Live updates: Illinois primary election voting underway
This version of Illinois Primary Elections Live Updates Rcna263765 - Politics and Government | NBC News Clone was adapted by NBC News Clone to help readers digest key facts more efficiently.
Democrats in Illinois are vying for the seat held by Sen. Dick Durbin, who is retiring after five terms.
What to know about today's elections
- TRUMP AND TAOISEACH MEET: President Donald Trump answered questions at the White House about the war with Iran and efforts to secure shipping in the Strait of Hormuz during his bilateral meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin. The president also said he would postpone his planned trip to China.
- ILLINOIS PRIMARIES: Voters head to the polls today for primaries in Illinois, where retirements by key House Democrats and the state’s senior U.S. senator opened new theaters for intraparty hostilities for Democrats.
- VOTER ID SUPPORT: Polling has shown most Americans support requiring photo identification to vote, something Republicans are trying to achieve through their SAVE America Act to overhaul elections nationwide.
- COUNTERTERRORISM CHIEF RESIGNS: Joe Kent, a retired Green Beret and longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, says he has resigned over the war in Iran.
DOJ says Oversight Committee's subpoena of Pam Bondi is 'completely unnecessary'
The Department of Justice said this afternoon that the House Oversight Committee's subpoena of Attorney General Pam Bondi in its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein is "completely unnecessary."
A DOJ spokesperson said that lawmakers have been invited to view unredacted Epstein files at DOJ's headquarters and that Bondi "has always made herself available to speak directly with members of Congress."
"She continues to have calls and meetings with members of Congress on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which is why the Department offered to brief the committee tomorrow," the spokesperson said. "As always, we look forward to continuing to provide policymakers with the facts."
The GOP-led Oversight Committee subpoenaed Bondi earlier today.
Trump claims without evidence that clip in BBC defamation suit was made with AI
The president claimed in comments to reporters that the British Broadcasting Corp. used artificial intelligence to show words he never spoke on the day of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — even though his $10 billion defamation suit against the network made no such claim.
"BBC was incredible. What they did was they had me speaking something I never said" which was "AI generated," Trump said when asked about the status of his suit against the BBC over a documentary that aired in the U.K. ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
NBC News reached out to BBC's spokesperson and attorney for comment on Trump's claim.
Trump's suit alleges that the BBC news show "Panorama" documentary was deceptively edited by combining two quotes from different parts of Trump's speech on the Ellipse on the morning of the attack — one where he encouraged attendees to go to the Capitol and another almost an hour later where he said, "And we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Trump's attorneys alleged in a filing earlier this year that the "BBC spliced together two distinct portions of the Speech separated by nearly 55 minutes and omitted a critical intervening portion — a distortion that, by its nature, required deliberate selection and sequencing rather than an accidental 'glitch.'”
Trump claimed to reporters however that the BBC, "They put words in my mouth and said I said some pretty bad things, and I didn’t say them; it was AI-generated."
"And I said I never said that. In fact Some of my people said, 'That was pretty bad stuff you said,' and I said, 'What did I say?'" he continued.
"Then we found out it was AI generated. And they admit they made a mistake, BBC," Trump said.
The BBC did apologize publicly before the suit, with Chairman Samir Shah saying the editing “gave the mistaken impression” that Trump “made a direct call for violent action.”
The suit called the documentary “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence the Election’s outcome to President Trump’s detriment.” The BBC has asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing the documentary never aired in the U.S. and that Trump suffered no damages.
House Oversight Committee officially subpoenas Pam Bondi
House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., formally subpoenaed Attorney General Bondi over the Justice Department’s handling of records related to Jeffrey Epstein and compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The deposition will take place April 14.
The Republican-led committee voted earlier this month to subpoena Bondi for testimony in the committee’s investigation into Epstein, approving it by a vote of 24-19.
Five Republicans voted for it, including Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who put the motion forward, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Michael Cloud of Texas and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
Chief Justice John Roberts warns personal attacks on judges have 'got to stop'
Chief Justice John Roberts said today that personal criticism of judges is dangerous and urged prominent figures to dial down the rhetoric just days after Trump launched his most recent broadside against the Supreme Court.
