Closing summary
This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. Here are the latest developments:
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US forces carried out 90 minutes of airstrikes on Iran, in response to an Iranian drone attack on a cargo ship using a route through the strait of Hormuz Iran did not approve a day earlier.
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Iran’s deputy foreign minister warned in a social media post that safe passage for ships was only guaranteed by the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran if ships coordinate their passage with Iranian authorities.
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“Iran signed a ceasefire agreement”, the US vice-president, JD Vance, posted. “If they have disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone. But violence will be met with violence.”
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The US secretary of State, Marco Rubio, praised the signing of a trilateral framework agreement by Lebanon, Israel and the United States on Friday as a “major milestone” in the Trump administration’s effort to stop the bloodshed unleashed by the US and Israel in February, in which Israel has killed 4,200 people in Lebanon and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has killed 39 Israelis.
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On the National Mall in Washington DC, a scheduled concert by Vanilla Ice, the rapper whose rendition of his 1990 hit Ice, Ice Baby at Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Eve thrilled Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem, if no one else, was rained out.
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Pete Buttigieg, the former US transportation secretary, said on Friday an anonymous and – police say – meritless accusation led Child Protective Services to investigate his family.
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In bizarre, hateful remarks at a Faith and Freedom Coalition event, Donald Trump ranted about the democratic socialist candidates who swept primary elections in New York earlier this week, calling them (wrongly) “ruthless communists” and branded the Democratic party “the most serious threat to our country in its existence”.
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Trump seems to confuse a passport with a visa in post unveiling new design featuring his own image
In a social media post on Friday, Donald Trump shared a design for a new US passport, which features a large image of himself obscuring the text of the Declaration of Independence as he leans forward on a desk, in a pose known in stock photograph archives as “determined businessman”.
Curiously, the president’s described this as “The U.S.A.’s New Passport, which says, ‘Welcome, but be good!’”.
That line baffled many observers, given that US passports are held by US citizens, who do not need to be “good” to be allowed to return to their homeland, not a document foreign visitors to the United States show on entry.
“Does he think a passport is a visa?” the Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg asked.
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Key event
The US secretary of State, Marco Rubio, praised the signing of a trilateral framework agreement by Lebanon, Israel and the United States on Friday as a “major milestone” in the Trump administration’s effort to stop the bloodshed unleashed by the US and Israel in February, when their joint attack on Iran triggered fighting between Israel and Iran’s ally, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, in which Hezbollah has killed three Israeli civilians and at least 36 Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and Israel has killed more than 4,200 people in Lebanon.
The agreement does not include Hezbollah and, in fact, the group was not mentioned by Rubio at a signing ceremony, in which he referred only to attacks launched on Israel by “an outside actor” and cast the agreement as one that would protect “the people of Lebanon” from the consequences of other “countries trying to use the country as a launchpad for attacks”. While Hezbollah is supported by Iran, the members of its armed wing, and its political faction, are Lebanese.
The state department said the framework establishes a process for dismantling Hezbollah and for Lebanon’s government to regain territory that was taken by Israeli forces as they battled the militant group.
The US will facilitate a newly created “Military Coordination Group for Lebanon” to implement the framework, the state department said, while committing $100m in humanitarian assistance.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that “Hezbollah supporters rode motorbikes through the streets of Beirut … in protest at the framework agreement announced between Lebanon and Israel”.
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As the Los Angeles Times first reported, the Trump administration announced on Friday that it is conducting “a performance evaluation of the California Coastal Management Program”, federal-state partnership, alarming state leaders and environmental activists who fear that the federal government could aim to undermine the state’s authority to protect its coastline.
Howard Lutnick, the US commerce secretary, ordered the review in May in a letter accusing the state of being driven by “environmental extremism” in its efforts to protect the coast by regulating industrial projects along the coast.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the review in a call for public comment, noting that it wants to hear, in particular, from “relevant stakeholders regarding spaceport infrastructure, offshore oil production, pipeline maintenance, desalination projects, and undersea cables”.
In April the commission settled a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk, and apologized for its members making “improper” statements about Musk’s political beliefs as they voiced opposition to expanding the launch schedule for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets from the Vandenberg Space Force base on the coast near Santa Barbara.
At the time, the commission said it still had serious concerns about the impacts to coastal resources from increased rocket launches at Vandenberg.
“These impacts include restrictions on public coastal access, harm to sensitive species and coastal habitat, as well as the frequency and intensity of sonic booms,” the commission said. “Federal law requires the federal government to provide information to and coordinate with the Coastal Commission on such issues.”
