(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear a Republican challenge to limits on federal campaign spending in its next term, which will begin in October.
Congress has capped the amount of money parties and campaign organizations can spend on advertising in direct coordination with the candidates, but the justices will hear arguments on whether those caps are legal.
The case, NRSC v. Federal Elections Commission, centers on whether “coordinated party expenditure” limits are unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
The court’s decision in the campaign finance dispute could open the floodgates for coordinated spending into the 2026 midterms elections.
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Hudson and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Sen. Tim Scott celebrated the Supreme Court taking up the case.
“The government should not restrict a party committee’s support for its own candidates,” they said. “These coordinated expenditure limits violate the First Amendment, and we appreciate the Court’s decision to hear our case. Coordinated spending continues to be a critical part of winning campaigns, and the NRCC and NRSC will ensure we are in the strongest possible position to win in 2026 and beyond.”
Coordinated party expenditure limits for 2025 range from $127,200 to $3,946,100 for Senate races, depending on each state’s voting age population. For House nominees in states with only one representative, the limit is $127,200; and for House nominees in all other states, the limit is $63,600.
The Supreme Court on Monday added seven cases to its docket for next term, with more to be announced later this week. In another high-profile case, Cox Communications v. Sony Entertainment Group, the court will consider questions who bears responsibility for the illicit sharing of copyrighted music over the internet.
(IDLLWILD, Calif.) — A quickly growing brush fire in Southern California has spread at least 1,400 acres, prompting evacuations, according to fire officials.
The blaze, dubbed the Wolf Fire, was first reported around 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon near Wolfskill Truck Trail and Old Banning Idyllwild Road, according to the Riverside County Fire Department. The fire was just 10% contained as of Monday morning, according to Cal Fire.
Evacuation orders are in place for areas north of Poppet Flat Divide Truck Trail, south of Interstate 10, east of Highland Springs Avenue, and west of Old Cabazon Road, fire officials said.
The fire is impacting Highway 243, the road to the mountain community of Idyllwild.
Four helicopters and 300 personnel are currently fighting the fire, Cal Fire said. Air tankers were also dropping water on the fire “as conditions allow,” officials said.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
The Wolf Fire joins a spate of brush fires that have broken out in the region, including in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.
There are currently five fires burning across the Inland Empire, according to Cal Fire.
The summer heat is reaching dangerous levels across parts of the desert Southwest with extreme heat warnings in effect Monday across portions of Arizona, including Phoenix and Tucson, as well as extreme southeastern California.
While this region expects to see hot weather this time of the year, afternoon highs will be 5 to 10 degree above average for late June, which makes this excessive, dangerous heat — even for the desert.
There are also red flag warnings in effect for Northern California because of the hot and dry conditions, as well as the abundance of lightning from passing dry thunderstorms.
ABC News’ Jenna Harrison, Tristan Maglunog and Kyle Reiman contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates
(NEW YORK) — Iranian-affiliated cyber actors and hacktivist groups “may still conduct malicious cyber activity,” according to a joint bulletin from U.S. law enforcement agencies.
“Based on the current geopolitical environment, Iranian-affiliated cyber actors may target U.S. devices and networks for near-term cyber operations,” the bulletin from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), FBI, NSA and Defense Department says.
“Defense Industrial Base (DIB) companies, particularly those possessing holdings or relationships with Israeli research and defense firms, are at increased risk. Hacktivists and Iranian-government-affiliated actors routinely target poorly secured U.S. networks and internet-connected devices for disruptive cyberattacks,” according to the bulletin.
All of this comes after Israel and Iran “declared ceasefire and ongoing negotiations towards a permanent solution,” according to the alert.
“Over the past several months, Iranian-aligned hacktivists have increasingly conducted website defacements and leaks of sensitive information exfiltrated from victims,” the alert says. “These hacktivists are likely to significantly increase distributed denial of service (DDoS) campaigns against U.S. and Israeli websites due to recent events.”
The alert says that it hasn’t just been over the past few months that Iranian cyber actors have been active. The agencies point to numerous instances in 2023 and 2024 when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compromised Israeli-backed technology, and after the start of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, IRGC-backed actors carried out cyber attacks as a form of protest.
“Activities like website defacements, leakage of sensitive information, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) campaigns against U.S. websites have been common attack methods in the past,” the alert says.
In a statement, the agencies say they haven’t seen any malicious activity, but are issuing the warning for critical infrastructure organizations to be on alert.
