{"id":200056,"date":"2026-02-11T20:41:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T20:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/netanyahu-to-push-trump-to-take-tough-iran-stance-during-white-house-visit-us-politics-live-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T20:41:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T20:41:03","slug":"netanyahu-to-push-trump-to-take-tough-iran-stance-during-white-house-visit-us-politics-live-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/netanyahu-to-push-trump-to-take-tough-iran-stance-during-white-house-visit-us-politics-live-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu to push Trump to take tough Iran stance during White House visit \u2013 US politics live – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

US attorney general Pam Bondi and veteran affairs secretary Doug Collins clash with House Democrats; Trump hosts Netanyahu amid Iran tensions
Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>, are meeting at the White House on Wednesday, with Iran and Gaza on the agenda. Netanyahu is expected to press Trump for limits on Tehran\u2019s missile arsenal and other security threats, while Trump looking to push the ceasefire agreement he brokered last year.
This is the seventh meeting between the two since Trump\u2019s re-election, according to Reuters.
The meeting is an opportunity for Netanyahu to influence the next round of US discussions with Iran<\/a> after nuclear negotiations held in Oman last Friday. Trump has threatened strikes on Iran if no agreement is reached, while Tehran has vowed to retaliate, stoking fears of a wider war. Trump told Fox Business on Tuesday that a good deal with Iran would mean \u201cno nuclear weapons, no missiles\u201d, without elaborating. He also told Axios he was considering sending a second aircraft carrier strike group as part of a major US buildup near Iran.
\u201cI will present to the president our perceptions of the principles in the negotiations,\u201d Netanyahu told reporters before departing for the US. The two leaders could also discuss potential military action if diplomacy with Iran fails, one source said.
Pam Bondi has left a House judiciary committee hearing after more than five hours.
During the hearing, Bondi answered questions from lawmakers about the Epstein files and the justice department\u2019s ongoing prosecution of anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota. She shook hands with Republican legislators before leaving the hearing room.
All of the survivors currently attending the House judiciary committee hearing on the Epstein <\/strong>files<\/strong> raised their hands when congressman Dan Goldman<\/strong> asked if they had tried to speak with the justice department but not received a response.
Goldman criticized attorney general Pam Bondi\u2019s<\/strong> justice department, pointing to a list of victims\u2019 names that had been released in the files, which Congress ordered redacted for survivors\u2019 privacy. \u201cThat is clearly intentional to intimidate these survivors and victims,\u201d he said.
Donald Trump\u2019s White House meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>, concluded after nearly three hours.<\/strong>
\u201cThere was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran<\/a> continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated,\u201d Trump said in a social media post. \u201cLast time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer \u2014 That did not work well for them. Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible.\u201d
Netanyahu did not provide a statement on the meeting.
The brief closure of airspace over El Paso, Texas, this morning can be attributed to a dispute between the Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration officials over the testing of anti-drone lasers, the Associated Press reports. <\/p>\n

The Department of Defense intended to test the new system on an incursion of drones from Mexican cartels, but FAA officials were concerned about threats to commercial air safety, unnamed sources told<\/a> the AP.
Despite a meeting scheduled later this month to discuss the issue, the Pentagon wanted to go ahead and test it, prompting the FAA to shutter the airspace. It was not clear whether the laser was ultimately deployed.
The US transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, said earlier that a response to an incursion by Mexican cartel drones had led to the airspace closure and that the threat had been neutralized. Drone incursions are not uncommon along the southern border.
The FAA\u2019s notice initially closed airspace above the city for 10 days, which would have crippled transportation and logistics for the border city. The nearest major alternative airport for El Paso is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a four-hour drive west of El Paso.
On Wednesday, the president reportedly<\/a> plans to sign an executive order directing the defense department to procure more power from coal, the most planet-warming fossil fuel.
\u201cClean, beautiful coal is not only keeping the lights on in our country but also driving down the cost of electricity across the country as well,\u201d the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters yesterday.
On the same day, the president is set to be awarded the inaugural \u201cUndisputed Champion of Coal\u201d title from the Washington Coal Club \u2013 a DC-based pro-coal industry organization \u2013 for his efforts to roll back federal climate regulations.
The coal industry poured $3.5m<\/a> into efforts to elect Trump in 2024. Reports show the president\u2019s efforts to keep ageing coal plants offer could push up already-soaring energy bills<\/a> nationwide.
