作者： root

Obama-appointed judge with ties to anti-Trump conspiracy theory hit with misconduct complaint

CASA argues Judge Christopher Cooper’s wife Amy Jeffress represents Biden in ongoing litigation against Trump

June 10, 2026 4:13pm EDT / Fox News

By Elaine Mallon

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6386660995112

Trump says he is honored after Kennedy Center Board votes to rename it after him

President Donald Trump responds to the board members voting to rename performing arts center the ‘Trump-Kennedy Center.’

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FIRST ON FOX: U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper is facing a judicial misconduct complaint from a conservative watchdog group, which argues he should have recused himself from a lawsuit involving President Donald Trump’s effort to rename the Kennedy Center.

The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) alleged that Cooper should have bowed out of the case because his wife, Amy Jeffress, has a history of representing what the group described as “anti-Trump” clients. In May, Cooper ruled against Trump by permanently blocking the renaming of the Kennedy Center after Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, filed a lawsuit.

CASA filed a complaint with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday, alleging Cooper failed to disclose or recuse himself despite what it called significant financial and professional interests stemming from his wife’s involvement in litigation against Trump.

“CASA is filing a judicial complaint against Obama-appointed DC District Court Judge Christopher Cooper for his potentially unethical behavior after his failure to recuse himself from the frivolous Kennedy Center lawsuit filed against President Trump, given his wife’s financial interests in opposing President Trump’s agenda through litigation,” CASA Director of Research and Policy Curtis Schube said in a statement.

JUDGE WITH INTIMATE TIES TO DEM PARTY’S KEY RUSSIA HOAX PLAYERS BEHIND LATEST ANTI-TRUMP DECISION

A composite photo shows a worker on a lift at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, alongside U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled that President Donald Trump’s name be removed from the building.(Getty / and the U.S. District Court of D.C.)

The complaint comes more than a week after Trump slammed Cooper for having a “conflict of interest,” pointing to Cooper’s wife, Amy Jeffress’, track record of representing Trump’s biggest foes, including former anti-Trump FBI lawyer Lisa Page, and currently representing former President Joe Biden, who is suing Trump’s Justice Department over the release of Robert Hur’s interview recordings.

“Cooper’s wife is longtime Democrat activist and attorney Amy Jeffress. Jeffress is the former counsel to the January 6th committee, works as former President Biden’s personal lawyer, and currently represents Biden in ongoing litigation against President Trump,” Schube said. “There was a clear need for Cooper to recuse himself from this matter, or at the very least disclose these conflicts. By doing neither, Cooper caused — at the very least — an appearance of impropriety, which warrants a full investigation.”

The complaint does not challenge Cooper’s ruling itself, but it argues that his involvement in the case could raise reasonable questions about his ability to be impartial under the federal judiciary’s Code of Conduct.

Sign on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts(Getty Images)

JONATHAN TURLEY: TRUMP’S KENNEDY CENTER NAME CHANGE WILL KEEP LAWYERS BUSY FOR YEARS

“We are deeply concerned with the fact that a sitting federal judge did not recuse himself, and adjudicated to disposition, a case from which he and his spouse financially benefit,” the complaint states. “Indeed, a large portion of his wife’s business model appears to rely on handling litigation that is anti-Trump in nature.”

CASA argues that Cooper may have violated Canon 1, which requires judges to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary.

Read the complaint below. App users: Click here

“Canon 1 requires that a judge uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary,” the filing states. “Judge Cooper, presumably, goes home every night to his wife whose career is predicated on suing President Trump.”

CASA argued Cooper is in violation of Canon 2, which requires judges to avoid situations that could appear improper, even when no actual misconduct has occurred.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on June 10, 2026.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

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“More specifically, Canon 2 lists occasions when the appearance of a relationship affects a judge’s ability to adjudicate a case: 1) when public confidence is hampered; and 2) when spousal relationships influence judicial conduct,” the complaint stated. “Both problems are present here.”

The complaint also argues that Cooper violated Canon 3, which requires judges to remain fair and impartial and that recusal may be warranted when a judge’s spouse’s interests or potential partisan influences could reasonably raise questions about that impartiality.

The complaint concludes by urging the D.C. Circuit to investigate Cooper and determine whether disciplinary action is warranted.

Appointed by President Barack Obama, Cooper has served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., since 2014.

