博客

McConnell returns after months-long absence for crucial vote

The 84-year-old says he is continuing physical therapy as he recovers from pneumonia and effects of childhood polio

September 14, 2026 6:13pm EDT / Fox News

Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports on the U.S. Senate returning to session as questions remain over when Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., could return to Capitol Hill on ‘The Story.’

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

blob:https://www.foxnews.com/2818d085-c58e-493f-acae-41bec6f5f9bf

Listen to this article

1 min

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will return to the Senate to cast his first vote following months of speculation on his condition and when the longtime lawmaker would reemerge into the public eye.

McConnell said in a statement on Monday, the first day back for the Senate taking over a month-long break, that he would “cast my first Senate vote since I took a bad fall back in June.”

“I’m really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues. My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier,” McConnell said. “I’m still not quite back to 100%, but I’ve assured Leader Thune that, as I continue with physical therapy on the advice of my doctors, I will do my best to be present for tough votes when our Conference needs me.”

MCCONNELL IS OUT OF REHAB, BUT HIS ABSENCE HAS STUNTED A KEY REPUBLICAN PRIORITY

Senator Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, is pushed in a wheelchair in the Senate Subway of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, March 4, 2026.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Elaine and I are very grateful for all the continued well wishes from our fellow Kentuckians, and I’m glad to get back to more of business as usual on their behalf this month,” he continued.

Having McConnell back changes the math for upcoming votes and future action on a possible budget reconciliation package to ram through chunks of the SAVE America Act and defense funding. He chairs both the Senate Rules Committee and Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, two key panels that could have a major impact on whether Republicans can move forward with the process.

But first, he had to cast his first vote.

His first appearance on the Senate floor since June was to vote in favor of one of President Donald Trump’s judicial picks, Matthew R. Byrne, to be the U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio.

MCCONNELL OUT OF HOSPITAL, STILL NOT ‘MEDICALLY CLEARED’ TO RETURN TO SENATE

McConnell expected back in Senate after battling health issues
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6405042081112

McConnell, 84, has not been in the Senate for votes nor committee work since early June after being hospitalized from suffering a fall at his Washington, D.C., home. His absence was further prolonged when he developed pneumonia, and went through a stint a rehab to further recover from the fall.

And his return comes as Republicans are again gearing up to vote on massive farm aid and funding package this week. The last time Senate Republicans tried to advance the bill it failed without McConnell’s key vote.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is slated to again vote on the bill on Wednesday, and the committee’s chair, Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., teased that McConnell’s return was imminent just before the announcement was made.

MCCONNELL’S ABSENCE PUTS TRUMP AGENDA AT RISK AS KENTUCKY SUCCESSION QUESTIONS GROW

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., spoke with reporters as he headed to the Senate chamber at the U.S. Capitol on March 12, 2026, in Washington, D.C.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“I think they feel like he’s moving in that direction,” Boozman said. “So watch for him.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that he had spoken with McConnell last week, and that the longtime Republican leader was “dialed in” on how campaigns for this midterm election cycle were going. Still, it’s unclear how long he will stick around during the forthcoming three-week sprint before lawmakers make a jailbreak for the campaign trail in October.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I’m hopeful he’s available on Wednesday to get the Farm bill out of the Senate Ag Committee,” Thune said. “But just as much as he can do, we welcome having him here.”

When asked what it felt like to see him on the Senate floor again, Thune said, “Great.”

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

Out of Office: Fishing with Gavin Newsom as he contemplates 2028 presidential run

2026-09-14T22:16:39.146Z / CNN

Stevensville, Montana—

We stood waist-deep in a cold Montana river, cursing at the elusive trout, and talking about whether he was going to run for president.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom had invited me and my crew to his in-laws’ spread on Bitterroot Springs Ranch in Big Sky Country. I had pitched an idea to him, one I’ve been eager to experiment with for some time: a longform interview, not tied to news of the day, talking to people about their childhoods, their parents, some of their tougher moments and biggest successes of their lives.

I didn’t want to do the interview in a chair, or a studio, or with makeup, or ties. I wanted to go where the interviewee felt comfortable. In addition to Newsom, a Democrat, I pitched the idea to a few others including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina has agreed to participate.

STREAMING TUESDAY:CNN’s Jake Tapper goes Out of Office with California Gov. Gavin Newsom to talk about about his family, regrets and a possible 2028 presidential run. Upgrade to watch the full report starting at 8 a.m. ET on CNN All Access.

My horrible fly-fishing form notwithstanding, our fishing trek proved fruitful — if not for fish (though we caught a couple) — for conversation. Spending hours with someone driving around a ranch and standing in the frigid Bitterroot River has a way of loosening up even the most polished politician.

