Guatemalan national given 3-year sentence for aggravated sexual abuse of a 5-year-old was encountered on the streets by ICE

By Charles Creitz Fox News

Published May 1, 2026 2:18pm EDT

Former Acting I.C.E. Director Jonathan Fahey ridicules Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s demand for DHS to pause all I.C.E. raids on Halloween weekend on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’

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EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security lambasted Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and the state’s refusal to cooperate with ICE after an illegal immigrant convicted of child sexual abuse was released from jail despite calls for state officials to turn him over to federal authorities.

Both Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have repeatedly criticized the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement posture, with the mayor comparing President Donald Trump’s America to Jefferson Davis’ Confederacy.

Johnson has accused Trump of “declar[ing] war on Chicago” and using DHS as a “private, militarized, occupying force,” while pledging to fight them in the streets, the legislature and the judiciary. The state operates under the Illinois TRUST Act, a law championed by Springfield Democrats and signed by former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner that prohibits the use of state and local resources for most civil immigration enforcement purposes.

“Governor Pritzker continues to refuse to do his job to protect his citizens from illegal alien crime and instead chooses to smear our law enforcement,” Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.

NOEM, IN ILLINOIS, CALLS OUT GOV. PRITZKER, CHICAGO’S MAYOR OVER THEIR HANDLING OF CRIMINAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Gov. JB Pritzker, left; Erik Giovanni-Quiroa, right.(John Nacion/Getty Images; DHS)

“Where is the investigation into his own policies that allowed this pedophile to be released from jail and be loose in Illinois communities?” she added of the Hyatt Hotels heir and potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate.

Bis called on Pritzker to “end this insanity and stop releasing pedophiles into our communities.”

DHS told Fox News Digital exclusively that ICE officers went to Chicago and arrested Guatemalan national Erik Giovanni-Quiroa, who had been released from jail after his ICE detainer was ignored following a conviction for aggravated sexual abuse of a five-year-old child.

DUFFY GIVES ILLINOIS 30-DAY ULTIMATUM AFTER AUDIT FINDS 1 IN 5 NONCITIZEN TRUCK LICENSES ISSUED ILLEGALLY

Giovanni-Quiroa, who also had a 2011 firearm-battery conviction, was given a three-year sentence on the pedophilia charge but ICE instead encountered him on the streets.

Last week, ICE conducted a targeted vehicle stop and arrested Giovanni-Quiroa after his detainer was denied, forcing agents to locate him themselves.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker holds a news conference with other Illinois politicians and community leaders to address President Donald Trump’s plan to send National Guard troops into Chicago on Aug. 25, 2025 in Chicago, Ill.(Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Officials said Giovanni-Quiroa refused to stop and briefly fled before being placed in federal custody.

Bis said “sanctuary” politicians in Illinois and elsewhere continue to wrongly protect criminal illegal immigrants and allow them to reoffend and perpetrate additional crimes against Americans.

ICE previously called on Illinois law enforcement to begin honoring ICE detainers, as Director Todd Lyons wrote to Attorney General Kwame Raoul noting that DHS says more than 4,000 illegal immigrants are in state custody.

Giovanni-Quiroa illegally entered the U.S. under the second Bush administration and has been essentially a beneficiary of the aforementioned TRUST Act.

Erik Giovanni-Quiroa is seen in both this photo and accompanying mugshot.(DHS; DHS)

In the heat of “Operation: Midway Blitz” in June, Raoul published a memo reiterating key provisions of the law as a “refresher for Illinois law enforcement agencies.”

“It is important to note, however, that although the Illinois TRUST Act prevents the use of state and local resources for civil immigration enforcement purposes, it does not prevent law enforcement officers from taking action to maintain peace and ensure public safety within their jurisdiction,” Raoul wrote.

“Although some provisions of federal immigration statutes are criminal, deportation and removability are matters of civil law, not criminal law [and] whether an individual is lawfully present in the United States is a question of federal civil immigration law.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Raoul for comment on the current case, as well as Pritzker and Johnson.

When Rauner signed the TRUST Act in 2017, he said it would “continue Illinois’ history of welcoming immigrants and help law enforcement focus on stopping violent crime and protecting Illinois residents.”

