The Trump administration is expanding its travel ban to include five more countries and impose new limits on others.

This move Tuesday is part of ongoing efforts to tighten U.S. entry standards for travel and immigration. The decision follows the arrest of an Afghan national suspect in the shooting of two National Guard troops over Thanksgiving weekend.

In June, President Donald Trump announced that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from visiting the United States and those from seven others would face restrictions. 

On Tuesday, the Republican administration announced it was expanding the list of countries whose citizens are banned from entering the U.S. to Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. The administration also fully restricted travel on people with Palestinian-Authority-issued travel documents.

An additional 15 countries are also being added to the list of countries facing partial restrictions.

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—The Associated Press

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles listens during a cabinet meeting at the White House, April 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles listens during a cabinet meeting at the White House, April 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff, criticizes Bondi and opines on Trump in Vanity Fair

Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s understated but influential chief of staff, criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and offered an unvarnished take on her boss and those in his orbit in a series of observations that were published Tuesday in Vanity Fair. The magazine’s two-part profile of Wiles immediately sent shock waves through Washington while sending the West Wing into damage control.

The first woman to ever hold her current post, Wiles pushed back on what she described as a “hit piece” that lacked context. But neither she, nor other West Wing officials who came to her defense, disputed any details in the profile — a wide-ranging narrative that included Wiles’ assessments of the teetotaling Trump as having “an alcoholic’s personality,” Vice President JD Vance as a calculating “conspiracy theorist” and Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. as “quirky Bobby.”

On Epstein, Wiles told the magazine that she underestimated the scandal involving the disgraced financier, but she sharply criticized how Bondi managed the case and the public’s expectations. She said at one point that Trump’s tariffs had been more painful than expected. She conceded some mistakes in Trump’s mass deportation program and suggested that the president’s retribution campaign against his perceived political enemies has gone beyond what she initially wanted.

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—The Associated Press

Hegseth says he does not intend to fully release follow-up strike video as he, Rubio brief lawmakers again

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were back on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to brief lawmakers on the Trump administration’s ongoing strikes against what it says are drug smuggling vessels at sea. 

Rubio and Hegseth emerged from the meeting with senators touting what the secretary of state called the administration’s “highly successful mission” to target the boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that they say are coming from places that include Venezuela and carrying illegal drugs.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., fumed that Hegseth “refused” to show all senators the full, unedited video of a highly controversial follow-up strike on a vessel on Sept. 2. The defense chief told reporters that select members of the House and Senate on “appropriate” committees have seen the video or will soon see it, but made clear that, for now, he does not intend to release it more broadly. 

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—Spectrum News’ Maddie Gannon

Deadline for Justice Department to release Epstein files looms. Here’s where things stand

The deadline for the Justice Department to release records in its investigation into notorious convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is just days away.

By Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi must make the files publicly available “in a searchable and downloadable format,” per the Epstein Transparency Act signed into law by President Donald Trump last month. But it is unclear when exactly the records will be released and if the files will be shared at once.

Included in the scope of what must be made public are documents relating to Epstein’s longtime confidant and former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for luring girls to be abused by Epstein over the course of a decade. Maxwell was transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas in August. 

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—Spectrum News’ Christina Santucci

House plans Wednesday vote on Republican health care bill

House Speaker Mike Johnson plans to bring his Republican health care bill to a floor vote Wednesday.

The legislation promotes access to employer-sponsored health insurance plans and cost-sharing reductions for some people who rely on the Affordable Care Act but does not include an extension of the ACA tax credits that were at the center of the recently ended federal government shutdown.

“The Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act is going to accomplish exactly what the title says,” Johnson said at a news conference Tuesday. “If it becomes law, premiums will decrease, access will increase, and every American will have more options and flexibility to choose the coverage that works best for them.”

Democrats and some centrist Republicans continued to advocate for an extension of the ACA enhanced tax credits that were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and are set to expire Dec. 31.

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—Spectrum News’ Susan Carpenter

More Tuesday reads

• U.S. gained 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October

• States sue Trump administration over EV charger funding

• Trump sues BBC for $10 billion over editing of president’s Jan. 6 speech