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US watchdog to conduct review of whistleblower warning on mail-in voting rules

2026-09-08T18:32:23.97Z / Reuters

By David Shepardson

September 8, 2026 6:32 PM UTC Updated 16 mins ago

[1/3]A mail-in ballot, during the Pennsylvania primary election, is displayed in this illustration picture taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 19, 2026. REUTERS/Hannah Beier/Illustration/File Photo

WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General said on Tuesday it plans ​to conduct an independent review of allegations from a whistleblower ‌who has warned proposed USPS mail-in voting restrictions could result in thousands of legal ballots being discarded.

On Friday, a federal judge in Boston extended a ban ​stopping President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing a new USPS ​rule that would tighten mail-in voting requirements ahead of the ⁠November congressional elections.

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Last week, President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court ​to let it enforce the new USPS rule on use of mail-in ​ballots.

Lawmakers have urged USPS to halt work on new mail-in voting rules, saying they threaten the integrity of the November congressional elections. They cited a whistleblower who ​warned that USPS’ planned “verification” systems “risk collapsing the absentee ballot system and ​disenfranchising millions of Americans.”

The USPS regulation would impose new voter-specific data and ballot ‌envelope ⁠standards, and potentially refuse the delivery of ballots that do not comply, which critics say could disrupt thousands of legitimate votes as the November 3 vote approaches.

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Republicans are locked in a tight battle to retain control ​of Congress in ​the elections. Critics ⁠say restricting mail-in ballots would disproportionately benefit Republicans given that Democratic voters traditionally have been more likely ​to use mail-in ballots.

Under the new USPS rule, states must ​provide ⁠lists of mail ballot recipients to the postal service and use agency-approved outbound and return ballot mail envelopes outfitted with unique barcodes. The postal ⁠service ​could then refuse to send out ballots ​that do not comply with the new standards or are associated with voters who do ​not appear on the lists.

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Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Aurora Ellis

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Reporter’s Notebook: Dem rebels expose cracks in Jeffries’ House leadership

Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic leaders call the surprise move ‘a significant breach of trust’ requiring a serious response

September 8, 2026 2:13pm EDT / Fox News

By Chad Pergram

Two House Democrats break from party, vote to advance GOP measures

House Democrats Jared Golden and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez face intense party backlash after defecting to vote with Republicans on key measures. Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports on the political fallout from Capitol Hill, where leadership calls the move a breach of trust.

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Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, may retire from Congress next year with a reputation that is anything but gilded among his fellow Democrats.

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., is seeking re-election in a competitive district. But some of her colleagues may consider “MGP” to be notorious if she returns to Capitol Hill in January.

The House of Representatives is now out — again — until Sept. 14. That follows a six-week sabbatical over the summer. But were it not for Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez, House Republican leaders may have had no other choice but to send members home early a few days ago. The duo committed something close to a parliamentary heresy, handing the GOP the necessary votes on a procedural matter to unlock the floor for the majority.

Republicans lacked the votes to do it on their own – had Golden and Gluesenkamp not intervened.

JEFFRIES THREATENS ‘SERIOUS RESPONSE’ AFTER DEMOCRATS HELP GOP ADVANCE ANTI-SOCIALISM VOTE

Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Jared Golden are among the Democrats who voted to rebuke Rep. Jesus “Chuy” García despite House Democratic leaders urging against it.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images ; Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

However, the most schismatic betrayal was that neither one briefed Democratic leaders on what they planned to do. Congressional leaders from both sides are never pleased with members who stray from the party line. Especially on a procedural vote, which is almost always the responsibility of the majority to pass. But at the very least, leaders like to be clued in. They might give someone a pass if they understand the reasoning.

“Did they give you a heads up that they were going to vote with Republicans on that rule?” asked Fox News’ Kelly Phares of House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass.

“They did not. They surprised us,” answered Clark.

Yours truly observed to Rep. Tim Kennedy, D-N.Y., that in politics it’s always best to “stab someone in the front” rather than “in the back.”

