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After Indiana purge, Trump sets sights on Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy

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BATON ROUGE, La. — After taking out five Indiana state senators who opposed his push for congressional redistricting, President Donald Trump’s next target is Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.

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Cassidy, who voted five and a half years ago to convict Trump in his impeachment trial, is fighting for his political life in a competitive race against two major challengers, including one backed by the president, in Saturday’s GOP Senate primary in the solidly red southern state.

The president on Saturday morning took aim at Cassidy, arguing the senator is «a disloyal disaster» and «a sleazebag, a terrible guy, who is BAD FOR LOUISIANA.»

Trump and his allies, including Republican Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, are backing GOP Rep. Julia Letlow in the Senate primary. Also in the race is former Rep. John Fleming, who is the state treasurer. If no candidate cracks 50% of the primary vote, the top two finishers will face off for the nomination in a June 27 runoff election.

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The primary is the latest test of Trump’s endorsements in GOP nomination races and of the president’s immense grip over the Republican Party.

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Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana fist bumps a supporter during a campaign stop at a gun retailer and firing range in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Friday, May 15, 2026, on the eve of the state’s Senate primary. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News )

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After cruising to re-election six years ago, Cassidy was one of only seven Senate Republicans who voted in early 2021 to convict Trump after he was impeached by the House for his role in the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters who aimed to upend congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

But since the start of Trump’s second term, Cassidy has been supportive of the president’s agenda and his nominees, including voting to approve Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

But Kennedy and his Make America Healthy Again movement are out for revenge.

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That’s because Cassidy, a doctor, has been a skeptic of Kennedy’s push to reform the nation’s health policies, including Kennedy’s efforts to cut back on vaccine recommendations.

And Kennedy allies blamed Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, for helping sink the surgeon general nomination of Casey Means, a close Kennedy ally and top MAHA advocate, after Cassidy did not bring it to a committee vote.

Meanwhile, Trump has blasted the senator as a «very disloyal person.»

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And on the eve of the primary, the president took to social media to praise Letlow as a «Highly Respected America First Congresswoman.»

Making Cassidy’s climb to renomination even tougher, Louisiana will now run separate party primaries in the Senate race, which replaces a system where all candidates appeared in one single jungle primary. That guarantees a more conservative and pro-Trump electorate for the GOP nomination.

Cassidy is highlighting his record over two terms in the Senate in delivering for Louisiana, which is one of the nation’s poorest states. And he’s showcased his support for Louisiana’s large oil and gas industry, which accounts for roughly 15% of the state’s workforce.

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«When people ask things such as, can you work with President Trump, I point out that he has signed into law four bills that I wrote or negotiated,» the senator said in a primary eve interview with Fox News Digital. «We continue to work together, by the way.»

And Cassidy touted that he’s «a conservative senator who delivers.»

In trying to avert becoming the first elected Republican senator in nearly a decade and a half to be ousted in a primary, Cassidy and an allied super PAC have dished out more than $20 million on ads, according to AdImpact, a national ad tracking firm. That total is more than Letlow and Fleming, combined, have spent.

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Some of those ads have knocked Letlow over her past support for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs during her tenure at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Cassidy argued that Republican voters are «concerned about her shifting position on DEI. She was all in for DEI.»

LETLOW EXPLAINS HER PAST SUPPORT FOR DIVERSITY PROGRAMS

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President Donald Trump standing with Rep. Julia Letlow in the White House Grand Foyer

President Donald Trump stands with Rep. Julia Letlow during the Congressional Ball at the White House Grand Foyer in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 11, 2025. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Defending her record, Letlow explained in a Fox News Digital interview on Friday that «back in 2020 whenever DEI was introduced to us, we had no idea what it was back then, and I quickly witnessed it. I was in higher education at the time. I quickly witnessed the left completely hijack it, turn it into this Marxist leftist indoctrination of our children. And so, when I got to Congress for the last five years, I’ve been fighting against it.

And she charged that the criticism of her from Cassidy and Fleming over DEI is «all baseless attacks, desperate attacks.»

Letlow won her congressional seat in 2021, after her husband, Luke Letlow, died six days after being sworn into the U.S. House after his 2020 election victory for the seat she now holds.

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She was backed by Trump even before she entered the race.

«Not only did he encourage me to get into this race, but also to have his complete and total endorsement has been, wow, the honor of a lifetime,» Letlow said.

