BONUS: Is there still a granite wall agreement between the US and Israel? Netanyahu visit raises questions

When equipment breaks down and operations come to a halt, every single second counts. So why is your maintenance team spending 60% of their time doing anything but turning wrenches? MaintainX is the AI-powered maintenance and asset management system that helps your team get back to actually fixing breakdowns. No more searching for manuals, no more hunting down parts, no more drowning in paperwork. With MaintainX, your team can access manuals from anywhere, create new procedures and minutes, and turn voice notes into clear and complete work order feedback. What used to take hours now only takes minutes. Keep your operations moving and your wrench is turning. Join over 13,000 maintenance teams that are already fixing more and filing less. Try maintain X for free today. Go to maintainex.com slash AI. That's maintained in the letter X.com slash AI. Summers here, the roads are packed and accidents can happen in an instant. If you've been injured in a car accident, don't get stuck fighting the insurance companies alone. Fight back with one call to Azari Law. Call 888-8-28-Hurt. That's 888-8-28-Hurt. At Azari Law, we've proudly fought for the DMV community for over 15 years. I'm attorney Lauren Kaleckis, born and raised right here in the DMV, and my team and I are ready to fight for you. Injured, don't wait. Don't settle for less than you deserve. With offices in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia, Azari Law is standing by to help accident victims get the justice and compensation they deserve. This summer, Protect yourself and your family by knowing who to call when life takes an unexpected turn. Call 888-8-28-8-28-Hurt, and let Azari Law fight for you. Follow us on social media at azari.law. That's a Z-A-R-I-Law. Nerds! Today's episode is sponsored by NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast. Personal finance can feel like a pop quiz you didn't study for. This podcast is your study guide. On NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast, you'll hear from trusted journalists who explain the why behind major financial decisions. You'll get research-backed insights and clear pros and cons, whether you're planning a big purchase or just want to grow your wealth. Make your next financial move with confidence. Follow NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast on your favorite podcast app. The day's biggest stories, the people behind the headlines, the conversations you won't hear anywhere else. I'm Christy Strasser. You're listening to Odyssey's On Deadline. Remember summer break? Lemonade stands, freewheeling afternoons at the beach. Well, Congress still gets a summer break, although members say they continue to work back in their home districts. But whatever they're doing, President Donald Trump wants them to stop and get back to their offices. Trump demanded that Senate Majority Leader John Thune canceled their August break until senators pass the Save Act, a strict proof of citizenship voting bill that he supports. Critics note that even if they did cancel recess, the bill is controversial enough that Republicans seem to lack the votes to advance it. Here's WWL in New Orleans.

Talking to Todd Bell, Professor, Director of the Political Management Program at George Washington University. Todd, I want to get to the politics behind this. Why is it important that they take this August recess? Right. They traditionally take the August recess to go back home and to be with their constituents and especially to do some campaigning during an election year like now. And it's really hot in D.C. and August, and they just don't want to be there. So traditionally, that's when they take a recess. Is it likely that they still do the same thing? Is there any way they have enough votes to keep the Senate in session? It looks like they have four votes to keep the Senate in session. I don't know that that's going to be enough because we also have Mitch McConnell, who is absent, which changes the ratio you need for a majority. I don't think that they're going to have enough, but they will just take the vote anyway. Usually when they adjourn, they do it by what's called a Senate unanimous consent degree where any one senator can object and usually not to do. And Mike Lee has said he was going to object and force a vote on it. This is just sort of to try to name and shame the senators who won't stay and pursue to say that. Kind of like everybody's stabbing Caesar, right? Well, it kind of is. I mean, everybody's trying to shame each other into doing this and trying to get as much. as they can dirt on each other for the upcoming electoral cycle. We know a lot of this stuff is going to end up in commercials. So is this a problem that needs a solution or not? The amount of illegal voting that actually happens in the United States is incredibly rare, and even very right-wing groups like the Heritage Foundation have found it to be, you know, thousands upon thousands of percent. I mean, they found 99 cases going back all the way to year in 2000, and that's thousands upon thousands of elections. So it's less than, you know, one vote per, you know, ten elections or something like that is infinitesimally small. But there are things, you know, people do worry about people not being eligible to vote. I mean, some Republicans legitimately have this fear. And we have this recent episode in New Jersey where In New Jersey, you can get an ID by not being a legal citizen and you check a box there. And those people were automatically registered to vote. There are about 6,600 of them. And that was a mistake that they're trying to take care of. But there, of course, are penalties for those people if they actually tried to vote. So that is being rectified. But usually, we call it a problem that doesn't necessarily need a solution. Somebody texted in, a couple of people texted and said it's the same. And whenever I get texts from a lot of different people saying the same thing, I've got to believe it's somebody's talking point about it's the same as a library card? No, it's not exactly the same as a library card or some people are trying to say, you know, you have to show your ID to get pasta at Olive Garden and that sort of thing. If you have to register, you have to have your birth certificate and you have to have a passport, which is real high level of identification. To get pasta at Olive Garden? Well, that's where people were saying, you know, if you sign up for the year-long pasta deal or something. But of course, you have to have your ID to do banking, and people say our voting system should be as secure as our financial system. And that's a pretty strong argument. It should at least be as secure as that year-long pasta deal. I'll tell you that. Thank you, Todd. Yeah. You have a good day.

