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DHS to tighten Ebola restrictions for foreign travelers coming to U.S. from some African countries

May 20, 2026 / 8:48 PM EDT / CBS News

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Faris Tanyos News Editor
Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.

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The Department of Homeland Security is set to implement new entry restrictions beginning Thursday for foreign travelers coming to the United States from countries at the center of the latest Ebola outbreak.

According to a draft of a new DHS rule scheduled to be published Thursday, all U.S.-bound flights carrying foreign travelers who have been in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan at any point in the previous 21 days will be required to fly into Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

The arrival restrictions, issued at the direction of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, are designed to funnel those travelers to an airport “where the U.S. government is focusing public health resources to implement enhanced public health measures,” the rule states.

The rule applies only to passenger flights, DHS said, with cargo flights excluded from the restrictions.

In a statement provided to CBS News, a DHS spokesperson confirmed the new travel requirements, saying that “to reduce the risk of the Ebola virus spreading,” Customs and Border Protection is “enhancing public health screening, travel monitoring, and health protection response activities.”

The DHS spokesperson added that CBP was coordinating with “airlines, international partners and port-of-entry officials to identify and manage travelers who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus.”

In its rule, DHS did not disclose what kind of specific protocols foreign travelers will have to undergo upon arrival at Dulles.

The move comes two days after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also issued travel restrictions linked to the Ebola outbreak. The CDC announced Monday that people without U.S. passports who had traveled to Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the past three weeks would be restricted from entering the country.

It’s unclear how the new DHS rule impacts the CDC’s order.

On May 15, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed an Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said Wednesday there are at least 600 suspected Ebola cases so far, included 139 suspected deaths from the virus. Ghebreyesus said the virus is believed to have been circulating for some time before it was detected.

A U.S. doctor working with a missionary organization in Congo contracted Ebola and was transported to Germany for medical treatment, the U.S. CDC and his missionary group said Tuesday. At least six Americans were exposed to the virus, sources told CBS News Monday.

Health officials say the new outbreak is linked to the Bundibugyo strain, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments, according to CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Céline Gounder.

WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, but says as of now it falls short of the criteria for a pandemic emergency.

以色列拟在联合国机构建军事设施 古特雷斯强烈谴责

2026年5月21日 10:59 / 联合早报

联合国秘书长古特雷斯敦促以色列政府撤销决定，并立即将它占领的东救济工程处谢赫杰拉大院归还给联合国。 （路透社）

以色列准备在联合国近东巴勒斯坦难民救济和工程处（UNRWA）大院内建立军事设施，联合国秘书长古特雷斯提出强烈谴责。

新华社报道，古特雷斯的发言人星期三（5月20日）发表声明说，古特雷斯以“最强烈的言辞”谴责以色列在位于耶路撒冷的近东巴勒斯坦难民救济和工程处大院内建立军事设施的决定。

以色列多次指责近东救济工程处为哈马斯武装分子提供庇护，声称部分雇员参与2023年10月7日哈马斯对以色列发动的袭击。

在多次突击搜查近东救济工程处大院后，以色列今年1月查封这座建筑，并强行拆除。

古特雷斯在发言人声明中说，近东救济工程处是联合国不可分割的一部分，近东救济工程处的谢赫杰拉（Sheikh Jarrah）大院依然属于联合国处所。

他敦促以色列政府撤销决定，并立即将近东救济工程处的谢赫杰拉大院归还给联合国。

声明还指出，针对近东救济工程处的这一行径前所未有、具有升级性质，侵犯联合国处所的不可侵犯性。联合国大会明确授权近东救济工程处在包括东耶路撒冷在内的被占巴勒斯坦领土上继续开展行动，以方的行径对这一授权的实施构成障碍。

声明也说，古特雷斯认为，针对近东救济工程处持续采取的升级行动“完全不可接受”。正如国际法院所申明的，此类行动是非法的。以色列无权在被占巴勒斯坦领土的任何部分行使主权权力，且有义务尽快结束它在包括东耶路撒冷在内被占巴勒斯坦领土上的非法存在。

