Trump again threatens to hit Iran ‘very hard’
Speaking in the Oval Office just now, Trump reiterated his threat that the United States would hit Iran very hard.
He said he was briefed on a drone attack on tankers off Egypt. “It’s a little more of the same, but it’s going to be straightening out,” Trump said.
“In the meantime, we’re going to be hitting them very hard, because it’s our turn to hit them,” Trump told reporters. “They know it’s coming.”
He said Washington would see if there was an agreement at some point, “but we’re going to hit them very hard”.
Key events
Sam Levine
Todd Blanche’s hopes of becoming US attorney general seemed to be in jeopardy on Wednesday after the Department of Justice did not provide written assurances to a key Republican senator that a $1.8bn slush fund was dead.
The US Senate judiciary committee will hold a vote on Thursday on whether to advance Blanche’s nomination.
Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, is already serving as acting US attorney general. He needs the vote of every Republican on the Senate judiciary panel to advance his nomination to land the role on a permanent basis.
But a swing vote on the committee, John Cornyn of Texas, told reporters on Wednesday he would not support Blanche’s nomination until he received written confirmation that the fund was not moving ahead.
Cornyn also wants to clarify that a provision giving the president, his sons and related businesses blanket immunity from tax audits for all matters up until this year could not be applied to future matters, or to people who were not parties to the settlement.
“Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or, you know, go along, but they’re mistaken,” said Cornyn, a four-term Republican senator who lost a re-election bid earlier this year to a Trump-endorsed rival. “We actually sent them a red-line strikeout of what we need, and they just need to make a decision. And if they do, then we’ll proceed with the markup tomorrow.”
Trump says he wants more power to impose tariffs in bill on Russia and Iran sanctions
Near the end of his Oval Office exchange with reporters on Wednesday, Donald Trump was asked by Jacqui Heinrich of Fox News if he wants the House to come back before 31 August “to act on the Russian and Iran sanctions bill” named for the late Lindsey Graham that advanced in the Senate on Tuesday.
Trump said he wanted one change in the Senate bill. “I’d like them to add Iran as tariffs, not just as sanctions. I think it’s important, that’s what Lindsey wanted, because I heard that they have tariffs on Russia but not on … countries with, having to do with Iran. I’d like to see tariffs on Iran. That would make it much stronger,” Trump said.
“Perhaps, you’re very good at this, you can maybe tell them,” Trump added, openly suggesting that the correspondent for the rightwing network, who is also married to a Republican congressman, might be willing to lobby lawmakers on his behalf.
As we reported on Tuesday, a number of Democrats are alarmed that the Senate legislation, as currently written, gives the president vast new authority to impose sanctions on any nation he deems to have facilitated the purchase of Russian oil.
One of them, senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, explained last night that she voted against advancing the Senate bill because “today’s bill gives the President new authority to impose tariffs, even on our allies. I do not think tariffs, which are paid for by American businesses and consumers, will help Ukraine win this war. And over the last year, it’s become more clear that President Trump will use any legal — or illegal — mechanism to make families pay his reckless tariffs.”
“I fully support the goal of sanctioning Russia and its enablers and hope that we can have a meaningful amendment process so that I can support the final bill,” Hassan added.
Trump says he wants Iran tariffs added to Russia sanctions bill
Trump also told reporters he would like Congress to add tariffs on Iran to Russia sanctions legislation that was being pushed by senator Lindsey Graham before he died recently.
I’d like them to add Iran as tariffs, not just as sanctions. I think it’s important. That’s what Lindsey wanted, because I heard that they have tariffs on Russia, but not on those five countries with having to do with Iran. I’d like to see tariffs on Iran. It would make it much stronger.
Trump also said that Britain’s new prime minister Andy Burnham told him he planned to open up the North Sea to oil development, a move that would mark a shift in the country’s energy policy.
The US president rambled through his usual criticisms of the UK, from immigration to windmills, before concluding that the UK will “be a rich country again” if it opens up the North Sea to oil exploration.
