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This law firm has deep ties to Trump. A partner is his pick to be Manhattan’s top prosecutor.

2026-06-17T17:39:00-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-jamie-mcdonald-sullivan-and-cromwell-sdny/

Washington— It was not yet 4 o’clock in the morning in Washington on Wednesday when President Trump, an ocean away at the G7 summit in France, issued a demand for Republican senators: James “Jamie” McDonald, his pick for U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, “must be confirmed” immediately.

“I may not be able to get the extraordinary Sullivan & Cromwell Partner, Jamie, approved, and I don’t want to take Jay Clayton away from the great job he is doing until Jamie is in place,” the president said on his Truth Social platform.

McDonald is Mr. Trump’s choice to helm one of the nation’s most prestigious federal prosecutors’ offices — known for its independence and tough enforcement of Wall Street malfeasance and other white-collar crimes. And he would succeed Jay Clayton,who has been tapped by the president to become the next director of national intelligence.

Though little known outside the power corridors of Washington and Manhattan, McDonald has been a notable force during Mr. Trump’s second term. At Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the world’s largest law firms, where Clayton also once worked as a partner, McDonald has played a central role in persuading the Justice Department to drop or settle a string of high-profile cases for the firm’s corporate clients, according to court records and sources familiar with the matter.

Now, questions about his ability to maintain prosecutorial independence could play a central role in any confirmation review, Democratic Senate sources told CBS News, as Mr. Trump has sought to expedite his nomination.

Sullivan & Cromwell, where McDonald has worked since 2021, has emerged as a firm known for its close relationships with the White House during Mr. Trump’s second term.

Law firms have long sought to make use of close relationships at the Justice Department to assist their clients, which many lawyers consider zealous advocacy. But there are growing questions among senior lawyers at other big law firms and career prosecutors about whether Sullivan & Cromwell’s clients “are getting favorable treatment at the Justice Department — not because the facts of the law compel it,” but because some of the firm’s senior partners are aligned with the president, as one former Justice Department official who worked in a Democratic administration put it.

“Sullivan & Cromwell understands the D.C. game and knows that staying close to the president is the best way to navigate the current environment,” another former Justice Department official who worked in the second Trump administration told CBS News.

On Saturday, the president said in a social media post that he is confident McDonald — a former federal prosecutor and regulator — “will deliver strong results for our Country.”

The future of both Clayton’s and McDonald’s nominations is in flux after the president directed Clayton not to appear for a planned confirmation hearing on Wednesday, upending Senate Republicans’ plans to quickly install Clayton and resolve a standoff with Democrats.

Sullivan & Cromwell has more than a dozen offices across the globe and is headquartered in Manhattan. Its managing partner, Robert Giuffra, was at one point considered a contender to be Mr. Trump’s attorney general during his second term, sources familiar with the transition said.

“Sullivan & Cromwell is one of the great institutions in our city,” John Catsimatidis, a Manhattan billionaire who is friends with Mr. Trump, told CBS News.

Both McDonald and Giuffra represented Mr. Trump in past private matters. The firm is representing the president in his appeal of his criminal conviction for hiding a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, as well as Mr. Trump’s appeal in a civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

And when Mr. Trump issued an executive order against the powerful law firm Paul, Weiss that could have crippled its access to the government, it was Giuffra who helped broker a deal between a business rival and the White House to drop the directive in exchange for the firm pledging $40 million in pro bono services. He did so alongside Boris Epshteyn, Mr. Trump’s personal attorney who has coordinated his legal defense strategy.

McDonald joined Sullivan & Cromwell after serving as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York until 2017 and then as director of enforcement for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, an agency that regulates commodity and derivatives markets and pursues civil enforcement actions for violations.

Chris Giancarlo, who headed the CFTC during Mr. Trump’s first term, said he hired McDonald because he wanted someone who would be tough on enforcement. Giancarlo said he liked McDonald’s background as a prosecutor who pursued public corruption and organized crime cases.

“He is strong, but fair,” Giancarlo told CBS News. “He doesn’t wear politics on his sleeve. To the extent people are concerned about political motivations, there is none of that with Jamie.”

The Adani case

More recently, Giuffra and McDonald have found extraordinary success brokering other deals between their clients who are facing investigations by law enforcement arms of the administration.

In May, the Justice Department’s unusual decision to ask a judge to dismiss criminal fraudand foreign bribery charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and other defendants came after negotiations led by Sullivan & Cromwell.

