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Reporter’s Notebook: Democrats face an impeachment tractor beam that could derail their affordability message

Hakeem Jeffries says he hasn’t ‘ruled anything in’ or ‘ruled anything out’ as progressives push for action

September 25, 2026 2:14pm EDT / Fox News

By Chad Pergram

Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram previews Congress’ return to Washington and the legislative issues facing lawmakers ahead of the midterms, including artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency regulation.

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In the original Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca and Obi-Wan Kenobi find the Millennium Falcon under fire from Imperial TIE fighters in deep outer space. Luke speculates that the TIE fighters are “heading for that small moon.”

But Obi-Wan’s visage grows grim.

“That’s no moon,” intones Obi-Wan. “It’s a space station.”

Han Solo disagrees.

“It’s too big to be a space station,” says Han. To which, Obi-Wan instructs him, “Turn the ship around.”

But as quickly as he dismissed Kenobi’s observation, Solo pivots. He grimaces, realizing that the wise Jedi Knight is on to something.

DEMOCRAT AL GREEN TO FORCE HOUSE-WIDE VOTE ON IMPEACHING TRUMP

U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from the media during a bilateral meeting with President of Lebanon Joseph Aoun in the Oval Office of the White House on July 21, 2026, in Washington, D.C.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“Yeah. I think you’re right,” Han replies. The Millennium Falcon starts to shake.

“Chewie, lock in the auxiliary power,” Han commands his shipmate. “Why are we still moving towards it?” squeaks Luke.

“We’re caught in a tractor beam and it’s pulling us in!” shouts Han.

And a few moments later, the Millenium Falcon, the fastest ship in the galaxy, is suctioned into Bay 327 of the Death Star, moored, and unable to escape. The band of ragtag heroes are now stuck. On the Death Star.

Grand Moff Tarkin describes it as “the ultimate power in the universe.”

+++++++

Impeachment in Congress is kind of like the Death Star’s tractor beam. You can’t escape once you’re in its clenches. A decision to impeach sucks a political party in, eventually marooning everyone in the political equivalent of a hangar bay.

For Democrats, they can’t focus on the price of eggs and milk. There’s little debate about gas prices. It’s a challenge to even address oversight issues.

You can try to “lock in the auxiliary power.” But it’s too late.

You might think impeachment is “a moon.” But it’s really the political Death Star.

Not for your adversary. But often those orchestrating the impeachment.

Democrats might find themselves in an impeachment bind if they capture the majority next year. Progressives and the left will possess one of the loudest voices in Congress. And even though Democrats twice impeached President Trump in 2019 and 2021, some will insist on doing it again. That’s to say nothing of trying to impeach a host of Trump Administration cabinet officials – ranging from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Some Democrats are already falling prey to the impeachment tractor beam.

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, led the initial effort to impeach President Trump during his first term in 2017 – long before the successful impeachment over Ukraine in 2019. Republican redistricting – engineered by President Trump forced Green out of his Houston-based district earlier this year. But Green engineered yet another effort to impeach the President last week as the Texas Democrat heads for the exit.

MIDTERM HISTORY MASSIVELY FAVORS DEMOCRATS. BUT THEY ARE MAKING A BIG MISTAKE

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill on November 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C.(Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)

The House voted to sidestep Green’s impeachment resolution, 232-147. So this was not a straight, up or down vote on impeachment. It was one step removed. Forty-seven Democrats voted “present.” That includes the party’s top three Democrats: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.

In some respects, House Democratic leaders want to shun impeachment. Or at least avoid it for the time being.

In 2006, Democrats were on the precipice of flipping control of the House. Democrats largely won the midterms that year because of voter fatigue with President George W. Bush and the calcification of the war in Iraq.

Many Democrats wanted to impeach the President. But as she prepared to clasp the gavel, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., famously declared that impeachment was “off the table.”

House Democrats focused on drawing down the war in Iraq and eventually pivoting to other policy issues like health care and climate change. But Democrats had to get through those midterms first. So once Pelosi said no impeachment, there was no impeachment of the President.

Impeachment with President Trump was kind of “off the table” for Pelosi when Democrats reclaimed the House in the 2018 midterms. But there was a shift among moderate Democrats after disclosures about the President and Ukraine in the summer of 2019. A master of the political pulse, the Speaker understood the direction this was going among her Members. That’s when Pelosi got in front of her caucus, pushing for potential impeachment of the President later that year.

House Democratic leaders are depositing any overt discussion of impeachment on the backburner for now. They don’t want to veer away from their message about affordability. In fact they’ve frequently steered the conversation back to the cost of living when pressed about impeachment.

Consider this response from Jeffries when questioned about impeachment on April 9.

“We’ll have a conversation led by (Rep.) Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, and (Rep.) Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., a former Judiciary Committee Chairman and Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., and Judiciary Committee Democrats tomorrow about Trump administration accountability,” replied Jeffries.

But, unlike completely mimicking Pelosi’s posture years ago, Jeffries signaled he was open to the impeachment question.

“I don’t want to get out ahead of that discussion. But we’ve also been very clear. House Democrats are going to focus on making life more affordable for the American people,” said Jeffries.

On June 14, Kristen Welker of NBC asked Jeffries if his party could “move to impeach President Trump” if Democrats reclaimed the House.

“We haven’t ruled anything in or ruled anything out in terms of accountability. What we have said is that our focus is going to be to make life more affordable for the American people,” answered Jeffries.

On August 25 on CNN, Jeffries deflected a similar impeachment inquiry.

