The Venezuelan dictator captured by the Trump administration worked as a bus driver and union organizer before his ascent through the South American country’s political system, where he ultimately became a wanted man by the U.S. with a $50 million reward for information leading to his arrest. 

Nicolás Maduro was ‘captured and flown out of the country’ early Saturday following a ‘large-scale strike’ by the U.S. military, according to President Donald Trump. 

The actions mark a stunning fall for Maduro, who was serving his third term as president of Venezuela. He led an administration that grappled with economic challenges, mass protests, disputed election results and allegations of narco-trafficking. 

Maduro was born in Venezuela’s capital of Caracas on Nov. 23, 1962. As a young man, he was sent to communist Cuba in 1986 for a year of ideological instruction — his only studies after high school.

Upon returning home, Maduro found work as a bus driver and union organizer. He embraced the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez after the then-army paratrooper in 1992 staged a failed coup against an unpopular austerity government. Around the same time, he met his longtime partner, Cilia Flores, a lawyer for the jailed leader. 

After Chávez was freed and elected president in 1998, Maduro, a young lawmaker, helped push his agenda of redistributing the OPEC nation’s oil wealth and political power. 

In 2000, Maduro was elected to Venezuela’s National Assembly. He later became the president of the National Assembly in 2005.

Then in 2006, Chávez appointed Maduro as Venezuela’s foreign minister. Six years later, Maduro was appointed as Venezuela’s vice president. 

When Maduro took power in 2013 following his mentor’s death from cancer, he struggled to bring order to the grief-stricken nation. Without ‘El Comandante’ in charge, the economy entered a death spiral — shrinking 71% from 2012 to 2020, with inflation topping 130,000% — and opponents and rivals inside the government saw an opportunity. 

Less than a year into Maduro’s presidency, hardliner opponents launched demonstrations demanding his exit.

Leaning heavily on Venezuela’s security forces, Maduro crushed the protests. However, with supermarket shelves empty amid widespread shortages, they resumed with more intensity three years later, leaving more than 100 people dead. In 2018, the International Criminal Court initiated a criminal investigation into possible crimes against humanity. 

The crackdown continued into the 2018 presidential race, which the opposition boycotted when several of its leaders were barred from running. Dozens of countries led by the U.S. condemned Maduro’s first re-election as illegitimate and recognized Juan Guaidó, the head of the National Assembly, as Venezuela’s elected leader. 

‘Since 2019, more than 50 countries, including the United States, have refused to recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s head of state,’ the State Department said in a profile of Maduro on its website.

‘Maduro helped manage and ultimately lead the Cartel of the Suns, a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials. As he gained power in Venezuela, Maduro participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,’ it added.  

‘Maduro negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine; directed the Cartel of the Suns to provide military-grade weapons to the FARC; coordinated with narcotics traffickers in Honduras and other countries to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking; and solicited assistance from FARC leadership in training an unsanctioned militia group that functioned, in essence, as an armed forces unit for the Cartel of the Suns,’ the State Department continued. 

‘In March 2020, Maduro was charged in the Southern District of New York for narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices,’ it also said.

Maduro was re-elected again in 2024 in another disputed election. 

‘Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election,’ then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the time. 

Maduro then delivered a fiery inauguration speech in January 2025, likening himself to a biblical David fighting Goliath and accusing his opponents and their supporters in the U.S. of trying to turn his inauguration into a ‘world war.’ 

He said his enemies’ failure to block his inauguration to a third six-year term was ‘a great victory’ for Venezuela’s peace and national sovereignty. 

‘I have not been made president by the government of the United States, nor by the pro-imperialist governments of Latin America,’ he said, after being draped with a sash in the red, yellow and blue of Venezuela’s flag. ‘I come from the people, I am of the people, and my power emanates from history and from the people. And to the people, I owe my whole life, body and soul.’ 

Months later, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest.

‘Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like TdA (Tren de Aragua), Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns (Cartel de Soles) to bring deadly violence to our country,’ Bondi said in a video message in August 2025. ‘He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security.’ 

Fox News’ Michael Sinkewicz, Lucas Y. Tomlinson, Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Former special counsel Jack Smith used a closed-door deposition with House Republicans last month to defend his investigations into Donald Trump’s alleged effort to subvert the 2020 presidential election and his alleged retention of certain classified documents, using the hours-long testimony to forcefully dispute the notion that his team had acted politically, and citing what he described as ample evidence to support the indictments that had been levied against Trump. 

