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The House voted to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. Here’s what’s next

2026-07-15T17:57:17.564Z / CNN

By Ellis Kim, https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/140929115817-ted-barrett-profile-image.jpgTed Barrett

2 hr ago

PUBLISHED Jul 15, 2026, 1:57 PM ET

Congressional news Senate leadership

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A full moon is seen over the US Capitol at sunset on December 2, 2025.

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images/File

The US House on Tuesday voted in strong bipartisan fashion to enact year-round Daylight Saving Time across the country. But the measure’s fate in the Senate remains far from certain.

Senate Republican leaders have not said whether they will bring the bill – known as the “Sunshine Protection Act” – to a floor vote. Majority Leader John Thune has previously opposed efforts to default the nation to permanent Daylight Saving Time, but on Wednesday did not rule out scheduling a future floor vote.

Here’s what we know about what’s next:

What exactly have Senate GOP leaders said about the bill?

Thune, who represents South Dakota, would not rule out bringing the bill to a vote when pressed by reporters on Wednesday – even though in the past, he opposed a similar push to adopt Daylight Saving Time year round.

He told reporters at the Capitol he believes the House bill provides optionality for states who use permanent standard time. The bill allows states to buck the switch to saving time, so long as they adopt permanent standard time before it takes effect. Residents in Hawaii, much of Arizona, and other US territories all observe permanent standard time.

“I think the main concern is that there’s optionality for states, and my understanding is that’s in the House bill. I just don’t think we want a mandate and that was tried once before and repealed,” he said. “But you know, we’re looking at it. You know, the House had a big vote. There’s a lot of interest in it from members on our side over here. Some for, some against.”

Asked if it can get the necessary 60 votes to break a filibuster, Thune said that “remains to be seen.” He added “that’s not an issue that we’ve really probed much yet.”

When asked if he would support the measure, Thune would only note he comes from a “northern” climate and that he opposed a similar measure when it was voted on in the Senate Commerce committee last April.

Is it facing any opposition in the Senate?

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas has staunchly opposed moves towards year-round Daylight Saving Time. He remains opposed, dashing any proponents’ hopes that the Senate will quickly approve the bill on the floor through a process known as unanimous consent, which requires all 100 senators to agree to an expedited vote.

Cotton’s strong opposition means GOP leaders would be wary of using up valuable floor time on an issue he would filibuster.

The Arkansas senator hasn’t been shy about his opposition, and has warned that a later sunrise would endanger children who will be forced to commute to school in the dark.

Cotton and other opponents of the change also contend the shift would devastate workers – like construction crews, farmers, factory hands – who would have to report to their jobs in the dark. Some areas of the US do not see the sun rise until after 9 a.m. during Daylight Saving Time.

Related article https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/gettyimages-2206497326.jpg The downside of making Daylight Saving Time permanent 5 min read

Has the Senate taken up this issue before?

Congress has moved before to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. It adopted a measure in the 1970s, as the US was experiencing an energy crisis, but swiftly reversed course amid deep unpopularity.

In 2022, senators passed a version of a Daylight Saving Time bill through swift action on the floor – facing no objections from their colleagues. It did not get a floor vote in the House.

Cotton later revealed he would have blocked that effort, and vowed to object to any future efforts to pass that kind of legislation quickly on the floor.

In 2025, a bipartisan group of senators sought unanimous consent to pass a bill to enact daylight saving year round, but were thwarted by Cotton.

Outgoing Trump watchdog faces Democrat fire over handling of consumer agency

2026-07-15T17:38:20.073Z / Reuters

White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought testifies before a subcommittee hearing of the House Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 30, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

• Companies

WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) – Russell Vought, President Donald Trump’s outgoing interim consumer finance watchdog, on Wednesday sparred with congressional Democrats over his administration’s handling of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, telling lawmakers efforts ​to sharply shrink the agency in fact helped eliminate economic burdens.

Vought’s testimony in a sometimes ‌raucous hearing before the House Financial Services Committee came two weeks before he is due to step down after serving for a year and a half in an acting capacity during which he has sought to fire most agency staff, rescind ​regulations in bulk and halt much of the agency’s regular activity.

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Vought faced supportive questions from the committee’s ​Republicans, who said Vought had appropriately changed policy directions for an agency they ⁠accused of politicized enforcement and burdening free enterprise.

Trump last month nominated current Capital One

(COF.N)
executive Brian Johnson, a ​former top CFPB official, to replace Vought as CFPB director.

“Sir, I am glad you are leaving,” New York ​Democrat Gregory Meeks told Vought, alleging that he had flouted the laws establishing the agency. The committee’s top Democrat, Maxine Waters, told Vought that he should prepare for further scrutiny from lawmakers.

“Let me be clear, we are not done with ​you,” she said. Should Democrats regain the majority in November’s midterm elections, they would have the power ​to formally investigate Vought’s actions at the agency.

Congress created the CFPB following the 2008 financial crash to prevent predatory ‌lending and ⁠police financial products that underpinned the global financial crisis.

Vought, who is also the White House budget director, cited research published this year by the White House Council of Economic Advisers, which asserted that the CFPB’s regulatory actions actually imposed costs on consumers of hundreds of billions of dollars, by raising costs and ​reducing access to credit. Consumer ​advocates and experts have ⁠strongly disputed the report’s methods and conclusions, however.

