Here's a recap of the day
That is it for today’s politics blog. Here’s a rundown of what’s happened so far:
The Tennessee Senate passed the new congressional maps that gut the state’s lone Democratic, majority-Black district.
Tennessee Democrats have criticized the state’s new congressional map, which eliminates the state’s only Democratic and majority-Black district. US representative Steve Cohen called the map a “racial gerrymander” and placed blame on Donald Trump.
Donald Trump spoke on US strikes launched against Iran, saying that the US “knocked the hell out of them” during remarks to pool reporters while visiting the Reflecting Pool near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. On a potential deal with Iran, Trump said that it “might not happen, but it could happen any day. I believe they want the deal more than I do.”
The NAACP chapter in Tennessee filed an emergency petition in court to block the state’s new congressional map, alleging the latest redrawing is illegal.
Republican state senator Brent Taylor announced that he would run for Congress in the re-drawn ninth district, launching a challenge against the incumbent Democrat, Steve Cohen, who has represented the district since 2007.
A new politics blog will be available tomorrow morning. Thank you for reading!
Former US vice president Kamala Harris blasted Donald Trump over the “irresponsible” ongoing US-Israel war with Iran at a Thursday event alongside Nevada Democratic leaders.
“The American people are suffering and for what?” she asked, referencing a spike in gas prices nationwide.
Harris also voiced concern that the Trump administration has frayed America’s relationships with foreign allies.
“We have become unreliable as a friend,” she said. “We have also therefore lost our influence… whatever influence that we may have had to talk about issues such as human rights, democracy.”
“He talked about obliterating, and then he said ‘Oh he didn’t,” Harris continued, appearing to allude to Trump threatening Iran’s power plants, if the Strait of Hormuz, a major waterway, was not re-opened.
“It’s all just – bullshit,” Harris said.
The audience erupted into cheers.
Trump added that the hantavirus is “under control” and the situation “should be fine”, in response to questions if Americans should be concerned about the illness.
On the hantavirus, Trump said: “It’s very much, we hope, under control. It was the ship, and I think we’re going to make a full report about it tomorrow. We have a lot of people, a lot of great people, are studying it.”
Three people aboard a cruise ship have died due to the hantavirus. Several others have fallen ill. Trump did not response to a follow up question on how officials are working to get Americans currently on the cruise ship home.
Trump said he would decide “maybe relatively soon” whether to endorse Republican US senator John Cornyn or Texas attorney general Ken Paxton in the upcoming Senate primary race.
When asked why he hasn’t endorsed either politician, Trump said: “I’ll make a decision. Yeah, I’ll make a decision.”
The Republican primary runoff race between Cornyn and Paxton is relatively tight, with voting taking place on 26 May.
Updated
Trump apparently gave State secretary Marco Rubio a message to pass on to Pope Leo during their meeting in Vatican City.
Trump told reporters that he had not spoken to Rubio since his visit, but told the State secretary to “tell the pope very nicely, very respectfully, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, so when he comes to their defense--also tell the pope that Iran killed 42,000 innocent protesters who didn’t have guns, who didn’t have weapons. Tell that to the Pope.”
Rubio’s Vatican City visit comes amid flaring tensions between Trump and Pope Leo as Leo has repeatedly criticized the US-Israel war in Iran.
Later, Trump complimented Lula da Silva, calling the Brazilian president a “good man” and “smart guy”.
“We talked about tariffs. We talked about how they would like to have some tariff relief. We had a very good meeting,” Trump said.
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Donald Trump, at first, refused to give more insight into his meeting with Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
When asked about the meeting, Trump deflected and began speaking about the construction workers renovating the Reflecting pool. “You know, we have some of these construction workers that I love. I love [them] because they all voted for me. I would say 100 or 99 percent, I think,” Trump claimed.
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Donald Trump spoke on US strikes launched against Iran, saying that the US “knocked the hell out of them”.
Trump gave brief remarks to pool reporters while visiting the Reflecting Pool near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.
On a potential deal with Iran, Trump said that it “might not happen, but it could happen any day. I believe they want the deal more than I do.”
Trump added that ceasefire agreement is still in place, despite the strikes. “They trifled with us today. We blew them away. They trifled. I call that a trifle,” he said.