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Vanilla Ice concert at Trump's Freedom 250 celebration rained out
The Great American State Fair, a celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence on the National Mall that kicked off on Thursday with a deeply partisan speech from Donald Trump, announced on Friday that it was closing early due to “inclement weather”.
That means that a scheduled concert by Vanilla Ice, the rapper whose rendition of his 1990 hit “Ice, Ice Baby” at Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Eve thrilled Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem, if no one else, has been rained out.
In May, when seven of the original nine acts backed out within hours of the concert series being announced, Rob Van Winkle, who has performed under the stage name Vanilla Ice for four decades, was the only musician to express excitement at the idea of taking part in the celebration of Trump’s America.
Earlier on Friday, he showed the stage near the Washington Monument to his Instagram followers and promised them an “epic” concert.
The only other musician who did not drop out of the concert series, Flo Rida, is still scheduled to perform on 2 July.
The schedule for the Freedom 250 celebration includes a Fourth of July speech by the president, which will be the seventh anniversary of his rain-soaked address in front of the Lincoln Memorial, when he memorably claimed that US troops, in the war of 1812, “took over the airports”.
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Troops patrolling the fenced-off Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool are warned: 'Loitering is not permitted in this area'
As the independent video journalist Amanda Moore reports on Friday, even national guard troops patrolling inside the newly fenced-off perimeter of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool are triggering an automated warning to leave the area.
Moore recorded four troops being scolded, as they passed an automated surveillance device on the south side of the pool, by a disembodied voice that informed them: “Loitering is not permitted in this area. Please proceed to a designated location. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Moore’s video shows that the troops appeared to be surprised that they had triggered the recorded announcement, turning their heads as they walked to see where it was coming from.
After US strikes on Iran, JD Vance says 'violence will be met with violence'
After US strikes on Iranian targets on Friday, in response to an Iranian drone attack on a cargo ship using a route through the strait of Hormuz Iran did not approve, the US vice-president wrote on social media:
“Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored it. If they have disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone. But violence will be met with violence.”
As we reported earlier, a senior Iranian diplomat argued in a post earlier in the day that Iran’s reading of the memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran requires ships passing through the strait, even on routes closer to Oman than Iran, to coordinate with Iranian coastal authorities.
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Pete Buttigieg, the former US transportation secretary, said on Friday an anonymous and – police say – meritless accusation led Child Protective Services to investigate his family.
In a Substack post published on Friday, Buttigieg described the incident – which resulted in him being separated from his four-year-old twins – as “among the darkest hours of my life” and likened the accusation to “swatting”, the practice of calling police with a false report of an emergency to trigger a law enforcement response.
“Now imagine the same concept, but with Child Protective Services instead of a SWAT team,” Buttigieg wrote. “Hadn’t thought of that? Me neither, until a few days ago when a police officer and a CPS worker showed up at our home and politely asked to speak with me.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Michigan state police acknowledged the incident, saying the department had received an “anonymous report” earlier this week and “determined the report was false”.
“The Michigan state police and Child Protective Services responded and determined the report was false,” said Shanon Banner, the department spokesperson. “False reports are dangerous and divert law enforcement officers and Child Protective Services workers from responding to legitimate emergencies and protecting vulnerable children and families.”
According to Buttigieg, the social worker and police officer investigating the accusation required the former transportation secretary and his husband, Chasten, to separate themselves from their children for 24 hours. Buttigieg sent their children to their grandparent’s house, he said. The accusation was found to be unsubstantiated and politically motivated, he said.
US strikes on Iran are reportedly over
US officials told CNN and the New York Times on Friday that a wave of new strikes on Iranian missile and drone targets, in response to an Iranian drone attack on a cargo ship in the strait of Hormuz on Thursday, ended after about 90 minutes.
Four Iranian sites along the coast and on the Persian gulf island Qeshm, were carried out by US air force F35s and F16s, an official told the Times.
Senior Iranian diplomat says ceasefire agreement with US requires ships passing the strait of Hormuz to coordinate with Iran
Before the US launched strikes on Iranian targets on Friday, in retaliation for an Iranian drone attack on a cargo ship in the strait of Hormuz, Iran’s deputy foreign minister had warned in a social media post that safe passage for ships was only guaranteed if ships coordinate their passage with Iranian authorities.
“Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz under vague arrangements, parallel routes, or decision-making outside Iran’s considerations as the coastal state is not guaranteed,” Gharibabadi wrote on X, according to a translation of the Persian post from Iran’s Mehr News.
“Any valid framework must be based on coordination with Iran and the provisions of paragraph 5 of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding. Otherwise, the result will be the suspension of the designated parallel route,” he added.
Section 5 of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran reads:
Upon the signing of this MoU, the Islamic Republic of Iran will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels, with no charge for 60 days only, from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman, and vice versa. The traffic of commercial vessels will immediately start, and considering the need for removing the technical and military obstacles, and de-mining by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will be instated within 30 days. The Islamic Republic of Iran will conduct dialogue with the Sultanate of Oman, to define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz, in discussions with other Persian Gulf Littoral States, in line with applicable international law and the sovereign rights of coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps promises 'swift and decisive' reply to US strikes, Iran's state TV reprots
After new US strikes on Iran on Friday, Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) promised a “swift and decisive” response, Iranian state television reported early Saturday local time in Tehran, according to Reuters.
The IRGC said its forces had repelled an attack by the US on Sirik, on the coast near the strait of Hormuz.
Iranian media reports strike on pier in southern Iran near strait of Hormuz
According to Reuters, Iranian media reported on Friday that a pier in Sirik, on the coast of southern Iran near the strait of Hormuz had been struck.
The report came after the Pentagon announced it had conducted strikes against Iran in response to an Iranian drone attack on a Singapore-flagged commercial ship in a part of the strait close to Oman.
Citing an Iranian military source, Iranian media also reported that warning shots had been fired hours earlier on Friday toward “violating vessels” in the strait of Hormuz.
The UN’s International Maritime Organization said on Thursday that it was pausing its plan to move stranded ships with more than 11,000 sailors out of the Persian gulf through the strait using a route that Iran’s military called “unacceptable and completely dangerous”.
The vessel that was attacked was not part of the evacuation effort, said Arsenio Dominguez, the UN agency’s secretary general. “I have been informed of an attack today in the Gulf of Oman on a vessel which passed through the Strait of Hormuz,” Dominguez said in a statement. “This vessel did not transit under IMO’s evacuation framework.”
The Iranian drone strike on the ship came hours after Iran threatened vessels to stop using the route through the strait without Tehran’s permission.
The Ever Lovely, the cargo ship that was struck, had been following a route through the strait recommended by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations when it was struck, the ship’s owner, Evergreen, said.
“All crew members remain safe as does the vessel itself and all cargo,” it added.
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Pentagon official tells Fox News US strikes on Iran are 'ongoing'
US airstrikes on Iranian targets are “ongoing”, a senior US defense official told the Fox News Pentagon correspondent Jennifer Griffin reported on social media minutes ago.
Pentagon says US 'conducted strikes against Iran' on Friday in response to strait of Hormuz ship attack
United States Central Command, which directs US military forces in the Middle East, said US forces “conducted strikes against Iran, June 26, as a powerful response to yesterday’s attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.
The Pentagon statement posted on social media continued:
U.S. aircraft struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites after Iran hit M/V Ever Lovely on June 25 with a one-way attack drone. The Singapore-flagged cargo ship was exiting the Strait of Hormuz along the Omani coast at the time of Iran’s attack.
The unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire.
The strikes came shortly after Donald Trump was asked if Iran would face any consequences for violating the ceasefire with a drone attack on a commercial ship in the strait on Thursday.
“Well, you’ll find out,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office.
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Trump hints at US response to Iran attack on cargo ship
Donald Trump has said “you’ll find out” when asked if Iran would face any consequences after firing drones on a commercial vessel in the strait of Hormuz on Thursday.
Trump accused Iran of a “foolish violation” the ceasefire in a subsequent Truth Social post, adding that Iran fired at least four one-way attack drones at ships transiting the strait, of which the US shot down three, while the other hit the ship.
Asked if he considered the ceasefire to still be in effect, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he didn’t like the fact that Iran had taken shots. “They shouldn’t be doing that, so you’ll find out.”
Pressed to say if he would respond, the president repeated: “You’ll find out.”
Texas makes Bible passages required reading for millions of public school students
The Texas education board has approved a broad new statewide reading list that, for the first time, will make passages from the Bible required reading for more than 5 million public school students.
Under the new initiative, Bible stories will become mandatory reading for millions of public school students in addition to a more standard collection of books, renewing debate over growing efforts in the US to increase the role of religion in classrooms.