In testimony, Vought described the agency as invasive and outside the oversight of Congress.

“When you have a financial regulatory ​entity that views themselves as a prosecutor, an advocate, and they have ​the tools of ⁠the civil investigative demand…you have great opportunities for mischief,” he said.

Representative Andy Barr, the top Republican on the subcommittee for financial institutions, compared CFPB regulatory enforcement activity to “Gestapo tactics,” referring to Nazi secret police, that he ⁠claimed had ​bankrupted law-abiding companies.

In a statement following the hearing, a Barr ​spokesperson did not directly address the Gestapo comparison, saying the CFPB had “crushed consumers — the very people it was supposedly created to protect — ​by waging war” on industries that provide consumer credit.

Reporting by Douglas Gillison in Washington; Editing by Andrea Ricci

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Trump’s foreign policy is to try to get America paid

2026-07-15T19:43:08.760Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/15/politics/trump-america-first-foreign-policy

President Donald Trump ran for office promising to put America First. He has governed with an eye toward getting America paid.

In Trump’s transactional view of the world, the US is more like an interested party in a business deal than a beacon of capitalism and democracy. Efforts to extract tolls, impose tariffs or take ownership of resources in foreign countries, both allies and opponents, have been a notable focus of foreign policy in Trump 2.0. in which the president has also cast his expansionist vision to Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal.

These things don’t usually work out according to plan, as the world learned during Trump’s first term when Mexico did not pay for a border wall like he repeatedly vowed it would. But the military might and economic heft of the United States are as ever, in Trump’s view, assets to be exploited. In recent months:

► He suggested — and then abandoned — a 20% toll for US protection of cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

► He took over the sale of Venezuela’s oil by propping up what remains of the antidemocratic regime he decapitated and icing out the democratic opposition.

► He held up opening of a new bridge to Detroit, trying to squeeze something more out of Canada even though Canada paid to build the bridge.

► He’s gotten more friendly toward Ukraine now that he says the US has a “stake” in the country’s rare earths.

Setting aside the legal issue of putting a toll on what’s supposed to be open water — and the fact that Iran set up a tolling system first — charging for protection sounds either like common sense or like an organized crime tactic, depending on your perspective.

In either case, it was not meant to be. Within a day, Trump had moved on and was instead promising the US would receive another sort of payment — this time from Gulf nations instead of shipping companies.

“Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States,” Trump wrote in a social media post Tuesday, one day after first proposing the toll idea.

The underlying idea Trump may be trying to convey is that the US will be getting something in exchange for this foreign entanglement he started and has so far been unable to end.

The Pentagon has not put a price tag on the war with Iran, but watchdog groups have guessed it will cost more than $40 billion and counting. Everyday Americans have seen the financial toll of the conflict each time they head to the gas station.

Back in February, Trump piled on to his tense relationship with Canada by demanding the US should split ownership of the Gordie Howe Bridge between Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, even though Canada paid to build the bridge.

The bridge’s opening was delayed as the countries reworked their agreement. The resolution appears to be that Canada will split net profits from tolls for the next 15 years with an economic development fund, although specifics on how that fund will work are lacking. The bridge will now open on July 27, according to the Canadian government.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney defended the emerging deal in an interview with CTV.

“The word ‘net’ does a lot of work in this. We are sharing after Canada is paid back,” according to Carney.

“There’s not going to be a lot of net to split,” he said.

Trump did not expand on what sort of investment Gulf nations will put into the US now that he has abandoned the toll idea, but he has repeatedly claimed that he has secured funding from foreign countries to be invested in the US. He frequently cites the enormous figure of $19 trillion in foreign investment that he has secured.

CNN’s Daniel Dale has tried and failed to find anything close to that level of foreign investment in the US during Trump’s term. But Trump continues to make the fictitious claim with regularity.

The backbone of Trump’s trade and economic policy was to impose tariffs on imports. These are effectively taxes paid on imported goods. While economists generally argue that it is American consumers who ultimately pay for tariffs in the form of higher prices, Trump has argued it is foreign countries that pay them.

In any event, the US government is currently in the process of paying back tariffs the Supreme Court ruled this year it should not have collected. In June, for instance, the US repaid more than $49 billion. Trump has said he will look for new ways to impose taxes on imports. Meanwhile, lawsuits from businesses and individuals to reclaim illegal tariffs are proliferating.

While the tariff policy is trackable through government reports, much less is known about US control of Venezuela. The Trump administration authorized the US military to capture former President Nicolás Maduro early this year and bring him to the US for prosecution. But the rest of Maduro’s regime has retained power with oversight from the Trump administration, which has taken control of the sale of Venezuela’s oil resources.

Details on the size and scale of those oil sales have been hard to come by. Even Republican members of Congress have voiced concern about the lack of transparency, particularly after devastating earthquakes rocked the country.

The political opposition, meanwhile, has largely been left out of the process even though opposition leader María Corina Machado gifted Trump her Nobel Peace Prize before the US military acted against Maduro. The New York Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is exerting a high degree of control over the country from afar, working through the existing regime.

Elliot Abrams, who was special representative for Venezuela during Trump’s first term, wrote for The Free Press that the administration is choosing access to oil over reform.

