YouTube taking steps to make clear when realistic videos are made by AI

May 27, 2026 / 5:20 PM EDT / CBS News

By Megan Cerullo

Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.

YouTube is updating its policies to more clearly identify when a realistic-seeming video was made using artificial intelligence.

The change comes as social media platforms are flooded with AI-generated videos, images and music.

In response, Alphabet-owned YouTube said Wednesday it will more prominently feature an existing label on videos that discloses if they have been altered or generated with AI. For long-form videos, the label will appear directly below the player, right above a video’s description. For shorter content, the disclosure will appear as an overlay on the video.

“If it looks real but was made with AI, viewers will know immediately,” Rene Ritchie, a YouTube creator, said in a video describing the changes.

YouTube already requires creators to disclose their use of AI for realistic content. The platform is also adding tools to automatically identify and label AI material.

YouTube said it’s making the changes “to balance transparency with creator control” and that a disclosure label alone will not affect how a video is recommended or whether it can be monetized.

Other major online content players are also moving to respond to the proliferation of AI “slop.” In April, audio streaming service Spotify added a certification badge, called “Verified by Spotify,” that indicates whether a song was created by AI or a person.

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The badge is designed to give audiences “more insight and transparency into the music and artists” they listen to, the company said in a statement.

Edited by Alain Sherter

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Dems slammed for demanding ‘five-star accommodations’ for illegal immigrants at ICE facility

May 27, 2026 5:41pm EDT / Fox News

Republican state Rep. Paul Kanitra called Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s visit to Delaney Hall a ‘performative stunt’ to distract from Democratic policies

By Charles Creitz, Peter Pinedo Fox News

Assemb. Paul Kanitra, R-Toms River, spoke exclusively to Fox News Digital during a visit to Delaney Hall in Newark where he said Democrats created the crisis that has led to protests.

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NEWARK – EXCLUSIVE:Speaking with Fox News Digital at the site of a multi-day confrontation between anti-ICE protesters and federal law enforcement, Republican state lawmaker Paul Kanitra ripped into Democrats for demanding what he described as “five-star accommodations” for illegal immigrants.

Just days after many top New Jersey Democrats, including Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Sen. Andy Kim, joined protesters outside of ICE’s Delaney Hall, Kanitra called Democrats’ handling of illegal immigration a “disgrace.”

“Democrats created this chaos with all their laws. Gov. Sherrill was in office for a couple of weeks before she passed three radical protective illegal immigration bills, taking the masks off of ICE agents, protecting their [illegal immigrants’] status here, giving them more benefits, and here she is out here knowing full well she wasn’t going to get in,” he said.

Democrats and protesters allege that detainees in the Newark ICE facility, known as Delaney Hall, have gone on a hunger strike in protest of inhumane conditions.

ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS CLASH WITH AGENTS OUTSIDE NEW JERSEY DETENTION CENTER AS GOV. SHERRILL DENIED ENTRY

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., outside the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark.(Sen. Andy Kim ; X)

On Monday, Sherrill posted on X that she had attempted to enter Delaney Hall after hearing “heartbreaking” reports of unsafe and unconstitutional conditions. She wrote that her request to access the facility was “denied this morning, raising even more questions about what they are trying to hide from public view.”

The Department of Homeland Security has shot down the claims of bad conditions and denied the hunger strike.

Kanitra asserted that Sherrill’s appearance “was a performative stunt to try to change the focus from their policies, which have created this chaos, to try to make some sort of sensational news story out of it.”

He taunted Democrats, saying, “The food service provider here at Delaney Hall is actually the same food service provider that services the $150,000 to $500,000 suites at Met Life Stadium.”

“It seems to be good enough for those guys, so I assume it’s good enough for our illegal invaders behind us,” he said, pointing back to the facility.

The lawmaker said he actually agrees that “every public official should be allowed to see what’s going on inside [the ICE facility] for themselves,” which he said, “will debunk these crazed claims that they have.”

“We already heard from Secretary Mullin himself and DHS saying that these were baseless allegations,” he continued. “I don’t know if they’re expecting the Ritz Carlton behind us, but these people are either here illegally or they were here as part of a privilege, with a visa or other procedure, and then they broke the law and are getting that revoked.”

“They shouldn’t be expecting five-star accommodations here in New Jersey,” he concluded.

MARKWAYNE MULLIN GOES OFF ON DEMS’ ‘GARBAGE’ MEMORIAL DAY ‘POLITICAL STUNT’ AT ICE FACILITY

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6396774211112

Meanwhile, a protester named Diana Tabor told Fox News Digital that she believes the conditions inside the ICE facility are “very unfair.” Tabor, who is Black, also noted that the protesters have been questioning the ethics of ICE agents who “look like us,” saying, “it feels like betrayal.”

She said that protesters, who have been camping outside the facility for several days, are with various advocacy groups and nonprofit organizations and are prepared to keep it up for weeks or months “until justice is served.”

Tabor said she was present on her own “on the behalf of constituents in Union County who have suffered due to the misfair treatment of Delaney Hall.”