大陆官媒：赖清德“倚外谋独” 只是黄粱一梦

2026年5月21日 08:58 / 联合早报

台湾总统赖清德在总统府发表就职两周年谈话，并接受媒体提问。 （路透社）

针对台湾总统赖清德就职两周年谈话内容，中国大陆官媒《人民日报》星期四（5月21日）发文指赖清德“倚外谋独”，只是黄粱一梦，并称任凭谁想要武力介入台海，都不可能获益，美国对此一清二楚。

赖清德在星期三（5月20日）在谈话中提出，维持台海和平稳定、阻止外力改变台海现状是“台湾的国家战略目标”。《人民日报》在署名“钟一平”的文章中指，这是企图以此重新定义台独，粉饰自己的谋“独”路线。文章质问，从疯狂叫嚣台独，转向遮遮掩掩粉饰台独，赖清德为何玩起文字游戏？为何突然变得心虚？

文章称，赖清德政府如今陷入两难的尴尬境地，开始在表述上耍花招，抛出所谓“捍卫‘中华民国’现状、没有‘台独’问题”的狡辩，企图把台独分裂行径包装成“捍卫现状”，将破坏台海和平的责任甩锅大陆。

文章说，赖清德政府一直以来试图向台湾民众灌输这样一种认知：大陆不会打、不敢打，因为台湾背后有美国这个靠山；一旦台海发生战争，美国能够提供保护。“现如今，美国总统亲自否定了这种可能性，直接戳破了幻想、拆穿了谎言，无异于一记响亮的耳光。更关键的是，这是基于中美关系大局、美国自身利益必然要作出的选择。”

文章也说：“中国捍卫国家主权和领土完整的决心坚如磐石，任凭谁想要武力介入台海，都不可能获益，只会引火烧身，美国对此一清二楚。”

赖清德星期三发表就职两周年谈话后，回应媒体提问时指出，台美沟通管道“向来畅通”；若有机会与美国总统特朗普直接通话，他会向特朗普强调，台海和平稳定是世界繁荣安全的必要元素，他所带领的政府将“不卑不亢，维持现状”，却也同时呼吁美国对台军售持续。

Texas Democrat Maureen Galindo under fire after saying she’d make ICE jail a “prison for American Zionists”

2026-05-20T21:27:00-0400 / CBS News

By Anne Bryson,

May 20, 2026 / 9:27 PM EDT / CBS News

A Democratic House candidate in Texas is facing widespread condemnation and accusations of antisemitism from both parties for comments she posted on social media, including a pledge to turn an immigration detention facility into a “prison for American Zionists” if elected — drawing allegations from top Democrats that her campaign may be backed by conservative groups.

Maureen Galindo is running against Johnny Garcia in next week’s Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th Congressional District, which covers parts of San Antonio and the surrounding areas. Republicans are angling to pick up the seat, which is currently held by a Democrat but was made much more favorable to the GOP in Texas’ redistricting effort last summer.

In an Instagram post last week, Galindo wrote that she will “turn Karnes ICE Detention Center into a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking. (It will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles which will probably be most of the Zionists).”

Galindo wrote in the same post — referring to herself in the third person — that “when Maureen gets into Congress, she’ll write legislation so that all Zionism and support of Zionism is undoubtedly Anti-Semitic, since it’s Zionists harming the Semites.”

Her social media feed also includes attacks on “billionaire Zionists,” and a suggestion that “Zionist associated candidates and politicians” deserve “treason trials.”

Galindo has denied that she is antisemitic, instead saying she is opposed to “Zionist Jews.”

The comments have drawn stiff criticism from Texas Democrats, with Garcia calling them “conspiracy theories and hateful rhetoric” and gubernatorial candidate James Talarico telling the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he would not campaign with Galindo.

