By WILL WEISSERT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday marked the fourth anniversary of the suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members during the chaotic withdrawal at the end of the Afghanistan War by signing a proclamation honoring the fallen.

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Surrounded by about 35 family members of those killed, including one wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap, Trump used the somber occasion to decry his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden, for allowing the attack to happen.

Tuesday is the anniversary of the bombing that also killed more than 100 Afghans at Abbey Gate outside the Kabul airport on Aug. 26, 2021. Trump called it “one of the dumbest days in the history of our country by the previous administration.”

“That was a terrible day,” Trump said. “And I think it was the worst day, and in many ways the most embarrassing day, in the history of our country.”

Biden’s White House was following a withdrawal commitment and timeline that the Trump administration had negotiated with the Taliban in 2020. A 2022 review by a government-appointed special investigator concluded decisions made by both Trump and Biden were the key factors leading to the rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s military and the Taliban takeover.

Trump made the suicide bombing and Biden’s handling of it a frequent topic as he campaigned for president. The relatives of some of the U.S. service members killed also appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention in July 2024.

On the third anniversary of the attack, Trump was invited by family members of some suicide bombing victims to Arlington National Cemetery’s Section 60, a hallowed section where U.S. forces killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are buried.

That became a flashpoint after a staffer from Trump’s campaign reportedly shoved a cemetery employee who was trying to prevent the photographing of a ceremony honoring the service members killed in the Afghanistan War withdrawal. Federal law prohibits campaign or election-related activities within Army national military cemeteries.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, speaks alongside family members of soldiers killed in Afghanistan at the attack at Abbey Gate, during an event where President Donald Trump signs a proclamation honoring the fourth anniversary of the attack, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

In a statement marking the third anniversary of the attack, Biden called the 13 Americans who died “patriots in the highest sense” who “embodied the very best of who we are as a nation: brave, committed, selfless.”

“Ever since I became Vice President, I carried a card with me every day that listed the exact number of American service members who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan — including Taylor, Johanny, Nicole, Hunter, Daegan, Humberto, David, Jared, Rylee, Dylan, Kareem, Maxton, and Ryan,” Biden said in a statement in August 2024.

Also on hand for Monday’s proclamation signing were Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, who told victims’ relatives that Trump’s action was “a rectification of a wrong” because Biden “lost your loved ones through incompetence” and his government “never actually put pen to paper to say we’re grateful for your sacrifice.”

Trump has ordered a new Defense Department review of what occurred during the withdrawal of U.S. forces, and Hegseth said he expected that to be complete by the middle of next year.

“The military needs to answer for what happened in Afghanistan,” Hegseth said.

By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Adm. Daryl Caudle took over as the Navy’s highest-ranking officer Monday, ending a six-month vacancy created by the Trump administration’s firing of his predecessor.

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Caudle became chief of naval operations as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted a growing list of military leaders with little or no explanation. Remarks at a swearing-in ceremony at Washington Navy Yard offered several nods to the admiral being in close alignment with the Trump administration leaders above him.

In February, Hegseth fired Caudle’s predecessor, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, without explanation. Neither Caudle nor Navy Secretary John Phelan addressed the ouster at the ceremony Monday, though Franchetti was among several former chiefs of naval operations in attendance.

Franchetti had been the second woman ever to be promoted to four-star admiral and is among several female military leaders fired by the Trump administration. She was ousted the same day as Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Phelan, the Navy’s civilian leader, described the sea service as rife with issues like “decaying shipyards, inadequate maintenance, enormous cost overruns (and) delayed delivery and repair rates” and unspecified traditions that were stifling innovation.

“Admiral Caudle, together we must rebuild, reform and refocus on what matters — readiness, accountability and results — in order to execute President Trump’s mandate of peace through strength,” Phelan said.

Caudle was unequivocal in his agreement with the often-repeated Trump administration phrase, saying, “Peace through strength works.”

The admiral, who until the promotion was commanding U.S. Fleet Forces Command, said he wanted to be “judged by the results we achieved.”