Cooper has long been the target of conflict of interest allegations from Trump and his allies. The judge drew scrutiny during Special Counsel John Durham’s prosecution of former Clinton campaign-linked attorney Michael Sussmann, which was a part of Durham’s broader probe into the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation centered on the now-debunked Russian-Trump collusion theory.

Critics argued then that he should have recused himself because his wife, attorney Amy Jeffress, represented former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, a figure tied to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

Fox News Digital reached out to Cooper and Jeffress for comment.

Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.

States sue Trump administration over anti-DEI terms in federal contracts

2026-06-10 22:43:54 / Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office as he signs the Secure America Act, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 10, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• Agencies are prohibiting ‘racially discriminatory DEI’
• But they haven’t explained what that means, 20 states say
• Trump orders call for DEI bar in government, private sector

June 10 (Reuters) – Democratic state officials filed a lawsuit on Wednesday claiming federal agencies have flouted the law by hastily implementing President Donald Trump’s executive ​order that seeks to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives by federal contractors including many state agencies.

The lawsuit, opens new tab in Baltimore federal ‌court by the attorneys general of 19 states and Washington, D.C., claims that more than two dozen federal agencies are adding new terms to federal contracts barring “any racially discriminatory DEI activities” without notice or explaining exactly what is prohibited.

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Trump directed agencies to adopt those new terms in a March executive order, part of his broader efforts to eradicate DEI ​initiatives.

Groups representing university faculty and minority business owners filed a lawsuit in the same court in April claiming Trump’s order violates contractors’ free-speech ​rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. They have moved for a preliminary injunction that would ⁠block Trump’s order pending the outcome of the case.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell in a statement said that the Trump administration was ignoring ​its obligations under federal law to make headlines about eliminating diversity efforts.

“This is yet another example of haphazard actions designed to confuse and intimidate rather ​than provide clear guidance to people and businesses — in this case federal contractors,” Campbell said. She was joined in the lawsuit by her counterparts in California, Illinois and New Jersey, among other states.

The White House and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit says state agencies regularly contract with the ​federal government and the states involved in the case collectively hold billions of dollars in existing contracts. Trump’s order could affect up to ​640,000 contracts and subcontracts with over 34,000 unique contractors nationwide, according to federal estimates cited by Campbell’s office.

The state officials allege that the federal agencies implementing Trump’s order ‌have violated ⁠the federal Administrative Procedure Act by acting in an arbitrary and capricious manner and failing to seek public comment before adding language from Trump’s order to federal contracts, and are seeking to block them from imposing the new contract terms.

Civil rights advocates say DEI practices help address historic inequities for marginalized groups like women, LGBTQ people and racial and ethnic minorities. Trump and many conservatives argue that DEI is discriminatory against groups like white ​people and men and impedes merit-based ​decision-making.

Trump since last year has issued a ⁠series of orders aimed at eliminating DEI programs from the federal government, higher education, government contractors and grant recipients. He also repealed an executive order issued by Democratic former President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 requiring federal contractors ​to take affirmative action to hire minorities and women.

The case is Maryland v. Hegseth, U.S. District Court ​for the District of ⁠Maryland, No. 1:26-cv-02322.

For the states: James Luh of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office; Alexis Piazza of the California Attorney General’s Office; Paul Berks of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office; and others

For the federal government: Not yet available

Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Dan Wiessner (@danwiessner) reports on labor and employment and immigration law, including litigation and policy making. He can be reached at daniel.wiessner@thomsonreuters.com.

America’s birth rate has plunged. Are smartphones to blame?

2026-06-10 17:27:23 EDT / CBS News

By

A decades-long decline in the U.S. fertility rate has confounded policymakers and economists alike, with experts pointing to possible causes ranging from the economic fallout of the Great Recession to changing public attitudes about parenthood. Now, one economist is pointing to another factor: the iPhone.

A new research paper by Middlebury College economist Caitlin Myers found that Apple’s 2007 introduction of the iPhone accounted for 33% to 52% of the decline in the fertility rate. The reasons are rooted in the enormous social impact of putting a powerful new device in people’s pockets that not only tethered them to the internet but also rewired how we relate to each other — or whether we choose to relate at all.

