St. Cloud State students visa record terminated in recent incidents

The Brief
There have been several cases of international students in Minnesota facing deportation in recent weeks.
Multiple St. Cloud State University students have had their status records terminated.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (FOX 9) - A St. Cloud State University (SCSU) spokesperson said several international students recently had their records terminated by the federal government.
However, the reasons for the termination are not exactly clear at this time.
What we know
According to SCSU, two students had their records terminated by the federal government from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) - the database that provides proof of legal status and good standing.
The university said it was not made aware of the terminations ahead of time.
What they're saying
A legal expert based in the St. Cloud area tells FOX 9 that the process was unusual.
He said typically, if an international student fails to meet requirements to maintain status, the school would be involved in initiating any actions necessary.
"It seems the process has been reversed where it's the State Department that decided who is fit to enter, and I understand that's their right as the issuer of their visa, but also who to kick out and the reasons are not obvious to us who have served that process," said Yasin Alsaidi, deputy director at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid.
When recently asked about student visa incidents on college campuses across the country, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration has been consistent on its reasons behind immigration policy.
"The overwhelming majority of student visas in this country will not be revoked, because the overwhelming majority of people that are coming to this country to study are not involved and associated or aligned with organizations that seek to do damage in this country," Rubio has previously said.
What's next
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), once a SEVIS record is terminated, the student loses all employment authorization, cannot re-enter the United States on the terminated SEVIS record, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents may investigate to confirm the departure of the student, and any associated F-2 or M-2 dependent records are terminated.
The university said it is unable to share student details, but said it is working with those impacted.
The Source
St. Cloud State University, Department of Homeland Security.

