Washington, DC

1. Melania speaks on Epstein
2. Semafor World Economy
3. Israel-Lebanon talks
4. Congress’s big to-do list
5. Pentagon pressed on Stars and Stripes

The investor who famously predicted the 2008 housing crisis said Anthropic was “eating Palantir’s lunch,” sending Palantir shares ▼ 8%.

Melania gives rare White House remarks on Jeffrey Epstein

In rare public remarks, Melania Trump issued a scathing rebuke to an array of claims she said falsely link her to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and she called on Congress to hold public hearings with victims. Standing at a podium inside the White House, the first lady acknowledged an email exchange she had in 2002 with Ghislaine Maxwell, but she said she was never friends with Epstein or Maxwell and was not one of his victims. “The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” she said. The Daily Beast last year retracted a story accusing the first lady of meeting President Donald Trump through a modeling agent with connections to Epstein. It’s not clear what prompted the statement, which comes at a time when the Epstein issue has begun to quiet down for the administration — when asked, her press office sent a copy of her public remarks.

— Shelby Talcott

Cabinet secretaries to speak at Semafor World Economy

We’re so proud to be hosting a new kind of gathering in Washington, DC next week with Semafor World Economy, the single most important convening of economic leadership in the US. Semafor World Economy comes at a moment when Washington increasingly sets the direction of the global economy. We’ll bring together US officials making the key decisions, including Cabinet Secretaries Scott Bessent, Chris Wright, Howard Lutnick, Doug Burgum, and Sean Duffy. And over five days, Semafor’s flagship live journalism platform will become a real-time stage for the conversations shaping markets, policy, and power, with a continuous run of high-level interviews and discussions featuring the world’s most influential policymakers and executives. Semafor’s Ben Smith previewed the gathering on MS NOW’s Morning Joe this morning.

We’ll be hosting leaders from more than 80 countries and over 500 global CEOs, and this is your last chance to join as an inaugural member of our cohort of Semafor World Economy Principals — apply here to join us in-person next week.

Netanyahu agrees to talks with Lebanon

In an apparent concession to US and international pressure, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel will hold direct talks with Lebanon about disarming Hezbollah next week, though he said strikes would continue. Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, which killed scores of people in Beirut yesterday, have jeopardized the fragile Iran ceasefire deal. While Tehran and Washington disagree on whether Lebanon was covered by the agreement, Trump asked Netanyahu to scale back attacks, and Vice President JD Vance said the Israelis offered yesterday to “check themselves a little bit.” Oil futures reversed sudden gains after Netanyahu’s announcement on hopes that regular order might be restored to the Strait of Hormuz soon. For now, Iran maintains a firm grip on the strait, which just seven ships traversed in 24 hours, compared with about 140 per day before the war began.

Republicans try to sort through messy agenda

Republicans face a critical moment: They must figure out just what the heck they can actually pass before the midterms, from immigration enforcement to expiring surveillance powers to voter ID to more money for the Pentagon, Semafor’s Burgess Everett and Nicholas Wu report. It’ll start tomorrow with Trump, Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., meeting on ending the Department of Homeland Security shutdown and sending many more billions to Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts. And there are bigger schisms to come. Take Graham’s plan to include some of the GOP’s SAVE America Act, a voter ID bill, in a party-line reconciliation bill this fall. “The reconciliation process simply won’t work,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told Semafor. “Americans should not accept vague promises of future action to cover for inaction today.”

Democrats press Pentagon on Stars and Stripes restrictions

Earlier this year, the Department of Defense said it would take greater editorial control of Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper funded by the Pentagon that has long operated as an independent news organization. Now Democratic senators are asking if that is still the case, reports Semafor’s Max Tani. In a letter sent yesterday to the Pentagon and the paper’s editorial leaders, first shared with Semafor, Democratic senators criticized the decision and asked a series of questions, including whether any articles had been spiked. “DoD’s new policy threatens the credibility of Stars and Stripes, and the reliable flow of unbiased news to service members, and contradicts decades of Congressional reforms that guarded against censorship at the paper,” the senators said. Democrats who signed the letter include Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.

Iran War

• Survivors of an Iranian attack that killed six US service members in Kuwait are disputing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s account of the incident, saying the unit was unprepared to defend itself. — CBS

Congress

• A handful of House Democrats tried to introduce a war powers resolution today, but Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who oversaw the session, refused to recognize them.

Economy

• GDP grew a sluggish 0.5% at the end of last year, according to the Commerce Department, which downgraded its previous estimate.

Immigration

• The Trump administration has dismissed more than 100 of the 750 immigration judges in place at the start of President Trump’s second term, and judges who remain say they feel pressure to deport immigrants or risk losing their jobs. — NYT

World

• The UK military exposed a Russian submarine operation that had targeted undersea infrastructure like pipelines and telecommunications wires. — WSJ
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial will resume Sunday, now that a national emergency order has been lifted because of the ceasefire.
• President Trump unloaded his frustration with NATO allies in a meeting with Secretary-General Mark Rutte yesterday, threatening reprisals for lack of support in the war with Iran. — Politico

Health

• The acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has delayed the publication of a report that found COVID-19 vaccines reduced the likelihood of hospitalization among healthy adults. — WaPo

Social Media

• On Truth Social, “Ultra MAGA” users are criticizing the war in Iran. — NYT
• Politicians, mostly Democrats, are letting the F-word fly on social media. — NYT

— former Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., on The New York Times’ Interesting Times podcast.

Laura McGann, editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor, and Morgan Chalfant, Washington briefing editor

Graph Massara and Lauren Morganbesser, copy editors

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, Nicholas Wu, David Weigel