“There’s a lot to be said for that,” replied Kennedy.

Let’s start with the nature of the dissent by Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez.

Most major pieces of legislation in the House need what’s called a “rule” before the body can debate the measure. The House must debate and approve a “rule,” dictating how much time and what amendments would be in order. The House can’t debate a bill until it first OKs a rule. And except on rare occasions, the majority party is expected to carry the rule. It’s simply something the minority party rarely assists with – except in extreme circumstances.

Last week, the House planned to debate a resolution to condemn socialism, green-light the SAVE America Act, maintain the number of justices on the Supreme Court at nine and consider a plan to help the nation’s lobster industry. The House adopted the rule, 210-208. However, five Republicans voted nay on the rule.

It’s about the math.

Those GOP defections would have killed the rule and frozen the floor for the rest of the week. In fact, the vote may have compelled House Republican leaders to cut everyone loose from Capitol Hill. The House was stalled considering any legislative traffic.

TENSIONS ERUPT IN HOUSE HEARING AS GOP ADVANCES ANTI-SOCIALISM RESOLUTION WHILE DEMS RAGE: ‘SILLY SEASON’

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., attend a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 30, 2026.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez voted yes, unlocking the floor for the remainder of the week.

Democrats seethed at their colleagues for blindsiding them.

“The two Democrats who have voted to move a procedural bill forward didn’t do the right thing,” said Kennedy.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Clark and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., issued a rare, joint condemnation of the dissenting duo. They characterized the revolt “a significant breach of trust,” adding it “necessitates a serious response.”

“It’s a mistake to vote against our caucus. We have to be unified,” said Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.

Golden said he voted with Republicans so the House could pass the bill safeguarding Maine’s lobster industry.

“It’s about protecting the working-class communities those men and women support. In my district, lobster fishing is the backbone of towns up and down the coast,” said Golden. “In some towns, 20 to 40% of residents hold a lobster license.”

Political observers view the infighting as a misstep for the party ahead of November.

“As a member, you should be able to communicate with your leaders and how you intend to vote,” said Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev. “Something was skipped along the way.”

While some lawmakers blamed Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez, others said this was the fault of Jeffries. Others put it on Clark. Still, there were those pinning this on the entire leadership team.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., knows something about his own members undercutting him. Republicans stripped McCarthy of the speaker’s gavel nearly three years ago. But the California Republican believes the problem with Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez falls on the shoulder of Jeffries.

“You would know who would be the five to eight Democrats who would leverage that [vote],” said McCarthy. “You would have reached out to them.”

One former Democratic aide noted that it wasn’t even what Jeffries, Clark and Aguilar said in their statement. But it was the very fact that a statement appeared. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., never would have sent a statement. Her leadership power was implicit. Everyone knew not to cross her. Or, if there was an issue, at least have a conversation.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES DERAIL GOP AGENDA IN SAVE AMERICA ACT SHOWDOWN

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., waves to the crowd during the 52nd annual San Francisco Pride Parade on June 26, 2022.(Arun Nevader/Getty Images)

Jeffries has not been the House’s top Democrat in the majority. That could change if Democrats win the House this fall. But McCarthy argued the statement said a lot about Jeffries.

“If Hakeem has to put out a statement that he’s strong, it’s a sign that he is weak,” said McCarthy.

One senior House Democratic leadership source said rank-and-file members demanded accountability by Jeffries. Golden is done in January. Gluesenkamp Perez has repeatedly defied political gravity in a district which favors President Donald Trump. The source didn’t believe anything Machiavellian was afoot between Democratic leaders and Gluesenkamp Perez. But the source indicated that Gluesenkamp Perez tussling with the Democratic brass probably helps the Washington Democrat back home.

Still, some Democrats demanded retribution.

“I think there should be consequences. I think at the end of the day, we have a caucus united against what Republicans are trying to do,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee.