Trump again threatens to hit Iran ‘very hard’
Speaking in the Oval Office just now, Trump reiterated his threat that the United States would hit Iran very hard.
He said he was briefed on a drone attack on tankers off Egypt. “It’s a little more of the same, but it’s going to be straightening out,” Trump said.
“In the meantime, we’re going to be hitting them very hard, because it’s our turn to hit them,” Trump told reporters. “They know it’s coming.”
He said Washington would see if there was an agreement at some point, “but we’re going to hit them very hard”.
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu explored paths to curb Iran’s nuclear program during meeting, says senior Israeli official
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu explored all possible paths to curb Iran’s nuclear program in their White House meeting yesterday, including diplomacy, economic pressure and force, a senior Israeli official has told Reuters.
Netanyahu did not tell Trump that Israel’s preference now was for further attacks on Iran, the official said in briefings with reporters after the meeting. “In the end, it’s his decision,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of Trump.
The US president has three options and all were discussed at length, said the official, listing them as “a [negotiated] deal, continuing the blockade and economic pressures, and a massive strike.” Netanyahu also added unspecified new ideas to the mix, the official added.
Trump had voiced irritation with the Israeli prime minister ahead of their meeting, complaining that details had surfaced publicly about Netanyahu’s plans to talk about new intelligence on Pickaxe Mountain, a deep-underground, nuclear-linked facility that Trump has threatened to bomb.
Pushing back against any notion of tensions over the issue, the official said the two allies readily share intelligence, denied that Netanyahu had pushed Trump to escalate militarily against Iran and left open the possibility of a diplomatic solution.
At the same time, the Israeli official acknowledged that Trump is the “senior partner” while Netanyahu is the “junior partner” in the allies’ conflict with Iran.
Jo Walters
Donald Trump and the justice department are asking the US supreme court to toss an $83m defamation verdict won by writer E Jean Carroll after she accused him of sexual assault, saying he cannot be sued for comments he made while he was president.
It is the second time Trump has asked the justices to nix damages awarded by a jury to Carroll, a longtime New York advice columnist and former talkshow host. The supreme court refused in June to hear his appeal of another verdict, for $5m, that found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation, the Associated Press reports.
The latest case centers on comments Trump made during his first term as US president. The justice department wants to invoke the Westfall Act, which shields government employees from being sued for doing their jobs.
“Absent this Court’s intervention, the sitting President is facing nearly a hundred million dollars of personal liability for conduct that was well within the scope of his federal office,” federal attorneys wrote. “That alone deserves this Court’s attention.”
The appeal was filed electronically and is expected to be formally docketed with the court on Wednesday.
Joseph Gedeon
Donald Trump is due to announce a $22bn plan to rebuild Washington’s Dulles international airport today after he personally weighed in on the design of the capital’s main international gateway.
A White House official confirmed an announcement would be made, after CBS News reported that Trump had scrutinized 3D models from contractors competing to carry out the overhaul at the White House, and offered proposed changes.
An announcement is scheduled for 3pm ET at the White House, where Trump will be joined by Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, Scott Kirby, United Airlines chief executive, and officials from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), which operates the airport under a 50-year lease from Congress.
The planned overhaul of Dulles forms part of a broader pattern of Trump personally directing changes to Washington, from a proposed White House ballroom to a planned 250ft arch.
Unlike some of those projects, the president’s push to remake Dulles has drawn a more tepid response, given longstanding complaints about the airport’s distance from the city, its jet-fuel-scented concourses, and its reliance on ageing shuttle vehicles.
The scheme is expected to include five new terminals to replace the airport’s existing four, with the underground train system expanded so passengers no longer need Dulles’s much-maligned “mobile lounges” – the slow-moving shuttles that ferry travelers across the tarmac to their gates. A new underground pedestrian tunnel and additional moving walkways are also planned.
People briefed on the proposal said the approved design leans on glass and gold, including gold-mirrored ceilings throughout the terminals.
