Voters head to polls in Oklahoma, Georgia and Washington DC
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Primary elections are taking place in Oklahoma today and a closely watched run-off is underway in Georgia, as Donald Trump’s iron grip on the Republican party faces its next test.
In Washington DC – a Democratic stronghold – voters are also selecting a candidate for the party ahead of November’s mayoral election.
Oklahoma will hold races to help decide US senate and gubernatorial candidates. Ahead of November’s midterms, president Trump has given his early backing to Kevin Hern in the senate seat previously held by Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin in the deeply conservative state.
Hern has kept other potential big challengers at bay in Oklahoma, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1990, reports AP.
But a bigger test of Trump’s influence – which has usually proved potent in Republican primaries this year – may come in a crowded race to succeed outgoing governor Kevin Stitt.
In Georgia, meanwhile, Republicans will finalize their selections for gubernatorial and US senate elections.
For the senate, US Representative Mike Collins and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley are the finalists for the Republican nomination. Whoever wins will challenge rising Democratic statr Jon Ossoff for the seat in November.
In other developments:
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The United States and Iran have signed a memo of understanding giving them 60 days to find a way out of the war. The terms of the deal, which has not been publicly released, remain unclear. Vice-president JD Vance called the 1.5-page MOU a “very general document” whose details will be ironed out in the coming weeks of negotiations.
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The future of the strait of Hormuz remains cloudy. US officials have offered conflicting forecasts for the future of the straight, with Trump saying that by the end of the week it “will be completely open,” while other officials say it may take longer for shipping to return to something approximating the pre-war status quo. Iran foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghei, however, told reporters that Iran may still charge fees to pass through the straight.
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Trump is in Évian-les-Bains, France, to attend the G7 summit, where Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping world leaders will help him find a way out of his country’s four-year war. He spoke with Donald Trump ahead of the G7 meeting, which Russian leader Vladimir Putin is also attending.
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California govenor Gavin Newsom is accusing Trump of directing the US justice department to investigate him and his wife. Newsom, a prominent Democrat, tweeted that Trump was coming after him because he is considering running for the president.
Key events
JD Vance is also due to appear on ABC’s The View at the top of the hour. I’ll bring you any key lines from that interview here.
Then, in an interview on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” this morning, JD Vance insisted that the only investment Iran would get under the deal would be mostly from Gulf states – namely Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
“Not a single cent of American money goes to Iran, not $300bn, not $24bn, not any of the money, the dollar figures that I’ve seen floating around,” Vance said.
US officials told reporters yesterday that the memorandum of understanding includes the possibility of releasing Iran’s frozen funds, sanctions relief and a $300bn fund to help rebuild Iran if Tehran meets certain benchmarks. But, again, the document has not been released and likely won’t be before Friday.
Vance had told Fox News’ Sean Hannity last night that the Iranians “wouldn’t get a dime” unless they changed their behavior, and later clarified that they would not get any US taxpayer dollars – it would be paid for by neighbouring Gulf states.
“What the agreement does say, Sean, is if the Iranians behave and if there are sanctions relief and if the Iranians are integrated into the world economy, we would invite other countries, not us, but other countries to invest in their country,” the vice-president said.
Speaking to NBC News earlier, JD Vance claimed that nuclear inspectors will “absolutely” be allowed back into Iran as part of the deal with the US.
“Yes, absolutely,” Vance said. “In fact, one of the core parts of the agreement is that the [International Atomic Energy Agency] and the United States are going to help Iran destroy the highly enriched stockpile, and that’s something that’s spelled out very clearly” in the memorandum of understanding, he added.
The text of the MoU will be released after a formal signing ceremony Friday in Switzerland, Vance said, confirming the timeline given by Donald Trump.
Patrick Wintour
in Évian-les-Bains
European leaders at the G7 summit have urged Donald Trump to try to break the deadlock over ending Russia’s war in Ukraine war by taking up the proposal for him to host talks in the US between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy, attending the summit at the invitation of French president Emmanuel Macron is attempting to re-engage Trump in the hope that the US administration will be less distracted now it has agreed a 60-day ceasefire in Iran.
Macron, caught on a hot mic at the summit, was heard admitting to Zelenskyy he had had difficult discussions with Trump yesterday concerning Ukraine.
Speaking at a morning session of G7 leaders and Zelenskyy, Trump said he would do what he could, and German sources claimed Trump recognised that Russia was in a weaker position than previously.