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The Hill

an hour ago

• The Hill

Trump, world brace for Iran's response

Morning Report is The Hill's a.m. newsletter. Subscribe here or using the box below: Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here The United States and allies are on high alert today for Iran's next move as President Trump defends his decision to enter the Israel-Iran conflict. The president is slated to meet with his national security team this afternoon amid fallout over the U.S. bombings of Iranian nuclear sites and a day after hinting at potential regime change in Tehran. 'The timing, nature and the scale of Iran's proportionate response will be decided by its armed forces,' Iran's United Nations ambassador, Amir-Saeid Iravani, said Sunday at an emergency U.N. meeting. Trump's riskiest military decision to date as commander in chief has set off a wave of questions, including over America's geopolitical goals in the Middle East and whether the conflict widens. 'I remain hopeful these limited strikes greatly advanced our national security objectives,' Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Sunday, 'but if it is clear this is becoming a wider conflict, we must remember that Congress alone holds the constitutional power to authorize war.' Seven B-2 bombers deployed from Missouri carried out 'precision strikes' at three Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend in what Vice President Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday amounted to military deterrence to safeguard Americans. 'If they decide they're going to attack our troops, if they decide they're going to continue to try to build a nuclear weapon, then we are going to respond to that with overwhelming force,' Vance told ABC's 'This Week.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS's 'Face the Nation' that the administration 'achieved our objective' while leaving the door open to what comes next. Tehran has dismissed calls for renewed talks with the U.S. During Sunday's emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, Iran denounced the U.S. and Israel while voicing skepticism about the potential for diplomacy. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH? 'Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier,' Trump said during a Saturday night address in which he celebrated a 'spectacular military success.' The president warned, 'There are many targets left' if Iran does not agree to a satisfactory peace deal. U.S. intelligence has been assessing the extent of the damage from the strikes, particularly at Iran's Fordow nuclear facility buried beneath a mountain. The New York Times reported that U.S. officials concede they do not know the location or condition of Iran's stockpile of near-weapons grade uranium or the state of Iran's overall nuclear program following the weekend bombings. The stockpile of fuel is a significant bargaining chip for Tehran. ▪ The Hill: Satellite images show strikes' impact on Iran nuclear sites Fears are running high that Iran could retaliate against any of the 40,000 U.S. forces in the Middle East or through other means and targets. A 'heightened threat environment' exists because of Trump's order to attack Iran, according to a federal bulletin issued to the public Sunday by the Department of Homeland Security, which warned of potential cyberattacks carried out by Iran or its proxies. Iran's Parliament has approved a measure to close the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian television on Sunday. The shipping route between Iran and Oman is key to the economies of the U.S. and the world and Rubio called on China to help block its closure. ▪ The Hill: Strait of Hormuz becomes flash point in US-Iran conflict Vance — an Iraq war veteran who previously applauded Trump's campaign pledge to keep the U.S. out of wars — during Sunday television interviews discouraged fears of a 'long, drawn-out' U.S. involvement. The vice president also argued that his statements that Iran's nuclear enrichment capabilities are 'significantly degraded' are the same as saying 'destroyed.' Trump said Iran's nuclear facilities were 'obliterated.' Those are assertions that will be reexamined as the impact of Saturday's U.S. bombings becomes clearer. 'MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN': Trump, who previously denied wanting to topple Iran's regime, on Sunday seemed to encourage that idea. 'It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!' Trump wrote on Truth Social. Isolationist Republicans, who last week were uneasy about the U.S. entering the Iran-Israel war due to recent history, have largely rallied around Trump and the performance of the U.S. military under his command. GOP lawmakers on Sunday warned on talk shows that Iranian terrorists 'might' be plotting inside the U.S., and they blamed former President Biden for 'four years of open-border' policies. Democratic lawmakers, wary of criticizing the military for carrying out a dangerous and complex bombing plan, instead pummeled the president for not consulting Congress. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) urged for Trump's impeachment if Democrats win a House majority next year. Seeking help from Russia, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived there for meetings today. