CBP Detains Noncitizen Voter as Trump Escalates Search for Election Fraud — ProPublica

ProPublica — 2026-05-13 04:00:00 — www.propublica.org

Estelle, who’s long held permanent resident status in the U.S., is a veteran at navigating the reentry process when she returns from visiting relatives in her native France.

But on her most recent trip through customs in mid-March, officers detained the 57-year-old Lawrence, Kansas, resident for 30 hours, forced her to spend the night in a holding cell on a concrete slab, and threatened her with deportation.

Why? Because she acknowledged under questioning by customs officers that she’d once voted in a local election, despite not being a U.S. citizen. A small number of cities in the U.S. allow noncitizens to vote in local elections, but Lawrence is not one of them. Kansas and federal law both require U.S. citizenship to register to vote.

Immigration and election experts say her case, which hasn’t previously been reported, marks a new escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to find and prosecute instances of noncitizen voting, despite voluminous evidence showing it is rare. (Estelle asked that her last name not be used because of safety concerns.)

Historically, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has played no part in election-fraud investigations. But the transcript of Estelle’s interview, which was provided to ProPublica by her attorney, makes clear that the agency had flagged her for special scrutiny and that officers knew her voting history. Estelle told the officer during questioning that she thought she could vote in local elections because a state motor vehicles department employee had told her when she renewed her driver’s license that she was eligible.

Kerry Doyle, a deputy general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security in the Biden administration, said she’d never heard of someone being detained at a port of entry on suspicion of voting illegally.

“It took them a whole lot of energy and effort to sift through all these things to find this needle in the haystack,” said Doyle, a longtime immigration attorney. “And it is a needle in the haystack.”

A CBP spokesperson confirmed that officers detained a woman matching Estelle’s description at the Detroit airport, placing her in removal proceedings. The official didn’t answer questions about whether the agency is now routinely questioning noncitizen travelers about voting at ports of entry but emphasized that voting illegally is a deportable offense.

“The Trump Administration will continue to enforce our nation’s laws,” the spokesperson said in an email. “Those who violate these laws will be processed, detained, and removed as required.”

Estelle’s attorney, Matthew Hoppock, said she had no prior criminal history and hadn’t otherwise violated the terms of her green card. He said she registered to vote as part of renewing her driver’s license in 2023. Estelle voted in a November 2023 election that included races for city council and school boards, according to Douglas County records. She did not vote in any subsequent election, including the 2024 presidential election.

An immigration judge granted a request from Estelle to cancel her removal proceedings after Hoppock spoke with DHS officials about her case. It’s unclear whether she will face any future criminal charges. (CBP declined to comment about whether there are any pending.) Still, Hoppock said CBP had overstepped in its aggressive handling of the matter, which he called “really something.”

“It’s clear as day she wasn’t trying to break the law,” he said.

Though Trump has repeatedly claimed that millions of noncitizens vote, data shows there are few such cases and that, of these, most involve people like Estelle, who register in error, said Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit voting rights organization.

“My concern is about the publicizing of these kinds of incidents as a tool to frighten people,” Weiser said.

When these rare cases do happen, they are typically identified by local and state election officials who refer them to law enforcement. They often do not move forward, according to several election lawyers, because the voter often was registered by mistake by an elections clerk or voted without knowing it was illegal. Depending on the charges, prosecutors may have to prove that it was intentional.

Trump has made it clear he wants the federal government to do more to prevent and punish election fraud, despite the paucity of evidence that it’s a widespread issue.

He pushed unsuccessfully for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would have required Americans to provide documentary proof of citizenship when they registered to vote. In March 2025, he issued an executive order that, in part, directed federal agencies to use their resources to help find and prosecute noncitizen voters. His Justice Department began demanding that states hand over their voter-roll information, and DHS revamped a tool to allow states to check registered voters’ citizenship status en masse.

As ProPublica has reported, the tool proved highly error-prone. But despite its flaws, it appears DHS is still using the tool to pursue noncitizen voting prosecutions. DHS said in a recent statement that a branch of the agency, Homeland Security Investigations, will look into more than 24,000 voters flagged by SAVE as potential noncitizens.

A former CBP official, who spoke anonymously because their current job doesn’t permit them to comment publicly, said it is likely that potential noncitizen voters have been flagged in the system that customs officers use to check the records of international travelers, such as passports. If that’s the case, officers would see in the person’s file that they should be questioned further on their voting histories.

Hoppock said Estelle was detained on a layover as she traveled home from visiting her ailing father in France. According to the transcript of her interview with a customs officer, the official asked Estelle if she had ever registered to vote or voted, and she told him yes, she had voted once. The officer then asked if she had voted in the Nov. 7, 2023, local election, which she had.

After questioning Estelle, officers put her in the cell with a thin mattress on top of the concrete slab and a blanket donated by an airline, Hoppock said. She heard officers talking about Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, he said, and worried she might be moved there next. Instead, she was released after more than 30 hours in custody.

Jamie Shew — the clerk for Douglas County, Kansas, where Estelle was registered — said in an interview that he found out about Estelle’s case on March 23, when he received an administrative subpoena from CBP asking for her voter registration application and voting records.

Shew said he didn’t have the application, just data passed on by the secretary of state’s office showing she’d registered in September 2023 and wasn’t affiliated with a political party.

Shew said he’s only supposed to be given registrations to process if the would-be voter attests they are a U.S. citizen, as federal law requires. Estelle insists she told the employee at the motor vehicles department she was not a citizen.

