Trump Threatens “Very Serious Retaliation” After Syria Attack

President Donald Trump raged against ISIS and said the U.S. would retaliate after an attack in Syria on Saturday, possibly laying the groundwork for more American military involvement in another country in the Middle East.

Earlier in the day, a lone gunman shot and killed two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter while they were conducting counterterrorism operations in Palmyra, a city in the central part of the country, various outlets reported. The shooter was killed, and three other members of the U.S. military and two Syrians were injured.

U.S. Central Command called the attack the “result of an ambush by a lone ISIS gunman,” though no group has claimed responsibility for the attack as of yet. More details are still emerging, but Trump took to Truth Social to declare there would be a response.

“This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them. The President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack,” he wrote. “There will be very serious retaliation.”

What, exactly, that response might look like is unclear. This is reportedly the first case of U.S. deaths in Syria since Bashar Al Assad’s regime fell, and the attack is under investigation.

Defense Secretery Pete Hegseth, who has come under intense pressure and criticism for his role in carrying out questionably legal boat strikes in the Caribbean that have killed more than 80 people, also weighed in.

In a Saturday tweet, Hegseth wrote: “If you target Americans—anywhere in the world—you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.”

Though it’s not well publicized, the U.S. military has had an ongoing presence at American bases in different parts of Syria since 2014.

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is reportedly trying to come up with a way to bring federal charges against Charlie Kirk’s alleged shooter. One solution? Declare Kirk’s murder an anti-Christian hate crime.

Tyler Robinson, the suspect, is already facing state charges for aggravated murder, and may even face the death penalty. But that’s not enough for the Trump administration, which seems to be trying to get the case taken to the federal level, according to a new report from NBC News.

Some prosecutors are pushing back. They say the crime doesn’t really fall under any federal statutes: Murder, generally, is under state jurisdiction, unless the suspect crossed state lines or killed an elected official.

As a result, apparently, the DOJ is exploring the option to charge Robinson with an anti-Christian hate crime, three people who are familiar with the investigation told NBC.

It would be an unusual “hate crime” to prosecute, to say the least: The federal case would have to equate anti-trans views with Christianity, in order for the legal logic to work, according to NBC’s sources.

“They are trying to shove a square peg into a round hole,” one said.

In case anyone is unclear what constitutes a federal hate crime: The Hitler-loving white supremacist who killed Heather Heyer at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville was charged with a hate crime, as was the white man who gunned down 10 Black people in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

Hate crime charges are generally used when someone attacks or discriminates against someone else based on their race, gender, sexuality, or religion.

Robinson, in texts to his trans partner that were released by the FBI, allegedly said that he wanted to kill Kirk because he had “enough of his hatred.” In order to charge Robinson with a hate crime, prosecutors would have to argue that being Christian and being hateful—at least toward trans people—are one and the same.

It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last—President Donald Trump was a little too eager to claim he had ended an international conflict.

On Friday, the U.S. president said that the countries of Thailand and Cambodia, which have been involved in clashes that have left at least 20 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands over the past week, had agreed to a truce.

The president wrote on Truth Social that he had a “very good conversation” with the prime ministers of both countries, and they had achieved a breakthrough. “Both Countries are ready for PEACE and continued Trade with the United States of America. It is my Honor to work with Anutin and Hun in resolving what could have evolved into a major War between two otherwise wonderful and prosperous Countries!” Trump wrote.

The ceasefire was supposed to begin yesterday, per Trump’s announcement, and the White House shared the president’s post on Facebook as well.

But on Saturday, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul definitively refuted Trump’s claim, The New York Times reported.

“Thailand will continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people,” he wrote on Facebook. “I want to make it clear.”

Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow also said that Trump’s comments didn’t “reflect an accurate understanding of the situation,” per CBS News.

Cambodia’s prime minister has not directly refuted the claim, but made no mention of a new ceasefire agreement.

On Saturday, the violence continued, as Thailand carried out airstrikes along the border between the two countries. The fighting is the latest iteration of a border conflict that’s been simmering for some time.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to repeat the claim that he’s ended a dizzying number of conflicts as part of his endless quest for the Nobel Peace Prize. This time, though, facts intervened.

Chuob Chhouk, a vegetable seller in Cambodia who had been displaced from her home, told the Times, “I want a real ceasefire, not just words.”

Kristi Noem is scrambling to shift blame to her subordinates for not meeting deportation quotas as the Department of Homeland Security descends into an atmosphere of chaos and finger-pointing, according to a new report.

Noem and her right-hand man (and alleged boyfriend) Corey Lewandowski have been playing the blame game, two DHS officials with direct knowledge of the matter told NBC News, setting up acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott to take the fall.

Scott had been excluded from strategic conversations as well as social gatherings, and that department leaders told him he may soon be out of a job, the sources said. Scott was reportedly even worried that Lewandowski was reading his emails.

He’s not the only one with reason to be afraid: The White House is reportedly growing tired with Noem’s brash leadership, especially her relationship with Lewandowski. DHS officials told The Bulwark in early December that she could be out “really soon.”

As the agency leading President Donald Trump’s hallmark deportation campaign, DHS is under a lot of scrutiny. And despite Noem’s efforts to boost numbers by cruelly grabbing people off the street at random, immigrants or not, she’s way behind where the president wants her to be.

Far from Stephen Miller’s brutal goal of 3,000 deportations per day, ICE is reportedly arresting fewer than 1,000 people each day on average. And contrary to Noem’s and Trump’s promises, they are not just going after the “worst of the worst”: More than a third of the people arrested so far have no criminal history at all.

The Transportation Security Administration is now sharing passenger data with ICE to enable Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

Before Trump, ICE didn’t get involved with domestic travel—and the TSA didn’t concern itself with immigration matters. But since March, according to a new report by The New York Times, the two agencies have quietly been working together to apprehend people at the airport at the command of the Trump administration.

According to the Times, it’s not clear how many arrests have been made so far. But the paper obtained documents that show the program led to the arrest of 19-year-old Any Lucía López Belloza, who was picked up at Boston Logan Airport when trying to visit her family in Texas for Thanksgiving. Two days later, López was deported to Honduras, where she had not been since she was 7 years old.

According to former ICE officials interviewed by the Times, the program can help the agency meet its high deportation quotas—plus, it allows agents to quickly deport those caught, like López.

“The administration has turned routine travel into a force multiplier for removals, potentially identifying thousands who thought they could evade the law simply by boarding a plane,” said former deputy head of ICE in New York City, Scott Mechkowski.

Since Trump took office in January, many in the U.S. have been living in fear. Trump’s deportation campaign has led to the arrest and detention of immigrants and citizens alike. People have been grabbed by ICE off the street, from their apartments, from their places of work. Now the airport is another place that’s no longer safe.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, expressed no remorse for the position she’s put people in. “The message to those in the country illegally is clear: The only reason you should be flying is to self-deport home,” she said.