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a news conference before Araghchi's meeting with President Vladimir Putin that what Russia offers 'depends on what Iran needs.' Putin's suggestion that he could mediate the conflict was meant to be an indication of Russia's help, Peskov added. During 10 days of war with Israel and through Sunday, Iran did not receive concrete support from any of its past allies and patrons. Attacks between Israel and Iran have continued following the U.S. bombings. The Israeli military launched airstrikes on Iranian cities Monday morning from Tehran to Kermanshah in the west. ▪ Bloomberg News: Iran stands alone against the U.S. and Israel. China and Russia offer only rhetorical support. At the United Nations, Secretary-General António Guterres, speaking Sunday during the second Security Council meeting in three days, rebuked the U.S. for escalating the conflict in Iran. Meanwhile, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will hold an emergency meeting today to discuss the damage to Iran's facilities resulting from the U.S. strikes. Iran told the agency there was no uptick in off-site radiation levels following the U.S. attacks, Grossi said. SMART TAKE with BLAKE BURMAN NewsNation is told the initial approval from President Trump for Operation Midnight Hammer came Friday afternoon. You can only imagine what was on the mind of the commander in chief as that was happening. We know of at least one other topic, though: interest rates, as the president continued to rail against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. When markets open this morning, crude oil will be front and center. It was already up roughly 21 percent over the past month, and that was before Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz. I'll also be checking out bond yields for potential reaction. The administration hasn't been shy to acknowledge they closely watch the bond market. Burman hosts 'The Hill' weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation. BIG, BEAUTIFUL UNITY? Trump on Sunday touted the 'great unity' among Republicans following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, and he called on the party to focus on getting his agenda bill through Congress to his desk. 'Great unity in the Republican Party, perhaps unity like we have never seen before,' Trump said in a post on Truth Social. 'Now let's get the Great, Big, Beautiful Bill done.' Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is aiming to set up floor action on the bill for the middle of this week. But Republican senators and aides are skeptical the GOP will have all the problems in the bill worked out before the July 4 recess, with just a handful of legislative days left. Thune is juggling moderates' concerns over Medicaid and SNAP cuts, and he is under pressure from conservatives to cut the federal Medicaid assistance percentage and to aggressively phase out renewable energy tax credits. Senate Republicans directed the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) to score the cost of extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts as a continuation of 'current policy' instead of 'current law' so it would not add significantly to federal deficits. The panel, which projects the deficit impact of all tax bills, scored the extension as budget neutral, The Hill's Alexander Bolton reports, which dramatically lowers the projected cost of Trump's megabill. The JCT projects tax-related provisions of the Republican bill as adding $441.5 billion to the deficit over the next decade, instead of the $4 trillion that Democrats say would be the projected cost of the tax provisions if they were scored on a 'current law' baseline. 'Republicans finally showed their hand, and it's completely dishonest. 'Current policy baseline' is a budget gimmick that is nothing more than smoke and mirrors instead of honest accounting,' said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the ranking member of the Budget Committee. 'This bill will add trillions upon trillions of dollars to the national debt to fund tax breaks for billionaires — while Republicans want everyone to think it adds zero.' Meanwhile, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled against a controversial provision in the megabill that would have made it significantly more difficult for courts to enforce contempt findings against the Trump administration. MacDonough ruled that limiting courts' ability to hold Trump officials in contempt violated the Senate's rules governing what can be passed with a simple-majority vote on the budget reconciliation fast track. ▪ Politico: The Senate's parliamentarian late Saturday allowed Republicans to include in the megabill a 10-year moratorium on enforcing state and local AI laws. FOES: Trump's political operation has launched an aggressive effort to unseat Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a staunch opponent of the megabill. Trump said Sunday that MAGA should abandon Massie, calling him a 'a simple minded 'grandstander' who thinks it's good politics for Iran to have the highest level Nuclear weapon.' Speaking on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' Massie slammed the Trump-authorized strikes against Iran, saying there was 'no imminent threat' to the U.S. He quipped on the social platform X that Trump 'declared so much War on me today it should require an Act of Congress.' ▪ The Hill: There's no clear front-runner ahead of House Democrats' Tuesday vote to replace the late Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. TARIFF EXTENSIONS: Some Senate Republicans are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of deals on tariffs, write The Hill's Alex Gangitano and Al Weaver. The Trump administration has insisted it is in talks with trading partners but has little to show for it ahead of the July 8 deadline, beyond deals with China and the United Kingdom. 'I think they're working very hard on them — I know that for a fact,' said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). 'I think the approach that was taken in the first place creates a lot of complications because it does produce this enormous workload and need for negotiation with an enormous number of countries.' When asked if she is concerned the administration's negotiators are stretched thin, Collins was blunt. 