Hegseth targets military’s top brass for deeper cuts: Officials
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to announce on Wednesday that the Pentagon will cut 20% of positions reserved for generals and admirals, doubling a reduction he ordered last year as part of a broader effort to shrink the military’s senior ranks, according to two U.S. officials.
Hegseth is expected to announce the move during a “State of the Force” address on Wednesday at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, where he will outline his agenda for the force over the coming year. The new target doubles the 10% overall reduction in general and admiral positions he ordered in 2025.
The speech follows Hegseth’s appearance at Quantico last year, when he abruptly summoned the military’s top brass from around the world and used the address to rail against what he framed as declining standards, demanding there would be “no more beardos” and “no more fat generals.”
Much of the speech was also devoted to culture-war grievances.
“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses,” Hegseth declared last September to a room full of the military’s top leaders.
At the time, the Pentagon also directed all of its troops to watch video of the speech.
This year, commanders across the services were asked to nominate mostly junior and mid-ranking troops to attend, according to officials familiar with the matter.
The nominees are expected to include high-performing service members, such as troops recognized for major achievements or winners of military competitions, according to officials. Those selected must also be in compliance with military fitness and body fat standards, a routine requirement for official travel and attendance at major events.
It is unclear exactly how the new cuts will be carried out, or whether such a dramatic reduction amid the Iran war would disrupt day-to-day military operations. The services have already been reducing the number of senior officers in part by consolidating commands and organizations, allowing some positions previously held by two generals or admirals to be overseen by one.
The cuts can also mean some commands could be downgraded to a lower level rather than eliminated outright or different parts of the military being shut down completely.
The services have been directed to complete those cuts to the most senior ranks, which can end up being dozens of roles by January, one official explained.
There are currently 841 active-duty flag officers.
The move also follows a broader purge of the military’s senior ranks under Hegseth, who has fired or sidelined a string of top officers without publicly explaining the rationale. Among them was Gen. Randy George, who was removed as the Army’s top officer; Gen. CQ Brown, who was fired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who was removed as chief of naval operations.
Before leaving the administration in September, then-Army Secretary Dan Driscoll repeatedly warned the White House that Hegseth’s removal of senior officers and efforts to block others from advancing were thinning the Army’s leadership ranks, according to people familiar with the situation. Driscoll told Trump the moves were leaving the service with a smaller pool of experienced officers to fill future senior commands.
Rep. Ro Khanna speaks during a campaign event with Tom Steyer, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for California in Santa Rosa, Calif., May 27, 2026. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna is unveiling an ambitious nearly $1 trillion proposal on Friday calling for universal childcare as he continues crafting legislative policies that may ultimately serve as the cornerstones of a potential presidential campaign in 2028.
“The biggest thing killing us is childcare,” Khanna, who represents California, told ABC News in a phone interview while he crisscrosses the country campaigning for progressive candidates and reelection ahead of the midterm elections.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Khanna said he wanted to introduce a childcare bill before the high-stakes midterm elections as a “north star” and blueprint for “what we should be passing.”
The Free Child Care for America Act is a nearly $1 trillion, 10-year package aimed at building a universal childcare system — creating three taxpayer-funded pathways to provide flexibility and options for American families.
Khanna ticked off several potential spending reductions to offset the cost of the $1 trillion package — such as savings realized by ending the war in Iran; $400 billion in new revenue collected by instituting a 5% “billionaire tax,” or cutting the Pentagon’s budget by $200 billion.
“What this childcare proposal — in my view — is speaking to [is] the needs of working class families, and it’s something we can deliver,” he said.
Khanna’s plan calls for billions of dollars that funds grants for states and tribal organizations to cover the cost of licensed childcare for eligible families, aims to increase the supply of childcare, support providers’ operating costs, and raise compensation across the childcare workforce.
“If you want to do this right, it’s going to be an $80 to $90 billion price tag,” Khanna said. “That’s what it takes to make childcare free. That’s what it takes to pay people well, and that’s what it’s going to take to make it flexible.”
His pitch comes as Vice President JD Vance has championed an administration proposal to expand federal childcare subsidies — as much as $9,000 annually — to married couples who have a stay-at-home parent.
Khanna said he believes families should be able to choose from a menu of childcare options.
