Oil giant Chevron confirmed that it will expand its operations in Venezuela, just days after President Donald Trump announced an ambitious deal to develop the nation’s oil reserves and give the Pentagon a stake in the profits.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the Trump administration Tuesday to “stop doing memes, stop throwing shade and stop trying to be tough,” as he pushed back against a fresh wave of taunts from Washington. Carney said U.S.-Canada trade talks could resume if Washington becomes serious about negotiations.
And a record percentage of Americans — about 9 in 10 — 89% — believe there's widespread corruption in the U.S. government, according to a new Gallup poll released Wednesday. That’s up 10 percentage points from last year.
Here's the Latest:
Rubio says massive oil deal doesn’t affect US commitment to restoring democracy in Venezuela
The secretary of state is pushing back against criticism that a massive oil deal with Venezuela has weakened the Trump administration’s commitment to restoring democracy there.
In an interview aired Wednesday, Rubio said the administration’s goals remain to stabilize the country, assist with its economic and social recovery and then support a democratic transition through free and fair elections.
“All of that remains a priority of this administration, and it’s something we’re working towards,” he told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade in an interview recorded Tuesday.
But Rubio said those would take time, noting that it has been only nine months since former President Nicolas Maduro was toppled in a U.S. military operation. He said Eastern European nations took four to five years to transition to democracy after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“We can do it much faster here,” he said. “We’re pushing very hard on it.
DC mayor says city could benefit from ‘world-class golf’
As Trump eyes changes to the golf course at East Potomac Park to draw prestige golf events, Muriel Bowser said the city could “stand to attract world-class golf.”
But she also said it’s important that the public still be able to enjoy the park, a scenic space on the Washington waterfront popular for running, biking, fishing and picnicking.
“The question is, for us, we still need public access,” she told reporters after an event focused on using sports to draw visitors to the nation’s capital. “People need to be able to access the park and Hains Point and get around, drive around, ride around the park.”
At 250, the United States still faces a military-civilian divide
In a nation that celebrates its military history, the responsibilities and burdens of military life fall more heavily on some families and communities than others. Most American adults either don’t serve or aren’t very connected to the people who do and their families.
These days, the military includes about 2 million people on active duty or in the National Guard and reserves, a tiny portion of the roughly 230 million adult citizens and legal permanent residents in the country.
The public doesn’t always pay attention unless there’s a crisis, like the concerns over mental health for USS Abraham Lincoln sailors who had been on an expanded deployment as part of the U.S. war against Iran.
There’s a military-civilian divide, a gap in understanding and connection that shapes public policy, the realities of everyday military life and the views and stereotypes each side holds about the other.
Pro-Trump group launches Trump-focused ads ahead of midterms
Securing American Greatness is running new ads touting the president’s record ahead of the November elections.
One celebrates the passage of policies like “No tax on tips,” Social Security and overtime, and credits Trump with lowering the prices of eggs and prescription drugs, even though overall consumer prices have continued to rise and remain a top concern for voters.
“He’s fighting for you every day. Help him finish the job,” the narrator says.
The second features footage of Trump at an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight night and the group’s president calling him “the toughest, most resilient person that I’ve ever met.”
The group has booked nearly $1 million in ads so far, according to AdImpact, which tracks ad reservations.
The nonprofit previously spent big supporting Trump in the 2024 and also helped promote Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Energy secretary Wright says US ‘not taking any oil ’ from Venezuela
On a visit to Caracas, Wright said the US. is “not taking any oil here” in its deal to develop Venezuela’s oil reserves and give the Pentagon a stake in the profits.
“This is a deal between a commercial enterprise that’s operating in Venezuela today,” Wright told Bloomberg TV Wednesday. “We’re just coming in as a partner, a passive partner ... with very active controls to make sure highest business practices are followed, and to work with them to bring more capital so we can accelerate the development of these (oil) reserves.”
Under the deal, the U.S. is entering a joint venture with North American Blue Energy Partners, a company owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt. The company is already the second largest operator in Venezuela, behind Chevron.
Wright is expected to meet with acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez and announce agreements with energy companies.
Now Apple has matched Google in showing “Lake America” to US users
Apple’s move followed competitor Google days after Trump ordered a new name for the body of water. Users outside of the U.S. still see the name the lake has had since before the U.S. and Canada existed.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox this week that Trump had reached out to the company “directly” about the change.
The president’s executive order on Friday directed the Interior Department to update the lake’s name in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System, as one of the latest provocations during his trade war with Canada.
MapQuest declared that it won’t change Lake Ontario’s label, and was topping the charts for downloads of free apps Wednesday in Apple’s App Store. The app owned by California-based System1 also gave users the option to name the lake “whatever you want.”
Marco Rubio says Iran will ‘continue to feel the squeeze’ as hostilities resume
The secretary of state said the US will continue pressuring Iran until it drops any nuclear weapons ambitions and ends support for terrorism in the Middle East and beyond.
