Hello, we’re closing tonight’s blog. Thanks for reading – you can read more on Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” here:
Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary who became one of television’s most honored journalists, masterfully using a visual medium to illuminate a world of ideas, died on Thursday at age 91.
Moyers died in a New York City hospital, according to longtime friend Tom Johnson, the former chief executive of CNN and an assistant to Moyers during Lyndon B Johnson’s administration.
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, paid tribute to Moyers on X. Sanders wrote:
Bill Moyers, a friend, public servant and outstanding journalist has passed away. As an aide to President Johnson, Bill pushed the president in a more progressive direction. As a journalist he had the courage to explore issues that many ignored. Bill will be sorely missed.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has said the EU is ready for a trade deal with Donald Trump, but “all options remain on the table”.
Von der Leyen said she received the latest US negotiating document on Thursday. “Our message today is clear, we are ready for a deal,” she told reporters, after briefing EU leaders at a summit in Brussels. “At the same time, we are preparing for the possibility that no satisfactory agreement is reached … and we will defend the European interest as needed. In short, all options remain on the table.”
The commission is responsible for trade on behalf of the EU’s 27 member states, but wanted a steer on how to approach the economically critical talks with the White House. Trump has threatened to impose 50% tariffs on all EU goods from 9 July unless the two sides reach a deal. Most EU goods already face a 10% tariff, with levies of 25% on cars and car parts and 50% on steel and aluminium.
Differences are emerging between Germany and France.
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said a quick and simple trade deal was better than “slow and complicated”. The new centre-right chancellor is under heavy pressure from German carmakers and other exporters, who argue that an asymmetric deal – ie higher US tariffs on European goods – is better than no deal.
French president Emmanuel Macron argued that accepting an unequal trading relationship would be damaging to Europe’s long-term competitiveness. One EU diplomat rejected the suggestion member states were divided, but said: “If we accept 10%, how long will it last?”, suggesting Trump could launch a new front in the trade war, or that it could affect negotiations with other trading partners. “Many member states realise this is not only one game. Maybe it will affect the way India approaches us, or China.”
Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, has said Donald Trump’s budget bill will worsen the economy after the president’s tariffs created “chaos and pain for families and small businesses.”
“Their Big, Beautiful Betrayal will take health insurance away from 16 million Americans, make it hard for families to put food on the table, and increase energy costs to serve billionaires instead of bolstering the middle class in the face of Trump’s self-induced economic headwinds,” Schumer said.
Donald Trump has threatened to sue the New York Times and CNN over the outlets’ reporting on a preliminary intelligence assessment on the US strikes in Iran that found the operation did less damage to nuclear sites than the administration has claimed.
The president has said Iran’s nuclear program was “obliterated”, but an early leaked intelligence report suggested the strikes likely only put the country back months. Trump’s personal lawyer wrote a letter to the Times asking for a retraction and apology for the article, which he claimed was “defamatory” and unpatriotic”, the newspaper reported.
“No retraction is needed,” David McCraw, the New York Times lawyer, wrote in response.
“No apology will be forthcoming,” he said. “We told the truth to the best of our ability. We will continue to do so.”
Trump lavished praise on his budget bill during remarks at the White House on Thursday and urged Republican lawmakers to get behind it.
“We don’t want to have grandstanders,” he said shortly before wrapping up the event.
The president claimed the bill would offer the largest tax cut in US history while strengthening Medicaid and Social Security. The legislation will make the huge tax cuts established in 2017 permanent, and ultimately give the greatest cuts to the wealthiest Americans. The version currently in the US Senate would make historic cuts to Medicaid.
Donald Trump said that the federal government will hire 3,000 new border patrol officers and 10,000 Ice agents with his tax and spending bill, describing it as “the single most important piece of border legislation ever to cross the floor of Congress.”
He pledged to increase deportations to at least 1 million people a year as part of his administration’s immigration crackdown, “fully fund the final sections” of the border wall, and impose a remittance tax on money sent back to foreign countries.
Donald Trump told an audience at the White House that he signed an agreement with China related to trade but he did not specify what he was talking about.
Donald Trump is holding an event celebrating his tax and spending bill at the White House – despite ongoing opposition to key parts of the legislation and the Senate parliamentarian rejecting Medicaid cuts earlier today.
We’ll bring you key lines as we get them.
Updated
The day so far
Donald Trump has claimed, without evidence, that “the Democrats” leaked an early intelligence assessment that found US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites were less effective than has been touted by the president and his administration and only set Tehran’s nuclear program back by months, and called for prosecutions. The report sent the Trump administration on the defensive today, with officials insisting that the strikes were a huge success that “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities and attacking the media for coverage of the report.
Denying further reports that Iran’s stockpile of uranium was not concentrated in Fordow, one of its two main enrichment sites, at the time of last weekend’s attack, and its highly enriched uranium stockpile remains largely intact, defense secretary Pete Hegseth said he wasn’t aware of any intelligence to suggest that Iran had moved the highly enriched uranium from any of the three nuclear sites the US struck, and Trump also said, without evidence, that “nothing was taken out of the facility” ahead of the strikes. White House press secretary also said there was “no indication” that the uranium had been moved.
