What Graham Platner’s rise and unraveling reveal about the politics of 2026

2026-07-07 12:40 p.m. EDT / The Washington Post

In their rush to find a strong candidate to run against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Democrats should have more thoroughly vetted their party’s nominee.

Graham Platner won the Democratic primary in Maine by a wide margin. (Sophie Park/Getty Images)

Analysis by Karen Tumulty

The fatal miscalculation by the liberal activists who fueled the rise of an unknown 41-year-old Maine oyster farmer and combat veteran was not that they failed to vet Graham Platner.

It was that, in today’s win-at-all-costs political environment, they didn’t think they needed to.

Dems uphill climb for Senate majority just got a lot steeper with latest Platner allegation

2026-07-07 15:08 EDT / Fox News

Republicans say the Platner implosion complicates the Democratic path to flipping Maine and recapturing the Senate

By Paul Steinhauser Fox News

Published July 7, 2026 3:08pm EDT

Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner accused of sexual assault, denies claims

Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is embroiled in controversy after a woman publicly accused him of sexual assault from five years ago. Platner vehemently denies the allegations, calling them false and politically motivated. Democrats are now pressuring him to drop out of the race as the story gains traction.

Democrats have a narrow path to win back the Senate majority from the Republicans in this year’s midterm elections.

And part of their playbook is flipping Maine — a historically moderate state that votes blue in presidential elections but whose two senators are a Republican and an Independent who caucuses with Democrats.

Graham Platner’s candidacy is cratering as he faces calls from top Democrats in Maine and across the country to quit his Senate bid a day after Monday’s explosive rape allegation emerged against him. And the latest controversy decreases the party’s odds of recapturing the Senate in November.

“The forced implosion of Graham Platner does not make life any easier” for Democrats, a Republican strategist who works on Senate races told Fox News Digital.

DEMOCRATS ABANDON PLATNER AFTER BOMBSHELL ALLEGATIONS

Graham Platner, Democratic US Senate candidate for Maine, during a primary election night event at the Blue Hill YMCA in Blue Hill, Maine, US, on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Progressive Democrat Graham Platner won the party’s Senate primary in Maine after a bruising campaign which became as much about his accusations of past misbehavior as it was voters’ top concerns.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Platner, a military combat veteran turned oyster farmer who was, until Monday, backed by top progressives, is the party’s nominee in the race against longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in blue-leaning Maine.

The showdown is a high-profile, combustible and expensive ballot box battle, and one of a handful that will determine if the GOP holds onto its slim Senate majority in the midterms.

If Platner suspends his campaign before 5 p.m. next Monday, July 13, the Maine Democratic Party will be able to replace him on the general election ballot with another candidate from the party, whom they would need to select by July 27.

Beating Collins, who is seeking a sixth six-year term in the Senate, won’t be easy.

Six years ago, public opinion polls indicated the senator was headed to defeat, but Collins defied expectations and won re-election by defeating then-Democratic state House Speaker Sara Gideon by nine points.

FOUR MONTHS TILL MIDTERMS: THE 12 RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE MAJORITY

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, departs the chamber at the Capitol in Washington, on July 24, 2025.(J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

Fast-forward to present day and the 73-year-old Collins should be vulnerable, with her party facing a rough political climate fueled in part by persistent inflation and President Donald Trump’s approval ratings hovering well into negative territory.

But the Platner implosion is a gift to Collins and her party. Republicans quickly took aim at other Democrats on the 2026 ballot and attacked them for previously backing Platner.

A veteran Democratic strategist told Fox News Digital the path to take back the majority isn’t any easier due to the drama in Maine, but added, “it depends on who replaces Platner.”

The bombshell in Maine came a day after a political grenade exploded in the Democratic Senate primary in battleground Michigan, when state Sen. Mallory McMorrow suspended her campaign.

