NEED TO KNOW

• Melania Trump insisted that she tells her husband, Donald Trump, how she really feels about his speeches and interviews, even though he “sometimes doesn’t want to hear it”
• “I always say the truth,” she said during an appearance on Fox & Friends on Wednesday, Sept. 23
• The first lady made the comments while discussing what she thought about Trump’s United Nations General Assembly speech in New York City the day prior

Melania Trump said her husband, President Donald Trump, “doesn’t always want to hear it” when she shares her thoughts.

Speaking on Fox & Friends on Wednesday, Sept. 23, Melania, 56, praised Trump’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City the day prior when questioned whether he’d asked for any feedback from his wife.

“I told him he had [a] great delivery, he did very well. And a great speech,” the first lady — who was on the show to discuss the launch of Imperia, a network for women CEOs, and her Fostering the Future Together initiative — said.

She added of her husband, “So I tell him the truth. Sometimes he doesn’t want to hear it, what I tell him, but that’s okay. I always say the truth.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Melania also spoke about how Trump, 80, had been handling his second term as president, in comparison to his first term in office, saying, “He’s very focused. He has a lot on his plate. It’s very different, what’s going on around the world now. But I think he’s doing the best that he can.”

“He works nonstop. He has the most energy than anybody. He’s from morning [until] evening nonstop working,” she added.

Trump has previously mentioned Melania giving him feedback, including when he said she wasn’t a fan of his onstage dancing earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Melania recently ended a 32-day absence from public view with a speech from the White House Rose Garden on Aug. 20, highlighting her Fostering the Future initiative and plans to expand its national network, PEOPLE previously reported.

At the time, Melania approached the podium and immediately began her speech, saying, “Good afternoon. I heard you missed me?” The audience laughed before she added, “Here I am.”

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Her comments about Trump on Fox & Friends on Wednesday morning came after the president addressed world leaders across the globe on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

During his speech, he boasted about his record as a peacemaker, as well as questioning whether he should “annihilate” Iran.

The president also took a moment to address CNN during a press exchange at the event after spotting one of the network’s reporters days after he announced a ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters from the White House.

“I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me. You shouldn’t be here! You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me. You shouldn’t be covering me,” he told CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins.

Collins could be heard replying, “The United Nations allowed us in, sir.” She repeated her assertion in a post on X, saying that CNN was “credentialed by the United Nations to cover the General Assembly.”

During her exchange with the president, she asked, “Two thirds of Americans don’t think the U.S. is winning the war with Iran. When will it end?”

Trump replied, “We’re making a lot of progress. Our country is doing really, really well. Thank you very much, everybody.”

Read the original article on People

UNITED NATIONS/DUBAI, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Iran and the United States remain far apart on how to end their war but diplomacy must continue, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday, after Iran's president told the UN General Assembly that Tehran would never surrender to US pressure.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in his speech in ‌New York, condemned what he called "signs of a bullying mentality" from US President Donald Trump, who had used the same forum on Tuesday to threaten to "annihilate" Iran.

The duelling speeches at the annual ‌UN gathering bookended the first shuttle talks between the US and Iran for months, though they appeared to have yielded no concessions in the public stance of either side towards ending the war.

The senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran was reviewing Washington's ​response to its peace proposals, which prioritise lifting a US naval blockade on Iranian ports and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

"There are still many differences between the Iranian and US positions, but diplomacy is continuing," the official said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that a deal with Iran would involve hard work over a period of time, adding that Trump also had military options.

The US has also said it will impose so-called secondary sanctions against any country that allows Iranian flights after Wednesday. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state TV Iran would ensure neighbouring countries' airports could not function if they stop Iranian flights.

IRAN 'WILL NOT BOW TO PRESSURE', ‌PRESIDENT SAYS

In his address to the 193-member General Assembly, Pezeshkian homed in on ⁠the US blockade of Iranian ports and on the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war.

"It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access to shipping through this waterway. The permanent deployment of hostile fleets and the ⁠expansion of the war will not lead to peace," he said.

"The Iranian people will not bow to pressure," he added.

Iran wants to exert control over the strait and collect fees from ships that use it. Washington rejects this and says the strait must remain fully open to international shipping.

Oil prices were up almost 2% on Wednesday in choppy trade as traders weighed the comments of Pezeshkian and Trump.

Trump on Tuesday argued that he had prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and could "annihilate ​the ​Islamic Republic" if no deal is reached to end the conflict.

Pezeshkian on Wednesday reiterated Iran's line that it is not ​seeking nuclear weapons.

Iranian and US officials held their first known indirect talks on Tuesday ‌since a ceasefire collapsed in July, with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicating through mediators.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Tehran had conveyed conditions during a two-hour exchange of messages with Washington via a Qatari mediator. These included an end to the war on all fronts, a halt to US "acts of aggression" and the release of frozen Iranian assets.

IRAN HARDLINERS RESIST DIPLOMATIC MOVES

The diplomatic contact in New York caused a backlash in Iranian media associated with hardliners.

An opinion piece run by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, associated with the Revolutionary Guards, said Araqchi was wrong to have contacts with Witkoff and Kushner, "a major gift to Trump", as Iran had already conveyed its terms.

Iranian sources told Reuters the delegation had been ordered not to meet the Americans face-to-face by the Supreme National Security Council, a body that includes figures selected by Ayatollah ‌Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader. Khamenei has yet to appear in public since replacing his father, who was killed on ​the war's first day.

One Iranian journalist covering the visit told Reuters that some hardliners viewed the trip to New York itself as ​an insult to the memory of the slain leader, Ali Khamenei.

The war, launched by Trump in February ​alongside Israel as "Operation Epic Fury", has lasted nearly seven months, killing thousands of people, disrupting global energy supplies and spreading to other countries in the region — particularly to Lebanon ‌and more recently to Yemen.

In the latest reported attack in the Strait of Hormuz, ​Britain's UKMTO maritime security agency said a cargo ship ​had been hit by projectiles, causing two casualties among the crew. The crew was evacuated and the ship was on fire and adrift.

Despite near-daily attacks, traffic through the strait has picked up in recent weeks. Oil producers pay shipping companies fees of as much as a quarter of a cargo's value to take the wartime risk of sailing through the strait with transponders switched off, before transferring ​crude to other vessels on the far side.

Exports from the United Arab Emirates have ‌already recovered to pre-war levels, and Saudi Arabia has sold 60 million barrels of Gulf oil for both this month and next, to be delivered beyond the strait off the coast ​of Oman.

Nevertheless, a third of Gulf oil is estimated to be missing from global supplies. Shortages have particularly hit refined products such as diesel, causing inflation, pushing up interest rates and ​hurting Trump's Republicans.

(Reporting by Reuters bureauxWriting by Peter Graff and Gareth JonesEditing by Ros Russell and Philippa Fletcher)

Taylor Scriber, a millennial living in Texas, is trying to join the growing ranks of his generation and buy his first home. He's been scouring listings with his real estate agent, taking a few tours to see what suits him best, and estimating his potential costs, including property taxes.

The final piece of that homeowning puzzle has been stuck in Scriber's craw lately. After reading recent headlines about property taxes in the Lone Star state being slashed for older residents and those with disabilities, he started to feel that he may end up shouldering the fiscal burden through his own payments with resulting rate hikes — and costing out worst case scenarios for what the cost of his future home might realistically look like, since so many homes have those abatements. After all, since Texas has no income tax, sales and property taxes are key in funding municipal services, like schools. So as revenue from older homeowners dries up and cities continue to face budget shortfalls, he expects his local government to make up for the cuts in other ways — including taxes on his home-to-be.

"You're stuck there, and you're looking at an inevitable property tax increase, because a group of people are voting to opt themselves out," he says. Almost 40% of homesteads in Texas pay no property taxes for school districts. That includes about 61% of older and disabled homeowners, up from 44% in 2024. Scriber's family and friends over the age of 65 all seem sympathetic when he brings up the issue — at first. They agree that increasingly foisting more of the cost of a functional society onto younger generations could be a problem, but then they start thinking further.

"They just kind of thought about it for a moment, and they were like, 'But I want my property taxes to be lowered,'" he says.

A generational tax battle has begun to envelop the US. The current beef stretches far beyond timeless "kids these days" and "OK boomer" finger-pointing. It's turning one of America's rare forms of collective support — taxes and the social safety nets they help fund — into yet another individualistic debate, and it could have economic consequences for decades to come.

For both the young and no-longer-young, the animus for the tax war comes from the same place: A sense of economic precarity.

Older Americans spent decades imagining a comfortable, or at least stable, retirement with Social Security undergirding their personal savings. Instead, boomers' golden years are feeling much more precarious than they expected. For one, they're living on a less-than-hoped-for retirement income: Just over 57% of Americans over the age of 65 have annual incomes under $40,000, according to Business Insider's analysis of the Current Population Survey. Boomers were the first generation to hit the workforce as pensions faded, and their self-directed savings aren't as large as many of them had hoped. Add in rising costs, including hefty property taxes, and things are starting to feel very shaky. Even Social Security, long thought of as the solid lifeline of retirement, is looking less assured. Without congressional action, older Americans could see their benefits shaved in the coming years.

For younger generations, the promise of long-term stability seems like a bygone idea. Just a quarter of 18 to 49-year-olds are confident in the future of Social Security, according to an AARP survey, and a separate Gallup poll found that 53% of the same age cohort think it's unlikely that Social Security and Medicare will be available in 10 years. They've hit a "career apocalypse," and their real income growth has dramatically slowed down. As the taxes to keep the social safety net from fraying are increasingly shifted toward them, it feels like a bum deal — especially as the benefits of their tax dollars seem murkier and murkier.

The issue is in the balance of power: Both groups feel like they are floundering, but one is more politically potent. Boomers are more likely to be registered to vote than their younger peers: A Census analysis finds that voters ages 18 to 29 and those 30 to 44 were both underrepresented in the 2024 election, while voters 65 and older were overrepresented by 3.5 percentage points.

"Older people vote at higher rates than younger people. And as long as that's the case, lawmakers are going to be more responsive to the desires and demands of older people than younger people," Emily Ekins, an author of a report on Social Security sentiment from the libertarian Cato Institute report on Social Security sentiment, tells me. A mobilized, dissatisfied constituency holds a lot of sway, and that's played out in targeted carve-outs.

Take the example of state income taxes: The left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds that every state with a personal income tax has tax subsidies for seniors, and those subsidies are generally poorly targeted — meaning that higher-income seniors are paying less than lower-earning younger workers. That analysis finds that only 11 states offered credits and exemptions for private pensions, a key source of income for wealthier seniors, in 1977. By 1990, that number had grown to 21 states and hit 27 — a majority of states — in 2023.

"The plight of low-income seniors gets used as a Trojan horse to push through very, very large tax cuts for senior citizens broadly and often with a very large share of those cuts flowing to the best-off seniors who need them the least," Carl Davis, one of the ITEP report authors, tells me.

Even when it comes to potential future changes, the generations are divided. A poll from the Cato Institute illustrates the divide with a single question: Would you favor or oppose raising Social Security payroll taxes to maintain current seniors' benefits, even if current workers would eventually get back less than they paid in? In other words, should people who are working pay more in taxes to ensure retired people get their benefits — even if those people shouldering the increased tax burden may not get "paid back" for doing so? A small majority — 52% — of those 65 and older favor the idea. On the flip side, 60% of 18- to 29-year-olds oppose the potential hike, as do 66% of 30- to 64-year-olds. It's a poll of finger-pointing: Older Americans want subsidies now. Their counterparts, who would fund them, don't want to hand over the cash.

The tax fight is causing a bending and stretching of what Gerald Prante, an associate professor of business and economics at the University of Lynchburg, calls the U-shaped pattern of tax and government spending. In some parts of our lives, particularly in our prime-age working years, we receive less from government services than we pay in taxes. At other times, especially in childhood and old age, we get great value, with the government spending multiple dollars on us for every dollar we pay in.

