Leavitt underscores that Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is ‘contingent’ on joining Abraham accords
The press secretary said today that the US-Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is “contingent” on the kingdom on joining the Abraham Accords – a recent demand that Donald Trump announced earlier today.
When pressed why the administration didn’t announce that condition when the deal was announced on Wednesday, Leavitt said that it is “something that he has mentioned on numerous occasions going back”.
She reiterated that if Saudi Arabia doesn’t join the accords “the deal is off”.
Key events
Los Angeles Dodgers visit paved-over White House Rose Garden
The Los Angeles Dodgers, or most of them, have arrived at the White House to celebrate their World Series victory with Donald Trump. The players are arrayed on stage behind a podium, waiting for Trump.
As the LA Times columnist Gustavo Arellano notes, the only two players who announced they’re skipping the visit to the Trump White House are Mookie Betts and Kiké Hernández.
“The latter, a native of Puerto Rico, endeared himself to the Dodger faithful last year during the height of the immigration raids with an Instagram post that read, ‘I cannot tolerate watching our community continue to be violated, attacked, abused and separated. ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and their human rights,’” Arellano writes.
This year, Hernández told the LA Times he’s not going so he can focus on a rehabilitation stint. “I’d rather take a day off than do team activities,” he told the paper.
“Nice way to rhetorically strike out, Kiké,” Arellano commented.
The Rose Garden lawn was paved over by Trump to make a patio more closely resembling that at his Florida beach club, Mar-a-Lago.
Marina Dunbar
A Secret Service agent assigned to JD Vance’s protective detail is “the subject of an administrative investigation, and potential criminal inquiry, involving allegations of compromising operational and information security”, according to the Secret Service chief of communications.
The agent came under suspicion after allegedly providing information that appeared in an MS Now report about the vice-president’s planned Marine Corps helicopter trip with his son to a golf lesson, a CNN.
The report also claimed there was a “building morale problem” among the agents assigned to protect Vance and his family. The trip was ultimately called off due to severe thunderstorms.
The among the Secret Service, the FBI and White House officials, who “fumed over operational details being described in the press”. A second elieve was responsible for leaking the information.
The Secret Service confirmed the investigation in a statement shared with the Guardian, but did not specify what information the agent is accused of disclosing.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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On Capitol Hill, lawmakers in the House passed a war powers resolution for the second time to curb the Trump administration’s military action in Iran, ahead of the lower chamber’s August reccess.Four Republicans, Brian Fitzpatrick, Warren Davidson, Tom Barrett and Thomas Massie, voted yes, alongside all Democrats. A reminder that both chambers passed war powers resolutions in June, which the White House has ignored.
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Meanwhile, the Senate voted down its own war powers resolution by a vote of 49-47. Democrat John Fetterman joined Republicans to vote against the resolution, while GOP senator Susan Collins joined Democrats to vote in favor of it.
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Karoline Leavitt said today that the US-Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is “contingent” on the kingdom on joining the Abraham Accords – a recent demand that Donald Trump announced earlier today. When pressed on why the administration didn’t announce that condition when the deal was announced on Wednesday, Leavitt said that it is “something that he has mentioned on numerous occasions going back”.
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The Trump administration will also unveil the latest stage of his aggressive trade policy on Thursday, the White House has said, amid reports the US president is preparing a fresh wave of sweeping tariffs.Asked about Trump’s plan on Thursday, Leavitt said Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, would announce next steps “later today”. This comes as the 10% global duty the president implemented in February (after the supreme court ruled many of Trump’s initial tariffs were illegal) is due to expire on Friday.
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The justice department has withdrawn its subpoeanas to three New York Times journalists for their reporting on the security concerns about Trump’s new Qatari-donated jet – valued at almost $400m.Government lawyers sought to compel the Times reporters to reveal confidential sources who revealed that the new plane, which the Trump administration had retrofitted, lacked some of the advanced security features of the older Air Force One aircraft, including antimissile capabilities.
US prosecutors to withdraw subpoeanas against New York Times journalists over story revealing Qatari jet security concerns
The justice department has now withdrawn its subpoeanas to three New York Times journalists for their reporting on the security concerns about Donald Trump’s new Qatari-donated jet – valued at almost $400m.
Government lawyers sought to compel the Times reporters to reveal confidential sources who revealed that the new plane, which the Trump administration had retrofitted, lacked some of the advanced security features of the older Air Force One aircraft, including antimissile capabilities. Today, a federal judge slammed the DoJ’s attempts to get the journalists to identify their contacts.
More to come …
Donald Trump is now speaking at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about the ratepayer protection pledge, which would ensure big tech companies absorb the cost of new electricity generation to power their energy-guzzling datacenters.
