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参院共和党人质疑美伊核协议 特朗普回击批评者

2026年5月25日 07:41 / 联合早报

美国共和党参议员蒂利斯在CNN节目中说，美伊的潜在协议“说不通”，他认为“有很多事情需要交代清楚”。 （路透社档案照片）

美国参议院共和党人对美国和伊朗可能达成和平协议的可行性表示怀疑，美国总统特朗普在社交媒体上回击对美伊谈判的批评者。

《纽约时报》星期天（5月24日）报道，北卡罗来纳州共和党参议员蒂利斯当天在美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）的“国情咨文”节目中说，美伊的潜在协议“说不通”，他认为“有很多事情需要交代清楚”。

他也认为，伊朗方面承诺重新开放霍尔木兹海峡“令人怀疑”。

一名要求匿名的美国高级官员24日告诉媒体，美伊双方原则上同意达成一项可能结束中东战事的协议，但由两国领导人最终批准可能还需要多几天时间。

这名官员说，依照协议，霍尔木兹海峡将重新开放，并责成伊朗交出高浓缩铀，至于德黑兰将如何处理它的高浓缩铀仍在进行谈判。

据纽时报道，伊朗官员称核问题谈判将在30至60天内进行。另据美国阿克西奥斯（Axios）新闻网站引述美国官员说，依照美伊谅解备忘录，双方将延长停火60天，若经双方同意可再延期。

美国参议院军事委员会主席威克23日在社交媒体贴文说：“停火60天并指望伊朗会真诚行事，那将是一场灾难。”

特朗普5月24日晚在Truth Social贴文，呼吁“不要听信失败者的话，他们一无所知却在那里妄加评论。”（法新社）

特朗普24日晚在Truth Social说，如果他和伊朗达成协议，那一定是一份“良好和妥当的协议”，而且会比他让美国退出奥巴马任内与伊朗达成的核协议来得更好。

特朗普写道：“没有人见过我们的协议或知道内容是什么。我们根本还没有全面完成谈判。所以不要听信那些失败者的话，他们一无所知却在那里妄加评论。”

特朗普还写道：“我与那些人不同，他们本该在多年前解决这个问题，我不会达成烂协议！”

正在印度访问的美国国务卿鲁比奥24日接受《纽约时报》采访时说，伊朗核协议不可能“在72小时内在餐巾纸上完成”。他说，这个问题必须过后再谈。核谈判是高度技术性的问题。

Iran’s supreme leader is holed up in undisclosed location, U.S. intelligence says

May 24, 2026 / 6:07 PM EDT / CBS News

U.S. intelligence shows that Iran’s supreme leader is effectively holed up in an undisclosed location with little access to the outside world and is only reached by a labyrinth of couriers, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

The Iranian officials authorized to work with the Trump administration have been having a difficult time communicating inside of their own government system — and it’s a central reason why the details of a potential deal with Iran and past agreements have been slow to emerge.

When the U.S. sends proposed details, the difficulty in reaching the supreme leader means there can be a long delay before the U.S. receives a response, two of the officials said.

A White House spokesperson declined to comment on intelligence on the supreme leader’s whereabouts or Iranian communication methods.

A senior administration official said Sunday the supreme leader had agreed to the contours of the current draft agreement, and President Trump posted on Truth Social that he anticipated final word in the next few days.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who was injured in U.S. and Israeli strikes in Operation Epic Fury, is taking extreme measures to avoid the strikes similar to the ones that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran from 1989 until Feb. 28. Mojtaba Khamenei has not been officially seen or heard in public since before the start of the war.

U.S. and Israeli intelligence obtained from inside the Iranian government has made it possible to locate and eliminate much of the Iranian senior leadership during the war, one of the officials said.

At this point, most Iranian leaders don’t see daylight, spending weeks inside highly fortified bunkers and avoiding speaking to each other unless absolutely necessary, the sources said.

“Watching them try to figure out how to talk to each other is almost like watching a sitcom. They are completely exasperated,” one official said.

The most cautious measures are being taken by the supreme leader.

By design, even officials at the highest levels of the Iranian government don’t know where he is and have no way to contact him directly.

Instead, messages are passed through a network of couriers created to obscure the supreme leader’s location.

“This is why you see people saying things like, ‘The supreme leader has agreed to the framework,’ or ‘We’re waiting to hear back on the final deal points.’ Every piece of information he receives is dated and there’s a lot of latency to his responses,” one official said.

The supreme leader has communicated in broad terms to his subordinates, giving them direction on what issues they can negotiate on and which issues shouldn’t be discussed.

