Trump meets with Netanyahu for dinner at the White House

Netanyahu said he thinks Israel can work out a peace with the “entire Middle East” with Trump’s leadership.

That would include allowing Palestinians power to govern themselve, while keeping security matters forever in Israel’s control, Netanyahu said.

The announcement came days after the administration ordered a pause on deliveries of critical weapons to Ukraine.

Trump said, ‘we have to send” more weapons because “they have to be able to defend themselves.”

He said Ukraine is getting hit “very, very hard” by Russia.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the paused weapons shipments to Ukraine would resume.

Trump says he has agreed to an Iranian request to meet with U.S. officials in the wake of the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites.

“We have scheduled Iran talks, and they want to,” Trump told reporters. “They want to talk.”

There have been no talks scheduled with Iran, but Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, sitting at the table with Trump, said the meeting would be soon, perhaps in a week.

Trump says it doesn’t matter that the people losing their lives in the conflict aren’t American.

What’s happening between Russia and Ukraine is a “horrible thing, and I’m not happy” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said. “I’m not happy with President Putin at all.”

The president said thousands of Russians and Ukrainians are losing their lives every week.

“I’m stopping wars and I hate to see people killed,” he said.

The honor was “well-deserved,” Netanyahu told Trump.

Trump has long called himself a master peacemaker, and made clear his desire for the Nobel Prize.

Trump, speaking in front of reporters, said the nomination was news to him.

“Coming from you, this is very meaningful,” he told the Israeli leader.

Trump said the administration is trying to help and “make it as comfortable as possible for” Texas.

He said the state was “so badly hurt by something that was a big surprise.”

Trump confirmed the visit during a White House appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday that it has eliminated the need for a large-scale reduction in staff after retirements, buyouts and hiring freezes that will amount to nearly 30,000 fewer employees.

The figure is far less than the 80,000 job cuts the sprawling agency that provides health care and other services to millions of veterans had planned this spring, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press in March.

That memo had instructed top-level staff to prepare for an agencywide reorganization and called for officials to work with the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The agency said in a news release Monday that it had considered a reduction of up to 15% — about 72,600 workers — of its 484,000 employees in January. But the agency said it will instead have 29,000 — or 6% — fewer staff members by this fiscal year’s end on Sept. 30.

The Israeli prime minister is scheduled to have a private dinner with Trump at the White House tonight, but first he held separate meetings with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, according to the prime minister’s office.

The talks were held at Blair House, the presidential guest house near the White House.

A judge late Monday temporarily blocked a provision in the newly signed Republican tax and spending cut bill that would have ended Medicaid payments to abortion providers for one year.

The lawsuit against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was filed earlier in the day in Boston by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member organizations in Massachusetts and Utah.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a temporary restraining order that prevents the defendants from enforcing the cuts and requiring them to ensure “Medicaid funding continues to be disbursed in the customary manner and timeframes to Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its members.”

Plaintiffs argue that allowing the provision to take effect will have devastating consequences nationwide, including increased rates of undiagnosed and untreated sexually transmitted diseases and cancer, as well as unplanned pregnancies and abortions.

A court order issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox reinstates the union workers after they were placed on administrative leave in April as part of Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency efforts to trim the federal workforce.

The local union sued the agency in May alongside several nonprofit organizations.

AmeriCorps is a 30-year-old agency that facilitates volunteer service across the country, sending hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of people to serve in communities.

In a separate case, U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman granted a temporary block on the agency’s cancellation of grants and early discharge of corps members in the states that sued the administration in April.

President Donald Trump is reshaping the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, sparking concerns it could become a tool for political retribution.

The program cancels student loans for public sector and nonprofit workers after 10 years of payments.

A draft proposal from the Education Department suggests excluding organizations involved in “illegal activities,” with definitions targeting immigration, transgender issues and terrorism.

Advocates have raised concerns it would give the department subjective authority to decide if an organization is engaged in anything illegal — a power that could be used to remove entire hospital systems or state governments from the program.

The agency is preparing a formal proposal that will undergo a public comment period before it’s finalized.

▶ Read more about the loan cancellation program

The proposal would have required the state to apologize and restore awards to girls who lost sports titles to trans athletes. It also would’ve required the state to notify school sports programs that receive federal funding that Title IX, a federal law banning sex discrimination in education, prohibits trans girls from participating in girls sports.

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon posted on X Monday that the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation, a governing body for high school sports, said they would not agree to the recommendations. The federation said it does not comment on legal matters.

The Trump administration unveiled the proposal last month after determining California policies allowing trans girls to compete on sports teams that align with their gender identity violated Title IX. The federal government gave the state 10 days to change its policies or “risk imminent enforcement action.”