“We strongly urge organizations to review our joint fact sheet and implement recommended actions to strengthen our collective defense against this potential cyber activity,” the statement says.
(NEW YORK) — An LGBTQ+ Pride parade ended in gunfire near New York City’s historic Stonewall Inn on Sunday night, according to Mayor Eric Adams.
“Saddened to learn about the shooting by the Stonewall Inn tonight as Pride celebrations were winding down,” Adams wrote on X, adding, “During a time when our city should be rejoicing and celebrating members of our diverse LGBTQ+ community, incidents like this are devastating.”
Two teenage girls were injured in a shooting, according to New York ABC station WABC, which cited police. A 16-year-old girl was shot in the head and taken to the hospital in critical condition. A second girl, who was 17, was shot in the leg and taken to the hospital in stable condition.
The shooting appears to have stemmed from some sort of dispute, though the motive is unclear and no arrests have been made at this point in the investigation, WABC reported.
Shots rang out just after 10 p.m. at 3 Sheridan Square, in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood.
A gun was recovered at the scene as the investigation into the incident is ongoing, according to WABC.
The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar and national historic landmark, became a monument in 2016 under former President Barack Obama, creating the country’s first national park site dedicated to LGBTQ+ history.
It was the site of the Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969, which began in response to routine police raids on the establishment, according to the Library of Congress. The conflict spanned multiple nights and drew national attention as bargoers resisted police.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(COUER D’ALENE, Idaho) — The suspected gunman who fatally ambushed firefighters in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on Sunday has been found dead, according to the county’s sheriff.
Responding SWAT team members located a deceased male on Canfield Mountain with a firearm nearby, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said in an update Sunday evening.
This comes after an hourslong, multi-agency manhunt in the area.
The ambush on Sunday left two people dead and another injured, gunfire erupting as firefighters responded to a brush fire on the mountain.
Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris said during a press briefing that the two fatalities were fire personnel — one from the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department and the other from Kootenai County Fire Department. “This was a total ambush,” Norris said. “These firefighters did not have a chance.”
The injured individual, who suffered a gunshot wound in the attack, was brought to the Kootenai Health Hospital, the medical center confirmed to ABC News.
The incident unfolded on Sunday afternoon, police said. Norris said the first report regarding the small brush fire was received at 1:21 p.m. Around 2 p.m., firefighters reported they were being shot at.
Some 300 law enforcement officers gathered at the scene, some of whom exchanged gunfire with the suspect, Norris said. Responding authorities received offers of help from the White House and FBI Director Kash Patel, the sheriff added.
At 6:30 p.m., those on the scene were told that the suspect should be neutralized as soon as possible. The notification that the suspect was dead was received at 7:40 p.m., Norris said. Law enforcement recovered the body before the fire spread to the spot, the sheriff said.
Based on the trajectory of fire and the weapon found close to the suspect’s body, Norris said officials believe there was only one shooter.
Law enforcement is investigating whether the fire could have been intentionally set in order to lure first responders to the scene, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Howard told ABC News.
The shelter-in-place order has been lifted for Canfield Mountain Trailhead and the surrounding area, but residents are advised to monitor for updates on the ongoing fire.
The FBI assisted authorities in Kootenai County, an agency spokesperson told ABC News.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little called the incident a “heinous direct assault on our brave firefighters.”
“Multiple heroic firefighters were attacked today while responding to a fire in North Idaho,” Little wrote in a post on X. “I ask all Idahoans to pray for them and their families as we wait to learn more,” he added.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been briefed on the shooting, a DHS official told ABC News.
ABC News’ Tristan Maglunog, Luke Barr, Pierre Thomas and Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said Sunday that he will not seek reelection next year in battleground North Carolina. The stunning announcement comes just hours after President Donald Trump said he will start fielding primary challengers to run against Tillis following the senator’s vote against advancing Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act to a vote in the Senate.
“In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species,” Tillis wrote in a statement announcing his decision.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Sen. Lindsey Graham said it’s “too early to tell” if Iran has given up its nuclear ambitions following U.S. strikes against key nuclear facilities in the country, but the Trump ally said he believes it’s still the regime’s “desire” to make a nuclear weapon.
On Friday, President Donald Trump seemed to dismiss the potential for Iran to resume its enrichment program, telling reporters, “The last thing they’re thinking about right now is enriched uranium.”
Pressed by “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl about those comments and whether Iran has given up its “ambitions to be a nuclear power,” Graham said, “Too early to tell. I do agree that the three sites were obliterated.”
