Democrats abandon embattled candidate Graham Platner after rape allegation implodes Senate bid

July 7, 2026 5:00am EDT / Fox News

Jenny Racicot, 41, accused Platner of rape, prompting Warren, Schumer and Gillibrand to withdraw endorsements

By Adam Pack Fox News

Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy discusses the new sexual assault allegation against Graham Platner on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ suggesting a Democratic Party ‘political hitjob’ because his poll numbers were slipping.

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Democrats swiftly turned on Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner on Monday after a rape allegation triggered a full-on revolt among his most prominent supporters, with calls pouring in from across the party for him to suspend his campaign.

The mounting defections came after Maine resident Jenny Racicot, 41, accused Platner of rape in interviews with Politico and CNN, alleging the Senate hopeful entered her home uninvited while intoxicated nearly five years ago and forced himself on her despite repeated attempts to get him to stop.

Racicot, who was seeing Platner on and off at the time, told Politico she immediately cut ties with him after he forced her to engage in unprotected sex, saying, “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’”

She also told CNN that the alleged encounter was the “dictionary definition” of rape.

PLATNER’S LATEST ACCUSER CLAIMS THE DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE ‘ABSOLUTELY’ RAPED HER

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6400390685112Graham Platner accuser pushes back on claims allegations are ‘politically motivated’

Platner immediately issued a statement denying Racicot’s account and said he was “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward” for his imploding campaign.

The vast majority of Democrats signaled Monday they were unwilling to give Platner that opportunity, with many lawmakers racing to issue statements calling on the Senate hopeful to immediately end his campaign.

The pleas stretched from Platner’s most fervent progressive champions to the party’s establishment wing, most of whom had only recently rallied behind Platner after he won the Democratic primary nomination in June.

“There can be no tolerance for sexual assault,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of Platner’s most prominent supporters, said in a statement rescinding her endorsement. “With so much at stake, the best path forward is for Graham Platner to step aside as the Democratic nominee and address these serious allegations outside this Senate race.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who had closely aligned himself with Platner, also withdrew his endorsement and called on him to exit the race after news of the rape allegation circulated.

Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., also pulled their support Monday, with Gallego stopping short of calling on Platner to suspend his campaign.

FOX NEWS POLL: MAINE SENATE RACE IS TIGHT, WITH CONCERNS ABOUT BOTH CANDIDATES

The progressive lawmakers continued to support Platner after Lyndsey Fifield, a former Platner girlfriend, accused the Maine Democrat of abuse in June — an allegation Platner has repeatedly denied as false and politically motivated.

Khanna notably traveled to Maine to campaign with Platner the following day after The New York Times first reported Fifield’s accusation.

Khanna previously said in multiple interviews that he would disavow Platner if a sexual assault allegation emerged, but told Fox News Digital that the Senate hopeful was “taking accountability” for his past and argued Platner was deserving of redemption.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks at his primary election event in Blue Hill, Maine, on June 9, 2026.(CJ Gunther/Getty Images)

The reaction among establishment Democrats was equally swift, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., publicly demanding that Platner “immediately” suspend his campaign to give the party time to put forward a new nominee.

The senior Democrats had only recently endorsed Platner following his June primary win after their preferred pick, Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, ended her campaign amid fundraising struggles.

“The DSCC will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot,” the pair wrote in a joint statement Monday.

The Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC, a top outside spending group focused on electing Democrats to the Senate, also said Monday that it would redirect resources away from Maine as long as Platner remained in the race.

TOP PLATNER ALLY TURNS ON HIM AFTER BOMBSHELL RAPE ALLEGATION ROCKS CAMPAIGN: ‘RED LINE’

The warning comes as Democrats are up against a fast-approaching deadline to replace Platner as the party’s nominee. Under Maine law, Platner can be replaced on the ballot if he withdraws by 5 p.m. on July 13, with the state party allowed to put forward a replacement by July 27.

Democrats view Maine as a top flip opportunity to retake Senate control during November’s midterm elections, but Platner’s rapidly unraveling campaign could derail those plans.

His plethora of scandals — from a former Nazi-linked tattoo to infidelity during his marriage — has sharply divided Democrats as the party seeks to unseat longtime Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Collins on Monday issued a statement calling the rape accusation “appalling” but declined to weigh in on whether Platner should continue in the race.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, slammed Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner after a Maine woman accused him of rape.(Graeme Sloan/Getty Images; Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

DEM SENATE HOPEFUL UNDER FIRE FOR RESURFACED COMMENTS CALLING COPS ‘OPPORTUNISTIC COWARDS’

Other lawmakers hailing from the party’s centrist flank, including Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., also publicly urged Platner to end his campaign. Neither had formally endorsed Platner before Monday’s rape allegation broke.

