Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, Kristen Welker looks back at a week that was a mixed bag politically for President Donald Trump. Plus, we dive into the fourth Cabinet official to depart the administration this term.
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— Adam Wollner
Over the past seven days, President Donald Trump has reinforced his sway with Republican primary voters by ousting two veteran lawmakers who have crossed him in the past.
But that success on the campaign trail has not translated to the halls of the Capitol, where the path forward for his legislative agenda appears as tenuous as it’s ever been in his second term.
The president was riding high politically earlier this week after his endorsed candidates defeated Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has broken with the White House on several key issues, and Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial. Seeking to further flex his political muscle, Trump waded into the Texas primary runoff, backing state Attorney General Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn.
These developments, however, have not quelled some of the strongest opposition to Trump from Republicans in Congress to date. After his Tuesday defeat, Cassidy provided a vote to help advance a resolution to end the war with Iran. House Republicans delayed a similar vote after it became clear the resolution would pass.
And resistance from Cassidy and other Republicans to the administration’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and push for $1 billion in funding for security measures related to a new White House ballroom forced the Senate to cancel a vote on a package to fund ICE and the Border Patrol.
It’s an unintended consequence of Trump’s retribution campaign: As he tightens his grip on the party’s base, he’s also stripping incentives for GOP lawmakers he’s opposed to back his agenda.
Still, the fights over these issues have a long way to go. Will Republicans end up getting on board? Or could this be a turning point in their relationship with Trump?
We’ll discuss all this and more on “Meet the Press” this Sunday during my exclusive interview with Massie. I’ll also be joined by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
A spate of redistricting efforts across the South resulted in a series of last-minute voting changes — and left election officials scrambling to deal with the aftermath.
State and local officials say the rush to implement new maps before the midterms threatens to overwhelm their offices and budgets, potentially leading to errors.
▶️ Tune in to Here’s the Scoop’s special Supreme Court Edition, where Senior Legal Correspondent Laura Jarrett goes deep on major cases.
Tulsi Gabbard, the top-ranking U.S. intelligence official, is resigning from her role following her husband’s cancer diagnosis.
“At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” Gabbard wrote in a letter to President Donald Trump, which she posted on X. She said her last day would be June 30.
Trump said on Truth Social that Gabbard has done “an incredible job, and we will miss her,” adding that he had no doubt her husband would “soon be better than ever.”
The background: The former Democratic congresswoman, who broke with her party to endorse Trump for president in 2024, never made it into the president’s inner circle.
Gabbard had clashed with her CIA counterpart, John Ratcliffe, and other administration officials. During pivotal moments as Trump deliberated over possible military action or watched live video feeds of operations in Iran or Venezuela, Gabbard was often not in the room, underscoring her outsider status.
But in the end, she wasn’t ousted like former Attorney General Pam Bondi or former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. She is the fourth Cabinet member — all women — to leave Trump’s administration, including former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who resigned amid an investigation into potential misconduct.
Behind the scenes: There had been speculation for months that Gabbard might be out of a job.
Her less-than-full-throated endorsement of the president’s decision to go to war with Iran, unlike other Cabinet officials, raised fresh questions about whether Trump would keep her — or whether she might resign in protest.
She looked uncomfortable as she fielded questions at congressional intelligence hearings after Joe Kent, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned earlier this year, citing his strong objections to the decision to go to war against Iran despite the absence of an “imminent threat.”
Allies who shared her anti-interventionist views appealed to Gabbard to resign both before and after Kent left, but she declined, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.
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