President Donald Trump and Sen. David McCormick of Pennsylvania jointly announced tens of billions of dollars of energy and technology investments in the state of Pennsylvania as the president traveled to Pittsburgh for a conference with dozens of top executives to promote his energy and technology agenda.
Trump has repeatedly pledged U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market, and Pennsylvania — a swing state critical to his wins in 2016 and 2024 — is at the forefront of that agenda, in large part due to its coal industry that the Republican administration has taken several steps to bolster.
Also, Tuesday, Mike Waltz told lawmakers at his confirmation hearing to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations that he plans to make the world body “great again,” echoing President Donald Trump’s message for revamping America. Waltz faced lawmakers for the first time since he was ousted as national security adviser for mistakenly adding a journalist to a private Signal chat used to discuss sensitive military plans.
Here’s the latest:
Department of Homeland Security criticizes court ruling delaying end of protections for Afghans
The appeals court decision temporarily delayed the department from removing protections from some Afghans living in the U.S.
DHS said in May that it was ending Temporary Protected Status for 11,700 people from Afghanistan in 60 days. That status had allowed them to work and meant the government couldn’t deport them.
It was supposed to expire Monday, but an appeals court stepped in late in the day and issued a one-week stay while it hears arguments from both sides.
Reacting Tuesday, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: “Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet it has been abused as one for decades.”
“The Trump administration is restoring integrity to our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe,” it continued, “and we have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.”
Republicans look to tweak Trump’s request for $9.4 billion in spending cuts
Senate Republicans worked Tuesday to slightly scale back the president’s request for the cuts in previously approved spending as they tried to build momentum before a key test vote.
The amended package removes proposed cuts to a program known as PEPFAR that is credited with saving millions of lives since its creation under then-President George W. Bush to combat HIV/AIDS.
The change could help the bill’s prospects. Congress has until Friday to get a bill to Trump’s desk for his signature or the spending stands.
The president is looking to claw back money for foreign aid programs targeted by his Department of Government Efficiency and for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The change preserving about $400 million for PEPFAR takes the total savings in the measure down to about $9 billion.
Bondi dodges questions about Jeffrey Epstein and FBI deputy director
The attorney general is seeking to press ahead with a business-as-usual approach in the face of right-wing outrage that has plunged the Justice Department into turmoil.
Pressed by reporters during an announcement about drug seizures, Bondi sidestepped questions about the fallout of the administration’s decision not to release more records related Epstein investigation. Amid calls from some members of Trump’s base for her resignation, Bondi made clear she has no plans to step down.
“I’m going to be here for as long as the president wants me here,” Bondi said. “And I believe he’s made that crystal clear.”
Bondi was also asked about Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, with whom she clashed last week over the Epstein files. Bondi would not answer whether she believes he should remain in his role, saying only that she would not discuss personnel matters.
China does have wind farms. Trump claims otherwise
Trump falsely claimed that China is lacking in wind farms, despite its role in their production.
“China makes windmills. But how many wind farms do you see in China?” he asked. “I haven’t seen any lately. Sort of crazy.”
China is the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines, producing more than half of the supply. However, it is also installing them in China at a record pace.
In total, China has 1.3 terawatts of utility-scale wind and solar capacity in development, which could generate more electricity than neighboring Japan consumed in all of 2023, according to a report from the Global Energy Monitor released last week.
Trump: ‘We are way ahead of China’
The president boasted during a summit on energy and AI that the U.S is far ahead of China when it comes to developments in artificial intelligence.
“We believe America’s destiny is to dominate every industry and be the first in technology,” he said.
Democrats say Trump’s State Department cuts undermine US at home and abroad
Congressional Democrats are criticizing the Trump administration’s budget and personnel cuts at the State Department, saying they rob the country of massive expertise and institutional knowledge and damage America’s standing abroad in the world.
Top Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee took issue with defenses of cuts offered by the deputy Secretary of State for Management Michael Rigas, who argued that the budget and personnel reductions were needed to streamline diplomacy and make it more efficient. Rigas’ testimony was the first from a senior department official since Friday when more than 1,300 career civil servants and foreign service officers were fired as part of the administration’s broader revamp of the executive branch of government.
