GOP megabill’s final score: $3.4T in red ink and 10 million kicked off health insurance, CBO says
“Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeeper released its final prediction Monday for how President Donald Trump’s signature legislative achievement will grow the national debt and affect U.S. households.
Over the next decade, the megabill Trump signed on July 4 would increase the federal deficit by $3.4 trillion and cause 10 million people to lose health insurance, the Congressional Budget Office forecasts. While the newly enacted legislation would save more than $1 trillion by cutting federal spending on health care — with the majority coming from Medicaid — CBO predicts that the package’s costs will far outweigh its savings.
The bulk of the red ink from the package comes from the GOP’s permanent extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. The analysis finds that the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy, enacted policies that would decrease the incoming federal cash flow from taxes by a total of $4.5 trillion. That sum includes the cost of tax cuts Republicans added during Senate floor debate of the package.
CBO’s new uninsured figure is below its prior estimate of 11.8 million people. The agency said it will offer details on the differences in the coming weeks, but one likely source of the reduction is removal of a policy in the final version of the megabill that would have led to an estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants losing coverage.”
Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.
Read the latest at POLITICO
In a Key Court Showdown With Harvard, Trump Administration Encounters a Skeptical Judge
By Eric Kelderman July 21, 2025
“Harvard University squared off against the Trump administration Monday in a Boston courthouse, the first big test in its legal battle to restore more than $2 billion in canceled federal research grants and avoid sweeping oversight by the government.
It’s too soon to declare a victor in the skirmish: The judge, Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, said she had not prejudged the outcome, and she issued no decision. But over the course of the two-and-a-half hour hearing, she appeared skeptical of both the government’s actions and motivations. At one point, she said the administration’s assertion that it had the authority to cancel federal contracts raised ‘mind-boggling’ questions.
The government has said it is canceling those grants because of Harvard’s failure to address antisemitism on campus. Harvard has argued that the government’s conditions to restore federal research money violate the First Amendment, that they were carried out without due process, and that they were meant as retaliation for the university’s refusal to agree to an unprecedented level of federal supervision.
The outcome of the case could have a significant impact not only for Harvard but higher education broadly. If the government is successful, it could set the stage for a future in which research grants could be awarded and canceled at the whim of each new president with little or no explanation and little recourse for the institution.
Unlike many legal challenges to the Trump administration, which seek temporary pauses to the government’s actions while court battles proceed, Harvard is seeking a quicker summary judgment — a finding that the government’s case is so weak that it need not proceed to trial.
The university filed its lawsuit in April, one week after rejecting a list of broad demands that it monitor and report to the government on its admissions and hiring, including taking measures to reject international students who appear hostile ‘to American values,’ conducting an audit of ‘viewpoint diversity’ among students and employees, and reviewing programs ‘that most fuel antisemitism harassment or reflect ideological capture.’
The government announced that research dollars would be frozen shortly after Harvard’s president, Alan M. Garber, released a letter declining the terms.
More than a hundred attendees, including more than 20 reporters, packed the courtroom on the fifth floor of the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse, and an overflow room with a video feed, as Harvard’s team of lawyers argued the move to cancel the university’s grant money was retaliation for not agreeing to the government’s demands. Burroughs took a lively tone with the attorneys, quipping that the government’s sole representative might be lonely arguing the case against a half dozen opponents.
Arguing on behalf of Harvard, lawyer Steven P. Lehotsky said the terms would be unacceptable to any private college.
The government concluded that Harvard had violated federal antidiscrimination laws with no real investigation, Lehotsky said. Nor, he added, did the Trump administration provide the university the procedural safeguards required under Title VI, the federal antidiscrimination law. Those protections include the opportunity to remedy any violations through a resolution agreement, an administrative hearing at which the university can appeal the government’s findings, a notice to Congress, and 30 days of notice before any spending is cut.
Lawyers for the American Association of University Professors made similar arguments to Judge Burroughs in support of their own lawsuit filed on behalf of Harvard’s faculty, arguing the Trump administration’s actions amounted to coercion and constituted an attempt to control who and what the university teaches.
