What to know today
- NETANYAHU IN WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House this evening. In remarks to reporters before their meeting, the two leaders said they continue to work toward a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
- WEAPONS FOR UKRAINE: Trump said tonight that the United States is going to provide more weapons to Ukraine, after recently pausing a shipment to the country. He added that he's "not happy" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- TARIFF THREATS: Trump sent letters warning the leaders of several countries, including Japan and South Korea, that the United States would raise tariffs on them if a new trade deal isn't reached before Aug 1. He later told reporters that the August deadline is "firm, but not 100% firm."
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Mike Waltz scheduled to have Senate confirmation hearing for U.N. ambassador
Former national security adviser Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick to be U.N. ambassador, is scheduled to have his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next week, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News.
Axios first reported the expected confirmation hearing. The exact date has yet to be announced.
Trump announced Waltz as his pick for the position on May 1, but there had been no movement on his nomination until now. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, chalked the delay up to the extensive amount of paperwork and documentation that needs to be accumulated and submitted for a nomination such as this, telling NBC News last month that Waltz had not needed to put that paperwork together for his previous position as national security adviser, a position that does not need Senate confirmation.
Waltz is sure to face questions from senators about his role in a Signal chat group that involved discussion of U.S. military strikes in Yemen and inadvertently included a journalist.
The UN ambassador position was originally offered to Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., whose nomination was pulled on March 27 after it had been stalled for months. Trump had cited needing Stefanik to stay in the razor-thin Republican majority in the House to help pass his signature piece of legislation, known as the "big, beautiful bill." The House sent the bill to Trump's desk last week with Stefanik voting for it.
Trump says new tariff deadline is 'firm but not 100% firm'
Trump said the new Aug. 1 tariff deadline he set today isn't exactly set in stone.
“If they call up and they, say, would like to do something a different way, we’re going to be open to that,” Trump said to reporters today, calling the deadline “firm but not 100% firm.”
Trump signed an executive order earlier today delaying the implementation date of tariffs on dozens of countries from Wednesday to Aug. 1.
Asked about his earlier promise of “90 deals in 90 days,” Trump argued he had delivered on that front, citing the letters he sent to numerous countries saying what their new tariff rates would be.
“As far as I’m concerned, we’re done,” Trump said.
Biden's former doctor requests postponement of his testimony to the House Oversight Committee
Kevin O’Connor, who was President Joe Biden’s physician during his time in the White House, has asked the House Oversight Committee to postpone his testimony in order to reach an agreement with the Republican-led panel on “substantial privilege and confidentiality interests.”
O’Connor is scheduled to give a deposition Wednesday as part of the committee's investigation into Biden's mental state and his use of an autopen while he was in office.
In a letter to Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., over the weekend, O’Connor’s lawyer asked that the testimony be delayed to the week of July 28 or Aug. 4 to allow discussions about doctor-patient privilege to continue. NBC News obtained a copy of the letter from O’Connor’s lawyer, David Schertler.
“It would be an unnecessary spectacle to require Dr. O’Connor to testify before your Committee next week without any accommodations for the well-established doctrine of doctor-patient confidentiality and to subject himself to potential criminal prosecution for contempt of Congress for doing the right thing — honoring his legal and ethical obligations to a patient,” Schertler wrote in the letter, dated Saturday.
A spokesperson for the committee called the letter “another delay tactic to stonewall the Oversight Committee’s investigation.” In a statement to NBC News, the spokesperson pointed to the ability of witnesses to assert privilege on question by question.
“To the extent that Dr. O’Connor wishes to assert privilege in response to specific questions, the Oversight Committee will follow that process at the deposition,” the spokesperson said. “Dr. O’Connor is not permitted to disregard a congressional deposition subpoena because he believes he may be asked questions that, in his view, will implicate privileged information.”
Trump says the U.S. will send more weapons to Ukraine
Trump said the United States is "going to send more weapons" to Ukraine, adding that it must be able to defend itself in its war against Russia.
“We have to,” Trump said when he was asked whether the United States will send more weapons. “We’re going to have to send more weapons, defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard. So many people are dying in that mess.”
The Defense Department recently halted weapon shipments to Ukraine, citing concerns over the U.S. military’s stockpile. The decision blindsided Ukraine, European allies, members of Congress and the State Department.
NBC News reported last week that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth halted the weapons despite a military analysis that showed U.S. military readiness would not be affected by sending more munitions to Ukraine.
Trump tonight also said he was "not happy" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I’m disappointed, frankly, that President Putin hasn’t stopped. I’m not happy about it, either," Trump said.
Trump says no hold-up in push for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal
Trump expressed optimism tonight about reaching a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, saying he doesn't see a delay or an obstacle, despite the lack of an agreement.
