Kentucky governor calls on McConnell to ‘verbally address’ Kentuckians or resign
Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear speaks at the 38th Annual Michigan Democratic Women’s Caucus Legacy Luncheon on April 18, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called on Monday for Sen. Mitch McConnell to either “verbally” show proof to Kentuckians that he can still serve in the Senate or to resign from Congress.
“Important events are happening in our country right now during your absence,” Beshear, a Democrat, wrote in a letter to the Republican senator, according to a copy obtained by ABC News.
McConnell has been hospitalized since June 14, according to his office, which said on July 12 that the 84-year-old senator was recovering from a fall that left him briefly unconscious. He also had to deal with a “mild case of pneumonia,” his office said.
“President [Donald] Trump is stuck in a war of his own making and has greatly strengthened the very country he claims is a threat,” Beshear wrote. “Prices continue to rise, crushing Americans who are working hard but not getting ahead. Americans’ voting rights are being eliminated by the Supreme Court and threatened by congressional action. All while you are absent and refuse to communicate clearly and directly to the people you serve.”
“As Governor of the state you serve, I am calling on you to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign,” he added.
ABC News reached out to McConnell’s office for comment, but didn’t immediately receive a response.
The letter followed a statement issued on Monday by McConnell’s office, in which the senator said he would miss an upcoming Kentucky political event in order to continue his rehabilitation.
“I’m still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky, keeping up with intense physical therapy per my doctors’ orders,” McConnell said in the statement.
McConnell’s office also included a new image of the senator and his wife, Elaine Chao, that it said was taken on Sunday, July 26.
Beshear on Monday also sent a separate letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, calling on Thune to investigate McConnell’s condition and, if McConnell does not show he can continue serving in the Senate, to begin the process of potentially expelling McConnell from the chamber.
“Per our research, a vacancy in the Senate occurs when a senator dies, resigns, or is expelled by a vote of the Senate itself,” Beshear wrote in the letter to Thune. “If Senator McConnell is unwilling to voluntarily show that he still has the capacity to serve, I will insist that you as the Majority Leader of the Senate fully investigate his condition, report to the American people, and begin the process if warranted.”
Beshear as governor does not have the authority to alter McConnell’s standing in the Senate. If McConnell’s seat were to become vacant, Beshear would likely have to set up a special election to fill it.
Kentucky lawmakers previously passed legislation that blocked the governor from having the ability to appoint a temporary replacement.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt looks on as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after stepping off Air Force One on Aug. 11, 2026, in Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave her role at the end of August “so she can spend more time with her beautiful young children and family,” President Donald Trump announced in a social media post on Wednesday.
The announcement comes less than a month after Leavitt held her first briefing after returning from maternity leave. Leavitt welcomed her second child in May.
Trump, in his social media post, said her decision is one “I totally understand and respect.”
The president added that Leavitt would continue to be one of his “top outside advisors” and an “influential voice” within the Republican Party ahead of the midterm elections.
Calling her “one of the best White House Press Secretaries in the History of the Office,” Trump thanked Leavitt for a “job well done.”
Leavitt became the youngest White House press secretary in history when she assumed the position last year at 27 years old.
Leavitt confirmed her decision to leave in an X post and expressed her gratitude to the president, saying the role has been “the honor and adventure of a lifetime” and thanked the president for the opportunity to work in his administration.
She also pointed to her role as a mother of two as her reason for leaving the role of press secretary, saying it has been “rewarding yet challenging” to balance the two.
“The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary — and that is why I have ultimately made the bittersweet decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter in my life,” Leavitt wrote.
Before serving as press secretary, Leavitt was Trump’s spokesperson during his 2024 presidential campaign and his transition. She also worked in Trump’s first administration and for Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik.
Leavitt also ran for Congress in her home state of New Hampshire prior to joining Trump’s 2024 campaign, though she ultimately lost the general election.
It is not immediately clear who Trump will pick to replace her.
While Leavitt was on maternity leave earlier this year, a rotating cast of administration officials held press conferences in the briefing room, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
During Trump’s first term, he had four press secretaries: Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kayleigh McEnany and Stephanie Grisham.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press for the first time aboard the new Air Force One while in flight from RAF Mildenhall AFB to Joint Base Andrews July 8, 2026 after leaving the United Kingdom. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Secret Service urged President Donald Trump to fly out of Turkey on the old Air Force One instead of the newly retrofitted Qatari-gifted plane out of an abundance of caution amid the escalation with Iran, multiple sources familiar with the plans told ABC News.