Actions speak louder than words. Remember that Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez voted against a “rule” in the House. Gluesenkamp Perez appeared at an unrelated meeting of the Rules Committee the next day. During her testimony, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the panel, swiveled around in his chair and sat with his back to his fellow Democrat.

Jeffries hoped to turn a corner with the renegades. He spoke briefly with Golden. But had a deeper conversation with Gluesenkamp Perez.

“Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and myself were able to talk in a very forward-looking way about how to make sure that we’re all on the same page as we approach the midterm elections and beyond,” said Jeffries.

He indicated that McGovern and Gluesenkamp Perez also talked.

But the leader was cryptic when pressed why he even had to issue an admonition.

HOUSE DEMOCRAT LASHES OUT WHEN GRILLED ON WHETHER SOCIALIST VICTORIES WOULD THREATEN DEM UNITY

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks onstage during “The New Power Structure: Black Politics in the Age of Resistance” panel at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 13, 2026.(Getty Images)

“Does that say something about where the Democratic Caucus is and if they follow your leadership?” I pressed Jeffries.

“Res ipsa loquitur,” answered Jeffries. “That’s Latin for ‘the thing speaks for itself.’”

Not really.

Was the statement just a warning shot as Jeffries tries to flex his muscles in anticipation of becoming speaker and presiding over a Democratic majority next year? Where’s that “serious response” that Democratic leaders spoke of?

Some Democrats who are angry about the desertion will demand action. And if Jeffries doesn’t respond forcefully – despite a declaration otherwise – some members may interpret the warning statement as prattle.

That said, Democrats need Gluesenkamp Perez to win her district in order to claim the majority. And more specifically, Jeffries needs Gluesenkamp Perez to support him for speaker if Democrats have control next year and the margin is close.

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Res ipsa loquitur? If Jeffries doesn’t take action – that speaks for itself, too.

Chad Pergram currently serves as Chief Congressional Correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.

Can Republicans dodge the impact of Trump’s Canada tariffs ahead of midterms?

2026-09-08T17:33:16.118Z / CNN

Dana Bash

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 1:33 PM EDT, Tue September 8, 2026

Can Republicans dodge the impact of Trump’s Canada tariffs ahead of midterms?

Inside Politics

Key midterm states could be some of the hardest hit by the latest salvo in President Trump’s trade war with Canada. The Inside Politics panel breaks down how Republican candidates are separating themselves from Trump on this crucial issue—but still emphasizing their close relationship with the White House while doing it.

2:08 • Source: CNN

Dana Bash has today’s midterm headlines with 56 days until the election

1:55 PM EDT, Tue September 8, 2026 / By Dana Bash, CNN

Dana Bash has today’s midterm headlines with 56 days until the election

Inside Politics

Inside Politics brings you the latest news on key races across the country, including a Senate primary in New Hampshire, a leaked conversation from Independent Nebraska Senate candidate Dan Osborn, and how President Trump’s latest attacks on a Canadian company could upend the Senate race in Kansas.

3:02 • Source: CNN

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US FCC proposes to open more wireless spectrum for space-based wireless service

September 8, 2026 6:43 PM UTC Updated 1 hour ago / Reuters

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seal decorates a wall inside their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 22, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) – The Federal Communications ​Commission said on ​Tuesday it is moving to ​open more ​wireless spectrum for access ⁠for space-based ​broadband service.

The ​FCC said its order to be voted ​on September ​30 would open many ‌thousands ⁠of megahertz to boost capacity for high-speed ​satellite ​broadband ⁠to the home, in-flight ​and on-ship ​connectivity, ⁠and traffic-routing functions in satellite ⁠ground ​networks.

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Reporting ​by David Shepardson; Editing ​by Chris Reese

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21 Air, operator of plane in Miami crash, had prior safety complaints by former employees

2026-09-08T15:57:00-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/miami-plane-crash-air-21-safety-record/

The Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767 cargo plane that crashed off a Miami runway on Sunday, killing five people, was operated by a North Carolina company that has been accused by past employees of violating safety regulations, legal documents reveal.

