Alabama urges US Supreme Court to bring back GOP-friendly House map for midterm elections

2026-05-27 12:28 PM ET / CNN

By John Fritze

3 hr ago

PUBLISHED May 27, 2026, 12:28 PM ET

The US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on Thursday, May 14, 2026.

Eric Lee/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Summary

• Alabama officials have asked the Supreme Court to allow use of a congressional map that a federal court found discriminated against Black voters.
• The emergency appeal seeks to implement the map for the midterm elections, potentially unseating Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures.
• Alabama argues a recent Supreme Court ruling weakening the Voting Rights Act vindicates its position despite lower court objections.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

Alabama officials returned to the Supreme Court on Wednesday with an emergency appeal seeking permission to use a map that would likely add a Republican seat to the House of Representatives next year, once again thrusting the justices into the nationwide mid-decade redistricting battle instigated by President Donald Trump.

Republican officials in Alabama are appealing a decision from a federal court that blocked the state from using a congressional map that would give the GOP a chance to unseat Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, one of two Black members of the state’s seven-seat congressional delegation. That special three-judge court found that the state intentionally discriminated against Black voters with the map it now wants to use for this year’s midterm elections.

The short-fuse appeal is the latest fallout from the Supreme Court’s blockbuster decision in late April gutting the power of the Voting Rights Act to restrain discrimination in redistricting. That 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais has boosted Republican efforts to redraw state maps this year to help the president’s party retain control of the House.

“Callais vindicates Alabama’s position on the lawfulness of the 2023 plan,” the state told the Supreme Court. “Yet the district court decided in one week that Callais changed nothing.”

Alabama asked for the Supreme Court to decide on its request by Monday.

In its latest appeal, Alabama argues in part that it is too close to the election for federal courts to order changes to the map for this year’s midterm election. The state’s argument relies on what’s known as the “Purcell principle,” a judicial doctrine that warns federal courts against making last-minute changes to the status quo of voting rules before an election.

Even though Alabama already held its primary election earlier this month, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey has signed legislation authorizing special elections in August for the affected congressional districts if courts allow the state to use its new map.

The latest appeal follows a complicated legal history that predated Trump’s second term and that has repeatedly pitted Alabama against civil rights groups and federal courts. The state’s congressional map has already made it up to the Supreme Court twice before.

The Supreme Court in 2023 effectively required Alabama to redraw its congressional map to allow for an additional Black majority district, upholding a lower court decision that found the state likely violated the Voting Rights Act by enacting a discriminatory map. Ultimately, voters in Alabama cast their 2024 ballots under a court-drawn congressional map that led to the election of two Black and Democratic representatives.

Related article Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton waves as he takes the stage to speak during a primary runoff election night event in Plano, Texas, on Tuesday, May 26. Tony Gutierrez/AP Trump completes his month of GOP revenge, and other takeaways from the Texas runoffs 7 min read

While Alabama continued to challenge that map on appeal, the Supreme Court decided the Voting Rights Act case on April 29. That contentious ruling dealt with a congressional map in Louisiana, but the decision also made it far harder for Black voters and civil rights groups to challenge potentially discriminatory maps. Based on that major decision, Alabama urged the Supreme Court in mid-May to toss out the court-ordered map in time for this year’s midterm election. The court’s conservative majority agreed to that request on May 11 over the dissent from three liberal justices.

But a special three-judge court in Alabama unanimously shot down the state’s map again Tuesday. The court ruled that Alabama likely violated the Voting Rights Act, even with the Supreme Court’s new high standard, as well as the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

“Ultimately, we cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination,” the court wrote.

Bondi undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer after recent diagnosis

May 27, 2026 / 12:09 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer, she told CBS News in a text message exchange Wednesday.

She said she was diagnosed after leaving the Justice Department in April and underwent surgery as part of her treatment a couple of weeks ago.

Bondi was fired by President Trump on April 2 and replaced by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has been serving in an acting capacity since her ouster.

Axios was first to report the diagnosis, and that Bondi had been tapped to serve on a presidential advisory commission focused on artificial intelligence policy, the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

In a statement Wednesday morning to CBS News, Vice President JD Vance said Bondi “has been an enormously valuable asset to the president’s team, and I’m thrilled for her and for all of us that she’s going to remain involved in confronting some of the most important issues the administration faces.”

Bondi is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Friday about her handling of the rollout of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which was a major source of controversy during her stint as attorney general. Her tenure came to an end amid dissatisfaction with how aggressively she pursued Mr. Trump’s priorities at the Justice Department.