Specifically, Myers posits that many people have turned to their phones as a substitute for in-person interactions. The technology also makes it easier to view pornography and find information on contraception, factors that have weighed on birth rates, according to the paper.

“What we are seeing is that the places that have the iPhone have big fertility changes relative to the other places,” Myers told CBS News.

The findings rely on a natural experiment created by the iPhone’s exclusive distribution through AT&T from its rollout in 2007 through 2011. That allowed Myers to compare birth rates in U.S. counties with widespread AT&T coverage — and, therefore, access to iPhones — with those in regions with minimal access to the carrier’s service.

Myers told CBS News she wanted to check whether the results might reflect that AT&T’s coverage areas, which were focused in urban areas, were harder hit by the 2008 financial crisis. To do that, she ran several statistical checks, controlling for economic and demographic factors, and found that the iPhone effect remained consistent.

“I said, ‘Wow, but this has to be too big,’” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Let me try everything I can to explain away what I’m seeing in the data,’ and I just couldn’t.”

She added, “I’m not surprised that there is an effect. I am surprised that it stands out so, so clearly.”

Not the only factor

The declining U.S. birth rate could also be due to several other factors. Experts trying to explain the trend often cite financial issues, such as the high cost of child care, and the fact that more women are delaying having children or opting not to start a family.

Meanwhile, population growth has been slowing worldwide for decades in both rich and poor countries, not only in the U.S., according to economists.

Myers readily acknowledged that her research suggests that the iPhone only partially explains the drop.

“We’re not saying it’s all the iPhone. What we are saying is that it is a really important factor to consider,” she said. “Over this short period of time, it could explain about a third to a half of the decline. Now that leaves about half to two-thirds unexplained.”

The Trump administration has encouraged Americans to have more children and floated ideas such as a “baby bonus” for new parents. It has also introduced a new tax-deferred investment vehicle for U.S. children, offering federal government contributions of up to $1,000 to eligible kids.

Other countries have also introduced financial incentives to convince people to have more children, yet those efforts have largely failed to move the needle. Even countries that offer generous parental programs, like Norway, have seen their birth rates continue to decline over the past two decades.

A slow-moving crisis

Myers thinks the drop in birth rates is unlikely to be reversed solely through economic policy, such as tax incentives. And efforts to convince people to spend less time on their phones and more time making social connections “in real life” have mostly failed to gain traction, though more states are implementing cell phone restrictions for school-age children.

The possible link between how Americans use technology and birth rates has broader economic ramifications. On Tuesday, the Social Security Administration said the federal program is at risk of exhausting its trust fund as soon as 2023. Several factors — including the declining birth rate — are contributing to the approaching funding shortfall, according to the agency.

“It’s a real concern for economic growth to have a population with fertility below replacement levels,” Myers said. “We have a system set up where current workers support older retirees, and if we have fewer and fewer current workers, that becomes more and more difficult.”

Edited by Alain Sherter

‘Residual algae’ coats part of newly opened Reflecting Pool

Jun 10, 2026, 6:26 PM ET / CNN

By Kit Maher

A worker clears algae at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Wednesday. (Kit Maher/CNN)

A worker clears algae at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Wednesday. (Kit Maher/CNN)

Summary

• A day after the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was filled following $14.2 million renovations, algae was visible coating parts of the bottom.
• An Interior Department official says the algae is residual from supply lines and part of the normal startup process for the pool.
• The Trump administration has promoted the project while residents and tourists offered mixed reviews on whether the renovations were worth the cost.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

The Trump administration has spent days heavily promoting the finished renovations at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, crediting the president with making Washington, DC, look “better than ever.”

But a day after the reservoir was filled post renovations, there was already quite a bit of algae visible from the water’s edge.

CNN spotted a worker clearing the algae from the bottom of the recently filled pool while shooting a video on Wednesday. Asked for comment, an Interior Department spokesperson said the algae is “residual” and a normal part of the early process of restarting operations at the Reflecting Pool.

“What you are seeing is residual algae from the supply lines, which have been sitting dormant for eight weeks while construction has been taking place. It’s part of the normal startup process. We are removing the algae, and the nanobubblers will maintain the pool and keep it algae free,” communications director Kate Martin said in a statement.

“President Donald J. Trump is an expert builder who has fixed the Reflecting Pool for good unlike the failed and extremely costly attempt by Obama and Biden,” she added.

