US intelligence told senators Iran not building nuclear weapon despite Trump claim, top Democrat says – as it happened

This brings our live coverage of the second Trump administration to a close for the day, but our colleagues in Australia continue to cover the Israeli attack on Iran in real time. Here are some of the day’s main developments in US politics: Despite Donald Trump’s claim that Iran was “very close” to having a nuclear weapon when Israel launched its bombing campaign, Mark Warner, the vice-chairman of the US Senate intelligence committee, told MSNBC that senators were briefed on Monday that US intelligence agencies still see no evidence that Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons. Donald Trump said he has still has not made a decision on whether to join Israel’s attack on Iran, but repeated Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Iran was “weeks away” from developing a nuclear weapon. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell cautioned that officials expect tariffs imposed by Trump to increase prices over the course of the summer. His comments came as the Fed kept interest rates on hold, but signaled it might make two cuts this year, as Trump continues to demand lower rates. As Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, was cross-examined by the senate armed services committee, an official defense department social media account, DOD Rapid Response, posted a series of attacks on Democratic senators on X. Top senate Democrats insisted that Trump needs congressional authorization for any attack on Iran, echoing the 2002 debate in congress over the US attack on Iraq. A star witness that year, who urged congress to back war in Iraq as a way to achieve regime change in Iran, was Benjamin Netanyahu. Five top senate Democrats said in a statement on Wednesday that Donald Trump “must consult Congress and seek authorization if he is considering taking the country to war” against Iran, and demanded “a clear, detailed plan outlining the goals, risks, cost, and timeline for any proposed mission”. The joint statement, from senators Chris Coons, Chuck Schumer, Patty Murray, Jack Reed and Mark Warner expressed strong support for Israel, but cast doubt on the Trump administration’s preparations for war. “As President Trump reportedly considers expanding U.S. engagement in the war, we are deeply concerned about a lack of preparation, strategy, and clearly defined objectives, and the enormous risk to Americans and civilians in the region. Iran has signaled that it would retaliate against American personnel if the United States participates in military strikes”, the senators wrote. “We are alarmed by the Trump administration’s failure to provide answers to fundamental questions. By law, the president must consult Congress and seek authorization if he is considering taking the country to war. He owes Congress and the American people a strategy for U.S. engagement in the region. We need a clear, detailed plan outlining the goals, risks, cost, and timeline for any proposed mission, as well as how he will ensure the safe evacuation of Americans in harm’s way all across the region.” Among the specific questions the Democrats demanded answers to were these: “What is the Intelligence Community’s current assessment of Iran’s nuclear program, its leaders’ intent, and its capabilities?” and, “What would be the objective of U.S. military intervention against Iran? President Trump has called for Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender’ – what does that mean?” The demand for congressional authorization, and the concern that the president’s claims about Iran’s nuclear program might not be supported by US intelligence assessments echo the 2002 debate in congress over the resolution to authorize the use of military force to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction it did not, in fact, possess. In that context, it is worth noting that both Schumer and Warner voted for the Iraq war resolution, in October 2002, Murray and Reed voted against it. (Coons was not yet a senator in 2002, but his seat was held at the time by Joe Biden, who voted to authorize the use of force). In the weeks leading up to that vote, one House committee heard expert testimony on the possible impact of a US invasion of Iraq on the Middle East from an Israeli expert, Benjamin Netanyahu. Given that it is Netanyahu’s war on Iran that Donald Trump is now thinking about joining, the Israeli leader’s wildly inaccurate prediction of how the Middle East would be transformed for the better by a US invasion of Iraq might be worth considering. Looking back at his 2002 testimony now, it is striking that Netanyahu linked his strong support for a US invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein with the possibility of inspiring the implosion of the ruling theocracy in neighboring Iran. “It’s not a question of whether Iraq’s regime should be taken out but when should it be taken out; it’s not a question of whether you’d like to see a regime change in Iran but how to achieve it,” Netanyahu told US lawmakers on 12 September 2002. The American-educated Israeli leader, who was then between terms as prime minister, even suggested that Iran was so ripe for revolt that just seeing American television shows could do the trick — although he had some trouble recalling the name of one of the programs he proposed using as a weapon. Netanyahu recalled that he had once advised the Central Intelligence Agency “that if you want to advance regime change in Iran, you don’t have to go through the CIA cloak-and-dagger stuff — what you want to do is take very large, very strong transponders and just beam Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 2050 and all that into Tehran and into Iran, because that is subversive stuff. They watch it — the young kids watch it, the young people. They want to have the same nice clothes and the same houses and swimming pools and so on”. “So the question now is: choose. You can beam Melrose Place, but it may take a long time. On the other hand, if you take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region. And I think that people sitting right next door in Iran, young people, and many others, will say the time of such regimes, of such despots is gone.” Foreign students will be required to unlock their social media profiles to allow US diplomats to review their online activity before receiving educational and exchange visas, the state department has announced. Those who fail to do so will be suspected of hiding that activity from US officials. The new guidance, unveiled by the state department on Wednesday, directs US diplomats to conduct an online presence review to look for “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States”. A cable separately obtained by Politico also instructs diplomats to flag any “advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to US national security” and “support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence”. The screening for “antisemitic” activity matches similar guidance given at US Citizenship and Immigration Services under the Department of Homeland Security and has been criticised as an effort to crack down on opposition to the conduct of Israel’s war in Gaza. The new state department checks are directed at students and other applicants for visas in the F, M and J categories, which refer to academic and vocational education, as well as cultural exchanges. Video of a native-born American citizen being roughly arrested by federal immigration agents on Tuesday in Los Angeles county, reportedly for objecting to the arrest of his Walmart coworker, went viral on social media, and prompted street protests in the city of Pico Rivera Tuesday night. According to CALÓ News, an English-language platform for the Latino community in southern California, the video showed Adrian Andrew Martinez, 20, being tackled and forcibly detained by several US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents in a parking lot outside the Walmart where Martinez works. Witnesses, including Oscar Preciado, a delivery driver who recorded the incident on video, said that Martinez told the agents that they needed a warrant to arrest his coworker. The video, some of which was included in a video report by another local news site, LA Taco, shows uniformed agents hitting Martinez and then forcing him into vehicle as another group of agents, wearing plain clothes arrived in an unmarked car and threatened to shoot bystanders who were recording on their phones. Myra Martinez told CALÓ News that her son Adrian had started his shift at Walmart around 5 am and went on a break at approximately 8am when Ice agents were reportedly seen in the vicinity. She found out about his arrest from the social media video, and was initially unable to confirm his whereabouts for more than 24 hours. Adrian Martinez was finally located by his family on Wednesday afternoon and is