分类： 未分类

Frank Beard, ZZ Top drummer, dies at age 77

August 18, 2026 / 3:41 PM EDT / CBS News

By Jordan Freiman

Frank Beard, longtime ZZ Top drummer, has died, the band confirmed to CBS News. He was 77.

A cause of death was not immediately provided, but the band’s publicist said in a statement, “He was in hospice care when he passed away at his ranch in Richmond, TX with family members at his side.” He died on Monday.

Beard, along with guitarist Billy Gibbons and bassist Dusty Hill, formed ZZ Top in 1969. Hill died in 2021, and at his request, was replaced by his longtime bass tech, Elwood Francis.

“Today, Elwood and I lost a great friend and collaborator, and the world lost one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great and true son of Texas. His signature backbeat was key to keeping ZZ on top,” Gibbons said in a statement posted on social media.

Frank Beard of ZZ Top performs during the $20 Best Night Ever Tour at DTE Energy Center on August 20, 2013, in Clarkston, Michigan. Scott Legato / Getty Images

The band said it has canceled its two upcoming shows in Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs, but that the tour would continue this weekend at Austin City Limits, “one of Frank’s favorite venues and in a city that had been something of a second home for him.”

This is a breaking story. It will be updated.

Hayden Panettiere was with on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson when she died, police report says

August 18, 2026 / 2:44 PM EDT / CBS News

Hayden Panettiere’s on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother were at the scene of her death, according to a police report obtained Tuesday by CBS News. The “Heroes” actor, 36, was found dead in a South Carolina apartment on Sunday.

Panettiere and Brian Hickerson had a tumultuous relationship, including Hickerson being arrested multiple times over alleged abuse, according to Panettiere’s recent memoir and media reports.

Hickerson and his brother, Zach, made the 911 call that brought first responders to the Greenville, South Carolina, apartment where Panettiere was found unresponsive, the partially redacted police report says. The report is attributed to Officer Matthew Bryan.

Firefighters and EMS were performing CPR on Panettiere when police arrived, Bryan wrote. Panettiere “did not seem to have any obvious physical reasons to be unresponsive,” Bryan said. He wrote that EMS performed life-saving measures “for an extended amount of time before they called a time of death.” He did not specify how long they worked.

Zach Hickerson told Bryan that Panettiere was Brian Hickerson’s girlfriend, the report says. Bryan said there is CCTV footage showing Panettiere and the Hickersons coming and going from the apartment.

Hayden Panettiere and Brian Hickerson on January 31, 2019, in Los Angeles, California. gotpap/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Bryan said that Zach Hickerson was “very emotional” as EMS worked on Panettiere. Brian Hickerson “did not become emotional until EMS declared her officially deceased,” Bryan wrote. Details of conversations between Bryan and the Hickersons have been redacted.

At some point, Brian Hickerson showed Bryan “the bag of medication” that Panettiere was “currently on,” according to the report. The list of medications is redacted.

Panettiere was declared dead at 2:31 p.m., according to the report. Other investigators arrived on the scene, and a search warrant was conducted, Bryan said.

Panettiere’s death remains under investigation. Police previously said that a preliminary investigation “has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”

An autopsy was completed Monday, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office said. Her cause and manner of death remain pending until results from the autopsy are returned, which could take up to eight weeks, the office said Tuesday.

Hayden Panettiere and Brian Hickerson attend a celebration of life event for Panettiere’s younger brother Jansen on March 8, 2023, in Palisades, New York. MEGA/GC Images

Panettiere’s film and television career spanned more than 30 years. She got her start as a child actor, appearing in films including “Remember the Titans” and “Ice Princess,” before rocketing to fame as a teenager on the hit “Heroes.” She also appeared in the “Scream” horror series and led the TV drama “Nashville,” which earned her two Golden Globe nominations.

Amid her success on-screen, Panettiere struggled behind the scenes. She has talked openly about an addiction to opioids and alcohol that began in her teens, as well as her struggles with postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. In 2023, her brother Jansen died at 28 from a heart condition.

In her memoir “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” released in May, Panettiere detailed her upbringing as a child actor, her experiences with addiction and physical abuse, and her recovery. She told CBS News’ Gayle King that she hoped the memoir could help others.

“I really wanted to share with the world that they don’t have to be afraid. That they can live their truth. They can be imperfect,” she said. Asked how she was doing, she replied, “Still working on myself all the time. I had a great therapist and I’m — I’m better, healthier than I’ve been in a long time.”

