US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after landing in Air Force One on July 19, 2026 in Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The new Air Force One will be “maxed out” with security features, undergoing an upgrade that’s expected to put the Qatari-gifted jet out of commission for about a month, President Donald Trump said on Sunday.
“Well, it has, it has a lot, and you know it has a lot of capability, but as I understand it, in about a month or so, they’re going to send it to have it be maxed out,” the president said of the newly retrofitted jet. “So they’re going to be sending it, and they’ll have it be maxed out.”
The jet had faced security concerns in the weeks since its first operational flight on July 1, when Trump flew on it to North Dakota. The plane, a Boeing 747-8 that was gifted from Qatar, later carried Trump to the NATO summit in Turkey this month.
As Trump prepared to depart the summit, the Secret Service urged the president to take the older Air Force One jet as a precaution, due in part for the differences in security capabilities, ABC News learned at the time.
The New York Times reported that the new jet did not have the same anti-missile capabilities as the previous model. Trump’s comment on Sunday followed a reporter’s question about those claims, which ABC News has not independently confirmed.
“Mr. President, this plane does not have antimissile defense systems on it,” the reporter asked. “Why are you flying on it?”
Trump in response said the plane would be “maxed out,” a process that he expected would “take about a month.” The president did not detail exactly when the upgrades were expected to begin.
The Qatari royal family’s donation of the luxury jet valued at approximately $400 million, an unprecedented foreign gift, raised questions from some lawmakers and ethics experts. Ahead of his first flight, Trump gave credit to the Qatari government.
“Frankly, we couldn’t build a plane like this because we wouldn’t be willing to spend the kind of money necessary,” he said on July 1. “They spent top dollar.”
“I said to Boeing, ‘What’s the best one?’ They said this is the best plane ever built, and you’re going to have the privilege of flying it, and I have a privilege also of flying it,” Trump said that day.
The U.S. Air Force said it had been modifying the jet Texas since September to meet the security, communications and other needs to transport the president.
The Air Force last year originally estimated it would cost less than $400 million to retrofit the gift, though it’s unclear how much exactly has been spent so far. Many of the details of the retrofitting on the new plane are considered classified.
The gifted plane is expected to be used as the new Air Force One until shortly before Trump leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement have told ABC News.
ABC News’ Emily Chang, Sarah Kolinovsky and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
Second lady Usha Vance and U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrive for a military mothers celebration in the East Room of the White House on May 6, 2026 in Washington, DC. President Trump and the first lady honored America’s military mothers at the event ahead of Mother’s Day. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President JD Vance announced on Sunday that second lady Usha Vance gave birth to the couple’s fourth child, a son named Alec Neel Vance.
Vance said both Usha and the baby “are happy and healthy” and thanked the medical teams at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the White House Medical Unit.
“We are excited to announce that our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning. Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother,” the vice president wrote on X.
JD and Usha Vance share three other young children: Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel.
The couple announced they were expecting their fourth child in January, writing on social media, “Our family is growing!” They met while studying at Yale Law School and got married in 2014.
The vice president often speaks about his family and marriage, and has been a leading voice in the Trump administration’s efforts to encourage the public to have more children.
“I want more babies in the United States of America. I want more happy children in our country, and I want — and I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them,” Vance said in one of the first speeches of his vice presidential term at the March for Life event in Washington last year.
“And it is the task of our government to make it easier for young moms and dads to afford to have kids, to bring them into the world and to welcome them as the blessings that we know they are here at the March for Life,” he added at the time.
In June, Usha Vance sat down with ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis for a wide-ranging interview. The second lady shared her thoughts about her husband’s political future and the biggest surprise she learned about President Donald Trump.
When asked whether she would like to see JD Vance as president one day, Usha Vance said, “I am not a particularly politically ambitious person; I would like to see him happy. I would like to see him making contributions that matter and whatever form that takes is a form that I’ll be supportive of,” she said.
The second lady said that the biggest surprise to her, as she’s gotten to know President Trump, has been his sense of humor and his gentleness toward children.
“He has a really good sense of humor and has a sort of gentleness towards his children, towards other people’s families and children,” she said. “It shows a lot of caring about what they’re going through and what is happening in their lives.”
Mail-in ballots following a primary election at San Francisco County’s election operations facility at City Hall in San Francisco, California, US, on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., handed the Trump administration a temporary win on Friday in its attempt to increase federal oversight of elections.
