After strike on Iran, Trump focuses on his megabill

In his first remarks since Iran attack, Trump pushes his 'big, beautiful bill."

Last Updated: June 22, 2025, 5:53 PM GMT

President Donald Trump on Sunday pushed Republicans to get behind his taxation bill that will fund his agenda as the self-imposed Fourth of July deadline approaches.

“Great unity in the Republican Party, perhaps unity like we have never seen before. Now let’s get the Great, Big, Beautiful Bill done,” Trump wrote on social media.

Trump addressed the nation on Saturday night after the U.S. carried out airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facility, which he called "a spectacular military success."

Jun 21, 2025, 3:30 PM GMT

Bannon playing an outsized role in administration's Iran decision: Sources

By the time Trump and MAGA podcaster Steve Bannon sat down for lunch on Thursday, the president had already approved a plan on how the U.S. might attack an Iranian nuclear facility, sources with knowledge of the meeting told ABC News.

Bannon, who had already spoken with Trump by phone ahead of their lunch, thought all of it was a bad idea, according to several people close to him.

Sources say he arrived at the White House for his previously scheduled lunch with Trump armed with specific talking points: Israeli intelligence can’t be trusted, he planned to say, and the bunker-buster bomb might not work as planned.

The precise risk to the U.S. troops in the Middle East, particularly the 2,500 in Iraq, also wasn’t clear if Iran retaliated, he would add.

A White House official insists that by the time Trump sat down with Bannon for lunch the president had already made a decision to hold off on a strike against Iran.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty, Jonathan Karl, Shannon K. Kingston and Luis Martinez

Jun 21, 2025, 1:36 PM GMT

Trump rebuke of Gabbard is 'shocking,' Sen. Reed says

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island told ABC News that President Donald Trump's rebuke of his own intelligence chief is "shocking" and suggested Trump is disavowing his intelligence community for political reasons.

"It's shocking to me that the president would dismiss his intelligence chief, who he picked," Reed, a Democrat who is a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told ABC News.

"This might not be a question of intelligence. This might be a question of political positioning, regardless of the intelligence," Reed said.

Weeks ago, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard testified that the intelligence community continues to assess "Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003."

On Friday, Trump said both Gabbard and his intelligence community are flat out "wrong."

PHOTO: In this Jan. 30, 2025, file photo, Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, in Washington, D.C.
In this Jan. 30, 2025, file photo, Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, in Washington, D.C.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images, FILE

Trump is "in a position now where he's contemplating an attack against Iran, and he has to have the conclusion that they do in fact have a nuclear – or the capacity to develop a nuclear weapon very quickly and the intent to do so – so that I think is prompting him to reject the intelligence community's conclusions," Reed said.

Reed added that if Gabbard made a false statement in her testimony, "there would be an obligation to correct the record immediately, not just in the wake of this activity by the Israelis to suddenly conclude that she was totally wrong."

-ABC News' Selina Wang

Jun 21, 2025, 12:04 AM GMT

Vance accuses California officials of 'endangering law enforcement' during LA visit

Vice President JD Vance delivered remarks on Friday after landing in Los Angeles and touring federal law enforcement operations.

Vance accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass of encouraging violent protesters and accused Newsom of “endangering law enforcement.”

Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks at the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles, June 20, 2025.
Daniel Cole/Reuters

“Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass, by treating this city as a sanctuary city, have basically said that it is open season on federal law enforcement,” the vice president said.

“What happened here was a tragedy. You had people who were doing the simple job of enforcing the law, and they had rioters egged on by the governor and the mayor, making it harder to do their job. That is disgraceful, and it is why the president has responded so forcefully,” said Vance.

“If you let violent rioters burn great American cities to the ground, then of course, we are going to send federal law enforcement in,” Vance said when asked if he was pleased with Thursday’s federal appeals court ruling.

Vice President JD Vance shakes hands with troops at the Wilshire Federal Building on June 20, 2025, in Los Angeles.
Jae C. Hong/AP

When asked by a reporter to comment on Democratic lawmakers getting handcuffed recently, Vance incorrectly referred to Sen. Alex Padilla as "José Padilla."

"I was hoping José Padilla would be here to ask a question. But, unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater, and that’s all it is,” Vance said. “It’s pure political theater. These guys show up. They want to be captured on camera doing something."

Padilla was forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's news conference earlier this month in LA, taken to the ground and handcuffed by law enforcement officers.

Jun 20, 2025, 9:23 PM GMT

Trump to urge NATO leaders to increase defense spending during summit: Official

President Trump plans to travel to the NATO Summit next week with a couple of key goals in mind, a senior administration official told reporters Friday.

At the top of Trump's priorities: securing 5% defense spending from NATO members, urging alliance members to revitalize their industrial capacities for critical minerals and weapons, and bilateral meetings to reaffirm commitment to allies.

On NATO defense spending, the senior administration official said that Trump wants to "secure a historic 5% defense spending pledge from NATO allies, which will strengthen the alliance's combined military capabilities and ensure greater stability in Europe and the world," the official said.

President Donald Trump speaks to the press upon arrival at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, June 20, 2025.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

The senior administration official said that Trump will also "urge allies to revitalize their industrial capacities in order to create Western supply chains capable of producing the critical minerals infrastructure, weapons and other products necessary for the security of America and her allies."

Lastly, the official said that Trump, "intends to hold bilateral meetings with several world leaders, which will focus on issues of shared concern and reaffirm the United States' strong ties with our allies and partners."

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart

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