China launches Shenzhou 23 spacecraft carrying 3 astronauts, including 1 set to remain in space for a year

May 24, 2026 / 1:11 PM EDT / CBS/AP

China successfully launched another spacecraft Sunday that is set to carry three astronauts to its space station. One crew member aboard the Shenzhou 23 is expected to remain in space for one year, which would be among the world’s longest single stays in space.

The spacecraft blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. Li Benqi, an official at the center, called the launch “a complete success” in videotaped remarks published by Chinese state media.

The much-anticipated launch comes as China prepares for its first crewed lunar landing by 2030.

The astronauts on the mission are Zhu Yangzhu, the commander, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, also identified by Chinese authorities as Li Jiaying using the Mandarin transliteration of her name.

Lai, who was born and raised in Hong Kong and has a doctoral degree in computer forensics, is the first astronaut from the city on a space mission. She’s also the country’s fourth female astronaut to travel to space, according to Chinese state media.

The Shenzhou-23 manned mission launches from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwestern China on Sunday, May 24, 2026. AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

The crew is set to conduct dozens of science and application projects, state media said. They are also expected to complete an in-orbit rotation with the crew of Shenzhou 21, who has been at the Tiangong space station for more than 200 days.

Launching in late October, the three-person crew of Shenzhou 21 included China’s youngest astronaut. Four mice were on board with them, marking the first live mammals on a space mission since Beijing launched its program.

One of the three astronauts on the Shenzhou 23 mission is scheduled to stay at the orbiting space station for a year The astronaut’s mission is to “explore human adaptability and performance limits” in long-duration spaceflight environments, state media reported.

As China steps up its space program, its astronauts have carried out multiple missions to the Tiangong space station, developed after China was effectively excluded from the International Space Station on U.S. concerns over national security.

The U.S. is seen as China’s top space rival, with NASA aiming to land astronauts on the lunar surface in 2028.

China’s space station Tiangong, which translates to “Heavenly Palace,” first hosted the country’s crew in 2021. Last year, an emergency mission in the Shenzhou program, which means “Divine Vessel,” returned a team of astronauts stranded on the space station due to a damaged spacecraft.

Before that, group of Chinese astronauts faced a nine-day delay as they attempted to return to Earth, after the window of their spacecraft was damaged. They did ultimately return on the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft, once its crew arrived at the space station. China’s space program determined that the damaged spacecraft, Shenzhou 20, did not meet the safety standards necessary to carry astronauts.

Shark kills spearfisher in front of friends in Australia: “Terrifying thing to see”

2026-05-24T14:26:00-0400 / CBS/AP

A man spearfishing with friends was killed by a shark on the Great Barrier Reef on Sunday, police said, in Australia’s second fatal shark attack in just over a week.

The 39-year-old man was with three friends diving from a boat at Kennedy Shoal off the Queensland state coast south of Cairns when he was attacked, Police Inspector Elaine Burns said.

“The man had been spearfishing when he was attacked and died from a critical head injury,” Burns told reporters.

Police said the man who pulled the victim from the water was “pretty close” to the incident and witnessed the attack, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. people were on board the boat

“I would assume they would be pretty traumatized, that’s quite a terrifying thing to see happen right in front of you,” Burns said.

The unidentified victim, a Cairns resident, was brought by boat around noon to the tourist town of Hull Heads where paramedics were waiting. He had “sustained injuries not compatible with life,” an ambulance service statement said.

Kennedy Shoal is a shallow coral reef popular with recreational fishers. Divers are also attracted to the Lady Bowen, a 19th century shipwreck.

Police said the species of shark involved in the attack was unknown at this stage, but fishers reported bull sharks had been seen in the area before the attack.

A shark fatally mauled spearfisher Steve Mattabonni on May 16 at a coral reef off Rottnest Island near the southwest coast of Western Australia state. Mattabonni was with friends when he was attacked, Western Australia Police Sergeant Michael Wear said.

“The friends have witnessed the horrific event,” Wear said.

The 38-year-old Perth resident was taken by boat to the holiday island where paramedics were unable to resuscitate him.

A 16-foot white shark was suspected.

Australia has averaged more than three fatal shark attacks a year in recent decades. The latest death is Australia’s third shark fatality for 2026.

Nico Antic, 12, died in a hospital days after he was attacked by a suspected bull shark off a Sydney beach on Jan. 18. The attack that killed the boy was one of four recorded in the span of two days, which prompted officials to close dozens of the city’s beaches.

In November, a shark killed a woman and seriously wounded a man at a national park beach on Australia’s east coast in a rare instance of the predator attacking two people.

There have been nearly 1,300 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which more than 260 resulted in death, according to a database of the predators’ encounters with humans.

Australian scientists believe increasingly crowded waters and rising ocean temperatures are swaying sharks’ migratory patterns, which may be contributing to a rise in attacks.

contributed to this report.

