Former first lady Jill Biden blasted a former Biden administration spokesman over his criticism of her memoir, View from the East Wing. She made the comments during a special event at the Sixth & I Synagogue in Washington, D.C.

Andrew Bates, former deputy assistant to the president and senior deputy press secretary in the Biden administration, pondered the political effectiveness of releasing the first lady’s memoir in the midst of the 2026 congressional midterm elections campaign season. 

“We had a duty to win, and we didn’t,” Bates told the New York Post. “I think about that all the time.”

“But I don’t see why that painful conversation for the party needed to be publicly reopened right now,” he added.

The former first lady rejected Bates’s criticism and had a message for him.

“I want to say to Andrew, ‘Call me up, and say it to my face, buddy,’ said Jill Biden. 

But Bates’s criticism of the contents and timing of Biden’s book was shared by many Democratic political operatives, according to the New York Post. Many strategists wanted to keep political narratives focused on poor public opinion polls for President Donald Trump while emphasizing affordability concerns, such as high gas prices. None wanted to rehash Biden’s failures and struggles as president during the 2024 presidential campaign.

“We need this as much as we need a hole in the head,” said Democratic political strategist Jim Manley.

“It’s an unnecessary distraction,” he added. Manley stressed it would have “zero impact on the election,” due to Trump’s poor polling numbers.

JOE BIDEN TEASES BOOK RELEASE BEFORE NOVEMBER IN AWKWARD EXCHANGE WITH JILL

Another former Biden aide quoted by the New York Post blasted the former first lady for her recent comments, claiming that she thought then-President Joe Biden was having a stroke during his only debate with then-Republican nominee Donald Trump. Biden would step down as the Democratic presidential nominee shortly after the disastrous debate.

“I think Jill Biden must have had a stroke herself to think that her husband was up to the job,” said the senior aide. 

“If she can sit back and listen to his constant drivel for over 4 years, she’s the one with real cognitive decline,” said the aide, whom the New York Post didn't identify. “The fake doctor may want to consider self-medication if it took this long to gain some self-realization.”

Former President Joe Biden briefly stole the spotlight from his wife, former first lady Jill Biden, during a stop on her book tour this week, using an awkward audience interaction to plug his own forthcoming book.

Jill Biden was wrapping up an interview about her newly released memoir, A View from the East Wing, with moderator Whoopi Goldberg in New York City when Biden unexpectedly left his seat in the audience and walked to the edge of the stage.

“I have a question,” Biden said. “Who do you love most in the whole world?” he asked his wife.

“Whoopi,” Jill Biden replied, prompting laughter from the crowd.

Joe Biden remained standing as Goldberg attempted to move on, prompting the former first lady to relent.

“I love you most, Joe. Was that it? Was that the answer he wanted?” she joked.

As the event wrapped up, Biden interrupted again to promote his own forthcoming book.

“My book, which comes out in September — read it,” Biden said after a staffer handed him a microphone.

“Do I have to remind him that this is my event?” Jill Biden quipped.

“The only thing Jill does better than write, she’s a beautiful woman,” Biden replied before the event concluded.

The episode comes as some Democrats argue the former president and first lady’s post-White House media appearances are reopening politically damaging debates about Biden’s age and the party’s 2024 election loss.

“I think that they need to sell books, and I think that Dr. Biden wants her story out there,” Meghan Hays, a former White House special assistant to Biden who left before the 2024 reelection campaign, said on C-SPAN’s Ceasefire.

But Hays warned that many Democrats would prefer to move on.

“It is not welcome from Democrats,” she said. “We have a lot of momentum in our favor … and when we get pulled back into conversations about age and the election in ’24, it’s never gonna be a good place for Democrats. I think it’s a tough place to be.”

THE DEMOCRATIC MESS IN MAINE

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) echoed that frustration while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Democratic National Committee meeting in Washington.

“We don’t need to be distracted by what the DNC says about the autopsy." Grisham said, "I don’t need to be distracted about anyone’s book. “What I need to do is to focus on making a difference in the lives of people. And that’s what I think they’re getting really frustrated about, is all this nonsense. I don’t think the average Democratic voter, honestly, particularly in New Mexico, gives a damn about that book or the debate anymore.”

Republicans are denouncing progressive Democrat Adam Hamawy over previous ties to a militant Islamist known as the “Blind Sheikh.”

Hamawy, who won his primary race for New Jersey’s deep-blue 12th District on Tuesday night and is virtually guaranteed to win in November's general election, drew attention during his campaign after his past association with Omar Abdel-Rahman resurfaced.

Abdel-Rahman was the founder and spiritual leader of al Jama’a al Islamiyya, an Islamist terrorist group involved in political violence against the Egyptian government and the United States. He was arrested in 1993 and convicted of seditious conspiracy and terrorism over his involvement in the World Trade Center bombing, earning him a life sentence in solitary confinement.

Hamawy, who has never been charged with anything, testified for the defense during Abdel-Rahman's trial about his yearslong association with the militant cleric, including joining him in 1991 on a trip to Michigan for a conference on the Islamic economy. During the conference, transcripts show Abdel-Rahman talked about "conquering the land of the infidels," according to Politico.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) told the Washington Examiner that Hamawy, a retired U.S. Army combat surgeon, should be investigated if he wins the seat held by retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) in November. Lawler said Hamawy’s ties to Abdel-Rahman raise "significant" concerns and questions that Hamawy has "not adequately addressed."

“I think there should be a thorough investigation into his ties here, and certainly I would have significant concerns about him serving on any committee, let alone in Congress," Lawler went on to say.

A spokesperson for Hamawy's campaign said that the New Jersey Democrat "condemns that man’s violent rhetoric and actions, and all violence, hatred, and terrorism — and he will always. Dr. Hamawy had no contact with this person after they were arrested."

"He was in the military at the time the events litigated in the trial took place, during the trial, and after the trial," his campaign said. "In the years that followed, Dr. Hamawy was chosen for one of the most sensitive and highest-trust roles for an Army doctor: deployment to treat critically injured troops in Iraq."

The spokesperson also defended Hamawy's association with Abdel-Rahman at the time, saying he was "one of very few religious figures in what was then a very small Muslim community in New Jersey." According to Hamawy's campaign, the Democratic candidate saw Abdel-Rahman speak in religious settings during his early 20s.

Republican National Committee spokeswoman Kristen Cianci said in a statement to the Washington Examiner that "Hamawy’s terrorist ties wholly disqualify him from public office, and any Democrat who refuses to condemn him is condoning his actions. New Jersey Democrats will answer for them at the ballot box."

Hamawy is credited with helping save Sen. Tammy Duckworth's (D-IL) life after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq in 2004.

"It is because of his sacrifice, that I’m not only alive — but I’ve been able to go on to serve my country and the people of Illinois in the United States Senate," Duckworth said in a statement regarding the incident.

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Hamawy has campaigned as a progressive Democrat and expressed interest in joining the ranks of the so-called Squad. He is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Maureen O'Toole said in a statement that Hamawy's ties are "deeply disturbing, and his fellow Democrats, including Rebecca Bennett and Nellie Pou, must answer for them. To remain silent is to condone them."

Brady Knox contributed to this report.

Ohio, home to the country’s second-largest Somali population, has a multibillion-dollar Somali fraud crisis similar to the scandal in Minnesota, members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform warned this week.

“Recent reporting shows that many of the Somali and Bhutanese communities commit a large portion, if not the majority, of home health Medicaid fraud in Ohio,” said Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX), chairman of the House oversight committee’s task force on exposing institutional abuses, at a hearing on Wednesday examining fraud in Ohio’s Medicaid program.

An investigative series by the Daily Wire recently reported that sham home healthcare companies, primarily operated by immigrants from Somalia and Bhutan, are billing Medicaid for services never actually rendered. Such billing schemes exploiting vulnerabilities in Ohio’s Medicaid system are estimated to have stolen more than $1.2 billion from the federal government in recent years.

Gill asked Luke Rosiak, the Daily Wire reporter who identified numerous individuals and agencies in Ohio that he believes have committed Medicaid fraud, how many of those entities or operators had Bhutanese, Somali, or otherwise African-origin names.

Rosiak said “100%” of the hundreds he had investigated appeared to be foreign-sounding. 

Gill questioned whether Rosiak found any connections between fraud rings based in Ohio and Minnesota. “It’s the same people,” Rosiak said. “They all have relatives in both places, and they move back and forth.”

Rosiak testified about scammers funneling $130 million in cash, stuffed inside briefcases, out of the Columbus airport to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, before the money was sent off to Somalia.

MINNEAPOLIS AIRPORT STILL FLYING MILLIONS IN CASH POSSIBLY TIED TO TERRORISM

“Your testimony is that there is a large, interstate criminal enterprise of Somali fraudsters that are defrauding the federal government in multiple states [out of] potentially billions of dollars,” Gill said.

Rosiak affirmed, noting that scammers from the South Asian nation of Bhutan are also orchestrating the fraud.

“So it’s not just the Somalis. It’s also Bhutanese,” Gill added. “It’s across multiple states. They’re coordinating with each other. There’s a network of foreigners running criminal fraud rings within our country defrauding our federal government.”

Gill pointed to lax immigration policies as the reason why fraud has proliferated in sanctuary states such as Ohio and Minnesota. Columbus has one of the largest Somali communities in the country, second to Minneapolis, with 60,000 residents of Somali descent living in Ohio’s capital city.

“This is the tip of the iceberg of the gross abuse of America’s immigration system,” Gill said. “For too long, our government has allowed foreigners from low-trust societies with very little vetting to pour into our communities.”

Ohio state Sen. Nickie Antonio, the House Democrats’ witness and a Democratic lawmaker herself, responded to Gill’s exchange with Rosiak by saying she was “almost brought to tears” by the “level of hateful rhetoric.”

“It’s shocking to me the lack of even humanity to group people together,” Antonio said. “I am shocked and appalled by the behavior here right now.”

HOW MINNESOTA’S SOMALI FRAUD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX HAS STOLEN MILLIONS FROM MEDICAID

Gill asked Antonio, “Has Somali immigration been good for Ohio?”

“In every community, there are good people and bad people,” Antonio argued. “But to try to say that every single member of a group is somehow a criminal is shocking to me.”

Gill interjected, while other panel members scolded him for talking over Antonio as she spoke, before he abruptly adjourned the meeting, the task force’s first since its formation in May.

President Donald Trump is expected to nominate acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to the position in a permanent capacity as soon as Wednesday evening, according to several reports.

Blanche has led the Justice Department in an acting capacity since former Attorney General Pam Bondi's firing in April. Blanche also once served as a personal lawyer to Trump.

The expected nomination would place one of Trump’s closest legal allies atop the DOJ after months leading the agency on an interim basis.

Top Democratic lawmakers have already spoken against Blanche’s possible nomination. 

“There is no world in which Todd Blanche could earn my vote,” Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) said Wednesday night. “As far as I'm concerned, he should resign. Todd Blanche is a crony. Todd Blanche is a loyalist. He has no business as the nation's top law enforcement official.” 

“Todd Blanche is not qualified to be the deputy attorney general, the acting attorney general, and he certainly is not qualified to be the United States attorney general," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) added. “Todd Blanche has been acting like Donald Trump's lawyer, which was his former position, but he has failed to transition in terms of behaving in the best interest of the American people.” 

When asked about Blanche’s anticipated nomination, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to MS Now, “President Trump has a great relationship with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and is very pleased with the job he’s doing so far.”

“Todd Blanche is an American patriot who fearlessly fought against the Democrats’ unprecedented lawfare campaign on behalf of President Trump,” Jackson continued. “The President’s entire team at the Department of Justice is doing a great job advocating for sanity, law and order, and policies that keep Americans safe.”

Trump also signaled Wednesday that he intends to make Blanche’s appointment permanent.

“I wanted to see how he’s received,” Trump said of Blanche. “You know, we put him as acting, and he’s done a very good job. But I’ve known him a long time.”

In an interview on the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast published Wednesday, Trump was asked whether he had decided whether Blanche would be attorney general.

“I think he will,” the president said.

Asked whether he had anyone else in mind for the role, Trump said no and appeared to rule out nominating Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), though he described the governor as “very good” and “a friend of mine.”

CNN first reported Trump’s plans to nominate Blanche.

The DOJ under Blanche has faced scrutiny in recent weeks over its handling of a proposed settlement fund tied to Trump’s dispute with the IRS.

The agreement included a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that critics said could have benefited Jan. 6 defendants and other Trump allies. The fund received bipartisan pushback. 

SUPREME COURT ALLOWS ALABAMA TO USE GOP-FRIENDLY CONGRESSIONAL MAP

Appearing before a House appropriations committee panel earlier this week, Blanche sought to put those concerns to rest.

“We are not moving forward with the fund. Period,” he said.

The War Department announced the identity Wednesday of a U.S. soldier who was killed during training exercises in Iraq over the weekend.

The Pentagon identified the soldier as Sgt. Devin A. Seibel, 26, of Robinson, Texas. The department also added that the incident is still under investigation.

A British soldier was also killed during Sunday's training incident and was identified earlier Wednesday as Lance Cpl. James Stewart Freeman, a 29-year-old soldier from the Royal Anglian Regiment. The incident occurred at an air base in Erbil, located in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

“The training was conducted with our British Army partners who also lost a soldier. The incident is under investigation,” a statement from U.S. Army Central said.

IRAN HITS KUWAIT AND BAHRAIN IN ONE OF MOST DAMAGING ATTACKS SINCE CEASEFIRE

The United States and the United Kingdom have bolstered their presence in Iraq to fend off ISIS. The area has also come under attack from proxy extremists associated with Iran, with Iran launching a slew of strikes targeting the air base and the surrounding Kurdish region.

The same day the soldiers were killed in the training incident, Iranian forces reportedly launched attacks on U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northern Iraq.

CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss defended the firing of longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, telling staff that a breakdown in “trust and mutual respect” left the network with no choice but to part ways with one of its most prominent journalists.

“I’m only interested in working in a newsroom built on trust and mutual respect; we cannot do our work without it. That foundation was broken on Monday,” Weiss reportedly told staff during a newsroom call Wednesday morning, according to the New York Times.

“Despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and find a way forward, unfortunately we weren’t able to do so, and so we had to part ways,” Weiss said. “We did not want that to happen, but that’s the path that he chose.”

Pelley, who joined 60 Minutes in 2004, was fired Tuesday following a contentious staff meeting the day before.

According to multiple reports, Pelley challenged the qualifications of incoming executive producer Nick Bilton and criticized Weiss, accusing her of being “brought in to kill” 60 Minutes and “murdering” the storied newsmagazine through a series of management decisions.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Pelley interrupted Bilton shortly after his introductory remarks and launched into a blistering critique of the network’s leadership.

The dispute is the latest chapter in months of upheaval at CBS News following the merger of Paramount and Skydance Media and the appointment of Weiss as the network’s first editor-in-chief.

During Wednesday’s call, Weiss reportedly praised Pelley’s contributions to the network, including his reporting on Havana syndrome and his interview with former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse.

Four days before the confrontation, Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski reportedly sent a memo to staff outlining their vision for the future of 60 Minutes, saying they wanted to build a show that “thrives in the 21st century” and that doing so “requires a new approach.”

“Those are the kind of stories that have always typified 60 Minutes, and they’re the kind of stories that Nick Bilton is going to put on the air come September in Season 59 with the amazing team that’s still there,” Weiss reportedly told employees.

HIGH-PROFILE CONVICTS LOBBY FOR RUMORED TRUMP PARDONS AHEAD OF 250TH ANNIVERSARY

Pelley is the third 60 Minutes correspondent to be fired since Weiss took over CBS News last year. Another longtime correspondent, Anderson Cooper, left voluntarily. Three regular correspondents remain.

Weiss also referred to “some new people that are going to be joining us” during the call, though she did not elaborate.

Republican and Democratic members of Congress set aside their political differences Wednesday night as they played in the 12th annual bipartisan congressional soccer match at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.

The lawmakers joined soccer athletes in a friendly game to raise awareness of the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s programs, which are funded to help children in underserved communities. 

MULLIN HOPES WORLD CUP WILL STRENGTHEN FEDERAL COOPERATION WITH SANCTUARY CITIES

“The Congressional Soccer Match is a unique, bipartisan tradition bringing together members of Congress, staffers, soccer legends, community leaders, kids, and families to celebrate the transformative power of soccer in children’s lives both on and off the pitch,” the U.S. Soccer Foundation said in a press release.

