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Trump and Vance announce $25M whistleblower program to encourage public to report alleged fraud

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday announced a $25 million program to encourage the public to blow the whistle on suspected fraud in the U.S. government as they ramp up efforts to end the abuse of federal programs and dollars.

The White House said that under the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, anyone who submits a tip that leads to a fraud conviction or a significant federal enforcement action is eligible to receive up to $30,000, and that the Justice Department will administer the program.

During the announcement, Trump said payments will amount to a 1% commission on the amount of fraud the tip helps uncover. Trump also said he will decide who gets reward money in cases where more than one person claims to have provided the tip.

"I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions," Trump in the Oval Office with Vance and other administration officials standing behind him. "It'll be a binding arbitration."

Trump said journalists could participate in the program.

The Republican president has undertaken an aggressive effort to eliminate fraud in government, establishing a task force on the topic in March and putting Vance in charge of it.

Critics have accused Trump and his family of profiting from the presidency through their many business ventures. The White House says Trump acts only with the best interests of the American people in mind.

Vance, who said his work leading the task force is "fun," said tax dollars are being stolen.

"The president has said it must stop. It is stopping. And if you want to help us stop it, you get to share in the rewards," the vice president said.

The White House had said Trump would present a $10,000 check to Nick Shirley, a right-wing influencer who posted a video last year that said members of Minnesota's Somali community were running fake childcare centers to collect federal subsidies. But a check was not given to Shirley in the presence of journalists.

The 24-year-old's video caught the attention of the Trump administration and conservative activists, though inspectors said the centers were operating as expected. Investigations, searches and arrests followed.

Shirley said during the event that fraud robs from poor and needy people.

"When you expose fraud, you help save America," he said.

In July, Fahima Mahamud pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States by submitting inflated reimbursement claims for meals allegedly served to children at her childcare center, according to the Justice Department.

The White House says Mahamud was featured in Shirley's video.

Guatemalan man sentenced to 30 years for smuggling tragedy that killed 53 people in Texas

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Guatemalan man extradited to the U.S. over his role in a 2022 human smuggling attempt that ended in the deaths of 53 migrants who had been transported in a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas.

U.S. and Guatemalan prosecutors called Rigoberto Román Miranda-Orozco's sentencing another step toward justice in one of the deadliest smuggling attempts along the U.S.-Mexico border. Miranda-Orozco, 39, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after admitting to arranging travel and accommodations for two people who died and another who was seriously injured.

Nearly 20 people in the U.S. and Guatemala have been convicted since the discovery of the abandoned trailer full of bodies horrified communities accustomed to seeing their young people leave, trying to flee poverty or violence in Central America and Mexico.

"It was clear that they suffered tremendously in their last few hours on this earth," U.S. Attorney Justin Simmons told reporters at a news conference following the sentencing.

The trailer's air conditioning malfunctioned and would not blow cool air to the people trapped inside during the sweltering, three-hour ride in June 2022 from the border city of Laredo to San Antonio, authorities said. Prosecutors have said migrants paid up to $15,000 each to be taken across the U.S. border.

When the abandoned trailer was opened on a remote San Antonio back road, 48 migrants were dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died.

Simmons said investigators found clothing passengers had shed to cool off and claw marks on the trailer's walls.

"They were literally trying to claw their way out," he said.

Twenty-one of those who died were from Guatemala, Simmons said.

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia sentenced Miranda-Orozco, who was arrested in Guatemala in 2024 and extradited to the U.S. the following year.

He pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to bring a migrant into the U.S. resulting in death, aiding and abetting bringing a migrant into the U.S. resulting in death, as well as aiding and abetting bringing a migrant into the U.S. resulting in serious bodily injury, prosecutors said.

Simmons said prosecutors in Guatemala were integral in securing convictions for Miranda Orozco and others. Guatemalan Attorney Gabriel García Luna attended Tuesday's news conference in Texas.

