Trump defends Iran bombing results at NATO summit
by TheHill.com
President Trump and high-level Cabinet members pushed back strenuously on reports that the June 21 bombing of nuclear sites in Iran only set back that nation’s nuclear capabilities by a few months. The leak of the classified report is already being investigated, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
“That hit ended the war,” Trump said Wednesday of the conflict between Israel and Iran, in which the U.S. got involved on Saturday. Making a comparison to the atomic bombs that ended World War II he then said: “I don’t want to use an example of Hiroshima. I don’t want to use an example of Nagasaki. But that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war.”
Trump and top administration officials have been meeting with NATO allies Wednesday in The Hague, Netherlands. The president is expected to have a news conference Wednesday morning before returning to the White House.
Meanwhile, in New York City, state Rep. Zohran Mamdani pulled off a surprise upset in the Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday, according to unofficial results. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded to Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers wrestle over how much is too much when it comes to Medicaid cuts in the “big, beautiful bill.”
Congress will be busy with testimony from a lineup of Trump officials. In the Senate, Attorney General Pam Bondi will face an Appropriations panel; Fed chair Jerome Powell gives his semi-annual report to the Banking Committee and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought will testify about the rescissions package sent this month from the White House.
In the House, Kari Lake will testify on the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
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25 minutes ago
White House pushes Israeli assessment of damage to Iran’s nuclear sites
Alex Gangitano
The White House on Wednesday pushed the Israeli assessment of the U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, as part of its ongoing effort to argue that the hits destroyed Iran’s nuclear program.
The White House asked the press pool traveling with the president to send out the statement on behalf of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, just after President Trump publicly hit back at reporting that Iran’s nuclear program was only set back a matter of months.
“The devastating US strike on Fordo destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable. We assess that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran’s military nuclear program, has set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years,” the commission statement said.
It added, “This achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material.”
an hour ago
US could default on its debt between August and early October, analysis finds
Aris Folley
The federal government risks defaulting on its debt sometime this summer or early fall without congressional action to address its debt ceiling, a new analysis finds.
The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) projected the so-called “X-Date” will “most likely occur between August 15 and October 3” if Congress fails to act.
“Congress must address the debt limit ahead of the August recess,” Margaret Spellings, president and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center, said in a statement on Wednesday. “With so many Americans worried about their own budgets and the state of the economy, Congress can’t afford to inject any additional uncertainty into the mix.”
“They need to act soon to prioritize our nation’s financial stability and reassure global markets that we take this responsibility seriously,” Spellings added.
While it’s difficult to pinpoint a hard X-Date, projections become more precise the closer the government arrives to running out of cash.
an hour ago
Trump on NATO mutual defense clause: ‘If I didn’t stand with it I wouldn’t be here’
Brett Samuels
President Trump on Wednesday signaled his support for NATO’s mutual defense pact after previously casting doubt on whether he would abide by it.
“I stand with it. That’s why I’m here,” Trump said at the NATO summit in the Netherlands when asked to clarify his stance on Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty.
“If I didn’t stand with it I wouldn’t be here,” Trump added.
Read more here.
an hour ago
Trump, Hegseth scoff at Iran damage assessment; leak probe underway
Brett Samuels
Trump and his top national security brass aggressively pushed back on reporting that Iran’s nuclear program was only set back a matter of months – a determination made by the administration’s own internal assessments.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said an investigation was underway into leaks of a preliminary classified report that determined U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend set the regime’s program back several months despite Trump insisting it was actually a matter of decades.
“Of course we’re doing a leak investigation with the FBI right now because this information is for internal purposes, battle damage assessments,” Hegseth told reporters at the NATO summit in the Netherlands. “And CNN and others are trying to spin it to make the president look bad when this was an overwhelming success.”
Trump called media outlets that reported on the internal assessment including CNN, The New York Times and NBC, “scum.” He insisted the U.S. attack carried out on Saturday by some of the U.S. most powerful ammunition led to “total obliteration” of Iran’s nuclear sites.
The internal report found strikes of the three facilities delayed Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months, despite initial assertions from Trump administration officials that those sites had been destroyed. The report also said Iran had moved much of its enriched uranium before the strikes, according to multiple outlets.
an hour ago
Tillis warns about Medicaid cuts
Alexander Bolton
Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), one of the most vulnerable Senate Republican incumbents facing re-election in 2026, warned Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) bluntly in a private meeting Tuesday that deep cuts to Medicaid could cost Republicans control of the House and Senate, according to a person familiar with the conversation.
Tillis, who has kept relatively quiet about the hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts proposed by the Senate Finance Committee, blasted his leadership’s plan to forge ahead during a Republican luncheon on Capitol Hill.
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