Exclusive: Democrats press Trump administration over “pay-to-play” pardons

2026-06-15T17:37:46.856Z / Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump signs documents as he issues executive orders and pardons for January 6 defendants in the Oval Office at the White House on Inauguration Day in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) – Two Democratic members of Congress on Monday pressed the administration of President Donald Trump to retain communication records related to pardons granted to recipients including an electric-vehicle manufacturer ​found guilty of defrauding investors of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Senator Peter Welch, a Judiciary Committee ‌member from Vermont, and Congressman Dave Min, an Oversight Committee member from California, made the request to determine whether “improper considerations, including quid pro quo or ‘pay-to-play’ dynamics, may have affected the clemency process,” they wrote in letters to the White House, Justice Department ​and U.S. Secret Service.

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The two lawmakers, citing coverage by Reuters and other media, in the letters ​reviewed by the news agency said they have been looking into the administration’s clemency ⁠efforts, which include pardons and commutations of sentences. They requested that all records be retained for 17 specific ​clemency recipients, including Trevor Milton, a businessman who was convicted in relation to a startup he ran touting electric ​vehicles that never became operational.

Last week a Reuters investigation found that 96% of Trump’s clemencies this term have gone to candidates, including Milton, who didn’t meet longstanding Justice Department guidelines for pardons. In response to questions from Reuters, a spokesperson for Milton criticized ​his conviction and said it had been politically motivated by prosecutors during the administration of President Joe Biden. ​The spokesperson didn’t respond to a question about the letters from the lawmakers.

Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, in a statement ‌by ⁠email, called the letters “nothing more than a sad messaging attempt, coordinated between Democrats and their media allies.”

The Justice Department and Secret Service didn’t respond to requests for comment about the letters from Welch and Min. Reuters last week reported that some clemency seekers, during in-person visits to President Trump, have routed pardon requests through the Secret ​Service, instead of traditional channels ​at the Justice Department.

The ⁠White House and Justice Department have both denied any impropriety with Trump’s clemency actions. The administration has defended the president’s constitutional power to pardon as “absolute” and said the process ​under Trump involves thorough and coordinated vetting by appropriate officials.

In their letters, the ​lawmakers questioned those ⁠assertions. “While the president’s pardon authority is broad,” they wrote, “Congress retains a legitimate legislative interest when credible questions arise regarding process, access, or abuse of power.”

Reuters’ analysis of pardon, lobbying, and electoral records found that clemency in the current ⁠administration routinely ​ignores longstanding protocol involving the Justice Department and instead hinges upon ​an informal and highly personalized network of influencers and advocates appealing to Trump himself. “This reporting,” the lawmakers wrote, “raises serious questions about whether traditional ​review channels were circumvented and whether established review procedures were followed, bypassed, sidelined, or inconsistently applied.”

Editing by Paulo Prada.

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

Marisa Taylor, an investigative reporter, has more than two decades of experience covering business, healthcare, the Justice Department, and national security. As a Washington, D.C.-based reporter, she was part of the Reuters’ team that won a Pulitzer in 2024 for a series on Elon Musk’s businesses. She also helped break the Panama Papers, another Pulitzer Prize-winning series which exposed offshore companies linked to more than 140 politicians.

Trump’s recent insults show just how strained his relationships with G7 leaders have become

2026-06-15 12:00 PM ET / CNN

By Kevin Liptak, Alex Leeds Matthews

Photo Illustration by Alberto Mier/CNN/Getty Images/AP

With President Donald Trump’s arrival this week at the French spa resort Évian-les-Bains for a summit of top world leaders, the placid lakeside setting may disguise a somewhat more stormy atmosphere.

Trump has repeatedly insulted most of his Group of 7 counterparts over the last several months, reopening old grudges and igniting new feuds with leaders he once seemed to respect.

The root of his latest ire has been the leaders’ unwillingness to join in the US-Israeli war against Iran, which will be in the spotlight at the summit after Trump announced an agreement with Tehran over the weekend.

In reality, however, the president’s relationship with the G7 has been tortured for years, stretching back to tension-filled summits during his first term. Most of the time, his fellow leaders — who represent the United States’ staunchest allies — have tried to gloss over his jabs. But some have begun hitting back.

