Trump calls for more Gaza aid during meeting with UK’s prime minister

The Senate has approved the nomination of David Wright to return as chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Wright, a Republican, was approved 50-39. He led the commission from January until his term expired June 30.

He replaced Democrat Christopher Hanson as chairman. Hanson continued to serve as a commissioner until June, when Trump fired him.

Trump continues to assert more control over independent regulatory agencies. The NRC oversees nuclear safety.

The commission now has two Democrats and two Republicans. The NRC says the commission has functioned in the past with fewer than the required five commissioners and will continue to do so.

A coalition of state attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s demand that their states turn over personal data of people enrolled in a federally funded food assistance program.

They fear the information will be used to aid mass deportations.

The administration already has ordered the Internal Revenue Service and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to share private information with the Department of Homeland Security to aid in deportation efforts.

The U.S. Agriculture Department has told states they had until Wednesday to hand over the information on those enrolled in its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which serves more than 42 million people.

The department says the data will help it combat waste, fraud and abuse.

Department officials have threatened to withhold SNAP funding if states fail to comply.

While immigrants without legal status are ineligible to receive SNAP benefits, they can apply on behalf of their children who are U.S. citizens or those who are part of a mixed-status household.

▶Read more about the demand for SNAP data

A court panel has ruled that private individuals and organizations cannot bring voting rights cases under a section of the law that allows others to assist voters who are blind, have disabilities or are unable to read.

It’s the latest ruling from the St. Louis-based 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, saying only the government can bring lawsuits alleging violations of the Voting Rights Act.

The findings upend decades of precedent and will likely be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The case centered on whether an Arkansas state law that limits how many voters can be assisted by one person conflicts with a section of the landmark federal law.

▶Read more about the panel’s opinion

A federal judge in Rhode Island has ruled that nonprofits helping victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and homelessness should be able to get federal grants without conditions set by the Trump administration.

The groups had filed a lawsuit accusing the administration of requiring grantees to meet criteria advancing what they call “wholly unrelated ideological goals — including to end ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,’ deny transgender people’s identities and cut off access to abortion resources and referrals.”

U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose issued a temporary restraining order, writing the groups “will suffer immediate and irreparable harm without relief.”

Civil rights lawyers seeking a temporary restraining order against an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades say that “Alligator Alcatraz” detainees have been barred from meeting attorneys, are being held without any charges and that a federal immigration court has canceled bond hearings.

The immigration attorneys argued Monday during a virtual hearing that the detainees’ constitutional rights were being violated and that 100 detainees already had been deported from “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Nicholas Meros, an attorney representing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, said the situation had evolved since the civil rights groups’ lawsuit was filed July 16. Videoconference rooms had been set up so detainees can talk to attorneys, and in-person meetings between detainees and attorneys had started.

U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz, an appointee of President Donald Trump, didn’t make an immediate ruling. He asked the civil rights attorneys to refile their complaint, and he set a briefing schedule that will end with an in-person court hearing on Aug. 18.

▶ Read more about conditions at the detention facility

America250 kicked off “Our American Story” Monday with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and one of its most storied athletes, NFL Hall of Fame member Darrell Green.

Speaking on the Mall with the U.S. Capitol Building in the background, America250 Chair Rosie Rios said the organization would be collecting the stories of Americans “from Guam to Alaska, Fairbanks to Philadelphia, and everywhere in between.”

America250’s mission is to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Rios, treasury secretary during the Barack Obama administration, said people could nominate unsung heroes on the organization’s webpage. The goal is to interview thousands of people.

“At the end of the tour, the storytelling collections will be shared with the public from a variety of media partners and platforms,” Rios said.

The archives and videos will be preserved at the Library of Congress.

Trump said Monday that he ended his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and threw the now-disgraced financier out of his private club in Florida after Epstein betrayed him more than once by hiring people who had worked for him.

“He hired help and I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again,’” Trump said at his golf property in Turnberry, Scotland. “He stole people that worked for me. I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata.”

