Key Trump administration Cabinet members face hearings on Capitol Hill

The Trump administration is adding 160 prescription medications to TrumpRx, a clearinghouse where cash-paying patients can buy certain drugs by forgoing their insurance, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said at a White House briefing on Tuesday.

The site, which launched in February with several dozen brand-name drugs, expanded last month to an array of generic drugs. It currently offers 74 medications whose prices were negotiated as part of President Donald Trump’s Most Favored Nation deals with 17 major drug makers, as well as 602 generic medicines.

Patients looking for a generic drug can compare the price available through home delivery pharmacies, including Amazon Pharmacy and Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, and at local pharmacies near them.

“It means that four out of five medications that are picked up by Americans going into that same drug store that I mentioned earlier now have the opportunity to double check that the price they’re getting in that drug store, wherever they’re buying it from, is the best price out there,” Oz said at the briefing.

TrumpRx is key to Trump’s messaging that he is lowering drug prices, though some experts question how much Americans will really save. Those with health insurance may pay less than the prices available on the site.

Some 12 million people have visited TrumpRx and have saved $500 million, Oz said, though those numbers could not be verified.

Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks during a press conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on June 2, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Cabinet officials have been assuming the White House podium during press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s absence. On Tuesday, it was Dr. Mehmet Oz’s turn — and he seemed to struggle with some straightforward questions.

Multiple reporters asked the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about President Donald Trump appointing Bill Pulte, a top housing official, to be acting director of national intelligence. Significant staffing changes commonly come up during press briefings, and the person running them is expected to speak broadly on behalf of the White House.

“I think Bill is a great guy. I know him socially. I’ve not worked with him in his current job,” Oz said in response to CNN’s Kristen Holmes. “But I do trust the president’s judgment.”

Pressed by reporters about Pulte’s lack of qualifications for an intelligence role, Oz repeatedly deflected: “Ma’am, you’re asking me a question outside of my lane.”

“I don’t know anything more about Bill Pulte than you do,” Oz said to another reporter. “I did not think that would be one of the questions that would even come up here. I hadn’t even heard the news when I walked out.”

Oz was the fourth Cabinet official to take the podium after Leavitt went on maternity leave in April. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have also taken turns, and Bessent similarly dismissed some questions during his round, admitting he had not talked to the president that day.

The White House used to hold daily press briefings, allowing reporters to ask wide-ranging questions on the news of the day to the press secretary. The briefings were scaled back during Trump’s first administration, as the president tended to speak more himself.

Oz takes questions from reporters during a press briefing in the White House, in Washington, DC, on June 2.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, suggested Tuesday that Donald Trump likely does not make his own day-to-day investment decisions when asked about conflict-of-interest concerns over the upcoming UFC event at the White House.

“I don’t think the president sits at the Oval Office and makes individual investment decisions,” Oz said during a White House press briefing.

“But I don’t know about that issue,” he continued. “But knowing him, I suspect someone else is making those decisions.”

The exchange comes ahead of a UFC event June 14 on the White House South Lawn as part of celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary. The event coincides with Flag Day and the president’s 80th birthday.

Questions about a potential conflict of interest have surfaced after reports the president purchased up to $50,000 in stock of TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment.

Eligible Medicare beneficiaries will be able to obtain super-popular, but pricey GLP-1 medications for $50 a month, starting July 1, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said at a White House briefing on Tuesday.

The deal stems from the “Most Favored Nation” agreements that President Donald Trump inked in November with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, the manufacturers of Zepbound and Wegovy, respectively. The program is part of an 18-month pilot project, known as Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, since Medicare by law is not allowed to cover medications for weight loss.

The drugmakers are reducing the prices Medicare pays to $245, which will help pay for expanded coverage of weight loss medications, under the agreement.