McMahon said Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who earlier this year questioned the fairness of trans girls competing in girls sports, would hear from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Turns out Gov. Newsom’s acknowledgment that ‘it’s an issue of fairness’ was empty political grandstanding,” McMahon said.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian says that U.S. airstrikes so badly damaged three of his country’s nuclear facilities last month that Iranian authorities have still not been able to access them to survey the destruction.

Pezeshkian said in an interview published Monday with conservative American broadcaster Tucker Carlson that Iran would be willing to resume cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog but cannot yet commit to allowing them unfettered access to monitor the sites.

“We are ready to hold talks over it,” Pezeshkian said. “We have never been the party that has run away from verification. We stand ready to have such supervision, unfortunately, as a result of the United States’ unlawful attacks against our nuclear centers and installations, many of the pieces of equipment and the facilities there have been severely damaged. Therefore, we don’t have any access to them, we cannot see. And this access will have to wait for that.”

Israelis rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv on Monday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began a U.S. visit.

Demonstrators held signs demanding an end to the Gaza war, and demanding Israel win the release of hostages held in the Palestinian territory.

“Hostages are waiting,” the message on one banner declared.

During Monday’s briefing, Leavitt was asked about Trump’s idea for the United States to take over Gaza and lead its rebuilding.

The press secretary responded by saying the question was inaccurate.

“As for the ‘take over’ of Gaza,” she said, raising her fingers to make an air quote gesture, “I don’t believe the president ever said that. I think he discussed a rebuilding of Gaza once this war is over.”

In fact, Trump had said exactly that back in February.

“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” the president said at a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Then Trump went a step further — “we’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.”

Leavitt did not immediately return a request for comment.

Families of hostages held in Gaza have come to Washington for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit here, pushing the U.S. and Israel to demand release of all remaining hostages as part of any ceasefire deal.

Netanyahu says 50 people remain hostage in Gaza. The Israeli leader says only 20 of them are believed still alive — many believed in Hamas tunnels under Gaza — after 21 months of war between Israel and the armed group.
Families of some of the hostages gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Monday with signs and photos of their loved ones.

“We cannot accept a deal for a partial release,” said Ilan Dalal, father of Guy Gilboa-Dalal. “A partial deal would mean that some of the hostages will stay in the tunnels for more time and this would be a death sentence.”

Leavitt says the Trump administration is ending protections that have allowed migrants from Honduras and Nicaragua to live and work in the U.S. for decades.

Tens of thousands of migrants from both countries had been shielded from deportation under a program known as Temporary Protected Status. The move is part of Trump’s sweeping effort to increase deportations.

Leavitt said the program “is temporary by definition. It is not meant to be a permanent path to residency or citizenship.” She said migrants from both countries began qualifying for protected U.S. status after the devastation across Central America of Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

“That doesn’t sound very temporary to me,” Leavitt said.

The White House won’t say if Trump will be rethinking phasing out the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the deadly flooding in Texas.

Asked if Trump may delay his promise to close FEMA and leave disaster response up to the states, Leavitt said, “The president has always said he wants states to do as much as they can.”

She added that Texas officials are doing a “tremendous job” in response to the flooding.

Pressed in a subsequent question about phasing out FEMA, Leavitt said she’d already answered the question — even though she hadn’t.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Qatari capital later this week as the Trump administration continues its push for a ceasefire and hostage deal in the 21-month war in Gaza.

“The utmost priority for the president right now in the Middle East is to end the war in Gaza and to return all of the hostages,” Leavitt said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to have a private dinner with Trump on Monday at the White House this evening. Before his meeting with Trump on Monday, the prime minister is scheduled to meet separately with Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The groups are suing the U.S. government over the decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for children and pregnant women.

The plaintiffs include the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association — along with an unnamed pregnant doctor who works in a hospital.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials did not immediately comment.

In late May, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he was removing COVID-19 shots from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women. Many health experts accused Kennedy of disregarding the scientific review process.

The White House press secretary is continuing to dispute suggestions that Trump administration cuts to the federal workforce may have hindered federal response to the deadly Texas flooding.

She said some Democrats have suggested that, but noted that many media outlets have not followed suit. She didn’t name any specific officials making those claims.

Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency has spent months working to slash the size of government, but it is unclear what impact those efforts might have had on the federal response to the flooding in Texas.

Trump is signing an executive order on Monday to delay that tariff increase deadline by roughly three weeks to Aug. 1, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the news briefing.

The 90-day negotiating period on trade was set to expire on July 9, causing tariffs to increase from the baseline 10% rate to the generally higher levels set by Trump on April 2. But the order would allow the new rates being announced by Trump on Monday and Tuesday to be imposed starting on Aug 1.

