Influencer who helped expose Swalwell scandal reacts to new investigations

2026-04-15 6:32 PM EDT / CNN Politics

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Influencer who helped expose Swalwell scandal reacts to new investigations

The Lead

Arielle Fodor joins The Lead to talk about the allegations against former Rep. Eric Swalwell. Swalwell denies the allegations.

1:30 • Source: CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/15/politics/video/swalwell-allegations-investigation-california-lead-tapper

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白宫新闻秘书莱维特星期三在新闻发布会上强调，在白宫正式发布消息之前，一切都不能确定。 （路透社）

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白宫新闻秘书莱维特星期三说，有关美国正式要求延长美伊停火期限的报道不实，目前美伊双方可能再次举行面对面会谈的相关讨论还在进行中。

莱维特星期三（4月15日）在新闻发布会上说，在巴基斯坦斡旋下进行的对话“富有成效且仍在进行中”，“我们对达成协议的前景感到乐观。”

她说，下次会谈地点极有可能仍在巴基斯坦首都伊斯兰堡，巴基斯坦是这场谈判的唯一调解方。

伊朗外交部：美伊是否延长停火无法确认

伊朗外交部发言人巴加埃则说，有关美伊延长停火的相关猜测尚无法确认，需观察美国的外交立场是否具备实际诚意。

巴加埃星期三在德黑兰举行的记者会上说，美国“立场多次变化、表述相互矛盾”，即便达成某种共识，也难以确保会履行。

他称美伊对话是在非常复杂的情况下进行的，目前对话仍通过巴基斯坦作为中间方继续进行。

伊朗将评估是否与美举行下一轮谈判

另据伊朗塔斯尼姆通讯社星期三引述知情人士报道，伊方与巴基斯坦陆军参谋长穆尼尔率领的代表团举行会晤后，将进行必要评估，再决定是否与美国开展下一轮谈判。

知情人士透露，在黎巴嫩实现停火对伊朗参与下一轮谈判会是一个积极信号。与此同时，美国必须坚持合理的谈判框架，不能提出过分要求或违反停火前所作承诺。

星期三较早时，巴基斯坦军方发布声明说，穆尼尔和巴基斯坦内政部长纳克维星期三率领巴代表团抵达伊朗首都德黑兰，继续推进斡旋美伊谈判。

内坦亚胡：以美在伊朗问题上目标完全一致

2026年4月16日 07:23 / 联合早报

以色列总理内坦亚胡星期三说，以军即将占领并摧毁黎巴嫩真主党在黎南部的据点宾特朱拜勒。图为4月8日，这座真主党重镇遭以军空袭后升起浓烟。 （路透社）
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以色列总理内坦亚胡周三说，以色列和美国在遏制伊朗的目标上完全一致。

内坦亚胡星期三（4月15日）发表电视讲话说，美国一直在向以色列通报同伊朗的接触情况，“美国和我们的目标完全一致。”

“我们希望看到伊朗移除浓缩铀。我们希望看到伊朗彻底消除境内的浓缩铀能力。当然，我们也希望看到霍尔木兹海峡重新开放。”

内坦亚胡说，目前断言伊朗局势发展走向和结果为时尚早，战事“可能再度爆发”，以军已做好应对任何情况的准备。

以军即将占领真主党据点

内坦亚胡还说，以军即将占领黎巴嫩真主党在黎南部的据点宾特朱拜勒（Bint Jbeil）。

他说，以军正在持续打击真主党，战斗集中在宾特朱拜勒，以军即将占领并摧毁这座真主党重镇。

内坦亚胡说，他已指示以军继续扩大黎南部的缓冲区，同时与黎巴嫩就和平协议进行谈判。

“这些谈判已经超过40年没有举行了。现在之所以能够举行，是因为我们实力雄厚，而且其他国家——不仅仅是黎巴嫩——都主动向我们寻求合作。”

他重申，以色列与黎巴嫩的谈判有两个主要目标：一是瓦解真主党，二是实现“以实力换取”的可持续和平。

Two Americans sentenced to prison for North Korean tech worker scheme

2026-04-15 21:30:20 UTC / CNN

By Sean Lyngaas

PUBLISHED Apr 15, 2026, 5:30 PM ET

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This photo from the US District Court District of Massachusetts shows North Korean information technology workers on a multi-member team that the US Department of Justice says works with the North Korean government to fund its regime. Note: Parts of the image provided by the US District Court District of Massachusetts have been obscured.

