(LONDON) — Hamas said it has submitted a response to the latest ceasefire proposal by U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff to mediators on Saturday, reiterating its key demands.
Hamas’ key demands are “to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and ensure the continuous flow of humanitarian aid,” according to the group.
The group’s demands remain the same as in previous ceasefire negotiations.
Hamas said its hostage exchange proposal would involve the release of 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Republicans have announced plans to launch their own probe into former President Joe Biden over his cognitive abilities while in office, claiming they want to investigate who was running the country during what they call Biden’s decline.
Republican Sens. Eric Schmitt and John Cornyn will co-chair a first-of-its-kind Senate Judiciary Committee hearing next month on the subject, which they say was covered up by members of the media. The focus echoes President Donald Trump’s oft-repeated claims about Biden’s mental fitness while president and criticism of Biden’s use of autopen, a mechanical device to automatically add a signature to a document that’s been utilized by several past presidents, including Trump in his first term.
“We need to get past the failures of the media, which were legend as you pointed out, or the political issue of ‘were you for Biden or against Biden?’ This is about a constitutional crisis, where we basically have a mentally incompetent president who’s not in charge,” Cornyn said Thursday on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show.”
“The question is: Who is in charge? Whose finger is on the nuclear button or has the nuclear codes? Who can declare war? How do we defend the nation when we have basically an absent president? And those are constitutional issues we need to address and correct,” Cornyn said.
Biden denied any accusations of mental decline, saying that he’s proud of his record as president.
News of the upcoming hearing comes after Cornyn penned a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi last week, urging the Justice Department to investigate whether the Biden administration was being lawful in how they presented his cognitive condition to the country.
He asked that the Justice Department open a probe into “any potential violations of federal law surrounding the representations made to the American people about the health and wellbeing” of Biden.
“Congress’ responsibility is actually bigger than just that. It is to provide oversight and to make sure that there’s more transparency for future presidents so we understand how this happened and how can we prevent it from happening again,” Cornyn said on Fox News.
Other Republicans have also been calling for answers about Biden’s health during the course of his presidency.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that former first lady Jill Biden should testify in front of Congress over the alleged “cover-up” of Biden’s health.
“I think, frankly, the former first lady should certainly speak up about what she saw in regards to her husband and when she saw it and what she knew,” Leavitt said.
“I think anybody looking at the videos and photo evidence of Joe Biden with your own eyes and a little bit of common sense can see, this was a clear coverup, and Jill Biden was certainly complicit in that cover-up. There’s documentation and video evidence of her clearly trying to shield her husband away from the cameras,” she claimed.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, a Republican, recently called for a number of high-ranking Biden White House staffers to do transcribed interviews surrounding the topic of Biden’s alleged decline.
Comer, speaking to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday, also suggested he might subpoena both Joe and Jill Biden, as well as former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, during the House’s investigation of the former president’s health and examination of his use of an autopen to sign legislation and executive orders.
Comer also recently requested that Biden’s White House physician, Kevin O’Connor, appear for a transcribed interview as part of the investigation.
The calls for the probes into Biden come after the release of “Original Sin” by CNN host Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson, which made claims about “the Bidens’ capacity for denial and the lengths they would go to avoid transparency about health issues.”
In response to the book’s release, a Biden spokesman said “there is nothing in this book that shows Joe Biden failed to do his job, as the authors have alleged, nor did they prove their allegation that there was a cover up or conspiracy.”
“Nowhere do they show that our national security was threatened or where the President wasn’t otherwise engaged in the important matters of the Presidency,” the spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. “In fact, Joe Biden was an effective President who led our country with empathy and skill.”
Top Democrats have largely avoided defending Biden as new details surrounding the former president’s health and alleged cover-up have emerged in recent weeks.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, when asked by CNN host Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday whether Democrats can be trusted as new details are emerging, circumvented commenting directly on the former president’s condition.
“What I can say is that we’re not looking back, we’re gonna continue to look forward because at this moment, we’ve got real problems that need to be addressed on behalf of the American people, including the Republican effort to snatch away health care, to snatch away food assistance and hurt veterans,” Jeffries said.
During a recent press conference, Jeffries also accused Republicans of “peddling conspiracy theories” intended to make the country look “backward at a time when they are actually taking health care away from the American people.”