Elizabeth MacDonough, the parliamentarian who enforces the Senate’s rules, rejected a slew of major provisions in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”, sending GOP leaders into a frenzy to try to salvage the legislation before next week’s 4 July deadline. One senator, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, even called for her to be removed from the job. Around the same time, Senate majority leader John Thune told reporters he would not attempt to overrule the parliamentarian with a simple-majority vote on the floor.
The supreme court’s three liberal justices - Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – dissented from the majority in today’s ruling that paves the way for South Carolina (where the case emerged from) and other states to kick Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program over its status as a reproductive healthcare provider that includes abortion services. Read our story here. The supreme court will issue the final opinions of its term tomorrow.
Trump has not decided on a replacement for Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and a decision isn’t imminent, a person familiar with the White House’s deliberations told Reuters. It comes after the dollar dropped overnight and investors, also reacting to weaker economic data, increased their bets on Fed rate cuts this year after a Wall Street Journal story said Trump was considering naming Powell’s replacement early in hopes that person could have immediate influence convincing the central bank to lower interest rates as the president has demanded.
Embattled New York City mayor Eric Adams launched his independent campaign seeking re-election. Since progressive Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic primary yesterday, reports have begun to swirl that NYC business execs are now feverishly organizing around the incumbent Adams, giving his struggling re-election bid a new lease of life, in an effort to keep the democratic socialist out of City Hall in November.
Robert F Kennedy Jr’s reconstituted vaccine advisory panel recommended against seasonal influenza vaccines containing specific preservative thimerosal – a change likely to send shock through the global medical and scientific community and possibly impact future vaccine availability. Separately, the panel also recommended a new treatment to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio announced a new visa restriction policy aimed at stopping the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the United States. “Imposing visa restrictions on drug traffickers, their family members, and close personal and business associates will not only prevent them from entering the United States, but it will serve as a deterrent for continued illicit activities,” Rubio said in a statement issued by the state department.
JB Pritzker launched his reelection campaign for a third term as Democratic governor of Illinois, amid speculation of a future run for higher office.
Trump blames intelligence leak on Democrats and calls for prosecutions
Donald Trump has claimed, without evidence, that “the Democrats” leaked an early intelligence assessment that found US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites were less effective than has been touted by the president and his administration and only set Tehran’s nuclear program back by months, and called for prosecutions.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform:
The Democrats are the ones who leaked the information on the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Sites in Iran. They should be prosecuted!
The initial classified US report produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency – the intelligence arm of the Pentagon – concluded that Trump’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend did not destroy two of the sites, and found that key components of Iran’s nuclear program, including centrifuges, were capable of being restarted within months.
It’s sent the Trump administration on the defensive today, with officials insisting that the strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities and attacking the media for coverage of the report.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth also said he wasn’t aware of any intelligence to suggest that Iran had moved the highly enriched uranium from any of the three nuclear sites the US struck, and Trump also said, without evidence, that “nothing was taken out of the facility” ahead of the strikes. White House press secretary also said there was “no indication” that the uranium had been moved.
Updated
RFK Jr’s vaccine panel recommends new RSV treatment for infants
Robert F Kennedy Jr’s reconstituted vaccine advisory panel recommended a new treatment to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants.
The treatment, a new monoclonal antibody called clesrovimab, which will be sold under the brand name Enflonsia by Merck, was recommended by the powerful committee after being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) roughly two weeks ago.
The tortured vote took place a day late and after rounds of questions from the panel’s seven new members – all ideological allies of Trump’s health secretary, who views “overmedicalization” as one of the greatest threats to American children.
“I think we need to ask ourselves what the parent would say given this data,” said Dr Retsef Levi, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of operations management, who over hours of hearings has proven to be an outspoken skeptic of the medications under review. He said he would be “concerned” and ultimately voted against recommending the monoclonal antibody.
Trump decision on Fed not imminent - Reuters
Donald Trump has not decided on a replacement for Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and a decision isn’t imminent, a person familiar with the White House’s deliberations has told Reuters.
It comes after the dollar dropped overnight and investors, also reacting to weaker economic data, increased their bets on Fed rate cuts this year after a Wall Street Journal story said Trump was considering naming Powell’s replacement early in hopes that person could have immediate influence convincing the central bank to lower interest rates as the president has demanded.
The White House declined to comment, referring to the statements Trump has made publicly on the topic. Those have included regular beratings of Powell as a “major loser” and “stupid” for not cutting rates, a 6 June statement that he would name Powell’s replacement “very soon,” resignation that a supreme court decision meant he could not fire Powell outright, and a statement this week that he had narrowed the list of replacements to “three or four”.
Potential nominees include former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, who has close ties to the Trump Organization and was almost named central bank chief in the president’s first term in the White House, as well as Kevin Hassett, who is the director of the White House’s National Economic Council, current treasury secretary Scott Bessent, and current Fed governor Christopher Waller, according to the person familiar with the deliberations.
