Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said early Saturday that if U.S. President Donald Trump is sincere about seeking to reach an agreement with Tehran, he should put aside his “disrespectful tone” towards the Iranian supreme leader.
He made the remarks in a post on social media platform X while condemning the U.S. president’s several instances of using “disrespectful” language when speaking about Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran’s Supreme Leader … and stop hurting his millions of heartfelt followers,” he said, noting that “good will begets good will, and respect begets respect.”
“The complexity and tenacity of Iranians is famously known in our magnificent carpets, woven through countless hours of hard work and patience,” he stressed, adding that however, “as a people, our basic premise is very simple and straightforward: we know our worth, value our independence, and never allow anyone else to decide our destiny.”
Facilitated by Oman, Iranian and U.S. delegations had held five rounds of indirect talks since April on Tehran’s nuclear program and the lifting of U.S. sanctions.
However, the negotiations were halted earlier this month as Israel launched airstrikes on Tehran and other areas.
Source: United States Senator for North Carolina Thom Tillis
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) issued the below statement on the Senate reconciliation vote:
“I will always do what is in the best interest of North Carolina, even when that puts me at odds with my own party. When Senate leaders of my party presented this bill, I did what every American should expect from their U.S. Senator: I worked to gather the facts and comprehensively analyze what the impact would be on the people I swore an oath to represent.
“I did my homework on behalf of North Carolinians, and I cannot support this bill in its current form. It would result in tens of billions of dollars in lost funding for North Carolina, including our hospitals and rural communities. This will force the state to make painful decisions like eliminating Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands in the expansion population, and even reducing critical services for those in the traditional Medicaid population.
“We can and must do better than this. The Senate should return to the House’s Medicaid approach. That plan includes commonsense reforms to address waste, fraud, and abuse, and implements work requirements for some able-bodied adults to ensure taxpayer-funded benefits are going to our most vulnerable neighbors.
“There is a lot for North Carolinians to love about the rest of the One Big Beautiful Bill, including extending the historic Trump Tax Cuts, increasing the child tax credit, providing historic funding for border security, and ending wasteful spending. We can and must accomplish this without hurting our rural communities and hospitals, and without jeopardizing access to care for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who need it the most.”
Source: United States Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock – Georgia
Warnock Holds Multi-Faith Vigil as Washington GOP Attempts to Kick 16 Million Off Health Care
At the 8-year anniversary of Senator Reverend Warnock’s 2017 arrest protesting the last Trump tax cut, Senator Warnock held a vigil with multi-faith leaders while the Senate debated the GOP tax bill
Senator Warnock was arrested in the Russell rotunda in 2017, before he was elected to the Senate, protesting the previous GOP tax giveaway.
PHOTOS AND VIDEOS AVAILABLE HERE
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) held a vigil with a multi-faith coalition to pray that GOP lawmakers have the courage to stand up for their constituents and vote against the GOP tax bill. The Senator prayed for the 16 million Americans who are expected to lose health care coverage if the bill passes. Following the Russell Rotunda vigil, the Senator led the procession of faith leaders to the Senate floor as the chamber debated the immoral GOP tax bill.
“And so, in this season of unnecessary cruelty, we bear witness to kindness. Kindness not only in our interpersonal relations, but kindness in public policy. Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God. Thank you for these faith leaders who have come for such a time as this. Be now with us and give us every spiritual grace as we stand as voices for the voiceless, so that the preaching of Jesus might be made incarnate,” prayed Senator Reverend Warnock.
The Senator was arrested in the Russell Rotunda 2017, before he was elected to the Senate, along with a coalition of multi-faith leaders, while protesting the GOP tax bill during the first Trump Administration. Video of 2017 arrest HERE.
Source: United States Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock – Georgia
Warnock Holds Multi-Faith Vigil as Washington GOP Attempts to Kick 16 Million Off Health Care
At the 8-year anniversary of Senator Reverend Warnock’s 2017 arrest protesting the last Trump tax cut, Senator Warnock held a vigil with multi-faith leaders while the Senate debated the GOP tax bill
Senator Warnock was arrested in the Russell rotunda in 2017, before he was elected to the Senate, protesting the previous GOP tax giveaway.
PHOTOS AND VIDEOS AVAILABLE HERE
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) held a vigil with a multi-faith coalition to pray that GOP lawmakers have the courage to stand up for their constituents and vote against the GOP tax bill. The Senator prayed for the 16 million Americans who are expected to lose health care coverage if the bill passes. Following the Russell Rotunda vigil, the Senator led the procession of faith leaders to the Senate floor as the chamber debated the immoral GOP tax bill.
“And so, in this season of unnecessary cruelty, we bear witness to kindness. Kindness not only in our interpersonal relations, but kindness in public policy. Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God. Thank you for these faith leaders who have come for such a time as this. Be now with us and give us every spiritual grace as we stand as voices for the voiceless, so that the preaching of Jesus might be made incarnate,” prayed Senator Reverend Warnock.
The Senator was arrested in the Russell Rotunda 2017, before he was elected to the Senate, along with a coalition of multi-faith leaders, while protesting the GOP tax bill during the first Trump Administration. Video of 2017 arrest HERE.
Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Lankford
WASHINGTON, DC — US Senator James Lankford (R-OK), a member of the Senate Finance and Homeland Security Committees, recently highlighted that the One Big Beautiful Bill delivers the largest tax cut in history for hardworking Americans, secures the border, strengthens Medicaid, and rebuilds the military, all while cutting out-of-control spending.
“Right now, Democrats are running on rumors, innuendo, and quite frankly, just stuff they’ve made up that’s not in the bill—never been considered in the bill,” said Lankford on Fox Business.
“Yeah, we’re hoping to get a vote as quickly as we can get everything all together,” said Lankford on ABC News. “Most of it has been out there in public for now, days to weeks, actually, as we’ve released each chapter day by day over the last two weeks. But we’ve got several different issues that are all coming together at the end.”
“We’re going to just keep pushing to be able to get the work done,” said Lankford on Newsmax.
Background
Lankford remains outspoken on what it means for Oklahomans if the One Big Beautiful Bill isn’t passed, and President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts expire:
A staggering 63,000 jobs projected to be lost
Average Oklahoma family faces a $2,013 tax increase
Nearly 449,000 households will see their child tax credit reduced by 50%
Over 233,000 small business owners hit with significant tax hikes
More than 1.5 million families will have their standard deduction cut in half
You can learn more about the positive impacts of the One big Beautiful Bill, HERE.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued a statement following U.S. strikes on Iranian regime nuclear infrastructure.
Sen. Cruz said, “I commend our pilots and servicemembers, our intelligence personnel, President Trump, and his national security staff on tonight’s successful and critical operation.
“The prospect of the Iranian regime acquiring nuclear weapons represents the most acute immediate threat to America and our allies. When the Ayatollah chants ‘Death to America,’ he means it, and the reason he is building nuclear weapons is because he intends to use them. President Trump has consistently and unequivocally stated that those threats cannot be countered without dismantling the Iranian regime’s enrichment capacity. The President and his negotiators spent two months exploring whether the regime would agree to a negotiated settlement that met America’s national security needs. At the end of that period, Iranian regime officials declared that instead of agreeing to a deal they would open a new enrichment facility and install more advanced centrifuges.
“After that declaration, our Israeli allies launched a preemptive attack against the regime and its nuclear infrastructure, which was enormously successful but could not disable the nuclear activities at Fordow, an underground enrichment bunker built into a mountain which was legitimized by the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal. As long as Iran was able to access and conduct activities at Fordow, they could still rush to build a nuclear arsenal. Tonight’s actions have gone far in foreclosing that possibility, and countering the apocalyptic threat posed by an Iranian nuclear arsenal.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued a statement following U.S. strikes on Iranian regime nuclear infrastructure.
Sen. Cruz said, “I commend our pilots and servicemembers, our intelligence personnel, President Trump, and his national security staff on tonight’s successful and critical operation.
“The prospect of the Iranian regime acquiring nuclear weapons represents the most acute immediate threat to America and our allies. When the Ayatollah chants ‘Death to America,’ he means it, and the reason he is building nuclear weapons is because he intends to use them. President Trump has consistently and unequivocally stated that those threats cannot be countered without dismantling the Iranian regime’s enrichment capacity. The President and his negotiators spent two months exploring whether the regime would agree to a negotiated settlement that met America’s national security needs. At the end of that period, Iranian regime officials declared that instead of agreeing to a deal they would open a new enrichment facility and install more advanced centrifuges.
“After that declaration, our Israeli allies launched a preemptive attack against the regime and its nuclear infrastructure, which was enormously successful but could not disable the nuclear activities at Fordow, an underground enrichment bunker built into a mountain which was legitimized by the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal. As long as Iran was able to access and conduct activities at Fordow, they could still rush to build a nuclear arsenal. Tonight’s actions have gone far in foreclosing that possibility, and countering the apocalyptic threat posed by an Iranian nuclear arsenal.”
