Live updates: Trump talks about Blanche’s AG nomination and Iran at Camp David Cabinet meeting
This version of Rcrd118114 - Politics and Government | NBC News Clone was adapted by NBC News Clone to help readers digest key facts more efficiently.
The president also announced an agreement for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip.
What to know today
- CABINET MEETING: President Donald Trump spoke to reporters about his stalled nomination for attorney general as well as Iran and the U.S. economy during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David today. Trump defended his "anti-weaponization' fund, but said that it was "dead." It was the first time his top officials gathered there in his second term.
- GAZA CONFLICT: Trump announced an agreement for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip, though many hurdles remain to wind down the war in the Palestinian territory.
- PAINT PLAN: Opponents of the Trump administration's plan to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building are seeking a court injunction to stop the project.
Trump, family members appeal ruling in IRS case
The president, his sons Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and the Trump Organization filed notice today that they're appealing a federal judge's ruling that their $10 billion suit against the IRS was bought in “bad faith” and for an “improper purpose.”
The July 13 ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams came after the Trumps withdrew the suit, and the DOJ announced a controversial settlement that included a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund for Trump allies and an agreement that the government would not investigate or seek any sort of payment from the president, his family members and companies on pending tax claims.
The notice of appeal comes as the unprecedented settlement has stalled a vote on Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general. Blanche has said the fund is "dead," but has not said so in writing. Outgoing Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., have also demanded the audit protection deal to be narrowed.
The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Speaking to reporters this morning, Trump acknowledged the fund is dead but said "I wish it weren't." He did not answer a question about whether he'd agree to limit the terms of the tax deal for himself, his family and his company.
Harris says she hasn't made up mind on a 2028 presidential run
Former Vice President Kamala Harris said at the event she has not yet made up her mind about another presidential run in 2028.
Kamala Harris. Sarah L. Voisin / The Washington Post via Getty Images file
"I have not made a decision, but I will tell you I am fully, sincerely focused on these midterms, and I know we’re going to be working together on it,” she told her interviewer at the event.
She said gains in the midterms are of critical importance to the Democratic party, since the Supreme Court has largely signed off on Trump's expansive use of presidential powers.
"I just do want to stress '28 will not matter if we don’t win '26," Harris said.
Harris says Republicans are 'cheating' in midterms
Former Vice President Kamala Harris today said Republicans are trying to "cheat" in the midterms, and Democrats will need to turn out in numbers that are "too big to rig."
Speaking at a National Urban League event in Nashville said Republicans have made changes to make it harder for Democrats to register and vote, so Democrats need to have "an agenda that is about turning out the vote in the greatest numbers we have ever seen so that in light of and in this environment where they are cheating, we will be too big to rig," she said, borrowing a term Trump used a rallying cry in the 2024 election.
Harris said Democrats need to be "ruthless."
"They are ruthless. We need to be ruthless, too. And by that, I do not mean cruel. That is not our nature. By that, I do not mean breaking the law. That is not what we do. But I do mean we must be uncompromising," she said.
Trump says Israel is 'very happy' with Hamas disarmament deal
The president told reporters that Israel is "very happy" with the deal he announced last night to disarm Hamas, although Israeli officials have not yet indicated that about the agreement.
Trump said on social media last night that an agreement has been reached for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip "in carefully structured phases."
“As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Members of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, gather in Gaza City in January. Mahmud Hams / AFP via Getty Images file
Asked if Israel was on board with the deal and if the withdrawal or disarmament would come first, Trump said today that he has "an understanding with Israel. Israel is very happy about it. Israel helped us, and they’ve been very good."
"Now, will it go through its ups and downs? It’s a very complex situation over there," Trump said, referring to the agreement. "The people are very complex and difficult. Many cases wonderful. Many cases not so wonderful."
Trump called the agreement "a great breakthrough" and credited the U.S. conflict with Iran for bringing it about.
"Nobody’s ever thought that would be possible, to disarm Hamas," the president said. "That shows you how much success we’re having with Iran, because if you go four months ago, five months ago, a deal like that would have been impossible. So it’s a big step for the Middle East."
Tim Walz hits back at Trump for blaming him after cyberattack
Gov. Tim Walz said today that the Trump administration's cuts to cybersecurity personnel weakened defenses against cyberattacks, responding to the president's claim that he and other Minnesota officials were "incompetent" and responsible for a cyberattack on water systems in the state.
“Trump knows exactly who is responsible for this attack, and knows that other states were hit, too," Walz said. "This is what modern warfare looks like, and it further illustrates there’s no plan to win a war with Iran.”
