Why President Trump’s approval fell to a record low in CNN’s latest poll

2026-07-29T17:31:19.330Z / CNN

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 1:31 PM EDT, Wed July 29, 2026

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/29/politics/video/cnn-poll-trump-popularity-midterms

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Why President Trump’s approval fell to a record low in CNN’s latest poll

Inside Politics

In a new CNN poll, President Trump’s approval rating fell to 34% — the same as right after Jan. 6, 2021. It’s also at a record low among Republicans, as 7 in 10 Americans say President Trump is not focused on the right issues. Dana Bash and the “Inside Politics” panel break down the poll’s key takeaways and what they mean for the midterms.

2:54 • Source: CNN

Fauci’s Fifth Amendment plea shows Biden autopen pardon on ‘legally questionable’ ground, Comer says

2026-07-29T12:50:19-04:00 / Fox News

Dr Anthony Fauci pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during Wednesday’s hearing

By Elizabeth Elkind, Fox News

Published July 29, 2026 12:50pm EDT

Fauci lashes out at Sen. Paul while invoking Fifth Amendment at Senate hearing

During a heated Senate hearing, Dr. Anthony Fauci invokes his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Fauci stated Sen. Rand Paul’s “obvious obsession” with prosecuting him, including publicly releasing his unredacted personal diary, led to this decision.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci’s fight on Capitol Hill may not be over yet, a top House Republican signaled after the former public health official pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during an intense Senate hearing on Wednesday.

“If former President Biden’s blanket autopen pardon is valid, then Dr. Fauci has no right to refuse to answer questions,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said after the hearing.

“Dr. Fauci clearly knows his autopen pardon is on legally questionable grounds and decided to protect himself today rather than provide the truth to the American people.”

FAUCI PLEADS FIFTH WITH ‘ZERO LEGAL JUSTIFICATION’ AS CRITICS ERUPT AND DEMAND CONTEMPT CHARGES

Then-Chief Medical Advisor to the president, Anthony Fauci, speaks during a briefing on the Omicron COVID-19 variant, watched by then-President Joe Biden in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 29, 2021.(Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Fauci appeared before a Senate GOP-led panel on Wednesday amid new scrutiny over how he handled the COVID-19 pandemic, following the release of a diary he kept during the global health crisis.

Comer accused former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra of withholding Fauci’s diary from the House Oversight Committee during the Biden administration but said Fauci could be facing new questions after its release.

“Based on the release of Dr. Fauci’s diary, which should have been provided to the House Oversight Committee last Congress but was withheld by then-HHS Secretary Becerra, we’ll be asking Dr. Fauci whether he stands by his previous testimony to our Committee. Dr. Fauci’s actions and lies caused irreparable harm to Americans, and he must face accountability,” Comer said.

FAUCI’S NEWLY RELEASED COVID DIARIES REVEAL BIZARRE FIXATION ON FAME AS PANDEMIC DEATHS MOUNTED

Diary entries made public by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a longtime Fauci critic and chair of the committee before which Fauci is appearing on Wednesday, showed the high-profile doctor reflecting on his pandemic-era fame and discussing the disease’s origins.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6402412944112

Some entries appeared to show Fauci taking credit for influencing policies that closed schools during the pandemic, one of the most hotly debated aspects of how the government handled COVID.

He told the House Oversight Committee in January 2024, however, “I did not close the schools.”

EXCLUSIVE: BIDEN PARDON WON’T SHIELD FAUCI IF HE LIES TO CONGRESS, COMER SAYS

Comer warned Fauci ahead of the hearing that the pardon former President Joe Biden issued him in the final hours of his administration would likely not shield him Wednesday.

“Americans are still reaping the consequences of Dr. Fauci’s actions. Biden’s pardon doesn’t cover Dr. Fauci’s testimony this week, and if he continues to lie, he must be held accountable,” Comer exclusively told Fox News Digital.

Fauci was among several recipients of controversial “preemptive pardons” by Biden at the 11th hour of his White House term.

