“Georgia attracts job creators from all over the country and world because we work with them, not against them,” Kemp said. “Our state’s pro-business approach, skilled workforce, and enduring support for constitutional freedoms make us an ideal home for manufacturers like Rideout Arsenal, and we look forward to their success here in the No. 1 state for business.”

Rideout Arsenal, the firearms designer and manufacturer launching the new facility, has announced it will be opening its doors in the South Georgia town of Thomasville.

“Today we welcome Rideout Arsenal to Thomasville. This includes new highly skilled jobs, new partnerships, new careers, and new momentum for our community,” Thomasville Mayor Scott Chastain said. “Most importantly, we welcome the Rideout family to our community.”

The new facility will be located within the Plantation Oak Industrial Park, with additional buildings planned throughout the next several years.

The company’s founders said the decision to locate in Georgia was made partly as a response to recent legislation in Virginia that could affect the business.

“This relocation was not something we originally planned to pursue. The reality is that recent anti-gun legislation in Virginia created a significant uncertainty for our company and ultimately forced us to look for a state where we could continue operating, investing, and growing with confidence,” Travis Rideout, co-founder of Rideout Arsenal, said. “We are excited to bring new jobs and manufacturing investment to Thomas County and are grateful for the warm welcome we have already received.”

The move comes after Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger enacted a slew of gun control measures into law, which blocked the sale of certain “assault weapons” in the commonwealth and imposed a ban on magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds.

Spanberger claimed the legislation would make Virginians safer. “Firearms designed to inflict maximum casualties do not belong on our streets,” she said in a statement.

Spanberger, Kemp, and Rideout Arsenal did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for the Daily Signal. 

We talk about an Iran war, but as I speak on June 9, we haven’t had a real kinetic back-and-forth bombing campaign or anything since around April 8. So, we had 38 days of bombing, and then we’ve had 60 days of negotiations. 

So, there isn’t really an Iran war right now. 

We have a War Powers Act. The Left is all upset and trying to stop the war, but there is no war right now. It’s a waiting game. And what is the waiting game?  

The waiting game is that Iran feels that by giving a concession on Monday and taking it back on Tuesday and letting Hezbollah attack Israel and then telling Israel not to reply and then sending a little boat out in the strait, it can delay, delay, advance, retreat, and Donald Trump will allow this because he has got a deadline too. 

Their deadline is they’re losing $400 million a day in economic productivity and probably, I don’t know, $2 billion or $3 billion in revenue.  

President Donald Trump’s problem is now that we’re less than five months until the midterms and inflation is moderate. It’s not as high as the Biden years, but it’s bothering people, and the gas price is high. 

And because the gas price is high, people feel they can raise prices commensurately because they think we’re in a hyperinflation.  

I’ve been talking to a lot of contractors lately. They’re not getting work right now, even though the fundamentals of the economy are sound. But people are so paranoid here in California about paying $6.50 a gallon for gasoline, they feel everything will go up. 

And so they’re holding off on a lot of their construction projects.  

What is Iran doing then? It’s hitting Kuwait. Why does it hit Kuwait? I suppose it has the largest Shia population in the Gulf, and it wants to stir up restive opposition to the royal family. It hits the UAE because it hates the UAE. 

It’s the most liberal, progressive, and pro-Western and anti-Iranian of all of the Gulf nations. It wants to show the Arab world that if you, like the UAE, have a detente with Israel, you’re going to suffer.  

It hit Israel. Why did it hit Israel? It hit Israel during this so-called peace because it wants to widen the reported gulf or anger between [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and Trump and turn public opinion toward Iran a little bit. 

So, what is—how does it all divide? Who gives in first?  

Donald Trump is kind of mystifying people because he’s a Jacksonian. He believes in tough deterrence. So, throughout this so-called peace of now 60 days, Iran has had a lot of provocations. They’ve broken the peace. They’ve, as I said, tried to mine the harbor. 

They’ve tried to attack U.S. ships. They’ve attacked our allies. And we have sometimes done a little bit of retaliation, but why don’t we just unload on them?  

As I said earlier, why don’t we give them a list of targets and say, these are going to be hit if you don’t concede to surrender your enriched uranium, get out] of the strait and let it be open, stop the subsidies to these terrorist appendages, and surrender your missile arsenal or what’s left of it? 

Why doesn’t he do that? I have a feeling he doesn’t do that because he has intelligence that we don’t have, because we don’t have any boots on the ground or embedded reporting that Iran is in much worse shape than we think, and that there are civilians in the Iranian government—the president, some members of the parliament—that are sending signals that they’re not part of the Revolutionary Guard or the theocracy and they feel the people are getting more and more restive, and Trump is looking at them as a transitional government. 

Now, the problem with that is we have no idea if those rumors are accurate. They’re kind of based on the fact that we’re getting information. 

On the first day when we took out [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei and some of the henchmen of the theocracy, there were other civilian elected moderates in the general building or vicinity that we deliberately spared on the idea that we want to work with moderates. 

But we don’t know whether the moderates are playing good cop and the theocracy and the Revolutionary Guard play bad cop. And how that would work would be something along the lines of, well, the Revolutionary Guard got out of hand again, but they don’t represent the people. They don’t represent us. We want real peace. 

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick—the days go on.  

So, at some point, it seems to me that we’re going to have to take the bull by the horns and resolve it. And the way you would resolve it is one of two things. You would either, as I said earlier, give a deadline and say these are the nonnegotiable four items that have to be met on your part. 

If you don’t do it, we’re going to completely preclude your ability to wage war. You’re going to have no missiles. You’re going to have no dual-use bridges.  

You’re going to have nothing that could be used in a military sense, and it’s going to be a week or two of hard war against you. 

Or we could continue to negotiate and not say a word, but every single time they send one missile into Kuwait, one boat into the strait to mine it, one barrage of missiles against ships in the Gulf, one missile against Israel, we do 10. 

We do 10 bombings. And we tell them that every single time you show any military aggression or hit any of our assets or our allies, we’re going to reply in kind. And I think if it is true what rumors suggest—that they are starting to crumble economically and the people are getting a little bit excited that there might be a change—and Donald Trump does not want to precipitate military action to either stymie the growing resistance or take out targets that might be useful for a post-theocratic Iran, that’s fine and good, but he is running out of time too. 

And because we’ve got to get this economy—all the fundamentals of the economy are good. The jobs reports are good. The stock market is good. Foreign investment is good. Job creation—everything is good except inflation and gas prices.  

So, if he can pivot and assure the world that the strait will be open and Iran is militarily defeated or has submitted, we can— 

But it has to be very soon because now we’re down to five months.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs issued a notice of funding opportunity on Wednesday seeking grant recipients who will prioritize the best interests of unborn human children in the embryo adoption process. 

