Pete Hegseth’s testimony before Senate lawmakers was quickly interrupted, on a number of occasions, by anti-war protesters in the hearing room.
Collins paused the proceedings as a result, and called on the Capitol police to remove those interrupting the hearing.
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'Our country is no safer or better off than before the war': Top Democrat slams Iran war funding request
Patty Murray, the top Democratic senator on the appropriations committee, has slammed the latest White House funding request for the Iran war.
“Our country is no safer or better off than before the war. In fact, we are considerably less safe,” Murray said. “Our stockpiles have been depleted, and it will take years of production to fully replenish them … and we are now much further away from a long-term solution to halt Iran’s nuclear program than we were before Trump ripped up the deal that President Obama negotiated, which secured actual, measurable commitments and progress without ever starting a costly war.”
Murray noted that in the five months since the war began, the strait of Hormuz– which was open prior to the conflict – is still closed.
“This war is now spiraling out of control again. The president is threatening escalation and war crimes, and suggesting this could be another forever war,” she said. “[Trump] has told us over 40 times now that a deal is ‘near’ and the war will ‘be over soon’. But now he is asking for 70 billion dollars more, and for us to just trust him.”
The hearing where defense secretary Pete Hegseth and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Dan Caine will testify before Senate appropriations lawmakers and explain their request for $80bn in supplemental funding for the Iran has begun.
The committee chair – Republican senator Susan Collins – kicked off by noting that “irrespective of our differing views about the military operations, the fact remains that there are must-pay bills and urgent requirements facing the department that affect the ability of our troops to be well trained, and more broadly, of the US military to deter and defend against potential aggressors worldwide”.
Collins – a noted moderate who is facing a reelection battle in her state of Maine – also pointed to “deeply troubling” reports that dozens of senior officers removed from promotion lists, many of whom appear to women and people of color. “This is likely to discourage well-qualified women and individuals of color from joining our armed forces, thus depriving us of their talent, dedication, and patriotism,” Collins said in her opening remarks. “The United States military is one of the greatest meritocracies in the free world. We need to make sure that it stays that way.”
Later today we can also expect a vote on Jay Clayton’s nomination to lead the national intelligence agencies.
A reminder that Clayton – who serves as the US attorney for the southern district of New York – testified before lawmakers on the Senate intelligence committee last week. During the hearing Trump’s pick to be the country’s next intelligence chief refused to say that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. He also evaded questions about his previous election integrity claims and whether or not a White House official asked him to subpoena a group of New York Times journalists as part of an alleged national security investigation.
On Sunday, the intelligence committee’s top Democrat, Mark Warner, said he would vote against Clayton as the nation’s top spy, to officially replace acting director Bill Pulte – who has received backlash from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for his lack of experience in the intelligence community.
“I’ve known Jay for a long time. I like Jay. I worked well with him when he was at the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission]. But I was bitterly disappointed by his performance in front of my committee,” Warner told CBS News.
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Trump administration halts more than $1bn in Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota
The Trump administration has paused more than $1bn in Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota, citing “suspected fraud and noncompliance” – withholding of funding that follows a $243m pause in Medicaid payments to Minnesota earlier this year.
“If those states want that money, they need to provide documentation that these payments are legitimate,” said Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Officials relied on AI to identify potential fraud, Kennedy said. “We used AI, advanced analytics, and other cutting-edge tools to identify suspicious activity and potential fraud.”
The pause includes more than $867m for California and about $200m for Minnesota.
In California, most of the suspected fraud was in in-home services, he said. Kennedy has several times singled out in-home care provision, which can be a lifeline for disabled individuals – rhetoric that has worried families and angered lawmakers.
Vice-President JD Vance threatened in March to withhold funding to states if they did not cooperate with a new fraud taskforce, headed by Vance and established by a White House executive order.
A US appeals court has overturned a ruling that ordered the Donald Trump administration to release pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi from immigration detention.
The decision came from the 2nd US circuit court of appeals which found that the lower court did not have jurisdiction to hear the case concerning the 35-year old Palestinian green card holder.
“We conclude that the district court should not have reached this question,” US Circuit Judge Debra Ann Livingston wrote.
In response to the ruling, Michael Tan, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, who argued on behalf of Mr. Mahdawi last year, said: “The government is claiming the unprecedented power to detain people for months or even years on end to censor their speech, with no ability to challenge their detention in court. This is as absurd as it is dangerous.”
We will continue to fight for our client and for his right to prompt judicial review,” Tan added.
Tuesday’s ruling follows a a decision earlier this year by an immigration judge who blocked the Trump administration from deporting Mahdawi, who secretary of state Marco Rubio has claimed “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
Mahdawi, a Columbia University student, was detained by federal agents in Vermont last year during his citizenship interview.
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A software error in New Jersey’s motor vehicle system mistakenly registered about 6,600 people who identified themselves as non-US citizens to vote between June 2023 and June 2024, New Jersey governor Mikie Sherrill said on Tuesday.
Sherrill said that individuals “answered ‘no’ when asked on a keypad whether they were a US citizen when applying for drivers’ licenses and identification cards, but through no fault of their own, the system registered them anyway.”
She added that the error occured under the previous administration and that she has since ordered the removal of any residents from voter rolls that were mistakenly added during that time period.
“Our preliminary analysis shows fewer than 400 individuals who were newly registered for the first time because of the error voted. They were registered as Democrats, Republicans and Unaffiliated voters and were scattered across the state,” Sherrill said.
She went on to say that she is “appalled by the reckless failures that allowed this to happen and the lack of transparency shown by those in charge at the time.”
“This failure didn’t occur under my watch, but accountability starts now. I am taking action to prevent anything like it from occurring in the future and make sure those responsible are held accountable,” she continued.
No part of the United States’ anti-HIV programme has escaped unscathed from Donald Trump’s funding cuts, despite pledges from the administration to protect care that saved lives around the world, a new report has found.
Funding cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) have caused “severe and devastating” disruption globally, with thousands of staff laid off and many clinics closed, according to research being presented next week at the 26th International Aids Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It warns that changes in US policy risk reversing progress in the fight against HIV/Aids.
Organisations still in receipt of US funding are also changing what they do to comply with the Trump administration’s policies targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, reproductive rights and the provision of gender-affirming care, researchers found.
Elise Lankiewicz, from the Aids research foundation Amfar and co-lead author of its Pepfar Pulse report, said: “Disruption was incredibly widespread. No part of the programme really escaped unscathed – and that includes areas of the programme that this administration intended to protect.”
'Without us, there's no way they can survive': Trump defends new tariffs on Canada
In the Oval Office today, Donald Trump defended the new 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods.
“Canada has been very, very tough on us over the years, for many years, and no other president’s done anything about it,” Trump said. “In all fairness to them, they need us to survive. Without us, there’s no way they can survive.”
This week, the White House said that the new levies were because Canada has unfairly discriminated against American cars, alcohol and dairy products. The tariffs will go into effect in 30 days, leaving time for possible discussions between the two countries.
Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, said that he spoke with Trump earlier on Tuesday. “We agreed to intensify negotiations in the coming weeks, and the team and myself look forward to doing that,” Carney told reporters.
The tariffs will hit a wide range of products, the White House said, including wine, hockey sticks and cement. They also include goods previously protected from import taxes under the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) agreement.
Trump told members of the press that the latest round of tariffs was not in response to the Canadian wildfire smoke that spread across North America last week, and the president railed against.
On Friday, Trump blasted Canada for its response to the persistent wildfires and the smoke that affected about 109 million people across the midwest, mid-Atlantic and north-east. “The cost is incalculable!” Trump raged on social media. “This is Willful Negligence, and becoming a yearly occurrence, costing the United States Billions of Dollars, which cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying.”
However, the president told reporters on Tuesday that his administration is looking at those tariffs “separately”.
Trump, again offering mixed-messaging about the status of the Iran conflict, noted that the US has decimated Tehran’s military capabilities, but the conflict will not end soon.
“We have done damage that will take them 25 years to recover from. So, if we left tomorrow, we had a big success. But we’re not leaving tomorrow,” Trump said.
During his meeting with Joseph Aoun, Trump said Washington will “talk” with Beijing, after the president pushed misleading claims that China has interfered with US elections.
Last week, Trump delivered a televised address where he claimed that China obtained 220m voter records from the period of from 2020 to 2023. However, election experts note that voter data is some of the easiest to obtain because each state has a public voter file. Those can often be purchased, or even retrieved off the internet in some states. These files have existed since the beginning of voter registration in the US. The key allegation from the Trump administration that China could vote on behalf of people is false, according to experts.
“I think China is maybe a little bit different today than it was then,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday. “They do things and we do things to them. I’ll be honest, we do things to them too. It’s not a one-way street, but we’ll be talking to them.”