The Justice Department’s internal watchdog said last month that it will audit the department’s compliance with the law that required the release of the Epstein files, following months of bipartisan criticism over how the agency handled the disclosure.

DOJ sues UCLA over alleged ‘Judenrein’ conditions during anti-Israel encampment

May 27, 2026 2:49pm EDT / Fox News

The 53-page complaint alleges the university violated Title VI protections during months of anti-Israel protest unrest

By Elaine Mallon, Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6390738636112UCLA students praise Trump admin after lawsuit over antisemitism, say campus climate improving despite Iran conflict

Two UCLA students told Fox News Digital campus tensions have eased since past anti-Israel protests but some concerns about antisemitism and administrative pressure remain.

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The Justice Department sued the University of California, Los Angeles, on Monday, accusing the university of allowing Jewish students to face a “hostile educational environment” during months of anti-Israel protests and encampment unrest that left students assaulted, blocked from campus buildings and fearful of attending class.

“The occupiers largely succeeded in their goal of making the heart of campus Judenrein— or at least free of Jews who did not share their desire to annihilate Israel,” the lawsuit stated.

In the 53-page complaint, the Justice Department accused UCLA of violating Title VI protections by showing “deliberate indifference” toward discrimination against Jewish students, allegations that could jeopardize federal funding.

“UCLA was deliberately indifferent to the suffering of its Jewish and Israeli students and declined to take meaningful action to protect them,” DOJ said.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DEMANDS $1B SETTLEMENT FROM UCLA OVER CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM CLAIMS

University of California police secure Dodd Hall after clearing anti-Israel protesters from the UCLA campus on May 23, 2023, during a congressional hearing where Chancellor Gene Block testified.(Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The lawsuit is part of a broader Trump administration effort to crack down on antisemitism tied to anti-Israel protests that spread across college campuses following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel

DOJ alleged that UCLA’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion office “routinely ignored” more than 100 complaints of antisemitic harassment, which ranged from Jewish students being blocked from campus buildings to being beaten, pepper-sprayed and slapped with sticks. The Justice Department argued that the university’s “decision to ignore” these complaints violated Title VI, suggesting that the school could lose federal funding and pay restitution to the government.

The lawsuit’s central allegation focuses on UCLA’s handling of the anti-Israel protest encampment that formed on campus in late April 2024 and lasted about a week. At the time, anti-Israel encampments popped up on dozens of college campuses across the country in response to escalating tensions in the Gaza war. The conduct within the encampment prompted the Trump administration to create an antisemitism task force that visited UCLA.

The anti-Israel encampment was set up on April 25, 2024, sparking complaints that protesters formed “human phalanxes” to block Jewish students from accessing buildings and other parts of campus. The lawsuit also alleges that one Jewish student was kicked to the ground and knocked unconscious.

CALIFORNIA SHERIFF SLAMS ‘MERITLESS’ UCLA STUDENT LAWSUIT AGAINST POLICE WHO DISMANTLED ANTI-ISRAEL ENCAMPMENT

Police did not clear the encampment until May 2, 2024, during what was described as a chaotic scene in which anti-Israel protesters clashed with officers using pepper spray and fire extinguishers.

Confrontations at UCLA between anti-Israel protesters and police continued as six UCLA police officers were injured on June 10, 2024, during an attempt to create a new encampment.

UCLA PAYS BIG SETTLEMENT OVER ‘JEW EXCLUSION ZONE’ DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS FROM STUDENTS

Police push back anti-Israel protesters on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 23, 2024.(Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News)

Even after voicing concerns over the violence seen during the spring 2024 anti-Israel protests, UCLA school safety officers were instructed to prioritize “de-escalation” rather than aggressively enforcing school policies during future anti-Israel protests that sprang up in 2025 and 2026.

At one Students for Justice of Palestine demonstration held on Oct. 7, 2025, officers stood by and did not engage even though some of the participants were breaking the campus’ “no masking rule.” An officer was asked why they weren’t enforcing the rules, and he replied by saying he “not that high up on that totem pole” to make that call.

The lawsuit heavily cited the findings of UCLA’s own task force in the lawsuit to back up its claims that school leadership failed to properly protect Jewish students on campus.

Police officers react as anti-Israel students stand their ground after police breached their encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles, on May 2, 2024.(Etienne Laurent/AFP)

“Indeed, UCLA’s Task Force found that ‘throughout most of 2023-2024, campus leadership repeatedly decided not to enforce federal law, state law, and University and campus rules,’ ‘resulting in failure to protect the Constitutional rights,’ of Jews on campus,” the lawsuit stated.

