Donald Trump live updates: President touts White House UFC fight to celebrate 4th July as ‘Free America’ protests loom

A few more details have emerged about the president’s plan to sign off on his signature tax and spending legislation this afternoon after it was finally shoved through the House of Representatives on Thursday with a 218-214 vote.

According to NewsNation, the signing ceremony will be held at Trump’s July 4 military families picnic on the South Lawn of the White House, beginning at around 4pm ET, with some of the Republicans who helped deliver the bill in attendance.

The picnic will reportedly feature the stealth bombers and fighter jets that participated in the recent airstrikes in Iran flying overhead, make of that what you will.

Did they have military-grade assault rifles in the 1770s? The president’s son neither knows nor cares.

There’s shades of his old man’s notorious 2019 gaffe recounting how the Continential Army “took over the airports” in this one. He’s certainly a Trump all right.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer has come in for sharp criticism after saying the wild animals surrounding the president’s new immigration detention center in Florida, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” will have “at least 65 million meals.”

Isabel Keane has the reaction.

The Trump administration’s nationwide immigration dragnet is “insane,” according to podcaster Joe Rogan, who endorsed the Republican during the 2024 election.

“We were told there would be no – well, there’s two things that are insane,” Rogan said during an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience released Wednesday featuring Replit CEO Amjad Masad.

“One is the targeting of migrant workers. Not cartel members, not gang members, not drug dealers. Just construction workers. Showing up in construction sites, raiding them. Gardeners. Like, really?”

Rogan has criticized the raids before, calling them “f***ing nuts” during a June show.

In another news, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has fast-tracked construction for about 17 miles worth of floating border barriers in the Rio Grande River in Texas, expanding the rapidly growing Trump administration footprint on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Josh Marcus has the story.

Republicans of all stripes vowed to hold the line this week and then didn’t.

But the hard-right Freedom Caucus pulled off the biggest retreat of the week, writes John Bowden.

The NewsNation anchor continues to take personal swipes at New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, this time suggesting that the progressive is to blame for Trump’s Medicaid-slashing megabill passing on Thursday.

Here’s Justin Baragona to try to explain.

Trans Americans received a surprising mini-victory amid the Republican passage of the president’s megabill yesterday when an attempt to restrict gender-affirming care died in the legislative process.

The bill had included language that would have banned Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

But in a final deal made to appeal to conservatives, the legislation struck the term “for minors.”

Charitable operations across the United States fear for their survival and ability to feed communities under Republican-led cuts to SNAP, Alex Woodward reports.

From tax cuts for the wealthy to the slashing of Medicaid and SNAP, the legislation provides plenty of ammunition for Trump’s political priorities.

Here’s John Bowden’s report on its likely impact.