Americans under 25, for instance, often aren't paying that much in taxes because they are either still in school or have relatively low earnings. They directly and indirectly benefit from subsidies if they're in college, especially if they're at a state school. But things shift dramatically as we reach peak-earnings years. The post-college, pre-family generation, as Prante calls them, doesn't get much from the government. At the same time, this cohort pays the greatest share of taxes compared to household income. The high-tax, low-benefit group is only growing as birth rates fall and Americans marry later in life.

Later on, programs kick in that push people up the other side of the U. For those with children, there are things like the Child Tax Credit and first-time homebuyer incentives. Taxes on this group are generally still high, but they're at least — ideally — accruing some wealth. Then there are seniors who receive generous benefits like Medicare and Social Security but pay little in income taxes, or have limits baked into their property taxes.

The issue, though, is that more Americans seem set to bounce along the bottom of the U for longer. The things that would build wealth or buttress financial situations are increasingly out of reach, and the relief for those older Americans who do need genuine help is being extended to those who don't really need it.

To peak earners like Justin Ober, a 47-year-old in Massachusetts, the older generation's push to roll back taxes is a rejection of the underlying logic that undergirds the U-shaped culture. He's not getting the same dollar-for-dollar value from taxes, but sees it as a straightforward public service. "There are a lot of things that I would probably have to pay a lot more for, and it would be a huge pain in my ass if they weren't being covered collectively through my tax dollars," he tells me.

For older Americans, the calculus is different. It makes sense that they want to maintain their spot on the upward slope of the U, especially as Social Security alarm bells ring. But by trying to ease their own burdens, they are unwittingly bending the underlying system. The younger people I speak to like to point out that boomers who are 75 and older are the richest generation and continue to power the economy. So why isn't it unreasonable to ask whether they can help bear some of the burden, too? And thus, the battle continues.

The issue in the generational tax war is that, absent political intervention or reckoning with current realities about who is asked to pay for what, it only gets more extreme. Older people, who are the country's most formidable voting bloc, will sign on to cuts that make their immediate lives easier. And younger people feel increasingly disenchanted by the idea of paying anything — a longer-tail legacy that could ripple for generations.

Ober, the young Massachusetts Gen Xer, said he'd like to see some adults in the room to address tax and government debt issues.

"I think a senior citizen arguing against taxation is baffling unless they are independently wealthy and profoundly wealthy, not just well off, but wealthy enough to afford Western healthcare," Ober says.

"The temptation will always be to put a bandaid on it, but then that's just kicking the can down the road for the next generation after Gen Z," Emily Ekins, one of the Cato report authors, says. Lawmakers and experts need to get honest with Americans, she says, and tell them that everyone either needs to sacrifice a bit — or else the burden will just keep getting volleyed around.

That's kind of nuts to get a tax cut and then functionally a tax raise to the rest of the population so you can hold an asset.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. Millennials, despite suffering through the Great Recession and the pandemic-induced contraction, have seen their on-paper fortunes grow. On the flip side, there are boomers who might be wealthy on paper, but since their main assets are property, that wealth doesn't translate into liquidity.

Wholesale attempts to resolve those structural issues, such as excising property taxes for older residents, are already having ripple effects. In Texas cities, for instance, legislators are grappling with budget shortfalls, and — ironically — contemplating hiking property taxes where they can. It's a rapid full-circle moment, and one that Scriber, the millennial homebuyer-hopeful, had been dreading.

"That's kind of nuts to get a tax cut and then functionally a tax raise to the rest of the population so you can hold an asset," he says.

Amid all the finger-pointing stands boomer Allison Pickering, a 75-year-old retired educator in California who's been receiving Social Security for the last eight or so years. She rejects a generational divide.

"You can't blame an older person for having earned their living," Pickering says — and younger workers shouldn't be blamed for the socioeconomic cards they've been dealt.

In her view, there's a simple solution: Rather than wringing out more taxes for younger workers, or having older workers fret about balancing their costs with dwindling Social Security, target an untapped base. Currently, Social Security taxes have a cap: everyone pays up to $184,500, and then stops, even if they're making a whole lot more. Lifting that payroll cap could help to resolve the generational tax debate that's instead been foisted into town meetings and budget addenda.

Davis, the ITEP author, proposes divorcing taxes from age entirely: "I really don't think it's complicated. Your tax bill should be based on what you can afford to pay. It shouldn't be based on what year you happen to be born." Things like circuit-breaker measures — which are triggered when property taxes start eating up a certain percentage of homeowners' incomes — are one route to take.

And when it comes to keeping programs like Social Security, Americans support policies that account for the nuances of individual situations. A National Academy of Social Insurance report finds that Americans across party lines are united in wanting to raise revenues, rather than shear benefits — including a package that would cap payroll taxes at the same rate now, but then implement them on earnings above $400,000, gradually raise the payroll tax rate for current workers, and bring down benefits for retirees with higher incomes. Taken together, it's a glimpse at generational harmony: Some taxes raised on younger folks, some sheared for wealthy older ones.

"It's imminently unfair," Pickering says. "And the burden does fall on the people who can least afford it — whether it's the elderly or the young people who are trying to get started."

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The GOP backlash, which has been simmering below the surface throughout Trump’s second term as lawmakers privately grumbled he hasn’t focused enough on affordability issues, burst into public view as a rapid succession of Republicans challenged Trump on everything from the Iran war to the president’s “lavish” summit this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

Republicans have long been loathe to openly criticize the president, who has wielded an uncommonly strong hold over his party and retains long memories about who has crossed him. Back in May, eight Indiana state lawmakers who defied Trump on a redistricting plan faced their primary voters, and only two won. The president that month similarly ended Texas Senator John Cornyn’s political career by backing Ken Paxton’s primary challenge instead.

So confident is the president of his singular electoral magnetism that his rallying cry at campaign events from Texas to North Carolina has been to call on his supporters to vote as if he’s on the ballot in November.

Yet those same Republican lawmakers who held tight with Trump through the primaries are now facing a general election environment and a very different electorate. They now have to contend not just with GOP voters, but Democrats who’ve always opposed the president, as well as disaffected independents who’ve drifted from Trump over economic concerns. 

Retail gasoline prices are up. So is diesel. The cost of financing government debt has risen since the Iran war began, driving up the cost of mortgages, credit cards and consumer debt. And a confident White House that has unapologetically pursued all of its priorities at once, from tariffs to getting Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center, is increasingly seen as unfocused on the costs Americans pay to go about their daily lives.

Trump’s reservoir of support began to crack last week, when Florida Republican Maria Elvira Salazar cut a video telling Trump that his immigration crackdowns have gone “too far,” as she battles to retain her House seat in a Miami-area district heavily impacted by the administration’s deportation policies.

Now, fractures within the party have widened into open rifts as Trump’s popularity sinks to new polling lows, just six weeks until US midterm elections. And the cascade of crucial GOP voices challenging the president on Monday and Tuesday is unlike anything the Trump has experienced in his second term in office. 

Here’s a look at what happened: 

Iran War 

Two Senate Republican hopefuls — Representative Ashley Hinson of Iowa and Mike Rogers of Michigan — called on Trump on Monday to end the war in Iran, which has sent gasoline prices soaring. 

“The war with Iran needs to end, and end quickly,” Rogers, the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a video on Monday.  

Sitting GOP senators could follow suit later this week when the chamber votes again on an Iran war powers resolution. North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who is retiring, is expected to vote with Democrats to end the war. Others could follow suit. 

“We all want it to come to an end,” Ohio Republican Senator Jon Husted, who is in a tough race, said at the Capitol on Tuesday night. He demurred when asked how he’d vote on the war powers resolution. 

Trump reiterated Tuesday he doesn’t take the election into account when contemplating a deal with Iran. Mounting pressure from within his own party could add a new variable to the political calculus.

Fuel Prices

As a sign of the sting candidates’ are feeling from the petroleum price spikes associated with Trump’s decision to attack Iran alongside Israel, several Republican lawmakers called for drastic measures to reduce the cost of fuel.

Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan, one of the GOP’s most endangered incumbents, on Tuesday joined a growing number of Republicans calling for a ban on diesel exports. “The cost of diesel is just too damn high,” Sullivan said. 

Alaska relies heavily on diesel and closely related heating oil. Many remote communities depend on diesel generators for electricity. The climate is harsh, freight moves over long distances and per-capita usage of diesel and home heating oil is more than four times the national average.

Hinson also joined the chorus, calling on Trump to pause diesel exports and suspend the gas tax. 

US retail diesel prices have climbed above $6.50 a gallon for the first time, hammering farmers across the Grain Belt as they prepare for harvest and truckers across the country.

Soon after, Trump said he’s encouraged his advisers to support a ban on US diesel exports, with wars in Iran and Ukraine driving the fuel’s price to record levels. But Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright have argued against an export ban, with Wright emphasizing the US is focused on growing supply rather than curtailing foreign sales. 

Home Heating Oil 

Senator Susan Collins called on Trump to release supply from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve to combat rising costs .

Collins, the only Senate Republican up for reelection in a state Trump lost in 2024, represents Maine, where heating oil prices have increased by 74% as of last week compared to the same time last year, according to the state’s Department of Energy Resources. 

The embattled senator joined fellow Maine Senator Angus King, an independent who votes with Democrats, in a Tuesday letter to Trump. 

“We write to request that you release home heating oil from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve to protect Mainers from the very high prices that are imposing a difficult financial burden,” they wrote. 

Wedding Blowback

The criticism has also started to spread beyond economic and policy issues.

Utah Senator John Curtis called for an investigation into the Trump family’s financial dealings — including demanding testimony from Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son.  

Curtis specifically attacked Trump Jr. for allowing a Russian oligarch closely associated with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to fund a wedding celebration. 

“A toaster is a wedding gift. A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else,” the Republican senator said in a social media post Tuesday morning. 

Hours later, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said he’s taking Curtis’ call for a probe seriously. And Cornyn, whose political career Trump ended earlier this year, said he supports an investigation into the wedding. 

Xi Summit

Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker, typically a reliable Trump ally, also sharply criticized Trump for the manner in which he plans to host the Chinese president this week. 

“Quite frankly, had the White House asked me for advice, I would have suggested the president not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a lavish welcome here in the United States of America, based on all of the troubling issues we have with President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party,” Wicker said in a Senate floor speech Tuesday. 

Wicker mocked the planned state dinner in his blistering remarks while urging Trump to focus on pressing military and human-rights matters. 

“Our commander in chief should keep in mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America,” Wicker said.

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Weinstein’s sentencing for sexually assaulting one-time TV production assistant Miriam Haley followed a legal odyssey spanning more than six years. His 2020 conviction was overturned by New York's highest court. A second jury found Weinstein guilty again at a retrial last year.

Once among the most powerful figures in the entertainment industry, Weinstein was an Oscar-winning producer whose hits included “Shakespeare in Love,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Chocolat.” But his downfall came quickly after sexual assault allegations in 2017 set off the #MeToo movement.

Weinstein, 74, is expected to appeal and maintains that he never raped or sexually assaulted anyone. He is now likely to remain behind bars well into his 80s. Seated in a wheelchair, he was quickly moved out of the courtroom after the sentencing, while some of his accusers hugged and brushed away tears.

Weinstein and his victim both spoke in court

Weinstein faced up to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting Haley at his Manhattan apartment in 2006. He has already served more than six years as his case cycled through the criminal justice system. Haley gave her account of the assault at two trials, and again addressed the court Wednesday.

“Having been sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein has had a devastating effect on my life and sense of security that may never go away. Making the decision to speak up will have me looking over my shoulder for years to come,” Haley said.

“It’s a life sentence for me,” she added.

Minutes later, Weinstein apologized while reiterating his innocence.

“Reflecting on all that has happened since 2017 has helped me recognize how my past conduct has negatively affected others. I live with many regrets and sincerely apologize to anyone I have affected with my actions,” he said.

Some of his accusers who were in court shook their heads while he spoke.

