Thomas Massie says he feels ‘misled’ by Trump after Iran strikes: ‘He’s engaged in war’
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Thomas Massie is accusing President Donald Trump of falling short of his campaign pledges with his Saturday night strikes on Iran. “I feel a bit misled,” Massie told Fox News Digital in a Sunday afternoon interview. “I didn’t think he would let neocons determine his foreign policy and drag us into another war.” “Other people feel the same way, who supported Trump — I think the political danger to him is he induces a degree of apathy in the Republican base, and they fail to show up to keep us in the majority in the midterms.” Massie, a conservative libertarian who has long been wary of foreign intervention by the U.S., has been one of the most vocal critics of the Trump administration’s recent operation. RUBIO DECLARES IRAN’S DAYS OF ‘PLAYING THE WORLD’ OVER AFTER TRUMP’S DECISIVE STRIKE U.S. stealth bombers struck three major nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran Saturday night. Trump and other GOP leaders hailed the operation as a victory, while even pro-Israel Democrats also offered rare praise. “Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” Trump said Saturday night. “And Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not. future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.” But progressives and the growing isolationist wing of the GOP blasted it as a needless escalation of tensions in the Middle East, at a time when Israel has been engaged in a weeklong conflict with Iran as well. Top officials up to Trump himself have said the U.S. is not seeking war with Iran. Vice President JD Vance told NBC News’ “Meet The Press” Sunday, “We’re not at war with Iran. We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program.” Massie told Fox News Digital those assurances were “ludicrous.” DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS CRITICIZE ISRAEL’S DEFENSIVE STRIKES AGAINST IRAN’S NUCLEAR SITES “He’s engaged in war. We are now a co-belligerent in a hot war between two countries,” the Kentucky Republican said, arguing that conflict separates this action from Trump’s strikes that killed deceased Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. “You can’t say this isn’t an act of war, that it’s a strike outside of a war,” he said. “This is inside, geographically and temporally, of a war.” The Kentucky Republican notably has broken from Trump on several other occasions, and has been one of the few GOP officials to openly clash with the president — particularly on government spending and foreign intervention. He’s co-leading a resolution to prevent the “United States Armed Forces from unauthorized hostilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran” alongside Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., which they introduced days before the strikes. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., is leading a Senate counterpart. Massie noted his team was looking at ways to get the resolution on the House floor — while conceding likely opposition from pro-Israel groups and congressional leaders. “We’re going to try to use the privileges of the House to get this to the floor,” he said. “People were saying, ‘Why did you introduce this resolution? The president’s not going to strike Iran.’ He has struck Iran. And now the the naysayers said, ‘Oh, well, you don’t need this resolution.” ISRAEL-IRAN WAR DIVIDES DEMOCRATS, BUT TRUMP’S DIPLOMACY ALSO SPLITTING REPUBLICANS Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a Sunday morning press conference that the administration properly notified Congress about the strikes within existing statute — even as progressives and some conservatives accuse him of bypassing a co-equal branch of government. “They were notified after the planes were safely out,” Hegseth said. “We complied with the notification requirements of the War Powers Act.” But Massie noted that the same War Powers Act also requires Congress to vote on U.S. military intervention in foreign countries within 60 days, if the conflict continues. “Even if they’re able to circumvent a vote on the resolution that Ro Khanna and I have introduced, we’re going to have to vote at some point if this becomes a protracted engagement,” he said. War powers resolutions can be called up for a House vote after 15 days of inaction by the relevant committee, after the legislation is referred to that committee. When reached for comment, the White House pointed Fox News Digital to Trump’s most recent Truth Social post calling Massie a “grandstander” and threatening to recruit a primary challenger against him. “Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is,” Trump wrote. “Actually, MAGA doesn’t want him, doesn’t know him, and doesn’t respect him. He is a negative force who almost always Votes ‘NO,’ no matter how good something may be.” “MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague! The good news is that we will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him in the Republican Primary, and I’ll be out in Kentucky campaigning really hard. MAGA is not about lazy, grandstanding, nonproductive politicians, of which Thomas Massie is definitely one. Thank you to our incredible military for the AMAZING job they did last night. It was really SPECIAL!!!” Fox News Digital also reached out to Speaker Mike Johnson’s office for comment.