“It should be value neutral between staying at home, going to a childcare center, or having friends or family, and that is maximizing the choice,” Khanna said. “Vance’s proposal is trying to tip the scales a bit on the choice of people who are stay-at-home parents.”
Khanna explained his middle-class upbringing in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, motivated him to tackle the issue of childcare.
“Childcare is one of those things that didn’t have the same exorbitant cost, and if we can fix that issue, provide people with childcare, you’re going to give more Americans the shot to have economic security in a modern economy, and that’s the whole point of economic patriotism: that people should be able to have economic independence in today’s economy,” he said.
The five-term congressman, whose net-worth is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, explained how his own experience as a father of two children while working a demanding job has informed his perspective.
“I believe there’s nothing more important than being there for kids at a young age, and I have an extraordinary wife who’s an exceptional mom,” Khanna said. “It has given me an admiration for parents who do incredibly, incredibly hard work, and my view is that we’ve got to make it possible for parents who want to give their kids the best ability to do that.”
Khanna says that his agenda — which he has dubbed “America’s next new deal” — is also informed through his conversations with families in swing states. Khanna has been holding town halls and participating in campaign events in swing states alongside progressive candidates.
“Economic patriotism is all about making the future economy work — not just for the billionaires in my district, but work for the people I grew up with in Pennsylvania,” he said. “As I traveled around the country, and I started with like, ‘How do we bring good jobs?’ I kept hearing, ‘Well, that’s fine, but how am I going to take care of our kids and do these jobs?'”
First elected to represent California’s 17th Congressional District in 2016 — the same election President Donald Trump first won the White House — Khanna has built a progressive voting record coupled with savvy media engagement. While Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has led the national progressive movement over the past decade, Khanna is striving to position himself as a potential successor — though he is not breaking through any Democratic primary polls for 2028 so far.
Khanna’s profile continues to grow as he engages with voters and weighs his future options — sometimes even before Republican audiences on Fox News or in GOP-held districts. Last year, he laid out a political reform agenda focused on combating corruption — hoping it would form the basis of the Democrats’ platform in the upcoming midterm elections. He also took center stage alongside GOP Rep. Thomas Massie in the congressional effort to force the Department of Justice to release tens of thousands of records related to its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
Ahead of the midterms, Khanna continues to campaign on behalf of candidates across the country — though he’s not coy about his political ambitions.
“I want 2028 to be a big-ideas primary,” Khanna said. “I want it to be a contest on who’s going to have ideas of the future that meet the moment where many Americans feel that the economic and political system are broken and not working for them.”
Khanna concedes that some stakeholders and supporters alike have expressed concern over the $1 trillion cost of his proposal, which would offer $1,000 per month to eligible stay-at-home parents with an eligible child under age 3 and a household income at or below 100% of their state’s median income. But he says he is being transparent about the cost and argues that his package is worth the investment.
“Why would you think that giving entrusting the care of young people at their most impressionable, where their experience is going to shape the rest of their lives, and we have data showing that? Why would we think that that’s cheap?” Khanna said. “Of course, it’s expensive, and that’s why there’s this huge market failure because it’s expensive, and yet people aren’t being paid appropriately, and that’s why it’s a public good. And so this is really saying, OK, if you want to do this right, it’s going to be a $80 to $90 billion price tag. That’s what it takes to make childcare free.”
House Democratic leaders have not endorsed Khanna’s childcare legislation, but agree that lowering childcare costs must be a priority if they take back the House majority.
“I want it to be front and center in the conversation of the first 100 days for the speaker,” Khanna said regarding Democratic prospects to win the House majority. “Even if they don’t do the whole $90 billion, I mean, obviously that’s my hope that the House should pass this bill, they can take three elements of it.”
As for the 2028 presidential race?
“Whether I run, which obviously I’m considering, or whether I am actively supporting other candidates, I want to be leading in putting forth bold ideas about what that Democratic Party should be,” Khanna said. “I think we need to offer a new vision of ideas that are actually going to deliver for working- and middle-class families who have been left out.”
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks to reporters after speaking in a panel hosted by the National Council of Resistance of Iran – U.S. Representative Office (NCRI-US) at the Willard InterContinental Hotel on August 17, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton is expected to plead guilty over mishandling classified documents, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News Thursday.
Bolton could not immediately be reached for comment. The Department of Justice is declining to comment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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.
