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Hegseth visits the long-deployed USS Lincoln to bestow a top award before the ship returns home
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has given the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln a high-level award during a visit to the aircraft carrier Wednesday, a day before the ship returns home to San Diego after a record-long deployment in support of the Iran war.
The Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor a unit can receive that is typically reserved for significant achievement in combat, was bestowed upon the Lincoln and accompanying ships for "40 days of combat operations and an ironclad maritime blockade against Iran in support of Operation Epic Fury," Hegseth said, referring to the Trump administration's code name for the Iran war.
The carrier endured a record 265 uninterrupted days at sea, and its extended deployment drew national attention following reports of crew stress and poor mental health, as well as supply shortages, including food and hygiene products. After more than 10 months deployed, the Lincoln's crew got a stop in Thailand early last month on the way back from the Middle East.
Hegseth, who flew out to the ship before its arrival Thursday in San Diego, acknowledged to the crew that "I'm the only thing standing between you and home" and that his intention was "once they pull up to the dock, we're getting out of the way."
Long deployments can tax service members who are away from their families for extended periods while facing threats, and can add wear to the aircraft carriers, which have been used for President Donald Trump's military operations in the Middle East and South America.
The Lincoln is the second carrier that has endured an unusually long and arduous deployment to support the war against Iran and the second to receive the top unit award afterward.
Hegseth in May met the crew of the USS Gerald R. Ford during its return from a 326-day deployment -- the longest for an aircraft carrier in the past 50 years and a record in the post-Vietnam War era.
As for the Lincoln, it departed San Diego in late November, arrived in the Middle East in January and now will be back in its home port.
Hegseth said Wednesday that Trump "tracked your activities from day one and couldn't be more proud of what you executed."
DNC sues Trump administration, alleging taxpayer-funded ads violate propaganda law
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Democratic National Committee on Wednesday sued President Donald Trump's administration for recent television advertisements that promoted his political message while costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that the ads are illegal government-sponsored propaganda and accuses Trump of personally directing them. It asks the court to declare the ads illegal and stop the use of federal funds to pay for them.
Trump has faced bipartisan backlash for the ads, which glorify him and echo his campaign pitch as voters cast early ballots with the midterm elections less than a month away.
The spots, which began airing in September, already have cost more than $12 million to run, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact, and a total of $20 million in Homeland Security Department funding has been tapped to pay for them.
Responding Monday to the criticism, Trump defended the ads as "positive promotion for our Great U.S.A." but said he'd pay for them using his MAGA Inc. super PAC going forward.
But on Tuesday, the fifth ad in the campaign began airing with the notice "paid for by the U.S. Government," promoting Trump's military actions in Venezuela earlier this year. The same day, Trump made it clear he hasn't committed to reimbursing any money that has already been spent, telling reporters "we'll decide."
DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement that Trump is misusing taxpayer dollars in "a last-ditch attempt to save Republicans in November."
"Americans deserve better than to have their hard-earned tax dollars used for Trump's illegal schemes," he added.
Christa Pike is angry and confused after surviving execution attempt, attorney says
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Christa Pike was "angry and confused" in the hours after regaining consciousness following Tennessee's failed execution attempt, first asking, "Where am I?" her lawyer said Wednesday.
Pike, believed to be the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution, stunningly woke up as plans were being made to remove her from life support, just six days after she was strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, said attorney Randy Spivey.
"But on Tuesday, to the shock of everyone … Christa woke up and began talking," Spivey said.
Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer, is aware of what happened to her, at least up to a point, Spivey said.
Many questions remain, though, about her prognosis for recovery and whether Tennessee will make another attempt to execute Pike, now age 50.
Her lawyers said Wednesday that she has suffered enough and want the governor to commute her sentence. A judge in Nashville told the state on Wednesday to save evidence from the execution attempt as Pike's attorneys try to find out more.
The failed execution on Sept. 30 has renewed scrutiny of how states carry out the death penalty, in particular the use of lethal injection. Texas was set to carry out Wednesday the first execution in the U.S. since Tennessee attempted to put Pike to death.
