By ALEX VEIGA

The head of the federal government agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wants the mortgage giants to consider accepting a homebuyer’s cryptocurrency holdings in their criteria for buying mortgages from banks.

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William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, ordered the agencies Wednesday to prepare a proposal for consideration of crypto as an asset for reserves when they assess risks in single-family home loans.

Pulte also instructed the agencies that their mortgage risk assessments should not require cryptocurrency assets to be converted to U.S. dollars. And only crypto assets that “can be evidenced and stored on a U.S.-regulated centralized exchange subject to all applicable laws” are to be considered by the agencies in their proposal, Pulte wrote in a written order, effective immediately.

Pulte was sworn in as the head of FHFA in March. Public records show that as of January 2025, Pulte’s spouse owned between $500,000 and $1 million of bitcoin and a similar amount of Solana’s SOL token.

Banks seeking to make mortgages that qualify for purchase by Fannie and Freddie have not typically considered a borrower’s crypto holdings until they were sold, or converted, to dollars.

FILE – This July 13, 2008, file photo, shows the Freddie Mac headquarters in McLean, Va. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

The policy is meant to encourage banks to expand how they gauge borrowers’ creditworthiness, in hopes that more aspiring homebuyers can qualify for a home loan. It also recognizes that cryptocurrencies have grown in popularity as an alternative to traditional investments, such as bonds and stocks.

The agencies have to come up with their proposals “as soon as reasonably practical,” according to the order.

Fannie and Freddie, which have been under government control since the Great Recession, buy mortgages that meet their risk criteria from banks, which helps provide liquidity for the housing market. The two firms guarantee roughly half of the $12 trillion U.S. home loan market and are a bedrock of the U.S. economy.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman (Photo courtesy of Boulder Police Department)

Federal prosecutors this week brought additional hate-crime and explosives charges against the suspect in the fire attack on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, who had before faced only a single federal hate-crime count in the June 1 attack, was charged in the new indictment with nine hate-crime counts, as well as two charges that he used a fire or explosive device to carry out a felony, and a single count of carrying an explosive during the commission of a felony, court records show.

An Egyptian immigrant who officials say was living in the U.S. illegally, Soliman is accused of shouting “Free Palestine” and throwing Molotov cocktails at people who had gathered on the popular pedestrian mall for a weekly demonstration urging the release of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.

The new federal charges, which replace the original single hate-crime count, come days after Soliman’s motivations in the attack were debated in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado during a preliminary hearing last week.

Federal prosecutors are pursuing the hate-crime charges under the theory that Soliman targeted his victims because of their actual or perceived national origin — that is, that his victims were Israeli or that he believed they were Israeli.

Soliman’s defense attorneys have argued that Soliman considered his named target — “Zionists” — to be people who hold particular political views, and that those political views are not tied specifically to Israeli nationality, but, rather, are held by people of varying nations.

A federal judge allowed the hate-crime case to move forward after a June 18 preliminary hearing, but said the issue of Soliman’s motivations — and whether they are directly tied to nationality — will be up to a jury to decide.

Soliman also faces 118 criminal charges in state court, including dozens of counts of attempted first-degree murder and assault.

Fifteen people and a dog were victimized in the attack. Eight are listed as victims of a hate crime in the new indictment.

Soliman told police he wanted to “kill all Zionist people,” but also said his attack had nothing to do with Jewish people or the Jewish community. He wrote the number “1187” in marker on the T-shirt he wore during the attack, an apparent reference to a historic battle in the year 1187 in which the city of Jerusalem changed hands from Christian to Muslim control, according to court testimony.

Soliman planned the attack for more than a year and initially sought to carry out a mass shooting against the group, law enforcement officials said. When his gun purchase was blocked by a background check, he instead armed himself with Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower made from a weed sprayer.

He dressed as a gardener and attacked the demonstrators as they paused at the historic Boulder County Courthouse.

All 15 of the injured victims were expected to survive, Boulder officials have said. They range in age from 25 to 88, and include eight women and seven men. The most severely injured victim suffered burns to 60% of their body, court testimony revealed.

