Live updates: Trump receives lavish royal welcome to Saudi Arabia

President Donald Trump is in Saudi Arabia for the first leg of his three-nation visit to the Middle East this week. His first visit is focused on dealmaking with a key Mideast ally while shared concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and the war in Gaza drag on in the background.

In a speech earlier Tuesday, Trump urged Iran to take a “new and a better path” as he pushes for a new nuclear deal and said he wanted to avoid conflict with Tehran.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi de facto ruler, warmly greeted Trump as he stepped off Air Force One. The pair signed a host of economic and bilateral cooperation agreements.

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Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune, of South Dakota, declined to give a direct opinion on Trump possibly accepting a free plane from Qatar to replace Air Force One, but he said that if it happens, “I can assure you there will be plenty of scrutiny.”

Democratic Sens. Brian Schatz and Richard Blumenthal, both of Hawaii, went to the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon and tried to force a vote on a resolution disapproving of the Qatari gift.

“It really should go without saying, but no president should be accepting a $400 million gift from a foreign country,” Schatz said. “It is gross, it is reckless, it is corrupt, and the outrage and condemnation especially on the Republican side should be universal.”

The vote was blocked by Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who said Democrats are “losing their mind over the situation” and the gift is not a done deal. He said that if the Qatari government does donate the plane, “the only thing we should say is ‘thank you.’”

Online shoppers in the U.S. will see a price break on purchases valued at less than $800 and shipped from China after the Trump administration reached a truce with Beijing over sky-high tariffs.

In an executive order Monday, the White House said the tariffs on low-value parcels originating from China and coming through the U.S. Postal Service will be lowered to 54%, down from 120%.

It also says a flat rate charged as an alternative to the value-based tariff will be kept at $100 per package, rather than being raised to $200 on June 1 as previously decreed.

The new rules go into effect Wednesday.

▶ Read more about the deal

Mexico’s government has confirmed reports that 17 family members of the son of a former cartel leader crossed into the United States.

Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said Tuesday that it appeared to be part of a deal between the Sinaloa Cartel’s Ovidio Guzmán López and the Trump administration.

Independent journalist Luis Chaparro reported over the weekend about Guzmán Lopez’s relatives. The family flew from Sinaloa to Tijuana and crossed on foot to San Diego, California. Guzmán López is a son of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

▶ Read more about what Mexico’s security chief confirmed

A federal judge says Trump can use the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan citizens who are shown to be members of the Tren de Aragua gang.

The ruling Tuesday from U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines in Pennsylvania appears to be the first time a federal judge has signed off on Trump’s proclamation calling the gang a foreign terrorist organization and invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport those labeled as being members.

At least three other federal judges have said Trump was improperly using the 18th century wartime law to speed up deportations.

▶ Read more about the judge’s ruling

Saudi Arabia didn’t even wait for Trump to land before it set out to impress him in a sky-high way.

As Trump flew into Riyadh on Tuesday, Air Force One received a ceremonial escort from six Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s as it approached the kingdom’s capital — an exceptionally rare sight.

Margo Martin, a White House official, posted video of the escort online, declaring, “Saudi F-15’s providing honorary escort for Air Force One!”

The Royal Saudi Air Force has the world’s largest fleet of F-15s after the U.S. Air Force.

The Justice Department’s new pardon attorney says he plans to scrutinize pardons that former President Joe Biden issued on his way out of the White House.

During his last day as acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin Jr. told reporters on Tuesday that he will take a “hard look” at Biden’s pardons once he starts his new job as pardon attorney and director of the “weaponization working group” at the Justice Department.

Biden pardoned his siblings and their spouses on his last day in office. None of them had been charged with any crime.

The pardons were designed to guard against possible retribution by Trump.

▶ Read more about the scrutinized pardons

Riyad Mansour said Tuesday that he hopes Trump’s trip to the Middle East will prove fruitful for the ongoing, devastating war between Israel and Hamas.

“We hope that President Trump’s visit to the region will allow to achieve such a ceasefire, and to build a political horizon of freedom for the Palestinian people, security for all and shared prosperity for our region,” Mansour said during a U.N. Security Council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Also on Tuesday, Antoine Renard, the U.N. World Food Program’s director for Gaza, told The Associated Press that a quarter of Gaza’s population is at risk of famine. That’s despite all the food needed to feed the territory’s population sitting in warehouses in Israel, Egypt, and Jordan — and most of it is not even 25 miles (40 kilometers) away, he said.

Trump is failing to take into account how much of an overhaul a Qatari-offered plane would need to serve as Air Force One — or how long that would take, U.S. Sen Jeanne Shaheen says.

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says it would be better for Trump to wait for Boeing to finish an American-built replacement for the aging current versions

Air Force One needs secure communications, ability to refuel in the air, a state-of-the-art surgical center and other attributes the free plane that Qatar has offered Trump won’t have, Shaheen said.

