Dr. Heidi Overton, a top White House aide, has been picked to lead the Food and Drug Administration, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday. Overton is a medical doctor and deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council who has worked on several of Trump's second-term health initiatives. She has become a trusted administration figure and a champion of the Republican president's goals.
If confirmed by the Senate, Overton will have to balance a raft of competing priorities, including Trump's fixations, the anti-regulatory interests of traditional Republicans and the anti-corporate posture of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Those challenges dogged the tenure of the previous FDA head, Dr. Marty Makary, who resigned in May.
Trump said he's delaying the 50% U.S. tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports. The countries reached a deal less than two hours before the sanctions were to go into effect on Tuesday, buying time for more negotiations and avoiding, for now, another strain in already tense relations.
As the long, contentious primary season nears its end, Democratic voters elevated another progressive Senate candidate in Florida, while Trump's chosen candidate in his adopted home state, Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, won the nomination to be the state's first Black governor.
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Trump hosts crypto leaders
The president is holding court on Wednesday with several cryptocurrency and finance leaders for an event on digital assets.
The meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House coincides with one held by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Innovation Advisory Committee, which focuses on matters of technology and finance.
The president kicked off the meeting by listing his administration’s accomplishments on the issue.
“We’re ensuring that America remains the undisputed leader, not only in Bitcoin and crypto but also technologies like prediction markets, artificial intelligence, and much more,” Trump said.
An alarmed bond market gets the Trump administration to act again
Normally quiet, the bond market can occasionally send warning signals loud enough to hit stock markets worldwide and even grab the attention of U.S. presidents and other world leaders.
After the bond market’s alarm bells rose in volume throughout the summer in the form of higher yields, the Trump administration announced on Wednesday a move that could help calm it down.
The U.S. Treasury Department said it will more than double the amount of U.S. government bonds it will buy back. And the move worked to lower longer-term yields, for now at least.
The stakes are high because high yields drag on economies and bring downward pressure on stock markets.
Trump’s White House renovations don’t stop at driveway’s edge
Trump’s construction tour also revealed that he has replaced the walkway from the diplomatic entrance to the White House and a connecting portion of the asphalt driveway around the South Lawn with white granite.
He asserted that asphalt is “not appropriate for a great house, or a great place like the White House.”
“One thing I know how to do is build,” Trump said.
Clinton’s birthday expands the octogenarian president’s club
Clinton was the last of three Baby Boomer presidents born within 66 days of each other in 1946. But he was the first to reach the Oval Office, elected in 1992 at the age of 46.
Trump turned 80 on June 14, followed by George W. Bush on July 6. Joe Biden, the only president from the Silent Generation, is 83.
It’s the oldest group of living U.S. presidents ever, with Barack Obama as the only one under 80 — and even the 44th president has reached Medicare eligibility age. He turned 65 earlier this month.
Clinton has slowed down in recent years, more than a decade after major heart surgery that led him to adopt a mostly vegan diet.
At the 2024 Democratic convention, he told delegates, “I have no idea how many more of these I’ll be able to come to.”
Bill Clinton gets birthday wishes as he turns 80
The 42nd president is celebrating a milestone birthday Wednesday.
Hillary Clinton, the former presidential nominee, secretary of state and first lady, led birthday greetings for her husband.
“Happy birthday, dear Bill. Eighty years in to your extraordinary life, I feel very lucky to have spent over 50 of them with you,” she posted on social media. “Here’s to more dancing, talking, and laughing together in the years to come.”
The George and Barbara Bush Foundation noted Clinton and former President George H.W. Bush’s “meaningful friendship … built after their time in office — a friendship grounded in mutual respect, service and a shared commitment to helping others.”
Clinton defeated the elder Bush in 1992 but came to see him as a mentor and sort of father figure. Bush died in 2018.
‘No serious dispute’ that Comey’s seashell post could be read as a Trump threat, prosecutors say
The Justice Department is defending its prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey and says there's "no serious dispute" that a social media post of seashells he made could be understood as a threat against Trump.
Prosecutors also called into question late Tuesday Comey's account that he found the seashells in the numerical arrangement "86 47" while walking on a North Carolina beach. Trump is the 47th president.
Prosecutors say Comey intended a physical threat or knew that the number 86 could suggest violence. Comey’s legal team calls it a vindictive prosecution and says Comey’s post didn’t amount to a true threat.
Trump picks Dr. Heidi Overton, a top White House aide, to lead FDA
Overton is a deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and a trusted figure in the administration. She has worked on several of Trump’s health initiatives.
But the new Food and Drug Administration commissioner will face challenges balancing Trump's priorities, traditional Republican interests, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s anti-corporate stance. Overton will need Senate confirmation and face questions from the Senate health committee.
