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Inside Trump’s intimate meeting with nation’s bravest soldiers during whirlwind Texas trip

September 11, 2026 4:21pm EDT / Fox News

By Peter D’Abrosca, Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6404947974112

U.S. Army Lt. Col. William Swenson said the upcoming Medal of Honor monument will be a ‘symbol to the future to inspire Americans’ and praised President Donald Trump’s visit to the new National Medal of Honor Museum.

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ARLINGTON, Texas — During his whirlwind trip to Texas to rally Republican voters ahead of November’s elections, President Donald Trump on Thursday made a pit stop to honor America’s bravest warriors the day before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The intimate gathering was held at the National Medal of Honor Museum, where Trump also met privately with the Medal of Honor recipients who were present.

Trump also signed legislation clearing the way for a new monument honoring the award’s recipients on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., before addressing roughly 100 guests, including 16 of the nation’s 65 living Medal of Honor recipients.

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President Donald Trump signs the Hershel “Woody” Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act during an event at the National Medal of Honor Museum Sept. 10, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“It’s very special for all of us,” Trump said. “It’s special for me to be here, and it’s an American treasure devoted to the best and bravest warriors of our country. And, frankly, it’s really the best they’ve ever produced.”

The event was a stark contrast to the tens of thousands to whom Trump had addressed about 13 hours prior at the GOP midterm convention, a half hour away in Dallas.

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Charlotte Jones, daughter of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, is the chairman of the museum’s board of directors and served as the event’s emcee. Her father beamed with pride as he sat front and center, which Trump noted from the stage.

High-ranking Republican politicians, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, were among the high-profile guests who huddled in the room for the event.

Both Jones and Troy Bertram, the CEO of the new center, stressed that the National Medal of Honor Museum (NMOH) is not just a war museum.

“We are not a military history museum,” Bertram told Fox News Digital. “We are storytelling around the humans, about their courage, their sacrifice. Who they were before what they became.”

Trump’s speech struck a tone of admiration for the men and women honored by the museum.

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A band performs outside the National Medal of Honor Museum.(Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

“They stormed into hellfire and crushed America’s enemies,” the president said. “They had bravery like few people could even think of having. They carried the wounded out of battle and on their own backs and carried them back and forth. … They stood in the way of bullets, purposely just standing just like this and taking bullets, and it’s amazing.”

One of those warriors was Army Lt. Col. William Swenson, a man of steely resolve who serves on the museum’s board.

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His heroic 2009 actions in Afghanistan, where he fought during Operation Enduring Freedom, earned him the highest military decoration awarded by the U.S. government in 2013, presented by then-President Barack Obama.

Pinned down by the enemy during a seven-hour battle in the Ganjgal Valley of the country’s Kunar Province, Swenson saved lives by making multiple trips into active combat zones, pulling wounded soldiers to safety and loading them onto helicopters for evacuation.

“The president and our commander-in-chief has been a strong supporter of this project,” Swenson told Fox News Digital. “He continues to be a strong supporter of this project, and having him as involved as he is going to be a great contribution to get the monument done to standard, on time and to start signaling the messaging to the American people what’s important about service.”

The 47th president is working with private donors to build the new monument in Washington, D.C., near the Lincoln Memorial, in honor of recipients of the nation’s highest military award for heroism in battle. He previously signed the Hershel “Woody” Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act, officially clearing the path for its construction.

President Donald Trump holds up the Hershel “Woody” Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act after signing it during an event at the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas, Sept. 10, 2026.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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“When he died, Woody was the last surviving recipient from World War II. [He] had one of the most dangerous jobs of war, and that’s operating a flamethrower,” Trump said, speaking of the man for whom the bill was named.

“In the Battle of Iwo Jima, he carved a path to American victory — literally carved a path so soldiers could get in and win through a deadly gauntlet of enemy strongholds. And back and forth he went. He just kept going back and forth.”

Williams was one of about 300 flamethrowers in Iwo Jima, a famed and defining battle in the war’s Pacific theater. The late soldier’s family members were in the audience and were fondly acknowledged by the president.

“America will never, ever forget what they did and what they risked and how much they risked [and] what they meant to their families and what they’ve meant to our country,” Trump concluded. “I want to thank you all once again.”

Swenson described the importance of remembrance.

