Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, Andrea Mitchell explores Ukraine’s vantage point on the war in Iran. Plus, Sahil Kapur lays out the details of congressional Republicans’ new reconciliation push and the challenges that lie ahead.
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— Adam Wollner
Ukraine’s unique role in the Iran war
Analysis by Andrea Mitchell
As President Donald Trump slams fellow NATO members as “cowards” for not leaping into the war against Iran, an unlikely European country has been helping Gulf nations defend themselves from Iranian drones.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced last week his country had deployed 200 anti-drone experts to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, with others now being sent to Kuwait. Their mission: to help defend against hundreds of cheap drones called Shaheds that Iran has been firing to swarm and blow up the Middle East’s critical energy facilities.
It is a threat the vastly wealthier and better armed Gulf powerhouses had not anticipated, but one that Ukraine knows all too well. Russia has been firing Iranian drones against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and civilian targets for years, with devastating effects.
Ukraine’s military deploys layers of anti-drone defenses, including interceptor missiles and electronic warfare systems, to jam the drones’ navigation and break their radio links to operators. Instead, the Persian Gulf countries have been spending millions of dollars firing air defense missiles that are both ineffective and costly against drones that can cost as little as $30,000.
The multimillion-dollar American-made missile defenses, such as the Patriots, are also in short supply. For several years, Ukraine has been pleading for more Patriot batteries to help them defend against Russia’s missiles. U.S. manufacturing shortages have led to European allies scavenging among themselves for whatever they could transfer to Ukraine.
Trump dismissed any shortages in stockpiles, telling reporters yesterday, “We have unlimited middle and upper ammunition, which is really what we’re using in this war.”
Ukraine’s military assistance to help America’s Gulf allies has not softened Trump’s view of Zelensky in comparison to Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Earlier this month, after Trump was criticized for lifting some sanctions on Russian oil to increase global supply, he told NBC News’ Kristen Welker that “Zelenskyy is far more difficult to deal with” than Putin in negotiating a ceasefire in Ukraine. Many independent observers would say the exact opposite is true.
At the same time, NATO allies who were reluctant to join the U.S. in securing safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz are mystified by Trump’s persistent antipathy to the 76-year-old post-World War II defense alliance.
They were particularly upset by the president’s speech in Davos in January, when he said that the U.S. had defended Europe for decades, but he did not think Europe would ever help the U.S. According to several diplomats, that was especially galling to Denmark, which had lost as many troops per capita in Afghanistan as the U.S. Denmark was already aggrieved by Trump’s claims that he wanted to take over Greenland, a Danish territory.
European leaders also point out that the only time in its entire history that NATO ever invoked its commitment to mutual defense was in defense of the United States after 9/11. British and other European air forces have since joined in defending Gulf assets in the Middle East. But Trump is still criticizing them for not fully entering a war he says the U.S. has already won.
More on the Iran war:
- Iran has “responded negatively” to a U.S. plan to end the war, according to Iranian state television’s English-language broadcaster, Daniel Arkin writes.
- Each day since the start of the war, U.S. military officials compile a video update for Trump that shows video of the biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours, Katherine Doyle, Courtney Kube and Dan De Luce report.
- Follow live updates →
Republicans plan a new reconciliation push, but major hurdles await
By Sahil Kapur
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, announced plans to craft a major Republican-only bill that funds conservative priorities such as immigration enforcement, military spending during the Iran war and new election rules.
Graham said he will “expeditiously move” on the budget reconciliation process for the measure, which allows the Republican-led Senate to bypass the 60-vote filibuster rule. It’s the same procedure they used to pass the “big, beautiful bill” last year. Graham said the new push has the support of President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
The details: Republicans plan to fund parts of the Department of Homeland Security — namely, ICE and deportation operations — that are excluded from impending bipartisan negotiations to end the partial government shutdown that’s causing long airport lines.
They also plan to use the legislation to advance portions of the SAVE America Act, which seeks to impose stricter voting laws across the country. Graham said he sees “many opportunities to improve voter integrity through reconciliation.”
Potential snags: Republican leaders see it as their best option to placate Trump’s demands to pass the election measure. But the reconciliation process is heavily restricted to provisions about taxes and spending. And Democrats can appeal to the parliamentarian, the in-house referee, to strip out provisions that don’t comply with those strict rules.
As a result, the sponsor of the SAVE America Act, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said it’s “essentially impossible” to pass the bill that way.
“There are many things the Senate could pass with a simple majority using the procedure known as ‘budget reconciliation.’ The SAVE America Act is *not* one of them,” Lee wrote on X.
Additionally, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chair of the Appropriations Committee, said she doesn’t believe that using reconciliation is a “good approach” to funding parts of DHS.
Prospects in the House: Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., welcomed the effort. But a senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee doubted that another expansive reconciliation bill could pass given the chamber’s narrow 217-214 majority, where the GOP can only afford one defection.
“I don’t see how we get the votes,” the lawmaker said.
Read more →
🗞️ Today’s other top stories
- 🗳️ Election night recap: Democrat Emily Gregory flipped a Florida state House district that includes Mar-a-Lago. The result continues a streak of Democratic success in special elections since Trump retook office. Read more →
- 📝 Jack Smith memo: The Justice Department released documents to Congress that included “damning evidence” about Trump’s procurement of highly sensitive documents when he left office after his first term, said Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Read more →
- ⚖️ Vote watch: A Wisconsin activist who pushed false claims about the 2020 election was convicted by a jury of election fraud and identity theft for requesting the ballots of two local politicians without their consent. Read more →
- ⬅️ AI backlash: A group of residents in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, is trying to recall the entire city council after it approved a new Google data center. Read more →
- 🤖 New frontiers: First lady Melania Trump entered a children’s education and technology summit at the White House with a talking robot. “It’s fair to state you are my first American-made humanoid guest in the White House,” she said. Watch here →
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.
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