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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 16, 2026· Updated

Two Days Before the Iran War Turns Six Months Old, Trump Posts "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 2026" — and the Top Democrat on Armed Services Answers That "Not a Single Objective Has Been Achieved"

On Aug. 26, 2026, President Trump posted an image to Truth Social captioned "Mission Accomplished 2026," pairing a photograph of George W. Bush labeled "Mission Not Accomplished 2001-2021" with an image of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — a deliberate invocation of the 2003 banner that became a byword for premature victory declarations. Two days later, on Aug. 28, the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran reached its six-month mark. The conflict Trump had described at the outset as a short excursion has cost at least 18 American service members' lives, injured more than 750, and consumed roughly $100 billion in appropriated funds. Iran's nuclear program has not been dismantled, the regime has not fallen — Khamenei's son Mojtaba succeeded him — and the Strait of Hormuz remains a contested flashpoint under U.S. blockade. Trump said this week he is "not in a hurry" to resume negotiations. Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on Armed Services, issued a point-by-point accounting of the six war aims Trump named in February and said none had been met. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the president delusional for claiming victory. DNC Chair Ken Martin tied the war directly to the November midterms. Trump, for his part, spent the anniversary insisting the blockade is total and that Iran is the party that wants to meet.

“Well, hopefully we are toward the end of the war. They want to make a deal. We'll see how that works out.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 16, 2026

Sep 16, 2026· Updated

House Oversight Threatens Apollo Founder Leon Black With Contempt After He Turns Over a Single NDA — Comer and Garcia Both Say the Nondisclosure Agreements Are the Point

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer notified Leon Black's attorney on August 18, 2026 that the committee will move toward contempt of Congress proceedings unless the Apollo Global Management co-founder produces every nondisclosure agreement he is party to and appears for a deposition on September 3. The fight dates to June 26, 2026, when Black walked out of a transcribed interview with the committee's Epstein investigation rather than answer questions about NDAs signed with women in Jeffrey Epstein's orbit. Comer issued two subpoenas the same day — one for a deposition under oath, one for the agreements. By August, Comer said, Black had produced exactly one NDA. Black's attorney, Susan Estrich, has said the agreement produced was the only one predating Epstein's death and the only one Epstein knew about, and that "Mr. Epstein had no involvement with any NDAs, whether they exist or not." The committee is investigating whether Epstein was involved in creating, negotiating, or funding the agreements. Ranking Member Robert Garcia, the committee's top Democrat, has pressed the same demand — a rare point of bipartisan agreement on a panel otherwise split over the Epstein files.

“No one is above the law. Leon Black defied two subpoenas, and the U.S. House of Representatives acted swiftly to find him in contempt of Congress.”
James Comer (R-KY) · Sep 16, 2026

Sep 16, 2026· Updated

Trump Imposes 50% Section 338 Tariffs on Canadian Goods, Splitting Republicans

On Monday, July 20-21, 2026, President Trump signed three proclamations imposing additional 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian imports — including motor vehicles, alcoholic beverages and dairy, plus goods ranging from wine to hockey sticks — citing Canada's "discriminatory treatment" of American products. The tariffs take effect August 19, 2026. Trump invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, a Smoot-Hawley-era provision that had never been used by any president, allowing duties up to 50% against countries found to discriminate against US commerce. Democrats attacked the move as an inflationary abuse of trade authority, with Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden announcing legislation to curb the president's tariff powers. Republican reaction was notably cool: several GOP senators characterized the tariffs as a negotiating tactic while warning about consumer prices ahead of the midterms.

“I think it is wrong to have a trade war with Canada. It is not in the interest of our country to have a trade war with Canada.”
John Kennedy (R-LA) · Sep 16, 2026

The Justice Department Charges Five People It Says Worked for Russian Intelligence in "a Global Assassination Network" — Including an Offer of $40,000 to Make a Russian Dissident Living Near Washington "Disappear" — and the Attorney General Says It Is "Our Job to Stop America's Adversaries From Unleashing Violence and Terror on American Soil"

On Sept. 15, 2026, federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed an indictment charging five people with working on behalf of Russian intelligence services to recruit operatives for surveillance, sabotage and killings: Yuri Khrameev, a 63-year-old former Russian intelligence colonel; his son Kirill Khrameev, 27, whom prosecutors describe as an FSB officer; Cuban nationals Oemis Romagoza Durruthy and Yaidel Delgado Suarez; and Venezuelan national Angel Eduardo Castro. All five remain at large. According to the Justice Department, a recruit was offered $40,000 in the summer of 2026 to kill a Russian dissident living in the Washington, D.C., area, and another was offered money for a killing in Lithuania. All five are charged with conspiracy to finance terrorism; three also face murder-for-hire conspiracy charges. The FBI said it disrupted the plot. The Kremlin declined to comment without what it called reasonable evidence.