“And by the time you did all that, the plane’s going to be ready from Boeing anyway, or the president’s going to be out of office,” she said.

After even after all that, Shaheen says there’s no practical way to be sure any gift plane from a foreign government is secure. She added that regardless, accepting such a gift would be unconstitutional and corrupt.

A coalition of 20 state Democratic attorneys general say the Trump administration is threatening to withhold billions of dollars in transportation and disaster-relief funds unless states agree to certain immigration enforcement actions.

The attorneys general filed two federal lawsuits Tuesday.

According to the complaints, both Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have threatened to cut off funding to states that refuse to comply with Trump’s immigration agenda.

An official with the Department of Homeland Security said the lawsuit will not prevent Trump from “restoring the rule of law.”

The Department of Transportation did not respond to an email seeking comment.

▶ Read more about the lawsuits

While flying to Riyadh on Air Force One, Trump sat down for an interview with Sean Hannity, one of his biggest boosters on Fox News. The president defended his efforts to accept a donated replacement plane from Qatar, which is the second stop on his Middle East trip.

He noted that Arab nations have brand new Boeing 747s.

“And you see ours next to it, this is like a totally different plane. It’s much smaller, it’s much less impressive, as impressive as it is,” Trump said, according to excerpts released by Fox News.

He added that “with the United States of America, I believe that we should have the most impressive plane.”

Trump also said there’s no reason to avoid accepting a donated plane from Qatar.

“My attitude is, why wouldn’t I accept a gift?” he said. “We’re giving to everybody else, why wouldn’t I accept a gift?”

Three years after Joe Biden’s cursory greeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump luxuriated in an extravagant royal welcome as he arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Concerns about human rights and fossil fuels in the oil-rich autocracy were nowhere on the agenda. Instead, the day was all about cutting deals and celebrating a personal relationship that has endured through scandal and political turmoil.

The crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, has been eager to rehabilitate his global image after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence officials accused him of ordering. He’s also seeking an economic revival for the kingdom to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, and the occasion was an opportunity to demonstrate that the floodgates for investment were open again.

▶ Read more about Trump’s royal welcome

Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson were reinstated by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday, making both eligible for the sport’s Hall of Fame after their careers were tarnished by sports gambling scandals.

Manfred discussed Rose with Trump when the pair met in April, but he hasn’t disclosed specifics of their conversation.

Trump has said he intends to pardon Rose posthumously, though it’s not clear what that would entail.

Rose entered guilty pleas on April 20, 1990, to two counts of filing false tax returns. He had agreed to a permanent MLB ban the year prior after an investigation concluded Rose repeatedly bet on the Cincinnati Reds as a player and manager of the team, a violation of a long-standing MLB rule. He died Sept. 30 at age 83.

▶ Read more about Rose’s reinstatement

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen praised Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would move toward lifting sanctions on Syria in a bid to help a new interim government there that says it’s trying to pull the country out of years of war.

The sanctions were initially imposed on Syria’s previous Russia- and Iran-allied leader, Bashar Assad, whom the U.S. and others punished for brutality during Syria’s long civil war. A rebel coalition overthrew Assad late last year.

“We have a real opportunity I think in Syria,” after Assad’s overthrow, Shaheen told reporters.

She said it is important to “provide the opportunity” to keep postwar recovery in Syria moving in a way that keeps Russia and Iran from regaining influence there.

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says she expects Russian President Vladimir Putin to be a no-show at planned Ukraine ceasefire talks in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Asked Tuesday if she thought Putin will attend Wednesday’s session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, said, “No.”

“If Putin doesn’t show up, that’s a reinforcement of the message that he’s done everything he can to slow-walk these negotiations,” Shaheen told reporters.

It also would be another sign that the U.S. must increase pressure on Russia to engage in serious talks to end its invasion of Ukraine, Shaheen said.

Critics have accused the Trump administration of shifting the onus of concessions in the war to U.S. ally Ukraine, while supporting Putin’s demands in the war. Senior Trump officials are scheduled to attend Wednesday’s talks in Turkey.

No media was allowed inside. Reporters are usually invited in to witness toasts from the leaders, but not this time.

The president will attend another state dinner on Wednesday in Qatar, the next stop on his Middle East trip.

Trump has said he will ease sanctions on Syria and move to normalize relations with its new government. Trump is set to meet with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

In a statement, Graham said certain conditions should be met before the U.S. lifts a designation listing Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism. He said the administration would need to “submit a report to Congress on how circumstances have changed.”

The Republican senator from South Carolina said he is “inclined to support sanctions relief for Syria under the right conditions” but said the U.S. must remember that the Syrian government “achieved its position through force of arms, not through the will of its people.”

The Israeli military said it had carried out a strike targeting what it said was a Hamas “command and control center” beneath a hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

The strike on the European hospital was the second one Tuesday on a hospital in the city.

