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Far-left Democrats scored their biggest primary win of the midterm elections, causing Republicans to break into a version of President Trump’s “YMCA” happy dance.

Abdul El‑Sayed won narrowly in Michigan’s Senate primary over Rep. Haley Stevens, who had the endorsements and the campaign donations of the Democratic Party’s establishment.

Mr. El-Sayed’s victory is causing many party leaders to wonder whether their base is moving further left without them on issues such as universal health care and breaking U.S. ties with Israel. It’s a win for Sen. Bernard Sanders‘ wing of the party and another blow to Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York.

Mr. El‑Sayed’s charisma and support from young and college‑educated voters helped him overcome more than $70 million spent against him, including more than $30 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobby.

“What we showed is that the power of our money is greater than the power of their money,” Mr. El‑Sayed said. “My hope is that our democracy will never be the same.”

Mr. El‑Sayed now heads into a statewide showdown with Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers, potentially determining whether Republicans retain the Senate majority.

Republicans did not bother to hide their glee, convinced that Democrats are moving rapidly away from mainstream American voters. Six Democratic House incumbents have lost primaries so far this year.

Joe Gruters, chair of the Republican National Committee, likened Mr. El‑Sayed to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, saying he “embodies the socialist takeover that wants to do away with the American way of life by abolishing ICE, opening borders, raising taxes and sympathizing with terrorists.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, released a digital ad branding Mr. El‑Sayed “the most radical Senate candidate in America.” It used his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El‑Sayed, and paired it with a clip of him declaring, “I’m pretty damn dangerous.”

The ad accused Mr. El‑Sayed of being a terrorist sympathizer and backing tax increases that would hit “Michigan waitresses, delivery drivers and seniors on Social Security.”

President Trump characterized Mr. El‑Sayed’s victory as a boost for Republicans defending their slim majority this fall. “Great news for the Republican Party. El‑Sayed, a Communist loser who hates Jews and Israel, is the projected winner in his race,” Mr. Trump said before votes were completely tallied Tuesday night.

Many Democrats portray the win as a victory for the populist side of their party over corporate and billionaire donor elites — not a sign of growing socialism. The outcome of the November elections likely will hinge on whether Democrats can convince independent-minded voters about that in the face of Mr. Trump’s red scare.

Mr. El‑Sayed said he is ready to confront the president and the entrenched powers he says have left the working class behind.

“I’m so sorry if you want a senator who’s going to lick some boots; fine, go vote for Mike Rogers,” he told supporters. “But if you want a senator who’s going to stand up to Donald Trump, then you’ve got your option right here.”

Mr. Rogers returned fire, saying the contest is a choice between “common sense or complete insanity” and that Democrats have driven “our state into the ground.”

“Abdul isn’t just another liberal. He’s an extremist,” he said in a statement, warning that the Democrat is a terrorist sympathizer, supports soft‑on‑crime policies that would make communities less safe and is “leading a movement grounded in ideological fanaticism.”

The matchup instantly becomes central to the fight for Senate control, with both parties bracing for a multimillion‑dollar battle in a state that has swung back and forth in recent cycles.

In the Trump administration

Blanche nomination. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to confirm Todd Blanche as Mr. Trump’s choice for attorney general, overcoming objections from Democrats and some Republicans about his personal loyalty to the president. Mr. Blanche formerly served as Citizen Trump’s private lawyer.

The vote moved his nomination toward an expected confirmation by the full Senate on Friday.

In Mr. Blanche’s confirmation hearing, Republicans said the president deserves to have his man in office — particularly since Mr. Blanche has been serving as acting attorney general for four months after the ouster of Pam Bondi.

“Todd Blanche’s Justice Department has reprioritized the safety of Americans after the Biden administration opened the borders to violent criminals and then turned a blind eye to the heinous crimes that were happening around the country,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican and chairman of the committee.

Democrats said Mr. Blanche has amassed an “avalanche of misconduct” in defense of Mr. Trump.

“He is about Trump, not truth,” said Sen. Cory Booker, New Jersey Democrat. “This is so deeply wrong. We will rue the day we let this man have this much power under a corrupt president.”

