By Michael Williams

Updated 14 min ago
Updated Jun 11, 2026, 3:56 PM ET
PUBLISHED Jun 11, 2026, 1:44 PM ET

Authorities responded to what appeared to be a large tracing of the term 8647 into the grounds of the National Mall in Washington, DC on June 11.

Nathan Howard/Reuters

Summary

• The numbers “8647,” generally used to signal opposition to President Donald Trump, were etched into the grass on the National Mall.
• US Park Police are investigating the markings as vandalism ahead of a UFC match on Trump’s birthday Sunday.
• Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted in April for posting a similar display with the numbers.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

Washington—

The numbers “8647” — a phrase generally used to signal opposition to President Donald Trump — appeared etched into the grass on the National Mall on Thursday, days before massive crowds are expected in the area for a UFC match on Trump’s birthday on Sunday.

Live webcam images from the top of the Washington Monument show the numbers appearing as dead grass along a large portion of the Mall, east of the World War II Memorial. It’s not clear when the markings first appeared. The numbers were not visible in photos from Getty Images of the National Mall taken on June 5.

The markings did not appear to be easily distinguishable from the ground level Thursday afternoon. Witnesses said several emergency vehicles blocked off the area around 1 p.m., while the US Army Golden Knights parachute team landed on the Mall.

The Secret Service and FBI deferred comment to the US Park Police, who the agencies said was handling the investigation into the markings. A law enforcement source told CNN the Secret Service will partner with the Park Police when officials locate a suspect.

A spokesperson for the Park Police said the cause of the discoloration of the grass has not been determined. Samples were collected for testing, the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Interior, which manages the National Mall, described the markings as “deranged vandalism” which “will not be tolerated” in a statement.

“Any threat against the President is taken very seriously by the Department, and our U.S. Park Police will investigate this incident and hold those responsible accountable,” the spokesperson said.

The numbers have been used to signal opposition to Trump, though his administration has interpreted them as a threat against the president. In April, former FBI Director James Comey was indicted by the Department of Justice on charges of threatening the president for posting an image on Instagram showing the numbers spelled out in sea shells.

The number “86” is often used as a code in the restaurant industry meaning to get rid of or remove an order or patron, while Trump is the 47th president.

CNN’s Camila DeChalus and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.

Trump pivots on strikes while dangling Iran deal, testing whether Tehran blinks

2026-06-11T14:40:34-04:00 / Fox News

Iran keeps ‘playing us for suckers’ because they dealt with ‘very stupid presidents,’ Trump said

By Morgan Phillips Fox News

Published June 11, 2026 2:40pm EDT

Trump urges Iran to ‘start signing a paper’ as negotiations stall

Former CENTCOM Deputy Cmdr. Ret. Vice Adm. Robert Harward discusses President Donald Trump’s push for a deal with Iran on ‘America Reports.’

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After months of predicting a nuclear deal with Iran was just around the corner, President Donald Trump appears to be testing whether military pressure can accomplish what diplomacy alone has not.

The strategy was on full display over the past 24 hours. Trump followed through on his threat to strike Iran again overnight, launching a barrage of Tomahawk missiles and fighter jet attacks against Iranian targets while warning that additional bombing would follow unless Iran agreed to a deal. Hours later, however, he announced he had canceled planned strikes for Thursday evening, saying negotiations had been elevated to the highest levels of Iran’s leadership and that the parties had approved the final contours of an agreement.

The rapid sequence of threats, strikes and renewed diplomacy highlights an increasingly familiar pattern in Trump’s approach to Iran: using military pressure to push negotiations forward while keeping a diplomatic off-ramp open. The question is whether the strategy is increasing Washington’s leverage — or reinforcing Iran’s belief that the United States ultimately wants a deal more than continued confrontation.

“He has made so many threats that he has not carried through on and telegraphed on many occasions his strong desire to end this war as soon as possible, that I think Iran does not take these threats seriously,” Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP KEEPS FORECASTING AN IRAN DEAL — WHY THE WHITE HOUSE STILL THINKS IT CAN HAPPEN

After months of predicting a nuclear deal with Iran was just around the corner, President Donald Trump appears to be testing whether military pressure can accomplish what diplomacy alone has not.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/The Associated Press)

Trump said Iranian officials contacted him during the strikes and asked for the bombing to stop.

