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Prominent figures on the right leap to conspiracy theories about McConnell, Graham

2026-07-13T21:10:23.720Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/13/politics/lindsey-graham-mitch-mcconnell-conspiracies

Prominent figures in the conservative and MAGA movements have led the charge in spreading baseless conspiracy theories about the absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell and now the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham.

It’s part of a pattern in which conspiracy theories about the deaths and ailments of prominent Republicans are increasingly coming from inside the party’s own house — with little in the way of efforts to combat it from GOP and MAGA leaders.

At Charlie Kirk’s memorial service last year, for example, Tucker Carlson seemed to play footsy with the burgeoning but baseless conspiracy theories that Israel was behind Kirk’s killing. He compared the conservative activist’s death to “guys sitting around eating hummus” in Jerusalem plotting to kill Jesus Christ.

But save for a few conservative critics, prominent Republicans largely ignored it.

And when Carlson was even more direct last month — saying Kirk “was most likely murdered for his evolving views on Israel,” a claim that remains unfounded — Republicans still largely ignored it, despite it coming from a conservative thought leader who is close to Vice President JD Vance.

Republicans have similarly ignored the much more in-your-face campaign to promote this conspiracy theory from the highly popular podcaster Candace Owens.

And some key right-leaning figures have even suggested the assassination attempts against President Donald Trump might not be what they seem.

All of it suggests a GOP base that has become more conspiratorial in the Trump era is turning its theories inward.

The McConnell theories began with yet another close ally of the White House, far-right activist Laura Loomer. After the Kentucky Republican had been missing for three weeks with few details from his office, Loomer claimed a source had told her the senator was “brain dead” and “not coming back.”

Others in the MAGA movement picked up the ball and ran with it. After one of them alleged that other senators were “ALL in on it together,” GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah responded that they “know nothing about his condition.”

It got to the point where the cable network NewsNation even asked a House Republican whether McConnell was still alive. Indiana Rep. Marlin Stutzman’s response? “I don’t know if he’s alive or has passed away.”

At least some of the blame for feeding these conspiracy theories surely lies with McConnell’s office, which resisted disclosing his condition. It ultimately said Sunday, after Graham’s death, that McConnell had fallen, had been briefly unconscious and then developed pneumonia. It also released a photo of McConnell in the hospital with his wife and a current newspaper.

Loomer responded by baselessly suggesting the photo had been manipulated.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday called the theories “crazy speculation online.” But he also suggested McConnell could help tamp them down.

“But you know, I think that anything he can do to just keep these, you know, crazy conspiracy theories off of the, off the grid, so to speak, I think would be helpful,” Thune added.

GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas later echoed calls for transparency, telling reporters, “I wish Sen. McConnell and his team had done that earlier. I think it would have resolved a lot of questions.”

That was only an appetizer for what lay ahead. Graham’s death late Saturday night quickly spawned theories on the right that some nefarious foreign government was behind it.

Loomer cited how the South Carolina Republican had just been in Ukraine pushing for sanctions against Russia. Conservative commentator Marc Thiessen cited Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged assassinations of foes and said it was “not a conspiracy theory” to suggest something else might be at play.

Others like Kylie Jane Kremer, who organized rallies to try to help Trump overturn the 2020 election, questioned whether it was Iran, noting that regime has decried the hawkish Graham, too. (Kremer earlier this month accused Trump’s foes of manipulating the weather to make the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary unbearably hot.)

MAGA activist Matt Van Swol said Graham “dying out of the blue like this doesn’t make any sense at all.”

Still others pointed the finger, as is often the case, at Israel.

And FBI Director Kash Patel probably didn’t help matters by concluding his social media post about Graham’s death by saying, “The FBI is assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available.” Many wondered why the FBI would be needed if Graham died from natural causes. The preliminary cause of death from the medical examiner — an aortic dissection — was trending on the internet.

Cornyn stopped short of advocating the idea that Graham didn’t die of natural causes, but he called for the release of a toxicology report to “rule out any foul play.”