12 of Trump’s most bizarre moments on the Iran war

2026-08-18T17:11:05.990Z / CNN

This week, President Donald Trump has: threatened to go to war with a second Middle Eastern country, floated making the Strait of Hormuz a US territory and contradicted his administration’s messaging by claiming there are no ongoing negotiations with Iran.

It’s only Tuesday.

Trump is no stranger to eccentric comments. But the Iran war has proved to be a frequent outlet for this behavior — with huge stakes involved.

His commentary has, at times, sounded like he’s not terribly engaged or clued in to what’s happening. At other points, he’s made seemingly unfeasible proposals. Several times, he seems to be trying to will an alternate reality into existence.

Here are some of the most bizarre Trump comments of the nearly six-month-old war.

Praising Iran’s leaders as ‘rational’ and ‘not radicalized’

“We’re dealing with people that I think are very rational people,” Trump said June 16 at the G7 summit in France. “They were nice to deal with. They were strong people, smart people. … But they’re not radicalized, and they’re, you know, looking to help their country.”

Many criticized these comments as Pollyannaish. And it didn’t take long for Trump to eat his words.

Just three weeks later, after negotiations predictably fell apart, Trump called these same leaders “cuckoo,” “evil,” “sick,” “dirty players” and “scum.”

“They violate the agreement every day,” Trump said at a NATO summit in Turkey. “They lie. They cheat.”

Trump told CBS News on April 17 that Iran had “agreed to everything” the US demanded. That included Tehran stopping its backing of proxy groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, relinquishing its enriched uranium stockpile and committing to stop enriching uranium forever.

None of those claims came to fruition, nor is there evidence Iran actually agreed to them.

Even when Iran and the United States reached a memorandum of understanding in June, it contained none of those items.

Trump has frequently claimed that Iran has been desperate to make a deal and that such an agreement was just around the corner.

As far back as April 7, Trump claimed on social media that negotiations were “very far along” but needed two weeks “to be finalized and consummated.” He concluded by saying that “it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution.”

That resolution has still not arrived.

The president had made such claims more than three dozen times by mid-June. And he’s continued making them since then, despite Iran signaling the opposite of desperation, including by violating the memorandum of understanding, which included favorable terms for Tehran.

Long before Trump floated the US taking control of the Strait of Hormuz, he floated another idea: the United States entering into a partnership with Iran to charge tolls to cross the critical waterway.

“We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture. It’s a way of securing it — also securing it from lots of other people,” Trump told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on April 8, adding: “It’s a beautiful thing.”

Never mind that Iran has been an adversary for nearly five decades, with its citizens famously chanting “death to America.”

And never mind that Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously called charging tolls to cross the international waterway “illegal” and “dangerous for the world.”

Trump said March 9 that Iran’s Middle Eastern neighbors “were largely neutral” until Iran attacked them.

“The neighbors came on to our side and started attacking them, and actually quite successfully,” Trump said. “If you look at Saudi Arabia, you look at UAE, Qatar and others.”

This had not, in fact, happened. Other Gulf countries have steadfastly sought to avoid getting involved in the war, though Saudi Arabia last month did get dragged into it, somewhat.

That same day, Trump told CBS News: “I think the war is very complete, pretty much.”

That was 10 days into a war that has now lasted 172 days.

“They have to have some, because other people have some,” Trump said June 17, while trying to forge a deal with Iran. He added that “missiles aren’t the problem” because “they don’t blow up the planet.”

“In relative proportion, I think it’s OK,” Trump said later.

These comments were a stark and confusing contrast to Trump saying when the war began that one of his top goals was to “raze their missile industry to the ground.” Trump has pitched Iran’s missiles as an unacceptable risk to the region, including to the US troops stationed in it.

“It’s the beginning of building a new country,” Trump said on March 9.

He added on April 6: “We may even get involved with helping them rebuild their nation.”

These comments came after Trump spent many years decrying the folly of nation-building overseas — especially in the Middle East.

And like many of Trump’s ideas, he seemed to quickly abandon this one.

Early in the war, both Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed the United States had free rein over the skies of Iran, with the president saying Tehran “can’t do a thing about it.”

By early April, two US jets were taken down.

But Trump kept making this claim. He said in June, “We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.” He added in July that Iran had “nothing” militarily, including “no air force” and that their “anti-aircraft is gone.”

Just five days later, though, the administration secretly moved Trump from Air Force One to a smaller plane when he was departing Turkey, over fears that Iran could take down the larger plane.