Top of mind for Newsom is whether he runs for president in 2028. One of the key parts of that is who else is running, including his fellow San Francisco Democrat, former Vice President Kamala Harris.

“I don’t know if she runs, but we’ll see,” Newsom told me. “I wouldn’t run if she ran.”

Frankly, I was stunned to hear that.

“Why would I?” he said. “I wouldn’t do that to her. I wouldn’t do it to me. … I won’t waste everyone’s time. Who needs that?”

It didn’t make sense to me.

“First of all, electorally it’s a gift from God for everybody else,” he explained. “They’d enjoy the hell out of it. Mutual assured destruction. It services no greater good. Why would I do this if I wasn’t trying to serve some greater good? There would be no upside whatsoever.”

But what of the counterargument that she ran in 2019 and didn’t even make it to 2020, then she ran again in 2024 and lost, I asked him.

“That would be the case you’d make,” he acknowledged. “Pretty good one, actually. That’s objectively true. But I know what that means. I know her base of supporters, I know her friends, the (Venn) diagram on that is just pure crossover … I wouldn’t do that to people. I wouldn’t put them in that position … Every other Democrat is praying for that, and every other Republican is gonna pray for that. And that’s just not gonna happen.”

How do you even decide if you’re going to run for president?

“I have no experience in this process, so I’m going through it,” Newsom said. I noted some folks wished he had challenged President Joe Biden in 2024.

“I wasn’t ready,” he said. “First of all, I wouldn’t do that. And second, if I did, I would have gotten crushed because I didn’t have a why. You don’t have big enough why, then you don’t belong there.”

“It’s shocking how many presidential candidates can’t answer their why. Like, shocking,” he continued. He said he’d seen “leading candidates over the last few cycles that are there for the wrong reasons. Or no reason at all, which is the worst. So, you’ve got to have a big enough why.”

After decades in public life — and we talked about it all, his dyslexia, his failed first marriage, his ignominious affair with the wife of a mayoral aide, his mother’s assisted suicide, a close friend telling him he needed to get his shit together, his governor’s race, the challenges of Covid-19, his confrontations with President Donald Trump, and much more — he said, “I am not screwing anything up anymore, man. I know what matters in life. I got four kids, it’s the only thing that matters to me.”

His wife and school-aged children, he said, would have to agree to a White House run. “If they’re not on board, that’s a non-starter.”

In the flowing water, Newsom checked his hook and then cast his line again, looking upstream at the signs of the fish refusing to bite and telling me the signs that might make him run.

“You just have to meet the moment. You got to be honest with yourself. Do you represent the zeitgeist in the moment, or are you wasting everybody’s time?” he said.

“I’m not here to make a point. I want to make the difference, and you can make a difference in a lot of ways in life.”

US oil export ban unlikely to lower energy prices, Interior secretary says

2026-09-14T20:46:01.499Z / Reuters

By Georgina Mccartney and Sheila Dang

September 14, 2026 8:46 PM UTC Updated 3 hours ago

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum looks on as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 11, 2026. REUTERS/Daniel Heuer/ File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

HOUSTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) – U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Monday that a ban on ​U.S. oil or fuel exports would be unlikely ‌to help lower energy prices for consumers amidst the Iran war.

“We would consider an export ban if we thought that actually might lower ​prices, but that’s not the case,” Burgum told reporters ​at a G20 meeting on energy in Houston.

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

Burgum, ⁠an appointee of President Donald Trump, said that bans on ​oil, gasoline or diesel exports could lead to retaliatory actions ​from other countries, which could hurt consumers in states like California, which depends partially on energy imports.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

“We stop exporting product, and then somebody ​says, ‘We’re not going to export to California,’” Burgum said.

Burgum ​said that California already has shut several oil refineries, which over the ‌long ⁠term has helped raise fuel prices there.

“California already (has) the highest prices in the country for gas and diesel anyway, because of their policies, we wouldn’t want … to exacerbate that,” ​Burgum said.

Ahead of ​the midterm ⁠elections in November that will decide control of Congress, the Trump administration is running low ​on options to lower prices for diesel, which ​recently ⁠hit a record high above $6 a gallon and which is even higher in California, and for oil and gasoline.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

The White ⁠House is ​weighing how to use the Cold ​War-era Defense Production Act to expand U.S. refining capacity.

blob:https://www.reuters.com/5c7ed264-259d-41f8-b78d-1370d21a0fd1

Reporting by Georgina McCartney and ​Sheila Dang; Writing by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Will Dunham

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Alligator Alcatraz held detainees in “cramped conditions,” sometimes “small metal enclosures,” DHS watchdog finds

2026-09-14T18:10:00-0400 / CBS News

By

Updated on: September 14, 2026 / 7:00 PM EDT / CBS News

The Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog is sharply criticizing conditions at the Florida immigration detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” finding that detainees at the now-closed facility were held in “cramped conditions” — in dozens of cases, people were held for up to two hours in 18-square-foot enclosures.

