Closing summary
This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration, but just for the day. Here are the latest developments:
Donald Trump nominated Erica Schwartz, former deputy surgeon general during his first administration, to lead the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Schwartz was under immediate pressure from critics of the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, to oppose his anti-vaccine ideology. At a heated oversight hearing, House Democrats grilled Kennedy over his vaccine rollbacks.
Speaking in Las Vegas, Trump told supporters “the war in Iran is going along swimmingly, we can do whatever we want.” He did not explain why, then, the US military has been unable to stop Iran from closing the strait of Hormuz.
The US Department of Justice opened an investigation into Eric Swalwell following his resignation from Congress, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Police in Illinois responded Wednesday evening to the home of Pope Leo’s brother, John Prevost, after a bomb threat was made, NBC Chicago reported.
Trump calls it an early night in Las Vegas, after repeating familiar litany of false claims
Donald Trump just wrapped up a relatively brief, for him, 45-minute event in Las Vegas to celebrate what he terms the great success of his “no tax on tips” policy, which is actually just a temporary deduction of up to $25,000 in tips for eligible workers annually, which expires in two years.
Before he was done, however, the nearly 80-year-old president regaled the small crowd of supporters with a number of lies he tells at event after event.
In a rambling monologue at one stage, for instance, the president falsely claimed that the king of Saudi Arabia had told him last year the US was “dead” during the Biden administration and insisted that 25 million migrants had entered the US illegally during the four years between 2021 and 2025.
“The King of Saudi Arabia,” Trump began, in a story he has told again and again and again over the past year, “he said to me, a year and half ago, I was with him, he said, ‘You know, two year ago, you were a dead country’”.
In fact, during Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia 11 months ago, he did not meet the Saudi king, who is elderly and in poor health, but was hosted instead by the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
What’s more, it appears that Trump has misremembered something he said to the crown prince for something the crown prince said to him during his visit to the Saudi kingdom.
During a speech to a US-Saudi investment forum on Riyadh on 13 May 2025, Trump said: “the days of economic misery under the last administration are rapidly giving way to the greatest economy in the history of the world. We are rocking. The United States is the hottest country, with the exception of your country, I have to say, right? I’m not going to take that on. No Mohammed, I’m not going to take that on… You’re hotter. At least as long as I’m up here, you’re hotter. But groceries, gasoline, energy and all other prices are down with no inflation.”
But in the ensuing months, Trump has claimed, at event after event, that it was “the king of Saudi Arabia” who used this very Trumpian expression, that the US is “the hottest country”.
In his remarks on Thursday, Trump slid directly from what he described as the Saudi royal’s remarks into how own attack on his predecessor. “Everyone thought America was finished, we were a laughing stock, with a president that couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs, he was, no, he was so horrible, think, I mean it’s not even funny, it was horrible,” Trump said.
“But the king said, you know, ‘Two years ago, you were a dead country, and now you’re the hottest country anywhere in the world.’”
In the same monologue, Trump also claimed, falsely, that Biden “allowed 25 million people into the country, totally unvetted and unchecked… we’re still getting them out.” Among those migrants, Trump claimed, there were “11,888 murderers… let into our country”.
As the CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale has reported, Trump’s figure is a vast exaggeration he has made repeatedly to cast the crackdown on undocumented migrants as vital to stopping crime. “Through December 2024, the last full month under the Biden administration,” Dale explained on Wednesday, after Trump used this imaginary figure in a Fox Business interview, “the federal government had recorded under 11 million nationwide ‘encounters’ with migrants during that administration, including millions who were rapidly expelled from the country. Even adding in the so-called “gotaways” who evaded detection, estimated by House Republicans as being roughly 2.2 million”.
The figure 11,888 is also a lie, since that number refers to non-citizens who entered the US over several decades, including during the first Trump’s first administration, “not just under Biden,” and later committed murders, which they were jailed for.
Progressive Democrat Analilia Mejia wins congressional special election in New Jersey in a landslide
Democrat Analilia Mejia won a special election to represent New Jersey’s 11th congressional district in the House of Representatives in a landslide, the Associated Press reports.
Mejia who narrowly defeated Tom Malinowski, a former congressman, in the Democratic primary, after a super PAC aligned with AIPAC hit him with a barrage of negative ads, took more than 70% of the vote in early counting.
Mejia will replace Mikie Sherrill, the former congresswoman who is now New Jersey’s governor.
Malinowski, a supporter of Israel, had criticized Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, during Israel’s assault on Gaza in 2023, and refused to rule out placing conditions on US aid to Israel.
Mejia, who was endorsed by Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is far more critical on Israel and was the only candidate in the Democratic primary to call Israel’s actions during the war in Gaza a genocide.
Trump calls Doordash delivery stunt 'a little tacky', repeats false claim about how much worker's tax cut was
Donald Trump just repeated his false claim about how much the Doordash worker from Arkansas who delivered food to the White House this week saved on her taxes thanks to the no tax on tips policy included in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
As he did on Monday, the president claimed that the delivery worker, Sharon Simmons, got an $11,000 tax refund as a result of the policy. In fact, Simmons told Fox News that she paid was “probably going to be saving about $3,000 to $4,000” in taxes on the $11,000 in tips she made last year.
Trump, who openly called the event “staged” as it was unfolding on Monday, called the stunt with Simmons “a little tacky” in his remarks on Thursday.
“You know, they come up with these crazy ideas,” Trump said of his staff dreaming up televised stunts for him to star in, like his 2024 campaign appearance at a McDonalds, which was intended to drive home the false claim that Kamala Harris had lied about working at the fast-food chain as a college student.