“How the Big Beautiful Bill will lower energy costs, shore up the electric grid — and unleash American prosperity”
By Chris Wright
How much would you pay for an Uber if you didn’t know when it would pick you up or where it was going to drop you off? Probably not much.
Yet this is the same effect that variable generation sources like wind and solar have on our power grids.
You never know if these energy sources will actually be able to produce electricity when you need it — because you don’t know if the sun will be shining or the wind blowing.
Even so, the federal government has subsidized these sources for decades, resulting in higher electricity prices and a less stable grid.
. . .
President Donald Trump knows what to do: Eliminate green tax credits from the Democrats’ so-called Inflation Reduction Act, including those for wind and solar power.
The One Big Beautiful Bill seeks to do that: Along with other proposals, like canceling billions in Biden Green New Deal money and making much-needed investments in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, it aims to set an aggressive end date for these subsidies and build on the president’s push for affordable, abundant, and secure energy for the nation.
. . .
As Secretary of Energy — and someone who’s devoted his life to advancing energy innovation to better human lives — I, too, know how these Green New Deal subsidies are fleecing Americans.
Wind and solar subsidies have been particularly wasteful and counterproductive.
One example: The Renewable Electricity Production Tax Credit was first introduced in 1992, when wind energy was a nascent industry. This tax credit, originally set to phase out in 1999, was sold on a promise of low-cost energy with fewer tradeoffs.
Since 1999, the REPTC has been extended a whopping 12 times, yet consumers continue to pay more on average for their home electric bills than in 1992, even after adjusting for inflation.
Plus, today, more than 75% of US electricity comes from natural gas, nuclear and coal — and they supply it 24/7, independent of the weather.
. . .
At 8 p.m. on Inauguration Day, amid bitter cold across much of the Eastern seaboard, we reached peak demand for electricity in the mid-Atlantic region. At that point in time, PJM Interconnection, which supplies the Mid-Atlantic United States, got approximately 44% of its power from coal, 24% from natural gas, 25% from nuclear, 3% from oil, 3% from wind, 1% from hydro and 0% from solar.
Think about that: When Americans most needed dependable power to heat their homes and businesses to stay alive, solar and wind were non-factors.
Our homes, hospitals and businesses only continued to operate because there was enough reliable, baseload energy from natural gas, coal and nuclear available to meet demand.
How valuable is a teammate who occasionally shows up for practice but is never there at game time?
And the more we load our grid with intermittent generation, the worse the grid performs during times of maximum stress and demand.
Subsidies are meant to drive prices down and boost supply. But subsidizing wind and solar has done exactly the opposite.
. . .
Bottom line: higher costs. Indeed, wind and solar subsidies not only cost taxpayers but also force providers to add more dispatchable resources to the grid, at their expense.
These costs are then passed on to ratepayers.
In other words, more wind and solar brings us the worst of two worlds: less reliable energy delivery and higher electric bills.
It’s time to stop subsidizing such insanity in perpetuity. If sources are truly economically viable, let’s allow them to stand on their own, and stop forcing Americans to pick up the tab if they’re not.
Source: United States Senator for Kansas Roger Marshall
Senator Marshall Joins Fox News to Discuss the Reconciliation Bill, Medicaid, and Operation Midnight Hammer.
Washington – On Saturday, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), joined Rich Edson on Fox News’ Fox News Live to discuss the Senate’s latest timeline to move the reconciliation bill forward, the negotiations around the SALT deduction, the best way to save Medicaid for those who need it most, and what’s next for America in the ongoing conflicts abroad.
Click HERE or on the image above to watch the full interview.
On the Republican reconciliation bill:
“In my career as an obstetrician, I feel like this bill is three weeks past its due date. It’s time to have the baby. Everyone’s upset – that means we’re probably close to where it needs to be. We cannot blow this chance. This is the President’s legacy, his agenda. If you supported President Trump, you should support this bill. This will be the largest tax decrease in American history. We’re going to secure the border – a whole lot of other good things, but mostly this is the beginning of America’s great, golden era.”
On the SALT Deduction and its impact on negotiations:
“… Over in the house, I think we have a little tighter margin. And again, I think that what we asked the President to do here was split the baby, but he’s keeping the baby together. This is the best we can get. Speaker Johnson was there with us yesterday, negotiating this to the last second. I think everyone has thrown their best argument on the table – I think that’s a great step forward. I wish we were cutting more spending, including this, but this is the best bill that we can get through the finish line.”
On how to save Medicaid from disaster:
“Again, just because you have Medicaid doesn’t mean you have access to care. You pointed out that a third of doctors don’t accept Medicaid, and another third basically rule them out through the schedule. What our bill does is give a block grant for rural hospitals and for Community Health Centers. One of my three pillars of MAHA is making sure that everyone has meaningful, affordable access to primary care. Even Bernie Sanders agrees with me that these Community Health Centers are a great way to do that. I think that healthcare will be better.
“And in this bill, we absolutely preserve Medicaid for those who need it the most. We don’t touch seniors in nursing homes, people with disabilities, pregnant women, or children. So, we will protect Medicaid for those who need it the most. And on the other hand, we want to make sure everyone has access to care. We’ll do it through a block grant – I’m so proud of the work we’ve done here, as far as making health care more affordable and more accessible.”
On where the Medicaid savings will come from:
“So, the savings come from a couple of things. One, something called a provider tax, which is absolutely a scam, a money laundering scam, where you have one state, maybe getting 25 times more per person than what a state like Kansas is getting. So, we need to level out those provider taxes.
“And then, as we talk about people that may lose Medicaid, half of them are people that are on it fraudulently or through some type of error. And the other half will be those that are refusing to work 20 hours a day. Again, 60, 70% of Americans support some type of work requirements if you don’t have a disability, you’re working age, you don’t have a child under the age of 13, then I think it’s reasonable to ask people to work or volunteer for 20 hours a week.”
On what’s next for America in the Israel and Iran conflict:
“I think it will take them years just to restart their nuclear program. I think that they can’t control their airspace. They don’t have the will to do it. From what I’ve seen, I’m in shock and awe. You know, it’s shocking how much damage we did to their facilities. Obliterated is a great term. I’m in awe of our military, the great job that they did.
“Thanks to all those Air Force guys who did this off. I’m an Army guy, but I’m still going to salute them. They did a great job. And thanks to all of our soldiers over in the Middle East, I don’t see Iran getting back in this ball game for several years.
“Iran cannot have any type of nuclear bomb if they don’t want to move things in a different direction right now, then we need to double down on our sanctions. Whatever we need to do. Look, I don’t want boots on the ground. I’m tired of all the killing. I want all the killing to stop in Gaza, in Iran – all these different places, Ukraine. But at the end of the game, Iran cannot have a nuclear warhead.”
Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
06.28.25
Cantwell Statement on Latest Republican Public Lands Sell Off Proposal
Trump’s Statement of Administration Policy supports the land sales provision
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, released this statement regarding inclusion of Senator Mike Lee’s (R-UT) public lands sell off plan in the Senate reconciliation bill released by Republicans early this morning.
“Despite a nationwide outcry, Senate Republicans are barreling ahead with Senator Lee’s deranged proposal to sell our shared public lands to the highest bidder,” said Sen. Cantwell. “Let me be clear: I will not stop fighting until this proposal is dead and buried. Americans will not stand to have the hiking, climbing, and hunting spots we love put up for sale.”
The Senate Republican proposal comes as part of a larger Trump Administration push to privatize public lands. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has stated on multiple occasions that public lands should be recognized as valuable assets on the nation’s balance sheet and potentially used to generate revenue. Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order that described the nation’s natural resources and public lands as a “sum of asset value,” in the context of establishing a “Sovereign Wealth Fund.” Subsequently, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, proposed greenlighting the sale of over 250 millions of acres of public lands, which could constitute the “largest single sale of national public land in modern history.” While the Senate Parliamentarian rejected Lee’s opening gambit, deeming the proposal ineligible under budget reconciliation process rules, Lee responded, “I’m doing everything I can to support President Trump and move this forward.” He promised, “We’re just getting started.”
The revised proposal released today would sell at least between 0.25 and 0.50 percent of Bureau of Land Management Land, within a 5-mile radius of a population center, in 11 Western states, except Montana –up to 1.2 million acres of public land, at least.
Sen. Cantwell is strongly opposed to selling off federal lands.
On Tuesday she held a virtual press conference with the mayor of Boise, professional climbers, a leader from outdoor gear retailer REI, and a spokesperson for a hunting and angling advocacy group to push back on the GOP’s plans.
