Venezuela, Turning Point USA, China’s surveillance

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By Elizabeth Both

December 21, 2025

By Elizabeth Both

December 21, 2025

 
 

Good morning and welcome to the Sunday edition of Morning Wire, where we give you the weekend rundown to get ready for the week ahead. Today, a look at an AP investigation into how China exports U.S.-enabled surveillance to Nepal and uses it to silence Tibetans; U.S. forces stopped an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Saturday; and the next presidential election is three years away, but Turning Point USA is already backing Vice President JD Vance.

But first, files have disappeared from the Department of Justice webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. 

 

UP FIRST

AP Morning Wire

This photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows a hallway during a search of Jeffrey Epstein's home on July, 6, 2019, in New York. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP)

At least 16 files have disappeared from the DOJ webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein

At least 16 files disappeared from the Justice Department’s public webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein — including a photograph showing President Donald Trump — less than a day after they were posted, with no explanation from the government and no notice to the public. The Justice Department didn’t answer questions Saturday about why the files disappeared but said in a post on X that “photos and other materials will continue being reviewed and redacted consistent with the law in an abundance of caution as we receive additional information.” Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

  • Takeaways from the US Justice Department’s initial release of Epstein files, mandated by Congress
  • A timeline of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and the fight to make the government’s files public
 

TOP STORIES

A Tibetan living in exile pulls the curtain before he gives an interview in Kathmandu, Nepal, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

US tech enabled China’s surveillance empire. Now Tibetan refugees in Nepal are paying the price

The Tibetan community in Nepal once marched and clamored for autonomy. But over the past decade, they’ve been silenced – in large part, with Chinese-supplied surveillance based on U.S. technology, an AP investigation reveals. Read more. 

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

  • PHOTO ESSAY: Invisible infrared surveillance technology and those caught in its digital cage
  • PHOTO ESSAY: Under watch by Chinese tech, the Tibetan community in Nepal is slowly suffocating
  • PHOTO ESSAY: Tibetans depart Nepal, a former safe haven transformed under Chinese pressure

US forces stop oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as Trump follows up on promise to seize tankers

U.S. forces on Saturday stopped an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela for the second time in less than two weeks as President Donald Trump continues to ramp up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The pre-dawn operation comes days after Trump announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers coming in and out of the South American country and follows the Dec. 10 seizure by American forces of an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

  • A look at the US military’s unusually large force near Venezuela
  • US military launches strikes in Syria targeting Islamic State fighters after American deaths
  • Jordan says its air force joined US strikes on Islamic State in Syria
 

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IN OTHER NEWS

Attendees applaud during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025 on Saturday in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry) 

READ

AmericaFest convention: Turning Point showcases the discord that Republicans like Vance will need to navigate in the future

Prescription costs: Trump announces lower drug price deals with 9 pharmaceutical companies

Brown University shooting: How surveillance technology and the ‘Reddit Detective Agency’ helped search for a killer

Bondi Beach attack: Thousands gather at Bondi Beach to mourn victims of antisemitic attack

Department of Transportation: Trump administration wants to ensure Mexican crews operating trains in the US can speak English

Blue Origin: Paraplegic engineer becomes the first wheelchair user to blast into space

Second chances: Tennessee governor pardons country star Jelly Roll, who has sought redemption from criminal past

Holiday sky watching: Catch the Ursid meteor shower as it peaks just before Christmas

'Saturday Night Live': Tearful Bowen Yang departs ‘SNL’ after emotional Christmas episode hosted by Ariana Grande

Today in History: In 1988, 270 people were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland 

WATCH

Acts of bravery: Parents of the bystander who disarmed the gunman during Bondi shooting say their son is a ‘hero’

Epstein files release: Turning Point USA attendees react to Epstein files release

Legislators dispute: