Category: National

(NEW YORK) — Two improvised explosive devices brought to a counterprotest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City Saturday are being investigated as “an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” and the two suspects arrested in connection with the incident are facing federal terrorism charges, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.

According to a federal criminal complaint released Monday, both suspects openly pledged allegiance to ISIS while in the presence of police, and one suspect allegedly told officers they “wanted to carry out an attack bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing,” which the suspect noted “caused only ‘three deaths.’”

The explosive devices contained the volatile substance triacetone triperoxide, known as TATP, and were made to “injure, maim or worse,” Tisch said of Saturday’s incident.

“These were not hoax devices or smoke bombs. They were improvised explosive devices,” Tisch said during a news conference outside the Gracie Mansion mayor’s residence with New York City Mayor Zohran Mandami, the city’s first Muslim mayor.

One of the devices was ignited and deployed at protesters in a crosswalk on East End Avenue and East 87 Street, and the other device was detonated close by, Tisch said.

Tisch said a third suspected IED was found in the car of the two suspects, a black 2010 Honda with New Jersey license plates, parked on the Upper East Side of Manhattan near Gracie Mansion, prompting an immediate evacuation of homes in the area. She said the device did not test positive for explosives.

All of the devices are being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for additional testing, Tisch said.

Two Pennsylvania men who are in custody are charged in a five-count federal complaint with attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS, use of a weapon of mass destruction, transportation of explosive materials, interstate transportation and receipt of explosives, and unlawful possession of destructive devices.

The suspects were identified as Emir Balat of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Ibrahim Kayumi of Newton, Pennsylvania, according to Tisch and the federal complaint.

The suspects were ordered to be held without bail after they made their initial appearances, both in shackles, in Manhattan federal court on Monday afternoon. They did not enter a plea to the charges.

“They’re suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism,” Mamdani said Monday. “Let me say this plainly: Anyone who comes to New York City to bring violence to our streets will be held accountable in accordance with the law.”

The explosives were deployed at an anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion that was organized by far-right, anti-immigrant provocateur Jack Lang, officials said. The event was called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City.”

The anti-Muslim protest drew counterprotesters who called their response “Run Nazis Out of New York City,” according to the criminal complaint.

“FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the matter with our partners at NYPD as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York,” the FBI said in a statement Sunday.

Balat and Kayumi are suspected of attending the event as part of the counterprotest to the anti-Muslim demonstration, authorities said Monday.

Neither Mamdani nor his wife, Rama Duwaji, were in Gracie Mansion when the incident occurred, the mayor said Monday.

Immediately following his arrest, Kayumi was asked by someone in the surrounding crowd why he allegedly attempted to bomb the protest, according to the complaint.

“Kayumi responded in part and as captured on NYPD body-worn camera footage, ‘ISIS,'” the complaint states.

Balat waived his Miranda rights to remain silent following his arrest, according to the complaint, and allegedly provided a written statement in which he “pledge[d] [] allegience [sic] to the Islamic State,” the complaint states.

Balat also allegedly told police that “they wanted to carry out an attack bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing, which Balat noted caused only ‘three deaths,'” according to the complaint.

The April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombing also left more than 500 people injured.

Kayumi, whom the complaint said also waived his Miranda rights, allegedly “stated, in substance and in part, that he was affiliated with ISIS; watched ISIS propaganda on his phone; and was partly inspired to carry out his actions that day by ISIS,” according to the complaint.

“Anti-Muslim bigotry is nothing new to me, nor is it anything new for the one million or so Muslim New Yorkers who know this city as our home,” Mamdani said at Monday’s news conference.

“While I found this protest appalling. I will not waver in my belief that it should be allowed to happen. Ours is a free society, where the right to peaceful protest is sacred. It does not only belong to those we agree with. It belongs to everyone,” Mandani added.

Many of the counterprotesters on Saturday confronted the “display of bigotry,” the mayor said. He also praised NYPD officers who swiftly responded to the incident and arrested the suspects, saying they were “faced with a chaotic situation that quickly could have become far more dangerous.”

The mayor specifically cited the “courageous and selfless” acts of two NYPD officers, Assistant Chief Aaron Edwards and Sgt. Luis Navarro, who attended Monday’s news conference. Mamdani said the officers “ran towards the danger so that others could run safely.”