In a committee hearing on June 10, she took U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to task over the administration’s alarming budget proposal for the Department of the Interior: “We’re all amazed that you seem to be putting forth a budget that is basically saying, ‘I don’t want to acquire. I want to actually sell public lands,’” she said.
Opposition to the plan is bipartisan. On Thursday, U.S. Rep Dan Newhouse (WA-04) joined four other House Republicans in sending a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, saying: “If a provision to sell public lands is in the bill that reaches the House floor, we will be forced to vote no.”
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (7th District of Washington)
SEATTLE, W.A. — U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, released the following statement regarding the Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians.
“The Trump administration’s decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti is out of touch with reality.
“The Department of State currently has a ‘Do Not Travel’ advisory in place for Haiti due to rampant violence, kidnappings, and political instability. Yet, this administration wants to deport
hundreds of thousands of Haitian nationals—people who have lived here lawfully for years, raised families, contributed to our economy, and become deeply rooted in our communities — back to those same deadly conditions.
“Forcing people to return to dangerous, life-threatening conditions is inhumane and un-American. I stand with the Haitian community and TPS holders across this country. We have a moral obligation to pass permanent protections for TPS holders and to hold this administration accountable for its relentless attacks on immigrant communities.”
TPS is a designation that temporarily allows foreign nationals who are already in the United States to remain lawfully during periods that would prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely. TPS for Haiti will now end on September 2, 2025.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett (USVI)
For Immediate Release Contact: Tionee Scotland June 28, 2025 202-808-6129
PRESS RELEASE
CONGRESSWOMAN PLASKETT EXPRESSES DEEP CONCERN OVER THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S DECISION TO END PROTECTIONS FOR HAITIAN IMMIGRANTS
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett (VI-AL) today strongly condemned the Trump administration’s announcement that it will terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 300,000 Haitian immigrants currently living in the United States, calling the decision “morally unconscionable and recklessly shortsighted to our national interest.”
“The Trump administration’s decision to end TPS for Haitians is not just cruel—it is potentially deadly. Haiti remains in a state of complete collapse, overrun by gangs, wracked with violence, and under a state of emergency. The State Department itself warns Americans not to travel there due to widespread violent crime. Furthermore, the U.S. State Department has been in negotiations with multiple country partners to find ways to stem the continued collapse of the country. How can this administration claim it is safe to deport hundreds of thousands of people to a country they themselves have designated as too dangerous for American tourists and a threat to regional stability?
“The Department of Homeland Security’s announcement on Friday that the protections, which have shielded Haitians from deportation since 2010 following the devastating earthquake, will expire on September 2, 2025. The administration justified the decision by claiming that, ‘the environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home’—a statement that directly contradicts the State Department’s actions regarding Haiti.
“This administration is playing politics with people’s lives. These are families who have built lives here, contribute to our communities, pay taxes from their wages and deserve our protection—not deportation to a nation in chaos. Throughout my tenure in Congress, I have worked tirelessly to ensure that our immigration policies reflect our values of compassion and humanity. This includes my work as a Co-Chair of the Congressional Caribbean Caucus to push back against discriminatory policies, to recognize the national security threat to the United States from a de-stabled Haiti, and my efforts to secure humanitarian aid for the Caribbean region.
“This is part of a systematic campaign to dismantle protections for the world’s most vulnerable people. Congress must act swiftly to provide legislative protections for these families. We cannot stand by while this administration turns its back on our moral obligations and puts hundreds of thousands of lives at risk. Additionally, the financial support those in the United States provide to families back in Haiti through remittances have been key to staving off poverty and additional instability in the country. In 2023, U.S. remittances to Haiti were over $3.8 Billion dollars.
Plaskett went on to discuss, “As a member of the Intelligence Committee, I have focused quite a bit on our third border—the Caribbean region—and threats to the United States. Instability in the Caribbean presents threats of increased human and drug trafficking into the mainland, democratic collapse with malign influence of China and Russia, and reduced economic trade.”
“This action does not advance American interests. The administration’s actions betray the best of American values, Western Hemisphere interests and Caribbean solidarity.”
The United Arab Emirates has welcomed the signing of the peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Rwanda in Washington, commending it as a significant step towards reinforcing peace, security, and stability across the African continent.
His Excellency Sheikh Shakhboot bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, Minister of State, commended the extensive efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump, and His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, in facilitating this positive and constructive achievement, which comes in support of the African Union’s mediation efforts and the outcomes of the joint summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC). His Excellency considers the agreement a reflection of the strong determination and unwavering commitment of both parties to peaceful solutions and dialogue.
His Excellency underscored that the international cooperation, which led to the signing of this agreement, reflects the significance of collective action in addressing regional issues, and the importance of resolving disputes through diplomatic means to achieve the aspirations of the peoples of the region for stability and prosperity.
H.E. Sheikh Shakhboot bin Nahyan emphasized the deep-rooted historic ties between the UAE and the countries of the African continent, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Rwanda, reiterating the country’s steadfast approach in consolidating bridges of partnership and dialogue and its support for any efforts that contribute to enhancing security, peace, and sustainable development on the continent.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Arab Emirates, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
TEHRAN, June 28 (Xinhua) — Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday that if U.S. President Donald Trump is sincere in his desire to reach an agreement with Tehran, it should abandon its “disrespectful tone” toward Iran’s supreme leader.
The diplomat made the statement in a post on the X social network, condemning the American leader for repeatedly using “disrespectful” language in his remarks about Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“If President Trump really wants to make a deal, he should drop his disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran’s Supreme Leader and stop hurting millions of his sincere followers,” Araqchi said, noting that “goodwill begets goodwill, and respect begets respect.”
“The complexity of the Iranian character and tenacity are well known from our magnificent carpets, woven through countless hours of hard work and patience,” he stressed, adding that, however, “the basic principle of our people is very simple and clear: we know our worth, value our independence and never allow anyone else to decide our destiny.”
Since April, with the assistance of Oman, delegations from Iran and the United States have held five rounds of indirect talks on the issue of Tehran’s nuclear program and the lifting of American sanctions against it.
However, talks were suspended earlier this month after Israel launched airstrikes on Tehran and other parts of the country. –0–
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11)
WASHINGTON, D.C. –– This week, Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens has been speaking out about her ‘Stop Trump’s Abuse of Power’ legislation that would block the President from deploying active-duty military forces within U.S. states or territories without the consent of their governors or local leaders.
Watch what Congresswoman Haley Stevens has to say about her proposed legislation.
SiriusXM: Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) on Her Stop Trump’s Abuse of Power Act
“I’m just very simply looking at legislation to make sure the President can’t override the wishes of local law enforcement or state officials in terms of deploying the American military on federal Americans.”
“We are a nation of laws Steve and frankly the President has got to start following them.”
As an elected representative of the great state of Michigan, here in our nation’s capitol I am acting. I am putting forward a stop to this abuse of power and chaos that we are getting with Donald Trump and his administration.”
WZZM: Amid federal military mobilization in L.A., MI’s Rep. Stevens to unveil bill seeking limit presidential authority to deploy troops
“We need to ensure that if the president is taking these actions, it is—particularly, deploying the military and the Marines into a situation—that it comes and meets the needs of local law enforcement and state officials.”
“I certainly am known as a very bipartisan member of Congress,” she said, “and I plan to have practical and reasonable conversations with my colleagues across the aisle as well.”
“This is just a step in that direction to curb and check and reestablish what we, you know, a long held tradition and rule of law in this country, which is that we have three branches of government.”
Michigan Public Radio
“The Oakland County Democrat says her bill is in response to the Trump administration sending marines to Los Angeles during anti-immigration raid protests. ‘I’m going to continue to stand up and I’m going to continue to force these conversations when this level of chaos and disruption is wreaking havoc.’”
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens announced that next week she will be introducing the ‘Stop Trump’s Abuse of Power Act,’ which makes it illegal for the president to deploy active duty forces to a state or territory without a direct request from the executive of the state or territory.
The bill follows Donald Trump’s unlawful and unprecedented deployment of U.S. Marines to the streets of Los Angeles despite local leaders–including the Governor–and local law enforcement making it clear the President’s actions would increase tension.
“President Trump has shown a disturbing pattern of disregard for the Constitution and due process. This month, he made it harder for local law enforcement to do their jobs in California by unlawfully deploying our military on U.S. soil – further escalating tension and violence,” said Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens. “We must stand up to Donald Trump’s chaos and destruction, which is why I am introducing this legislation to limit his powers and make sure he cannot deploy troops on U.S. soil for his political gain. We are a nation of laws and it’s about time the President begins to follow them.”
The bill would add this language into theInsurrection Act of 1807and would only apply to duties related to peaceful protests and demonstrations.