Republican lawmakers who participated in this year’s match included: Reps. Darin LaHood (IL), Bryan Steil (WI), Dan Crenshaw (TX), Michael Baumgartner (WA), Mike Haridopolos (FL), Randy Feenstra (IA), Don Bacon (NE), and Richard McCormick (GA).

Democratic lawmakers who played in the game were: Reps. Greg Landsman (OH), James Walkinshaw (VA), Morgan McGarvey (KY), Pete Aguilar (CA), Rick Larsen (WA), Sean Casten (IL), Darren Soto (D-FL), Suhas Subramanyam (VA), Luz Rivas (CA), Dave Min (CA), and Sharice Davids (KS).

Two-time FIFA World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Carli Lloyd told the Washington Examiner the soccer game “has the ability to bring so many people together.”

“We all come from unique backgrounds, but at the end of the day, it’s this beautiful game that unites people,” Lloyd said. “[It’s] obviously a great cause with the U.S. Soccer Foundation, and they are helping to provide so many opportunities for kids.” 

Lloyd said the soccer match creates a “common goal” between Republicans and Democrats, which is to “unite people” and “bring people in and around the game of soccer.” 

“It’s fun,” she said. “I think everybody, once you step out on the field — no matter how old you are — it just brings a smile to everybody’s face, which is great.” 

NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY SUBPOENA FIFA ON WORLD CUP TICKET PRICING

Former American soccer player and Fox Sports analyst Alexi Lalas highlighted the significance of the foundation’s work and his support for the annual sporting event. 

“The United States Soccer Foundation is a legacy of the 1994 World Cup,” Lalas told the Washington Examiner.

“I was running around in the ’94 World Cup, so I am also a product of that summer. Anything that gives back to the soccer community — and obviously ... things that are going to help kids through soccer have a fun and safe experience in the game that I love — I’m going to be there. And I get to kick some politicians around, so that’s fun too,” he said.

Lalas, who is also a veteran coach and participant in the congressional match, said the event was “an opportunity to unite people” from both political parties. 

“I think sports does that more than anything, you know. For example, the World Cup that’s coming this summer, I think that’s going to do it. And even a game of soccer here in D.C. brings people together from both sides. At the very least, for a couple hours, we can take our aggression out against each other, have a drink afterwards, have some fun, and then we can go back to fighting later on, but it’s a fun way to use the game to unite people, to bring people together, and to have a good night,” Lalas said.

Republicans won this year's match 7-5, though Democrats hold a 7-5 advantage over Republicans in the series.

The annual match was originally hosted by Congressional Soccer Caucus co-chairs Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. David Reichert (R-WA). 

VAN HOLLEN SAYS TRUMP IS ‘SOWING DIVISION’ AHEAD OF FIFA WORLD CUP

The first game was held at Gallaudet University in 2013 and has since taken place at other locations over the years, including RFK Stadium, Gonzaga College High School, and, more recently, Audi Field.

All proceeds from the sporting event will go toward funding the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s programs.

SpaceX is preparing for the largest stock market debut in history, announcing Wednesday that it planned to raise approximately $75 billion in an initial public offering that would value the company at roughly $1.77 trillion.

The space and satellite giant plans to sell 555.6 million shares at an expected price of $135 per share, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If completed as planned, the offering would eclipse the record-setting $26 billion IPO of Saudi Aramco in 2019 and instantly rank among the largest public offerings ever.

The offering will also further cement founder Elon Musk’s control over the company. According to the filing, SpaceX will maintain a dual-class share structure, and following the IPO, he is expected to control about 82.4% of the company’s voting power.

The IPO would place SpaceX among the most valuable publicly traded companies in the world. At a projected market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, only a handful of companies in the S&P 500 command higher valuations, led by Nvidia at roughly $5.2 trillion.

The public offering could also significantly boost Musk’s already record-setting fortune. Forbes estimates his net worth at about $826 billion, including a SpaceX stake valued at roughly $542 billion. A successful IPO at the proposed valuation would likely increase the value of that holding substantially, boosting his net worth into the trillions.

That level of ownership will allow Musk to effectively determine the outcome of shareholder votes, including the election of most SpaceX board members. The filing notes that SpaceX will qualify as a “controlled company” under Nasdaq corporate governance rules and that it intends to rely on exemptions from certain governance requirements available to firms dominated by a single shareholder.

The company reported a $2.6 billion operating loss in 2025 on $18.7 billion in revenue, according to the filing. Losses have continued into 2026 as SpaceX pours billions into developing its Starship rocket program, satellite infrastructure, and other long-term projects.

Investors are nevertheless betting that the company can capitalize on its dominant position in commercial launches and the rapid growth of its Starlink satellite internet business. Goldman Sachs is leading the offering, with Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase serving as additional underwriters.

60 MINUTES HOST SCOTT PELLEY FIRED AFTER ACCUSING CBS CHIEF OF ‘MURDERING’ SHOW

When Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, the company focused on building rockets and launching payloads into space. It later expanded into telecommunications with its Starlink satellite internet service and, earlier this year, merged with Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, which includes the social media platform X.

While SpaceX dominates the commercial launch industry, the company’s AI assets are increasingly seen as a major part of its valuation. The IPO comes amid a wave of investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, with Anthropic also planning to go public and OpenAI expected to follow.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday making it easier to remove thousands of senior federal employees, prompting backlash from federal worker unions that accused the administration of attempting to politicize the civil service.

The order reclassifies roughly 8,000 federal positions into a new category known as “Schedule Policy/Career,” affecting employees with significant policymaking responsibilities across the federal government.

The American Federation of Government Employees, the nation’s largest federal employee union, condemned the move, arguing it strips career workers of longstanding protections against political retaliation.

“This is a blatant attempt to corrupt the federal government by eliminating employees’ due process rights so they can be fired for political reasons,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement.

Kelley warned that the changes could discourage whistleblowers from reporting misconduct within federal agencies.

“The practical implications of this action are clear,” he said. “Workers who once felt comfortable reporting waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement at their place of employment because they were protected from retaliation will now be afraid for their jobs if they speak out. That is a disservice to them and to the millions of Americans who rely on the federal government every day.”

At the same time, White House maintained that the executive order is designed to increase accountability among senior officials responsible for shaping and implementing federal policy.

According to a White House fact sheet, employees in the new classification can be removed more easily for poor performance, misconduct, corruption, or the “subversion of presidential directives,” without the “lengthy procedural hurdles that often prevent accountability.” The administration said removal decisions will be made “without regard to political affiliation.”

The positions will remain career civil service jobs rather than political appointments, according to the White House. Officials said employees will continue to be hired through nonpartisan processes and retain protections such as veterans’ preference and competitive status.

HIGH-PROFILE CONVICTS LOBBY FOR RUMORED TRUMP PARDONS AHEAD OF 250TH ANNIVERSARY

The administration said the policy primarily affects the highest-ranking career officials in government, with roughly 97% of affected employees holding GS-15 positions or equivalent, the highest federal pay level. Those jobs include senior advisers, directors, and deputy directors in policy offices, officials responsible for drafting regulations and guidance, and employees who make major grant and funding decisions.

The order revives the concept behind Trump’s first-term “Schedule F” initiative, which was rescinded by former President Joe Biden. Earlier this year, the Office of Personnel Management finalized regulations establishing the new Schedule P/C classification.

Senate GOP leaders are working to quell Republican angst over the Trump administration’s proposed $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund that is threatening to trip up the party’s immigration enforcement bill as it inches toward final passage.

Several Republicans still want language inserted into the so-called reconciliation bill to prevent the fund’s creation as President Donald Trump and senior administration officials offer conflicting messages on whether the controversial Department of Justice reimbursement plan for alleged targets of Biden-era “lawfare” is dead.

But alterations to block the DOJ fund could jeopardize the GOP’s ability to pass the $70 billion bill along party lines as early as Thursday. With a 53-47 majority, Republicans can afford but three defections on the filibuster-skirting measure to fund federal immigration agencies through 2029.

“We had a lot of conversations with our members and understand what's at stake and how critical it is that we defeat amendments that would be corrosive to the bill or undermine it in any way,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said.

Amendments from Republicans and Democrats are expected during a marathon voting session set to commence Thursday, known as vote-a-rama, an arduous part of the reconciliation process that allows either party to propose an unlimited number of amendments and can last more than a day.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have expressed support for amendments that would thwart the fund.

“You want to make sure something’s not just mostly dead,” said Cassidy, who recently lost his primary to Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA). “You want to make sure it's really dead. And I think we can make it really dead.”

Tillis, who will offer an amendment of his own, is going a step further. The retiring centrist is vowing to oppose final passage unless the DOJ fund is blocked.

"I wouldn't support a bill that doesn't have that in there," Tillis said.

Responding to the warning, Thune said he'll “cross that bridge when we get there." It was unclear whether others would also oppose the bill without blocking the fund.

In an attempt to diffuse GOP support for amendments, Republican leaders warn that approving one related to the fund would all but doom final passage along party lines. The change would not be germane to the underlying bill under strict reconciliation rules and raise the threshold from a simple majority to 60 votes. Leadership is optimistic they can thwart such amendments because they’ll be set at 60-vote thresholds.

Still, Democrats hope to make the amendment votes as politically painful as possible for Republicans by targeting the fund and other hot-button concerns, such as $220 million in security for Trump's yet-to-be-built East Wing ballroom, which was scrapped from the bill. The office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Democrats' plan is to "keep forcing Republicans to answer for their priorities: Trump’s corrupt slush fund, his rogue police force, and his endless corruption — while Democrats fight to lower costs for American families."

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche sought to offer assurances that the DOJ was permanently nixing the fund that Democrats denounce as a “slush fund” to benefit Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol. But his responses during testimony to a House committee this week were insufficient for several Republicans.

Trump himself has also made matters more complicated for GOP leaders by saying he was unsure whether the fund, currently on hold by a federal judge pending an ongoing legal challenge, would be scrapped for good.

“I'd have to ask the lawyers," Trump told reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office. "I don't know."

A top DOJ official, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, deleted a social media post Wednesday suggesting the administration was exploring an alternative way to provide compensation to those it believes were victims of unfair Biden-era criminal prosecutions.

“The only thing that gives it finality is what we can do in” reconciliation, Tillis said.

SENATE REPUBLICANS MAKE IT OFFICIAL AND CUT TRUMP BALLROOM FUNDING

Over in the Republican-controlled House, where GOP leadership is operating on an even narrower margin, some members also desire preventing the fund’s creation.

“I'm not going to give anybody accolades for pulling back something that never should have been advanced to begin with,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, told the Washington Examiner. He cited existing legal loopholes that the current or future administrations could use to “exploit this situation.”

Hailey Bullis and David Sivak contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is “very proud” of the decision to strike Iran, arguing that the resulting war has not derailed the economy and has coincided with record stock market gains.

Speaking to reporters, Trump pointed to the market’s resilience despite the military campaign.

“I’m very proud of that decision,” Trump said. “Today we hit another stock market high. We may have the highest stock market in history with a military conflict going on. Some people call it a war, some people call it a military conflict. It’s not a big thing for us. We have a great military.”

Trump argued that the economy has continued to perform strongly since the strikes began, saying people’s retirement accounts are benefiting.

“Everyone’s 401(k)s are the highest they’ve ever been,” he said. "Everybody’s making a lot of money. Costs are coming down. Everything’s good."

Consumers, however, have faced higher costs, with one of the most significant economic consequences being a surge in energy prices after oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz were disrupted during the opening stages of the conflict. Gasoline prices have jumped due to the war, though prices have eased somewhat from their peak in recent weeks. As of Tuesday, the national average price for regular gasoline stood at $4.29 per gallon, remaining elevated compared with pre-war levels.

The volatility, though, has boosted profits for major financial institutions and energy companies. JPMorgan’s trading division generated $11.6 billion in revenue during the first quarter of 2026, helping the bank post strong first-quarter profits. Energy giants Shell and TotalEnergies also reported stronger-than-expected earnings as oil and natural gas markets reacted to the conflict.

Defense contractors have likewise benefited from heightened military spending. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman each reported record order backlogs at the end of the first quarter, reflecting increased demand for weapons systems and military equipment.

The conflict showed little sign of cooling Wednesday, with Iran launching one of its most damaging missile and drone barrages since the April ceasefire, targeting Kuwait and Bahrain. The attack caused extensive damage at a Kuwaiti airport and prompted a new round of U.S. retaliatory strikes.

Diplomatic efforts have deteriorated over the past week amid disputes over whether Israel’s military operations against Hezbollah fall under the terms of the ceasefire agreement. The strike on Kuwait marked the second attack on the country in 72 hours, while the attack on Bahrain was the first since the ceasefire took effect in April.

IRAN HITS KUWAIT AND BAHRAIN IN ONE OF MOST DAMAGING ATTACKS SINCE CEASEFIRE

Four House Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Tom Barrett (R-MI), and Warren Davidson (R-OH) — did not share Trump's rosy perception of the war, however, voting Wednesday evening with all Democrats to restrict the president's war powers.

The measure to end the over 90-day war will head to the Senate, but, if passed, will likely be vetoed by Trump.

Key congressional intelligence leaders have yet to speak with President Donald Trump's new acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, a striking reality as Congress races to reauthorize a key surveillance authority before a June 12 deadline.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford (R-AR) told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that he has not met with Pulte and has no immediate plans to do so.

"I imagine at some point in time," Crawford told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday, for a possible face-to-face. "I've never met him, so I don't know when I'll have the opportunity to do that."

Crawford withheld judgment on Pulte's qualifications as the real estate mogul and social media personality faces criticism from lawmakers over his lack of national security experience. Pulte currently serves as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Other members of the House and Senate intelligence committees also said they had not spoken with Pulte since Trump announced his appointment on Tuesday.

“Never met him in my life,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), a former FBI supervisory special agent and member of the House Intelligence Committee, told the Washington Examiner. “That's part of the problem. I'm a career IC guy. Never met him before.”

Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL), another House Intelligence Committee member, told the Washington Examiner that Pulte “doesn't seem qualified” and that he has “never met him.”

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the Washington Examiner he also has not met Pulte but encouraged the White House to become more involved in light of the looming FISA deadline.

“The executive branch needs to assist us because we need to get 702 through and complete it,” said Rounds. “If this is in the way or is going to hold it up because of Democrat opposition, public Democrat opposition, I think we're going to need the White House or the executive branch to get involved in helping us address the issue.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-AR) did not respond to a request for comment regarding whether Cotton had plans to speak or meet with Pulte.

Support for Pulte has become important as both the House and the Senate contend with reauthorizing FISA. The tool, which is used to surveil foreign nationals, has long been criticized for inadvertently capturing the data and records of U.S. citizens who come into contact with suspects.

But there are also concerns Pulte, who used his housing finance perch to criminally refer Trump political opponents to the Justice Department over allegations of mortgage fraud, may similarly weaponize intelligence. As such, Democrats are threatening to oppose an extension of FISA.

“His supposed elevation as the acting director of National Intelligence will jeopardize the effort to pass surveillance legislation, that was already on life support," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) on Tuesday.

HOW BILL PULTE TURNED BEING AN ATTACK DOG INTO A CHARM OFFENSIVE WITH TRUMP

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) defended Trump’s “prerogative” to appoint whomever he desired before arguing Democrats were being "absolutely outrageous” for making the reauthorization of FISA contingent on Pulte's appointment being revoked. The White House echoed the sentiment in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

"Bill Pulte is a great selection and he will do a great job on behalf of the American people," White House spokesman Davis Ingle said. "Holding FISA hostage puts America’s national security at risk and it is shameful that some Democrats are threatening to put partisan politics ahead of the safety of the American people."

President Donald Trump surprised reporters with a new chart in the Oval Office on Wednesday comparing one of his D.C. renovation projects to other notable American landmarks.

The president's comments came during an unscheduled executive order signing ceremony, his first public appearance in a week, amid heightened tensions regarding ceasefire negotiations with Iran.

Shortly into the event, Trump touted a chart on his left side showing the length of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool compared to some of the "tallest buildings in the world," including the Empire State Building, One World Trade Center, and Sears Tower.

