As Memorial Day approaches, The Associated Press looks back at past presidential speeches honoring America's fallen soldiers. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance salute during the 157th National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Major General Trevor Bredenkamp, commanding general of the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, right, attend a Memorial Day wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Va., Monday, May 26, 2025. President Donald Trump delivers the Memorial Day Address at the 157th National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Arlington, Va., as Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, right, look on. President Donald Trump, standing right, salutes at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, on Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Va., Monday, May 26, 2025. President Donald Trump delivers the Memorial Day Address at the 157th National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, May 26, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — President Donald Trump paid tribute to fallen service members during a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, in an address that honored the “great, great warriors” yet also briefly veered into politics as he boasted of a nation he is “fixing after a long and hard four years.” Though the holiday is one that U.S. presidents typically treat with pure solemnity, Trump began it with an all-caps Memorial Day social media post that attacked his predecessor and called federal judges who have blocked his deportation initiatives “monsters who want our country to go to hell.” Yet at Arlington National Cemetery, where more than 400,000 have been laid to rest, Trump commemorated the sacrifice of U.S. service members and singled out several Gold Star families to tell the stories of their fallen relatives. “We salute them in their eternal and everlasting glory. And we continue our relentless pursuit of America's destiny as we make our nation stronger, prouder, freer and greater than ever before.” During his remarks, Trump told the story of Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent, killed along with three other Americans by a suicide bomber in 2019 in Syria, leaving behind her husband, 3-year-old son and 18-month-old son. The Pine Plains, New York, native was on her fifth combat deployment, he said, embedded with a team hunting Islamic State group militants in Syria, serving as linguist, translator and cryptologic technician working alongside special forces. “She was among the first women ever to do it, and she did it better than anyone,” Trump said, calling out Kent's family for applause at the ceremony. The crowd also heard of Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Elroy Harworth from Erhard, Minnesota, whose plane went down in enemy territory during the Vietnam War, dying while his wife was seven months pregnant. His son, who was cheered in the audience, followed his father's path and has been in the Army for 20 years. Trump said McGhee knew he wanted to be an Army Ranger since he saw the towers fall on that day, did three tours in Afghanistan, then deployed to Iraq. Later in his remarks, Trump pointed to a “big, big celebration” coming next year as the U.S. celebrates its 250th birthday, joking that “in some ways, I'm glad I missed that second term” when he lost to Joe Biden. “Because I wouldn't be president for that,” Trump said, as the crowd laughed. In a social media message in all capital letters, Trump ranted at Biden, calling him the “scum” who spent the last four years trying to destroy the country with radical leftism and who, he said, left behind an open border. That was after he posted a separate message proclaiming “HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!” Wishing people a happy Memorial Day is regarded as verboten because the day is considered a somber one to honor soldiers killed in service. Naval Academy graduates in Annapolis on Friday, when he said that he and Trump would “lead the most solemn occasion in our nation, Memorial Day at Arlington Cemetery. “You will learn as I have that when people say things like ‘Happy Memorial Day,' you appreciate the sentiment behind it but know that it's wrong because Memorial Day is not a happy day,” Vance said last week. “Memorial Day is not for those who served and came home, it is for those who served that didn't.”

President Donald Trump honored fallen service members at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day Monday hours after blasting his political opponents and perceived enemies as “scum” in a social media post marking the solemn day. Trump went on to suggest that 21 million people entered the US illegally under the previous administration — a figure not borne out by US Customs and Border Protection data, as previously reported by CNN. He blamed “an incompetent president” for the influx of migrants and “judges who are on a mission to keep murderers, drug dealers, rapists, gang members, and released prisoners from all over the world, in our country so they can rob, murder, and rape again,” for stymying his deportation agenda, claiming criminal migrants are “protected by these USA hating judges who suffer from an ideology that is sick, and very dangerous for our country.” In the United States, Memorial Day honors those who died while serving in the armed forces; due to the holiday's grave significance, it's largely considered taboo to wish someone a “Happy Memorial Day.” Trump's Memorial Day message came two days after a politically inflected commencement address at the US Military Academy at West Point, where the president combined traditional advice to graduates with more overtly partisan themes. In the speech, Trump touted his election victory last year and veered into litigating some of his grievances about investigations into him. He wore a red “Make America Great Again” hat during the speech. Related article Trump says Putin ‘has gone absolutely crazy' after major Russian attacks on Ukraine In his speech, Trump also offered somewhat off-key advice about not marrying “trophy wives,” citing as an example a friend who moved to Monte Carlo with a younger bride, only to later suffer financially when he lost his “momentum.” Trump offered the story as a point of guidance to graduates. Trump has previously drawn criticism for inserting political messages into traditionally apolitical occasions and settings. During his first term, he took to then-social media platform Twitter in 2018 to wish Americans a “Happy Memorial Day!” writing, “Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today,” highlighting his own policy wins instead of the sacrifice made by America's armed services. In a statement, the Army wrote that Trump and his staff “were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations, and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.” The president originally posted a different version of Monday's Memorial Day post but appears to have deleted the original version (which had some minor grammatical errors) and reposted it again. This story has been updated with additional developments.