“DOGE took an ax to CISA and left the U.S. exposed to cyberattacks," Walz said, referring to the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, which undertook efforts to slash government agencies. "Thankfully, our experts in Minnesota were able to identify the vulnerability quickly and work with local communities to stop it.”
Trump says he's 'losing faith' in Iran talks, says 'we'll be hitting them very hard'
At today's Cabinet meeting, Trump criticized Iranian negotiators in the talks to end the conflict, saying all they do is make him "angry."
"As an example, we’ll talk about nuclear, and we'll be in there talking about nuclear for seven hours, and I say ... why do you need seven? You can take 10 minutes. You have five minutes, you should solve it," he said.
"And they’ll go out and they’ll say, 'We never discussed nuclear,'" Trump said. "And I say why, why do they say that? All they do is make me angry. You know, they just make me angry.”
Trump added, “I’m losing faith in them because they do lie and do, they do misrepresent.”
Asked what the plan was for Iran in the next several weeks, Trump said, “We’ll be hitting them very hard.”
“You know, at some point they’re going to say, 'We just can’t take it anymore,'” Trump added.
Trump urges Senate to quickly confirm Blanche as attorney general
During his Cabinet meeting, the president urged the Senate to confirm Blanche as soon as possible and said he thought the acting attorney general had become a "pawn."
"Todd Blanche is a very, very good man and he shouldn't be in the middle of this," Trump said.
The president then called out Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, whose opponent Trump had successfully endorsed during the Republican primary.
"He lost because of me" and "has become a very angry person," Trump said.
"You want to know the truth, I think I'd do the same thing," Trump said, referring to the senator, adding that Blanche "should be approved" and "forthwith."
Trump suggested yesterday that he was open to the possibility of withdrawing Blanche's nomination until next year, when Cornyn and fellow holdout Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., are out of office.
Trump says migrant ‘invasion’ of Spain will happen in the United States if Democrats win the midterms
Trump compared yesterday’s surge of around 50,000 migrants into the Spanish city of Ceuta to an “invasion,” claiming the same thing will happen to the United States “except worse” if Republicans do not win the midterm elections in November.
During a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, Trump said the migrant surge into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta is going to be “a talking point for the midterms” for the Republican Party. He said if Republicans are not in power, then “our country will be invaded at levels that made Spain look small time” and what happened “will look good compared to what’s going to happen to the United States.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized European policies on immigration as being too lax. At today's meeting, he described the deadly migrant crossings as a “catastrophe” and said that migrants are “invading” Spain as a result of “very liberal law.”
At one point, Trump incorrectly stated yesterday’s events involved “hundreds of thousands of people.” Around 60,000 migrants are estimated to have crossed into Ceuta.
Trump says 'anti-weaponization' fund is 'dead, but I wish it weren't'
Asked whether the "anti-weaponization" fund that's partially responsible for delaying Blanche's confirmation as AG is dead, Trump said, "It's dead, but I wish it weren't."
"I think people were horribly treated, horribly abused," Trump said, and "I'd like to see them compensated."
He said in a Truth Social post earlier in the day that the $1.776 billion fund —part of a settlement to end his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS — "will not benefit me, but rather the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed by the Crooked Joe Biden Administration," an apparent reference to Jan. 6 rioters.
Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis have demanded the end of the fund be codified in writing before they vote for Blanche's nomination to proceed and have demanded a second part of the agreement be narrowed.
That second part does personally benefit Trump, his family and companies, protecting them from federal audits, investigations and financial tax penalties prior to May of this year.
Asked if he'd be willing to accept limits on that part of the deal, Trump sidestepped the question.
Vermont and North Carolina governors discuss federal government's disaster aid
Govs. Phil Scott, R-Vt., and Josh Stein, D-N.C., explained their states' positions on a lawsuit filed by 25 states earlier this week against the Trump administration, which sought to condition emergency preparedness funding for states on compliance with the president's demands over immigration enforcement and election administration.
Stein said that it was "offensive" for the Trump administration to condition emergency preparedness funding on anything, particularly on election administration demands.
"They're trying to condition the support of the federal government to Americans who are in desperate need," the North Carolina governor told "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker at the National Governors Association meeting in Tulsa. "When a disaster strikes, our objective, whether it's local government, state government, or federal government, must be to do everything in our power to save life and to help people get their lives back together. So the notion that you would condition that on a state agreeing to something is offensive."
Scott added that withholding emergency funds could affect Vermont's ability to help other states when they're experiencing natural disasters.