“These defendants allegedly operated as part of a global assassination network that reached into the United States, attempting to recruit U.S. citizens and foreigners to carry out killings at the behest of the Kremlin. Actions like these represent a gross violation of our sovereignty and a threat to our national security.”
John A. Eisenberg (R) · Sep 15, 2026

Four Days Before It Takes Effect, States and Cities Sue to Stop Trump's Expanded "Public Charge" Rule — Mamdani Says "New Yorkers Will Be Afraid to See a Doctor or Ask for Help They Are Legally Entitled To," and the White House Answers That "Immigrants Must Be Able to Support Themselves"

On Sept. 14, 2026, two lawsuits were filed in federal court in Manhattan against a Department of Homeland Security rule, set to take effect Sept. 18, that lets immigration officers weigh nearly any public benefit — including Medicaid, SNAP food aid and housing assistance — against people applying for green cards and visas. Earlier policy counted mainly cash assistance and long-term institutional care. New York Attorney General Letitia James leads a coalition of Democratic-led states, joined by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani leads a second suit with Chicago, San Francisco, Santa Clara County, Seattle, King County (Wash.) and the Public Rights Project. Both argue the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act and exceeds DHS's authority, and both cite the department's own estimate that the rule's "chilling effect" will cut billions of dollars a year in Medicaid, CHIP and SNAP participation, including among families who remain eligible. The White House called the suits an effort "to give benefits to illegal aliens at the expense of American taxpayers."

“Extreme Democrats are once again fighting to give benefits to illegal aliens at the expense of American taxpayers. … Immigrants must be able to support themselves.”
Lauren Bis (R) · Sep 15, 2026

Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon Share a Stage Blocks From the White House to Demand Limits on AI — Sanders Calls for "a Complete Ban on Artificial Superintelligence" and Asks Trump to Negotiate an AI Treaty With Xi, Greg Casar Says "No One Can Win the AI Arms Race," and Chip Roy Answers That "We're Not Supposed to Be Tools for Data Collection" — a Day After Trump Posted That the Danger Is "a HOAX"

On Sept. 15, 2026, the Future of Life Institute convened the Pro-Human Assembly in a Washington conference center blocks from the White House — a one-day gathering that put Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon on the same stage, alongside Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Bill Foster (D-Ill.), AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, AFT president Randi Weingarten, and actors Ashley Judd and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Sanders used his remarks to call for a pause on advanced AI development until a federal AI regulatory body is operating, and for "a complete ban on artificial superintelligence." He said he would introduce that legislation with Casar and pressed Trump to negotiate an AI treaty with Xi Jinping at their coming summit, invoking Reagan and Gorbachev's nuclear arms agreement as the precedent. Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, framed the moment as a "history-defining" one and argued for banning AI systems too powerful for humans to control. Chip Roy, the only Republican member quoted at length from the stage, grounded his objection in the dignity of work and in religious terms. The assembly met one day after President Trump posted on Truth Social that "AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX," alleged a "SICK conspiracy" against AI and data centers, and said a "STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT" is the only guardrail AI needs — remarks that reportedly worried some White House officials and that came as Anthropic's Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk were publicly asking government to slow the pace of frontier development.

“We need a complete ban on artificial superintelligence—an AI mind smarter than any human and capable of operating independently beyond our control. … [He also called for] a pause on advanced AI development until a new federal AI regulatory body is up and running and has established clear rules and a model review process to ensure safe and secure development of this technology.”
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) · Sep 15, 2026

Artificial Intelligence

Hours Before the Crypto Bill's Make-or-Break Senate Vote, Trump Agrees to Ethics Rules on His Own Family — Lummis Says He "Voluntarily Agreed to Unprecedented Ethics Restrictions," and Elizabeth Warren Calls the Deal a "Weak Fig Leaf" That Will Not Stop "His Next $1.4 Billion in Crypto Profits"

Late on Sept. 13, 2026, Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) released what they called the final text of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — the CLARITY Act — ahead of a cloture vote Majority Leader John Thune had scheduled for 2:15 p.m. on Sept. 15. The sponsors said the draft contained 126 substantive changes requested by Democrats and adopted substantially all of the Tillis-Gallego ethics language, including a role for state attorneys general in enforcing conflict-of-interest rules against federal officials. President Trump, whose 2025 financial disclosure reported roughly $1.4 billion in crypto-related income, signed off on most of it. The concession did not move the Democrats whose votes the bill needs to reach 60. On the Senate floor the night of Sept. 14, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the ethics deal a "weak fig leaf" and argued the enforcement design means "the law could never be enforced against Donald Trump." Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) — co-author of the ethics framework Republicans said they had adopted — told reporters the same evening that the final language "leaves a lot to be desired." Seven Senate Democrats had already said in July that the Republican text "falls short," and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has said she will not support market-structure legislation without an enforceable ban on officials profiting from crypto. Seventeen state attorneys general and the banking industry also came out against the final draft. A failed cloture vote would effectively end the bill for 2026, seven weeks before the midterms.