But the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, downplayed how fast Trump might act.
Powell’s term as Fed chief does not end until next May, and the recent supreme court decision appeared to insulate him from being fired over a policy dispute - a fact that could also limit Trump’s ability to reshape the central bank before his second and final term ends in January 2029.
However, an early announcement of the next Fed chair could allow whoever Trump picks to influence expectations about the path for interest rates, which could undermine Powell during the final months of his term.
The Fed has repeatedly stated that it makes decisions based on economic data rather than on political interventions. It added that it had kept rates on hold in June amid uncertainty over Trump’s controversial tariff plans, which have caused the central bank to raise its projections for inflation.
Updated
RFK Jr’s new vaccine panel votes against preservative in flu shots in shock move
A critical federal vaccine panel has recommended against seasonal influenza vaccines containing a specific preservative – a change likely to send shock through the global medical and scientific community and possibly impact future vaccine availability.
The panel was unilaterally remade by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a vaccine skeptic who has urged against the use of thimerosal despite a lack of evidence of real-world harm.
Across three votes, members voted in favor of restricting thimerosal in seasonal influenza vaccines across all age groups – with five in favor of the restriction, one abstention and one vote against.
“The risk from influenza is so much greater than the nonexistent – as far as we know – risk from thimerosal,” said Dr Cody Meissner, a panel member and professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine who was the lone “no” vote. “I would hate for a person not to receive the influenza vaccine because the only availability preparation contains thimerosal – I find that very hard to justify.”
The panel, formally called the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is a critical link in the vaccine distribution pipeline – informing health insurers and clinicians alike about which vaccines to give patients.
Kennedy fired all 17 former members of the panel in June, citing conflicts of interest, and appointed eight new members, all of whom are ideological allies of the secretary.
Rather than vote on an agenda that had once included seasonal recommendations for Covid-19 and the vaccine against human papilloma virus (HPV), ACIP added the controversial focus of thimerosal in vaccines. The panel affirmed that the influenza vaccine is recommended for Americans older than six months.
Although multiple studies have found no real-world harm, the preservative has been a talking point of anti-vaccine advocates for decades. Multiple representatives of physicians associations urged the panel to reject the recommendation against thimerosal in the meeting.
Thimerosal is used in about 5% of multidose seasonal influenza vials, and is known to be more cost effective than single-dose formulations. It is unclear how the vote will impact flu vaccine availability before the upcoming flu season, particularly for clinics that rely on such formulations.
Thimerosal has been used as a preservative in vaccines since before the second world war. In the early 2000s, thimerosal was removed from all routine pediatric and most adult vaccines as a precautionary measure – a decision that was criticized by experts who argued it sent mixed messages about a preservative that had not been found to cause harm. The issue has since been considered settled by mainstream medicine.
US announces new fentanyl-related visa restriction policy
Secretary of state Marco Rubio has announced a new visa restriction policy aimed at stopping the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the United States.
“Imposing visa restrictions on drug traffickers, their family members, and close personal and business associates will not only prevent them from entering the United States, but it will serve as a deterrent for continued illicit activities,” Rubio said in a statement issued by the state department.
GOP senator calls for parliamentarian to be fired after ruling against Medicaid cuts as Thune says Senate won’t overrule her
Some Republicans are furious about MacDonough’s rulings and have publicly expressed their rage on social media and – and one senator has even called for her to go.
Representative Greg Steube of Florida wrote on social media:
The Senate Parliamentarian is not elected. She is not accountable to the American people. Yet she holds veto power over legislation supported by millions of voters.
Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also called MacDonough a “WOKE parliamentarian” for rejecting a provision that would reduce Medicaid funding to states that use their own tax revenues to provide health coverage to undocumented immigrants – and called for her to be removed from the job.
This is a perfect example of why Americans hate THE SWAMP. Unelected bureaucrats think they know better than U.S. Congressmen who are elected BY THE PEOPLE. Her job is not to push a woke agenda. THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP.
Around the same time, Senate majority leader John Thune told reporters he would not attempt to overrule the parliamentarian with a simple-majority vote on the floor.
Per The Hill, Thune told reporters he didn’t view MacDonough’s ruling against the biggest spending cut in the bill as necessarily fatal to getting the legislation passed.
We were obviously trying to get as much in terms of savings as we could. We pushed hard to try and achieve that, and we knew that it was going to be an interesting conversation and we didn’t know for sure how she was going to come down on it.
There are things we can do. There are other ways of getting to that same outcome. We may not have everything that we wanted in terms of the provider tax reforms, but if we can get most of the reforms there, get the savings that come with it — this is all about saving the taxpayers money.
Updated
Several key provisions in Trump’s 'big, beautiful bill' must be reworked or dropped, Senate parliamentarian says
The New York Times has more on that, reporting that Elizabeth MacDonough, the parliamentarian who enforces the Senate’s rules, has rejected a slew of major provisions in the “big, beautiful bill”, sending GOP leaders into a frenzy to try to salvage the legislation before next week’s 4 July deadline.