Video shows infant being rescued from car trapped in Texas floodwaters

May 24, 2026 12:12 PM EDT / CBS News

By Emily Mae Czachor News Editor
Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and issues involving social justice. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

Read Full Bio

Updated on: May 24, 2026 / 12:34 PM EDT / CBS News

Police video showed the dramatic rescue of an infant from a car trapped in floodwaters in southern Texas on Saturday, after the driver of the vehicle entered a creek crossing that had become inundated by heavy rain.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1032012616164389shared by the Beeville Police Department showed first responders safely retrieving the baby in its carrier, while other officers and firefighters helped rescue the remaining occupants of the vehicle. No one was hurt, the department said.

The car had driven into a flooded low-water crossing in Beeville, a city some 100 miles southeast of San Antonio, police said. Heavy rain had moved quickly into the area, and authorities had not yet set up barricades to prevent vehicles from trying to cross the creek. Police said the local fire chief had attempted to signal to the driver to stop, but the driver did not see him waiving.

Once the car entered the flooded crossing, the driver could no longer control its movements and rushing water started to push it away.

In the video, first responders entered the flooded area and pulled the infant out through the passenger’s side door. Panicked, the driver handed the infant to the responder in a baby carrier, and a second responder quickly covered it with his coat to shield the child from falling rain. It was unclear whether there were other passengers inside the car.

Low-water crossings are built just above the surface of the bodies of water they traverse, making them quite dangerous and prone to severe flooding during storms. The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi, Texas has issued a flood warning for the Aransas River in Bee County.

Beeville police said conditions around low-water crossings can change rapidly, and one “may look passable one minute” but “quickly become dangerous the next.”

“Situations like this are a reminder that flood water is nothing to gamble with,” the police department said. “It does not take much moving water to push a vehicle off the roadway, and by the time you realize how dangerous it is, it can already be too late.”

Police urged people to drive slowly during periods of heavy rain and exercise extra caution near creek crossings, as well as other roadways “that are known to take on water.”

“No errand, shortcut, or destination is worth risking your life or your family’s safety,” the department said.

Transcript: Dr. Deborah Birx on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” May 24, 2026

2026-05-24T12:19:00-0400 / CBS News

The following is the transcript of the interview with Dr. Deborah Birx that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on May 24, 2026.

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NANCY CORDES: We turn now to the escalating Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Joining us to discuss is the former White House coronavirus response coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, who also previously helped coordinate the international response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak when she was Global AIDS Coordinator. Dr. Birx, thank you so much for being with us.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX: Good to be with you, Nancy.

NANCY CORDES : Dr., The White House, the WHO rather, says there are now almost 750 suspected cases in the Congo, around the Congo, and nearly 200 deaths. How does the severity of this situation compare to previous outbreaks?

DR. DEBORAH BIRX: Well, the problem with this particular outbreak is there was probably two, three, or four cycles of infection before it was even reported, and so a lot of the numbers you’re seeing, and the rapid rise of the numbers, is because it went undetected and underreported for probably three or four weeks. That resulted in a lot of case reporting all at once, and so I can’t really tell you what the slope of new cases are, which is really the important thing when you’re following an acute infectious disease, but just to make it very clear to your audience, the people we are seeing today that are cases were probably infected two weeks ago. And so I think that’s what makes us all concerned, is we’re looking at this at this virus and this outbreak with really old data.

NANCY CORDES : I want to get to that delay in reporting the outbreak in a moment, but first we saw this week that a plane from Paris to Detroit had to be diverted to Montreal after a person from the Congo was mistakenly allowed to board. What do Americans need to know about the transition of this disease and the risk here at home? I think people are worried.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX: Well when you see this level of outbreak, ever since COVID, I can understand why people are worried. But remember DRC has had 17 or 18 of these outbreaks in the last 20, 30 years, so this is actually fairly commonplace, although this is a large one. I think we learned from COVID how to be much more proactive about preventing the virus getting to the country ever since we had those cases almost a decade ago. What we did is we really strengthened hospitals. Now we have bio container facilities in multiple hospitals, so we’re prepared if it ever happens or someone enters the country. But it’s important that we are proactive, like they have been. And when you have a travel ban, you have to really enforce it. And what’s what they did when they diverted the plane.

NANCY CORDES: Is this travel ban the right answer? People from the Congo—

DR. DEBORAH BIRX: The travel ban— (CROSSTALK)

NANCY CORDES: A couple other countries not being able to come into the US, even green card holders, if they’ve been in that area over the past 21 days or so?