Shew said Estelle reached out shortly after he received the CBP’s subpoena. She asked him to cancel her voter registration, he said, and he did on March 31.

Hoppock worries that by moving straight to deportation proceedings, the federal government has found a way to skip prosecuting and convicting.

“You’re going to get people like Estelle,” he said, “who haven’t meant to do anything wrong, getting detained in a jail cell in Michigan.”

### How this sits against verifiable accuracy
The excerpt indicates that the Trump administration has intensified efforts to identify and prosecute noncitizen voting, despite evidence suggesting such occurrences are rare. It also highlights that Estelle’s case is part of this broader initiative. The spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection stated, “The Trump Administration will continue to enforce our nation’s laws,” emphasizing that those who violate these laws will face consequences.

### Targets and tone
The excerpt does not show Trump singling out, insulting, demeaning, threatening, or speaking in a hostile way about specific people or groups.

This incident raises significant concerns about the treatment of individuals navigating the immigration system and the implications of policies aimed at combating noncitizen voting. It underscores the need for careful consideration of how such policies are enforced and their impact on lawful residents.

Source: https://www.propublica.org/article/noncitizen-voter-detained-airport-customs

Appeals court says Trump doesn’t have to pay $83 million to E. Jean Carroll — for now

PBS NewsHour – Politics — 2026-05-12 15:36:00 — www.pbs.org

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump won’t have to pay an $83 million defamation award to a longtime advice columnist until the U.S. Supreme Court gets a chance to review the case or reject an appeal, according to a court entry Tuesday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to a request by one of Trump’s lawyers that it let the president delay the payment to E. Jean Carroll, though it required that Trump post a $7.4 million bond to cover any additional interest costs, a request Carroll’s attorney had made. The appeals court late last month refused Trump’s request for a rare meeting of the full 2nd Circuit to hear an appeal of a three-judge panel’s affirmance of the January 2024 verdict.

Afterward, Trump attorney Justin D. Smith asked the 2nd Circuit to stay the effect of its decision upholding the award so that Trump would not be forced to pay the judgment before the high court has a chance to consider an appeal. Smith said last week there was a “fair prospect” that the Supreme Court will find in favor of Trump, who has called Carroll’s claims first made publicly in 2019 that she was sexually attacked by Trump in a Manhattan luxury department store dressing room in spring 1996 a “made up scam.”

The $83 million award to Carroll, 82, came from a jury that briefly heard Trump testify and observed his animated behavior for several days. In upholding the verdict, a 2nd Circuit panel wrote last September that Trump continued his attacks against Carroll for at least five years, making them “more extreme and frequent as the trial approached.” “He also continued these same attacks during the trial itself,” the appeals court said. “In one such statement, issued two days into the trial, Trump proclaimed that he would continue to defame Carroll ‘a thousand times.'”

The jury had been instructed to accept the findings of a jury that in May 2023 awarded Carroll $5 million after concluding Trump sexually abused her in the department store and then defamed her after she published her account of it in a 2019 memoir. Trump is challenging the $83 million award on several grounds, asserting “absolute immunity” for comments he made while president as he disavowed knowing Carroll and attacked her motivations, saying they were politically driven or arose from a desire to promote her memoir.

### How this sits against verifiable accuracy
Trump has claimed that E. Jean Carroll’s allegations of sexual assault are a “made up scam.” The excerpt indicates that Trump has consistently denied knowing Carroll and has attacked her motivations for coming forward with her allegations, suggesting they are politically driven or aimed at promoting her memoir.

### What the excerpt shows about verifiable lies
The excerpt highlights Trump’s statement during the trial where he proclaimed that he would continue to defame Carroll “a thousand times.” This statement underscores the ongoing nature of his attacks against her, which were deemed extreme and frequent by the appeals court.

### Targets and tone
The excerpt shows Trump speaking in a hostile manner towards E. Jean Carroll, labeling her claims as a “made up scam” and continuing to defame her throughout the trial.

In summary, the legal battle surrounding Trump’s defamation case against E. Jean Carroll continues as he seeks to delay payment of the substantial judgment against him while asserting his claims of immunity and disputing the allegations made against him.

Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/appeals-court-says-trump-doesnt-have-to-pay-83-million-to-e-jean-carroll-for-now

Trump changes story on reflecting pool contractor

Administration News — 2026-05-12 16:25:00 — thehill.com

President Trump stated on Tuesday that he does not know the contractor responsible for renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. This assertion comes after he previously claimed to have spoken to a man he knew regarding the project. The restoration of the basin has faced scrutiny due to the high costs associated with the no-bid contract and the president’s vision for the project, which includes a specific paint color.

### How this sits against verifiable accuracy
Trump’s statements imply a lack of familiarity with the contractor involved in the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, contradicting his earlier claim of having spoken to someone he knew about the project. The excerpt does not provide further details on the contractor or the nature of the discussions he previously mentioned.

### What the excerpt shows about verifiable lies
No verifiable lies are presented in the excerpt.

### Targets and tone
The excerpt does not show Trump singling out, insulting, demeaning, threatening, or speaking in a hostile way about specific people or groups.

In summary, President Trump’s recent comments reveal a contradiction regarding his knowledge of the contractor for the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation, raising questions about the project’s management and transparency.

