Zohran Mamdani maintained the right to peaceful protest on Monday, two days after two counterprotesters allegedly deployed two explosive devices during an anti-Muslim demonstration targeting the New York City mayor. 

“Anti-Muslim bigotry is nothing new to me, nor is it anything new for the one million or so Muslim New Yorkers who know this city as our home,” Mamdani said in a Monday press conference. “While I found this protest appalling, I will not waver in my belief that it should be allowed to happen.”

Mamdani called the demonstration a “vile protest rooted in white supremacy,” but stressed that “violence at a protest is never acceptable.” 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirms that he and his wife, Rama Duwaji, were at a museum in Brooklyn when an improvised explosive device was thrown near their home during a weekend protest.

— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) 2026-03-09T16:51:09Z

Jake Lang, a right-wing influencer and pardoned January 6 rioter, organized Saturday’s demonstration outside Mamdani’s official residence at Gracie Mansion. The rally, billed as “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City, Stop New York City Public Muslim Prayer,” drew counterprotesters who allegedly detonated two explosive devices at the scene. Lang has a history of organizing similar events; in January, he led an anti-immigration, pro-ICE rally in Minneapolis shortly after federal agents killed Renée Good.

According to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Lang’s weekend protest drew about 20 people. The counterprotest, called “Run the Nazis out of New York City, Stand Against Hate,” drew about 125 demonstrators.

Tisch said one protester from Lang’s group used pepper spray against counterprotesters. About 15 minutes later, an 18-year-old counterprotester threw a lit device toward the protest area, where it hit a barrier and went out. The same counterprotester then took a second device from a 19-year-old and dropped it on the ground about a block from Gracie Mansion; that device also failed to detonate. No injuries from either device were reported.

Six people were arrested following the protest on Saturday: the two men involved in handling and deploying the devices, the person who used pepper spray, and three others related to disorderly conduct.

Mamdani said that he and his wife, Rama Duwaji, were not at the residence during the incident.

During the Monday press conference, Tisch said at least one of the devices NYPD officials found contained TATP, a chemical commonly used in improvised bombs. The two men who were arrested for deploying the devices would be prosecuted in federal court. The incident is being investigated as an act of “ISIS-inspired terrorism.” 

A federal criminal complaint was released on Monday afternoon, which charges the two men with attempting to provide support to ISIS and using weapons of mass destruction.

On Friday, the Buffalo-based Investigative Post reported that New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating the death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Blind Rohingya refugee who died in the cold streets of Buffalo days after Border Patrol dumped him without coordinating with his family or lawyers.

Shah Alam’s wife and sons waited to pick him up, but sheriff’s deputies instead turned him over to Border Patrol.

In a letter to Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-N.Y.), James wrote that her “office is continuing to gather and review facts as to any state or local involvement in this tragedy” and is prepared to coordinate with federal authorities as necessary. James also said her office is coordinating with the Buffalo Police Department to “canvass for additional witnesses and surveillance footage” that may help her office understand what happened to Shah Alam.

“The loss of life under these circumstances demands a searching and independent assessment of what occurred,” James wrote. “I also agree that a close examination of release and transfer protocols of vulnerable individuals from law enforcement custody is warranted.”

Since his death was initially reported, more information has also come out about Buffalo police officers’ initial arrest of Shah Alam, who did not speak English. Shah Alam had wandered to a woman’s home and seemed confused about his location. Viewing body cam footage, the Washington Post reported that Shah Alam apologized while slowly approaching police officers, who responded by tasing him.

At a press conference last weekend, the family of Shah Alam spoke publicly for the first time. His wife, Fatimah Abdul Roshid, and the two of their five sons who also have refugee status in the US, had waited outside the Erie County Holding Center to pick him up on his release, but Erie County sheriff’s deputies instead turned him over to Border Patrol.

“We were ready with food, clothing, everything,” Abdul Roshid said. “We thought he would be able to break fast with us. He was so close, so close to my hand.”

In the week since launching Operation Epic Fury, President Donald Trump’s war without an apparent endgame has killed 787 Iranians, a death toll the administration has made clear it is hellbent on expanding. It includes at least 175 Iranians, mostly young children, who were killed at Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school as US strikes targeted a nearby naval base. Trump’s self-made crisis has now killed at least six American service members, including Sgt. First Class Noah L. Tietjens, who had been finishing his final deployment in Kuwait when a retaliatory drone attack killed him. As of Friday, more than 120 people in Lebanon are reported dead as the war expands across the Middle East.

This White House, like many White Houses before it, invites the possibility of death when it declares war. But has an administration ever been so naked in its lust for it? Take Pete Hegseth, who on Wednesday could barely contain his enthusiasm for dead Iranians:

Death and destruction from the sky all day long. We’re playing for keeps. Our warfighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly.

Our rules of engagement are bold, precise and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it. This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.

Later, when asked about the US service members killed, Hegseth’s excitement quickly curdled into petulance. “The press only wants to make the president look bad,” he complained, suggesting that reporting on dead Americans is not only bad publicity but evidence of traitorous behavior.

The comments were shocking, even if they were an extension of long-held American foreign policy, one that has always accepted, even desired, to kill people in far-flung countries. (Similarly, we’ve always sent American troops to fight wars, knowing that some won’t make it back home.) But where Hegseth cheers on mass death, the president himself offers a shruggy nihilism. Consider that in the first three days of war, Trump opted for a leisurely stay at Mar-a-Lago, where he posted two videos of himself briefly talking about the war on Truth Social. From there, Trump went forward with a previously scheduled $1 million-a-head fundraiser because he “had to eat dinner anyway.” Once back in the White House, Trump ignored questions about Iran and, instead, urged reporters to gaze upon some new statues erected in the Rose Garden. On Monday, he finally gave a five-minute briefing on the war that featured updates on his ballroom renovations.

Then, an even more troubling attitude emerged: “I guess.” That’s how Trump responded when Time asked whether Americans should be concerned about the possibility of retaliatory attacks here in the US.

“But I think they’re worried about that all the time,” he continued. “We think about it all the time. We plan for it. But yeah, you know, we expect some things. Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.”

