The Air Force's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance squadron flies 10 Super Hercules aircraft out of Biloxi, Mississippi. NOAA pilots fly three more specialized jets out of a base in Lakeland. All of the aircraft collect real-time data used for focusing on a hurricane's track. 

"These aircraft can fly directly into a tropical storm or hurricane and provide us direct measurements of how strong a storm is. How big it is and tell us where it's located," said Michael Brennan, Director of the National Hurricane Center.

The Super Hercules aircrafts cost $80 million each. They are known amongst meteorologists as flying laboratories that plunge into the strongest winds of category three, four and five hurricanes. 

"The temperature, humidity, wind speed and the pressure. When were in the center of the hurricane, that's vital information the hurricane center is looking for," said Major Joyce Hirai, U.S. Air Force Reserves Weather Officer. 

"That data comes back to us in real time for our forecasters to look at the hurricane center.  It also goes into the forecast models so we can tell you where it is going to go and how strong it's going to be," said Brennan.

The winds are the strongest in the eyewall and are used to determine the category strength of the storm. The eyewall winds provide for more than a bumpy ride. 

"The eyewall is really intense. Lots of wind and rain, turbulence, lightning, and hail. You hit the eyewall and the airplane is getting beat up," said Jordan Mentzer, a Hurricane Hunter pilot.

The hurricane hunter planes are normally cargo planes that are temporarily outfitted with meteorological equipment, including a dropsonde station. 

It is a key tool used to track hurricanes in real-time and is the size of a paper towel roll. 

The tracking device is dropped through a tube out of the aircrafts floor and falls through the storm clouds. As it drops, a parachute pops open and slows its decent. While dropping to Earth, it collects the storms' wind speed and pressure and transmits that back to the aircraft.  The data is reviewed and then fowarded to the National Hurricane Center for use in its forecasts. 

The Hurricane Hunter fleet is standing by to be deployed this season if any storms approach the United States.

Amy Gertner, whom Platner has been married to since November 2023, told the campaign about the texts during an internal vetting process last year at the beginning of his campaign. Gertner's disclosure of the texts were first reported by the Wall Street Journal. 

In a video posted by Platner's campaign's social media, Gertner said "I just really wanted to make sure that everyone knows that Graham and I have a great marriage."

"Being married is hard," she said. "Being newly married is hard. Being newly married and going through infertility is hard. Being newly married, going through infertility and a Senate campaign is hard. I don't even know if I have the right words to describe what we've been going through, but our marriage counselor helps, my personal counselor helps, Graham's personal counselor helps and we work on our mental health every day. No marriage is perfect." 

In a statement from Gertner provided by the Platner campaign earlier Saturday, she wrote that they have gone through counseling and that their marriage today "is stronger than ever before."

"I know the man I married and the husband he has been to me on the best and the worst days of my life. That hasn't changed, and it won't," she added. 

She also notes how she shared "deeply personal details about my marriage" to an unnamed campaign staffer. 

"I trusted this person with the most private chapter of our lives — the early days of our marriage before any campaign was on our mind — and I am deeply hurt by her betrayal and the invasion of our privacy," Gertner wrote. 

Platner is the presumptive Democratic nominee who will likely be taking on Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the November midterm elections after his main Democratic primary opponent, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, dropped out of the race in April. He has faced controversy over several problematic internet comments he made, as well as for a tattoo he got during his time in the Marines that is widely recognized as a Nazi symbol. He later covered the tattoo up.

The winner of the Maine Senate race is expected to play a key role in which party controls the chamber after the midterms. Platner has been endorsed by, and campaigned with, progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. He has ran a more populist campaign centered around his working-class background. 

In an April interview with CBS News' Major Garrett on "The Takeout," Platner said previous controversial opinions he held were due to post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as to his time serving in a military that he described as "a hyper-masculine, hyper-violent place."

"We have a crude sense of humor in the infantry. We certainly have a, I would say, narrow view of a lot of topics, and that colored my opinions and my beliefs," Platner said. "Over the years in between, I met a lot more people, had a lot more experiences, learned a lot more about the world. And my opinions have changed with it."

Under his proposal, the homestead exemption would increase from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027, and then from $150,000 to $250,000 in 2028. It would then allow the legislature to increase the homestead exemption in future years.

Critics argue his plan will decimate cities, counties, and local school districts. The legislature will meet in a special session starting on Monday and if they pass it, it will then still need to be approved by 60% of all voters in November.

Former Republican state senator Jeff Brandes, who now leads the Florida Policy Project, said he was bewildered by the governor's proposal.

"None of this is being presented with any data," Brandes told CBS News Miami. "None of this has been presented with any analysis on county-by-county impact, city-by-city impact. What happens if there's a recession? What happens of housing values don't stay where they are? And then who gets hurt, right? Renters get nothing out of this. And if [local governments] jack up sales tax and water and other fees, they get harmed. Somebody's ox is going to get gored here. We need to spend some time to figure this out. And the fact that you're going to put this out on a Wednesday and vote on it on a Monday to me is just beyond the pale."

"Frankly, this is like the most bush-league rollout I have ever seen of a major proposal," Brandes added.

"My grandmother was part of the Kindertransport out of Berlin as a child, her parents were killed in Auschwitz. Her and her sister survived because good people shipped her on a train and got her out of Berlin," Moskowitz told CBS News Miami. "And the language I'm seeing today is the same language she told me about and how it all started in the Thirties. So, it's very concerning. It's really the reason [I'm running]. I decided that now's not the time to walk away, now's the time to continue my service in Congress."

Moskowitz provided CBS News Miami with copies of virulent, antisemitic voicemails his office has received, threatening to kill him and arguing for the deaths of all Jews. He has received so many threats, he said, he has a police officer assigned to sit out in front of his house. And he noted, that one of his constituents was arrested  and convicted after investigators uncovered a plot to assassinate Moskowitz. That person is now currently serving a 25-year prison sentence.

"I've got two boys, my boys are not going to be hiding in attics, they're not going to hide their Jewish stars. We're not going to stop going to delis and stop going the synagogues because people are trying to scare us. And that's what Jews in this country have to do. We have to go on the offense. They want us to be scared. They want to be quiet.  And I'm not willing to do that."

Moskowitz announced last week that he was running in the newly redrawn Congressional District 25. This district was created by Governor DeSantis and the Florida Legislature to favor a Republican candidate. Donald Trump won the district by ten points in 2024, but Moskowitz expressed confidence that he would win in November.

