President Donald Trump is headed to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to meet with Republican senators who have grown increasingly frustrated with his efforts to divert their agenda. He has pressured senators to focus on his proof-of-citizenship voting bill, blocked them from confirming one of his own nominees and forced them to defend his Iran war even as they question the strategy and endgame.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will check in face-to-face with Trump on Wednesday, visiting the volatile U.S. leader two weeks before the annual summit of the military alliance at a time when the Pentagon is reviewing the size of the U.S. military footprint in Europe.
The saga over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool took a turn as Trump said Tuesday that six people have been arrested over recent damage. The president’s troubled $14-million-plus rehabilitation project has become a visceral flashpoint over law enforcement, aesthetics and environmental concerns ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
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Trump called off housing bill signing just as Republican leaders were praising it
The president’s announcement came at an awkward time for House Republican leadership, coming just as they were speaking at a press conference about the importance of the bill in addressing affordability — a key issue for voters this year.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise had just described it as “really important bill to lower housing costs.”
“Let’s show the American people what legislating looks like,” added Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill. “Let’s show the American people how you bring together and do something on a bicameral basis, and we did that.”
A reporter then asked about Trump’s cancellation as they took questions. Speaker Mike Johnson said he had spoken with Trump earlier Wednesday and was confident he would sign the bill.
“The president, when we go through the details of the bill, he’s going to understand that it’s a good product,” Johnson said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren says Trump is showing he doesn’t care about American families
The bipartisan housing bill was as close as it comes to a “Kumbaya” moment in Washington, but the Democratic senator who helped craft the measure said she couldn’t understand why Trump thought canceling the signing ceremony was a smart idea.
“This just doesn’t make any sense,” Warren said on CNBC, saying the only conclusion she could draw is that Trump has “a complete indifference to the cost squeeze on American families, and to genuine efforts to do something about it.”
The Massachusetts lawmaker said Trump is his own worst enemy when it comes to lowering interest rates to help make housing more affordable.
She said his tariffs, his energy policies and his Iran war have kept inflation running hotter than it should, keeping borrowing costs high.
House Democrat to Trump: ‘Stop the nonsense’
Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas said Trump refused to sign the bill “all because of political games.”
“Families are struggling to afford a home,” she posted on X. “Stop the nonsense and sign the BIPARTISAN bill.”
An analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center says the bill incorporates provisions from more than 60 measures introduced in the House, Senate, or both chambers—36 of which had bipartisan sponsors.
America is turning 250. New polls show how they feel about it
About 4 in 10 U.S. adults feel “proud” about the country’s 250th anniversary, according to a new AP-NORC survey. Roughly 3 in 10 say “excited” describes their emotions.
But as the celebrations begin, many Americans also feel indifferent or conflicted. New Gallup polling shows about 8 in 10 Americans now feel the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed with how the U.S. has turned out, a substantial increase from 25 years ago.
Laura Davis, a 44-year-old in Chicago who identifies as a progressive liberal, has struggled with what she describes as the “American declarations of grandiosity” this year, including Trump’s White House ballroom construction and the repainting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
That money could be better spent on Americans in need as well as international aid, she said, and she worries the country’s reputation is being damaged by the Trump administration’s actions.
Iran says it’s closing Strait of Hormuz again as Israel and Hezbollah keep fighting in Lebanon
Testing the Iran war’s uneasy ceasefire, the announcement from Tehran follows an Israeli airstrike Wednesday that killed two people, according to Lebanon’s state-run news agency. It was Israel’s first airstrike on Lebanon since the latest ceasefire took effect on Saturday.
Israel’s defense minister said Wednesday that the U.S. had not demanded that Israel withdraw from Lebanon and maintained that Israel will remain there as long as Hezbollah poses a threat to its troops and residents. Hezbollah has refused to halt attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing.
“We are not withdrawing, and as of this moment — and this is a diplomatic achievement — there is no American demand for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon,” said minister Israel Katz.
