Washington, DC

1. Cornyn unloads
2. US-Iran talks continue
3. Selling the Iran deal
4. Limited sanctions power
5. UK’s Starmer resigns
6. FISA impasse
7. New Trump book
8. Identity politics spreads

PDB: Trump vs. Meloni

Senate to pass housing bill … Trump-backed outsider wins Colombia presidential election … Follow Semafor’s Cannes Lions coverage

John Cornyn, unplugged

John Cornyn is back to his old blunt talk after his primary loss — and is trying out some new tactics, too, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. The Texas GOP senator threatened to vote against the immigration funding bill this month without action on border reimbursement money for his state, a new kind of hardball politics for Cornyn. He’s also organizing a large campaign joint fundraiser for Senate GOP candidates — but leaving out Ken Paxton, the man whom President Donald Trump endorsed in the primary that cost Cornyn his seat. “The president picked Paxton, and he’s got $350 million. I think he can spend his money,” Cornyn said of Texas and Trump. “I’m going to try to help in other places.” Cornyn also said Trump “revels in chaos” and they haven’t spoken since the runoff, though that might change Wednesday when Trump visits the Capitol.

US-Iran talks continue despite hurdles

US and Iranian negotiators, including Vice President JD Vance, concluded high-level talks early this morning as a deal to curtail Tehran’s nuclear program faces growing hurdles. On Sunday, Trump threatened to “hit Iran very hard again” over Tehran’s support for Hezbollah in Lebanon. But both sides made “encouraging progress,” mediators Qatar and Pakistan said. Back in Washington, Trump faces rising Republican skepticism about a deal. “I think it’s going to fail,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said, though he defended Trump for trying diplomacy even if the memorandum of understanding signed last week is “problematic.” One reason Trump will be reluctant to restart attacks on Iran: falling oil and gas prices. Energy Secretary Chris Wright declined to predict when they would reach their prewar levels but told ABC “they will continue to head down.”

Rubio, Hegseth lay low on Iran

With his appearance at the White House briefing last week and his trip to Switzerland, Vance has become the face of the much-contested memorandum of understanding. Still largely absent? Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who typically have been two of Trump’s top communicators on foreign policy and national security issues. Rubio returned from the G7 last week and faces a demand from Democrats on Capitol Hill for a briefing on the Iran agreement; Hegseth, who did briefly appear on TV as the deal emerged, is now focused on reviewing US troop levels in Europe. It’s still unclear whether the two will take a more front-facing role this week as the administration continues to defend the Iran deal.

— Shelby Talcott

Can the US waive Iranian oil sanctions?

The Trump administration may not have legal standing to again waive US sanctions on Iranian oil, this time as part of last week’s agreement — but it probably won’t matter. The Obama-era Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which requires presidents to submit agreements related to Iran’s nuclear program to Congress for approval, temporarily bars the president from waiving sanctions while lawmakers review. Trump’s Office of Legal Counsel has drafted a memo, however, that has officials “quite confident that we can temporarily lift those sanctions without going to Congress,” Vance said. They probably lack the authority to do so, per Harvard Law School’s Jack Goldsmith — but any lawsuit challenging them is “likely to fail,” given few would have standing to do so, he wrote. Regardless, “we’re a long way away from full unwinding [of sanctions] and US companies entering the Iranian market,” Capitol Peak Strategies’ Alex Zerden said.

— Eleanor Mueller

UK’s Starmer announces resignation

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation, lining the country up for its seventh leader in the 10 years since the Brexit referendum. In an emotional speech, Starmer hailed his own work — bringing Labour back from the political wilderness, reducing immigration, and cutting healthcare waiting times among them. Still, he remains deeply unpopular, with personal favorability ratings of -42 and his party trailing anti-immigration populist upstarts Reform in the polls. His likely successor is Andy Burnham, the former Mayor of Manchester, who may stand unopposed. Yet he will face the same problems as his predecessors, including weak economic growth and a country still divided over Brexit. Leaving the EU has cost the country 6% of GDP, analysis suggested.

House returning to FISA mess

The House is returning this week to a FISA stalemate that deteriorated further during members’ week away from Washington. The impasse has some Democrats talking about the possibility of a short-term patch for the spy powers, with Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., saying Sunday on CBS: “Short-term extensions, then we can talk.” Trump’s nomination of Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence looked like an off-ramp for Democrats who had opposed renewing the powers, but the president pumped the brakes on the nomination and threatened to oppose the renewal if the GOP voter ID bill isn’t attached. Trump’s top allies in the Senate are now pushing him to get Clayton confirmed to replace Bill Pulte, who took over as acting intel chief Friday. “We’re playing with fire here,” Graham said on CBS. “America needs FISA up and running.”

— Nicholas Wu

Haberman, Swan on Trump’s hubris

The summer nonfiction blockbuster Regime Change, which is already rattling the White House ahead of its release tomorrow, offers a flood of new detail under a classical theme: hubris. Journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan tell the story of a president who fought his way back from 2021 political exile to the White House — and then allowed overconfidence, improvisation, and impulse to hobble his second presidency. The book depicts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leading Trump to war and the administration’s disastrous attempts to manage the Jeffrey Epstein files. It offers glimpses of Trump mocking sycophantic business leaders and personally managing Justice Department attacks on his enemies. And it reveals who the president now listens to — notably, longtime Republican operative Roger Stone. Regime Change also reminds readers what’s to come from the narrator-in-chief, who at one point tells aides: “We need plot twists.”

— Ben Smith

View: The rise of identity politics

The French writer and presidential candidate Éric Zemmour was in Washington earlier this month meeting with Trump officials, but he didn’t make it to the White House. (It is, fittingly, harder to clear foreigners on short notice.) Zemmour told me over bottled water in his suite at the Trump International Hotel in New York about his meetings. They differed on some issues like the Iran war. But, he said, “when we talked, for example, about immigration, you clearly see that there, we’re broadly in agreement.” Ditto “the fight against wokeism,” Zemmour said, adding that he offers “the same analysis as MAGA on the critiques of globalization.” Perhaps the most interesting thing about Zemmour is that he rejects the most basic analysis of American politics — that it’s always about the economy. “The economy, obviously, is important, but it’s overcome by the identity divide,” he said.

Blindspot: Names on buildings

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Comedian Bill Maher mocked former President Barack Obama’s presidential library.

What the Right isn’t reading: A tarp will remain over the facade of the Kennedy Center where President Trump’s name was removed, prompting pushback from critics who say it obscures the building from public scrutiny. 

As companies confront declining engagement, rapid technological change, and growing political and regulatory pressures, leaders are reassessing the foundations of performance, trust, and long-term success.

On July 22 in Washington, DC, Semafor will convene The World of Work to examine how executives are navigating workforce transformation, economic volatility, and the evolving demands of leadership.

Through on-the-record conversations, Semafor editors will engage business leaders, policymakers, and innovators, including Katy George, Corporate Vice President, Workforce Transformation, Microsoft; Claire MacIntyre, Chief People Officer, Sam’s Club; Amanda Carroll, Co-Managing Director, Gensler; and more to explore how AI adoption, changing employee priorities, and a shifting business landscape are redefining the future of work.

July 22 | Washington, DC | Request Invite