United, which handles roughly 70% of traffic at Dulles, has agreed to help finance the project, which is expected to take years and cost more than $20bn, according to the Washington Post. MWAA is expected to fund much of the work through new bond issuances, and had already approved a separate $7bn capital plan for the airport in 2025.
United and MWAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump has made no secret of his dissatisfaction with the airport, telling reporters in December that Dulles “should be a great airport” but “it’s a terrible airport”.
The Senate was due to vote today on the latest Iran war powers resolution at 3.30pm ET, less than a week after it voted down efforts to curb Donald Trump’s military action in Iran. However, Politico hears that the vote could be delayed to tomorrow due to GOP “attendance issues”.
Indeed, several Republican senators including South Carolinians Tim Scott and Darline Graham are due to attend the funeral for the late senator Lindsey Graham in their home state. And with Mitch McConnell still recovering at home from last month’s fall, the three absences will eat into the majority’s numbers, Politico notes.
Last month, the upper chamber delivered a symbolic but significant rebuke to Trump’s deeply unpopular conflict when it approved a war powers resolution preventing the president from continuing hostilities against Iran.
That resolution passed by a 50-48 vote, with four Republicans – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Rand Paul of Kentucky – breaking with their party to support its adoption. John Fetterman, of Pennsylvania, was the sole Democrat to vote against the resolution. The absences of two Republicans, Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania and McConnell of Kentucky, who was admitted to the hospital the week prior, also helped its passage.
But last week’s resolution failed by a vote of 49-47 after Fetterman joined Republicans once again, while Collins joined Democrats. It marked the 12th time the Senate has attempted to pass legislation limiting Trump’s ability to attack Iran.
The House, meanwhile, has twice passed such measures to direct Trump to withdraw the US military from the conflict.
Democrats have been forcing votes regularly since Trump launched his war against Iran with Israel on 28 February. As noted above, though, the resolutions are largely symbolic, and Trump has continued to attack Iran regardless. But they do serve to force lawmakers to go on the record with their stance on the war – which has exacerbated the US cost-of-living and affordability crisis – as November’s midterm elections creep ever closer.
Comey fresh push for ‘seashells case’ to be thrown out
Sam Levine
Lawyers for former FBI director James Comey have alleged that US Secret Service agents illegally surveilled him, Donald Trump requested regular updates into the investigation, and law enforcement turned to ChatGPT and a known mafia killer as they scrambled to find justification for criminally charging Comey for posting a picture of seashells that spelled out “8647”.
The claims were laid out in a motion to dismiss a criminal case the US Department of Justice filed against Comey in April, in which it said the post by Comey – whom Trump fired in his first term – was a threat on the US president’s life.
In the motion filed yesterday in federal court in North Carolina, Comey’s lawyers said the case should be dismissed for vindictive and selective prosecution.
Comey filed a separate motion earlier this week, seeking dismissal of the case on grounds that the post was protected speech and not a “true threat” against the president.
Trump has long fumed over the way Comey handled the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election while he served as director of the FBI. Comey has also been an outspoken critic of Trump.
You can read the rest of this story here. There’s movement on another thorn in Trump side, too, E Jean Carroll – stand by.
Fed holds interest rates steady despite Trump’s renewed calls to lower them
Gaya Gupta
The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady today, leaving rates unchanged for the fifth time since December despite Donald Trump’s renewed calls to lower rates.
Cooler inflation data published earlier this month eased expectations for an imminent rate hike. But the tenuous peace deal between the US and Iran has made energy prices creep up again, strengthening the case for an increase. The Fed’s federal open market committee voted 9-3 to maintain rates, with three dissenting members who preferred to raise the rate by a quarter-percentage point.
At the Fed’s June meeting – its first under its new chair, Kevin Warsh – half of the central bank’s 18 members predicted at least one rate hike by the end of the year. Interest rates currently sit at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%.
“Inflation remains elevated relative to the Committee’s 2 percent goal, in part reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy,” the Fed’s open market committee said in its statement, which is once again noticeably shorter after Warsh’s recent calls for more streamlined communication.
