President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux. Closure to his war of choice may be unsatisfactory, putting off many critical issues to be resolved later.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton easily defeated four-term Sen. John Cornyn in the latest contest where Trump sought to oust an incumbent he saw as insufficiently loyal. The scandal-plagued Republican now faces Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in November, with control of the Senate an open question.
The 79-year-old president emerged from another medical exam saying “Everything checked out PERFECTLY” after working to dismiss concerns about his age and stamina. The White House said his more than three hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center were spent doing preventive medical and dental checkups.
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Trump Cabinet meeting begins
It’s the first meeting of the president’s Cabinet since Tulsi Gabbard announced that she would step down as director of national intelligence, effective June 30, due to her husband’s health.
Gabbard is the fourth Cabinet member to depart during Trump’s second term, all of them women.
The meeting also comes at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after Trump insisted that his administration and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux.
Alabama asks Supreme Court to allow use of congressional map ruled racially biased
Alabama on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to use a congressional map favoring Republicans in this year’s elections, despite a court ruling that the redistricting plan intentionally discriminates against Black people.
The state’s Republican leadership filed an emergency appeal with the justices a day after a three-judge court refused to let the state use a map it adopted three years ago that has a majority Black population in just one of its seven congressional districts.
The judges instead required Alabama to continue using a court-ordered map put in place for the 2024 elections that includes two districts where Black residents comprise a majority or close to it.
The appeal is the latest development in the fallout from last month’s Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Black-majority district in Louisiana and weakened the federal Voting Rights Act. That ruling has led Republicans in several Southern states, including Alabama, to take steps to reshape voting districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.
South Africa rejects Trump’s claim that Afrikaners need US refuge
The South African government and advocacy groups for its Afrikaner white minority on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s position that there’s a humanitarian emergency affecting white people in the country.
The argument served as the administration’s rationale for raising the U.S. refugee cap, but only for white Afrikaners. The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will admit an additional 10,000 white South Africans into the U.S. as refugees this year, while blocking refugees from other countries.
Trump blamed the government for “recent increases in the incitement of racially motivated violence,” without providing details that could be fact-checked. AfriForum, a lobbying organization for Afrikaners with more than 300,000 members, said it “does not have information” regarding the assertion of an emergency refugee situation.
Advocates say Trump’s decision has stranded people fleeing war and strife around the world.
Kenya says protecting its own citizens from Ebola is ‘paramount’
Kenya’s health minister has confirmed discussions with the United States and other international partners amid growing public concern about Ebola.
Aden Duale’s statement Wednesday did not confirm, however, that the talks involve the U.S. establishing Ebola treatment facility in Nairobi.
“The Government of Kenya notes ongoing discussions with the US government and other global partners regarding international collaboration on strengthening preparedness and response mechanisms for Ebola Virus Disease and other emerging public health threats,” Duale said.
“Any arrangements regarding international health cooperation will be guided by Kenya’s national laws, public health regulations, biosafety and biosecurity standards, and the government’s responsibility to safeguard the health and welfare of Kenyans,” said Duale. “Protection of Kenyan citizens, frontline health workers and communities remains paramount.”
▶ See AP Photos of Ebola’s impact in Congo and Uganda
Trump administration to send Americans exposed to Ebola to Kenya
The new facility is meant to help American patients who have been exposed to Ebola avoid an hourslong medical evacuation to the U.S., an administration official said Wednesday.
The quarantine and treatment center being set up by the Departments of Defense, State and Health and Human Services will be designed for Ebola patients who need to get out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and receive care quickly, said the official who requested anonymity to share the administration’s plans.
It wasn’t immediately clear where in Kenya the new facility will be built, or whether the Kenyan government has signed off on the plan.
▶ Read more about developments with the Ebola outbreak
Epidemiologist calls suicide rate in ICE detention ‘profoundly wrong.’ Homeland Security calls them ‘extremely rare’
Nine of the 10 who killed themselves were Hispanic men. One was a Chinese citizen. The deaths have revealed holes in treatment and oversight across the Immigration and Customs Enforcement system, where the detained population has spiked by 50% to 60,000 during Trump’s second term, AP found.
“Something is going profoundly wrong from any kind of public health or mental health perspective,” said Dr. Sanjay Basu, a University of California-San Francisco epidemiologist who co-wrote a study documenting the increase in mortality and suicide rates among ICE detainees. “This is one of those alarming, sudden increases.”
