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Trump says Thursday address will focus on ‘free and fair elections’

2026-07-14T16:50:53.913Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/14/politics/trump-thursday-speech-elections

President Donald Trump plans to use part of a primetime speech Thursday to discuss new findings about the security of American elections, among other topics — setting up yet another high-profile opportunity for the president to dispute the results of the 2020 election he lost.

Speaking in the Oval Office two days ahead of the planned address, Trump affirmed the speech would focus on elections and a “couple of other things.”

Officials said the speech is still being finalized, but Trump was expected to discuss several topics. He’s still deeply mired in his conflict with Iran, with nightly strikes in the country as he seeks a path to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Even as that war appears to be restarting, however, Trump framed the elections portion of his Thursday speech as the centerpiece.

“It’s really, really big news, and our country has to shape up,” he said during a meeting with Iraq’s prime minister.

“It doesn’t get bigger, because without free and fair elections, you don’t have a country,” the president added. “We’ll be discussing other things too, but it’s going to be a very big announcement.”

Trump announced Thursday’s speech on social media on Monday, but did not specify a topic. He said it would begin at 9 p.m. ET. In interviews since then, he has been coy about what, specifically, he planned to discuss.

“It’s just going to be a speech, like a lot of my speeches,” he told radio host Hugh Hewitt shortly after the initial announcement.

Primetime presidential addresses are a rarity, and usually reserved for major updates intended to reach a wide audience. White House officials typically ask broadcast networks to preempt their usual programming; it wasn’t clear whether such a request had been made for Trump’s speech this week.

Election integrity has been a fixation of Trump’s for years. He has long insisted that irregularities marred the 2020 election, which Joe Biden won. And he’s repeatedly excoriated Congress for not passing his elections overhaul bill, which has stalled in the Senate, even refusing to sign a bipartisan measure to bring down the cost of housing as he pressured lawmakers to clear the elections legislation.

Both Republicans in Congress and White House staff have pushed Trump to focus more on affordability as the midterms approach but, as the upcoming speech illustrates, he’s adamant about continuing to talk about his perceived election issues.

The upcoming speech is just the latest example. Since retaking office last year, Trump has instructed his administration to use the vast resources of US spy agencies to either cast doubt on American elections or question the notion that foreign powers have meddled in them.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe last year declassified a memo that criticized spy agencies’ analytic work in concluding that Russia influenced the 2016 presidential election because it wanted Trump to win. Even so, the memo didn’t directly contradict any previous US intelligence.

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s now-former director of national intelligence, was keenly focused on trying to support his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Gabbard was present in Fulton County, Georgia, in January as FBI agents executed a search warrant related to the 2020 election — an extraordinary move for a spy chief.

Gabbard’s office also obtained voting machines from Puerto Rico and probed them for vulnerabilities, but the flaws they found were, by and large, old and known to the election community.

The use of intelligence resources to support Trump’s election lies hasn’t slowed with Gabbard’s departure last month.

Bill Pulte, the housing agency executive who replaced Gabbard on an acting basis, “may find out some things about the rigged elections … I think he wants to do it very much,” Trump told reporters last month.

Trump’s pick for a permanent director of national intelligence, US attorney and ex-SEC chairman Jay Clayton, faces a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Before the president tapped him for the job, Clayton echoed some of Trump’s election rhetoric when he commented on California’s election in June: “On the integrity side, we’re doing an absolutely terrible job, and the American people are right to question it,” Clayton told CNBC.

In his second term, Trump has also dismantled many of the government organizations set up in his first term to alert the public about foreign influence operations aimed at US elections. The Trump administration has accused those federal programs of censoring Americans and conducting domestic interference in US elections.

Trump aides have previously expressed concern that declassifying intelligence — even with the intent of inoculating the American public from foreign influence operations — could amount to meddling in US politics.

After Trump won the 2024 election, a planning document used by his transition team and reviewed by CNN said the Justice Department and the FBI should revisit how they communicate threats to the public, “e.g. in announcing indictments of foreign hackers or getting involved in threats to election security in partisan ways.”

This story has been updated with additional reporting and context.

Alejandra Jaramillo and Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.

