Washington, DC

1. Bessent rejects doomerism
2. Quarantine facility opens tomorrow
3. Ceasefire extension optimism
4. Housing freeze deepens
5. The other gas problem

Robinhood, which this week launched AI stock-trading and Trump Accounts, ▲ 11%.

Bessent rejects ‘doomer view’ of economic data

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejected the “doomer view” of conflicting economic data as the White House struggles to sell the Iran war while oil prices fuel inflation. Hosting the White House press briefing today, Bessent said new data showing that Americans are saving less could show “higher confidence” rather than household stress, or consumers buoyed by stock-market gains spending their paychecks more freely. “These are short-term challenges on higher prices,” he said. The jobs market remains strong, but inflation jumped to 3.8% in April and first-quarter economic growth was revised downward. The data complicate the administration’s affordability message and the path ahead for new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who campaigned for the job by mapping out a path to lower interest rates but now has to contend with stubborn inflation, slower growth, and a growing hawkishness among his Fed colleagues.

— Liz Hoffman

US Ebola facility opens tomorrow in Kenya

A quarantine center in Kenya for Americans exposed to Ebola amid the spiraling outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is expected to be operational tomorrow, according to a senior administration official. The 50-bed center, located at the Laikipia Air Base, will be used to house “high-risk, asymptomatic” Americans, though it’s unclear whether any US citizens will move there tomorrow, another administration official said. The US military stood up the facility quickly, flying in biocontainment units this week, as more than 30 public health officers, now en route, received training on Ebola care. Some officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fear the facility will make it difficult to recruit health workers to assist in the struggling international response to the crisis. The Trump administration has prioritized preventing Ebola cases from entering the US.

— Shelby Talcott

US and Iranian negotiators seek deal signoff

Negotiators for the US and Iran appeared to reach a tentative deal to extend the ceasefire for 60 days, but the plan requires signoff from President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders. Shortly after the news of a deal broke, Tehran said through state media that Iran was still considering the terms. If reached, the deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and mark the beginning of talks on Iran’s nuclear program. It would be a significant diplomatic breakthrough as tensions are rising. US Central Command accused Iran of an “egregious ceasefire violation” in firing ballistic missiles at Kuwait overnight. The White House maintains the ceasefire is still in effect. “Everything we have done thus far has been defensive,” Bessent said when asked about the ceasefire during the White House briefing today, explaining that the administration is “being patient” through negotiations.

US home sales decline

The US housing market is slipping deeper into a freeze. New home sales fell 6.2% in April from March, a steeper decline than analysts had predicted, according to new Census Bureau data. Builders have tried to lure buyers with cheaper homes and incentives, but rising mortgage rates continue to squeeze Americans already stretched by inflation. Freddie Mac reported the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.51% this week, up sharply from 5.98% at the end of February when the war in Iran began. Trump has made his preference for lower interest rates known, but some Federal Reserve officials have said persistent inflation may require the board to raise rates this year, raising borrowing costs further for home buyers.

View: US LNG has a capital problem

The US could miss an opportunity to cement its grip on the global gas market, the godfather of US LNG warns. The US has gone from an LNG importer to the world’s top exporter. Sellers were starting to crowd the market prior to the Iran war, but now it’s facing a major shortfall. Between the war and the race to electrification, the world is desperate for more US gas, Charif Souki, who was behind the first LNG shipments to leave the US, told me this week. Facing a crammed domestic market, the best chance for US gas producers to grow is overseas. Yet Souki was bearish about building more LNG terminals: “LNG is definitely capital-constrained. Private equity has a hard time deploying capital because they’re pursuing business models that aren’t designed for the kind of risk you need to take.”

After more than a decade as Cisco’s CEO, Chuck Robbins says passive-aggressive behavior is “like death” to companies like his. On this week’s episode of The CEO Signal, presented by PwC, Robbins tells Penny and Andrew how he sets the pace for the tech giant’s shift to AI, why a bad decision beats a delayed decision, and what his approach is to people who aren’t on board with the strategy — “You get rid of them”. Robbins explains his biggest strategic calls and reflects on what he’s learned about leadership, including when to step out of the room so the CEO’s viewpoint doesn’t distort the decision-making process.

White House

• Trump administration officials are pushing the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to create a $250 banknote with President Trump’s portrait, though federal law allows only deceased individuals to appear on currency. — WaPo
• The National Park Service awarded a $5 million no-bid contract to cover the bronze horse statues near the Lincoln Memorial in gold leaf before America’s 250th anniversary. — NOTUS

Congress

• The House is looking at a shorter voting week, with no votes scheduled until next Wednesday, a Republican source tells Semafor’s Nicholas Wu. Primary elections on Tuesday could depress attendance.

Politics and Campaigns

• Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., fresh off a primary loss last week, flew to Costa Rica to visit fellow Republican Party antagonist former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
• Bruce Springsteen will headline a protest concert in DC with the Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, and Brittany Howard a month before the midterm elections.

Courts

• The Justice Department is seeking names, addresses, and banking information of anonymous Reddit and X users critical of Trump administration immigration policies. — Bloomberg
• The Supreme Court sided with a death row inmate who argued that prosecutors used racist methods to keep Black people off of the jury in his criminal trial.
• A federal judge declined to block an executive order signed by President Trump that limits mail-in voting.

Media

• CBS News named Nick Bilton, a technology journalist and documentarian, to lead 60 Minutes, and fired Sharyn Alfonsi, amid a feud with editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. — NYT
• After a judge dismissed his previous complaint, President Trump refiled his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the publisher of The Wall Street Journal over an article about a birthday book greeting to Jeffrey Epstein.
• Weeks after NOTUS announced its rebrand as “The Star,” the long-defunct Washington Star resumed publishing, with both outlets aiming to take on The Washington Post amid recent layoffs.

World

• Guatemala has agreed to carry out joint strikes with the US against drug gangs.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced in a joint press conference that Ukraine will buy 20 new Gripen fighter jets and Sweden will donate 16 older jets next year.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he directed Israel’s military to take control of 70% of Gaza, and he launched a new wave of bombings in Beirut.

National Security

• Four-star Gen. Christopher LaNeve, a hardliner who was recently booed at a veterans event, is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s expected pick to lead the Army. — WSJ
• US forces deployed to war zones have been targeted using commercially available location data, according to US Central Command. — Reuters

Technology

• Anthropic surpassed OpenAI as the world’s most valuable AI startup, with a total valuation of $900 billion.

— Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on the next Democratic presidential field.

Laura McGann, editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor, and Morgan Chalfant, Washington briefing editor

Graph Massara and Lauren Morganbesser