The lawsuit cited a poll conducted of Jewish students finding that 59.6% of students “reported spending less time on campus due to antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias” and and that 41.4% considered leaving the school because of antisemitism.

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The Trump administration’s lawsuit comes just months after the Justice Department filed a separate case against UCLA in February, accusing the university of antisemitic discrimination against Jewish and Israeli employees.

Fox News Digital reached out to UCLA for comment.

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

Republicans scrub anti-Paxton attacks from the internet after he becomes their nominee

2026-05-27T17:14:25.013Z / CNN

By Em Steck, Andrew Kaczynski

PUBLISHED May 27, 2026, 1:14 PM ET

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during a primary runoff election night event in Plano, Texas, on Tuesday.

Tony Gutierrez/AP

Summary

• The National Republican Senatorial Committee is deleting dozens of attacks against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after he won the GOP Senate primary.
• The NRSC had called Paxton “Crooked Ken” and accused him of corruption and giving favorable treatment to an alleged child sex trafficker.
• The committee removed press releases, digital ads and social media posts criticizing Paxton as Republicans now rally behind their nominee.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

In the wake of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s crushing victory over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican Senate primary, Republican operatives are rapidly scrubbing from the internet months of attacks portraying Paxton as corrupt, dishonest and a threat to President Donald Trump’s agenda.

A CNN KFile review found the National Republican Senatorial Committee, an official campaign arm of the GOP, deleted at least two dozen press releases, digital ads and statements attacking Paxton — including posts labeling him “Crooked Ken,” criticizing his treatment of his then-wife during their divorce and accusing him of giving favorable treatment to an alleged child sex trafficker.

In comments and posts dating from the past year, the NRSC often referred to Paxton as “crooked” and said his “corruption” would threaten Republicans’ — and most importantly, Trump’s — agenda.

Other deleted press releases pointed to a controversial deal Paxton’s office made with an alleged sex trafficker which kept the man “out of prison and off the sex offender registry.”

“More Texans are now victims of an alleged child sex trafficker because Crooked Ken Paxton gave this dirtbag the kid-gloves treatment,” said NRSC Regional Press Secretary Nick Puglia in the since-purged press release. “Democrats and Paxton are already working together to threaten President Trump’s Senate Majority, now it turns out Paxton was making the kind of plea deals for child sex traffickers that you’d expect from a Democrat too.”

NRSC declined to comment to CNN and pointed to its statement following Paxton’s win — which failed to name the nominee.

“A state President Trump won by nearly 14 points isn’t going to elect James Talarico — a radical leftist who thinks God is nonbinary and that Texas should be a welcome mat for illegals. He is the most dangerous flank of the far left. Texas isn’t swapping brisket for open borders,” said NRSC regional press secretary Samantha Cantrell.

Google’s ad transparency database also showed at least two NRSC anti-Paxton video ads that have since been removed by the uploader, including one titled “Ken Paxton Has a Dark Secret” and another accusing Paxton of “Helping the Woke Left” by giving nearly $1 million to gender-affirming programs. The ads are now labeled “removed by the uploader.”

The NRSC also removed a handful of ads against Paxton from its YouTube channel.

One ad shows an image of Paxton as a Ken-like doll encased in a plastic box. The voiceover, according to a transcript, reads, “Introducing the all new Ken. He talks a big game about conservative values, but when it’s time to deliver he drags his feet. … Ken doesn’t stand up for conservatives, he stands in their way!”

Another since-deleted ad, titled “Texas Deserves Better Than Ken Paxton,” depicts a bucolic crossroad with crickets chirping. It then cuts to a shadowy street while police sirens, broken glass and car alarms roar. “So, which Texas do you want to hear,” a narrator says. It ends with a title card that reads, “Texas deserves better than the sound of Ken Paxton” and an image of Paxton with his fingers in his ears.

The NRSC also deleted at least eight tweets from X about Paxton since 2025, including two posts that said he was “asleep” at the wheel.

“Instead of protecting Texans, Ken Paxton has been asleep at the wheel. He’s been using taxpayer dollars to give MILLIONS to leftist groups who: ❌Coach illegals on how to evade ICE ❌Push DEI hiring schemes ❌Offer transgender resources to kids,” the NRSC account tweeted in September 2025.

And again in October 2025: “Ken Paxton is so asleep at the wheel he is treating Texas’ taxpayer dollars like Monopoly money — funneling hundreds of millions to liberal organizations and candidates.”

Paxton’s campaign has not responded to this claim, though as Texas’ attorney general, he recently sued Harris County “for unlawfully allocating more than $1.3 million in public money to radical leftist organizations,” according to a press release.

