Vance pushes back on reports that US strikes hit wedding in Iran but says ‘sometimes things happen’ – live | Trump administration

Moments before Vance’s presser ended, the vice president was asked an unexpected question: Did he and Trump know about Milo Yiannopoulos’s deportation?

“So on Milo, I won’t speak for the president, but I found out, I think, like so many others found out.”

“I found out about it publicly,” he also said of the rightwing provocateur’s deportation. “I’m not sure if the president knew about it beforehand, but I’m sure we can follow up with the president and get you an answer to that question.”

Yiannopoulos recently broke his silence about being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Louisiana and deported to the United Kingdom, stating “for the first time I know what it feels like to be really, really terrified”.

During an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Yiannopoulos said it was a “humiliating and disorientating” experience, as well as “physically degrading” and “frightening”.

Yiannopoulos also said he was “ashamed” of his prior support for Trump and the mass deportation agenda.

“I wouldn’t call it a war right now,” Vance said of the ongoing US-Iran conflict. “There is no active shooting.”

“I recognize there is there have been places where this is flared up [but] major combat operations again, major combat operations lasted for about six weeks and since then, we destroyed, of course, their nuclear facilities…”

JD Vance downplayed the disconnect between widespread opposition to data centers and Trump’s artificial intelligence fervor.

Asked if a Democrat-held Congress would disadvantage US AI development, Vance agreed.

He said there’s a “very good chance” that the US could be bested by China in the AI race if Democrats held Congress.

“On the data center question, you asked how do how do you split the difference, or how do you bridge the gap?” Vance said. “The simple answer is the way that you bridge the gap is by following the president of the United States.”

Vance said a lot of data center opposition – which is increasingly a bipartisan sentiment – stemmed from people worrying their neighborhood would get worse, that their power bills would go up. Vance said that Trump has pushed for ratepayer protection and insisted that data centers must return power back into the grid.

“The way to bridge that gap is for people to do what the president United States has enabled. He’s made it easier to build a nuclear power plant, or any other power plant, next to a data center. He’s made it easier for people to put power back into the grid as opposed to take it out.”

The vice president rebuffed Iran’s claims that US strikes hit a wedding party, saying that country’s state-run media has not been a “very good scribe” about covering the conflict.

“I’m extremely skeptical of this. What I can say with 100% confidence is that unlike [Iran], the United States never targets civilians in combat. We never will do that. We never have done that, and unfortunately, obviously, sometimes things happen,” Vance said in a response to a question about Iran’s claim. “But in this particular case, I don’t think that we have any information one way or the other. We’re investigating because obviously we care.”

“We want to know, and if we do make mistakes – again, this is a big difference between us and Iran – when our military makes mistakes, they learn from them to try to get better from them. “So we’re investigating it very quickly.”

Vance also described Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth – whose leadership of the military has come under immense scrutiny – as a “very good friend of mine.”

And, Vance said, “I think he’s an amazing secretary of war. And, you know, fundamentally where I look, there are a lot of issues where I agree with Pete on the issue. Where I’m in the most strident agreement with Pete is that we needed to have a culture shift at the Department of War.”

“What Pete came in wanting to do was revive the warrior spirit in the United States of America,” Vance said.

Vance was asked: Why shouldn’t the American people blame Republicans for inflation?

The vice president started to answer by saying things were worse under Joe Biden – and that higher prices during that administration set the stage for “damage” that Donald Trump is trying to reverse.

“When prices get baked in like that, it takes a little bit of time for us to undo some of the damage,” Vance said.

“My point is that because America’s inflation problem wasn’t created in a day, it was created by very bad policies in the Biden administration, trillions of dollars of new spending that was going more to fraudsters than it was to the American people,” he also claimed. “It takes a little bit of time to rebuild the foundation of America’s middle class economy.”

JD Vance claimed during his presser that agreements to develop oil in Venezuela would be used to bolster the US’s strategic petroleum reserve and lower gas prices.

“Now we’re using, of course, the successful Venezuela operation and some of the friendships and some of the relationships that developed in the wake of that operation, to create what is effectively a new 65 billion barrel of oil reserve for the United States of America,” Vance said. “The way that that’s going to work is that private companies, American companies, can go in there, generate a lot of oil revenue.”

“That’s going to mean world oil markets get only more suppl[y], that will lower costs for Americans,” Vance claimed, also saying, “It’s good for Venezuelans, it’s good for anybody who’s buying gas, and it’s good for the American taxpayer as well.”

Vance’s announcement about the oil reserve comes before a round of midterm elections where Democrats have hammered Republicans on increased cost-of-living – including gas prices.

Vice President JD Vance has just started his press conference at the White House.

The Pentagon has stepped back from its recently posted clinical guidelines for its new, mandatory testosterone deficiency testing policy for US armed service members age 30 and above, Reuters reported Thursday.