Rep. James Comer addresses reporters before closed-door testimony in June 2026.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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The pardon covers any offenses from January 1, 2014, through its issue date, or any offense related “to his service as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force or the White House COVID-19 Response Team, or as Chief Medical Advisor to the President.”

But because the pardon covers conduct during his government service, there will likely be debate over whether it would protect him from liability stemming from his Wednesday testimony.

Paul said his committee would vote on whether to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress next week. A contempt of Congress charge, if found guilty following Justice Department prosecution, would carry a fine of up to $100,000 and a prison sentence of up to one year.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

Why Anthony Fauci might not be safe after pleading the Fifth

2026-07-29T18:08:09.382Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/29/politics/fauci-senate-fifth-amendment

By now in American politics, we’ve become accustomed to high-profile figures pleading the Fifth to avoid answering questions they believe could be used to incriminate them. That includes President Donald Trump doing it more than 400 times in a civil case in 2022.

But when it comes to Dr. Anthony Fauci invoking the Fifth Amendment — as he did repeatedly in Senate testimony Wednesday — it’s much more complicated.

That’s because Fauci was pardoned last year by then-President Joe Biden.

Indeed, Wednesday’s hearing is very unlikely to be the end of the story. And it could actually grease the skids for Republicans and the Trump administration to do something many of them have openly floated: Trying to put Fauci in prison.

They’re ostensibly not trying to prosecute Fauci for what he did during the Covid pandemic, but have talked about holding him in contempt of Congress — a threat to initiate a process that would result in the Justice Department considering whether to charge him.

GOP efforts to prosecute Fauci formed the basis of his refusal to answer questions Wednesday. Specifically, he cited Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Rand Paul’s years-long attacks against him.

Fauci claimed the Kentucky Republican was trying to “get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars.’”

But the key difference between Fauci pleading the Fifth and others doing so is that Fauci was pardoned by Biden in early 2025.

On his way out of office, Biden issued preemptive pardons for Fauci and others targeted by incoming President Trump while citing signs the new administration and its allies might try to drum up prosecutions against them. (That fear that has been legitimized, given the Trump Justice Department’s efforts to target Trump foes based on often flimsy evidence.)

And Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was not only pardoned; he received a very broad pardon that covered virtually anything related to his government service between January 2014 and January 2025.

In other words, Fauci is already immune from prosecution for many of the potential alleged crimes Paul and the committee’s Republicans could try to link him to from the Covid era.

But Fauci indicated he was pleading the Fifth because he feared Republicans would try to lay a perjury trap — i.e. try to get him to say something that could be used to bring a perjury case against him.

Indeed, some prominent figures had spoken before the hearing about Fauci possibly still being prosecuted for perjury, despite his pardon. They included Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and conservative lawyer John Yoo, who both suggested as much in interviews on Fox News.

(While Fauci’s medical advice during the Covid pandemic has been roundly criticized by Republicans, there is little to link him to criminal activity. And polling earlier this year showed a majority of Americans still had confidence in him.)

But whether it’s enough for Fauci to plead the Fifth and be done with it is a major unanswered question.

There is a tension between Fifth Amendment protections and Congress’ investigative authority. And witnesses who claim they are protected from answering questions can be called upon to justify that in court and can be held in contempt.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, for instance, invoked executive privilege to avoid testifying about efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He was later convicted of contempt of Congress and sentenced to four months in prison when the courts rejected his claim. (The Trump DOJ has since sought to dismiss his conviction.)

Paul signaled Wednesday that he was scheduling a contempt vote for Fauci in his committee for next week, saying, “It’s against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress. There will be repercussions for your refusal to testify.”

It’s worth noting that even if the panel votes to hold him in contempt, an actual referral to the Justice Department requires a majority of the full Senate, and that vote would have to clear a filibuster. That means Paul would need a handful of Democrats to get on board to follow through — or convince someone to take up the cause in the House, where it only requires a simple majority.