The bodies of six people who were killed in Tuesday afternoon’s strike were taken to Nasser hospital, where AP reporters saw the bodies.

Earlier Tuesday, Israel struck Nasser hospital, saying militants were operating inside it, without identifying them. Two people, including a journalist who was targeted in an earlier strike, were killed.

While Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia is making global headlines, Iranian state television largely ignored the trip in its latest news bulletin.

The network did not include the visit in its top stories and briefly mentioned it only in the second half of its coverage, noting that Trump had signed oil and technology agreements with Saudi officials and that Riyadh had pledged to invest in the United States.

Language added Monday to a reconciliation bill from the House Ways and Means Committee would allow for terminating the tax-exempt status of groups the administration deems “terrorist supporting organizations.” Some nonprofits say that would create an arbitrary standard to financially punish charities that advocate for issues that don’t align with Trump’s agenda.

The language mirrors a bill from the last Congress that passed in the House but did not pass the Senate. Both the previous bill and the new one face concerns from a variety of groups.

The provision would create a new way to strip tax exemptions granted by the IRS to charitable organizations.

▶Read more about the proposal.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi de facto ruler, is set to fete Trump with an opulent state dinner Tuesday evening at Ad-Diriyah.

The UNESCO heritage site is the birthplace of the first Saudi state and the site of a major development project championed by the crown prince.

It’s set to be Trump’s final event of the day in Riyadh.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Tuesday that the easing of sanctions on Syria “is a positive development, inviting a broader investment” in the country.

The lifting of sanctions will help the reconstruction of Syria and “help the Syrian people recover from more than a decade of conflict, a decade of underinvestment,” Dujarric said. It will put more of a focus “on economic development, on private businesses and investment.”

The United Nations will continue to support Syria’s reconstruction, whether it’s physical or psychological, “for it to be a country where all Syrians of all faiths, of all ethnicities and minorities feel safe and represented.” Dujarric said.

In his remarks before investors, Trump said he will move to normalize relations with Syria and lift sanctions on its new government to give the country “a chance at peace.”

Trump said the effort at rapprochement came at the urging of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi de facto ruler, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“There is a new government that will hopefully succeed,” Trump said of Syria, adding, “I say good luck, Syria. Show us something special.”

▶Read more about sanctions on Syria

Sirens sounded from what the Israeli military said was a missile fired from Yemen. The military said it intercepted the missile.

The announcement came minutes after Trump ended his speech in Riyadh, his first major address of his Mideast tour, during which he criticized the Houthi militant group in Yemen.

Sirens could be heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The late 1970s song by the Village People is a staple of Trump’s campaign rallies.

He spoke for about 50 minutes, addressing regional and global concerns, before wrapping up. Trump smiled and shook hands with the crown prince before leaving the stage.

Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be among top U.S. officials traveling to Turkey for talks Thursday on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Trump said he’s been working “relentlessly” to end the bloodshed.

“We’ll see if we can get it done,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he’ll be waiting for Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Istanbul.

Putin has not said whether he will show up.

Trump said during his address in Riyadh that he was working to end the Israel-Hamas war as quickly as possible.

Criticizing Hamas, he said that improving Palestinian lives in Gaza “cannot occur as long as their leaders choose to kidnap, torture and target innocent men and women for political ends.”

“The way those people are treated in Gaza,” he said, “there’s not a place in the world where people are treated so awful.”

Trump also lauded his administration’s negotiations to return Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who Hamas released from captivity Monday.

Saudi Arabia long has maintained that recognition of Israel is tied to the establishment of a Palestinian state along the lines of Israel’s 1967 borders. Under the Biden administration, there was a push for Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel as part of a major diplomatic deal.

However, the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel upended those plans and sent the region into one of the most diplomatically fraught periods it has faced.

The Abraham Accords in Trump’s first term saw both Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recognize Israel. Morocco and Sudan also had their own deals.

Trump lauded Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries for “developing your own sovereign countries, pursuing your own unique visions, and charting your own destinies in your own way.”

“In the end, the so-called “nation-builders” wrecked far more nations than they built — and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies they did not understand,” the U.S. president said.

Trump talked about his economic, immigration and other policies before getting to the heart of his speech at a Saudi investor conference.

He touched on steps his administration has taken to crack down on illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, boasted that recruitment into the military is higher and declared that trade negotiations with the United Kingdom and China have been fruitful.

He did not mention his tariff policy, which upended global markets in April before he changed course.

Trump said he was sharing an “abundance of good news from a place called America,” and added: “We are rocking.”

Trump lavished praise on the Saudi crown prince and his family in the first address of his Mideast trip.

Speaking to a large crowd at the Saudi-US investment forum, he called the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia a “bedrock of security and prosperity.”

The crowd is exuberant. Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” played as Trump joined Mohammed bin Salman on stage.