The cargo airline hired by Amazon, 21 Air, is controlled by Houston Astros owner Jim Crane through an LLC. The company has faced a string of safety complaints from senior staff who claim they were fired for raising concerns, CBS News has learned from records and interviews.

“Unfortunately, 21 Air has a long established history of safety problems,” said Karl Seuring, a pilot with more than 30 years of experience who filed a legal complaint alleging that when he raised safety concerns he was told by a 21 Air manager, “It’s not going to change.”

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rejected Seuring’s complaint over his alleged retaliatory firing by 21 Air. His appeal led to a 2023 Department of Labor tribunal — a hearing in front of a federal judge — where the case is still pending.

Seuring and other former 21 Air pilots claimed managers suppressed safety reports, pushed crew to fly without proper rest, staffed pilots who could not communicate safely in English, and put faulty planes in the sky, documents show.

Executives were accused of “paying lip service” to safety procedures “then doing exactly nothing,” according to a resignation letter written by a former fighter pilot reviewing safety policy for the company and sent to 21 Air owner Crane in 2021.

Former 21 Air chief pilot Bruce Joseph testified in the Labor Department tribunal that he had “personal knowledge of people being discouraged” from logging safety concerns in the company system “on numerous occasions.”

He alleged in his tribunal testimony that the firm’s then-director of safety told him “don’t put anything” in the safety management software before speaking to the company’s then-CEO, Mike Mendez. Asked whether reports eventually got filed, he replied: “Most of it did not.”

“There were a couple of occasions where it actually did, only because I would press,” Joseph told the judge in March 2024. “If I put it in, I would have the wrath of Mike.”

Mendez testified that Joseph “was fired from 21 Air and left under very bad circumstances” and that he believed the former chief pilot was trying to “make up” damaging claims.

The former 21 Air CEO denied any retaliation and said he followed safety procedures. “My responsibility is to make sure we run a safe airline, not to hurt people and not to hide anything,” he testified.

Mendez declined to comment further when contacted by CBS News.

Seuring’s attorney, Michael Anello, told the judge that another 21 Air pilot, Johnny Salmonson, “was being pressured to fly in periods of time that were too short to comply with the proper amounts of rest, and that implicated safety. The layovers were too short.”

“The management was pushing the pilots, and the result was he was retaliated against,” Anello said.

When Seuring questioned whether flight plans with safety attestations — including how long pilots had been on duty before they started another flight — were accurate, he was told to “just sign it,” his legal complaint claimed.

The pilot testified that he was in the jump seat of a 21 Air Boeing 767 on April 13, 2022, when a mechanical problem made the plane continue sharply accelerating after takeoff from Newark, New Jersey, causing it to exceed speeds that could damage its wing flaps and leaving him “concerned for my own safety.”

He alleged in tribunal testimony that there was a “breakdown of communication” between the captain, David Norgren, and the first officer after the incident.

“We had no debrief. No discussion. Assume it didn’t happen,” Seuring told the judge.

Norgren did not respond to a request for comment.

Seuring also testified about an 21 Air plane flying from Alabama to Trinidad in the spring of 2022 that allegedly had a pressurization problem forcing it to make an emergency diversion to Puerto Rico.

He claimed the captain, then-21 Air fleet manager Amir Anoshiravani, had an “inability to take command of the operation,” saying “the first officers had to jointly intervene to get the airplane safely on the ground.”

Anoshiravani denied any such incident and told CBS News he had “never come in contact” with Seuring. “I don’t believe in lies,” he said. “He has anger at the company because he was fired.”

21 Air did not respond to CBS News’ requests for comment. The company has posted a statement on its website saying it is “cooperating fully” with the NTSB investigation.

“Our deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives,” the statement said.

An Amazon spokesperson told CBS News, “We’ll defer to the NTSB regarding the circumstances of their investigation and to 21 Air regarding these allegations that pre-date our relationship with the company.”