Roberts, the head of the federal judiciary, said in public remarks at Rice University in Houston that critiques of the substance of Supreme Court rulings are part of the job but that some more pointed comments have gone too far. He did not mention Trump specifically.
Senate to move to consideration of the SAVE America Act
The Senate will vote to proceed with the SAVE America Act this afternoon, which will trigger a debate on the bill that is expected to last into the weekend and potentially next week.
The end result of this exercise in the coming days will be the failure of the bill, which will be subject to a 60-vote threshold — but only after Republicans who support the bill and Democrats who oppose the measure are able to speak about the legislation.
How long it takes is largely dependent on how long Republicans want to continue talking. Senators can speak as long as they want, and there’s no restriction on how many times they talk. There’s no real triggering mechanism to end debate during this process outside of Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., moves to do so once Republicans decide to move away from debate and instead to votes.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who has waged the messaging war on this issue almost exclusively on X, posted yesterday that, “Once we’re on the bill, we shouldn’t recess — even for the weekend — until this is done.”
Thune said this morning that the legislation "will be the subject of Senate consideration for the foreseeable future. We’ll see how long the debate goes.”
Mike Johnson dodges on identifying voter fraud that the SAVE America Act would have prevented, calls for full DHS funding
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., dodged when asked if he could provide an example of fraud in a previous election that the SAVE Act would have prevented.
Johnson instead defended the legislation, citing polling that Democrat voters also want election security reform.
“Look, we’re not going to litigate all that,” Johnson said. “I can tell you what I’ll tell Democrats, you should listen to the American people.”
Johnson ignored further questions about identifying fraud.
GOP leadership also urged Democrats to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, pointing to recent suspected terrorist attacks in the U.S. as examples of the agency’s necessity.
Johnson referred to four attacks "all of which originated from perpetrators who are already inside the country. Every one of those attacks falls squarely the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, and the Democrats don’t want to fund it, and now they’re demanding we strip funding from the very agency responsible for stopping all of that.”
Ireland's prime minister defends European immigration after Trump criticism
While answering questions from White House reporters this afternoon, Trump criticized Europe's immigration policies, which he's done frequently in the past.
"I love Europe," Trump said. "I've spent a lot of time in Europe. It's a different place. Bad — bad things have happened to Europe, very bad things, and you better do something about immigration."
Shortly after, Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin chimed in, saying that Ireland's "population is growing, but in a very positive way, our economy is going well because we're attracting a lot of people from Europe and beyond into work legally and validly in our country."
Martin added that he thought "sometimes Europe gets characterized wrongly in terms of it being overrun."
"It's much more robust now, much more stronger mechanism in place to facilitate legal migration," Martin said.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Oval Office today. Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images
Trump delays trip to China for ‘five or six weeks’ as administration focuses on Iran
Trump told reporters today that he would delay his trip to China for “five or six weeks,” officially pushing the major summit after administration officials opened the door to the trip’s postponement.
“We’re resetting the meeting, and it looks like it’ll take place in about five weeks,” Trump said, later saying five or six weeks. “We’re working with China. They were fine with it.”
D.C. U.S. attorney's failed indictments will be tracked for now, judge orders
The top judge in District of Columbia federal court wants a record kept on any failed grand jury indictments sought by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office for the next four months.
The order by Chief Judge James Boasberg comes after an unusually high number of failed indictments in D.C. federal court in recent months, including an effort to indict six sitting members of Congress last month over their speech in a social media video.
“Several recent matters have raised the question of whether notice should be provided to the duty magistrate judge when a grand jury fails to concur in an indictment in a Grand Jury Original (GJO) investigation — i.e., where no complaint or information is pending against the target,” Boasberg wrote.
Prosecutors are currently only required to report such votes if the subject has already been charged criminally.
Boasberg said he's “reviewed current practices relating to the return of indictments and notification of instances in which a grand jury has declined to indict” and wants all such instances reported to the on duty magistrate judge for the time being in “furtherance of the interests of consistency and transparency." He wrote that he's weighing making such notifications permanent.