“Given where he was and the sorts of things he was advocating for, I think we just ought to resolve all those questions by seeing what the toxicology reports show,” he said Monday.

Also strikingly, one of those spreading baseless theories that something might not be as it appears was a leader of Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, which has been a rare force fighting the conspiracy theories about Kirk’s own death.

“I’m not sure how a guy goes from visiting a drone production facility in Ukraine to suddenly dying,” Turning Point COO Tyler Bowyer posted on X. “Seems like important context.”

The Trump and Kirk examples

The conspiracy theories on the right extend to the July 2024 assassination attempt against Trump. A number of figures who have broken with the president have increasingly suggested there was something suspicious about the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania. They include Carlson, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, former Trump counterterrorism official Joe Kent and podcaster Tim Dillon.

The Justice Department and FBI have said the would-be assassin was Thomas Crooks, who left little in the way of a paper trail but appeared to be suffering from mental health problems.

And despite the fact that Kirk’s alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, is now on trial and evidence is coming out, conspiracy theories about his death are proving remarkably resilient.

It remains unclear how much these theories have penetrated on the right and are actually believed. After a more recent assassination attempt against Trump — at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this spring — a Fox News poll in May found just 11% of his voters said it was at least “probably staged.”

But 30% of registered voters overall said that. And having 1 in 10 people who voted for Trump believe such a thing is pretty stunning, in and of itself — especially given theories about that one weren’t as prevalent on the right.

There isn’t good public opinion data for the conspiracy theories about the deaths of prominent Republicans, McConnell’s absence or other assassination attempts against Trump.

Another complicating factor is that it may be politically challenging for some Republicans to go after these theories too strongly. That’s because some of them are being promoted by people with real influence and ties to Trump. Loomer has proven a weirdly influential figure with Trump over the years, and Carlson — the former highest-rated host on Fox News — was reported to be instrumental in getting Vance installed as vice president. Also, plenty on the right like Megyn Kelly have appeared reluctant to tangle with Owens.

But the Kirk conspiracy theories were a great example of how this can go wrong for the party. Trump really wanted to use Kirk’s assassination as the basis to go after left-leaning groups he claimed (without evidence) were responsible for such violence. Yet prominent MAGA figures were undermining that political strategy by suggesting it wasn’t the left but instead their chosen villain that was responsible.

To the extent deaths like these are going to be instantly greeted with conspiracy theories, that creates a real collective-action problem for Republicans.

But thanks to the GOP’s many years of humoring Trump’s own amplification of conspiracy theories, it’s a problem long in the making.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

Trump-backed Daylight Saving Time bill clears key House hurdle

July 13, 2026 6:51pm EDT / Fox News

Trump supports the effort, which cleared House Rules Committee 6-4 and would let states lock in year-round Daylight Saving Time

By Adam Pack, Bonny Chu

Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has the latest on efforts from Congress to terminate the tradition of clock changing as part of Daylight Saving Time on ‘America Reports.’

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A bipartisan push to make Daylight Saving Time permanent is heading for a chamber-wide vote after clearing a key House hurdle.

The House Rules Committee on Monday teed up a floor vote on the Sunshine Protection Act, which would allow states to enact Daylight Saving Time year-round — with an option to opt out. The committee approved the rule in a 6-4 vote.

The measure has the support of many coastal lawmakers and President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly urged Congress to make Daylight Saving Time permanent and end the twice-a-year ritual of changing clocks — a practice currently observed by every state except Hawaii and most of Arizona.

Proponents argue that resetting clocks has negative health impacts, while permanent Daylight Saving Time would boost outdoor recreation, tourism and economic activity, among other benefits.

Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Republican from Florida, attends a House Ways and Means Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on April 22, 2026.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

CONGRESS EYES RARE BIPARTISAN HOUSING WIN WITH OR WITHOUT TRUMP’S HELP

Most Americans already set their clocks forward one hour each spring to preserve more evening daylight before “falling back” one hour in November.