DR. DEBORAH BIRX: You know, I, it’s part of a comprehensive response, which it is, and I don’t think it’s getting that much coverage, but within four days the US sent a DART team. A lot of the USAID people who are no longer in the USAID building are now in the State Department and have been part of Ebola responses, the 2014 and 2018 response. They’re already on the ground. There’s a CDC group that was in Kinshasa, is permanently in Kinshasa, they’re responding, and so when it’s part of a comprehensive funding response, yes, not as an only one solution.

NANCY CORDES: As you know, in the past year and a half, the Trump administration has largely dismantled USAID, it has withdrawn from the World Health Organization, it cut funding to the Congo and Uganda. Do you think that those moves contributed to the delay in reporting this outbreak, and are they contributing to the lack of supplies in dealing with the outbreak in the Congo?

DR. DEBORAH BIRX: Well, when I look what the administration has done recently, I think they put 50 or 100 million dollars out there immediately, and sent people that’s part of the response. I think the bigger question to me is a lot of us in the global community invested extensively in creating the African CDC for this very reason, for this very response. Hundreds of millions of dollars went into building laboratory capacity in the DRC at the African CDC, and for some reason that failed us. And so what we need to do is figure out why didn’t we detect this earlier, why didn’t the institutions that we all stood up as a global community effectively control this outbreak early, so that it didn’t spread as far and wide as it has within the DRC. I understand it’s a conflict area, but we have to do better. We owe it to the people in the DRC.

NANCY CORDES: I hear what you’re saying about the fact that the money is now flowing from the US to the region, but we talked to aid workers in the region as well, who said that a lot of local programs were terminated after US aid was dismantled—programs aimed at Ebola preparedness and response, and so they just don’t have the same capacity as they did before.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX: I think it’s a great question, and we need to really look at that. I know CDC’s global health security program was retained, and a lot of that funding retained. I know we had people in Kinshasa as part of the CDC. If you look at the Uganda funding—now I’m looking at it from the HIV side, which really built a lot of the laboratory capacity—this year they’re getting over $400 million so maybe there was a 5% cut, but I think the American people were thinking that these programs had been slashed. If you look at the MOUs of the agreements that the US government have been made, I’ve actually been reassured by the numbers that are there on paper.

NANCY CORDES: The US right now does not have a confirmed head of the CDC, it does not have a confirmed head of the FDA, doesn’t have a confirmed Surgeon General. Is the US prepared to deal with an outbreak of Ebola or any other infectious infectious disease, if it comes to our shores.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX: I think it’s a great question, and watching how this plays out will be very important. And I’m watching that. They’ve already created an interagency Ebola response task force, and just to reassure the American public, I was in the federal government for 40 plus years and in the military for 29, there’s a deep bench. And so, yes, it’s important to have the leads of all of these agencies. I think people have been nominated to at least the CDC, so I think that’s very important. But we do have a deep bench in many of these agencies, and I really, I know them, they’re great people. I think this interagency response is already putting assets, people, and money on the ground, and I think what we do need, I just keep coming back to African CDC, because that was supposed to be our early mobilizer of protective gear, of testing, of community work, and we just need to figure out how to strengthen that even further.

NANCY CORDES: Got it. Dr. Deborah Birx, thanks so much for being with us. Thanks for the context, we appreciate it. And we’ll be back in a moment.

Transcript: Kevin Hassett on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” May 24, 2026

2026-05-24T12:31:00-0400 / CBS News

The following is the transcript of the interview with Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on May 24, 2026.

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NANCY CORDES: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We turn now to the Director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, who joins us from the White House North Lawn. Kevin, thank you so much for being with me.

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Great to be here. Thank you.

NANCY CORDES: I want to start by getting your take on the state of the economy, because a kind of confusing picture emerged this week. The Dow Jones hit an all-time high, and yet consumer sentiment hit an all-time low. Mortgage rates hit a nine month peak, inflation is up, earnings at big box stores like Walmart are up, in part because people from across the income spectrum are being drawn to low prices right now. Are there storm clouds gathering in the economy?

: No, I don’t think there are storm clouds gathering at all. And, in fact, let’s start with the consumer sentiment number, because that was a number that was very striking to me and to you. I know when it came in very, very low, and what we did is we went to their website and we looked that they actually break it out by political affiliation, so they have it for Democrats, independents, and Republicans. And if you look at it, consumer sentiment at the sort of peak of the Biden inflation, the stagflation was way above 100 and it’s dropped all the way down into the low 30s now, about the lowest it’s ever been for Democrats, but for Republicans it’s held about steady, and if you look at it, independents and Democrats are really highly correlated, which suggests to us that their sample is Democrats, and so if you go to consumer confidence, which is something that’s actually, I think, a more scientific survey, the consumer confidence is consistent with all the other positive numbers we’re seeing right now.