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In that statement, Rauner also cited a federal court decision from the Chicago-based Northern District of Illinois in which an Obama-appointed judge whom President Joe Biden later promoted to an appeals court found flaws in ICE’s detainer process.

Judge John Z. Lee said in his 2019 order in Jimenez-Moreno v. Napolitano that immigration detainer orders exceeded DHS’ statutory authority but he also acknowledged a Philadelphia federal court ruling that ICE detainer requests do not violate the Tenth Amendment as alleged.

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

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

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

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

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FDA expands access to pancreatic cancer drug helping patients like Ben Sasse

May 1, 2026 / 3:14 PM EDT / CBS News

The Food and Drug Administration said it will allow some pancreatic cancer patients to receive access to a promising drug, even before it is officially approved for use.

The medication, daraxonrasib, is a pill taken three times a day. The drug blocks a signal that causes cancer cells to grow non-stop. Drugmaker Revolution Medicine reported that in a clinical trial, metastatic pancreatic cancer patients who took the drug survived a median of 13 months, compared to about six months for similar patients who underwent chemotherapy.

Former Sen. Ben Sasse, 54, called daraxonrasib “a miracle drug” in a conversation with “60 Minutes” and said it has helped him live longer and with less pain.

“I have much, much less pain than I had four months ago when I was diagnosed, and I have a massive 76% reduction in tumor volume over the last four months,” Sasse told Scott Pelley.

Daraxonrasib is being approved for use under the FDA’s expanded access program. Also called “compassionate use,” this option allows patients with serious or terminal conditions to take investigational therapies outside of a clinical trial. Patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who have no other options will be eligible to receive daraxonrasib, the FDA said.

Revolution Medicine submitted the request to expand access to daraxonrasib on April 28. The FDA approved the protocol on April 30. FDA commissioner Marty Makary said the timeline “reflects the FDA’s strong commitment to facilitate early access to therapies for serious and life-threatening conditions, including pancreatic cancer.”

“Having taken care of many patients with metastatic cancer, I am hopeful that today’s action will improve the lives of patients suffering from this disease,” Makary added.

The National Cancer Institute predicts that 67,530 new cases of pancreatic cancer will be diagnosed in 2026, and that 52,740 people will die from the disease during the same time. Pancreatic cancer accounts for 8.4% of cancer deaths, despite making up only 3.2% of new cancer cases. It has a five-year survival rate of about 13.7%, according to the NCI, but that can vary depending on a person’s individual prognosis and treatment.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/ben-sasse-clip-sunday-on-60-minutes/

Democrat Tina Shah calls transgender healthcare for children a ‘no brainer’ in competitive NJ House race

2026-05-01T15:00:30-04:00 / Fox News

Shah is one of four Democrats seeking to challenge Rep. Tom Kean Jr in a district rated a toss-up by Cook Political Report

By Adam Pack Fox News

Published May 1, 2026 3:00pm EDT

Democratic candidate backs taxpayer-funded sex changes for minors

In a video obtained by Fox News Digital, Democratic House candidate Tina Shah said she supports providing sex changes for minors, arguing transgender children “have the right to healthcare.”

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A progressive candidate aiming to unseat a vulnerable Republican in a battleground House district is leaning into a politically fraught issue that has dogged the Democratic Party.

Tina Shah, an ER physician and former Biden administration official, appeared to back taxpayer-funded sex change procedures for minors in a video obtained by Fox News Digital.

When asked whether children should have the “right to transgender healthcare,” Shah replied, “This is a no-brainer.”

“Healthcare is a right, period,” the New Jersey Democrat added. “It includes transgender children.”

People gather in Union Square for the Together We Win rally supporting transgender youth in New York City on Jan. 10, 2026.(Jason Alpert-Wisnia/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)

MODERATE DEM’S TOP AIDE RESIGNS AFTER LAWMAKER’S COMMENTS ON ‘FORMERLY MALE’ ATHLETES

Shah is one of four relatively well-funded Democrats vying to take on Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., in November’s midterm elections. Kean’s suburban swing seat is considered to be one of the most competitive House districts in the country.