“We do these things in politics, they’re a little embarrassing. They’re a little tiny embarrassing, but we do them and you win by landslides,” the president, habitually exaggerating the scale of his narrow, 1.47% margin of victory in the 2024 popular vote.
Trump says 'the war in Iran is going along swimmingly'
Speaking in Las Vegas, Donald Trump just told supporters “the war in Iran is going along swimmingly, we can do whatever we want.”
He did not explain why, then, the US military has been unable to stop Iran from closing the strait of Hormuz.
In Las Vegas, Trump touts 'no tax on tips' policy, which expires in 2028
Donald Trump just arrived for a roundtable in Las Vegas to celebrate what he calls the massive impact of the tax cut for tipped workers included in the 2025 package of tax and spending changes known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Trump began by thanking the relatively small crowd for helping him to win Nevada by what he called a large margin. In fact, he got just 46,008 more votes than Kamala Harris in the state.
Ahead of the president’s remarks, the Reuters correspondent Jarrett Renshaw reported that Nevada Democrats told him they support the reduced tax on tips policy but noted that it has a short expiration date, unlike some of Trump’s other tax policies that benefit wealthy Americans. The tax cut for tipped workers expires in 2028.
In an Air Force One posting spree, Trump tears into Tucker Carlson and Joe Kent, but urges Hezbollah to 'act nicely'
Donald Trump has just arrived in Las Vegas for a promotional event touting his no tax on tops policy.
Before he stepped off Air Force One, however, the president devoted the last hour of the flight to a social media posting spree, sending followers 10 posts in which he attacked critics of his war on Iran, including Tucker Carlson and Joe Kent, posted four times about how upset he is over a federal judge blocking construction of the White House ballroom he has his heart set on, and then, in a brief, final post, urged the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to make peace with Israel, which has invaded its homeland and killed hundreds of women and children in recent days.
“I hope Hezbollah acts nicely and well,” Trump wrote, addressing the militants in far kinder language than that he reserved for the domestic critics of his war on Iran.
Trump’s longest post, attacking former supporters turned critics of his decision to attack Iran began with the question: “Who’s dumber, Tucker Carlson or Joe Kent?”
The president then went on to claim, falsely, that he barely knew Kent, his former counterterrorism director.
Trump told followers that he first met Kent during a dignified transfer ceremony at Dover air force base during his first term. “Kent, horribly, lost his wife,” the president noted.
What he failed to mention is that, according to comments he later made at a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago for Kent’s subsequent campaign for Congress, Trump was so impressed by Kent that day that he urged him to run for Congress, even as they waited for the remains of Kent’s wife, an intelligence officer who was killed in Syria, to be returned for burial.
Trump then endorsed Kent in both of his failed runs for Congress, and recorded a phone message to let voters know about that support.
On Thursday, however, the president omitted that history in his social media post, writing that, after that brief encounter with the grieving Kent at Dover, “a number of years later, I noticed the same person was running for Congress in Washington State, and lost. I then noticed a couple of years later, he was running again, and lost.”
“While I didn’t know him other than our brief Dover encounter,” the president lied, “but feeling sorry for him after the two Election losses, I told my people, ‘Hire him for the White House.’”
“He was really a SLEAZEBAG, and some would say, on top of it all, A LEAKER! “ the president wrote of the man he urged to run for Congress at a memorial for his wife, twice endorsed and then nominated to a senior position in his administration. “Kent is a LOSER, just like Tucker, Candace, Megyn, and the rest of them are LOSERS — You’re born that way, LOW IQ, and there’s not a damn thing they’re going to be able to do about it!”
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has opened an investigation into Eric Swalwell following his resignation from Congress, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The news of a federal investigation comes days after the Democratic representative from California stepped down due to multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
The DoJ has not publicly commented on its investigation.
Swalwell, a seven-term representative, was a frontrunner to replace Gavin Newsom as California’s governor until he became engulfed in scandal. He suspended his gubernatorial campaign and then resigned from Congress after the San Francisco Chronicle reported the account of an unnamed former staffer, who said he sexually assaulted her on two occasions. CNN published a similar account, which included claims from three other women who said Swalwell had sent them unwanted sexual messages.
On Tuesday, the day after Swalwell resigned, Lonna Drewes, another alleged victim, publicly came forward, saying Swalwell had drugged and raped her in 2018. Drewes spoke out at a press conference in Beverly Hills, saying the representative choked her and that she “lost consciousness” and thought she had “died”.
Sara Azari, a lawyer representing Swalwell, said in a statement earlier this week that he “categorically and unequivocally denies each and every allegation of sexual misconduct and assault that has been leveled against him”.
'How deranged do you have to be to be upset with the Pope for preaching about peace and love' Ilhan Omar asks
In remarks that somehow have not prompted a tirade on Truth Social, yet, Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota congresswoman, was sharply critical of Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on Pope Leo.
Asked on Thursday by the congressional correspondent Pablo Manriquez what she makes of the president’s rhetoric against the Catholic leader, Omar said: “I mean, how deranged do you have to be to be upset with the Pope for preaching about peace and love, in the spirit of Jesus Christ?”
“So it is telling that these people that say that they’re people of faith that they are far from being people of faith and far from practicing Christianity and having respect for the Bible and religious leaders,” the congresswoman continued.
Christopher Hale, who writes the Substack newsletter Letters from Leo, wrote in response to Omar’s comments: “The Muslim Congresswoman is giving a more eloquent defense of the gospel of Jesus Christ and Pope Leo XIV than almost every Christian GOP Member of Congress.”
Police in Illinois responded Wednesday evening to the home of Pope Leo’s brother, John Prevost, after a bomb threat was made, NBC Chicago and other news outlets reported. No explosive device or hazardous materials were found and authorities are now investigating the incident.