Johnson scores win as conservative rebels end House floor blockade over voter ID bill

July 14, 2026 2:43pm EDT / Fox News

Rep Anna Paulina Luna voted ‘yes’ after Johnson paired the Trump-backed SAVE America Act to the appropriations bill

By Adam Pack , Tyler Olson, Fox News

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House conservatives ended their weeks-long blockade of the House floor Tuesday, handing Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., a key victory after the rebellion brought legislative business to a standstill for nearly a month.

The House successfully passed a procedural vote 215-211, teeing up votes on an appropriations bill funding the State Department, legislation making daylight saving time permanent and a measure seeking to improve veterans’ benefits.

Johnson also agreed to pair the State Department funding bill with the SAVE America Act, prompting several conservative holdouts to flip their votes after demanding the House increase pressure on the Senate to pass the stalled measure.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., was the lone Republican to oppose the rule, while all Democrats voted “no” during a party-line procedural vote.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., talks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol on June 10, 2026.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

The conservatives had blocked all major House legislation since late June in an effort to force GOP leaders to hold floor votes on the Trump-backed SAVE America Act and a sweeping border security bill.

Given House Republicans’ slim majority, Johnson could afford to spare just a handful of GOP defections.

The speaker has been under mounting pressure to get the House moving again and advance a backlog of legislation ahead of the November midterm elections.

GOP leaders are racing to draft the blueprint for a third “big, beautiful bill” in addition to clearing government funding bills before the Sept. 30 deadline and a potential supplemental package covering the price tag of the Iran war.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who was among the GOP rebels who effectively shut down the chamber to pressure the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, agreed to unlock the floor after Johnson proposed pairing the election measure with the State Department appropriations bill.

Johnson sought to attach the SAVE America Act to the House’s version of an annual defense policy bill before the July 4 recess, but Luna continued the blockade anyway.

“If John Thune strips it out in the Senate, that will be on him and the entire country should be watching what he does,” Luna wrote on social media Monday.

Chairwoman Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., attends a House Oversight Subcommittee hearing in the Rayburn building on June 30, 2026.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

TRUMP TAKES UNUSUAL STEP, LETS BIPARTISAN HOUSING BILL BECOME LAW UNSIGNED AMID SAVE PRESSURE CAMPAIGN

Thune, who is supportive of the SAVE America Act, has repeatedly insisted that the votes do not exist in the upper chamber to pass the Trump-backed legislation amid unified opposition from Democrats.

That leaves House Republicans with little leverage to force Senate action on the SAVE America Act.

Some of the GOP holdouts had also threatened to oppose the rule unless House Republican leadership agreed to schedule a vote on a border security package.

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are advocating for a vote on the Permanent Trump Secure Border Act, which would codify several Trump executive orders targeting illegal immigration, including and end to catch-and-release policies.

“We need to deliver on codifying border security, deal with the birthright citizenship issue,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said. “These are all issues people that I represent care about intently and that we’ve talked about doing, and we need to deliver.”

In a potential sign of trouble for GOP leadership, some holdouts criticized Johnson’s planned legislative goals for the week.

“Making Daylight Saving Time permanent won’t matter at all if we don’t have election integrity,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, wrote on social media Monday, referring to the SAVE America Act. “Priorities.”

Self voted “yes” during the procedural vote.

The GOP rebels’ hardball tactics frustrated many House Republicans, who argued the strategy risked backfiring and paralyzing the conference’s legislative agenda.

Rep. Ralph Norman speaks to reporters as he leaves a House Republican Conference meeting at the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C., on May 20, 2026.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“There’s a small group of Republicans who are upset at the Senate, as I think all of us are,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., told Fox News Monday. “But I don’t know how … if you’re upset at the Senate, why do you take it out on the conservative Republican agenda in the House?”

But some conservatives argued the House should do whatever it takes to get the SAVE America Act to President Donald Trump’s desk.

Trump has repeatedly said the election integrity measure is his top legislative priority. He even refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill last week aiming to boost supply and lower costs in protest of the SAVE America Act.

“We shouldn’t vote on anything else unless it has the SAVE [America] Act, period,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said Monday.

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“Ideally, the Senate ought to take it up every day and make them vote on it and do a talking filibuster and keep them up all night,” he continued. “That’s the best course of action. I don’t think they’ll do that.”