"District 25 has 50% of my current district in it," Moskowitz said on Sunday's Facing South Florida. "It's where the majority of my district currently is, all they did was take a pen and draw my house out [out of the district]. I mean literally my house is touching District 25. It was clearly done intentionally because they didn't want me to run there. But District 25 fits my political background – it's a third Democrat, a third Republican and a third independent. This is the pinkest district in the state and it's a district that I have long ties to."

It was heard around 2:11 p.m. Eastern Time, with people describing a sudden bang that rattled windows, startled pets, and even shook some homes. Dozens of phone calls came into the WBZ-TV newsroom reporting a loud explosion heard around Boston, as far as Ipswich and Johnston, Rhode Island.

According to preliminary reports submitted to the American Meteor Society, dozens of people across the Northeast reported seeing the fireball around 2 p.m. Saturday. Sightings stretched across multiple states, helping scientists piece together the meteor's path through the atmosphere.  

Satellite lightning data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed a signature consistent with a meteor around the same time the boom was reported. The data also showed that the meteor probably entered the atmosphere over the South Shore near Boston. 

"The meteor appears to have fragmented at an altitude of 40 miles over northeast MA and southeast NH. The energy released at breakup is estimated to be equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT, which accounts for the loud noise," NASA said in a statement. 

Most meteors burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere, but larger objects can occasionally survive long enough to create the brilliant fireballs and booming shock waves that grab people's attention.  

Why would a meteor cause a sonic boom?  

If you heard the boom Saturday afternoon, you may be wondering how a space rock can make that much noise.

Meteors enter Earth's atmosphere at incredible speeds, often traveling between 25,000 and 160,000 miles per hour. Most are no larger than pebbles or grains of sand and burn up harmlessly high above our heads.

Occasionally, a larger object survives long enough to plunge deeper into the atmosphere. As it tears through the air, it creates powerful shock waves, much like a supersonic jet. Those pressure waves can travel all the way to the ground as a sonic boom, sometimes heard dozens of miles from the meteor's actual path.

"What you hear is the air compression of it moving really fast, creating those pressure waves, and occasionally sometimes you're also hearing the stone itself break apart from the forces that it's going through," Shauna Edson, an astronomy educator for the Smithsonian National Space and Air Museum, told WBZ-TV.

The U.S. Geological Survey explained that "unlike earthquakes which occur at discrete location in the earth, sonic boom events occur along a linear path in the atmosphere."  

Where did the meteor land? 

Edson said that if the meteor landed off the coast of Massachusetts, it would be unlikely that any pieces of it would be found. She said that the vast majority of meteorites land in the ocean because Earth is mostly water.

But eyewitness accounts and video of the fireball can help scientists determine a lot of information about the meteor if they are unable to find pieces of it. 

"How bright it was, how fast it was moving, the angle it was coming from, and how long it stayed bright for, that gives us a lot of information," Edson said. "Maybe it's part of a broken-off piece of a lone asteroid. Maybe it's just one of these smaller space things that's been floating around that we don't associate with something we know the name of."

She said that meteors are essential in determining most of the information that humans have about space.

"Meteors are the time capsules that carry information, so when we find pieces of them, each one is a treasure trove of information about the solar system," she said. "There are a few places on the moon where we have gotten moon rocks, but everything else kind of gets delivered to us by nature and we don't know where they come from."

Has anyone ever been hit by a meteorite?

There is only one documented case of a person being directly hit by a meteor. It happened in 1954 in Sylacauga, Alabama. The woman, identified as Ann Hodges, was lying on her couch when the space rock came through her roof, bounced off her radio and hit her in the thigh. Hodges was OK, only receiving some major bruising on her hip. 

Edson said it is statistically unlikely that a meteor would hit a person.

"We as humans are very, very tiny part of a very big planet," she said. "There's not much you can do about it if it is going to happen, so live your life."

Other meteors in 2026

Saturday's event is the latest in a string of high-profile fireballs reported across North America this year. In March, a meteor exploded over Ohio, producing a sonic boom heard across multiple states  

Just days later, another fireball over Texas generated a powerful shock wave and scattered meteorites across the Houston area, including one fragment that reportedly crashed through the roof of a home. Scientists with the American Meteor Society have also documented an unusual increase in large fireball events and sonic booms during the first months of 2026.

The Massachusetts boom also comes just a day after residents across South Carolina reported a mysterious blast that many initially mistook for an earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey later determined that event was consistent with a sonic boom, although the exact source remains under investigation.  

Researchers stress that there is no evidence of an impact threat to Earth.   

Researchers say the findings are a significant marker of progress toward treating a notoriously deadly type of cancer, for which there have historically been limited effective options for therapies.

The drug is called daraxonrasib and it blocks a mutated protein that fuels tumor growth in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases — a target that had eluded treatment for decades.

"While not curing the cancer, it is a very large step forward," said Dr. Zev Wainberg, of the University of California, Los Angeles, who helped lead the study.

The research team found that taking the medication, as a daily pill, reduced the risk of death by 60% for patients with metastatic, or spreading, pancreatic cancer who had previously received treatment. That was compared with survival rates of patients receiving standard chemotherapy, according to UCLA Health.

 It randomly assigned the experimental drug or more chemotherapy to 500 patients whose metastatic cancer had quit responding to prior treatment. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented Sunday at the American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.

Those taking daraxonrasib lived for a median of 13.2 months compared with 6.7 months for chemotherapy recipients. While that may seem like a small improvement, Wainberg said it marked the first drug to show a substantial advantage over chemotherapy.

"Having treated pancreatic cancer for 16 years, I actually started crying" when first seeing the study results, Dr. Rachna Shroff of the University of Arizona Cancer Center, who wasn't involved with the research, said from the ASCO meeting. She was struck by how "patients stayed on this treatment because it was providing durable and meaningful benefit to them."

In addition to nearly doubling their survival time, patients who took daraxonrasib also experienced fewer severe side effects, the study said.

The pills' effects eventually wane but recipients used them for significantly longer than the comparison group stayed on chemotherapy, reporting less pain and a better quality of life as their tumors shrank. Many still were using the drug after the data was analyzed, which Wainberg said means the survival gap may widen as researchers continue tracking them.

Dr. Brian Wolpin, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, presented the findings Sunday. He said the drug should become "a new standard of care" for previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer, adding that researchers also will explore its use earlier in the disease, including to see if tumor shrinkage might let more patients qualify for surgery.