Trump did not say what his employees did or where they worked, and the White House declined further comment.

But the White House had previously offered a different explanation for the falling-out.

Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said in a statement last week: “The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep.”

U.S. stocks coasted to a quiet finish to begin a week full of potentially market-moving events.

The S&P 500 edged up by less than 0.1% on Monday to set an all-time high for a sixth straight day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.3% to its own record.

Stocks held steady after the U.S.-European Union agreed on a trade deal framework.

Still to come are Big Tech profit reports, a Wednesday decision on interest rates by the Federal Reserve and other highly anticipated updates.

Trump has demanded the Fed cut interest rates.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell says he wants more data about how Trump’s tariffs are affecting the economy and inflation before the Fed makes its next move.

▶Read more about the week ahead on Wall Street

The United States and Argentina have announced they are working on a plan to allow Argentine tourists to again travel to the U.S. without a visa.

It could take two to three years to happen, but the Trump administration’s move to kickstart the process marks a show of support for President Javier Milei, its staunchest ally in South America.

The gesture comes during a visit by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to Buenos Aires for meetings with Milei.

Noem signed a statement of intent alongside Security Minister Patricia Bullrich in Milei’s office.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says no one in Gaza is starving:

“We enable humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza – otherwise, there would be no Gazans.”

But Trump said Monday he disagrees, noting images of emaciated people: “Those children look very hungry.”

Under international pressure, Israel over the weekend announced airdrops and other measures to allow more aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

But people there say little or nothing has changed, and Israel has not said how long its measures would last.

▶Read more about the aid crisis in Gaza

The Trump administration has ordered Duke University to form a “merit and civil rights committee” to find and remove any racial preferences in its hiring and admissions policies.

The Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services issued the demand Monday in a letter accusing the private university of “vile racism” in the form of affirmative action. It alludes to allegations of racial preferences at Duke, its medical school and its health system that, if substantiated, make Duke “unfit for any further financial relationship with the federal government.”

Duke did not immediately provide comment.

The Education Department separately opened an investigation into the Duke Law Journal over allegations that it gave an advantage to prospective editors from underrepresented groups. The department is investigating it as a potential violation of anti-discrimination laws.

The Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, is calling for the Trump administration and the Israeli government to address starvation in the Gaza Strip, saying reports from the region “underscore the dire human cost of this ongoing conflict that cannot be ignored.”

Schumer, who is the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S., has been openly critical of how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has conducted the war. Yet he urged all parties Monday to work toward a ceasefire and said recent actions by the Israeli government to lift some aid restrictions are “a step forward.”

The New York senator also said that a ceasefire deal could lead to the release of the 58 hostages held by Hamas, about 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

“Since the start of this war, I have long said that Israel has a right to defend itself and end Hamas’ brutal rule in Gaza, yet how it does so matters,” he said.

The push for speedy Senate confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nominees is coming to a head this week, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune started it off with a fiery floor speech aimed at his Democratic colleagues.

The South Dakota Republican threatened to keep senators in Washington for confirmation votes beyond the end of the week, when they are scheduled to start a monthlong recess.

He said Democrats “can continue with this historic and unprecedented levels of obstructionism or they can work with us to get some of these things, some of them done.”

Thune is caught between demands from Trump that the Senate quickly confirm nominees, particularly many ambassadors who are personal friends of the president, and Senate Democrats who have sought to show their resistance to the Trump administration by objecting to quick confirmations, even for nominees who are relatively uncontroversial.

Nearly 4,000 employees are set to leave the space agency by the start of next year, NASA spokesperson Cheryl Warner said in a statement.

She said the agency is streamlining as it works toward goals like exploring the moon and Mars, keeping safety a top priority.

About 3,000 employees opted into a new round of deferred resignation, early retirement and voluntary separation programs offered this summer. About 870 accepted deferred resignations offered earlier this year.

While the numbers are subject to change, the agency projects its workforce will be downsized to about 14,000 employees.

