President Donald Trump is scheduled to swear in Todd Blanche, his old personal lawyer, as attorney general Monday after the Senate voted to confirm him early Saturday. Blanche's path toward confirmation exposed deep concerns — from some Republicans as well as Democrats — over installing Trump's close ally atop a Justice Department that historically prided itself on its independence from the White House.
Progressive candidates for governor in Wisconsin and U.S. Senate in Minnesota are making their final pushes ahead of Tuesday's election, increasing the pressure on the Democratic establishment. In Wisconsin, democratic socialist Francesca Hong seeks to win a four-way Democratic primary for governor. Minnesota voters will choose between moderate U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in a Democratic U.S. Senate primary in the aftermath of Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement surge.
Iran says it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States lifts its blockade on the strait, pays compensation for months of war damage, lifts economic sanctions and releases Iran's frozen assets. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flatly rejected Trump's proposed exit strategy for Gaza.
Here’s the latest:
Trump signs waiver letting foreign trips carry oil and other goods among US ports for 90 days
Trump on Monday extended a waiver for 90 days for foreign ships to transport goods, including oil, fertilizers and other fossil fuel products, among U.S. ports.
The president first waived the Jones Act on March 17 so that it would be easier to transport oil and refined fuels among ports, reducing price pressures after the start of the war with Iran.
The extension will take effect on August 17.
Unlike previous extensions, the Pentagon will consult with the Maritime Administration to decide which voyages are exempt from the 1920 law containing the Jones Act. The waiver will only apply to cargo are sources of energy and commodities related to agriculture and food, such as soybean oil.
Ex Air Force secretary talking to lawyers after Trump admin revokes security clearance
Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said Monday that he’s talking to lawyers after the Trump administration revoked his security clearance last week.
Kendall, who has been critical of the administration, said in a post on LinkedIn that he’s “talking to lawyers and will have more soon.” He said he’s had his clearance for 60 years and was careful to say nothing classified.
The Pentagon revoked Kendall’s “eligibility” to access classified information and barred him from holding “any sensitive position,” alleging Friday that he disclosed sensitive information about Air Force One’s capabilities to the media.
It follows reporting last month, including from The New York Times, on security concerns over the new, Qatari-gifted Air Force One, including that it lacked the advanced antimissile capabilities of its predecessor.
US military base in South Carolina renamed after late Sen. Lindsey Graham
A U.S. military base in South Carolina was renamed after the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham Monday, with Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth praising Graham’s dedication to the military and for “taking on a radical leftist ideology” in the armed forces.
Joint Base Charleston is now Joint Base Lindsey Graham, which includes an Air Force base and a Naval Weapons Station. Graham, who died last month, served in the Air Force, Air National Guard and reserves.
Hegseth praised Graham's support of President Donald Trump's historic $1.5 billion defense budget proposal. In praising Graham, Hegseth also employed the Trump administration's strategy of linking Democrats to communism.
“The hard left declared war on our own military,” Hegseth said, adding that “it seems that many people have forgotten the reality of what communism looks like.”
Trump dismisses Iran’s call for war reparations
Trump is scoffing at the Iran’s call for reparations for devastation caused to the country by the U.S. and Israeli bombardment over the last five months, a demand he said hadn’t been raised by Tehran’s negotiators until now.
The Republican president, in a social media post, added that in response to the Iranian demand he’s directing negotiators to include “compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts.”
The U.S. government says Iran-backed militants have been responsible for the deaths and injuries of hundreds of Americans over the last several decades, including the 1983 bombing on a Marine compound in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. military personnel, the 1996 truck bombing of a U.S. Air Force housing complex in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 U.S. troops and wounded hundreds more, and the deaths of at least 603 U.S. troops in Iraq between 2003 and 2011.
Trump announces staff secretary Will Scharf will be his new White House counsel
President Donald Trump announced Sunday that his new White House counsel will be Will Scharf, the staff secretary who as the Trump-appointed head of the National Capital Planning Commission helped secure approval for the $400 million ballroom project.
Trump said that, beginning Sept. 1, Scharf will be replacing David Warrington, who will be leaving the administration to join the private sector. Trump noted that Scharf previously served as a federal prosecutor and represented him in a number of cases, including at the Supreme Court.
“Will is Tough, Strong, and Smart! He also loves our Country, and respects the Law,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Will Scharf will do a great job as White House Counsel!”
The shakeup in the White House counsel's office comes at a critical juncture — just months ahead of the midterm elections, where Trump's Republican Party will be fighting to hold on to control of Congress. Democrats have vowed to pursue investigations into Trump and his administration if they are successful in November.
Trump officials propose new scrutiny of food additives and ingredients
U.S. health officials on Monday proposed a rule change that would require food manufacturers to notify regulators before introducing new ingredients or additives into processed or packaged foods.