The DHS Office of Inspector General issued its 33-page report Monday after conducting an unannounced inspection of the state-run facility earlier this year. Alligator Alcatraz — which was shuttered in June — had initially been cast by Trump administration officials as a model for how DHS could ramp up detention space as it aims to boost deportations. But it drew intense criticism from advocacy groups who alleged poor conditions, which DHS has strongly denied.

Most of the detainees at Alligator Alcatraz were held in soft-sided tents on an airstrip in the middle of the Everglades, which were further divided into dormitory-style units surrounded by metal fencing and filled with bunk beds. The enclosures didn’t have common areas.

The OIG report found these housing units “did not provide detainees with sufficient living space.” When at capacity, they provided 28 square feet per detainee — less than half of the 75 square feet required under Florida state jail standards, according to OIG.

The report said this arrangement “may harm detainees’ physical and mental health.”

It also found that detainees were given one hour of recreation time three days per week, and were able to shower on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The report noted that ICE’s standards call for detainees to have at least six hours of recreation time per week, or at least one hour a day for five days a week, and Florida’s standards require daily access to showers.

OIG staff also reported seeing cage-like “small metal enclosures,” which were 52 inches long and 52 inches wide. Some 79 detainees were held in these enclosures, which staff called “calming areas,” between July 2025 and January 2026.

The watchdog described these enclosures as “highly unconventional” and said they do not “align with standards for humane treatment.” It recommended removing them. (All of the inspector general’s recommendations were closed out because the facility ceased operations.)

One of the “small metal enclosures” observed by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general during an inspection in January 2026. DHS OIG

Staff told inspectors that detainees “asked to spend time in the small metal enclosures” in order to have time alone, and the doors were left unlocked. An ICE notice on the outside of the enclosure said detainees “may leave at any time.” But OIG said in at least one case, the enclosure “may have been used as a disciplinary tool,” with a detainee placed inside for 26 minutes for failing to comply with commands.

Detainees were kept in the enclosures for no more than two hours. On average, they stayed inside for just under an hour, OIG said.

“Use of these small metal enclosures for any reason is unprecedented among ICE facilities inspected by OIG,” the report read. “Confining individuals in small metal enclosures for any reason presents significant risks to detainee health and well-being.”

OIG said staff at the facility “could not clearly identify which detention standards they used for holding detainees on immigration-related charges,” which the report warned “increases the risk that detainees may not receive appropriate care.” In assessing Alligator Alcatraz, OIG said it looked at both Florida state jail standards and ICE’s national standards, and applied whichever was more restrictive.

The OIG report adds to more than a year of criticism of Alligator Alcatraz from Democratic lawmakers, immigration attorneysand advocacy groups. There was also opposition to the site from environmental organizations concerned about the impact on the ecosystem and a Native American tribe that argued the facility endangered protected lands.

The facility’s detainees were legally in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and were accused of being in the U.S. illegally or otherwise violating federal immigration laws.

State and federal officials have long defended the site, which President Trump personally toured in the summer of 2025 along with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“Alligator Alcatraz was consistent with the same federal detention standards employed by previous administrations, including Biden and Obama,” a DHS spokesperson told CBS News in a statement Monday. “All detainee facilities are clean, and any allegations of inhumane conditions or excessive use of force are FALSE.”

CBS News has reached out to the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which operated the facility, for comment.

特朗普支持率微幅反弹 难挡民主党扩大领先优势

2026-09-15 07:06 / 联合早报

• 路透社/益普索民调显示，特朗普支持率从历史低点33%微升至35%，但63%美国人不赞同其党代会承诺。 – 自今年2月对伊朗开战以来，特朗普支持率走低，共和党流失部分选民，近期失去经济政策传统优势。 – 政党倾向基准民调中，44%受访者选民主党、37%选共和党，差距为特朗普重返白宫以来最大。 – 在经济管理信任度上，民主党以38%对37%首次领先共和党；11月3日为中期选举投票日。