Last week, more than 300 current and former NASA employees signed a letter objecting to changes at the agency, including cuts to research and staffing.

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell filed a final written brief urging the Supreme Court to take up her criminal case, though the justices aren’t scheduled to review the appeal before late September.

Maxwell is the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy and well-connected financier who killed himself in 2019 as he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. She was convicted in 2021 on charges that she helped Epstein sexually abuse underage girls and is serving a long prison sentence.

Maxwell is appealing her conviction, based on the government’s pledge years ago that any potential Epstein co-conspirators would not be charged. Epstein struck a deal with federal prosecutors in 2008 that shifted his case to Florida state court, where he pleaded guilty to soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution.

In a statement, her lawyer David Oscar Markus said Maxwell was appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to Trump to “recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s crimes, especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted.”

Trump is asking a federal court in Florida to force Rupert Murdoch to give a deposition for the president’s lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal within 15 days, citing the media mogul’s age and physical condition.

Trump sued the Journal, owned by Murdoch, is U.S. District Court in southern Florida on July 18 for its story reporting on the Republican president’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and alleged child sex trafficker who died in a New York jail in 2019 before trial.

The president’s motion to the court on Monday noted Murdoch is 94 years old, is believed to have suffered several health scares in recent years and is presumed to live in New York.

▶ Read more about the Wall Street Journal lawsuit

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, is calling on the Department of Justice to release transcripts and recordings of the interviews it conducted last week with Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein.

Although Democrats on the committee have no power to force the release of the interviews, they are trying to keep the pressure on President Donald Trump’s administration to disclose more information.

The issue has become a wedge in Trump’s political base, sparking some of his supporters to criticize how the administration has reneged on promises for complete disclosure of the investigation into Epstein for sex trafficking.

In the letter, which was also signed by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the senators call last week’s interviews “another tactic to distract from DOJ’s failure to fulfill Attorney General Bondi’s commitment that the American people would see ‘the full Epstein files.’”

They are noting that it was unusual and concerning to have Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conduct the interviews, rather than prosecutors versed in the case. They also asked the Justice Department to pledge it would not offer Maxwell a pardon for her participation in the interviews.

• Israeli strikes kill 36 in Gaza, including a mother and newborn, as more aid is allowed in
• The latest child to starve to death in Gaza weighed less than when she was born
• Dozens of kids and adults in Gaza have starved to death in July as hunger surges
• Two Israeli rights groups say their country is committing genocide in Gaza

Asked about Epstein during an appearance in his home state of Ohio, Vice President JD Vance said the government isn’t hiding the files.

Vance said Trump asked the attorney general to release all “credible information,” but the process “takes time.”

The Justice Department recently said it wouldn’t release any more information in the case but, at Trump’s direction, has for grand jury transcripts to be made public. One judge has denied that request while a second judge has yet to rule.

Vance said Trump, who was an acquaintance of Epstein before they had a falling out, wants “full transparency” in the case. Vance alleged that prior administrations went “easy on this guy.”

A federal judge on Monday said Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to be reimbursed for Medicaid funding as the nation’s largest abortion provider fights Trump’s administration over efforts to defund the organization in his signature tax legislation.

The new order replaces a previous edict handed down by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston last week.

Talwani initially granted a preliminary injunction specifically blocking the government from cutting Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood members that didn’t provide abortion care or didn’t meet a threshold of at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year.

Trump said he’s a “big fan” of the king, who will be his host at Windsor Castle during a state visit to the U.K. in September.

On a visit to golf courses the Trump family owns in Scotland, Trump praised the beauty of the country where his mother was born. But he said there was one blot on the landscape: the turbines of Britain’s burgeoning wind power industry, which Trump called “ugly monsters.”

The king is a champion of renewable energy — and, as monarch, owns some of the seabed around Britain on which offshore turbines stand.

Trump said the king “is an environmentalist … He wants clean air, clean water,” adding that, “I’m all for it.”

Questions from reporters prompted an extended digression into the Jeffrey Epstein case as Starmer sat quietly at Trump’s side.

