(WASHINGTON) -- Vice President JD Vance on Thursday directly contradicted what is in the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran, touting it as a "win-win" and insisting Iran will only reap financial benefits if they "change their behavior."

"They don't get anything unless they change their behavior," Vance said during a briefing at the White House Thursday morning.

That conflicts with what U.S. officials had said was in the MOU, which states that "immediately upon signing," the Treasury Department will allow the export of Iranian crude through waivers -- a financial windfall for Iran, which has faced sanctions for years. Vance digitally signed the MOU with Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf before President Donald Trump physically signed it Wednesday.

ABC News pushed Vance on the financial rewards that Iran is already receiving simply for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. As part of the agreement, the U.S. is removing its naval blockade of Iranian ports, and Iran will allow commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed after the war started, to be restored to pre-war levels. ABC News asked how Iran is allowed to sell their oil freely without making any new concrete nuclear commitments.

"They've made very concrete nuclear commitments. They have committed to the destruction of the highly enriched [uranium] stockpile that they have in their possession," Vance said, adding that lifting the Strait of Hormuz blockade has promoted "the free flow of energy ... across the world."

However, Vance's comments conflict with what the deal says. There is no firm commitment from Iran to get rid of their nuclear stockpile -- just a commitment to negotiate "the disposition" of it over the next 60 days.

Also, allowing Iran to freely sell oil on the global market now is an economic windfall for Iran, which could generate more than $60 billion a year in revenue, experts told the Wall Street Journal.

Furthermore, Vance defended the oil waivers by arguing the U.S. will gain insight into Iran's economy.

"So by lifting the blockade, that's the significant thing that has changed. And by lifting the sanctions, we're actually going to be able to see a little bit where their financial system actually sends money and receives money. That's a real benefit to the American people. And that's really the only thing that has changed by the change in sanctions," Vance said. 

He also repeatedly stressed that U.S. taxpayer money will not flow directly to Iran -- "not a single penny, by the way, from the United States of America under any circumstance." But a final deal could still allow Iran to reap huge financial benefits, including the unfreezing of assets and a $300 billion reconstruction account for Iran -- the details of which will be sorted in the 60-day period.

Pressed on whether Iran can be trusted to change its behavior, Vance asked "isn’t it worth trying?"

Democrats -- and some Republicans -- have expressed concerns about the MOU. Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, said Iran "took Trump to the cleaners" in negotiations over the MOU in remarks on the Senate floor Thursday. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said of the MOU on Thursday: "Iran's left stronger, we're left weaker."

"You know, I've seen skeptics of the deal. People say 'the Iranians will never change their behavior.' Well, maybe that's true. And if so, they don't get any of the benefits of the bargain. But isn't it worth trying? Isn't it worth seeing whether this incredibly weakened position that the president of the United States has put the Iranians under, whether that motivates them to change their behavior, not just vis a vis the West, but vis a vis the Middle East," he said.

Iranian Supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that Iranian officials entered the agreement from a position of strength, portraying the U.S. president as having pushed aggressively for the deal out of desperation.

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(WASHINGTON) -- Janeese Lewis George won the Democratic primary for mayor of Washington, D.C., held earlier this week, according to a projection from the Associated Press on Thursday.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) -- Nayleen Escalante-Villatoro, a sixth grader at Brookland Middle School in Washington, D.C., has struggled significantly with attending school.

She said whenever there are family problems that force her mother to take off work, she has to step in.

"Me and my older sibling stay home to watch the little ones," Nayleen told ABC News, adding, "It makes me feel stressed because I'm missing school and I'm not learning."

This not only frustrates Nayleen, but it also impacts her studies: "I have to do a lot of makeup work after all the missing assignments that I haven't done," she added.

Kids like Nayleen face a multitude of challenges at school -- when they're there.

From the rigors of learning how to read and write to addressing mental health concerns and outside distractions, students juggle more than just their classroom workloads. A combination of these issues and other societal factors has fueled an attendance crisis that's led to a spike in student chronic absenteeism -- defined as missing at least 10% of the school year -- in recent years, according to experts who spoke to ABC News.

While one in three students nationwide experienced chronic absenteeism during the 2021-2022 academic year, the rate is declining, from up to 30% to roughly 24% by the start of the past school year, according to estimates from the Return 2 Learn tracker reviewed by ABC News.

Government officials are also collecting data on K-12 chronic absenteeism but the Department of Education recently told ABC News it couldn't yet provide it. Its National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) told ABC News in 2023 that chronic absenteeism increased from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, there's been no silver bullet to the problem. Different states have taken their own approach, from going door-to-door to check on students to providing high-impact tutoring at school. Education and health experts also emphasize family engagement, community relationships, extracurricular activities and outdoor recreation are potential solutions for chronically absent students.

Hedy Chang, CEO of Attendance Works, a nonprofit focused on addressing absenteeism, said that when kids aren't showing up to school, it's an indication that engagement isn't happening.

"When you treat it as a matter of engagement, that's when we build the relationships with families, which make them trust schools and it builds a relationship so that we can actually find out what are the underlying causes of why kids aren't showing up," Chang told ABC News.

United Family Advocates Executive Director Joanna Lack is calling for more attention to those underlying causes. Lack worked on the issue for many years as the chief performance officer in Camden, New Jersey, and has since transitioned to the non-profit organization dedicated to keeping families safe and together.

"We've been looking at the wrong problem instead of opening up the hood and saying 'What's actually going on here?'" she said.

Home life among 'constellation' of issues

Student absenteeism is often correlated with household or child welfare problems that impact the student's school life, according to UFA's Lack.

"Chronic absenteeism is like the symptom that you experience, but it's not the disease, and we've been treating it like it's the disease," Lack said.

The Department of Health and Human Services does not have a specific initiative targeting chronic absenteeism. However, Head Start and the Family Opportunity, Resilience, Grit, Engagement-Fatherhood (FORGE) program under the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) both aim to improve outcomes in child welfare and enhance early childhood education, according to HHS officials.

Chang said there isn't an urgent need for new federally funded programs or aid, just better use of ones that are available.

