Donald Trump

Back and forth over defence spending comes as NATO leaders set to meet in Ankara next week.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has defended his country’s NATO defence spending, shortly after US President Donald Trump re-upped his criticism of alliance members.

The statement on Friday came as NATO leaders were set to meet next week in Ankara. Trump has decried defence spending by members of the bloc throughout his political career, calling the balance of spending “ridiculous” and “one-sided” in his latest Truth Social posts on the issue earlier this week.

In one post, Trump said Germany’s spending was “MUCH ⁠LOWER” between 2014 and 2025 than the US or other NATO allies, which he again called “Ridiculous!”

When asked about the comment, Merz said Germany would double its defence budget within four years.

“This is the greatest effort we have ever made to strengthen our defence capabilities. In this respect, we have ‌no reason to shy away from anyone,” Merz said.

“We will state this, with all due modesty, and we are doing so as the European Union’s largest member state, bearing a responsibility within Europe,” he said.

US and European ties have been strained throughout Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021 and his current term, which began in January 2025.

However, while largely dismissive of the president during his first four years in office, several European leaders have sought a more amenable approach to the president this time around.

At the behest of the US, NATO leaders agreed to spend 3.5 percent of their countries’ GDP on core defence items, such as weapons and troops, ⁠by 2035, an increase of the previous goal set by the bloc of 2 percent of its GDP.

However, relations have since frayed over several issues, including Trump’s pledges to take control of the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland. Denmark is a member of NATO.

The US-Israeli war in Iran has also proven to be a major wedge, with Trump launching the conflict without consulting European allies who have dealt with the fallout of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump had repeatedly condemned European allies for not joining the war effort.

Merz, meanwhile, roiled the president by saying in April the US had been “humiliated” by Iran. Trump, in turn, said the US would withdraw 5,000 troops currently stationed in Germany.

Speaking on Friday, Merz said Germany was ahead of schedule to reach its NATO commitments.

“We will reach the 3.5 percent benchmark set in The Hague as early as 2029,” he told reporters, “well ahead of the agreed deadline”.

THE White House has shared its own Taylor Swift-inspired post ahead of the popstar’s lavish wedding to Travis Kelce.

The official White House Instagram account shared a photo of “America’s Eras Tour” in the same style as Taylor’s iconic Eras Tour poster.

The image showed President Donald Trump in the middle with his fist raised, surrounded by ten photos depicting moments in American history.

The post included two additional photos of Trump in addition to Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

There were other images showing a hockey game, the moon landing, and a photo from the end of World War II showing a US Navy sailor kissing a woman in Times Square.

“It’s been a long time coming…” the caption read, a nod to Taylor’s lyrics.

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The timing of the post appeared to throw some shade toward Taylor, whose wedding extravaganza is taking place around the Fourth of July weekend and the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.

Trump and Taylor have had a longtime feud, where the president blasted the singer as “no longer hot” in a Truth Social post from 2025.

“Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I hate Taylor Swift,’ she’s no longer ‘hot?’” he wrote.

He also called out Taylor in his speech congratulating the Philadelphia Eagles on their Super Bowl win in 2025, noting how she was booed on the jumbotron at the Caesars Superdome as she cheered on Travis at the big game.

“The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift,” he wrote on Truth Social after making history as the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl.

Despite the comments, after Trump learned the news that the pair were engaged, he told reporters, “I wish them a lot of luck.”

“He’s a great player and she’s a terrific person.”

The White House’s post on Thursday came as around 100 guests are expected to be attending Taylor and Travis’ rehearsal dinner.

Several A-List celebrities were spotted in New York City ahead of the couple’s big day, including Adam Sandler and his family, who arrived outside of Madison Square Garden on Thursday afternoon.

Jack Antonoff, who recently worked with Taylor on The Tortured Poets Department album, was also spotted in formal attire alongside his sister.

Supermodel Gigi Hadid and actor Bradley Cooper were seen heading to the rehearsal dinner in photos obtained by Page Six.

The rehearsal dinner reportedly began around 6:30pm with fresh lobster possibly on the menu.

On June 25, the United States Supreme Court decision allowed President Donald Trump and his administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, paving the way for their legal immigration status to be removed.

Trump has pushed to end TPS for several groups, as part of his efforts to restrict immigration into the US.

But lawmakers from both political parties have argued that stripping Haitians of their TPS status could create a caregiving crisis, given their presence in key industries like healthcare.

“Of the 350,000+ lawful Haitian TPS holders, roughly 1/3 work in our healthcare system. Immediately shutting off TPS will create a crisis in our hospitals, nursing homes, and in the [intellectual disabilities] community,” Republican Representative Mike Lawler wrote on the social media platform X.

Democratic Representative Ayanna Pressley echoed that sentiment in a statement.

“Seniors will lose their caregivers when we already have a caregiving crisis, and seniors will lose their ability to age in community with much-needed assistance,” she wrote.

The Temporary Protected Status programme allows nationals from countries experiencing crises, such as natural disasters or armed conflict, to live in the United States for up to 18 months. The federal government had previously renewed the designations, making them effectively permanent, before President Trump took office for a second term in 2025.

Lawler’s estimates about how many Haitians with TPS work in the US healthcare system are within the range of what the data show.

The Trump administration decision — and Supreme Court ruling — affect about 330,000 Haitians whose TPS-related work authorisations expire on July 10. They face deportation unless they qualify for another status. The ruling also applies to Syrians and Venezuelans.