In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals put on hold a lower court ruling, which had blocked the U.S. Postal Service from attempting to restrict mail-in voting.
However, the Trump administration does not yet have a green light to move forward with the proposed rule. A separate judge in Massachusetts blocked the policy last month, and that injunction still stands.
The cases center on a proposed rule from the U.S. Postal Service that sought to compel states to create lists of approved voters, as well as impose stricter regulations on mail-in ballots.
Last month, Postmaster General David Steiner told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that under the proposed rule, the Postal Service would refuse to deliver mail-in ballots in states that do not turn over their voter lists.
“Yes or no — if a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list over to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots under this proposed rule?” asked Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.
“Under our proposed regulation, no. We would tell the state that we need the manifest,” Steiner said.
The NAACP, which brought the lawsuit, had previously sued the Postal Service in 2020, seeking to challenge delays in delivering mail-in ballots heading into that year’s presidential election. The two sides settled in 2021, with the Postal Service agreeing to “prioritiz[e] . . . the timely delivery of Election Mail” for every national election through 2028.
In Friday’s ruling, the appeals court said the Trump administration is likely to succeed because the lawsuit is premature — since the rule itself is not yet finalized — and not covered by a 2021 settlement between the NAACP and Postal Service.
The appeals court also said the Trump administration demonstrated they would be irreparably harmed if the Postal Service can’t finalize and implement the rule in time for the midterms.
“In this context, ‘there can be no do over’ once the election occurs,” the ruling said.
While the Trump administration cannot yet move forward with the new rule, the D.C. Circuit’s ruling signals that the Trump administration may be able convince other appeals courts to let them implement the policy while the lawsuits move through the courts — potentially past the November elections.
Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the FY2027 budget request on Capitol Hill on May 12, 2026, in Washington. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The late Sen. Lindsey Graham will be honored later this month with separate services in Washington, D.C. and South Carolina, after the Republican died unexpectedly on July 11.
Graham’s office announced Friday that the senator’s life and legacy will be celebrated Tuesday, July 28 in Washington before separate services Wednesday, July 29 in South Carolina: Columbia, the state’s capital, and Pickens County, where Graham grew up and part of the district Graham represented.
While Graham’s office did not announce a location for the service in Washington, congressional sources told ABC News that the event is being held at the Washington National Cathedral. Graham’s office said that additional details regarding the services are forthcoming.
It’s not yet clear whether President Donald Trump will attend or have a role in the services.
Graham, a Trump ally who died serving in his fifth term in the Senate, was born in Central, South Carolina, in 1955. He graduated from Daniel High School in Central in 1973, according to his congressional biography.
Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham’s sister, was sworn in to the Senate on Tuesday after she was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster just days after her brother’s death. Trump supported her appointment, calling it a “fabulous tribute” to Lindsey Graham, who at a young age became Darline Graham’s legal guardian after the deaths of their parents.
On Friday, Trump called on Darline Graham to run in the upcoming special primary election for Senate in South Carolina, which would set her up to potentially fill the seat of her late brother in a more permanent way.
Darline Graham has not yet announced whether she intends to run for the seat for the full term. A source involved with South Carolina politics told ABC News on Friday that she has been having conversations about running in the special election.
ABC News has reached out to Darline Graham’s office, but did not immediately hear back.
Darline Graham, who lives in Lexington, South Carolina, has served since 2019 as commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind. She also serves on the South Carolina State Workforce Development Board and is president-elect of the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind.
She also previously held roles with Clemson University, the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce and the South Carolina Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, the governor’s office said.
A special-election primary is scheduled for Aug. 11 to determine a Republican candidate for the Nov. 3 general election ballot — though a runoff could occur two weeks later if no candidate secures an absolute majority of votes.
Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico speaks during a “Talarico for Texas: Frontera Tour” campaign rally at the La Posada facility, July 14, 2026, in Laredo, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Democrats raised more money than their Republican opponents in key Senate races across the country in the second quarter, according to campaign finance filings made this week to the Federal Election Commission.
In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff raised almost ten times what Republican Rep. Mike Collins did. In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown outraised Republican Sen. Jon Husted by roughly $10 million. In Texas, Democrat James Talarico outraised Republican Ken Paxton by over $26 million.
