Trump signs Department of War order, makes announcements at White House

The president said he knows nothing about a New York Times report Friday about a botched Navy SEAL operation in North Korea in 2019, when he was president. 

The New York Times reported that a group of Navy SEALS in early 2019 were deployed to intercept the communications of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But when a North Korean boat appeared as the SEALs were landing, the Times reported, the SEALS opened fire on the boat, killing everyone aboard. The Times reported that evidence suggested the two or three people were “civilians diving for shellfish.” The Times said the SEALS aborted the mission, returning without planting any listening devices. 

Mr. Trump claimed he only learned about the incident when the reporter asked him about it in the Oval Office Friday afternoon. The Times also reported that the mission was so risky, that it required the president’s direct approval, and he had greenlighted it.

“I don’t know anything about it, no,” he said. “I’d have to — I could look — but I know nothing about it.”

“I’m hearing it now for the first time,” he added.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s move to revoke the temporary protected status (TPS) designation for roughly 1 million Venezuelans and Haitians was illegal.

The order restores protections for those TPS holders, allowing them to live and work in the U.S. 

Chen said that Noem exceeded her authority when she ended the protections and must be set aside under the Administrative Procedure Act.

“This case arose from action taken post haste by the current DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem, to revoke the legal status of Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders, sending them back to conditions that are so dangerous that even the State Department advises against travel to their home countries,” the judge wrote. “The Secretary’s action in revoking TPS was not only unprecedented in the manner and speed in which it was taken but also violates the law.”

The president signed an executive order renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War, and changing the title of secretary of defense to secretary of war. 

The president said it was a “woke” decision after World War I and World War II in 1947 to rename the department previously known as the Department of War to the Department of Defense. 

“We’re going Department of War,” Mr. Trump said, asking his “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth for his remarks. 

Hegseth said the U.S. “hasn’t won a war since” World War II, though he added he did not intend to malign veterans of more recent wars. 

“It’s gonna fight to win, not to lose. We’re gonna go on offense, not just on defense,” Hegseth said, adding the U.S. will “raise up warriors, not just defenders.” 

The president also signed a bill to protect home buyers and sellers from having their personal information sold. 

“That’s going to help the homeowners of our great country,” he said. 

The president took to social media to threaten Europe with tariffs over the European Union’s decision to fine Google $3.5 billion, citing anticompetitive tech ad practices. The EU imposed the penalty Friday, Google’s fourth from the EU in roughly a decade. 

“Europe today ‘hit’ another great American company, Google, with a $3.5 Billion Dollar fine, effectively taking money that would otherwise go to American Investments and Jobs,” Mr. Trump wrote. 

Mr. Trump’s comments, posted shortly after the announcement of the fine, also came a day after he dined with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and other top tech executives at the White House. 

“We cannot let this happen to brilliant and unprecedented American Ingenuity and, if it does, I will be forced to start a Section 301 proceeding to nullify the unfair penalties being charged to these Taxpaying American Companies,” the president continued. 

Section 301 authorizes the Trade Act of 1974 permits the U.S. trade representative to impose tariffs or other import restrictions in an effort to fix an unfair foreign trade practices.

Eric Trump, the president’s son, announced that he’s writing a book about major events in his and his father’s life, including the July 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the 2022 search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago by the FBI. Eric Trump is the executive vice president of the Trump Organization. 

The president’s son said the “most painful moment” for him was when his “childhood home” of Mar-a-Lago was “raided” by federal authorities, as a part of the investigation into Mr. Trump’s handling of classified documents. 

The president wrote the foreword. The book, “Under Siege,” will be released Oct. 14. 

The Pentagon is sending 10 F-35 fighter jets to the Caribbean as tensions with Venezuela rise over the drug trade and the strike on narco-terrorists, a person familiar with the plans tells CBS News. 

Reuters first reported the U.S. deployment of the jets, which will be deployed in operations targeting drug cartels.

On Tuesday, a U.S. military strike sank a Venezuelan boat and killed 11 people. The president and top officials said the vessel was transporting illegal drugs. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strike was just the start of a campaign against Venezuelan drug cartels. 

By Willie James Inman, Jennifer Jacobs

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are launching an investigation Friday into the firings of Justice Department attorneys and employees who investigated President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified records. 

In a letter obtained by CBS News, the panel’s Democrats are asking Attorney General Pam Bondi to hand over records about at least 20 Justice Department staff fired last month.

The senators said they’re seeking information regarding the justification “for any of these draconian personnel actions,” in reference to the terminations. They said of Justice Department leaders, “Firing career administrative staff who lack decision-making authority because they were doing their jobs is a petty but pernicious abuse of power.”

The U.S. only added 22,000 jobs in August, falling short of forecasts. Some sectors, including manufacturing and professional services, lost jobs.

Economists had forecasted payroll gains of 80,000. The unemployment rate also ticked up slightly, from 4.2% in July to 4.3% in August. 

Top White House officials acknowledged the numbers did not meet expectations. Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, called it a “little bit of a disappointment number,” but said he expects that 22,000 figure to be “revised up.” 

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said jobs “underperformed just a bit,” but said the economy as a whole is “still in the positive.”

By Kristin Brown, Kathryn Watson 

In a long Truth Social post, the president said it’s “time to end” the “Epstein hoax,” again blaming Democrats for pushing for answers that many of the president’s supporters are also demanding. 

“The Department of Justice has done its job, they have given everything requested of them,” the president wrote. “It’s time to end the Democrat Epstein Hoax, and give the Republicans credit for the great, even legendary, job that they are doing.”

Mr. Trump has in recent weeks voiced frustration that members of Congress, including some in his own party, have not given up on pursuing more transparency about the details of the Epstein case. 

Democrats are hoping to gain a sufficient number of votes, including from a handful of Republicans, to advance legislation forcing the Trump administration to release all federal Epstein files.

The Trump administration is expected to issue an executive order as early as Friday establishing a designation for state sponsors of wrongful detention, CBS News has learned, in a move that would allow the U.S. to punish countries that illegally detain U.S. nationals or take them hostage. 

Modeled after the designation of state sponsors of terrorism, the measure would provide tools for the State Department to penalize nations that use detained Americans as political leverage and potentially issue geographic travel restrictions on where a U.S. passport can be used. 

Read more here.

By Camilla Schick, Olivia Gazis