About 158,000 Haitians in Florida have TPS, the majority of whom are in South Florida. The Sunshine State has the largest population of TPS recipients in the US: nearly 404,000 people. More than half are from Venezuela and about one-third are from Haiti, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

With an ageing population and an existing caregiver shortage, healthcare experts say the end of TPS for Haitians will have a significant effect on the US healthcare industry.

Of the 330,000 Haitian TPS holders, about 13,000 work daily as nursing assistants, caring for 65,000 patients, The Boston Globe found. Another 8,000 Haitian caregivers serve 12,000 children and ageing people, according to Americans for Immigrant Justice, a Miami-based nonprofit law firm that provides free representation to low-income immigrants.

Experts said the TPS healthcare workforce exodus will be felt most acutely in New York, Massachusetts and Florida.

With its high populations of older people and immigrants, Florida is expected to be particularly hard-hit.

David Grabowski, a Harvard Medical School healthcare policy professor, said the decision will “have a major impact on nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home care agencies”.

What will happen if most Haitians with TPS are deported?

Healthcare researchers say deporting Haitian recipients of Temporary Protected Status will add pressure on a strained system.

Immigrants who have TPS are more likely to work in healthcare, with one 2025 study finding that recipients represent 15 percent of all noncitizen healthcare workers. (TPS recipients make up about 2.1 percent of the total immigrant population.)

Immigrants make up a large share of direct care workers — people who are home health aides, personal care aides and nursing assistants.

There is already a national shortage of home health aides, personal care aides, nursing assistants and other long-term care and eldercare workers, but the US will need even more in the future. The US 65-and-up population is expected to rise from 58 million to 82 million by 2050 — a 42 percent increase.

Nearly half of US nursing homes report limiting admissions due to staffing shortages, and 19 percent recently met the minimum staffing levels set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In 2023, shortages of nurses and other employees caused about two-thirds of US hospitals to operate below capacity.

“People who run nursing homes, chronic care hospitals and home care agencies – they are all saying this is a crisis,” said Dr Steffie Woolhandler, a distinguished professor of public health at City University of New York’s Hunter College. “There has long been a shortage of folks who are willing to do direct care work as nursing aides, and there’s still a shortage now, so, of course, if the US deports them all, it’s just going to make it worse.”

Drishti Pillai, the director of immigrant health policy at the research nonprofit KFF, said, “The long-term care industry is already facing shortages prior to these immigration policy changes, so I think it’s accurate to say that this is going to further exacerbate the situation.”

Why do so many Haitians with TPS work in caregiving?

Healthcare experts pointed to several reasons for TPS holders’ high numbers in direct care, including job availability, an easier certification process compared with other healthcare jobs, and prior experience caring for family members.

“We do not have sufficient native-born workers to fill all the caregiving jobs,” Grabowski, the healthcare policy professor, said.

These positions also typically have lower barriers to entry for licensure, or no English language requirements, experts said. Refugee settlement organisations often recommend the work to immigrants for those reasons.

The positions are “extremely difficult to fill” because they’re physically and emotionally demanding, with low pay and with little or no employee benefits, said Priya Chidambaram, senior policy manager with KFF’s programme on Medicaid and the uninsured.

Some Haitians also have experience caring for sick family members in their homes, given the lack of nursing home infrastructure in their home country.

In the end, experts said there will be many more people who need this care than people who will be able to provide it.

“This was true before the ruling,” Chidambaram said. “Now, the impact will only be worse.”

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has announced felony charges against a former Olympic athlete for allegedly harming the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC.

At a news conference on Thursday, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro accused professional canoeist David Hearn, 67, of deliberately vandalising the pool.

“Today, a grand jury has returned a felony indictment against a defendant, David Hearn, for felony destruction of property, for which he faces 10 years in prison,” Pirro, a Trump appointee, said.

She proceeded to call the destruction of national monuments “one of the most offensive images” she has ever seen.

“This unchecked vandalism and civil disorder turns into criminal behaviour, and that’s why we’re here today,” Pirro said. “They are an affront to the dignity of our shared history.”

But in media interviews, Hearn has denied any vandalism, saying that, like many Americans, he was simply curious about the Reflecting Pool when he visited on June 19.

The Reflecting Pool had been the subject of a renovation effort Trump began in April, as part of a wider initiative to reshape Washington, DC, through controversial construction and maintenance projects.

Trump awarded a no-bid contract to a firm to seal and resurface the granite pool in a colour he dubbed “American flag blue”. But observers noted that, as soon as the pool reopened in early June, it suffered an algae bloom, and blue paint began to peel from its bottom.

Faced with criticism about the $13.1m renovation contract, Trump countered that vandals had sabotaged the Reflecting Pool.

At least seven people, including Hearn, have been arrested on allegations they may have harmed the pool’s blue-painted bottom.

Hearn has maintained his innocence. He says he was cycling by the Reflecting Pool when he stopped to look at the peeling paint, and he reached in the water to feel it. He denies removing any part of the pool.

Pirro, however, described a different scene. She said National Park Service employees observed Hearn “forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands”, damaging roughly 2 square feet — or around 0.18 square meters — of pool sealant.

“A parks employee actually told Hearn to stop his behaviour and stop what he was doing. Hearn reacted by shouting at that parks employee,” Pirro alleged.

Reporters confronted Pirro with questions about whether charging Hearn with a felony was disproportionately punitive, since similar cases have been considered misdemeanour offences.

One journalist asked Pirro if her decision to seek a felony indictment was influenced by Trump, who wrote on Truth Social that a 10-year prison sentence should “be fully enforced” for any attempted damage to the Reflecting Pool.

