Talk of the Town
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is putting off signing a bipartisan housing reform bill until Congress passes his SAVE America Act.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(WASHINGTON) — Wednesday’s confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton to be the next director of national intelligence has been postponed, according to Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Tom Cotton, after President Donald Trump pushed for it to be canceled.
“It’s regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today,” Cotton wrote on X. “Mr. Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president has said repeatedly. While today’s hearing is now unfortunately postponed, I look forward to proceeding with his confirmation in the near future.”
Trump, in an early morning social media post, said the confirmation process for Clayton would not continue until his pick to replace Clayton as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, is confirmed.
“Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney,” Trump wrote. “In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence.”
Cotton, a Republican, at first rebuked Trump’s push for a delay, saying the Senate panel would proceed unless Trump specifically directed Clayton not to show or withdrew his nomination altogether.
Trump announced last week he was nominating Clayton to permanently lead ODNI amid backlash from Democrats and Republicans to his appointment of Bill Pulte to be acting director.
Pulte is best 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 General Letitia James, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell. They’ve all denied wrongdoing.
Pulte’s appointment stalled efforts to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — which allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant. The program’s legal authorization lapsed over the weekend.
Trump on Wednesday said that he wanted both his SAVE America Act bill and an extension to FISA to now pass together.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s top Democrat, slammed Trump’s latest moves.
“Trump is twisting himself up in knots and jumping through hoops to make it impossible to reauthorize FISA right now, and he is embarrassing his Republican colleagues in the process,” Schumer said. “Trump can blame Democrats all he wants, but no one is going to believe him.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, when asked Wednesday about the Senate’s path forward on FISA and Clayton’s nomination, said they’re taking a day-by-day approach.
“All I know is that Chairman Cotton is planning to proceed — because you all know with the hearing — and then from there on, we’ll have to take it a day at a time until we get more clarity on kind of what the White House position is on this,” Thune said.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., handed the Trump administration a temporary win on Friday in its attempt to increase federal oversight of elections.
In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals put on hold a lower court ruling, which had blocked the U.S. Postal Service from attempting to restrict mail-in voting.
However, the Trump administration does not yet have a green light to move forward with the proposed rule. A separate judge in Massachusetts blocked the policy last month, and that injunction still stands.
The cases center on a proposed rule from the U.S. Postal Service that sought to compel states to create lists of approved voters, as well as impose stricter regulations on mail-in ballots.
Last month, Postmaster General David Steiner told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that under the proposed rule, the Postal Service would refuse to deliver mail-in ballots in states that do not turn over their voter lists.
“Yes or no — if a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list over to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots under this proposed rule?” asked Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.
“Under our proposed regulation, no. We would tell the state that we need the manifest,” Steiner said.
The NAACP, which brought the lawsuit, had previously sued the Postal Service in 2020, seeking to challenge delays in delivering mail-in ballots heading into that year’s presidential election. The two sides settled in 2021, with the Postal Service agreeing to “prioritiz[e] . . . the timely delivery of Election Mail” for every national election through 2028.
In Friday’s ruling, the appeals court said the Trump administration is likely to succeed because the lawsuit is premature — since the rule itself is not yet finalized — and not covered by a 2021 settlement between the NAACP and Postal Service.
The appeals court also said the Trump administration demonstrated they would be irreparably harmed if the Postal Service can’t finalize and implement the rule in time for the midterms.
“In this context, ‘there can be no do over’ once the election occurs,” the ruling said.
While the Trump administration cannot yet move forward with the new rule, the D.C. Circuit’s ruling signals that the Trump administration may be able convince other appeals courts to let them implement the policy while the lawsuits move through the courts — potentially past the November elections.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump will attend the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner Friday night, the White House said, after the annual dinner ended abruptly three months ago when shots rang out.
“Alongside all of you members of the media, the president looks forward to finishing what he started before a despicable assassination attempt derailed the original event back in April,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday.
The spring dinner devolved into chaos after authorities say Cole Allen opened fire inside the Washington Hilton hotel, where thousands of journalists and guests gathered for the annual celebration of the First Amendment. The president and top government officials were also in attendance.
Allen pleaded not guilty in May to charges of attempting to assassinate the president, transportation of a firearm with intent to commit a felony, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence and assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon.
Secret Service officer Victor Gonzales was shot in the incident, but the bullet struck “his protective vest and [he] continued responding to the threat,” the Secret Service said.
Sean Curran, the Secret Service director, said in a briefing on Wednesday that the agency measures worked in April and that they are preparing for Friday’s rescheduled dinner.
Friday’s dinner is taking place at a different Washington, D.C., hotel, the Waldorf Astoria on Pennsylvania Avenue.
“We will always evaluate every site and, right now, we have an advance team there and they will take back and they will set up a plan to set that site up for success just like we did at the White House correspondents’ dinner at the Hilton,” Curran said.
The White House Correspondents’ Association announced on Tuesday that it will present a special award, the President’s Award for Exceptional Service, during Friday night’s dinner to Gonzales and the staff of the Washington Hilton.
“Officer Gonzales played a significant role when he ran toward danger so that thousands of others could make it home safely,” Weijia Jiang, who presided over the April dinner as WHCA president, said in a statement. “His courage stemmed from a dedication to service, which we are looking forward to honoring this week.”
Jiang said the Hilton staff is being recognized for their “professionalism and commitment to service” by continuing to “take care of guests” after experiencing the “harrowing situation” themselves.
The shooting took place before the scheduled program that features the presentation of journalism awards, remarks from the president, and entertainment from an invited headliner. This year’s entertainer was mentalist Oz Pearlman, who will be back for the redo dinner, the association said.
The association added that it was determined “to finish the program that was interrupted.”
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.