Postal Service says it will not deliver ballots if states refuse to turn over voter lists under Trump proposal
Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, during a hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photographer: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Under a newly proposed rule, the U.S. Postal Service will refuse to deliver mail-in ballots in states that do not hand over a list of approved voters to the Trump administration, Postmaster General David Steiner told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
Democrats lambasted the proposed policy during the hearing, arguing the rule was unconstitutional and “another backdoor way of trying to influence this election.”
“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 proposed rule puts the Postal Service at the center of President Donald Trump’s push to increase federal oversight of elections, though Steiner argued the policy is routine and an attempt to make sure ballots are delivered “securely, efficiently, and accurately.”
According to the proposal, states would need to provide to the Postal Service the names, addresses and ballot barcode numbers for individuals to receive a mail-in ballot.
That list of information is less than what’s included on a state’s voter roll — which often include voter registration data and other sensitive data — but in line with an executive order Trump signed in March to increase federal oversight of elections.
At least five lawsuits have challenged that executive order, but some of those cases have stalled because the policy has not yet been enacted. The comment period for that proposed rule is open for the next week.
“It really is trying to help the state make sure that the ballots that they send to the voters actually get there and get to those voters, and so it’s strictly a manifest for us to make sure that the right ballots are going to the right people,” said Steiner, an attorney who previously served as the CEO of Waste Management.
However, Senate Democrats argued the policy is a veiled attempt to increase federal control over the election.
“Just because President Trump wants to do this does not make it law, doesn’t make it right, doesn’t make it constitutional. There is certainly a massive difference between general mail requirements and regulating elections,” Peters said.
“The U.S. Postal Service is now part of this bigger story of this president desperate to federalize our elections. He has tried every which way to say that if he and his party don’t win in these November elections, they were rigged,” said Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.
When pressed on whether the Postal Service would refuse to send ballots to states that refuse to turn over that information, Steiner repeatedly deflected but acknowledged that under the proposed rule, the Postal Service would withhold the ballots.
“If you don’t get Michigan’s voter rolls for the general election in November, will you move those ballots in your mailboxes?” asked Slotkin.
“Remember, right now we only have a proposed rule, so there are no new rules,” Steiner answered. “We will move those ballots in accordance with whatever rule is in effect at that point in time.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol, April 27, 2026, in Washington. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Lindsey Graham, a longtime Republican senator from South Carolina, who had become one of President Donald Trump’s staunchest political allies, died on Saturday after a “brief and sudden” illness, his office said in a statement. He was 71.
“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” said the statement, which was posted early Sunday on social media.
First elected to the Senate in 2002, Graham had in 23 years risen to be one of the chamber’s most prominent figures. He won reelection three times, most recently in 2020.
“Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead!” Trump said on social media on Sunday morning. “He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!”
The flags above the White House, as well as on the White House North Lawn flagpole, have been lowered to half staff following the news of Graham’s death.
Graham was aligned with the president on most matters and the two were seen together frequently on the golf course and at events. He advised the president on matters of foreign policy, including recently on the Iran war. He was outspoken in support of the president’s decision to lead strikes on nuclear sites in Iran last year.
Graham served as the current chair of the Senate Budget Committee, a role he had most recently used to lead the Senate’s efforts to pass a roughly $70 billion budget reconciliation bill to provide funding for border security. That legislation was signed by Trump in June.
He was a also member of the Appropriations, Judiciary and Environment and Public Works committees.
In his time in the Senate, Graham also helmed the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2022.
While atop the panel, he led the committee through the swift confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the final months of Trump’s first term. Graham had earlier been among those who blocked President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland, his pick to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, almost 11 months before the 2016 presidential election.
Graham would have returned to the top GOP position on the committee next Congress.
Before his time in the Senate, Graham had served in the House, where he represented South Carolina’s third district. He was first elected to that office in 1994 and served four terms.
In his more than three decades in Washington, Graham had sparred with several presidents. As a member of the House in 1998, he was appointed a manager of the impeachment proceedings against then-President Bill Clinton. He was a harsh critic of Obama, as well as President Joe Biden, whom he also considered a longtime friend from their years together in the Senate.
Graham was also once numbered among the fiercest critics of Trump, whom he ran against in the 2016 presidential election, a race he withdrew from before the primaries. But their relationship had softened, with Graham saying he had turned into one of his closest friends.
“On a professional level, I am proud to have been there at the beginning when President Trump — through sheer force of will — achieved the greatest political comeback in American history,” Graham said in March 2025. “On a personal level, I genuinely enjoy our friendship. He’s an awesome golfing buddy, who I have yet to beat.”
The president recently endorsed Graham in his primary campaign, in which Graham sailed to victory in June with nearly 57% of the vote, defeating several challengers. He was slated to appear on the ballot this November.