Talarico’s haul marks a new record for second quarter fundraising, far surpassing other Democrats who previously pursued Senate seats in Texas.
At this point in Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 campaign, O’Rourke had raised a grand total of just under $24 million since the start of the election cycle. MJ Hegar had raised $6.6 million in 2020, and Colin Allred had raised over $38 million in 2024. All three of those Democratic candidates ultimately lost their general election fights.
Talarico has raised nearly $69 million this cycle, and the candidate still has over $21 million to spend. Lone Star Rising, a super PAC that supports Talarico, raised $12.7 million in the second quarter, most of it from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.
Talarico’s opponent, Paxton, who is currently serving as the state’s attorney general, raised $2.2 million in the second quarter and has around $1.8 million in the bank, according to filings.
Lone Star Liberty, a super PAC that supports Paxton, raised about $4.3 million. They have about $35,000 cash on hand.
Republican PACs remain well-stocked, and Elon Musk contributions grow
Still, there are reasons for Republicans to be optimistic as the general election approaches.
In some cases, Republicans still have more money saved. Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola outraised her opponent, Republican Dan Sullivan, by nearly $5 million. But Sullivan spent little (under $1 million) in the second quarter, and still has more than $8 million on hand, according to FEC filings. That puts him $1 million ahead of Peltola.
Republican super PACs and party committees are also well-resourced. The Senate Leadership Fund, a flagship Republican super PAC affiliated with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, outraised its Democratic equivalent, the Senate Majority PAC, by nearly $20 million.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) reported having a cash on hand lead of over $10 million on the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) when those groups filed their most recent monthly reports. The Republican National Committee (RNC) has over $125 million in the bank, while the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is in debt.
MAGA Inc., a Donald Trump-affiliated super PAC, had over $382 million on hand when its most recent monthly report was filed.
Among MAGA Inc.’s donors is Elon Musk, who has emerged as one of the Republican party’s top supporters this midterm cycle despite past spats with Trump. He has invested at least $90 million dollars, including a recent $5 million donation, to Vivek Ramaswamy’s super PAC, V-PAC. Ramaswamy is running for Ohio governor against Amy Acton. Musk also endorsed Ramaswamy, which comes after notable tension between the two when co-leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk’s own super PAC, America PAC, has kept a relatively low profile since last year, when Brad Schimel, Musk’s preferred candidate in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race, lost in a 10-point blowout. America PAC and other Musk-affiliated groups spent millions supporting Schimel.
Democrats face internal struggles in Michigan and Maine
Democrats also face challenges internally. In Michigan, two Democratic Senate candidates are still locked in a hard-fought primary, vying for the opportunity to challenge Republican Mike Rogers. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, raised $4.6 million, while Rogers raised under $3 million. Rep. Haley Stevens raised about $2.1 million, according to FEC filings. Rogers has more cash on hand, $5.7 million, than either of his potential Democratic opponents.
In Maine, Democrat Graham Platner’s campaign raised over $9 million, while Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ campaign raised around $5.7 million. Collins has far more cash on hand however, $11 million compared to the Platner campaign’s $1.8 million.
Given that Platner dropped out of the race earlier this month in the wake of a sexual assault allegation, which he’s denied, it is still unknown if and how Democrats will access the Platner campaign’s war chest to benefit whoever his replacement turns out to be. Candidate-to-candidate transfers are limited to $2,000.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin speaks during a news conference in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on July 17, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened on Friday to strip states of federal election-related aid, and to possibly seek criminal penalties against election officials, if they don’t comply with the administration’s voting roll probe ahead of the midterms.
Mullin told reporters that if states want to continue to receive federal reimbursement “to run federal elections,” they must now cooperate with DHS’s efforts to “scrub” their voter rolls and update the security of their election systems.
“We’re saying that the machines had to be secure, and that your voter registration list needs to be scrubbed,” Mullin said in a news conference.
It was not immediately clear what grants or funding could be in jeopardy for non-compliant states. DHS has previously threatened to withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency counterterrorism grants unless states complied with election security mandates.
“If states want the grant funding, to recap, they must secure the election,” Mullin said.
Mullin’s news conference came one day after President Donald Trump’s primetime speech on elections, in which he announced he was declassifying a slew of documents he claims reveal vulnerabilities in America’s elections systems and foreign interference, particularly by China.
