Politics

By Mike Stone

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. Air Force is targeting a Fourth of July delivery for a Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar that would join the Air Force One fleet in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary, a U.S. official and a person familiar with the program said.

The White House accepted the luxury jet from Qatar in 2025 and asked the Air Force to rapidly upgrade the aircraft to presidential standards, with L3Harris tapped to carry out the overhaul. If the company meets its deadline, President Donald Trump will have a new presidential aircraft in time for the national celebrations.

The person said there were efforts to possibly deliver the jet three weeks earlier to align with Trump’s birthday on June 14, ahead of the July 4 deadline.

The Qatari gift has drawn criticism from Democrats and advocates of good government, who warned it was a conflict of interest that could influence presidential decisions. Trump has dismissed complaints of accepting the 13-year-old airplane with a $400 million list price, saying it would be “stupid” to turn down the offer. There are two modified 747-200B aircraft in the current specialized Air Force One fleet. Any Air Force plane on which the U.S. president travels is called Air Force One. 

Retrofitting the luxury plane offered by Qatar’s royal family requires security upgrades, communications improvements to prevent spies from listening in and the ability to fend off incoming missiles, experts have said.

An Air Force spokesperson said, “The aircraft is on schedule to deliver this summer.” The aircraft has completed modification and flight testing and is now being painted, the Air Force said on Friday. 

OFFICIAL REPLACEMENT JETS DELAYED

The official Air Force One replacement program — Boeing’s effort to convert two 747-8 aircraft into next-generation presidential jets — is four years behind schedule, with delivery not expected until mid-2028. That risks leaving Trump without his prized new planes before his term ends in January 2029.

Boeing is locked in a fixed-price contract worth $3.9 billion in 2018, but costs have since ballooned to over $5 billion, with the company posting $2.4 billion in charges against earnings from the project. In a bid to steady the ship, Boeing in 2025 hired Steve Sullivan, a former Northrop Grumman executive who worked on the B-21 bomber program, to lead the effort. 

The Air Force recently unveiled a new paint scheme in red, white, dark blue and gold for its executive airlift fleet — reviving a color palette Trump had long pushed for. An earlier version of that design was scrapped in 2022.

The new livery will be applied to the VC-25B — the military designation for the Boeing 747-8 — replacing the white and two-tone blue scheme that has been in place since the Kennedy era. Four Boeing 757-200s used by the vice president, cabinet members and other senior officials will also be repainted.

In December, the Air Force purchased two former Lufthansa 747-8i aircraft for $400 million — one to serve as a dedicated trainer for aircrew and maintainers, and one to be used for spare parts as it prepares to eventually retire the current fleet, which has been in service since 1990.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Chris Sanders and Matthew Lewis)

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Seven candidates who want to be California’s next governor traded sharp attacks Tuesday in a wide-ranging debate that touched on issues from gas prices to raising taxes to healthcare in a contest that has no clear leader.

The televised debate came as mail voting was already underway in advance of a primary election that ends June 2. It was clear from the testy tone that candidates viewed the matchup as a critical juncture, with a national audience watching as it aired on CNN. The candidates are vying to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is barred by law from seeking a third term, to lead the nation’s most populous state and one of the world’s largest economies.

During the two-hour showdown, Republicans Steve Hilton, a conservative commentator, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Democrats have made life worse for California’s nearly 40 million residents during more than 15 years in the governor’s office and that it’s time for a change.

The Democrats — former state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter,billionaire Tom Steyer, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — tried to distinguish themselves on policy and said President Donald Trump is California’s biggest threat.

An overarching issue was the punishing cost of living in California and how it might be eased, underscoring deep partisan divides. The average gas price was more than $6 per gallon in California on Tuesday, according to AAA.

Becerra was among those who argued Trump and the war in Iran are to blame for rapidly rising costs at the pump. Hilton and Bianco noted gas has long been much more expensive in California compared to other states due to taxes and regulations.

But when Hilton said he could reduce gas prices to $3 a gallon, Mahan fired back, “You’re lying to people.”

“Donald Trump is the president in all the other states in America where the cost of living is way lower than in California,” responded Hilton, who has Trump’s endorsement.

“Boys, boys, enough with the bickering,” Porter, the only woman on stage, interjected at one point.

The contest is unfolding as California struggles with a long-running homeless crisis, wildfire insurance shortages, projected budget shortfalls and housing costs that are out of reach for many working-class families. Voters, meanwhile, are saddled with growing everyday bills for groceries, utilities and gas.

