Kathy Hochul deputy announces decision to challenge her in New York governor’s race – as it happened

New York’s lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, announces run against his boss, Kathy Hochul

New York’s lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, announced on Monday that he is running for governor, setting up a Democratic primary battle against the sitting governor, Kathy Hochul, who selected him for the job as her deputy.

In a campaign video posted on YouTube, Delgado introduced himself to voters as “a hip-hop artist, a congressman, a man of faith” with working-class roots in upstate New York and his desire to provide “transformational leadership”.

A campaign video from New York’s lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado.

“Listen, the powerful and well-connected have their champions,” Delgado says in the video. “I’m running for governor to be yours.”

Delgado gave up a House seat in the Hudson valley to become lieutenant governor to Hochul, a post Hochul herself held until Andrew Cuomo was forced to resign as governor and she inherited the top job in 2021.

Hochul narrowly won a full term in 2022 in a race against Republican Lee Zeldin, a former Congressman who is now head of the environmental protection agency.

Delgado has refused to rule out a primary challenge against Hochul for months and earlier this year said he would he would not run for reelection alongside her.

He broke publicly with the governor on two fights within the Democratic party over the past year. In 2024, when Hochul was a campaign surrogate for Joe Biden, Delgado called on the then president to drop out of the presidential race.

Earlier this year, Delgado called for New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, to resign when it became apparent that he had cut a deal with the Trump administration to have his indictment on federal corruption charges dropped.

Hochul, who had the power as governor to depose Adams, chose not to do so.

Key events

Closing summary

This concludes our live coverage of the day in US politics. We will return on Tuesday to continue chronicling the second Trump administration, but here are some of Monday’s main developments:

Federal and state authorities filed murder and hate crimes charges against Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the suspected attacker in Boulder, Colorado who hurled Molotov cocktails at a demonstration for Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, injuring 12 people.
The head of Ice defended his agency’s decision to arrest an 18-year-old Massachusetts high school student on his way to volleyball practice. US district judge Richard Stearns later ordered a 72-hour stay to “provide a fair opportunity for the judge who will be randomly assigned to this case” to review merits and rule on any contested issues in the case of Marcelo Gomes Da Silva.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) barred its 2025 class president from attending her graduation ceremony on Friday after she delivered a speech during a commencement event the day before condemning Israel’s war in Gaza and criticizing the university’s ties to Israel.
China accused the US of “seriously violating” and undermining the agreements reached in Geneva in May.
Prosecutors in Milwaukee charged a man on Monday with four felonies for attempting to frame an undocumented immigrant he is accused of assaulting, by sending forged letters in the immigrant’s name with a threat to kill Donald Trump.
New York’s lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, announced on Monday that he is running for governor, setting up a Democratic primary battle against the sitting governor, Kathy Hochul, who selected him for the job as her deputy.
Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s senior Democrat, released a social media video on Monday in which he seemed to taunt Donald Trump for supposedly being too “chicken” in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.

Schumer tries to goad Trump away from nuclear deal with Iran

Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s senior Democrat, released a social media video on Monday in which he seemed to taunt Donald Trump for supposedly being too weak in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.

Schumer, a staunch ally of Israeli leaders who oppose any deal to lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for that nation’s commitment that it will not build nuclear weapons, seemed to be responding to an Israeli journalist’s report that Trump’s negotiators, Steve Witkoff and March Rubio, might be open to letting Iran enrich uranium for civilian purposes.

In the video, Schumer referred to rumors that the US might agree, in “a secret side deal”, to let Iran proceed with low-grade enrichment, similar to the level agreed on in the Iran nuclear deal struck during the Obama administration, which Trump pulled out of during his first term.

Invoking the phrase “Trump always chickens out”, or Taco, Schumer said, “If Taco Trump is already folding, the American public should know about it

Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s senior Democrat, released a social media video on Monday.

Although the international Iran nuclear deal struck by the Obama administration in 2015, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, was regarded as a huge success for diplomacy by many Democrats, it was strongly opposed by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and by some pro-Israel Democrats, including Schumer.

In 2015, Schumer voted against the deal.

A Boston high school student who was detained by immigration agents on Saturday while he was on his way to volleyball practice must be kept in Massachusetts for at least 72 hours, a federal judge said on Monday.

Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, 18, entered the United States on a student visa, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf after his arrest. While his student visa status has lapsed, he is eligible for and intends to apply for asylum.

US district judge Richard Stearns ordered the 72-hour stay on Monday to “provide a fair opportunity for the judge who will be randomly assigned to this case” to review merits and rule on any contested issues.

New York’s lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, announces run against his boss, Kathy Hochul

A campaign video from New York’s lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado.

“Listen, the powerful and well-connected have their champions,” Delgado says in the video. “I’m running for governor to be yours.”

Hochul narrowly won a full term in 2022 in a race against Republican Lee Zeldin, a former Congressman who is now head of the environmental protection agency.

Delgado has refused to rule out a primary challenge against Hochul for months and earlier this year said he would he would not run for reelection alongside her.

Hochul, who had the power as governor to depose Adams, chose not to do so.

Milwaukee prosecutors charge man for attempting to frame an undocumented immigrant in plot to kill Trump

Prosecutors in Milwaukee charged a man on Monday with four felonies for attempting to frame an undocumented immigrant he is accused of assaulting, by sending forged letters in the immigrant’s name with a threat to kill Donald Trump.

The handwritten, forged letters were mailed to Wisconsin’s attorney general, Milwaukee police and US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (Ice).