“We’ve come here from different backgrounds, different organizations, we came here with different objectives, but ultimately, we formed a big family, and we have one goal, and we’ve all come together to make that goal,” said Tabor.

She agreed, “There is credibility in protecting the American people,” but emphasized, “I do believe that there are different ways to go about it, not kidnapping people, not putting them in overcrowded detention centers, I would say that we need to find a better way to mitigate that.”

ANTI-ICE PROTEST LEADER DEMANDS RELEASE OF INMATES, SHERRILL APPEARANCE

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6396770801112

“I do think that there are obviously people that come here and do commit crimes, and there are murders and there are rapes and there are robberies and there are people being harmed with the loose borders, and that should be taken care of accordingly, but I think that if we start using our resources adequately and we start using it to actually go against criminals who are hurting people within these borders that we’d get a lot more done,” she said.

“So, I would say that we need to start focusing more on actual crime, and not just profiling people based on what they look like,” Tabor added. “I think that there is a happy medium between protecting human rights and also protecting the country.”

ICE agents detain a protestor outside the Delaney Hall detention center after demonstrators protested the transfer of detainees in Newark, N.J., on May 26, 2026.(Andres Kudacki/AP)

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DHS responded to the protests by publishing a statement stating that certified dietitians evaluate meals and that all detainees are provided with three meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap, and toiletries.

The agency added that detainees “also have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers” and that “ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Sherrill and Booker for comment.

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.

Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

Uganda closes its border with Congo over Ebola outbreak

May 27, 2026 / 7:23 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Uganda on Wednesday ordered the closure of its border with Congo, where suspected cases of a rare type of Ebola are surging, and as cases have been confirmed at home after Ugandan health workers were exposed to the disease from Congolese patients.

The measure, which goes against the guidance by the World Health Organization, underscores growing fears of contagion in East Africa from Bundibugyo, a rare type of the Ebola virus that is behind this outbreak and that has no approved medicines or vaccines.

According to numbers compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO, there were 121 confirmed Ebola cases in Congo and 17 confirmed deaths, with at least 1,077 additional suspected cases of the virus and 246 suspected deaths from the disease.

In Uganda, there were seven confirmed cases, including one death from the virus, the CDC and WHO said.

Like Congo, Uganda has faced Ebola outbreaks in the past. A local Ugandan task force made the decision on the border closure. The Ugandan health workers were exposed to the virus by Congolese patients who had crossed the border before the outbreak was declared in eastern Congo on May 15.

Sophia Mulei, a laboratory technologist, wearing protective equipment as she prepares to enter the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Laboratory at Uganda Virus Research Institute on May 26, 2026, in Entebbe, Uganda. Hajarah Nalwadda / Getty Images

Border crossings will be authorized only in emergency cases, including for the outbreak response, cargo or security reasons, Dr. Diana Atwine of the Ugandan Ministry of Health, told journalists. Anyone entering from Congo under emergency circumstances will be taken into mandatory isolation for 21 days.

Tracing and isolating Ebola contacts is seen as key to stopping the spread of the disease, which usually manifests as hemorrhagic fever. The virus is spread through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids. Experts say healthcare workers and family members caring for patients face the highest risk.

On Wednesday, Congolese authorities said that the first person who recovered from the Bundibugyo virus has been released home from a treatment center in Rwampara, one of the towns in eastern Congo at the heart of the outbreak.

WHO has discouraged border closures with Congo while acknowledging that neighboring countries are at high risk of contagion. The U.N. health agency has declared this outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

Closures “push the movement of people and goods to informal border crossings that are not monitored, thus increasing the chances of the spread of disease,” the agency said.

The Uganda-Congo border is several hundred miles long and crossed by numerous footpaths beyond formal border posts. Many people come and go in the course of a day to visit families or to trade.

Congolese health authorities are struggling to contain the outbreak, which WHO says is outpacing them. The rare type of Ebola was confirmed weeks late as tests were carried out for a more common type. Challenges also include the threat from armed groups in eastern Congo, a large number of displaced people and poor infrastructure.

WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Wednesday for a ceasefire in eastern Congo to allow safe access for responders and others, saying on social media that “attacks on health facilities make tracking cases and their contacts nearly impossible.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. is working to set up a facility in Kenya for Americans who were exposed to Ebola or infected with the deadly illness, multiple CDC officials confirmed to CBS News on Wednesday.

A U.S. doctor who contracted Ebola while working with a missionary group in Congo was previously airlifted to Germany for treatment earlier this month. Six other Americans have been transported to Germany and the Czech Republic for monitoring.

All American citizens who have recently been in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan must enter the U.S. through one of only three U.S. airports — Houston Bush International, Washington Dulles International or Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International — to undergo mandatory enhanced screenings. John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York will be added to the list of approved airports Thursday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced.

Houston’s airport said it expects to average up to 50 screened passengers per day.

U.S. green card holders and foreign nationals who have recently been in one or more of those three countries are currently barred from entering the U.S., according to CDC guidelines.