The rollout will be staggered, starting with elementary school students in 2030.
The Republican-controlled Texas state board of education gave final approval to the plan during a vote today. Last year, Texas became the largest state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every classroom.
House speaker Mike Johnson will officially transmit the bipartisan housing bill to the White House on Monday, NBC News is reporting citing two people with direct knowledge of the process, after Donald Trump decided to hold the landmark bill hostage earlier this week.
Johnson said yesterday, after a lengthy meeting with Trump, that he would be “transmitting the housing bill to the White House” but did not specify when that would take place (see my earlier post).
It remains unclear whether this means Trump will also sign the bill on Monday, or indeed if the president plans to sign it at all. Once the bill is officially transmitted, it triggers a 10-day clock for the president to either sign or veto the legislation, or it becomes law at the end of that window.
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Earlier I was at the Washington Hilton hotel, where Donald Trump made his first appearance since being rushed off stage after a failed assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April.
Security was unsurprisingly tight. Roads were closed and police vehicles conspicuous as I approached the hotel, which is hosting the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference. Just as in April, I went down an escalator and stood in line for airport-style metal detectors operated by the Secret Service.
I emptied my pockets as usual and noticed the officer seemed especially diligent in rummaging through my bag and asking me to turn on my laptop to ensure it was real. But ultimately the people in front of and behind me seemed to pass through without trouble.
The hotel’s vast underground ballroom has patriotic red, white and blue lighting. I could see the spot where I dived for cover under a dining table the night shots were fired when Cole Allen allegedly stormed a security checkpoint with a shotgun, a handgun and several knives.
This time there were rows of seats for delegates at this event for religious conservatives, where speakers have included House speaker Mike Johnson and treasury secretary Scott Bessent. Trump himself took the stage just before 2pm ET.
“I remember this place not so long ago,” he quipped. “Hopefully, we’ll have a little more pleasant – we’re going to have a little more pleasant experience.”
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Trump calls democratic socialist victories in New York 'most serious threat to US in its history'
In bizarre, hateful remarks earlier at the Faith and Freedom Coalition event, Donald Trump rambled for some time about the democratic socialist candidates who swept primary elections in New York earlier this week, calling them (wrongly) “ruthless communists” and branded the leftist wave in the Democrat party “the most serious threat to our country in its existence”.
At the same time he boasted that he “would be the greatest communist in history” but said it would lead to Americans living in squalor, railing against the leftists who “hate” America.
I looked at some of the people that got elected the other night in New York. These are in many ways stupid people, in some ways, and intellectually probably pretty smart, but they’re people that want to destroy our country.
They hate our country, they hate our people, they hate the Democrat party. The Democrat party is in big trouble, because this isn’t stopping with New York.
The president added:
It’s ironic we’re celebrating a very important birthday … 250 years, and instead of speaking about Christ and freedom and victories of all different kinds, we’re speaking about yet another threat to the foundations of America.
Among the wild (false) claims he made, Trump said “the hardcore, godless communists” would “take American down” by targeting churches and Christians, turning buildings into “ghettos and slums”, and that everyone would leave New York, and that this would spread across the country “like an uncontrollable cancer” and leave the United States a “third-world country”.
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Netanyahu also said that Lebanese civilians displaced from the so-called “security zone” that Israeli forces are occupying in southern Lebanon will not be allowed to return home after a new deal was announced with Lebanon and the US.
“We are maintaining the original security zone at all times, outside the range of anti-tank fire. We are not allowing Hezbollah to enter it, nor are we allowing the civilian population to enter,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel would remain in the parts of southern Lebanon it is occupying until Hezbollah disarms, shortly after the announcement in Washington of a framework agreement between Israel, the United States and Lebanon.
“The most important thing is, first of all, that Israel remains in the security zone in southern Lebanon. This is a major achievement, and we will maintain it as long as Hezbollah has not disarmed,” Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded video shared with Israeli media.
Netanyahu added that Israel’s military would also allow the Lebanese army to control territory in “two pilot areas”, one south of Lebanon’s Litani River and another north of it.
Israel’s airstrikes and ground invasion has killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than a million.
Gavin Newsom urges a national 'billionaires' tax' while fighting one in California
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has called for a national “billionaires tax” as he fights a ballot measure targeting the ultra-wealthy in his home state.