“We haven’t ruled anything in and we haven t ruled anything out,” stated Jeffries.

Impeachment interrogatives continued for Jeffries during a September 13 interview on ABC.

“We haven’t ruled anything in and we haven’t ruled anything out in terms of impeachment,” said Jeffries.

That’s smart politics for Jeffries. He’s trying to keep his hand on the helm before the midterms – and essentially deferring to the political climate of next year and where rank-and-file Democrats might fall next year should Democrats capture the majority. But there are indications that many Democrats are already ready for impeachment. The progressive base will demand action. And it extends well beyond Al Green.

Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., made her case after the President posted to social media in April
that “a whole civilization will die tonight” in reference to Iran.

“If that’s not high crimes and misdemeanors – and if it’s not madness – I don’t know what is,” said Dean.

Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., said that the President was “threatening genocide.”

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said the party should “push for impeachment” and that the President “is unfit to be the Commander in Chief” and “should be removed.”

So Jeffries has a decision to make. The hard left will demand impeachment – for someone. Be it the President or Hegseth. But if Democrats flip the House, their “majority makers” might represent battleground districts. Those prospective lawmakers will be moderates. Impeachment could be politically toxic for them.

TRUMP COULD FACE IMPEACHMENT IF DEMOCRATS SEIZE HOUSE MAJORITY, GOP LEADER WARNS

Rep. Al Green speaks during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on July 23, 2025, in Washington, DC. Rep. Green held a news conference to discuss impeaching President Donald Trump.(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Pelosi’s circumstances evolved in the summer of 2019. Moderate Democrats with national security credentials from swing districts edged toward impeachment. So, she pulled the impeachment trigger. Pelosi knew the direction of her caucus.

In September 2026, it’s not as clear for Jeffries. And it’s not a done deal that Democrats will seize the majority.

That’s why the New York Democrat expressed caution during his conversation on ABC.

“We’ve got to follow the facts. Apply the law. Be guided by the Constitution and then let the chips fall where they may, in the best interest of the American people,” said Jeffries.

+++

Han Solo was skeptical back on the Death Star.

“Even if I could take off, I’d never get past the tractor beam,” said Solo.

“Leave that to me,” promised Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The Jedi Master then eluded detection on the Death Star, manually shutting off the tractor beam. That disgorged the Millenium Falcon. But in the end, Kenobi sacrificed himself for the mission.

On Capitol Hill, impeachment is a tractor beam. Once you’re siphoned in, nothing can escape its grasp. Debates about policy. Spending. Health care. War. The tractor beam controls all.

Until it’s switched off.

Not every party which is incapacitated by impeachment has an Obi-Wan Kenobi who can find the off switch. When it comes to impeachment best advice might be to “turn the ship around” beforehand.

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But if lots of Members are clamoring for impeachment, it may already be too late.

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.

Trump administration to meet Ukraine assistance deadline

2026-09-25 16:51:46 / Reuters

US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shake hands as they meet on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City, US, in this handout released September 22, 2026. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• Lawmakers had criticized Trump administration for ‘slow-walking’ aid
• USAI was last major Ukraine funding passed by Congress
• Trump recently showed signs of warming to Ukraine
• Deliveries include offensive weapons, not Patriots

WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) – The ​Trump administration has made legally binding commitments to spend almost all of the $400 million Congress approved for ‌military aid to Ukraine late last year, ensuring that the money will not expire on September 30, according to three sources familiar with the plan.

As of early this week, $307 million of the $400 million of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funding had been obligated, said the sources, who spoke ​on condition of anonymity, and the administration plans to lock in the remaining $93 million before the fiscal year ​ends on September 30.

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The Pentagon, which oversees the USAI program, declined to comment for this story.

FIRST DELIVERIES ⁠INCLUDE WEAPONS, SPARE PARTS

The money has been a source of contention with Congress, as Democrats and some of US President Donald ​Trump’s fellow Republicans have criticized the Pentagon for sitting on the aid for Kyiv, which members of both parties voted ​for last December.

Trump has in recent months taken a more positive tone toward Ukraine, signing off on a proposal to give a license for Ukraine to manufacture Patriot interceptor missiles and signing a Russia sanctions bill.

He met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy this week at UN headquarters in New York, ​after which Zelenskiy said they had discussed efforts to end the war with Russia, including a potential bilateral ceasefire on energy-related targets.

The ​first deliveries, which will include offensive weapons and equipment such as spare parts for armored vehicles, began this month. The rest are expected ‌to ⁠be delivered before October 2029, the sources said. Trump’s White House term ends in January of that year.

The remaining $93 million in the package approved by Congress does not have to be spent by the end of the year, but it will expire if it is not formally placed under contract by then.

PATRIOT MISSILES NOT INCLUDED

One of the sources said the military equipment did ​not include Patriot missiles, despite ​Russia bombarding Ukraine’s cities ⁠with drones and ballistic missiles.

The US war in Iran and the Ukraine war have depleted global supplies of Patriots, and Kyiv has been pleading for more.

Reuters reported in July that the administration had ​told Congress it could take years for the equipment to reach Ukrainian forces. The Pentagon ​has held up ⁠shipments of weapons to Ukraine several times out of concern that US weapons supplies were too low.

Lawmakers said then they were unhappy with the Pentagon’s timeline, considered unusually slow for an ongoing conflict, and the issue has come up repeatedly at congressional hearings.