The crown prince spoke first, at a podium underneath a massive chandelier with the American and Saudi flags emblazoned behind him. Trump watched with earbuds for translation in his ears. Then he stood in front of a giant Saudi flag on a big screen as Greenwood’s song played. The audience of Saudis in traditional red-and-white checkered headscarves and robes recorded the moment on their phones as Trump swayed to the music.

Iran and the United States have held multiple rounds of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing program. They come after Trump in his first term unilaterally withdrew from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, setting the stage for years of tensions and attacks across the wider Middle East.

While Gulf Arab states felt anger toward President Barack Obama for striking the deal without involving them in their minds, now the countries of the region have been pushing for de-escalation as tensions remain high over the Israel-Hamas war.

The U.S. once offered $10 million for information about the whereabouts of the insurgent formerly known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani. He had joined the ranks of al-Qaida insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and still faces a warrant for his arrest on terrorism charges in Iraq.

Syria’s new president came back to his home country after the conflict began in 2011, and led al-Qaida’s branch that used to be known as the Nusra Front. He later changed the name of his group and cut links with al-Qaida before they finally succeeded in overthrowing Bashar Assad in December.

With Trump and Prince Mohammed running over 45 minutes late to the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, billionaire Elon Musk suddenly came out on the stage as almost a warm-up act for the leaders.

Musk said he showed Tesla robots off to the two leaders.

“In fact one of our robots did the Trump dance,” Musk said, drawing laughter.

Musk also said Saudi Arabia had approved Starlink internet service for “maritime and aviation use.”

Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that Trump’s plan to accept Qatar’s donation of a 747 to replace Air Force One “is not just naked corruption, it is also a grave national security threat.”

Schumer wants the DOJ to investigate whether Qatari foreign agents in the U.S. could benefit Trump or his business. He also wants to know how security measures will be built into the plane and how it will paid for.

The holds means the Senate can’t quickly confirm any Justice nominations, such as U.S. attorneys, which are often approved by voice vote.

“Until the American people learn the truth about this deal, I will do my part to block the galling and truly breathtaking politicization at the Department of Justice,” Schumer said.

Trump has bristled at suggestions that he should turn down the plane, comparing the potential gift to favors on the golf course. “When they give you a putt, you pick it up and you walk to the next hole and you say, ‘Thank you very much,’” he said.

▶ Read more about the controversy over Qatar gifting Trump a 747 for Air Force One

For Trump, accepting a free Air Force One replacement from Qatar is a no-brainer: Saying “No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane,” would make him a ”stupid person,” he told reporters.

Trump tried to tamp down some of the opposition by saying the $400 million plane would be donated to a future presidential library, but that hasn’t quelled the controversy. Democrats are united in outrage, and even some of the Republican president’s allies are worried.

Critics of the plan say it could turn a global symbol of American power into an airborne collection of ethical, legal, security and counterintelligence concerns.

Saudi Arabia and fellow OPEC+ nations have already helped their cause with Trump by stepping up oil production. Trump sees cheap energy as key to lowering costs and stemming inflation for Americans, and to hastening an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

But Saudi Arabia’s economy remains heavily dependent on oil, and the kingdom needs a fiscal break-even oil price of $96 to $98 a barrel to balance its budget. How long OPEC+ will keep production elevated — Brent crude closed Monday at $64.77 a barrel — is questionable.

“One of the challenges for the Gulf states of lower oil prices is it doesn’t necessarily imperil economic diversification programs, but it certainly makes them harder,” said Jon Alterman, a senior Middle East analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Trump offered the assessment as he and Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader held talks at the Royal Court in Riyadh.

He called Mohammed bin Salman a friend and said they’d developed a good relationship. He spoke about visiting Saudi Arabia in 2017 on the first foreign trip of his first term in office.

Trump has said he decided to make Saudi Arabia his first official overseas stop again because of the kingdom’s promise to invest $600 billion in the United States — and then he joked that the Saudis could bump it up to $1 trillion.

“I really believe we like each other a lot,” Trump said.

Witkoff and the Trump administration’s envoy for hostage affairs have told the families of hostages still held in Gaza that they will do what is needed to bring everyone home.

The two officials are next traveling to Qatar to join Trump there. Qatar has been a key mediator during the 19-month Israel-Hamas war.

Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy, said they wouldn’t be traveling to Qatar if they didn’t think there was a genuine chance for progress in negotiations.

Edan Alexander has spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“It’s crazy. It’s unbelievable,” Alexander said about his freedom in remarks released by Netanyahu’s office.

Asked how he feels, Alexander answered: “Ok, weak, but slowly we’ll get back to what we were before.”

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff then got on the call and Netanyahu expressed his gratitude to the U.S. president for helping to free Alexander.

There were reports Alexander was going to meet Trump in Qatar this week, but a statement from the hostage forum, which represents the families, said he won’t be flying there. The family is in continuous contact with the Trump administration, it said.

The Israeli prime minister says that any ceasefire deal with Hamas would be temporary.