‘I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,’ Smith told members of the House Judiciary Committee in the Dec. 17 interview.

The interview was Smith’s first time appearing before Congress since he left his role as special counsel in 2024. And while much of the information was not new, the exchange was punctuated by sharp exchanges with Republicans on the panel, both on the strength of the case, and on his own actions taken during the course of the probe — most recently, on the tolling records his team sought from a handful of Republican lawmakers over the course of the investigation. Republicans have assailed the records as being at odds with the speech or debate clause of the Constitution.  

‘I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,’ Smith told the committee. ‘We took actions based on what the facts, and the law required — the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.’

Republicans on the panel ultimately opted to publish the redacted transcript on New Year’s Eve, a decision that may have helped dull the impact of any news the 255-page document may have generated amid the broader hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

Here are some of the biggest moments and notable exchanges from the eight-hour hearing. 

New political tensions 

Smith was tapped by former Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate the alleged effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as Trump’s keeping of allegedly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach after leaving office in 2020. Smith had brought charges against Trump in both cases.

The charges were dropped after Trump’s election, in keeping with a longstanding Justice Department policy that discourages investigating sitting presidents for federal criminal charges, and Smith resigned from his role shortly after.

If nothing else, Smith’s Dec. 17 testimony underscored just how much has changed since Trump’s reelection in 2024. 

Trump, for his part, has used his first year back in office to follow through on his promises to go after his perceived political ‘enemies,’ including by revoking security clearances of many individuals, including employees of a D.C.-based law firm that represents Smith, and taking other punitive measures to punish or fire FBI agents involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, investigation.

During his testimony last month, Smith fiercely disputed the notion that Trump’s remarks about the 2020 election results would be protected by the First Amendment. 

‘Absololutely not,’ he said in response to a lawyer for Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee.

The lawyer then ticked through a ‘long list of disputed elections’ in U.S. history and former presidents who have spoken out about ‘what they believed to be fraud,’ or other issues regarding election integrity. ‘I think you would agree that those types of statements are sort of at the core of the First Amendment rights of a presidential candidate, right?’

‘There is no historical analog for what President Trump did in this case,’ Smith said immediately. 

‘Powerful’ evidence

Smith told members that the special counsel ultimately gathered evidence against Trump that was, in his view, sufficient to secure a conviction.

‘He made false statements to state legislatures, to his supporters in all sorts of contexts and was aware in the days leading up to Jan. 6th that his supporters were angry when he invited them, and then he directed them to the Capitol,’ Smith said of Trump’ actions in the run-up to Jan. 6. 

‘Now, once they were at the Capitol and once the attack on the Capitol happened, he refused to stop it. He instead issued a tweet that, without question in my mind, endangered the life of his own vice president,’ Smith added. ‘And when the violence was going on, he had to be pushed repeatedly by his staff members to do anything to quell it.’

Other possible co-conspirators had not been charged, as Smith noted at one point during the interview. 

But Smith said in the testimony that his team had developed ‘proof beyond a reasonable doubt’ that Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.’

They’d also developed what he described as ‘powerful evidence’ that Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after leaving office in January 2021 at his private Mar-a-Lago residence, and was obstructing the government’s efforts to recover the records.

Smith’s team had not determined how to proceed for possible ‘co-conspirators’

Smith said that, when the special counsel wound down in the wake of the 2024 elections, his team had not determined whether to charge the key Trump allies who may or may not have acted as co-conspirators, including Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and John Eastman.

‘As we stated in the final report, we analyzed the evidence against different co-conspirators,’ Smith said. Smith reiterated his allegation that Trump was ‘the most culpable’ and ‘most responsible’ person for the alleged attempts to subvert the 2020 election results. 

He said the special counsel had ‘determined that we did have evidence to charge people at a certain point in time.’ 

But at the time the investigation was wound down, they had not made ‘final determinations about that at the time that President Trump won reelection, meaning that our office was going to be closed down.’

He lamented the ousting of DOJ, FBI officials 

Smith used his opening remarks to lament the ousting of FBI agents and Justice Department officials involved in the Jan. 6 investigations.

‘I am both saddened and angered that President Trump has sought revenge against career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support staff simply for doing their jobs and for having worked on those cases,’ Smith said.

His remarks came after the FBI in recent months ousted a handful of personnel involved in the Jan. 6 investigations, an effort individuals familiar with the action described to Fox News at the time as an act of ‘retaliation.’

