Monday, January 5th, 2026 - Maduro detained; Russia saves oil tanker; Zelensky’s Mar-a-Lago hang;...

Описание: Today’s Headlines: Looks like there's no easing into this new year. Trump dramatically escalated his Venezuela fixation this weekend, launching major strikes in Caracas and having Nicolás Maduro pulled from his home and flown to federal detention in Brooklyn. Maduro was re-indicted on familiar narcotrafficking charges, while Trump bragged that the U.S. is effectively “running Venezuela now” alongside American oil companies. But instead of installing Trump’s preferred opposition figure, Venezuela’s Supreme Court tapped Maduro’s vice president Delcy Rodríguez as interim leader. Before all that, the U.S. had spent weeks chasing a Venezuela-bound oil tanker — until Russia swooped in on New Year’s Eve, added it to its registry, and painted a Russian flag on the side to shield it from seizure. Trump also hosted President Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago with Stephen Miller, Jared Kushner, and Pete Hegseth, claiming “progress” while simultaneously echoing outrage on Putin’s behalf after a friendly call with him. Abroad, Switzerland’s army chief warned the country couldn’t withstand a major attack, protests in Iran turned deadly as Trump threatened to “intervene,” and Trump ordered Christmas Day strikes on ISIS militants in Nigeria. On the home front, Trump froze all childcare payments nationwide after citing a Minnesota welfare fraud case involving a small group of Somali immigrants — while simultaneously moving to garnish wages from millions of student loan borrowers in default starting in January. One notable check on his power: the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 against his National Guard deployments to several U.S. cities. Meanwhile, the newly released Jack Smith testimony says he had evidence Trump committed multiple felonies that could rise to treason before his cases were shut down — and the massive Epstein document dump is already under scrutiny for delays, missing records, and questionable redactions, including internal DOJ emails noting Trump flew on Epstein’s plane more than previously known.



Resources/Articles mentioned in this episode:



NBC News: Maduro arrives in New York after capture in Venezuela (https://www.nbcnews.com/world/latin-a...)



NYT: How Trump Fixed On a Maduro Loyalist as Venezuela’s New Leader (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/04/wo...)



NYT: Russia Asks United States to Stop Pursuit of Fleeing Oil Tanker (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/01/us...)



NBC News: Trump and Zelenskyy project optimism about prospects for a Ukraine-Russia peace deal despite 'thorny issues' (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/dona...)



The Daily Beast: Putin Burns Trump With Embarrassing Details of Phone Chat (https://www.thedailybeast.com/vladimi...)



Reuters: Army chief says Switzerland can't defend itself from full-scale attack (https://www.reuters.com/business/medi...)



PBS: Trump threatens to intervene in Iran if regime continues to kill protesters (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/tru...)



NYT: U.S. Strikes ISIS in Nigeria After Trump Warned of Attacks on Christians (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/us...)



NYT: Trump and Netanyahu Exchange Praise After Meeting, Showing Few Signs of Strain (https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/12/...)



CNN: Israel becomes first country to formally recognize Somaliland as independent state (https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/26/africa...)



AP News: Trump's attacks on Minnesota's Somali community cast a spotlight on fraud cases (https://apnews.com/article/trump-immi...)



The Guardian: Trump administration reportedly freezes all childcare payments to all states (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...)



CNBC: Trump administration to start seizing pay of defaulted student loan borrowers in January (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/23/stude...)



WaPo: Trump ends effort to keep National Guard in Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland (https://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...)



PBS: Read Jack Smith's full deposition on the decision to indict Trump (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics...)



Axios: Mike Pence's think tank poaches top Heritage staff as MAGA rift grows (https://www.axios.com/2025/12/22/heri....