The Pentagon published a “Clinical ⁠Guidance for Health ​and Human Performance Optimization” Wednesday on its website. But by Thursday, Reuters said, this memorandum and a press statement were taken down.

“The draft (document) published on September 2, 2026, has been temporarily rescinded to allow for updates,” an official told Reuters, saying temporary guidance was still in effect.

The testosterone deficiency testing guidelines set forth different assessment paths for men and women that are supposed to take place during yearly health checks.

This guidance was poised to start right away. The Pentagon has claimed this testing was intended on strengthening military readiness by mitigating potential hormone problems and associated symptoms such as low energy.

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth announced the new testosterone deficiency screening program in July. In a video to X, Hegseth said he wanted to make sure service members had “the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best.”

“As we know, the modern battlefield is brutal and unrelenting,” Hegseth also said. “It requires and demands maximum psychological and mental readiness, and by addressing these health markers early, we’re keeping you on the leading edge of lethality, and giving you the same level of support that you give this nation – the absolute best.”

Those with low testosterone–a condition which has become a frequent topic of conversation in conservative circles–can get treatment for “restoring and optimizing”, Hegseth said. This treatment would be voluntary.

Vermont Sen Bernie Sanders and Rep Greg Casar on Thursday pushed for a prohibition on artificial super-intelligence following a spate of incidents where AI models went rogue.

“That incident is a wake-up call for the Congress and the American people in that we have got to act and act now before it’s too late,“ Sanders told The Washington Post. “I understand that people will call me a Luddite, they will call me an alarmist, but I would rather be called an alarmist than somebody who fell asleep at the switch.”

Sanders, an independent, and Casar, a Democrat, said they plan on introducing proposed legislation to monitor advanced AI system development. The bill would put this development on hold until there is a new government agency that would oversee safety monitoring, per The Post.

“If we allow artificial superintelligence to be built it could risk the security freedom and lives of Americans,” Casar told the newspaper. “We need to ban the development of superintelligence so we never get to the place where there are machines that go beyond humans’ ability to shut them down.”

Donald Trump is once again attacking news outlets reporting on the US war with Iran, this time targeting journalists who are reporting on the strains to US ammunition stockpiles.

He referred to these media outlets as “treasonous SCUM” in a Truth Social post, and accused the media of prefering to see Washington lose its war with Iran rather than “see me WIN!”

“The people and Media Outlets that keep harping on the fact that we have no ammunition (And they are 100% wrong!), are actually treasonous. They do it because they would rather see the United States LOSE a War that we’re easily WINNING, than see me WIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” the president wrote.

Trump wrote in another post minutes later: “For the treasonous SCUM that refuses to accurately report on our Military Operation in Iran, we have virtually unlimited amounts of Mid to High Grade Ammunition, far more than we could ever use for this, or for any other War (which is highly unlikely!), that could improbably take place.”

Several news outlets have reported on the US-Israeli operation depleting US munitions stockpiles, prompting retaliatory Iranian strikes that have wrecked strategic bases across the Middle East. The war has also severely strained budgets across the military.

The US House of Representatives passed a Republican-backed bill that would penalize universities that participate in boycotts of Israel, or attempt to prevent students from taking part in exchange programs with the country.

The Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act passed by a 237-169 vote, with 33 Democrats breaking with the rest of their party to vote in favor, and only two Republicans opposed. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.

The measure would require that colleges and universities who participate in federal student aid programs not participate in boycotts of Israel and also mandates that institutions receiving federal funding for international study and foreign language programs certify annually that they do not impose restrictions on their students participating in programs in Israel, or on students from Israel participating in programs on their campuses.

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• Democrat representative Robert Garcia called for Leon Black to be held in contempt after the billionaire investor did not show up for a scheduled deposition about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

• Republican oversight chair James Comer has also weighed in on Black not sitting for a deposition about his ties to Epstein, saying “It’s a shame Leon Black is hiding behind litigation rather than provide answers to the American people.”

• Black, who has denied wrongdoing, filed suit against the oversight committee Thursday alleging the subpoenas were improper. “This is no longer about finding the truth about Epstein. It is about trying to destroy Mr. Black,” his lawyers said in a statement about the lawsuit.

• Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick erroneously claimed no Americans have died during the US war on Iran during a CNBC interview, leaving Donald Trump to do his version of damage control. Trump said on Truth Social this morning that 18 people were killed in Iran.

• A US federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a new executive order limiting who qualifies for birthright citizenship. The move thwarts Trump’s latest attempt to restrict the constitutional right.

• An army of attorneys is rallying to free hundreds of children from immigration custody, where they have been stranded indefinitely by the Trump administration without their parents or loved ones, the Guardian reported earlier.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is continuing to fight the US trade war with Canada on Truth Social.

