Breaking UpdateLisa Murkowski Comes Out Against Todd BlancheSen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) announced Friday morning she won’t vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general. Whether Blanche’s nomination will be confirmed by the Senate now appears to hinge on Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who refused to say Thursday how he might vote. In a statement, Murkowski listed several things she doesn’t like about Blanche but in short, she doesn’t want to put a henchman for Donald Trump at the top of the Justice Department. “The politicization -- even weaponization -- of the Department did not start with this administration but has accelerated during it,” Murkowski said. “I take issue with the handling of the release of the Epstein files; the sweeping immunity protections granted to the President, his family, and their businesses; the statements that have been made to anti-abortion groups; and the repeated targeting of individuals ranging from former administration staff to sitting U.S. Senators.”Murkowski said she also believed Trump would revive his “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to pay off Jan. 6 rioters. “I am also keenly aware that the Department’s nearly $2-billion dollar slush fund—which likely would have rewarded January 6 protesters—is only off the table because this nomination is pending and the Senate has leverage. Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds.”Latest Live UpdatesTrump Refuses To Back Thune: 'I Don't Want To Get Into That'In an interview with Punchbowl News released on Friday, President Donald Trump, once again, declined to throw his support behind Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), while making clear he wants House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to stay in his leadership position even if Republicans lose the majority in the lower chamber.Trump declined to answer whether he would want Thune to serve another term as leader of the GOP Senate caucus.“Well, I don’t want to get into that,” the president said.While Trump said he has a “good relationship” with Thune, he cited Thune’s inability to secure enough votes to pass his SAVE America Act as a lingering frustration.“Save America Act is a very important thing,” Trump said. “John’s trying. He’s trying hard. I really believe that. But if he doesn’t get there would be unfortunate.”Still, Trump appears to hold House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in high regard.“He’s great. We work together great. He’s a fantastic person,” Trump said of Johnson.Asked if he would want Johnson to continue leading House Republicans even if the GOP loses the majority in the November midterms, Trump said: ‘Well, I don’t think there’s even a thought of anybody challenging him.”Ex-Olympian Charged With Damaging Reflecting Pool Decries 'Government Lawlessness'In an interview with CNN’s “The Source” on Thursday night, David Hearn, the former Olympian who was charged with deliberately damaging the Reflecting Pool, called out the U.S. government over his prosecution, saying “this is not the land of the free and the home of the brave that I know.”U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro moved to drop the criminal case against him last week, saying that new information, including additional documents provided by the Interior Department, make it “difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.”Interior Secretary Doug Burgum appeared to take issue with Pirro’s move, claiming that “the evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool.”Asked to respond to Burgum’s statement, Hearn said “it’s very unsettling.”“It’s not the United States of America that I know, it’s not the United States of America that I’ve represented in may competitions overseas, including three Olympic Games,” he said. “It’s just not right. It has to be rejected.”Hearn added that criminally charging someone like him for issues actually caused by a poorly executed renovation project is reminiscent of actions pursued by dictatorships.“If it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody. Nobody’s immune to this kind of government lawlessness essentially,” he said. “This is not the land of the free and the home of the brave that I know.”7 Dead, Including Suspect, In Thailand School ShootingAt least seven people were killed on Friday when a student opened fire at a school in Thailand before turning the gun on himself, a national police official said.Students streamed out of the Debsirin Nonthaburi School, on the northwestern outskirts of Bangkok, as the wounded were loaded on to ambulances and teachers hugged each other and cried. In photos circulated by emergency workers, one person is seen lying down on a stretcher outside an ambulance, while another is attended to by a medic.One 18-year-old student told Reuters he initially thought there were firecrackers going off or someone banging an object.“I didn’t think it was a gun at first,” he said. “There were many shots: bang bang bang. Then it went quiet. Then it started again.”Lt. Col. Trirong Phophan, a spokesman for the National Police, told Reuters the suspected shooter was among the seven people killed. Fifteen people were injured, he added.Read more at Reuters:ACLU Predicts Trump’s New Birthright Citizenship Orders Will Also Get BlockedThe ACLU, one of the civil rights groups that sued to block President Donald Trump’s prior birthright citizenship order, stressed that the new ones he announced this week are expected to face similar legal hurdles.Trump on Thursday signed two new executive orders that sought to put fresh limits on eligibility for birthright citizenship roughly a month after the Supreme Court struck down his past attempt to do so.