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6399634536112

US indicts Russians alleged to be at center of major cybercrime network

2026-07-14T16:53:14.383Z / CNN

The US Justice Department on Tuesday announced the indictment of three Russians who prosecutors say were at the center of a major cybercrime network that allegedly helped hackers target hospitals, schools and banks across the US, causing $62 million in damages.

The indictment targets one of the more brazen services provided by and for cybercriminals: so-called “bulletproof hosting” services, which lease internet infrastructure to hackers and claim to offer safe haven from law enforcement.

US prosecutors accused two Russian men, Aleksandr Volosovik and Kirill Zatolokin, of operating a bulletproof-hosting provider from a corporate office in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city. A Russian woman, Yulia Pankova, is also charged in the criminal conspiracy. The charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

The Russia-based company, Media Land, has supported numerous criminal groups who have claimed dozens of victims, the Justice Department alleged. The company was incorporated in 2015, according to Russian business records, and is based in a semi-industrial part of St. Petersburg. The State Department is now offering up to $10 million for information on the company and its executives as the US government investigation into Media Land continues.

CNN has requested comment from an email address associated with Media Land.

US and European law enforcement have tracked Volosovik, Zatolokin and Pankova for years. When the US Treasury Department sanctioned them last year, it released a photo of Zatolokin holding a weapon and wearing a Media Land t-shirt.

“To this day, they are likely still shielding criminal activity,” Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division, told CNN, referring to Media Land.

The FBI will be watching to see if the crackdown on Media Land leads cybercriminals to seek out other bulletproof hosting services, Leatherman said.

“We’re looking for that now — to understand where those shifts may be and what opportunities are available to us in law enforcement and in the intelligence community to target those,” he added.

Michael DeBolt, president and chief intelligence officer at security firm Intel471, described bulletproof hosting providers as “fuel to the cybercrime underground.”

“Whether its deploying malware, hosting illicit marketplaces, launching ransomware or safeguarding stolen digital goods, Media Land’s impact should be measured by the years of criminal activity it has supported, enabled and sustained,” DeBolt told CNN.

The FBI, Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies have for years conducted operations to disrupt ransomware gangs, which extract hundreds of millions in ransoms annually from victims. While some officials in the Biden administration floated the idea of banning ransom payments, the idea was ultimately shelved because of the adverse impacts it might have on certain victims.

With Russia continuing to harbor the hackers, FBI agents are trying to chip away at the problem by targeting the ransomware groups’ computing tools, some of which are based outside of Russia.

The law enforcement operations have produced results: millions of dollars in cryptocurrency seized and prolific hackers arrested and extradited. But by other measures, the problem is getting more brazen and concerning. To augment their hacking, a Russian-speaking crime group has been hiring people to show up to major US law firms and plug-in USB sticks, CNN reported last month.

CNN has requested comment from the Russian embassy in Washington, DC.

Tuesday’s indictment is one of a raft of Western law enforcement and intelligence actions related to Russian criminal or state-sponsored hacking in the last week. The British government and European Union on Monday accused the Russian FSB intelligence service of trying to hack the Polish power grid last year in an attack that could have cut power for half a million people. For its part, Dutch intelligence accused Russian state-backed hackers of “systematically” breaching video cameras in Europe to surveil military transport routes and weapon deliveries to Ukraine.

Leatherman, the FBI official, said the US government continues to regularly warn about the Russian state-backed hacking because, after an initial lull following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, “we have seen, probably over the last year or so, an uptick in Russian cyber targeting of the United States.”

CNN’s Darya Tarasova contributed reporting.

Senate Democrats block must-pass defense policy bill over Iran war objections

2026-07-14 3:48 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — Senate Democrats blocked a must-pass annual defense policy bill from moving forward on Tuesday as they voiced opposition to the Trump administration’s handling of the war with Iran.

“The NDAA, in my view, has become a referendum on the Iran war,” Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut told reporters Tuesday.

In a 50 to 46 vote, the Senate opposed an initial procedural vote to advance the National Defense Authorization Act. Senate Majority Leader John Thune voted against it a move that allows him to bring up the bill again.

Democrats have harshly criticized how the Trump administration has moved ahead in the Iran conflict without approval from Congress. The 1973 War Powers Resolution dictates that the president must report to Congress within 48 hours of deploying forces if lawmakers haven’t authorized a declaration of war, and caps any unauthorized engagement at 60 days. But the Trump administration has maintained that hostilities “terminated” in April, until they began again in recent days.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the timing of the vote to proceed to the NDAA, noting that the White House formally notified Congress on Monday that hostilities have resumed in Iran.