Trump spoke to reporters in front of construction workers currently renovating the Reflecting pool. The expedited project will fix leaks and add an “American flag blue” coating to the pool.
Updated
Florida governor Ron DeSantis has weighed in on the fate of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’.
After the New York Times reported early Thursday that the state’s controversial immigration detention facility could shutter soon, DeSantis appeared to confirm the news.
Speaking on Thursday after a bill signing ceremony at a Florida university, DeSantis said the center was “always designed to be temporary,” according to WTSP, a CBS affiliate in the Tampa Bay area.
“Our goal on this was for that facility to be a bridge to DHS being able to do that themselves,” he said, also lauding the facility for enabling the deportation of 22,000 individuals.
The so-called ‘Alligator Alcatraz’, whose name reflects its swampy locale, has been subject to scrutiny over allegations of poor living conditions and its expensive operational costs.
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Tennessee Democrats deride state's new congressional map
US Representative Steve Cohen serves as the lone Democrat among Tennessee’s House delegation. The new map will impact his district 9, which to date has encompassed a large swath of Memphis — a majority African-American constituency.
Cohen called the map a “racial gerrymander” and placed blame on Donald Trump.
“Trump knows he HAS To rig the game to keep his majority in November,” Cohen wrote on X. “And the TN GOP was willing to go along with it. It’s shameful. Next stop is the courts.”
State representative Gloria Johnson echoed Cohen’s remarks.
“They’re calling this a special session. I’m calling it a white power rally because it’s a power grab from white supremacists who want to take the voices away from Black voters in Shelby County,” she told WSMV-TV, NBC’s affiliate in Nashville.
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Trump threatens to hit Iran 'a lot more violently' if peace deal not reached quickly
Donald Trump is saying “great damage” was done to the Iranian attackers of the US destroyers in the strait of Hormuz.
He also said in a post on his Truth Social platform that the US would knock out Iran “a lot harder and a lot more violently” if it didn’t agree to a peace deal “FAST”.
The US president said the three US destroyers successfully transited out of the Hormuz strait under fire and without damage but there was “great damage” done to the Iranian attackers.
“They were completely destroyed along with numerous small boats, which are being used to take the place of their fully decapitated Navy. These boats went to the bottom of the Sea, quickly and efficiently. Missiles were shot at our Destroyers, and were easily knocked down. Likewise, drones came, and were incinerated while in the air. They dropped ever so beautifully down to the Ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave!”
Trump also said Iran was being “led by LUNATICS” and repeated his regular theme that Tehran would use a nuclear weapon if it had chance, but said “they’ll never have that opportunity”.
The latest lawsuit also argues that Republican efforts to repeal the ban on redistricting between census cycles was also invalid.
Here’s more information on the lawsuit and repeal argument from Democracy Docket’s Yunior Rivas:
Republicans repealed that prohibition this week in a special legislative session convened by Lee shortly after President Donald Trump ordered Tennessee Republicans to redraw the state’s map.
But the NAACP argues the repeal itself was unconstitutional because Lee’s proclamation calling lawmakers into special session never specifically authorized lawmakers to repeal the anti-redistricting statute.
Under the Tennessee Constitution, lawmakers in a special session may only consider issues specifically identified by the governor.
“The Proclamation does not specify the purpose of repealing Section 2-16-102,” the lawsuit states. “Thus, any actions dependent on such repeal or suspension are impermissible and should be enjoined. This case is staggeringly easy for this Court to decide.”
The challenge seeks to void the repeal, block the new congressional map and stop Tennessee from conducting elections under the newly drawn districts.
The lawsuit also targets another under-the-radar move Republicans made during the special session, suspending a one-year residency requirement for congressional candidates.
Read the full article here.
In the 16-page petition, lawyers for the NAACP Tennessee state conference argued that the state’s recent redistricting violates the Tennessee constitution, specifically Section 2-16-102.
According to counsel, the state’s constitution mandates that the district congressional districts cannot be changed between census periods, when the state is typically divided into districts.
Prior to Thursday, Tennessee’s last apportionment occurred in 2021 after the US 2020 census, court documents state. Thursday’s redistricting is what counsel alleges is a “late-decade congressional redistricting”.