Zelenskyy – who did not initially have a bilateral meeting with Trump scheduled – eventually met the US president alongside Macron for his first face-to-face meeting in four months. Zelenskyy tried to convince Trump that Ukraine was no longer losing on the battlefield, and the US role should not be that of a messenger between the two sides but of a mediator supportive of Ukraine. The meeting delayed the start of the full summit.
Trump says he’d send Iran deal to Congress for review
Yohannes Lowe
At the start of a meeting with the UAE president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the G7 summit, Donald Trump said that he would send the deal with Iran to the US Congress for a review. “I like the idea, send it to Congress please, I mean who wouldn’t approve it.”
The absence of the details of the memorandum of understanding with Iran has led to bipartisan scrutiny on Capitol Hill about what the agreement might contain and how favorable the terms are to the US.
Republicans on Capitol Hill say they want Trump to provide more information, with some expressing skepticism that the deal can deter Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon. James Lankford, a Republican senator, said: “If you want a deal to last, it can’t be an executive agreement.” “We’ve got to have a vote of Congress to be able to solidify [it] long term.”
Yesterday’s bilateral talks between Donald Trump and French president Emmanuel Macron were “a bit tense”, a European Union official has told NBC News.
“Trump is being his usual self, nice sometimes and not so nice sometimes,” the official said, adding that the US president was dismissive of EU support following the Iran framework agreement – saying he didn’t need Europe’s help.
Trump and Macron are due to dine tomorrow at the Palace of Versailles. This was the “‘shiny’ object he needed to come to France”, the EU official said of Trump, but “whether this will keep him happy remains to be seen”.
‘I’m going to do whatever I can’: Trump turns attention to Ukraine with Iran soon in ‘rearview mirror’
Donald Trump said he had a “very good meeting” with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains earlier today.
He added that Iran would soon be “in the rearview mirror” and that he would meet Zelenskyy again later today.
Trump told reporters after the meeting, “Look Russia should make a deal,” adding that he spoke with Vladimir Putin on Sunday. He said he would do “whatever I can” to urge Putin to make a deal to end the war.
But he also reiterated his position that Ukraine is not the US’s war and not his priority. “We have nothing to do with it, we sell weapons to them,” he said, adding: “It has no impact on us, other than we sell weapons. We’re thousands of miles away.”
Following the announcement of his framework deal with Iran, Trump had also indicated yesterday that, “Now that this [Iran] is finished, we’re going to be focusing on that [Ukraine].”
Zelenskyy posted photos of the meeting on X, with the caption: “It is always important to coordinate positions.” He told reporters that he had stressed to Trump Ukraine’s desperate need for air defense missiles capable of countering Russia’s growing arsenal of ballistic missiles.
The Ukrainian president was invited by the host of the summit, French president Emmanuel Macron, in a bid to shift leaders’ attention to the war in Ukraine, in the hope that the US president will refocus his energy and re-engage with efforts to end Russia’s war.
Macron said yesterday that a key focus of the high-stakes talks would be maintaining support for Ukraine. “Europeans are currently providing almost 100% of the aid to Ukraine,” he said. “It is important that our other G7 partners, and in particular the United States, continue to do their part — at the very least, not weaken their position towards Ukraine.”
Law enforcement officials disrupted “planned attacks” meant to target the UFC cage fighting show staged at the White House this past weekend, and multiple people were in custody, said FBI director Kash Patel.
The nature of the potential threat was not immediately disclosed, with additional details expected to be released once charges are unsealed later today.
Five people were arrested from states including Ohio, Missouri and California, said a law enforcement official familiar with the matter. The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss information that was not yet public.
Donald Trump, who celebrated his 80th birthday at the UFC event on Sunday, sought to tie the fights to larger celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Republican voters in Georgia will choose their Senate nominee in a runoff election on Tuesday, tapping either a congressman dubbed ‘Maga Mike’ by Donald Trump or a political outsider backed by governor Brian Kemp.
The winner – representative Mike Collins or former college football coach Derek Dooley – will face Jon Ossoff, a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028 and the only incumbent Senate Democrat up for reelection in a state that Trump won in 2024.
Collins finished first in the 19 May primary with 40% of the vote, 10 points ahead of Dooley. Trump endorsed Collins over the weekend, calling him a “WARRIOR and WINNER” who supported Trump “from the very beginning.“
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate but have limited opportunities to win additional seats. Their top targets are Georgia and Michigan, two states the president narrowly won. But they have a tall task in unseating Ossoff, AP reports.
Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, said while Ossoff is more liberal than most Georgia voters, his office has a strong constituent services operation and he spends a lot of time in the state.
