Vera Bergengruen
Senior Correspondent at TIME Magazine
Talk to me ➡️ vera@time.com
- NEW: Maria Corina Machado drifted on a skiff in the Caribbean for almost three hours after its GPS fell overboard on rough seas and a backup failed. She didn’t meet the extraction team at a designated pickup point, setting off a scramble to find her. Inside "Operation Golden Dynamite"
- In a proof-of-life video sent to U.S. officials & shared with The Wall Street Journal, Machado tries to steady herself as the boat tosses on the waves. “My name is María Corina Machado,” she says, “I am alive, safe, and very grateful www.wsj.com/world/americ...
- NEW: Wearing a wig and a disguise, Maria Corina Machado evaded 10 military checkpoints to reach a small fishing skiff that would take her out of Venezuela to Curaçao. The group alerted the US military: “We coordinated so that they would not blow up the boat." www.wsj.com/world/americ...
- “Russia has welcomed President Donald Trump's new National Security Strategy, calling it "largely consistent" with Moscow's vision.” www.bbc.com/news/article...
- NEW: Trump’s pardon of former Honduran President Hernández was the result of something extraordinary for a Central American leader & convicted cocaine trafficker—a web of powerful advocates stretching from Washington to Silicon Valley and Mar-a-Lago. Behind the scenes ⬇️ www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
- Trump’s decision to pardon Hernandez stunned the president’s allies and some members of his administration, including U.S. officials who spent a decade building the landmark case against him, according to people familiar with the matter. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
- NEW: Hegseth asked SOUTHCOM Adm. Alvin Holsey to step down, a de facto ouster that was the culmination of months of discord between the two that intensified when Holsey had initial concerns about the legality of lethal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
- A few weeks after he took over SOUTHCOM, Holsey met with the newly confirmed Hegseth and received his marching orders. “You’re either on the team or you’re not,” Hegseth told Holsey. “When you get an order, you move out fast and don’t ask questions.” www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
- “We don’t care how Trump does it." “No mercy. The time for talking is over.” “Give me a chance. I’ll go with them.” Inside Miami's "Doralzuela," where hope that Trump will force out Maduro is colliding with anxiety over his immigration crackdown www.wsj.com/world/americ...
- Thank you for reading 📰
- NEW: The Trump admin has identified targets in Venezuela that include military facilities used to smuggle drugs, U.S. officials say. If Trump decides to move forward w/ airstrikes, they say, the targets would send a clear message to Maduro that it is time to step down. www.wsj.com/world/americ...
- The Pentagon has ordered the National Guard to create “quick reaction” forces in every state by January that are trained and equipped to respond to riots and civil unrest within the U.S., according to internal DOD memos. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
- NEW: Thousands of federal agents once tasked with investigating drug smuggling, sexual exploitation, and organized crime have been redirected to immigration enforcement under President Trump’s second-term push to accelerate deportations www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
- For those not steeped in online conservative circles, Charlie Kirk was hardly a household name outside the U.S. before this past week. But his death has galvanized right-wing figures abroad who have hailed him as a martyr for a global movement. Latest ⬇️ www.wsj.com/world/charli...
- New: Inside the lobbying campaign by Ukraine, European officials and evangelical Christian organizations to bring the Ukrainian children forcibly removed to Russia to Trump’s attention & make their return a demand in peace negotiations www.wsj.com/world/inside...
- New: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized the National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., to carry weapons www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
- NEW: Trump’s ‘Law and Order’ Push in D.C. Looks a Lot Like an Immigration Raid www.wsj.com/us-news/trum...
-
View full threadAlso spotted in DC
- Spotted in Mount Pleasant
- Earlier this week, federal agents parked outside a bilingual daycare center near Mount Pleasant, and made arrests. “The staff were terrified. Students were scared. Parents were scared." Santos said her 5-year-old son “asked if Donald Trump was going to come into his school.”
- Seen on my block in Columbia Heights
- “ICE is seeking to spend millions of dollars on SUVs and custom, gold-detailed vehicle wraps emblazoned with the words “DEFEND THE HOMELAND,” according to a contractor’s social media post and records that describe the decked-out fleet” www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
- Trump said his security crackdown would focus on violent crime, but 44% of arrests in Trump's security crackdown in DC so far have been immigrants living here illegally. Many were pulled from mopeds, construction sites, or stopped while selling fruit on the street www.wsj.com/us-news/trum...
- ICE has parked outside daycares and churches. Nannies and children watched as ICE raided a business across from the Mount Pleasant library during story time. At Shrine of the Sacred Heart, an usher was arrested on his way to services. www.wsj.com/us-news/trum...