The Adani case was slated to proceed, after it survived a review ordered by Mr. Trump into all pending foreign bribery matters to determine whether they should be dismissed, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Before the motion to dismiss the case, senior Justice Department officials met with McDonald, Giuffra and Andrew DeFilippis of Sullivan & Cromwell, sources said.

In one such meeting at the Justice Department, Giuffra made a presentation that disputed evidence of the alleged bribery scheme, according to sources familiar with the matter and records reviewed by CBS News. One slide touted how one of Adani’s companies is “powering India’s progress,” and another slide said the Trump administration “would not have brought the case.”

If prosecutors were to drop the charges, Giuffra also said at the meeting, Adani would be willing to invest $10 billion in the American economy, sources said. The meeting and discussion about the investment were reported earlier by The New York Times.

Adani has since agreed to pay $18 million to settle a parallel civil fraud case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. And in May, the Treasury Department announced that it had reached a $275 million settlement with an Adani Group subsidiary for apparent violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran. The subsidiary, Adani Enterprises, purchased shipments of liquefied petroleum gas sourced from Iran, the U.S. government said.

Both SEC and Treasury Department officials were also involved in meetings with the attorneys from Sullivan & Cromwell, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

CBS News has reached out for comment to the SEC and Treasury Department.

In May, just days after the government filed the motion to dismiss the Justice Department’s case against Adani, two prosecutors assigned to the case abruptly withdrew from it, according to court records. The motion did not include signatures from career prosecutors who brought the case, a departure from common practice that signaled dissent.

Democrats have since launched an investigation into the Justice Department’s decision to drop the Adani case. In a June 11 letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut questioned what they called the “transactional nature” of the decision to dismiss the case. The lawmakers suggested that Adani’s offer to invest $10 billion in U.S. energy and infrastructure projects smacked of a “quid pro quo.”

“I have serious concerns about a Trump loyalist who played a key role in the Adani dismissal serving in a critical U.S. Attorney role,” Warren told CBS News.

In a statement shared with CBS News, a spokesperson for Sullivan & Cromwell said that Giuffra, McDonald and all partners at the firm “have devoted their careers to and built their reputations on being exceptionally effective advocates for our clients, without regard to the administration in Washington.”

“Sullivan & Cromwell is hired to handle the most significant and challenging cases because we have the finest lawyers in the profession, and to suggest that the success of our firm and our partners is the result of anything other than the most rigorous legal argument and factual analysis and our judgment and experience is simply wrong,” the statement added.

A Justice Department official said that the department “often meets with outside counsel to discuss pending cases and potential resolutions to assure the best possible outcome for the American people” and that the decision to dismiss the case came after many months of discussion with the company’s lawyers and an internal review.

The Southern Coal case

McDonald was also one of the lawyers involved in convincing the Justice Department to drop a non-public criminal investigation into Southern Coal, a Roanoke-based coal mining company run by the son of Republican Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

The investigation was sparked by concerns that Southern Coal was doctoring water testing reports required under a longstanding consent decree with the Justice Department and several states, one of the sources said. ProPublica reported earlier on the closure of the case, but McDonald’s role has not been previously reported.

Following meetings between Justice Department officials in the deputy attorney general’s office and lawyers for Southern Coal, including McDonald, the Justice Department instructed prosecutors to close the investigation, one of the sources said.

The investigation was still in its early stages when it was closed, the source said. A spokesperson for the Justice family’s legal team declined to comment.

In a statement to ProPublica earlier this month, Steven Ruby, an attorney for the Justice companies, said, “Ultimately the finding of the inquiry by the government was that there wasn’t any evidence to pursue criminal charges,” adding, “There’s never been any intentional wrongdoing by the companies.”

Sullivan & Cromwell declined to discuss the Southern Coal case or McDonald’s involvement. A Justice Department official said the defense attorneys followed a common practice by challenging the case.

“The bottom line is that this was a politically motivated prosecution for a case that can and should be resolved civilly,” the Justice Department official told CBS News.

The Live Nation case

During his time at Sullivan & Cromwell, McDonald also represented music concert promoter Live Nation as it settled an antitrust case involving Ticketmaster, court records show.

The Live Nation case, filed in 2024 during the Biden administration, had bipartisan support among Republican and Democratic state attorneys general.Attorneys at the Justice Department who worked on the Live Nation case and attorneys for the states were surprised when they were notified earlier this year by Live Nation that settlement discussions would take place, according to sources familiar with the settlement.

“It was a very strange situation,” said a former Justice Department attorney. “We were told to keep the whole settlement discussions very tight and very close to the vest.”