CNN reached out to the Paxton campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Alabama Republicans ask Supreme Court to allow congressional map found racially discriminatory by lower court

2026-05-27T12:22:00-0400 / CBS News

By

Updated on: May 27, 2026 / 12:55 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — Alabama Republicans asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to allow the state to use a congressional map, crafted in 2023, that would give the GOP an edge in the midterm elections, after a district court found that the redistricting plan was racially discriminatory.

State officials asked the high court for emergency relief on the heels of the district court’s decision that ordered Alabama to use a court-approved map that includes two majority-Black districts for upcoming House contests. The three-judge district court panel found that the redistricting plan adopted by Alabama’s GOP-controlled legislature in 2023, which has one majority-minority district, intentionally discriminated against Black voters.

“Alabama and the public face irreparable harm unless a stay issues because they will be unable to use the State’s ‘duly enacted plans’ for the 2026 election,” Alabama officials wrote in a filing. “Worse still, voters will be forced to vote under a court-drawn racially gerrymandered map that does not meet Alabama’s legitimate districting goals.”

They said the 2023 map “was lawful then, and it is lawful now.”

Alabama Republicans moved to revert back to the congressional lines drawn three years ago after the Supreme Court last month weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. For the 2024 elections in Alabama, House contests were conducted under a plan adopted by the district court, which included two majority-Black congressional districts.

But for the upcoming House elections, Republicans are hoping to flip one of those seats, currently held by Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat, by reimposing their 2023 map.

In anticipation of the three-year-old map being put in place, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, set a special primary election for Aug. 11 for the four House districts that would be recrafted under that plan. Primaries for the state’s three other House seats unaffected by redrawing were held last week.

The ongoing battle over Alabama’s congressional map is part of the fallout from the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act decision. In response to that ruling, which involved Louisiana’s House district lines, several states in the South have rushed to reconfigure their congressional maps to help bolster Republicans’ odds of holding onto their House majority.

The effort is in line with President Trump’s push over the past few months for GOP-led states like Texas, Florida and Missouri to recraft their congressional maps for partisan gain.

Alabama’s congressional map has been ensnared in legal wrangling since 2021, when the state drew new House districts after the 2020 Census. In 2023, after the Supreme Court ruled that earlier redistricting plan likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, state lawmakers drew the map with one majority-Black district out of seven congressional seats, even though Alabama’s population is 27% Black.

But those House lines were invalidated by the district court. It went on to put in place its own congressional map that bolstered Black voting power, and that was used for 2024 House races.

On the heels of the voting rights decision, Alabama officials asked the Supreme Court to set aside the injunction that had blocked the state from using the 2023 map. The high court agreed to do so earlier this month and sent the case back to the district court for more proceedings.

But when the district court took another look at the House districts drawn in 2023, it said there was “undisputed evidence” that the map intentionally discriminated based on race in violation of the Constitution.

“Ultimately, we cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination,” Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus and District Judges Anna Manasco and Terry Moorer found.

Talarico says Paxton is “clipping my cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption”

2026-05-27T12:35:00-0400 / CBS News

By

Ed O’Keefe Senior White House and Political Correspondent
Ed O’Keefe is CBS News’ senior White House and political correspondent reporting for all CBS News platforms. He’s part of the team covering President Trump and covered all four years of Joe Biden’s presidency. From the White House to the campaign trail, O’Keefe’s reports stretch from the politics of the moment to how policy enacted in Washington affects the nation and the world.

Read Full Bio

Gabrielle Ake,
Updated on: May 27, 2026 / 1:35 PM EDT / CBS News

Texas state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in the Lone Star State, conceded Wednesday that some past statements during debates over transgender policy “missed the mark,” but accused his Republican opponent Ken Paxton of “intentionally clipping my cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption.”

Republicans are “worried about the movement that we’re building here in Texas,” Talarico said, hours after Republicans overwhelmingly chose Paxton, the state attorney general, as their Senate nominee.

“I think national Republicans see the momentum behind this movement, and they’re worried we’re going to win Texas in November,” Talarico told CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe in his first network news interview since Tuesday’s runoff.

He told O’Keefe that his campaign has been attracting huge crowds across the state, and he believes his support is expanding beyond the Democratic voter base.

“We’ve had tens of thousands of Texans showing up to rally with us. And I can’t tell you the number of people who’ve come up to me at the end of these events and whisper, ‘I’m not a Democrat,’ like they’re in the witness protection program,” Talarico said. “I think we’re reaching people who don’t normally vote for Democratic candidates. We’re also reaching a lot of first-time voters, a number of young people, who’ve been showing up at our events, who’ve been signing up to volunteer and donate.”

