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.”
(ATLANTA) — Nearly 400 flights were canceled into and out of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Saturday after severe weather and hail fell overnight.
Weather so far has forced 380 Delta flight cancellations at the airport, with additional delays and cancellations expected.
Around 100 Delta Airlines aircrafts were inspected overnight for possible damage from the hail that fell last night, with nearly all having returned to service Saturday, according to a spokesperson for Delta.
“Delta people are working as safely and quickly as possible to recover flights impacted by thunderstorms, lightning, hail and winds at our Atlanta hub Friday night. We thank our customers for their continued patience and understanding,” the airline spokesperson said.
“Intense thunderstorms, including one that brought reports of microburst winds and quarter-inch hail to our hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, drove more than 90 diversions to other airports in the U.S. Southeast and a pause in airport operations for safety reasons the evening of June 27,” the spokesperson added.
Severe weather conditions in the area led to ground stops and flights being diverted at the airport on Friday.
The air traffic control tower that manages aircraft around the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta was briefly evacuated Friday evening due to “strong winds,” according to the FAA. The tower was not unstaffed during this time as few controllers stayed back to handle the air traffic in the area, the agency said.
In ATC recordings, controllers can be heard telling pilots that they evacuated due to weather and there are three personnel in the tower — controller, supervisor and traffic management.
Delta said it is performing inspections on its aircraft for any potential hail damage.
(DELAWARE) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is suing Fox News for $787 million for defamation.
Newsom’s allegations stem from Fox News host Jesse Watters’ coverage of the battle between the governor and President Donald Trump when the Trump administration sent the California National Guard to Los Angeles earlier this month.
Watters allegedly reported on Fox News that Newsom lied about a phone call with Trump, and the governor claims in his lawsuit that Watters’ show misleadingly edited a video of Trump to support the claim.
Trump, asked by a reporter on June 10 when was the last time he had spoken to Newsom, replied, “A day ago. Called him to tell him, got to do a better job, he’s doing a bad job” — even though, according to Newsom, the last time they had spoken was three days prior to that, at 1:28 a.m. ET on June 7, and Newsom said they had not discussed the riots in question.
After Newsom asserted on X that the two had not spoken on June 9 as Trump appeared to have said, Watters, according to the lawsuit, accused Newsom of lying and played the video clip of Trump telling the reporter the two had spoken — but edited out the start of the clip where Trump said “a day ago.”
“If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump’s behalf, it should face consequences — just like it did in the Dominion case,” Newsom said in a statement Friday, referring to the 2023 settlement Fox reached with Dominion Voting Systems — also for $787 million — after the voting machine company accused Fox News of knowingly pushing false conspiracy theories that Dominion rigged the 2020 presidential election in Joe Biden’s favor.
“I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet,” Newsom said in his statement. “Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their propaganda machine.”
In a letter sent to Fox, Newsom’s attorneys said that unless Fox News issues a retraction and an on-air apology, “we will proceed with the lawsuit so that a jury can determine Fox News’s culpability and assign a monetary value to its ‘blatantly unethical’ conduct.”
Fox News, in a statement, said, “Gov. Newsom’s transparent publicity stunt is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him. We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed.”
(BOULDER, Colo.) — The man accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a group of Colorado marchers advocating for the release of hostages being held in Gaza pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges on Friday.
Mohamed Soliman, 45, appeared in federal court in Denver for his arraignment after being indicted this week on a dozen federal charges in connection with the June 1 attack. He had previously been charged by complaint with a federal hate crime offense.
Prosecutors say Soliman ignited and threw two Molotov cocktails at the Run for Their Lives group during their Boulder walk, at one point shouting, “Free Palestine!”
During an interview with law enforcement, Soliman said he learned of the Run for Their Lives walk after searching for “Zionist” events online, according to the 12-count indictment.
A handwritten document recovered from his vehicle stated, “Zionism is our enemies untill [sic] Jerusalem is liberated and they are expelled from our land” and described Israel as a “cancer entity,” according to the indictment.
He remains in federal custody.
Soliman also faces 118 state charges in connection with the attack, which left over a dozen people, including a Holocaust survivor, injured. The slew of charges includes 28 counts of attempted murder, along with assault and explosives charges.
He is next scheduled to appear in court in the state case on July 15.