CNN threatens new legal action, saying it's still being denied access to Air Force One

Already embroiled in a tense legal standoff with the White House, CNN is threatening further action in the courts if its journalists continue to be denied access to Air Force One and the "pool" of journalists who accompany President Donald Trump when he travels.

The network has been entangled in legal action with Trump's administration ever since the president issued its reporters a sudden ban from White House grounds a month ago, along with those from MS NOW and Politico, calling their content "fake news." Last week, a federal judge granted the news outlets their request for a preliminary injunction against the government ban as the case moves through the legal system.

But that only addresses part of the problem.

The White House has continued to bar CNN from taking its place in TV pool coverage of Trump's travel on Air Force One. And so the network may need to take additional action, said Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., an attorney for CNN, in a letter to Justice Department attorney Michael K. Velchik.

Boutrous noted in the letter late Monday that CNN has traditionally had "uninterrupted access to the Oval Office and Air Force One for 45 years. That is because those spaces belong not to any particular president or administration but to all Americans, and CNN and other members of the press serve as surrogates for the public when covering the White House."

Now, though, the White House is engaging in "what appears to be a new unstated policy to interfere with CNN's ability to fulfill its duties" as part ot the video pool. The pool consists of the five major U.S. networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox, who alternate assignments and share video.

Boutrous noted that in his most recent ruling, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly had found the three media outlets were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the White House violated the First Amendment and due process with Trump's ban, and thus were entitled to the relief they requested.

Still, though, the White House has selectively denied CNN access to cover the president's travel on Air Force One -- no fewer than four times to date, Boutrous wrote.

Such "efforts to retaliate and discriminate against CNN based on the content of its news coverage are mistaken, counterproductive, and unlawful," the attorney wrote.

"If these actions persist, CNN will have no choice but to return to the court to defend its rights, and it is prepared to fight as long as is necessary to secure them."

The Justice Department did not respond to a query from The Associated Press seeking reaction to the letter, in which Boutrous gave the White House two days to respond.

FAA clears the way for airlines to put Boeing's long-delayed 737 Max 10 into service

Nearly a decade after Boeing unveiled its largest 737 Max jet, the company has cleared a major hurdle in its effort to bring the plane to airlines. The Federal Aviation Administration approved the Max 10 for passenger service Tuesday, ending years of delays.

The 737 Max 10's certification represents another milestone in Boeing's efforts to restore its reputation and financial footing after years of safety, quality and production challenges. With production approved, the aircraft can now be sold to domestic and foreign carriers.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the certification followed "extensive safety reviews," including thousands of hours of test flights, and called it a major win for American manufacturing.

"To think that it took us almost 10 years to get here. We all probably had a little less gray hair 10 years ago," Duffy said during a visit to Boeing's manufacturing plant Tuesday in Everett, Washington.

The Max 10 is an important piece of the company's effort to regain ground in the narrow-body market. For airlines, the larger plane offers a way to carry more passengers on a single flight, potentially lowering costs per seat. For travelers, it could eventually mean more seats on popular routes, though the impact on fares will depend on how airlines deploy the planes and how much competition they face.

Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said during Duffy's visit that the certification "clears the path to deliver an airplane that will set a new standard in commercial aviation." The Max 10 will typically seat 185-210 passengers, according to Boeing, compared with 175-195 on the Max 9 and 160-180 on the Max 8.

"Today is a very, very special day. It caps years of hard work and dedication by many," Pope said. "It marks another major milestone in our recovery, and it unlocks a key to our future growth."

The single-aisle jet was introduced at the Paris air show in 2017 to help Boeing compete with rival Airbus. But technical and regulatory hurdles repeatedly delayed certification.

Boeing's struggles have been particularly acute since two deadly crashes involving the smaller Max 8 killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019 off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia. In 2024, a panel flew off of an Alaska Airlines Max 9 in midair, renewing scrutiny of Boeing's manufacturing and safety practices.

The delays have held up a key part of Boeing's business. More than 30 customers worldwide have ordered 1,555 Max 10s that Boeing has yet to deliver, accounting for more than 30% of its total 737 Max backlog.