Paxton won the Senate primary runoff for the GOP nomination on Tuesday night in a landslide, defeating Sen. John Cornyn, the incumbent senator who has represented Texas since 2002.

Senate GOP leadership had thrown its support behind Cornyn — a prolific fundraiser who has brought in more than $400 million for Republican Senate candidates — and viewed him as a better candidate to take on Talarico in the general election. Now, with Paxton as the nominee, Republicans will have to dump large sums of money into the race to support his lackluster fundraising and combat an onslaught of attacks from the left over a number of ethics scandals.

For his part, Talarico has also flexed his fundraising chops, bringing in $27 million in the first quarter. He defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett in March for the Democratic nomination.

Talarico said “Texans are drowning.”

“We can’t afford the basics, we can’t afford groceries or gas or insurance or housing or childcare or prescription drugs, and Ken Paxton clearly has no solutions to offer us,” he said. “So, while he divides us with these same tired culture war fights, I’m going to keep bringing Texans together to take on his corruption and lower our costs.”

To drive down costs in Texas, Talarico proposes ending tariffs, suspending the federal gas and diesel taxes and capping prescription drug prices. He said along with the cost of housing, childcare and insurance, “all of these things are conspiring to hold Texans back.”

Talarico echoed a message he’s shared since the beginning of the campaign — that the fight isn’t left versus right, it’s “top versus bottom.”

“We’re all getting screwed. None of us can afford anything. None of us can get ahead, no matter how hard we work, and that’s because the system, this political system and economic system, are rigged against us,” he said. “It’s been rigged for 50 years by billionaire megadonors and their puppet politicians — like Ken Paxton.”

The Democratic nominee argued that corruption is the “central problem in our country right now.”

“I think we’re living in an era of corruption, and I don’t just mean illegal activity, although we’re certainly going to hear a lot about that, given that Ken Paxton is the nominee. But I’m talking about corruption in the deeper sense, the rotting of our systems from the inside out, the decaying of long-held values and institutions, and we see it everywhere,” he said.

Talarico said “this campaign is really about taking on that corruption head-on.”

The general election is expected to be among the most expensive Senate races in the country. The race could also determine control of the Senate, as Democrats look to flip the chamber. Republicans currently have 53 seats in the Senate, meaning Democrats would need to net four to retake the majority. And despite a difficult map, Democrats see Paxton’s nomination as bringing them one step closer to a long-sought victory in Texas. No Democrat has prevailed in a Senate race in Texas since 1988, when Sen. Lloyd Bentsen won reelection. The Cook Political Report shifted its rating from Likely Republican to Lean Republican after Paxton’s victory.

Talarico hopes to defeat Paxton by adding Cornyn supporters to his base of Democratic voters. He appealed to them Wednesday, thanking Cornyn for his “many years of service to our state” and noting that while they don’t agree on every issue, “we both still believe in public service.”

“We both still believe that these positions of public trust should be about serving our neighbors, not serving ourselves,” Talarico said. “And so to any of Senator Cornyn’s supporters who still believe in that old-fashioned idea of service, I want them to know they have a place in our campaign.”

As the general election fight gets underway, Talarico has faced intense criticism from Paxton and other Republicans, like GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who called Talarico “absolutely extreme” on his podcast overnight, adding, “What makes Talarico dangerous — and that worries me — is he packages it in this very nice ‘aw, shucks’ demeanor, and he sounds like a preacher.”

Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian who calls himself a progressive Christian, has faced attacks from the right over previous comments, including on veganism and gender.

Pressed on a comment he made that God is nonbinary, Talarico said he was being “intentionally provocative,” but added that “what it means is that God can’t be defined by human categories.” On his comments about gender, Talarico said “I know there are two sexes, men and women. I also know there’s a very small percentage of people who have these chromosomal abnormalities, and I believe they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”

Asked by O’Keefe about the criticism surrounding his diet, Talarico said he is not a vegan, noting that he’s an eighth-generation Texan who’s “been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment.”

“If all they have is lying about me being a vegan, I feel pretty good about our chances this November,” he said.

Trump says Iran is ‘negotiating on fumes,’ believes regime thought they could outwait him

2026-05-27T13:56:51-04:00 / Fox News

About three months into Operation Epic Fury, the president says Iran ‘very much’ wants an agreement

By Greg Norman-Diamond Fox News

Published May 27, 2026 1:56pm EDT

Trump says Iran is ‘negotiating on fumes’

President Donald Trump, during Cabinet meeting, says Iran “thought they were going to outwait me.”

