By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Samantha Waldenberg, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump called on Republicans to “nationalize the voting” in an interview that aired Monday, as his administration pushes to overhaul election ground rules ahead of the pivotal midterm races later this year.

“The Republicans should say, we want to take over, we should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,” Trump told Dan Bongino, the former deputy director of the FBI, in a podcast appearance.

The president’s comments come less than a week after the FBI searched an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, which has long been a centerpiece of Trump’s baseless claims that his 2020 loss to Joe Biden was fraudulent. The search was related to a Justice Department effort to seize election records and search for alleged voter fraud in the county, CNN previously reported.

“We have states that are so crooked and they’re counting votes. We have states that I won, that show I didn’t win,” Trump said. “Now you’re going to see something in Georgia where they were able to get with a court order, the ballots, you’re going to see some interesting things come out.”

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Trump himself directed her to go to Atlanta for the controversial search. In a sign of his involvement and interest in the probe, Gabbard put the president on the phone with some of the FBI agents involved in the search, according to two sources familiar with the call, with one source saying the conversation consisted of a brief “pep talk.”

Elections are run by state and local officials, with the federal government playing only a limited role. But that hasn’t stopped Trump from attempting to revamp how elections are conducted.

Last year, he signed an executive order seeking to require voters to show proof of US citizenship when registering to vote in elections and prohibit states from counting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. While it’s been partially blocked in federal court, non-citizens are already prohibited from voting in federal elections.

On several occasions, Trump has pledged to change how the country votes, zeroing in on methods he falsely claims lead to fraudulent voting. In August, he said he was going to “lead a movement” to end mail-in ballots, and vowed to sign an executive order banning them, in addition to voting machines. He did not end up signing the order.

The president also kicked off a rare mid-decade redistricting campaign intended to help Republicans win additional US House seats in November’s midterm elections.

The Justice Department, which has amplified claims that undocumented immigrants have infiltrated US elections, without independent evidence, has sued two dozen states for full voter rolls, including personal information such as Social Security numbers and home addresses.

Some Democratic election officials have moved to prepare for potential federal government intrusion in the midterms. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told CNN late last month that he and his colleagues have discussed a range of moves, from seeking to protect voters from interactions with federal law enforcement at polling places to navigating the administration’s push for access to personal i

By Billy Stockwell, CNN

(CNN) — Norway’s usually private royal family is again under intense public scrutiny this week as the rape trial of the crown prince’s stepson begins days after a tranche of newly released Epstein files appear to link the crown princess to the late sex offender.

Marius Borg Høiby, 29, has been charged with 38 counts, including rape and repeated abuse of his former partner. The alleged violence includes repeatedly striking his girlfriend in the face, choking her, making threats and destroying her property, according to indictment documents seen by CNN.

If convicted, Høiby could face more than 10 years in prison, according to Norway’s public broadcaster NRK. The charges also include six counts of non-consensual sexual filming or photography, as well as drug related and driving offenses, documents show.

Defense attorney Petar Sekulic said late last year in response to the indictment that Høiby “denies all charges of sexual abuse, as well as the majority of the charges regarding violence.” Høiby will “present a detailed account of his version of events before the court,” Sekulic added.

CNN has contacted Høiby’s lawyer for further comment.

Høiby, the stepson of Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon, is outside Norway’s line of royal succession because he was born before his mother, Mette-Marit, married Haakon and became a princess in 2001.

Høiby will appear Tuesday in Oslo District Court for the start of a trial expected to last seven weeks, in what experts say is an unprecedented moment for a royal family known for its projection of stability. The trial also follows the latest release on Friday of more Jeffrey Epstein files by the US Justice Department, which include scores of emails between Epstein and Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

Ahead of his trial, Høiby was arrested on further charges Sunday evening including making threats involving a knife and breaching a restraining order, police prosecutor Andreas Kruszewski said Monday. CNN has approached Høiby’s lawyers for comment on the most recent charges.

While shocked by the allegations, Norwegians will be following the trial mostly out of concern for the broader family, which is generally well-liked and led by the popular “grandfather figure” of King Harald, royal experts say. Harald has been king of Norway since 1991 and is Europe’s oldest monarch.

“Most people understand that (Høiby) is not a working royal and that the case is a personal and legal matter, not an institutional one,” Tove Taalesen, a royal correspondent for news outlet Nettavisen, told CNN ahead of the trial.

