First Thing: Race for California governor deadlocked as primary results across the US pour in
Mixed picture emerges from races across the US, as Trump’s pick fails in Iowa. Plus: Jill Biden speaks about her husband’s decision to drop out of the 2024 election
Good morning. It has been a night of drama as crucial election results have unfolded – or not – across the US.
In California, the crucial race for governor remains too close to call. With mountains of ballots left to count, the Republican Steve Hilton was leading the field with the Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer following. A quirk of the state’s political system means the top two candidates face off in the general election regardless of which party they belong to.
In the heated primary for Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass came out ahead – but falling short of a 50% majority means she will have to defend her seat in November’s general election against either the former reality TV star Spencer Pratt or the city council member Nithya Raman. The San Jose mayor, Matt Mahan, and the former LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa conceded early.
Where else were primary elections held? In many other states. Many eyes were on Iowa, where Josh Turek, backed by millions in outside spending, clinched the state’s Democratic primary, defeating the state senator Zach Wahls, who had pitched himself as an anti-establishment outsider. On the Republican side, Randy Feenstra’s second-place finish in the gubernatorial race ended Donald Trump’s perfect endorsement streak, which had held strong since March.
When will we know the full results? Voting experts say it could take weeks to finalize the tightest races.
CBS News fires 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley
The veteran 60 Minutes journalist Scott Pelley has been ousted after clashing fiercely with the network over staff cuts. CBS management recently shocked staffers by firing the show’s executive producer, executive editor and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi without giving a reason.
Pelley’s exit followed his blunt rebuke of Bari Weiss, the opinion commentator who took over as editor-in-chief of CBS News in October. Pelley reportedly said: “She’s murdering 60 Minutes … She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”
What was Pelley said to have done? In an email, the newly appointed executive editor, Nick Bilton, claimed Pelley had “hijacked my first meeting … to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt”. In a message to staff he said that after repeated, failed attempts to find common ground over the weekend, “we have parted ways with Scott Pelley”.
Pentagon appoints convicted January 6 rioter to sensitive counter-terrorism role
The Department of Defense has appointed Elias Irizarry – convicted for his role in the January 6 Capitol insurrection – to a sensitive counter-terrorism role. Irizarry, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, will reportedly join a 40-person counter-terrorism and irregular warfare team within the special operations and low-intensity conflict office, which manages highly classified military operations.
Joel Valdez, the Pentagon’s acting press secretary, defended the appointment in an email, while attacking the Washington Post journalists who first reported on it. “Unlike Mr Irizarry, the Washington Post does not care about national security given its track record of low-tier reporters publishing and soliciting classified information that could hurt our nation on a daily basis,” he said.
What did Irizzary do on 6 January? He was pictured brandishing what appeared to be a metal pole on the day of the attack. He was 19 at the time, and apologized for his actions in court, but was criticized by the judge for failing to stop the violence despite having been in a position to do so.
In other news …
The federal government is abandoning an effort to create a $1.8bn secretive fund to compensate Trump’s allies, but is maintaining an agreement that prohibits the IRS from auditing him, his family and related entities.
The US supreme court ruled in a 6-3 decision that Alabama can use a redrawn congressional map that eliminates one of the state’s two majority-Black districts in this year’s midterm elections, another major blow to Black voters and a win for Republicans.
Authorities are investigating whether the disgraced former Republican congressman George Santos engaged in insider trading by betting on a prediction market regarding his own attendance at the State of the Union.
Far-right activists addressed a crowd that clashed with police outside a Southampton police station in the UK to protest against the police response to the murder of Henry Nowak, a cause taken up by Elon Musk.
The White House correspondents’ dinner will be rescheduled for 24 July. The Washington event was abruptly cancelled in April after a shooting.
Stat of the day: One-tonne cocaine bust reveals secret US-Mexico tunnel
Members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel used a fake retail store in San Diego as a front for trafficking drugs, officials have claimed. Federal agents said they had found a 55ft-deep tunnel equipped with electricity and ventilation. It was accessed using a sophisticated hydraulic lift that extended more than 1,000ft to the US-Mexico border, and they said they believe it continued for 800ft into the Mexican city of Tijuana.
Well actually: Elizabeth Smart on her journey from kidnapping survivor to bodybuilding
Elizabeth Smart, an activist and kidnapping survivor, recently revealed she had spent the past year secretly competing in bodybuilding competitions under her married name. “I’m the kind of person who needs a goal, a deadline. Let me tell you, it’s pretty good motivation to know you have to get on stage with a bikini!”
But you don’t need to actually do the latter to take advantage of her advice: “Get a good coach. Lift heavy. Eat tons of protein”.
Don’t miss this: Is this film AI slop – or the future of film-making?
The use of AI in creative endeavours has been a hot topic, and now Dreams of Violets is bringing a whole new angle to the debate, becoming the first fully AI-generated “live action” feature accepted at a major film festival. Every image and character in the drama about Iran’s anti-government protests was made with AI, with the director, Ash Koosha, arguing it would be too dangerous to base characters on living people in Iran. Cath Clarke interviewed him.
Climate check: Trump officials to dismantle key ocean monitoring system
The Trump administration plans to dismantle a $368m deep-sea observation system that has provided crucial data on ocean systems and climate change for more than a decade. The notice came days after Trump fired all members of the independent board that oversees the National Science Foundation.
Last Thing: Jill Biden recalls pressure Joe faced to drop out of 2024 race
Jill Biden has recalled the immense pressure that her husband, Joe, faced in the aftermath of his disastrous 2024 debate performance, saying he told her: “Jilly, I had no choice” but to drop out of the presidential race. The former first lady made her comments during a Tuesday book event coinciding with the release of her memoir, View from the East Wing.
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