President Donald Trump is keeping the world guessing about his next move in Venezuela — simultaneously labeling President Nicolás Maduro the head of a terrorist organization and hinting the U.S. may be open to talks with the Venezuelan leader.

The moment captures a familiar pattern in Trump’s foreign policy: blending threats and outreach to keep opponents uncertain of U.S. intentions. His allies say the ambiguity is leverage; critics call it improvisation that risks miscalculation.

‘We may be having some conversations with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out. They would like to talk,’ Trump told reporters over the weekend.

The comment came shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Cartel de los Soles a foreign terrorist organization, a move that expands U.S. legal authorities to pursue Maduro and his inner circle under counterterrorism statutes — and potentially as military targets.

Trump suggested the designation allows the U.S. military to target Maduro’s assets and infrastructure inside Venezuela.

‘It allows us to do that, but we haven’t said we’re going to do that,’ the president said.

Days earlier, Trump had hinted he’d made up his mind about whether to start a direct conflict.

‘I sort of have made up my mind — yeah. I mean, I can’t tell you what it would be, but I sort of have,’ he said.

The U.S. now has more military assets in the region than it has in decades, topped off by the arrival of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, on Sunday. The Department of War — the renamed Pentagon under Trump — has carried out 21 strikes on maritime targets allegedly carrying drugs toward the U.S.

Trump also said he doesn’t believe he needs congressional authorization to carry out the strikes.

‘We like to keep Congress involved. I mean, we’re stopping drug dealers and drugs from coming into our country. … We don’t have to get their approval. But I think letting them know is good,’ he said.

‘Headed by the illegitimate Nicolás Maduro, the group has corrupted the institutions of government in Venezuela and is responsible for terrorist violence conducted by and with other designated FTOs as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe,’ Rubio posted on X about the new designation.

The ambiguity surrounding Venezuela is the latest instance of Trump’s unpredictable approach to foreign policy — a hallmark that has kept allies and adversaries uncertain of U.S. intentions for years.

Trump’s remarks fit a familiar pattern: publicly signaling both confrontation and conciliation in ways that leave world leaders guessing about his next move. Since his first term, he has used such ambiguity to keep counterparts off balance — a strategy that has, at times, produced diplomatic breakthroughs and, at others, strategic confusion.

In 2017, Trump threatened North Korea with ‘fire and fury’ before pivoting months later to a summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore — the first direct meeting between U.S. and North Korean leaders.

In 2018, his shifting public tone on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi — alternating between defending and condemning Saudi Arabia’s leadership — again confounded U.S. partners. The following year, his abrupt decision to pull U.S. forces from northern Syria stunned both advisors and allies.

His stance on the Russia–Ukraine war has been similarly mercurial. At times, Trump has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a ‘dictator’ and railed against continued U.S. aid to Kyiv.

At others, he has mused that Vladimir Putin ‘played’ him and floated plans to sell American weapons to Ukraine through allied funding — a swing that left officials in Washington and Europe unsure whether Trump intends to end the war through pressure or compromise.

Most recently, in mid-2025, Trump entered indirect talks with Tehran over sanctions relief and regional de-escalation before ordering surprise airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites — a reversal that underscored his tendency to keep adversaries guessing about U.S. red lines.

And on Tuesday — five months after the strikes and over seven years since he pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Iran deal – Trump again suggested he would be open to talking with Iran about a potential deal on its nuclear ambitions.

‘I am totally open to it,’ he said.

Trump’s relationship with China has followed the same whiplash rhythm. He has threatened massive new tariffs and warned of ‘total decoupling,’ only to later describe President Xi Jinping as a ‘great friend,’ tout Beijing as a partner in fighting drugs and stabilizing markets and promise to expand student visas for Chinese students.

Whether Venezuela becomes the next stage for Trump’s blend of diplomacy and deterrence remains uncertain — which, for Trump, may be precisely the point.

President Donald Trump ripped insurance companies in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, indicating that the only healthcare policy he would be willing to greenlight would involve funds flowing directly to Americans.

He emphasized his point by using all caps.