Alongside a handful of Republican governors, executives from utilities and tech companies are sitting alongside the president today.
Richard Luscombe
Democrats have accused the US House of Representatives judiciary committee of a “baseless” and “vindictive” attack on former special prosecutor Jack Smith after it referred him for criminal prosecution for allegedly lying to Congress over his investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The committee chair, Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, wrote to the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, on Wednesday night, asserting Smith “made willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact” during testimony about obtaining phone records of a number of Republican lawmakers.
Smith, Jordan claimed in the letter, falsely told the panel that his team had no access to privileged text messages when he testified in December that they had only “toll records” containing numbers, not content.
US justice department documents presented to the panel on 14 July, Jordan said, showed that Smith’s investigators actually had access to the text messages of 44 members of Congress.
“Based on this new information, there is cause for investigation to determine whether Mr Smith knowingly made false statements to obstruct the Committee’s oversight,” Jordan wrote.
Smith’s lawyers Lanny Breuer and Peter Koski, in their own letter to Blanche, said their client “provided truthful, responsive answers” during closed-doors questioning by the panel in December, and again during an open session in January.
“This referral reflects a chilling eagerness to weaponize the justice system by attacking a career, nonpartisan public servant who faithfully and fearlessly performed his duties by following the facts and the law,” they wrote.
Earlier, I reported that the Senate health, education, labor and pensions (Help) committee were planning to vote on the nominations of Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Keith Sonderling to lead the labor department.
However, those votes have now been postponed due to concerns about attendance. They’ve been rescheduled for next week.
Man who killed Minnesota state lawmaker and husband receives two life sentences
Vance Boelter, the man who pleaded guilty to murdering Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota lawmaker, and her husband was sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus 40 years in prison today.
Boelter, 59, pleaded guilty to shooting Hortman, the former Minnesota House speaker, and her husband, Mark, at in June 2025.
During the federal court proceedings last month, Boelter – a registered Republican –said that he spent months identifying and stalking his targets, before driving to their homes in the middle of the night, disguised as a police officer, with the intention of killing them. By pleading guilty and agreeing to the maximum sentence, Boelter avoided the death penalty.
He also pleaded guilty to shooting Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
Earlier today, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted that Trump’s “patience is running out” with Senate majority leader John Thune. Asked about where the president stands at Thursday’s briefing, Leacitt added that the president wants to see “as much of the Save America [act] passed as possible by the August recess”.
This comes after much of the House passed defense spending legislation this week, which includes funding for parts of the sweeping voter-ID bill. The lower chamber also passed a budget resolution that paves the way for the creation of a reconciliation bill, which would also to attempt to pass the Save America Act into law. However, as my colleague Chris Stein notes, this will probably be stripped out by the Senate if it were to advance in the upper chamber.
Thune, however, fired back at the press secretary’s comments today, and told reporters: “She [Leavitt] or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes, right?”
Senate votes down war powers resolution on Iran
The Senate has voted down a war powers resolution on the war against Iran, with 49 senators voting against it and 47 voting in favor.
The resolution, which needed a simple majority to pass, would direct the removal of US Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.
Democrat John Fetterman joined Republicans to vote against the resolution, while GOP senator Susan Collins joined Democrats to vote in favor of it.
Republicans Katie Britt, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowskiand Rand Paul missed the vote.
Trump won’t block Tate brothers’ extradition, says White House
Donald Trump will not stop the extradition of influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan to the UK on sex crime charges, the White House said on Thursday.
Self-professed misogynist Tate and his younger sibling were detained by US authorities in Miami on Saturday in a move their lawyer called “politically motivated”.
The Tates are challenging their extradition.
“No,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told a news briefing when asked if Trump or the administration planned to intervene in the Tates’ extradition process.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio has also distanced the administration from the case.
“There’s no role for us to play at this moment or maybe ever in that regard,” he told reporters in the Philippines on Wednesday.
The Tate brothers are avid supporters of Trump and were part of the hyper-masculine “manosphere” that contributed to the Republican’s 2024 US presidential election victory.
Andrew Tate also tried to cultivate relationships in the past with Trump’s sons Don Jr and Barron, US media reported.
The Tates were arrested after British prosecutors announced new charges of rape, sex trafficking and assault. They now face 59 charges in total – 42 against Andrew and 17 against Tristan.
Their lawyer said on Monday that they were innocent and would fight extradition.
“It’s politically motivated. There’s no question about it,” lawyer Joseph McBride told reporters outside a Miami court after a hearing on the case.
In Romania, where they have been based in recent years, the Tates face allegations of trafficking minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering.
In March 2025, the US state of Florida launched a criminal investigation against the brothers. The status of that investigation is unclear.