Per the Times’s report:
MacDonough said several of the measures in the legislation that would provide hundreds of billions of dollars in savings could not be included in the legislation in their current form. They include one that would crack down on strategies that many states have developed to obtain more federal Medicaid funds and another that would limit repayment options for student loan borrowers.
MacDonough has not yet ruled on all parts of the bill. The tax changes at the centerpiece of Trump’s agenda are still under review.
The decisions dealt a blow to Senate Republicans as they attempt to pass the behemoth legislation by Trump’s deadline. Party leaders had hoped to begin voting on the bill this weekend, in order to allow time for the House, which must give final approval to any changes, to pass it early next week, clearing it for the president’s signature.
They were the latest provisions struck down by MacDonough, after she rejected several other sections, including Republicans’ initial plan to slash the food assistance program known as SNAP, an effort to sell federal land, and a move to limit federal judges’ power to enforce injunctions against the Trump administration.
MacDonough’s rulings are closely held by senators and are not released to the public. So it was unclear whether she had suggested the provisions were essentially unsalvageable, or merely needed to be modified.
Republicans on the Senate agriculture committee, for example, believe they will be able to restore the provision that MacDonough struck that would push some SNAP costs to the states.
One of the key provisions MacDonough ruled against, a measure that would try to close the so-called “provider tax loophole,” has already divided Senate Republicans. Senators from several states that heavily rely on a tax manoeuvre to finance their Medicaid programs have said they will not vote for the legislation until it is modified, citing risks to rural hospitals. (All states but one use this loophole to some degree.)
Senate majority leader John Thune played down the adverse rulings, saying the measure was still on track. “These are speed bumps along the way; we anticipated those and so we have contingency plans,” he told reporters at the Capitol. “Obviously, you have to adjust the timing and schedule a little bit, but we’re moving forward.”
Republican senators could vote to steer around MacDonough’s guidance, but that move would deal a substantial blow to the filibuster. The vote would set a new precedent that senators can ignore the parliamentarian on budget matters whenever they can muster a majority to do so, and Thune has repeatedly pledged not to take such action.
Updated
Senate Republicans race to resolve tax and health issues in Trump's tax bill to meet 4 July deadline
Republicans in Congress are scrambling to resolve nettlesome tax and health care provisions in their sweeping tax-cut and spending bill as Donald Trump presses them to pass the legislation by his 4 July deadline (which is … next week).
Trump plans to promote the package - which nonpartisan analysts say will add about $3tn to the federal government’s $36.2tn in debt - at an afternoon White House event that will feature truck drivers, firefighters, ranchers and other workers who the administration says would benefit from the bill.
But Senate Republicans have yet to produce their version of their legislation ahead of a possible weekend vote, and the overall shape of the bill appeared more uncertain after a nonpartisan referee ruled that several healthcare provisions violated the complex process Republicans are invoking to bypass Democratic opposition.
Those elements collectively represented more than $250bn in health care cuts, according to Democratic senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. Democrats have lined up against the bill, portraying it as a wasteful giveaway to the wealthiest Americans.
Senate Republicans have spent the last several weeks revising a bill that passed the House by one vote last month. It is unclear whether the GOP will be able to rework the bill to comply with the complex budget rules, as they have already done with some elements, or seek to override the decision by the Senate parliamentarian.
Senator Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, told reporters:
It’s pretty frustrating. But you know, what we’ve got to do is work through this process and come up with something that you know, fulfills the Trump agenda and also has fiscal sanity. Look, I believe this bill is going to pass. I know there’s a lot of work left to do.
A source familiar with the situation told Reuters Senate Republicans still had a path forward and described the 4 July deadline as achievable.
Republicans remain at odds over several provisions - notably a proposed tax break for state and local tax payments and a tax on health care providers that some states use to boost the federal government’s contribution to the Medicaid health plan.
The parliamentarian also flagged provisions that would deny student aid and Medicaid health coverage to some immigrants, as well as a provision that would prohibit Medicaid funding for transgender medical care.
Lawmakers a half-century ago decided that the Senate parliamentarian, currently Elizabeth MacDonough, would hold the power to determine what policies they can enact through “budget reconciliation,” the process that Republicans are using now to bypass the chamber’s “filibuster” rule that requires 60 of the 100 members to agree on most legislation.
Republican senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama wrote that she should be fired.
Her job is not to push a woke agenda. Tuberville wrote on social media.
Others, notably Senate majority leader John Thune, have said they will not to overturn her rulings.
Trump 'very open' to visit from Netanyahu, White House says
Leavitt says there isn’t yet a date but Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has expressed interest” in coming to the White House to meet with Donald Trump, and adds that Trump is “very open” to that.
White House believes no enriched uranium was removed prior to US attacks on Iran
Leavitt repeats defense secretary Pete Hegseth’s earlier claim that there is no indication that any enriched uranium was removed from any of the three nuclear sites in Iran targeted by the US in attacks last Saturday.
There was no indication to the United States that any of that enriched uranium was moved prior to the strike [from any of the sites].