Trump has known French President Emmanuel Macron, the host of this year’s summit, the longest. As such, their relationship seems to be the most complicated: one day, a nod of respect; the next, a jab about Macron’s marriage. After years of taking pride in his ability to deal with Trump, Macron has lately sounded more exasperated with his American counterpart.

Things seemed to get off to a good start last year between Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, at least compared to the acrid relationship Trump had with Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau. But disputes over trade and a forceful speech Carney delivered earlier this year in Davos led Trump to change his view, and he’s lately taken to calling the leader “Governor Carney,” a nod to the president’s threat to make Canada the 51st US state.

Perhaps no leader in Europe has spent more time attempting to cultivate Trump than British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. For much of last year, it seemed to work. But Starmer’s unwillingness to support Trump’s war with Iran caused the relationship to deteriorate, and now Trump dismisses the prime minister as “no Winston Churchill.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made a good first impression when he arrived at the White House carrying the birth certificate of Trump’s German-born grandfather. But his status as one of Trump’s favored leaders in Europe took a hit after he questioned the Iran war and said the US was being “humiliated by the Iranian leadership.”

Even the European leader most aligned with Trump — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — could not escape the president’s frustrations earlier this year after she declined to participate in the war with Iran. Later, she called Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV “unacceptable.” Trump lashed out at her, proving even a staunch ally like Meloni could not escape his anger.

The newest member of the G7 is also the one who — so far — has mostly evaded Trump’s anger. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has made it her mission to develop a close personal relationship with Trump, aided by their shared connection to the slain Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. But Trump has still been critical of Japan’s refusal to participate in the Iran war, and a stray joke about Pearl Harbor during an Oval Office meeting this year went over poorly in Japan.

Sources: Truth Social and CNN reporting (quotes). Getty Images and AP (photos).

Trump’s vanity projects are a growing mess

2026-06-15T19:20:30.406Z / CNN

• President Donald Trump’s second-term vanity projects around Washington, DC, are hitting a series of legal and logistical roadblocks.
• The most recent setbacks came at the Kennedy Center and the Reflecting Pool.
• His pet projects were already unpopular, but now they’re looking rushed and not totally thought through.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

President Donald Trump’s efforts to turn his second term into a big vanity project largely focused on himself are looking increasingly messy.

It would be one thing for him to go to such great lengths to build an elaborate White House ballroom and slap his name on buildings in the best of times; but Trump’s timing would seem exceedingly tone deaf, given most Americans are more concerned about their own pocketbooks than honoring a historically unpopular president.

And repeatedly in recent days and weeks, the administration’s initiatives have run into roadblocks and its efforts to embellish Washington, DC, (often by skirting the law) have looked rather haphazard.

Perhaps most striking was Trump’s setback at the Kennedy Center.

After he effectively hijacked the center’s board by installing loyalists, the board moved to — surprise! — put Trump’s name on the building late last year. They added it alongside the deceased president whose name was on the building as a matter of federal law.

But after the courts predictably ruled that was illegal, the administration has had to confront the optics of taking Trump’s name off the building. As I wrote earlier this month, that removal threatened to be “an indelible — and telling — image.”

And lo, when the Kennedy Center was compelled to take Trump’s name off the building this weekend, it was conveniently done in the middle of the night. Scaffolding was constructed and tarps were hung to obstruct those assembled from viewing it.

By Monday, the face of the building was still covered up.

Speaking of things not exactly going according to plan: Trump and many allies have celebrated his administration’s legally dubious effort to paint the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool dark blue.

While perhaps a commendable idea, the cost of the project ballooned from Trump’s initial estimate of $1.8 million to more than $14 million. The contractor was also given a no-bid contract, which is generally reserved for special circumstances. The New York Times also reported that the company was allowed a profit margin much higher than normal, according to a National Park Service analysis.

And now, less than a week after Trump announced the project was finished, the Reflecting Pool has been overrun with algae, turning the water a familiar shade of green.

The National Park Service is dealing with the issue and is projecting optimism that it can be remedied. Employees were in the pool in hip-waders on Sunday sweeping the algae toward nanobubbling machines to kill it. But the problem has proven stubborn before.

And Trump seems to have taken notice of it. On Monday morning, he posted an article from a friendly news outlet thanking him for making the Reflecting Pool so beautiful again.

Except the article is a week old.