Side effects most likely to affect pill usage were a rash that can be severe and mouth sores, he said.

Maker Revolution Medicines funded the study and the Food and Drug Administration plans to expedite review of the drug. The FDA also said in early May that it would allow pancreatic cancer patients who meet certain criteria to receive the drug under its "expanded access" program, before it formally approves the medication for use as a cancer treatment. 

Former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse raised awareness about the drug on "60 Minutes," when he talked about experiencing less pain since beginning to take it. He was diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer in December.

"I have much, much less pain than I had four months ago when I was diagnosed, and I have a massive 76% reduction in tumor volume over the last four months," said Sasse during the April interview, in which he called the medication "a miracle drug."

Oncologists are now being flooded with requests for the special access program.

Pancreatic cancer is among the most deadly forms in large part because it's hard to detect before it starts spreading to other organs. The American Cancer Society estimates about 67,000 new cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year and more than 52,000 people will die from the disease. The five-year overall survival rate is 13%.

Unlike with other cancers that have benefitted from a variety of chemotherapy alternatives, pancreatic cancer has been harder to tackle.

Cancer specialists not involved in the new research expressed optimism that this may be a turning point in the quest for new options, with dozens of experimental drugs in development.

The new drug targets mutations in the RAS gene family that normally regulates cell growth. So-called KRAS mutations are especially critical in fueling pancreatic cancer. But a structure that made it hard for drugs to stick to the mutated proteins meant this cancer driver was long considered "undruggable."

Revolution Medicines' drug uses what's essentially a molecular glue to bind with multiple KRAS subtypes. Wainberg said researchers next will probe whether the drug worked better in certain of those subtypes.

The drug will change pancreatic cancer treatment, said Dr. Andrew Coveler of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, who wasn't involved in the research.

"This thing works drastically differently," he said.

Wainberg said other drugs in development target specific KRAS subtypes. Other approaches in earlier stages of testing include vaccines designed to prevent recurrence after pancreatic cancer surgery by teaching the immune system to recognize the mutated protein.

A 37-year-old man from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the outbreak has been concentrated, "exhibited symptoms such as fever, meeting the definition of a suspected case" of Ebola, the Sao Paulo state government said in a statement on Saturday.

While initial tests did not detect the Ebola virus in the patient, he is being monitored and isolated as a precautionary measure at a specialized infectious disease facility, the statement said.

The health department in Rio de Janeiro state meanwhile reported that it had activated safety protocols after a man from Uganda showed "viral symptoms such as cough, chills, and diarrhea."

The Rio city government said in an email to AFP that the patient tested positive for malaria Saturday evening and "the case remains under investigation."

The Sao Paulo government said that despite the suspected case, "the technical assessment indicates that the risk of the disease being introduced into Brazil and South America remains very low."

Some Ebola recoveries reported 

The reports from Brazil came the same day that World Health Organization chief Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported five patients in Africa had recovered from the Bundibugyo virus, a rare strain fueling the current outbreak. Bundibugyo has no approved treatment or vaccine. 

Tedros said these five cases exemplify that recovery from the illness is still possible. The WHO had said Friday that one patient recovered from the Bundibugyo virus, marking the first documented recovery of a person with a confirmed case since this outbreak began.

"Four people will be discharged today and there was one that was discharged the day before yesterday," Tedros said during the opening of a new Ebola treatment center in Bunia, the provincial capital of Ituri in eastern Congo, which is at the center of the current outbreak.

"Of course, we're still working on vaccines and treatments but that doesn't mean that people cannot recover from Ebola," he added.

At least 906 suspected cases of the virus and 223 deaths, among the suspected cases, have been reported in Congo, according to the WHO. There 134 confirmed cases and 18 deaths among the confirmed cases in Congo and neighboring Uganda, the health agency said. Uganda has confirmed nine cases and one death, the Ugandan Health Ministry said Friday.

Calls for more aid and testing 

The virus continues to spread faster than the response despite better-organized health facilities and new aid arrivals, Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, said Saturday, calling for the immediate expansion of testing, faster deployment of aid workers and sustained access for medical supplies.

The dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for handling the victims' bodies, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers.

Tedros stressed the importance of involving the community in the outbreak response during the opening of the new treatment center on Sunday.

"If you come to health facilities when you have symptoms, you can get the support and recover, so the key is to come forward as early as possible and to get the necessary support," the WHO chief said.

"We can stop this Ebola and anyone who has it can also recover. But the rule ... is this thing is everybody's business and every citizen should be involved," he added.

Attacks in Ituri by the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias have also hindered the response.

The illness also has been reported in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases.

"The final message we would like to share with the Ituri community is that there is hope," Pierre Akilimali, Incident Manager at Congo's National Institute of Public Health, said during the inauguration on Sunday.

"With the symptomatic treatment that we are currently providing, we are seeing patients recover," Akilimali added.

"We truly have hope. The virus here is not as complicated as those we have dealt with in the past, and with the support of all our partners, we believe we will be able to bring this outbreak under control as quickly as possible," said Davin Ambitapio, another doctor at the treatment center.

A new president could be elected, but no candidate is expected to clear the 50% threshold required to win in the first round. A runoff between the top two finishers is almost certain on June 21. 

Polls show that the race between the 14 candidates on the ballot has narrowed down to three names, though two dominate. On the far left is Senator Iván Cepeda, candidate of the ruling Pacto Histórico party and the heir to President Gustavo Petro's policies. On the far right is Abelardo de la Espriella, a lawyer who has modeled his rhetoric and optics after President Trump and El Salvador's Nayib Bukele. Right-wing Senator Paloma Valencia, backed by former President Álvaro Uribe, has positioned herself as a center-right candidate. 

An AtlasIntel poll published last week, based on 4,531 interviews, put Cepeda leading the first round with a razor-thin margin at 38.7%, over de la Espriella's at 37.3%, while both candidates more than doubled Valencia's 14.3%. Moderate presidential candidate and former mayor of Medellin, Sergio Fajardo, trails far behind in the first round. All three candidates, according to the poll, would defeat Cepeda in the runoff. 

Colombians will vote on a vision to end violence 

Highly polarized Colombia is looking for change. Low-income families living near fields of coca, the shrub used to make cocaine, have watched years of failed peace negotiations make their communities more dangerous. Human rights organizations documented more than 50 massacres in Colombia this year, including clashes between warring guerilla factions this week that left around 50 people dead. Studies show that Petro's peace negotiation policies have resulted in the expansion of power and membership of armed criminal groups. 

