President Trump has appointed Bill Pulte, an unqualified individual with no experience in intelligence or national security, as Acting Director of National Intelligence, prioritizing his own self-interest over America's national security.
Iran fired at least 10 missiles at Israel on Sunday, hours after the Israeli Defense Forces launched its own attack on a Hezbollah command center in Beirut.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday called the appointment to make Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) head Bill Pulte the acting Director of National Intelligence the “worst and most dangerous” appointment made by President Trump. Himes is among several bipartisan lawmakers who have slammed Trump’s appointment, saying…
President Trump will call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and press him not to retaliate for Iran's missile attack, Trump tells Axios."I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate. Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike, and Iran had its strike. We don't need another one," Trump said.Why it matters: The ceasefire in the Middle East is teetering after Israel struck Beirut and Iran fired multiple waves of missiles in response.Trump is racing to stop the escalations from killing his hopes at a lasting deal with Iran. Netanyahu's answer will measure how much sway the American president still holds over Israel.Driving the news: Iran fired missiles at Israel on Sunday in retaliation for the Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs. It's Iran's first direct attack since the April 8 ceasefire.Israel says it has intercepted the missiles.What he's saying: Trump played down the Iranian strikes."The Iranian strikes didn't hurt anybody," Trump tells Axios. "Hopefully Israel is not going to retaliate. If Bibi strikes them back, it's just gonna keep going like the last 47 years — or the last 3,000 years."Trump added: "We are very close to a final deal with Iran. It is going to be a good deal. I don't want it to blow up because of what is happening now."Editor's note: This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
Here’s the full interview between President Trump and NBC’s Kirsten Welker. The video and transcript: [Transcript] – KIRSTEN WELKER:President Trump, welcome back to Meet the Press. PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Thank you. KRISTEN WELKER: Thank you so much for being here. We are going to talk about your visit, why you’re here in Wisconsin. But I’d […] The post President Trump Meet the Press Interview – Full Video and Transcript appeared first on The Last Refuge.
The Trump administration is dismantling a $368 million deep-ocean monitoring network at the precise moment scientists say the world's oceans are behaving in alarming ways — and a Democratic congressman says the timing is not a coincidence.Rep. Mike Levin, a California Democrat and environmental attorney who represents San Diego's North County coast, posted a scathing response Saturday to CNN's reporting on the decision, arguing the move serves a hidden agenda."The same people killing the monitors want to mine the deep sea for minerals," Levin wrote. "So they are destroying the only tools that could measure what that mining does. That is not an accident. That is the point. You cannot see the damage if you break the instruments first."The system being dismantled is the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a network of more than 900 instruments positioned throughout the world's oceans that launched in 2016 with an expected 25-year lifespan. It provides continuous real-time data on ocean temperatures, carbon absorption, circulation patterns, and coastal flooding risks. The Trump administration's fiscal 2026 budget cut its funding by 80 percent, and removal of the anchored instruments began this month from sites off Oregon, North Carolina, and the Irminger Sea near Greenland.Scientists say the timing could not be worse. Ocean temperatures are breaking records. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation — the system of currents that regulates climate across the Northern Hemisphere — is showing signs of potential collapse, a scenario researchers warn could bring severe winters to Europe and accelerating sea level rise on the U.S. East Coast.The administration described the decision as a "nimbler approach" and "smart lifecycle management." Levin was unimpressed. "That is fancy nonsense for 'we shut it off and hoped nobody would ask why,'" he wrote. "There is no return-on-investment analysis. They cannot show taxpayers save a dime, because the gear is already paid for and the science it produces protects real money and real lives."His bottom line: "That is not budgeting. That is smashing the gauges while the engine is on fire and calling it efficiency."
The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on June 7, 2026.
The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on June 7, 2026.
