The U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said Saturday that he had to head to a shelter five times overnight as Iran launched retaliatory strikes, the New York Times reports.
Said Huckabee: “It’s now Shabbat here. Should be quiet. Probably won’t be.”
“I think that people took over the autopen.”
— President Trump, in an interview with the New York Post, on former President Biden’s tenure.
Iran said further nuclear talks with the U.S. are now “meaningless” after Israel’s strikes, Tehran Times reports.
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“The Trump administration’s attack on scientific institutions has been characteristically audacious: Eliminating the U.S. Agency for International Development, which funded healthcare interventions and research worldwide. Removing all the members of the vaccine advisory panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cutting healthcare research funding by $1.8 billion and overall funding for the National Institutes of Health by $3 billion,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“It has also homed in on what might seem like a small-bore opponent: the highly specialized world of science and medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association.”
The Hill: NIH scientists condemn Trump research cuts.
“Iran’s senior leaders had been planning for more than a week for an Israeli attack should nuclear talks with the United States fail. But they made one enormous miscalculation,” the New York Times reports.
“They never expected Israel to strike before another round of talks that had been scheduled for this coming Sunday in Oman, officials close to Iran’s leadership said on Friday. They dismissed reports that an attack was imminent as Israeli propaganda meant to pressure Iran to make concessions on its nuclear program in those talks.”
The Atlantic: How Israel executed its surprise assault on Iran.
“Ford CEO Jim Farley said that a rare earth minerals shortage is hurting production and caused the automaker to temporarily shut down one of its plants last month,” CBS News reports.
“Voice of America told about 75 employees to come back to work immediately Friday amid escalating military action between Iran and Israel,” the Washington Post reports.
“Most of the staffers restored from months-long administrative leave were from the Persian news division of the government-funded broadcaster.”
The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for Washington D.C. ahead of President Trump’s $45 million military parade, scheduled for Saturday.
USA Today: “President Donald Trump’s sources of income range from luxury properties around the world to royalty payments and license fees for using his name and likeness on everything from sneakers to bibles, according to a financial disclosure form filed June 13.”
“The 234-page document covered the calendar year 2024.”
“One of the biggest money-making ventures for Trump was World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency platform launched last year. It brought in $57.3 million. His meme coin $TRUMP was not part of the form as it was only released this year.”
“Marines deployed to Los Angeles temporarily detained a civilian on Friday, in the first known detention by active-duty troops deployed there by President Donald Trump,” Reuters reports.
“President Donald Trump spent the bulk of this week saying he hoped Israel wouldn’t strike Iran. But by Friday, he was all in,” Politico reports.
“The president had hoped for more time to negotiate with Tehran over its nuclear program, but once Israel launched the massive attack, Trump embraced the new dynamic, using it as leverage to try to seal the deal he wanted all along.”
Wall Street Journal: How a once-resistant Trump decided to back Israel’s attacks on Iran.
The Atlantic: What Trump knew about the attack against Iran.
“With a surge of demonstrations expected on Saturday against the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, the authorities in Los Angeles said they were bracing for a turnout that ‘may be unprecedented’ in the city that has been epicenter of days of sustained protests,” the New York Times reports.
“On the first day of his second term, President Trump predicted he would be remembered as a peacemaker and a unifier,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Trump: “Our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent and totally unpredictable.”
“About five months later, the world is proving to be more angry, violent and unpredictable than Trump bargained for.”
“The war in Ukraine, which Trump vowed to end immediately, is grinding on despite his repeated attempts to broker a resolution. Peace in Gaza remains out of reach. And now, Israel’s strikes on Iran threaten to envelop the Middle East in a broader conflagration, potentially dragging the U.S. in to defend its longtime ally.”
President Trump’s lawyers are asking a Texas federal court to delay key deadlines in his $20 billion lawsuit against CBS, citing “active settlement discussions” and ongoing mediation with the network, The Wrap reports.
Tucker Carlson made waves when he criticized not only President Trump, whom he described as being “complicit” in Israel’s attack on Iran, but also former Fox News colleagues like Sean Hannity and Rupert Murdoch for acting as “warmongers,” the Daily Beast reports.
Bloomberg: “Five months into his presidency, the ground has shifted underneath President Donald Trump as he’s confronted with crises at home and abroad.”
“Trump’s ambitious vows to end conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s war on Ukraine remain unfulfilled, while his tariff policy has seen a series of advances and retreats, undermining his image as a singularly effective dealmaker ahead of a meeting with the leaders of world’s most powerful democracies in Canada next week.”
“At home, meanwhile, Trump’s immigration crackdown is drawing growing protests and risks turning one of his strengths with voters into a liability.”
“As Israel pummels Iran with waves of airstrikes, President Trump is navigating the divides within the Republican Party over whether the United States should get involved in another foreign conflict,” the New York Times reports.
“On one side are the isolationists who fear that Israel could pull the United States into another Middle East war. And on the other are the Iran hawks and Israel supporters who have been calling for just this sort of military action for years.”
“Mr. Trump appears caught between the two sides, veering back and forth as he tries to distance the United States from Israel’s assault while celebrating the success of the attacks and warning Iran that more is coming.”
“A federal judge in California has halted a State Department plan to lay off almost 2,000 employees, marking a setback to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s push to rapidly downsize the agency,” the Washington Post reports.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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