Category: Politics

(NEW YORK) — Former President Barack Obama is sharing his thoughts on President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran, saying recently that he is skeptical that real progress will be made.

Obama spoke with “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts on Saturday, one day prior to Trump’s announcement that the United States and Iran had reached a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the U.S. naval blockade.

The exact points of the deal remain unclear. A senior administration official told reporters Friday that it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lead to “the dismantling” of Iran’s nuclear program and the U.S. getting Iran’s highly enriched

The expected deal comes eight years after Trump withdrew the U.S. from a previous nuclear agreement with Iran – led by the Obama administration in 2015 – that Trump described at the time of withdrawal as the “worst deal ever.”

In the interview Saturday, ahead of the new deal being announced, Obama told Roberts that he was “doubtful” any deal with Iran put forward by the Trump administration would be “significantly different” from the 2015 deal that his administration put in place.

“It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place and had worked for, for a long stretch of time before we, the United States, pulled out of it,” Obama told Roberts in the interview, which took place at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

Obama also expressed hope that the fighting in the region would come to an end and urged policymakers to prioritize diplomacy over military action.

“I’m hopeful that bombing stops and ordinary people are no longer suffering as a consequence of the war,” he continued. “Then in retrospect it’s a reminder that on a lot of difficult foreign policy problems — the notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions — may sometimes seem appealing, but the fact of the matter is that taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don’t solve 100% of the problem but solve 80%, 90% of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war.”

“You’d think we would’ve learned that lesson by now,” he continued. “But it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again.”

Trump first announced “major combat operations” against Iran on Feb. 28, with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.

After an initial ceasefire and unsuccessful U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan in April, negotiations continued as the ceasefire was extended.

Following Trump’s June 14 announcement on social media that a new deal had been reached, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi confirmed the deal had been finalized and said it would be signed in Switzerland on Friday.

“All of our positions and important issues are included in the draft understanding,” Gharibabadi said in a statement to Iranian state media.

Tune into “Good Morning America” on Wednesday, June 17, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on ABC for more of Robin Roberts’ interview with former President Barack Obama.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Immediately after celebrating his 80th birthday with Sunday’s UFC fight on the White House South Lawn, President Donald Trump is expected to head to France to meet with top global superpowers at the annual G7 summit.

Held in Évian-les-Bains, France from June 15 to 17, this will be the president’s fifth time attending the conference in person and comes amid heightened global turmoil, with the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine expected to loom large over the summit’s economic and geopolitical agenda.

This is the first time the G7 leaders are meeting in-person since the start of the U.S.-Iran war, which has now reached its 15th week and continues to impact the global economy, with increases in fossil fuel and oil and gas prices. The war had caught U.S. allies off guard and some were unwilling to heed the president’s requests for help, which has created tensions between Trump and some G7 leaders.

There is expected to be a focus on the Middle East, with Trump scheduled to participate in bilateral meetings with Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, according to a senior administration official.

While the past week saw significant military escalation between the U.S. and Iran, Trump said Sunday that the two countries had reached an agreement that would open the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the global oil supply passes through.

During the G7 summit last year, Trump left one day early because of the growing conflict between Israel and Iran, and that weekend launched Operation Midnight Hammer against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Like last year, leaders are also looking to secure lasting peace in Ukraine. It has been 4 1/2 years since Russia invaded Ukraine, but the war is escalating, especially with Ukraine’s expansion of long-range drone attacks against Russia. Trump repeatedly promised that he personally could end the Russia-Ukraine war on the first day of his presidency and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues to seek more assistance from allies.

Zelenskyy will meet with G7 leaders on Tuesday, according to a senior administration official, but there is no one-on-one meeting currently scheduled with Trump. Ukraine was also not listed as one of the U.S. goals for the summit, though the administration emphasizes that resolving the conflict remains one of the president’s “top priorities.”

The other six countries that comprise the G7 coalition include France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom, but leaders of other countries are often also invited to the annual conference, with Zelenskyy reportedly expected to be in attendance.

During a background call previewing the trip, a senior White House administration official said Trump’s goals include addressing “economic growth and development, supply chain resilience, illegal immigration and artificial intelligence,” in addition to boosting investment partnerships.

Upon assuming his second term, Trump has strained his relationship with the other G7 leaders. In addition to prompting other countries to question his actions in Iran, the president has distanced the U.S. from top allies over his rhetoric towards NATO, his tariffs and his ambitions in acquiring Greenland, to name a few issues.

The conference was originally scheduled to begin on Sunday. Officials did not comment on whether the president’s birthday plans for that day played a role in shifting the G7 schedule forward.  

On the final day of the summit on Wednesday, Trump is expected to travel to Paris to have dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles before heading back to Washington.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Friday denied the Department of Justice’s request to lift an order requiring the removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center.