Ukraine ⁠has been ​by far the top recipient of US foreign aid since Russia’s full-scale ​invasion in February 2022, but the US commitment to Kyiv has been called into question since Trump took office and his Republicans took control of both ​houses of Congress in January 2025.

Adds Pentagon comment in paragraph 3

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Andrew Heavens

Supreme Court allows Trump administration to use SAVE database to check voter citizenship for now

2026-09-25T12:02:00-0400 / CBS News

By Jacob Rosen Justice Department Reporter
Jake Rosen is a reporter covering the Department of Justice. He was previously a campaign digital reporter covering President Trump’s 2024 campaign and also served as an associate producer for “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”

Read Full Bio

Updated on: September 25, 2026 / 12:46 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington— The Supreme Court on Friday sided with the Trump administration in its push to use a controversial database to review state voter rolls for potential noncitizens, pausing for now a lower court order that found that expanded system violated federal privacy laws.

In a 6-3 decision, the justices granted a request for emergency relief from the Justice Department to stay a June ruling from a judge in Washington, D.C. The judge had blocked the Department of Homeland Security’s overhauled database — called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, system — which the administration allows states and localities to use to verify citizenship and immigration status of registered voters.

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan found that the Trump administration “knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote” through the overhauled SAVE system.

The potential impact of the Supreme Court’s decision for the upcoming midterm elections is likely to be limited, as federal law bars states from systematically removing ineligible voters from their voter registration lists within 90 days of an election. The Nov. 3 general election is less than 40 days away.

The Supreme Court said in its unsigned decision that claims from voting rights groups about the legality of the modified database “likely lack merit,” and said it is likely to reverse the district court’s finding that the Trump administration violated federal law with the revamped system.

Under immigration law, “the Federal Government has an obligation to respond to requests from state and local election officials seeking to verify the citizenship of voters,” the court said in its unsigned decision. “The order below prevents the Federal Government from using the program it believes is best suited to the task.”

The high court said that the district court’s decision blocking use of the expanded database, including for individualized inquiries, “inhibits the Federal Government’s efforts to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections.”

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Jackson wrote in a dissenting opinion that states could still use the revamped system to conduct individualized voter-roll maintenance.

“[T]he harm caused by burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters outweighs the nonexistent harm that the Government experiences when it is prevented from taking an action that it likely lacks the authority to take,” Jackson, who was joined by her fellow liberal colleagues, wrote.

The system is part of President Trump’s government-wide push to find evidence of widespread voting by noncitizens in federal elections, which has largely been debunked and shown to be very rare.

Voting rights groups challenging the overhauled database have warned that the modified database provides inaccurate citizenship data to states. As a result, some of their members have had their voter registrations wrongfully canceled, they said.

“Today’s decision is profoundly disappointing, as it puts millions of Americans at risk of being unlawfully targeted by the administration’s unreliable voter purge database weeks before the midterm elections,” the coalition of plaintiffs said in a statement. “However, this case is not over. The D.C. district court ruled that the expanded SAVE program violated multiple laws. We will be doing everything in our power to protect Americans’ voting and privacy rights by ensuring that the district court decision stands.”

The SAVE database

The SAVE database was modified in response to an executive order signed by Mr. Trump in March of last year that sought to impose a new proof-of-citizenship requirement for those registering to vote. Federal judges have since blocked the citizenship-related rules.

The order directed DHS and the Social Security Administration to create a database that would allow state and local officials to verify the citizenship or immigration status of individuals trying to register to vote or who are already on state voter rolls.

The directive triggered the overhaul of the existing SAVE system, which is used by states to check eligibility for certain public benefits and licenses. It was expanded to include the records of natural-born citizens; to access records from the SSA, including Social Security numbers; and to permit bulk searches of records by entities that use the database.

In response, the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and five individuals sued DHS, the SSA and the Department of Justice, arguing that the consolidation of Americans’ sensitive records from multiple agencies was unlawful. They argued that some states had partnered with the federal government to run their voter databases through the SAVE system, and U.S. citizens falsely identified as noncitizens were incorrectly removed from voter rolls.

In court filings, the Trump administration argued that the SAVE system, which has been in place in some form since 1986, was being used with “clear congressional directive to break down information silos between government agencies.” It also said that instances of improper removal of voters were rare.

Sooknanan, however, rejected the Trump administration’s arguments in a June ruling, saying they “border on the absurd.” The administration, she said, “haphazardly combined and repurposed the private information of millions of Americans, including citizenship data that they knew to be unreliable,” leading some states to remove U.S. citizens from their voter rolls “based on inaccurate information.”

The judge said the overhauled system and related notices from DHS and the SSA were “contrary to law, arbitrary and capricious, in excess of statutory authority, and without observance of procedure required by law.”

Early this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request to pause Sooknanan’s order, after which the Trump administration went to the Supreme Court for relief.

In filings with the court, Solicitor General D. John Sauer called Sooknanan’s ruling “indefensible” and said it “threatens the integrity of upcoming elections.” He also said the judge exceeded her authority and that the voting rights groups that brought the initial lawsuit did not have the legal right to sue.

“SAVE does not disqualify any voter; instead, it merely notifies the States whether the federal government can confirm citizenship,” Sauer wrote. “Thus, any voter injury is caused by the States, not by the federal government, and would not be redressed by the relief the court entered against the federal government.”

In response to the government’s request, lawyers for the plaintiff groups argued in court filings that “Congress has not authorized the federal government to create a master database of U.S. citizens,” and said the government “has recklessly created an error-laden master citizenship database that endangers millions of Americans’ privacy and voting rights.”