"If you lay it on its side, you take two or three of them to fill it in. The width is almost 200 feet wide," the president said. "It's going to be really special."

Earlier in the day, the president announced that the reflecting pool was receiving its final coat of paint before eventually being refilled and reopened to foot traffic following the $6.9 million renovation.

"I'm very proud of it. Maybe I shouldn't say that before it opens," he joked Wednesday evening in the Oval Office. "Maybe it'll open, and it'll leak like a sieve, but it's not going to do. I'm very good at building things and constructing things, so I hope you go take a look at it."

SOME INSIDERS WANT TRUMP TO GO 'PUBLIC' WITH NETANYAHU BEEF

You can watch Trump's comments in full below.

Poland asked the United States on Wednesday to establish a new permanent military base on its territory, signaling Warsaw’s desire to deepen security ties with Washington amid growing concerns over European defense and regional stability.

“I have conveyed to the U.S. Secretary of Defense an official proposal to establish a new, permanent U.S. military base in Poland,” Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote Wednesday on X. Emphasizing that Washington’s commitment to Poland remains strong, he added, “U.S. engagement in Poland’s security is not diminishing — on the contrary, it may be even greater.”

The proposal comes as President Donald Trump continues to press European allies to shoulder a greater share of the continent’s defense burden. Trump has frequently criticized NATO members for relying too heavily on U.S. military protection and has pushed allies to increase their defense spending.

While no final agreement has been reached, Polish officials expressed optimism about the proposal’s prospects.

“Final decisions have not been made yet, but we are on the right track,” Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters, pledging that Warsaw would “do everything we can” to expand the U.S. military presence in the country.

The request follows weeks of uncertainty surrounding U.S. troop deployments in Europe. Poland’s military was reportedly recently informed that the Pentagon planned to cancel a previously discussed 4,000-troop deployment to the country, but the Trump administration reversed the decision. The administration also announced plans to withdraw roughly 5,000 troops from Germany following public tensions between Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the latter's criticism of the Iran war.

Despite those shifts, Poland remains one of Washington’s closest security partners in Europe. Roughly 10,000 U.S. troops are stationed in the country, alongside a permanent U.S. Army garrison and a missile defense installation.

The latest proposal also revives memories of an initiative during Trump’s first term, when Polish officials floated the idea of a U.S. military base nicknamed “Fort Trump.” Warsaw offered up to $2 billion to help fund the project, but the plan ultimately stalled amid funding and logistical disagreements.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk welcomed Trump’s recent decision to maintain a significant U.S. military presence in the country, calling it a victory for both nations.

US TROOP MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE NOT ‘PUNITIVE,’ RUBIO SAYS AFTER POLAND REVERSAL

“President Donald Trump’s decision regarding the presence of U.S. troops in Poland is good news for Poland and the USA,” Tusk wrote. “I thank all those involved in this matter—President Nawrocki, the ministers, congressmen, and friends of Poland in the USA—for their effectiveness and unity of action.”

For Warsaw, the push for a permanent U.S. base reflects a broader strategy to cement the United States’s long-term military commitment to NATO’s eastern flank.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio believes the Russia-Ukraine war "has no military solution" but fears an increase in long-range exchanges could dramatically escalate the violence.

Speaking to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Rubio offered a lengthy assessment of the Russian invasion. He noted specifically that "one thing that has changed" the nature of the conflict is Ukraine becoming "increasingly effective at conducting long-range strikes deep into Russia" and hitting "critical nodes of the Russian economy."

"Russia has always been capable of these long-range strikes," he explained, but Ukraine's ability to respond in kind means "the risk of escalation is real — more real than it was two years ago."

An onslaught of drones and missiles poured onto Ukraine on Tuesday, killing nearly two dozen and injuring over 100 more. The Institute for the Study of War speculated that the ramp-up in recent bombing campaigns is meant to pick up the slack of a fatigued land invasion that has slowed to a glacial pace.

"The Ukrainians have actually made some battlefield gains in the last month," Rubio told Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), praising them for "bravely" and "effectively fighting." He cited the Department of War in asserting that the Russian side is among the first forces in modern history to suffer more deaths than casualties on the battlefield.

"I don't think there's any doubt at this point in the minds of most observers around the world, and I would say in the minds of some inside of Russia, that the invasion of Ukraine has been a strategic disaster for them," the state secretary said, adding that Russia "may not even be able militarily to achieve the objectives they're demanding now in negotiations."

'PROSPECTS DON'T LOOK GREAT' FOR A RUSSIA-UKRAINE DEAL, RUBIO ACKNOWLEDGES

Still, Rubio is not optimistic about the prospects of establishing peace any time soon. In his series of four hearings on Capitol Hill beginning Tuesday, he repeatedly asserted that the "demands that both sides have to end [the war] have been far apart to this point."

Speaking to Durbin, the secretary reiterated a point he made earlier in the day when testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee — that the United States is playing a difficult role in peace talks because U.S. officials are not "impartial mediators," furnishing Ukraine with weapons and sanctioning the Kremlin.

Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson announced Tuesday that she would step down, leaving the position charged with managing Texas’s midterm elections vacant.

Nelson’s resignation comes after a slew of high-profile upsets in the May 26 Texas primary runoff elections. Trump-endorsed state Attorney General Ken Paxton bested incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), and progressive stalwart Rep. Al Green (D-TX) lost to the younger Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX) after their Houston districts were drawn together.

Nelson did not give a reason for her departure, which is set for July 17. Nelson only commented that she was “proud” to have served as secretary of state at “an important moment for Texas.”

Unlike voters in most states, Texans do not directly elect their secretary of state. Instead, the position is appointed by the governor, subject to approval by the state senate. The 31-member body unanimously confirmed Nelson in 2023. 

“I will work to safeguard honest and accurate elections in all 254 counties across our great state, while continuing to support business owners by ensuring that government moves at the speed of Texas business, not the other way around,” she said at the time.

Texas’s secretary of state is responsible for administering voter registration files and managing articles of incorporation for local businesses, among other responsibilities. Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) also designated Nelson as border commerce coordinator, giving her a broad mandate over the state’s $281.2 billion trade with Mexico.

Under Nelson’s leadership, Texas was one of at least 15 states to turn over its voter rolls, including dates of birth and partial Social Security numbers, in compliance with a Department of Justice request. Nelson also began using the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, database to remove noncitizens from its list of eligible voters. That move led to pending litigation in federal court. 

DLCC EXPANDS TARGET LIST IN TEXAS AS TALARICO’S RISE SPARKS HOPE FOR DEMOCRATS

Prior to her tenure as secretary of state, Nelson served for 30 years in the Texas Senate, where she represented the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area. Nelson is the longest-serving Republican woman in Texas state Senate history.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Nelson’s office for more information on her departure.

President Donald Trump has suggested that the UFC arena under construction at the White House for the looming MMA event could be a permanent fixture.

Trump made the unusual remark in a TikTok video late Tuesday, comparing the UFC "claw" stage on the White House South Lawn to a famous landmark in Europe.

"Many don't know that in Paris, France, the Eiffel Tower, 1889 it was built," Trump said. "It was supposed to be taken down immediately after the World's Fair, and then they said, 'You know, we sort of like it. Let's leave it up a little bit longer,' and then they said, 'Let's leave it up longer and longer and longer.'"

The Eiffel Tower was once supposed to be taken down 20 years after the 1889 World Exhibition, but lead architect Gustave Eiffel pushed the French government to keep the tower permanently.

"Well, they never took it down, and you know we're building something in front of the White House that's quite attractive to a lot of people," Trump added. "It's going to have the big UFC fight on June 14, and I'm looking at it, and maybe we'll never ever take it down."

It remains to be seen whether Trump will follow through on the remark, which serves as another example of the president's excitement for the UFC fight night this month.

The UFC Freedom 250 event will take place on June 14, marking not only Trump's 80th birthday but also Flag Day. The arena's construction, which started on Memorial Day, remains ongoing.

The event is set to host 5,000 attendees around the arena. Seats are reserved for military members and guests invited by the UFC and the White House. Though tickets will not be for sale, up to 100,000 people can watch on large screens at the nearby Ellipse.

The anti-Trump "No Kings" movement is expected to hold its next protest day on June 14 across the nation, including Washington, D.C. The progressive coalition said Trump would be "distracted" by the first-ever UFC fight at the White House.

Trump coordinated the historic event with his longtime friend, UFC President and CEO Dana White, who has been revealing his high expectations for the mixed martial arts fight in celebration of the nation's 250th birthday.

"I love this country like anybody on the left loves this country," White recently told Time. "I love this country like anybody on the Right loves this country. This is basically me spending a ­s***­load of money to celebrate the 250th birthday of America, with America and the rest of the world."

The UFC is funding the fight, estimated to cost $60 million to produce.

TROOPS WHO MEET HEIGHT AND WEIGHT STANDARDS ELIGIBLE FOR TICKETS TO WHITE HOUSE UFC EVENT

Despite his high expectations, the chief executive has expressed concerns about holding the fight outdoors during the summer, as several environmental factors could affect the athletic performance of its participants.

"There’s two things I hate," White said on the NPR Newsmakers podcast. "I hate stadiums, and I hate even worse than a stadium is fighting outside. There’s just so many different variables you have to deal with, you know, the weather, and you know the worst, obviously, being rain and lightning, yeah, and then bugs, and you know temperatures."

LOS ANGELES — California voters on Tuesday took the first step in what could become the most consequential House battleground fights in the country, casting ballots in five newly redrawn congressional districts that Democrats view as critical to their effort to reclaim the chamber.

The races are unfolding against the backdrop of California’s top-two primary system, which sends the two highest vote-getters to the general election regardless of party. That structure has left both parties closely watching whether their preferred candidates can survive crowded primary fields and advance to November.

Democrats have high hopes in the five districts that were redrawn last year after Proposition 50, a controversial ballot initiative backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and state Democrats, passed. The measure reconfigured the state’s congressional districts to give Democrats an advantage ahead of the midterm elections. The outgoing governor, who is term-limited and widely expected to run for president in 2028, had framed the fight as one for the very soul of democracy. 

Because California accepts and counts large numbers of mail-in ballots after Election Day, final results were not immediately available. Several of the closely watched contests remained undecided Wednesday afternoon as election officials continued tabulating votes.

Still, early returns suggested Democrats were on track to advance candidates in the districts they have targeted most aggressively, preserving their opportunity to compete in a set of races expected to draw national attention and millions of dollars in spending before November. However, in the 6th Congressional District's race, there remains the possibility of a Democratic shutout.

The five California House Republicans targeted by last year's redistricting effort were the late Rep. Doug LaMalfa and Rep. Kevin Kiley in Northern California, Reps. Darrell Issa and Ken Calvert in Southern California, and Rep. David Valadao in the Central Valley.

The political landscape has shifted significantly since the maps were reshaped. LaMalfa died in office; Kiley left the Republican Party to become an independent (though he still votes Republican), Issa retired, and Calvert opted to run in a different district against a fellow Republican incumbent. That leaves Valadao as the lone remaining GOP target from the original group, facing what is expected to be a difficult reelection campaign in a district where national Democrats have already begun investing heavily. 

Here's a closer look at where things stand: 

1st district

Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-CA) won the special election to succeed LaMalfa, who died at age 65 following complications during emergency surgery.

With roughly 55% of the vote counted by early Wednesday, Gallagher avoided a runoff and secured the seat in the heavily Republican 1st Congressional District, according to the Associated Press.

Gallagher, who previously served as the Assembly Republican leader, will complete the remainder of LaMalfa's term. His victory restores another seat to the GOP conference as Republicans work with a razor-thin House majority. 

The election also determined who would advance to the November general election: Gallagher and former state Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire.

While the special election was conducted using the district's previous boundaries, the political terrain Gallagher faces this fall will be considerably less favorable. The newly configured district presents a more challenging electoral map, setting up what is expected to be a far more competitive reelection bid. 

6th district

A razor-thin margin separated the leading candidates in the newly redrawn 6th district, leaving the Democratic contender narrowly in third place as votes continue to be counted.

Kiley, who switched party affiliation from Republican to independent earlier this year, has emerged as one of the loudest critics of California’s mid-decade congressional remap, accusing Democrats of redrawing the map to weaken GOP incumbents. He has also voiced frustration with House leadership — including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) — for failing to advance federal legislation to curb partisan redistricting. 

Kiley, a former high school English teacher, had represented California’s 3rd district, a conservative-leaning area that is also the state’s most geographically diverse. The new 3rd district was split into six factions, and Kiley has said he would not run in it. Instead, he ran in the redrawn 6th Congressional District, centered in the Sacramento area. It’s forced Kiley into a far more competitive race. Instead of seeking safer Republican territory, he chose to stay in his district and re-register as “No Party Preference” while continuing to caucus with Republicans in Congress. 

As of 5 p.m. Eastern Wednesday, he was leading the race, with Republican Michael Stansfield in second place, with Democrat Richard Pan hot on his heels.

22nd district 

Valadao, a centrist Republican who was first elected to Congress in 2012, has been a long-sought target for Democrats, who have held a sizable registration advantage in his 22nd district. Valadao had emphasized his support for immigration reform in the past, only to be voted out of office when the blue wave of 2018 hit. He won it back in 2020. Two years ago, he kept his seat in a hard-fought race, making him one of two House Republicans who supported the impeachment of President Donald Trump and still held their seats.

He has advanced to the November runoff, but the race is too close to call for the Democratic candidate who will likely join him. 

40th district 

Calvert, who had represented the 41st district before it was carved up, switched to the 40th, where he faced incumbent Rep. Young Kim (R-CA). Calvert was declared the winner of the primary race, but the second-place winner has not been called. 

The campaign for the state's 40th Congressional District has been a bruising, and at times, deeply personal primary. If Kim holds off the Democratic challenger, two Republicans would head into the general election to determine which incumbent keeps their seat in Congress.

California's 40th Congressional District is a sprawling region southeast of Los Angeles that stretches across Orange County suburbs, parts of Riverside County, and mountain communities along the Santa Ana range. Once considered competitive territory, the district was transformed into safe Republican ground after Democratic mapmakers packed it with conservative voters siphoned from neighboring GOP seats.

Calvert, 72, is the longest-serving Republican in California’s congressional delegation. He has spent 33 years in Congress, survived two rounds of redistricting, and says he is not intimidated by another political fight, especially against Kim.

Kim said Calvert had his time in office to prove himself and failed. 

48th district

Issa announced his retirement after California's new map drew him and his mother out of his San Diego district, which had been a Republican stronghold. 

TWO DAN SULLIVANS RUNNING FOR ALASKA SENATE TO BE IDENTIFIED ON BALLOT WITH MIDDLE INITIALS

Competing to succeed him are Republican San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, who secured endorsements from both Issa and Trump, and Democrat Marni von Wilpert, a San Diego city councilwoman. Both candidates advanced from Tuesday's primary and will face off in November.

Democrats had worried that a split vote between von Wilpert and fellow Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar could pave the way for two Republicans to claim the top two spots, effectively locking the party out of the general election. Those concerns ultimately did not materialize.

Four House Republicans voted with nearly every single Democrat on Wednesday to force President Donald Trump to end hostilities with Iran, handing the commander in chief a high-profile foreign policy defeat.

The House, in a 215-208 vote, passed legislation to "remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran unless explicitly authorized" by Congress. The Senate passed a similar measure a few weeks back.

Rep. Jared Golden, the sole Democrat who defected on all three of the previous votes, voted for the measure after expressing his support for a "clean" resolution last month. All Democrats were joined by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Tom Barrett (R-MI), and Warren Davidson (R-OH). These GOP members, minus Davidson, backed limiting Trump’s war powers last month as well. Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA), who caucuses with Republicans, voted against the measure.

Ahead of the vote, Fitzpatrick told the Washington Examiner the White House did not lobby him to change his vote.

"They know where I stand on it," Fitzpatrick said.

Barrett echoed a similar sentiment, telling the Washington Examiner that "it's pretty well indicated where I've been at on these things."

This vote comes after House GOP leadership pulled a vote before the Memorial Day recess, through a procedural loophole, in an effort to delay the passage of this resolution.

