President Donald Trumpscored another win Tuesday against a Republican rival, dislodging Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky's primary and knocking out one of his most outspoken critics on Capitol Hill. Massie has been a particularly difficult thorn in Trump's side, pushing for the release of the Epstein files, opposing the war with Iran and voting against Trump's signature tax legislation last year.
Republicans are unhappier with Trump's handling of the economy than they were a few months ago, but they're largely continuing to stand behind him as the war with Iran continues, a new AP-NORC poll finds. About 6 in 10 Republicans approve of how Trump is handling the economy, according to the poll. That's down from about 8 in 10 in February, before the war began.
Here's the latest:
House Speaker Mike Johnson says Trump’s endorsement is ‘most powerful’
The Republican leader said he spoke with the president late after Tuesday’s primary elections and the defeat of Rep. Thomas Massie, a once popular GOP lawmaker.
“We talked about how his endorsement is the most powerful in the history of politics,” Johnson of Louisiana said at the Capitol.
The speaker insisted there’s room in the Republican Party for those who cross Trump.
“We don’t demand loyalty to the president,” he said.
“I never ask anybody to violate a core principle,” he said, but “you have to give up on some of your personal preferences sometimes.”
Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez blasts US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
He called Rubio “the mouthpiece of corrupt and vindictive interests, concentrated in South Florida.”
Rodríguez wrote on X that Cuba hasn’t rejected $100 million in humanitarian aid the U.S. has offered, adding that the “cynicism is evident to anyone given the devastating effects of the economic blockade and the energy embargo.”
In late January, President Trump threatened tariffs on countries that supply or sell oil to Cuba, which recently announced that its oil reserves have run dry.
Rodríguez also criticized Rubio for releasing a video message Wednesday in which he calls on Cubans to reject their government and demand new leadership and a free-market economy.
“He takes advantage of the infamous date of May 20th,” Rodríguez wrote. The date marks Cuba’s independence, but the socialist government rejects that date, saying true freedom began with the 1959 Revolution.
Days after Trump visit, Putin and Xi hail their friendship and growing energy trade at meeting
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed their strategic ties and growing energy trade as they met in Beijing on Wednesday only days after a visit by President Trump to China.
Putin and Xi oversaw the signing of more than 40 cooperation agreements in areas such as trade, technology and media exchanges. They stressed their growing trade, particularly in oil and natural gas, and declared themselves aligned on international relations.
The countries’ ties have reached “the highest level in history,” Xi said after the signing ceremony, speaking to members of the delegations and journalists. The two sides also agreed to extend a friendship treaty first signed in 2001.
Putin told those in the room that “the driving force behind economic cooperation is Russian-Chinese collaboration in the energy sector.”
US sanctions hit alleged Sinaloa cartel fentanyl network, including a Chihuahua restaurant
The U.S. imposed sanctions Wednesday on more than a dozen people, a Mexican restaurant and a security firm linked to Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa cartel and its fentanyl trafficking activities.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control targeted Jesus Gonzalez Penuelas, a fugitive known as Chuy Gonzalez, who’s alleged to be involved in trafficking narcotics into the U.S. and laundering funds for the cartel. The State Department has been offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest since 2024.
Additionally, Armando de Jesus Ojeda Aviles, who allegedly helps launder the proceeds of fentanyl and other drugs on behalf of the cartel, has also been hit with sanctions.
A restaurant in Chihuahua, called Gorditas Chiwas — controlled by sanctioned businessman Alfredo Orozco Romero — was hit with sanctions.
The sanctions cut them off from the U.S. banking system, cut off their ability to work with Americans and block their U.S. assets.
Trump has repeatedly offered to send the U.S. military after the cartels and his administration designated the Sinaloa cartel as a terrorist group in 2025.
Trump says ‘I’m in no hurry’ on making an Iran deal
Asked about it before boarding Air Force One to fly to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut to deliver a commencement address, Trump suggested he might be willing to accept a smaller scale deal with Tehran that would simply open the Strait of Hormuz but potentially not address larger goals.
Trump said of such a deal, “The strait would have to open immediately.”
But he added, “I’m in no hurry.”
He shrugged off suggestions that GOP performances in November’s midterm elections could increase the political pressure to make a deal, but also said: “We could do it another way.”
Trump to attend the G7 summit next month to discuss investment partnerships and AI
The White House says Trump will be at the June 15-17 meeting in Evian-les-Bains, in the French Alps.
The war in Iran promises to be a major point of contention, as Trump has said U.S. allies haven’t done enough to help open the Strait of Hormuz.
But Trump also wants to use discussions to reframe development conversations so they can better focus on investment partnerships that benefit investors as well as recipient nations, the White House says.
