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

Following the Senate parliamentarian's blocking of a key Medicaid provision from Trump's bill, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recognized this as "part of the process" and reiterated the president's July Fourth deadline.

"I know that there was a ruling by the Senate parliamentarian this morning. Look, this is part of the process," she said. "This is part of the inner workings of the United States Senate, but the president is adamant about seeing this bill on his desk here at the White House by Independence Day."

"I think our friends in both the Senate and the House know exactly where the president stands on Medicaid," Leavitt added, emphasizing the president's desire to eliminate "waste, fraud, and abuse."

Next week is the deadline for the trade deals with the majority of other countries before the White House issues its tariffs.

Leavitt was asked if that deal is still "hard and fast."

"The deadline is not critical. The president can simply provide these countries with a deal if they refuse to make us one by the deadline," she said, adding that the president can make a reciprocal tariff rate.

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