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The state put the first diverging diamond at a notoriously traffic-clogged intersection in Springfield where it could often take as long as 20 minutes to make a left turn. Whitney Shefte for NPR hide caption

When driving on the wrong side of the road is the right way to speed up traffic

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Palestinians grieve relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on an encampment for displaced people on Sunday, May 26, in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Gaza health officials say 35 people were killed in the strike. Anas Baba/NPR hide caption

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump with attorney Todd Blanche speaks to the media during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments, at Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday in New York City. Curtis Means/Pool/Getty Images hide caption

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Royal family website deletes Prince Harry statement that made King Charles ‘furious’

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A statement by Prince Harry criticizing the UK press for its treatment of Meghan Markle has been removed from the royal family’s official website.

The dressing-down, which Harry once claimed had incensed his estranged father and brother, was issued in November 2016 , days after the Duke of Sussex’s relationship with Markle became public.

For more than seven years, the strongly worded missive remained on royal.uk, where the monarchy shares press releases and official announcements.

However, the link is now broken, as Newsweek first reported Friday, estimating that it was quietly taken down sometime in early December 2023.

The statement came days after the Daily Mail published a headline that read, “Harry’s girl is (almost) straight outta Compton: Gang-scarred home of her mother revealed — so will he be dropping by for tea?”

In response to the story, Harry’s communications secretary spoke out to slam the press coverage of the prince’s then-girlfriend, who is biracial and from Los Angeles. It also served as the first time Harry had publicly confirmed his relationship with Markle.

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“The past week has seen a line crossed,” the statement read. “His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment.

“Some of this has been very public — the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.”

The message went on to explain that Harry was “worried” about Markle’s safety and “deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her.”

“It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm,” it continued.

“He knows commentators will say this is ‘the price she has to pay’ and that ‘this is all part of the game.’ He strongly disagrees. This is not a game — it is her life and his.”

The release of the statement was a daring move for Harry.

Until then, the royal family had stuck by the adage, “Never complain, never explain” when it came to the media.

Harry, 39, wrote in his 2023 memoir, “Spare,” that the move had infuriated his dad, King Charles, and brother, Prince William, because it highlighted the duo’s deficiencies in defending their respective spouses, Queen Camilla and Kate Middleton.

“My statement generated a whole new onslaught — from my family,” he recalled in the book. “Pa and Willy were furious. They gave me an earful. My statement made them look bad, they both said. ‘Why in hell?’ Because they’d never put out a statement for their girlfriends or wives when they were being harassed.”

This is not the first time the palace has tinkered with Harry on its website. Earlier this year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s separate profiles were combined to a slimmed-down joint biography.

The couple, who got married in May 2018, resigned from their senior royal duties in January 2020.

Buckingham Palace did not reply for comment.

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Officer killed in attack near US Capitol

By Melissa Macaya, Meg Wagner , Veronica Rocha , Melissa Mahtani and Fernando Alfonso III , CNN

One officer is dead after suspect rams car into police barrier near the US Capitol. Here's what we know.

One US Capitol Police officer has died and another is injured after a suspect rammed a car into a police barricade outside the Capitol building Friday afternoon.

The suspect in the attack has also died.

Here's what we know:

• The incident: At about 1:02 p.m. ET, a suspect rammed his car into two US Capitol officers and then hit the north barricade barrier at the Capitol, Yogananda Pittman, acting chief of the US Capitol Police, said during a news conference Friday afternoon. "The suspect did start lunging toward US Capitol Police officers, at which time US Capitol Police officers fired upon the suspect," she said. The Capitol complex was placed on lockdown following the attack.
• The victims: Two US Capitol Police officers were taken to different hospitals with injuries and one died, Pittman added. The officer who died in the attack near the Capitol building was identified as William "Billy" Evans, an 18-year US Capitol Police veteran, the chief said in a statement. The second US Capitol Police officer who was struck by the car this afternoon is in stable and non-threatening condition, according to a tweet from the department.
• The suspect: The suspect died following the attack, Pittman said. The suspect was identified as Noah Green, according to federal and local law enforcement sources. One federal source said he is 25. Green posted on social media in the weeks before the attack that he had lost his job and suffered medical ailments, and said he believed the federal government was targeting him with "mind control." 
• The aftermath: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered flags at the US Capitol to be flown at half-staff following the officer's death, Pelosi's deputy chief of staff tweeted. "Today, America’s heart has been broken by the tragic and heroic death of one of our Capitol Police heroes: Officer William Evans. He is a martyr for our democracy," Pelosi said in a statement.
• President Biden sends his condolences: Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden are heartbroken. “Jill and I were heartbroken to learn of the violent attack at a security checkpoint on the US Capitol grounds, which killed Officer William Evans of the US Capitol Police, and left a fellow officer fighting for his life.” Biden said. “We send our heartfelt condolences to Officer Evans’ family, and everyone grieving his loss. We know what a difficult time this has been for the Capitol, everyone who works there, and those who protect it.” The White House flag was lowered to half-staff.
• Larger context: The officer who was killed Friday is the second to die in the line of duty this year. Capitol Police officer, Brian D. Sicknick,  died a day after the Capitol riot  on Jan. 6 "due to injuries sustained while on-duty," the Capitol Police said in a statement. Two officers died by suicide after responding to the riot.

Vice President Harris says fallen officer "made the ultimate sacrifice protecting the Capitol"

From CNN's DJ Judd

Vice President Kamala Harris issued a statement Friday regarding the death of US Capitol Police Officer William Evans , saying that he "made the ultimate sacrifice protecting the Capitol and those who work there on behalf of the American people."

Evans died after a man rammed a vehicle into a police barricade near the US Capitol building.

"Officer Evans, his family, and all those who knew him are in our hearts and prayers. We mourn with them during this difficult time," she said in the statement.

“Doug and I are grateful for the Capitol Police, the National Guard Immediate Response Force, and everyone else who responded swiftly to today’s attack,” Harris, who served in the Senate for four years, wrote. “And we continue to be proud of the courageous men and women who defend the Capitol, especially during a challenging period when they have faced two violent and deadly attacks.”

