U.S. soldiers wounded in the Iran war's deadliest strike yet on American troops are raising concerns publicly, many for the first time, about whether commanders underestimated the threat. Some of those wounded also said the military medical system failed them. The Pentagon has so far released few details about the Iranian drone strike on Port Shuaiba in Kuwait that killed six soldiers on March 1, the day after the U.S. and Israel started the war against Iran.
Now entering its eighth month, the war— and its upheaval of the economy — is dragging down Republican candidates as Americans begin voting in the midterm elections. President Donald Trump takes his GOP rescue mission on Monday Nebraska, where ranchers are rebelling against record diesel prices and Trump's plans to import more beef. Democrats meanwhile are expressing confidence that Trump's redistricting efforts will backfire.
The Latest:
Vance says Air Force removed bombers from British base ‘out of an abundance of caution’
The vice president told reporters on Monday before preparing to fly to Alaska for a campaign event that the decision to bring home the bombers stationed at a U.S.-run military air base in England was because the U.S. was trying to be careful in the wake of an investigation into a planned terror attack at the RAF Fairford base.
“What you saw there is, the Secretary of War, out of an abundance of caution, trying to protect our guys,” Vance said. “We do feel with some confidence that the Iranians are, you know, they’re trying to do what the Iranian state has done for 49 years, which is engage in acts of terrorism against the United States and against a lot of other people as well. So, we are being extremely cautious.”
AP-KFF poll: Most rural voters see the economic importance of immigrants
The vast majority of rural voters see immigrants in the country legally as an important part of their local economies, according to the AP-KFF survey.
Immigrants often play key roles in sustaining local industries, including by filling jobs in manufacturing, healthcare and agriculture.
The poll found about 7 in 10 rural voters see immigrants who are in the country legally as “very” or “somewhat” important to their local economies, and a similar share say the same about temporary or seasonal agriculture workers.
Rural voters are much less likely to say immigrants who are in the country illegally are beneficial, but 45% say they are at least “somewhat” important to local economies.
Dennis Hastert, longtime Republican House speaker who went to prison, has died
Dennis Hastert, whose congressional legacy as the longest-serving Republican House speaker was later fouled by allegations that he had molested high school athletes during his prior career as a teacher and wrestling coach, has died, a coroner said Monday. He was 84.
Hastert, who was speaker from 1999 until 2007 and spent more than a year in prison later in life, died Saturday of natural causes at his home while receiving hospice care, according to Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell.
When he was sentenced in 2016 to more than a year behind bars, the former history teacher became one of the highest-ranking American politicians ever ordered to prison.
Soldiers seriously wounded in Iranian drone strike tell AP the US military failed them
As the war with Iran enters its eighth month, U.S. soldiers wounded in its deadliest strike yet on American troops are raising concerns publicly, many for the first time, about whether commanders underestimated the threat. Some of those wounded also said the military medical system failed them.
The Pentagon has released few details about the Iranian drone strike on Port Shuaiba in Kuwait that killed six soldiers on March 1, the day after the United States and Israel started the war against Iran.
The Associated Press spoke with 13 soldiers, primarily officers, serving in key positions of responsibility there or familiar with high-level briefings. Many said the Pentagon did not take Iranian threats seriously enough as it launched Operation Epic Fury. Some of the wounded soldiers said they've faced inadequate medical care and bureaucratic barriers since then.
Several soldiers spoke on the record — rare for troops still in the Army — others on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Trump campaigning in Nebraska, where ranchers are rebelling over fuel prices and beef imports
President Donald Trump is taking his Republican midterm rescue mission to Nebraska. He'll campaign Monday alongside GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts, who's being challenged by an independent candidate backed by national Democrats.
The race between the former Nebraska governor and independent Dan Osborn initially was not expected to be competitive, but voters across the country are frustrated with Trump's handling of the economy, including persistently high costs for fuel and groceries. Rural voters in particular are hurting, and ranchers have rebelled against Trump's efforts to increase imports of foreign beef.
“The plan to import low-quality foreign beef is not helping Nebraska ranchers,” Ricketts told the AP. “I would advise the White House to change that policy and look for longer-term things that will help us build the size of the herd and ultimately bring the price of beef down for consumers.”
Energy attorney: Colorado can’t ‘regulate global conduct’
Kannon Shanmugam told the Supreme Court that it should block a lawsuit seeking hold oil and gas companies liable for effects of climate change on Boulder, Colorado.
Suncor and Exxon Mobile argue that states can’t “regulate global conduct” like emissions that cause climate change.
“None of the conduct here is directed at Colorado,” Shanmugam said. Shanmugam was hit with skeptical questioning from several justices.