“The focus has been on seeking investments in Venezuela and above all boosting oil production, with recovery and democracy pushed off to an indefinite future,” Abrams wrote. “This is a self-defeating policy.”

Trump surprised US companies and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a NATO conference last week when he said Ukraine should be able to license and manufacture defensive Patriot interceptors.

Trump’s warmer stance toward Ukraine may have something to do with his view that the US has an interest in the country — not as a democracy in Europe, but as a place with natural resources.

“We have a little stake in that country now because we have some land in that country, but we have minerals. It’s among the wealthiest, it’s among the best land anywhere in the world for rare earth,” he said, referring to a deal the US signed with Ukraine last year that creates a joint investment fund. But Trump may have a different view than Ukraine of what the deal does. Ukrainians have maintained that they retain full ownership of their natural resources.

Demanding more from NATO will have unintended consequences

Trump’s main gripe with NATO has been his argument — which has some basis — that European countries were not paying enough. Trump phrases the complaint as if the countries should be paying the US, when in fact NATO countries are supposed to be dedicating a certain percentage of their GDP to defense spending.

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria recently argued that Trump should get credit for making European nations spend more on defense, but also that it will have unintended consequences such as making European countries less likely to defer to the US. The old system, he said, “was stable, peaceful, and pro-American.”

“We have set off a chain reaction, and over time, Americans will come to miss the old NATO, not because it was fair, but because it was the most successful security system the world has ever known, with America at its center,” Zakaria said.

The same could be said for the rest of the world as Trump changes the way the world looks at the United States.

The Common Cents Act is closer to becoming law. What would it mean for businesses and consumers?

2026-07-15T12:18:00-0400 / CBS News

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

Read Full Bio

Updated on: July 15, 2026 / 12:20 PM EDT / CBS News

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The Common Cents Act, a response to the phase-out of the penny that lets businesses round cash transactions to the nearest nickel, was passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday and now moves to the Senate for consideration.

It would create rounding guidelines for businesses and consumers to lean on for cash transactions when they do not have exact change on hand. Currently, establishments are vulnerable to litigation if they fail to provide customers with exact change, even when they round up in a patron’s favor.

Business advocacy groups praised its passage on Tuesday. The National Restaurant Association called it “a win for restaurant operators who have been contending with the phase out of the penny.”

“When a customer pays in cash and a register doesn’t have a penny available to give exact change, it can create a legal liability for businesses,” National Restaurant Association chief advocacy officer Sean Kennedy told CBS News.

What does the act say?

The Common Cents Act provides clear guidance on which businesses, banks and consumers can rely when transacting in cash. It directs the Treasury to stop minting pennies and calls for cash transactions to be rounded up or down to the nearest five cents. Pennies will still retain their value under the act.

If a purchase costs $10.02 after tax and a customer is short two cents, the bill would round down to $10 under the act. A charge of $10.04 would round up to $10.05.

A national standard

The phase-out of the penny has been cumbersome for some businesses, according to Kennedy. While it’s still in circulation, some regions face shortages while others have surpluses of the lowest-denomination coin.

“We are asking for a national rounding standard. What most businesses do is round to the nearest nickel, either up and down, which sounds like common sense,” he said. “But there isn’t a federal law that allows for that. What we are looking for is certainty, and to minimize frustration for customers and businesses working in cash.”

The group estimates that rounding down because of a lack of pennies could cost restaurants up to $168 million annually. But it supports the legislation because it shields establishments from potential litigation.

“Those pennies do add up. The elimination of the penny is going to come with costs to restaurants, and there’s nothing we can do about that,” Kennedy said. “But we’re looking for certainty as the penny is phased out.”

The last penny was minted in November 2025. The penny costs more to make — nearly four cents — than it’s worth, according to the U.S. Mint. Roughly one in four restaurant customers transact in cash, according to the National Restaurant Association.

“This is about businesses looking ahead as we move into a world in which pennies will be less frequent, but bills will still include pennies because of local taxation,” Kennedy said.

Edited by Stephen Smith

Senior defense officials looking at Cuba military options

2026-07-15T14:24:00-0400 / CBS News

By

Updated on: July 15, 2026 / 3:35 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — As the U.S.-Iran war restarts following the collapse of the weeks-long ceasefire, senior Pentagon officials are also quietly eyeing another flashpoint much closer to home: Cuba.

Military planners have in recent weeks examined a range of options for possible action against the island, including an Army-led air assault involving thousands of U.S. soldiers to be carried out by the 101st Airborne Division, the only unit trained for such a task, according to multiple U.S. officials with knowledge of the discussions.

The officials, who spoke to CBS News under condition of anonymity to discuss national security matters, stressed that the briefings are not an indication that President Trump or the Pentagon have decided to carry out an operation.

Any operation against Cuba would confront the Pentagon with a significant problem because much of the U.S. military’s attention and some of its most valuable offensive capabilities are already committed elsewhere. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has emphasized that the U.S. prefers a diplomatic option for a transition to a new government led by technocrats and willing to make economic reforms. That process has stalled, despite tightening financial pressure around the Cuban military and its conglomerate GAESA, the sprawling, military-controlled holding company which the United States refers to as an $18 billion trust fund. In a July 11 statement, Rubio said that so far, the regime and its “corrupt elites” continue to refuse reform, instead “perpetuating their total control” and adherence to a “morally bankrupt Marxist ideology.”

