In a video statement, Newsom said he was “proud” to be counted among Trump’s political opponents and alleged that the U.S. Department of Justice is searching for wrongdoing rather than investigating an established crime. He said federal agents recently contacted family friends and former employees of him and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

Newsom tied the scrutiny to his possible interest in a future presidential campaign, saying the Trump administration is using federal law enforcement against perceived rivals.

According to the governor’s office, neither Newsom nor Siebel Newsom has received a subpoena. But the office said it believes federal agents have issued subpoenas seeking financial records from businesses connected to the Newsom family. Newsom accused investigators of misusing the grand jury process by seeking years of documents.

Newsom founded the hospitality company PlumpJack before entering statewide office and placed his business holdings in a blind trust when he became governor. Siebel Newsom runs two nonprofit organizations, the California Partners Project and the Representation Project.

A person in the U.S. Department of Justice familiar with the matter told CalMatters that at least two criminal investigations involving Newsom have been underway. One concerns Siebel Newsom’s taxes, while the other is connected to Dana Williamson, Newsom’s former chief of staff.

Williamson pleaded guilty in May in a corruption case. The governor has not been implicated in that scandal.

The governor’s remarks come as Newsom continues to position himself as one of Trump’s most forceful Democratic critics, a role that has raised his national profile beyond California. The dispute also places renewed attention on the governor’s family businesses and nonprofit work as federal investigators seek records tied to those entities.

Newsom’s office framed the investigation as part of a broader pattern of retaliation by Trump against political adversaries. The Justice Department has not publicly detailed the scope of the inquiries or announced charges against the governor or first partner.

Original source: CalMatters

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In a video statement, Newsom said federal agents have recently contacted family friends and former employees as part of what he characterized as an open-ended search for wrongdoing.

“In recent days, federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” Newsom said. “Not because they found a crime, but because they simply are trying to find one.”

Newsom said he believes he has been placed on what he called Trump’s political “hit list,” alongside figures such as former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff of California and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the former Democratic vice presidential nominee.

A person in the Department of Justice familiar with the matter said at least two criminal investigations involving Newsom have been underway for about a year in the Eastern District of California. According to that person, the inquiries stemmed from whistleblowers and people in Sacramento and involve questions related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes, as well as a separate investigation connected to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson.

Williamson pleaded guilty in May in a corruption case that has not implicated the governor. She had been indicted on wire fraud charges tied to allegations that money was routed from a dormant campaign account belonging to Xavier Becerra, the former Biden administration health secretary and a leading candidate to succeed Newsom as governor.

Newsom’s office pushed back sharply on the federal activity, saying prosecutors turned their attention to the governor and his family after failing to find evidence tying him to the Williamson case. The governor’s office said investigators have asked about private matters involving the Newsom family, including the couple’s marriage.

The governor alleged that federal agents are seeking records and misusing the grand jury process by combing through years of documents. Newsom’s office said neither he nor Siebel Newsom has received a subpoena, though the office said the governor “looks forward” to receiving any such request.

Officials in Newsom’s office also told reporters that the specificity of some investigators’ questions has led them to believe federal agents may have subpoenaed financial records for businesses tied to the Newsoms.

Before becoming governor, Newsom built the PlumpJack hospitality business, which he has placed in a blind trust. Siebel Newsom is a filmmaker and leads the California Partners Project and the Representation Project, nonprofit organizations focused on gender equity and representation.

Disclosure reports filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission show Newsom solicited at least $1.9 million in charitable donations, known as behested payments, in 2024 and 2025 for the California Partners Project. The donations included $1 million from the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria.

Newsom’s office said federal agents have contacted more than a dozen people and organizations connected to the couple, including friends, former employees, business associates, donors and affiliated groups. The office did not identify those contacted.

The governor’s accusations were made in a strongly worded video but did not include direct evidence that Trump personally ordered or directed the federal inquiries. Newsom’s office maintains that the Justice Department is seeking a new allegation after the Williamson investigation, which began during the Biden administration, did not implicate the governor.

Matthew Rowan, an attorney for Williamson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The White House referred questions about Newsom’s remarks to the Justice Department. A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“You can subpoena my records. You can investigate me. You can harass me. Put my name on any and every enemies list that you have,” Newsom said. “But leave my wife and family out of your personal vendetta!”

Original source: CalMatters

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The reaction followed early results in California’s top-two primary system, where all candidates appear on the same ballot and the two highest vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party. Republican Steve Hilton, a British-born former Fox News commentator, initially led a large field of 61 candidates for governor.

In Los Angeles, Republican Spencer Pratt also drew attention when early results showed him in second place in the mayor’s race after a campaign that included a series of artificial intelligence-generated parody videos targeting Mayor Karen Bass.