One politician who's not on summer break is Donald Trump. Here's what happened with him and the leaders of Israel and Ukraine this week from K-CBS in the Bay Area. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, visited the White House to meet with President Trump this week. ABC News White House correspondent, Karen Travers. Karen, good morning. Do we know what the three leaders talked about? You know, it was notable to not see them all together yesterday. It was very different than what we're used to at the White House. The president stayed behind closed doors with both Volodymyr Zelensky and Benjamin Netanyahu. They didn't bring in reporters for statements. They didn't bring them in to take some questions. The president afterward posted on social media that it was a good meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, but we didn't hear much from the White House about either meeting beyond saying they were positive and productive. Now, the two leaders came out and spoke about it. They both did interviews with Fox News and we saw some social media posts. Soinsky said that they were focused on what the United States can do to help Ukraine in terms of its air defense systems. And this was something that came up during the NATO summit a couple weeks ago. They talked about the United States giving licenses for the Ukrainians to build their own missile defense systems and also trying to reinvigorate a diplomatic process to end the war with Russia. Volodymyr Zelensky noted that he was very grateful to the United States for what he called firm support. But on the Benjamin Netanyahu meeting, there would be. tensions, of course, going into that. You know, friction in recent weeks over the war with Iran, over Israel's strikes in Lebanon, and how that was complicating matters about reaching a broader deal between the U.S. and Iran. And it was striking to hear the president yesterday in an interview with Fox News pushed back on reports that Benjamin Netanyahu was coming to the White House with new information about Iran's rebuilding of their nuclear capabilities. The president said, He didn't need Benjamin Netanyahu to tell him that. And then he said, he claimed that Benjamin Netanyahu was just trying to keep him engaged in this war with Iran. So that kind of set the stage for what potentially attends meeting, but Benjamin Netanyahu afterwards said it was the best meeting he's had with the president. Yeah, I wonder, are the president and the prime minister on the same page as far as Middle East Iran strategy? You know, they haven't been. And I think that that's an important thing to note. Now, Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday said that people are trying to find cracks in the U.S. Israel Alliance. And he said they're not going to find them. That it's a wall of granite. But he also has indicated he doesn't think that Iran is ready to make a deal. He said he is skeptical about this and that he thinks that, you know, the factions there right now are making this. more complicated, and then that's why no deal has been reached. The president's rhetoric, though, and especially in the last few days, is that Iran is begging to make a deal, that they're very eager to move forward in these negotiations, but important to note that all signs publicly from Iran at this point are not indicating that.

Iran launched some new strikes against U.S. targets and allied targets overnight. The president in the past has not taken kindly to that. Any reaction from the White House on what appears to be a flare-up? Not yet, and that's going to be the big question today of what is the president going to do? Because, of course, late last week, he was considering escalating and launching what he was calling a massive strike, bigger than never before. He held back on that because of concerns about the potential munition stockpiles for air defense systems for U.S. assets and also allies in the region, and also just concerns about escalating things. So things have been quiet. The U.S. had not launched strikes in days against Iran. So this was a surprise attack last night. Jim Jordan says that they intercepted five missiles. They shot down five missiles. But now the question is, how does the president retaliate if he does? And what does this mean for his push, which he has been very clear about in recent days for some sort of diplomatic path forward? Karen, here we are right in the middle of the beginning of the primary. season. I wonder how the ongoing tensions with Iran and the back and forth, the airstrikes, how is that playing in the nation's capital? There are Republicans there who must be a little nervous. They'd probably like for this to go away. Yeah, I think so because I think, of course, the domestic spillover in terms of gas prices, something that they would like to see resolved before the midterm elections. The president was out campaigning on Monday in Michigan. He was talking about this, but he says Americans are behind this effort. And he said, all you have to say is we can't have them, let them have a nuclear weapon. That's the message that needs to be said. And he kind of said it boils down to as simple as that, but certainly that is not the case for many of these Republicans, especially the ones in tough districts, when you have the economic factors that we've seen over the last several months. Here's what else Trump was up to this week from Phil Matier in the Bay Area. Court documents show the Trump administration admits it killed off more than $7.5 billion in grants for clean energy politics over clean energy policies over politics. So Phil, the administration had previously said it cut the grants for business decisions, but what are you hearing? Well, that's what they said in the court filings. What we have here is that, you know, lawyers saying that, yeah, the money was cut in 16 states that all happened to be blue states, democratic states, that all voted for Kamala Harris. And then it was political. Surprise, surprise. The obvious became official in the court documents. Up until then, the Trump administration had been saying, or at least the energy department saying, no, we held off on these some 223 different projects across these states.