Netanyahu’s statement came ahead of Trump’s visit to the Middle East, which did not include a stop in Israel.

Netanyahu said that if Hamas were to say it would release more hostages, “we’ll take them, and then we’ll go in. But there will be no way we will stop the war.”

Israel says 58 hostages remain in captivity, with about 23 of them said to be alive.

The U.S. special Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff met privately with families of the hostages in Tel Aviv’s Hostage’s Square on Tuesday.

Witkoff said he met with Edan Alexander, the Israeli-American soldier released Monday, and that he was an “incredibly resilient young man.”

Hamas released Alexander who had been held hostage in Gaza for more than 19 months, offering a goodwill gesture toward Trump that could lay the groundwork for a new ceasefire.

Witkoff said negotiations for a more lasting ceasefire have begun, and that he hopes more hostages could be released soon. “We’re working on it,” he said.

Dozens of people stood in the Square and chanted “Bring them home now!”

Witkoff also spoke with and embraced Ruby Chen, whose Israeli-American son, Itay Chen, was abducted to Gaza and later pronounced dead. His body is still held in Gaza.

Khalid al-Falih spoke at a Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum ahead of Trump’s arrival in Riyadh.

“Our bilateral relationship is one of the world’s most significant geostrategic bonds, with economic cooperation and business partnerships at its core, and serves as a force for peace and global prosperity,” he said.

He reiterated a pledge by the Saudi crown prince to see investment in the U.S. of $600 billion over the next four years.

Previous trips by U.S. presidents to the kingdom have drawn comments about Saudi Arabia being “milked” by the Americans for oil and dollars for military sales.

But this time, Iranian newspapers and state television largely are not discussing Trump’s trip in detail.

The quiet may be due to the fact Riyadh and Tehran have been in a Chinese-mediated detente since 2023. Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, a brother to the Saudi crown prince, also traveled to Tehran in a high-level visit unthinkable in recent years of tensions between the two Mideast rivals.

Hussein Ibish, an analyst at the Washington-based Arab Gulf States Institute, said Saudi Arabia’s economic development projects at home means the kingdom wants peace across the region.

President Donald Trump arrives with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a coffee ceremony at the Royal Terminal of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump arrives with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a coffee ceremony at the Royal Terminal of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 13, 2025

President Donald Trump speaks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during an arrival ceremony at the Royal Terminal of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during an arrival ceremony at the Royal Terminal of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House, Feb. 10, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)

President Donald Trump, aboard Air Force One to the NATO conference, has sought to maintain a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, and said he’s not seeking regime change in Tehran.

U.S. intelligence leaders will provide classified briefings as Congress prepares to debate whether to invoke the War Powers clause restraining Trump. Some Democrats filed to impeach him for striking Iran without congressional approval. Homeland Security meanwhile warns of a heightened risk of a domestic attack.

The Supreme Court, without explanation, is allowing Trump to deport migrants away from home countries. The dissenting liberal justices warned that the court’s action exposes “ thousands to the risk of torture or death.”

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The Trump administration on Tuesday postponed classified briefings for Senate and House members as lawmakers are looking for more answers about Trump’s directed strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend and his announcement on Monday that the two countries had reached a ceasefire agreement.

Both briefings were canceled and the Senate briefing has been rescheduled for Thursday so Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio can attend, according to multiple sources who requested anonymity ahead of an official announcement. It is unclear when the House will be briefed.

Speaker Mike Johnson said that the “strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities were clearly” within President Trump’s powers and questioned the constitutionality of the War Powers Act itself.

“The framers of our Constitution never intended for the president to seek the approval of Congress every time he exercised his constitutional authority” as commander in chief, Johnson said. “I’m not even sure it’s constitutional,” Johnson said of the War Powers Act.

Johnson, a constitutional lawyer, said that “the framers did not explicitly set restrictions on the president when it comes to using military force.” Still, Johnson said Trump followed the requirements of the War Powers Resolution, a law enacted in 1973.

“The bottom line is the commander in chief is the president, the military reports to the president, and the person empowered to act on the nation’s behalf is the president,” Johnson said.

The House speaker said a question about whether he would defend the Republican congressman from Kentucky against a potential primary challenge was the “hardest one” of his weekly news conference this morning.

“The speaker leads the incumbent protection program,” he said, calling Massie a friend. “But I certainly understand the president’s frustration.”

Trump’s allies have launched a super PAC seeking to unseat Massie, who supported a resolution that would require congressional authorization for any attacks on Iran.

But Johnson said that Massie told him on the House floor Monday that he would back down as long as the ceasefire holds.

“I want him to come to his senses and work with the team,” Johnson said.

The government lawyer who was fired after conceding that a Salvadoran man was deported by mistake has filed a whistleblower complaint.

Erez Reuveni is accusing Principal Assistant Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove of suggesting the Trump administration might have to ignore court orders as it prepared to deport Venezuelan migrants it accused of being gang members.

