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Legendary Democratic strategist James Carville took a few swings at President Donald Trump on Tuesday's edition of Ari Melber's "The Beat," pointing out his health decline — as he has done on prior occasions — but also his total lack of interest in working on major policy issues that are rapidly beginning to define his second term.

Nothing better exemplifies this, he and Melber agreed, than Trump's repeated recent claims that he doesn't care about Americans' financial situation because the Iran war is more important. When a reporter asked Trump to what extent Americans' financial situation was motivating him to make a deal with Iran, Trump was blunt: "Not even a little bit. I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing: we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon."

Former GOP operative Tim Miller took a moment on MS NOW's "Deadline: White House" to lay into President Donald Trump's move to replace outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard with his controversial housing finance administrator Bill Pulte — a man often called Trump's "attack dog," and, Miller pointed out, has absolutely no qualifications to coordinate national intelligence.

"I'm going to start with you because there's nothing for an intelligence person to say about this person," said anchor Nicolle Wallace. "This is a political hack ... what happens next?"

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche dashed any remaining hopes that the Trump administration would move forward with its plan to create a $1.776 billion so-called "anti-weaponization" fund to pay claims to people who say they were wrongfully prosecuted by the government.

"We are not moving forward with the fund," Blanche told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin refused Tuesday to commit to following federal court orders, telling senators he reserves the right to disregard rulings he considers politically motivated — setting off a tense confrontation at a Senate Appropriations hearing with the panel's top Democrat.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, pressed Mullin four times for a straight answer: would DHS comply with court orders directing the agency to halt illegal or unconstitutional conduct? Four times, Mullin refused to say yes.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz found himself on the other side of the tough questions Tuesday, fielding a pointed inquiry about President Donald Trump's unusually frequent medical exams during his turn at the White House briefing podium.

Daily Mail reporter Elina Shirazi didn't let Oz — filling in for Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave — off the hook.

Donald Trump’s attempt to insert Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHA) Director Bill Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on Tuesday could run into a legal roadblock according to MS NJOW’s Ken Dilanian, with Republican lawmakers also questioning whether he should hold the job.

According to a report from the New York Times, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), James Lankford (R-OK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are questioning his stunning lack of experience in intelligence matters.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio erupted at a Senate hearing Tuesday after Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) accused him of attending a party with President Donald Trump in Miami instead of joining high-stakes Iran peace negotiations in Pakistan — an exchange that quickly devolved into one of the most combustible moments of his first congressional testimony since the Iran war began.

"This is why I was shocked to see that you were at a party with President Trump in Miami instead of accompanying Vice President Vance to Pakistan for negotiations," the Nevada Democrat told Rubio before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced a blistering broadside Tuesday from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the FY27 State Department budget — a session that quickly turned into a referendum on the Trump administration's foreign policy record.

"The Trump foreign policy has become a dumpster fire," Van Hollen said at the hearing, ticking through a lengthy charge sheet: a war in Iran that has killed at least 15 U.S. service members and sent gas prices up 28% year-over-year; a UAE crypto deal that enriched the Trump family; and USAID cuts he argued enabled the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was pressed Tuesday over the Trump administration’s refusal to grant lawmakers access to an official government memo on the U.S. war against Iran, one that Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) suspected may have “something in there you don’t want us to see.”

Rubio testified Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, his first appearance before the body since the war against Iran was launched in late February. Kaine, a member of the committee, asked Rubio why the Trump administration has, to date, refused to share with lawmakers the written opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) on the war against Iran, despite having done so for other recent conflicts.