Second Capitol Police officer struck this afternoon is in stable condition

The second US Capitol Police officer who was struck by the car this afternoon is in stable and non-threatening condition, according to a tweet from the department.

Police and National Guardsmen responded swiftly as the situation unfolded Friday, immediately moving to secure the Capitol as initial reports of violence began to emerge.

"Just after 1 p.m., a man in a blue sedan rammed his vehicle into the North Barricade at the US Capitol, striking 2 USCP officers," US Capitol Police said in a statement. "The Department immediately locked down the Capitol Campus. The man exited the vehicle with a knife and ran toward our officers. At least one officer, drew their weapon and shot the suspect."

Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré on attack near US Capitol: "The system worked"

From CNN's Leinz Vales

Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who led a review of security at the US Capitol in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot, said Friday that the "system worked," despite the loss of an officer, who died after a man rammed a car into a police barricade outside the Capitol building.

"The security system that worked today was the readiness of the Capitol police out front challenging the car and then the barriers, buffers that went in after 9/11," Honoré told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

"Unfortunately, we lost Officer Evans today, but by and large that system worked. The Capitol police responded, they stopped him. The system worked."

Suspect in Capitol car attack posted about fears of FBI and CIA week before ramming officer

From CNN’s Casey Tolan, Paul Murphy, Brynn Gingras and Josh Campbell

Noah Green, the suspect who law enforcement sources say rammed his car into two US Capitol Police officers on Friday, posted on social media in the weeks before the attack that he had lost his job and suffered medical ailments, and said he believed the federal government was targeting him with "mind control." 

Less than two hours before he was shot and killed, Green posted a number of Instagram stories on an account that appears to belong him, including links to ​other Instagram videos of Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan speaking.

“The U.S. Government is the #1 enemy of Black people!" a caption on one video read. In another post on the Instagram account, Green wrote last week that he believed Farrakhan had saved him "after the terrible afflictions I have suffered presumably by the CIA and FBI, government agencies of the United States of America." 

Responding to a comment on that post, Green wrote, “I have suffered multiple home break ins, food poisonings, assaults, unauthorized operations in the hospital, mind control.” 

Green, 25, graduated from Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in finance, according to a program from the university commencement. A law enforcement source said he had a Virginia driver’s license. 

An online athletics bio from the university said he was born in Fairlea, West Virginia, and that the “person in history he’d most like to meet is Malcolm X.” In a March 17 post on a Facebook account that appears to belong to him, Green wrote that he believed Farrakhan is “Jesus, the Messiah,” and that Farrakhan was “instrumental on my awakening and life’s work.” Green signed the post “Brother Noah X.”

“To be honest these past few years have been tough, and these past few months have been tougher,” Green wrote in the post. “I have been tried with some of the biggest, unimaginable tests in my life.” 

He said that he was unemployed “after I left my job partly due to afflictions, but ultimately, in search of a spiritual journey.” 

“My faith is one of the only things that has been able to carry me through these times and my faith is centered on the belief of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan as Jesus, the Messiah, the final divine reminder in our midst,” the post continued. “I consider him my spiritual father. Without his guidance, his word, and his teachings that I’ve picked up on along the way, I would’ve been unable to continue.”

The same day, Green uploaded an image of a certificate that appeared to recognize a gift he had made to the Nation of Islam of $1,085. He also posted links to videos of several speeches by Farrakhan. One of the videos, of a 1996 speech by Farrakhan, was titled “The Divine Destruction of America.”

In his Facebook post, Green wrote that he had been “unknowingly” taking a drug and suffering from side effects.

“The Minister is here to save me and the rest of humanity, even if it means facing death,” he wrote, appearing to reference Farrakhan. “Be willing to deny yourself and follow him, pick up your cross.”

The Instagram and Facebook accounts were both taken offline Friday afternoon. 

"After this horrific event, our thoughts are with the Capitol Police and their loved ones," a Facebook company spokesperson told CNN. "We have designated the incident under our Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy, which means we have removed the suspect’s accounts from Facebook and Instagram, and are removing any content that praises, supports, or represents the attack or the suspect. We are in contact with law enforcement as they conduct their investigation.” 

Two law enforcement sources with knowledge of the ongoing investigation confirm to CNN the Facebook page is the suspect's. Additionally, an Instagram account with the same photos and information as the Facebook account was discovered by CNN. 

CNN has attempted to reach Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam for comment on this story but has not received a response. Calls to the Nation of Islam were directed to the organization’s newspaper, and an individual that picked up the phone at the newspaper said there was no one there that could comment on the story.

Flag at White House lowered to half-staff in honor of fallen officer

From CNN's DJ Judd and Arlette Saenz

The White House flag has been lowered to half-staff following the death of William "Billy" Evans, an 18-year US Capitol Police veteran killed this afternoon after a man rammed a vehicle into a police barricade outside the Capitol building.

"It is with profound sadness that I share the news of the passing of Officer William 'Billy' Evans this afternoon from injuries he sustained following an attack at the North Barricade by a lone assailant," the department's acting chief Yogananda Pittman said in a statement.

During a press briefing, Pittman said the suspect in the attack, who brandished a knife after ramming his vehicle into a police barricade on Constitution Avenue and was subsequently shot by officers, had also died.

Federal and local law enforcement sources told CNN that the suspect has been identified as Noah Green. One federal source told CNN he was 25 years old. 

Biden sends his "heartfelt condolences" to family of officer killed in Capitol incident

President Biden reacted to an incident at the US Capitol today that left one Capitol Police officer dead, saying he and first lady Jill Biden are heartbroken.

“Jill and I were heartbroken to learn of the violent attack at a security checkpoint on the US Capitol grounds, which killed Officer William Evans of the US Capitol Police, and left a fellow officer fighting for his life.” Biden said. “We send our heartfelt condolences to Officer Evans’ family, and everyone grieving his loss. We know what a difficult time this has been for the Capitol, everyone who works there, and those who protect it.”

“I have been receiving ongoing briefings from my Homeland Security Advisor, and will be getting further updates as the investigation proceeds,” he added.

Biden also said he has ordered that the White House flags to be lowered to half-mast.

Biden is at Camp David, Maryland, where he is spending the Easter holiday.