The judge said the government had provided in a sealed memo "its views about whether such notice should also be provided in GJO investigations and appropriate procedures of the handling of such notifications,” but didn’t say what those opinions were.
His order calls for the grand jury foreperson to notify the on-duty magistrate judge if there's been a failure to agree on an indictment over the next four months. He said that information "will not be made public absent order of the Court."
As NBC News first reported, the government was unable to convince a single grand juror that the government had met the low probable cause threshold to indict any of the six Democrats featured in a social media video that upset Trump. The video advised members of the military and intelligence communities not to obey illegal orders.
When NBC News asked Pirro at a news conference Friday why federal grand jurors were so skeptical of the cases being brought by the U.S. attorney’s office, she responded: “I’m willing to take a not guilty, I’m willing to take a 'no true bill'," a phrase referring to a grand jury not returning an indictment, "because I’ll take all the crimes and put 'em in.”
Under the Justice Manual’s Principles of Federal Prosecution, a prosecutor “may commence or recommend federal prosecution only if he/she believes that the person will more likely than not be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by an unbiased trier of fact and that the conviction will be upheld on appeal.”
Politico first noted the judge's order, which is dated March 4. The president has been highly critical of Boasberg, and called him "a Wacky, Nasty, Crooked, and totally Out of Control Judge" in a post on Truth Social over the weekend.
Illinois House candidate says relationship with former student was 'ill-advised'
Daniel Biss, a Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois and mayor of Evanston, acknowledged in a statement that he had a brief relationship with a student while he was teaching at the University of Chicago in 2004 before cutting it off because it was "ill-advised."
Megan Wachpress, a lecturer at Stanford Law School, said yesterday on social media and in an extended note on Substack that Biss had been her math professor and, once the academic quarter ended and he was no longer her professor, asked her out on a date. She said he cut things off after he had "second thoughts," but said that the situation made her feel "ashamed."
"It took becoming a professor myself to realize the implications - what it means to be attracted to someone who categorically has less power than you. I don't know if it's disqualifying, but there are too many women not getting a platform as a result of behavior like this for me not to say something," she wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.
In a statement to the Daily Northwestern, a Biss campaign spokesperson said the two went on a "handful of dates over the course of a few weeks" in 2004. "Daniel realized then, as he does now, that it was ill-advised, and he ended it."
Biss is running in the crowded 9th Congressional District, with voters headed to the polls today.
National Counterterrorism Center chief resigns over Iran war
The Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a retired Green Beret and longtime supporter of Trump, says he has resigned over the war in Iran.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation,” Joe Kent in a statement posted on X today. “It is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
Trump said he spoke to a former president about bombing Iran. Four denials suggest otherwise.
Trump told reporters yesterday that one of his predecessors told him he wished he had been the one to bomb Iran.
It appears he did not speak to any of the four former presidents. An aide for George W. Bush told NBC News that “they haven’t been in touch,” while an aide to Bill Clinton told NBC News that whoever Trump was referring to was not Clinton.
An Obama aide said “no recent conversations” have taken place between Barack Obama and Trump, and a source familiar with the matter said the former president Trump was referring to was not Joe Biden.
White House receives Democratic counteroffer on DHS funding
The White House received a counteroffer from Democrats late last night on funding the Department of Homeland Security in exchange for reforms to immigration enforcement, a White House official told NBC News.
It’s the first exchange between the White House and Democrats in about two weeks. DHS has been shut down for 30 days and many workers have missed paychecks.
A senior administration official suggested Friday they are still open to making a deal with Democrats.
“The administration is very open to codifying best practices in law enforcement that are currently being carried out in Minneapolis and around the country,” the official told NBC News.
“We have objections to making large-scale changes in the immigration enforcement process during an appropriations process,” the official added. “And we have strong objections to attempts to throw open the border again and reinstate the Biden open-border policies which were such a spectacular failure.”
A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said of the Democrats, “It took 18 days for them to hit 'Ctrl C' and 'Ctrl V.'”
Thune’s office says he will talk on the Senate floor this morning about the Democratic counteroffer.