“Yet Republicans want the Senate to take up the NDAA, the defense bill, as though none of this is happening?” Schumer said ahead of the vote. “As though Congress can debate the nation’s central national security bill while ignoring the nation’s most urgent national security crisis? We cannot. I will be voting no.”

The New York Democrat railed against President Trump for “waging an unauthorized war, defying bipartisan majorities in Congress, refusing to level with the American people about the cost, the mission, or the end game.”

“The NDAA cannot become a permission slip for that recklessness that we see occurring in Iran,” he added. “Donald Trump does not get to drag the American people deeper into a war he cannot explain and does not know how to end, and then demand Congress look the other way.”

The NDAA sets lawmakers’ defense priorities and usually passes with broad bipartisan support. Thune urged Democrats to support the bill Tuesday morning, saying he was hopeful that the Senate could pass the bill soon and begin working with House and White House counterparts to get it over the finish line.

“Republicans are ready to go,” Thune said. “The question is, how will Democrats vote today?”

Thune said he saw “no reason” for Democrats to oppose, but he argued that “Democrats have allowed the politics of obstruction to determine so many of their actions for the last year and a half.”

“I certainly hope that Democrats won’t now put politics ahead of support for our men and women in uniform,” he said. “But that’s up to them.”

Thune praised the legislation for putting a “heavy emphasis on unmanned systems, especially drones and counterdrone measures,” along with continuing shipbuilding efforts “to strengthen our Naval fleet.” In terms of air power, Thune touted how it would “help ensure we maintain a force of at least 1,800 fighters,” while supporting the new B-21 long-range strategic bomber.

The South Dakota Republican highlighted in particular how the bill builds on efforts in last year’s NDAA to reform defense acquisition, including by allowing multi-year procurement contracts. He also touted the bill’s 3.6% pay raise for troops, along with other investments in education, housing, health care and childcare.

“Our colleagues on the Armed Services Committee have put forward a strong bill — a strong bill for our national security and for the men and women who defend our nation,” Thune said.

Trump reverses course on Hormuz tolls

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-says-us-military-doesnt-need-to-be-in-iran-reverses-course-on-strait-of-hormuz-tolls/

Trump reverses course on Strait of Hormuz tolls, says U.S. military doesn’t need to be in Iran

(06:22)

Arkansas takes home top ranking for religious freedom after Gov Sanders expands key protections

2026-07-14T10:00:57-04:00 / Fox News

The Natural State scored 89.2% on 50 legal benchmarks, earning the index’s new ‘excellent’ rating for faith protections

By Kiera McDonald, Andrew Mark Miller Fox News

Published July 14, 2026 10:00am EDT

Sarah Sanders outlines how major education shakeup has led to results in her state

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders tells Fox News Digital test scores are on the rise in Arkansas and that she hopes her state can serve as a national blueprint.

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FIRST ON FOX: Arkansas has been ranked the nation’s top state for religious liberty after Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a series of laws expanding faith protections that helped lift the state to the top.

Earning a score of 89.2%, Arkansas became one of only two states to earn the First Liberty Institute’s annual Religious Liberty in the States index’s first-ever “excellent” rating. The index evaluates states using 50 legal protections across 20 religious liberty safeguards spanning education, healthcare, family law, economic activity and other areas of daily life.

“Religious liberty is America’s First Freedom, and Arkansas is leading the nation in protecting it,” Sanders said.

“Our rights come from God, not government, and every American should be free to live according to their faith and conscience. We’ll continue defending that freedom and ensuring the Natural State remains the best place in the country to live, work and worship.”

AMERICA’S NEXT 250 YEARS DEPEND ON PASSING FAITH AND FREEDOM TO OUR CHILDREN

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders participates in the first-ever National Outdoor Recreation Executive Forum hosted by Outdoor Recreation Roundtable at Decatur House on May 7, 2024, in Washington, D.C.(Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Outdoor Recreation Roundtable)

The Natural State climbed six spots from last year’s rankings after lawmakers approved several measures expanding legal protections for religious exercise and conscience rights.