Trump — who is widely unpopular in California outside his conservative base — was frequently denounced by Democrats, while Republicans said he was being used as a convenient scapegoat for the failures of the state’s Democratic leadership.

“Yes, I’m going to repeat Donald Trump as often as I have to because he’s the real menace that we have in California,” Becerra said.

“Donald Trump sucks,” Porter said bluntly.

The candidates sparred over tax policy, with only Steyer saying he supports a one-time tax on billionaires that’s likely to be on the ballot this November. He said it wasn’t the only tax increase he’d seek. Porter, meanwhile, said the tax was too narrow and wouldn’t make a real change. Mahan, who wants to suspend the state’s gas tax, said his fellow Democrats have focused too much on expanding government rather than making it work better. Hilton pledged to make people’s first $100,000 free of income tax.

Beyond policy, the candidates looked for openings to knock down their rivals. Becerra was peppered with questions about the federal indictment of his chief of staff and others, including a former top Newsom aide, alleging they stole campaign money from him. The indictment alleges the scheme was designed to pad the salary of Becerra’s chief of staff when Becerra was serving as the federal health secretary. Several people involved have pleaded guilty.

Becerra has not been implicated or indicted, but Villaraigosa and Hilton used the incident to question his judgment and suggest he may have been involved. Hilton said that, if elected, he would even push the state attorney general to investigate Becerra.

“If I had been involved, the U.S. attorney would have had me in that indictment. I was not involved,” Becerra said.

Bianco faced questions about his decision to seize more than half a million ballots in Riverside County to investigate claims of election fraud that local officials say are unfounded. The state Supreme Court ordered his investigation halted.

Porter was asked about a new ad in which she refers in jest to an embarrassing video that surfaced last year showing the former House member loudly berating a staffer. Porter said it showed “I’m able to take responsibility.”

She added, “If these boys bullying and bickering hasn’t been enough to raise questions about their temperament, I would really challenge that.”

Hilton, meanwhile, refused to answer when pressed about whether Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.

California puts all candidates on a single ballot and the two with the most votes go on to the November general election, regardless of party. Democrats have worried that their crowded field could result in two Republicans advancing, which would be a historic calamity for the party.

The GOP has not won a statewide election in California in two decades, and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans about 2-to-1 statewide.

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Austin reported from Sacramento, California.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An election-year redistricting movement has spread to South Carolina as Republicans attempt to redraw majority-Black congressional districts that have suddenly become susceptible because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upending protections for minority voters.

Urged on by President Donald Trump, South Carolina Republicans are attempting to redraw a district long held by a Black Democratic lawmaker in their quest for a clean sweep of the state’s seven congressional seats.

Lawmakers already are meeting in special sessions in Alabama and Tennessee in a bid to change their U.S. House districts. And Louisiana lawmakers also are making plans for new congressional districts after the Supreme Court last week struck down the state’s current map.

The high court’s ruling said Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district as it attempted to comply with the Voting Rights Act. The ruling significantly altered a decades-old understanding of the law, giving Republicans grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats.

The ruling revved up an already intense national redistricting battle ahead of a November midterm election that will determine control of the closely divided House.

Since Trump prodded Texas to redraw its U.S. House districts last year, a total of eight states have adopted new congressional districts. From that, Republicans think they could gain as many as 13 seats while Democrats think they could gain up to 10 seats. But some of the new districts could be competitive in November, meaning the parties may not get all they sought.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn has represented South Carolina’s 6th Congressional District since it was redrawn to favor minority voters in 1992. He’s running for an 18th term. But it could get harder for him to win reelection if Republicans redraw his district.

Leaders in the state House and Senate said a redistricting effort needs to start with a two-thirds vote in each chamber. The issue could come up as soon as Wednesday. But if only a few Republicans aren’t on board, it can’t succeed.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey has warned that redistricting could backfire because of thin political margins, resulting in a second Democrat in the U.S. House. Massey told reporters Tuesday that he had a cordial conversation with Trump about redistricting, each laying out their concerns.

The state’s primaries are June 9 and early voting starts in three weeks.

The House on Wednesday could debate legislation that would allow Alabama to hold a special congressional primary, if the Supreme Court clears the way for the state to change its U.S. House districts.