Lebanese and Israeli officials are meeting again this week in Washington. Lebanon hopes the direct negotiations will result in a plan for Israeli withdrawal.
US says Chemours to pay $450 million to settle ‘forever chemicals’ case
The Trump administration has reached a multi-state settlement with chemical giant Chemours Co. over years-long, illegal discharges of synthetic “forever chemicals” used to make products resistant to water, grease and stains.
The settlement is the first by the federal government to resolve enforcement claims against a manufacturer of harmful chemicals known as PFAS.
Under the agreement, Chemours will pay a civil penalty of $22.5 million for alleged violations and spend $90 million over 15 years to mitigate PFAS discharges in three states: West Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey. The company also agreed to install PFAS pollution controls and supply clean drinking water to affected communities. Combined, the penalties and relief programs are estimated to cost $450 million.
The Associated Press learned details of the settlement, which allows Chemours to continue manufacturing PFAS for commercial and military applications, ahead of an announcement expected later Wednesday.
Trump cancels signing of bill to increase supply of housing
The president posted on social media that he would no longer be signing, as planned for Wednesday, a bipartisan measure to increase home construction.
“Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency,” Trump said.
Trump has been pushing the Senate to remove the filibuster in order to pass the SAVE America Act, which would introduce new voter identification requirements.
Democratic lawmakers say the measure as written would be a form of voter suppression.
Trump disses housing bill he’s about to sign as having ‘minor importance’
It turns out that Trump doesn’t care much about the bipartisan bill to spur more home construction that he plans to sign on Thursday.
Posting on social media, he dismissed the measure that his rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., helped to craft.
He said the housing measure, which aims to reduce federal regulations, expand local control and ban corporate investors from buying up single-family homes, was “of minor importance compared to lower interest rates.” Thirty-year mortgage rates are averaging around 6.5%, having spiked from 6% earlier this year with the start of the Iran war.
The president used his post to say that his SAVE America Act on voter identification was more important, even though polling shows the electorate is primarily concerned about affordability. Trump has been pushing the Senate to eliminate the filibuster in order to pass the voting measure.
More on the departing Army commander — and a new Pentagon review
A West Point graduate and a career special operations commander, Donahue commanded Delta Force units in Iraq and Afghanistan before leading the 82nd Airborne from July 2020 to March 2022. His departure from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of war was documented in an iconic photo.
Hegseth and Trump had made the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan — an operation set in motion by a treaty Trump negotiated during his first term — a regular political punching bag. But Donahue’s leadership during the evacuation drew bipartisan praise. Within the Army, he was widely seen as a top officer who could have led the service or been chosen to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Hegseth ordered the new examination of the withdrawal despite there having already been multiple reviews of the operation by the Pentagon, U.S. Central Command, the State Department and Congress, which have involved hundreds of interviews and studies of videos, photographs and other footage and data. It’s unclear what specific new information the new review is seeking.
US Army’s commander of land forces in Europe and Africa suddenly leaves his post
Gen. Christopher Donahue — famously the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan in 2021 — is unexpectedly stepping down after just 18 months in the job.
An Army official who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about sensitive discussions told The Associated Press that Donahue’s departure comes as the Army is discussing downgrading U.S. Army Europe and Africa from four-star to a three-star command amid criticism from Hegseth about European allies.
Donahue, commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command, will relinquish his command on July 2, according to an Army statement provided to The Associated Press. He’s among nearly two dozen top military leaders to either retire or depart early under the leadership of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his mantra of “less generals, more GIs.”
By Konstantin Toropin
UN nuclear boss says his inspectors will visit Iran sites. Tehran says not so fast
“This is going to happen,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Wednesday.
The IAEA inspections of Iranian nuclear enrichment sites are key component in the interim U.S.-Iran deal to reach an end to the war, but an Iranian diplomat insisted any such visit would only come after a final deal.