Weinstein is the face of MeToo, judge says

Judge Curtis Farber said Weinstein was once a king in the movie industry, “but recognition for these achievements will pale in comparison to what you did.”

He said Weinstein is now known as “a sexual predator, the literal face of the MeToo movement.”

The judge said Weinstein treated women as “mere objects to be played with and discarded” and still hasn’t accepted responsibility, portraying himself as a victim during jailhouse interviews.

Haley afterward said she was happy with the sentence, while saying it's clear that Weinstein has not acknowledged what he did. “I think he still feels entitled, and that’s part of the problem,” she said.

Haley’s lawyer, the famed victims’ rights attorney Gloria Allred, rejected any suggestion that Weinstein’s sentencing means the MeToo era is over.

“Women are empowered in a way they have never been before,” she said.

Why Weinstein is being sentenced a second time

Weinstein was originally sentenced to 23 years in prison after a jury convicted him of assaulting Haley and raping an aspiring actress, Jessica Mann, in 2013.

Tried for a second time last year, he was again convicted of a first-degree criminal sex act for assaulting Haley, who has also gone by the name Mimi Haleyi. In a messy split verdict, the jury acquitted him of forcibly performing oral sex on another woman, Kaja Sokola, and could not reach a verdict on a rape charge involving Mann.

After another retrial ended in a hung jury in May, Manhattan prosecutors dropped the rape charge rather than pursue a fourth trial after Mann said she could not bear to testify again.

Weinstein’s health issues pushed the defense to ask for leniency

Defense lawyer Jacob Kaplan wanted three more years on top of the six years Weinstein already served, saying a longer sentence would make it more likely that Weinstein dies in prison.

Weinstein has been in the hospital six times since 2025, Kaplan said, while dealing with blood cancer, congestive heart failure, and kidney issues.

Weinstein is also awaiting resentencing in a separate rape case in Los Angeles. A California appeals court upheld the 2022 conviction but threw out his original 16-year sentence because the judge had considered his New York convictions — that were later thrown out — as an aggravating factor.

After shuffling between state prison, where he tested positive for COVID-19 early in the pandemic, and New York City’s notorious Rikers Island complex, Weinstein has been housed at a medical unit for inmates at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.

Haley describes the assault that led to Weinstein’s conviction

Haley, 49, is a former entertainment producer now working in advertising.

She said she met Weinstein through a mutual connection and worked briefly as a production assistant on “Project Runway,” a reality competition show that he produced.

Haley said she accepted an invitation to visit Weinstein’s apartment and after chatting briefly, he lunged to kiss her, she testified. She said she rebuffed him, but he grabbed her, forcibly backed her into a bedroom and sexually assaulted her, ignoring her pleas to stop.

She recalled Weinstein asking, “Don’t you think we’re much closer now?” after either the alleged assault or a subsequent occasion when she says she had unwanted, but not forced, sex with him.

She also recalled telling him after the second encounter, “You know you can’t keep doing this.”

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Haley, Sokola and Mann have done.

___

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.

Trump's decision to greet Xi at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington rather than receiving him at the executive residence shows how far the U.S. president is going to honor China's leader as he makes his first state visit in more than a decade.

First lady Melania Trump said her husband decided to personally greet Xi when he arrives in the Washington region because “they have a great relationship.”

“He's coming on our soil, and we need to welcome them with the most respect,” she said of Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, during an interview Wednesday on Fox News Channel's ”Fox & Friends."

The White House has not released many details about Wednesday's greeting, but Trump is expected to participate in an arrival ceremony at the base with Xi and his wife. The salutation will kick off a three-day visit that's expected to be saturated with pomp, even by White House standards. The state visit, complete with a formal state dinner at the White House on Thursday, is supposed to reciprocate for the ceremonial grandeur that marked Trump's May visit to China.

But it also is a showy patina at a time when tensions between the two geopolitical rivals are high over trade, artificial intelligence, Trump's war with Iran and China's designs on Taiwan.

Beyond using the visit to try to keep “strategic stability” between the two countries, Trump seems to be pulling out all the diplomatic stops to show off for Xi. Trump has lavished praise on Xi as a “great leader” and described a warm relationship with the man he has called a friend. That is all while he has given Xi a pass on many issues.

Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized the “lavish welcome." Wicker, R-Miss., said during a speech Tuesday in the Senate that Trump should not have invited the Chinese leader “based on all of the troubling issues we have with President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party.”

Wicker archly suggested a list of topics that Trump could discuss with Xi at the state dinner, such as “the purposes of China’s massive military buildup, or about China’s clear support for Iran,” saying that “during every minute of dialogue” Trump should keep in mind that “his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. and China must interact at the highest levels because the countries are “the two largest economies in the world” and “probably the two most powerful militaries in the world.”

“The idea that we would not interact with them at the highest levels is irresponsible. It’s outrageous. We have to,” Rubio told reporters Wednesday while he was in New York.

Trump has made it clear he wants to wow Xi, telling reporters in recent weeks that he was delighted his new “work of art” helicopter landing pad would be ready for the visit while bemoaning that his massive White House ballroom would not.

On Wednesday, Trump is expected to try to match the pageantry he was met with in China earlier this year. Xi was not at the airport to meet Trump — Chinese Vice President Han Zheng was there instead. But there a red carpet was rolled out to meet Air Force One in Beijing. A military honor guard, a military band and about 300 Chinese youths waving Chinese and American flags and chanting, “Welcome, welcome! Warm welcome!” also were present. The children wore white and light blue uniforms that mirrored the traditional paint colors of the presidential plane.

Trump's airport ceremony for Xi will be followed on Thursday by more formalities, including an arrival ceremony at the White House and a review of troops. Before the black-tie dinner, which will feature tech industry leaders like Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, the two leaders are expected to dive into the weighty issues behind closed doors, even as expectations are low that the trip will produce any major breakthroughs in the relationship.

On Friday, Xi and Peng will be back at the White House for a private tea with the Trumps before joining them on a tour of the National Archives in Washington. The White House has said they will view historic documents underscoring the relationship between the two countries.

___

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Didi Tang contributed to this report.

The Scoop

Paramount, looking to firm up its financial picture as it digests Warner Bros. Discovery, is looking for fresh sources of cash. Executives at the company have discussed asking Elon Musk to become part of a syndicate of equity investors into Paramount, according to people familiar with the matter.

Musk’s name is one of a number of wealthy individuals that Paramount CEO David Ellison has considered tapping for the syndicate, the people said. Musk and David Ellison’s father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, have long been close, and it is in part the elder Ellison’s money — and connections — that made Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. possible. Larry Ellison has personally guaranteed more than $40 billion of the equity financing for Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros.

Larry Ellison invested $1 billion in Musk’s 2022 deal to take X, formerly Twitter, private. He also invested in Tesla in 2018, and served on the company’s board of directors for years.

The size of a potential Musk investment could not be determined. A spokesperson for Paramount declined comment. Musk did not return a request for comment.

Rohan’s view

An investment from Musk would be a significant vote of confidence in the combined Paramount Warner Bros. from a businessman who also has a devoted retail investor following. A check from Musk or other big financial backers would also give Paramount a more diversified investor base, and reduce Larry Ellison’s financial burden.

But having Musk in this deal would also be politically fraught: Musk’s dollars and political influence were concerning to Democrats during the 2024 election, given his control of X. The possibility of him having even partial ownership in CNN and CBS would likely raise alarm bells in Washington, even though it is unlikely Musk would have formal input over the company’s operations.

By David Hood-Nuño and Evan Garcia

DONNA, Texas, Sept 23 (Reuters) - South Texas unfurls in long stretches of highways across flat landscapes dotted with pump jacks, mesquite trees, and gas stations sporting prices that voters swear should not be this high. This territory swung heavily to Donald Trump in 2024 — but may shift again in 2026.

From the outskirts of San Antonio, through historic, sprawling ranchlands to the border city of McAllen, Reuters traveled more than 360 miles (580 km) and ‌spoke to more than 30 Latino voters, who shared a similar refrain: as President, Trump had a chance to lower prices across this expanse, where trucks and beef barbacoa are king, and failed.

Many are no longer convinced the Republican Party is looking out for people like ‌them. Frustration over economic pressures and Trump's immigration agenda is rising, exposing cracks in what Republican officials hoped was a durable political realignment among Latino Americans. Trump's approval rating nationwide has fallen to 32%, the lowest since returning to office, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll.

That uncertainty poses a problem for Texas Republicans, who redrew congressional maps last year betting the Latino ​contingent who helped power Trump's 2024 win would remain in their column.

Now, they're grappling with whether this notoriously swingy voting group may snap back to Democrats in the Lone Star State as they have in other parts of the country in off-year and special elections, said David Wasserman, elections analyst at the nonpartisan forecaster Cook Political Report.

Texas Republicans sought to make several districts more favorable to their candidates ahead of the 2026 elections, basing their changes on Trump's 2024 performance, the strongest showing among Latino voters by a Republican presidential candidate this century. Rather than dilute Latino voting power, many of the newly configured districts remained heavily Latino, including Texas' 15th and 35th Congressional Districts.

In District 15, Latinos account for 74.5% of the citizen voting-age population. In District 35, they make up 51.6%, according to the state's redistricting analysis. Yet both districts have become more competitive, with political prognostication site Sabato's Crystal Ball rating the 15th District a Toss-up and the 35th District Lean Republican. ‌Cook Political rates the 15th Lean Republican.

An August 2026 Texas Southern University poll found Democratic congressional candidates leading ⁠in three South Texas districts, including the 15th. Interviews with almost 50 analysts, activists, pollsters and voters back up the idea that some Latinos in South Texas who voted for Trump appear open to Democrats.

One of those is Saúl Guajardo, 53, of McAllen, who voted for Trump three times.

“I used to be a conservative, far-right,” he said. “I'm more open than ever before to vote Democrat.”

Guajardo said he and his wife Terrie live paycheck-to-paycheck, despite steady incomes. Gasoline is a big ⁠weight, as the average price of a gallon was $4.09 in the McAllen area as of September 22, according to AAA data.

Terrie said Trump's strict immigration enforcement "crackdown" was too harsh for people who simply want to work in the United States, as his policies have permanently separated some families trying to make a life in the U.S.

Polling suggests many Latinos are souring on Republicans. A September poll of 1,000 Latinos in Texas conducted for Cook Political and TelevisaUnivision found that 18% of Latinos who voted for Trump no longer support him, and almost two-thirds of Latino voters would be less likely to vote for candidates who support Trump’s immigration policies.

For both parties, those shifts explain both ​the ​promise and peril of Latino voters. Their support has often proved less dependent on party loyalty than on whether they believe elected officials will improve their economic circumstances.

“It's not ​one of these that you're talking to a wall because they're all going to vote Democrat or they're all ‌going to vote Republican,” said Daniel Alegre, CEO of Spanish-language media company TelevisaUnivision. “They're all going to vote for the person who is going to make their lives better.”

Republicans reject the premise that Latino voters are moving away from them. Christian Martinez, the National Republican Congressional Committee's national Hispanic press secretary, said Democrats spent years responding to declining support among Hispanic voters with “denial, excuses, and condescension,” instead of addressing concerns that drove many working-class voters toward Republicans.

CANDIDATE QUALITY

The risk that redistricting backfires is particularly clear in the 15th District, which in its reconfigured form would have given Trump an 18-point win in 2024, compared with a two-point margin in 2020 and a 14-point loss in his first election in 2016.

That district's incumbent, Republican Monica De La Cruz, is facing a unique opponent in Democratic singer Bobby Pulido, whose celebrity status predates his entry into politics. His signature hit, "Desvelado," has nearly 610 million Spotify streams, and he has won two Latin Grammy Awards.

His economic message and crossover appeal have turned the district into one of the state's most closely watched races. A late August Texas Southern University poll had Pulido leading De La Cruz by five percentage points.

