What to know today
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth got into heated exchanges with Democratic senators about military deployments in Los Angeles and antisemitism at the Pentagon during his testimony this morning about the Defense Department budget.
- The Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee ban on gender transition care for minors in a major blow to transgender rights.
- The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing this morning on former President Joe Biden's health during his administration.
- President Donald Trump is in Washington today as he weighs U.S. options in the Israel-Iran conflict, including a possible strike.
American attitudes about AI today mirror poll answers about the rise of the internet in the ’90s
Artificial intelligence chat tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot have achieved significant public adoption, according to the latest NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey. Nearly three-quarters of adults — 74% — say they’ve used one of the tools at some point. And 44% say they use them “sometimes” or “often.”
Despite rising acceptance, the future ubiquity of artificial intelligence tools like those put out by OpenAI and Google remains an open question. Polling data suggests that current adoption rates of AI chat tools look similar to internet adoption rates at the turn of the century. But the trajectory of AI’s growth and the challenges it faces are unique.
Trump to sign proclamation tomorrow recognizing Juneteenth Day of Observance
Trump will sign a proclamation tomorrow recognizing June 19, 2025, as "Juneteenth Day of Observance," a White House official told NBC News, continuing a tradition that began four years ago when President Joe Biden formally made Juneteenth a federal holiday.
The proclamation signing will be in line with how Trump has commemorated other identity-focused occasions, including National Black history Month, Jewish American Heritage Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
While Biden marked Juneteenth throughout his presidency with White House celebrations, Trump appears to have no such plans.
Biden, meanwhile, is expected to attend a Juneteenth Celebration in Galveston, Texas, at Reedy Chapel, a historic African Methodist Episcopal church that's often referred to as the birthplace of Juneteenth.
Some Democratic senators regret voting to confirm Kristi Noem as DHS secretary
Reporting from Washington
Five days after Trump’s inauguration, seven Senate Democrats voted to confirm Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Nearly five months later, most of them are critical of her, with some going as far as to say they regret their votes.
“I’m very disappointed. I’m very disappointed in her,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told NBC News this week. “If I were voting on her today, I definitely wouldn’t vote for her.”
Freshman Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., also said he would vote differently and oppose her nomination if he could do it again.
“She’s weaponizing the Department of Homeland Security. She is taking so many actions right now that are making us less safe and going against a lot of the things that she said that she was going to focus on,” Kim said today. “So I have no confidence in her leadership right now.”
The five other Democrats who voted to confirm Noem were Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters, both of Michigan; Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, both of New Hampshire; and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. The vote on Jan. 25 was 59-34, with Republicans unanimously voting for Noem. Seven senators, six of whom caucus with the Democrats, missed the vote.
Student and exchange visitor visa applicants to be subject to enhanced social media vetting
All student and exchange visitor visa applicants will soon be subject to a new online presence review as part of the screening process, according to a senior State Department official.
Consular officers at U.S. missions and consulates overseas will conduct the reviews, which will include all social media. The official said in a statement that applicants will be made to set any profiles to “public.” Not doing so could be construed as an effort to evade the screening process or hide certain activity.
The new guidance will apply to all student and exchange visitor applicants in the F, M and J nonimmigrant classifications, per the official, and overseas posts have been instructed to resume scheduling those visa applications under the new procedure. Appointments were paused in late May pending this new guidance.
The news site The Free Press first reported the plan for officers to review applicants’ social media for signs that they “bear hostile attitudes toward our citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles,” according to a document obtained by the site.
The senior State Department official: “It is an expectation from American citizens that their government will make every effort to make our country safer, and that is exactly what the Trump Administration is doing every single day. This is particularly true when it comes to our visa system. Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio is helping to make America and its universities safer while bringing the State Department into the 21st century. The enhanced social media vetting will ensure we are properly screening every single person attempting to visit our country.”
Justice Department seeks life in prison for Jan. 6 defendant who plotted to murder FBI agents
The Justice Department is seeking life in prison for Edward Kelley, a former Jan. 6 defendant who plotted to murder FBI special agents who investigated him. Kelley is set to be sentenced July 2.