Ten people were shot and at least one other person was injured when a holiday weekend gathering at a charter boat in a South Carolina coastal community turned violent, according to police. Some of those injured in the shooting in Little River on Sunday were in critical condition as of Monday morning, Horry County police said, without specifying how many. Detectives were trying to determine who was responsible for the shooting, police said; no names were released and no arrests were immediately announced. The shooting stemmed from an altercation during a private Memorial Day weekend gathering on a charter boat in Little River, a community of about 11,000 people situated along the Intracoastal Waterway near the North Carolina state line, police said. Details about what led to the altercation weren't immediately available. Eleven people were taken to hospitals, police said. Besides the 10 who were shot, one person “reported an unknown non-gunfire-related injury,” police said. According to The Associated Press, a flyer online advertised a party Sunday night with a DJ on a three-hour cruise ending at 9 p.m. A woman who answered a phone number on the flyer early Monday said she was distraught seeing her friends get shot, but then said she didn't want to talk further and hung up, according to the AP. Little River is roughly 20 miles northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This is a developing story and will be updated. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Turning Point Actions Driena Sixto and Republican Latina Ana Kuecker join Fox & Friends First to discuss the president's sit-down interview with Fox Noticias, the importance of Hispanic media and immigration reform. Ex-Obama senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer warned on Friday that there is "no path" for Democrats to win elections unless they address their rapidly declining Latino vote. Pfeiffer brought this up with former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau on the "Pod Save America" podcast as they looked over 2024 election exit data which showed former Vice President Kamala Harris losing ground with both young voters and minority voters. Pfeiffer added that the Democratic Party had been losing Latino voters since 2016. "There's no way to look at this without recognizing the massive scale of our problems. And you can kind of tell yourself that things might be kind of okay by looking at just the shift from 2020 to 2024. And it is particularly true with Latino voters." Dan Pfeiffer said Democrats risk never winning elections again without the Latino vote. He pointed out that Latinos have shifted 17 points towards Republicans since 2016. While Democrats still took a majority of Hispanic voters, Pfeiffer showed concern over this trend. They are particularly politically powerful because of how the population is distributed in electoral-rich sunbelt states like Texas, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, et cetera. And so, they are becoming more of the electorate, and we are losing more of them at a very fast rate. If that trend continues, there is no path to Democrats winning elections," Pfeiffer said. Regarding young voters, Pfeiffer pointed out that Harris only got about half of new voters compared to President Donald Trump. "If that trend continues, we're in huge trouble," Pfeiffer said. "The message I take from this is anyone who thinks that we can get away with just tinkering around the edges just hoping that Donald Trump becomes unpopular or they nominate some yahoo in 2028 or we're going to ride the wave of tariffs and inflation to a narrow House victory is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Pfeiffer showed concern over Democrats shedding voters in young demographics. "The only group they won among – Democrats won among – were people who make more than $100,000 a year," former Obama advisor David Axelrod said in November. "You can't win national elections that way." Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to lindsay.kornick@fox.com and on Twitter: @lmkornick. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

A publicity blitz for CNN anchor Jake Tapper's new book became an apology tour last week after he was repeatedly confronted about his previous denials about former President Joe Biden's health. Less than a year later, just months after the Democrats' election loss, he announced the publication of a book, Original Sin, detailing the extent of Biden's mental decline and alleging a White House cover-up. Conservative pundit Megyn Kelly took the most confrontational approach, criticizing Tapper for his perceived inability to cover Biden's mental decline as it was happening. But he and co-author Alex Thompson received similar scrutiny from left-leaning commentators. “Time and time again, when issues came up, you seem to be running cover for the president,” Kelly said on her radio program, arguing Tapper was capable of reporting the story given his sourcing in the White House. “With the Joe Biden White House, I had [no connections], but you did. And now you write this book like, ‘There was a cover-up,'” Kelly said. “Alex and I are here to say that conservative media was right and conservative media was correct and that there should be a lot of soul-searching — not just among me, but among the legacy media to begin with, all of us — for how this was covered or not covered sufficiently, 100%,” Tapper told Kelly. One instance that drew renewed scrutiny was a 2020 interview in which Tapper accused Lara Trump, the daughter-in-law of President Donald Trump, of mocking Biden's stutter when she voiced concerns about his cognitive ability. When she tried explaining, Tapper interrupted and shut down the interview. During his appearance on Kelly's show, Tapper said he called Lara Trump “months ago” and apologized. Criticism of Tapper wasn't limited to Republican figures. “Isn't that the difference between news and a secret? ‘You won't believe what we found out' — no, that's why I watch breaking news.” “I understand the excitement over an insidious Democratic cover-up about Joe Biden's mental decline,” he said. “The thing is, though, it was a terrible cover-up, because we all f***ing knew.” “There was no cover-up – poll after poll showed vast majorities of the public thought Biden was too old and too out of it to run again,” Stewart said, adding later, “The cover-up doesn't work when everyone knows you're lying.” During the publicity tour, Tapper and Thompson were put in an uncomfortable position when news broke that Biden was diagnosed with prostate cancer and that it had spread to his bones. “Yes, look, obviously our hearts go out to the Bidens,” he said, after Thompson explained his rationale. I don't think that we're unsympathetic to all of the horrible things he has endured throughout his life.” “We have a whole chapter in it about everything he's gone through and the remarkable ability that Joe Biden has shown to get up and keep going on, despite so many horrible twists of fate that have been thrown at him. But, that said, the American people deserve transparency when it comes to the health care of their leaders, whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden or whoever comes after Trump,” Tapper added.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Kīlauea Volcano in Hawaii experienced dramatic lava fountaining over the weekend, with eruptions reaching 1,000 feet. Kīlauea Volcano – located along the southeastern shore of Hawaii Island – experienced "lava fountaining" that reached at least 1,000 feet high over the weekend. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) describes Kīlauea as one of the world's most active volcanoes. It has been erupting intermittently since Dec. 23, 2024, within the summit caldera in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. The 23rd episode of precursory activity began late last week with "low-level spattering and flames." According to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, small lava fountains and lava overflows from the north vent started around 11:30 a.m. Saturday. "Sustained fountaining expected any time through the weekend," Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park Service wrote. The USGS reports that Kīlauea "is in a unique phase of activity in Halemaʻumaʻu, with numerous episodes of dual lava fountains since the eruption began." Kīlauea Volcano seen at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park late May 25, 2025. "Two eruptive vents are located in the southwest part of the caldera, referred to as the north and south vent, and they have been intermittently active, producing new lava flows over parts of Halemaʻumaʻu crater surface," according to the USGS. As of 5:20 p.m. local time on Sunday, the south vent had lava fountains 230 feet high, while the north vent had lava fountains 1,000 feet high, according to Hawaii News Now. Eruptive activity at the summit of Kīlauea within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. USGS livestreams of the eruption site showed the lava fountains dropping in height and later stopping. The volcano's last "fountaining phase" extended for about 10 hours on May 16, according to the USGS. As pressure within the magma is released when lava fountaining begins, a switch to a deflationary tilt occurs. That pattern of inflation and deflation with every recent lava fountain episode "creates a saw-tooth pattern in ground tilt records over the past several months," according to the USGS, though the government agency reports that the summit has shown little net change in pressurization since the eruption began on Dec. 23, 2024. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on X: @danimwallace. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Director Marcel Ophuls shows the Berlinale Camera award after he is honored for his lifetime achievement during the 2015 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015. left to right; actors Jean Paul Belmondo, Jeanne Moreau and director Marcel Ophuls pose on the set of Banana Skin - Peau de Banane, Feb. 26, 1963, at Billancourt studios near Paris. The German-born filmmaker, who was the son of legendary filmmaker Max Ophuls, died Saturday at his home in southwest France of natural causes, his grandson Andreas-Benjamin Seyfert told The Hollywood Reporter. Though Ophuls would later win an Oscar for “Hôtel Terminus” (1988), his searing portrait of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, it was “The Sorrow and the Pity” that marked a turning point — not only in his career, but in how France confronted its past. French broadcast executives said it “destroyed the myths the French still need.” It would not air nationally until 1981. Simone Veil, Holocaust survivor and moral conscience of postwar France, refused to support it. But for a younger generation in a country still recovering physically and psychologically from the aftermath of the atrocities, the movie was a revelation — an unflinching historical reckoning that challenged both national memory and national identity. The myth it punctured had been carefully constructed by Charles de Gaulle, the wartime general who led Free French forces from exile and later became president. Collaboration was portrayed as the work of a few traitors. The French Republic, he insisted, had never ceased to exist. “The Sorrow and the Pity,” which was nominated for the 1972 Oscar for Best Documentary, told a different story: Filmed in stark black and white and stretching over four and a half hours, the documentary turned its lens on Clermont-Ferrand, a provincial town at the heart of France. Through long, unvarnished interviews with farmers, shopkeepers, teachers, collaborators, members of the French Resistance — even the town's former Nazi commander — Ophuls laid bare the moral ambiguities of life under occupation. Just people — speaking plainly, awkwardly, sometimes defensively. And in those silences and contradictions, the film delivered its most devastating message: that France's wartime story was not one of widespread resistance, but of ordinary compromise — driven by fear, self-preservation, opportunism, and, at times, quiet complicity. How teachers claimed not to recall missing colleagues. It was, in effect, the cinematic undoing of de Gaulle's patriotic myth — that France had resisted as one, and that collaboration was the betrayal of a few. Ophuls showed instead a nation morally divided and unready to confront its own reflection. For cinephiles, its most famous cameo may be in Woody Allen's “Annie Hall”: Alvy Singer (Allen) drags his reluctant girlfriend to a screening, and, in the film's bittersweet coda, she takes her new boyfriend to see it too — a nod to the documentary's singular place in film history. “It doesn't attempt to prosecute the French,” he said. “Who can say their nation would have behaved better in the same circumstances?” Born in Frankfurt on Nov. 1, 1927, Marcel Ophuls was the son of legendary German-Jewish filmmaker Max Ophuls, director of “La Ronde,” “Letter from an Unknown Woman”, and “Lola Montès.” When Hitler came to power in 1933, the family fled Germany for France. In 1940, as Nazi troops approached Paris, they fled again — across the Pyrenees into Spain, and on to the United States. Marcel became an American citizen and later served as a U.S. Army GI in occupied Japan. “I was born under the shadow of a genius,” Ophuls said in 2004. But after several poorly received features — including “Banana Peel” (1963), an Ernst Lubitsch-style caper starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jeanne Moreau — his path shifted. “I didn't choose to make documentaries,” he told The Guardian. After “The Sorrow and the Pity,” Ophuls followed with “The Memory of Justice” (1976), a sweeping meditation on war crimes that examined Nuremberg but also drew uncomfortable parallels to atrocities in Algeria and Vietnam. In “Hôtel Terminus” (1988), he spent five years tracking the life of Klaus Barbie, the so-called “Butcher of Lyon,” exposing not just his Nazi crimes but the role Western governments played in protecting him after the war. The film won him his Academy Award for Best Documentary but, overwhelmed by its darkness, French media reported that he attempted suicide during production. In “The Troubles We've Seen” (1994), he turned his camera on journalists covering the war in Bosnia, and on the media's uneasy relationship with suffering and spectacle. Despite living in France for most of his life, he often felt like an outsider. “Most of them still think of me as a German Jew,” he said in 2004, “an obsessive German Jew who wants to bash France.”

An American flag is folded during the interment for World War II U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Eugene Darrigan at the cemetery behind St. Mary's church, Saturday, May 24, 2025, in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. Darrigan was buried in his hometown after his remains were recovered from a World War II bomber that crashed into the water off the coast of New Guinea on March 11, 1944. Eugene Darrigan, top row second from right, and, bottom row from left, 2nd Lt. Donald Sheppick, 1st Lt. Herbert Tennyson, and 2nd Lt. Tomas Kelly, far right. This undated photo shows the World War II B-24 bomber, Heaven Can Wait, that went down in the waters of Hansa Bay, Papua New Guinea in 1944. Diane Christie wears a necklace with a photograph of her uncle, World War II U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Thomas Kelly, inside Santos Robinson Mortuary, Friday, May 23, 2025, in San Leandro, Calif., whose remains had been missing since being killed when the World War II bomber nicknamed Heaven Can Wait was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed into the water off the coast of New Guinea on March 11, 1944. This October 2017 photo shows wreckage of the B-24 Liberator bomber, Heaven Can Wait, lying on the seafloor where it went down during World War II in Hansa Bay, Papua, New Guinea. Their remains, deep below the vast sea, were designated as non-recoverable. Yet four crew members' remains are beginning to return to their hometowns after a remarkable investigation by family members and a recovery mission involving elite Navy divers who descended 200 feet (61 meters) in a pressurized bell to reach the sea floor. Eugene Darrigan, the radio operator was buried with military honors and community support on Saturday in his hometown of Wappingers Falls, New York, more than eight decades after leaving behind his wife and baby son. “I'm just so grateful,” he told The Associated Press. They were on a mission to bomb Japanese targets when the plane was shot down. Other flyers on the mission were not able to spot survivors. Sheppick, 26, and Tennyson, 24, each left behind pregnant wives who would sometimes write them two or three letters a day. Darrigan, 26, also was married, and had been able to attend his son's baptism while on leave. A photo shows him in uniform, smiling as he holds the boy. Darrigan's wife, Florence, remarried but quietly held on to photos of her late husband, as well as a telegram informing her of his death. Tennyson's wife, Jean, lived until age 96 and never remarried. “She never stopped believing that he was going to come home,” said her grandson, Scott Jefferson. As Memorial Day approached twelve years ago, Althaus asked his mother for names of relatives who died in World War II. Althaus, a political science and communications professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, became curious while researching World War II casualties for work. His mother gave him the name of her cousin Thomas Kelly, who was 21 years old when he was reported missing in action. “It was a mystery that I discovered really mattered to my extended family,” he said. With help from other relatives, he analyzed historical documents, photos and eyewitness recollections. They weighed sometimes conflicting accounts of where the plane went down. After a four-year investigation, Althaus wrote a report concluding that the bomber likely crashed off of Awar Point in what is now Papua New Guinea The report was shared with Project Recover, a nonprofit committed to finding and repatriating missing American service members and a partner of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, or DPAA. A team from Project Recover, led by researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, located the debris field in 2017 after searching nearly 10 square miles (27 square kilometers) of seafloor. The DPAA launched its deepest ever underwater recovery mission in 2023. A Navy dive team recovered dog tags, including Darrigan's partially corroded tag with his the name of his wife, Florence, as an emergency contact. Last September, the military officially accounted for Darrigan, Kelly, Sheppick and Tennyson. Darrigan's son died in 2020, but his grandson Eric Schindler attended. Darrigan's 85-year-old niece, Virginia Pineiro, solemnly accepted the folded flag. Kelly's remains arrived in the Bay Area on Friday. He was to be buried Monday at his family's cemetery plot, right by the marker with the bomber etched on it. “I think it's very unlikely that Tom Kelly's memory is going to fade soon,” said Althaus, now a volunteer with Project Recover. His niece, Deborah Wineland, said she thinks her late father, Sheppick's younger brother, would have wanted it that way. The son Sheppick never met died of cancer while in high school. Tennyson will be interred on June 27 in Wichita, Kansas. He'll be buried beside his wife, Jean, who died in 2017, just months before the wreckage was located. “I think because she never stopped believing that he was coming back to her, that it's only fitting she be proven right,” Jefferson said.

