Trump admin updates: Vance meets with Zelenskyy in Rome

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sent a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Pam Bondi expressing concern about the "appearance of naked corruption" posed by President Donald Trump's reported plans to accept a jet from the Qatari government.

Schumer said he believes the jet poses a "grave security risk" and cited reporting that Bondi personally signed off on the transaction.

In light of what Schumer called Bondi's "central role in approving the proposal," he asked Bondi to respond to a number of questions.

The senator asked Bondi to provide additional details on whether Qatar is providing a "ready-on-day-one" aircraft.

If so, Schumer asked Bondi for more information about how the aircraft would be known to be safe. If not, he asked Bondi whether American taxpayers will have to "cover the costs of the extensive retrofit and security modifications".

He also asked Bondi to provide more information about the existing Boeing contract for two new presidential aircraft.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Senators on Capitol Hill on Tuesday offered varied assessments on how the details of the president receiving a jet as a gift from the Qatari government to use as Air Force One would pan out.

Specifically, the senators differed on the cost of retrofitting the plane and Congress' role in appropriating money to do so, national security concerns, and the ethics of taking the plane as a gift from a foreign country.

A number of GOP senators shrugged off the reports of the gift.

"I don't think there's anything official out there. This is a hypothetical," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said at a weekly leadership press conference, dodging questions about his comfort level with Trump accepting the plane.

"And I'm sure that if and when there is, it's no longer a hypothetical, I can assure you there'll be plenty of scrutiny of whatever that arrangement might look like," he added.

Pressed on whether he thought this gift from a foreign government could be a national security concern, Thune demurred, repeating that more details would need to come out.

"I mean, I just said there'll be plenty of scrutiny. There are lots of issues around that that I think will attract very serious questions if and when it happens," he said.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin and Isabella Murray

The decision to lift sanctions on Syria poses a political risk with President Donald Trump's supporters back at home.

Until recently, Syrian leader Ahmad al Sharaa was wanted by the United States, which offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his whereabouts and Hayat Tahrir al Sham, the now-defunct rebel group he led during the offensive that overthrew the Assad regime. The group is still technically characterized as a terrorist organization by the U.S.

The Biden administration dropped the bounty on Sharaa in late 2024 but left carving out the U.S. approach to Syria's then-de facto leader up to Trump.

Through Sharaa's rise to power, U.S. officials have been concerned about whether the new government can keep the Islamic State at bay, whether it will promote democratic values and if it is willing to protect the country's minorities, including Christians, from extremist attacks, a special area of concern for the Trump administration.

Trump's decision is also likely to displease Israel, which has been intermittently carrying out strikes on the country and has taken a much more hawkish approach to its new government.

Trump's planned meeting with Sharaa also marks a major shift as it will be the first time leaders of the two countries have met in person since 2000, when then-President Bill Clinton and Hafez Assad came face to face in Geneva.

-ABC News' Shannon Kingston

Lawmakers are preparing for two marathon slugfests over the budget on Capitol Hill starting Tuesday afternoon.

Sources told ABC News that dueling, dramatic hearings are expected to drag deep into the night and into Wednesday as Democrats challenge Republican efforts to write the Medicaid and tax sections of Trump's "big, beautiful bill."

Democratic committee members, who oppose many of the Republican-authored changes to the healthcare program for lower-income people and those with disabilities, plan to offer several amendments and may try an unusual move of calling impromptu witnesses to testify about how Medicaid affects their lives. Republicans are likely to block both efforts.

Some Republicans are pushing for changes to Medicaid that will help them achieve a goal of up to $2 trillion in cuts across federal spending. Those changes include work requirements and higher copays for some beneficiaries. But this GOP proposal does not include some of the most drastic Medicaid cuts hard-line Republicans were pushing for and are putting its passage in flux amid a conservative revolt.

The House Ways and Means Committee markup is also expected to slide into the night amid a sticky disagreement inside the GOP over caps to the state and local tax deduction. Democrats, on the other hand, are expected to trash the bill as a massive break for the wealthiest taxpayers.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller, John Parkinson and Jay O'Brien