Hegseth earlier said he wasn’t aware of any intelligence to suggest that Iran had moved the uranium, and Trump also said, without evidence, that “nothing was taken out of the facility” ahead of the strikes. The FT reports the opposite today.
Leavitt also repeats the administration’s claim that Iran’s nuclear capabilities were “obliterated” in the US strikes.
Updated
White House press briefing
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is briefing reporters at the moment. I’ll bring you all the key lines here.
Semafor reports that since progressive Zohran Mamdani’s stunning victory in the Democratic mayoral primary yesterday, the New York City business community appears to have abandoned its reluctant support for former state governor Andrew Cuomo’s leadership bid and is now feverishly organizing around incumbent Eric Adams in an effort to prevent Mamdani from victory in November’s general election.
“Some of former governor Andrew Cuomo’s biggest backers hinted in fluid, panicked conversations on Wednesday that they’ll put their money behind Adams,” reads Semafor’s report.
“There is going to be overwhelming support in the business community to rally around Adams,” Richard Farley, a partner at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP who said he’s organizing a fundraiser for the mayor and has been speaking with some of Cuomo’s biggest donors, told the news outlet. “This will be a street fight all the way to November.”
Politico hears the same, reporting that “Mamdani’s status as a democratic socialist and staunch critic of Israel’s war in Gaza has breathed new possibility into an Adams comeback as real estate and business honchos ponder ways to keep the 33-year-old from City Hall”. (Adams notably just had a rabbi speak at his campaign launch).
Both outlets also report that deep-pocketed business executives are also musing about drafting a new independent candidate to back in the race.
Updated
Eric Adams launches re-election campaign for New York City mayor as an independent
Embattled New York mayor Eric Adams is about to give an announcement on the steps of City Hall, where a crowd of supporters are gathered, to launch his independent campaign for re-election.
Updated
Here’s the clip of defence secretary Pete Hegseth’s attacks on the media this morning over their reporting on early intelligence on the US strikes in Iran.
Hegseth accused the media of “spinning” leaked information in coverage of the assessment – which found that American strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites didn’t do as much damage as has been claimed by the Trump administration - and told journalists about the stories he thinks they should be writing, including “how hard it is to fly a plane for 36 hours”.
Updated
The US Justice Department is launching an investigation into the University of California system, accusing the universities of engaging in a “pattern or practice of discrimination based on race and sex.”
According to a DOJ press release, the university system’s plan to hire diverse staff “potentially runs afoul of federal law.” The DOJ accuses the university system of having race and sex-based employment quotas.
This comes as the Trump administration continues to investigate universities nationwide for a number of reasons, including for allegations of anti-semitism.
According to a letter written by Harmeet Dhillon the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s civil rights division, the University of California may have engaged in Title VII discrimination with the practices.
“I have authorized a full investigation to determine whether the University of California is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination,” Dhillon writes in the letter.
Dhillon is a former Republican Party official and was nominated by Trump in December to serve in her current position.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today that Trump “exaggerated” the impact of US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
During his first televised appearance since the launch of the Israel-Iran war, Khamenei said the US strikes had done “nothing significant” to the country’s nuclear infrastructure, AFP reports. Earlier today, in a post on X, his account said that Iran “delivered a heavy slap to the US’s face.”
The Israel-Iran conflict escalated when Israel began launching bombs at Iran, which then retaliated by striking back. The US joined the war last weekend, when it struck nuclear sites in Iran.
“The American president exaggerated events in unusual ways, and it turned out that he needed this exaggeration,” Khamenei said during his televised speech.
Reporting from the Guardian on Tuesday revealed that an early Defense Intelligence Agency report found the US strikes likely did not destroy two of the sites and may have only set back the nuclear program by a few months.
US secretary of defense Pete Hegseth gave a press briefing on Thursday, saying the US’s attack was “devastating,” apparently contradicting early findings from US intelligence.
For more on these developments, visit the Guardian’s Middle East blog, covering all developments as they happen.
The US supreme court’s three liberal justices - Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – dissented from the majority in today’s ruling that paves the way for South Carolina (where the case emerged from) and other states to kick Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program over its status as a reproductive healthcare provider that includes abortion services.
In her dissent, Jackson argued that Thursday’s ruling not only undercuts the rights of Medicaid beneficiaries, but also participates in a “project of stymying one of the country’s great civil rights laws” by hollowing out the Civil Rights Act of 1871, which strengthens people’s ability to go to court when a state violates their federal rights.
“Today’s decision is likely to result in tangible harm to real people,” Jackson wrote. “At a minimum, it will deprive Medicaid recipients in South Carolina of their only meaningful way of enforcing a right that Congress has expressly granted to them. And, more concretely, it will strip those South Carolinians—and countless other Medicaid recipients around the country—of a deeply personal freedom: the ‘ability to decide who treats us at our most vulnerable’.”
The case, Medina v Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, centers around a 2018 executive order from South Carolina’s governor, Henry McMaster, that blocked clinics that provide abortions from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. Medicaid is the US government’s main health insurance program for low-income people. About 80 million people rely on it.
There is some debate among supreme-court watchers as to whether the birthright citizenship case, Trump v CASA, will be announced tomorrow with the other cases from the main season.