Negotiations for the settlement between the government and Sullivan & Cromwell took place at the law firm’s offices in Manhattan, handled by Justice Department officials who did not work on the trial team. State attorneys general were left out of the meeting and remained in the lobby for several hours, sources said.

“We had people who were there and ready to join the conversation and were never included,” said Eleanor Blume, a senior legal adviser to California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Blume added that the case’s handling “points to this being an extremely political decision.”

A Justice Department official said that the settlement “exceeded the outcomes of previous administrations” and that the department’s “overriding interest was providing immediate relief for consumers rather than risk an adverse decision or years of continued appellate litigation.”

All but a small handful of states decided to reject the settlement between the Justice Department and Live Nation, and continued to try the case. They prevailed, with a federal jury finding in April that Live Nation was liable for operating an illegal monopoly.

The 14-point US-Iran peace plan, annotated

2026-06-17 5:34 PM ET / CNN

By Zachary B. Wolf, Abbas Al Lawati, Lou Robinson, Annette Choi

Photo Illustration by Jason Lancaster/CNN/Getty Images

The memorandum of understanding, MOU, between the US and Iran aims to expand on the ceasefire and get traffic flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.

But at less than 800 words in English, the 14-point outline leaves a lot of details for later, including the touchy subject of Iran’s nuclear program. But it does promise Iran a lot of money – by lifting sanctions to Iran can sell its oil to the world, but also potentially giving Iran access to billions in frozen assets and $300 billion in financing.

The Trump administration is a great fan of multipoint agreements. The agreement that sought to end hostilities in the Gaza strip was a 20-point plan, and the administration’s unrealized plan to end Russia’s war on Ukraine was a 28-point plan.

It’s worth going line by line through the draft agreement, which was read out by a senior Trump administration official in a call with reporters.

Fed’s Warsh flags new tasks forces to study Fed operations

2026-06-17T20:07:04.138Z / Reuters

June 17 (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh announced on Wednesday a wide-ranging project to review key ​aspects of central bank policy making, in a move that indicated any near-term moves to change how the Fed manages ‌its massive stock of bonds lay well off in the future.

“I’m appointing a task force in each of five areas that are central to the broad conduct of monetary policy,” Warsh said in a press conference following the first interest-rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee meeting held under his stewardship.

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“My expectation is the task forces will begin ​work in the next couple of weeks, and we’ll start to get some more information from them, some more framing of ​how they see things, starting in the fall, and hopefully most, if not all of them, concluding by year ⁠end,” Warsh said. “For each of these independent task forces, I’m enlisting some of the very best minds, both inside and outside the economics profession,” ​he added.

These panels will take a look at how the Fed approaches inflation, its communications, the use of economic data, as well as productivity ​and the jobs market.

One of the task forces will also look at an issue that has been at the center of Warsh’s issues with the central bank.

BALANCE SHEET BLUES

Warsh, who was a governor from 2005 to 2011, has long lamented how large the Fed’s balance sheet has become, arguing to considerable controversy that the Fed has come to ​own too many bonds and that’s causing harm to the economy.

New U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh arrives to hold a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), at the U.S. Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., U.S. June 17, 2026. REUTERS/Eric Lee

Warsh believes the extensive holdings of bonds owned by the Fed, which were acquired in ​times of economic crisis, distort market signals and push the Fed into making decisions best left to elected officials.

A number of current Fed officials and many economists ‌counter that the current ⁠system the Fed uses to implement monetary policy works very well at controlling short-term rates and the idea that markets are distorted isn’t accurate.

Warsh appeared to give the status quo around the Fed balance sheet issues some breathing room, as the FOMC statement noted “the Committee reaffirmed its policy of maintaining ample reserves in the banking system.”

The Fed announced last week it would continue buying Treasury bills over the next month as part of a technical bid ​to bolster reserves to maintain short-term ​rate control, which will help ⁠the size of Fed holdings grow. It’s unclear how long that buying will continue, with New York Fed officials noting future buying will be driven by market conditions.

The Fed has used aggressive purchase of bonds to stabilize ​stressed markets and to augment the stimulative power of monetary policy when its short-term interest rate target ​is set at near ⁠zero levels. It has also built up a suite of tools to control rates that depend on the financial system holding very large amounts of liquidity.

Fed holdings can only shrink so far before tight money market conditions start driving unwanted money market volatility, which limits how much overall holdings can be drawn ⁠down. There are widespread ​expectations that changes in liquidity rules could allow some notable reduction in the size ​of Fed holdings, but few wish to see a return to how the Fed conducted monetary policy 20 years ago.