“This is a dark time for American diplomacy,” said the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York. “President Trump continues to isolate the United States, alienate our allies and create space for our adversaries like Russia and China to fill the void.”
Rigas said a proposed roughly 50% cut in the department’s budget is intended not to punish diplomats but rather to “make the State Department a more efficient and effective organizations better able to advance the core interests of the American people.”
House Speaker breaks with Trump on Epstein saga
House Speaker Mike Johnson appears to be breaking with Trump over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein criminal investigation and is calling for the Justice Department to “put everything out there and let the people decide.”
The Louisiana Republican said Attorney General Pam Bondi needs to come forward and explain what happened. Bondi earlier this year had made claims that officials were reviewing a “truckload” of evidence, but last week the Justice Department concluded that Epstein did not leave behind a “client list” and that public disclosure of more information would not be appropriate.
The lack of revelations has angered many MAGA loyalists, particularly after some had expected more transparency and accountability based on previous comments from Trump during the campaign.
“The White House and the White House team are privy to facts that I don’t know. This isn’t my lane. I haven’t been involved in that, but I agree with the sentiment to put it out there,” Johnson told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson.
Tens of billions for Pennsylvania
Trump announced a $92 billion investment from 20 technical, agricultural, and energy companies in Pennsylvania.
He described it as the “biggest private investment in Pennsylvania history,” calling it a “triumphant day for the people of the commonwealth and the United States of America.”
Trump participates in energy and AI summit
The energy and innovation summit, hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick and featuring the president, is now underway.
McCormick kicked off the event by welcoming Trump back to the city and the state. The senator says $90 billion in investments were spurred by Tuesday’s summit.
“Your presence and those commitments showcase Pennsylvania’s story to the world,” McCormick said as he introduced Trump.
Education Department resumes layoffs
The Trump administration is moving ahead with mass layoffs at the Education Department.
After the Supreme Court cleared the way in a Monday decision, the department began sending updated termination notices to hundreds of employees.
The notice tells workers they will formally be separated from the agency Aug. 1. It said the department thanks them for their service and “recognizes the difficulty of the moment.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon in March said she was laying off about 1,400 employees as part of the president’s plan to wind down the agency. A lower court paused the layoffs, but the Supreme Court halted that order.
Democrats see an opening in Epstein backlash
A super PAC working to elect Democrats to the U.S. House in next year’s midterm elections is naming and shaming Republicans who once demanded to see records from Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation but on Monday voted against a Democratic effort to release them.
GOP Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Anna Paulina Luna and Cory Mills of Florida are “complicit” with a Trump administration that’s trying to bury documents about the wealthy financier who abused underage girls, the Democratic-aligned House Majority PAC said in an emailed memo.
Democrats had tried to force the release of information about Epstein’s case by attaching an amendment to cryptocurrency legislation. Just one Republican on the House Rules Committee, Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, voted with them.
Democrats have been taking full advantage of fissures in the GOP over the federal government’s decision not to release the much-hyped records. Several left-wing lawmakers have taken to social media in recent days calling for the files to be made public.
Pew survey: Global views of China and Xi Jinping improve, US and Trump decline
Views of China and its President Xi Jinping have improved in many countries around the world, and those of the U.S. and President Donald Trump have deteriorated, resulting in closer-than-ever international views of the two superpowers and their leaders, according to the latest survey of about two dozen countries by Pew Research Center.
Across 24 countries, Pew found that the U.S. was viewed more favorably than China in eight countries, China was viewed more favorably in seven, and the two were viewed about equally in the remainder.
Pew surveyed more than 30,000 people across 25 countries in total -- including the U.S., which was excluded from the comparison -- from January 8 to April 26.
This year’s results are a drastic departure from those in the past several years when the U.S. and its leader — then President Joe Biden — enjoyed more favorable international views than China and its president.
Pew provides no certain answer to what caused the shifting views, but Laura Silver, associate director of research, said it’s possible that views of a country may change when those of another superpower shift.
Trump is on his way to a tech and energy conference in Pittsburgh
Trump will speak at the conference with dozens of top executives to promote his energy and technology agenda.
The event is organized by Republican U.S. Sen. David McCormick of Pennsylvania, a former hedge fund CEO who’s using it to showcase Pennsylvania and highlight tens of billions of dollars in energy and tech investments in the region.
