Closing summary
We are wrapping up our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day, but will be back at it on Wednesday. In the meantime, here are the latest developments:
Donald Trump said he “signed” a trade deal with Japan to set tariffs on Japanese imports to the US at 15%. Details are scarce, but Reuters reports that the rate does apply to imported cars, which has angered US automakers because cars made in the US with parts from Canada and Mexico are currently subject to a 25% tariff.
A spokesperson for former president Barack Obama dismissed Trump’s “bizarre allegations” that Obama had committed treason in 2016 as “ridiculous”.
It is unclear whether New Jersey has one top prosecutor, or two, or none, after a panel of federal judges voted to replace Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba, whose 120-day term as interim US attorney expires this week, with her deputy, Desiree Grace, before attorney general Pam Bondi responded by removing Grace.
Republicans announced Tuesday that the House of Representatives will call it quits a day early and head home in the face of persistent Democratic efforts to force Republicans into voting on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Senator Elizabeth Warren said Donald Trump’s claim that he expects to receive $20m in free advertising, public service announcements or similar programming from the new owners of CBS “reeks of corruption”.
Amid calls for Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, to testify to Congress, deputy attorney general Todd Blanche, Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer, plans to meet her in federal prison.
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Trump urges Republican lawmakers to campaign on his lie that gasoline is $1.99 a gallon
In his remarks to Republican lawmakers at the White House on Tuesday, Donald Trump urged them to campaign for re-election in the midterms on his wildly false claim that the price of gasoline is down to $1.99 a gallon.
“We hit $1.99 a gallon today in five different states,” Trump said to cheers and applause from the assembled congressional Republicans.
In fact, Patrick De Haan, who tracks prices for GasBuddy, reports that not a single state has prices below $2. The national average for a gallon of gas on Tuesday, $3.14, was down sharply from a year ago, when it was $3.51, but up slightly from $3.12 six months ago when Trump took office.
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