But Department of Homeland Security acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis said suicide deaths in ICE custody remain “extremely rare.”
Bis said detention staff follow protocols to protect detainees who show signs of self-harming and that ICE requires annual suicide prevention training. She said detainees receive comprehensive healthcare, including mental health services.
ICE detainees are dying by suicide at an ‘alarming’ rate, an AP investigation finds
Detainees in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement are taking their own lives at a pace unprecedented in the agency’s two-decade history, highlighting what experts call failures in care and oversight, according to an investigation by The Associated Press.
At least 10 detainees have died by suicide since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025 and ordered ICE to increase arrests and deportations, the investigation found. There have been seven such deaths since October, already the most in a fiscal year. ICE typically has recorded just one or no annual suicides.
The increased pace exceeds the growth in ICE’s detainee population, where suicides account for nearly 20% of the 51 people who have died in ICE custody since January 2025.
US workers would need 200 years of labor to match their CEO’s annual compensation, AP survey finds
As Trump touts his economic stewardship, The Associated Press’ annual CEO compensation survey shows typical CEO compensation rose nearly 6% in 2025 to $17.7 million, as company boards rewarded top executives for bigger profits and higher stock prices, and gave them incentives to stick around and make even more money for shareholders.
The median employee at companies in the S&P 500, meanwhile, earned $89,744, reflecting a 4.7% increase year over year. While that gain outpaced the rate of inflation in 2025, many workers were still feeling pinched by the accumulation of higher prices over the past few years and had to cut corners to make ends meet and run up credit card debt to pay for everyday necessities.
The survey uses data analyzed for The AP by Equilar.
Trump’s new green card policy sparks confusion
Trump’s new policy requiring green card seekers to apply from their home countries instead of in the U.S. has left many immigrants and attorneys confused and concerned.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the change Friday, affecting hundreds of thousands of applicants each year. But there are apparent exceptions. The agency indicated to The Associated Press that people who provide an “economic benefit” or “national interest” could likely remain in the United States while applying.
For more than half a century, foreign nationals with legal status — including people married to U.S. citizens, holders of work and student visas, and refugees and political asylum-seekers, among others — have been able to remain with their families and at their jobs while completing the process for permanent residency. That has suddenly changed as the Republican administration pivots to targeting legal pathways after focusing mostly on migrants in the U.S. illegally.
It could take at least 3 years to replenish key US weapons used in Iran war
An analysis of stockpiles of three key weapons systems used heavily in the Iran war is adding to concerns that American forces would have limited firepower in any future conflict with China.
Tomahawk cruise missiles strike targets deep inside enemy territory. Patriot and THAAD interceptors defend against incoming missiles and drones.
“The depleted inventories have created a window of vulnerability for a potential Western Pacific conflict,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in its report released Wednesday, which factors in Trump’s historic defense budget proposal of $1.5 trillion for 2027. “The problem today isn’t money; it’s time.”
China has a stated goal of being able to take Taiwan by force if necessary by 2027, and Chinese President Xi Jinping warned this month that if Washington mishandles its relations with the self-governing island, it could provoke open conflict.
Congress could get a record number of new faces next year
It’s starting to look like an exodus.
Out of 535 voting members of Congress, 73 will not return to their seats next term — the most at this point in the calendar since President Barack Obama’s administration, according to an Associated Press analysis of congressional turnover going back to 2013.
Some are seeking other offices. Others are retiring after decades of service. A few are departing instead of running in unfamiliar territory after an unusual flurry of redistricting. Around two-thirds of the outgoing members in both houses are Republicans.
A UFC fighting cage rises on the White House lawn
Yet another White House construction project is underway. Crews are erecting a temporary octagon-shaped cage on the South Lawn for next month’s UFC bout, timed to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary — and President Donald Trump ’s 80th birthday.
Online renderings depict what the completed, wire-mesh-fence-ringed fight space is expected to look like ahead of the June 14 event, ringed by a red, white and blue stage under a towering arch featuring stars and stripes patterns and two large screens carrying the action live. Thousands of temporary seats will surround the cage and stage, including ringside space for a full marching band.
“I have never seen anybody want anything so much as people want those tickets,” Trump said recently. “That’s gonna be something.”