Unlike Hegseth, who appears drunk on performance as he thirsts for death, Trump’s thoughts here are eerily relaxed. They are notable because they appear to lack even a modicum of critical thinking. No, this is not a man remotely bothered by mass death. He simply does not care. Again, insouciance might not be new when it comes to America’s thirst for war. But carrying it so openly and inelegantly is something else entirely.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, President Donald Trump’s next pick for Homeland Security secretary, consistently uses his social media platforms to share anti-abortion and anti-trans content. 

Mullin, a former MMA fighter who has long championed Trump and thinks of him as a “true friend,” has repeatedly referred to abortion as “murder.” Last month, he shared a clip on Instagram saying he would be arrested for “assault” of a “high school male pretending to be a girl” if a transgender wrestler went up against his daughter in the sport. 

As Trump announced Thursday in a Truth Social post, Mullin is poised to replace Kristi Noem at the Department of Homeland Security after she reportedly fell out of the president and key Republicans’ graces.

If confirmed, Mullin will oversee the Trump administration’s mass detention and deportation campaign, an effort that has proved uniquely dangerous for pregnant people and transgender migrants. Under his leadership, the already hazardous situation could continue unchanged—or worsen. His appointment is also the latest in a string of Trump handpicking leaders who hold anti-abortion and anti-trans views. 

For years, Mullin, whose social media bios read, “Christian. Husband. Father of 6.” has posted about his disdain for abortion access. In a 2021 post about Roe v. Wade’s potential overturning, he wrote, “May the Supreme Court finally stand up for the unborn.” A year later, he posted a grainy video of an anti-abortion speech from Ronald Reagan. In 2024, he shared photos of a meeting with top anti-abortion activists. “Every child, born or unborn, is a gift from God,” he wrote in a 2025 post. 

Multiple of Mullin’s kids, like their father, are involved in some form of wrestling or fighting—a fact that he has repeatedly used to argue against transgender athletes. “Democrats can’t even tell us what a woman is,” an advertisement for his 2022 Senate campaign began. In a video posted to Instagram that appears to be filmed in a gym, Mullin says he can help with that, before introducing his daughter and son with their wrestling titles. In a video from about two years later, Mullin stands alongside fellow Trump Cabinet nominee Tulsi Gabbard at a college volleyball game as he thanks the athletes for “fighting for” his daughters. 

And it’s not just lip service. Throughout his time in office, Mullin has repeatedly introduced or supported anti-abortion and anti-trans legislation. 

Since Trump took office for the second time and under Noem’s tenure, immigrant rights groups have held that pregnant people have received inadequate care, queer and trans immigrants have alleged forced labor and sexual assault in detention facilities, and, according to federal officials, pregnant unaccompanied minors have been shipped to a substandard detention facility in Texas, a move that advocates believe is to keep them from having abortion access.

“While there will be a new head of DHS, this administration’s inhumane anti-immigrant agenda is unchanged,” Reproductive Freedom for All, an abortion rights group, wrote in a statement following Mullin’s appointment.

As the prospective head of DHS, Mullin would no longer directly pen this kind of legislation, but the role would grant him new leeway to control how detained immigrants receive reproductive or gender-affirming health care. 

In a 2019 post, he hinted how he’d handle the job.

That summer, the then-newly elected Rep. Ilhan Omar wrote in a post that “no one should fear receiving medical care because they are undocumented,” adding, “We must ensure that all people in our country have access to reproductive health care.”

One day later, Mullin responded, referencing Omar and writing, “Let me get this straight, we need to ensure ‘illegal’ immigrants have access to abortion? This is crazy on so many levels.”

Kristi Noem’s time as Department of Homeland Security secretary is coming to an end, according to a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma who is a former Mixed Martial Arts fighter, is Trump’s pick to replace her. 

“A MAGA Warrior, and former undefeated professional MMA fighter, Markwayne truly gets along well with people, and knows the Wisdom and Courage required to Advance our America First Agenda,” Trump wrote, adding that Noem “has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!)”

It’s unclear if or when Mullin will get Senate approval, as Congress remains locked on funding the agency he’s named to lead.

Noem will move into a new role, according to the president, as “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas” a “new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere” the administration plans to announce Saturday. Her removal will be effective March 31. 

Since Noem was confirmed in January of 2025, her tenure has been defined by a violent mass-detention and deportation campaign, which included Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deadliest year in two decades in 2025, two US citizens being shot and killed—who Noem painted as domestic terrorists—and the repeated use of chemical weapons on protestors and minors by DHS agents. 

Her replacement, Mullin, is the only sitting Native American senator. He describes himself as a “Christian. Husband. Father of 6” in his social media profiles and repeatedly posts in support of DHS and ICE’s actions. 

On January 7, hours after DHS confirmed that an agent had shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis—who would later be identified as Renée Good—Mullin posted a message defending agents. “ICE agents aren’t Disney villains. They’re our neighbors, friends, and loved ones,” he wrote. “These immigration and customs enforcement officers are red-blooded American patriots doing a tough job to keep our nation safe.”

A lawyer for the Justice Department argued on Wednesday that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine decisions are protected from legal scrutiny, in a case brought by medical groups challenging HHS’s vaccine policy changes. So much so that the Trump administration appears to believe that Kennedy’s actions are “totally unreviewable.”

Reuters reports that Trump administration lawyer Isaac Belfer was asking District Judge Brian Murphy to rule that Kennedy and other health officials are protected from legal challenges by, for example, medical groups who accuse the department of imperiling the public’s health. 

Murphy asked: “If the secretary said instead of getting a shot to prevent measles, I think you should get a shot that gives you measles, is that unreviewable?”

“Yes,” Belfer replied.

As of February 27, 1,136 confirmed measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026, primarily from the large outbreak in South Carolina, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—though that number is likely higher.

Should Murphy, a Biden appointee, rule in the DOJ’s favor, Kennedy and his team could have further leeway to upend long-held vaccine schedules and inject confusion into the health decisions of everyday Americans.

James Oh, a lawyer for the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups included in the case, urged Murphy to block a series of actions by HHS, including a May directive to the CDC to remove its vaccination schedule recommendation for COVID-19 shots for pregnant women and children, as well as another move from January to reshape and diminish childhood vaccination schedules. 

