Hegseth ends mandatory flu vaccine for US military, says shot is now optional
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaks as Adm. Brad Cooper, Commander of U.S. Central Command, listens during a press briefing at the Pentagon on April 16, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Tuesday that the annual flu vaccine will now be optional for all U.S. military personnel, both active and reserve.
Previously, the flu vaccine had been mandatory. The new policy is in line with a previous change, making the COVID-19 vaccine optional.
Hegseth announced the change in a video posted on social media.
“The notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member, everywhere, in every circumstance, at all times, is just overly broad and not rational,” Hegseth said.
“Our new policy is simple: If you, an American warrior entrusted to defend this nation, believe that the flu vaccine is in your best interest, then you are free to take it; you should. But we will not force you,” Hegseth added.
Referring to the COVID-19 vaccine that led to the dismissal of 8,000 service members who refused to take it, Hegseth said, “Our men and women in uniform were forced to choose between their conscience and their country, even when those decisions posed no threat to our military readiness.”
“That era of betrayal is over,” said Hegseth.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Former Special Counsel Jack Smith (C) arrives to testify during a closed-door deposition before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) —President Donald Trump broke the law, former counsel Jack Smith told committee members Thursday at an appearance before the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee.
“President Trump was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the law, the very laws he took an oath to uphold,” Smith said. “Grand juries in two separate districts reached this conclusion based on his actions as alleged in the indictments they returned.”
Regarding the 2020 election, Smith said that Trump “engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power.”
He also said the president illegally kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
“After leaving office in January of ’21, President Trump illegally kept classified documents at his Merrill Lago Social Club and repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his continued retention of those documents. Highly sensitive national security information withheld in a ballroom and a bathroom,” Smith said.
Smith also said that the facts and the law supported a prosecution, and that he made decisions not based on politics, but the facts and the law.
“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity. If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that president was a Democrat or a Republican,” he said.
“No one, no one should be above the law in this country, and the law required that he be held to account. So that is what I did,” Smith said. “To have done otherwise on the facts of these cases, would have been to shirk my duties as a prosecutor and as a public servant, of which I had no intention of doing.”
He also criticized what he said was the retribution carried out by the president and his allies against agents and prosecutors who investigated the cases.
“My fear is that we have seen the rule of law function in our country for so long that many of us have come to take it for granted,” he said. “The rule of law is not self-executing. It depends on our collective commitment to apply it. It requires dedicated service on behalf of others, especially when that service is difficult and comes with costs. Our willingness to pay those costs is what test and defines our commitment to the rule of law and to this wonderful country.”
In his opening statement, Committee Chairman Jim Jordan blasted Smith for what he called a partisan investigation into President Donald Trump and other Republicans.
“Democrats have been going after President Trump for ten years, for a decade, and the country should never, ever forget what they did,” Jordan said.
Jamie Raskin, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said that Smith proved that Trump “engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.”
“Special Counsel Smith, you pursued the facts. You followed every applicable law, ethics rule and DOJ regulation. Your decisions were reviewed by the public Integrity section. You acted based solely on the facts. The opposite of Donald Trump, who now is purporting to take over,” Raskin said.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in both cases, before both cases were dropped following Trump’s reelection due to the Justice Department’s long-standing policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
His Thursday appearance marks Smith’s second time before the committee, after he appeared behind closed doors last month. It is customary for former special counsels to appear before Congress publicly to discuss their findings.
In his closed-door testimony, Smith defended his decision to twice bring charges against Trump — telling lawmakers his team “had proof beyond reasonable doubt in both cases” that Trump was guilty of the charges in the 2020 election interference and classified documents cases, according to a transcript of the hearing.
And Smith fervently denied that there was any political influence behind his decision — contrary to allegations of Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, who requested the testimony — such as pressure from then-President Joe Biden or then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, the transcripts shows.
“No,” Smith responded continuously to those allegations, according to the transcript.
Just over an hour before his testimony on Dec. 17, the Department of Justice sent an email to Smith’s lawyers preventing him from discussing the classified documents case, according to the 255-page transcript of the deposition, released last year by the Judiciary Committee along with a video of the hearing.