The nomination became a referendum on Mr. Trump’s $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund, which he sought to create as part of a settlement in his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS for allowing his secret tax information to be leaked.

Mr. Blanche signed off on the fund, plus on an immunity deal for Mr. Trump and two of his sons for past tax arrears — then tried to bury the fund as dead. Mr. Blanche finally issued new memos rescinding the fund and clarifying the extent of the tax immunity deal for Mr. Trump, which was good enough to sway the GOP holdouts, Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

Mr. Trump lamented the Justice Department officially rescinding the proposed fund for people who said they were victims of political prosecutions, including defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“These people were treated horribly and [the proposed fund] could have given them some solace,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I view the fund as a positive, and a lot of Republicans do too. Not so many Democrats.”

The president has absorbed a series of rebukes in recent days, including two by his own appointees who left him fuming. Taken together, the reversals carry real costs in political capital that go beyond a bruised ego.

In a span of three days, Mr. Trump’s Justice Department dropped a marquee case of alleged vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Mr. Blanche scrapped the president’s Anti-Weaponization Fund and then he pulled back on his threat to launch the “biggest attack since World War II” on Iran in favor of peace talks, though Tehran said talks weren’t happening (they were).

The setbacks raise questions about how much leverage Mr. Trump has with lawmakers and the American public ahead of November’s midterm elections. If Republicans lose control of Congress, Mr. Trump’s agenda would stall, and his administration would be buried in an avalanche of Democrat-led congressional probes.

The White House dismissed the recent hard times as an aberration that will be forgotten come November. Officials point to the slate of socialist candidates nominated by Democrats and Mr. Trump’s efforts to lower costs as reasons to be optimistic come November.

“Birth tourism” is banned under an executive order signed by Mr. Trump. The president ordered his administration to try to root out firms that help pregnant women enter the U.S. just to earn citizenship for their children.

Mr. Trump also directed his administration not to recognize the children of birth tourism as citizens. That order denies birthright citizenship to children whose parents work for a foreign government or whose parents are part of a terrorist organization.

The White House is trying to use some of the wiggle room left by the Supreme Court ruling that struck down Mr. Trump’s previous birthright citizenship restrictions as unconstitutional.

Mr. Trump’s earlier effort tried to deny automatic citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants and temporary visitors.

Most of the savings claimed by Mr. Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, formerly led by Elon Musk, never actually came to pass.

A new audit by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ chief investigative agency, said DOGE took credit for cuts already in the pipeline, exaggerated some claims and couldn’t provide evidence for others.

All told, of the $110.3 billion DOGE claimed to have saved, GAO said it could only find solid support for 4% of those claims.

In one case, DOGE said it had gotten the Defense Department’s health agency to nix a $1.7 billion technology contract, but GAO investigators said the contract was never cut or reduced.

Congressional Democrats, who requested the report, said it confirmed their fears.

“Everyone supports rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, but DOGE was a slapdash and deceptive effort that misled the American people while doing real damage to the government’s ability to serve them,” said Sen. Gary Peters, Michigan Democrat.

On Capitol Hill

Fallout for Dr. Fauci. A Senate committee voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer senators’ questions about his decisions and actions during the pandemic.

The 8-5 party-line vote sends the matter to the full Senate, where it could face a Democrat-led filibuster.

Republicans said the vote was necessary to defend congressional authority to get answers from unwilling witnesses — and in particular Dr. Fauci, who led the country’s efforts to combat the coronavirus.

“On behalf of the millions of people harmed by Anthony Fauci, resoundingly yes,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno, Ohio Republican, when it was his turn to vote on the contempt resolution.

Dr. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times before the committee about whether the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which he helmed for decades, had funded risky research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. That lab is at the center of suspicion over the origin of the coronavirus.

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican and the committee chair, has pursued Dr. Fauci for years to get those answers.

Staring down Social Security’s looming insolvency, senators learned they lack agreement on just about everything.