“Americans are overwhelmingly supportive of this policy and want to end the practice of ‘springing forward’ and ‘falling back.’ Locking the clock all year long would have positive impacts on sleep schedules, energy conservation, motor vehicle safety, and our economy,” Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said in an opening statement Monday.

“In practice, this change would mean more time for people to exercise outside, visit family, attend concerts and sporting events, attract customers to their retail businesses, and more.”

“Floridians and Americans across the country are tired of the biannual time change, and the evidence is clear that permanent daylight saving time can improve public health, reduce traffic accidents, lower crime and encourage more outdoor activity,” Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., who authored the measure, previously said in a May news release.

“Ending the clock change is a commonsense reform that will improve everyday life for millions of Americans,” he added.

The legislation’s momentum comes after the House Energy and Commerce Committee overwhelmingly passed the measure 48-1 in May.

“It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’ not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice-yearly production,” Trump wrote following the Sunshine Protection Act’s advancement out of committee. “It will also be a very nice WIN for the Republican Party. Take it! We are going with the far more popular alternative, Saving Daylight, which gives you a longer, brighter Day — And who can be against that — This is an easy one!”

President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he arrives at the U.S. Capitol on June 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

SLEEP DOCTOR REVEALS THE BRUTAL HEALTH DOWNSIDE OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

Roughly 20 states have already passed legislation that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent if Congress were to authorize the practice. Alabama, South Carolina, Oregon, Maine and Florida are among those places.

But opponents, including several medical organizations, argue that permanent standard time — which provides more sunlight in the morning — would be the healthier option because it would more closely align with the body’s natural circadian rhythms.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., proposed amending the bill with language from her co-sponsored Sunshine for Our Kids Act, which would make standard time permanent nationwide. The amendment was quickly rejected.

Scanlon argued that permanent daylight saving time would pose significant health and safety risks by leaving more Americans — particularly children — in darkness during morning hours. She also pointed to the nation’s brief experiment with year-round daylight saving time in 1974, which Congress abandoned after widespread public backlash.

Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., was also the lone lawmaker to oppose the legislation during the Energy and Commerce Committee markup in May, citing concerns that year-round daylight saving time could negatively affect children’s health and sleep schedules.

Some conservative lawmakers have also argued that GOP leadership should be focused on what they describe as more pressing legislative issues, including legislation codifying Trump’s border security executive orders and the stalled SAVE America Act.

“Republicans are majoring in the minors — fiddling with the clocks while the country burns,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote Monday.

The House has already passed versions of the SAVE America Act multiple times, but the measure has struggled to overcome the Senate’s legislative filibuster.

This illustration photo shows a clock in the background of a smartphone showing the time after Daylight Saving Time was implemented in Los Angeles.(Chris Delmas/Getty Images)

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The Senate unanimously passed a version of the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, but it died in the House amid opposition, including from lawmakers who voiced concerns about darker morning hours in parts of the country during the winter.

特朗普：美国将摧毁伊朗疑有地下设施的皮卡克斯山

2026年7月14日 07:34 / 联合早报

摄于6月21日的卫星图像显示，皮卡克斯山一隧道入口处有一些车辆。 （路透社）

美国总统特朗普说，美国将摧毁伊朗皮克克斯山的核设施。

路透社报道，特朗普星期一（7月13日）接受美国保守派广播脱口秀节目Hugh Hewitt Show访问时说：“我们将摧毁皮克克斯山（Pickaxe Mountain）。叫伊朗人等着吧。”

特朗普所说的皮克克斯山为Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La，坐落在伊朗中部伊斯法罕省纳坦兹核设施附近，被指可能建有地下秘密设施。

特朗普对节目主持人休伊特（Hugh Hewitt）说：“我们正在密切监视（皮克克斯山）。目前没有发现任何活动。他们的核计划有麻烦。我们一听到消息就会轰炸。所以他们避谈此事。但我们可能很快就会对皮克克斯山动手。”

皮克克斯山位于已经严重受损的纳坦兹铀浓缩设施附近，是一处戒备森严的基地，建有两个深埋地下的隧道群。专家评估认为，这两个隧道群非常深，即使是美国最强大的钻地炸弹也摧毁不了它们。

特朗普13日早些时候说，美国将恢复对伊朗的海上封锁，并警告将再次“非常猛烈地”打击伊朗。

Military action against Iran formally restarted last week, Trump told lawmakers

Updated on: July 13, 2026 / 7:54 PM EDT / CBS News

By Caitlin Yilek Politics Reporter

President Trump formally notified Congress that “military action” against Iran restarted last week, according to a letter obtained by CBS News on Monday, as a monthslong ceasefire comes to an end.