“We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Wednesday during President Trump’s Cabinet meeting at the White House.

Seattle socialist mayor mocked for ‘irony’ as residents build walls to stop out of control shootings

2026-05-27T18:04:55-04:00 / Fox News

One shooting sent bullets into a wall near a window where a six-week-old baby was sleeping

By Peter Pinedo, William La Jeunesse Fox News

Published May 27, 2026 6:04pm EDT | Updated May 27, 2026 6:06pm EDT

Seattle residents build barricades to combat rising crime wave

Fox News senior national correspondent William La Jeunesse reports on Seattle residents taking safety into their own hands, building homemade barricades from metal and dirt to block streets. This action comes amidst a surge in shootings, prostitution, and gang-related activities, with residents criticizing Democrat Mayor Katie Wilson and defunded police for a lack of effective response to the escalating crime wave in their community.

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Seattle democratic socialist Mayor Katie Wilson is being mocked online over the “irony” of residents in the blue-run city erecting barrier walls in a desperate attempt to stop out-of-control shootings.

Just months after Wilson took office in Seattle, terrified residents in the city’s Aurora Avenue corridor decided to take matters into their own hands to address near-nightly shootings believed to be connected to criminal turf wars, prostitution and illegal trafficking. After weeks of gang-related shootings and high-speed car chases, some residents spent Memorial Day weekend blocking off their own streets using metal planters, dirt, gravel, logs and chunks of concrete. The barricades were set up to block at least three streets leading into the neighborhood.

Though such artifices could incur fines, one resident named Peter Orr told KTVB 7, “It’s either this, or bullets in my neighbor’s houses.”

News of the neighborhood barricades in Seattle has garnered scorn for Wilson’s policies online.

TERRIFIED RESIDENTS IN CRIME-PLAGUED BLUE CITY THROW UP GIANT BARRICADES TO STOP CHAOS

Seattle socialist mayor, Katie Wilson, is taking criticism following residents of one neighborhood erecting makeshift walls in an effort to staunch rampant shootings.(David Ryder/Reuters; Fox 13 Seattle)

Among these was conservative commentator Paul Szypula, who wrote on X, “The Irony is Undeniable.”

“When progressive policies result in neighborhoods literally barricading themselves off… that says everything,” he wrote, adding, “What should Seattle leaders be doing so residents don’t feel forced to do this?”

Popular conservative account Libs of TikTok mocked, “Seattle residents are now building WALLS on their blocks to keep out criminals.”

Commentator Eric Daugherty posted, “Furious blue city residents in Seattle are now building their OWN BARRICADES to BLOCK streets because shootings are so high Omg. This is MADNESS.”

Residents near Seattle’s Aurora Avenue erected makeshift barricades after repeated shootings and rising gun violence in the neighborhood.(Fox 13 Seattle)

“The socialist mayor is IGNORING IT,” he added. “BLUE CITIES ARE COOKED!”

Constitutional analyst Jonathan Turley wrote, “Nothing says socialism more than citizen barricades.”

DEM WHO WELCOMED SOCIALIST MAYOR’S ‘CHANGE’ NOW SOUNDING ALARM OVER BILLIONAIRE EXODUS: ‘GRAVELY CONCERNED’

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s staff abruptly ended an interview with a local news reporter last week after he pressed her on rising gun violence and surveillance cameras in the city after a recent shooting.(David Ryder/Reuters)

He mocked, “In this case, Les Miserables are seeking to protect their property. After electing a mayor who once called for the defunding of police, Seattle neighborhoods are reverting to self-help measures.”

Wilson, who was sworn into office this January, wrote in a 2020 opinion piece about the defund the police effort that “there’s never been a better time to try.”

In the piece, Wilson posited “there’s a strong argument for simply disbanding police departments and starting over,” reasoning that “institutional culture change is hard.”

“Leaving aside debates on the left about whether police abolition is possible under capitalism, or at all, let’s stick with the current movement demand of cutting the SPD [Seattle Police Department] budget by half. That’s a lot of officers. It may sound alarming, until you realize that U.S. police perform numerous functions for which armed personnel, trained for violent conflict, are unnecessary or unsuited — and often, unsurprisingly, cause harm,” she wrote.

BISHOP BARRON SLAMS ‘BORDERLINE COMMUNISTS’ SANDERS, MAMDANI AHEAD OF TRUMP PRAYER EVENT: ‘ECONOMY THAT KILLS’

The Space Needle stands among downtown buildings in Seattle, Washington.(Al Drago/Getty Images)

As mayor, however, Wilson has not moved to cut the police by half. She has responded to recent shootings by launching a “multi-pronged gun violence strategy,” in which she convened a panel of experts to help the city reduce retaliatory shootings, address youth violence and coordinate efforts between police, schools and community groups.

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Wilson has paused expansion of the city’s CCTV surveillance and license plate reader programs pending a privacy audit, while maintaining existing police camera systems in high-crime areas, including the Aurora Avenue corridor.