特朗普在共和党史上首场中期选举全国代表大会承诺，如果共和党在11月中期选举中保住国会控制权，他将向所有美国成年人派发5000美元“特朗普红利”。 （法新社）

路透社/益普索在上周共和党史上首场中期选举全国代表大会后开展的民调显示，虽然总统特朗普的支持率从历史低点稍有反弹，但民众对民主党掌控国会的呼声正日益高涨。

根据星期一（9月14日）公布的这项四天民调结果，63%的美国人——包括四成共和党人和九成民主党人——不赞同特朗普在党代会演讲中所作承诺。特朗普在党代会上说，如果共和党在11月中期选举中保住对国会的控制权，他将向所有美国成年人派发5000美元“特朗普红利”。

约35%的美国人对特朗普的施政表现给予肯定，略高于8月28日至31日路透社/益普索民调的33%；后者是特朗普从政以来的最低纪录。

自今年2月特朗普对伊朗发动战争以来，他的支持率便一路走低。这场战争不仅扰乱了中东的石油运输，还将油价推至接近历史高位的水平，重创了美国家庭的财务状况。随着战事蔓延，特朗普所在的共和党也流失了部分选民支持，并在最近几周失去了在经济政策上长期享有的传统优势。

在“政党倾向基准”（generic ballot）最新民调中，当被问及如果今天举行国会选举会投给哪个政党时，44%的受访者选择了民主党，37%选择共和党。这7个百分点的差距是自特朗普于去年1月重返白宫以来的最大差距。

对于共和党而言，失去参众两院中任何一院的控制权，都可能使特朗普在任期最后两年的施政议程面临重重阻碍。

政党倾向基准民调属于全国性民调，旨在宏观反映受访者更希望哪个政党主导国会。虽然此类民调能反映全国民意走向，但无法充分反映各州和各选区具体选情的微妙变化，而决定美国参议院和众议院控制权归属的，正是这些具体选区的角逐。在地方选战中，共和党人依然保有一定的结构性优势。

在谁更擅长管理经济的问题上，选民对民主党的信任度超过了共和党（38%对37%），这也是民主党近十年来首次获得这一优势。

特朗普在华盛顿特区开展的一系列建设项目，包括白宫加建宴会厅，引发了极大的争议，且带有鲜明的党派政治色彩。调查显示，高达91%的民主党人表示反对这些计划，而持反对意见的共和党人仅为25%。

约三分之二的美国人，其中包括半数共和党人，认为这些建设项目非紧急事项。

最新的路透社/益普索民调误差范围为正负3个百分点。

11月3日为美国中期选举投票日。

Hochul accused of ‘hit job’ on behalf of teachers’ unions in act of ‘pure censorship’: labor group

2026-09-14T17:12:34-04:00 / Fox News

The Freedom Foundation calls the measure a ‘hit job’ designed to silence outreach to public employees about union dues

By Peter Pinedo Fox News

Published September 14, 2026 5:12pm EDT

Kathy Hochul and New York Democrats called out for ‘pure censorship’ in unions bill

Ryan Walters, CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, calls out New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democrats for a bill he says equates to “pure censorship.”

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

blob:https://www.foxnews.com/412cc590-34b7-4457-adce-60bf126ccb54

Listen to this article

5 min

New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is being accused of conducting a “hit job” on free speech on behalf of teachers unions after she signed a law giving the state attorney general the power to fine groups deemed to be engaged in deceptive communications that falsely appear to be authorized by a union.

Hochul signed a law last week prohibiting people and organizations from using deceptive communications that falsely appear to be authorized by a union or union representative. The law, which took immediate effect, allows Democratic Attorney General Letitia James to investigate and sue to stop alleged violations, including those involving out-of-state groups. Courts can impose fines of up to $1,000 per incident.

In response, the Freedom Foundation, a conservative nonprofit that campaigns against public-sector unions, including teachers’ unions, says New York’s new law is a targeted effort to silence its outreach by making its communications vulnerable to government investigations, lawsuits and fines.

CEO Aaron Withe called the law a “hit job.” He said the law “isn’t about protecting anyone,” adding that it instead “exists because government unions in New York are terrified of an inconvenient fact: when public employees learn they don’t have to pay union dues, a lot of them stop. So instead of making their case to their own members, union bosses ran to their friends in the legislature and got them to write a law that makes speech illegal.”

NATION’S LARGEST TEACHERS UNION UNDER FIRE AS CONTROVERSIAL AGENDA PUTS CENTURY-OLD FEDERAL CHARTER AT RISK

New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is taking criticism over a bill she signed last week that empowers the state attorney general to investigate and fine groups deemed to be engaged in deceptive practices against labor union members.(Adam Gray – Pool/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul’s and James’ offices for comment. Fox News Digital also reached out to the New York State United Teachers, United Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO for comment.