Specifically, he cited the number of ships delivered and repaired on time, the number of ships that are fully manned, and ordinance production as meeting the Navy’s demands.

Phelan said Caudle’s success “is inextricably linked to my success as secretary of the Navy and vice versa.”

Authorities searched the South St. Paul home of a man with a history of making threats against law enforcement and found drugs and approximately 90 guns, including a rifle with a scope set up on a tripod overlooking the front door, according to court documents.

Kollin J. Konitzer, 34, is well known to authorities “due to his concerning, escalating pattern of conduct” toward law enforcement, the documents say.

Kollin J. Konitzer (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

So when South St. Paul police learned the afternoon of Aug. 19 that Konitzer was on his way to city hall to talk about a records request, he was met in a lobby by a commander.

The officer saw that Konitzer had a gun at his hip under his shirt, then discovered he did not have a permit to carry a firearm, according to a criminal complaint filed in Dakota County District Court.

Konitzer was arrested and jailed, and police filed a petition for an extreme risk protection order against him the same day alleging that he has made several threats to law enforcement and his ex-partners.

On Wednesday, agents with the Dakota County Drug Task Force executed a search warrant on Konitzer’s home in the 300 block of Seventh Avenue South and found the stockpile of handguns, shotguns and rifles, according to a complaint in that case.

A safe in his bedroom included 0.91 grams of fentanyl and a pill bottle — with no identifying prescription information — that contained 53 pills of methylphenidate, a controlled substance primarily used to treat ADHD, the complaint says.

Konitzer’s LinkedIn page says he is the owner and founder of Alphabet Soup Arms LLC, a business that was registered with the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State in November and is considered active. The online record cites his South St. Paul home as the principal place of business.

The petition for an extreme risk protection order, which a judge granted Aug. 20, details a history of alleged threatening behavior toward law enforcement, including a “comment that he could kill the police chief before he could return fire,” the document reads. He also allegedly has made “countless” social media posts promoting anti-government ideology.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s Behavioral Threat Assessment Team considers Konitzer to be a threat “due to his concerning, escalating pattern of conduct” toward law enforcement, according to the petition.

The BCA, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and South St. Paul police have all issued officer-safety alerts about Konitzer, and the city of Osseo is forwarding charges for disorderly conduct for his interaction with a front desk clerk, the petition continues.

Loaded 9 mm handgun

Because of his prior interactions with South St. Paul clerical staff, Konitzer has been directed to interact with police commanders, the charges say.

When Cmdr. Dan Salmey met Konitzer at the front window of the police department lobby, he said he wanted data he had requested several years prior regarding an interaction with officers. He also said he wanted to file a complaint related to the data request.

Salmey saw the outline of a handgun through Konitzer’s shirt. At one point he grabbed the grip of the firearm with his middle, ring and pinky fingers, “leaving his index finger free,” the charges say. Salmey then reviewed a prior investigation involving Konitzer and learned he does not have a valid permit to carry a pistol.

Salmey returned to the lobby and asked Konitzer if he had a firearm on him. He replied, “Oh absolutely,” the complaint states.

Konitzer’s 9 mm Sig Sauer handgun had one round in the chamber and 12 rounds in the magazine.

As Konitzer was being placed under arrest, he reportedly said, “I have been waiting for this.” Another officer tried to read Konitzer his Miranda warning, but he became “irate” and began screaming and swearing at the officer. Konitzer invoked his right to remain silent.

Dakota County prosecutors charged Konitzer with possession of a pistol in a public place without a permit, a gross misdemeanor, and five counts of felony fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance.

At a first court appearance Friday on the drug charges, prosecutors requested that Konitzer be held on “significant” bail — $150,000, without conditions — due to the extreme risk protection order and the guns found at his home. He was released from the Dakota County Jail after posting a $100,000 bond with conditions, including no possession of firearms.

An attorney in the drug case is not listed in the court file, and a court-appointed assistant public defender in the no-permit gun case did not immediately return a message Monday asking for comment.

Konitzer does not have a criminal history, other than a speeding ticket.