It technically does not have to be announced tomorrow but observers are leaning towards the notion that it will be.
It’s the most closely watched remaining case. Given that the conservative justices got their way in the transgender healthcare case and today’s Planned Parenthood ruling, liberals have cause for concern.
But, in fact, during oral arguments in May, the bench took issue with Donald Trump’s attempt to sidestep the constitution to limit birthright citizenship, a case that, while technically about immigration, could reshape presidential power and the role of federal courts.
Many predict that the US president’s plan is likely to be, ultimately, struck down, as it directly contradicts the 14th amendment, which grants citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States”.
Here’s our explainer from last month.
Supreme court's final opinions of the term coming on Friday
The supreme court will issue the final opinions of its term on Friday, the Associated Press reports.
Chief Justice John Roberts made the courtroom announcement on Thursday. Six cases remain to be decided, including whether Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship can take effect anywhere in the United States.
Other remaining cases include whether Maryland parents with religious objections can remove their children from lessons using LGBTQ storybooks and a fight over a second majority Black congressional district in Louisiana.
Updated
JB Pritzker announces reelection campaign for third term as Illinois governor
JB Pritzker has launched his reelection campaign for a third term as Democratic governor of Illinois, amid speculation of a future run for higher office.
In a video posted on X, he said:
Donald Trump’s made clear he’ll stop at nothing to get his way. I’m not about to stand by and let him tear down all we’re building in Illinois.
I’m running for reelection to protect our progress and continue solving the problems we face. I love this state, and it’s the honor of my life to serve as your Governor – to help lead through the most challenging of times and celebrate the most joyful ones together.
I’m ready for the fight ahead.
I’m running for re-election to protect our progress and continue solving the problems we face. Let’s keep Illinois moving forward. https://t.co/nSZk3xqsWG pic.twitter.com/JD4LAm0gKv
— JB Pritzker (@JBPritzker) June 26, 2025
Pritzker has served as governor in the deep-blue state since 2018 and is widely seen as a possible 2028 presidential contender, having positioned himself as one of the most vocal critics of Trump in the Democratic party.
In a statement announcing his re-election bid, his campaign said:
Thanks to the Governor’s leadership, Illinois remains a symbol of hope and freedom as we face down Donald Trump’s attacks, with abortion rights and civil rights enshrined into law and protections for our LGBTQ and immigrant communities stronger than ever before.
Updated
Liberal justices dissent in latest major US supreme court decision
Per my last post, the supreme court has ruled 6-3 in a decision could embolden red states across the country to effectively “defund” Planned Parenthood.
The court’s three liberal justices dissented from the decision, which overturned a lower court’s ruling barring Republican-governed South Carolina from terminating regional affiliate Planned Parenthood South Atlantic’s participation in the state’s Medicaid program because the organization provides abortions.
Updated
Supreme court paves way for South Carolina to defund Planned Parenthood
The US supreme court has paved the way for South Carolina to kick Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program over its status as an abortion provider, in a decision that could embolden red states across the country to effectively “defund” the reproductive healthcare organization.
The case, Medina v Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, centers around a 2018 executive order from South Carolina’s governor, Henry McMaster, that blocked clinics that provide abortions from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. “Payment of taxpayer funds to abortion clinics, for any purpose, results in the subsidy of abortion and the denial of the right to life,” McMaster said at the time, even though the reimbursements could not be used for abortions. Abortions are also now banned in South Carolina after six weeks of pregnancy.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, a Planned Parenthood affiliate that operates two clinics in South Carolina, and Julie Edwards, a patient who sought birth control, sued over McMaster’s order, arguing that it flew in the face of a federal provision known as the “free choice of provider” clause. That provision guarantees that people insured by Medicaid, the government health insurance program for people with low income or other eligibilities, can freely choose their own providers as long as they accept the program and are qualified to provide care. Lower courts have repeatedly sided with Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and Edwards, keeping McMaster’s order from taking effect.
The case in front of the supreme court did not directly deal with the question of whether South Carolina could legally remove Planned Parenthood from Medicaid. Instead, the justices were asked to weigh in on a highly technical question: Do Medicaid beneficiaries have the right to sue if they believe their right to a free choice of provider has been violated?
South Carolina, which was represented in the case by the powerful rightwing organization Alliance Defending Freedom, argued that beneficiaries could not sue and that the free choice of provider clause lacked “clear rights-creating language”, as ADF senior counsel John Bursch put it in oral arguments.
These technicalities cloaked the potentially sweeping consequences of the case. If people can’t sue when they believe a state is violating Medicaid, it is far harder to stop states from discriminating against controversial care, such as abortion, Nicole Huberfeld, a health law professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health, told the Guardian ahead of oral arguments.
The South Carolina case was also part of a longstanding effort by anti-abortion activists, including ADF, to “defund” Planned Parenthood by cutting it out of Medicaid. Of the 2.4 million people treated at Planned Parenthood each year, almost half use Medicaid.