He’ll further seek to promote global innovation around artificial intelligence development, boost critical mineral supply chain resilience and strengthen international actions against drug smuggling and further tougher immigration policies. And Trump will use the meeting to promote U.S. energy exports, the White House says.
GOP House members applaud moves toward indictment of Raúl Castro
During a news conference Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart said “the day of justice is finally arriving” for the Castro family and that the U.S. “is going to do the right thing.”
Saying she was addressing the Castro family, Rep. María Elvira Salazar, another south Florida Republican, said, “your days are over,” adding that “a federal indictment is serious stuff.”
Three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday that the Justice Department is preparing to seek the indictment against the former Cuban president, connected to his alleged role in the 1996 shootdown of two planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Those moves come as Trump threatens possible military action against the communist-run island.
Trump celebrates primary night wins and says GOP leadership ‘will be all right’
As he prepared to travel to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut to deliver a commencement address , the president said to reporters that he “had a great number of victories” in Tuesday’s elections and that he “won all races.”
“Not just Massie. Massie’s a low life,” Trump said.
Trump was asked if he spoke to Senate Republican leadership about going up against an incumbent in his endorsement Tuesday of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over GOP Sen. John Cornyn in the Texas Senate race.
“I did. They’ll be all right with it. They want to win. I know how to win,” Trump said.
He added a moment later: “Some of them don’t know how to win. I know how to win.”
Trump’s portrait hits New Delhi traffic as US Embassy rolls out ‘Happy Birthday America!’ rickshaws
In New Delhi's chaotic traffic, where the backs of auto-rickshaws sometimes double as mobile billboards, some commuters are now being greeted by an unlikely face: U.S. President Donald Trump.
Splashed beneath his portrait is the slogan, “Happy Birthday America!”
About 100 auto-rickshaws carrying large images of Trump and the Statue of Liberty have appeared across the Indian capital in recent weeks. In a city where the backs of thousands of three-wheelers are routinely covered with ads for little-known fertility clinics, English-speaking courses and herbal remedies, the American branding stands out.
The unusual advertising campaign was unveiled last month by Sergio Gor, the U.S. ambassador to India. It's part of a broader push by the U.S to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, with celebrations, cultural events and public outreach campaigns planned in several countries.
Announcing the initiative on social media last month, the U.S. Embassy posted, “Freedom is on the move … literally!”
Cuban official responds to Rubio’s message to the people of Cuba
Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos F. de Cossío, took to X on Wednesday after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a video blaming the socialist government for the suffering of the Cuban people.
“The reason the US Secretary of State lies so repeatedly and unscrupulously about Cuba and tries to justify the aggression he inflicts on the Cuban people is not ignorance or incompetence. He knows full well that there is no excuse for such cruel and ruthless aggression,” Cossío wrote.
Rubio, who spoke in Spanish in the video, denied that a U.S. energy blockade is to blame for daily outages lasting up to 22 hours.
“The real reason you don’t have electricity, fuel or food is because those who control your country have plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people,” Rubio claimed.
In January, President Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba, which recently announced it has no more oil reserves.
Rubio appeals to Cuban people to accept US offer for a new relationship
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is urging the Cuban people to reject their current socialist government and demand a free-market economy with new leadership he says will chart a new course in relations with the United States.
In a video message released Wednesday, Rubio said there’s no reason the Cuban people cannot enjoy the same freedoms that others in the Caribbean have.
“This is not impossible,” he said in a Spanish-language post that was recorded Tuesday ahead of an expected indictment of former Cuban President Raul Castro by the Department of Justice.
“If owning your own business and having the right to vote is possible around Cuba, why is it not possible for you in Cuba?” Rubio asked.
“In the U.S., we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people and our countries,” he said. “And, currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country.”
GOP’s YOLO caucus is small but growing. That may spell trouble for Trump’s congressional agenda
In a Republican-led Congress defined by deference to President Trump, there’s a small but steadily growing cohort who’ve found themselves more willing to break with the White House. Although the president maintains a firm grip on Republican voters, the expanding club could hinder his agenda on everything from the Iran war to immigration funding at a moment when his party holds a tenuous majority on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is the newest member of the club. Just days after losing his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, Cassidy on Tuesday reversed himself on legislation involving the war in Iran and voted with Democrats to rein in U.S. military action.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas could be next after Trump endorsed Ken Paxton, Cornyn's rival for the Republican nomination in next week's runoff.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is perhaps a founding member of the YOLO caucus, having frustrated Trump since the president's first term, and his status was solidified after losing his primary Tuesday to a Trump-backed challenger. Massie has enraged Trump by voting against his signature tax and spending bill and by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie charted his own way, until toppled by Trump
The renegade Republican who rose to prominence as an idiosyncratic and stubborn outlier in his party, popular in the Kentucky district that repeatedly sent him to the House, lost his primary bid for reelection Tuesday after a vicious and costly attack by President Trump.