“If they don’t sign the deal, we’ll bomb the sh*t out of them tomorrow night,” he said.

Trump suggested Thursday the campaign could eventually expand to Iran’s energy infrastructure, including Kharg Island, the country’s most important oil export hub.

“At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela.”

But later, he sounded less certain.

“My preference has always been to take Kharg Island. I don’t know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest,” Trump said on Fox and Friends.

Yet even as he promised additional military action, Trump maintained that negotiations had been on the verge of success.

“We’ll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal,” he said earlier Wednesday.

The comments marked a sharp escalation from a president who only days earlier predicted an agreement could arrive within “two or three days” and has repeatedly suggested a breakthrough remains imminent despite months of unresolved disputes over uranium enrichment, sanctions relief and Iran’s nuclear stockpile.

“They keep tapping us along,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “They keep playing us for suckers because you know what? They dealt with some very stupid presidents.”

Trump’s latest actions suggest the administration is still offering Tehran an off-ramp through a negotiated nuclear agreement. The question is whether military pressure strengthens Washington’s hand — or whether Iran has concluded it can withstand the costs and outlast the campaign.

Iran “has more resilience,” said James Robbins, dean of academics at the Institute of World Politics, noting that Iran has been forced to work around global isolation for decades. “They’re kind of used to sanctions. They’re used to economic dislocations, much more so than Americans.”

Plumes of smoke rise following reported explosions in Tehran, Iran, March 2, 2026.(Sohrab/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Behnam Taleblu, senior director of the Iran Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, argued that mounting pressure does not necessarily make the regime more willing to compromise.

TRUMP SAYS IRAN IS ‘NEGOTIATING ON FUMES,’ BELIEVES REGIME THOUGHT THEY COULD OUTWAIT HIM

“The more desperate the regime becomes, the more aggressive the regime becomes,” Taleblu told Fox News Digital.

He also questioned whether strikes on bridges, power plants and other infrastructure would fundamentally alter Iran’s decision-making, arguing that the regime is primarily concerned with threats to its own hold on power.

“Until those making the key national security decisions, those enforcing the key national security decisions, and those enforcing the regime’s longest war, which is on its own people, so long as those three are not targeted, we’ll be back where we started,” he said.

Eisenstadt argued that Iran may ultimately believe it can absorb sanctions, withstand military pressure and simply wait for political pressures inside the U.S. to grow.

“I think they believe that time is on their side, given domestic criticism of the war and its economic impacts in the United States,” he said.

Trump’s lates strike threats came days after an Iranian drone brought down a U.S. Apache helicopter operating near the Strait of Hormuz, triggering retaliatory U.S. strikes on Iranian radar and air-defense sites and threatening to unravel an already fragile ceasefire.

The administration’s goal has long been that sustained military and economic pressure would eventually force Iran to make concessions that months of negotiations alone have failed to produce. Trump and his advisors have repeatedly argued that sanctions, military operations and the U.S.-led blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has cut off the pathway for roughly 80% of Iran’s oil exports, have left Iran increasingly isolated and economically vulnerable.

Iranian officials publicly rejected the notion that expanding the target set would force Iran to bend.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called Trump’s threat to strike power plants and transportation infrastructure a “sign of desperation.”

A drone view shows vessels anchored at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, May 25, 2026.(Stringer TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY via Reuters)

“Critical infrastructures are the lifeblood of the people,” Pezeshkian said in a post on X.

Trump repeatedly has rejected the notion that Iran can wait out his administration.

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“They thought they were going to out-wait me, you know. ‘We’ll out-wait him. He’s got the midterms.’ I don’t care about the midterms,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting May 27.

Despite Trump’s repeated assertions that a deal is near, negotiators remain divided over several core issues, including uranium enrichment, sanctions relief and the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Iranian officials have acknowledged progress on some elements of a potential agreement while warning that significant obstacles remain.

