Trump repeats false 'rigged election' claim as administration launches largest-ever denaturalization drive

President Donald Trump on June 8 repeated his unfounded claim that California's gubernatorial election had been "rigged," posting on Truth Social a screenshot of a post by Representative Abe Hamadeh, who wrote that the state is "incapable of running free and fair elections consistent with our constitution." "No way this could have happened. Rigged Election!" Trump added. The post came a day after he abruptly ended an NBC "Meet the Press" interview in which he repeated false claims that both the California race and the 2020 presidential election had been stolen.

Pressed by interviewer Kristen Welker for evidence, Trump complained that "it's four days and they aren't even close to counting" ballots -- a timeline Welker noted is standard in California -- before calling her "crooked" and "stupid." "Let's call it quits because I've had enough," he said, removing his microphone. "Thank you, darling. Have a good time." Hamadeh's original post referred to a Decision Desk HQ projection that Nithya Raman would take the second runoff spot in the Los Angeles mayoral primary. Earlier in the interview, Trump declined to rule out payments from a planned "anti-weaponization" fund to January 6 rioters who pleaded guilty to assaulting police, claiming without evidence that they had been "ushered into a building" by FBI agents.

Hours later, the Justice Department moved to strip citizenship from 17 naturalized Americans, in what officials told CBS News was the largest denaturalization effort in US history. The targets included people convicted of serious crimes -- among them a Haitian immigrant accused of sexually abusing his daughter, a man from the former Yugoslavia convicted of abusing a child under 15, a former Catholic priest born in Colombia accused of child sex abuse, and a Filipino-born man who pleaded guilty to a child sex crime -- alongside others accused of fraud, including an Indian immigrant accused of filing fraudulent H-1B petitions and a Jamaican-born man convicted of wire fraud. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department would show "zero tolerance" for abuse of the naturalization process, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the administration would "continue to use every lawful avenue to denaturalize and remove aliens," adding that "American citizenship is a privilege, and it must be earned honestly."

The State Department separately moved to sanction more than 100 officials of Nicaragua's Murillo-Ortega government and their relatives. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the leadership "an enemy of humanity" and cited its role in the death of opposition leader Brooklyn Rivera, saying the United States "stands with the Nicaraguan people." The action built on February sanctions against five senior officials and April measures targeting the country's gold sector, including two sons of the co-presidents.

A federal lawsuit filed by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of two Virginia residents sought to halt a UFC event scheduled for the White House South Lawn on June 14, timed to Trump's 80th birthday and billed as part of the nation's 250th-anniversary celebration. A 92-foot, 600-ton cage dubbed "The Claw" has been erected on the lawn. The suit argues the event violates National Park Service rules barring sporting events on federal parkland and that no environmental review was conducted; it also notes Trump bought up to $50,000 in stock in UFC parent TKO Group Holdings in March. "This is fundamentally a private, commercial, corrupt use of our most sacred national monuments for private gain," plaintiffs' lawyer Brendan Ballou said. UFC chief Dana White has called the timing a "coincidence" while acknowledging the event was "Trump's idea"; the White House dismissed the challenge as "obstructionist, baseless, and dilatory."

Separately, the Kennedy Center removed Trump's name from its website after US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled the renaming unlawful, writing that "Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name" and "only Congress can change it." In Maine, voters cast ballots in a closely watched Senate primary in which Graham Platner, a 41-year-old oysterman and Marine veteran, was set to become the Democratic nominee against five-term Republican Susan Collins, 73, after Governor Janet Mills suspended her campaign in April. And in New York, Trump's attendance at Game 3 of the NBA Finals placed a five-block area around Madison Square Garden under near-total lockdown; NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said there would be no public watch party outside the arena as the Knicks sought their first title since 1973.