US District Court District of Massachusetts

Two Americans have been sentenced to years in prison for their roles in a covert scheme that defrauded major US companies while generating $5 million for the North Korean regime, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Zhenxing “Danny” Wang, 39, and Kejia “Tony” Wang, 42, both of New Jersey, were alleged middlemen in an elaborate conspiracy that involved tricking Fortune 500 companies to hire overseas tech workers who stole the identities of various Americans. A federal court in Boston sentenced Zhenxing Wang to over seven years in prison and Kejia Wang to nine years in prison.

At the heart of the scheme were “laptop farms” — or clusters of US company-issued computers — that Wang and Wang allegedly managed from their homes in the US. Those laptops gave the overseas tech workers a foothold into major American companies to draw salaries and in one case steal export-controlled data from a California-based defense contractor.

Other companies who unwittingly paid the overseas tech workers include a semiconductor distributor in Massachusetts and a software development firm in California, according to prosecutors.

North Korea is increasingly turning to such schemes to circumvent sanctions and generate revenue for its nuclear weapons program, according to US officials. In 2024, prosecutors charged an Arizona woman in a similar scheme that compromised the identities of 60 Americans and affected 300 US companies, including a “premier” Silicon Valley tech firm.

The North Korean government has stolen billions of dollars in recent years by hacking cryptocurrency exchanges and using IT workers to infiltrate US tech firms, according to US officials and private experts.

The US government has tried to crack down on the schemes while publicly and privately warning companies across the country of the evolving threat from North Korean IT workers.

There’s still plenty of work to do: The State Department on Wednesday offered up to $5 million for information on several other people allegedly involved in generating revenue for the North Korean regime.

CNN has requested comment from attorneys who represented Wang and Wang. The pair previously pleaded guilty to charges related to the scheme.

The two men allegedly set up front companies in New Jersey to falsely claim that the tech workers were authorized to work in the US. Other members of the conspiracy allegedly used background-check firms to identify US persons whose identities they wanted to steal. At least 80 US persons had their identity stolen, according to prosecutors.

Networks of North Korean tech workers “increasingly rely on U.S.-based LLCs to create the appearance of legitimate employment,” said Michael Barnhart, a researcher at insider threat firm DTEX Systems.

“Pairing a US person, a US address, and a front company … the facilitators created the illusion of a legitimate domestic ‘effort’ allowing the IT workers to present themselves as U.S.-based without triggering suspicion during onboarding or daily workflows,” Barnhart told CNN, referring to the scheme connected to Wang and Wang.

“A growing number of staffing and recruiting agencies are unknowingly enabling this activity by vouching for these workers, claiming to have completed background checks and due diligence,” Barnhart said. He also warned that North Korean IT workers have embedded themselves at subcontractors “to reach larger targets” that contract with governments around the world.

“God of chaos” asteroid will pass close to Earth in 3 years, NASA says

April 15, 2026 / 3:43 PM EDT / CBS News

An asteroid the size of three football fields will pass near Earth in three years, giving scientists a rare chance to study a colossal space rock from close range.

Named Apophis — after the ancient Egyptian deity known as the “god of chaos” — the asteroid is expected to zoom past the planet on April 13, 2029, according to NASA. It will come within about 20,000 miles of Earth’s surface, which is closer than many orbiting satellites, the agency said. The highest satellites typically orbit around 22,000 miles above the equator.

Scientists consider Apophis to be “a potentially hazardous asteroid,” but NASA has reassured the public that it will safely clear Earth during its 2029 passage. After years of monitoring, scientists say they’re confident that there’s no risk of Earth impact for at least 100 years.