He also requested that the judge block a meeting from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices scheduled for later this month that will cover “COVID-19 vaccine injuries and Long-COVID.” Oh told the judge that the meeting is a “recipe for spreading distrust and dare I say misinformation or disinformation about vaccines.”

This is the same advisory committee that voted to abandon the universal hepatitis B birth dose recommendation for newborns in December, ending a decades-old advisement. Oh argued that the committee violates balance rules in the Federal Advisory Committee Act after Kennedy, last Summer, fired all 17 members of ACIP and installed allies. 

Murphy said he plans to rule on the arguments before the next ACIP meeting, calling it his “hard deadline.”

Without providing clear guidance on how to do so or how it will help, the United States government is advising Americans abroad to depart immediately from 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar, as its deadly offensive in Iran continues. 

Americans abroad remain stuck in place. Thousands of flights have been cancelled and there’s uncertainty surrounding which airspaces will be safe, and when.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Mother Jones that President Donald Trump “has essentially told the thousands of citizens who are stuck in the Middle East because of a war he started that they are on their own.” Gillibrand, a Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the administration’s actions “completely unacceptable and downright disgraceful.” 

Sen. Gillibrand has criticized US actions in the region, saying in a statement on Saturday that, “America voted for lower costs, not forever wars.” She said she’s working with New Yorkers currently in the region to get back to the state.

Since the US and Israel initially launched strikes in Iran earlier this week, Americans in the region have been trying to flee a war that has already resulted in hundreds of deaths. Counterstrikes by Iran, and fear of future strikes, have led the US to close multiple embassies in the region. Others are operating with limited staff—giving Americans even less support as they try to find a way to the states. 

When Trump was asked about why there wasn’t a plan for stranded Americans prior to the decision to strike Iran, he said, “well, because it happened all very quickly.”

The State Department has been pointing stranded citizens to a phone number. Yet, the message callers heard hasn’t been providing clear help. As of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Washington Post, callers were told to “not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation at this time. There are currently no United States evacuation points.”

On Wednesday, Gillibrand sent a letter, shared with Mother Jones, to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, relaying the “dismay” her office has heard from Americans abroad and urging him to “respond no later than close of business tomorrow with the Administration’s plan to evacuate American citizens from the region.”

“The Trump administration just told Americans: ‘you’re on your own.”,” Gillibrand’s letter reads, referencing the State Department hotline. “When it comes to the safety of American citizens,” she continued, “‘you’re on your own’ is an unacceptable answer.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday criticized news outlets for highlighting the deaths of six US service members in Iran’s retaliatory strikes, suggesting the coverage was unfair because “the press only wants to make the president look bad.”

“This is what the fake news misses,” Hegseth said during a Pentagon briefing on the escalating US and Israeli campaign against Iran, which he claimed has already secured control of the country’s airspace and waterways. “When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front-page news.”

Iran launched the drone attack Sunday, striking a US command center in Kuwait in retaliation for US and Israeli strikes that began the day before. At least six American service members were killed.

Hegseth’s remarks underscored the partisan tone surrounding the military campaign. During the briefing, he called on just ten reporters—including representatives from the Daily Wire, LindellTV, and the Daily Caller, outlets founded by far-right commentators Ben Shapiro, Mike Lindell, and Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel.

Several questions echoed administration talking points, including one about the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei—described in the briefing as “the leader of the group who was trying to assassinate President Trump” —and another about Tehran’s claim that it could outlast US missile defenses. Hegseth dismissed the idea.

Hegseth: This is what the fake news misses. We've taken control of Iran's airspace and waterways without boots on the ground, But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it's front page news. I get it, the press only wants to make the president look bad. But try… pic.twitter.com/LNMuKuutTR

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 4, 2026

Still, the deaths of six US service members—and the growing civilian toll in Iran—are difficult to ignore. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported Wednesday that 1,097 civilians have been killed in Iran since Saturday, including 181 children under the age of 10.

At the briefing, Hegseth signaled that the US is preparing for a deeper military engagement.

“We are accelerating, not decelerating,” he told reporters. “More bombers and more fighters are arriving just today.” He added that the US would be deploying a “nearly unlimited” supply of 500-, 1,000-, and 2,000-pound bombs.

America’s Gold Star Families, a nonprofit supporting families of service members killed in the line of duty, issued a statement Tuesday mourning the losses.

“The recent escalation of military conflict between the United States and Iran and the heartbreaking news of U.S. service members killed in action have profound consequences for our nation,” the group said. “But the heaviest burden is borne by the families who now face a chair that will forever stay empty.”

President Donald Trump struck a very different tone. After reports Sunday that three service members had died, he said: “Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is.”

A day later, after a fourth death was reported, Trump suggested the war could last weeks—or longer.

“Right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks,” he said. “But we have capability to go far longer than that.”

Kristi Noem faced frustration from some Republicans during a Senate oversight hearing Tuesday over how she’s handling her job as secretary of homeland security.

During the nearly five-hour hearing, Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) criticized Noem for refusing to take responsibility for the killings of two U.S. citizens, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, by federal agents in Minnesota, and for allegedly stalling investigations into the Department of Homeland Security while spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on agency ads.

“We’re beginning to get the American people to think that deporting people is wrong,” Tillis said about Noem’s job as DHS secretary. “It’s the exact opposite. The way you’re going about deporting them is wrong.”

The probes into both cases are led by Homeland Security Investigations, an agency within the DHS, and the Office of Professional Responsibility, while excluding local authorities. The Justice Department, which would typically be involved, is not investigating the killing of Renée Good but has initiated a civil rights probe into the killing of Alex Pretti.

“One of the reasons why ICE officers are having threats…is because you’ve cast the pall on them by acting like we should investigate things differently,” Tillis told Noem. “Officer-involved shootings have a formula that we should go through every time.”

Tillis later mentioned a letter from the Office of Inspector General, saying “10 different instances under Ms. Noem’s leadership where they’ve been misled and not allowed to pursue investigations.” Last month, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) sent a letter to Noem saying she learned that DHS general counsel told the investigators multiple times that Noem could kill their investigations.

after absolutely eviscerating Kristi Noem and calling for her resignation, Tillis is applauded. He thens threatens to hold up nominees if she doesn't stop stonewalling him. My God.