Newsom, who is expected to run for president in 2028, published his proposal the day after California officials certified a ballot proposal to levy a one-time 5% tax on residents worth more than $1bn. The proposal, called the California Billionaire Tax Act, was brought by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) and would fund the state’s healthcare, education and food assistance programs.
The proposal has received more than 1.55m signatures, but has spurred intense pushback from the state’s richest residents as well as several other prominent labor unions.
Newsom strongly opposes the measure, arguing it will hurt the state’s economy.
In his Substack post today, Newsom expanded on his opposition and framed it as an ineffective solution. “I understand the anxiety driving the wealth tax proposal in California. But I’m voting no because this measure dedicates almost all of the revenue it raises to a single category of state spending,” Newsom wrote.
Newsom argued that a state-level billionaire tax would be easily dodged by wealthy people who are able to move their assets to other states. Already, several billionaires, including Google co-founder Larry Page, have either threatened to leave California or made efforts to cut ties with the state.
“You may not be able to pick up and move to Texas or Florida to shelter your income from taxation, but I promise you that billionaires can, and do,” Newsom wrote. “Wealth is movable, and it shops for the state with the lowest taxes. The fight belongs at the federal level, where this broken system was created in the first place.”
In today’s announcement, Newsom offered a counterproposal, a new national tax policy, rather than a state-by-state system. He proposed a minimum tax on anyone with a net worth above $100m. He also wants to make it illegal for the wealthy to borrow against their stock portfolios to fund their luxury lifestyles tax-free.
More on this story here:
Israel, Lebanon and US sign trilateral framework agreement in Washington
Israel, Lebanon and the United States have signed a trilateral framework agreement aimed at paving the way for a peace deal to end the ongoing hostilities.
“We are happy to announce a framework agreement between the sovereign government of Lebanon and of course the government of Israel, with a mediation and support of the United States of America,” US secretary of state Marco Rubio said at the signing ceremony.
The agreement “begins to put in place a framework for lasting peace and security”, Rubio added.
I’ll bring you more on this as I get it.
Leon Black accused of stonewalling Congress as Epstein hearing ends abruptly
Victoria Bekiempis and Anna Betts
Billionaire financier Leon Black’s testimony before a House committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein ended abruptly this morning after members from both parties said Black refused to answer questions about non-disclosure agreements.
James Comer, the Republican who chairs the committee, told reporters that the committee had already issued two subpoenas to Black on Friday – one demanding he produce any non-disclosure agreements, and another to appear again before the committee next month.
Speaking to reporters outside the room, Comer said that “the NDAs are between him and other women” and that the committee wants to know “was Jeffrey Epstein involved in the NDAs? Was he involved in writing? Was he involved in awarding funds to the women for the NDAs? … What was the reason for the NDAs? We want to know everything about the NDAs.
“During today’s voluntary transcribed interview, Mr Black stated he wouldn’t answer questions about NDAs,” Comer said. “Answers about the terms and substance of these NDAs are critical to our investigation. For this reason, today I issued subpoenas to Mr Black for NDAs and to appear for a deposition in the near future.”
Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, told reporters that he supports Comer’s subpoenas. “The NDAs are central to us understanding what actually happened,” Garcia said.
Black’s lawyers said in a statement the committee’s move was a political stunt. “Mr Black came here voluntarily to assist the committee. This was nothing more than a planned political stunt. Mr Epstein had no involvement with any NDAs, whether they exist or not,” said Susan Estrich, an attorney for Black.
The interview this morning was conducted behind closed doors, though the committee is expected to release a transcript at a later date, as it has done with previous interviews.
“Of all the witnesses that have come thus far, this one has the potential to be the most groundbreaking deposition in my opinion,” Comer told reporters this morning before the hearing began.
Black, the former Apollo Global Management CEO, has faced questions over his past ties to Epstein for years, with scrutiny intensifying after the justice department released millions of records related to Epstein late last year and earlier this year. In 2021, Black stepped down as chairman and chief executive of Apollo Global Management.
According to a report commissioned by Apollo several years ago, Epstein provided financial services to Black between 2012 and 2017. After Epstein pleaded guilty to Florida state prostitution charges in 2008, including procuring a minor, Black became Epstein’s largest client, paying him a total of roughly $170m in fees, according to an investigation by the Senate finance committee. Black has described his work for Epstein as tax and estate-planning services.
Here’s the full report:
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Hours before the two met at the G7 summit last week, French president Emmanuel Macron said France would not give in to pressure from Donald Trump to scrap its digital tax on large US tech companies.