That was French President Emmanuel Macron's explanation Monday for video images that showed show his wife, Brigitte, pushing her husband away with both hands on his face before they disembarked from their plane to start a tour of southeast Asia this weekend. In this grab taken from video, France's President Emmanuel Macron prepares to disembark a plane on arrival, in Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, May 25, 2025. In this grab taken from video, France's President Emmanuel Macron prepares to disembark a plane on arrival, in Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, May 25, 2025. That was French President Emmanuel Macron ‘s explanation Monday for video images that showed his wife, Brigitte, pushing her husband away with both hands on his face before they disembarked from their plane to start a tour of Southeast Asia this weekend. The images of Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron disembarking in Vietnam trigger a lot of comment.” Macron later told reporters that the couple — married since 2007 after meeting at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher — were simply joking around. “We are squabbling and, rather, joking with my wife,” he said, adding that the incident was being overblown into “a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe.” In video taken by The Associated Press as the Macrons arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday, a uniformed man can be seen pulling open the plane door and revealing the president standing inside, dressed in a suit and talking to someone who wasn't visible. Brigitte Macron's arms — in red — were seen reaching out and pushing Macron away, with one hand covering his mouth and part of his nose while the other was on his jaw. The French leader recoiled, turning his head away. Then, apparently realizing that he was on camera, he broke into a smile and gave a little wave. In subsequent images, Macron and his wife, wearing a red jacket, appeared at the top of the stairs. He offered an arm but she didn't take it. The French leader argued that the images and reaction to them offered a cautionary tale about disinformation in the social media age, noting that in recent weeks, other videos had been used to circulate made-up stories about him. “Everyone needs to calm down,” he said. It was all that was needed to give ammunition to the conspiracy theorists,” his office said. Brigitte Macron was Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three children, when they met at his high school. He moved to Paris for his last year of high school, but promised to marry Brigitte. She later moved to the French capital to join him and divorced before they finally married.

President Donald Trump is open to the Senate making “fairly significant” changes to his “big, beautiful bill” despite Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) warning that an overhaul risks unraveling the delicate compromise reached in the House. It will go back to the House, and we'll see if we can get them. In some cases, the changes may be something I'd agree with, to be honest,” the president told reporters in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday evening. “I think they are going to have changes,” Trump added. Yet Senate Republicans have already indicated they will make their mark on the legislation, which sweeps Trump's tax priorities together with money for the border and defense. It took a coordinated effort from Trump and Johnson to secure GOP votes in the House, with the deal reached representing a compromise between fiscal hawks and Republican centrists. Trump had to visit the Capitol on Tuesday and later hosted the Freedom Caucus at the White House, while Johnson spoke with Senate Republicans “from the heart about how difficult” it was to cobble together a majority coalition. The speaker has repeatedly likened the negotiations to “crossing over the Grand Canyon on a piece of dental floss,” adding in an interview with Punchbowl News, “My hope and my encouragement to them is – fine-tune this product as little as possible.” Some of the House language that Senate Republicans want to review includes Medicaid reforms, an accelerated rollback of Biden-era green energy tax credits, and the sale of spectrum licenses. Thune declined to specify a timeline for the upper chamber to pass its version of the bill, though he and other party leaders have set July 4, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's requested date, as an aspirational deadline.

Andy Beshear gives an update on the recovery efforts from damage caused by severe weather at the London Corbin Airport in London, Ky., Saturday, May 17, 2025. Gretchen Whitmer waits with Michigan National Guard adjutant general Major Gen. Paul Rogers to greet President Donald Trump at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Harrison Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Gavin Newsom presents his revised 2025-2026 state budget during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg listens to a question from the audience during a VoteVets Town Hall, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Liberal strategists acknowledge Trump showed that Democratic candidates need to master the podcast space, which is typically looser and more freewheeling than a press conference or a traditional media interview. “The way that politicians communicate and need to be seen by their audience is changing,” said Liz Minnella, who fundraised for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and this year launched Connect Forward, a group to support liberal influencers. Newsom, long derided by conservatives as a San Francisco liberal, has welcomed conservatives onto his podcast and agreed with them on issues such as trans participation in women's sports. The likely 2028 contenders have produced many hours of content already. Here's a look at key moments and what we've learned about the field so far. The governor did not respond to a request for comment on his strategy, but has mostly taken a position of dissecting and broadcasting opposition to Trump's policies, such as potential cuts to Medicaid and the use of the Signal messaging app by the president's national security team to discuss sensitive military operations. In one of Beshear's most recent episodes earlier this month, his producer asks the governor a frequent listener's question: Will you run for president? “If it were three years ago, this was something that we would have never thought about,” Beshear said, sitting beside his wife, Britainy. Now, what that looks like going forward, I don't know. Whitmer had received some backlash for sharing a hug with the president last month as he arrived in her home state, less than a month after she shielded her face from cameras during an Oval Office appearance alongside Trump. “This is a BFD,” she said on the podcast, referencing if not outright saying a profane phrase that starts with “big” and ends with “deal.” “It doesn't mean I've abandoned any of my values. It doesn't mean that I'm not going to stand my ground and fight where we have to, but this is one of those moments where as a public servant you're reminded your job is to put service above self and that's what it was all about.” In February, California's governor launched “This is Gavin Newsom” as what he called a mechanism for talking “directly with people I disagree with, people I look up to, and you — the listeners.” Thus far, he's had a wide array of guests, including former Trump strategist Steve Bannon and conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, as well as Klobuchar and Minnesota Gov. Newsom — who has in recent weeks broken with California's legislature and faced liberal criticism for his positioning on trans issues, immigration and homelessness — has fielded backlash for giving a platform to some of his party's biggest critics. Newsom has also drawn criticism for opposing the participation of trans athletes in women's sports. The diverse guest list could be part of Newsom's attempt to self-brand as a centrist ahead of a possible 2028 run, hearing out conservative critics while trying to assume his party's mantle. In March, the governor told HBO's Bill Maher that Democrats had developed a “toxic” brand and criticized some in the party who are unwilling to “have a conversation” with their opponents. Buttigieg's appearance on Andrew Schulz's “Flagrant” podcast came months after the comedian sat down with Trump. But mostly, Buttigieg — who spoke in Iowa earlier this month — discussed his time in politics and accused Trump of failing to deliver on economic promises from the 2024 campaign. Associated Press Polling Editor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. The NFL owners voted 22-10 to ban the Tush Push, but it needed 24 votes to go through. NFL players will be allowed to compete in the Olympics for the Team USA flag football team when the Summer Games hit Los Angeles in 2028. Quarterback Darrell Doucette, #7, prepares to hand the ball to wide receiver Darius Davis, #4, during the American Flag Football League Ultimate Final game between the Fighting Cancer and Godspeed on July 19, 2018 at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston. It is because of that success that Doucette said that he hoped he and his teammates would receive a shot to compete for a spot on Team USA with the influx of professional football players set to try out as well. "The flag guys deserve their opportunity," Doucette told The Washington Post in a recent interview. We felt like we worked hard to get the sport to where it's at, and then when the NFL guys spoke about it, it was like we were getting kicked to the side. I felt like I was the guy who could speak out for my peers, for my brothers that's been working hard to get to this level, for us not to be forgotten." Doucette added that he believed the team is good enough as it is to win gold in Los Angeles. An Olympic rings flag at the University of Southern California on March 30, 2025 in Los Angeles. "But we all have one goal in mind, and that's to represent our country. If those guys come in and ball out and they're better than us, hats off to them. Go win that gold medal for our country." NFL owners unanimously approved players' participation in flag football during their meeting last week. Doucette already ruffled feathers last year when he said he was better than Patrick Mahomes at the sport because of his "IQ of the game." Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes chews his mouthguard during warmups before an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. I know he's right now the best in the league, I know he's more accurate, I know he has all these intangibles – but when it comes to flag football, I feel like I know more than him," he told TMZ Sports last year. Fox News' Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter. Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Being an honest public servant will always be a rewarding choice, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Sunday in a speech at a pre-graduation ceremony at Princeton University amid months of unrelenting personal attacks from President Donald Trump. “As you navigate the world of bright possibilities that awaits you, I urge you to take on the challenge and the opportunity to serve your fellow citizens,” Powell said. “Fifty years from now, you will want to be able to look in the mirror and know that you did what you thought was right, in every part of your life.” He then delivered a stark warning about the threats facing universities and democracy at a time when Trump is increasingly wielding the power of the federal government to make institutions of higher education bend to his will. “When you look back in 50 years, you will want to know that you have done whatever it takes to preserve and strengthen our democracy, and bring us ever closer to the Founders' timeless ideals,” he said. Since taking the helm in 2018, Powell has steered the Fed through a litany of challenges, such as an economic crisis sowed by the Covid-19 pandemic, a historic bout of high inflation, and now, an erratic global trade war that has unsettled decision-makers across the world. Powell has also dealt with direct and personal attacks on his character — a rarity for someone in charge of America's central bank. Trump has assailed Powell for not lowering interest rates quickly enough, accusing him of playing politics and describing him as a “fool” and “a major loser,” while also saying that his termination “cannot come fast enough.” Top administration officials have privately warned Trump of financial-market chaos if he were to proceed with sacking Powell, CNN previously reported. Powell, for his part, has remained mum amid the criticism. In November, when asked if he'd step down if Trump asked him to, Powell said that's “not permitted under the law.” In recent weeks, Fed officials have said they will keep rates on hold, mostly because of lingering uncertainty over Trump's tariff policies. Trump, meanwhile, hasn't provided evidence to back up his claims that Fed officials are not cutting rates as a way to help Democrats. “Too Late Powell, a man legendary for being Too Late, will probably blow it again - But who knows?? Earlier this month, the Fed kept its benchmark lending rate unchanged at a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, extending a holding pattern that began in January. But I feel like the bar for me is a little higher for action in any direction while we're waiting to get some clarity,” Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee told CNBC in a May 23 interview. This story was updated with additional information. Most stock quote data provided by BATS. US market indices are shown in real time, except for the S&P 500 which is refreshed every two minutes. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices Copyright S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and/or its affiliates. Market holidays and trading hours provided by Copp Clark Limited.

While San Francisco hogs headlines on homelessness and crime, its southern neighbor, San Jose, has been quietly making bold moves — and seeing substantial results. Since taking office, he has streamlined regulatory processes, strengthened law enforcement, and leveraged Silicon Valley's innovative spirit to tackle the city's most pressing challenges. He's into results, even if that makes him a few high-profile enemies along the way. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) on the homelessness crisis, advocated tough-on-crime measures that have ticked off members of his own party, and instituted what is believed to be one of the first performance models that ties pay raises for senior staff and council members to measurable results. In a wide-ranging interview with the Washington Examiner from his 18th-floor office in downtown San Jose, Mahan broke down his plans for the city, including its goals, obstacles, and successes. Some of his proposals have been slam dunks, while others, such as arresting unsheltered homeless people if they refuse help three times in 18 months and remain on the streets, have been met with criticism. “I think government is the way we solve complicated societal problems at scale,” Mahan said. Mahan, who was part of two Silicon Valley startups, said it's a view not widely embraced in the government. I don't mind taking a lot of hits publicly in the press and from other elected officials and from what I consider to be essentially a political establishment in California.” Depending on who you ask, Mahan is seen as either a hard-working, no-nonsense mayor who is acutely aware and tackling the city's problems head-on or the devil. “I hate that guy,” he told the Washington Examiner. Dickens is one of approximately 50 people who call the park home and think Mahan's solutions for the city are out of touch. He's a rich white guy trying to arrest everyone out here.” Mahan, a Democrat, has ruffled more than a few feathers for saying homeless people should be arrested if they are living on the streets and have refused shelter three times. “Mayor Mahan's governance style and approach adopts a more independent streak from the status quo in California politics,” Jeff Le, managing principal at 100 Mile Strategies and former deputy Cabinet secretary to former Democratic Gov. Rising rates of homelessness in Silicon Valley, one of the wealthiest areas in the nation, have frustrated residents and left them open to proposals that would have once seemed too right-leaning in the dark blue metropolis. Years ago, the approximately 200 homeless residents of Columbus Park would park their RVs and trailers on the streets, fields, and basketball courts. The city cleared it in 2022, but since then, many have returned. Not only is the park an eyesore, but when the Washington Examiner visited it earlier this month, there were sounds and sights of human misery everywhere. There was feces on the sidewalks, open-air drug use, and people walking around like zombies. Dickens, who is originally from Los Angeles, admitted “no one should live like this” but added, “Where we gunna go?” Mahan has insisted he's not trying to punish people for being homeless. He wants to enforce trespassing laws when interim housing has been repeatedly offered and refused by someone living on the streets. Mahan was born in San Francisco and raised by working-class parents. His interest in politics was piqued at an early age when he saw the challenges of crime, unemployment, and poor education in his hometown. When it was time for high school, Mahan was offered a full work-study scholarship for low-income students at Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose. After graduating, he spent a year in Bolivia building irrigation systems for farmers. Mahan then joined Causes, a startup and early Facebook app. He worked his way up from director of business development to CEO. He also co-founded Brigade, the world's first voter network platform that allowed people to discuss matters and advocate their elected officials. Since then, Mahan has been on a government kick. He has served on neighborhood and civic boards and ran for City Council in 2020, focusing his campaign on improving the quality of life by holding City Hall accountable. “My first six months on Council were pretty miserable,” he said. “We should have the resources to make meaningful progress. But then I get to City Hall, and people are literally giving 20-minute speeches on the dais. They're often demonizing people and coming up with these random boogeymen like it's the fault of tech or developers or it's the media.” It was then that Mahan found himself at a crossroads. Two years later, Mahan won a four-year term, securing 87% of the vote. Since he was elected, Mahan has needled Newsom multiple times. It began when Mahan threw his support behind Proposition 36, a ballot measure that strengthened penalties for people who have repeatedly been convicted of shoplifting or caught using and dealing hard drugs such as fentanyl. Newsom, an early front-runner for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, did not support Proposition 36. Instead of falling in line with other mayors to support the governor, Mahan spoke out, calling the state's response to addiction, mental illness, and repeat low-level criminal activity “fairly lax and almost avoidant.” Mahan is currently tangled in an escalating war of words with Santa Clara County officials over homelessness and has refused to back down. During his time in office, Mahan has also whittled down a list of San Jose's 41 “priorities” to four: homeless, crime, blight, and housing affordability.