The State Department announced that it has also tightened the financial vice around Cuba’s state-owned entities that “funnel revenue to the regime and paramilitary forces” that repress the Cuban people, including rapid response brigades.

Late last month, the U.S. military held a concept-of-operations briefing to discuss early-stage military planning options for select missions that could be carried out, the officials said. Such briefings are routinely developed by the Defense Department and combatant commands for a range of contingencies that examine mission objectives, the number of troops needed, the sequence of events, logistical considerations and associated risks.

The Pentagon has shifted aircraft, intelligence assets and other resources from other geographical regions to the Middle East to sustain operations against Iran. Officials who spoke to CBS News said that shifting the focus toward Cuba isn’t likely at the moment, given the restart of military operations against Iran last week.

Behind the scenes, the war with Iran has exposed some friction between President Trump and Hegseth, an Army veteran and former Fox News host, according to sources familiar with the matter. While Mr. Trump has at times praised Hegseth and various military operations during his second term, he has privately expressed frustration with the progress of Operation Epic Fury, believing the administration missed an opportunity to avert a dragged-out conflict earlier this year by rejecting an Iranian proposal to limit its nuclear program, the officials said.

Two U.S. officials told CBS News that Hegseth urged a more confrontational approach to Iran, despite reservations voiced by Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, leaving the president increasingly dissatisfied as the military campaign has become more protracted and complicated than originally anticipated when the war began back in February.

Over the course of the U.S.-Israel-led war against Iran, Mr. Trump has been irritated by both Hegseth and Caine when they raised the limitations of military operations. Some in the Defense Department and on the interagency team have also expressed frustration with Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, grumbling that he oversold what the military could accomplish against Iran, one of the sources said.

Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said the president “has been extraordinarily proud” of Hegseth and Cooper’s leadership “throughout Operation Epic Fury, which completely destroyed Iran’s ballistic missiles, production facilities, navy, air defenses, and more.” She added that the recent U.S. strikes against Iran prove the U.S. “can attack anywhere, anytime, and Iran can do nothing about it.”

Acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said, “We do not comment on hypothetical military operations,” and added that the department also wouldn’t comment on Hegseth’s private conversations with Mr. Trump.

Cuba has presented new security challenges. CBS News previously reported that Cuba had acquired attack drones of unknown origin. During a June 10 visit to the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Hegseth indirectly acknowledged the possibility of a threat to that installation.

“It would be unwise for the government of Cuba to try to procure or get access to the types of weapons that could reach this base or the American homeland. They would be inviting the kind of confrontation not only do they not want, but they could not stand,” he vowed.

Cuba and the U.S. have a longstanding dispute over the facility — after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro refused to cash the checks, claiming the lease, signed in 1903, is invalid.

Hegseth acknowledged the U.S. was presenting military options to Mr. Trump, but offered the possibility of a more peaceful relationship, saying the U.S. hopes to soon be “a friend of the leadership of the government of Cuba.”

CBS News reported in May that U.S. intelligence officials have been assessing how Cuba would respond to possible U.S. military action, as the Trump administration accused Havana of strengthening ties with Russia, China and Iran. The intelligence community’s 2026 annual threat assessment largely portrays Cuba as an enabling environment for larger geopolitical competitors, rather than as an independent strategic threat. Notably, the March assessment doesn’t identify Cuba itself as possessing military capabilities that materially threaten the U.S. or describe Havana as an independent driver of instability.

In May, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana for a rare meeting with senior Cuban officials, using the visit to deliver a message that the U.S. was prepared to expand economic and security engagement with Cuba if Havana “makes fundamental changes.”

But Ratcliffe also brought along one of the operators who was involved in the U.S. mission to capture then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January, making a point of introducing the paramilitary leader to the Cubans as the one who had killed their people in Venezuela, several people familiar with the trip told CBS News.

Days after the visit, the Justice Department indicted 95-year-old former leader Raul Castro and five others on charges dating back to the 1996 shootdown of two U.S. planes. That indictment has led to speculation that Castro would be arrested in an operation similar to the snatch and grab of Maduro. Multiple sources told CBS News that the preference would be for the Castro family to depart the island of their own accord, and nodded to the Trump administration’s meetings with Castro’s grandnephew Raulito.

The administration’s confrontation with Cuba did not emerge overnight. Over the past 18 months, the White House has steadily dismantled the limited engagement pursued under former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama and replaced it with a campaign of economic, diplomatic and legal pressure that has isolated Havana and deprived its security apparatus of revenue in an effort to force political change.

Cuba policy since Trump’s return to office

Hours after returning to office in January 2025, Mr. Trump reversed one of Biden’s final foreign policy decisions by restoring Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, a move that again restricted Cuba’s access to international finance and signaled a return to the “maximum pressure” strategy of Mr. Trump’s first term.

The Trump administration expanded that approach when Rubio reinstated restrictions on business transactions with Cuba’s military-controlled conglomerate, GAESA, arguing that the armed forces—not Cuba’s private sector—control much of the island’s hard-currency economy. Weeks later, the State Department broadened visa restrictions targeting Cuba’s overseas medical missions, accusing Havana of exploiting doctors and nurses through a state-run labor export system that Cuban officials insist is voluntary.

Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio told The Associated Press in June that the Trump administration was trying to discredit thousands of Cuban doctors working around the world while also cutting off a critical source of income to the island country.

Despite rising tensions, limited cooperation continued, including Cuba’s acceptance of U.S. deportation flights under existing migration agreements. By mid-2025, the Trump administration formalized its approach through a new National Security Presidential Memorandum that expanded restrictions on travel, remittances and financial transactions, while strengthening enforcement of the embargo.

The campaign escalated further earlier this year when Mr. Trump declared Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” and extended sanctions to foreign governments and companies supplying the island with oil. Additional actions included sanctions on senior Cuban officials, and penalties targeting Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and other top figures.

These measures coincided with a worsening economic crisis in Cuba, marked by fuel shortages, blackouts and protests. Cuban officials blamed U.S. sanctions, while the Trump administration pointed to internal mismanagement.

New Mexico and the DOJ are fighting over Epstein documents. Here’s where it stands.

2026-07-15T18:30:00.000Z / The Washington Post

New Mexico’s attorney general has requested records related to the state’s investigation of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes at Zorro Ranch, the convicted sex offender’s former property in Santa Fe County.

July 15, 2026 at 2:30 p.m. EDT 30 minutes ago

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New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez (D), seen in 2016, wrote to the Justice Department on Tuesday that more than 130 days had elapsed since his request for unredacted records. (Susan Montoya Bryan/AP)

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By Maegan Vazquez

New Mexico’s attorney general and the Justice Department are clashing over a request for records related to the state’s investigation of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes at Zorro Ranch, the convicted sex offender’s former property in Santa Fe County.

New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez (D) wrote to the Justice Department on Tuesday that more than 130 days had elapsed since the request, demanding that the unredacted records be provided by July 31. He said the Justice Department’s Southern District of New York office informed him that “they will NOT cooperate.”

Acting attorney general Todd Blanche said during his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday that his office is “continuing to work with” state authorities on the request.

Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York seeking to be the next director of national intelligence, also said his team is working on it. In his confirmation hearing, also on Wednesday, Clayton pointed out that the unredacted documents “are subject to several protections for those redactions, including a protective order of the court.”

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Exclusive: Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe

2026-07-15T17:40:22.407Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/15/politics/susie-wiles-kash-patel-leak

Chief of staff Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s closest aide, and FBI Director Kash Patel helped personally orchestrate a sprawling investigation last week at the White House aimed at determining who in the government leaked information about the security deficiencies of a Qatari-gifted airplane meant to be used as Air Force One – with some officials being asked to turn over their phones to investigators on White House grounds, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

Trump had fumed over disclosures about the new plane, sources said, and his government quickly stood up an intense leak probe that roiled the government. As the investigation unfolded, at least one federal agency emailed employees warning that if they were contacted by outside agencies requesting information and devices, they needed to immediately contact their own agency’s attorneys, one source told CNN.

The sources said Patel — who had been preparing to travel to Chicago — was diverted to the White House on Friday to take a hands-on role in running the probe, which became public early the next morning when the New York Times reported that the Justice Department had issued subpoenas to four of its journalists who reported on security concerns surrounding the new plane.

Patel posted up in an office next to Wiles’ for roughly seven hours, as the two established what one source referred to as a “war room” in the West Wing.

In addition to asking for cell phones, investigators sought information from those who were traveling with Trump or had a role in the trip, including officials across various agencies. Not all officials who were asked to turn over their devices did so, one of the sources told CNN.

The effort reflects the extent to which the White House was willing to exert control over a law enforcement investigation — a significant breach of the Justice Department’s historic independence, though one that has become somewhat common in Trump’s administration. CNN has previously reported that Trump also talked with Patel on the phone about the leak investigation.

CNN has reached out to the White House and FBI for comment.

Journalists and free press advocates have criticized the Justice Department’s move to subpoena the New York Times journalists as an affront to the First Amendment, and the Times has said it plans to fight them in court.

The concerns about the new, $400 million Qatari-gifted jet came to dominate the conversation in Washington last week when Trump abruptly announced he was sending the new plane ahead to England’s Mildenhall Air Force Base just before he departed a NATO summit in Turkey. Trump said in a social media post that the change in planes was simply to give US service members stationed at the base “a chance to tour the Aircraft.” He had previously touted the plane, which was remade and repainted to his tastes.

“Everybody is so excited, and we thought that they should be the first,” he wrote.

Trump departed on an older plane, then switched back at a secure US airbase in the UK. He downplayed the idea that security was the reason for the switch, though sources have told CNN and other outlets that it was.

“There wasn’t a security concern, except we sent it a little early, same line going back. We sent it a little bit early, so that we could let them see,” Trump said.

Sources told CNN that after Trump traveled to Turkey for the summit, the security assessment changed, and Wiles briefed Trump that he would need to leave the country on an older vessel. The Qatari plane, sources said, had been quickly retrofitted with defense capabilities but was still not as secure as the older version, which had been built to protect presidents in overseas travel.