Whether the latest round of strikes changes Iran’s calculations may determine whether Trump’s strategy of military pressure succeeds in producing the agreement he insists remains within reach.

Minnesota man pleads guilty to federal charges in state lawmaker shooting case

2026-06-11T16:19:09.973Z / Reuters

June 11 (Reuters) – A Minnesota man pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal charges that he killed Minnesota’s House speaker and her husband and attempted to murder a state senator and his wife, according to court records.

Vance Luther Boelter, 58, of Green Isle, Minnesota, pleaded guilty to six federal murder, firearms, and stalking charges related to the attacks nearly a year ago on the state lawmakers, changing a not guilty plea he had entered in August.

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The change of plea came after the Justice Department decided not to seek the death penalty against Boelter, as long as he agreed to a plea under which he could receive two life sentences plus 40 years in prison, Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said at a press conference after Thursday’s hearing.

Rosen said his office believed they could have prevailed in getting a death sentence, but “when you have a defendant that is prepared to plead guilty, take consecutive life terms plus to ensure that he never sees freedom again in his entire life, that was an opportunity that we just could not pass up.”

Boelter disguised himself as a police officer to carry out the June 14, 2025 shootings. He wore a silicone mask and drove an SUV with a license plate that simply read, “Police,” in which officers later found a list of more than 45 other Minnesota legislators and officials.

He fatally shot Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, and her husband Mark, in their home and shot and wounded another Democratic lawmaker, state Senator John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette, in their home a few miles away.

John and Yvette Hoffman sat in the front row during Thursday’s court hearing as Boelter described the shootings, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.

The shootings were a dramatic example of how political violence has spiked in the United States in recent years, and left many unsettled in Minnesota, a state known for civility and bipartisanship. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called the killing of Hortman and her husband a “politically motivated assassination” and Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson called it “horrific political violence.”

Boelter was captured by police after a two-day manhunt, the largest in Minnesota’s history.

He also faces state charges including two counts of first-degree premeditated murder and four counts of first-degree attempted murder, according to local media reports.

Reporting by Julia Harte, editing by Donna Bryson, Deepa Babington and Bill Berkrot

US lawmakers seek $750 million for Ukraine, rename Pentagon ‘Department of War’ in defense bill

2026-06-11 16:55:04 / Reuters

The Pentagon is seen from the air in Washington, U.S., March 3, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday said ​it voted to extend U.S. security assistance for Ukraine and increase authorized funding to $750 million, the latest ‌pushback from Congress against the Trump administration’s pullback on aid for Kyiv as it fights a Russian invasion.

The Senate’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act also changed the name of the Department of Defense to Department of War, two people familiar with the bill told ​Reuters.

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The Republican-majority panel said it had completed its version of the NDAA, an annual bill setting policy ​for the Pentagon, that included $750 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays U.S. companies ⁠for weapons for Ukraine’s military.

The massive Senate bill, which supports a total of $1.15 trillion for defense, determines everything from ​how many ships, aircraft and missile systems are bought to pay raises for the troops and how to address geopolitical ​threats.

The Senate text announced on Thursday also prohibits funds authorized by the NDAA from being obligated or expended to implement any activity that recognizes the sovereignty of Russia over the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine, and directs the Department to provide intelligence support to Kyiv for ​the purpose of supporting military operations to defend or take back that territory.

The Senate panel released its bill a week ​after the House of Representatives passed legislation to provide aid to Ukraine and impose new sanctions on Russia.

MUNITIONS AND WEAPONS PROCUREMENT

The Senate committee’s ‌bill provides ⁠multi-year procurement authority for several types of munitions and weapons including Boeing-made

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F-15EX fighter jets and F-35 fighter jets made by Lockheed Martin

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.

This year’s legislation remains several steps away from becoming law.

Now that the House and Senate panels have approved their bills, they must be approved separately by the full House and Senate. After that, members of the two committees ​must agree on a compromise ​version of the bill, which ⁠must then pass the House and Senate before being sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto.