“Edward Kelley is remorseless and has shown neither a capacity nor desire to rehabilitate. On the contrary, Kelley not only believes the actions for which he was convicted were justified but that his duty as a self-styled ‘patriot’ compelled him to target East Tennessee law enforcement for assassination,” federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo.
Kelley was convicted in November of conspiracy to murder employees of the United States, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and influencing or retaliating against federal officials by threat. He was also convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers and other crimes on Jan. 6 but was pardoned by Trump for those crimes, along with about 1,500 other Jan. 6 defendants.
While the Justice Department had argued that Trump’s pardons extended to crimes discovered during law enforcement operations stemming from the Jan. 6 investigation, it argued that the pardons didn’t apply to Kelley.
Kelley’s crimes were motivated “by a desire to initiate a civil war and to retaliate for his previous arrest,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo. They said that in a call in March, Kelley compared his conduct to that of the colonists during the American Revolution: “I mean the fact of the matter is people want to eat their steak, but they don’t want to see how the cow is slaughtered.”
The Justice Department also alleged that Kelley “possessed and viewed child sexual abuse material” for “years” and that a forensic examination revealed he “took steps to delete [child sexual abuse material] from his laptop.”
Kelley’s lawyer filed a motion to strike the Justice Department’s sentencing memo, saying it includes “scandalous and unsubstantiated, not to mention uncharged allegations that have no relevance to the defendant’s sentencing.”
Senators to receive classified briefing on Iran next week
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., confirmed that there will be a classified briefing on Iran early next week for all senators.
The conflict between Iran and Israel is intensifying, and Trump said today that he hasn't decided yet how to handle the situation.
The sixth day of conflict continued today as Iran launched missiles toward Israel again, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed.
The Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law restricting gender-affirming medical care for minors. The 6-3 ruling is likely to have a broad impact as 24 other states have already enacted laws similar to the one in Tennessee, which bars gender transition surgery, puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
Biden to attend Juneteenth celebration in Texas tomorrow
Biden will attend a Juneteenth celebration at Reedy Chapel in Galveston, Texas, tomorrow, a source said. Reedy Chapel calls itself the "birthplace of Juneteenth."
In 2021, Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday.
He will visit Galveston exactly a month after he announced he had prostate cancer — he has since said he has started treatment in the form of a pill, though he has declined to say which one.
Appeals court denies DOJ bid to intervene in E. Jean Carroll case
A federal appeals court today denied Trump’s bid to have the Justice Department intervene in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case, a move that would have left her $83 million judgment against him in jeopardy.
"It is hereby ordered that the motion is denied," the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a brief ruling. An opinion explaining the three-judge panel's reasoning will be issued later.
Trump’s attorneys and the Justice Department had filed a joint motion in April arguing that he'd made the defamatory comments about Carroll in the course of carrying out his presidential duties in 2019 and was therefore immune from liability.
Had the move to proceed using the Westfall Act been successful, the United States would have been substituted as the defendant, the Justice Department would have taken over legal representation from Trump’s attorneys, and the amount of money damages Carroll could collect could have been severely limited.
A spokesperson for Trump's legal team said in a statement that Attorney General Pam Bondi had determined that the case is "legally required to be taken over by the Department of Justice because Carroll based her false claims on the president's official acts, including statements from the White House."
The spokesperson added that "President Trump will keep winning against liberal lawfare, as he is focusing on his mission to Make America Great Again."
The Justice Department declined comment.
The court issued the ruling ahead of scheduled oral arguments next week for Trump’s appeal of the verdict in the defamation case. He is pressing a similar immunity claim in the appeal.
Sen. Thom Tillis: 'It disturbs me' that a former Afghan military translator is in ICE detention
Tillis spoke in a floor speech today about an Afghan man who served as an interpreter for the U.S. military and was detained recently at an immigration hearing.
"It just disturbs me that we’ve got somebody in detention who served — by all accounts admirably — alongside American servicemen, probably saved their lives," Tillis said.