Before setting off for the summit in France, Trump had warned that the US would “have no choice” but to apply 100% tariffs on French wine unless Paris eliminated its digital tax, but his latest threat changes the target from wine to all goods.
France has applied a 3% levy since 2019 on revenue from digital services earned by companies with revenues of more than €25m (~$28.5m) in the country and €750m (~$850m) worldwide.
Donald Trump revives 100% tariff threat against countries imposing digital services tax
Donald Trump has once again revived his tariff threats, warning that any country that imposes a digital services tax on American companies will be hit with a 100% tariff on all goods.
He said in a social media post that the new tariff would supersede any trade deals with the US.
“Numerous European Countries have been discussing the imminent implementation of a Digital Services Tax on American Companies,” Trump wrote. “Some of these Countries are close to actually doing this. Please let this statement serve to represent that any Country that imposes such a Tax will immediately be met with a 100% TARIFF on any and all Goods sent to the United States of America.
“This TARIFF will supersede Trade Deals made with the Country, whether implemented, signed, or not,” he added. “Additionally, the 100% TARIFF will be immediately imposed, if they proceed.”
Last month, the US trade court ruled against Trump’s latest attempt at a 10% global tariff, finding across-the-board tariffs were not justified under a 1970s trade law. But courts striking down his tariffs have done little to discourage his threats, as earlier this month he threatened tariffs of between 10% and 12.5% on 60 trading partners including the UK, the EU and Australia over alleged forced labor failures.
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Donald Trump is blaming Iran for the drone strike on a ship in the strait of Hormuz Friday morning, calling it a “foolish violation” of the ceasefire agreement.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran shot at least four One Way Attack Drones at Ships transversing the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “One of the Drones solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive Cargo Carrying Ship. Damage was done, but the Ship was able to proceed on its way. We knocked down three other Drones. Obviously, this is a foolish violation of our Ceasefire Agreement.”
Earlier, a United Nations agency paused the evacuation of ships through the strait after the British military said a vessel was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman following the passage of several tankers that used a route backed by the UN.
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Also speaking after the guilty plea, John Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, compared the case to the 2023 indictment of Donald Trump, which accused him of illegally retaining dozens of boxes of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after his first term.
The judge overseeing the case against Trump, Aileen M Cannon, dismissed those charges before it went to trial, ruling that the special counsel who brought the prosecution (Jack Smith) had been improperly appointed.
Bolton “did what real leaders do. He took responsibility for a mistake he made,” Lowell said. “By contrast, President Trump thumbed his nose at the classified information laws, took actual classified documents to his Florida mansion, interfered with the investigation of that conduct, and has never accepted any accountability for his conduct.”
Bolton, he added, “kept a record to preserve history, but Donald Trump kept secrets to serve himself.”
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Acting deputy assistant attorney general Hayden O’Byrne told reporters that “today’s plea should be a warning to anyone, at any level of government, that if you leak America’s secrets or if you mishandle them, the US Department of Justice National Security Division and our US Attorney partners will be there to prosecute you.”
Hayes went on:
As national security adviser to the president of the United States, Mr Bolton had access to and was responsible for safeguarding the most sensitive national defense information, including classified material.
Mr Bolton knew how to handle classified information, where it should be stored, how it should be stored, and with whom he could share that information.
He also knew the damage to national security that could be caused by mishandling that sensitive information.
Nevertheless, as Mr Bolton just admitted, he put our national security at grave risk in violation of the law … and the national defense information at issue in this case was classified at the highest classification levels.
The document in Count 12, for example, revealed intelligence about an adversary’s plans for an attack conducted against US forces in another country. It contained human intelligence using sensitive sources and methods, and it discussed a covert action program.
As Mr Bolton admitted, he shared more than 1,000 pages of information about his day-to-day activities as the national security adviser, including information related to the national defense, with two individuals who neither had the security clearances nor the need to know that information and remarkably he did so using his personal email account and non-government messaging applications.
Speaking to reporters after John Bolton’s hearing, US attorney Kelly Hayes said: “The rules governing classified and national defense information apply equally to everyone, regardless of position and regardless of how long you have served with the United States government.”
While his plea agreement with the justice department may enable John Bolton to avoid time behind bars, the judge ultimately will decide his punishment.
The plea agreement recommends capping any prison sentence at five years but the judge isn’t bound by that part of the deal, the Associated Press notes.