Trump claims Iranian leadership wants to meet 'desperately'
Trump repeated his claim that Tehran want to meet “desperately”, as strikes continue between the US and Iran.
As the fragile ceasefire collapsed this month, the president said that until Iran is “ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest in even meeting”.
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As he begins his meeting with Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, Trump said that the country has been “very mistreated country for a long period of time”.
Trump went on to say that Lebanon also has a “very importance place” in joining the Abraham Accords –the diplomatic agreements between Israel and several Arab states. Since the president returned to the White House, he’s expressed interest in expanding the Accords to include more countries.
“I think you’re going to see a lot of countries joining pretty soon,” Trump said today.
Trump has just welcomed Joseph Aoun, the president of Lebanon, to the White House. We’ll bring you the latest lines from their bilateral meeting.
Johnson faces scramble to pass key bills ahead of August recess
As we reported yesterday, House speaker Mike Johnson has an ambitious legislative to-do list before the lower chamber breaks for August recess at the end of this week.
As my colleague Chris Stein notes, there are four bills in particular that the top Republican hopes to pass. This includes a measure that would extend government funding until 4 December; legislation which would curb lawmakers’ ability to trade stocks while in office; a $1.5tn Pentagon funding bill for the next fiscal year; and a third reconciliation package that would guarantee more defense funding and money for the Save America act, among other things.
Before any of this can happen, the Republican majority in the House would have to allow a procedural vote so that these key pieces of legislation can make their way to the floor for debate and, eventually, votes. It’s proving to be an uphill battle for Johnson, who is facing serious pushback from certain members of his own GOP conference.
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US gas prices have continued to rise since the conflict with Iran resumed this month. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), a gallon of fuel is now just over $4 – almost a dollar more than a year ago.
It comes as Brent Crude, the international oil benchmark, is now up by almost 2% to $90.92 a barrel.
Maanvi Singh, Amy Qin and Andrew Witherspoon
The Trump administration arrested a record number of immigrants last month, according to newly released government data that reveals how US immigration agents are quietly but steadily ramping up operations across the country.
A Guardian analysis of the latest data published by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) found that federal immigration agents arrested 43,138 people in June – the highest number since Donald Trump took office in January last year and promised a campaign of mass immigrant deportations.
The number of people in detention has also ticked up by 5,450 since early April, when ICE last provided a count of its detained population. There were a total of 65,765 people in ICE detention as of 11 July – slightly below a record 70,770 people who were in detention in January.
As has been the case since last summer, the number of people in ICE detention without any criminal history remains higher than the number who have pending charges or convictions.
In total, the Trump administration has deported more than 590,600 since January 2025, the latest figures show.
Defense secretary to face Senate lawmakers over billion-dollar funding request for war in Iran
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth, joint chiefs of staff chairman Dan Caine and agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins are also scheduled to speak today. They’ll testify in front of lawmakers on the Senate appropriations committee about Trump’s $88bn supplemental funding request, which would help pay for the war in Iran.
This is the first time we've heard from Hegseth and Caine extensively since consecutive days of strikes restarted against Iran this month.
Lindsey Graham's Washington funeral scheduled for later this month
Lindsey Graham’s funeral will take place in Washington on 28 July, and will include a short ceremony at the US Capitol in the Rotunda, before a full service at Washington National Cathedral for invited guests. Donald Trump is set to speak at the funeral, alongside others that are yet to be announced.
Graham’s remains will the be transported to South Carolina for a service at the state house on 29 July, followed by a procession in the capital, Columbia. There will be a ceremony open to the public, before a private family burial in Pickens County, where Graham was born and raised.
Donald Trump is in Washington today. We’ll hear from him when he welcomes Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, to the White House at 11am ET. We’ll bring you the latest lines from their bilateral meeting.
Later, Trump will meet with House Republican lawmakers in the Oval Office at 5pm ET. That’s currently closed to the press, but we’ll let you know if that changes.
That meeting comes as House speaker Mike Johnson faces an uphill climb to pass several pieces of legislation ahead of August recess.
The president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque said he was subjected to “dehumanizing” treatment during more than 80 days in federal immigration custody – treatment that reminded him of the time he spent in Israeli military prisons in occupied Palestine nearly four decades ago.
“It all brought back old memories of things that happened to me when I was tried in Palestine,” said Salah Sarsour in his first interview since being released last month. “The humiliation, the treatment by guards, the way they talk to people, the way they try to put people down.” He said he lost more than 30lb while in immigration detention.