"We need funding when we need it. It's like your family. You have family members, and you have one of your family members that's struggling and needs your help. Well, you don't all of a sudden just ignore them and make sure that everyone gets the same amount of money. You go to that that child and you help them, and it's the same thing here with the states. We don't all need FEMA help, but you know when we need it, we need it," Scott told Welker.
Govs. Kevin Stitt and Matt Meyer say they prioritize an 'all-of-the-above' approach to lowering energy costs
Govs. Kevin Stitt, R-Okla., and Matt Meyer, D-Del., today discussed the importance of generating renewable energy in their goals to lower electricity costs for residents in their states.
"We’re lucky to have the oil and natural gas that we do," Stitt said about Oklahoma. "But we also have wind. We’re No. 2 in electricity generated by wind in the U.S. So we believe in an all-of-the-above approach. We’re really close to doing a nuclear deal that’s maybe coming online with [Energy] Secretary [Chris] Wright."
Meyer and Stitt, speaking to "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker at the National Governors Association meeting in Tulsa, also lamented the on-again-off-again nature of interstate energy projects that have been affected by the whims of each presidential administration.
"You need to get government out of these pendulum swings. And the way I explain it to people, I’m like, 'When Obama was in office, he killed the Keystone Pipeline, then Trump brings it back, then Biden kills it,'" Stitt said, adding later, "It’s not right to kill the Rhode Island Wind Project, after they’ve been working on it and they’re 80% complete, just because you don’t like it. So, we don’t need any administration getting involved."
Trump, in his second term, has been vocal about his opposition to wind energy and windmills, at times calling them "disgusting," "stupid" and "ugly." Last year, his administration paused leases for five major offshore wind energy projects.
Meyer cited a partnership between Delaware and Maryland that was rejected by the Trump administration and how the project could have lowered energy bills for consumers.
"We have a 1.7-gigawatt offshore wind project, U.S. Wind, in partnership with Maryland," Meyer said. "The Trump administration is just a no-go. And it’s something that’s directly impacting rates in our state, and we’re doing everything we can to move it forward. I wish the federal government would listen to Gov. Stitt and say, 'Hey, let the states do the states and let us move it forward.'"
Trump touts foreign investment as 'higher than anybody has ever seen.' Data shows more in past years.
Trump claimed at his Cabinet meeting that the U.S. is seeing an unprecedented level of foreign investment.
“There’s never been anything like it from the standpoint of investment into our country. It’s five to six times higher than anybody has ever seen,” he said.
Bureau of Economic Analysis data shows annual foreign direct investment into the U.S. has exceeded current levels in previous years.
According to the BEA, foreign investors spent $232 billion acquiring, establishing or expanding U.S. businesses in 2025, which was an increase of $76.8 million from 2024 levels.
But foreign investment was higher from 2015 to 2018 and in 2021, totaling almost $450 billion in 2015 alone, according to the agency.
Trump did not specify what measure of foreign investment he was referring to in his remarks.
Trump appears to shift on whether it's OK for Iran to have any weapons
Trump said today that Iran having even one remaining drone is “too many, as far as I'm concerned."
But when the U.S. and Iran signed their initial agreement in June to end the war, Trump indicated that it was fine for Iran to keep some weapons — up to ballistic missiles — because their neighbors have them.
"I’m saying that if other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some," he said at the time. "A ballistic missile is not the same thing as what we’re talking about when we talk nuclear, but if Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and they all have some, I would say in relative proportion I think it’s OK."
So it appears there's some goalpost shifting today.
Trump blames Minnesota for cyberattack on its water systems
At his Cabinet meeting, the president referred to the recent cyberattacks on more than 30 municipal water facilities in Minnesota — and blamed the state for the attacks.
"I just want to mention that we heard in Minnesota there was a cyberattack, and they blame it on Iran. I don’t think so. I think I blame it on Minnesota because they’re grossly incompetent," Trump said.
"There was a cyberattack of 30 water plants, and I would blame it on Minnesota and the governor, the corrupt governor of Minnesota. They like to say, 'Oh, its Iran.' Iran should be so lucky. Iran’s got bigger problems than worrying about Minnesota," he continued.
His finger-pointing comes a day after the FBI and Environmental Protection Agency warned utilities nationwide that hackers are trying to disrupt critical water infrastructure.
Cyberattacks targeting municipal water systems have been reported in at least seven states this week. A law enforcement official said the Minnesota attack had hallmarks of Iranian meddling. It is still under investigation.