Bolton can withdraw his guilty plea if the judge issues a longer prison sentence or a fine greater than $2.25m.
Per his plea deal, a justice department prosecutor told Judge Theodore Chuang that John Bolton faces a fine of $2.25m - half of which should be paid within five days of his sentencing - followed by up to three years of supervised release and he also agreed to forfeit his pension from his federal service.
The sentencing is scheduled for 28 October.
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Trump forced to drain the pool swamp – podcast
As we’ve been reporting, the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool will have to be drained again. Donald Trump has blamed vandalism for the failure to keep the water “American flag blue”. But what if this small body of water is proof that the president can’t outrun the truth?
In the latest edition of our Politics Weekly America podcast, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Arwa Mahdawi about why this project, which has cost the taxpayer millions of dollars, is proving to be such an embarrassing failure for a man obsessed with image.
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Ex-Trump adviser turned critic John Bolton pleads guilty in classified information case
John Bolton, who served as Donald Trump’s national security adviser in his first administration before becoming an outspoken critic, has pleaded guilty in a federal court hearing in Maryland to one count of retaining classified national security information in a case that could send him to prison for up to five years.
The charge is specifically related to diary entries about his work during Trump’s first term that he compiled for his memoir, which was deeply critical of Trump. Bolton was accused of transmitting some of these materials to two relatives, whom multiple outlets have reported were his wife and daughter.
He initially pleaded not guilty to an 18-count indictment in October last year, but under a plea deal with the US justice department, Bolton agreed to plead guilty to the single count of retaining the classified information in diary-like entries and also to pay a fine of over $2m.
Had he gone to trial and lost, Bolton could have faced decades of incarceration. A trial also could have dragged significant classified information into the public realm in order for Bolton to defend himself, which was cited as another reason he took the deal.
Bolton is expected to argue for no prison time but the DoJ may seek to incarcerate him, setting up a showdown at his sentencing, which is due to take place at a later date.
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As the never-ending story of Trump’s doomed multimillion dollar renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool drags on, CNN reports that a company involved in a previous renovation 15 years ago passed on the president’s project after deeming it “unfeasible”.
Two employees of New Jersey-bsed firm Sika Corporation, which provided the concrete construction and sealing products for a 2010 renovation project of the pool, told CNN the company declined on the basis that Trump’s demands that the work be completed by the Fourth of July and that the bottom of the pool had to be blue, made the task “unfeasible”.
As we all know by now, less than a month after it was applied, the lining that turned the bottom of the reflecting pool “American flag blue” started peeling off, prompting the president to baselessly blame “vandals” rather than admit the job was rushed, and sent contractors in to patch up the problem. Trump has floated a number of allegations, mostly with no evidence, including that vandals made a gash hundreds of feet long and illegally polluted the pool with chemicals.
Meanwhile, algal blooms sabotaged the water color, turning it murky green. The interior department prematurely declared victory over the algae and even likened it to the US’s supposed victory over Iran. Over a week later, Trump’s war on algae is in fact still very much ongoing, so … do with that what you will.
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Johnson says he will send housing bill to Trump's desk
In case you missed it yesterday, House speaker Mike Johnson said he was sending the bipartisan housing bill to Donald Trump’s desk, a day after the president abruptly cancelled its signing as he tried to pressure the Senate to pass the unrelated Save America Act.
Johnson told reporters after his lengthy crunch-time meeting with the president that they are “on exactly the same page”, though he didn’t mention the housing bill specifically.
And it’s important to note that Trump has not yet committed to signing the legislation, despite the fact that the bill has overwhelming bipartisan support and his own party is keen to use it to show voters they’re working to lower living costs ahead of November’s midterms.
By formally sending the bill to the president’s desk, Johnson has opened the 10-day window (excluding Sundays) during which Trump must decide whether he will sign or veto the legislation. If he doesn’t do either, it automatically becomes law without his signature.
For his part, after the meeting Trump publicy urged House GOP hardliners to stop “grandstanding” and to unify after they brought most activity in the lower chamber to a halt earlier this week over the Save Act.
“House Republicans should unify, and stop voting down ‘Rules’ or, threatening to do so. Giving power to the Radical Left Dumocrats in the House to control what goes up for a Vote will make our outcomes worse, not better. No more grandstanding, please! They are the Dumocrats, and we can’t let them WIN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
While the president threw him a lifeline, Johnson’s headache is by no means over. Florida Republican Anna Paulina Luna, who’s leading the hardline rebellion, wrote on X after Trump and Johnson’s meeting that she had submitted an amendment to the House rules committee to attach the Save Act to the annual defense bill.