Asked by a reporter what the “hold-up” was in accomplishing a deal, Trump responded: “I don’t think there is a hold-up. Well, I don’t think there’s a hold-up. I think things, I think things are going along very well.”
Trump made the remarks at the White House while he was seated across from Netanyahu.
Trump’s weekend at golf club clashes with his repeated criticism of Biden and Obama over their handling of natural disasters
Trump spent the holiday weekend at his New Jersey estate during the deadly flooding in Texas, even though he repeatedly criticized Democrats for spending time out of town during natural disasters.
In the aftermath of a hurricane that slammed North Carolina last year, Trump said of Kamala Harris on Oct. 9, “the worst hurricane response since Katrina, and she’s on a fundraising comedy tour while people are stranded and drowning all over some of our greatest states.”
A little over a week earlier, at a rally in Pennsylvania, he ripped President Joe Biden for not being in Washington to deal with the disaster. “Joe Biden is in Delaware sleeping right now in one of his many estates, one of his many estates. How did he get so many houses?” Trump asked, questioning why Harris was not already in the storm-struck states.
“So he’s at home sleeping in one of his many estates, and she’s in San Francisco, which she destroyed, trying to raise more money,” Trump told the crowd.
Trump had a similar criticism of Obama after he visited the site of widespread flood damage in Louisiana in 2016. “The devastation, likewise, they’ve never seen anything like it, but the spirit of the people is incredible, and, honestly, Obama ought to get off the golf course and get down there,” Trump said at the time.
Asked to comment on Trump's past remarks, a spokesperson for the White House called the question “pathetic click-bait” and maintained the situations are very different.
“Leave it to Fake News NBC to defend Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s disastrous response to Hurricane Helene that left communities to fend for themselves,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement, adding that Trump had to “clean up their mess” in North Carolina.
Trump is now “leading another historic recovery by mobilizing the resources needed to help Texas — and he will be there in person soon to see to it that the people are getting what they need,” she added.
Trump said this evening that he'll be in Texas on Friday. Yesterday, he told reporters that he had spoken with Gov. Greg Abbott and that "we’re working very close with representatives from Texas." He also signed a disaster declaration for Texas from his Bedminster property.
Trump signs executive order delaying tariff deadline again
The White House tonight released the text of an executive order Trump signed this afternoon delaying Wednesday's tariff deadline to Aug. 1.
“I have determined, based on additional information and recommendations from various senior officials, including information on the status of discussions with trading partners, that it is necessary and appropriate to extend the suspension ... until 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on August 1, 2025,” the order says.
Trump said in April that tariff rates would be delayed until July 9.
Today's executive order, which White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced earlier in the day, goes on to say a separate tariff suspension from May 12 against China remains in effect and is unchanged.
Former Sen. Bob Menendez transferred to low-security prison in Pennsylvania
Bob Menendez, a Democratic former senator from New Jersey, has been transferred to a different federal correctional institution, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
A spokesperson said Menendez was transferred to FCI Allenwood Low in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday. The facility is described as a “low security federal correctional institution” on its website.
The spokesperson would not comment on why Menendez was moved.
Menendez began serving his 11-year sentence at FCI Shuylkill in Minersville, Pennsylvania, on June 17. That facility is described as a “medium security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp.”
Republicans plot a strategy to fend off Democratic onslaught against Trump megabill
The war over Trump’s megabill is just beginning, with both parties saying it will define the midterm elections next year, when control of Congress is up for grabs.
Republicans start on the back foot, with recent surveys showing the bill is unpopular, even with pro-Trump cohorts. Still, GOP leaders say they have a plan to turn things around and make the legislation Trump signed into law last week part of an offensive push to protect their House and Senate majorities.
Meanwhile, Democrats are gearing up for a political onslaught aimed at unseating Republicans who voted for it. The House Democrats’ campaign arm has already launched a digital ad buy on Meta across 35 GOP-held competitive districts slamming lawmakers for voting to harm rural hospitals. Part of Democrats’ strategy is to highlight that many Republicans who threatened to vote down the bill because of steep Medicaid cuts ended up voting for it anyway.
Trump releases fresh batch of letters threatening new tariffs on U.S. trade partners
Trump this afternoon posted more than a half-dozen letters that he sent to the leaders of U.S. trade partners, threatening new tariffs on seven countries.
He threatened the following tariff rates on these countries:
- 25% on Tunisia
- 30% on Bosnia and Herzegovina
- 32% on Indonesia
- 35% on Bangladesh
- 35% on Serbia
- 36% on Cambodia
- 36% on Thailand