Why the 2026 election could be the worst midterm for the GOP this century

2026-09-25T17:49:44.883Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/25/politics/2026-midterm-election-trump

The Republican Party’s two worst midterm elections in the 21st Century were in 2006 and 2018. In the former, an unpopular Middle Eastern war cost George W. Bush dearly. In 2018, voters balked at the upending of historic norms and chaotic style of a new president named Donald Trump.

The 2026 midterm election is now looking like it could be even worse for the GOP – by several metrics.

But other indicators haven’t yet broken as overwhelmingly against Republicans.

Let’s break it down.

The president’s continued decline has now made him clearly a more unpopular president than he was in 2018 and Bush was in 2006 – at least on a national scale.

The new CNN poll this week showed Trump 34 points underwater among US adults, while the CNN Poll of Polls – aggregating other pollsters – shows him 29 points underwater.

Back in 2018 around this point, Trump was generally between 13 and 15 points underwater.

And back in 2006, the bottom hadn’t yet fallen out for Bush. He was 15 points underwater in a late September 2026 CNN poll, while Gallup data around that time showed him between 7 and 22 points underwater.

So all told, Trump is about twice as far underwater as the GOP president was in both of those midterms.

Indeed, data journalist G. Elliott Morris notes Trump appears to be the most unpopular president on the eve of a midterm in modern history.

Bear in mind this is national polling: the balance of power in the House and Senate will ultimately be decided by votes in particular states and districts, some of which have been gerrymandered such that they’re insulated from broad national trends. But with Trump telling GOP voters explicitly to act as if he is on the ballot, it’s fair to project that his unpopularity could spell trouble for his party this November.

Any campaign operative worth their salt will tell you the economy is often voters’ overriding concern.

That’s certainly the case in 2026, and it’s especially bad for Trump.

Trump’s economic approval rating in the new CNN poll was just 27%, with a whopping 73% disapproving. That’s minus-46.

Back in 2018, his economic approval rating was generally around 50% – and was usually in positive territory.

In 2006, Bush wasn’t in good shape on the economy. But his net approval was between minus-18 and minus-25 – significantly better than Trump’s minus-46 is today.

The economy is also just a significantly larger issue this year.

Large majorities of Americans viewed the economy as at least “somewhat good” in 2018 (69%) and 2006 (59%), according to CNN polling. But that number today is just 28%. Other economic indicators are hovering around all-time lows, as CNN’s Alicia Wallace reports.

And even worse for Trump, voters are emphasizing the issue significantly more. While 44% said the economy was “extremely important” to their vote in 2018 and 32% said the same in 2006, today it’s up to 68%.

Of course, the economy wasn’t the main reason the GOP lost big in 2006. That drubbing came after the Iraq war and some high-profile GOP scandals.

Well, today the Iran war is more unpopular than Iraq was back then.

The new CNN poll shows Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the war by 47 points and say the war wasn’t worth it by 52 points.

Back in 2006, both Bush’s approval on the war and Americans support for the war were about 30 points underwater at their worst.

CNN’s Harry Enten also found that Trump’s net approval rating on foreign affairs (minus-42) is worse than any president since at least Ronald Reagan.

There is a real question whether Iran is as big an issue as Iraq was, given that unlike in Iraq, there aren’t boots on the ground, and we haven’t seen large numbers of US troops deaths. The main issue people complain about today is high domestic gas prices.

But similar numbers called the wars “extremely important” to their vote in 2006 (46%) and today (48%).

Another key finding in the CNN poll is that 44% of registered voters say their vote is meant to send a message of opposition to Trump, compared to 19% who said it would send a message of support.

That’s worse than in both 2006 and 2018.

In 2018, it was 38% sending a message of opposition, to 25% sending a message of support.

And in 2006, the numbers were 36% and 15% – a 21-point split, compared to a 25-point split today.

These numbers could matter especially as Trump and his advisers lean into the idea that they can turn out GOP voters. That might be true, but his presence also risks turning out the motivated opposition.

With all of that said, there is one very important measurement that hasn’t tipped towards Democrats as much as they’d like – at least not yet.

And that’s the generic ballot.

This is the oft-cited measure that asks poll respondents whether they’d pick a generic Democrat or a generic Republican for Congress.

Democrats lead on this by eight points in the most recent CNN poll. That’s compared to between 9 and 12 points around this juncture in 2018 and between 13 and 18 points in 2006.

So given all of Trump’s polling woes, why haven’t Democrats taken a bigger lead?

One possible reason is their brand is still poor.

The July CNN poll showed just 30% of Americans had a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party. That is it’s worst number ahead of a midterm since at least 1994, and despite Trump’s problems, it’s no better than the GOP’s 31% favorable rating.

By contrast, Democrats had a slightly better image than Republicans did in 2018 (46% favorable for Democrats to 40% favorable for Republicans), and the gap was significantly larger in 2006 (56% to 44%).

There are some signs that Democrats are expanding their generic ballot lead right now, and many of the undecided voters appear to be quite gettable for them.

For now, every other major measure appears to be very bad for Trump and the GOP. So it’s worth watching to see whether this one follows suit.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/24/politics/video/enten-roundup-240926-ytc

Unearthed: El-Sayed called for repealing law that made sex without disclosing HIV status a felony

2026-09-25T12:27:08-04:00 / Fox News

The epidemiologist and Democratic nominee urged decriminalizing HIV exposure as he ran for governor in 2018

Paul Steinhauser By Paul Steinhauser Fox News

Published September 25, 2026 12:27pm EDT

Michigan student confronts Dem Senate candidate El-Sayed over Iran: ‘Do you stand with us?’