On March 17, 1947, Christensen gathered with other flight instructors at a naval air base in Glenview, Illinois. One of the trainees had another reason for nerves. He was a slim, Black man named Jesse Leroy Brown. One flight instructor told him “You'll never sit your Black a** in a Navy plane.” Others dubbed him “oil slick” or called him “n***er.” The other instructors ignored Brown as they greeted trainees and peeled off for their first training flights. Brown would go on to break the Navy's color barrier, becoming its first Black pilot. But Brown never would have taken off without Christensen's moral courage. This is not just reflected in numbers but also in power: Although problems with deep-rooted racism persist, people of color have risen to the top echelons of the US military. The military is one of the few large institutions left in America where citizens voluntarily form close relationships with people of different religions, socio-economic backgrounds and ethnicities — all in service of a common national purpose. “The enduring emotion of war, when everything else has faded, is comradeship,” William Broyles Jr., a combat veteran in Vietnam, wrote in a classic essay. “A comrade in war is a man you can trust with anything, because you trust him with your life.” But now some of America's leaders are telling a different story. The Trump administration has launched a purge of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives throughout the armed forces and military academies. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says a culture of “wokeness and weakness” has made the military less lethal. Hegseth, who wrote in a book published last year that “America's white sons and daughters are walking away” from military service, says he wants to restore the “warrior” mentality to America's military. But the strongest rebuttal to Hegseth's argument is military history itself. Most history books describe the event simply as a Japanese sneak attack. At least 2,400 Americans were killed and images of the massive USS Arizona destroyer, engulfed in flames and billowing black smoke, represent one of the nation's most humiliating military failures. When Admiral Husband Kimmel, commander of Pearl Harbor's navy base, was later asked about the intelligence failures that led to the attack, he said, “I never thought those little yellow sons of bitches could pull off such an attack, so far from Japan.” US military leaders had succumbed to “groupthink,” which often occurs when there's not enough diversity in a decision-making body. It comes from an essay he wrote in the 1970s that described how groupthink leads to military failures. The desire for group consensus blocks out alternative points of view. Janis wrote that American military commanders didn't pay attention to warnings of an impending attack in part because of groupthink. How far can West Point's ‘Long Gray Line' bend before it breaks? He also wrote that groupthink led to other American military blunders, including the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba under President Kennedy and President Truman's ill-fated decision to invade North Korea, which brought China into the Korean War. She had a term for that groupthink failure: “The March of Folly.” He cited several recent decisions: Trump's firing of Charles Q. The Defense Department has also banned using official resources to celebrate cultural awareness events such as Black History and Hispanic Heritage months. The US Naval Academy last month banned nearly 400 books in its library that dealt with racial justice, gender and LGBTQ+ issues. The library, however, reportedly still retained two copies of “Mein Kampf” by Adolf Hitler. “They're trying to make a very clear statement to the military that this is a White man's military and the rest of you will fall in line,” says Bibby, co-founder of the Black Veterans Project, a group that preserves the legacy of Black veterans and secures restitution for Black soldiers denied benefits. Bibby says the purge doesn't make business sense, either. “There's no one on Earth who genuinely thinks that having differing opinions and experiences wile coming together to solve issues or build products is a bad thing for a team,” Bibby tells CNN. Yet research shows it's not enough for a military to be diverse. This belief led to one of the most important victories in the Iraq War, one American general recently wrote in an essay. He couldn't figure out how to stop it. Cultural prohibitions prevented men from touching and searching women. At her suggestion, the military arranged a conference for Iraqi women to convince them that they had a stake in their country's future. Within months, 60 female officers were fanning out across Iraqi provinces. Hertling, who is now retired and a CNN commentator, doesn't answer that question in his essay, but he says that female officer saved lives. This is not the US military's first DEI purge. Black soldiers were routinely treated as second-class citizens, held menial jobs such as cooks and were forced to serve in racially segregated units. President Truman began to change this culture in 1948 when he issued an executive order desegregating the US military. The military's march to diversity faced some of its stiffest challenges in Vietnam. There were constant reports of “fragging,” incidents in which US soldiers killed their comrades. Racial tensions between White and Black soldiers led to many fragging incidents. The military created many of its diversity programs after Vietnam because they learned that a racially divided army cost lives, says Matthew Delmont, author of “Half-American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad.” “It wasn't about being politically correct,” Delmont says. One Vietnam veteran recalls how racial tension affected his soldiers. “I can just remember the sadness I felt in my platoon,” says Marlantes, who wrote about his war experiences in “Matterhorn,” and “What It Is Like to Go to War.” “We would all work together in the bush but when we got off the chopper, all the Black kids are in one part and the White kids in another part.” Marlantes tells CNN he once tried to persuade a Black soldier to hang out with White soldiers as well but the soldier refused. “He said I don't want to be the one Black guy hanging out with a bunch of White guys when suddenly there's a riot,” Marlantes says. Armies that are divided by racial and ethnic tensions that bleed over from civilian life underperform, says Jason Lyall, author of “Divided Armies: Inequality and Battlefield Performance in Modern War.” Lyall says he studied nearly 850 armies in 250 wars fought since 1800 and made a discovery: inclusive armies fight harder, suffer lower rates of desertion and exhibit more creative problem solving on the battlefield. There was another reason the American military decided to become more diverse after World War II. People sometimes forget that Nazi Germany was built on, and destroyed by, racism. A racist demagogue persuaded Germans that other groups were inherently inferior. Many of the American soldiers who liberated the concentration camps were stunned that an advanced country like Germany could turn so barbaric. Some of them were Black veterans like Leon Bass, who simmered in anger over the racist treatment he received in the segregated Army. There he encountered what he called the “walking dead”— emaciated survivors who wordlessly stumbled toward him with sores across their naked bodies. Fear of a similar democratic collapse motivated Americans like Bass after World War II. They resolved to, as the author David Brooks said, never “fall for the strongman's deductive promise of domination.” They invoked, without irony, America's traditional motto, “E Pluribus unum,” meaning “Out of many one.” But in recent years the desire for common ground seems to have evaporated. Diversity programs are being driven out of academia and corporate America. The military is a last bastion of integration in America. Not even college and pro sports teams approach its commitment to the concept. There are higher rates of intermarriage among military members. Thirty-five retired senior defense officials, including four former chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff, signed an amicus brief in 2022 supporting diversity as vital for the nation's armed services. That diversity is also needed more than ever because of another factor: In recent years the military has faced a severe recruiting shortage. The Army, for example, missed its