Former Navy SEAL enters race to replace US Sen. Tommy Tuberville in Alabama
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson on Wednesday launched a campaign to run for a U.S. Senate seat representing Alabama, promising to be 'a warrior for President Trump's America First Agenda' if he is elected.
The written announcement came just a day after current Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville announced that he is running for governor of the state next year.
In Hudson's written announcement, he identified as a Christian conservative and aligned himself with both President Donald Trump and Tuberville, the latter of whom entered politics after a successful career as a head football coach at Auburn University.
'Coach Tuberville has been a force in Washington because he's not a career politician. He's a political outsider and a straight shooter. So is Jared Hudson,' the announcement read.
Hudson said he is a former Navy SEAL who now runs a nonprofit that fights human trafficking. Hudson previously ran for sheriff of Birmingham in 2022 but lost to the Democratic candidate, according to AL.com.
'I've spent my life taking the fight to America's enemies. Now it's time to continue the mission in Washington,' said Hudson.
Hudson's campaign website doesn't have specific policy positions, but states that he will 'secure the border, crush the woke agenda, and defend our Christian values.' He also said he would support cutting 'taxes to get our economy working for hardworking Alabamians.'
Tuberville is expected to be a formidable entry in the race to succeed current Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, who cannot run again because of term limits. His announcement came after months of speculation .
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CBS News
15 minutes ago
- CBS News
Transcript: Sen. Rand Paul on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," June 1, 2025
The following is the transcript of an interview with Sen. Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on June 1, 2025. MARGARET BRENNAN: And we go now to Republican Senator Rand Paul, who joins us from Lexington, Kentucky this morning. Good morning to you. SEN. RAND PAUL: Good morning, Margaret. MARGARET BRENNAN: You just heard the Treasury Secretary say a number of things, dismiss the potential price increases that could come from the tariffs when it comes to retailers. He also played down the cost of this tax and border bill that just passed through the House. Do you agree with his math? SEN. PAUL: Well, the math doesn't really add up. One of the things this big and beautiful bill is is it's a vehicle for increasing spending for the military and for the border. It's about $320 billion in new spending. To put that in perspective, that's more than all the DOGE cuts that we found so far. So, the increase in spending put into this bill exceeds the DOGE cuts. When you look just at the border wall, they have 46.5 billion for the border wall. Well, the current estimate from the CBP is 6.5 million per mile. So, if you did 1,000 miles, that's 6.5 billion, but they have 46 billion. So they've inflated the cost of the wall eight fold. So, there's a lot of new spending that has to be counteracted. But essentially, this is a bill by the military industrial complex advocates who are padding the military budget. There's going to be a lot of extra money. Look, the President has essentially stopped the border flow without- without new money and without any new legislation. So, I think they're asking for too much money. And in the end, the way you add it up to see if it actually is going to save money or add money, is how much debt are they going to borrow? 5 trillion over two years, an enormous amount. MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. That- that was the number that the Secretary was quibbling over. The President has taken note of some of your skepticism, and he did tweet yesterday saying that if you, Rand Paul, vote against his massive border and tax bill the people of Kentucky will never forgive you. Do you consider that a threat, and do you know if you have three other Republicans who will join you to block it from passage? SEN. PAUL: I had a very good conversation with the President this week about tariffs. He did most of the talking, and we don't agree exactly on the outcome. But when I come home to Kentucky, I talk to the Farm Bureau, which is opposed to the tariffs. I talked to the bourbon industry which is opposed to the tariffs. I talked to the cargo companies, UPS, DHL, all their pilots are opposed to it. I talked to the hardwood floor people. I talked to the people selling houses, building houses. I have no organized business- business interests in Kentucky for the tariffs. So I think it's worth the discussion, and it's worth people remembering that the Republicans used to be for lower taxes. Tariffs are a tax. So, if you raise taxes on the private sector, that's not good for the private sector. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you know, we hear from other senators who also get complaints from their people in their districts, but they're falling in line. Do you have three other Republicans who will stand with you to block this bill? SEN. PAUL: I think there are four of us at this point, and I would be very surprised if the bill, at least, is not modified in a good direction. Look, I want to vote for it. I'm for the tax cuts. I voted for the tax cuts before. I want the tax cuts to be permanent, but at the same time, I don't want to raise the debt ceiling 5 trillion. So, I've told him, if you take the debt ceiling off the bill, in all likelihood, I can vote for what the agreement is on the rest of the bill, and it doesn't have to be perfect to my liking. But I can't be- if I vote for the $5 trillion debt, who's left in Washington that cares about the debt. We will have lost it. The GOP will own the debt once they vote for this. MARGARET BRENNAN: But that the leader, as you know, is sort of in a tight spot here. He needs a vehicle to raise that debt ceiling. Otherwise, you have to turn to Democrats to get that done. What was the White House response when you asked that to the President? SEN. PAUL: Well, historically, the debt ceiling has always gone up and will always go up, and I'm not proposing that it doesn't, but the people who should vote for it are the people who vote for the spending. Historically, all the Democrats vote for raising the debt ceiling, and about 15 big government Republicans vote for it. This will be the first time it's voted on just by Republicans. This will be the first time that Republicans own the debt. They already own the spending. In March, we continued, not me, but most Republicans voted to continue the Biden spending levels. So you remember the campaign, everybody is talking about Bidenomics and Biden inflation and Biden spending levels. Well, the Republicans all voted to keep the Biden spending levels, and that's why the deficit this year is going to be $2.2 trillion this year. MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you think this is bad politics for Republicans. Some of your Republican colleagues, like Josh Hawley, are saying that changes to Medicaid are bad politics for America's working people and for your party. SEN. PAUL: I think it was a bad strategy. I think the tax cuts are good for the economy. When we passed the tax cuts in 2017 the economy grew like gangbusters. We had lowest unemployment historically. It was the great achievement of Trump's first administration. They should have been satisfied by just doing the tax part of this and not getting involved into the debt part of it. MARGARET BRENNAN: The last time you were with us in March, you talked about conversations you had with Elon Musk, as you know, he's just left his work with the administration. You had proposed a rescission request, a claw back about $500 billion of money Congress had already signed off on. We know now that the White House is going to ask Congress this week for some rescissions. Sounds like it's just $9.4 billion and it's- it's PBS, it's NPR and it's foreign aid. Is this really the best strategy? And do you think 51 Republican senators are on board with it? SEN. PAUL: First of all, I will vote for spending cuts. The more the better. This is very, very small to put it in perspective, if the deficit this year is 2.2 trillion, if you cut 9 billion, the deficit is going to be 2.191 trillion. It really doesn't materially change the course of the country. We should do it by all means. And it is the low hanging fruit. This is the money that was pointed out that was being spent for sex change operations in Guatemala, trans-opera in Columbia, all this crazy spending. Yes, it should be cut-- MARGARET BRENNAN: -- Sesame Street.-- SEN. PAUL: -- I had an amendment about a month- Excuse me-- MARGARET BRENNAN: It's Sesame Street. It's PBS and NPR. SEN. PAUL: Yeah. And I think, yeah- you're right. We'll see if there's the votes to cut it. I don't think we necessarily need government programming anymore. We have so many choices on the internet and so many choices on television, but my preference has always been, in the past, to cut a little bit of everything, rather than cut a lot of something. So what I've done in the past is propose a penny plan budget where we cut a certain percentage of everything, but it includes entitlements, or it doesn't really work. Once you exclude the entitlements, there isn't enough money to cut so you can never achieve balance by not looking at the entitlements. MARGARET BRENNAN: The budget director on another program this morning said they may not need to use this rescission, this claw back, because the White House has other tools. Do you think they need to go through Congress? Is this overstepping? SEN. PAUL: Well, they- well, they absolutely have to use a recession- the rescission, and it is done by simple majority, by Republicans only. There is no filibuster of it. So, it's a great tool to cut spending. If they don't use, it will be a huge wasted opportunity. But I will tell you, they tried in the first Trump administration. It wasn't their fault. They sent a tiny one, 16 billion, and it failed because two Republicans went the other way. So, we'll see what happens on this. But if we can't even cut welfare that we're giving to other countries, if we can't cut foreign aid welfare, I feel bad for the country. You know, interest rates are rising. We're having trouble selling our debt. We've got a lot of problems. MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Rand Paul, we'll be right back.
CNN
16 minutes ago
- CNN
2025 MIT class president banned from graduation ceremony after pro-Palestinian speech
The Middle East Campus protestsFacebookTweetLink Follow The 2025 class president of MIT was barred from attending her graduation ceremony on Friday after delivering a speech denouncing the war in Gaza at a commencement event the day before. Megha Vemuri told CNN that after her speech, the university's senior leadership informed her she was not allowed to attend Friday's commencement ceremony and was barred from campus until the event concluded. Vemuri will still receive her degree, an MIT spokesperson told CNN. 'What I am dealing with right now is absolutely nothing compared to the people of Palestine, and I'd take on much more if it meant helping their cause,' Vemuri told CNN Sunday. The class president was a scheduled speaker at Thursday's OneMIT Commencement ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she took to the podium, a keffiyeh – a symbol of pro-Palestinian solidarity – draped over her graduation robe. She praised her peers for protesting the war in Gaza and criticized the university's ties to Israel. Tensions over university protests against the war in Gaza have come to a head at this year's graduation ceremonies. New York University recently said it was withholding the diploma of a student who condemned 'genocide' in Gaza while delivering a graduation speech. Alongside students at NYU, Harvard, Columbia and other universities nationwide, MIT students set up protest encampments last spring to denounce the war in Gaza, facing disciplinary threats from the university. 'You have faced the obstacle of fear before, and you turned it into fuel to stand up for what is right. You showed the world that MIT wants a free Palestine,' Vemuri said Thursday to the audience, with peers, family, university staff and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey in attendance. Immediately following Vemuri's speech, MIT President Sally Kornbluth took to the podium and tried to settle the crowd. 'Listen, folks. At MIT, we value freedom of expression, but today's about the graduates,' Kornbluth said. An MIT spokesperson told CNN the speech Vemuri delivered Thursday 'was not the one that was provided by the speaker in advance.' 'MIT supports free expression but stands by its decision, which was in response to the individual deliberately and repeatedly misleading Commencement organizers and leading a protest from the stage, disrupting an important Institute ceremony,' the spokesperson said in a statement. The MIT Coalition for Palestine said university chancellor Melissa Nobles sent an email to Vemuri informing her she was not permitted to attend Friday's graduation ceremony and her tickets to the event had been deactivated. Vemuri says she's grateful for her family, who have been present this week, supporting her. She says she's not disappointed about not getting to walk the stage. 'I see no need for me to walk across the stage of an institution that is complicit in this genocide,' Vemuri said. 'I am, however, disappointed that MIT's officials massively overstepped their roles to punish me without merit or due process, with no indication of any specific policy broken,' she added, calling MIT's purported support of free speech hypocritical. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned the university's decision to ban Vemuri from the ceremony. 'MIT must respect academic freedom and respect the voices of its students, not punish and intimidate those who speak out against genocide and in support of Palestinian humanity,' CAIR-Massachusetts Executive Director Tahirah Amatul-Wadud said in a statement. In the days after her speech, the young graduate has received nationwide media attention, along with a torrent of ardent support and biting criticism. 'I can handle the attention, positive and negative, if it means spreading that message further,' Vemuri told CNN. CNN's Dianne Gallagher contributed to this report.