Military action “commenced on July 7,” the president said in a message dated July 10 and addressed to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Senate’s president pro tempore.

The letter was sent after Mr. Trump declared the U.S.-Iran ceasefire “over” and ordered several rounds of strikes on Iranian targets, in response to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz last week. Iranian authorities have insisted that ships seek permission and use an Iranian-approved route before transiting the strait, and responded to the U.S. strikes by launching missiles and drones at U.S.-allied Gulf states.

The notification to Congress calls the most recent strikes “limited, measured, planned, and executed in a manner designed to minimize civilian casualties.” The goal, Mr. Trump wrote, is to target Iranian military sites that pose a threat to U.S. forces and commercial shipping.

Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, a post-Vietnam War law, the president must notify Congress within 48 hours of the start of military hostilities. Shortly after the U.S.-Iran war began in late February, the White House sent a notification to Congress, but the Trump administration’s position was that hostilities had “terminated” after the two sides signed a ceasefire in early April.

In last week’s letter to lawmakers, Mr. Trump wrote that the U.S. had engaged in “productive, good-faith efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution to Iran’s malign behavior,” leading the two countries to ink a memorandum of understanding last month. But he said Iran’s attacks on three oil tankers early last week violated a provision of the deal that requires Iran to arrange for safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, leading to U.S. strikes.

“United States Armed Forces remain postured to take further action, as necessary and appropriate, to address further threats and attacks upon the United States or its allies and partners and to ensure the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ceases being a threat to the United States and to our allies and partners,” the letter says.

The War Powers Resolution limits military hostilities to 60 days unless Congress votes to authorize military force. The Trump administration has argued that provision of the law is unconstitutional, but it has never been tested in court, and some members of both parties have argued Mr. Trump should seek permission from Congress if hostilities last longer than 60 days.

Both the House and Senate passed a resolution last month seeking to limit Mr. Trump’s ability to carry out further military action against Iran without congressional authorization. Democrats have said they’re considering their legal options to force Mr. Trump to comply. The president has argued that he is acting under his constitutional authority.

The Senate later rejected a similar war powers measure, with some key Republicans suggesting they wanted to give more time for the Trump administration’s diplomatic push with Iran to play out.

Now, as the U.S. resumes strikes against Iran and as Mr. Trump expresses pessimism about U.S.-Iran negotiations, it’s unclear how lawmakers will react.

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a longtime critic of the Iran war, told reporters that the war “never stopped,” and argued the administration is not complying with the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day time limit.

“They’re literally trying to steer around it by pretending you can play stop-start and restart the clock,” he said Monday.

Read the letter

美军开始对伊朗发动连续第三晚打击

2026年7月14日 07:47 / 联合早报

美国中央司令部7月13日发布的视频截图显示，美军一艘单向攻击水面无人艇击中目标。 （路透社）

美国中央司令部说，美军于美东时间星期一（7月13日）下午4时45分（新加坡时间14日凌晨4时45分）开始对伊朗发动“连续第三晚”的打击行动。

美国中央司令部13日在社交媒体发文说，这些打击将继续使伊朗军队付出沉重代价，并削弱伊朗在霍尔木兹海峡袭击商船的能力。

当天稍早时，美国总统特朗普接受美国电台采访时说：“今晚我们要狠狠打击他们，明天我们还要狠狠打击他们。”

另据新华社引述伊朗法尔斯通讯社报道，一架美军MQ-1无人机13日深夜在霍尔木兹海峡上空被伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队防空系统击落。