The Trump administration has focused unrelentingly on the threat of antisemitism on college campuses, particularly at highly selective institutions that experienced protests over the war in Gaza. Its efforts to penalize those colleges have been widely criticized as an unnecessary federal intrusion on academic freedom and the autonomy of private institutions.
But while the administration’s initial findings focused on Harvard’s alleged violations of Title VI, Michael Velchik, the government’s lawyer, took a new tack in court Monday, framing the issue not as a civil-rights case but as a contract dispute.
The administration merely shifted its granting priorities, Velchik said, and decided not to give the awards to colleges that allow antisemitism. Because the case was solely about Harvard receiving its federal money, he said, the federal district court shouldn’t even be hearing it. Instead, he argued, Harvard should have to file a civil lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims as a breach-of-contract claim.
Burroughs responded that the case was not just about the money, but also about the right of Harvard and its faculty to compete for grants. What’s more, she said, the university could not pursue a claim about a First Amendment violation in the Court of Federal Claims.
Burroughs also said it wasn’t clear to her that the government’s decision to cancel all of Harvard’s federal research funding was really a response to antisemitism, since most of the terminated contracts were completely unrelated to anything that could be considered antisemitic.
Although no ruling was announced today, Lehotsky said the university would like Burroughs to issue a decision before September. Burroughs noted that the parties had all submitted paperwork for her review well beyond the 80-page limit they had agreed on.
Even if she decides by September, the case is likely to be appealed up through the Court of Appeals and eventually be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has so far given the Trump administration wide latitude to carry out its policy aims. In a post Monday afternoon on his Truth Social network, President Trump assailed Judge Burroughs, called Harvard ‘anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-America,’ and said he would appeal if the judge rules against his administration.
Anurima Bhargava, a former civil-rights attorney at the Education Department and a Harvard alumna, said the university’s core arguments are strong. Even if the case proceeds to the U.S. Supreme Court, she said, the government’s argument that the dispute is merely contractual seems shaky.
‘It would be an extraordinary decision to say that the government can just change its priorities whenever it wants and decide to cut off contracts and federal funding without any kind of basis for doing so,’ Bhargava said.
While Harvard awaits a decision from Burroughs, many scholars at the university are already feeling the fallout from the government’s contract cancellations.
Kelsey Tyssowski, a researcher in organizational biology, lost the money that was supposed to pay for her postdoctoral studies and her first three years as a faculty member. Tyssowski studies how neurons degenerate to cause diseases like ALS, she said.
For now, Harvard is covering her salary, she said outside the courthouse during a rally organized by the AAUP in support of its lawsuit. More than 100 people attended; faculty were joined by members of the Harvard alumni group Crimson Courage and other supporters.
But it’s not clear how long Harvard’s financial support will last, Tyssowski said.
‘The faculty job market is going to be extremely competitive, and if I can’t get a faculty job and I can’t stay at Harvard, I’ll have to leave the academic-research career,’ she said. ‘The thing I’m most concerned about is just being pushed out of research altogether.’” [Chronicle of Higher Education]
Ex-Louisville police officer sentenced to 33 months in relation to Breonna Taylor’s killing
“Former officer Brett Hankison faced up to life in prison. His case has been closely watched by civil rights activists who have pressed for police accountability in Taylor’s death, which helped spark mass social justice protests in 2020. In an unusual court filing last week, the Justice Department suggested Hankison shouldn't have faced federal charges and recommended that he be sentenced to a day in jail.”
Read more at Washington Post
Construction workers frame up a roof at a new home in April in Laveen, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Trump’s Labor Department proposes more than 60 rule changes in a push to deregulate workplaces
“The U.S. Department of Labor is aiming to rewrite or repeal more than 60 ‘obsolete’ workplace regulations, ranging from minimum wage requirements for home health care workers and people with disabilities to standards governing exposure to harmful substances. Read more.
Why this matters:
The Labor Department says the goal is to reduce costly, burdensome rules imposed under previous administrations, and to deliver on President Donald Trump’s commitment to restore American prosperity through deregulation.