Letlow has taken aim at Cassidy for his bipartisan efforts in the Senate, including his vote for the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law that was a signature domestic achievement for then-President Joe Biden.

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Asked about her criticism, Cassidy said the «people want someone who can deliver for Louisiana. The Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act has brought $13.5 billion to Louisiana for roads and bridges and high-speed internet, and along the way creating a lot of good paying jobs. My opponent opposed that bill.»

Fleming, who served as a White House deputy chief of staff during Trump’s first term, has argued that he’s the most conservative candidate in the GOP Senate primary.

‘They see me clearly MAGA,» Fleming told Fox News Digital, as he referred to Louisiana Republicans.  «I served in his entire first administration at various capacities. I was one of the first congressmen that endorsed him in 2016.»

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Fleming claimed that Letlow is «not the prototype for a Trump endorsement. She’s much more like a Democrat.»

And Fleming, apparently, has become a threat to Letlow, as a super PAC supporting the congresswoman started to run ads attacking him.

But Trump’s endorsement in the nomination race weighs heavily in a state he carried by 22 points in his 2024 election victory.

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«It’s the most powerful endorsement in the world,» Letlow said, adding that Louisiana Republicans «are huge fans of the president.» 

And the Louisiana primary comes a week and a half after Indiana’s primary, where Trump-backed challengers ousted five state senators who had defied the president over his redistricting push.

The political world was closely watching Indiana’s primary because it was the first of a series of major tests this month of Trump’s endorsement power in GOP nomination showdowns, and the president cleared his first hurdle with ease.

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Voters in Louisiana will also cast ballots in primary contests for State Supreme Court, Public Service Commission and state school board, along with five proposed state constitutional amendments.

But the primaries for the U.S. House seats were postponed by Landry after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state’s current congressional district map.

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Republican state senators in Louisiana on Thursday advanced a plan to eliminate one of the state’s two majority-Black congressional seats ahead of the midterms. Louisiana’s state House will likely vote on the map next week. The U.S. House primaries are being postponed until November.

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State Department fires back after Walz doubles down on pardon of convicted child rapist

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After Democrat Tim Walz doubled down on his move to pardon a foreign child rapist prior to his deportation, the State Department took another swing at the Minnesota governor in an escalating back-and-forth.

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The Minnesota Board of Pardons, comprised of Walz, state Attorney General Keith Ellison and state Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, granted clemency to Laotian national Tou Lue Vang, 42, on June 10. Vang was scheduled to be deported from the United States before the pardon.

«Governor Walz’s pardon of a convicted foreign sex offender was a grave and unconscionable betrayal of the very people he is supposed to defend,» State Department Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson told Fox News Digital.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz testifies during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 2026. The hearing examined alleged misuse of federal funds for Minnesota social services and Medicaid programs. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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WALZ, MINNESOTA BOARD OF PARDONS CLEARS CONVICTED ILLEGAL ALIEN CHILD SEX OFFENDER FACING DEPORTATION

«Walz’s plot to sacrifice the safety of Americans on the altar of open borders was thwarted by Secretary Rubio. Now this foreign criminal will never harm another American,» he continued.

Vang was convicted for repeatedly raping a 10-year-old girl between 2002 and 2004, and told authorities after he was arrested that «it is a cultural thing… to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12.»

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked Vang’s visa earlier this month, and he was deported back to Laos.

Walz defended the clemency move in a Tuesday press conference, contending that deportation of a convicted child rapist did not make the U.S. safer.

«Did that make us any safer?» Walz questioned. «Did that make the children that are left behind any more stable? Did it improve the idea that we can’t all be judged by our worst day?»

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Sen. Marco Rubio testifies during his confirmation hearing for Secretary of State at the U.S. Capitol, January 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations confirmation hearing at Dirksen Senate Office Building on Jan. 15, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

TIM WALZ OFFERS STRANGE DEFENSE FOR PARDONING CONVICTED CHILD RAPIST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DEPORTED

Still, Walz admitted that Vang’s crimes were «horrific.»

The State Department raked Walz over the coals for downplaying Vang’s crimes.

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«Walz sides with foreign criminals. Secretary Rubio sides with the American people,» Johnson told Fox News Digital of the governor’s remarks. «Walz wants open borders. This administration ended the era of mass migration. Walz endangered the American people. Secretary Rubio protected them.»

