AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT

In her resignation letter, which she posted on social media, Gabbard said she told Trump she would leave her job overseeing the coordination of 18 intelligence agencies on June 30. She said her husband had recently been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and “faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months.”

“At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” she wrote in the letter, which was reported earlier by Fox News.

Trump, in his own social media post, said “Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her.” He said her principal deputy, Aaron Lukas, will serve as acting director of national intelligence.

While Gabbard says her departure is for personal reasons, the juxtaposition between her long-held, anti-interventionism stance and Trump’s series of overseas military operations had seemed to put them on a collision course.

Warsh is sworn in as the Fed chair after Trump's bid for greater control over the independent bank

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday oversaw the White House swearing-in of the new Federal Reserve chair and said he would like Kevin Warsh's help in stimulating the economy even as he tried to emphasize that the nation's central bank would remain independent.

Trump spent months criticizing Warsh's predecessor, Jerome Powell, for being reluctant to cut interests rates, with the Republican president arguing that lower borrowing costs would provide an economic boost. By taking the unusual step of holding the ceremony in the East Room and not the Fed, Trump made clear his pleasure that Warsh is now in charge.

The war with Iran has caused gas prices to spike, unsettled financial markets and driven inflation concerns across the economy. Those developments have led to recent doubts about whether Warsh might heed Trump's calls and push the Fed to lower rates.

Still, Trump said he had faith that Warsh would prioritize a strong economy.

“Thankfully, unlike some of his predecessors, Kevin understands that when the economy is booming, it is, that’s a good thing,” the president said. Trump said it was not necessary "to go crazy. Just let it go. We want it to boom.”

Trump veers off-topic during speech in New York that was supposed to be on the economy

SUFFERN, New York (AP) — President Donald Trump, from a toss-up congressional district in New York on Friday, began testing his midterm message that was ostensibly on the economy.

But he veered off-topic right from the start, going off on tangents about voter identification, crime in cities, transgender women in sports and “Dumocrats,” his new chosen moniker for the opposition party. He complained that toiletries are locked up in pharmacies, making them harder to buy, and polled the audience on what he should call his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.

Eventually, he landed on the topic of the speech, telling the crowd that he and his party worked to slash taxes and increase take-home pay, while Democrats opposed the effort at every turn.

"I cut your taxes, cut the taxes on workers, families, small business, who are the soul of this state," Trump said to the audience at Rockland Community College. Listing off the various provisions of the tax law, the president said: “These are all Republican tax cuts. The Democrats voted against every one of these tax cuts.”

Trump traveled to the Hudson Valley area to appear with Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who is up for reelection in what will be one of the most closely watched House races this November, for an event meant to promote the tax law Trump signed last year, particularly the quadrupling of the deduction for state and local taxes, which is critical in a high-tax state like New York.

Judge dismisses criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday dismissed a human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, finding that the Justice Department’s pursuit of criminal charges was designed to punish him for challenging his mistaken deportation to El Salvador last year.

The ruling amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of a Justice Department that under President Donald Trump has repeatedly been accused of targeting defendants for political purposes. The Trump administration touted the charges against Abrego Garcia last year at a press conference in which then-Attorney General Pam Bondi declared, “This is what American justice looks like.”

“The evidence before this court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power,” U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, in Nashville, Tenn., said in his ruling granting Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss for “selective or vindictive prosecution.” Without Abrego Garcia’s “successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the government would not have brought this prosecution."

Abrego Garcia’s deportation became an embarrassment for Trump officials when they were ordered to return him to the U.S. In his motion to dismiss, Abrego Garcia claimed that both the timing of the criminal charges and inflammatory statements about him by top Trump officials demonstrated that the prosecution was vindictive.

Despite the win in criminal court, his future in the United States is uncertain. Barred from deporting him to El Salvador, administration officials have threatened to deport him to a series of African countries, most recently Liberia.

Rubio reports 'slight progress' in Iran talks as Pakistan renews efforts to mediate a peace deal

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that “slight progress” was made during talks with Iran as Pakistan's army chief traveled to Tehran in a renewed effort to mediate a peace deal and uncertainty loomed over whether the war would resume.

Rubio spoke days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was holding off on a military strike against the Islamic Republic because “serious negotiations” were underway. Trump has been threatening for weeks that the ceasefire reached in mid-April could end if Iran does not make a deal, with shifting parameters for striking such an agreement.

America's top diplomat made the comment ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, where the military alliance discussed what role it could play in helping police the Strait of Hormuz once the war is over.

Rubio said he did not want to exaggerate the progress, saying there had been “a little bit of movement and that's good.” In recent weeks, repeated claims of progress have emerged, but a deal has stayed out of reach.