Thousands of FBI personnel in February were forced to fill out a sprawling questionnaire asking employees detailed questions about any role they may have played in the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots — ranging from whether they had testified in any criminal trials to when they last participated in investigation-related activity.

Smith’s team didn’t tell the courts that subpoenaed phone records belonged to lawmakers

Smith was grilled during the deposition about the highly scrutinized subpoenas his team issued to phone companies for data belonging to House and Senate lawmakers as part of his investigation, saying they aligned with the Justice Department’s policy at the time.

Smith said the Public Integrity Section signed off on the subpoenas, a point corroborated by records previously released by Grassley’s office. 

Those records also showed that the Public Integrity Section told prosecutors to be wary of concerns lawmakers could raise about the Constitution’s speech or debate clause, which gives Congress members added protections.

The subpoenas to the phone companies were accompanied by gag orders blocking the lawmakers from learning about the existence of the subpoenas for at least one year. Smith said the D.C. federal court, which authorized the gag orders, would not have been aware that they applied to Congress members.’I don’t think we identified that, because I don’t think that was Department policy at the time,’ Smith said.

Asked during the deposition about who should be held accountable for lawmakers who felt that the seizure of a narrow set of their phone data was a constitutional violation, Smith said Trump should be held accountable.

‘These records are people, in the case of the Senators, Donald Trump directed his co-conspirators to call these people to further delay the proceedings,’ Smith said.

‘He chose to do that. If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic Senators, we would have gotten toll records for Democratic Senators. So responsibility for why these records, why we collected them, that’s — that lies with Donald Trump,’ he said.

A super PAC aligned with President Donald Trump has nearly $300 million in its war chest heading into the 2026 midterms, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Thursday.

MAGA Inc. reported $294 million in cash on hand in its latest campaign finance disclosure, which the super PAC said will be used to support candidates aligned with the president’s agenda.

‘Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, MAGA Inc will have the resources to help candidates who support President Trump’s America First agenda of securing our border, keeping our streets safe, supercharging our economy, and making life more affordable for all Americans,’ a MAGA Inc. spokesperson said in a statement, according to the New York Post.

The super PAC raised $102 million in the second half of 2025, including 25 donations of at least $1 million.

The largest contribution came from OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman, who donated $25 million in September.

Brockman said in a post on X this week that he had become more politically active in 2025, including through political contributions that reflect ‘support for policies that advance American innovation and constructive dialogue between government and the technology sector.’

The fundraising haul came even though Trump is not on the ballot this year, underscoring the super PAC’s focus on supporting Republicans in upcoming races.

MAGA Inc. did not play a significant role in the 2022 midterms, opting instead to save its money for Trump’s 2024 campaign.

The super PAC spent $456 million supporting Trump’s bid to return to the White House, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit organization that tracks campaign finance data.

MAGA Inc. launched ads in November backing Republican candidate Matt Van Epps, who was endorsed by Trump and went on to defeat Democrat Aftyn Behn in a Tennessee congressional race.

Elon Musk, the billionaire technology entrepreneur and chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla, has signaled an openness to supporting Republican candidates in the midterms.

‘America is toast if the radical left wins,’ he posted on X on Thursday. ‘They will open the floodgates to illegal immigration and fraud.’

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said Friday that federal agencies have terminated or reduced 55 contracts over the last three days with a combined ceiling value of $1.6 billion, claiming $542 million in savings.

DOGE, whose name nods to Elon Musk’s high-profile involvement, was launched during the opening days of President Donald Trump’s second administration as part of a broader effort to reshape federal spending and bureaucracy.

While Musk has since stepped back from the project, elements of the DOGE framework remain active across federal agencies.

In a post on X, the department wrote: ‘Contracts Update! Over the last 3 days, agencies terminated and descoped 55 wasteful contracts with a ceiling value of $1.6B and savings of $542M.’

The post listed several examples, including what it described as ‘a $47M State Dept. program support contract for ‘Africa / Djibouti, Somalia armored personnel carriers and Somalia National Army crew’,’ and ‘a $19.5M HHS IT Services contract for support for National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in designing, creating, updating, maintaining, and archiving online communications.’

DOGE also referenced ‘a $151k DoW education services contract for ‘Director’s Development Program in Leadership – Partnership course to be held at Northwestern University’,’ according to the post.

Screenshots shared with the DOGE post show federal contract records matching the descriptions and dollar amounts cited.