Arkansas’ rise was driven largely by Act 677, legislation Sanders signed last year that bars state and local governments from penalizing people, businesses and religious organizations for acting according to their religious beliefs regarding marriage and biological sex.

APPEALS COURT REVIVES LAWSUIT BY ALASKA AIRLINES FLIGHT ATTENDANTS FIRED AFTER OPPOSING PRIDE MESSAGE

A group of people hold hands in prayer. Arkansas topped a new religious liberty index after expanding faith and conscience protections.(iStock)

The state’s religious liberty push also included the Conscience Protection Act, signed by Sanders in 2023, which expanded Arkansas’ Religious Freedom Restoration Act by prohibiting state government discrimination against religious organizations based on their religious identity or status.

Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO and chief counsel at First Liberty, said other states should follow Arkansas’ lead and “strengthen religious liberty protections in their own states.”

“Religious liberty is best protected when leaders are willing to act before the rights of people of faith are threatened,” Shackelford said.

GOV SANDERS REVEALS ‘MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH’ ON EDUCATION AS RED STATE POSITIONS ITSELF AS ‘BLUEPRINT’ FOR NATION

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaking at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024.(Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Dr. Mark David Hall, director of the Religious Liberty in the States project, said Arkansas demonstrates how states can protect what America’s founders called “the sacred right of conscience,” allowing people to practice their faith not just at church, but in their everyday lives.

“States have always served as laboratories of liberty, and this year’s results show why that matters,” Hall said.

Sanders also publicly defended religious freedom in December. She rejected demands from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a group that advocates for the separation of church and state, to reverse her proclamation closing state offices for Christmas.

In a response letter previously obtained by Fox News Digital, Sanders pushed back on claims it was unconstitutional, saying “only by voicing our own faith and celebrating other faiths can we make our state’s diverse religious communities feel seen and heard.”

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“With this index, citizens and legislators can see where their state is doing well, where it still has room to improve, and which existing laws could help better protect the right of conscience,” Dr. Paul D. Mueller, associate director of the Religious Liberty in the States project, said.

Kiera McDonald is a Production Assistant for Fox News Digital.

Graham ally rips ‘thirsty’ Republicans jockeying to replace late senator

July 14, 2026 9:59am EDT / Fox News

Rep Timmons said rivals signaling interest within 24 hours of Graham’s death ‘rubbed me the wrong way’

By Alex Miller, Fox News

Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., an ally and mentee of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., isn’t happy with how quickly his colleagues jumped at the chance to run for his suddenly vacant seat.

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FIRST ON FOX: The sharks are swirling in the water in the race to replace Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and one of his closest allies is unhappy with how quickly South Carolina Republicans jumped on the opening.

“I’ll just be honest, it rubbed me the wrong way,” Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“The way that within 24 hours people are talking about that, that’s just not appropriate,” he continued. “And I don’t know, I think it’s unfortunate that these people are so thirsty for attention that they’ll get it at the expense of — It just rubbed me the wrong way.”

LINDSEY GRAHAM’S SISTER APPOINTED TO SENATE AS GOP RUSHES TO PROTECT FRAGILE MAJORITY

Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., an ally and mentee of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., isn’t happy with how quickly his colleagues, Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, jumped at the chance to run for his suddenly vacant seat.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Since Graham’s sudden death on Sunday, two members of the South Carolina GOP congressional delegation, Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, have signaled interest in running in the forthcoming special election to lock in a new Republican nominee.

Mace teased a bid on social media after she failed to secure the Republican nomination for governor in the Palmetto State last month. Norman similarly was unable to clinch the nomination, which eventually went to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Mace posted a quote from “The Godfather III” on X on Sunday after sources close to her revealed she was “seriously” considering a bid in the Aug. 11 special election.

‘THE HALLS OF THE SENATE ALREADY FEEL EMPTY’: TEARFUL THUNE HONORS LINDSEY GRAHAM AS SISTER TAKES HIS SEAT

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6401070567112

“Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in,” she posted.

And Norman told reporters that he’s seeking Trump’s endorsement for the race.

Norman said Trump told him, “He’s got to have some time.”

“I said, ‘Can you endorse me if I run?’” Norman recalled.