JD Vance says Iranian nuclear program ‘substantially’ set back after ‘precise, surgical’ US strikes
Vice President JD Vance said Sunday that America “is not at war with Iran,” but rather is at war with the Iranian nuclear program, which was “substantially” set back by U.S. strikes. In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Vance praised President Donald Trump’s “decisive action to destroy the program” and expressed an “incredible amount of gratitude” to the U.S. troops, who, he says, flew thousands of miles on a 30-hour non-stop flight, “never touched down on the ground” and dropped a 30,000-pound bomb “on a target about the size of a washing machine.” “No military in the world has the training, the skills, and the equipment to do what these guys did last night,” Vance said. “I know the president and I are both very proud of them, and I think what they did was accomplish a very core American national objective. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapons program. The president’s been very clear about this, and thanks to the bravery and competence and skill of our great pilots and everybody who supported this mission, we took a major step forward for that national objective last night.” Vance was hesitant to disclose too much sensitive information about the mission, which reportedly involved 125 aircraft. THE MISSING MULLAH: IRAN’S ‘SUPREME LEADER’ A NO-SHOW FOR NEGOTIATIONS, THEN HID AS US POUNDED NUKE SITES ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked the vice president, “Can you say definitively that Iran’s nuclear program has now been destroyed?” “I don’t want to get into sensitive intelligence here, but we know that we set the Iranian nuclear program back substantially last night. Whether it’s years or beyond that, we know it’s going to be a very long time before Iran can even build a nuclear weapon if they want to,” Vance said. Pressed on the extent of the damage, the vice president again declined to disclose sensitive intelligence but added, “I feel extremely confident, and I can say to the American people with great confidence that they are much further away from a nuclear program today than they were 24 hours ago.” “That was the objective of the mission – to destroy that Fordow nuclear site – and, of course, do some damage to the other sites as well,” he said. “But we feel very confident that the Fordow nuclear site was substantially set back and that was our goal.” Vance separately told NBC’s “Meet The Press” that the U.S. had engaged in a diplomatic process with the Iranians to no avail until around mid-May when Trump then “decided to issue some private ultimatums to the Iranians.” ISRAEL RECOVERS REMAINS OF THREE MORE BODIES “My message to the Iranians is it would be the stupidest thing in the world,” Vance said about potential retaliation after the U.S. strikes. “If you look at what happened last night, we had an incredibly targeted, precise surgical strike on the nuclear facilities that are the target of the American operation. Our national interest is for Iran to not get a nuclear weapon. Our strikes last night facilitated that national objective. If the Iranians want to enlarge this by attacking American troops, I think that would be a catastrophic mistake.” Vance reiterated how Trump mentioned in his late Saturday night address from the White House that the United States wants Iran to give up their nuclear program peacefully – but allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon remains off the table. “There is no way that the United States is going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon. And so they really have to choose a pathway,” Vance told ABC. “Are they going to go down the path of continued war, of funding terrorism, of seeking a nuclear weapons? Or are they going work with us to give up nuclear weapons permanently? If they’re willing to choose the smart path, they’re certainly going to find a willing partner in the United States to dismantle that nuclear weapons program.” He also issued a warning. “But if they decide they’re going to attack our troops, if they decide they’re going to continue to try to build a nuclear weapon. Then we are going to respond to that with overwhelming force. So really, what happens next is up to the Iranians.” Trump warned Saturday that “any retaliation by Iran against the United States of America will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight.” The U.S. military carried out “massive precision strikes” on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan,” which Trump said for years carried on a “horribly destructive enterprise” and have now been “completely and totally obliterated.”