But per Axios, Luna told reporters yesterday that she was not promising to support next week’s rule if leadership blocks that effort.
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Alarm over ‘extreme’ sentences for anti-ICE protesters convicted of terrorism
The decades-long prison sentences for a group of Texas activists convicted of terrorism and other charges in connection to a Fourth of July protest last year has caused widespread alarm, given their unusually punitive length and for the apparent harsh criminalization of protest activity under Donald Trump’s justice department.
Eight people who participated in a protest at the Prairieland ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, were sentenced on Tuesday to between 50 and 100 years in prison. A ninth person, Daniel Sanchez-Estrada, the husband of one of the demonstrators, did not participate in the protest, but was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he was convicted of moving boxes containing leftwing zines and other materials after a prison phone call from his wife.
“These sentences are a travesty and totally unjustified, but that’s the point. Americans hate the fascist Trump regime, so the only way they can try to cling to power is brute force,” the representative Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan, posted on X. “More bullshit ‘terrorism’ charges like these are coming.”
Sanchez-Estrada’s sentence in particular has been condemned by first amendment advocates, who say that it sends a chilling message about the kind of ideological material people are allowed to possess.
Seth Stern, the chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement:
[The zines Sanchez-Estrada was punished for moving are] no different from the pro-Revolution pamphlets this country’s founders had in mind when they drafted the first amendment’s press clause.
Sanchez’s case is the latest example of the Trump administration grasping at any legal straws it can to criminalize disfavored ideologies and writings, from conflating dissent with terrorism to deporting immigrants who report on protests or criticize wars the US bankrolls.
Americans should not make the mistake of believing Sanchez’s sentence only threatens immigrants, leftists or so-called antifa members – they’re just the low-hanging fruit, not the endgame.
Here’s Sam’s report:
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
John Bolton, former national security adviser to Donald Trump, is expected to plead guilty on Friday to charges that he unlawfully retained sensitive national security information.
The agreement with federal prosecutors includes a $2.25m fine, according to sources familiar with the deal.
Bolton is expected to plead guilty to one count of retaining classified information, which is specifically related to diary entries about his work during Trump’s first term. The former adviser, who is now a prominent critic of Trump, was accused of transmitting some of these materials to two relatives.
The trial is scheduled to take place in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Friday – and a possible sentence could range from no jail time to five years.
In October, Bolton plead not guilty to charges of mishandling classified information when he worked in the Trump White House.
“This was a very difficult decision for him,” the source close to Bolton said to NBC, in relation to his expected guilty plea. “Most importantly, he is doing what leaders do and taking responsibility.
“He understands that if he went to trial what that would mean, which essentially would be the disclosure of many, many more classified documents that he would need to reveal to defend himself. And given the Ukraine and the Middle East, he didn’t want to do that.”
Elsewhere, the supreme court conservative majority passed two new rulings on Thursday that allowed the Trump administration to strip certain immigration protection and fundamentally reshape the asylum system in the United States.
This means that the court has allowed the administration to move forward with policies that could remove more than 1 million people from the US, and could also possibly prevent others from entering.
Dozens of groups, advocates and members of Congress called the court’s decisions “disastrous” and “cruel”, while the Trump administration, Republican lawmakers and anti-immigrant groups celebrated the rulings.
In case after case, the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has green-lighted Donald Trump’s policies targeting both legal and illegal immigration with few exceptions, while its three liberal justices have objected to most of his actions.
This will mostly impact Haitian and Syrian immigrants, with hundreds of thousands expected to be stripped of their Temporary Protected Status.
“The Trump administration has turned the immigration system into a deportation machine,” said Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School in New York.
“In most cases, the supreme court has been a rubber stamp for Trump’s mass deportation agenda,” Mukherjee added.
Here’s what else is happening:
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The supreme court also expanded the constitution’s second amendment right “to keep and bear arms”. This includes a ruling that will remove a Hawaii law that required gun owners to get an owner’s permission before bringing a handgun on to private property open to the public – such as shops and restaurants.
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In Texas, it is expected that a new law will be put into place which would require almost 5 million school pupils to compulsorily study the Bible. This comes as part of a wider effort to put more Christian teachings into schools.
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Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon hold a meeting about whether to ease restrictions on access to some research peptides, a group of drugs with a zealous after and thin evidence to support them
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