May. 28, 2026, 7:34 PM EDT

Arizona congressional candidate Mark Lamb is embroiled in a new controversy involving allegations about his online activity.

Lamb, a former county sheriffis running for outgoing Rep. Andy Biggs’ seat in Arizona’s conservative 5th District and has received President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

The Arizona Republic published a report last week on women who said Lamb had messaged them through his campaign’s official social media accounts, citing messages provided by one of his former campaign workers. One of the women alleged that he threatened her with prosecution if she shared his sexual images and messages.

According to the Republic, messages and photos allegedly sent by Lamb — who has made his Mormon faith central to his political biography — were previously shared with leaders at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After the Republic requested comment from Lamb, who has previously denied claims of sexual impropriety, the newspaper said it was told by his campaign staff that he wasn’t available for comment. Lawyers for his campaign told the paper that many of the claims were “baseless and harmful” but did not elaborate.

The Republic published another report on Lamb on Wednesday, this time focusing on alleged Facebook exchanges with a right-wing anti-immigrant extremist. The outlet said Lamb did not respond to its interview requests.

The new messages, which the Republic said were shared by a former staffer who worked on Lamb’s first campaign, include alleged exchanges in 2016 with a man named Nick Steele, whom the newspaper identified as a member of the extremist vigilante group Border Narcotics Intelligence.

One of the messages appears to show Steele telling Lamb that he and other vigilante members supported Lamb’s campaign and that “BNI guys work like [N-words],” using the racist slur for Black people. The alleged reply from Lamb: “Hahahaha, so you don’t do anything?”

The former staffer, who handled Lamb’s social media accounts at the time and is Black, told the Republic that Lamb apologized to him for the responses.

The Republic also included screenshots showing Lamb responding with amusement after Steele allegedly made homophobic remarks about former Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, who was enmeshed in a 2012 scandal involving his romantic relationship with a Mexican man.

Another screenshot depicts Lamb expressing amusement after Steele referred to a woman as a “stupid b—-” and praising Steele for a social media post directed at her: “Hahahaha! You shut her up!”

It truly is no surprise to me that Trump — a man known for blatant racismhomophobic behaviormisogyny and sexual abuse — endorsed this candidate. That said, Lamb is arguably a prime example of the trend my colleague Hayes Brown recently wrote aboutin which the president aligns himself with far-right primary candidates who could pose a headache for him and Republicans in a general election. Perhaps that’s why there have been unconfirmed whispers in conservative media about Trump potentially pulling his endorsement in Arizona.

If Lamb wins his primary in July, his prospects for victory in the general election are aided by the fact he’s running in a solidly conservative district. But with public sentiment broadly against Trump’s agenda — including among voters the GOP typically relies on — almost nothing feels like a sure thing these days.

And these reports about Lamb certainly doesn’t help his cause.

Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.

May. 28, 2026, 6:28 PM EDT

Negotiators for the United States and Iran appear to have reached a deal to extend the ceasefire by 60 days, but are awaiting President Donald Trump’s approval, U.S. sources told MS NOW on Thursday.

If Trump agrees to the deal, it would extend the ceasefire and open negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program during the extended ceasefire, pushing the thorniest details over Iran’s nuclear ambitions down the road.

Vice President JD Vance told reporters Thursday evening that while he “can’t guarantee that we’re going to get there” in reaching a deal with Iran, “The president will be in a position where he can endorse the agreement, but obviously that’s still TBD.”

Axios was the first to report on the potential agreement, which MS NOW has not reviewed independently. However, U.S. sources confirmed various details of the possible deal to MS NOW. According to the sources, during the 60-day ceasefire extension:

• Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz would be “unrestricted”
• Iran would have to remove all mines from the strait within 30 days
• The U.S. naval blockade would be lifted in proportion to the restoration of commercial shipping
• The U.S. would issue some sanctions waivers to allow Iran to sell oil

The U.S. sources also said the memorandum of understanding that is awaiting Trump’s approval includes Iran’s commitment to not pursue a nuclear weapon as well as the U.S.’s commitment to discuss sanctions relief and the release of Iranian money frozen in foreign banks. The first issue to be negotiated, according to this possible agreement, is the disposal of Iran’s highly enriched uranium and the country’s enrichment program, the sources said.

The possible deal would also end the war between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon, sources said. Still, U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and Lebanon are expected to move ahead as scheduled for Friday at the Pentagon and next week at the State Department, a U.S. official told MS NOW.