Christopher Hale, who writes about Pope Leo on Substack, noted on X that Donald Trump had mentioned the pope’s other brother by name in his earlier Truth Social post attacking the leader of the Catholic church as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy”.
“I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA,” Trump wrote in his lengthy, ranting post on Sunday.
The president’s screed followed the pontiff’s social media post lat week that named no names but appeared to hint at White House officials harnessing Christian nationalism to glorify the US and Israel’s war against Iran.
Updated
Democrats on the House committee that oversees the Department of Homeland Security have attacked the Trump administration for cutting funding for a Catholic charity that provides support to unaccompanied migrant children, amid the president’s spat with the pope.
“The party of performative Christianity is closing a shelter for homeless children,” the House Democrats wrote on social media. “Despicable.”
Trump echoes Fox in attacking Mamdani over taxing New York's rich
From his seat on Air Force One, where the president is currently flying to Las Vegas to take part in a roundtable promoting his tax policies, Donald Trump just posted an attack on New York’s Democratic Socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
“Sadly, Mayor Mamdani is DESTROYING New York! It has no chance! The United States of America should not contribute to its failure. It will only get WORSE. The TAX, TAX, TAX Policies are SO WRONG,” the president wrote as the main story on Fox News read: “Mamdani: We’re Taxing the Rich in New York City.”
People are fleeing. They must change their ways, AND FAST. History has proven, THIS “STUFF” JUST DOESN’T WORK,” Trump claimed, as Fox News interviewed the chief executive of the Witkoff Group, Alex Witkoff, whose father if the president’s friend and peace envoy.
Trump shares letter from evangelical pastor Franklin Graham absolving him over AI image of president as Jesus
Donald Trump posted a letter from Franklin Graham on his social media platform on Thursday in which the evangelical pastor, a longtime supporter, wrote that he accepted the president’s bizarre claim that he thought the AI image of himself as a robed Jesus Christ healing the sick showed him as a “a doctor”.
“I do not believe President Trump would knowingly depict himself as Jesus Christ—that would certainly be inappropriate,” Graham wrote. “I’m thankful the President has made it very clear that this was not at all what he thought the AI-generated image was representing—he thought it was a doctor helping someone, and when he learned of the concerns, he immediately removed the post.”
“When I looked at the illustration, I didn’t jump to the same conclusion as some,” Graham added.
His explanation failed to convince many Christians who noted that the image Trump posted was clearly inspired by common portrayals of Jesus.
Among the unconvinced was Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former Maga congresswoman, who posted a side-by-side comparison of the image of Trump with one of Jesus in similar robes and against a similarly illuminated sky.
“Franklin Graham making excuses for Trump posting himself as Jesus is one of the worst things I’ve seen,” Greene wrote on social media. “Trump posted his blasphemous picture with Satan added above him, the original picture had a soldier. If you search ‘pictures of Jesus’ most of them show Jesus in white with a red robe over his shoulders.”
“Franklin Graham of all people, who is frequently at the WH and with Trump, should be leading Trump to be a Christian, NOT telling other Christians that Trump did nothing wrong when he committed blasphemy,” she continued. “Trump knows what he is doing. He knows what he posted. He knows how to manipulate his followers. And he’s not sorry, he never apologized. Instead he lied, and said he was a doctor, which is also absurd.”
In 2017, a former Jesuit priest, Matt Malone, noted that one biographer of Graham’s father, Billy Graham, had observed that, in the recent past, “evangelicals and Catholics eyed each other with deep suspicion. Most evangelicals felt that Catholicism was sub-Christian at best, and many believed that it was not Christian at all.”
“Franklin Graham has said things that are manifestly anti-Muslim, anti-LGBT, uncharitable and just plain incorrect,” Malone added. “I have no doubt that the Reverend Graham’s faith is deeply felt and that his views are sincerely held. But they are, unsurprisingly, far afield from a Catholic worldview.”
Updated
Democratic health policy group asks if Trump's nominee for CDC director will oppose 'RFK Jr's anti-vax agenda'
Protect Our Care, a health policy group founded by a former Obama administration health official the day after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, has called on Dr Erica Schwartz, Trump’s latest nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to promise that she will stand up for the safety and effectiveness of vaccination.
The agency’s last Senate‑confirmed director, Susan Monarez, took over in July but was fired less than a month later after clashing with the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, over his anti-vaccine agenda.
Kayla Hancock, the director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project and a former head of opposition research for the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement:
After the last Senate-approved Trump CDC director was forced out because she dared to question RFK Jr.’s anti-vax agenda, the question is: will Dr. Schwartz go along with her prospective boss’ chaos and conspiracy-driven anti-vax schemes — or pledge to return the CDC to a state of normalcy that actually cares about its mission of protecting all Americans from preventable disease? A measles crisis is worsening by the day among unvaccinated people, no thanks to RFK Jr., who, for no credible reason, repeatedly told national audiences to be afraid of proven safe and effective vaccines. For the sake of our public health, the next CDC director must be free and independent to encourage as many Americans as possible to protect themselves from preventable diseases without first getting permission from the anti-vaxxer-in-chief.
Trump attacks federal judge who ordered halt to construction of his White House ballroom
Donald Trump lashed out on social media at Richard Leon, the federal judge who ordered a halt to above-ground construction of Trump’s White House ballroom, until it wins Congressional approval, accusing the Washington DC district judge appointed by George W Bush of being both “out of control” and “Trump Hating”.
Leon on Thursday had clarified that his preliminary injunction halting construction of the ballroom Trump continues to insist, despite a lack of evidence, presidents have wanted for more than 150 years, does not apply to any excavations, bunkers, military installations or underground medical facilities planned for beneath the ballroom.