In light of the court’s ruling on Louisiana’s districts, Alabama officials have asked courts to set aside a judicial order to use a U.S. House map that includes two districts with a substantial number of Black voters. Republicans instead want to use a map passed in 2023 by the Legislature that could help the GOP win at least one of those two seats currently held by Democrats.

Alabama’s primaries are scheduled for May 19. If the Supreme Court grants the state’s request after or too close to the primary, the legislation under consideration would ignore the results of that primary and direct the governor to schedule a new primary under the revised districts.

Democrats denounced the legislation as a Republican power grab that harkens back to the state’s shameful history of denying Black residents equal rights and representation.

Republicans are “working to secure an electoral victory by taking Alabama back to the Jim Crow era, and we won’t go back,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell told a crowd gathered outside the Alabama Statehouse.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee called Tennessee lawmakers into a special session to consider a plan urged by Trump that could break up the state’s lone Democratic-held U.S. House district, centered on the majority-Black city of Memphis. Republicans didn’t say much about the plan Tuesday.

But as the Senate began work Tuesday, shouts of “shame, shame, shame” could be heard inside the chamber from protesters gathered in the hallways. On the chamber floor, Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Black Democrat from Memphis, called the redistricting “an act of hate.”

Martin Luther King III sent a letter to Tennessee legislative leaders expressing “grave concern” about the plan to divide Memphis, saying the move could undermine the work for voting rights carried out by his father, Martin Luther King Jr.

The candidate qualifying period in Tennessee ended in March, and the primary election is scheduled for Aug. 6.

After last week’s Supreme Court decision, Republican Gov. Mike Landry postponed the state’s May 16 congressional primary to allow time for lawmakers to approve new U.S. House districts. State Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, a Republican, said a redistricting committee he leads plans to hold a public hearing Friday.

Louisiana voters had already sent in more than 41,000 absentee ballots by last Thursday, when Landry suspended the House primaries, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. That’s about a third of all the absentee ballots sent out to voters. Around 19,000 were from registered Democrats, 17,000 from registered Republicans and the remainder belonged to neither party.

Democrats and civil rights groups have filed several lawsuits challenging the suspension of Louisiana’s congressional primary.

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Chandler reported from Montgomery, Alabama, Loller from Nashville and Lieb from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press writer Jack Brook contributed from New Orleans.

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(Repeats to attach to alert)

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) – Former U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown was projected to win the Ohio Democratic primary election on Tuesday, in his bid to win back the seat he held until his 2024 reelection defeat, according to the Associated Press and NBC News.

(Reporting by Christian Martinez)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will host Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday for talks about shared economic and security issues, a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity about a meeting that has not been officially announced.

The leftist Lula and Trump have had an up-and-down relationship since the U.S. leader’s return to the White House last year.

Trump hit Brazil with steep tariffs and has pressed Brazilian authorities over their prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro for his involvement in a coup plot.

The Trump administration imposed a 40% tariff on Brazilian products in July on top of a 10% tariff hike earlier. The U.S. president justified the tariffs by saying that Brazil’s policies and criminal prosecution of Bolsonaro constituted an economic emergency.

But Trump later loosened tariffs on Brazil as part of his effort to lower consumer costs for Americans.

Trump and Lula started mending fences at the United Nations’ General Assembly in September, which was followed by their first private meeting in Malaysia in October and subsequent phone conversations.

Bolsonaro was accused of masterminding a plot to stay in power despite his 2022 election loss to Lula — similar charges to what Trump faced after a mob of his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in 2021 to stop Democrat Joe Biden from taking the White House.

Last month, Lula came to the defense of Pope Leo XIV during a tense exchange of attacks between the pontiff and Trump over the war in Iran.

The 80-year-old Lula is running for reelection in October.

The Brazilian paper O Globo first reported the planned trip by the Brazilian leader.

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By Ted Hesson, Jana Winter and Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security identified the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran as a potential motive for the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump and senior members of his administration at a White House reporters’ gala last month, according to an intelligence report sent to state and local law enforcement nationwide and other federal agencies.

The report, a preliminary assessment by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis dated April 27, assessed that the suspect Cole Allen had “multiple social and political grievances.” It concluded that the Iran conflict “may have contributed to his decision to conduct the attack,” citing social media posts from Allen that criticized U.S. actions in the war. 

The assessment sheds new light on the U.S. government’s search for a motive in the foiled attack on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25. Its conclusions, while preliminary, offer the most definitive evidence to date that the Iran conflict, which has killed thousands in the Middle East and rattled the global economy, could have been a trigger.  