President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that Iran is “negotiating on fumes” and that the regime thought they could outwait him when it comes to reaching a deal to end the war.

Trump, speaking during a Cabinet meeting about three months after the launch of Operation Epic Fury, said Iran “very much” wants to reach an agreement.

“So far they haven’t gotten there.We’re not satisfied with it, but we will be,we will be. Either that or we’ll have to just finish the job,” the president warned.

“But their navy has gone, as I’ve said a thousand times,their navy is gone. Their air force is gone.Everything’s gone and they’re negotiating on fumes. But we’ll see what happens.Maybe we have to go back and finish it.Maybe we don’t,” he continued.

LIVE UPDATES: TRUMP SAYS ‘NOBODY’S GOING TO CONTROL THE STRAIT,’ OR ‘WE’LL HAVE TO BLOW THEM UP’

President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on May 27, 2026, as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth looks on.(Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

The president also said Iran’s economy “is in freefall” with surging inflation and money that “has no value.”He mentioned, “They’re just going back to the internet because they’re getting clobbered,” referencing reports on Tuesday that Internet access in Iran was partially being restored following a lengthy blackout.

“They thought they were going to outwait me,you know,‘We’ll outwait him, he’s got the midterms.’I don’t care about the midterms.Look what happened last night. That was the prelude to the midterms,” Trump added.

IRAN AND HOUTHI TERROR PROXY FACING RED SEA THREAT FROM PRO-US AFRICAN NATION

USS George H.W. Bush transits the Arabian Sea as U.S. forces enforce a naval blockade against Iran and support Project Freedom in the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. Central Command.(CENTCOM)

“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.I’m doing that for the world.I’m not doing it just for us. And we’ve had great support from other nations, by the way. We don’t need it at all. But we’ve had great support from other nations,” Trump also said. “The problem is you always get the support when you don’t need it. When you need it, you don’t get the support. With Operation Epic Fury, our warriors are ensuring that the world’s number one state sponsor of terror never obtains a nuclear weapon. And they won’t.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, following Trump, that diplomacy remains the first option for resolving the war with Iran.

President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington on May 27, 2026.(Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

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“There’s an agreement to be made. We want that to be made. I think there’s been some progress and some interest. And we’ll see over the next few hours and days whether progress could be made,” Rubio said during the Cabinet meeting.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth added, “Whether it is through the efforts of your negotiators that they ensure that they never have a nuclear weapon, or we have to go back to the War Department to finish the job that way,we’re prepared to do that.”

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

blob:https://www.foxnews.com/b38c8d9b-b2b1-4790-8d5b-69a7f38df3c0

Judge dismisses bribery case involving FIFA after DOJ says bribery is not a priority

2026-05-27 1:35 PM ET / CNN

By Kara Scannell

1 hr 59 min ago

PUBLISHED May 27, 2026, 1:35 PM ET

Federal agencies Soccer

FIFA President Gianni Infantino holds the FIFA World Cup trophy following the 2026 FIFA World Cup European Play-Off draw at the FIFA’s Home of Football in Zurich on November 20, 2025.

Fabrice Coffini/AFP/Getty Images

Summary

• A federal judge dismissed criminal charges in a FIFA bribery case after the Justice Department said the case no longer fits its priorities.
• The decision came 11 years after the landmark 2015 takedown that reached the highest levels of global soccer.
• It marks the second high-profile bribery case dropped during President Donald Trump’s second term after charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams were withdrawn.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

A federal judge dismissed criminal charges against a media executive in a long-running bribery case involving FIFA after the US Justice Department said the case no longer fits the Trump administration’s priorities.

The decision came on the 11-year anniversary of DOJ’s takedown and announcement of initial charges in 2015 against 14 defendants for an alleged bribery scheme spanning over two decades. It reached into the highest levels of FIFA, the governing body for global soccer, and other entities associated with the organization. The cases caused a reckoning within FIFA, leading to the resignation of top officials.

It’s the second high-profile bribery case the Justice Department has dropped during President Donald Trump’s second term. Last year, DOJ withdrew charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, which led to an exodus of prosecutors from the Justice Department’s public integrity section in Washington, DC, and the resignation of the acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Joseph Nocella, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, appeared in court on Wednesday and told the judge, “The Department of Justice does not want to use its resources to continue to pursue the prosecution.” He added, “It doesn’t fit with the administration’s priorities” which include terrorism, threats to national security, drug and human trafficking, and gangs.

Judge Pamela Chen observed to Nocella that his prosecution team was fully equipped to handle the hearing but noted, “You appear to be here by yourself.”

