'We're not there yet' on Trump's bill but ‘we can get it done by July 4': House Republican
Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), chair of the Ways & Means committee, joins Meet the Press NOW as President Trump and Republicans in Congress move closer to passing a sweeping tax and spending bill.June 25, 2025
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NBC News
31 minutes ago
- NBC News
Iranian woman suffers severe panic attack as ICE agents arrest her husband
LOS ANGELES — Iranian asylum-seekers who fled the Islamic Republic in hopes of resettling in Los Angeles have been arrested recently by immigration officials despite having what lawyers and advocates consider credible-fear cases pending in court. The detentions follow a pattern developing throughout the country of targeting Iranians as tensions continue between the Trump administration and Iran. Many of the asylum-seekers are Christians who fled Iran and its intolerant views toward non-Muslim religions. There are 4 million Iranian exiles worldwide, just under a third of them in the United States, according to Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry statistics from 2021. The sudden detentions have prompted some Iranians to go on hunger strikes in custody and triggered at least one medical emergency during an attempted arrest. On Tuesday, an Iranian woman experienced a severe panic attack after she witnessed her husband's arrest near an area known as 'Tehrangeles' because of its large Iranian population. The woman called her pastor, Ara Torosian, to help intervene, but he could do little as he watched her panic attack escalate into convulsions. The couple's lawyer asked that the woman and her husband remain anonymous for privacy reasons. In a video recorded by Torosian and shared widely on social media, the woman lay on the ground spasming while masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents hovered over her. Torosian can be heard pleading with them to administer medical aid. He can also be heard asking whether they know about the situation in Iran and why Christian Iranians fear returning to their native country. According to Torosian, the woman and her husband are members of his church and entered the United States last year under CBP One, the mobile app the Biden administration launched to streamline the asylum-seeking process. President Donald Trump ended the program shortly after he returned to office. The woman was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where ICE agents were met by immigrant advocates and detention protesters. Torosian said that he was not allowed into her hospital room and that immigration officials gruffly brushed away a nurse who tried to intercede on his behalf. UCLA Health said in a statement that it treated a patient under federal custody and later released the person. 'Despite reports on social media, there is no ICE operation happening at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center,' the hospital said. A lawyer for the woman and her husband declined to comment. Immigration officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The incident left Torosian shaken, he said Wednesday. He arrived in the United States in 2010 as a Christian refugee and is now a U.S. citizen raising two children in Southern California. But the recent immigration raids and arrests, coupled with anti-immigrant rhetoric from the Trump administration, remind him more of Iran than he ever imagined possible, he said. 'I was seeing a woman on the ground and masked people who wouldn't show their warrants,' he said. 'I was just shocked. Am I in Iran or am I in L.A.?' Another Iranian Christian family in Torosian's parish were arrested this week during a scheduled check-in with immigration officials. Seyedmajid Seyedali received a text over the weekend telling him to report to the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on Monday with his wife and 4-year-daughter, said the family's lawyer, Kaveh Ardalan. Thinking it was a routine visit, the family of three left their dog at home. But when they arrived, they were taken to the basement and arrested despite having an asylum hearing scheduled for September, Ardalan said. They were transferred to a detention facility in Texas, where Seyedali's wife is on a hunger strike, he said. Ardalan said he has at least five Iranian clients who are seeking asylum and were arrested recently. He also has clients from Honduras and Venezuela with pending asylum cases who are now in ICE custody. When he can, Ardalan said, he will ask immigration judges to release eligible families on bond. Torosian said his parish is working to collect enough to pay rent for Seyedali's home should the family get released. "I'm ready for the fight," he said. "I'm standing for my people."
