Supreme Court allows California to move forward with new congressional map favoring Democrats
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a bid by California Republicans to block a newly redrawn congressional map backed by Democrats and endorsed by voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The move allows the state to move forward with a map enacted by Proposition 50, approved in November, that could potentially allow Democrats to flip five seats currently held by Republicans.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
xPresident Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attend a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court, May 13, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Tuesday marks the first time His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia, steps foot in the U.S. since 2018, following the death of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, which caused global outrage.
The crown prince denied ordering the operation but ultimately acknowledged responsibility as the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
Now more than seven years later, the Saudi leader has business on his mind as he seeks to deepen ties with the U.S. through cooperation on oil and security, while also expanding the regime’s global outreach in finance, artificial intelligence and technology. Saudi Arabia notably boasts the world’s largest economy and maintains its lead as the world’s top oil producer.
The crown prince will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House and he’ll be invited in with pomp and circumstance. Saudi flags were seen draped in front of the White House, next to American flags, ahead of his visit.
Trump is also hosting a dinner for the Saudi leader on Tuesday night.
A focus on defense and business
The prince’s trip to the U.S. is being billed as an “official working visit,” and is designed to follow up and advance on Trump’s May appearance in Riyadh — the first official visit of Trump’s second term in office.
“A lot of the financial and economic and artificial intelligence deals that they announced that were very ambiguous six months ago, I think we might start to see some teeth from them this time around and hopefully get a little bit more clarity on what those deals actually are,” said Elizabeth Dent, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former director for the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula in the office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon.
During that May visit, Trump announced a $142 billion arms package with the Saudis, which according to a White House fact sheet was the “the largest defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.
The agreement covers deals with more than a dozen U.S. defense companies in areas including air and missile defense, air force and space advancement, maritime security and communications, the fact sheet said.
The kingdom in turn announced a $600 billion investment in the U.S. spanning multiple sectors, including energy security, defense, technology, global infrastructure and critical minerals.
Some of the other notable deals announced under the $600 billion pledge included investments in: U.S.-based artificial intelligence data centers and energy infrastructure; advanced technologies; Saudi infrastructure projects; U.S. energy equipment and commercial aircraft; the U.S. health care supply chain; and U.S. sports industries.
Trump confirmed on Monday during an event in the Oval Office that he plans to sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia as part of a weapons deal, which experts say would mark the first time those jets have been sold to an Arab military.
“There’s a whole host of issues that encompass this. Part of it is that Israel has to be able to maintain their congressionally-mandated qualitative military edge, which Congress does determine that,” Dent said. “And so, if the deal goes forward, I think we just have to see how they’re going to figure out the best way to ensure Israel can maintain that, as the only country in the Middle East that currently has F-35s.”
“I think the Israelis are probably pretty uncomfortable with these rumors swirling around without normalization in sight,” Dent added.
Saudis insist on ‘credible pathway’ to Palestinian statehood
The Saudi leader is seeking security guarantees from the U.S. amid turbulence in the Middle East. The security agreement with the U.S. has been in a development stage and has not yet been formalized, but the kingdom is seeking to deepen military and security ties between the two countries.
The security guarantees are viewed by some as part of a larger regional “megadeal” involving normalization with Israel, something Trump will surely push for, even as the Saudi kingdom has refused to do so under the current Israeli leadership.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday that he would discuss the issue with the crown prince.
“I hope that Saudi Arabia will be going into the Abraham Accords fairly shortly,” he said.
Earlier this year, Trump signed an unprecedented defense pact with Qatar via executive order that recognizes the “enduring alliance” between the U.S. and Qatar and provides Qatar an explicit security guarantee in the event of “external attack.”
Many analysts have said they believe the Saudis are looking for a similar defense pact with the U.S.
“I think it’ll be kind of similar to Qatar’s, where it basically just says it will consider any sort of threat or attack on Saudi Arabia to be an attack on the United States, and then the United States will respond appropriately, which could range from political to military options. So, I think that the administration will make sure to give themselves that decision space,” Dent said. “There’s a lot to work through here. Obviously, I think a lot of it will be about expectation management.”
The kingdom is notably invested in implementing the president’s 20-point Gaza peace plan. The kingdom has previously stated it wants to see the emergence of a credible path toward an independent and a free Palestine as a condition for supporting the demilitarization of Hamas and reconstruction of Gaza.
But Israel has put up a roadblock to Palestinian statehood, which will undoubtedly cause angst among Arab regional partners who are pushing for sustained peace in Gaza.
“Our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory has not changed,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday during his weekly cabinet meeting. “Gaza will be demilitarized and Hamas will be disarmed, the easy way or the hard way.”
Netanyahu has long opposed a Palestinian state, saying in recent months that its creation would only reward Hamas and endanger Israel’s security.
ABC News’ Christopher Boccia contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Amid criticism that he’s been focused heavily on foreign policy rather than an “America First” agenda, President Donald Trump will kick off what will be a year focused on domestic travel and touting his economic agenda with a speech in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
Trump will push back against criticism of the economy and preview his upcoming economic plans.
“The president will be traveling to Pennsylvania to discuss how he and the Administration continue to focus on delivering on his Day 1 priority of ending Joe Biden’s inflation crisis,” the White House official said in an email to ABC News.