because they just weren't working out. It was a nice try, but things like the hydrogen highway, it's just not happening. And the fact the matter is, it isn't happening. Some of these projects have proven to be too expensive. Some of them are unworkable. We were trying to do an experiment with a lot of alternate forms of energy. But yeah, if you're doing hydrogen work in South Carolina, you get your money. If you're in California, you don't. So how can this possibly be justified? I mean, this is quite a brazen admission. Justified. But I mean, it's just, it's, I just want to talk about how brazen of an admission it is. I mean, I don't think it can be justified except for them saying this is how we're going to do things now. Yeah. Well, we're going to be honest about this because, and let's be honest about this. They were put in the bills under the Biden administration in order to enhance those states, okay? They were the pork that was going to those states and other states as well. So there's a question about, oh, what were they doing there to begin with? But it's never sort of admitted, you know, openly. It's very quietly done. Yes, here's your money for your high-speed rail. We know it's going nowhere, and we know it's an embarrassment for your governor. But it's a big project and in the Central Valley and it's creating a lot of jobs. So let's keep it going. What the Trump administration is doing is cutting those funds, but brazenly saying, yeah, it's political. So getting the money is political, not getting the money is political. How do they get away with not giving out the money? It's because Congress approves the spending of the money, but it's up to the president and the various departments to decide when they're going to spend it. And for a lot of things, yeah, they turn around and quietly just kill it. The difference here is that... Up till now, you know, the standards or the moors of the conduct didn't say you openly said it. I don't know if Donald Trump was openly saying this or some of his lawyers just screwed up. But I would bet that if asked straight out, did you do it as a form of revenge? He'd go, yeah. Yeah, probably so. So without in mind, what are the chances of these grants being restored? Are we going to have to wait for a Democratic president? Probably. Probably, I would say that. You know, you can wail against it, but that's not necessarily going to have it take his hand off the tap and open it up and let the money come through. But I would also, you know, if we're going to take a realistic look at this, we're looking at 223 projects spread over 16 states. for a total about $8 billion out of the $16 billion that was set aside for projects like this. So if you divvy that up, it's not a lot of money going to any one thing. And if you know anything about transit is a billion dollars in what it used to be. It doesn't go nearly as far. So this is a statement on both sides. This is, you know, everybody's decrying this is, well, he's saying it's waste that we're taking care of. And yeah, we're stabbing it in the eyes of the, the blue states just like we're sending ice agents in there and everything else. And the other side saying, yeah, this is another proof that he's off the rails, that this is revenge and he's weaponizing political money and budgets. And all of us in between are paying more for gas than we've seen in a long time, stuck on freeways that are backed up and wondering if that high speed rail is ever going to get to San Francisco. That's true. And then meanwhile, it looks like both sides are pointing at each other and saying you're being un-American.

When equipment breaks down and operations come to a halt, every single second counts. So why is your maintenance team spending 60% of their time doing anything but turning wrenches? MaintainX is the AI-powered maintenance and asset management system that helps your team get back to actually fixing breakdowns. No more searching for manuals, no more hunting down parts, no more drowning in paperwork. With MaintainX, your team can access manuals from anywhere, create new procedures and minutes, and turn voice notes into clear and complete work order feedback. What used to take hours now only takes minutes. Keep your operations moving and your wrench is turning. Join over 13,000 maintenance teams that are already fixing more and filing less. Try maintain X for free today. Go to maintainex.com slash AI. That's maintained in the letter X.com slash AI. Summers here, the roads are packed and accidents can happen in an instant. If you've been injured in a car accident, don't get stuck fighting the insurance companies alone. Fight back with one call to Azari Law. Call 888-828-Hurt. That's 888-828-Hurt. At Azari Law, we've proudly fought for the DMV community for over 15 years. I'm attorney Lauren Kaleckis, born and raised right here in the DMV, and my team and I are ready to fight for you. Injured, don't wait. Don't settle for less than you deserve. With offices in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia, Azari Law is standing by to help accident victims get the justice and compensation they deserve. This summer, Protect yourself and your family by knowing who to call when life takes an unexpected turn. Call 888-8-28-8-28-Hurt, and let Azari Law fight for you. Follow us on social media at azari.law. That's a Z-A-R-I-Law. Nerds! Today's episode is sponsored by NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast. Ever Google a money question and end up 12 tabs deep with 12 different answers? This podcast is your shortcut back to clarity. NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast breaks down financial decisions with a team of trusted journalists. They explain the why behind decisions like investing, home buying, and choosing credit cards with clear research-backed insights. No jargon, no misinformation. Make your next financial move with confidence. Follow NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast on your favorite podcast. app. Kentucky Fried Chicken have a rare opportunity to purchase a piece of fast food history day when a Louisville auction house sells off dozens of items that once belonged to Colonel Harlan David Bernie Sanders, ABC's Peter Harlembus, with more. Colonel Bernie Sanders has been the face of the fast food giant for decades. Hey, look there. Didn't I tell you it was figuring a good? And now the public has a chance to buy a piece of his fried chicken empire. Among the items for sale include some of the pressure cookers Bernie Sanders used to refine his frying technique, his iconic bow tie and suspenders, the butcher block and stove from his kitchen, and a planner believed to contain a list of his secret 11 herbs and spices. Online bidding has already begun.

