Kamala Harris joins calls for ‘slowdown’ in AI development

2026-09-14T22:55:42.649Z / CNN

Former Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday warned of the “alarming speed” at which artificial intelligence is progressing, joining calls from some industry leaders for a “slowdown” in the technology’s development amid growing public concerns.

“The frontier of artificial intelligence is advancing at an alarming speed. Over the weekend, industry leaders voiced support for an idea that the American people and many AI researchers in their own labs have been calling for: We must responsibly slow the pace of frontier AI development,” she said on X. “A slowdown is critical in order to ensure AI serves the public interest.”

While she praised the ability of AI to make progress in important sectors, like medicine, she said the technology needs “sensible guardrails so that AI does not completely escape human control and endanger our safety and collective future.”

The debate around artificial intelligence has ramped up in recent days, with some politicians and tech executives calling for greater government regulation of the industry while President Donald Trump has deemed the concerns about AI a “HOAX” and part of a “SICK conspiracy.”

In a sign of the issue’s political potency, former President Barack Obama, speaking at a private fundraiser alongside House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, last week urged Democrats, including those considering running for president in 2028, to put AI at the center of their agendas. “This is something that is moving very fast in private hands, and if we don’t get on top of it, I think can be dangerous,” he said.

Harris, who is seen as a possible 2028 contender after falling short of winning the presidency in 2024, called for Congress to establish a federal oversight agency and urged Trump, her former rival, to work towards an international treaty to address AI.

“The United States must continue to lead the world in developing AI technology even as we seek to impose common-sense safety standards,” she said. “This means that the president must do his job to protect America’s interests by pursuing a treaty with countries like China to stop dangerous uses of AI, limit the speed of its development, and adopt global standards for testing.”

Trump, however, has fiercely rejected calls for a slowdown in a series of social media posts in recent days downplaying safety concerns and hyping up the need to stay competitive with China.

“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump said on Monday. “We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies! There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China.”

Trump’s stance appears to be at odds with the growing public concerns about AI’s development. Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei penned a lengthy essay calling for a slowdown in the development of artificial intelligence. In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Saturday, Amodei called on industry leaders to work together to avoid “the wrong paths” and the possibility of AI harming humanity.

Pete Buttigieg, a former Transportation secretary whose name is also in the mix for 2028, has also emphasized the stakes of the technology and over the weekend argued that the government need to address AI “head on.”

“AI is moving quickly. And for Congress to just sit on its hands, for the White House to do nothing real is something that is deeply dangerous to the American people and the world,” Buttigieg said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “There need to be safeguards. There need to be rules. There need to be limits. There needs to be a kill switch on rogue AI. You can set up frameworks that can be adjusted and changed every 30 days.”

https://www.cnn.com/business/video/anderson-cooper-anthropic-ceo-dario-amodei-could-ai-kill-humans-digvid

US judge blocks Trump limits on how long foreign students, journalists can stay

September 14, 2026 9:27 PM UTC / Reuters

By Nate Raymond

An information sign for passport and visa appointments is displayed outside the U.S. embassy in London, Britain, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• Rule would cap duration of visas for international students at four years
• Judge says DHS adopted policy on ‘exceptionally weak’ rationales
• Judge says universities would face enrollment declines if rule took effect

BOSTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday blocked U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing a new rule that ‌would limit how long foreign students and journalists can remain in the U.S. without applying for extensions.

U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor in Boston ruled, opens new tab in favor of a coalition of unions and higher education advocacy groups a day before the Department of Homeland Security’s ​rule was set to take effect.

The Misinformation Monitor newsletter rounds up international misinformation narratives, with a “Real or Fake?” quiz in every edition. Sign up here.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

Saylor said DHS adopted the policy based on “exceptionally weak” rationales. The agency had ​cited national security and the need to prevent fraud in the visa program, but the ⁠judge found it had not adhered to its legal obligations to engage with concerns about a policy change or ​consider less burdensome alternatives.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The judge, an appointee of Republican President George ​W. Bush, wrote that, opens new tab the rule upended a system through which the U.S. for nearly five decades had issued visas to foreign students for their “duration of status.”

That system, he said, has permitted tens of millions of foreign students and researchers to come to the U.S., leading ​to “groundbreaking research in science, medicine, and technology, substantial economic growth, and a host of other benefits, often on a ​vast scale.”

