Politics

(WASHINGTON) — FBI Director Kash Patel sparred with the Senate Appropriations Committee’s top Democrat over the director’s alleged questionable behavior when Patel appeared before the panel for a budget hearing on Tuesday.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking member of the committee, addressed reports of Patel’s alleged misuse of FBI resources and a story in The Atlantic that alleged he has had “bouts of excessive drinking” and job performance issues.

“What we are learning about what’s happening at the FBI is anything but normal,” Van Hollen said. “Director Patel, as you ask for more taxpayer resources, we cannot look away from the credible, extremely troubling reports about your misconduct at the FBI.”

Patel said last month that he’s “never been intoxicated on the job,” following the report. Patel sued The Atlantic over the article, demanding $250 million in damages.

Van Hollen later grilled Patel on the report asking Patel if, per The Atlantic report, he had “episodes of excessive drinking.”

Patel shot back, calling the report a “total farce.”

In a heated exchange, Patel then claimed without evidence that Van Hollen was “slinging margaritas” just over a year ago with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant who the government said in court was erroneously deported to El Salvador.

The moment is a reference to when Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia, who had been deported against a judge’s orders to the notorious CECOT prison. At the time, the senator said at one point during the meeting monitored by the El Salvador government, El Salvador officials put glasses on the table where they were meeting that appeared to have liquid inside with salt or sugar rims on top.

Van Hollen insisted that neither he nor Abrego Garcia touched those glasses and said it was clear they didn’t based on photos of the meeting taken by El Salvadoran officials.

In his opening statement, Patel lauded the men and women of the FBI, listing off a litany of accomplishments including a quick response by FBI agents during a shooting at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner last month.

Patel is appearing alongside other Department of Justice agency heads regarding the agencies’ 2027 budget requests. Patel is joined by Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terry Cole, United States Marshals Service Director Glady Serralta and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director Robert Cekada.

When Patel last testified on Capitol Hill in September 2025, he faced questions from Democrats about the assassination of conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk and his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

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(WASHINGTON) — FBI Director Kash Patel is set to be questioned by members of the Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday afternoon amid several controversies involving the director.

Patel will testify alongside the other heads of the Department of Justice agencies such as the heads of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the United States Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

While it’s a hearing regarding the 2027 budget request, Patel is expected to face questions about a host of issues from the alleged misuse of FBI resources for travel to the story in The Atlantic that alleged he has had “bouts of excessive drinking” and job performance issues.

Patel said last month that he’s “never been intoxicated on the job,” following the report. Patel sued The Atlantic over the article, demanding $250 million in damages.

Asked about the article during an unrelated press conference last month, Patel railed against negative media coverage.

“I can say unequivocally that I never listen to the fake news mafia and when they get louder, it just means I’m doing my job,” Patel said.

In February, Patel joined in on Team USA hockey’s locker room celebrations in Italy shortly after the team won the gold medal — a move that drew scrutiny about his use of FBI resources to attend.

Patel, a hockey fan, was said to have had meetings in Italy prior to attending the game. Ben Williamson, an FBI spokesperson, said on social media that Patel’s trip had been previously scheduled. He added that “any other personal expenses would be reimbursed.”

During the hearing, Patel is also expected to tout his successes at the FBI.

“Whether it’s rebuilding our entire backbone infrastructure, caring more for our workforce, actioning the business side of the house, eliminating bureaucracy, integrating AI, procuring equipment, developing new private sector partnerships – we have delivered the changes you have been requesting for years… and we did it in just over 1 year,” Patel said in a message to the FBI last week. “Together, these reforms have truly transformed this FBI into the premier modern-day law enforcement organization we need to be.”

When Patel last testified on Capitol Hill in September 2025, he sparred with Democrats as he faced questions about the assassination of conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk and his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

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(WASHINGTON) — Virginia Democrats are asking the United States Supreme Court to override a decision by the state’s highest court last week that struck down a voter-approved redistricting ballot measure ahead of the midterm elections.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon will review whether Sen. Mark Kelly improperly disclosed classified information when the Arizona Democrat and retired Navy captain raised concerns about the strain the war with Iran has placed on U.S. weapons stockpiles.

Hegseth, in a social media post Sunday evening, blasted Kelly for “blabbing on TV” after the senator appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that morning and discussed strains on the Pentagon’s ammunition inventory. 

“‘Captain’ Mark Kelly strikes again,” Hegseth posted. “Now he’s blabbing on TV (falsely & dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he received. Did he violate his oath … again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will review.”