"I need existing programs to think about how they use chronic absence data to collaborate and work together to support kids and families and make sure the kids who need their resources, or the schools that need their resources, are getting it," she said.

There's a "constellation" of issues that contribute to increased absences, from child welfare involvement to unstable housing, but Lack noted that families are complex and kids don't come in silos.

Activity makes a 'huge difference'

Nayleen is one of the thousands of students across the country who participate in extracurricular activities through the SCORES program, which creates safe environments where young people can build connections with their communities, according to its website. She said DC SCORES -- which provides soccer, poetry, and service-learning programs -- has helped her return to class more regularly.

She explained that playing soccer with DC SCORES has empowered her and she looks forward to talking to her coach after attending school.

"It helps me because whenever I'm going through stuff he will understand me," she said. "Sometimes he will help me. He will sit down and have a talk with me," she said, adding, "Whenever I'm down, he will ask me if I'm OK."

At the last month's inaugural National Executive Forum on Health and Outdoor Recreation, which combined outdoor recreation industry and health leaders to promote using recreation as a pillar of public health, experts told ABC News that recess makes a "huge difference" for holistic growth in adolescents.

Outdoor Recreation Roundtable President Jessica Turner emphasized that being outside is fundamental to student health.

"We've stepped back so far from incorporating the outdoors into our lives and to step back into it doesn't take very much," Turner told ABC News. "It's not a heavy lift."

Schools supporting parents and kids

Chang, of Attendance Works, said chronic absenteeism isn't inevitable.

She stressed that schools are starting to adopt more effective family engagement strategies for those dealing with attendance issues.

Shavar Jeffries, CEO of the KIPP Foundation, which operates the largest public charter school network in the nation, has utilized some simple yet effective solutions to correct absenteeism.

Jeffries told ABC News that when a student doesn't show up, they call the family "immediately."

"'Johnny, Mary, didn't come to school today. We really need them because they are going to miss an opportunity to learn,'" he said, adding "Then, frankly, sometimes we also say: You got to figure it out."

"Get your baby to school because they can't learn to fulfill that potential if you're not able to do that," Jeffries added.

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(WASHINGTON) -- The Trump administration revealed the list of materials that the National Park Service removed from parks across the country that relate to civil rights, diverse populations, science and the environment.

The list was made public on Wednesday as part of a court filing brought by various organizations. The Interior Department is appealing a federal judge’s order to restore those materials ahead of America 250 celebrations on July 4.

Included in the list are vague descriptions of the materials that were removed and their location. The list, however, does not provide images of the content that NPS found objectionable.

Examples of items that were removed include signs about climate change at parks like Acadia National Park in Maine and Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York; materials involving civil rights at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and at the Medgar and Myrtle Evans Home National Monument in Jackson, Mississippi; materials involving slavery at the President’s House in Philadelphia and materials on women’s rights at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge at the Gateway National Recreation Area in New York.

The list also includes reasons for the removals.

“Disparages Americans past or living” appears to be the reason provided by NPS for the removal of items related to civil rights, diverse communities, slavery and atrocities committed by the United States against Native Americans.

“Unrelated to beauty, abundance and grandeur of the national landscape” was listed as the reason for the removal of items related to science and the environment.

A spokesperson for the Interior Department confirmed to ABC News in a statement that the government is appealing the judge’s order to restore the items.

“We fully believe politically charged language denigrating our Founding Fathers is inappropriate and only further divides Americans,” the spokesperson said. “Through President Trump, we have encouraged Americans to visit our cultural and historic sites and engage in meaningful conversations about the moments that have shaped our country.”

The spokesperson added that the government seeks to “strengthen our shared understanding and ensure that future generations inherit not just the land we love, but the truth of the journey that brought us here.”

ABC News reached out to the Interior Department and NPS for further comment.

U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley ordered the restoration of the materials in a Friday ruling and cast their removal by NPS as “a dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitization.” She ordered the government to restore all items by July 3.

The federal government has filed a motion asking for an emergency stay pending appeal, which would block the restoration as the appeals court considers the case. In the motion, the government argued that the restoration of the materials would cause "irreparable harm.”

In response, Kelley ordered the government to produce the list of changes and the condition of the materials, writing that this information was necessary for her to consider the government’s argument.

The removal of materials, which relate to civil rights, diverse communities, science and the environment, was made in compliance with a March 27, 2025, executive order in which President Donald Trump ordered the Interior Department to remove content that cast the United States’ “founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.”

The complaint filed in February challenges the removal of the materials and was brought by a coalition of organizations committed to preserving history, the parks and the environment.

"National parks belong to the American people and censorship of any kind goes against the values these places represent," said Alan Spears, a senior director " said Alan Spears, a senior director at the National Parks Conservation Association, one of organizations suing NPS. "Americans count on national parks to help us understand our full, rich history. Stories of triumph and tragedy alike deserve to be told out loud at parks."

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(WASHINGTON) -- In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a longstanding federal ban on guns for unlawful users of any controlled substance is unconstitutional as applied to a Texas gun owner who used marijuana several times a week.

The decision set new limits on federal prosecution of gun owners who are targeted simply for having a history of drug use. It was especially welcomed by millions of American cannabis users who have had to disarm or risk up to 15 years behind bars.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the court's opinion that unlawful drug use alone cannot be grounds to seek to send someone to prison and potentially force them to give up firearms for life.

"We do not question that sometimes an individual's unlawful use of marijuana (or any other controlled substance) may render him a danger to others," Gorsuch wrote. "But, again, the government disclaims the need to show anything like that in this case. ... affording the government that kind of broad power to designate any group as dangerous and thereby disqualify its members from having a gun would risk allowing it to quickly swallow the Second Amendment."

The Justice Department has said it prosecutes roughly 300 cases a year in which a violation of the drug-user gun ban is a leading charge. 

Gorsuch said the opinion was narrow and did not disturb other provisions of the law, which includes a ban on guns for drug addicts, ban on guns for people presently intoxicated and prohibition of firearms for those deemed a danger to themselves or others. 

The ruling would not, for example, have prevented the prosecution of Hunter Biden under the law since he was a known and admitted drug addict while in possession of a firearm. 