It appeared he was talking about a man detained in San Diego on Monday.
"All I’m trying to say is folks, I want you to obey our laws, and for the majority of times, if you come to this country illegally, then I want you to potentially be deported, but you can’t cast everybody in that same light," Tillis said.
He spoke at length about the man, who he said did not make it to Kabul in time to catch a flight out of Afghanistan when the U.S. military was withdrawing. Fearing for his life in Afghanistan, the man fled to Iran before he was granted a humanitarian visa in Brazil.
"He decided to flee from Afghanistan to Iran, which is not a particularly friendly territory," Tillis said on the Senate floor. "Think about that — willing to go to Iran because it’s a safer place to be than Afghanistan."
From Brazil, Tillis said, the man came illegally to the United States, where he was granted parole and tried to apply for a special immigrant visa.
"I think we owe it to this person to get him out of detention and into some status to determine what country he should go to," Tillis concluded. "I’m not necessarily arguing that he should stay in the United States, but I am arguing that he shouldn't be in detention in California."
Sen. Thom Tillis: 'Both sides' bear responsibility for Padilla forcible removal incident
In a floor speech today, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., called the forcible detention and removal of Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., from a Department of Homeland Security news conference in Los Angeles last week "disgusting" but said both sides bear responsibility for what happened.
Tillis said he considers Padilla a friend, but he cited the Los Angeles incident and the forcible detention of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a mayoral candidate, yesterday as the reasons for his remarks.
"We’ve got to get to a point where elected officials have to take some responsibility for their actions," Tillis said, adding that it would be "inappropriate" for him to interrupt a news conference at the Capitol held by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
"Why don’t both sides own up to the fact that they both own some responsibility for what happened there? Sen. Padilla should have found a better way to elevate his concerns to the secretary of homeland security, rather than going in there and having that dustup," he said.
"Having said that, there were clearly people in that building that knew he was a U.S. senator, so the minute he was removed from that situation in that briefing room, then they should have treated him with respect and allowed him to disperse," Tillis added. "It was disgusting to me to see somebody wrestled to the floor — anybody — but particularly a U.S. senator that’s in a federal building."
Democrats rip and skip Senate hearing on Biden's mental fitness
Senate Democrats today largely skipped a Judiciary Committee hearing on Biden's mental fitness in office, charging that the panel was a waste of time.
Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., attended the beginning of the hearing and left after having made statements bashing it.
"So far this year, the Republican majority of this committee has not held a single oversight hearing, despite numerous critical challenges facing the nation that are under our jurisdiction," Durbin said.
"Apparently, armchair diagnosing former President Biden is more important," he added.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said at the hearing that the Democrats were absent because "they lied to us for four years" about Biden's mental fitness. "That's why they're not here," he said.
The witnesses who testified were two former Trump administration officials and a law professor.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said that the hearing was necessary because there was "a conspiracy to hide the President Biden’s true condition by his family, by his staff, by the media and by many elected officials" and that "we need to know who was in charge of the last months of the Biden administration."
Sen. Elissa Slotkin tells Hegseth that Trump's former Defense Secretary Mark Esper 'has more guts'
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., asked Hegseth at the hearing about any orders he has given to the military in the deployment of troops to handle protests in Los Angeles in response to immigration actions by the administration.
"Have you given the order ... to be able to shoot at unarmed protesters in any way?" Slotkin asked.
Slotkin said she was asking because Trump's defense secretary during his first term, Mark Esper, rejected such an order from Trump during protests after the death of George Floyd.
Slotkin said she gives a "lot of credit" to Esper because "he didn't accept the order."
"He had more guts and b---s than you," Slotkin said. "Because he said, 'I'm not going to send in the uniformed military to do something that I know in my gut isn't right.' He was asked to shoot at their legs."
Hegseth gets into heated exchange as Sen. Jacky Rosen pressed him on antisemitism at the Pentagon
Hegseth got into a heated exchange with Sen. Jacky Rosen as the Nevada Democrat pressed him about previous antisemitic comments made by a Defense Department press secretary, Kingsley Wilson.