“What we do to ensure that we have common history, common beliefs, is we have monuments, and we have museums. We have our mythology that tells us who we are as Americans and what we will continue to be in the future,” he said. “Without this mythology, we don’t have that narrative.

President Donald Trump signs legislation for a Medal of Honor monument in Washington during a visit to the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas.(Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

The fact that the event was held the day before the 25th anniversary of 9/11 wasn’t lost on him, either.

He described the tragedy as a “seminal event” for him, which happened just as he was finishing college, that shaped his entire future. Swenson spent 22 years in the Army after the attack.

“The United States is forged in fire,” he said. “We’ve had revolutions, we’ve had civil wars, we’ve had global conflicts, we’ve had civil strife. There will always be challenges to our freedom and to our country, and it’s up to us to move forward from those events and create that more perfect union.

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“That said, we must always learn from these events to help better prevent them and also to honor the sacrifice of the service members who fought in these conflicts, and also understand how we as citizens can create a better country that does not have these problems — that does not have these challenges. It’s our responsibility to future generations to prevent that.”

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

Trump administration to send $500 payments to nearly 1 million Obamacare participants

September 11, 2026 / 5:49 PM EDT / CBS News

By Mary Cunningham

Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. She previously worked at “60 Minutes,” CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program.

Read Full Bio

The Trump administration is promising to send $500 payments to nearly 1 million Affordable Care Act participants in 30 states, the White House’s latest effort to address cost-of-living concerns ahead of the November midterm elections.

In a fact sheet on the initiative, the White House said it was issuing refunds after the Biden administration overcharged ACA enrollees though “plan exchange ‘user fees’ that were passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums.”

The White House said the checks are part of the administration’s goal to lower healthcare costs for Americans. The payments are set to go out starting in October.

“President Trump is delivering on promises to lower costs for American patients by putting them first and taking on big health insurance companies, drug manufacturers and other corporate giants that have used the status quo in Washington to raise healthcare costs for Americans,” the White House said on Thursday.

The announcement comes less than two months before the midterm elections, with pocketbook issues expected to be a key issue as voters cast their ballots. Three-quarters of nearly 2,200 respondents said their income is not keeping up with inflation, according to a July CBS News poll.

Mr. Trump separately pledged this week to send a $5,000 dividend to every U.S. adult if Republicans maintain control of Congress after the midterms.

Monthly premiums for Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, health plans have soared after Congress last year allowed coverage subsidies to expire. Some enrollees subsequently downgraded their plans, while others have decided to forgo insurance altogether after their plan costs spiked.

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In a KFF poll fielded between February and March, 80% of returning ACA participants said their premiums, deductibles, or coinsurance and copays were higher than last year.

Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, said in a statement on Friday that the Trump administration’s ACA payments will mostly go to “middle-income people who lost subsidies when Congress did not extend enhanced tax credits, and are now paying in many cases thousands of dollars more.”

The checks will cover roughly 5% of the 19 million people who receive insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchange.

Edited by Alain Sherter

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

吕爱丽：两度叩关，瑞幸能否顺利登台？

2026年9月12日 05:00 / 吕爱丽 台北特派员

• 瑞幸咖啡两度传出将在台北开店，台湾经济部近日证实已发函要求瑞幸循陆资投资管道申请。 – 大陆国台办批评民进党政府阻挠陆资入岛；台湾陆委会反驳称业者应依法申请，勿用人头规避审查。 – 经济部长龚明鑫解释，须确认瑞幸与代理商是否涉及股权参与，以免产生规避陆资审查的疑虑。 – 业界消息称，因代理模式恐难继续且程序拖延造成损失，瑞幸登台意愿据报已大幅降低。

来自中国的瑞幸咖啡近年持续快速扩张，截至今年5月底全球门店已突破3万5000家。图为民众在2023年3月31日开业的新加坡滨海广场门店外排队。 （海峡时报）

中国大陆最大连锁咖啡品牌瑞幸咖啡，似乎又来到台湾门口。去年底，瑞幸一度传出将在台北南京复兴商圈开出台湾首店，店址、招聘信息相继曝光，原定12月开幕，却迟迟没有下文。

时隔近一年，近日又有民众在同一商圈发现大批印有瑞幸标志的咖啡豆纸箱，让“小蓝杯”即将登台的传闻再起。经济部随即证实，已发函给此前传出拟代理瑞幸的顺昱控股所委托的律师事务所，要求瑞幸循陆资投资管道申请。