One official previously told CNN that the 747 gifted by Qatar was largely seen by the military and Secret Service as having been “rushed” into service. By contrast, the official noted two new jets acquired as part of a deal Trump renegotiated during his first term have faced serious delays and aren’t expected to be ready until at least 2028. That’s partially due to the host of classified communication and defensive countermeasures that must be affixed, comprehensive design requirements by the military and the time required to train pilots on the unique aircraft.

The exact nature of the security differences between the old and new planes is not fully clear. Aviation observers studying pictures of the aircraft told CNN the new plane appears to lack external modifications to the tail cone associated with a type of directional infrared missile defense system. However, the absence of visible features does not definitively establish which systems are or are not installed.

CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this report.

Imam who prayed before Congress faces formal rebuke after celebrating Graham’s death

2026-07-15 09:08 EDT / Fox News

Omar Suleiman wrote, ‘May you live an eternity in ruins,’ after news broke of Graham’s death over the weekend

By Adam Pack, Fox News

Published July 15, 2026 9:08am EDT

Texas imam faces House condemnation after Graham’s death celebration post

Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, will unveil a resolution denouncing Imam Omar Suleiman after he posted on social media that he hoped the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., would “live an eternity in ruins.”

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FIRST ON FOX: A Texas imam invited to pray before Congress is facing backlash on Capitol Hill after celebrating Sen. Lindsey Graham’s death in a social media post that wished him “an eternity in ruins” over his support for Israel.

Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, plans to introduce a resolution on Wednesday that would formally condemn Omar Suleiman, the president and co-founder of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, near Dallas.

“In other news, Lindsey Graham is dead,” Suleiman wrote on social media early Sunday morning, shortly after news broke that Graham had died. “Bye Lindsey. May you live an eternity in ruins for the ruins you helped create in Gaza. Ameen.”

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Van Duyne, who represents the suburban Dallas district where Suleiman lives, said Congress must condemn his incendiary message, pointing to his 2019 opening prayer before the House, which he delivered at Democrats’ invitation.

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Imam Omar Suleiman speaks at a vigil for refugees in Dallas, Texas, in January 2017.(Rodger Mallison/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

JOY REID MOCKS MEDIA MOURNING OF LINDSEY GRAHAM, SAYS ‘HELL OPENED ITS DOORS FOR AT LEAST ONE MORE’

“This type of action from a religious leader that claims to preach about love and not hate needs to be condemned,” Van Duyne told Fox News Digital in an interview. “That was anything but love. That was depravity.”

“Is this really what you believe—that you’re going to take a sitting senator who has just died, and you’re going to condemn his soul to an eternity of ruins because you don’t agree with his politics?” she continued.

Graham, who served in Congress for decades, was a leading advocate for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and the United States’ months-long conflict with Iran. He was also a fierce defender of Ukraine, Taiwan and those living under authoritarian regimes.

Van Duyne said she is talking with leadership about putting her resolution on the floor and hopes Democrats will support it.

“It needs to be condemned by those Democrats who called him to the House floor to preach,” the Texas lawmaker said. “I would love to be able to get Democrats who are on the floor who don’t agree that this is the type of action that a religious leader should take.”

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Suleiman was invited by former Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, to deliver the opening prayer in the House chamber in May 2019. She died in 2023.

The imam was asked to perform the invocation despite a history of controversial remarks, including calling for a third Intifada — a phrase widely interpreted as calling for violence against Israel and Jews — and claiming that Zionists are “enemies of God,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

“It’s a hatred of a people” that fueled Suleiman’s remarks celebrating Graham’s death, Van Duyne told Fox News Digital. “I thought it was very important to highlight that.”

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Sen. Lindsey Graham mills about before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 24, 2026.(Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)

NETANYAHU DETAILS ‘FINAL’ CONVERSATION WITH LINDSEY GRAHAM, SAYS SENATOR CHALLENGED HIS PUSH TO END ISRAEL AID

The resolution alleges that Suleiman has “defended convicted terrorists” and traveled to Turkey to support members of the Muslim Brotherhood, who are banned from traveling to the United States.

Suleiman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Texas imam was not alone in celebrating Graham’s death. Van Duyne argued the vitriol from some progressive commentators and left-wing activists reflects a broader decline in civility.

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“The words are getting more hateful,” the Texas Republican told Fox News Digital. “The call for violence is getting more dangerous.”

“It has absolutely gone beyond reason,” she continued. “And to have a religious leader that joins in that, that is calling for that, is horrible. And yes, we should be condemning it.”

Her measure also highlights Sharia law’s “incompatibility” with constitutional principles and American life.

Van Duyne, who served as mayor of Irving, Texas, before winning election to Congress in 2020, has long warned about the spread of radical Islam and efforts to promote Sharia law in the Lone Star State.

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Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“There are Republican leaders in Congress who are speaking out against it. Eleven years ago, I felt like I was on my own,” Van Duyne told Fox News Digital. “They are in my hometown, and they are in cities across the country, and I think what you’re seeing is elected representatives standing up to it.”

The resolution also pays tribute to Graham, who she said supported her during her runs for Congress and appeared with her at some fundraisers.

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“When he didn’t agree with somebody, he would tell them,” Van Duyne said. “But it was never in a hateful, malicious manner, and I think we have lost the soul of debate. We have lost the soul of actual compromise in this country.”