‘THE ONLY HEALTHCARE I WILL SUPPORT OR APPROVE IS SENDING THE MONEY DIRECTLY BACK TO THE PEOPLE, WITH NOTHING GOING TO THE BIG, FAT, RICH INSURANCE COMPANIES, WHO HAVE MADE $TRILLIONS, AND RIPPED OFF AMERICA LONG ENOUGH. THE PEOPLE WILL BE ALLOWED TO NEGOTIATE AND BUY THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, INSURANCE. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!’ the president wrote in the post.

He urged lawmakers to make it happen.

‘Congress, do not waste your time and energy on anything else. This is the only way to have great Healthcare in America!!! GET IT DONE, NOW,’ he declared.

The president’s comments in the post on Tuesday echoed remarks he made in Truth Social posts earlier this month.

In a post on Nov. 8, Trump declared, ‘I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over.’

‘In other words, take from the BIG, BAD Insurance Companies, give it to the people, and terminate, per Dollar spent, the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World, ObamaCare,’ Trump wrote.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., responded at the time by indicating that he agreed. 

‘Totally agree, @POTUS! I’m writing the bill right now. We must stop taxpayer money from going to insurance companies and instead give it directly to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the health care they want. This will increase competition & drive down costs,’ Scott noted in a post on X.

In another Truth Social post on Nov. 8, Trump exclaimed, ‘NO MORE MONEY, HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, TO THE DEMOCRAT SUPPORTED INSURANCE COMPANIES FOR REALLY BAD OBAMACARE. THE MONEY MUST NOW GO DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE, TAKING THE ‘FAT CAT’ INSURANCE COMPANIES OUT OF THE CORRUPT SYSTEM OF HEALTHCARE. THE PEOPLE CAN BUY THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER POLICY, FOR MUCH LESS MONEY, SAVING, FOR THEMSELVES, AN ABSOLUTE FORTUNE!!!’

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman committed his country to increasing his planned investment into the U.S. economy to nearly $1 trillion over the next year on Tuesday.

MBS made the announcement while meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, saying the investments will take place across the U.S. economy. Trump initially stated that the investment would amount to ‘at least’ $600 billion, but the Saudi leader confirmed the higher amount during his remarks.

‘You’ve agreed to invest $600 billion into the United States and because he’s my friend, he might make it a trillion, but I’m going to have to work on him. But it’s 600. We can count on 600 billion. But, that number could go up a little bit higher,’ Trump said Tuesday.

‘That means investments in plants, in companies, money on Wall Street. And what it really means for everybody, what really counts is jobs. A lot of jobs. We have a lot of jobs,’ Trump added.

Bin Salman vowed to meet the $1 trillion number just minutes later during comments to the press.

Today and tomorrow, we are going to announce that we are going to increase that, that $600 billion to almost $1 trillion of investment, real investment and real opportunity in many areas,’ he said.

‘You know, that’s great. I appreciate that. That’s great. We’re doing numbers that nobody’s ever done. And in all fairness, if you didn’t see potential in the U.S, you wouldn’t be doing it,’ Trump replied.

‘Definitely,’ bin Salman said.

‘You don’t want to lose money,’ Trump joked.

Trump rolled out the red carpet for the Crown Prince on Tuesday, greeting the Middle Eastern leader outside the White House flanked by dozens of U.S. servicemembers. It represents a return to the fold for Saudi Arabia after the country was largely shunned under former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Former national security officials could soon lose their security clearances — or even face lifetime bans from lobbying for foreign adversaries — under a new crackdown from Texas Republicans John Cornyn and August Pfluger.

The three-bill package takes direct aim at Washington’s revolving door, closing the loopholes that have let former officials and power brokers — many with deep knowledge of U.S. defense secrets — quietly push the interests of China, Russia and other hostile regimes inside the U.S. government.