Timmons, who shared a close bond with Graham forged through hours on the golf course, argued that he didn’t believe that either would be senator after voters “just got the best polling data ever in [the] South Carolina… primary election.”

He contended that the next senator needed to “work to earn everyone’s respect and trust. And you can disagree, but you don’t need to be mean about it,” and to model themselves after Graham.

Timmons said a lesson he learned from his late mentor was that you have to earn the respect and trust of your colleagues: “You don’t tweet hateful things at them. You don’t tell them what to do. You tell them why this is a good path forward, and sometimes you have to figure out a way that you can make it work.”

GRAHAM’S DEATH IGNITES GOP SCRAMBLE FOR SENATE SEAT AS TRUMP HINTS HE ALREADY HAS A FAVORITE

Sen. Lindsey Graham during a confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., on June 16, 2026.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“I think that some of the people that have talked about running have a history of just saying outlandish things and taking ridiculous positions just for the purpose of getting clicks,” Timmons said.

“And I think that that is not something that the people of South Carolina are going to reward,” he continued. “And I think that it would be very unfortunate if the next senator did not take the same approach.”

For now, South Carolina does have a temporary replacement for Graham — his younger sister, Darline Graham.

Darline Graham, who has never held elected office before, is set to be sworn in to the position on Tuesday. From there, she’ll serve out the remainder of her brother’s term.

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Candidates can begin filing for the primary race one week from Tuesday. Timmons, when asked if he was interested, didn’t shut the door on the idea.

“That’s a conversation for the future, and obviously I support the president,” he said. “I think the president is going to be the deciding factor of who the next senator is, and we will see what he decides.”

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

ICE agents instructed to end most vehicle stops in major policy shift

2026-07-14T10:59:44-04:00 / Fox News

Agents will now only pursue traffic stops targeting individuals with serious or violent criminal histories

By Peter Pinedo, Bill Melugin Fox News

Published July 14, 2026 10:59am EDT

ICE says officer was ‘fearing for public safety’ in Maine shooting incident

Immigration attorney Esther Valdes Clayton and television journalist Emmett Miller discuss an incident where a man was allegedly fatally shot by ICE on ‘Fox News @ Night.’

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are being instructed to end “most” vehicle stops nationwide in a major policy shift, effective immediately.

According to multiple federal sources, ICE agents will cease making traffic stops, which have played a significant role in the agency’s operations until now. A federal source told Fox News that ICE will continue conducting vehicle stops only for those considered to be the most egregious targets with serious or violent criminal histories.

This comes after two people were killed in ICE officer-involved shootings in Maine and Texas in the last week.

A senior ICE source remarked to Fox News that the change is “horrible but needs to happen.”

MAINE ICE SHOOTING VICTIM WAS NOT TARGET OF ARREST WARRANT, SEN. KING’S OFFICE SAYS AFTER EARLIER DHS ACCOUNT

Federal law enforcement officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) conduct a traffic stop and detain people, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, in Washington.(Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

Another senior ICE source said this policy change will be temporary. According to the source, the new policy will remain in place until new training on vehicle stops is approved by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and given to agents operating in the field.

Until now, ICE agents have commonly carried out vehicle stops as part of the agency’s regular immigration enforcement operations. The stops, however, have grown increasingly controversial with incidents such as last week’s shootings.

This Monday, an ICE agent shot and killed a man in Biddeford, Maine, leading to hundreds of protesters marching by the shooting site. According to Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, Mullin told him in a phone call that the man killed in the shooting was not the intended target of the arrest warrant federal agents were executing.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, an ICE spokesperson said that agents were conducting “targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal.”

FAMILY SHATTERED AFTER 3-TIME DEPORTED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ALLEGEDLY BLEW THROUGH STOP SIGN, ROILING HOUSE RACE

Protesters lay flowers at a makeshift memorial following a fatal shooting by ICE agents in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13, 2026(Kailey Schuyler/Fox News)

An individual believed to be the illegal alien ICE was tracking departed the residence in a vehicle. When ICE agents attempted to conduct a vehicle stop, the vehicle attempted to flee the scene and “fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,” the agency said.

According to the spokesperson, “the driver of the vehicle was struck, and emergency services were immediately contacted. He passed away from his injuries.”

The week before, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican citizen who authorities said was in the country illegally, was shot and killed in Houston after he tried to ram an ICE officer with his vehicle during a traffic stop, the agency said.