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow on Sunday suspended her campaign the the Democratic Senate nomination in the Great Lakes battleground state.(Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

McMorrow, who has seen her national profile expand in recent years and was running as a progressive in an ideological space between left-wing candidate Abdul El-Sayed and establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens, suspended her campaign amid faltering poll numbers and fundraising that weren’t keeping pace with her two main rivals.

The Aug. 4 primary showdown between El-Sayed, endorsed by progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Stevens, who is backed by Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is seen as the biggest battle yet between the far-left and establishment for the future of the Democratic Party.

Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan, right, and former Wayne County Health Department Director Abdul El-Sayed are facing off in the August 4, 2026 Democratic Senate primary in the Great Lakes battleground state.(Evan Cobb for The Washington Post via Getty Images; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The winner will face off in the midterm elections in November against former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who is on a glide path to the GOP nomination. The winner will succeed retiring Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat.

The seat is a top Republican target and is a must-hold for the Democrats as they aim to win back the Senate majority from the GOP.

Schumer and the party establishment, which are spending big bucks to back Stevens, view her as more electable than El-Sayed, who has sparked controversy with his past comments. They worry that El-Sayed as the party’s nominee would jeopardize the Democrat-controlled Senate seat by pushing the party too far to the left in a state that Trump carried two years ago by just over one percentage point.

With the race in Maine, the only state that then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried in the 2024 presidential election that Senate Republicans are aiming to hold, looking more problematic for the Democrats, the stakes in Michigan also just got a lot higher.

Republicans currently control the Senate 53-47, which means the Democrats need a net gain of four seats in the midterms.

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https://www.foxnews.com/video/6400436949112
Bill McGurn discusses Maine Democrat Graham Platner’s mounting controversies

The Democrats’ playbook relies on flipping Maine and battleground of North Carolina, plus flipping two more seats in red-leaning states like Ohio, Alaska, Iowa, or Texas.

At the same time, Democrats need to hold their open seats in Michigan and New Hampshire, and Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff needs to win re-election in the critical red-leaning swing state of Georgia.

Besides providing the GOP more political ammunition, the mess in Maine is further inflaming tensions between the far-left and the Democratic establishment.

Moderate Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania on Monday night took aim at Sanders, whose early endorsement of Platner last September helped boost the populist Senate candidate.

FETTERMAN DEMANDS SANDERS APOLOGIZE FOR BACKING ‘PREDATOR’ PLATNER

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6400437875112
Graham Platner faces mounting calls to exit Maine Senate race after latest allegation

“I would really call Bernie Sanders to apologize for pushing this kind of predator more than anyone,” Fetterman said Monday on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”

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The Republican strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, said the Democrats’ intra-party sniping “is just further complicating their path to the majority.”

Paul Steinhauser covers the national campaign trail from coast to coast for Fox News

Bernie Sanders calls on Graham Platner to drop Senate bid

July 7, 2026 at 12:45 p.m. EDT / The Washington Post

The senator from Vermont has been a key backer of the insurgent Democratic candidate in Maine.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner in May in Orono, Maine. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

By Alexei Koseff

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), a key backer of Graham Platner’s insurgent Senate campaign in Maine, said Tuesday that Platner should step aside following an accusation of sexual assault.

“I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine,” Sanders said in a statement. “In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.”

Democrats began withdrawing their endorsements of Platner on Monday, after a woman who used to date Platner told Politico, CNN and The Washington Post that he entered her home uninvited in late 2021 and forced himself on her while he was intoxicated.

But Sanders, who has been one of Platner’s most vocal supporters in his challenge against five-term Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), remained silent for nearly a day, ignoring inquiries about the sexual assault claim.

Platner has not yet said whether he plans to drop out of the race. He has until Monday to remove his name from the ballot and allow the state Democratic Party to choose a replacement.

Exclusive: US commanders bypassed warnings about outdated intelligence ahead of strike that hit school in Iran, sources say

2026-07-07T18:25:25.601Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/07/politics/us-commanders-intelligence-iran-school

Senior US military commanders bypassed warnings in critical databases that intelligence about potential targets in Iran was severely out of date and approved some strikes — including one that hit a school, killing nearly 200 hundred children and adults, according to three sources familiar with the decision-making process.