Republican Carlos De La Cruz, who is facing off against state Rep. John Lujan in the GOP primary, wrote on X: “This rhetoric is disgusting and has no place in Texas.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement that Galindo’s comments were “extremely dangerous” and “vile,” and have “no place in Democratic politics.”

Many Democrats have also alleged that Galindo has been propped up by conservative funders. They point to Lead Left PAC, a political action committee founded less than a month ago that has reported more than $800,000 in pro-Galindo and anti-Garcia spending, according recent Federal Election Commission filings.

Lead Left PAC identifies itself as an anti-Trump organization, and its donors are not public. But Punchbowl News reported earlier this month that its website contained metadata linking it to WinRed, a digital fundraising platform used by Republican candidates and GOP-aligned groups. The New York Times also raised questions about whether Lead Left PAC is linked to Republicans. (CBS News has not independently confirmed that reporting.)

“House Republican leadership must immediately cease propping up this antisemitic candidacy, pull spending in the race and forcefully condemn these comments,” Jeffries and DelBene said in their statement condemning Galindo’s comments.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York called Galindo’s comments “bigoted garbage and antisemitism” — and wrote in a post on X that “the donors behind the Republican super PAC funding her should be exposed.”

Asked about allegations that Republicans have backed Galindo, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Wednesday: “Of course not. I didn’t even know this person existed.”

“I don’t know anything about it, except that these crazy comments surfaced yesterday, and a number of people sent it to me, and I thought this is a perfect example of where the Democratic Party is going,” he said. “We say all the time: This is not your father’s Democratic Party.”

Both Democratic and Republican operatives are frequently accused of intervening in each other’s primaries, aiming to prop up fringe candidates they view as easier to defeat.

CBS News has reached out to Galinda’s campaign and to Lead Left PAC for comment.

Galindo, a sex therapist, and Garcia, a former sheriff’s deputy, advanced to next week’s Democratic primary runoff after no candidate won 50% of the vote in the initial round of the primaries. The Republican runoff candidates are De La Cruz, a small business owner and Air Force veteran, and Lujan, a state lawmaker and former sheriff’s deputy.

President Trump and Johnson have endorsed De La Cruz, whose sister currently represents another U.S. House district.

The 35th District is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Greg Casar, but Texas’ redistricting campaign dramatically changed the district’s boundaries, transforming it from a deep-blue seat that stretches from Austin to San Antonio to a red seat that juts south and west of San Antonio. Casar is this year’s Democratic nominee in the Austin-area 37th District.

美军在阿曼湾登检伊朗油轮后放行 令改航向

2026年5月21日 11:35 / 联合早报

美军在阿曼湾登检一艘悬挂伊朗国旗的油轮，随后将它释放，并命令船员更改航向。

美军中央司令部星期四（5月21日）在社媒平台X上发文说，当天早些时候，美国海军陆战队员在阿曼湾登上一艘悬挂伊朗国旗的商业油轮。

贴文说，这艘船疑似试图穿越封锁，驶向伊朗港口，此举违反美国的封锁令。

美军检查完毕后放行船只，并命令船员改变航向。

美国在石油运输要道霍尔木兹海峡对与伊朗有关联的船只实施封锁行动，使得油轮无法驶离伊朗主要出口枢纽哈尔克岛（Kharg Island）。

这次登船检查由驻日第31海军陆战队远征部队成员执行。这支部队部署到中东，协助针对伊朗的行动。

美军中央司令部说：“美军继续全面执行（在霍尔木兹海峡的）封锁任务，目前已引导91艘商船改变航向，确保船只遵守封锁规定。”

Trump roasts Dem candidate as unelectable for cardinal sin in Texas

2026-05-20T16:00:11-04:00 / Fox News

Trump called Talarico a ‘defective candidate that believes in six genders’ and who ‘takes hits at Jesus Christ’

By Peter Pinedo Fox News

Published May 20, 2026 4:00pm EDT

President Trump predicts Paxton win in Texas

President Donald Trump predicted that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who he has endorsed, will win the U.S. Senate race in Texas

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President Donald Trump is confident that his pick for U.S. Senate in the Lone Star State will easily defeat Democrat James Talarico, whom he called unelectable because “he’s a vegan in Texas.”