Nocella said he was there because he signed the motion to dismiss the case.

The prosecution had a source of pride for the federal prosecutors’ office in Brooklyn.

In court filings, DOJ said the decision to dismiss the case against Hernan Lopez, a former 21st Century Fox executive, and Full Play Group, an Argentine sports marketing company, was limited to this case and said it was not seeking to walk back convictions or guilty pleas reached with other defendants. Lopez and Full Play were accused of bribing soccer officials to win media and broadcast rights.

Lopez and Full Play were convicted at trial in 2023, but Chen later overturned the conviction. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed her decision and reinstated the conviction. Lopez asked the US Supreme Court to hear his appeal. In December, the Justice Department took the unusual step of asking courts to dismiss the indictment.

After court, Lopez said, “Six years later a case they never should have started is finally over.”

“I am relieved,” he said.

By

Margaret Brennan,

Margaret Brennan Moderator, “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan;” Chief foreign affairs correspondent

Margaret Brennan is moderator of “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on CBS. Based in Washington, D.C., Brennan is also the Network’s chief foreign affairs correspondent and a contributing correspondent to 60 Minutes. Additionally, she appears regularly on the “CBS Evening News,” leading coverage from Washington when news breaks on the political and foreign affairs fronts.

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Margaret Brennan,
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James LaPorta National security coordinating producer

James LaPorta is the national security coordinating producer for the CBS News’ Washington bureau. He is a former U.S. Marine veteran infantryman and veteran of the Afghanistan war.

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May 27, 2026 / 1:25 PM EDT / CBS News

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Washington — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine urged President Trump and Congress to expand deliveries of Patriot missile systems in a letter written on Memorial Day, warning that Russia is preparing a broader campaign of ballistic missile attacks against Ukrainian cities.

CBS News obtained the five-page letter, which framed Ukraine’s fight against Russia not simply as a regional war, but as a test of American leadership and the durability of Western alliances.

“And when it comes to defending against ballistic missiles, we rely almost exclusively on the United States,” wrote Zelenskyy. “Patriot systems remain the most effective defense against every type of Russian ballistic missile.”

He added: “And it is in Ukrainian hands that Patriot systems have proven something extremely important: the majority of Russian missiles can be stopped.”

The appeal comes as Ukraine faces mounting pressure from intensified Russian aerial bombardments and growing uncertainty over the pace of Western military assistance. Zelenskyy described a massive Russian assault carried out on the eve of Memorial Day, saying Moscow launched dozens of cruise and ballistic missiles, including hypersonic weapons, alongside roughly 600 drones.

The strikes killed at least two people, and nearly 100 people were injured. More than 350 residential buildings were damaged, among them schools and museums in Kyiv, including the Chornobyl Museum, which had recently been renovated ahead of the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster. The museum was destroyed by a direct missile strike, according to Zelenskyy’s letter.

The letter appeared calibrated not only to secure military aid, but also to reinforce Ukraine’s strategic value to the U.S. at a moment when Washington is balancing commitments in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

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Zelenskyy underscored that Patriot interceptors are incredibly difficult to obtain quickly enough to counter Russia’s expanding ballistic missile campaign. The embattled president said while he’s “grateful” for the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List, the NATO-backed procurement mechanism created to keep U.S.-made weapons flowing to Ukraine, the “current pace of deliveries through the PURL program is no longer keeping up with the reality of the threat we face.”

The Kviv Independent first reported on the letter Wednesday.

NASA chief pulls back curtain on Trump UFO files after bizarre finds surface in buried fed records

Released files include infrared footage, Apollo-era astronaut accounts and military pilot testimony from combat zones

2026-05-27 12:20pm EDT / Fox News

By Ashley J. DiMella Fox News

Published May 27, 2026 12:20pm EDT

NASA chief Jared Isaacman says no alien bodies found but some sightings defy explanation

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman says declassified UAP files show real unexplained phenomena but no alien bodies or crashed ships have been found. (Credit: Nicholas Ballasy for Fox News Digital)

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NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the Trump administration’s newly declassified UAP files are exposing years of strange aerial sightings that government agencies failed to seriously dig into — even if the records do not point to recovered alien remains or ships.

“What’s being surfaced isn’t crashed ships or alien bodies, but real unexplained phenomena,” Isaacman told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday.

The disclosures come after the Trump administration released two waves of declassified UAP files as part of a broader transparency effort directing agencies to search internal databases for decades-old reports involving unexplained aerial activity after years of public skepticism surrounding government secrecy and UFO investigations. Officials say additional file releases from agencies including the CIA could soon follow.