Medicare enrollees who are overweight and have prediabetes or who have had a stroke or other cardiovascular disease will be eligible, as will those who have obesity and diabetes or uncontrolled high blood pressure and severe obesity, according to the criteria announced last year. CMS’ FAQ site on the program does not yet include eligibility information.

About 10% of Medicare enrollees would be eligible for expanded access under the deals, senior administration officials said in November. Medicare already covers certain weight loss drugs if they are also approved to treat certain medical conditions.

Detainees stand by a window inside the federal immigration center at Delaney Hall in Newark, where ICE is housing detained immigrants on May 26 in Newark, New Jersey.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin has had a busy few months since he was confirmed to the job in March, taking over from Kristi Noem.

He will take questions from lawmakers today during a hearing in front of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Homeland Security. While he’s on the calendar to discuss the department’s budget request for the upcoming year, he’s likely to face questions about his actions as the head of the agency so far.

A look at his first 60 days as a Cabinet secretary showed his attempt to straddle the line between the conciliatory and drama-free approach to immigration enforcement he promised lawmakers during his March confirmation hearing, and the desire from MAGA hardliners — and the president himself — to deliver on one of the signature issues that propelled Donald Trump back to the White House.

At airports: Most recently, Mullin proposed cutting customs staffing and possibly stopping the processing of international travelers altogether at airports in cities and states that do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

The idea, which has not been greenlit by the White House, has drawn backlash from travel industry groups, major airlines, and local officials. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also criticized Mullin’s plan during a recent congressional hearing.

In New Jersey: Mullin is also contending with rising tensions at an ICE facility in Newark, where hundreds of detainees launched a hunger strike over poor conditions. Violent clashes erupted outside the facility between protesters and ICE agents.

DHS has denied that there was a hunger strike and has continued to push back against the allegations of inhumane living conditions.

During a Cabinet meeting last week, Mullin criticized politicians speaking out about conditions at the facility, saying “there was only a handful of individuals that was refusing to eat because they want their ethnic group, or their ethnic-right food.”

In this 2014 photo, a woman walks past an isolation ward set aside for Ebola-related cases in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Trump administration is optimistic that it will be able to work out an agreement with Kenya to complete an Ebola quarantine facility stalled by a Kenyan court last week, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz told reporters Tuesday.

The facility, designed to monitor Americans exposed to the unfolding Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been met with criticism from both Kenyan and US health experts. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has vowed that no Ebola cases will enter the country.

Oz said it made sense to quarantine and potentially treat people nearby to the outbreak, which has spread across the DRC border to Uganda.

“We are confident, and the State Department is working on this diligently, that they’re going to be able to work out something with Kenya,” Oz said at a White House briefing. “There has already been a fair amount of communication around this issue.”

He added that there are more options if the Kenyan agreement stalls. “There’s a UK base there, we have other people who might be willing to welcome us, and we have our German colleagues as well. So, there’s many places we can send folks.”

An American physician who tested positive for Ebola was evacuated to Germany last month.

Oz later said that the White House and health officials drew up a “well-constructed game plan” that includes funding treatments in the region, testing tools and screening at major airports.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will testify on Capitol Hill just one day after the Trump administration signaled to Republican congressional leaders that it plans to drop its controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.

Representatives on the House Appropriations Committee are almost certain to focus their questions on the fund, which has faced unrelenting pushback from the president’s own party both in public and in private, with some saying it’s essentially a slush fund to pay out Donald Trump’s allies.

Disagreements over the fund were made more hostile when Senate Republicans pledged not to advance an immigration agenda bill until guardrails are put in place, including that payouts won’t go to people who assaulted police during the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

While Trump has not publicly committed to the fund’s future, the Justice Department said in a statement Monday that it would “abide by” a federal court ruling that paused the fund’s creation until at least June 12.

It’s possible the acting attorney general also faces questions about an addendum to the fund — one that Blanche himself signed off on — that bars the Internal Revenue Service from bringing claims against Trump, his family or businesses for past tax issues.