As he did previously when his illegal imposition of tariffs on foreign imports was blocked by the courts, Trump has insisted that the “desperately needed” ballroom is not just a whim but is “vital for National Security”.
“The underground portion is wedded to, and serves, the upper portion, including the Bomb Shelters, a State of the Art Hospital and Medical Facilities, Protective Partitioning, Top Secret Military Installations, Structures, and Equipment, Protective Missile Resistant Steel, Columns, Roofs, and Beams, Drone Proof Ceilings and Roofs, Military Grade Venting, and Bullet, Ballistic, and Blast Proof Glass,” the president wrote on his own social media platform on Thursday.
“The Judge’s decision,” Trump argued, “severely jeopardizes the lives and welfare of the people who work, and will be working, at the White House
The president did not address the obvious question of how his life and welfare is not jeopardized by the fact that the main residence of the White House, where he spends most of his time, has none of those supposedly vital protections.
Here's a recap of the day so far
Donald Trump has nominated Erica Schwartz, former deputy surgeon general during his first administration, to lead the embattled Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “She is a STAR!” the president wrote on Truth Social. Schwartz will need to be confirmed by the Senate before she can officially takeover the agency that has been without a permanent director for eight months and been beset by chaos.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Robert F Kennedy Jr defended his healthcare agenda and plans to slash the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) budget by $15bn. At a committee hearing, Democratic lawmakers grilled the health secretary over his vaccine rollbacks in a hearing that quickly became heated. More here.
By a vote of 224-204, the House passed a bill to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants living in the US. Ten lower chamber Republicans joined all Democrats to advance the legislation. The Trump administration has sought to end most enrollment in the program – and tried to remove the status from a string of countries. However, a district court judge blocked the administration from stripping TPS from up to 350,000 Haitians earlier this year. The legislation faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where it would need the support 60 lawmakers in order to clear the filibuster.
The House of Representatives backed Donald Trump’s military campaign against Iran on Thursday, narrowly voting to block a Democratic-led resolution aiming to stop the war until hostilities are authorized by Congress. The measure was defeated by 214 to 213 in the Republican-majority chamber, a day after a similar measure was blocked in the Senate for the fourth time.
Donald Trump’s design for a 250ft triumphal arch moved a step forward on Thursday after a key agency reviewed the proposal for the first time. The US Commission of Fine Arts voted to approve the concept design for the arch. The seven commissioners, all appointed by Trump, will review an updated version of the design before taking a final vote at a future meeting. The arch is part of the president’s legacy-building quest during his second administration, which includes a White House ballroom.
Updated
Trump nominates former deputy surgeon general to lead embattled CDC
Donald Trump has nominated Erica Schwartz, former deputy surgeon general during his first administration, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“She is a STAR!” the president wrote on Truth Social. Schwartz will need to be confirmed by the Senate before she can officially takeover the agency that has been without a permanent director for eight months and beset by chaos.
The agency’s last Senate‑confirmed director, Susan Monarez, took over in July but was fired less than a month later after clashing with Kennedy over his vaccine agenda. Since then, the CDC has seen an exodus of senior public health officials, many of whom accused the health secretary of politicizing the agency and stripping leaders of their independence.
Jay Bhattacharya – who also runs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – has served as interim chief of the CDC since February.
Trump also announced that Sean Slovenski will become the CDC’s deputy director, while Jennifer Shuford will serve as the agency’s chief medical officer.
Updated
The president also insisted that he is “not fighting” with Pope Leo XIV.
Trump said it’s “very important” for the pope to understand that Iran is a threat to the world, before falsely claiming the pontiff said the Iranian regime “can have a nuclear weapon”.
Leo did not say that, in fact he initially said that the war was being fueled by a “delusion of omnipotence” without naming Trump. In response, the president launched a social media spat, calling the pope “weak on crime” and catering to “radical left lunatics”.
Trump also said he would be “OK” with public hearings for more Epstein survivors, as suggested by first lady Melania Trump last week.
“But I understand the women didn’t want to go under oath. That’s what I heard,” the president told reporters today. “So Melania felt strongly about it, because she was accused that I met her through Epstein. But it turned out to be totally false.”
Trump says first lady issued surprise statement about Epstein because of 'fake news'
As the president left Washington, to travel to Las Vegas, he spoke to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House.
When asked why first lady Melania Trump issued an apparently umprompted televised statement last week that she “never had a relationship” with Jeffrey Epstein or his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, Donald Trump said she made her remarks because “the fake news said she did, and she had none, and I think that’s been proven.”
The president said his wife was “bothered” by the “fake news being the fake news” and she “just wanted to clarify”
House passes bill to extend TPS for Haitian immigrants
By a vote of 224-204, the House passed a bill to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants living in the US. Ten lower chamber Republicans joined all Democrats to advance the legislation, which was brought to the floor via a discharge petition on Wednesday.
A reminder that TPS provides relief to people already in the US if their home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary events. The Trump administration has sought to end most enrollment in the program – and tried to strip the status from a string of countries, including Haiti, Somalia and Venezuela – saying it runs counter to US interests. However, many of these attempts have been challenged and blocked in federal court.
In February, a district court judge blocked the Trump administration from stripping TPS from up to 350,000 Haitians in the US.
The bill, however, faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where it will need the support 60 lawmakers in order to clear the filibuster.
Fisa bill remains in limbo as Johnson tries to convince hardliners
A bill to extend section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) remains in limbo in the US House, as Republican speaker Mike Johnson tries to rally his fractured conference to pass the bill which authorizes intelligence agencies to collect communications of foreign nationals outside the US, without the need for warrants or court orders.