TRUMP ADMIN RELEASES HIGHLY ANTICIPATED FILES DOCUMENTING UFOS, ‘EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE’

The ongoing release of declassified files is part of Trump’s Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) program, which made a second batch of documents public on Friday.(Getty Images Creatives)

Isaacman framed the disclosures less as proof of extraterrestrial life than as a public test of unexplained evidence, saying modern cameras, military sensors and newly released government records are giving Americans more material to examine than ever before.

“Everybody’s got a camera phone, a doorbell camera. Every military aircraft flying has a million sensors,” Isaacman said. “You’re gonna pick up things. Pick up things that flew at a different angle, you know, across the lens that maybe if you had a better angle on, you’d be like, oh, that’s a balloon, or that might be a missile in a combat region. But because we caught it at an angle, it’s an unexplained phenomenon.”

Isaacman said the biggest surprise was not evidence of extraterrestrials, but how little attention federal agencies had historically given to unexplained aerial records, calling the renewed disclosure effort under the Trump administration “citizen science.”

UFO INSIDER CLAIMS US HAS BODIES OF 4 DIFFERENT ALIEN SPECIES FROM DOWNED SPACECRAFT IN GOVERNMENT CUSTODY

The newly surfaced material includes infrared footage from 2023 that appears to show a U.S. F-16 shooting down a diamond-shaped object over Lake Huron.(US Department of War via Getty Images)

“Government agencies really didn’t take this quite as seriously in the past until President Trump put out the tweet, basically giving an order to government agencies and going out and saying, look, this time you better go through the files, you better start searching your databases and bring things up,” said Isaacman.

“I think the president has really got government agencies now taking this seriously, to go look at the files and bring the data to light, and he’s putting it all out for everyone to analyze,” he added. “This is citizen science right now. Take a look at our files, tell us what you think.”

The newly surfaced material includes infrared footage from 2023 that appears to show a U.S. F-16 shooting down a diamond-shaped object over Lake Huron, along with reports documenting unexplained aerial objects spotted near military operations in Iran, Syria, Iraq, Greece and other parts of the Middle East. The records also include astronaut and NASA-related accounts from the Apollo and Gemini eras describing strange lights and unidentified objects observed in space.

UFO EXPERT SAYS TRUMP’S DECLASSIFICATION COULD EXPOSE POSSIBLE ‘COVER-UP’ SPANNING DECADES

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Trump administration is directing agencies to revisit long-buried UAP records in the name of transparency, while Isaacman said additional “big file tranches” from intelligence agencies could soon become public.

“I think the president has really got government agencies now taking this seriously, to go look at the files and bring the data to light, and he’s putting it all out for everyone to analyze,” said Isaacman.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images, Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“There’s nothing I’m aware of in terms of alien bodies or spaceships,” Isaacman said. “But observations from decades past — from some of our adversaries and potentially some of our allies — essentially saying, ‘We saw something, we documented it, and we kept it buried in a file somewhere,’ are now being made public.”

The documents also contain testimony from intelligence officers and military pilots who said they could not explain encounters they witnessed during operations and training exercises.

Isaacman said he personally believes life likely exists elsewhere in the universe and argued that searching for it remains central to NASA’s long-term mission.

“I think if we go and bring samples back from Mars, you’ve got better than a 90% chance of former microbial life,” he said.

DECLASSIFIED APOLLO MISSION UFO FILES CHALLENGE LONG-RUNNING MOON LANDING CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Isaacman also pointed to Saturn’s moon Titan and Jupiter’s moon Europa as locations scientists believe may contain conditions capable of supporting microbial life or biosignatures — chemical indicators associated with living organisms.

Officials say additional UFO and UAP files will continue to be released in future batches as part of the administration’s ongoing disclosure effort.(Guvendemir/Getty Images)

“Things that could indicate perhaps that there was microbial life there or some other form there of which it changes the whole equation from surely there is life out there somewhere to what if it’s everywhere,” said Isaacman.

Isaacman also argued that broader public disclosure could help reduce skepticism at a time when advances in artificial intelligence and digital manipulation are making it increasingly difficult for people to distinguish authentic footage from fabricated material.

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“I would say that some of the most interesting data that NASA has provided as part of the UAP disclosure was taken on the surface of the moon from Apollo 12 and 17,” he said. “You can’t be a moon landing denier and also believe that those photos captured unexplained phenomenon.”

Officials say additional UFO and UAP files will continue to be released in future batches as part of the administration’s ongoing disclosure effort.

Ashley J. DiMella reports on politics for Fox News Digital.