The Embryo Adoption and Awareness notice of funding opportunity was first created in 2002 to raise awareness of the problem of IVF creating more embryos than a couple is willing or able to parent, then freezing the embryos indefinitely. The federal embryo adoption grant program was expanded in 2008 to offer services that help facilitate embryo adoption and donation for the purpose of family formation

Currently, more than 1 million embryos created through IVF are frozen in storage. IVF procedures typically create four to six embryos in each egg retrieval cycle, but the number can be up to 20 or more, according to adoption agency Embryo Connections.

While previous administrations have prioritized the desires of adults in the embryo adoption program, the Trump-era HHS has shifted the grant opportunity toward a child-centric framework, urging recipients to consider what is in the best interest of the child, a senior HHS official told the Daily Signal. 

Embryo adoption should “serve the needs of a child already in existence, offering that child the opportunity for life within a stable and loving family,” the funding notice says. 

Trump made a campaign promise to make IVF accessible to all prospective parents, calling himself the “father of IVF,” sparking criticism from pro-lifers who say the procedure relies on the destruction of embryos.

However, the pro-life movement may warmly receive this program due to its child-first adoption framework, as well as its prohibitions on using grant funding for embryo destruction or new embryo creation. The Trump administration has made a number of moves to expand IVF, but this is the first time it is addressing the procedure’s downfalls.

Heritage Foundation family policy expert Emma Waters praised the revision for “reframing embryo adoption not as a treatment for infertility, but as an act of charity toward a child already in existence who is in need of a loving home.” 

“The uncomfortable truth is that our loose approach to IVF has left millions of human embryos in indefinite storage, many of whom are destined to be discarded,” she told the Daily Signal. 

The revised notice says that grant funds cannot be used for the “donation of human embryos to embryo-destructive research,” and that “no grant funds will be used to pay for, subsidize, promote, or otherwise support discarding or destroying human embryos.” HHS also prohibits grantees from using the funds to create “new human embryos.”

The revised grant program expects awardees to promote open and identified donation practices in order to “protect the child’s right to know their biological origins and medical history.” 

It also requires grantees to “center the rights and long-term wellbeing of the child in all program design and service delivery.” This includes the requirement that embryo adoption agencies conduct background checks, home visits, and other assessments before allowing a family to adopt an embryo. 

Waters said the NOFO gets the response to the frozen embryo crisis right by “requiring best-interest-of-the-child assessments and the same adoption-level standards we expect anywhere else, including home studies, background checks, reference checks, and post-placement supervision by a qualified caseworker.”

Neel Upadhye, founder of nonprofit Frozen Orphans, which draws attention to the embryos left behind through IVF, said the program is a “meaningful step toward ensuring families know embryo adoption is a real, viable path to parenthood.”

“We’re encouraged to see federal support for both the public education and infrastructure that makes these adoptions possible, and we hope it opens doors for the thousands of families and children who could benefit,” he told the Daily Signal.

While the Biden administration awarded grants to three secular embryo adoption agencies who match embryos with same-sex couples, the Trump administration is looking to put faith-based organizations back at the center of embryo adoption.

The revised notice says that “faith-based organizations have been integral partners in this program since its founding and have historically been among its primary grant recipients.”

Among the banks being scrutinized are JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, the Journal reported.

In August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal bank regulators to investigate whether financial institutions engaged in “politicized or unlawful debanking.”

The order directed regulators to take appropriate measures, including fines or making referrals to the Justice Department.

Fox News reported last August that, according to an unnamed bank executive, pressure from regulators to cancel political adversaries was “very, very real.” Trump stated, “The banks discriminate against conservatives, they discriminate against religion, because they’re afraid of the radical left.”

Trump has said JPMorgan Chase blocked his account after his first term.

In May 2022, three weeks after the National Committee for Religious Freedom opened an account, JPMorgan Chase closed it, according to the committee’s head, Sam Brownback, a former Kansas governor. JPMorgan has said it had nothing to do with political or religious views and said the decision was made because, under federal laws, it needed more information about donors and recipients.

In December, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a preliminary report that found early evidence of debanking by the nine largest banks. The OCC report found that affected industries included oil and gas, coal, firearms manufacturers, and the adult entertainment business. The findings also said banks considered issues such as fighting climate change and racial inequality when deciding business partners.

For their part, various banks have asserted they don’t close accounts for political or religious reasons. Banks have blamed their decisions not to work with certain industries on regulatory pressure, the Journal reported.

The Journal, citing sources, said that regulators had not made referrals to the Justice Department yet and said Pirro initiated the investigations on her own.

Specifically, Pirro’s office is investigating whether the banks might have violated laws that include the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, a law traditionally used to prosecute bank-related fraud, the paper said.

A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson told the Daily Signal in February 2023, “I can tell you confidently we have never [closed], and would never close, an account due to one’s political or religious affiliation. Full stop.” 

In January 2025, at the World Economic Forum, Trump brought up the issue to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan in response to his question.

“You’ve done a fantastic job, but I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America,” Trump told Moynihan. “They don’t take conservative business. … I hope you’re going to open your banks to conservatives because what you’re doing is wrong.”

In March 2025, Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin said the bank supported legislation from Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the Financial Integrity and Regulation Management (FIRM) Act, to scrap regulations that could force debanking. 

“Given our client base of 70 million and opening 12 million new accounts last year alone, it’s clear that we are focused on being a bank that serves everyone, regardless of political viewpoints,” Halldin told the Daily Signal. “We are required to follow extensive government regulations that sometimes result in requirements to exit relationships. We never close accounts for political reasons and don’t have a political litmus test.”

The billionaire told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the infidelity was separate from his ties with Epstein, who was charged in 2019 with sex trafficking of minors. Gates added that he was not aware of any criminal activity by Epstein while they maintained a relationship.

“I learned Epstein had become aware of sensitive information about my personal life, including the fact that I had been unfaithful in my marriage,” Gates said. “These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family.”

This marked the committee’s 15th interview in its investigation of Epstein’s ties to powerful individuals and how the government handled its probe of Epstein. Epstein was known for spending time with leaders in the corporate and political world, including Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.

While Gates’ interview with committee members was behind closed doors, and members were given one hour of question time, his written opening statement was made public. A full transcript of the interview will be released at a later date.

Gates said he initially thought Epstein would be a financial supporter of charitable efforts by the Gates Foundation. He said he later “concluded Epstein would never deliver on his promises.”

Gates said in his statement that it was a “grave error” to ever talk with Epstein. They first talked three years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to felony solicitation of prostitution, as well as procurement of minors to engage in prostitution. He was arrested again in 2019 on new sex trafficking charges. Epstein died in a New York prison cell in 2019, which investigators determined was a suicide. His business associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was sentenced in 2022 for conspiring with Epstein to sexually exploit and abuse minor girls.