Source: Africa Press Organisation – English (2) – Report:
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We welcome the signing of the peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Rwanda.
This important achievement for Africa and international security has been made possible thanks to the decisive role of the United States and personally President Donald Trump, as well as a number of countries and international organizations.
In particular, we commend the constructive efforts of the Presidents of Angola and Kenya, the African Union, the East African Community, the Southern African Development Community, and the United Nations.
The State of Qatar has made a significant contribution to advancing the peace settlement, especially by ensuring complementarity and coherence among various mediation initiatives.
Ukraine highly values the effective mediation by the United States. We congratulate U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and American diplomacy on this achievement. The active involvement of the American side in the negotiation process played a decisive role in reaching and signing the peace agreement.
We hope for the responsible efforts of both parties in implementing the peace agreement and in ensuring lasting peace and security in the Great Lakes region. This will create favourable conditions for strengthening the economic potential and social stability of the states in the region, improving their investment attractiveness, and deepening economic ties with other countries.
Ukraine reaffirms its commitment to comprehensively intensify mutually beneficial cooperation with the countries of the region, including a readiness to contribute meaningfully to achieving their socio-economic development goals.
We are confident that the United States can play a similarly decisive role in achieving a just peace and ending Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This peace agreement demonstrates that it is possible to stop the killing and restore peace even under challenging circumstances, when the international community acts resolutely and the parties participate in the peace process in good faith.
We emphasize that the foundation of the peaceful settlement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Rwanda is based on the fundamental principles of the UN Charter, including the mutual obligation of states to respect each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty within internationally recognized borders, to refrain from the threat or use of force, to avoid interference in internal affairs, and to facilitate the return of refugees and internally displaced persons.
It is precisely these universally recognized principles of international law that underpin Ukraine’s proposals for ending the war in Europe and restoring a comprehensive, just, and sustainable peace for Ukraine.
– on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
Source: United States Senator for South Carolina Lindsey Graham
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, today released the Senate’s full legislative text of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
“If you like higher taxes, open borders, a weak military and unchecked government spending, this bill is your nightmare.
“I am proud to present to the public the Big Beautiful Bill. By making the Trump tax cuts permanent, working families will avoid a four trillion-dollar tax increase. Our bill provides full funding to secure the border in perpetuity and injects a much-needed $150 billion into our military to keep our nation safe. In addition, the bill raises the debt ceiling so that we do not default and crash the economy.
“Equally important, our bill reforms Medicaid – which has grown by nearly 50 percent in five years. It eliminates waste, fraud and abuse – and requires able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work. This bill is the largest reduction in government spending in recent memory, and is a down payment on fiscal reform.
“The Big Beautiful Bill contains all of President Trump’s domestic economic priorities. By passing this bill now, we will make our nation more prosperous and secure.”
View the full text HERE.
View the one-pager HERE.
For more information on the:
Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Title, click HERE for a section-by-section and HERE for a one-pager.
Senate Armed Services Committee Title, click HERE.
Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Title, click HERE.
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Title, click HERE.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Title, click HERE for a section-by-section and HERE for a one-pager.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Title, click HERE for a section-by-section and HERE for a one-pager.
Senate Finance Committee Title, click HERE.
Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Title, click HERE for a section-by-section and HERE for a one-pager.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Title, click HERE for Homeland Security and HERE for Governmental Affairs.
Senate Judiciary Committee Title, click HERE for a section-by-section and HERE for a one-pager.
After eight years of renovations, the Waldorf Astoria in New York has reopened and is welcoming new guests. The Waldorf – as most people know it – introduced room service, velvet ropes, red-velvet cake and Thousand Island dressing. It gave its name to a salad, a chain of lunchrooms, as well as a now obscure form of democracy.
In 1907, the novelist Henry James said the Waldorf embodied what he called the “hotel spirit”: it was a place where everyone was equal – as long as they could afford the price of admission. To James, hotels defined America’s emerging culture and ideals. He said this new “spirit” was one of opportunity; of a new elite that was accessible not only by lineage, but by money.
As the historian and journalist David Freeland wrote, the Waldorf generally made room for all who were “able and ready to pay” and who displayed a willingness to “conduct themselves properly”. The Waldorf ethos was developed by its first maître d’, Oscar Tschirky – known simply as “Oscar of the Waldorf” because people struggled to pronounce his name. “Our innovations were startling and sensational”, Tschirky said in his ghost-written autobiography in 1943, “but they were always genteel”.
Those early innovations included the invention of the “presidential suite”, which saw the hotel become an unlikely early force for American feminism when it became a hub of high-level talks between suffragists and President Woodrow Wilson.
The Waldorf, then, is an American institution – or, at least, it used to be.
It is now in the hands of Chinese owners and has been shunned by presidents since Barack Obama, worried over potential security risks. The brand itself has been watered down as there are currently 32 “Waldorf Astorias” dotted around the globe.
The story of the Waldorf encapsulates modern America’s crisis of the establishment. Few places better personify the creation of the US version of the establishment (much more about money than breeding or class). And in the past decade, the hotel’s position, like the US establishment more generally, has come under assault by a rival hotel owner, Donald Trump.
The Insights section is committed to high-quality longform journalism. Our editors work with academics from many different backgrounds who are tackling a wide range of societal and scientific challenges.
Trump has his own ideas about how to use these modern palaces to project power – and his innovations are anything but genteel. So what can the beginnings of this former American institution tell us about America today? As a researcher of political and democratic institutions, I have been examining the role of hotels in the story of American democracy. And this particular story begins with a Swiss-born waiter.
Oscar of the Waldorf
Tschirky was born in the Swiss Alpine village of Le Locle in 1866. He and his mother boarded the steamer La France in 1883, bound for New York. In his book, he recalled his mother’s announcement:
Yes, Oscar, we’re going to go to America and live with your brother in that great land of plenty where we can have everything we’ve always wanted.
That night, according to his book, was “the beginning of Oscar’s career as beloved servitor and counsellor to the great and near great of this world”.
Although it would be ten years after arriving in New York, that Tschirky would join the Waldorf (which was just about to open) as maître d’. His contract and salary commenced on January 1 1893, ahead of the grand opening of the Fifth Avenue hotel in March. He would occupy his post for the next half-century as “host to the world”.
Tschirky would remain in place as the hotel expanded in 1897 when John Jacob Astor IV built and connected the larger, taller Astoria Hotel next door. Then in 1931 the hotel was forced to relocate when its Fifth Avenue location was razed for the Empire State Building. The “new” Waldorf Astoria New York reopened on Park Avenue with the addition of its famous towers, making it the tallest hotel in the world at the time.
Tschirky was born just one year after the end of the American Civil War. It was an America of Jim Crow laws and segregation. He would live to see women’s suffrage, but not the civil rights reforms of the mid-1960s.
In this turbulent context, it appears that Tschirky did his best to keep the Waldorf out of politics. He stuck to the advice given by the Waldorf’s manager, George Boldt (himself a German immigrant) who told him that it was “not up to the hotel to settle international affairs”.
Tschirky came to understand, realise, and represent the “hotel spirit” of a new America as he presided over the establishment of hotels as American palaces: not only for visitors, but for the new American aristocracy.
A presidential palace
The Waldorf famously hosted every US president from Grover Cleveland to Franklin Roosevelt. In spring 1897, Cleveland was at the Waldorf with members of his former cabinet, who wanted him as Democratic candidate in the 1900 election. This was the first reported instance of “Waldorf democracy” – in this case, the term was used to identify this new group within (and in some respects differentiate it from) “the democracy”, that was the Democrats.
President Grover Cleveland (sitting on the far left) and his cabinet, between 1895 and 1896. Shutterstock/Everett Collection
This politics was not embraced by all. As reported in The Ohio Democrat, Congressman Edward W. Carmack of Tennessee dismissed it as “the walled-off Democracy, because they are by themselves, representing nobody, and unable to influence a vote”.
Nevertheless, political elites liked the luxury that the Waldorf offered. Presidential suites were established during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency (1913-21). In the Waldorf, this famous suite emulates the furniture of the White House and still contains several presidential souvenirs, (including John F. Kennedy’s rocking chair).
The hotel was also popular among the famous “Four Hundred of the Gilded Age” – the highest echelons of New York society. The group was originally led by Caroline Schermerhorn Astor. The Astors’ ancestral family home, the town of Walldorf, in western Germany, had even given the hotel its name. According to Tschirky’s book, the Waldorf’s grand ballroom was:
… where Teddy Roosevelt had dined, where presidents McKinley, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge and Hoover had spoken historic words to the nation, where princes of royal blood had been welcomed, where the great people in every walk of life had been honored.