Shah’s apparent embrace of “transgender healthcare” for minors aligns with the views of her former boss, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who denounced Republican-led states cracking down on child sex-change procedures during the Biden administration. Shah served as a senior advisor to Murthy in 2021 and 2022.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, House Republicans’ campaign arm, sharply criticized Shah’s support for “transgender healthcare” for children in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Radical Democrat Tina Shah said it loud and clear: She’d be a vote for radical policies like sex changes for minors and taxpayer-funded drag queens,” NRCC spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole said. “Shah is completely out of step with Garden State families.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Shah’s campaign prior to publication.

Shah’s remarks come as some Democrats have blamed the party’s lurch to the left on the issue for its poor performance in the 2024 election.

Major medical groups, which previously offered full-throated support for child sex changes, have also largely retreated from the issue, with the American Medical Association in February saying those procedures should be generally postponed to adulthood.

Still, Democrats in Congress have not made a clear attempt to calibrate on transgender issues.

Just a handful of Democrats crossed party lines in 2025 to vote for GOP-authored legislation that would have criminalized child sex changes. Kean was among nearly all Republicans who supported the bill.

Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., is running for a third House term in 2026 after fending off Democratic challengers in prior election cycles.(Getty Images)

TOP SCHOOL DISTRICT PUT ON NOTICE AS WATCHDOG GROUP THREATENS LEGAL ACTION OVER GENDER POLICY

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates Kean’s re-election bid as a “toss-up.” The election prognosticator downgraded the race for Republicans last year after Gov. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., carried the swing district by two points.

Shah entered April with nearly $1.4 million in the bank, according to recent Federal Election Commission filings. Navy veteran Rebecca Bennett and businessman Brian Valera, who are also vying for the Democratic nomination ahead of the June primary, have posted similar fundraising numbers.

Kean’s campaign notably dwarfs the field with roughly $3.4 million cash on hand.

The GOP incumbent, who fended off a competitive Democratic challenge in 2024, has come under recent scrutiny for a prolonged absence from Congress due to an unspecified health issue.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., narrowly carried Rep. Tom Kean Jr.’s battleground district in 2025.(Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

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Kean has missed 52 roll call votes in the House since March 17, amounting to a 100% absence rate, according to GovTrack, a website that monitors congressional activities.

“My doctors continue to assure me that my recovery will be complete and that I will be back to the job I love very soon,” he said in a statement last week. “I expect to return to a full schedule and be at 100 percent.”

Trump says Iran war ‘terminated,’ as war powers deadline arrives

2026-05-01T16:34:42.554Z / Reuters

By Patricia Zengerle and Steve Holland

May 1, 2026 4:34 PM UTC Updated 16 mins ago

Smoke rises in Habboush following Israeli strikes, as seen from Nabatieh, Lebanon, May 1, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

• Summary

• Deadline arrives as Iran sends new peace proposal
• War has roiled markets, raised prices, angering consumers
• Unpopular conflict continues six months before US elections

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump declared that a ceasefire had “terminated” hostilities against ​Iran, as he sought to bolster his argument that he does not need lawmakers’ permission to continue the conflict.

In a letter to ‌congressional leaders on Friday, the deadline to come to Congress about the war, Trump said there has been no exchange of fire with Iran since the ceasefire. “The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated,” he said.

The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.

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Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, a U.S. president can wage military action for only 60 days before ending it, asking Congress for ​authorization or seeking a 30-day extension due to “unavoidable military necessity regarding the safety of United States Armed Forces” while withdrawing forces.

On Friday, Iranian ​state news agency IRNA said Tehran had sent its latest proposal for negotiations with the U.S. to Pakistani mediators. Trump ⁠swiftly rejected it.

The president formally notified Congress of the conflict 48 hours after the first airstrikes two months ago, starting the 60-day clock that ends ​May 1.

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As the date approached, congressional aides and analysts said they expected the Republican president to sidestep the deadline. A senior Trump administration official had said on Thursday ​the administration’s view was that the war powers law deadline did not apply.

Trump said he considered the war powers law unconstitutional. Both Republican and Democratic presidents have contended the measure violated the Constitution because it sets limits on the president’s powers as commander-in-chief. Legal experts say the matter has not been decided by the courts.

“We had a ceasefire, so that ​gives you additional time,” Trump said before leaving Washington for Florida.