中国大陆国台办对此批评民进党政府“蓄意阻挠限制大陆投资、产品入岛”，是“不得人心的政治操弄”。台湾大陆委员会主委邱垂正反驳，国台办替瑞幸说话，“更能说明这个厂商是陆资产业”；台湾并未禁止陆资投资，但业者应依法申请，“不要用人头规避审查”。

事件随即在台湾引发部分舆论质疑：同样来自中国大陆，海底捞早已在台湾开店多年，为何瑞幸却迟迟进不了门？一家卖咖啡的餐饮企业，难道也涉及国安？有餐饮业者更质疑，主管机关的考量是否掺杂政治因素。也有网民反问：“那海底捞是不是也要赶出去？”

台湾经济部定期更新的陆资在台投资事业名录显示，海底捞2015年进军台湾时，由在新加坡注册的HAI DI LAO HOLDINGS PTE. LTD.投资2500万元（新台币，下同，约105万新元），申请设立海底捞火锅股份有限公司，行业类别登记为餐饮业。经济部目前的商工登记资料，也将海底捞火锅的股权状况标示为“有大陆投资人”。

其实，海底捞与瑞幸不同也在上述信息中一览无遗。海底捞是在新加坡注册，是新资，创办人也已入籍新加坡。瑞幸母公司在开曼群岛注册，但依然是中国品牌，总部在厦门。

但餐饮业也并非禁止陆资投资的项目，经济部要求瑞幸循陆资程序申请，也不等于禁止它赴台投资，问题首先在于瑞幸以何种方式进入台湾。此前瑞幸尝试以代理商模式进入，去年9月才成立的顺昱控股因而成为关键角色。

瑞幸首次传出登台时，台湾媒体即追查顺昱的股权结构及与瑞幸的商业关系。根据报道，资本额仅500万元的顺昱，由董事长翁张丽卿持股九成、监事程振刚持股一成。翁张丽卿曾任顺大食品调味公司董事；由彰化翁氏家族创办的顺大长期经营食品供应链，也是瑞幸在中国大陆的咖啡豆加工供应商。

经济部当时确认，顺昱为纯台资企业，并称若只是代理瑞幸品牌，属于商业而非投资行为，无须向投审司申请，但仍会关注是否涉及中国大陆资金。

这一次，经济部则要求瑞幸循陆资投资管道申请。经济部长龚明鑫解释，主管机关仍须确认瑞幸与顺昱究竟是单纯代理，还是背后涉及股权参与，以免产生规避陆资审查的疑虑；直接循陆资程序处理较为单纯，也可审查投资对国安及产业的影响。

至于主管机关这一年来是否掌握新的资料，因而调整处理方式，目前并未说明。

马英九政府2009年正式开放陆资来台投资，但从一开始就采取有别于一般外资的审查制度。若投资具有独占、寡占或垄断性地位，在政治、社会、文化上具有敏感性或影响国安，或对台湾经济发展、金融稳定有不利影响，现行规定下，主管机关可限制或禁止投资。

民进党2016年重新执政后，这套制度继续沿用。蔡英文政府2020年进一步修法，强化对陆资经第三地投资的认定，并将通过契约等方式取得部分台企控制能力纳入规范，以防范陆资绕道到台湾。这也意味着，陆资认定并非只看直接持股。

不过，陆资并未因此完全被挡在门外。潮玩品牌泡泡玛特2022年在台湾设立公司，经济部商工登记资料即标示“有大陆投资人”。

瑞幸本身的经营模式也让争议不只停留在资本来源。民进党立委林楚茵曾将相关疑虑提升至国安层次。她称，大陆企业可能以“假代理、真经营”方式规避投资审查，并点名瑞幸透过QR码或应用程序点餐，可能掌握台湾消费者个人资料与消费足迹。

瑞幸以数码化营运、优惠促销和快速展店见长。有媒体分析，继新加坡和香港之后，若能进入成熟的台湾咖啡市场，也有助于验证其商业模式是否具备海外复制能力。

但台湾《经济日报》星期五（9月11日）引述业界消息称，经济部要求瑞幸循陆资程序申请后，原有代理模式恐难继续，加上相关程序一再拖延并造成损失，瑞幸登台意愿已大幅降低。

