Trump ‘got the last laugh,’ Hegseth says of US killing Iranian assassination plotter

(NEW YORK) — Amid the news that the U.S. carried out a “large scale strike” on Venezuela overnight Saturday and captured the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, Americans may be wondering why Trump, who promised voters no more wars, would launch a risky ground operation to capture a foreign leader.

So far, Trump and his top aides have offered shifting explanations since Trump’s military buildup in Latin America began earlier this year.

Initially, Trump defended his military operations near Venezuela as keeping drugs out of the US, although experts say the cocaine that passes through Venezuela winds up mostly in Europe while fentanyl is sourced from China.

Trump also accused Maduro of emptying Venezuela’s prisons and “mental institutions” into the U.S., although there’s no evidence of that either. According to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have settled in the U.S. in recent years due to economic and political instability in their home country.

By mid-December, Trump accused Maduro of “stealing” U.S. oil and land. Trump appeared to be alluding to work done in the 1970s in Venezuela by Western oil companies before the government there opted to nationalize its reserves, eventually forcing out American companies.

In a Dec. 17 social media post – around the same time sources say Trump was making a decision to greenlight the Jan. 3 military operation — Trump said the U.S. military threat to Venezuela will “only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”

Trump aide Stephen Miller made a similar claim.

“American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela. Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property,” Miller wrote on X.

Two days later at a press conference, Secretary of State Marc Rubio offered a more general explanation than access to oil reserves, calling Maduro’s presidency “intolerable” because it was cooperating with “terrorist and criminal elements” instead of the Trump administration.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has staked much of his political career as opposed to the communist Cuban government. He has long blamed Maduro as a primary source of instability in the region, including in Cuba where the regime still relies on Venezuela’s cheap oil.

“There is a regional threat, and in the case of Venezuela we have no cooperation,” Rubio told reporters Dec. 19. “To begin with, it is an illegitimate regime. Second, it is a regime that does not cooperate. It is anti-American in all its statements and actions. And third, it is a regime that not only does not cooperate with us, but also openly cooperates with dangerous, terrorist and criminal elements.”

The Venezuelan government issued a statement condemning what it called “the grave military aggression perpetrated by the current government of the United States of America.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Gregory Meeks knows the pivotal role Black men can play in a young person’s life.

“In high school, my [Black] male teacher was Mr. Ozzie and he guided me, you know, through some difficult times and through good times,” Meeks, D-N.Y., told ABC News.

He praised Ozzie for giving him life advice and will never forget how his former teacher inspired him to pursue politics.

“He got me involved in student government at the time,” Meeks said, adding “Without the foundation, I would never be here.”

In interviews with ABC News over the last year, lawmakers across a broad spectrum discussed their relationship with the Black male figures who taught them during their formative years. Having a Black male — and a diverse group of educators — benefits “everyone,” not just Black students, according to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and education experts who spoke with ABC News.

However, less than 2% of all U.S. public school teachers are Black men, according to recent government data. It stems from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which ended racial segregation in America’s public schools and prompted a massive white resistance to the new law of the land.

Leslie T. Fenwick, author of “Jim Crow’s Pink Slip: The Untold Story of Black Principal and Teacher Leadership,” ​​told ABC News that the resistance — by mostly white Southern politicians — helped cause the shortage of Black male educators, and Black educators as a whole were forced out in droves.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the latest data on Black male teachers are a “concerning statistic.” Still, the Louisiana native told ABC News that he had “many” Black male teachers over the years.

“One of my favorites was Mr. Tilmer Keels,” Johnson recalled. “He was our band director in middle school. He was such a great inspirational leader,” Johnson added.

Johnson, Meeks and their colleagues overwhelmingly described Black male teachers as supportive, encouraging, and provided positive images for young people.

“They [Black male educators] were very significant for me, and we need more than just one,” Meeks said. “I should be able to talk about three, four, five, six, seven, eight of them,” he added.

Bipartisan appreciation

There’s bipartisan support throughout Congress for these impactful teachers.

Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., said teaching is one of the “most important” careers one can choose. Illinois Democratic Rep. Danny K. Davis, one of the oldest lawmakers on Capitol Hill, said his roles in public service include teaching.

Jonathan L. Jackson’s father, civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson who passed away last week, served as a role model for Black youth across the nation. In the classroom, Jackson said he had at least two Black male teachers throughout high school who he said impacted his worldview.

“People need someone to look up to,” Jackson told ABC News. “That’s why we should be pushing specifically for more African American males in science, education, humanities, histories and all the other good things.”

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., is also pushing to increase representation in the classroom.

“I’m an advocate for having more male teachers in general, but certainly Black male teachers,” he said, adding, “I think you need a picture of what you want to become in the world.”

Recruitment and retention

Over years of reporting, several Black male educators at public, charter and private pre-K-12 schools have told ABC News that they feel underappreciated and overstretched — with their numbers in the profession already small and appearing to dwindle, according to experts.

Today, 100 years after the first observance of what would become Black History Month, roughly three dozen Black males are serving in Congress. The ones who spoke to ABC News believe Black men deserve a space in the classroom.

Bobby Scott, the top Democrat on the House Education & Workforce Committee who grew up in the segregated South, doesn’t remember ever having a Black male teacher — from elementary school all the way through to when he earned his law degree from Boston College. He noted that teachers and coaches hold an important place in a child’s upbringing, stressing that there should be more Black male educators in schools.

