Trump-Netanyahu clash clouds Iran talks; DOJ scraps $1.8B ‘anti-weaponization fund’
Are the U.S. and Iran still negotiating? President Donald Trump is pushing for calm in Lebanon, but the fighting — and friction with Israel — continue.
Plus, a controversial $1.8 billion fund may be dead before it starts. The Trump administration is backing away after a court fight and mounting criticism.
And a closed-door meeting at “60 Minutes” didn’t stay closed. A clash between Scott Pelley and new leadership is exposing deeper turmoil inside CBS News.
These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Tuesday, June 2, 2026.
Trump says Iran talks moving forward despite Israel-Lebanon tensions
Are the U.S. and Iran still talking? That question is front and center Tuesday after Tehran said it was pausing talks over Israel’s operations in Lebanon, but Trump insists negotiations are moving at a “rapid pace.”
At the same time, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported that officials are still reviewing a final draft proposal for extending the ceasefire, despite earlier signals that talks could be put on hold.
The diplomatic confusion comes just as Israel and Hezbollah agreed to halt attacks on each other. But behind the scenes, there are signs of new friction between Washington and Jerusalem.
CNN reported a phone call between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu grew heated Monday, with Trump using expletives to express his opposition to planned Israeli operations in Lebanon. Sources said the president warned that further escalation could jeopardize broader negotiations in the region.
After the call, Trump posted on Truth Social that it was “productive” and predicted Israeli forces would not advance on Beirut.
Netanyahu confirmed the conversation but made clear Israel is not changing course, saying the military will continue operations in southern Lebanon and will strike targets in Beirut if Hezbollah attacks resume.
White House steps away from ‘anti-weaponization’ fund following backlash
The Justice Department has backed away from the so-called “anti-weaponization” fund just days after announcing it. The program grew out of Trump’s settlement with the IRS over the leak of his tax returns and would have created a $1.8 billion fund for people who claimed they were targeted by government abuse or political prosecutions.
The idea quickly ran into trouble. Critics warned the fund could end up sending taxpayer money to people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Senate Republicans also started asking questions about who would qualify for payments and how the money would be distributed.
Then a federal judge stepped in, temporarily blocking the program and halting any transfers, claim reviews or payouts while the court considers a longer-term injunction.
The Justice Department said it disagrees with the ruling but will comply with the court order. And according to multiple reports, the administration is now moving away from the fund altogether.
Russia launches massive attack on Ukraine, launching more than 600 drones and firing dozens of missiles
Rescue crews are digging through rubble across Ukraine on Tuesday morning after Russia launched one of its largest air assaults of the war.
Ukrainian officials said Russia fired more than 600 drones and dozens of missiles overnight, killing at least a dozen people and injuring more than 100 others.
Air defenses shot down or disrupted most of the incoming weapons, but strikes still hit dozens of locations across the country, leaving apartment buildings, homes and other structures damaged or destroyed.
Russia’s defense ministry called it a “massive strike” and said it targeted Ukrainian military, defense industry, fuel and transport facilities.
Moscow said the attack was retaliation for what it described as “terrorist acts” carried out by Kyiv.
The barrage comes as Ukraine continues to press its allies for more air defense support.
Last week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed directly to Trump and members of Congress for additional patriot missiles, warning that Russia’s missile and drone attacks are growing both larger and more frequent.
Appeals court rejects Trump administration transgender military ban
A federal appeals court dealt a new blow to the Trump administration’s transgender military policy, ruling that the ban is likely unconstitutional.
In a 2-to-1 decision, a panel of judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said the policy appears to target service members based on their gender identity and may violate constitutional equal protection guarantees.
The case was brought by more than a dozen transgender service members and military applicants who challenged a policy put in place after Trump returned to office.
The court left in place protections for the active-duty plaintiffs who sued, meaning they cannot be removed from the military while the case continues. But the ruling does not open the door to new transgender recruits, and the broader policy remains in effect for now.
Writing for the majority, Judge Robert Wilkins said the government’s explanation for the policy appeared to be a pretext and that the record showed animus toward transgender people.
The Trump administration has argued the restrictions are necessary for military readiness and unit cohesion. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signaled the fight is far from over, posting just four words after the decision: “See you at SCOTUS.” He has repeatedly told military gatherings, “No dudes in dresses.”
The Supreme Court already allowed the military to enforce the policy while the legal challenges play out. Monday’s decision sets up another likely showdown before the High Court.
Scott Pelley clashes with new boss at ’60 Minutes’ meeting: Reports
CBS News faces a new round of internal drama after a heated staff meeting at “60 Minutes” escalated into a very public fight over the show’s future.
The confrontation occurred Monday during a staff meeting convened to introduce Nick Bilton, the tech journalist recently hired to run the long-running news magazine. The meeting came just days after CBS removed executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega as part of a major shake-up within the program.
(Michele Crowe/CBS via Getty Images | Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Voto Latino)
According to reports from The New York Times and CNN, veteran correspondent Scott Pelley challenged Bilton’s qualifications and the network’s direction under CBS News Chief Bari Weiss.
At one point, after Bilton said Weiss loved “60 Minutes,” Pelley fired back, saying she was “murdering ‘60 Minutes’” and had been brought in to “kill it.”
The New York Times first reported the exchange after obtaining a recording of the meeting.
(Michele Crowe/CBS News via Getty Images | Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Bilton pushed back, telling staff he had no plans to turn the program into a social media product and promised that journalism would remain the priority.
The dispute is the latest sign of a deep divide within CBS News, as some staffers fear that new leadership is changing the DNA of one of television’s most successful news programs. Network executives argue that the show must evolve to survive in a rapidly changing media landscape.
Archaeologists dig beneath Notre Dame, discover street dating back 2,000 years
What started as repairs to Notre Dame is turning into one of the biggest archaeological discoveries Paris has seen in years.
Archaeologists are digging through the forecourt in front of Notre Dame Cathedral and keep uncovering new pieces of Parisian history. Beneath the surface, they’ve uncovered the foundations of Medieval homes, a Roman-era street believed to be about 2,000 years old and hundreds of artifacts.
The excavation began after the 2019 fire at Notre Dame. To date, researchers have recovered items such as a fourth-century coin bearing the image of Emperor Constantine and pottery fragments marked with symbols that experts are still trying to decipher.
“It’s a rare opportunity for us to work on something that’s really tangibly going to make a difference in the history of Paris,” said Lucie Altenburg, conservator with the Paris archaeological unit.
Notre Dame reopened to the public in 2024, and officials plan to add trees and shaded areas outside the cathedral. But before any of that happens, archaeologists want to make sure they know exactly what’s been hidden under Paris for centuries.
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Why are young professionals facing such a tough job market? Hint: It’s not just AI
As graduation caps fly skyward this spring, many new college graduates have been grounded by a punishing job market.
The unemployment rate for recent college graduates was about 5.7% in the first quarter of 2026, while 41.5% were underemployed, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Generative AI has taken much of the blame for the bleak hiring climate facing young workers. Their entry-level professional jobs, the thinking goes, could be done better, faster and less expensively by artificial intelligence.
But new research suggests another culprit may be doing more of the damage: remote work.
“Remote work can explain 64% of the increase in unemployment for all young college graduates between 2017-19 and 2022-24,” researchers wrote in a blog post published Monday by the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Separately, a paper by economists Peter John Lambert and Yannick Schindler of the London School of Economics posted last month reached a similar conclusion. The authors found that work-from-home exposure was a stronger predictor of the pullback in early-career hiring than exposure to artificial intelligence, at least so far.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