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

Saylor said the rule DHS adopted in July seeks to replace that system with one that would substantially restrict the overall ‌number ⁠of foreign students, professors and journalists in the country.

Under the rule, F visas for international students and J visas that allow visitors on cultural exchange programs to work in the U.S. would be capped at four years, while I visas for journalists, which currently can last years, would be up to 240 days.

About 1.6 million people currently ​have F visas and another ​500,000 have J visas. Major ⁠research universities like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard have large percentages of foreign students, particularly at the graduate level, the judge noted.

If the rule took effect, such ​universities would likely suffer hundreds of millions of dollars in costs and enrollment would ​decline, Saylor said.

“The ⁠damage to the higher education system and to the economy of the United States is likely to be catastrophic,” Saylor wrote.

Miriam Feldblum, the head of one of the plaintiffs, Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, said the judge’s ruling recognized the ⁠harm the ​rule would cause to international students, universities and the economy if it ​was allowed to take effect.

“While the case continues, this relief preserves the longstanding system that enables our colleges and universities — and our country — to ​attract, educate, and retain global talent,” Feldblum said.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by David Gregorio and Rosalba O’Brien

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed says leaders must address ‘unpaid debts’ to Black communities

El-Sayed said ‘unpaid debts’ owed to Black communities have ‘long since come due’

2026-09-14 6:43pm EDT / Fox News

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said Saturday that the country must confront what he described as “unpaid debts” owed to Black communities, arguing that leaders have a responsibility to “understand” and “address” them.

El-Sayed — who is facing Republican nominee and former Rep. Mike Rogers in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races — made the remarks while speaking at a meeting with women faith leaders hosted by the Woman Difference Collaborative in Detroit, according to a video shared by C-SPAN.

“When it comes to black communities in Michigan — when it comes to black communities in America — there are unpaid debts that have long since come due that we are unwilling to acknowledge, let alone pay down,” El-Sayed said. “And I understand that we need leaders who are going to understand those debts and address them.”

ABDUL EL-SAYED PROTESTED AGAINST ‘EX-TERRORISTS’ WHO CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY, UNEARTHED REPORT REVEALS

Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said that the country must confront what he described as “unpaid debts” owed to Black communities.(Sarah Rice/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

El-Sayed made the remarks while responding to a question about how he plans to energize Democratic voters who did not support him in the primary.

He said his approach is to keep showing up, engaging with voters and emphasizing his record.

“But the question for me is, within my power have I done my best?” El-Sayed said. “And I will challenge people to look at my history and say, ‘Yeah, that man hasn’t done everything he could around the problems he says he cares about.’”

ABDUL EL-SAYED DISMISSES QUESTIONS ABOUT HASAN PIKER TIES ON ‘FACE THE NATION,’ PIVOTS TO GROCERIES

Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, a former U.S. representative, is pictured here.(Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

During his response, El-Sayed highlighted his work on infant and maternal mortality, asthma and lead exposure.

He also called for expanding access to capital for small businesses and increasing investment in housing and schools.

El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, unsuccessfully ran for Michigan governor in 2018 before launching his Senate campaign.

EL-SAYED’S LIBERAL AGENDA CLASHES WITH MUSLIM VOTERS WHO BACK HIM ANYWAY: ‘MALE VERSION’ OF ILHAN OMAR

El-Sayed and Rogers are competing in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races.(Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Detroit event also featured discussion of El-Sayed’s public health record, U.S. aid to Israel, his endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, campaign attack ads from Rogers and criminal justice issues, according to C-SPAN.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

El-Sayed’s campaign could not immediately be reached by Fox News Digital for comment.

Sophia Compton is a Writer at Fox News Digital. Sophia was previously a business reporter covering finance, energy and tourism and has experience as a TV news producer. She graduated with a journalism degree in 2021 from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Story tips can be sent to sophia.compton@fox.com.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6405015091112

Texas Republican denounces racist posts from GOP candidate

2026-09-14 19:19 EDT / CNN

By Jake Tapper, CNN

Updated 7:19 PM EDT, Mon September 14, 2026

Texas Republican denounces racist posts from GOP candidate

The Lead

Republican congressman Pete Sessions of Texas joins The Lead

1:26 • Source: CNN

Trump nominates Republican lawmaker as ambassador to Saudi Arabia

September 14, 2026 9:57 PM UTC / Updated 1 hour ago / By Reuters

Rep. Wesley Hunt (TX) speaks during Day 1 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 15, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday ​nominated Texas Republican Representative ‌Wesley Hunt to be ambassador to Saudi Arabia, which ​would fill a position ​vacant since Trump began his ⁠second term in ​January 2025.