“No, as House Democrats, we are going to look forward,” Jeffries added.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has also dodged any questions about Biden’s health, responding to CNN’s Kasie Hunt earlier this month by saying, “Kasie, we’re looking forward.”
But other Democrats, such as Rep. Ro Khanna — who defended Biden’s mental and physical fitness during the 2024 campaign — admitted he was wrong, but said there wasn’t a cover-up of ahead of the election.
“I don’t think it was a cover-up … but I do think that the advisers and people close to Joe Biden owe an explanation … What I don’t think the Democratic Party can do is just say, ‘Let’s talk about the future. Let’s move past this,'” Khanna told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl last Sunday.
(WASHINGTON) — Republican Sen. Joni Ernst faced a number of agitated constituents at a town hall on Friday who expressed concerns that the Republicans’ cuts to Medicaid under their major legislative effort to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda would cause people to die.
Her response: “Well, we all are going to die.”
Audience members at the Butler County, Iowa, event raised concerns that proposed cuts to Medicaid under the Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” being mulled in the Senate could threaten the lives of individuals who lose access to health care of food benefits, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). As Ernst explained her position on removing those who should not qualify for Medicaid under the current law from eligibility, an audience member could be heard shouting back at her, “People are going to die.”
Ernst quipped back, “Well we all are going to die,” she said.
Ernst pushed back as the audience reacted, explaining her position.
“Well, what you don’t want to do is listen to me when I say that we are going to focus on those who are most vulnerable. Those who meet the eligibility requirements for Medicaid we will protect. We will protect them,” Ernst continued. “Medicaid is extremely important here in the state of Iowa. If you don’t want to listen, that is fine, but what I am doing is going through and telling you that those that are not eligible, those that are working and have the opportunity for benefits elsewhere, then they should receive those benefits elsewhere and leave those dollars for those that are eligible for Medicaid.”
Medicaid benefits have become a key focus of negotiations on a massive spending package that Republicans, under the direction of Trump, are working to move through Congress.
House Republicans passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” last week. The House version of the bill implements Medicaid reforms and changes to other programs while extending the Trump 2017 tax cuts and plussing up spending in areas such as border security and defense spending.
The Senate has promised modifications to the bill, a fact that Ernst pointed to repeatedly during her town hall. Still, in her home state, concerns about Medicaid ruled the discussion. Concerns over the bill have led to raucous town halls recently, with crowds booing Republican Reps. Mike Flood and Ashley Hinson at town hall events earlier this week.
On Friday, Ernst addressed a constituent who identified as a health care worker about her concerns that the bill would affect health care in Iowa.
“We know the House has their provisions for Medicaid, and I actually agree with most of their provisions. Everyone says that Medicaid is being cut, people are going to see their benefits cut, that is not true,” Ernst said — eliciting boos from the crowd.
As she continued to explain that she believes the bill will strengthen Medicaid by removing those who have options for other forms of health care off of the program, audience members could be heard shouting “Tax the 1 percenters; they don’t pay for it.”
Ernst’s assertion that the bill would not cut Medicaid was met by blowback from a constituent.
One such constituent said that while many people on Medicaid have jobs, they do not earn a living wage. The audience cheered as she spoke.
“That is why they are on Medicaid and that is why they deserve Medicaid and the fact that you want to take that money and route it to people that make billions of dollars who have more money than anybody in this room together,” the constituent named Jen said.
Ernst said children will continue to get the coverage they need.
“Well I would say, Jen, we are not going to cut those benefits for those children,” Ernst said as the audience audibly grumbled. “What we are doing is making sure that those that are not Medicaid eligible are not receiving benefits.”
Ernst, who is a member of the Senate DOGE caucus, also gave a defense of the work that the Department of Government Efficiency has done and continues to do.
“What we are seeing in federal government is the right sizing of the federal governments and allowing the states to take up the role that our forefathers intended,” she said.
In response to this, a member of the audience shouted “chaos” at Ernst.
“It may be chaos to you, but we do have to get back to a semblance of what our country was founded for,” Ernst said. “We are $36 trillion in debt. Both sides have contributed to this. But when does it end. When does it end?”
