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Kamala Harris jabs at Joe Biden’s old faith in a post-Trump ‘epiphany’ for Republicans

2026-08-07T12:09:07.718Z / CNN

By Edward-Isaac Dovere

3 hr ago

PUBLISHED Aug 7, 2026, 8:09 AM ET

Joe Biden Donald Trump

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Vice President Kamala Harris listens to President Joe Biden speak at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 9, 2025.

Andrew Cabellero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Kamala Harris thinks Joe Biden had too much faith in Republicans, and she’s jabbing at him for it.

“We cannot sit around hoping Republicans will have an ‘epiphany’ and do the right thing,” the former vice president will say in a speech Friday night in New Orleans, “because the American people can’t afford to wait.”

Beyond eventually writing in her post-election memoir that leaving the decision to run for re-election to the former president and his wife was “recklessness”, Harris has been careful in distancing herself from her former boss since she took over the Democratic nomination from him in 2024. But as she mulls whether to run for president again in 2028, she is pushing for a much harder tack than the one epitomized in Biden’s well-known 2019 prediction that “You will see an epiphany occur among many of my Republican friends” once he beat Donald Trump.

As Democrats look forward, Harris will say, they need to be ready for a much fiercer fight. “The good news is Donald Trump will be term limited out. However, please let us be clear: there is no term limit on this new Republican Party built in his image — and folks, there is a deep moral corruption about this new Republican Party,” she will say, according to excerpts of the speech shared with CNN. “Their ideology is clearly to create a smash-and-grab world. To sow chaos, grab wealth and abuse power.”

Harris is delivering the keynote address at the Louisiana Democratic Party’s annual gala, where she’ll also receive a legacy award. It will be her first major speech since the Supreme Court further eroded the Voting Rights Act in the spring by ruling in its Louisiana v. Callais decision against mandated Black-majority districts. The decision to give this speech in Louisiana is deliberate for the former vice president, who is preparing more speeches on Callais into the fall as she decides on her own political future.

Rather than sticking to anything like the status quo, she will urge those at the dinner to discover a “ruthlessness that must be the attitude of the Democratic Party.”

“This fight requires that we start to get comfortable with some things—including having a certain kind of ruthlessness,” Harris will say. “Now, I don’t mean ruthlessness like the cruelty they show. I mean the kind that is uncompromising in its impatience with injustice, that shows no mercy for corruption, that fights back hard when they threaten the power of the people.”

Harris will call for using government revenue to reduce costs on housing and healthcare, addressing inequality in the tax code, improving access to skills training and creating guardrails around artificial intelligence. But she won’t get into specifics.

“We’ll also need to look in the mirror and hold ourselves accountable. Government has to earn the trust of the people,” Harris will say. “And that means responding to the actual needs of the people—not with bureaucracy, but with speed and transparency. Not with process — but with progress.”

One announcement Harris is not scheduled to make on Friday: a decision on whether she will run again.

Trump’s pick for top law enforcement official gets crucial last-minute lifeline for confirmation

Cassidy backs Todd Blanche, clearing major hurdle for Trump’s AG pick

2026-08-07 08:01 EDT / Fox News

By Alex Miller, Fox News

Published August 7, 2026 8:01am EDT | Updated August 7, 2026 11:05am EDT

GOP senators remain noncommittal on President Trump’s attorney general nominee

Fox News correspondent David Spunt reports on the Senate impasse over President Donald Trump’s nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general as Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis remain noncommittal.

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As Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation appeared headed for sure defeat, one on-the-fence Senate Republican gave him, and President Donald Trump, a vital lifeline.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., has remained quiet throughout this and last week on how he would vote on Blanche, who barely survived his confirmation vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now, after conversations with Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ), the pieces are in place to confirm Blanche.

“I will vote for Mr. Blanche,” an emotional Cassidy said on the Senate floor. “I’ll be criticized for this vote. What’s new? But, the people of Louisiana can be assured that I worked hard to understand the issue and to make the right decision.”

