Latest News from The Hill

White House zeroes in on intoxicating hemp 

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 9:43 pm

Click in for more news from The Hill {beacon} Health Care Health Care   The Big Story White House zeroes in on intoxicating hemp The Trump administration is signaling a crackdown on synthetic hemp products with high levels of THC. © Getty Images The administration’s sweeping National Drug Control Strategy released this week called those products a “growing concern” that have proliferated...

Obama teases new HBO show: 'Nothing has prepared me for working with Larry David'

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 9:41 pm

President Obama teased an upcoming HBO Max show featuring comedian Larry David, titled “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,” alongside the comedian himself in a video posted online Thursday. “I have sat across the table from some of the world’s most difficult leaders and wrestled with some of the globe’s most intractable problems,” Obama...

Cohen on 'shameful' Tennessee redistricting erasing his House district: 'Next stop is the courts'

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 9:30 pm

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) vowed legal action Thursday after Tennessee passed a new House map that carves up his majority-Black congressional district in an effort to flip his seat red in November. Cohen, the lone Democrat in Tennessee’s nine-member House delegation, called the new map “shameful” and criticized Republicans for heeding President Trump’s call to...

Pirro ‘not surprised’ after DC officers placed on leave amid crime stats probe

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 8:59 pm

More than a dozen Washington, D.C., police officers were placed on leave this week amid an internal investigation into the alleged manipulation of crime statistics, a development U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said on Thursday did not shock her. “I’m not surprised,” Pirro told reporters. “We did an investigation starting in August, before anybody...

Nonfiction books banned in US schools doubled last academic year: Analysis

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 8:51 pm

A new report shows that the number of nonfiction books banned in U.S. schools doubled in the last academic year. PEN America's report released Thursday called "Facts & Fiction: Stories Stripped Away by Book Bans" found that 3,743 unique titles were removed from school libraries and classrooms between July 2024 and June 2025. This included...

Clyburn rips South Carolina redistricting push: 'We cannot let them succeed' 

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 8:38 pm

Rep. James Clyburn, the lone Democrat representing South Carolina in the House, on Thursday ripped a push among Palmetto State Republicans to redraw their district lines amid pressure from President Trump.  “Republicans in the South Carolina state legislature began the process of extending their session to allow for the redrawing of the state’s congressional map...

British voters head to the polls — here’s what to watch and why it matters

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 8:31 pm

Voters in much of the United Kingdom are going to the polls on Thursday, filling council seats across England and electing members of devolved parliaments in Scotland and Wales. From an American perspective, much of the interest will lie in the fate of two politicians with very different relationships to President Trump. British Prime Minister...

Democrats launch probe on whether Trump pardons were 'pay-to-play'

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 8:17 pm

Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.) on Thursday sent letters to 17 people who received pardons or commutations from President Trump, asking whether the president granted them leniency under “pay-for-play” circumstances. The lawmakers said the individuals got Trump's clemency “under suspicious circumstances,” according to a list of recipients released by Min’s office....

SPLC pleads not guilty in fraud case brought by Trump administration

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 8:13 pm

A leader for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on Thursday pleaded not guilty on behalf of the civil rights group amid an effort by the Justice Department to charge it with fraud. The Trump administration has accused the organization of defrauding its donors by using a now-defunct informant program to funnel money to the extremist groups...

Jeffries on Trump call for 'inciting violence' charge: 'Another deranged rant'

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 8:11 pm

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) clapped back at President Trump over a Truth Social post the president made saying he “should be charged with INCITING VIOLENCE!” “What’s up, y’all? The [New York] Knicks are up two-zip, I’m feeling good, and then I got to wake up this morning and deal with another deranged rant...

Democrats mock reported personalized Patel bourbon: 'Notes of insecurity, narcissism' 

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 8:05 pm

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee mocked FBI Director Kash Patel after a new report came out saying the Trump administration official occasionally travels with a “personalized branded bourbon” engraved with his name and title. “The Kash Patel bourbon: strong notes of insecurity, narcissism, incompetence and alcohol-fueled national security risk,” the lawmakers wrote in a...

Trump threatens European Union with July 4 deadline on tariffs

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 8:01 pm

President Trump announced Thursday he will give the European Union until July 4 to comply with its end of the trade deal with the U.S. or else he will significantly raise tariffs on the bloc.  Trump made the announcement in a TruthSocial post in which he noted he had a “great call” with European Commission...

Hantavirus 'not COVID': WHO official

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 7:38 pm

A World Health Organization (WHO) official on Thursday said the threat level imposed by hantavirus, which has killed three people aboard a cruise ship, does not resemble the pandemic-level threat that COVID-19 had six years ago. Infectious disease epidemiologist Maria DeJoseph Van Kerkhove said during a press conference that the three hantavirus deaths of a...

Fewer than half of US states adequately prepared for health emergency ahead of World Cup: Report

By: The Hill

Published on: May 7, 2026, 7:26 pm

Fewer than half of U.S. states are sufficiently prepared for a health emergency, according to research released Thursday. Only 20 states scored “high” on the annual report from Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) on national public health emergency preparedness. Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., scored in the “middle tier,” and 13 states fell into the...