WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security will soon be under new management, an opportunity to reset President Trump’s immigration agenda or to double down on his signature campaign promise to conduct the largest deportation operation in American history.
The White House’s political director recently encouraged party lawmakers during a retreat at the Republican president’s golf club in Florida to focus on immigration enforcement against criminals, a pivot from the mass deportation agenda he ran on. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the aggressive operations have created a “hiccup” for the party, which is now embarking on a “course correction.”
Yet all indications are that Trump’s mass deportation operation is not stalling but intensifying, with billions of dollars being spent to hire Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, build warehouse detention sites and meet the administration’s goal of rounding up and removing some 1 million immigrants from the U.S. this year.
“We are at an interesting moment where it has been an inflection point — the public has finally seen what mass detention and mass deportation mean,” said Sarah Mehta, who tracks the issue at the American Civil Liberties Union.
“This is not an agency that’s slowing down,” she said. “They’re really going forward with some of the cruelest policies.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the president’s policies have sent immigrants out of the U.S., either through forced deportations or on their own, and sealed up the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Nobody is changing the administration’s immigration enforcement agenda,” she said.
Senators ready to grill Trump’s DHS nominee over deportations
The questions put Homeland Security at a crossroads. Secretary Kristi Noem is on her way out, and Trump’s nominee to replace her, Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, appears this week for Senate confirmation hearings.
After the intense deportation sweeps in Minneapolis and other cities — and the deaths of at least three U.S. citizens at the hands of officers — Democratic lawmakers are refusing to provide routine funding unless the department changes its policies.
At the same time, those who believe Trump won the White House with his mass deportation agenda are disappointed the administration did not achieve its goals last year and insist he must do better.
“There has been a lot of talk in Congress and now in the White House about kind of backing away from President Trump’s, candidate Trump’s, mass deportation promise,” said Rosemary Jenks, co-founder of the Immigration Accountability Project, which argues for deportations.
“We believe that now is an opportunity,” she said. “We’ve got to get the deportation numbers up.”
A nation of immigrants no longer?
The debate is playing out as the United States, celebrating its 250th year, squares its founding as a nation of immigrants with images of masked federal agents breaking car windows and detaining people suspected of being in the U.S. without proper legal standing.
The Congress, controlled by Republicans, provided some $170 billion in last year’s tax cuts bill to fuel the effort, more than tripling the budget of ICE.
GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri, in a fiery speech, fought back against the Democrats’ proposed restraints. “This question about deporting illegal immigrants was on the ballot. President Trump was not bashful,” he said. “And the American people supported the idea that we are going to deport people.”
Yet there are signs of cracks in the Trump coalition. Some Republicans prefer what one called a more humane approach and are sharing their views with Mullin.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), considered a stalwart against illegal immigration, said in his state it’s immigrants who milk most of the dairy cows, and he’s heard from restaurant groups that rely on immigrants to fill jobs.
“Can we just turn back the clock and have … all these people who came in here illegally, just be back home?” he asked.
“In terms of actually implementing that, it’s a lot tougher — particularly, in fact, when you realize a lot of these people, most of them, came here to seek opportunity, wanting freedom,” he said. “They’re working, supporting their family, contributing to organizations and community.”
Mass deportation group wants more
The Mass Deportation Coalition, a group of conservative organizations including the Heritage Foundation and Erik Prince, founder of the security firm Blackwater, was formed recently to keep the administration on track.
It calls last year’s focus on removing violent criminal immigrants “phase one” and says “phase two” should focus this year on deporting immigrants beyond those with violent criminal histories.
Mark Morgan, who served as acting head of ICE and Customs and Border Protection during Trump’s first term and is part of the coalition, said that doesn’t mean roving patrols through Home Depot parking lots. It’s about strategic enforcement focused on immigrants at worksites and those who have overstayed visas and whom a judge has already ordered removed, he said.
But they’re facing opposition from within the Republican Party, Morgan said, particularly from those who want to narrow deportation to mainly criminals and from business groups that want to ease up on worksite enforcement.
“The Republicans that are saying that their definition of targeted enforcement is only criminal, they’re wrong. They’re on the wrong side of this,” he said.
“That’s why you see some of the base that’s really becoming apoplectic because they’re like, ‘Wait a minute. You’re talking about only removing criminals now? That’s not what you promised,’” Morgan said.
What’s coming next
The deportation advocates as well as those working to protect the rights of immigrants see that the Trump administration’s best chance at reaching its goals is creating an environment so unwelcoming for immigrants that they just leave — what’s often called self-deportation.
Mehta, at the ACLU, expects the administration will step up efforts to end temporary permissions that allow immigrants to remain in the U.S. — particularly refugees and asylum seekers — while their cases are making their way through the system. She called it a “deliberate attempt to make people undocumented — to take away lawful status — and then to be able to enforce against them.”
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said he fears that more nonviolent immigrants will be rounded up to fill the new warehouses being equipped as the Trump administration tries to reach its deportation goals.
That’s unacceptable, he said, and among “the key questions that Senator Mullin will have to answer at his confirmation hearing.”
Mascaro, Santana and Cappelletti write for the Associated Press.
An Oscars slugfest for the ages ran its course, with “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” duking it out and tallying up wins while the low but steady hum of host Conan O’Brien’s patented brand of weirdness tied the room together. A few unnecessarily curt speech interruptions threatened the calm, but mainly, this was a smoothly run machine of a show, devoid of mishaps. Even the rare circumstance of a tie was handled expertly by live-action-short award presenter Kumail Nanjiani, never bringing to mind the immortal confusion of “Moonlight” vs. “La La Land.”
But what didn’t make it to the telecast? Here are some flavorful takeaways — small yet memorable — that stick in mind from our several reporters in the room on Sunday.