Messages indicating the intelligence was based on years-old intelligence that needed to be re-vetted were embedded in a system used for developing targets and required a senior officer to approve adding a site to the strike list, according to the sources.

The decision by senior commanders to ignore the warnings was made for “expediency,” two of the sources said, in a rush to provide targets at the start of the war. But it also directly contributed to the accidental strike on the school, the sources added.

The strike killed at least 168 children and 14 teachers, according to Iranian state media. Those numbers would make the strike one of the worst civilian casualty incidents in recent US military history. The US military launched an investigation in the days after the strike.

US military officials “knew within days (of the strike on the school) how the mistake happened,” one of the sources said. “It was obviously old info.”

Months later, the Pentagon has not released its investigation into the incident.

A White House official told CNN that “this investigation is ongoing.”

“As we have said, the United States does not target civilians,” the official added.

Details about why the old information was ultimately used, which have not been previously reported, shed new light on how the prewar push for targets contributed to the accidental strike on a school.

The Pentagon directed questions about the targeting process to US Central Command. CENTCOM declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

While US strikes against targets in Iran have largely abated as American and Iranian officials discuss a potential deal, President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to return to a large-scale bombing campaign.

The February 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyiba school in Minab occurred while the US military was attacking a neighboring Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps facility, CNN has reported an initial military investigation found.

Satellite imagery from 2013 showed that the school and the IRGC base were once part of the same compound. But images from 2016 show that a fence had been erected to separate the school from the rest of the base, and that a separate entrance to the school had been built. In December 2025, imagery showed dozens of people apparently playing in the school’s courtyard.

The strike occurred on the first day of US operations against Iran, as US military officials and intelligence analysts scrambled to update targeting information for thousands of sites after Trump decided to launch combat operations. Analysts did not refresh all of the relevant records in the Pentagon’s databases before strikes began, the sources said.

As a result, the intelligence for many targets added to the strike list was over 10 years old, including the information about the IRGC facility next to the elementary school.

Given the expedited timeline, military officials and intelligence analysts rushed to first update records for what were considered “upper-tier” targets — the ones most likely to be hit first, two sources told CNN.

“Upper-tier” targets largely consisted of mobile targets and sites that were believed to pose the highest threat to US forces, the sources explained, noting military officials were able to largely update those records before the first bombs were dropped.

“It was how (military officials) were re-validating targets rapidly by prioritizing what we thought was the most dangerous to US forces and the mission — like missile sites and aircraft,” the first source said.

Fixed sites — like the target that ended up being a school — were generally considered to be lower tier because they don’t move, the second source explained, noting analysts were unable to update many of those records before the war’s start.

The targeting databases — known as the Modernized Integrated Database, or MIDB, and the Machine-Assisted Analytic Rapid-Repository System, or MARS — clearly indicated that the information related to Iranian targets needed to be updated before use, two of the sources said.

MIDB is the Pentagon’s older targeting system, built in the 1980s. It largely relies on manual input from analysts.

MARS is the department’s newer, artificial intelligence-powered digital platform that was put into operational use earlier this year and is intended to replace MIDB.

Both systems are being used, but the effort to shift entirely to MARS is years behind schedule, and authoritative targeting data still relies on MIDB, according to a source familiar with recently revised Pentagon guidance.

An analyst had previously noted changes at the site in a separate digital intelligence tool, but that tool was not linked to the official intelligence database used to develop strike targets, the first source told CNN. And that information was never conveyed to military commanders.

The analyst’s warning and how existing gaps within the Pentagon’s intelligence database may have contributed to the accidental strike on a school are among the issues that have been examined as part of the ongoing investigation, the same source added.