The Waldorf proved a suitable palace for US presidents and their entourages and Tschirky, a suitable “servant”. When interviewed by Washington DC’s Evening Star, Tschirky “wouldn’t talk about presidents except to say that Franklin D. Roosevelt calls him, ‘my neighbor across the Hudson’”.
But Tschirky, “for all his celebrity acquaintances, never forgot that he was, in the end, a servant”, as Freeland wrote. The Waldorf likewise applied the term to its staff.
Exclusivity, exclusion and ‘democracy’
The world famous hotelier Conrad Hilton, who acquired the Waldorf in 1949, recalled in his autobiography, Be My Guest:
Originally the Waldorf was said to purvey exclusiveness to the exclusive. Later [the writer and artist] Oliver Herford announced that it ‘brought exclusiveness to the masses’. But that exclusiveness remained whether the hotel catered to a convention of three thousand or a tête-à-tête between crowned heads.
The Waldorf ethos projected “taste” and imbued it in others. Tschirky “subtly schooled Americans in fine European dining”. In 1956 – six years after Tschirky’s death – the New York Times recalled that, alongside Boldt, he undertook to teach people how to spend their money. The Waldorf embodied good taste by enforcing it, for example in its expectation of “proper conduct”.
But with exclusivity comes exclusion. Hence, the hotel’s introduction of the velvet rope. According to the Waldorf’s luxury suite specialists, this was done “to create order … the fact that it created a sense of stature and separation was secondary”.
Tschirky’s statement that “all who pay their bills are on an equal footing” reflects one of his “rules for success”:
… be as courteous to the man in a five dollar room as to the occupant of the royal suite. It is an old rule, but it never changes.
We can see from this mindset how the hotel was seen to possess, as American Studies scholar Annabella Fick put it, “a democratic quality … even though it is also elitist. In that, it invokes the democratic understanding of early America, which also differentiated between land-owning gentry and the mob”.
This was not the only differentiation. Just two years after the Waldorf opened, the 1895 New York State Equal Rights Law (commonly known as the Malby Law) – which aimed to abolish racial discrimination in public places – had aroused Boldt’s indignation. According to Freeland, Boldt described the law to reporters as “an outrage, as it prevents us from making any selection of our patrons. A man who runs a first-class hotel must respect the wishes of his guests as to the sort of people that he entertains, and the law should not dictate to him.”
In his paradoxical desire for the freedom to discriminate and persecute as he wished – and on behalf of his customers, real or imagined – Boldt illustrated the exclusion inherent in exclusivity. Boldt’s statement also presaged a system of informal segregation, in which Black Americans were allowed in the Waldorf (and elsewhere), but were certainly not welcome.
Despite this the Waldorf was at the heart of a fundamental shift in American culture which “invited” ordinary Americans access beyond the velvet rope – as long as they could afford it. As James McCarthy and John Rutherford said in their 1931 book, Peacock Alley: “The average man and woman … frowned upon grand display – chiefly because the average person knew it was beyond his or her own horizon of enjoyment. The arrival of the Waldorf, however, was an invitation to the public to taste of this grandeur.”
And it wasn’t just the paying customers. During its 30th anniversary in 1923, the Waldorf elevated its staff – its servants – to the level of guests. Reporters for the Birmingham Age-Herald noted: “Practically the entire staff of the hotel were guests … the affair reached the topnotch of Waldorf democracy, for the waiters and financiers, telephone girls and captains of industry, coat-room clerks and merchant princes sat side by side and swapped reminiscences with each other.” The article continues:
Oscar sat [at] the head of his own table as guest of honor. For a brief time Oscar was no longer the solicitous host … For an hour or two Oscar was himself the guest, and the entire kitchen menage of the Waldorf-Astoria was kept hopping filling his wants and those of his fellow guests.
Oscar and his wife Louise, in the Birmingham Age-Herald above ‘Father Knickerbocker’ – a personification of New York City (hence The Knicks) – celebrating the Waldorf at 30. Library of Congress
But being a guest was a temporary experience.
The “Waldorf democracy” described during this event – of people from every walk of life and status mixing and socialising – was very different to that of the Cleveland entourage. It was not party-political, but institutional.
Democracy meant different things, at different times, within the Waldorf; just like in the broader US. The Waldorf, in turn, began to change, and perhaps even lose its meaning within the US by the time of Obama’s presidency.
Chinese ownership
The Waldorf lost its status as presidential palace in 2014. It was bought for $1.95bn by a Chinese company that was later seized by the Chinese government. Security concerns a year later prompted President Obama to stay at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel instead.
Obama’s choice of where to stay – and where not to stay – was widely discussed in the media. The decision was seen to “break with decades of tradition”. ABC News recognised and portrayed it as the end of an era, bidding “Goodbye to the Waldorf Astoria, welcome to the Lotte New York Palace Hotel”. This new era was also framed in geopolitical terms, for example by the New York Times:
With Chinese spies rummaging through White House emails, President Obama has decided not to risk making their spying any easier: He will break with tradition and abandon the Waldorf Astoria … Mr. Obama and other officials will instead take up residence a few blocks away at the Lotte New York Palace.
The same article also pointed out that “hotels have long represented a weak link in security for travelling officials and others”. In fact, Nikita Khrushchev had once got stuck in an elevator at the Waldorf, and “probably thought it was an attempt to assassinate him”.
Covering up an assassination as an “elevator accident” is probably not what Hilton had in mind when he envisaged his hotels as “a means of combating communism”. On the contrary – as Professor Mairi Maclean, a researcher of business elites, put it – Hilton envisaged hotels as a means of “facilitating world peace through international trade and travel”.
Women’s suffrage
It may not have brought about world peace, but the Waldorf did play a part in certain moments of US history because it was always seen as a key arena to lobby rulers, most notably in 1916. Women’s suffrage in America was still four years away. On one side of the debate (and the Waldorf itself) were two hundred suffragists, occupying the East Room. On the other was Woodrow Wilson, occupying the Presidential Suite.
Tschirky recalled being “appointed diplomatic courier … and delegated to carry the first communiqué of the morning … In the midst of it all I stood my ground, swearing myself an ice cold neutral”.
Though neutral on the question of suffrage, Tschirky was willing to reduce boundaries within the hotel, especially if it was good for business. Even as the hotel was being built, Tschirky remembered that “there was not, in all America, such a thing as a motor car, a radio … Nor were cocktails ever seen in private homes; or divorces tolerated in society; nor did women smoke, or wear dresses above their ankles”.
Then in 1907 a notice was put up in the Waldorf: “Women would be served in the hotel restaurants at any time, with or without male escorts.” Freeland noted Tschirky’s simple confirmation that: “We will serve women. What else can you do in a hotel?”
Crowd of women’s suffrage supporters demonstrating with signs reading, ‘Wilson Against Women’, in Chicago on October 20, 1916. Wilson withheld his support for Votes of Women until 1918. Shutterstock/Everett Collection
A few years later, discussing women’s right to smoke in the dining rooms, Tschirky said: “We do not regulate the public taste. Public taste does and should regulate us.”
During the Waldorf’s 30th anniversary in 1923, newspapers such as El Imparcial celebrated it as “a civic asset of unique importance. And to its other accolades must be added that of contributing effectively to the progress of feminism. It was a memorable day in the women’s rights movement when The Waldorf Astoria granted female access to the Peacock Alley.”
Nevertheless, even the naming of Peacock Alley – a corridor in the hotel that became an important place of congregation, especially for women – was a recognition of exclusivity. It was where people gathered to parade themselves. As the recollection goes in Tschirky’s memoirs: “The Waldorf Hotel was a triumphant picture of the Best People at their best”.
Trump
With their ostentatious decor and gilded interiors, Trump’s hotels could be seen as the modern incarnation of Peacock Alley.
But the tenets of politeness, respect and decorum that Tschirky set down seem like echoes from another age when compared to a recent AI video showing Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sitting shirtless at a pool with drinks at an imaginary “Trump Gaza hotel”. The video appears to have been a spoof, but that didn’t stop the president from sharing it on Truth Social, his own social media platform, and Instagram.
Like Hilton (who was immortalised in Mad Men, demanding a Hilton on the moon) hotels have always been a part of Trump’s brand. Trump recalled, in How to Get Rich, that his “first big deal, in 1974, involved the old Commodore Hotel site near Grand Central Station” on 42nd Street.
The former Trump International Hotel in Washington DC, opened in 2016, was described as “the epicenter of the president’s business interests in [the capital]”. It was also “a popular choice for lobbyists and Republican Congress members during Trump’s presidency”.
“The Trump Organization sold the hotel’s lease to CGI in 2022, when the hotel was reflagged as a Waldorf Astoria”, though Trump’s firm is rumoured to be in talks to reacquire it.