Fox News Digital reached out to Wilson for comment.

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

Ex-judges mount bid to upend ‘unprecedentedly fraudulent’ Trump ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

2026-05-27T21:39:40.246Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/27/politics/ex-judges-trump-anti-weaponization-fund

• Thirty-five former federal judges from both parties are asking a Miami court to reopen a lawsuit involving President Trump and the IRS.
• The retired jurists argue the case was fraudulent and led to an improper settlement creating a controversial $1.776 billion fund.
• The settlement also shields Trump and his family from future government investigations into potential civil wrongdoing.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

Nearly three dozen former federal judges appointed by presidents from both parties have joined a growing legal effort to upend the Trump administration’s newly created $1.776 billion fund for people who say they were wrongly targeted by the government in the past.

The retired jurists are asking a judge in Miami to reverse her decision last week dismissing an extraordinary lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump, one of his adult sons and the Trump Organization against the Internal Revenue Service that resulted in a settlement through which the controversial fund was created.

The 35 judges say the lawsuit, which had raised questions about whether it was legally sound given the fact that Trump was both a plaintiff and, as president, the head of the Executive Branch, in which the IRS defendants exist, “is itself a fraud on the court.”

The settlement in the case, the former judges say, “was not, and never will be, legally justified.” They pointed to the fact that the laws invoked by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to establish the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” require “the existence of a legitimate litigation and not, as here, one that is collusive, feigned, or fraudulent.”

By reopening the case, the judges told US District Judge Kathleen Williams, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, that she can look into whether she “was deceived, including with respect to the existence of an underlying case or controversy and any purported arms-length negotiations undertaken to resolve it.”

Williams was set to look closely at whether she had the authority to oversee the lawsuit at all before she was abruptly informed last week that Trump no longer wanted to pursue it. As she agreed to formally close the case, the judge criticized the way in which the litigation had come to an end, zeroing in on the fact that such issues remained unresolved.

The Justice Department, she said at the time, had not “filed any documents ensuring that settlement was appropriate where there was an outstanding question as to whether an actual case or controversy existed.”

The coalition of judges accused Trump and the Justice Department, which represents the government in court, of using “a collusive lawsuit” to reach the settlement, which also includes a provision shielding Trump, his family and his business from being investigated by the government in the future over potential civil wrongdoing.

Natalie Baldassarre, a spokesperson for the Justice Department, said in a statement Wednesday that “it is a routine move for plaintiffs to dismiss cases without referencing any settlement.”

“This motion is frivolous and there is nothing improper about this agreement,” she added.

Among the group of judges are former members of the federal bench from across the ideological spectrum who served on both trial-level courts and appeals courts. One of them, former George H. W. Bush appointee Ursula Mancusi Ungaro, served for a time alongside Williams.

Also included is former Judge John Tinder, who was succeeded on a Chicago-based federal appeals court by now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and retired Judge Michael Luttig, a vocal Trump critic who was appointed to a Richmond-based appeals court by Bush.

“The unprecedentedly fraudulent scheme here more than warrants voiding the dismissal,” the judges wrote.

https://www.cnn.com/

Targets of Trump’s retribution slam “slush fund,” say they’re the real victims of weaponized DOJ
3:03 • Source: CNN

Targets of Trump’s retribution slam “slush fund,” say they’re the real victims of weaponized DOJ
3:03

The judges’ request on Wednesday adds to a growing pushback in court to the new fund as the administration also faces political pressure from some Republicans over it.

Three lawsuits were brought last week in federal courts in Washington, DC, and Virginia seeking to halt the administration from moving forward with implementing its plans for the fund. Those cases argue the fund is unlawful because it may dole out money to people who participated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and finance various paramilitary organizations in the country, and that it violates federal transparency laws, among other things.

In the request made Wednesday to Williams, the judges don’t raise those types of claims but instead present her with a simple proposition: “The Court was deceived.”

Reopening the case, the judges say, “will allow judicial review of the extraordinary – and historically unprecedented – circumstances presented by this litigation and by the collusive ‘settlement’ that invokes this litigation as the legal justification for its terms.”

“As long as the court appropriately exercises its authority to reopen the case, it would preserve the status quo and ensure that the ‘settlement’ provisions cannot be carried out while the court completes the inquiry that was derailed by the voluntary dismissal,” they told Williams.

U.S. investigators plan new Bahamas search after GPS data appears to contradict Brian Hooker’s account of wife’s disappearance

May 27, 2026 4:34 PM EDT / CBS News

By Nicole Sganga

Nicole Sganga Homeland Security and Justice Correspondent

Nicole Sganga is CBS News’ homeland security and justice correspondent. She is based in Washington, D.C., and reports for all shows and platforms.

Read Full Bio

Nicole Sganga

Newly obtained GPS data in the case of Lynette Hooker’s disappearance in the Bahamas has prompted U.S. investigators to relaunch a search for the body of the missing Michigan woman, a U.S. official familiar with the investigation told CBS News.

