Closing summary
This wraps up another day covering the second Trump administration. We’ll be back on Wednesday. Here are the latest developments:
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On Iran: President Donald Trump has threatened to expand US strikes on Iran next week to target power plants and bridges if Tehran does not agree to a deal amid a continuing dispute over the strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, he dropped his threat to charge a 20% toll on shipping for safe passage through the strait. US forces carried out strikes against Iran for a fourth day in a row and reimposed a naval blockade on the country’s ports in the strait of Hormuz. More here.
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Federal immigration officials have been instructed to stop pulling over vehicles until further notice, according to a homeland security source, following two recent deadly shootings in Texas and Maine during which officials shot and killed immigrants in vehicles. More here.
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Darline Graham, the sister of the late Republican senator Lindsey Graham, was sworn in to temporarily fill his Senate seat on Tuesday, just three days after his sudden death. Graham was appointed by Henry McMaster, South Carolina’s governor, to fill the remainder of her brother’s current term. More here.
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A person died during an encounter with federal immigration officials on Tuesday morning in Florida, marking the third death in one week linked to immigration enforcement operations. Officials with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which is a component of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), had an “encounter” with four men in a vehicle in the parking lot of a convenience store along a busy road in St Augustine, Florida, the highway patrol spokesperson said. More here.
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Supreme court justices requested $14.6m increase in security amid a rise in threats. Amy Coney Barrett told House lawmakers that a sharp rise in threats against her and other justices is increasingly affecting her personal and family lives. More here.
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Top House Democrats split over a proposal to block aid for Israel’s military, with two of the party’s highest-ranking lawmakers saying they will oppose the effort while the chair of the progressive caucus encouraged his colleagues to back the defunding. More here.
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The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill that would end the practice of changing clocks twice a year and make daylight saving time permanent. The bid to end clock-changing, dubbed the Sunshine Protection Act, has bipartisan support, including the backing of Trump and some Democratic co-sponsors. Following the 308-117 tally in the House, the bill next goes to the Senate. More here.
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Senate Democrats blocked the advancement of a must-pass defense bill in protest of Donald Trump’s resumption of hostilities with Iran. The hold up of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) comes amid the fiercest exchange in fire between the countries in weeks, which has amplified frustration among Democrats that the US remains involved in the conflict despite the passage last month of a war powers resolution intended to force a ceasefire. More here.
Democratic senators Patty Murray and Chris Van Hollen called on acting US attorney general Todd Blanche to fulfill the commitment he made to meet with survivors of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The senators are referring to a commitment he made during a hearing in May while speaking with the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies.
He said he would meet with the survivors in response to the senators’ questioning at the hearing and, according to a letter by Murray and Van Hollen, Blanche has still not met with the victims.
“It has been nearly two months since then, and even though we provided the Department of Justice (the Department) with the point of contact for the Epstein survivors—and have followed up on this request multiple times—the survivors have not received the promised outreach”, reads the letter addressed to Blanche.
The senators requested a response by 28 July 2026, “confirming a date for the meeting with survivors you committed to hold”.
Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, as well as other lawmakers, called on the department of homeland security’s (DHS) inspector general to conduct a “comprehensive, transparent, and expedited” investigation into the fatal shooting by an ICE officer in Maine.
The letter, addressed to inspector general Joseph Cuffari, also requested to include information in his investigation about the sequence of events, operational protocols and recording and documentation in relation to the shooting in Biddeford, Maine.
They also asked DHS to detail to what extent they “will collaborate with state or local agencies in carrying out the investigation”.
“Given the gravity of the situation and the understandable anxiety within the Biddeford community, we urge you to prioritize this investigation”, reads the letter signed by Collins, King, and congressmembers Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth blocked the promotions for seven senior navy officers, mostly women or people of color, according to a report from the New York Times.
Defense officials told the outlet that the promotion for the officers, five of whom are women or people of color, to two-star admiral rank was halted by Hegseth, marking the first time in more than a decade that a female active-duty naval officer will likely not be promoted to admiral this year.
The 22 officers on the initial list of two-star nominees were among the Navy’s highest performers, with careers spanning more than 25 years.
Rear Adm Amy Bauernschmidt, the first woman ever to command the crew of one of the Navy’s 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, was among those removed for the promotion, officials told the Times.
In a similar move last month, Hegseth stripped nine navy officers, also including women and Black service members, of a promotion to become one-star admirals. The removal led to an overwhelmingly white slate of nominees.
US House passes bill to make daylight saving time permanent
The US House of Representatives on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill that would end the practice of changing clocks twice a year and make daylight saving time permanent.
The bid to end clock-changing, dubbed the Sunshine Protection Act, has bipartisan support, including the backing of Donald Trump and some Democratic co-sponsors. Following the 308-117 tally in the House, the bill next goes to the Senate.
Earlier in the day, a House rules committee approved the rule to advance the bill on a 6-4 vote.
