Trump also claimed to reporters on Air Force One that Iran requested a meeting \u201cthrough their surrogates and directly\u201d.<\/p>\n
double quotation markThey want to meet, and we\u2019re meeting. Without what we did, they wouldn\u2019t even be talking to us \u2026 They would not have requested the meeting if we were doing poorly. The only reason they want to meet is because we\u2019ve been hitting them very hard.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.05 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n The president also reiterated what he earlier told Axios<\/a>, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that the \u2060United States was having \u201cgood talks\u201d with Iran and there was a chance of a deal over their conflict, but warned strikes would \u2060resume if the negotiations failed to deliver.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking right now,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re having good \u200ctalks … I think there\u2019s a good chance that something could happen, and if it does, good, if it doesn\u2019t, we go back to doing what we were doing two days ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump brushes off concerns of depleted ammunition due to his war on Iran<\/p>\n During a gaggle with reporters aboard Air Force One earlier, Donald Trump dismissed concerns that US ammunition stockpiles are running low after five months of bombing Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re building that up,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we have a lot. We have a lot of the mid-level stuff, too. I mean, more than we could ever use no matter what. But we have a lot. I\u2019d like to have more, to be honest, but so much was given to Ukraine by Biden.\u201d<\/p>\n Donald Trump speaks with reporters on Air Force One en route to Michigan. Photograph: Alex Brandon\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.51 EDT<\/p>\n Reactions to a Senate candidate\u2019s description of a potential victory as putting an \u201cogre on a pike\u201d have begun to reverberate across Michigan politics on Monday morning.<\/p>\n Abdul El-Sayed made the comment on a Zoom conference call with donors, as reported by Politico. The Democratic candidate had been discussing the message his progressive victory might send across the national political scene, given the amount of Aipac spending \u2013 at least $30m \u2013 that had been spent in support of his relatively moderate primary opponent, US Representative Haley Stevens.<\/p>\n \u201cCalling your female opponent an ogre you want to put on a pike is not beating the rap that this race has some serious sexism,\u201d wrote Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress and a regular critic of El-Sayed, on the social media platform X. <\/p>\n El-Sayed\u2019s media representatives have not yet returned an email seeking comment.<\/p>\n Politico reported that a campaign spokesperson said El-Sayed was \u201cspeaking metaphorically\u201d about support for a primary opponent against US Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, whose legislative support for Israel has made him a progressive target. Fetterman is bald, stands six-foot-eight and weighs about 270 pounds, and had been referred to as an \u201cogre\u201d by Kari Lake, a rightwing figure of Arizona politics.<\/p>\n Early voting in the Michigan primary began on Saturday. El-Sayed and Stevens have a final Democratic Senate debate on Monday night.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.28 EDT<\/p>\n McConnell still not medically cleared to resume Senate work<\/p>\n GOP senator Mitch McConnell\u2019s office has released a health update saying he is still not ready to return to in-person work in the Capitol following his hospitalization on 14 June after a fall.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky, keeping up with intense physical therapy per my doctors\u2019 orders,\u201d McConnell, 84, said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cUnfortunately, that means I won\u2019t be able to make it to Fancy Farm, Kentucky this Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n A note from the office of the attending physician added: \u201cSenator McConnell continues his recovery from a fall at home in June. OAP physicians visit with the Senator every day, discussing all aspects of his rehabilitation care. Since his discharge from hospital care, he has maintained a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation, including multiple sessions a day designed to rebuild strength and reduce the risk of future falls. His bout with childhood polio continues to be a significant factor in his mobility. He is not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.35 EDT<\/p>\n On that subject, the US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, insisted to NBC News\u2019 Meet the Press yesterday<\/a> that the United States military has \u201ceverything that it needs\u201d for military operations against Iran, dismissing reporting that US weapons stockpiles are depleted.