EXPOSED DOCS REVEAL WHY TIM WALZ BOARD AWARDED REPEAT CHILD RAPIST PARDON: ‘NO FUTURE’

Upon last week’s announcement that the State Department had skirted Walz’s pardon and deported Vang anyway, Rubio scolded Walz for granting Vang clemency in the first place.

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«Americans should never have to live in fear that foreign sex predators — shielded from deportation by their own elected officials — could endanger them or their children,» he told Fox News Digital

«That’s why I terminated his legal status in the United States,» he continued. «Vang has now been removed from our country and will never pose a threat to any American ever again.»

rubio deports tue lue vang

Mugshot of Tue Lue Vang, a convicted Laotian illegal alien child rapist who has been deported from the United States. (Department of Homeland Security)

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At the time of Vang’s pardon, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) feared that the move would shield the criminal illegal alien from deportation.

«Governor Tim Walz’s decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting,» DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said at the time.

«These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his Minnesota sanctuary politicians are protecting.»

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El diario The Guardian pidió que Inglaterra restablezca negociaciones con la Argentina por las Islas Malvinas

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La exhibición de una bandera sobre las Islas Malvinas por parte de los jugadores de la Selección en la semifinal del Mundial 2026 reabrió el debate sobre la disputa de la soberanía argentina por el archipiélago. En ese contexto, el diario británico The Guardian publicó un editorial en el que instó al Reino Unido a retomar las negociaciones con la Argentina y sostuvo que las islas “no pueden ser británicas para siempre”.

En el artículo, el periodista Simon Jenkins sostuvo que mantener indefinidamente la soberanía británica sobre las Islas Malvinas resulta “insostenible” desde el punto de vista político y geopolítico. En esa línea, mencionó el reciente acuerdo alcanzado entre el Reino Unido y España sobre la caída del muro fronterizo en Gibraltar. “Pero, ¿será mucho esperar que una negociación similar surja producto de la semifinal?“, planteó Jenkins.

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“Ninguno de los territorios de la era imperial británica tiene el derecho eterno de permanecer como están, menos uno que le cuesta a los contribuyentes británicos más de 60 millones de libras esterlinas en materia de defensa por año”, cuestionó.

Según el editorial del diario The Guardian, la firme defensa de la soberanía británica sobre las Islas Malvinas encuentra una de sus principales explicaciones en el rédito político que obtuvo la ex primera ministra Margaret Thatcher con la victoria en conflicto bélico de 1982.

“No pueden ser británicas para siempre”: el contundente editorial del diario The Guardian sobre la soberanía de las Islas Malvinas (Foto: Reuters)

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“Lo que se olvida es que, antes de la guerra, los gobiernos británicos estaban negociando la transferencia de la soberanía de las islas con Argentina”, recordó Jenkins. Según explicó, esas conversaciones se apoyaban en un acuerdo firmado con Buenos Aires en 1971, que “permitió a los isleños comerciar y viajar con el continente, utilizando sus hospitales, comercios y demás servicios”.

Y agregó: “La cuestión no radicaba en derechos históricos —un argumento eterno— sino en el sentido común geográfico. Para Gran Bretaña, era absurdo que un Estado europeo financiara una gran armada para defender territorios distantes y en disputa. Desesperado por ahorrar dinero, el gobierno ya se estaba retirando del Atlántico Sur. Las Malvinas quedaron expuestas e indefensas”.

Para The Guardian, la guerra puso fin a las negociaciones que ambos países mantenían hasta ese momento, pero no justifica que el Reino Unido haya descartado cualquier diálogo sobre la soberanía durante más de 40 años

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“La realidad es que estas colonias, inevitablemente, tarde o temprano, se convertirán en parte de sus continentes. No pueden ser protegidas indefinidamente por un patrón europeo y los reclamos argentinos no se irán a ningún lado”, señaló.

En ese sentido, el columnista consideró que el gobierno de Reino Unido terminará retomando las conversaciones con la Argentina, pero advirtió que “el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de la Commonwealth y el ministro de Defensa pospondrán el problema”.

Giovani Lo Celso deja la bandera con la leyenda "Las Malvinas son argentinas" en la cancha tras la victoria de la Selección por 2 a 1 contra Inglaterra. (Foto: AFP/Jewel Samad).