Tim Walz becomes GOP punchline in sweeping new war on welfare fraud

July 15, 2026 10:01am EDT / Fox News

The ‘Welfare Abuse and Laundering Zillions (WALZ) Act’ targets abuse of federal reimbursements to state programs

By Charles Creitz, Fox News

DHS calls Walz’s pardon for sex offender ‘disgusting’

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz faces strong criticism for pardoning Tou Lue Vang, an illegal immigrant child rapist, a decision DHS calls ‘disgusting.’ Angel Mom Jessica Gorman emotionally testifies on Capitol Hill, accusing Democrats of prioritizing sanctuary policies over American lives, following her daughter Sheridan Gorman’s murder by an illegal alien. The segment also addresses extreme heat and Iran nuclear talks.

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EXCLUSIVE: Senate Republicans are naming the centerpiece of a 12-figure anti-fraud package after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, arguing his administration’s handling of massive welfare fraud schemes made him the symbol of government waste they hope to eliminate.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa., is dropping the legislation just as fraud-exposing journalists, such as Nick Shirley, testify to the Homeland Security Committee about videotaped discoveries in the “Feeding Our Futures” scandal in Minnesota and other similar alleged rackets elsewhere on Wednesday.

The “Welfare Abuse and Laundering Zillions (WALZ) Act” from Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., is at the core of the broader anti-fraud package targeting Minnesota-style violations, COVID fraud, foreign remittance abuse and repeat offenders, and is projected to save taxpayers roughly $240 billion, Fox News Digital learned.

WALZ A NO-SHOW AT KEY FRAUD HEARING DESPITE BEING IN THE BUILDING ON OTHER BUSINESS: GOP LEADER

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Gov. Tim Walz fields questions during a press conference at the State Capitol building on Feb. 3, 2026, in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

The WALZ Act requires federal payments be made as reimbursements to states only after a service is proven to have been provided – a process critics say Minnesota failed to police adequately.

It also requires that if a state program receiving federal funding sees a six-month increase in disbursements of more than 10%, the HHS inspector general must investigate that program.

FTC CHIEF ACCUSES DEMOCRATS OF ‘TRYING TO PROTECT THE FRAUDSTERS’ BY WITHHOLDING DATA FROM TRUMP ADMIN

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One of Ernst’s pieces of the package, the Returning Unspent COVID Funds Act, would claw back more than $65 billion in federally-disbursed COVID funds – now six years after the height of the pandemic – to avoid future abuse of those funds.

“While hardworking Americans are struggling to make ends meet, fraudsters are getting away with ripping off $1.4 billion of taxpayer money every single day,” Ernst told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

“Government grift and graft is endless, but the public’s patience isn’t and neither is mine. The Senate will have an opportunity to bring this crime spree to an end by passing my Protecting American Taxpayers Act. This bill stops fraud before it happens and takes back the loot that’s already been stolen. As for the scammers, they’re going to the slammer.”

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DAVID MARCUS: FLORIDA SENATOR’S WAVE OF ANTI-FRAUD BILLS SHOULD BE SLAM DUNK

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz for comment on lawmakers using his name.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., also contributed legislation to the package that would extend the statute of limitations for the government to prosecute COVID fraudsters.

Keen-eyed federal employees would also be able to claim monetary rewards from the federal government under the package – as part of the “Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act” from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that instructs inspectors general to pay out sums to those who uncover fraud or waste.

The anti-fraud package also goes far beyond America’s borders to protect U.S. taxpayers, according to Ernst.

Sen. Tim Sheehy’s, R-Mont., No Tax Dollars for Terrorists Act would instruct the State Department to implement a process to discourage NGOs and foreign nations from financially supporting the Taliban, including via U.S.-provided foreign assistance that Washington gives to such groups or governments.

Outside the oft-reported welfare scams and social services fraud operations, the package also brings attention to other ways the federal taxpayer has purportedly been defrauded over the years.

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Suspected abuse of remittances – or funds sent by U.S.-resident foreigners to their home countries – has been a thorn in the side of some conservatives for years.

PENNSYLVANIA REPUBLICANS SEEK TO LEVY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS’ REMITTANCES TO FUND PROPERTY TAX RELIEF

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Part of Ernst’s package also includes a bill from Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, that would require people who send wire transfers and remittances abroad to certify that they are not already on public assistance; essentially protecting the taxpayer from their welfare funds being shifted to other countries.

“For decades, Washington’s failed welfare program rewarded dependency while enabling fraudsters and criminals to exploit the system to take advantage of American taxpayers,” Moreno said in a January statement after initially drafting the legislation. “If an individual has enough cash to send money overseas, they have no business taking welfare benefits from hardworking Americans. The abuse ends now.”

In Ernst’s package, a proposal by Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., called the Assisting Small Businesses Not Fraudsters Act, would prevent previously convicted fraudsters from receiving Small Business Administration funds.

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A source familiar with Senate procedure said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., could tee up a vote by filing cloture – ending debate – on the legislative process for the massive package as early as late this week.

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Co-sponsors of the greater anti-fraud package include GOP Sens. David McCormick of Pennsylvania, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Jim Justice of West Virginia, John Kennedy of Louisiana and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming, among several others.

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

Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, worked in both the New York and Washington bureaus for Fox News since 2013.