Hackers targeted municipal water systems in 7 states this week, FBI says
Cyberattacks targeting municipal water systems have been reported in at least seven states this week, prompting the FBI and the Environmental Protection Agency to warn utilities nationwide that hackers are trying to disrupt critical water infrastructure.
In a public service announcement yesterday, the agencies said water and wastewater utilities have reported incidents to the FBI, with some malicious activity degrading water operations. The announcement does not name the states.
The warning comes after hackers targeted more than 30 municipal water facilities in Minnesota in an attack that had hallmarks of Iranian meddling, according to a law enforcement official. It is still under investigation.
U.S. turns to war-weary Ukraine for help with drone technology
Now the U.S. needs Ukraine’s help. The world’s most expensive, powerful military is leaning on the world’s scrappiest fighting force for combat drone technology that’s upending the economics of war.
State Department map of Africa mislabels every country at AIDS conference
A U.S. government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a State Department presentation at a global conference taking place in Brazil this week, causing a stir among attendees who took screenshots and posted them online.
A screen shows a U.S. government map of Africa with mislabeled countries during a State Department presentation at a global conference in Brazil on Sunday. via Reuters
MyPillow CEO was fined over $56K for his false election claims — and now owes even more in late fees
For nearly four months, each night of sleep has cost the MyPillow guy $500 in court fines. Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, who’s running for governor of Minnesota, owes more in court-imposed penalties than the original amount he was ordered to pay in a lawsuit over his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.
Trump defends 'anti-weaponization' fund and attacks GOP senator as Blanche nomination stalls
The president this morning defended the "anti-weaponization" fund that his Department of Justice created as part of a settlement with the IRS over the leak of his tax records as his nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general has stalled in the Senate over concerns about the deal.
In a Truth Social post, the president claimed that the fund wouldn't benefit him, but "rather the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed by the Crooked Joe Biden Administration."
"They are suffering still, many ruined, and I felt that they should be given compensation for what has been done to them," said Trump, who also referred to the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago to recover classified documents as an example of weaponization against him.
"Such an event has never happened before, and hopefully will never happen again!" he wrote. "I will always feel that these victims of government abuse should be paid back for what they were forced to endure, their lives have been ruined!"
The president claimed that Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is withholding support for Blanche's nomination over concerns about the IRS settlement, didn't have a problem with the fund until the president endorsed his opponent in the Republican primary race for Senate, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who won the nomination.
In addition to creating the so-called anti-weaponization fund, which the Trump administration said was intended to compensate alleged victims of political prosecutions, the IRS settlement agreement provided Trump and his family business with immunity from tax audits.
Trump wrote that Blanche, "a good man, should be immediately approved as U.S. Attorney General." Yesterday, Trump floated the idea of withdrawing Blanche’s nomination for attorney general until after the November elections.
Preservationists seek to stop Trump from painting the Eisenhower Executive Office Building white
Opponents of a Trump administration plan to paint the massive gray granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building right next door to the White House told NBC News they will seek an injunction in federal court to stop the administration from proceeding with the project.
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Aaron Schwartz / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
Trump announces a deal for Hamas to disarm in Gaza, but many hurdles and uncertainty remain
Trump said yesterday that a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza, but many hurdles, conditions and long timelines remained to wind down the war in the Palestinian territory.
The White House announcement comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza.
Trump is taking his Cabinet meeting on the road to Camp David
Trump is taking today's Cabinet meeting on the road — to the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, a rustic backdrop for sessions that have come to be known for being overly long and consumed by administration officials’ endless praise for their boss.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the meeting of the Republican president’s second term “will be a lot of fun and something different for the Cabinet to experience together.”
It will be the first Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Trump’s second term after an earlier attempt in May was scuttled because of bad weather. During his first term, Trump held a Cabinet meeting at the retreat.
The public portion of Trump’s Cabinet meetings has lasted as long as three hours, with the president letting everyone at the table update him on their departments or agencies — with added praise for him personally and his leadership thrown in. In a departure from other presidents, he allows the news media to stay for the duration of the meetings, a move that Leavitt has said proves his commitment to transparency.
More recently, however, Trump has commented on how lengthy the meetings have become. He has begun urging speakers to keep their comments brief, and he has limited the number of oral reports.
Democrats’ big Virginia plans were foiled, but it’s still at the center of the battle for the House
Virginia Democrats’ hopes to create up to four additional blue districts in 2026 were dashed when the state Supreme Court threw out their mid-decade redistricting plan. But even after snapping back to the old map, Virginia is still poised to be a prominent front in the fight for the House majority this year.