‘Squad’ erupts in fury as Trump takes bold action against Iranian nuclear threat
Members of the congressional “Squad” unleashed sharp criticism of President Donald Trump after he ordered a barrage of missile and bomb strikes on Iranian nuclear sites late Saturday. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., was the most vocal of all, tweeting several times about the offensive. Responding to cryptocurrency exchange CEO Arjun Sethi’s comment about U.S. “elites” being most united by war “especially against Muslims in the Middle East,” Tlaib remarked, “Yep and it’s so f—ing sick.” “President Trump sending US troops to bomb Iran without the consent of Congress is a blatant violation of the Constitution. The American people do not want another forever war,” Tlaib added in a separate message. US MILITARY TROOPS IN MIDDLE EAST COULD FACE INCREASED THREATS AMID IRAN CONFLICT “Instead of listening to the American people, Trump is listening to War Criminal Netanyahu who lied about Iraq and is lying once again about Iran. Congress must act immediately to exert its war powers and stop this unconstitutional war.” She also retweeted right-wing Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who had commented “this (strike) is not constitutional.” Squad Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., echoed Tlaib’s concerns about “endless war,” and called Trump and Netanyahu “warmongers.” “It is the people who suffer the illegal & irresponsible actions of authoritarian leaders,” she said. “Only Congress has the power to declare war. We must act to protect our safety and shared humanity.” Rep. Gregorio Casar, D-Texas, a newer member of the far-left congressional group, claimed it is “illegal” for Trump to act as he did. “Congress should immediately pass a War Powers Resolution to block Trump from carrying out an unconstitutional war,” the Austin lawmaker said. “My entire adult life, politicians have promised that new wars in the Middle East would be quick and easy. Then they sent other people’s children to fight and die endlessly. Enough.” The most recognizable Squad member, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called Trump’s decision “disastrous” and said striking Iran without congressional authorization “a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers.” LAWMAKERS, MEDIA DINGED FOR BLAMING TRUMP OR RIPPING ISRAEL ON IRAN: ‘YOU THINK KAMALA COULD’VE STOPPED THEM?’ “He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations,” Ocasio-Cortez went on, adding that Trump has established clear “grounds for impeachment.” Though not a member of the Squad, Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., also made an impeachment call Saturday. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., reiterated other Squad members’ criticisms, adding Trump “reckless(ly) escalate(ed)” the conflict between Israel and Iran. “Congress must vote immediately on Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Tim Kaine’s War Powers resolutions when we return to session.” Omar also shared a quote from Bill Clinton, saying prior to the strike that Trump should “diffuse” the situation and that Netanyahu has “long wanted to fight Iran.” ‘WAR CRIMINAL NETANYAHU’: ‘SQUAD’ MEMBERS ERUPT OVER ISRAEL’S ‘RECKLESS’ STRIKE ON IRAN Rep. Ayanna Pressley, the Boston lawmaker who also identifies with the Squad, said Trump violated the Constitution and risking innocent lives. In Pittsburgh, Rep. Summer Lee said Trump is “acting fully outside of his authority and is once again trampling on the Constitution.” “This is an illegal and terrifying escalation. Dropping bombs on Iran brings us closer to war, not peace, and he is putting millions of lives at stake. Congress must immediately pass our War Powers Resolution to rein him in.” Lee mocked Trump as “your hypocritical ‘anti-war’ president who just illegally struck Iran and is putting countless lives at risk.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Later Saturday, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said the Squad and others crying out about the War Powers Act, saying that courts have ruled it refers to deploying troops, not what Trump has done. “If we are attacked, the commander-in-chief has the authority and ability to protect Americans at home and abroad if we feel threatened or attacked,” Mullin said. “He’s keeping America safe,” he told “Hannity.”
Pentagon flexes US military’s decoys and strategic deception that took Iran and world by surprise
The U.S. military and Trump administration leveraged strategic deception and decoys to carry out the surprise and successful strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities Saturday evening that took the world by surprise after President Donald Trump indicated such an operation could unfold in the coming weeks, not necessarily days. Trump announced the Saturday evening strikes on Iran in a Truth Social post that was not preceded by media leaks or speculation that strikes were imminent. The unexpected social media post was followed just hours later by a brief Trump address to the nation while flanked by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. The strikes, which the administration has described as an overwhelming success that obliterated Iranian nuclear facilities and backed the nation into a corner to make a peace deal, were celebrated by Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine as ones that were cloaked in secrecy and intentionally deceptive to confuse the enemy. “At midnight Friday into Saturday morning, a large B-2 strike package comprised of bombers launched from the continental United States,” Caine said during a Sunday morning press conference from the Pentagon. “As part of the plan to maintain tactical surprise, part of the package proceeded to the west and into the Pacific as a decoy. A deception effort, known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders here in Washington and in Tampa.” HEGSETH, PENTAGON BRASS PRAISE TRUMP’S ‘SPECTACULAR’ MILITARY SUCCESS IN IRAN NUCLEAR STRIKES Ahead of the Saturday evening strikes, six B-2 stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri were en route to a U.S. Air Force base in Guam, U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News. “The main strike package, comprised of seven B-2 spirit bombers, each with two crew members, proceeded quietly to the east with minimal communications,” Caine said. “Throughout the 18-hour flight into the target area, the aircraft completed multiple in-flight refuelings. Once