“I didn’t charge anything harshly. I charge according to the evidence,” Pirro replied. She argued that Hearn caused damage exceeding $1,000, thereby necessitating a felony charge.

She also dismissed comparisons with the millions of dollars in damage caused by Trump supporters during the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Nearly all of those defendants were pardoned on the first day of Trump’s second term.

“Are you really talking about January 6th? I’m not,” Pirro told one reporter. A hearing in Hearn’s case is scheduled for July 9.

On Thursday, preparations for the July 4 fireworks show began at the Reflecting Pool, with large nets spread across the entire structure.

According to a police officer on the site, the nets are intended to catch the debris that could fall into the pool during the show. The site remains fenced off to visitors.

Still, many have come to look at the pool and see the controversial renovations firsthand.

Brian Williams, a 31-year-old from Roscoe, Georgia, praised Trump for his efforts to beautify the city. He said that algae was normal for a pool full of still water in the heat of summertime.

“I don’t think people have any business vandalising anything,” Williams added. “If you have something that you dislike about the president, don’t take it out on the people’s pool.”

But others were more sceptical of Trump’s claims. Jon Delgado, a 40-year-old Navy veteran from Collierville, Tennessee, expressed frustration at seeing the Reflecting Pool in its current state.

“I came here with my wife and my family to show them the beauty of America, the spirit of what we fought for,” he said. “To see it trashed like this, it just makes me angry.”

Delgado called Trump’s accusations about vandalism at the site “really crazy”.

“We have just got to ask ourselves: Is this where we’re at, in the state of America, that we’re believing something like this? You can look for yourself: This thing has pond scum all in it, and it stinks. There’s no vandalism,” he said.

July 1 (UPI) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Defense Department from enforcing its escort policy, at least for reporters with The New York Times, dealing another blow to the Trump administration’s attempt to restrict media access at the Pentagon.

It was not entirely clear whether the order applied to all credentialed reporters or just those associated with The New York Times.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in D.C. issued his preliminary injunction Tuesday, finding the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claims that the escort policy was retaliatory and infringed on their First Amendment rights.

“This Court has spoken at several points about the critical importance of protecting the freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment, and that evergreen principle bears repeating: ‘Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation’s security requires a free press and an informed people and that such security is endangered by government suppression of political speech,'” Friedman said in his Tuesday opinion, quoting from one of his previous opinions in the case.

“‘That principle has preserved the nation’s security for almost 250 years.'”

The ruling comes in a protracted case that began when the Defense Department announced a new policy in October permitting the revocation of Pentagon credentials for collecting and reporting information it deemed unauthorized.

After Friedman ruled in March that the policy was unconstitutional, the Department of Defense came back with a new policy that, among other restrictions, mandated reporters be escorted by Defense Department personnel at all times within the Pentagon.

The Trump administration has argued that the new requirements are for national security purposes. By limiting access and requiring escorts, the Department of Defense said it could prevent the gathering and public disclosure of what it calls classified national security information and controlled unclassified information.

The Times then challenged the revised policy, with the court again siding against the Defense Department, which appealed, seeking only a limited stay pending appeal to allow the implementation of only the escort requirement.

In late April, a divided three-judge appeals panel granted the Trump administration’s emergency request, finding that it was likely to succeed in showing that the escort requirement was not within the scope of the lower court’s original order, without weighing the merits of the case. The Times then filed a new, second lawsuit challenging the Pentagon’s escort policy.

The Pentagon on Wednesday said it “strongly disagrees” with the court and will appeal the decision.

In a statement, Sean Parnell, chief Pentagon spokesperson, argued that the removal of the escort policy will make it easier for “sensitive and classified information to reach our adversaries.”

“Unescorted access to the Pentagon allowed journalists to observe activity patterns and develop relationships that contributed to repeated unauthorized disclosures of operational plans and intelligence,” Parnell said.

“The court’s order effectively restores that risky environment at a time when protecting our military’s secrets is more critical than ever.”

The Times argued that the policy was not only a restriction on its reporters’ First Amendment rights, but also retaliatory, an argument that Friedman said would likely succeed in court, pointing to numerous instances of Trump administration officials, including President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, insulting the newspaper and other news organizations.

UPI has contacted The Times for comment.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation celebrated the ruling online, while calling for punishment if the Trump administration tries to find another workaround to enforce its media-restriction policies.

“The DoD can’t be allowed to punish journalism or evade court orders without consequences,” it said in an online statement.

“If the Pentagon keeps trying to avoid this ruling, the court should respond with sanctions or contempt.”

President Donald Trump has sought to limit mail-in voting and has ordered his administration to impose limits on the practice.

A federal judge in the United States has blocked proposed restrictions on mail-in voting that were championed by President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday in Washington, DC, District Judge Emmet Sullivan sided with the NAACP, a civil rights organisation, in its case against the US Postal Service (USPS).

Sullivan found that the restrictions would likely violate a 2021 settlement requiring expedited handling for mail-in ballots.

He therefore granted the NAACP’s motion to enforce compliance with the settlement, dealing another setback to the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the US voting landscape.

“NAACP has plausibly suggested — and the Postal Service has not disputed — that the Proposed Rule is already having a ‘real impact on present day affairs’,” Sullivan wrote in his ruling.

The case revolves around a rule the Postal Service put forward in May that would require states to provide lists of absentee and mail-in voters. Ballots that do not conform to the list would be returned.

The proposed rule would also require a new envelope design for mail-in ballots, governing logos and barcode placements. Failure to comply would result in the Postal Service refusing to deliver the ballots.

