⚖️ Bolton Will Plead Guilty, Resolving Classified Information Case Under Plea Deal

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information under a plea deal with the Justice Department that would cap any prison sentence at five years and allow him to avoid incarceration entirely, with a $2.25 million fine, according to The Associated Press. The deal resolves an 18-count indictment filed in October, which accused Bolton of sharing diary-like notes from his government service, including classified information about covert U.S. actions, through his personal email with two family members while preparing his 2020 memoir. A rearraignment is scheduled for June 26 in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The case against Bolton was filed weeks after the Justice Department secured indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, all of them Trump critics, and has proceeded against the backdrop of bipartisan concern that the department is being used as a political weapon. Prosecutors who brought the Bolton case are career national security officials, which distinguishes it from the Comey and James prosecutions, and Bolton’s own attorney, Abbe Lowell, has argued the notes were personal diary entries shared only with family, known to the FBI since 2021, and previously investigated and closed.

The Founders who established the separation of powers did so precisely because they understood that a government with unchecked authority to prosecute its critics is a government that will do so. The republic’s answer to that danger is an independent judiciary, a public that watches, and a Justice Department that applies the law consistently regardless of a defendant’s relationship to the administration in power. Whether those checks are holding in the current moment is the question the Bolton case puts squarely on the table.

🌴 California Governor: Hilton and Becerra Lead, Steyer Holds 20% with Ballots Still Counting

With 56 percent of votes counted as of Thursday morning, Republican Steve Hilton led Democrat Xavier Becerra by two points in California’s gubernatorial primary, 28 to 26 percent, with Democrat Tom Steyer holding third at 20 percent and Republican Chad Bianco at 11 percent, according to KTLA and NBC News. The Associated Press has not called the race; California has a history of substantial vote shifts as late-arriving mail ballots, which can be received through June 9, are counted. Under the state’s top-two system, the two highest finishers advance to November regardless of party.

Hilton, a Trump-endorsed former Fox News host, centered his campaign on lowering taxes, slashing environmental regulations, and ending what he called “sixteen years of one-party rule.” Becerra, who emerged as the Democratic frontrunner after former Representative Eric Swalwell exited the race in April amid a misconduct scandal, built a broad multiracial coalition around economic stability and a record of challenging the Trump administration as California’s former attorney general. Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, who self-funded his campaign to the tune of $213 million, vowed to stay in the race until every ballot is counted, according to CalMatters.

The Founders designed elections as the mechanism by which a free people correct their government, and the rules governing those elections shape outcomes as profoundly as the candidates themselves. California’s top-two system was built to produce competitive November races. Whether it delivers one this year, and which two candidates carry it forward, will not be fully known for several days. The result will be one of the clearest indicators of the Republican Party’s ability to compete at the top of the ticket in the nation’s largest state.

🚔 ICE and SLED Conduct “Operation Safe Drive” on I-26, Arresting 114 in Three-Day Highway Sweep

The Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that 114 “criminal and administrative” arrests were made during “Operation Safe Drive,” a three-day enforcement sweep conducted May 12 through 14 along Interstates 26 and 85 in South Carolina, according to The Post and Courier. The operation resulted in 145 traffic stops, 77 vehicle inspections, and the removal of 22 drivers and vehicles from service. Officers also seized 10 kilograms of cocaine valued at approximately $200,000 from a passenger on a commercial bus. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the SC State Transit Police, and the Duncan Police Department participated alongside federal agents.

The operation is part of a broader expansion of state-federal immigration cooperation in South Carolina. SLED signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE in March 2025, granting agents authority to enforce federal immigration law, and has since doubled its roster of certified agents to 82. As of June 3, 44 South Carolina law enforcement agencies have entered into such agreements, according to the Post and Courier. Republican state lawmakers also advanced legislation this year that would require all local governments with jails to enter 287(g) agreements, a bill that passed the House and is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Founders who wrote both the enforcement powers of the executive and the limits on those powers in the Fourth Amendment understood something that gets lost in the debate over interior immigration enforcement: a government that enforces its laws through constitutionally sound procedures stands on solid ground. One that cuts corners on the Fourth Amendment in the name of speed or efficiency does not. The republic’s interest in enforcing its immigration laws and its interest in maintaining constitutional standards for law enforcement are not in conflict; both require taking seriously the procedural rules that separate lawful enforcement from arbitrary power.

🌴 California Governor: What the Results Mean for November

As California’s vote count continued Thursday, Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra held the top two positions in the governor’s primary, with the outcome still uncalled by the Associated Press, according to NBC News. If the margins hold, November would feature a Republican-versus-Democrat general election for the first time since 2018. Three Democratic candidates conceded Tuesday night: former Representative Katie Porter, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Steyer remains in the race pending the final count. The state has a long history of vote shifts during mail ballot counting that can alter projected outcomes.

A Hilton-Becerra general election would be one of the most competitive California gubernatorial races in a generation, with Hilton running on affordability, tax cuts, and an end to what he calls Democratic mismanagement, and Becerra positioning himself as the candidate of stability and experience. Hilton’s campaign celebrated cautiously Wednesday, with the candidate appearing on the steps of the state capitol. “Change is coming to California, and it’s long overdue,” he told supporters in Huntington Beach on election night. Democrats who view California as the country’s most important proving ground for progressive governance will be watching the final count closely.

🗳 Tina Peters Released From Prison After Gov. Polis Commutes Sentence Under Trump Pressure

Tina Peters, the 70-year-old former Mesa County, Colorado elections clerk convicted of tampering with voting equipment, was released from state prison June 1 after Democratic Gov. Jared Polis commuted her nine-year sentence, according to PBS NewsHour. Peters served less than a quarter of her sentence. Polis issued the commutation May 15, citing the sentence as “extremely unusual and lengthy” for a first-time non-violent offender, but he has been explicit that she committed crimes and deserved time in prison. Her conviction, on four felony and three misdemeanor counts related to a 2021 breach of Mesa County’s voting systems, stands and was not affected by the commutation.

The release came after Trump waged a lengthy pressure campaign against Polis that included vetoing a unanimously passed water funding bill for southern Colorado, denying two disaster declaration requests, and threatening to dismantle Boulder’s National Center for Atmospheric Research. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold called the commutation “a dark day for democracy” and warned it would “embolden the election denier movement.” Colorado Democrats voted to censure Polis over the decision. Peters’ attorney called it “correcting an unjust sentence.” Trump had issued a federal pardon for Peters in December, which had no legal effect on her state conviction.

🐻 Alaska Public Asks Voters: What Do You Want From the 2026 Candidates?

Alaska Public Media is gathering listener and reader questions to put to candidates running in the 2026 primary election for governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and the state legislature, according to Alaska Public. The state uses a nonpartisan open primary system under Ballot Measure 2, in which the top four finishers advance to a ranked-choice general election, a model that has drawn national attention since producing Democrat Mary Peltola’s 2022 House victory over Sarah Palin. This year’s statewide races will test whether the system continues to generate competitive outcomes or consolidates around more predictable frontrunners.

Alaska’s political concerns are distinct from the contiguous 48: the size of the Permanent Fund Dividend, federal land management, fisheries policy, and the cost of living in one of the country’s most expensive states will dominate the candidate conversations. The state’s open primary system is one of the most consequential election law experiments in the country, and its results through 2026 will inform debates about primary reform in states where partisan primaries consistently produce candidates well outside the general electorate’s preferences. The questions Alaskans ask their candidates between now and primary day will be worth watching.