NANCY CORDES: But you don’t dispute that the war has taken a toll on parts of the economy

: Right now, consumer confidence is the highest it’s been since the beginning of the year, and so you don’t see a toll of the war on consumer confidence, which is the Conference Board survey, but again, GDP now, the Atlanta Fed’s estimate of second quarter GDP is north of 4%. We’ve got initial claims for unemployment insurance as low as they’ve been since the 60s, and so there’s so much going on that is really, I think, surprising people that think that the disruption from the Middle East is going to harm the economy. It’s just not there in the data, except for the consumer sentiment data, but I actually think that we should stop calling it consumer sentiment and start calling it political sentiment, because the variables really are- it’s really a political variable and not an economic variable.

NANCY CORDES: The data on gas prices is pretty undeniable. Memorial Day weekend gas prices are at a four year high. AAA says they’ll remain elevated throughout the summer, at least. Last month, you said that high gas prices would be a temporary phenomenon. Did the White House paint too rosy a picture of the impact that this war would have by emphasizing that this was going to be a four to six week excursion.

: Well, I think the four to six week was an accurate description of like when the sort of active kinetic events were going to happen. Right now, I’ll let the president decide on whether he thinks the deal is ready to go this week or not. But the bottom line is, once the straits are open, then the tankers are going to go back and they’re going to refill the refineries almost right away. A tanker goes about 300 nautical miles a day, and so the places like India and Pakistan, which are close to the straits, are going to get their oil and then turn it into refined product right away. Singapore, which is one of the places where jet fuel prices are the highest, is going to get its stuff just about right away, but if you’re down in New Zealand, it’ll take a little bit longer, but really, like between a month and two months, we expect everybody to have all the oil they need at every refinery on earth.

NANCY CORDES: Well, we know that things will get better once the strait reopens. The question is, when will it reopen.

: Right. Well, that’s something for the President and Marco Rubio and the Iranians to work out.

NANCY CORDES: I realize that as Director of the White House Economic Council, this $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund is not part of your portfolio, but the backlash to that fund did derail a bill this week that included funding for ICE and the CBP, and government funding is part of your portfolio, so what is the administration doing, if anything, to try to cool members of the president’s own party down on this issue? They seemed really angry and really blindsided.

: Well, I don’t know if across the board they were, but there’s certainly some people who felt that way. And our head of leg affairs, James Braid, is a real professional. He’s been talking to everybody, he’s been arranging for phone calls with those of us at the White House that want to talk to people and hear people’s concerns, but the bottom line is that you know we expect the progress that the President wants to see in Congress to happen. Congress has delivered over and over under the leadership of Mike Johnson, and so I understand that, you know, there’s something that was a little bit different this week than maybe you expected, but I don’t expect that to go on. And one thing we’ve seen from primaries is that people that buck the president generally regret it politically.

NANCY CORDES: The Wall Street Journal editorial board really took a swipe at the president over that fund, over the ballroom on Saturday. They said, quote, Republicans don’t want to say this publicly, but privately they do. President Trump’s personal political obsessions are hurting his presidency, hurting the chances for further foreign policy gains, and putting control of the House and Senate in jeopardy. Does the President realize that he is putting Republicans in a tough spot by forcing them to take votes on things that are unpopular, like the fund, like the ballroom, like the war in a midterm election year.

: Look, I respect the Wall Street Journal very much. I saw Paul Gigot at the Kevin Ward signing in just on Friday, but the bottom line is the president believes that the ballroom is something that should have been there for a long time, and he’s using his own money and the money of donors to make it so that the taxpayers don’t have to pay for that ballroom, and as far as weaponization, I don’t think that you or I would disagree–

NANCY CORDES: Well, they would have to pay a billion dollars, correct?

: No, it’s not for the ballroom, that’s for securing the entire White House. And, my goodness, to argue about that after we were all here yesterday, I actually wasn’t here, I was at my home, a couple blocks away when the shooting happened. Of course, we’ve got to make the White House more secure, but on the $1.8 billion fund for weaponization, I don’t think you would disagree, right? The previous administration and the Obama administration weaponized government against President Trump, and what he wants to do is make sure that never happens again and compensate the people who were the targets of the destruction of their lives, what they would do is they would call people in to Jack Smith’s office, and then bury them in subpoena requests and bankrupt them, and that’s something that should never happen again, never. And I think that I- I doubt that there’s anyone that disagrees with that.

NANCY CORDES: Kevin Hassett, the Director of the National Economic Council, appreciate your time this morning.

: Thank you. Same here.

NANCY CORDES: And we’ll be right back.

Dem socialist running for Wisconsin governor pushed ‘abolishing the police’

May 24, 2026 12:00pm EDT / Fox News

State assembly member Francesca Hong said she wanted to ‘defund then abolish’ police in a 2021 post

By Alex Miller, Fox News

A Democratic socialist running for governor in Wisconsin once called to “defund, then abolish,” the police.

Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong, in a flurry of posts on social media, called for the end of policing in the wake of the slaying of George Floyd and the shooting of Jacob Blake, before and during her time as an elected official.

In one post made in August 2020, first reported by CNN, Hong said, “I support defunding the police as a first step towards abolishing the police.”

DEM HOUSE HOPEFUL EXPOSED AS FAR-LEFT ACTIVIST PUSHING TO ABOLISH POLICE WEEKS BEFORE SPECIAL ELECTION

Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong.(Matthew Ludak for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“Jacob Blake is fighting for his life, but he shouldn’t have to be,” she said on X, then Twitter. “We must also fight for his life and get justice for all those harmed by state-sanctioned violence.”

Blake was shot seven times in Kenosha, Wis., after police responded to a domestic disturbance call. The incident left him partially paralyzed and sparked a wave of violent protests in 2020.

He had a pocket knife on him that fell from his pocket in the altercation, which he picked up before being shot.

Hong again weighed in on the issue, this time as an elected official in October 2021 in response to federal prosecutors’ decision to not file charges against Officer Rusten Sheskey, who shot Blake over a year prior.

BLM ACTIVIST LEADING RESISTANCE TO TRUMP’S DC CRIME PLAN REPEATEDLY CALLED FOR ABOLISHING POLICE

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6313071942112

“How is 7 bullets in the back not excessive force,” Hong said online. “Police exist to uphold white supremacy. Defund then abolish. Reform can’t be an option. My heart breaks for the trauma the Blake family and their community continues to endure.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Hong appeared to backtrack from the posts, but didn’t say whether as governor she would move to defund and abolish the police.

“There is no way I want to cut resources for public safety,” Hong said. “I don’t like crime. I don’t like unsafe streets. I also don’t like when a member of law enforcement abuses their power.”

MANDELA BARNES JUMPS INTO WISCONSIN GOVERNOR RACE — BUT BAGGAGE FROM HIS 2022 SENATE BID FOLLOWS

Wisconsin Rep. Tom Tiffany holds a cheesehead as he speaks during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2025 on Dec. 20, 2025, in Phoenix.(Ross D. Franklin/AP)

“Everyone deserves the resources they need to be safe, including housing, good-paying jobs, mental health supports and community resources,” she continued. “As governor, I will look at every part of the state and work with local leaders to shape solutions that address our immediate needs.”

Hong, who is endorsed by Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is one of several candidates in a crowded primary for the Democratic nomination in Wisconsin. Primary Election Day is still a ways away on Aug. 11, and Hong is locked in a tight battle with former Lieutenant Governor and 2022 Democratic nominee for Senate Mandela Barnes.

The winner of their primary will likely square off against Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., a member of the House Freedom Caucus and frontrunner in his bid for the Republican nomination. Tiffany, in a statement to Fox News Digital, took a shot at both candidates.

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“This is what today’s Democrat Party has become,” Tiffany said. “Whether it’s Francesca Hong doubling down on abolishing the police or Mandela Barnes calling to empty prisons while pushing to end cash bail, they are both far-left radicals who care more about protecting criminals than the innocent people harmed by their crimes.”

Tiffany’s campaign directed Fox News Digital to older posts from Barnes, too, where he pushed to “cut the prison population in half,” and legislation he introduced a decade ago to end cashless bail.

Fox News Digital reached out to Barnes’ campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

Transcript: Sen. Chris Van Hollen on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” May 24, 2026

2026-05-24T14:08:49-0400 / CBS News

The following is the transcript of the interview with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on May 24, 2026.

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NANCY CORDES: We turn now to Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen. Senator, thank you so much for being with me.

SENATOR CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: It’s good to be with you, Nancy.

NANCY CORDES: So, I want to stress that all of this is still evolving. We’re getting slightly different takes on the terms of the deal from the Americans and the Iranians, but what do you think about what you’ve heard so far?

SEN. VAN HOLLEN: Well, Nancy, this war against Iran has been a big blunder from the very start. The president should have stuck to his campaign pledge of keeping us out of war and focused on bringing down prices. He’s done just the opposite. Prices are going up, interest rates are going up, and we’re mired in this war in Iran. And when you’re digging a hole, you should stop digging. That’s what this agreement sounds like. It sounds like we will go back to opening the Strait of Hormuz, which, of course, was open before the war started. I will say, however, it looks like Iran will retain more control over those straits. We also know Iran has an even more hardline regime in place now, and we’re talking about releasing some of Iran’s frozen assets. So, look, my view is, as I said, stop digging.

