House passes Trump’s major tax cut and spending bill
House of Representatives
(WASHINGTON) — The House has passed President Trump’s major tax cut and spending bill in a 218 to 214 vote.
The legislation will now go to President Trump’s desk for his signature.
The final vote came after an overnight scramble by Speaker Mike Johnson to secure the necessary GOP votes to proceed, and then a record-breaking speech from House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries that lasted for 8 hours and 44 minutes.
No changes were made by the House to the Senate version of the bill, despite some grumbling from House Republican hardliners over the Senate changes to Medicaid and the deficit. Some of those holdouts say President Trump made promises to get their votes, including saying he’d make the bill “better” in the future.
(LOS ANGELES) — There are currently 4,100 California National Guardsmen and 700 Marines in the greater Los Angeles area after President Donald Trump ordered them to protect federal buildings and federal law enforcement as protests opposed to ICE raids increased over the weekend.
Most of the attention has been focused on the crowd control assistance that these troops could provide around federal buildings, but Trump’s memo calling up National Guardsmen also said they would “temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law.”
On Tuesday, the X page for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) posted photos of California National Guardsmen on the scene of a detention being carried out by an ICE agent with the caption “Photos from today’s ICE Los Angeles immigration enforcement operation.”
One of the photos was later reposted by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s personal X account with the caption “This We’ll Defend.”
A U.S. official told ABC News that the photos showed National Guardsmen providing force protection to federal personnel and were not conducting law enforcement duties.
The Posse Comitatus Act prevents active-duty U.S. military personnel from carrying out domestic law enforcement duties though that restriction can be lifted when a president invokes the Insurrection Act, which President Trump has not done.
In the photos, the National Guardsmen were armed with rifles but it was unclear if they were loaded with ammunition. ABC News has previously reported that while the federalized troops are carrying weapons, their guns will not have ammunition loaded in the chamber, according to U.S. officials. But they will carry ammunition as part of their regular uniforms that can be used in the rare case of needed self-defense.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state of California have asked a federal court to stop the Trump administration from using federalized National Guardsmen and Marines to accompany ICE agents on immigration raids saying it will “escalate tensions” and raises questions if the force protection they are providing constitutes law enforcement duties which they are not allowed to do by federal law.
“Defendants intend to use unlawfully federalized National Guard troops and Marines to accompany federal immigration enforcement officers on raids throughout Los Angeles,” said the lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta on behalf of Newsom. “They will work in active concert with law enforcement, in support of a law enforcement mission, and will physically interact with or detain civilians.”
“To preserve the peace, Plaintiffs respectfully urge the Court to grant the circumscribed emergency relief requested through this motion for a temporary restraining order, which will prevent the use of federalized National Guard and active duty Marines for law enforcement purposes on the streets of a civilian city,” the motion requested.
A hearing on the state’s motion will be held on Thursday.
On Tuesday, Hegseth told a congressional committee that he and President Trump have the power to send National Guard and active-duty troops anywhere in the country to ensure that ICE agents can enforce the law.
“We believe that ICE, which is a federal law enforcement agency, has the right to safely conduct operations in any state, in any jurisdiction in the country,” Hegseth told a House Appropriations Defense subcommittee.
“ICE ought to be able to do its job, whether it’s Minneapolis or Los Angeles,” he added.
On Wednesday, testifying before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, Hegseth again defended using troops with ICE agents on immigration raids, saying it was needed to keep them from being attacked.
Democratic Sen. Jack Reed shot back, calling it “illegal.”
“Law and order is a civil function under the Constitution of the United States — civil enforcement, law enforcement authorities — not the U.S. military,” Reed said.
“This is not only, I think, illegal, but also a diminution of the readiness and focus of the military,” he added.
(WASHINGTON) — The world is waiting for President Donald Trump’s decision on whether the U.S. will join Israel in military action to wipe out Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
As he weighs his options, Trump is being squeezed by different pressures from forces at home and abroad.
The president huddled with advisers in the Situation Room twice already this week, and was set to do so again on Thursday. He approved attack plans presented to him but was waiting to see if Iran would be willing to negotiate and hasn’t made a final decision, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Moving ahead with military action would be a departure from Trump’s “America First” campaign pledge to keep the U.S. out of foreign entanglements. The possibility he may do so has prompted a sharp rift in his Republican base of supporters.
Hawkish members of the GOP are pushing for Trump to take aggressive action rather than pursue diplomacy. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, during an interview on Fox News earlier this week, said the U.S. needs to “finish the job” with Iran.
Meanwhile, hugely popular MAGA media figures like Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon who helped propel Trump’s movement in 2016 and in 2024 are calling for restraint.
A poll out on Wednesday from Fox News found voters split on the issues Trump is facing. A majority of registered voters surveyed believe Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear program would result in more danger. But a majority also believes Iran poses a national security threat to the U.S.