“The Supreme Court already decided this issue: Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution. No additional executive order can change the meaning of the Constitution,” Cody Wofsy, the deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, told The Guardian. “Any executive order that tries to rewrite birthright citizenship will meet the same fate as the last one.”Former Gov Arrested For Alleged Involvement In Disappearance Of 43 Students In MexicoMexican authorities have arrested the former governor of the southern state Guerrero for his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, a case that has become a symbol for impunity and state involvement in cartel violence.Federal prosecutors said Thursday that they arrested Ángel Aguirre, Guerrero’s former governor, on accusations of “concealing evidence to determine the whereabouts of the students” of the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College.Read more from The Associated Press:FAA Orders Inspection Of Boeing 737 MAX Jets Over 'Reports Of Cracks'The Federal Aviation Administration ordered an inspection of hundreds of Boeing 737 Max jets over reports of cracks that could “adversely affect the structural integrity of the airplane.”Boeing first identified and reported the issue in 2019 and has “been working with operators on it over the past six years,” a company spokesperson said. Boeing is looking to identify the root cause and find solutions to prevent cracking, the spokesperson added.The FAA did not ground the planes and gave a Sept. 10 deadline for the order to take effect.In January 2024, an aviation disaster was narrowly averted when a door panel fell off a Boeing 737 Max 9 mid-flight. The plane was depressurized and landed safely about 20 minutes after takeoff.Another Trump-Backed Republican Loses His PrimaryRep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) is projected to lose his primary in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional district, becoming the second Trump-backed candidate to fall short this week. Ogles, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, is projected to lose to former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, a longtime state official who garnered the endorsement of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R). Ogles has previously drawn backlash for anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-Muslim posts he’s shared. In June 2026, he blamed a staffer after his social media account published a homophobic post, which stated that “homosexuality has no place in America.” In March 2026, he was also widely criticized for sharing an Islamophobic post that said “Muslims don’t belong in American society.”Trump has repeatedly touted his backing for Ogles, including in a Truth Social post on Thursday. “Congressman Andy Ogles is doing a fantastic job representing the incredible people of Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District! Andy is a Conservative Warrior who has strong support from his Community,” Trump wrote, adding that Ogles has his “Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election.”Ogles’s campaign has struggled in recent months as he faced a strong bid from Hatcher, hefty outside spending from a renewable energy super PAC and the challenge of reintroducing himself to voters in a recently-redrawn district. Earlier this week, Trump-backed candidate Amir Hassan also lost a Republican primary in Michigan’s 8th Congressional district, further highlighting the limitations of the president’s endorsement. Government Watchdog Slams Elon Musk's DOGE For 'Incorrect' Savings EstimatesThe Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) massively inflated the amount of federal spending it eliminated, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.The report released on Thursday detailed discrepancies with DOGE’s so-called “Wall of Receipts,” which was created during Elon Musk’s time in the Trump administration, from February 17, 2025 to July 7, 2026.The GAO found that DOGE’s claims of $110 billion in savings as of July 7, 2026, lacked “supporting evidence” or were “incorrect.” Many of the leases listed on the “Wall of Receipts” were in the process of being terminated before DOGE was established, according to the report.In addition, the report indicated that DOGE identified certain contracts for cancellation but ultimately did not follow through on slashing the funding. One example cited involved DOGE reporting $1.7 billion in savings from the Department of Defense’s Defense Health Agency contract for IT services. DOGE met with Pentagon officials regarding the contract but ultimately chose not to cancel it. Read more here: Meta Ordered To Pay Another $567 Million Into Fund For Children Harmed By Social MediaMeta on Thursday was ordered to pay $567 million after a New Mexico jury found its apps had harmed children’s mental health.A majority of the money will go toward mental health treatment for children, while $33 million will be used for prevention and awareness, like internet safety training for school staff and healthcare professionals, according to an order from Judge Bryan Biedscheid.The ruling comes several months after the company was ordered to pay a $375 million settlement for misleading users about the safety of its apps for children. Trump Admin Eyeing Executive Order On Vaccines And Autism: ReportsThe Trump administration is weighing an executive order on vaccines and autism that it could announce as soon as next week, according to reports from The Washington Post, Bloomberg and Reuters, all of which cite anonymous sources. The possible order highlights President Donald Trump’s interest in taking more action on vaccine policy despite Republican pollsters’ concerns about political blowback and the challenges a past proposal faced in the courts. Previously, a federal judge temporarily blocked efforts by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to slash childhood vaccine recommendations.Experts have also emphasized that there’s no evidence linking childhood vaccines and autism -- a subject that Kennedy said Trump wants him to probe.Read more from The Washington Post: See All Updates