If approved, the wide-ranging changes unveiled this month also would affect working conditions at construction sites and in mines, and limit the government’s ability to penalize employers if workers are injured or killed while engaging in inherently risky activities. Critics say the proposals would put workers at greater risk of harm, with women and members of minority groups bearing a disproportionate impact.
Under one of the Labor Department’s proposals, an estimated 3.7 million workers employed by home care agencies could be paid below the federal minimum wage — currently $7.25 per hour — and made ineligible for overtime pay if they aren’t covered by corresponding state laws.” [AP News]
A 'flood' of ICE agents is coming to cities run by Democrats, White House says
“White House border czar Tom Homan said Americans living in so-called ‘sanctuary cities’ can expect to see far more immigration agents on the street soon. Congress earlier this month gave the Trump administration more than $170 billion over the next four years to dramatically scale up enforcement, detention and deportation. The federal spending plan, among other things, provides funding for 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to help carry out Trump's plan to deport 1 million people annually. Immigration advocates criticize the massive funding expansion — which came without any fundamental reform to the nation's immigration process.” [USA Today]
“The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to use military bases in New Jersey and Indiana to detain immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. without legal status. There are also plans to increase the number of immigrants detained at Guantanamo Bay. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved these measures, according to a letter dated July 15.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
DHS has been able to use military resources after President Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border on his first day in office, NPR’s Ximena Bustillo tells Up First. Use of the bases has been approved through the end of September, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel are responsible for all care. The request for the additional space comes as the Trump administration has pushed to arrest and detain more people in the U.S. without legal status. DHS has nearly 57,000 people in immigration detention, with only around 41,000 beds.” [NPR]
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio paved the way for the United States to deport certain lawful permanent residents, saying Washington determined some had supported Haitian gang leaders connected to a US-designated ‘terrorist’ organization.” [Reuters]
1 big thing: Trump's forever grudge
Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photos via Getty Images
“President Trump is redirecting his fury over the Jeffrey Epstein files into one of MAGA's oldest obsessions: punishing Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and officials involved in the 2016 Russia investigation, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.
Why it matters: In Trump's view, any documents linking him to Epstein are a ‘hoax’ cooked up by the forces behind the Russia probe. To him, it's all one story — a years-long ‘witch hunt’ that plagued his presidency from Day 1.
Seizing on new criminal referrals by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Trump on Sunday posted an AI-generated video on Truth Social showing Obama being arrested by the FBI.
It's the kind of trollish meme Trump shared often while out of office — but that now carries new weight, as his Justice Department escalates efforts to target his longtime political enemies.
Zoom in: After weeks of stewing over the Epstein scandal, MAGA was jolted by a new memo from Gabbard accusing Obama administration officials of a ‘treasonous conspiracy’ to sabotage Trump's presidency in 2016.
The ‘new evidence’ centers on findings from the Obama-era intelligence community that Russia didn't alter vote tallies by hacking election infrastructure.
Gabbard alleges that senior Obama officials suppressed or manipulated these internal assessments to support a broader narrative that Russia had intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump.
Reality check: No serious investigation ever claimed Russia changed actual vote tallies.
The FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia focused largely on Moscow's influence campaign, including the hacking and leaking of Democratic emails.
Special counsel Robert Mueller and the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee — where now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio was a senior member — both concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump win.
Zoom out: Gabbard's claims of a ‘years-long coup’ against Trump landed exactly as intended — exhilarating a MAGA base that has grown restless over the president's attempts to move on from the Epstein case.
With Gabbard referring the findings to the Justice Department, MAGA is now primed to expect prosecutions of Obama, Clinton, former FBI director James Comey, former CIA director John Brennan and other high-profile officials.
But as with the Epstein files, there's a real risk of overpromising and underdelivering — both in terms of alienating supporters and further politicizing the justice system.” [Axios]
'Corn sweat' will add to punishing heat, humidity in Midwest this week.
