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DOJ cites shooting in bid to end lawsuit over Trump’s White House ballroom

2026-04-28 16:46:20 UTC / Reuters

By Jan Wolfe

April 28, 2026 4:46 PM UTC Updated 3 hours ago

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Item 1 of 2 U.S. President Donald Trump talks to members of the media while holding up renderings of the planned White House ballroom, aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., March 29, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

[1/2]U.S. President Donald Trump talks to members of the media while holding up renderings of the planned White House ballroom, aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., March 29, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

April 28 (Reuters) – The Justice Department on Monday night asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit that has impeded President Donald Trump’s plans for a White House ballroom, saying its opponents “suffer from Trump Derangement ​Syndrome” and that an alleged assassination attempt on the president showed the project was necessary.

In ‌a nine-page court filing, opens new tab, Justice Department leaders said Saturday’s foiled attack at the White House Correspondents Association dinner demonstrated why a White House ballroom is required for national security.

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“If any other President had the ability, foresight, or talents necessary, to build this ballroom, ​which will be one of the greatest, safest, and most secure structures of its kind anywhere ​in the World, there would never have been a lawsuit,” Justice Department leaders said ⁠in the court filing. “But, because it is DONALD J. TRUMP, a highly successful real estate developer, who has ​abilities that others don’t, especially those who assume the Office of President, this frivolous and meritless lawsuit was ​filed.”

The filing said the preservationist group behind the lawsuit is “very bad for our Country,” suffers from “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME” and “is represented by the lawyer for Barack Hussein Obama.”

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The filing asked U.S. District Judge Richard Leon to throw out a lawsuit challenging the ballroom ​project filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a congressionally chartered nonprofit organization.

Leon, an appointee of George ​W. Bush sitting in Washington, said earlier this month that he agreed with the nonprofit that Trump lacked legal authority to ‌build the ⁠ballroom without congressional approval. Leon issued an injunction that halted “above-ground construction of the planned ballroom,” but his order was quickly put on hold by an appeals court, so construction has continued for the time being.

The court filing drew criticism from some legal experts, who said it appeared to mirror the distinctive tone and capitalization Trump ​has long used in his ​social media posts.

“‘My client ⁠made me write it that way’ is not an excuse for inappropriate language in a legal filing, whether your client is a private citizen or the U.S. ​president,” said Thomas Berry, a lawyer at the libertarian Cato Institute, on X.

The National ​Trust for ⁠Historic Preservation said Monday that it would not drop its lawsuit, despite the Justice Department’s request.

“We are not planning to voluntarily dismiss our lawsuit, which endangers no one and which respectfully asks the Administration to follow the law,” ⁠said a ​statement from Carol Quillen, the head of the trust.

The man accused ​of opening fire at the venue of a Washington dinner attended by Trump was charged on Monday with attempting to assassinate the U.S. ​president and could face life in prison if convicted.

Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by David Bario and Edward Tobin

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US FDA to monitor clinical trial data in real time in pilot program aimed at speeding approvals

2026-04-28T18:07:24.79Z / Reuters

By Ahmed Aboulenein

April 28, 2026 6:07 PM UTC Updated 2 hours ago

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Signage is seen outside of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, U.S., August 29, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

• Program aims to reduce trial delays, cut years off drug approval timelines
• Pilot uses aggregated signals, avoids raw patient data
• Makary cites global competition; China leading Phase 1 trials since 2021

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched a pilot program on Monday aimed at allowing the agency to monitor clinical trial data in real time, a step the agency said could cut years from drug approval timelines and keep the U.S. competitive with China.

The initiative aims to eliminate what FDA Commissioner Marty Makary in a call with reporters called “dead time” in drug development. He said administrative tasks and paperwork take up 45% of the time involved in getting a drug from early testing to submission for an approval decision.

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Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N and other drugmakers have said they have started using artificial intelligence to streamline preparation of documents for regulators, cutting that process from hundreds of hours to about 15 minutes.

The initiative gives the FDA access to Phase 1 trial data for assessing safety and efficacy signals without it first going to the company for its own analysis and painstaking preparation.

