A CNN political insider floated a new theory on Monday about the "former president" that President Donald Trump claims he spoke to about his decision to strike Iran.
Trump claimed during a press conference in the Oval Office that he had spoken with a "former president" who said he "wished" he had made the same decision to bomb Iran as the Trump administration. When pressed by reporters about the claim, Trump did not reveal who he was referring to. Former President Bill Clinton's team told CNN Senior Reporter Daniel Dale that Trump has not spoken with Clinton about Iran. Trump also denied speaking with presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
CNN political insider Kate Bedingfield floated a mocking new theory about who the president could have been referring to during a segment on "The Lead" with Jake Tapper.
"Not for nothing, Donald Trump is also a former president," Bedingfield said. "I think it is totally reasonable to question whether Donald Trump was looking in the mirror, having a discussion with himself in the bathroom this morning."
Bedingfield's comments come at a time when the Trump administration is facing increased scrutiny over its decision to coordinate bombing strikes against Iran with Israel.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 53% of Americans oppose the war in Iran.
Ex-GOP strategist Rick Wilson on Monday predicted what he thinks will be next for President Donald Trump as talks about who will succeed him in 2028 have heightened and questions over whether it will be Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Wilson was talking to MS NOW host Katy Tur about the dilemma Vance, who has been vocal about his stance against long wars in the Middle East, was facing. Vance has not publicly said he was opposed to the Iran war; however, reports have surfaced about his views on the conflict as Trump has shifted his messaging to his MAGA coalition about the military strikes.
"I think it's been notable, Rick, that we've seen so little of JD Vance lately," Tur said. "He's got a thing with the president that we might have to dip into at some point during this conversation, but other than that, he has been out of sight."
The last appearance the two apparently made was with the entire Trump administration Cabinet on March 7 at Dover Air Force Base, during the dignified transfer of six slain U.S. Army service members who were killed in Kuwait.
"I don't believe that's a coincidence, Katy," Wilson said. "I think that is a feature, not a bug, of the Vance position right now. He does come from a part of the party or the part of the MAGA movement that is very anti-interventionist. And they built the 'Peace President' illusion around Trump in 2024. And Vance put the bit in his teeth and ran with it. But now he's got a president who has launched a singularly reckless effort in the Persian Gulf that will end up sending American troops to fight and die in a pointless war. And I think Vance is very uncomfortable right now."
Trump has appeared to favor Rubio as his potential successor, according to reports.
"Marco's been getting a lot of praise," Wilson said. "Vance has been, you know, hiding in the tall grass. What goes on today in this presser with Trump could go either way. He could cut Vance's head off right there in public. And I wouldn't, if I was Vance, you know, act without getting a food taster going forward, if Trump really digs in on this war."
Last week, Vance dodged a direct question about how he viewed the military action in the Middle East. Vance was taking questions from reporters following his speech in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where he campaigned for GOP candidates in a district Republicans were hoping to flip. Associated Press reporter Bill Barrow asked the vice president what advice he gave the president regarding military strikes and the economic fallout, including surging gas prices.
"Did you express any concerns like those you've expressed in the past on the possibility of those extended wars?" Barrow asked.
Vance refused to directly say whether he supports the joint U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.
"We're in the Situation Room, where you can't even take your iPod in there, or your AirPods, I guess what they're called, you can't take your iPhone in there, you can't take anything in there — because it is the most classified space anywhere in the world," Vance said.
"And I sit there with Pete Hegseth, and Gen. Caine, and Marco Rubio, and the entire White House team, and the president and I, and the entire senior team are talking about the options and about what we need to do and how we must best protect the American people," Vance added.
"I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not going to show up here in front of God and everybody else and tell you exactly what I said in that classified room partially because I don't wanna go to prison and partially because I think it's important for the President of the United States to talk to his advisors without those advisors running their mouth to the American media."
Last week, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that Newsom showed he is a "cognitive mess" during a recent interview. "While we all want to be politically correct, having a mental disorder is not a positive campaign event," Trump wrote in the post, adding that Newsom had disqualified himself from running for President during the interview.
Trump seemed to admit that he said "horrible things" about the California Democrat during a bill signing ceremony in the Oval Office.
"Honestly, I am all for people with learning disabilities but not for my president," Trump said. "I think a president should not have a learning disability. I know it's highly controversial to say such a horrible thing."
Political analysts and observers reacted to Trump's statement on social media.
"He's such an a------," Democratic strategist Mike Nellis posted on X.
"Oh my god," podcaster Jordan Crucchiola posted on X.
"He's just the worst person ever. No redeeming qualities at all," MS NOW columnist Michael A. Cohen posted on X.