Major questions loom four months after deadly strike on Iran elementary school

4:41 • Source: CNN

Major questions loom four months after deadly strike on Iran elementary school

4:41

In the immediate aftermath of the strike, Trump suggested that Iran might be to blame for the strike, and subsequently said that responsibility may never be determined. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the strike will be “thoroughly” investigated, adding the US has “attempted in every way possible to avoid civilian casualties.”

Multiple sources told CNN that senior Pentagon leaders were pressing military officials to rapidly provide targets in the immediate lead-up to the war and that demand persisted throughout the weekslong conflict — putting a strain on CENTCOM and intelligence analysts tasked with identifying viable sites to strike.

“The Pentagon is pressing everyone to move faster,” one of the sources told CNN about the decision to override warnings about the old intelligence. “A lot of former hedge-fund people and made-for-TV personalities in the mix. But leadership at CENTCOM did not push back either.”

Another factor that increased the risk of a mistake, according to two sources familiar with the decision-making process, was that Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response teams at CENTCOM and other combatant commands were already short-staffed due to Hegseth’s decision to cut the program earlier in his tenure.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense did not respond to a request for comment about Hegseth’s changes to civilian casualty mitigation.

Hegesth has repeatedly described his desire to allow commanders in the field to move faster by removing constraints, something he’s summarized as “maximum lethality, not tepid legality.”

Before the Iran war, Hegseth made deep cuts to the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response programs and slashed CHMR staff at military commands by more than 90%. That included removing civilian harm specialists from target development strike teams and reducing the team of 10 at Central Command to only one full-time staffer, sources told CNN.

“I know the CHMR team at CENTCOM was still trying to do the best possible work, they were just not staffed and resourced like they needed to be because of Hegseth,” one of the sources said.

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles announce charges against Indian organized criminal group “Bishnoi”

2026-07-07 14:07:21 EDT / CBS News

By

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles on Tuesday announced criminal charges against the prominent leader and eight associates of the Indian organized criminal group known as “Bishnoi,” tying them to the 2023 assassination of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada.

The indictment accuses Lawrence Bishnoi and another defendant of ordering the killing of “H.S.N.” — the apparent initials for Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down on June 18, 2023, near a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia.

Nijjar was a well-known political dissident who advocated for the creation of a Sikh homeland in northern India that would be known as “Khalistan.” India previously designated him a “terrorist” in connection with those advocacy efforts.

The indictment alleges that two other unnamed co-conspirators pulled the trigger that day, but that Bishnoi took responsibility for the act.

“On November 25, 2023, defendant Bishnoi claimed responsibility on behalf of the ‘Lawrence Bishnoi Group’ for a shooting that occurred on November 24, 2023 in Vancouver, Canada at the residence of R.G., a prominent Indian actor and singer, in an online post to Facebook that warned, in Punjabi, ‘no one can save you from us,’” the indictment says.

Bishnoi was arrested by Indian authorities in 2015. Despite this, the indictment says he continued to run a global crime syndicate.

“Using contraband cellphones and other voice over internet protocol devices smuggled into his jail cell, defendant Bishnoi personally directed political assassinations, murders, shootings, extortions, kidnappings, drug trafficking, human smuggling, and other crimes committed by members and associates of the Bishnoi OCG worldwide,” the indictment says.

He remains in custody in India.

Bishnoi’s childhood friend, Satinderjit Singh Brar, allegedly directed the group’s North American operations and is also accused in the indictment of ordering the assassination.

Shortly after Nijjar was murdered in 2023, another prominent Sikh separatist and close friend of Nijjar named Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was targeted for assassination in New York City, but the plot was thwarted by the FBI.

Both Canadian and American law enforcement authorities later alleged that the assassination of Nijjar and attempted assassination of Pannun were ordered at the behest of the Indian government itself.

In February, an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta pleaded guilty in a federal court in Manhattan to conspiring with former Indian government official Vikash Yadav to kill Pannun. Yadav remains at large.

