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Georgia Republican legislative leaders reject governor’s call for 2028 redistricting

2026-06-17T18:16:14.427Z / CNN

By Associated Press

Updated 1 hr 52 min ago

Updated Jun 17, 2026, 2:16 PM ET

PUBLISHED Jun 17, 2026, 2:16 PM ET

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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp speaks during a press conference where he will sign bills into law, including one suspending the Georgia motor fuel tax, at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, Georgia on March 20, 2026.

Alyssa Pointer/Reuters

Atlanta AP—

Georgia’s Republican legislative leaders on Wednesday rejected Gov. Brian Kemp’s call to redraw congressional and legislative districts during a special session, citing concerns about moving too quickly after a US Supreme Court decision weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minority voters.

House Speaker Jon Burns sent Kemp a letter hours before a special session was set to begin Wednesday, and he announced the decision as demonstrators filled the Georgia Capitol with chants of “Black voters matter!”

The decision marked a setback for both Kemp and President Donald Trump, who has urged Republican-led states to redraw congressional districts to their advantage. Ten states already have enacted new congressional districts ahead of the November midterm elections. Georgia would have been the first to change districts for the 2028 elections.

Burns said lawmakers want to take their time after the court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which struck down Louisiana’s congressional map as an illegal racial gerrymander and laid the groundwork for other Southern states to redraw their congressional districts. Burns said it was more important for lawmakers to focus on economic matters rather than “partisan games.” He also cited pending litigation over existing Georgia districts and the need for the state to understand the full ramifications for how race can or cannot be used in redistricting.

Republican legislative leaders did not rule out revisiting redistricting later this year.

Minority voting rights are especially salient in Georgia, where the Capitol complex includes a statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and sits blocks from where the slain civil rights icon lived, preached and led the movement that yielded the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

It’s not guaranteed that Georgia Republicans can get what they want from potential new maps.

Partisan gerrymandering involves redistributing voters — packing certain citizens into fewer districts or dividing them across more districts. Around metro Atlanta, spreading non-White, Democratic-leaning voters across more districts could make more seats seem to lean Republican. The risk, however, is that more battleground districts emerge because White metropolitan voters are trending less conservative, which could give Democratic candidates of any race or ethnicity more chances to win.

That’s perhaps not a major factor in the Georgia state Senate, which already is considered gerrymandered for Republicans. But it could be a consideration when drawing state House and US House maps.

Kemp was effectively asking Republicans, especially in metro Atlanta, to redraw their own boundaries and take on new, unfamiliar territory.

WATCH: Unearthed video shows leftist Senate hopeful celebrating anti-fossil fuel group’s arrival in Texas

June 17, 2026 1:02pm EDT / Fox News

James Talarico recently flip-flopped on that stance when he criticized Democrats who advocate for eliminating oil and gas

By Adam Pack, Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6398578379112

‘Welcome to Texas’: James Talarico greets anti-fossil fuel activists in unearthed video

State Rep. James Talarico, D-Texas, participated in a welcome Zoom call with the Texas chapter of Third Act, a climate activism group for seniors, on June 12, 2024. (Vimeo/Third Act – June 12, 2024)

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FIRST ON FOX: Senate candidate James Talarico lavished praise on a left-wing activism group that worked to eliminate Texas’ oil and gas industry, in an unearthed video obtained by Fox News Digital.

Talarico participated in a June 2024 organizing call celebrating the expansion of Third Act, a climate advocacy and protest group for individuals over 60, into the Lone Star State. At the time, the organization was ramping up efforts to isolate the fossil-fuel industry by pressuring major banks to cut financial ties with the sector and targeting the buildout of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals on the Texas Gulf Coast.

“This is the frontline in the fight to save democracy and save our planet, and so your arrival couldn’t come at a better time,” Talarico, who was serving in his third term as a state representative, told the group in pre-recorded remarks. “I look forward to working alongside all of you in this important work, and I just want to thank you for coming to Texas.”

Later on the call, Talarico described the climate activists’ efforts as the highest calling, describing it as “as the most important work in the most important time in the most important place.”

“Welcome to Texas,” State Rep. James Talarico, D-Texas, told the climate activists on the June 12, 2024 organizing call.((Vimeo/Third Act – June 12, 2024)

DEM SENATE CANDIDATE IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER ANTI-MEAT COMMENT RESURFACES: ‘THIS WILL HAUNT HIM’

Two weeks after that call, Third Act Texas called for a transition to “100% renewable resources as soon as possible.”

Talarico’s comments appear to complicate his recent efforts to position himself as a defender of Texas energy workers while sharply criticizing Democrats who advocate eliminating oil and gas production.

The Democratic Senate nominee and fundraising juggernaut is seeking to flip a Senate seat held by Republicans for nearly four decades by distancing himself from his more radical stances. He will likely need support from independent and moderate voters, including some of the 470,000 people employed in the oil and gas industry, to defeat GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton in November.

