The White House released a set of talking points on Tuesday that only highlighted the deal's failings.
With 24 hours to go before a memorandum of understanding with Iran is scheduled to be signed in Switzerland, Vice President JD Vance threw doubt on whether the ceremony will occur.
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins took Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) to task over his support of President Donald Trump’s widely panned Memorandum of Understanding, forcing him to defend several of the plan's more outrageous points.“My point of view is that we have to give peace a chance to get done,” Moreno told Collins. “We have absolutely not made Iran stronger. We've killed almost 80 of their top leaders. We've destroyed their army, their navy, their ballistic missile program. Like I said, they are absolutely in a dramatically worse position as a result of president Trump's actions. And he prevented them from actually using a nuclear weapon that they could have cobbled together.”“[But] this deal lets them have waivers,” Collins pointed out. “They can start selling oil tonight. Eventually it will potentially unfreeze billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen assets. Iran is still a state sponsor of terrorism, according to the United States. Do you have an issue with the U.S. doing things that allows them to have money to potentially rebuild all of those things that you just mentioned?”“What's the alternative, Kaitlan?" Moreno demanded. "What would you want the president to do? Allow them to have built a nuclear weapon?”“That's a question for some Republicans, too, it sounds like,” said Collins, referring to many GOP critics who find the deal offensive. She also pointed out that Iran now stands “make more money because they're selling it at competitive market prices to buyers with more attractive currencies.”She also reminded Moreno that he said in April that money from Iran’s oil sales doesn't “go to the people. It goes to a corrupt leadership.”“Aren't you worried that corrupt leadership is now going to get tens of billions of dollars from these sales?” she asked.“Yeah, but we'll be watching exactly what they do with the money,” said Moreno.“But the president pledged not to get involved in their domestic affairs in the MOU that he signed,” Collins quickly countered, to which Moreno could only repeat: “We're going to make certain that they behave, and they do exactly what they need to do.”Moreno then made a comparison to Trump’s intervention in Venezuela, saying Trump “saved Latin America,” and promised “you’re gonna see that happen in Cuba.”“It’s not the same thing. You can’t really compare the two,” said Collins, before then asking Moreno about the plight of the Iranian people. “[Trump] told that Iranian people that this was their chance to rise up and take back their government. Their government is being run by the former leader’s son. Do you think that they have been left hung out to dry here?”“Look, I don't know what's going to happen there,” said Moreno. “Again. We don't know.” - YouTube youtu.be
Vice-president says Israeli cabinet members shouldn’t attack the country’s ‘only powerful ally’ left; Iran says it will impose fees on strait of Hormuz – key US politics stories from Thursday 18 JuneJD Vance has sharply rebuked Israeli government critics of the US deal with Iran, saying the cabinet members should remember that two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected Israel “have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars”.The US vice-president, asked about a report that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fuming over the agreement, told reporters at the White House: “If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.” Continue reading...
Fox News cut away from former President Barack Obama's historic remarks at the opening of his presidential library on Thursday to go to political analyst Reince Priebus.The abrupt switch came during Obama's dedication speech at the $850 million Obama Presidential Center in Chicago's Jackson Park, where three former presidents and a roster of A-list performers had gathered for an invitation-only ceremony.Obama was mid-sentence when anchor Sandra Smith pulled the plug."Hard things are hard," Obama told the crowd. "And that's especially true in a big, raucous, diverse, argumentative democracy like the United States of America. Everybody's got an opinion. And that means getting stuff done involves reconciling the demands of a couple hundred million people.""Alright," Smith said, cutting him off. "You've been listening live to former President Barack Obama there in Chicago at the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center."Co-anchor John Roberts offered a brief recap — noting that former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were in the audience and remarking that Bono "still looks pretty good" — before pivoting hard to Iran."JD Vance becoming a public face to the Trump administration's deal with Iran and what could be a moment that shapes a potential 2028 White House bid," Roberts said. "Reince Priebus is standing by."Priebus, a Fox News political analyst and former Republican National Committee chairman, then held forth on the Iran memorandum of understanding, calling it "a sixty-day trial run.""Americans care more about $5 gasoline than they do staying in a war with Iran," Priebus said. "That is an unpleasant thing for some people out there to live with, but it's true."President Donald Trump was not invited to the ceremony. Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett said the event was reserved for those who supported Obama's journey.The center opens to the public on Friday.
On the early edition of Balance of Power, Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz discuss the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran. On today's show, Center for Strategic and International Studies Director Mona Yacoubian, Bluestack Strategies Founder Maura Gillespie, Bellwether Government Affairs CEO Arshi Siddiqui, former Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Laura Swett. (Source: Bloomberg)
Drivers feel some relief but prices still a dollar more per gallon overall since before US-Israel attack on IranSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email The average price of US gasoline fell to just under $4 a gallon on Thursday for the first time since March, following the announcement of a preliminary agreement between the US and Iran to end the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz.The development has provided some relief to drivers who have seen soaring costs amid Washington’s war with Iran. But filling up still remains more expensive than it was before the conflict began. Continue reading...
President Donald Trump joked Vice President JD Vance would bear blame if the Iran peace deal fails, but Republicans are already privately criticizing the agreement while publicly remaining silent. Oil industry insiders and GOP lawmakers object to economic support for Iran and Trump's defense of Iran's ballistic missile rights, with one Republican calling it total surrender, reported Politico's Playbook. "Plenty of Republican lawmakers are also uncomfortable, in private at least," Playbook wrote. Vance's team welcomes the deal being framed as the "Vance Peace Deal," given the war's broad unpopularity, reports Dasha [Burns] on the Playbook Podcast. White House officials view ending the conflict as politically necessary, and Vance's willingness to front the agreement reflects this. A White House insider noted that GOP attacks inadvertently inoculate Vance from the war's unpopularity while positioning him to defend Trump from criticism. The dynamic paradoxically strengthens Vance's political standing as he defends the president against his own party's complaints.Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
Marc Morial, President & CEO of the National Urban League, discusses the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center and what the center represents. He also talks about how recent redistricting efforts, especially in the South, are impacting the Black electorate. Marc speaks with Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu on the late edition of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power.” (Source: Bloomberg)