The report, marked as a “Critical Incident Note,” was obtained through open records requests by the transparency nonprofit Property of the People and shared with Reuters.

Spokespeople for DHS and the U.S. Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The FBI declined to comment.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department added a charge ‌of assault on a federal officer, accusing Allen of firing at a U.S. Secret Service agent at a security checkpoint, in addition to attempted assassination, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, ​and illegal ​transportation of ⁠a firearm and ammunition across state lines. He has not yet entered ​a plea.

FBI EXAMINES SOCIAL MEDIA

U.S. officials have so far said little about Allen’s alleged motivation, pointing only to an email Allen sent to relatives on the night of the attack. The message, which officials have called a manifesto, expressed anger at the administration and referred to his desire to target the “traitor” giving a speech, without mentioning Trump by name.

In court documents, prosecutors have alleged that Allen “disagreed” with Trump politically and “wanted to ‘fight back’ against government policies and decisions that he found morally objectionable.”

The FBI has been carrying out a detailed examination of Allen’s social media activity and digital footprint in searching for a motive for the attack, a senior law enforcement official told Reuters, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“It’s being closely looked at,” the official told Reuters.

The examination includes a review of posts on a Bluesky social media account linked to Allen that posted and shared a range of anti-Trump messages in the weeks leading up to the attack. The posts include criticism of the U.S. actions in Iran but also broadsides against the Trump administration on immigration enforcement, Elon Musk, and Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The account shared a post calling for Trump to be impeached over his April 7 threat to destroy Iranian civilization, which came hours before Trump agreed to a ceasefire. It also shared criticism of reporters who planned to attend the press dinner.

The FBI has also reviewed a 2024 post in which an account connected to Allen, while quoting a Bible verse, appears to call Trump “the devil” in response to a message from Trump’s daughter Tiffany. 

The focus on Allen’s online activity is in part to stave off conspiracy theories about the motive and online activity of the suspected shooter, the official said, adding that speculation about the online activity of the man who fired at Trump during a 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, had sparked widely spread conspiracy theories.

(Reporting by Ted Hesson, Jana Winter and Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Rosalba O’Brien)

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By Nolan D. McCaskill

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Republicans are seeking to give $1 billion in taxpayer funding to the Secret Service this year for security upgrades, including the White House ballroom.

President Donald Trump has said private donations would ​pay for the estimated $400 million ballroom project. The funding package text does not say how much of the new Secret Service funds will pay for the ballroom.

The proposed infusion of Secret Service funds was released late Monday as part of a nearly $72 billion package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection through 2029 on a party-line vote.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s proposal includes $19 billion for CBP personnel and $7.5 billion for ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s bill gives CBP nearly $3.5 billion and ICE nearly $31 billion for immigration enforcement. Additional funds from the bills would go to the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service, as well as toward border security and technology.

Trump signed a bill on Thursday to fund most of DHS through September, ending a 76-day partial government shutdown over immigration enforcement following the deaths of two Americans in Minneapolis.

SENATE REPUBLICANS AVOID 60-VOTE REQUIREMENT

Republicans in Congress have begun a process known as reconciliation to fund ICE and CBP without Democratic votes. Reconciliation allows Senate Republicans to circumvent the chamber’s 60-vote threshold to advance most legislation.

Republican lawmakers pushed for legislation to fund and expedite construction of a ballroom days after an alleged gunman was apprehended at last month’s White House Correspondents’ dinner, where Trump was set to speak.

Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chair of the Judiciary Committee, blamed Democrats for the historic government shutdown, casting them in a statement as “the party of open borders and ‘defund the police.’” Grassley said his panel will “help provide certainty for federal law enforcement and safer streets for American families.”

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the judiciary panel, said Republicans are going outside the traditional appropriations process to fund unpopular policies through the end of Trump’s presidency because they are in danger of losing control of Congress in November’s midterm elections. He also highlighted a contrast between the parties as Democrats campaign on affordability.

“While Americans are struggling to make ends meet as a result of President Trump’s failed policies, Republicans are focused on providing tens of billions of dollars for the president’s vanity ballroom project and cruel mass deportation campaign,” Durbin said in a statement.

(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; Editing by Michael Learmonth, Rod Nickel)

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By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) – Former Senator Sherrod Brown is favored to win the Ohio Democratic primary on Tuesday, as his party turns to a seasoned populist in its quest to topple Republicans’ U.S. Senate majority in November’s midterm elections.