“The core and central issue is in the end that Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
“They want money for two things, to sponsor terrorism and to obtain a nuclear weapon,” he told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade in an interview aired on Wednesday. They spoke on Tuesday shortly after Trump announced that the U.S. had resumed military operations against Iran in and around the Strait of Hormuz, but before Iran retaliated by attacking American interests in the region.
Rubio said “they keep shooting at things” in the strait, and so the U.S. “will continue to target those things that pose a threat to our forces and to international shipping.”
Will a 100-year deal giving US control over Venezuelan oil survive future administrations?
The Venezuelan Constitution states that such arrangements must be approved by the National Assembly, which has not happened, wrote Ian Vásquez, vice president for international studies at the Cato Institute.
“The deal lacks legitimacy since it was agreed to with a dictatorship that has clung to power for decades through violence and by committing what was probably the largest electoral fraud in Latin American history in 2024,” Vásquez wrote. “The agreement was also reached under overwhelming pressure, military and otherwise, from the United States. As such, any future Venezuelan democracy will question the deal, thus undermining confidence in the current arrangement.”
US energy secretary promotes Trump deal to control Venezuelan oil
The private company the Trump administration is creating to control a huge part of Venezuela’s oil reserves is a joint venture with North American Blue Energy Partners — a detail the White House had withheld for days. NABEP, owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, is already the second-largest operator in Venezuela, behind Chevron.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright promoted the deal Wednesday on “Squawk Box” on CNBC.
“What we’re doing is increasing the confidence for private businesses to come do deals in Venezuela, directly with the government of Venezuela, and possibly also with the partnership between NABEP. This is President Trump’s grand plan to replace conflict with commerce,” Wright said.
Analysts are skeptical, saying it will take years to revive Venezuela’s oil industry, and questions remain about whether Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez has the legal authority to give the company 100-year rights over 17 oil fields with reserves of 65 billion barrels.
Trump said major US oil companies are reinvesting in Venezuela. ExxonMobil says otherwise
Trump has eyed Venezuela’s oil since the capture of Nicolás Maduro and he’s been pressing to get U.S. businesses back into the country. “We have Exxon going in, we have Chevron going in. We have our big oil companies going in,” he said in January, and suggested again on Monday that U.S. oil majors were readying for a return.
Other than Chevron, which already operates in Venezuela, there is no evidence of that. ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said in January that Venezuela was “ uninvestable,” and a company spokesman said this week that “nothing has changed.”
Marco Rubio downplays CIA chief’s visit to Moscow as ‘routine’
The U.S. Secretary of State is downplaying the significance of CIA chief John Ratcliffe’s visit to Moscow last month, saying it was a “routine” trip aimed at keeping communications channels open.
Reports emerged that Ratcliffe warned Russia during his visit about assistance to Iran and its military position in its war with Ukraine.
“The United States does need to be able to communicate with Russia (and) his visit there was largely routine in that sense,” Rubio said in an interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade that aired on Wednesday. “This is not unusual.”
“It wasn’t part of any sort of broader initiative,” Rubio said in the interview that was recorded on Tuesday.
Chinese government expresses ‘serious concerns’ after man’s death in ICE custody
The Chinese government is pressing for answers after a Chinese man died hours after being taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a U.S. territorial lockup.
Lianyong Wei, 51, died early Aug. 23 at a hospital in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, ICE announced in a press release Tuesday. ICE said his cause of death was under investigation.
“We have expressed serious concerns to the relevant U.S. authorities over this incident and required a timely and thorough investigation into the cause of Mr. Wei’s death, notification of the findings, measures to prevent any recurrence of similar incidents, and assistance to the family of the deceased in handling the aftermath,” the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles said in a statement.
American motorists and truckers pay more for gas as Iran war fighting renews
The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline jumped overnight to $4.12, according to the motor club AAA. That’s 93 cents more than it cost at this point last year.
The cost for diesel gasoline rose to $5.69, AAA said.
U.S. and Iranian air attacks involving missiles and drones Sunday and Tuesday have threatened to fully reignite the conflict that has spiked global oil prices.
The U.S. Central Command said it hit Iran’s air defense sites, radar systems and maritime assets as Iran fired at its neighbors in the Gulf region. Iranian officials said one U.S. strike hit a home hosting a wedding, killing five people and wounding dozens.
$1 coin stamped with Trump’s visage and a gold finish goes on sale
Minted in Philadelphia as part of America’s 250th birthday, the coin goes on sale at noon Eastern time Wednesday, according to the U.S. Mint.
A roll of 25 coins will cost $61, and a bag of 100 will cost $154.50.
The coin’s design, Trump’s stern stare on one side and the Great Seal of the United States on the other, was previously given the stamp of approval by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were appointed by Trump. The president has said his depiction on a coin was “very unusual” and he’s “honored by it.”
