博客

US Army Secretary Driscoll is expected to step down by year’s end, WSJ reports

August 21, 2026 9:10 PM UTC / Reuters

U.S. Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll testifies during a U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S, May 19, 2026. REUTERS/Tom Brenner Purchase Licensing Rights

Aug 21 (Reuters) – U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is expected to ​step down from his role by the ‌end of the year after months of tension with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Wall Street Journal ​reported on Friday, citing people familiar ​with the discussions.

Reuters could not immediately verify ⁠the report.

The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.

Driscoll’s departure would leave the Army ​without a Senate-confirmed leader as the U.S. looks ​to resolve a war it began alongside Israel nearly six months ago.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

It would also add to upheaval ​at all levels of leadership at the ​Pentagon under President Donald Trump’s second term, including the ‌firing ⁠of U.S. Army Chief of Staff Randy George in April, the previous chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the ​chief of ​naval operations ⁠and Air Force vice chief of staff.

The Wall Street Journal ​reported that Driscoll and his family ​this ⁠summer moved out of the house reserved for the Army Secretary.

Driscoll’s spokesperson did not ⁠immediately ​respond to a request for ​comment.

Reporting by Fabiola Arámburo in Mexico City, Daphne Psaledakis and ​Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Trump defends pause on beef tariffs amid criticism from US cattle producers

2026-08-21 7:14 PM ET / CNN

By Kit Maher

45 min ago

PUBLISHED Aug 21, 2026, 7:14 PM ET

Donald Trump Agriculture Tariffs

See all topics

Facebook Tweet Email Link Threads

Link Copied!

Ground beef for sale at a grocery store on July 9, 2026, in Hyattsville, Maryland.

Al Drago/Getty Images/File

President Donald Trump on Friday defended his decision to temporarily pause tariffs on imported beef, despite criticism from some US cattle producers.

“We want to get the beef prices down, so we’ll get them down a little bit, and that’s what people want. That’s what the voters want, and that’s what I want,” Trump told reporters on his way to South Carolina.

Calling ranchers his “people,” Trump said, “They’ve done a fantastic job. But they admit that we need a little help.”

Trump announced earlier Friday that the US would allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported for the next 90 days without out-of-quota tariffs. He wouldn’t tell reporters which countries he’d made a deal with. “I don’t want to say which countries, but there are a few countries, but they’re going to be sending in the highest quality beef, and it’s something that we need,” Trump said.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association pushed back on Trump’s announcement, writing on social media, “No cow-calf producer in America is asking for increased imports. Undercutting American farmers and ranchers with inferior product from foreign competitors does nothing to create market confidence or encourage rebuilding the herd.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley said he was “concerned for the cattle markets,” given theclosure of a Tyson beef plant in Joslin, Illinois, earlier this month and the latest temporary action from the White House.

“After Tyson closure in Illinois last wk I’m concerned for the cattle markets +now Pres Trump’s decision to temporarily open up subsidized beef imports,” the Iowa Republican posted on X, using abbreviations for words due to the character limits. “USA cattlemen shld always be put 1st thru America 1st policies Need 2keep up progress fighting screwworm+ expanding domestic herd.”

GOP Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana also came out against the action, which he said he advised Trump not to take for the past year.

“I’ve advised President Trump against this course of action for a year because American ranchers have been struggling against the packer monopoly for decades, and this will further harm them – most of whom are MAGA Republicans,” Sheehy wrote on X, adding that Trump’s “heart is in the right place” for wanting to lower prices for US consumers and noted that the screwworm is impacting prices.

“But the reality is this action will make it more difficult for American ranchers to rebuild our herd and bring prices down for the American people. And most importantly, this will harm our ranching families who feed the nation,” Sheehy said.

Pressed by CNN on Sheehy’s comments, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said, “No administration has been more pro-rancher than this administration taking extraordinary actions under USDA to protect and ensure the security of our food supply chain — but again, there’s been, there was an outbreak of screwworm in Mexico.”