By JILL COLVIN, GARY FIELDS, BRUCE SCHREINER and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON, Associated Press

FRONT ROYAL, Va. (AP) — As President Donald Trump prepared to order the bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites, many prominent leaders of his “Make America Great Again” movement warned he was making a grave mistake.

Tucker Carlson accused Trump of abandoning his pledge to keep the United States out of new wars. Charlie Kirk said an escalation would be too divisive. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, said intervention would thwart the Republican’s most important priority, mass deportations.

But interviews with Trump voters across the country this week and early polling suggest Trump’s decision has been welcomed by his political base. While some said they were weary of the U.S. becoming embroiled in a protracted war, most cheered the move and said they did not see it as running counter to Trump’s “America First” approach.

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Ken Slabaugh, a retired Air Force veteran from Warrensburg, Missouri, said he was “100% supportive” of the strikes.

Speaking Sunday near Whiteman Air Force Base, home of the B-2 bombers used in the attack, Slabaugh said it was clear to him that negotiations and attempts to strike deals with Iran were futile, and Trump had to act.

The Iranians, he said, “can’t be trusted and they certainly can’t have a nuke.”

The response was exactly what he expected from the president.

“What he said was he’s not gonna start new wars. He doesn’t start wars. He finishes them,” Slabaugh said. “It’s pretty obvious that when the situation requires it, he don’t monkey around with it. He gets in it and gets it done.”

MAGA’s enthusiastic response

More than 1,000 miles away, at an American Legion post in Brunswick, Maryland, Denny Bayer said the attacks were “awesome.”

“He wants global peace,” the Army National Guard veteran said Tuesday. “He gave them 60 days” to make a nuclear deal.

Bayer, 72, is not concerned about possible retribution because he said Trump had made clear what would follow: “If you hurt one hair on an American’s head I’ll rain hellfire down on you.”

Stacey Roles, 77, poses for a photo, Tuesday, June 24, 2025 in Front Royal, Va. (AP Photo/Gary Fields)

In Front Royal, Virginia, about 70 miles from the nation’s capital, retired drywaller Stacey Roles said Trump’s decision was “the right one.”

Roles, 77, described himself as part of Trump’s “MAGA” movement.

“Trump’s got my support,” Roles said Tuesday.

Targeting ‘a bully’

Pam Pollard, 65, a longtime GOP leader in Oklahoma, said her first thought upon hearing the U.S. had dropped bombs was that the action would be supported by “the entire world, save a very small few.”

Presidents going back multiple administrations have talked about Iran’s nuclear buildup, Pollard said, calling Iran a bully in the region.

“President Trump isn’t someone to be bullied,” she said.

FILE – Pam Pollard stands next to a sign from the 2016 Republic National Convention, May 4, 2024, at her home in Midwest City, Okla. (AP Photo/Nate Billings, File)

Pollard was not worried about a military escalation. She does worry about the possible activation of “terrorist cells.”

“I am very fearful of that all over the world, not just in America,” she said.

In La Grange, Kentucky, on the outskirts of Louisville, Donna Williamson, a Republican from nearby Carrollton, said she worries about the U.S. being drawn into a protracted war in the Mideast.

“I hope and I pray that Trump is doing the right thing, but I will reserve judgment,” she said Monday.

What early polling shows

Early polls suggest Republicans are far more supportive of the military action than are Democrats.

A Quinnipiac University poll Wednesday found that about 80% of registered voters who are Republicans back the U.S. joining Israel in striking Iran’s nuclear sites.

Overall, however, about half of those polled say they disapprove of the strikes, and 75% of Democratic voters were opposed.

FILE – Then-President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

The poll found that 80% of Republicans believe the strikes will make Americans safer, while nearly as many Democrats believe the strikes will make Americans less safe.

Meanwhile, nearly 8 in 10 voters are either very concerned or somewhat concerned about the possibility the U.S. will get drawn into war with Iran.