Trump may also hold another event similar to what is planned for Pennsylvania later this month and additional events are expected after New Year’s Day, the White House official said.
Trump has faced pushback, including from Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former top ally, for not doing more to address the high cost of living. In response, Trump has claimed that affordability is being used as a “buzzword” by Democrats ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Last week, Trump called the issue of affordability the “greatest con job.”
“It’s a con job. I think affordability is the greatest con job. They look at you and they say, ‘affordability.’ They don’t say anything else. Everyone says, ‘Oh, their prices were so low.’ No, they had the worst inflation,” Trump said, referring to Democratic critiques of his economy.
Trump defended his economic agenda in an interview with Politico published on Tuesday morning, touting the revenue his global tariffs have generated while saying he would consider more carve-outs for goods impacted by the levies that Americans find too expensive.
Trump also pushed back on critics, including Greene, who said he’s been too focused on foreign affairs.
“Most of my time is spent here. But when I do go outside, it’s only going outside for here. For instance, settling and solving the problem with China, that has a huge effect in the United States. Making deals with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, all of these countries, you’re talking about trillions and trillions of dollars. So I could … I guess I could say let’s not deal with anybody. We wouldn’t have much of a country,” Trump told Politico.
Although Trump has extolled his economic plans, a recent Gallup poll found that only 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, while 62% disapprove and 2% have no opinion.
And it’s clear that the Trump administration is feeling pressure to address concerns about the cost of living following November’s elections, which saw voters across New Jersey, Virginia and New York City push back against the president’s agenda.
In the weeks that followed, the Trump administration made shifts in its economic plans, including rolling back tariffs on some food imports in an attempt to lower grocery prices, and floating the idea of a 50-year mortgage.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Tuesday morning that Trump is “going to give a positive, economic-focused speech” in Pennsylvania and called on Republicans to “be more vocal about touting the accomplishments of this administration.”
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said Trump will campaign for Republican candidates in the midterms “like it’s 2024 again.”
“The president started raising money for the midterms the day after the election, and he’s sitting on a huge war chest to help these people. And he’ll use it, and he’ll use himself, and he’ll use his money that he’s raised, probably his money too, and, and, and nobody can outwork him, so there’s every reason to be confident, but we have to actually get it done,” Wiles said on “The Mom View” podcast on Monday.
Three minutes and two seconds before the first shot is fired, Alex Pretti holds a phone before a federal officer on Nicollet Ave in Minnesota. (Obtained by ABC News)
(WASHINGTON) — With just days until a partial government shutdown, the shootings in Minneapolis have left Senate Democrats and Republicans in a standoff over how to advance a package of bills necessary to fund the government.
Democrats have made their position clear: Republicans should agree to separate the bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security from a package that includes five other government funding bills so that changes to the DHS bill aimed at reining in Immigration and Customs Enforcement can be made without affecting the other agencies that still need to be funded.
There were Democratic calls to separate the DHS funding following the deaths of Renee Good, a mother of three who was fatally shot by an immigration enforcement officer in Minneapolis earlier this month, and became more urgent after the death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, who was fatally shot by a federal agent over the weekend.
“The appalling murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis must lead Republicans to join Democrats in overhauling ICE and CBP to protect the public. People should be safe from abuse by their own government,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Sunday night. “Senate Republicans must work with Democrats to advance the other five funding bills while we work to rewrite the DHS bill. This is best course of action, and the American people are on our side.”
But for now, Republicans have said they plan to push forward with the six-bill package, keeping DHS funding tied to the other funding bills.
“Government funding expires at the end of the week, and Republicans are determined to not have another government shutdown. We will move forward as planned and hope Democrats can find a path forward to join us,” a GOP aide told ABC News.
There will be a partial government shutdown — one that results in closures for only specific agencies where funding has lapsed — on Friday night going into Saturday morning if Congress does not approve of the remaining funding bills.
Advancing any government funding bills this week will require the support of at least seven Democrats. If the DHS bill is not decoupled form the other bills — which fund things such as the Departments of Defense, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and more — it seems unlikely that Democrats will furnish the necessary votes to allow any of those bills to proceed.
A Democratic source confirms that Democrats have been in touch with the White House about funding in light of the Minneapolis shootings.
“Republicans and the White House have reached out, but have not yet raised any realistic solutions,” the Senate Democratic leadership aide told ABC News Monday morning.
The House is on recess for the entire week, making modifications to any of the bills ahead of the Friday deadline nearly impossible.
There are a number of agencies and programs that could be affected if Congress does not act by the deadline on Jan. 30. Air traffic controllers and military personnel could go without pay, and the IRS and USPS will also be affected.
The DHS bill that the House approved last week would keep funding for ICE roughly flat from the year prior through September 2026, although ICE is receiving separate funding from the already-passed “Big Beautiful Bill.” It also funds other agencies like the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard.
If lawmakers do cause a shutdown of DHS, it won’t have an immediate impact on ICE operations.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, warned in a statement last week that the “Homeland Security funding bill is more than just ICE.”
“If we allow a lapse in funding, TSA agents will be forced to work without pay, FEMA assistance could be delayed, and the U.S. Coast Guard will be adversely affected. All while ICE continues functioning without any change in their operations due to $75 billion it received in the One Big Beautiful Bill. A continuing resolution will jettison the guardrails we have secured while ceding authority to President Trump, Stephen Miller, and Secretary Noem.”