COLLINS DROPS THE HAMMER ON TRUMP’S PICK TO LEAD DOJ, JEOPARDIZING PATH TO CONFIRMATION

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) arrives for a meeting with Senate Republicans in the U.S. Capitol on June 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. Senate Republicans overnight released a new version of the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” as they approach U.S. President Donald Trump’s July 4 deadline.(Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)

With Cassidy’s green light, Blanche has a chance, even with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., missing in action. But to be confirmed, Senate Republicans will need an assist from Vice President JD Vance. Still, it’s unclear whether the Senate will actually vote on Blanche on Friday, which could be the upper chamber’s grand finale of the summer before it exits Washington, D.C., for the remainder of August.

It comes after Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, announced that she would not support Blanche’s nomination to be the nation’s top prosecutor and law enforcement official, dealing another blow to his rocky confirmation process.

Her defection, despite a heavy lobbying effort by Blanche that saw him make the trek to Alaska, means that Senate Republican leadership can’t afford to lose anymore votes to get him across the finish line, given that , R-Ky., though now back home, has still not returned to the Senate.

Murkowski acknowledged Blanche’s visit to Alaska and heavy lobbying effort throughout the last few weeks, but it’s his connection to President Donald Trump’s nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund, and broader concerns of a weaponized Justice Department, that proved the nail in the coffin for her.

TRUMP’S AG PICK SURVIVES — FOR NOW — AS REPUBLICANS QUESTION IF WHITE HOUSE DEAL WILL HOLD

“The politicization — even weaponization — of the Department did not start with this administration but has accelerated during it,” Murkowski said in a statement. “I take issue with the handling of the release of the Epstein files; the sweeping immunity protections granted to the President, his family, and their businesses; the statements that have been made to anti-abortion groups; and the repeated targeting of individuals ranging from former administration staff to sitting U.S. Senators.”

“I am also keenly aware that the Department’s nearly $2-billion dollar slush fund—which likely would have rewarded January 6 protesters—is only off the table because this nomination is pending and the Senate has leverage,” she continued. “Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds.”

TRUMP THREATENS TO YANK HIS OWN AG NOMINEE AS GOP REVOLT GROWS

Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, speaks to members of the media following a vote outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025.(Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)

To Murkowski’s latter issue, several lawmakers in both sides of the aisle acknowledge that though Blanche and the Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed to permanently rescind the fund in writing to Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, there’s nothing stopping Trump from reviving it.

And he’s on several occasions made clear he wants to see it come back.

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“The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration,” Murkowski said. “I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case.”

Before making her decision, Trump already took a snipe at her during an interview with Punch Bowl News published Friday morning.

“I’m against Murkowski,” Trump said. “I do more for Alaska than any president in history. No president’s done for Alaska what I’ve done. She’s not good.”

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

Hillary Clinton blasts Trump’s White House changes as ‘reminiscent’ of Saddam Hussein’s palaces

2026-08-07 10:51 AM ET / CNN

By Donald Judd

Hillary Clinton blasted President Donald Trump’s overhaul of the White House in an interview posted Friday, telling podcast host Kara Swisher that Trump’s “tackied up” decor is “reminiscent” of dictator Saddam Hussein’s palaces in Iraq.

“It’s sad to me — it’s sad that it’s so tackied up, and it’s a reflection of, you know, his narcissistic personality and his need to feel important, including sticking gold embellishments all over the walls of the Oval Office,” the former secretary of state told Swisher on her “Pivot” podcast.

“This is a man who, his mind apparently goes to, ‘Where can I add more gold?’ instead of, ‘How do I get out of Iran without looking like the loser that I am?’”

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attends the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, in the Rotunda of the US Capitol on January 20, 2025.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/File

As first lady, Clinton herself oversaw renovations to the White House Blue Room, but has emerged as a fierce critic of Trump’s massive overhauls to the White House complex, posting, “It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it,” shortly after the administration began demolishing the White House East Wing to make way for the president’s proposed ballroom last year.

“The next president is going to have a big decision. What do you do with a half-finished ballroom?” Clinton said in the interview, referring to it as a “carbuncle on the side of the White House.”

Asked what she would do, Clinton replied: “I don’t know.”

In a statement responding to her comments, White House spokesman Davis Ingle pointed back to the 2016 presidential election, when Clinton lost to Trump.

“Hillary Clinton never had the opportunity to decorate the Oval Office as president because she suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of President Trump, which she has never recovered from,” he said.

Since returning to the White House in 2025, Trump has sought to leave his own mark on the building, affixing gold detailing on the surfaces of Oval Office and throughout the West Wing.