The decision was most immediately a victory for plaintiff Ali Hemani, a Texas man who admitted to using marijuana "every other day" while keeping a Glock 9mm pistol in his home. He was prosecuted by federal authorities for a single charge of unlawful possession as a drug user but was neither intoxicated nor physically holding the weapon when arrested.

A federal appeals court tossed out the Hemani indictment saying the ban as applied to him was unconstitutional. The justices agreed with that decision. 

While more than 40 states have legalized marijuana in some form, it remains prohibited under federal law.

"Today's unanimous 9-0 decision makes it clear that the government cannot make it crime for people to own a gun, which the Supreme Court has held is a fundamental constitutional right, simply because they use marijuana," said Cecillia Wang, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union.

"With nearly half of Americans reporting marijuana use at some point in their lives, this ruling protects the rights of millions and curbs the government's ability to impose arbitrary and discriminatory penalties," Wang wrote in a statement. "The court has sent a strong message that the government cannot criminalize the conduct of large numbers of people by making categorical and unfounded assumptions about whether they are dangerous."

The decision was also praised by the National Rifle Association as "a major victory for the Second Amendment and peaceable gun owners across America." 

"No one should be deprived of their God-given right to keep and bear arms for engaging in nonviolent conduct, and there is no historical justification for doing so," said NRA-ILA Executive Director John Commerford in a statement to ABC News. 

Gun safety advocates, which had joined the Trump administration in opposing a rollback of the drug-user gun ban, said the bulk of the law remains a robust and "common-sense" public-safety measure. 

"Although the Court said that the particular law at issue in this case cannot be upheld specifically as to the person challenging it, it reaffirmed the ability of legislatures to restrict firearms access by certain categories of people," said Kris Brown, president of Brady, a gun safety group. 

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(WASHINGTON) -- Wednesday's confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton to be the next director of national intelligence has been postponed, according to Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Tom Cotton, after President Donald Trump pushed for it to be canceled.

"It’s regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today," Cotton wrote on X. "Mr. Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president has said repeatedly. While today’s hearing is now unfortunately postponed, I look forward to proceeding with his confirmation in the near future."

Trump, in an early morning social media post, said the confirmation process for Clayton would not continue until his pick to replace Clayton as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, is confirmed.

"Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney," Trump wrote. "In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence."

Cotton, a Republican, at first rebuked Trump's push for a delay, saying the Senate panel would proceed unless Trump specifically directed Clayton not to show or withdrew his nomination altogether.

Trump announced last week he was nominating Clayton to permanently lead ODNI amid backlash from Democrats and Republicans to his appointment of Bill Pulte to be acting director.

Pulte is best known in the Trump administration for launching probes into several of the president's perceived political enemies over allegations of mortgage fraud and possible misuse of authority. Targets of the investigations include Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell. They've all denied wrongdoing.

Pulte's appointment stalled efforts to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- which allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant. The program's legal authorization lapsed over the weekend.

Trump on Wednesday said that he wanted both his SAVE America Act bill and an extension to FISA to now pass together.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber's top Democrat, slammed Trump's latest moves.

"Trump is twisting himself up in knots and jumping through hoops to make it impossible to reauthorize FISA right now, and he is embarrassing his Republican colleagues in the process," Schumer said. "Trump can blame Democrats all he wants, but no one is going to believe him."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, when asked Wednesday about the Senate's path forward on FISA and Clayton's nomination, said they're taking a day-by-day approach.

"All I know is that Chairman Cotton is planning to proceed -- because you all know with the hearing -- and then from there on, we'll have to take it a day at a time until we get more clarity on kind of what the White House position is on this," Thune said.

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(WASHINGTON) -- The National Park Service continued a push Tuesday to eradicate algae from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as tourists and locals gathered to view the green-tinged water.

The Department of Interior has deployed both a hydrogen peroxide treatment and nanobubble ozone technology, a DOI spokesperson said, to rid the pool of algae blooms that have discolored the landmark and marred the rollout of President Donald Trump's renovation project.

Algae bloomed late last week just days after the completion of the renovation, turning the pool from deep blue to green and murky. A DOI spokesperson told CNN in a statement that the algae was "residual" and came from reactivated supply lines.

Workers were spotted dumping hydrogen peroxide into the pool Tuesday morning in videos posted to X.

The nanobubble ozone technology is "actively killing algae" and other contaminants, the spokesperson wrote. The nanobubble process releases tiny gas bubbles filled with ozone into the water, which helps to eliminate algae blooms.

Rangers from the National Park Service were also in place midday Tuesday to continue scraping algae off the bottom of the pool. A tubing system was set up in an apparent effort to siphon contaminated water out of the pool and into storm drains.

The DOI spokesperson wrote that the hydrogen peroxide would have "no harmful side effects to marine life or to the environment."

The water was noticeably cloudy, one Park Service ranger said, due to stirred-up algae that had not yet been extracted from the pool.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told ABC News on Tuesday, "under regular NPS maintenance, a high-tech nanobubble ozone technology will be deployed to kill the algae and keep the Reflecting Pool crystal clear."

Trump has touted the pool renovation in public and on social media. He said in May that the landmark was "going to have the great color," claimed the pool was "filthy" and "dirty" before the updates and criticized his predecessors for failed renovation attempts.

But the plan -- originally an expedited effort to resurface the pool and revamp its filtration in advance of America's 250th birthday -- ballooned into a nearly $15 million endeavor, federal contract records show, and a public headache for the administration.

Employees from Greenwater Services -- an Ohio-based organization that specializes in water purification and the nanobubble technology -- were on site Tuesday and were seen filling plastic water bottles with samples from the pool.

Federal records show the government paid Greenwater $1.7 million in April to install new filtration technology for the Reflecting Pool.

Greenwater directed ABC News to the DOI in response to a request for comment.

Algae has long plagued the 1920s construction -- a broad, shallow pool in which it and Cyanobacteria easily proliferate, especially during warm summer months. Former President Barack Obama made his own attempt at renovations in 2012 when he paid $35 million to construct a plumbing system that pulls water from the Tidal Basin and purifies it in a treatment plant.