随着社群媒体和跨境消费普及，瑞幸、泡泡玛特等大陆品牌，对不少台湾消费者已不陌生。从一再传出登台消息，到如今据报意愿降低，“小蓝杯”最终能否登台仍是未知数，也让这杯尚未卖出的咖啡，掺杂了几分政治滋味。

印尼爪哇岛发生6.2级地震

2026年9月12日 07:08 / 联合早报

印度尼西亚爪哇岛星期六（9月12日）凌晨发生6.2级地震。

路透社报道，德国地球科学研究中心（GFZ）说，此次地震的震源深度为376公里。

中共河南省委常委王崧任郑州市委书记

2026-09-12 07:18 / 联合早报

中共河南省委常委、宣传部长王崧履新郑州市委书记。 （互联网）

中共河南省委常委、宣传部长王崧履新郑州市委书记。

据河南日报客户端星期五（9月11日）消息，中共河南省委决定，王崧任中共郑州市委委员、常委、书记，安伟不再担任郑州市委书记、常委、委员职务。

公开资料显示，王崧现年55岁，江西人，清华大学工程力学系工程热物理专业毕业，博士研究生学历，工学博士。

王崧曾长期在安徽省工作，担任过亳州市副市长，马鞍山市委常委、常务副市长，淮南市委副书记等职。2018年11月，安徽省数据资源管理局成立，王崧出任该局首任局长、党组书记。

2021年1月，王崧以中央网信办信息化发展局局长身份亮相，2023年7月任中央网络安全和信息化委员会办公室副主任、国家互联网信息办公室副主任。

2025年4月，王崧出任河南省委常委、宣传部长。

北京警方：男子冒充高校学生诋毁农民被行拘

2026年9月12日 07:45 / 联合早报

针对网传“中国农大学生诋毁农民”的消息，北京警方称，有网民冒充高校学生在社交群组发言诋毁农民，并谎称因此被学校开除，已将涉事网民行政拘留。

据“丰台警事”微信公号消息，北京市公安局丰台分局星期五（9月11日）发布警情通报说，公安机关星期四（10日）接到相关线索，称有网民冒充某高校学生，在学生社交群组发言诋毁农民，并谎称因此被学校开除，造成恶劣社会影响。

警方随后将27岁违法行为人赵姓男子查获，他对冒充该校学生实施上述行为的违法事实供认不讳，被公安机关依法行政拘留。

据九派新闻此前报道，网传两张聊天截图显示，在群名为“中国农业大学校学生会”的聊天群内，一成员发表“农民上大学很荒谬，很浪费教育资源”言论。

事情发酵后，同一头像的网民又在群聊名为“2026中国农业大学新生群”内称，“因为一张截图，我马上就要被开除离校了。”

中国农业大学党委宣传部工作人员星期四称，经核查，上述言论的发布者不是中国农大的人员。

CIA declassifies dozens of never-before-seen intelligence reports related to 9/11

2026-09-11T16:02:00-0400 / CBS News

By Stefan Becket Managing Editor, Digital Politics
Stefan Becket is a managing editor of politics for CBSNews.com. Stefan has covered national politics for more than a decade and helps oversee a team covering the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, immigration and federal law enforcement.

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Olivia Gazis
Olivia Gazis covers intelligence and international security matters for CBS News. Twice Emmy-nominated, she has traveled worldwide with the secretary of state and contributes reporting on intelligence, foreign policy and other security topics across CBS News broadcast, radio, online and streaming platforms.

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Updated on: September 11, 2026 / 7:52 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — The CIA on Friday released 71 intelligence reports from the months and years leading up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, providing a new look at what the spy agency told two presidents about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden before the deadly strikes.

The trove of documents includes assessments prepared by analysts for the President’s Daily Brief, which is distributed to the president and senior administration officials. The release, which coincided with ceremonies marking 25 years since the attacks, includes 70 documents from before the 2001 attacks and one report from the day after. Two of the documents had previously been made public during the course of the investigation by the 9/11 Commission, the body established by Congress to examine the attacks.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the disclosure was “the single largest release of CIA analysis related to 9/11 ever.”