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be crystal clear: The US military, and I\u2019ve verified this every which way, has everything that it needs to conduct this campaign as effectively as it needs to be,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I have to tell you, the people that are leaking this nonsense deserve to be in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n NBC News reported on Friday<\/a> that US military commanders were allowing some Iranian attacks through US defenses as part of an effort to preserve the Pentagon\u2019s weapons supply, citing two senior US officials.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump says he’s ready for \u2018strong military action\u2019 if Iran talks fail<\/p>\n Donald Trump said \u2060today that \u2060he had paused US strikes on Iran to give diplomacy another chance, but he \u200bwas \u200cready \u200cfor \u201cstrong military \u200caction\u201d if diplomacy fails.<\/p>\n Washington was in \u201cvery deep \u2060talks with Iran\u201d, the president told Axios<\/a>, but, he added: \u201cIf they don\u2019t work out, we will be go back to very strong military action.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that he paused US attacks on Friday because the countries acting as mediators to bring an end to the conflict asked him to. \u201cAll of the people that deal with Iran asked me: \u2018Don\u2019t fire,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Asked how long he was willing to give diplomacy, he said, \u201cNot much time. Either it goes fast or not at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Top military officials advised Trump to halt his bombing campaign<\/a>, Axios reported on Sunday. Adm Bradley Cooper, the top US military commander in the region, had told Trump the US military campaign had reached the limits of its effectiveness.<\/p>\n The message was said to affect Trump\u2019s decision to hold strikes on Iran for the first time in nearly two weeks. Cooper told Trump the US had nearly exhausted the list of targets that it had developed to attack in Iran, and without a return to major combat operations there was little point in continuing the bombing campaign, Axios reported.<\/p>\n Senior officials in the Trump administration<\/a> are reported to have also told the president about dwindling munitions stockpiles that could hamper a sustained military campaign in the region.<\/p>\n The current negotiations are focused on a new deal that would reopen the strait of Hormuz and relaunch talks on a comprehensive nuclear deal, according to Axios.<\/p>\n The talks are being conducted mainly between Iran and Oman, but Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt and Trump\u2019s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are also actively involved.<\/p>\n On his meeting tomorrow<\/a> with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump added:<\/p>\n double quotation markI am going to talk to Bibi about the fact that if I weren\u2019t president, Iran would have had nuclear weapons by now and Israel would have been destroyed.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.16 EDT<\/p>\n Netanyahu and Zelenskyy to arrive in Washington for Graham funeral \u2013 with hopes of winning Trump\u2019s ear Benjamin Netanyahu and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to arrive in Washington simultaneously with the goal of winning the ear of Donald Trump at pivotal moments in wars affecting their respective countries.<\/p>\n Netanyahu, Israel\u2019s prime minister, and Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, will attend Tuesday\u2019s funeral of Lindsey Graham, the former Republican senator for South Carolina, who died suddenly on 11 July<\/a> and was a close ally of both leaders.<\/p>\n Both men are scheduled to meet with Trump at a time when US policy towards the wars in Iran and Ukraine<\/a> is in a state of flux.<\/p>\n The meeting between Trump and Netanyahu will be the first between the two leaders since February, when they were in lockstep preparing for strikes against Iran<\/a> that began on 28 February.<\/p>\n Since then, tensions between the pair have risen as the war has drifted inconclusively, with Trump calling the Israeli premier \u201ccrazy\u201d<\/a> and declaring:<\/p>\n double quotation markWithout me, there would be no Israel.<\/p>\n Fueling the tensions between the pair is continuing uncertainty over Trump\u2019s zigzagging approach to the regime in Tehran, which he once openly supported toppling \u2013 in line with the stance of Netanyahu, who has long plotted its overthrow.<\/p>\n Netanyahu is not believed to have been consulted on the US-Iran memorandum of understanding<\/a> that was meant to institute a 60-day ceasefire in the conflict, which some analysts say took little account of Israel\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n Netanyahu is also believed to be unhappy over a deal announced last week between the US and Saudi Arabia allowing for a civil Saudi nuclear program<\/a>.<\/p>\n Zelenskyy\u2019s presence is equally significant as it coincides with signs of a dramatic change of Trump administration<\/a> posture in Ukraine\u2019s war with Russia \u2013 with the White House appearing more supportive of Kyiv\u2019s position than at any time since Trump\u2019s return to office.