Ed O'Keefe

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ignored CBS News’ @mkaplantv’s question on Wednesday about soldiers wounded during Operation Epic Fury who came forward claiming the U.S. military downplayed the severity of their injuries. Several survivors and their families told CBS News they weren't being treated by the military as combat casualties for reasons they could not understand — a claim an Army spokesman strongly denied. "The care and well-being of our Soldiers is of the highest priority," an Army spokesperson wrote in a statement to CBS News. "Any assertion that the Army seeks to downplay a soldier's injuries is simply not true."

NEW: President Trump has testy meeting with GOP senators, telling @SenBillCassidy at one point to sit down (by @jenniferjjacobs @chueyburns @alanhe) cbsnews.com/news/trump-tes…

NEWS: Shakeup in Karen Bass’ re-election campaign. Senior strategist Doug Herman stepped down this morning, per an email reviewed by POLITICO. Bass is bringing on Julie Chavez Rodriguez to run the campaign. More in today’s California Playbook PM

New York primary results show voters are increasingly seeking change and rejecting the political status quo. CBS News’ senior White House and political correspondent @edokeefe says Democrats will continue debating issues like Israel and the party’s direction. cbsnews.com/newyork/news/n…

JUST IN: President Trump cancels signing of bipartisan housing bill set for today on Capitol Hill as he pressures Congress to pass his top priority, The SAVE AMERICA ACT.

NEW: A Trump-linked firm is expanding into the lucrative world of pardon lobbying. Its first client has already paid $500K, documents show, and more work is expected, its president, a former Trump aide, tells @CBSNews cbsnews.com/news/trump-lin…

This is a great thing! Lugging a tub-sized freshly-squeezed lemonade on to the train sounds ideal! 🍕

WATCH: Our @CBSMornings🌞conversation about what Tuesday's primaries in New York City and elsewhere mean for Democrats nationwide.

NEWS: The FBI, NYPD, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District on New York carried out searches across New York City Wednesday morning as part of an investigation into the conduct of current and former members of the NYPD. A source familiar with the probe tells me the searches stemmed from an ongoing probe into the conduct of former NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has prioritized rooting out corruption since taking the lead of the nation's largest police department. "When I became Police Commissioner, I promised New Yorkers that under my leadership the NYPD would conduct itself with integrity and that there would be a thorough investigation of any claim that members of service failed to meet that standard," said Tisch in a statement. Her full statement is below: "This morning, members of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and the FBI executed search warrants as part of a criminal investigation being pursued by the NYPD, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The investigation is ongoing and concerns conduct by former and current members of the NYPD. When I became Police Commissioner, I promised New Yorkers that under my leadership the NYPD would conduct itself with integrity and that there would be a thorough investigation of any claim that members of service failed to meet that standard. This investigation and our actions this morning are part of the ongoing effort to fulfill that commitment and hold the Department to its highest ideals."

New from @CBSNews: Another high-ranking general is exiting. Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, a West Point graduate, former Delta Force commander, and former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, has submitted his retirement papers, sources told @margbrennan and me. Donahue wasn't trusted by Hegseth. He helped lead security for the Afghanistan evacuation in 2021 and became the iconic “last man out of Afghanistan” when he boarded the final U.S. aircraft departing Kabul.

NEW by @jenniferjjacobs: ODNI under Pulte fires 6 staff, sends 45 back to home agencies cbsnews.com/news/odni-bill…

Watch this @cbsnews report: These are the changes President Trump is making to Washington youtube.com/watch?v=UCRUct…

We checked again and still no sign of a 350-foot gash as President Trump alleges. Our @CBSMornings 🌞 report:

“They went in there with a knife”: President Trump doubled down on his claims Monday that vandals are behind the problems at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where chunks of “American Flag blue” paint have been floating amid algae blooms in recent days, though neither the White House, Interior Department nor the Parks Service have provided any evidence. The Interior Department has not responded to CBS News’ request for comment on the president’s claims.

President Trump is claiming that vandals damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying a 350-foot “gash” was cut into its bottom. The U.S. Park Police say five people have been arrested on vandalism charges and five others cited. @EdOKeefe asked the president about evidence.

President Trump said the Strait of Hormuz is "totally open." Vice President JD Vance said that Iran would allow nuclear inspectors to return to the country after what he called a "very, very good" first day of U.S.-Iran negotiations in Switzerland. @EdOKeefe has more. cbsn.ws/44uRZJX

President Trump defended the cost of the restoring Washington's Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool when pressed by @edokeefe about why the project cost has grown to over $16 million after the president originally estimated in April it would cost about $1.5 million.

Asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement that Israeli forces will not leave Lebanon, President Trump declined to say how he would respond. "I’m not going to tell you what I’m going to do, but it gets solved. I'm a problem solver. I get problems solved real fast, including with Bibi," Trump told @edokeefe.

WATCH: Recapping the Iran talks, President Trump's comments about them, and his concerns with the Reflecting Pool on @cbsnews 24/7's @TakeoutPodcast

Pressed by CBS News’ @EdOKeefe on whether there is evidence vandals damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, President Trump pointed to what he described as long cuts in the pool’s surface and claimed someone may have deliberately caused the recent algae outbreak. “I saw it, they cut it. They cut it very violently,” Trump said. “The same thing with the floor, they cut it. And then they lifted it, they pulled it, and that's what it is.”