President Donald Trump says Iran requested a meeting that would happen Tuesday in Qatar, but Tehran says nothing’s scheduled. հܳ’s social media post Monday comes as he tries to preserve an increasingly fragile interim deal as hostilities mount in the Strait of Hormuz.
And with the White House souring on , Trump shocked many by pushing an alternative: Let Syria fight the Iran-backed militant group instead — something in doing.
Meanwhile focused on հܳ’s expansive claims of presidential power with big decisions beginning Monday.
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Nancy Pelosi democracy institute is established at UC Berkeley
and the University of California, Berkeley, are partnering to form a new nonpartisan academic institute they say will be dedicated to strengthening democracy.
Pelosi says she wants to “strengthen our democratic institutions and forge a future that serves the public good.” The Democrat is leaving Congress after representing San Francisco for nearly 40 years and is planning a busy retirement. She’ll co-teach a course on Congress at the Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy, which will launch in January and has already received more than $35 million in philanthropic commitments.
The university says the institute aims to strengthen America’s democratic institutions; overcome challenges to society, the economy and the planet; promote human and civil rights; and ensure political leadership that represents the full spectrum of perspectives and backgrounds.
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Kara Swisher brings her Silicon Valley influence into politics
Kara Swisher is expanding her influence from tech journalism to politics. She’s known for her fearless interviews with tech leaders including Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Now her podcasts including “On with Kara Swisher” and “Pivot” are gaining traction as political platforms, reflecting the growing importance of digital media.
Swisher is hardly the only podcaster talking politics. Conservatives like and and some liberals like the former aides who host “Pod Save America” have larger audiences. They’re all dwarfed by . But Swisher has few rivals who can match her technology expertise and connect those observations to the broader political debate.
Swisher told The Associated Press from her Washington home that she gets called by all the presidential candidates and she’s “going to get to all of them.”
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American identity matters more to Republicans: AP-NORC poll
The also finds that Republicans are much likelier than Democrats or independents to say being an American is “extremely” or “very” important to their personal identity.
At the same time, young adults are less likely than older people to say this is important to their identity. Matt Stafford, a 39-year-old centrist in Massachusetts who participated in the poll, said he is proud to be American, even if U.S. politics frustrate him. He has a bald eagle tattooed on his back to represent the U.S. and “all the things we’re supposed to stand for.”
Despite that pride, he’s frustrated: “I love America, but our biggest problem is how we’re pushing both sides — like the left and the right — to the extremes.”
Trump says Iran wants a meeting. Tehran says nothing's scheduled
Trump said Monday on social media that Iran had requested a meeting with U.S. counterparts, to be held Tuesday in Doha, Qatar. Iranian officials said no such meeting was scheduled.
The U.S. president has tried to preserve an increasingly fragile interim deal as hostilities have mounted in the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, which could cause oil prices to rise and undermine հܳ’s claims to voters that inflation in America was easing.
Trump celebrates U.S. oil futures trading at roughly $69 a barrel
Trump on Monday celebrated that U.S. oil futures were trading at roughly $69 a barrel, a decrease that he credited to the interim deal with Iran.
Even though the president has previously said oil prices and domestic political concerns were not influencing his approach to Iran, Trump has repeatedly focused on lower oil prices with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as a key victory.
The president falsely claimed that oil prices at $69 a barrel are lower than they were before the war. “This is less than it was prior to the start of the Denuclearization of Iran!” Trump said on social media.
Oil futures in the U.S. were trading at a range of roughly $65 to $66 before the war began in late February.
Americans’ pride in the country declines: AP-NORC poll
Americans have grown less proud of the country’s history and the way its democracy works over the last decade, according to a .
The poll found Americans’ pride in the U.S. on several key attributes has dropped since 2017, including the nation’s military and its political influence around the globe.
The findings point to a broad decline in patriotic sentiment over a period that included most of President Donald հܳ’s first term, the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation and հܳ’s return to the White House.
Much of the falling positivity comes from Democrats, who have become increasingly disenchanted with the country since հܳ’s first term.
Iran’s president says $6B in frozen assets in Qatar to be released
Iran’s president said Monday that $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets would be released by Qatar, as negotiations with the United States were challenged by .
’s mention of the funds appears aimed at selling the Iranian public on the interim deal, particularly as its grip on the Strait of Hormuz has been tested by efforts to open Oman’s territorial waters to both inbound and outbound traffic from the Persian Gulf. Iran’s attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving through the strait, in which about a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed in peacetime, creating a global energy crisis.
The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite its location in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters. In recent days, Iran has twice attacked vessels going through a route near the Omani side, drawing retaliatory American airstrikes and concerns that negotiations to reach a formal end to the war could be disrupted. Iran launched drone and missile attacks targeting and on Sunday.
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Trump says his renovation plans for a golf course will enable a ‘major’ tournament
Trump on Sunday surveyed several of his construction projects around the nation’s capital, suggesting afterward that his redevelopment of the East Potomac Golf Links would enable it to host a premier tournament.
“When completed, this Course will have the ability to host Major Golf Tournaments, including The U.S. Open, The Ryder Cup, The PGA Championship, and other top PGA Tour events,” Trump posted on social media.
Trump toured the course with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, various aides and the golf course architect Tom Fazio and his son, Gavin Fazio. The president’s redevelopment of the course is subject to a lawsuit in U.S. District Court.
It’s unclear when the course could host any major tournaments, as locations are chosen several years ahead of the events. Locations for the U.S. Open are scheduled through 2051, though there are available spots in 2043, 2046 and 2048. The PGA Championship is set through 2035.
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The Supreme Court wrapping its term with momentous cases about հܳ’s power
is wrapping up a term focused on expansive claims of presidential power.
հܳ’s efforts to restrict , fire the heads of most at will and are among the remaining eight cases the justices are expected to decide this week, beginning Monday.
The court also is weighing, in cases from West Virginia and Idaho, whether to in roughly half the states that prohibit transgender girls and women from playing on their public school and college sports.
Two election-related cases remain, over state laws that allow a grace period for the receipt of mailed ballots, provided they are sent by Election Day, and limits on political party spending in support of candidates for Congress and president.
Also outstanding is a dispute over that collect the location history of cellphone users to find people near crime scenes. Critics say the practice is a fishing expedition that violates civil liberties.
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Trump presses Syria to take on Hezbollah, raising alarm in Lebanon and Israel
As the White House has soured on in Lebanon, U.S. President has shocked many in the region by pushing an alternative: Let Syria fight the Iran-backed militant group instead.
He has suggested that the battle-hardened and Islamist-led insurgents who a year and a half ago and formed a new government would do a better job of rooting out Hezbollah than the Israeli army.
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has said he has no interest in doing so, and has asserted that հܳ’s comments were misconstrued. But Trump has doubled down on the idea.
Although it remains unclear how serious the White House is about the proposal, the prospect of a Syrian invasion has raised alarms in Lebanon — and also in Israel, which regards al-Sharaa’s Islamist-led government with suspicion and since he took power.
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