特朗普13日在社交媒体发文称，美国将恢复对伊朗的海上封锁，并将对所有经由霍尔木兹海峡运输的货物收取20%的“费用补偿”。

美国中央司令部随后宣布，美军将于美东时间星期二（14日）下午4时（新加坡时间15日凌晨4时）开始恢复对伊朗的海上封锁行动。

Maine Secretary of State on decision to run for U.S. Senate: ‘everything that we care about is at stake’

2026-07-13T21:49:44.752Z / CNN

By Jake Tapper, CNN

Published 5:49 PM EDT, Mon July 13, 2026

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/13/politics/video/maine-secretary-of-state-decision-run-us-senate-everything-we-care-about-at-stake-the-lead-jake-tapper

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Maine Secretary of State on decision to run for U.S. Senate: ‘everything that we care about is at stake’

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Mamdani ripped over record-high NYC rents with critics pointing to policy they say is fueling crisis

Research links illegal immigration to rising rents as NYC Comptroller Mark Levine urges making it easier to build homes.

July 13, 2026 1:14pm EDT / Fox News

By Robert Schmad

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6400042895112

New York property owner opens up about the impact of rent freezes

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani celebrates the Rent Guidelines Board’s approval of a rent freeze, impacting a significant portion of the city’s rental stock. Property owner Humberto Lopes warns this decision will hurt landlords due to rising expenses and zero rent increases. He discusses the potential for buildings to deteriorate and broader economic consequences for New York City.

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing renewed criticism over housing affordability as rents in Manhattan and Brooklyn hit record highs, with conservative commentators arguing that immigration-driven demand is adding pressure to an already tight rental market that the mayor campaigned to ease.

Manhattan’s and Brooklyn’s median rents reached $5,295 and $4,350, respectively, in June, according to an analysis conducted by the Corcoran Group, a real estate firm. The most recent available data shows roughly 38% of New Yorker residents were born outside the United States, and about 40% of rentals in the city are occupied by foreign-born individuals, though the data does not distinguish between legal and illegal immigration status.

“You declared yourself a sanctuary city. You ‘welcomed’ hundreds of thousands of illegals. Then you had to find places to put them,” conservative radio host Andrew Wilkow wrote on X, reacting to news of increased rents. “That put pressure on housing supply. Shortages create price increases. It’s pretty simple.”

BIDEN’S ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION SURGE CAUSED HIGHER RENT AND HOME PRICES, FED STUDY FINDS

A sign advertises an apartment for rent along a row of brownstones in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn.(Getty Images)

A 2003 paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that immigration “pushes up rents and housing values in destination cities,” with an immigration inflow equal to 1% of a city’s population associated with about a 1% increase in average rents and housing values. More recently, a paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in March found that a 1% increase in illegal immigrants working in a given area corresponded to a 1.4% increase in rental prices because localities did not build enough new housing to match population growth.

Both papers reflect the authors’ findings and do not represent official positions of the Federal Reserve System or its regional banks.

“Young Americans compete for housing with millions of foreign arrivals,” Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, wrote on Monday in response to the rent data out of New York City.

‘AMERICAN HOUSES ARE FOR AMERICAN PEOPLE’: TRUMP HOUSING CHIEF INSISTS IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN WILL LOWER COSTS

Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers a speech to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States of America at City Hall in New York, July 3, 2026.(Anna Connors/Pool via Reuters)

Between 2020 and 2023, the most recent years available, the share of renter households associated with foreign-born New Yorkers rose from 37% to 40%, according to the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey. The data does not distinguish a resident’s legal status, making it unclear whether illegal immigrants represent an increased share of renters.

New York City Comptroller Mark Levine, responding to news of rising rents on Sunday, recommended that the city rezone neighborhoods to allow more homebuilding, invest in affordable housing development, and cut construction regulations to increase housing supply and bring down costs.

Conservative lawyer Mike Davis responded to Levine’s recommendations by asking, “How about deporting illegals?”