The previous FDA head, Dr. Marty Makary, resigned in May, leaving unfinished projects like work on ultra-processed foods, antidepressants, and COVID-19 shots.
Referring to a "Dr. Heidi" in a Truth Social post, Trump called Overton a smart and respected "rockstar" who would deliver on his priorities of faster cures, innovation, lower drug prices and more wins for Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement.
Trump walks and waxes on white granite and grass
It was planned as a private event, but the president decided otherwise. He wanted the reporters to see him sign a massive stone, which would become part of the new helipad under construction.
So, a gaggle of reporters tailed Trump outside the White House as he noted the prior state of disrepair and now, “look at the columns, how perfect they are.” As for the grass, which he said, “has life like humans have life,” it will now “look so beautiful.” And the white granite, which is a “powerful stone” that “you’ll never see a crack in.”
Trump came to a stop, flanked by construction workers in hi-vis vests, hard hats, and sunglasses, who stood silently as the president complimented them and answered a few questions from reporters about the day’s news. The president signed the stone in sweeping strokes.
“I hope you liked it,” he told the assembled reporters.
Trump says underground portion of ballroom will be 5 stories deep
Trump complained that the lawsuit against his White House ballroom was “very unfortunate” because the filings in the case have made public details that might have been kept secret.
But Trump has also been talking about components of the portion of the ballroom that will be underground. And he has taken to referring to the structure as a “military complex” instead of a ballroom.
Trump said during the press tour that the part of the ballroom will be five stories deep underground. The precise depth of some structures, like the ballroom, is usually treated as a closely guarded secret.
Trump said he may reopen negotiations with Iran ‘at some point’
When asked by a reporter at the White House on Wednesday when he would plan to resume talks with Iran, Trump said, “Right now, I think the situation is so good, but maybe at some point.”
He reiterated that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon but didn’t offer any other details on his thinking.
Trump says he’s going to meet with North Korea’s leader
“Yeah, I will be,” Trump said to reporters on Wednesday when asked if he will meet with Kim Jong Un this year.
The president wouldn’t answer a question about whether he is exchanging letters with Kim but said he gets along with him.
Trump didn’t include any other details about a potential meeting.
He met with Kim several times during his first term and said that they “fell in love” while exchanging letters that he described as “excellent” and “beautiful.”
Over the weekend, he called for the Pentagon to scale back annual joint
Trump praises deal to stave off Canada tariffs
The U.S. president, after last-minute negotiations with the Canadian government, said the talks yielded a “very fair deal for both” sides.
“Our farmers are going to be thrilled, our manufacturers are going to be thrilled,” Trump said in an impromptu gaggle during a tour of South Lawn construction.
Trump noted that the agreement is all subject to the “finalization of documents” and that the tariffs, scheduled to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, were paused for three days to allow for that.
Trump also said he had a “very good conversation” with Carney, with whom he has clashed in the past.
Trump hopes Supreme Court sides with him on White House ballroom
Trump said, “I can’t imagine” the high court would rule against the ballroom he’s building after he was asked about a continuing court fight to block it.
Trump criticized the lawsuit filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which seeks to halt construction until Congress approves the project.
A federal appeals court panel ruled Trump doesn’t have the unilateral authority to build the ballroom and that the work should be halted until Congress can weigh in.
The Trump administration argues that previous presidents made changes to the historic property and that Trump doesn’t need permission from Congress.
The Supreme Court has not yet announced whether it will hear the president’s appeal.
“Hopefully we’ll do very well,” with the justices, Trump said.
Norman says Senate no place for ‘training on the job’ after Graham’s misstep
Asked by reporters to respond to Graham’s stumble over the South China Sea question, Rep. Ralph Norman — her opponent in next week’s GOP runoff — said her lack of experience was apparent.
“You need to get fully versed in what issues you’re going to be dealing with,” he said.
Graham said “I’m not that informed on national security” — one of her late brother Lindsey Graham’s signature issues — when asked a question about Taiwan in their debate on Tuesday.
Asked afterward if she wanted to try again, she doubled down, saying she’s more focused on South Carolinians’ everyday concerns.
“They’re worried about their pocketbooks more than they’re worried about the South China Sea, quite honestly,” Graham said. “So that’s going to be my biggest focus.”
Trump takes the press on a tour of helipad
The White House suddenly summoned the press corps Wednesday morning for a surprise look at the helipad being constructed on the South Lawn.
“We are building a great heliport,” Trump said.
The president showed off the “flawless granite” and boasted of his construction and real estate acumen.
Construction continues on a helipad on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The helipad has been under construction for several weeks. It is being built because the new helicopters used as Marine One are so powerful that they can rip out the grass.
The president showed off the landing pad around the same that he was supposed to have a “policy meeting,” according to the schedule released by the White House.