“The idea that politicians in Washington think they can just eliminate this industry, eliminate these jobs — it’s something we’re going to have to fight against,” Talarico said on a podcast in January with Democratic House candidate Bobby Pulido. “Too many people in our party talk about eliminating oil and gas. And one, it’s just not practical and two, it would do so much damage to our state and do damage to our entire country, which relies on our industry here in Texas.”

Third Act was heavily involved in the climate movement’s #StopLNG campaign and boasted that it “successfully pressured” the Biden administration to pause new LNG export facilities in early 2024.

The group’s Texas chapter also calls for the eventual elimination of LNG and all fossil fuel production on the Texas Gulf Coast, according to a statement on its website.

A participant holds a sign at a rally and march in Manhattan, New York City, on March 21, 2023, organized by Third Act NYC and allied environmental groups to pressure major banks to stop financing fossil fuel expansion.(Erik McGregor/LightRocket)

Campaign spokesman JT Ennis told Fox News Digital that Talarico “supports LNG production and backed legislation to strengthen it in the Texas legislature.”

The campaign did not clarify if Talarico still supports Third Act Texas.

MS NOW ANALYST ADMITS TALARICO ‘NOT A MODERATE,’ HAS PROGRESSIVE VIEWS LIKE CROCKETT

In 2021, Talarico authored an aggressive climate bill that would have enacted strict caps on greenhouse gas emissions, including a 90% reduction below 1990 levels by 2050. While the measure left implementation to state regulators, such drastic emissions reductions in the nation’s largest oil- and gas-producing state would have likely required sweeping changes to the fossil-fuel industry.

The Senate hopeful also introduced legislation that year requiring climate change lessons in K-12 schools to “inspire the next generation of climate activists,” The Washington Free Beacon reported.

By 2025, Talarico took positions on legislation indicating more support for the oil and gas industry. He backed backed legislation aimed at boosting the LNG production through interstate cooperation and supported a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment that would redirect public funds to infrastructure projects in regions home to significant oil and gas production.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Republicans’ Senate nominee, speaks during a runoff election night event in Plano, Texas, on May 26, 2026.(Antranik Tavitian/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Talarico’s praise of Third Act Texas’ launch in June 2024 came as the group gained national attention for helping orchestrate sustained climate protests outside Citigroup’s headquarters in New York City to pressure the bank to halt investments in new fossil-fuel projects.

The group’s founder, environmental activist Bill McKibben, led “Third Actors” in staging a mock funeral procession and “die-ins” during the summer of 2024 that blocked the entrance to the bank’s headquarters. At the end of its Summer of Heat on Wall Street campaign, the group bragged that around 200 of its members were arrested during the disruptive actions.

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During the Texas organizing call, McKibben described Texas as a critical front in the climate movement because of its outsize role in fossil-fuel production.

“You’ve got, you know, half the hydrocarbons in the world down there, and too many of the hydrocarbon executives,” he said. “Don’t think of it as a problem, think of it as an opportunity. You can get an awful lot done, even more than we can up in Vermont.”

On Iran, Trump is committing the cardinal sin from the ‘Art of the Deal’

2026-06-17T18:28:54.421Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/17/politics/analysis-trump-iran-deal

• In 2015, Donald Trump criticized President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear negotiations, warning that appearing desperate to make a deal was the worst negotiating mistake.
• Now Trump’s own administration is openly acknowledging its eagerness to exit the Iran conflict, with officials stating they want to get this thing over with.
• The president declared at the G7 summit that the alternative to his Iran agreement would be a worldwide depression.

Toward the end of the Obama administration’s negotiations over its Iran nuclear deal in 2015, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump chimed in with some advice from his book, “The Art of the Deal.”

“Message to Obama re: Iran: ‘The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it,’” he posted on Twitter.

Trump and his administration are now committing this cardinal sin in their efforts to obtain their own nuclear deal with Iran.

In fact, it looks a lot like they’re giving up on even claiming their memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran is a favorable document to the US. The Trump administration is making it abundantly clear they just want out of this war.

Trump’s overriding desire to extract himself has been clear for a long time; he has repeatedly pulled back on his threats, downplayed Iranian provocations and resisted a return to large-scale hostilities.

But over the last 24 hours, this attitude has moved from the subtext to the text.

The administration has repeatedly suggested that its handling of the MOU is about catering to Iran.

Perhaps most striking were comments the administration made without attribution.

“The consensus of the team was we want to get this thing over with, and the deal is the way to do it in a way that maximizes our upside and minimizes our downside,” an administration official directly involved in the talks told CNN’s Alayna Treene.

Wanting to “get this thing over with” sounds a lot like what Trump warned against in 2015.

And in case that quote didn’t raise your eyebrows, witness the US official who urged people not to “read too much into the language of the MOU,” which they called a “political document.”

