America in Brief

The Supreme Court stands by Monsanto in liability case, DOJ announces unprecedented $6.5 billion fraud takedown, and John Bolton pleads guilty.

An employee adjusts Roundup products on a shelf at a store in San Rafael, Calif., on July, 9, 2018. Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

Supreme Court Sides With Monsanto on Liability Case

Agrochemical giant Monsanto doesn’t have to provide warning labels on its pesticide products, and won’t be held liable, according to a major Supreme Court ruling on June 25.

In a 7-2 decision, the nation’s highest court struck down a previous ruling that held Monsanto liable for failing to warn consumers about the potential cancer-causing risks of its weedkiller product Roundup.

The case revolves around a man, John Durnell, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of cancer, after being exposed to Roundup.

A Missouri jury ruled in Durnell’s favor in 2023, arguing that Monsanto had failed to provide enough warning to consumers and awarded Durnell $1.25 million.

Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, took the case to the Supreme Court.

Roundup’s active ingredient is glyphosate, a widely used herbicide that has been actively used as a pesticide since 1974.

The EPA has identified glyphosate as unlikely to be a human carcinogen.

DOJ Announces Unprecedented $6.5 Billion Fraud Take Down

The Department of Justice on Jun 23 announced a record-setting $6.5 billion Medicaid fraud takedown, arresting 455 individuals across 45 states in a campaign to eradicate high levels of healthcare fraud nationwide.

FBI Director Kash Patel has called this new era of combined federal, state, and international cooperation “historic.”

“If you use our health care system to enrich yourself at the expense of patients or the American people, we will find you, we will prosecute you, and we will hold you accountable.”

The arrests included Herb Kimble in the Philippines, a fugitive in a $1.2 billion telemedicine fraud scheme who had been previously named in a June 4 announcement on the FBI’s Most Wanted Fraudsters list.

On March 16, President Donald Trump appointed Vice President JD Vance to head the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which would launch a massive investigation into waste and corruption in federal benefit programs.

FBI Director Kash Patel (C) flanked by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche (R) and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (L), speaks during a press conference announcing annual healthcare fraud takedown results at the Department of Justice in Washington, on June 23, 2026. Ken Cedeno/AFP via Getty Images

US Border Patrol Sets All-Time 102 Year Staff High

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reached a record staffing level of 21,471 agents serving at the nation’s borders, the highest in its 102-year history.

The Department of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump has driven a significant hiring surge over the past year, on top of pushing for funding in Congress.

Trump signed the Secure America Act on June 10, a huge $70 billion bill funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through 2029.

This is on top of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he signed in July last year, that would produce $170.7 billion in additional funding for immigration enforcement activities.

Part of Trump’s agenda has been to rid the country of a surge in illegal immigration, mostly coming from the Southern U.S. border, over the past several years.

In May, CBP announced a full-year milestone of zero releases at the border, meaning all illegal immigrants caught were detained and removed from the country, a complete reversal of the previous administration’s catch-and-release policies, which generally released those caught into the United States while they waited for immigration hearings.

A December 2024 study by the Center for Immigration Studies showed that one-third of illegal immigrants failed to show up to hearings.

Chief Patrol Agent Justin M. De La Torre of the U.S. Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector checks the southern border wall outside San Diego on May 27, 2026. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Senate Democrats Launch Election Observer Program

Senate Democrats on June 25 announced the first-ever Senate election observer program, which will train and deploy Senate staff as official election observers during the 2026 midterm elections.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced this as a countermeasure to what they have criticized as President Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine confidence in the election process.

Trump and Republicans have repeatedly tried to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE America Act), an election-integrity bill that requires proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, imposes stronger ID requirements at the polls, and bans mail-in voting.

Supporters say that it is essential to ensure voter eligibility and to prevent election fraud.

Democrats argue that this disenfranchises those who lack access to documentation and who are immobile.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), joined by other Democrat lawmakers, speaks in Washington on May 21, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Hawaii Gun Law Struck Down in Major 2nd Amendment Case

A Hawaii gun law that restricted gun owners from carrying in privately owned public places has been struck down by the Supreme Court in a major Second Amendment case, a win for gun rights advocates.

The Hawaii gun law prevented gun owners in Hawaii from entering privately owned public places like shopping malls, stores, or restaurants without the owner’s permission.

Gun rights advocates called it the “vampire rule,” like Bram Stoker’s 1887 novel, Dracula, in which Count Dracula could not enter a premises without being invited.

In most states, the law allows gun owners to bring firearms onto private property, unless requested otherwise.

The case named Wolford v. Lopez was ruled in favor of striking down the law with a 6-3 vote.

A Sig Sauer P320 handgun is shown at a gun store in Delray Beach, Florida, on Jan. 31, 2023. Raedle/Getty Images

Convicted Antifa Gunman Sentenced to 100 Years

An Antifa gunman convicted of shooting a policeman at a Texas immigration facility detention center on July 4 last year was sentenced to 100 years in prison on June 23.

Benjamin Hanil Song was convicted of attempted murder and terrorism-related charges along with seven others to a combined sentencing of 450 years.

Song and his accomplices, who have been identified as the North Texas ANTIFA Cell, launched an attack on the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, housing illegal immigrants, in which they set off fireworks, vandalized property, and started shooting at officers, wounding one.

This is the first sentencing of an Antifa member since President Donald Trump designated them as a terrorist organization in September 2025.

“Their violent extremism has no place in our country,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press release.

A group known as Prairieland Defendants protest in favor of alleged Antifa members outside the federal courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, on Feb. 24. 2026. Darlene McCormick Sanchez/The Epoch Times

Former Trump Aide John Bolton Pleads Guilty to Mishandling Classified Information

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton has pleaded guilty to mishandling classified information from his tenure in office through last year, during which he used personal accounts to send classified information to family members.

One account was later hacked by an Iranian-linked hacker.

Bolton was indicted on Oct. 16 for abusing his position by sending thousands of pages of classified information about his day-to-day activities in the form of diary-like entries to two unauthorized individuals.

Bolton served under President Donald Trump from April 2018 to September 2019 during Trump’s first administration. They were often at odds, and Trump eventually fired him.

He will be sentenced on Oct. 28.

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks to reporters after speaking on a panel hosted by the National Council of Resistance of Iran–U.S. Representative Office (NCRI-US) at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington on Aug. 17, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images