A Fox News poll conducted immediately after Israel attacked Iran, but before the U.S. became involved, found that about 8 in 10 registered voters were “extremely” or “very” concerned about Iran getting a nuclear bomb.

Trump has a history of foreign intervention

Trump won the presidency in 2016 in part due to anger over the “forever wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq, but he has never been opposed to foreign intervention.

In 2019, U.S. special forces killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the shadowy leader of the Islamic State group, during a raid in Syria, as part of a campaign that involved U.S. troops on the ground.

A year later, Trump ordered the assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general, and some worried that strike would lead to full-blown war.

In March, Trump ordered airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen. He promised to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Iran-backed rebels ceased their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor.

Trump has brushed has off the suggestion that his base would be put off by the attacks on Iran, telling reporters, “My supporters are more in love with me today.”

‘He should finish the job’

Bill Cantle, a Republican from Clearwater, Florida, said he thinks Trump is “doing the right thing” on Iran.

“I just think he should finish the job. Not leave it half-done,” Cantle said while he and his wife explored downtown La Grange, Kentucky, during a visit.

In this undated photo provided by Maida Candler, Bill Cantle poses with his Airedales, Emmett and Molly, in Clearwater, Fla.. (Maida Candler via AP)

Republican Peter Espinosa, a retired Army sergeant who was born in Cuba and lives in the Miami suburb of Doral, said he sees Iranian officials as “the bad guys” and views Trump as “disciplined.”

“I truly believe he’s a peacekeeper,” he said. “We just need to fight the hostility that’s going on in the Middle East right now and take care of it, because if we don’t, our country is going to be jeopardized.”

At a GOP fundraiser Tuesday in Lima, Ohio, headlined by Vice President JD Vance, Clark Spieles said he has faith in the administration’s actions.

“Nobody likes war, everybody wants peace,” said Spieles, a Shawnee Township, Ohio, trustee, adding “I have confidence that they’re doing the right thing.”

Clark Spieles, a trustee in Shawnee Township, Ohio, poses for a photo during a Republican fundraiser on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, in Lima, Ohio, featuring Vice President JD Vance. (AP Photo/Julie Carr Smyth)

Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Schreiner from La Grange, Kentucky and Colvin from New York. Associated Press polling editor Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington, and AP Writers Nicholas Ingram in Knob Noster, Missouri and Julie Smyth in Lima, Ohio, contributed to this report.

By SEUNG MIN KIM and DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday wrapped up participation in the annual NATO summit facing an alliance that had largely bent to his will.

Far from the tense meetings of Trump’s first term, much of the annual summit in The Hague seemed catered to the impulses and worldviews of the Republican president whose “America First” foreign policy ethos downplays the importance and influence of multilateral coalitions.

After less than 24 hours on the ground in the Netherlands, Trump headed back to Washington having secured a major policy change he’s pushed for since 2017: a significant boost in defense spending by other NATO countries whom the president has for years accused of freeloading off the United States. The focus on Ukraine was scaled back dramatically, with its invasion by Russia earning only a passing mention in the summit’s official statement, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s profile at the gathering diminished.

Trump also sent NATO scattering for reassurances that the United States would remain committed to the alliance’s mutual defense pledge, affirming on Wednesday that he would abide by Article 5 of the NATO treaty just a day after he rattled the 32-nation alliance by being equivocal about the pact.

“I stand with it. That’s why I’m here,” Trump said when asked to clarify his stance on Article 5. “If I didn’t stand with it, I wouldn’t be here.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, from left, President Donald Trump and Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose with NATO country leaders for a family photo during the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP)

At a news conference later Wednesday, Trump sounded reflective as he described feeling inspired by other NATO countries that were motivated to provide for their own defense by bolstering their own spending.

“They want to protect their country, and they need the United States, and without the United States, it’s not going to be the same,” Trump said, later adding: “I left here differently. I — I left here saying, ‘These people really love their countries. It’s not a rip-off.’ And we are here to help them protect their country.”

He had mused just a day earlier that whether he abides by the treaty “depends on your definition” of Article 5.

