December 30, 2025 — Timeline

Dec 30

JTF Southern Spear struck convoy in eastern Pacific, killing three and abandoning survivors; 31st-33rd strikes, ~110 campaign deaths

On Dec. 30, 2025, at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted "lethal kinetic strikes" on a three-vessel convoy in the eastern Pacific that U.S. Southern Command described as operated by designated terrorist organizations along narco-trafficking routes, killing three people aboard the first boat. Men aboard the other two vessels jumped overboard before follow-on strikes sank the remaining boats; SOUTHCOM said it notified the Coast Guard for search and rescue, but the search began only after a roughly 45-hour delay and was suspended on Jan. 3 with no survivors found. The command identified no organization, made no evidence public, charged no one, and attempted no interdiction or arrest in what it counted as the 31st through 33rd strikes of a campaign that had by then killed at least 110 people.

Extrajudicial actions

Dec 30

Interior Department terminated National Links Trust's D.C. golf-course lease on disputed grounds, clearing path for a Trump-favored redesign

On December 30, 2025, the Interior Department's Solicitor sent National Links Trust (NLT) a letter terminating its 50-year lease to manage Washington, D.C.'s three public golf courses — East Potomac, Langston, and Rock Creek — citing unmet capital-improvement obligations and roughly $8.8 million in unpaid rent. NLT disputed the stated basis, saying it had fully complied with the lease and invested more than $8.5 million in the courses since 2020. The termination followed Interior leadership privately pitching President Trump on converting East Potomac into a high-end tournament course, and Trump's own longtime architect touring the site and visiting the White House weeks before the letter issued.

Self-dealing

Dec 30

HHS freezes all federal child-care payments to Minnesota over anti-Somali fraud claims

On December 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze all federal child-care funding to Minnesota, with Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill announcing the move on X and crediting a viral video by conservative activist Nick Shirley that alleged fraud at Somali-run day-care centers. HHS — which sends roughly $185 million a year in child-care funds to the state, supporting day care for tens of thousands of children from low-income families — simultaneously imposed a new nationwide condition requiring states to submit a justification plus a receipt or photo evidence before receiving Administration for Children and Families payments. The freeze landed amid the administration's Operation Metro Surge ICE deployment targeting Minnesota's Somali community and was expanded the next day into a freeze of child-care funding to all 50 states.

Dec 30

Loogootee, Indiana re-enacted an enjoined ordinance to block PrideFest from its Public Square, defying a federal injunction

On December 30, 2025, the Loogootee, Indiana City Council passed a new special-events ordinance containing at least two provisions a federal court had already permanently enjoined as unconstitutional, again restricting where PrideFest could be held relative to the city's Public Square fountain. The ordinance came four months after a federal judge ruled the city's prior special-events ordinance violated the First Amendment by singling out the LGBTQ+ festival, and the city adopted it despite that standing injunction. On January 6, 2026, the ACLU of Indiana filed a new lawsuit and a motion for contempt on behalf of the festival's organizers.