Experts believe any big changes in the Fed’s balance sheet will ​take some time to happen given the complexity of the system.

Reporting by Dan Burns and Michael S. Derby; Editing by Nia Williams and Daniel Wallis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

美联储维持利率不变 新主席沃什淡化前瞻指引重要性

2026年6月18日 07:06 / 联合早报

6月17日，美国联邦储备局主席沃什在上任以来的首次政策会议结束后主持新闻发布会。 （彭博社）

美国联邦储备委员会宣布，继续将联邦基金利率目标区间维持在3.5%至3.75%之间不变。这一今年连续第四次维持利率不变的决定符合市场普遍预期。

美联储星期三（6月17日）同时发布的经济预测摘要显示，美联储官员对2026年联邦基金利率预测的中值从3月的3.4%提高至3.8%。这意味着美联储官员预期今年会实施加息操作。

新华社报道，经济预测摘要还显示，美联储将今年个人消费支出价格指数涨幅预测中值，从3月的2.7%大幅升高至3.6%，对今年核心通胀的预测中值从2.7%升至3.3%。对今年美国经济增长预期则从此前的2.4%下调为2.2%。

美联储主席沃什在上任以来的首次政策会议结束后，承诺将恢复物价稳定。此前，美联储官员释放出支持今年加息的信号。

彭博社报道，沃什在记者会上说：“持续高企的物价是美国民众的负担，但过去并不一定决定未来，官员们态度明确且一致，联邦公开市场委员会（FOMC）将致力于实现物价稳定。”

与此同时，沃什淡化了同僚们最新利率预测的重要性。点阵图显示，19名官员中有九人预计今年至少进行一次幅度25基点的加息，其中六人预计至少加息两次。另有九人预计利率将维持不变或降息。

沃什说：“其他官员对于预测值也没有很大把握，许多人都承认经济前景存在高度不确定性。”

问及本次会议上的利率争论时，沃什说，委员会经历了一场“良性的内部争论”。

这名长期批评所谓“前瞻指引”的新主席说，他本人拒绝提交利率预测。

联邦储备委员会一致投票决定将联邦基金利率目标区间维持在3.5%至3.75%的决议公布后，美国国债遭抛售，美元上涨，股市下跌。沃什记者会结束后，交易员们认为到10月加息的概率为100%。

Congress to hold hearing on US airline competition, regulation

2026-06-17T21:09:52.244Z / Reuters

A Spirit Airlines jet sat on the tarmac as operations ceased for the company after hitting an impasse in talks with some creditors on a $500 million government bailout plan, at Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida, U.S. May 2, 2026. REUTERS/Miguel Rodriguez/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, June 17 (Reuters) – A House of Representatives panel will hold a June 24 hearing on the state of U.S. airline competition ​and regulation after the collapse of low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines last month.

A ‌House Judiciary subcommittee that oversees antitrust issues will hold a hearing titled “The 30,000 Foot View: Competition and Regulation in the U.S. Airline Industry.” Airlines for America CEO Chris Sununu is expected to ​testify at the hearing.

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Republicans are likely to use the hearing to argue the ​Biden administration’s airline competition policies failed to save jobs, while Democrats ⁠will seize on Trump administration efforts to roll back aviation consumer protection measures and ​void airline fines for misconduct issued under Biden.

Spirit Airlines collapsed in May after President ​Donald Trump had proposed $500 million to save Spirit despite opposition from some of his closest advisers and many Republicans in Congress.

Creditors rejected the deal despite intense efforts by the Trump administration to keep ​Spirit alive. The collapse resulted in the loss of about 15,000 jobs of ​Spirit employees and contractors.

The Trump administration has argued the former administration of President Joe Biden paved the ‌way ⁠for the airline’s collapse by blocking a merger in 2024 between JetBlue Airways

(JBLU.O)
and Spirit, but Biden officials rejected the contention. Spirit had filed for bankruptcy protection twice within a year and had not made a profit since 2019.

This week, USDOT said ​it closed an investigation ​into a July ⁠2024 meltdown at Delta Air Lines

(DAL.N)
that disrupted the travel plans of 1.3 million customers; and last year, it waived an $11 million ​fine imposed on Southwest Airlines

(LUV.N)
over the carrier’s December 2022 ​meltdown during ⁠a busy holiday travel period.

The Federal Aviation Administration in May closed its investigation into airlines that did not comply with required flight cuts at 40 major airports during the 2025 ⁠government ​shutdown without seeking any fines.