Asked about a Wall Street Journal report that said he allegedly drew a picture in a birthday letter for Jeffrey Epstein years ago, Trump said, “I don’t do drawings, I’m not a drawing person.”

He said he would make exceptions for charity — sketching buildings — but insisted, “I don’t do drawings of women.”

The Journal report says the letter signed by Trump included a provocative drawing of a woman.

When asked by a reporter about a proposed in-person meeting with Putin, Trump said, “I’m not so interested in talking anymore.”

“He talks with such nice conversation, such respectful and nice conversations,” Trump said. “And then, people die the following night with a missile going into a town and hitting.”

Although he’s left no doubt that he wants lower interest rates, Trump’s criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell lacked some of his recent vitriol.

“I’m not going to say anything bad,” he said. “We’re doing so well, even without the rate cut.”

Trump met Powell at the Fed headquarters last week, where he criticized the cost of renovations. The president has used the issue as a political cudgel as he pushes for lower rates.

“A smart person would cut,” Trump said, adding that Powell “leaves very soon.” Powell’s term ends next May.

The president reflected on how his unprecedented second state visit, scheduled for later this year, has never been done and reminisced about his last state visit in 2019 during his first term.

“It was one of the most beautiful evenings I’ve ever seen,” Trump said of his first visit.

As he spoke about the pomp and ceremony of the evening, he said to Starmer, “Nobody does it like you people.”

Starmer, too, pointed out how the nation had never invited a U.S. president for a second state visit.

“You can imagine just how special that’s going to be,” Starmer said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is leading the U.S. team in the negotiations, while Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng is leading the Chinese delegation.

The two sides earlier agreed to a truce in the trade war, and this time are expected to work towards a more lasting deal that may address the trade imbalance and possibly prepare for a summit between their presidents.

He said that Israel “has a lot of responsibility” for what is happening, but said the country is hampered by considerations of the remaining hostages it wants to see kept alive and freed.

“I think Israel can do a lot,” Trump said, without offering more information.

The president was asked to clarify after he said earlier Monday that he would shorten his 50-day window for Russia to reach peace with Ukraine.

Trump said there was “no reason in waiting.”

“We just don’t see any progress being made,” he added.

There was little in the way of specifics, but Trump said during a meeting with Starmer that “we’re going to set up food centers.”

He said, “We want to help,” and “we have to get the kids fed.”

Earlier in the day, Trump expressed annoyance that the U.S. hadn’t received more credit for previous rounds of humanitarian aid.

Two weeks ago, the president said he would give Russia and Ukraine just 50 days to make a deal to end the war. Now Trump said he’s going to reduce that time to a “lesser number.”

“I think I already know the answer, what’s going to happen,” he said, expressing skepticism that Vladimir Putin is willing to reach an agreement.

Trump repeated his criticism of Putin for talking about ending the war, only to continue bombarding Ukraine.

“And I say, that’s not the way to do it,” Trump said. He added that “I’m disappointed in President Putin.”

The president, when asked if he agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks about hunger in Gaza, Trump said, “I don’t know. I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry.”

Netanyahu on Sunday said, “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza.”

Starmer, standing next to Trump, said, “We’ve got to get that ceasefire,” in Gaza and called it “a desperate situation.”

Trump said the two will be talking about the humanitarian situation in Gaza when they meet inside.

Starmer plans to discuss a U.K.-led peace plan for Gaza with Trump when the two men meet Monday in Scotland.

Starmer’s spokesman, Dave Pares, says Britain supports Trump’s efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, and the plan aims “to turn a ceasefire into lasting peace.”

The plan was discussed by Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday. Pares says Starmer will discuss it with allies “including the U.S. and Arab states” and at an emergency meeting of his Cabinet later this week.

Details of the plan have not been made public.

Starmer is under growing pressure to follow France in recognizing a Palestinian state, a move both Israel and the U.S. have condemned. The British leader says the U.K. supports statehood for the Palestinians but that it must be part of a wider plan for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The president said “you have a lot of starving people” there and emphasized that his administration has provided some humanitarian assistance.