Araujo was struck and taken to a hospital, where he later died.

His family has disputed ICE’s account of the shooting and called on the agency to release any available video evidence.

DRIVER IN DEADLY OHIO CRASH SPOKE NO ENGLISH AS TRUMP ADMIN VOWS COMMERCIAL TRUCK LICENSE CRACKDOWN

Lorenzo Salgado Jr., left, and Ronaldo Salgado, right, sons of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, are shown during a news conference about the ICE shooting death of their father in Houston on July 8, 2026.(Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

However, when asked whether the officers involved were wearing body cameras, DHS told Fox News they “had not been issued body-worn cameras due to back-to-back Democrat shutdowns.”

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Both shootings are being investigated by federal and local authorities.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser, Kailey Schuyler, Jessica Sonkin, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Kelly Phares contributed to this piece.

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

U.K. man describes harrowing escape from Spain wildfire that killed his wife and friends

July 14, 2026 / 9:14 AM EDT / CBS News

A British man caught up in Spanish wildfires has described how he survived the inferno as his wife and friends died trying to escape.

Malcolm Timbrell, 70, lived with his wife Annette Kilgore, 69, in the village of Bedar, in the Almeria province of southeast Spain.

The area was scorched by wildfires on July 9 that killed 13 people, one of the deadliest fires in the country’s history.

Timbrell spoke to CBS News’ partner network BBC News on Monday — outside his blackened, destroyed hillside home — about the ordeal.

“You’d never imagine it could happen,” he said, “and when it does, and you’re the only survivor, then you’re left in a situation of, ‘What can I do?’”

Timbrell and Kilgore moved to Spain after several years sailing together. Having both previously lost partners to terminal illness, they were together for 17 years.

They had hoped to spend the rest of their lives together in the southern Spanish hills of Andalusia.

“She was such a happy, outgoing person,” Timbrell said of Kilgore. “We have had an amazing life together — and now it’s stopped.”

The wildfire spread rapidly, fueled by sweltering temperatures, high winds and dry land, scorching an area larger than Manhattan and at times racing across the parched landscape at more than 300 feet per minute.

Malcolm Timbrell and Annette Kilgore’s burnt-out house in Los Gallardos, Almeria, Andalusia, Spain, on 10 July, 2026, a day after it was engulfed in flames. Europa Press News

With the flames getting closer and closer to their home, Timbrell, Kilgore and their friends had to make a snap decision about how and when to flee.

They were going to try driving, but Timbrell quickly went back into their home to get the couple’s cats, Charlie and Lilly.

“If we’d have done the sensible thing and gone the other way and let our cats die, we both would be alive,” he told The BBC. “But when you’ve got animals, you don’t think like that.”

After grabbing Charlie and Lilly, Timbrell tried to rejoin the group, but saw that for some reason they had gotten out of their cars.

“My wife and our other seven friends and neighbors — against me screaming at them not to — decided the only safe way was to walk out in front of the firewall,” he said. “I’ve subsequently heard that that fire wall was moving at 20 kilometers (12 miles) per hour, plus. They had no chance.”

Timbrell tried to escape the flames in one of the abandoned cars.

“Of the six cars, four of them instantly combusted and as each one started to go, I moved back one car.”

“For some reason of fate, the last two cars, although very, very badly singed and paint bubbled and burnt, survived,” he said. “I survived inside the last one with a cat.”

Malcolm was eventually recused by local authorities, but eight bodies were found down the road from the couple’s house.

Three Britons — including a 93-year-old woman — and one French, Belgian and Spanish national, are among the confirmed fatalities.

Spanish authorities have said four more bodies, discovered in a burnt-out vehicle, are thought to be British.

Kilgore has not yet been formally identified.

“There’s just that little spark of hope,” Timbrell said, “even though I know a body has been found clutching a cat. Hard cold facts are pointing to the bodies they’ve found.”

“So we are just waiting now for DNA clarification. And after that, I will probably just fall apart.”

The blaze in Spain came as Europe swelters under record-setting heat — part of a growing climate crisis that is driving up average temperatures on the continent about twice as quickly as the rest of the globe.