(NEW ORLEANS) — A third person has been arrested in connection with the death of Adan Manzano, a Telemundo reporter who was found dead in his hotel room while in Louisiana to cover the Super Bowl, authorities announced Friday.
Christian Anderson, of New Orleans, was arrested “for his alleged involvement in the scheme that ultimately led to Manzano’s death,” the Kenner Police Department said in a press release.
Manzano, a reporter for KGKC Telemundo Kansas City and Tico Sports, was found dead face-down on a pillow in his hotel room in Kenner on Feb. 5, police said. He died from the combined effects of Xanax — an anti-anxiety medication — and alcohol along with positional asphyxia, according to the Jefferson Parish coroner.
A woman who police said was seen going into Manzano’s hotel room hours before he was found dead — Danette Colbert — and an alleged accomplice were previously arrested in connection with his death. Manzano’s cellphone and credit card were found in her home, Kenner police said.
Police said a review of text messages and digital communications shows that Anderson, 33, and the two suspects “played an active role in a coordinated pattern of targeting victims, drugging them, and stealing personal property.”
Anderson rented a car that was used by Colbert on the day of Manzano’s death, according to police.
“Further evidence showed that Anderson provided logistical support, engaged in post-crime communication, and assisted in attempts to financially benefit from the victim’s stolen assets,” Kenner police said. “Additionally, records show Anderson and Colbert communicated extensively following the incident, and that he played a role in the group’s recurring criminal behavior.”
Anderson faces charges of principal to simple robbery, purse snatching, access device fraud, illegal transmission of monetary funds, bank fraud and computer fraud.
He is in custody at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center.
Colbert was arrested in the days following Manzano’s death and initially charged with property crimes, including theft and fraud-related offenses. She was subsequently charged with second-degree murder in his death following the autopsy.
The other suspect in the case, Rickey White, faces the same property crime charges as Colbert.
Earlier this month, Colbert was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a previous fraud conviction, according to the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office. She was given a suspended 10-year sentence after being found guilty last year of theft, computer fraud and illegal transmission of monetary funds. The attorney general’s office said it argued for a harsher sentence due to her prior fraud felony convictions, and a judge subsequently sentenced her to 25 years.
“The evidence was overwhelming that this woman was a serial fraudster and took advantage of multiple tourists and innocent people over many years in the French Quarter,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement following the sentencing. “I wish we could have saved the life of Adam Manzano.”
“I’m hopeful and confident justice will be served in Jefferson Parish as well, where Colbert is also facing charges of second-degree murder for Manzano’s death,” she added.
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Joe Biden, after delivering his first public remarks since his office announced last month that he had been diagnosed with ‘aggressive” prostate cancer, told reporters on Friday that he was feeling “optimistic” about his prognosis.
“Well, the prognosis is good. You know, we’re working on everything. It’s moving along. So, I feel good,” Biden said.
He said he had decided on a treatment option, mentioning that he would be taking various medications.
“The expectation is, we’re going to be able to beat this … it’s not in any organ. My bones are strong. It hasn’t penetrated so I’m feeling good,” he added, later saying his family is also optimistic about the diagnosis and said “one of the leading surgeons in the world” is working with him.
Asked about the recent controversy over his mental and physical capabilities while in office, Biden joked, with a smile, “You can see that — I’m mentally incompetent and I can’t walk.”
And asked about Democrats who say he shouldn’t have run again, Biden said, “Why didn’t they run against me then? Because I’d have beaten them.” He added he has no regrets.
“There’s a lot going on. And I think we’re in a really difficult moment, not only in American history, in world history. I think we’re one of those inflection points in history where the decisions we make in the next little bit are going to determine what things look like for the next 20 years,” he added, saying he is proud of his record as president.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that former first lady Jill Biden should “speak up about what she saw in regards to her husband and when she saw it and what she knew,” accusing her of lying.
Asked about Leavitt’s comments, Biden smiled and said, “I don’t know who the press secretary is,” but afterward said he was joking and that the media would play that straightforwardly.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz.) — Officials are investigating a possible homicide after two teenagers were found dead in an isolated area of Arizona, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
On Tuesday morning, deputies responded to a call for service in the area of Mount Ord, a remote hiking and camping area between the cities of Mesa and Payson.