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Iran moved uranium from Fordow before US strikes, EU capitals believe - FT
Contrary to that, the Financial Times is reporting that European capitals believe Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile remains largely intact following US strikes on its main nuclear sites.
The newspaper, citing two people briefed on preliminary intelligence assessments, said European capitals believe Iran’s stockpile of 408 kilogram of uranium enriched close to weapons-grade levels was not concentrated in Fordow, one of its two main enrichment sites, at the time of last weekend’s attack.
Trump says nothing taken out of facility at Iran nuclear site ahead of US bombing
Trump has claimed that nothing was taken out of the facility at the Iranian nuclear site struck by the US last weekend, as his administration continues its campaign to insist that the strikes were more effective than early intelligence has found.
The president wrote on Truth Social minutes ago, without providing evidence:
The cars and small trucks at the site were those of concrete workers trying to cover up the top of the shafts. Nothing was taken out of facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!
We just heard similar from defense secretary Pete Hegseth who said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes on its nuclear program.
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Hegseth ends the briefing by reiterating that the attack was “devastating” and “historic, setting back the Iranian nuclear program untold number of years”.
Caine says he hasn't been pressured to change assessment of US strikes on Iran
Asked if he’s been pressured to change his assessment of US strikes on Iran, General Dan Caine says:
I’ve never been pressured by the president of the secretary to do anything other than tell them exactly what I’m thinking and that’s exactly what I’ve done.
No known intelligence that Iran moved uranium, Hegseth says
Pete Hegseth says he is unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program over the weekend.
I’m not aware of any intelligence that I’ve reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise.
“I have chills literally talking about this,” says Caine as he recounts the mission.
Caine is going into detail about the people behind the mission and a map of the Fordow enrichment site.
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Top US general: there were 'indications' of Iran's intention to attack military bases
Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff air force general Dan Caine says that on Monday morning they began to receive “indications and warnings that Iran intended to attack US bases in the region” and moved most personnel out of the area.
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Hegseth – of Signal group chat leak fame – is now bemoaning that the press is reporting stories based on “leaked classified information”.
Time and time again, classified information is leaked or peddled for political purposes to try to make the president look bad.
Hegseth launches extraordinary attack on media over reporting on US strikes on Iran
Hegseth is very aggressively and bizarrely attacking the press corps, claiming:
Because you cheer against Trump so hard - it’s in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump, because you want him not to be successful so bad – you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes. You have to hope that maybe they weren’t effective.
He then accuses the media of “spinning” leaked information “in every way we can to try to cause doubt and manipulate the public mind over whether or not our brave pilots were successful”.
Hegseth has some suggestions for stories the media could write – including “how hard it is to fly a plane for 36 hours”, and blames “the hatred of this press corp” on stories like that not happening, adding: “It’s irresponsible.”
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Hegseth is now reading out various quotes from UN, IDF, CIA and Iranian figures suggesting that the nuclear sites were “severely damaged” and “effectively destroyed”, supposedly contrary to the DIA’s early findings.
Pete Hegseth cites a statement from Trump's CIA director to refute press reports that Iran's nuclear program isn't as obliterated as Trump wants people to believe pic.twitter.com/zndtWYCIg9
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 26, 2025
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Hegseth calls the UN “no friend to the United States, or certainly Israel often”.
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Hegseth attacks the media for reporting on the “preliminary assessment” by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), claiming “there’s low confidence in this particular report”. (Just a reminder that the DIA is the intelligence arm of the Pentagon – Hegseth’s own department).
He said:
This was preliminary and leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful.
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By taking military action, Trump “created the conditions to end the war, decimating, obliterating Iran’s nuclear capabilities”, Hegseth says, contrary to early US intelligence findings reported yesterday that suggested US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites did not destroy two of the sites and only set program back by months.
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Hegseth starts off by praising Trump’s “game-changing” and “historic” achievement in getting most of the Nato allies to raise the defense spending to 5%.
He attacks the media for “searching for scandals” instead of making a bigger deal of this.
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Pete Hegseth gives press conference on Iran
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff air force general Dan Caine are holding a press briefing at the Pentagon. I’ll bring you any news lines here.
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Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he would continue to work with US president Donald Trump to “defeat our common enemies, free our hostages, and quickly expand the circle of peace”.
Netanyahu posted the message with a picture of himself and Trump holding hands shortly after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave his first speech since Iran and Israel reached a ceasefire.
Iran delivered ‘heavy slap to US’s face’, says Khamenei
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed victory over Israel and said his country had “delivered a hand slap to America’s face” on Thursday, in his first public comments since a ceasefire was declared in the war between the two countries.
Khamenei spoke in a video broadcast on Iranian state television, his first appearance since June 19, looking and sounding more tired than he did only a week ago.
He told viewers that the US had only intervened in the war because “it felt that if it did not intervene, the Zionist regime would be utterly destroyed”.
But he said, however, that the US “achieved no gains from this war”.
“The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America’s face,” he said, in apparent reference to an Iranian missile attack on an American base in Qatar on Monday, which caused no casualties.