The last couple of days have also reinforced how Trump’s stewardship of the country’s 250th anniversary celebration is politicizing it.

The UFC fights held on the South Lawn of the White House on Trump’s 80th birthday avoided potentially problematic weather. But what was otherwise thought to be a successful program was marred by one of the fighters grabbing a microphone and falsely declaring that former first lady Michelle Obama is a man (a popular but ridiculous conspiracy theory in the fever swamps of the internet). While UFC CEO and President Dana White criticized the offensive comment, the White House has not.

And as if it wasn’t already clear, Trump on Monday perhaps unwittingly suggested the celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary would also be, at least in large part, a celebration of him.

In a social media post, he said the celebration on the National Mall on July 4 will be the “most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all.”

It’s not surprising Trump would make these events about himself; this is part of a pattern. But a few weeks back, when a series of musical acts were canceling their scheduled appearances over politicization concerns, the administration and organizers pretended it was a non-issue.

A spokesperson for Freedom 250 called the events “inherently nonpolitical.”

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, meanwhile, told Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” in May that “this Freedom 250 and the celebration of the 250th [is a nonpartisan event.”

Trump has also dealt with a series of other setbacks in recent weeks.

On his ballroom, Senate Republicans stripped a provision from an immigration bill that would have provided the White House’s requested security funding for the project (which Trump said repeatedly would be fully privately funded). Then seven Senate Republicans backed a measure attempting to block the funding from ever being passed.

The administration was also forced to retrench on reports that it was potentially planning to print a commemorative $250 bill with Trump’s face on it. This appears to be illegal, given living people can’t appear on currency. And soon enough, the White House acknowledged Congress would have to change the law (which won’t happen).

The $250 bill is a great example of how many of these ideas seem rather suspect, politically speaking. When the Treasury Department moved to merely put Trump’s signature on currency, a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed Americans opposed it 68%-12%.

Trump’s ballroom and his proposed 250-foot triumphal arch also polled quite poorly. And ahead of the UFC event at the White House this weekend, a Reuters-Ipsos poll showed just 16% of Americans said it was “appropriate” to hold such an event on White House grounds, compared to 46% who said it was not.

It’s almost like very few people in America seem to be asking for these things — few people except Trump, that is. Americans don’t seem to want to build monuments to an incumbent president whose approval rating is mired in the 30s. And it’s looking like much of this effort is rather rushed and not totally thought through.

Trump just keeps pursuing it, though.

Gavin Newsom says Trump Justice Department is investigating him and his wife

2026-06-15T18:39:27.581Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/15/politics/gavin-newsom-trump-justice-department-investigation

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom says the Justice Department is investigating him and his wife.
• The probe follows an indictment of Newsom’s former chief of staff in an unrelated case.
• The Justice Department declined to comment. There is not an investigation directly into Newsom, a person familiar with the case told CNN.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that the Department of Justice is investigating him and his wife, claiming that President Donald Trump is targeting a “political enemy” despite no evidence the potential 2028 presidential contender has committed a crime.

Newsom said in a video posted to social media that Trump’s administration is also targeting his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

“If he can’t intimidate me, he’ll go after the mother of our children,” Newsom said. “Donald Trump picked the wrong target. We have nothing to hide.”

A source familiar with the matter told CNN there’s no investigation directly into Newsom, but the Eastern District of California is leading probes into people connected to him — including Jennifer Siebel Newsom over possible tax-related crimes.

The person said that the Justice Department’s political leadership was not involved in that investigation’s origin, saying the probe had instead been prompted by whistleblower reports last year.

Gavin Newsom said Trump “can subpoena my records, you can investigate me, you can harass me, put my name on every and any enemies list you have, but leave my wife and family out of your personal vendetta.”

CNN has reached out to the FBI for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment.

The New York Times first reported Newsom’s announcement.

Newsom, 58, has become one of Trump’s chief Democratic antagonists — often mocking the president’s style on social media. The two have clashed over Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts, including the president’s effort to federalize the California National Guard, which was halted by courts.

When Trump sought to buoy the GOP’s slim House majority in this year’s midterm elections by pushing Texas to redraw their congressional districts and hand Republicans five more winnable seats, Newsom successfully lobbied voters to sign off on a measure that scrapped the state’s districts drawn by an independent commission in favor of new maps that could hand Democrats five more seats and neutralize the GOP’s Texas gains.

