Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan — nominated to the high court in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama — took a moment on Tuesday to remember the late Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and had only kind words to say about him. Kagan recalled her confirmation process, noting specifically how strange it was for a Republican to vote in favor of her confirmation when the nominee was chosen by a Democratic president — and vice versa — and said that Graham had approached the process with “seriousness” appropriate for the situation. WATCH: Justice Elena Kagan on her 2010 confirmation hearing: “Many people have talked about how funny Senator Graham was…What I remember about that hearing was that somehow Senator Graham made me look funny, which is a harder thing entirely, by asking me what I had done on… pic.twitter.com/U6IFdoGIwN — CSPAN (@cspan) July 14, 2026 Kagan began by offering her condolences to Graham’s family and friends, adding that “the entire Court” wished them well. “I’ll just say that I didn’t get many Republican votes when I was confirmed to the Supreme Court,” Kagan said with a smile, adding, “And that’s the usual state of things today.” She went on to say that it was even more striking to see a Republican from a deep red state like South Carolina cast a cross-party vote for a nominee: “And yet, Senator Graham voted for me.” “I vividly remember, because he was a vivid person, the conversation that we had in his office prior to my hearing,” Kagan said. “It was a long conversation; he took the opportunity to get to know me. He questioned me with great seriousness and great knowledge about my record. … And I still more vividly remember the conversations we had at my hearing itself.” “In the last day or so, many people have talked about how funny Senator Graham was. I think Al Franken said that he was the funniest man in the Senate,” Kagan continued. “What I remember about that hearing was that somehow Senator Graham made me look funny, which is a harder thing entirely, by asking me what I had done on Christmas. … Many people said to me afterwards that exchange with Senator Graham was the moment my confirmation was sealed.” Graham mentioned his vote for Kagan during his famous tirade at Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing. To Kavanaugh, he said, “When you see Sotomayor and Kagan, tell them that Lindsey said hello because I voted for them.” He turned his attention back to the Democrats and said, “I would never do to them what you’ve done to this guy. This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics. And if you really wanted to know the truth, you sure as hell wouldn’t have done what you’ve done to this guy.”

Four House Democrats — Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI), Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM), Maxine Dexter (D-OR), and Delia Ramírez (D-IL) — spent four days in Cuba meeting with communist President Miguel Díaz-Canel, government ministers, medical officials, business leaders, and other groups before concluding that President Donald Trump’s energy sanctions had transformed the island into what they described as a “silent Gaza.” The congressional delegation made the trip after the Trump administration imposed a de facto fuel embargo on Cuba earlier this year following the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, tightening pressure on Havana by threatening penalties against countries that continue supplying fuel to the island. Speaking to reporters after the trip, Pocan said someone he met in Cuba described the island as a “silent Gaza” — a comparison he said was “apt.” “There may not be bombings, but there are certainly conditions that prevent people from going about their daily lives,” Pocan said. “They can’t go to work, they can’t preserve their food, they can’t access medical supplies, or live as they did before.” The comparison comes as left-wing lawmakers have repeatedly invoked Gaza in debates over seemingly unrelated domestic and foreign policy issues. The delegation also directed criticism at Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose family fled communist Cuba. “I think Marco Rubio is making this personal and not professional,” Pocan said. Ramírez went considerably further, accusing the United States of pursuing “60-year-long imperialistic policies” against Cuba and blaming Trump and Rubio for worsening what she called a humanitarian crisis. “Plain and simple, our 60-year-long imperialistic policies, including an immoral, inexcusable, cruel blockade, have contributed to the dire conditions facing Cubans who yearn to be free,” Ramírez said in a statement released after returning from Havana. She also claimed Trump was advancing a “white nationalist agenda” through his immigration policies and argued the United States must end the blockade, end the sanctions, and dismantle policies she said violate international law. In a joint statement, the four lawmakers claimed the Trump administration’s policies were “strangling” Cuba and warned that sanctions were “killing everyday Cuban citizens.” Dexter, a physician, praised Cuba’s government-run healthcare system, saying, “Cuba created a free, universal healthcare system that millions of Cubans and others around the world have come to expect and depend on.” Léger Fernández likewise condemned U.S. policy, saying, “What the United States is doing to this island is a siege.” Cuba’s communist government quickly embraced the Democrats’ comments. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla celebrated the delegation on X, writing that the lawmakers had confirmed through “firsthand exchanges” the “collective punishment” imposed by the United States and the “inhuman impact” of what he called a “genocidal policy designed in South Florida.” Rodríguez also promoted the slogan “Cuba is not a threat,” a phrase frequently used by the Cuban government in international campaigns against U.S. sanctions. The Trump administration has defended its Cuba policy as an effort to weaken the communist regime rather than to punish the Cuban people. The White House has argued that Havana’s decades of economic mismanagement, combined with authoritarian rule, bear primary responsibility for the island’s ongoing shortages and rolling blackouts. Rubio, whose parents emigrated from Cuba before Fidel Castro consolidated power, has long supported maintaining pressure on the communist government and has argued that sanctions should remain in place until meaningful democratic reforms occur.