Mullin, who was sworn in as DHS secretary on March 24, claimed America’s adversaries have the “key to the back” of American voting machines, alleging that bad actors could change the registration of voters — and even manipulate votes that have already been cast.
But Mullin offered no evidence that foreign vote manipulation has occurred, nor did he elaborate on how it is possible.
Mullin also argued, as Trump did on Thursday night, that America’s elections are also vulnerable because of noncitizen voters being on the voter rolls.
A DHS report released overnight alleged more than 250,000 noncitizens are on voter rolls in four states.
Mullin did not provide more information on how DHS arrived at the claim that 250,000 noncitizens are registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada, saying only it was pulled from public voter records.
The Department of Justice attempted to compel states to turn over their voter files, and sued more than two dozen that refused to do so. But courts have thrown out those lawsuits across the board, saying the DOJ lacks a compelling reason for the data.
Mullin said it would be a “little bit tougher” to obtain data from those states.
He said DHS will continue to comb through voter rolls in search of noncitizens and others ineligible to vote, and threatened them with jail time and or financial penalties.
“We will scrub all election records, looking for illegal aliens and those who are ineligible to vote, including those that somehow voted, yet they were deceased,” Mullin said.
“If you’re illegal and attempted to vote, or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you, and we will charge you,” Mullin continued. “Illegal voter restoration and illegal voting both carry penalties up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. We will pursue maximum pressure on this.”
The secretary said election officials would be held “accountable” if they don’t comply and that the penalties would be extended to them.
“If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even depending on how far it goes, prison time,” he said.
Mullin said DHS will look into the integrity of both early voting and post-Election Day votes during this November’s midterm elections.
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Iraq Ali al-Zaidi, in the Oval Office of the White House on July 14, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump, in a primetime address on Thursday, announced he has declassified a slew of documents he claims reveal vulnerabilities in America’s elections systems, election fraud and interference in elections by China, and ordered the Department of Justice to prosecute those believed to be involved.
“America is back and doing really well, but we still have a major challenge that must be urgently addressed because no country can be great without fair and honest elections, you have to trust your country,” Trump said. “Because if there can be no trust, there can be no greatness, and that’s very simple: no trust, no greatness.”
But throughout the more than 20-minute speech, the president did not provide specific evidence that the election outcome, or any votes, were altered in the 2020 election, despite his repeated claims that the election was “stolen” or “rigged.”
Trump has long pushed debunked conspiracy theories to claim that his 2020 election loss was fraudulent.
The president’s speech led to his main argument: he wants Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, his sweeping elections reform bill that Senate Majority Leader John Thune has repeatedly said does not have enough Republican votes to pass.
In his remarks, the president said that he would immediately declassify the release of “critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.”
According to the president, the documents focus on what he said were a number of areas of concern, including claims that China “compromised” election data during the 2020 election, and attempts to downplay the extent of China’s efforts.
Trump argued that the intelligence community suppressed information about China accessing 220 million voter files and trying to turn American opinion against him in the run-up to the 2020 election.
The president also accused the “deep-state” of keeping information about election meddling from him.
Trump claimed that U.S. intelligence agencies learned that tens of millions of voters’ data in 18 states had been “bought, stolen, or hacked” by China, and that the intelligence community deliberately kept this information from him while he was president.
Trump’s remarks asserting that the Chinese undertook a far more ambitious role in attempting to dictate the outcome of the 2020 election goes beyond what U.S. intelligence community has previously assessed.
In March 2021, two months into the Biden administration, a declassified “Intelligence Community Assessment” (ICA) that was produced at the end of Trump’s first term publicly acknowledged the belief among some intelligence officials that “China took at least some steps to undermine former President Trump’s reelection chances.” But the ICA said any such actions were “primarily through social media and official public statements and media,” not through interference with “election processes.”
Further, the ICA said that while China was “probably” trying “to gather information on U.S. voters and public opinion; political parties, candidates and their staffs; and senior government officials,” the more reliable intelligence indicated that such efforts were not actually intended to undermine Trump but instead to “predict electoral outcomes and to inform its efforts to influence US policy toward China under either election outcome.”
The heavily redacted documents released by the White House on Thursday do not appear to back up Trump’s assertions, instead containing scattershot intelligence that descries efforts to obtain — but not alter — voter records and to conduct social media activity to sow social discord.