In November, USDOT withdrew a ​proposal issued under Biden that sought to require airlines to pay passengers cash compensation when carriers are ​responsible for U.S. flight disruptions.

Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul and Aurora Ellis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

‘Trump should renege’: Iran deal faces backlash from conservative allies

Critics say the framework gives Iran huge financial benefits without requiring dismantlement of nuclear infrastructure

2026-06-17T17:52:27-04:00 / Fox News

By Elaine Mallon Fox News

Published June 17, 2026 5:52pm EDT | Updated June 17, 2026 7:04pm EDT

Trump calls Iran peace deal ‘a wall to a nuclear weapon’

During a bilateral meeting, President Donald Trump praises the U.S.-Iran deal, describing it as ‘a wall to a nuclear weapon’ and one of the ‘dumbest’ deals. Fox News’ Harris Faulkner outlines key reported components, such as a 60-day negotiation for a final agreement, a ceasefire in Lebanon and a U.S. pause on new sanctions.

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President Donald Trump’s proposed Iran agreement is drawing sharp criticism from some of his strongest supporters, who argue the deal rewards Tehran before it has agreed to fully dismantle its nuclear program.

The 14-point framework agreement, unveiled on Wednesday, establishes an immediate ceasefire between the United States and Iran, with key provisions including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the removal of the U.S. naval blockade, temporary waivers allowing Iranian oil exports, access to frozen Iranian assets and a commitment to negotiate a final agreement within 60 days. The framework also outlines a proposed economic reconstruction package reportedly worth at least $300 billion and includes Iran’s renewed pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons.

However, critics note that the agreement does not require the immediate dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, the removal of enriched uranium stockpiles, restrictions on Tehran’s ballistic missile program or the disbandment of Iranian-backed proxy groups such as Hezbollah.

Despite the administration portraying the agreement as a breakthrough, critics have argued that the concessions offered to Iran far outweigh the commitments secured in return.

IRAN’S REGIME SPINS NUCLEAR AND STRAIT OF HORMUZ DEAL WITH TRUMP AS VICTORY OVER US, ISRAEL

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a morning work meeting to “revive balanced, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth for the benefit of all” in the presence of the G7 countries, partner countries, the International Monetary Fund, and the OECD, as part of the G7 summit, in Evian, eastern France, on June 17, 2026.(Ludovic MARIN / AFP via Getty Images)

“The deal is absolutely terrible, there’s no getting around it,” Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Article III Project and vice president of external affairs at the Edmund Burke Foundation, wrote on X. “The text gives Iranians huge, immediate financial benefits and protection for Hezbollah in exchange for opening the Strait – and nothing else. President Trump should renege.”

Conservative talk radio host Mark Levin praised President Trump’s decision to use military force against Iran but sharply criticized the proposed MOU, arguing that it abandons U.S. leverage before Tehran has made meaningful concessions.

“From day one, I have underscored that no deal will be honored by the Iranian regime,” Levin wrote on X, adding, “Why would we agree to immediately drop the most important leverage we have over the regime in advance of it complying with MOU requirements?”

AG Hamilton, the pseudonym of a licensed attorney and conservative commentator with a large following on X, sharply criticized the preliminary U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding.

“So they get to keep the nuclear program, the ballistic missile program, and funding for terror proxies. But they will pinky promise not to build a full nuke while getting billions of financial relief to fund all of that. Great deal. Should have had Kamala Harris negotiate it,” AG wrote.

Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official who served during President Donald Trump’s first term and is a known critic of the president, called the memorandum of understanding “pathetic.”

“I was involved in Iran issues in the first Trump administration,” Taylor wrote on X. “The Trump ‘deal’ could be the most humiliating in U.S. diplomatic history. Hundred of billions in exchange for a ‘promise’ we already had.”

JD VANCE REVEALS DETAILS OF US-IRAN DEAL, ADDRESSES WHETHER TAXPAYER MONEY WILL GO TO TEHRAN

Atlanta-based conservative talk radio host Erick Erickson called it “American surrender.”

The deal came as little surprise to many observers, as versions of the alleged memorandum had been circulating for days.

“So the MOU is the same one that’s been out for days (as many of us have known the whole time, because we’ve been doing this for a while). And it’s as awful today as it was all week,” conservative commentator David Reaboi wrote on X.

Iranians react after a ceasefire announcement at the Enqelab square, Wednesday, in Tehran. The U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire Tuesday, barely an hour before President Donald Trump’s deadline to obliterate the rival country was set to expire, with Tehran to temporarily reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz.(AFP via Getty Images)

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also delivered a lengthy and highly critical response, mocking the administration’s handling of the conflict and questioning the rationale behind a proposed reconstruction fund for Iran. Greene argued that American taxpayers would ultimately bear the financial burden while the Iranian regime remained in power.