Schumer praises service of Capitol Police officers: "We're in their debt"

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was "heartbroken" for the US Capitol Police officer who was killed in today's attack "defending our Capitol."

The Democrat from New York thanked US Capitol Police, the National Guard and first responders "for all they do to protect the Capitol and those inside."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also tweeted about the incident, saying he is "Praying for the United States Capitol Police officers who were attacked at the Capitol" and "Grateful to all the USCP and first responders who are on the scene."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered the flags at the US Capitol to be flown at half-staff today in honor of the officer who was killed.

See Schumer's tweet:

Pelosi honors "heroic death" of US Capitol officer: "He is a martyr for our democracy"

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement on today's attack near the Capitol and the US Capitol Police officer who was killed.

"Today, America’s heart has been broken by the tragic and heroic death of one of our Capitol Police heroes: Officer William Evans. He is a martyr for our democracy," Pelosi said in the statement.

Pelosi expressed her gratitude, and said the officers showed the same "extraordinary selflessness and spirit of service" as they did during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.

"Today, once again, these heroes risked their lives to protect our Capitol and our Country, with the same extraordinary selflessness and spirit of service seen on January 6. On behalf of the entire House, we are profoundly grateful," Pelosi said.

She said Congress "stands ready to assist law enforcement with a swift and comprehensive investigation into this heinous attack."

Pelosi also expressed her condolences for the officer's family.

“May we always remember the heroism of those who have given their lives to defend our Democracy," she said.

Pelosi ordered that the flags at the US Capitol be flown at half-staff in honor of the officer who was killed.

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U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.s. department of the treasury releases joint policy statement and principles on voluntary carbon markets.

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Senior Advisor for International Climate Policy John Podesta, National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard, and National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi announced the publication of a Joint Statement of Policy and new Principles for Responsible Participation in Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs), which have the potential to play an important role in channeling private capital to drive decarbonization efforts. Since Day One, President Biden has led and delivered on the most ambitious climate agenda in history, including securing the Inflation Reduction Act, the country’s largest-ever investment in climate, and taking executive action to cut emissions across every sector of the economy. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to tackling the climate crisis using all tools at our disposal and ensuring that the economic opportunities created by a clean energy future are shared across the country and available to all Americans.

“Voluntary carbon markets can help unlock the power of private markets to reduce emissions, but that can only happen if we address significant existing challenges,” said  U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen . “The principles released today are an important step toward building high-integrity voluntary carbon markets. This is part of the Biden administration’s ambitious efforts to tackle the climate crisis and accelerate a clean energy transition that benefits all Americans.”

VCMs are markets in which carbon credits—each representing one tonne of carbon reduced or removed from the atmosphere—are bought and sold by companies, NGOs, governments, and others on a voluntary basis. In addition to their potential to drive decarbonization efforts, VCMs also have the potential to generate economic opportunity at home and abroad—including for farmers, ranchers, small suppliers, and through projects and programs in developing countries. VCMs can serve as an important source of revenue, enabling finance that advances decarbonization and provides critical economic support to many who need it.

However, challenges in these markets, such as projects that don’t deliver the positive climate impact they promised, have undermined confidence in VCMs. These markets have the potential to create economic opportunity and can be a a useful tool in tackling climate change, but only if further action is taken to address these challenges. Critically, stakeholders must be certain that one credit truly represents one tonne of carbon dioxide (or its equivalent) reduced or removed from the atmosphere, beyond what would have otherwise occurred. Further action is also needed to address challenges regarding the credible use of credits and market integrity.

The Statement and Principles released today represent the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advance responsible market practices that will help VCMs drive meaningful climate ambition and generate economic opportunity at home and abroad.

“To reach net-zero emissions by mid-century and achieve our climate goals, we need to mobilize enormous amounts of private capital,” said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy. “Voluntary carbon markets that adhere to principles of high-integrity can play a critical role in getting private capital off the sidelines, accelerate our progress on climate, protect nature, and support clean energy deployment in developing countries that can benefit most from new investment.”

“With the right incentives and guardrails in place, VCMs can be a source of critical financing to drive decarbonization and clean energy solutions,” said Lael Brainard, National Economic Advisor.

“When President Biden thinks climate, he thinks jobs, and from day one, he’s positioned America to seize this massive opportunity,” said Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi.  “President Biden recognizes that the right rules of the road are key to durably advance not just our climate ambitions, but also economic opportunity and environmental justice. These principles will help us counter glossy greenwash and other real risks in a nascent and voluntary market and, instead, catalyze mountains of capital to rigorously take on emissions and create good-paying jobs. From scaling climate smart agriculture to standing up clean energy manufacturing, the U.S will continue to build on President Biden’s historic record of climate leadership.”

The Statement and Principles affirm that high-integrity VCMs can and should play a meaningful role in reducing and removing global greenhouse gas emissions and support the objective of global net-zero emissions by 2050. By providing steady, reliable revenue streams, VCMs can deliver additional capital and market support for both existing, credible decarbonization practices, including nature-based solutions, and for innovative climate technologies, including those that scale up carbon removal activities. High-integrity VCMs can also deliver important co-benefits for communities, including supporting economic development, sustaining livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and conserving land and water resources and biodiversity.

Today’s announcement also highlights the numerous initiatives being pursued across the Biden-Harris Administration to encourage the responsible development of VCMs, including: direct carbon removal purchases by the Department of Energy; the buildout of market infrastructure and support by the Department of Agriculture; the Department of State's leadership in negotiating international climate agreements and in supporting high-integrity crediting initiatives, such as the LEAF Coalition and Energy Transition Accelerator; and the Department of the Treasury’s release of principles to support private sector net-zero transition planning.

Today’s announcement also includes new actions to strengthen these markets. These include the release of a Request for Information by the Department of Agriculture asking for public input relating to the protocols used in VCMs, furthering its work to implement the Growing Climate Solutions Act, and the announcement by the Department of Energy of the semifinalists for its $35 million Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Pilot Prize.

"If done right, Voluntary Carbon Markets can provide new revenue opportunities for farmers, ranchers, private forest landowners and the rural communities they live in, all while driving needed investment in nature-based climate solutions across the agriculture and forestry sectors,” said Agriculture Secretary Vilsack.  “At USDA, through implementation of the Growing Climate Solutions Act and related efforts, we are already working to facilitate producer participation and drive more integrity and confidence in this evolving marketplace."