The NAACP argued that the proposal would run afoul of a 2021 legal settlement that forces Postal Service officials to take “extraordinary measures” to ensure timely delivery of ballot mail.

The settlement “stipulated that the Postal Service agreed ‘to prioritize monitoring and timely delivery of election mail’”, Sullivan wrote in Wednesday’s ruling.

The decision comes less than five months before the November 3 midterm elections, which will decide whether Trump’s Republican Party retains control over both chambers of Congress.

Trump has expressed fears that he may be subject to a third impeachment if Democrats flip the legislature.

He has also spread unfounded theories that US elections are vulnerable to “vote rigging”, pointing to commonplace election tools like mail-in voting and electronic voting machines.

Elections are administered by state and local election officials, as established in the US Constitution. But the Postal Service’s proposed rule came as the result of efforts under the Trump administration to impose new limits on voting.

In March, Trump issued an executive order called “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections”. In it, he directed the Department of Justice to take action against states that “fail to comply” with certain standards for mail-in ballots.

He also accused states that accepted absentee or mail-in ballots after Election Day of violating the law.

But in another blow to Trump, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld a state law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted even if they were received after Election Day, so long as they were postmarked on or before that date. The president’s executive order has also been blocked by lower courts.

Civil rights advocates applauded the court’s Wednesday decision and warned against Trump’s efforts to limit mail-in voting.

“The court today correctly recognized that USPS’s plan to create roadblocks to mail-in voting was inconsistent with its commitment to timely deliver election mail,” said Allison Zieve, director of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, which argued on behalf of the NAACP.

“USPS’s plan was unwise, unlawful, and a threat to the millions of voters who rely on mailed ballots to participate in our democracy.”

Sam Spital, the associate director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund, which also argued for the NAACP, called the Postal Service’s proposed plan “a blatant attempt” to disenfranchise voters who rely on mailed ballots.

“Today’s decision recognizes that USPS cannot disregard its legal obligation to timely deliver mail-in ballots to all voters,” Spital said.

July 1 (UPI) — John Brennan, former director of the CIA and a longtime foe of the Trump administration, filed a lawsuit Wednesday asking a federal court to preserve all records related to the administration’s investigation of him.

The Justice Department has been eyeing Brennan for months, with lawyers interviewing former intelligence officials and issuing subpoenas as part of a conspiracy investigation, The Washington Post reported.

Justice Department officials have alleged that Brennan and others violated President Donald Trump‘s civil rights in a conspiracy back to the Obama administration that included efforts to prosecute Trump and investigate his ties to Russia, The Post said. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, also referred Brennan to the Justice Department, alleging that he lied during testimony to Congress.

Brennan’s attorneys requested that a judge order the administration to preserve any internal records and communications from the investigation.

The records could be used as part of defense arguments that the investigation and any prosecution are part of Trump’s attempt to vindictively punish Brennan, the attorneys said, citing an administration policy “of using criminal process and prosecution to punish the president’s perceived adversaries,” The Post said.

“Administration officials from the acting attorney general to the FBI director and the counselor overseeing the Brennan investigations have been publicly declaring Director Brennan a criminal, not only before securing a conviction in court but even before a full investigation and indictment,” the lawyers wrote, CNN reported.

“And, certain officials in the Department of Justice are engaging in demonstrably irregular prosecutorial activity in order to gin up a case that will satisfy the president’s direction,” they wrote.

Brennan has also said the court should preserve any records that could be used in any broader “grand conspiracy” investigation by the Justice Department. He has denied any wrongdoing. The lawsuit names Trump, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and prosecutors in Florida overseeing the investigation.

The US and Israel have signed a deal allocating land for a permanent US embassy in West Jerusalem, years after a temporary one was established during Trump’s first term in office. The move is yet another blow to the hopes of a future Palestinian capital.

The White House submitted a 927-page financial disclosure to the US Office of Government Ethics on Tuesday, offering the fullest picture yet of how US President Donald Trump’s fortune has grown since he returned to office in January 2025.

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Barely established when he was sworn in, Trump’s crypto businesses now generate more revenue than large parts of the property empire he spent decades assembling with his family, earning the US president more than $1.2 billion (€1.05bn) last year.

Two ventures account for the bulk of the crypto windfall.

World Liberty Financial, the firm launched in 2024 by Trump’s sons and business partners, brought in more than $500 million (€438mn) from selling new crypto products, among them so-called governance tokens, which grant holders voting rights in certain company decisions but no ownership stake.

A separate business tied to the $TRUMP “meme” coin, a cryptocurrency bearing the US president’s face and name, generated a further $635 million (€557mn) from token sales.

Trump’s crypto activities appear to be a major driver of the near tripling of his personal fortune, which Forbes estimates rose from $2.3 billion (€2bn) to $6.5 billion (€5.7bn) between 2024 and 2026.

For many buyers, the story has been far less lucrative.

The $TRUMP coin, which briefly traded above $74 in the days after its launch, has since collapsed to under $2, while World Liberty’s tokens have shed around 80% of their value since they began trading last September.

Since the disclosure lists only revenue and not profit, the true scale of Trump’s personal gains cannot be known. However, the filing shows that the US president and his family collected fees and royalties up front, while many investors have seen the value of their holdings fall sharply.

Among those investors was Chinese-born crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who poured $75 million (€65.7mn) into the governance tokens and $200 million (€175.3mn) into both $TRUMP and $MELANIA meme coins.

A US fraud case against him was later paused before being resolved with a $10 million (€8.7mn) settlement. Sun has denied any connection between his spending and the outcome of his legal troubles.

After the release of the filing, the White House also rejected suggestions of any ethical concerns.

“Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest,” Principal Deputy US Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to AFP.

Kelly said US President Donald Trump had “proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world.”

“All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people, and any so-called ‘reporters’ pushing otherwise are recycling the same, tired, false narrative that Democrats and the legacy media have been pushing for a decade,” Kelly added.

Beyond crypto: Trump’s wider business empire

The filing also details an aggressive international expansion, with new hotel, resort and condominium agreements generating millions of dollars in countries that were negotiating with Washington over trade and security at the same time.

A development in the United Arab Emirates earned the Trump business around $10.4 million (€9.1mn) last year, one in Saudi Arabia roughly $9 million (€7.9mn), and projects in Qatar, Romania and Vietnam were $5 million (€4.3mn) apiece.

Closer to home, the US president’s established businesses boomed alongside all the new ventures.

Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Florida, generated around $77 million (€67.5mn), a jump of roughly 50% on the previous year, as heads of state and executives flocked to the property during his new term.

The disclosure also reveals the wide range of ways the Trump brand is now monetised.

The US president earned millions from a sprawling range of branded goods, from sneakers and watches to bumper stickers, with Trump-branded watches alone bringing in $4.7 million (€4.1mn), and more than $200,000 (€175,300) coming from the “God Bless the USA” Bible, a branded edition promoted with country singer Lee Greenwood.

Branded merchandise of this kind, sold by a sitting US president, has no precedent.

A 1978 law requires the president and vice president of the United States to declare their income as well as their assets.

First Lady Melania Trump’s income is also set out in her husband’s financial disclosure, including more than $10 million (€8.7mn) tied to a biographical Amazon documentary and over $500,000 (€438,250) from her memoir.

For comparison, US Vice President JD Vance reported between $1 million (€876,500) and $5 million (€4.4mn) in royalties from his 2016 book “Hillbilly Elegy”.

Critics have long argued that such arrangements blur the line between public office and private profit. The White House rejects the charge outright.

July 1 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has announced that the Republican Party will hold a midterm convention, an unprecedented development seemingly aimed at mobilizing the GOP base ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The convention highlights the importance Trump has placed on the midterms, framing Republican control as necessary to protecting his presidency and the implementation of his America First agenda. He has warned Republicans that if they lose the House, Democrats would seek to impeach him and use their investigative powers to probe him, his family and other GOP officials.

Trump announced the convention Tuesday on his Truth Social media platform, saying it will be held Sept. 9-10 in Dallas, Texas.

“It will be fantastic! It has never been done before, and will be a truly Historic Event,” he said, describing it as an opportunity to promote his administration’s purported accomplishments.

“We are going to celebrate the GREAT AMERICAN COMEBACK, and the incredible successes of the American People who transformed our Country through the America First Agenda.”

GOP Chairman Joe Gruters emphasized that the event will be centered on the president, calling it “Trumpapalooza” in an online statement.

“This historic midterm convention will highlight President Trump’s many accomplishments and unwavering commitment to restoring America!” Gruters said, adding that the event will “showcase the work Republicans have done to advance the America First agenda!”

The convention will be held in a solidly red state but comes as Trump’s approval sinks and a as November Senate race is competitive.

Democrat James Talarico is running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate contest, and the convention may give draw attention to the GOP’s candidate.

Texas state Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez, a Democrat, said the convention was proof that both the national and Texas Republican parties were worried about the Senate seat.

“They’re not only holding their first-ever midterm convention, they’re holding it right here in our state,” she said in an online statement.

“The battleground for our nation runs through Texas.”

Trump first said in September 2025 that the Republican Party would hold a midterm convention, saying it would “show the great things we have done since the Presidential Election of 2024.”

Democratic National Committee Executive Director Roger Lau responded to Trump’s September announcement by saying his party would be more reserved and precise with how it uses its resources.

“Republicans were baited into wasting time and money on a midterm convention that will sink their swing-seat candidates by tying them directly to Trump’s wildly unpopular policies,” Lau said in a statement.

June 30 (UPI) — President Donald Trump reported billions of dollars in income, revenue and other proceeds during his first year back in the White House, much of it tied to cryptocurrency ventures, according to his annual financial disclosure released Tuesday.

Trump reported at least $2.1 billion in income, revenue and other proceeds last year, according to his financial disclosure made public by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, with more than half tied to cryptocurrency.

Though Trump was initially skeptical about cryptocurrencies,, he embraced the digital currencies — and their supporters — during his third campaign for the White House. After being elected, he created what some analysts have called a crypto-friendly administration.

During his first year in office, he took several actions in support of the crypto industry, including signing a digital-assets executive order during his first week in office and creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve and U.S. digital asset stockpile.

The 927-page financial disclosure states the president reported more than $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency income and proceeds, including $635 million from his $TRUMP meme coin and nearly $800 million from World Liberty Financial, a Trump family-linked cryptocurrency venture.

The $TRUMP memecoin was a cryptocurrency Trump announced days before his inauguration. He announced the $MELANIA memecoin the day before he was inaugurated.

Memecoins are cryptocurrencies with little to no intrinsic utility, often derived from Internet memes and supported by online communities or fans.

After Trump announced the coins, critics accused him of attempting to profit from the presidency.

The disclosure also shows that Trump reported tens of millions in revenue from golf, resort and real estate-related holdings, including $121.9 million from Trump Doral, $77.5 million from Mar-a-Lago, $37.6 million from his Lamington Farm Club, $36.9 million from Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach and $31.6 million from his Jupiter Golf Club, among others.