overland, the B-2s linked up with escort and support aircraft in a complex, tightly timed maneuver, requiring exact synchronization across multiple platforms in a narrow piece of airspace, all done with minimal communications.” RETIRED GENERAL TELLS CNN HE’S ‘IMPRESSED’ BY TRUMP STRIKING IRAN, SAYS AMERICAN LIVES POTENTIALLY SAVED Fox News Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin said during a Saturday evening appearance as news broke of the strikes that reports of the bombers were likely part of the “misleading tidbits put out there to suggest that maybe President Trump had had put off the decision.” “Those six B-2 bombers that were heading west toward Guam, they would not have made it to Iran in time to take part in this strike,” she said, while speaking with Fox News’ Bret Baier Saturday evening. “So, that suggests to me that there was an additional B-1 package that perhaps flew eastward from Whiteman Air Force Base. Again, this was all part of the deception. There was a great deal of sort of misleading tidbits put out there to suggest that maybe President Trump had put off the decision and that this would happen two weeks from now.” TRUMP LAUNCHES PRECISION STRIKES AGAINST IRAN. TRIUMPH OR TRAP? Hegseth said in his remarks before the media Sunday morning that the U.S. military had leveraged “misdirection” and total secrecy, aside from top national security officials, to carry out the strikes “without the world knowing at all.” “It involved misdirection and the highest of operational security. Our B-2s went in and out of … these nuclear sites, in and out and back, without the world knowing at all,” Hegseth said. “In that way, it was historic.” It was the longest B-2 spirit bomber mission since 2001, the second-longest B-2 mission ever flown and the largest B-2 operational strike in U.S. history, Hegseth and Caine said during the Sunday press conference. The surprise strikes following Trump saying, via comment delivered by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Thursday during a press briefing, that he would make a decision on Iran within the next two weeks, which initially signaled that such strikes could unfold in the coming weeks and not imminently. “I have a message directly from the president, and I quote, ‘Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,’” Leavitt said at a White House press briefing Thursday, quoting Trump. TRUMP ADDRESSES NATION ON ‘SPECTACULAR MILITARY SUCCESS’ OF US STRIKES ON IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITIES Trump said in his address to the nation late Saturday that “Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated” and that Iran now faces the choice of making peace or facing future attacks. “And Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.” MISDIRECTION AND ‘DECEPTION’ LIKELY KEY IN TRUMP ADMIN’S SURPRISE IRAN STRIKE Trump described the strikes as a “spectacular military success.” “A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan,” he said. “Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number-one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.” “For 40 years, Iran has been saying, ‘Death to America. Death to Israel.’ They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs,” Trump continued. “That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people, and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate in particular.”
Russian leader claims multiple countries prepped to provide Iran nuclear weapons following US strikes
Russia’s former president said that multiple countries are poised to provide Iran with nuclear warheads after the U.S. launched strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities. “The enrichment of nuclear material — and, now we can say it outright, the future production of nuclear weapons — will continue,” Dmitry Medvedev, now the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, said in a Sunday X post. “A number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads,” Medvedev said. Medvedev did not list specific countries that might pitch in and support Iran. However, Russia historically has backed Iran’s nuclear program. Russian President Vladimir Putin also offered to mediate peace talks between Iran and Israel on Wednesday. Moscow also has offered to intervene and help negotiate a nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran. Moscow was involved in the 2015 Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The agreement lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on Iran’s nuclear program, but Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018. IRAN ATTACKS ISRAEL DESPITE US STRIKES ON NUCLEAR SITES, TRUMP CALLS FOR ‘PEACE’ Medvedev’s comments came after the U.S. launched strikes late Saturday targeting key Iranian nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. The mission involved more than 125 U.S. aircraft, including B-2 stealth bombers, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine. President Donald Trump had said for days that he was deliberating whether he would conduct strikes against those sites. The White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding Medvedev’s statements. Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Ministry claimed the strikes violated international law and called for an “end to aggression.” TRUMP ATTACKS IRAN NUCLEAR SITES: ARE OUR TROOPS IN DANGER FROM RETALIATORY STRIKES? “The irresponsible decision to subject the territory of a sovereign state to missile and bomb attacks, whatever the arguments it may be presented with, flagrantly violates international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Sunday. Prior to the strikes, Iran cautioned that the U.S. will suffer if it chooses to become involved in the conflict, and previously issued retaliatory strikes against bases where U.S. troops were housed after the U.S. killed a top Iranian general in 2020. IRAN THREATENS TO HIT US BASES IN THE MIDDLE EAST: WHAT IS THE THREAT LEVEL? Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters Sunday that the U.S. would work with allies in the region to aid in force protection in the aftermath of the strikes. “We certainly understand the challenges of allies in the region,” Hegseth said. “And, we have been respectful and in working in collaboration with them as it pertains to basing and sensitivities there.” “Ultimately, they’ve got a lot of assets and people in those locations also where American troops are co-located. So, that’s a consideration of ours.”