During the CBS interview, Kelly pointed to recent open-door Pentagon briefings to Congress, which he says outlined that U.S. stockpiles of key munitions, including Tomahawk and ATACMS missiles, are being rapidly depleted amid the war with Iran.

A Pentagon review of Kelly’s comments would mark the second time Hegseth has sought to punish him, the first being after Kelly and several other Democratic military and intelligence service veterans posted a video advising U.S. troops to not follow illegal orders. Hegseth sought to demote Kelly, which would reduce his military pension.

A three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals expressed skepticism over Hegseth’s effort to punish Kelly over the comments during oral arguments last week.

The Pentagon says it has hit some 13,000 targets in the war with Iran. In some cases, those targets may need to be hit several times, it said. Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III told lawmakers in late April that the war had cost at least $25 billion to that point, noting that much of that was for munitions use. 

“It’s shocking how deep we’ve gone into these magazines,” Kelly said.

Following Hegseth’s threat, Kelly responded on social media, showing a clip from last week’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in which Hegseth is shown saying it would take years to replenish stockpiles to pre-war levels. 

“We had this conversation in a public hearing a week ago and you said it would take ‘years’ to replenish some of these stockpiles,” Kelly said. “That’s not classified, it’s a quote from you.”

An analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the U.S. has used half of its inventory of munitions fighting Iran, and that it could take up to four years for the pre-war stock to be rearmed. 

The Pentagon briefs members of Congress on classified materials behind closed doors, but it’s unclear whether Kelly violated any disclosure laws, as he did not get into specifics on the volume of weapons used or remaining in the CBS interview. 

Hegseth has insisted the U.S. has sufficient ammunition to sustain fighting against Iran, though much of the anxiety inside defense circles is centered less on Tehran and more on the Pentagon’s ability to respond to another major conflict.

“That means the American people are less safe. Whether it’s a conflict with China or somewhere else in the world, the munitions are depleted,” Kelly said on CBS. 

The Pentagon had already been grappling with mounting concerns over its weapon stockpiles and how quickly industry can replenish munitions, with the war with Iran dramatically exacerbating those concerns.  

Those concerns come as the Pentagon pushes for a historic $1.5 trillion defense budget next year, roughly a 50% increase over current spending levels, with a significant share earmarked for munitions production and cheaper, mass-produced drone systems. But the spending plan was largely finalized before the war started and does not fully account for the strain the war is placing on U.S. inventories.

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(WASHINGTON) — Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has temporarily extended an order that maintains nationwide access to the abortion pill mifepristone by mail and through telehealth visits.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would like to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax as prices soar due to the war in Iran.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump sounded off on Sunday about Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett over their joining the majority in the court’s opinion on his tariff policy, a ruling that said the president could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose broad tariffs.

“They were appointed by me, and yet have hurt our Country so badly!” Trump wrote on his social media platform on Sunday evening. “I do not believe they meant to do so, but their decision on Tariffs cost the United States 159 Billion Dollars that we have to pay back to enemies, and people, companies, and Countries, that have been ripping us off for years. It’s hardly believable!”

He added, “They could have solved that situation with a ‘tiny’ sentence, ‘Any money paid by others to the United States does not have to be paid back.’ Why wouldn’t they have done so?”

In a 6-3 decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court in February invalidated most of Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, a cornerstone of his economic policy in his second term.

“We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs. We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution,” Roberts wrote in the opinion. “Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”

Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito dissented from the majority, arguing that Trump should have the power to impose tariffs during national emergencies.

Trump in March had railed on social media against the U.S. court system, saying at the time that Gorsuch and Barrett, both of whom the president appointed during his first term, were attempting to go “out of their way, with bad and wrongful rulings and intentions, to prove how ‘honest,’ ‘independent,’ and ‘legitimate’ they are.”

Gorsuch and Barrett have been reliable conservative votes on the court, consistently voting in favor of positions backed by the Trump administration. Last year, Barrett authored the landmark 6-3 decision restricting the ability of lower court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions against Trump policies.

Gorsuch last week responded publicly to Trump’s previous personal attacks, telling ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis that he is determined to remain “independent” and “fearless” in fulfilling his duty despite harsh criticism from the president who appointed him.

Trump also appeared to suggest on Sunday that Republican-appointed justices should never rule against a Republican president despite the fact that justices have previously ruled against the president that appointed them.  