And he emphasized that this is “a specific, temporary deal to address an acute issue.”

Reports of sexual assault in the military declined for third straight year, Pentagon says

August 21, 2026 / 7:16 PM EDT / CBS News

By Eleanor Watson

Eleanor Watson is a CBS News multi-platform reporter and producer covering the Pentagon.

Read Full Bio

Official reports of sexual assault and the estimated number of sexual assaults in the military both decreased in fiscal year 2025, according to the Pentagon’s annual review of sexual assault released on Friday.

The review included data from an anonymous survey conducted every other year that asks service members whether they’ve been the victim of unwanted sexual conduct or harassment, which gives officials a more accurate indicator of the scale of the problem within the ranks.

The survey found that the number of active duty women who said they’ve experienced unwanted sexual contact declined from 6.8% in fiscal year 2023 to 4.3% in fiscal year 2025, and the rate for active duty men decreased from 1.3% to 1%.

This is the second survey in a row with a decrease in prevalence after high rates of 8.4% for women and 1.6% for men in 2021.

The Pentagon received 7,998 official reports of sexual assault involving either service members as victims or offenders in fiscal year 2025, a decrease from 8,195 in 2024, and 8,515 in 2023.

The rate of reporting increased from 25% in fiscal year 2023, to 33% in 2025, which the Pentagon said it considers a good thing because it wants victims to feel like they can come forward.

“The Department continues to encourage greater reporting to connect warfighters with vital restorative care and enable leadership to hold offenders appropriately accountable,” the Pentagon said in a news release that accompanied the report.

blob:https://www.cbsnews.com/e833abfa-178a-4c86-918e-753fab6f36ae

Out of an estimated 20,492 service members impacted by sexual assault in fiscal year 2025, 6,843 made official reports, the Pentagon found.

“Dignity, respect, and discipline are foundational to the warrior ethos and the overall preparedness of the force. Sexual assault and sexual harassment undermine these values, eroding trust and threatening the mission,” Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony J. Tata said in a statement.

The congressionally mandated report, which in the past has been released in the spring with a briefing for reporters to ask questions, was published online by the Pentagon on Friday.

Supreme Court lets Trump continue work on White House ballroom for now

2026-08-21T18:14:21.155Z / reuters.com

The demolition of the East Wing of the White House during construction of U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed ballroom is seen from the reopened Washington Monument, following the longest shutdown of the government in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 15, 2025. REUTERS/ Jessica Koscielniak/File… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabRead more

• Summary

• Lower court said Congress must approve ballroom project
• Trump emphasizes national security in defending project
• Historic preservation group sued to challenge ballroom
• Trump demolished White House East Wing for the ballroom

WASHINGTON, Aug 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to continue construction of ​his White House ballroom project for now, temporarily pausing a judicial order that would halt much of the development.

The court’s action, known as ‌an administrative stay, gives the justices additional time to consider the administration’s formal request to let it continue working on the $400 million ballroom while a lawsuit by a historic preservation group seeking to stop the project proceeds.

The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.

The stay was issued by Chief Justice John Roberts, who handles emergency cases arising in Washington, D.C.

In an August 14 filing to the Supreme Court, Justice Department lawyers echoed Trump’s contention ​that the project is a security necessity, citing assassination attempts against the president and other recent threats.

“This case involves an extraordinary and unlawful injunction that ​will halt the ongoing construction of the integrated military complex, including a totally secure ballroom space, at the East Wing of the ⁠White House, which is vitally required by national security,” they wrote.

The nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation sued last year after the administration tore down, opens new tab the White House East ​Wing and began building a 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) ballroom without seeking specific approval from Congress. Trump has said the ballroom will be “the greatest of its kind ever built.”

After the Supreme Court ​acted on Friday, a spokesperson for the National Trust for Historic Preservation said, “To be clear, this is not a final decision on the merits of the government’s stay application, and we await further action.”

The project combines the above-ground ballroom with an extensive underground complex. Trump has said the project includes bomb shelters, medical facilities, shielding from drones and missiles and other security features that are “all tied ​together as one big, expensive and very complex unit.”

On August 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a 2-1 ruling upheld U.S. District ​Judge Richard Leon’s order directing the administration to halt above-ground construction. The order had been set to take effect on Friday.

‘A TEMPORARY TENANT’

“Each President is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of ‌the White ⁠House,” and cannot fundamentally reshape it without congressional approval, the D.C. Circuit’s ruling stated.

The district judge’s order did not permanently bar construction of a ballroom. It blocked above-ground efforts while allowing below-ground construction to continue, as well as work deemed “strictly necessary” for the safety and security of the White House. In its ruling, the D.C. Circuit said national security arguments “are not an automatic get-out-of-law-free card.”

The Justice Department said in its August 14 filing that the overall East Wing project — including both the underground facilities and the above-ground ​ballroom — is 65% complete.

Trump has said the ​ballroom project is a security necessity, ⁠and has referred to the structure as a “military center” in a post on Truth Social. Trump called the D.C. Circuit’s decision “horrendous” and politically motivated, and said it left him, other White House officials and visitors exposed to attack.

“This unjust decision must be overturned by ​the Supreme Court in its entirety,” Trump wrote.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation in court papers urged the justices to ​turn away the administration’s ⁠bid to continue with ballroom construction while litigation proceeds.

“Each court to examine the question has agreed that (the Trump administration has) no unilateral legal authority — constitutional, statutory or otherwise — to build a massive ballroom on the site of the now-demolished East Wing,” lawyers for the group wrote.

“And each court has told (the administration) in no uncertain terms that they must stop their illegal ⁠construction unless ​and until they receive express approval from Congress,” it wrote.

The project is part of Trump’s broader efforts ​to reshape the Washington landscape, including plans to build a 250-foot (76-meter) arch and revamp the Kennedy Center, a cultural landmark and performance center.

The demolished East Wing housed the first lady’s offices and the White House movie theater. ​It was originally built in 1902 during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency and greatly expanded in 1942 during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency.

Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham and Lisa Shumaker

US plans $725 million payment towards its large UN debt

2026-08-21T17:00:48.074Z / reuters.com

The United Nations headquarters building is pictured though a window with the UN logo in the foreground in the Manhattan borough of New York August 15, 2014. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• Less than 20% of what the UN says it is owed by Washington
• Payment could stave off immediate cuts, expert says
• Countries in arrears to UN can lose voting rights
• US is biggest contributor to UN, ahead of China
• Under Trump, it has refused payments, left bodies

WASHINGTON/GENEVA, Aug 21 (Reuters) – The Trump administration ​has started the process to transfer $725 million to the United Nations, a congressional notification seen by Reuters showed, a move aid experts said ‌was a welcome step towards paying billions in dues owed.

There was no immediate response from Washington to questions about the reasons for the payment from an administration which has slashed funding to many U.N. agencies and blasted the global body for not living up to its potential.

The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.

The money – mentioned in an August 4 State Department notification letter to Congress that has not been reported – is ​set to go through before an expected speech by U.S. President Donald Trump to the U.N. General Assembly in New York next month.

‘IT KEEPS ​THE SHIP AFLOAT A LITTLE LONGER’

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said this year that the U.N. faced “imminent financial collapse” due to unpaid contributions ⁠from member states, and the global body has brought in large budget cuts.

The $725 million would be less than 20% of the more than $4 billion that the U.N. ​said in May it was owed by the United States — though Washington has said that total figure is much lower and that it has made some payments.

Eugene Chen, ​a former U.N. official, told Reuters such a transfer would help pay U.N. salaries for a period, but might not cover them all. “It keeps the ship afloat a little longer,” he said.

“If the U.S. does not make further payments it will likely lose its voting rights in January,” he added.