"Says the guy that can barely read from a teleprompter," political commentary account "Wu Tang is for the Children" posted on X.
Trump: Gavin Newsom has admitted he has learning disabilities. Honestly I am all for people with learning disabilities but not for my president. I think the president should not have learning disabilities. pic.twitter.com/fY0cAox9Ep — Acyn (@Acyn) March 16, 2026
President Donald Trump got more than he bargained for during an exchange with a Fox News reporter in the Oval Office on Monday.
Trump and multiple administration officials gathered in the Oval Office to commemorate his formalization of a new federal anti-fraud task force, which he announced during his State of the Union address in February. During a question-and-answer segment, Trump was asked by Fox News' Peter Doocy whether the U.S. can wrap up the war in Iran this week.
"If Iran, as you say, [were] totally obliterated. Got the missiles, the first two rounds of leadership. Army gone. Navy gone. Can we wrap this war up this week?" Doocy asked.
"Sure, I guess," Trump said.
"Will we?" Doocy continued.
"I don't think so, but it will be soon," Trump said. "It won't be long."
Doocy's question underscored the contradictory accounts of the war in Iran coming out of the White House. When Trump first announced the U.S. was coordinating strikes against Iran with Israel, he said one of the goals was to create the conditions for the Iranian people to rise up and form their own government.
Since then, Trump has said the war began to ensure that Iran doesn't get nuclear weapons. Last year, the Trump administration bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities and claimed they were "totally obliterated" in the process.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine policies were rejected by a judge on Monday, according to reports.
The decision was the latest hit for the Trump administration after Judge Brian Murphy ruled in favor of six medical organizations that challenged Kennedy's sweeping moves over the last year to limit COVID-19 vaccines and change the childhood immunization schedule, The New York Times reported.
"The court also reversed, at least for the time being, all decisions made by the panelists that Mr. Kennedy appointed to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on which vaccines Americans should take," according to The Times. "The ruling prevents the panelists from meeting later this week as scheduled."
In his ruling, Murphy said Kennedy and his appointees have "made arbitrary and capricious changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, bypassing the careful, evidence-based practice that in the past has underpinned the recommendations," The Times reported.
Richard Hughes, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, responded to reporters on Monday after the court made its ruling.
“This is a significant victory for public health, evidence-based medicine, the rule of law, and the American people,” Hughes said.
Trump and several administration officials held a ceremony in the Oval Office commemorating the signing of an executive order to establish a federal anti-fraud task force. During the question and answer portion, Trump was asked about the prospects of Congress approving the SAVE Act, which Trump said was "imperative" for lawmakers to pass. Trump seemed noncommittal about the bill passing, but he quickly digressed into a diatribe about the Supreme Court.
"Democrats have horrible policy. It's just incredible. But they stick together. It's the one thing they do," Trump said. "Their Supreme Court members stick together. Those appointed by a Democrat stick together. If Barack Hussein Obama appoints a member of the Supreme Court, that member never goes against him, and they're proud about it."
"Republicans go the opposite way," he continued. "If Donald Trump appoints someone, they say 'I'm gonna show the world that I can be totally just and I can be independent of Donald Trump. He's not controlling me!' I don't want to control them. I just want smart decisions."
Trump also said the Supreme Court's recent ruling declaring his tariffs illegal "won't change tariffs."
"I can do it in a different way; I always knew I could do it in a different way," he said. "A little quicker, a little easier, a little better. But they gave us a decision that could cost this country $500 billion to pay people back."
President Donald Trump appears to be having a hard time getting his story straight about whether the U.S. needs international help reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to one CNN host.
During a press conference on Monday, Trump made several contradictory claims about the Strait of Hormuz, which is the key shipping corridor that Iran has effectively shut off to U.S. and Israeli vessels following the coordinated bombing campaign by both countries.
In one statement, Trump said the international community "won't be there for us" if the U.S. asked them for help. He also claimed that some countries are "really enthusiastic" about helping the U.S. reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and that the U.S. "needs" the help of "one of the big boys" to clear the Strait.
CNN host Kasie Hunt played a compilation of the contradictory clips during the opening of her show, "The Arena," on Monday. She said Trump "waffles by the minute" about the U.S. needing help.
"Did you follow that? We had a hard time following that," Hunt said with a shrug.
Trump's comments come at a time when the war in Iran is starting to have an impact in the U.S. Energy prices have skyrocketed since the U.S. coordinated strikes in Iran with Israel beginning in late February. The war has also fractured Trump's already fragile MAGA coalition.
President Donald Trump on Monday asked his new federal fraud task force to investigate a Democratic lawmaker.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump told Vice President JD Vance and Andrew Ferguson, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, to ensure the new fraud task force they are leading will investigate Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Republicans have routinely accused Omar of marrying her brother as a way of skirting U.S. immigration law. Omar has denied the accusation, and Snopes has said the rumor "lacks evidence."