June 30 (UPI) — American and Iranian delegates arrived Tuesday in Doha, Qatar, for “technical talks” to discuss the memorandum of understanding that created a cease-fire between the two countries.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said Tuesday that these are not high-level talks.

Unlike the recent talks in Switzerland with Vice President JD Vance and Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, these will be led by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi. They will not meet in person and the talks will be mediated by Qatari officials. President Donald Trump‘s son-in-law Jared Kushner also participated.

Witkoff and Kushner met with the prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.

The discussions will “produce documents that will be elevated to principles in the high-level meetings to agree upon,” al-Ansari said.

Some of the topics expected to come up are: Financial restrictions and lifting sanctions on Iran, how to establish the free flow of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, the future of Iran’s nuclear program, the potential release of Iran’s frozen assets and regional security, CNN reported.

A recent uptick in attacks in the strait could make the talks more contentious.

Iran insists that the MOU gives it authority over the strait and has threatened ships that don’t travel on Iranian-mandated routes.

“If vessels pass through other routes, we will oppose it, we will try to prevent it, and if anything happens to those vessels, the responsibility will be their own,” Gharibabadi said on Monday, according to Iranian state media.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Tuesday that the discussions will be about the MOU.

“What will probably take place in Doha tomorrow is a discussion with the Qatari side on the implementation of some provisions of the memorandum of understanding, including the provision concerning the release of Iran’s restricted assets,” Baghaei said.

June 30 (UPI) — The Trump administration has lifted export restrictions on artificia lintelligence company Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models, the company said Tuesday evening.

“We’ve received notice that the Department of Commerce has lifted export controls on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5,” Anthropic said in a statement, CNN reported. “We’ll begin restoring access tomorrow, and will share an update soon.”

The statement came not long after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick posted on social media about Anthropic, saying “we have worked closely with Anthropic to analyze and approve Fable 5 to ensure alignment across the U.S. government and strengthen America’s leadership in AI.”

Anthropic disabled customer access to Fable, a consumer version of its Mythos AI model with more safeguards, and Mythos itself several weeks ago after the export ban June 12. The ban required the company to suspend all use by foreign nationals inside or outside the United States, including Anthropic employees.

In a statement then, Anthropic said its understanding was that “the government it has become aware of a method of bypassing, or ‘jailbreaking,’ Fable 5.”

“We reviewed a demonstration of this specific technique being used to identify a small number of previously known, minor vulnerabilities,” the company said. “These vulnerabilities all appear relatively simple, and we have found that other publicly available models are able to discover them as well without requiring a bypass.”

The government loosened some of the restrictions on Mythos on Friday, Politico reported.

Anthropic and the U.S. government have had a rocky relationship. Anthropic leaders’ concerns about military and intelligence usage of its products caused issues with the Department of Defense.

President Donald Trump called it a “radical left, woke company” and ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic products, while Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, called the company a supply chain risk to national security.

Anthropic has sued the Trump administration to reverse the blacklisting, and that lawsuit is ongoing.

Trump has launched a slate of crypto-friendly policies since returning to the White House for a second term.

A new government report has shown that United States President Donald Trump made millions from cryptocurrency and settlements with media companies last year, raising questions about possible conflicts of interest.

On Tuesday, the US Office of Government Ethics released annual financial disclosure forms for both Trump and his vice president, JD Vance.

One 927-page document itemises all of Trump’s reported assets and income for 2025. They include more than $1.4bn from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures.

Trump received more than $500m from World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture he and his sons co-founded. The president also reported another $635m from the sale of his $TRUMP meme coins.

The report suggests that investments in digital assets now generate one of the largest tranches of Trump’s income, overtaking even the real estate empire he inherited from his father.

The revelation is likely to intensify scrutiny of Trump’s policies.

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has launched a slate of crypto-friendly policies as he seeks to make the US the “crypto capital of the world”.

Early in his second term, for instance, the president announced that his government would create a national strategic cryptocurrency reserve to help ensure the stability of certain digital assets.

He also hosted the first-ever White House cryptocurrency summit.

The forum included several technology leaders that had been under investigation during the administration of Trump’s predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.

But Trump reversed those actions. In February 2025, for instance, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced it would drop charges against Coinbase, the largest US-based cryptocurrency exchange, after it was accused of acting as an unregistered broker.

Other digital currency firms came under suspicion for fraudulent transactions.

Trump has coupled the shift away from government oversight with efforts to champion new legislation, including the GENIUS Act.

The law, passed in Congress in July 2025, created a general regulatory framework that required stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency, to be backed one-to-one by US dollars. Advocates said the law would help to make cryptocurrency more mainstream.

“The entire crypto community: For years, you were mocked and dismissed and counted out,” Trump said during the law’s signing ceremony. “You were counted out as little as a year and a half ago, but this signing is a massive validation.”

But Trump’s increasingly close ties to the cryptocurrency industry have drawn criticism for its potential for corruption.

Last week, five Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal, called on their Republican colleagues to join them in forcing Trump administration officials to testify under oath about their cryptocurrency dealings.

They pointed to investments from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in World Liberty Financial, the company the Trump family co-owns with government envoy Steve Witkoff’s sons.

Those investments, they argued, “raise questions about what more the UAE may receive — or may have already received – at the expense of U.S. national security after investing in the Trump family crypto company”.

The five Democrats urged immediate hearings on the matter.

The US Supreme Court has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for all individuals born on US soil, ruling that children born in the country remain entitled to citizenship under the Constitution.

June 30 (UPI) — A U.S. federal judge has sentenced exiled Chinese entrepreneur Guo Wengui to 30 years in prison for defrauding investors of more than $1 billion.