NO WAY OUT: DEMOCRATIC SENATOR

Congressional Democrats, who have tried repeatedly to pass war powers legislation ​that would force Trump to end the war or come to Congress for authorization, dismissed that characterization, saying there was nothing in the 1973 law allowing for a ceasefire.

They ‌also said ⁠that the continuing deployment of U.S. ships blockading Iranian oil exports was evidence of continuing hostility, not a ceasefire.

“After sixty days of conflict, President Trump still does not have a strategy or way out for this poorly planned war,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement calling the deadline “a clear legal threshold” for Trump to act.

In his letter to Congress, Trump acknowledged that the conflict may not be ​resolved. He said Iran still poses ​a “significant” threat to the United States ⁠and its armed forces.

PARTY LOYALTY AS ELECTIONS LOOM

Trump’s fellow Republicans, who hold slim majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives and rarely break from Trump, have voted almost unanimously to block every resolution seeking to end the conflict.

The Iran ​war has killed thousands, caused billions of dollars in damage and roiled world markets, disrupting energy shipments and boosting a ​wide range of consumer ⁠prices.

Polls show the war is unpopular among Americans, six months before November elections that will determine who controls Congress next year.

The U.S. Constitution says only Congress, not the president, can declare war, but that restriction does not apply to short-term operations or to counter an immediate threat.

On Thursday, Trump received a briefing on plans for ⁠fresh military ​strikes to compel Iran to negotiate an end to the conflict.

If fighting resumes, Trump can tell ​lawmakers he has started a new 60-day clock. Presidents from both parties have repeatedly done so when waging intermittent hostilities since Congress passed the war powers law in response to the Vietnam ​War.

That conflict, widely unpopular with Americans, was also not authorized by Congress.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; additional reporting by Bo Erickson; Editing by Don Durfee and Rod Nickel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Exclusive: US officials weigh cutting deadlines to fix digital flaws amid worries over AI-powered hacking, sources say

2026-05-01 17:04:05 UTC / Reuters

Exclusive: US officials weigh cutting deadlines to fix digital flaws amid worries over AI-powered hacking, sources say

By Raphael Satter

May 1, 2026 5:04 PM UTC Updated 2 hours ago

节点运行失败

AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters are placed on computer motherboard in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• CISA proposal would cut government bug fixing deadlines from 3 weeks to 3 days, sources say
• Suggestion comes as AI models like Anthropic’s Mythos boost hackers’ ability to exploit flaws
• Experts caution that moves to tighten deadlines may run up against ​resource and readiness issues

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) – U.S. cybersecurity officials are considering sharply shorter deadlines for fixing critical flaws in government IT systems, ‌amid concerns hackers could exploit them using artificial‑intelligence tools such as Anthropic’s Mythos, people familiar with the matter said.

The move, which has not been previously reported, would slash the deadline for responding to actively exploited vulnerabilities from an average of two or three weeks to three days, the people said.

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Anxiety over the power and proliferation of AI models like Mythos and OpenAI’s GPT‑5.4‑Cyber has ​been building for weeks. Although hackers have been deploying AI since at least 2023, these newer models are said to be able to easily identify previously ​unknown vulnerabilities or seize on freshly disclosed ones to enable complex hacking operations. So while it previously might have taken hackers ⁠several months, weeks, or days to take advantage of software flaws, that timeframe has been compressed, in at least some cases, to a matter of hours.

That in turn ​is putting pressure on defenders to kick into high gear, said Stephen Boyer, the founder of cybersecurity company Bitsight, which has previously helped CISA catalogue vulnerabilities.

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“If you’re going ​to protect civil agencies, you’re going to have to move faster,” Boyer said. “We don’t have as much of a window as we used to have.”

The two sources familiar with the matter said the deadline proposals were being discussed by Nick Andersen, the acting chief of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Sean Cairncross, the U.S. national cyber director. Reuters could not establish whether ​a final decision on the matter has been made or when one could be expected. CISA and the Office of the National Cyber Director did not immediately offer ​comment.