The law allows James to investigate alleged violations, issue subpoenas and ask a court to block communications deemed deceptive. Courts can impose fines of up to $1,000 per violation, including against organizations outside New York.

The New York State American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (NYS AFL-CIO) praised Hochul’s decision to sign the bill, which she signed along with two other pieces of legislation related to labor rights. Mario Cilento, president of NYS AFL-CIO, remarked that the law will be “holding individuals accountable for fraudulently claiming to be union representatives.”

He said the slate of bills signed by Hochul “put workers first.”

In an X post, Hochul similarly framed the bills as prioritizing workers, writing, “Today marks a new day with even more protections, because I’ll never stop fighting for our workers.”

“New York State gave birth to the labor movement. Over the last five years, I have continued that legacy by fiercely supporting the men and women of labor,” wrote Hochul.

TRUMP UNLOADS ON AOC, MAMDANI FOR LAUGHING DURING SACRED 9/11 CEREMONY AT GROUND ZERO

Attorney General of New York Letitia James, a Democrat, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, attend the New York City Labor Day parade, America’s oldest Labor Day Parade, along with members of more than 200 unions and organizations, on Saturday, September 6, 2025, in New York City.(Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, the Freedom Foundation has mailed and otherwise contacted New York public employees, including teachers, to inform them of their ability to leave their unions and stop paying dues. Nearly 7,500 New York public employees have used Freedom Foundation materials to cancel their union memberships, including more than 1,400 so far this year, according to the group.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Withe pointed to the 2018 Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME, which held that public-sector employees, including public school teachers, cannot be forced to pay union fees for collective bargaining or other speech because that speech can involve political issues protected by the First Amendment.

He said that while the New York law “lets Letitia James fine the Freedom Foundation for outreach the state decides ‘impersonates’ a union … all we’re doing is telling public employees what already gives them: the right to leave their union and stop paying dues.”

“This is an anti-speech law aimed at one kind of speaker,” said Withe.

He asserted that the New York law was “copied” from a similar measure in Oregon, which the Freedom Foundation is already challenging in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He said his organization will “make the same case here.”

Fox News Digital spoke with Ryan Walters, former superintendent of Oklahoma public schools and CEO of Freedom Foundation’s education arm, the Teacher Freedom Alliance. Walters called the New York law an example of “pure censorship and targeting of political opponents by Democrats protecting their union bosses.”

INSIDE TEACHERS’ UNION MAY DAY ‘DRESS REHEARSAL’ CRITICS WARN WILL ‘GROOM’ STUDENTS INTO DEM ‘FOOT SOLDIERS’

Ryan Walters speaks with Fox News Digital about TPUSA expansion in Oklahoma and his efforts against teachers’ unions(Fox News Digital)

“This is such a canary in the coal mine moment where if New York is allowed to do this – an openly socialist mayor, a governor operating as a tyrant doing the behests of the teachers’ unions – it’s going to go on across the country, and our schools will not be able to improve in that kind of environment,” he said, adding, “Where New York goes with this is going to be where the other blue states follow.”

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

He posited that the New York law “shows you how important that power structure is for the Democrat party.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“They have to control the school system to continue to control the country,” he said. “Despite elections, they still control these education systems at large. That’s why the teachers’ unions are enemy number one of progress in this country and why New York needs to be taken on directly for what they’re doing.”

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

Missile shortages, damage to US facilities: Pentagon watchdog issues first review of Iran war

2026-09-14T23:02:47.753Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/14/politics/iran-war-pentagon-watchdog-report

The Pentagon’s official watchdog released a special report about the Iran war on Monday, representing the Defense Department’s first formal accounting of US equipment and facility losses from the conflict.

The inspector general, citing its communications with US Central Command, said that “Iranian strikes damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan” during the war’s first months. The report, which covers the start of the war on February 28 through June 30, also acknowledged the depletion of key US munition stockpiles.

CNN previously reported the destruction of critical US assets such as missile defense radar installations in the war’s early days.

Those Iranian strikes contributed to significant changes in how US troops have traditionally operated in the region, the report said. CENTCOM “shifted personnel, assets and storage facilities” as they came under attack from Iran and its proxy forces.

Some of the moves included the withdrawal of Army medical evacuation helicopters from Iraq and Kuwait, the report said, meaning “most medical evacuations have been carried out by ground … to local treatment facilities.”

The destruction of the Navy’s regional hub in Bahrain, which acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao recently said Iran “blew the hell out of,” added to “significant challenges” with establishing “adequate naval bases and support ports,” the watchdog said. That led to the distant Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia becoming a sea logistics hub, stretching resupply cycles to 14-to-18 days in length.