The House committee’s version of the NDAA also backed ​Trump’s desire – opposed by Democrats – to change the name of the Department of Defense ​to Department of ⁠War.

While many members of Congress from both parties strongly supported Ukraine in the first years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, some of Trump’s closest Republican allies – including House and Senate leadership – have grown cooler towards Kyiv since Trump ⁠returned to ​the White House in January 2025.

U.S. aid to Kyiv has slowed sharply ​even as Russia and Ukraine pummel each other with missiles, drones and artillery. Peace talks are stalled, with Ukraine rejecting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand ​that it surrender territory it has successfully defended since 2022.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Mike Stone; editing by Deepa Babington

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Karmelo Anthony’s family says “nobody wins” after murder verdict and sentencing

June 11, 2026 / 1:13 PM EDT / CBS News

The father of Texas teenager Karmelo Anthony said “nobody wins” after a jury rejected his son’s claims of self-defense and convicted him of murder in the stabbing death of fellow student-athlete Austin Metcalf.

Anthony was accused of fatally stabbing Metcalf at a track meet in Frisco on April 2, 2025. Prosecutors described the attack as intentional, but Anthony said it happened after Metcalf and his teammates taunted and shoved him.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours before convicting Anthony on Tuesday, and later sentenced him to 35 years in prison. He is currently being held at a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility northwest of Houston.

During an interview for “CBS Mornings,” Anthony’s mother, Kala Hayes, said her son “didn’t mean to hurt anyone” and “was defending himself.”

When asked what he would tell Metcalf’s family, Anthony’s father, Andrew Anthony, said, “It’s unfortunate, it’s where nobody wins.”

“We’ve all been hurt by this,” he said. “Everybody, everyone.”

Karmelo Anthony (left) was convicted of murder in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf (right) at a 2025 track meet in Frisco, Texas.

Meanwhile, Metcalf’s father, Jeff Metcalf, described the verdict as bittersweet. He said he has forgiven Anthony for his own well-being, so he doesn’t “carry the rage, the hate and that around.”

“That poor boy is fixing to experience a life that I would not wish upon anyone, but he deserves what he gets because we’re all responsible for our actions,” Metcalf said. “What it boils down to for me is this: Austin will never walk through that door again, and never give me a hug.”

On Wednesday, Anthony’s legal team filed a notice of appeal. Dallas-based appellate attorney David Coale told CBS News Texas that an appeal would focus on whether the trial was handled correctly, including how the jury was selected and whether Black jurors were improperly removed from the case.

“What stuck out to me, No. 1, was the all-White jury,” Andrew Anthony said. The family also alleged that witnesses lied on the stand and gave inconsistent statements.

When it came time to give statements before their son’s sentencing, only Hayes spoke. She now says she felt the jury “had their minds made up already” as she spoke.

“They did a number on us,” Andrew Anthony said. “We didn’t get justice. A lot of things that were missed that should have been handled a certain way.”

Collins County District Attorney Greg Willis said in a news conference after the verdict that “justice was served” and that jurors “cooperated fully and testified truthfully.”

Andrew Anthony said he believes his son was “already convicted” in the court of public opinion before the trial. The case sparked strong emotions nationwide, and protests have been held on behalf of both Anthony and Metcalf. Both families have also received death threats and other alarming calls and messages.

“Yesterday, I had a death threat, this morning had multiple emails, texts threatening me, calling me all sorts of names,” Jeff Metcalf said.

“People want us dead,” Andrew Anthony said. “After they still got what they wanted…. they still want us dead. I go look at my phone, people want us dead. They want our family dead.”

‘We’re seeing an opening.’ Sources close to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beta-test her appeal to independents & Republicans

2026-06-11 1:42 PM EDT / CNN

By Dana Bash, CNN

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“We’re seeing an opening.” Sources close to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beta-test her appeal to independents & Republicans

Inside Politics

CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere joins Inside Politics to share his new reporting about AOC’s plan to position herself for a potential 2028 presidential run. One big question: can she appeal to voters outside the base that adores her? Dovere says her reporting shows she’s sincerely undecided about whether to run for the White House, the Senate, or to stay in the House.