'Yes,' she said. 'Very.' ABREGO GARCIA UPDATE: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador, was ordered released from jail on Sunday while he awaits federal trial. The government is expected to quickly detain him. ▪ The Hill: Trump's whittling away at protected places for immigrants has fueled fears among healthcare workers that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will arrest patients in or around hospitals. ▪ The Hill: Mixed feelings come with the resumption of processing and interviews for foreign students after the Trump administration added an expanded requirement for full access to applicants' social media. ▪ CNN: A federal judge on Friday indefinitely blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University's ability to host international students DEMOCRATS UNDER PRESSURE: Democratic National Committee Chair (DNC) Ken Martin is navigating growing turmoil within the party's ranks six months into Trump's term. The committee has been plagued by party infighting that has spilled out into the open in recent weeks, writes The Hill's Julia Manchester. On top of a series of high-level exits, reports have surfaced that the committee is strapped for cash amid donor frustrations. Critics argue that the disunity can be traced back to Martin, and a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday found 62 percent of Democrats say 'party leaders should be replaced.' Others insist it's a reflection of the Democratic ecosystem as a whole. 'Ken Martin is stepping into a really difficult situation right now, and I would say he was elected and they handed him a mop and a bucket,' said Brian Lemek, a Democratic strategist and founder and executive director of Defend the Vote. Florida state Sen. Shevrin Jones (D) argued that the internal tensions spilling out into the open only serve as a distraction. 'I think people need to separate their emotion from the work that needs to be done because the infighting that we're seeing, it's taking our focus off of the bigger picture at hand,' Jones told The Hill. Meanwhile, former DNC Vice Chair David Hogg is making it clear he's not going anywhere — whether Democrats like it or not. The 25-year-old gun control activist opted against running again for vice chair after his decision to get involved in Democratic primaries sparked intense backlash. But Hogg has continued to be active on the political scene since then. ▪ The Wall Street Journal: The Texas Republican primary between Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton is already a shootout and could hurt Republicans' chances against Democrats. CALIFORNIA DREAMING: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is seeing his name rise toward the top of potential 2028 contenders. The governor has framed himself as a face of resistance to Trump's second-term moves, energizing Democrats and upping his 2028 primary chances in the latest Morning Consult polling. But Democrats also acknowledge Newsom still faces an uphill climb as he handles the end of his tenure as governor and navigates the nation's polarized political climate. 'He's doing really well among Democrats, both in California and throughout the nation. He's getting a boost in 2025,' said John Pitney, a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College in California. 'Unfortunately for him, a presidential nomination won't happen until 2028.' Former Vice President Kamala Harris is leaning toward entering the California gubernatorial race, sources familiar with her thinking tell The Hill's Amie Parnes. They say Harris is sticking to a self-imposed end of summer deadline in deciding whether to wade into the already crowded governor's race. 'She has a lot of people in her ear telling her that it makes the most sense and she can do the most good,' said one source who has spoken to Harris about a potential run. NATO SUMMIT: Ahead of a meeting this week in The Hague, Netherlands, NATO countries agreed on a statement on Sunday that sets a goal of 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for annual defense spending by 2035. The statement has the approval of all 32 NATO members — though Spain, which had posed objections, got an exemption. But it will only become official when it is approved by leaders, including Trump, on Wednesday. Trump has long pushed for a 5 percent spending target for NATO members, although he suggested on Friday that target should not apply to the United States. The alliance's current goal is 2 percent of GDP — and here's who is actually paying. ▪ NPR: Ahead of the NATO summit, Europe is uncertain about its old ally, the U.S. ▪ BBC: 32 nations but only one man matters. NATO's summit is all about Trump. GAZA: Israel announced on Sunday that it recovered the remains of three hostages from Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified the three individuals as Yonatan Samerano, Shay Levinson and Ofra Kedar, saying they were 'murdered and taken hostage' during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas. ▪ NPR: As Israel recovers the bodies of three more hostages, how many are still in Gaza? ▪ The Guardian: 'A shell fell meters away': One man's attempt to reach the new aid distribution hub in Gaza. And finally … 🏄‍♂️ Hang ten! A furry pack descended on the ocean in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Friday to compete in the Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge surf contest. Dogs ranging from 2 to 13 years old — corgis, dalmatians, pit bulls, labradors and more — showed off their skills riding waves to secure a spot in canine surfing history. Check out photos here and here of the good boys and girls gently riding the curl. KTLA-5 has video news coverage here. That's it for today, thanks for reading! Sign up for Morning Report or other newsletters from The Hill at See you next time!

