President Donald Trump berated Senate Republicans during a visit to the Capitol Wednesday for allowing a vote to block his war in Iran, further escalating a feud that has diverted GOP efforts to focus on election-year affordability issues and brought much of the chamber’s business to a halt.
Invited to speak at the GOP luncheon by Florida Sen. Rick Scott, Trump had signaled ahead of time that he would use the closed-door meeting to push senators to pass his proof-of-citizenship voting bill. But the conversation was more focused on Tuesday’s vote to approve the war powers resolution, a mostly symbolic measure that allows Congress to rebuke the administration’s military actions. The House passed its own version of the resolution earlier this month.
Trump had particular words for the four Republican senators who voted with Democrats on the measure — Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — after calling them “losers” on social media.
—The Associated Press and Spectrum News Staff
House speaker looks to reconciliation process to pass Trump’s voter ID bill
Lawmakers are scrambling after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his signing of a major bipartisan housing bill Wednesday and demanded senators pass the SAVE America Act. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said passing the act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and an ID to cast a ballot, is “a national emergency.”
“He and I have talked about this a lot,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at a news conference Wednesday, where he said House Republicans share the president’s preference to prioritize the SAVE America Act. “The president believes in election integrity. He talks about it all the time, and we do as well.”
While the House has passed the SAVE America Act three times, it has failed in the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to pass in a chamber where Republicans control 53 seats.
—Spectrum News’ Susan Carpenter
U.N. nuclear boss says inspectors will visit Iran sites; Tehran says only after final deal
The head of the U.N.’s nuclear agency signaled Wednesday that Iranian nuclear enrichment sites would be visited by his inspectors, a key component in the interim U.S.-Iran to reach an end to the war. But an Iranian diplomat promptly rejected this, saying such a visit can only come after a final deal — a denial that highlighted the precariousness of the ongoing negotiations.
The remarks by International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Mariano Grossi was the firmest yet from the United Nations agency, which is viewed as key in determining the status of Iran’s nuclear stockpile.
Since Israel launched a 12-day war on Iran in 2025, the IAEA has been blocked by Tehran from visiting enrichment sites where the Islamic Republic is believed to store enough highly enriched uranium to potentially build as many as 10 nuclear weapons, should it choose to rush for the bomb. Iran long has maintained that its program is peaceful, though it is the only country in the world to have uranium enriched up to 60% purity without a weapons program.
—The Associated Press
A Ferris wheel is seen on the National Mall for the 250 Anniversary celebration, Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Trump set to kick off Great American State Fair with rally on National Mall
The Washington Monument will light up with a red-white-and-blue “250” and the National Mall will be anchored with a 110-foot Ferris wheel when the Great American State Fair kicks off Wednesday night with a rally led by President Donald Trump. The fair’s attractions open to the public Thursday.
With music, food and themed attractions, the 16-day party to commemorate the country’s semiquincentennial is like a national state fair intended for Americans from every corner of the country to come together.
“You’re going to be there with your neighbors, who, by the way, may have voted differently than you, whose family background might be different than yours,” Freedom 250 spokesperson Elizabeth Pipko told Spectrum News on Tuesday.
—Spectrum News’ Susan Carpenter
More Wednesday reads
• DSA-backed candidates win numerous NYC races on primary night
• NATO’s Trump whisperer meets the president in effort to appease him before next month’s summit
• Federal appeals court allows Trump administration to resume expanded use of speedy deportations
• As America celebrates its 250th birthday, this Revolutionary War ship gets a makeover