4:59 • Source: CNN

List of Belfast addresses said to be immigrant homes circulated online amid riots in wake of stabbing

2026-06-11T12:36:00-0400 / CBS News

By Joanne Stocker Verification producer
Joanne Stocker is a verification producer for CBS News Confirmed. She was previously chief editor of Kurdistan 24 English and managing editor at The Defense Post. She has combined open-source investigation methods with on-the-ground reporting to cover conflict, terrorism, and misinformation for over 15 years.

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Updated on: June 11, 2026 / 12:42 PM EDT / CBS News

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A list of addresses thought to belong to immigrants and their families was shared online during violent anti-immigration protests that descended into rioting in and around Northern Ireland’s capital Belfast this week.

The unrest was sparked by a brutal knife attack on Monday. That attack, a horrific video of which has been shared widely online, sparked two nights of unrest on the streets of Belfast, with groups of often-masked rioters setting fire to homes, a bus and trash cans, and throwing rocks at police and blocking roads.

CBS News learned Thursday that a list of addresses believed to be the homes of immigrants, including families, was circulated online among people calling for mass protests. A copy of the list found online by CBS News, circulated on closed social media networks such as WhatsApp, includes more than two dozen addresses in Belfast.

In another example, an account on X shared a list early Wednesday morning of seven names and addresses of what it claimed were immigration lawyers and law firms in Northern Ireland, urging “patriots” to “do with that what you will.”

After her labor union reported that a nurse going to work at the Ulster Hospital had been chased by masked men, the chief executives of Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care service said in a joint statement Wednesday that some international staff felt intimidated and “too frightened to come to work.”

Vehicles set on fire amid anti-immigration protests and riots burn on Lendrick Street in east Belfast, Northern Ireland, June 9, 2026, after the arrest of a Sudanese man accused of stabbing a man in the northern part of the city. PA via AP

Due to the privacy lent by the closed social media platforms used to circulate the lists, CBS News could not determine how many people shared the information, or who originated it.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said in a statement Wednesday that it was aware of some social media users sharing addresses online amid the protests.

“Highlighting properties in this way is totally unacceptable,” the PSNI said, adding that it had received calls from families, homeowners and neighbors who were “extremely distressed as a result of this reckless activity.”

On Monday, a member of the U.K. Parliament from Belfast condemned the unrest in her city as “a race-based pogrom”.

Claire Hanna, a member of the Social Democratic & Labour Party, told BBC’s “Newsnight” program that protesters had gone door to door looking for immigrants.

“Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” she said.

Firefighters attend a house which caught fire on Ligoniel Road, Belfast, as disorder flared during an anti-immigration demonstration organized in response to a stabbing attack in the city, June 9, 2026. PA/PA Images/Getty

The suspect in the stabbing attack is a 30-year-old Sudanese man who had claimed asylum in the United Kingdom. He has been charged with attempted murder, threatening to kill, and carrying a knife. The man entered Northern Ireland after applying for asylum and, in 2023, he was granted a five-year visa to remain in the U.K.

Graphic video of the incident shows an attacker straddling the victim on the ground while slashing at his head and neck with a knife, in what has widely been described as an attempted beheading. Civilians intervened before police arrived shortly after, and they have been credited with saving the man’s life.

The video spread quickly online and prominent figures — including Elon Musk and British politician Nigel Farage, an ally of President Trump — were among those to share it and call for mass protests.

Hanna, the Belfast lawmaker, called out Musk, Farage and British far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, as some of the “negative actors online and politicians locally who don’t really care what communities in north Belfast have been through,” whom she said were fomenting the unrest online.

CBS News has not seen any indication of those prominent public figures sharing address lists online.

Police said the suspect used a kitchen knife in the attack and the victim was blinded in the left eye and left with deep wounds in his head, face and back. The PSNI said no motive has been determined for the knife attack. An investigation is ongoing, but they said it was not believed to be terrorism.