Christina Applegate says her doctor told her she was misdiagnosed with MS

NEW YORK (AP) -- Christina Applegate, who has candidly shared raw details about her journey with multiple sclerosis for years, revealed Monday her doctor says she doesn't have the autoimmune disease and was misdiagnosed.

"I'm back at square one where I don't know what's going on with me," the actor said on the latest edition of her podcast "MeSsy," along with co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who has been public about her own battle with MS.

Applegate first publicly announced in 2021 that she had been diagnosed with the disorder that causes the immune system to attack the cells in the central nervous system.

On Monday's podcast, Applegate revealed that despite the misdiagnosis, she still has "every symptom of someone with MS," adding, "I still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor's office. I can't walk from the car to the room."

There is no single test for MS, and a diagnosis usually involves ruling out other causes. It can take years and seeing multiple doctors before one puts the clues together.

Dr. Benjamin Greenberg, a neurologist who specializes in multiple sclerosis and autoimmune neurological disorders at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said the most reputable studies put the MS misdiagnosis rate at 10%.

"We rely on the clinical symptoms, the history, the MRI, often spinal fluid, and then a series of tests to rule out potential mimics. And unfortunately, those tests are not universally codified," he said.

Greenberg said Applegate's experience has lessons for both medical providers and patients. For doctors, it's a reminder to ensure a single diagnosis doesn't lead to a system-wide bias toward that conclusion.

"If I put 'multiple sclerosis' as a diagnosis on an MRI, a radiologist is far less likely to say, 'Well, this isn't multiple sclerosis. You really should consider something else.' It can permeate the system," he said.

"For patients and families, my general recommendation is whenever receiving a significant serious or chronic diagnosis, if feasible, there is never a harm in getting second opinions."

Applegate said the news had put her in an odd place since she and Sigler have become prominent advocates for people with MS.

"It's weird because I feel like I let everybody down," she said. "It's very unnerving, and it's really confusing for me."

Written originally for Lincoln, 'Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing' now revered as Black National Anthem

In 34 lines, James Weldon Johnson told of the pain, anguish, frustration, faith and hope that former slaves and their descendants experienced in a land and country they were forced to call home.

He did it in "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," a poem that later became a song and is now widely called the Black National Anthem. The original manuscript along with other papers by Johnson, who was Black, are held by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

Johnson wrote "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" in Jacksonville, Florida, as part of a celebration in 1900 for Abraham Lincoln's birthday. His brother, John Rosamond Johnson, later composed the music. It first was performed by Black children in a Jacksonville school where James Weldon Johnson was principal.

The song was later adopted by the NAACP and sung at marches and other events during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Singer Kim Weston performed it in 2001 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington during the first inauguration of President George W. Bush. It has become a standard in Black churches and in Black History Month programs across the United States.

Yollie Copeland, a licensed tour guide in Jacksonville and owner of Explore Jax Core, says part of the song's legacy is that after the initial performance, it was passed from generation to generation.

"Those same children and students (as adults) taught the song to their students," Copeland says. "James Weldon Johnson writes that he kind of forgot about the song. Decades later they were singing his song. He just couldn't believe it caught."

The song's lyrics tell of perseverance leading to freedom and "liberty" with Lincoln's 1863 signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves held in the Confederate states. Lyrics include "Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod felt in the days when hope unborn had died. Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet come to the place for which our fathers sighed?"

That verse is followed by "We have come over a way that with tears has been watered. We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered. Out from the gloomy past, 'til now we stand at last where the white gleam of our bright star is cast."

Jacqueline Lewis, senior minister and public theologian at Middle Collegiate Church in Manhattan, calls "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" an "American treasure."

"This is a song about my faith, our faith," she says. "The faith is in the God whose destination is liberation, the God whose purpose is to free people, all the people. So, I think America could find its hope in this song that is honest about trouble and honest about pain and honest about struggle."