NPR News: 06-24-2026 6PM EDT

Ryland Barton· Host0:00

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy says President Trump attempted to bully him during a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill today. He told NPR's Eric McDaniel Trump was frustrated about a resolution passed by Congress yesterday that calls on Trump to remove U.S. forces from the Iran war.

Eric McDaniel0:21

President Trump recently backed a successful primary challenge against Bill Cassidy. And as a lame duck, Cassidy has been less restrained with the war in Iran, for example.

Bill Cassidy· Soundbite0:29

It's not going as well as we're being told, at which point I think the president said something negative about me. I perceived it as attempting to bully me from asking a question that I think the American people need to know, and I'm not gonna be bullied when I feel like I'm asking a question the American people need to know. Uh, and so at that point, it began to escalate.

Eric McDaniel0:48

Ahead of this meeting, the president repeatedly disrupted Republicans' agenda by blocking the confirmation of his own pick for intelligence chief and abruptly refusing to sign affordable housing legislation. Eric McDaniel, NPR News, the Capitol.

Ryland Barton· Host0:59

Lebanon's military could retake territory Israel now controls in their country in a pilot plan being discussed during talks in Washington, D.C. Israel seized the land in southern Lebanon during fighting with Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants. Hezbollah is not part of the talks, now in their second day, as NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.

Carrie Kahn1:17

The talks in Washington are going on at the same time U.S. and Iranian delegations continue negotiating a preliminary memorandum of understanding to end the war in Iran. Those main talks in Switzerland were