The complaint seeking an investigation was made public Tuesday, just as Bove prepares to face lawmakers Wednesday for his confirmation hearing to become a federal appeals court judge. It was first reported by The New York Times.

Reuveni was fired after conceding to a federal judge that Kilmar Abrego Garcia should not have been deported to El Salvador.

The whistleblower filing says Bove raised the possibility that judges might block deportations before they could be carried out, and told department officials they would need to consider telling the courts “f— you,” and to “ignore any such order.”

▶ Read more about the whistleblower complaint against Bove

A top U.S. military official says Iran still possesses “significant tactical capability” despite an American strike over the weekend on three of the country’s nuclear sites.

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper told lawmakers Tuesday that that capability was demonstrated by Iran’s limited retaliatory missile strike on a U.S. military base in Qatar.

In response to a question about whether Iran still poses a threat to U.S. troops and Americans around the world, he replied, “They do.”

Cooper is currently the deputy commander of the U.S. Central Command. He made the remarks at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing as the panel considers his nomination for the position of commander of Central Command.

But the extent of the damage hasn’t been fully determined, despite Trump’s claim that Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been “completely and totally obliterated.”

In a fresh social media post, Trump said Israel and Iran wanted to stop the war equally. A ceasefire is in effect after 12 days of hostilities between the enemy countries.

“It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!” Trump posted.

Military leaders said at the Pentagon on Sunday that the U.S. bombardment inflicted “severe” damage to Iran’s nuclear sites, but officials were still conducting a damage assessment. Almost 400 kilograms, or 880 pounds, of uranium the Iranians had enriched to 60% are publicly unaccounted for.

The Republican-controlled House and Senate are scheduled to be on recess next week for the Fourth of July holiday, but that could change as GOP leaders signal their determination to send Trump the bill by his Independence Day deadline.

The Senate is currently working on the tax and spending cuts measure after the House passed it near the end of May.

Trump offered senators some unsolicited advice in another social media post sent during his flight to Europe.

“To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, don’t go home, and GET THE DEAL DONE THIS WEEK. Work with the House so they can pick it up, and pass it, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump said. “NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT’S DONE.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he told his members to keep their schedules flexible.

Outside a super-tight security perimeter, hundreds of people have turned out to protest at the NATO summit site in The Hague.

“They call it the defense industry, we call it the murder industry,” Azra Sayeed of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, which describes itself as an anti-imperialist organization, told The Associated Press.

The 65-year-old traveled from her native Pakistan to join various demonstrations opposed to NATO. Tuesday’s event, held around 2 miles away from where the leaders are meeting, included anti-imperialist karaoke and a clothing upcycling workshop.

A handful of environmental activists from Extinction Rebellion tried Monday to blockade the highway that delegations would use to reach The Hague from Amsterdam’s airport, but were thwarted by police. On Sunday, hundreds of people protested NATO and the war in Gaza, and Iranians held up banners saying “No Iran War.”

Trump was expected to stay at a swanky hotel while visiting The Hague for a summit of the 32 leaders of NATO on Wednesday. Now he’s gotten a significant upgrade.

On arrival Tuesday night, he’ll be whisked by motorcade along closed-off highways to the Huis Ten Bosch palace, nestled in a forest, for a dinner with alliance leaders hosted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander.

A Dutch government information service spokeswoman, Anna Sophia Posthumus, tells The Associated Press that the president will be sleeping at the 17th-century palace that is home to Willem-Alexander, his Argentine-born wife Queen Maxima and their three daughters, though the princesses have mostly flown the royal nest to pursue studies.

▶ Read more about Trump’s royal sleepover

Trump’s challenge came in a lengthy and invective-filled response to her call for him to be impeached for striking Iran without approval from Congress.

The Republican president called the Democratic politician from New York “stupid” and attributed her “rantings” to “all of the Victories that the U.S.A. has had under the Trump administration.”

“The Democrats aren’t used to WINNING, and she can’t stand the concept of our Country being successful again,” Trump wrote.

Trump alluded to his two impeachments by Democrats who ran the House during his first term and dared Ocasio Cortez and her “Democrat friends” to “go ahead and try Impeaching me, again, MAKE MY DAY!” Now in GOP control, the House is certain to reject any impeachment votes.

The Federal Reserve chairman said Trump’s sweeping tariffs may still push up prices and slow growth later this year, even though so far the duties haven’t worsened inflation.

Powell is testifying before the House Financial Services Committee after coming under sharp criticism from Trump for not cutting the Fed’s key interest rate. Powell said the Fed will take time to evaluate the economy’s evolution before deciding whether to reduce borrowing costs.

Powell said “ increases in tariffs this year are likely to push up prices and weigh on economic activity.” He said the bump to inflation from tariffs could be temporary, or it could lead to a more persistent bout of inflation.