Under article 19 of the U.N. Charter, a member state loses its voting rights ​in the General Assembly if its arrears exceed two years in annual fees, although grace periods are possible.

A significant transfer now could avert the need for immediate ​spending cuts, Ronny Patz, an expert in U.N. finance with German think tank IDOS, said.

“If they pay a big chunk, the U.N. still runs on zero reserves but it gets through ‌the year,” ⁠Patz added. “If they don’t pay, the U.N. might really be in trouble for the last two or three months of the year in terms of paying salaries and keeping the doors open.”

The U.S. is the biggest contributor to the U.N. budget, but under the Trump administration it has refused to make mandatory payments to regular and peacekeeping budgets, and has slashed voluntary funding to U.N. agencies with their own budgets.

Washington has also withdrawn from dozens of U.N. and other international agencies.

The U.N. had been ​counting on collecting around 90% of dues ​from its 193 members for this ⁠year’s budget, its Controller Chandramouli Ramanathan said last month.

As of August 18, some 129 members had paid in full, a U.N. document showed. China, the number 2 contributor after Washington, was also absent from the list.

The State Department said in its ​August 4 letter it was obligating a total of $725 million for the U.N.’s regular budget.

The U.S. State Department and the ​U.S. diplomatic mission to ⁠the United Nations did not immediately respond to requests for comment by email on Friday.

In May, the U.N. said the more than $4 billion owed to it by Washington included $2.04 billion for the regular budget, $2.2 billion for current and past peacekeeping missions, and $44 million for U.N. tribunals.

Washington has not transferred around $153.4 million in what it calls “policy-based withholdings”. That included $10.6 million meant for ⁠the Human ​Rights Council — which Washington disengaged from last year alleging an anti-Israel bias — and funds for the U.N. ​Palestinian Refugee Agency.

The 80-year-old institution has been undergoing a decisive reform and cost-cutting exercise known as “UN80” amid its financial crisis.

It has already cut its 2026 budget by 9.2% and transferred over 2,000 jobs out ​of expensive cities like Geneva and New York to lower-cost hubs.

Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Emma Farge; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Andrew Heavens

Woman covertly filmed by Meta AI smart glasses raises privacy and consent concerns: “I had no say”

2026-08-21T13:49:00-0400 / CBS News

By Michael Sugerman, Isabel Tabs
Updated on: August 21, 2026 / 3:15 PM EDT / CBS News

A woman discovered she had been secretly filmed by a man wearing Meta’s AI-powered smart glasses when friends and people she hadn’t talked to in years sent her a video posted on social media.

“It went viral. Across all platforms, probably over 200,000 views,” Toluwa Omitowoju said.

It’s a growing trend with content creators increasingly using wearable AI tech to record everyday people in prank pickup line videos – often without their consent.

Omitowoju was shocked and displeased to see herself in one such video, which has since been taken down.She had no idea she was being filmed, nor was she asked before the video was posted.

“I had no say,” Omitowoju said, adding that other women have shared similar experiences with her.

“It was a lot worse. It was to the point where they don’t even know who filmed them and yet it’s being posted online under a burner account,” she said.

Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta-owned social media giant Instagram, said the platform is cracking down on videos that harass people or invade their privacy.

“If you’re posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them, like a lot of these pickup line kind of videos that we’ve heard of and seen recently, then we’re going to take the content down,” he said in July. “We don’t want people to be surreptitiously taking videos of other people and harassing them and then posting them on our platform.”

Meta has come under fire for privacy concerns before.

In May, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into Ray-Ban Meta glasses, alleging that the glasses could violate personal privacy by using cameras, speakers and more to covertly film people, including in private moments such as bathroom visits.

“Privacy and data protection are core to every product we build at Meta, including Ray-Ban Meta glasses,” Meta said in a statement at the time.

Meta told CBS News that its glasses have built-in privacy and safety features, including a telltale LED light that turns on when the glasses are recording and software that is supposed to prevent recording if the light is covered or disabled.