One screenshot shows a contract record tied to Somalia, listing professional program management support under a federal services code and identifying the country of service origin as Somalia. The contract description references support related to armored personnel carriers and Somalia National Army crews in Djibouti and Somalia.

A second screenshot shows an IT management support services contract based in the United States, categorized under computer systems design services. The description outlines work for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences focused on maintaining and managing online communications, including websites, webpages, mobile tools and social media platforms.

The DOGE post did not provide additional details about when the contracts were originally awarded, how much funding had already been obligated or spent, or which agency actions produced the savings figure cited in the post.

The announcement comes amid heightened scrutiny this week over several Somali-owned, government-funded daycare facilities in Minnesota that have been accused of fraudulently collecting millions of dollars worth of taxpayer funds.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House, DOGE, the State Department and HHS for additional information.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., remained silent Friday when his office was asked about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s day one orders that drew backlash from the international Jewish community.

Among his first actions as mayor, Mamdani revoked orders by his predecessor, Eric Adams, including Executive Order 61, which provided additional NYPD security to synagogues in the city and axed the definition of antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

He also overturned a restriction on boycotting Israel put in place by Adams. 

‘On his very first day as New York City mayor, Mamdani shows his true face: He scraps the IHRA definition of antisemitism and lifts restrictions on boycotting Israel,’ the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote in a post on X. 

Schumer’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s multiple requests for comment on whether he supported Mamdani’s decisions or what message the Jewish communities in New York City should take away from them.

Schumer previously shied away from taking any stance on Mamdani after it became apparent the socialist candidate would capture the Democratic nomination for mayor.

‘We are continuing to talk,’ Schumer said whenever asked if he would extend an endorsement. 

His silence on his support continued even as Mamdani refused to outright denounce the use of the phrase ‘Globalize the intifada,’ a saying used by critics of Israel to advocate for the removal of the Jewish state. At the time, Mamdani’s posture toward the phrase drew condemnations and alarm from pro-Israel advocates.

Now with Mamdani in office, allies of Israel believe the new mayor’s posture could already prove a dangerous one.

The Consul General of Israel in New York, Ambassador Ofir Akunis, said the revocations ‘pose an immediate threat to the safety of Jewish communities in New York City and could lead to an increase in violent antisemitic attacks throughout the city.’

In the wake of several antisemitic attacks in recent weeks, Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States, has said the country must soundly condemn antisemitism ‘at every turn.’

After the deadly Bondi Beach shooting in mid-December that left 15 victims dead at a Jewish community event, Schumer maintained that the Jewish people had been uniquely targeted. 

‘The Jewish people have been collectively demonized. Our collective humanity demands we come together no matter our race, religion, our nationality and forcefully rebuke those forces,’ Schumer said. ‘As I have warned repeatedly, antisemitism is a scourge around the world.’

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Philips contributed to this report.

As nationwide protests continued to spread across Iran on Friday, the regime’s hardline Parliament speaker warned the U.S. that American forces and bases in the region would be considered ‘legitimate targets’ if Washington intervenes in the country’s ongoing political unrest.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made the comments after President Donald Trump said earlier Friday that the U.S. would take action if Iran uses force against demonstrators. It comes as protests entered a sixth day and appear to be spreading, with Iranian opposition groups claiming at least eight deaths.

‘The disrespectful President of America should also know that with this official admission, all American centers and forces across the entire region will be legitimate targets for us in response to any potential adventurism,’ Qalibaf wrote in Persian on X.

‘Iranians have always been united and determined to act in the face of an aggressor enemy,’ he added.

Qalibaf’s threat emerges as the United States maintains a substantial military presence in the region.

Roughly 40,000 active-duty U.S. troops and War Department civilians are deployed across the Middle East, according to Military Times, citing Pentagon officials. Forces are stationed in countries including Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq and Syria, according to Reuters.

Trump said earlier Friday that the United States is ‘locked and loaded and ready to go’ if Iranian authorities violently suppress demonstrators.

‘If Iran shoots and ‘violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,’’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) claimed Friday that protests have spread to at least 44 cities across 19 provinces, with at least eight people killed in clashes with security forces over the past two days. The group said the youngest victim was 15 years old. The claims could not be independently verified.

According to the NCRI, demonstrations and street fighting intensified overnight, with protesters blocking roads, throwing stones and setting fire to police vehicles in multiple cities, including Marvdasht, Semirom, Darreh-Shahr, Ramhormoz and Azna. 

The group also claimed demonstrators burned a statue of slain Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Lali, in Iran’s Khuzestan province.

