AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EST

Pentagon knew boat attack left survivors but still launched a follow-on strike, AP sources say

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon knew there were survivors after a September attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea and the U.S. military still carried out a follow-up strike, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The rationale for the second strike was that it was needed to sink the vessel, according to the people familiar with the matter who spoke Wednesday on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly. The Trump administration says all 11 people aboard were killed.

What remains unclear was who ordered the strikes and whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was involved, one of the people said. The details are becoming crucial as lawmakers have launched investigations and are seeking to determine whether the U.S. acted lawfully during its military operations.

The questions are expected to emerge Thursday during a classified congressional briefing with the commander that the Trump administration says ordered the second strike, Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley.

The Pentagon did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment about the reported new details about the Sept. 2 attack.

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Pentagon watchdog finds Hegseth’s use of Signal posed risk to US personnel, AP sources say

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon’s watchdog found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Yemen’s Houthi militants, two people familiar with the findings said Wednesday.

Hegseth, however, has the ability to declassify material and the report did not find he did so improperly, according to one of the people familiar with the findings who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the information. That person also said the report concluded that Hegseth violated Pentagon policy by using his personal device for official business and it recommended better training for all Pentagon officials.

Hegseth declined to sit for an interview with the Pentagon’s inspector general but provided a written statement, that person said. The defense secretary asserted that he was permitted to declassify information as he saw fit and only communicated details he thought would not endanger the mission.

The initial findings, which were first reported by CNN, ramp up the pressure on the former Fox News Channel host after lawmakers called for the independent inquiry into his use of the commercially available app.

Lawmakers also just opened investigations into a news report that a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea in September killed survivors after Hegseth issued a verbal order to “kill everybody.”

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Federal agents launch immigration crackdown in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal agents began hitting the streets of New Orleans on Wednesday in the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown across the U.S., looking to round up immigrants accused of violent crimes, a Homeland Security official said.

Masked agents patrolled a heavily Hispanic suburb in marked and unmarked vehicles, and a resident told The Associated Press he watched agents arresting men outside a home improvement store in New Orleans — a familiar scene that has played out in several major cities in recent months.

Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who led enforcement operations in Chicago, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina, met up Wednesday with agents assembling in a Home Depot parking lot.

There are more than 200 Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials working on the New Orleans operation, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The objective is to make as many arrests as possible over at least 60 days.

Homeland Security Department Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that the New Orleans operation is targeting immigrants who were released after arrests for crimes such as home invasion, armed robbery and rape.

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Europeans accuse Putin of feigning interest in peace after talks with US envoys

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine and its European allies accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday of feigning interest in peace efforts after five hours of talks with U.S. envoys at the Kremlin produced no breakthrough.

The Russian leader “should end the bluster and the bloodshed and be ready to come to the table and to support a just and lasting peace,” said U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged Putin to “stop wasting the world’s time.”

The remarks reflected the high tensions and gaping gulf between Russia on one side and Ukraine and its European allies on the other over how to end a war that Moscow started when it invaded its neighbor nearly four years ago.

A day earlier, Putin accused the Europeans of sabotaging the U.S.-led peace efforts — and warned that, if provoked, Russia would be ready for war with Europe.

Since the 2022 invasion, European governments, along with the U.S., have spent billions of dollars to support Kyiv financially and militarily. Under President Donald Trump, however, the U.S. has tempered its support — and instead made a push to end the war.

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Trump pardons Texas Democratic Rep. Cuellar in bribery and conspiracy case

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump pardoned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife in a federal bribery and conspiracy case on Wednesday, citing what he called a “weaponized” justice system.

Trump, who has argued that his own legal troubles were a partisan witch hunt, said on social media without presenting evidence that Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, were prosecuted because the congressman had been critical of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

Trump, a Republican, said in a social media post that Cuellar “bravely spoke out against Open Borders” and accused Biden, a Democrat, of going after the congressman and his wife “for speaking the TRUTH.”

Federal authorities had charged Cuellar and his wife with accepting thousands of dollars in exchange for the congressman advancing the interests of an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico. Cuellar is accused of agreeing to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan and deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the floor of the U.S. House.

