Pentagon eyes surging carrier group to Middle East amid tensions with Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump tours the Ford River Rouge Complex on January 13, 2026, in Dearborn, Michigan. Trump is visiting Michigan where he will participate in a tour of the Ford River Rouge complex and later give remarks to the Detroit Economic Club. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon was expected to send additional military assets to the Middle East in coming days, according to several people familiar with the discussions, including possibly the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group.
Such a move is considered a typical precaution at times of heightened tensions because of the 30,000 troops stationed throughout the region in countries like Qatar, Jordan, Syria and Iraq.
The added firepower would serve as a deterrent to attacks by adversaries against U.S. bases. But it also would give President Donald Trump additional options to strike Iran later if he chooses.
Examples of assets that could be surged include an aircraft carrier strike group accompanied by cruisers and missile destroyers, as well as Air Force fighter squadrons and land-based air missile defense systems.
Discussions of the additional military assets come as Trump threatened to attack Iran’s government because of violent clashes with protesters. Officials in Tehran responded by threatening to strike back at U.S. bases if he followed through.
According to one person familiar with the discussions this week, Trump was told that a military strike against Iran could be extraordinarily dangerous and potentially risk the lives of U.S. service members in the region, particularly if the government in Tehran felt it was on the brink of collapse. NBC News was first to report this detail.
On Wednesday, Trump told reporters he opted against strikes for now because the U.S. had been told “on good authority” that the killing of protestors in Iran had stopped. Trump also said Friday that 800 planned executions in Iran had been halted, a claim that could not be immediately verified.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied Tehran had any plans to execute protesters.
Several sources said there had been long-running concerns among U.S. officials that the military didn’t have the right mix of assets in place to protect against a potential massive retaliatory strike from Iran, given that Trump had surged much of the military’s force to the Caribbean to support the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
There is currently no aircraft carrier in the Middle East, although officials say there are six Navy ships, including three missile destroyers. The Pentagon declined to comment.
If the Lincoln is deployed to the Middle East from the South China Sea, it’s expected to take longer than a week to arrive. The USS Lincoln was spotted earlier this week on satellite sailing away from the Philippines.
Pete Hegseth, US secretary of defense, speaks during a Mexican Border Defense medal presentation in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. US President Donald Trump said he was classifying fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction” in his latest push to ratchet up pressure on Latin America over drug trafficking. Photographer: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Tuesday that he won’t release the full unedited version of video showing a Sept. 2 attack on a suspected drug boat that killed 11 people, calling the video “top secret” and said releasing that version to the public would violate “longstanding Department of War policy.”
Democrats balked at the explanation, which he also shared during a closed-door briefing with Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Capitol Hill. They note that Hegseth, President Donald Trump and the U.S. Southern Command for several weeks have been posting edited clips of some two dozen boat attacks on their social media accounts.
“In keeping with longstanding Department of War policy, Department of Defense policy, of course we’re not going to release a top secret full unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters. Lawmakers on the House and Senate armed services committees and those overseeing appropriations will see it, Hegseth added, “but not the general public.”
Some Republicans said they thought the video should at least be shared more broadly in Congress in the interest in transparency and because it would show a lawful operation.
“I think the video should be given to everybody in Congress,” said South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime ally of Trump.
“Release it. Make your own decisions,” he later added, saying “I’d like all of us to see it.”
At issue is whether the Sept. 2 military strike on the alleged drug boat amounted to a war crime, as some lawmakers have suggested. Officials have confirmed there were four military strikes against the boat — the first strike killing nine of the 11 people aboard. Some 40 minutes later, a second strike was ordered to kill the remaining two survivors. Two more strikes were ordered to sink the boat, officials say.
Trump initially said he would release the video, telling reporters on Dec. 3 “whatever they have, we’d certainly release, no problem.” Trump later backtracked, saying he would defer to Hegseth.
Some lawmakers have seen extended portions of the video of the strikes in a classified briefing earlier this month, but described the state of the survivors before being killed in a second strike in starkly different terms. Democrats insisted the survivors were helpless and should have been rescued to comply with international laws that call for either sides in a conflict to help combatants who fall overboard or are shipwrecked. Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, however, said the survivors were trying to “flip” the boat “so they could stay in the fight.”
Adm. Mitch Bradley, who ordered the strikes, was expected to return to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to brief the House and Senate armed services committees behind closed doors, two officials told ABC News on Tuesday.
After two weeks of saying he was reviewing the matter, Hegseth told lawmakers during the closed-door briefing on Tuesday that he has no plans to do so. He said Adm. Mitch Bradley, who ordered the strikes, would share the video with members of the House and Senate armed services committees on Wednesday.
He added that Bradley “has done a fantastic job, has made all the right calls, and we’re glad he’ll be there to do it.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that if classification was a problem, Hegseth could at least share the video with every senator in a classified setting.
“Every senator is entitled to see it,” Schumer said.
(NEW YORK) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection had the lowest number of border encounters in any October, according to statistics obtained by ABC News.
The numbers also represent the lowest start to a fiscal year ever recorded. CPB says.
In October, there were 30,561 total encounters nationwide — the lowest start to a fiscal year ever recorded by CBP. The previous record low was 43,010 in October of FY2012, officials said.
The numbers are also almost 80% lower than in October 2024, according to CBP statistics.