The campaign cycle itself has been shadowed by the assassination of a presidential candidate, bombings, kidnappings, and the killing of dozens of local political leaders. Polls show security is among voters' primary concerns, second only to healthcare. The three leading candidates have offered starkly different solutions to Colombia's worsening security.

Far-right candidate De la Espriella is a fiery force, literally — he has has used pyrotechnic props at his splashy campaign events. Like President Trump, he is seen as a combative political outsider who has mocked traditional politicians. During the campaign, he has entered into perceived disrespectful clashes, especially with female journalists. He proposes bombing traffickers' encampments, ending all negotiations with drug traffickers and building 10 maximum-security private megaprisons, inspired by El Salvador's notorious CECOT, "in the middle of nowhere," where prisoners would have to "work for their meals." 

De la Espriella, like Bukele, pushes back against human rights concerns saying the left cares more about the rights of criminals than their victims. He promises to resume the halted aerial fumigation of coca fields with glyphosate, taking down small aircraft and sinking boats carrying drugs. 

Far-left candidate Cepeda, meanwhile, has policies similar to Petro. He has participated in and continues to promote negotiations with guerillas and cartels. He has been accused by his opponents of having ties with the FARC guerilla, which he denies. Daniel Mejía, a professor who studies drug policy at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, described Cepeda as having a "soft hand on not only coca cultivation, but also of organized criminal groups that are in charge of the production of cocaine." 

Center-right option Valencia has called for an increase in ground troops and drone surveillance, along with the resumption of aerial fumigation of coca crops. Valencia has criticized de la Espriella and called his online tactics those of a "circus." Mejía called Valencia's approach more "balanced," and said that he believes she would have "soft hand on coca farmers but a very strong hand on drug trafficking organizations and illegal armed groups." 

Crime isn't the only issue bringing people to the polls. Business owners who absorbed the biggest minimum wage shock in decades are waiting to see if a new government will reverse or increase it. Voting security is also an area of concern, with observers documenting instances of voter intimidation by armed groups in rural areas. Last year, Colombia's most powerful drug lord directly threatened violence ahead of this year's election, warning against what he called "advancing warmongering sectors," presumptively Colombia's right-leaning hardliners. 

In a press conference last week, Cepeda rejected "any attempt by armed groups to pressure the electorate in one way or another, whether actions that go against, or supposedly in favor of our campaign." 

Trump administration could see ally or foe elected 

For the Trump administration, the new president of Colombia may be a strong ally or combative foe as the U.S. continues aggressive counternarcotics operations. The administration's kinetic war on drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific has killed over 200 alleged smugglers in dozens of strikes. The U.S. has also partnered with friendly governments in the region, like Ecuador's Daniel Noboa, to fight cartels and other drug traffickers. 

Following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and the U.S. pressure campaign against the Cuban regime, a right-wing victory in the election would also align with the Trump administration's expanding geopolitical efforts in the region. Jose Antonio Ocampo, Colombia's former finance minister and a economics professor at Columbia University in New York City, said that Mr. Trump has "been very clear on seeking the support of right-wing governments in countries" in the region. 

Historically, Colombia has been the United States' top ally in counternarcotics and one of its most important trade partners in the Western Hemisphere. But U.S.-Colombia relations deteriorated sharply under Petro. The State Department withdrew President Petro's visa to the U.S., the U.S. Treasury sanctioned him personally, and according to the New York Times, the Department of Justice launched a probe into his alleged meetings with drug traffickers. 

United Nations calculations also estimate Colombia is producing more cocaine than ever before, despite Petro touting record seizures in interviews with CBS News. In 2025, Mr. Trump formally determined that Colombia had "failed demonstrably" in its counternarcotics commitments and threatened to strike the South American country. Tensions cooled after Mr. Trump and Petro met at the White House in February. 

"This is the election where the Colombian people are going to decide which way they're going to go," Senator Bernie Moreno, a Republican from Ohio who was born in Colombia, told an Atlantic Council panel last week. "We've seen one way, and we just had to take military action in Venezuela to fix that. And we've seen other ways where you have unlimited prosperity, unlimited security, unlimited opportunities." 

"If Colombia, heaven forbid, goes the wrong way, what you're going to see is all the bad actors that are currently in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, flow through to Colombia," Moreno added. "That would be an abject disaster for Latin America." 

But, when you add in the humidity, the feels like temperatures will soar in to the triple digits. It will feel like 100 in Fort Lauderdale, 106 in Miami and 101 in Key West.  

Rain and storm chances increase in the late afternoon and early evening hours.  

A great way to cool down is on the beach or on the water. There is a low rip current risk on the beaches today and no boat alerts in neither the Atlantic nor the Keys.

Rescue Volunteer for People, an organization in Laos, posted on Facebook that heavy rain is flowing downhill into the cave. They said the operation to rescue the two remaining miners might have to be stopped for the safety of the rescuers. 

The group of seven miners entered the cave ten days ago. Even before the flooding due to monsoon rains, it was nearly impossible to get in and out of the cave, making rescue operations difficult. Five miners were located in one part of the cave on Wednesday. 

Of those five, one man was rescued in a risky operation on Friday. Lead rescuer Mikko Paasi told CBS News that he and his fellow divers essentially "sandwiched" the miner between them to lead him through the partially submerged cave. Paasi said the situation was a "trust-me dive," since they were dealing with conditions that challenge world-class divers and there was no time for detailed training. 

"It's not a nice place to dive," Paasi said. "The guy was super strong and... props for him for that."

Four other miners were rescued on Saturday, when water levels inside the cave receded enough for them to leave with divers, Rescue Volunteer for People said on Facebook. Efforts to pump water out of the flooding cave have been going for days, though they had not been initially successful. According to Rescue Volunteer for People, divers had been bringing food to the trapped group when they realized the water levels were low enough to get them out. 

Photos show the rescued miners wearing oxygen masks and wrapped in foil blankets. Malaysian diver Lee Kian Lie told the Associated Press that the miners are doing well at a local hospital.  

Rescue Volunteer for People said it would continue to search for the two missing miners. Paasi had previously told CBS News that rescuers were no longer looking for them because they are believed to either no longer be alive or trapped in spaces too small for the divers to enter. But on Sunday, Paasi told the Associated Press that the five rescued miners reported a narrow crack in one of the cave chambers that could lead to a deeper part of the cave system. 