Sen Cotton warns Iran to seek peace, lists targets not yet hit: ‘Do not tempt fate’
The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee said the future of the ongoing conflict involving Iran, Israel and now the United States is “really up to Iran to decide.” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., appeared on ABC’s “This Week” to discuss American strikes against Iran that he said had “severely damaged Iran’s critical nuclear infrastructure.” “The supreme leader and the ayatollahs in Iran need to understand that President Trump means business,” Cotton said. “They have a chance to sue for peace here, to dismantle whatever remnants of their nuclear program remain, and to continue to actually survive, because we haven’t targeted the supreme leader, we haven’t targeted their energy infrastructure, we haven’t targeted other critical infrastructure,” he continued. IN IRAN’S ‘FOREVER WAR’ AGAINST THE US, REGIME HAS TARGETED AND KILLED AMERICANS WORLDWIDE “That’s an implicit message that Iran still has things that they hold dear, that neither the United States nor Israel has struck. Iran needs to heed President Trump’s warning.” When asked by ABC’s Jonathan Karl whether the U.S. would target Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Cotton said he would not “rule any single target in or out,” but made clear that President Donald Trump “does not bluff.” ISRAEL-IRAN WAR DIVIDES DEMOCRATS, BUT TRUMP’S DIPLOMACY ALSO SPLITTING REPUBLICANS “And there are still numerous targets that Iran holds very dear,” Cotton warned. “My message to the supreme leader is: Look at the lessons of history. Do not — do not tempt fate. Do not target Americans. Heed Donald Trump’s warning,” Cotton said. The United States inserted itself into Israel’s war against Iran by dropping multiple “bunker-buster” bombs and firing dozens of missiles at Iranian nuclear facilities Sunday morning local time. TOM COTTON PRESSED ON ‘LANGUAGE’ USED IN ‘SEND IN THE TROOPS’ OP-ED, NATIONAL GUARD PRESENCE Iran lashed out at the U.S. for crossing “a very big red line” with its strikes. “The warmongering and lawless administration in Washington is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far-reaching implications of its act of aggression,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, according to the Associated Press, adding that he would immediately fly to Moscow to coordinate positions with close ally Russia. Fox News’ Laura Garrison and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Gabbard was in Situation Room on Iran, still key player despite Trump saying she was ‘wrong’ on intel
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was inside the Situation Room Saturday when the U.S. military launched successful strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, a White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital Sunday morning. A White House official confirmed Gabbard was in the room Saturday and that she is a “key player” on President Donald Trump‘s national security team. Speculation had mounted there was a rift between Gabbard and Trump after the president told the media Gabbard was “wrong” about intelligence on Iran back in March when she testified before the Senate that the nation was not actively building a nuclear weapon. Photos of the Situation Room released Saturday evening did not show Gabbard present alongside Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and other administration officials. The photos, however, did not include wide shots showing the entire room or each individual present, with the White House confirming the intelligence chief was present. Trump and Gabbard appeared at odds earlier in June, when the president was asked about Gabbard’s testimony before the Senate in March, when she reported intelligence showed Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon. Trump told the media June 16 he did not “care” what Gabbard had to say in previous testimony, arguing he believed Iran was close to building a nuke. ‘SHE’S WRONG’: TRUMP SAYS TULSI GABBARD INCORRECT ABOUT IRAN NOT HAVING NUCLEAR WEAPON CAPABILITIES “You’ve always said that you don’t believe Iran should be able to have a nuclear weapon,” a reporter asked Trump while aboard Air Force One on June 16. “But how close do you personally think that they were to getting one?” “Very close,” Trump responded. Then again Friday, Trump said Gabbard was “wrong” after she reported that Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon. “My intelligence community is wrong,” Trump said when asked about the intelligence community previously reporting that Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon. FLARING IRAN NUCLEAR CRISIS PROVIDES FIRST MAJOR TEST FOR PIVOTAL TRUMP TRIO When Gabbard appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee in March, she delivered a statement on behalf of the intelligence community that included testimony that Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon. “Iran’s cyber operations and capabilities also present a serious threat to U.S. networks and data,” Gabbard told the committee March 26. The intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003,” she said. She did add that “Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.” “Iran will likely continue efforts to counter Israel and press for U.S. military withdrawal from the region by aiding, arming and helping to reconstitute its loose consortium of like-minded terrorist actors, which it refers to as its