“Even Republican campaign consultants, activists like that, that I talk to are pretty much willing to concede that, yeah, Ossoff’s going to be able to hold this seat,” he said.
Peter Stone
The Trump administration is waging war on voting rights using justice department lawsuits, FBI investigations, and an executive order to limit voting by mail, moves mirroring the US president’s false claims he lost the 2020 election due to voting fraud, say election experts and ex-officials.
Since Donald Trump began his second term, numerous 2020 election denialists have been installed in key agencies such as the DoJ, the FBI and elsewhere to pursue widely discredited claims of fraud, which can intimidate election workers and voters in swing states that Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020.
The justice department has also filed lawsuits seeking sensitive voter data from 30 states – even though, by law, states control elections – and the FBI has launched investigations into debunked allegations of voting fraud in Georgia, Wisconsin and a few other swing states that Trump lost in 2020.
Trump in late March this year issued an executive order sharply tightening mail-in voting rules, which Trump has long claimed without evidence contribute to fraud. The order gives the United States Postal Service unprecedented powers to issue new rules making voting by mail harder.
The administration’s multi-pronged push to change voting rules is under way despite laws that empower states and Congress to set election rules, sparking lawsuits from states and nonpartisan voting rights groups.
Kirstin Garriss in Washington
There’s a transplant from Mar-a-Lago at the center of DCs mayoral primary race on Tuesday, but his name is nowhere on the ballot.
For the first time in more than a decade, Washington DC will have a new mayor this year as the city faces concerns about how to address public safety, housing affordability, and increased federal immigration enforcement in the district. How the next mayor handles Donald Trump is also key question on residents’ minds, with many closely watching to see if any of the president’s supporters are pouring money into the race, as well as the primaries for the city’s congressional delegate.
Two frontrunners, DC councilmember Janeese Lewis George and former councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, both Democrats, are vying to succeed Mayor Muriel Bowser, who led the city during both of Trump’s terms in office. In a Democratic stronghold, whoever wins the primary is likely to win the election in November.
Lewis George, a democratic socialist and two-term city councilmember, has been campaigning on what she calls a “people-first platform”, promising to lower childcare costs and utility bills, stabilize rent for tenants, and prioritize downpayment assistance for homebuyers.
McDuffie, a former at-large city councilmember and former prosecutor, has garnered support from much of Washington’s business community, including restaurants and realtors, while promising to expand affordable housing, improve public safety, and diversify the local economy.
Voters head to polls in Oklahoma, Georgia and Washington DC
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Primary elections are taking place in Oklahoma today and a closely watched run-off is underway in Georgia, as Donald Trump’s iron grip on the Republican party faces its next test.
In Washington DC – a Democratic stronghold – voters are also selecting a candidate for the party ahead of November’s mayoral election.
Oklahoma will hold races to help decide US senate and gubernatorial candidates. Ahead of November’s midterms, president Trump has given his early backing to Kevin Hern in the senate seat previously held by Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin in the deeply conservative state.
Hern has kept other potential big challengers at bay in Oklahoma, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1990, reports AP.
But a bigger test of Trump’s influence – which has usually proved potent in Republican primaries this year – may come in a crowded race to succeed outgoing governor Kevin Stitt.
In Georgia, meanwhile, Republicans will finalize their selections for gubernatorial and US senate elections.
For the senate, US Representative Mike Collins and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley are the finalists for the Republican nomination. Whoever wins will challenge rising Democratic statr Jon Ossoff for the seat in November.
In other developments:
-
The United States and Iran have signed a memo of understanding giving them 60 days to find a way out of the war. The terms of the deal, which has not been publicly released, remain unclear. Vice-president JD Vance called the 1.5-page MOU a “very general document” whose details will be ironed out in the coming weeks of negotiations.
-
The future of the strait of Hormuz remains cloudy. US officials have offered conflicting forecasts for the future of the straight, with Trump saying that by the end of the week it “will be completely open,” while other officials say it may take longer for shipping to return to something approximating the pre-war status quo. Iran foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghei, however, told reporters that Iran may still charge fees to pass through the straight.
-
Trump is in Évian-les-Bains, France, to attend the G7 summit, where Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping world leaders will help him find a way out of his country’s four-year war. He spoke with Donald Trump ahead of the G7 meeting, which Russian leader Vladimir Putin is also attending.
-
California govenor Gavin Newsom is accusing Trump of directing the US justice department to investigate him and his wife. Newsom, a prominent Democrat, tweeted that Trump was coming after him because he is considering running for the president.