Martin said that the National Park Service invested in “a state-of-the-art ozone nanobubbler filtration system” that is intended to keep algae out.

The Trump administration has been touting the newly renovated Reflecting Pool, and Trump himself has repeatedly bragged about the $14.2 million pet project in public remarks recently — including to farmers in Wisconsin and in multiple unrelated events in the Oval Office. Previously, he would disparage the state of the Reflecting Pool, saying it was feces-infested and in disrepair. He contended that previous administrations failed to repair leaks and other problems.

“The water is ON, the Reflecting Pool is reflecting, and D.C. is looking better than ever,” the White House X account posted last week, before the pool had finished filling with water.

The reflecting pool is refilled after being repainted at the directive of President Donald Trump ahead of America 250 on June 4, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/Sipa USA/AP

The Interior Department provided the statement after CNN sent videos of the algae. Initially, the spokesperson said the Fish and Wildlife Service wasn’t convinced it was algae before explaining that it was “residual algae.”

A department official said they would have a firmer timeline tomorrow on when the residual algae will be removed, adding that they didn’t want to speculate on timing due to the rain.

The cost of the renovations has gradually ticked upward. The president had initially said the renovation would cost $1.8 million, but that went up to $13.1 million before seemingly settling at $14.2 million.

“I originally thought I’d do it for $2 or $3 million,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Just do a base. But now we are fixing up the exterior of it so we will probably be in it for less than $20 million.”

According to a contract summary under the Obama administration, the cost for renovations to the Reflecting Pool at the time was $35.3 million.

Residents and tourists around the reflecting pool Wednesday morning offered mixed reviews on the renovations, including the “American flag blue” paint newly coating the bottom.

“I needed to come down to see if it was actually reflecting, and it wasn’t bright blue. And I’m impressed, to be honest. It reflects beautifully,” said Lara Harvey, who is from New Zealand but has lived in Bethesda the last 10 years. “I was expecting a swimming pool. I was expecting swimming pool blue, but I’m really surprised.”

Marcus Tate, who lives in Alexandria and had spotted the algae said, “DC is already a beautiful place” and criticized the administration for spending money on unnecessary upkeep and not doing more to help the homeless.

And Kyra Brown, a DC resident, was skeptical that the renovations were worth it. Looking at the renovation from the steps beyond the pool, she said, “It doesn’t look that much different, honestly, to me.”

CNN’s Abigail Roedersheimer contributed to this report.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/10/politics/algae-reflecting-pool-trump

遭美国袭击 伊朗宣布关闭霍尔木兹海峡

2026年6月11日 07:10 / 联合早报

遭美国袭击 伊朗宣布关闭霍尔木兹海峡

伊朗最高联合军事指挥部宣布关闭霍尔木兹海峡，禁止油轮和商船通行，并称任何试图通过的船只都将遭到射击。 （路透社档案照片）

伊朗媒体称，伊朗对霍尔木兹海峡附近美国船只发起打击，并宣布关闭霍尔木兹海峡。

伊朗国家媒体星期四（6月11日）报道称，初步报告显示，两艘位于霍尔木兹海峡附近的美国舰船“违规”，因此遭到伊朗武装部队发射的导弹和无人机袭击。

另据路透社报道，伊朗最高联合军事指挥部宣布关闭霍尔木兹海峡，禁止油轮和商船通行，并称任何试图通过的船只都将遭到射击。

伊朗学生新闻网报道指出，伊拉克北部哈里尔美军基地的一处雷达也遭到袭击。

ActBlue CEO repeatedly invokes Fifth Amendment during House panel hearing

2026-06-10T20:25:12.128Z / The Washington Post

Regina Wallace-Jones declined to answer questions as Republicans pressed her on the Democratic fundraising engine’s process for vetting foreign donations.

June 10, 2026 at 4:25 p.m. EDT Today at 4:25 p.m. EDT

By Praveena Somasundaram

The head of the Democratic fundraising engine ActBlue repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during a congressional hearing Wednesday where Republicans pressed her on the platform’s process for vetting foreign donations.

ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones prepares to testify Wednesday before the House Administration Committee. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Florida man blames wrongful arrest on “error-prone” AI facial recognition

June 10, 2026 / 7:30 PM EDT / CBS News

By Alyssa Spady

When police arrested Richard Dillon in 2023 for allegedly trying to “lure a child” away from a McDonald’s in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, he told them he was more than 300 miles away at the time of the crime.

