Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil appeals to Supreme Court to sue Trump admin over free speech
Mahmoud Khalil attends a vigil and protest for Palestine outside of Columbia University, Oct. 7, 2025, in New York. (Adam Gray/Getty Images)
Former Columbia grad student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, whom the Trump administration detained and sought to deport from the U.S. on foreign policy grounds last year, has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to sue the government for allegedly violating his First Amendment rights.
A divided federal appeals court ruled earlier this year that Khalil, a green card-holder married to an American citizen, could not litigate his claims before a judge unless and until immigration proceedings against him had been completed.
He was arrested by federal agents in New York City in March 2025 and held more than 100 days in ICE custody ahead of deportation after Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed an unusual determination that Khalil’s pro-Palestinian activities “compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.”
Khalil, who has not been charged with any crime, contends that he was deliberately targeted by Trump as part of a scheme to crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests and debate over Israel’s war in Gazathat had swept college campuses shortly after the president took office.
After a legal challenge, Khalil was released from custody pending the outcome of his petition.
“This fight is not only about whether I get to stay in this country,” Khalil said during a remote press conference Monday. “It’s about whether anyone in this country can speak out for Palestinians without being punished for it.”
Asked for comment on Khalil’s appeal, a White House spokeswoman said the executive branch has the authority to take actions that protect the country and the immigration system.
“Khalil obtained his visa by willfully and intentionally failing to accurately report information relevant to his background. Those who lie to the government to obtain entry into the United States will face justice,” spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.
The legal question at the heart of the case involves the writ of habeas corpus, the legal procedure that allows a person detained by the government to challenge his confinement before a judge.
If the high court takes up the case — and says Khalil can access the procedure — his case alleging targeted retaliation by the government over disfavored speech can go forward. If the court denies the appeal, Khalil could be deported before getting the chance to make his case.
“It’s clear and conceited that Mahmoud has never committed a crime and that his detention and removal are only because of the speech the government dislikes,” said Khalil’s attorney Baher Azmy. This is “unprecedented weaponization of immigration power … The question is whether the federal courts can address this egregious action.”
Khalil has a separate legal challenge pending in the 5th Circuit Court of appeals focusing on U.S. immigration law.
“It’s way bigger than me,” Khalil said. “I can afford to lose … unlike the thousands of immigrants in this country who really cannot lose this fight. Whatever I’m going through is a drop in the sea of what other families are experiencing.”
The justices are likely to consider the petition during a formal private meeting in January. If they agree to hear Khalil’s case, it would likely be set for oral argument sometime in the spring and decided by the end of June.
(MAINE) — Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner on Monday pushed back on an allegation of sexual assault, calling it “categorically false,” adding that he is “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward.”
In a report from Politico published on Monday, Jenny Racicot, a former girlfriend, alleged that Platner, while they were dating five years ago, forced her into having sex without her consent after she had repeatedly called for him to stop.
ABC News has not confirmed the contents of the Politico story.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
U.S. President Donald Trump during a campaign rally on Oct. 1, 2026, in Durant, Oklahoma. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Fresh off his visit to Texas and Oklahoma, President Donald Trump will rally supporters in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday night. It is the latest stop on a swing through deep-red states to boost midterm election turnout among Republican voters and thank them for their support, amid low approval ratings for the president.
Trump won Alabama three times: by 27.7 points in 2016, 25.5 points in 2020 and 30.5 points in 2024. On Thursday, Trump explained why he is spending time in states he has carried easily.
“I’m going because you have to thank these states that are with you 1,000%,” Trump said. “And I haven’t been there in a while, and I want to just thank them.”
According to an AP-NORC poll, Trump’s job approval rating stands at a record-low over both of his terms as president at 31%, with 69% of Americans disapproving.
Mobile was redrawn after mid-decade redistricting to be in Alabama’s 1st Congressional District. The redrawn district, favoriting Republicans, would have voted for Trump in 2024 by around 40 points.
The city also holds a special place in Trump’s political history. In August 2015, at his first rally in the city, then-Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama publicly endorsed him. That endorsement became a key moment on Trump’s path to the Republican nomination.
