White House says if Saudi Arabia does not join Abraham accords, nuclear deal ‘is off’ – US politics live | US news
Leavitt underscores that Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is ‘contingent’ on joining Abraham accords
The press secretary said today that the Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is “contingent” on the kingdom on joining the Abraham Accords – a recent demand that Donald Trump announced earlier today.
When pressed why the administration didn’t announce that condition when the deal was announced on Wednesday, Leavitt said that it is “something that he has mentioned on numerous occasions going back”.
She reiterated that if Saudi Arabia doesn’t join the accords “the deal is off”.
Key events
Richard Luscombe
Democrats have accused the US House of Representatives judiciary committee of a “baseless” and “vindictive” attack on former special prosecutor Jack Smith after it referred him for criminal prosecution for allegedly lying to Congress over his investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The committee chair, Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, wrote to the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, on Wednesday night, asserting Smith “made willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact” during testimony about obtaining phone records of a number of Republican lawmakers.
Smith, Jordan claimed in the letter, falsely told the panel that his team had no access to privileged text messages when he testified in December that they had only “toll records” containing numbers, not content.
US justice department documents presented to the panel on 14 July, Jordan said, showed that Smith’s investigators actually had access to the text messages of 44 members of Congress.
“Based on this new information, there is cause for investigation to determine whether Mr Smith knowingly made false statements to obstruct the Committee’s oversight,” Jordan wrote.
Smith’s lawyers Lanny Breuer and Peter Koski, in their own letter to Blanche, said their client “provided truthful, responsive answers” during closed-doors questioning by the panel in December, and again during an open session in January.
“This referral reflects a chilling eagerness to weaponize the justice system by attacking a career, nonpartisan public servant who faithfully and fearlessly performed his duties by following the facts and the law,” they wrote.
Earlier, I reported that the Senate health, education, labor and pensions (Help) committee were planning to vote on the nominations of Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Keith Sonderling to lead the labor department.
However, those votes have now been postponed due to concerns about attendance. They’ve been rescheduled for next week.
Man who killed Minnesota state lawmaker and husband receives two life sentences
Vance Boelter, the man who pleaded guilty to murdering Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota lawmaker, and her husband was sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus 40 years in prison today.
Boelter, 59, pleaded guilty to shooting Hortman, the former Minnesota House speaker, and her husband, Mark, at in June 2025.
During the federal court proceedings last month, Boelter – a registered Republican –said that he spent months identifying and stalking his targets, before driving to their homes in the middle of the night, disguised as a police officer, with the intention of killing them. By pleading guilty and agreeing to the maximum sentence, Boelter avoided the death penalty.
He also pleaded guilty to shooting Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
Earlier today, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted that Trump’s “patience is running out” with Senate majority leader John Thune. Asked about where the president stands at Thursday’s briefing, Leacitt added that the president wants to see “as much of the Save America [act] passed as possible by the August recess”.
This comes after much of the House passed defense spending legislation this week, which includes funding for parts of the sweeping voter-ID bill. The lower chamber also passed a budget resolution that paves the way for the creation of a reconciliation bill, which would also to attempt to pass the Save America Act into law. However, as my colleague Chris Stein notes, this will probably be stripped out by the Senate if it were to advance in the upper chamber.
Thune, however, fired back at the press secretary’s comments today, and told reporters: “She [Leavitt] or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes, right?”
Senate votes down war powers resolution on Iran
The Senate has voted down a war powers resolution on the war against Iran, with 49 senators voting against it and 47 voting in favor.
The resolution, which needed a simple majority to pass, aimed to direct the removal of US Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.
Democrat John Fetterman joined Republicans to vote against the resolution, while GOP senator Susan Collins joined Democrats to vote in favor of it.
Republicans Katie Britt, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul missed the vote.
Trump won’t block Tate brothers’ extradition, says White House
Donald Trump will not stop the extradition of influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan to the UK on sex crime charges, the White House said on Thursday.
Self-professed misogynist Tate and his younger sibling were detained by US authorities in Miami on Saturday in a move their lawyer called “politically motivated”.
The Tates are challenging their extradition.
“No,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told a news briefing when asked if Trump or the administration planned to intervene in the Tates’ extradition process.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio has also distanced the administration from the case.
“There’s no role for us to play at this moment or maybe ever in that regard,” he told reporters in the Philippines on Wednesday.