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is pressed by a student at a town hall over Iran and his past comments on Ali Khamenei.

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Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed once called for repealing a Michigan law that made it a felony for people who knew they had HIV to have sex without first informing their partner — a position he is standing by eight years later as he campaigns in one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races

As he unsuccessfully ran for Michigan governor in 2018, El-Sayed repeatedly took aim at the law. The law carried a prison sentence of up to four years for people who knew they were HIV-positive and engaged in sexual penetration without first informing their partner of their HIV status.

“You should not be criminalized for a disease. That is absolutely wrong. It’s hateful. It’s discriminatory, and we can, as a state, do better. You can count on me for that,” El-Sayed said as he ran for governor.

MICHIGAN STUDENT CONFRONTS EL-SAYED OVER IRAN STANCE

US Democratic Senate candidate from Michigan Abdul El-Sayed speaks with reporters during a Student Meet and Greet at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on August 26, 2026.(JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP via Getty Images)

Fast-forward eight years and El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and a former health director for Detroit-anchored Wayne County, is battling former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in the midterm race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. The showdown in Michigan is a must hold for the Democrats as they try to win back control of the Senate from the GOP.

As he ran for the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nomination — a contest he lost to now-two-term Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — El-Sayed’s campaign website stated, “Repeal HIV/AIDS criminalization laws and the exclusion of transgender Michiganders from state Medicaid.”

When asked in 2018 if he supported the decriminalization of HIV through legislation that would create two levels of misdemeanors, El-Sayed said at the time, “One of the big things that we have to recognize about HIV is that no disease can be illegal. The continuing forward of these laws on the books stigmatize people with the disease.”

SIX FORCES THAT COULD HELP REPUBLICANS DEFY HISTORY IN THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS

Michigan Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed campaigns at a rally on the campus of Wayne State University July 28, 2018, in Detroit, Michigan.(Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Whitmer also supported changing the law, which dated to 1988, saying as she ran for governor, “It’s wrong to criminalize sickness, which is what this law has effectively done. It absolutely should be revisited.”

The law was reformed in early 2019, after passing a GOP-controlled legislature with broad bipartisan support. The revised statute limited the felony provisions to vaginal and anal intercourse involving an intent to transmit HIV or cases in which HIV was actually transmitted, reduced certain non-transmission offenses to misdemeanors and protected medically suppressed people from prosecution under the law’s reckless-disregard provision.

“Abdul supports the bipartisan reform bill that passed in 2019 through a Republican legislature that eliminated the discriminatory laws on the books,” campaign spokesperson Roxie Richner told Fox News Digital. “As a public health professional, Abdul has fought to support programs that stem the spread of diseases, including HIV.”

Richner added that “the Trump administration has completely exacerbated this crisis by defunding the organizations and programs that do frontline care to prevent transmission and exposure in the first place. In the US Senate, Abdul will fight back against Donald Trump and RFK Jr’s attempts to dismantle our public health infrastructure and ensure all Americans have access to the care they need.”

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

Republican Senate nominee former Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan stands for a Fox News Digital interview, on August 2, 2026, in Farmington Hills, Michigan(Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

El-Sayed also stands by his past comments on fighting discrimination aimed at those with HIV.

Last week, as he landed an endorsement from the Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBTQ advocacy group, El-Sayed highlighted that if elected to the Senate, “I’ll fight to ensure every Michigander can live without discrimination and never have to wonder whether their rights will still be there tomorrow.”

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El-Sayed, who narrowly edged more moderate Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens in August in a contentious primary that further exposed the rift between the party’s left-wing and establishment factions, would become the nation’s first Muslim senator if elected.

He has made support for “Medicare for all” a major component of his campaign. El-Sayed has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and has been a vocal critic of Israel during its war against Hamas, characterizing Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” against Palestinians.

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

US immigration crackdown hits Kansas, disrupts beef processing

2026-09-25T18:23:30.517Z / Reuters

Summary
Companies

Meatpacking workers stay home over fear of ICE, community organizers say
Livestock groups say crackdown delays shipments of thousands of cattle
US cattle slaughtering fell 16% on Thursday from a week ago, USDA says

CHICAGO, Sept 25 (Reuters) – US immigration agents fanned out across southwest Kansas, home to a large concentration of feedlots and slaughterhouses, this week in an operation that had immediate ​effects on the beef industry, community organizers and local officials said.

The prospect of arrest kept much of the largely immigrant labor force away from ‌work, forcing beef processing plants to slow down and backing up cattle, according to two community organizers and three groups representing livestock producers.

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“It’s been chaotic,” said Kathleen Alonso, a community volunteer from Liberal, Kansas. “Obviously they were stopping Brown people. They were not stopping any other races.”

As affordability concerns weigh on the Republican Party’s chances of maintaining control of the House and Senate in the upcoming US midterms, President Donald Trump has enacted ​policies aimed at controlling the cost of beef.

Immigration enforcement could be the latest to work at cross purposes, causing record-high beef prices to tick up even ​higher, according to industry and union officials. Cattle futures gyrated this week as traders weighed tight US supplies against processing disruptions due to the ⁠crackdown.