Longtime Washington resident Redmond Walsh was biking by the pool on Tuesday and spoke to ABC News. He said he first inspected the pool on Sunday and posted a video of the green algae to X, where it now has 2 million views along with many detractors who claimed that he posted outdated material from 2012.

Walsh was back on Monday and Tuesday to check in on the progress. He said he would post an update to his followers saying that the pool was "getting a little better."

Tourists said they weren't surprised that the algae returned after the renovation.

David Janes, an engineer visiting from Louisville, Kentucky, said he thought the government was "back to square one" and is "going to have to do it all over again."

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(WASHINGTON) -- The Department of Education is expected to announce a major step in the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the agency -- moving special education services and civil rights responsibilities to the departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Justice (DOJ), respectively, according to sources familiar.

The sources told ABC News the HHS is expected to receive the Offices of Special Education Programming (OSEP) and Rehabilitative Services Administration (RSA). The Justice Department will be responsible for the agency’s civil rights oversight. Transferring the offices will impact millions of students and families, including 7 million people who receive around $15 billion in grants through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the law creating free and appropriate education for children with disabilities.

President Donald Trump campaigned in 2024 on closing the agency.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance both signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran, which would cease fighting on all fronts for 60 days and is expected to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all traffic, a senior administration official said Monday.

The official said the signatures were done digitally and that a formal signing will happen in Geneva, Switzerland on Friday.

While the official said the details of the agreement will be released within the next 24 to 48 hours, Trump on Monday said the text of the memorandum of understanding would be released "pretty soon," but sometime after Friday.

"This is a very powerful document, and I want it to be released. So, probably pretty soon," Trump said during a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron shortly after landing in France for the G7.

Trump said "it depends" if he will attend the signing ceremony in Geneva on Friday, but that Vance would be there. 

Senior administration officials on Monday acknowledged there was still significant work to be done during the detailed nuclear negotiations to come, but asserted they now had direct relationships with “a number of people at the highest levels of Iranian government” and had reached “what we believe will be an understanding in the next phase.” 

A senior administration official said the memorandum of understanding "provides for the immediate opening of the Strait of Hormuz," which Iran closed after the war started. The official also emphasized "immediate -- just to be clear here, it takes a little bit of time, because you know you have mines in the strait."

Spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baqaei, said that, according to the MOU, Iran will be responsible to provide "the security and safe traffic of the ships," adding that Tehran will do so in cooperation with Muscat and in consultation with stakeholders.

On Monday, the president said that "the strait is already partially opened" and that it will be fully opened by Friday. They are still working to clear the area of sea mines, he said.

"I think it will adjust very, very quickly, and I think obviously the prioritization will be on the heavy tankers, you know, the gas, the oils. I think that will actually flow very quickly," the official said.

The U.S. blockade of Iranian naval ports will lift as well, but the U.S. Navy warns that it will remain in place until the agreement is formally completed. 

On the topic of tolls, the official said that the MOU ensured the Strait of Hormuz be "toll-free for 60 days," with the expectation that it will become part of the "final agreement as well."

Iranian officials said that a ceasefire in Lebanon is included within the deal. However, Israel's defense minister said after the agreement was announced that Israel does not plan to remove its forces from southern Lebanon.

When pressed about Israel's role in the MOU, one of the senior U.S. administration officials responded, saying that Israel withdrawing from Lebanon was "not a condition of the deal."

"The deal is a ceasefire, and it will not be a one-way ceasefire, meaning that if Iran is not able to control Hezbollah, and if they attack Israeli positions or Israeli towns, Israel will have the right to defend themselves and respond," a senior administration official said.

The senior U.S. administration official said that MOU's outline includes "verifying that [Iran is] not building a nuclear weapon and not funding radicalism and terrorism in the region." In return, the official said it would open up the Iranian economy. 

Iranian officials have long publicly maintained that the country's nuclear program operates only for civilian purposes, although Western officials have said their uranium enrichment has gone beyond what would be needed for civilian use. Iran has also said it does not have ambitions to create nuclear weapons, a claim that American officials have disputed.

The officials also said the MOU does not reduce the U.S. force posture in the region. 

The senior administration official confirmed that so far "zero dollars of unfrozen assets" have been released to Iran at this point. 

The officials made clear that there are not specific things that Iran has to do to receive sanctions relief, but that it’s tied to Iran "behaving more appropriately" in general.

"Their economy is in rough shape, and they need relief badly, and so hopefully we'll find a way to get to a deal quickly, and if not, President Trump has a lot of tools in his arsenal that he'll be able to use," the senior administration official said.

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(NEW YORK) -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday that the Department of Justice is investigating him as well as his wife, and claimed that President Donald Trump is "coming after me because I'm considering running for president."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump arrived in France on Monday to meet with top global superpowers at the annual G7 summit.

Held in Évian-les-Bains, France, from June 15 to 17, this is the president’s fifth time attending the conference in person and comes amid heightened global turmoil, with the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine expected to loom large over the summit’s economic and geopolitical agenda. 

This is the first time the G7 leaders are meeting in-person since the start of the U.S.-Iran war, which has now reached its 15th week and continues to impact the global economy, with increases in fossil fuel and oil and gas prices. The war had caught U.S. allies off guard and some were unwilling to heed the president's requests for help, which has created tensions between Trump and some G7 leaders.

There is expected to be a focus on the Middle East, with Trump scheduled to participate in bilateral meetings with Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, according to a senior administration official.

While the past week saw significant military escalation between the U.S. and Iran, Trump said Sunday that the two countries had reached an agreement that would open the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the global oil supply passes through. 

During the G7 summit last year, Trump left one day early because of the growing conflict between Israel and Iran, and that weekend launched Operation Midnight Hammer against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Like last year, leaders are also looking to secure lasting peace in Ukraine. It has been 4 1/2 years since Russia invaded Ukraine, but the war is escalating, especially with Ukraine’s expansion of long-range drone attacks against Russia. Trump repeatedly promised that he personally could end the Russia-Ukraine war on the first day of his presidency and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues to seek more assistance from allies. 

