Trump confirms he will ask Congress for $200bn to fund war on Iran, calling it ‘a small price to pay’ – US politics live

Here's a recap of the day so far
As he welcomed Japan’s prime minister to the White House, Donald Trump confirmed that the Pentagon is going to ask Congress for an additional $200bn to fund the war on Iran.

Despite routinely claiming the war is “almost over” Trump kept things (typically) vague – noting the US needed more funding for a “lot of reasons”.

He also denied that the military was running out of weaponry, and said he’s been “judicious” about spending.

However, recent tallies visualized by the Guardian paint a different picture, indicating that the first six days of war cost the US $12.7bn.

Trump also confirmed that he spoke to Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel’s attack on Iran’s South Pars field, and told the Israeli prime minister not to carry out further attacks on Iran’s oil and gas facilities.

Yesterday, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Washington “knew nothing about this particular attack”, while Israel, has claimed that the attack was coordinated with the US.

Today, Trump tried to mitigate the soaring price of oil, as Brent Crude reach $105 at the time of writing this recap.

“It’s not bad, and it’s going to be over with pretty soon,” the president said in the Oval Office.

Darren Indyke, Jeffrey Epstein ’s longtime lawyer, told US House lawmakers on Thursday that he “had no knowledge whatsoever of Jeffrey Epstein’s wrongdoings” during his employment.

During his closed-door deposition with members of the House oversight committee, Indyke maintained that he did not socialize with Epstein.

“I reject as categorically false any suggestion that I knowingly facilitated or assisted Mr Epstein in his sexual abuse or trafficking of women,” he said in his prepared opening remarks provided to the Guardian.

In a hearing before the House intelligence committee today, Tulsi Gabbard did not say whether she agreed with claims made by her former top counter-terrorism official, Joe Kent, that Iran posed no imminent threat, and the US was ultimately pressured to start a war by Israel.

However, when Gabbard was asked whether Kent’s statements blaming Israel for America’s involvement in the war concerned her, she replied plainly: “Yes.”
At that same hearing, FBI director Kash Patel fielded questions about the firings of several agents as part of the Trump administration’s alleged campaign of political retribution.

Last month, at least 10 FBI employees – connected to an investigation of Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office – were reportedly dismissed .

Today, Patel maintained that the agents were fired for “for violating their ethical obligations”, without elaborating further.

Democratic lawmakers on the House intelligence committe probed Patel about whether the terminations were politically motivated.