Mike Johnson attempts to defend Trump after president says ‘I love the inflation’ – as it happened

This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. Here are the latest developments:

• Donald Trump demanded that Republicans in Congress provide an additional $350bn in funding for the Pentagon, by passing a third reconciliation bill.

• Trump brushed off concerns about new data showing that inflation jumped to an annual rate of 4.2% in May by saying “I love the inflation”, but US House speaker Mike Johnson, accused a CNN journalist of taking the president’s comment “totally out of context”. “What he was saying is: ‘It’s going to be great to have that number and compare it to what comes next, when we get these situations resolved, that’ll be a fun thing to consider.’”

• As Trump appeared unwilling to back off his plan to install as acting director of national intelligence an unqualified political “attack dog”, federal mortgage director Bill Pulte, Senate Democrats said they would not vote to reauthorize a warrantless surveillance law that expires on Friday.

• Trump told Fox News the US had fired 49 Tomahawk missiles at Iran on Wednesday, and would “bomb the shit out of them again on Thursday” if Iran’s leaders do not sign a peace agreement.

Donald Trump, who told Fox News on Wednesday night that the US had fired 49 Tomahawk missiles at Iran, demanded that Republicans in Congress provide an additional $350bn in funding for the Pentagon, by passing a third reconciliation bill.

“I am hereby calling on Republicans in Congress to IMMEDIATELY advance and pass the forthcoming $350 Billion Reconciliation Bill (Recon 3.0) — which, at the request of our Great Department of War — will include THE SAVE AMERICA ACT as well”, Trump wrote on his social media platform. “Recon 3.0 is the ONLY path to the full $1.5 TRILLION DOLLAR Military Budget our Warriors need”, he added.

The president’s demand came hours after House Republicans introduced a 2027 defense funding bill that would provide $1,072,210,299,000 for the Pentagon, a $234 billion increase and the largest budget ever.

Trump also demanded that the bill include the package of restrictive voting measures Republicans call the SAVE America Act. On Monday, Trump called for the firing of Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who had ruled that the voting legislation could not be included in any budget reconciliation package, a type of legislation that can pass with a simple-majority vote, but must be focused on spending.

Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the Senate appropriations committee, and Mitch McConnell, who oversees defense appropriations, recently rejected calls for a third reconciliation bill.

The Florida supreme court on Wednesday allowed new US House districts drawn by Republicans to be used in the midterm elections, marking another victory for the GOP in a nationwide redistricting effort aimed at helping the party retain its slim House majority.

Attorneys for voters who sued had argued that the new congressional districts violate a state constitutional prohibition on partisan gerrymandering, and that the court should order the state to continue using the same districts as in the previous election. The supreme court, in a 6-1 decision, denied their request for a temporary injunction without ruling on the merits of the case. The judges said they lacked jurisdiction to intervene while the lawsuit gradually plays out in the lower courts.

Republicans already hold 20 of Florida’s 28 US House seats. The new voting districts signed into law by the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, after a swift two-day special legislative session could improve the GOP’s chances of winning four additional seats this year.

Northern California’s Shasta county, best known for its radical conservative politics and thriving election-skeptic movement, appears on track for another clash with the state over a newly approved ballot measure that would transform local elections.

In last Tuesday’s election, the majority of voters in the rural county backed Measure B, which requires elections to be held in person on a single day and limits who can cast an absentee ballot – effectively putting an end to vote by mail – while also requiring photo ID and a hand count.

The proposed changes outlined in the measure would make it harder for residents to vote – about 85% of county residents cast their ballots by mail – and also appear to violate California law, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the local and state chapters of the League of Women Voters.

“Measure B also plainly violates state law and exposes county taxpayers to significant litigation costs – all in pursuit of a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” a statement from the organization reads.

“We should be preserving options for eligible voters to cast their ballots – not erecting needless barriers that will infringe upon our right to vote in Shasta county.”

The California attorney general’s office, meanwhile, said it is “closely monitoring the Measure B results and, if necessary, stand ready to take appropriate action to protect voters’ rights and enforce state election laws”.