Trump, in response to the disagreement among his base, says his supporters are “more in love” with him than ever.
Democrats in Congress are raising their own concerns over Trump’s war power authority. Sen Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, moved to limit Trump’s powers by introducing a floor resolution that would require approval from Congress before the U.S. could get involved in a military conflict with Iran.
On the world stage, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to press Trump to join the fray, arguing it’s in America’s interest.
“Today, it’s Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it’s New York. Look, I understand ‘America First’. I don’t understand ‘America Dead.’ That’s what these people want,” Netanyahu told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl last week.
Netanyahu pointedly added, “We’re not just fighting our enemy. We’re fighting your enemy. For God’s sake, they chant, “death to Israel, death to America.” We’re simply on their way. And this could reach America soon.”
Iran, however, and its allies (Russia and China) are pushing against U.S. involvement. Tehran has warned any action would be met with retaliation.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday: “The Americans should know, the Iranian nation will not surrender, and any intervention by the U.S. will be met with a forceful response and irreparable damage.”
“War will be met with war, bombing with bombing, and strike with strike. Iran will not submit to any demands or dictates,” Khamenei said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, testifying before a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday, said the U.S. military was “ready and prepared” to carry out any decision Trump will make.
Hegseth told lawmakers that Trump “has options and is informed of what those options might be, and what the ramifications of those options might be.” He also said that “maximum force protection at all times is being maintained” for American troops in the region.
Trump offered a clue into his decision-making process as he took reporter questions in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon.
“I like to make the final decision one second before it’s due, because things change, especially with war,” the president said.
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats walked out before Republicans voted on Thursday to advance President Donald Trump’s nomination of Emil Bove — the controversial top Justice Department official who formerly served as Trump’s defense attorney — to a seat on the powerful Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
The Democrats left before Republicans forced the vote for Bove’s lifetime appointment on the appeals court that oversees districts in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Bove has repeatedly drawn criticism from Democrats in the opening six months of Trump’s presidency for cultivating a reputation as one of President Trump’s chief enforcers at DOJ.
The Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to advance Bove means he will next face a vote in the full Senate.
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker spoke furiously from the dais, pleading with Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley to allow further debate on Bove’s nomination, but Grassley declined.
“What are you afraid of about even debating this?” Booker asked Grassley.
“Sir, with all appeals to your decency, with all appeals to your integrity, with all appeals to past jurisdictions and past precedent, why are you doing this?” Booker asked.
More than 900 former Justice Department employees sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday urging lawmakers to vote down Bove’s nomination.
He has fired scores of one-time career officials at Main Justice and the FBI, including prosecutors who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations of Trump as well as the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Bove also was at the center of the department’s controversial decision to drop the federal corruption case against New York Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, which led to the resignations of multiple prosecutors who argued the effort appeared to be a ‘quid pro quo’ to secure Adams’ cooperation with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions.
Adams and Bove have both denied any such “quid pro quo” arrangement, but in agreeing to drop the charges the federal judge overseeing Adams’ case dinged the Justice Department writing, “Everything here smacks of a bargain.”
“Mr. Bove’s trampling over institutional norms in this case, and in others, sent shockwaves through the ranks — cratering morale, triggering mass departures, and eroding the effectiveness of DOJ’s vital work,” the prosecutors wrote of Bove’s actions. “Prosecutorial authority carries profound consequences on individuals’ lives and the integrity of our public institutions; wielding it without impartiality is a flagrant abuse of that power.”
More recently, however, Bove’s actions have come under scrutiny as the subject of a whistleblower complaint by fired DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni, who has accused Bove and other top DOJ officials of repeatedly discussing how they could potentially disobey court orders that seek to restrict the Trump administration’s immigration actions.
Reuveni’s complaint alleged that in one meeting Bove suggested saying “f— you” to courts who may try to block deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
During his confirmation hearing, Bove disputed much of Reuveni’s complaint — though he only said he could “not recall” using such an expletive to describe their response to a court order.
“Each one of the undersigned would testify, under oath, that we have never — and would never — tell a Justice Department attorney to consider defying a court order,” the letter said. “Moreover, the Justice Department’s later defiance of judicial mandates in the cases where Mr. Bove previewed doing so further suggests that disregarding court orders was Mr. Bove’s intent all along.”
Republicans on the committee rushed to Bove’s defense in the wake of the whistleblower complaint, and accused Reuveni of partnering with Democrats in seeking to tank Bove’s nomination by filing it with the committee just 24 hours before he was set to appear publicly before them.
Responding to the former DOJ officials’ letter Wednesday, department official Brian Nieves attacked Justice Connection as a “political hit squad masquerading as a support network” and said “they certainly don’t speak for DOJ.”
“They speak for a bitter faction angry they no longer call the shots,” said Nieves, a deputy chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Their attacks on Emil Bove are dishonest, coordinated, and disgraceful.”