Grievances with the BCA

The extreme risk protection order petition recounts Konitzer’s other alleged threatening and questionable behavior with government agencies.

The BCA reported that Konitzer has had grievances with the agency’s firearms-instructor certification, and that he has been creating his own certificates purporting to allow the user to conceal and carry, despite lacking BCA approval, the petition alleges.

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In January, Konitzer issued a certificate to an individual who was later denied a permit in Anoka County. In response, Konitzer told Anoka County that “his group would be backed, and they would be armed,” the petition reads.

In April, Konitzer went to the South St. Paul police lobby and made obscene gestures to a staff member.

After his application to become a South St. Paul police cadet was denied, the petition says, Konitzer emailed city staff in July, stating, “We’ll break that thin blue line of tyranny one way or another!”

Konitzer also allegedly had approached South St. Paul officers’ squad vehicles after making social media posts about Molotov cocktails, explosives and firearms.

Recently, he went to the South St. Police Department and the BCA’s headquarters in St. Paul while armed and wearing a tactical vest, according to the petition.

By PATRICK WHITTLE

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A network of clinics in Maine will not resume getting Medicaid funds to treat thousands of low-income patients during its lawsuit over Trump administration cuts to abortion providers, a judge ruled Monday.

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The decision against Maine Family Planning came despite a ruling last month by another federal judge, who said Planned Parenthood clinics around the country must continue to be reimbursed for Medicaid funding as the provider wrangles with the Trump administration over efforts to defund it. That legal fight continues.

Without Medicaid, the much smaller provider in Maine says it will have to stop serving hundreds of primary care patients by the end of October. The organization says abortions are a relatively small percentage of its overall services, which include cervical cancer screenings, contraception and primary care to low-income residents in one of the poorest and most rural states in the Northeast.

President Donald Trump’s policy and tax bill, known as the “ big beautiful bill,” blocked Medicaid money from flowing to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. The parameters in the bill also stopped funding from reaching Maine Family Planning, and it is the only other organization that has come forward publicly to say its funding is at risk.

Maine Family Planning says Medicaid dollars are not used for its abortion services, and it’s unfair to cut off funding for the clinics “solely because Congress wanted to defund Planned Parenthood,” an attorney for the organization told the judge earlier this month.

However, Judge Lance Walker said in his ruling Monday that the payments will not resume during the ongoing lawsuit by the provider seeking to restore the funds. He wrote that Congress can “withhold federal funds and otherwise disassociate from conduct that is not enshrined” as a constitutional right.

Walker, a 2018 Trump appointee, also wrote that it would be “a special kind of judicial hubris” to undermine the big bill, which he described as the end result of democratic processes.

The network of 18 clinics said in a statement Monday that Walker’s ruling will destabilize the state’s entire health infrastructure by potentially turning low-income patients away from their doctors. The group said about 8,000 people receive family planning and primary care from its clinics.

“Mainers’ health should never be jeopardized by political decisions, and we will continue to fight for them,” said George Hill, president and chief executive officer of Maine Family Planning.

When asked if the organization is considering appealing the decision, the group issued a statement that said the network is “considering all options to ensure that Maine’s Medicaid patients can continue to receive the health care they need and deserve.”

Attorneys representing the Trump administration did not immediately comment. Emily Hall, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, told the judge in court earlier this month that Congress has a right not to contract with abortion providers.

“The rational basis is not simply to reduce the number of abortions, it’s to ensure the federal government is not paying out money to organizations that provide abortions,” Hall said.

While advocates of cutting Medicaid for abortion providers focused on Planned Parenthood, the bill did not mention it by name. Instead, it cut off reimbursements for organizations that are primarily engaged in family planning services — which generally include items such as contraception, abortion and pregnancy tests — and received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023.

The U.S. Senate’s parliamentarian rejected a 2017 effort to defund Planned Parenthood because it was written to exclude all other providers by barring payments only to groups that received more than $350 million a year in Medicaid funds. Maine Family Planning asserts in its legal challenge that the threshold was lowered to $800,000 this time around to make sure Planned Parenthood would not be the only entity affected.