Shasta county, home to about 182,000 people in the state’s far north, has been at war over the future of its elections, and how they should be conducted, since the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

A small but vocal band of activists convinced of widespread voter fraud turned their focus to the local elections office, alleging local contests had been rigged and voting was not secure. Some election officials repeated and promoted those accusations, despite the fact that they had won their elections.

Hours after the winner of the Fifa peace prize, Donald Trump, launched military strikes on Iran on the eve of the World Cup, US lawmakers took the field for the annual congressional baseball game, pitting Democrats against Republicans.

So far, the Republicans have a narrow 11-2 lead in the top of the fifth inning.

The stand-out defensive play on the evening was a diving grab by Republican senator Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican who played college baseball.

Last year, Schmitt gave a speech at a white nationalist conference in which he declared that Americans are “the sons and daughters of the Christian pilgrims that poured out from Europe’s shores to baptize a new world in their ancient faith” and cast European “settlers repelling wave after wave of Indian war band attacks” in heroic terms.

Free DC, a community group that has rallied opposition to Donald Trump’s deployment of federal troops to police the District of Columbia, has accused members of the Arkansas national guard of treating their movement’s flag “like a war trophy” by taking one home when they left the nation’s capital last month.

The community group posted a screenshot on Instagram taken from a video released by the guard that showed a Free DC flag on the floor during a ceremony to mark the end of the Arkansas unit’s deployment.

In a caption, Free DC activists wrote:

We don’t know where they got the flag on the ground but it is a symbol of opposition to everything this deployment is about.

Free DC has been adamantly opposed the Guard’s deployment to DC since the day Trump announced he was sending them. These soldiers are a danger to people and communities here as well as to free and fair elections, and we want them gone. The ‘Free DC’ flags that people have put up all over DC show just how many people share our opposition. It does not belong in any kind of National Guard celebration.

For occupying soldiers to take one of these flags as if it’s a souvenir is insulting and disgusting.

After Free DC drew attention to the image, the video, which was shot by the Arkansas national guard on 27 May, was removed from multiple Pentagon websites, but not before the activists made a copy and uploaded it to YouTube.

A gallery of photographs from the departure ceremony, which remains on a Pentagon media site the video was deleted from, suggests that the Free DC flag, along with two of the district’s official flags, were on the floor so that soldiers could sign them.

As Donald Trump appeared unwilling on Wednesday to back off his plan to install as acting director of national intelligence an unqualified political “attack dog”, federal mortgage director Bill Pulte, Senate Democrats said they would not vote to reauthorize a warrantless surveillance law before it expires on Friday.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), permits US intelligence agencies to collect communications of foreign targets operating outside the country without a warrant.

Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey was asked by a reporter whether he would support a short-term extension of the law until the Fourth of July holiday.

“With Pulte still in there? I’m not for that,” Kim told Punchbowl News.

“We should not reauthorize FISA,” his colleague from Connecticut, Chris Murphy, posted, “until there is ZERO CHANCE Bill Pulte (or anyone else with a history of or intent to abuse of power to hurt Trump’s political opponents) gets anywhere near our classified services.”

In a social media video, Murphy said Pulte has “zero experience in national security or intelligence”.

“The reason anybody knows who Bill Pulte is, is because he’s just a Trump attack dog who got put at an agency, a federal housing finance agency, apparently for the explicit purpose of combing through the private mortgage records of anybody that has ever criticized Donald Trump,” Murphy added.

“But because he showed that he was willing to make public sensitive private information about the president’s political enemies, he’s now being put in charge of the entire American intelligence infrastructure.”

Senator Mark Warner, the Virginia Democrat who is vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, said last week that Pulte “appears to have been selected precisely because the White House believes he will provide the narrative it wants, not the intelligence we need. Americans have every reason to worry about what happens when the official charged with overseeing everything from counter-terrorism to foreign election threats is chosen for his willingness to advance the president’s political agenda rather than his experience”.

On Wednesday, Warner warned that “Pulte could be Trump’s most dangerous appointee yet” and released an explainer-style YouTube video in which he walked viewers through Pulte’s past and noted: “Trump admits he wants Pulte in this position to help him stoke claims of voter fraud.”

