The Latest: Trump administration appeals latest ruling halting his mail voting order
President Donald Trump 's administration has appealed the latest ruling blocking his mail voting order from taking effect, the latest twist in a court fight unfolding days before the first states begin sending out mail ballots.
The notice of appeal filed Friday comes after a federal judge in Boston handed down a new decision blocking implementation of an executive order from Trump for the next two weeks. The Supreme Court previously allowed the plan to move ahead on procedural grounds, but hasn’t decided whether it’s legal.
Also, Trump has reached an awkward moment in his second term as the U.S.-Israel war against Iran began six months ago Friday. It’s a notable milestone for a Republican leader who repeatedly assured Americans that attacking Iran would be a “little excursion” over in weeks.
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Its report released Friday says the 250-foot-tall (76-meter) memorial arch is likely to disrupt the historical significance of dozens of sites near its planned location adjacent to Memorial Bridge.
Many of Washington’s monuments, buildings and sites have been carefully planned over decades to reflect significant moments in the nation’s history and evoke symbolism in being connected by sightline to other sites. arch will disturb the sightline between more iconic Washington landmarks than anticipated, report says
But the Park Service report says “the same characteristics that make Memorial Circle sensitive from a preservation perspective are also the characteristics that make it the historically appropriate location for the undertaking.”
Immigration officials said that Yiannopoulos was arrested at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
They accused him of entering the United States illegally in May 2019 through New York City. An immigration judge issued a final order of removal on July 22 after Yiannopoulos failed to show up for his immigration hearing, a DHS spokesperson wrote in an email.
“He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security wrote in an emailed statement.
ICE’s online detainee locator doesn’t say where Yiannopoulos is being held but directs family and legal representatives to the agency’s office in Alexandria, Louisiana, a deportation hub for international flights.
“As you all well know, the message he delivered back in 1963 is as true today as it was back then,” Sanders told a crowd of demonstrators from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Sanders addressed the crowd on the 63rd anniversary of King’s iconic 1963 March on Washington. Sanders noted the official mission of the march was “for jobs and freedom,” noting the economic dimension of King’s message.
Sanders also made an appeal to Black voters for his progressive vision.
“While this economic crisis impacts all of our people, all races, creeds, and people in every corner of our country, it continues to disproportionately affect the Black community,” said Sanders.
Trump joined a call to American astronauts on the International Space Station during a Friday visit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Officials said it was the first time a sitting president called the station from Mission Control.
Trump congratulated the crew and said he admired their bravery.
“I wouldn’t do it. I will tell you right now, I hate to admit it,” Trump said. “But some people love it more than anything. And you have amazing courage.”
Crew members talked about their time on the station, saying they’re preparing for an upcoming spacewalk. They said they were excited to hear about Trump’s newly announced U.S. Space Academy.
When they get back to Earth, they will be invited to the White House, Trump said: “We’ll see you in the Oval Office, OK?”
The White House plans to appeal a judge’s order blocking changes to mail voting ahead of the midterms.
Spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in statement Friday that the Trump administration will immediately appeal the order handed down late Thursday by a Boston-based judge.
Under Trump’s executive order, the U.S. Postal Service could refuse to deliver ballots from states that do not submit lists of eligible voters and follow a uniform envelope style.
With the first mail ballots set to go out next week, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani found that states don’t have the time or money to produce new mail ballots and upload voter data.
Bis called the plan a series of commonsense measures that would protect ballot security.
A lawsuit from Democrat-controlled states says the new rules would cause chaos and leave out eligible voters.
In an interview with AP during Friday’s march for civil rights on the National Mall, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats could still win a majority in the U.S. House despite GOP-led redistricting efforts in Southern states.
“We’re going to win all across the country, up and down the ballot,” Jeffries said. “We only have to flip about five or six seats, and that’s really what we’re going to do."
Egypt’s foreign ministry and central bank are communicating with U.S. officials with regard to a recent decision by the U.S. Treasury to limit the operations of Banque Misr in the United Arab Emirates, according to a statement issued by the Central Bank of Egypt on Friday.
“The CBE affirms that this measure is limited to the bank’s branches in the UAE and only to its dollar transfers,” read the statement adding that the ban does not affect any other Egyptian bank and does not even extend to the Banque Misr’s operations inside Egypt or to any of its overseas branches.
“The Central Bank of Egypt affirms the strength and resilience of all banks operating in Egypt,” said the statement.
The Trump administration announced that it is taking steps to sever the Emirati branches of Banque Misr, Egypt’s second-largest bank, from access to the U.S. financial system on grounds that the financial institution was serving as an economic lifeline to Tehran’s leadership.