The Statement and Principles were developed in close coordination with the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.  “The Statement and Principles align with the United States' efforts to enhance carbon credit market integrity internationally, including through the ETA and LEAF initiatives, to address international aviation emissions, and under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement,” said Sue Biniaz, Principal Deputy Special Envoy for Climate.

View the Joint Policy Statement and Principles.

View the White House Factsheet.

Judge Cannon denies special counsel request to bar Trump from making statements about law enforcement

The special counsel said Trump's statements may pose a risk to law enforcement.

The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's classified documents case denied the special counsel’s motion requesting that Trump be barred from making statements that could pose a significant risk to law enforcement.

Trump's lawyers argued that the special counsel violated Local Rule 88.9, which says both parties must "meet and confer" before flings motions so the court and the parties' time is used efficiently. In a filing Monday, Trump's lawyers asked Cannon to strike the special counsel's request and impose sanctions on any prosecutors involved in filing their motion

Judge Aileen Cannon said the special counsel's "conferral" with Trump's lawyers is "wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy."

Cannon agreed with Trump's lawyers that the special counsel should not have filed such a motion without meaningfully conferring with the defense, as the local rules require.

The judge said a failure to comply with those requirements may result in sanctions.

Trump's lawyers wrote, "For the reasons set forth below, in light of the Office’s blatant violation of Local Rule 88.9 and related warnings from the Court, the Court should strike the Motion, make civil contempt findings as to all government attorneys who participated in the decision to file the Motion without meaningful conferral, and impose sanctions after holding an evidentiary hearing regarding the purpose and intent behind the Office’s decision to willfully disregard required procedures."

Trump's lead defense attorney Todd Blanche had asked the special counsel to wait until Monday to meet and confer – something the special counsel's office declined to do because they said Trump had created a situation with his public comments that couldn't wait the weekend to file.

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"As we also tried to explain earlier, our judgment was that the situation your client has created necessitated a prompt request for relief that could not wait the weekend to file. We understand your position and represented to the court that you do not believe the government has engaged in adequate conferral here," special counsel prosecutor David Harbach wrote in an email to Trump's lawyers.

MORE: Special counsel suspected additional obstruction effort by Trump in classified docs case

The request by the special counsel followed Trump's efforts to seize on an item of recently released discovery in the case that he falsely claims shows President Joe Biden planned to assassinate him during the search of his Mar-a-Lago club in August 2022.

"The Government moves to modify defendant Donald J. Trump’s conditions of release, to make clear that he may not make statements that pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents participating in the investigation and prosecution of this case," the filings from Smith said.

In bolstering the request, the filing points to the attack on an FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio, which they say was in the wake of statements Trump made "inflaming his supporters" following the August search.

Trump pleaded not guilty last June to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the nation's defense capabilities, and took steps to thwart the government's efforts to get the documents back.

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Distinguishing Between Factual and Opinion Statements in the News

The politically aware, digitally savvy and those more trusting of the news media fare better; republicans and democrats both influenced by political appeal of statements, table of contents.

• Republicans and Democrats are more likely to think news statements are factual when they appeal to their side – even if they are opinions
• News brand labels in this study had a modest impact on separating factual statements from opinion
• 1. Overall, Americans identified more statements correctly than incorrectly, but sizable portions got most wrong
• 2. The ability to classify statements as factual or opinion varies widely based on political awareness, digital savviness and trust in news media
• 3. Republicans and Democrats more likely to classify a news statement as factual if it favors their side – whether it is factual or opinion
• 4. Americans overwhelmingly see statements they think are factual as accurate, mostly disagree with factual statements they incorrectly label as opinions
• 5. Tying statements to news outlets had limited impact on Americans’ capacity to identify statements as factual or opinion
• Acknowledgments
• Methodology
• Appendix A: Measuring capacity to classify statements as factual or opinion
• Appendix B: Detailed tables

In today’s fast-paced and complex information environment, news consumers must make rapid-fire judgments about how to internalize news-related statements – statements that often come in snippets and through pathways that provide little context. A new Pew Research Center survey of 5,035 U.S. adults examines a basic step in that process: whether members of the public can recognize news as factual – something that’s capable of being proved or disproved by objective evidence – or as an opinion that reflects the beliefs and values of whoever expressed it.

The findings from the survey, conducted between Feb. 22 and March 8, 2018, reveal that even this basic task presents a challenge. The main portion of the study, which measured the public’s ability to distinguish between five factual statements and five opinion statements, found that a majority of Americans correctly identified at least three of the five statements in each set. But this result is only a little better than random guesses. Far fewer Americans got all five correct, and roughly a quarter got most or all wrong. Even more revealing is that certain Americans do far better at parsing through this content than others. Those with high political awareness, those who are very digitally savvy and those who place high levels of trust in the news media are better able than others to accurately identify news-related statements as factual or opinion.

For example, 36% of Americans with high levels of political awareness (those who are knowledgeable about politics and regularly get political news) correctly identified all five factual news statements, compared with about half as many (17%) of those with low political awareness. Similarly, 44% of the very digitally savvy (those who are highly confident in using digital devices and regularly use the internet) identified all five opinion statements correctly versus 21% of those who are not as technologically savvy. And though political awareness and digital savviness are related to education in predictable ways, these relationships persist even when accounting for an individual’s education level.

Trust in those who do the reporting also matters in how that statement is interpreted. Almost four-in-ten Americans who have a lot of trust in the information from national news organizations (39%) correctly identified all five factual statements, compared with 18% of those who have not much or no trust. However, one other trait related to news habits – the public’s level of interest in news – does not show much difference.

In addition to political awareness, party identification plays a role in how Americans differentiate between factual and opinion news statements. Both Republicans and Democrats show a propensity to be influenced by which side of the aisle a statement appeals to most. For example, members of each political party were more likely to label both factual and opinion statements as factual when they appealed more to their political side.

At this point, then, the U.S. is not completely detached from what is factual and what is not. But with the vast majority of Americans getting at least some news online, gaps across population groups in the ability to sort news correctly raise caution. Amid the massive array of content that flows through the digital space hourly, the brief dips into and out of news and the country’s heightened political divisiveness, the ability and motivation to quickly sort news correctly is all the more critical.