“There is no danger to Earth, to anyone or anything living on it, or to astronauts or satellites in space,” the agency said. “But the event is an amazing and totally unprecedented opportunity to learn much more about Apophis and similar near-Earth asteroids.”

This screengrab, taken from an animation created by NASA, shows the asteroid Apophis’ close approach with Earth in 2029. NASA

People on the ground in the Eastern Hemisphere will be able to observe the asteroid with their own eyes, weather permitting, according to NASA.

It’s extremely uncommon for an asteroid as large as Apophis to pass as close to Earth. NASA estimates such events happen once every few thousand years on average. If that estimate is correct, then the asteroid’s 2029 flyby will be the first of its kind in history to be closely observed with modern technology.

Although Apophis won’t endanger people on the ground when it passes by, Earth’s gravitational pull during the close encounter could potentially “stretch” and “squeeze” the asteroid, possibly triggering small landslides or other similar movements on its surface, NASA said.

How the asteroid responds will help scientists better understand Apophis and its composition. NASA scientists believe it’s made from leftover cosmic materials from the early solar system that were never part of any planets or moons.

Its mean diameter — a standardized measurement of the distance from one side of the rock to the other — is 1,115 feet, roughly the size of three football fields. The distance between the asteroid’s two farthest points is quite a bit longer, at 1,480 feet or more, NASA said. Its shape is not known, but observations suggest it could look something like a peanut.

Apophis was first discovered on June 19, 2004, by astronomers Roy Tucker, David Tholen and Fabrizio Bernardi at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. Another group of astronomers caught sight of the asteroid again, later that same year, at an observatory in Australia.

Dems ripped for ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ that could ‘shield’ fraud and abuse in California

2026-04-15 12:50:11 EDT / Fox News

The bill was authored by Assemblymember Mia Bonta, wife of California Attorney General Rob Bonta

By Elaine Mallon , Peter Pinedo Fox News

Published April 15, 2026 12:50pm EDT

Former Trump campaign deputy communications director Caroline Sunshine discusses independent journalist Nick Shirley’s videos on alleged fraud in California on ‘Fox News @ Night.’

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California Democrats are being ripped over a bill that one state assembly member has dubbed the “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” which he argues would “criminalize” investigative journalism.

The controversial bill, officially titled “Privacy for immigration support services providers,” creates privacy protections for immigration support service providers, employees and volunteers, including hiding their addresses and imposing penalties on those who publish their image on social media. Democratic lawmakers say the legislation is needed to protect people from targeted political violence.

However, critics, including Republican Assembly member Carl DeMaio, argue the bill would actually work to “silence citizen journalists and shield taxpayer-funded organizations from public scrutiny.”

The bill has already passed its earliest stages and currently sits in the California Assembly Judiciary Committee.

JOURNALIST WHO EXPOSED ALLEGED MINNESOTA FRAUD SAYS NEWSOM, CALIFORNIA ARE HIS NEXT TARGETS

Independent journalist Nick Shirley speaks during a roundtable discussion in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 2025.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

If the bill is signed into law, the California secretary of state will oversee a program that will conceal from public records the addresses of any person who has provided “designated immigration support services,” including services like health care, legal assistance and case management, if they have been subjected to threats, harassment or violence stemming from their work.

The California secretary of state will assign participants a substitute address, which will be used by local and state agencies, and will be tasked with forwarding mail to program participants’ real address.

The legislation also prohibits private citizens or businesses from posting the image, personal information or home address of any program participant online or on social media if the intent is to threaten the immigration support services worker or incite violence from a third party.

A participant covered under the program could file a complaint in court against a person or organization that posts their image and could be awarded up to $4,000.

CALIFORNIA FRAUD CONCERNS RAMP UP AS MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO MASSIVE SCHEME USING TAXPAYERS AS HIS ‘PIGGY BANK’

Assembly member Mia Bonta attends a press conference in Hayward, California, March 2, 2026.(Jessica Christian/San Francisco Chronicle)

Violators of the law could face additional criminal penalties, including a $10,000 fine or up to one year in jail.