But as county election offices continued to count ballots, the standings shifted. Pratt later fell to third place. By Monday, Hilton remained in second place in the governor’s race, behind Democratic frontrunner Xavier Becerra, though his margin over billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer had narrowed to about five percentage points. The final outcome remained uncertain.

The changing numbers prompted complaints from some conservative media figures, podcasters and social media users about the length of California’s ballot-counting process. Some went further, alleging fraud without presenting evidence.

President Donald Trump joined those accusations during an interview aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” accusing California election officials of “cheating” because ballots were still being counted.

When interviewer Kristen Welker asked whether he had evidence, Trump responded, “All I have to do is look.”

Welker pressed him, noting that California’s vote-counting process routinely takes time. Trump rejected that explanation and called the elections “rigged,” also attacking NBC and the program. He eventually ended the interview, removed his microphone and left.

Other Republican officials amplified concerns about the count. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that “everybody knows instinctively something is wrong.” On Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X that federal prosecutors were working with the FBI on “multiple election fraud investigations,” but he did not provide details.

There has been no public evidence presented showing widespread fraud in California’s primary.

California’s vote count often stretches for days or weeks because of the state’s election rules, especially its heavy reliance on mail ballots. The process has grown more time-consuming as lawmakers expanded access to voting over several decades.

Those changes were largely championed by Democrats, who have argued that easier access to ballots increases participation. Critics have long contended that the system benefits Democratic candidates in close races, but a slow count itself is not evidence of illegal activity.

The modern shift began after Democrats suffered a series of legislative setbacks in the late 1970s. Following the 1980 census, Democratic leaders redrew legislative and congressional districts and made absentee voting by mail more widely available.

That expansion did not immediately deliver the advantage Democrats expected. In 1982, Republicans made effective use of absentee ballots, helping George Deukmejian narrowly defeat Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley in the governor’s race despite polls that had suggested Bradley was favored to win.

Over time, California continued to broaden voter access. The state adopted automatic voter registration through the Department of Motor Vehicles and allowed voters to register on Election Day. The 2016 Voter Choice Act further encouraged mail voting while reducing the number of traditional polling places in participating counties.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, California has mailed ballots automatically to all registered voters. That change dramatically increased the number of mail ballots that county election workers must verify and process.

Election experts Eric McGhee of the Public Policy Institute of California and Mindy Romero of USC’s Center for Inclusive Democracy recently noted that the added volume has slowed the count. Each mail ballot requires signature verification to confirm that it was submitted by the proper voter, a security step intended to strengthen confidence in election results.

That safeguard, however, also contributes to the delay that critics have seized on to question the count.

The result is a recurring tension in California elections: rules designed to make voting more accessible and secure also make final results slower to arrive. As close races continue to develop after election night, the drawn-out process has increasingly become a target for political attacks and unsupported claims of fraud.

Original source: CalMatters

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The policy memo, issued shortly before Memorial Day, appeared to mark a major shift in how the federal government handles “adjustment of status,” the process that allows eligible immigrants in the U.S. to apply for lawful permanent residency without leaving the country. The directive suggested that many temporary visa holders and people with humanitarian permission to be in the U.S. would have to return to their home countries and wait there for green card approval, except in “extraordinary” circumstances.

That language alarmed immigrant families, attorneys and employers, because it departed from a practice that has been in place for decades. Days later, however, the administration began to soften its description of the policy. The Department of Homeland Security told The New York Times that the directive was not a blanket rule and that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers have long had discretion in deciding such cases.

Immigration attorneys said the mixed messaging has done little to ease concern.

“That is damage control,” said Patrick Kolasinski, an immigration attorney based in Modesto. He said the administration appeared to be responding both to public criticism and to the likelihood of lawsuits, adding that changing the policy in the manner outlined by the memo would be “completely illegal.”

A DHS spokesperson, speaking anonymously to The New York Times, said people who may face greater scrutiny include those who have overstayed visas and applicants from countries whose citizens are considered more likely to rely on public benefits. DHS did not answer CalMatters’ questions about the apparent shift in how the policy was being described.

Legal experts say the directive fits a broader pattern by the Trump administration of tightening rules even for immigrants attempting to follow legal channels. Employers, including many in the technology industry, have criticized the move, warning it could disrupt business operations and push skilled workers out of the country.

The policy is expected to face legal challenges. In the meantime, attorneys say many applicants are unsure whether they should attend scheduled interviews, whether pending applications are at risk, and whether leaving the country could separate them from their families for years.

The people most likely to be affected include relatives of U.S. citizens, laid-off technology workers, international students and mixed-status families. The issue is especially significant in California, where 112,100 people obtained permanent residency through adjustment of status in 2023 — more than in any other state and nearly one-fifth of all such cases nationwide.

Family-based immigration makes up the largest share of green card cases. DHS data show that about 64% of new permanent residents in 2023 received green cards through a family relationship with a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.

