President Donald Trump meets with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux. Closure to his war of choice may be unsatisfactory, putting off many critical issues to be resolved later.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton easily defeated four-term Sen. John Cornyn in the latest contest where Trump sought to oust an incumbent he saw as insufficiently loyal. The scandal-plagued Republican now faces Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in November, with control of the Senate an open question.
The 79-year-old president emerged from another medical exam saying “Everything checked out PERFECTLY” after working to dismiss concerns about his age and stamina. The White House said his more than three hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center were spent doing preventive medical and dental checkups.
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Congress could get a record number of new faces next year
It’s starting to look like an exodus.
Out of 535 voting members of Congress, 73 will not return to their seats next term — the most at this point in the calendar since President Barack Obama’s administration, according to an Associated Press analysis of congressional turnover going back to 2013.
Some are seeking other offices. Others are retiring after decades of service. A few are departing instead of running in unfamiliar territory after an unusual flurry of redistricting. Around two-thirds of the outgoing members in both houses are Republicans.
A UFC fighting cage rises on the White House lawn
Yet another White House construction project is underway. Crews are erecting a temporary octagon-shaped cage on the South Lawn for next month’s UFC bout, timed to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary — and President Donald Trump ’s 80th birthday.
Online renderings depict what the completed, wire-mesh-fence-ringed fight space is expected to look like ahead of the June 14 event, ringed by a red, white and blue stage under a towering arch featuring stars and stripes patterns and two large screens carrying the action live. Thousands of temporary seats will surround the cage and stage, including ringside space for a full marching band.
“I have never seen anybody want anything so much as people want those tickets,” Trump said recently. “That’s gonna be something.”
Trump congratulates Paxton on Texas GOP Senate primary win
In a social media post, Trump congratulated Paxton on a “tremendous win” and promised that “I will do some nice, big, beautiful rallies for Ken. Texas, this will be FUN!
Trump also congratulated Cornyn “for having run a strong and powerful race but, more importantly, having had a truly great career.”
In his endorsement of Paxton, Trump said Cornyn “was not supportive of me when times were tough” and that “John was very late in backing me.”
But Trump said Wednesday that, “John will remain my friend for a long time to come, as we both watch Ken become a fantastic, common-sense Senator.”
Biden sues Justice Department to stop release of audio and transcripts tied to special counsel probe
Joe Biden sued the Justice Department on Tuesday in an effort to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of the former president’s interview with a ghostwriter that were obtained by the special counsel who investigated his handling of classified documents.
Biden’s lawyers said in a lawsuit filed in Washington’s federal court that the Justice Department plans to release the files to Congress and a conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, after the department had previously argued that they were exempt from disclosure under the public records law.
Biden’s lawyers argued that the disclosure would “constitute an unwarranted invasion of President Biden’s privacy.”
“Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” his attorneys wrote. “And when the U.S. Department of Justice obtains that private information through a criminal investigation, the Department bears a particular responsibility to protect it from disclosure.”
Trump administration proposes NDAs for federal employees to stop media leaks
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The Trump administration wants all current and future federal employees to sign nondisclosure agreements, part of a continuing crackdown on leaks to the media.
A proposed notice, announced Tuesday on the Office of Personnel Management website, is expected to be officially published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, seeking comment on a draft NDA to be used by federal agencies for “both new and existing employees.”
“The form is intended to document Federal employees’ acknowledgment of, and agreement to comply with, current legal obligations to safeguard nonpublic, confidential, or proprietary information, created or obtained through their official duties, while expressly preserving the right to make disclosures authorized by law,” the notice said.
The proposed notice seeks comment on several questions, including whether the NDA should cover only unclassified information and what appropriate actions, if any, agencies should consider for new or current employees who choose not to sign the agreement.
Trump is getting the Republican Party that he wants. But can he win in the midterms?
Trump is on a winning streak in Republican primaries, but his tightening grip on his party could make it harder to win in the November midterms, when Republicans face a broader electorate that has soured on the president’s second term and the economy.
The risk is compounded, Republican operatives say, by how cavalier the billionaire president has been in addressing Americans’ financial worries, which have been exacerbated by Trump’s trade roller coaster and his ongoing war against Iran.
Republican strategist David Urban, a Trump ally, acknowledged the president’s approach is making things harder for his party.
“It’s going to be a tough fall unless things dramatically change,” Urban said.
He warned that Trump cannot afford a haphazard exit from the war with Iran to resolve a conflict that has created a chokehold on global oil supplies and driven gas prices higher for Americans.
“I think the president wants to help,” he said, but “you do not want to give the Iranians a win just because of the midterms.”
Paxton dominates Cornyn in Texas US Senate runoff, the latest sign of Trump’s hold on GOP
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, easily defeating four-term Sen. John Cornyn in the latest contest where Trump sought to oust an incumbent he saw as insufficiently loyal.
Trump endorsed Paxton last week, calling him a “true MAGA warrior.” Paxton’s victory in Tuesday’s runoff makes Cornyn — who was first elected to the Senate in 2002 — the first Republican senator from Texas to lose the party’s nomination for reelection.
Cheers rang through the ballroom at Paxton’s election night party when the race was called, and he took the stage to supporters chanting his name. He quickly gave credit to Trump.
“When everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn’t listen,” Paxton said. “President Trump is the leader of our party, and his endorsement is the most powerful force in politics.”
Trump gathers Cabinet as he looks to seal deal to end war that some backers worry will embolden Iran
President Donald Trump will meet with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux.
As he prepares to huddle with his top aides, Trump is projecting confidence that he’s closing in on a deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide him a credible argument that Iran’s nuclear capability has been diminished enough to declare victory, winding down a conflict that’s been politically unpopular for Republicans.
But as things stand, Trump also risks finding closure to his war of choice comes with an unsatisfactory ending.
The emerging deal puts off many critical issues to be resolved later and has already exposed the president to fierce criticism — even from some of his own supporters — that Iran’s hard-line leaders will emerge from the conflict battered but emboldened.
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