Israel strikes on Gaza cast more doubt on ceasefire progress
Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 17 more people since Jared Kushner reportedly asked Israel to draw down its attacks in Gaza, casting doubt on new U.S. peace efforts.
Israel's military said Wednesday's strikes targeted a Hamas commander in Nuseirat who participated in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people and another planning to attack Israeli troops. Palestinians said one person was killed in Nuseirat and at least nine in the strike on a Gaza City police station.
Israel's military said Tuesday's strike targeted a meeting of four Hamas commanders and additional militants, including one who participated in the 2023 attack. That strike, on a busy seaside cafe, killed seven Palestinians, including a child, according to hospitals, the Palestinian Red Crescent and Gaza's Health Ministry.
More than 73,400 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, including at least 1,273 people killed by Israel since the October ceasefire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Trump calls Alex Vindman’s loss ‘the most gratifying’ of Tuesday’s primary results
That’s because the retired Army lieutenant colonel and former National Security Council staffer had delivered searing testimony against Trump during the president’s 2019 impeachment trial.
Vindman had testified about a telephone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
In a social media post, Trump disparaged Vindman as a “real treasonous creep.”
Vindman lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Florida to progressive state lawmaker Angie Nixon. Trump predicted she will lose the general election to Republican Sen. Ashley Moody.
Democrats file Supreme Court brief to stop Trump’s ballroom
More than a dozen senators and representatives signed onto the amicus brief challenging what they said is Trump’s illegal demolition of the White House East Wing and plans to build a new ballroom without congressional authorization.
“The Constitution deems Congress the landlord of the White House and all federal property — presidents are only temporary tenants in the People’s House,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
He said Trump’s “ballroom stunt is plainly illegal, and the Supreme Court should put a stop to it.”
“Congress has not provided funding or authorization for Trump’s ridiculous vanity project, making this project an unconstitutional abuse of power,” said Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. “We will continue fighting to stop this illegal use of taxpayer dollars.”
The administration has appealed challenges to the ballroom project to the Supreme Court.
North Korea shrugs off Trump’s scaled-back drills with South Korea
North Korea says a U.S. decision to scale back military exercises with South Korea doesn’t change anything.
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made the comments Wednesday night in her country’s first reaction to Trump’s drastic reduction of the annual U.S.-South Korean military drills.
Kim Yo Jong says it’s not even worth commenting on Trump’s move and that she has no interest in the matter.
She said “the provocative, aggressive nature” of the U.S.-South Korean drills won’t change even though their duration and size have been reduced.
Trump says he told Mills to end reelection bid
The president, who prides himself as the GOP’s political kingmaker, said Wednesday that he had asked scandal-plagued Rep. Cory Mills to abandon his reelection attempt.
But “he wouldn’t listen,” Trump said in a social media post. “He thought he could win, so who can blame him?”
Mills lost the support of Gov. Ron DeSantis and other top Florida Republicans amid allegations of domestic violence against a former girlfriend, which Mills denied.
Trump had backed Mills earlier this year, but Mills was conspicuously missing when the president’s social media account re-upped his endorsements ahead of Tuesday’s primaries. Republicans nominated former television correspondent Ryan Elijah instead.
“We now have a great candidate, Ryan Elijah, running in his place!” Trump wrote. “Ryan stands for EVERYTHING MAGA, and is respected by ALL. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
Americans have elected just 3 Black governors. That could change this year
Across 250 years, only three of the thousands of elected U.S. governors have been Black — all of them Democrats and men, including current Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.
With Florida Republicans nominating U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds on Tuesday, there are now seven Black major party gubernatorial nominees in addition to Moore — men and women, Democrats and Republicans — on November ballots.
"We do have a unique moment here," said Moore, who chairs the National Governors Association.
The Black nominees typically emphasize their experience and policy proposals, not the history at stake.
“Florida is a great meritocracy in America,” Donalds told reporters after not mentioning his race at all in his Tuesday night victory speech. “I’ll let you guys write about that.”
The other nominees are Republicans Lisa Demuth in Minnesota and John James in Michigan; and Democrats Aaron Ford in Nevada, Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, Jermaine Johnson in South Carolina and David Crowley in Wisconsin.
Sen. Darline Graham in debate: ‘I’m not that informed on national security’
The recently appointed senator stumbled over a foreign policy question in a debate Tuesday night as she competes in next week’s Republican primary runoff in South Carolina.
“Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States and if so, why or how?” a moderator asked.
Graham started her answer by saying, “I’m just going to be honest here.”
“I’m not a polished politician up here, national security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military,” she said moments later.
Graham's brother, Lindsey, died unexpectedly on July 11. She was appointed to fill his seat temporarily and Trump has endorsed her against Rep. Ralph Norman in the special election for her own term.
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