A central unanswered question is whether the Trump administration intends to apply the new interpretation to people whose applications are already pending. Lynn Damiano Pearson, director of legal strategy at the National Immigration Law Center, said immigration lawyers have already seen USCIS officers ask applicants why they are seeking permanent residency from inside the United States and whether anything prevents them from applying through a U.S. consulate abroad.

Those questions, she said, appear to come directly from the new memo and suggest the administration may be preparing to apply the policy to existing applicants.

DHS did not answer CalMatters’ question about whether pending cases would be affected. In a written statement, the department said the policy “will have no significant impact on high-skilled applicants and trained professionals who followed the law.” The spokesperson declined to be identified.

Adjustment of status was created by Congress in 1952 and has been used under Democratic and Republican administrations for more than seven decades. More than 500,000 people use the process each year. The Trump administration memo reframes the process as something that should be granted only in exceptional cases.

Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, called the memo “wrong,” “reprehensible” and “illegal,” and said he was confident it would end up in court.

Nina Sheridan, a spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta, said the state is watching closely.

“The Trump administration continues its campaign against legal immigration, putting up barriers and pushing out immigrants who are trying to follow the established process to obtain permanent residency,” Sheridan said. “We are monitoring the administration’s next steps with its latest attempt to ignore existing laws and policies, and we are evaluating our options.”

DHS told CalMatters the memo restates long-standing law and policy that it said were ignored by the Biden administration.

Attorneys say one of the greatest fears among applicants is that the policy could turn routine immigration appointments into removal risks. Many people seeking green cards have remained in the U.S. with government authorization while their cases moved through the system, sometimes waiting years because of backlogs. In some cases, their original visas expired while their adjustment applications were pending.

Lawyers worry the administration could use that against applicants, deny them at interviews and then move quickly to initiate deportation proceedings. Immigration attorneys have also pointed to recent cases in which people were detained during routine immigration appointments and held for months.

Damiano Pearson said it is too early to know how often that could happen under the new policy, but attorneys cannot rule out the possibility of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detaining people after interviews.

For many applicants, leaving the U.S. to complete the process at a consulate is not a simple matter. Consular processing can involve long waits, and State Department backlogs can stretch for months or years.

“This is not a matter of buying a plane ticket and waiting a little longer,” said Ben Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “For many people, consular processing is not realistic or safe, and for others it could mean months or years of separation from their U.S. citizen spouses, children, employers and communities.”

Visa processing has been suspended entirely in more than 70 countries. Immigrants who have overstayed visas could also face three- or 10-year bars from reentering the United States if they leave and try to apply from abroad.

Damiano Pearson said the memo does not make clear whether those consequences will be considered, adding that the uncertainty has caused fear among people who believed they were on a lawful path to permanent residency.

Kolasinski said some of his clients have green card interviews scheduled and are anxious about what could happen when they appear before immigration officers.

“You go in and you have no idea what type of officer you are going to encounter or what rules they believe they are operating under,” he said.

His advice to clients with upcoming interviews is direct: do not go alone.

“At this point, nobody should do anything immigration-related without a lawyer present,” Kolasinski said.

Original source: CalMatters

The post Five Things to Know About the Trump Administration’s New Green Card Policy appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Issued shortly before Memorial Day, the policy memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services appeared to sharply limit a long-used process known as adjustment of status, which allows eligible immigrants already living in the United States to apply for lawful permanent residency without leaving the country. The directive said such approvals should be granted only in “extraordinary” circumstances, raising fears that many applicants could be required to return to their home countries and wait for their cases to be processed through U.S. consulates abroad.

Days later, after widespread concern from immigration lawyers and affected communities, the Department of Homeland Security sought to play down the scope of the change. The department told The New York Times the policy was not a blanket rule and said USCIS officers have always had discretion in deciding adjustment applications.

But attorneys said the memo has already created uncertainty for people who believed they were following the rules.

“That’s a CYA,” said Patrick Kolasinski, a Modesto-based immigration attorney, arguing that the administration appeared to be responding to public backlash and trying to reduce the risk of litigation. He said changing the policy in this manner is “completely illegal.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not answer CalMatters’ questions about whether it had reversed course after the memo’s release. An unnamed department spokesperson told The New York Times that people who overstay visas and applicants from countries whose citizens are considered high users of public assistance could be among those most affected.

The directive could have major implications in California, including Southern California and the Inland Empire, where many families include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, visa holders and immigrants with pending cases. In 2023, 112,100 Californians received green cards through adjustment of status, representing nearly one in five such approvals nationwide, according to federal data.

The groups potentially affected include relatives of U.S. citizens, mixed-status families, international students, laid-off tech workers and other temporary visa holders already living in the country. Family-based applicants make up the largest share of new green card recipients; in 2023, about 64% of green cards went to people qualifying through a family relationship with a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, according to DHS.