Taalesen, who worked for more than a decade at the country’s royal palace, said the crown prince’s handling of the case has been widely interpreted in Norway “as deliberate and strategic.”

“By expressing love for Marius while simultaneously stepping back from the legal process and public commentary, he has set clear boundaries. This has likely helped limit broader reputational damage,” she said.

One such boundary: neither Haakon nor the crown princess are intending to be present in the courtroom, according to the royal house – a clear sign of the family’s efforts to distance themselves publicly from the case.

Haakon last week issued a rare statement asserting that Høiby is “not a member of the Royal House of Norway and is therefore autonomous.”

“We care about him, and he is an important member of our family. He is a citizen of Norway and, as such,

By Tami Luhby, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge has paused for now the Trump administration’s termination of Temporary Protected Status for more than 350,000 Haitians. The status, known as TPS, allows holders to live and work in the US and was set to expire after Tuesday.

In a harsh 83-page opinion, US District Court Judge Ana Reyes of the District of Columbia on Monday granted the request by five Haitian TPS holders to temporarily block the termination while the case works its way through the courts.

The plaintiffs are challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s termination, arguing the agency didn’t conduct the necessary review of whether it’s safe to return to Haiti before deciding to terminate the protection. The suit also alleges the agency’s decision stems, in part, from President Donald Trump’s “racial, ethnic, and national-origin animus towards Haitians.”

Reyes slammed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for referring to certain immigrants, including Haitians, as “killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies” on X in December. Plus, the judge wrote, Noem “ignored Congress’s requirement that she ‘review the conditions’ in Haiti only ‘after’ consulting ‘with appropriate agencies.’”

“Plaintiffs charge that Secretary Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to nonwhite immigrants,” Reyes wrote. “This seems substantially likely.”

The judge also cited Trump’s repeated derogatory comments about Haitians.

“President Trump has referred to Haiti as a ‘shithole country,’ suggested Haitians ‘probably have AIDS,’ and complained that Haitian immigration is ‘like a death wish for our country,’ she wrote. “He has also promoted the false conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants were ‘eating the pets of the people’ in Springfield, Ohio.”

Haitian TPS holders are among the latest foreign-born residents whose lives are being upended by the Trump administration, which is focused on slashing the number of immigrants entering and living in the US. DHS announced the termination of TPS designation for immigrants from multiple countries, including Honduras, Nepal and South Sudan, though federal judges have stymied many of those efforts.

TPS relief applies to people who would face extreme hardship if forced to return to homelands devastated by armed conflict or natural disasters. The recipients are vetted and are not eligible if they’ve been convicted of any felony or more than one misdemeanor in the US. The DHS secretary has discretion to designate a country for TPS.

Haitian immigrants became eligible after an earthquake rocked the country in 2010. The designation has since been renewed multiple times as the country faces a host of crises, including widespread violence by armed gangs, food insecurity, displacement and a leadership vacuum after the president was assassinated in 2021.

Asked for comment on the scheduled termination last week, DHS said Haiti’s TPS program “was never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades.”

“The assertion that the only way we can take care of our seniors is by allowing unvetted illegal aliens and foreigners with criminal records to remain in the country is grossly false and lazy,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to CNN.

Advocates cheered the ruling.

“It is also in all of our interests to keep families together and have people continue to work with dignity and build their lives here. We are the backbone of entire industries,” Aline Gue, executive director of Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, said in a statemen

By Betsy Klein, Kristen Holmes, Sunlen Serfaty, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump on Monday suggested the Kennedy Center’s two-year renovation project could be dramatic — a demolition effort short of a complete teardown, but one so severe that it would leave the Washington building’s steel “fully exposed.”

A source close to the center said Trump has very specific ideas about what he wants to do to the building, and those ideas — which have not been publicly released — don’t align with the building’s current state.

A document reviewed by CNN, which an official said was presented to some appropriators in Congress, contemplates serious changes — including exterior marble and roofing replacements, security and safety improvements, and seating replacement — but does not make explicit that the theater complex could be stripped to its bones.

“I’m not ripping it down. I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“The steel will be all checked out because it’ll be fully exposed,” he said, estimating the project could cost around $200 million.