A spokesperson previously said the company was “heartbroken” at the deaths and that it is cooperating with authorities.

A Boeing 767-300, operated by 21 Air as Prime Air Flight 7598, crashed after overshooting the runway at Miami International Airport on Sept. 6, 2026. Eva Marie Uzcategui / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Retired 21 Air pilot Tony Bless, who testified in Seuring’s case, told CBS News that for him, Sunday’s crash in Miami did not come out of the blue.

“It’s something a lot of us ex-21 Air pilots have been anticipating for a while,” he said, citing “maintenance safety issues, the pressure out of the chief pilot’s office, and the quality of pilots they would hire.”

Bless claimed the company would routinely defer maintenance, and that things would often go wrong on its aging converted passenger planes.

In one notable incident on a flight from Bermuda to New Jersey in 2022, he claimed his 21 Air plane’s radar stopped working just as they navigated the worst turbulence of his 40-year career.

“I let the company know in no uncertain terms that I would not fly that plane again until they put a new radar in,” he said.

“We’ve had fuel leak issues. We’ve had radar problems and circuit breakers, smoke in the cockpit,” Seuring told CBS News. “Pilots were coached on how the write-ups should be done.”

Seuring, who served as president of the 21 Air union, said pilots had to fend for themselves when trying to get sleep on long flights.

“None of these airplanes had good crew rest on board,” he said. “My vice president of the union actually bought sleeping bags for airplanes to give the pilots a reasonable way to get some crew rest on long nighttime flights.”

Former fighter pilot Don Helmig wrote a resignation email to 21 Air majority owner Jim Crane in June 2021, warning him of safety issues at the company.

“After three months, everywhere I looked there are issues,” he wrote. “In my opinion, what they wished me to do is say nothing, but that is not how Safety is supposed to operate, by paying ‘lip service to SMS’ [Safety Management Systems] then doing exactly nothing.”

Attached to the email were seven documents with titles concerning scheduling, training, communications, emergency response and culture at the firm.

“Now you know every Core Issue I have placed on paper. I think you will surround yourself with competence and figure out the rest,” he wrote.

The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation into Sunday’s crash, and there has been no determination yet about its cause. It is not known whether past safety issues had any connection to the Sunday incident in Miami.

The pilots have been identified as Captain Joseph Carroll, 55, and First Officer Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, 37 — both hospitalized after the crash but since released.

The five people killed in the crash were members of a cleaning crew in a van hit by the plane, Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said.

Flight tracking data obtained by CBS News shows that 4 miles out from the 9,360-foot-long Miami runway, the plane suddenly leveled out and stopped its descent for about 25 seconds.

The deviation meant the plane approached the airport while still too high. Instead of calling off the landing, it then took a steep decline around twice the normal rate.

Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the Department of Transportation, told CBS News the answer may lie in the plane’s black box, with cockpit audio recordings and logs of any mechanical failures.

“What was going on in that cockpit?” she said. “Fighting a bunch of turbulence and wind shifts, or lack of crew resource management?”

Newsom admits democratic socialist ideas ‘mainstream’ in Democrat party: ‘Pretty aligned’

September 8, 2026 12:15pm EDT / Fox News

The California governor cited universal healthcare, climate change and moving off fossil fuels as shared priorities

By Peter Pinedo Fox News

Newsom called out for refusing to distance from DSA

Fox News contributor Joe Concha reacts to the first-ever Republican midterm convention and California Gov. Gavin Newsom defending the Democratic Socialists of America. Newsom argues against Democrats distancing themselves from the group, calling for a ‘big-tent party.’ Concha breaks down the political implications of these comments ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

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In an interview discussing his rumored 2028 presidential run, California Gov. Gavin Newsom asserted that the Democratic Party is “pretty aligned” with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), especially when it comes to universal healthcare, climate change and moving away from fossil fuel usage.

During an interview with “PBS NewsHour,” Newsom was questioned about what recent democratic socialist victories across the country mean for the Democratic Party.