A parade of praise for Jessie Buckley
Jessie Buckley arrives on the red carpet at the 98th Annual Academy Awards.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
As she strode through the lobby of the Dolby Theatre pre-show, Jessie Buckley, nominated for lead actress for her role in “Hamnet,” was fanned with praise by other attendees. Even in the restroom, she couldn’t escape the well-wishers. On her way back to the buzzing lobby, she held the train of her red and pink Chanel gown graciously saying, “Thank you, thank you.” — Brittany Levine Beckman
The pressure’s off for stars during commercial breaks
Elle Fanning and Demi Moore hug during the 98th Academy Awards.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
During the telecast’s first commercial break, supporting actress nominee Elle Fanning of “Sentimental Value” took her loss in stride and leaned over her seat to chat with former “A Complete Unknown” costar Timothée Chalamet, nominated this year for “Marty Supreme,” and his partner, Kylie Jenner.
Across the aisle, “One Battle After Another’s” Leonardo DiCaprio stood up and reached over to lock fingers with Benicio Del Toro. — Yvonne Villarreal
The Oscars address inflation with a goodie box
A note from Conan O’Brien left for attendees in snack boxes.
(Jessica Gelt / Los Angeles Times)
Each year, guests at the Academy Awards are given a small cardboard box of snacks left beneath their seats to get them through the always lengthy ceremony. A note from the host is generally inside. This year’s note, signed by Conan O’Brien, read, “I hope you enjoy this Conan O’Brien ‘Moderately Happy Meal’ ™. These snacks may not look like much but in any movie theater they would run you $85.” The snacks in question were a box of Junior Mints (Times reporter Josh Rottenberg got Raisinets), a small bag of Skinny Pop and a tin bottle of water. — Jessica Gelt
Jesse Plemons won’t succumb to ‘peer pressure’
Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons arrive at the 98th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
“Bugonia” star Jesse Plemons stood near the main lobby bar talking with friends and posing for pictures with fans while finishing the dregs of a drink. A server approached him and asked if he’d like another. Plemons politely declined and the server laughed, saying, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to give you any peer pressure.” — Jessica Gelt
Amy Madigan inquires about press room rules; ‘Is it like bingo?’
Amy Madigan after winning the Oscar for supporting actress for “Weapons.”
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
After taking the stage to accept her first Oscar win for “Weapons” on Sunday, Amy Madigan paused operations in the press room to ask how moderators decide who gets to ask questions of the night’s winners.
“Is it like bingo?” the actor asked. As laughter swelled across the crowd in response, she clarified hers was a “serious question.” — Malia Mendez
After a loss, Stellan Skarsgård knows the meaning of ‘Sentimental Value’
Megan Everett-Skarsgård and Stellan Skarsgård at the 98th Annual Academy Awards.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Stellan Skarsgård, of “Sentimental Value,” enjoyed a cocktail in a VIP room just off the main auditorium fresh off of losing the Oscar for supporting actor to Sean Penn for his performance in “One Battle After Another.”
Fans rushed Skarsgård anyway, shaking his hand and telling him how much his performance as a troubled alcoholic father and artist resonated with them. “We had four actor nominations on an international film,” Skarsgård told one of them. “That’s never happened before.” — Jessica Gelt
Two of this Oscar season’s tallest figures share a moment
During a commercial break, 6-foot-5 “Frankenstein” star Jacob Elordi and 6-foot-6 Oliver Laxe, director of international feature nominee “Sirāt,” greeted one another at the lobby bar. The pair, who have been impossible to miss as two of the tallest people at various events throughout awards season, shared a warm, high-altitude embrace and Elordi introduced the French-born Laxe to his date for the Oscars: his mother, Melissa. — Josh Rottenberg
‘The Singers’ and ‘Two People Exchanging Saliva’ winners are happy to share their Oscars success
From left, producer Jack Piatt and director Sam A. Davis, makers of “The Singers,” pose with Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh, co-directors of “Two People Exchanging Saliva.” All of them won Oscars for live-action short.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Gasps erupted in the press room after presenter Kumail Nanjiani announced the seventh-ever tie in Academy Awards history Sunday evening, between live-action shorts “The Singers,” directed by Sam A. Davis and produced by Jack Piatt, and “Two People Exchanging Saliva,” directed by Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata.
Speaking to the press room after the ultra-rare event, Piatt was unbothered and even enthused by the outcome, saying he wished there could be a “five-way tie” among all the category’s nominees.
Davis agreed, confiding that he’d previously told the “Two People Exchanging Saliva” team “in confidence, that if we lost, I hope we lost to them.”
Shortly thereafter, Musteata said tying with “The Singers” folks was “such a dream.”
“Someone on Reddit asked us if we would be happy to share the award, and we were like, ‘Heck yeah, we would love to share it with another film that is equally beautiful and totally different.’ ” — Malia Mendez
Elle Fanning soothes Timothée Chalamet after lead actor Oscar goes to Michael B. Jordan
Elle Fanning talks with Stellan Skarsgård during the 98th Academy Awards. Timothée Chalamet was seated in front of Fanning during the show.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
When Michael B. Jordan walked off stage and the show went to commercial break, Timothée Chalamet, who was up against Jordan in the lead actor category, took a sip of his drink as Elle Fanning, sitting behind him, gave him a pat on the back.
Fanning talked to her “A Complete Unknown” co-star throughout the night, who barely turned around to look at her. Kylie Jenner kept rubbing and patting Chalamet’s hand while he nervously jiggled his right leg. — Yvonne Villarreal and Jessica Gelt
Autumn Durald Arkapaw receives standing ovation in press room after historic win
Autumn Durald Arkapaw accepts the Oscar for cinematography for “Sinners” — the first woman to win the award.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“Sinners” shooter Autumn Durald Arkapaw on Sunday became the first woman to win the Oscar for cinematography. As she arrived backstage following her historic win, the press room erupted into applause, with many reporters delivering a standing ovation.
