U.S. and Iranian negotiators have reached a tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and launch negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that President Donald Trump still needs to sign off on the emerging memorandum of understanding.
The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether E. Jean Carroll, the longtime advice columnist who has said President Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store 30 years ago, lied during the course of civil litigation against the Republican president, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Also, a federal judge has declined to halt Trump’s executive order, creating a federal voter list and limiting mail voting, clearing the way for potential sweeping changes in how American elections are run shortly before this year’s midterm elections.
Here's the latest:
Acting AG says there’s ‘no limit’ on who can apply for payments from Trump administration settlement
Todd Blanche said there’s “no limit to who can apply” for the Trump administration’s new $1.776 billion settlement fund to pay individuals who believe they were targeted politically.
The acting attorney general, attending a law enforcement symposium in Dallas on Thursday, declined to rule out payments to people who violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“You have to define something and then stick to it,” Blanche told The Associated Press at the symposium. “So that’s something I’ve been hesitant to try to do because it’s very fact intensive.”
He said “the example that comes to mind” of someone who might receive a payment is a parent who is pushed out of a school board meeting and charged with assault.
Blanche is facing questions about the fund from the Senate. GOP leaders have put a Homeland Security funding bill on hold until the administration agrees to some parameters on the settlement money.
About 8% of the country lacked health insurance in 2025, new data shows. That could rise next year
The proportion of Americans without health insurance held steady at around 8% of the population in 2025, according to new findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The national survey results published Thursday show the uninsured rate has stayed down from where it was a few years ago.
However, changes from the Trump administration could increase this rate in the years ahead. Massive changes to Medicaid and the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies may lead to more uninsured individuals. Around 5 million fewer people are expected to enroll in those plans in 2026 compared with 2025, according to the healthcare research nonprofit KFF.
The survey also indicates a possible increase in the percentage of insured Hispanic Americans, which could be due in part to immigration changes.
Milli Vanilli and Morris Day say they won’t perform at Trump-linked Freedom 250’s DC shows
A day after the Trump -affiliated Freedom 250 announced the “first wave” of performers for “The Great American State Fair” shows on Washington’s National Mall in June and July, Milli Vanilli and Morris Day are among the scheduled acts who have said they will not be appearing.
Day and Young MC issued statements on social media disputing Wednesday’s announcement from Freedom 250, while Milli Vanilli singer Jodie Rocco told The Associated Press that neither she, her sister Linda Rocco, nor any of the other group members had been asked to come.
“My sister and I were shocked to see our name, ‘Milli Vanilli’, as one of the performers,” Jodie Rocco wrote in an email.
Freedom 250 has not responded to requests for comment.
Other scheduled performers include the Commodores, Flo Rida and Martina McBride.
The president launched Freedom 250 last year to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday. The organization describes itself as nonpartisan.
FACT FOCUS: Trump says Obama and Biden spent ‘hundreds of millions’ on reflecting pool. They did not
Trump has claimed that the administrations of former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and alleged that renovations he is currently overseeing will be much more economical. This is false.
The Obama administration spent at least $34 million on a massive, two-year reconstruction project that ended in 2012. No major repairs to the pool were done during the Biden administration.
Trump has repeatedly said that his administration’s work on the pool will cost only $1.5 million, but records show that at least $14.8 million in contracts have been awarded for the project so far.
The reflecting pool, which is more than 2,000 feet long, was originally built in the 1920s. It sits between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and is one of the most iconic sites in Washington.
Immigration lawyers raise concerns about new green card policy
Attorneys from the American Immigration Lawyers Association are warning that they don’t think anyone should assume they’re safe from a new green card policy announced last week.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday that immigrants applying for a green card would have to do so in their home countries except in “extraordinary circumstances.”
In later statements, the agency has said the policy wouldn’t affect people who provide an “economic benefit” or “skilled professionals who have followed the law.”
Immigrants and lawyers have been trying to assess how broadly the new guidance will be applied and who might get a green card in the U.S.