Trump posted letters to the leaders of South Korea and Japan saying imports of their goods will be taxed at 25%. Leavitt said approximately a dozen other countries will receive letters.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the president will be visiting devastating flooding “later this week.”

She called what happened a “once in a generation national disaster” and urged “everyone in the area to remain vigilant, listen to all warnings and respond accordingly.”

Leavitt said the visit would likely come Friday, but that no final decision had been made.

She also bristled at suggestions that deep Trump administration cuts to federal services may have affected authorities’ response to the flooding.
She blamed Democrats and said that faulting “President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie” and insisted that the National Weather Service “did its job” in spreading warnings about possible catastrophic flooding.

Leavitt said the president wants to go “at the most appropriate time” as the state recovers from deadly flooding.

Planned Parenthood sued the Trump administration Monday over a provision in the newly signed Republican tax and spending cut bill that would end Medicaid payments to abortion providers for one year.

The lawsuit against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was filed in Boston by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member organizations in Massachusetts and Utah.

They argue allowing the provision to take effect will have devastating consequences nationwide. According to their complaint, many of Planned Parenthood’s 1 million Medicaid patients will lose access to health care altogether, clinics will lay off staff and curtail services for all patients, and a substantial number of clinics will shut down.

The result will be increased rates of undiagnosed and untreated sexually transmitted diseases and cancer, as well as unplanned pregnancies and abortions, the plaintiffs argue.

Hungry, displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip hope Monday’s meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will lead to a ceasefire.

The two are set to meet as negotiations continue on a plan for a 60-day truce, the release of some hostages held by Hamas and an influx of humanitarian aid.

“Displacement is death,” said Majid Farwana, who lives in a tent camp in central Gaza. “We’re suffering every minute as we try to find food, water and tenting, and we struggle with hot weather.”

Mohammed Abu Awda, who was displaced from northern Gaza, said that if he returns to find his home destroyed, he will set up a tent on the rubble.

The 21-month war, ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and driven around 90% of Gaza’s population from their homes. Hunger is widespread, with aid groups saying they have struggled to bring in food because of Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order.

Trump has been talking for a while about ending trade negotiations and sending out letters informing countries about their tariff rates.

On Friday, the president told reporters that “I signed some letters and they’ll go out on Monday, probably 12.” (Two have been released so far.)

The letters, issued on White House stationary, have Trump’s typical flourishes and capitalization."We invite you to participate in the extraordinary Economy of the United States, the Number One Market in the World, by far,” he wrote to the leaders of South Korea and Japan.

He ends both of the letters by saying, “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The higher taxes begin on Aug. 1.

The president announced the decision on Truth Social, where he posted copies of letters that he sent to the leaders of each country.

Trump has been eager to escalate tariffs on American trading partners after pausing his plans earlier this year.

Netanyahu is also expected to meet while he’s in Washington with the U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Johnson, a Republican who has aligned the House GOP lawmakers closer to Israel, plans to meet with Netanyahu on Tuesday.

Trump posted on social media that Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro is subject to a “WITCH HUNT” and should be left alone by that country’s judiciary.

Trump in a Monday post on Truth Social channeled his own experiences with regard to Bolsonaro, who was charged in February for plotting to stay in power after losing the 2022 election in an ongoing Brazilian Supreme Court Case.

“He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE,” Trump said.

The Trump administration has decided to revoke the terrorism designation of the new Syrian president’s group as part of a broader engagement with the new government since the ouster of former leader Bashar Assad.

Rubio signed the revocation of the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation for the al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, on June 23.

The decision had not been previously announced but US officials said it would take effect on Tuesday.

The former Librarian of Congress is back with a new gig after Trump abruptly fired her in May.

Carla Hayden joined the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Monday as a senior fellow, the humanities grant-maker exclusively told The Associated Press.

Her duties include advising the country’s largest philanthropic supporter of the arts on efforts to advance public knowledge through libraries and archives.

Hayden noted existing threats to “the free exchange of ideas” in a statement.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson says that the “BRICS mechanism is an important platform for cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries.”

“It advocates openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation and does not engage in bloc confrontation or target any specific country,” the spokesperson said Monday.

The comments come after Trump said, in a post on his social media platform late Sunday, that any country that aligns itself with what he termed “the Anti-American policies of BRICS” would be levied an added 10% tariff.

The second of the BRICS summit continues Monday in Rio de Janeiro.

Tesla shares tumbled 6.5% overnight as the feud between CEO Elon Musk and Trump reignited over the weekend.

Musk, once a top donor and ally of Trump, announced that he was forming a third political party in protest over the Republican spending bill that passed late last week.