Vances host Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin for St. Patrick's Day breakfast
Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance hosted Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin, the head of Ireland's government, and his wife, Mary O’Shea, for a St. Patrick's Day breakfast in a visit that has become an annual tradition for the U.S. and Irish governments.
Vance and Martin delivered remarks hailing the relationship and history between Ireland and the U.S., with the vice president hailing Ireland as an "important trading an economic partner."
"But I actually think that understates the cultural friendship between the United States and Ireland," Vance continued. "So many of the greatest Americans were people who came from Ireland or their families came from Ireland."
Trump will meet with Martin later today at the White House.
Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance greet Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin and his wife, Mary O'Shea, at the vice president's residence today. Roberto Schmidt / Pool via AFP - Getty Images
Trump says he will never endorse anyone who votes against the SAVE America Act
Trump said in a post on Truth Social this morning that he would "never" endorse anyone who votes against the SAVE America Act, a sweeping voting bill the Senate is slated to consider this week.
"The Save America Act is one of the most IMPORTANT & CONSEQUENTIAL pieces of legislation in the history of Congress, and America itself. NO MORE RIGGED ELECTIONS!" he wrote.
The legislation would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to cast ballots in federal elections, among other provisions.
"Only sick, demented, or deranged people in the House or Senate could vote against THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, Trump continued, adding that such votes would come back to haunt those members at election time.
"I WILL NEVER (EVER!) ENDORSE ANYONE WHO VOTES AGAINST 'SAVE AMERICA!!!'” Trump said.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, reversed his position on changing the Senate filibuster last week as he tries to court Trump's endorsement in his competitive runoff election race in the state's GOP Senate primary against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Cornyn argued he would support any Senate rule changes necessary to pass the SAVE Act.
Trump has suggested he would endorse a candidate in the race, though he told NBC News over the weekend that both Republicans are electable in November's general election. The runoff election is May 26.
Jasmine Crockett confirms member of her security team killed by Dallas police
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, confirmed yesterday that a man killed by Dallas police in a standoff last week had worked as security for her, calling it “a tragic ending that we wish had been avoided for all.”
Crockett said in a statement that Dallas police confirmed “the death of a member of our security team,” adding that “we are saddened and shocked by some of the concerning revelations.”
D.C. pipe bomb suspect argues he should be covered by Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons
Lawyers for the man charged with planting pipe bombs near the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021, said in a new court filing that he should be covered by Trump’s blanket pardon of Jan. 6 defendants.
The attorneys for Brian Cole maintained his innocence but also argued that if he did place the pipe bombs, Trump’s pardon of people involved in “events…at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021” would cover his alleged actions.
Bernie Sanders demands Bill Cassidy hold a hearing to debunk RFK Jr.’s vaccine claims
Sen. Bernie Sanders is demanding that Senate Health Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy hold a hearing to set the record straight that there is no link between vaccines and autism.
Cassidy, R-La., a doctor, has been outspoken about his belief that vaccines are “safe and effective and will not cause autism.”
But in a letter shared exclusively with NBC News, Sanders, I-Vt., said Cassidy must counter statements by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has undermined public faith in vaccines and raised questions about their connection to autism. Cassidy’s was the deciding vote to confirm Kennedy.
Jesse Jackson posthumously spurs ‘commotion’ in key Senate race
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton on Saturday touted a Senate endorsement from the late Rev. Jesse Jackson that she said she had just been notified she received, days before Illinois Democrats choose their nominee to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin.
But instead, the announcement has turned into a back-and-forth saga. Jackson’s group, Rainbow PUSH, and his son, Yusef Jackson, later said that the endorsement, weeks after the elder Jackson’s death, was not meant to be public and didn’t have final approval. He attributed the mix-up to a staff member.
Polls will be open in Illinois until 7 p.m. CT
Polling locations are open in Illinois until 7 p.m. CT.
Voters can find polling places on the state's board of elections website.
Illinois voters will determine their party's candidates in a series of competitive primary races for a Senate and House seats.
Illinois voters head to the polls for a series of competitive races
Illinois voters will head to the polls today to consider party nominees for U.S. Senate and House seats.
