President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, saying “things are going very well” days after insisting a settlement was “largely negotiated.” Trump's Republican allies have expressed concerns that closing his war of choice will be unsatisfactory, putting off critical issues to be resolved later. “It's gotta be perfect,” Trump said during the meeting, adding that he won't sign a “crummy” deal.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth celebrated the U.S. military’s strength, even as a new analysis shows it could take three years for defense contractors to replenish the key weapons systems used in the Iran war. Trump also praised his administration’s work to stamp out fraud, saying his administration is “bringing our country back to honesty.”
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House Dems introduce bill to block Trump’s proposed Arch
House Democrats are introducing a bill to block construction of Trump’s proposed “triumphal arch” near the Lincoln Memorial. The bill comes after a federal commission approved the design for the project, which Trump wants to serve as an entrance to the nation’s capital.
Reps. Don Beyer of Virginia and Dina Titus of Nevada called the arch a “vanity project,” saying it relies on illegal funding manipulations without congressional authorization and violates the Commemorative Works Act.
Beyer’s district includes Arlington National Cemetery, adjacent to the arch site. He called the cemetery sacred ground, adding: “It is unthinkable that we would desecrate this hallowed space to build a monument to Donald Trump’s ego.”
The 250-foot arch is one of several projects the Republican president is pursuing alongside a White House ballroom to leave his imprint on Washington.
Wall Street hangs near its records as oil prices sink
U.S. stocks are hanging near their records on Wednesday as oil prices fall, easing pressure on households and businesses worldwide.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1% and added to its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 243 points, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.1%.
Bath & Body Works and Abercrombie & Fitch both rallied after becoming the latest companies to deliver stronger profit reports for the start of 2026 than analysts expected. That’s even though U.S. consumers have been getting more discouraged about inflation.
Stocks of oil-and-gas companies fell after the price of Brent crude dropped more than 4%. Treasury yields eased.
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Trump uses Cabinet meeting to play mayor and offer lengthy update on Washington construction
The president took on a new role during his latest Cabinet meeting, acting more like a small-town mayor than commander-in-chief.
He spent 10 minutes describing in great detail helping lead his administration’s efforts to fix fountains and spruce up the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool, which Trump mistakenly called the “reflecting lake” and “reflecting pond.”
Workers “sandblasted it, and then we pebble-blasted,” Trump said, explaining it as “a bigger version of sand.”
His comments were far more extensive than what was said on meatier issues like the war in Iran, the economy or the upcoming midterm elections.
Trump even talked about fixing “the floor” of an outdoor park near the White House – meaning brick walkways in Washington’s Lafayette Park.
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South African government and Afrikaners reject US claim of a humanitarian emergency for white people
The South African government and advocacy groups for the country’s Afrikaner white minority on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s position that there’s a humanitarian emergency affecting white people in South Africa.
The argument served as the administration’s rationale for raising the U.S. refugee cap by 10,000, but only for white South Africans. The Trump administration announced the increase on Tuesday and cited “an unforeseen emergency refugee situation.”
The South African government calls these allegations unfounded, saying some beneficiaries of the refugee program have chosen to return to South Africa. Around 6,000 South Africans have moved to the U.S. since the Afrikaner program started last year, according to the U.S. government.
Afrikaner groups such as Solidariteit and AfriForum say that refugee status isn’t a solution, and they aim to improve conditions in South Africa. Critics argue the U.S. decision prioritizes white South Africans over refugees from war-torn regions.
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Iran insists on peace in Lebanon as part of a US deal as Israeli-Hezbollah fighting expands
The Israeli military on Wednesday told residents across southern Lebanon to leave as it expands its operations and applies “extreme force” against Hezbollah militants. Already, Israeli troops clashing with Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters have pushed north of the strategic Litani river as Lebanon and Israeli delegations head to talks in Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the expansion amid a surge in Hezbollah’s exploding drone attacks.
More than one million people in Lebanon have been displaced, and over 3,200 people have been killed in Israeli strikes, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, since open warfare began on March 2 with Hezbollah rockets fired toward Israel in solidarity with Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said 23 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed, along with two civilians.
