Sen. Mitch McConnell hospitalized after experiencing ‘flu-like symptoms’
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on “The Abduction of Ukrainian Children by the Russian Federation” on Capitol Hill on December 3, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images))
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized for evaluation after experiencing flu-like symptoms, his spokesperson said.
“In an abundance of caution, after experiencing flu-like symptoms over the weekend, Senator McConnell checked himself into a local hospital for evaluation last night,” McConnell spokesman David Popp said in a statement. “His prognosis is positive and he is grateful for the excellent care he is receiving. He is in regular contact with his staff and looks forward to returning to Senate business.”
McConnell, 84, who announced last February he would end his long tenure in the Senate at the end of the current term, was hospitalized in March 2023 for five days after suffering a concussion and a broken rib after a fall at a Washington, D.C., hotel.
He suffered a “minor cut” to the face and a “sprained wrist” after another fall during a Senate Republican lunch in December 2024.
McConnell served as the Senate Republican leader for a record-shattering 18 years — the longest- serving party leader of either party. He stepped down from the role in 2024 and was succeeded in by current Majority Leader John Thune.
Carl Juste/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric in a speech on Tuesday night, repeatedly attacking Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar and complaining about immigration outside of Europe.
“Let’s have a few from from Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. Do you mind? But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime. The only thing they’re good at is going after ships,” Trump said as he addressed supporters in Pennsylvania.
The speech was billed as an event to sell his economic agenda, but quickly devolved into a campaign-style speech filled with derogatory insults.
Trump specifically took aim at Omar, a Somali American who represents Minnesota. He appeared to purposefully mispronounce her name and referred to Omar’s hijab as a turban.
“I love her, she comes in, does nothing but b—-. She’s always complaining. She comes from a country where, I mean, it’s considered about the worst country in the world, right?” Trump said.
“She should get the hell out. Throw her the hell out,” Trump added.
His supporters then launched into “send her back” chants about the congresswoman, who is an American citizen.
Omar responded to the remarks, the latest in Trump’s attacks on her and Somali immigrants, in a post on X late Tuesday.
“Trump’s obsession with me is beyond weird. He needs serious help. Since he has no economic policies to tout, he’s resorting to regurgitating bigoted lies instead. He continues to be a national embarrassment,” she wrote.
Trump admits to saying ‘s—hole countries’
Trump on Tuesday also recalled a 2018 meeting in which he told a group of senators behind closed doors that the U.S. shouldn’t accept immigrants from “s—hole countries” such as Haiti.
When it was reported at the time, Trump himself flatly denied using the expletive.
“Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor troubled country,” Trump wrote on X, then known as Twitter.
ABC News reported that in the 2018 Oval Office meeting with senators, Trump expressed frustration over the visa lottery program and asked those in the room why they would want people from Haiti, Africa and other “s—hole countries” coming into the United States.”
In his denial then, Trump accused Democrats in the meeting of making up comments attributed to him and said that he “probably should record future meetings.” Notably, the president back then did not deny he suggested that America should admit more immigrants from places such as Norway — comments that were confirmed by multiple sources with direct knowledge of the conversations.
But in his speech on Tuesday, Trump embraced the expletive as he boasted about pausing immigration applications from what he called “third-world countries” including “hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries.”
Someone in the audience then yelled the word “s—hole.”
“I didn’t say ‘s—hole,’ you did,” Trump quipped. “Remember, I said that to the senators. They came in, the Democrats, they wanted to be bipartisan, so they came in and they said, ‘This is totally off the record, nothing mentioned here, we want to be honest,’ because our country was going to hell.”
“And we had a meeting, and I say, ‘Why is it we only take people from s—hole countries,’ right? Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden? Just a few? Let’s have a few from from Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. Do you mind? But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.”
ABC News’ Justin Gomez and Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions during a statement to the media at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on December 22, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States “hit” a dock in Venezuela where drugs were allegedly being loaded onto boats.
The comments came after Trump said in a radio interview last Friday that the U.S. “knocked out” a “big facility” in Venezuela as he touted his administration’s effort to stop drug trafficking from the region, including strikes against alleged drug boats.
“And we just knocked out, I don’t know if you read or you saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from. Two nights ago we knocked that out, so we hit them very hard,” Trump said on WABC’s “Cats and Cosby,” though he didn’t provide specifics.
If Trump’s comments are accurate, then it would mark the first known attack on land in Venezuela since the Trump administration began its campaign against the country.
On Monday, as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his Mar-a-Lago club, Trump was pressed by a reporter for more details on the strike — including whether the action was carried out by the U.S. military after Trump confirmed in October that he authorized the CIA to operate inside the South American nation.
“Well, it doesn’t matter, but there was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump responded. “They load the boats up with drugs. So we hit all the boats and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”
ABC News has reached out to the Pentagon and the White House for comment; the Pentagon referred ABC News to the White House for comment. The CIA declined to comment on the matter.
Trump has teased land action in Venezuela for weeks.
The U.S. has also built up its military presence in the region, with 15,000 U.S. troops and several warships standing ready in the Caribbean. Earlier this month, Trump ordered what he called a “complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela, targeting the government’s main source of revenue.
“He can do whatever he wants, it’s alright, whatever he wants to do. If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’s ever able to play tough,” Trump said.
President Donald Trump delivers an address to the Nation from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Dec. 17, 2025.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said during his presidential address on Wednesday night that his administration is “bringing our economy back from the brink of ruin,” claiming that he has brought prices down across the board.
“I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast,” Trump said from the White House’s Diplomatic Room, adding, “Let’s look at the facts.”
He made sweeping claims about prices — from gasoline and groceries to airfare and hotel flights — comparing the current price to that of former President Joe Biden’s administration.
But according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the president’s claims in some cases appeared to be exaggerated, false or unverifiable.
BLS is set to release updated numbers on Thursday providing an updated look at consumer prices — the first inflation report since the end of the government shutdown.
The president said that under Biden, gasoline prices rose 30 to 50%, hotel rates rose 37% and airfares rose 31%.
“Now, under our leadership, they are all coming down and coming down fast. Democrat politicians also sent the cost of groceries soaring, but we are solving that, too,” Trump claimed.
Trump claimed that egg prices are down 82% since March and that “everything else is falling rapidly.”
ABC News has compiled fact checks on some of Trump’s claims.
Gas prices
It’s true that gas prices hit an all-time high in June 2022 under Biden, with an average price of $5.016 per gallon, per AAA.
According to AAA, the new average is $2.998. That would be an almost 50% decrease from the highest point under the Biden administration.
But when you compare gas prices to where they were just a year ago, Sept. 2025 to Sept. 2024, the latest CPI report puts gas down just .5%.
Airfare
Airline fares were up 3.2% in September under the Trump administration compared to a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Hotel rates
Hotel room rates are down .8% and car rental prices are down 5.0% over the past year, per BLS data.
Groceries
The average price of a dozen grade A eggs was $3.49 as of September, down from an all-time high of $6.23 in March — a 43% decrease, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It’s important to note, also, that egg prices were heavily affected by the avian flu.
Overall, meat prices have gone up 8.5% in the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Beef prices are at a record high — up 14.7% in the past year.
Notably, Trump also doesn’t mention coffee. Coffee is up 18.9%, according to BLS data from September, the most recent available. The price of coffee has risen in part due to the president’s tariffs on places like Brazil — although last month the White House began exempting coffee from his tariffs.