The FDA said it had received and validated safety data from a midstage trial run by AstraZeneca AZN.L through health technology firm Paradigm Health testing a drug for mantle cell lymphoma in patients who had not received any prior treatment.

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FDA Chief AI Officer Jeremy Walsh said the initiative differs from existing data-sharing frameworks because the FDA is not seeking access to raw patient records.

Instead, the agency would receive only aggregated signals, such as rates of adverse side effects or tumor response percentages, allowing regulators to make decisions without handling underlying clinical data.

Individual patient records would remain with the trial sponsor, avoiding patient privacy concerns, Walsh said.

A second pilot is underway with Amgen AMGN.O, which is conducting an early-stage trial in patients with a form of lung cancer that has not yet spread beyond the chest, known as limited-stage small cell lung carcinoma. Site selection for that study is still ongoing.

The FDA published a request for information seeking industry and public input on the design for broadening the pilot program this summer. The agency said it would accept comments until May 29, with final selection criteria expected in July and pilot selections to be completed in August.

Makary linked the initiative to what he described as growing international competition. He said China surpassed the United States in the number of Phase 1 trials being conducted around 2021 and described the growth since as exponential.

Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Additional reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Bill Berkrot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Trump administration indicts former NIH official over COVID records

2026-04-28 18:34:24 UTC / Reuters

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People walk past a COVID-19 testing sign during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 20, 2022. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) – The Trump administration has indicted a former National Institutes of Health official over allegations of evading federal records requests related to COVID-19 pandemic research grants and the use ​of personal email for government business.

A grand jury in Maryland charged David ‌Morens, a senior official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) during the pandemic, with conspiring to evade records requests received by the agency between April 2020 and December 2022.

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The indictment, filed under seal ​April 16 and unsealed on Monday, also names two alleged co-conspirators – a New ​York-based nonprofit organization focused on infectious diseases and a physician at an academic ⁠institution that received NIH grants.

“As alleged in the indictment, Dr. Morens and his co-conspirators ​deliberately concealed information and falsified records in an effort to suppress alternative theories regarding the origins ​of COVID-19,” Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a statement announcing the charges on Tuesday.

Representatives for Morens could not be immediately reached for comment on the allegations.

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He faces five charges, including conspiracy; records destruction, ​alteration or falsification in federal investigations and concealment, removal or mutilation of records.

The indictment is ​the latest action by Republican U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration related to the origins of the coronavirus ‌that shuttered ⁠much of the world starting in late 2019 during his first term in the White House.

The World Health Organization and most scientists say a spillover from nature was the most likely cause for the pandemic. Investigations have been hampered by a lack of data from China, ​but U.S. intelligence services ​said last year that ⁠a lab leak was probably the cause.

A Republican-led U.S. Senate panel is also probing the origins of the pandemic, including a records request ​to leading medical journal the Lancet.

Some Republicans have accused former NIAID Director ​Dr. Anthony Fauci ⁠of suppressing the theory that COVID-19 originated from a lab leak in China. Fauci has strongly denied suppressing that theory, telling a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee in 2024 he never influenced research ⁠on ​the origins of the virus.

Morens, an adviser to Fauci, was ​also called to testify last year by the Republican-led subcommittee on COVID, which subpoenaed tens of thousands of his ​emails including those between him and the NIAID head.

Reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by David Gaffen

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

US appeals court rejects Trump’s immigration detention policy

2026-04-28 17:02:57 UTC / Reuters

By Nate Raymond

April 28, 2026 5:02 PM UTC Updated 3 hours ago

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A placard is placed on the ground near a warehouse where people protest as it is purchased by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for use as a detention center in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. March 18, 2026. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart/File Photo

• Summary

• Court splits with other appeals courts on bond hearings for detainees
• 2nd Circuit says Trump policy misapplies decades-old immigration law
• ACLU lawyer welcomes ruling in favor of Brazilian man

April 28 (Reuters) – A federal appeals court ​on Tuesday rejected the Trump administration’s practice of subjecting most people arrested in its ‌immigration crackdown to mandatory detention without the opportunity to seek release on bond.