The Fed’s “obligation,” Powell said, is “to prevent a one-time increase in the price level from becoming an ongoing inflation problem.”

A new world of podcasts, newsletters and websites has expanded, providing a lifeline to legacy media refugees striking out on their own.

Megyn Kelly, Jennifer Rubin, Bari Weiss and Mehdi Hasan are among the barons of this new world, with sites like the Contrarian and Zeteo, fueled by the explosive growth of YouTube and Substack in providing a landing place for new ideas.

Substack says it has 5 million paying subscribers, 50,000 of its publishers make money, and more than 50 are earning more than $1 million annually.

Terry Moran headed almost immediately to Substack after he was cut loose by ABC News on June 10 for an anti-Trump tweet. Former NBC’s “Today” show hosts Katie Couric and Hoda Kotb announced new media ventures on the same day last month.

Couric says she’s seen “this whole space explode with people who are understanding that this is a really important way to convey information.”

▶ Read more about mainstream media figures finding profit online

Americans’ view of the U.S. economy worsened in June, resuming a downward slide that had dragged consumer confidence to its lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index slid to 93 in June, down 5.4 points from 98.4 last month, which represented a brief uptick. In April, American consumers’ confidence in the economy sank to its lowest reading since May 2020, largely due to anxiety over the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market fell 4.6 points to 69. That’s well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead.

Consumers’ assessments of the present economic situation declined by 6.4 points to 129.1.

▶ Read more about the Consumer Confidence survey

The U.S. president, while flying aboard Air Force One en route to the Netherlands, published a screenshot of a text from Mark Rutte praising him on his decision to strike three Iranian nuclear sites.

“Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran,” Rutte wrote in the message, which appeared to be on the secure messaging platform Signal. “That was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes us safer.”

Rutte also wrote to Trump that he was “flying into another big success in The Hague this evening,” noting that other countries had signed onto the new pledge for NATO member countries to spend 5% of their gross domestic product on defense.

NATO confirmed that the post was a message that Rutte had sent to Trump earlier Tuesday.

The Democrat from Texas introduced a single article of impeachment asserting that Trump has abused his power as president and “become a threat to democracy” by starting the “illegal and unconstitutional war” without authorization from Congress, in violation of the constitution’s War Powers clause.

Green, who has filed previous impeachment articles against Trump claiming high crimes and misdemeanors, said in a statement that Trump’s “authoritarian actions are a warning sign we cannot ignore… we must uphold and protect our Constitution from being dismantled by an authoritarian president who seeks unchecked power.”

President Donald Trump took office in January pledging to “make America the crypto capital of the world.” He has since harnessed wide swaths of the federal government to bolster the industry — all while raking in huge sums of money for his family’s business.

By some estimates, crypto ventures now account for nearly 40% of the Trump Organization’s $2.9 billion net worth. But the Republican president’s championing of the industry has been just as big a boon for many of the industry’s top names.

Many have seen their profits and political standing soar, while investigations of potential wrongdoing and other legal entanglements led by the administration of Trump’s predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden, have largely fallen away.

▶ Read more about the crypto industry’s top leaders and their ties to Trump

The warning followed the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. The deputy FBI director says the bureau’s “assets are fully engaged” to prevent retaliatory violence, while local law enforcement agencies in major cities like New York say they’re on high alert.

No credible threats to the homeland have surfaced publicly in the days since the stealth American attack. It’s also unclear what bearing the tentative ceasefire between Israel and Iran might have on potential threats, or how lasting such an arrangement might be.

But the potential for reprisal is no idle concern given the steps Iran is accused of having taken in recent years to target political figures on U.S. soil. Iranian-backed hackers have also launched cyberattacks against U.S. targets in recent years.

The DHS warns of an increased likelihood that a “supporter of the Iranian regime is inspired to commit an act of violence in the Homeland.

Brushing up on English has taken on new urgency for truck drivers in the United States. Trump issued an executive order saying truckers who don’t read and speak the language proficiently would be considered unfit for service.

Federal guidelines for applying the order are going into effect. They call for enhanced roadside inspections to decide if truckers can reply to questions and directions in English, as well as understand highway traffic signs and message boards. Some truckers worry they may lose their jobs if they make a mistake or speak with a heavy accent.

“A driver who can’t understand English will not drive a commercial vehicle in this country. Period,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said last month while announcing enforcement guidelines that take effect on Wednesday.

▶ Read more on Trump’s executive order on truck drivers

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's bid to join the 32-nation alliance has been put in deep freeze by Trump. In a telling sign of Ukraine’s status at the two-day summit, neither leader mentioned NATO by name during brief remarks to reporters Tuesday.

Zelenskyy and Trump’s relationship has been strained since a very public Oval Office bust up earlier this year. But they both are expected to attend a dinner hosted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander Tuesday evening for leaders attending the summit.