“The full cost of today's result may not be known for years to come, but this much is clear: it increases the risk that the standards that global financial markets adhere to in the future will be those of Brussels or Beijing, rather than Washington and New York.”
Patrick Witt (R) · Sep 15, 2026

Sep 15, 2026· Updated

The United States Admits for the First Time That It Has Weapons in Orbit — Air Force Secretary Troy Meink Says the Space Force "Now Has On-Orbit Space Control Weapons," and the Chief of Space Operations Says "It Was Time" to Say So Out Loud

On September 14, 2026, in his opening keynote at the Air & Space Forces Association's Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said that the Space Force "now has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action." It was the first time any US government official has publicly acknowledged that the United States has deployed weapon systems into orbit. Meink later told reporters the acknowledgement was deliberate and the phrasing "very well thought out," while declining to say whether the systems are kinetic or non-kinetic, or whether they have been tested — arguing that specifics would undercut their deterrent value. A Space Force spokesperson subsequently said "space control" encompasses both kinetic and non-kinetic means, used to disrupt, degrade or destroy, offensively as well as defensively. The next day, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Douglas Schiess confirmed and expanded on the disclosure, framing it as an overdue act of transparency about capabilities the service already fields. China called on Washington to stop weaponizing space; Russia warned of potentially catastrophic consequences and renewed its call for "the complete demilitarization of space." As of this writing, congressional reaction has been notably muted — the House adjourned until after the midterms two days after Meink's remarks.

“Today, Guardians operate on-orbit weapons that can defend the joint force against space-enabled attacks.”
Douglas Schiess (I) · Sep 15, 2026

Sep 15, 2026· Updated

A Streamer Tells His Audience That American Jews Are Inviting Violence on Themselves — and Ten Weeks Before the Midterms the Democrat He Campaigned For, Michigan's Senate Nominee, Ends Up Apologizing for a Synagogue Attack He Called "Context"

On August 20, 2026, the Twitch streamer Hasan Piker told his audience that "if Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews." Within a week at least thirteen elected Democrats — including the House Democratic leader, three sitting senators and the DNC chair — had condemned the remark. The condemnations landed hardest on Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Michigan's open Senate seat, who had campaigned with Piker after beating Rep. Haley Stevens in a primary in which AIPAC-aligned groups spent at record levels against him. Rep. Hillary Scholten, who had already broken with El-Sayed over the appearances, singled out Piker's naming of Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss — the Democratic nominee for Stevens's House seat, who is Jewish and openly gay — and called Piker "a hack who thrives on hate, shock and awe because he lacks substance." Moss answered that he would not "be lectured by a California podcaster." Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who is Jewish, said crimes against Jews for being Jews are "antisemitism plain and simple." Hakeem Jeffries called the claim dangerous and antisemitic. Rep. Josh Gottheimer went further and said anyone campaigning with Piker is "part of the problem." Sens. Cory Booker, Jacky Rosen and Jon Ossoff and Reps. Ritchie Torres, Jared Moskowitz, Brad Schneider, Greg Stanton, Jake Auchincloss and Haley Stevens also condemned the remarks. El-Sayed distanced himself from Piker without disavowing him, saying "nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople." Then, on Saturday, August 29, at the Michigan Democratic Party's nominating convention in Lansing, he went to the state party's Jewish Democratic Caucus and apologized for something older: his response to the March 2026 attack on Temple Israel, a suburban Detroit synagogue, where a man crashed a vehicle into the building and opened fire, wounding a security guard before being killed. El-Sayed had condemned the attack but added "hurt people hurt people," noting the attacker had lost relatives in an Israeli airstrike days earlier. "I made a mistake," he told the caucus. "What I was trying to do was offer context for why it happened, but it wasn't the time for context." Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is Jewish and had criticized El-Sayed for making excuses for domestic terrorism, did not attend the convention, citing antisemitic harassment directed at her.