The Social Security Trust Fund will be depleted in about six years. After that, everyone receiving benefits would take a cut of about 22% if Congress does nothing between now and then. That would be an average cut of about $500 per month per recipient.

GOP senators favor a bipartisan commission to talk the ideas through and bring back recommendations for Congress to bless.

But many Democrats said a commission seems like a roundabout scheme to force benefit cuts onto America’s seniors. They say the answer is tax increases, particularly on the rich, to patch the troubled program.

Sen. Mike Crapo, the Idaho Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee and who called the hearing, said Republicans have plans — some of them worked on with Democrats — but they should be hashed out in a commission.

He said Congress has had decades to act but has failed, so it needs a commission to shape the solutions and create the “pressure” for lawmakers to act.

All sides agreed on the mix of potential solutions: increase revenue, slow the growth of benefit increases, remove wealthier people from the rolls, and delay the age when people can start collecting.

Charles Blahous, a former Social Security trustee, said the problem is now so big that no single proposal will work — unless lawmakers are prepared for the ramifications of crippling tax increases or a 30% cut in future payments.

The House Committee on Ethics recommended Rep. Chuck Edwards be censured after the panel found he violated the chamber’s Code of Official Conduct through a sustained pattern of inappropriate, unprofessional behavior toward two young female staffers.

The committee’s action prompted Mr. Edwards, North Carolina Republican, to announce that he will not seek reelection.

North Carolina law allows the 11th Congressional District Republican Executive Committee to select a replacement for Mr. Edwards, but no new primary election will be held.

In the courts

Wins for gun owners. A federal judge ruled that a large part of the National Firearms Act is now unconstitutional, in a decision that could erase registration requirements for sales or transfer of silencers and short-barreled long guns.

Judge James Wesley Hendrix, a Trump appointee to the bench in Texas, said when Congress zeroed out a tax on those weapons and accessories last year, it erased the constitutional underpinnings for the paperwork and registration requirements that were part of the 1934 gun law.

Lawmakers said they needed the registrations to carry out the tax. But Judge Hendrix said no tax means no more registration.

He limited his ruling to the plaintiffs in two cases before him, and to their members and customers. But the plaintiffs include major gun-rights groups, whose membership includes millions of gun owners and some firearms manufacturers, retailers and importers.

Fifteen GOP-led states were also plaintiffs, and their agencies and subdivisions would also get relief from the registration requirements.

Judge Hendrix put a seven-day hold on his ruling taking effect, to allow time for an appeal.

Foster parents don’t cede their Second Amendment rights, a Wisconsin appeals court has ruled.

The case involved Brian and Katie Lafferty, who clashed with Wisconsin’s Department of Children and Families and a local county human services department. The officials had argued the parents signed away their gun rights when they applied to foster youths.

The three-judge panel said that was wrong.

“We conclude the Laffertys did not waive their constitutional rights by volunteering to serve as foster parents,” wrote Judge Maria Lazar.

The county had initially imposed demands that those seeking to be licensed as foster families with concealed-carry permits could not carry their guns when in the presence of foster children; must store their guns behind two locks, with ammunition kept in a separate place; and must disclose all of their firearms and their locations to the county.

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In our opinion

If John Fetterman, Pennsylvania Democrat, wants to stay in the Senate, he must change his party affiliation to independent, argues Commentary Editor Kelly Sadler.

Joseph Curl writes that Mr. Trump’s lies caught up with him in the Reflecting Pool case.

Mr. Mamdani is spouting rhetoric that echoes the past pattern of dehumanizing Jews, writes Gerard Leval.

Thanks for reading On Background from Susan Ferrechio and Dave Boyer.

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Have questions for Susan or Dave? Send them an email at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com or dboyer@washingtontimes.com.

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Just a few years ago, during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci was celebrated by the mainstream media and Democrats as the reassuring gold standard of medical advice about masking, vaccines and social distancing.

Nowadays, Dr. Fauci, 85, has been reduced to invoking the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times in a Senate hearing rather than explain his actions under oath. The formerly loquacious and ever-present media star decided, under subpoena, that he has the right to remain silent.