<\/p>\n The rightwing social media influencer Laura Loomer gave the latest signal of a sea change<\/a> in Washington\u2019s position when she met Zelenskyy in the Ukrainian capital last week, before publicly recanting her previous support for Russia.<\/p>\n Zelenskyy posted on social media at the weekend that he had instructed Ukraine\u2019s intelligence services to share information on Russia\u2019s support for Iran in the conflict with the US. He wrote on X that Ukraine had recorded Russian satellite surveillance of US military facilities in the Gulf, and that of Washington\u2019s allies in the region.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.15 EDT<\/p>\n Further to that, Senate conservatives led by Utah Republican Mike Lee are calling on majority leader John Thune to cancel the August recess so that they can debate the Save America Act, Trump\u2019s controversial restrictive voting bill that he has made his legislative priority, the Hill reports this morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lee posted on X on Saturday:<\/p>\n double quotation mark.@LeaderJohnThune, I hereby object to any effort to put the Senate into recess in August\u2014at least until such time as the Senate has passed the SAVE America Act\u2014and hereby request a roll call vote. Do not assume you have my consent. You do not.<\/p>\n He added on Sunday: \u201cThe Senate doesn\u2019t need a summer vacation as much as the country needs the SAVE America Act. Let\u2019s cancel recess.\u201d<\/p>\n Among those echoing Lee\u2019s demands were Florida Republicans<\/a> Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, and Jim Banks of Indiana.<\/p>\n The Senate has already spent weeks of floor time debating the bill, but it has been made clear on several occasions \u2013 much to Trump\u2019s frustration \u2013 that it doesn\u2019t have anywhere near the votes needed for it to pass.<\/p>\n Even an effort to attach it to a budget reconciliation package that passed the Senate in June failed after four Republicans voted down an amendment put forward by the late senator Lindsey Graham.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.49 EDT<\/p>\n Trump calls on Senate Republicans to abandon the filibuster to pass restrictive voting bill<\/p>\n Trump has again called on Senate Republicans<\/a> to abandon the filibuster to pursue his legislative agenda.<\/p>\n \u201cJohn Thune should not allow the United States Senate to \u201cleave town\u201d until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of, including a full and deep throated SAVE AMERICA ACT, the Budget, and the ever looming Debt Ceiling disaster, 1929!\u201d Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. \u201cThe Dumocrats will do it on day one, and can\u2019t believe how lucky they got with this Senate leadership. Remember, stupidity always brings LOSING & DEATH!\u201d<\/p>\n The Senate majority leader of South Dakota, has adamantly refused Trump\u2019s demands to eliminate the 60-vote threshold for passage of non-budgetary legislation.<\/p>\n Trump also called out Thune at an appearance in Marietta, Georgia, on Thursday. He said:<\/p>\n double quotation markEverybody call John Thune at the Senate. He\u2019s the leader of the Republican Party. And tell them to get this stuff approved,\u201d Trump said to supporters at Wheeler high school. \u201cSo we\u2019re fighting so that all voters must show voter ID. We\u2019re fighting so that all voters must provide proof of citizenship, OK? And also the no mail-in ballots, very important \u2026 They got to really terminate the filibuster, get everything approved right away, because you\u2019re going to have a stoppage. You\u2019re going to have a stoppage in September.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.12 EDT<\/p>\n Donald Trump to visit General Motors in Detroit to speak on economic agenda<\/p>\n President Donald Trump<\/a> will visit General Motors at the Milford Proving Ground in suburban Detroit on Monday afternoon in defense of new, sweeping tariffs on Canada and his economic agenda ahead of primary contests next week.<\/p>\n Trump argues that tax cuts and tariffs protected 170,000 jobs in Michigan, crediting tariffs as the catalyst. \u201cThe President pledged to put Michigan workers back to work, and he\u2019s doing it,\u201d White House spokesperson Liz Huston said in a statement.<\/p>\n Michigan Democrats counter<\/a> that the state\u2019s residents have had to pay more than $2bn more for gasoline since Trump took office.<\/p>\n Trump announced<\/a> a new round of tariffs on Canada on 20 July. The 50% tariff on imports ranging from wine to hockey sticks to cement begins in late August.<\/p>\n The Gordie Howe Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Canada also opens today. It is unclear if Trump will visit the bridge, which has become another lightning rod for conflict between the US and Canada. A ribbon-cutting ceremony in Windsor was a Canada-only event after rescinding invitations following the tariff announcement.