“It's high summer in the Midwest, and the corn is ‘sweating.’ It's a healthy process for plants — but can worsen stifling heat for humans by driving up humidity levels. In a process called evapotranspiration, plants release water vapor into the atmosphere. The released water combines with other water molecules and humidifies the air. In the Plains and Midwest regions, where there are millions of acres of corn and soybean crops, it makes a difference, pumping billions of gallons of water into the atmosphere in some states. Extra water can add 5 to 10 degrees to the dew point, a measure of the humidity in the air, on a hot summer day. The ‘corn sweat’ will exacerbate a heat dome set to push extreme temperatures across much of the U.S. this week.” [USA Today]
INTERNATIONAL
Israeli forces push into parts of a central Gaza city that the war had largely spared
“Israeli troops for the first time Monday pushed into areas of a central Gaza city where several aid groups are based, in what appeared to be the latest effort to carve up the Palestinian territory with military corridors. Read more.
What to know:
Deir al-Balah is the only Gaza city that has not seen major ground operations or suffered widespread devastation in 21 months of war, leading to speculation that the Hamas militant group holds large numbers of hostages there. The main group representing hostages’ families said it was ‘shocked and alarmed’ by the incursion and demanded answers from Israeli leaders. Israel says the seizure of territory in Gaza is aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages, but it is a major point of contention in ongoing ceasefire talks.” [AP News]
Election Defeat
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba addresses the media at the vote-counting center in the Liberal Democratic Party’s headquarters in Tokyo on July 20.Franck Robichon/AFP via Getty Images
“Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed on Monday to remain at his post despite his ruling coalition suffering a devastating defeat in upper house elections on Sunday. The center-right leader stressed that he must oversee ongoing tariff talks with the United States and address other pressing issues, such as rising consumer prices. But with the opposition now weighing a potential no-confidence vote against him, Ishiba’s days in office may be numbered.
‘While I painfully feel my serious responsibility over the election results, I believe I must also fulfill my responsibility I bear for the country and the people so as not to cause politics to stall or go adrift,’ Ishiba said on Monday.
Ahead of this weekend’s election, local polling showed that most voters were prioritizing high inflation and immigration concerns. That translated to unprecedented wins for Ishiba’s opponents. The prime minister’s bloc—consisting of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the allied Komeito party—secured only 47 out of the 50 seats needed to ensure its majority in the 248-seat legislature. Instead, the center-left Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan took home second place with 22 seats, and the far-right Sanseito party went from just one seat to 15 spots in total.
This means that Ishiba no longer has easy control over the upper or lower houses of parliament; last October, the LDP lost control of the more powerful lower chamber, marking a major upset for a party that has ruled Japan for most of its post-World War II history.
Ishiba is expected to stick with his coalition partners while also seeking further cooperation with opposition parties to pass his trade plans. This week, Japanese Economic Minister Ryosei Akazawa traveled to Washington for the eighth round of tariff talks, where negotiations are expected to focus on striking a deal to stop the White House’s planned 25 percent tariff on Tokyo before U.S. President Donald Trump’s Aug. 1 deadline comes to pass.
‘We are currently engaged in truly down-to-the-wire tariff negotiations with the U.S.,’ Ishiba said on Sunday. ‘I myself have met face-to-face with President Trump twice and spoken with him numerous times on the phone. This is something we mustn’t let go to waste.’
But having now lost control of both the upper and lower houses, Ishiba may struggle to persuade lawmakers to back any trade agreement that he makes with Washington, especially if a deal involves concessions on sensitive industries, such as agriculture, where food prices (such as those on rice) are already at historic highs.
To counteract opposition pushback, experts suspect that Ishiba may be forced to appease far-right demands, such as cutting taxes, slashing welfare spending, and tightening immigration policies. Japan is the most indebted nation in terms of its debt-to-GDP ratio as well as the fourth-largest economy in the world, meaning that any unease from investors in response to these measures could have rippling consequences for the global market.” [Foreign Policy]
“Attacks on aid hub. Israeli forces launched airstrikes and a ground operation in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah on Monday. Deir al-Balah is the main hub for humanitarian efforts in Gaza and one of the last remaining areas in the territory that has not suffered significant war damage since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023. The Israeli military claims that Hamas is holding hostages in Deir al-Balah; 50 people remain in the group’s captivity, of whom only around 20 are believed to still be alive.