JARED GOLDEN TANKS PUSH TO REIN IN TRUMP'S WAR POWERS AS GOP OPPOSITION GROWS

In a similar vote earlier this year, only Massie broke with the White House. This month's vote tripled the number of GOP defections, ultimately leading to the passage of Wednesday's resolution, introduced by House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks (D-NY).

The resolution heads to the Senate, where its future is to be decided. Even if it clears the upper chamber, Trump would likely veto the resolution. The Senate advanced a version of the bill last month, 50-47, after three Republican senators missed the vote. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Susan Collins (R-ME) voted for the measure, as they had on previous votes. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) joined the Republican defections for the May vote after his primary loss.

TRUMP-BACKED ED GALLREIN DEFEATS THOMAS MASSIE IN KENTUCKY

This week's vote was also a bigger test of Trump’s war powers because the conflict with Iran has pushed well past the 90-day mark. The 1973 War Powers Resolution limits a president’s unilateral military action to 60 days before having to seek authorization from Congress. The law does allow the president to grant himself a one-time 30-day extension, subject to limitations on offensive operations.

The White House has argued that the war, which started on Feb. 28, has yet to reach the threshold because of a shaky ceasefire in place with Iran.

President Donald Trump appeared uncertain Wednesday about the future of the Justice Department's proposed $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund," which has caused some consternation on Capitol Hill.

A day after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress the DOJ would not move forward with the fund, Trump was equivocal on whether the White House was officially dropping it.

"I'd have to ask the lawyers. I don't know," he told reporters Wednesday afternoon when asked whether the fund was dead or just put on hold. "The weaponization fund, as far as I'm concerned, was a beautiful thing."

He also claimed about the fund: "I love it. I think it's so important."

The administration previously said it would "abide by" a court order blocking the fund, and Blanche told Congress on Tuesday the DOJ was officially dropping the fund.

But Republican senators have clamored for explicit assurance from the administration that the fund will be permanently dropped, with some threatening to hold up voting on amendments as the Senate attempts to advance a party-line funding bill for immigration enforcement.

"We'll see how that all works out, but a radical-left judge ruled against it," Trump also said Wednesday. "But these people, their lives have been destroyed."

TODD BLANCHE SAYS DOJ WILL NOT MOVE FORWARD WITH ANTI-WEAPONIZATION FUND

The president claimed that some of the rioters "were victimized," leading to bankruptcy, suicide, and targeting by the administration of former President Joe Biden.

The fund has largely been unpopular on the Hill as lawmakers fretted that taxpayer money could go to Jan. 6, 2021, rioters who attacked police officers. The funding is also unpopular with the American public, according to a recent Economist/YouGov poll, including among Republicans.

Sunny Hostin, co-host of The View, said that if she lived in Maine, she would 100% vote for Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine.  

Hostin’s willingness to support Platner stands in sharp contrast to her earlier criticism of the candidate, in which she cited concerns about his character while discussing allegations of racism, accusations involving Nazi symbolism, claims of infidelity, and reports that he exchanged sexually explicit messages with women who were not his wife.

Despite Hostin’s reservations of Platner being a ‘liar, racist, and antisemite,’ she expressed growing frustrations with the state of American politics as the midterm elections draw near saying, "A lot of people, a lot of good people have seen what politics have turned into, they’ve seen that the bar is very very low, they don’t want to get muddied by what’s going on in Washington,” Hostin said on The View’s “Hot Topics” segment, on Wednesday.

Hostin revealed that she’d been conflicted about the 2026 U.S. Senate elections, emphasizing the importance of personal integrity in political roles. 

“I’ll say yesterday I was sort of on the fence; I’m like character matters … morals matter,” Hostin said. "I can’t believe this is the character, that this is the person in Maine, that’s gonna take on the Republican, take on Susan Collins."

Platner has rejected allegations of racism and antisemitism and remains committed to continuing his campaign. 

Hostin argued that Democrats must focus on winning control of Congress and that Platner still has her full support. “I’m now convinced that we are in a really bad place in this country,” she said. "Democrats have to take over the Senate; they have to take over the House. They have to bring some semblance of normalcy back to this."

JOE CONCHA BLASTS ‘BLUE NO MATTER WHO’ MENTALITY ON THE VIEW

Hostin pointed to recent polling showing support for Platner in Maine and suggested that political considerations outweighed her personal reservations about the Democratic candidate.  

“And if it takes getting behind someone like Platner, which 51% of voters in Maine say that they will get behind as opposed to 42%, if I lived in Maine, I would hold my nose and I would pull that lever and I would vote for him,” Hostin said.

The FBI on Wednesday said the suspect who was shot and killed by officers after holding several people hostage inside a downtown Bakersfield, California, building was “no stranger” to law enforcement and sought county school officials on the building's second floor.

During a press conference following the officer-involved shooting that ended an hourslong standoff, FBI Special Agent in Charge for the Sacramento field office Sid Patel identified 41-year-old Anthony Scott Searles-Harris as the suspect. 

Patel said Searles-Harris had a criminal record and was “no stranger to law enforcement” and a registered sex offender. Searles-Harris served in the U.S. Army from 2006 to 2007 but was dishonorably discharged for being absent without leave. 

The hostage situation had initially been reported at a JPMorgan Chase bank branch in Bakersfield, but Patel clarified that the scene was the office of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. Chase Bank leases a first-floor space from the superintendent’s office, which is located on the second floor. 

Patel said the 10 hostages were all employees of the superintendent’s office and that five of them were tied up during the roughly 12-hour standoff with police. None of the hostages was said to have any injuries. 

The incident ignited Tuesday afternoon when Searles-Harris barricaded himself inside the building, reportedly with a bomb strapped to his body. Officials said officers arrived to find a man who had barricaded himself in the building with “several community members,” but some people were able to escape.

Police responded to reports of a “bomb” threat Tuesday afternoon, accompanied by SWAT teams, hostage negotiators, and a bomb squad. The FBI’s Sacramento field office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’s San Francisco field office also sent resources to assist local law enforcement with the situation.

Two hostages were released Tuesday evening after Searles-Harris had reportedly negotiated with police. Later attempts to free more hostages did not prove successful, prompting police to breach the building. 

FBI LAUNCHES OPERATION SUMMER HEAT 2.0 AFTER LAST YEAR’S ‘HISTORIC SUCCESS’

A large area of downtown Bakersfield was closed during the incident, and police said Wednesday that residents should expect road closures and delays in the area until Wednesday afternoon. 

A possible motive as to why Searles-Harris held 10 school employees hostage for 12 hours was not identified.

The Treasury Department released a new analysis that found the majority of filers who claimed the new tax breaks enacted by Republicans last year earn less than $100,000.

Republicans passed a massive tax cut bill last summer as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Most of the legislation preserved and made permanent expiring tax provisions, but it also included several tax cuts that President Donald Trump campaigned on, such as tax breaks for tips, overtime income, Social Security, and auto loans.

BESSENT CLARIFIES THREAT AGAINST BILL PULTE: HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO ‘KICK HIS A**’

As the administration has worked to gin up support for the cuts, Republicans have taken to referring to the bill as the “working families tax cuts.” The Treasury analysis focused on how most of the new provisions were claimed by those earning less than $100,000 and $200,000.

“American families and workers overwhelmingly benefitted from the Working Families Tax Cuts, receiving the largest share of the historic tax relief delivered this past filing season,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

For instance, no taxes on tips was a major campaign tax proposal.

The Treasury said that over 7.5 million filers have claimed the no-taxes-on-tips benefit, with 9 in 10 filers earning under $100,000 and 99% of them earning under $200,000 annually.

Some 29 million filers claimed the no-taxes-on-overtime deduction, according to the analysis. Three-fourths of those earned under $100,000, and 96% earned under $200,000, the Treasury said.

Additionally, 35 million seniors claimed the enhanced deduction for seniors over the age of 65, a provision meant to fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to end taxes on Social Security benefits. Of those, 68% earned under $100,000, and 94% earned under $200,000.

“This analysis confirms President Trump’s tax policies deliver substantial tax cuts to hardworking Americans and provide greater relief and financial certainty to low- and middle- income households,” Bessent said.

It is worth noting that many of the new tax provisions were designed to largely benefit lower- and middle-income taxpayers. They phase out based on income.

BESSENT CONFRONTS RON WYDEN AT HEARING WITH ACCUSATIONS HIS SON MET WITH JEFFREY EPSTEIN

The Treasury analysis also said that 97% of filers received a tax cut because of the legislation. That is in part because most would have seen tax hikes if the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reductions were allowed to expire.

Amazon placed No. 1 on the Fortune 500 ranking on Wednesday, overtaking Walmart’s 13-year streak as the highest-earning U.S. company.

The online retailing giant surpassed $700 billion in revenue last year, with a 12% year-over-year increase, according to the annual list that ranks America's 500 largest companies by total revenue for the previous fiscal year.

​Amazon’s two-decade rise to the top of the Fortune 500 is the result of a dramatic shift in consumer preferences due to technological change. The company’s dethroning of the big-box store giant is the first time Walmart has fallen out of first place since 2012, when it was second to energy and gas company Exxon Mobil.

Meanwhile, Alphabet, Google’s massive parent company and conglomerate, stood as Fortune’s “most profitable company,” with $132 billion in earnings. Rounding out the top 10 are UnitedHealth Group, Apple, Alphabet, CVS Health, Berkshire Hathaway, McKesson, Exxon, and Cencora.    

The total of Fortune 500 companies covers two-thirds of the U.S. GDP, “with $21.0 trillion (up 5%) in revenues, $2.1 trillion (up 12%) in profits, and $55 trillion (up 19%) in market value, while employing 30.5 million people worldwide.” This year’s required revenue threshold to make the top 500 was $7.5 billion, an increase of 5% from last year.

NEWSOM’S WILDFIRE RELIEF FUND DIVERTED $14 MILLION TOWARD MANAGING ANTI-ICE RIOTS, RECORDS SHOW

The 2026 list featured a record 56 women at the helm of Fortune 500 companies. Their companies represented 11.2% of Fortune 500 company revenue, the highest share in the list's history, and “the fourth consecutive year the figure has cleared double digits,” Fortune reported.  

The announcement comes on the heels of news that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and AI giant Anthropic have filed paperwork for an initial public offering. Anthropic’s announcement gave the company an expected valuation of $965 billion despite the company’s dispute with the War Department, which claims the company refused to offer its services for lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. As for SpaceX, the anticipated IPO is projected to be the largest ever, with up to $80 billion raised from investors, which would make Musk the world’s first trillionaire.  

The two candidates named Dan Sullivan running for Alaska’s U.S. Senate seat will be distinguished on the ballot by their middle initials, a move required under state law to reduce voter confusion.

The unusual situation has injected a fresh dose of controversy into one of the country’s most competitive Senate races. Incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) is seeking another term while facing a challenge from former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, who is mounting a well-funded campaign in a state Democrats hope can help the party regain a Senate majority in 2026.

Complicating matters is the entry of another Republican candidate who shares the same name as the incumbent senator: Dan Sullivan.

Under Alaska's election laws, candidates with the same last name are ordered on the ballot by first name and, when necessary, middle initial. Voters will see the incumbent listed as “Dan S. Sullivan” and his challenger as “Dan J. Sullivan.” The two have no known relation.

Dan J. Sullivan announced his candidacy last week, arguing that the incumbent has lost sight of Alaska’s interests.

“For too long, Senator Sullivan has failed to put Alaska first,” he said in a campaign statement. “When you truly care about a people and a place, you have a duty to make every sacrifice within your power to protect them. That’s why I’m running.”

The peculiar race has generated controversy, with Republicans accusing Democrats of encouraging the candidacy to siphon votes from the incumbent. Alaska’s open primary system allows all candidates to compete on the same ballot regardless of party affiliation, meaning both Sullivans will appear together in the August primary.

Sen. Sullivan on Tuesday alleged that Democrats were deliberately attempting to manipulate the race.

“They all orchestrated this on purpose to confuse Alaskans,” the senator said. “These guys are purposely trying to trick my constituents to rig — and I don’t use that lightly — rig an election in favor of my opponent.”

Peltola’s campaign has denied any involvement with Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy.

The controversy has also prompted intervention from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm. In a letter sent Monday to Alaska election officials, the NRSC urged the state to remove Dan J. Sullivan from the ballot.

“Alaska regulations provide that a candidate’s name may not appear on the ballot in a manner that is ‘confusing or misleading to voters or compromises the fairness or neutrality of the ballot,’” the committee wrote. “You must uphold your statutory obligation to enforce those regulations and protect the principles they safeguard by keeping Sham Candidate Sullivan off the ballot.”

The name confusion is not entirely unprecedented in Alaska politics. When Sen. Sullivan was first elected in 2014, another politician with the same name, Dan A. Sullivan, the then-mayor of Anchorage, appeared on the primary ballot as a candidate for lieutenant governor.

TRUMP ENDORSEMENT TRACKER: HERE'S WHO THE PRESIDENT HAS PICKED IN GOP MIDTERM ELECTION PRIMARIES

Under Alaska’s ranked choice election system, the top four finishers in the state’s nonpartisan primary advance to the general election. This year’s primary is scheduled for Aug. 18.

Although Alaska has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in nearly two decades, Democrats view the state as increasingly competitive after a series of closer statewide races and a gradual shift toward the political center in recent election cycles. With control of the Senate hanging in the balance, both parties are expected to monitor a race that now features not one, but two Dan Sullivans.

Former Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan urged a federal judge this week to toss out her conviction on obstruction charges for helping an illegal immigrant evade arrest last year, as part of a last-ditch effort before she is sentenced.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, heard arguments in a federal courtroom in Milwaukee on Wednesday over Dugan's motion to reconsider either tossing the conviction or ordering a new trial, with Dugan's lawyers arguing that one of those options is necessary after a federal appeals court reversed a ruling both the judge and the Justice Department had relied on in Dugan's case.

Dugan's lawyers pointed to a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in a case about an illegal immigrant being detained by federal immigration officers, who later escaped and was rearrested by federal officers. The illegal immigrant had been indicted for obstructing an immigration proceeding, but the appeals court reversed a lower court's ruling upholding the indictment. The Fourth Circuit panel ruled that the immigration arrest was not "pending proceeding" as defined in the federal law under which the illegal immigrant was charged.

While the Fourth Circuit's ruling is not binding in Dugan's case, because Wisconsin federal district courts are subject to the Seventh Circuit's precedents, her lawyers argued it should still require her December 2025 jury conviction to be tossed.

"The lone Court of Appeals in the country to address this issue has said that's not valid and the conviction is overturned," Dugan's lawyer Steve Biskupic told the court, per local Milwaukee television station WISN. "We ask you do the same in this case."

Adelman questioned both sides over their stance on the motion to toss the jury ruling, with the federal judge pressing DOJ lawyers on how broad the definition of a "pending proceeding" is under the federal law Dugan was charged under. When pressed by Adelman on whether an immigration proceeding under the law could last years, DOJ lawyer Richard Frohling said it could be a couple of years or a couple minutes, per WISN.

“The court should stick with its ruling,” Frohling said, per the Associated Press.

Adelman did not offer any indication of how he would rule or when he would issue a ruling during Wednesday's hearing. Dugan's sentencing had originally been scheduled for Wednesday but was delayed pending the resolution of Dugan's last-ditch motion to toss her conviction.

Dugan’s conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, but because she has no prior criminal record, she is unlikely to get close to the maximum sentence. Her lawyers have said they plan to appeal the conviction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

CONVICTED MILWAUKEE JUDGE RESIGNS WHILE APPEALING CHARGE FOR HELPING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ESCAPE

The former judge’s conviction stems from helping Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an illegal immigrant who appeared in April 2025 before her court, and his lawyer exit her courtroom via a side door after federal immigration officers appeared at the courthouse to arrest him. Flores-Ruiz was arrested shortly after leaving the courthouse, while Dugan was arrested roughly a week later.

Dugan’s arrest was touted by the Justice Department as a high-profile example that “no one is above the law,” as FBI Director Kash Patel asserted in a post about the state judge at the time of her arrest. If Adelman rules in favor of Dugan's bid to reverse the conviction, it would wipe away one of the DOJ's major convictions of the second Trump administration.

The Pentagon, State Department, and USAID's inspectors general will begin a comprehensive review of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. military's war against Iran, as mandated by law.

Department of War Inspector General Platte Moring was appointed to serve as the lead inspector general for the agencies' oversight of Operation Epic Fury on May 12, the War Department's Inspector General's office announced on Wednesday. 