Many prominent Maine Democrats also called on Platner to drop his Senate bid on Monday, including Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, and her daughter, former State House Speaker Hannah Pingree, D-Maine, who is the Democratic gubernatorial nominee to succeed Mills.

Former Maine public health official Nirav Shah and State Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Maine, who both ran for the open gubernatorial seat and have been floated as potential Platner replacements, also said Monday that he should withdraw his candidacy. Jackson, who campaigned with Platner, was among the candidates that the Senate hopeful endorsed to succeed Mills.

A vast swath of left-wing organizations also pulled their support of Platner on Monday.

“The allegations reported today are profoundly disturbing and disqualifying,” Tiffany Muller, president of the Democratic-affiliated group End Citizen United, said in a statement. “The conduct described is fundamentally inconsistent with the standards we expect from the candidates we support.”

VoteVets, an organization that works to elect Democratic veterans, also withdrew its endorsement of Platner, who served in multiple overseas deployments. Meanwhile, Our Revolution, a leftist organization founded by former Sanders campaign staffers, called on Platner to leave the race while demanding that his successor share his far-left policy views.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., one of Platner’s few remaining progressive supporters, had not weighed in on the sexual assault allegation as of late Monday evening.

A spokesperson for Sanders did not respond to a request for comment.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner stood together during a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour stop at the Collins Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus on May 24, 2026, in Orono, Maine.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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Far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker also broke with Platner on Monday, saying “the accusations — they are as credible as it is going to get.”

“This is beyond red flags. This is irredeemable,” Piker added during his livestream.

Democrats Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed face off in primary debate for Michigan Senate

July 7, 2026 / 6:00 AM EDT / CBS News

By Caitlin Yilek

Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.

Michigan’s remaining Democratic Senate candidates — Rep. Haley Stevens and former Michigan health official Abdul El-Sayed — are set to go head to head in a televised debate Tuesday, two days after state Sen. Mallory McMorrow suspended her campaign.

McMorrow’s departure shook up an already-heated primary that has been marred by intraparty fighting. McMorrow cast herself as the middle ground between Stevens, a moderate who has the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, and El-Sayed, a progressive who is supported by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

The primary between Stevens and El-Sayed is Aug. 4, with the winner advancing to compete against former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers in the general election. Rogers narrowly lost his last bid for Senate to Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin in 2024. Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who currently holds the seat, is retiring.

The race is one of the mostly closely watched Senate contests this cycle. Holding the seat is critical to Democrats’ chances of winning the Senate majority in November. In order to regain control of the Senate, Democrats need to flip four seats while defending other competitive seats, including in Michigan.

The Democratic candidates last debated in May, where they took few shots at one another, despite deep divisions that the race has highlighted, particularly over Israel. El-Sayed has been highly critical of Israel while Stevens has been supportive of the nation.

Asked during the May debate about what it means that her campaign has the backing of the pro-Israel political action committee AIPAC, Stevens avoided a direct response and called her campaign “a love letter to our state” while listing off others who support her candidacy.

“You’re also just not answering the question,” El-Sayed said.

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El-Sayed suggested that money from AIPAC donors was used to elect lawmakers who will oppose cutting U.S. funding for Israel.

“Let me tell you what absolutely would not shape my perception — it’s AIPAC money, which is being spent already in this race to pump up one of my colleagues on this stage,” he said. “I don’t think that our taxpayer dollars, which we pay every April, ought to be going to bomb children, to fund bombs and tanks for other countries when we got kids who can’t afford basic things in our own.”

Stevens, meanwhile, has criticized El-Sayed for campaigning with Hasan Piker, a popular online streamer whose comments on Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip have drawn controversy.

7月7日，透过破碎的窗户可以看到乌克兰救援人员正在基辅清理前一天遭俄罗斯导弹和无人机袭击的一栋居民楼。 （路透社）

（华盛顿/莫斯科/基辅综合电）美国总统特朗普星期一（7月6日）说，俄乌比外界预期更接近达成解决两国战事的方案，并称俄罗斯总统普京也希望战事能结束。

特朗普是在周末分别与普京和泽连斯基通话后发表上述言论。 他说：“我认为我们比人们意识到的更接近目标，普京总统希望结束这场战争，意愿非常强烈。”

俄罗斯副外长里亚布科夫就此回应说，如果美国准备在俄方向美方提出的方案基础上采取行动，冲突确实很快能得到解决。

特朗普透露，他本周到土耳其出席北约峰会期间将会见泽连斯基。美国官员说，这次会谈旨在为结束战争做出新的努力，特朗普在同泽连斯基会谈后，很可能会接着与普京进行沟通。

克里姆林宫发言人佩斯科夫表示，相信特朗普在俄乌冲突问题上的立场不变。“那些说他（特朗普）像风向标、观点反复无常的言论，显然都是不实的。他对局势的理解始终如一且态度笃定，但最重要的是，他愿意听取普京向他传递的信息。”

