Trump’s attempt to remake the Kennedy Center faces key legal test

(WASHINGTON) — Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, after weeks of in-patient care following a fall in mid-June, announced via a statement from his office on Thursday that he has been discharged from a rehabilitation center and will continue his recovery at home.

“Earlier today, I was discharged from the rehabilitation center to continue my recovery at home,” McConnell said in a statement. “Elaine and I are grateful for the many well wishes and support from friends, colleagues, and Kentuckians, and for the attentive care I’ve received from excellent doctors, nurses, therapists, and hospital staff.”

“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business,” McConnell added.

McConnell was first hospitalized on June 14 for reasons that were initially undisclosed by his office.

While his office has released two photographs of McConnell since his hospitalization, the Kentucky senator has not been seen in public.

Late last month, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called on McConnell to either “verbally” show proof to Kentuckians that he can still serve in the Senate or to resign from Congress.

In a statement issued on July 12, nearly a month later, McConnell said he was hospitalized due to a fall that left him briefly unconscious. He also said he had to deal with a “mild case of pneumonia.”

In that same July 12 statement, McConnell said he had been moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility to recover.

The former Republican leader has not been seen on Capitol Hill since June 11. 

McConnell has said he intends to finish his term, which expires in January. The seven-term senator has already said he does not intend to seek reelection in January. 

The Senate is expected to recess until mid-September in the coming days. McConnell’s statement suggests he won’t be seen in the Capitol until at least then. 

Before departing for recess, the Senate is expected to take up acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to permanently lead the Department of Justice. With McConnell’s absence, Blanche can only afford to lose two Republican votes.

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(WASHINGTON) — Senate Democrats are pressing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for answers about his directive requiring the military to measure troops’ testosterone levels, seeking details on how the policy will be carried out amid concerns over how it will apply to women and whether it could inadvertently encourage service members to self-medicate with potentially dangerous supplements.

In a letter to Hegseth, Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Gary Peters of Michigan, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ruben Gallego of Arizona said the Pentagon has provided little explanation for the new requirement, raising questions about its scientific basis, cost and potential consequences.

“The Department has provided no evidence that this sweeping new policy will improve force readiness or health, nor has it explained the scientific basis, costs, or risks associated with implementing it across the force,” the senators wrote.

Last week, Hegseth directed the military to begin screening testosterone levels for all service members, including women, age 30 and older as part of their annual physical health assessments, expanding routine exams that have traditionally focused on baseline health measures such as vision, hearing and other standard medical screenings. Troops under 30 may opt into testing voluntarily, and any recommendation for testosterone replacement therapy, or TRT, would also be voluntary for all ages.

The policy has yet to be formally implemented, thus the specifics have not yet been figured out and it remains unclear when service members will begin undergoing testosterone screenings as part of their annual health assessments, though Hegseth directed a plan be ironed out by Aug. 15. 

The cost is also unknown and the Defense Department could require additional medical personnel to be hired for the screenings at routine annual exams.

The move comes as a broader focus on fitness has been core to Hegseth’s tenure — an unusual move for a role traditionally focused on large operations and the macro workings for the Pentagon — which includes regular videos from the Pentagon of Hegseth working out with troops. 

Hegseth has directed the services to adjust their fitness tests and reassess body-fat standards, including new measurement methods introduced earlier this month. The Army has also begun integrating gender-neutral fitness requirements for soldiers serving in ground combat roles.

Among the unresolved questions are whether service members could face administrative consequences if their testosterone levels fall below a threshold the Pentagon has yet to define and how the policy will apply to women.

“Coupled with the Department’s recent repeated efforts to redefine military culture around an exaggerated conception of masculinity, this initiative risks undermining years of work to ensure that women service members are evaluated and valued based solely on their ability to perform the mission,” the senators wrote.

Some welcomed the expanded access to testosterone screening and treatment, arguing that obtaining testosterone replacement therapy through Tricare, the military’s health insurance program, can be cumbersome. But others warned the policy could create unintended incentives for troops to use unregulated supplements or anabolic steroids to avoid being flagged for potential health issues, while raising concerns about embarrassment for those found to have low testosterone.