One heavily-redacted document titled “200M Voter Records Compromised. repeatedly references personally identifiable information being compromised. This information includes names, phone numbers and addresses — which can also be found from many other sources.
In another series of near-completely redacted memos, words such as “state voter registration data” and “personal identifiable information” appear between large blocks of black redaction markings. It is impossible to surmise the meaning of these records without context, but they appear to point to some Chinese efforts to gather American voter data, much of which is publicly available.
Notably, these memos document Chinese activities ahead of both the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Trump alleged that former Justice Department officials slow-walked an investigation in Michigan that involved the submission of voter registration applications that had forged signatures and other indications of fraudulent applications. Trump called on FBI Director Kash Patel to look into whether any charges can still be brought.
Local media at the time said that a state-level investigation was halted so the FBI could continue with a related investigation. It’s unclear why no federal charges were ever brought or if federal charges were warranted.
At the time, state officials said that the fact that the fraudulent applications were detected shows that the system worked.
The president also said the documents released Thursday include a Department of Homeland Security report he called “stunning,” alleging approximately 278,000 non-citizens were included on voter rolls.
In the documents released by the White House, the DHS report that alleged 250,000 noncitizen voters on the rolls came from a review of “public voter files” that appear to have come from four states: California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Nevada. DHS did not provide any methodology about how it reached that number, nor does it specify what “public voter files” it reviewed.
DHS acknowledged it did not have access to those states’ voter rolls, and alleges that in the 10 states that provided the federal government access to their rolls, the agency found 28,000 noncitizen voters.
Findings from the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation have found only around 100 verified instances of non-citizen voting going back two decades.
-ABC News’ Lucien Bruggeman and Mike Levine contributed to this report.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks to members of the media outside the U.S. Capitol on June 18, 2026, in Washington, DC. Sen. Schumer blasted President Trump’s new agreement with Iran, calling it an “epic failure” that keeps Americans in the dark due to a lack of transparency while leaving the U.S. in a worse strategic and security position. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, whose home state has been the target of many of the administration’s election challenges, told reporters Thursday, “If the president declares Georgia’s elections illegitimate, or if the president declares Georgia’s sitting United States senators illegitimate, he is declaring Georgia voters illegitimate. It’s Donald Trump who tried to defraud Georgia voters in that election.”
Ossoff is up for re-election in November and his seat is being targeted by Republicans as a possible pickup opportunity. He predicted that Trump would use his speech to rehash challenges to the 2020 election that failed in court.
“Here’s what’s going to happen tonight: the world’s most famous sore loser will deliver a prime-time presidential sour grapes address to pursue his six-year-old grievances about the 2020 election, while his war in the Middle East spirals out of control and the cost of living continues to rise for Americans across the country,” Ossoff said.
In a White House briefing Thursday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt was tight-lipped about what the president would say besides that he will discuss “protecting the integrity of our elections.”
When pressed by a reporter about concerns from some Republicans that the president was litigating past elections that could turn off some swing voters, Leavitt said that Trump would focus on secure elections as key to American democracy.
“I’ve seen a lot of reporting and, frankly, misreporting about what the president will say. I think the American people will be relieved to hear what they are hearing from the president of the United States and his commitment to transparency and the focus on the integrity of our elections tonight,” she said.
When later pressed by ABC News’ Rachel Scott about the political concerns of some Republicans, Leavitt said only that people should wait until they’ve heard the speech.
Outgoing Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn and Rep. Thomas Massie said Trump looking back on the 2020 elections is not a productive message for the party as it heads into the upcoming midterm cycle.
Asked if he thought Trump focusing on the 2020 election going into the midterms was a good messages for Republicans, Tillis said, “No, not at all. Look, we can’t re-prosecute that campaign. Anytime you’re looking back, you’re not looking ahead and I’m looking ahead to these elections, and the president should as well.”
Massie said that the White House was “trying to convince the American people the problem is the elections” rather than other issues they are concerned about.
“The problem is not that we didn’t win the elections. The problem is that we broke our promises when we got here … So, it’s a ruse because they’re trying to convince the American people the problem is the elections. The problem is the people that they’ve elected.”
Cornyn said that he wasn’t pleased with Jay Clayton’s answers on the 2020 election during his Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing to be Trump’s director of national intelligence on Tuesday when he refused to answer who won.