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-03-03T17:55:14.620Z

Tillis vowed to put a hold on all “en bloc” nominations, a procedure allowing the Senate to confirm nominees as a group, if he didn’t get a response from Noem to questions he sent a month ago about federal agents in Minneapolis’ use of force. Tillis also criticized DHS for its reliance on administrative warrants to detain citizens.

While Tillis has a long track record of criticizing Noem, including calling for her resignation in January, Kennedy does not. 

Kennedy went after Noem for starring in $220 million worth of taxpayer-funded DHS ads.

Kennedy: How do you square that concern for waste when you have spent 220 million dollars on commercials that feature you prominently?

Noem: It would be helpful to know how effective it has been.

Kennedy: They were effective in your name recognition. It puts the president in a… pic.twitter.com/XBryVTezsT

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 3, 2026

He suggested that the videos “were effective in [Noem’s] name recognition” rather than promoting the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement.

Kennedy also cited reports that the department sidestepped competitive bidding rules. One of the largest contracts went to Safe American Media, a company created just days before it won the deal. The company is run by the husband of Noem’s former chief spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, who also worked on ads for Noem during her time in Congress and as governor of South Dakota.

The hearing came as many Republicans urged Democrats to approve funding for the Department of Homeland Security, citing the need to strengthen protections against possible retaliatory terror attacks after US and Israeli strikes on Iran that began Saturday.

A federal judge voided a Trump administration directive that pressured educational institutions to end all programs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion last month.

The directive, issued by the Department of Education as a “Dear Colleague” letter to public schools in February 2025, stated that school districts who failed to drop “discriminatory” DEI practices could violate civil rights law and lose federal funding. The letter cited the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which ruled that race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions are unconstitutional. 

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit the following month on behalf of the National Education Association, a labor union of about three million educators, arguing that the Education Department’s policy violated due process and First Amendment protections. 

On February 3, the Education Department stepped back from enforcing the directive. But the Trump administration continues to pursue other methods to crack down on DEI through executive orders and civil rights investigations. 

This decision hit a personal note for me. I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill while a federal judge considered a case against it that would ultimately kill affirmative action programs in college admissions across the nation. My first article for Mother Jones investigated the ways Asian-American students fit within debates over affirmative action, where many felt they faced discrimination in the college admissions process. SFFA largely latched onto this argument in their lawsuits against UNC and Harvard, painting a monolithic view of Asian American cultural and political identity. The case was a major step in establishing a signature Trump administration policy meant to erase historical inequities, let alone explore attempts to remediate.

To try to understand how last month’s decision fits within the Education Department’s campaign against what they deem to be dangerous discriminatory DEI, I spoke last week with Sarah Hinger, the deputy director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program. Singer also served as counsel of record for the plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit against the Education Department with other legal professionals in the ACLU and NEA.

How does the decision on the “Dear Colleague” letter fit within the Trump administration’s efforts to target DEI in schools?

At the end of the first Trump administration, there was an effort to restrict contractors working with the federal government from the ability to talk about equity and diversity along the lines of race [and] gender. Those didn’t really end up coming into effect because of the change in administration, but we saw a series of state legislatures pick these up as concepts and prohibit them from being incorporated across K-12 and higher education.

One of the key problems with these policies were the ways in which they were worded. The laws didn’t just say you can’t talk about race or suggest that affirmative action is a good thing. They tried to get at that through more amorphously-phrased concepts that made it extremely difficult to understand exactly where the line between permissible and prohibited exists. They might apply, for example, to teaching novels or teaching aspects of US history.

The problem that we were faced with is that everyone across the education profession was left in fear to guess at whether or not their program—their livelihood—could come into question by the federal government.

This case [from last month] came on top of those state efforts. In the intervening years, the Department of Education issued guidance in the form of that “Dear Colleague” letter. The Department of Education has issued these over the years to provide some advice to school districts about how to comply with existing civil rights laws. 

In this case, they characterized it as a “Dear Colleague” letter, but they did an about-face from prior guidance, which had talked to schools about the ways in which they can create a learning environment that furthers goals of diversity and inclusion.

This letter vaguely said that DEI programs are illegal. [The Trump administration] condemned “illegal DEI,” in which schools were bringing discrimination into their school. But they didn’t define what, in their view, was an illegal DEI program. And so the same issues existed there: It was difficult for any educator or school leader to understand what the administration was claiming was now illegal, particularly when previous guidance had recommended many things that could now be characterized as supporting DEI. 

The problem that we were faced with is that everyone across the education profession was left in fear to guess at whether or not their program—their livelihood—could come into question by the federal government. That leads to self-censorship and a chilling effect.

The letter said that schools had two weeks before the administration could potentially hold someone liable. This was followed up very shortly by a newly-announced requirement for school districts and schools to certify their compliance with these new directives under not just the penalties of a potential investigation, but also the revocation of federal funding and liability under the False Claims Act.

This was in line with some of what we’ve seen happening with individual institutions of higher education and the use of any and every lever to convince schools that it would be easier to move away from these practices rather than fight.

Does the case against the “Dear Colleague” directive have any effect on how the Trump administration is using other levers like civil rights investigations against school programs and executive orders?

There are a wide range of schools that are struggling with these cases and the fearmongering that comes as a result. It’s not just the most prominent schools and universities, but it’s also community colleges, K-12 public school districts, and people who create curriculum who are in teacher training programs in colleges. 

Yeah, I think they do. We saw the Department of Education say, “we will withhold your funding if you don’t do these things.” It’s now clear that the department will have to more clearly spell out what it thinks complies with or doesn’t comply with existing civil rights laws and how—and that requires more analysis. I think that’s an important precedent going forward. It allows us to assess whether or not that analysis is consistent with the case law and legal precedent and for the education community to assert the value of their work. It also means if the Education Department suggests that school districts are liable for engaging in programs related to DEI, it would be more susceptible to challenge. It’s harder for them to operate in such a sweeping way where they say, in our view, that everything is illegal. 

Many states have their own anti-DEI agendas. Does this ruling have any effect on how challenges to state policies may proceed?

Yes, I think we see that this is impactful for states that follow the federal government’s example. New Hampshire was an early effort to create a state corollary and a state law that would prohibit DEI practices in their schools. The ACLU and ACLU of New Hampshire filed a suit against that law, and it’s similarly been enjoined. The court rulings in federal cases cited that there are now a series of cases finding that these types of prohibitions have constitutional flaws. That provided an important source of support for the challenge at the state level. 