“What’s more important than the actual document is the understandings we have with each other,” the official added.

The official added that Trump’s negotiating team “came up with language that allows (Iran) to say what they need to say for their domestic politics.”

Trump echoed that on Wednesday at a press conference at the G7 summit in France.

“Some things aren’t even mentioned in the agreement,” Trump said, adding, “But we have an understanding of certain things without writing it. And if they don’t honor that, we’ll probably go back to bombing them until they honor it.”

That’s an astounding level of spin. Suddenly, the administration’s negotiations shouldn’t be judged on what they’ve actually produced, but instead … the vibes between the two sides?

Of course, it’s now easy to see why they’re going with this line. The agreement released by the US Wednesday includes numerous US concessions to Iran — including immediate ones that would enrich Tehran. Iran’s concessions, meanwhile, are mainly just a return to its pre-war footing by opening the Strait of Hormuz and (again) committing to not obtaining a nuclear weapon.

And the suggestion that this is about catering to the political needs of the Iranians certainly doesn’t sound like the US is negotiating from a position of strength and imposing its will.

Then there was Trump on Wednesday at the G7, where he said, remarkably, that the agreement he made was necessary to avert a “worldwide depression.”

“The alternative would be a worldwide depression,” he said. “You know, the stupid people want to have a worldwide depression. And they’re stupid people.”

Trump added: “You can only go so far. You drive somebody into the ground, a lot of bad things happen. Number one, the strait would never open, because they don’t like floating billion-dollar ships up and down the strait when there are rockets flying over them and mines all over the place. The strait … wouldn’t be open for a long time.”

That’s about as blunt as the president can get in acknowledging that Iran’s leverage just proved too much and that he needed to cut bait and get what he could.

There is still much to negotiate. This is really the beginning of the process, with the much-more-difficult negotiations set for the next 60 days after the agreement is formally signed on Friday.

But for the author of the “Art of the Deal” and his administration to rhetorically concede so much leverage up front is shocking.

Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady but leaves door open to hike

June 17, 2026 / 3:18 PM EDT / CBS News

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged amid resurgent inflation, but nearly half of its policymakers said they would support a rate hike later this year.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept the federal funds rate, which affects borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, in its current range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Economists had widely expected the central bank to keep rates steady.

The so-called easing bias — a sentence in recent FOMC policy statements signaling the central bank was leaning toward cutting interest rates — was removed from the June guidance, which was significantly slimmer than the typical statement.

“You might have already noticed something, a difference in today’s policy statement,” Warsh said in a press conference to discuss the Fed’s latest interest rate decision. “It’s a bit shorter, a bit simpler and it dispenses with some older language. That statement just gives you the facts as best we can judge it.”

The Fed also released its Summary of Economic Projections on Wednesday, which shows that nearly half of FOMC members said they could support a rate hike later this year. The vote to keep rates steady was unanimous, with all FOMC voting members in favor of maintaining the current range.

“Inflation remains elevated relative to the Committee’s 2% goal, in part reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy,” the FOMC said in Wednesday’s statement.

“Today’s meeting confirms that the Fed’s recent hawkish shift was not just about higher energy prices,” Kay Haigh, global head and CIO of Fixed Income and Liquidity Solutions at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said in an email. “Despite the recent pullback in oil, half of the members of the FOMC expect rate hikes as soon as this year, reflecting strong labor market and inflation data.

Haigh added, “Our base case remains that the Fed can just about avoid hikes, but the path is narrow, and there will be a high premium on the incoming inflation data.”

This week’s meeting is the first presided over by new Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh, who was picked by President Trump to succeed former chair Jerome Powell.

Investors and economists will be closely watching Warsh during his 2:30 p.m. ET press conference for indications of how he plans to keep the U.S. economy on track, as well as his outlook on inflation and the labor market.

Mr. Trump had repeatedly pressed Powell, whose term as Fed chief ended in May, to lower interest rates. But with U.S. inflation at its highest level in more than three years and well above the Fed’s 2% annual target, many economists expect the FOMC to remain on the sidelines through year-end.

“Warsh has two immediate jobs at this first meeting: getting the FOMC and the broader Fed leadership aligned with his vision going forward, and making sure the markets have confidence in what he’s doing,” said Hank Smith, head of investment strategy at investment firm Haverford Trust, in an email before the meeting.

Smith added, “This is not the environment for a rate cut or a rate hike — it’s an environment for ‘steady as she goes’ — and I’ll be listening for whether he projects that kind of discipline and team-building in his first press conference.”

The Fed’s new inflation forecast

Another major change in the Fed’s economic projections is a sharp increase in inflation expectations for 2026. The central bank’s previous forecast, issued in March, forecast that the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, would end the year at an annual rate of 2.7%.