The Belfast unrest came just a week after separate anti-immigration protests in Southampton, southern England, over the killing of college student Henry Nowak.

Protesters stand facing police officers during a demonstration following the conviction of Vikrum Digwa for the murder of student Henry Nowak, in Southampton, Britain, June 2, 2026. Isabel Infantes/REUTERS

Nowak, who was white, was killed in December by Vickrum Digwa, a British-born Sikh, who falsely claimed to police that he had been the victim of a racist assault by Nowak.

When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded Nowak as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him. He died of his injuries, and despite Digwa’s British nationality, far-right activists and some politicians cited the case as an example of “two-tier” policing, implying that White Britons are treated differently.

The police department involved in the incident firmly denied that accusation, but violent protests erupted, fueled by calls online for anti-immigration demonstrations.

Trump says he will nominate Jay Clayton to top intelligence post

Updated Jun 11, 2026, 3:16 PM ET / CNN

By Adam Cancryn

Jay Clayton, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, speaks during a press conference in New York, on December 10, 2025.

Jeenah Moon/Reuters/File

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he’s nominating Jay Clayton, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, to be his next director of national intelligence.

“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.”

The selection of Clayton — who served as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term — comes amid a firestorm over Trump’s earlier decision to make top housing official Bill Pulte the acting national intelligence chief following the planned departure of Tulsi Gabbard.

The elevation of Pulte, who has no demonstrated national security background, prompted pushback from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers and has endangered the renewal of critical government surveillance powers.

Since Pulte’s selection, Republican lawmakers had urged Trump to quickly name a more qualified permanent nominee.

But Trump’s announcement is unlikely to save the key spy powers authority from its expiration Friday, as Democrats remained largely unmoved following the president’s Truth Social post. Pulte, they said, would still need to be replaced as the acting spy chief to earn their votes in support of a FISA extension.

Pulte — a wealthy businessman who was confirmed as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency last year — has been a Trump loyalist with a record of going after many of the president’s biggest perceived political enemies through criminal referrals.

Related article A visitor captures a cell phone image of the Washington Monument, near the US Capitol on September 29, 2021. Tom Brenner/Reuters/File FISA: What to know about the government’s key spy powers that are on the verge of expiration 5 min read

The president indicated to House Speaker Mike Johnson earlier this week that he wouldn’t back down away from Pulte, despite threats from Democrats to let the key surveillance power lapse over the appointment, two sources briefed on the meeting told CNN.

Trump stunned intelligence staffers and lawmakers on Tuesday by announcing Pulte would start his role as acting DNI on June 19 — before Gabbard’s anticipated departure on June 30.

His announcement about Clayton comes after Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor appeared on CNBC earlier this week, where he was grilled about the distinction between state laws that make California’s vote tabulation a slow process and actual evidence of fraud.

“There’s a great phrase, ‘opportunity for fraud,’” Clayton said.

A longtime corporate attorney, Clayton is well known within Republican circles. He has served as the top US attorney in the Southern District of New York since last year, where he was one of the signatories on the indictment against then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that was unsealed in coordination with his capture in a US raid.

Turnover at DNI

If confirmed, Clayton would become Trump’s second permanent chief of national intelligence after Gabbard, who announced her resignation last month, citing her husband’s diagnosis of a rare form of bone cancer.

Yet the office he’s now poised to inherit has faced a tumultuous several months rife with internal turf wars, high-profile resignations and the prospect of severe downsizing.

Trump originally selected Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, as his top intelligence official thanks to her non-interventionist, “America First” ideology that had pushed her away from the Democratic Party and into the MAGA fold.

But her isolationist tendencies quickly put her at odds with Trump’s military actions against Iran and Venezuela. She came under additional scrutiny following the abrupt resignation of Joe Kent, who headed the National Counterterrorism Center under her command, over his objections to the war with Iran.

Months before announcing her resignation, Gabbard was routinely sidelined from some of the biggest foreign policy decisions of Trump’s second term.

Instead, much of her focus revolved around rooting out actors she thought were part of the so-called deep state — people in the intelligence community who the president suspected were working against his interests.