The Qatari-gifted plane left the NATO summit in Turkey earlier in the day for Mildenhall Air Force Base in England, a move Trump claimed Wednesday morning was for members of the military to tour the aircraft.
While Trump has said the change in plane had nothing to do with security concerns, he also reiterated, when asked by reporters if security concerns caused the change in flight plans, that he’s “No. 1 on the kill list for Iran.”
The change in plans was not prompted by a specific threat, but influenced in part by differences in the plane security capabilities, two U.S. officials told ABC News.
Mike Centrella, the Secret Service’s former head of field operations, said the law enforcement agency “simply doesn’t take chances when it comes to the president’s safety, whether at home or abroad.”
“Presidential travel is incredibly complex, and every movement and potential risk is carefully considered,” Centrella told ABC News. “The mindset is always the same: plan for what you know, prepare for what you don’t and make sure you’re ready for the unexpected.”
Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, told ABC News on Thursday that “the new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the president and his staff. As the president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal — including distraction and misdirection — to address those threats.”
The New York Times first reported on the Secret Service recommendation.
When the president ultimately left Turkey in the old Air Force One to link up with the new plane in England, passengers on the aircraft were instructed to keep their windows down during the flight. According to flight data, the plane carrying the president did not turn on its tracker until it was over the Black Sea near Istanbul.
Despite continuing to insist there was no security issue that prompted him to change planes for his Turkey departure, Trump suggested that the passengers may have been asked to keep their window shades down because they were “probably on a dangerous flight.”
“Well, yeah, because you’re, you know, probably on a dangerous flight, because of the sleaze bags that we have to deal with,” Trump said, referring to Iran.
While the administration insists that the newly acquired plane meets the safety and security requirements necessary to fly the president, the speed of the retrofitting, which took about one year, has raised questions about whether the Qatari-gifted plane boasts the same defensive security measures as the old plane.
Many of the details of the retrofitting on the new plane are considered classified. The Air Force has said the new plane is “safe, secure and equipped with the most advanced technologies necessary to meet the requirements of the presidential mission. Those requirements were carefully crafted to prioritize mission over aesthetics, leaving much of the previous head of state interior layout minimally changed.”
On Tuesday, a group of Senate Democrats sent a letter to Air Force Secretary Troy Meink demanding transparency into the project from the Air Force and L3Harris, claiming the administration is ignoring national security concerns so in service of delivering Trump a “fancy plane for his personal enjoyment.”
Trump took his first trip in the newly retrofitted plane last week on a trip to North Dakota.
Before the first trip, the U.S. Air Force had been modifying the jet in Texas since September to meet the security, communications and other needs to transport the president. The Air Force had estimated it would cost less than $400 million to retrofit the gift.
The plane is 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.
S. President Donald Trump attends a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House on June 24, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can cancel the temporary protected status (TPS) for thousands of Haitians and Syrians, concluding that the Department of Homeland Security has broad discretion with little-to-no judicial oversight to decide when they must return home.
The ruling is likely to have a sweeping impact on the approximately 1.3 million people who rely on TPS to live and work in the United States legally, and advocates said they fear it will have devastating and possibly deadly long term costs for those refugees.
Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice Samuel Alito said that courts cannot override the federal government’s determination about TPS status in most cases.
TPS status, established by the Immigration and Nationality Act, provides work authorization and protection from deportation — as long as the Homeland Security Secretary certifies that a foreign country is unsafe because of armed conflict, natural disaster, or “extraordinary and temporary conditions.”
Alito concluded that the law establishing the TPS program did not give courts the authority to second guess the DHS’s determinations about which countries merit the protected status, which was created to shield immigrants from countries ravaged by war or national disasters.
“The TPS statute plainly bars consideration of respondents’ non-constitutional claims. It allows ‘no judicial review of any determination … with respect to the … termination of a TPS designation,” Alito wrote.
Though the ruling centered on the TPS of Haitians and Syrians, the ruling effectively gives the Trump administration the green light to carry out similar terminations, which they have already done for 13 countries.