Tisch said the last incident in New York City in which an IED was deployed occurred in December 2017, when Akayed Ullah detonated a homemade bomb he had strapped to his torso in a pedestrian underpass connecting the Port Authority Bus Terminal to the Time Square subway station.

Ullah, a permanent resident of Bangladesh who was living in Brooklyn at the time, was the only person injured in the act, which federal prosecutors said was committed on behalf of ISIS of Iraq. Ullah was convicted in April 2021 by a federal jury on all six counts of the indictment and was sentenced to life in prison.

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(NEW YORK) — Two improvised explosive devices brought to a counterprotest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City are being investigated as “an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” and the two suspects arrested in connection with the incident are facing federal terrorism charges, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.

The devices contained the volatile substance TATP and were made to “injure, maim or worse,” Tisch said of Saturday’s incident.

“These were not hoax devices or smoke bombs. They were improvised explosive devices,” Tisch said during a news conference outside Gracie Mansion with New York City Mayor Zohran Mandami, the city’s first Muslim mayor.

Tisch said a third suspected IED was found in the car of the two suspects parked on the East Side of Manhattan, prompting an immediate evacuation of homes in the area. She said the device did not test positive for explosives.

All of the devices are being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for additional testing, Tisch said.

Two Pennsylvania men who are in custody in connection with the devices will be charged with federal crimes, Tisch said. The complaint has not yet been unsealed.

The suspects were identified as Emir Balat of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Ibrahim Kayumi of Newton, Pennsylvania, Tisch said.

“They’re suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism,” Mamdani said. “Anyone who comes to NYC to bring violence to our streets will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

The explosives were deployed at an anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, that was organized by far-right, anti-immigrant provocateur Jack Lang, officials said. The event was called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City.”

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(NEW YORK) — The U.S. has intercepted encrypted communications believed to have originated in Iran that may serve as “an operational trigger” for “sleeper assets” outside the country, according to a federal government alert sent to law enforcement agencies.

The alert, reviewed by ABC News, cites “preliminary signals analysis” of a transmission “likely of Iranian origin” that was relayed across multiple countries shortly after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, was killed in a U.S.-Israeli attack on Feb. 28.

The intercepted transmission was encoded and appeared to be destined for “clandestine recipients” who possess the encryption key, the kind of message intended to impart instructions to “covert operatives or sleeper assets” without the use of the internet or cellular networks.

It’s possible the transmissions could “be intended to activate or provide instructions to prepositioned sleeper assets operating outside the originating country,” the alert said.

“While the exact contents of these transmissions cannot currently be determined, the sudden appearance of a new station with international rebroadcast characteristics warrants heightened situational awareness,” the alert said.

While the alert is careful to say there is “no operational threat tied to a specific location,” it does instruct law enforcement agencies to increase their monitoring of suspicious radio-frequency activity.

If the contents of the alert prove true, it would confirm the fears expressed by law enforcement officials after the U.S. and Israel struck Iran that sleeper cells deployed around the West could be used for retaliation.

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(NEW YORK) — A newly surfaced video appears to show a U.S.-made missile hitting a building in Iran adjacent to a girls’ school where local officials say 168 people were killed, experts told ABC News.

The eyewitness video was first posted Sunday morning by the Iranian outlet Mehr News, and then shared online by Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician, who now works as a researcher with the investigative group Bellingcat.

Ball said in a post on X that the video showed a U.S.-made Tomahawk missile.

ABC News geolocated the video adjacent to the site of the deadly Feb. 28 strike, in which several buildings connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were destroyed along with a nearby building housing a school for girls.

The missile seen impacting in the video is not hitting the girls’ school but another building in the IRGC complex.
Experts told ABC News the missile has the characteristics of a Tomahawk, which is used by the United States and is not known to be fielded by Iran or Israel.

Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told ABC News that the size and shape of the missile resemble the Tomahawk.

“I do believe this points towards U.S. responsibility for the strike in the area,” he said.

N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, also said the munition seen in the video appeared to be a Tomahawk.

“That indicates it is a U.S. strike,” he said.

Jenzen-Jones earlier cautioned that attributing responsibility for the strike on the nearby school would be difficult without access to munition fragments. He said the new video was still not proof as to who was responsible for striking the school.

