Trump plots major financial shake-up that could send mortgage rates soaring: Live updates

I am giving very serious consideration to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public. I will be speaking with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Pulte, among others, and will be making a decision in the near future.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right. Stay tuned!

Trump’s proposal would shake up the public financial system.There are some concerns from experts that it could cause a hike in mortgage prices, which have been steadily high since COVID lows.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has previously said that any move to make the entities public would impact mortgage rates.

‘The priority for a Fannie and Freddie release, the most important metric that I’m looking at, is any study or hint that mortgage rates would go up,’ he said earlier this year.

By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor

White House budget chief Russell Vought brushed off debt concerns raised by Republican holdouts after the massive ‘big, beautiful bill’ squeaked through the House.

‘Obviously the Senate is going to want to put its mark on it,’ he said, indicating changes were coming. ‘But you know, there’s a certain coalition there to both accomplish what the president wants to do and have the votes that are necessary to get it through Congress,’ he said.

He blasted credit agencies after the Moody’s downgrade, which spooked markets, calling them ‘irrelevant.’ Vought told DailyMail.com: ‘I think there’s a timing aspect of what they were trying to do in an attempt to sink the President’s tax cut.’

He also fended off criticism by House conservatives about the deal adding to the debt, to the tune of $3.8 trillion according to the Congressional Budget Office.

‘The notion that this was in any way harmful to debt and deficits is fundamentally untrue, and I think that’s what was inaccurate about the timing of the report,’ he said.

He pointed to ‘$2 trillion of mandatory reforms and savers. That goes to the heart of the argument. Do we have issues as a country with what we need to do to get to balance? Absolutely. The president is committed to getting to balance.’

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) dismissed a reporter asking her to comment on the deadly shooting at the Capitol Jewish Museum overnight.

The pro-Palestinian congresswoman when asked about the tragedy brushed-off of the reporter’s query.

‘Congresswoman Omar, can I get your reaction to the shooting that happened in DC last night?’ a reporter asked outside the Capitol on Thursday morning.

The progressive Minnesota representative responded nonchalantly as she was walking: ‘I’m going to go for now.’

She then briskly walked away from the cameras and reporters.

By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be at the White House Thursday to release his ‘Make America Healthy Again’ report – with a focus on an ingredient in pesticides.

President Trump commissioned the report with an executive order in February. Three months later, the report is not expected to call the chemical glyphosate, which is used in Roundup to control weeds and as a drying agent, unsafe. But it is expected to call for an assessment of the chemical next year.

Kennedy’s commission was to look at a range of potential agents from childhood medications to food additives that Kennedy has long said could influence what he calls a public health crisis. It is also expected to focus on childhood vaccines, long an area of focus for Kennedy.

The report has been getting some pushback in advance from farm state Republicans. ‘I hope there is nothing in the MAHA report that jeopardizes the food supply or the livelihood of farmers,’ said Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, 91. Kennedy’s commission met just once and it was a closed-door gathering.

‘It is literally President Trump declaring war on the ultra-processed food and pesticide companies,’ food activist Vani Hari told USA Today.

House Republicans have successfully passed Donald Trump’s multi-trillion-dollar ‘big beautiful’ tax bill in a major win for the president.

Its passage 215-214 is a major milestone for the White House and Republicans in Congress who have spent the entirety of the new administration crafting the measure’s specifics.

There were two GOP no’s on the vote, Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, and Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

President Donald Trump is fed up with the wave of anti-Semeitism being displayed in the U.S. and called for its end in the wake of the murder of two Israeli Embassy workers.

A young couple was murdered at an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. on Thursday by a gunman shouting ‘free Palestine.’

‘These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!’ Trump posted to Truth Social overnight. ‘Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.’

‘Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen! God Bless You ALL!’ he wrote just after midnight on Thursday morning.

Rep. Nancy Mace sought to use naked images taken from her ex-fiance’s phone to try to secure a full interest in two valuable homes from him, her former advisor alleges in a bombshell new deposition.

The advisor says under oath Mace, R-S.C., asked him to meet with her ex and use the images as leverage – long before she delivered a stunning House floor speech claiming to have ‘receipts’ that would bring down a ring of predators and sex traffickers.