“Even if you didn't vote for Abdul, you need to support up and down the ticket this November.”
Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) · Sep 15, 2026

Sep 15, 2026· Updated

Two Unvaccinated Pennsylvanians Die of Measles — the First U.S. Measles Deaths of 2026 and the State's First in 35 Years — and the Health Secretary Says the Outbreak Is Under Control and Blames the Lockdowns

On August 25, 2026 the Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed that two unvaccinated people in Lancaster County had died of measles. They are the first measles-associated deaths reported anywhere in the United States in 2026 and the first in Pennsylvania since 1991. The state has recorded 393 cases across 28 counties this year — its worst measles year since 1992 — with roughly half of them in Lancaster County and about one in five patients hospitalized. The deaths landed on a health secretary who built his public career on vaccine skepticism. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called Gov. Josh Shapiro to offer federal staff for the outbreak response; Shapiro turned the offer down and told him the administration's rhetoric was itself part of the problem. A day later, at a school-nutrition conference, Kennedy said the United States is "doing a better job than any country in the world at controlling the measles outbreak" and attributed the surge to COVID-era lockdowns rather than to falling vaccination rates. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) called for Kennedy to resign or be fired. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) — a physician who chairs the Senate health committee and who voted to confirm Kennedy — did not call for his removal but wrote that "no one needs to die from measles in 2026" and blamed misinformation and misguided policy. The deaths come two weeks after Trump signed an executive order cutting the childhood vaccine schedule and splitting the MMR shot into three separate doses, an order Cassidy had already called "a stupid thing to do."

“Governor Shapiro has chosen to politicize this outbreak instead of implementing a unified public health response. He continues to point the finger at me and the federal government.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (I-CA) · Sep 15, 2026

Sep 15, 2026· Updated

A Lame-Duck Democrat Files Articles of Impeachment Naming Four People Killed by ICE and CBP — and the White House Answers That He "Should Be Thanking President Trump"

On Monday, August 24, 2026, Rep. Al Green (D-TX) filed H.Res.1486, articles of impeachment charging President Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors for the way federal immigration enforcement has been run. The resolution accuses Trump of "abusing the powers of the presidency by operating United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as his vicious, quota-driven, unaccountable paramilitary police forces," and of "wantonly devolving the United States democratic republic into an authoritarian regime." The resolution names four people killed by the two agencies in 2026: Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in July. Green's charge is not only the killings but the aftermath — that the agencies operated "with anonymity and secrecy," assaulted civilians, and covered up unjustified killings. Green is the member who has forced this question more than anyone else. He was the first to file articles against Trump in his first term, and he filed again in June 2025 over the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, an effort the House torpedoed 344-79. The House has voted to table five of his impeachment resolutions; the most recent, in December 2025, was tabled 237-140 with 47 Democrats voting "present." Green lost his primary runoff in May 2026 and leaves the House in January, which is why coverage framed this as a lame-duck filing that he knows lacks the votes. The timing is what makes it more than a footnote. It lands 71 days before the midterms, while House Democrats are openly split over how hard to confront Trump — Hakeem Jeffries said at a CNBC summit in June that impeachment would not be a focus for the party even if it wins the majority, and Jamie Raskin has called impeachment "not a plausible instrument" from the minority. The White House and DHS both answered within hours, and neither engaged the underlying deaths.

“They will acknowledge that what the president is doing is impeachable, but they would have us wait. Well, the Constitution doesn't have a wait clause in it. … I believe that there are some Republicans and Democrats who are considering voting to protect the president.”
Al Green (D-TX) · Sep 15, 2026

Sitting Next to the Taoiseach in Dublin, Trump Breaks Decades of American Neutrality on Northern Ireland — "I'd Love to See It Unified. It's Going to Happen Eventually" — as Unionists Answer That Their Future "Will Be Decided by the People of Northern Ireland, Not by Commentary in … Washington"

On Sept. 12, 2026, during a visit to Ireland built around the Irish Open at his Doonbeg golf resort, President Trump told reporters in Dublin — seated beside Taoiseach Micheál Martin — that he would "love to see" Northern Ireland and the Republic unified, calling it "a fantastic thing" that is "going to happen eventually." Later that day he called it "a very cool thing" and, at an event at the U.S. ambassador's residence, acknowledged the controversy: "I gave a nice answer, I think. We'll worry about it tomorrow." The remarks broke with Washington's long-standing neutrality on Northern Ireland's constitutional status, which under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement can change only through a referendum called at the British government's discretion. They came two weeks after new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said such a vote was "off the table"; his office responded that he would stick to the Good Friday Agreement. Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson and Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows condemned the comments, while Sinn Féin welcomed them. Martin urged a "calm perspective." In Washington, Rep. Brendan Boyle said bipartisan U.S. support for the Good Friday Agreement "is not going to change."

“It just seems to me that you have Northern Ireland and you have Ireland, and it would seem to me that one of the naturals of all time is put them together.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 13, 2026

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