Dressed in a cowboy hat, blue jeans and cowboy boots, Pulido crisscrosses South Texas ‌on weekends, hopping from one quinceañera, a traditional 15th birthday celebration for girls in Latino communities, to another. His surprise — and free — appearances often end with a gift for ​the celebrant: a white hat with pink lettering reading "Make Quinceañeras Great Again."

Pulido said Democrats lost ground with Latino voters in South Texas because they failed to address the economic concerns ​that matter most to working families, though he said both major parties often misread the electorate.

“As a Democrat, I think that we misunderstand ​the Hispanic vote and I think, honestly, I think Republicans don't get it either,” Pulido told Reuters. "We don't want handouts, we're very proud. We just want an opportunity to go work and make something and provide for our families, and then ‌work towards our kids prospering better than we did."

On August 1, Pulido surprised Melody Silva and roughly 200 ​relatives and friends gathered for her quinceañera. They screamed when he appeared at the ​top of a staircase and cheered louder when he mentioned his congressional race.

"He's got such great roots here in the Valley," said Michael Silva, Melody's father and a police officer in McAllen. "I feel like he's not just representing the Valley, but representing the raza, you know, the people, for us — locals."

His name recognition appears to be one of his greatest strengths. Among the dozen voters Reuters spoke to at a monthly outdoor market roughly 180 miles (290 km) north in rural Beeville, Pulido's name was as ubiquitous as the summer heat.

De La Cruz's campaign ​did not respond to requests for comment.

Ramon Barrera, 36, known as "The Texas Tea Guy" on social media, sees ‌the shift in sentiment. He posts short TikTok updates "spilling the tea" about politics and community issues, crisscrossing South Texas in his Dodge Ram 3500 to talk to locals, along with hunting for old furniture to refurbish.

He voted for Trump for the first time ​in 2024, describing himself as conservative but not strongly aligned with either party. He said Trump's term has been a disappointment, opening the door for him to vote for Pulido and Gina Hinojosa, the Democrat running for governor against Republican Greg Abbott, who is ​seeking a fourth consecutive term.

“The S&P 500 looks great, but our wallets don't,” he said.

(Reporting by David Hood-Nuño; Editing by Kat Stafford and David Gaffen)

"The FBI is aware of claims regarding unauthorized activity affecting FBIjobs.gov and is currently investigating," the bureau said in a statement. The website, the main portal for prospective employees to learn about the FBI and initiate the application process, remained offline Wednesday morning.

A message that circulated online from a hacking group known as ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the hack.

The message, directed to FBI Director Kash Patel as well as the assistant director in the charge of the FBI's cyber division, said the hacking group had "compromised very sensitive data on almost ALL FBI Agents and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job."

The claims could not immediately be verified, and an FBI spokesperson declined to comment further. An email to an address associated with the organization was not immediately returned.

In its message, ShinyHunters said it would give the bureau one week to correct or remove what it says are false allegations in an FBI public service announcement from May that described the organization as a "cyber criminal group specializing in large-scale data breaches and extortion."

That announcement characterized ShinyHunters as "threat actors" who often "use their real or exaggerated claims of access to sensitive or personal information to prompt payment from victims," commonly harass or threaten victims and "may falsely claim to have sensitive or compromising information, including embarrassing photographs or videos of victims, which frequently do not exist."

ShinyHunters said in its message to the FBI that it was "offended" by those characterizations and demanded that the FBI remove those claims.

The FBI has been a common hacking target.

In March, the FBI disclosed that it was investigating "suspicious activities" on an internal system that contains sensitive information related to surveillance operations and investigations. Also that month, a pro-Iranian hacking group claimed to have hacked an account of Patel's and posted online what appear to be years-old photographs of him, along with a work resume and other personal documents dating back more than a decade.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned for Michigan's Democrat Senate nominee this week, one of five Democrats taking visible steps toward possible 2028 presidential campaigns.

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat nominee for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, joined Harris at a Detroit event on Black maternal healthcare this week; her fall schedule also includes stops in Nevada and Georgia, the Associated Press reported.

Harris has said she has "not decided if I'm going to run again," even as she works the phones with donors and skips major policy speeches, Fox News reported.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is weighing both a 2028 run and a primary challenge to Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate's minority leader, she said in an interview with The New York Times, as Reason reported this week.

"Life doesn't wait for you to be ready for things," she said, adding that deference to Schumer would not drive her decision.

The comments follow a staff shake-up: her longtime campaign manager, Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben, is leaving after running her operations since 2020, he told Axios.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is term-limited and leaves office in January, toured South Carolina, an early presidential primary state, from Sept. 3 to 6, visiting Aiken, Columbia, and other stops while stumping for state Democrats.

He acknowledged that his 2028 ambitions were factored into the trip, but said other goals ranked higher.

Days later, in a CNN interview conducted during a fishing trip in Montana, Newsom told anchor Jake Tapper, "I wouldn't run if she ran," referring to Harris, CBS Sacramento reported.

Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary under President Joe Biden, passed on Michigan's 2026 Senate and governor's races last year, a move CBS News reported as clearing his path toward a possible 2028 bid.

Campaigning in Des Moines, Iowa, this summer for a Democrat congressional candidate, Buttigieg replied "Nope" when a reporter asked whether he had ruled out a White House bid, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.

Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he is "thinking seriously" about a 2028 run despite trailing badly in early polling, as Newsweek reported, citing a National Public Radio (NPR) interview last month.

Khanna has endorsed more than 70 candidates and toured early states including Nevada and Pennsylvania. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer he plans to decide "between Thanksgiving and Christmas" after weighing his viability in battleground states, the Inquirer reported.

None of the five has formally entered the 2028 race, and most, including Harris and Khanna, say their immediate focus is on this November's midterm elections.

Even so, other prospective candidates, Khanna among them, have signaled they will not simply defer to Harris if she runs, Reason reported.

The impeachment effort against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posed a dilemma for Republican leaders ahead of the midterms. In the lame duck, it could be Democrats in the bind.

Hegseth is leading an unpopular war in Iran, and GOP leaders were eager to avoid an impeachment vote this month, which would have put some vulnerable Republicans in a tough spot heading into November’s elections. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defused the issue by punting that vote until after the elections.

But the tides are likely to turn after the election, when Republicans will be freed to weigh in on Hegseth’s fate without fear of a voter backlash, while Democrats will face a tougher choice.

Do they go charging after Hegseth full bore, to appease a liberal base demanding Pentagon accountability? Or do they tread more cautiously, to allow time for the formal investigations many Democrats say they want to see before backing something as explosive as impeachment? 

Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over impeachment proceedings, suggested that answering those questions won’t be easy. 

“I think that all impeachment articles should be sent to the Judiciary Committee, and we should scrutinize them,” Raskin, a former professor of constitutional law, said last week as Congress was leaving Washington for the long campaign recess. 

“I’m not a huge fan of pop-up impeachments,” Raskin continued, “but if that’s all Speaker Johnson leaves us, then we will have to take it very seriously.”

The issue will be an early, postelection test for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who has walked a delicate line under President Trump’s second term as he vies to become the first Black Speaker in U.S. history. 

On one hand, Jeffries has faced pressure from the left to fight the president tooth and nail at every turn, no matter the topic. On the other, Jeffries has sought to avoid alienating more moderate voters who are the key to winning battleground districts.

His decision will become even trickier if Democrats flip control of the House, because Jeffries’s ascension to the Speakership will hinge on his ability to win 218 votes on the floor in the first week of January. That task will require the support of all Democrats, from battleground centrists who are cold to aggressive impeachments, to incoming democratic socialists who might view the vote on Hegseth’s removal as a gauge of Jeffries’s leadership credentials. 

Jeffries has taken pains to balance those pressures by attacking Hegseth’s track record and calling for his firing while refusing to say if he’ll support impeachment.

“We haven't ruled anything out when it comes to all of the tools available to us to hold people accountable, and we haven't ruled anything in. That's been our position. That will remain our position,” Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol last week. 

“Pete Hegseth should've never been confirmed. This guy is the most unqualified so-called secretary of war in American history,” he added. “He's the architect of Operation Epic Failure in Iran that has increased gas prices on everyday Americans and further burdened them economically. … It's my view that's the reason why [GOP leaders] pulled the resolution, because there were Republicans who can't even defend Pete Hegseth at this point.”

The resolution in question, sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), features eight articles of impeachment accusing Hegseth of abuses of power related to his handling of the Iran war, a failure to protect civilians and the extrajudicial killings of alleged drug smugglers in international waters, among other charges. Massie introduced the proposal as a privileged resolution, which forces a floor vote even over the objections of GOP leaders.

Johnson evaded that vote by cutting the House calendar a day short last week. But the clock resumes when the House returns on Nov. 9, making Hegseth’s impeachment a first order of business in the lame-duck session.

Democrats have seized on Johnson’s decision, saying Republicans simply feared taking a tough vote ahead of the midterms — an attack that’s allowed them to highlight the unpopular Iran war. 

“You talk to Republicans here — which I do a lot, because I’m on the Armed Services and Intel committee — a vast majority of people do not like Pete Hegseth. They think he’s incompetent, at best. They think he’s a clown and a joker at worst. … And a lot of people are somewhere in between,” said Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.). “They don’t want to vote on it.”

Johnson has rejected that narrative as “ridiculous,” saying he simply wanted to grant lawmakers more time to campaign. 

But attacking Johnson over the process is different from throwing your weight behind impeachment. Even after the vote was delayed, Democratic leaders distanced themselves from Massie’s resolution and promoted a more deliberative process. 

“The DOD mismanagement is incredibly clear, but let's be honest. The only calls, the only discussions about impeachment in the halls of Congress this week have been from Republicans to impeach Pete Hegseth. No Democratic members were making those calls,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), the chair of the House Democratic Caucus. 

“We believe in oversight and accountability — that is a hallmark of what this chamber should be doing,” he continued. “We will do that job. We will do it in a thoughtful way.”

Aguilar’s remarks ignored another impeachment push just before the recess, when Democratic Rep. Al Green (Texas) forced a vote to remove Trump over the killing of several civilians by immigration enforcement officers. Many Democrats were furious with Green for distracting from the party’s economic message, and every member of leadership sought to balance competing internal interests by voting “present” — a strategy that could forecast how they'll approach the Hegseth resolution. 

However, heading into that vote, at least one powerful Democrat said Massie has made “very compelling” points about the laws of war and the possibility that Hegseth violated them, which could make it tough for Democrats to do anything but support impeachment. 

“He raises a bunch of profound arguments,” Raskin said, “and I’m taking it extremely seriously.”

Six Flags "has been willingly gambling with people's lives… No ride like that should be allowed to exist," civil attorney Christopher Bulone said at a news conference Tuesday, announcing the filing of three lawsuits against the amusement company this week.

X2 has long been the marquee attraction at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Southern California, drawing thrill-seekers from around the world with its rotating seats, near-vertical drops and unpredictable movements.

Allegations that the roller coaster has injured riders date back more than a decade but had been largely kept under wraps until CNN's investigation last month documenting more than a dozen reports of serious injuries and hospitalizations associated with the ride, including at least two deaths. Most recently, two women ended up in the same Santa Clarita emergency room after riding X2 just six days apart in July.

Attorneys said Tuesday that in the wake of CNN's reporting, they now represent more than 100 clients who allege brain injuries of varying severity sustained after riding X2 in the last two years. Attorneys added they heard from hundreds of other riders who were either ineligible to sue due to the statute of limitations, had injuries that were not brain-related or did not have proof of medical treatment. CNN was not able to independently verify the claims of riders who recently came forward.

Two of the lawsuits filed Monday detailed the accounts of riders featured in CNN's investigation. They allege Six Flags officials had ample notice of the alleged dangers of the ride and never should have allowed it to keep running.

Those riders—26-year-old Naomi Greer-Wilkinson and 40-year-old Pamela Guillen–both fell unconscious after getting off the roller coaster and underwent emergency brain surgery for severe traumatic brain injuries. Surgeons determined their injuries were caused by "a traumatic rapid acceleration-deceleration event experienced while on the X2 ride," according to an email reviewed by CNN.