But in today’s forecast, the FOMC members are penciling in inflation rising to an annualized 3.6% by year-end. Excluding volatile energy and gas prices, inflation could hit 3.3%.

“The median official now expects headline and core inflation well above 3% by the end of this year, and core inflation to reach 2.5% by end-2027,” Oxford Economics said in a note to investors.

House bill would strip federal funding from colleges with alleged ties to Chinese Communist Party

June 17, 2026 12:32pm EDT / Fox News

The Espionage Protection Act would amend the National Security Act of 1947 to block grants for intelligence programs

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6398563474112

GOP congressman aims to cut federal funds to universities linked to CCP-affiliated organizations

Rep. Pat Fallon unveiled legislation that would strip federal intelligence-related funding from colleges maintaining ties to Chinese Communist Party-linked groups, arguing it is necessary to protect sensitive U.S. research and national security.

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FIRST ON FOX: New legislation introduced in the House of Representatives threatens federal funding for colleges and universities working with organizations with alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

The Espionage Protection Act, authored by Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, would amend the National Security Act of 1947 to prohibit federal funding for intelligence programs at universities that maintain contractual or in-kind relationships with organizations tied to the CCP.

“American citizens and or professors at these institutions would be compromised and would be doing highly sensitive research and the Chinese Communist Party could benefit from that illegally,” Fallon told Fox News Digital.

“There have been instances of this where they’re using their either trained assets for the Chinese Communist Party or they’re sympathetic – stealing highly sensitive research, biotechnology, etc. and bringing it back to Beijing,” he added.

Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, is seen on the House steps of the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 6, 2022.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)

‘SERIOUS CONCERNS’: GOP SOUNDS ALARM ON TAXPAYER FUNDS GOING TO ‘HIGH RISK’ UNIVERSITIES VULNERABLE TO CCP

The legislation would revoke federal funding for grant programs, including: Intelligence Community Centers for Academic Excellence, Intelligence advanced research projects, undergraduate and graduate training, Stokes Scholarship Programs and SMART Scholarship for Service Program.

Fallon singled out the Confucius Institute, a nonprofit educational fund by the CCP, for particular scrutiny. While the number of universities who work with the Confucius Institute has seen a dramatic decline due to funding threats in the past, the organization still works with a number of schools.

The Texas congressman also told Fox News Digital he supports an outright ban on student visas for Chinese nationals.

A Riverside County school district in California is under investigation for allegedly issuing invalid diplomas to nonresident Chinese students and engaging in possible financial misconduct, according to a lengthy audit that found potential fraud and unlawful financial practices.(FoxDIGITAL/iStock)

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BEGINS NEW WAVE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENT VISA REVOCATIONS: ‘NO ONE HAS A RIGHT TO A VISA’

“It would wholly take away one of the major concerns, which would be with Chinese students coming over and stealing technologies and other sensitive data… so it definitely needs to be explored and looked into,” he said.

The debate around whether Chinese students should be allowed in U.S. schools has created some divide within the GOP. In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, President Donald Trump said an outright ban could damage relations between Beijing and D.C., and discussed some of the benefits of allowing Chinese professionals into the country.

“I frankly think that it’s good that people come from other countries and they learn our culture and many of them want to stay here,” Trump said following his meeting with President Xi Jinping last month.

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

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump meet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.(Kenny Holston/Pool Photo via AP)

Trump noted that the idea of letting Chinese students in U.S. schools “doesn’t sound like a very conservative position – and I’m a conservative… commonsense guy. I think MAGA is common sense.”

Xi and Trump met in Beijing last month, where Trump described the meeting as “incredible” and “very successful,” despite the traditional rift between the two world powers.

Trump’s comments about Chinese students in the U.S. sparked some backlash from members of the GOP who take a hard line position on immigration, including former Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

REP. GREENE RAISES RED FLAG AFTER TRUMP INDICATES US WILL ACCEPT 600,000 CHINESE STUDENTS

“Trump says it’s insulting to tell China their students can’t go to our universities, imagine being an American student and receiving a rejection letter while 500,000 Chinese students get in,” Greene said to The New Republic.

[image_6]

The Trump administration says foreign student visa vetting will be a continued process rather than a one-time check.(iStock)

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was critical of the Trump administration’s stance on Chinese students last year, and signed legislation to block colleges from hiring students from China and other “countries of concern” in academic labs.

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The IIE Open Doors Report, which is sponsored by the State Department, estimates that more 260,000 Chinese students are in the U.S. as of the 2024-2025 academic school year. Most students hold F-1 visas, which don’t automatically expire upon graduation from a university.

In April, Fallon announced that he was running for chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. If he wins, he said he plans to root out CCP influence in the U.S.

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news.

Victims ID’d in B-52 bomber crash that killed 8 at Edwards Air Force Base

June 17, 2026 / 1:36 PM EDT / CBS News

Edwards Air Force Base has released the names of the eight people killed in a B-52 Stratofortress bomber crash on Monday. The deceased include military personnel, Boeing employees and government civilians.