being held at the federal building in downtown LA, CALÓ News reports. As our colleague Chris Stein reports, the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, suggested on Wednesday that he would not obey a federal court ruling against the deployments of national guard troops and US marines to Los Angeles, the latest example of the Trump administration’s willingness to ignore judges it disagrees with. “I don’t believe district courts should be determining national security policy. When it goes to the supreme court, we’ll see,” Hegseth told the Democratic senator Mazie Hirono during a senate armed services committee hearing on the Pentagon’s budget request. Facing similar questions from another Democrat, Elizabeth Warren, he said: “If the supreme court rules on a topic, we will abide by that.” Throughout the hearing, the former Fox News host who now leads the Pentagon scoffed at tough questions from Democrats. Hegseth even laughed when he was pressed by senator Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, to say whether or not troops deployed to southern California were allowed to shoot unarmed protesters in the legs. Slotkin reminded Hegseth that she was asking because Trump’s first-term defense secretary, Mark Esper, revealed in his memoir that Trump had suggested that soldiers should shoot at Black Lives Matter protesters outside the White House the week after George Floyd was murdered. According to Esper, on 1 June 1 2020, Trump asked him to deploy 10,000 active-duty troops to the streets of the nation’s capital and have them open fire on protesters. “Can’t you just shoot them?” Trump asked, in an Oval Office meeting Esper describes in the introduction to the book he published two years later. “Just shoot them in the legs or something?” During the hearing, Hegseth’s mocking, partisan tone was echoed by an official defense department social media account, DOD Rapid Response, which posted a series of attacks on Democratic senators on X. The account, which appears to be based on, and closely mirrors, the approach of a political campaign social media operation marks a clear departure for the US department of defense, which has previously upheld the non-partisan tradition of making statements in the name of an apolitical military. “Secretary Hegseth smacks down Senator Hirono’s INSANE line of questioning”, one post blared, quoting his claim that the senator’s questions about whether or not troops are authorized to shoot protesters an attempt “to SMEAR the commander-in-chief”. Another post complained that “Senator Warren spent her time badgering” Hegseth with questions like, “Would you send troops to 15 cities if the president said, ‘Do it’, would you do it?” After Hegseth refused to answer the question, calling it a hypothetical, Warren reminded him that the senators have oversight of the Pentagon budget. “Well, you can refuse, but you’re here asking for a trillion dollars and I want to know how you’re going to spend it”, Warren said. The Pentagon account also attacked senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who lost her legs while serving in Iraq in 2004, for criticizing the deployment of marines to Los Angeles. After the hearing, when Duckworth suggested in a post that Hegseth would be “fired from the job he has due to his incompetence”, the rapid response account replied by posting a photo of protesters with a Mexican flag in front of a burning car in Compton, with the caption: “Senator, California was burning. Federal agents were being attacked by MOBS. Federal buildings were being vandalized. Gavin Newscum refused to act, so we did.” Despite Donald Trump’s recent claim that Iran was “very close” to making a nuclear weapon when Israel launched its bombing campaign, Mark Warner, the vice-chairman of the US Senate intelligence committee, said on Wednesday that senators were briefed on Monday, after Israel’s attack, that US intelligence agencies still see no evidence that Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons. In an interview with MSNBC, Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said that Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had testified to the Senate in March “that Iran had taken no action towards, moving towards a bomb”. “And we got reconfirmed … Monday of this week, that the intelligence hasn’t changed,” Warner added. In her written, opening testimony to the Senate select committee on intelligence on 25 March, Gabbard summarized the collective assessment on Iran of the 18 US intelligence elements that comprise the US intelligence community, which she referred to using the acronym IC: The IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamanei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003. The IC is closely monitoring if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program. When Trump was reminded on Tuesday of Gabbard’s testimony that Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon, he told reporters: “I don’t care what she said, I think they were very close to having one.” “Foreign policy by tweet is insane. And that’s what this guy is doing,” Warner told MSNBC about Trump’s social media posts on Iran. “Then you’ve got the president basically dismissing all of the intelligence,” he added. “I have no foggy idea what American policy is right now towards this circumstance. I’m the vice-chair of the intelligence committee; if I don’t have the foggiest idea, what do the American people know?” Hours after Donald Trump told reporters that he was, again, extending the deadline to force a sale of TikTok’s US business, as required by a law passed last year, Senator Mark Warner, the senior Democrat on the intelligence committee, just released a statement saying the delay poses a risk to national security. The law mandates the sale of TikTok to ensure that the popular social media app used by Americans is no longer owned by a company beholden to the Chinese government “Once again, the Trump administration is flouting the law and ignoring its own national security findings about the risks posed by a PRC-controlled TikTok”, Warner said, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China. “An executive order can’t sidestep the law, but that’s exactly what the president is trying to do.” Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, Trump was asked about the sale to a US owner, which has not yet been agreed despite the fact that he already extended the deadline. “We’re going to extend it”, Trump said. “We’re going to probably make a deal. I think we’ll need China’s blessing on it.” The president has previously acknowledged that his own tariff-driven trade war with China has made the prospect of a deal to sell the Chinese-owned social media app’s US business more difficult. Last year, Warner said that a classified intelligence briefing on the threats posed to national security by TikTok’s Chinese ownership had convinced him and other senators of both major parties that a law mandating a sale was necessary. “Let me be clear – I don’t want to see TikTok banned either, but we can’t allow it to continue under its current adversarial ownership”, Warner posted on social media in January. “It must be sold to protect our data and national security.” Donald Trump has still has not made a decision on how to proceed on Iran and has repeated Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Iran was “weeks away” from developing a nuclear weapon before Israel’s attacks began. Israel has not provided any evidence for its claim, and expert and US intelligence sources have said Iran was not working to develop a nuclear weapon. You can follow all the latest from the Middle East here. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell cautioned that officials expect tariffs imposed by Trump to increase prices over the course of the summer. His comments came as the Fed kept interest rates on hold, but signaled it might make two cuts this year, as Trump continues to demand lower rates. Brad Lander, New York City’s comptroller and a mayoral candidate, has lashed out at Donald Trump and “his fascist regime”, after he was arrested yesterday by masked federal agents while visiting an immigration court and accompanying a person out of a courtroom. Posting on X, Lander wrote: “We will all be worse off if we let Donald Trump and his fascist regime undermine the rule of law.” A Tennessee state law banning gender-affirming care for minors can stand, the US supreme court ruled, a devastating loss for trans rights supporters in a case that could set a precedent for dozens of other lawsuits involving the rights of transgender children. In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the 6-3 decision “invites legislatures to engage in discrimination by hiding blatant sex classifications in plain sight” and “authorizes … untold harm to transgender children”. Pete Hegseth said he would remove military troops from US cities that Trump deployed to assist federal law enforcement officers if the defense department is directed to as a result of a supreme court ruling. Women across the political spectrum are more concerned about the state of the US economy and inflation under Trump than men are, according to a new exclusive poll for the Guardian. Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer of Harris Poll, said: “Women are experiencing the sharp edge of inflation on essentials like groceries and childcare in ways that stock portfolios can’t capture.” Ted Cruz, the US senator from Texas, and conservative media personality Tucker Carlson clashed over US military involvement in the Middle East, with the latter shouting: “You don’t know anything about Iran!” in a heated interview that exposes a sharp division within Trump’s coalition as the president considers joining Israel in attacking Iran. The US supreme court ruled against the state of Texas and oil industry interests in their challenge to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) authority to license certain nuclear waste storage facilities. Transatlantic airfares have dropped to rates last seen before the pandemic, data shows, the latest sign that fewer Europeans are traveling to the US amid concerns over US border controls and Trump’s policies. Donald Trump said he still has not made a decision on how to proceed on Iran and will hold a meeting later in the day in the Situation Room. Trump said that Iran wants to meet and the US side “may do that”, adding: “A deal could still happen.” He said Israel is doing well in its attacks aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear facilities, and repeats Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Iran was “weeks away” from developing a nuclear weapon before Israel’s attacks began. This is significant as Israel’s claim that its strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities were “pre-emptive” is the subject of much contention, with expert and US intelligence sources saying that Iran was not working to develop a nuclear weapon. As my colleague Patrick Wintour wrote this week: “Netanyahu’s critics are saying he acted to pre-empt something else: a diplomatic agreement between the US and Iran on its civil nuclear programme, or even the demise of his own government. They point out that Israel has been saying for 20 years that Iran is on the brink of building a bomb.” Per Patrick’s analysis: Either way, Netanyahu’s claim largely depends on Israel’s formidable intelligence community possessing a greater state of knowledge about Iran’s nuclear programme than either its US counterparts or the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). As recently as 25 March, Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, told the Senate intelligence committee that the American intelligence community had assessed that Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon. However, Gabbard added that in the past years, there would appear to have been “an erosion of a decades-long taboo in Iran on discussing nuclear weapons in public, likely emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran’s decision-making apparatus”. She added: “Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.” A 22-page report declassified by the IAEA board this week did not say Iran was so close to a nuclear weapon. It said it had been unable to see aspects of Iran’s civil nuclear programme, and believed Tehran had repeatedly failed to cooperate, particularly over its past secret nuclear programme. It concluded that it could not verify that Iran’s civil nuclear programme was exclusively civilian. But it did not say Iran was on the verge of a nuclear weapon. Authorities announced earlier this week that alleged shooter Vance Boelter had visited the homes of four lawmakers in Minnesota, ultimately shooting people at two of them. One of the lawmakers whose homes was targeted has now released a statement. State representative Kristin Bahner was out of town when the shooter came to her door in Maple Grove, a suburb of Minneapolis. She thanked law enforcement and her neighbors, and she expressed grief at the loss of Melissa Hortman. Her statement reads: The past several days have been surrounded by so much grief and fear. This senseless violence came to my door as well, placing me and my family in harm’s way. I do not know why this man was filled with such hatred that he would come to my door; divine intervention led my family to change our plans keeping us safe. Over the past several days, I have spent time shielding my family from grief and worry, in the hope that they can remain unscathed. Yet these events rarely leave us without marks; they will forever change us. Bahner said she would seek to honor Hortman’s legacy and that Hortman would have found a way to bring people together and lift people up at this moment. My response to bad trouble visiting my door will be met with good trouble. I will continue to lead for my community and work to improve the lives of all Minnesotans. A reporter asks Powell: “Assuming you are not re-appointed, would you stay on as governor when your term ends?” Powell’s reply is curt. I’m not thinking about that. I’m thinking about this. Earlier today, Trump mused about appointing himself to lead the US central bank, based on his dissatisfaction with Powell. He said: Maybe I should go to the Fed. Am I allowed to appoint myself at the Fed? I’d do a much better job than these people. Trump has long criticized Powell and sparked market concern earlier this year when he suggested the central bank chief’s termination couldn’t come fast enough. Trump has since walked back from that rhetoric, saying he would not fire Powell before his term as chair ends next year, but he has not held back on his broader criticism – including calling Powell “stupid” and a “major loser” – and has made clear that he will not ask Powell to stay on as the central bank’s leader. Powell said earlier that Fed policy makers expect inflation in goods prices to go up over the course of the summer as the impact of Trump’s tariffs work their way to US consumers. He said it takes time for tariffs to work through the goods chain of distribution, noting many goods being sold by retailers were imported months before tariffs were imposed. So we’re beginning to see some effects, and we do expect to see more of them over coming months. We do also see price increases in some of the relevant categories, like personal computers and audio visual equipment and things like that attributable to tariff increases. On keeping interest rates where they are, Powell says: As long as the economy is solid, as long as we’re seeing the kind of labor market that we have and reasonably decent growth, and inflation moving down, we feel like the right thing to do is to be where we are, and learn more. And in particular we feel like we’re going to learn a great deal more over the summer on tariffs. We hadn’t expected them to show up much by now and they haven’t. And we will see the extent to which they do over coming months. That’s going to inform our thinking. In addition we’ll see how the labor market progresses. At some point it will become clear. I can’t tell you when that will be. We’ll be watching the labor market carefully for signs of weakness and strength and tariffs for signs of what’s going to happen there. There are many developments ahead, even in the near term, developments are expected on tariffs. So I think we don’t yet know with any confidence where they will settle out. We have an estimate. All estimates are now pretty close together. But it’s uncertain. Powell cautions that officials expect tariffs imposed by Trump to increase prices over the course of the summer. We’ve had goods inflation just moving up a bit and, of course, we expect – as you point out – we do expect to see more of that over the course of the summer. He goes on: Increases in tariffs this year are likely to push up prices and weigh on economic activity. The effects on inflation could be short-lived, reflecting a one-time shift in the price level. It’s also possible that the inflationary effects could be more persistent. Avoiding persistent inflation “will depend on the size of the tariff effects” and how long it takes them to impact prices, Powell adds. The Fed has been assigned two goals for monetary policy - maximum employment and stable prices, Powell says. We remain committed to supporting maximum employment, bringing inflation sustainably to our 2% goal, and keeping longer-term inflation expectations well, anchored, he says. For the time being, we are well-positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance, he says. The effects on inflation could be short-lived, reflecting a one-time shift in the price level, he says. It’s also possible that the inflationary effects could be more persistent, he adds. Avoiding that outcome will depend on the size of the tariff effects, on how long it takes for them to pass through fully into prices and ultimately on keeping longer-term inflation expectations well accurate, says Powell. Changes to trade, immigration, fiscal and regulatory policies continue to evolve and their effects on the economy remain uncertain, Powell says, adding that the effects of tariffs will depend on their ultimate level. Expectations of the level and economic effects reached a peak in April and have since declined, he says, adding that even so, increases in tariffs this year are likely to push up prices and weigh on economic activity. Within PDFP, Powell says, growth of consumer spending moderated while investment in equipment and intangibles rebounded from weakness in the fourth quarter. Surveys of households and businesses report a decline in sentiment over recent months and elevated uncertainty about the economic outlook, largely reflecting trade policy concerns, he says. It remains to be seen how these developments might affect future spending and investment, Powell says. The unemployment rate remains low and the labor market is at or near maximum employment, he says. Inflation has come down a great deal, but has been running above their 2% longer-run objective, he says. Despite elevated uncertainty the economy is in a “solid” position, says Powell. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is due to hold a press conference at 2.30pm ET to speak on the central bank’s unanimous decision to hold interest rates steady, as well as elaborate on its latest statement and economic projections. The central bank is keeping its key interest rate unchanged, against a backdrop of sustained political pressure from Donald Trump and his administration to lower it. I’ll bring you any key lines here. The US Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold, but signaled it might make two cuts this year, as Donald Trump continues to break with precedent and demand lower rates. Policymakers at the American central bank lifted their projections for inflation this year, as the US president stands by his controversial tariff plans, and downgraded their estimates for economic growth. Uncertainty has faded, they said, but remains significant. Hours before the central bank announced its latest decision, Trump called its chair, Jerome Powell, “stupid” and accurately predicted rates would be maintained today. “He’s a political guy who’s not a smart person, but he’s costing the country a fortune,” Trump , whose attacks have raised questions over the Fed’s independence, claimed of Powell. The central bank has repeatedly stressed it makes decisions based on economic data, rather than political interventions. Policymakers at the central bank expect inflation to increase by an average rate of 3% this year, according to projections released alongside its latest decision on Wednesday, up from a previous estimate of 2.7% – and highlighting how far the US remains from the Fed’s inflation target of 2%. As Trump’s aggressive tariffs agenda continues to disrupt the global economy, and raises concern about price growth, officials at the Fed have repeatedly warned of an uncertain road ahead. They expect the US economy to grow by an average rate of 1.4% this year, down from March’s 1.7% estimate, which itself was a significant downgrade from the previous 2.1% estimate in December. As the Fed confirmed today that a targeted federal funds rate had been held at a range of 4.25% to 4.5% following its rate-setting open market committee’s latest two-day meeting, it said: “Uncertainty about the economic outlook has diminished but remains elevated.” A closely watched “dot plot”, which shows policymakers’ predictions for the trajectory of rates, indicated that most expect to cut rates at least twice in 2025, with further cuts in future years. “Although swings in net exports have affected the data, recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace,” the committee said in a statement. “The unemployment rate remains low, and labor market conditions remain solid. Inflation remains somewhat elevated.” The central bank has so far defied Trump’s attacks on its decisions, holding firm on its independence from the White House. After Powell spoke with the US president last month, the Fed said that he had made clear that its actions “will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook”. Here’s the clip of Donald Trump declining to answer reporters’ questions on whether the US is planning to strike Iran or its nuclear facilities. He said the Iranians had reached out but he felt “it’s very late to be talking … there’s a big difference between now and a week ago. Nobody knows what I’m going to do”. The stories about Melissa Hortman keep coming in from her colleagues and friends as they grapple with her murder and prepare to honor her at a vigil tonight. I just caught up with Zack Stephenson, who met Hortman when he was 18 and volunteered on her campaign and now is a state lawmaker and colleague of hers. Stephenson got to work closely with his longtime mentor and friend in what became the final months of her life - he as co-chair of a House committee that worked on the budget and she as speaker emeritus. He’s one of several people I spoke to who called Hortman a mentor. She was a leader who was not afraid to invest in other leaders. It didn’t threaten her. She talked about running for higher office at times, and Stephenson advocated for her to run for governor someday. But she also had a full life outside the office. In one classic example, Stephenson recalled a staff member who said his parents’ gardening business was having trouble finding seasonal help. Hortman, an avid gardener, asked how much the gig paid. “She’s like, ‘oh, yeah, great. I could pin my earbuds in, listen to disco music and just garden.’ And then she was talking about it for weeks,” he said. She told Democratic committee chairs at the start of the 2023 session to not mistake kindness for weakness - that they could be kind, respectful and still strong leaders, he said. That was how she operated. “No one worked harder than her,” Stephenson said. Those kind of timeless values of, be kind to people, work hard, care about the institution more than partisan politics, those things really matter. People saw that. Hortman’s style of politics is one way to address the rise in political violence, Stephenson said. She was a successful negotiator because she actually listened to the other side and tried to find solutions. She stayed respectful, though with some humor and barbs here and there. She was a committed Democrat, but was more interested in good governance than partisan wins. Clearly, what we need is more of that stuff. Transatlantic airfares have dropped to rates last seen before the pandemic, data shows, the latest sign that fewer Europeans are traveling to the US amid concerns over US border controls and Donald Trump’s policies. The trend could extend into and beyond the summer holiday period, typically the busiest time for airlines and travel companies. Overseas arrivals to the United States fell 2.8% in May from a year ago, according to preliminary data from the US National Travel and Tourism Office within the US Department of Commerce. Travel from western Europe fell 4.4% in May, led by a decline in travelers from Denmark and Germany. Forward bookings suggest sustained declines are on the horizon, with total inbound bookings to the US in July down 13% year-over-year, according to OAG Aviation, an analytics firm. Transatlantic airfare has been declining since the first quarter when Europeans started reconsidering travel to the US after Trump suggested annexing Greenland, launched a global trade war, and issued orders to tighten border policy. A stronger dollar has also deterred some trips. I talked with Minnesota’s Republican House speaker Lisa Demuth, a colleague and friend of Melissa Hortman’s who worked closely with her in a tied state House this year. Demuth said she learned a ton by watching how Hortman worked, and despite their political differences, they had a mutual respect. She recalled their shared love of Cheetos as a late-night snack during long legislative sessions and said Hortman was always direct, true to her word and looking for creative solutions even in rocky times. Since Hortman’s death by a gunman this weekend, Demuth, who is leading the chamber through this moment, said the body’s human resources department is working to get resources to all members of the legislature and staff to make sure they have assistance. For her personally, on the fifth day since the murders, she said she has cried less today. A vigil is planned for the state capitol this evening. Hortman’s family has also put up a GoFundMe to support the Hortmans’ two adult children with the costs of their parents’ funerals and repairs to the home, cars and garage that were damaged by the shootings. “In the ensuing police response to capture the assassin, their home, garage and cars were severely damaged in a hail of bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters,” the fundraiser notes. Related: Tough, whip-smart and selfless: Melissa Hortman, ‘singular force for democracy’, remembered People are checking in with each other, Demuth said, and “there’s an extra layer of compassion, not dependent on political alignment, but just people are like, how are you doing? And genuinely asking that and pausing for a response.” In a time of heightened divisiveness, the tragic shootings can give people an opportunity to extend grace to each other regardless of their political disagreements and see each other first as people, she said. “There are those moments that are fewer now than maybe they were years ago, something that we can recapture, where we can know each other as people,” Demuth said. “And then even when we disagree, it doesn’t have to become personal.” Donald Trump has once again knocked Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell for what he expected would be a decision not to lower interest rates and said the man he put in the role during his last term had done a poor job. Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, mused about appointing himself to lead the US central bank, based on his dissatisfaction with Powell. Maybe I should go to the Fed. Am I allowed to appoint myself at the Fed? I’d do a much better job than these people. Trump has long criticized Powell and sparked market concern earlier this year when he suggested the central bank chief’s termination couldn’t come fast enough. Trump has since walked back from that rhetoric, saying he would not fire Powell before his term as chair ends next year, but he has not held back on his broader criticism – he has called Powell a “major loser” – and has made clear that he will not ask Powell to stay on as the central bank’s leader. He told reporters: What I’m going to do is, you know, he gets out in about nine months, he has to, he gets fortunately terminated ... I would have never reappointed him, Biden reappointed him. I don’t know why that is, but I guess maybe he was a Democrat ... he’s done a poor job. The Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates unchanged today as its policymakers weigh signs of a cooling economy, the risk of higher inflation from US import tariffs, and the escalating crisis in the Middle East. Trump expressed disappointment in advance of the decision and underscored his belief that the Fed had been too late at cutting rates. I call him ‘too late Powell’ because he’s always too late. I mean, if you look at him, every time I did this I was right 100%, he was wrong. Vinay Prasad, the director of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, has been named as the health regulator’s chief medical and science officer, STAT News reports, citing an internal memo. Prasad will also lead the center that regulates vaccines, and gene therapies. The agency’s chief scientist and chief medical officer have typically been two distinct roles. Prasad will now hold three separate jobs at the agency, solidifying his position as a top adviser to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who announced the appointment to the staff, according to the STAT News report. Pete Hegseth said that he would remove military troops from American cities that Trump deployed to assist federal law enforcement officers if the Defense Department is directed to as a result of a supreme court ruling. “If the supreme court orders you to remove troops from American cities, will you do so?” asked senator Elizabeth Warren. “As I’ve said senator, I don’t believe district courts should determine national security policy, but if the supreme court rules on a topic, we will abide by that,” the defense secretary said. Trump deployed National Guard troops and US Marines to Los Angeles in response to protests against the administration’s immigration enforcement policies. The move sparked widespread controversy, including among the leaders of the Los Angeles police department and California governor Gavin Newsom. The US supreme court has ruled against the state of Texas and oil industry interests in their challenge to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) authority to license certain nuclear waste storage facilities. The 6-3 ruling reversed a lower court’s decision declaring a license awarded by the NRC to a company called Interim Storage Partners to operate a nuclear waste storage in western Texas unlawful. The NRC is the federal agency that regulates nuclear energy in the US. The NRC issued a license in 2021 to Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture of France-based Orano and Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists, to build a nuclear waste storage facility in Andrews County in Texas, near the New Mexico border. The US government and the company had appealed the decision by the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals that the NRC lacked authority to issue the license based on a law called the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. The appeal was brought under Democratic former President Joe Biden and was continued under Republican president Donald Trump. Tennessee Equality Project, an LGBTQ advocacy group, released a statement following the Supreme court decision upholding the Tennessee ban on youth gender-affirming care. The statement says that the ruling is “yet another example of why governments, politicians, courts, and extremists have no place in the exam room.” It reads: “We are profoundly disappointed by the US Supreme Court’s decision to side with the Tennessee legislature’s anti-transgender ideology and further erode the rights of transgender children and their families and doctors. We are grateful to the plaintiffs, families, and the ACLU for fighting on behalf of more than 1.3 million transgender adults and 300,000 youth across the nation. Gender-affirming care is proven to save lives. Major medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, support gender-affirming medical and psychological care because it saves lives and improves mental well-being. Providers, pediatricians, and specialists have been making thoughtful, evidence-based, and age-appropriate health care decisions with families and transgender patients for decades. Equal access to health care and bodily autonomy are fundamental human rights for every person, including our transgender children and youth. Instead of protecting young transgender people across the nation, states will now feel emboldened to codify discrimination more broadly in health care. This ruling is yet another example of why governments, politicians, courts, and extremists have no place in the exam room, endangering every transgender person. The consequences of this devastating decision will be felt by anyone who needs gender-affirming care; worse for transgender patients already facing widespread discrimination in hostile states. The Tennessee Equality Project fought this bill in the 2023 legislative session, then stood up for Tennesseans on the steps of the Supreme Court on December 4th, 2024. We are even more determined in our fight for transgender rights across Tennessee and call on our allies to honor transgender youth by taking actions in state and local government. To our transgender community, we see you, we love you, and we stand with you.” US senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said today that he has asked the Trump administration to provide all 100 senators a classified briefing on the situation unfolding between Israel and Iran that has resulted in days of the two countries trading missile attacks. “We’ve gotten briefings and I have requested that we get an all-senators classified briefing,” Schumer said, adding that he believes it will be granted. Speaking outside the White House, Donald Trump declined to answer reporters’ questions on whether the US was planning to join Israel in launching air strikes on Iran or its nuclear facilities. He said Iran had “reached out” and “wants to negotiate” but he feels “it’s very late to be talking”. “There’s a big difference between now and a week ago,” Trump said. “Nobody knows what I’m going to do.” Trump said that Iran had proposed to come for talks at the White House. He did not provide details. He described Iran as totally defenceless, with “no air defence whatsoever”. Meanwhile, defence secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate armed services committee the US military is “prepared to execute” any decision Trump might make on matters of war and peace, even as he declined to confirm preparations of strike options on Iran. “If and when those decisions are made, the Department [of Defense] is prepared to execute them,” Hegseth said. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called the decision part of the Republican “cruel crusade against trans kids” to divert attention away from proposed cuts to Medicaid. Republicans’ cruel crusade against trans kids is all an attempt to divert attention from ripping healthcare away from millions of Americans. We’ll keep fighting and we’ll keep marching on. In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the decision “does irrevocable damage to the Equal Protection Clause and “invites legislatures to engage in discrimination by hiding blatant sex classifications in plain sight”. This, she said, “authorizes … untold harm to transgender children”. This case presents an easy question: whether SB1’s ban on certain medications, applicable only if used in a manner ‘inconsistent with … sex’, contains a sex classification. Because sex determines access to the covered medications, it clearly does. Yet the majority refuses to call a spade a spade. Instead, it obfuscates a sex classification that is plain on the face of this statute, all to avoid the mere possibility that a different court could strike down SB1, or categorical healthcare bans like it. The Court’s willingness to do so here does irrevocable damage to the Equal Protection Clause and invites legislatures to engage in discrimination by hiding blatant sex classifications in plain sight. It also authorizes, without second thought, untold harm to transgender children and the parents and families who love them. Because there is no constitutional justification for that result, I dissent. She acknowledged her “sadness” and said the decision “abandons transgender children and their families to political whims”. [T]he majority subjects a law that plainly discriminates on the basis of sex to mere rational-basis review. By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims. In sadness, I dissent. The supreme court’s 6-3 decision is a major blow to the transgender community at a time when the Trump administration has taken steps to roll back gains made in recent years. The court’s majority opinion was written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by the other five members of the conservative wing. The three liberal justices dissented. Roberts wrote: This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field. The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound. The Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements. A Tennessee state law banning gender-affirming care for minors can stand, the US supreme court has ruled, a devastating loss for trans rights supporters in a case that could set a precedent for dozens of other lawsuits involving the rights of transgender children. The justices’ 6-3 decision effectively protects from legal challenges many efforts by the Trump administration and state governments to roll back protections for transgender people. Another 26 states have laws similar to the one in Tennessee. The case, United States v Skrmetti, was filed last year by three families of trans children and a provider of gender-affirming care. In oral arguments, the plaintiffs – as well as the US government, then helmed by Joe Biden – argued that Tennessee’s law constituted sex-based discrimination and thus violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. Under Tennessee’s law, someone assigned female at birth could not be prescribed testosterone, but someone assigned male at birth could receive those drugs. Tennessee, meanwhile, has argued that the ban is necessary to protect children from what it termed “experimental” medical treatment. During arguments, the conservative justices seemed sympathetic to that concern, although every major medical and mental health organization in the US has found that gender-affirming care can be evidence-based and medically necessary. These groups also oppose political bans on such care. In recent years, the question of transgender children and their rights has consumed an outsized amount of rightwing political discourse. Since 2021, 26 states have passed bans on gender-affirming care for minors, affecting nearly 40% of trans youth in the US. Twenty-six states have also outlawed trans kids from playing on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity. Many of these restrictions have been paused by court challenges, but the supreme court’s decision could have vast implications for those lawsuits’ futures. A study by the Trevor Project, a mental health nonprofit that aims to help LGBTQ+ kids, found that anti-trans laws are linked to a 72% increase of suicide attempts among trans and nonbinary youth. In a vivid illustration of the enormous schism on the American right over the Iran question, clips from Tucker Carlson’s interview yesterday in which he calls out Texas senator Ted Cruz for not knowing basic facts about Iran have gone viral. The full interview will be out today. Cruz, who has called for regime change in Iran, could not answer basic facts about the country, including its population size and ethnic makeup, spurring a shouting match with Carlson. At one point a fuming Carlson says to Cruz: You don’t know anything about Iran! You’re a senator who’s calling for the overthrow of the government and you don’t know anything about the country! The former Fox News host has been highly critical of the prospect of Trump getting involved in Israel’s war with Iran for being at odds with his isolationist “America First” approach to foreign policy and his administration’s pledge to keep America out of “forever wars” in the Middle East. Trump has responded in the usual way: “Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON.” The exchange represents the wider dilemma Trump finds himself in with the issue threatening to split his Maga base, with even Georgia congresswoman and Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene leaping to Carlson’s defence in a major break with the president, saying that anyone who supported intervention in Iran was not “America First”. Yesterday conservative Republican congressman Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, sided with Democrats to introduce a bill that would block the president from engaging US forces in “unauthorised hostilities” with Iran without congressional approval. “This is not our war,” he said on X. Trump’s former political strategist, Steve Bannon, also argued on Carlson’s podcast that allowing the “deep state” to drive the US into a war with Iran would “blow up” the coalition of Trump supporters. Women across the political spectrum are more concerned about the state of the US economy and inflation under Donald Trump than men are, according to a new exclusive poll for the Guardian. More Democrats than Republicans are now concerned about the economy following the president’s return to power. But pessimism was higher for women even among Republicans and independents, according to a new Harris poll. Overall, 62% of women and 47% of men said that the economy and inflation is getting worse, a gap of 15 percentage points. The gender gap crossed party lines with both Democratic and Republican women expressing greater concerns about the economy than men. “Here’s what everyone missed: women aren’t being pessimistic about the economy – they’re being realistic,” said Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer of Harris Poll. Women are experiencing the sharp edge of inflation on essentials like groceries and childcare in ways that stock portfolios can’t capture. Across questions about their outlook on the state of the economy, most respondents (78%) expressed concerns about the amount of uncertainty, particularly around prices. Yet women appear to be bearing the brunt of Trump’s economic policy, particularly around his tariffs. More women (71%) than men (62%) reported being their household’s primary shopper. This difference in household shopping responsibility translates into broader gaps in concern over affordability and prices: More women said they are very worried about food prices (52% of women compared to 39% of men) More women said they’re spending more time trying to find deals or go to more affordable stores (36% versus 26%) More women said their financial security is getting worse because of their difficulty in affording essential goods and services (55% versus 46%) The differences increased when respondents were asked about their comfort in affording their lifestyles in the current economy, including affording a family, a home, life as a single individual, and childcare. Just 27% of women said they felt comfortable affording a family now, compared to 43% of men. Although confidence in switching jobs was low among all respondents, 34% of men were confident in a job switch compared to 25% of women. Women are also more pessimistic about receiving a meaningful raise this year: 54% of women said they think they’ll get a raise, compared to 63% of men. US Senate Democrats have demanded health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr make public the reviews on which his department said it based its decision to cancel a contract for developing a bird flu vaccine. Donald Trump’s administration last month canceled a $590m contract awarded to Moderna in January by outgoing president Joe Biden’s administration for the late-stage development of its bird flu vaccine for humans, as well as the right to purchase shots. “This is a grievous mistake that threatens to leave the country unprepared for what experts fear might be the next pandemic - and there appears to be no rationale for this decision other than your ill-informed and dangerous war on vaccines,” senators Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth wrote in a letter seen by Reuters. The cancellation endangers American lives and will likely contribute to a 20% rise in the price of eggs this year, they wrote to Kennedy, who has a long history of questioning the safety of vaccines contrary to scientific evidence. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services at the time said the contract was canceled after a comprehensive internal review determined the project did not meet the scientific standards or safety expectations required for continued federal investment. Warren and Duckworth demanded Kennedy make the review public, alongside a similar review the department cited when it cut funding of a $258m program researching an HIV vaccine. They also asked for a detailed description of how the department decided to end the contracts, and a staff briefing. “You have failed to justify either of these moves to cripple vaccine research,” Warren and Duckworth wrote. “Furthermore, these decisions appear to be part of your larger, unfounded vendetta against mRNA technology.” Kennedy named eight members last week to serve on a panel of vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including some who have advocated against vaccines, days after abruptly firing all 17 members who had been serving on the independent committee of experts. Several of his appointees specifically oppose the mRNA vaccine technology used in some of the newest immunizations such as the Covid-19 vaccine, including by Moderna. Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov warned on Wednesday that direct US military assistance to Israel could radically destabilise the situation in the Middle East, where an air war between Israel and Iran has raged for six days. In separate comments, the head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, was quoted as saying that the situation between Israel and Iran was now critical. Ryabkov warned the US against direct military assistance to Israel or even considering such “speculative options,” according to Russia’s Interfax news agency. “This would be a step that would radically destabilise the entire situation,” it cited him as saying. Earlier, a source familiar with US internal discussions said president Donald Trump and his team were considering a number of options, including joining Israel in strikes against Iranian nuclear sites. On Tuesday, Trump openly mused on social media about killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but said “We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.” A group of white male lawmakers were playing cards in a back room while their female colleagues gave speeches on the Minnesota house floor. They weren’t paying attention, and Melissa Hortman had had enough. “I hate to break up the 100 percent white male card game in the retiring room,” Hortman said in 2017. “But I think this is an important debate.” The comment upset some Republicans, who said it was racist for her to call them white men and wanted her to apologize. Her response: “I’m really tired of watching women of color, in particular, being ignored. So I’m not sorry.” The moment went viral - people made shirts and rallied in support of her comments. The Republican men knew that they had lost, Minnesota senator Tina Smith said about the incident. “Melissa won the day.” “I think you have to call bullshit when you see bullshit,” Hortman said at the time. “And we see plenty of it.” It was one of many moments Hortman’s friends and colleagues have shared since the 55-year-old longtime legislator and her husband were murdered in what appears to be a politically motivated shooting spree in suburban Minnesota on Saturday. Her friends and colleagues have remembered her legislative accomplishments – an ability to bring people together, stay organized, find common ground and, perhaps most of all, actually get things done. She injected humor and levity into her work. She was whip-smart. She raised two kids and had a beloved rescue dog, Gilbert. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded on Wednesday to US president Donald Trump’s call for the country to surrender, warning that any US strike will have “serious irreparable consequences”. In his first remarks since Friday, when he delivered a speech broadcast on state media after Israel began bombarding Iran, Khamenei said peace or war could not be imposed on the Islamic Republic. “Intelligent people who know Iran, the Iranian nation, and its history will never speak to this nation in threatening language because the Iranian nation will not surrender,” he said. “The Americans should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage.” Kendra Wharton, a former member of president Donald Trump’s criminal defense team who serves as the Justice Department’s senior ethics official, plans to leave the department in July, she told Reuters. Wharton replaced Bradley Weinsheimer, the department’s career designated ethics official who resigned in February after Justice Department leaders reassigned him along with about a dozen other senior lawyers to a newly created Sanctuary Cities Working Group. The designated ethics official serves as a crucial gatekeeper who provides advice to department employees about potential conflicts of interest, including whether they should be recused from working on particular cases. That role is also responsible for reviewing disciplinary recommendations by the Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates attorney misconduct, and referrals for discipline or prosecution from the Office of the Inspector General. In other Trump news, the president posted overnight that he will be installing two flag poles at the White House’s north and south lawns. He has described the poles as both “beautiful” and “magnificent”. He posted on Truth Social: It is my Great Honor to announce that I will be putting up two beautiful Flag Poles on both sides of the White House, North and South Lawns. It is a GIFT from me of something which was always missing from this magnificent place. The digging and placement of the poles will begin at 7:30 A.M. EST, tomorrow morning. Flags will be raised at approximately 11 A.M. EST. These are the most magnificent poles made – They are tall, tapered, rust proof, rope inside the pole, and of the highest quality. Hopefully, they will proudly stand at both sides of the White House for many years to come! As Donald Trump publicly threatens to join Israel in attacking Iran, an unlikely coalition of lawmakers has moved to prevent the president from involving US forces in the conflict without Congress’s approval. On Tuesday, Republican congressman Thomas Massie, whose libertarian-tinged politics have often put him at odds with Trump, joined with several progressive Democrats to introduce in the House of Representatives a war powers resolution that would require a vote by Congress before Trump could attack Iran. Democrat Tim Kaine has introduced companion legislation in the Senate. “This is not our war. But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our constitution,” Massie wrote on X in announcing the resolution. Democrats Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez replied “signing on” to the tweet, while Massie’s office later announced that several others, including chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Greg Casar, would also sponsor the resolution. The resolutions’ introductions came hours after Trump left a G7 summit in Canada early to return to Washington DC and demand Iran’s “unconditional surrender” following days of Israeli airstrikes that have targeted its top military leaders and nuclear facilities. The White House later denied media reports circulating that the US had decided to become involved in the conflict, with spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer saying: American forces are maintaining their defensive posture, and that has not changed. We will defend American interests. However, US military aircraft and sea vessels have moved into the Middle East, and Iran’s deepest nuclear facilities are thought to be penetrable only by a bunker-busting bomb possessed by the US alone. The Federal Reserve wraps up its two-day policy meeting later today, with most analysts expecting that the central bank will leave its benchmark borrowing rate alone for the sixth straight meeting. Traders are now largely betting on the possibility of just one or maybe two cuts to interest rates this year by the Fed if any. That’s down from expectations of potentially six cuts, AP reports. A Fed policy statement and projections are expected at 2pm, followed by press conference by its chair Jerome Powell at 2.30pm. For context, US president Donald Trump has been putting pressure on Powell to cut interest rates in a bid to ‘supercharge’ the economy after his tariffs. Israel’s war on Iran appeared to be approaching a pivotal moment on Tuesday night after five days of bombing and retaliatory Iranian missile strikes, as Donald Trump demanded “unconditional surrender” from Tehran and weighed his military options. Trump convened a meeting of his national security team in the White House situation room after a day of febrile rhetoric in which the president gave sharply conflicting signals over whether US forces would participate directly in Israel’s bombing campaign over Iran. He told journalists in the morning that he expected the Iranian nuclear programme to be “wiped out” long before US intervention would be necessary. Later he took to his own social media platform, Truth Social, to suggest that the US had Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in its bomb-sights, and could make an imminent decision to take offensive action. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump said. “But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.” In a post a few minutes later, Trump bluntly demanded “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER”. It was not just Trump’s all-caps threats that triggered speculation that the US might join offensive operations. They were accompanied by the sudden forward deployment of US military aircraft to Europe and the Middle East, amid a general consensus that Iran’s deeply buried uranium enrichment facilities could prove impregnable without huge bunker-busting bombs that only the US air force possesses. “If Iran does not back down, complete destruction of Iranian nuclear programme is on the agenda, which Israel cannot achieve alone,” German chancellor Friedrich Merz told ZDF television a day after meeting Trump at the G7 summit in Canada. A federal appeals court on Tuesday seemed ready to keep Donald Trump in control of California national guard troops after they were deployed following protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids. Last week, a district court ordered the US president to return control of the guard to Democratic governor Gavin Newsom, who had opposed their deployment. US district judge Charles Breyer said Trump had deployed the Guard illegally and exceeded his authority. But the administration quickly appealed and a three-judge appellate panel temporarily paused that order. Tuesday’s hearing was about whether the order could take effect while the case makes its way through the courts, including possibly the supreme court. It’s the first time a US president has activated a state national guard without the governor’s permission since 1965, and the outcome of the case could have sweeping implications for Trump’s power to send soldiers into other US cities. Trump announced on 7 June that he was deploying the guard to Los Angeles to protect federal property following a protest at a downtown detention center after federal immigration agents arrested dozens of immigrants without legal status across the city. Newsom said Trump was only inflaming the situation and that troops were not necessary. In a San Francisco courtroom, all three judges, two appointed by Trump in his first term and one by Joe Biden, suggested that presidents have wide latitude under the federal law at issue and that courts should be reluctant to step in. “If we were writing on a blank slate, I would tend to agree with you,” Judge Jennifer Sung, a Biden appointee, told California’s lawyer, Samuel Harbourt, before pointing to a 200-year-old supreme court decision that she said seemed to give presidents the broad discretion Harbourt was arguing against. Even so, the judges did not appear to embrace arguments made by a justice department lawyer that courts could not even review Trump’s decision. It wasn’t clear how quickly the panel would rule. Brad Lander, New York City’s comptroller and a mayoral candidate, has lashed out at Donald Trump and “his fascist regime”, after he was arrested on Tuesday by masked federal agents while visiting an immigration court and accompanying a person out of a courtroom. Posting on X, Lander wrote: We will all be worse off if we let Donald Trump and his fascist regime undermine the rule of law. Lander was arrested, according to video footage of the incident, as he and his staff walked with an immigrant – who he later identified as “Edgardo” – who had their case dismissed pending appeal earlier in the day, per AMNY. Lander can be seen and heard in videos of the incident asking the immigration officials if they have a judicial warrant. Additional footage of the arrest shows Lander telling the officials: I’m not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant. In a statement to the Guardian, assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin from the Department of Homeland Security said Lander “was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer”. Upon his release, Lander said he “certainly did not” assault an officer. In an interview with CNN after his arrest, Lander said: All I was trying to do was the things I had done [in] the prior two weeks of just accompany people out to safety. That was my goal today. I sure did not go with any intention of getting arrested. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is expected to meet Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, for talks today. The meeting is expected to take place in the White House cabinet room at 1pm Washington time. It comes after India’s prime minister Narendra Modi told Trump late on Tuesday that a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after a four-day conflict in May was achieved through talks between the two militaries and not US mediation. Trump had said last month that the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours agreed to a ceasefire after talks mediated by the US, and that the hostilities ended after he urged the countries to focus on trade instead of war. “PM Modi told President Trump clearly that during this period, there was no talk at any stage on subjects like India-US trade deal or US mediation between India and Pakistan,” Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri said in a press statement, according to Reuters. More on both of these stories in a moment, but first, here are some other developments: Israel’s war on Iran appeared to be approaching a pivotal moment on Tuesday night after five days of bombing and retaliatory Iranian missile strikes, as Donald Trump demanded “unconditional surrender” from Tehran and weighed his military options. Trump convened a meeting of his national security team in the White House situation room after a day of febrile rhetoric in which the president gave sharply conflicting signals over whether US forces would participate directly in Israel’s bombing campaign in Iran. An unlikely coalition of lawmakers has moved to prevent the president from involving US forces in the conflict without Congress’s approval. Republican congressman Thomas Massie, whose libertarian-tinged politics have often put him at odds with Trump, joined several progressive Democrats to introduce in the House of Representatives a war powers resolution that would require a vote by Congress before Trump could attack Iran. Democrat Tim Kaine has introduced companion legislation in the Senate. “Effective today, I am lifting the curfew in downtown Los Angeles,” the city’s mayor, Karen Bass, said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. A federal judge in Boston ruled that transgender and intersex people can obtain passports that align with their gender identity during litigation that seeks to overturn Trump’s executive order that US passports must conform to the sex citizens were assigned at birth. Ukrainian diplomats have been left frustrated – and in some cases embittered – at Donald Trump’s refusal to make Ukraine a priority after Volodymyr Zelenskyy flew 5,000 miles to the G7 conference in Canada only for the US president to return home the night before the two leaders were due to meet. Trump said he needed to focus on the Israel-Iran conflict. Donald Trump has abandoned his brief immigration and customs enforcement (Ice) reprieve for farm and hotel workers, ordering the agency’s raids in those sectors to resume after hardliners crushed a pause that lasted just four days. A federal appeals court in San Francisco heard arguments on Tuesday in Trump v Newsom, to determine whether the Trump administration must return control of the California national guard troops deployed to Los Angeles by Trump to the state’s governor during protests over federal immigration raids. Bernie Sanders has endorsed the leftwing New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in the latest boost to his insurgent campaign.