While there’s a long way to go before Fauci potential charges, some legal experts say his claim to the Fifth Amendment here could be dicey.

“Whether that concern (about prosecution) is sufficient to support a Fifth Amendment invocation would ultimately be for a court to decide,” said former federal prosecutor Danya Perry.

She added: “Fauci would point to Paul’s repeated accusations and threats as evidence that the prospect of prosecution was concrete rather than speculative, even if he believed any such prosecution would ultimately fail.”

Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas, wrote in an email that “the pardon would seem to cover Fauci’s previous congressional testimony prior to January 19, 2025. Thus, he can’t assert the 5th based on the fact that he may be asked questions that reveal his prior testimony as false (or at least subject to such a charge).”

But Osler said Fauci could argue his pardon has some holes that could be exploited — such as conduct that occurred before 2014 or that didn’t relate to his government service.

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig wagered that Fauci would have a strong claim not just because of the time limit of the pardon, but also because he could fear being prosecuted for potential state crimes, which aren’t covered by a federal pardon.

“He certainly can take the Fifth if he has exposure outside of the pardon, which he certainly does,” Honig argued on CNN.

If courts found that Fifth Amendment protections didn’t apply to Fauci’s testimony, he could conceivably agree to testify at that point and avoid possible contempt charges. But he would have to balance that against whatever potential prosecution he might fear his testimony could lead to.

Interestingly, this is a scenario that was often previewed during and shortly after Trump’s first term, but with the roles somewhat reversed.

Back then, the thought was that Trump could pardon his allies, but that meant it could potentially be easier to make them testify against him.

Now some Republicans are girding to continue the fight with Fauci.

“Let’s just get one thing straight: You don’t have any rights under the Fifth Amendment, because you’ve been pardoned, as you very well know, as the Supreme Court has been clear for a century and more,” GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said at Wednesday’s hearing.

Hawley went on to cite Fauci’s lawyers, one of whom was escorted out of the hearing at Paul’s request after a tense back-and-forth.

“Your lawyers sitting behind you, now shifting nervously in their chairs — they know it,” Hawley said. “This isn’t about the Constitution. This isn’t about the law. This is about contempt — contempt for this body and contempt for the American people.”

Reports of airport immigration arrests come amid increased TSA-ICE collaboration, sources say

July 29, 2026 / 1:15 PM EDT / CBS News

By Camilo Montoya-Galvez

Camilo Montoya-Galvez Immigration Correspondent

Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the Immigration Correspondent at CBS News, where his reporting is featured across multiple programs and platforms, including national broadcast shows, CBS News 24/7, CBSNews.com and the organization’s social media accounts.

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Camilo Montoya-Galvez

Recent reports of immigration arrests at U.S. airports, some of them captured in videos that have gone viral, stem from increased collaboration between the Transportation Security Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE sources tell CBS News.

TSA has been sharing more information about noncitizen travelers with ICE, including on immigrants who lack criminal records but are suspected of civil immigration violations, like overstaying their visas, the sources say.

TSA agents are increasingly giving ICE “tips” or “leads” so that agency can arrest, detain and process for deportation individuals who are deemed deportable by the federal government.

Some of those caught up in the latest front of President Trump’s deportation crackdown, immigration lawyers say, include people who have pending immigration applications or work permits but lack permanent legal status.

Previously, ICE sources told CBS News, TSA and ICE worked closely together, but mainly on lower-profile and noncontroversial investigations and arrests involving federal criminal offenses or public safety concerns, like drug smuggling and human trafficking.

Now, the two federal agencies are collaborating more broadly on civil immigration enforcement. In May 2025, TSA and ICE signed an agreement to boost information sharing between the two agencies, according to a memo disclosed this week by the group American Oversight.

One of the ICE sources said that people traveling at airports are “easy targets” who immigration agents can arrest in secured locations and while having information about their cases in advance. The source noted that doing immigration enforcement at airports is a relatively straightforward way to boost arrest levels, at a time when the White House has been pressuring ICE to record 2,000 daily arrests.