A key unanswered question is whether the new approach will be applied to people who already have applications pending. Lynn Damiano Pearson, director of legal strategy at the National Immigration Law Center, said some immigration attorneys have reported that USCIS officers recently asked applicants why they were seeking green cards from inside the United States and whether anything would prevent them from applying from their home countries instead.

“People are being questioned about consular processing in a way that seems to flow directly from this new memo,” Damiano Pearson told CalMatters, adding that advocates fear the administration may try to apply the policy retroactively.

DHS did not directly answer whether pending applications would be affected. In a written statement, the department said the policy “will have no noticeable impact on highly qualified applicants and skilled professionals who have followed the law.” The spokesperson declined to be identified.

Adjustment of status has existed since Congress created it in 1952, and it has been used by Democratic and Republican administrations for more than seven decades. More than 500,000 people use the process each year. The new memo characterizes that pathway as exceptional rather than routine.

Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said he expects the policy to be challenged in court.

“This memo is wrong. It’s reprehensible. It’s illegal,” Joseph said. “I’m 100% sure that it’s going to be litigated.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office also indicated it is watching the issue closely.

“The Trump administration continues to wage a campaign against legal immigration, putting up barriers and pushing out immigrants who are trying to follow the established process to obtain permanent residence,” said Nina Sheridan, a spokesperson for Bonta. “We’re monitoring where the administration goes next with its latest attempt to flout longstanding law and policy, and we are evaluating our options.”

DHS told CalMatters the memo “restates longstanding law and policy” that it said had been “disregarded by the Biden Administration.”

Immigration lawyers said one major concern is that some applicants allowed their original visas to expire while waiting for green card interviews, which can take years because of federal backlogs. In many cases, they were permitted to remain in the country while their applications were pending. Attorneys now worry that those same applicants could be denied and placed in removal proceedings.

Advocates also fear some people could be detained during or after routine immigration appointments. Last year, some immigrants were taken into custody at scheduled appointments and held for months. Damiano Pearson said it is too early to know how frequently that could happen under the new policy but said attorneys cannot rule out the possibility.

Forcing applicants to complete the process overseas could create additional hardships. Consular processing is often slow, and in some countries visa processing has been stopped entirely. The State Department has halted visa processing in more than 70 countries.

For people who have overstayed visas, leaving the United States can trigger automatic bars that prevent them from returning for three to 10 years. Attorneys said it remains unclear whether USCIS officers would consider those consequences when deciding whether applicants must leave the country.

“This is not about buying a plane ticket and waiting a little bit longer,” said Ben Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “For many people, consulate processing is not realistic or safe, and for others it can mean months or years of separation from U.S. citizen spouses, children, employers, and communities.”

The uncertainty has left attorneys scrambling to advise clients with upcoming interviews.

Kolasinski said some of his clients are frightened because they do not know how individual officers will interpret the memo.

“You walk in, and you have no idea what kind of officer you’re going to get and what they’re operating under,” he said.

His advice to applicants with scheduled immigration interviews is to bring legal representation.

“Nobody should be doing anything with immigration these days without a lawyer present,” Kolasinski said.

Original source: CalMatters

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Those are some of the details in a new batch of files on UFOs that the Pentagon began releasing on Friday as President Donald Trump taps into the public’s long-held curiosities about “unidentified anomalous phenomena” in the broader universe. Though the Pentagon has been working on declassifying the documents for years, Trump put attention back on the topic months ago by teasing a major UFO document dump.

“Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, ‘WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?’ Have Fun and Enjoy!” Trump wrote Friday in a Truth Social post.

Trump’s Republican administration says the public can draw its own conclusions with the information in the files, which includes old State Department cables, FBI documents and transcripts from NASA of crewed flights into space. A new Pentagon website housing the documents on UAPs has a decidedly retro feel, with black-and-white military imagery of flying objects displayed prominently on the page, with statements displayed in typewriter-like font.

Experts urge caution around the release of the new files, warning that UAP videos are often misinterpreted and mischaracterized by those unfamiliar with military technology. A 2024 Pentagon report rebutted claims that the U.S. government has recovered alien technology or confirmed evidence of alien life.

Files describe numerous sightings of UAPs

The initial release is a trove of videos, other imagery and testimony that is sure to stir more speculation among those who believe we are not alone in the universe.

For instance, a State Department cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan in 1994 details how one Tajik pilot and three Americans saw a brightly lit UAP while flying a jet over Kazakhstan. The object, according to the cable, was “making 90 degree turns, doing corkscrews and maneuvering in circles at great rates of speed.”

That’s not the only instance of erratically moving objects cited in the document release. A military report from the Aegean Sea in 2023 cited a UAP flying just above the surface of the ocean and making “multiple 90-degree turns at an estimated 80 mph” (129 km/h).