News of a possible deal follows a recent exchange of strikes in the Middle East, with U.S. Central Command earlier Thursday accusing Iran of an “egregious ceasefire violation” by targeting Kuwait with a missile hours earlier. Kuwaiti forces successfully intercepted the missile, the U.S. military said.

“This egregious ceasefire violation by the Iranian regime occurred hours after Iranian forces launched five one-way attack drones that posed a clear threat in and near the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said in a statement Thursday on social media.

“All drones were successfully intercepted by U.S. forces which also prevented a sixth drone launch from an Iranian ground control site in Bandar Abbas,” the statement said. “U.S. Central Command and regional partners remain vigilant and measured as we continue to defend our forces and interests from unjustified Iranian aggression.”

A U.S. official told MS NOW in a statement Wednesday that the ceasefire agreement remains in effect and described the U.S. military actions as “measured, purely defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire.”

Trump said Wednesday that Iran wants “very much to make a deal” but “they haven’t gotten there,” adding that Iran was “negotiating on fumes.”

“We’re not satisfied with it, but we will be,” Trump told reporters at a Cabinet meeting at the White House, adding, “They’re negotiating on fumes. But we’ll see what happens. Maybe we have to go back and finish it, maybe we don’t.”

When asked Thursday during a White House press briefing about a possible U.S.-Iran deal, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to confirm whether an agreement had been reached.

“Everything depends on what the president wants to do,” Bessent said. “And President Trump is not going to make a bad deal for the American people, for the U.S., and he was very clear at the Cabinet meeting … what he wants.”

Trump said Saturday that his administration had “largely” reached a deal that would include reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which 20% of the world’s oil supply flows.

Key Republicans, however, said they were skeptical of Trump’s deal because it was unclear whether it required Iran to give up its supply of enriched uranium or reduce its vast stockpile of missiles.

The conflict began Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Irankilling Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. While a fragile ceasefire took effect in April, efforts to negotiate a long-term deal have been unsuccessful.

A top Pentagon official told Congress the war has cost an estimated $25 billion as of early May, though Democrats have said it is likely higher.

Also at issue is Israel’s war with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group based in southern Lebanon, a major hurdle in the failed rounds of U.S.-Iran peace negotiations. Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade strikes amid an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire agreed to in May.

The war’s effects have rippled across the world. In the U.S., gas and fertilizer prices have skyrocketed, and Trump’s poll numbers have plummeted.

Trump has also faced criticism for what appeared to be inconsistent objectives for the war’s aims, an ever-expanding timeline for how long it would last and an expletive-laden Easter Sunday message in which he threatened to obliterate Iranian civilization.

The war has led to more than 6,900 deaths across the Middle East, according to figures compiled by MS NOW. That includes more than 3,600 people in Iran, more than 3,100 people in Lebanon, at least 13 U.S. soldiers and at least a half dozen U.N. peacekeepers.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Carla Herreria and Hayley Meissner contributed reporting.

May. 28, 2026, 5:50 PM EDT

Amid growing concerns about the cost of living as the war with Iran continues, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday defended the Trump administration’s efforts to put President Donald Trump on a specially issued $250 bill.

“I don’t think that there’s anything untoward about having the president of the United States, the person who is president of the United States, on the 250th anniversary bill,” Bessent said during a White House press briefing as he stood in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave.

Bessent acknowledged The Washington Post’s earlier reporting that two Treasury Department appointees are pressuring the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to create a prototype of the note.

Federal law “prohibits the portrait or likeness of any living person on currency notes, bonds, or securities,” but some lawmakers are searching for a workaround. Bessent said the proposed new Trump note is ultimately up to Congress.

Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.; Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn.; Ralph Norman, R-S.C.; and Darrell Issa, R-Calif., co-sponsored a bill in February of last year to create an exemption. Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, sponsored a similar bill one month later for a $100 Trump note.

“This achievement is deserving of currency recognition, which is why I am grateful to introduce this legislation. The most valuable bill for the most valuable President!” Wilson said in a statement announcing his bill.

But the effort to memorialize Trump on money does not stop at his face. The Treasury announced in March that Trump’s and Bessent’s signatures will appear on future U.S. paper currencymarking the first time in history for a sitting president.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was among the critics who derided the proposed $250 note on social media, saying, “By the end of Trump’s term, it’ll be just enough to buy one gallon of gas and a carton of eggs.”

Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.