Newsom is widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender. That Democratic contest is certain to draw a wide field of candidates, many of whom are already jockeying for position by demonstrating their abilities to take on Trump.

Newsom’s office said federal agents have contacted people and organizations connected to both the governor and his wife, and have issued subpoenas for records and conducted interviews related to years of personal and professional activity. In recent weeks, Newsom’s office said, the federal probe expanded to focus on his family and professional network.

Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, was indicted in November 2025 on federal charges alleging her involvement in a scheme to steal campaign money from former US Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, for whom she also worked. Those allegations stem from actions before she worked for Newsom. She pleaded guilty to three of those 23 charges last month.

The probes into Newsom’s wife and Williamson were opened last year, a person familiar with the matter said. Investigators have since held interviews with potential witnesses and have issued grand jury subpoenas in both matters, the person said.

Newsom’s office, pointing to past comments from Williamson’s attorney, said federal investigators last year offered Williamson leniency in exchange for information about Newsom, but that she had nothing to share.

Becerra is running to replace Newsom in the governor’s office. He is set to take on Republican Steve Hilton, who is backed by Trump, in November’s general election. During the primary, multiple prominent candidates blasted Becerra for Williamson’s conduct — with Becerra responding that he had not been implicated.

The Justice Department has opened investigations into several of Trump’s political foes, some of which have sputtered in court.

Prosecutors brought cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James in the fall, both of which were dismissed by judges who found the US attorneys overseeing the cases were improperly serving.

The department tried again to bring a case against James, but has not yet been successful.

As for Comey, a grand jury in North Carolina recently indicted him in an unrelated criminal probe — this time for posting a photo of seashells to social media that were arranged to read “86 47.” Sometimes 86 is used to mean “nix” and Trump is the 47th president.

The Justice Department also has a long-running criminal investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan — one of Trump’s top foes and a vocal critic of the president.

Last month, CNN reported the Justice Department also launched an investigation around Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll.

In his video, Newsom called Trump “a man with no character” and said Trump “is selling the presidency.”

“To Donald Trump, this country does not belong to you. It does not belong to your cronies. And we’re going to fight your lawlessness. And we’re going to continue to remind the people of this country of your corruption,” Newsom said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qDFy2j9TJU

Electricity costs expected to hit record high this summer, new analysis finds

June 15, 2026 / 12:51 PM EDT / CBS News

Cooling costs are projected to reach record highs this summer amid rising electricity prices and hotter weather.

A new analysis from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association estimates that Americans will spend an average of nearly $800 on electricity between June and September, up 10.5% from the same period last year.

“Electricity prices continue to rise, and hotter summers mean households need to use more electricity simply to stay safe,” Mark Wolfe, executive director of NEADA, said in a statement. “The result is that Americans are paying substantially more to cool their homes than they were just a few years ago.”

Electricity prices are rising as energy demand grows and utilities and states invest more in updating the nation’s aging power grid, including building thousands of new data centers needed to power AI services.

From 2019 to 2024, the national average monthly electric bill rose about 23%, a separate analysis of federal data by nonprofit consumer education organization PowerLines.

How much will you pay based on where you live?

NEADA’s analysis also examined how much Americans will pay from June to September, depending on where they live. The state-level estimates are based on electricity data from the Energy Information Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s regional temperature forecast.

Arizona residents will likely face the steepest electricity costs this summer, with NEADA projecting that households in the state will spend $ 1,060, up nearly 14% from last year. That’s followed by Connecticut, where the group estimates residents will spend $944, up roughly 11% from the summer months in 2025. Washington and North Dakota are projected to see the lowest power bills at $488, NEADA found.

Americans are facing higher utility costs at a time when they are already struggling to stay afloat financially. Roughly half of Americans feel they are worse off financially than they were a year ago, according to a recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Part of the pain is due to rising costs amid inflation at its highest level in years. One in six U.S. households is behind on its utility bills, according to NEADA.

Trump’s Iran accord offers exit from war — and fresh political risks

2026-06-15T18:59:26.371Z / Reuters

WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) – The Trump administration and Iran’s leadership agreed on Sunday to terms to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a development that has delivered significant relief to global markets.