He has since appointed Arne Baker, the acting State Department inspector general, to serve as the associate lead for the review, and they are working to develop a joint strategic oversight plan. The goal, according to the War Department's inspector general announcement, is to produce the first quarterly report on the Iran war this fall.

“This Lead Inspector General designation not only follows the framework required in the IG Act, it also reflects the extensive experience of the DoW OIG with comprehensive oversight of overseas contingency operations,” Inspector General Moring said. “We are collaborating closely with our colleagues to promote accountability and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.”

This review is mandated by the Inspector General Act, which requires the appointment of a lead inspector general when a military operation lasts longer than 60 days. It is unrelated to the 60-day War Powers Resolution, which requires Congress to either authorize military operations or force the president to begin shutting down U.S. participation in the war after 60 days from the time the president informs Congress of the hostilities.

Baker said, "Working alongside our colleagues across the oversight community, we will help safeguard the integrity of U.S. diplomatic, security, and foreign assistance efforts while promoting transparency and accountability to the American public. This coordinated approach strengthens our collective ability to provide timely, objective reporting to Congress and the Executive Branch.”

Last week, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) called for the appointment of a lead inspector general to conduct a comprehensive review.

The U.S. military's strikes on Iran began on Feb. 28 and continued until President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire on April 7, which he has continued to extend. In that time, the U.S. military carried out more than 13,000 strikes on targets within Iran, including at their air force, navy, defense industrial base, missile stockpiles and launchers, and more.

Iranian retaliatory attacks killed seven American service members, six of whom were killed in a drone attack on a U.S. base in Kuwait. Six other service members were killed in a refueling accident in Iraq, a Marine died in Saudi Arabia in a nonhostile incident, and a National Guardsman died from an unrelated medical emergency.

RUBIO: IRAN HAS 'AGREED TO NEGOTIATE ASPECTS OF THEIR NUCLEAR PROGRAM

Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jay Hurst, whom Trump recently nominated for the position, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill last month that the war had cost $29 billion so far. However, that total does not include the cost of possible repairs to U.S. bases in the region, which will be included in a future funding request.

"Part of it is we would assess what our posture should be in the Middle East, right?" Hurst told reporters in April. "We have to make sure we understand what we want to construct in the future. We might change how we build bases in the Middle East based on this conflict. It'll be part of a future request."

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday that the New World screwworm is just miles from the southern border as concerns build about the Trump administration’s response to the parasitic pest.

The screwworm was 187 miles from the Texas border in February. It is now 25 miles from the Texas border, Rollins said in an update on the parasite, which could pose a sweeping threat to the state’s multibillion-dollar livestock industry. Her remarks came as Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) emphasized fears in Texas that the Department of Agriculture's response to the crisis is lacking, with nearly $2 billion in damage to the state’s economy at stake.

“We’re keeping the public updated in real time, shutting down rumors, and laying down the facts on exactly what we and our state partners are doing to protect American agriculture, livestock, and wildlife,” Rollins posted on X Tuesday. 

Rollins said the screwworm had been found in ⁠a 5-year-old goat in Mexico's Coahuila state, marking the closest confirmed case to the U.S. border during the most recent outbreak. The parasitic fly is typically confined to South America and the Caribbean but has made its way toward the United States amid record immigration through the area and Mexico in recent years. It feeds on warm-blooded animals, laying eggs in open wounds or areas such as the eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. When the eggs hatch maggots, they then eat living tissue, which can be deadly for livestock and devastating to the ranching industry. 

"There's no doubt that this is a very, very serious threat to our livestock," Rollins told reporters. 

Republican state Rep. Don McLaughlin led criticism of the government on Monday, alleging it “has moved at a snail’s pace” to address screwworms and calling on Texas officials to craft a state-led emergency response to the pests.

His plea came amid concern that the state lacks sufficient sterile fly capacity, even though they are the primary tool used to target screwworms. In the last major screwworm outbreak in Texas decades ago, the U.S. had around 700 million sterile flies on hand weekly. Texas now has access to only 100 million flies weekly as of February, from a Panama-based production facility. A domestic plant the USDA is building at Moore Air Base in South Texas, capable of producing up to another 300 million sterile flies weekly, isn’t projected for completion until November 2027 at the earliest. 

“For more than a year, I have joined Texas ranchers in sounding the alarm while federal regulators have moved at a snail’s pace,” McLaughlin said. “Today, the threat is no longer hundreds of miles away. It is at our doorstep.”

UTAH GOP LAWMAKER INTRODUCES BILL TO MAKE IVERMECTIN AVAILABLE AT PHARMACIES

McLaughlin also said the insects were just 1 mile away from the border, leading the USDA to push back against “rumors.” 

“When that false information gets out, it causes significant panic,” Rollins said at a press conference Tuesday. “And rightly so, especially if it’s coming from elected officials and the media.”

Salvadoran national and illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia alerted a federal judge on Wednesday to new testimony from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin indicating the Trump administration may be willing to send him to Costa Rica, a development that could reshape a high-profile legal battle over his removal.

In a brief three-page filing submitted to U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland on Wednesday, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys highlighted remarks Mullin made during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing when questioned by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) about the Salvadoran national’s proposed relocation to Costa Rica.

Van Hollen told Mullin that Abrego Garcia had agreed to be removed to Costa Rica and that Costa Rica had agreed to accept him. After a back-and-forth over the case, Mullin responded, "Great, if he’s willing to do that, we’ll be happy to send him." Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argued the statement constitutes additional evidence supporting their request that the court resolve outstanding habeas claims.

The filing comes amid a monthslong dispute over where the administration may deport Abrego Garcia if he is released from custody. During a hearing last month, Xinis, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, pressed government lawyers about reports that officials were considering removing him to Liberia and questioned why the government would not instead permit him to self-deport to Costa Rica, an option his legal team had proposed.

The case of Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, became a national flashpoint after he was deported home in March 2025 despite a 2019 immigration order barring his removal to his home country due to his stated fears of persecution. The Trump administration later facilitated his return to the United States following intervention by the Supreme Court.

The latest filing arrives less than two weeks after U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, an Obama appointee, dismissed federal human smuggling charges against him in connection to a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. Crenshaw concluded prosecutors failed to overcome evidence suggesting the case was motivated by retaliation after Abrego Garcia challenged his deportation in court.

The Justice Department has sharply criticized that ruling and vowed to appeal, arguing the court improperly interfered with a legitimate prosecution involving a previously dormant investigation tied to a 2022 Tennessee traffic stop.

Art Arthur, a former immigration judge, told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that Mullin's comment "does not legally bind the agency," but speculated that it "might just wind up that Abrego Garcia gets deported to Costa Rica.”

With respect to the DOJ's challenge to Crenshaw's dismissal of the trafficking case, Arthur said, "I think the DOJ is still going to want to appeal the district court’s order finding that there had been a vindictive prosecution," regardless of whether Abrego Garcia ever sees an actual trial.

The administration has simultaneously sought to dissolve Xinis’s injunction restricting Abrego Garcia’s removal while litigation remains pending.

JUDGE KEEPS BLOCK ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION EFFORT TO DEPORT KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA TO LIBERIA

President Donald Trump and administration officials have repeatedly pointed to evidence linking Abrego Garcia to the MS-13 gang, citing past police reports, including one from Prince George's County, Maryland, that included a statement from a "proven and reliable" confidential informant identifying him as a member of MS-13.

The Washington Examiner contacted DHS for a response.

Former New York Republican Rep. George Santos on Wednesday challenged an NPR report that the Department of Justice is investigating him for allegedly benefiting from insider trading on the Kalshi prediction market.

Santos is alleged to have placed bets on his attendance at the president's State of the Union address in February, according to NPR. Santos initially said he would personally attend the event — he was expelled from Congress in December 2023 — but he ended up watching President Donald Trump's speech from an airport instead.

Santos allegedly profited tens of thousands of dollars from the bet, NPR reported based on three anonymous sources. The exact amount was not disclosed in the article.

A DOJ official confirmed to the Washington Examiner that there is no investigation into Santos.

In a social media post, the former congressman challenged the allegations. "The [basis] of the accusation is preposterous and I look forward to supplying any information asked of me to any agency that inquires, till then media please do not inquire," he posted on X.

Earlier in the post, Santos told reporters to stop asking for a comment after he was bombarded with hundreds of calls Tuesday night. He noted his lawyers are speaking with the DOJ about the reported inquiry.

"My legal team and I were made aware by a report from NPR yesterday that the DOJ might be looking into me," Santos said. "So now my legal team is in contact with the DOJ to see what is going on."

"I will comment further when appropriate and clarify everything accordingly while being mindful and respectful of any process that might be underway," he added.

Santos seemingly responded to the NPR report late Tuesday, saying he doesn't "engage with rag reporting anymore."

DOJ INVESTIGATING GEORGE SANTOS FOR ALLEGED INSIDER TRADING ON KALSHI: REPORT

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission reportedly opened an investigation into Santos regarding the bet after Kalshi is said to have frozen his account and reported the case to federal authorities. The agency told Politico it "can't confirm or deny investigations."

The onetime congressman was once embroiled in legal scrutiny stemming from federal charges of aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. Santos pleaded guilty to the charges after he was expelled from the House and began serving a roughly seven-year prison sentence last year before Trump commuted his court-ordered punishment in October.

Ukrainian drones damaged the St. Petersburg oil terminal and warships docked at the city's Kronstadt naval base on Wednesday. The attacks came just as international delegates were arriving for Russia's flagship annual economic gathering, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Black smoke rose above the city as oil facilities blazed. These strikes on Vladimir Putin's home city are extremely embarrassing for the Russian president.

Russia can expect more of the same. Much more.

Indeed, Ukraine is now able to launch hundreds of drones against targets deep inside Russia multiple times a week (St. Petersburg is nearly 700 miles from Ukraine's border). Facing these escalating attacks on its energy infrastructure, military airfields, ammunition depots, and other targets, Russia has relocated bombers further away from Ukraine's reach, has repositioned warships, and is concentrating air defense resources around Moscow. And, as I noted on Tuesday, Ukraine has also seized the battlefield initiative on the ground.

Putin has a problem.

After all, Russia has until now largely insulated its people from the realities of the war. The physical reality of the conflict has remained distant for most Russian civilians. No longer. Now the St. Petersburg skies have been bleached black on a day when Russia intended to showcase its strength to an increasingly skeptical world.

Moscow claims that 20,000 guests from 130 countries are attending the economic forum this week. This, it claims, is proof that Russia remains globally connected and respected. But far from respected international luminaries, the Western celebrities in attendance centered on Candace Owens, Steven Seagal (now a Russian citizen and active Foreign Ministry representative), and both Andrew and Tristan Tate. Yes, the same Tate brothers facing allegations of trafficking, rape, and organized crime in Romania. Putin thinks these guests will make Russia appear strong.

Of course, the narrative that Russia represents strength, power, and an alternative international order looks considerably weaker when Ukrainian drones are wreaking havoc from above.

SENATE REPUBLICANS WANT ASSURANCE ANTI-WEAPONIZATION FUND IS DEAD FOR GOOD

With little battlefield success to point to, Russia is now pounding Ukrainian cities with its heaviest weapons, aiming to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses, discourage Western support for Kyiv, and degrade Ukrainian resolve. Instead, what Ukraine is doing to Russia shows only that the West needs to stand firm at Ukraine's back. The United States and other Western partners should provide the air defense systems that Ukraine needs to defend against Russia's attacks.

Receiving that support, Kyiv can keep pushing Moscow toward the inevitability of a Russian concessionary negotiating table.

The Congressional Black Caucus announced it is withholding its support from the bipartisan "Protect College Sports Act" over its concerns regarding Southern redistricting in the wake of the Supreme Court's Louisiana v. Callais ruling.

The CBC, one of the most influential caucuses on Capitol Hill, has worked for weeks to lobby against Southern redistricting efforts that followed the Supreme Court's ruling striking down race-based redistricting in the U.S. The lawmakers have argued that the ruling has allowed Republican-controlled states to diminish Black and minority voting power.

Now, the caucus is tying this issue to Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell's (D-WA) bill establishing a regulatory framework for college sports, which are wildly popular among residents of Southern states, where the Southeastern Conference dominates athletic culture. CBC chair Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) wrote a letter to Cruz and Cantwell on Wednesday, urging them to pause the bill's consideration, writing, "for generations, Black athletes have helped build college athletics into one of the most powerful and profitable industries in American life."

"The success, visibility, and cultural influence of major athletic conferences and institutions are inseparable from the talent, labor, leadership, and cultural contributions of Black communities," Clarke wrote. "The Congressional Black Caucus believes institutions that profit from Black talent and Black communities have a responsibility to stand with those communities when their fundamental rights are under attack."

She said the CBC would vie for the bill's suspension as long as the leadership of college athletic institutions "remains silent in the face of ongoing attacks on Black political representation."

"In the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais, states across the South have moved rapidly to redraw congressional maps in ways designed to dilute Black voting strength, weaken Black representation, and undermine decades of hard-fought civil rights progress secured through the Voting Rights Act," Clarke continued. "Through all of this, many of the nation’s most influential athletic institutions and conferences have remained largely silent."

Several states, including Tennessee and Louisiana, have redistricted their congressional maps after the Callais decision to give the Republican side of the delegation more power, eliminating a majority-minority district within their borders in the process.

NICK SABAN WARNS THAT CURRENT NCAA LANDSCAPE IS A ‘RACE TO THE BOTTOM’ IF SPENDING ISN’T REINED IN

The CBC is the latest group to take notable action in opposition to these redistricting moves. They also opposed the GOP-led SCORE Act, a separate college sports bill, last week. The NAACP similarly encourages Black athletes across eight Southern states to boycott college sports due to their states' redistricting pushes.

The CBC's stance against the bill is a significant step back for the "Protect College Sports Act," which has been backed by leaders of both parties and leading voices in the NCAA, including former Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who testified in support of the bill before the Senate today.

The Washington Examiner has reached out to the offices of Cruz and Cantwell for comment.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Wednesday, readers! The NBA Finals kick off tonight, with the New York Knicks taking on the San Antonio Spurs in Texas. 🏀🏆 Who do you have winning it all? 

Today’s edition of Daily on Energy has all sorts of data center-related news for you, touching on their global electricity consumption, proposed efficiency standards in Europe, and a push in North Carolina to bar local incentives. ⚡🪫📃 We have everything you need to know below. 

Plus, just moments ago, Senate Republicans blocked a push from Democrats to reverse the Environmental Protection Agency’s softening of air toxin regulations for coal-fired power plants. 🏭🏛️ Can’t remember what that rule was about? Read below for more information. 

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.

LATEST ON OIL AND IRAN: Hostilities in the Middle East flared again today, as Iran launched one of its most damaging drone and missile strikes in recent weeks against Kuwait and Bahrain, prompting another round of retaliatory strikes from the U.S. 

While the White House has promised an imminent deal with Iran, traders appear to be growing less confident of there being a ceasefire. 

The clash pushed crude oil prices upward today, with international and domestic benchmarks inching back to the high $90s. Just before 3 p.m. EDT, Brent crude was up 2.28% and priced at $98.19 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate also jumped 2.81% and was selling at $96.39 a barrel. 

The Trump administration appears to be doing damage control for an extended closure of the Strait of Hormuz, insisting that the ongoing conflict is leading to Gulf nations developing alternative routes to resume normal energy flows. 

“I think you’re going to see the establishment of more of these alternative routes as a result of this,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress today. 

He said that while only 20% of global oil goes through the narrow waterway, roughly 80 to 85% of that travels to the Indo-Pacific. As a result, he noted, the war has given the U.S. an opportunity to increase its supply to that region.

“In those particular countries, I think you’re going to most definitely see them buying more from other places, including the United States, and it’s going to lower the cost for everybody.”  

SENATE REPUBLICANS BLOCK PUSH TO STOP TRUMP’S SOFTENING OF AIR TOXICS REGULATIONS: Moments ago, Senate Republicans blocked a vote on whether to cancel a rule introduced by the Environmental Protection Agency in February, which softened air toxics regulations for coal-fired power plants. The resolution of disapproval was introduced by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse in April. The Rhode Island senator introduced the resolution under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to bypass a filibuster and vote in a simple majority to repeal a rule. 