Firefighters of the Andalusia Wildfire Service monitor a fire in the area of the wildfire that killed 13 near Bedar, in Los Gallardos district, in Almeria Province, July 10, 2026. JOSE JORDAN/AFP/Getty

Western Europe has just endured its hottest June ever recorded, causing nearly 10,700 excess deaths, and Italy has already entered its third major heat wave of the season.

In France, wildfires have already burned more land this year than during all of 2025. Tanker planes have been skimming the River Seine to scoop up water to try and douse blazes raging about 40 miles south of central Paris.

Hundreds of firefighters have been battling two blazes that have already charred about 4,900 acres in the Fontainebleau forest and forced about 1,000 people to evacuate from their homes, according to local authorities.

While much larger fires have hit southern France, the Fontainebleau blazes are relatively close to the densely populated region surrounding Paris.

No deaths or injuries have been reported in the area, and two people have been arrested in connection with the Fontainebleau fires, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said Tuesday on France’s BFM television.

Trump loses key Senate ally as election integrity fight enters critical phase

July 14, 2026 9:45am EDT / Fox News

Lindsey Graham’s death leaves Republicans without a key architect of Trump’s SAVE America Act

By Alex Miller, Fox News

Mike Lee remembers Sen. Lindsey Graham, discusses effort to pass SAVE America Act

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., joins ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ to express condolences for Sen. Lindsey Graham’s unexpected passing and discuss the ongoing battle on Capitol Hill for the SAVE America Act.

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President Donald Trump’s top election integrity priority has been stalled in the Senate for months, and with the passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the push has lost a key player in getting the bill across the line.

Graham was not just a vocal proponent of the SAVE America Act; he was the Senate Budget Committee chair, a position that is crucial in setting the foundation and guardrails for the party-line process Trump has demanded Republicans take to pass the bill.

His sudden death on Sunday came as the House was gearing up to launch a third budget reconciliation attempt in a bid to fund the Pentagon and attach a version of the SAVE America Act to the party-line undertaking.

SENATE RETURNS TO PACKED AGENDA AFTER GRAHAM’S DEATH SHRINKS GOP MARGIN

Sen. Lindsey Graham, chair of the Senate Budget Committee, during a confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., on June 16, 2026.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“This is a big blow to the SAVE America Act, let me tell you,” Trump said after Graham’s death.

It’s a maneuver that Graham has wanted to make as soon as the political reality of the bill became clear in the Senate, where a cohort of Senate Republicans have broken from Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to block the bill with Senate Democrats.

In early April, Graham vowed to make a “down payment” on the SAVE America Act through reconciliation.

‘DID YOU CALL 911?’ TUBERVILLE RECOUNTS GRAHAM’S FRANTIC FINAL PHONE CALL

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6400957604112

“Voter integrity laws — I’m going to create grant programs, but they’ll have conditions on them,” Graham said. “To get a grant, you’ve got to make sure you purge your rolls of illegal immigrants. There are a lot of blue states out there that don’t do that, and we’ll try to get as much of a voter ID system as I can.”

His position on the Senate Budget Committee won’t remain vacant, however.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is expected to take the gavel, but has not yet been formally tapped for the role. Still, he is already getting up to speed with staff on the committee and his colleagues in the House.

GRAHAM EYES ‘DOWN PAYMENT’ ON TRUMP-BACKED SAVE ACT WITHOUT DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., speaks during a Senate subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill on June 11, 2024, in Washington, D.C.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“I just walked by Lindsey’s desk, so, I mean, I’ve got to take one step at a time,” Johnson said. “I understand the responsibility I’m assuming.”

Johnson said that he’s already spoken with his House counterpart, House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, and is doing what he can to “organize the effort so we can succeed.”

He’s already gotten his hands on the House’s SAVE America plan from House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., but whether the provision lives or dies is ultimately up to the Senate rules referee.

Complicating matters is the running clock lawmakers have to deal with, given the time-consuming nature of budget reconciliation.

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The House is in session for two weeks this month, while the Senate will embark on a near month-long sprint. Both chambers will be gone the entirety of August, and return in September to a looming fight over funding the government.

For now, the Senate is waiting on what the House produces, and there’s no guarantee that their product will pass muster with Republicans in the upper chamber.

“The path to 51 is going to be a bumpy one, I think over here,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. “But, we’ll see what they come up with.”

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

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