If enacted, the legislation would require the Pentagon to revoke security clearances from former defense officials who lobby for Chinese-owned companies and impose a lifetime ban on any Senate-confirmed official lobbying on behalf of designated adversaries — including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

A third measure — the PAID OFF Act (Preventing Adversary Influence, Disinformation and Obscured Foreign Financing Act) — would overhaul the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by eliminating the ‘commercial’ and Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) exemptions for entities tied to countries of concern. That change would force anyone representing or advocating for companies substantially owned or controlled by adversary governments, such as China or Russia, to register publicly as foreign agents and would expand the Justice Department’s enforcement authority to pursue unregistered influence campaigns.

The new bills aim to tighten lobbying restrictions amid a growing list of former officials and politically connected figures who have leveraged their Washington access to benefit foreign governments and corporations with minimal disclosure.

The effort marks the full bicameral rollout of the Cornyn-Pfluger package. Cornyn introduced the PAID OFF and CLEAR Path Acts earlier this year in the Senate and is introducing the REVOKE Act today, while Pfluger is introducing all three bills in the House.

The legislation has bipartisan consensus: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is the Democratic Senate co-lead on each measure, while Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., is co-sponsoring the CLEAR Path and PAID Off Acts, while Rep. Don Davis, D-Ill., is co-sponsoring the REVOKE Act.

The REVOKE Act was included in the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act, and the PAID OFF Act was included in the Senate-passed version, giving key parts of the proposal bipartisan traction in both chambers.

From the Pentagon’s E-ring to K Street boardrooms, a generation of former officials has turned national security experience into private contracts with foreign-linked companies. 

The same revolving door extended into the legal world. President Barack Obama’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch, now a partner at a major Washington firm, represented DJI Technology, the Chinese drone manufacturer later labeled by the Pentagon as a ‘Chinese military company.’ In 2023, she wrote to the War Department urging DJI’s removal from that list and led litigation challenging the designation before the company changed counsel in December.

DJI’s influence campaign in Washington reached far beyond Lynch’s firm. Jeff Denham, a former Republican congressman and Air Force veteran, was among the lobbyists listed on K&L Gates’s 2020 filings for DJI, focused on defense and commerce issues.

John P. Flynn, a former Air Force officer and deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for legislative liaison, also appeared on Squire Patton Boggs’s lobbying disclosures for the company in 2022 and 2023. Their paths from military and congressional service to representing a Chinese defense-linked firm show how deeply the revolving door runs — and how easily government experience in the national security realm can become a global commodity once officials enter the private sector.

That network extended to Barry Rhoads, the chairman of Cassidy & Associates, one of Washington’s most established defense lobbying firms. A former Army JAG officer and counsel to the House Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee, Rhoads was listed among the lobbyists who represented DJI between 2018 and 2022. His decades of Capitol Hill and Pentagon experience made him a sought-after adviser for defense contractors — and, under current law, even for companies tied to U.S. adversaries.

In another high-profile example, former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen once worked with Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecom company later deemed a U.S. national security risk. After leaving the Pentagon, Cohen founded The Cohen Group, which advised Huawei in 2010.

A spokesperson for the firm told Fox News Digital the work was done ‘with the support of the Department of Defense and Director of National Intelligence’ and was meant to limit Huawei’s business in the U.S. to activities acceptable to the U.S. government. The firm said it helped draft a plan that would have restricted Huawei’s sales under a national security agreement, but ended the project when the company ‘decided to take a different path.’

U.S. intelligence agencies have since warned that Huawei’s technology could be used by Beijing for espionage, prompting limits on its access to American networks and suppliers.

Lynch, Flynn, Denham and Rhoads did not respond to requests for comment.

The pattern has not been limited to defense insiders. Hunter Biden, who has faced a years-long Justice Department investigation into his foreign business dealings, including work for a Romanian real estate tycoon and his position on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, has also drawn scrutiny from congressional investigators.

They have examined his contacts with businessmen linked to Russian and Chinese interests during the same period. No charges have been filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but the probe has drawn attention to how politically connected figures can pursue lucrative overseas ventures that blur the line between private consulting and foreign influence. 

‘It is the bare minimum expectation that U.S. government employees work for the betterment of America, both during their service and long after it. Yet far too often, we see individuals leave government only to lobby on behalf of foreign adversaries who wish to see America fail,’ said Pfluger in a statement. ‘This is a dangerous flaw in the incentive structure for those serving at the highest levels of government.’