Funerals of those killed in the uprising turned into angry demonstrations against the clerical dictatorship, NCRI reported.

In Zahedan, in Iran’s southeast near the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, demonstrators rallied after Friday prayers, chanting slogans including ‘Death to the dictator’ and ‘Death to Khamenei.’

The unrest marks Iran’s most significant protests since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody sparked nationwide demonstrations. Iranian officials say the current unrest has not reached the same scale or intensity.

In recent demonstrations, some of the most severe violence has been reported in western Iran, where videos circulating online appear to show fires burning in streets and the sound of gunfire during nighttime protests.

In a message to the protesters, the President-elect of the NCRI, Maryam Rajavi, said that the protesters have ‘struck fear into a weakened enemy.’

‘Scenes of your courage, valor, and steadfast resistance captivate the conscience of the world,’ Rajavi said. ‘Therefore, from here, I say to the clerics, the Revolutionary Guards, the Basij forces, and their intelligence agents: whatever measures you take, you will not be able to silence a people who have resolved to overthrow the clerical regime.’

‘You may kill, you may wound, you may arrest and imprison, but you will not escape the relentless wrath of this nation. And let this stand as an explicit warning to all those who order and carry out these crimes and killings: the courts of a free Iran are awaiting you.’

Meanwhile, exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of Iran’s former shah, praised Trump’s ‘decisive leadership’ and tough stance against Iran’s ruling clerics.

Pahlavi said Iranians are risking their lives to end 46 years of rule by the Islamic Republic.

‘[The people] have entrusted me with a message along with a great responsibility: to strive for the revival of the relationship that Iran once had with America; a relationship that brought peace and prosperity to the Middle East,’ Pahlavi wrote on X.

‘I have a clear plan for a stable transition in Iran and enjoy the support of my people to achieve it. With your leadership in the free world, we can leave behind a lasting legacy of enduring peace.’

Fox News’ Bradford Betz, Greg Norman, Morgan Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

New York City’s new mayor wasted little time drawing ideological lines, using his swearing-in ceremony to double down on campaign promises filled with government-led solutions — a sharp contrast with free-market principles Republicans warn are increasingly under threat amid an evolving understanding of socialism among younger audiences.

‘We will draw this city closer together,’ Zohran Mamdani, a socialist, said at his ceremony on Thursday. ‘We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it.’ 

His aims were echoed by his supporters at his inauguration — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., one of the most progressive lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

‘We have chosen that over the distractions of bigotry and barbarism of extreme income inequality,’ Ocasio-Cortez said of Mamdani’s visions for government-led programs like universal child care.

Mamdani’s victory over independent candidate Andrew Cuomo was made possible in part by his stunning success among younger voters ages 18-29. Exit polling from the election’s results indicated he captured as much as 75% of that vote. 

Ronald Suny, professor emeritus of political science and history at the University of Chicago, said the support of younger voters for an openly socialist candidate didn’t come as a surprise.

‘Socialism has now become the catchphrase for the opposition to free-market or neoliberal capitalism, which is the idea that the market can do it all. Huge swaths of the lower and middle classes have not increased their well-being or their real incomes in the last 50 years,’ Suny said.

Suny believes younger audiences have embraced socialism as a way to describe an ideal — even if they don’t have a good sense of what socialism means in practice. That’s dovetailed with the rise of Mamdani and other progressives promising to use the power of government to create a more even playing field on issues like the cost of living, housing, transportation and healthcare.

It’s a semantic change, some argue.

Jason Palmer, co-founder of TOGETHER!, a youth-centered organization that promotes political engagement at the collegiate level, first noticed a change in the way students talked about socialism around three years ago.

‘I started noticing it about 2022 — and it’s really connected to affordability. A lot of young people feel like nothing is affordable to them. They can’t buy a house. One thing that came up a lot on the campaign trail is they can’t even afford to pay the rent deposit,’ Palmer said.

‘I’ve spoken to a lot of them, and I always ask them, ‘What does socialism mean to you?’ They say, ‘Well, I don’t know the official definition, but here’s what it means to me. It means equality, it means fairness, it means an even playing field with higher taxes on the rich, a more equitable society.’’

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., attributed shifts in how socialism is viewed to shortcomings in education.

‘Our K-12 system — we failed to actually educate people about the implications of economic policy and the way it overlays into cultural frameworks of societies,’ Donalds said. ‘[Socialism] empowers government, makes government be more heavy-handed, driving choices, as opposed to letting people do that.’

