(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Mint announced Wednesday that $1 coins featuring President Donald Trump’s likeness have entered circulation and can be purchased on its website.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — An anonymous government employee whistleblower has come forward to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, warning that a “rushed, chaotic and fundamentally flawed” effort by the U.S. Postal Service to implement President Donald Trump’s mail-in ballot executive order risks a “catastrophic failure” of the election system that could “derail the midterm elections.”

The whistleblower’s concerns were made public in a report released by Blumenthal, who said in a release Tuesday morning that the allegations show that the system USPS is creating to track mail-in balloting is “set up to fail — and risk the right to vote for millions of Americans who cast their ballots by mail.”

The whistleblower is described in the report as someone with direct knowledge of potentially “catastrophic problems” in the development of the USPS’ new electronic federal mail ballot portal.

Under the new proposed system, states would be required to report basic voter information, such as a voter’s name and home address, attached to a unique barcode on every mail-in ballot distributed. Postal workers would then only deliver ballots addressed to voters who appear on the state-provided list. 

The new USPS system, published formally last week, was temporarily put on hold by a federal judge as she considers whether it is likely unlawful and should be blocked during an ongoing legal battle. It’s unclear what parts, if any, will be allowed to take effect in time for the November election. 

The USPS rules fall short of Trump’s expectations in his executive order.

The first mail-in ballots go out to overseas military voters from North Carolina this Friday. Given the length of the legal battle ahead, it’s unlikely Trump’s proposed changes to mail-in voting will be implemented in time for the midterm elections.

Voter advocates and civil liberties groups worry the rules could prevent some legitimate, eligible voters from receiving ballots. They fear an added bureaucratic layer — such as having to submit lists to a federal portal to be administered by USPS — unduly introduces the risk of errors not to mention the potential for federal meddling.

The whistleblower report also alleges that officials may have defied a prior court-ordered pause, continuing work on the USPS system despite a judge’s instructions.

Blumenthal wrote a letter to Postmaster General and CEO David Steiner on Monday demanding further answers to questions related to allegation raised by the whistleblower and to urge him to “abandon this ill-conceived, unconscionable plan and ensure that all Americans can exercise their constitutional right to vote, including by mail, without interference by USPS.”

ABC News reached out to USPS and the White House for comment on Blumenthal’s letter, but did not immediately receive a response.

‘Slapdash’ assembly of new portal could lead to major issues in November

The whistleblower described a “secretive, rushed, chaotic and fundamentally flawed process” creating and implementing an “untested” federal ballot mail portal that USPS will use to screen ballots.

The rushed effort to create the portal could cause “significant operating” problems and the failure to verify ballots this November, the whistleblower said. It could also mean, the report alleges, that “potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner or at all.”

The report details a “slapdash” production process for the new IT software, which the whistleblower alleges hasn’t been sufficiently tested or debugged. At the time of report, the whistleblower said there was insufficient time to test the system before a Sept. 1 deadline to deliver it.

“According to the whistleblower, USPS’s effort to develop and deploy the Portal has been ‘rushed,’ ‘risky and haphazard’ because leadership has demanded a impossible timeframe. In an effort to meet impossible deadlines, USPS has eliminated standard and needed testing, thereby creating substantial risk of a ‘catastrophic failure’ of the system that could ‘derail the midterm elections,'” Blumenthal wrote in his letter to Steiner.

Blumenthal also raised concerns about a new so-called “zero percent failure rate” which, according to the whistleblower, could see whole batches of ballots being rejected if a barcode on even one ballot fails to scan. 

“Voters intending to cast ballots by mail may not even be aware that their ballots have been rejected, or were part of a rejected batch, until it is too late to secure an alternative ballot or vote in person,” Blumenthal wrote.

Whistleblower alleges that work on USPS portal potentially violated court orders

The whistleblower also alleges that — after a one-month pause on work that began in June — employees were told to continue working on the mail-in-ballot portal in July despite an active temporary restraining order from a federal judge ordering a pause on work related to Trump’s mail-in-ballot executive order.

“The project was suddenly resumed without explanation of what authority permitted USPS to ignore the court order,” according to the whistleblower report. 

The USPS is currently under a 14-day Temporary Restraining Order issued by Judge Indira Talwani prohibiting it from implementing its new rules for mail ballots ahead of the November election. The judge is hearing arguments on Thursday as to whether to extend the TRO to a preliminary injunction during litigation. 

The same judge has already accused the administration of flouting a previous order that had blocked any finalization of the rules while she was considering the matter. 

“Based on this timeline, USPS should have ceased all work on the Portal on June 25, 2026, with the earliest conceivable date to resume being August 26, 2026. The whistleblower allegations demonstrate that was not the case, with USPS directing work to continue on the Portal after the first court order to cease work and prior to the recent court decisions allowing USPS to proceed,” Blumenthal wrote to Steiner. 