Attacks on Deir al-Balah follow a weekend of deadly Israeli attacks on Palestinians seeking food, with at least 32 people killed on Saturday and around 85 others killed on Sunday. According to the United Nations’ World Food Program, the majority of those killed on Sunday—one of the deadliest single days for Palestinians seeking aid in 21 months—were gathered near a U.N. aid convoy delivering flour. The Israeli military said that Sunday’s incident began when its troops fired ‘warning shots’ to ‘remove an immediate threat posed to them.’
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed while trying to access food in Gaza in recent months. Rights groups and international bodies have accused Israel of weaponizing humanitarian aid by creating a food distribution system that requires people to travel long distances to access a limited supply of aid, even as the territory nears mass starvation.” [Foreign Policy]
“Training flight tragedy. At least 20 people were killed and more than 170 injured on Monday after a Bangladeshi Air Force training plane crashed into a school facility in the capital city of Dhaka. According to local authorities, the F-7 BGI jet experienced a mechanical failure shortly after taking off from a military base in Kurmitola. Interim Bangladeshi leader Muhammad Yunus said the government is investigating the incident, and he announced a national day of mourning for Tuesday.
The pilot ‘made a valiant attempt to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas,’ military spokesperson Lt. Col. Sami Ud Dowla Chowdhury said. ‘Despite his best efforts, the aircraft … crashed into a two-storey building belonging to Milestone School and College.’ The pilot was among those killed.
This is the second large-scale aircraft disaster in South Asia in recent weeks. Last month, an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in the Indian city of Ahmedabad, killing at least 270 people in the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.” [Foreign Policy]
“Possible talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Monday that peace talks with Russia are being planned for this week in Turkey. This was the first time that Ukraine has suggested rekindling dialogue since Trump agreed to facilitate the transfer of U.S.-made weapons to Ukraine via their European allies. That, along with the White House’s recent sanctions threat against Moscow, could put Kyiv in a better negotiating position.
Moscow, however, has said it is waiting for an exact date before it commits to negotiations. ‘There is our draft memorandum,’ Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. ‘There is a draft memorandum that has been handed over by the Ukrainian side. There is to be an exchange of views and talks on these two drafts, which are diametrically opposed so far.’
Russia and Ukraine have held two rounds of peace talks in Istanbul this year, both of which resulted in the release of thousands of prisoners. But past negotiations have stopped short of clinching a cease-fire deal, as Russia refuses to part with occupied Ukrainian territory and rejects any proposal that allows Kyiv to join NATO in the future.
Overnight into Monday, Russia launched some 450 missiles and drones into Ukrainian territory. Of those, 23 projectiles as well as falling debris struck targets across three locations, including a kindergarten, residential buildings, and other civilian infrastructure, Zelensky said. The assault killed at least two people and injured around 16 others.” [Foreign Policy]
“Cuba may be having its own Marie Antoinette moment. Last Tuesday, Cuban Labor Minister Marta Elena Feitó resigned for claiming that ‘in Cuba, there are no beggars,’ adding, ‘We have seen people who appear to be beggars, but when you look at their hands, when you look at the clothes those people wear, they are disguised as beggars.’ Cuban citizens were quick to compare Feitó’s comments with memes displaying the words ‘Let them eat cake’—a mantra falsely associated with ousted Queen Marie Antoinette during the 1790s French Revolution. Within 24 hours of Feitó’s remarks, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel accused her of lacking compassion and announced a 50 percent increase in state pensions starting in September.” [Foreign Policy]
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
SoftBank and OpenAI’s $500 Billion AI Project Struggles to Get Off Ground
“The effort unveiled at the White House to supercharge the U.S.’s artificial-intelligence ambitions has struggled to get off the ground and has sharply scaled back its near-term plans.”
Read More at Wall Street Journal
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Sirloin surge
“Your burger is approaching filet mignon prices. A pound of beef now costs over $9 on average, according to the Department of Agriculture, and it could be some time before those prices come down.” [CNN]
McKinsey is changing the way it picks its leaders for the first time in years.