“We can only be definitive about the one in the video. Of course, it makes it more likely the surrounding targets were hit by the U.S., but it doesn’t give certainty,” he said.

ABC News has reached out to the Pentagon for a comment.

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(NEW YORK) — Videos released by the Texas Department of Public Safety appear to cast doubt on the Department of Homeland Security’s account of a fatal agent-involved shooting of U.S. citizen that occurred in South Padre Island, Texas, in March 2025.

Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was fatally shot by a Homeland Security Investigations agent on March 15, 2025. The incident was initially reported by local news outlets as an officer-involved shooting. DHS did not reveal the involvement of its agent until February when media outlets reported that the agents were involved.

In a statement given to San Antonio ABC affiliate, DHS said HSI agents were helping South Padre Island Police officers control traffic after an unrelated accident at the popular spring break destination when a driver “intentionally ran over” an agent “resulting in him being on the hood of the vehicle.”

The statement went on to say: “Upon witnessing this, another agent fired defensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public.”

DHS said an agent was taken to the hospital with a knee injury after the incident.

In a statement provided to ABC News, attorneys for Martinez’s mother said the video footage calls the DHS account of the shooting into question.

“These new videos confirm that Ruben’s car was barely moving when he was shot,” the statement from attorneys Charles M. Stam and Alex Stamm said. “That he was braking, not accelerating. That nobody was on the hood of his car. That nobody was in front of his car when he was shot. That he was shot at point-blank range through his side window by an ICE agent who was in no danger.”

The statement went on to say: “This batch of evidence shows no justification for Ruben’s killing.

In a statement, Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said: “We stand by the grand jury’s unanimous decision that found no criminality. This incident was investigated from every possible angle by an independent body, and it cleared our officer.”

Body camera video
Footage from the body-worn camera of a South Padre police officer appears to show Martinez’s blue Ford slowly approaching the intersection and moving forward when someone is heard saying, “Keep going.”

Martinez’s vehicle slows to a crawl or a possible stop as a group of pedestrians are seen crossing the street. Martinez moves forward after the pedestrians pass and officers appear to become concerned and yell, “Stop him” and “Get him out.” Three shots can be heard as the officer with the camera runs toward the vehicle.

Martinez’s brake lights appeared to be on when he is shot. Since the DPS footage does not include the perspective of the agent who shot Martinez, it does not show any possible impact between agents and the vehicle.

“Stop the f—— vehicle someone,” can be heard saying as the vehicle comes to a complete stop.

Agents are then seen pulling Martinez and his passenger, Joshua Orta, out of the car. Paramedics on scene begin to render aid roughly over a minute after he was pulled from the vehicle.

A toxicology report released shows Martinez has a blood alcohol level of 0.12% above the legal limit of 0.08%.

In his statement to ABC News, Lyons, the acting head of ICE, pointed to an investigative report done by the Texas Rangers which included analysis of multiple body cameras, and which showed Martinez holding a bottle of Crown Royal Whiskey and “rolling toward an officers location,” Lyons said in the statement.

Lyons’ statement continued: “Officers yell ‘where are you going’ and ‘stop him.’ At this point, an officer directing traffic ‘was directly in front of the Fusion’ and ‘only one-half a car length away.'”

Lyons said, “Martinez ‘rolled forward and made an immediate left turn.’ The agent then ‘appears to move as if he were on the vehicles hood.'”

The agent’s perspective
The agent who shot Martinez, identified in documents as Jack Stevens, said he approached the vehicle after an officer yelled to “get him out.” Stevens said that when he approached, he noticed the smell of marijuana coming from the driver’s side window, according to the documents.

“The driver’s eyes were open widely, fist clenched to the steering wheel, and he was looking past the officers on scene as he failed to comply with the loud and repeated verbal commands of multiple law enforcement officers. This is a behavior I have observed in my training and experience as a pre attack indicator and sign of noncompliance as the suspect is looking in the path of their intended movement and is not indicative of compliance,” he said.

“This path of movement, if left unmitigated, would, using the vehicle as a weapon, have resulted in numerous casualties,” he wrote.