Read the full lawsuit here.
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NAACP chapter in Tennessee files emergency petition arguing that new congressional map is illegal
The NAACP chapter in Tennessee has filed an emergency petition in court to block the state’s new congressional map, alleging the latest redrawing is illegal.
The petition, which was filed in Davidson County Chancery Court, argues that the redistricting efforts from Republican legislators is a violation of the state’s constitution, according to court documents.
In a statement on the lawsuit, NAACP general counsel Kristen Clarke said:
It is a direct attack on our democracy and our Constitution to dismantle majority-Black districts. A democracy without Black representation is not a democracy…Black communities in Tennessee have been silenced and brutalized for centuries. This is where the KKK was born and where MLK was assassinated. Black residents were faced with racial violence and legal suppression every single day. And to vote, they were met with poll taxes and literacy tests designed to keep them silent. We’re outraged that the State, rather than seeking a more just and fair system, is seeking to roll Tennessee back to a time when many of us didn’t have equal rights. We will fight this map, tooth and nail.
Updated
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers in South Carolina have started the process of extending their legislative session to redraw the state’s congressional map, an attempts to eliminate the only Democratic House district.
Democratic congressman Jim Clyburn announced the move in a series of posts to X:
Republicans in the South Carolina state legislature began the process of extending their session to allow for the redrawing of the state’s congressional map — with one goal in mind: eliminating the state’s only Democratic House district that is occupied by a Democrat.
Clyburn noted that South Carolina’s sixth district, which is also majority-Black, is in jeopardy amid redistricting attempts.
Speaking about the plans to redraw, Clyburn added in a subsequent post:
This fight is bigger than one district. It’s about whether our democracy belongs to the people, or to politicians who change the rules when they don’t like the results. We cannot let them succeed.
The official Democrat social media on X has commented on the Tennessee’s redrawing of its districting map.
The post read:
Republicans in Tennessee have officially passed a new congressional map, carving up the only majority-Black district just days after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act.
This is another shameful power grab by the GOP in their attempt to rig the midterms.
Democrats have largely decried the new map, which eliminated the only Democratic and majority-Black district in the state.
Eric H. Holder, the US attorney general from 2009 to 2015, has commented on Tennessee’s latest redistricting map:
Memphis is not just any city; it holds a central place in the national story of our quest for racial justice in this country and how, over time, we have increasingly achieved civil, voting, and economic rights for all Americans. Black citizens protested, marched and died there for the right to vote.
We are not the same country we were in years past, but what is being done to Memphis by Tennessee Republicans—at the behest of the White House—shows that the protections once afforded by Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act do indeed remain necessary to this day.
Now, Memphis is going to be connected to another dark chapter in our country’s story, one where we are entering a revised, modern-day Jim Crow, where politicians act with impunity to diminish the voting power of Black and Latino communities across the country. Republicans want us to believe that Tennessee’s newest and repressive gerrymander is justified for partisan reasons—as if that were somehow consistent with the best of American democracy. The reality is that there is no moral justification that can be made for knowingly splitting apart a historically Black community and drowning out its votes by pairing it with extremely wealthy, predominantly white suburbs hundreds of miles away. In fact, it is immoral.
Tennessee Republicans shamelessly and happily racing to diminish the voting power of Black citizens shows just how detrimental the Roberts Court’s decision to gut the Voting Rights Act is to our democracy. The Court has put in place a nefarious permission structure. This move by Tennessee will be the first of many immoral, flagrant racial gerrymanders that we will see from Republican-led states unless and until we can enact federal legislation to protect the rights of voters and to reform an out-of-control and unprincipled Supreme Court.
Make no mistake, this fight will be hard, it will be long, and there will be setbacks as well as many victories. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ But the arc does not bend on its own. It’s now on us, again, to do the necessary work to pull that arc towards justice—together.
Republican senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee shared his endorsement of Taylor in a post on X. Resharing Taylor’s announcement that he would run for Congress in the redrawn ninth district, Hagerty said:
By sending [Taylor] to Congress, the Ninth Congressional District will have a conservative fighter who will stand up for our communities and deliver results where they matter most.