Trump congratulates Paxton on Texas GOP Senate primary win
In a social media post, Trump congratulated Paxton on a “tremendous win” and promised that “I will do some nice, big, beautiful rallies for Ken. Texas, this will be FUN!
Trump also congratulated Cornyn “for having run a strong and powerful race but, more importantly, having had a truly great career.”
In his endorsement of Paxton, Trump said Cornyn “was not supportive of me when times were tough” and that “John was very late in backing me.”
But Trump said Wednesday that, “John will remain my friend for a long time to come, as we both watch Ken become a fantastic, common-sense Senator.”
Biden sues Justice Department to stop release of audio and transcripts tied to special counsel probe
Joe Biden sued the Justice Department on Tuesday in an effort to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of the former president’s interview with a ghostwriter that were obtained by the special counsel who investigated his handling of classified documents.
Biden’s lawyers said in a lawsuit filed in Washington’s federal court that the Justice Department plans to release the files to Congress and a conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, after the department had previously argued that they were exempt from disclosure under the public records law.
Biden’s lawyers argued that the disclosure would “constitute an unwarranted invasion of President Biden’s privacy.”
“Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” his attorneys wrote. “And when the U.S. Department of Justice obtains that private information through a criminal investigation, the Department bears a particular responsibility to protect it from disclosure.”
Trump administration proposes NDAs for federal employees to stop media leaks
The Trump administration wants all current and future federal employees to sign nondisclosure agreements, part of a continuing crackdown on leaks to the media.
A proposed notice, announced Tuesday on the Office of Personnel Management website, is expected to be officially published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, seeking comment on a draft NDA to be used by federal agencies for “both new and existing employees.”
“The form is intended to document Federal employees’ acknowledgment of, and agreement to comply with, current legal obligations to safeguard nonpublic, confidential, or proprietary information, created or obtained through their official duties, while expressly preserving the right to make disclosures authorized by law,” the notice said.
The proposed notice seeks comment on several questions, including whether the NDA should cover only unclassified information and what appropriate actions, if any, agencies should consider for new or current employees who choose not to sign the agreement.
Trump is getting the Republican Party that he wants. But can he win in the midterms?
Trump is on a winning streak in Republican primaries, but his tightening grip on his party could make it harder to win in the November midterms, when Republicans face a broader electorate that has soured on the president’s second term and the economy.
The risk is compounded, Republican operatives say, by how cavalier the billionaire president has been in addressing Americans’ financial worries, which have been exacerbated by Trump’s trade roller coaster and his ongoing war against Iran.
Republican strategist David Urban, a Trump ally, acknowledged the president’s approach is making things harder for his party.
“It’s going to be a tough fall unless things dramatically change,” Urban said.
He warned that Trump cannot afford a haphazard exit from the war with Iran to resolve a conflict that has created a chokehold on global oil supplies and driven gas prices higher for Americans.
“I think the president wants to help,” he said, but “you do not want to give the Iranians a win just because of the midterms.”
Paxton dominates Cornyn in Texas US Senate runoff, the latest sign of Trump’s hold on GOP
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, easily defeating four-term Sen. John Cornyn in the latest contest where Trump sought to oust an incumbent he saw as insufficiently loyal.
Trump endorsed Paxton last week, calling him a “true MAGA warrior.” Paxton’s victory in Tuesday’s runoff makes Cornyn — who was first elected to the Senate in 2002 — the first Republican senator from Texas to lose the party’s nomination for reelection.
Cheers rang through the ballroom at Paxton’s election night party when the race was called, and he took the stage to supporters chanting his name. He quickly gave credit to Trump.
“When everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn’t listen,” Paxton said. “President Trump is the leader of our party, and his endorsement is the most powerful force in politics.”
Trump gathers Cabinet as he looks to seal deal to end war that some backers worry will embolden Iran
President Donald Trump will meet with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux.
As he prepares to huddle with his top aides, Trump is projecting confidence that he’s closing in on a deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide him a credible argument that Iran’s nuclear capability has been diminished enough to declare victory, winding down a conflict that’s been politically unpopular for Republicans.
But as things stand, Trump also risks finding closure to his war of choice comes with an unsatisfactory ending.
The emerging deal puts off many critical issues to be resolved later and has already exposed the president to fierce criticism — even from some of his own supporters — that Iran’s hard-line leaders will emerge from the conflict battered but emboldened.