Another similarity between Hilton and Trump is their use of hotels as symbols for the nation. Each hotel of Hilton’s was envisaged as a “Little America”, “to show the countries most exposed to communism the other side of the coin”.
It had all of the ingredients of greatness, but it had been neglected and left to deteriorate for many many decades … It had the foundation of success. All of the elements were here. Our job is to restore our former glory, honor its heritage, but also imagine a brand new and exciting vision for the future.
Forbes commented that this event “could’ve easily been mistaken for a Trump rally”, for example in his statement that “my theme today is five words: ‘under budget and ahead of schedule’ … We don’t hear those words too often in government – but you will!”
Similarly, in an interview with the New York Post, Trump’s son Eric Trump used familiar Maga rhetoric: “Our family has saved the hotel once. If asked, we would save it again”.
What would Tschirky have made of all this? As a political neutral he would have decried Trump’s frequent hotel plugs during political campaigns. No doubt his behaviour would have seemed crass.
Perhaps this reflects two different eras of hotels and their intended functions. Grand hotels such as the Waldorf were shaped by European colonialism, by immigrants like Tschirky and Boldt. But as historian Annabel Wharton describes, the Hiltons “were constructed not, as in the nineteenth century, to meet an established need, but to create one. They suggest that this pressure was not produced simply by the desire for profit, but from a remarkable political commitment to the system that promoted profit-making”. I think we can read Trump’s hotels, and now his politics, in the same way.
The hotel spirit has entered a new phase with Trump’s proposals to “own, level, and develop” the Gaza Strip and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” – riding roughshod over the democratic will of Palestinians in Gaza who dismissed Trump’s vision.
Less than two decades after opening, Tschirky remarked that “many of the great events, financial, diplomatic, political, had had their inception within [the Waldorf’s] stone walls”. For him, it was “an international crossroad where men from all lands came to exchange goods and ideas” and to plan the changes in the world which he would later see come to pass.
Tschirky saw hotels as the most democratic places on Earth. But the “hotel spirit” he espoused – that uniquely American narrative within which he “became a citizen almost overnight” (a feat that seems vanishingly unlikely today) – seems to have been consigned to the past.
“I know that better times will come again”, he says in the preface to his book, “but in terms of the past, I think I have seen the best. New York has changed. America has changed.”
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Alex Prior does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives for a European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 3, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
U.S.-EU trade talks have gone through multiple rounds, but with the July 9 tariff deadline approaching, European leaders remained divided at Thursday’s European Council summit over whether to push for a quick deal or hold out for a more favorable one.
A quick deal or a better one?
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday that the EU had received the “latest U.S. document” for continued negotiations, though she did not disclose details of the U.S. proposals.
EU leaders now face a strategic dilemma over whether to accelerate talks to secure a deal before the deadline, or risk a prolonged trade dispute in hopes of achieving more favorable terms.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose country is among the EU’s top exporters, is leading calls for a rapid resolution.
“We have less than two weeks until July 9 — you can’t negotiate a sophisticated trade agreement in that time,” he said, warning that key industries, including chemicals, steel and automotive, are already under intense pressure.
But others urged caution, warning that a rushed deal could tilt the balance in favor of the United States.
“We are assessing it,” von der Leyen said. “Our message today is clear. We are ready for a deal. At the same time, we are preparing for the possibility that no satisfactory agreement is reached.” She added that “all options remain on the table,” and the EU would defend its interests if needed.
French President Emmanuel Macron echoed this stance, saying France supports a fast and pragmatic deal but “will not accept unfair terms.” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has indicated that Washington may consider extending the deadline for countries negotiating in “good faith.”
Key divides remain
To ease tensions, the EU has proposed eliminating tariffs on industrial goods on both sides — a move that has met with a lukewarm response from Washington.
The EU also hopes to narrow the trade imbalance by increasing imports of U.S. liquefied natural gas, arms and agricultural products, and by considering reducing auto tariffs. However, U.S. negotiators continue to press for sweeping EU concessions on value-added tax rules, digital regulation, food safety and environmental standards.
While EU officials say they are open to dialogue, they insist that core regulatory principles are non-negotiable.
“Where it is the sovereign decision-making process in the European Union and its member states that is affected, this is too far,” von der Leyen said recently.
Citing diplomatic sources, AFP reported that EU leaders may be exploring a so-called “Swiss cheese” deal — allowing for broad U.S. tariffs but securing exemptions for sensitive sectors such as steel, automotive, pharmaceuticals and aerospace.
Automobiles remain the most contentious point. Germany has proposed an “offset rule” under which the EU would allow duty-free imports of U.S. cars in exchange for the same number of EU vehicles being exempted from tariffs in the United States. The effectiveness of such a mechanism, however, remains uncertain.
A new trade club without US?
U.S. President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policies — marked by abrupt tariff hikes, temporary suspensions and renewed threats — have shaken confidence among traditional allies and reignited global concerns over trade stability.
At Thursday’s summit, von der Leyen floated a new idea about forming a trade alliance with members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which includes Britain, Japan, and other Asian economies. She said such a coalition could serve as a foundation for reforming the World Trade Organization.
Setting aside any thoughts I may have about theocratic rulers (whether they be in Tel Aviv or Tehran), I am personally glad that Iran was able to hold out against the US-Israeli attacks this month.
The ceasefire, however, will only be a pause in the long-running campaign to destabilise, weaken and isolate Iran. Regime change or pariah status are both acceptable outcomes for the US-Israeli dyad.
The good news for my region is that Iran’s resilience pushes back what could be a looming calamity: the US pivot to Asia and a heightened risk of a war on China.
There are three major pillars to the Eurasian order that is going through a slow, painful and violent birth. Iran is the weakest. If Iran falls, war in our region — intended or unintended – becomes vastly more likely.
Mainstream New Zealanders and Australians suffer from an understandable complacency: war is what happens to other, mainly darker people or Slavs.
“Tomorrow”, people in this part of the world naively think, “will always be like yesterday”.
That could change, particularly for the Australians, in the kind of unfamiliar flash-boom Israelis experienced this month following their attack on Iran. And here’s why.
US chooses war to re-shape Middle East Back in 2001, as many will recall, retired General Wesley Clark, former Supreme Commander of NATO forces in Europe, was visiting buddies in the Pentagon. He learnt something he wasn’t supposed to: the Bush administration had made plans in the febrile post 9/11 environment to attack seven Muslim countries.
In the firing line were: Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, the Assad regime in Syria, Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon, Gaddafi’s Libya, Somalia, Sudan and the biggest prize of all — the Islamic Republic of Iran.
One would have to say that the project, pursued by successive presidents, both Democrat and Republican, has been a great success — if you discount the fact that a couple of million human beings, most of them civilians, many of them women and children, nearly all of them innocents, were slaughtered, starved to death or otherwise disposed of.
With the exception of Iran, those countries have endured chaos and civil strife for long painful years. A triumph of American bomb-based statecraft.
Now — with Muammar Gaddafi raped and murdered (“We came, we saw, he died”, Hillary Clinton chuckled on camera the same day), Saddam Hussein hanged, Hezbollah decapitated, Assad in Moscow, the genocide in full swing in Palestine — the US and Israel were finally able to turn their guns — or, rather, bombs — on the great prize: Iran.
Iran’s missiles have checked US-Israel for time being Things did not go to plan. Former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman pointed out this week that for the first time Israel got a taste of the medicine it likes to dispense to its neighbours.
Iran’s missiles successfully turned the much-vaunted Iron Dome into an Iron Sieve and, perhaps momentarily, has achieved deterrence. If Iran falls, the US will be able to do what Barack Obama and Joe Biden only salivated over — a serious pivot to Asia.
Could great power rivalry turn Asia-Pacific into powderkeg? For us in Asia-Pacific a major US pivot to Asia will mean soaring defence budgets to support militarisation, aggressive containment of China, provocative naval deployments, more sanctions, muscling smaller states, increased numbers of bases, new missile systems, info wars, threats and the ratcheting up rhetoric — all of which will bring us ever-closer to the powderkeg.
Sounds utterly mad? Sounds devoid of rationality? Lacking commonsense? Welcome to our world — bellum Americanum — as we gormlessly march flame in hand towards the tinderbox. War is not written in the stars, we can change tack and rediscover diplomacy, restraint, and peaceful coexistence. Or is that too much to ask?
Back in the days of George W Bush, radical American thinkers like Robert Kagan, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld created the Project for a New American Century and developed the policy, adopted by succeeding presidents, that promotes “the belief that America should seek to preserve and extend its position of global leadership by maintaining the preeminence of US military forces”.
It reconfirmed the neoconservative American dogma that no power should be allowed to rise in any region to become a regional hegemon; anything and everything necessary should be done to ensure continued American primacy, including the resort to war.