Donalds’ concern stems from his conviction that socialism is at odds with the principles of American freedom. In his view, it’s overly reliant on a top-down power structure.

‘It always leads to a destruction of liberties,’ Donalds said. ‘There has to be some omnipotent person at the top who makes all the decisions.’

Donalds pointed to the mass starvation and political repression of socialist regimes in Cuba, North Korea, China and Venezuela. 

Fellow Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., echoed similar alarm as she introduced a bill condemning the horrors of socialism earlier this year.

‘I represent district No. 27 in Miami, Florida — a bastion of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who have fled, who have escaped from despicable horrors you cannot imagine produced by that ideology,’ Salazar said in a floor speech.

But Suny, who studies social change in socialist countries, believes that political framing in the U.S. has inadvertently contributed to a renewed interest in socialism. He argues that younger voters might find themselves unconvinced by a repeated emphasis on socialism’s most grievous failures and don’t see mass starvation in the cards when politicians float government-led child care programs or government-owned supermarkets.

‘[Critics] don’t emphasize elements like turning peasant countries into industrial countries, village countries into urban countries, teaching literacy to the whole population, a number of other things, right?’ Suny said.

Palmer, the co-founder of TOGETHER!, noted that shifting understandings of socialism may vary greatly regionally. He pointed out that Mamdani’s success in New York would likely prove less effective among young voters in Virginia, Pennsylvania or other states.

‘It does play differently with different audiences,’ Palmer said.

Polling by Gallup last year showed that approval surrounding capitalism sank nationally with younger audiences, while socialism’s standing rose. Only 31% of Democrats under 50 have a positive view of capitalism, a drop from 54% in 2010. 

Inversely, Gallup’s findings also showed that the favorability of socialism climbed among younger audiences. Notably, 49% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 said they held a positive view of socialism, while 46% said they held a negative view. 

Ukraine orchestrated a fake hit on one of Russia’s enemies who has fought alongside Ukrainian forces, tricking the Kremlin into paying out a $500,000 bounty Kyiv used to fund its war effort. 

The subject of the supposed Dec. 27 assassination was Denis Kapustin, also known as ‘White Rex,’ the leader of the right-wing Russian Volunteer Corps, a group fighting for the overthrow of Vladimir Putin, Metro UK reported. 

However, Kapustin is alive despite claims from the Ukrainian Armed Forces last week that he was killed by an FPV drone in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

‘We will definitely avenge you, Denis. Your legacy lives on,’ the RVC group wrote on Telegram last week. 

On Thursday, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR) confirmed this was part of a special operation to save Kapustin’s life and, in the process, earn $500,000.

‘Welcome back to life,’ HUR General Kyrylo Budanov, who heads Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, said while congratulating Kapustin and his team on a successful intelligence operation, News.com.au, an Australian news website, reported. 

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kapustin founded the RVC to fight alongside the Ukrainian army.

The group, which was banned in Russia as a terrorist organization, was known for staging cross-border attacks in Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions. He had twice been sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment by kangaroo courts in Russia, The Sun reported. 

In March 2024, the RVC stormed into Russia and clashed with security forces before capturing Russian soldiers.

Ukraine and Russian are in the middle of peace talks mediated by President Donald Trump. The deal is close, but Ukrainian leaders have said the sticking point remains the issue of disputed territories.  

If you’re still unpacking results from the 2024 election, it’s time to give up.

2026 is an election year.

Welcome to the midterms. 

Health care. The economy. The ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill.’ All are factors as voters go to the polls this fall.

Democrats are trained on kitchen table issues this year. They hope that voters will forget about culture wars and have buyer’s remorse, perhaps flipping the House — and even the Senate.

‘They just don’t have enough money in their pockets to pay the bills to buy the medicine they need,’ said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. ‘Costs are skyrocketing. And in 2026, you’ll be hearing from us about costs over and over and over again.’

However, Republicans are bullish on maintaining Senate control.

‘I think you’re going to see a remarkable 2026. I mean we’re excited about the prospects for the economy,’ Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Bret Baier.

But Thune is cautious.

‘Typically there are headwinds in a midterm election,’ said Thune. ‘You can’t convince people of something they don’t feel.’

Retirements by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Tina Smith, D-Minn., could create challenges for Democrats to hold those seats. Take, for example, why Republicans are spending so much time railing against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and the state’s welfare scandal and childcare questions. This fuels optimism that Republicans can prevail in the Gopher State.