“Epstein was working to use the information about my infidelities—in addition to the many lies he layered on top—to pressure me to reengage with him,” Gates said. “He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda.”

Gates said in his opening remarks, “Even if he [Epstein] had delivered the new donors he promised, it would not have justified associating with him.”

“I want to state very clearly: I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct,” Gates said. He added, “I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone.”

Gates said Epstein sought to “build an image of legitimacy around himself, using connections to reputable and powerful people to deflect scrutiny and attempt to rehabilitate his reputation.”

“I was so focused on the possibility of raising funds for global health that I allowed that goal to override my better judgment,” he said.

“No one is accusing Bill Gates of any wrongdoing, and I certainly appreciate him coming in voluntarily,” House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters before Gates appeared before the panel.

Previously, the committee interviewed both Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, but the Clintons only agreed to appear after initially trying to defy a subpoena and facing the threat of a bipartisan House vote holding them in contempt of Congress.

In February, the committee conducted an interview with Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence on charges of recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein. She invoked her Fifth Amendment right but said she would only answer questions if given clemency. Her lawyer, David Oscar Markus, told the panel, “Both President Trump and President Clinton are innocent of any wrongdoing.”

Former attorneys general Pam Bondi and William Barr talked to the committee about how the Justice Department handled the investigation. The committee has interviewed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has also talked to the panel and will likely be back, Comer said.

Comer said the committee would be asking noted attorney and former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz to answer questions. Dershowitz helped Epstein secure his plea deal in 2008.

Democrats on the committee have continuously talked about Trump, who knew Epstein. 

“This is about the survivors of Epstein and Maxwell. This is about trying to figure out how the government failed, and this goes back to several administrations, several attorneys general,” Comer said. “This has definitely been a failure in justice. We’re trying to get the proof to the American people, and we’re trying to provide some type of justice for the survivors.”

However, the Totenkopf tattoo on the chest of Maine’s Democrat senatorial nominee goes far deeper into the darkness of the Third Reich. The SS’ Death Head insignia is what too many of Adolf Hitler’s victims saw as they emerged from fetid cattle cars and entered Treblinka, Auschwitz, and other concentration camps. The Totenkopf stared down at them from SS officers’ caps, as they ushered some prisoners toward brutal, often-fatal forced labor.

Others saw the Totenkopf as they were rushed into “showers.” These, in fact, were the gas chambers in which they were exterminated. 

The Totenkopf hovered above these freshly murdered Jews, Slavs, Poles, Gypsies, gays, and others on National Socialism’s hit list. Their remains were shoved into ovens, cremated, and expelled via chimneys into the smoke-filled skies above the Nazi cadaver factories.

Of all the symbols on Earth, the one that encapsulated these horrors was U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner’s pick to adorn his chest for nearly two decades. This was the same Totenkopf that terrorized Anne Frank before she succumbed to Hitler’s brand of white nationalism.

Platner claims that he was ignorant of ​this symbol when he chose it in 2007, ​supposedly while carousing in Croatia with fellow Marines.

But Platner’s former lover, Lyndsey Fifield,​ texted friends in August 2025 that Platner “has a Nazi tattoo on his chest​.” ​She told CNN that Platner called it “my Totenkopf,” and did so with a memorable foreign accent. Fifield also says that, during a fight, Platner twisted her arm, bruised her, and trapped her in a bedroom.

​Democrat primary voters in Maine looked at Platner’s tattoo in old photos and video​s—all from before he ​covered it up​ with another tattoo last October. They looked at Gov. Janet Mills’ name, which was still on Tuesday’s ballot as a Senate hopeful. They looked at Platner’s name, thought briefly of his genocidal fashion accessory, and collectively shouted, “Jawohl!”

Jawohl! to Platner.

Jawohl! to the Totenkopf.

Jawohl! to being represented in the Senate by a man whose shortcomings include memories of masturbating in portable toilets, finding their blue-chemical smell sexually arousing, and then bragging about this on Reddit, at age 33.

While 19.5% of Maine Democrats said Nein! to Nazi-Communist Graham Platner and backed Mills, 72% screamed Jawohl! to a man who decorated himself with not just a symbol of National Socialism but an emblem of Hitler’s apotheosis: The Holocaust.

“A Nazi tattoo is disqualifying. Full stop,” declared former US Senator Norm Coleman, R–Minn., and Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

They praised Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Platner’s opponent. “Senator Collins has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the American Jewish community through every trial and test, from confronting rampant campus antisemitism, to supporting the U.S.-Israel alliance, to standing up to the Iranian regime and its terror proxies.”

Conversely, Democrats and their pals welcome the triumph of Platner’s will. 

“Congratulations to Graham Platner on his landslide victory in Maine,” crowed Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who flocks with Democrats. “Together, we will defeat Oligarchy and create an economy that works for all, not just the few.”

“Congrats, Graham Platner!” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., cheered. “Maine Democrats chose a fighter with the grit to take on billionaires and giant corporations and WIN.”

Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand, both New Yorkers, said via joint communique: “In November, Maine voters will elect Graham Platner, and we will win a Senate majority.”

It’s official: Graham Platner is not just the toast of today’s antisemitic Left. He is the fresh Aryan face of the modern Democratic Party.

​ We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

Tragically, that archetype no longer belongs solely to distant tropics. It now describes California—the wealthiest subnational economy on the planet and America’s clearest example of institutional decay.

California’s gross domestic product exceeds that of all but a handful of sovereign countries. The state is the birthplace of transformative technologies and the global capital of entertainment. Yet beneath the glossy surface of Silicon Valley valuations and Hollywood glamour lies a political order that has grown increasingly authoritarian, opaque, and self-serving. 

The state is no longer governed by competing visions of the public good. It is controlled by a single party that has captured every lever of institutional power.

Democrats hold the governorship, every statewide constitutional office, veto-proof supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature, and an overwhelming majority of California’s congressional seats. Republicans have been relegated to ceremonial irrelevance for more than 20 years. In any authentic republic, vigorous opposition serves as a natural restraint on authority. In California, that restraint has been systematically dismantled.

This monopoly is sustained and protected by one of the most permissive and least accountable election systems in the United States. Every registered voter automatically receives a ballot by mail. No request or excuse is necessary. Ballots may arrive up to seven days after Election Day if postmarked on time. 

Third-party ballot harvesting is not only legal but widespread. There is no voter ID requirement for mail ballots. Poll workers are generally prohibited from asking for identification except in the narrowest of circumstances. Signature verification is often cursory and “cured” with minimal scrutiny. 

Most damaging, ballots are routinely separated from their signed return envelopes before being counted, obliterating any reliable chain of custody.

Even more troubling, California law explicitly permits voters to hand-write the date on their ballot or return envelope. Late-arriving ballots can be accepted based on this self-reported date—even if the official postmark is missing, illegible, or dated after Election Day. Critics rightly describe this as a legalized mechanism for backdating ballots after the fact.

