Holdouts for Trump’s attorney general pick say they will vote in favor of his nomination
Republican senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, two key holdouts on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination – now say they will vote to advance him to the full Senate.
The outgoing lawmakers, who have repeatedly clashed with Trump over the past year, said their concerns were resolved after “successful negotiation of a legally enforceable document” that formally ends the $1.8bn “anti‑weaponization fund” and makes clear that Trump and his family will not receive indefinite protection from audits of future tax filings. Both issues had been deal‑breakers for Cornyn and Tillis. In the document Blanche released on Sunday, the acting attorney general did say that the sweeping immunity offered to the president and his family for their past conduct does not change.
“We are pleased that the Department of Justice has issued a formal order terminating the anti-weaponization fund. Additionally, the department has acknowledged in a binding written order that the audit settlement is limited to the plaintiffs and the scope does not extend beyond the defendants in the lawsuit, the IRS and the Treasury, addressing concerns that multiple of our Republican colleagues share,” the pair wrote in a statement. “We look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate judiciary committee soon.”
The panel is set to vote on Blanche’s nomination on Tuesday.
Key events
Trump said Monday that talks with Iran are “going on right now,” despite earlier denials from Tehran (and US officials, according to CBS) that any negotiations were taking place.
Trump said the US had been “set to go” on a strike “harder than any attack” since World War Two, but held off after Iran, along with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, requested talks. “This is a last chance,” Trump said, adding the negotiations center on “the denuclearization of Iran,” a goal he argued previous administrations failed to pursue for “50 years”.
Trump riffed that “as you know, we had a conflict with Venezuela, worked out very well, and we have a conflict with Iran, and that’s working out very well, very, very well.”
After some testimony by committee members, along with secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump signed the executive order to applause.
Before Trump signed an executive order on Monday establishing what he called “the first ever presidential military spouse commission”, he said support for military families was something “we’ve been working on for a long time”.
The commission will be chaired by Jennifer Hegseth, wife of Pentagon secretary Pete Hegseth, with Desiree Thompson Sayle as executive director and Christy Mullin, wife of homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin, among its members.
Trump said the panel would “provide recommendations for improving the quality of life for military spouses”, covering “housing, employment, healthcare, education, child care, and just about everything else”. He argued military strength depended on families, saying “we cannot have the strongest military in the world without the love and devotion of our remarkable military spouses.”
Trump set to sign executive order creating military spouse commission
The executive order Donald Trump is set to sign momentarily is on establishing a new President’s Military Spouse Commission, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
The commission would “advise the president on policies affecting military spouses and families and provide annual recommendations to improve their quality of life while strengthening military readiness” Leavitt wrote in a post on social media.
Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal infection that’s usually picked up by eating contaminated food or water, and is rarely life-threatening.
Federal data shows 6,707 confirmed cases across the US as of 28 July, with over 11,500 more suspected infections still being reviewed, numbers expected to grow as states finish confirming cases.
Former CDC officials and food safety researchers say recent staffing reductions at federal health agencies have made it harder to track and respond to outbreaks like this one. Wade Syers of Michigan State University Extension said pinpointing the contamination source is now critical to stopping further illness.
First deaths reported in largest US cyclosporiasis outbreak
Michigan’s health department said on Monday that two people have died after contracting cyclosporiasis, marking the first fatalities in what has become the largest US outbreak of the parasitic illness.
An FDA investigation has linked the outbreak, now spanning nine states, to iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms operations in central Mexico, though officials are still probing other possible sources. Officials noted both patients were already dealing with serious health issues that the infection and resulting dehydration may have made worse
Michigan reported 11,234 outbreak-linked cases as of Monday, up 461 since Friday, with 193 hospitalizations. Wayne county has the most infections, and adults aged 30 to 39 have been hit hardest.
Report: There are no new talks happening with Iran, US officials say
Despite Trump insisting that talks with Iran begin on Monday afternoon, officials tell CBS News there’s nothing new to announce after all, just the same negotiations, run through mediators by envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
This morning, Trump posted on social media that Iran asks “for a meeting, some would say ‘beg’ talks begin, with more scheduled n the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly they’re not having any discussions.”
Later in that post, he said “Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished.”
Murray said the bill blocks the administration from shifting funds toward border patrol, stops a White House plan to let officials cancel federal grants at will and “rejects Trump’s frivolous war spending wishlist”.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House appropriations committee, both praised the agreement. But by backing a “clean” stopgap at existing funding levels, the Democrats now hand Republicans continuity without a fight – a trade-off critics in similar stand offs since Trump’s second term began have argued squanders the leverage a shutdown standoff could bring.