NANCY CORDES: I want to ask you about something that stirred up a lot of controversy on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill this week, the DOJ new anti-weaponization fund. Nearly $1.8 billion set aside for people who say they were treated unfairly by the federal government. You’ve been calling it a political slush fund. You are trying to force Republicans to take a vote on placing some guardrails around that fund. What kind of guardrails are you talking about?

SEN. VAN HOLLEN: Well, Nancy, first we should get rid of this political slush fund, $1.8 billion of taxpayer money. But I have been proposing amendments to prohibit, for example, people who rioted on January 6 and assaulted police officers from being eligible for the fund. People who have been convicted of child molestation, they should not be eligible for the fund. Members of Congress should not be eligible for the fund. And I would hope all Republicans, including Republican candidates, should come out strongly against this slush fund, which the President has set up for these purposes.

NANCY CORDES: You pushed the acting Attorney General this week on that question of whether people who attacked police officers would be eligible for the fund. I asked the President about that this week as well. He did not say that those people would be ineligible. Senate Republicans were very angry about this, and they really gave it to the attorney- acting Attorney General, behind closed doors this week. Do you think that there is an appetite for trying to get rid of this fund in Congress? And how would that even work?

SEN. VAN HOLLEN: Well, I hope so, Nancy. I think most Republicans are more upset about the fact that this interrupted their effort to pass this reconciliation bill with another $70 billion of taxpayer funds for ICE. I think that’s what upset them the most, and they decided to leave town because they didn’t want to have to vote on these amendments that I’ve proposed, and others have proposed, so we’ll see how this all turns out. We should get rid of this political slush fund altogether, and we will insist on having these votes when we get back.

NANCY CORDES: I’ve been told by a senior administration official that there are now some urgent efforts underway to address the concerns that Republicans have raised about this fund, but they continue to insist they’ve got the right to do this, and that in fact they already have the ability to make these payouts, and if anything, they’re making the process more transparent by coming up with rules, by appointing commissioners, and all the rest. What do you think of that argument?

SEN. VAN HOLLEN: Well, that’s absurd, and this was really corrupt from the start. I mean, this is essentially President Trump negotiating with President Trump through the acting Attorney General, who was Trump’s former personal lawyer. They set it up so they have complete control over the five members of this commission that can be selected, President Trump can fire any of them whenever he wants, and so this is completely under their control, a slush fund, and they’ve not committed, Nancy, to being completely transparent. The acting Attorney General refused to say that they would disclose the names of all the people who received these taxpayer funds. So let’s be clear, this is a corrupt deal, and in the process the president, of course, got a complete get out of free- get out of jail free card with respect to any taxes that he has due in owing, another corrupt part of this deal.

NANCY CORDES: I want to ask you about a case that you’ve been heavily involved in, and there was a big development this week. A judge threw out the federal human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia of your home state, Maryland. You visited him in El Salvador after he was wrongfully deported to that country, placed in the supermax prison CECOT. The judge said that DOJ’s prosecution of him was vindictive, and DOJ now says it plans to appeal. Have you spoken to him or his family? How are they feeling about this decision?

SEN. VAN HOLLEN: Nancy, I have spoken to him and his wife, Jennifer, and they’re of course pleased that the court system have applied the law. This was absolutely a vindictive prosecution. The judge called it essentially an abuse of power, because the Trump administration brought these new charges against him, because he decided to exercise his due process and process and constitutional rights. They had admitted that they had wrongfully disappeared him to El Salvador, and he contested that, and of course he is now back. They’re still trying to deport him, but he filed his claims under the Constitution. And so this case is not about Kilmar Abrego Garcia alone. This is really about the rights of each and every one of us, and when the Trump administration decided to vindictive- vindictively prosecute him for that, they were further threatening the rights of all of us.

NANCY CORDES: We’ve got about a minute left, but I want to ask you about this election autopsy that was finally released by the Democratic National Committee this week. Do you feel like you got any answers from that autopsy on why the Democrats lost in 2024? And do you believe that the head of the DNC should resign over this?

SEN. VAN HOLLEN: Well, Nancy, this is a very shoddy piece of work. It’s an incomplete piece of work, and I can understand why Ken Martin was reluctant to release it earlier, but as he has said, he owns this problem. He should have just ripped the band aid off earlier and put it out. No, we’re six months from a very important election, and we should not be changing horses at this time. I will say that the overall thrust of the report indicates that you know we should not just go back to the pre-Trump status quo, and I’ve said from the beginning it was a failure, obviously, for the Democratic Party to lose to someone like Donald Trump a second time. We need to be clear to the American people that we understand their- their financial and economic pain, and their daily struggles, and that we’re going to do something about it. We’re going to fight for them, and we’re going to fight against the special interests, very powerful special interests who try to stack the deck against them.

