Trump: 2.5 Hours With Putin, 0 Concrete Plans
What did Trump and Putin discuss? Republicans advance tax cuts bill but its future is uncertain. Will CBS trade journalism for favor? How USAID cuts are destroying lives while the US looks away.
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These days I start my emails to friends and business associates with “I hope this finds you well, considering the state of things.” Feels like a fitting place to start today’s newsletter.
Today we cover domestic news and also some pressing international news. We have been so busy covering the first 100 days, that some important overseas stories haven’t gotten the attention they deserve. Today we catch you up on a few.
We're thinking of adding a casual news trivia to our Friday newsletter. Nothing scary, just a fun way to see what caught your attention this week (and maybe discover a few things you missed). Would a lighthearted end-of-week quiz be something you'd enjoy? Drop us a quick yes or no!
Here Are Your Headlines:
Working Late: Republicans are making slow progress pushing forward Trump’s tax cuts bill, but they still haven’t reached internal agreement. With a rare late-night Sunday vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson was able to advance the bill, getting it out of a key committee. But that’s only because four hardline Republican holdouts who blocked the bill on Friday agreed to vote “present” on Sunday. They basically allowed the bill to advance without agreeing to its contents. This means the Speaker is yet to reach a compromise between the conflicting factions of his party.
What Changed: Johnson said today that only “minor modifications” had been made to the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” That’s in the eye of the beholder. The “modifications” move up implementation of Medicaid work requirements from 2029 to 2027, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said today. Which means cuts come sooner. Here’s a reminder that studies show 64% of Medicaid recipients under the age of 65 are already employed. Adding language requiring recipients to report their work hours ends up creating more uninsured people without increasing employment. Simply put, research shows that “work requirements” is a way for members to cut Medicaid while maintaining that they’re not cutting Medicaid.
What’s Next: Hardline Republicans, who want more cuts, announced the bill “does not yet meet the moment.” But moderate Republicans are resisting steeper Medicaid cuts and another group is pushing for more generous tax deductions. The GOP’s majority in the House is slim enough any of these groups could block the bill. “It’s a fragile process,” one senior GOP aide said today.
Big Effort: President Trump is heading to Capitol Hill Tuesday to twist arms and convince holdouts to fall in line. What will he say? Well, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted today the bill “does not add to the deficit,” which is a lie so bold even hardline Republican’s disagree with it. In fact, nonpartisan analysts estimate it will add between $3 and $5 trillion to the deficit over the next decade.
Bad News: The president of CBS News announced her resignation today, saying she and the company “do not agree on the path forward.” That disagreement seems to be over the company’s apparent eagerness to settle a $20 billion lawsuit Trump is pursuing against 60 Minutes. Executives reportedly want to resolve the suit to ensure the sale of CBS’ parent company — which is being financed by Trump backer Larry Ellison and must be approved by Trump’s FCC chair — goes smoothly.
Bending the Knee: On Friday, the FCC allowed Verizon to buy a broadband provider for $20 billion; the day before, Verizon sent the agency a letter outlining how it will eliminate its DEI initiatives. The FCC specifically mentioned this willingness when it announced it approved the deal.
Appeasement Backfire: Trump threatened to sue ABC News — again. This time it’s for critical coverage of his decision to accept a $400 million plane from Qatar. In December, ABC News settled a lawsuit with Trump that experts generally agreed the outlet could have won. ABC News gave Trump $15 million and published a note of regret.
Further Details: Several people have testified so far in the Diddy trial, which entered its second week today. Singer Dawn Richard described witnessing Diddy allegedly beat his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura multiple times, including one occasion where other celebrities were present. You can find more details from today’s hearing here, and resources for reporting or receiving help for sexual assault and abuse here.
Protection is Temporary: The Supreme Court today temporarily allowed Trump to remove protections from over 300,000 Venezuelan immigrants, potentially exposing them to forced removal. The ruling concerns a program called Temporary Protected Status, which was originally signed into law by President George H.W. Bush and allows migrants from certain disaster-struck nations to legally live and work in the US. “This is the largest single action stripping any group of noncitizens of immigration status in modern US history,” a lawyer representing the immigrants said. A federal judge initially ruled against the Trump administration’s attempt to remove these protections, concluding that doing so would irreparably harm hundreds of thousands of people, “cost the United States billions in economic activity, and injure public health and safety in communities throughout the United States.”
Will He Fly Us Too? The first flight of immigrants who accepted the administration’s offer of a free plane ticket and $1,000 for self-deporting took off from Houston this morning. The plane carried 65 people back to Honduras and Colombia.
Partner in Crime: The head lawyer in El Salvador representing the families of immigrants forcibly taken there from the US was arrested late last night for allegedly committing “embezzlement” a decade ago. Ruth López is an outspoken critic of El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, the self-proclaimed “world’s coolest dictator,” who is working with Trump to imprison migrants in a notorious prison. Since being welcomed to the White House in April, Bukele has threatened to impose a 30% tax on all contributions to NGOs, forced top journalists to flee the country to avoid being arrested for exposing deals the government made with gangs, and used military police to repress a peaceful protest for the first time in over three decades.
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International Headlines:
Phone Tag: Trump wrapped up a 2.5-hour call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, plus calls with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and members of NATO, today. Trump said the call went “well.” Putin said it was “candid” and didn’t give many details of what was actually discussed, nor any specific timeline for peace. Trump claimed Russia and Ukraine “will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire,” but Putin framed the next step as working “on a memorandum of a possible future peace agreement.” Zelenskyy asked Trump not to make decisions “without us,” and is reportedly considering a meeting with international leaders. Meanwhile, Russia continues to target civilians with drones and guided bombs.
Looming Crisis: The Israeli Security Cabinet decided yesterday to resume allowing “the entry of a basic amount of food” into Gaza “to prevent the development of a famine crisis,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s office. A report released last week by 17 UN agencies and NGOs warned 470,000 Palestinians in Gaza face “catastrophic hunger.” Several trucks entered today, marking the end to an 11-week blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel is proposing a US-backed plan to have aid distributed by private contractors in hubs protected by Israeli troops. Israel also announced a new offensive in Gaza yesterday, with the aim of “full control” of the Strip, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The leaders of the UK, France, and Canada today called the level of aid allowed into Gaza “wholly inadequate” and threatened “concrete actions” if Israel “does not cease the renewed military offensive.” “We must avoid a situation of famine,” Netanyahu said today. “If there is famine, we will lose international support and won’t be able to achieve victory.” Also in the news: there is a disputed report that Trump has discussed trying to move Palestinians from Gaza to Libya; the Wall Street Journal reports on documents that show Hamas launched the Oct 7 attack in an effort to derail Israel-Saudi normalization plans; and there are unconfirmed reports that Israel’s government plans to divide Gaza into three zones.
Worldwide Impact: Trump’s cuts at USAID might no longer be making headlines in the mainstream news, but their impact is increasingly being felt by hundreds of millions of people around the world. We’re going to start highlighting some of the effects of the administration’s dismantling of this vital agency.
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