», echoing the assessment of the previous judge who handled the case.

His 2016 presidential campaign

Trump’s bid sought to reinstate the 2022 lawsuit targeting Clinton, Comey and others over allegations about ties between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

For years, Trump has claimed that Clinton orchestrated a broad conspiracy to fabricate false accusations against his 2016 campaign and to trigger investigations such as special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, but he failed to convince the court with the lawsuit he filed in 2022.

Confusing and poorly structured

But the three-judge appeals panel composed of Chief Judge William Pryor Jr., a George W. Bush appointee, Trump appointee Andrew Brasher and Biden appointee Embry Kidd concluded unanimously that the district court judge who originally ruled against Trump had properly taken into account his «pattern of misusing the courts» when deciding to sanction him. The panel also found that the same standard justified sanctions against his attorney, Alina Habba and leaving in place a penalty of nearly $1 million against them.

In 2022, Trump filed a lawsuit claiming that Hillary Rodham Clinton, James Comey and others conspired to invent allegations of collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign, which he argued damaged his reputation and business interests. In 2023, U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks, a Bill Clinton appointee, dismissed the case, describing the 193-page complaint as a «shotgun pleading» that was confusing and poorly structured.

Middlebrooks found that the lawsuit failed to identify any coordinated enterprise, did not allege valid criminal acts, did not show concrete financial damages and was filed outside the statute of limitations, concluding that it served a political rather than a legal purpose and writing: «This case should never have been brought. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it».

Donald Trump can still seek a rehearing by the full appeals court or ask the Supreme Court to take up the case, and he or the White House could yet comment publicly on the appeals panel’s decision.

A federal appeals court upholds an almost $1 million penalty against President Trump and his attorneys for "sanctionable conduct" in a racketeering lawsuit they brought against Hillary Clinton and other Democrats over the 2016 election.

— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) 2025-11-26T21:31:27Z

New information revealed by Bloomberg and reported by multiple media outlets offers telling details about how the president and his administration have handled the Epstein files since his return to power.

Newly released emails obtained by Bloomberg on Tuesday provide a rare look inside the FBI's handling of the vast Jeffrey Epstein files, revealing how agents and FOIA personnel meticulously reviewed the redacted records earlier this year.

— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2025-11-26T15:30:13Z

According to these reports, including coverage by Raw Story, we learn that the Trump administration spent 850,000 dollars in FBI overtime to pay agents to comb through Jeffrey Epstein’s records.

An intensive review

This decision raises new questions about the real reasons behind such an intensive review, especially after months in which Trump was dogged by the shadow of the Epstein files he largely refused to release, until an almost unanimous, bipartisan vote in the House and a unanimous vote in the Senate finally forced their disclosure.

Investigative reporter Jason Leopold of Bloomberg News obtained a behind-the-scenes look at how the FBI handled the review and redaction of the Epstein files under the Trump administration. Following his Freedom of Information Act request to the bureau, Leopold received internal records that shed light on the internal discussions around what would be blacked out, how fast the review needed to move, and how closely the process was being overseen.

🚨 NEW/EXCLUSIVE: The FBI turned over dozens of emails to me in response to my #FOIA request that provides a behind-the-scenes look at discussions involving the review and redaction of the Epstein fileswww.bloomberg.com/news/newslet…

— Jason Leopold (@jasonleopold.bsky.social) 2025-11-25T21:40:31.637Z

The documents Leopold obtained shed light on how roughly 1,000 FBI special agents were deployed in March, under FBI Director Kash Patel, to support the bureau’s FOIA team at the FBI’s Central Records Complex in Winchester, Virginia. Inside the bureau, this surge of agents was folded into a dedicated effort called the «Special Redaction Project», focused on reviewing and redacting the Epstein files ahead of their public release.

According to these documents, the agents were assigned to work side by side with the FOIA staff to review and redact the Epstein files, including the names of victims and other sensitive personal information, as part of the Special Redaction Project.

According to Bloomberg, FBI personnel assigned to the Special Redaction Project received specific training on redaction protocols, including instructional videos and PowerPoint presentations designed to guide them through the process.

What would ultimately be revealed

Among the information revealed by Jason Leopold, based on records he obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, are internal emails showing that agents reviewed a wide range of materials, including search warrant execution photos, street surveillance video and aerial footage from FBI search warrant execution.

In an email on March 10, FBI personnel from the Office of General Counsel and the bureau’s Information Management Division discussed pending FOIA requests for Epstein-related records, the digitizing and redacting of physical files and the bureau’s commitment to transparency in handling the Epstein documents.

Leopold’s reporting also shows that the FBI paid personnel from various divisions, including counterintelligence and international operations, 851,344 dollars in overtime for working on the Epstein files between March 17 and March 22.