The differentiation between factual and opinion statements used in this study – the capacity to be proved or disproved by objective evidence – is commonly used by others as well, but may vary somewhat from how “facts” are sometimes discussed in debates – as statements that are true. 1 While Americans’ sense of what is true and false is important, this study was not intended as a knowledge quiz of news content. Instead, this study was intended to explore whether the public sees distinctions between news that is based upon objective evidence and news that is not.

To accomplish this, respondents were shown a series of news-related statements in the main portion of the study: five factual statements, five opinions and two statements that don’t fit clearly into either the factual or opinion buckets – termed here as “borderline” statements. Respondents were asked to determine if each was a factual statement (whether accurate or not) or an opinion statement (whether agreed with or not). For more information on how statements were selected for the study, see below .

How the study asked Americans to classify factual versus opinion-based news statements

In the survey, respondents read a series of news statements and were asked to put each statement in one of two categories:

• A factual statement , regardless of whether it was accurate or inaccurate. In other words, they were to choose this classification if they thought that the statement could be proved or disproved based on objective evidence.
• An opinion statement , regardless of whether they agreed with the statement or not. In other words, they were to choose this classification if they thought that it was based on the values and beliefs of the journalist or the source making the statement, and could not definitively be proved or disproved based on objective evidence.

In the initial set, five statements were factual, five were opinion and two were in an ambiguous space between factual and opinion – referred to here as “borderline” statements. (All of the factual statements were accurate.) The statements were written and classified in consultation with experts both inside and outside Pew Research Center. The goal was to include an equal number of statements that would more likely appeal to the political right or to the political left, with an overall balance across statements. All of the statements related to policy issues and current events. The individual statements are listed in an expandable box at the end of this section, and the complete methodology, including further information on statement selection, classification, and political appeal, can be found here .

It’s important to explore what role political identification plays in how Americans decipher factual news statements from opinion news statements. To analyze this, the study aimed to include an equal number of statements that played to the sensitivities of each side, maintaining an overall ideological balance across statements. 2

Overall, Republicans and Democrats were more likely to classify both factual and opinion statements as factual when they appealed most to their side. Consider, for example, the factual statement “President Barack Obama was born in the United States” – one that may be perceived as more congenial to the political left and less so to the political right. Nearly nine-in-ten Democrats (89%) correctly identified it as a factual statement, compared with 63% of Republicans. On the other hand, almost four-in-ten Democrats (37%) incorrectly classified the left-appealing opinion statement “Increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour is essential for the health of the U.S. economy” as factual, compared with about half as many Republicans (17%). 3

In a separate part of the study, respondents were shown eight different statements. But this time, most saw statements attributed to one of three specific news outlets: one with a left-leaning audience (The New York Times), one with a right-leaning audience (Fox News Channel) and one with a more mixed audience (USA Today). 4

Overall, attributing the statements to news outlets had a limited impact on statement classification, except for one case: Republicans were modestly more likely than Democrats to accurately classify the three factual statements in this second set when they were attributed to Fox News – and correspondingly, Democrats were modestly less likely than Republicans to do so. Republicans correctly classified them 77% of the time when attributed to Fox News, 8 percentage points higher than Democrats, who did so 69% of the time. 5 Members of the two parties were as likely as each other to correctly classify the factual statements when no source was attributed or when USA Today or The New York Times was attributed. Labeling statements with a news outlet had no impact on how Republicans or Democrats classified the opinion statements. And, overall, the same general findings about differences based on political awareness, digital savviness and trust also held true for this second set of statements.

When Americans call a statement factual they overwhelmingly also think it is accurate; they tend to disagree with factual statements they incorrectly label as opinions

The study probed one step further for the initial set of 12 statements. If respondents identified a statement as factual, they were then asked if they thought it was accurate or inaccurate. If they identified a statement to be an opinion, they were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with it.

When Americans see a news statement as factual, they overwhelmingly also believe it to be accurate. This is true for both statements they correctly and incorrectly identified as factual, though small portions of the public did call statements both factual and inaccurate.

When Americans incorrectly classified factual statements as opinions, they most often disagreed with the statement. When correctly classifying opinions as such, however, Americans expressed more of a mix of agreeing and disagreeing with the statement. About the study

Statement selection

This is Pew Research Center’s first step in understanding how people parse through information as factual or opinion. Creating the mix of statements was a multistep and rigorous process that incorporated a wide variety of viewpoints. First, researchers sifted through a number of different sources to create an initial pool of statements. The factual statements were drawn from sources including news organizations, government agencies, research organizations and fact-checking entities, and were verified by the research team as accurate. The opinion statements were adapted largely from public opinion survey questions. A final list of statements was created in consultation with Pew Research Center subject matter experts and an external board of advisers.

The goals were to:

• Pull together statements that range across a variety of policy areas and current events
• Strive for statements that were clearly factual and clearly opinion in nature (as well as some that combined both factual and opinion elements, referred to here as “borderline”)
• Include an equal number of statements that appealed to the right and left, maintaining an overall ideological balance

In the primary set of statements, respondents saw five factual, five opinion and two borderline statements. Factual statements that lend support to views held by more people on one side of the ideological spectrum (and fewer of those on the other side) were classified as appealing to the narrative of that side. Opinion statements were classified as appealing to one side if in recent surveys they were supported more by one political party than the other. Two of the statements (one factual and one opinion) were “neutral” and intended to appeal equally to the left and right.

How Pew Research Center asked respondents to categorize news statements as factual or opinion

As noted previously, respondents were first asked to classify each news statement as a factual statement or an opinion statement. Extensive testing of the question wording was conducted to ensure that respondents would not treat this task as asking if they agree with the statement or as a knowledge quiz. This is why, for instance, the question does not merely ask whether the statement is a factual or an opinion statement and instead includes explanatory language as follows: “Regardless of how knowledgeable you are about the topic, would you consider this statement to be a factual statement (whether you think it is accurate or not) OR an opinion statement (whether you agree with it or not)?” For more details on the testing of different question wordings, see Appendix A .

