Meanwhile – remember that guy he deported by mistake? Well, he’s back now and is telling the world exactly how torture-y the CECOT mega-prison that Trump wants to send more people to is
Donald Trump has been watching telly, waiting for Republicans to finally ram through his healthcare-slashing budget bill since yesterday.
And it seems like he’s got so bored he’ll talk to literally anyone who will listen.
So he spent some of this morning talking on the phone too, who else? Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile – remember that guy he deported by mistake? Well, he’s back now and is telling the world exactly how torture-y the CECOT mega-prison that Trump wants to send more people to is.
Below you will find all that, plus what Trump and Starmer talked about over dinner.
Everything is fine. Here’s what you need to know.
1. Trump’s big beautiful bill on a knife-edge
House debates are underway in the final crunch of Donald Trump’s healthcare slashing spending bill – and it’s looking a lot more wobbly than it was yesterday.
After another chaotic day and night, at the Capitol, Speaker Mike Johnson insisted the House would meet Trump’s July 4 deadline.
“Our way is to plow through and get it done,” Johnson said, emerging in the middle of the night from a series of closed-door meetings. “We will meet our July 4th deadline.”
Democrats unified against the bill as a tax give-away to the rich paid for on the backs of the most vulnerable in society, what one called “trickle down cruelty.”
But Republicans reckon they’ve managed to put down a mini-rebellion from its own side that threatened to sink it.
Earlier, the House voted to allow the bill to be debated on the floor by 219 to 213 – suggesting the revolt had been put down.
It’s unclear when the final vote will actually take place. At the time of writing, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has been speaking for nearly six hours, and has no time limit.
2. How did Trump win over wavering Republicans? With signed photos and hats
According to the New York Times a “conga line” of Republicans filed through the west Wing yesterday with concerns about his “big beautiful bill”.
The Times reported many of them walked out with signed merchandise and photos in the oval office.
3. Wrongly deported man was tortured and beaten in Salvadoran gulag
Remember Kilmar Abrego Garcia? The guy the Trump administration sent to a torture prison in El Salvador by mistake and (initially) refused to bring back?
Well, he’s back in the US, facing charges of migrant smuggling – to which he has pleaded not guilty and which a magistrate has found to be based on “insufficient evidence”.
He’s still in custody – after his lawyers warned that he is at risk of being captured and deported again by ICE if he’s let out on bail.
Meanwhile, he’s filed a complaint against the government, outlining in extreme detail how he was beaten and subjected to torture while being held at Salvadoran mega-gulag CECOT.
Here’s a few highlights from the complaint – which, fair warning, are pretty grim.
It says he “was subjected to severe mistreatment upon arrival at CECOT, including but not limited to severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture..”
“Upon arrival at CECOT, the detainees were greeted by a prison official who stated, “Welcome to CECOT. Whoever enters here doesn’t leave.” Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was then forced to strip, issued prison clothing and subjected to physical abuse including being kicked in the legs with boots and struck on his head and arms to make him change clothes faster. His head was shaved with a zero razor and he was frogmarched to cell 15, being struck with wooden batons along the way…”
“In Cell 15, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia and 20 other Salvadorans were forced to kneel from approximately 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM, with guards striking anyone who fell from exhaustion. During this time, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access and soiled himself…”
“After approximately one week at CECOT, prison director Osiris Luna and other officials separated the 21 Salvadorans who had arrived together. Twelve individuals with visible gang-related tattoos were removed to another cell, while Plaintiff Abrego Garcia remained with eight others who, like him, upon information and belief had no gang affiliations or tattoos.”
And this one’s the kicker, given how much Trump himself wailed about Garcia having MS-13 tattoos on his hands…
“As reflected by his segregation, the Salvadoran authorities recognised that Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was not affiliated with any gang, and at round this time, prison officials explicitly acknowledged that Plaintiff Abrego Garcia’s tattoos were not gang-related, telling him “your tattoos are fine.”
4. Starmer had an awkward exchange with Trump
According to the Spectator’s Tim Shipman, Keir Starmer’s trick for connecting with Donald Trump is to talk about their families.
But that’s not always smooth sailing. They had a White House lunch a few weeks after Starmer’s brother died of cancer, which prompted Trump to ask the question: “Your bother, Keir…he died…Was it a good death?”
Starmer, it is said, steered the question back to lowering tariffs on Jaguar Land Rover.
5. Trump is talking to Putin again
Trump, for some reason, announced on Truth Social that he was going to be talking to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin at 10am Washington time – which was 3pm our time.
It’s the sixth publicly disclosed chat between the two men since Trump returned to power – and comes a day after the US President halted shipments of weapons to Ukraine.
The Defence Department has been reviewing US weapons stockpiles and reportedly became concerned that it was sending too much kit elsewhere.
Washington has been Ukraine’s biggest military backer since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, but the Trump administration has been disengaging from the war and there’s no end to the fighting in sight despite recent direct peace talks.
Ukraine has raced to build up its domestic defense industry, producing increasingly sophisticated drones, and amid fraught relations with Trump, President Volodymyr Zelensky has enlisted more European help in weapons manufacturing.
But some high-tech U.S. weapons are irreplaceable. Patriot air defence missiles are needed to fend off Russia’s frequent ballistic missile attacks, but cost $4 million each.
6. Not bad for government work…
The White House has published a list of all the salaries of Donald Trump’s staff.
At the top of the pyramid is someone called Jacalynne Klopp, a senior advisor that most people have never heard of, who does a job which has not been particularly well explained.
She earns an eye-watering $225,700 – with is incredibly high for a government stray.
Edgar Mkrtchian, an associate counsel, pulls down $203,645.
Below them there’s 33 staffers who make $195,200 – including Karoline Leavitt, Chief of staff Susie Wiles, trade advisor Peter Navarro and senior familiar/Renfield impersonator Stephen Miller.
Eight staffers don’t make anything at all, but most of those are due to overlapping duties.
They include Marco Rubio, who is paid by the State Department as Secretary of State, but not by the White House for his role as National Security Advisor.
Trump is paid a standard base salary of $400,000, plus $50,000 for expenses, $100,000 for travel and $19,000 for entertainment.