The Tate brothers are avid supporters of Trump and were part of the hyper-masculine “manosphere” that contributed to the Republican’s 2024 US presidential election victory.
Andrew Tate also tried to cultivate relationships in the past with Trump’s sons Don Jr and Barron, US media reported.
The Tates were arrested after British prosecutors announced new charges of rape, sex trafficking and assault. They now face 59 charges in total – 42 against Andrew and 17 against Tristan.
Their lawyer said on Monday that they were innocent and would fight extradition.
“It’s politically motivated. There’s no question about it,” lawyer Joseph McBride told reporters outside a Miami court after a hearing on the case.
In Romania, where they have been based in recent years, the Tates face allegations of trafficking minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering.
In March 2025, the US state of Florida launched a criminal investigation against the brothers. The status of that investigation is unclear.
Trump considering ‘massive attack’ on Iran – report
Vivian Ho
The president also gave an interview to Axios on Thursday in which he said he was “considering a massive attack” on Iran.
“I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,” Donald Trump said.
Trump added that Israel “would join in two minutes if I ask them to,” but added that “we don’t need anybody” to launch a new operation against Iran.
“They haven’t received enough pain yet,” he said of Iran.
As we’ve been reporting, Donald Trump has said that the US-Saudi nuclear deal is subject to the kingdom joining the Abraham Accords, which normalises ties with Israel.
Leavitt was asked at the briefing whether Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had requested this provision.
She replied: “Not to my knowledge, no. Again, as I told you, this was an idea the president has long had. It was the president and his team in the first term that began and signed the Abraham Accords with several countries in the region between those countries and Israel, and the president obviously wants to expand on that historic accomplishment from his first term.”
Leavitt says that tariff announcement is coming ‘later today’
On Friday, the 10% global tariff the president implemented under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act will expire. In order to keep these in place beyond the 150-day statutory limit Donald Trump would need Congress to approve an extension.
When asked about the president’s thinking, Leavitt said that Jamieson Greer – the US trade representative – will be announcing next steps “later today”.
“I don’t want to get ahead of him, so I would just tell you to stay tuned for more details,” the press secretary added.
When pressed about the Saudi government’s stance that any relationship with Israel would require recognition of Palestinian statehood, Leavitt said that she “didn’t want to get ahead of the president’s conversations”.
She added that the kingdom’s participation in the Abraham Accords “is something that [Trump] feels very strongly about and has spoken about it in the past and will continue to uphold”.
Leavitt added that Trump has not had a call with Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, since he issued his statement on Truth Social that the newly inked nuclear deal is “totally subject” to the kingdom joining the Abraham Accords.
“This is something that [Trump] has raised in previous conversations and has also said many times in the past,” the press secretary said.
Leavitt underscores that Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is ‘contingent’ on joining Abraham accords
The press secretary said today that the Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is “contingent” on the kingdom on joining the Abraham Accords – a recent demand that Donald Trump announced earlier today.
When pressed why the administration didn’t announce that condition when the deal was announced on Wednesday, Leavitt said that it is “something that he has mentioned on numerous occasions going back”.
She reiterated that if Saudi Arabia doesn’t join the accords “the deal is off”.
In response to the House passing a continuing resolution to keep the government funded until 4 December, Leavitt noted that the White House will continue to have discussions with Senate leadership on “the best path forward” to ensure the legislation is passed in the upper chamber.
“I don’t want to get ahead of those conversations, but the most important thing for the American people to know is that this president and this White House wants the government to remain open,” Leavitt said, while continuing to blame Democrats for the government shutdowns over the past 10 months.
Karoline Leavitt has started her press briefing at the White House. We’ll bring you the latest lines.
$1.15tn defense policy bill will face pushback in Senate
After the House passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), it now heads to the Senate, where it will need to overcome the 60-vote threshold in order to pass.
Last week, Senate Democrats blocked a version of the bill from coming up for a vote in response to the ongoing war in Iran.
Since the House version of the NDAA includes Donald Trump’s prized voter ID legislation – it will face an uphill battle to convince any Senate Democrats to advance the legislation as it stands. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, has called the Save America act – which also enforces a ban on mail-in ballots and requires proof of citizenship in order to register to vote – “dead on arrival” in the upper chamber.
As I noted earlier, the Senate will also hold its own war powers resolution vote today. This will be a similar, but separate measure.
While these resolutions aren’t seen as enforceable, they’re symbolic rebukes from Congress to show the lack of support for the war in Iran.