"This was the only place that we haven't checked in the mine, where the two lost miners could still be," he told the Associated Press. 

Jing S. Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York, was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, with additional charges pending, police said. Dong suffered injuries from the crash. 

Police said the bus "failed to slow for traffic" and crashed into six vehicles at about 2:35 a.m. Eastern Time on Interstate 95 in Stafford County. The bus first struck a Chevrolet Suburban, which then hit an Acura SUV and additional vehicles. Four people in the Acura were killed, along with one person in the Suburban.  

The four people killed in the Acura, which caught fire after the collision, were identified as a 45-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, state police said. CBS News Boston learned that they were a family of four from Greenfield, Massachusetts, who were on their way to a wedding in South Carolina. They were identified to CBS News Boston as Dmitri Doncev, his wife Ecterina, their daughter Emily and son Mark.

The family wedding will go forward Sunday in South Carolina, but it also will be a time to mourn the family's loss, a relative told the Associated Press on Saturday.

"A son, a father — the whole family — everyone that has been dear to us," Carolina Bublik said.

The family had a carload of homemade desserts for the wedding, which Bublik told the AP that Ecterina had spent days making. 

Dmitri Doncev, 45, was a nurse who worked at Holyoke Medical Center. Ecterina Doncev, 44, was a hairstylist and they emigrated to the U.S. from Moldova in 2008 and settled in Greenfield, Massachusetts, Bublik said.

The victim from the Suburban was identified as 25-year-old Priscilla Mafalda from Worcester, Massachusetts, state police said. 

Forty-four other people were taken to area hospitals, police said, three with critical injuries. There were 34 people aboard the bus at the time of the collision. 

An initial investigation showed traffic was slowing in the southbound lane as cars approached a work zone when the bus failed to slow for traffic, state police said.

The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating. In a news briefing Saturday, the NTSB said the bus was operated by E&P Travel of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, and was transporting passengers from New York to North Carolina.

"It seems fairly clear that if there was any braking, there wasn't much, because of the speed and the severity of the collision," NTSB member Tom Chapman told reporters, adding that it was still "too early yet to know exactly what was happening on board the vehicle."

The NTSB's preliminary report into the crash will come in the next 30 days. Both state police and the NTSB have said they are looking into the bus driver's actions before the crash.

"One of the things that we do, as a matter of course, is we do a 72-hour look back to see what the driver's activities were during the days leading up to the crash," Chapman said. "So we're looking for, you know, sleep issues, distraction issues, potential drug and alcohol issues."

The president's visit to Walter Reed on Tuesday was his third known checkup at the military hospital since returning to the White House. Describing it as a semi-annual physical, Mr. Trump said on social media everything "checked out PERFECTLY," but the White House did not release a detailed summary until Friday.

Friday's letter from Capt. Sean Barbabella, a Navy captain who serves as physician to the president, said Mr. Trump demonstrated "strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and overall physical function." He cited the president's "demanding daily schedule," frequent "high-level meetings" and "regular physical activity."

It said the president, who turns 80 next month, weighs 238 pounds and had a blood pressure of 105 over 71, compared to 224 pounds and a blood pressure of 128 over 74 at his physical last April. His resting heart rate was 73 beats per minute. He is taking aspirin and the cholesterol control drugs rosuvastatin and ezetimibe.

Barbabella said Mr. Trump is "fully fit to carry out all duties of the Commander-in-Chief and Head of State."

Mr. Trump posted on social media early Sunday that the "results of my Physical Examination, taken at Walter Reed Military Medical Center, and just released, were extremely good."

In the preventative care section, the doctor wrote: "Preventative counseling was provided, including guidance on diet, recommendation to take a low-dose aspirin, increased physical activity, and continued weight loss."

Barbabella described the president's health as broadly normal, with his lab results generally within normal bounds.

He noted "scarring of the right ear consistent with prior gunshot injury," a reference to the 2024 shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The letter also says he has "soft tissue irritation" on his hands due to "frequent handshaking" and aspirin use, an explanation the White House has previously given for the discoloration on the president's hands that is visible in some photos.

The doctor said the president had "slight lower leg swelling ... with improvement from last year." Last summer, after Mr. Trump was seen with swollen ankles, Barbabella said Mr. Trump had a "benign and common" condition called chronic venous insufficiency, which occurs when a patient's leg veins struggle to bring blood to the heart.

He also said Mr. Trump's cardiac age is "approximately 14 years younger than his chronological age," an estimate that Barbabella also provided after the president's October checkup.

He scored a 30 out of 30 — or "within normal limits" — on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a common test of cognitive health. 

In his social media post about the results, Mr. Trump wrote that "this is my fourth such test, all PERFECT or, 120 correct answers out of 120 questions asked! It is very rare that anyone gets a Perfect Score, especially when achieved four times in a row."

The president has touted his results on the assessment for years, frequently boasting that he "aced" the test.

The inmates escaped the Perry County Correctional PREP Center in Uniontown, Alabama, the Perry County Sheriff's Office reported. 

Law enforcement agencies were alerted at approximately 1 a.m. local time on Saturday of the escape, the sheriff's office said. The sheriff's office identified the wanted men as Marquavious Billingsley, Jaden Christopher Maxwell, Johnny Dave Harris Bush Jr. and Kevin Gunn. 

The details and circumstances of their escape were not immediately provided.   

The inmates, from Dallas County, Alabama, were at the PREP center under an agreement with the Dallas County Sheriff's Department. PREP stands for Parole and Probation Reentry Education and Employment Program Center. 

The inmates were being held on various charges including murder, first-degree robbery, breaking and entering vehicles, first-degree escape, first-degree assault and promoting prison contraband, the sheriff's office disclosed. 

Authorities said anyone with information regarding their whereabouts was urged to call 911, and was advised not to approach or apprehend them.

"The safety of Perry County residents is the top priority," Perry County Sheriff Roy Fikes said in a news release, adding that deputies and "assisting agencies" are "actively engaged in efforts to locate and apprehend the escapees, and an investigation is currently underway."

The tank ruptured at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility in Longview, a city located along the southern Washington border with Oregon, on Tuesday. Two people had previously been pronounced dead at area hospitals, bringing the total death toll to 11.

"I can share that we have recovered the ninth and final missing employee of this incident," Longview Fire Chief Brad Hannig said in a news conference Saturday. 