Administration News — 2026-05-12 16:25:00 — thehill.com

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/5874959-reflecting-pool-trump-contractor/

8 Things to Know About Trump’s Effort to “Take Over” Midterm Elections — ProPublica

ProPublica — 2026-05-01 05:00:00 — www.propublica.org

When President Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election, the institutional guardrails of American democracy held — but just barely.

If faced with the same tests today, those guardrails and the people who held the line would largely be missing, a ProPublica examination found.

At least 75 career officials who once held roles at federal agencies related to election integrity and safety are gone. Two dozen appointees — including many who either actively worked to reverse the 2020 vote or are associates of such people — have been hired to replace them. And once-fringe actors now have access to vast powers.

As the midterms approach, current and former government officials and election security experts expressed concerns that Trump appointees who’ve espoused debunked conspiracy theories about balloting are now in positions to control the narrative around the vote’s soundness.

It’s hard to debunk false claims “coming with the seal of the federal government,” said Derek Tisler, counsel and manager with the Brennan Center for Justice’s elections and government program. “I certainly worry what damage that could do to voters’ confidence.”

Here are some of the key things you should know about the Trump administration’s efforts to, as the president said, “take over” the midterms. Read the full investigation here.

### 1. In 2020, institutional guardrails helped to prevent Trump from overturning the election.

Following his defeat in the 2020 election, Trump pushed for federal officials to uncover proof that he had, in fact, beaten Joe Biden at the polls. Election cybersecurity experts with the Department of Homeland Security relayed to Attorney General William Barr that the election fraud claims that they looked into were false. Barr then told the president what he didn’t want to hear: The election had not been hacked.

Barr was one of many federal officials — most of them Trump appointees — who refused to bend to the president’s demands, which only intensified in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, 2021. Despite the violent uprising at the Capitol on that day, the election results held firm.

### 2. Less than 18 months into his second term, Trump has dismantled many of those same guardrails.

Since the start of his second term, Trump and his appointees have made significant changes at federal agencies tasked with helping to safeguard elections. In all, at least 75 career officials who’d played important roles in elections work at DHS, the Department of Justice and other agencies have left, been fired or been reassigned, ProPublica found.

In their place are roughly two dozen people Trump has installed in positions that could affect elections. Ten of them actively worked to reverse the 2020 vote, and the rest are associates of those people. In some cases, ProPublica found, officials have been hired from activist groups that are pillars of the election-denial movement.

### 3. Among the first agencies Trump gutted after returning to office was one that had repeatedly disproved his stolen-election claims.

Officials at DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had provided research to the first Trump White House that disproved many theories claiming that the 2020 election had been hacked. CISA also played a crucial part in publicly countering these claims by producing a “Rumor Control” website to rebut them.

Then, only weeks into Trump’s second term, DHS leadership put employees focused on countering disinformation and helping safeguard elections on leave. They also froze CISA’s other election security work, which included assessing local election offices for physical and cybersecurity risks. Eventually, all CISA employees specializing in elections were fired or transferred.

A DHS spokesperson told ProPublica that the changes at CISA were in response to “a ballooning budget concealing a dangerous departure from its statutory mission,” which included “electioneering instead of defending America’s critical infrastructure.”

### 4. Trump and his appointees have gutted election-related teams at federal law enforcement agencies.

FBI Director Kash Patel dismantled the agency’s public corruption team, which had previously been deployed to help monitor possible criminal activity on Election Day. The Foreign Influence Task Force, which aimed to combat foreign influence in U.S. politics, was also disbanded.

(An FBI spokesperson said the bureau “remains committed to detecting and countering foreign influence efforts by adversarial nations.”)

The voting section of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division had enforced federal laws that protect voting rights, particularly those that combat racial discrimination. But now, nearly all of the section’s roughly 30 career lawyers have resigned or been moved. Trump then filled the section with conservative lawyers, including at least four who participated in challenging the 2020 vote or have worked with people who helped Trump try to overturn the 2020 election.

### 5. Trump has replaced ousted career specialists with “Team America.”

In the summer of 2025, after the Trump administration had forced out most of the career specialists, a small group of political appointees — which once called itself “Team America,” according to sources familiar with the matter — began convening at DHS headquarters, looking for federal levers it could pull to realize a March 2025 executive order, in which Trump tried to exert greater federal control over aspects of voting.

Among the core members of the group was David Harvilicz, a DHS assistant secretary tasked with overseeing the security of election infrastructure, including voting machines, and three of his top staffers. As ProPublica has reported, Harvilicz co-founded an AI company with an architect of Trump’s claims about election hacking in Michigan.

Heather Honey, who serves under Harvilicz in a newly created position focused on elections, is a source of the false claim that more ballots were cast in Pennsylvania than there were voters in the 2020 presidential election — a claim Trump cited on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021.

At least 11 administration appointees, including Honey, have ties to the Election Integrity Network, a conservative grassroots organization led by Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who tried to help Trump overturn the 2020 election. Since moving into government, Honey has maintained close ties to Mitchell’s organization, and she and at least two other federal officials have given its members private briefings.

### 6. Team America members are using a powerful Homeland Security Investigations tool to try to identify noncitizen voters.

The DOJ has been demanding that states turn over confidential voter roll information, and it has sued around 30 states for this data.

Meanwhile, DHS has urged states to upload their voter rolls to its tool, called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system.