At the conference at Carnegie Mellon University, Trump Cabinet officials spoke of the need to produce as much energy as possible — especially from coal and natural gas — to beat China in the artificial intelligence race for the sake of economic and national security.
Trump stands by waiting period on Russian sanctions
Trump pushed back on the idea that waiting 50 days to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine is too long and suggested that an even more abbreviated timeframe would be sufficient.
“I don’t think 50 days is very long and it could be shorter than that,” he said.
Trump defends Bondi on handling of Epstein files
The president said the attorney general has “handled it very well” and said it’s up to Bondi whether to release any more records related to the sex traffic investigation of Epstein.
He said Bondi gave him “a very quick briefing” about the matter. When asked by a reporter if the attorney general told Trump whether his name appeared in any of the records, he said, “No, no.”
Trump said of Bondi, “whatever she thinks is credible, she should release.”
The president also said he likes FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who has reportedly clashed internally with Bondi over the issue. Trump didn’t say more about Bongino.
Education Department wind-down continues
The Education Department is handing off the administration of its workforce development programs to the Department of Labor, part of the Trump administrations plan to wind down the federal education agency.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced the interagency agreement on Tuesday, a day after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to move ahead with its plan to dismantle the department.
The Associated Press reported Monday that the department had recently struck a deal to outsource the management of several grant programs for workforce training and adult education to the Department of Labor.
The Education Department said the shift streamlines federal workforce programs, the majority of which are already administered by the Department of Labor.
The department on Tuesday called it a “major step in shifting management of select ED programs to partner agencies.”
Trump said he thinks Cuomo can win NYC mayor’s race
The president told reporters at the White House that he thinks Andrew Cuomo should stay in the race, saying he “would have a good shot at winning.”
The Democratic former New York governor, who clashed with Trump while in office, re-launched his campaign for New York City mayor on Monday as an independent, aiming to offer a more middle-road choice than Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
Mamdani is a democratic socialist state lawmaker whom Trump has harshly criticized, including on Tuesday when he called him “a communist.”
Trump says he’ll meet with UK prime minister in Scotland
Trump says he’ll be meeting with Britain’s prime minister during an upcoming trip to Scotland.
The president told reporters at the White House “we’re going to be meeting” with Prime Minister Keir Starmer “probably in Aberdeen.”
He suggested they’d discuss refining a previously announced trade deal.
Trump said the meeting would take place at “probably one of my properties.” His family business has a golf course near Aberdeen in northeast Scotland, while a second course is set to open in the area soon. There is also a Trump course near Turnberry in the country’s southwest.
US officials say they are still reviewing Ukraine’s weaponry wish list
U.S. officials say they are still sorting through Ukraine’s wish list of weaponry that it would like to receive from NATO members to determine what can be most quickly replaced after President Donald Trump announced an agreement for Europe to supply Ukraine with defensive munitions from existing stocks.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss arms transfers that have not yet been approved or completed, said Ukraine’s requests for materiel are roughly the same as they have been since the start of Russia’s invasion more than three years ago. Those include air defenses like Patriot missiles and Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems, long range missile known as ATACMS and short- to medium-range ground-to-air missiles known as NASAMs, and assorted artillery, according to the officials.
Under the terms of the very rough agreement sketched out by Trump and NATO chief Mark Rutte on Monday, NATO members would ship billions of dollars of these weapons to Ukraine and then purchase replacements for them from the United States.
One official said some of the larger items — such as Patriots— could take up to five years to produce to deliver to the European donors, while smaller munitions like 155mm artillery shells can be produced on a much shorter timeline
Trump says he wants 5 new Republican congressional districts in Texas
The president said he wants Texas state lawmakers to create five new Republican congressional districts when they meet in a special session starting next week to discuss redistricting.
Asked as he departed the White House for Pittsburgh about the possibility of adding GOP-friendly districts around the country, Trump responded, “Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five.”
Texas, still reeling from deadly flooding, will hold a special legislative session starting July 21.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott had previously referenced a letter from the Department of Justice raising concerns about the legalities of four of Texas’ 38 congressional districts.
But Trump now says he’d like to see five now made more GOP-friendly.
