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CNN

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand, MJ Lee, Morgan Rimmer, CNN

(CNN) — A key Republican whose yes vote would be needed to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general said Thursday that Blanche needs to meet with victims of Jeffrey Epstein before he would be in favor of President Donald Trump’s choice.

Sen. Thom Tillis said that while he had a positive disposition toward Blanche, he has not made a final decision on the nomination.

“This is a very important part of getting to yes,” Tillis said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday. “There should not be any reason why, based on what Mr. Blanche said yesterday, if he said that he would do it today, then he can certainly do it over the next two weeks.”

“Blanche was willing to say that he would meet with them and counsel, I understand the restriction that counsel has to be present,” Tillis said Thursday. “I expect that meeting to occur before I’m willing to vote out of this committee, and I’m trying to get to yes.”

Blanche fielded hours of questions from the Senate panel yesterday, acknowledging there were some errors in the department’s vetting of the Epstein files, but defending his handling of the case.

A group of Epstein survivors have urged the Senate to reject Blanche’s nomination. One victim, Dani Bensky, testified against the acting attorney general on Thursday, with other survivors in the room standing with pictures of themselves at the age they were first abused.

Following Tillis’ comments, a Justice Department spokesperson told CNN that a meeting between Blanche and the survivors would be arranged within the next two weeks.

The fate of Blanche’s nomination in the Judiciary Committee hinges on two Republican senators with nothing to lose: Tillis, of North Carolina, and Texas’ John Cornyn. Cornyn recently lost the Republican primary in his state to a Trump-backed rival, while Tillis announced last year that he would not seek reelection.

Both senators have also been among the sharpest Republican critics of the Justice Department’s earlier proposal of a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, which Blanche has said is “dead.”

Cornyn told CNN on Thursday that after Blanche’s testimony, he thinks the fund “still can be revived.”

“I think what I confirmed is that the weaponization fund is, still can be revived, and so this idea that it’s somehow gone is just not true, in my opinion,” said Cornyn.

Tillis said he needs to see a “work product” that ensures it won’t come up again.

“There are very specific, measurable work products — not a wink and a nod and a handshake, but definable, ratified, executed agreements that will make me feel comfortable that this turkey of an idea is dead,” the senator told CNN.

The acting attorney general had to tread carefully

By Mark Morales, CNN

(CNN) — A man who managed to slip past tight security at 30 Rockefeller Center and confront “Today” show co-host Craig Melvin, allegedly lunging at him and hurling a racial slur, was taken into custody Thursday morning, according to a law enforcement official.

Officers responded to a report of a disorderly person inside 30 Rockefeller Center at approximately 9:19 a.m., within the confines of the Midtown North Precinct, and placed the unidentified individual into custody, according to the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. No injuries were reported, and the investigation remains ongoing, the NYPD said.

CNN has reached out to NBC for comment.

Investigators believe the man entered through a secured area, where he asked staffers for Al Roker, the law enforcement official said. When he didn’t find the longtime co-host, he turned his attention to Melvin, spotting him a short time later. That’s when the confrontation happened, the official said.

Investigators are trying to determine how the man was able to breach the secured area and are combing through surveillance footage, the official said.

The man is being held at an NYPD precinct in Midtown Manhattan, the official said.

Security was stepped up at NBC’s “Today” show in February as Savannah Guthrie’s co-hosts and colleagues covered the abduction of her mother, Nancy, two people at the network said on condition of anonymity.

The additional security measures were implemented out of an abundance of caution to help alleviate some of the stress the show’s hosts were feeling as they talked on air every morning about the mystery.

Major networks like NBC have security departments that support their hosts — from physical protection to online threat tracking — and liaise with local police.

CNN’s Brian Stelter and Nina Giraldo contributed to this report.

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™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

The post Man breaches security at 30 Rock, lunges at ‘Today’ co-host Craig Melvin, official says appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Mark Morales, CNN

(CNN) — A man who managed to slip past tight security at 30 Rockefeller Center and approach “Today” show co-host Craig Melvin was taken into custody Thursday morning, according to NBC News and a law enforcement official.

The person entered an unauthorized area in a vestibule near Studio 1A and approached Melvin, who alerted security, NBC’s “Today” show said in a statement.

“The individual was detained and taken into custody by law enforcement without further incident. There was no altercation, and no one was injured,” the statement said.

A law enforcement official told CNN the man allegedly lunged at Melvin and hurled a racial slur during the encounter.

Officers responded to a report of a disorderly person inside 30 Rockefeller Center at approximately 9:19 a.m., within the confines of the Midtown North Precinct, and placed the unidentified individual into custody, according to the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. No injuries were reported, and the investigation remains ongoing, the NYPD said.

Investigators believe the man entered through a secured area, where he asked staffers for Al Roker, the law enforcement official said. When he didn’t find the longtime co-host, he turned his attention to Melvin, spotting him a short time later. That’s when the confrontation happened, the official said.

The man is expected to face burglary and other charges, according to the law enforcement official.

Investigators are trying to determine how the man was able to breach the secured area and are combing through surveillance footage. They are also reviewing body-worn camera footage from the arresting officers, the official said.