Arkapaw was equally thrilled, telling the room, “A lot of little girls that look like me will sleep really well tonight.”
“I heard Karen O say once at a concert… ‘You have to see you to be you,’” she said. “Ryan gives us, the women on this film, and our heads of department, he gives us those opportunities to shine and be ourselves and work in a creative environment where we’re leading.”
Such trust is rarely extended by directors, Arkapaw said, and she is grateful. — Malia Mendez
POPULAR food influencer Eating With Tod has revealed he has asked his stunning girlfriend to marry him.
The social media star, who boasts over 2million followers, revealed he had popped the question to his rarely-seen partner Mea.
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Food influencer Eating With Tod has revealed he’s asked his girlfriend to marry himCredit: InstagramReal name Toby, the social media star popped the question to partner MeaCredit: InstagramMea showed off her huge diamond ringCredit: Instagram
The influencer, whose real name Toby Inskip, took to Instagram to share their happy news.
The restaurant reviewer shared a slew of snaps from his romantic proposal, in Brazil, which included one of him down on one knee on a yacht.
Another photo saw Mea flashing her HUGE diamond ring for the camera, while another sweet snap saw the newly engaged couple posing for a romantic selfie.
Toby captioned the engagement announcement post with: “Cheers to the next chapter @mea_c.k – can’t wait for the next adventure with you ❤️
“Luckily the ring didn’t fall into the water… #engagement #wedding #brazil.”
Fans rushed to share their joy for the couple, with one posting: “Congrats you two!”
Another commented: “This is such wonderful news!”
A third said: “So awesome! Congratulations!!”
A fourth added: “Massive congratulations to you both!”
Mea also shared the sweet snaps and wrote: “03. 03. 26. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, sailing between Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain Toby proposed.”
The social media star has a huge following Eating With TodCredit: Instagram
Toby’s new fiancee doesn’t appear a lot on Toby’s Instagram, and it is not clear on how long they have been in a relationship for.
Meanwhile, the social media star’s Eating With Tod channel is so popular that he is one of the biggest food influencers in the UK.
Toby’s content sees him reviewrestaurants from around Britain by trying out their different dishes and giving his opinion.
Toby is known for his love of foodCredit: Instagram
Fans posting about the event criticised it for overcrowding and overpricing.
It was noted that one stall was commanding £6 for a cinnamon roll, while another vendor was charging an eyewatering £13 for a burger.
Meanwhile, since rising to fame Toby has boosted his bank balance by working with huge brands like McDonald’s, Tabasco hot sauce and Gordon Ramsay Street Pizza.
Fans can also buy Eating With Tod merch which sees T-shirts being flogged for £25.
The Influencer Insider – Get all the gossip on all your favourite online stars
Want to know more about the influencer who faked cancer? Read all about Brittany Miller and her sham career here.
We have all the inside gossip about Ladbaby mum’s incredible weight loss here.
And talking of weight loss, we know all about what is going on with B&M queen Becki Jones, which you can read up on here.
If health influencers are your thing, then read this on the man behind Tonic Health and his dubious claims here.
In Iran’s major turning points, Hassan Rouhani’s name tends to resurface – even when he is no longer at the centre of decision-making. And as the Islamic Republic enters a sensitive transitional phase after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in a joint United States-Israeli strike, the question of which figures might be used to calm the domestic arena or rebalance power inside the system has returned to the forefront.
Rouhani, Iran’s former president (2013–2021), a Muslim leader with a doctorate in law, is not an outsider to the system he once promised to “reform”. He is a product of it: a longtime parliamentarian, a veteran of the national-security apparatus, and a former chief nuclear negotiator who rose to the presidency in 2013 as a pragmatist offering economic relief through diplomacy.
The long road through parliament
Rouhani was born in 1948 in Sorkheh, in Iran’s Semnan province. He received religious training in the Hawza system (Islamic religious seminary), then studied law at the University of Tehran, before earning a PhD in law from Glasgow Caledonian University in 1999.
After the revolution, he built his career through parliament. He was elected to the Majlis (Iran’s legislature) for five consecutive terms between 1980 and 2000, giving him practical political experience and longstanding relationships within the elite.
That background explains part of his later image as a “consensus man” more than an ideological confrontational leader: someone who moves within the rules of the game, not outside them.
A ‘third road’ in Iran’s post-revolution politics
To understand Rouhani’s political brand, it helps to place it in a longer arc of post-1979 ideological currents inside the Islamic Republic – an arc often described in Iranian political writing as a sequence of competing “discourses” that nonetheless remained anchored to the revolution and the system’s religious-constitutional framework.
Iran moved through phases that emphasised different priorities: currents sometimes described as “Islamic left”, “Islamic liberalism”, and a more market-oriented turn under former leader Hashemi Rafsanjani; then a period of “Islamic democracy” and “civil society” associated with Mohammad Khatami; followed by a social-justice-heavy, populist register under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
That’s when Rouhani arrived with the language of e‘tedal –or “moderation”.
Within that framework, “moderation” presents itself as an attempt to balance what supporters call the system’s two pillars: the “Republic” (pragmatism, governance, responsiveness) and the “Islamic” (ideals, clerical authority, revolutionary identity). This balance became central to Rouhani’s pitch in 2013: He promised to reduce external pressure, restart economic growth and lower domestic polarisation without challenging the authority structure that ultimately constrains any elected president in Iran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, during talks with the German foreign minister at the United Nations General Assembly, in September 2014 [File: Daniel Bockwoldt/Getty Images]
The negotiator and president
Between 2003 and 2005, Rouhani led Iran’s delegation in nuclear negotiations with the “European troika” (Britain, France and Germany). He gained a reputation as a “pragmatist” among Western diplomats, while Iranian hardliners accused him of making concessions.