The 11 victims were identified by Cowlitz County Coroner Dana Tucker as Gilbert Bernal, 52; Tyler Covington, 29; Bradley Covington, 27; Robert Wilson, 48; Dale Miller, 54; Jared Ammons, 35; Braydon Finkas, 38; Clinton Doran, 26; John Forsberg, 51; Norman Barlow, 58; and Dillon Miller. 

Two bodies were recovered Saturday after one body was recovered Friday. Six bodies recovered Thursday were found in what was described as a workers' area, where employees would gather before and after their shifts. Authorities had previously noted the implosion happened during a shift change. 

Responders couldn't say when they expected to recover the remaining bodies. Longview Fire Department Battalion Chief Matt Amos said Thursday the scene was "very complex," with industrial hazards like exposed electrical wiring and collapsed structures making recovery difficult. He also noted crews have to rotate in and out of the scene and go through a decontamination process every time they leave.  

Several more people were injured in the incident, but the exact number and their conditions were unclear Thursday. Some of the patients had been transported to the Legacy Oregon Burn Center in Portland, Oregon. 

The tank that failed was holding white liquor — a chemical commonly used in paper and pulp processing, which consists of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. Authorities previously said the tank had an approximate capacity of 900,000 gallons and was about two-thirds full at the time of the incident. Local authorities estimated Wednesday that roughly 25,000 gallons of material may remain inside the damaged tank, and it is leaking out slowly. 

Amos said the tank was in the same condition Thursday as it was the day before.

Addressing the environmental concerns from the incident, Environmental Protection Agency coordinator Brooks Stanfield said Thursday that while hydrogen sulfide was a main concern, none has been detected in the air. However, some of the liquid from the tank leaked into a complex of nearby ditches that sit above a source for the city's drinking water, and that people and pets have access to. 

Chris Collins, a Public Works director, said testing indicates the water is safe to drink for now and that "there is no cause for concern." Collins said the water is drawn from an aquifer that is 200 feet deep, and the wells are "very protected" from surface environmental concerns. 

Stanfield said authorities were implementing a two-part plan to clear the ditches, involving pumping fresh water into the system to dilute the chemicals, and then flushing it out into the Columbia River once the pH, or acidity, is brought down to a safe level. Collins said fire hydrants were being opened up to help with that effort. 

Stanfield also said white liquor from the tank failure had reached the Columbia River in the first minutes after the rupture, but the exact volume isn't known. 

"The understanding is it was very limited," he said, adding, "It is safe to fish and swim in the Columbia River right now." He did note dead fish were found in the contaminated ditch complex, and they expect to continue to find more until that system can be safely flushed.

Nippon Dynawave's director of support services, Brian Wood, said the mill was shut down after the implosion, with only "some critical infrastructure" still operating with "minimum staffing." He said the company has "made arrangements" to pay people who are not working and "will continue to do so."

Asked about public safety concerns at the plant, Wood told reporters, "We work in a highly hazardous atmosphere and a highly hazardous industry. We approach it with the utmost care in everything that we do. I'll let the facts speak for themselves." 

The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office said it happened around 10:17 a.m. Deputies said they were able to make contact with two adult males inside the plane, one of them being a student pilot. The sheriff's office said the student pilot tried to land, but he reportedly told them he pressed on the brakes too hard, leading to the flip.

Both men were treated for minor injuries at the scene, MDSO said. No further information was immediately available.

Saturday's incident happened just a day after a small plane crashed near the South Florida State Hospital in Pembroke Pines. Two people from that scene were rushed to a hospital late Friday morning. The aircraft, a single-engine Cessna C172P, was also seen flipped over on a grassy area.

According to information provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane crashed shortly after departing from North Perry Airport.

Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue said that when emergency crews arrived at the scene, they found two injured adults, and they were rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood as trauma patients.

However, in a post on X, the Pembroke Pines Police Department said that the injured adults were "conscious and breathing" and that no other injuries were reported.

Emergency officials said that a small fuel leak on the plane was also reported, and it was mitigated by Pembroke Pines fire crews.

The Federal Aviation Administration told CBS News Miami that it is investigating the Pembroke Pines crash and may be releasing a preliminary report on Saturday.

The move comes after Mr. Trump in December issued a memo directing HHS to align U.S. childhood vaccine recommendations with "best practices from peer, developed countries."

In early January, HHS released an assessment that determined the U.S. "recommends more childhood vaccines than any peer nation, and more than twice as many vaccine doses as some European nations."

Following that assessment, the CDC, which is part of HHS, announced updated recommendations that would reduce the number of recommended immunizations for children from 17 to 11.

The move prompted heavy criticism from medical experts and health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, which subsequently chose to release its own childhood vaccine recommendations, breaking significantly with the CDC guidance.

Friday's executive order directs the CDC and the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, to review HHS' January "scientific assessment and the latest clinical data" and "take any appropriate steps to update the United States childhood and adolescent vaccine schedule."

"By signing today's Executive Order, President Trump is reaffirming his commitment to gold-standard science, ensuring Americans receive the best possible medical advice, and empowering patients and doctors with maximum flexibility," the White House said in a fact sheet accompanying Friday's order.

In the CDC's January recommendations, it found that only children in high-risk categories should receive immunizations for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), hepatitis A, hepatitis B, dengue, meningococcal ACWY and meningococcal B. 

The CDC kept recommendations in place for 11 childhood diseases: measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), pneumonia, polio, human papillomavirus, or HPV, and varicella, or chickenpox. (Some vaccines, such as the MMR shot for measles, mumps and rubella, protect against multiple diseases.)

In December, the CDC's ACIP panel also issued a controversial recommendation on when children should get their first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. For decades, it has been recommended that children receive the first dose within 24 hours of birth, but the panel voted to recommend that the first dose be delayed until a child is 2 months old if the mother tested negative for the virus. 

The current ACIP panel was chosen by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, after he ousted all 17 members of the previous panel. Several of the newest members have questioned established medical research on vaccines. 

In March, a judge ruled against the new HHS childhood vaccine schedule recommendations in a lawsuit brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics and others, finding that Kennedy's moves to appoint the new ACIP panel violated federal law. The judge also wrote that the government "disregarded" its traditional, scientifically grounded process for vaccine recommendations.

The Trump administration has argued that American children tend to be recommended for more vaccines than children in some other developed countries, particularly in Europe.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has countered that most developed countries have broadly similar practices, and any differences are due to country-specific factors.

"We don't follow Denmark's vaccine recommendations because we don't live in Denmark," Dr. Jose Romero, a member of the group's committee on infectious diseases, said in a statement last year. "Children in the United States are at risk of different diseases than children in other countries. We also have a completely different health system."

Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has not yet revealed what recorded telemetry and launchpad video might show about the cause of the Thursday night explosion at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. As always with such tests, the area had been evacuated and no injuries were reported.

"It's too early to know the root cause but we're already working to find it," Bezos said in a post on X. "Very rough day, but we'll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It's worth it."

The titanic blast could be seen across a wide swath of Florida, shaking nearby homes and rattling windows as roiling clouds of flame billowed into the sky framed by arcing streaks of debris flying in all directions.

Early Friday, Space Launch Delta 45 warned the public: "Debris from the anomaly could wash ashore along publicly accessible areas over the coming days and weeks. It is critical to report sightings to 911 for proper removal and mitigation. The debris could be hazardous and direct contact could pose health risks."

The hot-fire test was being carried out in preparation for the New Glenn's launch in early June on a flight to deploy 48 Amazon-owned internet satellites. The satellites were not on board the rocket for the engine firing and were not damaged in the mishap.

While the cause of the explosion was not immediately known, it appeared to originate at or near the base of the rocket's first stage as its seven methane-burning BE-4 engines were igniting for the planned test.

The engines generate a combined 4.5 million pounds of thrust at full power and if one or more BE-4s was to blame, the mishap almost certainly will affect United Launch Alliance, which uses the Blue Origin engines in the first stage of its new Vulcan rocket.

The explosion could have been triggered by a ruptured fuel line, a ground system or some other malfunction unrelated to the engines.

Delays to moon missions

Whatever the cause, the explosion marked a potentially serious blow to NASA's Artemis moon program.

The space agency is counting on Blue Origin and SpaceX to launch Artemis moon landers next year to rendezvous and possibly dock with an Orion capsule launched atop NASA's Space Launch System rocket. NASA plans to announce the four astronauts who will fly on that mission — Artemis III — on June 9.

The idea is to test rendezvous and docking procedures in Earth orbit before pressing ahead with one and possibly two astronaut moon landing missions in 2028. In addition, NASA expects Blue Origin to launch two unpiloted lunar cargo ships in the near future to carry prototype rovers to the lunar surface. An initial test flight was expected later this year.

Blue Origin's landers are designed to launch atop New Glenn rockets and it now seems unlikely any such launch will be possible for many months, maybe not before the end of 2027.

Depending on how long it takes for the company to return to flight, the Artemis III mission could be delayed into 2028, possibly pushing the planned moon landing flights into 2029, or NASA could be forced to carry out the Artemis III mission next year with just the SpaceX lander.

But that assumes SpaceX can be ready in time. The company's Starship rocket is currently grounded because of engine failures in a recent test flight and it's not clear when the Starship lander will be ready to fly again.

As for Blue Origin, initial damage assessments, especially those from afar, are often overly pessimistic and given Bezos' resources, Blue Origin many be able to return to flight faster than expected, depending on what a detailed damage assessment reveals.

NASA will be paying close attention.

"NASA is aware of the anomaly that occurred tonight at Launch Complex 36 involving Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said late Thursday on X.

"Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult," he continued. "We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets."

Case of dêjà vu

In a similar mishap in September 2016, a SpaceX Falcon 9 exploded on pad 40, nearby Thursday's explosion, destroying the rocket and an Israeli satellite and severely damaging the launchpad.

The failure happened in the final minutes before a hot-fire test when the Falcon 9, like the New Glenn, was fully loaded with explosive propellants. The SpaceX failure was blamed on a ruptured high-pressure helium tank inside the upper stage's liquid oxygen tank.

SpaceX was able to resume flights 3 1/2 months later, but it took the company nearly 15 months to return pad 40 to operational status. In the meantime, the company was able to use two other pads, one at the Kennedy Space Center and the other at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, to keep flying.

That option isn't available to Blue Origin. While the company plans to build a second pad at Cape Canaveral and another at Vandenberg, those projects have yet to get underway.

"Thinking about the entire team at Blue," Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX vice president of launch operations, posted on X. "We've been there before and there are very few things worse than losing a vehicle on the pad.

"Remember @blueorigin, it's the darkest before the dawn and you will be measured not by this anomaly, but by how you respond," he said. "We are all rooting for you to get safely back to flight as soon as possible!"

SpaceX, meanwhile, launched a Falcon 9 rocket early Friday from pad 40 carrying another batch of Starlink internet satellites. United Launch Alliance, after making sure no debris from the New Glenn explosion affected their systems at nearby pad 41, planned to launch a set of Amazon Leo internet satellites Friday evening.

Helicopter views early Friday showed Blue Origin's standalone lightning tower had been destroyed, along with the New Glenn transporter-erector used to haul the rocket from a hangar to the pad and then to rotate it vertical for launch. Both were visible Friday morning as charred piles of mangled debris.

Other signs of blast damage were apparent, but it was not clear if the pad's propellant tanks, feed lines, sound-suppression water system or the New Glenn processing hangar were severely damaged.

Because the hot-fire test was not an actual launch and posed no threat to public safety or air travel, both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board had no plans to oversee Blue Origin's failure analysis.

Joe Biden had repeatedly pledged not to pardon his son, but reversed course at the end of his presidency. 

"And then the Justice Department changed. And I think that the process was not fair to Hunter," Jill Biden told CBS News Sunday Morning's Rita Braver in an interview airing Sunday on CBS. "When Trump was elected, things changed, and we knew that he would target Hunter. And we just could not let our son go to jail on a charge that no one would go, I mean, no one has ever gone to jail for."

Joe Biden repeatedly said he wouldn't pardon his son, who was convicted in June 2024 of three separate felony charges related to his purchase of a revolver in 2018 when he was battling a drug addiction, which he lied about on paperwork to obtain the gun. Hunter Biden also pleaded guilty to nine tax evasion charges in a separate case in September 2024.

The elder Biden's decision to pardon his son drew bipartisan criticism.

When asked by Braver if she urged her husband to pardon Hunter Biden, Jill Biden said: "I truly supported it. I wanted him to pardon Hunter at that point, and I agreed with Joe."

Asked why Biden also preemptively pardoned several other family members before he left office, Jill Biden said: "I suppose for the same reason that he felt that they would be targeted." 

Jill Biden talked to Braver about the election, her husband's 2024 debate performance, and her new book, "View from the East Wing: A Memoir." 