The deceased include weapons system officers Lt. Col. Gabriel Estrella, 40, and Maj. Alexander Davis, 34. Estrella was part of the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center at Edwards. 419th Test Squadron pilots Maj. Robert Dee, 40, and Maj. Brad Hovey, 35, were also among the dead.

The others killed were Jeremy Smith, 32, a flight test engineer from the 419th Flight Test Squadron; Christopher Rischar, 41, a contractor and flight test engineer; retired Lt. Col. Miles Middleton, 50, a Boeing pilot; and Col.Gregory Watson, 53, a weapons officer for Boeing and Air Force reservist assigned to the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, Texas.

“It is with profound sorrow and a heavy heart that I can now share the names of the eight extraordinary Americans we lost during Monday’s B-52 crash,” Col. Thomas Tauer, 412th Test Wing commander, said in a news release identifying the deceased. “They were dedicated professionals, beloved family members and irreplaceable teammates. … These Airmen were more than coworkers. They were friends, mentors, teammates and valued members of our Edwards and Air Force family.”

The service members killed in the B-52 crash at Edwards Air Force Base. Edwards Air Force Base

The group was acting as a Combined Test Force, or CTF, which the airfield described as a unique construct where active-duty airmen work with military contractors and governments civilians to complete specific projects.

As standard practice, the military makes public identifications 24 hours after next of kin have been notified.

The crew was embarking on a test mission for the Air Force’s Radar Modernization Program when the plane took off around 11:20 a.m. local time, CBS News previously reported. The plane crashed on the runway shortly after taking off and burst into flames.

Aerial footage taken shortly after the crash showed a large burn mark and a huge plume of smoke, which could be seen for miles. Col. James Hayes, the deputy commander for the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base, described the crash as “unsurvivable,” despite immediate efforts from first responders.

The airfield will remain closed until at least Thursday, the base previously said. Flight test operations are expected to resume early next week.

The Radar Modernization Program is meant to upgrade B-52 bombers so the planes can continue flying into the 2050s. The aircraft have “tremendous” payload capacity and range, according to Doug Birkey, the executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The planes are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Some B-52s were recently deployed during the Iran war.

Footage shows billowing smoke after a B-52 crash at Edwards Air Force Base. UC San Diego/CalFire Alert California cam

But the age of the B-52s poses a risk, Birkey said. They are among the oldest planes in the Air Force’s fleet, with those still in service today having been built in the early 1960s. The U.S. military is paying nearly $50 billion to upgrade those planes, with the hopes of keeping them flying until the 2050s.

“When you are dealing with aircraft of this age and when you are pressing for the high-performance type scenarios, we’re asking folks to take a lot of risk,” Birkey told CBS News on Tuesday. “And clearly, eight people paid with their lives.”

The U.S. Air Force’s Accident Investigation Board will examine the incident, the base said. The board’s investigation process can take up to six months to form initial conclusions on the cause of the crash.

Supporting families who lost loved ones and other team members remains the base’s primary objective, it said. The test wing has stood up an Emergency Family Assistance Center to provide support, like mental health services, childcare assistance, legal counsel, and chaplain support for anyone at Edwards Air Force Base, according to the Air Force.

Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees the bomber program, encouraged members of the command to look after each other in an X post on Wednesday.

“Please take the time to check in on your wingmen. Grief affects us all differently, and there is absolute strength in asking for help when you need it,” the post from the commander and command chief of AFGSC said.

The U.S. Air Force does much of its aerospace testing at Edwards. The facility is located about 100 miles north of Los Angeles.

Trump invokes law to increase weapons production after Iran war depleted US stocks

2026-06-17T16:32:23.633Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/17/politics/trump-weapons-iran-defense-production-act

• President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to compel defense companies to increase weapons production.
• The war with Iran depleted significant portions of key US missile stockpiles, according to experts and officials.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly said there was not a crisis while analysis shows the US expended roughly half of critical missile inventories.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

President Donald Trump has invoked the Defense Production Act to force defense companies to manufacture more weapons after the war with Iran depleted stockpiles

In a document signed last week, the president says that he finds “that conditions exist which may pose a direct threat to the national defense or its preparedness programs.”

“In particular, systemic constraints in the munitions industrial base, including limited production capacity, fragile supply chains, long-lead dependencies, and related production bottlenecks, may impair the ability of the United States to produce, sustain, and expand the availability of munitions, missiles, and equipment required for the national defense,” the document, sent to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, says.

It’s a significant move for the president to compel private companies to increase production and suggests a substantial level of concern in the Trump administration about the Pentagon’s weapons stockpiles following the war with Iran as well as the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine which saw the US contribute weapons to Israel and Ukraine.