Stevens said he was struck and knocked backwards by the driver’s-side front pillar and side mirror, according to the documents. He said he attempted to backpedal to avoid being run over and was “still in contact with the vehicle as the vehicle struck” another agent.

Stevens said recent incidents where vehicles had been used as a weapon, like the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans earlier in the year were “fresh on my mind,” according to the documents.

“Upon observing the vehicle strike SA [Hector] Sosa causing him to fall onto the hood of the vehicle and driving through the scene, with SA Sosa clinging to the vehicle’s hood, I discharged my service issued handgun firing through the open driver’s side window striking the driver multiple times. This action stopped the threat and gained compliance from the driver who stopped the vehicle and placed it into park,” he wrote.

A grand jury decided not to issue an indictment in the case, south Texas ABC affiliate KRGV reported.

Passenger speaks with investigators
In a recording of an interview that was also released, the passenger, Joshua Orta, told investigators that when they approached the scene of the accident, an officer spotted a container of alcohol in the vehicle but told him to keep going forward and turn to the left, but Martinez continued straight toward the other officers, Orta said.

“That’s when he, you know, panicked and turned the wheel, and he didn’t floor the gas but he kind of went a little bit and I guess they thought he was like trying to run the cop over or something,” Orta said in the interview.

“I saw the officer, kind of get on the hood. Like he didn’t hit him, but like he … caught his feet,” he said.

Orta said Martinez did not intend to run over the agents.

“He didn’t know what to do … he definitely didn’t want to go to jail. But as far as, like, running over an officer … he wouldn’t do that,” he said.

Orta died in a car crash in February, KRGV reported.

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(NEW YORK) — Police arrested four people after a smoke-generating “suspicious device” was thrown during a protest at the New York City mayor’s residence Saturday.

It was not immediately known if Mayor Zohran Mamdani or his wife, Rama Duwaji, were inside Gracie Mansion at the time. Mamdani had no public events announced but was in the city, according to his public schedule released Friday night.

Police sources told ABC News that the anti-Muslim protest was organized by a “known agitator.”

The NYPD bomb squad was investigating if the device was a smoke bomb, after some smoke started coming out of the device before the crowd was moved back, sources said.

No injuries were reported during the incident.

The mayor’s office did not immediately return messages to ABC News for comment.

Two unidentified people arrested were accused of throwing a suspicious device, police sources said.

One person was arrested for disorderly conduct and another person was arrested for deploying pepper spray, according to sources.

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(NEW YORK) — The threat for severe storms continues Saturday for much of the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.

At least eight people have been confirmed dead this week as severe weather hit Michigan and Oklahoma.

The severe weather threat continues Saturday, with two areas of severe weather (level 2 of 5 severe risk), from Texas to Mississippi, including Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Jackson, where large hail and damaging winds are the main threats. While the tornado threat is low here, a brief tornado cannot be ruled out.

The main threats across the South are large hail and damaging winds, but tornadoes cannot be ruled out. 

This severe weather is feeding on well above-average temperatures that are spreading east, some of which may break more daily high temperature records.

This week in Michigan, a large and extremely powerful tornado tore through the city of Three Rivers.

Meanwhile in Oklahoma, a tornado tore through Beggs — a city about 21 miles south of Tulsa — killing two people and injuring two others. The National Weather Service reported that debris being lofted by the tornado was being picked up on weather radar as it was tracking through the city.

A state of emergency has been issued for eight Oklahoma counties “to ensure Oklahomans have the support and resources they need after last night’s storms,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a post on X.

Two were injured by a likely tornado just southwest of the Prospect community in Marrion County, Texas.

One was injured after a trailer was reported to be lifted from a likely tornado near Willisville in Nevada County, Arkansas. The local National Weather Service office in Shreveport, Louisiana reported that a tornado debris signature was associated with the storm near Willisville, Arkansas. 

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch was issued until 2:00 p.m. CT for central and eastern Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, northern Mississippi and western Tennessee. This includes Little Rock, Arkansas; Greenville, Mississippi; and Memphis, Tennessee.

Multiple confirmed tornadoes
On Friday, a 12-year-old boy was killed by a possible tornado in Michigan, according to the Cass County Sheriff’s Office. The boy died of his injuries after being taken to South Bend Memorial Hospital.

At least three injuries were reported from these storms, according to the National Weather Service.