Most US states change clocks twice a year, springing forward in the spring and falling back in the fall with the goal of extending daylight hours. Hawaii and most of Arizona don’t participate in the clock-changing.
The bill, sponsored by Vern Buchanan, a Florida Republican representative, would make daylight saving time the new permanent standard time. It would lead to later sunrises and sunsets, giving more daylight in the evening hours during darker times of year. Under the proposal, states would have the option to opt out and remain on permanent standard time.
MS NOW is reporting that Donald Trump is planning to deliver a primetime speech that will focus on voting machine security and alleged efforts by foreign nations to influence US elections.
Two senior administration officials who spoke with the outlet said that, although the speech is not final, Trump is expected to release declassified intelligence documents on both subjects.
The move could signal a further attempt by the US president to falsely claim that he won the 2020 election. Trump has repeatedly questioned voting machines in states where he baselessly claimed voter fraud, with the aim of conducting a recount.
A former acting director of US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in an interview that the agency should “take a hard look” at or consider a halt on conducting vehicle stops, which officials have ordered to do until further notice.
“I think it is absolutely time that we take a hard look, if not a moratorium, on vehicular stops, until such time as we can decide, you know, what do we need to do to prevent this from re-occurring,” said John Sandweg in an interview with CNN News Central.
The comments come after two deadly shootings by immigration officials in Texas and Maine, respectively, and immigration officials have been instructed to suspend most vehicle stops.
“I don’t know of any exigent circumstances that said the only way to take them into custody is to execute that high-risk vehicular stop,” Sandweg added. “Wait until they arrive at their destination. Wait until they leave their residence”.
Trump says strikes in Iran will continue until he says it's enough
Speaking in an interview on Fox News, president Donald Trump said that strikes will continue on Iran until “I say it’s enough”.
They [Iran] have some fight left but they don’t have much.”
Trump also told Fox News that he would expand US strikes on Iran next week to target power plants and bridges if Tehran does not make a deal.
Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges,” Trump said. We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”
Supreme court justices request $14.6m increase in security amid rise in threats
Supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett told House lawmakers that a sharp rise in threats against her and other justices is increasingly affecting her personal and family lives.
Barrett and fellow supreme court justice Elena Kagan made the case for increased security in rare House testimony to discuss the court’s budget request. The last time a sitting justice answered questions on Capitol Hill was 2019.
Barrett outlined examples of how her security had increased since joining the court, particularly after the Dobbs decision was leaked in 2022. Barrett said she had to take a bulletproof vest home a few years ago, something she struggled to explain to her 12-year-old son.
“My security detail sent me home with a bulletproof vest, and I carried it into my house, put it into my bedroom, dropped it down on a table, turned around, and my 12-year-old son was standing in the doorway of my bedroom, and he wanted to know what it was and why I had it,” she said.
Darline Graham Nordone is the first senator from South Carolina to have graduated from a historically Black college or university (HBCU), according to South Carolina congressman James Clyburn.
In 2009, she earned a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from South Carolina State University, the state’s only public HBCU.
“Her appointment marks a significant milestone for our state”, Clyburn said in a statement on social media. “A 2009 graduate of South Carolina State University, Senator Graham Nordone becomes the first woman and the first HBCU graduate to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate”.
“This is a testament to the progress our nation continues to make in expanding opportunities for women to serve at the highest levels of public office”, he added.
After Senate Democrats blocked the advancement of a defense bill earlier today, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats will “not go along” with Donald Trump’s continuing hostilities with Iran.
“Donald Trump is dragging America deeper into a war in Iran with no authorization, no plan, and no exit strategy. Democrats will not go along”, Schumer said in a statement on social media, reposting a news article about the hold-up of the National Defense Authorization Act.
“Senate Democrats just sent a clear message: the day after Trump notifies the extension of this unauthorized war, defies bipartisan majorities in Congress, and refuses to level with the American people about the cost, the mission, or the endgame, we will not proceed as if business is usual while our servicemembers’ lives are at risk and Trump drives costs for groceries and gas out of control”, he added.
Man killed by semi after fleeing from immigration officials in Florida
A person died during an encounter with federal immigration officials on Tuesday morning in Florida, a state highway patrol spokesperson confirmed, marking the third death in one week linked to immigration enforcement operations.
Officials with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which is a component of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), had an “encounter” with four men in a vehicle in the parking lot of a convenience store along a busy road in St Augustine, Florida, the highway patrol spokesperson said. As the four men fled from the agents, one of them ran into the busy road and was struck by a semi truck. The person died at the scene.
“The pedestrian was struck by the tractor trailer in the right lane and sustained fatal injuries on scene,” said Master Sgt Dylan Bryan, a Florida highway patrol spokesperson, in a statement. “The tractor trailer immediately stopped and attempted to render aid to the victim.”
Tuesday morning’s death marks the third immigration enforcement-related death in one week, as ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) face significant backlash and public outcry following two shootings in Texas and Maine respectively.