Trump has claimed over and over again in recent weeks that the United States controls the Strait of Hormuz, and that the strait is “open.”

“They don’t have control,” Trump said Wednesday. “We have total control. We own it.”

The US does have a blockade against Iranian ports in the strait, which is applying economic pressure on Tehran. But Trump hasn’t been able to force the strait open as Iran keeps attacking ships. And traffic remains far below the prewar peaks.

Indeed, the Strait of Hormuz is basically Iran’s leverage at this point. And if the US actually controlled it, the war would look very different.

This wasn’t just some internet meme that Trump fired off Tuesday morning. He also said Monday: “I think it’s a great idea. We control it. I like the idea of declaring it a territory.”

But this seems, at the very least, entirely impractical. Not only does the US not really control the strait now, but holding it over the long term would likely require an extended troop presence in a volatile region. It’s an odd goal from a president who repeatedly said the war would last only four to six weeks and who has lambasted “forever wars.”

Of course, Trump says stuff like this a lot. Last year, he briefly floated a plan to take control of Gaza. That went over like a lead balloon, and there’s been almost nothing about it since then.

“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the sh*t out of them,” Trump said in an interview this week with Fox News’ Trey Yingst.

Trump fires off lots of threats, but this one — which the president initially made in May and then re-upped on Monday — has left allies in the region thoroughly confused.

Oman has been a historic partner for the United States and a mediator during negotiations with Iran. And while Trump warned Oman on Monday not to interfere, he previously — in a signed document — said that Oman would “conduct dialogue” with Tehran to determine the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz.

Blue state mayor arrested for fraud sparks uproar for not speaking English in viral clip: ‘How is this real’

August 18, 2026 2:35pm EDT / Fox News

DePeña’s lawyer told reporters ‘he doesn’t speak English’ when pressed on fraud charges

By Andrew Mark Miller, Kiera McDonald Fox News

Lawyer rear-ends parked car after Massachusetts mayor’s arraignment

Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña’s attorney hits a parked vehicle after arraignment on charges tied to alleged misuse of $1.5 million in COVID-19 small-business loans. (Credit: WBZ)

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

blob:https://www.foxnews.com/24fa1221-720c-4276-94cc-0d03f7206b64

Listen to this article

3 min

The mayor of a northern Massachusetts town went viral on social media in recent days after his lawyer told reporters the mayor doesn’t speak English when they pressed him about being arrested for COVID-19 pandemic relief fraud.

Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña, 61, was arrested Friday morning after an investigation into his alleged misuse of more than $1.5 million of Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), a program administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) under the CARES Act to assist struggling businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He doesn’t speak English. No comment,” DePeña’s lawyer said in the clip as DePeña repeatedly smiles and says, “God bless you,” to the reporters.

The clip of the exchange quickly spread on social media, prompting criticism from users wondering aloud why the mayor wouldn’t be able to answer questions in English.

MASSACHUSETTS MAYOR CHARGED WITH WIRE FRAUD IN $1.5M COVID RELIEF SCHEME

Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña faces federal charges for allegedly using pandemic relief funds meant to assist struggling businesses for his mayoral campaign and to pay off his personal debts. DePeña applied for the funds to help Tenares Tire Services Inc., his tire shop in Lawrence, federal prosecutors said.(City of Lawrence)

“OMG,” conservative influencer account LibsofTikTok wrote on X in a post viewed over 1 million times. “How is this real.”

“‘He doesn’t speak English, no comment’ says the assistant of the mayor of an American city,” conservative radio host Mike Gallagher posted on X. “Our melting pot has completely melted.”

WHITE HOUSE PUSHES ‘WATERSHED’ FRAUD-FIGHTING REFORM IN CONGRESS AS VANCE CONVENES TASK FORCE

A sign advertises a COVID-19 vaccination site in New York, Feb. 2, 2021.(Seth Wenig/AP Photo)

“English fluency should be a basic prerequisite for holding public office,” journalist Miranda Devine posted on X.

“This is what happens when we not only import the third world, but elect the third world,” Texas Republican congressional candidate Jace Yarbrough posted on X. “Why is an unassimilated foreigner a mayor in America?”

Shortly after the exchange with reporters, users on social media posted video appearing to show the car DePeña left in after crashing into another parked car while attempting to drive away.

Fox News Digital reached out to DePeña’s office for comment.