After classifying each statement as factual or opinion, respondents were then asked one of two follow-up questions. If they classified a statement as factual, they were then asked if they thought the statement was accurate or inaccurate. If they classified it as an opinion, they were asked if they agreed or disagreed with the statement.

Below are the 12 news statements that respondents were asked to categorize:

Factual statements

• Health care costs per person in the U.S. are the highest in the developed world
• President Barack Obama was born in the United States
• Immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally have some rights under the Constitution
• ISIS lost a significant portion of its territory in Iraq and Syria in 2017
• Spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid make up the largest portion of the U.S. federal budget

Opinion statements

• Democracy is the greatest form of government
• Increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour is essential for the health of the U.S. economy
• Abortion should be legal in most cases
• Immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally are a very big problem for the country today
• Government is almost always wasteful and inefficient

Borderline statements

• Applying additional scrutiny to Muslim Americans would not reduce terrorism in the U.S.
• Voter fraud across the U.S. has undermined the results of our elections
• For example,  fact-checking organizations  have used this differentiation of a statement’s capacity to be proved or disproved as a way to determine whether a claim can be fact-checked and  schools  have used this approach to teach students to differentiate facts from opinions. ↩
• A statement was considered to appeal to the left or the right based on whether it lent support to political views held by more on one side of the ideological spectrum than the other. Various sources were used to determine the appeal of each statement, including news stories, statements by elected officials, and recent polling. ↩
• The findings in this study do not necessarily imply that one party is better able to correctly classify news statements as factual or opinion-based. Even though there were some differences between the parties (for instance, 78% of Democrats compared with 68% of Republicans who correctly classified at least three of five factual statements), the more meaningful finding is the tendency among both to be influenced by the possible political appeal of statements. ↩
• The classification of these three outlets’ audiences is based on previously reported survey data, the same data that was used to classify audiences for a recent study about coverage of the Trump administration. For more detail on the classification of the three news outlets, as well as the selection and analysis of this second set of statements, see the Methodology . At the end of the survey, respondents who saw news statements attributed to the news outlets were told, “Please note that the statements that you were shown in this survey were part of an experiment and did not actually appear in news articles of the news organizations.” ↩
• This analysis grouped together all of the times the 5,035 respondents saw a statement attributed to each of the outlets or no outlet at all. The results, then, are given as the “percent of the time” that respondents classified statements a given way when attributed to each outlet. For more details on what “percent of the time” means, see the Methodology . ↩

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Americans’ Changing Relationship With Local News

How hispanic americans get their news, introducing the pew-knight initiative, many americans find value in getting news on social media, but concerns about inaccuracy have risen, most top-ranked podcasts bring on guests, most popular, report materials.

• Spring 2018 Survey on Factual and Opinion Statements in the News

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Judge denies request to restrict Trump statements about law enforcement in classified records case

Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media outside of his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court, Tuesday, May 28, 2024, in New York. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s classified documents case in Florida on Tuesday denied prosecutors’ request to bar the former president from making public statements that could endanger law enforcement agents participating in the prosecution.

Prosecutors had told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that the restriction was necessary to protect law enforcement from potential threats and harassment after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee baselessly claimed that the Biden administration wanted to kill him during a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, nearly two years ago.

Cannon chided prosecutors in her order denying their request, saying they didn’t give defense lawyers adequate time to discuss the matter before it was filed Friday evening. The judge warned prosecutors that failing to comply with court requirements in the future may lead to sanctions. She denied the request without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could file it again.

A spokesperson for special counsel Jack Smith’s team declined to comment Tuesday.

The judge’s decision came as Trump’s lawyers were delivering their closing argument at trial in another criminal case he’s facing in New York stemming from a hush money payment to a porn actor during the 2016 presidential campaign.

It’s the latest example of bitterness between Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, and prosecutors who have accused the former president of illegally hoarding at his Mar-a-Lago estate classified documents that he took with him after he left the White House in 2021 and then obstructing the FBI’s efforts to get them back. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

Cannon has chided prosecutors both in hearings and in court papers over a number of matters, including telling Smith’s team during one hearing that it was “wasting the court’s time.” Prosecutors have also signaled mounting frustration with Cannon’s rulings, saying in one recent court filing that a request from the judge was based on a “fundamentally flawed legal premise.”

Prosecutors’ request followed a distorted claim by Trump last week that the FBI agents who searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022 were “authorized to shoot me” and were “locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.”

Trump was referring to the disclosure in a court document that the FBI, during the search followed a standard use-of-force policy that prohibits the use of deadly force except when the officer conducting the search has a reasonable belief that the “subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”

The Justice Department policy is routine and meant to limit, rather than encourage, the use of force during searches. Prosecutors noted that the search of the Florida property was intentionally conducted when Trump and his family were out of state and was coordinated in advance with the U.S. Secret Service. No force was used.

Prosecutors said in court papers late Friday that Trump’s false suggestion that federal agents “were complicit in a plot to assassinate him” exposes law enforcement officers “to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment.” They had urged the judge to bar Trump from making any comments that “pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents” participating in the case.

Defense attorneys in a court filing late Monday called prosecutors’ proposed restriction on Trump’s speech “unconstitutional” and noted that the identities of law enforcement officers in the case are subject to a protective order preventing their public release. Defense attorneys said they asked Smith’s team on Friday if the two sides could meet on Monday to give the defense time to discuss the request with Trump before prosecutors filed it.

But prosecutor David Harbach said the situation needed to be addressed urgently, saying in an email to the defense that Trump created a situation that “necessitated a prompt request for relief that could not wait the weekend to file.” Prosecutors told the judge in their filing late Friday while Trump’s lawyers didn’t believe there is any “imminent danger,” Trump had continued that day to make false statements “smearing and endangering the agents who executed the search.”

A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, Steven Cheung, said in a statement Tuesday that “the entire documents case was a political sham from the very beginning and it should be thrown out entirely.”

It’s among four criminal cases Trump is confronting as he seeks to reclaim the White House, but outside of the ongoing New York hush money prosecution , it’s unclear that any of the other three will reach trial before the November election.

Trump has already had restrictions placed on his speech in two of the other cases over incendiary comments officials say threaten the integrity of the prosecutions.