Is there anything significant that we should consider in trying to understand the scope of these cases against DEI in education?

There are a wide range of schools that are struggling with these cases and the fearmongering that comes as a result. It’s not just the most prominent schools and universities, but it’s also community colleges, K-12 public school districts, and people who create curriculum who are in teacher training programs in colleges. 

We saw specifically in this litigation—because of how far-reaching in scope the policy directive was—the range of people who were seeing it show up in their work and the impacts that it was having on them. So you know, community college professors, students who were training to become teachers themselves were teaching special education in colleges.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Former Customs and Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino’s use of chemical irritants during the Department of Homeland Security’s “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota is among 17 criminal investigations now underway in Hennepin County, where Minneapolis is located, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

County Attorney Mary Moriarty mentioned Bovino’s actions at Monday’s news conference. Footage captured by activist Ben Luhmann shows Bovino throwing a gas canister at protesters and observers in Minneapolis’ Mueller Park on January 21. The canister released green gas that, as Duke University School of Medicine professor and tear gas expert Sven-Eric Jordt told my colleague Samantha Michaels, may contain the carcinogenic reproductive toxicants lead and chromium.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino is seen deploying a gas canister at Mueller Park in south Minneapolis this afternoon.Video by Ben Luhmann.

— Minnesota Star Tribune (@startribune.com) 2026-01-21T23:57:11Z

Moriarty also stated that the office had launched a Transparency and Accountability Project to examine the 17 cases, staffed by prosecutors and a civilian investigator from the county office. 

The project includes a “portal for community members to share photos and video on any incidents that may involve potentially unlawful conduct by federal agents,” Moriarty said, as well as eyewitness accounts of similar experiences—a response to the federal government’s refusal to provide information that could be used to hold its agents to account.

If federal authorities continue to withholdcrime scene evidence from the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, Moriarty said, as well as the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, she would consider filing a lawsuit against them. 

To date, federal agents have largely gotten away with flagrant, widely recorded, and documented abuses against immigrants, protesters, and observers in Minnesota, including killing unarmed protesters, releasing immigrants from detention while withholding their documents and possessions, detaining children, and tear gassing nonviolent gatherings. This is Bovino’s legacy, and that of the Trump administration. 

But at the local level, individuals—increasingly joined by state and county authorities like Moriarty—are continuing to fight back.

Donald Trump used a Medal of Honor ceremony on Monday, meant to honor three Army soldiers, to gush about the drapes he will add to his new ballroom in the White House’s East Wing.

“I picked those drapes in my first term—I always liked gold,” Trump said. “I believe it’s going to be the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world.”

He later joked about the constant loud hammering, which apparently runs from 6am to 11:30pm: “When I hear that beautiful sound behind me, it means money, so I like it,” the president said. “But my wife isn’t thrilled.” 

Trump: "See that nice drape? When that comes down right now you see a very very deep hole, but in about a year and half you're gonna see a very very beautiful building. In fact, it looks so nice I think I'll leave it and save money on the doors. I believe it will be the most beautiful ballroom."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-03-02T17:01:48.409Z

As John Jay College art historian Erin Thompson told my colleagues at Reveal, Trump’s renovations are “a way to make it seem like things are changing and like Trump is keeping his promises when he’s actually not.” 

“The style choices that he’s making are very congruent with his political message, in that he’s appealing to a vision of the past” as “greater than the present,” Thompson continued. 

In the remainder of Trump’s opening remarks, he gave his first public comments on US and Israeli strikes on Iran—bombings that reportedly killed over 100 schoolchildren in Minab, a city in southern Iran. The fighting has resulted in the deaths of four US service members, following Iran’s initial attacks in response to the strikes on Saturday. The president mentioned again during the ceremony that military operations were projected to last four to five weeks but sounded open to a “far longer” conflict.

Trump justified the illegal strikes with old talking points, many of which contradict the federal government’s official assessments and those of nuclear policy experts, including the idea that Iran could soon develop nuclear weapons that threaten allies and could soon reach the US itself—at odds with the administration’s own claims, including a June White House release titled “Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Have Been Obliterated—and Suggestions Otherwise are Fake News.”

Just one in four Americans supports the Trump administration’s ongoing strikes on Iran, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday. 

The disapproval rating was 43 percent, while 29 percent said they were not sure.

About half of respondents—including one in four Republicans—said the president was too open to using military force. The poll surveyed 1,282 US adults starting on Saturday, following news breaking of the strikes. 

Even before the attacks, Trump’s handling of Iran was unpopular. Back in January, a Reuters/Ipsos found that only 33 percent of Americans approved of the president’s policy with Iran, while 43 percent disapproved. 

For comparison, in the seven months prior to the US invasion of Iraq, a Gallup poll found that somewhere between 52 and 63 percent of Americans favored an invasion. And in the days following the beginning of the war, Gallup found that 72 percent supported the military action. Although these numbers are based on Gallup polling, the both surveys come from samples of over 1,000 US adults and, similarly, note a margin of error of 3 percentage points. 

As my colleague Katie Herchenroeder noted on Saturday, there have been massive demonstrations around the world against the US and Israeli strikes against Iran, and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attacks at a UN Security Council meeting. Congress is expected to vote on a war powers resolution this week in an attempt to stop the strikes.

Key members of Congress are calling for a vote on a war powers resolution on Monday to stop the Trump administration from continuing its illegal military assault against Iran without congressional authorization. 

The strikes, which began early Saturday, have been widespread, reportedly killed over 100 schoolchildren in Minab, a city in southern Iran, as well as Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran has retaliated, targeting US bases and allies in the region. Three US service members were killed in action on Sunday morning. 

The White House reportedly notified some members of the House and Senate Armed Service committees only after the strikes had already begun. Article 1 of the Constitution grants Congress, not the president, the power to declare war, and the War Powers Act all0ws Congress to halt unauthorized military action by requiring troop withdrawal within 60 to 90 days.

The House of Representatives’ bipartisan resolution, led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), would require Trump “to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran…unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force against Iran.” 