The proposal would change a decades-old policy that advocates have called a regulatory loophole, blaming it for allowing thousands of unvetted ingredients into the U.S. food supply.
Under the proposed rule from the Food and Drug Administration, companies would have to document and submit their safety findings for new ingredients, giving regulators the opportunity to investigate if they see a potential safety risk. Currently companies can decide for themselves if an ingredient or additive is "generally recognized as safe" and there is no requirement for companies to notify or submit evidence to the FDA, although some do.
State Department says it has revoked more 175,000 visas since Trump took office
The revoked visas had been granted to more than 175,000 foreigners who have endangered American citizens, broken laws or threatened U.S. national security, according to a statement issued Monday by the State Department.
The statement says most were revoked “due to law enforcement encounters for a range of criminal activity,” including assault, child abuse, drunken driving, drug violations, and embezzlement. It doesn’t say how many of those visa holders had been convicted of such crimes.
Some of the revocations involved “foreign nationals who celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk, including one who stated ‘when fascists die, democrats don’t complain’ and another who said he ‘died too late’, the statement said.
Veteran Democrats face strong challenges in Connecticut’s primary
Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont's try for a third term must first clear a challenge by state Rep. Josh Elliott. And U.S. Rep. John Larson faces his first primary challenge in nearly 30 years, from former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, Hartford Board of Education member Ruth Fortune and state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest.
Both contests could help redefine the Democratic brand by replacing old guard figures with younger alternatives. Tuesday's primaries also could extend a progressive winning streak in New York City, Colorado and the Michigan U.S. Senate primary.
Larson turned 78 in July. Concerns over his health and age arose last year after he suffered a seizure while delivering a speech on the House floor.
Iranian leadership makes display of unity against US
Iran's president says the country's supreme leader is calling for "unity and cohesion" as its war with the United States brings more economic hardships to the Islamic Republic.
President Masoud Pezeshkian described a nearly seven-hour meeting with Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in an interview Monday with Iranian state television that aired amid apparent tensions among the Islamic Republic's leaders.
He told IRIB they discussed people’s livelihoods, the state of the market, employment, people’s housing and problems resulting from U.S. sanctions. Most important, he said, was Khamenei’s emphasis on unity.
“All of the enemy’s plans are aimed at creating division,” Pezeshkian said. “What we have to do is prevent divisions from emerging.”
He didn’t say when or where they met. Khamenei is believed to have been wounded in the U.S.-Israeli strike that killed his father and has not appeared in public since he was appointed in March.
Judge cancels release hearing for 1st person ever charged in 30-year-old Alien Terrorist Removal Court
A federal judge has canceled a release hearing this week for Afghan woman who is the first person ever charged in a 30-year-old deportation court that was recently activated by the Trump administration.
A Tuesday hearing had been set in the Alien Terrorist Removal Court's inaugural case against Nazira Haji Zada, who is accused of supporting the Islamic State group. But the court's chief judge agreed Monday to give her lawyers more time to prepare and gather information. A new hearing date wasn't immediately set.
The court received its first-ever petition when the Justice Department filed an application seeking Haji Zada’s removal, opening an untested new front in Trump’s deportation campaign. Haji Zada, a lawful permanent U.S. resident, wants to be released from custody while the court case is pending.
Democrats face tougher reelection fights in redrawn districts
The court-inspired actions in Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee, as well as earlier legislative actions in other states to redraw boundaries through unusual mid-decade redistricting, were part of a nationwide Republican effort championed by Trump to maximize the party's chances of holding its slim U.S. House majority this year.
Candidates in Tuesday’s special primaries in Alabama are running under the new Republican-backed boundaries, which go into effect in January 2027. Both Democratic representatives are unopposed in their party primaries, but facing tougher odds in November.
Rep. Shomari Figures, for example, was elected in a district where Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris beat Trump 53% to 46%. In his newly drawn district, Trump would have beaten Harris 57% to 42%.
What to expect in primaries for Alabama’s redistricted congressional seats
Voters in four of Alabama's seven congressional districts select U.S. House nominees in special primaries Tuesday under a new map that eliminates one of the state's two majority-Black districts currently represented by Democrats.
Republican Gov. Kay Ivey had postponed contests for the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Congressional Districts following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that prompted a handful of Republican-controlled Southern states to throw out their congressional maps.
What to expect as South Carolina voters choose Sen. Lindsey Graham’s successor
Ten Republicans are competing in Tuesday's special primary election, including two congressmen, a former governor and Graham's sister, now a U.S. senator appointed to serve out the final months of his current term.
Lindsey Graham's unexpected death, a month after winning the June 9 Republican primary for the seat he first won a quarter-century ago, created this vacancy for the GOP's nominee on the November ballot for another six-year term.
U.S. Sen. Darline Graham has Trump's endorsement. Her opponents include Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman, former Gov. Mark Sanford and business owner Mark Lynch, who ran against Lindsey Graham in the June 9 primary.