Trump held a tele-rally for Graham ahead of the race, praising their partnership amid the war in Iran, which Graham staunchly defended.
“They cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said at the time. “And Lindsey has been fighting with me all the way. All the way for that. We’ve been a very tough team and I think we are winning that battle.”
He was a member of the Judiciary committee since he first joined the Senate in 2003. His time on the panel was spent working to mold the federal judiciary. While serving on the committee he helped to advance confirmation of conservative judges to the federal bench, and also became a staunch defender of Trump, his close friend and ally.
Graham in recent statements appeared positive that he and Trump would continue in lockstep if Graham was reelected the in fall.
“Let me tell you in ’27, if I win in November, I’ll be chairman of the Judiciary Committee,” he said. “I’ll wake up every morning and go to bed every night, thinking, ‘How many judges can we put on the bench before Trump leaves in ’28.'”
He had been a foreign policy hawk during his time in office, supporting the president in his war with Iran, making visits to Israel and fostering a strong and at-times contentious relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He pushed for military aid to the country, including weapons and financial assistance.
Shortly before his death, Graham made his 10th visit to Ukraine — meeting with Zelenskyy and visiting a drone manufacturer in the country. He and a bipartisan group of senators announced on Friday a bipartisan deal with the White House on a Russia-sanctions bill that Graham had long-championed.
“In my opinion, this summer is the time to go all in to put pressure on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to get to the peace table and end the bloodbath,” he said on July 7.
Zelenskyy said on Sunday that he and Graham met twice in the past week, adding that he was “deeply saddened” by the news, calling the senator a “true defender of freedom,” a “staunch advocate” for Ukraine and a “determined leader.”
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, in a statement posted on Sunday morning, called the senator a “dear friend,” going on to say, “Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend.”
Graham was also highly involved, earlier in his career, in efforts to craft a bipartisan deal on immigration. He worked across the aisle in 2013 to negotiate a border security bill that created a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented migrants while increasing border security and changing immigration rules. That legislation never became law.
Lindsey Olin Graham was born on July 9, 1955, in Central, South Carolina, a town in the state’s northwest that, at that time, had little more than 1,000 residents.
His official Senate biography described his family as “blue collar,” saying his parents ran a local restaurant and pool hall. He became the legal guardian to his younger sister and raised her after his parents died.
“The first member of his family to go to college, Graham earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of South Carolina,” his bio said.
The year after he earned a law degree in 1981, he joined the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a lawyer. He was assigned overseas in Germany between 1984 and 1988, before leaving active duty the following year.
As a reservist, he was later called to active duty during the first Gulf War, during which he served state-side.
He retired as a reservist in June 2015 at the rank of colonel.
Graham lived in Seneca, South Carolina, and was not married. His official biography says he was a member of Corinth Baptist Church.
He last voted in the Senate on June 24, right before the chamber departed for the Fourth of July recess. The Senate is slated to return on Monday.
Graham had been a longtime friend of Sen. John McCain, a Republican, who died in 2018, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-independent, who died in 2024.
The three “traveled the world together,” Graham said in 2018.
“I’ve seen these guys in action,” Graham said at the time. “I’ve learned a lot from both of them and we had so much fun.”
Majority Leader John Thune said on Sunday that his “heart is heavy” to learn of the death of his friend and colleague.
“As South Carolina’s senior senator, Lindsey fought passionately for the Palmetto State,” Thune said in a post on social media. “He was a trusted adviser and colleague to me and many others, and numerous presidents and heads of state have relied on his counsel. His influence on the federal judiciary, our national defense, and his beloved South Carolina will be felt for generations.”
ABC News’ Shannon Kingston, Nicholas Kerr and Charlotte Gardiner contributed to this report.
Workers walk past a recently closed John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 16, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Thursday directed the Trump administration to provide 30 days’ notice of any changes in the Kennedy Center’s renovation plans, “including but not limited to any ‘demolition’ of the Center’s main building,” as the jockeying over the future of the performing arts center continued.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper made his ruling the afternoon after President Donald Trump was photographed looking over a placard that appeared to include the words “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED” over what appeared to be an image of a demolition.
In a federal court filing Thursday morning, Kennedy Center executive director Matt Floca said the current closure of the main building is only “temporary,” set to last for seven days, and will be reevaluated on a weekly basis.
Judge Cooper, in his ruling, ordered the administration to update him on the status of the “‘temporary closure’ and emergency repairs” by next Wednesday.
The ruling came as Cooper turned down a request from Ohio Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty for an emergency hearing in the case, citing the morning’s announcement.
The photos of Trump examining the placard were taken Wednesday night through a cabin window on Air Force One by Agence France-Presse photojournalist Brendan Smialowski, who was acting as the pool photographer for White House coverage, as Trump landed at Joint Base Andrews.