President Donald Trump, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on July 21.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

In December of last year, he unveiled the “Presidential Walk of Fame” along the White House Rose Garden colonnade, complete with plaques featuring politically-tinged dings against his predecessors — partisan barbs White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed he wrote himself.

And he’s been publicly preoccupied with renovation projects throughout the District of Columbia, including scandal-plagued efforts to refurbish the National Mall’s reflecting pool and erect a 250-foot “triumphal arch” across the Potomac River.

Speaking with Swisher in Friday’s interview, Clinton joked she’d be willing to take on the role of “Secretary of Taking Down the Gold” after Trump leaves office.

“Wouldn’t that be a good idea? Secretary of cleaning it up, fixing up,” she said.

CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this report.

Pentagon releases new batch of UFO files: “Did you see that?”

August 7, 2026 / 10:46 AM EDT / CBS News

By Stefan Becket Managing Editor, Digital Politics

Washington — The Pentagon on Friday released a new batch of documents and images related to UFOs, also known as unidentified anomalous phenomena or UAP, including a military pilot’s recollection of a huge, strange triangle that blocked out the stars over Afghanistan in 2002.

The 41 new files, posted on the Pentagon’s UFO website, include a mix of documents, images and videos. The records come from the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, State Department and Executive Office of the President, with the oldest being from 1950 and the most recent being from this year.

The disclosure is the fifth release under an executive order President Trump signed in January directing the military and other agencies to produce more documents related to UFOs.

What’s in the new UFO files?

The bulk of Friday’s release includes the type of grainy videos that have been the hallmark of past disclosures, showing flying objects captured by military sensors and cameras.

Six of the videos show different versions of the same incident — an encounter over the Gulf of Oman by Special Operations forces on an AC-130J gunship in September 2021. The clips are cellphone videos of screens on the gunship, showing objects picked up by its infrared and other sensors.

An accompanying intelligence report sheds more light on the footage. The report said the forces onboard the gunship “observed approximately 25 instances of UAPs while conducting a live fire exercise in the Gulf of Oman.”

“The UAPs were observed as cold orbs flying at lower altitudes between 250 to 1300 MPH in different formations as well as maneuvering aggressively. UAPs also appeared to react to the aircraft firing its main cannon,” the report said.

The encounter could not be resolved by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, the Pentagon’s UAP investigative arm.

One clip submitted by U.S. Central Command shows footage captured by a military aircraft over a populated area in the Middle East in 2025. The video shows what appears to be an object zooming across the screen. The incident also remains unresolved:

Another video shows footage captured by a “U.S. Government Special Agent” in the western U.S. this year. The Pentagon said the video “features two, slow-moving ‘black-hot’ areas of contrast, visible in infrared imaging.”

A partially redacted report about that encounter said the agent received a report about a radio frequency being detected and soon pointed a handheld infrared sensor in its direction.

“He saw a black object in the sky. It was not moving fast. He took pictures using the optical device. While observing he saw a second object to the right of the first and took additional photos/videos. The objects were moving together at the same speed,” the FBI report said. “Both were black hot. He lost view of the objects when they traveled a distance out of view. Total observation time was approximately 5 – 10 minutes.”

Friday’s release includes eight 302 forms, which the FBI uses to record the details of witness interviews. All eight include redactions to shield confidential information, and most are paired with artist renderings from the bureau showing the objects that the witnesses described. Others were released along video footage that the interviewees captured, showing what appear to be orbs and other light sources in the sky.

One noteworthy 302 report records an interview with a former military pilot in 2024. The pilot told an agent that military pilots began seeing strange lights in the sky between midnight and 3 a.m. the year before. The pilot said he first saw the lights during a flight from Massachusetts to Ireland in October 2023.

“[Redacted] was at an elevation of 37,000 feet and believed the lights were higher than him, probably at 50,000 feet or higher. The lights were white in color, would start out as dim, and get brighter before they eventually faded out,” the report said. “The full cycle of the lights would range from 10 seconds to one minute.”

The pilot said he saw the lights roughly 10 times after that first experience.

He also told the agent about something he saw while serving in Afghanistan in 2002.