The goal in both efforts has been to find noncitizens on the voter rolls. But the SAVE tool has come up short, often identifying citizens as noncitizens, as ProPublica has reported, and officials have faced other roadblocks with its use.

More recently, according to two people familiar with the matter, Team America has worked to harness a more powerful tool used by another branch of DHS, Homeland Security Investigations, to increase its ability to search for noncitizen voters and bring criminal charges against them.

In response to questions sent to DHS, Harvilicz and Honey, a DHS spokesperson disputed that they were seeking to use the department’s powers to advantage Trump. In response to questions about their ties to the election denial movement, the spokesperson wrote, “To meet the diverse and evolving challenges the Department faces, we hire experts with diverse backgrounds who go through a rigorous vetting process.”

### 7. Trump’s head of election security is behind the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election ballots in Georgia.

Attorney Kurt Olsen once worked to try to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in court and was later sanctioned by judges for making baseless allegations about Arizona elections. He is now Trump’s director of election security and integrity and is the driving force behind the January raid of the election center in Fulton County, Georgia.

Toward the end of 2025, Olsen flew to Georgia to meet with Paul Brown, the head of the FBI’s Atlanta field office, according to people familiar with the matter. Olsen wanted the FBI to seize ballots from the Democratic stronghold, and he gave Brown a report he claimed would justify the extraordinary action. Brown’s team submitted an affidavit to superiors at the DOJ that did not make a strong enough case to move forward with what Olsen wanted. Afterward, Brown was given a choice: retire or be moved to a new office. Brown retired. The raid went forward under his replacement, based on an affidavit that cited information from the report Olsen provided to Brown.

Olsen did not respond to requests for comment.

An FBI spokesperson said that Brown “elected to retire” and that its “work in the election security space is entirely consistent with the law.”

### 8. The DOJ’s Public Integrity Section could have tried to block the administration’s Georgia voting investigation.

In the months following Trump’s return to office, the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, which had been responsible for making sure the department’s inquiries weren’t improperly influenced by politics, was eviscerated. Resignations, firings and transfers reduced the 36-person section to two.

Multiple former lawyers for the section said they likely would have tried to block the Fulton County investigation because it lacked strong evidence, had a clear political slant and went against department directives that actions should not be taken “for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party.”

John Keller was principal deputy chief of the section from 2020 to 2025 and was acting chief when he resigned in early 2025. He worries that allegations of irregularities in the upcoming election will be handled on a partisan basis.

“Without that review and without apolitical, objective, honest brokers involved in the process, there is a much greater risk for intentional manipulation or inadvertent interference,” Keller said.

### How this sits against verifiable accuracy

The excerpt outlines Trump’s actions and statements regarding the 2020 election and the subsequent changes in federal agencies related to election integrity. It highlights that Trump pushed for federal officials to find proof of election fraud, which was contradicted by findings from cybersecurity experts who informed Attorney General William Barr that the election had not been hacked. Barr’s assertion that the election fraud claims were false is a key point of contention.

The excerpt also discusses the dismantling of various election-related teams and the installation of appointees with ties to the election-denial movement, raising concerns about the integrity of future elections.

Source: https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-midterm-elections-takeover-takeaways

We’re about to find out whether Trump is kingmaker or lame duck

Politics — 2026-05-05 03:45:00 — www.politico.com

President Donald Trump’s power as the GOP’s kingmaker faces a major test with this month’s primaries. So far, he’s on rocky footing. His revenge tour kicks off Tuesday in Indiana, as he tries to oust eight Republican state legislators who blocked his redistricting effort there. Then it moves on to Louisiana and Kentucky, where he’s backing challengers to two longtime enemies, Sen. Bill Cassidy and Rep. Thomas Massie, who he’s been itching to unseat for years. Trump has also selected his favorite candidates in the crowded GOP primaries for Alabama Senate and Georgia governor.

But his picks have struggled to dominate their fields, with most holding only narrow leads in polling and some failing to pull far ahead in fundraising. In Indiana, even a few allies of the president are tempering expectations of a full eight-lawmaker sweep. The results will reveal how effective the president’s political operation is at turning out Republicans when Trump is not on the ballot, and how motivated MAGA is to go along with his ongoing retribution campaign. It’s also a potent expression of his power ahead of the likely lame-duck phase of his presidency.

Some Republicans — even those involved in the races — say the shaky standing of Trump’s preferred candidates suggests that his ability to move his base en masse is beginning to slip. MAGA, they note, may be developing a mind of its own as the party begins to look beyond the Trump era. “He’s hit his max power and now you’re seeing the backside of that power curve,” said former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a frequent target of Trump’s wrath who retired from Congress amid intense backlash for his 2021 vote to impeach the president and a new congressional map that would have left him in a member-on-member primary. “This will be his last competitive election cycle that will have any impact on him. And I think the base is starting to think into the future.”

Trump has a long history of unseating his congressional opponents, backing primary challengers to his critics and wielding his social media platform and his official bully pulpit to create such politically hostile conditions that many of his adversaries simply retire. Republican candidates have long jockeyed — and continue to trip over themselves — for his stamp of approval, hoping not to end up on the wrong side of his anger. “The Trump endorsement is the most powerful and influential endorsement in the history of American politics,” said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle. “President Trump’s sterling record with his endorsements speaks for itself.”