recruitment goal by nearly 25% in 2022 and 2023. An uptick in recruiting that began last summer has carried over into 2025 so far. But a fundamental challenge remains: an all-volunteer force must consistently attract large numbers of people of color if it's going to remain effective. Here's another intangible reason why diversity makes the military stronger. They may become hidden casualties in this war on wokeness. Diversity not only increases the chance that they will succeed in war zones. It teaches them how to negotiate differences with someone who is different — a vital skill for preserving a multiracial and multicultural democracy. Bibby says Black Marines swelled with pride when they saw his captain bars, but it was also important that White soldiers saw him. There are numerous historical examples of White soldiers who harbored racist attitudes being transformed by serving with, and fighting alongside, Black soldiers. “We don't talk enough about how much it means to young White men who have never seen a Black captain to understand that I'm a part of this damn story,” Bibby says. “It's important that they see Black and women officers and they understand that we're all part of the same team.” Marlantes says he has a comfort level with Black people he probably wouldn't have otherwise if not for his experiences in the Marines. “We had an artillery forward observer whose great-grandfather owned Hilton Head,” says Marlantes of the popular South Carolina tourist destination. And he was in there with us, eating cold beans and being miserable while trying to save our ass by bringing in artillery.” But he was also poor and knew what it felt like to be an outsider. “It is,” Philip Caputo wrote in his classic Vietnam War memoir, “A Rumor of War, “unlike marriage, a bond that cannot be broken by a word, by boredom or divorce, or by anything other than death.” He was shot down and died before a rescue helicopter could ferry him to safety. After hearing about Brown's death, Christensen became a helicopter rescue pilot and saved six pilots during the Korean War. They want a military meritocracy, where only competence matters. Armies splinter, groupthink leads to disasters and people die. The Trump administration's DEI purge ignores those hard-won lessons. It will go down as an epic case of friendly fire, a self-inflicted wound that harms more than helps. John Blake is a CNN senior writer and author of  the award-winning memoir, “More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew.”

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins joins 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss President Donald Trump's Middle East trip and and his executive order to help homeless veterans. This Memorial Day, many Americans will gather for barbecues, enjoy a long weekend, or mark the start of summer. But amid the festivities, one phrase you won't—or shouldn't—hear is "Happy Memorial Day." Unlike Veterans Day which celebrates service members past and present, Memorial Day is a solemn occasion, a time to honor the American service members who made the ultimate sacrifice. Memorial Day, established after the Civil War and formalized as a federal holiday in 1971, is dedicated to those who died in military service. Each flag at half-staff, each wreath laid at Arlington National Cemetery, represents lives cut short—sons, daughters, parents, and friends who never returned home. Their sacrifice secured the freedoms we cherish. That's why the words we choose on this day matter. Memorial Day actually isn't about celebrating service members. It's a day to reflect on the sacrifice of those few brave men and women in uniform who gave their lives for our country. Few learned this lesson quicker than "Squad" members, Rep. Ilhan Omar and former Rep. Cori Bush who received well-deserved backlash for their tone-deaf Memorial Day messages last year. Both members of congress posted messages that appeared to confuse Memorial Day with Veterans Day. Omar wrote, "On #MemorialDay, we honor the heroic men and women who served our country," advocating for veterans' access to mental health services, housing, and jobs. Bush echoed similar rhetoric, stating, "This Memorial Day and every day, we honor our veterans in St. Louis," followed by a call for universal healthcare. The social media outrage served an important purpose. So, the social shame attached to misunderstanding the purpose of Memorial Day is not only justified – it's necessary. In a political era marked by so much frivolity, Americans—especially those in elected leadership—ought to choose words that reflect the gravity of this day. To be clear, this isn't about political correctness. And it certainly isn't about promulgating more of the noxious "language policing" that happens so frequently on Ivy League campuses. Memorial Day is not a festive holiday, but rather one deserving of reverence. Simply put, today is about showing proper respect to those who made it possible to enjoy freedom today. Visit a cemetery, join moments of silence, or offer support to Gold Star families. Local veterans' groups lay wreaths, play taps, and read names aloud. Schools sometimes host programs to teach younger generations what the day is truly about. These rituals are not political or performative; they are acts of collective memory, meant to keep the stories of our nation's heroes alive. The sacrifices of over one million Americans who died while serving in the armed forces demand a language of respect and gratitude. Of course, we can and should celebrate those who currently serve in uniform on other days throughout the year, but Memorial Day demands humility and respect for our fallen heroes. He's now a media fellow at Hudson Institute and chairman of Veterans on Duty, a nonprofit organization focused on national security. By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Doctors interact with patients, in many cases, when they are feeling their worst – so, how they talk to those patients during such a vulnerable time matters. That's the philosophy of Abraham Verghese, the bestselling author, Stanford professor, and infectious disease doctor who will address students at Harvard University's 374th Commencement this week. Harvard's invitation to Verghese, comes at a time of significant uncertainty at the Ivy League school amid its ongoing clashes with the Trump administration over academic freedom, federal funding, campus oversight and most recently, a ban on the enrollment of international students. That year, Harold E. Varmus, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist and former director of the National Institutes of Health, told graduates that supporting science was a shared human responsibility. “He has pursued excellence across disciplines with an intensity surpassed only by his humanity, which shines brilliantly through his works of both fiction and nonfiction, as well as his work as a clinician and teacher,” said Harvard President Alan M. Garber about Verghese in the university's commencement announcement. In previous years, graduates have heard from many accomplished speakers: Nobel Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa, Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg and media mogul Oprah Winfrey. His journey has taken him across the United States, healing patients through medicine and reaching people through literature, including his 2023 novel “The Covenant of Water.” Verghese declined to be interviewed for this story, but wrote on social media he was “deeply honored” to have been invited to Harvard by Garber, who was previously one of his colleagues at the Stanford School of Medicine. He joined the Stanford School of Medicine in 2007 as a professor and is currently, vice chair for the Theory & Practice of Medicine program. He also founded an interdisciplinary center at Stanford focused on the human experience in medicine and Stanford Medicine 25, an initiative designed to foster bedside exam skills for professionals. “The ritual of one individual coming to another and telling them things that they would not tell their preacher or rabbi, and then, incredibly, on top of that, disrobing and allowing touch, I would submit to you that that is a ritual of exceeding importance,” Verghese said. Through Presence, an interdisciplinary center at Stanford, and Stanford Medicine 25, Verghese hopes to educate future medical professionals on bedside medicine, harnessing technology for the human experience as well as studying and advocating for the patient-physician relationship. Verghese