延伸阅读

特朗普拟趁北约峰会见乌叙领导人 推动解决俄乌与中东冲突 普京泽连斯基分别与特朗普通话 讨论俄乌问题

泽连斯基接受《金融时报》访问时则说，他相信特朗普在看到乌克兰近期取得的成果后，正以全新的视角看待俄乌冲突。

莫斯科市长星期二（7日）说，乌克兰向莫斯科发射了400多架无人机。“从傍晚到（隔天）早上6时，超过430架无人机飞向莫斯科……大多数无人机被防空部队远距离拦截。另有36架在靠近莫斯科时被摧毁。

俄军星期一对基辅及周边地区进行的猛烈袭击造成至少28人死亡，并暴露出乌克兰面临美制防空拦截弹极度匮乏的严峻局面。

乌空军的数据显示，乌军未能击落俄罗斯发射的所有23枚弹道导弹，显示随着“爱国者”导弹库存逐步耗尽，乌克兰在面对莫斯科的空袭时正变得愈发脆弱。

泽连斯基星期一晚在视频演讲中指出，乌克兰拥有制造这些武器的技术诀窍，如果能获得美国授权生产爱国者系统，乌克兰的产量不仅足以保卫乌克兰，还能向其他有需要的合作伙伴提供协助。

As Israel becomes Democratic litmus test, Jewish progressives warn about a tilt into antisemitism

2026-07-07T09:00:25.481Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/07/politics/israel-democrats-antisemitism-concerns

Rep. Becca Balint helped Sen. Bernie Sanders craft and lead efforts to cut US arms sales to Israel, wrote an op-ed calling Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide” and has stood proudly with fellow progressives for two decades. But Balint was wincing last week as she stood on the steps of the Capitol, recounting the warning she gave her congressional staff.

“I know at some point there will be a day of reckoning, because I still believe that Jews should have a homeland,” the Vermont Democrat told CNN. “There will be people, I think some of my own supporters, who will turn on me, because I still believe in a two-state solution. I still do. I still believe that Israel should be safe and secure. I believe that the Palestinians have been so ill-treated for so long and deserve a safe and secure homeland. I do not believe Israel should be dismantled.”

Balint described being “shaken to my core” watching the video of Scott Wiener, the California state senator running for retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s seat, recently being hounded out of a transgender rights event with angry shouts including, “You stopped being queer the moment you started supporting Israel, you piece of sh*t!”

She described a familiar ache. Like the people who tell her that homophobia doesn’t exist and then ask her what it means that she’s a lesbian. Like the House Democratic colleague she wouldn’t name who she says came to a bipartisan antisemitism taskforce meeting and said, “I didn’t really think there was any antisemitism anymore, because all the Jews are rich.” Like the people who accuse Jewish politicians of having dual loyalty.

For many liberals, longtime policy priorities like universal healthcare or stopping climate change are now intertwined with opposing Israel. An ascendant faction of the left argues there’s no such thing anymore as “progressive except for Palestine” — a phrase that took off in the years following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack and the ensuing war in Gaza — and sees opposition to Israel as a Democratic litmus test.

The same day as the trans rights event in San Francisco, a woman stood behind Sen. Jon Ossoff in Savannah, Georgia, wearing a “Protect Trans Kids” T-shirt and a keffiyeh — the scarf associated with Palestinian identity — decorated with the rainbow colors of LGBTQ solidarity.

Many progressive Jewish leaders, including those who are critical of the Israeli government, like Balint and Wiener, see some expressions of sentiment around Israel as rationalizing antisemitism. They point to references to Jewish or Israeli interests nefariously controlling politics with money or suggesting that Jews aren’t fully loyal to America or to Democratic values.

“When they were saying things like my ‘Israeli masters’ and my ‘Zionist handlers,’ that made really clear where these folks were coming from,” Wiener told CNN. He said his phone was flooded messages of concern and solidarity from Jewish politicians from across the country, with a wide range of views on Israel, as well as some non-Jewish Democrats and other progressives.

What the video of Wiener captured, a wide range of Jewish Democratic leaders tell CNN, is why it’s become a conventional political conversation to wonder aloud whether a Jewish candidate should even try to run for president.

“A lot of progressive Jews have felt like we’ve been pushed out of progressive spaces,” added Wiener, who now refers to Israel as having committed genocide in Gaza after previously refusing to do so. “And that’s not just me: I hear that all the time, very lefty Jews who are put to a litmus test that you have to call for Israel’s destruction, or you are not actually LGBTQ and you’re not welcome here.”

Mark Levine, the New York City comptroller, won his office last year in the same election as Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has said that “the struggle for Palestinian liberation was at the core of my politics and continues to be.” Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, which has called for “the end of Israel’s colonization and occupation of all Arab lands.”