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Alabama attorney general says state did not intentionally discriminate against Black voters
Steve Marshall also said Alabama should be allowed to hold new elections this year under a map chosen by lawmakers, not judges.
More than 879,000 voters cast ballots statewide in Alabama’s May 19 primaries, using a court-ordered map that led to the 2024 election of U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. State Republicans want voters to return to the polls and use their map instead. It would reduce the Black voting age population in his district from 48% to 39% to reclaim the seat for the GOP.
Alabama’s GOP-controlled legislature already voided the May 19 results in the four districts affected by the map switch. Marshall is asking for Supreme Court action by Monday as the state prepares for new special primaries for Aug. 11 in those districts.
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Trump ends public portion of latest Cabinet meeting
Trump wrapped up the public portion of his latest Cabinet meeting after roughly 1 hour and 20 minutes.
The U.S. president started the meeting shortly before noon. He talked about his renovation and architectural plans for Washington, as well as the Iran war, efforts to lower prescription drug prices and the vice president’s task force on fraud, among other subjects.
“We’re doing great,” Trump said before dismissing the reporters in attendance. “Our country is doing fantastically well, and this group of people is outstanding.”
Trump says he opposes Russia or China retrieving Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile
“That would not make me comfortable,” the president said.
The two countries have the closest relations with Tehran. Nuclear analysts have said either country could serve as a potentially acceptable third party to the Iranian Republic to take possession of the enriched uranium, which could be used to make a nuclear weapon, as part of a potential deal with the U.S. to end the war.
But Trump seemed to shut down that possibility Wednesday.
Under a 2015 deal negotiated by President Barack Obama, Russia took a stockpile of highly enriched uranium that Iran had at the time.
Trump spends 5 minutes talking about Reflecting Pool project
The president elaborated on the project with painstaking detail. He introduced his lengthy tangent as “a slightly smaller subject,” then walked through work on the 2,400-foot pool between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, saying it’ll be done by July 4.
“We cleaned it. We fumigated it. We had 10 major truck – dumpsters of garbage taken out. Can you believe it?” Trump said, blaming his Democratic predecessors for the “disgusting” conditions and disrepair.
“We made the surface as good as it can be,” Trump said. “And we’re now covering it with the most beautiful blue, very thick – you can think of it as a very sophisticated form of rubber. No leaks. No problems. And it’s beautiful. It’s called American flag blue.”
Trump at one point justified his intense oversight: “I’ve built hundreds of pools,” he said, later adding, “It’s not as simple as people think.”
Trump says deal on Iran has ‘got to be perfect’
Saying “I’m not sure we should make the deal” on Iran if additional countries don’t join the Abraham Accords — the U.S.-brokered agreements from Trump’s first term aimed at normalizing relations with Israel — Trump said he’s “requesting strongly” that others, like Saudi Arabia and Qatar sign on.
But asked by reporters at the Cabinet meeting if an Iran deal were contingent on that act, Trump added, “I don’t want to say that.”
Trump also said that, while he felt a “good deal” with Iran could be achieved now, he preferred “a great deal,” and then said the agreement must be even better than that.
“It’s got to be perfect,” Trump said. “I didn’t do this to get a crummy agreement.”
Trump defends New Jersey detention center where protesters and federal officers have clashed
“We run the finest facilities anywhere in the world — of their type — but we have some horrible killers,” Trump said Wednesday when asked about an immigration detention center where some detainees have been on a hunger strike to protest conditions.
Recent protests at the center have drawn elected Democrats including Sen. Andy Kim, who said officers shot pepper spray at him and others this week.
Asked by Trump to weigh in, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Kim “probably shouldn’t have been there.”
“The fact is, we’re giving them the calories they want,” Mullin said of the detainees. “This isn’t Holiday Inn.”
Trump says ‘Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up’
The president made the comment Wednesday after being asked whether he would accept a deal allowing Iran and Oman to share control the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking at his Cabinet meeting, he said the strait must be open to everyone and that no one can control it, though he said the U.S. will “watch over it.”