State officials announced the lawsuit Friday over the administration buying back the lease for Golden State Wind. They say the cancellation will harm the state’s clean energy and climate goals, and economy.
The Trump administration is buying back offshore wind leases from energy companies as it seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.
Golden State Wind can recover about $120 million in lease fees after the same amount is invested in oil and gas development.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says companies are shifting investment back toward dependable, secure energy infrastructure.
A federal judge rejected the president’s bid to move the state court case to federal court and have it dismissed on presidential immunity grounds.
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein reiterated his earlier finding against Trump, saying that the reasons Trump cited for renewing his request were “neither new nor legally sufficient.”
The judge added: “He has failed to show good cause and diligence.”
It is the third time Hellerstein has blocked Trump from having the U.S. District Court in Manhattan seize control of the case from the New York court where he was tried and convicted.
Speaking at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday, Trump said he is creating a U.S. Space Academy to train future generations for ambitious space missions.
Looking ahead to future missions to Mars and beyond, Trump said the nation needs to train “an entire generation of skilled service members, engineers and civil operators.”
Trump said he would soon decide a location for the academy, which he said will match the rigor of West Point, the Air Force Academy and other military academies.
“I said I’ll do it, but it’s got to be top line, it’s got to be the equivalent of the others,” he said.
Trump signed an executive order on Friday creating the new academy.
Trump is sending his best wishes to a team that on Sunday will launch the Roman Space Telescope, which NASA says will help settle questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets and astrophysics.
In his remarks at the ceremony, Trump noted the telescope will “help unlock the secrets of the universe.”
“To everyone involved here at NASA, good luck this weekend,” he added. “It’s a big deal.”
The telescope is named after Nancy Grace Roman, the first woman to hold an executive position at NASA and who helped with development of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Leading GOP voices are planning to address the Republican Jewish Coalition annual conference – but Vance’s remarks are listed as closed to reporters.
Vance, Indiana Sen. Jim Banks and Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, are all speaking at the gathering being held Sunday and Monday in Las Vegas, but are doing so behind closed doors only.
The public speech program is packed with other major GOP leaders, however. That includes members of Trump’s Cabinet, senators, House lawmakers and candidates vying for key Senate seats in North Carolina, Georgia and Michigan during November’s midterm elections.
Vance is widely seen as a 2028 presidential hopeful, and addressing the influential gathering is common for those likely to run for president. Also on the public speaking list is Vivek Ramaswamy, a 2024 presidential candidate now running for Ohio governor.
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island said Trump promised he would destroy Iran’s nuclear program, eliminate its missile and drone arsenal, and topple the regime in a matter of weeks.
“Six months later, not a single objective has been achieved,” Reed said. “Indeed, he has weakened our position in the Middle East and the world significantly.”
He called it a policy failure of “historic consequence” and said it was past time for accountability.
In an interview with The Associated Press, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he did not regret meeting with Trump’s son-in-law.
Jeffries said he still expected Democrats to retake control of the U.S. House despite the party’s internal debates between its progressive and moderate wings, as well as Republican-led congressional redistricting efforts across the country.
“We’re going to win all across the country, up and down the ballot. We only have to flip about five or six seats, and that’s really what we’re going to do. It is a call to action,” said Jeffries.
Martin Luther King III told the AP during Friday’s voting right rally at the National Mall that the work of the Civil Rights movement “is further eroding” in the wake of the Supreme Courts’ April ruling that reinterpreted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
King III also said that his father, who worked so hard for that law, would be disappointed with the state of the country.
“Had he lived, we’d be on a totally different trajectory,” King said. “These would not be issues; they would have been resolved.”
The Trump administration has revoked the U.S. visa of a former Iraqi finance minister who was honored in 2022 with an “International Women of Courage” award by the State Department.
The department said Friday it had revoked the visa of Taif Sami Mohammed Al Shakarchi, who served as Iraq’s finance minister from 2022 until July. Earlier this month she was implicated by Iraqi authorities in a possible corruption scheme.
The department said her visa was revoked after the FBI added her to its “terrorism watchlist.” It was not clear why she had been added to the watchlist but officials said she had left the United States before her visa revoked.
The Trump administration is taking steps to limit an Egyptian bank’s operations in the United Arab Emirates, accusing the financial institution of serving as an economic lifeline to Tehran’s leadership as the U.S. war in Iran reaches the six-month mark.
Under a new rule proposed by the U.S. Treasury, the Emirati branches of Banque Misr, Egypt’s second-largest bank, would be severed from access to the U.S. financial system.
This comes after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held a presser earlier in the week announced “Operation Economic Outcast,” warning countries that do business with Iran to sever their financial ties or face retaliation from the U.S.