"Somalia is a third-world, maybe a fourth-world nation," Trump said. "One of the worst. One of the most dangerous. They don't have councils. They don't have a government. They don't have police. They shoot each other all over the place."
Trump also linked the alleged social services fraud connected to the Somali community in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Omar, who is a Somali-American.
"They come here, and they steal $19 billion. It's crazy," Trump said. "And Ilhan Omar, I hope this is part of it, but she married her brother, supposedly. I mean, there is a lot of documentation. That means she's here illegally, and she's a Congresswoman. I hope you're going to be looking at that or somebody is because she's one of the ring leaders here. She's bad news."
Trump first announced plans to establish a new federal fraud task force during his State of the Union address in February. On Monday, he signed an executive order establishing the task force and appointing Vance as its leader.
The task force will primarily operate in blue states like California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and Colorado, according to the executive order. However, Trump said fraud investigators will travel to red states, too, even though he noted that "most of the issues are in blue states."
President Donald Trump's former Border Patrol boss Gregory Bovino reportedly plans to hang up his uniform for good at the end of the month.
Sources familiar with Bovino's thinking told CNN that he had not yet completed the retirement paperwork and that plans could change.
Bovino would retire on the last day of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's term in office. President Donald Trump recently announced that Noem would be replaced by Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK).
The DHS departures come after two U.S. citizens were killed by DHS agents in Minnesota.
A final project pushed through by former Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem will be obsolete in just a few years, an insider claimed.
Noem, who has been moved to a new role as special envoy to the Shield of the Americas, had been working on a series of warehouse mega jails that set the department back $38 billion. The project was set to make space for 10,000 detainees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's recent crackdown, in line with President Donald Trump's immigration policy.
But the project, overseen by Noem's chief adviser Corey Lewandowski, had not convinced longtime ICE operatives. With the pair set to be removed from their post by the end of the month, insiders told The Atlantic that efforts to acquire warehouses for the mega jail project had since slowed.
One of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, "They’ve had a ridiculous timeline to rush everything through. Now everybody’s kind of going back to the drawing board and talking about resetting."
Another veteran ICE official said of the project, "If the goal is to not have endless illegal immigration, those centers will be obsolete in three to five years. The amount of money going into them is abhorrent."
Noem's warehouse mega jails were initially opposed by close Trump ally Stephen Miller, who believed the department should have opted for military bases and tent camps for those arrested by ICE.
The fate of these warehouse acquisitions is now reportedly in the hands of incoming DHS head Markwayne Mullin. Nick Miroff, writing in The Atlantic, suggested the jails would be a hard sell to members of the public.
He wrote, "A White House official told me the administration looks forward to Mullin’s 'speedy confirmation' and 'continuing to implement the President’s agenda in the most efficient and effective way possible.' If Mullin is confirmed as the new DHS secretary, he’ll need to launch a more concerted effort to sell the plan to state and local jurisdictions, three DHS officials told me.
"'They’re figuring out a way to better inform the public and the communities and the governor's offices and local officials, so they’re more involved,' one DHS official told me. ICE has started working on a Frequently Asked Questions page about the warehouses, the person said, but it’s not finished yet."
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes announced he was "no longer MAGA," even though he was headed to Mar-a-Lago on Friday to ask President Donald Trump for a pardon.
While guest-hosting for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Monday, Rhodes revealed that he had broken with Trump over the war in Iran.
"We can't shut our eyes to the obvious role of the influence of Zionism in our government, of the Israeli people, intelligence services, Mossad, and others in our government," he began. "So that's why I no longer call myself MAGA. I am an America-only patriot. I'm a Christian nationalist, an American Christian nationalist. I have to open my eyes to the reality in front of my face, and it's caused a division inside of MAGA, and it's caused a division on the political right. But so be it."
"I don't want any foreign influence in our government whatsoever. And so, that's where we are," he continued. "There's a lot of Americans that are now becoming red-pilled and even black-pilled on the influence of Israel in our country and also on what's happening inside the Trump administration."
Rhodes noted that he was traveling to Mar-a-Lago on Friday and had "been invited there by the Republican Party chair of Palm Beach to come in and give us a shot, us and the other J6ers who have not yet been pardoned."
"And so I hope to be able to shake President Trump's hand and ask him for that pardon," he explained. "Again, my oath won't let me shut my eyes or shut my mouth about what's happening in our country. And so I can't let the fact that I'm still waiting for a pardon along with seven other Oath Keepers and those four Proud Boys."