Still, he’s produced a very mixed track record in contested races. Trump’s candidates have felled some of his biggest foes in GOP primaries, including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and other Republicans who voted to impeach the president in his first term. But he’s also suffered some high-profile losses; he failed to oust Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and has watched several of his picks fall short in congressional races over the years, including Sen. Luther Strange in Alabama and scandal-plagued Rep. Madison Cawthorn in North Carolina.

Success will be even trickier this cycle: The May contests come as he continues an unpopular war in Iran that’s causing voters pain at the gas pump, as people sour on his economic and immigration agenda and as his approval ratings continue to sink. “The [Trump] endorsement just isn’t moving voters. It just isn’t,” said a GOP operative working on the Alabama Senate race who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “When you’ve endorsed more than 800 people in 10 years, the potency of an individual endorsement wanes.”

### How this sits against verifiable accuracy

The excerpt outlines Trump’s efforts to influence upcoming primaries, highlighting his attempts to unseat Republican legislators in Indiana and support challengers in Louisiana and Kentucky. It suggests that Trump’s endorsement power is being tested, with some candidates struggling to gain traction. The statements imply that Trump’s influence may be waning as some Republicans express concerns about his ability to mobilize his base effectively.

### Targets and tone

The excerpt shows Trump targeting Sen. Bill Cassidy and Rep. Thomas Massie, referring to them as longtime enemies. Trump has urged GOP primary voters to kick Cassidy “OUT OF OFFICE,” indicating a hostile stance towards him. Additionally, the excerpt mentions that Trump has been “itching to unseat” Massie, further illustrating his antagonistic approach towards these individuals.

In summary, the upcoming primaries will serve as a critical test of Trump’s influence within the GOP, as he faces challenges in rallying support for his chosen candidates. The results could signal a shift in the party’s dynamics as it moves beyond the Trump era.

Politics — 2026-05-05 03:45:00 — www.politico.com

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/05/trump-revenge-endorsement-may-primaries-00906086

WATCH: ‘I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation’ when negotiating with Iran, Trump says

PBS NewsHour – Politics — 2026-05-12 16:32:00 — www.pbs.org

President Donald Trump said he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation” when negotiating with Iran over a deal to end the war. In a response to a reporter’s question on Tuesday regarding the influence of Americans’ financial straits on his negotiations, Trump stated, “Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon.”

Since the onset of the war with Iran, prices for essential goods, including gas and groceries, have surged. A recent PBS News/NPR/Marist poll indicated that 63% of Americans hold Trump responsible for the rising gas prices. Trump made these remarks to reporters ahead of his trip to Beijing, where he is expected to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping, likely discussing Iran among other topics.

### How this sits against verifiable accuracy
Trump’s statements imply that his negotiations with Iran are solely focused on preventing the country from obtaining nuclear weapons, without regard for the financial hardships faced by Americans. The excerpt does not provide any corrections or counter-evidence to his claims.

### Targets and tone
The excerpt does not show Trump singling out, insulting, demeaning, threatening, or speaking in a hostile way about specific people or groups.

In summary, Trump’s comments reflect a clear prioritization of national security over domestic economic concerns, a stance that may resonate differently with various segments of the American public.

Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-i-dont-think-about-americans-financial-situation-when-negotiating-with-iran-trump-says

Trump: 'I don't think about' Americans' financial situation in Iran negotiations

Administration News — 2026-05-12 14:19:00 — thehill.com

President Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the financial situations of Americans do not motivate him while he is negotiating with Iran. “Not even a little bit,” Trump said when asked how much he is motivated by Americans’ financial situations to make a deal. “The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they…”

How this sits against verifiable accuracy
Trump’s statements imply that his negotiations with Iran are unaffected by the financial circumstances of American citizens. He explicitly stated that these financial situations do not influence his decision-making in this context.

Targets and tone
The excerpt does not show Trump singling out, insulting, demeaning, threatening, or speaking in a hostile way about specific people or groups.

In summary, Trump’s remarks indicate a clear separation between his diplomatic negotiations and the economic concerns of Americans, emphasizing that his focus remains solely on the negotiations with Iran.

Administration News — 2026-05-12 14:19:00 — thehill.com

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5874643-trump-iran-financial-situations/

WATCH: Trump announces new rule establishing an optional fertility benefit for workers

PBS NewsHour – Politics — 2026-05-11 12:19:00 — www.pbs.org

President Donald Trump held an event in the Oval Office on Monday to announce that the Labor Department was issuing a new regulation to formally create a fertility benefit option for employers that could be offered to workers outside normal health insurance plans. Trump asked his guests at the event to speak quickly because generals were waiting for him to discuss the war in Iran.

Trump also addressed the status of the Iran ceasefire, stating it is on “life support” after he rejected the country’s latest proposal for not including a nuclear concession. He described the ceasefire as “unbelievably weak” and referred to the proposal as “that piece of garbage they sent us,” adding, “I didn’t even finish reading it.”

In discussing Iran’s nuclear capabilities, Trump claimed that Iran had initially agreed to allow the U.S. to help extract its highly enriched uranium but then reneged on that agreement. “They changed their mind because they didn’t put it in the paper,” he said. Trump emphasized that the U.S. seeks guarantees from Iran regarding nuclear weapons for an extended period.

Additionally, Trump confirmed that he would suspend the federal gas tax amid rising prices linked to the conflict with Iran. He asserted that oil and gas prices would drop “like a rock” once hostilities cease and indicated that the suspension would last “until it’s appropriate.”