In a brief statement, the US military’s Central Command announced on Wednesday afternoon that US “forces began launching additional self-defense strikes today at 5.15pm ET against multiple targets in Iran at the Commander in Chief’s direction. The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression.”

Hours after Donald Trump brushed off concerns about new data showing that inflation jumped to an annual rate of 4.2% in May by saying “I love the inflation”, the US House speaker, Mike Johnson, accused a CNN journalist of taking the president’s comment “totally out of context”.

“The president is laser-focused on the domestic economic situation”, Johnson insisted. “He is working to bring down prices; his working to get the strait of Hormuz reopened.”

As he walked through the US Capitol, trailed by reporters, Johnson said that the meaning of the president’s comment, which was made in his presence during an Oval Office event, was crystal-clear, at least to him.

“What he was saying is: ‘It’s going to be great to have that number and compare it to what comes next, when we get these situations resolved, that’ll be a fun thing to consider,’” the Republican congressman suggested.

In fact, Trump’s meaning was far from clear, coming at the start of a rambling answer to the question of whether he was concerned “about the latest inflation number, which came out this morning”.

“No, I love it, the numbers were great. You know what I really loved? I love the inflation n – you know why? Because as soon as this war is over,” the president began, before interrupting his answer with a long tangent on what he called the success of a US military effort to sneak oil tankers through the strait of Hormuz, which he said had contributed to a drop in oil prices.

“I can say it now, something you didn’t know. Do you know we’ve been taking out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knows it. You know who doesn’t know about it? Iran, until right now. We took out the other night 22 ships late at night with no lights because they don’t have any radar because we blasted the crap out of it. We took out – that’s why oil is $85 a barrel,” the president said, without further explaining why he “loved” the inflation data showing the third consecutive monthly increase since the start of the Iran war and a three-year high.

Trump then continued for three more minutes, recounting what he called the success of the US attacks on Iran, and Venezuela, and never returning to the question of inflation, but instead repeating his familiar, baseless claim that he told advisers in February that war was necessary because “Iran’s going to have a nuclear weapon very soon” and that he had expected the impact of his war on Iran on the price of oil and the stock market to be worse. In fact, US intelligence agencies had assessed that Iran had given up the pursuit of nuclear weapons in 2003 and not restarted the effort.

When Trump finished speaking, a reporter reminded him of the topic, asking if he expected “inflation to come down between now and November”.

“When the war is over? It’s coming down,” Trump replied. “It’s going to come down like a rock.”

Speaking to reporters outside the headquarters of US Central Command in Tampa on Wednesday, Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, confirmed Donald Trump’s earlier statement that the US plans to strike Iran again tonight.

“The war department is prepared to set the terms to ensure that we get the kind of deal President Trump expects,” Hegseth told reporters.

“Those strikes that happen tonight will be strong,” Hegseth said, before suggesting that the military assault could be averted if Iran agrees to a peace deal with the president.

“President Trump is a deal-maker, the best in the world,” Hegseth went on. “He’s prepared to make that deal; Iran would be wise to take it.”

“If we need to negotiate with bombs, then we’ll negotiate with bombs,” he added.

The defense secretary also suggested that what he called a successful US mission to guide oil tankers through a crucial choke point in the Gulf means that “the United States of America controls the strait of Hormuz”.

The leaders of roughly seven defense companies have been preparing to meet with Donald Trump at the White House later this week in what is expected to be a contentious discussion amid mounting concerns over the dwindling US supply of missiles, NBC News reports citing two people familiar with details of the meeting.

Trump is expected to press the companies to find ways to swiftly increase their production of weaponry for the Pentagon, the people and one other person familiar with the upcoming meeting told NBC News. The deputy defense secretary, Stephen Feinberg, is also expected to attend, two of the people said.

In public, Trump has boasted that the US has a “virtually unlimited supply” of weapons, but the president has expressed anger and frustration to aides and allies over thinning American stockpiles, the people added. One of the people told NBC News they anticipate the meeting is “going to be ugly”.