Nine environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, sued the Trump administration over its decision to alter the definition of the word “harm” in the Endangered Species Act, a move they argue weakens protections for endangered wildlife.
In a complaint filed in federal court in Seattle, the groups challenged a 10 July rule issued by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service that rescinds a longstanding interpretation of the word.
For decades, the agencies interpreted the term to include “significant habitat modification or degradation” that injures or kills protected species by impairing their ability to feed, breed or find shelter.
The new rule rescinded that definition, and the environmental groups are challenging determinations that “maintaining a freestanding definition of ‘harm’ is unnecessary,” and degrading a habitat does not qualify under the Endangered Species Act as an illegal “take” of endangered and threatened wildlife.
“This action restores common sense, respects private property, provides much-needed certainty for landowners and follows the statute Congress actually passed,” secretary of the interior Doug Burgum said in a statement last week.
ICE identifies Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero as man agents fatally shot in Maine
The man killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Maine on Monday has been identified as Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, an ICE spokesperson said in a statement.
An immigration agent shot and killed the 26-year-old Colombian man on Monday morning in Biddeford, Maine, after reportedly ramming into his car.
By Tuesday ICE had reportedly ordered its agents to stop conducting most vehicle stops for now, according to a source at the Department of Homeland Security. .
Many of the case’s circumstances remained unclear.
Immigrant rights activists said Durán Guerrero, who was married and had a young child, had a social security number and was authorized to work in the United States. Asked about his immigration status, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, issued a statement that referred to Duran Guerrero as “a Colombian national” but did not explicitly address his immigration status.
Here's a recap of the day so far
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In rare congressional hearings, supreme court justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett testified in front of lawmakers to discuss the court’s budget request, particularly the need for increased security for the judiciary. In the House, the justices confirmed that each member of the bench was assigned “between four and eight members of the security detail”. Barrett also how her security had increased since joining the court, particularly after the Dobbs decision was leaked in 2022. The justices also expressed a desire to work out how the court’s code of conduct could be more transparent when it comes to possible ethical violations, and noted the need to update cybersecurity infrastructure to protect against opinion leaks.
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Darline Graham, the sister of the late Republican senator Lindsey Graham, was sworn in to fill his Senate seat on Tuesday after, just three days after his sudden death. Graham was appointed by Henry McMaster, South Carolina’s governor. The state GOP will hold a special contest on 11 August to choose a new Senate nominee, who will face off against Democrat Annie Andrews in the November midterms
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Hundreds of people have been protesting in Maine today over the killing of a Colombian man by an ICE officer, after federal officials appeared to shift their narrative about the deadly encounter. The Department of Homeland Security said an ICE officer, “fearing for public safety”, shot and killed the man yesterday in Biddeford while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the US illegally and had a final order of removal from the country.
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Following the fatal shooting of Joan Sebastian Guerrero by a federal immigration agent in Maine, the Guardian has learned that officials have been instructed to stop pulling over vehicles until further notice. A homeland security source confirmed the directive after the fatal shooting in Biddeford, and in Houston, Texas, where Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was also shot by an ICE officer in Houston, Texas, less than a week ago.
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Donald Trump was also asked why the FBI was looking into the death of senator Lindsey Graham. Trump suggested that there was no foul play suspected, telling reporters at the White House that he did not see a lot of “evil” in Graham’s death. He added that he was aware of the conspiracy theories going around regarding Graham’s death, and said he thought the FBI were “wasting their time” if it was looking into them. The chief medical examiner preliminarily ruled that Graham died of aortic dissection due to cardiovascular disease, though it will be some time for a comprehensive report is completed.
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Also today, Trump dropped his threat to charge a 20% toll on shipping for safe passage through the strait of Hormuz waterway. The president said the so-called “reimbursement fee” he only announced 24 hours earlier, would be replaced by “trade and investment deals” with Gulf states, which would see “billions and billions of dollars” pour into America. Centcom went on to announce additional strikes on Iran.
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Mahmoud Khalil filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Trump administration officials and several pro-Israel groups, accusing them of conspiring to target him and others as punishment for their support of Palestinian rights.
The former Columbia University graduate student became the face of the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestine speech after he was detained last year. A permanent US resident, Khalil is also fighting in court against the government’s effort to deport him.
The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of Khalil, alleges that the Trump administration coordinated with Betar and Canary Mission, two pro-Israel online surveillance groups, in selecting “targets of the conspiracy”.
“This case is about far more than what was done to me. It’s about a coordinated, ongoing campaign to punish, silence, and intimidate anyone who dares to speak out for Palestinian liberation,” Khalil said at a press conference on Tuesday announcing the lawsuit.
“It’s about exposing the network of organizations, political actors, and institutions that work together to criminalize solidarity with Palestine and to make an example of those who refuse to stay silent.”
