Trump’s cancellations – At the G7, President Donald Trump said he will keep bombing Iran if any agreement is breached—while, across the Atlantic, Senate Republicans said his handling of their agenda has repeatedly disrupted key legislative work. Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Car
For thousands of miles, and a literal ocean, President Donald Trump managed to keep Senate Republicans in the same place: scrambling.
At the G7 summit. Trump told reporters he would continue bombing Iran if it did not abide by its agreement with the U.S. But back in Washington, his moves toward the Senate arrived in the form of disruption. Senate Republicans said his social-media orders from Europe undercut their schedule at the exact moment they were trying to finish major work before Democrats have a chance to win control of Congress.
The flashpoint came after Trump posted on social media from a meeting in Europe with world leaders. In the middle of the night U.S. time. he ordered lawmakers to cancel a major confirmation hearing. indefinitely delaying the nomination of Jay Clayton. Trump’s pick to become the nation’s next spy chief.
The nomination delay landed as senators were pushing toward final action on a large housing affordability bill important to both Republicans and Democrats—one of the last legislative pushes Republicans hoped to complete before the fall.
Trump also set back senators’ efforts to quickly renew a key antiterrorism law that lapsed for the first time last week. Lawmakers said the lapse and the renewal process could potentially endanger Americans.
Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, put the frustration into blunt terms. “It’s ‘undermining our ability to produce the very results he wants,’” Tillis said.
To Tillis, the issue wasn’t only the timing. It was the way the White House appeared to treat the Senate. He argued that Congress can’t be handled like an assembly line for the executive branch. “We are not the manufacturing department for the Article II branch,” Tillis said. “We are the board of directors for the Article II branch. You start treating us like that, coordinating with us like that, and we won’t have these embarrassing setbacks. And we can get back to the good work the president wants to accomplish.”.
A White House spokesperson, asked to comment, referred to Trump’s June 17 social media post about Clayton’s canceled hearing.
Trump ‘has his own mind,’ Thune says, as tensions build
The friction between Trump and Senate Republicans has been building for months, according to multiple lawmakers. Sen. John Thune. R-South Dakota. the majority leader. is responsible for steering Senate priorities. including bills on housing. farming. and highways. as well as the annual appropriations process.
Sen. John Hoeven, R-North Dakota, described Thune’s role as relentless. “Senator Thune’s got one of the hardest jobs,” Hoeven said. “He keeps us moving toward the goal. But he knows it’s not a straight line.”
Even with that pressure, Trump has been insisting the Senate do things Thune has said aren’t possible. Those demands include abolishing the 60-vote threshold known as the filibuster, firing a nonpartisan Senate ruleskeeper, and passing a sweeping voting restrictions bill called the SAVE America Act.
Earlier in the month. Trump nominated a controversial loyalist. federal housing regulator Bill Pulte. to become the nation’s interim spy chief. Lawmakers said the nomination practically guaranteed a lapse in a critical antiterrorism statute known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. or FISA. Democrats refused to renew the controversial wiretapping power unless Trump picked someone they viewed as more qualified.
After selecting Clayton, Trump added another layer of confusion for lawmakers. Through a Truth Social post from France. Trump told them to prioritize confirming his nominee for another office first before the Senate moved on Clayton. He also directed lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act immediately.
Senate Republicans framed that clash as one of presidential insistence versus legislative reality. “The president has his own mind, makes his own decisions,” Thune later told reporters. “So do we.”
Even Trump’s allies questioned the effort’s political math. Sen. John Kennedy. R-Louisiana. said Trump’s insistence doesn’t change the fact that the SAVE America Act would be “hard to pass” without Democrats. Kennedy also warned that the looming FISA decision could ripple across the rest of the legislative calendar.
“I don’t know what the ripple effect will be,” Kennedy said. “I do know that the closer we get to the midterms, the more difficult it’s going to be.”
Between the confirmation delays and the threatened renewal of Section 702, the Senate’s schedule appears increasingly fragile. The housing affordability bill—near completion—sits alongside efforts to renew the antiterrorism authority that lapsed for the first time last week. while senators race to keep other priorities from being swallowed by crisis-level uncertainty.
By the time Trump’s messages traveled from Europe to Capitol Hill, the Senate’s margin for error was already shrinking—especially with the midterms looming.
Donald Trump Senate Republicans Thom Tillis John Thune Jay Clayton spy chief nomination FISA Section 702 SAVE America Act housing affordability bill G7 Iran bombing
Can he just stop with the midnight posts and do his job.
So he’s “bombing Iran” and then also messing with Senate schedules?? That’s a lot of chaos in one week. Sounds like everyone’s mad and I don’t even know what they’re mad about exactly.
Wait, Jay Clayton being “spy chief”?? I thought that guy was like, SEC? Now they’re canceling a hearing because Trump posted something from Europe? Sounds more like the media got it wrong or the Senate is just making excuses.
This is why nothing gets done. They say it “endanger Americans” but it’s also housing and anti-terror law and confirmations… like pick one emergency. Retiring Tillis sounds salty, but honestly I’d be mad too if my boss was ordering stuff from across the ocean at night. Also bombing Iran “if breached” like that’s not already a huge deal.