FBI personnel clocked in a total of 4,737 hours of overtime between January and July, and more than 70% of that overtime was logged during the month of March while personnel reviewed the Epstein files.

All of this has made the Special Redaction Project both logistically heavy and highly sensitive, given the intense political stakes over what would ultimately be revealed and what would remain blacked out – including, for Trump’s critics and supporters alike, the question of whether his name will appear in the Epstein files at all after the extensive review overseen by Kash Patel’s FBI.

Newly released emails show the FBI spent almost $1 million in overtime analyzing the Epstein files as part of an effort dubbed the “Special Redaction Project."

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) 2025-11-26T18:11:20.562163Z

The long-running controversy over Melania Trump’s apparent lack of enthusiasm for Christmas gained a new chapter on November 24, when she was seen leaving the traditional arrival ceremony for the White House Christmas tree after less than three minutes.

The First Lady lasted all of two minutes and 50 seconds welcoming the White House Christmas Tree before running back inside the presidential residence.trib.al/9xyZpgG

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) 2025-11-25T19:33:02.933673Z

Tasked with personally welcoming the tree selected for Christmas 2025 at the North Portico – and doing so without her husband, the president, at her side – the first lady briefly greeted the carriage and admired the fir before quickly retreating back inside, reigniting debate over her holiday role.

A leaked phone call

Melania Trump’s troubled relationship with Christmas in the public eye really dates back to a secretly recorded phone call from the summer of 2018, in which she vented to her then-advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff about having to plan the White House holiday décor while the administration was under fire for separating migrant families at the southern border.

In the audio, later released in October 2020 and aired by CNN, Melania can be heard saying that she was «working my ass off on the Christmas stuff» and asking «who gives a f*** about the Christmas stuff and decorations?» before complaining that critics only raised concerns about separated children when she tried to highlight her holiday work.

Those comments landed on top of already polarizing reactions to her décor choices, like the stark white, branch-lined colonnade in 2017 and the blood-red conical trees of 2018, which drew mockery and horror-movie memes. Publicly, she defended her work, insisting the decorations were being unfairly judged. Speaking about the red trees, she said: «We are in 21st century, and everybody has different taste. I think they look fantastic. I hope everybody will come over and visit it.»

Over time, the contrast between her on-camera defense of Christmas décor and the leaked «who gives a f*** about Christmas stuff» tape helped cement her image as a kind of Christmas Grinch in U.S. political culture, with the quote resurfacing in coverage and on social media almost every holiday season.

«Who gives a f*** about the Christmas stuff and decorations?»

Melania Trump

A quick photo-op

Melania Trump’s welcome of the 2025 White House Christmas tree lasted less than three minutes and looked more like a quick photo-op than a ceremony.

She walked out alone to the North Portico, briefly greeted the carriage drivers with polite small talk, posed a few seconds beside the tree for photographers, then turned around and went straight back inside without any real remarks or interaction beyond the bare minimum for the cameras.

Melania’s holiday business

Adding to the irony, Melania Trump now markets her own line of Christmas ornaments and holiday decorations, selling limited-edition pieces like the «American Star» for about 90 dollars as part of her patriotic 250 Collection through the USA Memorabilia site, where other designs in the set typically range from roughly 75 to 90 dollars each.

Melania Trump Launches American-Themed Christmas Ornament Line

— NEWSMAX (@newsmax.com) 2025-09-25T17:38:14Z

A leaked recording published by Bloomberg reveals that Steve Witkoff, who has served as the United States special envoy to the Middle East and special envoy for peace missions, advised senior Kremlin official Yuri Ushakov on how to present to Trump a peace proposal favorable to Russia in the Ukraine war.

Steve Witkoff is teaching a master class to Russian officials on how to get what they want from Donald Trump.

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) 2025-11-26T00:07:38.030362Z

During the call, Witkoff reportedly suggested using flattering language such as «man of peace» to increase the likelihood that Trump would endorse a controversial 28-point pro-Kremlin peace plan for Ukraine.

«I would make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement, that you supported it, you supported it, that you respect that he is a man of peace and you’re just, you’re really glad to have seen it happen.»

How to win Trump’s backing

On 14 October, at a tense moment in the Russia-Ukraine war, Steve Witkoff held a call with senior Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov in which, according to the Bloomberg transcript reported by other outlets, he coached the Russian side on how to win Trump’s backing for a Russian-favored peace proposal, widely seen as running against the interests of Ukraine and Europe.

Witkoff advised that Putin should call Trump to congratulate him for the recent Gaza ceasefire, say that Russia had supported that deal, and present Trump as a man of peace before pivoting to Ukraine and to Moscow’s own peace terms. In the transcript, Witkoff reassures Ushakov that this flattering approach will help, telling him: «I would make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement, that you supported it, you supported it, that you respect that he is a man of peace and you’re just, you’re really glad to have seen it happen.» adding «From that, it’s going to be a really good call».