TRUMP UNLEASHES ON OBAMA’S ‘DISASTER’ IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL, SAYS HE WAS ‘HONORED’ TO RIP IT APART

Trump’s former vice president and 2024 rival Mike Pence said the ceasefire agreement was almost identical to the Obama and Biden administration’s approach to the Iranians.

“The reported MOU with Iran smacks of the kind of appeasement that we saw during the Obama years, the kind of appeasement that Joe Biden tried to accomplish and was ignored by the Iranians, and the kind of appeasement we categorically rejected during the first Trump administration,” Pence wrote on X.

And former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, another 2024 Republican candidate for president defeated by Trump, called the agreement a “huge mistake.”

TRUMP BROKERS IRAN CEASEFIRE AS EXPERTS SAY REGIME’S ARSENAL IS SHATTERED BUT THREAT REMAINS

President Donald Trump announced he accepted the resignation of Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 9, 2018.(Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

“Hitting Iran’s nuclear and missile sites was the right move. This regime chants death to America, murders our troops, and attempts to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil. They believe they have an obligation to destroy us,” Haley wrote on X.

“Now, we plan to unlock billions of dollars and lift sanctions, with the promise of even more money. They will use that money the way they always do— to further their nuclear ambitions and on terrorist proxies against us. It’s a huge mistake to pay to rebuild the threat we just destroyed.”

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Others, however, welcomed the move away from further military escalation. Broadcaster Piers Morgan said he was pleased to see Trump seeking an exit from the conflict, even while criticizing the circumstances that led to it.

“This Iran deal is about as far removed from ‘unconditional surrender’ as any deal in the history of Planet Earth,” Morgan wrote on X. “I’m glad President Trump is getting out of this fiasco, but I bet if he had his time again, he’d have never got into it or believed Netanyahu’s bullsh*t.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6398668919112

Pastors for Trump founder withdraws from US House race after texting scandal

2026-06-17T20:06:50.868Z / CNN

By Arit John

Updated 3 hr ago

Updated Jun 17, 2026, 4:11 PM ET

PUBLISHED Jun 17, 2026, 4:06 PM ET

Jackson Lahmeyer, seen on April 13, 2022.

Doug Hoke/The Oklahoman/USA Today Network/Imagn Images/File

Pastors for Trump founder Jackson Lahmeyer on Wednesday announced he was ending his bid for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, one day after he was projected to advance to a runoff for the Republican nomination in the wake of a texting scandal.

“After prayerful consideration with my wife, Kendra, and my team over the last twenty four hours, I’ve made the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for Congress,” Lahmeyer, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump ahead of Tuesday’s primary, said in a statement. “I do not want to be a distraction to my family, my church, and the great people of Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, who deserve a strong conservative voice representing them in Washington.”

Lahmeyer’s exit comes after a Daily Mail report alleged the pastor had sent romantic text messages to a woman who is not his wife. After the story ran Sunday, Lahmeyer acknowledged inappropriate behavior but also criticized the outlet and the timing of the story’s publication.

“This matter was already dealt with privately between me and my wife, Kendra, through counsel and prayer with God and spiritual advisors,” Lahmeyer wrote on X Sunday. “I own crossing a boundary line through text messaging. I also ended all communication. The British Tabloid tried to paint me out in a way which is not the case.”

The lead pastor of Sheridan Church in Tulsa, Lahmeyer brought together a coalition of pastors to lobby for Trump’s reelection in 2024. The president rewarded his support with an endorsement in May.

While Trump on Monday reaffirmed his support for Lahmeyer, he pivoted on Wednesday, announcing that he was instead backing his runoff opponent, state lawmaker Mark Tedford.

“I greatly appreciate Jackson Lahmeyer’s hard work under difficult circumstances — He has always been with me, and I will always be with him,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “But, when it comes to the current Congressional race for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, I will be supporting America First Patriot, Mark Tedford.”

Lahmeyer’s withdrawal from the race leaves an open path to the nomination for Tedford as he vies to succeed GOP Rep. Kevin Hern, who is running for Senate.

CNN’s Maureen Chowdhury and Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.