The resulting intermittent shortages of supplies and interruption to the military’s regional mail system compounded the difficulties US sailors faced during record-long deployments to the Persian Gulf to support airstrikes on Iran and, in recent months, blockade its ports.

The changes to the military’s Middle East footprint may become permanent — military and intelligence community officials have quietly discussed the prospect of lasting cuts to US personnel and facilities in the region when the war eventually concludes, six sources previously told CNN.

The report, produced in collaboration with the State Department’s and US Agency for International Development’s inspector general offices, also covered US diplomatic activities in the region.

Damage by Iran to US diplomatic facilities in the Middle East caused roughly $184 million in damage, the report said. (Cost estimates for damage to US military sites were not provided.)

As CNN reported throughout the months of heavy fighting, those facilities in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates came under assault by Iran and its proxies.

In early March, the US Embassy in Riyadh was hit by two Iranian drones, causing extensive damage, including to the CIA station on the compound.

Also in early March, a drone targeted the US consulate in Dubai, damaging a utility building, according to the report. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the time the drone had hit a “parking lot adjacent to the chancellery building.”

The US Embassy in Kuwait suspended operations entirely in March after being struck and damaged by Iranian drones. It resumed emergency operations for Americans in late June.

There were more than 600 attacks against US facilities in Iraq, a senior State Department official said in May. Those attacks caused the most costly damage — roughly $157 million.

Between February 23 and June 30, according to the report, up to 3,500 diplomatic personnel were out of the region as the majority of US posts were on authorized or ordered departure.

Within weeks of the start of the war in February, as US diplomatic facilities across the region came under attack, the department put Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on ordered departure, meaning that non-emergency personnel and all family members had to leave. Authorized departure means non-emergency personnel could choose to leave.

Most posts remain on “restricted operations,” which is not a return to normal staffing and instead is put in place after six months of ordered departure. Some diplomats have begun returning to the region, as have some family members.

Davis Winkie’s work at CNN is supported by a partnership between Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners (JFP). CNN retains full editorial control of the reporting.

Bigotry in GOP ranks is getting harder for party leaders to ignore

2026-09-14T22:22:12.934Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/14/politics/republican-candidate-racist-posts-bo-french

For a brief period last year, portions of the Republican Party seemed to recognize that their party had racism and antisemitism problems in their midst that needed to be reckoned with.

Then, prompted by Vice President JD Vance, they largely dropped the subject.

But now those concerns have come roaring pack, thanks to public comments from influential figures and disclosures about more private activities of staffers.

A number of prominent Republicans, including Texas Sen. John Cornyn, have denounced racist social media posts this weekend from the GOP nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, Bo French.

French posted an image of brown-skinned students at Saturday night’s University of Texas football game and said the replacement of Americans by foreigners is“everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine.” French suggested those responsible “hate white Americans.”

On Monday, French cast the criticism of his weekend posts as “the establishment” coming for him. “It’s no surprise that the less-conservative people in Texas are the ones attacking me,” he said on “the Mark Davis Show,” according to the Texas Tribune.

(French also posted on social media last year asking whether Jews or Muslims were a bigger threat. Since then, he won the GOP nomination in May.)

Meanwhile, the campaign of Ohio Sen. Jon Husted in recent days parted ways with a top staffer who once used a photo of a Nazi SS soldier as his Facebook profile photo, among other questionable pursuits.

But that’s just the latest staffer to be the subject of such a report. And these are merely the latest in a long line of episodes since President Donald Trump returned to office that suggest the party has a real problem on its hands.

That problem should be getting harder for the GOP to ignore. But the party has struggled to deal with it, in part, because some of the racism and xenophobia has come directly from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — and Trump has in many ways spurred his party on, including with his comments about Muslims and his campaign’s false claims during the 2024 campaign about Haitian immigrants.

“Are other Republican elected officials going to condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized,” Cornyn wrote on X in response to French’s post. “This is how great political parties self-destruct. Sad.”

Below is a recap of the problematic episodes since Trump returned to office.

Early 2025:Trump’s State Department hires a former White House aide who was fired during Trump’s first term after CNN revealed he appeared at a conference alongside White nationalists.

May 2025:Rep. Randy Fine of Florida calls Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan a “Muslim terrorist” on X.

June 2025: French, then a local county GOP chairman, asks in a social media poll whether Jews or Muslims are the bigger threat to America. He later deletes the post and apologizes.

June 2025: Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas responds to video of then-New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani eating rice with this hands by telling him to “go back to the Third World.”

July 2025: Fine calls Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota a “terrorist.”