«We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you.»

A similar 20-point plan to peace

Witkoff then proposes explicitly borrowing the Gaza playbook and a similar structure, saying: «Here’s what I think would be amazing» before suggesting that Putin tell Trump: «Maybe he says to President Trump: you know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan to peace and that could be something that we think might move the needle a little bit, we’re open to those sorts of things».

In a separate passage quoted by The Guardian, Witkoff underscores the idea of transplanting Trump’s Gaza framework to Ukraine: «We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you».

Witkoff also reportedly offered guidance on how Putin himself should speak to Trump, urging the Kremlin to schedule a Trump–Putin phone call just before an important meeting between Trump and Zelensky at the White House last month.

US lawmakers from both parties have blasted Steve Witkoff for what they describe as openly favoring Russia in the Ukraine talks, with some going so far as to brand him a traitor and demand his removal. After the leaked Kremlin call was published, Democratic Representative Ted Lieu posted that Witkoff was an «actual traitor» and urged that he be fired, while Republican Representative Don Bacon similarly called for Witkoff to be dismissed over a peace plan he said was tilted toward Moscow’s interests.

«I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy.»

-Steve Witkoff

Other Republicans have voiced alarm in background comments, telling reporters they were «so alarmed by Witkoff’s apparent pro-Russian stance» that they raised concerns directly with senior Trump officials, adding to a growing bipartisan chorus that questions whether the president’s special envoy is defending US, Ukrainian and European interests or advancing those of the Kremlin.

In a March interview with Tucker Carlson, Witkoff signaled his favorability toward Russia by telling Carlson «I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy», calling the idea that Moscow wants to march across Europe «preposterous» and insisting «100% not» when asked whether Russia has such intentions.

Read a transcript of an Oct. 29 phone call between Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s most senior foreign-policy adviser, and Kirill Dmitriev, an economic adviser to the Russian president

— Bloomberg News (@bloomberg.com) 2025-11-25T21:30:36Z

Donald Trump unleashed a lengthy, furious post on Truth Social targeting The New York Times after its «Sign of Fatigue» article, accusing «the Radical Left Lunatics in the soon to fold New York Times» and declaring that the paper is «truly an ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE».

Donald Trump furiously lashed out at The New York Times for an article saying that he is showing signs of aging and has significantly reduced his workload in his second term.

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) 2025-11-26T13:33:36.397764Z

Trump claimed in his post that «they write about me, including election results, ALL PURPOSELY NEGATIVE» and went after the woman who wrote the article, calling her a «third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out.»

A series of sweeping claims

Trump’s tirade began with a direct attack, as he blasted «The Creeps at the Failing New York Times are at it again,» before launching into a series of sweeping claims about his victory in the 2024 race, his «great» economy, and the 8 wars he says he settled: «I won the 2024 Presidential Election in a Landslide, winning all Seven Swing States, the Popular Vote, and the Electoral College by a lot,» Trump explained, and he further boasted that «I won our Nation’s Districts by 2750 to 550, a complete wipeout.»

The president then escalated weirdly, declaring that: «I settled 8 Wars, have 48 New Stock Market Highs, our Economy is Great, and our Country is RESPECTED AGAIN all over the World, respected like never before.»

«To do this requires a lot of Work and Energy, and I have never worked so hard in my life.»

Signs of fatigue

The New York Times article portrayed Trump’s days at work as president as «shorter» and marked by «signs of fatigue,» suggesting that his long-cultivated image of «stamina and energy» is rapidly fading in his second term. The piece describes a president who can «doze off» during official events at the White House, with the Times effectively accusing Trump of becoming what he once claimed Biden was when he was president, someone who «sleeps all the time.»

These claims from The New York Times left the president furious, prompting him to insist on Truth Social just how hard he works, writing:

«To do this requires a lot of Work and Energy, and I have never worked so hard in my life.»

Trump went so far as to label The New York Times as «This cheap “RAG” is truly an “ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.”» before personally turning on the journalist who wrote the article, saying: «The writer of the story, Katie Rogers, who is assigned to write only bad things about me, is a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out.»

According to The New York Times, Trump now barely stands up in the Oval Office as he did before and can «doze on and off» in his presidential chair even in front of journalists.

The paper argues that the lack of clarity around his health and medical examinations only fuels public concern about the condition of the 79-year-old president, pointing in particular to the limited information released about a mysterious M.R.I. he underwent a few weeks earlier, which Trump himself brushed off by saying he had no idea what doctors had been looking at in these irregular tests.

On Truth Social, Trump brushed off the questions about his health and energy, insisting that he remains politically and physically strong: «Despite all of this, I have my highest Poll Numbers, ever, and with record setting investment being made in America, they should only go up. There will be a day when I run low on Energy, it happens to everyone, but with a PERFECT PHYSICAL EXAM AND A COMPREHENSIVE COGNITIVE TEST (“That was aced”) JUST RECENTLY TAKEN, it certainly is not now!»