Cash registers were ringing for the colonel. And you know who else had them working overtime? LeBron James. The basketball legend has officially signed with the Philadelphia 76ers agreeing to a stunning two-year, $8 million deal. The 41-year-old superstar chose the Sixers over several other finalists to chase his fifth championship ring. Here's K.Y.W. in Philly. It's Christmas in July for local businesses in Philadelphia. That's John Boyd, principal of the site selection firm, the Boyd Company. They own bizcost.com, which does economic impact projections. And they project the LeBron signing creates an additional $250 to $430 million in revenue. This number reflects increased attendance and higher ticket demand and prices, more luxury suites and premium ticketing sales, longer hotel stays by fans and media. Boyd says the most relevant comparison to draw in the way. wake of King James' arrival goes back to 2023 when Leonel Messi signed with Inter-Miamy. We've seen billions of dollars of new business. activity. The emergence of Miami truly is a global sports powerhouse. And Boyd says the Sixers likely need to make the deep playoff run that's eluded them for a quarter century to reach the high end of that revenue projection. But as far as economics go, LeBron James's fame carries as much weight as Philly's title odds. It brings incalculable branding value to Philadelphia and to the region. It creates new business networking opportunities. Thank you for listening to On Deadline, your radio news from Odyssey. On Deadline is written and produced by me, Christy Strausser, and by Lauren Barry. Subscribe wherever you get podcasts.

When equipment breaks down and operations come to a halt, every single second counts. So why is your maintenance team spending 60% of their time doing anything but turning wrenches? MaintainX is the AI-powered maintenance and asset management system that helps your team get back to actually fixing breakdowns. No more searching for manuals, no more hunting down parts, no more drowning in paperwork. With MaintainX, your team can access manuals from anywhere, create new procedures and minutes, and turn voice notes into clear and complete work order feedback. What used to take hours now only takes minutes. Keep your operations moving and your wrench is turning. Join over 13,000 maintenance teams that are already fixing more and filing less. Try maintain X for free today. Go to maintainex.com slash AI. That's maintained in the letter X.com slash AI. Summers here, the roads are packed and accidents can happen in an instant. If you've been injured in a car accident, don't get stuck fighting the insurance companies alone. Fight back with one call to Azari Law. Call 888-8-28-Hurt. That's 888-8-28-Hurt. At Azari Law, we've proudly fought for the DMV community for over 15 years. I'm attorney Lauren Kaleckis, born and raised right here in the DMV, and my team and I are ready to fight for you. Injured, don't wait. Don't settle for less than you deserve. With offices in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia, Azari Law is standing by to help accident victims get the justice and compensation they deserve. This summer, Protect yourself and your family by knowing who to call when life takes an unexpected turn. Call 888-8-28-8-28-Hurt, and let Azari Law fight for you. Follow us on social media at azari.law. That's a Z-A-R-I-Law. Nerds! Today's episode is sponsored by NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast. Personal finance can feel like a pop quiz you didn't study for. This podcast is your study guide. On NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast, you'll hear from trusted journalists who explain the why behind major financial decisions. You'll get research-backed insights and clear pros and cons, whether you're planning a big purchase or just want to grow your wealth. Make your next financial move with confidence. Follow NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast on your favorite podcast app. Presented by Team Mobile, the official wireless partner of Odyssey Sports. With an awesome network and great savings, there's never been a better time to join Team Mobile. Visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today. Did you know that there are over 200 legends like Andrew Jay Jones, Albert Pujols, Felix Hernandez, and Ken Griffey Jr. in MLB the Show 26? Collect them all and current All-Stars to build your perfect lineup. MLB, the show 26, is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series XS, and Nintendo Switch. Rated E for everyone. Officially licensed by MLB Players Inc.