“If you have these candidates and this platform that is clearly animating the base, energizing turnout, should more of those ideas be worked into the broader Democratic platform?” Newsom was asked.

“I think they are,” Newsom shot back. “I mean, we want money out of politics. I’ve been supporting clean money campaigns for decades.”

NEWSOM TELLS DEMOCRATS TO BE IN THE ‘ADDITION NOT SUBTRACTION’ BUSINESS WITH SOCIALISTS

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California speaks during a congressional redistricting event, on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

The interviewer pressed Newsom further, saying, “There seems to be some distance between [Democratic] leadership and those DSA candidates.”

“But, not the ideas,” Newsom responded.

“I believe in universal healthcare, and I believe in Medicare for All, the party does overwhelmingly,” he said. “And so, if it’s about more money in your pocket, lowering costs, getting money out of politics, if it’s about Medicare for All, I think we’re pretty aligned.”

He added, “It’s about recognizing that we’ve got a planet that is getting hotter and drier and that we’ve got to address the issue of climate change, we want energy security, and we want to move off fossil fuels. That’s a DSA position, that’s a mainstream position within the Democratic Party.”

Newsom dismissed worry about democratic socialist influence in American politics, saying, “I think in many ways, it’s just a label … it’s just such a familiar label to me, we call them progressives.”

NEWSOM HIT WITH LAWSUIT THREAT AS WHISTLEBLOWER BEGS TRUMP FOR HELP WITH ‘MONUMENTAL’ FRAUD SCANDAL

Members of the Democratic Socialists of America gather outside a Trump-owned building on May Day, May 1, 2019, in New York City.(Getty Images)

“Maybe it’s just because I’m from California and I think it’s healthy … I’m not consumed by this,” the governor continued, adding that the DSA’s ideas reflect “aspects and component parts of our party that we’ve always had, and it’s a healthy dialectic within the party.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office for additional comment. Fox News Digital also reached out to the DSA and to the Democratic National Committee for comment.

The DSA is the pre-eminent socialist political group in the U.S. This year, the group rolled out an updated platform that includes eliminating the Senate and replacing the president and the Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen by Congress. Additionally, the updated platform includes amnesty for all immigrants and defunding the Department of War.

JENNIFER SIEBEL NEWSOM DODGES QUESTION ON HUSBAND GAVIN’S PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a rally with Harris County Democrats at the IBEW local 716 union hall on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in Houston.(AP Photo/Karen Warren)

This is in addition to the DSA’s already existing policy platform, which calls for an “immediate end to all deportations,” free migration between countries without restrictive immigration controls, and “extending full voting rights to people with criminal convictions and noncitizens.”

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Once considered a fringe movement on the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, the DSA has been gaining relevance, with several of its members toppling longtime establishment party figures. This has prompted many to speculate that the DSA represents the Democratic Party’s future.

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

US targets Iran’s airline industry as part of pressure campaign

2026-09-08T16:01:58.477Z / CNN

By Jennifer Hansler

Updated 58 min ago

Updated Sep 8, 2026, 3:05 PM ET

PUBLISHED Sep 8, 2026, 12:01 PM ET

The Middle East Aviation news

In this 2019 photo, an Airbus A340-600 airplane of Mahan Air is seen at Simon Bolivar International Airport outside Caracas, Venezuela.

Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

The Trump administration took sweeping actions against Iran’s airline industry on Tuesday as part of its pressure campaign on Tehran.

The latest sanctions hit 27 Iranian airlines and nine service providers and sales agents accused of providing services to Mahan Air, which has been sanctioned since 2011. Mahan Air is a private Iranian airline accused of providing key support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The service providers and sales agents sanctioned Tuesday are in Turkey, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates.

“These jurisdictions have been on notice for some time, and now we’re moving quite directly to essentially cut off those operators from the Western financial system,” a Treasury official said Tuesday. It is not the first time the administration has targeted operators in other countries for allegedly supporting Mahan Air.