Zelenskyy will meet with G7 leaders on Tuesday, according to a senior administration official, but there is no one-on-one meeting currently scheduled with Trump. Ukraine was also not listed as one of the U.S. goals for the summit, though the administration emphasizes that resolving the conflict remains one of the president's "top priorities."

The other six countries that comprise the G7 coalition include France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, but leaders of other countries are often also invited to the annual conference, with Zelenskyy reportedly expected to be in attendance. 

During a background call previewing the trip, a senior White House administration official said Trump’s goals include addressing “economic growth and development, supply chain resilience, illegal immigration and artificial intelligence,” in addition to boosting investment partnerships.

Upon assuming his second term, Trump has strained his relationship with the other G7 leaders. In addition to prompting other countries to question his actions in Iran, the president has distanced the U.S. from top allies over his rhetoric towards NATO, his tariffs and his ambitions in acquiring Greenland, to name a few issues. 

The conference was originally scheduled to begin on Sunday. Officials did not comment on whether the president’s birthday plans for that day played a role in shifting the G7 schedule forward.  

On the final day of the summit on Wednesday, Trump is expected to travel to Paris to have dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles before heading back to Washington.

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(NEW YORK) -- Former President Barack Obama is sharing his thoughts on President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran, saying recently that he is skeptical that real progress will be made.

Obama spoke with “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts on Saturday, one day prior to Trump’s announcement that the United States and Iran had reached a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the U.S. naval blockade.

The exact points of the deal remain unclear. A senior administration official told reporters Friday that it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lead to "the dismantling" of Iran's nuclear program and the U.S. getting Iran's highly enriched

The expected deal comes eight years after Trump withdrew the U.S. from a previous nuclear agreement with Iran – led by the Obama administration in 2015 – that Trump described at the time of withdrawal as the “worst deal ever.”

In the interview Saturday, ahead of the new deal being announced, Obama told Roberts that he was “doubtful” any deal with Iran put forward by the Trump administration would be “significantly different” from the 2015 deal that his administration put in place.

"It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place and had worked for, for a long stretch of time before we, the United States, pulled out of it," Obama told Roberts in the interview, which took place at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

Obama also expressed hope that the fighting in the region would come to an end and urged policymakers to prioritize diplomacy over military action.

"I'm hopeful that bombing stops and ordinary people are no longer suffering as a consequence of the war," he continued. "Then in retrospect it's a reminder that on a lot of difficult foreign policy problems -- the notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions -- may sometimes seem appealing, but the fact of the matter is that taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don't solve 100% of the problem but solve 80%, 90% of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war."

"You'd think we would've learned that lesson by now," he continued. "But it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again."

Trump first announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.

After an initial ceasefire and unsuccessful U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan in April, negotiations continued as the ceasefire was extended.

Following Trump’s June 14 announcement on social media that a new deal had been reached, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi confirmed the deal had been finalized and said it would be signed in Switzerland on Friday.

"All of our positions and important issues are included in the draft understanding," Gharibabadi said in a statement to Iranian state media.

Tune into “Good Morning America” on Wednesday, June 17, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on ABC for more of Robin Roberts’ interview with former President Barack Obama.

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(WASHINGTON) -- A federal judge on Friday denied the Department of Justice's request to lift an order requiring the removal of President Donald Trump's name from the Kennedy Center.

The Trump administration still faces a deadline of Friday to remove Trump's name from the building.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) -- As UFC fans descend on Washington, D.C., for Freedom 250 on Sunday and events surrounding it Friday and Saturday, security will also be strict, according to the top Secret Service agent for D.C.

UFC Freedom 250 has been designated a Special Event Assessment Review 1 event, like the Super Bowl, Indianapolis 500, Kentucky Derby and college football games, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Entrance to the South Lawn of the White House, where the UFC Octagon has been erected, is invitation-only for some 4,000 guests. The larger crowd will be watching on The Ellipse, outside the White House grounds.

The UFC Fan Fest and Watch Party on the Ellipse is free, but tickets are required and fans will have to pass through TSA-like screening, according to Tara McLeese, special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Washington Field Office.

"Come early, don't bring large bags, TSA-like security screening," McLeese told ABC News.

Federal law prohibits flying drones in the airspace over the National Capital Region, so McLeese's advice for fans is to "leave their drones at home."

"We will have law enforcement drones for overwatch, but just to make it simple for the public, if they see a drone, we want them to report that," she said.

The fight on the South Lawn and viewing on The Ellipse kick off a summer of events in the nation's capital, many celebrating America's 250th birthday.

"The public safety team here in the Washington, D.C., area is second to none. We have a lot of big events in D.C., and it's very much a collaborative effort, a team effort here in D.C.," McLeese said. The Secret Service is partnering with U.S. Park Police for security.

For the first time, the annual 4th of July fireworks display on the National Mall will be designated a National Special Security Event, with security levels on par with presidential inaugurations. The event is something Secret Service is also "very focused on," McLeese said, adding that people attending the celebration will also have to pass through TSA-like screening.

In years past "you could just walk up and put a lawn chair and a blanket out. That will be different this year," she said. "You won't be able to just show up. There will be specific places, designated places to go through security before you can get on the Mall."

The Secret Service uniformed division and agents have been involved in three shootings in the past two months -- the first at the White House Correspondents' Dinner when a gunman allegedly attempted to get through the screening area with a firearm, the second in which a man allegedly fired on a unformed officer near the Washington Monument and then days later a man allegedly opened fire on uniformed officers over Memorial Day weekend.

"I can tell you that our workforce is training every day, that we are hyper-focused on ensuring that we are ready to respond to any type of threat or attack that comes our way," McLeese said.

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(WASHINGTON) -- The House and Senate on Thursday failed to pass last-minute, short-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire on Friday.

The House failed to pass a three-week extension of the spy program in a 198-218 vote, well short of the two-thirds majority needed. Nineteen House Republicans voted against the bill. Seven House Democrats voted in favor of it.

In the Senate, three separate efforts to unanimously pass short-term extensions of FISA authorities also failed.