The greater collaboration between ICE and TSA marks a significant policy shift. Historically, people in the U.S. illegally or without a permanent status could fly domestically without any issues, as long as they did not have any criminal records or public safety concerns. That’s not the case anymore.

One of the ICE sources said it’s now a “stupid” idea for people in the U.S. illegally or with a tenuous immigration status to try to travel domestically.

In a statement to CBS News, the Department of Homeland Security hinted at the increased immigration enforcement at airports.

“DHS reversed the horrendous Biden-era policy that allowed aliens in our country illegally to jet around our country,” DHS added. “Under President Trump, DHS will no longer tolerate this. This administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport.”

EXCLUSIVE: Resurfaced video shows James Talarico discussing ‘exciting’ opportunity to end ‘over-policing’

July 29, 2026 2:01pm EDT / Fox News

The Texas Democratic Senate candidate praised Austin’s police budget cuts while positioning himself as pro-police today

Peter Pinedo
By Peter Pinedo Fox News

Jesse Watters exposes James Talarico’s rebrand and flip-flops

Jesse Watters highlights Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico’s attempt to walk back his ‘woke past,’ mocking his sudden embrace of meat-eating and a ‘border security Democrat’ label. Watters questions Talarico’s authenticity, pointing out his past support for open borders and transgender children. He suggests the shift is a cynical political maneuvering.

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EXCLUSIVE: A resurfaced video shows that following the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots in the wake of George Floyd’s death, now-Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico said the country was facing a “really exciting” opportunity to “end the current situation of over-policing communities of color which has been in place in this country since its founding.”

Talarico, a Texas state lawmaker, is tied in recent polling with Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in the race to be the state’s next U.S. senator. Such a flip would be the first in decades and would deal a major blow to the GOP’s chances of retaining a Senate majority. Despite a history of controversial statements, including calling God nonbinary and claiming there are six genders, Talarico has recently positioned himself as a moderate, pro-police candidate.

However, critics are calling his pro-police stance into question after they say the resurfaced video destroys that narrative.

Zach Kraft, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, ripped Talarico as a “dangerous freak who is willing to endanger the entire state just to prove that he is sufficiently woke.”

FAR-LEFT SENATE HOPEFUL EXPLAINS ‘OGRE ON A PIKE’ REMARK AFTER GETTING TORCHED BY HIS OWN PARTY

Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is taking heat for his record supporting defund the police causes(Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images)

Kraft alleged that “James Talarico’s wacked out vision for Texas with no police, no prisons, and no borders would put families in danger and be a paradise for criminal illegal aliens.”

Unearthed clips from a September 2020 Zoom with South Asian American Voter Empowerment (SAAVETX) show Talarico saying that policymakers need to “listen to black voices and to the activists in the streets calling for a radically different vision of public safety.”

He ripped Republicans who he accused of wanting to “scare white people to win an election,” saying that “is a time-honored tradition in the Republican Party.”

Talarico asserted that “police violence against communities of color, in particular our black community is nothing new, and has its roots in slavery and Jim Crow and mass incarceration.”

He added that “this is just the latest iteration of the history of oppression this country has been a part of against African Americans.”

Meanwhile, he said he would like to gather people “from activists and advocates to community leaders to law enforcement officials themselves to have a genuine discussion about what true public safety policy looks like and how we can end the current situation of over-policing communities of color which has been in place in this country since its founding.”

He added that the discussion should be about “how do we take our criminal justice system at the state level, at the national level, and how do we make some fundamental changes to reflect our highest ideals and to really embody the country and state and the community that we want in the race to be.”

“That’s taking place,” he continued, adding that communities are “figuring out how we reinvest our limited public funding into these community-based solutions that really start to address the underlying causes of our criminal justice system attempts to treat.”

“That to me is really exciting,” he said.