Local residents said they believed that dozens of people were detained, though the exact number was not immediately clear. The Department of Homeland Security, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ​and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

ICE officers have stopped motorists this week to ask about their citizenship status around Dodge City, Liberal and Garden City, ​Kansas, small communities where most of the population is Latino, according to organizers and local government officials. Agents patrolled and parked in areas around meat plants and a large dairy, they said.

The activity led to workforce disruptions at processors, feedlots and dairies, and delayed shipments of thousands of cattle, the Kansas Livestock Association, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and Texas Cattle Feeders Association said in a statement.

“These ICE operations are ​having a massive chilling effect on the legal, documented, skilled workers that put beef on the table and keep the cattle supply chain moving,” the groups said. “These types of ​disruptions will lead to higher beef prices for consumers.”

BEEF PRICES HAVE SOARED

US beef prices soared to records this year after a multi-year drought drove ranchers to reduce their herds to a 75-year low and ‌Washington suspended cattle ⁠imports from Mexico. Trump has struggled to lower prices with a bevy of policies and other pronouncements, including increasing low-tariff beef imports and launching an investigation into meatpackers.

Meatpackers slaughtered an estimated 90,000 cattle on Thursday, down 16% from a week earlier, the US Department of Agriculture said.

Kansas ranks second nationwide for commercial cattle processing behind Nebraska, according to the agency.

“A large percentage of milk and beef come from this region thanks to a lot of immigrants who work very hard to do jobs not many people do,” Alonso said. “We are the heart of ​this country, and it is being terrorized, ​and we need it to stop.”

Two of ⁠the country’s four large beef processors, National Beef Packing Company and Cargill, have plants in Dodge City. National Beef also has a plant in Liberal.

Immigration agents focused their activity in areas around the plants on Wednesday, said Alejandro Rangel-Lopez, senior Latino and rural program ​manager for Kansas voting rights group Loud Light.

“They tried really, really hard to get into National Beef in both Liberal and ​Dodge City,” said Rangel-Lopez, ⁠who lives in Dodge City. “They were in the parking lot and trying to pick up people.”

National Beef said it was committed to supporting employees and following the law.

“We are providing legally appropriate cooperation and attempting to work through this process with the Department of Homeland Security in an orderly way,” spokesperson Toby Cook said. He declined to answer specific questions about ICE activity.

Cargill ⁠did not respond ​to a request for comment.

Few employees showed up to the National Beef plant in Liberal on Thursday ​because ICE agents were targeting all people of color, said Janeth Vazquez, the city’s vice mayor.

ICE agents also circled an elementary school that has students with undocumented parents, and many children did not show up for class, ​she said.

“Our community is a ghost town,” Vazquez said. “Businesses are not open because people are scared to leave their homes.”

Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Emily Schmall and Andrea Ricci

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Soaring U.S. diesel prices slam local communities as fuel costs surge

2026-09-25 14:30:09 EDT / CBS News

By

September 25, 2026 / 2:30 PM EDT / CBS News

Soaring diesel prices are rippling through the U.S. economy, putting a financial squeeze on schools, farmers and small businesses as their fuel costs spike.

Average diesel prices hovered around $6.50 a gallon on Friday, just below their record high of $6.53 on Sept. 22 and up from $3.69 a year ago, according to AAA. That jump is raising the cost of operating school buses and forcing some institutions to scramble for ways to cut costs.

Farmers, who rely on diesel to run agricultural machinery, also face sharply higher costs, while enterprises ranging from construction firms to food banks report sharply higher expenses to fuel their vehicles and delivery trucks.

One Georgia food bank said it will spend an extra $100,000 this year on diesel, money that otherwise would have gone to feed families.

“That would actually translate to about 122,000 meals that we would be able to provide if we didn’t have to spend that on unexpected diesel fuel prices,” Kenneth Hill, the supply chain officer for the Atlanta Community Food Bank, told CBS News Atlanta.

Georgia diesel prices averaged $6.32 a gallon on Friday, up from $3.54 a year ago, according to AAA.

Ranchers are feeling the pinch due to their reliance on diesel-powered trucks to check on herds and water pumps, said Andrew Coppin, CEO of Ranchbot, which sells remote monitoring technology for water pumps and other equipment.

“Outside of labor, diesel is the single biggest input into a lot of farming operations, so it’s a very material increase in the cost of operations,” he told CBS News, noting that his company has seen a major increase in inquiries from ranchers due to surging diesel prices. “If it’s an F-250, a Ram 2500 or a Silverado, we’re talking 1-ton diesel trucks, and on a good day they are getting 12 miles to a gallon.”

Diesel’s impact on inflation

Diesel is widely used in commercial trucking, agriculture, and construction, and rising prices can increase the cost of transporting goods across the country.

Gasoline prices have also soared, although not as much as diesel, which is facing a global shortage due to shipping and refining disruptions stemming from the Iran and Russia-Ukraine wars.

As a result, economists warn that the spike in diesel costs could fan inflation, which rose in August at an annual rate of 3.4%, up from 2.4% at the beginning of 2026.

Inflation could jump to 3.6% by year-end due to the rise in fuel prices, according to EY-Parthenon chief economist Gregory Daco.

“Higher domestic fuel prices feed directly into passenger and goods transportation costs, which will eventually be passed on to consumers,” he said in a Sept. 23 analysis.

Those higher costs are also being felt more broadly across local communities.

“Certainly, when I wake up in the morning, I’m thinking about diesel,” Marty Gray, owner of Gray Farms in Watseka, Illinois, told CBS News Chicago. “I’m thinking about the trucks running, the [grain] elevator and stuff like that.”