Guo, also known as Ho Wan Kwok and Miles Guo, is a Chinese national who made his fortune in Chinese real estate before fleeing China, in 2014, relocating to the United States around 2015.

He was arrested in March 2023 on a series of fraud and money laundrying charges. Federal prosecutors alleged that, beginning around 2018, he led a conspiracy that defrauded his online followers of more than $1 billion through investment and membership schemes tied to his anti-Chinese Communist Party movement and related business ventures.

In sentencing him on Monday to the three-decade punishment that the prosecutors had requested, Judge Analisa Torres in a Manhattan courtroom said Guo had “preyed on people seeking to bring democracy to China,” The New York Times reported.

During the trial, the prosecutors alleged that in around 2018, he created two nonprofit organizations, which he used to amass followers aligned against the CCP and who were inclined to believe his business advice.

In the years that followed, Guo established several investment opportunities that he advertised to his online followers, who gave him hundreds of millions of dollars over the years.

Prosecutors alleged that Guo had used the money he stole from his followers to line his own pockets, buying himself and cloase relatives luxuries, such as a 50,000-square-foot mansion, a $4.5 million Ferrari sports car and two $36,000 mattresses. He also used the money to finance a $37 million luxury yacht, they said.

Guo denied the accusations.

During sentencing Monday, Torres also imposed ann $889 million forfeiture order against Guo, chastising his “exploitation of a philanthropic purpose, his history of intimidation of critics and his refusal to accept responsibility,” The Guardian reported.

Yanping “Yvette” Wang, Guo’s former chief of staff, was sentenced to 10 years in January 2025 after pleading guilty to related wire fraud and money laundering charges. A second co-defendant, Kinn Ming Je, also known as Willian Je, has been charged with several fraud and money laundering charges.

Guo is also an associate of Steve Bannon, a longtime ally and former top aide to President Donald Trump.

Bannon was arrested in August 2020 aboard a yacht owned by Guo on charges related to a crowdsourced campaign to raise money to build barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.

June 30 (UPI) — The Trump administration has filed lawsuits challenging Massachusetts and Rhode Island laws that offer in-state tuition benefits to certain undocumented immigrants, alleging they unlawfully discriminate against U.S. citizens.

The lawsuits announced Monday are the latest the Justice Department has filed against state laws that offer in-state rates, financial aid or scholarships to certain undocumented immigrants who meet state residency or education requirements, which generally consist of living in the state for a number of years and attending high school there.

Justice Department lawyers allege these laws are illegal because they offer noncitizens benefits denied to U.S. citizens from other states.

“The Department of Justice is committed to fulfilling President Trump’s promise that illegal aliens will not receive taxpayer benefits or preferential treatment over America’s own citizens,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement.

“As our nation marks 250 years of freedom, we will continue to challenge state laws that place aliens over citizens in clear defiance of Congress’ commands.”

Massachusetts has extended eligibility for in-state tuition benefits, financial aid and scholarships at Massachusetts state schools to qualifying undocumented immigrants since 2023, while Rhode Island has allowed qualifying undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition costs going back to 2011. Rhode Island then codified this law in 2021.

The lawsuits filed Monday ask the courts to enjoin enforcement of these laws, saying they violate a federal statute, enacted in 1996, that specifically bans offering in-state tuition to any noncitizen “unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit … without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.”

Proponents of these laws, sometimes referred to as Dream Act laws, argue that without offering in-state tuition rates, post-secondary education will be kept out of reach for undocumented immigrants living in the United States, while such laws can reduce high school dropout rates as well as raise student incomes and tax contributions, among other economic benefits.

The Trump administration has been targeting these laws as part of President Donald Trump‘s aggressive immigration policy that has seen mass roundups and deportations of noncitizens.

In April 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing the attorney general to identify and stop the enforcement of state laws and policies “favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens,” specifically highlighting laws that “provide in-state higher education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-state American citizens.”

Since then, federal prosecutors have challenged laws in 12 states. Four lawsuits, against Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Nebraska, have resulted in orders permanently enjoining the states’ in-state tuition laws, while Kansas last week joined the Justice Department in seeking a proposed consent decree that must be approved by the court.

The remaining challenges are pending against Illinois, Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, all Democratic-led states.

According to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal, about 20 states and Washington, D.C., provide in-state tuition to undocumented students, while 18 and the nation’s capital also provide state financial aid.

June 30 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has nominated Keith Sonderling to be the U.S. secretary of labor, a position the attorney has held on the interim basis since Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April.

Trump announced his nomination of Sonderling to the post permanently on Monday in a statement, describing Sonderling as a man who has throughout his career “proven his dedication to delivering strong results for the Hardworking People of our Country, and I know he will do an incredible job in his new role.”

Sonderling served as deputy and acting administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division during Trump’s first term, and as deputy secretary — the department’s chief operating officer — during Trump’s second.

The 43-year-old was made interim head of the department on April 20, replacing Chavez-DeRemer, who had resigned as she faced a series of allegations of professional misconduct.

She stepped down as a Labor Department inspector general’s investigation was examining allegations that she kept a stash of alcohol in her office, maintained a relationship with a member of her security team and used agency resources for a variety of personal activities.

In a statement Monday, Sonderling said he was “deeply grateful to President Trump for his trust and confidence.”

“Serving in both President Trump’s administrations has been the greatest honor of my life,” he said on social media.

“If confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to continuing that service as secretary of labor and advancing the president’s agenda on behalf of America’s workers, families, unions and job creators.”

