President Trump said on Truth Social that a deal to end the war with Iran will be signed on Sunday, with the Strait of Hormuz opening up immediately after.
Said Trump: “The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL.”
The Economist: “These are unsettling times, even for the rich. Many of those wealthy enough to move abroad for low taxes or their physical or political security are less sure these days about settling in Dubai or Hong Kong, even America or Britain. Dry your eyes, however, for plenty of governments remain eager to take in foreigners with money and skills. And a growing industry of trusted advisers stands ready to help the rich relocate.”
“For these consiglieri, business is booming. Last year more than 140,000 millionaires migrated, the most on record, reckons New World Wealth, a research firm; this year it expects the figure to rise to 165,000.”
Washington Post: “As Democrats wrestle with the past behavior of their Senate candidate in Maine, one name keeps coming up: Donald Trump.”
“The president lowered the bar, some liberal voters and lawmakers argue, when he won the highest office in the land despite facing allegations of misconduct from multiple women and being caught on tape bragging about grabbing women’s genitals. The stakes, they say, are too high to obsess over a candidate’s past when flipping control of the Senate to Democrats would give the country a needed check on the president.”
Bloomberg: “The new fund was expected to offer a faster and easier path to government payouts for people alleging unfair treatment by the Biden administration or other perceived political enemies of Trump. Long before it was announced, though, US officials were fielding such claims — and in some instances approving million-dollar awards of taxpayer money — under a decades-old process set up by Congress.”
“Untethered to the fund proposal and the bipartisan political firestorm and legal battles that followed, claims brought under the existing legal pathways are moving ahead.”
The Justice Department filed a certification in federal court one hour before a judge’s Saturday noon deadline that said President Donald Trump’s name has been “removed” from “all physical signage on the Kennedy Center building and grounds,” ABC News reports.
Bloomberg: “President Donald Trump is trying to project brute strength as he turns 80, but mounting political problems at home and abroad are tarnishing his self-styled image as an all-powerful leader.”
Meet the Press anchor Kristen Welker told Vanity Fair that President Trump’s insults and personal attacks during their interview were anticipated and that it “doesn’t faze me at all.”
Tucker Carlson claimed former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino told him that President Trump personally shut down the investigation into the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Mediaite reports.
New York Times: “Blue-collar white voters are, for the first time, seriously doubting Mr. Trump’s handling of the economy. A review of polling by The New York Times shows an extraordinary swing on that issue among white voters without college degrees between his first midterm election and now.”
“Then, working-class white voters approved of his management of the economy by margins of 30 percentage points or even more. Now, recent polls show them disapproving by anywhere from 14 to more than 30 points.”
New York Times: “Activists in Texas and California continue to push independence. Lawmakers in inland California have pitched splitting the state in two, or three. Organizers in southeastern New Mexico want to join Texas.”
“Republican lawmakers in Indiana approved legislation last year inviting conservative counties in Illinois to become Hoosiers. A state senator in West Virginia followed suit in late 2025, inviting 30 border counties from Virginia and Maryland to join the Mountaineers.”
“The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board of trustees blew past the court-ordered midnight deadline to remove President Trump’s name from the building on Friday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In a court filing just before midnight, the board said its work was delayed by thunderstorms in Washington, D.C., but that it expected to complete its work removing Trump’s name in the early hours of Saturday.”
“The United States and Israel went to war in Iran seeking regime change. Nearly four months later, there has been regime change, but not the kind they wanted. The Islamic Republic 3.0, as some call it, is now less a theocracy and more a military junta dominated by the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps,” the New York Times reports.
“Washington and Jerusalem also went to war to eradicate Iran’s nuclear program and end the threat it poses. So far, this conflict has only produced a wounded Iran more willing to take risks and more likely to persist in its goal of advancing its nuclear program.”
“President Trump is reportedly planning to attend next month’s World Cup final in New Jersey,” the New York Post reports.
“The championship match of the global soccer tournament is scheduled for July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.”
“A political battle in Alaska is intensifying over an issue that might seem ridiculous but could be important for control of Congress: How many Dan Sullivans can appear on the state’s ballot for Senate in November,” the New York Times reports.
“Dan J. Sullivan, a former teacher, was fighting on Friday to preserve his spot on the ballot to challenge Senator Dan S. Sullivan of Alaska, a Republican, after an elections official moved to disqualify him.”
“The Justice Department will not challenge Paramount’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, clearing a major hurdle for the $111 billion deal,” the New York Times reports.
“The merger would consolidate the ownership of two major movie studios; two major streaming services, Paramount+ and HBO Max; and two television news networks, CNN and CBS News, under the leadership of the tech scion David Ellison.”
“A coalition of state attorneys general has opened an investigation into OpenAI, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest in a series of legal actions by states directed at artificial intelligence companies,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“OpenAI was served Friday with a subpoena seeking documents related to a range of its activities and impact on users, including advertising, user engagement and retention, handling of consumer data and health data, activities related to minors and seniors, deep learning models, model sycophancy and company policies.”
“The artificial intelligence lab Anthropic said Friday it had shut down access to its newest and most powerful models after the U.S. government banned use of the technology by foreign nationals, citing national security concerns,” the Washington Post reports.
“The San Francisco-based company said it received a letter from the government at 5:21 p.m. informing it of the decision. Anthropic said the letter did not specify officials’ concerns, but that it was informed that the government believed there was a method of bypassing safeguards designed to neuter the ability of its Fable model to aid computer hackers.”
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.