The Trump administration still faces a deadline of Friday to remove Trump’s name from the building.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — As UFC fans descend on Washington, D.C., for Freedom 250 on Sunday and events surrounding it Friday and Saturday, security will also be strict, according to the top Secret Service agent for D.C.

UFC Freedom 250 has been designated a Special Event Assessment Review 1 event, like the Super Bowl, Indianapolis 500, Kentucky Derby and college football games, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Entrance to the South Lawn of the White House, where the UFC Octagon has been erected, is invitation-only for some 4,000 guests. The larger crowd will be watching on The Ellipse, outside the White House grounds.

The UFC Fan Fest and Watch Party on the Ellipse is free, but tickets are required and fans will have to pass through TSA-like screening, according to Tara McLeese, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Washington Field Office.

“Come early, don’t bring large bags, TSA-like security screening,” McLeese told ABC News.

Federal law prohibits flying drones in the airspace over the National Capital Region, so McLeese’s advice for fans is to “leave their drones at home.”

“We will have law enforcement drones for overwatch, but just to make it simple for the public, if they see a drone, we want them to report that,” she said.

The fight on the South Lawn and viewing on The Ellipse kick off a summer of events in the nation’s capital, many celebrating America’s 250th birthday.

“The public safety team here in the Washington, D.C., area is second to none. We have a lot of big events in D.C., and it’s very much a collaborative effort, a team effort here in D.C.,” McLeese said. The Secret Service is partnering with U.S. Park Police for security.

For the first time, the annual 4th of July fireworks display on the National Mall will be designated a National Special Security Event, with security levels on par with presidential inaugurations. The event is something Secret Service is also “very focused on,” McLeese said, adding that people attending the celebration will also have to pass through TSA-like screening.

In years past “you could just walk up and put a lawn chair and a blanket out. That will be different this year,” she said. “You won’t be able to just show up. There will be specific places, designated places to go through security before you can get on the Mall.”

The Secret Service uniformed division and agents have been involved in three shootings in the past two months — the first at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner when a gunman allegedly attempted to get through the screening area with a firearm, the second in which a man allegedly fired on a unformed officer near the Washington Monument and then days later a man allegedly opened fire on uniformed officers over Memorial Day weekend.

“I can tell you that our workforce is training every day, that we are hyper-focused on ensuring that we are ready to respond to any type of threat or attack that comes our way,” McLeese said.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The House and Senate on Thursday failed to pass last-minute, short-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire on Friday.

The House failed to pass a three-week extension of the spy program in a 198-218 vote, well short of the two-thirds majority needed. Nineteen House Republicans voted against the bill. Seven House Democrats voted in favor of it.

In the Senate, three separate efforts to unanimously pass short-term extensions of FISA authorities also failed.

The House and Senate are expected to now leave town as it grows increasingly likely that FISA’s legal authorization will lapse for the first time in the program’s history.

Efforts on Capitol Hill to renew FISA stalled after President Donald Trump tapped Bill Pulte to be acting director of national intelligence. Democrats in the House and Senate are opposed to Pulte, arguing the director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency does not have any national intelligence experience.

Pulte is also known in the Trump administration for launching probes into several of the president’s perceived political enemies over allegations of mortgage fraud and possible misuse of authority. Targets of the investigations include Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney GeneralLetitia James, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell. They’ve all denied wrongdoing.

The Department of Justice had at one point investigated whether Pulte and his team were interfering in ongoing investigations. Pulte has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

“Today, we just offered a simple, clean, three-week extension of the FISA national security law. The Democrats, 199 of them, voted against a clean, three-week extension for political purposes,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the failed vote. “And when the bill went down, they applauded it.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune led an effort to extend the program for one singular week until Pulte is installed to replace Tulsi Gabbard, who announced last month she was stepping down from the post.

“This is a program that saves American lives. And I have to ask the question: I can’t for the life of me figure out why the Democrats continue to support policies that make this country less safe,” Thune said.

House Minority Hakeem Jeffries called Thursday’s vote a “show vote” from Republicans.

“Bill Pulte has no national security experience, no law enforcement experience and no military experience,” Jeffries said. “So, it is highly irresponsible to try to elevate Bill Pulte, as we’ve made publicly clear repeatedly to Republicans and to the administration.”

Speaker Johnson met with Trump twice this week to try to hammer out a FISA deal.

Trump on Wednesday repeated his praise for Pulte, who will take over as intelligence chief for Tulsi Gabbard following her resignation, despite the challenges his temporary appointment presented for FISA.

“He’s going to do a good job,” Trump told reporters. “He’s going to be there for a very short period of time. He will be superseded and replaced by somebody that’s going to have the job permanently.”

Trump on Thursday afternoon, after the FISA votes failed on Capitol Hill, announced a new permanent pick for director of national intelligence: Jay Clayton.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump announced on Thursday a permanent pick to head the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, after the uproar over his temporary pick risked derailing the renewal of a key surveillance law.