“This bill will ensure that we have an opportunity, when people are being harassed, doxed, subjected to violence, to be able to have the ability to protect themselves,” the author of the bill, Democratic Assembly member Mia Bonta, the wife of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, said during a legislative session.

Republican lawmakers like DeMaio argue the legislation would have a chilling effect on the work of citizen journalists.

YOUTUBER TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS ON MINNESOTA’S MASSIVE $9B FRAUD NETWORK INVESTIGATION

“AB 2624 would allow activists and taxpayer-funded organizations to demand the removal of video evidence — even if it captures misconduct in plain view — and threatens journalists with massive financial penalties,” DeMaio said in a statement. “That’s not about public safety — it’s about protecting powerful interests.”

The bill’s introduction follows investigations by independent journalists, including Shirley, that exposed alleged fraud schemes in the Democratic-controlled state. In March, Shirley published a video alleging $170 million in fraud was committed by registered hospice care and healthcare companies. Shirley visited various locations of the registered clinics, showing him interacting with the alleged fraudsters.

Since the report went public, Vice President JD Vance, who also serves as the administration fraud czar, announced the federal government has suspended 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies suspected of fraud in Los Angeles. The total fraud estimated in those schemes is more than $600 million.

Nick Shirley and Gov. Gavin Newsom(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

FEDERAL PROSECUTOR CALLS NEWSOM ‘KING OF FRAUD’ AS TRUMP LAUNCHES CALIFORNIA CORRUPTION PROBE

“California Democrats are trying to intimidate citizen watchdog journalists and protect waste and fraud happening in far-Left-wing NGOs,” DeMaio said in a statement.

Shirley said it was “absolutely crazy” that fraud organizations, which may allegedly provide services to immigrants, are able to hide under the letter of the law.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Bonta, DeMaio and Shirley for comment.

Shirley accused Democrats of trying to scare away independent journalists from looking into fraud during an appearance on “The Will Cain Show” on Tuesday.

“They’re trying to make it so citizen journalists or just average Americans who are going about seeing what’s happening inside their community — they’re trying to scare them from talking about potential fraud taking place inside of these communities,” Shirley said.

“They’re literally willing to impose a $10,000 fine or imprisonment if you go and seek to find out the truth about a location that could potentially be fraudulent inside your own neighborhood.”

Fox News Digital’s Max Bacall contributed to this report.

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

Tax enforcement weakened after Trump job cuts, IRS data shows

2026-04-15 16:17:44 UTC / Reuters

By Jacob Bogage

April 15, 2026 4:17 PM UTC Updated 4 hours ago

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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building is seen in Washington, U.S. September 28, 2020. REUTERS/Erin Scott/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• IRS enforcement revenue fell 5% in 2025 after mass staffing cuts
• DOGE oversaw IRS staffing reductions
• Experts warn IRS cuts shift audits to low-income taxpayers, harm high-end compliance

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) – The Trump administration dramatically reduced efforts to pursue tax cheats in 2025, ​government data shows, shedding tens of thousands of employees at the Internal Revenue Service, including those charged with ‌enforcement.

The result was a 5% decline in revenue collected through enforcement actions, or almost $5 billion, in the fiscal year, according to data obtained by Reuters through the Freedom of Information Act. The agency opened more than 120,000 fewer tax audits, opens new tab in 2025 than in the year prior, the Taxpayer Advocate ​Service, the IRS’ internal watchdog, reported.

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The vast majority of revenue collected through tax enforcement comes from unpaid balances. Audits ​are often years-long processes that do not immediately yield revenue.

Treasury Department officials told Reuters that the ⁠IRS has seen a 12% increase in enforcement revenue in the first five months of the 2026 fiscal year, which began ​October 1.

The Department of Government Efficiency, the now-defunct cost-cutting agency created by President Donald Trump and led by billionaire Elon Musk, oversaw ​mass staffing cuts at the IRS that carved into every aspect of the tax agency.