“I thought a lot of it was pretty silly,” Cornyn said of Clayton’s performance. “I don’t know why we’re still talking about the 2020 election on either side of the aisle. We got important work to do and I think the most important is coming up here in the midterms. “In the meantime, to continue to do the people’s work, and when we’re talking about what happened six years ago, I don’t think we’re doing them any favors.”
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said Trump’s speech could influence how he votes on Clayton.
“If Donald Trump does what I expect and makes outrageous claims and uses those claims as an attempt to interfere in the elections, boy oh boy, more than ever do you need somebody in that role that’ll take truth to power,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that Trump is “scared to death that he will lose in 2026” and is trying to change the subject.
“The bottom line is, if Trump wants to win the American people over, instead of the bulls— that he’s peddling about 2020, he ought to focus on lowering people’s costs, getting rid of the chaos in administration, getting rid of the corruption,” Schumer said.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
Sen. Thom Tillis attends the confirmation hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Capitol Hill, July 15, 2026, in Washington. Win McNamee/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — A key GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee whose vote is needed to secure acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation as the next attorney general said Thursday that he will require Blanche to sit down with victims of deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before he can vote for him.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., announced the new condition during a hearing Thursday where one of the witnesses was Epstein victim Dani Bensky.
Facing a potentially rocky confirmation, Blanche made a brief attempt to meet with Epstein survivors on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon.
He and his team arrived at a Senate Judiciary Committee office where they sat for about half an hour, but no one joined them.
“I rearranged my schedule to try to meet with them,” Blanche told ABC News after leaving the office. “I’ve been here waiting. It didn’t work out, so we’re going to see if there’s a way we can meet either later today or sometime soon.”
“There’s nothing newsworthy about this fact because the Department of Justice will always meet with victims or their representatives, and if those victims or their representatives have evidence that anybody committed a crime, whether it has to do with Jeffrey Epstein, anybody else that was associated with Jeffrey Epstein, or anybody else, we will of course move forward and investigate and prosecute,” Blanche said.
Bensky testified in Thursday’s hearing that Blanche has never responded to repeated attempts to reach him to sit down and recount her story.
“Blanche was willing to say that he would meet with [Epstein victims] and counsel — I understand the restriction that counsel has to be present,” Tillis said. “I expect that meeting to occur before I vote to vote out of this committee and I’m trying to get to yes. But this is a very important part of getting to yes.”
“There should not be any reason why, based on what Mr. Blanche said yesterday, if he said that he would do it today, then he can certainly do it over the next two weeks,” Tillis added.
Blanche told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing Wednesday that he would be happy to meet with victims but initially said he couldn’t meet with them personally if they were represented by legal counsel, before correcting himself later in the hearing.
“I never said I can’t meet with them. I said if they were represented, I had to meet through counsel,” Blanche said. “But of course, I can meet with them. I’m the acting attorney general of the United States, so yes, I can.”
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Iraq Ali al-Zaidi, in the Oval Office of the White House on July 14, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump is set to deliver a primetime address Thursday evening, during which he is expected to detail information that he has recently received from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence related to the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
Trump has long pushed debunked conspiracy theories to claim that his 2020 election loss was fraudulent. It’s not immediately clear what allegations he will make as part of his speech.
Sources caution Trump’s plans can always change, but at this point “election fraud” is the topic of his 9 p.m. address.
Despite Trump’s claims of voter fraud that contributed to his 2020 election loss, officials have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Asked about the speech, which he announced on his social media platform on Monday, Trump said it was “really big news,” mentioning the importance of “free and fair elections.”
“Thursday is, it doesn’t get bigger because without free and fair elections, you don’t have a country. We’ll be discussing other things, too. But — but it’s going to be a very big announcement,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
Trump recently installed loyalist Bill Pulte, who has no previous national security experience, to lead DNI and has said that he wanted Pulte to declassify information and fire scores of experienced career staff.
Under the first Trump administration, officials already detailed efforts by Iran, China and Russia to influence the 2020 election, though officials later determined that none of their interference would have changed the election result. Initially Trump administration officials suggested China was also involved in influencing the election, a claim that was later determined by Trump’s intelligence community to be false.
The White House is remaining tight-lipped about the president’s Thursday night speech.
“The truth is, nobody knows yet what President Trump will ultimately say, which is why everyone should tune in,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement about the remarks.