Without an extension, the provision will expire next week. Johnson told Punchbowl News that the splintered GOP will have “a conclusion on that” shortly. “We’re working through a couple remaining issues,” he added. A number of hardline Republicans and many Democrats have pushed back against the Fisa bill, arguing that any extension must protect Americans’ privacy and are demanding reforms.
It’s unclear whether Johnson will tee-up a procedural vote on the bill today, or hold off as negotiations continue with members of this own party. Donald Trump, for his part, has weighed in, calling for Republicans to “unify” and pass a “clean” extension of section 702, despite lambasting the provision in the past.
The Trump administration has moved to formally enlist foreign governments in a sweeping reorientation of global development policy, directing American diplomats worldwide to seek official support for a “trade over aid” declaration before its introduction at the United Nations later this month.
This would mean a move away from direct aid to poor nations in favor of increased trade, led by private companies.
Principal deputy spokesperson at the state department Tommy Pigott confirmed the initiative on Wednesday, framing it as a rejection of what he called a failed aid model. “The idea that trade and free market capitalism is the surest path to prosperity has been proven by the facts and by history,” Pigott said, adding that those calling for “aid not trade” were “really arguing for lining the pockets of a corrupt NGO industrial complex”.
The new posturing was first reported by the development publication Devex on Tuesday, and the full internal US diplomatic cable was obtained by the Washington Post on Wednesday. The initiative described in the cable is an attack on the obligation of wealthy nations to provide tens of billions of dollars in annual foreign assistance, alongside what the Trump administration characterizes as an endorsement of free-market principles as the primary vehicle for global development.
Ambassador Mike Waltz also previewed the effort during testimony before the Senate foreign relations committee on Tuesday.
Suozzi pushes Kennedy on White House proposal to cut health department budget
Representative Tom Suozzi, the moderate Democrat from New York, grilled Kennedy about the White House budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which seeks to cut more than $15bn for the 2027 fiscal year, while asking for $441bn more in defense department funding.
“The president is making a lot of tough decisions, and he’s making tough decisions because of problems that he inherited,” Kennedy said, defending the blueprint that will kickstart appropriations talks on Capitol Hill.
“You say he’s not cutting Medicaid. Nobody buys that,” Suozzi replied. “I want to be bipartisan. I want to work together. I’ve applauded you on some of the things that you’re doing that are good, but how does it square that he’s increasing the defense budget by 500 billion and cutting money for NIH and CDC?”
The health secretary insisted that Donald Trump has done “more to protect public health any president” and blamed Democrats for what he describes as a “chronic disease epidemic”.
“All happened in the past four years of the Biden administration?” Suozzi snapped back
Updated
Kennedy’s hearing before the House Ways and Means committee is back from recess. An explosive moment took place a short while ago. Representative Steven Horsford, a Democrat from Nevada, spoke about his constituents’ struggle to access health care. “Calm down, congressman,” Kennedy said.
“Don’t tell me to calm down. Health care is personal to me,” Horsford said. “If you can’t answer basic questions, then maybe come prepared next time.”
Kennedy responded that Horsford was getting upset because he didn’t “have much to say”.
Updated
RFK Jr’s hearing is now in recess so lawmakers can cast votes.
Earlier, the health and human services secretary had a heated exchange with Democratic representative Terri Sewell, of Alabama, who pressed Kennedy on his reported remarks that black children would benefit from “wellness farms” where they could be “re-parented” while weaning off psychiatric medications.
“Every black kid is now just standard put on Adderall, on SSRIs, benzos, which are known to induce violence, and those kids are going to have a chance to go somewhere and get re-parented, to live in a community where there’ll be no cellphones, no screens,” Kennedy reportedly said on the 19Keys podcast in June 2024. “You’ll actually have to talk to people.”
Today, Kennedy said he doubted he said that, adding that he didn’t know what “re-parent” means.
“Our nation has a long and painful history of separating Black children from their families,” Sewell said, referring to slavery, Jim Crow laws and systemic racial discrimination in policing and child welfare.
House Republicans narrowly block latest bid to rein in Trump Iran war powers
The House of Representatives backed Donald Trump’s military campaign against Iran on Thursday, narrowly voting to block a Democratic-led resolution aiming to stop the war until hostilities are authorized by Congress.
The measure was defeated by 214 to 213 in the Republican-majority chamber, a day after a similar measure was blocked in the Senate for the fourth time. The vote was almost exclusively along party lines, with every Republican except one (Thomas Massie) opposing the resolution, and one (Warren Davidson) voting present. One Democrat (Jared Golden) voted against it.
Federal law requires congressional approval to continue military actions for more than 60 days. The US-Israeli war on Iran began on 28 February. Some Senate Republicans signaled yesterday that they may reassess their thinking on this issue if the war reaches 60 days.
Updated
Further to that, Trump has said he’s invited the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to the White House for the countries’ first high-level talks since 1983.
He wrote on Truth Social:
In addition to the statement just issued, I will be inviting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, to the White House for the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983, a very long time ago.
Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly!
Trump announces Israel-Lebanon 10 day ceasefire
A short while ago, Donald Trump announced that Israel and Lebanon will begin a ten-day ceasefire from 5pm EST.
In a post on Truth Social, he said he had spoken to the leaders of both countries today and claimed this would be the “tenth war” he has “solved”.
He wrote:
I just had excellent conversations with the Highly Respected President Joseph Aoun, of Lebanon, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel. These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 P.M. EST.
On Tuesday, the two Countries met for the first time in 34 years here in Washington, D.C., with our Great Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. I have directed Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Rubio, together with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Razin’ Caine, to work with Israel and Lebanon to achieve a Lasting PEACE.
It has been my Honor to solve 9 Wars across the World, and this will be my 10th, so let’s, GET IT DONE!
