The Trump administration was last night scrambling to come up with a position in response to Israel’s pre-emptive strikes on Iran.
The attack is likely to be problematic for Trump, who has been seeking a deal with Iran to prevent them working on a nuclear weapon.
Whether it was part of the calculus that led to the strikes or not, it’s likely Israel’s action will scupper those talks for now.
Trump plans to meet with top security officials in the Situation Room at the White House at around 4pm UK time. Which means it will have been 15 hours since the attack took place by the time the President is fully briefed on it.
Where is he?
Meanwhile, a judge has predictably ruled Trump overstepped by sending the National Guard to LA.
And Pete Hegseth basically confirmed plans have been drawn up to invade Greenland.
Everything is fine. Here’s what you need to know.
1. A judge ruled Trump acted illegally in deploying the National Guard to California
Late last night a federal judge ruled Trump had acted improperly in deploying the National Guard to try and quell largely peaceful protests in Los Angeles.
Following a request from Governor Gavin Newsom, Judge Charles R Breyer agreed to block the deployment, ruling he had both exceeded the scope of his authority and violated the Tenth Amendment – which guarantees rights not reserved by the Federal Government revert to the States.
“He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith,” the judge wrote.
He added: “We’re talking about the president exercising his authority, and the president is of course limited in that authority. That’s the difference between a constitutional government and King George.”
Oh yeah he went there.
The White House immediately appealed, and was granted a stay of Judge Breyer’s order until Tuesday.
2. He went out to bat for Russia again, in the weirdest way
Trump’s weird World War II riff took a bizarre additional swerve.
“Russia fought with us in World War II,” he said. “And everybody hates them.
“And Germany and Japan, they’re fine, someday somebody will explain that…it’s a strange world.”
I’m not sure it’s going to take all that much explaining to be honest, Mr President.
3. Pete Hegseth basically confirmed the Pentagon has drawn up plans to invade Greenland
Mike Turner, a Republican Congressman, tried to be helpful to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, giving him an easy out on the question of whether the United States was planning to invade the sovereign territory of a NATO ally by force, in breach of all manner of international laws.
“I just want to help you out,” he said at a congressional committee hearing. “Because people will try to twist your words. You are not confirming in your testimony today that at the Pentagon there are plans for invading and taking by force Greenland, correct? That is not your testimony today…”
Hegseth replied, and didn’t grab hold of the lifeline he was being offered.
“All my testimony is is that the Pentagon has plans for any number of contingencies,” he said.
Turner tried again: “It is not your testimony today that there are plans at the Pentagon for taking by force Greenland…correct? Because I sure as hell hope that is not your testimony.”
Hegseth replied: “We look forward to working with Greenland to ensure that it is secured from any potential threats.”
That, readers, is not a no.
4. A California senator was bundled out of a press conference by force
Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California, was forcibly removed from a press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in his home state.
Footage of the incident shows security pushing him out of the room, ordering him to put his hands up.
And further video posted online show officers manhandling him to the floor and handcuffed in the corridor outside.
(For UK readers, even in America it’s almost unheard of for a sitting, elected Senator to be physically detained, and presumably arrested).
Senator Padilla told onlookers he had “questions” for Noem – presumably related to the deployment of military personnel to his state.
Noem later claimed he’d “lunged” toward the podium, that he didn’t identify himself, and that nobody knew who he was.
The first words he said to her, as captured on video, were: “I’m Senator Alex Padilla”.
As tension between the White House and Europe heats up, the Mirror has launched its very own US Politics WhatsApp community where you’ll get all the latest news from across the pond.
We’ll send you the latest breaking updates and exclusives all directly to your phone. Users must download or already have WhatsApp on their phones to join in.
All you have to do to join is click on this link, select ‘Join Chat’ and you’re in! We may also send you stories from other titles across the Reach group.
We will also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN
As tension between the White House and Europe heats up, the Mirror has launched its very own US Politics WhatsApp community where you’ll get all the latest news from across the pond.
We’ll send you the latest breaking updates and exclusives all directly to your phone. Users must download or already have WhatsApp on their phones to join in.
All you have to do to join is click on this link, select ‘Join Chat’ and you’re in! We may also send you stories from other titles across the Reach group.
We will also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN
5. Trump decided undocumented people aren’t all bad
It seems someone has finally got through to Trump, and explained that if he deports every undocumented person in the US, Americans will starve and Las Vegas will collapse into the desert.
In a spectacular u-turn, one which will cause Stephen Miller real physical pain, Trump indicated he might make exceptions to his mass deportations for nice undocumented people who work in farms and hotels.
“You go into a farm and you look at people — they’ve been there for 20, 25, years, and they’ve worked great, and the owner of the farm loves them, and everything else and then you’re supposed to throw them out,” he said.
“We’re going to have an order on that pretty soon, I think,” he added. “We can’t do that to our farmers and leisure too, hotels.”
6. Trump continued to bang on about his ‘Trump card’
Trump said on his Truth Social site that the waiting list is open for his $5m ‘Trump card’.
The card, it’s claimed, will grant the buyer legal permanent residency in the US.
The gold-colored card prominently features a drawing of the president with a bald eagle in front of him and the Statue of Liberty behind. It reads “United States of America” across the top, “The Trump Card” on the right side in bolder letters with stars around it, and Trump’s signature above the $5 million figure.