In a 53-46 vote, the Senate voted against proceeding with a formal vote on the rule. 

Quick reminder: In February, the EPA said it had finalized a rule to weaken restrictions on hazardous pollutants, such as mercury, for coal-fired power plants. 

The agency is specifically softening the Biden administration’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which impose a 67% reduction in toxic metal emissions and a 70% cut in mercury emissions from lignite-fired sources. The administration has claimed the rollback would save companies nearly $670 million between 2028 and 2037. 

DATA CENTERS HAVE NATION-SIZED ELECTRICITY FOOTPRINT, UNITED NATIONS SAYS: A new report released by United Nations University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health has found that global data centers are consuming as much as, if not more, electricity than dozens of countries across the world. 

The report, released today, estimates that global data centers consumed 448 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2025. If a single country used that much electricity, it would have ranked 11th globally for highest consumption. The authors also found that energy consumed by data centers last year was enough to supply the annual electricity needs for the entire residential population of Sub-Saharan Africa for over two and a half years. 

The report estimated that this electricity use will more than double by the end of the decade, potentially exceeding 945 terawatt-hours by 2030. This would account for almost 3% of projected global electricity use. And if treated as a country, data centers would rank 6th for highest electricity consumption. 

You can read the full report here. 

NORTH CAROLINA DATA CENTER GUARDRAIL BILL ADVANCES: The North Carolina House of Representatives is slated to vote today on legislation that would set new rules for data center development. 

The legislation would ban local incentives for data centers. It would also mandate that they pay the incremental costs of upgrading transmission lines and the grid, addressing a key worry of data center opponents, namely that they might jack up electricity bills. The legislation also includes rules related to water use, noise, and foreign ownership. 

Key quote: "We're not saying don't come. We're putting guardrails on the development of these in response to the consumer outrage about this," Rep. Dean Arp, a Republican, said in committee, according to Axios. 

EUROPE TO SET ENERGY EFFICIENCY STANDARDS FOR DATA CENTERS: The European Union is moving to set energy-efficiency standards for new and existing data centers, in order to ease the economic strain on consumers. 

The European Commission announced today that it would be developing the performance standards for energy use, water use, waste heat reuse, and more, and would have a “needs assessment” completed by 2027. 

The commission said the standards would increase transparency around data center deployment in the bloc, promote sustainability, and optimize energy and water consumption. 

In the EU, data centers make up around 2.5% of electricity consumption. Officials have warned that share will rapidly grow, with installed capacity expected to more than double to 28 gigawatts by 2030. Last year, installed data center capacity in the EU was around 12 gigawatts. 

The commission warned today that this rapid demand, if not proactively managed, could undermine “the security and sustainability of the energy supply,” and drive up electricity prices. 

“If not tackled at EU level now, these challenges could grow considerably and become harder to solve in the coming years, as the energy consumption of the sector is expected to increase further,” the commission said. 

The proposal for data center standards is a part of the EU’s broader roadmap to support digitization and artificial intelligence in the bloc’s energy system. You can find the full roadmap here. 

FEDERAL REGULATORS CLEAR WAY FOR THREE MILE ISLAND RESTART: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a waiver this week accelerating Constellation Energy’s efforts to bring the Crane Clean Energy Center – formerly Three Mile Island – back online and connected to the grid. 

The details: The waiver granted by FERC specifically allows Constellation Energy to transfer grid connection rights from its Eddystone natural gas-fired power plant to the nuclear facility. The Eddystone plant is located outside of Philadelphia and was originally slated to close in May of last year. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has repeatedly issued emergency orders to keep the facility open. The most recent order issued last month keeps the plant open through most of August. 

Constellation first submitted the request for the waiver in March, after PJM Interconnection said the facility would likely not be able to connect to the grid until 2031 due to transmission upgrades. This would have delayed the restart by four years, as Constellation plans to have the facility ready to go by 2027. 

The utility has said the waiver puts it back on track for hitting that 2027 target, generating more than 800 megawatts of carbon-free energy. 

Callie toured the Crane Clean Energy Center last year. You can find photos from inside here. 

UKRAINE HITS ST. PETERSBURG OIL TERMINAL: President Volodymyr Zelensky said today that Ukrainian drones hit the St. Petersburg oil terminal, nearly 700 miles from the Ukrainian border. 

The attack took place just hours before the opening of an economic forum hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Ukraine has increasingly carried out long-range drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure in recent days and weeks. 

HOOVER DAM GETS 300-FOOT AMERICAN FLAG: The states of Arizona and Nevada have joined with the Bureau of Reclamation to drape a 300-foot American flag down the Hoover Dam and illuminate it with LED lights. 

The display is scheduled to run through Independence Day, the Los Angeles Times reports. Meanwhile, water levels have gotten low enough in Lake Mead to threaten the dam’s ability to produce hydropower. 

HOUSTON INTERSTATES SHAPE CLOUD FORMATIONS: Heat from Houston’s highways combined with unusual weather to create cloud formations that neatly lined up with the interstates, the Washington Post reports. 

Atmospheric moisture was near record levels. Warm air rose above the highways, and the humidity allowed it to condense into cumulus clouds. You can see it here. 

ICYMI – HOUSE PASSES GEOTHERMAL ENERGY PACKAGE: Yesterday afternoon, the House approved a legislative package made up of parts of several Republican- and Democratic-authored bills aimed at accelerating approvals for geothermal projects. 

The details: The Geothermal Energy Advancement Act passed in a voice vote Tuesday afternoon, a significant show of bipartisanship focused on bolstering domestic energy development ahead of the midterm elections, as surging energy and electricity prices are quickly becoming a key issue for voters across the country. 

“I appreciate my colleagues across the aisle who worked with us to pass this bill. At a time of extreme political polarization, this package shows that Congress can still come together on commonsense solutions to better the lives of the American people,” Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said in a statement following the bill’s passage. 

The bill included a provision from legislation she previously introduced that would allow the Bureau of Land Management to collect fees from energy companies and geothermal leaseholders, which would then be used to cover the cost of processing project applications and monitoring activities related to geothermal exploration and development. 

You can read more about the bill from Callie here. 

RUNDOWN 

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented during a Wednesday press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that his country’s war with Russia is no longer top of mind for U.S. officials.

“Iran is the No. 1 issue for the United States, and only after that comes Ukraine,” Zelensky said in Kyiv. “Unfortunately, we are in the queue of these wars.”

Rutte arrived in Ukraine on an unannounced visit one day after a Russian drone and missile attack killed at least 13 people and injured more than 100. In the United States, members of the House of Representatives are forcing a vote on a bill that would authorize more than $1 billion in defense aid and up to $8 billion in direct loans to the embattled nation. The bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate. 

While Zelensky said the “strongest option” would be to have American and European representatives at the negotiating table, he reiterated his desire to hold direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.  

“We support any format, and I am ready for direct negotiations with Putin to end this war, rather than waiting in line for everyone to end all the conflicts in the world, and then it comes to us,” Zelensky said.

At the press conference, Rutte issued a stern warning to young Russians considering taking advantage of generous bonuses for military recruits.

RUSSIA SAYS EUROPE CHOSE WAR — AMERICA PAYS THE PRICE

“You are being sold a raw deal,” Rutte said. “Men like you will join the fight. You won’t be trained. The equipment they will provide you is substandard. There is a very high chance that you will die or will be wounded while you are out there. And odds are that if you are wounded, you will be left to suffer in the mud and die.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is currently in a marathon of hearings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Rubio told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the prospects of a negotiated settlement between Ukraine and Russia “don’t look great.”

U.S. authorities brought down suspicious drones that entered the airspace over the 2026 Masters Tournament and Formula 1's Miami Grand Prix in April and May, respectively, according to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

Mullin, who testified on Wednesday in front of the House Homeland Security Committee, told lawmakers that there were a dozen drones that entered the restricted airspace over the golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, while there were eight that entered the space over the F1 race in Florida.

"At the F1 [race] in Miami, we had eight drones that entered the space that shouldn’t be there. We were able to bring them down and find out where they came from and find the individuals, arrest them in some occasions. During the Augusta golf tournament, we had 12 that entered a no-fly zone. We were able to bring those down, too," he said, though he did not specify what counter-drone technology was used to bring them down.

The secretary said the department "learned a couple things" from those instances, adding, "Every single day we improve but that is a huge concern that we have within the stadium. I also have concerns outside the stadium in the fan-fest area, in the soft areas that are outside security."

Mullin's acknowledgment that two recent outdoor sports events had drone incursions underscores the new threats drones pose to all outdoor events, professional sports or otherwise.

His admission comes about a week before the FIFA World Cup is set to begin, which the United States is jointly hosting with Canada and Mexico.

“Drones are my biggest concern, too," Mullin acknowledged in response to a question about the security surrounding the worldwide soccer tournament. "We have spent a tremendous amount of ability and money to be able to be very offensive with drones, but on the counter-drone measures, everybody’s a little behind.”

Mullin said all 11 U.S. stadiums that will host World Cup matches have counter-drone technology, though he did not specify what type of equipment that included.

There is no single way to resolve the threats posed by drones, according to experts, though many note that a layered defense is important so that there is more than one way to stop an attack, in part because each option has its advantages and disadvantages. For domestic U.S. security and safety, it's less likely they would try to engage an incoming drone kinetically due to concerns that it could miss the intended target or that debris from an impact could fall.

Non-kinetic counter-drone technology includes but is not limited to radio-frequency cyber takeovers, directed-energy weapons, spoofing, and more.

The government's counter-drone strategy involves the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of War, the Department of Justice, and state and local law enforcement. In March, the federal agencies published a warning to the public that violating sensitive airspace with drones, even if harmless, will be met with severe punishment.

Collectively, they are all working together via Joint Interagency Task Force 401, led by Brig. Gen. Matthew Ross. He is working with the military and allies about lessons learned overseas and how those strategies can be implemented domestically.

IRAN HITS KUWAIT AND BAHRAIN IN ONE OF MOST DAMAGING ATTACKS SINCE CEASEFIRE

Ross recently visited a “battle lab” in the Middle East that the task force established “to assist in the surge of c-UAS capability to our warfighters,” and has also visited Ukraine this year, Lt. Col. Adam Scher, a spokesman for the task force, previously told the Washington Examiner.

Scher added, "Brig. Gen. Ross saw firsthand that there is no 'silver bullet' that can defeat every drone threat. What continues to be required in all theaters is a layered defense, including good intelligence to provide early warning, sensing in depth, passive protection, multiple defeat options, and proactive, entrepreneurial base commanders that are empowered to employ the full breadth of tools at their disposal to keep their forces and critical infrastructure safe."

Former Alabama head football coach Nick Saban testified in support of the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act in the Senate on Wednesday, issuing a stark warning to the chamber that, without serious change, the NCAA is like a car driving "150 miles an hour toward the Grand Canyon."

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced the Protect College Sports Act last week, marketing the bill as a bid to "restore order" to and "save college sports" by providing a regulatory framework to an NCAA rattled by litigation and disputes over its rules. The bill would roll out several regulations on the industry, including clarifications on player transfers and payments, rules on midseason coach movement, and a ban on professional players from reentering the NCAA.

CRUZ AND CANTWELL STRIKE BIPARTISAN DEAL TO ‘SAVE COLLEGE SPORTS’ AMID LEGAL BATTLES

In his testimony, Saban, the former Crimson Tide coach of 17 years and current ESPN announcer, described the exponentially rising roster costs at the University of Alabama and across the NCAA landscape.

"My first year we had, collectively at Alabama, $2.7 million," Saban said. "Next year: $7 million. Next year: $10 million. I retired. Next year: $17 million. Next year: $24 million. Now you have schools that have close to $40 million rosters.

"So if we continue to do that, we're going to lose Olympic sports, we're going to lose non-revenue sports, we're going to lose scholarships, and basically what's going to happen is we're going to have football and basketball succeed, and we'll have club sports for everything else with no scholarships. That's horrible."

Saban compared the "arms race" between schools to spend the most on their rosters to get the best players as "a race to the bottom."

"To put this in perspective, if you had the biggest, baddest Ferrari that you could ever have, and it was going 150 miles an hour toward the Grand Canyon," Saban said, "somebody needs to tap the brakes, and I think that's what we all need to do here."

Saban likened the Senate bill to the rules governing professional sports leagues, such as the National Football League and the National Basketball Association.

"They all have some kind of rules that govern how they compete," Saban said. "It creates parity, it creates something that gives you the opportunity to have a framework to build a fair play system in, which I think is really, really important. I think this bill does that. Right now, in college football, we have no rules.

"We have state laws, it's different in every state, and we have litigation. The NCAA cannot enforce their own rules, because every time they try to enforce the rule, there's a lawsuit."

Saban pointed to a lawsuit filed by Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who sued the NCAA for ruling he would not be eligible to play one more season with the Rebels or any other college team. Chambliss, who had missed a season of play at his previous school, Division II Ferris State, because of medical reasons, argued he should receive another year of eligibility. The Mississippi state court ruled in his favor.

The Chambliss lawsuit is one of many legal battles the NCAA is fighting over various regulatory matters, including whether to pay former college athletes for their lost name, image, and likeness profits. These lawsuits have caused a major headache for the NCAA as the association navigates uncharted territory, where big-name college athletic departments are shelling out millions of dollars on their rosters for high-profile sports such as football and basketball.

Saban and other NCAA voices, such as Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, who also testified on Wednesday, are supporting Cruz and Cantwell's bill for several reasons, including its five-year eligibility standard and provisions to close loopholes that allow universities to evade their annual player compensation cap. One of the biggest of these NIL loopholes is called collectives, which Saban described as "an organization that raises money basically from alumni to be able to pay players and disguise it as marketing opportunities."

RUBIO GRILLED OVER TRUMP’S NATIONAL SECURITY PICKS AND FOREIGN POLICY PRIORITIES: ‘IT’S NOT FUNNY, SECRETARY’

Cruz and Cantwell's bill would also include protections for NIL for student-athletes, a one-time transfer standard, protections against midseason coach transitions, and the creation of a student-athlete ombudsman position for oversight.

It also aims to tackle the imbalances between the wealthiest conferences, such as the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten, and the rest of the nation's athletic conferences.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio grew visibly annoyed with the Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee during his Wednesday testimony, openly voicing his exasperation in several exchanges.

Rubio appeared before the committee to provide updates on the war with Iran and other foreign policy developments. Nearly every exchange with Democrats was hostile, but one area of contention was how Democrats monopolized their allotted time without giving him a chance to respond.

In an exchange over Israel with Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Rubio complained about the rules of the hearing after being prevented from answering, saying, "You guys have to fix the rules here, you can't even answer a question."

"This is a weird rule, where you ask a question and I can't answer," he said.

Rubio scolded Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) after she asked him who won the 2020 presidential election, saying it was inappropriate for a committee dedicated to foreign affairs.

"I'm not here to answer about 2020, this is a foreign affairs committee. … I don't do campaign," he said. "That's been the long tradition of the department, and you should know that if you've been on this committee for any period of time."

Jacobs responded with a prewritten closing remark, saying Rubio couldn't tell the truth, as he couldn't tell President Donald Trump that the shoes he gifted the secretary of state were too big — apparently referring to a report claiming as much.

"I don't know what shoe she's talking to," Rubio responded, confused. "What is she talking about?"

"We're talking about shoes," he said. "Are you guys kidding me? I mean, is this the Foreign Affairs Committee, or is this like a circus? What is this thing?"

RUBIO GRILLED OVER TRUMP’S NATIONAL SECURITY PICKS AND FOREIGN POLICY PRIORITIES: ‘IT’S NOT FUNNY, SECRETARY’

His exchange with Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) was equally testy, filled with bickering over time and the ability to respond. When her time ended with her yelling over Rubio for a final point, the secretary of state quipped, "Oh, she gets to scream now, too?"

"What kind of thing is this? What is this?" he said. "You get asked questions for five minutes, and you don't get time to answer? That's not a hearing, that's a dunk tank."

The campaign team for Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner reportedly sent out a memo on Wednesday revealing its strategy to boost the candidate after a new scandal emerged last week.

Platner’s campaign plans to highlight his polling lead over incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a strong fundraising week, and Maine voters maintaining their support for him following reports that Platner sent sexual texts to multiple women during his marriage, according to the memo. 