September 2025: Trump posts an AI-generated fake video of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero, supposedly because he supported health care coverage for undocumented migrants.

October 2025: Politico reports on leaked chats showing prominent Young Republicans referring to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people,” using variations on a racial slur for Black people, saying “I Love Hitler,” and talking about putting their opponents in gas chambers. (The national Young Republicans group denounces the language.)

October 2025: Politico reports that Trump’s nominee to lead a whistleblower agency allegedly texted a group chat that he has a “Nazi streak,” used an Italian slur for Black people, and wrote, “Never trust a chinaman or Indian.” (His lawyer questions the authenticity of the messages, but his nomination is withdrawn — although he later picks up a new job in the administration.)

November 2025: Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee says on a podcast that Muslims are trying to “breed their way through our society.”

December 2025:Trump calls Somali immigrants in Minnesota “garbage” who should “go back to where they came from.”

December 2025: Trump admits that he once referred to heavily Black countries like Haiti as “sh*thole countries.”

February: Trump posts a video on social media that depicts the Obamas as apes, later saying it was a mistake and blaming a staffer but refusing to apologize.

February: Fine, the Florida congressman, posts: “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”

February: Trump says of Tlaib and Omar that “we should send them back from where they came.” (Tlaib was born in the United States; Omar in Somalia.)

March: Ogles posts on social media: “Muslims don’t belong in American society.” The Tennessee congressman adds: “Muslims are unable to assimilate; they all have to go back.”

May: Slate reports that the chief of staff to Senate candidate Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia participated in a group chat with Nick Fuentes and Richard Spencer, both who have been prominent antisemites and White nationalists, where they talked about how to assist a far-right activist who has questioned the Holocaust. (The chief of staff says in a statement that he was acting in his “personal capacity” and not at the direction of Collins.)

July: CNN’s KFile reports that Collins’ son-in-law, with whom the congressman has openly associated, is “a pro-White nationalist and social media influencer with a track record of sharing antisemitic material and Nazi imagery.”

August: Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama calls Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed a “TERRORIST,” while other Republicans suggestively use El-Sayed’s full first name, Abdulrahman.

August: The Washington Post reports that a young former Collins intern recently shared images on social media of a swastika and one that depicts himself in Ku Klux Klan robes, as well as repeatedly posting a racial slur for Black people and the phrase “White Power.” (The staffer says Collins wasn’t aware of his posts because they were private; Collins’ campaign doesn’t answer the Post’s questions about him.)

August: Laura Loomer, a prominent influencer in Trump’s orbit, calls Florida Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon a “ghetto black communist b*tch,” repeatedly re-posting the first three words about her.

September: The Washington Post reports that a 25-year-old top campaign aide to Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio formerly used a photo of a Nazi SS soldier as his Facebook profile photo. (Husted’s campaign tells the Post they decided to “part ways.”)

September: French, now the GOP nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, posts the image of brown-skinned fans at a University of Texas football game and criticizes the school for admitting so many of them.

Blanche vows to release more 9/11 documents: “We’re not protecting people”

2026-09-14T18:16:00-0400 / CBS News

Kansas City, Missouri— Attorney General Todd Blanche vowed that the federal government will continue releasing records related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, doubling down on U.S. assertions that documents still being withheld are not being kept secret to protect Saudi Arabia or any other government.

“The one thing that we are not doing, we’re not protecting people,” Blanche said in an exclusive interview with CBS News. “The reason that we’re not releasing documents has nothing to do with protecting any government or any entity. It’s just to protect, genuine classified [information].”

Blanche weighed in Monday, following renewed pressure from 9/11 family members, some of whom appealed directly to the Trump administration during Friday’s commemoration marking the 25th year since the Ground Zero attacks. They called for the release of unredacted documents, publicly accusing successive administrations of withholding evidence related to Saudi Arabia. Thousands of 9/11 family members have pursued a long-running lawsuit against Saudi Arabia for possibly providing support to the hijackers.

As a result of their lawsuit, more information has come to light already. Last year, a “60 Minutes” report revealed new evidence about one figure in the investigation, Omar al-Bayoumi, who met two of the hijackers and helped them find housing in San Diego. He claimed he met them by chance, but the 9/11 families believe he has deeper ties to them and to the Saudi government. Years after the attack, the families’ lawsuit resulted in the release of a video of al-Bayoumi filming the entrances of the U.S. Capitol and pointing out its location relative to the Washington Monument, and at some points referencing a “plan.”