“With certain Republican Nominated Justices that we have on the Supreme Court, the Democrats don’t really need to ‘PACK THE COURT’ any longer,” he said. “In fact, I should be the one wanting to PACK THE COURT! I’m working so hard to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and then people that I appointed have shown so little respect to our Country, and its people. What is the reason for this? They have to do the right thing, but it’s really OK for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them to ‘almost’ the highest position in the land, that is, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court.”  

Trump on Sunday also said he believed the Supreme Court would block his attempt to limit access to birthright citizenship. The court heard a case on April 1 over Trump’s executive order.

“I don’t want loyalty, but I do want and expect it for our Country,” Trump said.

“Well, maybe Neil, and Amy, just had a really bad day, but our Country can only handle so many decisions of that magnitude before it breaks down, and cracks!!!” he added. “Sometimes decisions have to be allowed to use Good, Strong, Common Sense as a guide. A negative ruling on Birthright Citizenship, on top of the recent Supreme Court Tariff catastrophe, is not Economically sustainable for the United States of America?”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon on Friday released declassified UFO files from various federal agencies, some dating as far back as the late 1940s.

­­ The documents, which the Pentagon said includes “never-before-seen” files on unidentified flying objects — called unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) by the U.S. government — were being posted on a new government website.

“The American people can now access the federal government’s declassified UAP files instantly. The latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place — no clearance required,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

The department said it will release more files “on a rolling basis.”

Many of the reported sightings of unidentified flying objects were clustered near active military operations, according to the files reviewed by ABC News.

A large share of the alleged encounters date back to the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in Cold War-era hotspots like Germany and the Soviet Union, according to the documents. More recent reports are concentrated in the Middle East —including around the Strait of Hormuz, Iraq and Syria — where the U.S. has maintained a substantial military presence and some of its most sophisticated monitoring capabilities.

The concentration of sightings around military activity is mostly likely a reflection of where the Pentagon is deploying its most advanced equipment and conducting frequent missions. The lion’s share of reported sightings come from military pilots, according to the files. 

In all of the reported incidents, the aerial phenomena posed no apparent threat, with most encounters ending after the mysterious craft abruptly flew away. There was one brief reported encounter in Iraq in 2024 which a mysterious craft zipped across a U.S. aircraft’s surveillance systems at a high rate of speed while that crew was attacking an unrelated target.

In a statement, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth touted the release as “unprecedented transparency.” Some of the files are heavily redacted, including several documents with entire pages blacked out. 

The release is in keeping with President Donald Trump’s announcement earlier this year that he is directing agencies to make public files related to unidentified flying objects, unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) and “extraterrestrial life.”

There are some redactions in the files, but this is the first time ever that complete case files have been released. In recent years, the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has been reviewing these historic documents and has released public summaries and reviews to the public.

So far, none of their reviews have found anything that has led them to conclude that UFOs or UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin.

Trump touted the Pentagon’s release of the first batch of UFO files on Friday, taking credit for offering transparency to the American people.

“In an effort for Complete and Maximum Transparency, it was my Honor to direct my Administration to identify and provide Government files related to Alien and Extraterrestrial Life, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, and Unidentified Flying Objects,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. 

Trump added that this document release will allow the American people to “decide for themselves” what is happening with the reported sightings.

For weeks, the president has floated the release of government files on UFOs and UAPs. 

“Well, I think we’re going to be releasing as much as we can in the near future. For some reason, and I guess it’s just a reason, it’s been in the minds of people for a long time,” Trump said last month while welcoming the Artemis II astronauts to the Oval Office. 

-ABC News’ Emily Chang contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon on Friday began to release declassified unidentified flying objects (UFO) files from various federal agencies, some dating as far back as the late 1940s.

The release is in keeping with President Donald Trump’s announcement earlier this year that he directing agencies to make public files related to UFOs, unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) and “extraterrestrial life.”

The documents, which the Pentagon said includes “never-before-seen” files, are being posted on a new government website.

“The American people can now access the federal government’s declassified UAP files instantly. The latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place — no clearance required,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

The department said it will release more files “on a rolling basis.”

There are some redactions in the files, but this is the first time ever that complete case files have been released. In recent years, the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has been reviewing these historic documents and has released public summaries and reviews to the public.

So far, none of their reviews have found anything that has led them to conclude that UFOs or UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday overturned the state’s redistricting ballot measure, delivering a major setback to Democrats who hoped the new map would allow them to flip up to four congressional seats.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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