Daily Mail
34 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Jake Tapper unloads on Trump for 'ugly' attack on CNN over Iran bombing report
Jake Tapper defended CNN's reporting on Donald Trump 's strikes against Iran 's nuclear facilities, while ripping the president's 'ugly attack' on the press. The administration has rubbished reports by both CNN and the New York Times that the damage to Iran's nuclear facilities from Saturday night's bombing was not as severe as they had hoped, while simultaneously demanding the person who leaked incomplete intel be jailed. Tapper went off on Trump during his Wednesday show: 'Today, President Trump and his administration are going after shooting the messengers in an increasingly ugly way.' He also defended Natasha Bertrand, the CNN reporter who broke the story and whom Trump said should be fired. 'They're calling journalists 'fake news' for true stories. They're calling for an excellent CNN reporter, Natasha Bertrand, to be fired, which is preposterous — and to which a CNN statement today reads, 'we stand 100 percent behind Natasha Bertarnd's journalism, as they should,' he continued. The anchor added: 'The Trump administration is also accusing any news media who reports on this intel assessment as not being patriotic.' Tapper went into a dissection of CNN's reporting on the matter, saying that the Defense Intelligence Agency's assessment of the bombing was 'low confidence... meaning that the DIA is far from sure about it.' 'It was described to CNN by seven people briefed on the DIA assessment, and our reporting stressed that the assessment's conclusion could evolve as new information comes to light,' he said. Tapper claimed that CNN reached out to the White House before broadcasting the story and that the administration 'attacked the assessment but confirmed it exists.' 'Even President Trump himself today confirmed it,' he said. Tapper said he was not criticizing the troops who executed the strikes, saying they 'honor and respect' them. 'The key questions for the American people in the world are simply about the degree of success of the operation, and the current state of Iran's nuclear weapons program and what the intelligence — not the politicians — what the intelligence reveals,' Tapper said. 'Our obligation as journalists is not to praise President Trump, or protect his feelings, or to disparage him, or to praise him — for that matter. Our obligation is to report facts. In this case, the fact is that an initial DIA intel assessment out of Secretary Pete Hegseth's own Pentagon exists. And that's not going to change, no matter how many insults Trump levels.' As he ended the segment, he again pointed out that they 'don't know' whether their reporting or the administration's claims are accurate yet. 'That's the point of publishing what we know that the government learns, once we learn it. The news media needs to press for facts, even if it's uncomfortable. Even if, as Americans and as humans, there is a personal instinct to rally around the flag.' He finished: 'Asking questions is literally our job, demanding facts and answers, instead of just taking a president's word for it. History has taught us that the most pro-service member action we can take is to ask questions of our leaders, especially in times of war. That, for journalists, is the height of patriotism.' The leaked report from the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) reportedly states that the U.S. strikes only delayed Iran from getting a nuclear weapon by a couple of months. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the FBI has taken the lead on conducting the probe after CNN, the New York Times and other outlets disclosed the report's findings. 'We're doing a leak investigation with the FBI right now, because this information is for internal purposes, battle damage assessments, and CNN and others are trying to spin it to make the president look bad,' he said during a NATO meeting alongside Trump and other top officials on Wednesday. The Pentagon chief defended the president like an attack dog, claiming the Fordow nuclear enrichment site was 'obliterated.' Flanked by Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Hegseth also mentioned how the classified document was only a preliminary assessment. 'It was a top secret report, it was preliminary, it was low confidence,' the Pentagon secretary explained. 'Given the 30,000 pounds of explosives and capability of those munitions, it was devastation underneath Fordow, and the amount of munitions, six per location, any assessment that tells you something otherwise is speculating with other motives.' He added that the preliminary DIA battle damage assessment indicated 'moderate to severe' damage was done to the facility. The administration, Hegseth continued, believes it was 'far more likely severe and obliterated.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was sitting next to Hegseth, argued the leakers had an agenda. 'This is what a leaker is telling you the intelligence says,' he said of the report. 'That's the game these people play. They read it and then they go out and characterize it the way they want it characterized.' He added it was 'against the law' to leak the information and told the media the leakers 'characterize it for you in a way that's absolutely false.' Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin similarly said Wednesday that "it is still early to assess the results of the operation.' Though he added, 'I believe we have delivered a significant hit to the nuclear program, and I can also say that we have delayed it by several years.' In a Truth Social post on Wednesday afternoon, Trump revealed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would address the public at 8am Thursday morning to provide 'both interesting and irrefutable' proof about the success of the mission. Trump said the purpose of the conference is to 'fight for the Dignity of our Great American Pilots. 'These Patriots were very upset,' he said. 'After 36 hours of dangerously flying through Enemy Territory, they landed, they knew the Success was LEGENDARY, and then, two days later, they started reading Fake News by CNN and The Failing New York Times. 'They felt terribly!' Trump reminded them that the doubts about the success of the mission were 'as usual, solely for the purpose of demeaning PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP.' His comments come after the CIA confirmed Ira n's nuclear facilities suffered 'severe damage' after the devastating airstrikes Saturday night. Trump had earlier suggested Hegseth's title should be changed to the 'Secretary of War' given the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, and kicked off meetings at the NATO summit on Wednesday by comparing Saturday's precision airstrikes to the two atomic bombings on Japan that ended World War II. 'I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima. I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki. But that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war,' he told reporters at The Hague. Seven B-2 bombers flew from the U.S. to Iran on Saturday to carry out what Pentagon officials have said is the most sophisticated stealth airstrike in decades. Each B-2 carried two 30,000 pound bunker buster bombs aimed at Fordow's nuclear labs hundreds of feet underground. The 14 bunker busters dropped on Fordow weighed a total of nearly 420,000 pounds combined, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell has said. 'Fake news, CNN and MSDNC, all of these terrible people, you know, they have no credibility,' Trump slammed the outlets reporting on the intel leak. 'The document said it could be very severe damage,' Trump said at Wednesday's NATO meeting. 'But they didn't take that.'
Reuters
37 minutes ago
- Reuters
Bezos spoke to Trump as he tries to seeks more government contracts for Blue Origin, WSJ reports
June 25 (Reuters) - Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump at least twice this month as he tries to capitalize on a feud between rival SpaceX founder Musk and Trump and bag more government contracts, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The CEO of Blue Origin, Dave Limp, also made a trip to the White House to meet with Trump's chief of staff, the WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