Talarico is a prominent state lawmaker who was only recently propelled to the national stage after winning the Democratic Senate nomination in Texas earlier this year. He has been widely lambasted by conservatives for his history of controversial statements, including claiming, “God is non-binary” and that “sex is a spectrum.”

While speaking with reporters before boarding Air Force One on Wednesday morning, Trump predicted that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who he endorsed this week, will “win very substantially” in the upcoming primary runoff with incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

He then forecasted that Paxton would “go on to defeat a very defective candidate that believes in six genders, and he takes hits at Jesus Christ, and he’s wearing a mask six months ago, anybody wearing a mask six months ago doesn’t get it.”

‘GOD IS NON-BINARY’: TEXAS DEM NOMINEE TALARICO’S PAST REMARKS ON ABORTION, RACE AND GENDER DRAW SCRUTINY

President Donald Trump mocked Democrat James Talarico, whom he called unelectable because “he’s a vegan in Texas.”(iStock/Getty Images Plus; Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty Images)

He then ripped into Talarico, saying, “And he’s vegan, he’s a vegan in Texas.”

“You can’t get elected as a vegan in Texas,” Trump insisted.

Trump’s comments reference an unearthed 2022 clip of Talarico giving a speech and calling reducing meat consumption “existential.”

“We have heard, I think, heard more and more issues of animal welfare. I think, not just because it’s the right thing to do, and it’s the moral thing to do, but also… necessary to fight climate change,” Talarico said, adding, “It is now existential that we try to reduce our meat consumption, and that we try to respect animals.”

“So, I am proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non-meat campaign,” Talarico continued. “So, we are only buying vegan products from our local vegan businesses.”

Talarico can be seen wearing a mask during the speech.

TEXAS TEEN TELLS CONGRESS HE RECEIVED DEATH THREATS AFTER REVEALING ISLAMIC BOOTH AT HIGH SCHOOL

Texas Senate candidate James Talarico speaks at a campaign rally in Houston on March 2, 2026.(Danielle Villasana/Getty Images)

His resurfaced comments caused a significant stir in Texas, where beef cattle production is a multibillion-dollar industry and the state’s largest agricultural segment.

“Who wants to tell him that cattle is the #1 commodity in Texas?” the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, wrote on X.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, labeled Talarico a “freak” who wants to “ban BBQ.”

“Vote Republican this November. The steaks couldn’t be higher,” Cornyn wrote.

Amid the backlash, the Talarico campaign blasted out a photo of the candidate wearing a Texas flag shirt and taking a large bite out of a turkey leg.

“Official Statement from James Talarico on Vegan Accusations,” the campaign wrote.

TRUMP BACKS PAXTON IN TEXAS REPUBLICAN SENATE SHOWDOWN WITH CORNYN

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, left, faces Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a GOP primary runoff election.(Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Antranik Tavitian/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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In response to Trump’s criticisms on Wednesday, JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign, told Fox News Digital that “as costs continue to rise and corruption in Washington runs rampant, James is focused on taking power back for working people and bringing down the price of gas, groceries, and healthcare.”

“James is building a people-powered movement to take on this broken, corrupt political system — not any one politician, not any one political party, but the billionaire mega donors and puppet politicians who have made life more expensive for Texans while enriching themselves,” said Ennis.

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

Judge halts White House’s rollback of presidential records-retention policies

2026-05-20T21:43:33.273Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/20/politics/judge-halts-white-house-presidential-records-act

A federal judge said Wednesday that White House staff must preserve their official records, including communications that they send via non-official text message services, pushing back on attempts to free President Donald Trump from record-keeping obligations that were set by Congress.

