U.S. President Donald Trump is talking at length in the Oval Office before signing a $70 billion bill to fund immigration enforcement, aiming to ensure uninterrupted funding for the administration’s deportation agenda for as long as he’s president.
Earlier Wednesday Trump said that Iran is taking “too long to negotiate a deal” and that “now they will have to pay the price.” What that means for Tehran wasn't clear. His social media post came after U.S.
airstrikes following an Iranian drone's downing of an American attack helicopter. Iran fired back at countries in the region.
Graham Platner has secured Maine’s Democratic Senate nomination, setting up a high-stakes battle against longtime incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a race that could determine party control of the U.S. Senate. In South Carolina and Nevada, where Trump endorsed his favored candidates, his clout within his party was tested.
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Reporters were allowed into the Oval Office shortly before 11:20 a.m. to accompany Trump for his signing of a bill to fund immigration agencies through the end of his presidency.
Several Republican lawmakers are in attendance, including Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. A frequent Trump nemesis, he chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is one of the panels with jurisdiction over immigration.
“Boy oh boy, it’s nice to have Rand,” Trump remarked Wednesday as he kicked off the event.
As reauthorization of a critical national security law remains snarled in Congress, the president is asking lawmakers to send him a short-term extension to avoid a lapse in surveillance authorities.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act expires this Friday. Democrats are now balking at an extension because of the president’s surprise appointment of Bill Pulte as his director of national intelligence.
Pulte has no apparent background in national security and is seen primarily as a Trump loyalist. Yet Trump has not backed down from temporarily appointing Pulte.
“FISA 702 is very important to our Military, and keeping the American People safe, especially during the World Cup and America250 Celebrations,” Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday. A short-term extension will “provide time for the selection and confirmation of a permanent Head of the Agency,” he wrote.
Speaking to sailors at a U.S. Navy base in Cuba Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said American forces will be prepared to do whatever the president decides regarding the island nation that Trump has repeatedly threatened with military intervention.
Hegseth said the Pentagon will be “postured for any possible contingency” as the Trump administration pressures Cuba’s leadership to stand down with an oil blockade, charges against former Cuban President Raul Castro and repeated threats of force.
The U.S. has maintained a Navy base on the island despite diminished relations with Cuba following its revolution in the 1950s. Cuban leaders recently told The Associated Press that the Trump administration’s pressure campaign is “pretext” for trying to persuade the American people to support a military intervention.
Prices have now risen faster than wages for several months, pressuring many Americans’ finances and causing consumers to take a decidedly dim view of the economy. Families are dipping into savings and falling behind on their credit card bills. Large retailers have noticed changes in customer behavior, like buying smaller amounts of gas at the pump.
Inflation is now well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, and economists note that child care and many other services are still rising much more quickly.
New Fed chair Kevin Warsh will preside over his first policy meeting next week. The central bank is expected to keep its key interest rate unchanged but will likely remove a suggestion that its next move could be to lower rates. With inflation proving stubborn, financial markets expect it could instead raise rates by the end of the year. That could make mortgages, auto loans, and business borrowing even more expensive.
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. David Flippo has won the Republican primary in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District after securing Trump’s endorsement in the closing weeks of the campaign.
Democrats had hoped for a Flippo victory, thinking it would make it easier for former majority floor leader Teresa Benitez-Thompson to win over less-partisan voters in November.
Tuesday’s primary also set the general election contest for governor, with state Attorney General Aaron Ford defeating a progressive candidate and moving on to face Republican Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo. Ford would be Nevada’s first Black governor if elected.
Issues around “racial profiling, surveillance and immigration enforcement” were cited by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk even before the 48-nation, 39-day tournament starts Thursday.
Iran’s team was moved to a training camp in Mexico, some Iranian officials were denied U.S. entry visas, Africa’s top referee from Somalia was refused entry in Miami and images circulated of a Senegal player being frisked on an airport tarmac. Fans who spent thousands of dollars on flights, hotels and tickets for the most expensive World Cup ever have had their travel documents denied or revoked.
“I really hope that there is a massive rethink of how immigration enforcement is respecting human rights and human dignity,” Türk told reporters. He called for a “dignified and safe environment, for the teams that compete but also for the supporters, for the whole society and frankly for the world.”
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The U.S., Britain and 20 other nations said Iranian security groups must stop plotting to kill, kidnap and harass people in Europe, North America and Australia.