The consequences are predictable and recurring. In the 2026 Los Angeles mayoral primary, Republican Spencer Pratt held a commanding 8.1-point lead on election night. Even his progressive opponent, Nithya Raman, appeared ready to concede. Then late mail-in ballots arrived, overwhelmingly favoring Raman, who ultimately overtook Pratt by roughly 3,100 votes. Such dramatic, last-minute reversals have become a predictable feature of California politics rather than an anomaly.

When citizens and observers demanded greater transparency, Gov. Gavin Newsom responded with further constriction.

Just days before the primary, he signed Senate Bill 73, severely limiting access to voter rolls, ballots, and election technology while imposing criminal penalties—up to three years in prison—for vaguely defined “interference.” 

Hours later, he publicly taunted critics with the crude message “FAFO, Donald.” This is not the rhetoric of democratic confidence; it is the contempt of an entrenched ruler who views any challenge to his authority as illegitimate—delivered with all the sophistication of a Twitter troll.

Adding insult to injury, Newsom has directed millions of taxpayer dollars—including a reported $19 million contract with the New York-based firm Edelman—to hire elite public relations consultants tasked with polishing California’s badly tarnished image and convincing the public that all is well. 

The spectacle of a struggling state using public funds to propagandize its own success perfectly captures the banana republic ethos.

While this political theater unfolds, California’s substantive failures multiply. The state suffers the highest cost-of-living-adjusted poverty rate in America, sprawling homeless encampments that disgrace its once-great cities, brazen retail theft that has driven major retailers to close locations, failing public schools, and an accelerating exodus of businesses and middle-class families. 

An $800 billion state budget somehow cannot resolve these basic problems, yet it reliably funds the priorities of the ruling coalition and its donors.

The ruling class, meanwhile, remains insulated and comfortable. Tech billionaires, Hollywood elites, and powerful union interests enjoy gated compounds, private security, and disproportionate influence in Sacramento while delivering lectures on equity to the very citizens whose lives their policies have diminished. 

Newsom, a multimillionaire politician, perfectly embodies the regime’s hypocrisy, preaching climate virtue and social justice while presiding over rising energy costs, deepening poverty, and institutional decay.

California was once a magnet for ambition, innovation, and reinvention. It has become instead a glaring failed experiment in unchecked progressive power. 

True republics do not fear sunlight on their elections, prohibit asking for ID at the polls, or permit handwritten backdating of ballots. True republics do not criminalize skepticism or insulate the ruling class from accountability.

California has crossed that line. Unless its citizens summon the will to restore genuine political competition, the term “banana republic” will cease to be rhetorical exaggeration and become the most precise description of America’s largest and once-greatest state. 

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

“Democrats fought hard against this, presumably so they can CHEAT,” Trump posted Monday on Truth Social.

“I am now asking all of my Republican friends in the State House to, also, PASS THIS NOW, and put a Constitutional Amendment on the Ballot so that the Great People of Ohio can vote to enshrine VOTER I.D. in the State Constitution. I will be watching, and am strongly supportive of this Resolution,” he added.

Many Ohio Republicans expressed enthusiasm that the president was speaking out, including the resolutions’ sponsors and Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou. Vice President JD Vance, an Ohio native, also shared Trump’s post.

The push comes as Vivek Ramaswamy argued for a constitutional amendment last month. Republicans in the Legislature heeded the call, moving quickly to pass resolutions to put the issue before voters in November.

Both Ramaswamy and Trump have been supporting the federal SAVE America Act to require proof of citizenship for voter registration. The bill has been held up in the U.S. Senate, however.

In an op-ed for the Cincinnati Enquirer, Ramaswamy referred to the SAVE America Act as “a welcome proposal,” adding that “those of us here in Ohio should not be forced to wait.”

Voter ID is popular around the country and in Ohio, according to polling from Heritage Action and Honest Elections Project Action.

State Sen. Jane Timken told the Daily Signal last week that if voters pass the ballot initiative in November, it will be “the most stringent voter ID law in the country.”

The resolutions have faced mild opposition from the Right, primarily over the lack of photo ID requirements for absentee mail-in ballots. State Rep. Ron Ferguson, a Republican, signaled his opposition to the measures as written.

The polling by Honest Elections Project Action indicates that voters would support a ballot initiative with requirements for mail-in ballots, and Ferguson introduced the Secure Vote Act to that effect, which is currently assigned to the General Government Committee.

The Trump administration also is attempting to fix problems with mail-in ballots. Ohio Capital Journal reported that the Department of Homeland Security “plans to monitor the flow of mail ballots for signs of voter fraud.” That move comes after a March 31 executive order from the president, which faced several lawsuits.

Late last month, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee in Washington, ruled against pausing the executive order.

A provision included in the newly passed Department of Homeland Security funding bill will allow 200 new investigators to identify victims of child sexual abuse.

“Right now, 89,000 unidentified image series of children being sexually abused have been seen by law enforcement—but these children have yet to be identified and are still waiting to be found due to resource and manpower shortages,” Tim Tebow, founder and chairman of the Tim Tebow Foundation, said.

“Today, we acted. I am grateful to our congressional leaders for getting this lifesaving legislation over the finish line, and to the law enforcement who never stop fighting for these kids,” Tebow continued.

House Republicans passed the $70 billion party-line budget bill, the Secure America Act, to fully fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. The bill passed Tuesday night, 214–212, with all Republicans voting “yes” and all Democrats voting “no.”

The Renewed Hope Act was included to allocate $108.5 million to hire 200 additional victim identification analysts, forensic analysts, and investigators to identify unknown children seen in sexual images. Now they can be located, and future potential child victims can be safeguarded.

Tebow testified before Congress in March, where he brought this escalating crisis of online child exploitation to lawmakers’ attention.

He told the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism that there are over 330,000 unique IP addresses that have downloaded, shared, or distributed child-rape images in the United States in less than a year.

He highlighted the widening gap between the scale of exploitation and available federal resources; prior to this passage, there were only seven analysts whose job it was to find and protect tens of thousands of children. Now there will be 200.

“My legislation with Tim Tebow to rescue thousands of children trapped in sex trafficking just passed the House and is headed to the president’s desk,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who spearheaded the legislation. “This is the biggest surge against online child exploitation ever by the federal government. It’s time to rescue these kids.”

Tebow credited multiple members who helped author this legislation, including Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Lucy McBath of Georgia, and Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, all of whom decided to vote against the final passage due to it being connected to ICE funding.

“My prayer is that hope is renewed for many more boys and girls, and that their stories will be different because of this legislation. When we come together, real change can happen—and this is just the beginning,” Tebow said in a press release following the vote.

Platner won the nomination with little contest, as Maine Democrat Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race in April. However, her name remained on the ballot.