Collins, facing a tough Maine re-election race, is casting the deal as proof of her bipartisan dealmaking.
“This measure gives Congress the time we need to continue our work on bipartisan appropriations bills, which are always my strong preference for handling annual government funding,” she said in a statement.
Senate leaders reach bipartisan deal to fund the government
Senate leaders have reached a bipartisan agreement to fund the government through 11 December, avoiding a shutdown that would otherwise begin 1 October.
The deal, announced by appropriations committee chair Susan Collins, a Republican, and vice-chair Patty Murray, a Democrat, buys Congress time to negotiate a longer-term funding package after the midterm elections. A Senate procedural vote is scheduled today, with leaders aiming to pass the bill before the August recess.
Something to note: the house has already passed its own version funding the government through 4 December, leaving the two chambers to reconcile the difference when they return in September.
Donald Trump calls Iran’s leadership ‘unbelievably duplicitious’
After Iran’s leaders insisted that Tehran was not planning any talks with Washington – contradicting Trump’s own comments on Sunday – the US president has said that the country’s leadership is “unbelievably duplicitous”.
“They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg’, talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about, and they’re only dealing with ‘Oman’,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He went on to reject Iran’s claims that the country is ultimately in control of the strait of Hormuz. “Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a deal, or total surrender, is accomplished,” Trump added.
My colleague Lucy Campbell has more here.
Melody Schreiber
US federal employees and their families are joining a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration for blocking insurance coverage of gender-affirming healthcare.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF) and the DC-based law firm Correia & Puth filed the lawsuit on Monday morning against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), arguing that the prohibition violates Title VII, which protects against sex discrimination.
The Trump administration has been “fixated” on ending gender-affirming care, said Cynthia Cheng-Wun Weaver, HRCF’s senior director of litigation.
“A lot of the criticism and attack on this care is for treating minors, but this exclusion is for all ages,” she said.
Federal insurance plans cover about 8.3 million people in America – not just employees and retirees themselves but also their partners and other family members.
Health insurance coverage for gender-affirming care is no longer covered by federal insurance plans as of January, with the exception of mental health counseling, including faith-based counseling.
There was also an exception for those who are in “mid-treatment”, though it didn’t detail which treatments exactly qualified. And a subsequent letter in March eliminated this exception beginning in 2027.
At least 39,400 enrollees will be affected by the prohibition on gender-affirming care coverage, according to a recent estimate from the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute.
“Healthcare access should never be weaponized to advance discrimination – and the denial of coverage for critical healthcare based simply on who you are blatantly violates the rights of all of us,” said Kelley Robinson, the HRCF president, in a statement.
On Truth Social today, Donald Trump has railed against polling which shows his approval rating stuck in the low end. According to a recent survey by AP-Norc, only 33% of Americans said they approved of the president’s job performance – slightly below where he stood at this point in his first term.
“My REAL Polling Numbers, not those made up by the Fake News Media, are the best they have ever been,” he wrote.
“Why wouldn’t they be with the biggest tax cuts and employment numbers EVER, the biggest outside Investment in America in World history, a totally secure Border, a giant Victory in Venezuela, the Denuclearization of Iran, unparalleled respect and success throughout the World, and much more? Don’t believe the Radical Left’s Fake Poll numbers.”
Holdouts for Trump’s attorney general pick say they will vote in favor of his nomination
Republican senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, two key holdouts on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination – now say they will vote to advance him to the full Senate.
The outgoing lawmakers, who have repeatedly clashed with Trump over the past year, said their concerns were resolved after “successful negotiation of a legally enforceable document” that formally ends the $1.8bn “anti‑weaponization fund” and makes clear that Trump and his family will not receive indefinite protection from audits of future tax filings. Both issues had been deal‑breakers for Cornyn and Tillis. In the document Blanche released on Sunday, the acting attorney general did say that the sweeping immunity offered to the president and his family for their past conduct does not change.
“We are pleased that the Department of Justice has issued a formal order terminating the anti-weaponization fund. Additionally, the department has acknowledged in a binding written order that the audit settlement is limited to the plaintiffs and the scope does not extend beyond the defendants in the lawsuit, the IRS and the Treasury, addressing concerns that multiple of our Republican colleagues share,” the pair wrote in a statement. “We look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate judiciary committee soon.”
The panel is set to vote on Blanche’s nomination on Tuesday.
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