President Donald Trump downplayed reports about conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. The aircraft carrier has been the subject of escalating concern over mental health and supply issues for American sailors enduring a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days. Trump said a retired, unnamed, admiral assured him that the Lincoln is “beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of.”
After ordering the Pentagon to scale back annual joint military exercises with South Korea, claiming the nation declined to help with the United States’ war against Iran, Trump said that he has spoken with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about a scheduled conversation.
Trump’s son-in-law and Mideast negotiator Jared Kushner held hourslong meetings with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday after talking with Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt on disarmament. Netanyahu rejected a 15-point, U.S.-backed road map to move the truce deal forward in Gaza. Hamas says it has agreed to the road map, which includes disarmament.
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Melania Trump helped reunite child and family separated by the war in Ukraine
According to the first lady’s office, it was the latest of 34 children that Melania Trump has helped reunite with their families after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last year, the first lady penned a letter calling for peace to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which, she said at the time, led to an “open channel of communication” about the welfare of children caught up in the war.
“There is nothing more powerful than reuniting a mother with her child after an extended period of time,” Melania Trump said in a statement Monday.
‘I like the idea of declaring’ the Strait of Hormuz a territory
The president was asked about an offhand comment he made last week about the waterway crucial to oil shipping that’s become a centerpiece of negotiations over the war with Iran.
“I like the idea of declaring it a territory,” Trump said on Monday, without providing further details.
It’s not the first time Trump has toyed with the idea of expanding American territory. He has previously mused about taking over Greenland, Canada and Venezuela.
Trump likens his sentiment toward South Korea to his feelings about NATO
The U.S. president further explained his decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, likening his relationship with Seoul to his often-frayed ties with the transatlantic alliance.
Trump said the U.S. keeps tens of thousands of troops in South Korea for its protection, and was rebuffed when it asked Seoul for assistance regarding the war in Iran earlier this year.
As he discussed his decision on South Korea, Trump said “look at NATO” and later added, “all I want is fairness.”
“We can’t go around and protect all of these countries, especially when they’re not there to help us,” Trump said.
Trump says concerns about conditions on USS Lincoln are ‘fake’
Trump downplayed reports about conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln to reporters in the Oval Office. The aircraft carrier has been the subject of escalating concern over mental health and supply issues for American sailors enduring nearly nine months at sea.
Trump called it a “good period of time” but added that “over the years, we’ve had them out there much longer.”
The carrier has had a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days.
But Trump said he spoke with a retired admiral over the weekend who recounted being on ships for “much longer.” Trump said the admiral assured him that the Lincoln is “beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of.”
Trump did not name the admiral.
Trump administration pauses contentious border construction in Texas’ Big Bend National Park
The Trump administration says it is temporarily pausing construction of a controversial border construction project in the Big Bend National Park while the head of the agency tasked with building the wall visits Texas to do an “on-the-ground evaluation.”
The project through the national park in southern Texas has faced fierce bipartisan opposition by critics who say it is marring a pristine environmental area and that the region’s rugged and remote terrain already serves as a deterrent to migrants and smugglers.
Rodney Scott, who heads Customs and Border Protection which is tasked with building the wall, said in an announcement on X that he was visiting Texas to do an evaluation.
“CBP is pausing all construction activity in Big Bend National Park while I visit and conduct a personal, on-the-ground evaluation,” Scott said.
Trump calls UK prime minister’s text exchange a ‘miscommunication’
The U.S. president was asked about a report that said new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham exchanged messages with someone posing as Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff.
“I’m sure that he had a miscommunication,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The report from Politico said Burnham thought he was messaging with Wiles before he became suspicious and cut off communications.
Earlier Monday, the White House said the incident had nothing to do with Wiles’ devices being hacked.
Trump says North Korea’s Kim has responded to request for a conversation
The U.S. president was pressed on whether he has had a conversation with the North Korean leader.
Trump said “yeah he has” responded to Trump’s request to have a conversation, referring to Kim Jong Un.
Trump offered no other details, but noted later during the Oval Office appearance that “I get along with him very well.”
Trump says his administration is taking a look at Flock cameras
The president said there are pros and cons to Flock Safety cameras, which have come under scrutiny from civil rights groups and lawmakers in both parties.
“It’s being studied right now,” Trump said when asked about the subject Monday at an Oval Office event. “We’ll have an answer soon as to our views on it.”
The company’s nationwide network of cameras record the license plate numbers and other characteristics of passing vehicles.
Thousands of police agencies can use Flock data to support investigations, and advocates call it an important crime-fighting tool. Critics say it amounts to needless mass surveillance.
Trump sits with 10-year-old and his lifeguard rescuer in Oval Office
Nathanial Rai had been swept off his feet along the California coast, was rescued by a 16-year-old lifeguard and was now sitting in the Oval Office.
Rai wore a dark suit and maroon tie and sat on a gold couch aside his father and the president of the United States. Across from Rai was his rescuer Ryder Williams, both of whom watched Trump speak of their ordeal, a video of which went viral.