DSA CO-CHAIR EMBRACES ABOLISHING SENATE, ICE, BORDERS AS DEMOCRATIC INFIGHTING ESCALATES

CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS – JUNE 26: Texas Democratic Senate candidate and Texas state Rep. James Talarico speaks during the Hispanic Caucus at the Hilliard Center in Corpus Christi on Friday, June 26, 2026.((Katina Zentz/San Antonio Express-News via Getty Images))

Talarico proceeded to say, “I applaud our local leaders that are trying to do that.” He cited the city of Austin, which had recently approved a budget that cut tens of millions of dollars from the Austin Police Department. He ripped Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for having “proposed removing some of the revenue streams from cities like Austin because they’ve made local decisions for their local community.”

At the time, Abbott released a statement saying that “Austin’s decision puts the brave men and women of the Austin Police Department and their families at greater risk, and paves the way for lawlessness.” The governor promised financial penalties for any Texas city defunding its police force, saying, “Public safety is job one, and Austin has abandoned that duty.”

During the Zoom call, however, Talarico asserted that for Abbott to “complain about local communities not funding public safety is hypocritical.”

“To see the governor continue to try to undermine our local governments, I think is rich to say the least,” he said.

In response to the new criticism, JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign, told Fox News Digital that “James opposes defunding the police, has voted to deny bail for violent criminals, and has a record of sending billions of dollars to support law enforcement.”

Additionally, Ennis said that Talarico “supports a secure southern border and has unveiled a border security agenda backed by law enforcement officials from both parties.”

Meanwhile, he accused Paxton of having “abused his office to benefit his wealthy donors and the well-connected, allowing criminals back on the street even as it made Texans less safe,” adding, “Even Ken Paxton’s fellow Republicans have blasted his public safety record: more murders, soft on human trafficking, and pedophiles walking free.”

MAINE’S NEW DEMOCRATIC SENATE NOMINEE, TROY JACKSON, TELLS FOX NEWS DIGITAL ‘I’VE BEEN VETTED’

Ken Paxton of Texas(MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Ennis has previously called the assertion that Talarico is pro-defund the police a “flat out lie.”

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He said that previous legislation proposed by Talarico “supports the police by adding desperately needed mental health officials to help prevent tragic events like the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.”

Madison Cercy, a spokesperson for Paxton’s campaign, said that “James Talarico has the most consistently anti-law enforcement record in the Texas Legislature. But now his spokesman is out telling bold-faced lies.”

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“For his campaign to even insinuate that Talarico has, at any point in his career, ‘stood with law enforcement’ is one of the most egregious lies they have told throughout this campaign,” Cercy told Fox News Digital.

She said that Talarico “donated thousands of dollars to an organization that supported defunding the police and voted against banning personal bond release for people accused of violent crimes,” while emphasizing that “just because he votes on a basic spending bill like every other state representative does not mean he has ever ‘supported law enforcement.’”

“If it were up to Talarico,” she continued, “We would hand over our communities to the radicals who pillaged our streets during the 2020 defund the police movement and let criminals out of prison in pursuit of a socialist agenda.”

Fox News Digital reached out to SAAVETX for comment.

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

Trump’s attorney general nominee hits snag as senator withholds support

2026-07-29T17:14:15.5Z / Reuters

Summary

Cornyn says he is not prepared to back Blanche
Cornyn cancels Blanche meeting before key confirmation vote
Cornyn seeks written assurances on $1.8 billion fund
Blanche needs every Republican vote to advance nomination

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) – Todd Blanche’s ​bid for Senate confirmation as U.S. attorney general faced a potential setback on Wednesday when Republican Senator John Cornyn ‌cited unresolved concerns over a controversial $1.8 billion fund tied to Trump allies.

Cornyn’s concerns center on provisions of President Donald Trump’s settlement with his own administration, including a proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” for Trump’s allies and an agreement that could give Trump and his associates protections from tax audits unavailable to ordinary taxpayers.

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The dispute prompted Cornyn to cancel a ​meeting with Blanche ahead of a Senate Judiciary Committee vote scheduled for Thursday, with the Texas Republican saying he was not ​prepared to support the nomination until the Justice Department provided written assurances addressing his concerns.