AILA lawyers said during a news conference Thursday that they didn’t think anyone, including those in the country on the highly coveted employment-based H-1B visa, should assume that the new policy wouldn’t affect them.
The association provides legal education to its 18,000 members.
Bessent says Americans could be saving less because of optimism
The Treasury Secretary responded to a question about a report earlier Thursday showing Americans are saving the smallest proportion of their paychecks in about two decades, outside the pandemic. He said it could be because wages aren’t going as far, which he termed a “doomer” view, or because they are more optimistic about the economy and the stock market.
Consumers do step up their spending when they are more confident of their job and income prospects. But consumer confidence surveys show Americans have a decidedly gloomy outlook on the economy right now, and their perception of the job market is also negative.
Thursday’s report showed that after-tax, inflation-adjusted incomes have fallen 1.1% from a year ago, a key reason consumers were forced to dip into savings to maintain their spending. Credit-card balances have also jumped as gas prices have spiked.
Bessent won’t confirm that the tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire is in place
The Treasury secretary was repeatedly peppered with questions about reports that U.S. and Iranian negotiators have agreed to a memorandum of understanding.
But Bessent claimed that he hadn’t spoken with Trump on the matter before taking part in the White House briefing with reporters.
“It’s always a mistake to get out ahead of the president,” he said. “So, it is all going to be the president’s decision.”
Bessent, however, underscored that Trump has made clear that there can be no deal without Tehran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, dispose of its highly enriched uranium and pledge to never have a nuclear weapons program.
Bessent says he doesn’t have presidential aspirations
During his session with reporters in the White House briefing room, it was noted that the Treasury secretary was following Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the podium -- both of whom are widely expected to run for president in 2028.
Asked to laughs about his own aspirations to be president, Bessent responded with a dose of humor himself.
“No,” he said with a smile, “I just think it just means they’ve run out of things on the food chain.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is on maternity leave, and Vance, Rubio, and now Bessent have taken turns holding weekly briefings in her absence.
Treasury secretary and Oman ambassador discuss Strait of Hormuz
Bessent told reporters at a White House briefing that he spoke with Oman’s ambassador to Washington, Talal Alrahbi, earlier on Thursday, and the Gulf envoy assured him that his country had “no plans for tolling the strait.”
Trump, during a Cabinet briefing on Wednesday, warned Oman, a U.S. ally, not to enter into any agreement with Iran to share control of the strait or the U.S. will “have to blow them up.”
Bessent downplayed the president’s rhetoric.
“I think the president wanted to punctuate freedom of navigation in the strait,” he added.
Bessent says he had first meeting with new Fed chair
The Treasury secretary said he had breakfast Thursday with Kevin Warsh, the new chair of the Federal Reserve, who was just sworn in last week to replace former chair Jerome Powell.
Bessent provided some cover for Warsh by not repeating the Trump administration’s calls for him to immediately cut the Fed’s short-term interest rate, which Trump regularly demanded of Powell.
Instead, Bessent said, “I believe he will do the right thing to balance inflation and growth.” Such phrasing suggests the Fed should consider addressing inflation, which it typically does by keeping rates elevated or even raising them. Financial markets increasingly expect the central bank to raise its key rate, rather than cut it, by early next year.
Treasury secretary says the $250 bill with Trump’s picture is up to Congress
Speaking at the White House, Scott Bessent did not take a personal position on the idea of a new $250 bill with Trump’s picture.
He said it’s up to Congress, where legislation to allow a new currency note has stalled.
Bessent affirmed that the Treasury Department does “prepare things in advance.” That’s a tacit confirmation of a Washington Post story that reported said the agency has produced a mockup of a new $250 bill. The design has Trump’s picture and a 250th anniversary logo celebrating the nation’s founding.
The secretary noted that, at least for now, U.S. law does not allow a living person to appear on currency. A bill by Rep. Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina, would provide an exemption allowing Trump’s image to appear.
“It’s all up to Capitol Hill,” Bessent said. “We will stick to the law.”