It was not immediately clear what the full contents of the placard were or how they were generated. The published images don’t show the entire placard and the word that appears to be “DEMOLISHED” was not entirely visible, cut off as “DEMOLIS.”
ABC News has reached out to the White House for comment.
The images were published on Wednesday evening, shortly after the president said the performing arts center could “close” or be “ripped down” if his administration doesn’t receive recognition on the performing arts site.
“I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down,” the president told reporters on the tarmac in North Carolina.
Congress last year appropriated $257 million for needed renovations. But Trump said in a social media post on Tuesday that those renovations will not take place unless his name is again added onto the building.
His name had been added to the center’s exterior after the Trump-controlled board voted in December to rename the building the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”
Judge Cooper ruled in May that Trump’s name had to come down. Cooper wrote in a decision that the center’s rebranding violated the law. He ordered that Trump’s name be removed from the building within two weeks.
In July, a panel of D.C. Circuit appeals court judges rejected a request by Trump and fellow members of the center’s board to stay the court’s order that Trump’s name be removed from the building.
Last month, the Kennedy Center board members — who Trump last year replaced with his allies — voted to close the famed cultural institution for a two-year renovation. They voted on Tuesday to close the building immediately.
Also on Tuesday, Cooper issued a written order blocking any attempt to add Trump’s name to the building, concluding it violated a previous court order and congressional statute.
“Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Cooper wrote. “The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.”
ABC News’ Karen Travers, Michelle Stoddart and Devin Garbitt contributed to this report.
Vice President J.D. Vance takes a question from a reporter during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on June 18, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President JD Vance on Thursday directly contradicted what is in the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran, touting it as a “win-win” and insisting Iran will only reap financial benefits if they “change their behavior.”
“They don’t get anything unless they change their behavior,” Vance said during a briefing at the White House Thursday morning.
That conflicts with what U.S. officials had said was in the MOU, which states that “immediately upon signing,” the Treasury Department will allow the export of Iranian crude through waivers — a financial windfall for Iran, which has faced sanctions for years. Vance digitally signed the MOU with Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf before President Donald Trump physically signed it Wednesday.
ABC News pushed Vance on the financial rewards that Iran is already receiving simply for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. As part of the agreement, the U.S. is removing its naval blockade of Iranian ports, and Iran will allow commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed after the war started, to be restored to pre-war levels. ABC News asked how Iran is allowed to sell their oil freely without making any new concrete nuclear commitments.
“They’ve made very concrete nuclear commitments. They have committed to the destruction of the highly enriched [uranium] stockpile that they have in their possession,” Vance said, adding that lifting the Strait of Hormuz blockade has promoted “the free flow of energy … across the world.”
However, Vance’s comments conflict with what the deal says. There is no firm commitment from Iran to get rid of their nuclear stockpile — just a commitment to negotiate “the disposition” of it over the next 60 days.
Also, allowing Iran to freely sell oil on the global market now is an economic windfall for Iran, which could generate more than $60 billion a year in revenue, experts told the Wall Street Journal.
Furthermore, Vance defended the oil waivers by arguing the U.S. will gain insight into Iran’s economy.
“So by lifting the blockade, that’s the significant thing that has changed. And by lifting the sanctions, we’re actually going to be able to see a little bit where their financial system actually sends money and receives money. That’s a real benefit to the American people. And that’s really the only thing that has changed by the change in sanctions,” Vance said.
He also repeatedly stressed that U.S. taxpayer money will not flow directly to Iran — “not a single penny, by the way, from the United States of America under any circumstance.” But a final deal could still allow Iran to reap huge financial benefits, including the unfreezing of assets and a $300 billion reconstruction account for Iran — the details of which will be sorted in the 60-day period.
Pressed on whether Iran can be trusted to change its behavior, Vance asked “isn’t it worth trying?”
Democrats — and some Republicans — have expressed concerns about the MOU. Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, said Iran “took Trump to the cleaners” in negotiations over the MOU in remarks on the Senate floor Thursday. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said of the MOU on Thursday: “Iran’s left stronger, we’re left weaker.”
“You know, I’ve seen skeptics of the deal. People say ‘the Iranians will never change their behavior.’ Well, maybe that’s true. And if so, they don’t get any of the benefits of the bargain. But isn’t it worth trying? Isn’t it worth seeing whether this incredibly weakened position that the president of the United States has put the Iranians under, whether that motivates them to change their behavior, not just vis a vis the West, but vis a vis the Middle East,” he said.
Iranian Supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that Iranian officials entered the agreement from a position of strength, portraying the U.S. president as having pushed aggressively for the deal out of desperation.