### How this sits against verifiable accuracy
Trump’s statements imply that the Iran ceasefire is critically weakened and that Iran has not upheld its commitments regarding nuclear materials. He also claims that suspending the federal gas tax will lead to a significant decrease in fuel prices. There are no immediate corrections or counter-evidence presented in the excerpt to dispute these claims.

### Targets and tone
Trump’s remarks included disparaging language directed at Iran, referring to their proposal as “garbage” and expressing frustration over their failure to adhere to agreements.

In summary, Trump’s statements reflect his administration’s ongoing challenges with Iran and his approach to domestic economic issues, particularly regarding gas prices.

Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/watch-trump-announces-new-rule-establishing-an-optional-fertility-benefit-for-workers

WATCH: Trump says Iran ceasefire is on ‘life support’

PBS NewsHour – Politics — 2026-05-11 13:00:00 — www.pbs.org

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday said the Iran ceasefire is on “life support” after rejecting Tehran’s latest proposal, which officials said included some nuclear concessions. Trump also proposed suspending the federal gas tax to help with higher fuel prices caused by the war.

The stalled diplomacy and recent exchanges of fire could tip the Middle East back into open warfare and prolong the worldwide energy crisis sparked by the conflict. Iran still has a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global oil and gas shipments, and America is blockading Iranian ports. Asked at the White House if the ceasefire was still in effect, Trump said it’s on “life support.”

“I would call it the weakest right now after reading that piece of garbage they sent us,” Trump added. “I didn’t even finish reading it.”

Trump also said he supported a suspension of the federal tax on gasoline — just over 18 cents per gallon and 24 cents for diesel. Congress, which is controlled by Republicans, would have to approve. The tax brings in more than $23 billion each year. His pledge came after fuel prices surged past $4.50 a gallon last week. Trump predicted that the price of oil and gas would drop “like a rock” as soon as hostilities are over.

The two sides remain far apart. Trump has demanded a major rollback of Iran’s nuclear activities, while Iran is pushing for a more limited agreement that would reopen the strait and lift the blockade ahead of further negotiations. On Monday, Trump claimed that Iran had said it would allow the U.S. to come in and help extract its highly enriched uranium but went back on that in its latest ceasefire proposal. “They changed their mind because they didn’t put it in the paper,” he said.

Iran has not publicly agreed to give up its uranium, saying it has a right to enrich and that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful. Two regional officials told The Associated Press that Iran has offered to dilute part of its highly enriched uranium and transport the rest to a third country. Russia has previously offered to take it. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy.

Trump is expected to use a trip this week to China to urge President Xi Jinping to pressure Iran. Beijing is the biggest buyer of Iran’s sanctioned crude oil, giving it leverage. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who launched the war with Trump on Feb. 28, has also demanded that all of Iran’s highly enriched uranium be removed from the country. He told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Sunday that if that can’t be accomplished with negotiations, Israel and the U.S. agree “we can reengage them militarily.”

Iran’s proposal included far-reaching demands. Iran’s proposal asked that the U.S. recognize its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, formalizing its control over the international waterway. Iran has effectively closed the strait since the start of the war, allowing only a small number of ships to pass and charging tolls. But experts say such an arrangement would likely violate international law that provides for freedom of navigation. That proposal is also likely to be widely rejected by the international community. The strait was open to international traffic before the war.

Iran is also demanding war reparations from the U.S., the lifting of international sanctions, the unfreezing of Iranian assets held abroad, and an end to the war between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to Iranian state TV. Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange blows, mainly in southern Lebanon, since a nominal ceasefire took hold last month. “We did not demand any concessions — the only thing we demanded was Iran’s legitimate rights,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Monday. “The American side still insists on its one-sided views and unreasonable demands.”

Pakistan is still trying to negotiate a deal. Two regional diplomats familiar with the ongoing talks said that Pakistan was continuing its efforts to broker a compromise. One of the diplomats said Pakistan was trying to arrange a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war and paving the way for a broader dialogue on issues where the two sides remain divided. Pakistan had hoped to help finalize the memorandum last week, but the effort did not materialize, and mediators are still working on various proposals, the diplomat said. The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the behind-the-scenes diplomacy, added that Islamabad is receiving support from other regional countries in its peace efforts.

Meanwhile, Iran executed another man it accused of spying for both the CIA and Israel’s Mossad intelligence service. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said Erfan Shakourzadeh had worked on satellite communications and relayed classified information to those intelligence services. Iran has carried out a string of executions since nationwide protests swept the country in January. Activist groups have long accused Iran of carrying out closed-door trials during which defendants are unable to fully defend themselves. Iran’s judiciary chief has repeatedly said that Tehran would increase the speed with which it carried out hangings to fight back against its enemies at home and abroad.

### How this sits against verifiable accuracy
Trump stated that the Iran ceasefire is on “life support” and described Tehran’s latest proposal as “the weakest right now after reading that piece of garbage they sent us.” He also expressed support for suspending the federal gas tax to alleviate rising fuel prices. Trump’s comments reflect a critical stance on Iran’s nuclear activities and ongoing negotiations, asserting that the two sides remain far apart in their positions.

### Targets and tone
The excerpt shows Trump singling out Iran in a derogatory manner, referring to their proposal as “a piece of garbage.” His comments convey a hostile tone towards the Iranian government and its diplomatic efforts.

In summary, Trump’s remarks highlight a tense diplomatic situation with Iran, characterized by a rejection of proposals and a call for significant concessions. His statements reflect ongoing challenges in achieving a resolution to the conflict.

Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-trump-says-iran-ceasefire-is-on-life-support

Duffy’s ‘Great American Road Trip’ raises ethics questions : NPR

NPR Topics: Politics — 2026-05-12 11:11:00 — www.npr.org

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has returned to his reality television roots, filming a cross-country road trip with his family that will be released as an unscripted series ahead of America’s 250th birthday in July. “The Great American Road Trip” follows Duffy, his wife, and nine children on what he calls “a civic experience” — and encourages other families to follow suit. “The motto is: to love America is to see America,” Duffy says in the four-minute trailer, which dropped Friday. “It’s one of the most powerful ways to understand this vast, beautiful, complicated place we call home.”

The video shows the family snowmobiling out West, visiting Philadelphia’s historic landmarks, thanking veterans at a diner, and enjoying waterslides, interspersed with some backseat teasing and hints of a dramatic emergency-room visit. It also features cameos by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, country musicians Kid Rock and John Rich, a Benjamin Franklin reenactor, and President Trump, who describes their exploits as “a little trip all over.”

The trailer prompted backlash almost immediately. Critics — from prominent Democrats to social media commenters — called it out of touch, as the administration’s war in Iran has pushed gas prices to their highest level since July 2022. Some openly wondered whether taxpayers had footed the bill for Duffy’s family vacation. “The radical, miserable left has noticed our awesome Great American Road Trip trailer… and they hate it,” Duffy wrote in a lengthy X response on Saturday. “They’re upset because they don’t want you to celebrate America! And they definitely don’t want you to teach your kids civics & patriotism.”

Those involved say production costs were covered by a nonprofit by the same name, The Great American Road Trip Inc. Its public list of sponsors is stacked with travel-related companies — like Toyota, Boeing, and United Airlines — with ties to the Department of Transportation, raising more questions.

On Monday, the nonprofit government watchdog group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, accusing Duffy of violating federal gift and travel rules, and calling on the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General to investigate. “You have everyday Americans who are struggling with the price of gas, struggling with the costs of everyday items, and you have the cabinet secretary announcing that he is going on a trip with his entire family, which appears to have been funded by the industries that his department is overseeing,” CREW president Donald Sherman tells NPR. Sherman wants to know how much time the secretary — and government staff — spent on the project. And he says Duffy’s insistence that it didn’t cost taxpayers raises even more questions. “If he’s saying that this is a work project or that he did work on the project, then taxpayer funds should be paying for it,” he adds. “And if it’s a vacation or some kind of personal trip, then certainly industry should not be paying for it.”

Duffy said on X that “career ethics and budget officials” approved his participation and travel “in accordance with federal rules.” Department of Transportation spokesperson Nathaniel Sizemore told NPR on Monday that its “regulatory decisions are guided by career safety professionals, the law, and the facts.”

Duffy was a reality TV personality before he entered politics. He starred on The Real World: Boston in 1997 and met his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, on MTV’s Road Rules: All Stars the following year. In a joint Friday appearance on Fox & Friends — which Campos-Duffy co-hosts on weekends — Campos-Duffy said they’d rebuffed “dozens of reality TV people” wanting to do a show about their family over the last three decades.

Then, she said, President Trump tasked Cabinet members with celebrating America’s 250th birthday. That inspired Duffy, who said he grew up taking family road trips from his native Wisconsin to Florida. “I wanted to lean into America’s 250th birthday; Rachel and I actually met on a road trip on a reality TV show,” Duffy said. “And so over the course of seven months, we just kind of found these moments where I might be able to do some work, take the kids with me, do a road trip.”

Campos-Duffy said they initially figured they would just document their travels through social media videos. “And then we started talking about it, we were like, ‘Let’s go back to our roots. Let’s do this one for free. We’ll put it on YouTube, we’ll let the whole country see it,'” she said. “If just one more family says, ‘Load up the car and let’s go spend time together … let’s see America during her birthday year,’ then, we said, we will have done something wonderful.”

It’s not clear when the five-part series will arrive on YouTube. Duffy told Fox & Friends that episodes will drop in June. Tori Barnes, the executive director of The Great American Road Trip Inc., told NPR on Monday that “the timing and cadence has not yet been finalized.”

Barnes says filming took place in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Tennessee, Montana, Wyoming, Florida, South Carolina, Arizona, Louisiana, and Massachusetts. “If I never lived in this house, none of you would be here,” Duffy, in the trailer, tells his kids outside the converted 19th-century Boston firehouse where his season of The Real World was filmed. Duffy reportedly worked with the same production company that did his season of The Real World (Barnes did not address NPR’s requests for confirmation).

Duffy has said filming happened in one- to two-day windows like “weekends and the kids’ spring break” over a seven-month period. Both the Great American Road Trip Inc. and the Department of Transportation declined to confirm when exactly that window was. Sizemore, the Department of Transportation spokesperson, told NPR over email that “in these brief stops, the Secretary also often conducted additional visits like touring air traffic control towers and assessing port infrastructure.”

“Like with any other official engagements, the Department covered the flight,” he added. Duffy’s tenure has coincided with a chaotic time for air travel, from aviation disasters to shutdown shortages to financial woes caused by high jet fuel prices. Sizemore said celebrating the country’s 250th birthday is part of Duffy’s official duties, too. At one point in the trailer, Duffy says to his family while sitting on a couch: “Someone has to pay for this operation; I gotta go to work.”