Trump has launched an illegal regime change war in Iran with American lives at risk. Congress must convene on Monday to vote on @RepThomasMassie & my WPR to stop this. Every member of Congress should go on record this weekend on how they will vote. pic.twitter.com/tlRi3Vz849

— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) February 28, 2026

But in practice, Congress’s power is limited to halt Trump’s military actions, given that any resolution could be vetoed by the president and would require a two-thirds congressional majority to overturn. Even if the resolution on Iran does pass, it will likely be by a narrow margin, since Republican leadership, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), have backed the US and Israeli strikes. In January, Senate Republicans blocked a similar war powers resolution after Trump’s attacks on Venezuela. 

As a result, any vote on a war powers resolution would be largely symbolic. But members of Congress say the vote is important anyway to make clear their stance on the war. “The Constitution requires a vote, and your Representative needs to be on record as opposing or supporting this war,” Massie wrote on X on Saturday.

As the death toll reportedly rises in Iran and violence spreads through the Middle East, people around the world are responding to the war launched Saturday by the United States and Israel. Confusion, fear, celebration, destruction, and protest have defined the last 12 hours. 

Here are some of the scenes unfolding across the globe:

Iran

United States

Israel

Around the World

Avery Rowland starts almost all of her days by posting a TikTok video beginning with “good morning” and, often, explaining the latest anti-transgender action from her state’s Republican supermajority. 

“Today is a rough day here in Kansas,” Rowland, who grew up in the state and is now running for a state representative seat, began her TikTok on Thursday. “My license got invalidated.” 

Rowland is one of the hundreds of transgender Kansans now tasked with replacing their driver’s licenses after a new state law went into effect this week that invalidates preexisting IDs with gender markers that do not match someone’s sex assigned at birth. The law applies to new IDs moving forward, too. It also invalidates the birth certificates of people who changed the document’s gender marker. If a driver is caught on the road with an old ID, they’ll be required to surrender it. In Kansas, driving without a license could result in fines and, in specific cases, end in jail time.

@kanstransan

I will not comply with an unjust law. #kansas #transgender #lgbtqia #love #kindness

♬ original sound – Avery Rowland

The new law, known as SB 244, also mandates people entering government-owned buildings to use the restrooms, showers, and locker rooms that correspond with sex assigned at birth. In an escalation from some other state laws, it deputizes people to accuse others, allowing anyone to claim someone used the restroom not allowed under the law and sue for damages of $1,000. Two transgender Kansans sued to strike down the law and pause the state’s enforcement on Friday.

“The persecution is the point,” Rep. Abi Boatman, a Wichita Democrat and the only transgender member of the legislature, told The Kansas City Star. Boatman, like other Kansans who had changed a gender marker on their identification, received a letter in the mail this week noting that their license would be invalid. The law doesn’t include a grace period for changing IDs and also doesn’t provide funding, forcing individuals to pay the cost of the new driver’s license.

The law was rushed. Republicans used a “gut and go” maneuver. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the bill, but the legislature quickly overrode the decision. 

“They want me to hide or leave or disappear, not to be visible and active in public society,” Rowland told me. She’s running in this year’s midterm for the Kansas House of Representatives to represent District 2 as a Democrat.

I spoke with Rowland about the law and going toe-to-toe with the state’s Republican lawmakers. 

Could you walk me through this morning?

My work is a 25 mile commute, so I didn’t feel comfortable driving without a valid license. I went to the county courthouse because it was only a mile drive, and I felt I could do that safely. 

I went in and I pulled some shenanigans. I looked up yesterday what is needed for a lost driver’s license, which was two proofs of ID and proof of residency. I talked to the clerk, a very kind, nice young lady, and I said, ‘I lost my license. I misplaced it, I need to replace it.’ And she did the whole thing, took a picture, and handed me a brand new paper printout license and it said female. And I thought, ‘hmm interesting.’ Then I pulled out the letter from my purse that says, ‘Avery Rowland, your valid license has been invalidated.’ I played kind of dumb, saying, ‘I don’t quite know what it means. What do I need to do?’

She looked at it, and she had no clue what to do. So she had to go call the state office, and then they changed it on their side in the computer from female to male, and then reprinted it. She was confused when I handed her the letter, because my passport says female, I very much look like a female, because I am a woman. It’s confusing.

Have legislators done a good enough job at informing their constituents that their IDs have been invalidated?

We are a Republican supermajority. So unless you live in a Democrat district, what do they give a shit about telling you that your license is invalidated? They obviously didn’t care enough to stop this legislation. I don’t expect a single peep out of it, other than ‘We’re keeping men out of the women’s restroom!’ from the Republicans. ‘Yay! We won! We kept the men out!’ I don’t expect a single word of ‘Hey, this is what you need to do.’ 

You’re not expecting a ‘Know Your Rights’ infographic.

Hell no. 

This law also includes imposing these new limits on bathroom access.

The bathroom bounties. That’s a huge one that scares a lot of people. It’s not just the ideas. This is the fact that you can get a fine and be arrested for using the restroom, and people can sue. Nobody in Kansas knows how it’s going to be enforced. 

Do you expect to see, as we’ve seen elsewhere, situations where people are asked to ‘prove’ which bathroom they can go to?

I think a lot of people will not comply with the law. If you pass, you’re going to use the restroom you’re going to use. But, there will be malicious compliance. And Kansas is a right to carry state. Kansas is a stand your ground state. So who knows what’s going to happen. 

Are you scared? 

Am I scared for myself? No.

Are you scared for others? 

I’m scared for the gender nonconforming college kids, the teenagers and the adults who will never pass as cis without lots and lots of surgery, the folks who are obviously trans. Because trans is beautiful and you should have the right to live openly and authentically. And those people are being denied that. I’m being denied that as well, but we all are. 

How much of your decision to run for office was based in this increasingly hostile environment for trans people in your state?

Essentially all of it. I’ve known since I was a little kid that I wanted to be a legislator of some sort. I got to visit Washington, DC, as a kid and I thought ‘Oh, this would be so cool to speak for people.’ It’s not just running for me, it’s for marginalized Kansans. Right now, I work for the state. I do food stamp processing. I work with the poorest of the poor. It’s about helping everybody. Kansas came into the Union as a free state 165 years ago and we should be a free state for everybody, not just cishet white Republican men.