Later, that record became a pillar of his 2013 presidential campaign: a negotiator rather than a confrontationist.
In June that year, Rouhani won the presidency in the first round with more than 50 percent of the vote, avoiding a run-off in an election that saw high turnout.
Rouhani’s signature achievement was the 2015 nuclear agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), negotiated between Iran and the P5+1 – the US, China, Russia, France, United Kingdom and European Union.
Under the deal, the US and its allies lifted the bulk of sanctions imposed on Iran, and allowed Tehran access to more than $100bn in frozen assets. In exchange, Iran agreed to major caps on its nuclear programme.
At home, Rouhani sold the deal as a route to normalise the economy and curb inflation.
2017: A second mandate – and first brush with Trump
In May 2017, Rouhani won a second term with about 57 percent of the vote. Many inside Iran read the result as a bet by the country’s people on continued “opening” and reduced isolation.
But the power equation within Iran did not change. The presidency manages day-to-day governance, but it does not decide alone on the security services, the judiciary, the Revolutionary Guards or the core media architecture.
The diplomatic opening proved short-lived. In 2018, US President Donald Trump, in his first term, withdrew Washington from the JCPOA and reimposed sweeping sanctions, sharply limiting the economic gains Rouhani had promised. The reversal weakened Iran’s pragmatists and reformists, who had invested political capital in defending the agreement as the best available route out of isolation–while giving hardliners new ammunition to argue that negotiations with the US cannot deliver durable relief.
Post-presidential year – and a return from political exile?
Rouhani’s presidency ended in 2021, and with the rise of conservative dominance within Iran’s politics, he appeared to be gradually pushed to the margins. He then became a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts – the body constitutionally empowered to choose the supreme leader.
But in January 2024, the Reuters news agency reported that the Guardian Council barred Rouhani from running again for the Assembly of Experts.
Two years later, after the February 28 strike that killed Khamenei, the country – according to the constitution– entered a temporary arrangement phase until the Assembly of Experts selects a new leader. President Masoud Pezeshkian, Supreme Court Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei and Guardian Council member Ayatollah Alireza Arafi form the interim leadership council that are in charge until the Assembly of Experts announces its pick for the next Supreme Leader.
And from the hushed conversations and chatter that have emerged from within Iran’s elite circles over potential candidates for the supreme leader’s role, Rouhani’s name has resurfaced.
That possible return to political life, analysts say, is a testament to what Rouhani represents in Iran’s factional geometry: a governing style that privileges tactical compromise, economic management and controlled engagement – while remaining fundamentally loyal to the Islamic Republic’s constitutional-religious architecture.
As Iran plans Khamenei’s succession, it faces a central question: whether to broaden legitimacy by incorporating pragmatic faces or double down on a security-first posture. Rouhani sits at that crossroads – not the architect of the system, and no longer a principal decision-maker, but a durable indicator of how far Iran’s establishment is willing to bend without breaking.
As the media industry took stock of Paramount Skydance’s startling acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, one question lingered on the minds of many in the news business and beyond: what will this mean for CNN?
The iconic 24-hour cable news network is among the various Warner Bros. assets that would be scooped up by Paramount in a deal announced Thursday that could transform the media landscape.
Paramount has undergone a swift transformation under Chief Executive David Ellison following his family’s acquisition of the company last summer. These changes reached CBS News almost immediately with the appointment of Bari Weiss, the controversial Free Press co-founder, as its new editor in chief.
Bari Weiss moderated a town hall with Erika Kirk, widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
(CBS via Getty Images)
Weiss’ tenure so far has been rocky.
Her decision to pull a “60 Minutes” story about conditions inside an El Salvador prison that housed undocumented Venezuelan migrants from the U.S. received widespread criticism and accusations of political motivation. The network said the story was held for more reporting, and the segment eventually aired.
There was more upheaval last week at the news magazine, when “60 Minutes” correspondent and CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper announced that he’d be leaving to spend more time with his family.
Now, the concern is that similar changes could be in store for CNN, which has long been a target of President Trump’s ire. He has personally called for the ouster of hosts at the network who have questioned his policies.
CNN Worldwide Chief Executive Mark Thompson tried to quell some of those fears, particularly inside his own newsroom.
In an internal memo dated Thursday and obtained by The Times, Thompson urged employees not to “jump to conclusions about the future” and try to concentrate on their work.
“We’re still near the start of what is already an incredibly newsy year at home and abroad,” he wrote in the note. “Let’s continue to focus on delivering the best possible journalism to the millions of people who rely on us all around the world.”
Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide Mark Thompson and media editor for Semafor, Maxwell Tani, speak onstage.
(Shannon Finney / Getty Images for Semafor)
CNN declined to comment beyond Thompson’s memo.
Ellison has said his vision for a news business is one that is ideologically down the middle.
“We want to build a scaled news service that is basically, fundamentally in the trust business, that is in the truth business, and that speaks to the 70% of Americans that are in the middle,” he said during a Dec. 8 interview on CNBC, shortly after Warner said it had chosen Netflix as the winning bidder for its studios, HBO and HBO Max. “And we believe that by doing so that is for us, kind of doing well, while doing good.”
Ellison demurred when asked whether Trump would embrace him as CNN’s owner, given the president’s past criticisms of the network.