DePeña, who was born in the Dominican Republic, was elected mayor of Lawrence in November 2021 and won re-election in November 2025. He previously served on the Lawrence City Council from 2016 to 2021. DePeña has previously acknowledged that he was once an “undocumented immigrant,” saying he came to the United States “without papers,” and later became a U.S. citizen.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Video

“Mayor DePeña was elected to be a leader for the City of Lawrence,” U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said. “He was looked up to and trusted by his constituents, but he betrayed that trust through his alleged corruption and lies. Today’s arrest is just another example of our determination to root out fraud by anyone, even public officials, and hold elected officials accountable.”

If convicted, DePeña faces up to 30 years in prison.

Fox News Digital reached out to DePeña’s lawyer, Carlos Apostle, for comment.

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

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.

Judge allows Trump administration to end deportation protections for thousands of Ethiopians

Aug 18, 2026, 12:28 PM ET / CNN

By Michael Williams, Devan Cole, Priscilla Alvarez

Members of the Ethopian community gather outside the White House to call attention to the conflict in the Amhara region in Ethiopia in 2024.

Bonnie Cash/Getty Images

A federal judge on Tuesday cleared the way for the Trump administration to end deportation protections for about 5,000 Ethiopians who had been living in the United States under a form of humanitarian relief.

US District Court Judge Brian E. Murphy denied a request from African Communities Together, an organization which advocates for African immigrants in the US, to postpone the termination of the relief known as Temporary Protected Status while the group’s legal challenge plays out.

Tuesday’s ruling is the latest of several court rulings that will strip protections for more than a million people who until recently had been allowed to legally live and work in the US.

TPS provides people fleeing war, natural disasters or humanitarian crises with temporary permission to live and work in the US without fear of being deported. The Trump administration maintains that those permissions are temporary and not a permanent solution, criticizing previous administrations for repeatedly extending them.

The Supreme Court in a ruling earlier this summer allowed the administration to end TPS protections for immigrants from Syria and Haiti, potentially leaving hundreds of thousands of people eligible for deportations.

Related article People walk past a restaurant displaying Haitian flags in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, on July 29, 2026. Ryan Murphy/AFP/Getty Images Court confirms that temporary deportation protections for Haitians are no longer in place 5 min read

Beginning in late 2020, armed conflict broke out in Ethiopia’s Tigray state and later spread to other regions in the country. The African Union has estimated that that conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The Biden administration in 2022 granted certain citizens of Ethiopia who recently arrived to the US an 18-month temporary protection from deportation. Those protections were again extended in 2024 by then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas because of the ongoing conflict.

The Department of Homeland Security sought to end TPS protections for Ethiopians by this February, but that move was blocked by Murphy before it could take effect.

In his ruling on Tuesday, Murphy, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, rejected new claims pushed by attorneys for the Ethiopians that DHS unlawfully moved to terminate the protections.

The lawyers had claimed that the termination ran afoul of the due process rights afforded to their clients by the US Constitution and that then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lacked authority in the first place to revoke the TPS designation for Ethiopia because, they contended, the power actually rested with the attorney general.

In recent weeks, several other courts have similarly cleared the way for the administration to undo the protections for immigrants from Haiti, South Sudan and Somalia.

Justice Department to send a record 1,000 monitors to polling places in midterm elections

2026-08-18 12:14 PM EDT / CBS News

By

Washington— The Justice Department is planning to deploy a record 1,000 federal monitors to polling places throughout the U.S. for the midterm elections, the head of the department’s Civil Rights Division said this week.

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, made the announcement in remarks to Bloomberg on Monday.

The Civil Rights Division has long sent out monitors to polling places throughout the country to ensure compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act. That law prohibits discrimination in voting and ensures voters are not intimidated or otherwise prevented from casting a ballot on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability or another protected class.

Historically, the Justice Department’s own civil rights attorneys have served as monitors, and usually it sends out dozens of staff to a variety of polling places. In the 2024 general election, for instance, the department monitored compliance with federal voting rights laws in 86 jurisdictions across 27 states.

The Civil Rights Division under the Trump administration, however, has been largely gutted. More than 70% of its career staff took early retirement or resigned amid concerns about changes to its mission under Dhillon’s leadership. Although she has since recruited more attorneys, it remains understaffed.

In order to reach 1,000 monitors for the upcoming election, a DOJ spokesperson told CBS News that the department will seek federal employees to volunteer for the effort. A department official added that the recruitment will target DOJ employees, including people in U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the country.

A full list of locations is expected to be made public once the primaries are concluded. On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced it was sending monitors to polling places for primary elections in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Laramie County, Wyoming.