NOMINATION NEEDS EVERY REPUBLICAN ⁠VOTE IN COMMITTEE

Blanche, who served as Trump’s personal defense lawyer before his second term, is already serving as acting attorney general, but he ​needs the backing of every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance his nomination. Cornyn’s opposition could prove decisive.

“I’m not prepared to vote yes” ​on Blanche’s nomination, Cornyn told reporters.

Blanche submitted a proposal in writing on Wednesday to Cornyn and key Republicans that would “put the fund to bed,” according to a person familiar with the matter, referring to the $1.8 billion pot of money for Trump’s allies.

Cornyn canceled the meeting after he didn’t receive a document responsive to his ​concerns. He is open to meeting once he receives that, his spokesperson said.

Blanche told lawmakers in May that he could not commit to barring ​money from going to people who assaulted police officers, including during the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot that sought to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss. But ‌he later ⁠told lawmakers the fund was not moving forward.

The proposal would also clarify a related agreement signed by Blanche that gives Trump and his associates broad immunity from audits over his previous tax returns, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

“I haven’t seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I’ve requested,” Cornyn told reporters.

He said that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman ​Chuck Grassley had set a 4 ​p.m. (2000 GMT) deadline on Wednesday ⁠for deciding whether to cancel Thursday’s meeting to vote on the Blanche nomination.

“There’s plenty of time to resolve this,” Cornyn said.

Both the tax immunity agreement and the weaponization fund emerged from a settlement agreement between Trump ​and his administration over the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service.

“I can see why ​he (Trump) wants it because ⁠it provides immunity from audits that no other taxpayer could possibly get,” Cornyn said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Wednesday that he thought Cornyn and the White House were talking to each other.

Cornyn and fellow Republican committee member Thom Tillis of North Carolina have expressed concern about Blanche’s ⁠role in ​creating the fund. Blanche needs both of their votes, and the votes of every ​other Republican on the committee, to advance the nomination to the full Senate.

Cornyn told reporters on Wednesday that his office sent the Trump administration his specific requests.

“They just need to ​make a decision,” he said. “And if they do, then we’ll proceed.”

Reporting by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Richard Cowan; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Howard Goller

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Can a Democrat buck history and win a Mississippi Senate seat for the first time in 44 years?

2026-07-29 1:36 PM EDT / CNN

By Dana Bash, CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/29/politics/video/inside-politics-mississippi-senate-steve-colom

Can a Democrat buck history and win a Mississippi Senate seat for the first time in 44 years?

Inside Politics

Democrat Steve Colom says he has the right message at the right time to win a Senate seat in one of the reddest states in the country. He says its all about “centering the voters,” especially rural voters, and that the national Democratic Party has “forgotten Democrats in Mississippi for a long time.”

Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn $83.3 million E. Jean Carroll case

2026-07-29T14:59:00-0400 / CBS News

By

Graham Kates Reporter
Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com

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Jacob Rosen Justice Department Reporter
Jake Rosen is a reporter covering the Department of Justice. He was previously a campaign digital reporter covering President Trump’s 2024 campaign and also served as an associate producer for “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”

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Two weeks after losing a bid to avoid paying the writer E. Jean Carroll $5 million in damages for sexual abuse and defamation, President Trump has asked the Supreme Court to throw out a separate $83.3 million defamation judgment she won against him.

The two judgments against Mr. Trump came in civil federal trials in 2023 and 2024. In the first, a jury concluded a preponderance of evidence pointed to Mr. Trump’s liability for sexually abusing Carroll during a 1990s encounter, and defaming her after she went public in 2019.

In the second trial, Mr. Trump was held liable for separate denials made during his first term in office, including calling Carroll a “whack job” and claiming he had never met her. He repeated similar denials in public appearances, social media posts and in court, a pattern cited by Carroll’s attorneys during the trial.

Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, asked the jury to award Carroll enough to “make him stop” defaming her client. He has continued to deny her allegations.