Ohio has trended steadily Republican over the past decade, making Brown’s comeback bid – after a 2024 loss – a test of how far President Donald Trump’s declining popularity is reshaping the 2026 midterm map.

Democrats, who entered the 2026 midterm cycle facing long odds of retaking the Senate, now see an increasingly competitive landscape as voters sour on inflation, the war with Iran and other flashpoints of Trump’s presidency.

Brown, 73, lost his 2024 reelection bid to Republican Bernie Moreno, a former car dealer who capitalized on blue-collar workers fleeing the Democratic Party and was endorsed by Trump.

Brown’s prospective opponent, Senator Jon Husted, 58, was appointed to the seat in January 2025 when then-Senator JD Vance became vice president. He is running unopposed in the Republican primary.

The November special election will fill the remaining two years of Vance’s term. 

The Husted-Brown race is seen as a toss-up by some analysts and a competitive race in recent opinion polls, in striking contrast to Trump’s 2024 romp in Ohio, where he beat Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by 11 percentage points.

The Midwestern state, hit hard in recent decades by massive job losses in the steel and automotive industries, is one of four states Democrats plan to pour resources into for a shot at ending Republicans’ 53-47 seat control of the Senate.

DEMOCRATIC PATH TO FLIP THE SENATE

Recapturing the Senate will be an uphill climb for Democrats, who would have to both defend several competitive seats of their own and flip at least four Republican-held seats.

They think they have momentum nationally, however, as voters gauge Trump’s presidency nearly midway through his second term and are unsettled by rising prices of gasoline and other goods, the U.S. war with Iran and migrant deportations that some view as too extreme.

An April 24 to 27 Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Trump’s approval rating was 34%, down from 47% at the start of his second term. Only 21% of adults surveyed approved of his handling of inflation, a leading concern of voters. 

Brown’s “economic populism may be uniquely suited to this moment when affordability concerns are paramount,” the non-partisan Cook Political Report said.

Even so, an April 7 to 14 Bowling Green State University poll found that 55% of respondents in Ohio said they considered themselves to be part of Trump’s MAGA movement, which has been embraced by Husted’s Republican Party.

Beyond Ohio, Democrats think they will have a chance of capturing North Carolina’s open Senate seat and a Maine seat held by longtime incumbent Senator Susan Collins, who is likely to face an upstart Democratic progressive with rising national attention.

In a surprise turn, Democrats also hope to be competitive in the heavily Republican state of Alaska, where Republican Senator Dan Sullivan is seen facing former at-large Democratic Representative Mary Peltola, a candidate with proven cross-party appeal.

Meanwhile, Democrats will have to dedicate campaign resources to Michigan, where Democratic Senator Gary Peters is retiring after narrowly winning reelection in 2020. Trump won Michigan in the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections.

Tight races could also develop over the next six months in Iowa, where Republican Senator Joni Ernst is retiring, and in Georgia, a swing state where Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff is defending his seat.

TURNOUT COULD REFLECT VOTER ENTHUSIASM

Political analysts will be closely monitoring voter turnout in Tuesday’s Ohio primary elections. A strong showing by Brown could hint at whether Democrats might score an upset victory in their battle for the Senate.

At the same time, three U.S. House of Representatives races in Ohio could also provide clues on Democrats’ more likely chances of winning control of that chamber, which Republicans now hold with a narrow majority.

Last year, Ohio approved a redistricting plan that Republicans drew up to gain an added edge in the November elections.

That has put Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur’s four-decade House career in jeopardy. While she is expected to win her party primary, her northwest district in the Toledo area is now composed of significantly more Trump supporters, making her an underdog in the general election, according to analysts. 

Similarly, Democratic Representative Greg Landsman’s Cincinnati district is now more Republican-friendly, although he is seen holding an edge against the likely winner of Tuesday’s Republican primary.

Meanwhile, Democratic Representative Emilia Sykes’ newly drawn district in the Akron area could boost her prospects in November in a somewhat competitive race with whichever candidate emerges from a crowded Republican primary field. Sykes is unopposed in the Democratic primary.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

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By Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department added a charge of assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon to the case against the man accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton last month.

The new charge, which formally accuses the suspect, Cole Allen, of firing at a U.S. Secret Service agent at a security checkpoint, is part of a new four-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Washington. The other three counts are charges Allen previously faced including attempted assassination, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence and illegal transportation of a firearm and ammunition across state lines.