Watch more of Jill Biden's interview on "Sunday Morning" on May 31 at 9 a.m. on CBS stations and streaming on Paramount+.

Bondi's closed-door interview in the ongoing congressional investigation into Epstein had a different focus than previous high-profile sit-downs in the probe. The House Oversight Committee has questioned the likes of former President Bill Clinton and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about their relationships with the deceased former sex abuser, but Bondi was not among Epstein's globetrotting network of powerful friends.

Instead, she faced more than a year of withering criticism for her handling of the Department of Justice's Epstein probe, and the rollout of documents after President Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Bondi made no comment to gathered press and others as she arrived for her transcribed interview Friday morning. As she walked in, Epstein survivors yelled, "tell the truth."

In her opening statement, Bondi acknowledged "there were redaction errors" in the released files, but said, "I am proud of the Department's record and commitment to transparency under my leadership. We demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to transparency in the Department's search for, collection, and review of the Epstein files."

Bondi called the effort to release some 3 million files "an enormously complicated and labor-intensive process." 

"To the best of my knowledge, the Department produced everything required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act," she said.

The committee will release a transcript of the interview, but not a video recording. GOP Rep. James Comer, the Oversight Committee's chairman, said before entering the interview that Bondi would face questions about "what documents remain, why they haven't been turned over." 

"We're going to try to determine whether or not there can be more documents legally turned over. I want every document, I don't want anything held back, and I think the majority of the committee's the same way," said Comer, who represents Kentucky's 1st Congressional District.

Soon after Comer spoke, the Committee's top Democrat criticized the circumstances of Friday's appearance by Bondi.

"We continue to be incredibly disappointed of the decision to not have this interview videotaped and then released to the American public," said Rep. Robert Garcia of California.

Garcia later said Bondi "refused" to answer any questions about Mr. Trump. 

"She said that she would not speak or respond to any questions that had anything to do with President Trump," Garcia said. "It's also interesting that sitting next to her is DOJ counsel, somebody who currently works for the Department of Justice, who on multiple occasions stepped in and told the former attorney general that she was not going to answer those questions."

In a letter to the House Oversight Committee, the Department of Justice said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Guynn were accompanying Bondi in the testimony "as agency counsel, not as her personal counsel."

A spokesperson for the Justice Department said they were attending "to assist the Committee in understanding the Department's role in implementing and complying with the Epstein Files Transparency Act during her tenure."

"Because former Attorney General Bondi oversaw the Department at the time the Act was enacted and carried out, DOJ's presence is solely to ensure accurate representation of Department processes, facilitate any necessary clarifications, and support a complete factual record for the Committee," the spokesperson said.

Garcia said the committee's Democrats planned to ask Comer to call on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to appear before the committee, and that FBI Director Kash Patel is "number two" on their list.

Bondi initially pledged to release files related to Epstein, telling a Fox News interviewer shortly after she took office in February 2025 that a "client list" was "sitting on my desk right now to review." Bondi later clarified that she meant material related to Epstein was sitting on her desk.

In July 2025, the Justice Department published a memo concluding that there was no "client list" and "that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted." The memo sparked bipartisan outrage in Congress and jolted the effort to pass a bill mandating the Justice Department release its files. Days later, Mr. Trump ordered Bondi to seek the release of grand jury transcripts related to Epstein cases.

She had faced months of heated criticism from members of Congress in both parties over the Justice Department's efforts to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. It required the release of the Justice Department's records related to federal investigations into Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell within 30 days, a deadline the department did not meet.

About 3 million pages of documents were ultimately published, but that total is only about half of the files kept by the Justice Department. It said the remaining were withheld for a variety of reasons, including efforts to protect survivors' personal information and to avoid jeopardizing active federal investigations.

The president fired Bondi in April. In announcing the move, he called her a "great American patriot" despite his behind-the-scenes frustration with her performance on the job. 

She was originally scheduled to appear before the Oversight Committee under subpoena on April 14, but the Justice Department canceled her interview because she had been removed from her post as attorney general. 

Bondi's testimony comes just days after revealing to CBS News that she is undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer. She said she was diagnosed after leaving the Justice Department and recently underwent surgery as part of her treatment.

Her appearance also came on the heels of a slew of prominent interviews conducted by the committee in recent months. In addition to Clinton and Lutnick, the committee deposed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, billionaire Les Wexner and Epstein's lawyer and accountant Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn. All denied knowledge of Epstein's crimes, and denounced his behavior.

"The President cannot undertake any construction at the White House—much less demolish one of its wings—without clear authorization from Congress, as well as an appropriation of funds to do so," lawyers for the Democrats wrote. 

The coalition of lawmakers is led by Reps. Robert Garcia and Jared Huffman of California, and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

They argue that the president has no right to demolish structures or to build new ones on White House grounds because "[t]he Constitution grants Congress exclusive control over all federal property," and it has yet to approve funding or an authorization for the project.

The administration has contended that a statute permitting the White House to perform routine maintenance and repairs to the executive mansion provides a legal justification for the privately funded $400 million demolition and construction of the East Wing. Congress only appropriated about $2.5 million for such repairs. 

Congress "does not fund largescale construction projects with drop-in-the-bucket funding," the lawmakers wrote in the amicus brief.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit against President Trump late last year. In March, a federal judge ruled that construction could not proceed until Congress green-lit the project. A panel of appellate judges has temporarily allowed construction to continue and will hear arguments next week. 

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, has argued in recent filings that reconstruction of the East Wing — which includes a ballroom, kitchen space and secure facilities — is a matter of national security. He has claimed the shootings at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last Saturday make completion of the project all the more urgent. 

Senate Republicans briefly contemplated a measure that would have provided a billion dollars to bolster ballroom security, but that provision has since been dropped from a larger GOP bill. 

"President Trump is building a billion-dollar ballroom. Everyone should be disgusted by his illegal and unconstitutional vanity project. We are fighting this in court," said Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

Two other interested parties filed amici briefs in the ballroom case this week. 

On Wednesday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the Campaign Legal Center, two nonprofits focused on government ethics, wrote that accepting ballroom donations from companies and individuals with business before the government presents a conflict of interest. 

Congress should appropriate money for the ballroom, the ethics groups asserted. "This is a check against both Executive extravagance and the risk of corrupting influence."

A consortium of architects and preservationists filed a separate brief, also taking a stand against the administration, arguing, "The president has no inherent authority to direct destruction of historic federal property within a national park and then use private funds to satisfy his personal quest to build a massive, discordant, above-ground ballroom."