The key evidence police used to puncture his alibi: facial recognition software matched an image of the suspect to Dillon’s photo.

Dillon was later cleared, and on Wednesday he became a plaintiff in a new ACLU lawsuit filed against the Jacksonville Beach Police Department and others over what he believes was a case of misuse of the AI-driven image matching technology.

“Police let an error-prone artificial intelligence system stand in for an investigation,” they argue in their complaint.

The case is the latest attempt to establish guardrails for powerful new technology that police are increasingly using to solve one of the toughest aspects of any investigation — when they have an image of a suspect, but not that person’s identity. Facial recognition is an increasingly common law enforcement tool, with public databases holding images of 117 million Americans, according to the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law School.

Jacksonville Beach police and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office both declined to comment.

The episode began in November 2023, when police say a man approached a 12-year-old in a McDonald’s and tried to lure her away from her parents.

A month later, Dillon received a call from Jacksonville Beach Police Officer Scott O’Connell. He says that during the call, O’Connell “accused me over and over again of a heinous crime that I knew I didn’t commit”.

Dillon told CBS News he remembers thinking “my life is over. … AI says I did this, how am I going to prove that I didn’t?”

During the phone call with O’Connell, Dillon says he denied involvement and told police of “distinctive scars” he has from his hairline down to his nose from a skin cancer surgery.

Dillon told us that once he saw his photo side by side with the photos of the suspect, he was shocked at the differences. “The scars are nowhere near alike,” he said. “It absolutely blew my mind.”

Following the call, Dillon, who lives elsewhere in Florida, contacted his local police department, worried he was being scammed. He claims that both Jacksonville Beach and his local police told him it was a “horrible hoax” and that the call he received was “against protocol or policy.”

But Dillon says reassurances from both departments weren’t enough and that “it haunted me for months … thinking at any time the police could show up here and arrest me for a crime that I didn’t commit.”

Eight months later, Dillon was arrested at his home by a Lee County sheriff’s deputy. He says he pleaded with officers that they had the wrong suspect. At one point Dillon says that one officer told him “if what you’re telling me is true, you got one hell of a lawsuit.”

Dillon was held overnight in jail and according to his lawsuit was “forced to borrow money and pledge the title to his truck to post bond.”

He says he still faces challenges even though all the charges were dropped about two months later.

“Now every time I go somewhere and I want to interact with a kid, I think to myself, don’t do it. There’s cameras. It’s ruined my life as far as being able to interact with children,” he said. “I feel like people are watching me. I feel like people are saying, hey, there’s that guy that was on the news, stay away from him.”

The facial recognition system that wrongly identified Dillon is called the Face Analysis Comparison and Examination System, or FACESNXT.

According to the lawsuit, Officer David Cohill took cellphone photos of the suspect from a computer screen displaying the surveillance footage of the incident. The photos were then run through FACESNXT by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It found a “93% match on facial features” to Dillon.

In a 2015 FACESNXT training presentation, specific examples are shown to illustrate what good versus poor image quality photos look like. The presentation includes a warning that “off axis” framing and “non-uniform lighting” in photos could lead to a poor quality sample for the software. Dillon alleges in his lawsuit that the images used were “partially shadowed and off-axis.”

Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, warns that oftentimes police mistake a “match” made by the software with confirmation.

He told CBS News that makers of such technology and other police departments have explained that “this technology does not and cannot produce matches.” Instead, it produces a candidate list of possible leads, leaving law enforcement to conduct their own independent investigation.

Dillon’s case is just one of more than a dozen publicly known cases where a false arrest was made using AI facial recognition. Wessler says Dillon’s arrest is proof that “this technology is fundamentally dangerous.”

The complaint alleges that Jacksonville Beach police never “presented any photographs to the victim” and instead used the photo lineup identification from an employee at the McDonald’s who was not an eyewitness to the suspect’s interaction with the minor.

Now Dillon hopes that his case will bring him justice and raise awareness. He told CBS News, “I’m hoping that the outcome of this is to prevent other people from going through the trauma that I went through.”