“He’s a real hero. I don’t know if I’d do it,” said Trump. “I wouldn’t probably. You’re lucky I wasn’t on the service that day.”
Trump meeting with teenage lifeguard who saved boy in dramatic viral video
A teenage lifeguard who saved a 10-year-old boy from pounding waves off the California last month is being honored at the White House on Monday.
President Donald Trump is meeting Ryder Williams after saying the teen deserved a civilian honor. Trump previously said on social media that he would be inviting Williams to the White House to reward his bravery.
Dramatic video of the rescue went viral last month. It showed Williams clinging to Nathaniel Rai as waves repeatedly crash over them. The pair disappeared from view and reemerged after several seconds as the wave receded.
A second lifeguard was eventually able to help get them both back to shore at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz.
Trump initially commented on the video in response to a post from his son, Eric Trump, who said Williams deserved “the highest civilian honor.”
After killing hundreds in boat strikes, US military expands campaign on land
The Trump administration says it is seeking to expand its lethal campaign of bombing boats off Latin America’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts onto land.
It will be “like you saw with the strikes on the drug boats,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a military drill in the jungle in Panama last week. “Same effect on land.”
The government has lined up regional allies to let the U.S. military operate within their borders in a campaign to assert what it calls “American dominance over the Western Hemisphere.”
Critics say the expansion could pave the way for more civilian casualties and anger toward Washington that may outlast the Trump administration.
Trump dwarfs his predecessors in ultra-rich appointees
Wealth, perhaps second only to loyalty, has been a prized attribute for Donald Trump during his second presidency.
The number of people worth at least $100 million whom the Republican president has appointed to his administration is more than four times the combined total of his three predecessors, according to a report from Public Citizen.
The consumer advocacy group’s report Monday says 57 Trump officials are worth at least $100 million, including 17 ambassadors and eight of his Cabinet members. Treasury Secretary Howard Lutnick and Education Secretary Linda McMahon are billionaires.
The president, himself a billionaire, has described his deference to the financial success of the ultrawealthy. Yet Trump owes his White House comeback to support from middle-income working Americans drawn to his pledge to lower everyday costs, and now faces an electorate decidedly less keen on his handling of the economy.
Public Citizen says ultra-wealthy White House can lead to corruption
Trump’s views are well established: Financial success is evidence of executive mastery and negotiating strength.
And to encourage billionaires to deliver future economic growth, Trump has pursued policies on artificial intelligence and financial regulation that could benefit wealthy people, along with tax cuts and reduced regulatory burdens for large-scale investments.
But a government populated by so many of the economic elite presents potential problems, the report’s authors said.
“When the people holding the reins of government are drawn overwhelmingly from the ranks of the ultra-rich, it leads to misplaced incentives and corruption, and begs the question, ’Whose interests they are truly serving?” said Lisa Gilbert, Public Citizen’s co-president.
Trump’s scaling back military training with South Korea is ‘inane,’ senator says
Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Trump appears to be appeasing North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un while worsening relations with U.S. allies.
“This is another inane, haphazard decision by President Trump and his chaotic administration,” Reed said in a statement.
“America’s alliances are built on trust and strength,” he said. “When President Trump cuts military exercises to flatter a dictator or punishes South Korea for declining to join a war he started, all of our allies — and adversaries — think that America’s commitments are negotiable.”
Reed noted that the U.S. and South Korea have conducted joint military exercises since the 1950s as a show of strength and deterrence against aggression from North Korea. And he warned that warned that China and Russia are watching how easily Trump abandons America’s allies.
The buck stops somewhere else: A look at Trump’s tendency to avoid blame
President Harry Truman famously kept a “The Buck Stops Here” sign on his White House desk. The current Oval Office occupant often veers from that motto of taking responsibility.
Trump has blamed his predecessors for the weak economy, high inflation and the increasingly unpopular war in Iran that has kept oil prices high and his approval rating low while sending shock waves through the global economy.
He blames vandals for the problem-plagued Reflecting Pool renovation, and now the dead grass where his July 4th event was held on the National Mall.
All presidents try to shift some responsibility, but none in modern history has taken it as far as Trump.
The White House says Trump is working to correct long-festering challenges. But his unwillingness to accept blame sometimes leads him to deny problems, which could put GOP seats in jeopardy as Republicans face voters.
Wall Street nears new records as big US companies report booming profits
Big U.S. companies in the S&P 500 index are on track to deliver growth of roughly 50% for earnings per share in the spring from a year earlier, according to FactSet. Still to come are profit reports from big retailers, including Home Depot, Target and Walmart this week.
They’re facing pressure. Customers’ incomes may be turning iffier after U.S. employers surprisingly cut more jobs last month than they added, as bills rise quickly with inflation much higher than anyone would like. Shoppers surprisingly spent less at U.S. retailers last month than in June.
And the wait continues to see what the Iran war will do with oil prices. Brent crude rose 0.7% to $89.15 a barrel Monday, a relatively modest move after jagged recent swings.