In addition, the US Treasury Department is “effectively today terminating all licenses that related to aviation,” the official said, including “payments for overflights of Iranian airspace, authorizations that have allowed non-US airlines that were flying US export-controlled airplanes into Iran.”

“We’ve also pulled back on a general license for safety and other emergency aviation support,” they said, noting they could consider such licenses on a case-by-case basis.

“Essentially, we’re taking the entire aviation sector of the Iranian economy out of the market,” they said.

The latest measures come as the administration seeks to cut off Tehran’s financial lifelines and stop its ability to fund the ongoing war. Administration officials like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have raised the prospect of regime change in connection to the sanctions.

Richard Nephew, a former US deputy special envoy for Iran, said the new airline sanctions “could be meaningful but mostly as a way of making it hard to engage in clandestine procurement and similar given the blockade” the US has maintained in the Strait of Hormuz.

“Tourism has dried up, not surprisingly, so this mainly hinders business and cargo transfers,” he told CNN. “If we take the next stop and threaten airports providing services, (it) could reduce overall transit.”

Still, experts and diplomats have questioned the overall impact the new sanctions campaign, dubbed “Operation Economic Outcast,” will have on Tehran, which has withstood decades of economic pressure.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi scoffed at the latest sanctions efforts by the US.

“After 47 years of sanctions, the US went to war with Iran on behalf of Israel. The fallout has been disastrous for America, including its standing worldwide,” he wrote on X. “After failing to achieve its aims through sanctions or war, Washington’s ‘novel’ solution is…more sanctions. Seriously?”

The Treasury official on Tuesday claimed there are a “number of different economic indicators” and “a number of different anecdotes that we’re seeing that sort of suggest and sort of show the effect that this is having.”

There has also been deep skepticism from experts and diplomats that the US will take meaningful action against key Iranian partners like China.

“We have more in common with the Chinese on Iran than we disagree with them on,” Bessent said at an event on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers meeting last week, referencing nuclear weapons and freedom of navigation.

Asked about conversations and possible points of agreement with Beijing, another Treasury official said Tuesday that Bessent has “had a number of conversations with lots of foreign counterparts about these issues, and some of those conversations are best kept private.”

“Just know that there is a level of progress being made, even if you may not see it publicly,” the official said without specifically referring to China.

Trump honors 9/11 first responders — and plugs his political priorities

2026-09-08T17:48:28.615Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/08/politics/trump-9-11-event-iran

President Donald Trump on Tuesday honored the heroes who bravely ran toward the danger during the September 11, 2001, terror attacks as the nation prepares to commemorate the day’s solemn 25th anniversary.

He also used the event near the White House in Washington, DC, to briefly plug some of his own priorities, including arguing for his war with Iran and comparing the danger officers faced during 9/11 to the threat of communism — one of his frequent digs at the Democratic Party ahead of the midterms.

A crowd of first responders from New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania, along with service members, Gold Star families and the families of fallen first responders gathered on the Ellipse, where a 21-foot, 13,900-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower was on display.

“When we see this steel, we’re reminded that no matter what threat or challenge comes our way, America will fight. America will endure, and America will prevail,” the president said.

Trump, a native New Yorker, recalled his own experience that day: “I saw things that I never want to see again.” He described a trip to Ground Zero in the days that followed as “raw.”

The steel beam, which has traveled from Lower Manhattan to key sites — including the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, where then-President George W. Bush was reading with second grade students when he learned the second tower had been hit — is part of a broader educational effort to teach Americans about the service and sacrifice of the heroes of 9/11. And it’s a reminder — as more Americans grow up who were either too young to remember the fatal day or not born yet — to never forget.

At the entrance to the event, images of more than 400 first responders who lost their lives provided a reminder of the sacrifice. Trump repeatedly praised the first responders, but also drew a comparison between the tragedy and the administration’s war with Iran, now in its seventh month.