But the IRS’s enforcement arm lost roughly 5,000 of its employees headed into 2026 and is on track to cut another 5,000 in the coming year, according to the agency’s budget projection.

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Frank Bisignano, the CEO ​of the IRS and Social Security Administration Commissioner, told the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday that the tax agency was reviewing ​the “tax gap,” or the amount of taxes owed but not paid, to see what quantity is “addressable.”

Completely eliminating the tax gap, experts say, would require ‌the IRS ⁠to act far more aggressively than Americans are generally used to.

Bisignano said he would soon return to the committee with “a plan to drive the number down and you’ll have the resources allocated and the technology” to recoup the unpaid sums.

The moves at the IRS essentially wipe out one of the Biden administration’s signature achievements, sending tens of billions of dollars to the agency to increase ​tax scrutiny of major corporations ​and wealthy individuals.

At its height ⁠during the Biden administration, the IRS employed 103,000 people, opens new tab, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. It aims to employ about 69,000 by the 2027 fiscal year, which begins October 1.

Before ​that infusion of cash, the IRS had struggled for years with its finances as Republicans in ​Congress blocked funding ⁠for the agency intended to help it maintain its outdated technology systems and retain high-skilled staff.

That led the IRS to move enforcement away from businesses and wealthy individuals and toward low-income taxpayers whom it costs less to audit, the Taxpayer Advocate Service has reported.

“I think ⁠that the ​agency has suffered potentially irreparable harm because it wasn’t as if we ​were starting off from a system of tax administration that was modernized and set up to pursue compliance on the high end of the income spectrum,” said ​Natasha Sarin, the president and cofounder of the Yale Budget Lab, a financial think tank.

Reporting by Jacob Bogage, Editing by Nick Zieminski

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‘Privileged’ Hunter Biden, spared by dad’s pardon, blasts Trump’s clemency power

April 15, 2026 1:07pm EDT / Fox News

Hunter said he is ‘filled with gratitude to my dad’ while acknowledging he is ‘uniquely situated’

By Ashley J. DiMella Fox News

Former first son Hunter Biden acknowledged he is “completely biased” about the sweeping pardon his father granted him in 2024, renewing attention on former President Joe Biden’s decision to reverse course after publicly ruling out clemency for his son.

“I’m completely biased as it relates to what my dad did for me. I fully understand how uniquely situated I am in being privileged enough to have received a pardon from my father,” Hunter said in an interview published Tuesday by liberal outlet MediasTouch, when asked if there should be reforms made to presidential pardons.

The remarks put fresh attention on Biden’s decision to pardon his son after repeatedly pledging he would not – a reversal that undercut Democrats’ longtime “no one is above the law” message as Hunter Biden faced federal gun and tax charges.

Hunter Biden added that he was not in the position to weigh in on potential presidential pardon reforms following his father’s order, but went on to slam the Trump administration for its pardons since 2025 – including more than 1,000 individuals pardoned from prosecution related to the Jan. 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol.

PRESIDENT BIDEN PARDONS HIS SIBLINGS JUST MINUTES BEFORE LEAVING OFFICE

A photo shows U.S. President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden stepping out of a bookstore while shopping in Nantucket, Massachusetts on Nov. 29, 2024.(Mandel Ngan/AFP)

Biden reversed course in the final months of his presidency, and issued a sweeping pardon to his son. Hunter Biden was pardoned for any offense he “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.

Hunter Biden said that he was “filled with gratitude” to his dad when discussing the pardon.

In September 2024, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges in California for a scheme evading over $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019. He was also convicted in Delaware in June 2024 for lying on a federal form about his drug use to purchase a firearm in 2018.

Hunter Biden also pointed fingers at the current first family in the interview, saying, “I don’t think that the founders ever imagined Donald Trump. I don’t think they ever imagined the Trump family.”