Giovani Lo Celso deja la bandera con la leyenda «Las Malvinas son argentinas» en la cancha tras la victoria de la Selección por 2 a 1 contra Inglaterra. (Foto: AFP/Jewel Samad).

«Sería gratificante si la bandera de las Malvinas exhibida durante un partido de fútbol sacudiera a alguien para que pase a la acción», concluyó el editorial.

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Los kelpers cuestionaron a la Selección argentina por la bandera de Malvinas

A través de un comunicado oficial difundido este jueves, las autoridades del archipiélago manifestaron su “decepción” por lo ocurrido durante la semifinal del Mundial, reclamaron que la política no interfiera en el deporte y solicitaron a la FIFA que evalúe la aplicación de sanciones.

En el texto, las autoridades locales señalaron que lamentan la decisión del plantel argentino de utilizar ese símbolo en un partido que, según sostienen, “de ninguna manera involucraba a las Islas Falkland”.

“El pueblo de las islas fue víctima de una invasión agresiva en 1982, que dejó a muchas personas traumatizadas. Por lo tanto, la bandera exhibida por Argentina anoche fue particularmente insensible para muchas personas de las Falkland”, afirmaron.

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Asian nation with 1,500-year-old imperial line insists only men can become emperor in policy revision

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Japan’s Parliament voted Friday to enshrine male-only succession for the imperial throne, part of a monarchy that traces its origins back roughly 1,500 years.

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Lawmakers did so by revising an Imperial House Law dating back to the 1800s, despite warnings from experts that limiting succession to men in the paternal line will hasten the decline of Japan’s shrinking and aging imperial family, according to the Associated Press.

To address the dwindling number of eligible heirs, the revisions allow distant male relatives to be adopted into the imperial family to father future successors. However, strict rules remain in place limiting the throne to men with royal blood. The changes also allow princesses to retain their royal status after marrying commoners.

The new rules passed by Parliament come as many Japanese had been calling for Princess Aiko, Emperor Naruhito’s 24-year-old daughter, to be allowed to succeed him — now an impossibility.

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Japan’s Princess Aiko, left, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, arrives to mark the 110th anniversary of the death of the wife of former emperor Meiji at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, on April 10, 2024. (Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP)

IN ATTEMPT TO CONNECT WITH YOUNG PEOPLE, JAPAN’S ROYAL FAMILY DEBUTS ON INSTAGRAM

«The emperor is a symbolic figure, and I don’t see why women cannot serve in the role,» Junichiro Tsujimaru, a 78-year-old sushi chain founder, told the AP.

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Under current law, the 66-year-old emperor’s younger brother is next in line. After that, his 19-year-old nephew, Prince Hisahito, will inherit the throne, and then the emperor’s 90-year-old uncle.

Hisahito is the only boy to be born in four decades, and only five of the 16 adults in the imperial family are men.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other conservatives say the male bloodline is the source of the emperor’s authority and legitimacy.

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Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a news conference at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo, Oct. 21, 2025. (Eugene Hoshiko)

SHINZO ABE POSTHUMOUSLY GIFTED HONORS, NOBILITY BY IMPERIAL FAMILY HE DEVOUTLY SUPPORTED

«It’s a declaration to prevent female monarchs … and to defend the male-lineage at all costs,» Hideya Kawanishi, a Nagoya University expert on monarchy, told the AP. «They cannot say it’s male chauvinism, so they call it tradition.»

Chizuko Ueno, a prominent feminist and sociologist, recently suggested it was ironic that Japan’s first female prime minister was the one to ensure male-only succession.

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Ueno said the new rules «treat male royals as stallions and put female royals under pressure as ‘childbearing machines’ to produce male offspring.»

Japan has had eight empresses descended from the male line in its centuries-long history as a hereditary monarchy. The last woman to reign was Empress Go-Sakuramachi, who sat on the throne from 1762 until 1771, when she abdicated in favor of her nephew.

Japan's Prince Hisahito

Japan’s Prince Hisahito, right, attends his coming-of-age rituals on his 19th birthday at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, on Sept. 6, 2025. (Japan Pool/Kyodo News via AP)

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Female eligibility for the throne was first eliminated in 1890 under the original Imperial House Law.

That change was carried over into the modern Imperial House Law, enacted in 1947, the same year Japan’s new constitution stripped the emperor of governing authority after the country’s defeat in World War II.

Like Britain’s royal family, Japan’s imperial family remains an important national symbol.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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