Trump Renews False Election Claims as Congress, Courts Push Back

President Donald Trump opened the week by again insisting, without evidence, that California's gubernatorial election had been "rigged," posting "No way this could have happened. Rigged Election!" on Truth Social a day after he walked out of an NBC "Meet the Press" interview rather than substantiate the claim. Behind the spectacle, his administration pressed one of its most aggressive immigration moves yet: the Justice Department filed to revoke the citizenship of 17 naturalized Americans -- described by officials as the largest denaturalization effort in US history -- targeting people convicted of crimes ranging from child sex offences to visa and wire fraud. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche promised "zero tolerance" for abuse of the naturalization process.

The country's institutions spent the day pulling the other way. The House had passed the Ukraine Support Act 226-195 days earlier, with 18 Republicans joining Democrats to provide more than $1 billion in aid and up to $8 billion in loans to Kyiv, in open defiance of Trump, who is expected to veto the measure if it clears the Senate. Lawmakers also advanced war-powers resolutions aimed at curbing the president's ability to keep prosecuting the war with Iran, and Blanche told Congress the department was "not moving forward" with Trump's contested $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, which a federal court had already put on hold. The Supreme Court, in the opening days of a consequential final month weighing Trump's authority over firings and birthright citizenship, ruled in Havana Docks Corp v Royal Caribbean Cruises that cruise lines using property confiscated in Cuba can be sued, even as a US carrier group moved into the Caribbean.

The Middle East ran beneath all of it. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said US-Iran nuclear talks had entered a "complicated phase" and that dialogue with Tehran was "broken," speaking as Iran and Israel traded fire in their worst exchange since April's ceasefire. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei blamed Washington directly for the renewed hostilities, while Tehran weighed whether to abandon ceasefire talks or use its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as leverage. The US Treasury, meanwhile, signalled it would repurpose frozen Iranian assets -- some $24 billion Iran has demanded back as a condition for peace -- to fund reconstruction for Gulf allies.

At home, border czar Tom Homan said he had reviewed a plan to flood New York City with "more ICE agents than you've ever seen," following through on a threat to Governor Kathy Hochul after she signed a law barring local police from cooperating with immigration agents -- a move landing just as the region prepares for the NBA Finals and the FIFA World Cup final in New Jersey. The State Department moved to sanction more than 100 officials of Nicaragua's Murillo-Ortega government, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio citing the death of opposition leader Brooklyn Rivera. A festival shooting in Toledo, Ohio, wounded 12 people aged 14 to 61 with no arrests reported, and in Maine, voters chose oysterman and Marine veteran Graham Platner, 41, as the Democrat set to challenge five-term Republican Susan Collins. A federal lawsuit also sought to halt the UFC bout planned for the White House South Lawn on June 14, tied to Trump's 80th birthday.