As the trailer made the rounds on social media, many commenters asked how the trip was paid for. Some worried it was costing taxpayers, while others said its product placement — like the Toyota car, a Japanese brand, prominently featured in the video — raised questions of corruption. Sherman, of CREW, agrees. “One has to wonder whether the decision to prominently feature Toyota in this project is because Toyota paid for a sponsorship or because the secretary actually thinks that promoting Toyota is in the best interest of the American public, American automakers and the people that work for that industry,” he said.

Duffy wrote on social media — and the Department of Transportation reiterated — that “zero taxpayer dollars were spent on my family.” None of them received a salary or production royalties, he said, and the Great American Road Trip, Inc. covered production costs. Barnes confirmed the nonprofit covered production costs, though did not specify what those amounted to. Sizemore, of the Department of Transportation, said the nonprofit also covered “things like gas, car rentals, lodging, and activities.” “The Great American Road Trip Inc is an independent organization,” Sizemore said. “How and who they accept donations from in furtherance of their mission to celebrate America’s 250th birthday is their decision.”

The Great American Road Trip Inc. describes itself as an independent nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization, “fully funding its own efforts to celebrate and share America’s story.” (An IRS database search did not yield any results for an organization by that name, and Barnes did not respond to NPR’s requests for an identification number.) The nonprofit’s website lists over a dozen sponsors “powering America’s road trip,” most of which are in the travel or transportation industry. They include Toyota, Boeing, and Royal Caribbean, which Sherman says have been subject to investigation — and in some cases, fines — by the Department of Transportation in recent years “and certainly could be in the future.”

“[The nonprofit] has become a vehicle for providing access, to its sponsors, to a cabinet secretary, which should make everyday Americans who cannot pay for similar access really concerned,” Sherman adds. In another sign of the closeness between government and industry, Barnes, the director of The Great American Road Trip Inc., most recently served as the executive vice president of public affairs and policy at the U.S. Travel Association. She told NPR that the nonprofit has “three key pillars”: celebrating America’s 250th birthday, promoting travel and tourism, and highlighting “the transportation, infrastructure, and ingenuity that built America over the past 250 years and will build America over the next 250 years.” “We are supported by partners who share these goals and believe in encouraging Americans to rediscover the people, places, and experiences that define our country,” Barnes wrote in response to questions about potential conflicts of interest.

Sherman hopes CREW’s nine-page complaint, as well as the mounting public interest, will prompt the Department of Transportation’s inspector general to launch an investigation into whether Duffy violated government ethics rules. He says the American people deserve to know what happened, and other government officials should be put on notice, “especially because I imagine as we get closer to the 250th anniversary, there will be more of these attempts to sort of muddy the waters between what’s official action and what’s not.”

“The Great American Road Trip” — both the series and the nonprofit — aims to highlight iconic destinations across the country and encourage families to visit them. But Duffy’s call to “gas up the car, pack up the kids, get behind the wheel and get out and see America” has gotten a mixed reception. Gas prices are skyrocketing due to the U.S. war in Iran, as many critics — from social media commenters to Duffy’s predecessor — were quick to point out. “I love a good road trip, but this is brutally out of touch: a Trump Cabinet member making a documentary about himself while regular families can’t afford road trips anymore, because Trump and his war put gas prices through the roof,” Pete Buttigieg, transportation secretary under President Biden, wrote on X.

Sizemore, the Department of Transportation spokesperson, blamed Democrats for having “forced Americans into expensive electric vehicles” and praised Duffy for supporting Trump’s “energy dominance agenda.” Still, many YouTube and Instagram commenters lamented that a road trip like the Duffys’ is financially out of reach for them, at least for now. When asked about the high cost of gas, Barnes, the executive director of the nonprofit, pointed to shorter road-trip options. “Whether one goes just two hours away from your house or two days. You could go to the beach, you could go to [a] campground,” Barnes told NPR over email. “It’s about the adventure of getting out and seeing America.”

Duffy made a very similar case on Fox & Friends days earlier. “You could go for two hours, you could drive for two days, you could do a day trip,” he said. “It fits any budget to do a road trip.”

### How this sits against verifiable accuracy
The excerpt presents a narrative surrounding Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s new reality television series, “The Great American Road Trip,” which aims to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. Duffy’s statements about the series and its funding have raised questions amid rising gas prices and public scrutiny regarding potential ethical violations. Critics, including members of the public and government watchdogs, have expressed concern about whether taxpayer money was used for the trip, which Duffy insists it was not.

Duffy claims that “zero taxpayer dollars were spent on my family,” and that his participation was approved by “career ethics and budget officials” in accordance with federal rules. However, the context of rising gas prices due to the U.S. war in Iran adds tension to the narrative, with critics labeling the project as out of touch with the struggles of everyday Americans.

### Targets and tone
Duffy’s remarks on social media reflect a defensive tone towards critics, particularly those he labels as “the radical, miserable left,” suggesting a hostile stance towards those opposing his family’s road trip initiative. His comments imply that critics do not want to celebrate America or teach civics and patriotism to children, framing the discussion in a polarized manner.

In summary, the excerpt illustrates a complex interplay of political, social, and economic factors surrounding Duffy’s project, highlighting the challenges of balancing public service with personal endeavors in a politically charged environment.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/12/nx-s1-5818190/sean-duffy-road-trip-reality-show-sponsors