“We’ve had great conversations with the president about this, but … I don’t want to speak for him in any way, shape or form,” he said.
First Amendment scholars have raised concerns about press freedom and free speech rights under the Trump administration, particularly after last month’s arrest of former CNN journalist Don Lemon and the Federal Communications Commission’s pressure on late-night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert.
Press freedom groups have long asked questions in other countries about how authoritarian regimes use their power and “oligarchical alliances to belittle, silence, and punish independent journalistic voices, or to steer media ownership toward … a preferred version of the truth,” said RonNell Andersen Jones, a 1st Amendment scholar and distinguished professor in the college of law at the University of Utah, in an email.
“We see them asking at least some of these questions about the U.S. today,” she wrote.
Apprehension about the merger also extends beyond its implications for CNN and the media business.
Lawmakers such as Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have raised concerns about how the consolidation of two major Hollywood studios could affect industry jobs and film and television production — which has significantly slowed since the pandemic, the dual writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023 and corporate cutbacks in spending.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the deal an “antitrust disaster” that she feared could raise prices and limit choices for consumers.
“With the cloud of corruption looming over Trump’s Department of Justice, it’ll be up to the American people to speak up and state attorneys general to enforce the law,” she said in a statement.
Already, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has said the merger isn’t a “done deal,” adding that he is in communication with other states attorneys general about the issue.
“As the epicenter of the entertainment industry, California has a special interest in protecting competition,” he posted Friday on X.
Ellison addressed some of these concerns in a statement Friday.
“By bringing together these world-class studios, our complementary streaming platforms, and the extraordinary talent behind them, we will create even greater value for audiences, partners and shareholders,” he said. “We couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead.”
Times staff writer Meg James contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — Former President Clinton is testifying Friday before members of Congress investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, answering for his connections to the disgraced financier from more than two decades ago.
The closed-door deposition in Chappaqua, N.Y., will mark the first time a former president has been compelled to testify to Congress. It comes a day after Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sat with lawmakers for her own deposition.
Bill Clinton has also not been accused of any wrongdoing. Yet lawmakers are grappling with what accountability in the United States looks like at a time when men around the world have been toppled from their high-powered posts for maintaining their connections with Epstein after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.
Hillary Clinton told lawmakers that she had no knowledge of how Epstein had sexually abused underage girls and had no recollection of even meeting him. But Bill Clinton will have to answer questions on a well-documented relationship with Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, even if it was from the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Hillary Clinton said Thursday that she expected her husband to testify that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s sexual abuse at the time they knew each other.
Republicans were relishing the opportunity to scrutinize the former Democratic president under oath.
“The Clintons haven’t answered very many, if any, questions about their knowledge or involvement with Epstein and Maxwell,” Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, said Thursday.
“No one’s accusing, at this moment, the Clintons of any wrongdoing,” he added.
Republicans finally get a chance to question Bill Clinton
Republicans have wanted to question Bill Clinton about Epstein for years, especially as conspiracy theories arose following Epstein’s 2019 suicide in a New York jail cell while he faced sex trafficking charges.
Those calls reached a fever pitch late last year when several photos of the former president surfaced in the Department of Justice’s first release of case files on Epstein and Maxwell, a British socialite who was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021 but maintains she’s innocent. Bill Clinton was photographed on a plane seated alongside a woman, whose face is redacted, with his arm around her. Another photo showed Clinton and Maxwell in a pool with another person whose face was redacted.
Epstein also visited the White House several times during Clinton’s presidency, and the pair later made several international trips together for their humanitarian work.
In the lead-up to the deposition, Bill Clinton has insisted he had limited knowledge about Epstein and was unaware of any sexual abuse he committed.
“I think the chronology of the connection that he had with Epstein ended several years before anything about Epstein’s criminal activities came to light,” Hillary Clinton said at the conclusion of her deposition Thursday.
Comer has pledged extensive questioning of the former president. He claimed that Hillary Clinton had repeatedly deferred questions about Epstein to her husband.
Has a precedent been set?
Democrats, who have supported the push to get answers from Bill Clinton, are arguing that it sets a precedent that should also apply to President Donald Trump, a Republican who had his own relationship with Epstein.
“We’re demanding immediately that we ask President Trump to testify in front of our committee and be deposed in front of Oversight Republicans and Democrats,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said Thursday.
Comer has pushed back on that idea, saying that Trump has answered questions on Epstein from the press.
Democrats are also calling for the resignation of Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Lutnick was a longtime neighbor of Epstein in New York City but said on a podcast that he severed ties with Epstein following a 2005 tour of Epstein’s home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.
The public release of case files showed that Lutnick actually had two engagements with Epstein years later. He attended a 2011 event at Epstein’s home, and in 2012 his family had lunch with Epstein on his private island.
“He should be removed from office and at a minimum should come before the committee,” Garcia said of Lutnick.
Comer on Thursday said that it was “very possible” that Lutnick would be called to testify.
After almost two decades, a brand new season of Scrubs has finally been released to Disney Plus. Fans saw the return of familiar faces such as Zach Braff as John ‘J.D’ Dorian, Donald Faison as Christopher Turk and Sarah Chalke as Elliot Reid.
Despite only two episodes being released so far, the Scrubs reboot has delivered bombshell moments such as the revelation that JD and Elliot are now divorced with two kids, with Carla and Turk, who remain happily married, have four children.
However, it was the end of the first episode that left viewers stunned after Dr Cox’s unexpected revelation. After convincing JD to return to Sacred Heart, he revealed he would not be working with his mentor, but instead will be replacing him.
In emotional scenes Dr Cox said: “You’re not going to be working with me. You’re going to be me.”
He continued: “This particular world has passed me by. You are the only one I trust to do better and try harder.”