The DNI role, created after 9/11, oversees the 18 agencies that make up the intelligence community and was designed to avoid another catastrophic intelligence failure in which spy agencies don’t share information with each other.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Kristen Holmes, Zachary Cohen, Hannah Rabinowitz and Aileen Graef contributed to this report.

‘Flip flop’: Democrat firefighter in tight House race blasts popular Trump policy his national union supports

June 11, 2026 1:35pm EDT / Fox News

Bob Brooks called Trump’s no-tax-on-overtime pitch ‘garbage’ on a podcast, but his campaign says he backs the policy

By Charles Creitz Fox News

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A swing-district Democrat disparaged Trump’s landmark overtime tax break despite his national firefighters union’s support, prompting his GOP opponent to accuse him of a “flip flop.”

Nazareth, Pennsylvania’s Bob Brooks — running against Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., in a toss-up seat — is the president of the commonwealth’s firefighters union, setting up an apparent discrepancy with the national council, though the Democrat’s campaign says his concerns about the cuts are more nuanced and that it is the Republican who is harming first responders on the issue.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) provides a maximum annual deduction of $12,500 on qualified overtime compensation, phasing out after $150,000 of gross income or $300,000 for joint filers, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

Brooks, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association — which is a subsidiary of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) — criticized the OBBB’s provisions during an appearance on the progressive “Meidas Touch” podcast in May.

“Donald Trump just did it here [in Pennsylvania]. He was up at the Mount Airy casino. But literally, he brought a guy up on stage and claimed he was a fireman and profiting from the no-tax-on-overtime, which 90 percent of our guys didn’t get the benefit from anyways, but the guy wasn’t a paid fireman,” Brooks said, referring to a Stroudsburg-area first responder whom Trump introduced at a Mount Pocono rally in December.

FIREFIGHTERS UNION BOSS WINS HOTLY-CONTESTED DEM PRIMARY IN A KEY PENNSYLVANIA SWING DISTRICT

National Review columnist Caroline Downey and Fox News contributor Robert Wolf debate the popularity of President Donald Trump’s no tax on tips and overtime policies on ‘America Reports.’https://www.foxnews.com/video/6395444446112

World Cup opening ceremony kicks off in Mexico with Shakira

June 11, 2026 / 2:41 PM EDT / CBS News
By Jordan Freiman News Editor

The 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup got underway with the first of three opening ceremonies in Mexico on Thursday, with a tribute to the co-host nation’s Indigenous cultures and pop performances to help launch the biggest World Cup ever.

The festivities got underway a little over an hour before the first kickoff in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca. Fittingly, it began with a dance routine highlighting Aztec culture. Mexican rock band Maná then took the stage to perform “Oye Mi Amor,” followed by performances from Danny Ocean, Los Ángeles Azules, J Balvin and more.

Then it was time for Colombian superstar Shakira and Nigerian singer Burna Boy to perform “Dai Dai,” the official anthem of this year’s tournament, which they also co-wrote.

Shakira performs during the opening ceremony before the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group A match between Mexico and South Africa at Mexico City Stadium on June 11, 2026, in Mexico City, Mexico. Carl Recine / Getty Images

The first match of the tournament is set to begin at 3 p.m. ET, with Mexico taking on South Africa in the first Group A matchup.

Two more opening ceremonies are scheduled in the two other host countries: Canada and the United States.

Canada’s ceremony is set for Friday in Toronto, prior to the match between Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina at BMO Field. That ceremony will include performances from Canadian icons like Alanis Morissette and Michael Bublé.

Performers dance during the Opening Ceremony ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group A match between Mexico and South Africa at Mexico City Stadium on June 11, 2026, in Mexico City, Mexico. Ryan Pierse – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images

The United States gets the third opening ceremony, also scheduled for Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET — about 90 minutes before the U.S. Men’s National Team plays Paraguay in their opening match of the 2026 World Cup. That show will feature performances from Katy Perry, Future, Anitta and more in Los Angeles.

Kiki Intarasuwan contributed to this report.