Trump downplays possibility of sending long-range weapons to Ukraine
“We’re not looking to do that,” Trump told reporters ahead of departing the White House for an energy investment event in Pittsburgh.
Trump made the comments after he threatened Russia a day earlier with steep tariffs if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t soon end the three-year conflict and announced a rejuvenated pipeline for American weapons to reach Ukraine.
It’s the most substantive pressure he’s placed on Putin since returning to office nearly six months ago.
Trump, who has repeatedly said his only priority is quickly ending the war, deflected when asked by a reporter if he’s now on Ukraine’s side in the bloody conflict.
The president responded that he on the side of “humanity.”
Trump says goods from Indonesia will be taxed at 19%
President Donald Trump said he plans to tariff imports from Indonesia at 19%, while American goods sent to the southeast Asian country will face no tariffs.
Trump spelled out some of the details of the agreement he announced Tuesday on Truth Social before boarding the presidential helicopter.
“They are going to pay 19% and we are going to pay nothing,” said Trump, implying that foreign countries pay the entirety of tariffs even though importers in the U.S. technically must pay the tax.
Trump said Indonesia is “very strong” on copper. But it was unclear what role copper played in any agreement, as he has separately taxed the commodity at 50% starting on Aug. 1.
The U.S. president said on Truth Social he had reached an agreement after speaking with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.
Senators say Trump’s 50-day sanction plan against Russia is too long
A bipartisan pair of senators is speaking out to say Trump is giving Russia too much time by waiting 50 days to impose sanctions.
Sens. Thom Tillis, a Republican of North Carolina, and Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat of New Hampshire, both said that the 50-day waiting period would only give Russian President Vladimir Putin more time to gain an advantage in the war.
“The 50-day delay worries me,” Tillis told reporters. “That Putin would try to use the 50 days to win the war, or to be better positioned to negotiate, a peace agreement after having murdered and potentially collected more ground.”
Tillis and Shaheen lead the Senate NATO Observer Group, which facilitates work between Congress and NATO, and were hosting NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
At a news conference alongside the senators, Rutte praised the American president and said Trump’s sanctions plan would immediately start putting pressure on Russia to strike a peace deal.
Sen. Jacky Rosen questions Waltz’s continued White House salary after departure as national security advisor
“Surprisingly, you’ve been on the White House payroll for the last few months,” said Rosen. “Throughout this year, you’ve made (assertions) that, if confirmed, you would root out waste and unnecessary overhead at the UN. So can you confirm for us whether you’ve been receiving a salary from the White House since being let go as the NSA?”
Waltz resented the claim that he was fired.
“I was not fired. The president never said that, nor did the vice president. I was kept on, as an advisor, transitioning a number of important, a number of important activities,” said Waltz.
“It’s also been publicly reported that you’ve been receiving almost $200,000 of the taxpayer money since you were dismissed from being the national security advisor,” said Rosen.
Waltz was listed as a White House “advisor” as of July 1, for which he receives an annual salary of $195,200. Rosen’s questions were the last round before the hearing was adjourned.
Waltz tells Senate hearing UN agency helping Palestinian refugees ‘must be dismantled’
Mike Waltz told his confirmation hearing to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations that staff members from the agency, known as UNRWA, were involved in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in southern Israel, that its schools teach hatred of Jews.
“It simply not only needs to be defunded, which the president has put in place with his executive order, but it should be dismantled,” Waltz said, stressing that UNRWA cannot again have a humanitarian role in Gaza.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed a British human rights activist on Tuesday to carry out a strategic review of UNRWA to assess its impact under the “present political, financial, security and other constraints.”
Israel has banned UNRWA from operating in its territory. It alleged that 19 out of UNRWA’s approximately 13,000 staff in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7 attacks.
UNRWA said it fired nine staffers after an internal U.N. investigation. Israel later alleged that about 100 other Palestinians in Gaza were Hamas members, but never provided any evidence to the United Nations.
Waltz accuses UN of antisemitism and being a bloated bureaucracy that doesn’t get things done
Mike Waltz told his confirmation hearing to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations that the U.N. General Assembly and U.N. schools in Gaza have promoted “antisemitic hate.”