If no candidate receives a majority, the top two vote-getters advance to a special primary runoff on Aug. 25. The winner will face Democratic nominee Annie Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician.
Washington grapples with a National Guard deployment extended until 2029
It's been 12 months since Trump announced a crime emergency in Washington, pledging to make the city "safe and beautiful" and deploying the National Guard.
But a mission that seemed temporary has been extended through January 2029. Residents and a new cadre of local officials consider it an unacceptable federal attempt to restrict the heavily Democratic city's autonomy. A year in, they still question the necessity of troops on the streets of the nation's capital.
“Here we are in the capital of the free world, and our president is treating it like a police state,” said Scott Michelman, legal director of the ACLU of the District of Columbia.
The continued deployment will be a major test for the politicians taking office after this year’s elections — residents will want them to use their limited powers to push back on Republican encroachment into the city’s affairs.
Democrats investigating immigration efforts against military families
Congressional Democrats are probing the Trump administration's efforts to deport military service members and their families after The Associated Press found that the spouses or parents of more than 50 active-duty troops have been detained by immigration authorities, breaking promises to shield their families from enforcement.
More than 60 lawmakers signed a letter Sunday evening to the Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs. It says “these efforts imperil military readiness, weaken service members’ morale, and betray America’s promises to the people who put their lives on the line for our nation.”
The Pentagon declined to comment, stating it would “reply directly to the authors of the letter.”
DHS told the AP that it values service members’ contributions but “U.S. military service alone does not automatically grant lawful immigration status, or exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.”
White House mum on Israel’s rejection of Trump’s Gaza deal
The White House has not commented on the Israeli Prime Minister's dismissal of Trump's deal for Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel's military "will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed."
Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting that "Israel rejects the 15-point document" but is still discussing plans for Gaza with Washington. Trump had said Israeli forces would withdraw as the Hamas militant group's disarmament is completed. Israeli forces control over half the Palestinian enclave of about 2 million people that's been largely destroyed.
“We remain committed to the road map,” said a member of the Hamas political bureau, Bassem Naim, adding that the group expects mediators and the U.S. to pressure Netanyahu — who also faces domestic tensions as he struggles to hold onto power ahead of the next elections scheduled for Oct. 27.
Ocasio-Cortez says she’s freezing her eggs as she decides her next political moves
The 36-year-old Democratic New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explained her decision in an ABC "This Week" interview on Sunday and said she has not ruled out running for president or for the U.S. Senate seat held by the Democrats' floor leader, Chuck Schumer.
Ocasio-Cortez says in her social media posts that she’s taking a political risk in sharing such a personal decision about her potential plans to have children. The congresswoman says she wants to feel more control over her life and normalize conversations about what women face in their professional and personal lives.
Iran presses demands on US as shipping standoff grinds on
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States meets its conditions.
“It is up to the U.S. side to stop and make amends for its illegal and destructive actions,” Esmail Baghaei said Monday, noting the American blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran wants the U.S. to lift its blockade on the Strait, pay compensation for months of war damage, lift economic sanctions and release Iran's frozen assets. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world's traded oil supplies — has become the war's most lasting consequence. The impasse has kept energy prices as a major focus of U.S. politics ahead of November's midterm elections.
Iran is holding separate talks with Oman over transit through the strait, including potentially a temporary shipping corridor, but has said any actual reopening is contingent on talks with the U.S.
Wisconsin’s chaotic primary pits progressive against governor’s pick
Democratic socialist Francesca Hong is trying to win a four-way Democratic primary for governor in Wisconsin, where her top opponent has been endorsed by popular Gov. Tony Evers, who isn't seeking a third term.
Evers got behind Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley on July 18, the same day Crowley reentered the race after dropping out 10 days earlier. Crowley rejoined after the candidate he backed, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, ended her candidacy amid a campaign finance scandal.
Evers and more establishment Democrats were hoping to finally coalesce around Crowley in the final days of the chaotic primary that saw two other candidates drop out, most notably former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes on July 29.
Republicans are spending to support a Hong victory, betting she's the better matchup for Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in November. The Republican Governors Association has spent nearly $3.6 million through its Right Direction Wisconsin PAC on ads contrasting Hong with Trump and playing up her liberal proposals.
Trump’s immigration crackdown looms over Minnesota’s bruising Senate primary
Efforts to resist Trump found their footing in the streets surrounding a drab federal office complex next to the Minneapolis airport. As U.S. immigration agents staged at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building for a monthslong deportation campaign, protesters with whistles and cellphone cameras assembled to oppose them. Two were shot and killed in the city's streets before Trump pulled back under pressure.
Months later, those confrontations remain the backdrop to Minnesota's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, which features establishment-backed U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and the more progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. The immigration debate is an added schism in a race that otherwise echoes many of the other left versus center divides that have played out across the United States this year.