Gray also said his family-owned farm is facing tight margins as harvest season gets underway. “So, we’re just trying to decide do we fill up the tanks now, or do we need to wait a little bit? Will it get better, or will it get worse?”

Raptor Roll Offs, a Colorado waste management and dumpster rental business that uses diesel trucks to deliver dumpsters to and from homes and industrial sites in the Denver area, may need to pass higher fuel costs on to customers, owner George Dempsey told CBS News Denver.

“We’re holding on as long as we can,” Dempsey said. “We can’t absorb it all ourselves, and so you have this trickle effect.”

Colorado diesel prices now average $6.16 per gallon, compared with $3.51 a year ago, AAA data shows.

Colorado’s Cherry Creek Schools relies on diesel to power its more than 300 buses, which transport roughly 24,000 students across the district. It’s facing an additional $500,000 in diesel costs this year, pushing its total fuel budget to about $2 million — far higher than the $1.5 million it had originally budgeted, Mark Ingram, the district’s director of transportation, told CBS News Denver.

Ingram said the school district is weighing consolidating some routes and scaling back certain activity trips to save fuel costs.

Would a diesel export ban help?

Some Republican lawmakers are calling for the U.S. to ban diesel exports to lower costs. The U.S. refines more diesel than it can use domestically, with energy companies selling the remainder abroad.

Although an export ban might initially lower diesel costs in some U.S. regions, it could eventually backfire by worsening global shortages, according to energy experts and economists. That would likely send diesel prices even higher, they say.

“A ban would temporarily lower prices, but short-term relief would be uneven geographically,” Oxford Economics said in a report. “Price declines would be concentrated in the Gulf Coast and Midwest, where most refining capacity is located. Distillate shortages are concentrated in the Northeast and West Coast, and these regions would see little benefit from an export ban.”

‘We’re not a sideshow’: Military families blast Trump’s arch observation deck for tourists

2026-09-25T16:24:35.418Z / CNN

President Donald Trump’s proposed triumphal arch did not originally include the idea for an open-air observation deck that would tower 161 feet above the surrounding landscape.

The feature, which would give tourists a 360-degree panoramic view, was only added to the design later when the Trump administration revealed the plans to the public, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

Now that addition is bringing fresh concern to military families, who are contending with a distressing thought: Will visitors get a bird’s-eye view to their pain as their loved ones are buried at Arlington National Cemetery just across the river from the looming edifice?

“It’s just the wrong place to put a vantage point because this is very much seeing people on the worst day of their life,” said Laurie Laplante, from Poland, Ohio, who buried her father-in-law, a Navy veteran, at Arlington Cemetery last year.

With memories of his burial still fresh, Laplante said she would be “sick to her stomach” if tourists were watching, and potentially even recording, any part of his funeral from the observation deck.

“I can’t imagine if some observers were behind us doing a phone video of this or thinking that this might be up on somebody’s social media somewhere at some point – it’s just awful.”

The further development that Trump envisions the arch doubling as a “military complex” has only compounded concerns about the project.

“It’s getting a little ridiculous, honestly,” said Frank Stolba, a veteran who oversaw more than 50 funerals when he was in the Navy as a petty officer.

One Gold Star family member, who asked not to be named citing privacy concerns, noted that this “wasn’t part of the original plans, that wasn’t approved, that wasn’t commented on.”

“We just want to see a baseline of respect, and, you know, wild changes and things like this detract from what’s important to actual surviving families,” the person said.

A White House official told CNN that Trump’s announced change of the arch for military use will not alter the tourism plans.

Gold Star families and veterans who spoke to CNN say they find the deck intrusive, as it would give observers intimate views of the grounds, potentially allowing tourists to witness the over two dozen funerals that are conducted each weekday.

Andrea Nachman, whose husband is buried at Arlington, said: “It’s not what we in the military families would want – it’s very private, we’re not a sideshow.”

Davis Ingle, a spokesperson for the White House, told CNN the arch “will enhance the visitor experience at Arlington National Cemetery for veterans, the families of the fallen, and all Americans alike.”

But the White House did not answer CNN’s questions about whether there would be protocol changes for military funerals at Arlington to protect families’ privacy.

According to documents obtained by CNN, the administration has suggested a series of short-term steps that can be taken to alleviate disruptions to ceremonies during the arch’s construction, including controlling temporary construction lighting, a goal to coordinate with Arlington to avoid construction during funerals, and restricting work hours with high noise during services.

The cemetery is expansive, with rolling hills and trees that are hundreds of years old providing shade and cover.

Funerals at the cemetery are highly choreographed. Each movement is executed with precision as a final way to honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. The cemetery itself is already a tourist destination, with visitors able to talk a formal walking tour or a self-guided one.

It is already common to see a funeral at the cemetery but those familiar with the grounds say that visitors to Arlington approach the space with decorum, understanding its purpose as a place of rest for the fallen as they stand amid the gravestones.

However, that same attitude may not translate from a vantage point.

“An observation deck sends the message that these funerals are a spectacle,” said Ashley Bernardi, a Gold Star daughter. “What guidelines are going to be put in place on the observation deck to ensure that these are very sacred?” she wondered.

“Why the hell would somebody put an observation deck on top of this arch?” asked Vietnam War veteran Ronn Easton, who has criticized the Trump administration in the past. “The solemn private nature of that ceremony is gone if people can stand on the top of this 250-foot vanity project with a pair of binoculars and look at what’s going on in Arlington.”