Trump has repeatedly set deadlines for Tehran and then backed off. But he’s also previously indicated he would hold off on military action to allow talks to play out, only to turn around and launch strikes. That happened at the war’s outset, when he ordered strikes in late February shortly after indicating he would let talks play out.

Senators from both parties push Hegseth for action on Ukraine aid

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of senators is pushing back on delays by the Department of Defense in sending $600 million in security aid to Ukraine and other allies in eastern Europe, dispatching a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday that calls for the funding to be disbursed.

Friction has grown between Congress and the Trump administration in recent weeks as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle push for updates on what has happened with $400 million in Ukraine aid and $200 million more for defense programs in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The money was allocated by Congress last year. Even Republican lawmakers have aired their frustration as President Donald Trump's administration disengages with Ukraine and other European allies.

“Ukraine has persistently and bravely repelled a four-year Russian onslaught, but its military needs and deserves continued American support,” said Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley in the joint letter.

Republican Sens. Kevin Cramer and Thom Tillis and Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and Catherine Cortez Masto also signed onto the letter.

During a congressional hearing over three weeks ago, Hegseth had told lawmakers that the Ukraine funding had been “released” and a spending plan would soon be sent to lawmakers. But the senators say the Pentagon failed to meet the promised May 15 deadline for that plan.

Congo curtails funeral wakes in Ebola outbreak as WHO upgrades risk assessment

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — Authorities in northeastern Congo banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people Friday in an effort to curb a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak in a region where medical workers have struggled with a lack of resources and pushback from angry residents.

The World Health Organization said that the outbreak now poses a “very high" risk for Congo — up from a previous categorization of “high” — but that the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 82 cases and seven deaths have been confirmed in Congo, but that the outbreak is believed to be “much larger."

There is no available vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus, which spread undetected for weeks in Congo's Ituri Province following the first known death while authorities tested for another, more common, Ebola virus and came up negative. There are now 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths, though more are expected as surveillance expands.

“We are trying to catch up,” Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner told the AP. “It is a race against the clock."

Trump's Cuba strategy echoes his Venezuela playbook. But there are key differences

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's strategy against Cuba is looking a lot like the playbook for Venezuela: An oil blockade, a growing U.S. military presence, federal charges and repeated threats of intervention.

But similar pressure campaigns do not equal similar results, experts say, even if President Donald Trump has often warned that "Cuba is next.”

“President Trump viewed the Venezuelan intervention as a fantastic success,” said Brian Finucane, a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group and a former State Department lawyer. “And he’s sought to replicate the Venezuela model elsewhere, including in Iran. But obviously, Cuba, like Iran, is a very different country than Venezuela."

If the U.S. were to depose Cuba's leadership, there is no obvious successor who would work with the Trump administration, Finucane said. That is unlike Venezuela, where the U.S. captured leader Nicolás Maduro in January and his second in command, Delcy Rodríguez, stepped in with U.S. approval and remains in power.

Cuban officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, say “there is no Delcy in Cuba.”

FDA staff blindsided by move allowing more e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches onto US market

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior officials in the Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco center were blindsided by a recent decision that opens the door to allowing more unauthorized electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches onto the U.S. market, The Associated Press has learned.

The guidelines, posted days before former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned, will allow companies to launch certain nicotine-based products before they've been fully vetted by regulators.

Some FDA officials tasked with enforcing vaping regulations were not consulted on the changes and only learned of them the night before the document was published earlier this month, according to two staffers who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential agency matters. The document's sudden appearance sparked internal confusion about how the policy came about and who authorized it, the staffers said.

In recent days, agency officials have convened hourslong meetings grappling with how to implement the six-page memo, which breaks with longstanding FDA policy requiring scientific verification of health benefits for smokers before any new products are introduced.

It’s highly unusual for the FDA to draft new policies without input from the staffers who oversee them.

Wall Street keeps rising, even as U.S. households keep getting more discouraged

NEW YORK (AP) — The split between Wall Street and most U.S. households grew wider Friday as U.S. stocks rose to the finish of their eighth straight winning week, the best such streak since 2023. That’s even though a survey showed U.S. consumers are feeling even worse about the economy.

The S&P 500 added 0.4% and pulled closer to its all-time high set in the middle of last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 294 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.2%.

Ross Stores helped drive the market and rose 8.1% after the off-price retailer reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that easily cleared analysts’ expectations. CEO Jim Conroy said it saw strong customer traffic through the three months, and the company may have benefited from households spending their tax refunds.

Estee Lauder jumped 11.9% after saying it was no longer considering a possible merger with Puig, the Spanish fragrance and beauty products company.

Workday rose 5.2%, and Zoom Communications jumped 9.2% after both delivered better profit reports for the latest quarter than analysts expected.