“25 years ago, the 9/11 attacks struck a blow to our Nation, but they did not break us. Generations of CIA officers have since dedicated their careers to securing justice for our fallen Americans and ensuring al-Qa’ida would never again harm our country,” Ratcliffe said in a statement.

What’s in the new 9/11 documents?

Osama bin Laden in an interview with CNN from a cave hideout somewhere in Afghanistan on Aug. 20, 1998. CNN / Getty Images

The new documents show the extent to which the CIA was aware of bin Laden and his followers’ determination to strike the U.S. in the years leading up to 9/11. The assessments were included in the PDB given to Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Nearly all the documents released Friday include redactions.

The earliest document was dated Feb. 13, 1998. It said that bin Laden and other Islamic extremists “met [redacted] and agreed to procure unspecified chemical, biological, and nuclear substances from open markets.” The report said that bin Laden “has legitimate companies, business relationships, and a financial empire that could assist his pursuit of” the weapons.

Bin Laden and his fighters were based in Afghanistan, under the protection of the Taliban. Several of the documents describe the Taliban’s motivations in harboring bin Laden, and detail bin Laden’s growing role in Afghanistan’s drug trade. An October 1999 report said he had “made a substantial investment in 57 narcotics laboratories associated with” Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban, and had recruited experts “to develop more addictive drugs — possibly ecstasy or methamphetamine.” (The 9/11 Commission later found “no reliable evidence that Bin Ladin was involved in or made his money through drug trafficking.”)

Another report from February 1998 said that bin Laden and others had issued a fatwa “calling for all Muslims to attack US interests and civilians worldwide until the US ‘retreats’ from Saudi Arabia and ‘Palestine.’”

A Sept. 10, 1998, memo warned that extremists “may fly an explosive-packed airplane into a US city,” while including the disclaimer that the available intelligence “provides no conclusive information on Bin Ladin’s intentions for future attacks.” The report noted that bin Laden “said his preferred option is to strike the US on its own soil in Washington.”

An excerpt from the September 1998 memo. CIA

The 9/11 Commission’s final report included an apparent reference to that memo, and determined that the Counterterrorist Center did not subsequently “analyze how an aircraft, hijacked or explosives-laden, might be used as a weapon.” If it had, the commission found, it “would soon have spotlighted a critical constraint for the terrorists — finding a suicide operative able to fly large jet aircraft.”

Reports from the summer of 2001 detail murky intelligence about a potential plot to strike inside the U.S. At that point, the “system was blinking red,” as then-CIA Director George Tenet told the 9/11 Commission. One memo from July 24 said that “[redacted] indicates that an expected imminent Bin Ladin-sponsored terrorist operation has been postponed, but preparations for other near-term attacks may still be in train.”

Friday’s release included the infamous memo titled “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US” from August 2001, which was declassified in 2004 at the request of the 9/11 Commission. The memo said that FBI information “indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.”

In its report, the 9/11 Commission said the August memo “was the 36th PDB item briefed so far that year that related to Bin Ladin or al Qaeda, and the first devoted to the possibility of an attack in the United States.” Friday’s release includes 18 items dated from the Bush administration before the attacks, meaning at least some of the PDB material from the lead-up remains secret.

A former senior intelligence official said numerous PDB items warning about the threat as far back 1996 and even earlier were not included in Friday’s disclosure, nor were a number of additional pieces from 2001.

The 9/11 Commission found that “[m]ost of the intelligence community recognized in the summer of 2001 that the number and severity of threat reports were unprecedented. Many officials told us that they knew something terrible was planned, and they were desperate to stop it.”

The final document included in the CIA’s release on Friday is dated Sept. 12, 2001, the day after planes smashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. The “situation report” described the latest intelligence surrounding bin Laden in the run-up to the attack, including details about his likely involvement.

“Mounting evidence indicates Sunni extremists in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf recently were aware Usama Bin Ladin-directed attacks were imminent,” the report said. “[Redacted] the existence of a probable operation was widely known among extremists in Afghanistan and speculated Bin Ladin may have relocated to Kabul to avoid conflict over his activities with the Taliban leadership in Kandahar.”

The memo said that bin Laden and the Taliban’s Omar “clashed over Bin Ladin’s determination to mount terrorist attacks” in August 2001.

“Bin Ladin told Mullah Omar he had operations in progress that would cause great damage to the US,” the memo said.