CBS News’ Anna Schecter put this feature to the test. She found the disabling mechanism did not appear to work when she covered the light after already starting to record.

A Meta spokesperson told CBS News the tamper detection is designed to prevent recording if the light is covered before pressing record.

“If the glasses detect that the capture LED is covered or obstructed, they will disable capture and prompt the wearer to clear the obstruction,” the company said in a statement to CBS News.

Meta added it continues to “work to improve this technology.”

Another privacy complication is that most states only require the consent of one person to record an interaction, which means only the person recording has to know.

Omitowoju said she believes that wearable technology is a huge threat to personal privacy.

“If someone sees a phone in front of their face, they have the opportunity to step away, to approach someone and say, ‘Hey, I don’t want you to record.’ With these smart glasses and the smart technology, you’re taking away the right of refusal,” she said.

US HHS launches initiative to improve response to missing autistic individuals

2026-08-21 6:19 PM UTC / Reuters

U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. leaves the stage after discussing the findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network survey, at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S.,… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more

Aug 21 (Reuters) – U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday launched an initiative to improve ​preparedness and response when autistic individuals are ‌reported missing.

Here are more details:

Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here.

• The National Autism Missing and Endangered Person Alert Initiative will work to strengthen ​coordination among emergency management agencies, law enforcement, ​first responders, and community partners nationwide, HHS ⁠said in a statement.
• The initiative will also ​establish a national framework of best practices to ​address the leading causes of preventable injury and death among autistic individuals, which include accidental drowning linked to wandering ​and elopement.
• According to the latest data from ​the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, autism affects ‌about ⁠one in 31 children in the United States.
• At an April 28 meeting, an interagency autism committee approved several recommendations, including enhanced screening for co-occurring ​medical conditions ​and the ⁠development of federal guidance on wandering and elopement.
• In addition to this ​initiative, the Department of Health and Human ​Services ⁠is releasing a broad set of coordinated actions to improve the safety, healthcare, and services available ⁠to ​individuals with autism across all ​stages of life, HHS said in its statement.

Reporting by Sneha ​S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Nearly 25% of U.S. workers are “functionally unemployed,” economic analysis finds

2026-08-21T12:47:00-0400 / CBS News

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

Read Full Bio

Updated on: August 21, 2026 / 12:59 PM EDT / CBS News

Add CBS News on Google

The U.S. job market is less robust than it looks, according to a new analysis.

The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 4.1% in July, well within the range economists consider healthy. Yet that measure, which reflects the percentage of people over the age of 16 who don’t have a job and who are looking for work, is an imprecise metric that fails to offer a full picture of the health of the job sector, according to Gene Ludwig, chairman of the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP).

The economic research firm’s “True Measure of Unemployment” (TRU) seeks to capture the share of workers that the group defines as “functionally unemployed.” This includes not only people who are unemployed and looking for a job, but also those who are involuntarily working part-time and who are earning poverty-level wages, or less than $26,000 annually before taxes.

Functional unemployment across the U.S. has climbed four straight months and stood at 24.9% as of July, although that’s down from 25.2% in December, according to the Ludwig Institute.

“We shouldn’t read too much into a single month, but four months begin to tell a story,” Ludwig said in a statement on Thursday. “Functional unemployment is moving higher while workforce participation is moving lower. If this continues, it would suggest the labor market is losing strength despite what we may see in the headline unemployment numbers.”

“In a strong labor market, good jobs and rising wages should bring more people into the workforce, not fewer,” Ludwig added. “We need to pay attention when that starts moving in the other direction. It could be a sign that people aren’t finding the opportunities they want or need, which matters for the broader economy.”

Other economists cautioned against putting too much weight on alternative measures of labor market health, including TRU.

“An unemployment rate that would be in the 20% range does not line up with anything we see in the U.S. economy,” EY-Parthenon chief economist Gregory Daco told CBS News.

Wages lag inflation

Employers around the country unexpectedly cut 23,000 jobs in July, undershooting economists’ expectations and signaling the job market may be slowing.