“It’s an attempt to circumvent the internal tensions and infighting that marked its past two elections of global managing partners. The elite consulting firm plans to lengthen leadership terms and include a confirmation vote four years through a six-year term. McKinsey’s voting process lets partners express support or displeasure with the firm’s overall direction, but it can be distracting as candidates jockey for support internally.” [Wall Street Journal]
“AstraZeneca plans to spend $50 billion to expand manufacturing and research capabilities in the US by 2030, the latest big investment by a pharmaceutical company reacting to Trump's tariff policy.” [Reuters]
“A sweeping cyber espionage operation targeting Microsoft server software compromised about 100 organizations as of the weekend, two of the organizations that helped uncover the campaign said.” [Reuters]
Trump administration looks beyond Musk's SpaceX for Golden Dome partners
Trump makes an announcement regarding the Golden Dome with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office, May 20, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
“The Trump administration is expanding its search for partners to build the Golden Dome missile defense system, courting Amazon.com's Project Kuiper and big defense contractors as tensions with Elon Musk threaten SpaceX's dominance in the program, according to three sources familiar with the matter.”
Read the exclusive at Reuters
Trump team lifts little-noticed stat
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outside the West Wing last week. Photo: Aaron Schwartz/CNP via Getty Images
“Trump administration economists are spotlighting a little-noticed piece of federal data they argue shows a business investment surge is in the works — one that could have lasting consequences for U.S. growth, Axios' Neil Irwin writes.
Production of business equipment surged in the first half of the year, according to Fed data.
Why it matters: Industrial production of business equipment is an early indicator of capital spending — investments in property, equipment and technology — that ultimately fuels higher productivity and higher incomes.
These are the goods companies buy to increase their productive capacity — a bet on future growth. It includes everything from tractor-trailers to computer servers to industrial machinery.
Axios has learned that Treasury officials will soon begin highlighting this data as a key economic achievement of the administration.
Between the lines: Trump administration officials view increasing business capital investment as the linchpin of their economic agenda, including ultimately driving gains in blue-collar wages.” [Axios]
TECH
AI's anything-goes moment
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
“The AI industry is getting nothing but green lights in all directions. Now it needs to deliver on its promises, Axios' Scott Rosenberg writes.
Why it matters: AI's formative era is right now — and the technology is developing with almost total freedom.
Zoom in: AI makers are getting everything they have ever asked for or could possibly want:
1. No limits: More money, energy and resources are flowing into the technology's development than any other industry has ever received in such a concentrated time span.
Four companies — Alphabet/Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon — expect to spend more than $300 billion this year on AI, while private investors and governments pour hundreds of billions more into AI infrastructure.
2. No rules: In the second Trump era, the U.S. has dropped any pretense of trying to erect regulatory guardrails around AI.
The White House AI Action Plan, expected tomorrow, will promote speedy deployment to counter China. The ‘doomer’ camp's fear that runaway superintelligence might destroy humanity is no longer even a part of the policy conversation.
3. No arguments: CEOs and businesses are pushing AI use on sometimes resistant workforces and a skeptical public, telling hesitaters to get on the AI train or get left behind.
The phenomenal popularity of ChatGPT and its competitors suggests there's huge demand for these tools. But surveys also show the U.S. public favors a more careful approach to its adoption.
4. No doubts: Business leaders and policy makers have successfully sidelined critical questions about harms from AI bias and misuse, privacy violations and appropriation of intellectual property.” [Axios]
HIGHER EDUCATION
Supporters of Harvard gathered outside the federal courthouse in Boston on Monday.
PHOTO: BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS
Harvard’s battle with the Trump administration escalated as the university told a federal judge that the government had no basis to cut its research funding.
“A lawyer for the Ivy League school said that the move violated its constitutional rights. The government, meanwhile, insisted that it has the power to cancel contracts with universities ( read for free) that no longer align with its priorities, in this case because of its determination that Harvard has tolerated antisemitism on campus. The university wants $2.2 billion in funds restored. President Trump also has threatened Harvard’s tax-exempt status, sought to remove its ability to enroll international students and probed its acceptance of foreign donations.” [Wall Street Journal]
HISTORY
Trump administration releases MLK files
Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photos: Charly Triballeau/AFP, Hulton Archive/Getty Images
“Despite protests from Martin Luther King Jr.'s family and the civil rights group he once led, the Trump administration has publicly released records of the FBI's surveillance of the slain civil rights icon, Axios' Russell Contreras writes.