Hunt, a U.S. Army ​veteran once deployed to Iraq and Saudi Arabia, is not ​running for re-election to ​the House, after making an unsuccessful ‌bid ⁠for the U.S. Senate.

The Misinformation Monitor newsletter rounds up international misinformation narratives, with a “Real or Fake?” quiz in every edition. Sign up here.

If his nomination is approved by the U.S. Senate, ​Hunt ​would go ⁠to Riyadh at a time when ​months of war ​on ⁠Iran have raised fears of wider conflict and Yemen’s ⁠Iran-aligned ​Houthis have launched ​attacks on Saudi Arabia.

Reporting by Patricia ​Zengerle; Editing by Daniel Wallis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Yet another Dem ripped online for ‘inventing racism’ as lawmakers peddle debunked ‘lynching’ claims

2026-09-14T16:40:00-04:00 / Fox News

Critics compared the Ohio congresswoman’s post to the Jussie Smollett hoax as most cited hanging deaths were ruled suicides

By Peter D’Abrosca Fox News

Published September 14, 2026 4:40pm EDT

‘The Squad’ faces backlash over claims ‘modern-day lynchings’ are now common in America

Controversial claims of ‘modern-day lynchings’ by progressive lawmakers spark intense debate on ‘The Big Weekend Show.’ After Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and 50 Democrats demanded a federal probe into hanging deaths, the panel analyzes the rhetoric. While activists stoke fear, officials have ruled most of the 10 cited cases as suicides, with only one Mississippi death currently investigated as a homicide.

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

blob:https://www.foxnews.com/55cffac3-a18c-4b5c-8715-3713136a5d0d

Listen to this article

4 min

An Ohio congresswoman is facing major blowback online after suggesting that lynchings are on the rise in the United States, despite that claim being widely debunked last week.

“In the last year, there’s been an alarming increase in Black Americans found dead hanging from trees. We know what that has meant throughout our history,” said Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, on X. “That’s why I’ve joined Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass. to demand a federal investigation into possible lynchings.”

Fox News Digital reviewed some high-profile cases after Pressley’s letter to the DOJ demanding “thorough, transparent, and comprehensive federal investigation into every hanging death of a Black individual across the United States.” Last week, Pressley and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., posted about the letter on their X accounts, drawing blowback and widespread debunking of the suggestion that there has been an uptick in lynchings.

Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, takes her seat for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing with “Sanctuary State Governors” in the Capitol Visitor Center on Thursday, June 12, 2025.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

GOVERNOR BLAMES ACTIVISTS IN NOLAN WELLS CASE FOR ‘STOKING DIVISION,’ OFFICIAL SAYS FBI PROBING THREATS

Ocasio-Cortez called the incidents “racial terror” and likened them to “widespread modern-day lynchings.”

An investigation into the March death of a 21-year-old man found hanging from a tree in Cobb County, Georgia, concluded that the man was alone at the time, and no foul play is suspected.

Police in Charlotte, North Carolina determined that a 16-year-old found hanging from a tree in May died by suicide. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Department in Florida came to the same conclusion in the similar death of a 27-year-old in June. At least three more similar cases were ruled suicides.

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

One is still under investigation. The high-profile case of Tasia Fortune, also found hanging from a tree, is being treated as a homicide. A Black male suspect, Jarques Ratliff, has been arrested.

The facts didn’t stop Brown from perpetuating the claim of prolific hangings.

SOCIALIST POLITICIANS ARE ‘MORE RACIST THAN THE KKK,’ SAYS BLACK DEM OFFICIAL URGING VOTERS TO DITCH EL-SAYED

Tasia Fortune is seen in a portrait displayed Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Marion, Kentucky. Inset: Jarques Ratliff, who was arrested in connection to Fortune’s death.(AP Photo/George Walker IV | Jackson Police Department)

“For generations, trees were used as instruments of terror against Black Americans,” Brown said in a video attached to the post. “Lynching was used to intimidate entire communities, and those deaths almost always went without justice and without accountability. So, when Black Americans are found hanging from trees today, in unfamiliar places and under circumstances that raise serious questions, we cannot look the other way.”