CISA has for years curated a catalogue of known-and-exploited vulnerabilities, or KEVs, which are seen as priorities because they are out in the open and actively being abused by criminals or ‌spies. CISA ⁠has typically given civilian agencies a three-week deadline to fix such flaws once they are added to the database, according to cybersecurity researcher Glenn Thorpe, although that has recently dropped to around two weeks. Deadlines are occasionally compressed to deal with particularly serious problems, but the new proposal would see the default cut down to just three days, the sources said.

The discussions at CISA come as business leaders and the digital security industry grapple with the fallout from the release of more advanced AI models. The banking ​industry, in particular, has been sent scrambling as ​regulators race to get a handle ⁠on how dangerous the new technology is.

Tightening deadlines at CISA will likely serve as a model for state and local governments as well as businesses and other groups, said Nitin Natarajan, who served as the deputy director of CISA under former President ​Joe Biden.

“This is a signal to others that says, ‘Hey you need to do this more quickly,’” he said.

Natarajan, who now ​runs the cyber consultancy ⁠NN Global, said speeding up the deadlines made sense given how quickly AI-powered threats were evolving. But he warned that CISA – which has been depleted by deep job cuts and buffeted by government shutdowns under President Donald Trump – needed the capacity to handle the strain of tighter deadlines.

“We’ve seen a reduction in their resources, both in funding and expertise,” Natarajan said.

Kecia ⁠Hoyt, a ​vice president at the threat intelligence firm Flashpoint, warned that patching software flaws could be a complicated ​process involving detailed tests ahead of deployment. “Realistically, three days is simply impossible for some environments,” she said.

John Hammond, the senior principal security researcher at Maryland-based Huntress, said dropping deadlines to three days would be “quite ​a change.” While he said he was cautiously optimistic about running things faster, “only time will tell how well the industry keeps up.”

Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

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Trump signs stopgap FISA extension after Senate blocks long-term renewal

May 1, 2026 3:41pm EDT / Fox News

Civil libertarians and over 20 House Republicans opposed the surveillance law over Fourth Amendment concerns

By Robert Schmad, Fox News

Top GOP leaders say FISA is essential as extension stalls in Congress

Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports new developments in the fight to authorize FISA on ‘America’s Newsroom.’

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President Donald Trump signed a 45-day extension for Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Thursday night after the Senate rejected the three-year extension passed by the House, the White House confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., warned House leaders Tuesday that including a provision in the FISA extension to permanently ban the Federal Reserve from issuing central bank digital currencies (CBDC) would make it “dead on arrival” in the Senate. As Thune suggested, the three-year extension ultimately failed to pass the Senate due to opposition from Democrats.

As a temporary measure, the Senate approved a 45-day extension of the controversial national security law by unanimous consent. Trump subsequently approved the short-term renewal.

TRUMP-APPROVED PLAN TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN SCUTTLED BY SENATE

Once the 45-day period ends, Congress will be forced to begin the FISA extension process all over again.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., spoke to the media at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 2, 2026, expressing hope that the White House could find a “sweet spot” in negotiations with Senate Democrats to reopen the government amid ongoing political turmoil.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

FISA allows the federal government to compel phone and internet providers to provide information about foreigners using their platforms without a warrant, including communications with American citizens.

Civil libertarians long have argued that the law undermines the privacy of Americans and potentially violates the Fourth Amendment. Those working in law enforcement and intelligence agencies, meanwhile, maintain that FISA is an indispensable tool in thwarting terrorism, drug trafficking and ransomware attacks.

HOUSE PASSES FISA RENEWAL IN BIPARTISAN VOTE, PUTTING PRESSURE ON SENATE BEFORE LOOMING DEADLINE

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the House Rules Committee, is pushing for amendments to the three-year FISA renewal bill drafted by House leadership.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

More than 20 Republicans maintained their opposition to the FISA extension, even with the CBDC ban attached.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES ERUPT OVER SENATE GOP, WHITE HOUSE DEAL AMID SAVE ACT FIGHT

“We should all be standing up for the Fourth Amendment,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said during a debate over the extension Tuesday.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., meets with reporters as House Republicans advance a GOP spending bill to fund federal agencies through Sept. 30 at the Capitol in Washington, March 11, 2025.(J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

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Republican leadership included the CBDC ban to appease conservative holdouts concerned that a government-issued digital dollar could expand federal visibility into Americans’ transactions.