In addition to the Capitol video, an airplane sketch and math formula were also seized from Bayoumi’s U.K. apartment and turned over to the FBI in 2001. One FBI field investigator told “60 Minutes” he didn’t know about the sketch until it was about to be archived or destroyed. When he obtained it, he took it to aviation experts, who told him a pilot could use the formula to calculate the rate of descent to hit a target on the horizon. The evidence had never been shared with the FBI field agents who worked on the case or with top intelligence officials.

Investigators have long believed the Capitol may have been the intended target of Flight 93, which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers overtook the hijackers.

Asked Sunday about the families’ remarks as he prepared to return to Washington from Ireland, President Trump told reporters, “I’m going to look at it when I get back.”

Blanche said Monday that additional records would be made public — though the nation’s top law enforcement official did not provide a timeline.

“Sometimes there’s documents that are classified and they shouldn’t be,” Blanche said. “And so those are the ones that we’re going to release.”

Asked what families still seeking answers should expect, he addressed the families directly.

“There’ll be more records coming out,” Blanche said. “And so, to the families that are still looking for answers, we are, too. And that’s what we’re going to deliver to them.”

Terry Strada, chair of Families United, whose husband, Tom, was killed in the North Tower on 9/11, took a moment during the annual commemorative reading of victims’ names to call out past administrations for failing families seeking information about possible Saudi links to the attackers.

“For 25 years, administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families,” Strada said.

Strada appealed directly to the Trump administration, asking Vice President JD Vance at the New York ceremony to take the families’ message back to Washington. She urged the vice president to press Saudi Arabia over its denials, describing the government’s handling of the issue over the 25 years as “one betrayal after another.”

The nephew of Lisa Marie Terry, a Marsh McLennan executive killed in the World Trade Center, appealed directly to Mr. Trump during his turn at the microphone.

“President Trump, you’re our last hope,” he said.

For more than two decades, questions have swirled around what assistance two of the hijackers received after arriving in California and whether people connected to the Saudi government played any role in their travel.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11 were Saudi nationals, though Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied that its government was directly involved.

In 2004, the 9/11 Commission found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded al Qaeda, but also wrote that its findings left open the possibility that charities with meaningful Saudi government sponsorship had diverted funds to al Qaeda.

In August 2025, U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels denied Saudi Arabia’s effort to have the claims thrown out, finding instead that families had presented sufficient evidence for the case to proceed, including evidence concerning Saudi nationals Omar al-Bayoumi and Fahad al-Thumairy, plus aid offered to hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar following their arrival in California in January 2000.

On Friday, the CIA released a new tranche of 9/11-related intelligence, with CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassifying 71 President’s Daily Brief products dating from the years before the attacks through the day afterward. The agency referred to it as the largest single release of declassified CIA presidential briefing material related to 9/11. The documents include varying assessments of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda and warnings about possible attacks.

Still, those recently released documents are not the same records at the center of the families’ demands concerning possible Saudi connections.

Blanche said some records remain classified for legitimate national security reasons but rejected the suggestion that the government is withholding material to shield another country.

“It’s not as if we’re keeping records from the American people,” Blanche told CBS News.

特朗普：伊朗迫切希望达成协议 美国持开放态度

2026年9月15日 07:32 / 联合早报

特朗普9月14日在Truth Social写道：“正走向崩溃的伊朗迫切希望快速达成一项协议。美国是否与他们进行接触将由我决定——我们对此持开放态度。” （路透社）

在中东多地冲突扩大并威胁到全球石油供应之际，美国总统特朗普声称伊朗“迫切希望”与华盛顿达成协议，暗示外交接触可能出现转机。

特朗普星期一（9月14日）在自家社媒平台发布多条贴文，为他的伊朗政策辩护。特朗普说，他对与伊朗谈判持开放态度，并称美方在霍尔木兹海峡帮助石油运输，各国应对美国进行“护航补偿”。

特朗普在Truth Social上写道：“正走向崩溃的伊朗迫切希望快速达成一项协议。美国是否与他们进行接触将由我决定——我们对此持开放态度。”

在特朗普发表这番言论之前，波斯湾阿拉伯国家推迟了原定14日与伊朗举行的会议，而亲伊朗的也门胡塞武装对沙特阿拉伯发动了新一轮袭击，进一步加剧各界对中东冲突扩大的担忧。

胡塞武装声称向沙特南部海米斯穆谢特（Khamis Mushait）的一处空军基地发射了数十枚导弹和无人机，目标包括飞机机库、雷达系统、跑道和弹药库，以此报复沙特在也门发动的空袭。

此前，特朗普称，美伊战事将在美国11月中期选举后“立即结束”，同伊朗恢复谈判“并非我们目前考虑的事情”。