In the indictment unsealed on Tuesday, Bishnoi, Singh Brar and seven other defendants associated with Bishnoi’s group are facing a variety of charges in connection with their alleged criminal enterprise — including racketeering, extortion and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

Federal prosecutors also announced criminal charges in two other indictments related to organized crime by Indian groups, including the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria Organized Crime Group and the Dhanda Drug Trafficking Organization.

Judge quashes Justice Department subpoena for information about 2020 election workers in Georgia

2026-07-07T19:28:54.242Z / CNN

By Tierney Sneed

34 min ago

PUBLISHED Jul 7, 2026, 3:28 PM ET

Federal agencies US elections Election security

Georgia general election 2020 ballots are loaded by the FBI onto trucks at the Fulton County Election HUB, January 28, in Union City, Georgia, near Atlanta.

Mike Stewart/AP

A federal judge blocked a grand jury subpoena for information about 2020 election workers in Georgia, a rebuff to the Justice Department’s investigation into how the election was handled in the Atlanta-area.

The Georgia election had been a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s election-rigging claims.

US District Judge William Ray called the breadth of the subpoena seeking information about Fulton County election workers “staggering. He said that the use of the subpoena power to investigate the 2020 election was not legitimate, given the statute of limitations for any potential crime.

“In this Court’s view, the DOJ does not possess a need to enforce the Subpoena greater than the burden of disclosure on Fulton County, and as such, the Court will not enforce it,” he said.

This story is developing and will be updated.

Former Democratic mayor of state capital city pleads guilty for role in six-figure real estate bribery scheme

Hinds County DA Jody Owens, also a Democrat, had already pleaded guilty after funneling over $80,000 in corrupt payments

July 7, 2026 2:36pm EDT / Fox News

By Robert McGreevy, Fox News

Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the former mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy for his role in a six-figure real estate bribery scheme.

Lumumba, who served as Jackson’s mayor from 2017 to 2025, allegedly accepted tens of thousands of dollars that Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens distributed to him and other city officials after accepting it from FBI agents posing as realtors.

Owens, also a Democrat, pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy last week.

LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL ACCUSED OF THREATENING LOCAL OFFICIALS IN CRIMINAL INDICTMENT

Owens, according to a copy of the criminal indictment obtained by Fox News Digital, funneled over $80,000 in payments to Lumumba, Angelique Lee, the Democratic former vice president of the Jackson City Council, and Sherik Marve Smith, a relative of Owens’.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba listens to the weekly Jackson City Council meeting at city hall in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024.(AP Rogelio V. Solis, File)

The former district attorney procured the money from two individuals he believed to be real estate developers from Nashville, Tennessee, “in exchange for their agreement to take official action to ensure the approval of the Developers’ proposed multi-million-dollar downtown Jackson development project,” per the indictment.

The developers, however, were actually undercover FBI agents.

OHIO BROTHERS WHO POSED AS MIDDLE EASTERN ROYALTY RECEIVE LENGTHY SENTENCE FOR $21M FRAUD SCHEME

Owens “solicited and accepted at least $115,000 in cash and promises of future financial benefits from the Developers,” according to the indictment.

Lumumba accepted $50,000 in the form of campaign contributions knowing they were given in exchange for his blessing on the real estate developments, the indictment alleges.

“Lumumba accepted the checks knowing and understanding that the money was from the Developers, and that it was being offered in exchange for official action from Lumumba in favor of the Developers’ proposed development project,” the indictment read.

FORMER INDIANA REP STEPHEN BUYER RECEIVES FULL PARDON FROM TRUMP FOR 2023 INSIDER TRADING CONVICTION

Then-Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba speaks during a press conference on March 08, 2021, in Jackson, Mississippi.(Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Lumumba had originally called the prosecution’s charges a political prosecution, The Associated Press reported.

He lost his re-election bid in 2025, falling in the city’s Democratic primary to eventual winner John Horhn, who is now Jackson’s mayor.

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Lumumba and Owens could face up to five years in prison. Their sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 15.