One interview with a U.S. intelligence official details an incident last year in which the official, doing a search on a helicopter, encountered a “super-hot” orb hovering over the ground, traveling about 20 miles (32 kilometers) at a speedy clip, then spotted four or five more orbs that flared up and down.

In a 1969 debriefing of Apollo 11 crew members, the astronaut Aldrin recalled spotting several unusual sights, such as a “sizeable” object close to the moon and a “fairly bright light source” that the crew felt could be a laser.

One document details an FBI interview with someone identified as a drone pilot who, in September 2023, reported seeing a “linear object” with a light bright enough to “see bands within the light” in the sky.

“The object was visible for five to ten seconds and then the light went out and the object vanished,” according to the FBI interview.

Another file is a NASA photograph from the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, showing three dots in a triangular formation. The Pentagon says in an accompanying caption that “there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly” but that a new, preliminary analysis indicated that it could be a “physical object.”

The documents include more than 20 video files showing unidentified objects captured by military sensors in locations from Syria and Japan to North America. The objects range from fast-moving specks captured in the distance to a football-shaped object spotted over the East China Sea in 2022. The most recent video is from Jan. 1 of this year and appears to show two circular lights flying against an inky black backdrop in North America.

Several files include military videos from the past several years that showed small ambiguous dots moving above the landscapes of Iraq, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. The white objects sometimes streaked across the screen in less than a second, while others slowly glided through the air or were followed by the camera.

Other files include written reports from U.S. military service members who were surveilling locations in the Middle East. One report described an object that was “shaped as a bouncy ball” and traveling 483 mph (777 km/h) consistently for at least seven minutes over Syria in 2023.

The object was later determined to be benign.

Among the files are hundreds of pages detailing reported sightings dating to the 1940s. A 1948 report from U.S. airmen in the Netherlands raised concerns about recurring flying saucer sightings. Swedish counterparts saw them, too, and believed they did not come from “any presently known culture on earth,” the report said.

One military video that quickly caught attention on Friday appears to show an aircraft shaped like an eight-pointed star weaving through the air. The video, from 2013 in the Middle East, is probably nothing more than a hot jet engine producing a diffraction pattern in the camera, said Sean Kirkpatrick, a former director of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which investigates UAP.

Kirkpatrick said there’s nothing unexpected in the release and warned that without analysis it will “only serve to fuel more speculation, conspiracy and arm-chair pseudoscience.”

Trump administration touts transp

arency on UFO file release

Trump has previously released records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. that revealed little beyond what was already known.

The Pentagon has been working on declassifying documents related to UFOs for years, and Congress created an office in 2022 to declassify material. Its 2024 debut report revealed hundreds of new UAP incidents but found no evidence that the U.S. government had ever confirmed a sighting of alien technology.

A small group of Republicans in Congress has pressed for further transparency, accusing the Pentagon of holding documents back. A March letter from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., demanded 46 UAP videos identified by whistleblowers. Luna said Friday those videos will be released later by the Pentagon.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., thanked Trump for “keeping his word” on transparency and disclosure.

“I would like to remind people that transparency won’t all happen at once, it will take some time,” Burchett said in a statement.

Others used Friday’s release to urge further transparency into what the government knows about UAPs. The Sol Foundation, a research group focused on UAPs, pushed for passage of legislation that would force a “thorough” review of classified UAP records “with the aim of providing Americans with the full truth about longstanding government knowledge and programs concerning technologies and vehicles not of human origin.”

“While today’s new step toward a full disclosure of government knowledge concerning UAP is welcome, many more need to be taken to bring an end to the decades of secrecy by which the American people were kept in the dark,” said Peter Skafish, the foundation’s executive director, and retired Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, a former acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency.

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The attacks cast more doubt on a tenuous month-old ceasefire that the United States has insisted is still in effect. Washington is awaiting an Iranian response to its latest proposal for a deal to end the war, reopen the strait and roll back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hopes to receive “a serious offer” from Iran later Friday.

The U.S. military said Friday that its forces had disabled two Iranian tankers that were trying to breach an American blockade of Iran’s ports. Hours earlier, the military said it thwarted attacks on three Navy ships and struck Iranian military facilities in the strait.

Iran has mostly blocked the critical waterway for global energy since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, causing a global spike in fuel prices and rattling world markets. The U.S. has imposed its own blockade of Iran’s ports.

The UAE’s Defense Ministry meanwhile said three people were wounded after air defenses engaged two ballistic missiles and three drones launched by Iran. It was not clear if all were successfully intercepted.

US says it responded to an attack in the strait

The U.S. military posted video of the two Iranian tankers as their smokestacks were struck by an American fighter jet on Friday. Earlier in the week, an American military jet shot out the rudder of a tanker the U.S. military said was attempting to breach its blockade.

Late Thursday, the U.S. military said it thwarted Iranian attacks on three Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz and struck Iranian military facilities in response. It said no American ships were hit.

