The Supreme Court cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s plans to cut down on the size of the federal workforce, despite warnings from experts that vital government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs.
There have been no official numbers for the job cuts, which have been led by the Department of Government Efficiency, but tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, have left their jobs via deferred resignation programs or have been placed on leave.
Also Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was back at the White House to meet with Trump. Officials offered scant details on what the two were discussing.
Netanyahu told reporters in the Capitol earlier that the two see “eye to eye” on the issue of destroying Hamas and added that the cooperation and coordination between Israel and the United States is currently the best it has ever been during Israel’s 77-year-history.
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As US abruptly ends support, Liberia faces empty health clinics and unplanned pregnancies
Roseline Phay, a 32-year-old farmer in the West African nation, and her partner have two daughters, and they barely make ends meet.
Determined not to have more children, she went to a health worker in her village, but contraception pills, implants and condoms had run out. Phay trekked for hours on red clay roads to the nearest clinic, but they had no contraceptives either. Phay repeated the trip four times.
Then she got pregnant. She had to wean her daughter Pauline off breastfeeding, she said, and the girl became so badly malnourished that she almost died. The U.S. cuts left no therapeutic food to give her, and she is still ill. Meanwhile Phay must continue farming throughout her pregnancy, she said, or “I will not eat.”
Weeks earlier the Trump administration suspended most foreign aid through the U.S. Agency for International Development, which paid for medications in Liberia’s public clinics.
Phay is among millions across Africa who have seen their lives upended after the U.S. aid cuts. In Liberia, the American support made up almost 2.6% of the gross national income, the highest percentage anywhere in the world, according to the Center for Global Development.
▶ Read more about Liberia and U.S. aid cuts
Trump administration pulls back on plans to rewrite Biden-era asbestos ban
The administration is dropping plans to allow continued use of the last type of asbestos legally allowed in U.S. manufacturing after an outcry from asbestos opponents.
The Environmental Protection Agency said in a court filing Monday that it will now defend the Biden administration’s ban of chrysotile asbestos, which is used in products like brake blocks and sheet gaskets.
The carcinogenic chemical has been mostly phased out, but last year the agency sought to finish the decadeslong fight with a comprehensive ban. The EPA said in 2024 that “exposure to asbestos is known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, and laryngeal cancer, and it is linked to more than 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year.”
The EPA had said in a federal appeals court filing last month that parts of the ban may have gone “beyond what is necessary to eliminate the unreasonable risk” and that other options such as requiring workplace protection measures might eliminate that risk.
South Sudan says it has 8 men removed from the US
South Sudanese authorities confirmed custody of the men Tuesday. Foreign ministry spokesperson Apuk Ayuel told reporters that they arrived at Juba International Airport on Saturday following “standard deportation procedures undertaken” by the U.S. government.
The men hail from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan. They are part of a case that went to the Supreme Court, which permitted their removal. Trump administration officials said they were convicted of violent crimes in the U.S.
The men are “under the care of the relevant authorities who are screening them and ensuring their safety and well-being,” Ayuel said, without specifying where they were being held.
U.S. authorities said Friday that the eight, who were removed in May and held for weeks at a U.S. military base in Djibouti, arrived in South Sudan after the Supreme Court cleared the way for their transfer.
Travelers no longer have to remove their shoes during security screenings at US airports
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the new policy Tuesday, ending the ritual put in place almost 20 years ago. It takes effect nationwide immediately.
Noem said a pilot program showed that the Transportation Security Administration has the equipment needed to keep airports and aircraft safe while allowing people to remain shod.
While shoe removal no longer is standard procedure, some travelers still may be asked to take off their footwear “if we think additional layers of screening are necessary,” she added.
Security screening sans shoes became a requirement in 2006, several years after “shoe bomber” Richard Reid’s failed attempt to take down a flight from Paris to Miami in late 2001.
All passengers between the ages of 12 and 75 were required to remove their shoes, which were scanned along with carry-on luggage.
Trump’s previous tariff push terrified the world economy. He’s betting this time is different
The last time the president rolled out tariffs this high, financial markets quaked, consumer confidence crashed and his popularity plunged.