A three-judge panel of the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration had adopted a novel but wrong interpretation of a decades-old immigration ​law to support a mass detention policy.

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That ruling came after two other appeals courts ruled the ​other way, overturning rulings that favored detainees who were denied bond hearings before immigration ⁠judges. The differing decisions increase the odds that the U.S. Supreme Court will be forced to ​weigh in.

U.S. Circuit Judge Joseph Bianco, writing for the court, acknowledged the other appellate courts’ rulings. But he ​said the panel was parting ways with them and instead joining with over 370 lower-court judges nationally who have rejected the administration’s position and held it is misapplying the law.

His ruling upheld an order by a judge in New York ​that had led to the release of Brazilian national Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, who was arrested ​by immigration officials last year while driving to work after living in the United States for over 20 years.

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Bianco, a ‌Trump ⁠appointee, said a ruling to the contrary would result in the 2nd Circuit endorsing “what would be the broadest mass-detention-without-bond mandate in our Nation’s history for millions of noncitizens.”

Bucking a long-standing interpretation of immigration law, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security last year took the position that non-citizens already residing in the United ​States, and not just people ​arriving at the border, ⁠qualify as “applicants for admission” subject to mandatory detention.

Under federal immigration law, “applicants for admission” to the United States are subject to mandatory detention while their cases proceed ​in immigration courts and are ineligible for bond hearings.

The Board of Immigration ​Appeals, which is ⁠part of the Justice Department, issued a decision in September that adopted that interpretation, leading to immigration judges nationally employed by the department to mandate detention.

“The court was right to conclude the Trump administration can’t just ⁠reinterpret ​the law at its own whim,” Michael Tan, a lawyer for ​Barbosa at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which is defending the policy in ​court, did not respond to a request for comment.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by David Gaffen

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Former NBA player Damon Jones first to plead guilty in pair of federal gambling cases

April 28, 2026 / 2:50 PM EDT / CBS News

Former NBA player Damon Jones became the first person to plead guilty in a pair of federal indictments involving 34 defendants, including some with alleged links to the mafia and other NBA figures.

Jones, 49, was among three people charged in both indictments, one of which focused on poker schemes in which wealthy victims were allegedly lured to play in rigged games against athletes. The other focuses on sports betting, accusing the former Cleveland Cavaliers guard of using inside information to place bets.

In total, Jones pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud conspiracy Tuesday.

Reading from a prepared statement inside Brooklyn federal court in the first of two hearings, Jones acknowledged he used “insider information” he obtained from the relationships he made during his time as a player, The Associated Press reported.

He apologized to his family, colleagues and the NBA as part of his statement.

CBS News has reached out to his attorney for comment.

Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones arrives at Brooklyn federal court, April 28, 2026, in New York. AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura

In the sports betting case, federal prosecutors accused Jones of sending a tip about “a prominent NBA player, saying: ‘Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out! [Player 3] is out tonight.’” He appears to be referring to LeBron James, a former teammate and longtime friend. James is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Prosecutors have not indicated that pleas are expected for other defendants in the sports betting cases. Terry Rozier, who was released by the Miami Heat earlier this month, and who pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, appeared in court on Monday for a motion to dismiss his case.

Instead, federal prosecutors said during the hearing that they intend to bring additional charges – including bribery and wire fraud – against the NBA star by mid-May.

Prosecutors accused Jones of participating in a rigged poker game in Las Vegas in 2019, court documents said, that used a device described as a “rigged shuffling machine” that was secretly altered to read the cards. The FBI said a victim was defrauded of $50,000 in that game.

Eleven other defendants caught up in the investigation are set to make plea agreements.

Jones’ sentencing is set for Jan. 6, 2027, the AP reported.

Alex Sundby contributed to this report.

