What to know today
- Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, deleted some of his social media posts about Saturday's deadly shooting of a Minnesota lawmaker following blowback from some of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate.
- President Donald Trump said he had no plans to call Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in the wake of the shootings even though presidents have historically called politicians on both sides of the aisle to lend their support in the aftermaths of violent tragedies.
- Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., called Trump a "tyrant" in remarks on the Senate floor this afternoon in which he recounted his forcible removal from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's news conference in Los Angeles last week.
- New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is running for mayor, was arrested after an incident at an immigration court in the city. He was released this afternoon and denied the Department of Homeland Security's allegations that he assaulted federal law enforcement agents.
FBI Director Kash Patel feeds 2020 election conspiracy theories with documents about unverified tip
FBI Director Kash Patel said this week the bureau had shared “alarming” — but unsubstantiated — allegations about manipulation of the 2020 election with a Republican member of Congress.
“The FBI has located documents which detail alarming allegations related to the 2020 U.S. election, including allegations of interference by the CCP,” Patel wrote, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. “I have immediately declassified the material and turned the documents over to the Chairman Grassley for further review.”
Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The unsubstantiated claim promoted by Patel, which an unidentified confidential human source gave to the FBI in 2020, during Trump’s first term, asserts that the Chinese mass-produced driver’s licenses to be used in a mail-in ballot scheme. Patel linked to an article written by John Solomon, whom Trump appointed alongside Patel in 2022 to represent him before the National Archives and Records Administration on matters related to his presidential records.
Judge finds Florida attorney general in contempt for defying court order in major immigration case
A federal judge found Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in civil contempt today after he snubbed a court order in a high-profile immigration case and then boasted about it in interviews.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams wrote that Uthmeier offered “a series of implausible interpretations of the language he used” to argue he was complying with the order and that those interpretations were not believable.
“Litigants cannot change the plain meaning of words as it suits them, especially when conveying a court’s clear and unambiguous order,” Williams wrote, ordering Uthmeier to file biweekly reports showing he’s complying with her order or risk further court actions.
Democratic divisions emerge as Congress tackles crypto regulation
Democrats are wrestling with their strategy on cryptocurrency, a once-underground industry that has become a powerful player on Capitol Hill — and closely associated with Trump.
Cryptocurrency groups scored a major win in Washington today, with the Senate passing a landmark bill to regulate some digital assets. It was a bipartisan vote, with 18 Democrats joining nearly every Republican to support the bill after an intense lobbying and advocacy effort.
But the battle over the legislation has exposed deep Democratic divisions over how to handle the broader issue of crypto in a GOP-controlled Washington. While some Democrats have pushed for the party to be leading the charge on developing policy for the quickly emerging industry, others have been wary of embracing a tool that they say has created conflicts of interest for Trump. Newly released financial disclosure forms show Trump made one of his largest fortunes last year, $57.3 million, on his family’s cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial.
Trump set to grant another extension to avoid TikTok disruption
Trump will extend a deadline for the owner of social media platform TikTok to find a U.S. buyer so it can continue to operate in the country, the White House said today.
Trump plans to sign an executive order this week that will keep the platform, which has about 170 million U.S. users, running despite a bipartisan law banning it over national security concerns.
The law requires the app’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell it to a non-Chinese buyer or face a nationwide prohibition. In April, Trump extended an earlier deadline by 75 days to avoid disruption for the app.
“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement today.
Senate passes landmark crypto regulation bill on a bipartisan vote, sending it to the House
After weeks of stops and starts, Senate Republicans teamed up with a bloc of Democrats today to pass a landmark cryptocurrency bill that would establish the first regulatory framework for issuers of stablecoins.
The vote on the GENIUS Act was 68-30. It was the first time that the Senate has passed major legislation to regulate digital assets.
“With this bill, the United States is one step closer to becoming the global leader in crypto,” Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., the author of the GENIUS Act, said in a floor speech. “This bill will cement U.S. dollar dominance, it will protect customers, it will drive demand for U.S. treasuries.”
“Today will be remembered as an inflection point for innovation in the United States of America,” Hagerty said.
Kristi Noem taken to hospital after allergic reaction, DHS says
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was taken to a hospital today after she suffered an allergic reaction, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said.
“Secretary Noem had an allergic reaction today. She was transported to the hospital out of an abundance of caution. She is alert and recovering,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Noem was at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington when she had the allergic reaction, a DHS official told NBC News.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander spoke to reporters after he was released hours after he was arrested at a federal courthouse. The Department of Homeland Security said Lander, a mayoral candidate, had been arrested and accused of "assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer."
A ‘wake-up call’: State lawmakers are fearful after Minnesota shootings expose lack of security
State lawmakers across the country say they are deeply concerned about the lack of security they receive in the wake of the targeted shooting of two Minnesota legislators, even as local officials attempt to ramp up some safety measures.
Outside of their state capitol complexes, state legislators have little to no security protection. No state offers proactive security to members of its legislature, though law enforcement will typically step in if there are credible threats.
And despite the renewed attention to the issue, lawmakers fear little will ultimately be done that can make a meaningful difference, given that in many states, such positions are effectively part-time jobs with small budgets.
Democratic Minnesota state Rep. Emma Greenman, who was a close colleague of this weekend’s shooting victims, said the attack in her state would almost certainly have to serve as a “wake-up call” around the lack of safety measures for state lawmakers, but that solutions remained sparse.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released hours after his arrest at an immigration court
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was released today hours after he was arrested in connection with an episode at a federal courthouse in the city, where he and his wife said they were serving as advocates for defendants in immigration court.
The Department of Homeland Security said Lander, a mayoral candidate, had been arrested and accused of “assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer.” In a brief statement on social media, DHS said: “It is wrong that politicians seeking higher office undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment. No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences.”
Lander denied assaulting law enforcement. “I will not characterize the events, but I certainly did not assault an officer,” he told reporters.
Lander is running in next week’s Democratic primary for mayor of New York.
Judges appear skeptical of California's arguments in National Guard case
A panel of three federal appeals court judges seemed highly skeptical of California's stance that Trump did not have the authority to federalize thousands of members of the state's National Guard against Gov. Gavin Newsom's wishes.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges — two Trump appointees and one Biden appointee — grilled an attorney for the state who was arguing that Trump should have explored "more measured alternatives" before he took control of some of the state's troops.
Where "is the president, with significant deference at least, required to have judicial review of whether he considered lesser measures? Where does that spring from?" asked one of the Trump appointees, Judge Mark Bennett.
The state lawyer, Samuel Harbourt, sidestepped the question.
California is asking the appeals court to allow a lower court's order returning control of the troops to the governor to take effect while the appeal proceeds.
The two Trump-appointed judges also repeatedly questioned the Justice Department's position that the courts have no authority to even review Trump's order. The Justice Department attorney, Brett Shumate, maintained that they should "defer to the president's judgment" and that "there's no role for the court to play."