The 54-page opinion from Judge John Bates of the DC District Court, puts on hold an attempt by the administration to roll back the Presidential Records Act, which was a major reform following the Watergate scandal and the state of then-President Richard Nixon’s records.

“Congress has the enumerated power to regulate presidential records,” Bates wrote.

“While the presidency is a singularly important institution, that gravity does not free it from modest constraint,” the judge added.

Yet Bates declined to put any restrictions directly on the president, the vice president, the National Archives and archivist, the Justice Department or the attorney general.

Still, the court proceedings are also likely to set up major additional challenges in the near future between the autonomy of the presidency, which Trump has extensively moved to expand during his second term in office, against the oversight ability of Congress and the enforcement powers of federal courts.

Attorneys representing presidential scholars, historians, the press and public transparency groups had argued to Bates that presidential records could be destroyed quickly absent court intervention.

“It could happen at any moment,” a lawyer for the American Historical Association and the group American Oversight told Bates in court last week.

Bates also wrote extensively about the history of the Presidential Records Act and the historical value of White House documents.

“The Act democratizes the history of an indispensable institution,” Bates wrote. “Access to those records allows future Presidents to pick up where their predecessors left off, Congress to identify inefficiency and misfeasance, and the public to learn from the mistakes of the past.”

The Trump administration launched its attack on the half-century-old Presidential Records Act with a memo last month from the Office of Legal Counsel, a Justice Department office that gives advice to the executive branch.

That internal opinion for the executive branch said the Justice Department concluded the law was unconstitutional. The opinion was shocking for a number of reasons, including for how it seemed to eschew Supreme Court precedent backing Congress’ power to regulate presidential record preservation.

Trump’s current White House counsel, David Warrington, in April issued internal guidance to the president’s staff, saying his guidance replaced the Presidential Records Act. The guidance came just days after the DOJ changed internal executive branch policy to say the Presidential Records Act was unsound, because it was congressional overreach.

Warrington, in his new guidance, didn’t mention the president or vice president’s own records at all. And the guidance only addressed the preservation of email and text messages, rather than all electronic records, which the PRA encompasses. The new guidance appears to leave out disappearing electronic communications like Signal chats, Bates said during his questioning of the attorneys.

Bates’ opinion Wednesday said that the guidance for when text messages should be preserved was out of step with what the law required.

A Justice Department attorney argued in court last week the “lion’s share” of presidential records are being preserved, because work being done by presidential staff on White House-issued phones is being kept. And the records of the president and the vice president are largely being handled by staff, though the president himself has “enormous discretion” on his own record-keeping, the government lawyer added.

Recently in the presidential records dispute, the Justice Department had also revealed that some of the boxes of documents the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago in 2022 as part of the classified documents case against Trump had been returned to the president as his personal property.

That disclosure, last week in federal court in DC, was the first update in months on where the Mar-a-Lago boxes may be now. Some of those boxes had been returned to the National Archives and are still in the Archives’ control, the Justice Department and the Archives have said. Others were flown to Florida last February after Trump began his second term.

He said at that time the boxes “will someday be part of the Trump Presidential Library,” though he didn’t specify they would be in his personal possession, rather than maintained as official government documents.

The Mar-a-Lago documents include records from different parts of the government and classified records that were central to the now-dropped criminal national security mishandling case against Trump.

Trump’s belief that they were his boxes; that he had the ability to declassify at will; and that he could keep them in unsecured locations like his Florida resort, even after he was no longer president, were central to his criminal case. The case ended in 2024 when a federal judge in Florida nullified the authority of the prosecutor, then-special counsel Jack Smith.

It wasn’t known if any of the boxes back in Trump’s personal control still contained classified records, or if they were still being adequately preserved.