“At approximately 4:30 AM local time, [redacted] noticed that the stars were getting blacked out over Bagram. It appeared as if something huge went overhead, from west to east, and was an equilateral triangle shape. The object was moving silently, at a consistent speed and altitude, possibly 150 knots, with no lights visible,” the agent wrote.

The pilot “estimated it was 500 feet in size, but he could not fully see the shape of the object.” He reported that the pilot he was with “also observed the triangle, and when it passed over stated, ‘did you see that?’”

The FBI produced this artist’s rendering of the object:

An FBI rendering of the military pilot’s recollection. FBI

The Pentagon said that Friday’s document disclosure won’t be the last under Mr. Trump’s executive order, with a spokesman saying the department “will release additional files on a rolling basis.”

Explainer: How are Reuters/Ipsos US public opinion polls conducted?

2026-08-07T14:41:25.112Z / https://www.reuters.com/world/us/how-are-reutersipsos-us-public-opinion-polls-conducted-2026-08-07/

Summary

• Polls collect respondents’ views at a particular moment in time
• All polls are subject to margin of error
• Congressional elections present unique challenges

WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Reuters/Ipsos conducts polls of national U.S. public opinion on a variety of political, business and social topics including a regular reading on the approval of the president and on Americans’ views of which party they want ​to run Congress.

WHAT DO PUBLIC OPINION POLLS MEASURE?

Public opinion polls capture respondents’ views at a particular moment in time. By reaching out to groups ‌of people designed to represent the broader U.S. population, they provide a snapshot of national opinion.

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HOW ARE THE REUTERS/IPSOS POLLS CONDUCTED?

Ipsos uses its proprietary “KnowledgePanel,” a representative sample of Americans aged 18 and over.

Participants are selected through a postal address-based sampling method that includes all U.S. households. They are polled online. Respondents who do not already have internet access are provided with internet service and a laptop at no ​cost.

The data is weighted to reflect U.S. Census data on how the broader U.S. population breaks down by factors including gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity (people of ​Hispanic descent are the nation’s second largest ethnic group), education, household income and census region. Data may also be weighted to account ⁠for political composition using partisan self-identification (benchmarked to the Pew Research NPORS study) or self-reported 2024 presidential vote choice (benchmarked to election results).

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE POLLED?

Six times a year, ​Reuters/Ipsos conducts a poll of at least 4,000 respondents over roughly a week. These polls have a margin of error of about 2 percentage points for the full sample, with ​higher margins of error for smaller sub-groups of respondents.

Over the course of the year, Reuters/Ipsos conducts at least 24 polls of presidential approval and other topics. Those polls reach at least 1,000 people over a few days and typically have a margin of error of about 3 percentage points for the full sample.

WHAT IS A MARGIN OF ERROR?

Margin of error is a statistical term intended to express ​the possible variation between a poll’s finding and what the result would be if the full population were polled. If a representative poll of the U.S. population finds that ​75% of respondents prefer ice cream to Brussels sprouts and has a 3% margin of error, that means that in the full population somewhere between 72% and 78% of Americans hold that ‌preference.

WHAT IS ⁠A ‘GENERIC BALLOT’ POLL?

Generic ballot polls are national polls that provide an overall view of which party poll respondents want to see in charge in Congress. While these polls provide a view of national public sentiment, they do not capture all the nuances of the state-by-state and district-by-district contests that determine control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

House elections in particular are heavily influenced by partisan redistricting, also known as gerrymandering, which has resulted in contests where just about three dozen of the 435 House seats are expected to be competitive ​in the November midterm elections.

Senators serve for overlapping ​six-year terms, which mean that just ⁠a third of the seats in that chamber are up for grabs in a congressional election. This year, 35 U.S. states will hold elections for Senate, with eight states — Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Ohio — seen as most competitive.

WHAT ​ABOUT REGISTERED VOTERS AND LIKELY VOTERS?

Reporting on polls will often refer to the findings from registered voters and likely voters, as ​these are the people ⁠who decide election outcomes. The sample of registered voters represents the widest group of people eligible to cast ballots, and excludes responses from people who aren’t eligible because they aren’t citizens or have criminal records. Just over 60% of eligible voters cast ballots in 2024, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab.