The Pentagon has long had concerns about the defense industry’s ability to produce weapons quickly enough. Those concerns were only exacerbated by the US’ war with Iran, in which the US used up significant portions of key missile stockpiles, experts and officials have told CNN.

On Wednesday, Trump said that the last two days of the war were “brutal” and that “$200 million worth of bombs” were used.

“It is expensive too, by the way, aside from everything else,” Trump said, speaking from the G7 summit in France.

As the war unfolded, Hegseth and other Pentagon officials publicly maintained that the US had what it needed to fight the war and other conflicts around the world.

On Sunday — three days after Trump’s order invoking the Defense Production Act was signed — Hegseth told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation that there was not a crisis with US weapons stockpiles and that the issue is “a manufactured story that the media wants to peddle.”

But privately, munition levels have been a significant concern for the Pentagon. Recent analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the US expended at least 45% of its Precision Strike Missile stockpile, and roughly half of its stockpiles of Patriot air defense interceptor missiles and THAAD missiles.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the order and referred questions to the White House.

The Defense Production Act is a 1950s-era law that is the “primary source of presidential authorities to expedite and expand the supply of resources from the US industrial base to support military, energy, space and homeland security programs,” the Federal Emergency Management Agency says. The act allows the president to require companies to prioritize contracts for deliveries deemed vital to US national defense; create incentives for the industrial base to produce critical materials; and broadly gives the government more authority to make agreements with private companies.

The Act has been used numerous times before for various efforts. Trump previously invoked it during the Covid-19 pandemic in his first term to produce things like ventilators, and at the start of his second term to advance domestic mineral production in the US. Former President Joe Biden also invoked the DPA to accelerate domestic production of clean energy technologies.

Trump’s order on June 11 tells Hegseth to “provide for the making of voluntary agreements and plans of action to help provide for the national defense.” One of the sections of the Act cited by Trump calls for the establishment of an advisory committee.

CNN has reported that before the war with Iran began, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine warned that a prolonged military campaign against Iran could impact US weapons stockpiles.

“The high munitions expenditures have created a window of increased vulnerability in the western Pacific,” Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine Corps Colonel and one of the authors of the recent CSIS report, previously told CNN. “It will take one to four years to replenish these inventories and several years after that to expand them to where they need to be.”

Trump has zeroed in on the defense industrial base before; in January, he issued a threat to companies saying he would seek to limit their stock buybacks and executive salaries unless they improved their weapon systems delivery.

Trump says US may recover all the equipment left behind in Afghanistan by Biden admin

June 17, 2026 3:09pm EDT / Fox News

During the G7, President Trump said he may regain U.S. military equipment left in Afghanistan after 2021 withdrawal.

By James Cirrone, Fox News

President Donald Trump criticized former President Joe Biden’s foreign policy record at the G7 Summit, while touting the forthcoming agreement with Iran.

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President Donald Trump suggested he may be able to get back the equipment the U.S. military left behind during Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Trump made these comments at the G7 Summit while taking questions from reporters about the forthcoming agreement with Iran to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz.

In response to a question about how the deal will address Iran’s nuclear program, Trump repeatedly said he would “bomb them” if they do not comply with proposed restrictions.

He then transitioned into criticizing Biden’s foreign policy record, spotlighting the Democratic former president’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan and abandon dozens of military aircraft, thousands of ground vehicles and more than 300,000 weapons, according to the House Budget Committee.

TRUMP PUSHES TO RECOVER ‘BILLIONS OF DOLLARS’ OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT LEFT BEHIND IN AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL

President Donald Trump gestures as he addresses the media alongside U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent during a closing press conference at the G7 summit, in Evian, eastern France.(Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)

“Our country has become the most respected country in the world,” he said. “Look at what happened in so many different locations. Afghanistan, that horrible retreat that these people made. Leaving equipment behind. They weren’t under any pressure. Take your time.”

“I was going to get out,” he continued. “We were going to get out with dignity and pride. Take 100% of the equipment. I was even taking the tents down. But then [Biden] got in and they just left. They left all the equipment. I may get all that equipment back. Now, here’s the thing. It’s more symbolic because it’s a little old now, but we may get it all back. Afghanistan is kissing our a–.”

In June 2022, the Department of Defense estimated that $7.12 billion worth of military equipment ended up in the hands of the Taliban, which quickly seized control of the country after American troops departed.

Taliban fighters take control of Hamid Karzai International Airport and secure equipment and weapons left behind after the full U.S. military withdrawal in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 31, 2021.(Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)

TRUMP: ‘WE DON’T RUN FROM ANYBODY’ IN BLASTING BIDEN OVER AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL

Trump and his allies have long been critical of what they view as Biden’s hasty decision to end the war in Afghanistan, which lasted for nearly 20 years.