Prosecutors allege that Allen, 31, of California, was armed with a shotgun and a pistol when he sprinted past security in an attempt to assassinate Trump and other U.S. officials on April 25. Allen has not yet entered a plea on the charges.

The indictment follows confusion over whether the suspect shot the Secret Service agent as the gunman allegedly ran toward the ballroom, where Trump and senior members of his administration were dining with roughly 2,500 journalists, politicians and others. Trump administration officials initially said Allen had fired and the agent was spared serious injury by his ballistic vest.

But the initial set of charges against Allen did not accuse him of shooting the agent, nor was it mentioned in a court document prosecutors filed on April 29 seeking Allen’s detention.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in Washington leading the investigation, released surveillance video on Thursday that she said showed Allen firing the shotgun at the agent, who then returned fire. Pirro told CNN in an interview on Sunday that a pellet that came from Allen’s shotgun recovered at the scene was intertwined with fibers from the vest of the agent.

The four-page indictment accuses Allen of using a “deadly and dangerous weapon” to “forcibly assault, intimidate and interfere” with the U.S. Secret Service agent while he was engaged in his official responsibilities. 

Allen fell down and was subdued by law enforcement before he reached the ballroom, authorities have said. No one else was injured.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward, Editing by Franklin Paul, David Gregorio and Daniel Wallis)

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Indiana’s primary will test President Donald Trump’s enduring power over the Republican Party as he tries to dislodge state senators who refused to go along with his call to redraw the state’s congressional map.

Twenty-one Republican senators voted against redistricting in December, including eight running for reelection this year. Trump has endorsed primary challengers against seven, and the president’s allies have spent millions of dollars on races that rarely get much attention from Washington.

It’s become a costly and unprecedented intraparty battle that has exacerbated tensions among Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith said the primary is about how far the party will go to get an edge over Democrats — a contest between “the Republicans who tend to want to avoid the fight and the Republicans who feel like we need to fight.”

“So the only question is, ‘Will you fight or will you get trampled by the other side?’” said Beckwith, who is supporting the Trump-backed challengers.

Trump began leaning on Republican-led states last year to redraw their congressional maps to make it easier for his party to hold its thin majority in the U.S. House. Although redistricting is normally done once a decade, after a new census, Trump wanted to abandon tradition to gain a political edge.

Texas was the first to follow through, and the White House pressured Indiana to go along too. Vice President JD Vance met with state politicians in Washington and Indianapolis, and Trump weighed in by conference call.

However, Indiana senators rebuffed the effort, one of the president’s first significant political defeats of his second term.

The redistricting fight divided Republicans in Indiana, a state Trump won three times by no less than 16 points. Republican Gov. Mike Braun, U.S. Sen. Jim Banks and organizations such as Turning Point Action have worked alongside Trump to unseat the incumbents.

Jim Bopp, a prominent Indiana attorney who leads a political action committee aligned with Braun, predicted that Trump’s support will carry the day for the challengers.

“Republican voters overwhelmingly support Trump, and when they find out Trump has endorsed a particular Senate candidate, they swing their support behind them,” he said.

Opposition to the effort came from anti-Trump Republicans and those wary of the president reaching so deeply into state decision-making. Former Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who had stepped away from politics after leaving the governorship in 2015, reemerged to help raise money for targeted incumbents.

The senators who broke with Trump said they were listening to constituents who were overwhelmingly against his redistricting plan. Some said they didn’t like Trump’s aggressive tone in pushing the plan.

“We hate to be told what to do,” said Mike Murphy, a former Republican state representative. “We’re very independent-thinking people. So when Donald Trump and his goons come in and try to tell us that we need to redistrict to help his political future, that’s the worst thing you can do.”

He said Trump and those spending big money to take out the incumbents don’t understand Indiana politics.

“There’s just so many misjudgments on people’s part because they tend to fly at the 50,000-foot level, and they don’t go to the barbecues and the church fish fries and the things that make Indiana politics,” Murphy said.

Bopp, who supports the Trump-backed challengers, said the primary is a chance for Indiana Republicans to express how important it is to redraw the congressional lines there.

“It’s not a matter of Trump’s power,” Bopp said. “It’s about Republican primary voters who support his agenda and don’t want a Democratic House that will be hugely destructive to the Trump presidency and the country.”

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