While it is longstanding practice for the DOJ to send monitors to polling places, some states are more suspicious this year, given the 31 lawsuits the Civil Rights Division has filed seeking states’ unredacted voter data. The division has said it wants to ensure each state’s rolls are clean, and that noncitizens are not registered. The states argue the suits are an effort to cast doubt on the integrity of the election process itself. The government has not prevailed in a single lawsuit so far, with judges blocking the requests for data in 23 cases to date.

The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, wants to use the voter information to carry out criminal and immigration enforcement.

President Trump, for his part, has repeatedly refused to acknowledge that he lost the 2020 election, and claimed without evidence that it was stolen. The FBI has since launched a number of criminal investigations related to the 2020 election results, including in Fulton County, Georgia, and in Arizona.

Recently, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes filed a public records request in the hopes of learning why DOJ was deploying monitors in three counties to monitor its primary election.

Appeals court upholds block on immigration arrests at certain houses of worship

August 18, 2026 / 12:25 PM EDT / CBS News

By Melissa Quinn

Washington — A federal appeals court on Tuesday continued to block a Department of Homeland Security policy allowing immigration officers to conduct enforcement actions at certain houses of worship for Quakers, Cooperative Baptists and Sikhs.

A unanimous panel of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit left in place a district court’s preliminary injunction while the case continues. That order, issued last year, barred the Trump administration from applying its 2025 policy to the plaintiffs in the case: houses of worship from the Quaker, Sikh, and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship religious traditions.

In a decision written by Judge Barbara Milano Keenan, the 4th Circuit panel ruled that the houses of worship showed that the Department of Homeland Security’s policy substantially burdens the free exercise of their religion.

The new guidance, she wrote, “is having a chilling effect on their congregations and already has caused declines in attendance among members of [Cooperative Baptist Fellowship] and the Sikh Plaintiffs.” That drop in attendance and the increased threat of immigration enforcement at the plaintiffs’ houses of worship “already has imposed a substantial burden on the ability of all the plaintiffs to express their religion through communal worship,” Keenan wrote.

She was joined by Judges G. Steven Agee and Pamela Harris. Keenan and Harris were appointed to the 4th Circuit by President Barack Obama, and Agee was named by President George W. Bush.

The dispute dates back to the first days of President Trump’s second administration, when DHS rolled back a policy issued under the Biden administration that barred immigration enforcement actions at or near protected areas like places of worship, schools or hospitals.

Under a new policy, the Trump administration said immigration officers should use their discretion and a “healthy dose of common sense” when deciding whether to conduct immigration enforcement actions in those sensitive locations.

blob:https://www.cbsnews.com/8f590ae1-e261-4a25-a761-cff52ab5c278

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which serves roughly 750,000 Baptists; the Gurdwara Sahib West Sacramento, serving 30,000 Sikhs; and six Quaker Meetings filed their lawsuit challenging the new policy allowing immigration arrests at houses of worship last year. They alleged it violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment.

They argued that the new policy chilled immigrants’ attendance at their services and other ministries and led to a decline in attendance.

In its decision in favor of the houses of worship, Keenan cited a DHS statement from January 2025, in which a department spokesperson said that under the new policy, “criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest.”

“For the plaintiffs, who welcome immigrant worshipers and have locations in or near immigrant communities, DHS’s statement emphasizing the rationale for this policy change shows that the threat of immigration enforcement at their houses of worship is real and substantial,” she wrote. “The evidence showed that this increased threat of immigration enforcement at the plaintiffs’ houses of worship has resulted in substantial pressure on the plaintiffs to violate numerous beliefs.”

The plaintiffs cheered the decision and vowed to continue working to protect religious freedom.

“This decision reaffirms a fundamental promise of religious liberty: every person should be able to gather, worship, pray, and serve their community without fear that immigration enforcement will unlawfully disrupt sacred spaces,” the coalition said in a statement.

Republican AGs working together to investigate Fauci explain how states can possibly bypass Biden pardon

Biden’s federal pardon does not shield Fauci from state prosecution, Louisiana AG Liz Murrill says

August 18, 2026 12:36pm EDT / Fox News

By Robert McGreevy

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6403639267112

West Virginia attorney general reveals why he joined investigation into Fauci

West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey reveals to Fox News Digital the reason he decided to join Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s investigation into Dr. Anthony Fauci.