But, the South Carolina Republican argued that while Iran is “done with that enrichment program,” the regime is “not done wanting to destroy Israel or trying to come after us.”
“Operation Midnight Hammer was a tremendous military success. It set the program back, I think, a couple years,” Graham said. “But the question for the world, does the regime still desire to make a nuclear weapon? The answer is yes. Do they still desire to destroy Israel and come after us? The answer is yes. Until that changes, we’ve got to keep our — we’re in trouble.”
Trump has suggested there may be a meeting with the Iranians at some point soon. Graham said he believes Iran must publicly affirm Israel’s sovereignty before any such meeting should occur.
“Here’s the requirement to sit down and talk: They have to say, for the first time, the Iranian regime, ‘We recognize Israel’s right to exist. We don’t like the state, we don’t like what they do, but we recognize Israel has the right to exist as a people,'” Graham said. “If they can’t say that, you’re never going to get a deal worth a damn. So before you sit down with the Iranians, make them say publicly for the first time, ‘Israel has a right to exist,’ and they can’t say that, that tells you all you need to know about who you’re dealing with.”
Here are more highlights from Graham’s interview:
Graham says Trump told him “it’s time to move” on Russia sanctions bill
Graham: So what does this bill do? If you’re buying products from Russia and you’re not helping Ukraine, then there’s a 500% tariff on your products coming to the United States. India and China buy 70% of Putin’s oil. They keep his war machine going. My bill has 84 co-sponsors. It would allow the President to put tariffs on China and India and other countries, to get them — stop them from supporting Putin’s war machine, to get him to the table for the first time yesterday, the President told me —
Karl: You were playing golf with him.
Graham: Yeah, I was playing golf with him. He says, ‘It’s time to move, move your bill.’ ‘There’s a waiver in the bill, Mr. President, you’re in charge of whether or not it’s to be implemented.’ But we’re going to give President Trump a tool in the toolbox he doesn’t have today. After the July break, we’re going to pass a bill that would allow the president —
Karl: And he’s going to sign it?
Graham: Yeah, I think we’re in good shape, but he has a waiver. It’s up to him how to impose it, but we’re trying to get Putin to the table.
On the Supreme Court decision on injunctions: “Judge-shopping needs to stop.”
Graham: So the ruling was, a single judge cannot stop policy for the entire country — that’s beyond the mandate of a federal district court judge. You still have judicial review, but it has to go up the chain. A single judge can’t stop a program for the entire country. And that’s a good thing, because people were going judge shopping. The right would go judge —
Karl: I mean, you were going judge-shopping back in the day.
Graham: Everybody goes judge-shopping!
Karl: I’m old enough to remember when you were all in favor of the injunction against DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents) under Obama.
Graham: Totally! I mean — and I’m here to say, judge-shopping needs to stop. We need to have a system where if you’re going to enjoin policy for the nation, it’s done at a higher level than a single judge for the left or the right.
On Trump attacking fellow Republican Sen. Thom Tillis Karl: The president went on a tirade against Tillis last night, said he’s going to meet with primary challengers, said that he’s grandstanding on all of this. What do you make of that? Is it grandstanding?
Graham: I’ve been on the receiving end of that (laughs).
Karl: Yes, you have.
Graham: He runs hard, and he can forgive. We’re trying to do hard things that should be done and have to be done. We’re $37 trillion in debt. Medicaid has grown 50% in five years. It’s about to take over Medicare. What we’ve done [in this bill] is limited the growth to 6% for two years, 4% after that, so Medicaid is not cut.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries hesitated to endorse presumptive Democratic New York City mayor nominee Zohran Mamdani but praised his “successful” campaign and messaging.
“I have not,” Jeffries said when asked by “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl about if he had endorsed the self-proclaimed democratic socialist candidate.
Jeffries said he spoke to Mamdani on Wednesday and plans to meet in person soon in Central Brooklyn.
“I congratulated him on the campaign that he ran, a campaign that clearly was relentlessly focused on the high cost of living in New York City and the economy. He outworked, he out-communicated, and he out-organized the opposition, and that’s clearly why he was successful,” he added.
Pressed on why he was holding back from endorsing Mamdani, Jeffries said “We don’t really know each other well.”
“Well, our districts don’t overlap. I have never had a substantive conversation with him. And so that’s the next step in terms of this process … to discuss his vision for moving the city forward and addressing the issues that are important to the communities that I represent,” he said.
Jeffries brushed off a question about how Mamdani’s win relates to the future of the Democratic Party.