James Percival, the Department of Homeland Security’s General Counsel, praised Thursday’s ruling.
“The T in TPS stands for TEMPORARY, yet many of these designations became de facto amnesty. This is a win for the rule of law and common sense,” he said in a statement.
Attorneys for the Haitian plaintiffs said in a statement Thursday that the ruling “will directly result in thousands of innocent people dying violent, needless deaths.”
“This decision will endanger Haitian TPS holders who fled their homeland in pursuit of what generations of immigrants yearned for when they made the painful decision to leave all they have known. to live in safety,” Geoffrey Pipoly and Andrew Tauber told ABC News in a statement.
“It’s a very sad day, not only for Haitian TPS holders but for anyone who believes, as we do, that immigrants are one of America’s greatest strengths,” they added. “The responsibility to save these lives is now with Congress–and we urge the Senate to pass the extension of TPS now pending in that chamber. “
It is unclear if Congress will vote on an extension, however, Trump has repeatedly called for the end of TPS protections and would not likely sign off.
The court’s liberals also lambasted the decision, arguing that the statements made by President Donald Trump about some of the countries whose status was cancelled — including making baseless claims that Haitians eat dogs and cats during the 2024 presidential race — demonstrate that race played a role in the decisions.
“The evidence they have offered includes statements by the President so repellent and racially inflected that the majority declines to put them in print,” wrote Justice Kagan. “The references–of filth, disease, and primitiveness–are shot through with racial stereotypes and tropes.”
The court’s liberals also argued that the statute creating TPS does allow courts to review if DHS carried out legally-required procedures to cancel the status — something the plaintiffs allege did not happen.
“It does nothing to stop courts from reviewing things other than the Secretary’s ‘determination[s]’ concerning TPS designations,” Kagan wrote.
Immigrant advocacy groups have warned about the possible sweeping consequences of this ruling, saying it will open the door for an “astonishing human tragedy.”
Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake in 2010 and has since been hit by subsequent natural disasters, political unrest following a presidential assassination, and waves of rampant gang violence.
More than 113,000 Haitian TPS holders work in Florida alone, which is home to a high proportion of America’s seniors, according to the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
Syria devolved into civil war around 2011 and has been considered by the U.S. government a hotbed of terrorism and extremism for nearly two decades. A major earthquake in 2023 plunged the country into a deeper economic and humanitarian crisis.
“This is an awful harbinger for what we expect this administration to try to do for other TPS designations. Hundreds of thousands of people who have lived here for decades now see heartbreaking chaos ahead,” FWD.us President Todd Schulte said in a statement Thursday.
Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, in separate acts last year, moved to terminate TPS status for Haiti and Syria by certifying that, in her estimation, conditions on the ground in those countries were sufficiently safe for immigrants to return.
Those decisions were blocked by lower courts, which concluded that Noem did not follow proper procedures for cancelling TPS and may have also unlawfully discriminated against the immigrants on the basis of race.
Pastor Carl Ruby, a prominent community leader in Springfield, Ohio, who has sought to stand up for Haitians there after Trump’s false comments about them eating pets rattled the community and preceded numerous bomb threats.
“This is the worst possible outcome,” Ruby told ABC News through tears. “I had always held out hope that we would get a good decision and can’t believe that we’re here now.”
Ruby contended that there was racial motivation behind the administration’s actions.
“If you look at the history of the president’s comments about Haiti and Haitians, it’s clear that this wouldn’t be happening if these were refugees from Norway. I just feel like we have failed as a country and I don’t think I’ve ever been as disappointed in our country as I am right now,” he said.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican who has defended the Springfield community, said deporting Haitians “is a mistake.”
“As a result of today’s ruling, the over 10,000 Haitians who have been living in Ohio (mostly in the Springfield area) legally through TPS will now be here illegally and will be subject to immediate deportation,” the governor said in a statement.
“This also means that while these Haitians were working and contributing to our community and economy yesterday, today it is now illegal to employ them,” he added.
“The situation in Haiti could hardly be much worse. The violent gangs run most of the country. The government barely functions. And, the economy is in shambles,” DeWine said.
-ABC News’ Laura Romero, Armando Garcia and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