“TODAY is cooperating fully with law enforcement as they investigate the matter,” NBC said in its statement. “NBC and TODAY take the safety and security of our employees, talent, staff and guests extremely seriously. We are reviewing the incident and our security protocols and remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for everyone who works at and visits our studios.”

Several NBC employees who spoke with CNN said they were shocked by the breach, given the level of security in place around 30 Rockefeller Center, where a World Cup Fan Zone event is being held. One person noted that their work badge must be swiped or inspected multiple times to enter the building.

The man is being held at an NYPD precinct in Midtown Manhattan, the official said.

Security was stepped up at NBC’s “Today” show in February as Savannah Guthrie’s co-hosts and colleagues covered the abduction of her mother, Nancy, two people at the network said on condition of anonymity.

The additional security measures were implemented out of an abundance of caution to help alleviate some of the stress the show’s hosts were feeling as they talked on air every morning about the mystery.

Major networks like NBC have security departments that support their hosts — from physical protection to online threat tracking — and liaise with local police.

CNN’s Brian Stelter, Brynn Gingras and Nina Giraldo contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

The post Read more

Por Aaron Blake, CNN

En su intento de vender la idea de la guerra con Irán a un público escéptico, el presidente Donald Trump ha recurrido repetidamente a un argumento concreto: que el acuerdo nuclear con Teherán de Barack Obama fue un desastre y que él logrará algo mucho mejor.

De hecho, Trump ha mencionado el acuerdo nuclear de Obama más de tres docenas de veces desde que comenzó el conflicto, según un análisis de CNN basado en las transcripciones de Factbase de Roll Call.

Una nueva encuesta de The Washington Post e Ipsos trae noticias muy negativas para Trump en este aspecto.

El sondeo revela que solo el 23 % de los estadounidenses cree que Trump logrará presentar un acuerdo con Irán mejor que el que Obama consiguió en 2015. Por otro lado, el 37 % —una diferencia de 14 puntos— opinó que Trump logrará un acuerdo peor.

Otro 12 % esperaba que los acuerdos fueran “más o menos iguales”, mientras que el resto no expresó ninguna opinión.

Incluso entre los republicanos, poco más de la mitad (54 %) creía que Trump lograría un acuerdo mejor.

Esta opinión provenía mayoritariamente de sus partidarios más acérrimos: el 70 % de los republicanos del movimiento MAGA afirmó que Trump conseguiría un acuerdo mejor. Entre los republicanos que no se identifican con MAGA, las opiniones estaban bastante divididas: mientras que el 27 % creía que Trump lograría un acuerdo superior, el 23 % opinaba que el de Obama sería mejor.

Solo el 13 % de los independientes creía que el presidente lograría un acuerdo mejor.

En muchos sentidos, este hallazgo ejemplifica el fracaso de Trump a la hora de justificar una guerra que se está convirtiendo en un lastre político cada vez mayor.

¿Cuántas de esas personas entienden realmente el contenido del acuerdo nuclear de Obama firmado en 2015, también conocido como Plan de Acción Integral Conjunto (JCPOA)? Es una pregunta válida. Trump rompió ese acuerdo hace nueve años, y se trataba de un pacto muy complejo.

Pero eso es, en cierto modo, secundario.

Para empezar, el JCPOA fue bastante impopular en su momento. Si bien algunas encuestas iniciales mostraban que la gente estaba abierta a la idea, un sondeo del Pew Research Center de septiembre de 2015 reveló que los estadounidenses lo desaprobaban por un margen del 49 % frente al 21 %. A principios de 2016, una encuesta de Gallup mostró que el rechazo de los estadounidenses alcanzaba el 57 % frente al 30 % de aprobación. Que la alternativa que Trump promueve inspire aún menos confianza es algo significativo.

En segundo lugar, Trump ha pasado los últimos cuatro meses y medio criticando duramente ese acuerdo en todo momento. Lo ha calificado sistemáticamente como una capitulación total ante Irán que ponía al país en camino de obtener un arma nuclear.

“¿Saben lo que hicieron los iraníes?”, dijo Trump hace un mes junto al presidente de Egipto. “Se rieron de Obama y dijeron que era un estúpido hijo de p****”.

Durante una intervención el lunes en Fox News, Trump lo calificó como “el peor acuerdo jamás firmado por este país” e incluso pareció insinuar, sin fundamento alguno, que las motivaciones de Obama para alcanzarlo escondían algo mucho más siniestro.

Otro punto clave: pocas personas creen que Trump logrará un acuerdo mejor, a pesar de que objetivamente ha invertido mucho más esfuerzo en conseguirlo. Trump emprendió una guerra que costó la vida a más de una docena de estadounidenses, supuso un gasto rápido de decenas de miles de millones de dólares y sacudió la economía mundial. Además, no se vislumbra un final para el conflicto, dado que la toma del estrecho de Ormuz por parte de Irán ha creado un problema enorme que no existía antes de la guerra.

Sin embargo, el pueblo estadounidense parece preferir el acuerdo que Obama logró cerrar utilizando únicamente la vía diplomática.

En cierto modo, este resultado no so