After the forensic evidence appeared to contradict her husband’s account of where he was the night she disappeared, U.S. investigators are asking the Bahamas for permission to send a dive team to search new areas in the Sea of Abaco for the body of Lynette Hooker.

The U.S. official told CBS News that GPS data derived from one of Brian Hooker’s electronic devices showed a track of the device’s movements that does not align with what he told investigators. The newly obtained data shows the device was out on the water, stopping in the Sea of Abaco before returning, the official said, granting investigators a more precise location to search.

Coast Guard investigators have also asked family members of Lynette Hooker to provide their DNA to assist in their investigation, family members told CBS News.

The rest of the evidence from the case is still being processed by the FBI in Quantico, but investigators believe GPS information extracted from at least one electronic device has identified previously unsearched areas where divers should now look for additional evidence, including Lynette Hooker’s body.

Because the search would take place in Bahamian territorial waters, U.S. authorities have to seek permission from the Bahamas, even though the vessel involved is U.S.-flagged.

The latest development marks one of the most significant turns yet in the investigation into Lynette Hooker’s disappearance, raising new questions about Brian Hooker’s account of what happened on April 4, the night his wife vanished. Brian Hooker told authorities that his wife fell from an 8-foot dinghy during a nighttime ride in the Abacos and was swept away with the boat keys, leaving him unable to restart the engine and forcing him to paddle for hours before reaching shore, CBS News previously reported.

Lynette Hooker was last seen near Aunt Pat’s Bay, near Elbow Cay and Hope Town, Brian Hooker reported to local authorities.

Brian Hooker has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. He was detained by Bahamian authorities for questioning and released without charges after five days. After being released from custody, he traveled to the U.S. to see his ailing mother, according to his Bahamian attorney. His current whereabouts are not known.

CBS News has also reported that Brian Hooker shared maps he said showed the dinghy’s route and the location where Lynette Hooker went overboard.

But investigators now believe they have independent forensic data that undercuts that version of events, pointing them instead to a different search area.

The planned dive search comes amid an expanding U.S. criminal investigation. The Coast Guard Investigative Service seized the couple’s sailboat, the “Soulmate”, earlier this month as part of the probe, CBS News previously reported. Investigators have also been examining whether technology aboard the vessel, including an infrared camera, may hold evidence relevant to the case.

While it is not known if Brian Hooker used the camera, it is currently being processed as part of the ongoing probe, according to sources.

Cristian Benavides contributed to this report.

NY federal prosecutors charge Google engineer with making roughly $1.2 million in profits on Polymarket

2026-05-27 7:54 PM ET / CNN

By Kara Scannell

5 min ago

PUBLISHED May 27, 2026, 7:54 PM ET

Tech giants Tech news Investing

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The Polymarket website is seen on a smartphone arranged in Germantown, New York, in July 2025.

Gabby Jones/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File

Summary

• Federal prosecutors have charged a Google software engineer with making roughly $1.2 million by using insider information to bet on Polymarket.
• The software engineer allegedly accessed confidential Google data about the most searched people of 2025 before placing bets on the prediction market.
• Google said the software engineer has been placed on leave, and a lawyer for the man was not immediately identified on the court docket.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

Federal prosecutors in New York charged a Google software engineer with making roughly $1.2 million in profits from bets on the prediction market platform Polymarket by using confidential insider information he learned about the most searched people of 2025.

Michele Spagnuolo, the Google software engineer, allegedly used an account called “AlphaRaccoon” to place multiple “yes” and “no” bets related to who would be the most searched person on Google, according to a criminal complaint.

“Unlike the counterparties to his trades, Spagnuolo knew the outcome of these wagers before the trading public did because he had accessed Google’s confidential, commercially valuable internal data,” authorities allege in the complaint.

Spagnuolo is charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. He appeared in court Wednesday and was released on a $2.2 million bond with travel restrictions.

Google said Spagunolo has been placed on leave. A lawyer for Spagunolo was not immediately identified on the court docket.

“We’re working with law enforcement on their investigation. The employee accessed our marketing material using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies,” a Google spokesperson told CNN.

Related article Gannon Ken Van Dyke walks near a federal court building in New York on Tuesday. Seth Wenig/AP Soldier accused of betting on Maduro raid, winning $400,000, pleads not guilty 3 min read

Spagnuolo is now the second person this year to face criminal charges alleging insider trading on prediction markets.

Last month the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York announced insider trading charges against a US special forces soldier for allegedly using his knowledge of the planned military capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro to place bets on Polymarket ahead of it. The solider allegedly made over $400,000 in profits. He has pleaded not guilty.

Authorities allege Spagnuolo used confidential internal Google data to place numerous bets about the most searched person.

In one case, Spagnuolo placed a $381.12 bet “yes” that d4vd would rank in the most searched people of the year and $5 that d4vd would be the number one searched person on Google with an implied probability of “slightly higher than 0%,” according to the complaint.

