TIMETABLE UNCLEAR: Trump indicated he may be planning to wrap up the operation against Iran sooner than he originally said but was noncommittal on Monday about his timeline.
The president initially gave a timeline of four to five weeks soon after the initial strikes began on Feb. 28. But he's faced pressure on the exit strategy amid mixed messaging from members of his administration and the deaths of more than a half dozen U.S. service members.
Trump called the operation an "excursion" during his Monday press conference, saying the operation would end "very soon." But he said it wouldn't end in the coming days or by the end of the week.
He said the U.S. is "achieving major strides toward completing our military objective, and some people could say they're pretty well complete." His remarks came after an account on X for the Pentagon posted earlier in the day, "We have Only Just Begun to Fight."
The comments continue the often-contradictory signals from the administration since the conflict started.
Trump said he supports the idea of "internal" regime change within Iran, walking back comments calling for the overthrow of the regime. He said his vision is similar to how the U.S. handled Venezuela, removing former President Nicolás Maduro but leaving the regime intact after the new leaders agreed to U.S. economic demands.
He said he was "disappointed" to see Iran choose Mojtaba Khamenei as the country's next supreme leader. Khamenei is viewed as a hard-liner at least as much as was his father, the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
▪ The Hill: Five takeaways from Trump's press conference.
▪ The Wall Street Journal: Trump advisers urge exit ramp on Iran.
▪ The Hill: Trump says SAVE America Act will 'guarantee the midterms.'
TO THE COURTS: The AI company Anthropic has filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon, challenging its decision to label the company and its products a "supply chain risk."
The company filed the case in federal court in California on Monday, arguing the Pentagon's designation and an order from the president for all federal agencies to cease use of Anthropic's products are "unprecedented and unlawful."
Anthropic and the Department of Defense have engaged in a back-and-forth in recent weeks over a contract providing the Pentagon with access to the AI model Claude. But Anthropic has insisted on the department agreeing not to use the model for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons that don't require human involvement.
The Pentagon has rejected those terms, asserting that it should be able to use Claude for "all lawful purposes." Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the company couldn't "in good conscience" agree.
The supply chain risk designation is rare and typically reserved for foreign adversaries. It restricts defense contractors from using a company's products.
Anthropic's lawyers said the case is a "last resort" and accused the federal government of retaliating against the company for its position on the use of its own AI model.
White House spokesperson Liz Huston told The Hill that Trump won't "allow a radical left, woke company to jeopardize" national security.
Anthropic also filed a separate lawsuit in the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., to request a review of the determination that it poses a national security risk.
▪ The Hill: Government surveillance fears fueled by standoff.
▪ CBS News: Anthropic tracking jobs most exposed to AI.
FBI SUBPOENA: The Trump administration's probe of 2020 election records has seemingly expanded as the FBI issued a subpoena Monday for data on the Arizona state Senate's audit of Maricopa County election results.
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R) confirmed the subpoena, saying in a post on the social platform X that he received it and complied late last week.
The subpoena follows a "court authorized law enforcement action" the FBI carried out at the main elections office in Fulton County, Ga., earlier this year. Fulton and Maricopa counties have both been centerpieces of Trump and his allies' continued false claims of fraud costing him the 2020 election.
Former President Biden won Maricopa County by about 2 points, and that victory was confirmed by a company the Arizona Senate hired to conduct an audit of the results.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) condemned the subpoena in a statement, calling it a "weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies."
SPECIAL ELECTION: Voters are heading to the polls in one House district in Georgia today to vote on who they want to succeed former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
More than a dozen candidates are running on the same ballot to represent Georgia's 14th Congressional District, which has been without representation since Greene's decision to step down from her seat in January.
Clayton Fuller, the district attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, is the favorite with an endorsement from the president. But the top candidate must win a majority of the vote to avoid a runoff next month, and that may be likely with so many candidates in the race.
Primary elections are also being held Tuesday in Mississippi, following initial midterm primaries last week in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas.
▪ The Hill: What to know about the race to replace Greene.
MULLIN HEARING: The confirmation hearing for Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) as the next secretary of Homeland Security may come as soon as next week.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told reporters he hopes to hold the hearing next Wednesday.
Republicans have largely rallied around Mullin as a successor to outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem, who has been the subject of rising controversy in recent months. Noem is set to leave her role at the end of the month.
Mullin and Paul have feuded at times in the past, including last month when Mullin reportedly called him a "freaking snake." But Paul has said he would reserve judgement on his colleague's nomination ahead of the hearing.
▪ The Hill: Who could run to replace Mullin.
GOING INDEPENDENT: California Rep. Kevin Kiley announced that he is formally leaving the Republican Party to become an independent.
Kiley decided to run for reelection as an independent in the aftermath of California's redistricting measure, which made his district more Democratic-friendly.
But he went further Monday, saying he will ask the House clerk to drop his identification as a Republican for the rest of the current Congress.
"I will be the sole independent member of the House of Representatives," Kiley told reporters during a virtual press conference.
Kiley's departure from the GOP will technically lower the Republican majority further to 217-214. But Kiley said he will continue to caucus with the Republicans since he was elected as a member of the party.
The congressman said the ongoing gerrymandering battle from both parties led to his switch, expressing disgust with partisanship.
▪ The Hill: Stephen A. Smith doesn't think he'll run for president in 2028.
ISIS INSPIRATION: The attempted attack at a protest near New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's (D) residence was inspired by the Islamic State (ISIS), officials said Monday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said two individuals have been indicted in connection with the incident. The criminal complaint accuses them of an attempted terrorist attack.
"We will not allow ISIS's poisonous, anti-American ideology to threaten this nation," Bondi said. "Our law enforcement officers will remain vigilant."
No one was injured from the explosive device that was ignited at the protest outside the mayor's mansion, police said. The indictment states both men referred to ISIS during their detention.
One device was thrown at a group of protesters, while another was thrown at officers, according to the indictment.
▪ The New York Times: Mamdani chooses his words carefully about the attack.
ANTITRUST SETTLEMENT: Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, has reached a settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a case that alleged antitrust violations against the event promoter.
A senior DOJ official told reporters the proposed agreement would have Live Nation pay $280 million in civil penalties to the states involved in the case. The DOJ, along with many state and district attorneys general, had sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster in May 2024, accusing them of blocking competition in the entertainment industry.
That came after mounting public scrutiny on the companies following an online meltdown Ticketmaster suffered in 2022 during Taylor Swift's online presale for her "Eras Tour."
Under the agreement, Ticketmaster would offer a stand-alone ticketing platform that allows third parties, such as SeatGeek and StubHub, to use its technology. Live Nation agreed to divest from 13 amphitheaters it owns or leases across the country and to reserve at least 50 percent of tickets for entities that don't have exclusive agreements with the company, among other measures.
Despite the tentative agreement, not all states are on board. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said she and 25 other attorneys general would continue the case.
▪ Variety: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) slams settlement as 'weak.'
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