‘President Trump was very close in Minnesota. It’s a four-point race. We know with the right candidate, we will be successful,’ said Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., head of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign (NRSC) to Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser.

Republicans hope that Democrats nominate controversial candidates.

‘If I didn’t know better, I would say that some of these folks are Republican plants. They’re clearly from the loon wing of the Democratic Party,’ said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., about some Democratic Senate hopefuls. 

Republicans are rooting for a radioactive Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, to secure the Democratic nod over a more moderate Democrat James Talarico — to potentially face Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton or Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, for the Texas Senate race.

‘They tell us that Texas is red. They are lying. We’re not,’ said Crockett. ‘Y’all ain’t never tried it the J.C. way.’

Graham Platner is a Democratic populist in Maine. He hopes to face Sen. Susan Collins, R-Me. — if he’s able to defeat Gov. Janet Mills in the primary. Platner has a history of inflammatory posts online.

‘The candidate for Senate in Maine for the Democrats calls me a Nazi, which is rich, coming from a guy who literally has a Nazi tattoo on his chest,’ said Vice President JD Vance.

Platner claims he didn’t know the symbolism of the tattoo at the time. He’s since covered it up.

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is perhaps the most vulnerable Democrat facing re-election this cycle. Ossoff won a runoff as President Trump challenged the 2020 Georgia election results. Republicans intend to target Ossoff with his votes against re-opening the government during the shutdown.

But Democrats think they can swipe some seats from the GOP.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is retiring. The Tar Heel State may represent the best overall pickup opportunity for Democrats.

Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to face former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley in a barnburner.

And Democrats think former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, might be able to return to Washington by winning the state’s other Senate seat this fall. 

Brown likely faces Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio. Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Husted to the Senate to succeed Vance when he left the Senate and became vice president. A former Ohio lieutenant governor, Husted has never campaigned statewide for Senate.

This is why Democrats are focused on your pocketbook and health care in 2026.

‘We’re going to get it done by getting it on some piece of legislation, or we’re going to get it done by marching through into the midterms and winning,’ predicted Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

And the biggest factor may be who’s not on the ballot this year: President Donald Trump. Republicans saw examples of that in 2018 and 2022. Voters often see midterms as a presidential report card. 

That’s possibly working against Republicans as they attempt to cling to power in the House. History is against the GOP in 2026. The President’s party customarily loses about 26 seats in the first midterm. But House Republicans aim to run on their accomplishments.

‘So far, House Republicans have passed 413 bills. This year, we’ve codified 68 of President Trump’s America First executive orders,’ said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. ‘We look forward to continuing all that work when we return in 2026, and we go into an epic midterm election cycle.

Epic is right.

Republicans tried to erect a political heat shield to deflect midterm norms. Republicans drew new, GOP-friendly districts in Texas and Missouri. But those districts are a lighter shade of red. That could dilute the GOP base vote as these districts as battlegrounds.

‘We have to make sure that we’ve got an edge. This is a big deal, and we’ve gotta be politically smart. And I hate to say this, for a change,’ Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J. said on Fox News Channel. 

Democrats countered the Republican maneuvering with redistricting of their own. Particularly in California.

‘Our focus is on the swing districts, the purple districts across the country,’ said Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). ‘It’s why we expanded our map of offensive opportunities.’

But it’s risky if Democrats run candidates who are too progressive for certain seats.

Democrats plan investigations and subpoenas of the Trump administration if they win the House. One Democrat is eyeing the Pentagon.

‘When we take back the House in 2026, every single one of their actions is going to be under an MRI. We’re going to evaluate them up against the laws of war. And they will be held accountable for violating those laws of war,’ Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., told ABC News.

But House control could hinge on the Supreme Court. Around 20 House seats could shift toward the GOP if the high court unwinds part of the Voting Rights Act. That law gave Democrats an edge in multiple districts populated by minorities. 

A ruling requiring new districts could drastically upset the balance of power for this year’s House contests.

Months after the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, tensions are rising again as Iran kills protesters, Israel weighs new military action and President Donald Trump signals the U.S. could intervene.

Trump sharpened pressure on Tehran this week, threatening U.S. action if Iranian security forces violently suppress the ongoing protests that erupted after the country’s national currency collapsed.

‘If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters … the United States of America will come to their rescue,’ Trump said on social media, adding that the U.S. was ‘locked and loaded.’

But while Trump’s language suggested a readiness to use force, analysts say Washington still has options short of direct military action.