“They threaten Americans, they are going to be blown up,” Rubio told reporters Friday.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it called “hostile” U.S. military action, saying it violated the ceasefire. “Every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the U.S. opts for a reckless military adventure,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X.

A U.S. strike overnight killed at least one sailor and injured 10 others aboard a cargo vessel that caught fire, a news agency affiliated with Iran’s judiciary reported. It was not clear if the ship was one of the two tankers the U.S. acknowledged striking.

U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted the ceasefire is holding. He also has reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran doesn’t accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country has been in contact with the U.S. and Iran “day and night” in an effort to extend the ceasefire and reach a peace deal.

Images show apparent oil slick off Iranian terminal

Satellite images reviewed by The Associated Press show what appears to be an oil slick in the Persian Gulf emanating from the western side of Kharg Island, Iran’s main crude export terminal.

Images taken Friday show the slick covering about 71 square kilometers (27 square miles) and appear to show oil still leaking from the terminal, said Ami Daniel, CEO of maritime intelligence firm Windward AI.

Daniel estimated that the equivalent of roughly 80,000 oil barrels has spilled from Kharg Island since the slick was first detected by satellite images Tuesday. It’s unknown whether the spill was caused by a malfunction, an airstrike or something else.

“This is the risk of fighting in an oil-rich area,” said Daniel, adding that it’s unlikely any cleanup efforts will be launched in Gulf waters that have become an active war zone.

He said the spill appears to be spreading southwest and within the next two weeks could potentially reach the shores of the UAE, Qatar or Saudi Arabia.

Nina Noelle, an international crisis operations expert with Greenpeace Germany, said Friday that preliminary assessment and recent images show the spill beginning to disperse and it appears unlikely that it will impact land. She said depending on wind, waves and current conditions, parts of the slick could still possibly affect some sensitive marine habitats.

“More likely, it will dissipate offshore under prevailing conditions,” Noelle said.

The Pentagon declined to comment on whether the U.S. military was tracking the spill or whether there had been recent strikes on the Iranian island. Based on the imagery taken earlier this week, the spill occurred before the most recent round of U.S. strikes.

Rubio says `unacceptable’ for an Iranian agency to control strait

Rubio said Friday that it’s “unacceptable” for Iran to have a government agency that vets and taxes ships seeking passage through the strait.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a shipping data company, reported Thursday that Iran has created such an agency, known as the Persian Gulf Strait Authority.

The Iranian effort to formalize control over the channel raised new concerns about international shipping, with hundreds of commercial vessels bottled up in the Persian Gulf and unable to reach the open sea.

“Is the world going to accept that Iran now controls an international waterway?” Rubio said. “What is the world prepared to do about it?”

Iran has effectively closed the strait, a vital waterway for the shipment of oil, gas, fertilizer and other petroleum products, while the U.S. is blockading Iranian ports.

A Chinese-crewed oil tanker was attacked near the strait. China has continued to import oil from Iran despite the effective closure of the waterway.

China’s Foreign Ministry expressed concern, saying the tanker was registered in the Marshall Islands with Chinese crew on board. There were no casualties reported.

An oil tanker that passed through the Strait of Hormuz in mid-April arrived off South Korea’s coast on Friday with 1 million barrels of crude. South Korea, which last year imported more than 60% of its crude through the strait, has capped prices of gasoline and other petroleum products.

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(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

President Donald Trump sang the praises of King Charles III after the monarch’s state visit this week. He even lifted some tariffs on Scotch whisky as a favor to the British monarch.

The king delivered a diplomatic master-class on the trip, mixing praise for his host with subtle criticism. It’s unclear, though, whether it will make a major difference to a trans-Atlantic relationship troubled by divisions over issues including the Iran war.

“In the short term probably yes, in the long term probably no,” said Kristofer Allerfeldt, a University of Exeter professor specializing in American history. But he said Charles had “definitely clawed back some of the prestige of the monarchy” in his homeland with his assured performance.

“He’s done us proud,” Allerfeldt said.

Like all royal visits, the four-day trip to Washington, New York and Virginia by the king and Queen Camilla was a carefully choreographed diplomatic event carried out at the request of the U.K. government. Timed to help mark the United States’ 250th birthday, it was a chance to heal rifts between the U.K. government and the Trump administration.

Trump has criticized Keir Starmer

The president has lambasted Prime Minister Keir Starmer –- whom he once praised –- over his unwillingness to join U.S. military attacks on Iran, dismissing Britain’s leader as “not Winston Churchill,” the World War II prime minister who coined the phrase “special relationship” for the U.K.-U.S. bond.

It’s part of a wider split between Trump and the United States’ NATO allies, whom he has called “cowards” and “useless” for not joining action against Iran.

None of that has soured Trump’s fondness for the British monarchy, which seems to have been deepened by the president’s unprecedented second state visit to the U.K. in September.