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The U.S. and Iran have repeatedly disagreed in public about what the document they signed actually means. Their dueling narratives also involve the status of Israel’s war with Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and how Tehran will spend billions of dollars once unfrozen.
Grossi’s remarks were the firmest yet from the United Nations agency viewed as key in determining the status of Iran’s nuclear stockpile.
US reopens embassy in Kuwait after shuttering during Iran war
The Trump administration has announced the limited reopening, more than three months after it was shuttered at the height of the war.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended a ceremonial flag-raising at the embassy compound in Kuwait City on Wednesday during the second leg of a three-nation tour of Gulf allies.
“Effective at midnight on June 24, 2026, the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait resumed operations following a suspension caused by Iranian attacks,” the State Department said. “The Embassy will immediately resume emergency services for American citizens, with other services phased in gradually.”
The embassy suspended operations on March 5, amid intensifying Iranian drone and missile retaliation for U.S. and Israeli airstrikes. Ot was the only one to entirely close down, although all others in the region reduced staffing by either allowing or ordering non-emergency personnel to leave their posts.
Federal judge bars immigration arrests at US courthouses in a setback for Trump
U.S. District Judge Casey Pitts of San Francisco ordered an end to the arrests, saying in part that the reversal of longstanding policy failed to address the “chilling effect” on attendance at court hearings and resulted from “a complete lack of decision-making.”
“For 80 years, Congress has commanded federal agencies to think before they act,” wrote Pitts, referring to the 1946 Administrative Procedure Act, which demands that an agency at least provide sound reasons for following its chosen course.”
Another federal judge in May also barred arrests at immigration courts, but that order applied only in New York. This decision invalidates the policy nationwide.
James Percival, the U.S. Homeland Security Department’s general counsel, criticized Tuesday's ruling as an exercise in judicial overreach.
Mamdani’s endorsements prove his power in New York, plus more takeaways
After two of Trump ’s picks for governor lost Republican primaries this month, he ensured it wouldn’t happen again. The president endorsed both GOP candidates in a South Carolina runoff, and one of them inevitably won.
Meanwhile New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani proved his endorsement power after boosting three progressives over establishment-backed candidates in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries. All three won, all but ensuring that two self-described democratic socialists will represent their deep blue districts in Congress. The mayor said it was a question of electing “better Democrats” who would “put working people back at the heart of politics.”
The losers in New York’s House primaries included New York Assemblyman Alex Bores, a former Palantir employee who pushed sweeping state-level AI regulation; Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy; and former Republican lawyer George Conway.
Trump turns America 250 kickoff into a campaign-style rally on the National Mall
The President sees America’s 250th anniversary as a chance to get the country excited again — about Donald Trump.
He’s hosting a rally Wednesday on the National Mall, promising a stealth bomber flyover, military bands, singer Lee Greenwood of “God Bless the USA” fame and a speech by who else but Trump.
The president is trying to convince American voters that he’s put the unpopular Iran war in the rearview mirror, with oil prices easing as the Strait of Hormuz reopens amid negotiations with Tehran. The rally kicks off weeks of celebrations about America and its 1776 founding.
After musicians including Young MC and the Commodores canceled, Trump said he’s stepping into the void as “the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime.”
He said Wednesday’s event would be “the biggest rally we’ve ever had.”
Trump says Justice Department will investigate oil companies for price gouging
Trump said on social media that gasoline prices are not matching the decline in oil prices, so he has told the Justice Department “to immediately start looking into this.”
Crude oil prices have eased with the interim deal with Iran, which has enabled more oil tankers to start passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Prices at the pump are averaging $3.93 a gallon, according to AAA. Gasoline costs have fallen over the past month, just not as much as Trump would like.
“In other words, customers are being ‘gouged,’” Trump posted. “I have instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into this. Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!
Federal appeals court allows the Trump administration to resume expanded use of speedy deportations
A federal appeals court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration to resume carrying out speedy deportations of undocumented migrants throughout the United States, not just near the border.
