Jakub Krupa
Here’s some more on Trump’s comments about Putin. Talking about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he said:
“That was a war that should have never happened. A lot of people are dying and it should end.
We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
Asked if he wants to see further sanctions against Russia, he says: “I’m looking at it.”
Key events
Trump again floats federal takeover of Washington, DC
During his cabinet meeting, Donald Trump also suggested his administration was looking into taking over governance of Washington, DC.
Trump said his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was in close touch with the city’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, a Democrat.
It is not the first time the president floated a federal takeover of the city, home to the White House, Congress and the supreme court.
Trump told reporters in February: “I think we should take over Washington, D.C. — make it safe. I think that we should govern District of Columbia.”
Under Home Rule, Congress already vets all laws in the city and federal lawmakers can overturn some of them. However, it would take an act of Congress to make federal rule a reality.
Both houses would have to vote to repeal the 1973 Home Rule Act. It would be a controversial move and unlikely to make it through.
Donald Trump said he would announce a 50% tariff on imported copper on Tuesday. The Trump administration announced a so-called Section 232 investigation into US imports of the red metal in February.
Trump had ordered the investigation into possible tariffs on copper imports to rebuild US production of a metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, semiconductors and a wide range of consumer goods.
Trump signed an order directing the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, to start a new national security investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the same law that Trump used in his first term to impose 25% global tariffs on steel and aluminum.
A White House official said any potential tariff rate would be determined by the investigation, adding that Trump preferred tariffs over quotas.
The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, said first responders in Texas are “still looking for a lot of little girls” who remain missing after a devastating flood in Texas.
Noem described the scene in Texas as Trump met with his cabinet at the White House on Tuesday.
Noem visited Camp Mystic in Kerrville on Saturday after the catastrophic flood on Friday.
You can read our Texas live coverage here:
Trump’s Middle East envoy says 60-day Gaza ceasefire could be finalized by end of week
A temporary ceasefire agreement in Gaza could be finalized by the end of the week, Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said at the cabinet meeting.
Witkoff added that proximity talks had reduced outstanding issues from “four issues … to one”.
“We are hopeful that by the end of this week, we will have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire,” Witkoff said. “Ten live hostages will be released. Nine deceased will be released.”
Trump added that he would meet with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, later to discuss Gaza “almost exclusively”, describing the situation as “a tragedy” while claiming that the prime minister has been “very unfairly treated” because of his corruption trial.
“He’s been very unfairly treated. I think what they’ve done to him in Israel is very unfair. Having to do with this trial, he’s a wartime prime minister, had an unbelievable outcome, and I think he’s been treated very unfairly,” Trump said of Netanyahu.
Jakub Krupa
Here’s some more on Trump’s comments about Putin. Talking about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he said:
“That was a war that should have never happened. A lot of people are dying and it should end.
We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
Asked if he wants to see further sanctions against Russia, he says: “I’m looking at it.”
When asked about the latest on the Jeffrey Epstein case – in which the Department of Justice concluded there was no secret client list and it lacked evidence to prosecute – Pam Bondi brought up her Fox News interview comments from earlier this year that has gone viral this week about Epstein’s client list, explaining that when she said files were “sitting on my desk to be reviewed”, she meant the Epstein file along with JFK and MLK assassination files.
The US attorney general explained that investigators found “tens of thousands” of child sexual abuse videos downloaded by Epstein, which she said would “never be released, never going to see the light of day”.
Regarding Epstein’s death, Bondi said prison video showed he committed suicide, though she noted a technical issue with the recording system based on the prison’s outdated video system.
Meanwhile, Trump was clearly irritated by the question, saying: “You still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy has been talked about for years … And are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable.”
Trump ‘not happy’ with Putin but says any potential action would come as ‘a little surprise’
Speaking to reporters, Trump said that he is “not happy” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and noted that weekly casualties in Ukraine are now at 7,000 a week.
“I’m not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now, because he’s killing a lot of people, and a lot of them are his soldiers, his soldiers and their soldiers mostly. And it’s now up to 7,000 a week,” Trump said.