WISN-TV, an ABC affiliate in Milwaukee, reports that a criminal complaint alleges that Demetric Scott admitted to investigators that he wrote the letters threatening to kill the president in the name of Ramon Morales-Reyes, whom he was previopusly charged with assaulting.

Among those who fell for the hoax were Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who released a statement praising immigration officers for arresting Morales-Reyes on 22 May, one day after the forged letter was received by an Ice field intelligence officer.

“Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars”, Noem said in a press release. Her department also released an image of the handwritten note to news agencies.

An image provided by the Department of Homeland Security to news outlets last week showed part of a handwritten letter that the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, said was a genuine threat on the life of President Donald Trump from an undocumented immigrant. Photograph: AP

“We are tired of this president messing with us Mexicans – we have done more for this country than you white people – you have been deporting my family and I think it is time Donald J. Trump get what he has coming to him”, the letter said. “I will self deport myself back to Mexico but not before I use my 30 yard 6 to shoot your precious president in the head – I will see him at one of his big ralleys”.

Last week, one of Morales-Reyes’ children told an immigrant rights group that he could not have written the letters since he cannot read or write in Spanish, let alone English.

Scott is currently in Milwaukee County Jail, charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery. Prosecutors said Morales-Reyes is the victim in that case.

According to a transcript of a phone call prosecutors say Scott made while awaiting trial for assaulting Morales-Reyes, Scott framed Ramon Morales-Reyes to keep him from testifying against him. “If he gets picked up by Ice”, Scott allegedly said in the call, “there won’t be a jury trial, so they will probably dismiss it that day. That’s my plan”.

Morales-Reyes remains in Ice detention at a facility in Juneau, Wisconsin.

After the 2023 assault, Morales-Reyes applied for a U-visa – a special visa provided to undocumented victims of crime that may lead to a pathway to legal residency.

Federal judge blocks Trump administration from canceling TSA union contract

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Monday, blocking the Department of Homeland Security from canceling a union contract covering transportation security officers.

In her ruling, US District Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle wrote that the Trump administration of President Donald Trump likely broke the law by stripping 50,000 TSA officers of the ability to unionize and bargain over their working conditions in a suit brought by the American Federation of Government Employees and other unions.

TSA union members with the American Federation of Government Employees picketed at Norfolk International Airport in March. Photograph: Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

Pechman said that the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, had failed to explain why she was reversing the Obama administration’s finding that unionizing would benefit TSA officers, who staff checkpoints at US airports and other transportation hubs, and in turn the public they serve.

“The Noem Determination appears to have been undertaken to punish AFGE and its members because AFGE has chosen to push back against the Trump Administration’s attacks to federal employment in the courts,” Pechman wrote.

AFGE represents about 800,000 federal government employees.

Acting Fema administrator unaware of hurricane season – report

Reuters reports that staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) were left baffled on Monday after the head of the US disaster response agency said during a briefing that he had not been aware the country has a hurricane season, according to four sources familiar with the situation.

The US hurricane season officially began on Sunday and lasts through November. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast last week that this year’s season is expected to bring as many as 10 hurricanes.

The remark was made by David Richardson, who has led Fema since early May. It was not clear to staff whether he meant it literally, as a joke, or in some other context.

Richardson, a former marine, was suddenly put in charge of Fema four weeks ago, after his predecessor, Cameron Hamilton, told a congressional committee that he did not “believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency”. Hamilton was removed the next day.

According to the Fema website, Richardson took over in the middle of the agency’s “Hurricane Preparedness Week”.

Suspect ‘was not on our radar in Boulder’, police chief says

Boulder police chief Stephen Redfearn said that the suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman “was not on our radar in Boulder” as a potential threat.

Mark Michalek of the FBI said that the suspect was not known to his office either.

Boulder police using video and license plate readers to piece together attack timeline

Boulder police chief, Stephen Redfearn, said that there is as yet no video of the suspect approaching the demonstration but officials are piecing together a timeline using video of the attack aftermath and license plate readers.

He also appealed to anyone who might have more video to bring it to the police.

Law enforcement officials will meet with Jewish community leaders

The Boulder police chief, Stephen Redfearn, said that his force has good relations with the city’s Jewish community and he and other law enforcement officials plan to meet Jewish community leaders shortly.

Attack site is now safe, Boulder police chief says

The Boulder police chief, Stephen Redfearn, told the public at the news conference still in progress that the site of the attack on Pearl Street is now safe, after it was scoured by bomb-sniffing dogs last night.

FBI appeals to public for more witness accounts and video

The FBI Special agent in charge Mark Michalek said at the ongoing news conference in Boulder that the bureau has already interviewed 44 witnesses and is asking the public to come forward with any additional witness accounts or visual evidence.

Boulder county DA says 16 unused Molotov cocktails were recovered after attack

The Boulder County district attorney, Michael Dougherty, just said that there were 16 unused Molotov cocktails recovered by officers in the aftermath of the attack.

Dougherty explained that his office will be prosecuting the suspect for 16 counts of attempted murder and other charges in parallel to the federal hate crimes prosecution.

If convicted, Soliman would be jailed for the rest of his life, with a cumulative of over 600 years.

He also said that there were 12 victims in total.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman charged with a federal hate crime, US attorney says

A news conference on the Boulder attack just started with a statement from acting US Attorney for the District of Colorado, J. Bishop Grewell.

The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, has been charged with a federal hate crime, Grewell said.

He added that Soliman claimed to have been planning the attack for a year on what he called a “Zionist group” demonstrating in support of Israelis held hostage in Gaza.

Grewell also said that Soliman told investigators that he had resorted to Molotov cocktails when he had been unable to buy a gun.

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