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President Donald Trump met with Benjamin Netanyahu for dinner at the White House on Monday evening.
Shortly before the dinner, when the press was gathered in the Blue Room, Netanyahu presented Trump with a Nobel Peace Prize nomination, saying, “He’s forging peace, as we speak, in one country, in one region after the other.”
The dinner came as Israel and Hamas were set to hold indirect ceasefire talks in Qatar for a second day, Reuters reported early Monday morning.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Monday afternoon Trump would delay the deadline for tariff negotiations to August 1 as the U.S. attempts to cement trade deals with dozens of other nations.
The 90-day negotiating period on trade was set to expire on July 9, causing tariffs to increase from the baseline 10 percent rate to the higher levels set by Trump on April 2.
The administration previously claimed it would land “90 deals in 90 days.”
Japan and South Korea received letters Monday from the president informing them of a 25 percent import tax on all goods from their countries starting August 1. Leavitt said approximately 12 other countries will receive letters imminently.
Trump also has reignited the feud with Elon Musk, his former friend, ally and patron, over his threat to set up a third political party in the United States.
In a lengthy Truth Social tirade on Sunday, Trump said Musk has gone “off the rails” in recent weeks and become a “trainwreck.”
Over 300 candidates have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year.
Of those candidates, 244 are individuals and 94 are organizations, according to the Nobel Peace Prize website. This is up from the 286 nominees in 2024.
Last year’s winner was an organization called Nihon Hidankyo for its efforts to create a world free of nuclear weapons.
Rachel Dobkin8 July 2025 06:30
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a Nobel Peace Prize nomination to Donald Trump Monday night — an honor the president is becoming familiar with.
Oleksandr Merezhko, the head of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign committee, nominated Trump for the prize last November, but this past June, the lawmaker told Newsweek he withdrew his nomination.
Merezhko said he had “lost any sort of faith and belief” in Trump and his ability to get a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine.
Pakistan also nominated Trump for the prize last month after he helped broker its truce with India following the fatal shooting of at least 26 tourists in Kashmir.
Fewer than 24 hours after Pakistan praised Trump for the truce, it condemned him for the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.
President Donald Trump told reporters Monday night his administration has agreed to diplomatic talks with Iran after the U.S. bombed three of its nuclear sites.
“We have scheduled Iran talks,” Trump said, adding, “They want to talk.”
Steve Witoff, special envoy to the Middle East who was sitting at the dinner table with Trump, said the talks may happen in the next week, the Associated Press reported.
Rachel Dobkin8 July 2025 05:00
Jeffrey Epstein had no “client list”, according to a new memo from the Department of Justice and FBI, a month after Elon Musk accused President Donald Trump of being on it.
The convicted pedophile died by suicide in a New York City jail cell on August 10, 2019, the new two-page memo also confirmed, following years of conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein’s death.
Read more from Rhian Lubin:
Rachel Dobkin8 July 2025 04:30
Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, said Donald Trump “deserves” a Nobel Peace Prize after being asked on Fox News whether the president will be the first felon to be awarded it.
“Do you think we’ll see the first felon get a Nobel Peace Prize?” Fox News’ Charles Hurt asked Jordan Monday night.
“Well, he certainly deserves it, but knowing how the left is and how the left seems to control so many of these institutions, I’m not holding my breath,” Jordan responded. “But he certainly warrants it. He should get the Nobel Peace Prize, and God bless Prime Minister Netanyahu for that nomination.”
Israel’s leader presented Trump, who was convicted in May 2024 of falsifying business records in a hush money payment scheme, with the nomination during a White House dinner earlier Monday.
“He forged the Abraham Accords. He’s forging peace, as we speak, in one country, in one region after the other,” Netanyahu said at the dinner.
Rachel Dobkin8 July 2025 04:00
Richard Hall writes about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presenting a Nobel Peace Prize nomination to President Donald Trump during a White House dinner Monday night:
“Being nominated for a peace prize by Benjamin Netanyahu is akin to being nominated for a ‘not breaking the law’ prize by fictional mob boss Tony Soprano.
But Netanyahu’s nomination has less to do with world peace and more to do with the softening up of Trump ahead of crunch talks this week.
This visit was supposed to be a victory lap for the Israeli prime minister after the realization of a decades-long-held wish to bomb Iran’s nuclear program. He achieved it with Trump’s help and he will likely need it again in the near future to ensure it does not rebuild.
The Israeli leader’s relationship with Trump is also a political crutch that he leans on when he needs to shore up support in his shaky ruling coalition at home. Trump has, in recent weeks, gone to the extraordinary lengths of calling for corruption charges against Netanyahu to be dropped, linking U.S. support for Israel to the fate of its prime minister.”
Rachel Dobkin8 July 2025 03:30
President Donald Trump has once again delayed the sweeping import tax hikes he has threatened to impose on imports from nearly every single country by extending a Wednesday deadline to August 1 while he continues to push for foreign nations to enter into trade negotiations with him and his administration.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday told reporters that Trump would sign an executive order delaying the new taxes by three and a half weeks along with letters to a dozen foreign leaders threatening specific import tax rates unless countries take as-yet unspecified actions to reduce trade deficits.
The announcement that Trump would once again delay implementing new import taxes on almost every American trading partner came just one hour after he told the Japanese and South Korean heads of government that he will force Americans to pay a 25 percent import tax on all goods imported from their countries starting August 1.
Read more from Andrew Feinberg:
Rachel Dobkin8 July 2025 03:10
President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a dinner in the Blue Room of the White House Monday night.
Here are some photos from the dinner:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hands President Donald Trump a Nobel Peace Prize nomination (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump had Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to his left at the dinner table (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The table was set with 14 place settings and floral centerpieces, and the American and Israeli flags were displayed by the door (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
A close-up of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his dinner with President Donald Trump Monday night (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Rachel Dobkin8 July 2025 02:50
President Donald Trump said, “It’s all done” when asked about his administration’s promise of “90 deals in 90 days,” relating to trade negotiations with other countries.
“It’s all done. I told you we’ll make some deals, but for the most part, we’re gonna send a letter, we’re gonna say, ‘Welcome to the United States, if you’d like to participate in the greatest, most successful ever…,” Trump told a reporter during a White House dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday night.
Trump said the White House has made deals with the United Kingdom and China and is “close to making a deal with India.”
Earlier Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Trump would push back the July 9 deadline for tariff negotiations to August 1, as the president sent letters to over a dozen countries, threatening tariffs of 25 to 40 percent if a trade deal wasn’t reached by then.
Rachel Dobkin8 July 2025 02:30
President Donald Trump said he hopes the United States can lift sanctions off Iran to rebuild in a “peaceful manner” now that they are “not the bully anymore.”
“I would love to be able to, at the right time, take those sanctions off [Iran], give them a chance at rebuilding, because I’d like to see Iran build itself back up in a peaceful manner,” Trump said at a White House dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday night.
Trump spoke of Iran as less aggressive following U.S. strikes that hit three of its nuclear sites.
“They were the bully of the Middle East, and now they’re not the bully anymore,” he said.
Rachel Dobkin8 July 2025 02:10