Indeed, as Trump threatened to resume bombing Iran again today, the US military has already burned through missiles and interceptors at a rate that has alarmed some defense officials.

Last month, the Associated Press reported that US military contractors will need at least three years to replenish stockpiles of three key weapons systems used heavily in Trump’s war against Iran – a timeframe that has become a major concern.

When the best referee in Africa is barred from working at the World Cup after being denied entry at the US border, claims of this being an inclusive tournament ring hollow.

Omar Abdulkadir Artan was supposed to make history this week, becoming the first Somali referee to officiate at a World Cup. Instead, he is watching from home.

In this video, Morgan Ofori digs into a historic year for African nations against the backdrop of US travel bans.

• Donald Trump said the US will attack Iran on Wednesday, and accused Tehran’s peace negotiators of “playing us for suckers”, just a day after claiming again that a peace deal was imminent. “We hit them hard yesterday and we’re going to hit them hard again today,” the president told reporters at the White House, hours after the two sides traded fire, drawing neighbouring Gulf states back into the on-and-off war that has consumed the region since late February. William Christou has our story.

• Trump also signed the GOP’s $70bn bill that will fund ICE and the border patrol through 2029 into law, after the House narrowly passed the legislation yesterday. Marina Dunbar has this report.

• Trump also stood firm on his decision to install controversial loyalist Bill Pulte as the country’s top intelligence official, demanding Congress pass a short-term extension of a surveillance law set to expire amid intense criticism of the appointment. Pulte will has been asked “to execute the immediate and needed downsizing” of the office of the director of national intelligence, the president declared, after lining him up to serve as acting director on a temporary basis. Here’s our report.

• Scandal-plagued Democrat Graham Platner will face the Republican senator Susan Collins in the Maine election in November in what will be a marquee race that could help decide control of the Senate. Here’s David Smith’s report.

• Bill Gates is facing questions from the House oversight committee about his association with Jeffrey Epstein. “I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct,” the Microsoft co-founder said in his opening statement. “I have never victimized anyone.” More from Anna Betts here.

The US military carried out a “secret mission” last month to “support oil tankers and other commercial ships through the strait of Hormuz”, according to Donald Trump.

In a Truth Social post today, the president said that the effort, which he said he directed, “resulted in more than 100 million barrels of oil” moving through the crucial chokepoint and “into the open market”.

Trump described the effort as “wildly successful,” adding that the “United States of America controls the Strait of Hormuz, not Iran”.

Trump’s latest comments mark a pivot away from his words last month in which he repeatedly said during a cabinet meeting: “Nobody’s going to control” the strait of Hormuz. He added: “It’s international waters.”

In that same meeting, Trump threatened to bomb Oman upon being asked whether he would accept a short-term deal that would allow Iran and Oman to control the strait, saying: “It’s international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up.”

Progressives rallied around Graham Platner after his primary victory in Maine yesterday while Donald Trump again exerted his grip on the GOP by helping to defeat a politician who had pushed for the release of the Epstein files.

Primary elections were held in four states – Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina – before November’s midterms to decide control of both chambers of Congress. The results offered mixed signals about the direction of the two parties.

The marquee race was a Senate primary election in Maine, where Platner won 72% of the vote, defeating the state governor, Janet Mills, who had suspended her campaign but remained on the ballot, and third-placed David Costello, based on early results reported by Reuters.

The result sets up a bruising general election battle against the Republican incumbent, Susan Collins, which is likely to be tight, and could help decide control of the Senate.

Other elections offered fresh evidence of the issues shaping the wider political landscape. South Carolina served up another test of Trump’s enduring influence over the Republican party. The president enjoyed a comfortable victory through his ally Lindsey Graham, who secured renomination to the Senate without being forced into a runoff.

In the primary for governor, the congresswoman Nancy Mace became the latest casualty of Trump’s efforts to topple Republicans, after she demanded the release of the government’s Epstein files.

But Trump’s preferred candidate, the state’s lieutenant governor, Pamela Evette, failed to secure an outright majority and must now face Alan Wilson, the state’s attorney general, in a runoff election this month.