 ‘American policy should not in any way reflect the handiwork of foreign adversaries who are actively working to tip the scales in their favor and undermine our interests,’  said Cornyn. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling on neighboring nations to join in the Jewish state’s fight to expel Hamas out of the region.

‘Israel extends its hand in peace and prosperity to all of our neighbors and calls on them to normalize relations with Israel and join us in expelling Hamas and its supporters from the region,’ Netanyahu’s office wrote on X.

The statement follows the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) endorsement of President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza. The council adopted the plan, which would end the war and deploy an international stabilization force, on Monday.

In an address to the council, Waltz described Gaza as ‘a hell on earth’ after two years of conflict, saying the resolution offered the world a chance to replace ‘rubble where schools once stood’ with ‘a path to peace.’ The measure passed 14–0, with two abstentions — including Russia — and was adopted.

‘Voting yes today isn’t just endorsing a plan,’ Waltz said. ‘It’s affirming our shared humanity. A vote against this resolution is a vote to return to war.’

Netanyahu’s office praised the UNSC for adopting the deal and added that Israel believes the ‘plan will lead to peace and prosperity because it insists upon full demilitarization, disarmament and the deradicalization of Gaza.’

Israel also called for the release of the remaining deceased hostages: Ron Gvili, Dror Or and Sudthisak Rinthalak.

In addition to inviting other nations to join in efforts to expel Hamas, Israel also expressed hope that the plan would lead to the expansion of the Abraham Accords, a set of agreements brokered under Trump’s first administration. Countries that have already signed agreements normalizing their relationships with Israel are the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

‘True to President Trump’s vision, this will lead to further integration of Israel and its neighbors as well as expansion of the Abraham Accords. President Trump’s breakthrough leadership will help lead the region to peace and prosperity and a lasting alliance with the United States,’ Netanyahu’s office added.

A senior Trump administration official said in October, as the peace deal was going into effect in Israel and Gaza, that the U.S. was looking at the end of the war as an opportunity to expand the agreements.

‘There’s a lot of positive momentum that will pick up,’ a senior administration official told reporters. ‘Hopefully this will lead to much better sentiment and the opportunity to expand the Abraham Accords — to really just change the tone in the region.’

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

House lawmakers gearing up to vote Tuesday on a bill that would force the Justice Department to release all its files relating to Jeffrey Epstein are pressuring the Senate to pass the measure without any amendments.

The legislation is coming to the House floor Tuesday afternoon via a mechanism called a discharge petition led by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. A discharge petition allows a bill to get a House-wide vote against leaders’ wishes, provided the petition gets support from most lawmakers in the chamber. In this case, the petition last week earned support from most lawmakers in the chamber, including from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

‘This has never been political. This is not about questions of Trump or Biden. This is a question of doing the right thing for survivors. We’re going to get a vote today. I expect an overwhelming vote in the House of Representatives. And I don’t want the DC swamp playing any games,’ Khanna said Tuesday as he appeared at a press conference alongside Massie, Greene and some of Epstein’s survivors.

‘They need to pass this in the Senate, and they should not amend it. President Trump has said he would sign the Epstein Transparency Act. It’s going to get overwhelming support in the House. It should go straight to the Senate, and it should be signed. No amendments, no adding loopholes. Justice is long overdue,’ he added.

Massie reiterated Khanna’s statements. 

‘As Ro said, don’t muck it up in the Senate. Don’t get too cute,’ Massie warned the upper chamber. ‘We’re all paying attention. If you want to add some additional protections for these survivors, go for it. But if you do anything that prevents any disclosure, you are not for the people, and you are not part of this effort. Do not muck it up in the Senate.’

GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital Monday evening said they would vote for the bill and were optimistic their colleagues would as well — though many of them said they still had concerns about how it was written.

It comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who had been against the bill but pushed parallel transparency efforts in Epstein’s case, said he hoped it would undergo material changes when it reached the Senate to give more protection for innocent people whose names may appear in the files against their wishes.