<\/p>\n Trump supported the bridge project during his first term, but has attacked it since retaking office, claiming that the terms of the bridge agreement are being renegotiated. \u201cWe changed the terms of the Deal so that the United States of America now gets 50% of the Profit,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social.<\/p>\n What that actually means in practice is unclear. Canada paid for the bridge construction.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.35 EDT<\/p>\n Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed likened the potential defeat of his opponents in the coming Michigan primary and November election to a stark exercise in progressive messaging, according to Politico\u2019s Playbook<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re gonna spend $60 million to beat me \u2013 OK, two can play at that game,\u201d he said on a Zoom call with donors, Politico reported. \u201cAnd then what happens is, ideally, you put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message, and all of a sudden starts to sound a lot different.\u201d<\/p>\n El-Sayed, a Rhodes Scholar, physician and former public health official in Michigan, faces US Rep Haley Stevens in 4 August primary for the US Senate<\/a>, a seat Democrats almost certainly must hold to take control of the chamber in 2027. Retiring two-term Democratic senator Gary Peters currently holds the swing-state seat.<\/p>\n The contest pits El-Sayed, a progressive who has called for abolishing ICE and is aggressively opposed to US policy on Israel, against a relative moderate who last week voted against a bill amendment to end American financial support for Israel. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has spent nearly $30m in the Michigan Democratic primary in support of Stevens.<\/p>\n El-Sayed described the contest in biblical terms.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat they don\u2019t really realize is that in spending so much money, they\u2019re turning me into David, right?,\u201d El-Sayed said. \u201cSo, like, if I\u2019m the guy who came through and beat Goliath, now all of a sudden you just gave me the best platform in the entire US Senate, which I love because then guess where all eyes are going to be?\u201d<\/p>\n Former US representative Mike Rogers is the presumptive Republican nominee.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.17 EDT<\/p>\n The White House released an AI-generated video on Sunday night on the social media platform X, depicting President Donald Trump as Rick Sanchez from the Cartoon Network series Rick and Morty. In the video, Trump as Rick is running around the grounds of the White House, with what appears to be Vice-President JD Vance depicted as his grandson Morty. The video makes a reference to Trump taking a third term in office, which the president joked about at the White House Correspondent\u2019s Dinner on Friday night<\/a>. <\/p>\n The video has, at this moment, 6.3 million views on X.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.46 EDT<\/p>\n President Donald Trump<\/a> plans to tout his handling of the economy during a visit to suburban Detroit today, defending sweeping tariffs in a swing state where their effects have hurt many businesses as midterm election season heats up.<\/p>\n Trump is visiting a General Motors facility in Milford, home to tracks and proving grounds for new models and vehicles. Early voting is underway for Michigan\u2019s 4 August primary, which features fierce nomination fights in both major political parties, AP reported.<\/p>\n Republican Mike Rogers is unopposed in the Senate primary, but the GOP gubernatorial contest pits Trump-backed John James against Perry Johnson, a businessman turned politician who has launched unsuccessful campaigns before, including for president in 2024.<\/p>\n Johnson is now trying to style himself in the president\u2019s mold – despite missing out on his endorsement.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Ramon Antonio Vargas<\/p>\n Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s Republican party has \u201cnothing to run on\u201d for the congressional midterm elections<\/a> after the president broke promises to lower costs and avoid starting war overseas, Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n The House minority leader, a New York congressman, made those comments on CNN\u2019s State of the Union on Sunday, exactly 100 days from the 3 November midterms, when Jeffries and his fellow Democrats<\/a> are aiming to take control of the US House and Senate from their Republican opponents.<\/p>\n Asked to discuss the elections, Jeffries alluded to how Trump and other Republicans quickly seized on<\/a> a 21 July announcement from Mike Sherrill, the Democratic New Jersey governor, that 6,600 noncitizens in the state had registered to vote because of a software error.<\/p>\n Fewer than 400 of them voted before the identification and correction of the error. But the president and his allies nonetheless used the disclosure to boost<\/a> false claims<\/a> that there are scores of noncitizens on voter rolls who could compromise the integrity of the midterms, during which Republicans are predicted to lose seats.