Cuellar has said he and his wife are innocent. The couple’s trial had been set to begin next April.

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President Trump’s contempt shocks the country’s largest Somali community

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Even for a president who has long made clear he’s no fan of Somalia, the latest round of White House contempt was a shock Wednesday in the country’s largest Somali community.

“They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country,” President Donald Trump told reporters during a Tuesday Cabinet meeting. “We can go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.”

On Wednesday, he doubled down: “Somalians should be out of here,” he told reporters during an Oval Office event. “They’ve destroyed our country.”

As for Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who has repeatedly criticized the president’s rhetoric, Trump dismissed him as a “fool.”

“I wouldn’t be proud to have the largest Somali population,” in the U.S., he said.

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Israel launches airstrike in southern Gaza after earlier attack by militants wounded 5 soldiers

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said it launched an airstrike on a Hamas militant in southern Gaza late Wednesday in retaliation for an attack earlier in the day that wounded five Israeli soldiers.

The strike was the latest test for a fragile ceasefire that has mostly held up since early October, despite claims of violations by both Israel and Hamas. Hamas put out a statement condemning the Israeli strike in Khan Younis.

Earlier Wednesday, Israel received remains of what could be one of the last hostages in Gaza and said it would begin allowing Palestinians to leave the territory through a border crossing with Egypt.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas violated the ceasefire Wednesday when, according to the army, militants emerged from a tunnel and attacked Israeli soldiers in an area under their control.

Israel has accused Hamas of ceasefire violations before launching previous airstrikes. Strikes killed 104 people in late October and 33 people in late November, according to local health officials.

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Doctor who sold ketamine to ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry gets 2 1/2 years in prison

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on Wednesday at an emotional hearing over the “Friends” star’s overdose death.

Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence that included two years of probation and a $5,600 fine to 44-year-old Dr. Salvador Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.

The judge emphasized that Plasencia didn’t provide the ketamine that killed Perry, but told him, “You and others helped Mr. Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction.”

“You exploited Mr. Perry’s addiction for your own profit,” she said.

Plasencia was led from the courtroom in handcuffs as his mother cried in the audience. He might have arranged a date to surrender, but his lawyers said he was prepared to do it today.

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What to know about the hepatitis B shot — and why Trump officials are targeting it

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal vaccine advisory committee this week is expected to discuss whether newborns should still get the hepatitis B vaccine — the first shot found to prevent cancer.

Federal health recommendations now suggest that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection in their first day of life, but U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee on Thursday is expected to change that — contradicting previous public health advice.

It’s not clear exactly what the committee is considering, but the American Academy of Pediatrics will still urge a birth dose, said the organization’s Dr. Sean O’Leary.

“We are going to continue to recommend it because it saves lives,” he said.

Here’s a look at the disease, the vaccine and the debate over changing the recommendations.

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Steve Cropper, guitarist and member of Stax Records’ Booker T and the M.G.’s, has died at age 84

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Steve Cropper, the lean, soulful guitarist and songwriter who helped anchor the celebrated Memphis backing band Booker T. and the M.G.’s at Stax Records and co-wrote the classics “Green Onions,” “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay” and “In the Midnight Hour,” has died. He was 84.

Pat Mitchell Worley, president and CEO of the Soulsville Foundation, said Cropper’s family told her that Cropper died on Wednesday in Nashville. The foundation operates the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, located at the site of the former Stax Records, where Cropper worked for years.

A cause of death was not immediately known. Longtime associate Eddie Gore said he was with Cropper on Tuesday at a rehabilitation facility in Nashville, where Cropper had been after a recent fall. Cropper had been working on new music when Gore visited, he said.

“He’s such a good human,” Gore said. “We were blessed to have him, for sure.”

The guitarist, songwriter and record producer was not known for flashy playing, but his spare, catchy licks and solid rhythm chops helped define Memphis soul music. At a time when it was common for white musicians to co-opt the work of Black artists and make more money from their songs, Cropper was that rare white artist willing to keep a lower profile and collaborate.