Once on the scene, officials located “two deceased individuals,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Officials said they are thoroughly looking at the circumstances surrounding this incident as part of a homicide investigation.
“At this time, our focus is conducting a comprehensive and meticulous investigation to ensure justice for the victims and their loved ones. We are coordinating closely with our law enforcement partners and ask for patience and respect for the investigative process as we work through the facts,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The victims were identified as 18-year-old Pandora Kjolsrud and an unnamed 17-year-old, the sheriff’s office said. At a memorial for the two teenagers, friends and family identified the 17-year-old as Evan Clark, according to ABC Phoenix affiliate KNXV.
In a statement, a representative for Kjolsrud told KNXV the family is “heartbroken to confirm the tragic loss of our beloved Pandora, whose life was taken from us far too soon.”
Kjolsrud’s mother said her daughter was a “bright light in this world who loved every single person she met and had an unusual ability to make every person she met feel special and loved.”
“She was a friend to many and a beloved daughter. She lived life in a big way and was always up for an adventure,” her mother told KNXV on Thursday.
The two teens were students at Arcadia High School in Phoenix, according to a letter the principal wrote to parents on Thursday. The school said it is providing a team of psychologists and counselors on campus to offer support and resources for students.
Authorities said anyone with any additional information regarding this incident should contact the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office at 602-876-TIPS.
(WASHINGTON) — President Trump announced Thursday night that he was tapping Paul Ingrassia, a former far-right podcast host, to lead the Office of Special Counsel — an independent watchdog agency empowered to investigate federal employees and oversee complaints from whistleblowers.
The Trump administration has previously taken aim at the Office of Special Counsel, firing the head of the agency, Hampton Dellinger (a Biden appointee) in February. Dellinger expressed opposition to the Trump administration’s firing of federal employees under DOGE-led cuts, noting that many had been fired or laid off without notice or justification.
Dellinger challenged his firing in court and was briefly reinstated to the post until a federal appeals court allowed for his dismissal. Dellinger decided to drop the challenge.
ABC News exclusively reported in February about how Ingrassia, in his role as White House liaison to the Department of Justice, was pushing to hire candidates at the DOJ who exhibited what he called “exceptional loyalty” to Trump. His efforts at DOJ sparked clashes with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s top aide, Chad Mizelle, leading Ingrassia to complain directly to President Trump, sources told ABC News.
Ingrassia was pushed out of DOJ and reassigned as the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, where he was serving prior to Trump announcing his new role, according to a White House official familiar with the matter.
In a post on X, Ingrassia wrote in response to his nomination: “It’s the highest honor to have been nominated to lead the Office of Special Counsel under President Trump! As Special Counsel, my team and I will make every effort to restore competence and integrity to the Executive Branch — with priority on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal workforce and revitalize the Rule of Law and Fairness in Hatch Act enforcement.”
For the Senate-confirmed five-year term, Ingrassia will likely face tough questions over his lengthy history of media appearances and posts on social media promoting Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election as well as his ties to far-right media figures.
He was previously spotted at a 2024 rally hosted by white nationalist Nick Fuentes and has publicly praised figures like Andrew Tate — who has faced criminal charges for alleged sexual assault (Tate denies all wrongdoing).
Ingrassia, in a comment to NPR, maintained he did not intend to go to the Fuentes rally and instead was there for another event. “I had no knowledge of who organized the event, observed for 5-10 minutes, then left,” he wrote to NPR. He added that the notion that he is an extremist is “lacking in all credibility.”
Before joining the Trump administration, Ingrassia led communications efforts for a nonprofit legal organization that promotes itself as “the answer to the useless and radically leftist American Civil Liberties Union,” and he was a writer for the right-wing website Gateway Pundit.
Trump has also been known to post some of Ingrassia’s pro-Trump stories on social media.
(PITTSBURGH) — President Donald Trump on Friday visits Pittsburgh to celebrate what he says is a “planned partnership” between U.S. Steel and the Japanese company Nippon Steel, after previously opposing a merger.
Trump is set to deliver remarks at 5 p.m. ET about the “U.S. Steel Deal” at a rally at the Irvin Works in Allegheny County, according to the White House.