After issuing the threat to Oman, Trump added: “They understand that. They’ll be fine.”
Bessent channels Biden era and calls higher inflation ‘transitory’
Bessent just dropped a “T” word to describe inflation — echoing past remarks by two of Trump’s favorite targets, former President Joe Biden and former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, that higher prices would soon fade.
“In terms of prices, I believe the prices are transitory,” Bessent said. “Oil will be lower than preconflict levels when this ends.”
He was repeating an administration talking point that energy prices will plummet once the Iran war comes to a close. But his remarks contained a degree of irony.
Powell’s past use of “transitory” and Biden’s use of “temporary” came to haunt them. That’s because inflation remained persistently high as the economy emerged from the pandemic and was slower to ease than the public expected. The words formed the basis of attacks by Republicans and helped return Trump to the White House.
Bessent says Trump Accounts app coming Thursday
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during the Cabinet meeting that the app would launch “on all major platforms.”
A provision of Trump’s tax legislation, Trump Accounts are meant to give $1,000 to every newborn, so long as their 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.
Calling it a “great symbol of the 250th anniversary,” Bessent said that “nearly 6 million kids” had been signed up for the accounts, which officially launch July 4.
Trump says World War II Memorial fountain is next in line for renovation
The president said his administration will turn to the war memorial after finishing an overhaul of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“Now we’re looking at the World War II fountain, because that’s also in pretty bad shape on the bottom,” Trump said Wednesday at his Cabinet meeting. “We’re going to duplicate it, I think with the — maybe with a slightly different color. Actually, we’ll go with a lighter color.”
Trump ordered the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to be resurfaced in what he calls “American flag blue” after he said a friend complained about the condition of the pool.
The World War II Memorial sits at the east end of the reflecting pool, featuring stone pillars and arches surrounding an oval fountain.
Trump said he and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum “have a lot of fun” with the renovations.
Trump says anti-fraud work is ‘bringing our country back to honesty’
The president devoted a long stretch of his Cabinet meeting to a recap of the vice president’s anti-fraud task force, which officials see as a winning issue ahead of midterm elections.
Vance highlighted efforts to stop fraud and misuse in social programs from Medicare and Medicaid to federal student aid. Vance said officials have found tens of billions of dollars in Medicaid and Medicare fraud, adding that “we’re going to find a lot more.”
Trump congratulated officials on the effort, saying it’s a “tremendous amount of money.”
Rubio: No Ebola patients allowed in the US
The Trump administration “cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States” amid the ongoing outbreak overseas, Rubio said in the Cabinet meeting.
Rubio said the State Department and other agencies are working “very, very hard to contain this crisis to the countries where it’s currently located, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
The comments come as the Trump administration has said it is setting up a facility in Kenya where Americans exposed to Ebola can be sent for quarantine and treatment.
Rubio says having ‘failed state’ Cuba so close to the US is a ‘national security threat’
The secretary of state said “Cuba’s in a lot of trouble” and being run by “incompetent communists.”
He didn’t offer any details on U.S. actions related to the island, including a possible intervention, which Trump has hinted might be coming.
But Rubio said of Cuba: “Having a failed state 90 miles from our shores is a threat to the national security of the United States.”
Rubio says ‘diplomacy is always the first option’ on Iran
Asked to give an update on negotiations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he felt “there’s been some progress” on discussions with Iran and said the “next few hours and days” would yield more information.
Seated at Trump’s right hand, the country’s chief diplomat stressed that, while the president has “other options” if talks don’t yield the U.S.’ desired outcome, Rubio added, “We prefer the negotiated, diplomatic route, and we’re going to give it every chance to succeed.”
Trump said Rubio had been “all over the place” in recent days. The secretary of state returned to the U.S. last night after a five-day trip that included stops in Sweden and India.