“There are certainly folks on the left who are exuberant right now and feel very much included in the DSA momentum, but I think it’s fair to say that many, and probably a majority, of Jewish Democrats are feeling pretty isolated right now,” Levine said.

Levine lives in the district where Darializa Avila Chevalier toppled Rep. Adriano Espaillat by centering her campaign on opposing Israel’s control of Gaza and the West Bank and linking it to gentrification in New York. She blamed both situations on “folks who are coming in, claiming the land and buying it up and kicking the people who are living there out.”

Days before the victories of Avila Chevalier and two other candidates Mamdani backed, the mayor gave a speech calling the American Israel Public Affairs Committee “monsters” who “move millions in dark money to accomplish a single goal, to preserve their power, so that they can turn us against one another.”

Espaillat, who had AIPAC’s support, became one of three House Democrats in eight days to lose primaries.

New York Rep. Dan Goldman was soundly defeated by Brad Lander, who is also Jewish, after facing criticism about his support of Israel, refusal to refer to the war in Gaza as a genocide and his opposition to Mamdani. And Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, a progressive 15-term incumbent, lost to Melat Kiros, a democratic socialist who called for generational change. Kiros also noted she was fired from a law firm for refusing to take down a letter she wrote after the October 7 attacks opposing the existence of Israel, but argued that this should not be conflated with antisemitism.

Days before his primary, Goldman was banned from a coffee shop whose owners accused him of being a “genocide enabler” who gets his money from AIPAC.

“The experience of being a Jewish Democrat is to feel like … no matter what the topic — it can be affordable housing — it’s just a matter of time before someone links it to Israel,” Levine said. “What is the list of litmus test issues? As far as I know, at this point, it is exclusively a list of questions on Israel. We’re progressives. We’re absolutely willing to criticize the actions of the current government of Israel. And we are. But we’re feeling excluded from many spaces right now, and it’s hard to conclude it’s not because we’re Jewish.”

Michigan state Rep. Noah Arbit invoked the 2024 protest vote effort against then-President and candidate Joe Biden over the war in Gaza. Arbit said the party was on the brink of seeing a “mirror image of the Uncommitted movement — it is exactly the same situation.”

“I don’t see this as a right or left issue,” he said. “I see this as the unmasking of American antisemitism under the guise of criticism of Israel.”

Arbit had his bar mitzvah at and represents the West Bloomfield synagogue that was attacked in March in apparent retaliation for Israeli strikes in Lebanon. He described a deep alienation that goes beyond the statehouse.

“After I leave office, I’m not sure I’ll ever call myself a Democrat again,” Arbit said. “I don’t know how Jews can feel like you can align yourself with any political movement when the grassroots are so hostile to who you are and your community.”

Nowhere is the Democratic fracture more in play than in Michigan, a state with significant Jewish and Arab populations with an upcoming primary for an open Senate seat that’s a must-win for Democrats.

Abdul El-Sayed, a former county health director, is drawing heavily from Bernie Sanders-style politics, including supporting “Medicare for All,” but also centering his campaign on attacking AIPAC and criticizing Israel, which has helped him capture the left.

AIPAC’s allied super PAC has committed at least $20 million so to boosting Rep. Haley Stevens against El-Sayed, according to AdImpact, in what became a head-to-head race this weekend after state Sen. Mallory McMorrow ended her campaign.

El-Sayed, who is Egyptian American and a Muslim, links how people view Israel to how they will deliver on other progressive priorities and called it a “moral Rorschach test.”

“If you can’t speak to the absolute worst thing that people can do to other people, it’s hard to take seriously when you say that you’re going to stand in the cut and be a protector for the people in your own communities,” he told CNN.

That argument gives Amanda Berman, the founder and CEO of Zioness, a group with the tagline “Unabashedly Progressive. Unapologetically Zionist,” what she said is a “physical, visceral reaction: I experience it as antisemitism.”

“The idea that my liberation movement is a threat to your health insurance or food security in America — those ideas are as old as ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’” Berman said, citing the 20th century antisemitic book purporting to reveal a conspiracy of Jews running the world. The book was published first in Russia, eventually used by the Nazis as inspiration and is invoked in antisemitic rhetoric today.

“Would you tell me how bombing tens of thousands of children is a liberation movement? That’s an interesting use of the word ‘liberation,’” El-Sayed said when told of that response.

Not opposing Israel, El-Sayed said, is proof of being captive to corporate dominance and afraid of AIPAC. El-Sayed recently told Semafor that Stevens “is a suit with a large AIPAC bank account, that’s it. I hope maybe they find some way to teach her how to string together two coherent sentences.”

Asked whether he believed that support of Israel could not be about money, El-Sayed told CNN, “Not if you’re a Democrat and you believe in human rights.” Asked whether one could be a Zionist and a progressive, he said, “Every definition of a Jewish state ends up in some articulation of illiberal values, every single one.”