Guillen previously recounted to CNN how she was forced to learn how to talk and walk again and says she battles terrible headaches and brain fog and needs medication to prevent seizures.

Greer-Wilkinson remains in a coma as her parents hold onto hope that she will someday wake up.

In a third suit filed Monday, Los Angeles attorney Michael Wilk alleged he suffered massive brain bleeding that required multiple brain surgeries after riding X2 in February.

In an interview with CNN, Wilk said he has been left disabled by his injuries, battling severe headaches, memory loss and brain fog and unable to practice law.

"My brain has difficulty processing the words, and so unless it's extraordinarily clear and loud, my brain gets the word wrong. I think I miss about half the conversations I'm in," he said. "I truly hope that by coming forward, changes will be made."

Six Flags declined to respond to the new allegations about X2, saying it does not comment on pending litigation. The theme park operator previously declined to answer detailed questions from CNN and said the only information it is sharing is that "the ride remains closed at this time."

Attorneys for the theme park have defended the roller coaster in court when sued by riders or their families over injuries, arguing that a sign warns passengers that "there are inherent risks in the participation in or on any amusement ride or attraction." They have also said X2 is regularly tested and that the physical forces riders experience are not strong enough to create a traumatic brain injury for a "normal" rider using it "as instructed."

Also this week, attorney Timothy Loranger — whose law firm represented the family of 22-year-old Christopher Hawley who died from a traumatic brain injury after riding X2 four years ago — told CNN his firm has been retained by new clients alleging harm from the roller coaster ranging from serious concussions to brain bleeds. These clients include the family of a young man who attorneys say died after riding X2 in late 2025, the latest in at least three deaths allegedly linked to the ride.

What makes X2 different from other roller coasters is its 4th-dimensional quality — meaning its seats are rotating 360 degrees around the track as trains reach speeds of nearly 80 miles per hour for roughly two minutes.

Yet despite years of warnings from the park's visitors, attorneys and medical experts about the perils of riding X2, officials at the theme park – located in Valencia, California – and state regulators allowed the attraction to continue operating until this summer.

Six Flags closed the roller coaster the evening of July 12, according to a spokesperson. This was nearly a full day after the latest injury there, and park officials have remained silent about what necessitated the closure.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, which oversees amusement park ride operations, did not respond to CNN's request for comment about the new allegations. Previously, officials would not respond to questions about the history of brain injuries allegedly associated with X2 and did not say how it has deemed it safe to reopen after past incidents. Officials would only say an inspection remains ongoing.

Attorney Gary Dordick, another lawyer representing the more than 100 new clients, said Tuesday many of the alleged victims said they reported their injuries to Six Flags, but it was unclear how many of the injuries were then reported to the state.

"Magic Mountain," he said, "has known about the dangers of this ride for years."

CNN's Dugald McConnell contributed to this report.

Do you have information to share about a Six Flags theme park or ride? Email us at melanie.hicken@cnn.com or blake.ellis@cnn.com.

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Archaeologists have discovered a 3,400-year-old fragment of the world's oldest known peace treaty, the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism has announced.

The agreement, known as the Treaty of Kadesh, was signed around 1269 B.C. by Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II and Hittite king Hattusili III. Other parts of the treaty have already been found, but the new fragment was unearthed during an excavation at Hattusha, in north-central Turkey.

"We have found traces of peace, thousands of years old, in the soil of Anatolia," Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Turkey's minister of culture and tourism, said in a Sept. 21 translated statement. The newly discovered cuneiform tablet fragment contains text from a section of the treaty related to the treatment of refugees, according to the statement. "It reminds us of our responsibility to protect human life and dignity," Ersoy said.

Archaeologists unearthed the fragment from a building in the ancient Hittite capital of Hattusha. The Hittite Empire controlled central Anatolia from about 1650 to 1200 B.C. during the Bronze Age. Archaeologists have discovered numerous examples of diplomatic documents at Hattusha that were written in Akkadian, the earliest documented Semitic language, including other fragments of the Treaty of Kadesh.

The royal leaders signed the treaty around 1269 B.C. to mark the end of a lengthy war between the ancient Egyptians and the Hittite Empire, and it is regarded as the world's oldest known peace treaty. Although known as the Treaty of Kadesh, the document does not actually mention the Battle of Kadesh, which occurred several years earlier, so it is also called the Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty, the Eternal Treaty or the Silver Treaty.

The treaty was preserved by inscriptions in two ancient cities. In the early 19th century, archaeologists first discovered the treaty inscribed in hieroglyphics on the walls of a temple dedicated to Ramesses II in Thebes (modern Luxor). Fragments of the Akkadian cuneiform text of the treaty were first identified at Hattusha in the early 20th century.

Marking the end of a two-century-long war over lands in the eastern Mediterranean, the Treaty of Kadesh marks a military détente between Ramesses II and Hattusili III. According to a translation of the treaty provided by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, it includes lines like, "He is a brother to me and he is at peace with me; and I am a brother to him and I am forever at peace with him," referring to the two leaders. "The country of Egypt and the country of Hatti [Hittite Empire] will be forever in a state of peace and of fraternity as it is with us."

The treaty has further provisions for coming to a country's aid if it was invaded and on how to treat refugees. The text mentions that any refugee from Egypt to Hattusha will be returned to Egypt, and any Hattusha refugee to Egypt will be returned to Hattusha, as fleeing was considered a crime.

However, the treaty specifically forbids punishing refugees: "Their tongue and their eyes are not to be pulled out; their ears and their feet are not to be cut off; their houses with their wives and their children are not to be destroyed." Part of this text appears on the newly discovered cuneiform fragment. Ongoing excavations may help uncover the remaining parts of the treaty, according to the statement.

A copper replica of the Treaty of Kadesh is displayed prominently today in the United Nations Conference Building in New York City. According to the U.N., "the treaty pledges eternal friendship, lasting peace, territorial integrity, nonaggression, extradition, and mutual help. The pledges in this treaty are similar to the United Nations ideals."

Are you a fan of mummies and hieroglyphs? Find out with our ancient Egypt quiz!

Hurricane Polo has exploded into a monstrous Category 5 storm with 180-mph winds, becoming the second-strongest hurricane ever recorded in the eastern Pacific as it threatens Mexico’s southwestern coast with life-threatening floods and mudslides.

The National Hurricane Center said Polo was still strengthening after rapidly intensifying on Tuesday. The storm is expected to remain “extremely dangerous” for the next several days as it tracks northwestward over an ocean environment loaded with extremely warm water, abundant moisture and low wind shear.

“Therefore even more strengthening is possible,” the hurricane center warned, raising the prospect of an even more powerful storm as Polo continues feeding on the overheated Pacific.

Atmospheric scientist Matthew Cappucci offered a jaw-dropping description of the hurricane’s explosive development when he wrote, “INCREDIBLE developments with Superhurricane Polo, which likely now has winds in the 175+ mph range. It has heated the air enough to lift HALF A TRILLION pounds of air out the middle, driving an incredible vacuum effect that’s resulting in obscene winds.”

Mexico is facing the most immediate threat, with Polo expected to drench southwestern coastal areas through Thursday even though the hurricane itself is forecast to remain offshore.

Forecasters have warned that the rainfall could produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, particularly in steep terrain, while tropical storm warnings have been issued for portions of southwestern Mexico.

Southern California is expected to escape the worst of Polo, although the massive storm could still stir up trouble along a coastline that has already endured repeated pounding from Pacific weather.

Polo could pull tropical moisture toward the region depending on conditions in the upper atmosphere, according to Bryan Lewis, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard. However, Lewis put the chance of rain in Los Angeles County at only 5% on Tuesday afternoon.

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The more immediate concern is what happens when large southern swells meet elevated tides, with Lewis warning that high surf and high tides could coincide Tuesday and create the potential for coastal flooding.

The National Weather Service in Los Angeles already forecasted elevated surf and strong rip currents at beaches this weekend and into next week as multiple southerly swells move toward the coast.

“After almost an entire summer of southern swell after southern swell, there could be some issues for those vulnerable coastlines,” Lewis told The Los Angeles Times.

That warning comes after Laguna Beach, Dana Point and Carlsbad declared local emergencies this year amid coastal erosion and sand loss linked to powerful Pacific storms and high surf.

Polo is the 16th named storm of the eastern Pacific season and the third Category 5 hurricane following Genevieve and Lowell, tying 2026 with 1994, 2002 and 2018 for the most Category 5 storms ever recorded in a single eastern Pacific season.

California is also preparing for the winter weather ahead, with Gov. Gavin Newsom having declared a statewide emergency as El Nino is predicted to be the strongest in at least a generation and concerns grow over high surf and high-impact storms.

James McCrery II withdrew from the project last October after warning repeatedly that Trump was insisting on a preliminary design that did not provide adequate emergency exit routes or fire-containment measures, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussions.

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Trump brushed off McCrery’s concerns, they said, and the president countered that no building codes apply to White House construction.

“I am the code,” Trump said.

That episode, as described by the people familiar with the matter, offers new insight into Trump’s priorities for the ballroom at a time when he is flexing executive power to fast-track construction projects across the nation’s capital. The interviews and documents obtained by The Post - including early ballroom designs and images Trump appeared to have marked up with his trademark black-ink Sharpie - also show how deeply involved the president has been in the details of the project.

White House renovations and construction are typically handled by federal agencies required by law to comply with nationally recognized building safety standards to the “maximum extent feasible,” unless doing so would present a national security risk.

But Trump’s White House construction projects are being routed through the Executive Residence, a tiny office that is not a federal agency and is therefore exempt from rules governing agencies.

The District of Columbia government has no jurisdiction to enforce local building codes on federal property. The contractors hired to design and build the ballroom are responsible for adhering to safety standards as they work nearly round-the-clock to meet Trump’s ambitious deadlines, according to experts.

Discussions about the safety issues in the ballroom’s design continued for months after McCrery resigned, according to White House records. It is not clear from the records reviewed by The Post whether the safety issues he identified have been resolved in more recent designs by Shalom Baranes Associates, the architecture firm that replaced McCrery’s firm late last year.

Shalom Baranes Associates declined to comment.

When Post reporters visited McCrery’s office this month, he asked them to leave and not contact him again. On Tuesday, in response to questions from The Post and details about its reporting for this story, McCrery issued a statement through a spokesman.

“President Trump entrusted me with the earliest stages of the new ballroom design,” the statement said. “I am truly grateful for that honor and for the rich experience of working for him alongside all the highly talented and committed patriots at the Executive Mansion. Having completed the earliest designs, I stepped aside and a new firm was engaged.”

The Post previously reported that McCrery clashed with Trump over the size of the ballroom. In response to questions Tuesday, McCrery did not provide a specific reason for his resignation. A White House spokesman emailed a statement that said it would be “factually false and totally inaccurate” to say that “McCrery’s departure from the project was in any way associated with code issues.”

Compliance with safety codes has been a priority since the East Wing project began, and aesthetics have not outweighed fire and safety standards, the statement said. The current team of architects and consultants is responsible for designing the East Wing according to nationally recognized fire and safety codes, it said.

“Life safety issues have been addressed and resolved continuously as the design has evolved,” the statement said.

“McCrery was a valued member of the initial design team of the East Wing Modernization Project,” the statement said. “The decision was made to move in another direction for the second phase of the project and we continue to make tremendous strides in realizing the goal of providing a world class military and functional facility for future Presidents to utilize.”

The ballroom is the most expensive of the projects Trump has initiated to leave his imprint on monumental D.C. The president has described the project as a “gift” to the American people. Polls show that it is deeply unpopular. The Post previously reported that as of March, the ballroom project was expected to cost hundreds of millions more than the administration has publicly acknowledged - and that half the cost was expected to be covered by taxpayers.

Renderings show an ornate and gilded interior that departs from the simplicity of the original White House and echoes the look of the ballroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a look he has said was inspired by the Palace of Versailles in France. A March budget for the new White House ballroom included nearly $6 million in gold leaf. The project also includes secure underground facilities that Trump has said are necessary for national security.