In his new round of tariffs being announced this week, Trump is essentially tethering the entire world economy to his instinctual belief that import taxes will deliver factory jobs and stronger growth in the U.S., rather than the inflation and slowdown predicted by many economists.
There are three possible outcomes. Trump could prove most economic experts wrong, and the tariffs could deliver growth as promised. Or he could retreat again on tariffs before their Aug. 1 start. Or he could damage the economy.
▶ Read more about the new tariffs and Trump’s bet
Trump on past presidents: Ike was ‘underrated,’ FDR ‘amazing,’ Polk ‘sort of a real-estate guy’
The president shared his unique takes on various predecessors and their portraits while discussing his White House redecorating efforts.
Speaking during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump explained how he personally selected portraits to redecorate the White House’s Cabinet Room, and admitted to sometimes liking the frames as much as the portraits they surrounded.
He noted that James K. Polk was “sort of a real estate guy” and called Dwight Eisenhower underrated.
He referred to the “great Andrew Jackson” and said Franklin D. Roosevelt was “amazing.”
As he has in the past, Trump also heaped praise on William McKinley and his love of tariffs.
Army will end most of its ceremonial horse programs and adopt out the animals
The Army’s history is closely tied to its cavalry, soldiers who rode into battle on horseback.
But it announced Tuesday that it’s moving toward a future without the ceremonial horses and will put most of them up for adoption.
However the service will keep operating the Old Guard ceremonial caisson units at Joint Base San Antonio and Arlington National Cemetery for burial honors.
Ceremonial cavalry units will be closed down at several bases including Fort Cavazos in Texas, whose horses were showcased during the military parade in Washington on June 14, which was the Army’s 250th anniversary and also Trump’s birthday.
The Army estimates that closing down the units will save about $2 million a year, spokesperson Steve Warren said.
Trump avoids talk of scrapping FEMA after more than 100 killed in Texas flash flood
The president has avoided talking about his plan to scrap the federal disaster response agency after the catastrophic flash flood in Texas that killed more than 100 people, including children attending a girls-only camp.
Asked shortly after the disaster whether he still intended to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Trump said it wasn’t the right time to talk about it. Nor did he mention such plans during a nearly two-hour meeting with his Cabinet on Tuesday.
Instead Trump opened the meeting by having Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem talk about her visit to Kerrville, Texas, a day after floodwaters swept away riverside campers and homeowners in the wee hours of the Fourth of July holiday.
▶ Read more about Trump, FEMA and the Texas floods
Wall Street ends mixed amid Trump’s new tariff deadlines
Wall Street ended mixed a day after a broad sell-off in response to the Trump administration setting new tariffs on more than a dozen nations.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% and the Nasdaq composite was little changed.
The sluggish trading came a day after the S&P 500 had its biggest drop since June as the president announced a 25% tax on imports from Japan and South Korea and new tariff rates on other nations scheduled to go into effect Aug. 1.
The S&P 500 remains near the record it set last week.
Netanyahu is back at the White House
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived back at the White House for another meeting with Trump.
Netanyahu’s motorcade pulled up in the late afternoon but was out of sight of gathered journalists. He headed into a meeting with Trump.
The White House has offered scant details on what the two were discussing this time.
Trump hosted a dinner for Netanyahu on Monday night. That was billed as being closed to reporters, but the White House later granted access and Trump took questions.
Impacted agencies are expected to include Veterans Affairs and Social Security Administration
Among the agencies affected by the order are the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Labor, the Interior, State, the Treasury and Veterans Affairs.
It also applies to the National Science Foundation, Small Business Association, Social Security Administration and Environmental Protection Agency.
Groups that sued to stop Trump’s cuts react to the Supreme Court’s decision
The labor unions and nonprofits that sued over the downsizing offered the justices several examples of what would happen if it were allowed to take effect, including cuts of 40% to 50% at several agencies. Baltimore, Chicago and San Francisco were among cities that also sued.
“Today’s decision has dealt a serious blow to our democracy and puts services that the American people rely on in grave jeopardy. This decision does not change the simple and clear fact that reorganizing government functions and laying off federal workers en masse haphazardly without any congressional approval is not allowed by our Constitution,” the parties that sued said in a joint statement.