That addendum has not been a part of the congressional pushback, and a person familiar with the agreement said there are no plans to revise it. The person added there is also no plan to revive Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, even if the fund goes away.

Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks during a press conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on June 2 in Washington, DC.

Medicare and Medicaid chief Dr. Mehmet Oz downplayed President Donald Trump’s repeated health exams, calling the checkups “routine.”

“I think it’s just a routine, regular exam,” he said from the White House briefing room on Tuesday.

Oz, who is a cardiothoracic surgeon by training, went on to praise Trump’s fitness, arguing that he “has unique ability to just keep going at all hours of the day with remarkable strength.”

“His cholesterol, his blood pressure, all the numbers are in excellent parameters,” he said.

Pressed later on why Trump keeps returning to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center if his health is unchanged, Oz replied that “he likes the results.”

“I do actually believe that he is curious to make sure everything is going in the right direction,” Oz said. “He’s a very meticulous person in so many ways that are often underappreciated. But for him to want to know all the numbers and keep on top of them, it’s the same reason he calls people at odd hours, because something’s on his mind, he wants to deal with it.”

Oz’s remarks came a week after Trump underwent his third exam in 13 months — breaking from the typical cadence for presidents of one trip to Walter Reed per year.

Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean Barbabella, wrote in a memo issued afterward that the president “remains in excellent health,” though he did recommend that he lose weight and exercise more.

Bill Pulte speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 9.

Donald Trump’s pick of Bill Pulte, who has played a leading role in stoking the president’s retribution campaign, as acting director of national intelligence is being met with deep skepticism from a number of Republican senators who are raising questions over his qualifications.

The skepticism signals that if Pulte, a housing agency official, were chosen as a permanent pick and had to go through a confirmation process on Capitol Hill, it would likely be challenging.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN that “we don’t need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals here” when asked whether he is worried that Pulte might weaponize the intelligence community.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who recently lost his reelection primary to a Trump-backed challenger, said he sees “no evidence” Pulte is qualified for the position, but noted “the Senate doesn’t have a role in the confirmation of an acting director.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, sounding skeptical, described the pick as “interesting” and questioned whether Pulte has the proper national security background.

She said outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who faced controversy, had some experience for the position.

“She had with her position previously in the Congress, and also with the military, she had a level of background. … I’m not so sure that he does,” the Alaska lawmaker said.

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who recently lost his reelection bid, said Pulte “doesn’t seem qualified … but maybe there’s something I don’t know about.”

Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said of Pulte, “I don’t know of any national security experience he has. So, I’ll be looking at that first and foremost.”

Sen. John Hoeven said he thinks Trump picked Pulte because he is “comfortable” with him. But Hoeven said he needs to learn about his national security credentials.

“He’s appointed him before, but I really need to get more information on him in terms of understanding his knowledge of security issues and that kind of thing,” the North Dakota lawmaker said.

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned of the implications of President Donald Trump appointing controversial housing official Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence.

“Who knows what he could use, manufacture, create,” the senator said of Pulte, who has played a leading role in stoking the president’s retribution campaign.

Warner told CNN’s Manu Raju that appointing Pulte to oversee the intelligence community is “such an insult to all of the men and women who work there. If they can’t speak truth to power, then the value of that whole community and the billions and billions we spend is going to be completely undermined.”

Warner said he’s especially worried about Pulte engaging in “election interference,” referring to outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s hunt for elusive evidence of voter fraud.

The Virginia Democrat said while he had “challenges” with Gabbard’s tenure, he predicted “they will look small compared to what the potential for abuse that will come out of Bill Pulte” and noted that the former Hawaii congresswoman had experience with oversight on Capitol Hill and served in the military.

“There is nothing in this guy’s background that gives any indication of any intelligence background,” he said of Pulte.

Warner said he expects a “vigorous” bipartisan conversation about the appointment when the Senate Intelligence Committee meets behind closed doors later this afternoon.