Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here.
A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
U.S. PROTESTS RESPONSE
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass yesterday imposed a curfew in downtown L.A., in a bid to avert looting and vandalism as protests stretched into their fifth day. Separately, in a televised address, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said that Trump’s response to the protests is a “perilous moment” for democracy and that “Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles.” Blake Jones reports for POLITICO; Laurel Rosenhall reports for the New York Times.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday defended the Trump administration’s military response to the L.A. protests while testifying in front of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. He said that the deployment would last 60 days. Bryn MacDonnell, the official performing the duties of the Under Secretary of Defense, added that the deployment would cost approximately $134 million. Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, Kristen Holmes, and Haley Britzky report for CNN.
Several U.S. cities are bracing for planned protests against the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration raids today. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said he would deploy the National Guard ahead of the protests. Brad Brooks, Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, and Dietrich Knauth report for Reuters.
President Trump yesterday stated that “those that want to protest” at the weekend military parade will “be met with very big force.” Reuters reports.
Los Angeles school officials on Monday said that L.A. school police would set up safety perimeters around campuses and school events to keep federal immigration agents away from students, employees, and families. Howard Blume reports for the LA Times.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway yesterday announced they would sanction Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over Ben Gvir and Smotrich “inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.” The countries’ statement added that the sanctions “cannot be seen in isolation from the catastrophe in Gaza.” Lauren Kent and Eugenia Yosef report for CNN.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the imposition of sanctions on Ben Gvir and Smotrich, while Israel called the measures “outrageous.” Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the U.S. and Israeli condemnation of sanctions was “predictable” and that Ben Gvir and Smotrich had impeded a two-state solution. Reuters reports.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office yesterday said that it had received a letter from the Palestinian Authority that contains “concrete and unprecedented commitments” to reform, including a call for Hamas to no longer rule Gaza and hand over its weapons and military capabilities to the Palestinian security forces. An Élysée source also said that Paris is moving in the direction of recognizing a Palestinian state, refuting reports that France is retreating from a plan to do so. Saskya Vandoorne, Joseph Ataman, and Nadeen Ebrahim report for CNN.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
The Treasury Department yesterday imposed sanctions on Addameer, a major Palestinian legal group for prisoners and detainees, and five other charitable entities across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, alleging they support Palestinian armed factions and militant groups under the pretense of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Fatima Hussein and Julia Frankel report for AP News.
The U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, yesterday suggested that the United States no longer wholeheartedly endorses an independent state for Palestinians as a policy goal and that “Muslim countries” should give up their land to create a future Palestinian state. Ethan Bronner reports for Bloomberg News; Mike Wendling reports for BBC News.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Gunfire, including by Israeli troops, killed 36 people and wounded 207 Palestinians trying to access aid in Gaza yesterday, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry and witnesses. The incidents bring the total of people killed while trying to access aid at sites run by the Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to 163, with 1,495 people wounded. Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy report for AP News.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
U.S. and Chinese officials yesterday announced the two countries had agreed to roll back some of the punitive measures they had taken against each other’s economies and present a new trade “framework agreement” to President Xi Jinping and Trump for approval, following two days of talks in London. Alan Rappeport, Ana Swanson, and Jonathan Swan report for the New York Times.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday ordered U.S. embassies to move ahead with a directive to fire all remaining U.S. Agency for International Development staffers, stating that the State Department will take over USAID’s programs by Monday. Plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging mass firings at multiple agencies say that Rubio’s plan appears to violate a court injunction. Ellen Knickmeyer and Lindsay Whitehurst report for AP News.
The Homeland Security Department, the Justice Department, and other U.S. agencies in 2022 and 2023 tracked foreign nationals coming and going to Elon Musk’s properties, sources say. The investigation, which focused on possible attempts by foreign nationals to influence Musk, did not progress to charges and its current status is unclear. Dana Mattioli, Michelle Hackman, Josh Dawsey, and Emily Glazer report for the Wall Street Journal.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
A Russian drone assault overnight into today killed three people and wounded 60 others in residential districts of northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv, local officials said. AP News reports; Vitalii Hnidyi reports for Reuters.
Russia and Ukraine both said they had exchanged an unspecified number of sick and wounded prisoners of war yesterday under a deal reached at last week’s peace talks in Turkey. Aleksandar Vasovic reports for Reuters.
U.S.-IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS
Trump on Monday told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he believes there is a chance of reaching a nuclear deal with Iran and that, for now, he opposes military action on this basis, according to an Israeli and a U.S. official. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Tehran will strike U.S. bases if nuclear negotiations fail and conflict between Iran and the United States arises, Tehran’s Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said today. Reuters reports.
The U.S. Army has presented Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with “a wide range of options” on how to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, head of U.S. Central Command General Michael “Erik” Kurilla told a congressional hearing yesterday. Reuters reports.
GLOBAL AFFAIRS
A wave of explosions killed at least seven people in southwest Colombia yesterday, the Colombian National Army said. The army alleged that Colombian police were a “direct target” and that the attacks were linked to the leader of the guerrilla group Estado Mayor Central. Mitchell McCluskey, Michael Rios, Stefano Pozzebon, Fernando Ramos, and Gerardo Lemos report for CNN.