President Trump has always used his stamina and energy as a political strength. But that image is getting harder for him to sustain. Read more: nyti.ms/49MiIG5

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-11-26T15:45:04.898874Z

The Trump administration has designated Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro and key figures in his government as members of a foreign terrorist organization, further escalating tensions between the two countries in the context of Trump’s declared war on drug cartels.

What will become of Nicolas Maduro? With a $50 million bounty on his head, the CIA openly active in Caracas and US forces mustering in the Caribbean, pundits and politicians throughout the Americas are opining on the Venezuelan president’s fate. | Analysis

— CNN (@cnn.com) 2025-11-23T08:01:01.620633194Z

While officials present the move as part of a broader crackdown on narcotrafficking, many observers say it is primarily aimed at increasing pressure to push Maduro’s government out of power.

Trump’s latest escalation

The Trump administration’s latest escalation comes at a moment when tensions in and around Venezuela are already at a peak.

Multiple international airlines have canceled flights to the country after the Federal Aviation Administration warned of a «worsening security situation» amid a growing U.S. military buildup in the region, adding a new layer of uncertainty and isolation as Washington moves to formally label Nicolás Maduro and his allies as part of a foreign terrorist organization.

With this almost unprecedented move by a U.S. president — designating a sitting foreign head of state as a member of a terrorist organization — Trump is turning up the pressure to maximum levels in a way that risks isolating Venezuela even further. Behind the designation is a strategy that could open the door to new sanctions, tighter restrictions on travel and financial transactions, and push even more international companies to pull out of the country, deepening its economic and diplomatic isolation.

In a legal gray zone

Since early September, the United States has repeatedly bombed small boats it claims are run by Venezuelan drug cartels, striking them in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. As of mid-November, there have been 21 airstrikes on 22 vessels and leaving 83 people dead.

Trump’s hard-line approach has triggered mounting unease abroad, with allies and rights groups warning it blurs legal boundaries, undermines due process and risks fueling a wider regional crisis — concerns underscored by the U.K.’s recent decision to halt the sharing of certain classified intelligence with Washington.

Multiple international airlines have canceled flights to Venezuela after the Federal Aviation Administration warned of a "worsening security situation" in the South American country amid a U.S. military buildup in the region.

— Axios (@axios.com) 2025-11-24T00:30:37.592Z

Russia’s latest disinformation attack on the United States increasingly runs through Mexico, where the Kremlin has found a strategic gateway to the vast Spanish-language media space that links Latin America to millions of Latino viewers inside the US.

A U.S. government cable said that Kremlin-run outlets had scaled up their efforts across Latin America, seeking to turn people against the U.S. and garner support for Russia. nyti.ms/3JVxQGB

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-11-24T17:15:04.094219Z

Over the past two years, Kremlin-owned media outlets such as Sputnik and RT have sharply stepped up their activity in the region, with efforts aimed in part at sowing discord between Washington and its allies, according to watchdog groups, an American diplomatic cable and reporting by the New York Times.

Sounding the alarm

The diplomatic cable warned that «RT’s aggressive investment in Mexico and its strategy to build its credibility and undermine the United States poses a threat to current popular perception», noting that American diplomats in Mexico City were already sounding the alarm in 2024 and asking for «more resources to counter RT’s well-funded efforts».

According to the same cable, online views for «RT en Español» on X jumped from less than 200,000 in 2022 to 715 million in 2023, a dramatic surge that shows how quickly the channel has expanded its reach and how central Mexico has become to Moscow’s effort to shape conversations about the United States.

An overreaching power

Moscow does not just chase bigger audiences; it also adapts much of its Spanish-language messaging to Mexico’s own disputes with Washington, using local controversies to make its narratives look organic rather than imported.

RT and Sputnik promote stories that portray the United States as an overreaching power, from coverage linking the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to the 2021 assassination of Haiti’s president — a Sputnik article amplified by Mexico’s state broadcasting chief with the comment «another D.E.A. intervention in Latin America» — to Russian officials’ claims that Washington and Kyiv are working with Mexican and Colombian cartels to fight Russia.

These themes tap into existing nationalist and anti-U.S. currents inside Mexico, where some figures in the ruling party have circulated Kremlin-friendly content, helping Russia’s messaging blend into domestic political debates.

Its influence on the country’s information

The Kremlin, for its part, rejects accusations of manipulation and insists its state outlets simply offer an «unbiased alternative to American media», pointing out that they provide free material to local partners.

In Mexico, that approach has enabled RT and Sputnik to deepen their presence through partnerships with organisations such as the Journalists Club, an industry association that has received funding from the Mexican Senate, giving Russian media an additional layer of institutional visibility — and making its influence on the country’s information space even harder to counter.