Biden officials at the time defended the withdrawal by pointing out that the equipment seized by the Taliban was in the hands of the U.S.-aligned government in Afghanistan that ended up surrendering.

Biden himself said he believed that the Afghan fighters supported by the U.S. were going to do a better job at holding the country.

“The assumption was that more than 300,000 Afghan National Security Forces that we had trained over the past two decades and equipped would be a strong adversary in their civil wars with the Taliban,” he said on Aug. 31, 2021. “That assumption — that the Afghan government would be able to hold on for a period of time beyond military drawdown — turned out not to be accurate.”

Members and supporters of the Taliban stand on a U.S. flag during a rally marking the third anniversary of the fall of Kabul in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 14, 2024.

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Under Taliban rule, women and girls remain repressed. More than 1 million girls have been banned from secondary school and university. An April UNICEF report claimed that Afghanistan risks losing more than 25,000 teachers and healthcare workers due to the new government’s restrictions on female employment.

The country is also dealing with a hunger crisis, with roughly 17.4 million Afghans at risk for severe food insecurity this year, according to the World Food Programme.

James Cirrone is a writer on the Breaking/Trending News team at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to james.cirrone@fox.com.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6398681108112

Thwarted attack on UFC fight is another reason to build White House ballroom, Trump DOJ argues

2026-06-17T18:44:33.468Z / CNN

• Trump’s Justice Department is citing a thwarted attack on a UFC fight at the White House as justification for the White House ballroom project.
• Officials say the planned ballroom would shield the grounds from drones and bullets with sophisticated security features atop the structure.
• Critics argue Trump is using recent violence to justify a project that requires congressional approval he has not obtained.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

As federal courts have looked skeptically at President Donald Trump’s assertion that he can construct a massive new ballroom at the White House without approval from lawmakers, he’s increasingly pointed to alleged attempts to harm him as a reason why the project should continue apace.

The latest iteration of that argument came late Tuesday when a top political appointee at the Justice Department said a thwarted possible attack on the outdoor UFC fight held at the White House last weekend “demonstrates the compelling need” for the nearly 90,000-square foot event space.

The ballroom’s “mass and height will shield the White House grounds from attack, and give the Secret Service the visibility needed to identify attackers,” Brett Shumate, the head of DOJ’s civil division, told a federal appeals court in a brief letter.

“It will protect the president and guests at major events that are currently held in ‘plastic tents that cannot even protect highly esteemed guests from inclement weather, let alone high caliber bullets or kamikaze drones,’ – exactly the attack that this Sunday’s would-be assassins plotted to launch,” he wrote, referring to temporary structures that have historically been used for large events held on the White House’s South Lawn.

The missive represents the department’s latest bid to use violence in Washington, DC, to buttress its arguments in defense of the project. Earlier this year, a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and a separate shooting incident near the White House were invoked by the administration as it sought to keep courts in the nation’s capital from frustrating work on the ballroom.

A three-judge panel at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals is poised to decide in coming weeks whether Trump is unlawfully constructing the ballroom, as a lower court in DC concluded this spring. During oral arguments before the panel earlier this month, the two judges who appeared ready to rule against Trump showed no interest in his national security arguments and instead focused largely on whether the law permitted the president to unilaterally carry out the project.

Critics have pointed to the fact that the planned ballroom would not be a substitute for the kinds of recent events where there was a threat to Trump’s life and those of the people around him.

After a suspected gunman showed up to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner – where Trump and a host of other executive branch officials were present – at a hotel in DC in late April, DOJ pointed to the incident in a bid to get US District Judge Richard Leon to undo his ruling that would have halted construction on the ballroom.

They later raised an incident near the White House last month as they reupped that request. In that case, Secret Service officers shot and killed a person who the agency said approached a security checkpoint just outside the White House complex and fired at them.

“When completed, this highly knitted, integrated, and unified project, which is a singular and vital national security facility, will provide a ‘SAFE HAVEN’ from attackers,” Justice Department lawyers wrote on May 24.

Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, has yet to respond to the administration’s ask.

Outside observers pointed out earlier this year that the annual press gala is a private event that’s never held at the White House and that a new ballroom wouldn’t change that reality. Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez noted at the time that Trump’s decision to demolish the East Wing to make room for the ballroom happened long before the incident.

“The idea that they are now trying to change the rationale for this in retrospect doesn’t quite add up,” she told CNN’s Manu Raju in April. “And in fact, the White House long had facilities for hosting, which also included the East Wing.”

For its part, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is waging the legal challenge to the ballroom project, has pushed back strongly on Trump’s arguments.

The group noted earlier this spring that it takes the president’s safety seriously and that its case wasn’t focused on whether there should be a new ballroom built at the White House, but rather whether Trump could proceed with such a massive change to the presidential residence without congressional approval.