Multiple large structures — including homes and pole barns — sustained damage ranging from major structural impacts to complete destruction in southwest Michigan.

The National Weather Service confirmed 6 tornadoes so far from Thursday night — two in Kansas and four in Oklahoma. The tornado that killed two Thursday night on U.S. Highway 60 near Fairview, Oklahoma — mother and daughter, Jodie and Lexie Owens — was confirmed to be an EF2 tornado with estimated peak winds of 115 to 120 mph. 

On Friday, at least three people were confirmed dead and 12 were injured in Branch County, Michigan, and one person was confirmed dead and several others were injured in Cass County, Michigan, according to county officials.

There were also two reported injuries from damaging winds with some storms overnight — one in Columbus, Kansas, when the side of a house was blown away — and one near Lamar Heights, Missouri, when strong winds turned over a semi-truck.

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(CHICAGO) — The Obama Presidential Center’s grand opening celebrations will begin in June, almost five years after its groundbreaking in Chicago, the Obama Foundation announced.

The center — a museum and public gathering space in honor of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama — will be dedicated on Thursday, June 18, and the campus will open to the public the next day, the foundation said in a press release.

The celebrations will run through June 21 “with a series of events that bring together the changemakers, community members, volunteers, and supporters who made the Obama presidency a reality and that welcome visitors to celebrate the power of hope and change,” the foundation said.

“It is easy to look around right now and feel like the challenges we face are simply too big,” President Obama said in a video posted to social media. “But hope is not about ignoring the hard stuff. It is that thing inside us that insists something better awaits if we are willing to work for it. Here on the South Side of Chicago, hope is getting a permanent home.”

The presidential center had sparked some controversy with community organizers expressing concern that development in the historic Jackson Park neighborhood of Chicago’s South Side could lead to gentrification of the neighborhood, while park preservationists challenged the construction in court, citing environmental concerns.

President Obama told “Good Morning America’s” Robin Roberts ahead of the groundbreaking in 2021 that he’s “absolutely confident” that the center will benefit the local community.

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(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump’s decision to carry out strikes on Iran has further exposed a fracture among some of the president’s fiercest supporters inside MAGA world — one that many supporters say will only widen with every week the conflict continues.

Since the first strike last week, Trump’s actions in Iran have faced stark criticism from some of the most popular voices in MAGA media who helped boost his 2024 campaign, ranging from longtime adviser Steve Bannon to more recent converts like conservative media personalities Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly.

Watch special coverage on Nightline, “War with Iran,” each night on ABC and streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

Prominent figures within the movement say the strikes have already tested the limits of their support, according to interviews with over a dozen leading voices inside President Trump’s MAGA coalition, who point to shifting justifications, no clear endgame, the specter of another Middle East forever war, and the use of American resources overseas versus at home as concerns that they warn will only deepen and carry a steeper political price the longer the operation lasts.

“He has a maximum of a month,” Natalie Winters, White House correspondent for Bannon’s War Room program, told ABC News. “After that people will start viewing this as just another dragged-out conflict.”

Since the strikes last week, the president and Trump officials have offered a creeping timeline for how long the operation in Iran could last, with Trump initially stating the operation was “ahead of schedule” and that the war could last “four weeks — or less.”

But in recent days the administration has signaled the potential for a much longer conflict, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stating this week that the operation had “only just begun.”

“We have only just begun to fight and fight decisively,” Hegseth told reporters. “Iran is hoping that we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation.”

On Wednesday, Hegseth said the war could go as long as eight weeks or beyond, the longest timeline the Trump administration has offered thus far.

For a base filled with influential — and loud — voices who say they supported the president in large part because of his promise to avoid not just foreign intervention but “forever wars,” the administration’s shifting timeline has become a ticking clock.

‘They tell us it’s regime change’
Winters, one of the young rising stars on the MAGA right, has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and has become a prominent voice on Bannon’s War Room, where she filled in as a guest host while Bannon was serving time in prison for refusing to testify before the Jan. 6 Congressional committee.

She joined the movement at 18, and while she covers the Trump administration for a pro-Trump outlet, she has not been shy about criticizing the administration on issues like the Epstein files and foreign military action.

Winters said her main issue with the war in Iran is that nobody can explain the goal.