Supreme Court clears the way for Trump’s plans to downsize the federal workforce
The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s plans to downsize the federal workforce despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs.
The justices overrode lower court orders that temporarily froze the cuts, which have been led by the Department of Government Efficiency.
The court said in an unsigned order that no specific cuts were in front of the justices, only an executive order issued by Trump and an administration directive for agencies to undertake job reductions.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only dissenting vote, accusing her colleagues of a “demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this President’s legally dubious actions in an emergency posture.”
Trump caught off guard by Pentagon’s abrupt move to pause Ukraine weapons deliveries, AP sources say
President Donald Trump’s decision to send more defensive weapons to Ukraine came after he privately expressed frustration with Pentagon officials for announcing a pause in some deliveries last week — a move that he felt wasn’t properly coordinated with the White House, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The Pentagon, which announced last week that it would hold back some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons pledged to Ukraine because of what U.S. officials said were concerns that American stockpiles were in short supply. Trump said Monday that the U.S. will have to send more weapons to Ukraine, effectively reversing the move.
Two of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive internal discussions, said there was some internal opposition among Pentagon brass to the pause — coordinated by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby — before it was announced.
One of the people described Trump as being caught “flat-footed” by the announcement.
Trump says his administration can protect the farm workforce without offering migrants ‘amnesty’
During his Cabinet meeting, Trump said his administration is “doing a work program” that will allow migrants from abroad working on farms to remain in the U.S., but that it won’t qualify as “amnesty.”
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins then spoke up, saying that Trump’s broader crackdown on immigration means that “mass deportation continues, but in a strategic way” and that officials can keep “ensuring that our farmers have the labor that they need.”
She said officials would promote automation and growing the agricultural workforce using U.S. citizens. Trump then interrupted her to add, “We’ve gotta give the farmers the workers they need, but we’re not talking amnesty.”
Trump wraps up marathon meeting
The session with Cabinet officials lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes.
That’s long — but not as long as his last Cabinet meeting, which ran a full 2 hours.
Trump meeting with Netanyahu moved up
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the meeting with Trump has been pushed forward to 4:30 p.m., rather than 6 p.m.
Earlier, Netanyahu told reporters in the Capitol that the two see “eye to eye” on the issue of destroying Hamas and added that the cooperation and coordination between Israel and the United States is currently the best it has ever been during Israel’s 77-year-history.
Trump talks decorating
During a Cabinet meeting, the president took a detour to talk about how he’s updated the furnishings around the White House.
“It’s really become quite a beautiful place.”
He talked about choosing paint colors and deciding whether to add more gold accents. He also pointed at the portraits of historical presidents on the walls, lingering on the ornamental frames.
“I’m a frame person. Sometimes I like the frames more than I like the pictures.”
Trump also said he relocated a grandfather clock from the State Department to the White House, drawing a laugh from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was sitting to his right.
“If I see anything that I like, I’m allowed to take it,” Trump said.
Vance says he was ‘skeptical’ they could get Trump’s legislation passed on time
Sitting across from Trump, the vice president admitted something — “I never told you this, but I was skeptical we would be able to get this thing done by July 4th.”
He congratulated the White House staff for working together so well.
Trump said it was important to have everything combined in one piece of legislation, including tax cuts, border security and other proposals.
“It had something for everyone,” Trump said
Trump says he’s staying out of upcoming New York City mayoral election
Asked how Republicans should vote in November, Trump said, “I’m not getting involved.”
But that was after he criticized the Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani as a “disaster” who has sold New Yorkers a “good line of bull----.”
He said Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, “runs every four years” and noted that Eric Adams is the current officeholder. Adams, a Democrat, is running as an independent.
Trump also threatened a federal takeover of New York City if Mamdani were to be elected.
Trump says he and Netanyahu will meet again Tuesday
Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be back at the White House on Tuesday to meet with him.
“He’s coming over later,” Trump said at midday during a Cabinet meeting.
The leaders met over dinner on Monday night as Trump looks to push Israel and Hamas militants into ending their war in Gaza.