axis of resistance,” she warned. VANCE DEFENDS GABBARD AS ‘CRITICAL PART’ OF TRUMP TEAM AFTER PRESIDENT DISMISSED IRAN NUKE THREAT COMMENTS However, as critics picked apart Gabbard’s past comments, the White House stressed to Fox Digital that Gabbard and Trump were closely aligned on Iran. A White House official told Fox News Digital on Tuesday afternoon that Trump and Gabbard are closely aligned and that the distinction being raised between Gabbard’s March testimony and Trump’s remarks that Iran is “very close” to getting a nuclear weapon is one without a difference. TRUMP BLOWS OFF GABBARD DOWNPLAYING IRAN NUKE THREAT, BUT WH STILL SAYS PRESIDENT AND INTEL CHIEF ARE IN SYNC The official noted that Gabbard had underscored in her March testimony that Iran had the resources to potentially build a nuclear weapon. Her March testimony reflected intelligence she had received that Iran was not building a weapon at the time but that the country could do so based on the resources it amassed for such an endeavor. Gabbard took to social media and blasted the media for “intentionally” taking her March testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee “out of context.” “The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division,” Gabbard said in a Friday post on X, accompanied by a video clip of her March testimony to Congress. “America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly,” she wrote. “President Trump has been clear that can’t happen, and I agree.” TRUMP ADDRESSES NATION ON ‘SPECTACULAR MILITARY SUCCESS’ OF US STRIKES ON IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITIES Trump announced in a Saturday evening Truth Social post that the U.S. military had carried out strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran, obliterating them. Trump held an address to the nation later Saturday night, describing the strikes as wildly successful and backing Iran into a corner to make a peace deal. “A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan,” Trump said from the White House on Saturday evening. “Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number-one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.” “For 40 years, Iran has been saying, ‘Death to America. Death to Israel.’ They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs,” Trump continued. “That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people, and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate in particular.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for any additional comment on the Sunday strikes, but did not immediately receive a reply. Fox News
AOC, other angry Democrats, call for Trump impeachment over attack on Iran
Progressive champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a handful of other Democrats quickly floated the prospect of impeaching President Donald Trump for launching a military strike on Iran without Congressional authorization. “The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers,” the four-term congresswoman from New York wrote on social media Saturday night, soon after the president announced the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Ocasio-Cortez charged that Trump “has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.” CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS LIVE UPDATES ON THE U.S. MILITARY STRIKE ON IRAN Democrat Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois also argued that the president’s order to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites without seeking Congressional approval could be considered an “unambiguous impeachable offense.” Casten, a four-term representative whose district covers southwestern Chicago and surrounding suburbs, wrote Saturday night on social media that “this is not about the merits of Iran’s nuclear program….to be clear, I do not dispute that Iran is a nuclear threat.” WATCH PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FULL ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON THE IRAN STRIKE But he highlighted that “no president has the authority to bomb another country that does not pose an imminent threat to the US without the approval of Congress. This is an unambiguous impeachable offense.” “I’m not saying we have the votes to impeach,” Casten added. “I’m saying that you DO NOT do this without Congressional approval.” The calls for impeachment are the most visible, and furthest reaching, representation of the party’s anger with Trump for taking unilateral action against Iran. PENTAGON GIVES DETAILS ON HOW THE U.S. MILITARY CARRIED OUT THE STRIKE ON IRAN House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the top Democrat in the chamber, wrote that the president had “failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East.” “Donald Trump shoulders complete and total responsibility for any adverse consequences that flow from his unilateral military action,” Jeffries added in a statement. While the executive branch technically doesn’t have the legal authority to order a foreign military attack without the approval of Congress, previous presidents, including Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Trump during his first term, launched comparable military actions in Libya, Sudan, Afghanistan and Iran. Congress has not actually declared war since 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II, and legal scholars have long been divided on whether the president has the authority to unilaterally launch a military strike.