Betar US publicly claimed credit for Khalil’s arrest, and the Guardian reported last year that the group had said it had submitted “thousands of names” to the administration for similar treatment. More information about the government’s reliance on the groups emerged last year during a trial surrounding the government’s campaign against pro-Palestinian scholars.
Khalil’s lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, names several top Trump officials, including White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, secretary of state Marco Rubio and former homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, as defendants, as well as the conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission and Betar.
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During a Senate appropriations committee hearing today, justice Elena Kagan apologized for any procedural issues in the way the court submitted their increased budget proposal. She attributed this to the court’s sudden loss of US marshal protection.
“We thought that we were going to have US marshal protection at our residences for another six months, and all of a sudden learned from the justice department that that was going to be impossible, and so we had to do some sort of quick footwork to try to get additional monies in order to cover that six month gap,” Kagan told senators today.
Lindsey Graham's sister sworn in to replace him in Senate
Darline Graham, the sister of Republican senator Lindsey Graham, was just sworn in to replace the late lawmaker for the remainder of his term.
Graham was appointed by South Carolina’s Republican governor, Henry McMaster.
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Supreme court justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett are now back before lawmakers on Capitol Hill, this time before senators on an appropriations subcommittee.
In her opening statement, top Republican Susan Collins appeared to issue a veiled condemnation of the Trump administration’s attacks on justices of the court.
“Other public officials have called the court corrupt, out of control, and serving an extremist agenda,” Collins said. “This overheated language, this completely inappropriate rhetoric against the supreme court, endangers the lives of the justices and erodes public trust in our system of government.”
Earlier this year, Donald Trump said the six justices, who ruled that the tariffs he imposed were illegal, “should be ashamed of themselves”.
Three of those justices were part of the court’s conservative bloc, including Barrett herself. The president called those who ruled against his tariffs “fools and lap dogs”, “very unpatriotic” and “disloyal to the constitution”, claiming without evidence that the court “has been swayed by foreign interests”.
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Schumer: 'Trump has no clue what he's doing in Iran'
Following Donald Trump’s decision to drop his threat to levy a 20% toll on shipping for safe passage through the strait of Hormuz, the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, has blasted the president.
“Trump has no clue what he’s doing in Iran, and it’s a recipe for utter disaster,” Schumer wrot on X. “He had no plan and no exit strategy on day 1 of this reckless war. We’re on day 136, and nothing has changed.”
The Senate minority leader noted that both chambers of Congress passed a war powers resolution to stop military action in Iran shy of congressional approval, which he added, “Trump is ignoring”.
“Our service members are in harm’s way. Working families are forking over a fortune for gas and groceries. End this war once and for all,” Schumer wrote.
Following the fatal shooting of Joan Sebastian Guerrero by a federal immigration agent in Biddeford, Maine, the Guardian has learned that officials have been instructed to stop pulling over vehicles until further notice.
My colleague, Jose Olivares, reports that a homeland security source confirmed the directive after the fatal shooting in Maine, and in Houston, Texas, where Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Houston, Texas, less than a week ago.
Earlier today, Maine’s Republican senator, Susan Collins said that while the investigation into the shooting in Biddeford is not yet complete, “it raises sufficient critical questions” and she spoke with Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary last night, and “urged him to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops”.
Many of the case’s circumstances remained unclear. Immigrant rights activists said Guerrero, who was married with a young child, had a social security number and was authorized to work in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, did not respond to a question about his immigration status.
Collins has faced criticism for her decision to cast a deciding vote for a reconciliation package that included $70bn for federal immigration enforcement until the end of Donald Trump’s second term in office.
On the renewed military action in Iran, it’s worth noting that crude oil prices have hit their highest levels in four weeks. Brent crude, the international benchmark, has jumped $3.79 a barrel to $87.08 a barrel, a 4.55% increase, the highest price since 12 June.
My colleagues are covering the latest at our dedicated Middle East blog.
A Manhattan federal court has released more than $5.6m that Donald Trump owes E Jean Carroll in her successful 2023 sexual abuse and defamation trial against him, records reveal.
The disbursement, made public in a 14 July entry on Carroll’s case docket, indicates that the funds were released by a court-held account on 9 July – one day after judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the release of this money.
Trump, who has been fighting against the release of this money since June after the supreme court on 29 June denied his request to hear his appeal, has denied wrongdoing.
“Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E Jean Carroll. Today, we are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict,” Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s lead lawyer, said in a statement.
Carroll’s legal team promptly requested the judge to order the release of these funds following the supreme court’s decision. Trump’s legal team asked for more time to provide a response to Roberta Kaplan’s request, which the judge denied.
Hundreds protest in Maine over fatal ICE shooting
Hundreds of people have been protesting in Maine today over the killing of a Colombian man by an ICE officer, after federal officials appeared to shift their narrative about the deadly encounter.
The Department of Homeland Security said an ICE officer, “fearing for public safety”, shot and killed the man yesterday in Biddeford while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the US illegally and had a final order of removal from the country.