(MINNESOTA) — Minnesotans are lining up at the state capitol on Friday to honor a slain lawmaker and her husband as their accused killer made a brief appearance in court.
Melissa Hortman is the first woman to lie in state, according to the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Next to the Hortmans was their golden retriever, Gilbert, who was wounded in the attack and later had to be euthanized, officials said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and first lady Gwen Walz are among those paying their respects.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the couple’s private funeral on Saturday, according to a source familiar with Harris’ plans.
Harris spoke to the Hortmans’ two children, Sophie and Colin, in the last week “to express her deep condolences and offer her support,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the Hortmans’ alleged killer, Vance Boelter, who faces federal charges including stalking and state charges including first-degree murder, briefly appeared in federal court on Friday.
Boelter alleged the conditions in jail have kept him from sleeping for 12 to 14 days, according to Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP. Boelter claimed the doors are slammed incessantly, the lights are always and that he sleeps on a mat without a pillow, KSTP reported. He also allegedly said an inmate next to him spreads feces, KSTP reported.
The judge agreed to push back Boelter’s hearing to July 3, according to KSTP. Boelter has not entered a plea.
Boelter is accused of shooting and killing the Hortmans at their home in Brooklyn Park and shooting and wounding Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their house in nearby Champlin in the early hours of June 14, authorities said.
Boelter, 57, allegedly showed up to their doors, 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. Two other lawmakers were spared the night of the shootings, officials said.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway and Brittany Shepherd contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Friday granted a partial stay of nationwide injunctions issued by district judges against President Donald Trump’s executive order to effectively end birthright citizenship.
The 6-3 opinion came from Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The court’s three liberal justices dissented.
The court, however, said it was not deciding whether the executive order from Trump was constitutional, rather focusing on whether a single judge has the authority to issue universal injunctions.
“Government’s applications for partial stays of the preliminary injunctions are granted, but only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue,” the opinion read.
“Amazing decision, one we’re very happy about,” Trump told reporters in a rare appearance in the White House briefing room shortly after the court announced its decision.
“This morning the Supreme Court has delivered a monumental victory for the Constitution, the separation of powers and the rule of law in striking down the excessive use of nationwide injunctions to interfere with the normal functioning of the executive branch,” he said.
However, legal challenges will continue to Trump’s Day 1 order to deny citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to unlawful immigrants or those on a temporary immigrant status, as the court did not rule on the merits of the cases.
The individual plaintiffs in these cases remain protected under the injunctions issued.
“Prohibiting enforcement of the Executive Order against the child of an individual pregnant plaintiff will give that plaintiff complete relief: Her child will not be denied citizenship,” Barrett said. “Extending the injunction to cover all other similarly situated individuals would not render her relief any more complete.”
Trump can move forward immediately, though, with developing plans to implement the birthright citizenship order, which does not take effect for 30 days.
Friday’s decision is a boost for Trump in his crusade against nationwide injunctions that have blocked some of the executive actions he’s taken so far in his second term.
Supporters of nationwide injunctions say they serve as an essential check to potentially unlawful conduct and prevent widespread harm. Critics say they give too much authority to individual judges and incentivize plaintiffs to try to evade random assignment and file in jurisdictions with judges who may be sympathetic to their point of view.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor read her dissent aloud from the bench, criticizing the court’s majority.
“No right is safe in the new legal regime the Court creates,” Sotomayor wrote. “Today, the threat is to birthright citizenship. Tomorrow, a different administration may try to seize firearms from lawabiding citizens or prevent people of certain faiths from gathering to worship.”
“The majority holds that, absent cumbersome class-action litigation, courts cannot completely enjoin even such plainly unlawful policies unless doing so is necessary to afford the formal parties complete relief,” she added. “That holding renders constitutional guarantees meaningful in name only for any individuals who are not parties to a lawsuit. Because I will not be complicit in so grave an attack on our system of law, I dissent.”
President Trump first celebrated the court ruling as a “GIANT WIN” in a post on his conservative social media platform.
“Even the Birthright Citizenship Hoax has been, indirectly, hit hard. It had to do with the babies of slaves (same year!), not the SCAMMING of our Immigration process,” Trump wrote. “Congratulations to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Solicitor General John Sauer, and the entire DOJ.”