Spirit Airlines could shut down as soon as Saturday

2026-05-01T12:18:00-0400 / CBS News

By Kris Van Cleave, Jennifer Jacobs

Emmy Award-winning journalist Kris Van Cleave is the senior transportation correspondent for CBS News based in Phoenix, Arizona, where he also serves as a national correspondent reporting for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms.

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Kris Van Cleave, Jennifer Jacobs

Jennifer Jacobs is a senior White House reporter at CBS News.

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Jennifer Jacobs

Updated on: May 1, 2026 / 1:10 PM EDT / CBS News

Spirit Airlines is making plans to cease operations as soon as Saturday, barring last minute intervention, CBS News has learned.

Negotiations over a $500 million government aid package remained stalled after bondholders balked at the terms.

Trump administration officials have been told Spirit will be shutting down operations in the next 24 hours. There will be no last-minute administration effort regarding a bailout, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

But when President Trump was asked about a bailout for Spirit Airlines Friday, he said, “Well, I guess we’re looking at it. If we can do it, we’ll do it but only if it’s a good deal.”

The president, who was departing for Florida from the White House, told reporters, “I’d like to save the jobs, but we’ll have an announcement some time today. We gave them a final proposal.”

The airline’s available cash on hand was expected to last only a matter of days, CBS News previously reported.

Spirit continues normal operations Friday, and sources emphasize the airline’s focus remains on safely completing those flights.

A spokesperson for the bankrupt airline declined to comment on the ongoing discussions, saying only that “Spirit is operating as usual.”

Spirit serves more than 40 cities in the U.S. along with international destinations in Central and South America, and has its main hub at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida.

Van Hollen backs embattled Dem with Nazi-linked tattoo, says ‘second chances’ matter

Platner’s past Reddit posts included calling himself a ‘communist’ and saying police officers were ‘bastards’

2026-05-01 14:32 EDT / Fox News

Chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports after Gov. Janet Mills drops out of the Maine Senate Democratic primary, leaving controversial candidate Graham Platner as the presumptive nominee.

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Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., pushed back against criticism of U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner over his “Nazi tattoo” and past online comments, arguing that Platner’s behavior may be linked to PTSD stemming from his deployment to Afghanistan and that he deserves a second chance.

Platner, an Army and Marine Corps veteran, is vying to unseat Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Now that Maine Gov. Janet Mills suspended her Senate campaign Thursday, Platner has become the leading Democratic candidate in Maine’s U.S. Senate race.

In an interview with Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer, Van Hollen described Platner as a candidate that “can beat Susan Collins” and appeal to a broad coalition of supporters, particularly blue-collar workers, labor groups and Native American tribes. Van Hollen said although Platner has had his “ups and downs,” he has proven able to connect with voters.

SEE IT: BILLBOARDS EMERGE AS GOP CAMPAIGN TROLLS ‘FAKE INDEPENDENT’ SENATE CANDIDATE WITH SOCIALIST THEME

Graham Platner, a Democrat from Maine and U.S. Senate candidate, speaks in South Portland, Maine, on March 6, 2026.(Sofia Aldinio/Bloomberg)

“The dude has a Nazi tattoo,” Sherman asked. “How do you view that?” He went on to suggest that would be “disqualifying” to run for office.

“Let’s take a couple issues, including the comments he’s made in the past,” Van Hollen said. “I mean, he’s been very clear that he went into combat on behalf of the United States. He went through a really rough period, a PTSD-type period.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., speaks during a rally in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 2025, supporting detained Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi, who faces a deportation hearing after being detained during a citizenship interview.(Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

“He himself said there are lots of things he’s done and said that he completely regrets, and I do believe people should have second chances and that people can learn from their mistakes, and I think he’s been doing that,” Van Hollen continued.

In October, Platner told reporters that a tattoo on his chest resembling the Totenkopf, a skull-and-crossbones symbol associated with Nazi police, had been covered.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills responded to questions about her age and health during a CNN interview as she campaigned to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins.(Getty Images)

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In past Reddit posts, Platner said he was a “communist,” accused rural White Americans of being racist and stupid, and said police officers were “bastards.” Platner said he was seeking “to get a rise out of people” with his Reddit posts.