Trump also complained that Netanyahu was being treated “unfairly” by his government. That was a reference to the prime minister’s corruption trial.
Netanyahu praises American-Israeli relations, says ‘closer on hostage’ deal
Netanyahu said that Israeli troops “fought like lions” in military strikes on Iran and thanked American support.
The Israeli prime minister added that throughout Israel’s history there has “never been the degree of coordination, of cooperation and trust between America and Israel as we have today.”
He added that “it may be very likely” that he and Trump will meet again during his next trip. “This is having a great change in our region. There are opportunities for peace that we intend to realize. We’re working together on this,” Netanyahu said.
The prime minister said Israel was “closer” to a ceasefire deal with Hamas but declined to offer details about talks. “We’re certainly working on it,” Netanyahu said of a ceasefire deal and negotiations to free Israeli hostages in Gaza.
He continued that talks “need several parties, but we’re working on it diligently as we speak.”
“We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all the hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas’ military and governance capabilities, because Gaza must have a different future for our sake, or everything’s sake, and no country will settle for less,” said Netanyahu.
When asked whether he’d welcome congressional approval of more advanced bombers to Israel, Netanyahu declined to discuss his talks with Johnson but said: “Yeah, of course we’d like it, who wouldn’t want it?”
Trump says he’s putting a 50% tax on copper imports, possibly 200% on pharmaceutical drugs
Trump said that he will sign an order on Tuesday placing a 50% tariff on copper.
That import tax would match the rates charged on steel and aluminum, likely increasing the price of metals in the United States. Trump has defended the tariffs as helping to create factory jobs, though manufacturers have shed jobs so far during his presidency.
Trump also said he would be announcing tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs at a “very, very high rate, like 200%.”
Trump doubles down on his dislike of wind as an energy source
He says it’s an expensive form of energy and that windmills and wind farms are “very bad for beautiful surroundings.”
Trump also said this source of energy is inefficient because wind is intermittent.
“We need the kind of things that’s going to fire up our plants and it’s not going to be wind,” he said, referring to coal.
The president said “smart” countries don’t use wind and solar energy and that the U.S. is “brilliant.”
Trump says he talks ‘often’ with China’s leader
President Donald Trump told reporters at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting that he frequently talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and they have a good relationship.
“We speak often,′ Trump said.
It was unclear what “often” meant, but the two leaders had a 90-minute call in June.
Trump says some countries’ imports will be tariffed at 70%
Trump defended his setting of tariff rates by sending letters to other world leaders, saying that “some” countries will be paying rates of 60% and 70%.
Trump sent letters to the leaders of 14 countries on Monday, many of the rates being much lower than what he floated was possible at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.
He defended the decision to send letters as part of his 90-day negotiating period drawing to a close because he couldn’t conduct talks with all of the countries in the rest of the world.
“It’s a better way,” Trump said. “It’s a more powerful way. And we send you a letter. You read the letter. I think it was well crafted.”
Trump comes to defense of Bondi amid scrutiny over Epstein files
President Donald Trump has leapt to the defense of Attorney General Pam Bondi amid fresh scrutiny from elements of his base over recent Justice Department revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation.
Trump headed off a reporter’s Epstein-related questions for Bondi at a Cabinet meeting, chiding the journalist for asking “about a guy who’s been talked about for years” and suggesting the interest in the subject was a “desecration” at a time when the country was grappling with issues like the catastrophic Texas flooding.
The president’s response appeared to signal his continued support for Bondi even as she faces questions over the Justice Department’s acknowledgment in a memo on Monday that Epstein did not maintain a “client list.”
Bondi had previously suggested in a Fox News interview that a client list was “sitting on my desk” for review, but the attorney general said Tuesday that she was referring to the Epstein case file in general as being on her desk.
Trump says he will defend US dollar as world’s dominant currency
Trump says he’s prepared to tariff and punish countries that challenge the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency.
Speaking at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, Trump said that the dollar losing its status “would be like losing a war, a major world war. We would not be the same country any longer. And we’re not going to let that happen.”
Trump made his comments after emphasizing his plan to put a 10% tariff on countries in the BRICS organization that have discussed creating alternatives to the dollar.