Here’s how Trump’s memo of understanding with Iran compares to the Obama nuclear deal

2026-06-17T18:45:07-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-trump-iran-nuclear-deal-memorandum-of-understanding-compares-to-obama-nuclear-deal-jcpoa/

Washington— The memorandum of understanding that President Trump struck with Iran last weekend sets up a two-month sprint toward a longer-term deal over the fate of the Iranian nuclear program, eight years after Mr. Trump pulled out of an Obama-era nuclear agreement that he viewed as “disastrous” and “one-sided.”

The Trump administration says its memorandum of understanding is far superior to the Obama administration’s 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and will do much more to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insists it will be different from the JCPOA because the U.S. will “make sure the military option is there,” something Mr. Trump stressed.

The memorandum is not a final agreement like the JCPOA, which numbered hundreds of pages and was packed with technical details.

Rather, the new deal is a 14-point framework that extends the ceasefire in the U.S.-Iran war and sets the stage for talks on a permanent nuclear agreement. It doesn’t include specifics on what will happen to Iran’s enriched uranium or its nuclear program, leaving those details to be sorted out over the next 60 days.

The text of the deal was read out to reporters by senior U.S. officials on Wednesday.

Although the memorandum is merely a roadmap for further negotiations, since Trump administration officials are comparing the two, here are some of the differences and similarities:

Both deals ban Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons — but the JCPOA was far more specific about how

Mr. Trump said in a news conference Wednesday he wanted to make sure Iran could never “procure” a nuclear weapon, aside from just ensuring Iran can’t develop one, language he said he wanted in the memorandum of understanding.

But the JCPOA also included a commitment from Iran to not procure a nuclear weapon.

“Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons,” the JCPOA reads.

The new memorandum says Iran “reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons.” But exactly how that will be enforced will be left up to the final deal.

JCPOA let Iran enrich uranium at a limited level. It’s unclear what a Trump-era deal will require.

Under the JCPOA, Iran wasn’t required to destroy all of its enriched uranium, but it was required to dramatically reduce its stockpile at a time when its levels of highly enriched material were far lower than they are now.

Iran also agreed in the JCPOA to cap its level of uranium enrichment to 3.67% for 15 years, well below the 90% level required to produce nuclear weapons. It required Iran to confine all of its enrichment to a single nuclear facility in Natanz. The JCPOA also restricted the number and types of centrifuges Iran could have in operation.

The new memorandum says the mechanics of handling Iran’s uranium will be decided in technical negotiations over the next 60 days, but it suggests Iran will face some limits. Unlike when the JCPOA was negotiated, Iran’s uranium stockpile now includes uranium enriched to 60% purity — just a short step to weapons-grade material.

The deal says the two countries “agreed to resolve the disposition of stockpiled enriched material.” It includes a “minimum” standard of “downblending” Iran’s enriched uranium on site under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

It’s not yet clear if the enriched uranium would be destroyed or removed from the country, or merely downblended to a lower grade. The memorandum doesn’t get into specific figures. And the new agreement doesn’t mention centrifuges.

Mr. Trump didn’t express urgency over Iran’s enriched uranium Wednesday, noting that most of the 60%-enriched material is believed to be buried underneath rubble following a round of U.S. airstrikes last year.

“Nobody is going to get that for a long time, unless we want to get it,” the president told reporters at a news conference at the G7 summit in France, adding that it’s “not valuable” and “nobody’s touching it.”

Earlier this year, Mr. Trump pressed Iran to abandon all uranium enrichment, a step that would be stricter than the JCPOA — and one that Iranian officials have refused to take in the past. Iran has long insisted its nuclear program only exists for peaceful purposes, though the 60%-enriched uranium that it has accumulated in recent years is well above the level needed for most civilian uses.

On Wednesday, however, Mr. Trump appeared to leave open a door for Iran to have a civilian nuclear program.

“It is a little hard, though, when you say that somebody wants it, other people have it, other, adjoining states have it,” he said. “And you’re not letting them have it for purposes of electricity and things like that. It’s always a little tough. You have to use a little common sense.”

Sunset clauses

The JCPOA had 10 and 15-year sunset clauses, a key criticism leveled against the deal.

The memorandum of understanding, not yet a final agreement, has no sunset clauses. It’s not clear if a final deal will.

Mr. Trump told The New York Times over the weekend he wants Iran to agree to suspend all uranium enrichment for 15 to 20 years — but he also wants permanent restrictions that say Iran can “only enrich for nonmilitary purposes. Forever.”

Sanctions relief

Under the JCPOA, in exchange for Iran agreeing to limits on its nuclear program, it was granted relief from international sanctions. The sanctions relief was phased in and dependent upon verification from the IAEA, and both the JCPOA and the United Nations Security Council set a schedule for lifting sanctions.