<\/p>\n Jeffries on Sunday argued that was because it is a more comfortable strategy to adopt rather than confront how the US and Israeli militaries began warring<\/a> with Iran in February after Trump won a second presidency in 2024 having promised<\/a> \u201cnot to start \u2026 endless wars in the Middle East\u201d.<\/p>\n The costs of the war have included the deaths<\/a> of 18 US troop members as of Sunday, along with injuries to hundreds more. Gas and grocery prices have also soared<\/a> amid the conflict, leaving 95% of Americans believing that the US is suffering an affordability crisis, according to exclusive polling<\/a> conducted for the Guardian.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Senate to begin voting on Trump spy nominee Clayton<\/p>\n Hello and welcome to the US politics<\/a> live blog.<\/p>\n The Senate is due to begin voting as early as Monday on the nomination of Manhattan US attorney Jay Clayton, Donald Trump\u2019s pick to be the \u2060top US spy, and he \u2060is expected to \u200bbe approved within days despite a tense confirmation hearing.<\/p>\n If approved to be the director of national intelligence, Clayton would fill a role vacated in June when Tulsi Gabbard stepped down after \u2060a tenure marked by clashes with congressional Democrats, who accused her of advancing Trump\u2019s political agenda and promoting debunked election claims.<\/p>\n The Senate is due to hold a procedural vote Monday evening on whether to advance \u2060Clayton\u2019s nomination for the job overseeing the nation\u2019s 18 intelligence agencies, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n The position of DNI was created after the 11 September 2001 attacks to \u200bcoordinate the country\u2019s sprawling intelligence apparatus.<\/p>\n Many senators are \u200ceager for Clayton to take up \u200cthe post because they are unhappy with the interim director of national intelligence, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist \u200cwithout national security experience who has been cutting staff at the agency.<\/p>\n Jay Clayton testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing in Washington. Photograph: Nathan Howard\/Reuters<\/p>\n If Clayton wins a majority in the 100-member Senate on the procedural vote, a final confirmation vote is expected later in the week.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s Republicans<\/a>, who have a 53-47 majority in the chamber and rarely break from the White House, are expected to provide Clayton with enough votes for confirmation.<\/p>\n In other developments:<\/p>\n The Pentagon updated its official war casualty database over the weekend, adding more than 140 wounded service members. The Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) also introduced a new casualty category<\/a> labeled \u201cOverseas Operations\u201d for personnel killed and wounded \u201cstarting July 7\u201d. According to the updated database<\/a>, the official toll for the earlier phase of the US-Iran war<\/a>, known as Operation Epic Fury, now stands at 14 service members killed and more than 400 wounded in action.<\/p>\n Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s Republican party has \u201cnothing to run on\u201d for the congressional midterm elections<\/a> after the president broke promises to lower costs and avoid starting war overseas, Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> has said. The House minority leader, a New York congressman, made those comments on CNN\u2019s State of the Union on Sunday, exactly 100 days from the 3 November midterms, when Jeffries and his fellow Democrats<\/a> are aiming to take control of the US House and Senate from their Republican opponents.<\/p>\n Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> said on Sunday that Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, the New York City mayor, is \u201cfomenting hate\u201d by calling the Israeli prime minister a war criminal who should be arrested over Israel<\/a>\u2019s war in Gaza if he visits the city for the United Nations general assembly.<\/p>\n Tom Homan, the Trump administration \u201cborder czar\u201d, on Sunday said he did not believe the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE<\/a>) officer at the center of a recent fatal shooting in Maine \u201cshould have ever cleared vetting\u201d. Speaking to CNN\u2019s State of the Union, Homan was asked by host Dana Bash about the officer\u2019s eligibility to serve following reports<\/a> that two of his ex-wives had accused<\/a> him of abuse.<\/p>\n Pop star Katy Perry<\/a> has condemned the Trump White House after it used her hit song Firework in a TikTok video showing US military strikes on Iranian targets, saying she never approved the use of her music. The White House video<\/a>, which featured Firework playing over footage of a missile striking an Iranian naval ship, has amassed more than 6 million views. The post was captioned: \u201cIran has been warned.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/tait.jpg\")
Robert Tait<\/p>\n