“I’m just saying, if people want to challenge it, they can, but they’re going to have to pay a big price,” Trump said. “And I don’t think any of them are willing to pay that price.”
Trump says he’s open to a congressional investigation of Federal Reserve chair
President Donald Trump said he would be OK with congress investigating Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, saying, “I think he’s terrible.”
Trump was answering a reporter’s question at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday about whether the head of the U.S. central bank should be investigated for lying to Congress.
Trump has been calling on Powell to slash benchmark interest rates because inflation has eased. Powell has held off on rate reductions until the impact of Trump’s tariffs are understood.
Trump said he thinks Powell “should resign immediately.”
Trump again says he’s not happy with Putin
The president said during his Cabinet meeting that the Russian leader is “killing a lot of people” and a lot of them are his soldiers and Ukraine’s soldiers.
Trump was asked whether he was planning to do something about Putin, and he said, “I wouldn’t be telling you.”
“It’s turned out to be tougher,” he said as he spoke about the war.
Hegseth says Iran bombing reversed ‘debacle’ of U.S. Afghanistan withdrawal
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is suggesting that the U.S. bombing of Iran restored America’s reputation of military might on the world stage.
Hegseth said the bombings “reversed what happened in Afghanistan. You saw the debacle of what Biden allowed to happen in Afghanistan, and what that did to our image.” By contrast, he said Trump’s ordering of the attack on Iran meant “reestablishing American leadership and deterrence.”
That was a reference to the chaotic U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan under President Joe Biden in 2021. Trump called what happened then the “most botched up mess I’ve ever seen.”
Noem gives emotional account of visiting Texas after deadly flooding
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, has recounted leading federal response to the devastating flooding in Texas, telling Trump’s Cabinet meeting that she was overcome with emotion during the trip and had “kind of fallen apart.”
“Very emotional, but also just so tragic,” she said.
Noem said “Texas is strong” but also insisted, “We, as a federal government, don’t manage these disasters. The state does.”
“We’re cutting through the paperwork of the old FEMA streamlining it, much like your vision of how FEMA should operate,” Noem said of Trump’s promise to scrap the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Noem added, that Americans helping one another after such tragic events is proof, “God created us to take care of each other.”
Trump repeated that he will be in Texas on Friday.
Johnson meets with Netanyahu
The House Speaker shook hands with and warmly embraced the Israeli Prime Minister before their meeting on Capitol Hill. The pair exchanged brief words before cameras but did not take questions from the press.
“The speaker just agreed that we’ll go in, speak for awhile, come back and maybe answer some of your questions,” Netanyahu said as he entered Johnson’s private office.
Earlier Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance met with the Israeli prime minister Tuesday morning, according to a person familiar with the meeting who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The meeting was at Blair House, the presidential guest house near the White House where Netanyahu is staying. No details were released.
Trump’s Cabinet meeting has begun, with one significant absence
These tend to be made-for-TV huddles with top administration officials, showcasing the progress Trump says he’s making on his agenda.
However, one prominent figure won’t be there for the first time — Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur who had spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency.
He often regaled the group with claims about waste and fraud he was excavating in various agencies. He also showed off a “tech support” shirt in one meeting.
But Musk left the administration in May and had a falling out with Trump over his agenda. Musk complained that his tax and budget legislation would add too much to the deficit, and it also cut incentives for electric vehicles that benefit his company Tesla.
AP-NORC poll: US adults want focus on child care costs, not birth rates
While the Trump administration seeks to encourage Americans to have more babies and reverse the falling U.S. birth rate, a new poll finds that relatively few U.S. adults share the White House’s concerns.
Instead, Americans are more likely to want the government to focus on reducing child care costs and improving health outcomes for pregnant women, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Pronatalism, or the promotion of childbearing, has gained traction among some religious conservatives. Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance argue that having more children is good for society.
But only about 3 in 10 Americans say declining birth rates are a “major problem” and just 12% say encouraging more children should be “a high priority” for the federal government. About three-quarters — including roughly 7 in 10 Republicans and men — say the cost of child care is a “major problem.”
▶ Read more on the poll results.
The Associated Press