Spagnuolo also bet $613,000 “no” that Pope Leo would be the most searched person and just over $500,000 that Donald Trump would not be the most searched person. When Google announced the most searched results, authorities allege, Spagnuolo made over $1.2 million in profits.

CNN has a partnership with another prediction market, Kalshi, and uses its data to cover major events. Editorial employees are prohibited from participating in prediction markets.

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California to impose 100% tax on Trump’s January 6 ‘slush fund,’ governor says

2026-05-27T23:31:56.66Z / Reuters

By Jasper Ward

May 27, 2026 11:31 PM UTC Updated 31 mins ago

California Governor Gavin Newsom gives remarks at the Center for American Progress Ideas Conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 19, 2026. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon Purchase Licensing Rights

May 27 (Reuters) – California will impose a 100% tax on payments distributed under the Trump administration’s nearly $1.8 billion fund for victims of alleged ​political “weaponization,” the state’s Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Wednesday.

“One thing I ‌think we’re going to try to do … is tax 100%. Anyone from California who receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100% of those proceeds ​and that’s an action the state of California can take,” Newsom ​said. “It’s an action we look forward to taking.”

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In a post ⁠on social media, the governor’s press office described the $1.776 billion fund as ​a “slush fund.”

Newsom did not indicate when the state would start imposing the ​tax.

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

The fund was announced last week as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s legal settlement with ​the Internal Revenue Service after he initially sued the agency over his tax ​returns being leaked to the media.

Trump pardoned more than 1,500 January 6 defendants last ‌year. ⁠Some have now begun to calculate the cost of their prosecution, jail time and businesses lost in the hope of compensation for what they regard as abuses by the Justice Department under former President Joe Biden.

The unprecedented move ​is already facing ​a legal challenge by ⁠two police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol from rioters on January 6, 2021.

Democrats and some Republicans have questioned ​the legality of the fund, as well as a ​part of ⁠the settlement “forever barring” the IRS from auditing past tax claims by Trump, his relatives and his businesses.

“(The fund) could potentially compensate someone who assaulted a ⁠police officer, ​admitted their guilt, got convicted, got pardoned ​and now we’re going to pay them for that? That’s absurd,” said Republican Senator Thom ​Tillis of North Carolina.

Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Stephen Coates

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Takeaways from Texas’ primary runoffs: Trump’s power, the shifting Latino vote, the redistricting wars and more

2026-05-27T17:42:06-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-primary-runoff-takeaways-paxton-cornyn-talarico-trump/

Washington — The November ballot in Texas is now set, after a four-term incumbent Republican senator lost to a Trump-endorsed challenger in Tuesday’s primary runoffs. Meanwhile, Texas Democrats are angling to win their first Senate race since 1988.

The Senate race was just one storyline on Tuesday night, as many downballot primary races highlighted larger themes seen throughout the country for both Democrats and Republicans.

Here are some of the top takeaways from Tuesday’s election:

Power of Trump’s endorsement

Republican Sen. John Cornyn fell to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a GOP primary runoff, losing the Senate seat he has held for 24 years by a 27-percentage-point margin.

One decisive factor in the race: A week beforehand, President Trump backed Paxton.

While Cornyn frequently stressed on the campaign trail that he has voted with Mr. Trump over 99% of the time, the longtime Texas senator questioned Mr. Trump’s electability after his first term in office. In his endorsement of Cornyn’s opponent, Mr. Trump said “John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough.” By comparison, the president called Paxton a “true MAGA Warrior” and stressed his loyalty.

Many establishment Republicans had seen Cornyn as a stronger candidate to take on the Democratic nominee, Texas state Rep. James Talarico, in the general election. Talarico did not face a runoff on Tuesday after he won a majority of the vote in the first round of the primaries in March.

Cornyn previously served as the No. 2 Senate Republican, and was among a handful of men who were considered for majority leader in 2024 year. His colleagues in the Senate lauded Cornyn as a prolific fundraiser and legislator. Last week, after Mr. Trump endorsed Paxton, Senate Majority Leader John Thune called Cornyn a “principled conservative” and a “very effective senator for the state of Texas.”

Paxton’s victory shakes up Senate GOP

Paxton’s projected victory marks a major blow to Senate Republican leadership, who spent months supporting Cornyn.

Republicans currently have a narrow 53-seat majority in the Senate. Democrats face a challenging path to winning over the upper chamber — they need to net four new Senate seats to retake the majority, and they’re defending two seats in states that the president won in 2024.

While a handful of states offer more straightforward pathways to flip seats, Democrats are once again looking hopefully at the Lone Star State. The Cook Political Report said with Paxton as the nominee, Texas becomes competitive, shifting its rating from likely to leaning Republican.

Asked whether Mr. Trump’s endorsement of Paxton makes it harder for Republicans to hold onto the Senate, Thune said at a news conference last week: “One state doesn’t determine the outcome of this election, but obviously we care about every state and we care about helping see our incumbents succeed.”

Even before November, Paxton’s nomination could change the dynamic in the Senate, as Cornyn becomes the latest Republican scorned by the president.