His stonewalling may not help him. A Senate committee has scheduled a vote to hold Dr. Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer lawmakers’ questions.

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, wanted answers from Dr. Fauci on whether the U.S. funded risky research at the virus lab in Wuhan, China, that is at the center of suspicion about the origin of the pandemic. And Mr. Paul said he wanted to get into the decision-making in the U.S. about the rejection of some treatments, while pushing for the quick deployment of experimental vaccines.

Dr. Fauci, who ran the infectious diseases unit at the National Institutes of Health, said Mr. Paul has been waging a years-long vendetta trying to put him “behind bars” by trapping him into saying something that would get him prosecuted. Hence his silence.

Before the hearing, Dr. Fauci’s detractors in government released years of unredacted entries from his diary. Among the revelations, Dr. Fauci believed the “lab leak” theory but called it far-fetched in public.

He pushed for school closures while denying involvement. He stifled disclosure of the vaccine’s ineffectiveness. He hid his own possible injury from the vaccine, never disclosing that he suffered from a pulmonary infarction in June 2021, five months after receiving the COVID-19 shot.

And he reveled in his newfound celebrity.

Dr. Fauci was granted a sweeping blanket pardon by President Biden for past actions, immunity that Mr. Paul said should have cleared him to speak to the committee.

The lack of answers didn’t deter Republicans from attacking him repeatedly.

Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, said Dr. Fauci committed a crime by soliciting cash awards from the U.S. government during the pandemic — and recruiting his official staff, paid through taxpayer dollars, to assist in the effort.

He received more than $1 million in awards, the senator said, despite a law that prohibits using federal resources to solicit awards.

“A million people dead, you’re getting rich. A million people dead, you’re using federal employees to get cash awards for you. A million people dead, and you’re here taking the Fifth,” Mr. Hawley said.

On the same week as the muted Fauci showdown in Congress, the Health and Human Services Department announced a new policy banning federal funding for “dangerous” gain-of-function research — a kind of risky experiment that enhances viruses to try to predict how dangerous they might become.

Some analysts believe gain-of-function experiments in the Wuhan virus lab are behind the coronavirus.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the new approach — a risk-based model — still leaves room for research on vaccines and other medical tools.

“The federal government has a duty to protect the American people — not fund research that could put them at risk,” he said in a statement. “We are ending federal support for dangerous gain-of-function research and replacing weak oversight with clear, enforceable safeguards.”

Amid the Fauci fallout, President Trump, who had clashed with him in his first term, said he told us so. He said he warned Mr. Biden early in his term about Dr. Fauci.

“I called Biden to tell him Fauci was no good, either didn’t have a clue, or was dishonest,” Mr. Trump said on social media. “The call was well received, but sadly, not acted on. Biden went on to give Fauci vast destructive power. The rest is history!”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Alabama Republican who is running for governor, promised to keep hounding Dr. Fauci if he takes over the reins of his state’s government.

“I went through dozens of hearings when I first got here in 2021 with Fauci basically lying through his teeth to the American people and all over the world,” Mr. Tuberville said. “Some of my friends died from COVID. And he might’ve got a federal pardon, but he didn’t get a state pardon.”

In the Trump administration

Wartime president. Mr. Trump held meetings at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Iran war and with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Kyiv’s war with Russia.

The Netanyahu conference was described as “positive and productive,” despite the joint U.S.-Israel attacks on Tehran becoming a source of tension between the men.

The conflict remains unpopular in U.S. polling, and the president has battled perceptions that Mr. Netanyahu talked him into a quagmire. Mr. Trump insists he is calling the shots, saying he does not need guidance from Mr. Netanyahu on how to handle Pickaxe Mountain, an Iranian site linked to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Mr. Trump vowed a severe military response to Iran after Tehran fired ballistic missiles at U.S. troops in Jordan.

He also said U.S.-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq were coordinated with the Iraqi government.

In a hopeful sign for the region, Mr. Trump announced that Middle East negotiators reached an agreement to disarm Hamas, the militant group in Gaza that attached Israel in 2023.