“I think this is a great idea on paper, but we need to be careful about how it’s implemented,” said one official who works in fitness coaching and spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Low testosterone has long been a concern in some parts of the military, particularly within the special operations community, where prolonged stress, intense physical demands and inadequate caloric intake are believed to contribute to lower hormone levels, though there’s little detailed research on the subject. 

At the same time, testosterone replacement therapy, or TRT, has surged in popularity across podcasts, social media and the broader wellness industry, where it is often promoted as a way to boost energy, muscle mass and overall vitality. Medical experts caution, however, that clinically low testosterone is relatively uncommon.

Testosterone deficiency affects roughly 2% of men, according to the American Urological Association, and physicians have warned that the growing popularity of TRT has created the misleading impression that the condition is far more widespread than medical evidence suggests.

Moreover, factors such as insufficient sleep and poor nutrition can contribute to lower testosterone levels, studies show, two issues the military has long struggled to address.

Nutrition, in particular, has been a persistent challenge across the services, with troops often reporting inconsistent access to high-quality, protein-rich meals. Military dining facilities have faced criticism for menus heavy on fried foods and carbohydrates, sugar, limited portions and operating hours that do not always align with the schedules of service members working long or irregular shifts.

“It’s a readiness, retention, recruiting and long-term health issue,” Rob Evans, an Army veteran whose app Hots & Cots collects reviews from service members on housing and food on military bases, told ABC News about issues with nutrition on military facilities.

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(WASHINGTON) — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened on Friday to strip states of federal election-related aid, and to possibly seek criminal penalties against election officials, if they don’t comply with the administration’s voting roll probe ahead of the midterms.

Mullin told reporters that if states want to continue to receive federal reimbursement “to run federal elections,” they must now cooperate with DHS’s efforts to “scrub” their voter rolls and update the security of their election systems.

“We’re saying that the machines had to be secure, and that your voter registration list needs to be scrubbed,” Mullin said in a news conference.

It was not immediately clear what grants or funding could be in jeopardy for non-compliant states. DHS has previously threatened to withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency counterterrorism grants unless states complied with election security mandates.

“If states want the grant funding, to recap, they must secure the election,” Mullin said.

Mullin’s news conference came one day after President Donald Trump’s primetime speech on elections, in which he announced he was declassifying a slew of documents he claims reveal vulnerabilities in America’s elections systems and foreign interference, particularly by China.

Mullin, who was sworn in as DHS secretary on March 24, claimed America’s adversaries have the “key to the back” of American voting machines, alleging that bad actors could change the registration of voters — and even manipulate votes that have already been cast.

But Mullin offered no evidence that foreign vote manipulation has occurred, nor did he elaborate on how it is possible.

Mullin also argued, as Trump did on Thursday night, that America’s elections are also vulnerable because of noncitizen voters being on the voter rolls.

A DHS report released overnight alleged more than 250,000 noncitizens are on voter rolls in four states.

Mullin did not provide more information on how DHS arrived at the claim that 250,000 noncitizens are registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada, saying only it was pulled from public voter records.

The Department of Justice attempted to compel states to turn over their voter files, and sued more than two dozen that refused to do so. But courts have thrown out those lawsuits across the board, saying the DOJ lacks a compelling reason for the data.

Mullin said it would be a “little bit tougher” to obtain data from those states.

He said DHS will continue to comb through voter rolls in search of noncitizens and others ineligible to vote, and threatened them with jail time and or financial penalties.

“We will scrub all election records, looking for illegal aliens and those who are ineligible to vote, including those that somehow voted, yet they were deceased,” Mullin said.

“If you’re illegal and attempted to vote, or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you, and we will charge you,” Mullin continued. “Illegal voter restoration and illegal voting both carry penalties up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. We will pursue maximum pressure on this.”

The secretary said election officials would be held “accountable” if they don’t comply and that the penalties would be extended to them.

“If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even depending on how far it goes, prison time,” he said.

Mullin said DHS will look into the integrity of both early voting and post-Election Day votes during this November’s midterm elections.

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