Politico

2 hours ago

• Politico

Playbook: Mission accomplished?

Presented by With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco On the Playbook Podcast this morning, Jack and POLITICO White House reporter Megan Messerly discuss all the fallout from Saturday's attack on Iran — and the great political unknowns as we head into the week. Good Monday morning. This is Jack Blanchard, braced for some scorching D.C. summer heat this week. The National Weather Service has issued an extreme heat warning for today between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m., and is advising residents to limit their time outdoors. The Capital Weather Gang reckons temps will likely hit three figures and may feel as hot as 110 degrees once the 'oppressive humidity' is factored in. It'll be like this through Wednesday, at least. Suffice to say your Playbook author has canceled his kid's birthday trip to the zoo and will be cowering indoors instead. In today's Playbook … — The three big questions troubling the White House on Iran. — Crunch time in the Senate for Trump's big, beautiful bill. — Trump world power couple spotted on a seaside break. DRIVING THE DAY QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS: President Donald Trump will gather his national security team in the Oval Office at 1 p.m. as huge questions loom about the weekend bombing raids on Iran. Just how successful was Saturday night's attack on Iran's nuclear facilities? How — if at all — will Iran respond? And what's the real end-game here? The answers could shape U.S. politics for a long time to come. Let's get into it. First, the success of the attacks: To be clear — those raids were a remarkable feat. Seven vast, space-age style aircraft, each 170 feet wide, flew 7,000 miles nonstop from their airbase near Kansas City to targets in central Iran, undetected by enemy radar. They refueled mid-air, multiple times. They each dropped their 15-ton bombs with extraordinary precision. And then they flew straight home again, only touching back down in Missouri on Sunday afternoon. (Watch the vid here of their return.) OK wait, I have questions: Yes, B-2 bombers have toilets on board. Yes, their crews take turns to cook microwave meals, and eat, and nap. (This Defense News interview with B-2 bomber pilots from 2019 answers a lot of questions about what it's actually like on board ... and The Atlantic did a great profile of a long-range B-2 bombing raid back in 2018.) But the only question that matters … is how much damage America's much-feted 'bunker-buster' bombs actually did to Iran's fortified nuclear site at Fordo this past weekend. These weapons previously were untested in combat, and the sheer depth at which Iran buried its facility — beneath an awful lot of concrete, as well as the side of the mountain — means it's very hard to know how effective they were. Certainly, the pictures from the sky are inconclusive. And Iran is hardly likely to allow inspectors back in any time soon. Official view from the White House: 'Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!' Trump insisted on Truth Social last night. That may or may not prove to be the case. But there's more: Bombing Fordo — and the other big sites that got hammered on Saturday night — was only ever one piece in the jigsaw. As the NYT writes this morning, everyone is suddenly awfully keen to know the whereabouts of Iran's hefty stockpile of enriched uranium — not yet at weapons-grade, but headed in that direction. The NYT says the entire stockpile would fit into the trunks of about 10 cars, and it's thought highly likely Iran moved it to a safer place in the days running up the attack. And there are questions too about a possible third Iranian enrichment facility, confirmed by the regime but not yet revealed in public. Has that been targeted as well? Next — Iran's response: So far, Iran sounds extremely upset. At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council last night, Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's permanent representative to the U.N., said the attacks were a 'blatant crime' and that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu had 'succeeded in hijacking U.S. foreign policy, dragging the United States into yet another costly, baseless war.' Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is in Moscow today for crisis talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin — though Russia has shown little sign of wanting to get involved. But what about actions? Iran has talked tough for years about its response if its nuclear program were ever targeted. But it's proven far weaker militarily than expected — partly due to the massive degradation of its regional proxies like Hamad and Hezbollah over the past two years; and partly due to the devastating Israeli attacks on its capabilities these past 10 days. But there are still 40,000 U.S. troops based in the region, and some sort of Iranian attack in the coming days is certainly possible. And beyond the region … NBC reports Iran warned the U.S. last week that in the event of an attack, it would activate sleeper cells who would carry out terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Hard-liners in Iran's parliament are calling for the Strait of Hormuz to be closed, which would damage shipping interest globally and likely cause a spike in oil prices too. Helpful analysis: Indeed, the WSJ runs through all of Iran's options — and frankly, none of them are good. The regime has been hammered by Israel and can hardly now afford an escalating conflict with the U.S. Equally, it will look ruinously weak if there is no response at all. And this is a regime that first and foremost must protect its own position. Some observers believe it will quietly go full tilt for a nuclear bomb — the only real guarantor of security in Iranian eyes. Which takes us to the third point: American war aims. Trump's three amigos from his Saturday night address — VP JD Vance, Secretary of State (and NSA) Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — were all carefully on-message on the Sunday shows, making clear this attack was not about regime change. The line held for all of about four hours … before the president started posting on social media. Shades of 2003: 'It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!' Trump wrote on Truth Social yesterday, and there's nothing that makes MAGA world millennials queasier than statements like that. Just look at the ever-faithful Charlie Kirk trying desperately to thread the needle here. Will Trump lean in or walk it back? Talks continue: America's allies around the world still believe there's an urgent need for diplomacy, despite the president having shown precious little interest in multilateral talks thus far. A U.K. government official tells my London Playbook colleague Stefan Boscia that in reality, the U.S. 