Closing summary
That wraps up another day of covering the second Trump administration. We’ll be back on Wednesday. Here is a summary of today’s developments:
Violence has continued across much of the Middle East a day after Donald Trump said the US was in “very good” talks with Iran to end the war in the region soon. Iranian barrages targeted Israel, Gulf Arab states and northern Iraq on Tuesday, while Israeli and US warplanes continued to carry out strikes across Tehran and on other targets in the Islamic Republic. More here.
Democrats managed to flip a seat in the Florida state house in the district that is home to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. Emily Gregory, a Democrat, defeated Republican Jon Maples, who had an endorsement from the US president, in the special election in Florida’s 87th state house district. The Associated Press called the race on Tuesday evening, with Gregory, a public health expert and small business owner, leading by more than 2 percentage points. More here.
Donald Trump on Tuesday swore in Markwayne Mullin as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), while Senate Republicans unveiled a compromise that would restart funding to most of the agency but appears to exclude reforms to immigration enforcement Democrats have demanded. More here.
Donald Trump has described voting by mail as “cheating” at an event in Memphis, Tennessee, just days after casting a mail‑in ballot himself. “Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating, and we got to do something about it all,” the US president said on Monday, in remarks to a roundtable on his administration’s crime taskforce. More here.
Workers with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are reeling from the White House’s deployment of immigration law enforcement into airports as TSA workers enter their sixth week without pay as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown continues. More than 400 TSA workers have quit since the shutdown began in February, with major US airports reporting high call-out rates among workers, leading to longer security wait times. More here.
The California governor, Gavin Newsom, backtracked on earlier remarks likening Israel to an “apartheid state” in a new interview with Politico published on Tuesday. In the interview, the Democrat, who is widely expected to launch a presidential bid in 2028, said that when he used the term three weeks ago, he meant it to apply to Israel’s future should it continue on its present trajectory. More here.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has faced criticism after walking back earlier remarks in which he likened Israel to an “apartheid state”.
In an interview with Politico published on Tuesday, the Democrat (who is seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender) said he had meant the term to refer to Israel’s future if current conditions persist.
The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project, a pro-Palestinian non-profit that focuses on political advocacy, responded to the news by saying “Israel is an apartheid state which has committed genocide against Palestinians with US weapons.”
“Every single major human rights organization agrees with this,” the group said in a post on X. “If Newsom can’t tell the truth about this issue, what else is he too afraid to stand up for?”
Actor Mark Ruffalo urged Newsom to “know where you stand and stand there.”
“You said… what you meant,” Ruffalo said in a post on X. “I don’t know what billionaire got in your ear but it’s not working for you. This is not how you are going to win. It’s Apartheid and it’s a Genocide.”
Similarly, Omar Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, reposted a video of Newsom’s interview with Politico and said “apartheid is not a direction, it’s a reality.”
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