Trump came back to Mobile after winning the 2016 election and held an event at Ladd-Peebles Stadium as part of his post-election “thank you” tour.
Rep. Barry Moore, now the Republican nominee for Senate, first backed Trump at the 2015 rally when Trump was running in a crowded presidential primary field.
The rally is set to begin at 7 p.m. ET at the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Center, which holds about 10,000 people.
“President Trump knows how important it is to have rock-solid conservatives representing Alabama in Washington and Montgomery, and I’m happy to have him visit our state so close to this critical midterm election,” Moore said on social media.
A Republican National Committee official made the case that Mobile was chosen partly for its reach beyond Alabama. The Mobile-Pensacola media market covers the western Florida Panhandle. The RNC said it expects the rally to energize voters and generate coverage in both states.
Several other lawmakers will join Trump. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, running for governor, and Sen. Katie Britt is expected to be there. Former Rep. Jerry Carl, the GOP nominee in the solidly Republican 1st District that now includes Mobile, called the visit a “great honor.”
The House seat to watch
The race to watch in Alabama is the state’s 2nd Congressional District. There, Republican state Rep. Rhett Marques, who is set to speak Friday, is challenging Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures.
The district’s lines changed after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais weakened the Voting Rights Act. Following that ruling, Alabama reinstated its 2023 congressional map, which federal courts had previously found discriminatory against Black Alabamians.
Figures won the seat in 2024 with 54.6% of the vote under a court-drawn map. Now the Cook Political Report calls him the “clear underdog,” and ABC News rates the race as likely Republican. It is one of several contests that could help decide control of the House.
After Alabama, the president will rally in Ohio, which is the center of a competitive Senate race between incumbent GOP Sen. Jon Husted and former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat.
Donald Trump Jr., his wife Bettina Anderson and Eric Trump arrive with U.S. President Donald Trump on July 1, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump announced a $6.6 billion investment with AI defense company Anduril Industries on Tuesday — the most recent government funding agreement into a company with investment ties to the president’s sons.
The Trump administration announced the Navy will support $2.9 billion of the total cost to help create a new facility in Baltimore County, Maryland, that will manufacture critical parts for the Virginia-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine.
“In a tremendous victory for our country and for the city of Baltimore, Anduril is investing $3.7 billion in a state-of-the-art shipyard that will be known forever as Arsenal-2,” Trump said at an event announcing the investment.
“Right here in Sparrows Point, you’ll build the next generation of American submarines, including autonomous subs, torpedo tubes, and critical components for our cutting edge Virginia-class attack submarines,” Trump said.
1789 Capital — a venture capital firm that lists Donald Trump Jr. as one of six partners along with three founders — claimed a major stake in Anduril in June 2025 from a $2.5 billion investment into the company.
Since that investment, Anduril has been awarded 135 other contracts with the U.S. government and to date has received around $1.8 billion from those agreements, according to active defense contracts posted to SAM.gov, the official system for government contracting.
Anduril did not respond for comment on its contracts or investments from 1789 Capital, though the company has been awarded contracts dating back to 2019, according to USASpending.gov.
The company is one of the largest manufacturers to receive an investment from Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric Trump, but they are not the only one.
An ABC News analysis found defense companies backed by the president’s sons, including Anduril, have now raked in more than $6 billion dollars in active or promised government contracts since those investments were made, according to the government’s official contract reporting.
This comes as Congressional Oversight Democrats continue to demand the Pentagon’s inspector general investigate the approved deals.
“Refusal to investigate these serious allegations will raise significant concerns about whether your office is able to perform its statutory duty as an independent watchdog over DoD,” Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, Robert Garcia and Tammy Duckworth wrote in a letter to Platte B. Moring, III, the Pentagon’s inspector general, in May.
A spokesperson for the Trump brothers denied any wrongdoing.
“Don and Eric are experienced business leaders who have built and invested in businesses across a wide range of industries for decades, long before their father first ran for public office. Their investment decisions are based solely on their independent business judgment and personal convictions and they do not seek to influence, direct, or participate in any government decision, procurement, award, regulatory action, or other governmental process. Attempts to portray their ordinary investment activities as improper are a deliberate distortion of the facts,” the spokesperson said.
The White House declined to comment.