He declined when pressed by CNN’s Kasie Hunt to answer whether he believed Israel has a right to exist.

“The question of Israel’s existence is not a question,” he told Hunt. “I’m not going to play this gotcha game about whether or not it has a right to exist. The question, ultimately, is about whether or not we want a politics that dignifies equal rights.”

Stevens’ campaign pointed to a Monday appearance on MS NOW in which she criticized President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not bringing the region closer to “long-term peace.”

“There is a difference between me and Abdul,” she said. “I believe in a two-state solution. I want to see the people of Palestine and in Gaza live peacefully, side by side, with the people of Israel. He cannot qualify Israel’s right to exist.”

Asked by CNN whether he believes one can be a progressive and believe in a Jewish state as a Jewish homeland, Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, gave a straightforward “yes.”

“If we want to promote safety for all people and fight antisemitism here at home, it actually does no favors to any of that to then say questioning the continued military funding is antisemitic or is trying to take down the nation,” he added. “Progressives have to, and have been, speaking out strongly against antisemitism. And we have a responsibility to speak out against human rights violations and war crimes no matter who commits them.”

Casar noted that in May’s runoff elections in Texas, he endorsed the more moderate Johnny Garcia in a House primary over another candidate, Maureen Galindo, because Galindo said she wanted to turn an immigration detention center into “a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking.”

Kiros, who defeated incumbent DeGette in last month’s Colorado primaries, declined to call antisemitic the firebombing of protesters in Boulder who were calling on Hamas to release Israeli hostages. That led Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who won the gubernatorial nomination that same evening, to say in a local TV interview, “If someone isn’t going to acknowledge that, I am concerned about that.”

“You hear it a lot in the context of Black Lives Matter. Now we’re talking Jewish lives matter,” said Weiser, who is Jewish and whose mother was born in a Nazi concentration camp.

Balint, the Vermont Democratic congresswoman, acknowledged her attempts to force a bigger discussion about antisemitism have failed, despite her faith in Casar to guide fellow progressives.

“People are very afraid to create a space within Congress to have a safe conversation about these things, because our colleagues leak and our colleagues go on Twitter, and so I think there has been a real fear that convening people to really talk through these issues is going make it worse,” Balint told CNN. “But I know that these things don’t go away.”

Republicans including former Vice President Mike Pence and Ted Cruz have warned of the rise of antisemitism on the right, with the Texas senator saying at the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in June it is “spreading like a cancer” and is “an existential threat.”

Trump hasn’t just hosted White nationalist Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago; he’s for years blurred the lines on American Jews and support for Israeli actions, from calling Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in Washington, “a Palestinian,” to just last week in a CNBC interview saying, “How a Jewish person can vote for a Democrat is beyond me — I’ve been the best president in the history of Israel.”

That just adds to the feeling of political homelessness for pro-Israel Democrats, just two years after CNN exit polls showed Kamala Harris winning 78% of Jewish voters over Trump even as she lost the election. CNN polling this March found 72% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they saw the question of “how supportive of Israel the US should be” as a divide that’s causing problems in the Democratic Party.

Harris did forcefully move against more pro-Palestinian politics in 2024 — with her team excluding the Uncommitted movement from speaking at the party convention in Chicago. Part of why, her old aides now say, was trying to find a balance between losing support in Arab American centers like Dearborn, Michigan, and losing support among Jewish voters in that state and other battlegrounds like Pennsylvania and Georgia.

Harris may run again in 2028. Party insiders and outsiders speculate that as many as four Jewish candidates could also enter the White House field: former Chicago Mayor and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, Ossoff (who has brushed off talk of a possible bid), Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Emanuel, whose middle name is literally Israel, is following up an April call to end US military aid to Israel with a speech in Tel Aviv on Wednesday calling for a larger rethinking of the US-Israel relationship. He likes to say that “the Democratic Party doesn’t have an antisemitism problem — America has an antisemitism problem.”

But as he flirts with a 2028 run, Emanuel said he’s not the one who needs to look in the mirror when the conversation comes up about whether a Jewish person could run.

“My faith is not your issue. It’s a fact that Americans have lost faith in America. That’s the issue and that’s what we should work on,” he told CNN, “and if my faith is an issue to you, that’s something you have to work on, not me.”