Trump said that he is nominating the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton to head the intelligence agency. 

“I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

Trump’s announcement comes after both the House and Senate earlier Thursday failed to pass extensions of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire at the end of the day Friday.

The reauthorization of the spy program was muddied by Trump’s choice of Bill Pulte to serve as acting director after Tulsi Gabbard announced her resignation. Pulte drew bipartisan concern on Capitol Hill over his lack of previous experience in national security and intelligence. 

ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott asked Trump on Thursday about Pulte continuing to serve as acting director given his lack of intelligence experience.

“He’s only there for a little while. He’s running it for a short while we get a very talented person, Jay Clayton, in,” Trump said in the Oval Office.

Apart from the national security cases he oversaw while serving as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Clayton also lacks experience in intelligence gathering and national security matters. 

Clayton spent the bulk of his career as a corporate attorney, and prior to his appointment as U.S. attorney last year, lacked meaningful experience in criminal matters. 

He has spent the last year overseeing one of the country’s highest profile federal prosecutor’s offices — focusing on drugs, gangs, immigration and fraud cases — and was also tapped to lead an investigation that Trump directly called for into high-profile Democrats such Bill Clinton, Larry Summers and Reid Hoffman’s alleged associations with Epstein. Nothing appears to have resulted from that investigation, and earlier this year acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department did not have any active cases into Epstein associates. 

Clayton also oversaw the unsealing of grand jury materials related to Epstein, prompting complaints from victims about the disclosure of their sensitive personal information. The Justice Department’s push to unseal those materials resulted in little new information about the investigations into Epstein and was criticized by judges as a largely performative effort while the DOJ refused to release their own materials. 

Clayton’s office has brought the first two prosecutions of insider trading on prediction markets, including cases against a special forces soldier and Google employee, putting his office at the center of the debate about how to govern the sites that critics say are rife with insider trading. 

Clayton was never confirmed by the Senate as U.S. attorney, though his nomination was approved by the federal judges in the district and was seen by many as a steady hand to lead the high-profile office. He was, however, the subject of criticism earlier this week when he appeared on CNBC and opined about baseless claims of election fraud in California. 

“There’s a great phrase, ‘opportunity for fraud,'” Clayton said, criticizing the state’s mail-in voting laws.  

Clayton spent most of his career at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, where he represented hedge funds, wealthy investors, large banks and massive corporations such as Deutsche Bank, UBS and Alibaba Group. Clayton represented Goldman Sachs during the 2008 financial crisis and Barclays when it purchased Lehman Brothers’ assets out of bankruptcy.

During Trump’s first administration, Clayton led the SEC, cracking down on cryptocurrencies and winning $14 billion in monetary remedies, including returning $3.5 billion to investors. While he championed the “long-term interests of the Main Street investor,” Clayton also pushed deregulations — such as removing the requirement that hedge funds publish stock positions and loosening the rules for corporate auditors — that critics said weakened investor protections. 

While Clayton generally avoided the political spotlight while at the SEC, a June 2020 proposal to nominate Clayton to serve as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York briefly resulted in political turmoil. The sitting U.S. attorney, Geoffrey Berman, refused to leave his post after then-Attorney General Bill Barr announced he would be replaced by Clayton. The standoff was resolved with Berman’s deputy taking over the position, and Clayton continued to lead the SEC. 

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump announced on Thursday a new permanent pick to head the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Trump said that he is nominating the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton to head the intelligence agency.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The House on Thursday failed to pass a last-minute, short-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire on Friday.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Soon after President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday that the United States has been secretly ferrying “millions of barrels” of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, Trump announced on social media that “more than 100 MILLION Barrels of Oil” and “more than 200 Commercial Ships” have successfully traveled through the strait.

“Last month, I directed our Great U.S. Military to execute a secret mission to support Oil Tankers and other Commercial Ships through the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.

“Today, I am pleased to announce that this effort has resulted in more than 100 MILLION Barrels of Oil making its way through the Straight, and into the Open Market. More than 200 Commercial Ships have safely traveled through the Strait.”

The president referred to it as a “secret mission” that he says was conducted last month amid the ongoing war with Iran, which has led the strait to be closed to regular commercial shipping.

ABC News could not immediately verify the accuracy of Trump’s claims and the numbers of oil barrels and ships that he claims have passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

Earlier Wednesday, in the Oval Office, Trump alluded to apparent U.S. operations to stimulate shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, with Trump claiming that the U.S. recently “took” 22 ships, amounting to millions of barrels of oil, through the strait. 

“Do you know, we’ve been taking out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knows it. You know who doesn’t know about it? Iran, until right now. We took out the other night 22 ships late at night with no lights, because they don’t have any radar, because we blasted the crap out of it,” Trump said.