In the closed meeting with Mr. Zelenskyy, the pair discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor missile production, the Ukrainian leader said.

At a memorial for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, Mr. Trump praised the South Carolina Republican as “a true American original.”

“He was the first person to make you laugh and one of the last people that you’d really ever want to fight. These were the traits that made him into one of the great figures in Senate history,” the president said.

The senator died on July 11 at age 71 of heart disease.

Mr. Trump, with whom Graham forged a surprising and fruitful alliance, called him “a legend” and “a giant of the United States Senate.”

On Capitol Hill

Clayton confirmed. The Senate confirmed Jay Clayton to serve as director of national intelligence, a position that oversees 18 disparate intelligence agencies across the government. The 51-47 confirmation vote fell along party lines.

The partisan feud over the DNI post has distracted Congress for much of the summer.

Republicans hailed Mr. Clayton’s national experience, which includes prosecuting terrorists as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and his service as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Democrats panned Mr. Clayton as another Trump nominee afraid to stand up to the president.

The wrangling over Mr. Trump’s acting DNI, Bill Pulte, has led to the expiration of a key federal surveillance law that has yet to be renewed.

But the nomination of Todd Blanche to become attorney general is in trouble. Mr. Trump said he might withdraw the nomination of Mr. Blanche, currently serving in an acting role, due to opposition from Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom are leaving office at year’s end after feuding with the president.

Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Tillis are opposed to advancing Mr. Blanche’s nomination due to an unresolved dispute over the president’s $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund, leading the Senate Judiciary Committee to postpone a planned vote.

Mr. Trump said his former personal lawyer is “a STAR” and ripped both GOP lawmakers for blocking the process to make Mr. Blanche the nation’s top prosecutor. He said he would renominate Mr. Blanche after the two senators leave office.

Republicans are leading Democrats in the midterm campaign fundraising and ad spending race with less than 100 days until the November elections.

The Democratic National Committee ended June with $16.3 million cash in hand, but is struggling with $18.5 million in debt. Their situation is a stark contrast to the Republican National Committee, which reported $128.5 million cash in hand and no debt.

The three Republican committees and their two caucus-affiliated super PACs reported $657 million cash on hand at the end of June, the latest filings from the Federal Election Commission show. The GOP war chest is double the $334 million banked by the Democrats.

Along with their congressional-affiliated caucus PACs, Republicans have Trump muscle with the MAGA Inc. super PAC that has more than $400 million cash on hand.

One of the Democrats’ midterm tensions will play out in Michigan next week when Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed finds out whether he can win by running against the American system that has helped him succeed.

In the courts

Appeal over mail-in voting. Mr. Trump asked the Supreme Court to allow him to implement his executive order directing the U.S. Postal Service to police mail-in voting by refusing to deliver ballots to people whose eligibility hasn’t been verified by the federal government.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer petitioned the justices just days after losing in an appeals court. He said lower courts were premature in stepping in at this point and agencies’ plans for carrying out the president’s orders are too preliminary at this point. He asked the justices to allow the planning to proceed while the case develops.

Otherwise, he said, the president’s opponents will run out the clock and Mr. Trump won’t be able to impose his rules ahead of the midterms.

“This premature injunction imposes serious irreparable harm on the federal government,” Mr. Sauer wrote.

The justices gave the president’s opponents a week to respond.

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In our opinion

Commentary Editor Kelly Sadler, Joseph Curl, Cal Thomas and Peter Navarro all rip Dr. Fauci for his diary entries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For many Americans, these are bad economic times — and they blame Mr. Trump, writes Peter Morici.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has said he wants to arrest Mr. Netanyahu, cannot substitute his personal foreign policy agenda for that of the U.S., Anita Parlow argues.

Thanks for reading On Background from Susan Ferrechio and Dave Boyer.

Have questions for Susan or Dave? Send them an email at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com or dboyer@washingtontimes.com.

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What House Republicans pulled off this week, with President Trump watching over their shoulders, was no small feat.

