Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday that the Trump administration was scrapping plans to create a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate allies of the Republican president after widespread political backlash and setbacks in the courts.
“We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Blanche said in response to questions at a House hearing on the Justice Department budget.
The blunt declaration marked an extraordinary turnabout for a Trump Justice Department that just two weeks ago had pronounced the fund as essential to make up for what officials insist was weaponized law enforcement during President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration. Since then, though, the idea has faced mounting pressure from Republicans who demanded reassurances that plans for the fund were off the table before they would move forward with legislation funding President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies.
—The Associated Press
Iran stops talking to mediators, Iranian reports say, but Trump says talks continue
Iran stopped communicating with mediators about extending a ceasefire in the war with the U.S. and Israel, two semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported Tuesday, but President Donald Trump disputed the claim and said talks were continuing.
The reports by the Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, came as tensions flared in Israel’s separate but related fight against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon.
A regional official involved in the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, told The Associated Press that Iran had not communicated at all on Tuesday after saying that a ceasefire needed to be enforced in Lebanon for negotiations to continue.
—The Associated Press
Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to Review the FY27 State Department Budget Request on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
In Senate testimony, Rubio says Iran reopening Strait of Hormuz is first step in talks
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is a “predicate that opens the door to Phase 2” for nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
“Phase 2 is they have to commit to very specific negotiations on … disposition of the highly enriched uranium that still is buried deep in a mountain somewhere,” he said. “They have to agree on negotiating severe and long-term limitations and/or cancellation of enrichment activity.”
The secretary of state made the remarks during the first of two scheduled hearings where he was testifying Tuesday. He was also taking part in a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing in the afternoon.
—Spectrum News’ Christina Santucci
Trump signs executive order to vet top AI models for national security risks
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on oversight of artificial intelligence Tuesday, less than two weeks after postponing a White House ceremony over his concerns that a similar policy could dull America’s technological edge.
The order establishes a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to a month before their public release. Participation by AI developers would be voluntary, the order says.
It was not immediately clear to what extent the order differed from the one he declined to sign on May 21. The order says the government would have only 30 days to review an AI system, a shorter time frame than some in the industry were expecting. A longer time period might have been seen as too burdensome for a fast-moving and highly competitive industry.
—The Associated Press
More Tuesday reads
• Trump taps housing finance director Pulte as acting director of national intelligence
• Trump says he will speak at rescheduled White House correspondents’ dinner
• Oz defends U.S. plan to quarantine Americans exposed to Ebola in Kenya