Trump promotes voter ID act, dismisses considerations about fuel costs and falling inventory market
As his battle on Iran sends the inventory market plunging and gasoline costs rising, Donald Trump paused en path to his Florida seashore membership to shout acquainted taking factors about how very properly issues are going, a reporters strained to listen to him over the din of development on the White Home ballroom on Friday afternoon.
Talking in regards to the battle, the president once more implied, falsely, that Iran was on the verge of making a nuclear weapons, which his director of nationwide intelligence contradicted this week in testimony to Congress.
“We’re not giving a nuclear weapon to terrorist thugs,” Trump stated, nonetheless.
He additionally solid doubt on the prospect of a fast finish to the battle, saying: “We are able to have dialogue, however I don’t need to do a ceasefire… You don’t do a ceasefire whenever you’re actually obliterating the opposite facet.”
Requested if he was involved about rising gasoline prices for Individuals, after Iran responded to the the joint US and Israeli assault by closing the strait of Hormuz, reducing off 20% of the world’s oil and pure fuel provide, Trump stated: “No, I anticipated worse. I actually thought oil costs would go a lot greater after I did this.”
“We simply set each document, each document within the guide, with Dow, with the S&P,” the president continued, apparently suggesting that the US inventory market was in such good condition earlier than the assault that the sharp drops this week, with the Dow hovering round 45,500 on Friday was not a priority. “Dow at 50,000, S&P at 8,000, 7,000, at ranges, at velocity that no one’s ever seen earlier than,” the president stated, with a word of on the spot nostalgia for the degrees the inventory market hit simply earlier than his assault on Iran.
Only one month in the past, Trump’s legal professional common, Pam Bondi, sought to deflect questions in regards to the Epstein recordsdata by repeatedly telling lawmakers: “The Dow is over 50,000 proper now. The S&P at nearly 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing information. That’s what we ought to be speaking about.”
“However I stated I’ve to go off that path and I’ve to take a bit of journey,” Trump stated Friday. “However we needed to go off on a circuitous path and maintain enterprise, and we’re within the technique of doing it and I’ll inform you I believe we’re weeks forward of schedule.”
The president then went on to advocate for the voter suppression laws, the Save America act, Republican are struggling to go within the Senate.
“I hear it’s going- look, it ought to be a simple go, however we want Democrat votes,” Trump additionally stated, referring to the 60-vote threshold to push the laws to make it tougher for US residents to register to vote, and prohibit vote-by-mail, by the Senate.
“They don’t need to approve voter ID as a result of they cheat,” Trump support of Democrats who’re involved that the measure, supposedly geared toward stopping non-citizens from voting, an issue that seems to not exist, would make it a lot tougher for residents to solid ballots. “They need to cheat, Peter!” the president shouted at his favourite Fox Information correspondent, Peter Doocy.
Regardless of Trump’s effort guilty Democrats for refusing to go the laws, Senate Republicans have voiced their opposition to killing the filibuster to pressure the laws by.
On Thursday, Thom Tillis, a Republican senator from North Carolina, introduced that he wouldn’t help eradicating the 60-vote threshold, and criticized the crackdown on vote-by-mail, which is utilized by a number of Republican-run states, together with Utah, Florida, Alaska, and Montana.
“Now, talking of one thing that’s extra nice,” Trump added as he modified the topic with out skipping a beat, “you hear that? It’s going to be the best ballroom anyplace on this planet, nothing prefer it.”
Given the loud helicopter noise it was exhausting to say if anybody might hear the development noise Trump gave the impression to be speaking about. “They simply began right now one of many greatest pours of concrete that’s ever been seen in Washington.”
“I like the sound of concrete,” the president added.
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Up to date at 18.28 EDT
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US quickly lifts sanctions on Iranian oil
Confronted with sky-rocketing oil costs as a rsult of the joint US and Israeli assault on Iran, the treasury division’s Workplace of Overseas Property Management introduced on Friday that it’s temporarilt lifting sactions on Iranian oil gross sales, issuing a 30-day license, “Authorizing the Supply and Sale of Crude Oil and Petroleum Merchandise of Iranian-Origin Loaded on Vessels as of March 20, 2026.”
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Donald Trump has arrived at his Florida seashore membership and has no extra public occasions scheduled till Sunday, when he’s scheduled to go to Memphis for a roundtable dialogue of what the White Home calls “the unbelievable achievements” of the federal activity pressure he despatched there to assist police the town.
Throughout his flight to Florida, Trump whiled away the time posting on his personal social media platform claims that the US is “getting very near assembly our goals” and is contemplating “winding down” its battle on Iran.
He additionally advised that different nations ought to be chargeable for securing the protected passage of economic ships that carry one-fifth of the world’s provide of oil and fuel by the strait of Hormuz, the important gateway to the Persian Gulf that Iran has closed in response to the assault by the US and Israel.
“The Hormuz Strait should be guarded and policed, as needed, by different Nations who use it — The US doesn’t!” Trump posted, in his idiosyncratic fashion, which appears to borrow from German by capitalizing nouns.
“If requested, we’ll assist these Nations of their Hormuz efforts, however it shouldn’t be needed as soon as Iran’s menace is eradicated,” the president added, in an abdication of duty for the market chaos he has unleashed that it unlikely to reassure merchants.
Simply earlier than he departed Air Power One, the president additionally took time to repeat his name for the state of Colorado to free a former Colorado county clerk, Tina Peters, who’s serving a nine-year sentence for tampering together with her county’s election tools searching for the legendary election fraud Trump claimed existed in 2020.