Trump followed by criticizing Musk in a social media post, saying that the CEO had gone “off the rails” in recent weeks.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Monday TV interview that the Trump administration would announce “several” trade frameworks over the next 48 hours.

“What President Trump is concerned about is the quality of the deals, not the quantity,” Bessent said on CNBC.

The treasury secretary said his “mailbox” was filled with new trade offers in response to the risk that countries could “boomerang” back to the higher tariff rates that Trump announced on April 2.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make his first official trip to Asia this week to attend a regional security conference in Malaysia.

It comes as the Trump administration moves ahead with its intent to focus more heavily on the Indo-Pacific and blunting China’s increasing influence there.

Rubio, who also will be making his first solo trip abroad since taking on the added job of national security adviser, will travel to Kuala Lumpur for the annual Association of Southeast Nations Regional Forum.

The first event on Trump’s schedule today isn’t until 4 p.m. ET, when he will sign executive orders. Later, at 6:30 p.m. ET, Trump will meet with Netanyahu. The two are expected to have dinner together.

The BRICS bloc of developing nations on Sunday condemned the increase of tariffs and attacks on Iran, but refrained from naming Trump. The group’s declaration, which also took aim at Israel’s military actions in the Middle East, also spared its member Russia from criticism and mentioned war-torn Ukraine just once.

The two-day summit was marked by the absence of two of its most powerful members. China’s President Xi Jinping did not attend a BRICS summit for the first time since he became his country’s leader in 2012. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who spoke via videoconference, continues to mostly avoid traveling abroad due to an international arrest warrant issued after Russia invaded Ukraine.

In an indirect swipe at the U.S., the group’s declaration raised “serious concerns” about the rise of tariffs which it said were “inconsistent with WTO (World Trade Organization) rules.” The BRICS added that those restrictions “threaten to reduce global trade, disrupt global supply chains, and introduce uncertainty.”

▶ Read more about the summit

Trump said Thursday that he’s thinking of staging a UFC match on the White House grounds with upwards 20,000 spectators to celebrate 250 years of American independence.

Trump announced his plan in Iowa during the kickoff for a year’s worth of festivities to celebrate America’s 250th birthday on July 4, 2026.

The Republican president also announced a culminating festival on the National Mall in Washington, and a separate athletic competition featuring high school athletes from across the country.

″Think of this on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there,” he said, adding that it would be a “full fight” with 20,000 to 25,000 people.

A White House spokesperson said they had no details to share beyond the president’s announcement, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later said Trump was “dead serious” about those plans.

▶ Read more about Trump’s plans

Barack Obama had the Affordable Care Act. Joe Biden had the Inflation Reduction Act. President Donald Trump will have the tax cuts.

All were hailed in the moment and became ripe political targets in campaigns that followed. In Trump’s case, the tax cuts may almost become lost in the debates over other parts of the multitrillion-dollar bill that Democrats say will force poor Americans off their health care and overturn a decade or more of energy policy.

Through persuasion and browbeating, Trump forced nearly all congressional Republicans to line up behind his marquee legislation despite some of its unpalatable pieces.

He followed the playbook that had marked his life in business before politics. He focused on branding — labeling the legislation the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” — then relentlessly pushed to strong-arm it through Congress, solely on the votes of Republicans.

But Trump’s victory will soon be tested during the 2026 midterm elections, where Democrats plan to run on a durable theme: that the Republican president favors the rich on tax cuts over poorer people who will lose their health care.

▶ Read more about Trump’s big tax bill

Netanyahu and Trump might look to take a victory lap on Monday after their recent joint strikes on Iran, hailed by both as an unmitigated success.

But as they meet for the third time this year, the outwardly triumphant visit will be dogged by Israel’s 21-month war against Hamas in Gaza and questions over how hard Trump will push for an end to the conflict.

Trump has made clear that following the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, he would like to see the Gaza conflict end soon. The meeting between Trump and Netanyahu could give new urgency to a U.S. ceasefire proposal being discussed by Israel and Hamas, but whether it leads to a deal that ends the war is unclear.

▶ Read more about the upcoming meeting between the two leaders

The Trump administration is stepping up pressure on trading partners to quickly make new deals before a Wednesday deadline, with plans for the United States to start sending letters Monday warning countries that higher tariffs could kick in Aug. 1.

That furthers the uncertainty for businesses, consumers and America’s trading partners, and questions remain about which countries will be notified, whether anything will change in the days ahead and whether Trump will once more push off imposing the rates. Trump and his top trade advisers say he could extend the time for dealmaking but they insist the administration is applying maximum pressure on other nations.

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Trump would decide when it was time to give up on negotiations.

▶ Read more about Trump’s pressure on trading partners