The longtime South Carolina congressman James Clyburn easily fended off a little-known primary challenger. Two Republicans are still competing for the chance to face Clyburn but he is expected to be the overwhelming favourite in the general election.

In Nevada, Democrats selected the state’s attorney general, Aaron Ford, as their nominee for governor, setting up what is expected to be one of the country’s most competitive statewide contests. Ford defeated the Washoe county commissioner, Alexis Hill, after largely ignoring his primary opponent and focusing instead on the Republican governor, Joe Lombardo.

Nevada also produced one of the most important congressional contests of the cycle. Republicans nominated Marty O’Donnell, a Trump-endorsed composer best known for creating the soundtrack to the hugely successful Halo video game franchise, to challenge the Democratic congresswoman Susie Lee in the state’s highly competitive third congressional district.

Teresa Benitez-Thompson won the Democratic primary in Nevada’s second district. Benitez-Thompson, a former assembly leader, faces an uphill battle. Republicans outnumber Democrats by 70,000 in the district that covers Reno and rural northern Nevada.

Also in the Oval Office earlier, Donald Trump said he expects top artificial intelligence companies to agree to “giving back” to the public, an apparent reference to a possible government stake in the firms.

“I’m going to have meetings with the top 12 or 15 executives very shortly, and we’re talking about giving back something to the public, and if we do that, the public will become very rich,” Trump told reporters. “I think they’ll do that, and I think it’ll make it very popular.”

An agreement to give the US government equity stakes could have a massive impact on the government’s finances. OpenAI – which is targeting a valuation of up to $1tn – in April publicly proposed creating a “public wealth fund” to invest in AI companies, according to a company statement. Proceeds from the fund would be “distributed directly to citizens”, according to the company.

The Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, a Trump critic who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, has expressed support for the idea of creating a US sovereign wealth fund by taking 50% stock in AI companies. Trump said last week that his team was looking into the idea.

But beyond Washington, concern is growing among Americans about AI negatively affecting their lives, from fears that the rise of AI could put them out of work to the environmental impacts of nationwide datacenter projects.

With Reuters.

Here’s my colleague Marina Dunbar’s report on Donald Trump signing the nearly $70bn immigration enforcement package into law today, after the House narrowly passed the legislation, ensuring funding for ICE and border patrol activities through the rest of his presidency.

“This morning, I’m thrilled to sign the Secure America Act to immediately and fully fund the Department of Homeland Security through the end of my term,” Trump said during the signing in the Oval Office. “We’ll give the heroes of ICE and border patrol – and that’s what they are, they’re heroes – the support and resources they need to defend our borders, protect our homeland and to keep America safe.”

When asked about his earlier comment that he had asked Bill Pulte, whom he plans to install as acting director of national intelligence on 19 June, “to execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office, reverting staff to their home agencies”, Donald Trump stood by his social media post.

“People have wanted to downsize for a while,” Trump said. “Many people don’t want it at all. A lot of people thought it was a duplication.”

Trump’s choice of Pulte as the country’s top intelligence official has prompted widespread concern over his complete lack of national security experience. The president defended his choice on Wednesday, telling reporters: “Smart people are smart people. I always say I’d rather have smart than experienced, but experience is good too.”

He said he hoped reporters would give Pulte an “easy run”, as “he’s very busy”.

“He doesn’t need stupid people saying, ‘Why didn’t you get a higher mark at a certain college?’” Trump said. “Because he’s highly educated, he was a great student, he’s great at everything he’s done. How come he got a B-plus? See, they’ll go after him for getting a B-plus instead of an A, but the other guy can be a thug.”

Donald Trump answered a question on Wednesday about Adam Hamawy, the army doctor who has secured the Democratic nomination to represent New Jersey’s 12th congressional district, with a comment about Graham Platner, who has secured the Democratic nomination for the US Senate in Maine.

“I actually think the one in Maine is worse because he’s just an outright pig,” Trump said Wednesday. “I watched him a couple of times. He’s like a pig, that’s what he reminds me of.”

Platner’s campaign overcame a mountain of personal controveries ranging from alleged “toxic” behavior towards women to a tattoo recognised as a Nazi symbol. Read more here: