Trump updates: DRC, Rwanda leaders in Washington sign peace deal

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To learn more about the recent arrest of a shooter in the 2021 pipe bomb case in Washington, DC, please check out our reporting here.

And go inside Trump’s push to cut off traffic to Venezuela’s airspace here.

We also have on-the-ground coverage of the outcry against Trump’s anti-Somali remarks from both Minneapolis and Mogadishu.

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This live page will close soon. Here is a rundown of the key events so far:

• • US President Donald Trump has hosted top leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, as they sign a deal designed to bring a conflict in eastern Congo to an end.

• Critics, however, pointed out that fighting continues to rage between Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and the Congolese military, with continuing attacks on civilians.
• Trump held the signing ceremony for the peace deal at the US Institute of Peace, an independent nonprofit established by Congress in the 1980s. The think tank is currently at the heart of an ongoing legal battle over whether Trump misused his executive authority to take over the building.
• The New York Times has sued the Pentagon for forcing news outlets to agree to 21 pages of restrictions to retain access to its facilities, calling the manoeuvre a violation of the right to free speech.
• The FBI and Department of Justice have identified Brian Cole Jr of Virginia as the suspect believed to have planted pipe bombs near political headquarters in Washington, DC, in 2021.
• In a closed-door meeting, top US military leaders presented lawmakers an unedited video of the controversial “double-tap” strike on a boat in the Caribbean Sea on September 2.
• Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut called the video “one of the most troubling things” he had seen.

Trump has hailed the peace agreement between the DRC and Rwanda as a historic step towards bringing prosperity to Africa, and he has lauded the leaders of both countries as “very smart”.

But his approach to another war-torn country on the continent has been drastically different.

Two days before hosting the ceremonial signing of Thursday’s peace deal, Trump hurled insults at Somalia, describing it as “hell” and saying that “it stinks”.

He also called the Somali community in the US “garbage”.

Critics say the compassionate and optimistic vision the US president has for DRC and Rwanda draws a stark contrast with his bigoted approach to Somalia.

It is not clear what is behind Trump’s stance, but he has been personally involved in mediating the DRC-Rwanda pact as he openly makes the case for winning a Nobel Peace Prize.

Trump today also talked up “opportunities” for the US in Rwanda and the DRC, where he said US companies will extract and buy rare-earth minerals.

The meeting between the leaders of Rwanda and the DRC in Washington, DC, was largely a ceremonial attempt to lend greater support a peace agreement already reached in June.

But on the ground, people have reported continued fighting in the eastern provinces of the DRC, where Rwandan-backed rebels have been battling government forces and capturing key areas.

The DRC has been contending with rebel groups for years. But in the east of the country, a faction called the March 23 Movement (M23) has been able to seize large swathes of territory with Rwandan support.

Rwanda’s main grievance with the DRC focuses on accusations that the Central African country has been harbouring ethnic Hutu militias linked to the 1994 Rwanda genocide, which targeted the country’s Tutsi population.

The Trump-backed peace deal stipulates that Rwanda will end its support for M23 and the DRC will take on Hutu militias on its territory.

The agreement would also see the creation of economic opportunities for the two countries, including by laying the groundwork for the sale of rare earth minerals to the US.

But the fighting itself has not subsided since June, when the deal was first agreed upon, and experts say that many challenges stand in the way of each party living up to its commitments.

The US Institute of Peace (USIP), a Congress-funded think tank, was one of the early targets of Trump’s aggressive push to shrink the federal government.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) terminated the organisation’s entire workforce as the administration took over its physical building in the Foggy Bottom neighbourhood of Washington, DC, in March.

That move is being challenged in federal courts. The USIP’s ousted leadership has argued that the institute is an independent think tank funded by Congress and does not fall under executive authority.

Despite the ongoing litigation, Trump recently put his name on the building.

“Renaming the USIP building adds insult to injury,” George Foote, a lawyer for USIP, said in a statement.

“A federal judge has already ruled that the government’s armed takeover was illegal. That judgment is stayed while the government appeals, which is the only reason the government continues to control the building. The rightful owners will ultimately prevail and will restore the U.S. Institute of Peace and the building to their statutory purposes.”

President Trump will be remembered by history as the President of Peace. It's time our State Department display that. https://t.co/NBvmL5zksn

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) December 3, 2025

In a joint news conference, members of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that they had made an arrest in a long unsolved case.

Brian Cole of Virginia was accused of planting pipe bombs outside of the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee the night before January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.

Officials from the Trump administration touted the arrest as a major victory for the president.

“What I will tell you is that evidence has been sitting there collecting dust. This wasn’t a new tip. It wasn’t some new evidence. It was the hard work of President Trump’s administration,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Meanwhile, Darren Cox, a deputy assistant director in the FBI, credited the perseverance of federal and local law enforcement agencies.

“ I know some people have given up on finding the perpetrator. But not the FBI and not our partners,” said Cox.

“We do not forget, we do not give up, and we do not relent. Though it had been nearly five years, our team continued to churn through massive amounts of data and tips that we used to identify this suspect.”

Law enforcement authorities indicated that the investigation into the attempted bombing remains ongoing.