Britain’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office said Wednesday that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Intelligence Organization, Quds Force and Ministry of Intelligence and Security have targeted Iranian dissidents, journalists and Jewish and Israeli communities and interests. The countries also condemned attacks claimed by a group named Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya.
“We stand united in our determination to protect our countries and our people against these threats,’’ the statement said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran must halt these actions now.’’
The statement was backed by Albania, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal and Sweden.
The Trump administration asked national park visitors last year to report any displays or exhibits saying “negative” things about Americans. Instead, most people who responded criticize the effort itself.
The Associated Press analyzed 35,000 comments that were recently made public through a Sierra Club lawsuit. One visitor called the administration’s efforts “un-American.” Another derided the idea of “having Americans call in and snitch on each other.”
“Hey Donald Trump!” wrote another — “Trying to erase history doesn’t mean it didn’t still happen!”
But considering that the National Park Service logged some 323 million visits last year, the initial public comments were a tepid response. And a watchdog group calling itself Save Our Signs has documented at least 59 historical references being removed or modified as a result of Trump’s order.
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Solar power has hit a new milestone even as Trump boosts coal over clean energy: In May, for the first time, solar supplied more electricity to the United States than coal — 12.8% compared to 12.2% for coal, its fourth-lowest monthly share ever.
Solar also became the third-largest source of electricity in the U.S. in May, behind natural gas and nuclear, according to data released Wednesday by global energy think tank Ember, along with a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association and analytics firm Wood Mackenzie.
Solar remains the leading source of new power in the United States even as the Trump administration has canceled solar and wind projects, implemented policies that slowed clean energy permitting and development and terminated $7 billion in funding for affordable solar energy projects. “Coal’s a great business,” Trump said last week as he announced nearly $700 million to support coal-fired power plants and coal exports.
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“I hope my testimony is helpful to the work, the important work of the committee, to find justice for the victims,” Gates said, noting that he came voluntarily.
The Jeffrey Epstein files read like a who’s who of powerful men across tech, finance, politics and other industries, some of whom maintained or formed friendships even after Epstein’s history of sexual abuse came to light.
The files include calendar entries for meetings between the billionaire Microsoft co-founder and Epstein, email correspondence about philanthropic projects and photos of Gates at Epstein events. The Gates Foundation chairman has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of girls. Both he and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, have said his association with Epstein created tension in their marriage.
House Oversight Committee Democrats want Trump to testify. Republicans have said they haven’t seen evidence Trump did anything wrong.
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This election year is déjà vu for Sen. Susan Collins — the Maine Republican is running for reelection as Democrats pin their hopes on a new candidate, this time combat veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner, to defeat her.
But Collins has proven to be a hard target even for candidates without the baggage of Platner, who has faced criticism for his relationships with women, inflammatory online posts and a previous tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol. Collins is seeking her sixth term with sky-high name recognition, a record-breaking run of consecutive Senate votes and a long history of delivering federal funding.
She is also the rare Republican who sometimes can boost her own popularity back home by keeping her distance from Trump, a delicate dance she’s perfected even as Trump’s tightening grip on the party has cost two other Senate Republicans their seats.
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It took a full week for California’s general election matchup for governor to become clear — Republican Steve Hilton has now joined Democrat Xavier Becerra in qualifying for the November ballot. The final results for Maine could take even longer. And key primary contests in South Carolina are headed to a June 23 runoff.
Despite what you may be reading on the internet, this is how U.S. democracy works. These differences in how votes are counted — and how long it takes — exist because the Constitution sets out broad principles for electing a national government and leaves the details to the states.
Tallying votes collected by local officials in individual precincts can take a long time — especially in states like Maine that offer ranked-choice voting, or South Carolina, which requires a runoff if none of the candidates earn more than 50% of the vote.
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Consumer prices rose 4.2% in May from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up from 3.8% in April and the third straight increase. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.5% last month, after big gains of 0.6% in April and 0.9% in March.
The numbers are a headache for the Federal Reserve and a political challenge for the Trump administration as midterm elections near.
Inflation had been cooling before Trump’s sweeping tariffs in April 2025 made many goods more costly. Prices surged again after the Iran war made oil and gas more expensive, potentially spreading price hikes across the economy.
Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.9% in March from a year earlier, up from 2.8% in April. On a monthly basis, core prices increased a modest 0.2%, down from a 0.4% gain in April.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X around the same time as Trump, again insisting that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon and defending Israel’s decisions to attack the Islamic Republic in the past.
While Iran and the U.S. seem to be looking for a way to end the conflict, Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing much more difficult goals: the collapse of Iran’s theocratic government, the elimination of its nuclear program and the destruction of the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. That will make compromise much harder.
Hours after Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan came under Iranian fire, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Iran was taking “too long to negotiate a deal” and that “now they will have to pay the price.”
It wasn’t clear what exactly that would mean, but the back-and-forth strikes Wednesday again raised the question of how much pressure the deal can take before it cracks. The exchange of fire was the second time this week that such strikes have tested the ceasefire after Iran and Israel targeted each other on Monday.
Recent U.S. sanctions targeting Cuba’s leadership and the indictment of former President Raúl Castro are a “pretext” for the Trump administration to persuade the American people to support a military intervention, Cuba’s top diplomat to the United States told The Associated Press.
In an interview on Tuesday, Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera repeated accusations against the Trump administration made by other Cuban officials, including the foreign minister and the president, and complained bitterly that the U.S. is targeting Cuban civilians with its decades-old embargo and new blockade of energy shipments to the island.
“The sanctions against our leaders, we see as a pretext to make the American people think we are a threat,” she said at Cuba’s embassy in Washington. “We are not a threat to the U.S., and we don’t want confrontation.”
Torres Rivera, who holds the formal title of chargé d’affaires, described the situation as “a war without bombs.” She said efforts to change Cuba’s government by coercion or force would be met by fierce resistance.
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Mismanagement at a massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas created unsafe conditions that contributed to detainee deaths and suffering even as millions of wasted tax dollars enriched contractors, according to a federal report released Tuesday.
The Government Accountability Office report documents serious problems at Camp East Montana, a sprawling tent facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, where three detainees have died in little more than six months. Evidence in one of those deaths, of a 55-year-old Cuban migrant who died in January after being held down by guards, was “missing or destroyed,” the report found.
ICE rushed to open the camp in August before construction was complete and failed to conduct required oversight to ensure detainees were held in sanitary conditions and receiving adequate medical care, according to the report.
DHS noted that ICE has replaced the contractor running the facility. “This new contractor will allow Camp East Montana to continue abiding by the highest detention standards with the ability to provide more medical care on-site,” said spokesperson Lauren Bis.
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The United States launched airstrikes early Wednesday against Iran after blaming Tehran for the crash of an American attack helicopter, and Iran fired back at countries in the region — another escalation that threatened to derail efforts to end the war.
Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan — all of which host U.S. troops — came under Iranian fire. It was the second time this week that back-and-forth strikes have tested the ceasefire after Iran and Israel targeted each other on Monday, and it again raised the question of how much pressure the deal can take before it cracks.
While Trump has insisted that negotiations with Iran to end the war are making progress, he has repeatedly vacillated between expressing such optimism and warning that he was ready to return to all-out war. Iran, meanwhile, has proved resilient despite having faced weeks of heavy bombing, betting that its ability to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial passageway for the world’s oil and natural gas — gives it a strong bargaining chip.
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Graham Platner has secured Maine’s Democratic Senate nomination, setting up a high-stakes battle against longtime incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a race that could determine party control of the U.S. Senate.
Nevada, South Carolina and North Dakota hosted primary elections Tuesday, but much of the political world was focused on Maine’s high-stakes U.S. Senate contest.
The results were never in question. Neither Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins nor Democratic challenger Graham Platner faced serious opposition for their party’s nomination. And yet Tuesday marked an especially significant moment for Platner, the embattled veteran and oyster farmer, who is fighting to rebuild his credibility in a campaign rocked by controversy.
Elsewhere, President Donald Trump’s clout within his party was tested anew in states like South Carolina and Nevada, where he endorsed his favored candidates. Democrats hoped to build momentum in Nevada as part of a broader push to reclaim key governor’s seats.
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A bill to provide nearly $70 billion for immigration enforcement narrowly passed the House on Tuesday and now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature, bolstering the administration’s deportation agenda for the remainder of his time in the White House.
Republicans used their majority to get the bill over the finish line, funding a pair of Homeland Security agencies through the next three years. The bill passed by a vote of 214-212, over the objections of Democrats. Trump is expected to sign it into law on Wednesday.
The White House says the bill will provide $38 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $26 billion for the Border Patrol and another $5 billion to cover unforeseen costs. It frontloads routine annual funding, ensuring a virtually uninterrupted flow of money as the Trump administration seeks to deport some 1 million people per year.
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