What has changed since those days are two crucial, epoch-making events: the re-emergence of Russia as a great power, albeit the weakest of the three, and the emergence of China as a genuine peer competitor to the USA. Professor John Mearsheimer’s insights are well worth studying on this topic.
The three pillars of multipolarity A new world order really is being born. As geopolitical thinkers like Professor Glenn Diesen point out, it will, if it is not killed in the cradle, replace the US unipolar world order that has existed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Many countries are involved in its birthing, including major players like India and Brazil and all the countries that are part of BRICS. Three countries, however, are central to the project: Iran, Russia and, most importantly, China. All three are in the crosshairs of the Western empire.
If Iran, Russia and China survive as independent entities, they will partially fulfill Halford MacKinder’s early 20th century heartland theory that whoever dominates Eurasia will rule the world. I don’t think MacKinder, however, foresaw cooperative multipolarity on the Eurasian landmass — which is one of the goals of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) – as an option.
That, increasingly, appears to be the most likely trajectory with multiple powerful states that will not accept domination, be that from China or the US. That alone should give us cause for hope.
Drunk on power since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US has launched war after war and brought us to the current abandonment of economic sanity (the sanctions-and-tariff global pandemic) and diplomatic normalcy (kill any peace negotiators you see) — and an anything-goes foreign policy (including massive crimes against humanity).
We have also reached — thanks in large part to these same policies — what a former US national security advisor warned must be avoided at all costs. Back in the 1990s, Zbigniew Brzezinski said, “The most dangerous scenario would be a grand coalition of China, Russia, and perhaps Iran.”
Belligerent and devoid of sound strategy, the Biden and Trump administrations have achieved just that.
Can Asia-Pacific avoid being dragged into an American war on China? Turning to our region, New Zealand and Australia’s governments cleave to yesterday: a white-dominated world led by the USA. We have shown ourselves indifferent to massacres, ethnic cleansing and wars of aggression launched by our team.
To avoid war — or a permanent fear of looming war — in our own backyards, we need to encourage sanity and diplomacy; we need to stay close to the US but step away from the military alliances they are forming, such as AUKUS which is aimed squarely at China.
Above all, our defence and foreign affairs elites need to grow new neural pathways and start to think with vision and not place ourselves on the losing side of history. Independent foreign policy settings based around peace, defence not aggression, diplomacy not militarisation, would take us in the right direction.
Personally I look forward to the day the US and its increasingly belligerent vassals are pushed back into the ranks of ordinary humanity. I fear the US far more than I do China.
Despite the reflexive adherence to the US that our leaders are stuck on, we should not, if we value our lives and our cultures, allow ourselves to be part of this mad, doomed project.
The US empire is heading into a blood-drenched sunset; their project will fail and the 500-year empire of the White West will end — starting and finishing with genocide.
Every day I atheistically pray that leaders or a movement will emerge to guide our antipodean countries out of the clutches of a violent and increasingly incoherent USA.
America is not our friend. China is not our enemy. Tomorrow gives birth to a world that we should look forward to and do the little we can to help shape.
Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He contributes to Asia Pacific Report and Café Pacific, and hosts the public policy platform solidarity.co.nz
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
WASHINGTON, June 28 (Xinhua) — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would not rule out further strikes on Iran if it steps up its nuclear activities.
“Without a doubt. Absolutely,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
The US president also confirmed that his administration had abandoned its plan to ease sanctions on Iran.
Later on Friday, the U.S. Senate rejected a resolution that would have limited the president’s authority to take military action against Iran without congressional authorization. -0-
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
OTTAWA, June 28 (Xinhua) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday called negotiations with the United States “difficult” in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement to end all trade talks with Canada over new tariffs.
“We will continue to engage in these difficult negotiations based on the interests of Canadian citizens,” Mr. Carney told local media.
D. Trump announced on Friday that the United States would end all trade talks with Canada over Ottawa’s plan to impose a digital services tax on American tech companies.
On his Truth Social page, the American leader wrote that Canada had just announced a digital services tax on American tech companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on the United States.
The new digital services tax will go into effect on June 30. American tech giants like Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb will be forced to pay a 3 percent tax on revenue generated from digital services to Canadian users.
Canada and the United States are in talks to end Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods, which have already caused a severe economic downturn. –0–
Oxfam condemns “private finance takeover” of development efforts, as over 3.7 billion people remain in poverty ten years after the Sustainable Development Goals were agreed.
New Oxfam analysis unveils “astronomical rise in private wealth”. Between 1995 and 2023, global private wealth grew by $342 trillion – 8 times more than public wealth.
Oxfam analysis also showsgovernments are making the largest cuts to life-saving aid since aid records began. Aid cuts could cause 2.9 million more children and adults to die by 2030, from HIV/AIDS causes alone.
Results of a new global survey show 9 out of 10 people support paying for public services and climate action through taxing the super-rich.
Oxfam urges new strategic alliances to address inequality; urgently revitalize aid and tax the super-rich; and assert new “public-first” approach over private finance.
The world’s richest 1% increased their wealth by more than $33.9 trillion in real terms since 2015, reveals new Oxfam analysis ahead of the world’s largest development financing talks in a decade, in Seville, Spain. This is more than enough to eliminate annual poverty 22 times over at the World Bank’s highest poverty line of $8.30 a day. The wealth of just 3,000 billionaires has surged $6.5 trillion in real terms since 2015, and now comprises the equivalent of 14.6% of global GDP.
Wealthy governments are making the largest cuts to life-saving development aid since aid records began in 1960. Oxfam analysis finds that G7 countries alone, who account for around three-quarters of all official aid, are cutting aid by 28% for 2026 compared to 2024. Whilst critical aid is cut, the debt crisis is bankrupting governments – 60% of low-income countries are at the edge of a debt crisis – with the poorest countries paying out far more to repay their rich creditors than they are able to spend on classrooms or clinics. Only 16% of the targets for the Global Goals are on track for 2030.
Oxfam’s new analysis examines the failures of a private investor-focused approach to funding development. A decade-long effort by major development actors to recast their mission as one of supporting powerful Global North financial actors has led in fact to a host of harms and at the same time only mobilized paltry sums. The analysis also looks at the role of private creditors, who now outpace bilateral lenders by five times and account for more than half the debt owed by low- and middle-income countries, in exacerbating the debt crisis with their refusal to negotiate and their punitive terms.
“Seville is the first major gathering of countries worldwide at a time that life-saving aid is being decimated, a trade war has started, and multilateralism being fractured – all in the backdrop of the second Trump administration. There is glaring evidence that global development is desperately failing because – as the last decade shows –the interests of a very wealthy few are put over those of everyone else,”said Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International.
What the World Bank described as a “billions to trillions” paradigm shift has been a boon for wealthy investors–the richest 1% own 43% of global assets–but now faces overwhelming evidence of failure, even according to former champions. Alarmingly, there is new momentum behind the idea of diverting the little aid that remains to private financial actors.
“Rich countries have put Wall Street in the driver’s seat of global development. It’s a global private finance takeover which has overrun the evidence-backed ways to tackle poverty through public investments and fair taxation. It is no wonder governments are abysmally off track, be it on fostering decent jobs, gender equality, or ending hunger. This much wealth concentration is choking efforts to end poverty”,said Behar.
New Oxfam analysis shows that between 1995 and 2023, global private wealth grew by $342 trillion – 8 times more than global public wealth, which grew by just $44 trillion. Global public wealth–as a share of total wealth–actually fell between 1995 and 2023.
Oxfam is urging governments to rally behind policy and political proposals that offer a change in course by tackling extreme inequality and transforming the development financing system:
New strategic alliances against inequality. Governments must band together in new coalitions to oppose extreme inequality. Countries such as Brazil, South Africa and Spain are offering leadership to do so internationally. A new ‘Global Alliance Against Inequality’ supported by Germany, Norway, Sierra Leone and others sets an example for nations to back.
Public-first approach – reject the Wall Street Consensus. Governments should reject private finance as the silver bullet to funding development. Instead, governments should invest in state-led development– to ensure universal high-quality healthcare, education and care services, and explore publicly-delivered goods in sectors from energy to transportation.
Total rethink of development financing – tax the ultra-rich, revitalize aid, reform debt architecture, and move beyond GDP indicators.Global North donors must urgently reverse catastrophic cuts to lifesaving aid and meet the 0.7% ODA target as minimum. Governments must back efforts for a new UN debt convention, and support the UN tax convention, building on Brazil’s G20 effort to tax high-net-worth-individuals.
“Trillions of dollars exist to meet the global goals, but they’re locked away in private accounts of the ultra-wealthy. It’s time we rejected the Wall Street Consensus and instead put the public in the driving seat. Governments should heed widespread demands to tax the rich – and match it with a vision to build public goods from healthcare to energy. It’s a hopeful sign that some governments are banding together to fight inequality – more should follow their lead, starting in Seville”,said Behar.