'won't stop [Iran] fully getting a nuke by bombing — that's why diplomacy now is important.' Good luck, as they say, with that. Speaking of diplomacy: With impeccable timing, Trump is due to fly to Europe tomorrow for the annual NATO leaders' summit, which is being held this year in the Netherlands. Some in Europe fear he won't actually show, given the Iran crisis and his early exit from the G7 last week. But this entire summit has been designed as an opportunity for Trump to celebrate getting Europe to pledge more money on defense spending, and it seems unlikely he'll pass up the opportunity to take a big international win. The Middle East will obviously now be a key part of the discussion. Less of an international win: With even more perfect timing, Pakistan, which on Friday nominated Trump for the thing he covets more than anything else — a Nobel peace prize — yesterday condemned him for aggressively bombing another country. The world sure moves fast. ON THE HILL RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES: The Senate returns today to a make-or-break week for their reconciliation megabill, with Majority Leader John Thune hoping to begin procedural floor votes by mid-week. Our Inside Congress colleagues report that Thursday is most likely. First up today are the big 'Byrd bath' arguments for the Senate Finance Committee's centerpiece portion of the legislation, in which both parties will try to convince the parliamentarian to advise that certain provisions can or can't be included under the rules. Senate Republicans are also planning to gather this evening, per Punchbowl's Andrew Desiderio. All eyes on Elizabeth MacDonough: The next couple of days are pivotal for the parliamentarian's rulings on what passes muster for Republicans to avoid the filibuster. She already made a number of notable calls in both directions this weekend, most significantly saying no to a SNAP cuts plan that would have shifted more costs for food aid to state governments. WSJ's Siobhan Hughes has all the deets. First in Playbook: Majority Forward, which is affiliated with Democrats' Senate Majority PAC, is going up today with a $1 million ad campaign against Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) on reconciliation. Airing on YouTube/digital and streaming TV, the spots accuse the senators of raising health care costs to fund tax cuts for billionaires. The North Carolina ad The impact: There's another reconciliation battle underway over the state and local tax deduction, separate from the one you've read about ad nauseam. Republicans plan to significantly limit a workaround that allows business owners to circumvent the SALT cap, WSJ's Richard Rubin reports. Meanwhile, the bill's new restrictions on SNAP — along with related Trump administration cuts — have New York-area food banks worried about their future, NYT's Sarah Maslin Nir reports. ELSEWHERE ON THE HILL: The House is starting to move on its fiscal year 2026 appropriations process, with the Legislative Branch bill revealed last night and heading for a subcommittee markup at 6 p.m. It calls for a $51 million funding reduction overall, per POLITICO's Katherine Tully-McManus. That notably includes major cuts for the Government Accountability Office and Library of Congress, nonpartisan institutions that have come under increasing attack by Republicans. Also happening today in the House: The full Appropriations Committee will mark up the Agriculture-FDA bill at 7:30 p.m., and at 4 p.m. the Rules Committee will take up the Military Construction-VA funding bill. Rules will also tee up a floor vote on a resolution condemning what it calls violent 'riots' in LA. And AG Pam Bondi will go before an Appropriations subcommittee at 2 p.m. NEWS FROM THE WILDERNESS NEW DIRECTIONS: Democratic politicians and voters will have fresh opportunities this week to set their party's course amid deep generational and ideological divides. First, four House members will pitch the Steering Committee today on why they should be House Oversight ranking member. That committee will recommend a pick for caucus ratification tomorrow. And it'll be a big decision among two senior Dems — Stephen Lynch (Mass.) and Kweisi Mfume (Md.) — and two younger, very online voices — Robert Garcia (Calif.) and Jasmine Crockett (Texas). Bite at the Big Apple: Also happening tomorrow is the closely watched NYC mayoral primary, where frontrunners Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani represent radically different options for the party on ideology, experience, age and attitude — not to mention scandal. A new campaign finance data analysis from POLITICO's Cris Seda Chabrier and Joe Anuta shows there are thousands of donors, especially in Brooklyn, who seem to have gotten on board with the anybody-but-Cuomo-and-Eric-Adams strategy, giving money to a number of left-leaning contenders. (NYT's Nicholas Fandos has a fun rundown of how Ilana Glazer, Graydon Carter, Fran Lebowitz and other boldface names are ranking their ballots.) And coming down the pike: Former VP Kamala Harris is now 'leaning toward' running for governor of California, The Hill's Amie Parnes reports. But she'll still take more time to decide, and one source rejects the idea that Harris is inclined to go for Sacramento. … Two years later, the 2028 presidential primary could get a little awkward in Illinois if native sons Rahm Emanuel and Gov. JB Pritzker both run, NBC's Natasha Korecki reports. BEST OF THE REST BILL OF HEALTH: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is slated to hold a news conference at 2:45 p.m. about what's being billed as 'a breakthrough in health insurance that will improve access to care for millions.' … On the flip side, after Kennedy dismissed the entire CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, some experts are working on outside groups to serve as alternatives still providing independent vaccine info, NBC's Erika Edwards reports. PRIMARY COLORS: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is already feeling the heat for his opposition to the reconciliation bill and his constitutional criticism of Trump's Iran strikes. His reward for not toeing the party line is 'an aggressive effort' by Trump's political team to primary him, Axios' Alex Isenstadt scooped. Tony Fabrizio and Chris LaCivita are leading a new 'Kentucky MAGA' super PAC, meeting with potential opponents and planning to spend big. '@realDonaldTrump declared so much War on me today it should require an Act of Congress,' Massie cheekily retorted on X to Trump's latest Truth Social takedown. IMMIGRATION FILES: A federal judge said she'll order the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the mistakenly deported man who's been returned to the U.S., per the AP. It was a significant rebuke for the Trump administration, which will appeal — and a Pyrrhic victory for Abrego, who would be expected to get detained and potentially deported by ICE if released on his immigrant smuggling charges. The judge said the government had failed to prove Abrego had abused minors, was a danger to the community or posed a flight risk. 