Trump Authorizes Covert C.I.A. Action, and Hamas Starts Bloody Crackdown

0:02From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Thursday, October 16th. Here's what we're covering.

0:13What's the next step in this war on cartels? And are you considering options? Are you considering strikes on land? Well, I don't want to tell you exactly, but we are certainly looking at land now because we've got the sea very well under control. At the White House yesterday, President Trump said that the U.S. is considering military strikes on Venezuela. as the administration steps up its pressure campaign against the country's authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro. In recent weeks, the U.S. military has attacked at least five boats off the coast of Venezuela, killing 27 people. The administration has claimed, without offering evidence, that the boats were smuggling drugs to the U.S.

0:51and has denounced Maduro as a narco-terrorist. Yesterday, Trump said he'd also authorized the CIA to conduct covert actions in Venezuela. We've had signals for a while now that the U.S. has prepared to escalate. They've cut off diplomatic talks with Venezuela. They have brought in more and more troops into the region, more and more naval ships. There's a big military buildup. And so the authorization for covert action is part of this larger march to a military and intelligence engagement in Venezuela. Julian Barnes covers the CIA for The Times. Privately, U.S. officials have told us that ultimately removing Maduro from power is the goal of this campaign.

1:41It's not simply to stop the drug boats. It's not simply to get Venezuela to do more to intercept drugs coming through its country. It is about removing Maduro from power. Julian says it's unknown what, if any, operations the CIA is planning in Venezuela, though the agency's director promised during his confirmation hearing that the CIA would become more aggressive under his leadership. In a statement, Venezuela accused Trump of trying to, quote, legitimize regime change, and said it plans to raise the matter with the U.N. Security Council today.

2:23The Times has learned that the White House is considering radically overhauling the U.S. refugee system into one that would favor white people. For decades, the program has been aimed at helping the world's most vulnerable people, often fleeing war or other crises, whether that's in Syria, Haiti, Ukraine, Afghanistan. But on his first day in office, President Trump suspended all refugee admissions and asked his administration to draw up proposals for how they thought the program should run. The Times got access to some of those plans, which argue that the previous refugee system made the U.S. too diverse.

3:01One proposal said the administration should only welcome, quote, refugees who can be fully and appropriately assimilated and are aligned with the president's objectives. The proposals also call for Trump to prioritize Europeans who it claims have been targeted for speaking out against things like mass migration. Trump already offered priority refugee status to Afrikaners, the white minority in South Africa, claiming they face racial persecution there. A spokesman for the State Department would not comment on specific details in the proposals, but said, this administration unapologetically prioritizes the interests of the American people.

3:42Now, two more quick updates on the Trump administration. Yesterday at the Pentagon, a procession of reporters handed in their press passes after rejecting new rules that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid out for how they can do their work. Several lawyers representing media organizations said the new rules violate the First Amendment and that under them, reporters could have been punished for simply doing their jobs. The rejection was nearly unanimous among news outlets that cover the Defense Department, including The Times, NBC, and Fox News. They will no longer have physical access to the Pentagon.

4:19And a federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out mass layoffs during the government shutdown. In her decision, the judge wrote that the White House Budget Office has taken advantage of the ongoing shutdown to, quote, assume that all bets are off, that the laws don't apply to them anymore. Unions representing federal workers had sued over the firings after the government started sending out layoff notices to more than 4 ,000 employees. Still, the administration does not seem phased by the judge's ruling and has threatened to fire more workers. Are we talking 1 ,000 people?

4:56Are we talking 10 ,000 people? We're definitely talking thousands of people. The head of the White House Budget Office, Russell Vogt, said on a podcast yesterday that the number of layoffs could more than double. It could grow much higher. It could grow higher. I think we'll probably end up being north of 10 ,000.

5:20In Gaza last night, Hamas announced that it has handed over all of the remains of Israeli hostages that it's currently able to, saying there are some it can't reach because Israeli strikes have reduced so much of Gaza to rubble. Under the terms of the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Hamas was expected to immediately hand over more than 20 bodies of people taken captive on October 7, 2023. At the moment, it's returned 10, saying it needs specialized equipment to recover the rest. The terms of the deal acknowledged that this kind of situation was possible given the destruction in the territory.

5:58But it's not yet clear if Israel and the U.S. will interpret Hamas's delay in returning the bodies as a violation of the peace agreement. Meanwhile, after two years of operating in the shadows, often literally underground, armed, uniformed members of Hamas are now being seen on the streets in Gaza. The group appears to be trying to restore some semblance of public order. For example, in one city, they've been out directing traffic this week. Hamas also seems to be trying to show it's still the dominant force in Gaza by cracking down on small rival militias that have sprung up in the past few months.

6:36Israel has supported some of those groups, even providing one with weapons to fight Hamas on its behalf. Earlier this week, Hamas's crackdown led to a bloody gun battle in Gaza City. And later, masked fighters lined up and shot eight people in the middle of a crowded street there, in what one Hamas official told the Times was an execution of its enemies.

7:08And finally, the American penny is likely the most minted coin in the history of civilization. Since the U.S. started churning them out at the end of the 1700s, it has made several hundred billion of them. That little portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the back, which obviously came later, is the most reproduced piece of art on Earth. As I've said before, though, the penny's time has come. The government is stopping production, citing the fact that pennies are used less and less and that each one actually costs three cents to make. As of this fall, several Federal Reserve sites, which distribute coins to banks, have stopped fulfilling orders for pennies.

7:52That has left stores that still do a fair amount of cash transactions in a tricky spot. How do you make change when you have no pennies? A consortium of convenience stores and grocery stores across the country is now actually urging Congress to pass a national law rounding transactions to the nearest nickel. The Midwest chain Quick Trip already rolled out its version of that plan. It's rounding all cash transactions down at its nearly 1 ,000 stores. I will just say here, though, that when you do the math, there really should not be a penny shortage just yet. There are so, so, so many pennies still out there that even by a conservative estimate, there's$7.24 worth of pennies per person in the U.S.

8:39So they're out there. Just don't really know where all of them are.

8:46Those are the headlines today on The Daily. New Yorkers know exactly what it is that I'm running on. I'll have people stop me in the street and just shout fast and free buses or universal child care or freeze the rent. Yeah. And that means that we're building a movement not around an individual, but rather around these policy commitments. And that is what we will be held to account for. And that is something that I want. An interview with Ziran Mamdani, the Democratic socialist who's running for mayor of New York City. You can listen to that in The New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts.

9:18I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow. You