The planned two-year closure for construction marks Trump’s most dramatic effort yet to overhaul the center after he oversaw its cultural transformation last year. Upon returning to the White House, he quickly gutted its board and installed loyalists, who elected him chair and voted in December to rename the venue the “Trump Kennedy Center” — a move that’s being challenged in court. But those changes have also led to slumping ticket sales and dwindling performances as prominent artists have canceled their appearances — which some saw as driving the desire to temporarily close.

One source familiar with the project said all of the planned renovations were outlined and presented to at least some in Congress as part of the $257 million included in Trump’s domestic agenda law last summer for “necessary expenses for capital repair, restoration, maintenance backlog, and security structures.” (CNN has reached out to the chair of the Senate committee that has jurisdiction over public buildings.)

But some fear another East Wing situation, with Washington one day waking up to a demolition beyond anything residents had contemplated.

The source brushed off the president’s Monday comments as typical Trump hyperbole, and an administration official said there are no plans to tear down any buildings.

The center needed significant maintenance when Trump returned to office in early 2025, according a source familiar, including upgrades to the orchestra pit, bathroom renovations and new HVAC systems. Two sources familiar with the project said there were 10 to 15 years of deferred maintenance.

Early into Trump’s second term, the Kennedy Center brought in various experts to discuss

Por Chris Isidore

SpaceX adquirió xAI, anunció la compañía el lunes, fusionando dos de las empresas más ambiciosas de Elon Musk, integrando la exploración espacial con la inteligencia artificial para consolidar lo que ya se perfila como la empresa privada más valiosa del mundo.

“Esto marca no solo el próximo capítulo, sino el próximo libro en la misión de SpaceX y xAI”, dijo Musk en un comunicado en el sitio web de SpaceX.

La fusión podría verse como una indicación de la liquidez que xAI necesita para competir en el campo de rápido crecimiento de la IA, así como de la importancia de la tecnología en el futuro de la exploración espacial.

SpaceX fue valorada en US$ 800.000 millones en una venta secundaria de acciones en diciembre de 2025, y xAI fue valorada en US$ 230.000 millones en su ronda de financiamiento más reciente en enero, según PitchBook, una firma de investigación que rastrea la valoración de empresas privadas.

El movimiento también demuestra la carrera de gigantes tecnológicos como las empresas de Musk para asegurar más recursos informáticos para impulsar los avances en inteligencia artificial.

“Los avances actuales en la IA dependen de grandes centros de datos terrestres, que requieren enormes cantidades de energía y refrigeración”, escribió Musk. “La única solución lógica, por lo tanto, es trasladar estos esfuerzos intensivos en recursos a un lugar con vastos recursos energéticos y espaciales”.

SpaceX solicitó permiso el viernes a la Comisión Federal de Comunicaciones para lanzar una constelación de un millón de satélites en órbita. La solicitud decía que el objetivo es proporcionar una red de centros de datos alimentados por energía solar para “acoger el crecimiento explosivo de la demanda de datos impulsada por la IA”.

Musk dijo que estima que “la forma de menor costo para generar cómputo de IA será en el espacio” dentro de dos a tres años.

Musk es el último líder tecnológico en pedir más potencia de cómputo en la era de la IA. El CEO de Nvidia, Jensen Huang, dijo a CNBC el año pasado que los modelos de IA de próxima generación requerirán “100 veces” más energía que los modelos anteriores. Se espera que la IA impulse la demanda de energía de los centros de datos en un 165 % para 2030, según Goldman Sachs.

Y los gigantes tecnológicos han estado invirtiendo miles de millones en infraestructura relacionada con la IA para satisfacer esa demanda. Microsoft informó la semana pasada que gastó US$ 37.500 millones en el último trimestre de 2025 en gastos de capital como centros de datos, mientras que Meta gastó US$ 22.140 millones.

Al mismo tiempo, algunos residentes de EE.UU. han informado aumentos en sus facturas de electricidad. Un análisis de Bloomberg News el año pasado encontró que en áreas cercanas a centros de datos, los costos de electricidad aumentaron hasta un 267 % en comparación con hace cinco años.

Pero las facturas eléctricas más altas no son la única preocupación sobre la tecnología.

xAI de Musk también es propietaria de su plataforma de redes sociales X, cuyo chatbot Grok recientemente fue criticado por producir imágenes sexuales de mujeres, muchas de ellas personas reales. El chatbot de IA también fue criticado el año pasado por una serie de publicaciones Read more