For most voters, nothing is likely to change how they cast ballots by mail in the midterm elections. But the longer the court hold remains in place — and the longer the court fight takes — the less likely it is that any of the rules will practically impact November.

Still, the battle over these rules and any additional ones Trump may seek to impose will continue well into 2028, where the effects could most significantly be felt. 

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(WASHINGTON) — executive order changing the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” “effective immediately” amid the ongoing trade war between the United States and Canada.

“The lake change — ‘Lake of America’ — was something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” said Trump, who was flanked by two large boards that depicted the label “Lake America.”

The president can unilaterally change a geographic name for official U.S. federal government use, like his action via executive order in January of 2025 renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” However, he can’t dictate what other countries or international bodies call it.

In social media posts over the past few days, Trump has repeatedly suggested he would change the name of the lake on the U.S.-Canada border.

The lake’s name change comes amid the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and Canada. Negotiations between the countries broke down over the weekend and a fresh round of 50% U.S. tariffs on some Canadian goods took effect on Saturday, leading Canada to retaliate with a set of its own levies.

“The Canadian officials have treated us very badly. They’re nasty people,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday. “People oftentimes they’ll ask me who’s the worst to deal with on trade, and I said that’s easy, Canada. They are the worst to trade, and they feel entitled, and just we can’t have that.”

When asked by a reporter about what his message is with the name change, the president said he has “no message,” but did criticize Canada. 

“No message, as you know, Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade, very sadly,” Trump said.

Asked why he is focused on doing things like this to America’s allies rather than focusing on other issues, Trump cited his belief that Canada has treated the U.S. “very badly” with regards to trade for many years — an argument he has used as justification for the sweeping tariffs he has imposed upon America’s northern neighbor.

In a statement to ABC News, Ontario premier Doug Ford said of the move, “He can change it to whatever he wants. But it will always be Lake Ontario to all Canadians and the rest of the world!”

Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, agreed with Ford that it will always be known as Lake Ontario and said “Canada is not our enemy.”

“It is our neighbor, our ally, and one of Michigan’s most important economic partners. It is a friendship that no stroke of a pen can erase,” she said in a statement.

Trump suggested other name changes could be ahead.

“If you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean,” Trump said. “So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department and FBI said a Chinese government-backed hacking group has for years engaged in targeted attacks against hundreds of entities in the United States including NASA, National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Justice Department, the Department of Energy, the U.S. Senate and the Federal Reserve. 

According to a DOJ statement and an affidavit unsealed Wednesday in federal court in California, a group known as “QTFY” — which includes former members of China’s military — has used its infrastructure to compromise critical infrastructure since 2018 in networks spanning from government agencies, hospitals, telecommunications providers, power companies and defense contractors. 

As part of their efforts to expose and disrupt the group, prosecutors successfully seized three internet domains affiliated with the Chinese company, Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Company, and multiple advisories have been issued to companies and other federal agencies so that potential victims of the group can better protect themselves from future attack.

In the seizure warrant, prosecutors say that in September 2024, QTFY hackers “conducted computer intrusions” at three Energy Department laboratories, NIH, an HHS agency as well as an unnamed U.S. security device manufacturer. The group is further alleged to have attempted a hack against NASA in 2019, though court documents do not suggest that the effort was successful.

The court documents do not state clearly the scale of the attacks against several of the other government agencies identified as victims or the group’s level of success in infiltrating specific networks.

“Today’s announcement demonstrates the Justice Department’s steadfast commitment to going on the offensive against cyber threats to the national security,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg in a statement announcing the seizures. “These court-authorized seizures deny PRC-linked hackers access to tools they use to mount online attacks against our Nation’s critical infrastructure.”

The FBI and National Security Agency released an advisory with indicators of QTFY activity. Also, Lumen Technologies’ threat intelligence group, Black Lotus Labs, published a description of QTFY’s tactics, techniques and procedures to help thwart future hacks.

While the U.S. says it has exposed and disrupted this major Chinese cyber-espionage campaign, China’s cyber operations against the United States remain “relentless,” said Javed Ali, a former senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council.

“China has been using cyber operations against the United States for probably 20 years through a relentless campaign of operations that have involved multiple targets, multiple attack methods, and nothing the U.S. has done to date seems to be deterring this activity because it is it has existed for so long and this goes over multiple administrations here in the United States,” Ali told ABC News.

Whether China is attempting to hack into telecommunications companies, attempting to breach water systems or waging a broader campaign of trade secret theft, China’s actions reveal a clear pattern, Ali said.

“[China] just uses different tools against different targets here in the United States, and they do not appear to be deterred, even when there are disruptions or people get indicted,” Ali, now an associate professor at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy, said. “None of this is stopping China’s strategic efforts of targeting the U.S. with these cyber operations.”

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