The campaign said the bottom line is that Collins is “losing her grip” on Maine’s voters because she is not focusing on the issues they care about. 

“This is a race against an incumbent losing her grip on voters who put her there,” the memo said. “Maine is focused on the cost of living and whether it still trusts Susan Collins. Across the board — the poll numbers, the fundraising, the conversations with voters — all signs point in our favor.” 

His campaign highlighted a Public Policy Polling survey conducted following news of Platner’s extramarital exchanges reported over the weekend. The survey found that Platner has a 4-point lead over Collins in a head-to-head matchup in the general election, with 49% for Platner and 45% for Collins. The survey consisted of 670 registered voters in Maine, and roughly 6% said they were undecided. 

While his campaign touted his 4-point advantage, the margin decreased from polls conducted in May before the sexually explicit texting scandal. A University of New Hampshire poll conducted from May 21-25 favored Platner by 9 points over Collins. 

The recent PPP poll also asked participants who they preferred after hearing negative information about each candidate. For Platner, participants were told about the recent texting scandal, and for Collins, they were told the senator “used her position as US Senator to help steer over $50 million in government contracts to her husband’s company,” claims that the Associated Press said were unfounded in 2020, but Platner has continued to boast. 

After receiving the negative information, surveyed voters still favored Platner by a 4-point margin. 

The campaign also said it has seen “some of the strongest fundraising” thus far in the days after Platner’s controversy dominated the news cycle. It said there was an 18% increase in small-dollar donations compared to the previous week, with Maine voters driving a 27% increase. 

As for Maine voters, Platner’s campaign framed them as unbothered by his controversies because of his platform.

“They care that you’re fighting for their hospitals, their wages, their housing, and their kids,” the reported memo said. “This campaign has always been about the ideas that will move Maine forward.” 

GRAHAM PLATNER ENDS TRIP TO DC AND NYC EARLY AFTER MEDIA SHOWED UP AT FAMILY’S HOUSE

Reports of the damage control memo follow Platner's meeting with national party leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who later sidestepped several questions about the exchange, reaffirming the party’s determination to unseat Collins.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Platner's campaign for comment.

California’s primary elections were on Tuesday, yet we will not truly know the results for several weeks, because California’s incompetence in every area of governance extends to elections.

As of 9 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, 13 hours after polls closed Tuesday night, California has counted about 58% of the total votes cast. For comparison, in that same time frame, Iowa, Montana, and South Dakota have counted more than 95% of the votes cast, and New Jersey has counted more than 90%. You can quibble that those states had a head start of a few hours over California, but it’s irrelevant; California won’t have counted more than 95% of the votes by the end of this week.

HILTON, BECERRA, STEYER IN EARLY LEAD IN CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR'S RACE AS VOTE COUNT CONTINUES

You could argue that California has such a large population that the slower vote count makes sense, but it is still so disproportionately, absurdly slow compared to other large states. Florida, with a population of nearly 24 million and spanning two time zones, is able to count nearly all of its votes within a few hours of polls closing. In 2024, it took California a week to count 76% of its votes, with 43 congressional and state legislature races counting less than 70% of the tally. In 2018, it took nearly a month after the election for the Democratic candidate to declare victory in the state’s competitive 21st Congressional District, and in 2020, it took until December for him to concede after a loss.

Because California allows mail-in ballots to flood in after election day and relies heavily on distributing mail-in ballots, the state drags its elections out for weeks or even months, with no urgency in the counting process once the ballots do arrive. Conspiracy theories are inevitable, as scores of late votes dramatically shift the vote share in crucial races in a way that always seems to favor Democrats. You would be hard-pressed to argue they are unfounded, either, when Gov. Gavin Newsom is running around talking about secret plans Democrats have to undermine the process if it doesn't play out the way they want.

BASS ADVANCES TO RUNOFF IN LOS ANGELES MAYORAL ELECTION, BUT HER OPPONENT REMAINS UNKNOWN

Civilized societies don’t run elections this way because it destroys voter trust in the system. Worse still, these same California Democrats who refuse to fix this system want to turn presidential elections into a contest decided by the national popular vote, where California’s glacial vote-counting would hold the nation hostage and amplify conspiracy theories far more than anything Donald Trump said after losing in 2020.

California Democrats cannot build houses or infrastructure in a reasonable time frame, and they can’t count votes at a reasonable pace either. Every failure in California, from slow vote counts to the perpetually delayed high-speed rail, can be chalked up to the total incompetence and apathy of Democratic politicians.

Senate Republicans removed $1 billion in Secret Service security funding for the White House and President Donald Trump’s yet-to-be-built East Wing ballroom from the party’s immigration enforcement bill, according to new legislative text released Wednesday.

The move was in response to Republican opposition over the optics of taxpayers footing the $220 million bill for ballroom security and the Senate parliamentarian's determination that the funding did not comply with rules of reconciliation, the filibuster-skirting process the party is using to bypass Democrats.

The updated text, released by the Senate Judiciary Committee ahead of a procedural vote Wednesday afternoon to advance the bill, also removed additional funding for the Justice Department.

The roughly $70 billion measure centers on funding federal immigration agencies and the Department of Homeland Security through 2029 after Democrats blocked money for the agencies in government funding legislation earlier this year to protest Trump’s deportation agenda. It is known as the SECURE America Act.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said the bill ensures DHS funding can no longer be “held hostage by Democrats’ radical leftist agenda.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS WANT ASSURANCE ANTI-WEAPONIZATION FUND IS DEAD FOR GOOD

“Democrats broke the appropriations process because they want to reopen the southern border, defund federal law enforcement and leave American communities vulnerable to violent criminals, potential terrorists, illicit drugs and deadly contraband,” Grassley said in a statement. “Republicans’ top priority is to provide for the public safety and security of American citizens.”

Republicans could advance to final passage as soon as Thursday, but not before a marathon amendment session and more possible changes to the bill that GOP senators say they require to support it, including language to block Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” that the administration vows it is no longer pursuing.

Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York argued the new face for the director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, lacks qualifications for the position. 

“It seems like a pretty poor choice here,” York said on Fox News’s Special Report Tuesday. 

President Donald Trump tapped Pulte for the position after the previous director, Tulsi Gabbard, resigned following her husband’s cancer diagnosis. 

Pulte is the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but has come under fire for his lack of international security experience. 

York cited a clip host John Roberts played from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), where he said he doesn’t see any of the qualifications that Pulte would have for the position. 

“I don’t either,” York agreed. “I’m not sure exactly what explains it.”

York also criticized Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz for dodging questions about Pulte. 

When asked about the appointment, Oz responded vaguely.

“I think Bill is a great guy. I know him socially, I have not worked with him in his current job, but I do trust the president’s judgment. He is a very sharp and quick study of people, their emotional abilities, and their ability to persevere in the face of hardship. So, I have confidence in his decision,” Oz said.

York joked that he doesn’t think Oz is “going to give up his day job.”

CONGRESS BLINDSIDED BY TRUMP’S PULTE PICK AND QUESTIONS QUALIFICATIONS FOR INTELLIGENCE CHIEF

York also pointed out that Pulte would still have to be confirmed by the Senate if he is nominated for the position.

Currently, Pulte only serves in an acting capacity and has not been named permanently to the role.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) in a tense scene Wednesday on Capitol Hill over documents that appeared to show the senator’s son met with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2016.

Bessent, testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, clashed with Wyden, who is the committee’s ranking member, early on in the hearing. During his opening statement, Wyden railed against the Treasury Department under Bessent and accused him of being involved in preventing transparency regarding Epstein.

BESSENT CLARIFIES THREAT AGAINST BILL PULTE: HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO ‘KICK HIS A**’

Bessent responded to Wyden at the tail end of his own opening remarks.

“Sen. Wyden has mendaciously slandered the Treasury building in an attempt to cover up his son having an investment meeting with Jeffrey Epstein to ask for funding,” Bessent said.

Wyden shot back.

“Let's be clear here, nobody is interested in the ramblings of a capo in the most corrupt regime in American history,” Wyden responded, referencing a caporegime, which is a leadership position within the Mafia hierarchy.

Bessent then called out Wyden’s son by name.

“And we would like to hear what Adam Wyden and Jeffrey Epstein talked about,” Bessent continued. “Your son's largest investment position was Rick's Cabaret. So, did your son and Jeffrey Epstein talk about pole dancing, as he begged him for money using your limited credibility?”

During his opening remarks, Wyden attacked Bessent and brought up Epstein, a child sex offender whose death while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges was ruled a suicide.

“Even outside of economic matters, the treasury secretary is simply out of step with the American people,” Wyden said. “There's no better example than the fact that there's been a cover-up of the massive file of Epstein's financial records for a year and a half.”

Documents released by the Justice Department earlier this year appear to show that Adam Wyden, the founder of ADW Capital, and Epstein met.

As part of an email exchange, Adam Wyden appeared to call them “like minded individuals” and said he “would very much look forward to having you join us at the fund.”

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT TRUMP ACCOUNTS AS TREASURY ROLLS OUT APP

The Washington Examiner asked Adam Wyden for comment about the exchange.

Video of the exchange between Wyden and Bessent made the rounds on social media on Wednesday. Rep. William Timmons (R-SC), a member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, posted the clip and asked whether it is something the committee should look into.

Washington Examiner columnist Guy Benson raised questions about New Jersey Democratic congressional candidate Adam Hamawy and his ties to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. 

Benson argued that Hamawy’s earlier legal and international work revelations could pose political problems for Democrats. 

In 1994, Hamawy volunteered in Bosnia with a Chicago-based nonprofit group called the “Benevolence International Foundation," which was later shut down for providing “logistical support” to al Qaeda. Hamawy, a plastic surgeon, previously volunteered at a hospital in Gaza amid the war between Israel and Hamas, garnering him support from Democrats. He also testified in favor of Omar Abdel-Rahman, “The Blind Sheikh,” during his trial for the bombing, accompanied him on a trip, and translated documents for him.

Benson pointed to his recent radio interview with former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy, who prosecuted the original case, where they underscored the heightened scrutiny surrounding the candidate's past role. 

“So we had Andy McCarthy on my radio show just recently," Benson said on Fox News’s Fox and Friends Tuesday. "Andy was one of the prosecutors who put away the Blind Sheik, this arch-terrorist mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing with the goal of murdering thousands of New Yorkers.”

Recalling the scope of the investigation, McCarthy said the case against the Blind Sheik encompassed not only the World Trade Center bombing but also a wider terrorist plot targeting several New York landmarks.

“The case that we convicted the Blind Sheik was kind of a two-phase thing. One was the World Trade Center bombing, and the second phase was this New York City landmarks plot where they were planning to do simultaneous bombings of the Lincoln and Holland Tunnel, the FBI’s lower Manhattan headquarters, the U.N.’s complex, an American military facility,” McCarthy said on the Guy Benson Show Thursday.

Emphasizing the depth of Hamawy’s ties to the convicted terrorist leader, Benson said, “The man you just mentioned, running for Congress in New Jersey, was his interpreter, traveled around with him, was a confidant, and was a defense witness at that trial.” 

Benson further cited Jewish Insider reporting that drew attention to additional scrutiny of Hamawy’s later overseas activities. 

“Beyond that, Bryan [Kilmeade], Jewish Insider has reported that same man subsequently went to Bosnia to volunteer for an organization that was later exposed as an al Qaeda front and shut down,” he said.

Benson also suggested that, given Hamawy’s relationship with the Blind Sheikh, the connection between Bosnia and al Qaeda couldn’t be a coincidence.

Expanding on the significance of the Bosnia connection, McCarthy described how extremist leaders sought to replicate the recruitment model that had emerged during the Soviet-Afghan conflict. 

“If you were a young guy like Hamawy was back then, the most prominent people in jihadist circles in the United States at that time and in the New York area were the Muslims who had gone to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets,” he said. 

McCarthy suggested that Hamawy’s overseas activities may have been motivated, at least in part, by a desire to gain status and credibility within certain political and ideological circles.

PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATIC HOUSE FRONT-RUNNER ADAM HAMAWY FACES SCRUTINY OVER PAST TERRORIST ASSOCIATION

“So, if you were a person who wanted to have prestige in these circles. The ticket to that was to go someplace where you could participate in the jihad, not just talk about it, go there and participate in it, partake in it,” he said. 

“This man is a leading candidate for Congress in New Jersey, a state that lost more than 700 people on 9/11. Are Democrats really going to make someone like this their nominee for the United States Congress?” Benson said.

In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.

The last time major legislation regulating college athletics was scheduled for a vote in Congress, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) lit into the proposal, highlighting many of the problems with modern college athletics that the bill failed to address.

“If we’re going to take a big federal step because a federal court intervened and we’re going to intervene, well then maybe we should fully intervene,” Roy said during a hearing a week before the bill was pulled from the House floor. “Maybe we should fix the damn mess so that we don’t have 16 teams in the SEC and 17 teams in the ACC and 19 teams in the Big 10 and fricking Stanford and Berkeley on the West Coast in the Atlantic Coast Conference all because of money.”

SKIP THE WELLNESS MAXING AND HAVE SOME WINE

Roy’s criticisms of the SCORE Act were well-founded and helped inspire new bipartisan legislation in the Senate. The Protect College Sports Act, written by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), and co-sponsored by Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Eric Schmitt (R-MO), addresses almost all of Roy’s concerns, and more.

The legislation is not perfect. Like any compromise, nobody is completely happy with the final product. But it is a good-faith effort to address what almost everyone agrees is a chaotic and unsustainable status quo. Some stakeholders would come out as clear winners should the legislation become law, while others would be clear losers.

Winners

Students

College sports has entered a new era in which athletes can be paid in two major ways: through outside name, image, and likeness deals, and, under the House v. NCAA settlement, directly by their schools through revenue sharing. Beginning in 2025, schools can share roughly $20.5 million per year with athletes, a massive new expense for athletic departments already paying for larger staffs, facilities, and travel. Many schools are already ignoring that limit.

Schools are already passing those costs on to students. Clemson approved a new $150-per-semester athletics fee expected to raise $8 million. Minnesota added a $200 athletics fee to help offset its revenue-sharing shortfall. South Carolina created a new $150-per-term athletics auxiliary fee. Florida opened the door for universities to use auxiliary revenue from campus services such as housing, parking, bookstores, and food service to pay athletes. Professionalized college sports are not funded solely by television networks — students are being asked to underwrite the arms race.

The Protect College Sports Act would relieve these pressures by creating and enforcing player compensation caps and transfer eligibility rules.

99% of college athletes

Roughly 99% of college athletes either receive no NIL money at all or far less than six figures. The Protect College Sports Act does not take anything away from this 99%. It does not take away scholarships or ban NIL. For the vast majority of students, the bill preserves NIL rights while making the system more stable.

In fact, the bill gives college athletes new protections they do not have today. It establishes health, wellness, and safety standards so schools cannot treat players as disposable assets. It strengthens academic and scholarship protections so athletes are not punished for pursuing an education or left vulnerable if their athletic role changes. It also requires schools to provide full out-of-pocket medical coverage for athletic injuries during participation and for five years after eligibility ends. For the 99%, the Protect College Sports Act is a win-win.

College football fans

College football rivalries are the lifeblood of the sport, embodying generations of passion, regional pride, historic traditions, and community bonds that transform ordinary Saturdays into cultural events. The conference expansion era has killed many rivalries, including the Apple Cup (Washington vs. Washington State), Bedlam (Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State), the Border War (Kansas vs. Missouri), and the Backyard Brawl (Pitt vs. West Virginia).

The Protect College Sports Act protects these rivalries through its media rights provisions in Title II, which grant conferences an antitrust exemption for pooling and jointly selling broadcasting rights only if they enforce scheduling mandates under traditional rivalry preservation rules.

Non-power conference schools

The Protect College Sports Act would also help even the playing field for non-power conference schools by allowing conferences to pool their broadcasting rights instead of forcing every league to negotiate alone against the SEC and Big Ten. Today, the richest conferences use massive TV contracts to separate themselves financially, while smaller conferences are left with less media revenue, weaker bargaining power, and more pressure to raise fees, cut sports, or chase unstable realignment deals. By permitting collective media-rights arrangements, the bill would let more schools share in the value of college football as a national product, strengthen regional leagues, protect Olympic and women’s sports, and reduce the incentive for schools to abandon traditional rivals just to survive financially.