Sarsour, who was born in the West Bank and has been a US permanent resident for nearly three decades, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March and released after a federal judge found he had probably been detained in retaliation of his advocacy for Palestinian rights – a likelihood the judge said would render his detention unlawful.
The Trump administration is continuing to seek his deportation and Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, personally signed off on a memo last year describing Sarsour as deportable, because “his actions undermine US foreign policy to combat antisemitism around the world”.
Trump prepares fresh tariffs on dozens of countries, FT reports
President Donald Trump is poised to unleash fresh tariffs on dozens of countries as soon as this week, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, with his temporary 10% global tariff scheduled to expire on Friday.
The FT said the most immediate new duties are expected to be on a par with the 10% tariffs currently in place, but the administration was also working on other investigations that could grant it the legal authority to propose higher duties.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Lebanon's Aoun to meet Trump as pressure builds to disarm Hezbollah
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun was to meet with his US counterpart Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday, as Beirut’s military moved into an area of the south under a deal with Israel to disarm Hezbollah.
Lebanon is under pressure to prove that it can and will disarm the Iran-backed militant group, which Israel has set as a precondition for ending its occupation in southern Lebanon.
The so-called “pilot zones” where the Lebanese army is deploying under the deal with Israel are primarily located just outside territory Israeli forces invaded after Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the Middle East war in March.
Democrats have seized on the deaths of three US troops killed in Iranian strikes to urge Donald Trump to urgently reverse his resumption of the war with Iran amid widespread anxiety over climbing casualties.
Even as US forces launched a 10th consecutive wave of attacks against Iranian targets, concern over the deaths of American service personnel threatened to complicate moves to escalate the conflict, which has reignited after he last week walked away from a memorandum of understanding agreed with Iran in June.
The Pentagon released the names of two soldiers killed in a strike on Muwaffaq Salti air base in Jordan on Friday. They were First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas.
A third member of the armed forces was killed in northern Iraq on Saturday in what US Central Command called a “controlled detonation” of unexploded ordnance. The remains of a possible fourth dead service member were found over the weekend in Jordan.
Canada ready to 'intensify' US trade talks as Trump orders new tariffs
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has said that Ottawa is ready to deepen trade talks with the United States, after US president Donald Trump ordered fresh tariffs targeting Canada.
“This is the latest in a series of unilateral US trade actions that began with the US imposing a series of tariffs in direct violation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement,” Carney said of Trump’s plan for 50% duties on many Canadian products.
He added that Canada has made proposals to resolve disputes as Washington transformed its trade ties, and is “ready to intensify those discussions.”
Trump’s tariffs will hit a wide range of products, the White House said, including wine, hockey sticks and cement. They also include goods previously protected from import taxes under the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) agreement.
The new tariffs will exclude energy products, fish, critical minerals and potash. They also exclude products already subject to tariffs aimed at protecting national security, such as steel and aluminum.
The White House said the tariffs will go into effect in 30 days, leaving time for possible negotiations between the two countries. Trump signed three proclamations to launch the tariffs under Section 338 of the 1930 Trade Act. Several Democratic lawmakers last year proposed repealing the section because they said Trump could use it to destabilize the economy.
A White House fact sheet claims Trump is “taking action to hold Canada accountable for its continued discrimination against and unreasonable and unequal treatment of U.S. commerce that has burdened and disadvantaged hardworking Americans”.
Trump claims in the proclamations that Canada discriminates against American automobiles, alcohol and cheese relative to other nations, but his argument rests in large part on retaliatory actions taken by Canada after the US president imposed tariffs on Canada under the pretext that it should do more to stop fentanyl smuggling into the US.
Read the full story here:
In other developments:
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Canadians across the political spectrum united in anger at Trump. “If these tariffs proceed, Canada should respond tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar,” Ontario premier Doug Ford said. Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, called the tariffs a “direct violation” of the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement Trump negotiated. Canada’s Conservatives called the tariffs “another unacceptable and unjustified attack on Canadian workers and our businesses,” adding: “Canadians are not a punching bag.” The leader of Canada’s New Democrats called them “the latest economic grenade thrown over the border by an out of control President who has lost touch with reality.”
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Ilya Somin, a professor of law at George Mason University who helped file the successful challenge to Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs, points out, the president’s new 50% tariffs on Canadian imports “are based on Section 338 of the notorious 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff legislation, which severely exacerbated the Great Depression.”
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Nancy Mace, a Republican congresswoman from South Carolina, announced on Monday that she is not entering the race to replace the late senator Lindsey Graham in the snap Republican primary next month.