When Trump launched the war with Iran in late February, he forecast it would last four weeks to five weeks. Six months later, there still is no off-ramp in sight, despite Trump’s repeated assertions that the war has been won or a deal to resolve it was nearly complete.
A June memorandum of understanding designed to pave the way to end the war has fallen by the wayside. U.S. stockpiles of key weapons have diminished, and the Republican administration has pivoted to pressuring Iran economically rather than conducting more strikes.
The administration described various goals for the war:
1. Stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon
2. Reopen the Strait of Hormuz
3. Destroy Iran’s ability to fire missiles
4. Destroy Iran’s defense industrial base
5. Eliminate Iran’s navy and air force
6. Protect America’s Middle Eastern allies
7. Cut off support for Iranian proxy groups
▶ Read more about these objectives and where they stand
“We’ve been doing these marches for years, but this is probably the most important because this is the first year we are marching that the voting rights bill has been nullified by the Supreme Court,” Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The march opened with prayer and statements from Interfaith Alliance representatives who spoke on diversity, equity and inclusion practices, voting rights and systemic racism.
Friday’s march follows changes to voting laws and redistricting that civil rights groups have condemned as detrimental to racial justice and Black Americans in particular.
The 2026 “Defend the Vote” March on Washington, is organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III and echoes the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 march.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark April decision in Louisiana v. Callais reinterpreted the Voting Rights Act, allowing Southern states to redraw congressional maps in ways that erode equal representation in Black communities.
It’s been six months since the United States and Israel attacked Iran with the perennial goal of transforming the Middle East through military force. The region has changed, but not in the way they had hoped.
The Islamic Republic survived the assassination of its top leaders and weeks of heavy bombing, and found a potent form of leverage in the Strait of Hormuz. Gulf Arab nations saw worrying gaps open up in the American security umbrella they have relied on for decades — and some are looking at alternatives.
Israel has once again thrashed its enemies without defeating them, and after nearly three years of war in Gaza and new land seizures, is at risk of a generational rupture with the U.S., its closest ally. Hopes of normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia — another enduring U.S. and Israeli aspiration — have dimmed even further.
The International Maritime Organization said Friday that 19 seafarers have been killed in attacks on international shipping since the Iran war began, and at least 6,000 seafarers aboard hundreds of ships remain stranded and unable to leave.
The IMO said it has verified at least 70 attacks on international shipping in the Persian Gulf since the war began on Feb. 28.
“Thousands of seafarers in the region continue to live and work under conditions of heightened risk and uncertainty,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said. He urged practical solutions and cooperation to restore freedom of navigation.
Shipping has been disrupted and the through the Strait of Hormuz has been virtually closed since the Iran war started on Feb. 28. Before the war, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through the waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
The Fed chair, who replaced his predecessor Jerome Powell three months ago, has said he doesn’t want to provide what analysts call “forward guidance” about whether the Fed will hike or cut rates or stay on hold at upcoming meetings. He argues that it limits the Fed’s flexibility by committing it to a specific policy.
Yet some economists have argued that Warsh could say more about his views on Fed policy without tipping his hand.
Warsh on Friday reiterated his skepticism about providing such guidance or even outlining his broad approach to interest-rate policy.
But he did suggest that interest rates currently aren’t restricting economic activity, pointing to robust business investment in AI equipment and infrastructure and strong consumer spending. As a rule of thumb, interest rates often need to be high enough to limit borrowing and spending to cool inflation.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said Friday that inflation is still too high and suggested the central bank may have to raise interest rates in the coming months to bring it down, a clearer signal than he had sent previously about his economic outlook.
In his first high-profile speech at the Fed’s annual conference at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Warsh acknowledged in prepared remarks that recent inflation reports show it has cooled a bit, but “they do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved.”
“We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective, clearly and at sufficient speed,” Warsh said. “Otherwise, we have work to do.”
Republican President George W. Bush was widely mocked for a 2003 speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln beneath a White House-produced banner that read “Mission Accomplished.” It came to symbolize a premature declaration of victory for the Iraq War, which would go on for nearly nine more years. More than two decades later, there are still U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.
Trump’s war has stretched on far longer than he told Americans it would. It didn’t stop him from sharing a social media post this week declaring “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 2026.” The AI-generated image features Trump against a backdrop of U.S. fighter jets, a warship and American flags above smaller images of Bush and former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli strike in the opening salvos of the war.
The president is spending Friday in Houston, where he’ll honor the Artemis II NASA crew for their 10-day mission around the moon earlier this year.
It’s unclear how — or if — Trump will address the six-month anniversary of a conflict that has already cost the United States more than $37.5 billion and damaged his popularity ahead of critical November elections for his party.