Bessent says oil prices may fall ‘very quickly,’ cites UAE leaving OPEC
Asked about rising oil prices, the U.S. Treasury secretary told reporters that a large number of ships are waiting to “come out of the gulf.”
He said that, once an agreement has been reached between the U.S. and Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, “I think the oil market is going to be very well supplied on the other side.”
“We could see prices come down very quickly,” Bessent said, also noting that prices could further ease because “we saw the UAE leave OPEC.”
US Treasury secretary touts Trump accounts at the opening of White House press briefing
Scott Bessent called Trump’s benefit for newborns “the most important benefit for young people since the GI Bill.” He said almost 6 million children have been signed up for the accounts, which will launch on July 4.
The accounts are meant to give $1,000 to every newborn whose parents open an account. That money is then invested in the stock market by private firms, and the child can access the money when they turn 18.
Bessent is part of a rotating cast of Cabinet members leading White House press briefings while press secretary Karoline Leavitt is on maternity leave.
Trump officials: Kenya facility for Americans exposed to Ebola abroad to be operational this week
A new camp in Kenya where the Trump administration plans to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola abroad will be operational with 50 quarantine beds starting Friday, according to a senior administration official.
The government is still working on bringing in additional isolation and biocontainment units for Americans who may contract the disease, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss details of the facility with reporters on Thursday.
While no Americans have yet been identified to be sent to the facility, 30 members of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps have so far been trained and deployed to staff the camp at Kenya’s Laikipia Air Base, the official said.
The U.S. government has been in conversation with Kenya’s president on the establishment of the facility, said another senior administration official on the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity to brief reporters.
Trump approval still pending, US official says
Another U.S. official said the broad outlines of a tentative deal have been reached but stressed that until the president signs off on it, there is no deal.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private diplomacy, said there are still questions about whether Trump will ultimately accept the agreement.
US and Iranian negotiators reach tentative deal to extend ceasefire and launch nuclear talks
U.S. and Iranian negotiators have reached a tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and launch talks on Iran’s nuclear program, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Trump still needs to sign off on the emerging memorandum of understanding.
The tentative agreement worked out by the two sides comes at a moment when the fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appeared to be wavering.
The U.S. military earlier on Thursday accused Iran of violating the ceasefire after Kuwait reported coming under attack following an American strike against the Islamic Republic. It was the latest flare-up of fighting to threaten ongoing negotiations to end the war.
Details of the tentative agreement were first reported by the news outlet Axios.
Vance tells Air Force graduates to use AI but ‘never submit to it’
In his commencement speech at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Vance said technology is evolving faster than military institutions have been accustomed to. He endorsed Pope Leo XIV’s recent message warning against outsourcing moral decisions to technology.
“If the warfare of the future is to live up to the moral values of our ancestors, decisions over life and death must be made by humans and not machines,” Vance told graduates Thursday at a ceremony in Colorado Springs.
Vance said he was confident in the class of 2026, saying they will follow in the footsteps of service members who pulled off a daring rescue of two aviators whose fighter jet was downed by Iran in April.
“Your Air Force, your future force, went in there and did the impossible,” he said.
Iran’s UN envoy calls US action against Venezuela, Iran and now Cuba `dangerous’
Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that the U.S. actions reflect a pattern “of coercion, intimidation and interference” which violates the U.N. Charter, threatens the countries’ sovereignty and independence, and endangers international peace and security.
U.S. forces arrested Venezuela’s president and the Trump administration now oversees the country, and it’s pressuring Cuba by blocking the delivery of oil.
Iravani defended Iran’s right to respond to the U.S. and Israeli attacks against Iran on Feb. 28 and to close the Strait of Hormuz, accusing unnamed countries of ignoring the root causes of the current situation in the region and unfairly shifting the blame to Iran.
“Iran’s actions are lawful and consistent with international law,” Iravani said. “Iran could not allow such a critical waterway to be used as a corridor for hostile action and military aggression against its sovereignty, territory and vital interests.”
Trump’s DOJ sues 4 Democratic-run states over denying undercover license plates for federal agents
It’s the latest front in the wider struggle between the White House and Democratic-led states over the Republican president’s immigration crackdown.