\u201cTrump gets showered with millions in campaign donations and absurd awards, billionaire coal barons get the EPA gutted and a license to pollute, and working people get stuck with skyrocketing utility bills,\u201d said Jesse Lee, senior adviser to the green non-profit Climate Power.
Minneapolis\u2019s mayor, Jacob Frey, said he has met with Trump\u2019s \u201cborder czar\u201d, Tom Homan, who took over the Minnesota immigration surge, and that the meetings have been \u201cpositive\u201d. But, he said, the city would not be changing its policies to meet the administration\u2019s demands.
\u201cWe\u2019re not changing those things locally,\u201d he told the Guardian. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a separation ordinance. We\u2019re a welcoming city. We\u2019re gonna stay that way.\u201d
Frey said he\u2019s hopeful that there will be a drawdown in agents on the ground, mirroring comments made by the state\u2019s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, this week. Homan said last week that about 700 agents would depart the state, but that leaves about 2,000 still on the ground, compared with about 100 agents normally working in Minnesota.
\u201cI\u2019ll believe it when I see it,\u201d he said.
He called Minnesotans\u2019 response to the ICE surge \u201cinspirational\u201d, noting the people protesting peacefully, dropping off food for families staying home out of fear or standing watch outside schools and daycare centers. But he acknowledged there will be long-term needs after ICE leaves, including emergency assistance and business recovery assistance from the state.
The first step toward this, though, is for agents to leave completely, he said.
\u201cIf you\u2019re looking for a rejuvenated economy, if you\u2019re looking for things to come back, there\u2019s a very clear antidote, which is for ICE to leave,\u201d Frey said. \u201cAnd once they do, yeah, we\u2019re going to fling open the doors, we\u2019re going to turn on the lights. People are going to come back into work, and we\u2019re going to make sure that this economy gets rocking again \u2026 Minneapolis is going to bounce back strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delia Ramirez, the Democratic representative from Illinois, grilled the Veterans Affairs secretary, Doug Collins, about the VA\u2019s changes in the past year under the Trump administration<\/a>.
\u201cWe know that VA workers have been stripped of nearly all their labor rights. The department is struggling to staff and deliver services to veterans. Proven programs have been gutted while promising new, more effective solutions. And the Department of Homeland Security is kidnapping and deporting veterans and executing VA employees in broad daylight,\u201d Ramirez said.
\u201cYou care about pleasing this president and advancing his \u2018privatization to profit\u2019 agenda,\u201d she added.
Collins refused to answer any questions from Ramirez related to the shooting of Alex Pretti. Pretti was a VA nurse, who was shot and killed by federal immigration enforcement officials.
\u201cWould you call for [Department of Homeland Security] Secretary Noem to resign, given her execution of a VA employee?\u201d Ramirez asked.
\u201cI have said all on this issue that I\u2019m going to say,\u201d Collins replied.
Ramirez also questioned Collins on cuts to the VA workforce and whether non-citizen veterans deported from the US are receiving their benefits. Collins did not have an answer to the latter question.
Democratic senators Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mark Kelly of Arizona held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the failed attempt of federal prosecutors to charge them criminally for releasing a video last year calling for troops to refuse to obey unlawful orders.
\u201cThey tried to have us charged and thrown into jail because we said something that they didn\u2019t like,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cBecause we repeated what the law actually is. This happened here. This is straight from the authoritarian playbook. This did not happen in Russia or China. In Russia and China, we see these things. This didn\u2019t happen decades ago. It happened less than a mile from this building in the United States of America, yesterday.\u201d
A Washington DC grand jury declined<\/a> to indict the two, along with four other Democratic lawmakers who participated in the video, including Slotkin, Kelly, Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan, who all have military and intelligence backgrounds.
Trump, in outrage, called for the group to be \u201changed\u201d.
\u201cIf things had gone a different way, we\u2019d be preparing for arrest,\u201d Slotkin said. The speakers on the video were \u201csimply restating the law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice that military members had a duty to refuse illegal orders. We said nothing more than everyone from Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/a> have said themselves out of their own mouth. For that, President Trump said that we should be investigated, arrested and ultimately hanged.\u201d
Slotkin said she refused a voluntary interview with prosecutors last week.