Under the memorandum, U.S. sanctions will be lifted on an agreed-upon schedule as part of a final deal, not so different from the JCPOA.

One key difference is that several other countries involved in sanctioning Iran were parties to the JCPOA, including China, Russia, the U.K. and Germany. The new memorandum is a bilateral deal between the U.S. and Iran, so it’s unclear how third-party countries that also have sanctions on Iran will react.

But the memorandum of understanding gives Iran immediate waivers for oil and petroleum exports, according to the text as read by U.S. senior officials.

Nikki Haley, the president’s former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, balked at the possibility of Iran profiting from oil sales immediately.

“If this is true, Iran wins,” she wrote on X. “There should be zero sanctions relief day one.”

Iran has claimed in recent days that the deal would also lead to the immediate unfreezing of billions of dollars in Iranian assets that were frozen under U.S. sanctions. The Trump administration has denied this, saying Iran will only get sanctions relief after it complies with its obligations.

Funding for Iran

The Iran memorandum says the U.S. and regional partners will “develop a definitive mutually agreed plan with at least USD $300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” with a mechanism for implementation to be discussed later.

The president, however, insists that any investments in Iran would be voluntary.

“We are not investing any money in Iran, by the way,” the president said at the G7 summit in France. “The rumor got out there yesterday, it was ridiculous. We have the right to go in some day and do, if I want to do something or if somebody wants to do something. But we are not investing any money, we have no obligation to invest any money in Iran.”

The JCPOA did not include funding for economic development.

In 2016, however, Iran did receive $1.7 billion in cash from the U.S. to settle a decades-old dispute. Before Iran’s 1979 revolution, the country paid the U.S. $400 million for arms purchases that were never delivered. Under former President Barack Obama, the U.S. returned that money, with interest amounting to roughly $1.3 billion.

Ballistic missiles

The JCPOA did not put limits on Iran’s conventional military, including its supply of ballistic missiles, something for which the deal was criticized.

The new memorandum doesn’t mention ballistic missiles, either. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he thinks it’s “okay” for Iran to have ballistic missiles in proportion to the stockpiles of neighboring countries.

“If other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some,” he said. “A ballistic missile is not the same thing as what we’re talking about when we talk nuclear. But if Saudi Arabia and Qatar and they all have some, I would say in relative proportion, I think it’s okay. That’s what I mean.”

State-sponsored terrorism

Neither the JCPOA nor the latest Iran memorandum explicitly addresses consequences for funding terrorism.

Mr. Trump told reporters Wednesday his administration will work on a “parallel effort” with Persian Gulf nations to address “non-nuclear issues,” like Iran’s conventional missiles and funding of terrorist proxies.

Iran’s funding of militant groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis — which the U.S. has designated as terrorist organizations — has long been a point of contention.

Under the JCPOA, terrorism-related sanctions the U.S. imposed on the Iranian regime remained in place, although critics suggested the sanctions relief the U.S. provided could free up cash for Iran to fund terrorism.

特朗普：若他国都有弹道导弹 伊朗没有并不公平

2026年6月18日 07:28 / 联合早报

特朗普：若他国都有弹道导弹 伊朗没有并不公平

特朗普星期三（6月17日）到法国巴黎附近的凡尔赛宫，出席美国独立250周年庆祝晚宴。 （路透社）

美国总统特朗普说，如果其他国家都有弹道导弹，伊朗没有弹道导弹是不公平的。

特朗普星期三（6月17日）在巴黎对记者说：“我的意思是，如果其他国家都有弹道导弹，那么伊朗没有弹道导弹就有点不公平。”

路透社引述他说：“如果沙特阿拉伯和卡塔尔都有，而且它们都有，我认为，相对来说，伊朗拥有弹道导弹是可以接受的。”

特朗普还说，在美国与伊朗达成协议，结束近四个月的地区冲突后，美国将在波斯湾地区“暂时”保留其军事力量。

‘Is Jay Clayton still a nominee?”: Sen. Warner has questions after Trump pushed to delay DNI confirmation

2026-06-17 4:50 PM EDT / CNN

By Pamela Brown, CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/17/politics/video/the-arena-mark-warner-trump-dni-pulte-clayton

“Is Jay Clayton still a nominee?”: Sen. Warner has questions after Trump pushed to delay DNI confirmation

The arena

Top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner joins Pam Brown to discuss President Donald Trump’s push to delay confirmation of a new director of national intelligence.

5:35 • Source: CNN