The House and Senate are expected to now leave town as it grows increasingly likely that FISA's legal authorization will lapse for the first time in the program's history.

Efforts on Capitol Hill to renew FISA stalled after President Donald Trump tapped Bill Pulte to be acting director of national intelligence. Democrats in the House and Senate are opposed to Pulte, arguing the director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency does not have any national intelligence experience.

Pulte is also known in the Trump administration for launching probes into several of the president's perceived political enemies over allegations of mortgage fraud and possible misuse of authority. Targets of the investigations include Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney GeneralLetitia James, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell. They've all denied wrongdoing.

The Department of Justice had at one point investigated whether Pulte and his team were interfering in ongoing investigations. Pulte has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

"Today, we just offered a simple, clean, three-week extension of the FISA national security law. The Democrats, 199 of them, voted against a clean, three-week extension for political purposes," House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the failed vote. "And when the bill went down, they applauded it."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune led an effort to extend the program for one singular week until Pulte is installed to replace Tulsi Gabbard, who announced last month she was stepping down from the post.

"This is a program that saves American lives. And I have to ask the question: I can't for the life of me figure out why the Democrats continue to support policies that make this country less safe," Thune said.

House Minority Hakeem Jeffries called Thursday's vote a "show vote" from Republicans.

"Bill Pulte has no national security experience, no law enforcement experience and no military experience," Jeffries said. "So, it is highly irresponsible to try to elevate Bill Pulte, as we've made publicly clear repeatedly to Republicans and to the administration."

Speaker Johnson met with Trump twice this week to try to hammer out a FISA deal.

Trump on Wednesday repeated his praise for Pulte, who will take over as intelligence chief for Tulsi Gabbard following her resignation, despite the challenges his temporary appointment presented for FISA.

"He's going to do a good job," Trump told reporters. "He's going to be there for a very short period of time. He will be superseded and replaced by somebody that's going to have the job permanently."

Trump on Thursday afternoon, after the FISA votes failed on Capitol Hill, announced a new permanent pick for director of national intelligence: Jay Clayton.

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(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump announced on Thursday a permanent pick to head the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, after the uproar over his temporary pick risked derailing the renewal of a key surveillance law.

Trump said that he is nominating the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton to head the intelligence agency. 

"I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible," Trump wrote in a social media post.

Trump's announcement comes after both the House and Senate earlier Thursday failed to pass extensions of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire at the end of the day Friday.

The reauthorization of the spy program was muddied by Trump's choice of Bill Pulte to serve as acting director after Tulsi Gabbard announced her resignation. Pulte drew bipartisan concern on Capitol Hill over his lack of previous experience in national security and intelligence. 

ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott asked Trump on Thursday about Pulte continuing to serve as acting director given his lack of intelligence experience.

"He's only there for a little while. He's running it for a short while we get a very talented person, Jay Clayton, in," Trump said in the Oval Office.

Apart from the national security cases he oversaw while serving as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Clayton also lacks experience in intelligence gathering and national security matters. 

Clayton spent the bulk of his career as a corporate attorney, and prior to his appointment as U.S. attorney last year, lacked meaningful experience in criminal matters. 

He has spent the last year overseeing one of the country's highest profile federal prosecutor's offices -- focusing on drugs, gangs, immigration and fraud cases -- and was also tapped to lead an investigation that Trump directly called for into high-profile Democrats such Bill Clinton, Larry Summers and Reid Hoffman's alleged associations with Epstein. Nothing appears to have resulted from that investigation, and earlier this year acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department did not have any active cases into Epstein associates. 

Clayton also oversaw the unsealing of grand jury materials related to Epstein, prompting complaints from victims about the disclosure of their sensitive personal information. The Justice Department's push to unseal those materials resulted in little new information about the investigations into Epstein and was criticized by judges as a largely performative effort while the DOJ refused to release their own materials. 

Clayton's office has brought the first two prosecutions of insider trading on prediction markets, including cases against a special forces soldier and Google employee, putting his office at the center of the debate about how to govern the sites that critics say are rife with insider trading. 

Clayton was never confirmed by the Senate as U.S. attorney, though his nomination was approved by the federal judges in the district and was seen by many as a steady hand to lead the high-profile office. He was, however, the subject of criticism earlier this week when he appeared on CNBC and opined about baseless claims of election fraud in California. 

"There's a great phrase, 'opportunity for fraud,'" Clayton said, criticizing the state's mail-in voting laws.  

Clayton spent most of his career at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, where he represented hedge funds, wealthy investors, large banks and massive corporations such as Deutsche Bank, UBS and Alibaba Group. Clayton represented Goldman Sachs during the 2008 financial crisis and Barclays when it purchased Lehman Brothers' assets out of bankruptcy.

During Trump's first administration, Clayton led the SEC, cracking down on cryptocurrencies and winning $14 billion in monetary remedies, including returning $3.5 billion to investors. While he championed the "long-term interests of the Main Street investor," Clayton also pushed deregulations -- such as removing the requirement that hedge funds publish stock positions and loosening the rules for corporate auditors -- that critics said weakened investor protections. 

While Clayton generally avoided the political spotlight while at the SEC, a June 2020 proposal to nominate Clayton to serve as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York briefly resulted in political turmoil. The sitting U.S. attorney, Geoffrey Berman, refused to leave his post after then-Attorney General Bill Barr announced he would be replaced by Clayton. The standoff was resolved with Berman's deputy taking over the position, and Clayton continued to lead the SEC. 

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(WASHINGTON) -- Soon after President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday that the United States has been secretly ferrying "millions of barrels" of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, Trump announced on social media that "more than 100 MILLION Barrels of Oil" and "more than 200 Commercial Ships" have successfully traveled through the strait.

"Last month, I directed our Great U.S. Military to execute a secret mission to support Oil Tankers and other Commercial Ships through the Strait of Hormuz," Trump wrote on his social media platform.

"Today, I am pleased to announce that this effort has resulted in more than 100 MILLION Barrels of Oil making its way through the Straight, and into the Open Market. More than 200 Commercial Ships have safely traveled through the Strait."