For the post, Brown was widely condemned online.

“Inventing racism. Purposely misleading and pernicious,” said actor Dean Cain of “Superman” fame.

KARMELO ANTHONY VERDICT DRAWS ANTI-WHITE RAGE AND LIES FROM RADICAL DEM CONGRESSWOMAN, ANGRY ACTIVISTS

“No no and no,” said a popular X user with more than 250,000 followers. “I get it, Democrats have spent decades creating racism where none exists, especially right before an election. But nobody is buying this, especially when we know the majority were suicides and oh yeah, the man arrested for the homicide is a black guy. Stop.”

“This is how Democrats stir up racial divide when there isn’t one,” said podcaster Don Keith, adding that Brown was trying to “blame black suicides and homicides on white people now.”

“Apparently it’s 2019 again and Jussie Smollett is walking to a Subway…,” said podcaster Margo Chatting, referencing the actor’s infamous hate crime hoax wherein he claimed he was attacked by White Trump supporters, only for an investigation to find that he faked the attack.

Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, speaks as Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., listens during a news conference in front of the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 14, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Bowman held the news conference to discuss the “African American History Act.”(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Author Dan Friedman laid into the congresswoman.

“You know these were all suicides, except one domestic violence murder in which the perpetrator was a black man. Some of these people were literally seen hanging themselves on security cameras,” he said.

“You cannot possibly be stupid enough to believe that mobs of white racists are abducting black men at random for no reason, hanging them from trees, disappearing without a trace and that law enforcement officials who are often black are covering it up. So, if you are not stupid, you are lying and being disingenuous. The question is, why?”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Brown’s office did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Peter D’Abrosca is a politics reporter at Fox News Digital.

Mitch McConnell returns to the Senate after three-month absence due to health issues

2026-09-14T21:44:44.182Z / CNN

Sen. Mitch McConnell returned to Capitol Hill on Monday for the first time after a three-month absence due to health issues.

McConnell arrived at the Capitol for the evening vote series in a wheelchair, his appearance noticeably thinner and his speech slower than before his prolonged absence. The 84-year-old was hospitalized on June 14, but did not initially disclose the reason for the hospitalization, leading to weeks of speculation over his health status.

The Kentucky Republican briefly spoke to reporters upon his return Monday, saying it’s “time to get back to work,” but he did not answer questions, including whether he should have been more transparent about his health during his absence.

“I must admit, after two years — two decades, actually — dodging your questions, I wasn’t sure how many of you would be here today, but I’m glad to see you,” he said.

“Time to get back to work, finish the job for this Congress,” he said, pointing to passing the annual farm bill and aiding Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier,” McConnell said in a statement released as he was en route to the Capitol.

He said he’s “still not quite back to 100%,” but he assured Senate Majority Leader John Thune that “as I continue with physical therapy on the advice of my doctors, I will do my best to be present for tough votes when our Conference needs me.”

Thune said he is “hopeful” he can rely on McConnell’s presence at votes, but “as much as he can do, we welcome having him here.” The South Dakota Republican noted they spoke last week.

“He was asking a lot of questions about the campaigns, and, you know, he’s still dialed into all that stuff,” Thune said.

Several weeks after his hospitalization, McConnell released a statement revealing he had suffered a fall and later contracted pneumonia. The former Senate GOP leader said he had been “briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital.”

On August 6, McConnell announced he would continue his recovery at home after a stint in a rehabilitation facility following his hospitalization.

The Senate returned to session in Washington, DC, on Monday after a five-week summer recess.

The Kentucky Republican’s lengthy absence from Capitol Hill and the delay in disclosing why he had been hospitalized led to widespread speculation about his health and calls for greater transparency.

In July, Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear sent a letter to McConnell, saying that residents of the state “have grown increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and wellbeing, and ability to hold office in the United States Senate.”

“As Governor, I request that you fully update Kentuckians regarding the current status of your health,” he wrote.