Following Trump’s announcement, a number of Republicans congratulated Sonderling on his nomination.

“Congratulations to Keith Sonderling on his nomination to be secretary of labor,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said online.

“He is the kind of pro-worker leader that Americans deserve.”

June 29 (UPI) — As Speaker of the House Mike Johnson prepared to send a bipartisan, landmark housing affordability bill to President Donald Trump‘s desk on Monday, the president told reporters that he remains undecided on whether to sign it.

Trump called the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act” so unimportant,” CNN reported. One week ago, the president abruptly canceled the originally planned signing of the housing bill, which the Senate and House passed by overwhelming margins.

“When I look at the (housing) bill, it’s a bill,” Trump said to reporters Monday, The Hill reported. “When I look at the SAVE America Act, it’s about saving America.”

The housing bill is “a yawn,” the president said. “To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, everything is a big yawn.”

The housing bill’s provisions include measures that encourage renovating older homes, encourage communities to build more housing through funding and grant programs, cut some red-tape issues around building housing and effectively ban private equity from buying up single-family homes.

When canceling the original signing of the bill, Trump said he wouldn’t sign it until Congress passed the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to prove their citizenship before they register to vote

Critics say the controversial act could disenfranchise millions of Americans, and Republicans have said that they don’t have the votes to pass it.

Trump acknowledged this Monday, The Hill reported, saying the SAVE America Act is “probably not going to happen because we have four Republican senators, maybe five, that just won’t vote for it. It’s crazy.”

The president said that the housing bill’s bipartisan backing was part of his issue with it.

“It’s very bipartisan — that means the Democrats like it,”he said. “They’re getting things that I wouldn’t necessarily agree to.”

Speaker Johnson, a Republican, said Sunday that he believed Trump would sign the housing bill after it was sent to him, “because we’re delivering for the people, and that’s what he wants to do.”

If Trump does not sign the bill, it could still go into effect. The U.S. Constitution stipulates that a bill will become law automatically if a president does not take action for 10 days, as long as Congress is in session.

Trump could also veto the bill. If that happens, Congress has the power to override the veto by passing the act by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate.

June 29 (UPI) — The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed Monday to hear a case over Arizona’s election law requiring documentary proof of citizenship in voting.

The high court will hear arguments over whether federal law prohibits such a law when voting in state elections. The court will hear the case during its next term which starts in October.

It is already illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote in federal and state elections. Some municipalities allow noncitizen voting in local elections.

President Donald Trump has called for a national proof-of-citizenship requirement in elections while continuing to repeat unfounded claims of election fraud. The SAVE Act, a bill being mulled by Congress that Trump is in support of, includes a proof-of-citizenship requirement which Trump is in support of.

In 2022, the Arizona legislature adopted a law requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote on a state form. Documentary proof of citizenship that is allowable under Arizona’s law includes but is not limited to a birth certificate and a passport.

Nonprofit advocacy organizations Mi Familia Vota and Voto Latino filed the lawsuit challenging the proof-of-citizenship requirement.

The Republican National Committee appealed a lower court decision that struck down the proof-of-citizenship law.

The legislature also passed a law outlining how state election officials review voter rolls, putting in place a procedure to cancel the voter registrations of noncitizens.

June 29 (UPI) — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Congress’ restriction of the president from firing independent agency employees without cause violates the separation of powers.

The court upheld President Donald Trump‘s firing of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission, overturning 90 years of precedence. The ruling came down along ideological lines with the conservative majority upholding Slaughter’s firing in a 6-3 decision.

Writing the majority opinion, Chief Justice Roberts said Congress’ “for cause” removal protections, meant to shield independent agencies from political influence, violate the separation of powers.

“What text, history, and structure settle, our precedent confirms — the president may remove his subordinates at will,” Roberts wrote.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the minority opinion that the decision has given the president “far greater power than ever before.”

“It is a power, however, that neither the People, nor Congress, nor the Constitution bestowed upon him. In granting the President this unbridled authority, the Court upends its precedent, misconstrues our history, and sheds any pretense of judicial modesty. I respectfully dissent.”

The court’s decision upends the precedent set in 1935 in the case Humphrey’s Executor vs. United States. The high court in that case ordered that Congress could restrict the president from firing members of the FTC without cause.

“Although it is up to the Senate to decide whether to confirm those with whom the President would prefer to work with, neither Congress nor the courts may saddle him with those with whom he cannot work,” Roberts wrote. “Subordinates who exercise the President’s power are subject to removal by him. Then, and only then, can they remain accountable to the President, and the President to the people.”

While the high court allowed Trump to fire Slaughter, it rejected his bid to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve for the moment.

Trump attempted to pause a federal court ruling that prevented him from firing Cook last year. A lawsuit was filed challenging the attempt. In a 5-4 ruling Monday, the Supreme Court rejected the attempt by Trump.

Roberts penned the majority opinion in this case as well, joining the three liberal justices and conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

“Not only the fact of independence but also the appearance of independence is key to the Federal Reserve’s design,” Roberts wrote.

June 29 (UPI) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear President Donald Trump‘s request for the panel to overturn a ruling that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.

Trump sought to have his $5 million civil penalty tossed, but the high court’s decision Monday leaves that in place, along with a separate $83.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages she was awarded for defamation.

A jury awarded the damages in 2023 after finding him liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s and for defaming her by denying the allegations in 2019.

An appeals court also upheld the verdict in 2024. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Trump’s lawyers failed to show any errors in the ruling that would lead to a new trial.

Trump has denied Carroll’s allegations since she first made them and called the $5 million judgment excessive.