US FCC reviewing Disney’s ABC station licenses after Jimmy Kimmel joke

2026-04-28 16:15 UTC / Reuters

By Dawn Chmielewski, David Shepardson and Trevor Hunnicutt

April 28, 2026 4:15 PM UTC Updated 1 min ago

• President and first lady call for ABC to fire Kimmel
• He joked that Melania Trump looked ‘like an expectant widow’
• FCC reviewing licenses of Disney-owned ABC stations

LOS ANGELES, April 28 (Reuters) – After a joke by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel drew calls from the White House for ABC to fire ​the comedian, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday ordered an early license review of the network’s television stations.

The dramatic escalation by the FCC and standoff ‌between President Donald Trump’s administration and the global entertainment conglomerate is the first crisis facing Walt Disney’s new CEO Josh D’Amaro.

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Last Thursday, Kimmel, whose late-night TV program airs on Disney’s ABC, did a send-up of the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, joking that First Lady Melania Trump had “a glow like an expectant widow.”

The joke was made three days before the actual black-tie dinner, celebrating press freedom and free speech, in Washington. The ​president and first lady were rushed from the dinner following an assassination attempt.

The FCC ordered Disney to respond by May 28.

Disney said it had received the FCC order ​and said it has “a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency ⁠information, and public‑interest programming.” The company added it is “prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels.”

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The stations are located in Fresno, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, Houston ​and Durham, North Carolina.

On Monday, the Trumps called for ABC to fire Kimmel, the latest incident of the White House pushing back on free speech that has roiled the world of late-night ​comedy. It has again placed Disney at the center of a battle among media owners, regulators and political leaders in a highly charged political environment.

During his monologue on Monday night’s show, Kimmel said the “expectant widow” comment “obviously was a joke about their age difference,” that had been misconstrued. Trump will be 80 in June, and his wife turned 56 this month.

“It was not by any stretch of the definition a call for assassination,” Kimmel said.

Jessica ​Gonzalez, co-CEO of advocacy group Free Press, called the FCC action illegitimate. “He is using his position of power to silence dissent at the president’s beck and call,” Gonzalez said. “This extraordinary and ​unconstitutional attack on the media is nothing more than another favor to the most fragile president in U.S. history.”

Jimmy Kimmel speaks onstage during the Oscars show at the 98th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 15, 2026.

Actress Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment, a group whose members include actors, writers, journalists and ‌others in ⁠the entertainment industry, urged Disney to defy the Trump administration’s call to fire Kimmel.

“In America, satire is not a crime. The right to mock, to challenge, and yes, to offend those in power, is foundational to democracy,” the group wrote in a statement.

Steven Cheung, White House communications director, kept the pressure up, accusing Kimmel of “making a disgusting joke about assassinating the President” and “doubling down on that joke instead of doing the decent thing by apologizing,” in a post on X.

The FCC ordered early reviews of eight Disney-owned ABC stations, a sharp escalation of the administration’s fight with major ​media outlets. The reviews could lead to the ​FCC seeking to revoke the stations’ ⁠licenses to use the broadcast airwaves.

D’Amaro, who became Disney CEO in March, must decide how to respond to the mounting pressure to fire Kimmel.

A Disney spokesman could not be reached for comment about Kimmel, who survived a previous call for ABC to fire him.

The first lady’s close outside ​advisor, Marc Beckman, said ABC should fire the late-night host, “who for months and months is spewing vile political rhetoric … into the homes ​of Americans across the ⁠country?”

In September 2025, the head of the FCC pressured broadcasters to take Kimmel off the air. ABC briefly suspended Kimmel’s show that month over comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Past White House Correspondents’ Dinner controversies have often centered on comedians pushing the event’s traditional roast format too far for some attendees. Late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers faced criticism for their stinging ⁠remarks. This year’s ​event was to feature mentalist Oz Pearlman, not a comedian.

In 2018, Trump administration officials protested comedian Michelle Wolf’s ​roast of press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Trump himself has declined to attend most dinners held during his presidency.

In recent years, the dinner’s organizers have opted to choose entertainers other than comedians for the dinner, including the historian ​Ron Chernow in 2019.

Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles, David Shepardson and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; with additional reporting by Bo Erickson in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio and Anna Driver

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

US sues Wisconsin in legal battle over prediction markets

April 28, 2026 5:20 PM UTC / Reuters

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Signage is seen outside of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 30, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

Coinbase Global Inc
Robinhood Markets Inc

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) – The ​U.S. Commodity ‌Futures Trading ​Commission ​said on Tuesday ⁠it ​has sued ​Wisconsin in response to ​the ​state’s lawsuits against ‌prediction ⁠markets Kalshi, Polymarket, ​Crypto.com, ​Robinhood ⁠and Coinbase.

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Reporting ​by ​Susan ⁠Heavey and Ryan ⁠Patrick ​Jones; ​Editing by ​Doina Chiacu

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16th century shipwreck found by naval vessel during military exercise off coast of Sweden

April 28, 2026 / 1:50 PM EDT / CBS/AFP

A 16th century shipwreck providing “unique historical and archaeological information” has been discovered off Sweden’s southeastern coast, officials announced on Tuesday.

The ship, which has yet to be identified, is believed to have been built in the late 1500s, which would make it older than Sweden’s iconic 17th century warship “Vasa” on display in Stockholm after being salvaged in the 1960s.

The navy vessel HMS Belos found the wreck during a military exercise in late 2025 in Kalmar Strait, located between Sweden’s southeastern mainland and the Baltic Sea island of Oland.

“After dendrochronological analysis of part of the wreck, results indicate that the ship was built in the late 1500s,” the County Administrative Board in Kalmar said in a statement, referring to the scientific method of dating wood and trees.

“The shipwreck is of significant cultural historical value,” antiquarian Daniel Tedenlind said in the statement.

The site is currently under protection, monitored by the coast guard, and has been designated a historic monument. No diving, fishing or anchoring is permitted near the area.

A 16th century shipwreck was discovered off Sweden’s coast, officials announced on Tuesday. Swedish Armed Forces

Thanks to the Baltic Sea’s unique combination of brackish water, cold, darkness and low oxygen, many wooden shipwrecks are preserved in good condition. In February, a Swedish Navy shipwreck buried underwater in central Stockholm for 400 years became visible due to unusually low Baltic Sea levels.

Several other wrecks and relics have been found in the region in recent years.

In July 2024, a team of divers discovered a massive haul ofchampagne and wineon a shipwreck on the floor of the Baltic Sea off Sweden. The precious cargo was laterdeclared off limitsby the government.

That same year, researchers exploring an ancient shipwreck off the coast of Sweden discovered centuries-old artifacts, including aweapons chest and pieces of armor.

Taylor Swift files to trademark her voice and image amid rise in AI deepfakes

April 28, 2026 / 2:01 PM EDT / CBS News

By Megan Cerullo, Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch

Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting. Read Full Bio

Megan Cerullo, Emily Pandise, Jo Ling Kent

Jo Ling Kent Senior Business and Technology Correspondent

Journalist Jo Ling Kent joined CBS News in July 2023 as the senior business and technology correspondent for CBS News. Kent has more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of technology and business in the U.S., as well as the emergence of China as a global economic power. Read Full Bio

Jo Ling Kent

Taylor Swift has taken steps to protect herself in the age of artificial intelligence by trademarking her voice and likeness, adding a layer of protection against copycats.

Swift’s company on Friday filed three trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Two applications cover her voice speaking the phrases “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift,” and “Hey, it’s Taylor.” The third trademark application applies to an image of the pop star posing on stage holding a guitar.

Intellectual property attorney Josh Gerben of Gerben IP, who first spotted the filings, told CBS News that he believes celebrities could require such protections as AI tools make it easy to generate audio, visual and video content known as “deepfakes,” which can depict a famous person doing or saying things they never did and might not condone.

Pop star Taylor Swift is seeking to protect her voice and likeness in the age of AI. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

“Now, anyone can spin up a version of an artist’s voice, have it say anything, attach it to anything, and distribute it at scale. And the scary part? It doesn’t have to be an exact copy to cause damage,” Gerben said in a blog post on the trademark applications.

He told CBS News he expects Swift’s actions to kick off a flurry of similar filings. He called Swift a “leader in the intellectual property space” and said he expects other public figures to take similar steps.