The mutual praise in The Hague on Wednesday stands in stark contrast to Trump’s previous harsh words for the alliance, whose value he had long questioned. It also reflects the efforts made by other world leaders during the early months of Trump’s second term to approach the mercurial president using his own language of superlatives and flattery.

President Donald Trump points as he speaks during a media conference at the end of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer showed up to the Oval Office in February to hand-deliver an invitation from King Charles III for a second state visit, which Starmer called “unprecedented.” Italy’s Giorgia Meloni has promised to “make the West great again,” echoing Trump’s campaign slogan. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte wrote in a message to “Mr. President, dear Donald” that his push for increased alliance defense spending would help “achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.”

The 32 leaders endorsed a final summit statement saying: “Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defense requirements as well as defense- and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations.”

“I’ve been asking them to go up to 5% for a number of years,” Trump said earlier in the day as he met with Rutte, whose private message of praise the U.S. president posted on his Truth Social account.

Spain had already officially announced that it cannot meet the target, and others have voiced reservations. Trump sounded peeved by Spain’s decision and said he’d have the country make up for it by paying higher tariffs to the United States as part of a trade deal.

Spain belongs to the European Union, the world’s largest trading bloc, which negotiates trade deals on behalf of all 27 member countries. They are not meant to negotiate trade deals individually.

Trump’s turn at this year’s summit came eight years after his NATO debut in 2017, a gathering that was perhaps most remembered by his shove of Dusko Markovic, the prime minister of Montenegro, as the U.S. president jostled toward the front of the pack of world leaders during a NATO headquarters tour.

But the atmosphere around Trump this week seemed far chummier than in past years.

President Donald Trump, right, speaks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a group photo of NATO heads of state and government at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

The president was offered — and accepted — the chance to sleep Tuesday night at the Dutch royal palace. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, Trump said, were “beautiful people, great people, big, beautiful heart.”

Meanwhile, Rutte referred to Trump as a “daddy” who “has to sometimes use strong language” to stop a conflict between two warring entities — an analogy that the secretary-general used on the war between Israel and Iran.

“Doesn’t he deserve some praise?” Rutte said later at his own news conference when asked whether his use of “daddy” for Trump made him appear weak.

Few may have gone as far as Rutte, who has maintained a good relationship with Trump since the U.S. president returned to office, but other world leaders have found different ways to flatter Trump.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, as he advocated for the increase in defense spending by NATO allies, riffed on Trump’s campaign rally cry: “We should choose a motto: ‘Make NATO great again,’” he said.

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Asked about Rutte’s behavior toward Trump, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “I didn’t find it obsequious.”

“I expressed it a bit more soberly in my words, but of course it is and remains true that it was only this U.S. administration — in combination with the war in Ukraine — that prompted us to decide what we decided today,” said Merz.

New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, who traveled to The Hague and met with several foreign leaders at the summit, said other countries raised “understandable questions” about the U.S. commitment to the alliance, “certainly given President Trump’s past statements.”

“We were very strong and reassuring everyone that we are committed to NATO, we are committed to Article 5, we are committed to maintaining troops on the Eastern flank,” said Shaheen, who represented the U.S. Senate alongside Democratic Delaware Sen. Chris Coons.

The Israel-Iran war and the recent U.S. strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities hung heavily over this year’s gathering. After Trump arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday, The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that a U.S. intelligence report suggested in an early assessment that Iran’s nuclear program had been set back only a few months by weekend strikes and was not “completely and fully obliterated,” as Trump had said.

But on Wednesday morning, Trump and other senior Cabinet officials vigorously pushed back on the assessment, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the administration was launching an investigation into who disclosed those findings to reporters.

Trump held several one-on-one meetings with counterparts on Wednesday, including Schoof; Geert Wilders, the lawmaker known as the Dutch Donald Trump; and Zelenskyy. The White House did not allow press coverage of the nearly hourlong sit-down with Zelenskyy. Trump said afterward that they had a “good meeting.”

Superville reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman in London, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Mike Corder in The Hague contributed to this report.