Good Wednesday evening. In this edition: White House urges Iran to cut deal as U.S. builds up military presence in the region.
Plus, Maryland gerrymandering, Les Wexner, CDC and Jesse Jackson.
Iran
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it would be "very wise" for Iran to strike a deal with the U.S. over its nuclear program as the Trump administration builds up America's military presence in the region.
"The president has always been very clear, though, with respect to Iran or any country around the world, diplomacy is always his first option," she told reporters. "And Iran would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump and with this administration."
The U.S. and Iran held a second round of talks on Tuesday, with the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff leading negotiations with Iranian officials in Geneva.
Parallel to the diplomatic push, the administration is ramping up its military presence in the region, deploying two aircraft carriers, a dozen warships, hundreds of fighter jets, and air defense systems.
Ms. Leavitt said "a little bit of progress" was made during the latest round of talks but that the countries are "still very far apart on some issues."
"The Iranians are expected to come back to us with some more detail in the next couple of weeks, so the president will continue to watch how this plays out," she added.
Vice President JD Vance shared a similar assessment in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday evening.
"In some ways, it went well, they agreed to meet afterwards," he said. "But in other ways, it is very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through."
The U.S. briefly joined Israel's 12-day war with Iran last June, dropping "bunker buster" bombs on the regime's underground nuclear facilities, which the president claimed were "completely and totally obliterated."
Asked why the U.S. would need to conduct more strikes on an "obliterated" program, Ms. Leavitt said, "There are many reasons and arguments one could make for a strike against Iran."
President Trump threatened to attack Iran last month when the regime's security forces killed thousands of people protesting the government's handling of the economy.
After telling the Iranian peopleat the time that "HELP IS ON ITS WAY," the president decided against immediate intervention and shifted to a two-track strategy of nuclear talks and a military buildup.
There has been speculation that Israel would join potential military action against Iran, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Trump at the White House last week.
"The United States government is of course always in close communication with the state of Israel and that starts right at the top with the president," Ms. Leavitt said when asked whether the two countries would coordinate strikes.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called on Maryland State Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) to hold a vote on a mid-decade redistricting plan Democrats hope will net them an additional seat in the midterms. "The best course of action at this moment is to allow an up-or-down vote in the Maryland State Senate so that we have an opportunity to move forward in a transparent way, and see where things will land," he said after returning from Annapolis, where he met with Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Mr. Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson opposes the plan — which seeks to draw out the state's lone congressional Republican, Rep. Andy Harris — arguing the mid-cycle redistricting fight could be costly for Democrats politically and legally and that there is not enough time to implement changes before the primary. The House of Delegates has already approved the plan.
Les Wexner, the billionaire former CEO of Victoria's Secret, told the House Oversight Committee he was "conned" by Jeffrey Epstein but denied any wrongdoing during a deposition at his home in Ohio. The 88-year-old, who has come under scrutiny for his numerous appearances in the Epstein files, denied allegations he was a "co-conspirator" and said he had no knowledge of the disgraced financier's criminal activity. "I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide," he said in his prepared statement. "I completely and irrevocably cut ties with Epstein nearly twenty years ago when I learned that he was an abuser, a crook, and a liar. And, let me be crystal clear: I never witnessed nor had any knowledge of Epstein's criminal activity."
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will now also serve as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), taking over from Jim O'Neill, who had led the agency in an acting capacity since last August before being removed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as part of a broader staff shakeup. Mr. O'Neill is expected to be nominated by President Trump to lead the National Science Foundation. Dr. Bhattacharya will serve in both roles until a permanent CDC director is nominated and confirmed by the Senate.
President Trump paid tribute to the late civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson as he spoke at a White House reception marking Black History Month. "Jesse was a piece of work, I want to tell you," he said in the East Room. "But he was a good man. He was a real hero, and I just want to pay my highest respects to Rev. Jesse Jackson." The president offered condolences to the family of Rev. Jackson, who died Tuesday at the age of 84, describing him as a "force of nature" whose work and leadership left a long-lasting legacy on the Civil Rights Movement and the national political conversation. "I knew him well, long before becoming president," he added. "He really was special with lots of personality, grit and street smarts."
For your radar…
President Trump's "Board of Peace" holds its inaugural meeting Thursday, with officials from dozens of countries gathering in Washington, DC, on the status of the Gaza peace plan. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN at 11am ET.
%20as%20of%207-11-25.jpg?upscale=true&width=1040&upscale=true&name=Hubspot%20Newsletter%20AffiliateBanner%20(600x488)%20as%20of%207-11-25.jpg)