The department said in a post on X that when ICE tried to stop a car driven by someone coming from the home, the vehicle attempted to flee and the officer fired his weapon.
That was a shift from how Maine senator Angus King described the encounter hours earlier when he said DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon. King said Mullin told him the officers were trying to serve an arrest warrant, but not for the man who was shot.
The driver was Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national, the Colombian Embassy told the Associated Press in a statement.
Protesters gathered today outside of an ICE detention center in Scarborough, just up the coast from Biddeford.
“These people are killers and they must leave our state now,” organizer Todd Chretien told the gathering, including some who held signs reading “Stop the murder” and “End this terror”.
A small group of counter-protestors briefly disrupted the rally. Protesters drowned out their voices with whistles.
Durán Guerrero’s shooting marked the second time in a week that ICE used deadly force and the tenth death since Donald Trump launched his immigration crackdown.
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Trump suggests there was no foul play in Graham's death
Donald Trump was also asked why the FBI was looking into the death of senator Lindsey Graham.
Trump suggested that there was no foul play suspected, telling reporters at the White House that he did not see a lot of “evil” in Graham’s death.
He added that he was aware of the conspiracy theories going around regarding Graham’s death, and said he thought the FBI were “wasting their time” if it was looking into them.
Graham, 71, died on Saturday evening, after what his office called a “brief and sudden illness”. The chief medical examiner then preliminarily ruled on Sunday that he died of aortic dissection due to cardiovascular disease, though it will be some time for a comprehensive report is completed.
On Sunday, FBI director Kash Patel said the bureau was “assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available”. It remains unclear why Patel said this and the FBI hasn’t commented further.
Around 20 agents from the FBI and other federal agencies attended Graham’s DC residence yesterday with US Capitol Police officers. Federal agents were continuing to investigate his death out of an abundance of caution, two law enforcement sources familiar with the scene told NBC News.
Trump also said he was briefed by doctors at the White House on Graham’s death.
This is something that is very almost undetectable … And if it happens, there’s not much you can do about it. Sounds unfortunate, but there’s not much you can do about it.
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Trump says no one should be able to charge a fee for the strait of Hormuz - despite proposing this yesterday
Trump was asked to explain his change in thinking over his proposal for the US to charge a 20% fee for ships to pass through the strait of Hormuz, which he announced yesterday.
Trump said that following that announcement, he’d received calls from Gulf leaders offering trade and investment opportunities for the US instead. “That was very satisfactory to me,” he said. “In fact, it was even better.”
The president added that he didn’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for ships transiting the strait – despite floating this idea several times over the last few months, including yesterday.
“I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait,” he said. “I don’t like the concept of a fee, but at the same time, it’s not fair that we’re protecting this strait for the entire world.”
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Trump says US will be doing a lot of deals with Iraq and taking a lot of oil out
Trump has told reporters the United States would be there for Iraq if it needed protection, but added that he did not think that would be necessary now that Iran – which he said had been “a big burden” for Iraq – has been “de-stabilized” and left with “a fraction” of their previous military power.
He added that the US would be “doing a lot of deals” with Iraq and “taking a lot of oil out”.
Iraq has tremendous potential because of their oil ... and we’re going to be doing a lot of deals. We’re going to create a lot of jobs for both countries, and we’re going to be taking out a lot of oil.
A lot of oil is coming out, and the American companies are doing it - mostly American companies now.
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Meanwhile, Donald Trump has been speaking to the media alongside the Iraqi prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, who he’s been praising and hailing their “great chemistry”.
Trump has strongly backed al-Zaidi, with the US president calling al-Zaidi’s leadership a “tremendous new chapter” for US-Iraq relations. The two also have a bit in common, with their business backgrounds and lack of political experience before taking office.
I’m watching the meeting and will bring you all the key lines here.
As the first hearing of two supreme court justices wrapped up today, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett seemed to disagree about how to conduct ethics reviews for the court.
While justice Kagan appeared to be in favor of appointing a panel of respected federal judges to enforce a code of conduct.
“I think that we would be better off with an enforcement mechanism,” Kagan said, while answering a question from top Democrat Rosa DeLauro. “I think it’s really important that it come from the judiciary itself,” Kagan added, as opposed to the justice department.
Justice Barrett said that she was “not quite sure” about an enforceable body, despite being committed to the code of conduct. Barrett did agree that any panel would “have to come from within the judiciary”.
She added: “Of course, and it’s a question of who selects the judges, how is the panel comprised. There’s just a lot of complexity.”
Fed chair Warsh insists he would 'follow the law' even if Trump criticizes his work at central bank
Also on Capitol Hill today, Kevin Warsh – the new Federal Reserve chair – is appearing before lawmakers at a House finanical services committee hearing.
When pressed on the issue of the central bank’s independence, Warsh emphasized that he would “follow the law and follow the data,” even if the president publicly criticized him.
“We’re an independent central bank, we’re honored to be independent,” he said when pressed by Representative Nydia Velazquez, a Democrat from New York.