Rosen shared what Wilson's posts have said during the hearing, but Hegseth said, "Since I don’t believe the characterization of many officials in the news media, I would need to see precisely what’s being characterized generally."
Rosen said that Hegseth has promoted Wilson in the months since this controversy surfaced, which the senator said is "at odds" with Trump's public commitment to combating antisemitism.
Asked if he would dismiss Wilson from her role, Hegseth said that she "does a fantastic job" and suggested that the senator was mischaracterizing his employee's posts.
Rosen said to Hegseth that he's "not a serious person. ... You are not serious about rooting out, fighting antisemitism within the ranks of DOD, it’s despicable. You ought to be ashamed of yourself," she said.
The senator continued to question Hegseth about another issue and the defense secretary said to Rosen that her time allotted to ask questions had expired.
"It is not up to you to tell me when my time is up," Rosen said. "You’re either feckless or complicit. You’re not in control of your department. ... You’re not combating antisemitism within your ranks."
Democrats finalize their ticket in Virginia after three-way pileup in LG primary
Democratic state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi has won her party's nomination for lieutenant governor of Virginia, NBC News projects, resolving a close Tuesday primary among three main contenders.
Hashmi got 27.4% of the Democratic primary vote, while former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney got 26.6% and state Sen. Aaron Rouse got 26.3%. The margin between Hashmi and Stoney was approximately 3,600 votes.
Hashmi outran Stoney by a nearly 3-to-1 margin among Democratic primary voters in Richmond City, which overlaps with her state Senate district.
Hegseth says he would remove troops from U.S. cities if directed to by the Supreme Court
Hegseth said that he would remove military troops from American cities that Trump deployed to assist federal law enforcement officers if the Defense Department is directed to as a result of a Supreme Court ruling.
"If the Supreme Court orders you to remove troops from American cities, will you do so?" Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., asked.
"As I’ve said, senator, I don’t believe district courts should determine national security policy, but if the Supreme Court rules on a topic, we will abide by that," Hegseth said.
Trump deployed National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to assist federal law enforcement to respond to protests in Los Angeles in response to the administration's immigration actions.
Hegseth defends restoring names of military bases linked to Confederate leaders
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended his decision to restore the names of military bases that were originally named after Confederate leaders.
"What we're looking at is erasing history," Hegseth said after being pressed by a pair of senators about the decision.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., slammed Hegseth for not calling the families of relatives that the bases' new names were named after to inform them of his decision.
"Why are you going through these incredible gymnastics finding current soldiers or other soldiers to rename?" Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said, adding that he's restoring the original names including after Robert E. Lee. "Why are you doing this? I don’t understand what the motivation is to rename bases for people who took up arms against their country on behalf of slavery? What possible motivation can there be for this? Who is telling you to do this? Who is urging you to do this?"
Hegseth said that there's a "legacy" to the base names and said, "We’ve returned it back to what it was. Instead of trying to play this game of erasing names, we’re not erasing history."
Supreme Court upholds Tennessee ban on transgender youth medical care
Reporting from Washington
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Tennessee law restricting gender transition care for minors, delivering a major blow to transgender rights.
The 6-3 ruling is likely to have a broad impact as 24 other states have already enacted laws similar to the one in Tennessee, which bars gender transition surgery, puberty blockers and hormone therapy for youth.
The court was divided on ideological lines, with the six conservatives in the majority and the three liberals in dissent.
Those laws now look set to survive similar legal challenges. The ruling does not affect states that do not have such bans, meaning care in those states will still be available.
The court in an opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts concluded that the Tennessee law does not constitute a form of sex discrimination that would violate the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
AIPAC launches digital ad in Washington, thanking Trump for 'making the world safer'
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has started running a new paid digital ad on YouTube in the Washington, D.C., media market. The ad — titled “President Trump’s Strength is Making the World Safer” — appears to be designed to influence Trump's decision-making process in the current Israel-Iran conflict. The spot is only running in Washington.
