June 18, 2026 | By Cate Martel
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It’s Thursday! New York City is a madhouse today for the Knicks celebration parade. The viewing area hit capacity hours before the parade even began! 💙🧡
Side note, have you seen the clip of Jon Stewart calling out one of his “Daily Show” writers for having a *prominent* role in the celebrations? It’s very funny. 🎥 Here it is if you haven’t seen it
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Vance defends Trump’s Iran deal Republicans livid over Iran agreement Why Iran MOU benefits Iran — for now Gov’t can’t bar marijuana users from owning guns Best World Cup viral moments Obama’s star-studded Presidential Center opening Why everyone in Trump’s Cabinet is eating sauerkraut
Programming note: The Hill’s 12:30 Report will not publish on Friday for Juneteenth. We will be back on Monday with a recap!
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Vance defends the controversial deal: |
Vice President Vance just fielded questions about President Trump’s controversial peace deal with Iran that many Capitol Hill Republicans are furious about.
If you’re wondering why there is internal opposition to the new deal, keep reading.
💻 Watch the press briefing
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What we learned from Vance: |
Millions of barrels of oil have passed through the strait: Vance announced that 12.5 million barrels of oil flowed through the Strait of Hormuz overnight.
The 60-day clock starts today: “Yes, the deal started yesterday,” Vance said at the briefing. “We’re going to start the 60-day clock today.”
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Iran got a pretty good deal — for now: |
The U.S.-Iran peace deal is in effect after President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed it on Wednesday.
🎥 Trump signing the deal at Versailles
That means Iran will receive an influx of cash — more than $300 billion — to rebuild without having to completely give up its nuclear capacity. The country can also restart its oil exports without sanctions.
In exchange, Iran has agreed not to build nuclear weapons and hand over its enriched uranium, but those details will be hammered out in the next phase of negotiations.
All in all, it’s a pretty good deal for Iran. Now, the tougher phase of negotiations will begin on Friday and last for the next 60 days.
What Iran may have learned from this deal: The Strait of Hormuz is an incredibly powerful leverage point. It controls roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply and shutting it down can cripple the world. News of the preliminary deal sent the stock market soaring and oil prices falling. Gas prices in the U.S. dipped below $4 on Thursday for the first time in months.
First big effect of the deal: Reuters reports that three supertankers sailed through the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. and Iran signed the peace deal.
Related read: The New York Times’s Yeganeh Torbati explains this dynamic well. It’s worth reading: ‘Iran Gets Major Economic Lifeline for Minimal Concessions in Initial Deal’
💬 Follow today’s live blog
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If you thought things were already tense between Trump and Senate Republicans ... hoooooboy: |
Senate Republicans are alarmed and furious about the deal President Trump and his team brokered with Iran.
The concern: 13 American service members were killed and more than $100 billion was spent in the conflict. Some Senate Republicans argue the terms Trump agreed to are not worth the cost to the nation, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports.
Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) statement was *scathing*: “Reagan is rolling over in his grave,” Cassidy began. “Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future. Now, Iran gets to build brand-new infrastructure under this deal.
“Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.”
^ OK, but Cassidy is on bad terms with Trump. Let’s see what Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had to say.
“History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea. I think the president is receiving some very poor advice on this deal,” Cruz said. (Donald Trump Jr. slammed Cruz for this comment, accusing him of “lying thru his teeth.”)
^ OK, well what does the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee think about it?
Last month, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) warned that agreeing to a 60-day ceasefire to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran would be a disaster. When the rumored deal became a reality on Wednesday, Wicker declined to comment. Then today, he released a statement saying , arguing it is “completely out of step with the President’s goals.”
What about Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump’s closest allies in the Senate? Graham acknowledged that Iran probably won’t agree to give up its nuclear enrichment program but argued it’s worth a try.
Read more on the Senate GOP’s alarm with the deal: ‘Senate Republicans raise alarm over Trump’s deal with Iran’
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The Supreme Court sided with a marijuana user over a gun law: |
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled today regularly smoking marijuana is not grounds for criminally prosecuting a man for simply possessing a gun.
Keep in mind: This was the same law that Hunter Biden was prosecuted on until his father, former President Biden, pardoned him.
How broad is this ruling?: Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the opinion on behalf of all nine justices, noted this was a “narrow” ruling, meaning it does not necessarily apply to drug users owning firearms. Read more
Tidbit from the courtroom: “A slight chuckle rippled through the courtroom when Gorsuch noted that, if habitual drunkard laws applied to those who drank regularly, two of America’s founders ‘could have faced trouble.’ John Adams was known to drink ‘a tankard of hard cider’ with his breakfast, and some accounts say James Madison ‘consumed a pint of whiskey daily.’” (From The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld)
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The World Cup really is so great for global morale: |
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Follow Washington closely? Something new is coming
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The Hill Insider launches July 2026. Premium access to the reporting and analysis most readers never see. Be among the first inside.
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Obama got quite the star-studded lineup: |
The Obama Presidential Center is opening to the public on Friday in Chicago!
Ahead of the official opening, there is a dedication ceremony with former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama happening right now. 💻 Watch it live
Former Presidents Joe Biden, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are expected to attend, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. And so are former first ladies Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton and Jill Biden.
OK, listen to this lineup of performers: Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, The Roots, Common, Jennifer Hudson, Marc Anthony, Tems, and U2’s Bono and The Edge will all perform at the ceremony.
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Eating sauerkraut is very trendy in Trump’s Cabinet: |
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Vice President JD Vance are all eating a diet of grassfed meat and heaping piles of fermented foods, like sauerkraut and kimchi, reports The Wall Street Journal.
“Within 30 days I lost 20 pounds,” Kennedy said this week. “JD Vance is also on the diet and you can see how different he looks.”
The doctor behind this new fat is Dr. Sean O’Mara. He says it lowers visceral fat and helps with digestion.
Tidbit: “Vance has stayed committed to the diet, often eating eggs, sauerkraut, pickles, blackberries and raspberries for lunch, and beef or lamb with sauerkraut for dinner. On Air Force Two, he snacks on grass-fed beef jerky, or eats a hamburger with cheese, no bun, and a side of fermented vegetables.”
Read more: ‘Everyone in Trump’s Cabinet Is Eating Sauerkraut’
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The Wall Street Journal: How Hackers Found a Back Door Into the American Living Room
The Atlantic: AI Is Taking Over Hospitals
The Hill: Senate GOP frustrations grow as Trump blocks Republican victories
Washington Monthly: The Power of Vote at Home: Voter turnout in California’s mail-ballot primary was off-the-charts. That’s a far more important story than waiting a week for results.
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The House is out. The Senate is in. President Trump is back at the White House. (All times EDT)
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1:45 p.m. The Senate votes on a confirmation. 📆 Today’s agenda
2 p.m. Trump pre-tapes an interview.
4 p.m. Trump receives an intelligence briefing.
4 p.m. Trump holds a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room.
Friday: Juneteenth
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🍣 Celebrate: Today is International Sushi Day!
🚗 Being in an office may actually be better for your mental health: There are obvious advantages to working from home. Two labor economists published an interesting op-ed in The New York Times about remote work. Read: ‘We Liked Remote Work. Then We Looked at the Data.’
Excerpt: “We started to wonder whether we — along with the roughly 35 million other Americans who work from home — had stepped into an enormous social experiment. Was remote work as liberating as it felt? We searched for answers in troves of data, unsure of what we would find. Surveys of over half a million Americans from the last decade and a half revealed an uncomfortable truth: Despite its advantages, remote work has significantly deepened Americans’ isolation and distress.”
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