Israel, meanwhile, has no plans to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon during the ceasefire, an Israeli security official has told Reuters.
Israel’s punishing bombing campaign and ground invasion of Lebanon has killed more than 2,100 people, injured over 7,100 and displaced over 1.2 million.
My colleague Tom Ambrose is blogging all the latest developments:
Back at Robert F Kennedy Jr’s hearing, representative Blake Moore, a Republican from Utah, spoke of his 10-year-old, Winnie, who is neurodivergent.
When the Trump administration incorrectly said Tylenol use in pregnancy causes autism, he said, “My wife was hurt.” She felt responsible, though they don’t recall if she even took the pain reliever during pregnancy.
“That was a hurtful moment for her,” Moore said, before encouraging Kennedy to continue looking for the causes of autism, which research shows has a strong genetic component.
During his hearing before House lawmakers, Robert F Kennedy Jr faced questions about the decision by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to end the universal recommendation for the hepatitis B vaccine at birth.
Congresswoman Judy Chu, a California Democrat, pushed the health secretary about the move, calling it “incredibly harmful”. Many doctors, including Republican senator Bill Cassidy, a liver specialist by training, have warned that universal innoculation is incredibly effective since hepatits B is very infectious for children and can lead to long-term complications.
Kennedy, however, maintained that babies “essentially have zero risk unless their mother is infected”.
The health secretary said that “parents can assess the risk themselves” and the “state should not make that choice for them”.
Medical experts warn that a negative test result during pregnancy does not guarantee the child will not be infected with the hepatitis B. They point to both false negative results, but also the posibilty that mothers could contract the virus after screening.
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Pope Leo XIV has said that the world is being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants” who spend billions on war, in comments that will be seen as another sharp escalation in his almost week-long feud with the White House over the US-Israel war on Iran.
The first American-born pontiff did not mention Donald Trump by name, but used his speech in Cameroon on Thursday to denounce world leaders that invoke religion to justify violence against other nations.
His comments came as US bishops offered their full-throated support to the head of the Catholic church, who has been under fire from Trump for days after speaking out against the Iran war.
“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” Leo told a gathering at Saint Joseph Cathedral in the western city of Bamenda.
Senate Democrats push to postpone confirmation hearing for Trump's pick to lead Federal Reserve
All Democratic lawmakers on the Senate banking committee are urging Republican leadership to postpone the confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh, the financial executive that Donald Trump has nominated to lead the Federal Reserve.
In a letter to banking committee chair Senator Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, eleven Democrats called to delay proceedings currently scheduled for 21 April, until the investigations into current Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and governor Lisa Cook are closed.
Powell is facing a criminal probe into the ongoing renovation of the central bank, while the Trump administration has tried to fire Cook for alleged mortgage fraud. The president’s attempt to fire the Federal Reserve governor has made its way to the US supreme court, where justices appeared skeptical of the case for terminating Cook.
“It would be absurd on its face to allow President Trump to handpick the next Chair of the Federal Reserve as his Department of Justice actively pursues criminal investigations of not one, but two sitting members of the Federal Reserve Board,’” wrote the Senators. “It would also be inappropriate to move forward with Mr. Warsh’s nomination as the President publicly threatens the federal judge who found the DOJ’s probe to lack merit.”
Trump has continued to rail against James Boasberg, the chief judge of the DC district court, who blocked the justice department from seeking testimony from Powell over his remarks to Congress on the Federal Reserve’s renovation project.
Boasberg said “a mountain of evidence suggests that the Government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning” is his 27-page ruling last month.
In response, Trump called the jurist “wacky, nasty, crooked, and totally out of control” on Truth Social.
Warsh’s nomination also faces hurdles from the president’s own party. Outgoing GOP senator Thom Tillis, a deciding vote on the banking committee, has said repeatedly that he won’t support any nomination as long as there is an investigation into Powell.
John Thune, the Senate majority leader, even called on the justice to “wrap up” its probe into Powell.
“I think it’s in everybody’s best interest to wrap up the investigation. I’ve said that before, it would be better if it winds down,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Trump, however, went on a lengthy tangent during a Fox Business interview this week about the Fed’s renovations, alleging without evidence that it “is probably corrupt, but what it really is is incompetence”, and seemed unfazed by the possibility that Tillis could block Warsh’s confirmation
During his opening remarks, Kennedy focused on alleged fraud by home health aides. Federal payments from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have allowed aides, including family members, to take care of elderly and disabled people. “These are family members were getting paid to do things that they used to do as family members for free, and this is rife with fraud,” Kennedy claimed. “We are paying for fraud now as much as for medicine.”
Kennedy mentioned food dyes, menopause treatments, and cuts to gender-affirming care, while addressing lawmakers on the House Ways and Means committee, but he didn’t mention any of the administration’s controversial actions on vaccines.
Lawmakers brought them up, though.
“Did President Trump approve your decision to end CDC’s pro-vaccine public messaging campaign?” asked Linda Sánchez, a Democrat from California.
“You’ve got a lot of misinformation,” Kennedy said. A tense exchange followed, with Sánchez repeating the question several times and Kennedy saying he wanted to address her misinformation and pointing to other global outbreaks, which have not made measles circulate in the US.
“I think you don’t want to answer the question, because I think you know the terrible, terrible decisions that impact very, very real lives, especially the lives of children,” Sánchez said.
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Democrats questioning Kennedy are making a point to point out the health secretary’s routine vaccine scepticism.
In a particularly heated back and forth, Mike Thompson, a Democratic congressman asked whether Kennedy has a medical or public health degree.
“No,” the health secretary answered.
“Yet you’re overruling doctors, scientists and public health experts across our country. Your dangerous conspiracy theories are undermining safe and effective vaccines,” Thompson said.