“Nobody said even thank you,” he said. “Somebody should say thank you.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday said he supported the trade agreement reached between the EU and the U.S., but added that he did so “without any enthusiasm.”

“One of the main lessons we must draw from everything we’re seeing internationally, and especially when we talk about the U.S. administration, is that Europe needs to get moving — in all areas of strategic autonomy and trade relations with other countries,” he said.

The leader of the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy stressed that the EU needed to diversify its trade relations with other countries and regions, pointing to the deals being pursued by the bloc with India and Indonesia.

Asked by a reporter about the growing humanitarian crisis, the president defended his efforts.

“We’ve given a lot of money to Gaza,” he said. “A lot of that money is stolen by Hamas.”

Trump added that “we’ll be talking about Gaza” with Starmer.

The president shook the British prime minister’s hand as they greeted each other at Trump’s golf course in southwestern Scotland.

Starmer was accompanied by his wife, Victoria Starmer.

The three spent a few minutes chatting and looking over the landscape as bagpipes played.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted an image on Instagram of President Donald Trump sitting down for an interview with right-wing Breitbart News in Scotland before his meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

It wasn’t immediately clear when the interview would be published.

ROME — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who has positioned herself as a “bridge” between the Trump administration and Europe, welcomed news of the tariff agreement as a “positive” outcome that avoided an “unpredictable and potentially devastating” trade war.

But in comments to reporters on the sidelines of a U.N. food security conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia she said details still needed to be both studied and worked out and that she still is unclear on exemptions for particular industries, such as pharmaceuticals and autos.

But she said a tariff base of 15% that includes previous duties, rather than a possible 10% agreement that was added onto previous duties, was a “sustainable basis” to negotiate further.

“I obviously judge positively that an agreement was reached. I always thought, I continue to think that a trade escalation between Europe and the United States would have unpredictable, potentially devastating consequences,” she said.

Meloni said she needed to understand what the exemptions might be, including on agricultural products which are of particular concern to Italy, given its wine exports in particular. She noted that the deal in its current form is juridically non-binding in principle, “so there is still, let’s say, room to fight.”

Earlier, in an official statement, Meloni and her top deputies said the government welcomed the deal as guaranteeing stability for US-EU economic relations.

“We consider the basis of the agreement on duties at 15% to be sustainable, especially if this percentage includes and does not add previous duties, as was originally planned,” the statement said.

Any division in the West “would make us all weaker and more exposed to global challenges,” it said.

Senior French officials on Monday criticized the newly signed EU-U. S. trade accord, with Foreign Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin urging a European response in the services sector, and Strategy Commissioner Clément Beaune warning the deal failed to reflect the bloc’s economic strength.

“The good news is that there is an agreement—our companies now have visibility and stability in the transatlantic trade relationship,” said Saint-Martin on France Inter radio. “But this agreement is not balanced, and we will need to keep working.”

Saint-Martin urged the European Commission “to work on support measures” for sectors affected by the accord, which was signed Sunday by U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It includes 15% tariffs on EU exports to the United States.

He pointed to digital services as a key area in the trade imbalance. “Donald Trump spent months saying he wanted to rebalance a trade relationship that disadvantages the United States, but he was only talking about goods. If we look at services, it’s the opposite. So it’s up to us now to carry out the work of force and rebalancing,” he said.

“The United States decided to use force to impose a new law of the jungle that no longer respects the rules of international trade that we had for decades,” Saint-Martin added.

Beaune, France’s High Commissioner for Strategy and Planning, also took aim at the deal in a separate interview on Franceinfo radio: “This is an unequal and unbalanced agreement.” He warned: “Europe did not wield its strength. We are the world’s leading trading power.”

“When you look at it, the glass is a quarter full and three-quarters empty,” Beaune said.

Prime Minister François Bayrou was even more scathing, posting on X: “It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to uphold their values and defend their interests, resigns itself to submission.”