'And she repeatedly described the evidence presented by prosecutors as strained, unreliable and contradictory,' POLITICO's Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report. MAHMOUD KHALIL SPEAKS: In his first interview since being released, the activist and permanent resident told NYT's Jonah Bromwich that his detention had stripped him of his rights: 'It felt like kidnapping.' And he argued that the administration's high-profile efforts to deport him had 'actually advanced the [pro-Palestinian] movement 20 years.' TALK OF THE TOWN SPOTTED: Stephen and Katie Miller on Sea Island, Georgia, this weekend. IN MEMORIAM — 'Fred Smith, Billionaire Founder of FedEx, Is Dead at 80,' by NYT's Alex Traub: 'Success translated into decades of influence in national politics. Mr. Smith got a personal meeting with President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office. He was a pallbearer at Senator John McCain's funeral. … He was closest to President George W. Bush … Mr. Smith was widely reported to be in the running to serve as Mr. Bush's secretary of defense before withdrawing from consideration. … [T]hanks to the corporate tax cuts Mr. Trump signed into law, which FedEx had lobbied for, the company's tax bill plunged to zero, from $1.5 billion.' — 'Rod Nordland, 75, Dies; War Reporter Who Also Wrote of His Own Struggle,' by NYT's Alex Traub: 'He was on the scene and frequently running a whole news bureau during the Cambodian-Vietnamese War, the Lebanese Civil War, the Salvadoran Civil War, the First Gulf War, the war in Kosovo, the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan, among other conflicts.' SCARY STUFF — Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) had a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy last year, which was made more complicated by a new Florida abortion ban that left doctors scared to give her methotrexate, WSJ's Katy Stech Ferek revealed. Now pregnant again, Cammack doesn't blame the abortion ban — she says it was the left's fault for scaring medical staff. She emphasizes that 'I would stand with any woman — Republican or Democrat — and fight for them to be able to get care in a situation where they are experiencing a miscarriage and an ectopic.' SCENE SETTER — On Palm Beach, a Trump-fueled 'noisy influx of young Republican partyers, favor-seekers and pols … have altered the delicate social ecosystem of one of the richest enclaves in the world,' NYT's David Segal reports from Florida. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Andrew Friedman is joining Semafor as general manager and head of public affairs, leading D.C.-based commercial operations. He previously was on Google's U.S. elections team and is a POLITICO alum. WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Gene Hamilton has rejoined America First Legal as president. He most recently was deputy White House counsel. TRANSITIONS — Corey Husak is now director of tax policy at the Center for American Progress. He most recently was tax economist at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and is a Bob Casey alum. … Clarissa Rojas is now doing policy comms for Pinterest. She previously was deputy comms director and national press secretary for Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) and the House Democratic Caucus. … … Eliza Ramirez is now national security adviser to Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.). She previously was acting deputy assistant USAID administrator for legislative affairs in the Biden administration, and is a Josh Gottheimer and Tom Malinowski alum. … Jenny Parker will be chief comms officer at American Promise. She previously was VP of comms at Conservation International. … Audrey LaForest is joining Alliance for Automotive Innovation as director of comms. She most recently was on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's media relations team. WEDDINGS — Sierra Kelley-Chung, senior government affairs representative at Apple, and Emanuel Riley, director of multifamily investments at the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, got married Saturday at Dutch Courage in Baltimore. They met at the University of Maryland, College Park, and have been together nine years. Pic — Rachel Atcheson and Sean McElwee, via NYT: 'Ms. Atcheson, 33, … left the [Eric Adams] administration at the end of 2024 to start a nonprofit, Food Policy Pathways, for which she is executive director. … Mr. McElwee … is the founder of Positive Sum Strategies, a consulting firm that specializes in public opinion, strategic communications and advocacy strategy. … On June 5, the couple was married by Yanfang Chen, an officiant at the Manhattan City Clerk's office. … Two days later, they held a celebration at Tamerlaine Sanctuary & Preserve in Montague, N.J.' HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Justice Clarence Thomas … Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) … special envoy Adam Boehler … White House's Steven Cheung and Kaelan Dorr … WaPo's Philip Bump … Chasten Buttigieg … Steve Stombres … Usha Sahay … Bradley Engle … State's Robert Palladino … Robert Kaplan … Aaron Cutler of Hogan Lovells … Greg Hale … Meta's Amber Moon … J.P. Fielder … Niskanen Center's Louisa Tavlas Atkinson … Atanu Chakravarty … Chris Barnard of the American Conservation Coalition … Emma Whitestone … POLITICO's Daniel Han and Ryan Kohl … former Reps. Baron Hill (D-Ind.), Bob Dold (R-Ill.) and Cresent Hardy (R-Nev.) … Ally Sammarco … AU's Sylvia Burwell … Paul Tewes Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.