In their filing Tuesday, Mr. Trump’s legal team argued that an appeals panel erred by failing to rule on whether Mr. Trump had presidential immunity when making the statements.

“This is the first case in our nation’s history in which a court has imposed damages liability on a President for his conduct in office,” the attorneys wrote.

The Justice Department, which is currently led by Mr. Trump’s former criminal defense attorney Todd Blanche, supports Mr. Trump’s effort to obtain Supreme Court review of the case. It argues Mr. Trump is protected from liability by the Westfall Act, because he was acting as a federal employee.

They argue he made the statements about Carroll “from the White House, in response to press questions, denying allegations of personal misconduct directly questioning his fitness for office.”

Kaplan declined to comment on the latest Trump filing.

Carroll testified that what started as friendly banter when she bumped into Mr. Trump in 1996, at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan, led to an assault inside a dressing room. Mr. Trump has denied wrongdoing and claimed he never met Carroll.

Mr. Trump’s yearslong efforts to overturn the two verdicts have been rejected by lower appeals and district courts. He has also asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision not to consider his appeal of the $5 million case. Carroll ultimately received $5.6 million in that matter, including interest.

It is not clear how much interest has accrued on the $83.3 million judgment, which has been held in a court-controlled account since 2024.

明年1月再派发300元社理会邻里购物券

2026年7月29日 20:33 / 联合早报

政府早前已把今年财政预算案宣布、原定2027年1月发放的500元社理会邻里购物券，提前到今年6月发放。 （李冠卫摄）

中东局势持续动荡，为协助家庭应对物价上涨，政府将在明年1月额外派发300元的社区发展理事会邻里购物券。

交通部长兼财政部第二部长萧振祥星期三（7月29日）在记者会上，宣布推出继今年4月之后的第二轮援助配套。

至今已派发10轮邻里购物券

这也是社理会邻里购物券计划2021年推出以来，所派发的第10轮邻里购物券，预计可惠及138万户公民家庭。

所有新加坡公民家庭，可在明年1月领取300元的社理会邻里购物券。加上之前已发放的500元，2026财年发放的邻里购物券总额达800元。政府早前已把今年财政预算案宣布、原定2027年1月发放的500元社理会邻里购物券，提前到今年6月发放。

有效期到明年12月31日

明年1月发放的邻里购物券，有效期到明年12月31日。目前消费者可在超过2万4000个参与计划的邻里商店和小贩摊位，及八家连锁超市使用购物券。

萧振祥说：“我们希望这会减轻日常生活开销，同时支持邻里商店和小贩摊位。”

询及明年1月发放的数额，比今年6月的500元少，萧振祥说，2026财年发放的购物券总额达800元，与2025财年数额一样，援助并未减少。

在2025财年，政府分两次对每户公民家庭派发总值800元的邻里购物券。第一笔500元购物券在去年5月发放，其余300元在今年1月发放。

邻里购物券计划刚推出时，旨在减轻家庭生活费负担，同时扶持受冠病疫情冲击的邻里商家，购物券适用范围随后于2023年1月扩大至连锁超市，有关计划一直广受民众欢迎。

截至7月28日 今年两轮邻里购物券总消费金额达6亿3000万元

贸工部兼文化、社区及青年部高级政务部长刘燕玲在记者会上透露，截至7月28日，今年1月和6月派发的邻里购物券的总消费金额，已达6亿3000万元；若加上SG60邻里购物券在今年的4亿元消费金额，总额达10亿3000万元。

至于使用情况，刘燕玲指出，消费模式一直相当稳定，近85%的购物券用于购买日常用品及餐饮，剩余则用于服务和其他消费。

大巴窑居民拉比雅（Rabiatul Adawiah，28岁）对政府的最新宣布表示欢迎。育有一名3岁女儿的她，已领取今年6月派发的500元邻里购物券，并已用完250元可供在连锁超市消费的购物券。

“我主要是用来购买女儿的纸尿片和奶粉。另外可用在邻里商家和小贩摊位的购物券还有剩，一般是用在餐饮消费。”