President Trump was mid-discussion about Iran on Fox News this week when he suddenly slammed the brakes on himself before revealing something about former President Barack Obama. “But if you look for 47 years, they’ve been tapping people along, presidents,” he began. “Every president got tapped along, didn’t do anything, and they became more and more powerful. This should have been done 47 years ago. It shouldn’t have been allowed to start. But Clinton let them go and Bush let them go. Everybody let them go.” Then he turned to Obama: “And Obama was the worst of all because Obama actually went to their side.” Then cryptically, he added, “Obama, because, you know, he’s a —  Well, let’s not say. Let’s not say. Let’s leave that for another time.” DID YOU CATCH THAT?!

A Clinton-appointed federal judge ordered the release of a Cuban national who hijacked a passenger plane in 2003, freeing him from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention after he served more than two decades in prison for his crimes. Maikel Guerra Morales was released last week despite his role in the hijacking of a Cuban Airlines flight and forcing it to divert from Cuba to Florida. U.S. District Judge John E. Steele said he granted Morales’ petition for release because he’d been held in ICE custody for too long. During the hijacking, Morales assaulted the flight crew and forced the pilot to divert the aircraft to Key West, where it was intercepted by fighter jets, according to the New York Post, which cited his release order. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Morales, who was later convicted of aircraft piracy and conspiracy to interfere with a flight crew. The Department of Homeland Security blasted Judge Steele’s decision. “This activist judge forced ICE to release a criminal illegal alien who was convicted and sentenced to 22 years for hijacking a plane back into American communities,” Homeland Security Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. “This is yet another example of an activist judge trying to thwart President Trump’s mandate from the American people to remove criminal illegal aliens from our country. Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, DHS will continue to fight for the detention and removal of criminal illegal aliens who have no right to be in our country,” she added. DHS said Morales received a deportation order on March 1, 2023, and that ICE took him into custody in December 2025 after he completed his prison sentence. Cuba’s communist dictator Fidel Castro greets 22 March 2003 in Havana passengers and crew who were aboard a Cuban plane hijacked earlier in the week to Florida. (Photo by PABLO PILDAIN/AFP via Getty Images) ICE detainees, like Morales, have been increasingly filing what are known as habeas petitions to get released from detention centers across the country, as previously reported. In March, Timothy Courchaine, United States Attorney for the District of Arizona, told The Daily Wire that his office had gone from receiving 10 habeas petitions in immigration cases to “nearly a thousand” since Trump’s second term began. “It is definitely a new trend … Now, those aren’t all just the bond hearings, but that’s the vast, vast, vast majority,” Courchaine told The Daily Wire. “In most of them, they are [granting bond] … so we’ve been losing almost all of these and the folks will be released,” he added. Immigration lawyers resort to filing habeas petitions after it becomes clear that their clients either have no chance of obtaining bond from immigration judges or have already been denied bond. Scott Mechkowski, former ICE deputy field office director in New York, likened it to taking “two bites of the apple … because you essentially have the immigration judges already rendered that that person’s on bond eligible or not going to give them a bond.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing a firestorm of criticism after appearing to wave away New York City’s climbing rape numbers by pointing to a legal technicality. The controversy erupted after PIX11’s Dan Mannarino pressed the mayor on rising rape and felony assault figures that City Council Speaker Julie Menin has flagged as troubling, even as the NYPD touts historic lows in murders and shootings. Rather than directly addressing the spike, Mamdani suggested a chunk of it was attributable to New York’s broadened legal definition of rape, plus survivors finally reporting decades-old attacks. “I believe the NYPD, when they put forward their numbers, what we’re seeing are some of the lowest numbers that New York City has seen in recorded history, especially when it comes to murders and shootings,” Mamdani stated. “These are the lowest we’ve ever seen. And what I think is important to know is a lot of the increase in rape also comes from an expanded definition of what counts as rape, as well as survivors coming forward for acts that took place years prior.” That explanation landed like a lead balloon online. Democratic Council Member Susan Zhuang was among those turning on a fellow Democrat, warning that redefining rape under the law should never become a shield against accountability for actually reducing sexual violence. “Expanding the legal definition of rape was an important step toward recognizing more survivors under the law. But it should never be used to deflect from the responsibility to reduce sexual violence,” Zhuang said. “Survivors deserve leadership, action, accountability, and justice. They don’t deserve deflection.” Conservative commentators piled on with even sharper comments. Women’s sports activist Riley Gaines questioned how female voters ever got behind Mamdani. “HOW did women vote for this guy?” Gaines asked. Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy blasted, “Rapes are up. Rents are up. Foreign diseases and parasites spreading. Historic Churches burning left and right. Elect the third world, get the third world.” In January 2024, New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signed the “Rape is Rape” Act, which went into effect that September. The law altered the old requirement that rape convictions hinge solely on non-consensual penile-vaginal penetration, expanding the definition to cover forced oral and anal contact as well — acts previously prosecuted under a separate, lesser charge of criminal sexual act. Before the change, advocates argued, survivors of those other assaults were denied the ability to see their attacks legally labeled as rape at all. But Mamdani’s critics were quick to note the legal shift doesn’t fully explain the trend. NYPD’s own CompStat figures reportedly show rape reports still climbing 6.6% year-over-year — well after the new definition had already taken hold, undercutting the notion that redefinition of the standards is driving the numbers all by itself.