Oxfam’s media briefing note, “From Private Profit to Public Power: Financing Development, Not Oligarchy” can be downloadedhere.
Oxfam’s analysis of the historic cuts to development aid and their impact on the poorest can be foundhere. The modelling on HIV/AIDS deaths was published in the Lancet HIV.
The study that surveyed global opinion on taxing the super-rich was commissioned by Greenpeace and Oxfam International. The research was conducted by first party data companyDynatain May-June 2025, in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Kenya, Italy, India, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, the UK and the US.The survey had approximately 1200 respondents per country, with a margin of error of +-2.83%.Together, these countries represent close to half the world’s population.See the results here.
The cost of ending poverty is based on the annual cost of ending poverty in 2024 for one year, for the over 3.7 billion people living below the $8.30 a day poverty line, according to World Bank data. The increase in wealth of the 1% since 2015 would be more than enough to meet this cost 22 times over. Another way of expressing this is that the total amount is more than enough to completely end poverty for 22 years. This is only indicative, as the cost of ending poverty would likely fall over the next 22 years anyway as the numbers living in poverty reduce, and the value of the wealth would increase as it would not be spent all at once. But nevertheless this comparison indicates the extent to which more wealth, which is being greatly concentrated in the hands of a few, could be directed to ending poverty instead of further inflating the fortunes of the richest. For further information on the calculations see themedia briefing paper.
Oxfam will be hosting a major high-level event together with Club de Madrid, at 7pm on July 1, 2025, in Seville, joined by high-level government representatives on the media briefing note. Journalists are invited to attend and will be prioritized for questions. Please registerhere.
Moreover, an official side event on inequality and tax reform will take place at 2.30pm on July 1, 2025, at the FIBES Exhibition Centre room 20 joined by high-level government representatives from Brazil, Spain and South Africa, international organizations and global experts. See notehere.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Sharice Davids (KS-3)
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, millions have lost access to reproductive health care and extreme Republicans are pushing even further.
Today, on the three-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, Representative Sharice Davids joined her colleagues to introduce two important bills aimed at restoring and protecting reproductive freedom nationwide. After Dobbs, Kansas became the first state to hold a vote on abortion access, overwhelminglychoosing to protect reproductive rights.
“Three years ago, the Supreme Court stripped away a constitutional right, and since then, we’ve seen the chaos and cruelty that decision unleashed,” said Davids. “Now, the president and extreme Republican politicians are doubling down with attacks on reproductive freedom, trying to control people’s personal medical decisions. I’m proud to help introduce these bills that fight back and put power back where it belongs — with patients and doctors, not politicians.”
Since the Dobbs decision, extreme Republicans have made it clear that their attacks on reproductive health care will continue. Just this month, President Trump revokedfederal guidance requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions when needed to save women’s lives. U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson supportsa national abortion ban and banning IVF. And in Kansas, GOP politicians have introducedbills thatcouldcriminalize doctors, restrict birth control access, and attack the right to travel for care. These dangerous efforts demand a strong federal response.
TheWomen’s Health Protection Actwould restore the nationwide right to access abortion care by creating a federal guarantee for providers to deliver, and patients to receive, reproductive health services — free from medically unnecessary state-level bans and restrictions. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, nearly half of women of reproductive age now live under abortion bans, with some forced to travel hundreds of miles for care.
TheEnsuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Actwould ensure no one can be punished or restricted from traveling to access lawful reproductive care. It also would protect those who assist patients and hold accountable any person who tries to block this constitutional right.
These efforts are part of Davids’ ongoing work to protect reproductive health care access and push back against dangerous efforts to criminalize patients and providers. So far this year, she has:
Voted against extreme legislationthat would criminalize reproductive health providers and restrict access to lifesaving abortion care.
Introduced theExpanding Access to Family Planning Act, which would safeguard and increase federal support for the Title X program— the nation’s only dedicated source of funding for family planning and preventive health services.
Urged U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to immediately restoreTitle X funding to ensure access to essential care remains available across Kansas and the country.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Sharice Davids (KS-3)
“Protecting U.S. safety and security is my top priority, and I will be closely reviewing the intelligence on whether these actions effectively addressed the threat of Iran’s nuclear program. My respect is with all service members stationed around the world. But let me be clear, President Trump’s unilateral decision to launch military action against Iran without constitutionally-mandated congressional approval puts American troops and global stability at risk and threatens another endless war. The administration must immediately provide the American people with the answers they deserve and respect Congress’ constitutional authority over matters of war and peace.”
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Sharice Davids (KS-3)
Today, Representative Sharice Davids (KS-03) released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling inMedina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) that allows states to block Medicaid patients from accessing health care services at Planned Parenthood:
“Today, the Supreme Court once again sided with politicians over patients — threatening access to birth control, cancer screenings, and other critical health care services through Planned Parenthood, which is sometimes the only place a woman can turn for this kind of care. A person’s health care decisions should be between them and their doctor, not politicians or extreme judges. It’s been almost three years since Kansans rejected these extremist attacks, but they’re still happening across the country — and the consequences are real. I’ll keep fighting to protect the personal freedoms Kansans voted to defend.”
Background:
In the wake of the Dobbs decision, Kansas made national headlines as the first state to vote on abortion rights — resoundinglychoosing to protect them. Yet, extreme politicians in Kansas have repeatedly tried to roll back access to reproductive health care. Just this year, Republican legislators introduced a near-total abortion banand sought to criminalize abortion providers. The Kansas House even overrodeGovernor Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill that imposes new, unnecessary barriers for women seeking care.
Also, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are currently pushinga budget that cuts Medicaid and raises costs for families — while giving tax breaks to billionaires. It includes a provision that could further restrict abortion services, even in states like Kansas where it’s currently legal. That means millions could lose access to affordable, comprehensive health care.
Earlier this week, Davids helped introducetwo key bills to restore and defend reproductive freedom nationwide, including theWomen’s Health Protection Act, which would reinstate the federal right to access abortion care.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
NEW YORK, June 27 (Xinhua) — U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the United States will halt all trade talks with Canada over Ottawa’s plan to impose a digital services tax on American tech companies.
On his Truth Social page, the American leader wrote that Canada had just announced a digital services tax on American tech companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on the United States.
“Based on this outrageous tax, we are ending all trade discussions with Canada, effective immediately,” Trump said.
He said the United States would notify Canada within the next seven days of the amount of duties it would have to pay for doing business with the United States.
Canada is copying the actions of the European Union by introducing a tax on digital services, D. Trump noted.
The United States is trying to complete trade talks with a number of trading partners as the government’s July 9 deadline approaches.
However, White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said on Thursday that Trump might push back the deadline. –0–
Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) issued the following statement after voting in support of Senator Tim Kaine’s (D-Va.) war powers resolution to limit the Trump Administration’s ability to take further military action against Iran without a debate and a vote in Congress.
“Iran must never have a nuclear weapon, and I am eager to continue working with my colleagues to protect our service members in the Middle East, support Israel, get Iran back to the negotiating table, and keep Americans and our allies safe. As with any decision that could put U.S. troops in harm’s way or pull us into a serious international conflict, President Trump should be working with Congress. We have a legal critical role to play and I will not abdicate that responsibility to anyone.”
Senator Tim Kaine’s (D-Va.) war powers resolution has bipartisan support in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate and would require any further hostilities with Iran be explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force. It does not prevent the United States from defending itself from imminent attack or supporting Israel’s efforts to defend itself from Iranian aggression.
Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray
ICYMI:Senator Murray Statement on Trump Strikes on Iran
Washington, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement after voting for S.J.Res.59, a joint resolution introduced by U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) to terminate hostilities against Iran unless Congress passes a declaration of war or an authorization for use of military force (AUMF). The resolution does not constrain the President’s authority to defend U.S. troops or come to the aid of Israel if attacked.
“Tonight, I voted for Senator Kaine’s War Powers Resolution that would ensure President Trump does not start a war with Iran that Congress did not authorize and the American people do not want. This resolution reiterates that President Trump, just like any president, must come to Congress to approve the use of military force—he cannot unilaterally declare war on Iran over the objections of Congress and the American people.
“I left yesterday’s classified briefing with many unanswered questions about President Trump’s strikes on Iran, the path forward, and importantly, whether this administration is intentionally misleading the public about the success of its unauthorized operation. Congress needs to know the strategy and the end game here—and this administration must provide the answers necessary for us to exercise our constitutional oversight responsibilities.
“I will continue to demand answers from this administration and speak up on behalf of my constituents in Washington state, who do not want to be dragged into another forever war.”