Fans were worried what this means for Dr Cox now as they took to social media to ask what will happen to the favourite character. One person wrote on X: “Wait Dr. Cox isn’t going to be regular, or Carla? Oh, no.”
Another said: “If Dr. Cox comes back to #Scrubs as a patient I will riot!!!”
A third penned: “I really enjoyed the revival #scrubs on Wednesday night. Was it perfect? Hardly. Did I feel jaded when Dr. Cox disappeared after episode 1? Yes. But watching the premiere felt nostalgic from a time where we could just watch a comedy and chuckle.”
A fourth worried: “They took Dr. Cox picture down. @scrubsabc DO NOT do us dirty and kill him off or something. He needs to be around.”
One person simply added: “I feel robbed of Dr Cox oh well.”
Over on Reddit, one worried user asked: “Is Cox going to retire, or is he going to get a new job in the show?” However, many agreed they would see Cox “retire” as they “demand answers”.
In an interview with Deadline, creator Bill Lawrence previously spoke about Cox’s retirement adding: “Dr. Cox is a huge character on the show. He comes back at the end of the year and will continue on next year.”
As the brand new series returned, many fans have been “in tears” as one person wrote: “I’m not ashamed to say I cried a few tears in the first episode.”
Another said: “I missed seeing JD day dream #Scrubs shedding tears as I’m watching.” A third replied: “Just watched the first episode. It was great. Got me right in the feels..”
Scrubs is available to stream on Disney Plus. For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website.
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Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
Whether or not the U.S. Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) will carry multiple warheads remains to be seen now that a key arms control treaty has expired. The service is otherwise hopeful that the Sentinel program is now on the right track after years of major delays and ballooning costs, driven heavily by costs and complexities associated with building new infrastructure. A particularly key issue has been the matter of silos, with the original plan to repurpose the ones that currently house Minuteman III ICBMs having been abandoned in favor of all-new construction.
Air Force and other U.S. military officials, as well as a representative from the Sentinel’s prime contractor, Northrop Grumman, shared new updates about the program with TWZ and other outlets at the Air & Space Forces Association’s (AFA) annual Warfare Symposium today. Sentinel has been undergoing a complete restructuring since delays and cost overruns triggered a legal requirement for a full review back in 2024. The original plan had called for the new Sentinel ICBMs, also designated LGM-35As, to begin entering operational service in 2029. Minuteman III, of which there are 400 currently sitting in silos across five states, was to be phased out by 2036.
A infrared picture of a Minuteman III after launch during a test. USAF An infrared image of an LGM-30G Minuteman III ICBM taken during a routine test launch. USAF
The setbacks also mean that ongoing work on Sentinel is now occurring free from the limits on America’s nuclear arsenal that were imposed by the New START treaty with Russia. That agreement sunset, as scheduled, earlier this month without a follow-on deal in place.
A Sentinel Program official declined to say how many warheads could be loaded onto a single Sentinel missile when asked at a press briefing earlier today. The publicly stated plan previously has been to load each missile with a single W87-1 warhead.
Each of the Minuteman III ICBMs in service today, which are also designated LGM-30Gs, is topped with either a single W78 or W87 warhead, the result of a succession of arms control agreements culminating in New START. The LGM-30G, which entered service in 1970, was originally designed to carry up to three warheads, and retains this so-called multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) capability.
A Minuteman III missile in its silo. USAF
“We have the ability to do that. That’s obviously a national-level decision that would go up to the President,” Navy Adm. Rich Correll, head of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), told TWZ and others at a separate roundtable today, speaking generally about the prospect of the U.S. fielding ICBMs in a MIRV configuration again. “Those policy levers, if needed, provide additional resiliency within the capabilities that we have.”
“Nothing’s changed since [the] expiration of the New START treaty. The threat environment that existed before [the] expiration of the New START Treaty exists today,” Correll added. “So that decision space is open, and discussions will occur at a senior policy-making level to make decisions with respect to that. I would reserve any recommendations I have for that discussion within the Department.”
Earlier this month, Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), under which the currently Minuteman III force falls, also told TWZ that it “maintains the capability and training to MIRV the Minuteman III ICBM force” and that it would be prepared to do so “if directed by the President.”
We do know that the Sentinel missile is a new design with a three-stage solid fuel rocket booster that has been described as slightly larger than the Minuteman III. Under the shroud on top is a payload bus with a liquid fuel propulsion system.
Enabling Peace Through Deterrence
“Our liquid propulsion system, this is what gives us the fine point that allows us to place the re-entry vehicle precisely on target, that greater accuracy that comes with the Sentinel system,” the Northrop Grumman official explained at today’s press briefing.
Beyond improved accuracy, the Air Force and Northrop Grumman have said that Sentinel will also offer greater range, as well as reliability and sustainability benefits, compared to the Cold War-era Minuteman III. Though more specific details about Sentinel’s capabilities are classified, developing a new ICBM does provide the opportunity to incorporate various new features and functionality, including when it comes to survivability.
“At this point, we have completed testing on all of the major elements of the missile system. … We met all of our primary objectives and are [on] a good course to first flight, which is why we have confidence that we’re going to hit that pad launch in 2027,” the Northrop Grumman official added. “What we’re working on now are additional tests just to give us confidence” when it comes to “reliability and integrating that system.”
The Air Force first announced it was targeting a Sentinel first flight in 2027, from a launch pad above ground, last week. The service has yet to share when it expects to conduct the first test launch from a silo. Northrop Grumman is now building a full-scale prototype silo facility in Promontory, Utah, but it is unclear whether that will be constructed in a way that would allow it to be used for test launches in the future. As an aside, the New START treaty had also imposed limits on deployed and non-deployed “launchers,” which included silos for ICBMs.
