Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Wednesday.
Trump widens rupture between himself and Senate RepublicansPresident Trump blindsided his allies on Capitol Hill today with an early morning social media post. In it, he pulled back his own nominee to be the nation’s top intelligence official and demanded that Congress pass a voter ID law, adding to the rising tension with senators in his party. By delaying the nomination of Jay Clayton hours before his confirmation hearing, Trump cleared the way for Bill Pulte — a close ally of the president with no national security experience — to assume oversight of the nation’s spy agencies later this week. Trump’s selection of Pulte as the acting director of national intelligence had been condemned by senators in both parties. Trump’s move also makes it more likely that a powerful spy program will remain expired for weeks or months. To “add a slight bit of intrigue,” the president said, he plans to block the extension of the program unless it was paired with new requirements on voter identification and registration, which do not have enough Republican support to advance.
The U.S. discloses the terms of Trump’s agreement with IranA senior U.S. official read aloud to reporters the text of the preliminary agreement between the U.S. and Iran, disclosing its terms for the first time since Trump agreed to the deal over the weekend. The agreement calls for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz; a $300 billon plan for Iran’s reconstruction; the lifting of restrictions on Iran’s oil exports; and the end of military operations in Lebanon. You can read the entire 14-point deal here, annotated with helpful analysis from my colleagues. At the Group of 7 summit in France today, Trump issued a fiery defense of the deal, lashing out at critics who have said the agreement achieves even less than the one Barack Obama signed. He also threatened to bomb Iran again if it didn’t adhere to the agreement. For more:
The Fed leans toward fighting inflation with higher ratesThe Federal Reserve announced today that it was holding interest rates steady after Kevin Warsh’s first meeting as chairman. Warsh was handpicked for the job by Trump, who has relentlessly pressured the central bank to lower borrowing costs. But delivering on the president’s desires may be nearly impossible, as today’s policy statement and “dot plot” made clear. Nearly all of Warsh’s new colleagues rejected the idea of cutting rates soon, with the Iran war and other factors causing a surge in inflation. And many Fed policymakers even suggested that they may have to raise borrowing costs this year in order to bring inflation back to the central bank’s target of 2 percent. Asked about the Fed’s move, the president said: “It’s all right, whatever.”
Georgia Republicans hold off on redistrictingFacing loud protests at the State Capitol, Republican leaders in Georgia announced today that they would not gerrymander away districts held by Democrats, at least for now. The decision came hours before a special session that had been called expressly to erase U.S. House seats in majority-Black districts. Some Georgia Republicans had quietly expressed reluctance about redistricting, fearful it would energize Democrats before November’s elections. Others had wanted to take advantage of Republican control to lock in a favorable map for 2028. For more on politics:
More top news
The idea of a summer blockbuster is being redefinedTwo of this season’s biggest box office hits, “Backrooms” and “Obsession,” are both horror films made by directors in their 20s who came from the worlds of YouTube and TikTok. “Backrooms” had a relatively modest $10 million budget; “Obsession” was made for just $750,000. Take a look at these charts. It’s shocking just how well both of the films are performing in theaters, week after week, especially compared with major titles like “Star Wars” and “Michael.”
‘Book-cations’ are having a momentOne company is offering a 12-day trip to Croatia based on a popular Emily Henry book, another is guiding tourists through the New York of Fiona Davis’s novels and a hotel in the Berkshires promises to leave a selection of curated books in your room. It’s all part of what travel experts described as a surge in literary travel. My colleague Elaine Glusac, who stayed at the Hotel du Lac in Switzerland after learning about it in an Anita Brookner book, highlighted some of the most intriguing options.
Dinner table topics
Cook: Spice up your nachos with this Indian-ish recipe. Mix up a Hugo spritz, the new king of breezy summer drinking. Read “Presence,” about early modern womanhood. Find jeans that won’t go out of style with help from our fashion critic. Pick which of these homes you would buy with a $1.9 million budget. |