Republican senator Martha Blackburn of Tennessee also wrote several posts on X in support of Taylor:
I’ve vowed time and time again to make Tennessee America’s conservative leader. Electing [Taylor] to serve Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District is how we get that done. I’ve had the privilege of working with Senator Taylor for many years now, and one thing has remained true: he loves Tennessee, he’s ready for the job, and he’s exactly who President Trump needs in Washington. It’s an honor to give Brent my complete and total endorsement. Let’s get this done!
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) formally pled not guilty on Thursday to charges related to allegations the organization committed fraud and conspired to money launder.
The 11-count indictment filed last month accuses the civil rights organization of committing fraud in connection to a program in which it paid informants to monitor rightwing extremist groups. The program no longer exists.
“The charges against the SPLC are provably wrong; they are based on inaccurate facts and a misapplication of law,” Bryan Fair, the organization’s interim president and CEO, said in a statement. Our informant program was successful in accomplishing its purposes: Threats and attacks were prevented, criminal activity was stopped, and information was gathered to dismantle the efforts of hate and extremist groups. There is no question that the information the SPLC shared with law enforcement saved lives.”
Legal experts have said the case against SPLC is weak. Trump and allies have nonetheless touted the case to attack the organization and raise doubts about rightwing extremism.
Tennessee state senator announces bid for Congress in re-drawn district
Republican state senator Brent Taylor announced that he would run for Congress in the re-drawn ninth district, launching a challenge against the incumbent Democrat, Steve Cohen, who has represented the district since 2007.
The newly passed congressional map now splits up Shelby county, where Memphis sits, into three districts – effectively separating a majority-Black voting bloc.
“As your Congressman, I will continue to fight every single day to ensure the liberals’ harmful, negligent policies never take root in Tennessee,” said Taylor, who has served in the state Senate since 2022. “I’ve cleaned up the streets of Memphis, and now I’m ready to clean up Washington DC.”
Tennessee’s two GOP senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty immediately endorsed Taylor’s bid for national office.
Updated
There had been some tension ahead of the Trump and Lula’s meeting, particularly on the Brazilian side, as relations between the two have fluctuated since Trump began his second term.
Last year, the US president imposed an additional 40% tariff on Brazil, widely seen as an attempt to influence the trial of his former ally, the Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, over an attempted coup.
Some had feared Trump might stage a kind of “ambush” with Lula at the White House, citing examples of his contentious meetings with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa.
But, according to reports so far, the meeting between Trump and Lula went better than expected: what had been scheduled as a brief meeting followed by a lunch ended up running for nearly three hours.
Although it was Lula’s fourth visit to the White House – during his non-consecutive third term he was received twice by George W Bush and once by Barack Obama – it was his first under Trump. The Brazilian president posted photos in which he and Trump appear smiling and shaking hands.
GOP Tennessee senator heralds new state maps: 'This is how we cement President Trump's agenda'
In response to the Tennessee General Assembly passing a new congressional map, one of the state’s two Republican senators heralded the news.
“This is how we cement President Trump’s agenda and usher in America’s Golden Age here in Tennessee, and how we become America’s conservative leader,” said Marsha Blackburn, who has served in the US Senate since 2019, is a fierce ally of the president, and is running for governor in this year’s midterm elections.
Trump says meeting with Lula went 'very well' and included discussions about trade and tariffs
Donald Trump issued a post on Truth Social, summarizing his meeting with the Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The summit was initially open to the press. But, after what appeared to be a three-hour delay, members of the Brazilian media left the White House.
“We discussed many topics, including Trade and, specifically, Tariffs,” Trump wrote on social media. “The meeting went very well. Our Representatives are scheduled to get together to discuss certain key elements. Additional meetings will be scheduled over the coming months, as necessary.”
Tennessee Senate passes new congressional map that guts lone Democratic district
Following from the House’s earlier vote, the Tennessee Senate has now passed the new congressional maps that gut the state’s lone Democratic, majority-Black district.
The new plan splits up the 9th congressional district, represented by Steve Cohen in the US Congress, into three Republican constituencies.
As my colleague, George Chidi, notes, the district had closely occupied the south-west corner of the state. Now three districts snake out from Memphis’ dense center, with two crossing the Tennessee River to reach Nashville’s suburbs 200 miles away.