“History made: the lowest border crossings in October history and the sixth straight month of ZERO releases. This is most secure border ever,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement to ABC News, who also thanked the men and women of CBP.
Since Jan. 21 through the end of October, there have been 106,134 total enforcement encounters along the southwest border. The daily average encounters along the border is 258 per day — 95% lower than the previous administration’s encounter numbers, CPB said.
Customs and Border Protection has focused now on interior enforcement due, it says, to the lack of migrants encountered at the border. They are currently deployed to cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles.
“Our mission is simple: secure the border and safeguard this nation,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. “And that’s exactly what we are doing. No excuses. No politics. Just results delivered by the most dedicated law-enforcement professionals in the country. We’re not easing up — we’re pushing even harder.”
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) looks on as senators speak to reporters following a Senate Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on December 09, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate is now voting on two separate plans aimed at addressing a spike in health care costs that are expected for tens of millions of Americans who receive enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits unless Congress acts.
Both plans, one put forward by Democrats and the other championed by Republicans, are almost certain to fail.
After they do, lawmakers will have only a matter of days remaining to address the expiration of the enhanced tax credits, and there’s little indication that any sort of breakthrough is on the horizon.
Democratic plan: 3-year extension of expiring enhanced tax credits
The Democratic plan that will receive a vote on Thursday proposes a three-year extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that are otherwise set to expire on Jan. 1. The enhanced subsidies were originally put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During remarks on the floor Wednesday, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the Democratic plan the “only realistic path left” to address the looming premium spike.
“We have 21 days until Jan. 1. After that, people’s health care bills will start going through the roof. Double, triple, even more,” Schumer said. “There is only one way to avoid all of this. The only realistic path left is what Democrats are proposing — a clean direct extension of this urgent tax credit.”
Even though Democrats are in the minority, they are getting a vote on their proposal, as part of a deal struck by a small group of Senate moderates to re-open the federal government after a 43-day shutdown, which centered around Democrats’ efforts to address the expiring tax credits.
“What we need to do is prevent premiums from skyrocketing and only our bill does it is the last train out of the station,” Schumer said.
But any health care proposal in the Senate will require 60 votes to pass, which means members of both parties would need to lend votes to approve a plan.
Majority Leader John Thune made clear Wednesday that Republicans will not support the Democratic plan.
Thune called the Democratic proposal a “partisan messaging exercise” and said that Democrats’ claim that their plan would lower health care costs represented a “tour of fantasy land.”
Republicans have for months been saying that the premium subsidies require reform. Without changes, Republicans say, the enhanced subsidies create opportunities for waste, fraud and abuse and have driven up the overall cost of premiums.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Senate Democrats’ proposal would add nearly $83 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade. CBO also estimates that enacting the Democrats’ legislation would increase the number of people with health insurance by 8.5 million people by 2029.
Pointing to the cost of extending the subsidies, Thune said, Democrats ought to put forward a program that makes modifications to the program.
“That’s not what they did …No changes,” Thune said. “Just continue to run up the cost. Run up the cost in the individual marketplace like that — but have the American taxpayers pay for it and then go tell people that you’re trying to keep their premiums down,” Thune said. “This does nothing, nothing, to lower the cost of health insurance.”
Republican plan: Do away with the enhanced tax credits and create HSAs
Republicans will offer an “alternative” plan on the Senate floor on Thursday.
The Republican proposal, championed by Senate Health Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, would do away with the enhanced tax credits and instead take the extra money from those tax credits and put it into health savings accounts for those who purchase bronze-level or “catastrophic” plans on the ACA exchanges. Republicans say this will help Americans pay for out-of-pocket costs.
Under the plan, individuals earning less than 700% of the federal poverty level would receive $1,000 in HSA funding for those between age 18 and 49 and $1,500 for those age 50-64. Republicans say these funds could be used to help cover the higher deductibles on lower cost plans.
Republicans say that their plan will reduce premiums through cost-sharing reductions and tout that the plan stops payments to insurance companies. Thune called it a “very different business model” than what Democrats are proposing.
“The question is do you want the government deciding this, ordo you want to put this power and these resources in the hands of the American people?” Thune said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “American taxpayers. Patients. That’ what we’re about.“
This bill is also unlikely to pass the Senate on Thursday. Schumer called it “dead on arrival”.
“I want to be very clear about what this Republican bill represents, junk insurance,” Schumer said. “Let me tell my Republican colleagues: it is dead on arrival. The proposal does nothing to bring down sky-high premiums; it doesn’t extend the ACA premiums by a single day. Instead, Republicans want to send people $80 dollars and pretend that is going to fix everything.” Schumer said.
Cassidy this morning called Schumer’s categorization of his plan as a “junk plan” “so ironic.”
“These are Obamacare plans. These are the plans they put in place, except that when they did the plans, they’ve got $6,000 deductibles, or $7,500 deductibles. We addressed that deductible. We make these plans better,” Cassidy said. “We Republicans are trying to make it better. We want money in your pocket for your out-of-pocket [costs], and they want you to front the whole thing.”
Democrats also take umbrage with provisions in the GOP bill that prevent funds from being used for abortions. Schumer, on the Senate floor, called it a “poison pill.”
Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate appropriations committee, was asked if she saw any way that Democrats could support the bill today.
“Not with the choice issues in it, where they have made it that women cannot get access to an abortion through their plan,” Murray said. “I don’t see any way that this helps the people that are being hurt right now by the tax credits going away.”
