Undoing ‘The Best Agreement’

Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for July 1, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here— it’s free!

THE LATEST

The U.S. will not renew its trade deal with Canada and Mexico — an accord President Donald Trump signed in his first term and once called “the best agreement we’ve ever made.” Instead, the administration says it will now conduct yearly reviews of the USMCA, which Canada and Mexico had wanted to extend by 16 years.

THE ADMINISTRATION

Trump has told acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte to “declassify almost everything … declassify whatever you want” — despite Pulte not having held security clearance before entering his temporary role.

The president flew to North Dakota today, marking the maiden voyage of the $200 million Boeing 747 gifted to him last year by the Qatari royal family.

• It’s “a plane that America should have,” Trump said before boarding. “You can do two things: You can low key it or you can show it.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt can’t seem to shake her old congressional campaign debt.

E. Jean Carroll is moving to collect the $5 million Trump owes her in damages.

Former CIA Director John Brennan is suing White House officials, seeking to force preservation of his federal investigation records in case he faces an “eventual indictment.”

THE HILL

Scoop: FBI Director Kash Patel failed to properly disclose stock purchases in a Bitcoin-fueled company that’s done business with the DOJ.

Lawmakers on both sides left a classified briefing about the White House’s request for $88 billion in war funding in frustration, concerned that the Pentagon has not been forthcoming about the details involved.

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-New Jersey) has introduced a bill expanding the DOL’s authority to enforce mental health parity, his first measure since returning from a nearly four-month absence revealed yesterday to be for depression.

TALKING TO TEDDY

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