Cornyn may be more inclined to break with the administration now, a tendency that Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have exemplified in recent months. Cassidy lost his primary to a Trump-backed candidate, and Tillis declined to seek reelection after the president threatened a primary challenge.

Already, the president’s move to endorse Paxton over Cornyn has seemed to impact the GOP agenda, adding fuel to a heated meeting between Senate Republicans and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche last week that ended with GOP leaders scrapping plans to vote on funding for immigration enforcement agencies.

Paxton brings a controversial past

Paxton’s primary victory showed his ability to withstand a history of scandals. But if he defeats Talarico and wins the Senate seat, he will arrive at the Capitol with significant baggage.

Paxton was first elected as Texas attorney general in 2014. He aggressively sued the Obama administration early in his tenure, and later said he filed more than 100 lawsuits against the Biden administration. His then-wife, Angela Paxton, sang a song on the campaign trail with the lyrics: “I’m a pistol-packing mama whose husband sues Obama.”

He also filed a lawsuit to overturn Mr. Trump’s 2020 election losses in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin. The case was tossed by the Supreme Court.

In 2015, Paxton was indicted on securities fraud charges, but they were dropped in 2024 as part of a pre-trial diversion deal. In 2023, he was impeached on charges of bribery, dereliction of duty and disregard of official duties by the GOP-majority Texas House in a 121-23 vote, including more than 60 members of his own party and all five representatives from his home area of Collin County. He was accused of firing four whistleblowers and then using the state funds to pay court-ordered restitution.

Paxton was also accused of using his position to secure a job and apartment for a woman with whom he was having an affair, and although Angela Paxton, then a state senator, stood by his side at the trial, she later filed for divorce. In the divorce filings, she cited “biblical grounds” as the reason for divorce, including infidelity.

Paxton was acquitted by the state Senate, and his office will still have to pay at least $6.7 million to the four whistleblowers. According to the Associated Press, the Biden Justice Department in its final days quietly dropped an investigation into Paxton.

Paxton has consistently denied all wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, Paxton has sought to cast Talarico as a far-left candidate, labeling him “James Tala-freak-o” and highlighting previous remarks by the Democrat, including a speech in which he said “God is nonbinary.”

Talarico acknowledged in a CBS News interview Wednesday that some of his past comments “missed the mark,” but accused Paxton of “intentionally clipping my cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption.”

MAGA Republicans overtake establishment GOP figures

Candidates aligned with the president’s MAGA movement notched wins against the establishment wing of the Republican party on Tuesday — starting with the Senate GOP primary.

Cornyn represents a different generation of Texas Republicans, having first been elected as attorney general in 1998, when George W. Bush was governor. Bush’s successor as governor, Rick Perry, had campaigned heavily for Cornyn, and Cornyn touted endorsements from many in the old guard of Texas Republicans.

Paxton called Cornyn a member of the establishment and not sufficiently MAGA-aligned, and Paxton won the most important endorsement: from Mr. Trump.

The state’s current crop of elected Republicans mostly stayed out of the race, with Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Sen. Ted Cruz endorsing before Tuesday’s runoff. But they all congratulated Paxton on his win on Tuesday night and urged Republicans to come together.

In the Republican primary runoff to replace Paxton as state attorney general, state Rep. Mayes Middleton successfully painted U.S. Rep. Chip Roy as an establishment candidate who was insufficiently supportive of Mr. Trump. Roy, a member of the House Freedom Caucus and one of the most conservative Republicans in Congress, had sometimes broken with Mr. Trump, notably after the 2020 election.

Former Tarrant County Commissioner Bo French defeated incumbent Jim Wright in a GOP primary runoff for railroad commissioner. French’s campaign focused less on the job itself — which regulates the oil and gas industry, not railroads — and more on his loyalty to Mr. Trump. He pledged to use the office to fight “DEI, overbearing regulation, and the influence of radical Islam and the [Chinese Communist Party] in Texas oil.”

Importance of Latino voters

Latino voters are emerging as perhaps the most important voting bloc in Texas’ Senate race, and both parties are pouring resources into winning them over ahead of November.

Latinos now make up roughly 40% of Texas’ population, the largest ethnic group in the state, and their shifting political support from a reliably Democratic group to one that leans slightly toward Republicans has been an earthquake in Texas politics. During the 2024 cycle, Mr. Trump made historic inroads with Hispanics and won roughly 55% of Latino voters in Texas, according to exit polling. The president captured about 48% of Latino voters nationwide, a 12-point shift from 2020.

The shift was most evident in South Texas, where Mr. Trump carried all four counties (Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy) in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border after failing to win even 30% of the vote there during his 2016 campaign.

But there are signs Democrats are regaining some footing with Latino voters. During the March primary, Texas Democrats more than doubled turnout in the Rio Grande Valley compared to 2024 levels, and recent polling from Texas Public Opinion Research showed Democratic nominee Talarico holds a sizable advantage among Latino voters over Paxton.