Losers

Top 1% of college athletes

There is no getting around the fact that some people are made worse off by the Protect College Sports Act, and the richest, most talented athletes are at the top of that list. Under the hard caps of the bill, Arch Manning (son of NFL legend Peyton Manning) would not be making over $6 million a year playing for Texas, and Shedeur Sanders (son of NFL legend Deion Sanders) would not have made $4 million playing for Colorado. NFL quarterbacks Riley Leonard and Will Howard, of the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers, respectively, said they took pay cuts moving from Notre Dame and Ohio State to the pro game. The Protect College Sports Act would bring those richest-of-the-rich payouts back down to earth.

Big Ten/SEC duopoly

The Big Ten and SEC are big losers under the Protect College Sports Act because the bill threatens the advantages that let them dominate college sports. By allowing broader pooling of college football media rights, it would weaken the two conferences’ ability to hoard television value for themselves and give other leagues a better claim on national broadcast revenue.

The bill also aims to prevent college football from becoming a two-conference super league. By restoring national rules and reducing the incentives for endless realignment, it would make it harder for the SEC and Big Ten to keep raiding other conferences, consolidate power, and force everyone else to compete on their terms.

Greedy coaches

Defenders of the current college chaos love to point to the freedom of greedy college coaches to jump ship midseason for bigger paychecks to justify similar anarchy in player compensation. Enter the Protect College Sports Act, which includes the so-called “Lane Kiffin Rule,” stopping coaches from abandoning their teams before the season is over.

The bill also cracks down on recruiting tampering, making it harder for coaches and boosters to lure athletes from other programs before they have properly entered the transfer portal. Together, these rules send a simple message: Coaches should not be able to chase bigger paychecks, raid other rosters, or destabilize college sports while asking their own athletes to stay loyal and finish the season.

HOW THE SUPREME COURT BROKE COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Greedy lawyers

The Protect College Sports Act is bad for greedy lawyers because it would end the litigation chaos that has turned college sports into a legal free-for-all. Today, every unclear NIL rule, transfer dispute, eligibility fight, and state-law conflict creates another opportunity for lawsuits, settlements, and legal fees. The bill replaces that chaos with one national framework for NIL, revenue sharing, transfers, tampering, and enforcement. It also caps athlete-agent fees at 5%, ensuring more money goes to college athletes rather than lawyers and agents trying to profit from them.

College sports do not need more chaos wrapped in free-market rhetoric. It needs rules that protect students, preserve rivalries, reward ordinary athletes, and stop the richest programs, coaches, agents, and lawyers from rigging the system for themselves. The Protect College Sports Act is not perfect, but it is a necessary reset.

A top Justice Department official deleted a social media post Wednesday that appeared to signal the Trump administration was exploring an alternative avenue to compensate people it believes were targeted by Biden administration-era "weaponization," raising fresh questions about whether a controversial $1.8 billion reimbursement plan is truly dead.

The post by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward surfaced less than a day after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche assured lawmakers that the administration was abandoning plans for a proposed anti-weaponization fund that had sparked bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill.

“We’re on it,” Woodward wrote late Tuesday in response to a post from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggesting that victims of alleged political targeting could instead seek compensation through claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The post was deleted Wednesday morning, with no context about why it was deleted or if plans had changed yet again.

Woodward’s comment quickly drew attention because it appeared to endorse an alternative pathway for compensating individuals who claim they were unfairly investigated or prosecuted during former President Joe Biden’s administration.

The controversy centers on a proposed $1.776 billion fund negotiated as part of President Donald Trump’s settlement of a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The agreement also resolved two civil claims tied to the Russia investigation and the FBI’s 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

The proposal would have created a five-member commission to review compensation claims from individuals who argued they had been subjected to political targeting by the federal government.

Critics immediately dubbed the proposal a “slush fund,” warning it could allow payments to some of the roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants pardoned by Trump after returning to office.

Facing mounting resistance from both parties, the administration backed away from the proposal this week.

The controversy had begun spilling beyond the fund itself and into Trump’s broader legislative agenda. Senate Republicans warned that continued uncertainty over the proposal could jeopardize a roughly $72 billion budget reconciliation bill designed to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol operations through 2029.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) publicly urged the administration to abandon the fund, arguing lawmakers should instead return to a narrowly focused immigration bill. Other Republicans warned that keeping the proposal alive could complicate both the reconciliation legislation and annual government funding bills.

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, vowed to force votes on outright bans of the fund. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) argued that the administration's promises were insufficient and announced plans to offer amendments permanently prohibiting any future anti-weaponization fund.

During testimony Tuesday before the House Appropriations Committee, Blanche sought to reassure skeptical lawmakers that the plan would not move forward.

“We are not moving forward with the fund. Period,” Blanche told lawmakers.

When pressed by Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) on whether the administration was “not moving forward ever” with the fund, Blanche responded, “Correct.”

Those assurances came after several Republican senators signaled they would not support a massive immigration and border security package unless the administration clearly abandoned the proposal.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-MN), John Curtis (R-UT), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) were among Republicans who publicly demanded stronger commitments from the DOJ, while Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) prepared legislation that would permanently prohibit the creation of such a fund.

The political fallout grew large enough that lawmakers warned it could jeopardize passage of broader $72 billion legislation funding immigration enforcement priorities.

Even after Blanche’s testimony, however, some lawmakers remained concerned that the administration could pursue other mechanisms for compensating alleged victims of government misconduct.

Woodward’s now-deleted post is likely to intensify those concerns.

Under existing law, the DOJ already has the authority to settle lawsuits and legal claims against the federal government through the Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund and other settlement mechanisms. As a result, the demise of the dedicated anti-weaponization fund does not necessarily foreclose compensation claims by individuals who successfully establish legal liability against the government.

The problem remains politically sensitive because some Trump allies have argued that people prosecuted in connection with Jan. 6 or other politically charged investigations deserve compensation.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) defended the concept this week, arguing that some individuals were financially ruined by prosecutions he views as unjust. Meanwhile, some Republicans, including Reps. Andrew Clyde (GA) and Scott Perry (PA) lamented the DOJ's abandonment of the fund.

Other Republicans have sharply disagreed.

In a Wall Street Journal opinion column published after the administration announced it would abandon the fund, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) urged Congress to permanently block any future effort to revive it.

Cornyn, who is fresh off of his primary election defeat to Trump-endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, argued that directing nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer money to compensate Trump allies would establish a troubling precedent and expose Republicans to political attacks. He called on lawmakers to enact legislation ensuring the proposal could not be revived later.

Meanwhile, Trump indicated Tuesday that he still supports the underlying concept of compensating people he believes were wrongfully targeted by the government.

Speaking on the New York Post's "Pod Force One" podcast, Trump said the administration was stepping back from the fund because “the court ruled against it,” but added that individuals he pardoned should be “reimbursed for a crooked government.”

TODD BLANCHE SAYS DOJ WILL NOT MOVE FORWARD WITH ANTI-WEAPONIZATION FUND

The legal fight over the proposal remains in flux. Last week, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, temporarily blocked the DOJ from implementing the fund and scheduled a hearing for June 12 while she considers a challenge brought by opponents of the plan.

Woodward’s deleted message is likely to fuel scrutiny from Democrats who argue the administration is still searching for ways to provide payments despite Blanche’s public assurances that the fund itself is no longer moving forward.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed reporting of a highly publicized clash between himself and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte last year, although he said that such confrontations happen when working on a team.

During a Wednesday hearing before the Senate Finance Committee to testify on President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, Bessent faced questions about Pulte, who was recently named acting director of national intelligence.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT BILL PULTE, TRUMP’S PICK TO BE ACTING ODNI CHIEF 

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said he had an “awkward” question for the treasury secretary and asked whether reporting was true that Bessent told Pulte he was going to punch him in the face last year during an event after hearing that Pulte had been badmouthing him to Trump.

“No, sir, I actually said I was going to kick his a**,” Bessent said.

“Good, OK, good — I share the emotion,” Tillis responded.

Bessent then clarified that the dustup happened last summer and that “many teams have fights in the locker room and then go out and win for the team.”

“I had a very good exchange with the director yesterday,” Bessent added.

Pulte has generated headlines during his time at the FHFA for his willingness to act as Trump’s attack dog and for recommending mortgage fraud investigations into several of Trump’s political opponents.

In one such case, Pulte accused Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook of mortgage fraud, prompting Trump to fire her and the Justice Department to open an investigation into the allegations. The Supreme Court is weighing the legality of her firing.

Trump tapped Pulte to be acting director of national intelligence on Tuesday, replacing Tulsi Gabbard, who will resign from the role at the end of this month. Pulte will remain on concurrently as head of the FHFA.

His appointment has faced some blowback for Pulte’s lack of intelligence experience.

During the Wednesday hearing, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who is also the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, asked Bessent if he knew whether Pulte even has a security clearance, to which Bessent replied he did not.

BILL PULTE TAKES THE HELM OF AN INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY MARRED BY INFIGHTING

“In being head of the FHFA, isn't that a full-time job?” Warner asked.

“It’s a very important position,” Bessent responded.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin on Wednesday backed a House Republican's call for bipartisan legislation to increase penalties for protesters who publicly disclose the identities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel.

ICE officers, especially if they are unmasked, have been frequently doxed as they conduct immigration enforcement operations. This pattern reemerged at Delaney Hall in New Jersey last week when an anti-ICE protester threatened to kill an officer and his family.

Mullin supported the idea of strengthened criminal penalties for violent protesters if federal officers are prohibited from wearing masks in certain jurisdictions.

"If we want to eliminate the officers from having to wear masks, then increase the penalties," he told lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee. "If they dox them, they threaten them in any way whatsoever, it should be a very stiff penalty to get all their attention. And then those that are funding the protest should also be held accountable the same way."

The man who threatened the ICE officer, along with his wife and children, outside the Newark detention center was identified as Nicholas Matthew Scelfo, a 27-year-old from Brooklyn. He was arrested and subsequently charged with threatening to assault and murder an ICE officer, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey.

Mullin said the threats were unwarranted and touted his department's ability to track down protesters who dox officers and their families on social media.

"This officer that was threatened didn't have a mask on, but he does have a family," he said. "What's interesting is they knew his family because they're very sophisticated. These aren't just peaceful rioters or peaceful protesters out there. They're well funded, and they have technology."

The secretary's response came after Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) suggested a bill to enhance the penalties for doxing, intimidating, or otherwise threatening federal officers. The congressman then vowed that it is "exactly what I'm going to do," and asked his Democratic colleagues on the committee for their support.

After the hearing was briefly disrupted by Democrats saying the legislation should include federal judges and elected officials as well, Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) asked Pfluger to direct his questions to the head witness.

The Washington Examiner contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment on whether Mullin would back an ICE mask-wearing policy change if he backs stronger penalties for doxing.

MULLIN CITES ‘POLITICIZED’ COURTS IN REFUSAL TO COMMIT TO DHS OBEYING RULINGS

There is no federal legislation banning ICE officers from wearing masks, but Democrats may pursue that if Republicans push a doxing-related bill that covers ICE personnel.

A growing list of blue states — including California, New Jersey, New York, Washington, and Oregon — have laws in place that restrict ICE's mask-wearing policy. The federal government is challenging a mask ban adopted by New Jersey, and in California, a federal judge effectively blocked enforcement of the state's mask ban.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions held a hearing Wednesday about concerns over gender transition procedures for minors.

Several senators, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), attended the hearing.

Cassidy argued that healthcare professionals and their organizations profit from recommending and executing gender transition surgeries.

“We should be treating each child with the specialized care they need, not encouraging a 9-year-old boy to become a girl,” Cassidy said.

He also emphasized that the basic role of a parent is to protect children from harm and to “put politics aside.”

He called a witness, 21-year-old Chloe Cole. Cole detransitioned after having a double mastectomy at age 15.

She blasted medical professionals for taking away her breasts at a young age and said her parents were misinformed. 

“I hadn’t even had my first kiss or practiced driving before,” Cole said. "How could they take away part of my womanhood before I was even old enough to call myself one?

“I have no breasts, because they were replaced with scars.”

DETRANSITIONER SPEAKS OUT ABOUT STRUGGLE TO REVERSE RUSHED TRANSGENDER TREATMENT

She continued, saying that her parents were told her mental health would rapidly deteriorate if she didn’t transition, and signs that she had “short hair” meant she wanted to be a boy.

“'Transition your daughter, or bury her.' That's the lie my parents were told,” Cole said.

She said she never found the peace and acceptance that medical professionals promised her and her parents. She now has medical complications and will not be able to breastfeed, even if she is able to have children.

She said her gender was treated as a disease that could only be fixed through surgery and argued that some doctors prey on children.

“Any member of Congress who defends this should have to look parents in the eye and explain why their child’s body is now a commodity that they can sell to the gender industry,” Cole said.

She continues to be an active voice in the community, working to stop these procedures on children.

“I was not a sick boy trapped in a girl's body.”

MALE ATHLETE IN SUPREME COURT TRANSGENDER SPORTS CASE PLACED HIGH IN GIRLS’ STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS: WEST VIRGINIA AG

Sanders, however, said the hearing was a waste of time. 

“This hearing is disappointing,” Sanders said.

“We are using precious committee time dealing with an issue that impacts at most, less than one hundredth of 1% of teenagers throughout America, and zero kids under the age of 12.”

He said a hearing that could take several hours only affects such a small number of people. He said their time could be put toward other topics, such as child poverty and hunger, which he said are rampant in the United States.

He argued gender-affirming care should be between doctors, patients, and parents, not politics.

Sanders called on witness Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for LGBTQ Rights. Minter, a transgender man, also said the decision should stay out of politics because parents know their children best.

He said the government is attempting to rob families of making decisions about their own children. 

“Parents, not politicians, know their children best,” Minter said.

Another witness called by Cassidy argued that some organizations do not have the children's best interest, and that pediatric doctors accept these guidelines anyway.

APPEALS COURT STRIKES DOWN WAR DEPARTMENT’S BAN ON TRANSGENDER TROOPS

Dr. Kurt Miceli, psychologist and chief medical officer at Do No Harm, said these organizations, such as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, influence failures within the profession.

They are “not driven by science, but by ideology,” Miceli said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wouldn't share the details of the illness that has kept Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) out of Congress for nearly three months, but told reporters his health condition is “very common.”

“I do know what his health issue is, but he's asked me not to disclose that, and I'm going to honor that,” Johnson said Wednesday during the House GOP leadership press conference. “I should do that. That's my job. I'll do the same for anyone.”

Johnson went on to say that he told Kean there is “nothing untoward or scandalous at all in having a health issue.”

“As soon as he's ready to talk about that, you're all going to breathe a sigh of relief and say, 'That makes sense,'” Johnson said in defense of Kean. “What he's dealing with is something very common and not a big thing.”

Johnson previously said in mid-May he didn't "even know the details" of Kean's condition as pressure mounted to disclose details of his whereabouts.

Kean has not voted in the House since early March, missing over 100 votes. The New Jersey Republican and his office have offered few details about his absence, saying only that he is recovering from an unspecified illness. 

In a Tuesday statement ahead of polls closing in New Jersey’s primary elections, Kean, who was unopposed, said that he will return to in-person work after his prolonged absence on Capitol Hill in a “matter of weeks.”

“Right now I am focused on my recovery and under the advice of healthcare professionals, I will transition from virtual work to in person work within a matter of weeks,” the 57-year-old lawmaker wrote. “At that time I will be completely transparent as to the nature of my medical condition.”

Kean will face former Navy pilot Rebecca Bennett, a Democrat, in the general election in November to represent New Jersey’s 7th congressional district. The race is expected to be one of the most competitive in the country.

Johnson called Kean an “extraordinary member of Congress" who has "delivered for the people of New Jersey."

TOM KEAN JR. SET FOR MATCHUP WITH DEMOCRAT REBECCA BENNETT IN NOVEMBER

“He ran without opposition in the primary yesterday," Johnson said. "He deserved to, because he has been a phenomenal member of Congress, and a great member of our team here.”

“People are entitled to get sick, you know. This happens, and that's the most we can say about it," Johnson said. "He's gonna give full transparency and full explanation when he gets back, and I've encouraged him to do that.”