Trump to attend dignified transfer of 6 fallen service members killed in Kuwait amid Iran war
U.S. President Donald Trump exits Air Force One after landing at Miami International Airport on March 6, 2026 in Miami, Florida. Trump will be hosting the “Shield of the Americas” summit with Latin American leaders focusing on security and democracy on March 7th in Doral, Florida. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump is set to attend the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Saturday for the service members who were killed in Kuwait amid the war in Iran.
The transfer will mark the return home of the first American soldiers killed in the war with Iran.
“I will be going to Dover Air Force Base tomorrow, with the First Lady and Members of my Cabinet, to pay our Highest Respect to our Great Warriors, who are returning home for the last time,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, adding, “GOD BLESS THEM ALL!”
The troops were killed in the opening hours of the conflict last weekend during an Iranian drone attack.
The Pentagon identified the troops as: Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa; Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California; Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa; and Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska.
The soldiers were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, an Army Reserve unit based in Des Moines, Iowa.
All six died in the same attack at Shuaiba port in Kuwait, a commercial harbor that doubles as a logistics hub for the U.S. military. An additional 18 service members were wounded in the strike.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt extended prayers and condolences to the families of the fallen.
“These heroes represent the very best among us,” Leavitt told reporters at a Wednesday briefing. “They laid down their lives in defense of our country, and we will never forget their legacy or their sacrifice.”
“As the president said, we grieve for these American patriots and their families as we continue the righteous mission for which they gave their lives. President Trump intends to attend the dignified transfer of these American heroes to stand in grief alongside their families,” Leavitt said.
Families of some of the fallen troops have released statements remembering their loved ones.
The family of fallen soldier Sgt. Declan J. Coady released a statement following his death, calling him “a rock in all of our lives” and “the most amazing brother and son my family could have asked for.”
In a statement, the family of Capt. Cody A. Khork said his life “was defined by devotion, character, and service,” his family said in a statement on Wednesday. “Cody was truly the life of the party, known for his infectious spirit, generous heart, and deep care for those who served alongside him and for everyone blessed to know him.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia (R) and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura (L) attend a prayer vigil before he enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in Tennessee will hear arguments Thursday over whether the government is being vindictive in pursuing a human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The hearing comes after the judge, Waverly Crenshaw Jr., canceled the trial in the case in December and wrote in a court order that there was enough evidence to hold a hearing on the question of vindictive prosecution.
The government is currently blocked from deporting Abrego Garcia, who was released from immigration detention in December. In a separate case last week, a federal judge ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot re-detain him because his 90-day detention period had expired and the government lacked a viable plan for his deportation.
The Salvadoran native, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution. The Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he and his attorneys deny.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he pleaded not guilty.
After being released into the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again detained by immigration authorities before being released in December.
Mesa County Clerk and Colorado Republican candidate for secretary of state Tina Peters reacts to early election returns during a primary night watch party at the Wide Open Saloon on June 28, 2022 in Sedalia, Colorado. (Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)
(MESA COUNTY, Colo.) — A Colorado appeals court has overturned the prison sentence of Tina Peters, the former Colorado county clerk who was convicted in a scheme to breach voting systems in search of evidence of election fraud in 2020.
In its decision on Thursday, the appeals court upheld Peters’ conviction but ordered her case to be sent to a lower court for a judge to issue a new sentence.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies during a hearing of the House Committee on Ways and Means on Capitol Hill on April 16, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was pressed on cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), vaccine messaging and the firing of the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during a hearing on Tuesday.
The hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health marked the final session of four budget hearings before House lawmakers.
Research cuts
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Tex., said she was concerned about the loss of federal aid for health research in the Trump administration’s budget request for fiscal year 2027.
“Secretary Kennedy, do you understand that cutting federally funded research as this budget does, will cede U.S. leadership on biomedical research to China and create national security and global competitiveness challenges for the United States?” Fletcher asked Kennedy.
Kennedy acknowledged that he shared Fletcher’s concerns, as the biggest proposed cuts are to NIH and Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) programs.
“I don’t want to cut NIH programs, [Office of Management and Budget Director] Russ Vought doesn’t want to cut NIH programs, but we have a $35 trillion debt,” Kennedy said.
“We have been asked to cut across the board at HHS, 12% of our $100 million budget and so we’re making cuts that are painful,” he told Fletcher.
Vaccine messaging
Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Tex., described Kennedy as the most “anti-vax” figure in his lifetime. He suggested that Kennedy’s history of rhetoric denouncing vaccines is correlated with an uptick in measles cases.
Two unvaccinated school-aged children died last year from measles — the first U.S. deaths from measles in a decade.
Kennedy has long sown doubt in the safety and effectiveness of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. Despite being a required vaccine in all states to attend public school, rates have been steadily decreasing over the last decade, CDC data shows.
It comes as vaccine exemptions have risen sharply, with at least 138,000 kindergarteners exempt from one or more vaccines during the most recent school year, CDC data shows.
However, in recent weeks, some reports have suggested Kennedy is staying away from vaccine-skeptic rhetoric ahead of the midterm elections.
Veasey and others pressed Kennedy on whether the alleged messaging strategy was directed by the White House. Kennedy denied that it was.
“Is Susie Wiles or anyone in the White House instructing you or suggesting that you stop talking about your controversial vaccine skepticism?” Veasey asked.
“No,” Kennedy replied.
CDC leadership
Kennedy defended firing former CDC director Susan Monarez in a lengthy exchange with Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif.
Ruiz criticized Kennedy for ousting Monarez because she allegedly “refused” to approve what Ruiz called the dismantling of the childhood vaccination schedule.
Kennedy aggressively pushed back on the congressman’s characterization.
“That’s not true,” Kennedy said. “What she testified to wasn’t true.”
Kennedy and Monarez both appeared in front of Senate committees last year to address the ousting.
At a Senate hearing in September 2025, Monarez said she was fired by Trump and Kennedy for “holding the line on scientific integrity.”
Kennedy, in a hearing before a different Senate panel earlier that month, disputed Monarez’s version of events. He denied telling Monarez to accept vaccine recommendations without scientific evidence, and claimed she was fired in part because she told him she was untrustworthy.
During Monday’s hearing, Kennedy claimed that his reasoning for the firing had nothing to do with vaccines and that his department is committing $1 billion to vaccine research through the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.
Ruiz claimed Kennedy’s vaccine-skeptic views run contrary to the view of President Donald Trump’s new CDC director nominee, Dr. Erica Schwartz.
During her time with the Coast Guard, Schwartz instituted a disease surveillance program and vaccination programs and wrote the first health protection policies for the force, including anthrax and smallpox vaccination policies.
Kennedy said he vetted Schwartz’s position on vaccines before she was nominated by Trump to lead the CDC. However, Kennedy said he did not speak “to the president directly” before Trump made the nomination.
Kennedy rejected the claim that his and Schwartz’s views were not aligned, but would not commit to following all recommendations of the new CDC director nominee.
“Mr. Secretary, if Dr. Schwartz is confirmed, will you commit on the record today to implement whatever vaccine guidance she issues without interference?” Ruiz asked.
“I’m not going to make that kind of commitment,” Kennedy replied.
Kennedy later repeated, as he has in his previous budget hearings, that he had a “good reason” for firing Monarez.
“I fired Susan Monarez because I asked her an outright question, ‘Are you trustworthy?’ and she said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘Can I trust you?’ and she said, ‘No,'” Kennedy said. “That’s why she got fired, not because of her vaccine issues.”
ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