The same polling found cost-of-living concerns, and not immigration or border security, rank as the top issue for Texas Latinos, mirroring top concerns across the state and national landscape.

If Democrats can improve their margins with Latino voters, it could widen their narrow path towards a potential upset in Texas, where they have not won statewide since 1994. For Texas Republicans, keeping this swing voting group inside Mr. Trump’s 2024 tent, without him atop the ticket, may determine whether the party keeps this crucial Senate seat in their column.

Redistricting wars pit Democrats against each other

The mid-decade redistricting wars between both parties started in Texas last summer, when Mr. Trump asked state Republicans to redraw their House map to be more friendly to the GOP. The move left some Democrats scrambling as some found themselves in GOP-leaning districts or in the same district as another incumbent. The fallout could be seen in Tuesday’s results.

The deep-blue 35th District now leans red, leading to an open Democratic primary in the San Antonio-area district after progressive Rep. Greg Casar decided to run for a different seat. Housing advocate and sex therapist Maureen Galindo was the top vote-getter in the March primary, but ahead of Tuesday’s runoff, she came under fire for making statements that members of both parties rebuked as antisemitic. She lost to Johnny Garcia, who will face Republican Carlos De La Cruz in November.

Longtime Rep. Marc Veasey’s Fort Worth-area 33rd District was also affected by redistricting, and although it is still a Democratic-friendly seat, he decided not to run for reelection. Incumbent Rep. Julie Johnson, whose district had become more favorable to Republicans, opted to run instead in the 33rd District. But on the day of the filing deadline, Johnson’s predecessor in the House, former Rep. Colin Allred, filed to run against her.

Allred was the top vote-getter in March but did not get enough votes to avoid a runoff against Johnson, lengthening an already nasty race. Given the district’s Democratic lean, Allred is favored to win in November after defeating Johnson on Tuesday.

And in Houston, longtime Rep. Al Green — known as a frequent Trump antagonist — was also drawn into a more Republican-friendly district. He opted instead to run in the nearby 18th District, a safe Democratic seat, challenging a newcomer to Congress, Rep. Christian Menefee. Menefee prevailed over Green on Tuesday, and is favored to win in November.

Democratic factions still causing conflicts

In the newly created 18th District, 78-year-old Green lost to 38-year-old Menefee, who was first elected earlier this year to replace Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died at age 70 one month after being elected. Turner himself had been elected to replace longtime Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who died at the age of 74 in July 2024.

Green has been in Congress since 2005, and has long been a face for Democratic causes. He has introduced articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump in both his terms, and was censured by the House for interrupting Mr. Trump’s address before a joint session in 2025. Several Democrats joined with Republicans for the censure vote.

Before serving in Congress, Menefee was already a rising star in the Democratic party — he was the first Black attorney and the youngest-ever person to be elected as Harris County Attorney, the civil litigator for the largest county by population in Texas.

There are different dynamics playing out in the 33rd District, where Johnson and Allred are facing off and representing different identities of the Democratic party. Johnson, who is White, is the first openly LGBT person to be elected to the House from the South, while Allred, who is Black, is a former NFL player and civil rights attorney. The diverse district, while heavily Democratic, is 55% Hispanic, 22% White and 15% Black, according to the Texas Tribune.

In the Senate Democratic primary in March, Talarico had faced off against Rep. Jasmine Crockett, also of Dallas, after Allred dropped out of the race. Allred had weighed in on that race after an influencer alleged Talarico called him a “mediocre Black man,” which Talarico denied. Allred then endorsed Crockett, and Crockett has been campaigning with Allred. Talarico, meanwhile, campaigned with Johnson last week.

Accusations of antisemitism on the rise

Both Democratic and Republican candidates in Texas have faced allegations of antisemitism.

Galindo made national headlines after she pledged to turn an immigration detention facility into a “prison for American Zionists” if elected. In other social media posts, she argued that “billionaire Zionists” belong in prison and that “Zionist associated candidates and politicians” deserve “treason trials.” Galindo has denied being antisemitic, but said she is “against Zionist Jews.”

Democrats in Texas and D.C. distanced themselves from Galindo, while also accusing Republican-aligned groups of propping up her candidacy.

And French, who won Tuesday’s runoff for railroad commissioner, had previously posted on social media a poll asking whether Jews or Muslims are “a bigger threat to America.”

French’s opponent, incumbent Texas Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright, had received $500,000 from Texas Sands PAC, a group financed by casino magnate Miriam Adelson, which he said “underscores Bo French’s hateful attacks on the Jewish people and his repeated anti-Semitic rhetoric. Dr. Adelson and I stand firmly with the state of Israel, and I join conservative leaders across Texas in condemning his ignorant bigotry.”

Rep. Christian Menefee defeats Rep. Al Green, says voters are looking for ‘new fighters’

Published 6:06 PM EDT, Wed May 27, 2026 / CNN

Rep. Christian Menefee defeats Rep. Al Green, says voters are looking for ‘new fighters’

The Lead

Rep. Christian Menefee joins The Lead.

1:16 • Source: CNN