With 88% of the vote tallied by Wednesday morning, The Associated Press called the race for Platner, who received 71.9% of the vote against Mills’ 19.4%.

In third place, with 8.3% of the vote, was David Costello, who ran in 2024 as the Democrat nominee against incumbent independent Sen. Angus King.

“You have built the most powerful grassroots movement in the history of this state,” Platner told his supporters after the victory. “And when we finally defeat Susan Collins that will be because of you, too.”

The race, whose final outcome the Cook Political Report rates a “toss up,” is critical for Democrats, as they need to net four additional seats to claim a majority in the Senate.

President Donald Trump said of Platner on Wednesday, “He’s a thug and they’re trying to make excuses for him. I mean, he is worse than any human being that has ever run for office, probably.”

Platner secured the nomination amid a negative media cycle, with The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times having recently reported his wife had alerted campaign staff that he had sent sexual messages to multiple women early on in their marriage. 

Most recently, The New York Times interviewed multiple of Platner’s former girlfriends, turning up allegations of physical roughness and eccentric behavior, although some spoke of him positively.

But this is just the most recent wave of negative press for Platner.

Platner has come under fire for controversial online forum posts in which he said women should “act like an adult” to avoid rape and ridiculed rural white voters and black people. 

He has asked voters to look past his online history, saying, “I’m asking you not to judge me for the worst thing I said on the internet on my worst day 14 years ago.”

He has also faced criticism for having had a tattoo that resembled the German Totenkopf symbol associated with Nazi Germany. 

Platner has claimed to have been unaware of the tattoo’s historical associations and has since had it covered.

Detractors have also questioned Platner’s authenticity as a working-class voice, calling attention to the fact that his father was a successful lawyer, his grandfather was a famous architect and interior designer, and he attended the Hotchkiss School, a prestigious boarding school in Connecticut.

This baggage could be a problem as Platner faces off against a formidable political survivor in Collins, who won by over eight points in 2020 despite having trailed in every public poll.

Nevertheless, the political environment could present Platner with some advantages.

 For one, Maine favored Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris over Trump by a nearly seven-point margin in 2024. 

Platner is now seeking to take advantage of Democrat voters’ frustrations with Republicans in Washington to unseat the incumbent.

Historically, the party that controls the executive branch tends to suffer in the midterms, and Democrats have already shown high turnout in elections during Trump’s second term.

A member of a prominent political family, Collins has held onto her seat for nearly three decades in a state that has never voted for a Republican to become president during her tenure.

Collins is a moderate who has often defied Trump’s wishes, voting against the July 2025 budget reconciliation bill that prevented the expiration of tax cuts enacted in his first term.

There is a stark ideological contrast between the two candidates.

Platner, who is endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has accused Israel of committing a “genocide” and has called for policies such as “Medicare for All.” 

He has sought to hold Collins to task for the administration’s foreign policy and health care policy.

Meanwhile, Collins wields significant power in the Senate as the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee—the panel that determines the allocation of annual federal spending.

The Daily Signal contacted both campaigns for comment but received no reply in time for publication.

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DHS Directs ICE to Deport Noncitizens Who Illegally Vote in US Elections

Noncitizens who illegally vote in U.S. elections will face deportation, among other stricter penalties, according to new guidance from the Department of Homeland Security. The general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, James Percival, directed the leadership of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce the stricter penalties against noncitizens who vote. Percival’s letter cites…

“We’re talking about giving back something to the public, and if we do that, the public will become very rich, the people in our country, because that’s the kind of money we’re talking about, and I think they’ll do that, and I think it’ll make it very popular,” he told the Daily Signal at the signing of the Secure America Act.

Trump said Friday he planned to meet with top tech executives to discuss equity stakes in AI companies. However, subsequent reports indicated that the executives had not yet received invitations from the White House. Trump confirmed that the meeting is still going to occur.

He said he will meet with “the top 12 or 15 executives very shortly.”

“We’re having a meeting with them,” Trump said in response to a question from the Daily Signal. “It’s an amazing industry. It’s bigger than any industry anyone’s ever seen. We are leading China by a lot, and you know, whoever leads that is going to really lead the world to a large extent. That’s how big it is.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a self-described “democratic socialist,” has made a similar proposal with legislation requiring top AI companies to pay a one-time 50% tax in stock.

Senate Republicans have expressed skepticism at the proposal.

“I don’t think the federal government should be in the business of being an equity holder in private companies,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told NOTUS.

“I’m not a huge fan of the government owning industry, and I think with this you’d combine the worst of the big bureaucrats with the Big Tech monopolist,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said.

The general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, James Percival, directed the leadership of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce the stricter penalties against noncitizens who vote.

Percival’s letter cites an executive order on election integrity signed by President Donald Trump in March 2025, calling for actions across federal agencies to secure the vote.

Percival also referenced the Immigration and Nationality Act, which directs the removal of aliens who illegally vote or make a false claim to U.S. citizenship.

“The importance of free, fair, and honest elections is without question. Echoing the words of President Trump, ‘the right of American citizens to have their votes properly counted and tabulated, without illegal dilution, is vital to determining the rightful winner of an election,’” Percival said in a public statement about the policy.

“Illegal voting by aliens dilutes the votes of American citizens and undermines our democracy. It must have consequences,” Percival added.

The department notes that this could allow for the removal of immigrants legally in the United States who are not citizens but illegally cast ballots in federal elections.

In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” which calls for federal agencies to act on verifying voter eligibility, election grant administration to state and local governments, information-sharing, enforcement of federal election laws, and criminal prosecution of unlawful voting.

Congress in 1996 passed a law making it illegal for noncitizens to vote. Still, jurisdictions in California, Maryland, Vermont, and the District of Columbia allow noncitizens to vote in municipal races for offices such as mayor, city council, or school board.

In May, the Justice Department announced four separate criminal complaints against noncitizens for allegedly illegally voting in federal elections in New Jersey. The four allegedly falsely certified that they were U.S. citizens on their voter registration forms. The agency’s criminal complaint alleged that the defendants cast at least one vote in federal elections from 2020 to 2024 before applying to become U.S. citizens. Also, this month, a Canadian citizen living in North Carolina was sentenced to two months in prison for voting in federal elections.

Meanwhile, officials in the states of Michigan, Nevada, Utah, Montana, and Kansas have flagged noncitizens on the voter rolls, including some who actually cast ballots.

A 2014 study by professors from Old Dominion University and George Mason University estimated that about 6.4% of noncitizens voted in the 2008 presidential election, while 2.2% voted in the 2010 midterm election.

The new Department of Homeland Security directive comes as Congress continues to debate the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

“HHS has requested a review of allegations involving @CAIRNational and its affiliates, @CAIRCalifornia and @CAIRWashington regarding the use of federal grant funds,” Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote on X Tuesday. “Americans deserve full transparency when taxpayer dollars are involved. If there is evidence of fraud, abuse, or ties to designated terrorist organizations, we will act.”