Police using facial recognition
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/facial-recognition-video-60-minutes-2021-05-16/

Police using facial recognition amidst claims of wrongful arrests

(13:25)

Inside the ‘highly complex’ preparations for Trump’s UFC fight: $60M for staging, port-a-potties and other logistics

2026-06-10T21:05:49.938Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/10/politics/trump-ufc-fight

A UFC fight at the White House will cost more than $60 million, according to court documents filed by the Trump administration.

The event on Trump’s 80th birthday will draw roughly 125,000 guests and require 494 port-a-potties and extensive security infrastructure.

A lawsuit argues the event is bypassing environmental reviews by claiming it honors America’s 250th birthday rather than Trump’s.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

Building a televised sporting event accommodating more than 100,000 people without any existing arena infrastructure is a massive production. Doing so at the White House adds significant logistical complications.

Court documents submitted by the Trump administration on Wednesday show the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events scheduled this week and through the weekend will cost more than $60 million. That includes food, the brand’s signature “octagon” cage and as many as 494 port-a-potties trucked in for the crowd watching the event live on the South Lawn and via telecast at the Ellipse.

“This is a highly complex, multi-faceted Event that has been carefully planned by a multitude of public and private entities over a significant period,” White House management and administration director Joshua Fisher said in a sworn declaration, submitted as part of a lawsuit that seeks to delay the event until it goes through an environmental review and other permitting processes.

With days to go until fight night, which coincides with President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, the expected crowd size has grown substantially. At a June 2025 appearance at the Iowa state fairgrounds, where Trump announced plans for the fight that he billed as a celebration commemorating the country’s 250th birthday, he predicted it would bring “20-25,000 people.” The new court documents show roughly 125,000 guests are expected, and that another 75,000 people requested tickets.

The documents more broadly reveal a major undertaking and investment by the UFC — bolstered by support from the federal government — to build the elaborate “octagon” stage from the ground up and plan multiple days of programming, culminating in the televised fight that will be attended by the president, first lady and top officials on Sunday night.

In his declaration, Fisher said the more than $60 million cost includes “a substantial volume of perishable food items for the anticipated 4,000 South Lawn guests and over 120,000 Ellipse guests.”

The UFC is responsible for “production, labor, construction, and promotion costs,” while the federal government is providing “emergency equipment and services, including first aid/medical services, law enforcement, and security,” Fisher said.

The underlying lawsuit argues that the event is being unlawfully held at the White House because officials are leaning on a federal rule that exempts events around America’s 250th birthday from having to follow certain permitting regulations. The UFC event, they say, is not being held in honor of the country’s founding but is instead intended to celebrate Trump’s birthday. As a result, officials and the event’s private organizers needed to jump through ordinary regulatory hoops, like conducting an environmental assessment, before moving ahead with it.

US District Judge Amit P. Mehta, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, has not set a hearing, though he could order both sides to appear before him in coming days to make their arguments in person. The Virginia residents challenging the event had asked the court to make a decision on their request by Thursday.

Logistical planning for the event began even before Trump’s Iowa announcement, with outside production companies hired, permitting applications submitted to the National Park Service, design and installation of a custom “Claw” arched lighting structure, wrangling of security and port-a-potties and, according to the documents, the coordination of schedules at the highest levels of government.

To halt that effort now, Fisher said in a sworn declaration, would “impose exorbitant costs on all parties involved.”

UFC will host a press conference and face-offs at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday, and a ceremonial participant weigh-in and other events on Saturday at the Ellipse, before the main event on the White House South Lawn takes places Sunday. Entertainment, per an hour-by-hour schedule, includes military bands, a performance by Zac Brown Band, a Golden Knights flyover, Clydesdales, the fight card itself and a ten-minute fireworks finale.

The load-in and build process for the event, which began May 20, has required a coordinated effort on a tight timeline with significant security constraints. Every day, 20 to 30 trucks filled with UFC equipment like staging infrastructure and other technical material were screened before installation on White House grounds, Fisher said. And that, he added, has required 700 to 900 subcontractors “with specialized knowledge associated with each element of the build.”

There has been setup of extensive security features, including anti-scale fencing, bike-rack barricades, and US Secret Service screening facilities. Guidance from the National Park Service requires at least one portable toilet per every 300 guests, a permit issued by NPS says, and planning documents say there will be at least 116 port-a-potties by the Lincoln Memorial and at least 350 near the Ellipse.