特朗普称俄乌接近停战方案

2026年7月7日 18:35 / 联合早报

7月7日，透过破碎的窗户可以看到乌克兰救援人员正在基辅清理前一天遭俄罗斯导弹和无人机袭击的一栋居民楼。 （路透社）

（华盛顿/莫斯科/基辅综合电）美国总统特朗普星期一（7月6日）说，俄乌比外界预期更接近达成解决两国战事的方案，并称俄罗斯总统普京也希望战事能结束。

特朗普是在周末分别与普京和泽连斯基通话后发表上述言论。 他说：“我认为我们比人们意识到的更接近目标，普京总统希望结束这场战争，意愿非常强烈。”

俄罗斯副外长里亚布科夫就此回应说，如果美国准备在俄方向美方提出的方案基础上采取行动，冲突确实很快能得到解决。

特朗普透露，他本周到土耳其出席北约峰会期间将会见泽连斯基。美国官员说，这次会谈旨在为结束战争做出新的努力，特朗普在同泽连斯基会谈后，很可能会接着与普京进行沟通。

克里姆林宫发言人佩斯科夫表示，相信特朗普在俄乌冲突问题上的立场不变。“那些说他（特朗普）像风向标、观点反复无常的言论，显然都是不实的。他对局势的理解始终如一且态度笃定，但最重要的是，他愿意听取普京向他传递的信息。”

泽连斯基接受《金融时报》访问时则说，他相信特朗普在看到乌克兰近期取得的成果后，正以全新的视角看待俄乌冲突。

莫斯科市长星期二（7日）说，乌克兰向莫斯科发射了400多架无人机。“从傍晚到（隔天）早上6时，超过430架无人机飞向莫斯科……大多数无人机被防空部队远距离拦截。另有36架在靠近莫斯科时被摧毁。

俄军星期一对基辅及周边地区进行的猛烈袭击造成至少28人死亡，并暴露出乌克兰面临美制防空拦截弹极度匮乏的严峻局面。

乌空军的数据显示，乌军未能击落俄罗斯发射的所有23枚弹道导弹，显示随着“爱国者”导弹库存逐步耗尽，乌克兰在面对莫斯科的空袭时正变得愈发脆弱。

泽连斯基星期一晚在视频演讲中指出，乌克兰拥有制造这些武器的技术诀窍，如果能获得美国授权生产爱国者系统，乌克兰的产量不仅足以保卫乌克兰，还能向其他有需要的合作伙伴提供协助。

Cuba slowly getting power back after third nationwide blackout in 6 months; “This is agony”

2026-07-07 07:53 AM EDT / CBS News

Cubans were gradually getting power restored Tuesday after the third nationwide power outage this year, causing mounting despair in the face of an energy collapse precipitated by a U.S. fuel blockade.

The communist island was already struggling to keep the lights on before President Trump cut off its oil supplies in January, depleting the dwindling supply of fuel for its power plants.

Union Electrica (UNE), the state electricity company, announced a “total disconnection” to the entire island at midday Monday, leaving the country’s 9.6 million inhabitants without power but without providing a reason.

It said early Tuesday that power was restored to over 30 percent of the capital, including 43 medical centers and nine water distribution installations.

The blackout marks the eighth on the island since late 2024.

A woman walks on a street as Cuba’s national electric grid collapsed at midday, leaving around 10 million people without power in Havana on July 6, 2026. Norlys Perez / REUTERS

The lack of fuel “undoubtedly complicates the restoration process,” Lazaro Guerra, director of electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said on state television late Monday without giving a timeline for repairs.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel blamed U.S. sanctions policy against the island.

“While the U.S. attempts to trigger social unrest through strangulation by blocking fuel access to Cuba, the UNE is mobilizing to reverse the collapse of the National Electric System,” the president said.

“The work being done by electrical workers amidst a genocidal energy blockade is heroic,” he added.

This latest blackout comes as the state imposes increasingly draconian power cuts across the country — over 30 hours at a stretch in parts of Havana and over 70 hours in some rural areas — in an increasingly desperate attempt to conserve fuel.

“Living like this is agony,” said Meyboll Font, a 51-year-old self-employed social media community manager.

Font said that her Havana neighborhood has been surviving on just “three or four hours of power a day” but that the blackout was worse because “you never know when it (electricity) will return.”

“We have no WiFi, no electricity, we can’t work,” said a young software programmer for a tourism start-up in another neighborhood.

Power outages have been a feature of life for years in Cuba, where the electricity generation system, composed mainly of dilapidated Soviet-era plants, is in shambles.

The blackouts and power cuts have accelerated since the fuel blockade began, with authorities citing a lack of fuel to run the generators that prop up the national grid.

Since January, Washington has only allowed one oil tanker, from Russia, to dock in Cuba, as part of a pressure campaign aimed at ending more than six decades of communist rule in Havana.

Mr. Trump points to the U.S. overthrow of Venezuela’s socialist president Nicolas Maduro and installation of a Washington-friendly successor as a potential blueprint for what he would like to achieve in Cuba.

Cuba has repeatedly said its political model isn’t up for discussion and vowed to resist any invasion militarily.

The U.S. blockade, coupled with a flurry of sanctions on the Cuban state and foreign companies that do business with it, have nudged a country already mired in a generational crisis closer to collapse.

Food, drinking water and medicine are in increasingly short supply, and some surgeries have been put on hold, prompting the United Nations to warn of a humanitarian emergency.