The president referred to it as a "secret mission" that he says was conducted last month amid the ongoing war with Iran, which has led the strait to be closed to regular commercial shipping.

ABC News could not immediately verify the accuracy of Trump's claims and the numbers of oil barrels and ships that he claims have passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

Earlier Wednesday, in the Oval Office, Trump alluded to apparent U.S. operations to stimulate shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, with Trump claiming that the U.S. recently "took" 22 ships, amounting to millions of barrels of oil, through the strait. 

"Do you know, we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knows it. You know who doesn't know about it? Iran, until right now. We took out the other night 22 ships late at night with no lights, because they don't have any radar, because we blasted the crap out of it,” Trump said.

In his post Wednesday afternoon, Trump referred to the alleged operation as a "wildly successful effort" that is due to the U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. 

“This wildly successful effort is because the UNITED STATES of AMERICA CONTROLS the Strait of Hormuz — NOT Iran,” Trump wrote. 

Since last month, there have been reports of the U.S. Navy helping ships navigate through the Strait of Hormuz -- though U.S. officials have said that the efforts have not been a revival of Project Freedom, the short-lived U.S. military initiative to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump announced Project Freedom in early May -- pausing the effort just two days later.

Rather, this most recent effort was a coordination effort where shippers could contact U.S. Central Command and in turn, receive information about where to transit through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a U.S. official.

The coordination effort was first reported by The New York Times.

ABC News confirmed the Times' report that, as of late last month, approximately 70 commercial ships had been guided through the strait. In addition to the U.S. coordinating safe passageways, the Times reported that many of the vessels traveling through the strait had turned off their transponders to "avoid detection."

During the Oval Office event earlier Wednesday afternoon, Trump had also indicated that he was choosing to reveal this "secret" mission now because the Iranians had "figured it out."

"But now I'm going to tell you, because they just figured it out. So now that they figured it out, I can tell you it was very hard for me. I wanted to say it so bad, but it was. I didn't want to ruin it, but it was very hard," Trump said. 

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(WASHINGTON) -- To complete Donald Trump's "Triumphal Arch" by the time he leaves office, the National Park Service plans to have construction take place 20 hours per day over the next two to three years, according to planning documents released by the Department of the Interior. 

The National Park Service last week released designs, renderings and reports related to the planned arch as it seeks public comment about the controversial addition to the D.C. skyline. 

"Because the Arch is intended to celebrate 250 years of American independence. ... smaller heights were not considered representative of this milestone, unlike the 250-foot Arch proposed in the undertaking," one of the reports said about the size of the project.

The project is being challenged in federal court, though lawsuits challenging the arch, and other projects like Trump's White House Ballroom, planned golf course renovations and the repainting and sealing of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool have so far been unsuccessful in stopping work.

Current designs call for the massive arch to be constructed out of concrete and clad with U.S.-sourced granite -- a departure from some of the older D.C. monuments which are constructed from marble or limestone. According to planning documents, construction workers will require multiple cranes up to 320-feet tall -- taller than the U.S. Capitol building -- and other heavy construction equipment, including concrete pumps, forklifts, skid steers and other tools. 

Because the monument will sit near the complicated flight paths for D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), architects included "aviation required safety lighting" into the design of the arch, using the "least intrusive technology available" to minimize light pollution, according to planning documents.

The FAA recently completed a feasibility study about the arch and concluded it would have "no significant adverse effect on airspace and visual/instrument procedures" for the airport and that it would only require red obstruction lights.

"Career safety experts found no adverse impacts to operations at DCA. Their review determined the only requirement would be the top of the structure would need to be lit with red obstruction lights -- a common safety tool," an FAA spokesperson said in a statement, adding that it will next conduct a full aeronautical study with the National Park Service.

According to the documents, the project will include seven phases of construction over a two-to-three-year period. After workers excavate the site, construction would involve about five months of "continuous heavy equipment operations" to drive the foundation system down about 75 feet to bedrock. The NPS report estimated that removing material for the foundation would require about 30 trucks to move 100 loads of soil per day for months. 

Once the foundation is completed, workers plan to spend about 10 months constructing the primary concrete structure of the arch and then affix granite panels to the concrete.  

"Work would occur year-round, with work occurring in two 10-hour shifts per day (20 hours per day, year-round) for the duration of the construction period," a NPS report said. 

Around the same timeframe, construction workers will begin to assemble the inner structure of the arch, including stairs, elevators, roofing, plumbing, and electrical work. After about two years of work, plans call for a 300-foot mobile crane to be used to install a gold statue atop the arch. 

The National Park Service said the construction would likely result in significant traffic disruptions around the Arlington Memorial Bridge. 

The design for the arch has not yet been approved by the National Capital Planning Commission. During a hearing last week, the commission asked the Trump administration to address a series of issues with their design, though Trump falsely claimed the design had been approved. 

A group of Vietnam veterans also sued over the arch earlier this year and are asking a federal judge to block the construction, arguing the arch should be approved by Congress. 

"With every passing day, Defendants' arch moves closer to construction," they wrote in a recent court filing. 

The Trump administration has argued that a 100-year-old statute related to the building of the nearby Arlington Memorial Bridge authorizes construction of the arch. Department of Justice lawyers have also argued that the plaintiffs lack standing and that the lawsuit is premature. 

"Forcing such disclosures of internal deliberations -- before NPS has concluded its decision-making process -- would 'wreak havoc' on the Executive Branch," DOJ lawyers wrote in a court filing. 

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(WASHINGTON) -- Closely watched primaries in four states on Tuesday showed a resounding victory for a Democrat who was facing some controversies but amassed much popular support, the continued strength of President Donald Trump’s endorsement, and set up a key governor’s race in November.

Here are some takeaways from Tuesday's primaries:

Platner triumphant in Maine even amid controversies

Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and military veteran, is slated to take on longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November’s general election for the U.S. Senate in Maine, romping to victory in the primary even amid multiple controversies.

That included a late-breaking controversy from a New York Times report last Thursday that some of the Army veteran's former girlfriends said that his actions could be "intimidating and disturbing."