Sen. Dick Durbin is retiring, leaving the solidly blue seat open. The major candidates vying to replace him are Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Rep. Robin Kelly. Gov. JB Pritzker and Sen. Tammy Duckworth have endorsed Stratton, and Pritzker has spent millions to boost her. Krishnamoorthi, meanwhile, has spent nearly $29 million on ads, according to AdImpact, dwarfing his competitors.
House races are also competitive in the 2nd, 7th, 8th and 9th districts. In the 2nd Congressional District, the contenders include former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., Cook County Board of Commissioners member Donna Miller and State Sens. Robert Peters and Willie Preston.
In the 7th District, Democrats will choose from more than a dozen candidates on the ballot. The 8th District race is also crowded, and a few of the most prominent contenders include former Rep. Melissa Bean, tech consultant Junaid Ahmed and Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison.
In the 9th District, some of the contenders include state Rep. Laura Fine, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and former journalist Kat Abughazaleh.
Most Americans support requiring photo ID to vote. Democrats in Congress reject it.
Republicans are aggressively touting a popular provision in their sweeping SAVE America Act to overhaul elections nationwide: requiring photo identification to vote.
It’s a policy long opposed by Democrats in Congress, who liken it to nefarious Jim Crow-era laws aimed at preventing Black Americans from voting.
But that message is increasingly falling flat with the American public, including Black voters, as photo IDs are increasingly required for common activities, like air travel.
Illinois primary puts Democratic divides on display up and down the ballot
Virtually all of the different battles simmering inside the Democratic Party this year are on display in today's primaries in Illinois, where retirements by key House Democrats and the state’s senior senator opened new theaters for intraparty hostilities.
Deep disagreements over issues such as immigration and Israel policy, tactical battles over how best to take on the Trump administration, questions about age of leaders and whether to empower a new generation of them, and the enduring tug of war between progressives and moderates for influence in the party are all at the forefront as Illinois Democrats weigh potential successors for retiring Sen. Dick Durbin and a quartet of Chicago-area House members leaving their districts.
Janet Mills launches negative ad featuring Graham Platner's Reddit posts
Maine Gov. Janet Mills is launching her first negative TV ad today, targeting her opponent in the Democratic Senate primary over his controversial social media posts.
The ad features women reading past Reddit posts from Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and military veteran, where he downplayed sexual assault. The women call the comments "disgusting," "horrible" and "disqualifying."
In the online posts from 2013, first reported by The Washington Post, Platner responded to a commenter who wrote, "There’s always that story about the girl who gets raped because she drank too much and somebody took advantage of that."
Platner responded, "Holy f---, how about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f---ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to? Men and women, you make a choice to consume enough of a substance to lose your self control. So if you don’t want to be in a comprising situation, act like an adult for f---s sake."
Platner said in an interview with the Post about those Reddit comments, "I can honestly say I did not know what the f--- I was talking about. I have been for quite some time on the opposite side of this conversation.”
The political newcomer weathered a series of revelations about his controversial Reddit posts late last year, apologizing for posts that he acknowledged were offensive, and suggesting that some posts were made in jest. He has said he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder following his service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mills' campaign ad closes with a narrator saying, "Graham Platner, the closer you look, the worst it gets," as a decade-old video plays of a shirtless Platner with a tattoo on his chest. That tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol, and Platner denied knowing the Nazi association when he got the tattoo while serving as a Marine serving in Croatia. Platner has since said he has covered up the tattoo.
Platner told NBC News in October that the controversies had "strengthened" his campaign.
Platner campaign manager Ben Chin said in a statement that the ad is "nothing more than a desperate attempt for relevance from the governor, who is trailing an oyster farmer in every recent poll."
"Despite what Janet Mills and DC think, Mainers know that Graham should not be defined by the worst thing he said on the internet over a decade ago," Chin added.
Platner is also on the airwaves and launched a new TV ad today, touting him as the candidate best-positioned to defeat GOP Sen. Susan Collins. A narrator says in the ad that Platner "can win back people Democrats have been losing."
The Democratic primary is June 9.