McCrery, a classical architect and professor at Catholic University of America, runs a boutique firm on Capitol Hill that specializes in designing churches, libraries and buildings for college campuses.

During his first term, Trump appointed McCrery to the United States Commission of Fine Arts, a position in which the architect consulted on projects in the capital through President Joe Biden’s administration.

Trump handpicked McCrery Architects to design the aboveground portion of the ballroom, and the firm began drafting drawings as early as April 2025, documents show. “I am honored that President Trump has entrusted me to help bring this beautiful and necessary renovation to The People’s House, while preserving the elegance of its classical design and historical importance,” McCrery said in a White House news release announcing the project.

Trump was immersed in the minutiae of the project that spring and summer, often spending hours at a time discussing it at the White House with McCrery, the people with knowledge of the meetings said. The president also called McCrery on his cellphone at all hours to relay his thoughts on the design, they said.

The Post reviewed draft plans and other images featuring dozens of undated handwritten notes that appeared to be from Trump to McCrery as the two worked together on early designs for the ballroom. The notes were later returned to the White House, where images show they were stored in a box containing the label “Docs bearing POTUS’s mark.”

Sharpie markings on one of the documents expanded the footprint of McCrery’s sketch of a ballroom that would have seated 640 guests. The Sharpie marks also scratched out proposed service corridors, extending the ballroom the entire width of the second floor.

The markings offer input on tiny details in the design, including how far decorative interior columns should extend into the ballroom or whether doors should hinge on the left or right. They emphasize a preference for Corinthian-style columns over simpler columns. And they cross out two sets of service stairs.

The documents reviewed by The Post also hint at friction, previously reported by The Post and others, that grew last summer as Trump insisted on expanding the ballroom until it was nearly twice the size of the historical mansion - a size that would seat more than 1,300 guests.

One document features an image of a planned data center overlaid on a map of Manhattan, a mash-up that demonstrated the data center’s massive size. “James,” begins a note for McCrery at the top, an apparent reference to the architect’s concerns about the size of the ballroom, “And you think we are big.”

Trump’s growing vision for the ballroom triggered a cascade of design issues, including conflicts with building standards McCrery was trained to follow, according to the people familiar with their discussions.

McCrery informed the White House that Trump’s ballroom design did not meet fire safety codes, which require the majority of guests to be able to quickly exit through the main entrance during an emergency, according to the people and documents. The architect also pointed out that alternative emergency exit routes out of the building were insufficient, and that there was little in the design to prevent a kitchen fire from rapidly spreading into the event space on the floor above.

In addition to fire safety concerns, Trump’s desired ballroom design did not include enough toilets to accommodate the structure’s maximum occupancy, according to documents, and there were few options for adding more, as the event space occupied most of the building’s footprint. One early ballroom design featured just seven stalls in the women’s bathroom.

On Sept. 30, 2025, a White House team met to review the ballroom design, and they discussed “areas of concern” and comments from contractors on the project, according to a White House official’s meeting notes. “Life safety - big concern,” the notes said.

Major renovations and construction on the White House are supposed to be handled by the General Services Administration or the National Park Service, according to a memorandum of understanding governing site operations.

The GSA, which handles most nonmilitary government real estate projects, has previously told The Post that it has no role in the ballroom project and Tuesday referred questions to the White House. The Park Service is acting as a pass-through for private donations to the project but is not running the construction. The Park Service did not respond to a request for comment.

Instead, the work has been routed through the White House Executive Residence, an unusual arrangement that has allowed the president to dictate the terms of the project, The Post previously has reported.

Typically, the GSA and other federal agencies write language into their construction contracts that allows them to enforce code compliance, according to Kevin Kampschroer, who oversaw numerous federal construction projects in a 50-year career at the GSA.

While it’s difficult to quantify the risk of designing a structure without adequate emergency exits and other fire-protection mechanisms, Kampschroer said, “bottom line is, I don’t know any commercial building owner that would cheat on the fire code, because the risk is too great.”

The Post has not reviewed McCrery’s contract with the White House but has examined the contract between the White House and the project builder, Clark Construction. The agreement says Clark must conduct its work in accordance with “Federal, State, and local laws, regulations, codes, directives, or guidance provided by the Contracting Officer.” The contracting officer in this case is Joshua Fisher, director of White House management and administration and an assistant to Trump.

Fisher did not respond to a request for comment.

Clark has hired a private company to do third-party inspection of the construction, according to a memo notifying the White House of its plan to issue a no-bid subcontract for the work.

A spokesperson for Clark Construction, the project’s general contractor, said in a statement, “As demonstrated by our successful history delivering projects for Federal clients across the United States, we consistently follow applicable building codes and life safety requirements.”

Documents show that McCrery resigned the week of Oct. 20, the same week demolition began on the former East Wing.

In the months that followed his resignation, documents show, the White House team continued to discuss life-safety issues and a code review for the ballroom project. It is unclear if a review was ever completed.

“Life safety - needs POTUS buy in,” read one White House official’s notes from a Nov. 6 meeting on the project.

The ballroom plans should have been finalized by early June 2026, according to an initial schedule reviewed by The Post, but current and former administration officials - who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations - told The Post in late August that the president was still tweaking the design as construction continued.

“Refinements to the design are continuing as construction proceeds,” said the White House statement to The Post. “These refinements are primarily associated with the interiors.”

Dan Diamond contributed to this report.

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Washington —  The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to intervene in a custody dispute between a California couple and surrogate who gave birth to a child last month with a rare and serious heart defect.

Justice Elena Kagan rejected the emergency appeal from the woman, McKenna West, who had asked the justices to halt a California court order declaring the couple, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, to be the child's parents.

Kagan handles emergency appeals arising from California and other states in the region.

The legal battle involves a surrogacy contract Gilkar and Ahmed entered into with West, which allowed the couple to demand an abortion for a baby diagnosed with a fetal abnormality, according to court filings.

West, who lives in Alaska, became pregnant with a baby boy in December. But in April, a 20-week anatomy scan showed the baby had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a severe, life-threatening heart defect that prevents normal blood flow through the heart, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

After receiving the diagnosis, Gilkar and Ahmed requested West obtain an abortion, according to court filings. West refused and traveled to Texas, where she gave birth last month. She calls the baby Gabriel, and Gilkar and Ahmed named him Rumi. Texas bans abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy.

Before the baby was born, the California couple asked a state court to confirm their parentage of the child. The California court agreed, recognizing Gilkar and Ahmed as his legal parents. 

The child underwent surgery in Texas soon after he was born after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened and secured a court order requiring the hospital to provide the baby with lifesaving medical care. Paxton has since withdrawn from the proceedings. That surgery, known as a Norwood procedure, is typically the first in a line of three surgeries required in the first years of life for babies born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, according to the CDC. 

The Texas court also said the California couple, not West, is responsible for medical decisions for the boy.

But West asked the Supreme Court to lift the California order that recognizes Gilkar and Ahmed as the baby boy's parents. In a filing, her lawyers claimed that the couple is attempting to halt lifesaving care for the child and warned that without relief, West will be denied the right to protect the baby's life.

They wrote that under Texas law, West would likely be the child's rightful mother since she gave birth to him in Texas.

But lawyers for Ahmed and Gilkar said in a Supreme Court filing that they have been ensuring the baby receives lifesaving care and "are committed to doing so  for the rest of his life."

"Respondents have been with their child around the clock in a hospital's pediatric intensive care unit," they said. "The child has been receiving critical medical care by his team of doctors at the consent and direction of Respondents."

They said that intervention from the Supreme Court would cause chaos and confusion over medical decision-making for the baby, and rebutted West's need for emergency relief since Ahmed and Gilkar are providing the child with the medical care that she is pushing for.

Adam Wolf, a lawyer for Gilkar and Ahmed, said in response to Kagan's denial, "We are truly grateful that Rumi can continue receiving the treatment he needs to survive, and that he will not be stripped away from what has been described by doctors as the excellent care of his parents. Ms. West's legal filings across three jurisdictions, state courts of appeals, and now the U.S. Supreme Court have sought to undermine Rumi's parents' right to provide him with the care he needs. Those efforts have been rejected by every single court." 

The grim warning by the University of Chicago-based Climate Impact Lab says that as many as 451,000 more heat-related deaths between June and the end of February could be attributed to El Nino, compared with heat deaths expected in a typical year.

The heaviest toll, the group says, is expected in poorer countries, already struggling with food insecurity and high energy costs, partly due to climate change and the fallout of the war in Iran.

Michael Greenstone, a co-founder of the group and the study's co-author, said the heat danger will likely persist beyond February — even though this El Nino is expected to end by then. The fallout of the weather phenomenon could be felt well into next summer, he added.

The research, he said, shows that heat is most dangerous in places that are already hot and relatively poor.

"If you're already in a hot place, the extra couple of degrees are going to be much more dangerous," he said. Wealthier places, he added, generally have greater access to air conditioning, reliable water supplies and functioning health systems.

The study combined seasonal temperature forecasts with localized estimates of how high temperatures affect mortality across more than 24,000 regions worldwide.

Researchers estimated the additional heat-related deaths by comparing deaths expected under El Nino-driven high temperatures with deaths expected if temperatures remained similar to what they have been in the last three decades. The projected fatalities are for the entire El Nino period, from June 2026 until the end of February 2027.

The report says the Global South will see more heat-related deaths

The study by Greenstone and his colleagues also warns that the Global South — a term that isn't geographical but a reference to developing countries in general — will bear the heaviest burden of the excessive heat.

The researchers behind the report found that the Sahel region in Africa — countries along the semiarid southern fringe of the Sahara Desert — is expected to be the hardest-hit, with about 66,800 additional deaths caused by El Nino-driven heat.

Other major hot spots include South and Southeast Asia and parts of Latin America, according to the report. The researchers project about 19,400 additional heat-related deaths across the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, as well as 19,300 in Indonesia, 15,800 in India and 13,300 in Brazil.

Heat warnings and cooling centers could prevent thousands of deaths

With such staggering numbers, there are recommended measures that governments can take, the report says. They include heat-warning systems, cooling centers, hydration stations, protections for outdoor workers, expanded hospital capacity and targeted outreach to elderly people and other vulnerable groups.

The authors also call for what they describe as anticipatory financing, so governments can move resources before dangerous heat peaks.

Abhiyant Tiwari, a heat expert at NRDC India who was not involved in the study, said the report's projections should serve as a call to action rather than be another reason for alarm.

But while it's one thing to have well thought-out plans — as India does — implementing these plans and raising needed funds remains a challenge, he said.

"The real measure of our preparedness is not how many heat warnings we issue, but how effectively we protect people and reduce preventable deaths," Tiwari added.

Climate change is amplifying El Nino's record heat

El Nino is a natural climate pattern, but this year's unusually strong event is occurring on a planet already warmed by human-caused climate change, increasing the risks from extreme heat.

The Climate Impact Lab said global land temperatures during this El Nino could be higher by about 1.2 Celsius (2.1 Fahrenheit), producing 44% more extremely hot days than in a typical year. The report said those temperature increases may mirror conditions that climate change could make common some 20 years from now.

That's why this El Nino could offer a preview of what's ahead as the planet continues to warm, the report said. It's also an opportunity for decision-makers "to see exactly where emergency actions can be taken now to save tens of thousands of lives," the authors say.

___

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NATO military aircraft were deployed in Polish and Romanian airspace overnight and on Wednesday morning, in response to the latest wave of Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, officials in both allied nations said.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 161 drones -- of which 82 were jet-powered -- and an unspecified number of Banderol cruise missiles into the country overnight. Air defenses intercepted or suppressed 119 drones and three cruise missiles, the air force said, with impacts recorded across 18 locations.

Poland's Armed Forces Operational Command said in a post to X that Polish fighter jets were scrambled "to ensure safety" due to Russian "strikes using jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles on targets in western Ukraine."

