Paying service members is a key concern among lawmakers of both parties and a point of political leverage. The Trump administration transferred $8 billion in military research and development funds to payroll last week, ensuring that military compensation would not expire.
Charging
But it’s unclear whether the Trump administration would be willing – or able – to transfer money again as tensions rise over the extended shutdown.
The $130 million would cover only a fraction of the billions needed for military salaries. Trump said the donation was to cover any “shortfalls” and it is unclear how regulations would cover such a donation.
“That’s crazy,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan organization focused on the federal government.
“It’s about paying for our uniformed services as if someone were paying the bar bill.”
Charging
Stier questioned the legality of the donation and called for more transparency.
Pentagon policy says authorities “should consult with their appropriate ethics official before accepting a gift valued at more than $10,000 to determine whether the donor is involved in any claims, procurement actions, litigation, or other particular matters involving the department that should be considered before accepting the gift.”
Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to deploy from the Mediterranean Sea to the US Southern Command region near the coast of South America.
“It would strengthen the United States’ ability to detect, monitor and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the security and prosperity of the United States,” Parnell said on social media.
The Ford, with a crew of about 5,000 sailors and more than 75 attack, surveillance and support aircraft, including F/A-18 fighters, was recently in a port in Croatia, on the Adriatic Sea.
It is unclear how long it would take to reach South America or whether the five destroyers in his strike group would make the trip.
The deployment of an aircraft carrier will add significant resources to a region that already has had an unusually large US military buildup in the Caribbean Sea and Venezuelan waters. There are already more than 6,000 U.S. sailors and Marines on eight warships in the region.
The latest deployment and the accelerated pace of U.S. strikes, including one on Friday, have raised new speculation about how far the Trump administration may go in operations it says target drug trafficking, including whether it could try to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Charging
Hours before Parnell announced the news, Hegseth said the military had carried out the 10th attack on a suspected drug smuggling ship, killing six and raising the toll of the attacks that began in early September to at least 43.
Hegseth said on social media that the attack was on a boat operated by the Tren de Aragua gang. It was the second time the government linked an operation to the gang that originated in a Venezuelan prison.
“If you are a narcoterrorist smuggling drugs into our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda,” Hegseth posted. “Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down and kill you.”
Maduro maintains that the US operations are the last effort to force him from office.
Two of the most recent attacks were carried out in the eastern Pacific Ocean, expanding the area where the military has launched attacks and shifting to where much of the cocaine from the world’s largest producers, including Colombia, is smuggled.
Raising tensions with Colombia, the Trump administration also imposed sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his family and a member of his government over allegations of involvement in global drug trafficking.
AP
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