“If Republican policies are so great, why are we changing the lines to rig elections?” asked Vincent Dixie, a state representative from Nashville, during debate on Thursday, pleading for Republicans to refrain. “Where is your humanity in this?”
Updated
Here's a recap of the day so far
Donald Trump will welcome Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to the White House on Thursday. The meeting, which appears to be running behind, will be an opportunity for the Brazilian president to meet with Trump to avert steep US tariffs ahead of an October election where Lula will face-off against the son of his imprisoned predecessor, Jair Bolsanaro.
Following Marco Rubio’s closed-door meeting with Pope Leo XIV, the state department said that the pair discussed the “situation in the Middle East and topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere”, according to a readout from spokesperson Tommy Pigott. “The meeting underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity,” he said.
House lawmakers in the Tennessee General Assembly voted to pass new maps that gets rid of the a majority-Black congressional district in the state. The ninth district is also the only Democratic controlled consituency in Tennessee. The new plan splits up Shelby county – home to Memphis – into three Republican-controlled districts. The Tennessee Senate will now vote on the maps before they’re ratified.
Susan Collins – the five-term Republican senator from Maine facing a competitive re-election race – has released her first television spot ahead of the midterms. In the ad, she highlights her seniority in the upper chamber, and notes the millions of dollars she has steered towards Maine as chair of the influential Senate appropriations committee. On Wednesday, Collins also revealed a decades-old medical condition she said affects her appearance, but not her ability to do her job.
The White House press pool notes that they have still not be called to gather at that Oval Office for the bilateral meeting with Donald Trump and Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Tennessee House passes new maps that eliminate majority-Black congressional district
House lawmakers in the Tennessee General Assembly voted to pass new maps that gets rid of the a majority-Black congressional district in the state. The ninth district is also the only Democratic controlled consituency in Tennessee.
The new plan splits up Shelby county – home to Memphis – into three Republican-controlled districts.
The Tennessee Senate will now vote on the maps before they’re ratified.
US chief justice John Roberts has insisted supreme court judges are not “political actors” amid outrage over its recent decision undermining the Voting Right Act, and other moves that have benefited Donald Trump and his allies.
“I think, at a very basic level, people think we’re making policy decisions, we’re saying we think this is how things should be, as opposed to what the law provides,” Roberts told a conference for judges and lawyers in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. “I think they view us as purely political actors, which I don’t think is an accurate understanding of what we do.”
The supreme court is “simply not part of the political process”, Roberts claimed. He acknowledged, however, that some of its decisions may spark controversy. “One thing we have to do is make decisions that are unpopular,” he said, according to the AP.
The chief justice, a conservative nominated by Republican George W Bush in 2005, also reiterated his condemnation of threats against lower court judges. “That’s not appropriate and it can lead to very serious problems,” he said.
Roberts leads a court on which conservatives have held a six-justice majority since 2020, and handed down a series of decisions that have upended longstanding precedent and, in Trump’s second term, allowed many of his policies to take effect, at least temporarily.
Last week’s decision on the Voting Rights Act has greenlit a scramble by Republican-led states to enact new congressional maps that will break up districts drawn to elect Black lawmakers, who tend to be Democrats. That may amount to a major blow to the party’s long-term chances of controlling the US House of Representatives.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced today that she has given birth to her second child.
“On May 1st, Viviana aka ‘Vivi’ joined our family, and our hearts instantly exploded with love,” Leavitt said in a post on Instagram.
Vivi is “perfect and healthy” and her big brother is “adjusting to life with his new baby sister”, Leavitt said.
Updated
Federal and Florida officials in early talks to shut down 'Alligator Alcatraz', after spending over $1m a day to keep it running, NYT reports
The New York Times (paywall) hears that Florida is in “preliminary” talks with the Trump administration to shut down so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” – the notorious immigration detention center the administration boastfully opened last summer in the Everglades – after finding it might be too expensive to continue operating.
Citing a federal official, a former ICE official, and a person close to the administration of staunch Trump ally governor Ron DeSantis, the NYT reports that the Department of Homeland Security have concluded that it is too expensive to keep operating the center, which has cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.