Zelenskyy asks Trump for more US air defense help against Russian missile attacks, Kyiv says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has written to Trump and Congress asking for more American-made air defense ammunition to counter intensifying Russian ballistic missile attacks, Kyiv said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers have backed a bill to draft bank employees to fight against Ukraine’s long-range drones that strike deep inside Russia — with trained bank staff shooting down the unmanned aircraft.
As aerial attacks by both sides escalate in the more than four-year war, Anne Keast-Butler, head of U.K.’s intelligence agency GCHQ, asserted that Russian President Vladimir “Putin is going backwards on the battlefield,” and new data shows “almost half a million Russian soldiers have now been killed since the conflict began.”
Zelenskyy’s letter, obtained by The Associated Press, says deliveries of Patriot PAC-3 missiles and other air defense systems are falling dangerously short as the Iran war diverts U.S. stocks.
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Trump, looking to move his Cabinet meeting along, suggests not all officials will speak
The president said he’d limit speaking roles in the Cabinet meeting to Vance, Attorney General Todd Blanche, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Kelly Loeffler, small business administrator.
“And maybe, if you have some questions, we’ll go to others,” he told reporters.
“But everybody around here has got a lot to say,” Trump said. “But we did that once, and it lasted for like four or five hours. It was a little much.”
Trump’s Cabinet meetings often feature top officials spending long periods of time praising him. That’s led to marathon sessions, though not quite as long as he suggested.
Last summer, one such meeting exceeded three hours.
Trump says his fraud task force will save Social Security. The numbers say otherwise
The U.S. president said at his Cabinet meeting that Social Security payments will be rescued by the crackdown on fraud by a task force led by Vice President JD Vance — a claim undermined by the numbers for the social insurance program.
“I think we have a chance to save Social Security without doing anything to it,” Trump said. “We’re going to make our Social Security so strong.”
The government said last year that Social Security’s trust funds — which cover old age and disability recipients — will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2034. That’s because the cost of the benefits for an aging population are exceeding payroll tax revenues.
There is no sign that stopping improper payments would be sufficient to close the gap, as the government estimated they were 3.8% of Social Security expenditures in fiscal 2025.
Despite Social Security’s deteriorating finances under his watch, Trump said it “would be bankrupt” if Democrats were in power.
Trump doubles down that midterms don’t affect his Iran strategy
The president suggested that Iranian leaders think upcoming U.S. elections give them leverage over Trump because of his lagging approval ratings. If so, they’re flat wrong, Trump said.
“They thought they were gonna out-wait me. You know, ’We’ll out-wait him. He’s got the midterms,” Trump said. “I don’t care about the midterms.”
The president alluded to his preferred Texas GOP Senate nominee, Ken Paxton, trouncing Sen. John Cornyn.
“That was the prelude to the midterms,” the president insisted.
To be clear, Trump’s hold over the GOP is unquestioned at this point. But that doesn’t seamlessly translate to November victories – and even many Republicans are nervous that Trump’s standing and GOP nominees like Paxton will drag the party down in the fall as Democrats try to flip control of Capitol Hill.
Trump mixes up U.S. military operations, saying Venezuela when he meant Iran
Early in his Cabinet meeting, the president was trying to downplay the war in Iran, saying, “I don’t call it a war. I call it a conflict.”
“Despite the conflict with Venezuela, who no longer has a navy, no longer has an air force, no longer has a lot of people that were leading the country into very bad places,” Trump said, mixing up that South American country with Iran.
U.S. forces ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to face drug charges. before the U.S. and Israel began airstrikes on Iran.
He later added of Iran and talks about the ongoing ceasefire, “They’re negotiating on fumes,” but also renewed threats to renew major U.S. attacks, “Maybe we have to go back and finish it, maybe we don’t.”
Trump Cabinet meeting begins
It’s the first meeting of the president’s Cabinet since Tulsi Gabbard announced that she would step down as director of national intelligence, effective June 30, due to her husband’s health.
Gabbard is the fourth Cabinet member to depart during Trump’s second term, all of them women.
The meeting also comes at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after Trump insisted that his administration and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux.
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