Kennedy, citing that “accountability is not optional,” announced that he privately shared his concerns with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and encouraged him to conduct a full “review of any information relevant to this matter.”

Kennedy added that “the integrity of federal programs is our responsibility.”

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who first raised the concerns over CAIR funding to HHS, told the Daily Signal that this is a much-needed win because “Americans should not be forced to subsidize organizations that are accused of supporting or facilitating terrorism.”

“Following my request for oversight, I am encouraged and thank Secretary Kennedy Jr. for investigating CAIR’s alleged ties to groups such as Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the use of millions of taxpayer dollars awarded to the organization,” the co-founder of the Sharia Free America Caucus continued. “If any misuse of federal funds is uncovered, those responsible must be held accountable, future grants should be terminated, and taxpayers deserve full transparency about how their money was spent.”

In Roy’s original letter, the congressman revealed the organization has received more than $15 million in Department of Health and Human Services subgrants since 2022, largely for Afghan resettlement and legal services programs administered through California, as outlined in his letter.

He further stated that CAIR’s association with Islamic terror organizations creates a “grave risk to national security” that should disbar the organization from receiving federal tax dollars.

“CAIR’s longstanding ties to terrorist organizations, including Hamas—a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)—combined with documented financial mismanagement and misuse of federal grant funds administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), pose a grave risk to national security and render CAIR unfit to receive taxpayer dollars,” the letter reads.

In the past, the representative introduced legislation to designate CAIR as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organization and urged the Treasury Department to revoke its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

“Why should Americans’ taxpayer dollars go to groups like CAIR that facilitate terrorism?” Roy previously told the Daily Signal.

CAIR has not responded to the Daily Signal’s request for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

On Tuesday, the United States struck Iran in retaliation for the downing of an Army Apache helicopter. U.S. Central Command described the “self-defense strikes” as “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.”

Trump tied the strike into Iran’s hesitancy to accept American peace offers.

“Iran’s Military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist anymore – They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday morning. 

He continued, “The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!! They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!”

The renewed combat is far from an anomaly in the now monthslong ceasefire that has been frequently interrupted by skirmishes between the United States, Israel, Iran, and other actors in the region.

The administration has previously argued that Operation Epic Fury—which started with the initial strikes in February—is over and that the executive branch does not require congressional approval.

Senate Democrats have challenged the legality of continued hostilities, requesting that the president make public the administration’s legal argument that hostilities have terminated.

In June, the House of Representatives passed a resolution likely of only symbolic importance to halt the war in Iran. 

The Supreme Court has previously invalidated similar attempts from Congress to unilaterally veto the executive branch’s actions.

For now, most Republicans in Congress appear to be standing by the administration.

Shortly after news of the strikes, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, defended Trump’s actions as being within his constitutional powers.

He added, “At some point, when we’re having our conversations about funding and about long-term … and boots on the ground, Congress must be involved in that conversation.“

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., said of the strikes, “Nobody wants to be at war, but they’re the ones that have declared war on the United States of America. The president wants to end this war, and I support him in doing that.”

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“The chaos happening in California only further underscores what the president has said many times—pass the SAVE America Act,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Daily Signal.

Republican candidate Spencer Pratt initially ran ahead of Democrat candidate Nithya Raman for second place in the election night tally, behind incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. The state’s primaries allow the top two vote recipients to advance to the general election.

However, subsequent mail-in ballot batches that arrived up to a week after election day—in compliance with state law—heavily favored Raman, even over Bass, and Pratt’s lead evaporated. On Monday, The Associated Press declared that Raman would advance to the runoff election against Bass, who is also a registered Democrat.

The SAVE America Act would mandate photo identification and proof of citizenship in federal elections and require local governments to regularly purge their voter rolls.

“The SAVE America Act has always been a top priority for President Trump, and it remains one,” Jackson said. “This is commonsense legislation, supported by the vast majority of Americans, that will secure our elections for generations to come.”

However, four Senate Republicans joined Democrats in successfully voting to keep the voter ID provision out of reconciliation.

As a result, Congress’ only remaining option to pass the SAVE Act is to terminate the filibuster, something Senate Majority Leader John Thune has repeatedly expressed opposition to.

In fact, Thune encouraged senators to stop talking about Trump’s stated priority of ending the filibuster, the Daily Signal reported in April.

Trump has repeatedly demanded that Republicans eliminate the filibuster to require only a simple majority vote to pass key agenda items, instead of needing the customary 60 votes to end debate.

After Pratt’s loss, Trump took to Truth Social to call the mayoral election rigged.

“Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had,” Trump wrote. “3rd World Nation. Rigged Elections!”

“Now they’ll be working on great guy Steve Hilton,” he said of the Republican gubernatorial candidate. “Won’t have results for, possibly, TWO WEEKS, according to officials.”

First came the squalor, the homelessness, and the smash-and-grab lawlessness, and now, straight out of the banana republic playbook, come election shenanigans so blatant it makes North Korean elections look as clean as a Sunday sermon.

Like Northridge, the news Monday that democratic socialist Nithya Raman had somehow overtaken upstart citizen Spencer Pratt to officially secure a spot in the November LA mayor runoff came and went in a matter of seconds. But the wreckage left in its wake will haunt the city for years to come.

A Disaster Movie, Not a Feel-Good Flick

What happened to Pratt, what happened to democracy, feels a lot like that quake did. Angelenos are used to earthquakes, just like they’ve gotten used to elections in California hardly being worth the effort.

“Just had a 5.6 earthquake? Anything break? Great. At least it won’t ruin the weekend.”

“My candidate’s up by 7% on election night? Great. That lead will be gone by the weekend.”

But the Northridge quake felt different. Northridge was so nasty, so widespread, so clear a statement that “I can smash your pitiful freeways and there’s nothing you can do about it,” it rattled the nerves even of seasoned earthquake veterans.

Here, the tremor was just as strong: “I will smash your election dreams, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Pratt was the archetypal Hollywood underdog—an average citizen who suffered at the hands of an incompetent government and was fed up enough to try and do something about it.

How can a town that made its fortune on tales of the underdog making good—from the Little Tramp to Mr. Smith, from Rudy to Rocky—not have this election shake their bones?

“Sorry, Rocky. We know Creed didn’t get off the canvas by the ten-count. But we’re gonna give him all the extra time he needs to get up and knock ya’ out.”

You can tell yourself LA will just get back to normal, just like the building inspectors said it was safe to return to our office building just blocks from the Northridge epicenter.

A primal, instinctive sense screams the whole thing could collapse at any moment.

The Solution

Can Los Angeles be saved?