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

A trio of Republican attorneys general — Florida’s James Uthmeier, Louisiana’s Liz Murrill and West Virginia’s John McCuskey — opened a joint investigation into former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci in an effort to hold Fauci accountable at the state level despite his federal pardon.

“Americans need to have confidence that the medical professionals that are giving them information during medical catastrophes like COVID, that that information is sound… Rebuilding that trust begins with holding accountable the people who caused it to be lost,” McCuskey told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Uthmeier initially announced his office would launch an investigation into Fauci on July 29, shortly after Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to answer any questions about his role in the COVID-19 pandemic response 111 times while testifying before a Senate committee.

“In light of recent reports exposed by Sen. Rand Paul, we will investigate any and all potential violations of Florida law involving Anthony Fauci,” Uthmeier previously told Fox News Digital.

FAUCI REFUSES SENATE APPEARANCE AFTER INVOKING FIFTH AMENDMENT MORE THAN 100 TIMES IN COVID PROBE

Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on July 29, 2026, in Washington, D.C.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“Our inquiry will focus on what Fauci knew, when he knew it, and how he misled the American people. We will examine the physical and monetary harms to Floridians that may have resulted from his deceptions and determine whether his conduct exposes him to liability under state law,” Uthmeier concluded.

On Aug. 5, Uthmeier officially subpoenaed Fauci for documents related to awards he won, any financial incentives related to his pandemic response recommendations, and “documents concerning vaccine efficacy and boosters, natural immunity, potential adverse events including myocarditis risks, messaging strategies, and communications with vaccine manufacturers.”

Both McCuskey and Murrill have joined Uthmeier’s investigation. They each explained to Fox News Digital how the partnership came about and why it was so important to them and to their constituents.

FAUCI’S FIFTH FUELS VOW TO HAUL HIM INTO COURT ‘EVERY DAY’ DESPITE BIDEN PARDON

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6403642504112

“West Virginia and Florida and any other Republican states that want to work with us will be able to better overcome if we work together so that we can pool our resources and we can wade through a lot of this material,” Murrill told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Murrill also revealed that her young son had an adverse reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine.

“My own son developed myocarditis from the Pfizer vaccine and was hospitalized in a pediatric ICU for a week,” she told Fox News Digital.

McCuskey echoed similar sentiments.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued subpoenas for records pertaining to Dr. Anthony Fauci’s COVID-19 response.(Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

“My plan here — and the reason that I jumped in — is to use the teamwork that the Republican Attorneys General Association gives us to work with General Murrill and James Uthmeier in Florida. I want my office to support them in any way that we can so that when these subpoenas come back and this investigation is completed, I can recommend to prosecutors here in West Virginia to take the same kind of actions that some of my AG colleagues can do on their own,” McCuskey told Fox News Digital.

The West Virginia attorney general told Fox News Digital that pandemic restrictions forced his family retail store to shutter for four months, nearly bankrupting them.

“It is very hard to explain to somebody what it means to have built something that is essentially your entire livelihood and have the government tell you you’re not allowed to open your doors,” he told Fox News Digital.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill speaks on a panel at CrimeCon in Las Vegas on May 29, 2026.(@RenownedPhotos)

“At the exact same time, my daughter, who was turning 5, was prevented from going to kindergarten. My daughter is an incredibly loquacious and energetic child who loves being around other people. She loves school and she was so excited to get started. Instead, she spent her entire kindergarten year with me in the state auditor’s office by herself doing online school. Every day, I had to watch her and my wife essentially cry because of the restrictions that these COVID mandates were causing,” McCuskey added.

CAN FAUCI HIDE BEHIND THE FIFTH? GAME-CHANGING BIDEN PARDON MAY NOT PROVIDE COMPLETE COVER, EXPERTS SAY

Former President Joe Biden, on his last day in office, doled out a sweeping federal pardon to Fauci which covered “ANY OFFENSES against the United States which he may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014” until the day it was issued.

The pardon, however, does not protect Fauci from state charges, Murrill explained.

West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey speaks outside the Supreme Court.(Oliver Contreras/Getty Images)

“It doesn’t shield him from state prosecution. The president doesn’t have the power to issue a pardon for state crimes. It’s that simple. The president only had the power to pardon him for what might be federal criminal activity,” Murrill told Fox News Digital.

Murrill will be looking specifically into whether Fauci lied during testimony she participated in when her state, along with Missouri, deposed him for Murthy v. Missouri, a case in which Missouri and Louisiana sued the government for allegedly collaborating with social media platforms to censor Americans’ views related to COVID-19.