This meant Smith was unable to answer most questions on that case and the deposition — intended to ask questions about the alleged weaponization of the DOJ against Trump and his allies — mainly focused on the 2020 election case instead.
His team also said Smith will comply with Judge Aileen Cannon’s order that blocked the release of the second volume of his report.
Smith’s counsel said the DOJ also refused to send a lawyer to advise Smith on whether his statements were in line with their determination of what he could or could not say regarding the cases, according to the deposition. Smith did say, however, that Trump “tried to obstruct justice” in the classified documents investigation “to conceal his continued retention of those documents.
A sign displays the prices of unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel at a Shell gas station in Upland, Calif., on May 4, 2026. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The monthslong war in Iran is inflicting economic pain across the country as many Americans report struggling with higher costs, particularly the record rise in gas prices.
An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll released last week found that half of Americans expect gas prices to increase more in the next year, and that 4 in 10 Americans say they are not as well off as they were when President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025.
Nearly a quarter said they are falling behind financially.
In callback interviews with several of the poll’s participants, people emphasized they are struggling to pay for basic necessities and that they are unsatisfied with the country’s leadership.
In an interview with ABC News, Jacob Olson, 28, from Beebe, Arkansas, said rising gas and food prices have made life challenging. After he was laid off from his position as a warehouse manager for a solar company that went bankrupt, Olson became a self-employed maker of custom wood projects like storage racks. He said he spends a lot on gas while driving around to his customers.
“One day at a time,” Olson said. “One foot in front of the other. … That’s about the way to sum it up.”
The ABC/Post/Ipsos poll found that in addition to the 50% of Americans who said they expect gas prices to get worse over the next year, another 15% expect gas prices to stay about the same.
Olson agreed that prices for gas and other goods will continue to go up.
“I don’t really do anything, you know, for leisure or luxury anymore,” Olson said. “It’s all kind of just getting the bills paid … I have a 1-year-old, and I just had another baby about a month ago, so I’ve got two little ones, and every day it’s getting harder.”
Brenda Howard, 66, from Lubbock, Texas, said she can’t afford luxuries like trips or meals out either, and since she does not own a car she has to rely on rideshare services like Uber and Lyft for errands and transport to her job as a cleaner.
She said using Uber or Lyft to take a trip to the grocery store costs her around $30.
“This is not the way I thought my retirement was gonna turn out,” Howard said. “I never dreamed that it would be a day-to-day struggle, sometimes hour to hour.”
The poll found some Americans said they were changing their behaviors because of higher gas prices. Over 4 in 10 have cut back on driving (44%) or cut household expenses (42%). Another 34% said they have changed travel or vacation plans.
Those in lower-income households have been hit even harder by the gas price spike. More than half of people with household incomes of under $50,000 a year said they have cut down on driving and household expenses.
Martha Davis, a 66-year-old Texan who works as a caretaker for her disabled son, said she’s struggling to pay for essentials, including gasoline and rent. She has to travel, sometimes as much as 60 miles from where she lives in Tool, Texas, to get to medical appointments.
“I used to get back and forth on like $20, $25, but now it’s almost 70 bucks,” Davis said.
Four in 10 Americans reported that they are less well off than they were at the beginning of Trump’s second presidential term according to the ABC News/Post/Ipsos poll. Some of those who said they are doing worse still support the president.
Andy Breedlove, 51, from West Virginia said he believes both that Trump is doing well in his second term and that gasoline prices are too high.
“But with the price of everything else, it kind of evens out a little,” said Breedlove, who is not working due to a disability. Breedlove suspects gas prices will continue to climb because of the war with Iran.
The Iranian government’s retaliatory blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane for the oil market, has led to severe trade disruptions. Around 20% of oil traded on global markets normally passes through the strait.
A 61% majority of Americans said in the ABC/Post/Ipsos poll that the Trump administration’s decision to go to war against Iran was a mistake.