The case, kicking off the high court’s fall term, has significant implications for dozens of other lawsuits from municipalities around the country, with damages potentially totaling billions of dollars.
The Supreme Court’s new term is beginning Monday with a major case on climate change
The lawsuit from Boulder, Colorado, is seeking damages from two oil and gas companies to help pay for the local effects on climate change. Dozens of similar cases have been filed across the country, with billions of dollars potentially at stake.
Suncor and ExxonMobil are asking the Supreme Court to block the lawsuits, with backing from the Trump administration. They argue that the cases amount to a backdoor way to regulate emissions under state law, an unconstitutional overreach.
The high court will also be considering cases on guns, religious rights and Trump’s crackdown on immigration during their upcoming nine-month term.
Sen. Raphael Warnock launching midterm blitz that includes 2028 early primary states
The Georgia Democrat plans to campaign with Democratic candidates for Senate, governor and possibly other offices across eight states beginning Tuesday in New Hampshire, which falls third in Democrats’ 2028 presidential primary calendar.
Nevada is second on Warnock’s itinerary and for Democrats in 2028. The senator has two separate stops planned in South Carolina, Democrats’ first presidential primary state. Also on the list is the early primary state of Michigan, along with Mississippi, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Ohio.
Spokeswoman Elena Radding said Warnock will be “calling out Trump’s corruption” and “leaving voters hopeful for the next generation of Democratic leadership.”
Warnock, who is also the senior minister at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. served, has not ruled out a presidential bid. He’s already spent recent months traveling the country on a book tour — another common move for potential national candidates.
US is monitoring Russian health scare tied to plague institute
Rubio, who doubles as Trump's National Security Advisor, says he doesn’t think there is cause for alarm after Russian officials quarantined a hospital and confirmed they are monitoring contacts of an employee at a plague research institute in Siberia who contracted pneumonia of an “unknown” cause.
But Rubio said the U.S. is closely watching the case, aware that “it could spread quickly” despite the quarantine and other public health protocols.
“There’s very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia, obviously,” Rubio said. “But like anything else, something like that gets out.”
Marco Rubio says the Saudis and Yemeni government ‘have a right to defend themselves’
The secretary of state said it was expected that the Saudi-backed government in Yemen would hit back at the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels to try to reclaim territory.
Asked if the Saudi-led coalition coordinated the action with the U.S., Rubio told reporters that Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have a defense agreement but wouldn’t offer more details.
He says the Yemeni government was ousted from some of its territory by a Houthi campaign and the Saudis have come under attack, and “they have a right to defend themselves.”
He says the coalition’s offensive is a counter to that, and the U.S. “expected that would happen, and that’s what happened.”
The escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis has revived Yemen’s civil war after a four-year ceasefire.
Marco Rubio downplays US moving bombers from UK base
The U.S. secretary of state told reporters Monday that that Pentagon “is constantly reallocating resources” as he downplayed the significance of removing American bombers from a U.S-run base in England that has been used to attack Iran.
The move came after an investigation into a suspected terror plot on the base.
“I wouldn’t just directly tie that to the move that was made,” Rubio said as he prepared to depart for a multi-stop diplomatic mission that begins in Iceland.
“It’s not unusual to see rotations happen and moving into the different parts of the world based on exercises, redeployment, changing out and new people coming in, in planes coming in, old planes going out,” Rubio said. “So, birds are changing all the time.”
AP-KFF poll: Rural MAGA voters support Trump’s immigration policies
Rural Republicans who consider themselves MAGA supporters are about twice as likely as rural, non-MAGA Republicans to see a benefit to Trump's immigration policies, the AP-KFF survey found.
About two-thirds of rural MAGA Republicans say Trump’s immigration policies have had a positive impact where they live. Roughly half say the Trump administration has “not gone far enough” on deporting immigrants in the country illegally, while about half say the actions have been “about right.”
Katherine Reed, a 27-year-old Republican who supports the MAGA movement, believes the administration’s policies have had a positive impact by reducing violent crime nationwide, saying, “It’s made life for people a lot safer.”
She believes if someone comes to America, they should “respect the law of the land” and do it legally. “I want really amazing people to become Americans,” Reed said. “That’s the whole point of America.”
Soldiers seriously wounded in Iranian drone strike tell AP the US military failed them
As the war with Iran enters its eighth month, U.S. soldiers wounded in its deadliest strike yet on American troops are raising concerns publicly, many for the first time, about whether commanders underestimated the threat. Some of those wounded also said the military medical system failed them. The Pentagon has released few details about the Iranian drone strike on Port Shuaiba in Kuwait that killed six soldiers on March 1, the day after the United States and Israel started the war against Iran.