Demand to end ‘scam’ visa program replacing American workers surges, West Virginia congressman reveals

July 15, 2026 8:46am EDT / Fox News

Rep. Riley Moore argues corporate demand for H-1B visas leaves young Americans unemployed

By Peter D’Abrosca Fox News

A congressman from West Virginia is fed up with foreign worker visa programs that he says are used to displace American workers.

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A West Virginia congressman is fed up with popular work visas, and revealed to Fox News Digital a behind-the-scenes surge of Republican lawmakers who also support abolition of the foreign worker program.

“I think the H-1B visa program is a scam, and it’s one that has been perpetrated on the American worker for far too long,” Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., said in an interview.

“Essentially, we shipped all our manufacturing jobs overseas and people were told to ‘learn how to code,’” he continued. “Well, now they’re being replaced with the H-1B visa workers on the coding jobs as well. So when is the American worker actually going to get a win here?”

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Rep. Riley Moore is leading a bill to authorize President Trump to carry out his tariff plans(Office of Rep. Riley Moore)

FURY ERUPTS AS US BRAND FIRES 1,600 EMPLOYEES AFTER SECURING THOUSANDS OF FOREIGN WORKER VISAS

H-1B visas are billed as temporary work authorizations for “high-skilled” foreign workers who are qualified to do jobs that American workers do not have the skills to do. But the companies that use them are not required to prove that they couldn’t find a qualified American to do the same job, raising criticism among those who want to stop outsourcing jobs to foreign workers.

Companies who use the most H-1B visas include Amazon, IT consulting firm Cognizant, Infosys, IBM and Microsoft.

Microsoft set off a firestorm last week when its XBOX gaming division laid off 1,600 workers, despite the parent company being approved for 2,273 H-1B visas this year alone.

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Pontiac, Michigan, A rally outside the Oakland County government complex supports a proposal to require government contractors to use the federal E-Verify database to check the immigration status of job applicants. (Photo by: Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)(im West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

ACTING LABOR SECRETARY SONDERLING: A FAST-TRACK WAY TO GET A JOB WITHOUT COLLEGE DEBT

“We’re sending all of our kids to college, trade school or what have you, to get advanced knowledge or career preparation for the workplace, and we’re coming in with H-1B visas and displacing them with lower skilled, lower paid workers, and many of young people are ending up either unemployed, or baristas at Starbucks, or you name it with $200,000 in debt,” Moore lamented to Fox News Digital.

The typical H-1B visa is limited to three years, but employers can file extensions that last up to six years. And while the foreign workers are in the United States, there is nothing stopping them from pursuing permanent residency.

According to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 80% of H-1B visa holders who become permanent residents do so through employment-based green cards. Permanent residents can later become naturalized citizens.

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The reductions will primarily affect Microsoft’s commercial and Xbox organizations.(Cesc Maymo)

Moore insists the idea that H-1B workers are more skilled than American workers is a “complete fallacy,” and said that the only reason they’re being brought to the United States is because they will work for less pay than the ordinary American.

“This is a rigged market against American workers,” said Moore. “It’s not free market capitalism at all, because the government is handing these out and also setting the levels of how many H-1B visas are going to be issued.”

“This is all controlled by the government, and it’s obviously big corporate lobbyists that are pushing for more H-1B visas. This is not an exercise in the free market.”

TRUMP JOLTS IMMIGRATION HAWKS WITH SURPRISING DEFENSE OF CHINESE STUDENTS IN USA

As of 2021, National Foundation for American Policy analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data estimated that there were 619,000 H-1B workers in the U.S. — a number that is likely higher today.

Optional Practical Training (OPT) work authorizations, Moore says, are perhaps more pernicious than H-1B visas, and further disprove the idea that H-1B visas are for “high skilled” foreign laborers.

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President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Sept. 19, 2025, establishing the “Trump Gold Card” and introducing a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas. The “Trump Gold Card” is a visa program that allows foreign nationals permanent residency and a pathway to U.S. citizenship for a $1 million investment in the United States.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Foreign students who come to the U.S. on F-1 student visas often use OPT as a bridge between studying in the United States and receiving an H1-B visa.

“Look at the OPT program, right, where they’re doing the training,” Moore said. “They’re going through our university system. Obviously they’re coming through our university system because it’s the greatest on the planet.”

Moore wants to abolish both programs completely, and says there’s a quiet groundswell of support for his efforts behind the scenes.

“I’m certainly not the lone voice in this,” he told Fox News Digital. “I might be the loudest. Some people are quietly talking about it, but I have had many, many of my colleagues here in Congress come up and talk with me since I’ve started talking about this and thank me for speaking up.”

“So I have a lot of support behind me on this issue, and there’s others who are starting to speak up as well.”

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Engineers work at computer stations at Accela headquarters in San Ramon, Calif., on Feb. 28, 2018.(Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

Recently, President Donald Trump tried to limit employers’ use of the H-1B program by imposing a $100,000 fee for companies seeking H-1B applications.

A federal judge struck down that order, reasoning that it amounted to a tax that only Congress has the ability to impose.

For Moore, it all comes back to protecting American labor.

“The American worker is the only worker on the planet that has to compete with labor from all over the world inside their own borders. We’re the only ones. It doesn’t make any sense to me at all, and we’re putting all of our young people in a disadvantaged position.”

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

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