Trump threatens Oman during interview with Fox News
Trump has warned Oman as the Gulf nation works with Iran on a plan for the Strait of Hormuz, telling Fox News reporter Trey Yingst that the U.S. would bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” using an expletive for emphasis.
Fox News did not provide audio of the Monday interview.
This is not the first time that Trump has threatened Oman. In May, he told reporters during a Cabinet meeting that “Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up.”
Trump also said the expiration of the 60-day deadline on ending the war was irrelevant and said there was no timeline, Yingst said. And Trump said the U.S. has a backchannel for talks with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Yingst said.
Supreme Court again rebuffs Trump, upholds $5 million for E. Jean Carroll
The Supreme Court on Monday again rebuffed President Donald Trump’s push to throw out a jury’s $5 million finding that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.
The Republican president’s lawyers had asked the justices to reconsider their refusal to hear his appeal.
It’s unusual — although not unheard of — for the court to grant such requests. Trump paid the judgment shortly after the court declined to take up his appeal in June.
Trump and the Justice Department are also asking the high court to toss out a second Carroll verdict totaling $83 million. They argue he’s immune from being sued over comments he made about her in 2019, when he was president. The court has not yet acted on that appeal.
Israel’s Ben-Gvir advocates killing ’30 to 40′ people in Gaza every night
The comments by an extremist Israeli lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition surfaced Sunday and were quickly shared by Palestinian media, but scarcely mentioned by Israel’s domestic media.
Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir was speaking on a podcast about Israel’s recent drawdown of strikes in Gaza.
“I disagree with the prime minister,” he said. “I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night. Not just those who pose an immediate threat — there are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people.”
In the past, similar statements by Ben-Gvir and other Israeli officials were widely condemned and presented to the U.N.’s world court as evidence of genocidal intent. Israel denies it has committed genocide in Gaza.
Kushner meeting with Netanyahu as he seeks approval of Gaza road map
Trump son-in-law and Mideast negotiator Jared Kushner was holding meetings with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday after talking with Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt on disarmament.
The Israeli leader rejected a 15-point, U.S.-backed road map to move the truce deal forward in Gaza. Hamas says it has agreed to the road map, which includes disarmament, and the group is urging mediators and the U.S.-created Board of Peace to “compel” Israel to sign on as well.
But Israel, which under the road map must withdraw from Gaza, says Hamas must fully disarm before any Israeli withdrawal will occur.
Trump’s 60-day deadline for an Iran peace deal is expiring
The deal Trump signed at Versailles set an ambitious 60-day deadline for ending the war with Iran and reaching an accord on its nuclear program. The deadline was Monday, and the two sides are even further apart.
Talks, such as they are, have focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting a U.S. blockade. Both were supposed to have happened under the interim deal. There has been no sign of any compromise on the strait, or that detailed nuclear talks have even begun.
The U.S., meanwhile, has no good options for getting out of the war it started alongside Israel. Acceding to Iranian control over the critical international waterway where global energy supplies moved freely before the war would be tantamount to admitting defeat. Escalating the deeply unpopular war would jolt the world economy and drive up prices ahead of U.S. elections.
Iran says deal with Oman over shipping through Strait of Hormuz is nearly final
Iranian Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran on Monday that “an understanding has been reached regarding the map of the transit route,” and the sides are working to finalize details for the joint statement.
He did not elaborate, but details that have previously emerged suggest the deal would reopen the strait with ships entering through a route close to Iran and exiting through a route close to Oman. Ships would transit without paying fees or tolls during the interim period.
The U.S. has sought an acceptable deal on opening the strait before ending its blockade of Iranian ports and it was not clear whether this would meet Washington’s expectations.
US Central Command chief visited aircraft carrier after Trump’s comments
Adm. Brad Cooper visited the USS Lincoln amid reports that its record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days is taxing the crew’s mental health and creating supply shortages. The Lincoln has been supporting Trump’s war against Iran, including the blockade on Iranian ports.
Cooper praised the carrier’s leadership on Sunday for making mental health and resilience a priority. His visit followed comments by Trump on Friday that their deployment is “not nearly long enough.”
Top Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have requested a classified briefing on the ship’s situation. Republicans have been less outspoken.
Trump blames vandals for damaged grass where he held his July 4 celebration
Trump on Sunday said vandals are to blame for large swaths of dead grass on the National Mall near the World War II Memorial — in the same spot where Trump had a stage built and hosted crowds for his July 4 celebration.
Trump made the accusation in a social media post without saying why he believes it’s the work of vandals instead of trampled turf from the Independence Day festivities. He posted a photo showing a once-grassy area by the World War II Memorial, now patchy and brown across much of the sprawling turf.
“Look what VANDALS did to the grass connecting the vandalized World War II Monument and the vandalized Reflecting Pool, which will be opened again, and better than ever, shortly,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Trump has repeatedly blamed vandals for damage to his renovation projects in the nation’s capital, often without evidence and sometimes despite opposing accounts from his officials.
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