McConnell announced last year he would not run for reelection in 2026. Republican Rep. Andy Barr, endorsed by Trump, will take on Democratic former state lawmaker Charles Booker in the November election to replace the longtime senator.

CNN previously reported that emergency responders took McConnell to an ambulance on a stretcher after being called to his home in June for a report of an unconscious person, according to video of the incident and an eyewitness account.

In McConnell’s July statement, he said he was “briefly unconscious” after he fell, but said his doctors “confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages.”

Along with his own statement, McConnell included a note from the attending physician of Congress, who described the injuries after the fall at his Washington home as “minor.” The physician added that “McConnell has experienced several falls throughout the year that have been attributed to his post-polio condition.”

The former Senate GOP leader is a childhood polio survivor, and has faced a series of health issues in recent years, including multiple falls. In 2023, he froze midsentence during a press conference in the Capitol.

In July, McConnell indirectly addressed why it took so long to share what sent him to the hospital.

“You all know how folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older. Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct — I can’t help it,” he said.

He added, “You’re right to expect your representatives to work hard for you. And part of my decision to retire at the end of my term this coming January was being honest about the demands of Senate work. But I still have unfinished business to complete on your behalf, and I have every intention of finishing the job you elected me to do.”

王毅：中国将尽最大努力继续搜救泥石流外方失联人员

2026年9月15日 07:20 / 联合早报

王毅说，中国将尽最大努力继续搜救包括拉脱维亚公民在内的西藏泥石流外方失联人员。图为9月6日拍摄的吉隆泥石流灾害核心区搜寻现场。 （新华社）

中共中央政治局委员、外交部长王毅说，中国将尽最大努力继续搜救包括拉脱维亚公民在内的西藏泥石流外方失联人员。

据中新社报道，王毅星期一（9月14日）应约同拉脱维亚外长布拉泽通电话。

布拉泽说，33名拉脱维亚公民在尼泊尔和中国西藏自治区泥石流灾害中失联。灾害发生后，感谢中方所做通报和搜救工作以及对失联人员家属的诚挚慰问。拉方愿同中方加强沟通协作，共同做好后续工作。

王毅表示，尼泊尔一侧突发冰岩崩引发泥石流灾害，给中国西藏吉隆县造成重大人员伤亡和失联。拉脱维亚是失联人数最多的欧洲国家。面对这一突如其来的悲剧，谨再次向拉方特别是失联人员家属表示诚挚慰问。中方对中外人员一视同仁，全力以赴开展救助，将尽最大努力继续搜救拉方等外方失联人员，妥善做好后续处置。

据新华社英文版此前报道，截至9月5日傍晚6时，灾害在中方一侧造成43人死亡，另有519人失踪，包括23国的261名外国公民。部分遇难者的身份已确认，但迄今没有外国公民。为保护失联外国公民的隐私，相关人员的姓名和具体信息尚未公开，但已通过外交渠道告知有关国家驻华使领馆。

Supreme Court rejects Trump’s plan to limit mail-in voting in midterms

2026-09-14T23:34:22.474Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/14/politics/supreme-court-rejects-trump-plan-to-limit-mail-in-voting-in-midterms

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to change how mail ballots are sent to voters across the country, rebuffing a proposal that election officials warned would have had catastrophic consequences if allowed to take effect for this year’s midterms.

In one of the most significant cases to appear on the court’s quick-turn docket in years, a majority of the justices blocked the procedure that would have given the US Postal Service the unprecedented power to withhold potentially millions of mail ballots.Even some GOP election officials cautioned that the proposal could lead to chaos and mass disenfranchisement.

The court said that the administration “is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge” in its brief order. Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.

The decision is a significant loss for the president, who for years has railed against mail voting with false allegations of extensive fraud, while continuing to vote by mail himself.

The administration had framed its proposal as a “modest” change to postal regulations intended to protect against that alleged fraud. Trump’s critics, however, described the maneuver as an unconstitutional power grab that the US Postal Service wasn’t even fully prepared to carry out.

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a member of the court’s conservative wing, wrote a concurrence explaining that he thought the proposal may be within the authority of the USPS, but that “state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections.”

In his dissent, Alito said he didn’t believe the practical concerns of implementing the rule raised by many election officials was enough for the states and voting rights groups that challenged the rule to win.