AMERICA’S HOUSING MARKET COULD RUN OUT OF SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN HOMES

Mamdani campaigned on addressing the housing crisis by freezing increases for rent-stabilized tenants, building 200,000 new affordable homes and expanding tenant protections.(Getty Images)

The White House claims that declining rental costs in the South and Southwest have been caused by its deportations, a claim disputed by critics who point toward broader market conditions. A March 2024 academic study found that deportations could actually increase overall housing prices by harming the construction industry, though the authors conceded that removing illegal immigrants could also cause housing demand to come down somewhat.

Mamdani campaigned on addressing New York City’s housing crisis by freezing increases for rent-stabilized tenants, building 200,000 new affordable homes and expanding tenant protections. Since taking office, he has successfully frozen rents on rent-stabilized leases, released a housing plan aimed at building and preserving 400,000 affordable homes and moved to expand rental vouchers.

“Zohran Mamdani ‘froze the rent’ and served himself some taxpayer-funded cake,” Red State writer Bonchie posted to X, referring to Mamdani’s celebrating the rent freeze with cake earlier this summer. “Then rents hit an all-time high, vacancy rates reached the highest since COVID, and he proposed a 20% raise for himself. Incredible stuff.”

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Critics argue that rent freezes will lead to increased prices for everyone else and disincentivize property owners from doing more than the bare minimum to maintain units that they aren’t being paid market rate to rent.

Mamdani’s office did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday.

Georgia family says they’re forced to sell home to help power AI data centers: “It’s theft”

2026-07-13T12:48:00-0400 / CBS News

By Shannon Luibrand
Updated on: July 13, 2026 / 12:49 PM EDT / CBS News

Sell your home, or the state will take it — that’s the ultimatum some homeowners in Georgia say they are facing amid the AI boom.

Utility giant Georgia Power is planning to build a new transmission line to in part help power new data centers. It estimates 70-80% of the power on the new line will help serve data centers and the remaining 20-30% of power will serve the state’s growing residential and commercial demand.

According to the company, increasing demand has outpaced the capacity of its existing grid and building a new transmission line requires acquiring more than 300 parcels of land, including residential properties.

Ansley Brown’s childhood home that she said was built when she was 5 or 6 years old is just one of the properties impacted.

“It’s ours,” she told CBS News. “It’s our family. We belong here.”

Her mother wanted the property to serve as “true generational wealth,” Brown said, adding that now “it’s being stripped from us.”

“It’s theft”

Brown’s mother recently came to an agreement with Georgia Power to sell. If she didn’t, Brown said the utility could have sought to acquire the property through eminent domain — which is a legal process that allows private property to be taken, with compensation, for projects determined to serve a public purpose.

“To us it’s theft. It’s literally a billion dollar company stealing land from smaller people, people who can’t fight back. We don’t have the money to fight Georgia Power,” Brown said.

Holly Lovett, a spokesperson for Georgia Power, said eminent domain “is always … a last resort for us and it’s something we never want to do.”

The company said it feels as if it’s done the process responsibly, but Brown disagrees.

“You can’t tear down 35 miles of rural Georgia and it not hurt something or somebody. And to say that you’re doing it in the name of data centers is a slap in the face to us, our community, our animals,” she said.

A few months ago Brown took her story to TikTok and began sharing stories of others in similar situations. She said that while she knows it’s too late to save her home, she doesn’t want to see this happen to others.

“My mom wants an apology. She wants an apology from Georgia Power. That’s it,” Brown said. “For an entire year, they have bullied her and there is no sorry. So that’s what we want. We want an apology from Georgia Power. “

When asked if the utility company is willing to apologize, Georgia Power told CBS News they “have worked hard to be transparent, negotiate in good faith” and “make the process as easy as possible.”

As for who is behind the data centers, the company said it doesn’t publish lists of customers to protect safety and security.

AI companies are creating “generative ghosts” of deceased loved ones

July 13, 2026 1:04 PM EDT / CBS News

By Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch

Jack Manning knows firsthand the emotional and practical challenge of memorializing a loved one in a way that feels appropriate. After losing his sister more than 10 years ago, he and his family spent hundreds of hours raising funds to organize a volunteer project honoring her.