Eric Duncan, the director for preschool-12th grade policy at the nonprofit organization The Education Trust, argued Congress holds the power to bolster the Black male educator through a multitude of levers that would incentivize them to stay in the profession, including scholarships, mortgage assistance, and teacher tax credits.

Duncan, a former social studies teacher, said Black male educators need to feel empowered. Their dismal numbers would improve if the legislative branch keeps level funding for teacher pipeline programs, he said.

“Congress has a role, I think, in continuing to appropriate those funds and continues to keep those programs for the teacher prep programs in the districts that are doing the hard work of trying to recruit and retain Black male educators in their schools,” he said.

“Artificial barriers” impeding progress

The Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling had a crippling impact on the retention of Black male teachers.

More than 70 years after the resistance to the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling, some lawmakers say they feel different factors of the teaching profession keep men out of the classroom, including credentialing and salaries.

Rep. John James, R-Mich., said he wishes there were more avenues for Black men to become teachers but “artificial barriers” are impeding their progress.

“The licensing and certification, the time and the money required, this erects artificial barriers to create mentors and role models, particularly for young Black men who don’t necessarily have that in their life,” James told ABC News.

Last session, multiple teacher salary bills introduced in the House and Senate never received a vote. Freshman Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala. said Congress has a collective obligation to address the problem.

“The salary piece of it is certainly a big thing, but we also got to get real about, you know, conditions in schools,” Figures said.

“How are we making the environment the best suitable for teachers to want to stay and remain in the classroom long term?”

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(INDIANAPOLIS) — If all politics is local, as the old saying goes, a pair of identical twins in Indiana proves that those local politics often start as a family affair — and don’t have to become uncivil.

Nick and Nathan Roberts may look exactly alike, but the 25-year-old brothers and members of the next generation of America’s civic leaders are anything but identical when it comes to their politics.

“From the time we were younger, he ended up in more right wing circles on the internet,” Nick said of his brother in an interview with ABC News Live PRIME. “I was in more of just more liberal circles. I don’t know what happened.”

They still live together with their grandparents, sharing a love of dogs, books and desire to travel the world. But that’s where the similarities end.

Nick Roberts, a diehard Democrat, is an Indianapolis city-county councilor and one of the youngest elected officials in the country.

Nathan Roberts, who identifies as a MAGA Republican, founded an Indiana political advocacy group last year and is a state organizer for Turning Point, the organization founded by Charlie Kirk.

“Our dad was conservative and our mom was liberal,” Nathan Roberts said. “I guess those are good examples of our family being divided.”

The Roberts twins, both college dropouts, are also Gen Z political outliers. More American twentysomethings identify as independents than any other group of adults, according to Gallup. Roughly one in four identify as Democrats, even fewer as Republicans.

“If you want to make a difference, you have to be involved,” said Nick Roberts. “And it’s easy, I think, to throw your hands up and say, ‘Well, I’m an independent. I hate both parties.’ But if you actually want to be engaged in the process, you have to kind of pick a side.”

“I think a lot of people go independent because it’s kind of like a sign of, like purity, like I’m above the thing,” added Nathan Roberts, “but really, it’s just like you not having much of a voice. I sort of understand and respect what people do when they go independent, I just don’t think it’s the right strategy.”

The twins got engaged in politics as Donald Trump rode down the escalator in Manhattan in 2015, launching his first presidential campaign. In 2020, they participated in their first campaigns and later supported rival candidates for president in 2024.

They say they agree on support for public safety, veterans issues and even protecting the environment. Their sharpest disagreement: immigration.

“I support law enforcement, but there’s come a point where, you know, we are nation immigrants,” said Nick Roberts. “Everybody came from immigrants at one point or another, and we have to do it humanely with laws, but not where we’re treating people inhumanely like we’ve seen over the last few months.”

Nathan Roberts rejects the view of an American “melting pot.”

“‘Nation of immigrants’ — those terms didn’t, none of them even existed until post-1900. You never heard George Washington saying America is a nation of immigrants,” he said.

On 95% of the issues, they sharply disagree and are dug in. When President Trump demanded Indiana redraw its election map to help Republicans in November, the twins even testified against each other in the statehouse.

Still, in what some see as a lesson for the country, the Roberts twins insist they manage never to get angry or unloving with each other.

“He’s very intelligent, and I love the fact he gets involved. You have all these people giving their opinions about stuff on the internet, but none of them lift a finger, besides maybe voting,” Nathan Roberts said of his brother. “He’s somebody who shows up to stuff.”

Nick Roberts said behind the “provocative” rhetoric, Nathan Roberts is reasoned and informed. “Though he pretends to be like a very inflammatory guy on social media,” he said, “I think he is very well-read on history and knows a lot of his stuff and the law, especially immigration.”

With no desire for higher political office for now, the Roberts twins say they’re just content to be councilor and constituent, as brothers, modeling civility and love despite the deepest political differences.

“Believe it or not, he’s actually not one of my most demanding constituents,” Nick Roberts said of Nathan Roberts with a chuckle.

“There’s been a time when I’m like, you know, you could change that, like, traffic sign to be slightly better and there wouldn’t be such a traffic jam at that place at 5pm,” Nathan Roberts quipped with a smile, “and he would be like that would be a good idea.”

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