The Department of Justice alleges in separate lawsuits filed Wednesday that Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington state are imposing unconstitutional restrictions it says impede law enforcement and threaten agents’ safety.
“By denying undercover license plates to DHS components, including ICE, while issuing them to their own state agencies, these governors are pursuing discriminatory and obstructionist policies against federal law enforcement,” said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a statement.
“These actions undermine federal immigration enforcement, allow dangerous criminals to escape justice, and terrorize American communities,” Blanche added.
The Justice Department filed individual suits in U.S. district courts in the respective states. The four state governments are accused of trying “to obstruct the Federal Government’s immigration enforcement efforts, even though control over immigration and the nation’s borders is an exclusive federal power.”
US boosts Ebola response aid to Congo and Uganda by $80M
The Trump administration says it’s boosting its Ebola response assistance to Congo and Uganda by $80 million, bringing the U.S. contribution to those efforts to more than $112 million over the past two weeks.
The State Department said Thursday the additional money would pay for personal protective equipment for health care workers, Ebola test kits, supporting health screening at airports and other points of entry into Central and East Africa, and contact tracing of potential virus victims in the Congo and Uganda.
The U.S. has been criticized for massive reductions in assistance since Trump began his second term, including dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development. But current officials say the new aid procedures are more effective and less costly.
In addition to the bilateral assistance it has pledged, the State Department said it also committed $50 million to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to fund up to 50 Ebola clinics and has earmarked $300 million through the agency for regional humanitarian initiatives.
Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she won’t run for president in 2028
She put to rest speculation about a potential 2028 presidential bid, saying Thursday that she won’t join what’s expected to be a crowded primary field after leaving office at the end of this year.
Whitmer has long been viewed by some Democrats as a possible White House contender after her decisive election victories in the closely contested state Trump has carried twice in presidential votes. For months, however, Whitmer had offered only cautious answers about her political future.
But she delivered her clearest response yet in an interview Thursday with Fox 2 Detroit.
“I think there will be a robust group of people running for president. I will not be one of them in 2028,” Whitmer said.
Her comments came during Michigan’s annual Mackinac policy conference, where Whitmer is set to be honored and deliver remarks later Thursday.
Justice Department scrutinizing statement Carroll made that no one else was paying her legal fees
It later became public that a Chicago-based organization backed by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, had helped fund Carroll’s case.
Trump’s lawyers in the civil case accused Carroll of concealing that information, which they said called into question whether the case was politically motivated.
Oil prices climb, but US stocks hold near their records
Oil prices are clawing back some of their sharp drops from earlier in the week Thursday, but U.S. stocks are remaining near their records as companies like Dollar Tree, Snowflake and Hormel Foods keep piling up profits.
The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% from its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 219 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower after both indexes also set records the day before.
Stocks appear to be less beholden to swings in the oil market, where prices climbed Thursday following the latest threat to the ceasefire in the United States’ war with Iran. U.S. Central Command said Kuwait had intercepted missiles launched by Iran late Wednesday night, following earlier “defensive” strikes by the U.S. military on missile launch sites and minelaying boats in southern Iran.
Trump says he’s been invited to watch the Knicks play in the NBA Finals
Trump told reporters Wednesday that New York Knicks owner James Dolan has invited him to the NBA Finals, when the Eastern Conference champion Knicks host either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs next month at Madison Square Garden.
New York, which is riding an 11-game postseason winning streak after sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference finals, is scheduled to host Game 3 on June 8 and Game 4 on June 10.
Trump, a New York native, said he initially planned to attend Game 5 of the conference finals at MSG before the Knicks finished off the Cavaliers in four games. The president called Dolan a “great guy” and marveled at New York’s run.
Trump called the club’s return to the finals for the first time since 1999 “great to see.”
Trump has routinely dropped in on prominent sporting events during his time in politics. He’s taken in the College Football Playoff championship and caught a prime-time NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets just days before the 2024 election.