Homeland security officials have also come to consider the center ineffective, the federal official told the Times.
According to the NYT’s source close to the DeSantis administration, the state has been spending more than $1m a day to run the center, which is located in a swampy, isolated area between Miami and Naples, and some private vendors hired by the state to operate it have been struggling to front costs.
The center has been hugely controversial since it started operating over 10 months ago and quickly earned a reputation for harsh conditions for people held there including alleged human rights abuses and denial of due process.
Detainees face “harrowing human rights violations”, a shocking report by Amnesty International alleged in December, including exposure to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” rising in some cases to torture.
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An update now from the White House that Brazil’s president arrived at 11:21am ET, per the foreign pool. Lula went through the South Lawn entrance, but the arrival was closed to press.
We’re now waiting for the bilateral meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, which is open press, to get under way.
Updated
Marco Rubio, the top US diplomat, has stoked speculation about a potential run for president in 2028 by releasing a campaign-style video that articulates a hopeful vision of America.
The minute-long vertical video features images of Rubio, Donald Trump, jets flying over the White House, Americans of different races, former US president Ronald Reagan, and the Stars and Stripes being hoisted against a blue sky.
The soundtrack is drawn from a White House press briefing earlier this week in which the US secretary of state stood in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave.
A reporter asked Rubio: “I’ve got to ask you, what is your hope for America at a time such as this?”
The secretary replied: “My hope for America is what it’s always been. I think it’s the hope I hope we all share. We want it to continue to be the place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, where you’re not limited by the circumstances of your birth, by the color of your skin, by your ethnicity, but frankly, it’s a place where you are able to overcome challenges and achieve your full potential.
The comments, notable for striking a more optimistic tone than Trump or Vice-President JD Vance, went viral on social media with some users framing it as the unofficial start of Rubio’s White House campaign.
Laura Loomer, a rightwing activist close to the president, tweeted: “Wow! This looks like it could be a launch video for a Presidential campaign. Amazing production quality and vibes.”
Elon Musk, the billionaire tech entrepreneur who headed Trump’s controversial government efficiency drive last year, posted a clip of Rubio’s briefing remarks on his X social media platform without comment. Rob Schneider, an actor and comedian, replied: “THIS should be the NEXT President of these United States.”
Even some Trump sceptics were impressed. Ashish Jha, a doctor and academic who served as the White House Covid-19 response coordinator under Joe Biden, tweeted: “An extraordinary response from @SecRubio. This should be everyone’s hope and vision for America.”
Read the full report:
As the Tennessee House began deliberating on a vote to eliminate its sole Democratic district, House Speaker Cameron Sexton ordered protesters to be cleared from the east side of the gallery.
“This is what history is going to bear witness to in this moment,” said state Representative Justin Jones, a Democrat from Nashville.
Democrats have been offering amendment after amendment trying to alter or slow the vote and highlighting what they describe as a rushed process in conflict with state law and the
“This is being done because of race,” said Jason Powell, another Democratic legislator from Nashville. “It’s being done to divide a city.”
The redistricting cracks Memphis into three congressional districts, each of which has a Republican-leaning voting majority.
Protests at Tennessee state capitol amid Republican efforts to redraw congressional map
As we wait for Lula’s arrival in Washington, at the Tennessee state capitol there are ongoing protests against the legislature’s move to redraw the state’s congressional map, due to pass imminently.
Demonstrators lined the hallways leading into the chamber at the Tennessee state house in Nashville, chanting “no Jim Crow” ahead of a vote that will carve up the state’s majority-Black and sole Democratic district.
Updated
Brazilian president to meet with Trump at the White House
In a short while, Trump will welcome Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to the White House. We’ll be following along and bringing you the latest lines as their meeting gets under way.
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A reminder that my colleagues are covering the latest developments out of the Middle East at our dedicated live blog. This includes the news that Tehran is, at most, reviewing the US’s peace proposal and considering its response via Pakistani mediators, according to state media.
This comes after Donald Trump proclaimed in the Oval Office on Wednesday that Iran wants to make a deal “very badly” and negotiations were “very good”.