“It took years of bake sales and 5Ks to raise money to honor her memory in a way that was meaningful to us. We got to see how much effort is required to create a memorial that’s impactful,” he told CBS News. “I thought, surely there is a way that technology can help us.”

Enter artificial intelligence. Manning, a doctoral candidate in information science at the University of Colorado Boulder, is now studying the use of large language models (LLM) to create what some are calling “generative ghosts” — AI chatbots trained on a dead person’s social media posts, emails, audio and video recordings, photos and other data to create a digital simulation that family and friends can interact with after the individual’s death.

“It is definitely a growing sector. We’re seeing growth in interest in how AI and grief intertwine,” Manning said.

A “lifelike” avatar

A number of startups now offer these services, including Séance AI, You, Only Virtual and re;memory. For example, Re;memory, lets users create lifelike avatars of their loved ones based on photos and voice recordings.

“By allowing you to interact with a lifelike digital avatar of your loved one, you can find solace in expressing your love and forgiveness, creating a bridge to the cherished moments you hold dear,” the company says on its website. The tool “allows you to see and hear your parents as they were in their cherished photos, rather than just imagining them.”

In a June paper published in the Association for Computing Machinery by lead researcher Jed Brubaker, an associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies socio-technical systems, Manning and his colleagues observed study participants’ reactions to the AI ghosts of people they have lost.

“Participants filled out a simple survey sharing positive memories of a loved one, talking about their upbringing and core traits,” he explained. “And they were fascinated by how much an LLM can do with so little information.”

There are two basic kinds of generative ghosts, according to Manning. A simple “death bot” could be limited to playing back verbatim any statements recorded by a loved one, but would be incapable of simulating the deceased’s manner of communication.

“You can get a reasonable, although thin representation of a loved one with a single prompt on a free ChatGPT account,” Brubaker said. “The same way you might prompt it to say, ‘Talk to me like Shakespeare,’ you can say, ‘Talk to me like my grandfather — here are some details about how he acted.’”

Continuing the conversation

Generative ghosts go significantly further by recreating the deceased’s voice and manner of communication, and offering the ability to interact with the living, even responding to questions in a recognizably familiar way.

“They are capable of saying things a loved one might not have said. Ghosts are AI models that can talk for somebody, maybe answering a question that they didn’t answer when they were alive,” Manning said.

The cost to consumers is variable. Re;memory charges $24 a month for individuals to create three custom avatars. For $19.99 per month, Sceance AI users can create animated images of their loved ones that can smile, make gentle head movements and speak in the deceased’s voice.

The researchers found that study participants generally preferred communicating with an AI “ghost” of their loved one in the first person, with the chatbot serving as a direct reincarnation, rather than an avatar speaking in the third person. One turnoff: if a bot used a term of endearment, like “champ” or “pal,” that their loved one typically didn’t say, a user wanted to end the interaction.

Generative ghosts share some commonalities with so-called deepfakes, which can be designed to mislead the public by fabricating a public figure’s speech and actions. But Brubaker said there is a distinct difference.

“The fundamental premise of a deep fake is the intent to deceive,” Brubaker said. “The intent of generative ghosts is not to deceive another person.”

Edited by Alain Sherter

Family shattered after 3-time deported illegal immigrant allegedly blew through stop sign, roiling House race

July 13, 2026 2:39pm EDT / Fox News

‘It’s horrific’: NC House candidate rips border failures after illegal immigrant charged in child’s death

North Carolina Republican congressional candidate Laurie Buckhout sounds off on the illegal immigration crisis hitting home after a young girl was killed in a car wreck caused by a previously-deported Mexican national.

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A sprawling, 25-county congressional district more than 2,000 miles from the Mexican border was thrust into the national immigration spotlight this month after a 6-year-old girl was killed in a crash allegedly caused by a three-time deported illegal immigrant with a history of driving while intoxicated.