“I think it will continue to be important for all of us on the Democratic side to address relentlessly the issue of the lack of affordability in this country. Donald Trump promised to lower costs on Day 1. Costs haven’t gone down, they’re going up,” he said.
On Mamdani and antisemitism charges
Jeffries said Mamdani will need to “clarify” his position on Israel and antisemitism.
“Globalizing the Intifada, by way of example, is not an acceptable phrasing,” he said. “He’s going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward. With respect to the Jewish communities that I represent, I think our nominee is going to have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise in antisemitism in the city of New York, which has been an unacceptable development.”
On House briefing on US strikes on Iran
Pressed on Friday’s classified briefing in the House on the U.S. strikes on Iran, Jeffries was skeptical of the information provided by the Trump administration.
“Why did they not seek the congressional authorization required by the Constitution for this type of preemptive strike?” he asked. “I still haven’t seen facts presented to us as a Congress to justify that step, and I certainly haven’t seen facts to justify the statement that Donald Trump made that Iran’s nuclear program has been completely and totally obliterated.”
On the Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship ruling
On Friday, the Supreme Court granted a partial stay of nationwide injunctions against President Donald Trump’s executive order to effectively end birthright citizenship. Jeffries called the decision “unfortunate” and “reckless.”
“If there is any instance where nationwide injunctions are appropriate, it would be in a manner like what we’ve just experienced in terms of birthright citizenship, which is clearly a part of the Constitution. If you are born as a child in the United States of America, you are a citizen. So, it was a procedural setback that was quite unfortunate, and it was a reckless decision, in my view,” he said.
He said Democrats will need to “intensify our efforts” in district courts or work on a class action suit on behalf of individuals “adversely impacted.”
(MINNEAPOLIS) — Tens of thousands of mourners packed a Minneapolis basilica Saturday to pay their final respects to Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark who were killed in their home two weeks ago in an alleged politically motivated shooting.
A who’s who of leaders from around the country, including former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, attended the Catholic Mass where many of the couple’s friends, colleagues and family reflected on their years of service and friendship.
The couple and their dog Gilbert were shot in their home during the early morning hours of June 14, by a gunman who investigators say was targeting Democratic lawmakers. The suspect had shot and injured state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, a few hours earlier at their home.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz led the eulogies and honored Melissa Hortman for her years of work in the state House, callng her, “the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history.”
“I know millions of Minnesotans have lived their lives better because of Melissa and Mark,” he said.
Melissa Hortman was elected to state office in 2004 and rose through the ranks, becoming minority leader in 2017 and then speaker of the House two years later.
“She saw the humanity in every single person she worked with,” Walz said. “Her mission was to get as much good done for as many people as possible.”
Hortman and her husband were married for 31 years. Mark Hortman worked as a program manager for nVent Electric, a company that specialized in electronics, particularly green electronics, according to his Facebook and LinkedIn pages. The couple had two children, Sophie and Colin.
Walz talked about the couple’s warmth and dedication to their children and dog.
“You are amazing reflections of Mark and Melissa,” he said to their children.
A day before the funeral, the Hortmans lay in state as thousands of Minnesotans visited to pay their respects. Melissa Hortman is the first woman in Minnesota history to lie in state, according to the state House of Representatives.
Next to the Hortmans was their dog Gilbert, who was wounded in the attack and later had to be euthanized, officials said.
Vance Boelter was arrested a day after the murder and charged in their deaths along with the shootings of Hoffman and his wife earlier in the night.
The Hoffmans survived the shooting and are recuperating.
The suspect allegedly showed up to the legislators’ homes, impersonating a police officer and wearing a realistic-looking latex mask to carry out his “political assassinations,” prosecutors said.
Investigators recovered a list of about 45 elected officials in notebooks in his car, according to prosecutors.
Walz on Saturday noted growing political violence and tension in the country and said this moment was ” when each of us can examine the way we work together, the way we talk about each other, the way we fight for the things we care about.”
“But let’s not do it because of the way Mark and Melissa died. Let’s do it because of the way they lived, and the way they led,” he said.
ABC News’ Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition summit in Washington, D.C., an annual evangelical gathering in the nation’s capital, Republican leaders showcased an emerging line of attack against Democrats to energize voters and defend their congressional majorities: the ascent of New York state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic socialist on track to become the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City.
Mamdani upset former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday with a campaign that zeroed in on affordability: He pledged to raise taxes to He pledged to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations, help fund city-owned grocery stores, eliminate bus fares and expand public housing initiatives.