has drawn from his personal experiences in three continents to fuel the type of educator and writer he has become today. He was born in Ethiopia's capital city of Addis Ababa to expatriate Indian parents, who were both educators, and grew up there as the country was ruled by Emperor Haile Selassie. Verghese reunited with his parents in New Jersey, where they had previously moved. There, he began working as a hospital orderly, which ultimately inspired him to return to his family's homeland and become a physician. That experience “humbled” him and changed the way he saw his practice, he said in an interview with the American Society of Hematology's magazine, ASH Clinical News. “We realized how much our presence and caring mattered. And despite being able to do so little for his patients, who battled a disease with no treatment, he focused on providing them comfort and doing so filled him with purpose. After witnessing so much loss and health care workers' burnout during the AIDS epidemic, Verghese has said becoming a writer became “a matter of self-preservation.” After earning his master's degree in Iowa, Verghese moved to El Paso, Texas, where he was a professor of medicine and chief of the division of infectious diseases at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center for 11 years. “Writing became my escape from the pressures of being an infectious disease clinician, ” he told ASH Clinical News. “Other people might have played golf or something, but for me it was writing,” he added. Verghese has written several other award-winning titles, including “The Tennis Partner,” “Cutting for Stone,” and most recently, “The Covenant of Water,” which is a New York Times bestseller, a Oprah's Book Club pick and was named one of former president Barack Obama's favorite books of 2023. “In my work as a writer, I have always tried to convey the notion that medicine is a uniquely human, person-to-person endeavor,” Verghese has said about his writing. His family, notably his grandmothers, influenced “The Covenant of Water,” he said during a 2023 talk at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The novel is set in Kerala, south India, and follows three generations of a family looking for answers about a secret. “Both my grandmothers were, in their own way, quietly heroic women,” he said during the talk. While Harvard students will have to wait to hear his speech, Verghese previously addressed graduating students at the Stanford School of Medicine, where he implored them to let their innate intelligence guide them through the future.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. The Fire Watch Executive Director and Navy veteran Nick Howland discusses the impact of the nonprofit dedicated to ending veteran suicide by providing free suicide intervention training. A Florida-based nonprofit is tackling veteran suicide by connecting community members and holding fast that the crisis American vets are facing is preventable. The Fire Watch operates on three premises: that suicide is preventable, that timely connection to resources can save lives, and that communities must play an active role in prevention. "It takes the community to get involved in suicide prevention," Executive Director Nick Howland told Fox News Digital. After seeing impressive results, The Fire Watch is hoping to take its regional organization nationwide with an approach that tackles veteran suicide differently with treatment-focused efforts and local engagement. A U.S. Army and Vietnam War veteran attends a Memorial Day event at the Santa Fe National Cemetery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In a concise 30-to-45-minute session, volunteers learn to recognize warning signs, ask direct questions, validate the veterans' experience, and expedite referral to services—summarized by the acronym SAVE. "Like CPR doesn't train you to be a paramedic, our training doesn't turn you into a clinician," Howland said. Executive Director Nick Howland helped launch The Fire Watch, which was created in late 2019. The Fire Watch estimates that there has been a 25% reduction in veteran suicides in Northeast Florida from 2019 - 2023. The Fire Watch is Florida's fight to end veteran suicide. Each Watch Stander leaves with a wallet card, wristband, and sticker as reminders of critical red flags—expressions of self-harm, substance abuse, reckless behavior, or giving away possessions—and the simple steps to get someone to help. The nonprofit works in tandem with the state's veteran affairs offices and connects veterans with counseling services. After recording 81 veteran deaths by suicide in 2019, Howland set an audacious goal: cut that number by at least 25% for three consecutive years. Statewide, veteran suicides are down 5%, and in areas where The Fire Watch has a foothold (Northeast Florida, South Florida, Tampa Bay, and Escambia County), the decline has been 12%, compared to just 2% elsewhere in the Sunshine State. "Where we're building our network of community members who care, who get veterans to the help they need, veteran suicidality is decreasing," he said. For volunteers like Ryan Haczynski, the program's impact is deeply personal. After losing a Vietnam veteran friend to suicide in late 2022, Haczynski searched for a way to honor his memory and prevent further loss. "I didn't recognize the signs," he reflected, telling Fox News Digital that his friend had even asked him to be the executor of his will just weeks before his death. Following the vet's suicide, Haczynski's online search led him into Watch Stander and Ambassador trainings, where he has since certified others and even helped arrange a proper military funeral for his friend. Haczynski now uses every community interaction to check in on veterans, validate their experiences, and point them to Fire Watch's free 24/7 crisis resources. "We want to give back, we want to help, especially people who have done so much [for our country] to go and serve us," he said. Learn more about The Fire Watch at thefirewatch.org. Since joining in 2021, she's covered high-stakes criminal justice—from the Menendez brothers' resentencing, where Judge Jesic slashed their life-without-parole terms to 50-years-to-life (making them parole-eligible), to the assassination attempts on President Donald Trump's life and shifting immigration enforcement, including her reporting on South Florida's illegal-immigration crisis, covering unprecedented migrant crossings from the Bahamas and ensuing enforcement operations. Beyond those beats, she reports on crime, politics, business, lifestyle, world news, and more—delivering both breaking updates and in-depth analysis across Fox News Digital. You can follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

President Donald Trump expressed his strong disapproval of Russia's recent large-scale strikes on Ukraine and directed his ire at Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he said he's “not happy” with. Trump spoke to reporters shortly before boarding Air Force One on Sunday and responded to the significant escalation by Putin in the Ukraine war, which has included two large-scale missile and drone attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine's capital city, just this weekend. Asked to give an update as Russia and Ukraine seek an elusive ceasefire agreement in a conflict that has stretched over three years, Trump made clear his frustration with the Russian president's continued aggression, saying, “I don't know what the hell happened to Putin.” “I'm not happy with what Putin is doing. He's killing a lot of people, and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin. I've known him a long time. Always gotten along with him. But he's sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don't like it at all. We're in the middle of talking, and he's shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities,” Trump said. Those Russian strikes came amid a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia, which Trump suggested last week could “lead to something big.” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER But the fighting has only continued, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated earlier Sunday that he has already introduced three new sanctions packages against Russia. While U.S. officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been hesitant about pursuing sanctions against Russia due to them possibly derailing peace talks, Trump said on Sunday that he would “absolutely” consider them.