DAVID AXELROD QUESTIONS BIDEN’S MASCULINITY AFTER LAST-SECOND FAMILY PARDONS: ‘MAN UP’

“I don’t think people understand is that, in the first year, I think—I don’t know the exact number—I think my dad gave 80 or so pardons over a four-year period of time. I think that that’s about the number,” said Hunter Biden.

He added, “Donald Trump has given over 1,500 pardons in the first year alone. But I’m obviously—I’m not the one to be, I don’t think, fairly or unbiasedly talking about the presidential pardon vote.”

Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, arrives at the federal court on the opening day of his trial on criminal gun charges in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., June 3, 2024.(Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Trump did not pardon any of his children during his first administration. He did pardon the father of his son-in-law, Charles Kushner, in December 2020. Charles Kushner had served over a year in federal prison for tax evasion, witness retaliation, and campaign finance violations.

“President Trump has exercised his constitutional authority to issue pardons and commutations for a variety of individuals, including those who have been victims of Biden’s weaponized justice system,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

“And the only pardons anyone should be critical of are from President Autopen, who pardoned and commuted sentences of violent criminals including child killers and mass murderers – and that’s not to mention the proactive pardons he ‘signed’ for his family members like Hunter on his way out the door.”

Biden issued pardons to his son, Hunter, brother James, sister-in-law Sara, sister Valerie, and brother Francis before leaving office.(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)

Biden also issued pardons to his brother James, sister-in-law Sara, sister Valerie, and brother Francis, defending the move as protection from attacks and threats from Trump.

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Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Hungary’s new leader has vowed to wean his country off Russian energy. It will be a painful transition.

April 15, 2026 / 1:08 PM EDT / CBS News

By Aidan Stretch

Kyiv – In the hours before Peter Magyar defeatedHungary’s longtime leader Viktor Orbán in Sunday’s landmark election, Magyar’s supporters filled the streets of Budapest chanting “Russians out!”

The mandate was clear for the incoming prime minister, who had described Orbán as a “puppet of the Kremlin” in his campaign speeches and long pledged to reduce Russia’s influence in Hungary.

The question now is whether Magyar will make good on that promise. As he attempts to pull Hungary out of Russia’s sphere of influence, he faces a central roadblock: Magyar will have to find ways to wean his country off Russia’s cheap energy products, which have, during many years of close ties, been a lifeline for Hungary’s ailing economy.

Experts say there are alternatives to Russian energy — but they warn that the new prime minister and his constituents will have to accept financial trade-offs to make the transition.

Hungary’s prime minister-elect Peter Magyar delivers a press statement in front of the Presidential Palace in Budapest on April 15, 2026. Janos Kummer / Getty Images

During his 16 years in power, Orbán deepened Hungary’s reliance on Russian oil, gas and nuclear power. Hungary gets the majority of its crude oil via Russia’s Druzhba pipeline, and most of its natural gas through contracts with Russia’s state-owned gas giant Gazprom.

Hungary’s nuclear power plants rely heavily on Russia’s state-owned energy company Rosatom, which has been building reactors at the Hungarian Paks Nuclear Power Plant since 2014.

Some degree of reliance was difficult to avoid. Hungary is a landlocked country with limited direct access to global energy markets, making pipeline infrastructure central to its supplies. Much of its crude oil arrives via the Druzhba pipeline, and its refineries are calibrated specifically for Russian-grade crude, making diversification technically and financially challenging.

But there are alternatives.

“Technically, Hungary could do without Russian oil and gas,” Sergey Vakulenko, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told CBS News.

Hungary’s domestic oil consumption, Vakulenko said, could be covered by the Adria pipeline, which transports crude from the Adriatic Sea to refineries in Croatia, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia. Vakulenko noted that Hungary could also rely more on the continental European energy grid to fulfil its gas needs, albeit at higher costs.

Throughout his campaign, Magyar signaled that he is serious about turning to these alternative sources of energy. Anita Orbán, the woman expected to serve as his foreign minister (no relation to Viktor Orbán), has identified reducing consumption of Russian energy as a key priority for the new government.