The 30-second advertisement uses a clip from Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent interview with ABC News. “Sometimes you have to take a stand against evil,” Netanyahu says. “And that’s what President Trump understands and we appreciate, deeply appreciate the help we are getting from the United States of America.”
The ad ends by saying, “President Trump’s strength is making the world safer. Standing with our friends. Standing up to our enemy.”
Poll: As Americans form views on AI, they’re divided on its role in school and everyday life
Americans are almost evenly split on several questions measuring their views on artificial intelligence, with no meaningful differences based on age and partisanship, according to the NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey.
The split views on AI use and AI’s impact on the future come as elected officials in Washington have largely left AI companies untouched, introducing few regulations that constrain them.
Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine jumps into Michigan House race
Bridget Brink, former ambassador to Ukraine, announced this morning that she is jumping into a competitive House race in Michigan, seeking to flip a district that turned red in 2024.
Brink stepped down from her role as ambassador in April. She’s running as a Democrat in the 7th Congressional District, where Republican Rep. Tom Barrett won last year with just more than 50% of the vote. The seat was previously held by now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat.
Brink’s announcement video, posted on X, zeroed in on the war in Ukraine and praised the U.S.’ strong support for the country under the Biden administration. Brink said that “defending Ukraine means ensuring democracies, not dictatorships, thrive.” Some Republicans have split with the Trump administration over its reluctance to forcefully back Ukraine.
“Appeasing a dictator never has and never will achieve a lasting peace, and it’s just not who we are,” Brink said, criticizing how Trump has pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Because of this, after nearly 30 years of service, I felt it was my duty to step down so I could speak out.”
Brink highlighted how she has served under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
“My next mission: to fight for what’s right here at home, to stand up to unaccountable, unelected billionaires trying to slash and burn our government and undermine our democracy,” she said, as images — including pictures of Elon Musk — played on the screen.
Hegseth heads to the Hill for another day of congressional testimony
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee today, his fourth trip to a Capitol Hill hearing this month.
The hearing is supposed to focus on the Defense Department’s budget request, but senators can ask questions on any topic.
Hegseth’s hearings last week grew heated when he was pressed by Democrats over his involvement in Signal chats that shared details on U.S. military plans, the administration’s response to protests in Los Angeles, and his criticism of transgender troops and women’s roles in combat positions.
Hegseth's testimony this morning comes as Israel and Iran continue strikes on one another. Trump said yesterday that "we" will not kill Iran's leader "at least not for now." He also said that "we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran," a comment that came days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that "we are not involved in strikes against Iran."
Amid escalating global tensions, Trump struggles to be a ‘peacemaker’
Trump is considering a range of options to resolve the worsening conflict in the Middle East, including a possible U.S. military strike against Iran, current and former administration officials said in a fresh sign of rising global tensions on his watch.
The president cut short his appearance at an international summit meeting in Canada to return to the White House at dawn yesterday and focus on the conflict that has broken out between Israel and Iran. In leaving the summit early, he dropped a planned meeting with Ukraine’s leader about the grinding war with Russia, which he once pledged to end on his first day in office.
Senate Judiciary Committee to hold hearing on Biden's health
The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing today on former President Joe Biden’s health, probing whether he was fit to serve as president and painting the picture that there was a cover-up surrounding his cognitive abilities.
The committee is set to hear testimony from three witnesses: law professor and former Justice Department official John Harrison; former Trump staffer and former Heritage Foundation fellow Theodore Wold; and former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
The 10:15 a.m. ET hearing will be led by Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Eric Schmitt of Missouri.
Sen. Peter Welch, a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, dismissed the hearing as “Republican politics” and was noncommittal when asked if he would attend.
“I think there’s a re-election involving a certain senator who is calling the hearing versus political theory, political stuff,” Welch, D-Vt., told NBC News yesterday.
Cornyn is facing a primary challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, as the two wrestle for the Republican nomination — and Trump’s potential endorsement.