“It is very good for Canadian Politicians like Prime Minister Carney to make President Donald J. Trump ‘the enemy,’ until their Economy collapses, then it will prove to be very bad for Politics — Worse than anything that has ever happened to a Canadian Politician,” he said in a post Thursday morning. “Just watch! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

Trump’s latest statement comes as the trade dispute is poised to worsen with Canada vowing retaliatory tariffs starting 8 September after the US president imposed 50% tariffs on some $20bn of Canadian goods.

Carney has rebuffed Trump’s complaints and said earlier this week that his administration needed to “start being serious.”

“When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions” about trade, Carney had said.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s apparent misstatements during a CNBC interview on Wednesday didn’t just involve Iran war-related deaths – he also claimed data centers don’t use water.

“One of my favorite things is when people talk about data centers using water. The No 1 product in America that uses water is cattle,” he said, according to a writeup of his interview on The Hill.

“I mean, data centers don’t use water,” Lutnick also said. “This is propaganda by our adversaries to try to slow us down.”

Citing a 2024 report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, The Hill said that data centers used 66bn liters of water in 2023. This report predicts that hyperscalers themselves could use 60bn and 124bn liters come 2028.

Lutnick’s statement is amid growing backlash against datacenters that has brought together people from across the political spectrum. Donald Trump has criticized data center opposition, saying “The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor.”

“If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”

A federal judge in Boston is considering whether to continue her ban on Donald Trump’s proposed federal oversight of mail-in ballots.

Boston federal court Judge Indira Talwani said Thursday that the US Postal Service had not provided her information about how it would carry out a plan to regulate mail-in ballots for midterms, per the Associated Press.

“We are 70 days from the election and I have nothing from the USPS about how this will happen,” Talwani reportedly told Justice Department lawyer Michael Velchik.

Talwani’s comment comes several days after a whistleblower alleged that the US Postal System’s mail-in ballot screening was tossed together so quickly that just one scanning glitch could disqualify batches of ballots.

Trump signed an executive order in March tightening federal control over mail-in voting, ordering the postal service to ballots against a federally approved voter roll before sending them. This order marks a shift from the postal service’s traditional role of delivering ballots provided by the state.

Talwani last week set a 14-day temporary restraining order to prevent this system from being implemented. In June, Talwani barred the Trump administration from using the system before the midterm election.

The US Supreme Court in late August rejected Talwani’s June order, saying it was premature, AP explained.

Hillary Clinton said that she’s “heartsick” over the death of women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem.

“I’m hoping that young women realize that the fight is worth it. It is exhilarating,” the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate said Thursday on CBS Mornings.

Describing Steinem, 92, as “one of the architects of the entire structure of women’s equality,” Clinton recalled that “I think back to my first awareness of Gloria way back in the 1960s into the ‘70s, when all of a sudden this incredibly smart, beautiful, talented woman began talking about how women should have equal opportunity, how we should aim for the stars, be able to pursue our own dreams.”

The former US Secretary of State also described how Steinem’s Ms Magazine provided many women their first chance to “read articles about the status of women, to understand what the restrictions were.”

Jill Biden also weighed in on Steinem’s passing. “Gloria Steinem understood that women’s equality begins with the freedom to make decisions about our own bodies, health, and futures,” Jill Biden said, according to the Associated Press. “For decades, she fought to make that freedom real for generations of women and girls. She spoke up when it was difficult, listened to those whose voices too often went unheard, and never stopped pushing our country forward.”

“Joe and I are holding Gloria’s loved ones in our hearts today. Her voice changed our country, and her courage will continue to inspire us to keep fighting for the freedoms she spent her life defending.”

This is just in from Politico: GOP leaders are poised to announce that the last two weeks of this House session are canceled.

House members are expected to leave Washington by 17 September and “not return until mid-November”, per Politico. This means they would come back after midterm elections.

The House will work for one more week following this coming week’s Labor Day holiday, Politico said.

They are expected to announce this cancelation on Thursday.

As Republicans hold out hope that Donald Trump will distribute some of his $400m political war chest for the midterm elections, the President announced that he would campaign for GOP candidates in dozens of contests, NBC News reported

“I’m going to take the final 30 days, and maybe a little bit more than that, because it’s all about 35 races,” Trump said during a White House dinner with GOP legislators. “I’m going to go to every one of those 35 places, and we’re going to see if we can get everyone elected.”

Trump said that he would travel support Sen Dan Sullivan’s re-election campaign in Alaska as well as Texas attorney general Ken Paxton’s Senate bid, per NBC News.

The president said he would not travel for races that seem like slam-dunks for the GOP.

“If you’re leading by 40 points and you’ve been there for 25 years,” Trump reportedly said, “please don’t ask me to come to your area and make a speech, right?”