Why it matters: The move pits President Trump's determination to release documents the government has kept secret for more than half a century against the family's lingering pain over how J. Edgar Hoover's FBI spied on King and tried to intimidate and humiliate him.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released over 230,000 pages of documents related to the 1968 assassination of MLK.
In January, Trump ordered the release of all records the U.S. government still holds about King's assassination in 1968, as well as the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy (1963) and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (1968).” [Axios]
Keep reading ... The backstory.
SCIENCE
“Nearly 300 current and former NASA employees rebuked the Trump administration's ‘dismantling cuts and devastating attacks’ in an open letter.” Go deeper. [Axios]
Some NASA employees fear changes rippling through the agency will undermine safety during human space missions.
“Nearly 300 people, including former employees, signed a letter to the agency’s acting leader, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, saying a lack of free-flowing discussions could erode safe crew operations. They didn’t cite specific instances, but referenced the 2003 Columbia disaster that killed seven crew members as they returned to Earth. Potential budget cuts and staff reductions worry many NASA workers. The agency said that it’ll never compromise on safety and that job cuts will be designed to protect employees in safety-critical roles.” [Wall Street Journal]
MEDIA
White House removes Wall Street Journal from Scotland press pool over Epstein bombshell
“The White House is removing the Wall Street Journal from the pool of reporters covering the president’s weekend trip to Scotland, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told POLITICO.
The move follows the Journal’s report alleging that President Donald Trump sent a sexually suggestive message to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. Trump has denied the existence of the letter and POLITICO has not verified it.
‘As the appeals court confirmed, the Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet are not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and in his private workspaces,’ Leavitt said in a statement. ‘Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board. Every news organization in the entire world wishes to cover President Trump, and the White House has taken significant steps to include as many voices as possible.’
A Journal spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”
Read the latest at POLITICO
SPORTS
Native Americans reject Trump's call to revert Commanders' name
“Native American groups fought for years to get Washington's National Football League team to change its name. Now, President Donald Trump wants to change it back to a moniker many Native Americans consider offensive and disrespectful.
The background: Trump threatened over the weekend to block a deal to build a stadium in Washington, D.C., if the Washington Commanders team refuses to revert to the name it had from 1937 when the team moved from Boston until 2020.
•Trump said Native Americans would welcome the change. Native Americans told USA TODAY otherwise.
•A bit of political football: Trump’s ability to unilaterally scrap the team's deal for a new stadium appears doubtful after Congress passed a law in December that transferred ownership of the stadium site from the National Park Service to the District of Columbia. However, Trump has shown a willingness in other political battles to threaten federal funding to get his way.
•What are D.C. residents saying? Stay out of the city's business and do your job. One resident's advice for local leaders involved in the stadium deal? ‘Ignore him.’” [USA Today]
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Colbert v. Trump: Who gets the last laugh?
“Stephen Colbert has some choice words Monday for President Trump. In his first show back on air since announcing that "The Late Show" will be canceled in May 2026, Colbert had a brief comeback ready for the president. His words came after Trump expressed in a July 18 Truth Social post that ‘I absolutely love that Colbert got fired.’
•’How dare you, sir? Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go (expletive) yourself,’ Colbert said in his "Late Show" monologue. The three-word message was captured via an ‘eloquence cam’ that was zoomed into the host's face.
•John Oliver, Andy Cohen, Jamie Lee Curtis and more are also weighing in on Colbert's exit.
•Amid more amid late-night upheaval, "The Daily Show" just got a new host.” [USA Today]
Stephen Colbert is seen filming "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on July 21, 2025.
Scott Kowalchyk/CBS
TRANSITIONS
Paras Griffin/Getty Images
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Theo Huxtable on ‘The Cosby Show,’ Dies at 54
“The actor, who rose to fame as a teenager playing the son of Bill Cosby’s character on the beloved 1980s sitcom, drowned in Costa Rica.”
Read more at New York Times