The stunning outcome caps a career like few others and shows the extent of the president's ability to badger, badmouth and eventually boot out his political adversaries — and that no lawmaker is apparently safe. Massie's defeat comes after the Trump-led ouster of Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana over the weekend and the president's endorsement Tuesday of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his challenge to Sen. John Cornyn, which sent chills through the Senate.
Trump had reserved his fiercest attacks for Massie, a quirky conservative who’d become among the most powerful rank-and-file Republicans in the House because of his willingness to vote as he pleased, rather than as the party demanded. And now he’s been toppled like so many other Republicans who crossed the president.
Trump regains some overall strength on immigration: AP-NORC poll
The issue of immigration may be reemerging as an asset for Trump, a new AP-NORC poll suggests.
Immigration was one of Trump’s strengths early on, with about half of U.S. adults saying they liked his approach, but approval of his handling of the issue dipped after months of aggressive immigration enforcement.
Now, just under half of U.S. adults, 45%, approve of how he is handling that issue.
Immigration remains one of Trump’s stronger issues among Republicans. About 8 in 10 — 83% — approve of his handling of the issue, which is slightly higher than the share that says he’s doing a good job as president.
Poll: Many Republicans are unhappy about the economy, but they’re still with Trump
Republicans are unhappier with President Trump’s economic approach than they were a few months ago, but they’re largely continuing to stand behind him.
About 6 in 10 Republicans — 63% — approve of how Trump is handling the economy in a new AP-NORC poll. That's down from 79% in February, before the Iran war began.
About one-third of U.S. adults overall approve of how he is handling the economy.
That erosion isn’t translating to his overall job approval — roughly 7 in 10 Republicans approve of how he’s handling the presidency, similar to earlier this year. The findings highlight Trump’s continued strength within the Republican Party, even as economic frustration grows.
For Vance and Rubio, the road to 2028 takes a turn through the White House briefing room
The earliest signals of a presidential race normally involve such subtle and behind-the-scenes positioning from candidates that it's been dubbed in political circles as the "shadow primary."
But the early Republican race to succeed Trump in just over two years’ time seems to be already playing out in one of the most public forums possible: the White House press briefing room.
Vice President JD Vance, who is seen as one of the GOP's strongest potential candidates for president in 2028, stepped up to the lectern on Tuesday, holding the spotlight for 54 minutes as he took questions from reporters.
It was five minutes longer than the turn taken two weeks ago by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the person currently seen as Vance's possible chief rival — or running mate — in 2028.
Vance and Rubio were tapped to fill in as temporary replacements for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave. The chance to parry questions before news cameras was a high-profile opportunity to try to make a case that they should be elected commander-in-chief.
US government agrees to drop tax claims against Trump in broadening of IRS lawsuit settlement
The U.S. government will permanently drop tax claims against Trump, according to a settlement document made public Tuesday, in an extraordinary use of executive power that could effectively help shield the president from further examination of his finances and legal conduct.
As part of the settlement deal meant to resolve Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, the U.S. is "forever barred and precluded" from examining or prosecuting Trump, his sons and the Trump organization's current tax examinations, according to a one-page document posted to the Justice Department's website.
The government is also barred from looking into Trump's family, affiliates and others, according to the document, which is signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. That document is a separate addendum from the original settlement announced Monday, and was quietly added to the Justice Department website on Tuesday.
The White House referred Associated Press inquiries to the Justice Department, and the U.S. Treasury did not respond to Associated Press requests for comment.
Georgia Republicans dig in for runoffs for Senate and governor as campaigns go into overtime
Georgia Republicans will keep duking it out among themselves as they head toward a runoff to pick their candidates for governor and U.S. Senate in the battleground state after Tuesday’s primary failed to produce outright victors.
The Senate runoff will feature former college football coach Derek Dooley and Rep. Mike Collins, while Rep. Buddy Carter was knocked out of the race. The winner will go up against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in one of the most closely watched campaigns in the November midterm elections.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and healthcare billionaire Rick Jackson advanced to the runoff in the Republican primary for governor, extending their bruising and expensive campaign battle. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms clinched the Democratic nomination on Tuesday.
With about a month to go until the June 16 runoff, Republicans will spend more time and money competing among themselves before they turn their attention to their Democratic opponents in key races.
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