During his opening remarks, Kennedy issued one of his common refrains. “We stand at a generational turning point. Our children are the sickest generation in modern history,” the health secretary told the House Ways and Means Committee.
Kennedy says he’s referring to chronic illness – perhaps he’s talking about obesity and other health conditions, though he uses the phrase to talk about autism. But in fact, this generation has less infectious disease and Americans still have long expected lifespans. It’s difficult to know what Kennedy means, other than fear-mongering about children’s health and development.
Democrats pushed Kennedy on Medicare fraud, and the hearing quickly turned acrimonious. “Were you shocked to see that 850 people who were suspended for fraud had been reinstated all at once?” Congressman Lloyd Doggett asked. “Your administration was the one that let them all go back to work.”
Kennedy spoke over Doggett several times. “It’s not a credible story,” he said of Trump’s reinstatement of fraudulent Medicare agents.
It’s worth noting that it’s a packed day for Kennedy. He’ll wrap up his first hearing at 12:30pm ET today, before heading to a second round of questions from House lawmakers at a subcommittee of the appropriations committee at 2pm ET.
Kennedy testifies before Congress over healthcare agenda and latest budget request
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the president’s health secretary, is currently testifying before the House Ways and Means committee, as part of a sprint of hearings before members of Congress about his leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the White House budget request for the 2027 fiscal year.
As I reported earlier this month, Donald Trump’s blueprint pushes lawmakers to appropriate funding to establish the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). This, you may remember, is health secretary Kennedy’s planned consolidation of many subagencies whose workforces he slashed last year. Last year, Congress didn’t provide funding for AHA, but in 2027 the administration is hoping to secure funding as part of the $111bn it requests fo the wider HHS.
Notably, the Trump administation is hoping to cut $5bn in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has seen wholesale cuts to research, grants and funding since the president returned to office.
Kennedy’s HHS has been roiled with chaos over the last year. The president has yet to nominate a permanent director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Donald Trump’s controversial pick for surgeon general, Casey Means, remains in limbo as her nomination stalls in the Senate.
Meanwhile, the health secretary’s Make America Health Again (Maha) agenda has been hampered in recent months. In March, a federal judge ruled that the appointment of a controversial slate of vaccine advisers, appointed by Kennedy, likely violated the law. Similarly, all votes made by those advisers was also invalidated. This includes ending the recommendation for the combination measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and chickenpox vaccine; and the end of the universal birth dose recommendation for the hepatitis B vaccine. The atest version of flu and Covid shots, and the inclusion of the RSV shot for infants are also no longer recommended.
Donald Trump will spend the first half of the day in meetings at the White House, before heading to Las Vegas, where he’ll talk about tax cuts enacted through his sweeping policy bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law last year.
He’ll deliver remarks around 4pm PT, but we’ll bring you the latest in case the president speaks to the press before that.
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Asked whether there is any update on the welfare of the new Iranian supreme leader, Hegseth says his status “remains the same”.
He adds that Mojtaba Khamenei is believed to be alive, wounded and disfigured.
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Caine told reporters today that as of this morning no US forces have had to “board any particular” ships that have defied the blockade.
Earlier this week, experts said that it is unlikely the military would fire missiles or other weapons at tankers, given the risk of an environmental disaster. The most likely option is the US navy will try to force vessels to change course through threats, and if that doesn’t work, they will launch armed boarding parties to take physical control of the ships.
Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Dan Caine says the US military remains ready to re-engage in combat “at literally a moment’s notice”.
He says the blockade covers Iran’s ports and coastlines and applies to all ships, regardless of which flag they are sailing under.
“This includes dark fleet vessels, carrying Iranian oil,” he says.
The defense secretary used his media briefing to again scold they “legacy, Trump hating press” for its “politically motivated animus” that, he claims, blinds reporters from the “brilliance of our American warriors”.
Hegseth urged members of the media, to “open your eyes to the goodness, the historic success of our troops, the courage of this president.”
This comes after failed peace talks in Pakistan over the weekend, whipsawing oil prices, stalled shipping in the strait of Hormuz and no clear sense of what the two-week ceasefire agreement actually includes.
At his Pentagon press conference, Pete Hegseth warned that the US blockade of Iranian ports is the “polite way this can go”.
He reiterated that while Iranian officials still claim to control the strait of Hormuz, they don’t have “a navy or real domain awareness”.
Hegseth noted that the regime’s repeated threats to strike ships “lawfully transiting international waters. That is not control. That’s piracy, that’s terrorism.”
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Pope Leo decries world ruled by 'tyrants' after Trump attacks
Pope Leo blasted leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants“, in unusually forceful remarks in Cameroon on Thursday after US president Donald Trump attacked him again on social media.
Leo, the first US pope, also decried leaders who used religious language to justify wars and urged a “decisive change of course” in a meeting in the biggest city in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, where a simmering conflict going back nearly a decade has left thousands dead.
On Tuesday, JD Vance capped several days of insults by insinuating the pontiff was not being truthful in matters of theology, and did not understand the concept of war.
“How can you say that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword?” the vice-president said during a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia, at which he was heckled by anti-war protesters.
“Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps? It’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology … you’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth.”
Trump's plan to build Triumphal Arch gets hearing before key federal agency
Donald Trump’s design for the Triumphal Arch he wants built at an entrance to the US capital comes up for a review and possible vote on Thursday by a key federal agency.
It is one of several projects he is pursuing alongside a White House ballroom to leave his lasting footprint on Washington.
Trump said on social media that the arch “will be the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World” and a “wonderful addition to the Washington D.C. area for all Americans to enjoy for many decades to come!”