Pike's legal team said she still can't move her arms or swallow and has some cognitive confusion. She also has pneumonia and a blood clot in her arm, Spivey said. Her hands were extremely swollen when they saw her Tuesday in the hospital, shackled to a bed, he added.
Her prognosis remains unclear and she has a long road to recovery, he said.
"She is angry and confused about everything right now," Randy Spivey said during a news conference following a court hearing about preserving evidence.
Spivey, who was not with Pike when she woke up, was told her first words were, "Where am I?" and "Who are you?"
Pike's attorneys want evidence preserved
The Death Penalty Information Center says Pike is the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution.
FBI says it stopped a Mall of America terror attack by a teen after agents sold him an assault rifle
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- FBI agents thwarted a terror attack by a teenager on the Mall of America after monitoring him for nearly two years and ultimately supplying him with the AK-47 he planned to use, authorities said Wednesday.
The 18-year-old had been on the FBI's radar since December 2024, when he began trading messages with a confidential informant. A criminal complaint says he initially expressed an interest in traveling to Somalia to fight for al-Shabab militants. As his plans to instead attack the mall solidified, the complaint says, agents sold him the gun and ammunition on Tuesday and arrested him on the spot.
"This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched," U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said. Agents "were able to detect a threat, and disrupt it, before the defendant carried out his intention to kill, in his words, maybe 30 to 60 people."
Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud was arrested Tuesday in a public park in Richfield, several miles northwest of the Mall of America, after he paid $600 to an undercover FBI employee posing as a member of the Islamic State group for the rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition, the agency said.
Mohamud appeared in a yellow jail uniform for his initial appearance Wednesday in federal court in St. Paul. He told the judge he did not have a job, own a house or a car, or have any money in the bank. He was represented by Siri Carlson McDowell, a federal public defender. Carlson McDowell and relatives of Mohamud declined to comment after the hearing.
Rosen said Mohamud is an American-born U.S. citizen of Somali descent.
According to an FBI agent's sworn complaint, Mohamud repeatedly affirmed in chat messages to the informant that he intended to attack and kill non-Muslims at the mall on Oct. 24, the date of a scheduled arts celebration by the Hmong community, Minnesota's largest Asian ethnic group.
When the informant asked if he was serious about committing the attack, Mohamud replied, "yes i am 100% sure," the complaint said, and added: "I would have backed out by now if I wasn't sure."
The agent wrote that Mohamud's messages expressed admiration for recent terror attacks as well as an interest in traveling to fight in Somalia, ultimately for the Islamic State group. He later decided he couldn't afford to travel there and would attack the mall instead, the complaint said.
As Army moves to execute Fort Hood shooter, questions about procedure linger
The former U.S. Army officer convicted of killing 13 people in the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, is scheduled to be executed by firing squad in December in what would be the first military execution in more than 65 years.
The announcement stunned an attorney who had represented Nidal Malik Hasan in a civil case, and raised concerns among experts on military law about whether the Army followed its mandated process for setting an execution and notifying a prisoner they've been condemned to death.
President Donald Trump's announcement on Monday that Hasan would be executed by firing squad also sparked questions about how a firing squad would be assembled and what procedure it would use. The last time the military executed someone by firing squad was shortly after World War II.
In a post on social media Tuesday, acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle said he scheduled the execution for 1 p.m. on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood -- the site where Hasan opened fire killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others.
Telle confirmed in his post on X that Trump had approved the execution on Oct. 2, starting the clock in Army regulations that requires an execution date to be set no sooner than 60 days and no later than 150 days after that approval.
Telle also noted that the execution would be carried out by firing squad, but did not offer details of where on base the execution would take place, what personnel would be a part of that squad or what procedure they would follow.
The Associated Press asked both Pentagon officials and the Army for more details, but those requests were declined. A message to the Army seeking comment on the potential procedural issues was sent Wednesday.