The coin follows other moves to rename things in Trump’s honor, including the U.S. Institute of Peace and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Chevron confirms it will expand operations in Venezuela
The U.S. oil giant announced its expansion on Wednesday just days after Trump announced an ambitious deal to develop the nation’s oil reserves and give the Pentagon a stake in the profits.
Chevron said it has been assigned additional acreage in the Orinoco Belt, where the company has an established position. Joint venture plans include investing more than $7 billion over five years to more than double production to about 600,000 barrels a day.
“Chevron’s history in Venezuela spans more than a century, and our expanded position reflects our confidence in the country’s deep resource potential and its ability to compete for investment within our portfolio for decades,” CEO Mike Wirth said in a prepared statement. “With improved terms and additional acreage, we are strengthening a portfolio that we believe can deliver attractive low-cost oil growth, support energy supply and create differentiated long-term value.”
Why bond yields are rising and why everyone should care
Interest rates on government bonds are rising again around the world, making borrowing more expensive for consumers and businesses and heightening concerns about whether governments are issuing more debt than financial markets can handle.
Rising bond yields are one of the few forces in the world strong enough to get politicians to snap to attention. They can also have a big impact on Americans’ personal finances and on the broader economy. The bond market can dictate how much ordinary people have to pay on their mortgages and car loans, as well as how much they earn from their savings accounts and 401(k) plans.
Fighting has flared up again in the Middle East, causing oil prices to jump and renewing inflation worries. Investors typically demand higher interest rates, or yields, on government bonds when inflation is high or they think it may get worse.
Mark Carney says the deal Trump sought would wipe out Canadian industries
Carney said during a fresh barrage of taunts from Trump administration officials that the U.S. approach in the talks would have left Canadian industries effectively as subsidiaries of American companies or imposed terms under which they would be “gradually wound down in Canada and wiped out.”
Carney said Washington also sought limits on Canada’s future trade deals.
“We’re not going to — of course, we’re not going to accept those terms,” Carney said. “Canada is a sovereign state. We will strike free trade deals with the countries we wish to strike free trade deals.”
Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said Carney told labor leaders they could not expect relations with the United States to “go back to normal any time soon,” calling the current situation “a new normal that we have to get adjusted to.”
Dan Driscoll says Wednesday is last day as Army secretary
Driscoll posted his departure date on X late Tuesday, a day after the White House announced his resignation. A U.S. Army official said Monday that Driscoll submitted his resignation after speaking with President Donald Trump on the current state of the Army.
Despite widespread reporting of tensions between Driscoll and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Driscoll said it was an honor to serve under Hegseth and Trump.
“Our Soldiers, Civilians, and their Families are our Nation’s very best, and they have inspired me every day,” Driscoll wrote, crediting the Army’s progress during his 18 months on the job with “the support of Secretary Hegseth.”
Driscoll’s departure, however, follows Hegseth’s ouster of one of his allies from the Army and the rollback of a drone program he championed.
Poll: A new high in Americans seeing government corruption as widespread
Americans’ belief that there is widespread corruption in the U.S. government has reached a record high, according to a new Gallup poll released Wednesday.
About 9 in 10 Americans – 89% – say corruption is widespread throughout the U.S. government. That’s up 10 percentage points from last year, and marks the highest measure recorded in Gallup’s 20-year trend.
There is bipartisan agreement that there’s substantial government corruption. About 9 in 10 Democrats and independents say this, as well as roughly 8 in 10 Republicans. Democrats, however, have driven the recent jumps.
When President Biden was in the White House, about 6 in 10 Democrats thought government corruption was widespread. That jumped to 76% during President Trump’s first year back in office and now sits at 91%.
Gallup found that in recent years, the U.S. has outpaced other countries with advanced economies when it comes to their perceptions of government corruption.
JD Vance talks about end times and dark forces on Christian podcast
Asked by Christian podcaster Bryce Crawford about his interest in the “end times,” the vice president laughingly said it had been more of an obsession during his youth.
“There are, like, things about the world that make me feel, like, not shocked if the Antichrist was walking among us, but, again, I try not to focus too much on it,” Vance said in the interview made public Tuesday.
Crawford also asked Vance about Trump’s post of an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus, which Crawford said offended him. Trump initially said he thought the image showed him as a doctor, then took down the post amid widespread criticism from even some of his own backers.
“He did not mean to, like, mock or mimic God — that’s just not who he is,” Vance said, adding that the president often tries to keep things light.
Bessent downplays effects of trade war with Canada
“The Canadian deal has virtually no impact on American prices. No impact,” he insisted Wednesday on “Fox & Friends.”
Bessent blamed the impasse and rounds of retaliatory tariffs from both sides on Canada’s prime minister. He said “Carney has made a political decision” to stop a deal that “was on the 1-yard line.”
The secretary predicted that Carney “will have to come back” for negotiations, and he suggested that the next deal the U.S. offers won’t be as good.