‘These women have fought the most horrific fight that no woman should have to fight, and they did it by banding together and never giving up,’ Greene said Tuesday. ‘And that’s what we did by fighting so hard against the most powerful people in the world, even the President of the United States, in order to make this vote happen today.’

‘I was called a traitor by a man that I fought for five, no, actually, six years for. And I gave him my loyalty for free. I won my first election without his endorsement, beating eight men in a primary, and I’ve never owed him anything. But I fought for him for the policies and for America First,’ Greene said, days after President Donald Trump pulled his endorsement of the Georgia Republican. ‘And he called me a traitor for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition.’

‘Let me tell you what a traitor is,’ Greene added. ‘A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves. A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America and Americans, like the women standing behind me.’

‘And today, you are going to see probably a unanimous vote in the House to release the Epstein files. But the fight, the real fight will happen after that. While I want to see every single name released so that these women don’t have to live in fear and intimidation, which is something I’ve had a small taste of in just the past few days. Just a small taste,’ she added. ‘They’ve been living it for years, but the real test will be will the Department of Justice release the files, or will it all remain tied up in investigations?’

Khanna also called Tuesday the ‘first day of real reckoning for the Epstein class.’

‘We’re here to stand with forgotten and abandoned Americans against an Epstein class that had no regard for the rules or the laws,’ Khanna continued. ‘Because survivors spoke up, because of their courage, the truth is finally going to come out. And when it comes out, this country is really going to have a moral reckoning.’

‘How did we allow this to happen? There should be no buildings named after people in this Epstein class. There should be no scholarships named after them. They shouldn’t be enjoying the perks of being affiliated with corporations or universities, or writing op-eds or being lionized. And many of the survivors will tell you some of these people still are celebrated in our society. That’s disgusting. There needs to be accountability,’ he also said.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Tuesday revealed his decision on the House’s forthcoming vote on forcing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

Johnson told reporters at his weekly press conference that he would vote in favor of the bill, despite concerns about what he saw as lackluster protections for victims and other innocent people whose names may be released against their own wishes.

‘I’m going to vote to move this forward,’ Johnson said.

‘I think it could be close to a unanimous vote, because everybody here, all the Republicans, want to go on record to show their from maximum transparency.’

The vote is expected on Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m.

The legislation is a bipartisan product by Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky. Massie has been known to be a frequent critic of both Johnson and President Donald Trump.

Despite that, Trump gave House Republicans his blessing to vote for the bill on Sunday night. 

House GOP leaders had vehemently opposed the legislation for months, arguing it was written in a way that did not provide sufficient protections for innocents while also claiming it was unnecessary given the ongoing bipartisan investigation into Epstein’s crimes.

That probe, led by the House Oversight Committee, has produced tens of thousands of pages of documents both from the DOJ and Epstein’s estate.

Johnson made clear he still held concerns about the bill’s language and said he hoped it would be changed when the legislation was sent to the Senate.

‘We stated our opposition as long as possible, but we’re also for maximum transparency. So what am I to do as a leader in a situation like this?’ the speaker said.

‘I’m very confident that when this moves forward in the process, if and when it is processed in the Senate — which there’s no certainty that that will be — that they will take the time methodically to do what we have not been allowed to do in the House, to amend this discharge petition and to make sure these protections are there.’

He warned it could have a ‘chilling effect’ on future investigations as well.

‘Who’s going to want to come forward if they think Congress can take a political exercise and reveal their identities? Who’s going to come talk to prosecutors? It’s very dangerous. It would deter future whistleblowers and informants,’ he said. ‘The release of that could also publicly reveal the identity, by the way, of undercover law enforcement officers who are working in future operations.’

Johnson said he brought his concerns to Massie and Khanna but was told, in essence, ‘Jump in the Potomac.’

Massie and Khanna, for their part, held a press conference alongside one of the bill’s GOP supporters, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on Tuesday morning.

‘Don’t muck it up in the Senate. Don’t get too cute. We’re all paying attention,’ Massie warned. ‘If you want to add some additional protections for these survivors, go for it. But if you do anything that prevents any disclosure, you are not for the people, and you are not part of this effort. Do not muck it up in the Senate.’