Some U.K. opposition politicians had called for the king’s reciprocal trip to be canceled, lest the president do or say something to embarrass the monarch.

In the end, there was much warmth and few awkward moments –- though Trump did not always adhere to the convention that conversations with the monarch should remain private.

At a white-tie state dinner on Tuesday, Trump said “Charles agrees with me, even more than I do” that Iran must never have nuclear weapons.

Trump also said that “if that were up to him,” the king “would have followed the suggestions we made with respect to Ukraine.”

Buckingham Palace appeared relaxed about Trump’s Iran comment, noting that “the king is naturally mindful of his government’s longstanding and well-known position on the prevention of nuclear proliferation.”

The king’s speech chided Trump policies

On Ukraine, however, differences were clear. The U.K. has been one of Kyiv’s strongest supporters in its fight against Russia’s invasion, and in a speech to Congress the king underscored the importance of the need for “unyielding resolve” to support Ukraine.

It was one of several implicit rebukes to the “America first” U.S. administration in the speech, the centerpiece moment of the trip.

With regal understatement and in a cut-glass accent, Charles stressed the essential role of NATO, the importance of checks on executive power, the threat posed by climate change and the strength drawn from “vibrant, diverse and free societies.” He spoke of his pride at having served in the Royal Navy, a force Trump has disparaged.

“It’s difficult to imagine he could have gone much further in what he said and what he didn’t say,” historian Anthony Seldon told The Guardian. “He judged it incredibly well: very brave, very smart, very clever.”

Allerfeldt noted the “extraordinary” reception from both sides of the political aisle to the speech, which drew multiple standing ovations.

“Apart from the section on the natural world and the environment, both Republicans and Democrats stood up and applauded,” he said.

In a less formal speech at the state banquet, the king even drew laughs when he joked about British troops burning down the White House in 1814.

The king alluded to Epstein’s victims

The trip was judged a success despite the shadow of the king’s younger brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who has been stripped of his royal title of Prince Andrew, exiled from public life and put under police investigation over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. He has denied committing any crimes.

Epstein victims had urged the king to meet with them and other sexual abuse survivors. He didn’t, but he did refer obliquely to the issue in his speech to Congress, mentioning the need to “support victims of some of the ills that, so tragically, exist in both our societies today.”

Andrew Lownie, author of a biography of the former Prince Andrew called “Entitled,” praised the speech as “the best defense of the monarchy in years.”

After the royal couple left the U.S., Trump announced he was lifting certain tariffs on Scotch “in honor of the King and Queen of the United Kingdom.”

Buckingham Palace toasted the announcement, saying the king “sends his sincere gratitude for a decision that will make an important difference to the British whisky industry and the livelihoods it supports.”

Trump called the king “a phenomenal representative” for his country, before turning back to a familiar theme: criticizing Starmer.

The president told Sky News that Charles is “a much different person than your prime minister.

“Your prime minister has to learn to deal the way he deals, and he’ll do a lot better,” he said.

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She had spent three daystelling a jury that the ex-movie mogul raped her, explaining why she continued a relationship with him afterward and discussing other deeply personal aspects of her life, once sobbing so hard that court ended early. Weinstein had then been convicted, in a 2020 verdict seen as a victory for the #MeToo campaign against sexual misconduct.

Yet six years later, Mann again walked to a witness stand, passing Weinstein in court on Monday, and beginning — for a third time — to give a jury her account of what happened between them.

Mann testified that she met Weinstein at an acquaintance’s engagement party around the beginning of 2013. She said he was wearing a tuxedo and “looked very jolly, so I went up and introduced myself to him.”

Mann was living in Los Angeles and trying to break into acting, she said. Later that evening, she said, she ran into Weinstein again. She testified that he boasted about his moviemaking prowess and his ability to spot talent.

“He said I was really pretty, prettier than Natalie Portman,” Mann testified, echoing her prior testimony. She added that she ended up giving Weinstein her phone number, thinking she’d make a professional — not romantic — connection.

“He was interested in my look. I thought I just got discovered,” she said.

Weinstein denies sexually assaulting anyone. He watched from his wheelchair at the defense table as Mann testified, occasionally leaning over to talk with his lawyer. Mann only looked at Weinstein when asked to point him out in the courtroom.

Mann’s allegation of a 2013 rape in a Manhattan hotel is again up for consideration because of a series of legal switchbacks. First, Weinstein’s 2020 conviction was overturned for reasons unrelated to her testimony. Then a jury failed to decide her part of a retrial that involved multiple accusers and allegations last year, leaving only her rape charge to be tried again.

“I am ready, willing and able to endure this as many times as it takes for justice and accountability to be served,” Mann said in a statement at the time.

That determination now stands to be tested.