In the New York case, Trump has been fined and threatened with jail time for repeatedly violating a gag order that bars him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to the matter.

He’s also subject to a gag order in his federal criminal election interference case in Washington. That order limits what he can say about witnesses, lawyers in the case and court staff, though an appeals court freed him to speak about special counsel Smith, who brought the case.

Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker in Washington contributed.

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The Royal Family Website Removes Prince Harry’s 2016 Statement Confirming Meghan Markle Romance

The royal family appears to be offering some subtle shade toward Prince Harry and Meghan Markle .

Newsweek was first to report late last week that Harry’s 2016 statement confirming his relationship with now wife Meghan, 42, has been removed from the royal family’s website — Royal.uk. Harry, 39, made headlines at the time for issuing a groundbreaking statement via the Kensington Palace communications secretary Jason Knauf .

While it’s unclear exactly when the statement was removed, Newsweek reported that archive website Wayback Machine had a functioning version of the webpage on December 3 of last year. By December 10, it appeared that Harry’s message had been taken down from the site.

Us Weekly has reached out to the royal family for comment.

Related: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Relationship Timeline

The Duke of Sussex condemned the “wave of abuse and harassment” directed toward Meghan at the time.

“​The past week has seen a line crossed,”​the statement read, directly referencing “the outright sexism and racism” that Meghan faced on social media. “Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her.”

Us Weekly confirmed in October 2016 that Harry and Meghan had kicked off their relationship in June of that year. At the time, a source shared that they met “just as friends” initially but eventually “developed romantic interests” with each other. In November 2017, Harry proposed to Meghan and the pair got married in May 2018.

Following their wedding, news that the couple was clashing with the royal family ran rampant. In early 2020, Harry and Meghan announced that they were taking a step back from their roles as senior royals — officially parting ways with the family.

Harry spoke candidly about his estranged relationship with his family over the years. The Duke offered insight into where things stand with his father, King Charles III , and his brother, Prince William , in his 2023 memoir Spare .

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Related: Prince Harry's Ups and Downs With the Royal Family Over the Years

“I was trapped but I didn’t know I was trapped,” Harry admitted during his CBS tell-all interview in March 2021. “Trapped within the system like the rest of the family. My father [King Charles III] and my brother are trapped. They don’t get to leave, and I have huge compassion for that.”

Harry’s relationship with the royal family continues to fracture. In March, royal watchers were quick to notice that the Duke and Duchess bio’s on the royal family website had been combined — Harry and Meghan previously had their own longer bio pages on the site.

“As announced in January 2020, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have stepped back as working members of The Royal Family,” a statement at the top of their shared webpage read. “The couple married in St George’s Chapel, Windsor on 19 May 2018 and have two children: Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.”

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Prosecutors ask judge in classified documents case to block Trump from statements endangering law enforcement

Prosecutors in Donald Trump's classified documents case in Florida asked a federal judge on Friday to block the former president from making public statements that pose "a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents" investigating and prosecuting the case.

The request to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case, comes after the former president this week falsely claimed in a Truth Social post that the Biden administration "AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE" in its 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago for classified documents. The Trump campaign also claimed in a fundraising email that President Joe Biden was "locked & loaded ready to take me out" during a search of his Mar-a-Lago property for classified documents.

Prosecutors in special counsel Jack Smith's office said in their court filing that agents acted "in an appropriate and professional manner, subject to the Department of Justice’s standard use-of-force policy" and argued that Trump's claims posed a threat to law enforcement agents.

"Trump’s repeated mischaracterization of these facts in widely distributed messages as an attempt to kill him, his family, and Secret Service agents has endangered law enforcement officers involved in the investigation and prosecution of this case and threatened the integrity of these proceedings," prosecutors wrote. "A restriction prohibiting future similar statements should therefore be modified to prohibit similar communications going forward."

In making the allegations, Trump and his campaign appeared to be citing  recently unsealed court filings  related to the 2022 search. The filings showed the judge overseeing the case at the time questioned how the former president could not have noticed that he had highly sensitive documents in his bedroom.

Trump was in New Jersey when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

"As Trump is well aware," prosecutors noted in Friday's filing, the FBI "took extraordinary care to execute the search warrant unobtrusively and without needless confrontation," and scheduled the search for a time when the former president and his family would be away.

Prosecutors said that Trump’s attorneys objected to their motion, as well as its timing.

Prosecutors' request is for modification of Trump's conditions of release, which is different from a gag order .

When the former president was indicted, the bond ensured that his continued release was dependent on his compliance with certain terms.

In making the request, prosecutors are asking for Trump to face higher stakes if he makes statements that the court finds endangers law enforcement.

Attorneys for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night, but a campaign spokesperson said in an email that “Crooked Joe Biden and his Hacks and Thugs are obsessed with trying to deprive President Trump and all American voters of their First Amendment rights."

"Repeated attempts to silence President Trump during the presidential campaign are blatant attempts to interfere in the election," campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote. "They are last ditch efforts of desperate Democrat Radicals running a losing campaign for a failed president.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday rejected Trump's claim about the authorized use of deadly force during the search, calling the allegation "false" and "extremely dangerous ," during a news conference.

In a rare statement days earlier, after Trump's initial claims, the FBI also said that it had “followed standard protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants” and that no additional steps had been ordered for Mar-a-Lago.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he willfully retained national defense information in connection with classified documents that were uncovered at his Florida estate after he left office and that he ordered a Mar-a-Lago staffer to delete security video at the property. The trial has been indefinitely postponed.

Zoë Richards is the evening politics reporter for NBC News.

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Texas primary races will be settled soon. A look at the Democratic, Republican runoffs.

Travis County voters on May 28 will help decide one race in either the Democratic or Republican primary to settle each party's slate of candidates for the November general election.

While most primary races in the county were decided March 5, any contests in which a candidate did not clear a 50% majority will be decided in a runoff election between the top two vote-getters. In Travis County, voters will help decide which GOP candidate will get their party's nomination to represent U.S. Congressional District 35 — a thin sliver that stretches largely along Interstate 35 from East Austin to downtown San Antonio — and which Democratic candidate will have a chance for a judicial seat on the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals.