Also on the agenda for the monthly meeting of the US Commission of Fine Arts, whose seven members were appointed by the Republican president, is his plan to paint the gray granite exterior of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House white.
A third White House-related project, construction of an underground center to conduct security screenings of tourists and other guests, is also up for consideration.
Commissioners are scheduled to review design plans for all three projects. They will be reviewing the arch and the paint job for the first time. The White House visitors’ center was discussed at the March meeting. It was unclear if the commission would approve any of the projects on Thursday.
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When federal agents arrived at Georgia Fort’s front door to arrest her, she knew what to do: be a journalist.
Fort, an independent Minnesota reporter who faces criminal charges after covering a protest inside a St Paul church, took out her phone and spoke directly to the camera, livestreaming to her audience that her lawyer advised her to go with the agents. Her three kids were in the house at the time, she said.
“I’m going to have to hop off here and surrender to agents,” she said in the video on 30 January. “As a member of the press, I filmed the church protest a few weeks ago, and now I’m being arrested for that. It’s hard to understand how we have a constitution, constitutional rights, when you can just be arrested for being a member of the press.”
Fort was one of two journalists, alongside Don Lemon, charged for covering the 18 January protest during services at St Paul’s Cities church, where the pastor reportedly works as a field director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“I decided to go live [during my arrest] because I felt like it was necessary to be able to tell my story about who I am and my longstanding commitment to journalism,” she said, “and to alert the public that this was a violation of my first amendment rights.”
Three people were killed in a US strike on another alleged drug-trafficking boat, the fifth such deadly attack in as many days, military officials have announced.
US southern command said it conducted “a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations” in the eastern Pacific, without naming the alleged group, in an X post.
“Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action.”
The latest strike brings the total toll to at least 177 killed, according to a tally compiled by the AFP news agency.
On Monday the US military said that it blew up two boats that it accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing a total of five people and leaving one survivor. Then on Tuesday, the military said it killed four more people in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
President Donald Trump’s administration insists it is effectively at war with what it calls “narco-terrorists” operating in Latin America. But it has provided no definitive evidence that the vessels it targets are involved in drug trafficking, prompting heated debate about the legality of the operations.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth is due to hold a press conference later this morning, in which he expected to update the media on the US-Iran peace talks.
It is due to begin at 8am ET and you can expect journalists to ask him about the impeachment attempt against him as well.
We will bring you any news lines from that here but you can also follow it via our Middle East crisis live blog:
The first impeachment article alleges that Pete Hegseth started the conflict with Iran “without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization by the Congress,” and “knowingly exposing members of the Armed Forces of the United States to substantial and foreseeable risk of injury or death.”
Another article held Hegseth responsible for the strike on an Iranian primary school on 28 February – the day the United States and Israel began bombing Iran – which killed at least 170 people, including students and teachers.
The impeachment resolution is led by Yassamin Ansari, a Democratic Congresswoman from Arizona, and has slim chances of passing due to the Republican majority in the House.
“I’ve introduced Articles of Impeachment against Pete Hegseth for violating his oath, endangering U.S. servicemembers, and committing war crimes, including attacks on civilians and a girls’ school in Minab, Iran,” Ansari wrote on X.
“Only Congress can declare war; his actions demand immediate removal.”
Other allegations included “negligence and reckless handling” of sensitive military information, as well as obstructing congressional oversight, referring to Hegseth’s use of commercial messaging app Signal to discuss strikes on Yemen.
Scrutiny mounts on Hegseth as Democrats attempt to rein in Trump administration over Iran war
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
House Democrats filed six articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, accusing the defense secretary of “high crimes and misdemeanors”, in reference to the attack on Iran without congressional authorization and deadly strikes on suspected drug smuggling boats, among other official acts.
The move comes as the Trump administration faces mounting scrutiny over recent foreign action, particularly the war with Iran. The impeachment attempt can be seen as more symbolic than the realistic prospect of removing Hegseth from office.
In Wednesday’s resolution, Yassamin Ansari, a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona, and colleagues including John Larson of Connecticut accused the Pentagon chief of disregarding rules to minimize civilian casualties during armed conflict.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats again failed to pass a war powers resolution to curb the Trump administration’s military campaign in Iran in a vote of 47-52.
Republican senator Rand Paul voted yes on the measure, bucking his party, while John Fetterman was the only Democratic senator to vote against the resolution. It was the upper chamber’s fourth failed attempt but its first since Congress returned from its most recent recess and the ongoing two-week ceasefire with Iran began.
It comes as senator Bernie Sanders’ effort to block the sale of bombs and bulldozers to Israel also failed yesterday, although the votes reinforced the growing appetite among Democrats to impose limits on US weapons transfers to a longtime US ally.
It was the fourth time Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, had forced consideration of resolutions cutting off military aid for Israel in the Senate, all of which have been rejected by the chamber’s Republican majority, and many Democrats.
In other developments:
Trump threatened to fire Jerome Powell if he stays on as US Federal Reserve chair past the end of his tenure and doubled down on a criminal investigation into renovations of the central bank’s headquarters.
Wall Street scaled a fresh all-time high amid growing optimism among investors that the US-Israel war on Iran will soon be over.
The supreme court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has delivered a sustained attack on her conservative colleagues’ use of emergency orders to benefit the Trump administration.
Trump defended his consumption of diet soda by suggesting it might help prevent cancer, according to recent comments shared by Mehmet Oz.
The US and Iran have been in indirect talks aimed at extending the two-week ceasefire beyond its expiry on 22 April, as Pakistan’s army chief arrived in Tehran to continue mediation efforts.
John Eastman, the Republican legal scholar who convinced Trump he could stay in office despite losing the 2020 election, lost his license to practice law in California.