NANCY CORDES: Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. I appreciate it.

‘Wasteful distraction’: Experts slam Mamdani’s taxpayer-funded grocery stores

May 24, 2026 1:27pm EDT / Fox News

The first location is expected to open in 2027 in the Bronx, with a $30M East Harlem market slated for next year

By Amanda Macias, Fox News

Experts warn NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to open several city-backed grocery stores could hurt bodegas, drain taxpayer dollars and undercut private businesses.

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As New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani moves forward with plans for city-owned grocery stores, economists and local business owners warn the proposal could crush small grocers while leaving taxpayers with a hefty bill.

The initiative, a key Mamdani campaign pledge, would establish city-backed supermarkets across the city in an effort to lower food costs.

Adam Lehodey of the Manhattan Institute believes the city could address food affordability more efficiently through private-sector partnerships and existing assistance programs rather than operating grocery stores itself.

“I think really it’s a distraction and a pretty wasteful distraction,” Lehodey told Fox News Digital. “There’s an easier and better way to solve the problem.”

NYC VOTERS FLOCK TO SOCIALIST-STYLE FREEBIES AS MAMDANI PUSHES RENT FREEZES, CITY-RUN STORES

The first location is expected to open in 2027 in the Bronx neighborhood of Hunts Point as part of The Peninsula redevelopment project at the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Facility, according to the mayor’s office.

The larger redevelopment plan includes 740 affordable housing units, more than 50,000 square feet of public open space, 30,000 square feet of light industrial space and more than 50,000 square feet of community facilities. It would also include a 20,000-square-foot grocery market intended to serve the South Bronx.

[MAMDANI’S PUBLIC GROCERY STORES MAY HAVE DEVASTATING EFFECTS ON CITY’S FOOD SUPPLY]

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Lehodey also warned the city-backed stores could put small neighborhood grocers at a disadvantage because the projects would receive public support that private businesses do not.

“Yeah, the prices might be a little bit cheaper, but that comes at the cost of other businesses running sustainable operations,” he said.

He argued the city is also sacrificing valuable public land and potential revenue by subsidizing the projects.

[MAMDANI’S WALL STREET COURTSHIP SPARKS CRITICISM OF ANTI-BILLIONAIRE AGENDA]

“That land does have value,” Lehodey said. “By giving it out for free, the taxpayer again is losing money, and we’re losing revenue that could have been spent on other things.”

A second city-backed grocery market is slated to open next year at La Marqueta, a public market space in East Harlem. The city plans to spend roughly $30 million to build the location.

Critics question whether another grocery option is needed in the neighborhood. Roughly 45 grocery stores are located within a 35-minute walk of the proposed site, according to a Fox News Digital analysis.

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Those stores range from major chains, including Whole Foods and Lidl, to smaller neighborhood markets and bodegas. The area is also well served by public transit, with multiple subway and bus lines giving residents several ways to reach nearby grocery options.

Some local grocers say the city-backed market could siphon away customers and hurt already thin profit margins.

‘I hope we don’t lose customers’

People shop at a local supermarket in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City on April 9, 2026.(Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images)

Despite the abundance of nearby grocery options, some local store owners fear the city-backed market could undercut existing businesses by offering lower prices backed by public support.

“Of course it will affect this store,” said Sarah Kang, manager at a CTown Supermarkets location about a 35-minute walk south, or one subway stop, from La Marqueta.

“A lot of people walk 20 to 30 minutes to get here,” she explained to Fox News Digital. “If they find a cheaper supermarket, I don’t think they’ll be willing to make that trip. It’s going to affect small grocery stores. Definitely.”

“I hope we don’t lose customers,” Kang added.

About a 30-minute walk north of La Marqueta, Joel Martinez, a manager of a supermarket at 128th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, said the impact may depend on proximity to the proposed site.

[FROM FREE BUSES TO CITY-OWNED GROCERY STORES, HERE ARE MAMDANI’S KEY ECONOMIC PROMISES]

La Marqueta, a Latino marketplace in East Harlem, is chosen as the site of a city-owned grocery store announced by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, on April 14, 2026.(Kendall Rodriguez/Newsday RM/Getty Images)

“I hope it doesn’t impact us,” Martinez said in a call with Fox News Digital. “The store will be a little far from us, so that’s good. But it will affect smaller businesses that are closer.”

Bodegas and small grocery stores are a staple of New York City neighborhoods, often serving as primary food sources for nearby residents.

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Similar proposals for local government-owned and operated grocery stores and markets have surfaced in other cities, including Boston.

Atlanta officials appear to have pioneered the effort, opening a city-backed grocery store aimed at improving food access in underserved communities.

Amanda covers the intersection of business and politics for Fox News Digital.

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