\u201cThe president is using our justice system to weaponize it against his perceived enemies,\u201d Slotkin said.
Kelly is fighting a post-retirement censure from the defense department in court. But he said that the administration\u2019s response has had a chilling effect on other veterans.
\u201cRetired service members have told me that they have changed what they do and say publicly in their retirement, because of what has happened to us,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThat\u2019s already happening. I hope in time that that corrects itself when they see Senator Slotkin and I standing up to these bullies.\u201d
The two thanked the anonymous citizens on the grand jury for refusing to indict.
\u201cIf fear is contagious, so is courage,\u201d Slotkin said. \u201cThe common citizen is showing the country and the world how to stand up for their values.\u201d
Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>, are meeting at the White House on Wednesday, with Iran and Gaza on the agenda. Netanyahu is expected to press Trump for limits on Tehran\u2019s missile arsenal and other security threats, while Trump looking to push the ceasefire agreement he brokered last year.
This is the seventh meeting between the two since Trump\u2019s re-election, according to Reuters.
The meeting is an opportunity for Netanyahu to influence the next round of US discussions with Iran<\/a> after nuclear negotiations held in Oman last Friday. Trump has threatened strikes on Iran if no agreement is reached, while Tehran has vowed to retaliate, stoking fears of a wider war. Trump told Fox Business on Tuesday that a good deal with Iran would mean \u201cno nuclear weapons, no missiles\u201d, without elaborating. He also told Axios he was considering sending a second aircraft carrier strike group as part of a major US buildup near Iran.
\u201cI will present to the president our perceptions of the principles in the negotiations,\u201d Netanyahu told reporters before departing for the US. The two leaders could also discuss potential military action if diplomacy with Iran fails, one source said.
The secretary of Veterans Affairs<\/strong> (VA), Doug Collins, and Representative Mark Takano of California engaged in a heated exchange during a House oversight hearing.
Takano grilled the secretary on his attempts to restructure the VA. Takano said there is a lack of transparency about the details of Collins\u2019 goals. At one point, Takano asked Collins whether he is offering signing bonuses to new nurses and doctors, as the VA continues to struggle with staffing nationwide. \u201cQuit yelling at me!\u201d Collins said, as Takano grilled him on the question of staffing.
Takano then lambasted Collins for his public response to Alex Pretti\u2019s shooting. Pretti was a VA nurse, who was killed by immigration enforcement officials in Minneapolis.
\u201cAlex Pretti worked for you \u2013 can you just tell me, was he a good employee?\u201d Takano asked.
\u201cAs far as I know, everything about it \u2013 I\u2019ve already said what I\u2019m gonna say about Alex Pretti and I\u2019m not gonna be brought into anything else about it,\u201d Collins said.
In response, Takano criticized Collins for not speaking out about his employee who was killed. Other Trump administration<\/a> officials, after the shooting, called Pretti a \u201cterrorist\u201d.
\u201cWhen your employee was attacked publicly and falsely, by your own colleagues, you had a choice to defend him or stay silent,\u201d Takano said. \u201cAnd you chose silence. And that silence is deafening.\u201d
The US attorney general, Pam Bondi<\/strong>, just began screaming at committee members after trying to avoid a question from Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York.
\u201cI\u2019m gonna answer the question,\u201d Bondi screamed.
\u201cNo, answer my question,\u201d Nadler said back.
\u201cYour theatrics are ridiculous,\u201d Bondi said. \u201cChairman Jordan, I\u2019m not gonna get in the gutter with these people. But I\u2019m gonna answer the question.\u201d
Then Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the panel, interrupted to ask Nadler get more time to ask a question. \u201cYou can let her filibuster all day long, not on our watch, not on our time. No way,\u201d he said.
When Raskin said he told Bondi she wouldn\u2019t be allowed to take up time, Bondi screamed, \u201cYou don\u2019t tell me anything,\u201d and then proceeded to call Raskin \u201cwashed up\u201d and \u201cnot even a lawyer\u201d.<\/p>\n

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US attorney general Pam Bondi and veteran affairs secretary Doug Collins clash with House Democrats; Trump hosts Netanyahu amid Iran tensions Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, are meeting at the White House on Wednesday, with Iran and Gaza on the agenda. Netanyahu is expected to press Trump for limits on Tehran\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":200057,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-200056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}