- NEW: National Guard troops deployed to DC by President Trump are now preparing to carry weapons. It's a significant shift—defense officials emphasized two days ago that troops would not be armed or have weapons in their vehicles.
- Late last night, some National Guard members deployed to Washington were told to expect an order to carry weapons, according to people familiar with the planning. More here ⬇️ www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
- Local officials in Washington warn that the National Guard doesn’t have public-safety training, and that involving the military in civilian law enforcement is dangerous. “National Guard soldiers are trained for warfare and natural disasters, not for community policing.” www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
- Finland's President is usually up by 5 am for triathlon training and a sauna. These days, his morning routine is often interrupted by a call from Donald Trump: “Why are you up already?” My latest from Helsinki on the unexpected—and high-stakes—bond between the two presidents
- Peak local energy in Alaska on the Trump-Putin summit coming to town
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin today ahead of President Donald Trump’s call with European leaders to discuss the Putin summit (Photo: Singer/Pool/EPA)
- New: How Trump Is Expanding the Role of the American Military on U.S. Soil www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
- President Trump has directed the Pentagon to begin preparing options to use military force against Latin American drug cartels. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
- Sec. Marco Rubio met for 50 minutes with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov last week in Malaysia - afterwards he told us “a new and different approach” to peace talks had been raised in the meeting he would bring to Trump www.wsj.com/world/rubio-...
- “The Russians are very good at coming up with elaborate formulas to send us down a rabbit hole and ultimately waste our time." “Trump keeps falling short of actual action. The Russians aren’t impressed by words. They pay attention to actions.” t.co/Auhf6iSgkF
- Pentagon intelligence officials assess the U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities set back Tehran’s program by up to two years, a more modest claim than President Trump’s assertion that the attack had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear efforts www.wsj.com/world/middle...
- President Trump earned around $57 million from his stake in a family-backed cryptocurrency firm last year “In a matter of months, the Trump family has reached into nearly every corner of the crypto industry.” www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
- New: The leak of Musk's China briefing deeply rattled Hegseth, triggering a cascade of accusations. “I’ll hook you up to a fucking polygraph!” he shouted at Adm. Christopher Grady. The overlapping crises left Hegseth paranoid & isolated, officials say www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
- President Nayib Bukele and Sen. Van Hollen both confirm he finally got his request to meet with with Kilmar Abrego Garcia today. Two posts, very different tones
- Important context tonight : Noem told the WSJ that Salvadoran officials said prisoners deported from the U.S. were treated better than local inmates. “They have mattresses. They have full meals. They receive time for exercise and are getting medical checks on a regular basis.”
- NEW: El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele plans to double the size of the mass prison where his government is holding U.S. deportees. He "has 80-plus acres there that he’s going to continue to build on." "This is a long-term solution,” Noem said. www.wsj.com/world/americ...
-
View full threadRelevant: Two days ago, Trump told Bukele "Homegrowns are next...you gotta build about five more places.” “We’ve got space,” Bukele said. “It’s not big enough,” Trump replied. www.wsj.com/world/americ...
- Sen. Van Hollen asked Bukele's VP today why El Salvador is holding Abrego Garcia in CECOT if they don't have evidence he's MS-13. "His answer was that the Trump administration is paying the government of El Salvador to keep him at CECOT.”  www.wsj.com/world/americ...
- Relevant: Two days ago, Trump told Bukele "Homegrowns are next...you gotta build about five more places.” “We’ve got space,” Bukele said. “It’s not big enough,” Trump replied. www.wsj.com/world/americ...
- One in every 57 Salvadorans is incarcerated—the highest in the world. Any prison expansion would likely be geared toward holding more foreign inmates. “Up to the U.S. to send enough to fill it,” someone familiar with Bukele’s plans said. Full story ⬇️ www.wsj.com/world/americ...
- In recent weeks, Trump has been on a mission to turn parts of the White House gold, making the world’s most famous address look more like Mar-a-Lago. To assist, Trump brought in a South Florida man that one of his advisers referred to as the president’s “gold guy”
- Administration officials said Trump personally oversaw the installation of the gold carvings on the mantel in the Oval Office. He also brought gold cherubs from Mar-a-Lago to be installed in the White House. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
- Pro tip: use the new AI email summarization feature on your reader mail 🙃
- Both President Bukele and President Trump made clear they do not intend to enable the return of a Maryland man illegally deported to El Salvador's maximum security prison. In today’s WSJ: www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
- In other news this week… After 20+ years, I picked quite the moment.
- I'm currently going through the naturalization process to become a U.S. citizen, and a new pop-up just appeared on my USCIS account that has a strikingly different tone from anything I remember seeing on the portal before.