Drone investments
Shortly after Trump won the presidency, Donald Trump Jr. was named an adviser for Florida-based drone manufacturer Unusual Machines — a company which had not previously won any government contracts.
In October 2025, Unusual Machines scored a direct U.S. Dept. of Defense agreement for 3,500 orders of National Defense Authorization Act-compliant motors, with a potential order of 20,000 on the way in 2026.
The Trump brothers are also listed as “notable investors” for the U.S. drone company Powerus, the company announced in March 2026.
Despite not having any government contracts previously, Powerurs won its first Air Force purchase order just one month later for an undisclosed amount.
In July, Powerus was awarded up to $90 million for aerial-denial unmanned aircraft systems from the U.S. Air Force.
ABC News asked Powerus if it was concerned at all about the involvement of the Trump brothers in the company, given its active contracts.
“Defense procurement is merit-based. You can’t sell the government something that won’t protect a soldier, and nobody in the procurement chain risks their career routing a contract to a company whose equipment doesn’t work,” a spokesperson for Powerus said.
“Neither Donald Trump Jr. nor Eric Trump is an advisor to Powerus, and neither is involved in the company’s day-to-day business,” the spokesperson continued. “Their interest is indirect, held through American Ventures, an investor in the company.”
Manufacturing investments
Trump-linked investments extend into the manufacturing industry, with the brothers combining for more than $1 billion across companies in mining, quantum computing and aerospace.
Oversight Democrats in their letter to the DoD criticized Donald Trump Jr.’s portfolio in raw materials, citing an August 2025 investment into Vulcan Elements, a rare-earth mining company harvesting critical materials for defense manufacturing.
That same month, the Office of Strategic Capital loaned Vulcan Elements $620 million to expand its operation.
Vulcan Elements did not respond for comment when asked about these contracts and the investments from 1789 Capital.
The firm also invested $60 million in Texas-based Firehawk Aerospace, according to firm portfolios provided by PitchBook. In the same month, Firehawk won a $4.9 million Air Force contract to “Advance Hybrid Rocket Engine Development,” according to a company press release.
Firehawk would later secure tens of millions more — $3.2 million in May 2026, an undisclosed “multimillion-dollar” contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory in July and $24 million in Dept. of Defense munitions contracts in August, according to company press releases and active contracts.
Firehawk Aerospace has been awarded government contracts across both the Biden and Trump administrations since the company’s founding in 2019.
In a statement to ABC News, Firehawk said its award is “solely the product of engineering expertise and capacity.”
“We value the many investors who back that mission and share our conviction that the Nation’s arsenal must be built to last. Our focus is the duty in front of us, making the arsenal of the U.S. and our allies stronger,” a Firehawk spokesperson said.
ABC News also found 1789 Capital raised $1 billion in revenue generation for California-based PsiQuantum in September of last year, with the company’s pre-existing contract with DoD expanding by more than $157 million since then, according to SAM.gov.
PsiQuantum also signed a $100 million letter of intent with the Department of Commerce and another $125 million with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in May and July of 2026.
PsiQuantum did not respond when asked for comment on these investments.
Automation investments
Trump-linked investments were found in the automation sector.
Eric Trump said he was named chief strategy adviser for Foundation Future Industries, a humanoid robot startup with the stated aim to develop autonomous soldiers and workers.
Eric Trump touted a $24 million contract in April — the company’s first — according to Eric Trump and CEO Sankaet Pathal’s statements on Fox News. Pathal did not respond for comment on this contract or on Trump’s involvement with the company’s operations.
ABC News found a $391 million 1789 Capital investment into Hadrian — a highly automated, AI-driven manufacturing company — in the early days of 2026.
The company won its first public contracts a few months later in March — a $39.2 million agreement with the Army for machinery and manufacturing and a $900 million deal with the Navy to create highly automated submarine factories.
Hadrian did not respond for comment when asked about these contracts.
Congressional Democrats continue to sound the alarm over these investments, referring ABC News to their May demand to the Department of Defense to launch an investigation into the president’s family.
“We hope that your office will take seriously these latest concerns about corruption in the DoD award process and fulfill your statutory responsibility by initiating a review,” the senators wrote in their letter.