Then-City of Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and his family take a selfie with attendees during the Celebration Kickoff Pep Rally at the Jackson State University Football National Champions Parade in downtown Jackson, Mississippi, on January 17, 2025.(Aron Smith/Jackson State University via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital contacted legal representatives for Lumumba, Owens and Lee and the city of Jackson for further comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Senate GOP leaders say they’ve spoken with Mitch McConnell as speculation about his health continues

July 7, 2026 / 2:29 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — Senate GOP leaders said Tuesday they spoke with Sen. Mitch McConnell amid a weekslong hospitalization that has sparked growing speculation about his health.

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the South Dakota Republican and McConnell spoke on Monday by phone and “had a lengthy and substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics, including national security.” And the No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, spoke to McConnell by phone Tuesday afternoon for around 20 minutes, a spokeswoman said.

“Senator McConnell was fully engaged and is eager to get back to the Senate,” Barrasso spokeswoman Kate Noyes said in a statement.

The 84-year-old Kentucky Republican has been hospitalized since June 14, his office said. On the same day, emergency medical personnel responded to an unconscious person at McConnell’s home, according to a public EMS dispatch call reviewed by CBS News last week.

During the call, a dispatcher called in a “cardiac arrest” and a medic said there was “CPR in progress” at McConnell’s address. The dispatcher also said an individual was “unconscious.” The senator’s name is not mentioned during the EMS call, and CBS News has not confirmed the identity of the unconscious person.

McConnell’s staff has neither confirmed that the dispatch call was about the senator nor provided more information about why he was admitted to the hospital.

His office last issued a statement on July 2 that said the senator was still hospitalized.

“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement said. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

Thune said last month that he had spoken to McConnell following his hospitalization. On June 15, he told reporters that McConnell “sounded good” and “wants to be back.” The next day, Thune told Fox News that McConnell “was in good spirits.” He also said McConnell indicated that “he’d be back soon.”

Supreme Court justices to make rare appearance before Congress

July 7, 2026 at 1:12 p.m. EDT / The Washington Post

Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett, a liberal and a conservative, are set to testify before a House subcommittee next Tuesday.

Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan, right, and Amy Coney Barrett, seen at the Jan. 9, 2025, state funeral for former president Jimmy Carter, will appear Tuesday before a congressional subcommittee that approves court funding. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

By Julian Mark

Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett will testify before Congress next Tuesday, a rare appearance before a coequal branch that comes just weeks after the court wrapped up a contentious and consequential term.

It’s the first time since 2019 — when Justices Kagan and Samuel A. Alito Jr. appeared side by side — that members of the high court will testify before a committee on Capitol Hill. (Justice Clarence Thomas was spotted on the Hill just last week, but he did not appear to be testifying before lawmakers.)

Kagan, a liberal, and Barrett, a conservative, will appear before the House Appropriations subcommittee that approves funding for the court. The court has requested a $20.6 million budget increase for fiscal 2027, including a $14.6 million increase to bulk up security for the justices at work and a $2 million boost in security for their homes.

Judicial security is a sensitive topic in a highly polarized political moment that has seen more threats and attacks against judges.

The joint appearance comes as the court’s conservative and liberal factions increasingly aim spicy language at each other, although Kagan and Barrett are not among the court’s biggest fire-breathers.

While the hearing will focus on budget matters, House members have latitude to stray from the subject at hand, and they could fire off questions on any number of controversial topics.

The high court just ended a highly significant term that included a decision giving President Donald Trump greater power over federal agencies. It’s unclear whether the court’s recent rulings will come up, but in 2019 Kagan and Alito faced questions about a possible court ethics code and whether its hearings should be televised.

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Netanyahu warns Trump: Turkey is ‘not exactly a model ally’

2:17 PM EDT, Tue July 7, 2026 / CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/07/politics/video/22785186-netanyahu-trump-erdogan-digvid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN’s Dana Bash that despite President Donald Trump’s friendship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his newfound willingness to sell them advanced F-35 fighter jets, the country is not a ‘friendly state to the United States.’