“They tell us it’s regime change, but not regime change. It’s a war, but it’s not a war. But we can’t rule out boots on the ground. And if it we want it to be a forever war, it can be a forever war, but it’s not a forever war,” Winter said. “There have been no publicly made comments in the last four days to give me any comfort that this is not going to turn into [a forever war].”

Curt Mills, the executive director of The American Conservative, told ABC News that the longer the operation drags on, the worse it will be for the president’s standing with his supporters.

“It all depends on how long the war goes. I think you are going to see this start eating into Trump’s approval rating, beyond his core MAGA supporters. And that’s the difference between Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. James Talarico,” Mills said, referencing the war’s potential impact on critical Senate midterm races like the one in Texas, where the Republican primary between Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is now headed for a runoff.

The impact the war could have on the midterms appears to be one of the unifying concerns among influential voices on the right, who worry about the coalition of supporters that swept Trump into power in 2024. Jack Posobiec, a popular MAGA commentator and Turning Point Action official, told ABC News the president’s victory was built in part on two distinct groups: the traditional Republican base and a newer wave of younger, low-propensity voters who had never engaged in politics before, which includes the podcast and sports fan crowd that the campaign worked to bring into the fold ahead of November.

It is that second group, Posobiec warned, where the Iran strikes are landing hardest — making what is emerging inside MAGA also a generational fault line.

“For the younger end of the spectrum inside MAGA, foreign intervention is just off the radar. It’s not something they want to see because they see it as prioritizing foreign interests over populist interests,” Posobiec said. “They want to see economic relief as No. 1. They’re interested in Epstein, arrests, deportations — but anything to do with foreign intervention is just off the radar for them. When you get to say [age] 40, 45, you see the split in the other direction, where you do see more support for the president’s actions.”

Posobiec also said the divide comes down to younger voters fearful of a repeat of the interventionist wars of the George W. Bush era.

“There’s this huge shadow cast over anything to do with military intervention because of the Bush years. People just have massive indigestion over that. I’m a veteran myself and I totally understand,” he said. “Donald Trump is not George W. Bush. JD Vance is not Dick Cheney. You got to give them some credit for that.”

Backlash to the backlash

The dissent has not gone unanswered. Even as the criticism has grown, a counter-offensive of sorts has taken shape inside MAGA world, with other prominent voices pushing back against those speaking out.

Perhaps no voice within MAGA has defended the president and the Iran strikes more aggressively than Laura Loomer, the far-right activist who, while having her own history of criticizing the administration, has become the movement’s most visible counterweight to the growing dissent.

“A lot of these people are not even Trump supporters. They build up audiences lying to people, pretending like they’re conservative,” Loomer told ABC News when asked about the backlash to Iran.

Loomer, on X, has lavished praise on the operation in Iran, and has launched attacks at MAGA voices who have been critical. “I love President Trump. I would take anyone to the floor for the United States and for Donald J. Trump. I am always eager to throw down on anyone who works to undermine his plan to restore our country to greatness,” Loomer wrote. 

In the days following the initial strikes, the president called Loomer personally, telling her he had spent the day on the phone with world leaders and generals but wanted to reach out to thank her for her support, according to Loomer.

“I said, ‘Congratulations! You’re a hero to the Iranian people, you’re a hero to the American people,'” Loomer told ABC News.

Loomer, who has emerged as one of the most influential pro-Trump voices, said the president also asked her how the Iran strikes were going over with his supporters. “What are people saying about it? I believe there’s overwhelming support for this,” she said Trump asked.

Loomer agreed with the president but told him there were “some people who aren’t happy about it, but they’re the general misfits,” specifically referring to Tucker Carlson, who had earlier that day told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl that the strikes were “absolutely disgusting and evil.”

“I asked him, ‘Are you aware of this? Tucker keeps going online about you and he called you disgusting and evil today,'” Loomer said.

Loomer said she was surprised to learn that at that time Trump was still not aware of the critical comments Carlson had been making, many of which she had been highlighting on her X account.

“He didn’t know any of the stuff,” Loomer said. “And so he asked me to send it over.”

Loomer said she then sent over information about what Carlson, and also Megyn Kelly, had been saying about the president. Later that day, Trump said in an interview that “MAGA’s not the other two,” referring to Carlson and Kelly.