“We’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon. They were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance of getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Trump also posthumously honored Welles Crowther with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Known as the “man in the red bandana,” Crowther, an equity trader and volunteer firefighter, made three trips to the South Tower’s 78th floor lobby to help guide people to safety before the tower collapsed. Trump quipped during his speech that the fallen hero had “become more famous than me. I don’t like it.”

The president recognized some of the officials in the audience, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — who at the time of the attack was the president of Cantor Fitzgerald, which had offices in the World Trade Center and lost 658 employees, including Lutnick’s brother.

Lutnick has come under scrutiny in recent days after the secretary falsely asserted in a CNBC interview that no Americans had died during the war with Iran. Trump preemptively sought to downplay the remark on Truth Social last week, and Lutnick later apologized for the comment.

“He’s got some faults, but overall, he’s excellent,” Trump said Tuesday.

The president’s speech also briefly veered political as he heralded the nation’s law enforcement, suggesting that they are responsible for protecting the country from threats — including communism, repeating a theme he’s used to attack Democrats on the campaign trail.

“Our law enforcement holds our country together in light of some threats. We have some very real threats right now. We have people that want to go a different way, they want to go a communistic way. Well, that’s not going to work,” he said.

Trump is not expected to travel to New York City on Friday for anniversary ceremonies at the World Trade Center, but will mark the moment at the Pentagon. Trump is not attending the World Trade Center ceremony in part because he wants to deliver remarks, people familiar with his plans said. Politicians have not been permitted to speak at the event in New York since 2012.

CNN’s Alayna Treene contributed to this report.

IRS under Trump unlawfully shared taxpayer info with immigration authorities, court rules

2026-09-08T19:22:33.387Z / Reuters

A view of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 1, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno

• Summary

• Court says IRS shared roughly 47,000 taxpayer addresses with ICE in 2025
• ICE had requested as many as 1.28 million taxpayer addresses
• Court says IRS move flouted post-Watergate federal law

Sept 8 (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals ​court on Tuesday upheld an injunction blocking an Internal Revenue Service policy that allowed ‌it to share thousands of taxpayers’ addresses with immigration authorities, saying the Trump administration’s practice violated federal law.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

ruled that the IRS last year disclosed roughly 47,000 ​taxpayer addresses to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under a procedure adopted as part of ​the administration’s efforts to expand immigration enforcement.

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The IRS and U.S. Department of Homeland ⁠Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to requests for comment.

Under an agreement between the agencies, the ​IRS in July 2025 began processing ICE requests for the last known addresses of as many as ​1.28 million people suspected of unlawfully residing in the United States.

The IRS adopted a procedure that allowed ICE to obtain information on taxpayers if it provided a five- or nine-digit number in an address field, even if that number was ​not an actual ZIP code.

Groups including the Center for Taxpayer Rights and the Main Street Alliance sued, ​arguing the practice was unlawful. A lower-court judge agreed and blocked the policy, by which time the IRS had ‌already shared ⁠47,289 records with ICE.

President Donald Trump’s administration on appeal contended the ruling hindered federal law enforcement.

“But that’s a gripe with Congress, not the court,” U.S. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard said in the appeals court’s ruling.

Pillard, like the rest of the three-judge panel, was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama.

After the Watergate scandal ​during President Richard Nixon’s ​era exposed abuses of ⁠U.S. taxpayers’ information, Congress barred the IRS sharing information with other government agencies unless they complied with stringent conditions.

Pillard said the procedures the IRS under Trump ​adopted violated federal law in numerous ways, including “most egregiously” by not even ​requiring ICE to ⁠provide an actual address for a taxpayer as legally required.

The practice, Pillard said, “automates the review of millions of records without any individual review or any other means of ensuring compliance with the legal prerequisites to releasing ⁠each individual ​taxpayer’s information.”

Skye Perryman, whose liberal legal group Democracy Forward represented ​the plaintiffs, in a statement said she was pleased the court “acted to stop this unlawful behavior.”

“The privacy laws enacted in the ​post-Watergate era exist to prevent abuses of power just like this,” she said.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston