Trump touts US investments amid pushback over Intel deal
12:30 Report is The Hill’s midday newsletter. Click here to sign up.
It’s Tuesday. Who else is thrilled that the U.S. Open is in full swing?! The Atlantic published an article, making the case that “if you must play one sport, make it tennis.”
Programming note: The Hill’s Elizabeth Crisp will be writing The Hill’s 12:30 Report tomorrow. She’s great — you’re in good hands!
In today’s issue:
- Trump meets with Cabinet
- Whistleblower: DOGE mishandled data
- US-Intel shared revenue deal irks GOP
🎤 IN THE WHITE HOUSE
Trump touts US investments, growth:
President Trump has assembled his Cabinet for a meeting at the White House. It’s underway as we speak.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are flanking Trump at the table. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are also in the room.
There’s a lot to discuss: Trump is trying to fire a Federal Reserve governor. His federal takeover of Washington, D.C., has gotten a lot of attention. And the president is facing MAGA pushback over his deal to have the U.S. government take a stake in chipmaker Intel (more on that below).
💻 Watch the Cabinet meeting live
Here are the newsiest parts so far:
Trump said “trillions of dollars” are pouring into the U.S. He touted various investments in the U.S. after levying tariffs on dozens of nations, including double-digit tariffs on various top trading partners.
Trump showed an image from Mark Zuckerberg: Trump held up an image of a data center. He said the rendering was given to him by the Meta CEO. “This is what he’s building in Louisiana,” Trump said. “These are big things. And they’re going up, a lot of them, are going up now. … I’ll tell you what, our country — we’re leading China now on [artificial intelligence].
Trump says domestic auto production is up: Trump says U.S. auto production is up “18,000 cars a month” — and that “big plants” will open up. “We were losing. All the car plants were leaving this country. Now they’re all coming back in,” Trump said, arguing his Cabinet should get the credit
On domestic oil production: “Domestic oil production is up by more than 300,000 barrels a day. That’s a lot of barrels,” Trump said, telling reporters that oil barrels are down to roughly $62 a barrel.
Trump also continued to go after blue-state leaders, who he has been sparring with for days over crime in their states.
Fed governor says she’s not stepping down:
Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook says she has no plans to step down from her position, defying President Trump’s push to fire her.
Cook said in a statement Monday evening, hours after Trump announced her firing, that the president acted “when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so.”
“I will not resign,” Cook added in the statement obtained by The Hill’s sister network NewsNation.
Trump announced the extraordinary step of firing the Fed board member in a post on Truth Social, accusing Cook of committing mortgage fraud.
Why?: A Trump ally, who is the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, alleged that Cook committed mortgage fraud by listing two primary residences.
Is Trump able to do this?: That’s unclear. The president can fire members of the Federal Reserve board for cause, but it’s not clear whether these allegations reach that bar. Trump posted on Monday that he has “sufficient cause,” which Cook denies.
Keep in mind: If Trump is successful in ousting her, it would give him an opening to appoint a new member who aligns with his economic vision.
Democrats are furious: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called it the “latest in Donald Trump’s DC partisan games to rig the economy for his billionaire donors at the expense of hardworking Americans.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), the top Democrat on the Senate committee that oversees the Federal Reserve, called the move “illegal.” Read more reactions from top Democrats
➤ RELATED READS:
The Hill: Who is Lisa Cook, Federal Reserve governor targeted by Trump?
The New York Times: Lisa Cook broke ground at the Fed, before attack by Trump
➤ TIDBIT OUTSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE:
A man was arrested for setting an American flag on fire outside the White House, just hours after Trump signed an executive order to crack down on burning the flag. 📹 Watch the man’s arrest
📰 NEWS THIS MORNING
DOGE hit with whistleblower complaint:
A whistleblower has filed a complaint about the inner workings of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), The New York Times’s Nicholas Nehamas reports.
What the whistleblower is alleging: The complaint alleges that DOGE employees uploaded a database of all Social Security numbers to a vulnerable cloud server. If it’s hacked, millions of Americans’ Social Security numbers could be hacked.
Who filed it?: Charles Borges, the Social Security Administration’s chief data officer.
Excerpt: “In his complaint, Mr. Borges said DOGE members copied the data to an internal agency server that only DOGE could access, forgoing the type of ‘independent security monitoring’ normally required under agency policy for such sensitive data and creating ‘enormous vulnerabilities.’”
🔎 Read the whistleblower report
DOJ lawsuit against Md. judges tossed out:
“A federal judge on Tuesday threw out the Justice Department’s lawsuit against all 15 federal district judges in Maryland over an order slowing down its speedy deportation efforts,” reports The Hill’s Ella Lee, “calling the administration’s attacks on the judiciary ‘unprecedented and unfortunate.’”
Read Lee’s explainer on the case
Peter Navarro dishes it out in an op-ed:
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro published an op-ed in The Hill today accusing Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton of “profiteering off of America’s secrets.” This comes after federal agents searched the home and office of Bolton, who has become a vocal critic of Trump’s foreign policy in recent years.
Excerpt: “When Bolton wrote his book, ‘The Room Where It Happened’ — reportedly receiving a $2 million advance — he wasn’t just dishing gossip. He was sharing information about Oval Office conversations and national security that should have stayed secret — either by law or under executive privilege.”
Navarro echoes Trump’s criticism of Bolton, a former White House official who occasionally contributes to The Hill, writing “he was far too frequently a loose cannon, bent on bombings and coups” and likening him to “Doctor Strangelove with a mustache.”
Read Navarro’s op-ed: ‘John Bolton cashed in and America paid the price’
⏱️ OTHER NEWS
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation has been blocked — for now:
A federal judge blocked Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation to Uganda until a hearing can be held to determine whether he can be sent to the developing nation. In fact, the judge said the Trump administration is “absolutely forbidden” from removing him from the U.S.
Quick catch-up: Abrego Garcia has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s immigration fight. He is the man who was mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador in March. He was returned to the U.S. and was freed from custody last week. When he reported for his mandatory check-in at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Baltimore office yesterday, he was detained.
What is irking conservatives right now:
“President Trump’s announcement that the federal government would take a 10 percent stake in Intel, once the nation’s most successful chip manufacturer, has raised alarm bells with conservative Republicans, who see it as part of a bigger trend under Trump of the federal government asserting itself in corporate decisionmaking,” reports The Hill’s Alexander Bolton.
Keep in mind — it’s not *just* Intel: Trump reached a separate deal earlier this month with two other U.S.-based chipmakers, Nvidia and AMD. They will both pay the U.S. government 15 percent of their revenue from AI-chip sales to China.
Why Republicans are feeling uncomfy about this: “Conservative Republican critics of the Intel deal warn it’s another step toward “socialism” that undermines the free market and sets a precedent that Democrats could exploit when they return to power.”
Specifically: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called the deal a “terrible idea” and a “step toward socialism.”
How the Trump administration is defending the move: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defended the deal to Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, arguing it is “not socialism.”
Read more: ‘Trump’s federal stake in Intel prompts GOP complaints’
Plus: The Hill’s Emily Brooks reports how “Trump’s Intel deal upends conservative economic order.” Read today’s edition of ‘The Movement’
➤ THE WALL STREET KNOCKED THE DEAL:
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board slammed the arrangement.
Excerpt: “Not long ago it would have been hard to imagine a Republican President demanding government ownership in a private company, but here we are. And now the Trump Administration is toying with a tax on patents too—meaning, a tax on innovation.”
Read the WSJ editorial: ‘And Now a New Tax on Patents?: Trump takes 10% of Intel, as Washington becomes Chinatown on industrial policy.’
➤ OTHER READS:
The Washington Post: President melds a fractious coalition: The six factions of Trumpworld
Politico: This blue state is the first to grapple with megabill response — (Hint: It’s Colorado)
Foreign Policy: If Americans Are Lawyers and the Chinese Are Engineers, Who Is Going to Win?
The Wall Street Journal: There Is Now Clearer Evidence AI Is Wrecking Young Americans’ Job Prospects
COMING UP
The House and Senate are out. 🌻 President Trump is in Washington, D.C. (All times EST)
Today: Special elections in Iowa and Georgia. 🔎 What to know
5:30 p.m.: The Democratic National Committee (DNC) begins deciding the 2028 primary calendar. 💻 Livestream
🐝 INTERNET BUZZ
🍒 Celebrate: Today is National Cherry Popsicle Day.
💰 Maybe you shouldn’t bounce around between jobs: Axios reports that while job hopping used to be the best way to make a higher salary, that may no longer be the case.
📷 Several images have gone viral showing apparent bruising on the president’s hand touched up by makeup. The White House said in July the bruising is from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin.
👋 AND FINALLY…
Because you made it this far, watch this surveillance footage of a bird feeder. My client (the cat) says he was framed.