Trump to sign order on AI oversight as security fears mount among supporters

2026-05-20T22:26:11.835Z / https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-sign-order-ai-oversight-security-fears-mount-among-supporters-2026-05-20/

Summary
Companies

Trump faces pressure from MAGA activists for stricter AI security oversight
Tech industry leaders resist mandatory AI regulations, favor voluntary collaboration
Debate over AI oversight could affect model rollout, industry profits, and national security

WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on AI and cybersecurity as soon as Thursday, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as pressure grows from parts of his ​political base to increase oversight of new AI models, such as Anthropic’s Mythos.

The order would create a voluntary framework for AI developers to engage with the U.S. government about the public ‌release of covered models, the sources said. Under the framework, the developers would be asked to provide their models to the government 90 days before public release, and also give pre-public access to critical infrastructure providers such as banks, one of the people said.

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Such an approach may represent a middle ground among Trump supporters.

MAGA activists, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and right-wing political organizer Amy Kremer, have been pressing the White House to require AI developers to submit their most capable models for government security tests.

On the ​other side of the debate are tech industry supporters such as venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and former Trump adviser David Sacks, who are resistant to mandatory requirements. Sacks in March stepped down from his role as ​Trump’s lead AI official and is now co-chairing the president’s tech advisory committee. Trump’s AI policies in his second term have largely reflected the tech industry’s perspective.

NEW MODELS ⁠DRIVING DEBATE

A White House spokesperson called any discussion about AI policy details “speculation.” A National Security Agency spokesperson directed Reuters to contact the White House when asked about details of the president’s plan. National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, ​who serves as Trump’s principal adviser on cybersecurity policy and strategy, did not respond to requests for comment.

The balance of power between the two groups of Trump’s supporters has shifted, driven by the release of powerful new AI ​systems, including Mythos and OpenAI’s GPT-5.5-Cyber. The companies warn the new models could supercharge complex cyberattacks, though some cybersecurity executives have said those fears are overblown.

Mythos’ arrival prompted a battle among the president’s supporters to influence how he responds. The outcome of that debate could have a significant impact on the AI industry if the president’s decision slows the rollout of large language models or prompts the companies to change how a model performs to address safety concerns. Either option could hurt profits.

Republicans have traditionally favored limited ​government and opposed regulations, but support is growing among their more vocal populist supporters to impose AI guardrails. The populist faction is asking Trump to require government approval of “potentially dangerous” AI systems before they’re deployed, according to ​a letter they sent to the White House last Friday.

Kremer said it is “antithetical” to her political views to advocate for new regulations, but AI requires a different approach.

“You can’t count on these people that are leading these AI companies to put ‌our interests at ⁠heart and do what’s right to protect the American people,” she said.

Kremer helped organize a January 6, 2021, rally that preceded the Capitol riot. She said in an interview that she was not among the thousands of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol that day.

BIG TECH SUPPORT

Tech executives are among the president’s largest political donors and most visible supporters. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai and OpenAI’s Sam Altman sat front and center as he was sworn into office in January 2025.

Advocates for the tech industry told Reuters they want to see the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation play a leading role in the Trump administration’s response to ​advanced AI models, adding that companies are willing to ​work with the scientists and cybersecurity specialists in ⁠that organization voluntarily.

The National Security Agency has been involved in administration-wide discussions about how to respond to Mythos, according to two other people familiar with the matter, along with Cairncross. Lawmakers asked Cairncross to work with federal agencies to set up a process that would monitor “sudden frontier AI capability jumps.”

“The past couple months have served as a ​massive wake-up call for the kinds of vulnerabilities that AI can create,” said former U.S. Representative Brad Carson, who now helps run a super PAC network whose ​funders include Anthropic.

Holding back new ⁠AI models while the federal government vets them may allow the U.S. to gain a short-term advantage over adversaries but will not keep the technology out of enemy hands in the long term, said Neil Chilson, head of AI Policy at the Abundance Institute, a nonprofit often aligned with the tech industry.

“We need to make sure we’re deploying it and getting the most out of it, including by hardening our defenses,” Chilson said.

Voluntary federal testing of new AI models has ⁠been in place ​for a few years, with companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic

submitting their products for scrutiny by the Center for AI Standards and ​Innovation, known by a different name under former President Joe Biden.