The Associated Press spoke with 13 soldiers, primarily officers, serving in key positions of responsibility there or familiar with high-level briefings. Many said the Pentagon did not take Iranian threats seriously enough as it launched Operation Epic Fury. Some of the wounded soldiers said they've faced inadequate medical care and bureaucratic barriers since then. Several soldiers spoke on the record — rare for troops still in the Army — others on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
[ Read more ]
By Julie Watson, Jack Brook, Konstantin Toropin and Russ Bynum
An Army investigation was done in June and remains unreleased
The Army declined to comment on the AP's reporting on the Port Shuaiba strike, saying it had not yet briefed the families of those killed on the outcome of its investigation into the attack. The Pentagon also declined to comment.
“Out of respect for the primary next of kin who will be scheduled for briefs on the official findings of the completed investigation, we will not comment on specific details, individual accounts, or leaked portions of the report at this time,” the Army said in a statement.
The Army completed its investigation of the attack in June, but has yet to release a report due to the need to redact sensitive information, said an official familiar with the Army’s investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not been released.
“We have the right to know what really happened,” said Tina Marzan, whose husband, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, was killed in the strike.
By Julie Watson, Jack Brook, Konstantin Toropin and Russ Bynum
Families of killed soldiers demand answers, wounded still struggle for medical care
Nine U.S. service members wounded in a March 1 drone strike on a U.S. military site in Kuwait that killed six troops spoke to The Associated Press about what they describe as a medical system that left them fighting to get treatment on their own. The soldiers’ criticism comes against the backdrop of years of disinvestment and drawdowns in the Middle East driven by multiple administrations and political leaders who sought to end U.S. involvement in the region.
The Pentagon has said all soldiers were treated appropriately and evaluated by physicians who followed the health industry’s standards.
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Rodney Bearman, who had shrapnel embedded from his face to his legs, said they waited 10 days for treatment in Germany only to learn they wouldn't be hospitalized because they weren't documented as wounded in combat, and so were told to get outpatient care.
“Never did I think that if I was wounded that these things would happen,” said Bearman, who has served for over three decades, including in Afghanistan. “Some sacred trust that I thought would never be broken was broken.”
By Julie Watson, Jack Brook, Konstantin Toropin and Russ Bynum
Sen. Raphael Warnock launching midterm blitz that includes 2028 early primary states
The Georgia Democrat plans to campaign with Democratic candidates for Senate, governor and possibly other offices across eight states beginning Tuesday in New Hampshire, which falls third in Democrats’ 2028 presidential primary calendar.
Nevada is second on Warnock’s itinerary and for Democrats in 2028. The senator has two separate stops planned in South Carolina, Democrats’ first presidential primary state. Also on the list is the early primary state of Michigan, along with Mississippi, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Ohio.
Spokeswoman Elena Radding said Warnock will be “calling out Trump’s corruption” and “leaving voters hopeful for the next generation of Democratic leadership.”
Warnock, who is also the senior minister at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. served, has not ruled out a presidential bid. He’s already spent recent months traveling the country on a book tour — another common move for potential national candidates.
AP-KFF poll: Trump’s immigration crackdown divides rural voters
Voters in rural parts of the country are divided on whether Trump's immigration policies have benefited or harmed their communities, according to a newly released AP-KFF survey of more than 2,000 rural voters.
About one-third of rural voters said the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement had been positive for their community and about a third said it had been negative. The remaining 3 in 10, roughly, said it had no impact.
Laura Leigh Taylor, a 37-year-old farmer who voted for Trump in 2024, said she disapproves of the wide-ranging scope of Trump’s immigration crackdown, which resulted in a friend’s hardworking father being deported.
“I understand getting rid of the rapists and the murderers,” she said. “But all the people that fell in between that really weren’t doing nothing but taking care of their family.”
Trump campaigning in Nebraska, where ranchers are rebelling over fuel prices and beef imports
President Donald Trump is taking his Republican midterm rescue mission to Nebraska. He'll campaign Monday alongside GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts, who's being challenged by an independent candidate backed by national Democrats.
The race between the former Nebraska governor and independent Dan Osborn initially was not expected to be competitive, but voters across the country are frustrated with Trump's handling of the economy, including persistently high costs for fuel and groceries. Rural voters in particular are hurting, and ranchers have rebelled against Trump's efforts to increase imports of foreign beef.
“The plan to import low-quality foreign beef is not helping Nebraska ranchers,” Ricketts told the AP. “I would advise the White House to change that policy and look for longer-term things that will help us build the size of the herd and ultimately bring the price of beef down for consumers.”