Senate begins debate on Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine held a news conference at the Pentagon on Thursday morning, where they provided more operational details of the U.S. strikes against Iran's nuclear sites.

The press conference came as President Trump and Hegseth doubled down on their assessment the sites had been totally "obliterated" after a preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment that the bombings of the Natanz, Isfahan and Fordo facilities likely set back Iran's nuclear program by only a few months.

Hegseth continued to criticize the leak of the report and the news media's coverage of it.

Caine, meanwhile, said the Joint Force doesn't do battle damage assessment as he focused on the details of how the U.S. strikes unfolded -- including how the weapons were built and tested, how the U.S. targeted ventilation shafts at the Fordo facility and personal stories from military personnel involved. Caine said the fighter pilots who trailed the B-2 bombers said that after the first bomb struck the target “the pilots stated, 'this was the brightest explosion that I've ever seen. It literally looked like daylight.'"

President Donald Trump announced that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will hold a news conference Thursday morning as the administration pushes back on news coverage of an intelligence assessment of U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

The news conference -- which Trump said on social media would be "both interesting and irrefutable" -- is set for 8 a.m. at the Pentagon.

Speaking at the NATO summit on Wednesday, Trump said the B-2 bomber pilots from Whiteman Air Force Base were upset at news coverage over the recent intelligence assessment and called him.

The news conference comes as the White House insists on the efficiency of the U.S. military strike, describing the result as "complete and total destruction" of the Iranian nuclear capabilities.

An initial intelligence assessment showed that the strikes did not completely destroy the country's nuclear program but likely set it back a few months, according to sources familiar with the early findings. However, the Defense Intelligence Agency later said its findings were a "a preliminary, low confidence assessment – not a final conclusion."

-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh

Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old member of Elon Musk's DOGE team, has left the Trump administration, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.

Coristine, who gained notoriety for his age and going by the online nickname "Big Balls," handed in his resignation this week, becoming the latest high-profile departure from DOGE after Musk left the administration earlier this month.

During his time at DOGE, Coristine was a key player on Musk's team and worked across multiple top agencies, including General Services Administration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Education, and Health and Human Services.

ABC News previously reported that other senior DOGE officials were leaving the Trump administration, including James Burnham, DOGE’s top attorney, and Steve Davis, a longtime Musk lieutenant at his private companies. Katie Miller, a special government employee who had served as a senior adviser and spokesperson for DOGE, is also leaving the administration and will work with Musk, sources said.

Wired was first to report the news.

-ABC News’ Will Steakin

At least 34 people were arrested Wednesday in the Russell Senate Office Building while protesting Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump's "Beautiful Big Bill," Capitol Police said.

They were charged with "Crowding, Obstructing and Incommoding," Capitol Police said.

An additional person "was arrested for crossing a police line outside where we are processing the arrests," according to police.

-ABC News' Beatrice Peterson