“He hasn’t made a clear statement on why … we’re actually participating at all,” said Olson, the woodworker with a young family. “From what I know, there’s been a lot of just lying and, you know, not being transparent, and … a big lack of professionalism, which I don’t appreciate coming from the president.”
Christopher Mosley, 43, a former Walmart employee from Fort Smith, Arkansas, described Trump as “reckless” on foreign policy.
Trump’s messaging on gas prices has been mixed. When asked in early April whether he thought prices would decrease before the upcoming midterm elections, Trump said they might stay steady or get higher. On May 1, Trump said gas prices would come “tumbling down” once the conflict was resolved. Iran is reviewing the latest proposal from the U.S. government aimed at winding down the war, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry said.
The financial strain felt by voters has the potential to significantly impact the midterm elections, a cycle in which Democrats are already positioned to make gains. Trump has framed the prospect of a change in the power dynamics of Congress as an existential threat to his presidency.
Jim Piper, a 36-year-old from Portage, Indiana, said he wishes Trump had more latitude to pursue his policy goals. Since the start of the second Trump administration, Piper said he has been doing worse financially, but he thinks political deadlock between Democrats and Republicans is to blame for rising prices. Since Piper has a disability and relies on a fixed income, inflation is hard on his wallet.
“I got to pay more, even though I’m not making more,” Piper said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump sounded off on Sunday about Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett over their joining the majority in the court’s opinion on his tariff policy, a ruling that said the president could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose broad tariffs.
“They were appointed by me, and yet have hurt our Country so badly!” Trump wrote on his social media platform on Sunday evening. “I do not believe they meant to do so, but their decision on Tariffs cost the United States 159 Billion Dollars that we have to pay back to enemies, and people, companies, and Countries, that have been ripping us off for years. It’s hardly believable!”
He added, “They could have solved that situation with a ‘tiny’ sentence, ‘Any money paid by others to the United States does not have to be paid back.’ Why wouldn’t they have done so?”
In a 6-3 decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court in February invalidated most of Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, a cornerstone of his economic policy in his second term.
“We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs. We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution,” Roberts wrote in the opinion. “Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”
Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito dissented from the majority, arguing that Trump should have the power to impose tariffs during national emergencies.
Trump in March had railed on social media against the U.S. court system, saying at the time that Gorsuch and Barrett, both of whom the president appointed during his first term, were attempting to go “out of their way, with bad and wrongful rulings and intentions, to prove how ‘honest,’ ‘independent,’ and ‘legitimate’ they are.”
Gorsuch and Barrett have been reliable conservative votes on the court, consistently voting in favor of positions backed by the Trump administration. Last year, Barrett authored the landmark 6-3 decision restricting the ability of lower court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions against Trump policies.
Gorsuch last week responded publicly to Trump’s previous personal attacks, telling ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis that he is determined to remain “independent” and “fearless” in fulfilling his duty despite harsh criticism from the president who appointed him.
Trump also appeared to suggest on Sunday that Republican-appointed justices should never rule against a Republican president despite the fact that justices have previously ruled against the president that appointed them.
“With certain Republican Nominated Justices that we have on the Supreme Court, the Democrats don’t really need to ‘PACK THE COURT’ any longer,” he said. “In fact, I should be the one wanting to PACK THE COURT! I’m working so hard to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and then people that I appointed have shown so little respect to our Country, and its people. What is the reason for this? They have to do the right thing, but it’s really OK for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them to ‘almost’ the highest position in the land, that is, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court.”
Trump on Sunday also said he believed the Supreme Court would block his attempt to limit access to birthright citizenship. The court heard a case on April 1 over Trump’s executive order.
“I don’t want loyalty, but I do want and expect it for our Country,” Trump said.
“Well, maybe Neil, and Amy, just had a really bad day, but our Country can only handle so many decisions of that magnitude before it breaks down, and cracks!!!” he added. “Sometimes decisions have to be allowed to use Good, Strong, Common Sense as a guide. A negative ruling on Birthright Citizenship, on top of the recent Supreme Court Tariff catastrophe, is not Economically sustainable for the United States of America”