Meanwhile, although unemployment is low by historical benchmarks, many Americans continue to grapple with the impact of high inflation. In July, the Consumer Price Index rose at an annual pace of 3.4%, while wages rose at an annual rate of 3.2%.

Daco said several factors are weighing on job growth. “You see ongoing moderation of wage growth, which is reflective of employers controlling costs, and wanting to make sure they have the right talent and the right skills at the right price, and not spend excessively.”

Muted wage growth dampens consumer spending, which drives two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.

“One company’s wage bill is another person’s income, and in turn their capacity to spend,” Daco said. “When I look at potential signs of softness for the U.S. economy, income growth has been trending around zero, adjusted for inflation, and that limits consumer spending growth. It forces some households to make more difficult choices in terms of where they spend their money and how much they spend, and that slows the overall pace of the economy.”

Edited by Alain Sherter

Top 5 most heated moments as progressives spar over who is further to the left in final Dem Senate debate

Massachusetts Democrats Ed Markey, Seth Moulton clash over progressive credentials while embracing socialism

August 21, 2026 2:41pm EDT / Fox News

By Kiera McDonald, Andrew Mark Miller

Incumbent Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., faced off over transgender athletes, ICE, socialism and term limits in their final debate before the Sept. 1 Democratic primary. (Credit: WCVB)

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

The two Democratic candidates for United States Senate in Massachusetts took to the debate stage Thursday night, and both made the case to voters in the deep blue commonwealth that their campaigns are most likely to deliver on far-left agenda items.

Incumbent Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., faced pressing questions over hot-button issues, including transgender athletes participating in women’s sports, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, term limits in Congress and socialism’s growing influence within the Democratic Party during their final debate.

Transgender athletes in women’s sports

Markey and Moulton agreed biological males should be able to participate in female sports, with Markey saying, “Yes, I do,” when asked if that should be allowed.

“That is the law in Massachusetts, and I think it’s the correct law,” he said.

SUPREME COURT MAKES RULING ON TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS

Incumbent Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., faced off over transgender athletes, ICE, socialism and term limits in their final debate before the Sept. 1 Democratic primary.(WCVB)

The question of transgender athletes in sports did get contentious when Markey called out Moulton over a comment two years ago in which Moulton said he did not want his young daughters “getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete.”

Markey accused Moulton of using transgender athletes as “political fodder” and throwing them under “the political bus.”

In response, Moulton apologized for his past remarks, saying he did not intend to hurt anyone and that Republicans were the real enemy. Markey laughed and shook his head throughout the answer.

“My intention is to say, if we as Democrats don’t start making these decisions, don’t foster this debate ourselves, then we’re just ceding the field to Republicans who will continue to put forward this hateful legislation,” Moulton said.

The exchange sparked criticism from conservatives online after it was highlighted by the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) X account.

“Another Democrat senator says ‘it is absolutely essential’ that males should be able to play in female sports. Should women boxers, runners, and shot put throwers have to compete against me?” Crime Prevention Research Center President John Lott posted on X.

“Why do Democrats keep fighting on this hill?”

Abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Turning to immigration enforcement, Moulton and Markey both called for abolishing ICE and holding the Trump administration accountable for its actions.

Moulton called ICE “completely corrupt” and “staffed by thugs,” while calling for their prosecutions.

“I think a mistake that we made after the first Trump administration is not doing enough to hold them accountable,” he said.

Markey said he opposed ICE’s creation from the beginning over “seeds of authoritarianism.”

Casting Trump as a threat to democracy

Both Democrats took aim at President Donald Trump, with Markey calling for his impeachment and accusing him of using the SAVE America Act to “steal” the election.

WATCH: HAWLEY FUMES AFTER 4 GOP SENATORS HELP SINK TRUMP-BACKED VOTER ID LAW

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., June 4, 2026.(Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“That’s what the SAVE America Act is all about,” he said. “It’s all about stealing the election this fall.”

