First Thing: Race for California governor deadlocked as primary results across the US pour in

Pelley’s exit followed his blunt rebuke of Bari Weiss, the opinion commentator who took over as editor-in-chief of CBS News in October. Pelley reportedly said: “She’s murdering 60 Minutes … She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”

• What was Pelley said to have done? In an email, the newly appointed executive editor, Nick Bilton, claimed Pelley had “hijacked my first meeting … to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt”. In a message to staff he said that after repeated, failed attempts to find common ground over the weekend, “we have parted ways with Scott Pelley”.

Pentagon appoints convicted January 6 rioter to sensitive counter-terrorism role

Elias Irizarry looks down from a wall in the grounds of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Photograph: FBI

The Department of Defense has appointed Elias Irizarry – convicted for his role in the January 6 Capitol insurrection – to a sensitive counter-terrorism role. Irizarry, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, will reportedly join a 40-person counter-terrorism and irregular warfare team within the special operations and low-intensity conflict office, which manages highly classified military operations.

Joel Valdez, the Pentagon’s acting press secretary, defended the appointment in an email, while attacking the Washington Post journalists who first reported on it. “Unlike Mr Irizarry, the Washington Post does not care about national security given its track record of low-tier reporters publishing and soliciting classified information that could hurt our nation on a daily basis,” he said.

• What did Irizzary do on 6 January? He was pictured brandishing what appeared to be a metal pole on the day of the attack. He was 19 at the time, and apologized for his actions in court, but was criticized by the judge for failing to stop the violence despite having been in a position to do so.

In other news …

Donald Trump and his family will be immune from IRS audit. Photograph: Samuel Corum/Pool/Samuel Corum - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock

• The federal government is abandoning an effort to create a $1.8bn secretive fund to compensate Trump’s allies, but is maintaining an agreement that prohibits the IRS from auditing him, his family and related entities.
• The US supreme court ruled in a 6-3 decision that Alabama can use a redrawn congressional map that eliminates one of the state’s two majority-Black districts in this year’s midterm elections, another major blow to Black voters and a win for Republicans.
• Authorities are investigating whether the disgraced former Republican congressman George Santos engaged in insider trading by betting on a prediction market regarding his own attendance at the State of the Union.
• Far-right activists addressed a crowd that clashed with police outside a Southampton police station in the UK to protest against the police response to the murder of Henry Nowak, a cause taken up by Elon Musk.
• The White House correspondents’ dinner will be rescheduled for 24 July. The Washington event was abruptly cancelled in April after a shooting.

Stat of the day: One-tonne cocaine bust reveals secret US-Mexico tunnel

Officials stand outside a border tunnel found near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego, California. Photograph: Carlos Moreno/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel used a fake retail store in San Diego as a front for trafficking drugs, officials have claimed. Federal agents said they had found a 55ft-deep tunnel equipped with electricity and ventilation. It was accessed using a sophisticated hydraulic lift that extended more than 1,000ft to the US-Mexico border, and they said they believe it continued for 800ft into the Mexican city of Tijuana.

Well actually: Elizabeth Smart on her journey from kidnapping survivor to bodybuilding

Elizabeth Smart at her home in 2023. Photograph: Chad Kirkland for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Elizabeth Smart, the activist and kidnapping survivor, recently revealed she had spent the last year secretly competing in bodybuilding competitions under her married name. “I’m the kind of person who needs a goal, a deadline. Let me tell you, it’s pretty good motivation to know you have to get on stage with a bikini!”

But you don’t need to actually do the latter to take advantage of her advice: “Get a good coach. Lift heavy. Eat tons of protein”.

Don’t miss this: Is this film AI slop – or the future of film-making?

A still from Dreams of Violets (2026). Illustration: Courtesy of Ash Koosha

The use of AI in creative endeavours has been a hot topic, and now Dreams of Violets is bringing a whole new angle to the debate, becoming the first fully AI-generated “live action” feature accepted at a major film festival. Every image and character in the drama about Iran’s anti-government protests was made with AI, with director Ash Koosha arguing it would be too dangerous to base characters on living people in Iran. Cath Clarke interviewed him.

Climate check: Trump officials to dismantle key ocean monitoring system

Staff at work at the Ocean Observatories Initiative. Photograph: Sheri N White © WHOI

The Trump administration plans to dismantle a $368m deep-sea observation system that has provided crucial data on ocean systems and climate change for more than a decade. The notice came days after Trump fired all members of the independent board that oversees the National Science Foundation.

Last Thing: Jill Biden recalls pressure Joe faced to drop out of 2024 race

Jill Biden in conversation with Whoopi Goldberg. Photograph: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Jill Biden recalled the immense pressure that her husband, Joe, faced in the aftermath of his disastrous 2024 debate performance, saying he told her: “Jilly, I had no choice” but to drop out of the presidential race. The former first lady made her comments during a Tuesday book event coinciding with the release of her memoir, View from the East Wing.

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