“Less dependence on Russian energy has been her thing for 20 years,” Balázs Váradi, founder of the Budapest Institute for Policy Analysis, told CBS News.

The transition will be expensive.

Vakulenko noted that oil imported via the Adria pipeline would carry an international market price much higher than the discounted rates Hungary has been paying for Russian crude. Hungary continues to rely heavily on Russian fuel to power its nuclear power plant, too.

Quitting a Russian natural gas habit will also be complicated for Hungary.

The European Union, of which Hungary is a member, has pledged to eliminate Russian natural gas imports by 2027, but even Magyar admitted during his campaign that it would likely be infeasible for his country by that deadline.

He is targeting a 2035 cutoff instead.

“He might bargain about a deadline,” Varadi said. “The thrust of Magyar’s policy will be clear, but he will be quite cash-strapped, so I expect them to bargain hard with the EU for more structural funds as a quid pro quo.”

In his first press conference since the April 12 elections, Magyar was clear-eyed about these challenges.

“No one can change geography. Russia and Hungary are here to stay. The government will procure crude oil and gas in the cheapest and safest way possible,” he said.

Still, experts remain cautiously optimistic that a gradual realignment may soon be underway.

“None of these points is a complete killer,” Vakulenko said. “But this is a decision of principles versus economics.”

US envoy Waltz appears to torpedo Bachelet as next UN leader

2026-04-15 19:07:22 UTC / Reuters

By David Brunnstrom and Patricia Zengerle

April 15, 2026 7:07 PM UTC Updated 1 hour ago

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Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, a candidate for UN Secretary-General, speaks at an event commemorating the 20th anniversary of the first government presided over by a woman at the University of Valparaiso in Valparaiso, Chile, March 31, 2026. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido/File Photo

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. envoy to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, appeared to torpedo the ​candidacy of former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to be the next leader of the world body on ‌Wednesday by saying he shared a U.S. senator’s concerns about her fitness for the job.

At a U.S. Senate committee hearing, Republican Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska charged that Bachelet had pulled punches as U.N. human rights chief in a 2022 report in failing to label China’s ​actions against Uyghur Muslims as genocide, and has also promoted abortion as a fundamental human right.

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Waltz said he ​was not currently in a position to say whom the United States would support to ⁠replace U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and whom it would oppose. But he said in response to Ricketts, “I share your concerns.”

He ​added that he was sure that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also shared the concerns.

A new United Nations secretary-general will ​be elected this year for a five-year term starting on January 1, 2027.

Support of the five permanent veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council – the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France – is vital for a candidate to succeed.

Bachelet also fell foul of China over the ​Uyghur report, which said the detention of Uyghurs and other Muslims in the country’s Xinjiang province may constitute crimes ​against humanity.

A representative for Bachelet’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Waltz said the conventional wisdom and in New York, where ‌the ⁠United Nations has its headquarters, was that because there had never been a female secretary general, or one from Latin America, that the future U.N. leader should therefore be a Latin American woman.

“We have taken the position of we just need the best,” he said. “And this institution desperately needs strong, effective leadership.”

Waltz said, “reform, reform, reform … and getting back to basics ​on peace and security will be ​at the top of ⁠our criteria.”

So far four candidates have been nominated, including Bachelet, Chile’s first female head of state, who twice served as president of the South American nation.

In March, Chile withdrew its ​backing for her candidacy after a change in leadership in the country and a ​sharp shift to ⁠the right, but she said she would press ahead with support from Brazil and Mexico.

Bachelet was U.N. high commissioner for human rights from 2018-22 and executive director of U.N. Women from 2010-13.

The other declared candidates are Rafael Grossi, a veteran Argentine diplomat ⁠who is ​currently director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rebeca Grynspan, a former vice ​president of Costa Rica, and Macky Sall, the former president of Senegal.

The candidates are due to take part in interactive dialogues next week at the United ​Nations that will be broadcast live, starting with Bachelet on Tuesday.

Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Patricia Zengerle Editing by Nick Zieminski

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