The latest renderings of the arch’s plans show the observation level on the 5th floor. The floors below have areas for security, a ticketing lobby, restrooms and spaces for a potential gift shop and cafe.

In late August, the administration began referring to it as a “military observation deck,” a shift in rhetoric that gave a first indication of the president’s new justification for building the arch.

Earlier this month, when the National Parks Service official who is overseeing the administration’s proposal was asked at a meeting evaluating the arch’s potential impact on historical sites whether the language adjustment indicated a change in its intended purpose or use, she replied: “Not that I’m aware.”

Days later, Trump announced his new plans for the structure, which would including allowing drones to be launched and snipers to be positioned atop the arch.

Trump to usher in ‘golden age’ of American tech with DC bash showcasing powerful new tool

Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp will attend the Tuesday unveiling in Washington

September 25, 2026 12:49pm EDT / Fox News

By Peter D’Abrosca

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

EXCLUSIVE:The Trump administration is officially entering the artificial intelligence (AI) space with a new tool is says will provide much-needed relief for Americans interacting with the federal government, Fox News Digital has learned.

At an all-day event beginning Tuesday morning and featuring President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, officials will launch and showcase on stage America.gov, a new website designed to enhance “the citizen experience.”

Also attending are Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz and Joe Gebbia, Airbnb co-founder who now heads the National Design Studio (NDS) and who is the first-ever U.S. Chief Design Officer.

The event will be held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., and will also feature appearances from industry titans like Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp. NASA administrator Jared Isaacson is also a confirmed attendee.

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio meet with Micheal Martin, Ireland’s prime minister, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. The Irish prime minister is in Washington meeting with lawmakers, a bipartisan St. Patrick’s Day tradition.(Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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A White House official described the new AI tool as “a new front door for the federal government that will provide a one-stop shop for Americans looking for information and resources from the federal government that are currently spread over a maze of various agency websites.”

“Next week is really about the golden age of America, and really getting to showcase how it’s not just a statement, it’s actually being built,” Gebbia told Fox News Digital.

“What we’re really excited about is that one of the things that we’ve been building is the golden age of the citizen experience.”

Gebbia, who added that the day will mark a “new chapter of usability for the country,” said the new AI tool is built to solve a simple problem faced by Americans who have for decades dealt with clunky, often inefficient and overly complex government systems: “How do you make it easy to just access government?”

U.S. Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., on May 18, 2026.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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“You can imagine all the things that people try to get done or want to get done in the federal government, [and] just having a brand-new way to access and actually get to the things that people are trying to get to in the federal government,” he said.

The day will include panel discussions with other senior administration officials and top industry leaders on artificial intelligence, energy dominance, health, space and agriculture.

“This is really an incredible collection of people that are working in service to the nation and really showcasing what the future of America is, where we’re headed,” said Gebbia.

President Donald Trump said he likes Elon Musk “a lot” after the pair faced a rift over the One Big Beautiful Bill earlier this year.(Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Gebbia says Americans shouldn’t have to accept that their interactions with the federal government are going to be negative or difficult to navigate.

“What if people didn’t say that? What if people have had a different sentiment? It’s entirely possible they can. It takes a president who cares about this, it takes an administration who wants to invest in it, and it takes the right talent to build it.”

“President Trump has those three things.”

Peter D’Abrosca is a politics reporter at Fox News Digital.

Jury finds Facebook liable of deceiving users in Cambridge Analytica case

September 25, 2026 / 2:50 PM EDT / CBS/AP

A New Mexico jury on Friday found Facebook liable for deceiving users about privacy protections on the social media platform.

It is now up to the judge to determine how much the company would pay, with attorneys representing the state asking for the maximum $5,000 penalty per violation.

The two-week trial in Santa Fe centered on accusations that Facebook deceived users about a data breach stemming from a third-party personality quiz that harvested data from roughly 87 million profiles and sold it to a political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, to generate targeted ads. The now-defunct firm’s clients included the 2016 campaign for Donald Trump.

Jurors sided with prosecutors, finding Facebook’s failure to protect users’ data impacted New Mexico’s entire population of more than 2 million people. The New Mexico Attorney General’s office is expected to hold a press conference at 2 p.m. local time Friday to discuss the case.

Jurors also found Facebook misled the public about investigations into data brokers following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, finding the company liable for over 2 million violations.

In this photo illustration, the Facebook logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen. Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

During closing arguments, lawyers for Facebook claimed the state’s evidence was outdated and that despite having five years to gather material, New Mexico failed to find more than one other instance of a data breach.

A Meta spokesperson told CBS News the company disagreed with the jury’s verdict and will continue to defend “against efforts to distort our records.” The company also noted that free speech issues “featured very prominently” in the case.

“We have a First Amendment right to manage those platforms in a way we believe best serves the interests of our community,” the spokesperson said. “This means prioritizing free speech, protecting our users’ information and giving them control over their data.”

blob:https://www.cbsnews.com/e066a4ec-575b-4c4c-b0c0-297c328521ae

Meta agreed in August to pay up to $18 billion to settle the multistate lawsuit surrounding child safety issues. Buried in the 130-page settlement was an agreement to release Meta from future liability related to the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach, making New Mexico the only state to pursue a case. Florida was the only other state that did not sign the settlement, saying it was not tough enough on Meta.

Also this year, New Mexico won judgments totaling $942 million from Meta in a two-phase trial about the company’s safety protections for minors. Furthermore, the court ordered Meta to implement new safeguards, including age-verification technology and time limits on its platforms.