He rebuffed her question on what steps he would take if the administration targeted him or his colleagues over their rate decisions, but pointed to the recent Supreme Court hearing that ruled the firing of Lisa Cook, a Fed governor, unconstitutional.
“The supreme court said that the Federal Reserve and the conduct of monetary policy is independent,” he said. “To the extent there were questions about it, the courts answered those questions.”
On Capitol Hill, justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett said that leaks of supreme court decisions have “frustrated” all members of the bench.
They also noted that they still don’t appear to know who leaked the Dobbs decision four years ago – which overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.
“We can’t do our business, we can’t engage in confidential communications,” the justices speaking before House lawmakers said of leaks. “If you think that those views are going to appear on the front page of the newspaper, you pull back. You don’t have the kinds of conversations that I think the court really depends on to do great work.”
Trump says US will take investment deals with Gulf states instead of fee for using strait of Hormuz
Donald Trump says that the strait of Hormuz is open to ships from all countries apart from Iran and that he has struck “massive” investment deals with Gulf nations.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said:
The Strait of Hormuz is open to ALL Ship traffic except for Iran — and that is because of their lying, violent, malicious leadership, which is taking them down the path of TOTAL DESTRUCTION.
We will therefore have a FULL Blockade, but only on Ships coming to and from Iranian ports, or carrying anything have to do with Iranian cargo.
Trump also said that trade and investment deals with the Gulf states will replace the 20% fee for ships to pass through the strait that he proposed a day earlier.
Donald Trump welcome Iraqi prime minister Al-Zaidi to White House
Donald Trump has just welcomed Ali al-Zaidi, Iraq’s prime minister, to the White House.
This is the first in-person meeting between the pair since Al-Zaidi was elected in May.
The justices appearing before lawmakers confirmed at today’s hearing that each justice is assigned “between four and eight members of the security detail”.
Justice Barrett added that “in particular moments” when a member of the bench is under particular threat, the number increases.
“We’d like to increase that over time when we get to our full staffing needs,” justice Kagan added.
Amy Coney Barrett describes threats to her life and needing bulletproof vest after Dobbs decision leak
Justice Amy Coney Barrett outlined before lawmakers examples of how her security has increased since joining the bench, particularly after the Dobbs decision was leaked in 2022.
“My security detail sent me home with a bulletproof vest, and I carried it into my house, put it into my bedroom, dropped it down on a table, turned around, and my 12-year-old son was standing in the doorway of my bedroom, and he wanted to know what it was and why I had it,” Barrett noted. “I didn’t expect that performing this service was going to put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear one.”
Barrett added that she was recently subject to a swatting incident at her home.
“One of my teenage sons opened the door to go out with friends and saw in our street it was full of police cars, who had responded to a false report of gunshots and raised voices in my home,” she said. “I was very, very grateful that I had supreme court police outside my home because they were able to stop and meet with and explain to the county police that it had been a false alarm, and so the police did not actually attempt to enter our home.”
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During her opening statement, Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member of the appropriations committee, said that the supreme court must provide more transparency through “increased financial disclosure requirements and a binding, enforceable code of ethics”.
This comes after justice Clarence Thomas faced heavy scrutiny for accepting luxury travel, private jet flights, and extended vacations from billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow without reporting them on annual financial disclosures, per several reports.
DeLauro noted that the court’s formal code of conduct, implemented in 2023 and only requiring voluntary disclosures, is “woefully insufficient”.
“This to provide the public with the reassurance that they deserve that when a decision is handed down, it is the result of rigorous constitution analysis, not private parochial interests,” the Connecticut Democrat added.
Two supreme court justices appear before House lawmakers
Supreme court justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett are now sitting before House lawmakers to discuss the court’s budget request, particularly the need for increased security for the judiciary.
Democrat Steny Hoyer, the ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee holding today’s hearing, welcomed the justices and noted that appearances by supreme court justices used to be more common. As I noted earlier, the last time a sitting justice answered questions on Capitol Hill was 2019.
“With a deeply divided country and increasingly violent rhetoric being directed at judges, Congress must provide sufficient funding to ensure the safety of all judicial personnel,” Hoyer added in his opening statement. “At the same time, while we take measures to protect the physical safety of judges and court staff, Congress also has a responsibility to safeguard the independence of our judiciary and its ability to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans. Part of that is making certain that there is adequate funding for the public defenders.”
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Konstantin Sokolov, a Russian-born private equity investor in Chicago, will serve as chairman of a new state department enterprise fund overseeing more than $200m designated for a central Asia trade corridor, including investments in transportation, energy infrastructure and critical minerals, the Guardian has learned.
The state department confirmed his appointment on Friday.
Sokolov was one of 36 donors, including 21 corporations and 15 individuals and family foundations, who Donald Trump said contributed over $350m to his ballroom project.
