WASHINGTON (OSV News) — President Donald Trump, in a July 16 address, repeated debunked claims about U.S. elections as he pushed Congress to pass a voter-ID bill.
The same week in Washington, Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to that post was considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee, while Darline Graham Nordone, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., became the first female U.S. senator from the Palmetto State when she was sworn in to complete the remainder of her brother’s term. He died unexpectedly July 11.
— Trump repeats debunked election claims in push for SAVE America Act
In an address from the East Room at the White House, Trump claimed that U.S. elections were vulnerable as he pushed for the passage of the SAVE America Act, a bill he argued is necessary to secure elections.
But critics said much of the information Trump presented was either taken out of context or already debunked. Courts and investigations have consistently found that Trump’s claims the 2020 election was stolen from him were without merit.
For example, Trump claimed that China “accessed” 220 million voter records, but U.S. intelligence officials and congressional lawmakers were previously aware that China obtained voter data, which is publicly available information often purchased by political campaigns and advocacy groups to facilitate strategy on door-knocking and other get-out-the-vote efforts.
Trump used the claims to try to push lawmakers to approve the SAVE America Act, a voter ID bill that would require proof of citizenship — specifically a birth certificate, a U.S. passport or related documents such as a naturalization certificate — to register to vote in federal elections. Under the terms of the bill, a Real ID driver’s license is not proof of citizenship and would not meet the registration requirement, but such an ID would meet the requirement to present a photo ID to vote after registration.
Supporters of the SAVE America Act argue it would prevent voter fraud, but critics say citizenship is already a requirement to vote in federal elections, and examples of noncitizens voting are rare. Opponents also argue it would bar eligible citizens from voting if they did not have access to their birth certificate or hold a passport. About 52% of registered voters do not have an unexpired passport with their current legal name, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
However, the SAVE America Act currently lacks sufficient support in the Senate to meet the upper chamber’s 60-vote filibuster threshold.
— Senate Judiciary Committee considers Blanche nomination
During his July 15 confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Blanche took questions from senators on issues ranging from objections to the way the Department of Justice handled the release of the Epstein files to its approach to state challenges to a policy permitting distribution of mifepristone by mail.
Multiple senators queried Blanche on the DOJ’s strategy in those cases, notably Louisiana v. FDA. Pro-life groups have objected to court filings by the DOJ asking courts to dismiss or pause state lawsuits seeking to roll back the Biden administration’s eased restrictions on mifepristone, the first of two drugs used in a medication, sometimes called chemical, abortion.
Thus far, the Trump administration has left that regulation in effect, and the DOJ under the current Trump administration has sought to block state challenges, pending a promised safety review by the Food and Drug Administration. But the status and timeline of the FDA review are unclear.
Blanche argued Trump has been “the most pro-life president in history” and pointed to the pledged safety review of the drug, arguing that “for the first time in a decade, HHS and the FDA are actually taking a real look at what’s happening with some of these abortion pills and whether they’re actually safe or not.”
“As it relates to the litigation you reference, it would be wrong for me to talk about any litigation strategy beyond what’s in our briefs,” Blanche continued. “But suffice to say, Chairman, that as we talk about in our briefs, we are not in any way defending what Biden and what his administration did.”
On a second day of testimony from witnesses, Dani Bensky, who has accused convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein of abuse, said Blanche has refused for months to meet with the survivors of Epstein’s crimes, urging senators to reject his nomination as the next attorney general.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., seen as a swing vote for Blanche but who spoke affirmatively of Blanche after the hearing, said that he would not vote for Blanche unless he had such a meeting.
The meeting took place shortly after, but participants, including Bensky, said the meeting lacked substance.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee also seen as a swing vote, was among the senators who pressed Blanche on the mifepristone lawsuits. He also questioned Blanche on the Trump administration’s attempt to seek a controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” that led to objections from senators in both parties. But Blanche replied, “It is not moving forward.”
The late Graham, who unexpectedly died on July 11, was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and was a staunch supporter of Blanche’s nomination. If a single remaining Republican on the committee declined to advance Blanche’s nomination, the nomination would fail.
— Darline Graham Nordone sworn in to represent South Carolina after the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham
Graham Nordone, the sister of the late senator, took the oath of office to become a U.S. senator from South Carolina, filling the seat left vacant by her brother’s death.
The late Graham died unexpectedly after “a brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement. A day later the District of Columbia’s medical examiner said his death was caused by a heart issue. He was 71.
After the siblings lost their parents in the space of 15 months during the 1970s, when Graham was 22 and his sister was 13, the future senator legally adopted her, and the pair said they remained close. During his unsuccessful bid for the White House in 2015, Graham, who never married, suggested his sister might serve as first lady should he be elected.
In one of her first actions in the U.S. Senate, Graham Nordone joined Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to introduce the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026, legislation that aims to implement sanctions on purchasers of Russian oil and gas amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The bipartisan sanctions bill was long sought by Graham, who was a staunch advocate for U.S. support for Ukraine amid that invasion. He had returned to Washington after a trip to Ukraine only hours before his death.
“Ukraine is at a critical crossroads — and we must meet this pivotal moment with a powerful sanctions bill. As Ukraine turns the tide on the battlefield, our Russia sanctions bill would be historically impactful in stopping Russia’s murderous slaughter,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “When Senator Graham and I last spoke, he was absolutely exultant, calling from Kyiv with news that President Trump would support this bill to impose scorching tariffs and sanctions on purchasers of Russian oil and stop them from fueling Putin’s war machine. Now is the time to push Russia toward peace.”
Graham Nordone added, “Until the very day he passed, Lindsey remained focused on passing the Russia sanctions bill.”
“Passing this legislation would honor my brother’s steadfast commitment to our national security and it would provide President Trump with additional leverage to bring this war to an end,” she said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this legislation and send it to President Trump’s desk.”
Pope Leo XIV has called for peace in Ukraine and condemned the “brutality” of Russia’s invasion.
On July 17, Trump wrote on his social media website Truth Social that he had encouraged Graham Nordone to enter the August special election to nominate a new South Carolina Republican to run for Graham’s seat in November.
“I hope Darline does this, in that there would be nobody better to honor the legacy of her beloved brother, Lindsey,” he said.
— Kagan and Barrett testify on Supreme Court budget request, security threats
Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan offered rare congressional testimony on July 14 about the high court’s request for additional security funding for the justices in a heightened threat environment.
The justices testified before both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees on the budget request, marking the first such testimony by sitting justices since 2019.
Barrett, one of the court’s Catholics and one who has faced multiple threats since she was sworn in as a justice shortly before the 2020 election, testified that when her detail instructed her to take a bulletproof vest home a few years ago, she was left to explain why she needed it to her then-12-year-old son.
“I didn’t expect that performing this service would put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear one,” she said.
Kagan testified that when she joined the court in 2010, it was an “entirely different world” and she had security only for public events. The court’s security procedures were reexamined after the unexpected death of the late Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, who had been in Texas, with the closest U.S. marshals two hours away at the time. But, she said, a “big ramp-up” to the justices’ security needs came in 2022 after the leak of the court’s draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The heightened threat environment for Supreme Court justices came amid a series of high-profile or controversial rulings by the nation’s highest court on topics including abortion, but also presidential immunity and birthright citizenship.
Chief Justice John Roberts’ 2024 annual report acknowledged “a significant uptick in identified threats at all levels of the judiciary” as among what he called threats to judicial independence.
Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.