The report also said that “[a] Kandahar-based Arab yesterday said the attacks were the result of two years’ planning and were ‘the beginning of the wrath,’ [redacted] suggest the Capitol and the White House also may have been targets of the operations.”

The 9/11 Commission report determined that “failures of imagination, policy, capabilities, and management” contributed to the government’s inability to stop the 9/11 attacks before they happened, and that “the most important failure was one of imagination.”

Michigan Senate candidates battle over their records on 9/11 at 25-year mark

September 11, 2026 / 6:10 PM EDT / CBS News

By Aaron Navarro Digital Reporter

Lansing, Mich. — Speaking to a room full of college students, many of whom weren’t alive during the 9/11 attacks, Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed started with a moment of silence to commemorate the 25th year since the terrorist attacks.

He then looked to hit back politically against his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, who has ramped up criticism of El-Sayed this week due to his ties to left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who in 2019 said that “America deserved 9/11.”

On Friday, El-Sayed, who campaigned with Piker during the Democratic primary and has since distanced himself from the streamer, criticized votes Rogers took as a congressman against benefits for 9/11 survivors and first responders.

Rogers, who represented Michigan in the House from 2001 to 2015, backed financial support for 9/11 victims in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. But he voted against the 2010 James Zadroga Act, which provided medical treatment and financial aid to first responders and survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At the time, he pushed for the aid to be funded annually and warned that the bill “jeopardizes the financial health of the United States,” The Hill reported at the time.

“Rather than vote to make sure that the brave first responders who ran into the rubble that day to save lives, rather to make sure that they had healthcare, he voted not once but twice against giving them healthcare,” El-Sayed said during a town hall Friday.

Rogers responded to the criticism of his voting record, saying in a post on X that the “insinuation that I do not support the victims or their families is patently false,” while noting that he advocated for an annual $150 million appropriation to support the needs of 9/11 survivors and victims’ families.

Meanwhile, Piker’s comments on 9/11 have drawn stiff criticism, including from Michigan Republicans who are looking to tie him to El-Sayed in a race that could decide control of the Senate. In August, El-Sayed called Piker’s comments about 9/11 “dumb.” In 2019, Piker said his comments were inappropriate, and that he “should’ve used more precise and better use of the language there.”

El-Sayed’s own comments on the attacks — and the military conflicts that the U.S. launched in response — have also faced scrutiny. He said in 2021 that “9/11 scarred our country in profound ways, but what we did after 9/11 scarred millions of other people.”

Republicans have argued those comments show El-Sayed is too extreme, and he was referenced numerous times by speakers at this week’s Republican midterm convention in Dallas.

“The Democrats are the party of hatred. They’re the party that despises America and the people who built it. They’re the party that can find sympathy for the terrorists who perpetrated 9/11,” Vice President JD Vance said during his remarks.

During his own speech in Dallas on Thursday, Rogers framed the contest as one about the “soul of our country,” suggesting El-Sayed would be “searching for excuses” when “radical Islamic terrorists threaten Americans.”

“Together, [El-Sayed and Piker] attack America. They excuse extremism. They treat our country like it’s the villain,” Rogers, a congressman during the 9/11 attacks, said at the GOP convention on Thursday.

El-Sayed has repeatedly condemned the 9/11 attacks, saying Friday that “nothing can justify the murder of innocent civilians.”

El-Sayed supporters, as well as Muslim advocacy groups, have called the attempt to associate El-Sayed with the attacks Islamophobic.

Tyler Mitchell, a Democratic voter in Michigan and also an Afghanistan War veteran, said while he expects Piker’s comments to be “put on a loop” by Rogers and Republicans, he believes they’re targeting El-Sayed in particular because of his faith as a practicing Muslim.

“They look at him, because he’s a Muslim, so they target that with the rhetoric about being dangerous,” Mitchell said before El-Sayed’s town hall in Detroit. “It’s disrespectful to people’s intellect.”

In a statement, Rogers said “it’s not about [El-Sayed’s] name, and it’s not about how he prays.”

“This is about how extreme his ideas are and the big-government socialist takeover he wants for our state and nation,” he added.

GOP groups supporting Rogers have run at least three ads that reference 9/11 and Piker’s comments. The leading political action committee for Senate Republicans, the Senate Leadership Fund, has announced over $45 million in ad reservations in Michigan this fall.