Two-thirds of the corporate donors have since received government contracts, according to research by Public Citizen, a government watchdog group. And several individual donors have received top advisory roles or political appointments, including Benjamin Leon Jr, a Cuban American healthcare magnate who was appointed US ambassador to Spain after his ballroom contribution, and Harold Hamm, an 80-year-old Oklahoma oil executive who successfully secured tax breaks for his company and has helped shape Trump’s energy policy.
Sokolov is the latest ballroom donor to receive a government position. The sum of his gift has not been disclosed. He has not held a previous government job.
Campaign finance records show that Sokolov has given more than $12m to Republican campaigns and political groups during Trump’s second term, including $11m to the president’s Super Pac Maga Inc, and $443,000 to the Republican National Committee. He was previously a modest Obama donor and contributed $3,600 to the former president’s 2008 campaign.
Sokolov declined a Guardian interview request and did not respond to a detailed list of questions about his appointment. The White House referred questions to the state department.
Darline Graham, sister of late Republican senator Lindsey Graham, to be sworn in as replacement
The sister of the late Republican senator Lindsey Graham will be sworn in as his replacement today, to finish out the remainder of his term. The ceremony will take place at 2:30pm ET
Darline Graham was appointed by Henry McMaster, South Carolina’s governor.
“Lindsey took care of his little sister in years long departed. It’s my honor to ask his little sister, Darline Graham, to finish his work for him now,” the Republican governor said at a press conference convened at South Carolina’s state capital in Columbia.
Since Lindsey Graham won South Carolina’s Republican primary, the state GOP will now hold a special contest on 11 August to choose a new Senate nominee, who will face off against Democrat Annie Andrews in the November midterms.
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Following today’s latest CPI figures, Kevin Warsh – the new Federal Reserve chair – will face House lawmakers on the financial services committee at 10am ET. This comes ahead of the central bank’s policy meeting at the end of July, where we can expect an interest-rate cut decision.
At the same time, supreme court justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barratt will appear at a House appropriations committee hearing to discuss the budget request for the court in the upcoming fiscal year. This will be the first time sitting members of the bench have sat before Congress since 2019.
Latest data shows inflation cools to 3.5%
Inflation cooled to an annual rate of 3.5% in June as the brief US-Iran ceasefire, which has since ended, brought energy prices down, according to the latest consumer price index (CPI) data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices dropped by 0.4% from May to June.
A reminder that in May, inflation jumped to an annual rate of 4.2%, the third consecutive monthly increase since the start of the Iran war and a three-year high.
Inflation now remains higher than when Joe Biden left office, despite Donald Trump’s platform that touted lowering costs for everyday Americans.
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Donald Trump is in Washington today. We can expect to hear from him at 11am ET when he welcomes the prime minister of Iraq, Ali al-Zaidi, to the White House.
We’ll bring you the latest lines from their bilateral meeting, particularly if Trump has any more information on the latest strikes on Iran and the ensuing backlash from Democratic lawmakers in Congress.
US refunds $81bn in Trump tariffs after supreme court ruled them illegal
The US government has already paid back tens of billions of dollars in tariffs it collected before the supreme court ruled them illegal, according to budget figures released on Monday.
Tariffs – taxes on imported goods – have been a key part of Donald Trump’s economic plan since he took office again last year.
In February the supreme court shut down a big chunk of the extra tariffs Trump had ordered, forcing the government to return money to the companies that had paid them.
According to the budget data, the US has paid out $81bn (£61bn) in tariff refunds so far this fiscal year, which started in October 2025, compared with $5bn during the same period last year.
A Treasury department official said the spike was almost entirely because of the supreme court decision, with most of the refunds happening in May and June.
Trump had pitched the tariffs as a catch-all fix for the economy, bringing factories back to the US, getting better trade deals and closing the deficit in the federal budget.
But the deficit, which had become a little smaller last year thanks to the tariff income, is now growing again. It hit $1.367tn in the first nine months of the fiscal year, up 2%.
Hunter Biden says he is “grateful that the rule of law prevailed” in a defamation lawsuit that recently netted him a judgment of $1.7m in punitive damages from former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne.
Biden made that comment in a social media post that served as his first comments about the judgment, which a federal judge in California handed down on Friday.
The post by Joe Biden’s son cited a portion of the ruling which said Byrne “is not credible, fabricates awesome and farfetched narratives to garner attention in the media, and fabricated the defamatory story at issue in this case to damage the plaintiff’s reputation”.
US district judge Stephen Wilson’s “order … speaks for itself,” Biden wrote, along with a hyperlink to the decision.
Biden sued Byrne in 2023, maintaining that Byrne lied in an interview that Biden had solicited a bribe from Iran’s government in 2021.
Biden’s father was the US president at the time. Byrne for his part is a Donald Trump ally who funded efforts to overturn the president’s defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Hunter Biden’s lawsuit recounted how Byrne in an interview lied that Hunter Biden – in exchange for an $800m bribe – had offered Iran to go to his father, have him “unfreeze” $8bn in frozen Iranian assets and ensure that the US would “go easy” on Iran during “nuclear talks” between the two countries.