The alert concluded after approximately an hour. The command said that no violations of Polish airspace were recorded.

In Romania, which borders Ukraine to the country's southwest, the Defense Ministry in Bucharest said that two Romanian F-16 fighter jets were scrambled on Tuesday night "to respond to an aerial target maneuvering in the northeast of the locality of Valkove, on Ukrainian territory, near the border with Romania."

Around an hour later, the ministry said that the alert had concluded and that "no incursions into national airspace have been reported."

The scrambling of NATO assets in response to Russian air attacks in Ukraine has become commonplace in recent years. On multiple occasions, Russian drones have entered NATO airspace and have even crashed on NATO territory, most commonly in Poland and in Romania. Fighter jets have also downed incurring Russian drones over both nations.

NATO leaders have framed the growing threat of Russian drone incursions as part of Moscow's so-called "hybrid warfare" strategy against Ukraine's NATO backers. The Kremlin, meanwhile, has consistently denied any responsibility for drone violations of allied airspace.

On Wednesday, Russia's Defense Ministry described its latest round of overnight strikes on Ukraine as having targeted military-industrial and energy targets sites in the Kyiv region and in the southern Odesa region, which borders Romania.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that two people were killed and 41 people were injured by the latest attacks in the capital.

Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported that two people were injured by overnight Russian strikes in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia. Two more people were injured by attacks in the Zhytomyr region in northwestern Ukraine, the SES said, with eight people injured by Russian attacks in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

The SES also reported strikes in the central Poltava region and in Odesa, though said there were no casualties reported in either location.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said its forces downed 514 Ukrainian drones overnight. The craft, it said, were shot down over 17 Russian regions, plus over occupied Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

In the Belgorod region of western Russia, which borders Ukraine, local Governor Alexander Shuvaev said that eight people were injured by Ukrainian drone attacks.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico can be shut out from areas of the White House at President Donald Trump's request, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday, a day ahead of a court hearing.

The three leading outlets went to court after Trump ordered on Friday that they be barred from the presidential mansion as punishment for distributing what he calls "fake news."

A US district judge set a hearing on the complaint for Wednesday.

The Department of Justice said in a court filing that Trump can "control reporters' access to restricted presidential areas, such as the Oval Office."

"Access to the White House is a privilege -- not a right," it added.

The court filing said that letters explaining the president's reasons for the ban had been sent to the outlets on Tuesday. They have until Friday to object.

The letters cite numerous "reporting incidents" by the outlets that "threatened national security and spread falsehoods," according to the filing.

The letter to CNN cited a story on Trump's plans to build a bunker below the East Wing ballroom he is constructing, which "disclosed 'top-secret' construction details," and several stories about the Iran war, the network said.

Journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico were denied any access to the White House grounds on Saturday and had their passes confiscated.

In their lawsuit, the three outlets asked for a temporary restraining order against the ban on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which upholds the right to a free press.

"This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles," the outlets said in the court filing.

On Tuesday, Trump appeared to have suggested that CNN should not be covering him outside of the White House too.

"I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me, you shouldn't be here," Trump told reporters covering his visit to the United Nations General Assembly this week.

Trump has long attacked media outlets that have aired critical coverage of his campaigns and administrations, repeatedly blasting the press as the "enemy of the people."

But the ban comes at a time when his approval ratings are at record lows, his Republican Party risks losing control of Congress in November's midterm elections, and the war in the Middle East drags on with no end in sight.

bur-lkd/ami

President Trump threatened the annihilation of Iran if its leaders refuse to strike a deal and framed the U.S. as conquerors of Venezuela, while promoting himself as a problem solver in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday. 

“To the victor go the spoils,” Trump told the crowd, touting an oil deal with Venezuela after he launched a military operation removing its authoritarian leader in January. 

The president’s remarks at the global summit kicked off a whirlwind day that included a secret meeting between U.S. officials and the Iranian delegation, with the two sides at an impasse nearly seven months into the war. 

Trump also signed an agreement with Denmark and Greenland that ended a standoff over his threats to invade or annex the Arctic island. 

Here are five takeaways from Trump’s appearance at the U.N.  

US, Iran meet on sidelines

U.S. officials met with the Iranian delegation for three hours on Tuesday, Trump told reporters, pointing to his top envoy for negotiations Steve Witkoff. The president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also attended the meeting. 

“I feel very good right now,” Witkoff said, hesitating to answer reporters’ questions about the talks. 

Iranian officials have not confirmed whether the meeting took place. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were in town for the summit. 

Earlier, Trump had laid out a stark choice for Tehran in his speech to the U.N. — a deal to give up their nuclear program and reap investments from the U.S., or risk annihilation. 

“Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness for generations?” Trump posed to the global body and suggested Iran was waiting to see if he is in a weakened position after the midterms in November.

“I gave absolutely no credence and will not give credence to the election when it comes to Iran,” he said. 

Media ban looms over meetings 

The fallout over Trump’s ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico loomed heavily over the global summit. 

While a major network did not travel with Trump following the White House TV pool’s decision to boycott in solidarity with CNN, the president was pressed on the matter throughout the day. 

Trump predicted a federal judge “probably will” rule in the trio’s favor after the three banned media outlets sued the administration on Monday. 

“He’s not a particularly fair judge, so you never know,” Trump said, referring to U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who the president nominated to the federal bench during his first term.

CNN was originally slated to travel with Trump in the pool. The ban did not stop the network from covering the president at the event in New York and even getting a question in as Trump entered the U.N. 

“You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to be covering me,” Trump told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.  

Greenland deal done and dusted 

The U.S., Denmark and Greenland signed a new security agreement on Tuesday that would allow Washington to build two new military bases on the Arctic island and ice out Beijing and Moscow from economic investments on the world’s largest island. 

The U.S. is now planning to reestablish a military base in south Greenland in Narsarsuaq and another on the eastern side of the island in Mestersvig. 

Under the deal, the U.S. would be allowed to build more military bases and “modernize and expand its activities” at the Pituffik Space Base, where about 150 U.S. service members are already stationed. 

“You go back way back in the line of presidents, and almost every president at least mentioned it,” Trump said in brief remarks on Tuesday. “But most of them just mentioned it. Some really wanted to make a deal and never got done. But we’re getting it done.”

The deal came after months of tensions, with Trump at one point threatening to use military force to seize Greenland, the semi-autonomous Danish territory. 

Trump seeks AI branding overhaul 

Trump sought to rebrand artificial intelligence as “super intelligence” during his remarks to the U.N. General Assembly but largely dismissed concerns about the technology and calls for global cooperation on its regulation. 

The president told the body that AI would be referred to as “super intelligence” going forward in U.S. documents. 

Trump went on to say using the term “artificial” makes the technology “sound fake.” 

“It’s not fake. It’s actually amazing. But we have to be careful. In fact, it is exactly the opposite of what it purports,” he said. 

“In other words, welcome to the new world of super intelligence — SI,” the president continued. “Let’s see if that goes. It sounds much better. It is much better, and it’s much more accurate.” 

Super intelligence is already defined as a form of AI that exceeds human intelligence. It is both the ultimate goal of many frontier AI firms and the greatest worry among those warning about it running rampant. 

Trump mulls diesel export ban

Trump said he supports a diesel export ban, amid soaring fuel costs linked to the U.S. war with Iran. The conflict has blocked energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea, amid fighting between Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels in Yemen.  

“I've said let's not send out the diesel,” the president said in response to reporters' questions and suggested a decision on the ban could happen “fast.” 

The president’s remarks underscored the drastic choices facing the administration just weeks before the midterm elections. Republicans are facing increasing odds that they could lose their majorities in the House and Senate related to Trump’s plummeting popularity over the rising cost of living and the war with Iran. 

Trump’s approval rating hit an all-time low on Monday, 32 percent, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey. Almost two-thirds of Americans say the U.S. is not winning the conflict with Iran, according to a CNN poll released Tuesday.

The Pentagon is altering the promotion process to get to the rank of general in an effort to “cut bureaucracy and demand true meritocracy” across the senior ranks, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday.

In a video posted to social media, Hegseth declared the Defense Department this year will roll out the Joint Warfighter Evaluation, a new battlefield-style assessment for eligible colonels and Navy captains. The evaluation is intended to screen the officers aimed for one-star general or admiral on “their ability to fight, adapt, and win,” according to Hegseth.

“While the backbone of our military is our NCOs [noncommissioned officers] and our petty officers, victory depends on the commanders who lead them,” Hegseth said in the video.

“America needs warfighters who can master a chaotic battle space,” he added, later noting that commanders should be chosen by “proven competence, not paper credential.”

He likened the new evaluation to the Louisiana Maneuvers — a mass series of military exercises done directly before the U.S. entered World War II, during which roughly 400,000 troops conducted a wargame to evaluate America’s training, logistics and commanders. 

Hegseth said such testing brought out leaders like former President Eisenhower, a five-star Army general who planned and carried out the Allied assault on the coast of Normandy and the liberation of Western Europe; Army Gen. Omar Bradley, the first chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who eventually oversaw the U.S. military's policymaking in the Korean War; and Adm. Chester Nimitz, who commanded Allied air, land and sea in the Pacific theater during World War II.

The Joint Warfighter Evaluation “brings that standard to the modern multi-domain fight,” Hegseth said. “This evaluation is an objective equalizer. The scenario only cares about operational decisions under pressure.” 

Hegseth said he had tasked Stuart Scheller, the deputy chief of staff to the undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, to lead the effort a year ago.

Each military branch will have its own version of the evaluation, according to internal documents obtained by The Hill. 

The Army will use a written assessment then a digital wargame; the Air Force and Space Force will require a two-hour online analysis test followed by a one-hour interactive simulation; the Navy will have officers travel to the Naval War College for a three-hour written assessment then a two-to-three-hour wargame; and the Marine Corps requires an eight-hour remote evaluation on an AI-enabled platform combining written assessments and situational judgment tests, according to an internal memo. 

The Joint Staff will evaluate 50 to 60 Joint Forces Staff College students using a “hybrid” model with an independent written analysis followed by an “in-person, AI enabled execution phase” at Norfolk, Va. school, the memo said. 

The current system has promotion boards that consider officers via their accumulated evaluations from their superiors throughout their careers.

The service will provide weekly updates on its pilot program development and implementation of the JWT Operational Planning Team (OPT) that will be coordinated with Scheller, Anthony Tata, the Pentagon’s Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, said in an Aug. 12 internal memo reviewed by The Hill.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host who served in the Army National Guard, has notoriously had an issue with the military’s promotion system, blocking numerous Army, Navy and Air Force promotions to one-star general or admirals — a large quantity of them Black and female service members.

The Pentagon chief has prioritized what he calls the “warrior ethos,” pushing the armed services to embrace higher physical standards and criticizing the military branches for promoting individuals based on what he has claimed, without proof, are race and gender quotas.

“Real toxic leadership is endangering subordinates with low standards. Real toxic leadership is promoting people based on immutable characteristics or quotas instead of based on merit,” Hegseth told senior military leaders last year in Quantico, Va.

Updated 3:27 p.m. EDT

The officials said it was not clear why the officer was not wearing his body camera. Another ICE officer who was in the same vehicle was wearing a body camera, the officials said. That camera captured partial footage of the incident, but the footage does not include the moment of the shooting, the officials said.

Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, 28, was shot early Sunday afternoon by an ICE officer while making deliveries as a DoorDash driver. He was taken to a hospital and, four hours after he was shot, was taken into immigration custody at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas, his attorney said. The bullet remains in his back.

On Tuesday, a federal judge granted an emergency order temporarily blocking deportation proceedings against Garcés Pérez, according to his attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch.

The Travis County District Attorney’s Office also sent a letter to DHS and ICE leadership requesting that Garcés Pérez be allowed to remain in the country since he is “a material witness” in their criminal investigation into the shooting.