But while the accord is an opportunity for U.S. President Donald Trump to exit a conflict that has proven consistently unpopular with the ​American public, it also exposes him to criticism from within his party, skepticism from allies and questions over whether the deal will hold.

THE KNIVES COME OUT AMONG REPUBLICANS

By Monday, some Iran “hawks” within the Republican Party ‌were trashing the agreement, describing it as a tactical catastrophe.

“Trump has surrendered to Iran,” conservative influencer Erick Erickson wrote on X.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who advocated for the war, said in a Sunday X post he was “somewhat concerned” that Iran’s description of the preliminary agreement was different from the White House’s description.

Vice President JD Vance, one of the president’s least hawkish aides, pushed back against early criticisms. In an interview with ABC on Monday, he played down the possibility that Iran will immediately receive some of its frozen assets, saying it would only receive those funds if Tehran reaches ​certain benchmarks related to its nuclear program.

While Republicans have navigated deep splits between isolationists and interventionists for years, another flare-up before the November midterm elections when Republicans will try to defend narrow majorities in the House of Representatives and ​Senate could create an image of a party in disarray.

FOR AMERICAN CONSUMERS, IT MIGHT BE TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE

Gas prices are expected to fall but will remain above pre-war levels for some ⁠time, analysts say, meaning voters are still likely to face pain at the pump as the elections approach.

The strait, through which about 20% of the world’s oil flows, is not scheduled to fully open until Friday. Even then, it will take weeks or ​even months for oil flows to return to normal levels, with supply further constrained as Gulf nations ramp up production and repair damaged infrastructure.

“Full pre-conflict traffic volume is realistically a 2027 story,” said David Jorbenaze, global oil market leader at ICIS, a market intelligence ​provider.

That lag could blunt any political benefit for Trump and Republicans, particularly as voters remain focused on cost-of-living pressures. As of early June, some 70% of Americans disapproved of how Trump was handling those concerns.

COMPARISONS WITH OBAMA’S DEAL ARE INEVITABLE

One of Trump’s most oft-stated positions with respect to Iran is that the U.S.’s last deal with the Islamic Republic, known as the JCPOA, was a disaster.

Trump has frequently noted with derision that the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama sent pallets of cash to Tehran, a move that was intended to settle a long-running financial dispute, while facilitating the ​accord.

Now that Trump is negotiating a nuclear deal, he risks opening himself up to Democratic attacks if a final deal is not clearly better than the JCPOA.

With details of the current agreement unclear, direct comparison is difficult. But Trump has been privately concerned ​about making sure his deal is seen as better than Obama’s, advisers have said.

A key concern among skeptical conservatives is whether — and to what extent — the U.S. will allow Iran access to its frozen assets.

IT ISN’T OVER UNTIL IT’S OVER

Another significant risk: The fighting could flare again, ‌causing energy prices ⁠to shoot back up just as voters turn their attention to the midterms.

Israeli leaders are privately fuming, seeing the initial agreement as a form of capitulation right when Israel and Washington had Tehran on the ropes. Some hardliners in Tehran are also unhappy, believing leaders there should have held out longer.

On Sunday, Israel bombed southern Lebanon, a move that upset Trump and appeared to delay the agreement, if only by a few hours. On Monday, Israel killed one person in another strike in Lebanon, illustrating that the conflict remains active.

STRAINED ALLIANCES

The war – and its resolution – have tested Washington’s alliances in various ways.

Israeli officials will struggle to sell the deal to their own voters, said Jonathan Rynhold, a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University, near Tel Aviv. He added that the best-case political scenario for ​the Israeli government is that talks with Iran quickly collapse ​and conflict resumes.

Relations between Trump and European leaders have also ⁠fallen to a new low, with the president criticising NATO countries for failing to join the U.S.-Israeli war effort. Trump is currently in France for the annual G7 summit, where those tensions could come to the fore.

Leaders in Muscat were shocked earlier this month when Trump threatened to bomb Oman for allegedly scheming to set up a toll system with Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.

In ​the Gulf, several allies – having been hit by Iranian drone and missile strikes – are now more aware than ever of the downsides of hosting U.S. security architecture in the region.

While ​it is difficult to draw firm ⁠conclusions about the long-term geopolitical effects of the conflict, the U.S. has spent significant diplomatic and political capital in recent months and, in some cases, upset longtime allies.