“The government has a strong interest in enforcing the rule, and implementing it will also ‘en­hance the visibility of Federal Ballot Mail’ in order to better detect election fraud,” Alito wrote. “On the other side of the balance, the plaintiff States invoke the practical ef­fects of implementing the rule close to the midterm elec­tions. I take that problem very seriously, but it is not enough to convince me to deny the application.”

In addition to the Democratic-led states and voting rights groups that challenged the proposal, a bipartisan coalition of election administrators, former governors and others warned the justices in a flood of briefs that the new system was simply not possible to implement. The Postal Service rule required states to upload mass amounts of data on voters to an online portal that wasn’t yet online. And it required changes to ballot envelopes that had already been purchased, and that an increasing number of states had already begun to drop in the mail.

The administration argued that the changes were needed to secure the ballots and ensure that only eligible voters receive them. But a coalition of two dozen Democratic-led states and voting groups have described the effort as a power grab by a president who has long falsely alleged widespread voter fraud in mail ballot systems.

Filed last week, the high-profile emergency appeal was the third time the Trump administration raced up to the Supreme Court on the policy. In late August, the court allowed the president to proceed, though it did so for technical reasons that had to do with the timing of the lawsuit challenging the policy. A lower federal court blocked the changes from going into effect days later.

Under the Constitution, it is states and Congress that determine voting procedures, not the White House nor the post office.

The president’s order required states to submit lists of eligible voters to the US Postal Service. The agency would be barred from delivering ballots mailed by states to people not on those lists. It also required states to use tracking barcodes on ballot envelopes. And it “prioritized” federal prosecution of state election officials who send or receive ballots to non-citizens or others ineligible to vote.

While the Supreme Court was weighing the legal issues, a Postal Service whistleblower came forward with a stark series of warnings. The whistleblower’s report made clear that not only would one ballot be withheld if there was a problem with the barcode on its envelope, but rather officials would decline to deliver the entire batch of mailings that envelope was a part of. The whistleblower also described a rushed process to stand up an online data sharing system that the person said could make the complicated plan even more vulnerable to potential mass disenfranchisement.

Trump has for years touted conspiracy theories about mail voting as a way to discredit the 2020 presidential election that he lost. But improper voting remains exceedingly rare, and the administration has never provided evidence of widespread fraud on a scale that could influence the outcome of the 2020 election, or any other contest.

Multiple federal courts rejected the proposal. Over the weekend, a US District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump nominee in Washington, DC, became the latest to put the USPS rule on hold for the midterms.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

US Senator Sanders and podcaster Bannon, longtime foes, to urge AI restrictions

2026-09-14 21:31:40 UTC / Reuters

WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Progressive U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and conservative podcaster Steve Bannon will together on Tuesday call for restrictions on AI systems, uniting two political adversaries around concerns that the technology will harm humans.

They will speak at the same Washington gathering on Tuesday, a sign of how concerns about AI are upending political norms.

Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here.

Public alarm about the potential danger posed by AI is growing, after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon said last week he had resigned, in part because the “people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” AI-related stocks fell worldwide on Monday after leaders of some of the industry’s largest companies called for slowing the pace of the technology’s development.

Bannon, a longtime ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, has criticized Trump’s approach to overseeing AI, placing the blame for the president’s unwillingness to regulate the technology squarely on tech companies. On his Monday podcast, Bannon said Congress should not pass laws that prohibit states from enforcing their own rules for the technology.

“The American people are not going to be supplicants to these tech oligarchs,” Bannon said.

Reuters previously reported that U.S. senators are debating a bill that would block states from enforcing their own laws governing certain risks posed by AI models. Previously, efforts to restrict state AI laws failed in the U.S. Senate.

Trump on Monday downplayed concerns expressed by industry leaders over the weekend about the misuse of artificial intelligence harming people, saying the U.S. already has guardrails in place for the powerful technology.

Sanders and Bannon will be joined by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who are also slated to give speeches, according to event organizers. The AFL-CIO is the largest federation of labor unions in the U.S.

Sanders, along with House progressive Rep. Greg Casar, has called for the U.S. to pass legislation halting development of AI tools that are capable of “overthrowing or undermining the U.S. government,” until the government creates a new agency to police the technology. Casar and Sanders have not released specifics.

Reporting by Courtney Rozen; Editing by David Gregorio