In his post Wednesday afternoon, Trump referred to the alleged operation as a “wildly successful effort” that is due to the U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. 

“This wildly successful effort is because the UNITED STATES of AMERICA CONTROLS the Strait of Hormuz — NOT Iran,” Trump wrote. 

Since last month, there have been reports of the U.S. Navy helping ships navigate through the Strait of Hormuz — though U.S. officials have said that the efforts have not been a revival of Project Freedom, the short-lived U.S. military initiative to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump announced Project Freedom in early May — pausing the effort just two days later.

Rather, this most recent effort was a coordination effort where shippers could contact U.S. Central Command and in turn, receive information about where to transit through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a U.S. official.

The coordination effort was first reported by The New York Times.

ABC News confirmed the Times’ report that, as of late last month, approximately 70 commercial ships had been guided through the strait. In addition to the U.S. coordinating safe passageways, the Times reported that many of the vessels traveling through the strait had turned off their transponders to “avoid detection.”

During the Oval Office event earlier Wednesday afternoon, Trump had also indicated that he was choosing to reveal this “secret” mission now because the Iranians had “figured it out.”

“But now I’m going to tell you, because they just figured it out. So now that they figured it out, I can tell you it was very hard for me. I wanted to say it so bad, but it was. I didn’t want to ruin it, but it was very hard,” Trump said. 

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — To complete Donald Trump’s “Triumphal Arch” by the time he leaves office, the National Park Service plans to have construction take place 20 hours per day over the next two to three years, according to planning documents released by the Department of the Interior. 

The National Park Service last week released designs, renderings and reports related to the planned arch as it seeks public comment about the controversial addition to the D.C. skyline. 

“Because the Arch is intended to celebrate 250 years of American independence. … smaller heights were not considered representative of this milestone, unlike the 250-foot Arch proposed in the undertaking,” one of the reports said about the size of the project.

The project is being challenged in federal court, though lawsuits challenging the arch, and other projects like Trump’s White House Ballroom, planned golf course renovations and the repainting and sealing of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool have so far been unsuccessful in stopping work.

Current designs call for the massive arch to be constructed out of concrete and clad with U.S.-sourced granite — a departure from some of the older D.C. monuments which are constructed from marble or limestone. According to planning documents, construction workers will require multiple cranes up to 320-feet tall — taller than the U.S. Capitol building — and other heavy construction equipment, including concrete pumps, forklifts, skid steers and other tools. 

Because the monument will sit near the complicated flight paths for D.C.’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), architects included “aviation required safety lighting” into the design of the arch, using the “least intrusive technology available” to minimize light pollution, according to planning documents.

The FAA recently completed a feasibility study about the arch and concluded it would have “no significant adverse effect on airspace and visual/instrument procedures” for the airport and that it would only require red obstruction lights.

“Career safety experts found no adverse impacts to operations at DCA. Their review determined the only requirement would be the top of the structure would need to be lit with red obstruction lights — a common safety tool,” an FAA spokesperson said in a statement, adding that it will next conduct a full aeronautical study with the National Park Service.

According to the documents, the project will include seven phases of construction over a two-to-three-year period. After workers excavate the site, construction would involve about five months of “continuous heavy equipment operations” to drive the foundation system down about 75 feet to bedrock. The NPS report estimated that removing material for the foundation would require about 30 trucks to move 100 loads of soil per day for months. 

Once the foundation is completed, workers plan to spend about 10 months constructing the primary concrete structure of the arch and then affix granite panels to the concrete.  

“Work would occur year-round, with work occurring in two 10-hour shifts per day (20 hours per day, year-round) for the duration of the construction period,” a NPS report said. 

Around the same timeframe, construction workers will begin to assemble the inner structure of the arch, including stairs, elevators, roofing, plumbing, and electrical work. After about two years of work, plans call for a 300-foot mobile crane to be used to install a gold statue atop the arch. 

The National Park Service said the construction would likely result in significant traffic disruptions around the Arlington Memorial Bridge. 

The design for the arch has not yet been approved by the National Capital Planning Commission. During a hearing last week, the commission asked the Trump administration to address a series of issues with their design, though Trump falsely claimed the design had been approved. 

A group of Vietnam veterans also sued over the arch earlier this year and are asking a federal judge to block the construction, arguing the arch should be approved by Congress. 

“With every passing day, Defendants’ arch moves closer to construction,” they wrote in a recent court filing. 

The Trump administration has argued that a 100-year-old statute related to the building of the nearby Arlington Memorial Bridge authorizes construction of the arch. Department of Justice lawyers have also argued that the plaintiffs lack standing and that the lawsuit is premature. 

“Forcing such disclosures of internal deliberations — before NPS has concluded its decision-making process — would ‘wreak havoc’ on the Executive Branch,” DOJ lawyers wrote in a court filing. 

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.