THE DEAL COULD FALL APART

The interim deal essentially pushed the most difficult issues down the road. Notably, as of Monday, there was no clarity as to what will happen with Iran’s nuclear program, and both sides have different versions regarding what has been agreed to so far.

Tehran and Washington now have 60 days to reach a more comprehensive deal, a monumental task given that the two ⁠countries have been ​at loggerheads over Tehran’s nuclear program for decades.

Trump has said he may resume attacks if a deal is not reached, a move that would almost certainly ​upset voters, who never liked the war in the first place, according to public opinion surveys. Still, if Trump defies the odds and seals a substantive agreement with Iran, it could hand Republicans a political win.

The Iranians’ “record of keeping their word is abysmal, so one of the questions is when does this thing blow ​up,” said Charlie Gerow, a Pennsylvania-based Republican strategist.

“If Trump, through other means, is able to keep it together, I think it’s going to be very positive for him and his administration.”

Reporting by Gram Slattery and Nathan Layne; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Sanjeev Miglani

FBI raids Soros-backed voter group’s headquarters in reported fraud probe

June 15, 2026 1:45pm EDT / Fox News

By Robert Schmad, Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6388458252112FBI agents reportedly conducting ongoing raid at Fulton County election office

Fox News correspondent David Spunt breaks down the significance of FBI agents raiding the Fulton County election office in relation to the 2020 election on ‘Special Report.’

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Federal investigators raided a Soros-funded voter mobilization group on Thursday as part of a reported ongoing fraud investigation.

FBI agents raided the headquarters of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) on June 11 and deployed across the state to question members of the organization, sometimes bearing subpoenas or demanding to seize electronic devices, MS Now reported. A day later, multiple sources familiar with the events told CBS News that the operations were part of a fraud-related investigation.

The raid marks the latest flashpoint in the Trump administration’s expanded use of federal law enforcement to scrutinize alleged voter fraud and election-related misconduct, a push cheered by conservatives who have long argued such cases were under-enforced and condemned by Democrats and voting rights groups who say the effort risks turning the FBI into a political weapon against liberal voter registration operations.

OOC is a nonprofit organization that works closely with the Democratic Party in Ohio on voter mobilization and registration efforts. It is especially active in ballot referendums, tapping its vast donor network that includes the Soros family’s philanthropies, to do so.

STACEY ABRAMS HIT WITH SUBPOENA IN ALLEGED CAMPAIGN FINANCE VIOLATIONS SAGA: ‘NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW’

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference about the Trump administration’s fraud crackdown as he’s flanked by federal and state officials in Ohio on Thursday, June 4, 2026.(WBNS via NNS)

The Department of Justice has declined to comment on the specifics of the purported investigation.

“Search warrants are authorized by a judge and anything said by any organization or others in the media is unfounded speculation, as the target of any investigation is not privy to the search warrant affidavit until after indictment,” a DOJ official told Fox News Digital.

A voter fills out a mail-in ballot at the Board of Elections office in the Allegheny County Office Building in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 3, 2022.(Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

The group previously spent $250,000 in 2023 to oppose a GOP-led effort to block the right to an abortion from being enshrined in Ohio’s constitution and spent a further $300,000 against a Republican redistricting effort a year later.

OOC finances these expenditures by tapping a deep network of top-level liberal donors.

Recent tax documents show that the organization had over $10 million in revenue during 2024. OOC’s considerable financial resources are provided by a variety of high-profile Democratic-aligned donor organizations, including the Soros family’s philanthropies, New Venture Fund and the Tides Foundation as well as unions such as the American Federation of Teachers and the Service Employees International Union.

The Soros family’s Foundation to Promote Open Society gave OOC roughly $1.9 million between 2019 and 2020. In 2021, Open Society Action Fund gave an additional $1 million to OOC’s sister organization, the Ohio Organizing Campaign, followed by another $1 million donation in 2023.

GEORGE SOROS, BETO O’ROURKE BEHIND FUNDING FOR DEMS FLEEING TEXAS OVER GOP CONGRESSIONAL MAP

OOC has characterized the federal scrutiny as an example of the Trump administration politicizing the justice system.