The Commerce Department announced in May that Google, xAI and Microsoft had agreed to submit their AI models for security testing, though the details later disappeared from its website. The White House and Commerce Department did not respond to ​requests for comment about why the details disappeared.

Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York and Courtney Rozen in Washington; Additional reporting by Raphael Satter and Alexandra Alper in Washington and A.J. Vincens in Detroit; Editing by Rod Nickel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

‘I’m not greedy’: January 6 rioters and Trump allies eye $1.8 billion ‘weaponization’ fund

2026-05-20T22:02:15.066Z / Reuters

Former national chairman of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, holds a megaphone following a march from The Ellipse to the U.S. Capitol in memory of those who died on, or in the aftermath, of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, on the fifth anniversary of the attack in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 6, 2026. REUTERS/Leah… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabRead more

• Summary

• Capitol riot defendants and Trump allies seek compensation from new fund
• Democrats and some Republicans question fund’s legality and IRS audit ban
• Some Democrats, including James Comey, consider applying for compensation

WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) – (This story contains strong language in paragraph 3)

Since President Donald Trump’s administration announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund for Americans deemed to be victims of political “weaponization,” ​January 6 Capitol riot defendants and other Trump allies have scrambled to figure out how to get their share.

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Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys leader sentenced ‌to 22 years for seditious conspiracy over the January 6, 2021 riot, said he planned to apply to the fund, assuming he could get between $2 and $5 million.

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“I’m not greedy,” Tarrio said. “But my life was all fucked up because of this.”

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.

Peter Ticktin, an attorney representing more than 400 January 6 defendants, said the fund ​may not be enough.

“People lost multi-million dollar businesses while they were locked up,” he said. “I don’t think the DOJ is ready for us ⁠yet.”

Trump also suggested the fund may be too small. “You’re talking about peanuts,” he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews. “It destroyed the lives of many, many people.”

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.

Two police ​officers who defended the U.S. Capitol from Trump supporters on January 6, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to halt the compensation fund, which they described as a “taxpayer-funded slush fund” for Trump followers who engaged in violence.

U.S. acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers on Tuesday that even people who assaulted police on January 6 would not be barred from receiving money.

Tarrio, for his part, thinks those who assaulted police should get their ​share.

“The Justice Department overprosecuted for political gain,” he said. “So everyone deserves to get money.”

In a

Wednesday letter, opens new tab
, Democratic Representatives Jamie Raskin and Richard E. Neal asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, ​Blanche and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano, who negotiated the settlement, whether individual awards would be capped and what reports would be made public.

“Never in American history has a President pursued corruption this brazenly or ‌on such ⁠a colossal scale,” they wrote.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said on Wednesday he would try to block the fund through spending-bill amendments, though he acknowledged the issue might have to be resolved separately.

Ticktin, the January 6 lawyer, said he plans to file hundreds of claims once the Justice Department creates the application process and the attorney general appoints the five-member commission overseeing the fund. He said he suggested the idea to Trump, his high school classmate, in a March email, but doesn’t know if that had any impact on the creation ​of the fund.

Some January 6 defendants praised the ​Justice Department for adopting terms they ⁠have long used — including “lawfare,” “weaponization” and “victims” — and cast the fund as payback for years of injustice.

“Now liberals wanna cry about righting the wrong, too bad,” wrote Jennie Carso-Heinl, who pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, on X. “Justice is coming.”

At least one Trump ally ​has already made a formal request: Michael Caputo, a former administration official, asked Blanche for $2.7 million in “restitution” over investigations by the Biden ​administration and special counsel ⁠Robert Mueller.

Some Democrats have floated applying too, arguing that Trump’s Justice Department has pursued flimsy political cases against them. Blanche told lawmakers Tuesday the fund could pay members of both parties.

Former FBI Director James Comey, twice indicted since Trump began his second term, said on CNN that he has considered applying.