Platner has received the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and shares his vision of implementing socialist policies like “Medicare-for-all” and dismantling the billionaire class.

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

Trump says he’s hiking tariffs on EU cars and trucks to 25%

May 1, 2026 / 12:59 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — President Trump said Friday that he’s hiking tariffs on cars and trucks imported from the European Union to 25%, accusing the EU of failing to comply with a deal struck last year.

“I am pleased to announce that, based on the fact the European Union is not complying with our fully agreed to Trade Deal, next week I will be increasing Tariffs charged to the European Union for Cars and Trucks coming into the United States,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “The Tariff will be increased to 25%.”

Last summer, the U.S. and the EU reached an agreement under which the U.S. imposed a 15% tariff on imports of European cars, pharmaceuticals and other products.

The president said the levy won’t apply for vehicles produced in the U.S. Heavy-duty trucks already have a 25% tariff rate.

“It is fully understood and agreed that, if they produce Cars and Trucks in U.S.A. Plants, there will be NO TARIFF,” he added.

The president told reporters on Friday that the hike “forces” the EU to “move their factory production much faster.”

In their framework last year, the EU and U.S. agreed to eliminate tariffs on specific goods. But a European official told CBS News the European Parliament has to pass a regulation to allow for zero tariffs on American goods. That was delayed several times because of political problems in Europe and because of the Europeans’ dispute with the U.S. over the future of Greenland.

Margaret Brennan contributed to this report.

Ex-FBI Director James Comey faces charges over “86 47” post. But how far will the case get?

2026-05-01T12:53:00-0400 / CBS News

By
Jacob Rosen Justice Department Reporter
Jake Rosen is a reporter covering the Department of Justice. He was previously a campaign digital reporter covering President Trump’s 2024 campaign and also served as an associate producer for “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”

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Updated on: May 1, 2026 / 2:55 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — Former FBI Director James Comey is facing a second round of criminal charges after a federal grand jury voted this week to indict him for allegedly making threats against President Trump.

But legal experts expect that the indictment will be challenged on multiple grounds, and they believe it’s unlikely Comey will stand trial on charges arising out of a now-deleted Instagram post which showed a photo of seashells arranged to form the numbers “86 47.”

The indictment alleges the post could reasonably be interpreted as “a serious expression of intent to do harm” to the 47th president of the United States. Mr. Trump said on Truth Social, “’86’ is a mob term for ‘kill him.’” Merriam-Webster defines “86” as slang meaning “to throw out” or “get rid of,” and notes the expression is commonly used in restaurant kitchens.

“If you can charge somebody for arranging seashells in the sand with an ambiguous message, if that’s a threat, if that’s criminal speech, then the First Amendment is in serious jeopardy,” said Perry Carbone, a law professor at Pace University and former chief of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan.

The former FBI director appeared in federal court Wednesday. He has not yet entered a plea, though he declared in a video posted to Substack, “I’m still innocent.”

“This case is going to prove, I think, to be a real challenge for the government,” Carissa Byrne Hessick, a law professor at the University of North Carolina who is an expert in criminal law, told CBS News. “In addition to claims that Comey will be able to raise about selective and vindictive prosecutions, which are claims that he raised last year when he was indicted, there are also pretty significant legal issues associated with the particular charges that the government decided to bring.”

This is the second criminal case that the Justice Department under Mr. Trump has brought against Comey. He was first indicted in September on two criminal counts alleging he lied to Congress. He sought to have those counts dismissed on numerous grounds, including the argument that the prosecution was vindictive and selective.

A judge ultimately did toss out the case, finding that Lindsey Halligan, the prosecutor, was unlawfully appointed to the job. The court never ruled on Comey’s effort to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that the prosecution was vindictive and selective.

Comey is expected to again argue that he is being unlawfully targeted for prosecution because of his protected speech and Mr. Trump’s hostility toward him. During the appearance Wednesday, Comey’s lawyer, Pat Fitzgerald, told the court that the defense plans to file a motion to dismiss the case because the prosecution is vindictive and selective.

Comey posted the photo at the center of the indictment to social media last May. But he deleted the image shortly after, writing in a subsequent post that he saw the shells, which had been laid out by someone else, while on a beach walk and assumed the phrase “86 47” was conveying a political message. Comey said he did not realize some associate the numbers with violence.