“How can they distract and intimidate civil rights leaders and voters and community leaders who are helping people get registered to vote, and create a national spectacle about it?” Prentiss Haney, an OOC board member authorized to discuss the matter on behalf of the group, told MS Now. “That is the only reason why they would choose to do that, do it now, in the middle of a contested political election in the state. There’s no other reason. They have no evidence of that.”

OOC previously came under fire in 2017 when a paid canvasser working with the group pleaded guilty over his involvement in a fraudulent voter registration operation. Republicans, however, have yet to produce conclusive evidence of widespread voter fraud in recent election cycles.

ELECTION INVESTIGATION UNCOVERS ALLEGED ILLEGAL VOTING BY NONCITIZENS AND DOUBLE VOTERS IN MULTIPLE STATES

The Ohio State Capitol building stands in Columbus, Ohio.(Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group)

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OOC did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday.

Skydivers on plane that crashed in Missouri “didn’t have time to jump,” witness says

June 15, 2026 1:01 PM EDT / CBS News

By Deanna Marie Lowe

A witness to the deadly plane crash that killed 11 skydivers and the pilot over the weekend said “the plane just completely like shattered with the ground” upon impact.

The private plane went down on Sunday just after takeoff from Butler Memorial Airport in Butler, Missouri, which is about 60 miles south of Kansas City.

“It was completely perpendicular with the wings to the sky, to the ground, going fast. And then they just hit the ground,” said Bailey Reed, who saw the crash happen. “The ground and trees around it exploded and it just lit up in flames.”

Reed said the people on board the plane would not have had a chance to deploy parachutes.

“They didn’t have time to jump,” she told CBS News. “They were so low to the ground the parachutes wouldn’t have deployed and there was no way anyone could have jumped and survived that.”

Family members of the people on the plane were also there to cheer on their loved ones and saw the tragedy unfold.

“Our hearts go out to them,” said Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson. “There’s nothing we really can say to make it better.”

Crash investigation

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

“Key to this investigation is going to be looking at the mechanical condition of the airplane itself, the engine,” said Robert Sumwalt, the former chair of the NTSB.

The wreckage of a plane crash burns in a field in Butler, Missouri, on Sunday, June 14, 2026. The pilot and 11 skydivers on board died in the crash. Mid America News Review via AP Photo

Butler is a small town and the airport there did not have a tower that was in communication with the pilot.

The NTSB will “be looking at the training of the pilot. They’ll also be looking at the FAA oversight to see if the FAA was providing adequate surveillance over this particular operation,” Sumwalt said. “Since this is a parachute operation and not a commercial operation, oftentimes the FAA doesn’t have the resources to oversee small operations like this.”

The plane was operated by Skydive Kansas City.

“This is a devastating loss for everyone connected to Skydive Kansas City and for the wider skydiving community. Our deepest sympathies are with the families, friends, and loved ones of all who were lost,” the group said in a statement. “At this time, the focus of the management and ownership team is to assist investigators and to support the staff and the broader skydiving community. The entire team is in shock, and the community is close-knit.”

Trump’s approval ticks up to 36% as price angst eases, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

2026-06-15T18:49:15.574Z / Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at the Hotel Royal to attend the G7 Summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, June 15, 2026. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/Pool Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• Poll spanned before and after Trump announced Iran ceasefire deal
• Trump’s cost-of-living approval rose to 24% from 22% a week earlier
• Registered voters favored Democratic candidates 41% to 38% if elections were held today

WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s approval rating ticked a percentage point higher in recent days ‌to 36% as public dissatisfaction over the cost of living grew less intense, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Monday.

The four-day poll gathered responses before and after Trump announced on Sunday that he and Iranian leaders had agreed to ​end a war between the two countries that had pushed gasoline prices sharply higher.

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Optimism over peace ​talks between the two countries has pushed gasoline prices lower in recent weeks, ⁠though Americans are still paying roughly a dollar more per gallon at the pump than they were ​before the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28.

Some 24% of Americans currently approve ​of Trump’s stewardship over the cost of living, up from 22% a week earlier and 20% a month ago. The share who disapprove has eased to 69% in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll from 73% a month earlier.

It remains to be seen ​if Trump’s popularity, which has suffered even among groups core to his political base such as rural voters ​and evangelical Christians, could be turning a corner. His overall approval rating remains near the lowest levels of his political career, ‌and people ⁠still take a harsher view of his handling of the cost of living than they did of how his Democratic predecessor in office, Joe Biden, handled the issue.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was conducted online, gathered responses from 1,537 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points in ​either direction.

