Trump admin updates: Trump wants Senate to cancel August recess to work on nominees

President Donald Trump, as he left the White House for an event in Pittsburgh, was asked about the new inflation data out Tuesday morning that found consumer prices rose 2.7% in June compared to a year ago.

The reading marked a notable surge in prices as Trump's tariff policy took hold, matching economists' expectations.

Trump called the increase "very slight."

"Essentially, there were exactly as anticipated, very low inflation," he said. "So what you should do is lower the rate, the Fed should lower the rate immediately."

At the White House on Tuesday, Secret Service cleared everyone off the White House North Lawn driveway as Education Secretary Linda McMahon was just about to appear for an interview on Fox News. USSS approached the Fox News tent and alerted McMahon and her staff, ushering her into the White House West Wing.

"Everyone go to the press briefing room please," one USSS police officer said to the press gathered on the North Lawn waiting to gaggle with McMahon.

The White House was situated a short time later and press was allowed back outside.

-ABC News' Katherine Faulders, Michelle Stoddart and Tierra Cunningham

The White House confirmed that President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed whether Ukraine would be able to strike Moscow and St. Petersburg with U.S.-supplied weapons, but the White House is taking issue with the framing of the conversation in news reports.

"President Trump was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing. He's working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to ABC News.

Leavitt said that a report from The Financial Times was taking the discussion "wildly out of context." The Financial Times reported that Trump had signaled his backing for the idea of striking deep inside Russia, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, citing two people briefed on the call.

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily barred President Donald Trump's administration from ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of Afghans living in the United States.

The appeals court’s move comes just as the work permits and deportation protections were set to expire today for nearly 12,000 TPS holders from Afghanistan.

In May, the Department of Homeland Security announced that they were ending the protections for Afghans as well as Cameroonians. The announcement sparked anger from immigrant advocates who said many Afghans who helped support American troops during the war would be forced to return to Afghanistan.

The appeals court has paused the termination of TPS for seven days and has ordered the government to file a response no later than July 16.

-ABC News' Armando García