He said U.N. revenue “has quadrupled in the last 20 years” but hasn’t been commensurate with an increase in world peace, a key U.S. goal for the U.N. He called for reforms saying, “The U.N. has ballooned over 80 agencies with overlapping missions and waste resources.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly decried the resurgence of antisemitism and the U.N. holds an annual commemoration of the Nazi Holocaust during World War II.
Like all his recent predecessors as U.N. chief, Guterres has sought to reform the United Nations which was born on the ashes of World War II and at age 80 is struggling to tackle 21st century challenges. Last September, the General Assembly adopted a “Pact for the Future” with a blueprint for reforms == but whether they will be implemented remains to be seen.
A quiet, stoic mood in the hearing room
Unlike past nomination hearings, attendees in the Senate chamber did not wear t-shirts, veteran attire, medical scrubs or other clothing outside of business attire.
Many seated attendees were family of the nominees and featured multiple generations. Most attendees faces were generally stone-faced throughout the hearing, with mild chuckles and grimaces during more tense moments of the proceedings.
The proceedings have not been interrupted by any protestors. Security was tight outside the doors onto the chamber.
Sen. Cory Booker: ‘I have no questions for you, sir. I have nothing but deep disappoint for you, sir’
“I’ve watched this hearing, and I’ve been really disappointed,” said the New Jersey Democrat. “What’s been troubling to me about your nomination from the beginning is your failure to just stand up and take accountability for mistakes that you made and that all Americans know that you’ve made.”
Booker said that “every one of us has made mistakes” but that Americans expect from leaders “is for people to stand up and just take responsibility, take accountability.”
“I just watched with great disappointment that even after weeks, if not months, of reflection, you couldn’t sit before this committee and take some responsibility, and talk constructively about what’s learned,” said Booker.
“Instead, you do what seems to be yet another creative tool that people are doing, which is, ‘Hey, let me just blame Biden’.”
Waltz did not directly respond to Booker’s comments but in a comment in response to a question from Sen. Rick Scott, Waltz said: “I appreciate the men and women that I’ve had to lead in combat. And I think the last thing that would call me is a coward.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says US has energy to win AI race, China doesn’t
Lutnick, speaking at an energy and tech summit in Pittsburgh, said the “number one investor in the environmental narrative is China” and that the U.S. has the energy capacity to drive the artificial intelligence revolution, but China doesn’t.
China is opening a coal plant every week and wants the U.S. to close theirs in an effort to hamstring the U.S.′ ability to win the AI race, Lutnick told the crowd during a panel discussion.
“The AI revloultion is upon us,” Lutnick said. “The Trump administration will not let us lose. We need to do clean beautiful coal. We need to do natural gas. We need to embrace nuclear, we need to embrace it all because we have the power to do it and if we don’t do it, we’re fools.”
Waltz denounces UN global reports that examined US domestic policy
Waltz stressed that the Trump administration’s diplomatic strategy would be focused on cutting costs to what he called “waste, fraud and abuse that are endemic to the U.N. system.”
“It’s worth remembering, despite the cuts, the U.S. is by far the most generous nation in the world,” said Waltz, responding to concerns that the administration’s cuts to global programs hurt U.S. influence.
Waltz added that some U.N.-funded research and projects were anti-American and received input from some U.N. members who the administration considers adversaries.
“The U.N.‘s radical politicization, such reports as ‘Stolen Native American Land’ reports and investigations, called the ‘George Floyd mechanism’, labeling American police and America systemically racist with input from countries like Cuba and Venezuela, is unacceptable,” said Waltz.
Senate committee chair says US pays 22% of UN regular budget but doesn’t get its agenda adopted
Sen. Jim Risch was critical of the United States being the biggest provider to the U.N.’s $3.72 billion budget and the separate budget for its far-flung peacekeeping operations, yet according to him, Washington is not getting the commensurate support at the 193-nation world body.
Assessments paid by all U.N. member nations to the regular budget are based on their economies. The U.S., with the world’s biggest economy, is expected to pay 22% of the regular budget, while China, with the second-largest economy, recently had its share raised to 20%.
Last year, 152 of the U.N.’s 193 member nations paid their dues in full, including China, but 41 countries did not, including the United States.
The Associated Press