With a majority of only a few seats, the GOP passed a $95 billion budget blueprint for defense funding, farm relief and — most importantly for Mr. Trump — parts of the election-integrity measure known as the SAVE America Act.

Several Republicans had threatened to vote against the bill, but in the end, Mr. Trump’s influence and the clamor from his base made the difference.

“I just did a tele-townhall with my constituents, and overwhelmingly people are supporting it,” Rep. Eric Burlison, Missouri Republican, said shortly before the vote. “I don’t like spending money, but my district understands that if it’s what’s necessary to pass SAVE America, they’re willing to do it.”

Mr. Burlison was initially opposed but voted for the legislation.

Mr. Trump had warned there would be consequences for Republicans voting against the bill and said he was “watching the vote very closely.” The result shows that the president still calls the shots in Congress: He vowed in May not to sign any legislation until lawmakers approve the SAVE America measure.

The legislation requires voters to show proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to cast a ballot. Most Americans, even many Democrats, support such requirements. The White House said Mr. Trump is running out of patience with the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act.

The budget bill, which includes roughly $73 billion for Iran war funding, is far from a done deal in the Senate. But the election-integrity provisions will be key to maintaining House Republican support when the budget reconciliation legislation, which is meant to be filibuster-proof, comes together.

“The mandatory SAVE America Act is the key to the whole thing,” said Rep. Keith Self, Texas Republican.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said he plans to hold the budget while his chamber debates a stopgap government funding bill.

If Democrats do not support the measure to extend current funding through November’s midterm elections, Mr. Thune said he would use the budget reconciliation process to provide the necessary appropriations without their help.

In the Trump administration

Still loving tariffs. The Trump administration announced it is imposing tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 countries that failed to enforce bans on goods produced with forced labor.

The decision is part of Mr. Trump’s effort to backfill a blanket 10% tariff that has expired after Congress opted not to renew it.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said decades of trying to appeal to countries on moral grounds have not eradicated forced labor.

“The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century and rigorously enforces it. It’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” Mr. Greer said. “Today’s action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and a distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere.”

Mr. Trump will keep tariffs at the center of his economic policy despite setbacks, Mr. Greer told Congress.

Mr. Greer said the specific authorities that Mr. Trump is using to impose tariffs “have changed, but the trade strategy has not.” He said the agenda will “support the reindustrialization of our economy, protect American workers and increase their wages and shrink our trade deficit.”

His testimony came five months after the Supreme Court struck down the White House’s ability to raise or decrease tariffs on individual nations under a 1977 economic-powers law.

Mr. Trump issued a 10% blanket global tariff on all imports in the wake of the court’s ruling. Those tariffs are valid for 150 days and are set to expire. Congress has not taken steps to extend them.

The administration recently announced 25% tariffs on most Brazilian goods and 50% levies on a wide range of Canadian products, citing unfair trade practices that hurt U.S. workers.

A U.S. civil nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia will be conditioned on the Saudis normalizing relations with Israel as part of his Abraham Accords, Mr. Trump said.

The condition is key because Saudi-Israeli normalization is a major goal for Mr. Trump but a thorny issue for the kingdom, which sees Israeli treatment of Palestinians as a major problem and impediment to better relations. The Abraham Accords normalized relations between Muslim-majority and Arab countries and Israel during Mr. Trump’s first term, but getting the Saudis to enlist is a key goal for the administration.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen will face the full force of the U.S. military if they carry out their threat to enforce a blockade in the Red Sea, Mr. Trump warned.

The Houthis occupy much of Yemen’s southwestern territory and maintain effective control over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a choke point in the southern part of the Red Sea.

U.S. attacks on Houthi strongholds in Yemen would mark a major expansion of the Iran war.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is pausing more than $1 billion in federal Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota because of suspected fraud and noncompliance, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced.

If California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, both Democrats, want the funding released, “all they have to do is provide basic documentation showing that these services are legitimate and not fraudulent, and that’s common sense,” he said.

CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said withholding $1 billion is a “very conservative approach.”