LEGACY MEDIA IGNORES MASSIVE ANTHONY FAUCI DOCUMENT RELEASE ALLEGING HE MISLED CONGRESS ON COVID ORIGINS

“We did discover in the very beginning of the case that the federal government was pressing its own narrative. Different agencies were taking down truthful speech under threats from the federal government. Dr. Fauci was very much involved in all of that, and we deposed him for seven hours during which he mostly said, ‘I don’t recall,’” Murrill told Fox News Digital.

“And so we then find out that there’s a diary, and there are now going to be contemporaneous phone and text messages. I think that it already shows that he was lying. Of course, many of us thought he was lying anyway, but I think the public is now seeing the full extent of his lies and how he said one thing privately and then turned around and said other things publicly that directly contradicted what he was saying privately,” she added.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said she will be considering the viability of fraud and perjury charges against Dr. Anthony Fauci.(Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

In light of the revelations coming from Fauci’s text messages and internal writings released by Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Murrill said she will be considering the viability of fraud and perjury charges against Fauci.

“Here, I think we’d be looking at: did he lie? And if he did lie, is it actionable under our state law? The pardon would not cover that. Perjury is a crime, and the statutory penalty for perjury is probably similar to that for obstruction of justice. It could be anywhere up to five years in prison,” she told Fox News Digital.

McCuskey, for his part, said he does not have direct prosecution power due to a quirk in state law that grants that power to prosecuting attorneys in each of West Virginia’s 55 counties. However, he said he is still using his position to investigate and provide citizens with information for any potential civil cases as well as arm his state’s — and other states’ — prosecutors with potential ammunition for criminal prosecution.

“The way that this would work here in West Virginia is that I would take the information gleaned from Florida and Louisiana — and there’s almost no chance that information would be specific just to those two states — and go to any of the county-level prosecutors that we work with every single day and say, ‘Hey, here’s what we got. It’s your job to handle these prosecutions. I’m going to hand you a ready-made prosecution against somebody that we think needs to be held accountable.’ My office would then be able to help them in that prosecution in a whole bunch of ways,” he explained to Fox News Digital.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

McCuskey also told Fox News Digital that whether his office finds incriminating information or not, “it’s important to make sure that if this happens again, we have learned every single lesson we can learn so that our response will be swifter, better for the American public, and free from the mistakes made during the crisis.”

Uthmeier’s subpoena gave Fauci until Aug. 31 to comply.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear quips that he’d name a term limit bill after GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell

2026-08-18T18:21:28.961Z / CNN Politics

By Pamela Brown, CNN

Published 2:21 PM EDT, Tue August 18, 2026

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear quips that he’d name a term limit bill after GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, discusses the prolonged absence of GOP Senator Mitch McConnell from his post as he recovers from his hospitalization. Beshear floated the idea of naming a bill after McConnell that would establish term limits for members of Congress.

2:06 • Source: CNN

Ossoff calls Trump a ‘draft-dodging, crook president,’ intensifying his feud with White House

2026-08-18T18:51:18.394Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/politics/jon-ossoff-trump-kelly

Sen. Jon Ossoff stood next to Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly on Tuesday and delivered the kind of anti-Trump broadside that has become a campaign signature, marking the latest round in an escalating feud with the White House.

“I don’t think anything illustrates the times more aptly than that the draft-dodging, crook president, who has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win, tried to imprison this man, who embodies American heroism,” Ossoff said, referring to Kelly’s clash with the administration over his involvement in a video calling on military members to reject illegal orders.

For months, Ossoff has followed a consistent pattern: hold one large campaign rally each month, tear into President Donald Trump and his GOP opponent with easily digestible soundbites, and let those barbs ricochet around the internet.

Ossoff, who says he doesn’t have social media apps on his own phone, has learned how to capture the attention economy in ways few other Democratic politicians have – aside from perhaps the viral videos of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It’s part of what’s thrust Ossoff to the fore of conversations about the 2028 presidential race – even though he insists he has no interest in pursuing that higher office and is instead focused on keeping his Senate seat.

Ossoff has railed against Trump on corruption, high costs, and the war in Iran. His most viral critiques have typically focused on the president, but he’s also painted his GOP opponent, Rep. Mike Collins, as a “puppet” of Trump, referring to him on Tuesday as a “scandal pinata.”

The Democratic senator’s most recent viral speech, which referenced close Trump aide Natalie Harp, set off a new political feud with the White House. The moment has drawn millions of views on the social media platform X.