Travel Weekly
21 minutes ago
- Travel Weekly
Exploring the enchanting details in Epic Universe
ORLANDO -- Universal Epic Universe is home to worlds based on famous intellectual properties (IPs) like Harry Potter and Super Mario. It has big-ticket attractions themed to those and other franchises that are sure to draw guests by the droves. But the park's creators hope that guests will explore beyond the headliners and take the time to appreciate the details. "People talk about our 11 rides at this park, our two shows, which are spectacular," said Steve Tatham, executive creative director of Epic Universe. "But I just love the little details, because people can come to this park and just stroll through it and experience them." Standing in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter -- Ministry of Magic, he pointed to a nearby jewelry store, where a Niffler (a magical creature attracted to shiny things) sits in the window. That Niffler, and other creatures and objects throughout the world, can be activated by guests with interactive wands, spurring movement and other effects. The entrance to "Le Cirque Arcanus," a show in Epic Universe's Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Photo Credit: Jamie Biesiada "Those little details really are the difference of bringing those stories to life," Tatham said. Epic Universe opened to the public May 22. The park's hub is Celestial Park, with four worlds branching out from it, including the Wizarding World. Ministry of Magic is set in 1920s wizarding Paris at the Place Cachée, which translates to "hidden place." Here, Harry Potter merges with the Fantastic Beasts film franchise, which follows magizoologist Newt Scamander and his bevy of magical creatures. Guests are transported to 1990s London for Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, a ride featuring Harry, Ron and Hermione. Tatham said Universal wanted to marry the original Potter franchise with Fantastic Beasts by creating a new story. The trio, and riders, are at the British Ministry of Magic to witness the trial of villain Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton reprised her role on video and audio for the attraction). Universal re-created the ministry as seen in the films for those waiting in line. "It really is the most ambitious queue in the history of queues," Tatham said. "We're super proud of it. I mean, we've set a challenge for ourselves now. How does that ever get topped?" Dark Universe is themed to classic monsters that have been part of Universal and its parent company for decades. The queue of Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment. Photo Credit: Jamie Biesiada Chris Frisella, assistant director and executive producer of Universal Creative and executive producer of Dark Universe, said the time was right to incorporate those monsters more fully into Universal's parks. "I think we've always been in search of the right way to present them in the right time," he said. "I mean, they've always been a part of our history. Some of the films are approaching 100 years old." Frankenstein's monster, for instance, has been doing meet-and-greets in Universal parks since 1990. But the portals that Epic uses to transport guests into each world made it a particularly good candidate for a monster-themed area. "Being able to be transported to different worlds gave us a great opportunity to step into this world of mad scientists and monsters," Frisella said. "It was just the right timing, finally." Steps away from Dark Universe is Super Nintendo World, which features two distinct levels that house its attractions and activities. Guests enter via Peach's Castle with a vista of the Mushroom Kingdom ahead. It includes plenty of playable features. Patrick Braillard, senior show writer with Universal Creative, described the land as "completely layered." "It gives you an immediate sense of you getting the opportunity to have the call of action of playing," he said. The largest world in Epic is How to Train Your Dragon -- Isle of Berk. Katy Pacitti, executive producer with Universal Creative, said the world had essentially already been designed by filmmakers, but her team was tasked with matching that vision in real life. A statue of Bowser inside the queue of Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge. Photo Credit: Jamie Biesiada "I think that whenever you have the responsibility of a very loved IP, you need to treat it with care and really think about what people want to see -- and then deliver it," Pacitti said. With three attractions, a live show and a themed meet-and-greet with the franchise's main characters Hiccup and Toothless, Pacitti believes they met that goal. "The details that they gave us, I think they poured their heart and souls into that film series, and then my team poured their heart and souls into building Berk," she said.