The economy usually dominates politics in North Carolina’s 1st congressional district, which consistently ranks among the nation’s poorest districts by poverty rate. But, that changed after six-year-old Calli Toler was pronounced dead after a wreck allegedly caused when Mexican national Jaime Santiago Corona ran a stop sign west of Vanceboro last week – just a mile from the district line.

The illegal immigration crisis has been “hitting home … in North Carolina, when you saw fentanyl dealers being caught, you saw terrorists being caught,” Laurie Buckhout of Edenton, a retired Iraq War battalion commander and the Republican candidate seeking a rematch against incumbent Democratic Rep. Don Davis of Snow Hill, in what is now a slightly Republican-leaning; formerly Democrat-leaning swing district.

THREE-TIME DEPORTED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED WITH KILLING NORTH CAROLINA GIRL, 6, AFTER RUNNING STOP SIGN

Rep. Donald Davis, D-N.C., left; Col. Laurie Buckhout [Ret.], right.(Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

“It has continued because, under the Biden administration with Don Davis’ oversight, you allowed so many illegals in the country [and] just a little bit ago, an illegal alien blew through a stop sign and killed a little girl,” Buckhout said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.

Davis, who is also a retired military officer, said in a statement that he supported the Laken Riley Act, adding federal immigration laws must be enforced to ensure “safe communities” for Carolinians. He said Corona was driving on a revoked license when he crashed into the Tolers on Warren Jones Road near US-17.

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER’S VIRGINIA A ‘HOTBED’ FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIME, DHS SAYS AFTER LATEST RAPE CHARGE

ICE agents surround suspects during a raid in the South.(AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Buckhout said Toler’s mother and sister survived after being treated at a Greenville hospital, adding that despite the Trump administration trying to crack down on illegal immigration, the repercussions of prior years’ leniency “continues to happen,” she said.

Corona was deported in 2019, 2023 and 2024 and re-entered illegally a fourth time before the Vanceboro crash, according to DHS. He also has a criminal record that includes DUI charges, DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said.

OKLAHOMA STATE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION STAFF ATTORNEY UNDER REVIEW AFTER VIDEO OF ANTI-ICE TIRADE

Signage greets travelers entering North Carolina on US-64 at the Tennessee State Line near Hothouse, marking the beginning of the Tarheel State’s longest highway, as the mileage indicates.(Charlie Creitz)

Pitt County authorities, who have custody of Corona, indicated they plan to cooperate with ICE.

Buckhout said President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda and DHS’ mass deportation actions have gone a long way to stem the tide of cases like the Tolers’, but that if elected she would push for higher pay for agents, and improved technology at the Mexican border like funding for sensors and other tools the feds can use to secure the homeland.

“We need to support them more… More technology, more access roads going down to the border so that they can access the border safely. We need to let them safely do their jobs with every technology available,” Buckhout said.

“The safety of the American people depends upon it. You don’t have sovereignty without a border. I mean, that’s just the bottom line.”

Buckhout also pointed to two other illegal immigrants’ cases in the district – the arrest of Jose Valdez-Masias on homicide charges near Warrenton and Josue Cano-Landero on child fondling and strongarm rape charges in the Inner Banks.

She also returned to the importance of reviving the economy in her area, noting that jobs are as important as national security for the people of NC-1.

“We need to protect our food sources, protect our farmers, protect our fishermen. And once again, build up the economy from the ground up because the Democrats have been ignoring it for so long,” she said – as inland NC-1 is historically significant in the tobacco and peanut industries while the coastal areas are home to key fishing areas.

A spokesperson for Davis’ campaign countered that the Democrat’s record “speaks for itself” in his expected-to-be-tight race against Buckhout.

“Laurie Buckhout seems to be increasingly bothered by the resources Congressman Davis continues to deliver for ENC, and was most recently perturbed by the fact that he is fighting for a local hospital to be reopened in Martin County,” the spokesperson said.

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“Congressman Davis will continue to do what he does best: fight for and be a voice for the people of Eastern North Carolina.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to Biden for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, worked in both the New York and Washington bureaus for Fox News since 2013.