Trump and the Ukrainian President were scheduled to meet on the margins of last week’s Group of Seven summit in Canada — but it didn’t happen because Trump left Canada a day ahead of schedule to return to Washington because of the Iran crisis.

“Yeah, probably I’ll see him,” Trump said aboard Air Force One when he was asked about the possibility of seeing Zelenskyy during the NATO summit at The Hague.

▶ Read more about NATO Summit developments

Trump did not answer directly when asked Tuesday whether he would abide by Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which outlines the alliance’s mutual defense guarantees.

“Depends on your definition,” he told reporters traveling on Air Force One en route to The Netherlands. “There’s numerous definitions of Article Five, you know that, right? But I’m committed to being their friends.”

Asked later to clarify, Trump said he is “committed to life and safety” but did not clarify further, saying he did not want to go into further details in the back of an airplane.

The classified intelligence briefings could turn contentious as many lawmakers feel they have been left in the dark on what led to the strikes and amid escalating tensions between the White House and Congress over the role of the United States internationally — disagreements that don’t always fall along party lines.

“We expect them to explain to the American people what were the results in terms of actually thwarting Iran’s capacity to become a nuclear power and what are the Trump administration’s plans to avoid another potentially disastrous war in the Middle East, where thousands of American lives are potentially at risk,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

▶Read more about congressional responses to Trump’s air strikes on Iran

Members of Congress will get classified briefings directly from intelligence leaders three days after Trump directed strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and a day after Iran struck a U.S. base in Qatar.

Separate House and Senate briefings will be led by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, along with Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and deputy secretaries of state Christopher Landau and Steve Feinberg.

Democrats and some Republicans have questions about the unilateral decision to launch military action, arguing that the president should have gone to Congress for approval — or at least provided more justification for the attacks.

Stocks rallied and oil prices fell Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced what appears to be a shaky ceasefire in the Israel-Iran war.

The tentative truce proposed by Trump remained uncertain after Israel said Iran had launched missiles into its airspace less than three hours after the ceasefire went into effect. It vowed to retaliate.

Still, investors took heart after Trump said Israel and Iran had agreed to a “complete and total ceasefire” soon after Iran launched limited missile attacks Monday on a U.S. military base in Qatar, retaliating for the American bombing of its nuclear sites over the weekend.

“The Middle East may still be smoldering, but as far as markets are concerned, the fire alarm has been shut off,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

▶ Read more about today’s financial market movements

Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the Federal Reserve will continue to wait and see how the economy evolves before deciding whether to reduce its key interest rate, a stance directly at odds with President Donald Trump’s calls for immediate cuts.

“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,” Powell said in prepared remarks he will deliver early Tuesday before the House Financial Services Committee.

Powell is facing two days of what could be tough grilling on Capitol Hill, as Trump has repeatedly urged the Fed to reduce borrowing costs. Trump lashed out early Tuesday, posting: “I hope Congress really works this very dumb, hardheaded person, over. We will be paying for his incompetence for many years to come.”

Read more about Powell's appearance before Congress

Trump heads to a two-day NATO summit in Europe laden with uncertainty. Iran’s response to U.S. air strikes, the fate of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the future of U.S. troops based in NATO countries are all up in the air.

Trump’s first appearance at NATO since returning to the White House was supposed to center on how the U.S. secured a historic military spending pledge of 5% GDP from each nation in the defensive alliance — with some exceptions.

“NATO has no opt-out, and NATO does no side deals,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters in The Hague. “It is critical that each ally carries their fair share of the burden.”

However, Spain said that it has reached a deal with NATO to be excluded from the 5% target, while President Donald Trump said the figure shouldn’t apply to the United States, only its allies.

But the spotlight is now on Trump’s attempts to broker a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. The sharp U-turn in hostilities just hours before he departed for the summit is sure to dominate the discussions in The Hague, Netherlands.

▶ Read more about the NATO summit

A divided Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to restart swift removals of migrants to countries other than their homelands, as Trump continues his sweeping immigration crackdown that has sparked widespread protests, high-profile detentions and various court challenges.

The majority's action, issued without explanation, lifts for now a court order requiring they get a chance to challenge the deportations. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston had found the administration had violated his order by sending eight people to South Sudan in May.

The migrants had been convicted of serious crimes in the U.S. and immigration officials have said they were unable to return them quickly to their home countries. Authorities instead landed the plane at a U.S. naval base in Djibouti.

All three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing that the court’s action exposes “ thousands to the risk of torture or death.”

▶ Read more about the Supreme Court’s decision

While the president has authority as the commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces to order specific military actions, any prolonged war-time footing would traditionally need authorization from Congress.

The House and Senate authorized actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack.

Trump faces a vote in Congress as soon as this week on a war powers resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that would “direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.”

Another resolution has been introduced by lawmakers from both parties in the U.S. House.

At least one Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, said Trump’s actions are “clearly grounds for impeachment.”

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, June 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)