Rogers has also shared videos of veterans and first responders this week talking about 9/11 and criticizing El-Sayed and Piker.

“For somebody to support somebody that says that we deserved 9/11 shows their true allegiance, their true loyalties,” said Maj. Jon Turnbull, an Afghanistan War veteran.

El-Sayed has been asked frequently on the campaign trail by reporters about Piker’s comments. And during a Friday town hall, he criticized coverage of it after a student asked about healthcare.

“You know what I always get asked about? Hasan Piker. All you in the press, you hear these folks are talking about healthcare. Stop asking me about some streamer in California,” he said.

Asked on Thursday about Rogers’ remarks mentioning 9/11 and the GOP ads, El-Sayed criticized Rogers for campaigning outside of Michigan and for not focusing on the economy, healthcare or the war with Iran during his Thursday remarks at the convention.

“This is somebody who, you know, when he thinks it’s politically useful for him, wants to invoke the memory of 9/11, but also wants to deny the people who were the real heroes, who ran in to the attacks to take care of others, the healthcare that they need afterwards,” El-Sayed said Thursday.

Trump on 9/11 reposts video of him asking January 6 rioters to go home

2026-09-11T20:55:43.878Z / CNN

By Molly English

3 hr ago

PUBLISHED Sep 11, 2026, 4:55 PM ET

US President Donald Trump speaks to supporters from The Ellipse near the White House on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC.

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

After spending the morning at the Pentagon to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11th tragedy, President Donald Trump apparently had another attack on his mind in the afternoon — posting the 5-year-old video of him telling January 6, 2021, rioters to go home after they violently stormed the Capitol building.

The video, which was posted in full on Trump’s Truth Social account Friday without any further context, shows the president repeating his false claim that he won the 2020 election but telling rioters to go home: “We have to have peace. So go home, we love you, you’re very special.”

A White House spokesperson said Trump reposted the video Friday as “a reminder to everyone that what the Democrats did to weaponize the justice system against President Trump has been debunked thoroughly.”

It’s unclear what cases they were referencing — the criminal case against Trump concerning the Capitol attack was dismissed due to his win in the 2024 election.

Trump has been repeatedly emphasizing voter fraud in recent months, increasingly and without evidence accusing Democrats of cheating in elections. At the GOP midterm convention this week, he implored the audience to “cheat like hell” to help Republicans keep control of Congress.

The January 6 video, about a minute in length, was panned at the time for being posted hours after the attack began and for being overly sympathetic to those storming the Capitol building. Around the same time Trump posted it Friday, he also had several other posts about the midterm convention.

Former CIA official found with $40 million in gold bars in plea deal talks

September 11, 2026 / 5:43 PM EDT / CBS News

By Caitlin Yilek Politics Reporter
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.

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Washington — The Justice Department has reached a tentative plea deal with a former CIA official who was found with more than $40 million worth of gold bars in his home in May, according to a court filing Friday.

Prosecutors and a lawyer for the former CIA official asked a federal district court in Virginia to extend the deadline to file an indictment until Oct. 8, saying “a pre-indictment resolution promotes the public interest by conserving government and judicial resources.”

“The parties have made significant progress and have a plea agreement in principle that would resolve the matter prior to an indictment,” they wrote, adding that “based on the evidence obtained in the case thus far, the parties assess that proceeding to an indictment and trial would require significant litigation on any classified material.”

The court filing did not indicate what charges the former official, David Rush, could plead to.

A criminal complaint from May charged Rush with one count of stealing public money for timesheet fraud.

In the criminal complaint, the FBI said it found 303 gold bars, $2 million in cash and 35 luxury watches, many of which were Rolex watches, while executing a search warrant at Rush’s Virginia home in May.

The FBI also alleged Rush had provided false information about his education and military service on his government application and fraudulently took military leave after his service ended. The complaint alleges that Rush claimed 744 hours of military leave on his official timesheet, totaling about $77,000 in compensation, after he was honorably discharged in 2015 from the Navy.

According to the FBI, Rush allegedly made several requests to the government for large amounts of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses, which he received. The complaint added that Rush’s employer was unable to identify “the intended use of these funds.”

In June, a federal judge ordered Rush to remain in custody pending trial, determining that he posed a severe flight risk.

CBS News has reached out to Rush’s attorney.