A rendering Northrop Grumman previously released of a silo for Sentinel built on a reclaimed Minuteman III launch site. Northrop Grumman
As mentioned, the topic of silos has been absolutely central to the Sentinel program and its troubles over the years. Originally, the Air Force expected to be able to reuse Minuteman III silos, but subsequently determined that this was not the optimal course of action. The plan now is to construct 450 entirely new silos. The Air Force hopes this will actually save time and money now, in part because of the ability to leverage modern modular construction methods from the start rather than trying to repurpose decades-old structures.
“The original acquisition strategy for Sentinel was to use and reuse the Minuteman III silos for the housing of the Sentinel missile, with some upgraded communication rooms and things next to it. Over the past year, we’ve gone through multiple assessments to figure out what the right strategy is as we look forward, and we’ve changed our acquisition strategy to go after building and constructing new silos for Sentinel,” the Sentinel Program official explained today. “That came out of really kind of two primary things. The first reason we looked at this is just the variability of refurbishing Minuteman III silos. The Minuteman III silos are amazing, and they are incredibly efficient at executing the mission today. But as we were going down the path of trying to plan, just like trying to renovate a house built in the [19]60s, there was variability in understanding how you would attack refurbishment, how you would understand the conditions, and the timing, and the cost associated with that.”
The Air Force also sees new silos as helping ease the transition process from Minuteman III to Sentinel. Both missiles will be in service simultaneously for a time to ensure the land-based leg of America’s nuclear deterrent triad remains credible throughout the process.
“As we were looking at opportunity space, we found a squadron at Malmstrom [Air Force Base in Montana], which was the first one, that was still owned Air Force land, but allowed us what I would call swing space,” the Sentinel Program official noted. “If we constructed there, how we sequence and how we choreograph, taking down Minuteman and bringing Sentinel up on alert, it allowed us the opportunity to do that without impacting operations today. And going after that swing space, it actually drove us to designing and constructing new silos, as there were not Minuteman III silos available to be reused on those sites.”
A graphic giving a general sense of the distribution of future Sentinel silos. Northrop Grumman capture
New silos “also captured a few things that we were working through on risk, primarily around human factors and some other things that were existing in the reuse of Minuteman, it allowed us to get those and reduce those as we went forward,” they added.
“We knew and had some assumptions at the beginning. We had to test out those assumptions,” they also said when asked about why these issues were not recognized earlier on. “As we’ve tested out those assumptions, some of them proved false, which is why we’ve been going down the path of laying in, prototyping, experimentation, and showing progress on how do we say, ‘Hey, this is a different way of approaching it.’”
“To suggest they weren’t thought about, I think that would be probably short-sighted. They were very much thought about. I think that we often forget that these are very challenging programs. This is something we have not done in over six decades,” Air Force Gen. Dale White, Director of Critical Major Weapon Systems and direct reporting portfolio manager to the Deputy Secretary of War, also said at the roundtable. “Some of the assumptions that did come to fruition have actually provided more operational advantages. We’ve made changes along the way.”
“With the decision to recapitalize the intersite communications and build new launch silos, it’s opened up a lot of additional possibilities,” AFGSC commander Air Force Gen. Stephen Davis also said at the roundtable. “And I would tell you, I don’t think we have the answer exactly how we’re doing that yet, but we have more flexibility.”
The aforementioned prototype silo in Utah is being built to help further burn down risk.
A rendering of a Sentinel ICBM after launch. Northrop Grumman
“There are many things that we’re looking to prove out through this risk reduction activity, excavation techniques, how we integrate the modular elements of the silo, too. How we protect from weather conditions and how we do transportation to and from the site – critically important,” the Northrop Grumman official said. “And we will ultimately use this as we start to integrate and perform operations around missile emplacement, those kinds of things.”
Despite the “swing space” found to exist on Air Force-owned land, the Sentinel program is still expected to require the use of other U.S. government-owned land and the acquisition of additional land from private entities. The full extent of those additional land requirements is still being assessed. What will happen to the decommissioned Minuteman III silos is still to be determined, as well.
Though they are the most important aspect, silos are only one part of the massive infrastructure development plans baked into the Sentinel program. A total of 24 new launch centers and three new missile wing command centers are also set to be built. The new ICBM force will be spread across 32,000 square miles in five states and linked together by more than 5,000 miles of new fiber optic lines.
“The wing command center is actually a new capability being provided by Sentinel that doesn’t exist today for Minuteman,” the Sentinel Program official said. “Today at Minuteman, the information is more siloed. The structure of Minuteman is built around the [missile] squadron, and there isn’t a sole place where the information is pulled together, to give you the battlespace awareness of the entire wing at one time.”
A graphic depicting one of the new wing command centers. Northrop Grumman capture
“So the wing command center is where that fiber backbone is incredibly important,” they continued. “The quantity of data that can be pushed on fiber, from my physical security monitoring for health and status of the missiles and of the launch facilities, all can be integrated here into a common picture that allows the operational commander the ability to see what is going on in the missile field and take the appropriate action and prioritize where they are using their resources, their Airmen, to tackle the problems and the solutions.”
The first of these facilities is now being built at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. That base is also set to host initial prototyping efforts related to the fiber optic cable laying, which is set to be a huge undertaking led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Air Force is now aiming to start fielding Sentinel sometime in the early 2030s. How long it will take to complete the transition from Minuteman III to the ICBMs is unclear. The service has said it is at least “feasible” to keep some number of Minuteman IIIs on alert until 2050, according to a past report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a congressional watchdog.