Pro-life movement confronts high abortion rates three years after Dobbs
A 50-year fight to put abortion back in the hands of states ended three years ago with the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs decision, but the pro-life movement is now grappling with a new reality — abortion remains prevalent. Since securing the legal victory, abortion opponents’ concentration has become more fragmented as they contend with evidence that abortions have not decreased and could even be on the rise. Their next big challenges, they say, include neutering the nation’s largest abortion vendor, Planned Parenthood, by targeting its funding. Restricting access to pills that terminate pregnancies is another top priority, as is investing in their preferred political candidates and ballot measures. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, told Fox News Digital in an interview that Dobbs prompted a “revolution,” but she acknowledged that “there is a lot of work to do.” She noted the Charlotte Lozier Institute found that abortions increased in the year after Dobbs and that at least 1.1 million occurred from July 2023 to June 2024. MICHELLE OBAMA FACING BACKLASH OVER CLAIM ABOUT WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH “People can sort of assume or just forget how big a moment [Dobbs] is. . . . It is shaking up and realigning public opinion based on where they really stand, so building consensus,” Dannenfelser said. “It would be false to think that it could happen overnight, and we’re still right in the middle of it.” She said she feels the prospect of defunding Planned Parenthood through a broader reconciliation bill in Congress is “strong.” The measure would prohibit Medicaid funds for entities that perform abortions outside of rape, incest, and a threat to a mother’s life. Planned Parenthood said in a statement in May, after the bill passed the Republican-led House, that the provision would eliminate other services besides abortion and could cause about 200 of its roughly 600 locations to shutter. “If this bill passes, people will lose access to essential, often lifesaving care — cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing, and yes, abortion,” the organization said in a statement at the time. In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) eliminated a requirement that a customer must appear in person to receive mifepristone, the pill used to end a pregnancy. The pills became available by mail, and they are now being shipped all over the country from various organizations, including to most of the states that have abortion bans in place. “The abortion drugs that are being proliferated by big abortion and Planned Parenthood is a direct assault on the sovereignty of states,” Dannenfelser said, noting that “the people of half the states have said this is the pro-life law that we want, so in order to undermine that and press their agenda, the abortion lobby is promoting abortion tourism across state lines.” SENATOR INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO REIN IN WIDELY USED, CONTROVERSIAL ABORTION PILL Dannenfelser also said her group, which, alongside its campaign fundraising arm, poured $92 million into the 2024 election cycle, is focused on next year’s midterm races. She noted she wants to maintain a “trifecta of pro-life administration, House and Senate.” But some of those hoping to eliminate abortion say the current administration could do more to help their bottom line. President Donald Trump granted clemency when he took office to nearly two dozen activists who were convicted of blocking abortion clinic entrances, and the president often touts that he appointed three justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. But in terms of the abortion pill, the Trump administration recently moved to dismiss a case in court aiming to tighten FDA restrictions on mifepristone. Trump has vowed to have Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is openly supportive of abortion access, conduct a study of the pill. Katie Xavios, the national director of the American Life League, told Fox News Digital that she believes Trump “really hasn’t been the staunchest pro-life advocate.” TRUMP ADMIN CONTINUES BIDEN DEFENSE OF ABORTION DRUG MIFEPRISTONE, ASKS COURT TO DISMISS LAWSUIT She said mifepristone distribution has “no guardrails.” Dozens of organizations now offer easy access to the pill. Xavios said abortions-by-mail have become the “wild west,” and that the government would have to work aggressively to contain it at this point. “I don’t think we’ll ever see anybody take that away unless we can really get a very truly pro-life person in office,” Xavios said. American Life League is a Catholic grassroots organization, and Xavios said one of her group’s efforts is to instill values in children that would lead them to opt against abortion if they were faced with the decision in adulthood. Dobbs was not the win for her side that people have framed it to be, she said. “I think we’re still kind of seeing the reverberations of that a little bit in the movement, where a lot of people are struggling to find a new legal fight,” Xavios said. “But I think the real issue that we’re left with is it doesn’t matter if it’s legal or not if people don’t really respect and value the dignity of the pre-born.”