她感谢政府每年派发邻里购物券，指这类援助很实用，多少减轻了日常开销。

学者：纾困措施及时 为黄总理群众大会阐述长远战略腾空间

2026年7月29日 23:24 / 联合早报

交通部长兼财政部第二部长萧振祥（右）和贸工部兼文化、社区及青年部高级政务部长刘燕玲，星期三（7月29日）在财政部举行的记者会上公布新一轮援助配套，帮助家庭和企业应对中东局势动荡带来的挑战。 （白艳琳摄）

新一轮援助配套在距离国庆群众大会不到一个月之际出炉，受访学者认为，政府在这个时间点“发红包”，既及时缓解中东局势不稳定带来的能源与生活费压力，也腾出空间让黄循财总理在群众大会上集中阐述国家的中长期战略。

新加坡政策研究所高级研究员许林珠博士星期三（7月29日）受访时指出，美伊战争导致能源供应短缺，所带来的物价上涨会通过经济和消费周期传递到各个环节，战争引发的高能源成本，正逐渐渗透到供应链中。

以住家电费为例，新加坡能源集团刚在本月初宣布，将7月至9月的受管制电价上调17%至每千瓦时34.78分，是历来最高点。7月的电价反映了4月至6月中旬期间，全球能源价格的上涨情况。经济分析师也认为，美伊战火重燃为通胀带来新的上行风险，预计7月核心通胀率将显著上升。

许林珠说，政府新推出的援助配套，应该和今年4月宣布的措施及刚在本周宣布的收紧货币政策，结合起来考虑，因为这些措施能够缓解进口商品价格上涨所带来的通胀。“这些措施的支持力度相当大，将全面增强民众的安全感，并提升国家的整体韧性。”

新加坡社科大学成人学习学院院长何伟伦副教授也认为，虽然政府4月以来未再调高2026年的通胀预测，但美伊战争持续所引发的电价上升，可能是政府在这个时间点迅速出台额外措施的原因之一。

新加坡管理大学法学院副教授陈庆文则说，援助措施的政治价值，在于发出政府继续关注美伊战争对新加坡影响的信号，并为公众提供适当的援助。“今天的宣布意义重大，它提供了相对及时且有针对性的援助。”

他也认为，中东局势虽然充满不确定性，但没有出现急剧恶化的情况，政府的立场是在国家财政能力允许的范围内，提供必要且尽可能充分的支持，从根本上让人们放心。

许林珠也说，当局通过这些措施解决重要且紧迫的生活费与经商成本问题后，并在上财年的预算盈余和今年迄今强劲的经济表现保障下，确信拥有足够的财政资源来应对这些问题。即将举行的国庆群众大会，就可以有更多空间阐述更严峻问题的解决方案。

她预计，这或许包括进一步阐述“2030年新加坡绿色发展蓝图”，以及在推动人工智能转型过程中，如何解决水电资源短缺的问题。

当局应该逐步从短期纾困 转向加强国家长期竞争力

政府国会财政及贸工委员会主席暨人力委员会副主席安迪受访时说，新公布的措施及时且精准，解决了大多数家庭和企业最关切的问题。

他说：“额外的邻里购物券、升级版水电费回扣，以及加强社区关怀计划下的临时援助措施，将有助于缓冲生活费上涨对家庭的影响；升级版企业融资计划和中小企业补助，则将协助企业管理现金流和维持运作。”

不过安迪也提醒，如果中东冲突长期化，导致通货膨胀持续和全球经济放缓，或者食品、货物和工业原料供应遭到更长期的干扰，当局的焦点应该逐步从短期纾困，转向加强国家的长期韧性与竞争力上。

他认为，在短期财政支持以外，我国应继续投资于劳动队伍的技能提升，加强能源与食品安全，以及深化与亚细安和其他增长市场的经济伙伴关系，帮助企业走出国门、创新和把握新机遇，也和度过当前挑战一样重要。