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli says, “Multiple election fraud investigations are underway in coordination with @FBILosAngeles. We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent.”

But convictions, let alone anything that would overturn the results, are about as likely as Karen Bass getting invited to Pratt’s next house party.

For one thing, officials will fight tooth and nail any efforts to verify what really went on. (See Fulton County, Georgia; Maricopa County, Arizona.)

Second, as Victor Davis Hanson says, the system is operating exactly as it was designed. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts put it simply:

“Universal mail-in ballots, no ID verification, no meaningful voter eligibility verification, and no way to verify whether a ballot was filled out by Election Day. What could go wrong?”

India counted its 640 million votes in one day in 2024. California stretches out the counting like it’s the last cup of water from the Colorado River.

California needs what Los Angeles got after the Northridge quake: a massive retrofit. Retrofitting is when additional support is added to existing buildings and structures to make them more earthquake-resistant.

The same thing needs to happen to elections. Retrofit the democratic process so efforts to grab elections and shake them until enough “winning” ballots fall out will no longer send elections crumbling.

How could elections in LA be retrofitted?

• Ban universal mail-in ballots. Currently, they’re spread over LA like smog. Rudolf Valentino likely got a ballot.
• Voter ID. As the Daily Signal’s Drew Allen noted, voting for our leaders should at least require as much security and verification as voting for the Academy Awards. Heck, put PricewaterhouseCoopers in charge of the elections.
• Real signature verification. Currently, the only time they verify signatures is if it’s for a petition or a candidate Democrats don’t like. Those petitions are pawed over like photos of the new cast of “Baywatch.” Otherwise, they’re ignored like Disney’s remake of “Snow White.”
• Return Election Day to Election Day. Want more voter participation? Turn In-N-Out restaurants into polling stations.

We could go on and on. But will it happen? Sure. When Gavin Newsom’s train to nowhere runs from LA to Mars. Democrats have zero motive to fix the system. Republicans have zero power in the legislature or courts to fix it.

A Shockwave That Reaches Washington

Democracy’s best hope is that the shockwave from this election quake will travel all the way across the country to Washington. Knock sleeping Republican senators from their Swamp Slumber to finally get the SAVE America Act passed—even if it means gutting the Senate filibuster.

Don’t they get just how unpopular Democrats are with real voters? The Democrats had to cheat in Los Angeles. LOS ANGELES! That’s like having to cheat at solitaire.

How many elections nationwide would Republicans have actually won in places without LA’s 3-to-1 registration ratio but for the systems being similarly gamed or rigged? This nation is likely as red as an Irishman who sleeps for a week on Venice Beach.

Should more election destruction come to democracy in California and elsewhere around the nation, the fault line won’t run through the San Fernando Valley. It’ll run through the U.S. Senate chamber.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

Every June at Nationals Park, members of Congress put on uniforms, walk out onto a diamond, and play seven innings in front of thousands of people. Not as a stunt, not as a photo opportunity, but as a genuine continuation of a tradition that has survived every period of dysfunction and division our country has faced.

Baseball holds a special place in American life that no other sport replicates. It is the game soldiers carried overseas, that cities rebuilt themselves around after hard times, that generations of Americans used to mark the passage of summer. It is a shared inheritance that belongs to everyone who grew up with the smell of a leather glove or the crack of a bat on a summer evening, regardless of party or how they vote.

Nobody understood that better than Coach Roger Williams, a former Atlanta Braves player and Texas Christian University baseball coach who has run the Republican team’s predawn practices for years. He is the reason this team shows up ready to play, dragging members of Congress out of bed before committee hearings to take ground balls at 6 a.m. He has been doing it for years because he believes the tradition is worth protecting, and he is right.

I played throughout my high school years at Central High School in San Angelo, Texas, and into my days at the Air Force Academy. Baseball has been an integral part of my life for as long as I can remember. But what I have learned from the Congressional Baseball Game goes beyond the game itself.

The relationships built in that dugout, the handshakes after a close play, the shared bus rides and early morning practices—we carry those moments back with us to Capitol Hill. In a town where trust is hard to come by, this game quietly builds some, and that matters more than most people in this city are willing to admit.

It’s a game that George H.W. Bush played: one that honors a hard-fought battle—but with civility. It has been reported that Republicans are on a winning streak of five games, but the tradition only works because both sides keep showing up to give it their all.

Last year, the moment that stuck with me was not the final score. It was a diving catch at third base with the bases loaded in the first inning, the kind of small play that shifts momentum and reminds everyone in the dugout why each one came.

Baseball does something that nothing else in Washington can. Nearly 40,000 people were there to see it, and they were not rooting for dysfunction. They were rooting for the game. Together, they helped raise a record $2.81 million for 45 local charities and four college scholarships, proof that this tradition delivers well beyond the box score.

The cynics will say one baseball game a year does not change anything. They are right that it does not pass legislation or fix the broken appropriations process, but that is the wrong standard. The question is whether it reflects something true about the country Congress is supposed to represent.

Americans have always understood that competition and respect are not mutually exclusive. You play hard, you play by the rules, and when it is over, you acknowledge what the other side brought to the field. That ethic is older than this republic, and it is worth preserving in the people who run it.

There is a version of Washington that gets buried under the daily dysfunction, where political opponents are still Americans first, and showing up in good faith is itself a form of patriotism. The Congressional Baseball Game is one of the few places left in this city where that version is still visible.

Wednesday night at Nationals Park, both sides will take the field. Nearly 40,000 Americans will be watching, not because this institution has earned every ounce of their faith, but because they have not given up on it. That is worth honoring.

And for seven innings, we intend to.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

Iran launched missile and drone attacks on U.S. bases in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain in what it called retaliation for American strikes on Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz.

The exchange of fire, which came after Trump said Iran had downed a U.S. Apache helicopter near the strait, marks one of the most significant escalations since Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire in April.

“Iran is all talk and no action,” Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday morning. “They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!”

The U.S. military said it had targeted Iranian air defenses, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites in what it described as a “proportional response” to the downing of the helicopter, whose two crew members were rescued.

Iran’s Gulf neighbors and Jordan activated air defenses to intercept incoming missiles and there were no immediate reports of damage to U.S. bases.

The escalation—just days after Iran exchanged strikes with Israel for the first time since the ceasefire—casts fresh doubt on prospects for a deal to end the war, which began on Feb. 28 with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tehran would reassess diplomatic engagement with Washington after what it called repeated ceasefire violations. “Any diplomatic process requires a minimum stable environment,” Esmaeil Baghaei said.

Oil prices jumped by around 2% and stock markets fell after Trump’s remarks.

Fox News, citing a phone interview, reported that Trump said he may order new strikes on Iran’s power plants and bridges because Tehran was taking too long to make a deal.