The quickly installed infrastructure is expected to be removed just as swiftly. Even though Trump floated keeping the Claw in place on the South Lawn, Fisher said it “will be disassembled immediately after the event concludes” and planning documents suggest that that process — along with efforts to remove broadcast equipment, barricades, lighting, staging, food and beverage setup and anti-scale fencing — will begin early Monday morning and conclude by June 23.

The production isn’t entirely without precedent, though there has never been a televised sporting event at this scale at the White House. During the Obama administration, the White House hosted a “South by South Lawn” festival and a BET-sponsored concert. And in the Biden administration, the White House was the setting for an Elton John concert taping and an ice rink.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Devan Cole and Aileen Graef contributed to this report.

Florida Supreme Court leaves Republican congressional map in place

2026-06-10T23:26:48.173Z / Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on the day of the opening of a temporary migrant detention center informally known as “Alligator Alcatraz” in Ochopee, Florida, U.S., July 1, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

June 10 (Reuters) – Florida’s Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to block a new Republican-drawn congressional map ahead of November’s midterm elections, giving the party a boost in its effort ​to retain a narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The decision all ‌but guarantees that the map, which is aimed at flipping as many as four Democratic seats, will remain in place for this fall’s elections. The filing deadline for congressional candidates is on Friday, and ​the primary contests are scheduled for August.

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In a 6-1 decision, the court ruled that ​it did not have the jurisdiction to intervene in a lawsuit challenging ⁠the map while it remains pending before a lower appeals court.

Democrats have challenged the ​new map as unlawful based on a state constitutional prohibition on drawing district lines to benefit ​one party over another, a process known as partisan gerrymandering. The plaintiffs had asked the high court to put the map on hold and order state officials to use the previous map until the lawsuit ​is resolved.

Redistricting typically occurs at the start of each decade following the decennial U.S. ​Census count. But President Donald Trump set off an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting fight last summer, when he pushed ‌Texas ⁠Republicans to install a new, more friendly map.

Since then, both Republican- and Democratic-led states have sought to redraw their districts for partisan advantage.

Florida Republicans approved the state’s new map in late April, on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling hollowing out ​the Voting Rights Act’s ​protections for districts ⁠with significant racial minority populations. Several Republican-led Southern states rushed to capitalize on that decision by eliminating majority or near-majority Black districts, which ​typically favor Democrats.

Those efforts have helped Republicans build an advantage overall ​in the ⁠redistricting war, though Democrats may still capture a House majority given Trump’s weak approval ratings.

In a statement, Genesis Robinson, the executive director of advocacy group Equal Ground, which filed the lawsuit, said, “The ⁠Florida ​Supreme Court’s failure to stop this brazen partisan power ​grab is not only an assault on democracy, but an abdication of its duty to the people of Florida.”

Republicans ​already hold 20 of Florida’s 28 U.S. House seats.

Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Sonali Paul

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

与内坦亚胡存在分歧 万斯称对方“犯了一些错误”

2026年6月11日 07:13 / 联合早报

美国副总统万斯在近期的访问中说，以色列是美国的合作伙伴，但“如果两者出现分歧，我们——对以色列人来说不幸的是——就必须站在美国人民一边”。 （路透社档案照片）

美国副总统万斯在访问中，承认与以色列总理内坦亚胡存在分歧，并称这位以色列领导人在中东战争中“犯了一些错误”。

据哥伦比亚广播公司新闻网发布的访问视频片段显示，万斯强调以色列是美国的亲密伙伴，但他指出“有时，我们的利益完全一致；有时，我们的利益却不一致”。完整版采访将于星期天（14日）播出。

万斯说：“他们在很多方面都是我们优秀的合作伙伴，但我们也必须关注美国的最佳利益，如果两者出现分歧，我们——对以色列人来说不幸的是——就必须站在美国人民一边。”

当被问及内塔亚胡在与华盛顿就伊朗问题合作方面是否犯过错误时，万斯指出“他肯定犯了一些错误”，但拒绝具体说明是什么错误。“我认为，有些谈话最好还是私下进行。”

另据美媒Axios报道，近几周来，美国总统特朗普与内坦亚胡的关系明显紧张。在最近的一次通话中，特朗普甚至称内坦亚胡“疯了”。

内坦亚胡上周末批准对伊朗进行报复打击，此举违背特朗普的意愿。