Federal officials fired by the Trump administration are calling the recent supreme court decision a “dagger in the heart” of the civil service that will open independent federal government agencies to corruption and manipulation at the whim of the president.
Since Donald Trump took office again in January 2025, he has fired more than 50 officials from federal agencies as the Trump administration openly sought to have the supreme court overturn a landmark 1935 ruling that limited the president’s power over independent agencies, known as Humphrey’s Executor.
The ruling in the decision, Trump v Slaughter, which effectively gives the president free rein to fire members of independent agencies, was based on the firing of Rebecca Slaughter, appointed to serve as a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by Trump in 2018.
Slaughter said she received the email notifying her that she was fired by Trump in March 2025 as she was helping with rehearsal for her child’s elementary school play, a performance of Beauty and the Beast.
“My stomach just dropped,” she said, noting she wasn’t surprised given similar firings were occurring at other agencies with statutory protections. “I was really hoping that it would avoid us, both because I love my job, but really more because I love the agency. I just knew this was going to be a big fight and pretty unpleasant and pretty destructive to this institution that I really valued.”
She called Alvaro Bedoya, the other Democratic commissioner at the agency, who was at his daughter’s gymnastics practice. He had been fired as well.
They both filed a lawsuit challenging their terminations a few days later, though Bedoya resigned from the FTC as he was not being compensated and he could not afford to be without income, while Slaughter’s husband’s income made it possible for her to continue pursuing the litigation.
‘Misuse’ of crowd control weapons on ICE protesters led to blindings and traumatic brain injuries, report finds
It’s been a brutal tactic deployed by local and federal law enforcement officials time and again over the past year: using teargas, rubber bullets and pepper spray to control protests outside ICE detention centers or during enforcement operations.
Now, a new report lays bare the scale of the use of these crowd control weapons during anti-immigration demonstrations across the US, including hundreds of incidents that resulted in lasting and traumatic injuries.
The report and an interactive map was created by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley (HRC) and released this week. Doctors and human rights experts with PHR and HRC documented 412 verified incidents of the “misuse” of these crowd control weapons, also known as “less-lethal weapons”, from June 2025 through May 2026.
“This is a concerning story,” said Dr Rohini Haar, the lead author of the report and a PHR medical expert, in an interview with the Guardian.
The report documented 203 injuries stemming from the alleged misuse of the crowd control weapons. Some of the injuries included blindings, traumatic brain injuries, lacerations, fractures and contusions.
The researchers struggled to confirm the full scale of the injuries, because “visual investigative techniques cannot adequately assess invisible injuries, such as chemical injury or chronic pain or hearing loss”.
“The true number of injuries is likely far greater,” the report adds.
ICE agent fatally shoots driver in Maine, six days after similar death in Texas
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
A US immigration officer shot and killed a man identified by rights groups as a 26-year-old Colombian on Monday, the second such killing by federal agents in less than a week.
The shooting happened in Biddeford, a town of 22,000 people in the northern state of Maine and is likely to fuel criticism of president Donald Trump’s deportation drive and its handling by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
US media identified the victim as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, who reportedly worked as a delivery driver and lived in Biddeford with his wife and three-year-old daughter.
An ICE spokesperson said officers had tried to stop a vehicle at around 7.20am local time after conducting surveillance of the last known address of a person with a deportation order, AFP reported.
A vehicle “attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon. The driver of the vehicle was struck, and emergency services were immediately contacted. He passed away from his injuries,” they said.
Senator Angus King said he spoke with homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin following the fatal shooting. King urged state and local officials to remain involved in the FBI-led investigation and also raised concerns that ICE agents were not wearing body cameras.
Dozens of demonstrators were seen in Biddeford hours after the incident chanting “get ICE out” and called out Republican senator Susan Collins for her complicit votes supporting the DHS agency.
Monday’s ICE-involved killing in Maine, and the one last Tuesday in Texas, brings the number of people shot dead during immigration enforcement operations to 11 since January 2025, when Trump returned to office and launched a campaign of mass deportations.
In other developments:
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Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, has been named as her late brother’s temporary replacement in the US Senate after his unexpected death over the weekend. Nordone would serve the remaining months on Graham’s current term. More here.
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The US has launched its third consecutive night of strikes on Iran hours after Donald Trump said Washington would reinstate a maritime blockade on the country and, in an apparently policy reversal, charge ships for safe passage. More here.
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The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced that the Pentagon and the US Department of Justice have created a “joint taskforce to identify and prosecute” what he called the “unauthorized disclosure of sensitive” information to the press, marking the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s effort to crackdown on leaks. More here.
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Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, launched a campaign to dismantle the international criminal court (ICC), claiming the global tribunal was interfering with US military and law enforcement operations at the risk of American sovereignty. More here.
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