“While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings, he golfs, and trades stocks,” Ossoff said at a campaign rally Sunday.

He continued: “He doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar,” referring to Harp, the president’s executive assistant. Ossoff did not mention Harp during his event on Tuesday.

The initial comments drew swift backlash from the White House. Asked on Monday about Ossoff’s remark regarding Harp, the president referred to the Georgia senator as “Pee Wee Herman,” and White House communications director Steven Cheung called him “a radical, extremist Dumocrat” on social media.

On Tuesday, Ossoff appeared alongside Kelly, who has captured national attention amid his own clash with Trump and Kelly’s wife, Gabrielle Giffords, a former congresswoman who survived an assassination attempt in 2011.

While focused on Ossoff’s reelection, the joint appearance by the prominent Democrats in Columbus, Georgia, also served as a window into what some Democrats might want as a future presidential ticket, even as Ossoff has repeatedly denied interest in a White House bid.

“We are joined by these two extraordinary patriots and heroes,” Ossoff said, joking, “it’s our pleasure to introduce you, desert folk, to humidity.”

Kelly hit on many of the themes that have animated Ossoff’s reelection campaign, accusing the Trump administration of abusing its power.

“If you’re frustrated about them using the Department of Justice and weaponizing the government against its people, I really understand that. You probably saw I said something last November,” he said, referring to the administration’s pressure campaign over the military orders video.

And the two sat for an extended conversation, sharing their concerns, hammering Trump, and calling voters to action. “I would address the president’s few remaining supporters to contrast his promises with the results you’ve been delivered, and to vote accordingly,” Ossoff said.

Ossoff and his advisers have adopted a cautious, arms-length approach to 2028 speculation, attempting to distance him from those conversations. He’s repeatedly expressed “zero interest” in a potential run for higher office, saying his focus is on the Senate race under way.

In an interview on MS NOW Monday night, Ossoff said, “I have zero interest in running for president in 2028, and frankly zero interest in the 2028 fantasy football right now.”

Kelly – among those vetted as a contender to join the 2024 ticket with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris – has said more about his deliberations, acknowledging his interest in several public forums but maintaining that he’s undecided on whether to launch a bid. “I have not made a decision. I have thought about it, but no decision yet,” he told New Hampshire broadcaster WMUR during a visit to the key presidential primary state earlier this year.

But enthusiasm abounds within the party for both senators, who have drawn praise for their communications talent and who have won hotly contested races in once reliable red states.

And although he is attempting to tamp down 2028 speculation, a 2026 win by Ossoff in a battleground state like Georgia could boost his status as a contender for the White House.

“Too often, Democrats either drive conflict or drive message. Ossoff does both. He needles Trump constantly so he gets attention, but every jab lands on the consequences of corruption. You never get the punchline without the point,” said Jesse Ferguson, a veteran Democratic strategist.

Ossoff is the only Senate Democrat running for reelection in a state Trump won in 2024, making him the most vulnerable incumbent Democrat in this cycle. He’s emerged on strong footing in his race against Collins, which Democrats are banking on as they hope to reclaim the majority in November.

A Fox News poll conducted in June showed Ossoff up 13 points over Collins, though strategists in both parties expect the contest to tighten in the closing months. Ossoff remains one of the Democratic party’s most prolific fundraisers. He’s hauled in a total of $77.2 million since the beginning of last year and ended June with a $42.6 million war chest.

Ossoff has carefully navigated the complicated debate playing out about the direction of the Democratic Party, even as Collins and Republicans have attempted to tie him to the democratic socialist movement.

“I don’t spend much time thinking about factional, Democratic politics,” he told CNN in June, saying that while the divide exists, “it exists more in those places and for those people and groups for whom the Democratic primary is the horizon of politics.”

The senator has also garnered support from across the aisle, with two Republican mayors in the state recently endorsing his candidacy over Collins. He referenced their backing on Tuesday, part of an extended critique of his GOP opponent.

“You may have seen the conservative Republican mayor of Valdosta is now on this team. The Republican mayor of Tifton, Georgia, is now on this team, and there will be more new bipartisan friends joining us in the weeks ahead because this is a campaign for everybody who longs for decency and sanity and competence and quality public service,” Ossoff said.

It’s a must-win race, both for Ossoff’s future and the Democratic Party’s hopes of retaking the Senate. Kelly framed it as such on Tuesday.

“This is ground zero for us winning back the majority. We do not win back the majority if Jon Ossoff is not reelected,” the Arizona senator said.