Washington, DC

1. Blanche’s rough road
2. AI lobbying intensifies
3. Trump rebuked on Iran
4. More Ukraine aid?
5. Missed GOP promotions
6. Waiting for California
7. CBS News chaos

PDB: New China warning

Trump makes announcement on coal … Vance in Ohio … Netflix holds annual shareholder meeting

Trump to nominate Blanche as AG

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will nominate acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to the AG position permanently. Blanche will face a tough road to confirmation in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Judiciary member Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told Semafor in April that Blanche’s statements about Jan. 6 put him in “dangerous waters.” Blanche also didn’t quite win over the Senate GOP with his defense of Trump’s now-abandoned “anti-weaponization” fund in May, which Trump scrapped this week. The nomination may be a tactic to keep Blanche in an acting role longer, following recent presidential precedent. Tapped as acting attorney general in April after Pam Bondi’s ouster, Blanche solidified his position in part by arguing that Trump has a “right” to suggest DOJ targets; Trump told the New York Post this week that he’s “done a very good job.”

— Burgess Everett and Shelby Talcott

AI pivots from Trump order to Hill

Barely a day after Trump signed a watered-down order on artificial intelligence, firms turned to Congress instead to address the patchwork of state and local laws, Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller and Nicholas Wu report. But AI giants are likely too late, since prospects for passage of any bill this year are growing narrower by the day. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made the rounds yesterday on Capitol Hill as he touted his firm’s latest blueprint for federal oversight, projecting confidence on his way into House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ office. “I think people seem to have a very shared view of what we need to focus on right now,” Altman told Semafor. But several AI proposals are already vying for attention on the Hill, with just several weeks of active legislating until midterm elections that could hand power to Democrats.

Trump faces pressure to end Iran war

Trump is facing growing pressure to wind down the Iran war, with the House voting for the first time to block further strikes. The bipartisan 215-208 vote is just a start — it’s unclear if the measure will get a vote in the Senate, which also has its own measure that advanced last month. Trump is insisting that talks with Iran are ongoing, even as strikes risk the tenuous ceasefire. Asked whether the ceasefire remained after Iran struck Kuwait yesterday, Trump suggested that “there’s a reason for everything” and told reporters a ceasefire in “that part of the world … is when you’re shooting in a more moderate manner.” Trump also said he’s trying to “separate” Israel’s Lebanon offensive from talks with Iran; Lebanon and Israel agreed to a ceasefire late Wednesday night. Again, Trump suggested an Iran deal could come together over the weekend.

— Shelby Talcott and Nicholas Wu

Congress pushes on Ukraine war

The Ukraine war has been on the back burner for the White House as it seeks a way to wind down the conflict in Iran — but that’s changing now, as the House prepares to vote on a measure today teeing up new Ukraine aid and sanctions on Russia. Democrats forced the issue with a discharge petition that got signatures from two moderate Republicans and GOP-turned-independent Rep. Kevin Kiley; six Republicans voted with Democrats to take it up yesterday. GOP leaders oppose it. A memo circulated by Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans called the bill a “partisan hack job introduced three months into the Trump administration in an attempt to tie the president’s hands in negotiating an end to the war.” Ukrainian forces have recently notched meaningful gains against Russia, and struck St. Petersburg Wednesday. Kyiv thinks it has a six-month window to gain a battlefield advantage over Moscow.

— Morgan Chalfant

House Republicans’ primary losses

House Republicans aren’t having the best luck seeking higher office. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota and Trump-backed Randy Feenstra of Iowa both lost gubernatorial primaries this week, joining statewide primary losers Buddy Carter in Georgia and Wesley Hunt and Chip Roy in Texas. Those losses may multiply. Trump backed South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pam Evette over Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman in the state’s gubernatorial race. Rep. John Rose is an underdog to Sen. Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee’s governor race. Rep. Mike Collins is facing Derek Dooley for Georgia’s Senate nomination. And Arizona Reps. David Schweikert and Andy Biggs are facing off in their own gubernatorial primary. It’s not all bad news: Reps. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, and Andy Barr, R-Ky., won their Senate primaries, and Reps. Julia Letlow, R-La., Kevin Hern, R-Okla., Barry Moore, R-Ala., and Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., look favored.

— Burgess Everett

California keeps candidates guessing

California is digging in for the lengthy count of its primary votes, which will include ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive by next Tuesday. Conservative commentator Steve Hilton had about 1.4 million votes for governor, the most in the large field, as of Wednesday night. But Democrats were receiving a larger share of late-arriving mail ballots, including from party faithful who voted later than Republicans as they fretted over the race. Former Biden health secretary Xavier Becerra led billionaire Tom Steyer by around 300,000 votes, but Steyer is not conceding, hopeful that the millions of outstanding ballots break his way. In Los Angeles, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass is leading challengers Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman; Raman has also gained in the late count. Multiple House races remain in limbo, though Democrats are confident they will gain enough votes in a newly blue Sacramento-area district to make the top two.

— David Weigel

What’s next at ‘60 Minutes’?

The meltdown at 60 Minutes has left CBS News staff and executives wondering what comes next — and who will be left on-air. After Scott Pelley’s firing, the fate of the three remaining longtime 60 Minutes correspondents is in limbo as they consider whether to leave; one of them, Lesley Stahl, has been on a year-to-year contract that she has yet to renew. Meanwhile, new producer Nick Bilton is expected to eventually elevate a deputy (some people inside the building suspect it will be Stahl peer Norah O’Donnell’s producer, Keith Sharman). Bilton has continued to meet privately with 60 Minutes staff, and though he hasn’t started pitching ideas for shows, the former tech columnist has brought along one piece of West Coast tech culture with him: a junior staffer dedicated to helping him use AI to improve the network’s workflows, Semafor has learned.

— Max Tani

Platner wants the Biden treatment

“Every family has its own mythology,” Jill Biden wrote in her first memoir. Her second, released this week, digs through the East Wing’s rubble to rescue that mythology from the debacle of 2024. The former first lady has some things in common right now with Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner. Both have highly scrutinized marriages (and families), and both argue that the public interest in their past missteps is a waste of time. “Amy and I have a very loving and very happy marriage,” Platner told reporters, after reports of sexual texts to other women walloped his campaign. “Establishment media outlets,” he said, are obsessed with personal “gossip” about him. It’s enough to make Democrats bristle at the sound of their names. The party resents being asked about Biden or Platner, and that the political press can’t point its cameras somewhere else.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: “I don’t think FISA’s going to be a cake walk,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. “I’m not sure I like the idea of extending it for three years. I’ve got to take a good, hard look at what they’ve done.”

Axios: While President Trump wants to end the Iran war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to want to resume it, according to two US officials. “Sometimes Bibi doesn’t know when to stop,” one said.

White House

• President Trump signed a directive designed to curb import violations.
• The president told aides he wouldn’t resume all-out war with Iran unless Iranian forces kill US troops. — WSJ
• The Washington Post recreated the planned interior of Trump’s 250-foot-tall arch in DC.

Congress

• Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., hosted an Oversight Committee dinner to fundraise for the DCCC, raising more than $500,000 with other lawmakers. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark, and DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene attended as special guests.

Outside the Beltway

• The flesh-eating parasite known as screwworm has been detected in Texas cattle for the first time in decades.
• Republican-led states are observing “Nuclear Family Month,” branding it as an alternative to Pride Month.

Campaigns

• During a private meeting earlier this week, Senate Democrats pressed Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner on whether more unsavory allegations about him would emerge following sexting revelations. — WSJ