"I can't let that shut me up about calling out what I see happening in our country," Rhodes added. "And so if I lose my pardon because of that, then so be it. That's where my mind's at. And I think I owe that to everybody who ever swore the oath like I did."
Far-right activists are doubling down on mass deportations as a midterm rallying cry after a White House official reportedly urged Republican lawmakers to stop discussing Trump's aggressive immigrant roundup campaign—a move that risks deepening fractures within the MAGA movement over an issue the president once wielded as his signature strength.
The pressure campaign comes as Trump's approval ratings on immigration plummet, battered by the brutal tactics of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol agents conducting sweeps across American cities. The White House is now in full damage-control mode ahead of the midterms, attempting to quiet the issue.
But the anti-immigrant Mass Deportation Coalition isn't having it.
According to MS NOW's Zeeshan Aleem, the coalition includes prominent conservative figures armed with internal polling data arguing the administration hasn't gone far enough. They're using that data to push Trump to cast a wider net, claiming he's being too selective in his deportation targets and risking betrayal of his base.
The pressure has boxed Trump in between warring factions of his own coalition. A January Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found roughly 6 in 10 Americans believe Trump has "gone too far" deploying federal immigration agents in U.S. cities, with similar numbers disapproving of his immigration record overall.
Even Republicans are showing signs of buyer's remorse.
Sensing the shift in public sentiment and emerging unease among his own party, Trump has quietly scaled back ICE arrests and reshuffled his immigration policy team. But the Mass Deportation Coalition wants him to ignore the political warning signs and double down, meaning he "has a problem on his hands" that won't go away.
Trump's hardline immigration base craves the ugliest version of his agenda — military-style city occupations, racial profiling of immigrants, and dehumanizing rhetoric targeting specific nationalities. Meanwhile, the broader 2024 Trump coalition that isn't composed entirely of MAGA diehards appears increasingly uncomfortable with the brutality, even if they support tough enforcement in principle.
Trump's political calculation has become treacherous. Appearing soft on immigration could prove electorally devastating. Yet he's already poisoned the well on harsh immigration enforcement—making it politically toxic. Democrats and pro-democracy advocates now have an opening to link Trump directly with his movement's most extreme elements while advancing humane, reasonable immigration policy alternatives.
President Donald Trump's administration is reportedly seeking to free a former FBI informant who admitted he lied to federal agents during the 2020 presidential election, an insider has claimed.
Alexander Smirnov was arrested by the FBI in February 2024 and charged with lying to the agency. He faces a up to 25 years in prison, but the president and his team could be working on releasing Smirnov. An unnamed source speaking to Mother Jones claimed the administration is in the process of aiding the ex-FBI informant with avoiding his sentence and even trial.
Smirnov is believed to have lied to the FBI about both Hunter and Joe Biden in 2020. Around the same time, prosecutors claim the ex-FBI informant was paid $600,000 by Economic Transformation Technologies. Two of ETT's owners, Shahal M. Khan and Farooq Arjomand, are associates of Donald Trump.
DC Bureau Chief reporter David Corn wrote, "The Trump administration appears to be bending over backward to help him escape his sentence and win another trial—or perhaps avoid one.
"There’s no guarantee the Justice Department would continue the prosecution if Smirnov succeeds with his appeal. One government official who has followed this case tells me he wonders if the ultimate plan of the Trump administration is to let Smirnov go free.
"Trump’s Justice Department has shown an unusual amount of consideration for Smirnov, a confessed criminal tied to Russian intelligence who betrayed the FBI and who perpetuated a fraud that roiled American politics. But he did make trouble for Biden and the Democrats. This case warrants scrutiny as Smirnov’s appeal proceeds."
Corn asked the Department of Justice whether it would back Smirnov's appeal in court and whether the government would renew the prosecution of Smirnov. Both questions were met with the answer, "We have no comment."
Smirnov is seeking a plea deal with the DOJ, which would ensure he is given credit for time served. Judge Otis Wright, who presided over the Jan. 8, 2025, case where Smirnov was sentenced to six years, says he will not involve himself in the credit plea.
Corn explained, "The plea agreement between the Justice Department and Smirnov stated that Smirnov was 'entitled' to a credit for time served. But at sentencing, Judge Wright said he would not 'get involved' in the calculation of the credit and would leave that to the Bureau of Prisons.
"In the appeal, Smirnov’s lawyers argued that even though Smirnov ended up being credited by BOP with time served, Wright, by not directly recommending the time off to BOP, had not adhered to the plea agreement.
"Consequently, they contended, the sentence should be revoked and Smirnov permitted to withdraw his guilty pleas and return the case to the pre-agreement stage. The Justice Department filing supports Smirnov’s argument and his requests."