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A court in Costa Rica has ordered authorities to release foreign migrants who were locked up in a shelter after being deported by the US, according to a resolution issued on the eve of a visit by the US secretary of homeland security.
About 200 people from Afghanistan, Iran, Russia as well as from Africa and some other Asian countries, including 80 children, were brought to the Central American nation in February under an agreement with the US administration of Donald Trump, a move criticized by human rights organizations.
By partially accepting an appeal filed in March on behalf of the migrants, the constitutional chamber of the supreme court of justice gave immigration 15 days to process the “determination of the immigration status of the deportees” and their release, according to the resolution seen by AFP.
The migrants were detained in February at the Temporary Migrant Care center (CATEM), 360km (220 miles) south of San José, on the border with Panama.
However, in the face of criticism, the government allowed them to move freely outside the center in April.
Erdogan says Trump would join Ukraine peace talks in Turkey if Putin attends
Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said his US counterpart Donald Trump told him he would attend potential peace talks between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia in Turkey, if Russian president Vladimir Putin also agreed to take part.
On his return flight from the Nato summit, where he met Trump for the first time since he returned to office, Erdogan said he told the US president Ankara aims to bring the Russian and Ukrainian leaders together in Turkey for peace talks.
“He (Trump) said, ‘if Russian president Vladimir Putin comes to Istanbul or Ankara for a solution, then I will also come,” Erdogan’s office on Thursday quoted him as telling reporters.
“We will hold the necessary contacts and God willing realise this meeting as soon as possible.”
The White House embraced the moniker of “daddy” for Donald Trump in a video that it released after Nato chief Mark Rutte used the term in a conversation with the US president.
“Daddy’s home,” the White House posted on X, along with the video featuring the song “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)“ by Usher and images of Trump at the Nato summit in The Hague.
Rutte, the Dutch secretary general of the military alliance, used the word “daddy” in an appearance with Trump at Wednesday’s summit after the U.S. president berated Israel and Iran over violations of a ceasefire, which later appeared to be holding.
In response, Rutte laughed and said: “And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get (them to) stop.”
The attorney general, Pam Bondi, professed ignorance of reports of immigration officials hiding their faces with masks during roundups of undocumented people, despite widespread video evidence and reports that they are instilling pervasive fear and panic.
Challenged at a Wednesday Capitol Hill subcommittee hearing by Gary Peters, a Democratic senator for Michigan, Bondi, who as the country’s top law officer has a prominent role in the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policy, implied she was unaware of plain-clothed agents concealing their faces while carrying out arrests but suggested it was for self-protection.
“I do know they are being doxxed … they’re being threatened,” she told Peters. “Their families are being threatened.”
Bondi’s protestations appeared to strain credibility given the attention the masked raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents have attracted on social media and elsewhere.
Civil rights campaigners and democracy experts have criticised the raids as evocative of entrenched dictatorships and police states, and say it is a warning sign that the US is descending into authoritarianism.
Trump officials to give first classified briefing to Congress on Iran strikes
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines.
Senators are set to meet with top national security officials Thursday as many question president Donald Trump’s decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites — and whether those strikes were ultimately successful.
The classified briefing, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday and was delayed, also comes as the Senate is expected to vote this week on a resolution that would require congressional approval if Trump decides to strike Iran again, AP reported.
Democrats, and some Republicans, have said that the White House overstepped its authority when it failed to seek the advice of Congress and they want to know more about the intelligence that Trump relied on when he authorized the attacks.
“Senators deserve full transparency, and the administration has a legal obligation to inform Congress precisely about what is happening,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who said Tuesday that it was “outrageous” that the Senate and House briefings were postponed. A similar briefing for House members was pushed to Friday.
CIA director John Ratcliffe, secretary of state Marco Rubio and defense secretary Pete Hegseth are expected to brief the senators on Thursday. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was scheduled to be at the Tuesday briefing, but will not be attending, according to a person familiar with the schedule.
In other news:
Trump weighed in on Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York, saying Mamdani was a “100% Communist Lunatic” and saying he and other progressive politicians were signs that “our Country is really SCREWED”.
Trump has lit into journalists who are reporting on the doubts in the intelligence community that the US bombs actually decimated the Iranian nuclear sites. He has called for a CNN journalist to be fired over her reporting. CNN defended its journalist, Natasha Bertrand, and its stories on the matter.
Emil Bove, a judicial nominee and justice department official, was grilled by a Senate committee and denied allegations in a whistleblower report about ignoring judicial orders and said claims of a quid pro quo for New York City mayor Eric Adams were false.
Speaking of Eric Adams, he is expected to formally announce his mayoral run tomorrow. He is running as an independent. And he went on Fox and called Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor, a “snake oil salesman”.
Mamdani, meanwhile, gathered congratulations (sometimes muted) from prominent Democrats after his upset win in the mayoral primary. On the right, Stephen Miller has cast Mamdani’s win as a symptom of “unchecked migration”.
The Working Families Party called Mamdani’s win a “seismic shift” and shows that “voters are thoroughly fed up with the status quo”.
Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s new vaccine advisory panel is meeting today for the first time.