Mann could face days of questioning by prosecutors and Weinstein’s new lawyers. Like their predecessors, they have portrayed Mann as a canny wannabe who got involved with a Hollywood heavy-hitter, had entirely consensual sex with him, enjoyed his connections and invitations, then turned on him after news reports about other women’s claims about Weinstein. The 2017 reporting catalyzed the #MeToo movement.

Mann, 40, grew up in a small town in Washington state and trained as a hairstylist, but she yearned to pursue acting and moved to Los Angeles in her 20s. She was sometimes so broke that she lived in her car, but she had done some commercial and film work before she met Weinstein.

Thrilled that the Oscar-winning producer expressed interest in her career, Mann accepted invitations to get together, starting with a shopping trip for books about cinema, she testified. Within a couple months, she has said, Weinstein started making sexual overtures that she didn’t invite but accepted.

She has said she embarked, with jumbled feelings, on a relationship with the then-married mogul. Sometimes she appreciated his encouragement, other times she resented his sexual demands, and she was always cognizant of his career-making power.

In March 2013, Mann and a friend traveled to New York, and she arranged to meet Weinstein for breakfast with her pals. She testified at prior trials that he got her alone in a hotel room, slammed the door shut when she tried to leave and ultimately raped her, though she told him “I don’t want to do this” and “no.”

Afterward, Mann kept seeing and having what she has said were largely consensual sexual encounters with Weinstein. At points over the next roughly four years, she emailed him “miss you,” “there is no one else I would enjoy catching up with that understands me quite like you” and “I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call.”

Weinstein’s lawyers have argued that the messages show there was nothing but a caring relationship. Mann has said she was trying to manage a complicated dynamic with a volatile man.

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they agree to be named, as Mann has done.

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Cole Tomas Allen appeared in court Monday to face federal charges after the chaotic encounter Saturday that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being hurried off the stage unharmed and guests ducking for cover underneath their tables. He was ordered to remain jailed pending additional court hearings, and faces up to life in prison if convicted of the assassination count alone.

An FBI affidavit filed in the case reveals additional details about the planning behind the assault, with authorities alleging that Allen on April 6 reserved a room for himself at the Washington hotel where the event would be held weeks later under its typical tight security. He traveled by train cross-country from California last week, checking himself into the Washington Hilton one day before the dinner with a room reserved through the weekend.

The event had barely begun when officials say the 31-year-old Torrance, California, man, armed with a shotgun and pistol, tried to race past a security barricade near the cavernous ballroom holding hundreds of journalists and their guests, prompting an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service agents tasked with safeguarding the event.

“Violence has no place in civic life,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference. “We will ensure accountability is swift and certain.”

Allen was injured but was not shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials say. The Justice Department charged Allen with two additional firearms counts, including discharging a weapon during a crime of violence, but the affidavit does not directly say that Allen was responsible for shooting the officer.

Suspect’s email sheds light on motive

The shooting resulted in the cancellation of the dinner, the first Trump had attended as president.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said the night was supposed to be one of joy but instead was “hijacked by a crazed anti-Trump individual who traveled across the country to assassinate the president and as many administration officials as possible.”

Allen invoked his constitutional right to remain silent after his arrest, but authorities say an email he sent to family members and a former employer helps shed light on a motive.

In the message, a copy of which was included in the affidavit, Allen referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin,” alluded obliquely to grievances over a range of Trump administration actions. The rambling text moves between confession, grievance and farewell, with Allen apologizing to family members, co-workers and even strangers he feared could be caught in the violence while at the same time seeking to explain the attack.

A magistrate judge granted a prosecutor’s request to keep Allen locked up pending additional hearings, including a detention hearing set for Thursday.

Allen did not speak at length during the quick appearance, as is customary, though one of his lawyers, Texira Abe, noted that he has no criminal record.

“He also is presumed innocent at this time,” she said.

The Associated Press called multiple phone numbers listed for Allen and relatives in public records, and there was no answer when a reporter knocked on the door of his home.

Records reveal that Allen is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer. A social media profile for a man with the same name and a photo that appears to match that of the suspect show he worked part-time for the last six years at a company that offers admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college students.

Voter registration records from California lists Allen’s home address as his parent’s house on a tree-lined street in one of the most historic neighborhoods in Torrance, a city within the Los Angeles metro area. No one answered the door Sunday when an Associated Press reporter knocked. By the afternoon, several people who appeared to be law enforcement agents were canvassing the neighborhood, with one wearing an FBI sweatshirt.

A yard sign displayed at the family home supported a local candidate for judge who was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. Federal campaign finance records show Cole Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and listed his employer as C2 Education.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, according to his profile on the social networking site LinkedIn. The small university is academically prestigious with a very low acceptance rate. He also listed his involvement there in a campus group that battled with Nerf guns and a Christian student fellowship.

Allen’s profile photo on LinkedIn shows him wearing a cap and gown when graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. The photo appears to have been taken May 2025.

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