State department says Rubio meeting with Pope Leo XIV 'underscored strong relationship' with Vatican
Following Marco Rubio’s closed-door meeting with Pope Leo XIV, the state department said that the pair discussed the “situation in the Middle East and topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere”, according to a readout from spokesperson Tommy Pigott.
“The meeting underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity,” he said.
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Susan Collins also revealed a decades-old medical condition she said affects her appearance, but not her ability to do her job.
Collins, 73, told News Center Maine, an NBC affiliate, this week that she has a benign essential tremor she treats with medication, which sometimes causes her hands, arms and head to tremble.
“I have had it for the entire time that I have served in the United States Senate,” Collins told the outlet, adding that it was an “extremely common” condition. “It has absolutely no impact on my ability to do my job or on how I feel each day,” she said.
The health of Collins – first elected to the US Senate in 1996, and the longest-serving Republican woman in the chamber – has come under recent scrutiny.
The revelation about her medical diagnosis, and assurance that it does not affect her work, is likely to be seen as an attempt to shore up her support. She said she had not missed a vote in three decades as a US senator, and was confident in her ability to serve another six-year term.
“If you talk to anybody in Washington, they will tell you that I am the hardest-working person that they have ever worked with,” Collins said. Her voting record was “pretty good evidence of the fact that I am blessed with great health”, she suggested. “It’s inconvenient at times, but that’s all.”
Read the full report here:
Susan Collins launches first campaign ad ahead of November election
Susan Collins – the five-term Republican senator from Maine facing a competitive re-election race – has released her first television spot ahead of the midterms. In the ad, she highlights her seniority in the upper chamber, and notes the millions of dollars she has steered towards Maine as chair of the influential Senate appropriations committee, particularly the $6m in federal funding she secured to rebuild a section of a crucial pier in Eastport, Maine that collapsed in 2014.
The Senate race in Maine has now devolved, earlier than anticipated, into a six-month competition between Collins, a moderate who has served in Congress for almost 30 years, and Graham Platner – a progressive newcomer, oyster farmer and marine veteran. Platner became the de facto Democratic nominee after his primary challenger, two-term governor Janet Mills, suspended her campaign last week.
On social media, Donald Trump shared a picture of the 15-foot golden statue of himself at the his golf course in Doral, Florida.
“The Real Deal – GOLD – At Doral in Miami. Put there by great American Patriots!!!” Trump wrote while sharing a picture of the monument from the Daily Telegraph.
Nicknamed “Don Colossus”, the statue is on the golf course at the president’s club just outside of Miami.
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has now left the Vatican after meeting Pope Leo after some two hours there.
He met initially with the pontiff before sitting down with senior Vatican officials, including top diplomat Italian cardinal Pietro Parolin, Reuters reported.
The Vatican and the US state department did not provide any immediate details about the talks, but we’ll bring you the latest if/when we get any more information.
Donald Trump is in Washington today. As we noted earlier, he’ll welcome President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil to the White House for a bilateral meeting at 11am ET. That will be open to the press and we’ll bring you the latest lines as it gets under way. A White House official told the Guardian that the two leaders will discuss “economic and security matters of shared importance.”
It’s worth noting that Lula will seek a fourth, nonconsecutive term in Brazil’s upcoming October elections, where he will face off against Flávio Bolsanaro – his imprisoned predecessor’s son.
The billions in profits big oil is reaping due to the Iran war may stymie the energy transition, experts and advocates fear, incentivizing oil and gas expansion and boosting the sector’s funds for political lobbying.
“Windfall profits from Trump’s war will allow big oil to build a wall of money around its Trump-era political victories,” said Lukas Shankar-Ross, a deputy director at green group Friends of the Earth.
The deadly conflict in Iran has created a historic energy shock due to attacks on fossil fuel facilities and the blockage of the crucial trade vessel the strait of Hormuz. Amid the chaos, energy prices – and oil companies’ earnings – have soared.
ConocoPhillips last week reported $2.3bn in profits for the first three months of 2026, up 84% from before the war began. Meanwhile, top petroleum refiner Valero Energy announced quarterly profits of $1.2bn, beating estimates. Liberty Energy, founded and formerly run by Donald Trump’s energy secretary Chris Wright, saw quarterly earnings of $10m, up 32% from before the war began. And BP said it had seen “exceptional” performance, more than doubling its profits during the year’s first quarter.