Trump announced the agreement on his conservative social media platform last week. He said it will create at least 70,000 jobs and add $14 billion to the American economy. The “investment,” he wrote, would take place over the next 14 months and keep U.S. Steel headquartered in Pennsylvania.
Trump, during the 2024 campaign, pledged to block the Japanese steelmaker from purchasing U.S. Steel. As president-elect, he repeated that vow.
“I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan,” Trump wrote in a post to his conservative social media platform in early December.
The Biden administration in January blocked the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel over national security concerns. The White House said at the time it was important to keep one of the largest steel producers in the nation an American-owned company.
The reaction was mixed. The president of the United Steelworkers union, which represents hundreds of thousands of workers, celebrated the move while local leaders expressed concern about U.S. Steel’s future in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Weeks after the inauguration, Trump met with U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt at the White House. In early April, he ordered a new national security review of Nippon Steel’s proposed bid to acquire U.S. Steel.
The White House has provided few details, other than those mentioned by Trump in his social media post, about the agreement.
Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade adviser, insisted on Thursday that U.S. Steel “owns” the company.
“Nippon Steel is going to have some involvement but no control of the company,” Navarro told reporters outside the White House, though he didn’t take any more questions on the agreement.
Nippon was seeking 100% ownership of U.S. Steel in talks with Trump, Nikkei Asia reported earlier this month.
U.S. Steel issued a brief statement last week in which it said Trump “is a bold leader and businessman who knows how to get the best deal for America.”
“U. S. Steel will remain American, and we will grow bigger and stronger through a partnership with Nippon Steel that brings massive investment, new technologies and thousands of jobs over the next four years,” the company said without sharing more specifics.
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI is investigating mysterious texts and calls from someone reaching out to governors, members of Congress and others who has claimed to be White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, sources familiar with the matter said.
The calls and texts appear to use Wiles’ voice but are believed to be from an imposter who will on occasion ask for money, the sources said.
Wiles is seen as one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers and managed his 2024 presidential campaign, and she has access to many top officials in Republican circles. It is unclear who and how many people have received messages from the imposter.
“The White House takes the cybersecurity of all staff very seriously, and this matter continues to be investigated,” a White House official said when asked about the matter.
“The FBI takes all threats against the President, his staff, and our cybersecurity with the utmost seriousness; safeguarding our administration officials’ ability to securely communicate to accomplish the President’s mission is a top priority,” FBI Director Kash Patel told ABC News in a statement.
Earlier this month, the House sergeant at arms sent a notice to members and staff about phishing emails and ways to protect themselves from scams, according to multiple sources who received the notice.
The FBI and White House did not indicate who could be behind the impersonation, and it is unclear how the person was able to access Wiles’ phone contacts.
The incident follows Trump’s campaign, led by Wiles, being the target of a phishing campaign by Iran last summer, during the 2024 election campaign season, and Iranians were able to access internal campaign materials.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s request to categorically revoke humanitarian parole for more than 530,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela and order them out of the country.
The court did not explain its order staying a lower court decision that temporarily blocked the administration’s abrupt policy change.
In March, the Department of Homeland Security revoked protections for migrants from five countries issued by the Biden administration. The agency gave them 30 days notice to leave the country unless they had legal protection under another program.
A number of migrants and immigrant advocacy groups sued over the move, alleging that federal law did not give DHS Secretary Kristi Noem discretion to categorically eliminate humanitarian protections — only to do so on a case-by-case basis. A federal district court agreed.
The high court’s decision means the Trump administration can move forward with it’s policy change even as the litigation continues in lower courts on the merits.
Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
Jackson, writing in opposition, accused the court’s majority of callously “undervalu[ing] the devastating consequences of allowing the Government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending.
“Even if the Government is likely to win on the merits, in our legal system, success takes time,” Jackson wrote, “and the stay standards require more than anticipated victory. I would have denied the Government’s application because its harm-related showing is patently insufficient.”
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to terminate “Temporary Protected Status” for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans who were protected from deportation and allowed to work in the United States.
While the administration’s moved to restrict immigration and turn away refugees from countries like Afghanistan and Haiti, it recently accepted white South African refugees — prompting criticism.
The administration’s falsely claimed a genocide is taking place against white Afrikaner farmers, which South Africa’s president pushed back on during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