Platner denied allegations of being physically intimidating towards former partners, and said after the story broke that he had been open to Mainers about his past, and that it had never crossed his mind to drop out of the race.

Tuesday night’s results showed Maine Democrats rallying behind Platner, as he romped to a projected victory in the primary with almost 75% of the vote as of late Tuesday. While Maine Gov. Janet Mills was also on the ballot, she had suspended her campaign weeks ago and appeared on track to get less than a fifth of the vote.

“Over the last nine months I have seen Mainers come together behind a vision to take back our power from corporations and billionaires,” Platner told supporters on Tuesday night.

Platner’s win gives Democrats an everyman candidate who has been able to attract huge crowds and support.

But he and other Democrats now face months of a general election campaign where Republicans say they will bring up Platner's controversies every chance they get, both to strike at Platner and to hound Democrats over supporting someone who the GOP says goes against values Democrats claim to support.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), for instance, shared a digital ad right as polls closed in Maine that called Collins “a senator we can be proud of” and portrayed Platner as out-of-touch and scandal-ridden.

But Platner will have the Democratic establishment backing him, too. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both of New York, wrote on Tuesday night, “Over the past year, we have created a path to win a Democratic Senate majority and put a stop to the chaos and damage of the Trump administration by defeating the Republicans who enable his harmful agenda. … In November, Maine voters will elect Graham Platner, and we will win a Senate majority.”

Trump candidate advances in South Carolina while one who defied him doesn't

Most of the U.S. House and governor candidates Trump endorsed in the 2026 cycle have won their primaries, even when Trump endorsed against established incumbents. In South Carolina’s Republican primary for governor, Trump’s endorsement was again on the ballot, as the president had endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette -- snubbing two U.S. representatives running for the seat, Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman.

And the power of Trump’s endorsement was borne out again, to an extent, as ABC News projected that Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson will advance to a June 23 runoff in the Republican governor's primary.

While Trump’s endorsed candidate did not win outright, that might not be a shock, given the sheer number of prominent candidates running and South Carolina’s runoff rules, in which the top two candidates go to a runoff if no one gets more than half of the vote.

Mace, who overall is a staunch supporter of the president, had voted for the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in defiance of Trump’s wishes. Some observers had seen Trump’s snub of Mace's gubernatorial bid as another example of his political vengeance against lawmakers who opposed him, although Trump did not mention Mace in his endorsement of Evette.

“I voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that,” Mace said during remarks on Tuesday night, where she conceded the gubernatorial race without mentioning Trump.

Evette, on the campaign trail, had promoted her own conservative bona fides and strongly pushed for the state to redraw its congressional districts, a move Republican state legislators ended up rejecting.

A toss-up match set for governor in Nevada

While the candidates who won Nevada’s primaries for governor were not surprising in and of themselves, the results on Tuesday set up what’s likely going to be one of the most closely watched gubernatorial elections this fall.

Republican incumbent Gov. Joe Lombardo, who is running for a second term and has Trump’s endorsement, cruised to a projected victory in his primary, while Democrats nominated Aaron Ford, the state’s Attorney General, as their candidate.

Democrats have said they think Lombardo is the most vulnerable governor up for reelection during the 2026 cycle. They’ve argued that voters impacted by rising prices and Latino voters in the state who are souring on the Trump administration will turn against him.

Republicans, meanwhile, have argued that Lombardo is the best choice to continue leading the Silver State. The Nevada Republican Party wrote in September that Lombardo “has shown he’s a true champion for Nevada families and our conservative values. As Sheriff, he kept our communities safe, and now as Governor, he’s battling against the Democrats’ radical agenda.”

The Cook Political Report rates the seat as “Toss Up,” meaning it could be anyone’s game come November.

ABC News' Jared Kofsky, Clarissa Gonzalez, and Juhi Doshi contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) -- The Justice Department on Tuesday urged a federal judge to reject a lawsuit seeking to stop the White House's Ultimate Fighting Championship event scheduled for this weekend, attacking its plaintiffs as "two people who believe they have superior taste and want to spoil the event for everyone else."

In a filing Tuesday evening, the department argued the lawsuit brought by two Virginia residents lacks any reasonable standing while describing the timing of the filing as "inexcusable" given the event was first announced nearly a year ago.

"It would be easy enough to simply avert their gazes for the weekend.  Instead, they seek to enlist the power of a federal court to impose their idiosyncratic preferences on the rest of the country and ruin an event designed to celebrate the United States of America," the department said. "No one is holding Plaintiffs in a jiu jitsu lock, forcing them to watch UFC Freedom 250 against their will. The public interest does not favor allowing them to exercise a heckler's veto, particularly at this late date."

In a lawsuit filed this weekend, the Public Integrity Project -- representing a political activist and Vietnam veteran -- claimed the event was improperly permitted, skipped an environmental review, and is an extraordinary use of public land to benefit President Donald Trump and his allies.

Calling the event "deeply corrupt," the lawsuit alleged that the Trump administration improperly used a temporary rule for "America 250" to bypass the permitting requirements normally required to host events on National Park Service land. They argue that because the event is being organized by a private entity, not the federal government, and is not explicitly "for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of American Independence," the fight does not qualify for that temporary rule.

In its filing, the Trump administration described the UFC fight as "one of the most highly anticipated events" in a series of others intended to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States, at one point likening it to the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn and the Congressional Picnic.

At the same time, the filing highlights the extraordinary collaboration between the government and the UFC in preparing for the event, citing "well over $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor" that "have been expended" in order to carry it out.

"More than 4,000 spectators are expected to attend on the South Lawn, including more than 1,000 members of our armed services, and more than 120,000 visitors are expected to watch from the nearby Ellipse after winning free tickets in a lottery," the filing said. "Fourteen world-class athletes, who have been training for months, have traveled from all over the world to compete (including for two world championships)."

The filing continued: "All these hopes could be dashed at the very last moment, however, by the whim of two people who believe they have superior taste and want to spoil the event for everyone else."

The government has informed the judge overseeing the case, Amit Mehta, that counsel is available on Thursday in the event he wishes to schedule oral arguments.

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