Pollsters try to measure the views of those who will ⁠cast ballots by ​using models of likely voters, the people who seem most likely to show up on Election Day. ​These models are by nature subjective, and pollsters take multiple factors into account in determining who to include, including respondents’ self-reported level of enthusiasm about the upcoming election and past voting behavior.

Like any attempt to predict ​future behavior, those models can have flaws that cause them to overestimate or underestimate which groups of voters do cast ballots in the end.

Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Alistair Bell

土耳其巴基斯坦与沙特签署共同防务协议

2026-08-07 20:41 / 联合早报

8月7日，沙特阿拉伯王储兼首相穆罕默德（中）与到访的土耳其总统埃尔多安（左）和巴基斯坦总理谢里夫麦加签署了《麦加共同防务协议》。 （路透社）

沙特阿拉伯、巴基斯坦和土耳其在麦加签署了一项联合防务协议。协议旨在巩固这三个与美国结盟的逊尼派穆斯林国家的联盟。

沙特阿拉伯王储兼首相穆罕默德与到访的土耳其总统埃尔多安和巴基斯坦总理谢里夫星期五（8月7日）在沙特麦加签署了《麦加共同防务协议》。

巴基斯坦外交部和沙特阿拉伯电视台（Al Arabiya）说，这份《麦加共同防务协议》在中东战争和沙特南部邻国也门冲突再度爆发的背景下，将这三个国家联系在一起。

路透社报道，三国在联合声明中说，协议旨在加强对任何侵略行为的共同威慑，并规定对三国中任何一方的武装攻击都视为对所有三国的攻击。声明并未详细说明各方在协议中所作出的承诺或义务，但表示协议旨在加强三国的集体安全，并促进该地区及其他地区的和平、安全与稳定。

一名土耳其官员指出，协议本质上是防御性的，并非针对任何特定行为体，对其他地区国家开放，并且不废除或取代任何现有的双边或多边安排。

US appeals court blocks Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project

2026-08-07 14:25:46 UTC / Reuters

By Mike Scarcella

August 7, 2026 2:25 PM UTC Updated 5 mins ago

Construction of a ballroom at the White House seen from a window at the Washington Monument, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 4, 2026. REUTERS/Eric Lee Purchase Licensing Rights

• Appeals court gives administration 14 days to seek Supreme Court review
• Judge had twice barred above-ground work while allowing underground construction to continue
• Justice Department argued courts cannot review the privately ​funded project

WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) – A U.S. federal appeals court on Friday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to ‌stop construction on a $400 million ballroom on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing, dealing the Republican leader a major setback in a case testing his presidential authority.

The Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a divided 2-1 order upheld a preliminary ​injunction won by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued last year after the administration tore down the ​East Wing and began building a 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) ballroom without seeking authorization from Congress.

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“Whether or not a ⁠massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,” the panel’s ​majority wrote. “Congress has not ceded unfettered authority to the Executive Branch to dramatically redesign, reshape, and reconstruct the White House — the People’s ​House — to fit a particular President’s desires.”

The appeals court placed its ruling on hold for 14 days to allow the Trump administration to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump appealed after U.S. District Judge Richard Leon twice ​blocked above-ground construction on the site while allowing underground work to continue.

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Leon, an appointee of Republican former President George W. Bush, ​had ruled that no federal statute “comes close to giving the President” the required authority to construct the ballroom without congressional approval.

The ballroom plan, which ‌the ⁠administration has described as necessary for large formal functions and to preserve the safety of the White House, is the grandest of several Trump efforts to reshape central Washington’s landscape of government buildings and national monuments.

A judge in a separate lawsuit recently said Trump’s name was illegally added to the exterior of the Kennedy Center performing arts center and ordered its removal.

In the ballroom case, ​Justice Department attorney Yaakov Roth ​said during D.C. Circuit arguments ⁠on June 5 that the courts have no role in weighing the privately funded project and that it would have been improper to block it at any point.

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Roth said the National Trust’s “architectural ​preference” against the ballroom shouldn’t take precedence over national security concerns, claiming evidence that the ​former East Wing ⁠left the president and others in the White House vulnerable to attack.

“They just don’t want to go to Congress,” countered Thaddeus Heuer, a lawyer for the preservation group.