Los Angeles Times

2 hours ago

• Los Angeles Times

Why ‘bunker busters' won't end Iran's nuclear ambitions

On Sunday at approximately 2 a.m. Tehran time, seven B-2 stealth aircraft attacked the Iranian nuclear facilities in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan, strikes enabled as much by the belief that Iran had this coming as the particular technology of the American bombers. A drawling President Trump put it in stark terms shortly after the operation ended. 'For 40 years, Iran has been saying death to America, death to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs, with roadside bombs. That was their specialty.' Convention drives coverage of Iran in the United States, from stock images of anti-American murals to the enduring menace of 'Iranian-backed militias.' Now there is an emerging consensus that overthrowing the government in Tehran will accomplish what Israeli and U.S. missiles and air assaults have not: an end to Iran's nuclear program and that country's destabilizing aspirations for regional hegemony, not to mention an end of the oppressive Islamic Republic itself. A series of headlines, analysts and politicians have in recent days presented regime change as a natural certainty, nothing less than a magic bullet. This too is seen as Iran's due. Very few of these expert voices have taken the next step by asking, 'Then what?' Where does the magic bullet land? Sovereign imperatives await the next group to come into power. Democratic or otherwise, the government that replaces the current regime will be laser-focused on Iran's survival. And there is very little reason for Israel or the U.S. to think that a reconstituted Iran will become more conciliatory toward either country once the war ends. The reality is that nationalism, not theocracy, remains what what the historian Ali Ansari calls the 'determining ideology' of Iran. There is a robust consensus among scholars that politics in Iran begins with the idea of Iran as a people with a continuous and unbroken history, a nation that 'looms out of an immemorial past.' Nationalism provides the broad political arena in which different groups and ideologies in Iran compete for power and authority, whether monarchist, Islamist or leftist. And that means that the patriotic defense of Iran isn't a passing phase, produced under the duress of bombs, but the default position, the big idea that holds Iran together, hardened over the last two centuries of Iranian history and the trauma of the loss of territory and dignity to outside powers, including the Russians, the British and the Americans. Getting rid of Islamic rule won't change this dynamic; it is almost sure to guarantee that something worse will come along, sending Iranian politics in unexpected and more corrosive directions. Americans, after all, need only look to their current administration (or past interventions in the Middle East) for examples of how populist responses to foreign invasions, real or imagined, can lead to unthinkable outcomes. 'Trump just guaranteed that Iran will be a nuclear weapons state in the next 5 to 10 years, particularly if the regime changes,' Trita Parsi of the U.S.-based Quincy Institute wrote Saturday night. This is especially true if a new regime is democratic. The promised 'liberation' of the Iranian people through devastating bombing campaigns presents the worst-case scenario for Israel and the U.S., as no future elected government would survive unless it sustained, and perhaps surpassed, the Islamic Republic of Iran's current belligerence. There is tragedy here. Ordinary Iranians, like most people, want peace and security, preferably through diplomacy and dialogue. The unprovoked attacks of the last week and their subsequent justification by not only the U.S. but also nearly all of the European Union, a disastrous sequence that began with Trump's wanton violation of President Obama's Iran deal in 2018, have convinced an increasing number of Iranians that the restraint of arms, nuclear or otherwise, is national suicide. Insofar as the Islamic Republic can claim that it is the only Iranian government in more than 200 years to have lost 'not an inch of soil,' it continues to cling to power. Of course, such legitimacy comes with a dual edge. This regime may survive in the short term, but if and when it does fall it will be because its leaders failed to keep Israeli and American arms out, munitions that have already killed more than 800 of their fellow citizens in less than a week, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists. One of the most common conventions when it comes to Iran, typically presented as a gesture of grace, is to draw a distinction between its government and the people, to lay blame on 'the mullahs' and not the country's long-suffering citizens for their country's status as a rogue actor. As a way to appeal to Iranians of the righteousness of his cause, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his surrogates have deployed tropes of civilizational greatness that would make even the most ardent Persian chauvinist blush. On Thursday, the Israeli prime minister announced that the time had come for the Jews to repay an ancient debt: 'I want to tell you that 2,500 years ago, Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, liberated the Jews. And today, a Jewish state is creating the means to liberate the Persian people.' Regime change, by this logic, is a project of recovery and revivalism, a surefire way to make Iran great again. Iranians are proving to be less nuanced, and unconvinced. The distance between the Iranian state and society has in the last week been reduced to almost nothing. Across the range of experience and suffering, from imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureates and formerly imprisoned Palm D'Or winners to working-class laborers left behind by the revolution, the overriding sentiment today in Iran is clear: These clerics may be scoundrels, but they're our scoundrels, our problem to solve. Nearly 50 years into an unwanted dictatorship, Iranians have developed a refined capacity for identifying bad faith. They know who has Iran's interests at heart and who is trying to save his own skin. Iranian American Shervin Malekzadeh is a visiting assistant professor of political science at Pitzer College and author of the forthcoming book, 'Fire Beneath the Ash: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Democracy in Iran, 2009-2019.'