Speaking to reporters earlier at Joint Base Andrews regarding his post announcing a total blockade of sanctioned oil tankers going to and coming from Venezuela, President Donald J. Trump stated, “It’s just a blockade, we’re not going to let anybody going through that shouldn’t be going through. You remember they took all of our energy rights. They took all of our oil. From not that long ago. And we want it back. But they took it. They illegally took it.”

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is planning to step down from his role at the agency early next year and is considering publicly announcing his departure on Friday, according to eight people briefed on the situation who spoke to MS NOW.

President Donald J. Trump appears to confirm the planned departure of FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, telling reporters earlier, “Dan, Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show.”

Dan Bongino announces that he will be leaving his position as Deputy Director of the FBI in January.

A high-level meeting between President Donald J. Trump and other senior officials scheduled for Wednesday could result in new orders for assets and personnel of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps currently amassing in the Caribbean, including more “forceful” naval operations, according to a person familiar with the situation who’s spoke to The Washington Post.

The Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela has begun escorting ships carrying petroleum products leaving the country, following the recent seizure of a sanctioned oil tanker in the Southern Caribbean by the United States and threats of a “blockade” by President Donald J. Trump, with several ships - transporting urea, petroleum coke and other oil-based products - departing the Port of José bound for Asia between Tuesday evening and Wednesday, receiving a naval escort by warships of the Venezuelan Navy, three people familiar with the matter told the New York Times.

Tonight’s Address to the Nation by President Donald J. Trump will be given from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House at 9:00 P.M. EST, with topics expected to include current economic policy, upcoming policy for next year, and possible issues surrounding Venezuela.

U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) has announced, that at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, military forces under Joint Task Force-Southern Spear (JTF-SS) carried out a strike earlier today, December 17, on an alleged narco-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific. According to SOUTHCOM, intelligence indicated that the vessel was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route and carrying illicit narcotics, with four suspected narco-terrorists killed in the strike, all believed to have been members of a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO).

The Trump Administration has begun asking American-based oil companies, including but not limited to Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton and Weatherford, if they would be interested in returning operations to Venezuela once President Nicolás Maduro has been removed from power, and so far, the answer is a hard, "no", three people familiar with the discussions told POLITICO.

According to internal guidance issued for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) by the Trump Administration and obtained by The New York Times, field offices with the USCIS are asked to supply the Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 denaturalization cases per month in 2026. As President Trump and other members of the administration seek to drastically ramp up their ongoing immigration crackdown in the coming year, which includes attempts to remove the citizenship of thousands of Americans.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump announces that all servicemembers will be receiving a $1,776 bonus before Christmas.

The U.S. State Department tonight announced a massive new arms package, the largest in history, for Taiwan. The package, worth over $11 billion, is likely to infuriate China and is set to include:

- The U.S. Armed Force’s Tactical Mission Network (TMN)
- 82 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)
- 420 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS)
- 120 M109A7 “Paladin” Self-Propelled Howitzers and M992A3 Carrier Ammunition Tracked Vehicles
- 1,545 Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) 2B BGM-71F-7-RF Missiles
- 1,050 FGM-148F “Javelin” Anti-Tank Missiles
- Seekers and Repairs for Harpoon Anti-Ship Missiles
- ALTIUS-600M and 700M Loitering-Munition Systems
- Spare and Repair Parts for AH-1W “SuperCobra” Attack Helicopters

BLKCAT6, a U.S. Navy MQ-4C “Triton” High-Altitude Surveillance Drone, departed earlier tonight from Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida, and is currently heading south over the Caribbean for a night patrol off the coast of Venezuela.

Congrats to American entrepreneur, pilot, and commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman, for being confirmed earlier today in a vote of 67-30 by the Senate as the 15th Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).