Early voting in the primary runoffs began Monday and will end Friday. The May 28 election will finally set the Republican and Democratic candidates who will compete in November for several federal, state and local offices, including U.S. president, Texas' U.S. junior senator, district attorneys and several seats in the state Legislature.

Voters who previously cast a ballot in either the Democratic or Republican primary March 5 will have to vote in the same party's runoff. For example, a person who voted in the Republican primary would not be allowed to vote in the Democratic primary runoff but instead would have to cast a GOP ballot.

More: Early voting for Texas' runoff election starts Monday. Here's what else you should know

Here's a look at what voters can expect to see on election day :

Two primary runoff races in Travis County

Hoping to challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, for the District 35 office in November, Michael Rodriguez and Steven Wright are battling for the Republican nomination.

Casar, a former Austin City Council member, ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 2022.

Wright, who previously ran for the seat in 2022 and lost in a Republican runoff, touts border security and immigration as key issues. Wright came in second in the Republican primary in March, slightly behind Rodriguez, who also views immigration reform and border security as marquee issues.

On the Democratic side, voters will decide whether to nominate the incumbent or a challenger for Place 2 on the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals.

Justice Edward Smith, who was first elected to the judicial post in 2018, is being challenged by Maggie Ellis, an administrative law judge, prosecutor and attorney in Central Texas.

Ellis came out ahead of Smith by about 9% of the vote in March.

The winner will face GOP candidate John Messinger, who works in the Office of the State Prosecuting Attorney, in November.

Rerun for the Texas Senate

Molly Cook, who recently won a special election to serve an unexpired term for the District 15 office in the Texas Senate, will again face off against state Rep. Jarvis Johnson for the Houston area seat in the Democratic primary runoff.

Cook on May 4 defeated Jarvis for the unexpired term left vacant by John Whitmire at the end of 2023 after he was elected mayor of Houston. The term ends Dec. 31.

In a rematch May 28, Cook, a Houston emergency room nurse, will again battle it out with Johnson, a business owner, for the Democratic nomination for a full four-year term set to begin when the Legislature convenes in January. Cook and Jarvis were the top two vote-getters in the March 5 primary, with Jarvis holding a substantial lead in the outcome.

More: Border security, property taxes, school choice on tap for Senate's 2025 agenda

Cook previously ran for the Senate seat in 2022, losing the Democratic primary to Whitmire, who had served in that office since 1983.

Johnson, who was first elected to the Texas House in 2016, is a member of the chamber's Appropriations Committee, where he pushed back hard against a $1.5 billion expenditure to construct a border wall during legislative debates last year.

Both candidates have pointed to reproductive rights, health care and public education as top issues in their campaigns.

The winner of the Democratic runoff will face Joseph Trahan, the lone Republican seeking the Senate seat in November.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's positive school choice voucher outlook

Gov. Greg Abbott is optimistic about a possible legislative roll call vote on school vouchers next year, as he is supporting and campaigning for Texas House candidates in the Republican primary runoff who are friendly to his signature proposal.

Looking to punish and replace House Republican incumbents who sided with Democrats last year to derail "school choice" legislation, Abbott has put the issue back in front of voters in the weeks leading to election day.

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With eight incumbents feeling the brunt of Abbott's political retribution tour, the leading school choice proponent told conservative radio host Chad Hasty on May 9 that possibly two, and as many as six, of those races could flip to voucher-friendlier hands.

"The probability of school choice passing the Texas House looks almost certain," Abbott said on Hasty's show of the potential outlook after the Republican runoffs.

A school voucher program would use state public education money to help pay for private education tuition. The proposal has been a top focus for Abbott, who spend last year touring the state to help push for the issue. Abbott has also received millions in political contributions, with the largest hauls coming from out of state, to back pro-voucher candidates .

On Tuesday, House Democrats urged Abbott to call a special legislative session to increase public school funding, to which Abbott responded by placing blame on the Democrats for failing to pass his school funding package, which included a voucher program, last year.

More: Texas House agenda prioritizes school choice, border security, property taxes for 2025

None of the Texas House runoff elections is in a district in Travis County or the surrounding area.

Dade Phelan, David Covey conclusion imminent

After months of trading insults with top Republican leaders, a nail-biting cliffhanger during the March 5 primary and nonstop intraparty attacks, the Texas House speaker's political fate will be clearer May 28.

Incumbent Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, is in the political battle of his life in a runoff election against challenger David Covey, who has backing from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton — two powerful Republican officials who are fighting to oust Phelan.

More: Republican infighting, battle over Texas speakership results of national political trend

Paxton continues to hold a grudge against Phelan and his subordinates over an overwhelming House vote to impeach him last year, temporarily removing the state's top lawyer from office, before the Senate, which Patrick runs, acquitted Paxton largely along party lines.

The race for the District 21 state House seat, which represents a stretch of the Gulf Coast, encapsulates all the lingering Republican political frustrations from last year, going back to a failed school voucher push, a strained working relationship with Patrick and Paxton's revenge-driven effort to see Covey elected.

Covey, a former Orange County GOP chairman and oil and gas consultant, has released a constant barrage of condemnations against Phelan, accusing the speaker of being subservient to Democratic lawmakers and chastising him for failing to pass vouchers and allowing the impeachment inquiry into Paxton's conduct.

Phelan, largely brushing off Covey's attacks as politically motivated and untruthful, has stuck to his reputation of having represented the district through several election cycles, running unopposed over the past several, and his work to advance border security legislation and funding last year.

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If Phelan wins the Republican primary runoff, it is far from guaranteed that he would retain his position as the chamber's speaker because an active far-right flank of House Republicans is supporting Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, in a bid to take the reins from Phelan.

The GOP candidate who advances from the May 28 election will secure the seat because no Democratic candidate signed up for it.

What's on the ballot in surrounding Central Texas counties?

Bastrop county ballot.

• Edward Smith
• Maggie Ellis
• Dominica McGinnis
• Butch Carmack
• Ty McDonald
• Zachary Carter

Hays County ballot

• Michael Rodriguez
• Steven Wright

Williamson County ballot

• Tom Maynard
• Stuart Whitlow
• Brian Walbridge

Statesman staff writer Ryan Maxin contributed to this report.

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