This law doesn’t just impact IDs going forward, as some other states have done, but reverses validity of current documentation. What do you make of this escalation?

They have nothing. The Republicans have nothing. They cannot legislate, they cannot lead, they cannot govern. All they have are societal issues that they think are a wedge and that’s what they go after because they have nothing of substance. Because transgender folks are approximately 1 percent of the population, who’s going to miss us?

The Kansas GOP is just running roughshod: move fast and break stuff. They’re going just as fast as they can and ramming terrible bills through the state. And a lot of it’s performative, and this feels very much performative, because I imagine most of them don’t really care. 

I don’t expect more transgender legislation this session. I do expect other states to go. ‘Hey, look what Kansas did.’ Now, there’ll be lawsuits. There’ll be lawsuits out the wazoo in Kansas and all the way up to the federal level.

There’s a general sense of confusion. It’s enacted; it’s rolled back; it’s going to this court. Maybe for a little bit, it’ll be allowed, but then who knows. What impact does this confusion have on Kansans?

It causes so much stress and anxiety of not knowing what’s going to happen—the turmoil of being in a whirlwind, in a Kansas tornado. Really, none of it matters. We’re trying to sort the fly shit from the pepper. It just blends in. You got to keep your eye on the prize and a bigger goal of freedom for everybody.

Can you tell me about choosing to stay?

The morning after Trump got elected the second time, we looked at all our options. We have enough privilege that we could leave if we wanted to. It wouldn’t be nice or fun, but we could get out. I said, ‘No.’ My wife desperately wanted to leave, still does. She’s not happy with me. But no, I want to fight for Kansas. I want to fight for the rights of queer people. If I weren’t staying to fight for that, I would go somewhere safe.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.     

Update: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on X on Thursday that he shared his concerns with President Donald Trump about Aghayeva’s detainment. “He has just informed me that she will be released imminently,” Mamdani wrote. Just before 4 p.m. ET, Aghayeva posted on Instagram that she had been released and was in an Uber home. “I am safe and okay,” she wrote, adding, “but I am in complete shock over what happened.”

Federal immigration agents detained a Columbia University student on Thursday morning after reportedly gaining access to university housing by falsely claiming they were looking for a missing person, according to Claire Shipman, Columbia’s acting president. 

The Department of Homeland Security went after Ellie Aghayeva, a senior majoring in neuroscience and political science, according to a statement released by her friends to a faculty organization, the American Association of University Professors. The statement said that Aghayeva, who is from Azerbaijan, is an international student with a visa. 

Aghayeva posted a photo of what appears to be her sitting in a car on her Instagram story Thursday morning with an overlay of text: “Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help.” 

Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal wrote on X that federal agents “used a phony missing persons bulletin for a 5 year old girl” when they “purposefully deceived campus housing/security to gain entry to the student’s apartment.”

Shipman, in her statement, said the university was “working to gather more details.” New York outlet The City is reporting that Aghayeva has already filed a habeas corpus petition asking a federal judge to order her release. 

Aghayeva was detained the morning after an “ICE Off Campus” protest demanding that Columbia “establish stronger protections for international students and declare itself a sanctuary campus,” according to the Columbia Daily Spectator. 

The detainment also comes close to a year after Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and legal permanent resident who had just graduated from Columbia, was detained by plainclothes officers in university housing. Khalil became one of the highest-profile detainees in the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign against non-US citizens and students who displayed pro-Palestinian views. Khalil was released from detention over the summer, but is still actively fighting deportation. 

It’s not clear whether Aghayeva has any connection to the Columbia encampments or campus protests against ICE.

In a joint statement Thursday, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and council member Shaun Abreu, whose district includes Columbia, wrote: “ICE has no place in our schools and universities. These activities do not make our city or country safer, but rather drive mistrust and danger.”

Aghayeva, who has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, often posts influencer-style videos about studying and her dedication to schoolwork. In a video she posted in August of last year, she compiled a supercut of her studying in the library with the caption, “Studying is hard but my parents sacrificed everything across the ocean for me to be here. They deserve a successful daughter.”

The Trump administration is considering an executive order that would compel banks to collect citizenship information from customers, new and existing, who want to maintain service in the United States, according to new reporting from the Wall Street Journal.

This potential escalation in the administration’s campaign against non-US citizens would also add more hurdles for victims of domestic abuse who are trying to leave their unsafe circumstances—whether they’re citizens or not. 

While banks are required to collect some personal information to protect themselves from fraud, “banks don’t routinely share that information with the government,” and there “is no prohibition on banks opening accounts for noncitizens,” per the Journal. 

White House spokesman Kush Desai told the Journal that “Any reporting about potential policymaking that has not been officially announced by the White House is baseless speculation.” But banks, the paper reports, are “alarmed.”

It’s unclear what exactly the administration would demand from banks and their users, though the action could impact those who are in the country legally but aren’t citizens and those without access to key documentation that could prove citizenship—a category that includes many survivors of intimate partner violence, up to 99 percent of whom also experience some kind of financial abuse. Teal Inzunza, associate vice president of justice initiatives at the Urban Resource Institute in New York, works with survivors of domestic violence. Financial abuse, she told me, can look like “withholding documentation.”

“An abusive partner will hold somebody’s ID, their passport, their immigration information, as a form of power and control in an abusive relationship,” she said. If the Trump administration were to require banks to confirm citizenship, Inzunza continued, it would “add another layer of difficulty for survivors and immigrants to access a necessary part of our economy” and “will make getting a bank account nearly impossible for many of them.”

Having access to an independent bank account for those experiencing financial and domestic abuse can be paramount for making a plan to leave. Proof of income is often required to secure housing; courts discerning custody agreements want parents to illustrate that they can financially support children; employers might ask for a direct deposit form or banking information; getting access to a vehicle may require a bank account or credit information. It’s also safer for survivors to siphon money away into a bank account than to depend on hoarding cash in the same home as their abuser. 

Even if President Donald Trump doesn’t move forward with an executive order, others in the GOP may take up the cause. After the Journal’s initial reporting on Tuesday, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas was quick to show his support for the potential bank requirement. “I strongly support President Trump taking action to prevent illegal migrants from accessing our banking system,” he wrote on X, adding that he “will be introducing legislation on this issue shortly.” Cotton also shared a letter that he wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in October of last year, urging the department head to “undertake a comprehensive review” to prevent “illegal aliens” from accessing US banks. The senator wrote that “we are permitting illegal aliens to establish financial roots and integrate economically.” 