‘Baby steps’: Leader Thune details his work to corral Republicans behind Trump’s legislative vision
FIRST ON FOX: Senate Majority Leader John Thune is weathering headwinds in his own conference over outstanding concerns in President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that threaten to derail the legislation, but he’s taking it in stride and standing firm that the megabill will make it to the president’s desk by July 4. “We have to hit it, and you know whether that means it’s the end of next week, or whether we roll into that Fourth of July week,” the South Dakota Republican told Fox News Digital during an interview from his leadership suite. “But if we have to go into that week, we will,” he continued. “I think it’s that important. And you know what I’ve seen around here, at least in the past, my experience, if there’s no deadline, things tend to drag on endlessly.” TOP TRUMP ALLY PREDICTS SENATE WILL BLOW PAST ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ DEADLINE Senate Republicans have been working on their version of Trump’s mammoth bill, which includes priorities to make his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, sweeping changes to healthcare, Biden-era energy credits and deep spending cuts, among others, since the beginning of June. Now that each portion of the bill has been released, Thune is eyeing having the bill on the floor by the middle of next week. But, he still has to wrangle disparate factions within the Senate GOP to get on board with the bill. “It is a work in progress,” Thune said. “It’s, you know, sometimes it’s kind of incremental baby steps.” A cohort of fiscal hawks, led by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., are unhappy with the level of spending cuts in the bill. Some Senate Republicans want to achieve at least $2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, but Johnson has remained firm in his belief that the bill should go deeper and return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic spending levels. Others, including Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are upset with tweaks to Medicaid, and the impact those changes could have on rural hospitals and working people on the healthcare program’s benefit rolls. ‘IT JUST BAFFLES ME’: SENATE REPUBLICANS SOUND ALARM OVER MEDICAID CHANGES, SPENDING IN TRUMP MEGABILL Thune has to strike a precarious balancing act to sate the concerns of his conference, given that he can only afford to lose three votes. It’s a reality he acknowledged and described as trying to find “the sweet spot” where he can advance the bill back to the House. He’s been meeting with the factions individually, communicating with the White House and working to “make sure everybody’s rolling in the same direction.” “Everybody has different views about how to do that, but in the end, it’s cobbling together the necessary 51 votes, so we’re working with anybody who is offering feedback,” he said. Collins and others are working on the side to create a provider relief fund that could offer a salve to the lingering issues about the crackdown on the Medicaid provider rate tax in the bill. The Senate Finance Committee went further than the House’s freeze of the provider tax rate, or the amount that state Medicaid programs pay to healthcare providers on behalf of Medicaid beneficiaries, for non-Affordable Care Act expansion states, and included a provision that lowers the rate in expansion states annually until it hits 3.5%. “We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that, for example, rural hospitals have some additional assistance to sort of smooth that transition,” Thune said. BLUE STATE REPUBLICANS THREATEN REVOLT AGAINST TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ IF SENATE CHANGES KEY TAX RULE Thune, who is a member of the Finance panel, noted that “we all agree that the provider tax has been gamed” and “abused” by blue states like New York and California, and argued that the changes were done to help “right the ship” in the program. “I think that’s why the sort of off-ramp, soft-landing approach [from] the Finance committee makes sense, but these are substantial changes,” he said. “But on the other hand, if we don’t start doing some things to reform and strengthen these programs, these programs aren’t going to be around forever, because we’re not going to be able to afford them.” The Senate’s product won’t be the end of the reconciliation process, however. The changes in the bill will have to be green-lit by the House, and one change in particular to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap already has a cohort of blue state House Republicans furious and threatening to kill the bill. The Senate’s bill, for now, left the cap unchanged at $10,000 from the policy ushered in by Trump’s first-term tax cuts, a figure that Senate Republicans view as a placeholder while negotiations continue. Indeed, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., is working with members of the SALT caucus in the House to find a compromise on the cap. But the appetite to keep the House-passed $40,000 cap isn’t strong in the Senate. “The passion in the Senate is as strong as it is in the House against changing the current policy and law in a way that… favors high-tax states to the detriment and disadvantage of low tax states,” he said. “And so it’s the emotion that you see in the House side on that particular issue is matched in the Senate in a different direction.” Meanwhile, as negotiations continue behind the scenes on ways to address issues among Senate Republicans, the Senate Parliamentarian is currently chunking through each section of the greater “big, beautiful bill.” The parliamentarian’s role is to determine whether policies within each section of the bill comport with the Byrd Rule, which is the arcane set of parameters that govern the budget reconciliation process. Thune has made clear that he would not overrule that parliamentarian on Trump’s megabill, and re-upped that position once more. The reconciliation process gives either party in power the opportunity to pass legislation on party lines and skirt the Senate