Monday morning news: May 8, 2026

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Iran fires missiles at Israel » Iran launched missiles at Israel Sunday, the first time it’s done that since a ceasefire took effect in early April.

SOUND: [Missiles firing]

Israel says its military intercepted the missiles.

Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs earlier in the day. Israel says that strike was retaliation for the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah firing into northern Israel.

Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Effie Defrin, translated through an interpreter:

DEFRIN: The regime is attempting to create a new equation by carrying out direct fire toward our territory in response to IDF strikes in Dahieh. We will not allow this.

He went on to say Israel will intensify its operations against Hezbollah throughout Lebanon.

A U.S. official says President Trump has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and urged him not to immediately retaliate for the Iranian missile attacks.

Iran has threatened that Israeli attacks on Hezbollah could end the ceasefire and renew full-scale war against the U.S. and Israel.

Trump defends Iran war, storms off from NBC interview » Meantime, President Trump is playing defense with the news media, insisting the Iran War does not violate his campaign refrain of “no new wars.”

Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press he did not guarantee there would be no new wars if he retook the White House. He went on to say the conflict in Iran is not an endless war, and that he’s doing the U.S. and the world a service because he had to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon.

Trump ended the taped interview abruptly and stormed off when anchor Kristen Welker pushed back on the president’s claims of fraud in California’s elections.

TRUMP: Your elections are crooked. And you're crooked. And Meet the Press is crooked, and so is ABC and CBS and CNN. / But Mr. President-- / You're one-sided crooked networks. Let's call it quits, because I've had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time.

Late-counted mail-in ballots have eaten into the vote totals for the candidates Trump’s supporting for California governor and L.A. mayor, putting their chances of making a runoff election in the fall at risk.

The top federal prosecutor in L.A. has opened several election fraud investigations.

Hegseth criticized for D-Day immigration comments » Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth used a D-Day speech at the Normandy-American Cemetery in France over the weekend to blast European countries’ approach to immigration.

HEGSETH: Sadly, today different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies… boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion?

Those remarks are drawing criticism, including from Texas Republican Congressman Michael McCaul on ABC’s This Week.

McCAUL: There's a time and a place for these issues of immigration. That was not the day, not the anniversary of D-Day. I think out of respect to the veterans… those remarks were out of place.

McCaul, who is the son of a D-Day veteran, says Hegseth should’ve stuck to honoring Allied troops’ service and sacrifice against Nazi Germany.

Zelenskyy meets with leaders of France, Germany, Britain » Leaders of the U.K., France, and Germany say there is an urgent need to ramp up weapons production to help Ukraine fend off Russian attacks.

Those comments came after the top leaders of all three countries met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in London this weekend.

Ukraine and Russia continue to trade attacks after Russian leader Vladimir Putin rejected a letter from Zelenskyy, offering a face-to-face meeting. 

Ukraine Ambassador to the U.S. Olga Stefanishyna tells Fox’s The Sunday Briefing:

STEFANISHYNA: This letter from my president shows that actually, we’re committed to resolution, but we’re not lagging behind while the war’s still raging on. We’re scaling up our capacity to defend ourselves.

The war in Iran has contributed to the reduction and delay of U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine. Ukraine’s shortage of air defense systems has left civilians vulnerable to stepped-up ballistic missile attacks from Russia.

ICE/CBP funding bill before the House after Senate passage » The Senate Friday passed a bill funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement—ICE—and the Border Patrol.

Now, it’s the House’s move, and Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn has a message for her colleagues there:

BLACKBURN: Get it to President Trump’s desk, so we can make certain that communities are safe.

Blackburn talking to Fox News.

Senators used the special fast-track procedure known as reconciliation to pass the bill. That process allows certain legislation to pass with a simple majority vote rather than meeting the typical 60-vote threshold needed to clear a filibuster.

Passage of the bill was delayed because of bipartisan concerns over a special fund, meant to compensate people who claimed they were wrongly targeted by the Biden Justice Department. The Trump Administration ended up scrapping the fund.

Lawsuit aims to stop White House UFC fight » A new lawsuit aims to stop the UFC fights planned on the White House South Lawn as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations.

The fights are scheduled for Sunday, and construction of the Octagon-shaped cage and 5,000-seat arena is already well underway.

Over the weekend, a group called the Public Integrity Project filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of two people who live in Virginia, claiming the White House violated federal regulations and procedures when it authorized the event, including a National Park Service prohibition of sporting events on federal parklands.

The Trump Administration calls the lawsuit obstructionist, baseless, and dilatory, saying the UFC fights are no different than various other White House-hosted events on the South Lawn.

I'm Mark Mellinger.

Coming up, David Bahnsen will be here for the Monday Moneybeat. Plus, how Miranda Rights became a part of American law and culture.

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