Trump has defended his ballroom and its price tag, which has doubled from initial projections. Trump said in ⁠a post ​on Truth Social last month that the cost rose because “it is approximately twice ​the size, and a far higher quality, than the original proposal” and promised “it will be magnificent, safe, and secure!”

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Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario, Sanjeev Miglani and Andrea Ricci

Pentagon plots new nuclear options for Trump as America’s biggest adversaries raise stakes: report

August 7, 2026 10:56am EDT / Fox News

Elbridge Colby leads classified effort to expand shorter-range nuclear capabilities to deter China and Russia

By Morgan Phillips Fox News

US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker discusses escalating U.S.-Iran tensions amid reports of Chinese missile transfers to Tehran. He also addresses Russia’s missile attack on Kyiv after Zelenskyy’s warning and Ukraine’s urgent need for air defense.

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The Pentagon is drafting a new nuclear strategy aimed at giving President Donald Trump more options for using shorter-range nuclear weapons in a potential regional conflict with China or Russia, according to a report.

The classified effort, led by Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby, would put greater emphasis on tactical nuclear weapons — systems intended for use against military targets in a regional conflict — rather than relying primarily on long-range strategic forces, NBC News reported, citing five people familiar with the plans.

The strategy is designed for scenarios in which China or Russia attacks a U.S. ally and Washington must determine how to respond without immediately escalating to a large-scale strategic nuclear exchange, according to the report.

TRUMP HEADS TO BEIJING FOR HIGH-STAKES XI TALKS AS TAIWAN TENSIONS, TRADE DISPUTES TEST US STRENGTH

FILE – This photo taken from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Feb. 19, 2022, shows a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile being launched from an air field during military drills in Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry said that the military will hold drills involving tactical nuclear weapons – the first time such exercise was publicly announced by Moscow. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)(Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

“Our view is that we need credible nuclear options,” a senior War Department official told NBC. The official said the strategy would “expand the President’s option space by providing him with realistic and credible options and therefore strengthen deterrence.”

The reported shift comes as the United States confronts two nuclear-armed adversaries with increasingly capable arsenals.

Russia retains a large stockpile of theater nuclear weapons and has repeatedly invoked its nuclear capabilities during the war in Ukraine. China, meanwhile, is rapidly expanding and modernizing its nuclear forces, creating what U.S. military officials increasingly describe as a two-peer nuclear challenge.

Tactical, or non-strategic, nuclear weapons are generally designed for theater or regional use rather than long-range strategic missions. They often have shorter-range delivery systems and may be intended for military targets.

But the label does not mean they are limited in consequence: a nuclear detonation could kill large numbers of people, spread radioactive fallout and trigger nuclear retaliation.

US FALLS BEHIND IN HYPERSONIC RACE AS CHINA, RUSSIA GAIN EDGE

China may be conducting low-yield nuclear tests, a State Department official says.(Tingshu Wang/File Photo/Reuters)

The War Department has not publicly announced a change in nuclear employment policy or a new tactical nuclear weapons program. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.

The review also comes six months after New START, the last treaty limiting U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals, expired without a replacement, leaving Washington and Moscow without binding limits or inspections for the first time in decades.

The treaty did not cover tactical nuclear weapons, an area in which Russia holds a substantial numerical advantage. U.S. Strategic Command estimated this year that Moscow possesses up to 2,000 theater nuclear warheads.

An unarmed LGM-30G Minuteman III sits inside the silo of U-01 at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, July 9, 2025.(Staff Sgt. Michael A. Richmond/U.S. Air Force)

Russia has long relied on its non-strategic nuclear arsenal in part to offset NATO’s conventional military strength. China’s growing arsenal is adding a separate challenge for Pentagon planners preparing for the possibility of confronting two nuclear-armed competitors.

Supporters of the Pentagon’s reported shift argue that giving Trump more credible limited-response options could strengthen deterrence by convincing an adversary that Washington has ways to respond short of an all-out strategic exchange.

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Critics argue that putting greater emphasis on weapons intended for regional use could lower the threshold for nuclear employment and increase the risk that a limited conflict spirals into a broader nuclear war.