A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out a lower court decision that temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s expanded use of expedited removal. The ruling was a big victory for the Republican administration, which views the expansion of so-called expedited removal as a key tool for carrying out its mass deportation policy.
Expedited removal — quick deportation without a chance to appear before a judge — has previously been applied to migrants arriving by sea or caught at or near the border shortly after crossing.
In January, Trump expanded its use to undocumented migrants all over the United States. Immigration agents began whisking migrants away from courthouses where they had gone for immigration proceedings and then removing them from the country within days.
California intends to sue Trump administration over deal to end offshore wind project
California intends to sue the Trump administration over its deal to end an offshore wind project proposed off the state’s central coast.
State officials said they are combating the administration’s attacks on their offshore wind industry by sending a notice of their intention to sue to the Department of the Interior on Tuesday. Tuesday’s action is focused on the administration buying back the lease for Golden State Wind, a floating offshore wind project off California’s central coast.
California has made a major commitment to offshore wind because of its potential to generate vast amounts of clean electricity from strong, consistent winds off its coast. Its strategy calls for the state to develop 25 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2045, enough to power roughly 25 million homes and provide about 13% of the state’s electricity supply.
These energy and climate goals are now in jeopardy, and that’s why California will fight vigorously, said California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild.
Troubled Reflecting Pool faces fresh scrutiny over vandalism claims and duck deaths
The saga over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool took a turn as Trump cited six arrests over recent damage. The president’s troubled $14-million-plus rehabilitation project has become a visceral flashpoint over law enforcement, aesthetics and environmental concerns.
In a social media post, Trump claimed without supporting evidence that vandals had cause a “350-foot gash” in the paint as the administration faces a self-imposed deadline to fix the botched renovation before the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration next week. He repeated that the federal government would release images to substantiate his claim.
Trump pledged to beautify the century-old Reflecting Pool ahead of the anniversary, sealing the bottom in a color he dubbed “American flag blue.” But since that effort, its water has been plagued with algae and pieces of the new coating appeared to be peeling off.
Now the Center for Biological Diversity is calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to investigate whether the use of pool chemicals to kill the algae bloom violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act after a Mallard duckling carcass was photographed floating in the murky water and two other ducks were found dead nearby.
NATO’s Trump whisperer heads to the White House to soothe the president ahead of next month’s summit
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will check in face-to-face with Trump on Wednesday, visiting the volatile U.S. leader two weeks before the annual summit of the military alliance at a time when the Pentagon is reviewing the size of the U.S. military footprint in Europe.
Trump has long been critical of NATO, arguing the U.S. carries more than its fair share of military spending. But his grievances have been louder since the Iran war as he fumed over some member countries ignoring his call to help him restart oil trade through the shuttered Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has renewed his threats to leave the 77-year-old military alliance, raising the stakes ahead of the NATO leaders’ summit in Turkey next month. But Rutte, who has become known as a Trump whisperer for his ability to charm the president, is expected to use Wednesday’s White House meeting to try to appease him.
Trump heads to Capitol to speak with GOP senators who have grown increasingly frustrated with him
The president is headed to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to meet with Republican senators who have grown increasingly frustrated with his efforts to divert their agenda.
Trump, who will attend a closed-door Senate GOP luncheon for the first time in more than a year, has pressured senators for months to focus on his proof-of-citizenship voting bill even though it doesn’t have the votes to pass. At the same time, he has blocked them from confirming one of his own nominees, asked them to fund parts of his White House ballroom project despite opposition and forced them to defend his Iran war even as they question the strategy and endgame.
Trump has also helped whittle down his own support in the Senate after endorsing primary challengers to two GOP incumbents who were previously reliable votes for his agenda — Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy. Both have become more critical since losing their primaries.
Still, senators said ahead of the meeting that they hope to focus on unity, not disagreements.
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