His win vaulted him into the national conversation overnight — Republicans across Washington using it as a new opportunity to depict Democrats as “radical socialists” and out of step with the country.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, House Republicans’ campaign arm, has also been quick to link the national Democratic Party to Mamdani.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who represents a swing district outside New York City and served with Mamdani in the state legislature in Albany, posted on X that Democrats in New York “will pay the price for this insanity at the ballot box.”
“Look at what we just had happen in New York,” Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley said Friday, adding, “This is where the Democrats are going. They are open borders, inflationary spending, weak America.”
While some progressive Democrats have embraced Mamdani, some of the party’s leaders have stopped short of endorsing him. Some moderate Democrats representing New York’s suburbs have criticized him and declined to back his campaign.
A critic of Israel’s government, Mamdani has faced allegations of antisemitism over past comments and proposals. In response, he has emphasized policies to combat antisemitism, said that he wants to focus on city issues and has said he supports Israel’s right to exist as a state with equal rights for all.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, in a speech at the same conference as Whatley, also criticized Mamdani while seeking to tie him to Democrats.
“Listen, the progressive left will not stop. They will not stop trying to lead us down a path to socialism, and therefore we can never stop … Look what happened in New York. They nominated a mayoral candidate who would make Bernie Sanders blush,” Youngkin said.
“But it’s not just New York. This is the challenge that we continually face and why we have to continually remind ourselves that elections have consequences,” he said.
Ralph Reed, a Republican operative and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, told reporters Friday that Mamdani’s victory, and a general election win in November, would put him at the center of the Democratic Party as the leader of the country’s largest city.
“The mayor of New York City is one of the most prominent political figures, not only in the United States, but in the world,” he said. “I don’t care if you’re Rudy Giuliani or Ed Koch or, you know, [Michael] Bloomberg, or you know, whoever it is. It’s a big deal. I mean, whether the Democrats would want it or not if he won the primary, he’s helping to define that party.”
ABC News has reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment on the comments made at the conference.
When he was asked by ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott on Wednesday about Republicans seizing on his self-identification as a Democratic socialist to paint all Democrats similarly, Mamdani responded, “You know, I see that so many New Yorkers, especially the ones we saw [on primary] night, are not actually concerned — they’re excited, by a recognition of the inequality they’re facing in their own lives.”
Some Republicans have launched what some are calling Islamophobic attacks against Mamdani. Born in Uganda, Mamdani, who is a Muslim of Indian descent lived in the United States since he was 7 years old and became a naturalized citizen in 2018.
House Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee wrote on Thursday that he was requesting the Department of Justice open an investigation into Mamdani’s citizenship, specifically his naturalization application.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, (R-Ga.), in response to Mamdani’s victory, posted a digitally-altered image of the Statue of Liberty covered in a burqa.
Several Muslim Democratic members of Congress have strongly pushed back against Ogles’ letter, calling on Democratic leaders to denounce the attacks.
U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), André Carson (D-Ind.), and Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) wrote in a joint statement on Friday, “These hateful, Islamophobic, and racist tropes have become so entrenched and normalized in our politics… They directly contribute to the ongoing dehumanization and violence against Muslim Americans.”
At a press conference on Friday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has stopped short of endorsing Mamdani but plans to meet with him, called Ogles’s effort “disgusting.”
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), who has strongly criticized Mamdani over his views and endorsed Cuomo in the mayoral primary, wrote on X on Thursday, “It is no secret that I have profound disagreements with Zohran Mamdani. But every Democrat — and every decent person — should speak out with moral clarity against the despicable Islamophobic attacks that have been directed at him.”
Other House Democrats also came to Mamdani’s defense over the comments.
Reed, who said he was not familiar with Ogles or Greene’s posts, suggested other Republicans should focus on criticizing Mamdani’s policies and legislative record.
“I haven’t even seen it, but I wouldn’t think that would be a dominant message,” he told reporters. “There’s so much material on this guy.”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who won her seat last November while Trump carried the state of Michigan on the presidential level, downplayed the disagreements inside the party, and argued that Mamdani’s victory in New York underscored voters’ focus on the economy across the country.
“People, just like in November, are still really focused on costs and the economy, and their own kitchen table math, and they’re looking for a new generation of leadership,” Slotkin said on Thursday. “It reinforces that you may disagree on some key issues, but understanding that people are concerned about their family budget, that is a unifying thing for a coalition.”