“I think she is seeing a trend where AI is being used to create images, to create audio, to create deepfakes of things that are really not pleasant,” he said. “And the idea is how can celebrities and people that have a certain level of fame go to these platforms and say, ‘Hey, you can’t let your algorithm or your AI create these things.’”

Actor Matthew McConaughey similarly filed to trademark his iconic line as David Wooderman in “Dazed and Confused,” “Alright, alright, alright.”

“So the fact that they are doing this is going to set an example that a lot of people are going to follow,” Gerben said.

Existing trademark laws can help curb copycats, and also apply to content that could be mistaken for the original, trademarked material. But laws on the books were written before sophisticated AI technologies became commercially available, Gerben noted.

Edited by Aimee Picchi

Exclusive: Trump approval sinks to new low as war with Iran drives cost-of-living concerns

2026-04-28T17:11:15.848Z / Reuters

By Jason Lange

April 28, 2026 5:11 PM UTC Updated 56 mins ago

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U.S. President Donald Trump attends an arrival ceremony for Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 28, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

• Summary

• Cost-of-living concerns rise as gasoline prices surge after U.S.-Israel war with Iran
• Republican support for Trump remains high but many disapprove of his cost-of-living response
• Independent voters lean Democratic for midterms, with many still undecided

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s approval ​rating sank to the lowest level of his current term, as Americans increasingly soured on his handling of the cost ‌of living and an unpopular war with Iran, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The four-day poll completed on Monday showed 34% of Americans approve of Trump’s performance in the White House, down from 36% in a prior Reuters/Ipsos survey, which was conducted from April 15 to 20.

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The majority of responses were gathered prior to the Saturday ​night shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where Trump was due to speak. It remains to be seen if ​the incident, in which a gunman was stopped before he could enter a hall where Trump was dining, ⁠might affect people’s views of the U.S. leader. Federal prosecutors have charged the accused shooter with attempting to assassinate the president.

Trump’s standing with the ​U.S. public has trended lower since taking office in January 2025, when 47% of Americans gave him a thumbs-up.

His popularity has taken a beating ​since the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28 that has led to a surge in gasoline prices. Only 22% of poll respondents approved of Trump’s performance on the cost of living, down from 25% in the prior Reuters/Ipsos poll.

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SURGING GAS PRICES WEIGH ON VOTERS

U.S. gasoline prices have surged more than ​40% to roughly $4.18 a gallon since the U.S. and Israel launched surprise attacks on Iran on February 28, triggering a response that shut ​down a fifth of the global oil trade.

The price hikes are weighing heavily on American households and fueling concern among Trump’s Republicans that they could lose control ‌of ⁠the U.S. Congress in the November midterm elections.

While a solid majority of Republicans – 78% – still say they back Trump, 41% of the party say they disapprove of his handling of the cost of living, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

Independent registered voters, a group that could be decisive in the midterms, favored Democrats by 14 points, 34% to 20%, when asked who would get their vote in congressional elections. One in four said they ​were still undecided.

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Trump won the 2024 ​presidential election on promises to bring ⁠down prices after several years of high inflation vexed his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. Now Trump’s approval rating on the economy – at 27% – is well below any reading he had during his 2017-2021 administration, and ​also lower than Biden’s weakest economy rating.

While the U.S. conflict with Iran has cooled since the two ​sides agreed to a ⁠ceasefire earlier this month, Iran’s threats are preventing most oil shipments from leaving the Persian Gulf, fueling further increases in U.S. and global energy prices as oil reserves decline.

Just 34% of Americans approve of the U.S. conflict with Iran, down from 36% in mid-April and 38% in mid-March, the Reuters/Ipsos poll ⁠found.

During Trump’s ​first administration, his popularity hovered around 40% for long stretches. The latest reading remains ​a touch above the low point of his first term, which was 33%.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was conducted nationwide and online, gathered responses from 1,269 U.S. adults including 1,014 ​registered voters and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Reporting by Jason Lange in Washington; editing by Scott Malone and David Gaffen

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.