Trump started his second ​term in January 2025 ⁠with a 47% approval rating – 11 percentage points higher than his current rating – after winning the prior year’s presidential election with a promise to get persistently ​high inflation under control.

That hasn’t happened, a recent U.S. inflation report showed, and dissatisfaction ​over rising ⁠prices could weigh on Trump’s Republican allies defending narrow congressional majorities in the November 3 midterm elections.

Some 41% of registered voters in the poll said they would vote for a Democratic candidate in their district if the congressional ⁠elections ​were held today, compared to 38% who said they would vote Republican. Another ​18% said they weren’t sure or were considering a third party. Independent voters, who could be decisive in many elections, favored Democrats ​over Republicans by 13 points, 35% to 22%.

Reporting by Jason Lange; editing by Scott Malone and Deepa Babington

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Jason Lange is a Washington correspondent focused on political data. Send tips to jason.lange@thomsonreuters.com

Why the millionaire co-founder of e.l.f. Cosmetics left his beauty empire to become a Catholic priest

June 15, 2026 / 2:25 PM EDT / CBS News

By Grace Baek

From a massive beauty empire to Catholic Mass — Scott Vincent Borba co-founded e.l.f. Cosmetics, but found he still felt unfulfilled in his life path. Then he turned to God, leaving it all behind to become a man of the cloth.

Before heading to seminary and taking up the priestly collar, Borba enjoyed red carpets and professional acclaim for his business acumen.

“Was I created just to work and to party and to repeat and then die?” Borba recalled wondering amid his success.

Borba was raised by a deeply Catholic family in Visalia, California. He said he first felt called to join the priesthood when he was 10 years old.

“I knew God was telling me … he wanted me to be his priest. But I immediately challenged it back and said, ‘I am not that guy,’” Borba remembered. “I ran away from him for quite a long time.”

Borba moved to Los Angeles, hustling with three jobs.

One day, he was watching women load up on discounted cosmetics at a 99 Cent store when the idea for e.l.f. Cosmetics struck him: “Sephora-based quality products for a dollar.”

“It’s so humbling to understand that something that started out with such a simple concept could be so uniquely successful,” he said.

Borba turned e.l.f. (short for Eyes, Lips, Face) Cosmetics into a “lucrative business” worth many millions – but he said it still wasn’t enough to satisfy him.

“I always wanted more. It was never satisfying enough,” Borba said. “I couldn’t make enough money. I couldn’t be on enough red carpets. I couldn’t be exposed enough on TV or in magazines. It was insatiable.”

Then heartbreak arrived: Borba’s father, Anthony Borba Sr., was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Borba headed home to care for his ailing dad.

“I never saw my father scared before. He said, ‘I need to close out my life before I go. Will you help me with that?’ I said, ‘Dad. We’re going to do this together and I’m going to find you the best doctors ever.’”

In 2010, Anthony Borba Sr. died.

Borba said his life began to unravel with the loss that “broke me apart emotionally.”

He began partying more as a way to escape.

It was during one of those parties at his house in Hollywood Hills that Borba experienced his “mystical” come-to-Jesus moment.

“I remember looking around. I was so unhappy … I looked up to heaven. I remember I asked God to help me be the man he created me to be, but I couldn’t do it without his help. It changed my life,” he said. “I kicked everyone out of the house. I packed my bag and I went down to a hotel. I fell to my knees right before I walked into the door, I started crying and I said, ‘This is not the man God created me to be. This is not the man my mother and father raised.’ And that’s when this beautiful golden portal opened up and our Lord was walking in and I just knew intuitively that it was him.”

At that moment, he knew he would become a priest. Borba said he gave away his wealth, funding churches and charities. Then he entered seminary.

“I want to be there for people that are suffering because I understand suffering,” Borba said.

Borba’s family fractured after his father’s death, driven apart by decisions made by Borba in those final days — but they gathered for the first time since his death at Borba’s ordination.

“I felt so proud,” his mother, Evelyn, said.

Borba’s first public Mass took place a few weeks later.

“If you’re searching out for love and peace in your life and families and businesses out in the world, come to him. Go in peace and bring glory to your lives,” Borba shared.