“It’s to compensate people who’ve been targeted by the Justice Department for, they say, ⁠personal, political or ​ideological reasons,” Comey said. “So I’m guessing I’ll be in line.”

For some Trump supporters, though, the fund may not ​go far enough.

Barry Ramey, a Proud Boys affiliate convicted of attacking police officers, said he is unsure whether to apply because taking money could jeopardize his claim against the Bureau of Prisons.

“My commitment to justice is not ​about the money,” he said. “I want to show they acted illegally.”

But if he could secure $2 million, he said, he might reconsider.

Reporting by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Editing by Michael Learmonth and Alistair Bell

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Fox News Poll: 30% think recent Trump assassination attempt was staged

May 20, 2026 6:00pm EDT / Fox News

A slim majority believes shooting at White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was real

By Dana Blanton, Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6394604592112
The WHCA Dinner shooting was clearly attempted murder, criminal defense attorney says

Criminal defense attorney Joshua Ritter discusses the state of the evidence in WHCA Dinner shooting on ‘The Story.’

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Three in 10 voters believe the recent assassination attempt against President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was staged, according to a Fox News national survey.

Thirty percent say the shooting was fabricated, including 13% of voters who think it was “definitely” staged.That said, a narrow 52% majority believes the attack was real, with nearly one-third saying it “definitely” happened (31%).

One in five is unsure whether it was real or fake (18%).

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SEE AI AS A RISK TO PRIVACY AND PAYCHECKS

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The alleged gunman behind the April 25 attack, Cole Tomas Allen, has pleaded not guilty to the four felony charges filed against him by the Justice Department. The incident marked the third attempt on Trump’s life, following two separate assassination attempts in 2024.

Public attitudes surrounding the attack suggest the erosion of a shared reality may have reached a critical tipping point. Most notably, the partisan divide on the attack’s authenticity is stark. The survey finds almost half of Democrats (49%) and voters who backed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in 2024 (48%) believe the shooting was staged, while just 10% of Republicans say the same.

Meanwhile, 79% of Republicans believe the event was real, as do 77% of 2024 Trump voters. That number climbs to 87% among Republicans who identify as MAGA supporters. By comparison, just 31% of Democrats agree the attack was real.

Views among independents are mixed: 41% say it was real and 34% believe it was staged.

Uncertainty about whether the incident was real or not is highest among independents, with one quarter unsure (25%), followed by 2 in 10 Democrats (21%), and 1 in 10 Republicans (11%).

FOX NEWS POLL: 56% DOUBT WHITE HOUSE’S COMPETENCE AT MANAGING GOVERNMENT

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Republicans under age 45 are more than five times as likely as older Republicans to think the shooting was staged (22% vs. 4%).

Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts Fox News polls with Democrat Chris Anderson, stresses that the assassination attempt was undoubtedly real, warning that a growing denial of facts threatens the political process.

“When partisan polarization and political cynicism prevent us from agreeing on a common and obvious set of facts, it undercuts our ability to diagnose problems and develop policy solutions,” Shaw says. “This is especially troubling given that younger voters are among the most cynical about our politics and institutions.”

“These findings show what happens when public skepticism becomes embedded in the political culture,” adds Anderson. “When people are told that every major event could be manipulated or manufactured, disbelief itself becomes the default reaction.”

Voters under age 35 are nearly twice as likely as those ages 65 and over to think the shooting was fabricated (38% vs. 20%), as seniors are among those most likely to say it was real (65%).

There’s also a gender gap, as more women (35%) than men (25%) consider it staged.

More than 6 in 10 White evangelical Christians believe the shooting happened, while 2 in 10 don’t.

CLICK HERE FORCROSSTABSANDTOPLINE**

Conducted May 15-18, 2026, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,002 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (109) and cellphones (635) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (258). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data.

Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

As head of the polling unit, Dana Blanton runs the Fox News Poll and oversees the Fox News Voter Analysis election survey.