When pressed by reporters about potential action, Trump declined to elaborate, saying: “I wouldn’t be telling you, we want to have a little surprise.”
Trump praised Ukrainian resistance while crediting US military aid: “The Ukrainians were brave, but we gave them the best equipment ever made.”
Opening his full cabinet meeting just before noon, Donald Trump again targeted his predecessors’ trade policies, claiming the US was previously “led by stupid people” who lacked business acumen.
Trump said: “We only adhered to the rules of other nations who charge us tremendous tariffs because we were led by stupid people, or people without any business sense.”
Donald Trump is set to attend Sunday’s Club World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, a senior administration official tells NBC News senior White House correspondent Garrett Haake.
The Club World Cup final would conclude Fifa’s newly expanded 32-team global tournament.
Trump confirms new tariffs to take effect 1 August: ‘there will be no change’
Donald Trump has issued an ultimatum to the US’s trading partners, confirming that new tariffs will take effect on 1 August with no possibility of delays.
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump said:
As per letters sent to various countries yesterday, in addition to letters that will be sent today, tomorrow, and for the next short period of time, TARIFFS WILL START BEING PAID ON AUGUST 1, 2025. There has been no change to this date, and there will be no change. In other words, all money will be due and payable starting AUGUST 1, 2025 – No extensions will be granted. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
The US government will ban sales of US farmland to Chinese buyers and other foreign adversaries, the agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, announced at a joint press conference on Tuesday.
Speaking alongside defense secretary Pete Hegseth and homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, Rollins said the administration would pursue executive actions and work with states to halt such purchases, citing national security and food security concerns.
“No longer can foreign adversaries assume we’re not watching,” Hegseth said, adding that the Pentagon would block farmland sales near military installations to protect food supplies for troops “especially in a contingency”.
The move includes plans for increased monitoring of existing farmland owned by entities from China, Russia and Iran. Chinese investors currently control 265,000 acres of US land, according to government data, with roughly half connected to Smithfield Foods, which was bought by Chinese conglomerate WH Group in 2013.
Chinese ownership of US farmland has already fallen significantly, dropping from 384,000 acres in 2021 to current levels.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and some of his top officials met with JD Vance at Blair House on Tuesday, according to Israeli media reports.
Blair House, directly across from the White House, serves as the official presidential guest house and has been called “the world’s most exclusive hotel”. Only the most important foreign dignitaries get invited to stay there.
Netanyahu’s accommodation at the historic residence signals the Trump administration’s commitment to maintaining the special US-Israel relationship, even as the prime minister faces an arrest warrant from the international criminal court over war crime allegations stemming from Israel’s devastating conduct in Gaza.
He was joined by strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter and military secretary Maj Gen Roman Gofman.
Rightwing influencers in the US who are often aligned with Donald Trump are angry that a joint justice department and FBI memo has dismissed the existence of a “client list” in the case against late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The disgraced financier killed himself in a jail cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City in 2019 while awaiting prosecution on child sex-trafficking and conspiracy charges.
Almost ever since, Epstein’s death has been the subject of conspiracy theories on the right, including a supposed “client list” that he purportedly used to blackmail wealthy co-conspirators.
Trump’s presidential administration then created anticipation that the alleged list would be publicly disclosed, including the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, who had told Fox News in an interview: “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
A split Wisconsin supreme court is paving the way for a statewide “conversion therapy” ban by striking down a Republican committee’s constitutional challenge to the proposed rule.
The 4-3 decision from the liberal-majority court overturned the GOP-controlled joint committee for the review of administrative rules, which had twice rejected a state agency regulation banning the scientifically discredited practice aimed at “converting” LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality.
The ruling is yet another brush up between the Democratic governor, Tony Evers, and the Republican-controlled legislature over LGBTQ+ rights. Evers has previously vetoed GOP bills targeting transgender high school athletes and has sought to limit the legislature’s power.
Conversion therapy is already banned in 23 states and Washington DC.