A “true threat” or protected speech?

The indictment states that Comey “knowingly and willfully” made a threat to kill or harm Mr. Trump through his post of the shells on Instagram.

The Supreme Court has ruled that “true threats” are not protected by the First Amendment, and it set a high bar for what qualifies as a true threat.

“Speech needs breathing room, and the First Amendment doesn’t allow the state to assign to speech the most sinister possible meaning that it might convey out of the most paranoiac reading of its content,” Len Niehoff, a law professor at the University of Michigan, told CBS News. “We read speech generously and give it plenty of room to work. Prosecuting speech because it’s ambiguous is exactly the opposite approach that the First Amendment dictates.”

At least two Supreme Court cases are relevant to Comey’s case. The first, Watts v. United States, was decided in 1969 and involved a remark protester Robert Watts made during a gathering about police brutality three years earlier, in which he stated, “If they ever make me carry a rifle the first man I want to get in my sights is LBJ,” a reference to then-President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The high court ruled that Watts’ comment was crude political hyperbole and did not constitute a true threat under the law.

The second case, Counterman v. Colorado, was decided in 2023. The dispute involved a Colorado man who was charged under the state’s law with making threatening communications toward a local singer on Facebook.

The Supreme Court ruled that in order to show that a true threat is outside the bounds of the First Amendment, the government must demonstrate that a defendant had at least a subjective understanding of his statement’s threatening nature. To make this showing, prosecutors must prove a person “consciously disregarded a substantial risk” that his statements would be viewed as threatening.

Given the facts of Comey’s case, experts are skeptical that the Justice Department can show that Comey’s speech is not covered by the First Amendment.

“This post falls clearly within the ambit of protected political speech. The Supreme Court has made clear that even hyperbolic or what some might consider intemperate political expression, it’s protected unless it crosses the line into a real threat, a true threat,” Carbone said. “And it requires in order to prove a true threat more than just provocative language. It requires a serious expression of an intent to commit unlawful violence, and I don’t see that you have that here.”

One other Supreme Court case from 2015, Elonis v. U.S., lays out what prosecutors must prove under one of the federal statutes Comey is charged with violating: transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. In that case, the high court said that it is not enough for the government to show that a reasonable person would view a statement as a threat. Instead, the law requires prosecutors to show that a defendant transmits a communication “for the purpose of issuing a threat or with knowledge that the communication will be viewed as a threat,” the Supreme Court found.

Michael Dreeben, who was a member of Comey’s defense team in the first prosecution and is a former deputy solicitor general, argued the 2015 case before the Supreme Court on behalf of the government, though the justices ended up ruling for the defendant, Anthony Elonis.

“Without even having to get to a constitutional question, the judge in this case could dismiss the charges just on the grounds that what the government has said that Comey did doesn’t fall within the criminal law,” Hessick said. “That’s one bite at the apple. The second bite at the apple is even if it falls within the law, does it violate the First Amendment?”

Others have posted “86”

Since acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the indictment earlier this week, commentators have noted that prominent conservatives have also used the term “86” in reference to politicians.

In 2024, former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida wrote on X, “we’ve now 86’d: McCarthy, McDaniel, McConnell” after former House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel and former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell announced they were stepping down from their leadership positions.

In 2022, right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec posted “86 46,” a reference to then-President Joe Biden.

Asked about these other comments and if the Justice Department would pursue charges against others who use the phrase, Blanche said it would depend on an investigation and “all kinds of factors.”

But Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, warned that cases like Comey’s can have a wider chilling effect.

“It sends a message not just to Comey but to everyone else that they better watch what they say about the government or they could be next,” he told CBS News. “Many people may rationally choose to self-censor rather than risk the government making an example out of them and taking away their liberty.”

Plus, Comey, as a former FBI director, deputy attorney general and federal prosecutor, has access to lawyers who have argued at the highest level of the judiciary and more resources to fight the charges — which few Americans have.

“Our democracy is based on the idea that everybody is able to openly express their political views and their opinions about the government,” Terr said. “Nobody should have to fear the full weight of the federal government coming down on them just for expressing criticism of the president. That’s antithetical to everything our democracy stands for.”