Still, there were signs that diplomatic efforts were continuing. An official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that Qatari negotiators traveled to Tehran on Wednesday after consultations with the U.S., in an effort to finalize an agreement. There was no immediate comment from Washington or Tehran.

Strikes Around Hormuz

The U.S. strikes overnight lasted about four hours, with Central Command saying shortly before 9 p.m. ET (0100 GMT Wednesday) that operations had ended. A U.S. official said nearly 20 Iranian targets were hit.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Qeshm Island and the port of Sirik were attacked. Iranian media also reported explosions in Bandar Abbas, another port city, and later near Jask at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC said it had responded by attacking U.S. bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan with drones and missiles, and was ready to deliver a “crushing and decisive” response to any further U.S. action.

It said it had fired long-range missiles at four sites at the U.S. al-Azraq base in Jordan, including F-35 fighter jet hangars and a command-and-control center.

A U.S. official said initial assessments showed nearly all Iranian missiles and drones were intercepted, with no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.

Jordan’s military said it had intercepted five missiles launched toward al-Azraq, and that falling debris caused no injuries or damage.

Kuwait’s defense ministry said it had intercepted “hostile aerial targets,” while Bahrain’s air defenses repelled Iranian attacks, a media adviser to the king said on X. Kuwait houses U.S. military facilities, including a major airbase, while Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s regional fleet.

Helicopter Downed

The U.S. attack helicopter whose crash prompted the exchange was brought down by a one-way Iranian attack drone, according to a U.S. official. Two U.S. crew members were uninjured, Trump said.

The helicopter went down in waters off Oman’s coast while on patrol at around 3 a.m. on Tuesday (2300 GMT Monday), the U.S. military said, adding that a Navy surface drone had located and rescued the crew.

Iran’s state media, citing a military source, said no offensive air operations had been conducted in the Strait of Hormuz in the preceding 24 hours.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi did not directly address the incident but warned in a post on X that foreign forces in the region risk accidents or crossfire.

“To reduce risk, best solution is for them to leave,” he wrote.

Peace Deal Seems Remote

The ceasefire in early April was announced alongside plans for peace talks. Diplomats have since sought to reopen Hormuz, end a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and create a pathway for negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump has repeatedly said a deal is close, but despite several rounds of indirect talks mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, the two sides still appear far apart.

Fighting in a parallel war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon has continued, and Tehran has maintained restrictions on most shipping through the strait, which before the war carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas. Washington has kept its own blockade of Iranian ports in place.

Trump has said any peace deal must ensure Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon. Iran denies any such ambitions.

Iran’s demands include the lifting of sanctions, the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets, recognition of its control of the strait and an end to fighting in Lebanon.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Lincoln Feast and Ros Russell; Editing by Neil Fullick, Shri Navaratnam, and Peter Graff)

Senate Finance and Appropriations Chairwoman Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, publicly criticized Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger and House of Representatives leaders Friday as negotiations continued without a final agreement.

“Just when I thought Chairman Torian and I were getting close to agreeing on a budget, we had a meeting with Data Center Diva this morning and she agrees with Amazon Don who doesn’t want to impact the richest corporations in the country,” Lucas wrote on social media, referring to Spanberger and House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth.

In a separate statement released on Senate letterhead, Lucas said the governor and House leaders “did not want to alter the freeloading policy for data centers” and said the facilities should “pay their fair share to provide services to the people of the commonwealth for the next two years.”

Lucas also pushed back on suggestions she was unwilling to compromise.

“I know the governor and House’s narrative will be that I wasn’t willing to compromise or to meet. This is simply not true,” Lucas wrote. “We attempted to move forward multiple times. With the support of the Senate conferees, I have offered multiple compromise options that would have provided revenue from data centers. Under these compromises, neither side got everything.”

Spanberger later released a statement saying she remained confident lawmakers would reach a budget agreement before July 1.

“I have also been clear that data centers in Virginia need to pay their fair share for energy consumption,” Spanberger said. “I have brought proposals to the table that would make data centers pay more for the energy they use and address environmental concerns, including their air pollution, water and energy use, and noise.

“I am confident that General Assembly leadership will get a bill on my desk that I can sign on time. Because there is no other option – those responsible for funding our government have an obligation to deliver.”

Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, also criticized the possibility of what he described as “DC-style continuing resolutions” instead of a full budget agreement.

“Virginia has never done that in our history, we’ve always passed a full budget by July 1 and this year should be no different,” Surovell wrote on social media.

Lawmakers failed to finalize a budget during the regular General Assembly session or a subsequent special session earlier this year.

The House of Delegates is scheduled to reconvene its special session June 18, followed by the Senate on June 22, as negotiators continue work on the state’s next two-year spending plan.

The Commission on Electric Utility Regulation, which will become the Energy Commission of Virginia on July 1, adopted a 2026-27 work plan that includes oversight of what companies say would create the nation’s largest regulated electric utility.

Dominion and NextEra announced the proposed merger in May. The companies said the transaction is expected to close within 12 to 18 months pending state and federal approvals. Dominion Energy Virginia President Ed Baine told lawmakers the company expects to file its application with the State Corporation Commission during the third quarter.

Commission Chairman Scott Surovell noted Virginia’s review timeline could move faster than the legislative calendar.

Under Virginia’s Utility Transfers Act, the State Corporation Commission must approve or reject a completed application within 60 days, though the review can be extended up to 180 days.

“I think any kind of review process is likely to be over before the General Assembly session even begins,” Surovell said.

Commission members debated whether lawmakers should begin examining the merger now or leave the issue to state and federal regulators.

Del. Destiny LeVere Bolling said Virginia already has regulatory structures in place and questioned whether studying the merger before a formal filing was premature. State Sen. Creigh Deeds said the merger was too significant for lawmakers to ignore, while Del. Irene Shin said the commission should examine potential impacts on ratepayers.

Baine told lawmakers the merger would provide about $2.25 billion in customer bill credits across Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, including roughly $1.8 billion for Virginia customers over two years.

Baine also said merger-related costs would not be recovered from customers and said Dominion intends to continue complying with requirements under the Virginia Clean Economy Act.

Outside experts and advocacy groups raised concerns about whether Virginia’s current review standards are sufficient for a transaction of that scale.

Utility consultant Scott Hempling, speaking generally about utility mergers and not specifically endorsing or opposing the Dominion proposal, told lawmakers that review standards centered on preventing harm rather than maximizing public benefit can favor shareholders over ratepayers.

“If you have a standard that says merge, just don’t hurt me, well, the planners of the transaction have a standard that says let’s get the most that we can,” Hempling said.

Clean Virginia Executive Director Brennan Gilmore called for stronger scrutiny of the merger and argued the SCC review window is too short for a transaction involving a large multistate utility system.

Public comments also included concerns about electric rates, regulatory oversight, and NextEra subsidiary Florida Power & Light’s history of rate increases in Florida.