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis shared on Tuesday evening some of the first video footage obtained by the department as part on their probe into the shooting. The videos came from an off-duty officer who captured part of the encounter between ICE and Garcés Pérez, as well as the sound of three gunshots, using his personal dash cam and cellphone.

After this, the off-duty officer alerted his colleagues to the shooting, allowing Austin police to quickly respond to the scene.

Davis said they are seeking the public’s help in obtaining any video evidence that can help them piece together the pursuit that preceded the shooting.

The day after he was shot, Garcés Pérez began “experiencing an inability to move his arm,” attorney Lincoln-Goldfinch said on social media. He was taken to the hospital Monday afternoon for several hours and then sent back to the detention center, she said.

The DHS did not respond to requests for comment about Lincoln-Goldfinch’s statements.

Earlier Monday, Garcés Pérez told a news conference via phone from detention that he was in a lot of pain and wasn’t getting the medical care he needed.

Lincoln-Goldfinch alleged in a social media post that after Garcés Pérez spoke out at the news conference, guards at the detention center “forcibly took the tablet from his hands, revoked his communication privileges, and moved him out of the infirmary into an isolated room with a flat bed that cannot be adjusted like a medical bed.”

He was then taken to the hospital around 5 p.m. after losing his ability to move his arm, she said.

“Wilber reports that he was handcuffed, shackled at the ankles, placed in a waist chain, and handled roughly during that transfer,” she said in the post.

Lincoln-Goldfinch said Garcés Pérez told her on Tuesday morning that doctors spoke to him about his care and gave him morphine for his pain.

“We now understand that the gunshot fractured his clavicle and that he has significant swelling and is wearing a sling,” she wrote. “We still do not have clarity about the cause or extent of the loss of movement he experienced.”

The attorney said Garcés Pérez was discharged from the hospital around midnight and taken back to the detention center, where he is receiving Tylenol and ibuprofen for his ongoing pain.

“He remains in isolation, on a flat bed, and without the tablet he previously used to communicate,” she said.

“We are asking for his communication privileges to be immediately restored and for him to be provided an appropriate medical bed and adequate medical care,” she said. “Most importantly, we are continuing to advocate for Wilber’s IMMEDIATE release.”

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said on social media that “despite losing movement on his left side and having a bullet lodged next to his spine, ICE has forced Wilber Rafael out of the hospital and back to the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas.”

He said that he and Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, would visit Garcés Pérez on Wednesday, check on his condition and demand his release.

A DHS spokesperson said in a statement late Sunday that Garcés Pérez was in stable condition and was in federal custody pending removal from the U.S.

A senior administration official told NBC News on Monday that Garcés Pérez did not have a criminal history beyond being in the country illegally.

According to Lincoln-Goldfinch, Garcés Pérez entered the country legally and was seeking asylum. She said Garcés Pérez had filed a change of address in immigration court, but received a notice to appear in court at the old address and never got it. Because he missed his immigration hearing, Garcés Pérez was ordered deported in absentia, according to his attorney.

On Monday, Lincoln-Goldfinch shared Garcés Pérez’s account of the shooting, saying he was making a delivery when “an unmarked black truck sideswiped him.” She said he didn’t know it was ICE as the truck chased him as he tried to make a U-turn, and then “pulled him out of the car.”

Previously, DHS has accused immigrants involved in shootings with ICE of using their cars as weapons while fleeing agents, without offering evidence of its claims. But it did not make the accusation in the case of Garcés Pérez or in the case of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, who was fatally shot in Biddeford, Maine, in July during a traffic stop.

ICE Director David Venturella previously told NBC News that every ICE officer and agent would be equipped with body cameras by the end of August, adding the agency would allow the “expedited release” of bodycam footage “when appropriate.” Further delaying that timeline is the possibility of DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin potentially switching or adding new vendors for body cameras.

A person who witnessed the aftermath of the shooting but who requested anonymity because he is going through immigration proceedings told Noticias Telemundo that he was waiting on customers at the ice cream shop where he works when he heard gunshots and ran outside, where he saw immigration agents surrounding a car.

“I approached the car and saw a man who looked sad and with his eyes full of tears. I asked him what happened to him, and he just told me, ‘I was shot in the back,’” said the person, a Mexican immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for more than two decades.

“You aren’t prepared to see someone like that. It makes you very angry, it pains you and you don’t know what to do,” he said.

A social media video verified by NBC News captures the sound of tires screeching followed by a person exiting a dark-colored SUV as a blue sedan is stopped next to it, both vehicles facing each other. The sedan appears to be damaged on the passenger side.

At least three gunshots are heard as the person approaches the sedan and runs up to it as it slowly lurches forward. The video shows the person standing next to the sedan’s driver’s side as it stops in front of an intersection.

Another video shows the blue sedan with its driver’s side door open and Garcés Pérez hunched over in the driver’s seat, holding his left upper chest, near his shoulder, as multiple law enforcement officers gather around.

The woman taking the video says, “Why did he do that to him?” The officers tell her that an ambulance is coming.

The video shows Garcés Pérez being taken out of the car and handcuffed behind his back. The agents make him sit on the ground. There appears to be a large bloodstain down his back. The officers cut open the back of his shirt, revealing a bullet hole.

An officer asks the woman taking the video if she saw what happened. In Spanish, she replies that “they just shot him because he didn’t want to stop” his vehicle.

“This is unjust,” she says as she’s recording the video.

Julia Ainsley reported from Washington, D.C., Daniella Silva from New York and Albinson Linares from Austin, Texas.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

WASHINGTON — An overwhelmed U.S. postal worker in Utah threw 300 mail-in ballots into a parking lot dumpster shortly before the state’s June 23 primary election in which both Democrats and Republicans were on the ballot, Justice Department officials said Tuesday.

The 34-year-old mail carrier told investigators that he did not have a political agenda and that he tossed other mail when he ditched the ballots, Melissa Holyoak, U.S. attorney for the District of Utah, said. She said roughly 95% of voters do so by mail in the state, and it wasn’t clear yet whether they were able to eventually cast ballots.

According to a government memo, Damon Matai Seei told investigators that he wanted to toss out advertisements to “lighten his workload” after feeling overwhelmed.

“He claims he simply made a ‘poor decision’ out of ‘frustration’ and ‘laziness,’” the memo said. He didn’t intend to toss any ballots, they said. Seei is no longer with the U.S. Postal Service. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge of destruction and delay of mail.

The U.S. Postal Service said in a statement that it works “tirelessly to ensure public trust in the mail and monitors to prevent any issues that may arise,” and that it closely monitors political and election mail.

The agency said it was notified of a mail dumping, and referred the matter to the inspector general, “specifically charged with investigating alleged crimes” by postal service employees.

“The unique status of political and election mail makes its security a top priority during every election cycle,” according to the statement, and works to “to prevent, identify and resolve any issues that might interfere with its secure and timely delivery.”

Justice Department officials held a news conference in Washington to announce the charge as part of its efforts to promote “election integrity.” Federal prosecutors have made possible voter fraud — which is rare — a priority, as President Donald Trump insists without evidence that noncitizens are voting en masse and has sought to limit mail-in ballots. The Supreme Court last week refused to allow the president’s mail-in restrictions to be enforced.

Trump has repeatedly made false claims that he won the 2020 election and has falsely claimed he won the popular vote in 2016, yet the Trump administration has struggled during both terms to bring cases showing evidence of significant voter fraud. That’s despite a massive effort in Trump’s second term to obtain voter registration records from states in an attempt to determine if there were any noncitizens registered.

So far during the president’s second term, the Justice Department has charged 70 voter-fraud-related cases, officials said Tuesday. More than 170 million people are registered to vote in the U.S.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said there were more cases in the works, but he didn’t provide further details or a timeline.

“Under the leadership of President Trump and Attorney General Blanche, this department is committed to protecting the vote of American citizens,” he said.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, meanwhile, is revving up a long-standing election monitoring program but putting a new emphasis on “ballot security” and staffing the effort with newly hired conservative personnel who have replaced longtime career employees, hundreds of whom have departed en masse since Trump returned to office. The Civil Rights Division’s efforts to seize voter rolls have resulted in a string of court losses — with 25 courts ruling against the federal government.

Voting rights experts say isolated instances of fraud do happen, as do issues with voting machines, but not on a scale that could have changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden.

But the materials that the Justice Department releases could help feed Trump’s broader narrative about elections. And with the majority of voters disapproving of Trump’s presidency and saying his policies have hurt the economy, Republicans are facing a tough midterms picture.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department rolled out five voting-related cases, four of which were brought against noncitizens. Last week, the Justice Department announced that 16 individuals had been charged in election-related cases, with a news release mentioning that at least 10 of them were lawful permanent residents of the United States. The defendants were originally from Mexico, Nigeria, India, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Antigua and Barbuda, Venezuela, and Colombia.

There was also a defendant from Russia: Victoria Aquilina, a 42-year-old Russian national who entered the United States as an au pair in her early 20s, was charged with casting a ballot in the 2024 election.

Trump — who, until he won the 2024 election, faced federal criminal charges over his efforts to overturn his 2020 loss in the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol — said earlier this year that Republicans should “nationalize the voting.”

Democrats, meanwhile, have launched an “unprecedented” effort to combat potential disruption of the 2026 midterm elections.

Seei’s next court date is Nov. 30. His federal public defender did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds launched an updated campaign website this week, stripping away numerous prominent references to his endorsement from Donald Trump as the president’s approval ratings hit new lows.

Donalds’ campaign website was previously dominated by references to his Trump endorsement. A button to “Chip in to Support Trump Endorsed Byron Donalds” was at the top of the homepage. “TRUMP-ENDORSED Proven Conservative Fighter. BYRON DONALDS” was the page’s main text. A yellow banner reading “ENDORSED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP!” marked the middle of the homepage and a prominent section quoting Trump’s 2025 endorsement said “RUN, BYRON, RUN!”

All of those mentions were stripped away from his updated website. His campaign also removed a photo of Donalds and wife Erika Donalds posing with Trump.

Trump’s endorsement is now only listed in a rolling banner of conservative endorsements from others, including Elon Musk, Sen. Rick Scott, Speaker Mike Johnson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Charlie Kirk and others, with no outsize prominence on the website’s homepage. Trump’s endorsement and Donalds’ photo with the president are now featured on a separate endorsements landing page instead.

On a landing page detailing Donalds’ agenda, the congressman removed what was previously listed first among his priorities: Enact the Trump Agenda. Now, affordability is the first issue on the page, and Trump’s name is nowhere to be found.

According to the website tracking service Visualping, Donalds’ campaign stripped at least eight references to Trump from his homepage.

Previously, the second topic listed on his issues webpage was “Fight Illegal Immigration.” That agenda item is no longer prominently featured. Instead, his updated website says he wants to “stop taxpayer handouts to illegal immigration” under the seventh listed issue, “Law and Order.”

Donalds, who is running against Democrat David Jolly, is the latest Republican candidate to distance himself from Trump as polls show the president’s approval rating hitting record lows, the U.S. war with Iran drags into its eighth month and gas prices continue rising.

Miami Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar launched a new campaign ad last week blasting the Trump administration’s approach to mass immigrant detention and deportation.

“Our campaign website reflects Byron’s focus on the issues that matter most to Floridians — affordability, insurance costs, and government transparency,” campaign spokesperson Gates McGavick said in a statement about the changes. “He’s running to be the next Governor of Florida, is proud to have President Trump’s endorsement, and has real policy proposals to tackle those issues. Meanwhile, David Jolly is all sound bites, no depth, and no policy.”

Donalds made Trump’s endorsement the linchpin of his campaign in 2025 as he sought to win over Republican primary voters, with almost all campaign messaging referring to him as “Trump-endorsed Byron Donalds.”

But during his primary victory night speech in Orlando last month, Donalds didn’t mention Trump at all onstage, despite bestowing praise on other Republican leaders like Scott.

Update: This story has been updated with additional information about where Trump is featured on the Donalds campaign website.

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Tampa Bay Times Election Coverage