A Wall Street Journal op-ed attributed to Gaza gang leader Yasser Abu Shabab has become once again the subject of ridicule after multiple Israeli news outlets reported that the militia commander was killed earlier today.

Abu Shabab, whom Hamas described as a criminal and an Israel collaborator, has been accused of looting the little humanitarian aid entering Gaza under the protection of the Israeli military.

But the op-ed that carried Abu Shabab’s name in the US newspaper in July argued that his Popular Forces militia is establishing a thriving Hamas-free community in eastern Rafah in southern Gaza.

It remains unclear how the Wall Street Journal received the op-ed, and whether it was actually authored by the gang leader.

“On behalf of the overwhelming majority of Palestinians in Gaza, the Popular Forces call on the US and Arab countries formally to recognize and support an independent Palestinian administration under our leadership,” it said.

Follow our Gaza live coverage here.

From @WSJopinion: Gazans are finished with Hamas. My Popular Forces control significant parts of eastern Rafah and we are ready to build a new future, writes Yasser Abu Shabab. https://t.co/pYwqmDjPCM

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) July 25, 2025

The fallout continues over reports that the US military conducted a “double-tap” strike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat on September 2, in order to kill two survivors clinging to the wreckage of the first attack.

On Thursday, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, said that lawmakers were shown an unedited video of the second strike in a private meeting with Admiral Frank Bradley and Dan Caine, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Himes described the video’s contents as shocking.

“What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things that I’ve seen in my time in public service,” Himes told reporters.

“You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, who were killed by the United States.”

Nevertheless, Himes stopped short of criticising Bradley and Caine, saying they “did the right thing”.

The Trump administration has faced criticism for its bombings of suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

At least 21 such strikes have occurred, resulting in an estimated 83 deaths. No definitive evidence has been presented publicly to connect the victims to drug smuggling operations.

Human rights groups, including the United Nations, have condemned the bombings as extrajudicial killings, in violation of international law.

Key Democrats in Congress – including the ranking members on the foreign policy panels in the House of Representatives and the Senate – have released a statement denouncing Trump’s tirade against Somalis in the US.

The US president had called the Somali community and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar “garbage” earlier this week.

The lawmakers called Trump’s comments “xenophobic and unacceptable”.

“Instead of using the power of the presidency to bring our country together, President Trump chose to attack an American immigrant community, the overwhelming majority of whom are law abiding and have made many positive contributions to the United States,” the legislators said.

HFAC Ranking Members @RepGregoryMeeks and @RepSaraJacobs joined @SFRCdems Ranking Members @SenatorShaheen and @SenBooker in a joint statement condemning President Trump’s remarks on Somali immigrants in the United States: pic.twitter.com/QU3V4lyhbJ

— House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems (@HouseForeign) December 4, 2025

Friday’s World Cup draw is a key moment in the sports world: Qualifying teams will learn their first-round opponents in June’s football tournament.

But the ceremony is slated to be closely watched for its political dynamics as well.

The 2026 World Cup is being hosted by the three North American countries: Canada, Mexico and the US.

But since Trump’s return to the White House in January, relations between the three neighbours have grown strained over issues like border security, tariffs and respect for one another’s sovereignty.

In her morning news conference on Thursday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed she will travel to Washington, DC, for the draw.

She will join Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the ceremony, and both leaders are expected to hold brief meetings with Trump.

Their reunion comes as Trump shakes up relations on the continent. Late last month, Trump said he was “not happy” with Mexico over concerns about drug trafficking, and on Wednesday, he repeated his desire to let the free trade deal called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) — inked by the three countries — expire.

The US Treasury Department has extended authorisation for Lukoil-branded fuel stations outside Russia to continue operating, suspending some sanctions on the Russian energy giant.

The move effectively allows Lukoil-branded stations in countries like the United States to continue serving customers while still preventing money from flowing back to Russia, which has been under sweeping US and EU sanctions since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Treasury said it extended the authorisation to “mitigate harm to consumers and suppliers seeking to engage in ordinary transactions” with retail service stations that involve the Lukoil entities.

The decision partially suspends the measures decided in October by Trump.

In a rare effort to pressure Moscow, Trump imposed sanctions on Russian oil majors Lukoil and Rosneft, which came into force on November 21.

Those moves – the most powerful by Trump against Russia over the Ukraine war – saw major buyers of Russian oil scramble to find alternative suppliers.

The easing of measures against Lukoil was announced the same week White House negotiators with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to push a US deal to end the conflict.

The EU’s top diplomat last month said she feared that Russia was looking to use the US proposals to end the war in Ukraine to stall sanctions.

According to a number of heads of state who are right now in the US from the region, the deal shows at least the will to search for a lasting peace here.

This is the only optimism that people still have, and they’re expressing it.

But at the same time, we have to be very clear that the situation is very bad on the ground, in terms of the hostility between the two groups.

The DRC’s army is fighting alongside almost a hundred armed groups. The majority of some of them are not really under the control of the army, and they are refusing the order from the DRC government saying that people should abide by this agreement.

Even with the framework that was signed the last time, this was the main challenge.

Also, on the other hand, people in Goma know very well — and the rebels are repeatedly saying, very clearly — that the M23 coalition is not directly involved in the process which is under way in the US right now.