As Trump and his administration continue to detain tens of thousands of non-US citizens, an already complicated reality for immigrant survivors of abuse has become even more fearful. 

In January of 2025, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was rescinding protections for “sensitive zones,” which can include domestic violence shelters. In the spring of 2025, The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors surveyed over 170 advocates and attorneys nationwide. When asked, more than three in four advocates reported that the immigrant survivors they work with have concerns about contacting the police. As The Marshall Project noted, several victims of domestic violence were killed by their abusers last summer after reportedly not reaching out to law enforcement because they feared deportation.

Because of the imminent fear of violence, victims often need to flee quickly—sometimes bringing very little with them. Needing those documents to prove legal status, should the banking rules change, could mean trying to get an abuser to hand them over or paying large sums to have them replaced. Gaining access to documents can be complicated and dangerous, especially, Inzunza said, if “your abusive partner is holding those hostage.”

On Tuesday evening, Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Blind, seriously ill Rohingya refugee from Burma who does not speak English, was found dead in Buffalo—five days after Border Patrol dropped him off on a street corner without notifying his family, who had moved. He was 56.

The story of Shah Alam’s arrest in February of last year, as reported by the Investigative Post, reads as a situation all too familiar for disabled people who interact with the police—particularly disabled people of color. His original violent arrest, by police who apparently saw his walking stick as a weapon—and who, like the Border Patrol officers who dumped him, apparently made no attempt to reckon with his disability, his inability to speak English, or his mental state—set off a chain of events that ended in his death.

In need of a walking stick, he managed to find his way down the block to a shop that sold curtain rods, where he purchased one. Curtain rod in hand, Shah Alam strolled his Black Rock neighborhood until the weather turned colder, [his attorney Benjamin] Macaluso said. He attempted to walk home, but, confused, ended up at a stranger’s house instead.

He found himself on a woman’s porch just as she was letting her dog out, Macaluso said.

“He comes from a place where people don’t keep dogs,” Macaluso said. “The dog’s freaking out. He’s freaking out. She calls the police and says there’s an unidentified Black man in my driveway.”

When Buffalo police arrived, Macaluso said, they ordered him to drop his curtain rod. But Shah Alam was not able to understand them—or even see them clearly. After not complying with repeated orders, the two officers Tasered him, tackled and beat him, Macaluso said.

Shah Alam took a plea deal earlier this month, which led to his release. His attorney Macaluso and his family spent Friday through Sunday looking for Shah Alam. “He cannot use a phone,” Macaluso told Investigative Post. “He doesn’t know his address, he doesn’t know phone numbers, he can’t communicate, he can’t see. And they just left him.”

A missing persons case was opened by the Buffalo Police Department on Sunday, but the Buffalo Police Department closed it the following day, operating on the incorrect assumption that Shah Alam was in ICE detention.

House Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-N.Y.) has called for an investigation into Shah Alam’s death. “Mr. Alam should be alive and with his loved ones today. Instead, after days of fear and uncertainty, his family is now grieving an unimaginable loss,” Kennedy said, according to news station WIVB. “There must be a full and transparent investigation at the local, state, and federal levels. The public and Mr. Alam’s family deserve answers immediately.” 

President Donald Trump’s pick for surgeon general, wellness influencer Casey Means, parroted various MAHA talking points throughout a Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, while deflecting on key issues such as vaccines and birth control. Some of Means’ responses even appeared to contradict previous public health-related statements she’s made in order to fall in line with the administration.

The MAHA talking points included a push for “informed consent” where “patients [or parents] need to have a conversation with their doctor” to ensure “faith in public health.” Then, “I don’t think it’s responsible to make a blanket statement for all Americans” when discussing the safety of vaccines and birth control pills. Instead, Means claimed, that public health officials should “focus on the root causes of why we are sick.”

Her remarks on vaccines and birth control pills were particularly troubling. She largely disregarded decades of overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccines do not cause autism, insisting that “we should not leave any stone unturned” to promote further investigation. Means also backed her previous claim that birth control represents a “disrespect for life” and carries “horrifying health risks” for women, telling senators Wednesday that “all medications have risks and benefits” and provided the example of “blood clots and stroke risk in women who have clotting disorders, who are smokers, who have obesity.”

In a telling exchange, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) cited a newsletter from August 2024, in which Means pointed to the World Health Organization’s warning against glyphosate and argued that people should avoid conventionally grown foods that hurt, among several other reasons, “your cellular health.” But when asked about Trump’s executive order last week that sought to ensure “an adequate supply” of glyphosate-based herbicides, such as Roundup, Means appeared to deflect. Instead, Means backed her previous claims on removing toxic chemicals from food but refused to note the difference in the Trump administration’s position. 

“I’m just trying to help you to agree with yourself,” Markey said.

“We are in a very complicated moment for agriculture and food,” Means responded. “We cannot overturn the entire agriculture system overnight.” 

As my colleagues Kiera Butler and Anna Merlan wrote last May after Means’ nomination, the wellness influencer was a campaign adviser during now-Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 presidential bid and a key promoter of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. 

Means has even appeared to alarm some of Kennedy’s allies, who have criticized her as “sinister [functionary] of Big Pharma, Big Food, or something much worse.” At Wednesday’s hearing, Democrats pointed to Means’ history of promoting products while rarely disclosing that she was earning financial compensation from their developers.

MURPHY: Your filings show you started receiving compensation in spring 2024, yet in Sept 2024 you posted a video saying you had 'no financial relationship w/ the company, just a big fan.' You weren't telling the truth.MEANS: If I said I wasn't receiving money, I wasn't receiving money at that time

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-25T16:25:24.209Z

In little over a year, Kennedy has proven that, in the Trump administration, what is said during one’s confirmation hearing testimony can’t exactly be relied upon. The secretary hasn’t followed through with many of the promises he made last year, including supporting childhood vaccines and not scaling back vaccine funding. Taken together, there might be little to believe when Means claims that she will protect things like birth control or that “anti-vaccine rhetoric has never been a part of [her] message.”