The GOP-backed voter integrity bill championed by Trump would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot in federal elections and has faced intense Democratic opposition as well as a difficult path in the Senate.

Moulton blamed the Democratic Party and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for failing to push back on MAGA Republicans.

“The Democratic establishment, especially under Chuck Schumer, has not been effective at holding Trump accountable, has not been effective in winning majorities across the country, has not been effective at fundamentally defeating Trump and the MAGA Republicans,” he said.

Embracing the socialist push in the Democratic Party

As socialist candidates continue to gain power in the Democratic Party and win elections across the country, both candidates urged the party to embrace the shift and move even further to the left.

Markey said his party should continue to be “more progressive” and focus on the priorities of young voters when both candidates were asked what the Democratic Party needs to change as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) continues to gain traction.

DEM REP SETH MOULTON SAYS PARTY HAS NO IMMIGRATION PLAN, IS ONLY ‘OPPOSITION TO TRUMP’

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., speaks during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Aerospace Summit in Washington, D.C., Sept. 10, 2025.(Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“They support Medicare-for-all,” he said. “They know the healthcare system in our country is a sick care system. They want it fixed. They want a Green New Deal.”

Moulton said Democrats need to break from the party establishment and instead focus on affordability, pointing to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as an example.

“I mean, we saw this from Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City now,” he said.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6399301722112

Socialists have also gained momentum within the party after scoring several primary victories ahead of the midterms.

Term limits and questions about Sen. Markey’s age

When asked about term limits, Markey, who was first elected to the House in 1976, defended his ability to serve another term, insisting he can “do the job.”

“Well, I think everyone watching this debate can see that I’m more energized than I’ve ever been before and in my life,” the 80-year-old senator said. “Congressman Moulton has a hard time keeping up with me.”

Moulton said on the stage that he supports term limits in Congress.

“I served with some of the most amazing leaders in my life in the Marines, but at 23 years old, they don’t get to run for Congress,” Moulton said. “I think we should have upper age limits as well.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The winner of the Sept. 1 Democratic primary will advance to the November general election to face Republican attorney and Marine veteran John Deaton in the high-profile race.

Kiera McDonald is a Production Assistant for Fox News Digital.

AI companies accused of hoarding and destroying millions of books

August 21, 2026 / 3:12 PM EDT / CBS News

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

Read Full Bio

More than a dozen public interest and consumer advocacy groups are urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate leading artificial intelligence developers for allegedly buying, scanning and destroying books used to train their large language models, a practice the organizations described as “destructive” and anticompetitive.

In a letter to FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Commissioner Mark Meador on Friday, the Demand Progress Education Fund, Consumer Federation of America and Institute for Local Self-Reliance, among other groups, said the AI companies are buying books in bulk, digitizing the content to train their AI apps and then destroying the physical copies. In some cases, the destroyed books are among the last surviving copies of original works, according to the letter.

Such “hoard-and-destroy” practices, as critics call them, could make it harder for the public and for other AI companies to access essential source material, the groups argue. Destroying books could also constitute an unfair method of competition under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which bars unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce, they allege.

“Through their practice of permanently destroying books en masse and thus removing those nonrenewable resources from broader access, AI companies are engineering a future where only the wealthiest incumbents can build high-quality AI models and operate as the sole holders of humanity’s written works — after having destroyed the originals to get there,” the letter states.

The groups are asking the FTC to determine the scale of the practice and how many of the destroyed books are the last remaining copies of the underlying works.

The groups cite an August 2024 copyright lawsuit brought by writer Andrea Bartz and others against AI developer Anthropic, which they accused of acquiring, scanning and discarding millions of print books. In 2025, a judge ruled that Anthropic’s use of legally purchased books to train its AI model, Claude, did not violate copyright law.

Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A separate investigation by digital publisher 404 Media this week reported that Amazon is buying books in bulk, scanning them to train its AI tools and then destroying them. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

Edited by Alain Sherter