Daniel Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said Washington should move quickly to expand internet access for demonstrators and prepare for potential political change.

‘Support protesters with internet access and prepare now to advise and assist in a transition,’ Shapiro wrote on X.

Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor at the think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, argued that Washington has options short of direct military action.

‘The two most powerful things the U.S. and close partners can do without military involvement is facilitate secure information flow to the protesters and blind the security forces,’ Goldberg wrote on X, adding that while Trump has suggested a kinetic approach, non-kinetic options remain available.

Human rights groups have reported between five and eight killings linked to the recent unrest, along with more than 30 people injured and over 100 arrested as demonstrations spread to dozens of cities across the country.

The White House did not specify what form any intervention might take. Past U.S. responses to unrest in Iran have typically been limited to sanctions and other non-kinetic measures, but Trump has recently shown a willingness to authorize direct military action, including strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, operations against ISIS in Nigeria following reports of mass killings of Christians and actions targeting alleged narco-traffickers near Venezuela.

Iranian officials responded sharply to Trump’s remarks, warning that U.S. involvement would risk wider regional conflict and place American forces in danger.

Ali Larijani, a senior Iranian national security official, said U.S. interference would destabilize the region and threaten American interests.

‘Trump must realize that U.S. intervention in this internal matter will lead to destabilizing the entire region and destroying American interests,’ Larijani wrote on X. ‘The American people must know that Trump is the one who started this adventure, and they should pay attention to the safety of their soldiers.’

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, warned that ‘all American bases and forces across the entire region will be legitimate targets’ if the U.S. intervenes.

Iranian authorities have acknowledged legitimate economic grievances but have moved quickly to frame the unrest as foreign-instigated, a narrative hard-liners intensified after Trump’s warning.

Human rights groups say the crackdown has been accompanied by a sharp escalation in state repression. Since the June war, between 1,500 and 2,000 people have been executed by the Iranian regime, most of them in secret, according to rights organizations monitoring the country.

The protests erupted amid soaring prices and a collapsing currency. The Iranian rial has fallen to record lows against the U.S. dollar, while inflation climbed to 42.2% in December, compounding economic pressure driven by international sanctions and years of mismanagement.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has framed the moment as existential, recently saying he considers the country to be in ‘total war’ with the United States, Israel and Europe. He claimed Iran’s military emerged stronger after the June conflict, according to The Times of Israel.

‘Our beloved military forces are doing their jobs with strength,’ Pezeshkian said. ‘So, if they want to attack, they will naturally face a more decisive response.’

While Israel has not announced new strikes, Israeli officials have made clear they view any effort by Iran to rebuild its nuclear or ballistic missile programs as a red line following the June conflict that severely degraded Iran’s air defenses. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly broached the topic of round two strikes to take out Iranian missiles in a meeting with Trump last week. 

Trump made that position explicit when asked whether he would support another Israeli attack on Iran.

‘If they continue with the missiles? Yes. The nuclear? Fast. One will be, ‘Yes, absolutely’; the other will be, ‘We’ll do it immediately,’’ Trump said.

Since the end of the fighting, Iranian officials and state-linked media have signaled a push to restore and expand the country’s ballistic missile capacity, even as damage from the war disrupted production sites, launch infrastructure and supply chains. Western and Israeli officials have warned that Tehran is attempting to reconstitute missile forces as quickly as possible to reestablish deterrence and signal resilience after the strikes.

Trump reiterated Washington’s position earlier this week during a meeting with Netanyahu, warning that Iran would face renewed strikes if it attempted to restore prohibited capabilities.

Analysts say the convergence of internal unrest and external pressure places Tehran in a volatile position, increasing the risk of miscalculation even if none of the major players is actively seeking a new war.

Despite damage to its defenses, Iran retains the ability to retaliate indirectly through missile launches or proxy attacks, tactics it has used in past confrontations to raise costs for the U.S. and Israel without triggering full-scale conflict.

U.S. defense officials have not announced changes to American force posture in the region, though U.S. troops and assets remain on heightened alert following the June war.

The conflict severely damaged Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure and killed senior military commanders and nuclear scientists, while Iranian missile attacks killed 28 people in Israel. Iran’s response to subsequent U.S. strikes was limited, with missiles fired at a U.S. airbase in Qatar after advance warning was given.

That relative calm is now under strain as Iran confronts its most serious internal unrest since the war and Trump signals a lower threshold for U.S. intervention, a combination that risks turning a fragile pause into another flashpoint.