Transport on the island has come to a near standstill.

Last month, the government unveiled a sweeping package of free-market reforms that, if implemented, would dramatically reduce state control over the economy.

But the U.S. State Department dismissed the plans as “superficial smoke signals” and said Mr. Trump was holding out for “much more substantial economic and political reforms that would make Cuba investable” and grant Cubans political freedom.

The two sides have held several rounds of talks but Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said last week they had made “no progress” toward ending the impasse.

On Monday, Havana accused Washington of preventing a debate at the United Nations on its oil blockade and sanctions.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/how-trump-administration-putting-pressure-cuba/

西欧多国面临第三波热浪袭击加剧野火风险

2026年7月7日 19:35 / 联合早报

受持续热浪引发山火影响，法国政府投入地面和空中力量参与灭火。图为一架消防飞机星期一在靠近西班牙边界的法国西南部城市佩皮尼昂洒水扑灭野火。 （路透社）

（巴黎综合电）西欧多国本周将引来今夏的第三波大规模热浪。这波极端高温不仅将加剧野火风险，也将对整个地区的电力系统带来更大压力，欧洲电价预计也会进一步上涨。

根据天气模型和各国气象机构预测，一个高压天气系统将给法国、英格兰南部和伊比利亚半岛带来热浪。

气候变化正在加剧这个升温最快的大陆上的极端高温期。创纪录的高温和干旱导致全球野火季成为有史以来最严峻的一次，气候科学家警告称，正在形成的厄尔尼诺现象可能会在今夏末带来更加严峻的情况。

法国西南部的部分地区星期一（7月6日）和星期二的白天气温预已飙升至40摄氏度。气象学家预计，法国本周和下周仍会是高温最严重的地区，平均气温可能较往年高出5至10摄氏度。

法国南部的野火失控，迫使西班牙边境附近的20多个城镇和村庄疏散了1万多人。当地官员周一说，强风将进一步助长火势。

欧盟已在全欧范围内部署了创纪录数量的消防员以及22架消防飞机，以协助灭火。

预计欧洲本周电价将上涨，因为炎热天气推高了降温用电需求，同时高温也可能导致电力供应吃紧。法国电力公司警告称，由于用于冷却机组的默兹河水位过低，公司可能不得不从星期五起限制舒兹核电站的发电量。

能源分析机构Kpler预测，在星期四和星期五晚间太阳能发电减弱、电力需求仍处于高峰期。德国电价预计将突破每兆瓦时200欧元（约295新元），法国电价也将超过每兆瓦时170欧元。相比之下，本星期一晚间高峰期的德法电价仅略高于每兆瓦时150欧元。

西欧多国面临第三波热浪袭击加剧野火风险

2026年7月7日 19:35 / 联合早报

受持续热浪引发山火影响，法国政府投入地面和空中力量参与灭火。图为一架消防飞机星期一在靠近西班牙边界的法国西南部城市佩皮尼昂洒水扑灭野火。 （路透社）

（巴黎综合电）西欧多国本周将引来今夏的第三波大规模热浪。这波极端高温不仅将加剧野火风险，也将对整个地区的电力系统带来更大压力，欧洲电价预计也会进一步上涨。

根据天气模型和各国气象机构预测，一个高压天气系统将给法国、英格兰南部和伊比利亚半岛带来热浪。

气候变化正在加剧这个升温最快的大陆上的极端高温期。创纪录的高温和干旱导致全球野火季成为有史以来最严峻的一次，气候科学家警告称，正在形成的厄尔尼诺现象可能会在今夏末带来更加严峻的情况。

法国西南部的部分地区星期一（7月6日）和星期二的白天气温预已飙升至40摄氏度。气象学家预计，法国本周和下周仍会是高温最严重的地区，平均气温可能较往年高出5至10摄氏度。

法国南部的野火失控，迫使西班牙边境附近的20多个城镇和村庄疏散了1万多人。当地官员周一说，强风将进一步助长火势。

欧盟已在全欧范围内部署了创纪录数量的消防员以及22架消防飞机，以协助灭火。

预计欧洲本周电价将上涨，因为炎热天气推高了降温用电需求，同时高温也可能导致电力供应吃紧。法国电力公司警告称，由于用于冷却机组的默兹河水位过低，公司可能不得不从星期五起限制舒兹核电站的发电量。

能源分析机构Kpler预测，在星期四和星期五晚间太阳能发电减弱、电力需求仍处于高峰期。德国电价预计将突破每兆瓦时200欧元（约295新元），法国电价也将超过每兆瓦时170欧元。相比之下，本星期一晚间高峰期的德法电价仅略高于每兆瓦时150欧元。