土耳其巴基斯坦与沙特签署共同防务协议

2026年8月7日 20:41 / 联合早报

8月7日，沙特阿拉伯王储兼首相穆罕默德（中）与到访的土耳其总统埃尔多安（左）和巴基斯坦总理谢里夫麦加签署了《麦加共同防务协议》。 （路透社）

沙特阿拉伯、巴基斯坦和土耳其在麦加签署了一项联合防务协议。协议旨在巩固这三个与美国结盟的逊尼派穆斯林国家的联盟。

沙特阿拉伯王储兼首相穆罕默德与到访的土耳其总统埃尔多安和巴基斯坦总理谢里夫星期五（8月7日）在沙特麦加签署了《麦加共同防务协议》。

巴基斯坦外交部和沙特阿拉伯电视台（Al Arabiya）说，这份《麦加共同防务协议》在中东战争和沙特南部邻国也门冲突再度爆发的背景下，将这三个国家联系在一起。

路透社报道，三国在联合声明中说，协议旨在加强对任何侵略行为的共同威慑，并规定对三国中任何一方的武装攻击都视为对所有三国的攻击。声明并未详细说明各方在协议中所作出的承诺或义务，但表示协议旨在加强三国的集体安全，并促进该地区及其他地区的和平、安全与稳定。

一名土耳其官员指出，协议本质上是防御性的，并非针对任何特定行为体，对其他地区国家开放，并且不废除或取代任何现有的双边或多边安排。

Don Lemon seeks dismissal of criminal civil rights charges, claiming vindictive prosecution

2026-08-07T09:46:00-0400 / CBS News

By Jacob Rosen

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon asked a federal judge in Minnesota to dismiss criminal civil rights charges against him on Friday, saying he is being unlawfully targeted for vindictive prosecution.

His attorneys wrote that President Trump’s animosity toward Lemon “is well documented, stretching back over a decade.”

They argued that the Justice Department charged Lemon “as punishment for his First Amendment protected reporting on protests related to Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota.”

Lemon and several other journalists have been charged alongside a group of protesters with violating the FACE Act, which prohibits people from intimidating or interfering with people exercising their constitutional freedom to practice religion. It also charged them with a felony of conspiring to interfere with individuals’ religious rights.

His lawyers in their motion cited public statements made by senior current and former Justice Department officials and Mr. Trump that targeted Lemon in the lead-up to his indictment. They pointed to comments from then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.

Lemon’s legal team also filed a separate motion to dismiss the indictment on First Amendment grounds, arguing that he has a “right to report on issues of intense national concern” and that he is shielded by newsgathering protections under the First Amendment.

“Even assuming the protestors crossed the line from protected speech to criminal conduct, Mr. Lemon did not commit a crime in covering their actions as a journalist,” his legal team wrote. “From war correspondents embedded with the military during the Vietnam War to journalists who entered the U.S. Capitol while covering the January 6 protests, our country has long recognized that the First Amendment protects the rights of the media to cover newsworthy events and that journalistic proximity to crime does not equal complicity. Journalists routinely go where crimes are occurring.”

In a third motion to dismiss filed Friday morning, Lemon’s legal team argued that the indictment against him should be dismissed because the “charges are fundamentally flawed and must be dismissed” because the government wrongly applied two criminal statutes in the indictment.

Initially, the Justice Department tried to charge Lemon by criminal complaint, but a magistrate judge rejected the effort, citing a lack of probable cause.

The Justice Department then took the extraordinary step of asking first the chief judge, and then the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene. When those efforts failed, prosecutors took the case to a grand jury and secured an indictment.

“Upon hearing rumors of an indictment, counsel for Mr. Lemon contacted the Department of Justice to coordinate Mr. Lemon’s self-surrender,” his lawyers wrote.

“Instead of arranging the normal self-surrender after a charge would be filed, in what can only be described as an effort to punish and humiliate Mr. Lemon, the government ignored the request to arrange an orderly surrender and chose to deputize agents to his Los Angeles hotel—where he was covering the music industry’s annual awards show—to arrest him at midnight.”

The White House subsequently mocked Lemon in a post on X that read, “When life gives you lemons” and included a photo and information about his arrest.

“Perhaps recognizing that Mr. Lemon’s presence as a journalist was protected by the First Amendment, the government’s case agent falsely claimed in numerous sworn affidavits that Mr. Lemon affirmatively joined the protestors by ‘chanting with agitators and obstructing parishioners’ path of travel,’” his lawyers wrote.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the motions.