Mr. Newsom’s office said Tuesday’s announcement is “the same recycled political stunt we’ve seen before” and that California is being targeted for political reasons. The governor is seen as a likely 2028 presidential contender.

Mr. Walz said the move is not about fraud but about “cutting your healthcare so that Trump can afford the tax cuts he gave to billionaires.”

A massive Medicaid fraud scheme by Somali-run daycare centers in Minnesota was exposed late last year.

On Capitol Hill

Shutdown politics. The House passed a bill to keep the government funded through Dec. 4, while the Senate is preparing an alternative measure.

The vote was 220-205, with all but six House Democrats voting in opposition.

Current government funding does not expire until Sept. 30, but Republican leaders wanted to bring an extension to the floor early to show voters that Democrats, whom Republicans accuse of forcing two record funding lapses in the past year, are prepared to pick another shutdown fight.

“They’ve already demonstrated they don’t care what kind of pain they inflict on the American people. They do this to try to score political points,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

Democrats are making the wrong calculation in showing “there’s nothing they love more than a government shutdown as tens of millions of Americans have to vote in November,” the Louisiana Republican said.

The stopgap bill would extend current funding levels and policies past the midterms, nine weeks into the next fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

The nomination of Jay Clayton to serve as the next director of national intelligence was advanced by the Senate Intelligence Committee, as GOP leaders aim to confirm him to the role before the August congressional recess.

If confirmed, Mr. Clayton would oversee the government’s 18 disparate intelligence agencies.

He would replace acting DNI Bill Pulte, whom Democrats vehemently oppose.

Mr. Trump’s appointment of Mr. Pulte to temporarily serve as director of national intelligence led Democrats to block an extension of a foreign surveillance law, which has been expired for more than a month.

Lawmakers’ stock trading would be banned under a bill approved by the House. But Republicans added a provision requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls, virtually guaranteeing that the overall bill won’t pass in the Senate.

It’s the first major congressional stock-trading ban to receive a vote on the floor of the House.

A probe of former special counsel Jack Smith could be in the offing after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan made a criminal referral to the Justice Department.

Mr. Jordan, Ohio Republican, wants prosecutors to see if they can bring charges against Mr. Smith for cagey statements he made about obtaining lawmakers’ text messages. He led the Biden administration’s criminal probe of Mr. Trump that resulted in two now-dismissed criminal cases against the once-and-future president, including one related to the 2020 election.

As part of his probe, Mr. Smith sought to get phone records of members of Congress he thought were involved with Mr. Trump’s election-related behavior. Mr. Smith told Mr. Jordan’s committee last year that he sought only “toll records,” not the contents of text messages.

In the courts

Operation testosterone. A federal judge suggested that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new policy requiring troops to meet testosterone levels — and delivering testosterone replacement therapy — could undercut the rationale behind the department’s restrictions on trans troops.

Judge Ana Reyes, a Biden appointee who is overseeing cases challenging the trans troop policy, ordered the government to explain itself.

“The Military Ban states that ‘the Armed Forces must adhere to high mental and physical health standards … without the benefit of routine medical treatment or special provisions,’” Judge Reyes wrote in an order. “The court must assess the impact of this newly announced policy on the parties’ positions.”

She said she was taking “judicial notice” of Mr. Hegseth’s new testosterone policy, which means she is, on her own, incorporating it into her deliberations on the case.

She ordered both sides to file briefs addressing “the department’s basis for treating trans men and other service members differently between this new policy and the Military Ban,” plus whether there are differences in administering testosterone treatments to trans troops versus the general population.

Testosterone injections can be part of hormone therapy for female-to-male transitions.

In our opinion

Commentary Editor Kelly Sadler lauds Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a recent speech warning nations of rising left-wing violence.

Jed Babbin warns of coming corruption if the Pentagon keeps the stock it has bought in the nation’s defense contractors.

Republicans need to stop following Democrats’ talking points about data centers, writes Michael McKenna.

Thanks for reading On Background from Susan Ferrechio and Dave Boyer.

Have questions for Susan or Dave? Send them an email at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com or dboyer@washingtontimes.com.

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