As the conflict grinds on, Trump’s talk of finding a quick end to the war also appears to be fading. He stressed this week that he’s “not in a hurry” to get Iran back to the negotiating table, and he continues making the case that the Islamic Republic’s leadership is on the ropes.
“They’re not paying their troops. They’re in deep trouble. They have very little capacity,” Trump told reporters Thursday. “We don’t want to speak to them. We’re not looking to meet or anything.”
American Oversight is calling on the Justice Department to criminally investigate Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for allegedly making false statements during his confirmation hearings.
The liberal watchdog group’s letter Thursday includes a document published by the AP and the Guardian that contradicts Kennedy’s denials about his reasons for a 2019 trip to Samoa.
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly testified before two separate Senate committees that his trip to Samoa had nothing to do with vaccines. But a letter he wrote to Samoa’s prime minister six years earlier appears to contradict that testimony,” the group’s executive director Chioma Chukwu said. “If Kennedy lied to the Senate while seeking confirmation as the nation’s top health official, the Justice Department must investigate and hold him accountable.”
Knowingly giving material false testimony to Congress is a crime, but it is rarely prosecuted. The Department of Health and Human Services said in response to AP’s questions that the Samoa visit was “unrelated to vaccines.”
Navy Admiral Bradley Cooper, the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East, said Thursday night that international shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz have been cleared of mines.
“Today, international shipping lanes are open and momentum is building,” he said in a video posted on social media.
Gulf states have not commented on the statement, and it was not possible to independently verify the claim. Even without mines, however, ships still face threats from drones, missiles and boats as they pass through the narrow waterway.
The U.S. government has claimed that up to 9 million barrels a day are flowing through the strait “over short time periods,” but commodities analysts at ING bank cautioned that the figure “seems aggressive.” Before the war, some 15 million barrels transited the strait daily.
A judge on Thursday expressed skepticism about the Kennedy Center’s intention to return Trump’s name to the historic performing arts venue by early next month, challenging the board’s insistence on moving forward even in the face of a court ruling that blocked and reversed a previous effort.
Just seconds after the Trump administration’s lawyer, Brantley Mayers, began making his case at a nearly two-hour hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper interrupted to ask why the center needed to begin inscribing the president’s name on the institution’s facade as soon as Sept. 8.
“What’s magic about that date?” Cooper asked, quipping that sometimes judges travel over the Labor Day holiday.
Mayers responded that the timeline was in accordance with a vote earlier this month by the Trump-aligned board. As he returned to his arguments that renovations at the Kennedy Center require energy and talent, Cooper interjected again.
“That’s all fine and good,” the judge said. “What does that have to do with what Congress intended in these statutes? That’s really what’s before me.”
A federal judge on Thursday halted — at least for now — attempts to implement Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting.
The move stalled the directive for a second time only about a week before the first mail ballots are due to be sent out for the rapidly approaching midterm elections. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani blocked the government from implementing the order for two weeks.
The case could soon be appealed back to the Supreme Court, days after the justices handed down a procedural decision that allowed the administration to move ahead.
The ruling Thursday came after Democrats and voting rights groups refiled their lawsuits to comply with the recent Supreme Court decision. The high court’s conservative majority did not rule on the legality of Trump’s executive order, instead saying Talwani had acted too soon.
A federal judge has ruled in favor of artificial intelligence company Anthropic in its legal battle against the Pentagon after the government labeled the company as a supply chain risk earlier this year.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a written order Thursday night that the Pentagon acted illegally by punishing the AI company for its criticism of the Department of Defense’s views on AI use. The government is expected to fight the ruling.
The dispute between the AI company and the government broke out in February when Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused Anthropic of endangering national security and designated the company a supply chain risk. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down over concerns the company’s products could be used for mass surveillance or autonomous armed drones.
Lin wrote that the government’s actions “were based on a desire to make a public example out of Anthropic for its ‘arrogance’ in criticizing the government, not based on any articulable basis to believe that Anthropic would actually sabotage its model.”
President Donald Trump arrives at an awkward moment for his presidency on Friday as the U.S.-Israel war against Iran reaches the six-month mark, a notable milestone for a conflict that the Republican leader repeatedly assured Americans would be a “little excursion” lasting a matter of weeks.
The war isn’t over, though Trump claims that through bombs and blockade, he has already devastated Iran’s leadership, military and economy.
And this week his administration said it would turn its focus to increasing economic pressure — rather than military action — to try to finish off Iran. The shifting strategy centers on threats to punish any country or entity that continues to conduct business with Tehran.
The turn to using sanctions as the cudgel of choice comes as the administration weighs diminished munitions stockpiles after months of war, sparking concerns that the prolonged conflict could undermine U.S. military readiness in other parts of the globe.
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