“What Saturday’s awful event does not change is that the Constitution and multiple federal statutes require Congress to authorize construction of a ballroom on White House grounds, and that Congress has not done so,” attorneys for the trust told the Justice Department following the incident at the Correspondents’ Dinner.

https://www.cnn.com/
Inside the alleged plot to attack the White House UFC event

2:22 • Source: CNN

Inside the alleged plot to attack the White House UFC event

2:22

Leon, too, wasn’t persuaded earlier this year that the entire project needed to continue for national security reasons.

He clarified in April that his ruling halting the project excluded work on a highly sophisticated bunker being built under the ballroom, rejecting the White House’s claim that both the underground and above-ground portion of the structure “advances critical national-security objectives as an integrated whole.”

But the DC Circuit put that decision on hold, permitting work to continue for now.

Sunday’s UFC event took place outdoors at a large, temporary event space built on the White House grounds that included a towering, open-air “claw” structure in which the fights unfolded. Officials have said around 100,000 people were expected to gather near the White House for the event, which was held on Trump’s 80th birthday as part of programming for the United States’ 250th anniversary. The event also featured a festival for fans on the Ellipse.

Officials said on Tuesday that multiple people who they claim discussed plans to attack the event were charged in connection with the alleged plot. Authorities say the planned attack allegedly included the use of drones and a gunman. The plans were detected last week, officials said, and Trump still attended the event.

The planned ballroom, Trump’s attorneys told the appeals court on Tuesday, “will support a highly sophisticated drone port and sniper nests atop the ballroom that would destroy any effort to launch such an attack” in the future.

CNN’s Holmes Lybrand, Hannah Rabinowitz and Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.

Blanche taps longtime prosecutor to coordinate human trafficking and child exploitation cases

June 17, 2026 / 1:41 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington— Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday appointed Alessandra Serano, a longtime federal prosecutor, to serve as the Justice Department’s national coordinator on human trafficking and child exploitation cases.

Serano has worked in various roles at the Justice Department on and off since 2003, including as a prosecutor in the Southern District of California, the Virgin Islands and, most recently, the Eastern District of Virginia.

She has been serving as a senior counsel to the deputy attorney general, and recently completed a temporary assignment with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

As national coordinator, Serano will be responsible for overseeing efforts across the Justice Department and other federal agencies to investigate and prosecute human trafficking and child exploitation crimes.

The role also entails working with the Office of Justice Programs, which awards grant money to victims services organizations that work directly to assist crime victims and local law enforcement.

“Ending human trafficking and the exploitation of children has been and remains one of the highest priorities of the Department of Justice,” Acting Attorney General Blanche said in a statement.

“With today’s appointment of Ali Serano, we are sending a clear and unmistakable message to predators: we are coming for you,” he added.

Human trafficking and child exploitation cases are prosecuted out of the Justice Department’s 93 U.S. Attorney’s Offices. There are also two separate offices in the Criminal Division that handle human trafficking and child exploitation cases, particularly if they span across multiple districts.

Her role will combine oversight of both areas, and be based in the deputy attorney general’s office, effectively elevating the role to a higher level of leadership within the department.

Her appointment comes after the Justice Department announced last week it is investigating the whereabouts of some 300,000 unaccompanied minors — some of whom they fear have been sold into labor or sex trafficking.

DOJ and Department of Homeland Security officials said that they are focused on so-called “super sponsors” who sign up to act as sponsors for three or more unrelated children who enter the U.S. alone. Some of the unaccompanied children end up being trafficked for labor or sex, they said.

In an interview with CBS News, Serano said the Justice Department’s efforts to track down the missing children will be a priority for the administration as part of its broader mission to combat human trafficking.

“I’m not saying that all of these kids have been trafficked, but I wouldn’t doubt that many of them are. And one kid trafficked is one too many,” she said.

In 120 days, Serano will be tasked with helping to submit a report updating the DOJ’s strategy for combatting child exploitation and human trafficking.

Serano said the Justice Department is seeing a number of trends related to both trafficking and child exploitation cases.

One trend involves “financially motivated sextortion,” she said. The schemes involve a predator pretending to be a teenager online and tricking victims into sending illicit photos of themselves. The predators then threaten to distribute the photos unless the victims send them money.

Another trend involves nihilistic violent extremist groups, such as one known as “764,” in which the group members coerce children to harm themselves or engage in other heinous acts.

In one case in the Middle District of Florida on Monday, a member of 764 pleaded guilty to distributing and possessing child sexual abuse materials, after prosecutors said he caused a minor girl to cut herself and use her blood to write messages. He also distributed gore and sexually explicit images of children.

On Tuesday, meanwhile, a judge sentenced a Maryland man also associated with the 764 group to 30 years in prison for sexually exploiting at least 10 minor females and urging them in some cases to cut themselves with razors and use their own blood to write on the wall.

Serano added that the Justice Department is also seeing more cases involving artificial intelligence-generated images of children being sexually exploited.