Washington, DC

1. SpaceX makes IPO history
2. Cautious optimism on peace
3. Trump puts on a show
4. Will spying stop?
5. Ebola vaccine race

SpaceX closes ▲ 19% on market debut.

SpaceX soars in historic IPO

Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire with the SpaceX IPO today, the biggest in history — a lot bigger. Compared with the next-biggest IPO, Saudi Aramco, SpaceX’s offering is about three times the size. SpaceX this week sold $75 billion worth of shares at $135 a piece, valuing it at $1.77 trillion this morning. Investor demand was massive, and shares opened for trading on the Nasdaq at $150 and hovered around $170 a share after the first couple of hours, eventually closing at $161 — up 19% on the day. The boost is a positive sign for Anthropic and OpenAI, which are expected to go public in mega offerings later this year.

— Liz Rappaport

Trump administration grows confident as US-Iran deal takes shape

The White House ended the week optimistic that a deal to end the war with Iran is within reach. A senior Trump administration official said a memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran is nearing completion; the framework includes much of what negotiators have been discussing for weeks, like the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a lifting the US blockade, and commitments to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program. Economic relief for Iran, like lifting sanctions and unfreezing assets, will follow if they comply with the requirements in the deal. The senior official said that the “broad regional peace agreement” includes Lebanon, Israel, and Iran, but emphasized that Israel and Gulf nations aren’t giving “up the right to self-defense.” Of course, the agreement still needs to be signed, which would then spark a 60-day period for “technical” negotiations between the US and Iran on implementation details.

— Shelby Talcott

Trump’s UFC match is bigger than the price tag

Trump is taking time out from global and domestic chaos Sunday for a massive 80th birthday party. The UFC match on the South Lawn speaks to Trump’s affection for ambitious construction projects and what one White House official called his desire to “showcase DC” after redirecting tens of millions of dollars to beautification projects, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott reports. But while a political strategy might seem to underpin the event — UFC’s fan base includes the type of infrequent, working-class, often male voters Trump won in 2024 — keeping that bloc in the Republican fold isn’t a major goal. Instead, the White House and State Department are leaning into sports diplomacy, signing a deal with UFC (whose CEO is a longtime Trump friend) that will allow its players and coaches to serve as unofficial sports ambassadors.

Surveillance likely to continue as law lapses

The House left town for 10 days without renewing a law set to expire tonight that allows the government to monitor foreign targets without a warrant. National security hawks warn Congress’ inaction leaves the US vulnerable to attack, especially amid the World Cup. But legal experts and some conservative critics of the authority point out that the relevant provision, called Section 702, was recently recertified for a year by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, meaning surveillance can continue through March 2027. In 2008 Congress changed the law specifically to ensure continuity of the program in the event of a missed extension deadline. Some supporters also warned this week that telecom companies could become reluctant to cooperate with the government, though Yahoo definitively lost in court a decade ago even before the law was clarified.

Ebola vaccines near clinical trial stage

Scientists are racing to develop four Ebola vaccines to tackle the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including two which could be ready for clinical trials in two months, Semafor’s Alexis Akwagyiram reports. Two of the experimental vaccines — one being developed by Oxford University scientists, and another by Moderna — harness technology used to create vaccines for COVID-19 and could be in trials by the end of August, said Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. Still, Hatchett cautioned, even if a vaccine performed well in clinical trials, it would take at least two more months to move to further trials and regulatory approval.

Eli Pariser coined the term “filter bubble.” Now, he thinks AI is about to change how you start your day. On this week’s episode of Mixed Signals, New_Public co-director Eli Pariser joins Max and Ben to talk about how soon your morning routine will change, and which platforms are most exposed to AI disruption.

White House

• A local DC news station is preparing to livestream the removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts after a judge rejected a last-minute attempt to delay it. — WTOP
• The Trump administration suspended funding for a Los Angeles homelessness agency. — NYT
• The Interior Department said new algae blooms floating in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool are “residual” from supply lines shut during the pool’s multi-million dollar overhaul. — Politico

Congress

• The House Oversight Committee has asked Alan Dershowitz, who represented Jeffrey Epstein, to testify in their investigation into the Epstein scandal. — Politico

Energy

• Energy Secretary Chris Wright said about half of the pre-war energy flow through the Strait of Hormuz has been restored. — Bloomberg

Courts

• A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against Trump’s $1.8 billion fund, but said she’d drop the case in one week if Todd Blanche, acting attorney general, and Scott Bessent, Treasury secretary, signed statements under perjury saying that it’s dead. — Politico
• The Washington National Opera sued the Kennedy Center to collect $17 million in endowment funds and other income the group alleges the center withheld when it cut ties earlier this year.
• A federal appeals court upheld the conviction of disgraced cryptocurrency mogul and FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who earlier this week formally appealed to President Trump for a pardon.

Campaigns and Elections

• The FBI searched the offices of a get-out-the-vote group that registered 100,000 voters in Ohio in 2024.
• Democrats running in primary elections nationwide are distancing themselves from AIPAC, the group once synonymous with bipartisan congressional support for Israel. — NYT Magazine

Foreign Policy

• The US plans to pull back a third of the fighter jets it provides to NATO for Europe’s protection. — NYT

World

• China said it had arrested an American political analyst who writes about Myanmar for alleged espionage; separately, Myanmar’s military government arrested an American former head of the country’s US Chamber of Commerce.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was developing a satellite-based system for controlling drones in combat. — Interfax

— SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, speaking from the company’s Starbase, Texas, headquarters, virtually ringing the Nasdaq’s opening bell this morning.

Semafor DC Team

Laura McGann, editor

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

Brendan Ruberry, copy editor

Contact our reporters:

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