Days later, Trump told ABC Jonathan Karl, “Tucker has lost his way” and that he “knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that.”

In the aftermath of the back and forth between Trump and Carlson, Loomer wrote on X, “Loomered,” taking credit for the blowback on Carlson. 

Other prominent MAGA voices are now seeking to discredit the idea that any meaningful divide exists at all — creating a fight within the movement over whether there is a fight within the movement.

“This is all b——-, doomer, black pilled, liberal media b——- designed to fracture you before an election, to drive down approval ratings and voter enthusiasm, so Republicans lose and Donald Trump can get impeached,” podcaster and former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino said on his show this week. “That is all this is.”

Some have dismissed the concerns as little more than the voices of a handful of dissenting podcasters — but others reject that characterization.

“I think it’s nonsense,” Mills, another longtime leading voice in the MAGA movement, told ABC News. “Say what you will, if you even took the extreme cynical view of Carlson, Bannon, Kelly — they’re businessmen. And they wouldn’t be doing this if there wasn’t a large audience for the message.”

“It’s demoralization at the margins that I’m worried about. It doesn’t tell us anything to say 80% of Republican voters support the Iran thing. You’re not fighting for the median Republican voter,” Mills said. “You lose 50,000 people who just don’t show up — you lose Georgia. Can they afford to lose point 5% of the vote? I don’t think so.”

‘Foundational to MAGA’
But there are some on the right who have actually been surprised the blowback hasn’t been louder. Earlier this week, Winters spoke out for the first time regarding the Iran strikes during an appearance on Bannon’s War Room, delivering what she believed to be measured criticism of the administration’s efforts and saying, “I’m as MAGA as it gets. We love Trump, but it’s fair to ask for clarity.”

“If this turns into another dragged out kinetic conflict, that’s not what we voted for,” Winters said.

Winters said she was shocked by the immediate backlash she faced online for her comments. “The comments were pretty rough. Which is wild, my commentary was pretty measured,” she said, adding that she had also been “smeared as a MAGA sycophant and cultist. It’s very frustrating. I could not have been more measured. I literally read the administration’s quotes.”

Given the gravity of the issue, Winters said she has been surprised that the outcry from the base hasn’t been even more forceful.

“The debate over the Epstein files created more political blowback on the administration than what they’re doing in Iran, standing on the brink of a potential forever war,” she said.

“And seeing the base not more outrageous about that — it’s pretty wild, because that’s a tenant that’s foundational to MAGA.”

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(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump is set to attend the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Saturday for the service members who were killed in Kuwait amid the war in Iran.

The transfer will mark the return home of the first American soldiers killed in the war with Iran.

“I will be going to Dover Air Force Base tomorrow, with the First Lady and Members of my Cabinet, to pay our Highest Respect to our Great Warriors, who are returning home for the last time,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, adding, “GOD BLESS THEM ALL!”

The troops were killed in the opening hours of the conflict last weekend during an Iranian drone attack.

The Pentagon identified the troops as: Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa; Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California; Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa; and Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska.

The soldiers were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, an Army Reserve unit based in Des Moines, Iowa.

All six died in the same attack at Shuaiba port in Kuwait, a commercial harbor that doubles as a logistics hub for the U.S. military. An additional 18 service members were wounded in the strike.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt extended prayers and condolences to the families of the fallen.

“These heroes represent the very best among us,” Leavitt told reporters at a Wednesday briefing. “They laid down their lives in defense of our country, and we will never forget their legacy or their sacrifice.” 

“As the president said, we grieve for these American patriots and their families as we continue the righteous mission for which they gave their lives. President Trump intends to attend the dignified transfer of these American heroes to stand in grief alongside their families,” Leavitt said.

Families of some of the fallen troops have released statements remembering their loved ones.

The family of fallen soldier Sgt. Declan J. Coady released a statement following his death, calling him “a rock in all of our lives” and “the most amazing brother and son my family could have asked for.”

In a statement, the family of Capt. Cody A. Khork said his life “was defined by devotion, character, and service,” his family said in a statement on Wednesday. “Cody was truly the life of the party, known for his infectious spirit, generous heart, and deep care for those who served alongside him and for everyone blessed to know him.”

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