The oil majors Chevron and ExxonMobil both saw their profits drop during the first three months of 2026, executives reported in earnings calls. Yet in short order, that trajectory will shift, analysts say. Consensus estimates shows ExxonMobil’s second-quarter earnings will more than double from a year ago, while Chevron profits are expected to increase by 56% for the year.
As oil companies rake in billions, Americans are suffering at the pump. On Wednesday, the US average price of gasoline soared to $4.52 per gallon, the highest price since July 2022.
Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visits the White House on Thursday, aiming to revive what US president Donald Trump last year called their “excellent chemistry,” avoid new tariffs, and show a willingness to negotiate deals on critical minerals and organized crime, three people close to the Brazilian president told Reuters.
“We don’t know if the visit will help,” one Brazilian official involved in arranging the meeting told Reuters. “But it’s more likely to help than doing nothing.“
Last year, Trump hit Brazilian products with 50% tariffs, among the highest on any US imports, accusing the country of promoting a witch-hunt against far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was later convicted for attempting to overthrow democracy.
Rubio arrives for audience with Pope Leo to ease tensions after Trump's criticism over Iran
Secretary of state Marco Rubio is visiting the Vatican today in an effort to mend ties after president Donald Trump’s criticisms of Pope Leo.
Rubio was also due to meet with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who on the eve of his visit strongly defended Leo and criticized Trump’s attacks in understated diplomatic terms.
“Attacking him like that or criticizing what he does seems a bit strange to me, to say the least,” Parolin said Wednesday.
Parolin said Washington had requested Rubio’s audience, and that the pope was open to continued dialogue.
“We cannot ignore the United States,” Parolin said. “Despite some difficulties, they certainly remain a key partner for the Holy See, not least because they play a role in almost every situation we face today.”
Tennessee poised to vote today on new US House map
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Republican lawmakers in Tennessee are poised to push through a plan later today that would carve up a majority-Black congressional district.
The move would reshape the electoral map to the GOP’s advantage as part of president Donald Trump’s strategy to try to hold on to a slim House majority in the November midterm elections.
The redistricting effort in Tennessee is one of several rapidly advancing plans in Southern states as Republicans try to leverage a US Supreme Court ruling that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act, AP reports.
The court ruled that Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district as it attempted to comply with the federal law.
The high court’s decision altered a decades-old understanding of the law, giving Republicans grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats.
Louisiana has postponed its congressional primary to give time for state lawmakers to craft a new House map.
Legislation awaiting a final vote in Alabama also would upend the state’s congressional primaries if courts allow the state to change its US House districts. In South Carolina, meanwhile, Republican lawmakers urged on by Trump have taken initial steps to add congressional redistricting to their agenda.
The states are the latest to join an already fierce national redistricting battle. Since Trump encouraged Texas to redraw its US House districts last year, eight states have adopted new congressional districts.
From that, Republicans think they could gain as many as 13 seats while Democrats think they could gain up to 10.
In other developments:
Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged suicide note was released Wednesday. A federal judge has unsealed an alleged suicide note by Jeffrey Epstein, the first time the document has been made public.
The Trump administration has claimed that migration has made Europe an “incubator” for terrorism, according to a recently published report on counter-terrorism strategies. The administration will focus counter-terrorism efforts on drug cartels.
Republican politicians in Tennessee released a new congressional voting map that could go into effect before the midterm elections this November. The proposed map would eliminate the state’s only Democratic-controlled district by carving up a majority-Black voting bloc based in Memphis.
More information was released on the suspect charged in connection to Monday’s shooting near JD Vance’s motorcade. The Texas man accused of firing a gun at law enforcement officers near the Washington monument this week was walking along the path of JD Vance’s motorcade before the shooting and made a vulgar remark about the White House after the confrontation, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
The FBI’s director, Kash Patel, has allegedly given out customized bottles of bourbon at events, including ones where he is working in a official capacity, according to a report from the Atlantic.
Donald Trump will be hosting the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for a visit, a White House source confirmed to the Guardian. Trump and Lula, who was elected in 2023, will discuss “economic and security matters of shared importance”, the source said. The meeting is expected to take place this Thursday.