Argentina’s Supreme Court yesterday upheld the corruption conviction of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina’s former president who was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from political office for life. Daniel Politi reports for the New York Times.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
The Trump administration is preparing to begin the transfer of potentially thousands of foreigners who are in the United States illegally to the Guantánamo Bay military base as early as this week, U.S. officials say. Those transferred could include hundreds of migrants from friendly European nations, including the United Kingdom, France, or Germany, and it is unlikely the administration will notify the other governments in advance, U.S. officials add. John Hudson and Alex Horton report for the Washington Post.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month signed off on a recommendation for the Treasury Department to investigate whether Harvard University violated federal sanctions by collaborating on a health insurance conference in China that may have included officials blacklisted by the U.S. government, according to sources and documents reviewed by the New York Times. It is unclear whether the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which assesses sanctions compliance, opened an investigation in response. Michael C. Bender and Michael S. Schmidt report.
The Justice Department has closed about “half of the open investigations” into allegations of bribery by U.S. businesses overseas and will target “misconduct that undermines American companies and our global standing” when launching future investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced yesterday. Glenn Thrush reports for the New York Times.
Trump yesterday said he plans to “wean off” the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the 2025 hurricane season, the clearest timeline to date of his administration’s plan to dismantle FEMA. Gabe Cohen reports for CNN.
The acting head of enforcement at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Cara Petersen, yesterday announced her resignation in an email to her department, stating that she “[has] never before … seen the ability to perform [the Bureau’s] core mission so under attack.” Stacy Cowley reports for the New York Times.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin will today announce the repeal of the Biden-era federal limits on power plant climate pollution, multiple sources say. Jean Chemnick and Zack Colman report for POLITICO.
Trump has the authority to abolish national monuments intended to protect historical and archeological sites, the Justice Department assessed in a legal opinion released yesterday. The opinion disavows a 1938 determination that monuments created by previous presidents under the Antiquities Act cannot be revoked. Matthew Brown reports for AP News.
The Trump administration is considering cutting federal education funds to California, sources say, adding that a decision on the issue has not yet been made. Rebecca Carballo, Juan Perez Jr., and Eric He report for POLITICO.
Trump yesterday announced he plans to restore the names of seven Army bases that once honored Confederate leaders by renaming them after soldiers who share the same last names. Jack Detsch and Paul McLeary report for POLITICO.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
A grand jury yesterday indicted Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) on felony charges over allegations McIver forcibly interfered with law enforcement officials during protests outside an immigration detention facility in Newark last month, interim U.S. Attorney for N.J. Alina Habba said. McIver said the case was “an effort by Trump’s administration to dodge accountability for the chaos ICE caused and scare [her] out of doing the work [she] was elected to do.” Ry Rivard reports for POLITICO.
ABC News yesterday announced that it would not renew the contract of longtime ABC News correspondent Terry Moran after he made a social media post critical of Trump and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. The network described the post as a “clear violation of ABC News policies.” Aaron Pellish reports for POLITICO.
The Smithsonian’s Board of Regents on Monday decided the institution will review all of the contents of its 21 museums and zoo to remove “improper, divisive or anti-American ideology” and “narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive,” according to a document viewed by the Wall Street Journal. Natalie Andrews, Katy Stech Ferek, and Annie Linskey report.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal appeals court yesterday allowed Trump to maintain tariffs on China and other U.S. trading partners, in a ruling extending a stay granted shortly after the U.S. Court of International Trade last month found that Trump did not have the power to impose the measures. The appeals court directed an immediate expedited review of the case, scheduling a hearing on July 31 to be heard by the full court. Tony Romm reports for the New York Times.
The Trump administration, for now, does not have to comply with a judge’s order directing the government to give due process to Venezuelan immigrants who were deported to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act authority, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The court’s decision to issue the interim stay is intended to give appellate judges more time to consider the merits of the lower court’s ruling. Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times.
A federal judge yesterday declined to immediately grant Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state of California’s request for a temporary order restraining Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from ordering National Guard troops and Marines to support immigration raids in Los Angeles. The judge gave the Trump administration 24 hours to respond and set a hearing on the matter tomorrow. Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report for POLITICO.
A federal judge yesterday dismissed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s attempt to dismantle the U.S. African Development Foundation, finding that Trump was acting within his legal authority when he fired the USADF’s board members in February. Rebecca Boone reports for AP News.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
If you enjoy listening, Just Security’s analytic articles are also available in audio form on the justsecurity.org website.
ICYMI: yesterday on Just Security
“The Insurrection Act” by Any Other Name: Unpacking Trump’s Memorandum Authorizing Domestic Deployment of the Military
by Elizabeth Goitein
Russia’s Drone-Dropped Landmines Threaten Human Lives and Hard-Won Humanitarian Protections
by Mary Wareham
Terrorism and the Threat of Weak States
by Khusrav Gaibulloev, James Piazza, and Todd Sandler
The Just Security Podcast: A Conversation with Jen Easterly — Cybersecurity at a Crossroads
by Jen Easterly, Brianna Rosen, and Maya Nir