锦茂居民诉 高楼抛物喂鸟难治 满地垃圾情况逾两年

2026年7月7日 15:45 / 新明日报

楼下有多只乌鸦和鸽子聚集啄食。 （取自STOMP）

锦茂组屋居民申诉，有人高楼抛物，甚至违法喂鸟，情况已持续超过两年。

有女居民申诉，指锦茂路第18座组屋，高楼抛物以及喂鸟的情况已超过两年，她向市镇会多次反馈，目前清洁工在积极打扫，而墙上也贴有告示警惕公众。

“显然这些措施远远不够，我每天依然看到满地垃圾，还有成群的鸟儿在地上啄食。”

女居民透露，她希望当局能安装电眼，惩治违法者。随后，她也把事件告知STOMP。

《新明日报》记者日前下午走访时，发现几乎每层楼的电梯处都有贴上“切勿高楼抛物”的告示。告示指出，市镇会已接获反馈，并将与环境局一起监督。若抓到违法者，将依法处置。

据观察，楼下确实有一些垃圾，例如纸巾和塑料袋。

附近居民祖尔（34岁）受访时透露，高楼抛物情况已维持超过两年。“我还曾看到有尿被泼下来，甚至有纸巾、塑料盒和瓷盘被丢下来。”

他指出，三个月前曾看到组屋楼下安装电眼，相信是用来抓高楼抛物的违法者。

另一名不愿透露姓名的男居民受访时则指出，组屋也有居民违法喂鸟。他也透露，大约两周前，当局在组屋前方的草地安装鸟笼，相信是要抓乌鸦。如今，乌鸦数量的确少了很多。

市理会：申请装电眼抓高楼抛物

荷兰—武吉班让市镇理事会受询时说，市镇会定期清理公共区域，也已指示清洁团队发现组屋周围有垃圾或食物残渣，必须立即清除。

此外，为提高居民的公共意识，乱丢垃圾和违法喂鸟的警惕告示也已张贴在各个电梯处。

“这些告示是为了提醒居民，乱丢垃圾和喂鸟会引发公共卫生隐患并导致害虫滋生，从而影响整个组屋区的整洁与宜居性。”

市镇会已向国家环境局反映，并申请安装监控电眼，以彻查涉嫌高空抛物的案件，遏制违法恶习。

市镇会也强调，维持干净、舒适的邻里环境需要社区的共同努力，将继续密切监督受影响区域。“我们呼吁居民妥善处理垃圾，避免喂食鸟类和野鸽，并鼓励家人和邻居养成良好习惯。”

广西溃堤水库曾为“问题水库” 韦韬赴水库缺口现场救援

2026年7月7日 15:47 / 联合早报

星期二（ 7月7日），在广西南宁横州市校椅镇六蓝村，救援人员徒步赶往受困群众处。 （新华社）

台风带来的连续强降雨影响，广西横州市六蓝水库发生溃堤，下游多个村镇洪涝成灾。媒体报道，六蓝水库曾被官方称为“问题水库”，在诸多安全隐患。当前，广西自治区主席韦韬已赶赴六蓝水库坝体漫堤缺口现场开展应急救援处置工作。

据《时代周报》报道，星期一（7月6日），广西横州市六蓝水库服务站发出紧急通告，于当天早上6时全开泄洪闸进行泄洪。泄洪数小时后，六蓝水库发生严重险情，坝体出现缺口，洪水裹挟大量地表泥沙向下游奔袭。受灾群众逃往自建房楼顶避难。

针对互联网上称“决堤”或“溃坝”，横州市应急管理局回应称“非水库整体坍塌”，而是坝体出现的局部缺口，属于均质土坝在极端洪水下发生的局部险情，主坝防渗核心结构仍然完好。

《中国新闻周刊》报道，六蓝水库曾被官方冠以“问题水库”之称。横州市融媒体中心曾发文称，六蓝水库因设施老化、管理粗放，存在诸多安全隐患与功能短板。

2023年7月，横州市六蓝灌区续建配套与现代化改造项目实施方案获批，旨在全面解决该灌区运行超过60年所面临的工程老化、渗漏、崩塌等严重险情。去年6月，水库标准化建设工作完工，官方通稿称六蓝水库完成从“问题水库”到“样板工程”，消除了安全隐患，还能实时监测运行数据。

此次发生坝体缺口，让舆论质疑堤坝改造工程是否存在质量问题。

《广西日报》报道，横州市六蓝水库、云表水库出现漫堤缺口现象，造成下游大面积人员受灾，自治区主席韦韬第一时间赶赴横州市六蓝水库坝体漫堤缺口现场开展应急救援处置工作。

据《羊城晚报》，至星期二，六蓝水库洪水已逐步消退，下游受灾最严重的六蓝村等地洪水也已退去，但部分地区仍断电断网，村民正排队领取生活物资。

广西召开的第二场防汛救灾发布会通报，截至7日上午11时，横州市受灾群众8万4700人，已紧急转移安置5万3808人；死亡四人、失联八人。