The U.S. military continues to stress that the new Sentinel ICBMs and modernized infrastructure that will come with them are top national security priorities. Despite debates in the past about the utility of the land-based leg of the triad, it does remain the fastest nuclear response option in the Pentagon’s strategic portfolio. It also has a continued purpose to act as a ‘warhead sponge’ that would force any opponent to expend substantial resources on trying to neutralize it in a future nuclear exchange.
US Air Force launches Minuteman III ICBM from Vandenberg in unarmed test
“The fact of the matter is that both the offense and defensive threats … have evolved significantly” since Minuteman III was fielded, Gen. Davis said today. “We’ve gotten all the capability that we can out of the Minuteman, but Sentinel will bring Air Force Global Strike Command and USSTRATCOM important new capabilities that we need to keep up with the threat and to stay ahead of it.”
There are many questions the Sentinel program clearly still has to answer, including how many warheads each missile should carry, as it moves toward finally reaching an operational capability in the next decade.
That was the toughest thing to watch. That was what seared into the mind. That’s what made you want to fire Mick Cronin on the spot.
It was a look of embarrassment. It was a look of confusion. It was the look of a young man who had just been cruelly pushed around by someone with more power.
Mick Cronin is a classic bully, and the fact that UCLA continues to empower him with new contracts and no questions is misguided malfeasance.
So, he wins games. He doesn’t win enough to compensate for incidents like Tuesday night in East Lansing, Mich., where Cronin became perhaps the first college coach in history to eject his own player from the game and order him to the locker room in the middle of the game.
Yes, Cronin holds players accountable. That’s fine, as long as he also holds himself accountable, but that didn’t happen when, after his team was beaten by 23 points by Michigan State in a second consecutive humiliating loss, he publicly criticized Jamerson for the hard foul that led to the ejection incident and then wrongly assailed a reporter for allegedly raising his voice during postgame questioning.
Cronin has become a walking viral video. He has become a nightly uncomfortable wince. He has become an embarrassment to a university athletic department that prides itself on winning with class.
Mick Cronin is light years from the aura of Coach, and if UCLA cared a whit about the legacy of its legend, it would care that his flame has been completely snuffed by this unworthy keeper.
Wooden’s home is now decorated with a pyramid of poop, and one wonders how many humiliations will be required to convince administrators to clean things up.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin extends his arms and complains while watching the Bruins lose to Michigan State Tuesday in East Lansing, Mich.
(Rey Del Rio / Getty Images)
Cronin quietly signed a new five-year contract last summer that includes a $22,5 million buyout if he is fired this spring. That figure drops to $18 million, then $13.5 million, then $9 million, then $4.5 million in coming years. No wonder the Bruins didn’t publicize the deal at the time. It was another Martin Jarmond mistake, and now the entire university is going to pay the price.
It’s hard to see UCLA canning Cronin in the next couple of years because of those buyouts, which means this mess of a program is going to be increasingly hard to watch.
What happened Tuesday should scare away any of the remaining top prospects who would want to play for this berating blowhard. His usual postgame rants don’t compare to what happened on that Michigan State court, where he picked on the wrong kid in the worst possible fashion.
By all accounts, Jamerson is a dream player, one filled with resilience and gratitude. The former Crespi High star initially wanted to play for Michigan State, but he couldn’t make the team, even as a walk-on, so he tried to become a student manager, and failed at that, too. After spending a year there as a student, he transferred to University of San Diego, where he spent three seasons strengthening his game before eventually transferring to UCLA. This season he has spent most of his time on the bench, playing about 11 minutes per game for the Bruins while supplying rebounding and defense and energy.
It was this fire that led him to give chase to Michigan State’s Carson Cooper in the final five minutes of a game that UCLA currently trailed by 27. Cooper went up for a fast break dunk and Jamerson knocked him to the floor. It was ruled a Flagrant 1 excessive foul, but not a dangerous Flagrant 2 foul, so Jamerson was not ejected from the game.
At least, that’s what he thought.
Moments later Cronin was grabbing the kid’s shirt and leading him to the baseline, where he ordered an assistant coach to remove him from the court area and banish him to the locker room.
Jamerson’s dreams of a solid return to a school that snubbed him were shattered. His night ended amid a storm of laughing students and obscene gestures.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin shouts toward the bench while sending Steven Jamerson II to the locker room after the player was called for a foul Tuesday at Michigan State.
(Rey Del Rio / Getty Images)
It was just awful, and so avoidable. Why couldn’t Cronin have just sent Jamerson to the end of the bench? Considering it wasn’t a Flagrant 2, why did he even have to take him out of the game? Why did he have to make an example of a player who was understandably overeager on what could have been one of the triumphant nights of his life?
“Steve’s a good kid. He made a bad decision. But if you want to be a tough guy, you need to do it during the game, for a blockout, for a rebound,” said Cronin afterward.
“So, I was thoroughly disappointed; the guy was defenseless in the air. I know Steve was trying to block the shot, but the game’s a 25-point game. You don’t do that.”
That point could have been made without humiliation. But Cronin wasn’t done, later admonishing a reporter for what he considered a dumb question, then scolding the reporter for allegedly raising his voice at him.
The question was about the student section’s harassment of former Spartan Xavier Booker, which seemed like a legitimate query considering Booker had a terrible game. But what was really baffling was Cronin’s claim that the questioner was raising his voice.
Listen to the video. No voices were raised. It was just Cronin once again being a bully. You want a raised voice? Here, I’ll raise my voice in words that Cronin will hopefully understand.
CHILL OUT! SHOW RESPECT! HONOR WOODEN!
If the coach doesn’t grow up and the program doesn’t rapidly improve — for a third straight year they’re barely a tournament team — there needs to be another ejection.
It would be the most expensive firing in UCLA history. It would be worth every penny.