Trump’s publish on Peters was transient, however included not less than 4 lies:
double citation markThe Nice State of Colorado, and a pathetic RINO District Lawyer, along with the Radical Left Governor, gave a beautiful lady named Tina Peters, a 73-year-old Gold Star Mother, who has most cancers, 9 years in jail as a result of, as a Republican Voting Official, she went after the Democrats for dishonest within the 2020 Presidential Election. So, she went after them for dishonest, and these SLEAZEBAGS put her in jail.
Because the Colorado information anchor Kyle Clark defined on Wednesday, when Trump made the identical false claims: “Peters is 70 (not 73), doesn’t have most cancers, was sentenced by a decide in Mesa County (not the Governor), and didn’t expose fraud within the 2020 presidential election.”
Trump’s characterization of Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, as “Radical Left” additionally ignores the truth that Polis stated this month that he would contemplate granting Peters clemency.
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White Home video reveals Japan’s prime minister laughing at trolling picture of Biden as autopen
As Individuals die in a battle launched, in response to a senior intelligence official who resigned this week, on false pretenses, the president stays targeted on what he sees as an important problem: making enjoyable of his predecessor.
That’s the inescapable message of an official White Home video documenting the prime minister of Japan’s go to on Thursday, which reveals that she laughed at a trolling portrait of Joe Biden as an autopen throughout a guided tour of Donald Trump’s ‘Presidential Stroll of Fame’.
There isn’t any signal within the spotlight reel of the go to {that a} important problem of world safety was mentioned by the 2 leaders: particularly Trump’s demand that Japan ought to ignore its US-drafted structure and ship naval vessels to an energetic battle zone to assist pressure open the strait of Hormuz that Iran closed in response to being attacked by the US and Israel.
As a substitute, the video options the Japanese chief, Sanae Takaichi, praising Trump and laughing on the mockery of Biden Trump had put in on the outside wall of the White Home.
A White Home spotlight reel of the Japanese prime minister’s go to options her laughing at a picture meant to troll Joe Biden.Share
Federal decide says Pentagon restrictions on reporters are unlawful, says press wants freedom to press navy on lies
A senior federal decide has blocked the Pentagon from imposing a brand new coverage that bars reporters who refused to signal a pledge to solely publish licensed info from the US navy’s headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
The ruling, that the brand new Pentagon credentialing coverage violates the journalists’ constitutional First Modification rights, got here from a US district decide, Paul L. Friedman, who was appointed to the bench by Invoice Clinton, however beforehand served as an assistant US legal professional in the course of the Nixon administration, and as an affiliate impartial counsel for the Iran-Contra investigation in the course of the presidency of George H W Bush.
Friedman’s 40-page ruling on Friday got here in response to a New York Instances lawsuit towards the Pentagon and protection secretary Pete Hegseth
The present Pentagon press corps is comprised manly of correspondents for far-right retailers that agreed to the coverage.
The senior decide made his place clear within the first paragraph of the opinion, which learn:
double citation markA main goal of the First Modification is to allow the press to publish what it is going to and the general public to learn what it chooses, freed from any official proscription. Those that drafted the First Modification believed that the nation’s safety requires a free press and an knowledgeable individuals and that such safety is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech. That precept has preserved the nation’s safety for nearly 250 years. It should not be deserted now.
Friedman, who simply turned 82, stated throughout oral argument within the case: “We’ve been by, in my lifetime… the Vietnam Battle, the place the general public, I believe it’s truthful to say, was lied to about plenty of issues. We’ve been by 9/11. We’ve been by the Kuwait scenario, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay. Quite a lot of issues must be held tightly and safe… however openness and transparency permits members of the general public to know what their authorities is doing in instances of peace and extra vital, in instances of battle”.
That, he added, is “what the First Modification is all about.”
“I believe the general public has a proper to know plenty of issues as [elections] method and take into consideration what their elected leaders within the legislative department and the chief department are doing,” the decide stated.
On the finish of his opinion, Friedman famous that there should be limits of sharing labeled info throughout battle time, however the ongoing battle in Iran makes it much more important that the general public has details about what the navy is doing. The decide wrote:
double citation markThe Court docket acknowledges that nationwide safety should be protected, the safety of our troops should be protected, and battle plans should be protected. However particularly in mild of the nation’s current incursion into Venezuela and its ongoing battle with Iran, it’s extra vital than ever that the general public have entry to info from a wide range of views about what its authorities is doing—in order that the general public can help authorities insurance policies, if it needs to help them; protest, if it needs to protest; and determine primarily based on full, full, and open info who they’ll vote for within the subsequent election.
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Up to date at 18.27 EDT
Pentagon bombs one other suspected drug smuggling boat, leaving two lifeless
US Southern Command introduced on Friday that US forces carried out one other “ deadly kinetic strike” on a suspected drug-smuggling boat within the Jap Pacific on Friday.
After the strike, the navy stated that there have been three survivors and it “instantly notified U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors.”
The Coast Guard stated in an announcement that made no point out of the assault that considered one of its ships had recovered two lifeless our bodies and one survivor, and transferred them to the Costa Rican Coast Guard.
The strikes on suspected drug traffickers, by a navy command headquartered throughout the road from Donald Trump’s Doral, Florida golf course, have been described as unlawful by specialists in worldwide legislation, however the Pentagon seems to have modified technique for the reason that first assault in September when it ordered a follow-on strike to kill survivors.
Killing survivors has been thought-about a textbook instance of a battle crime since 1945, when the victorious allies within the second world battle prosecuted a Nazi U-boat crew for killing shipwreck survivors.
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Up to date at 18.22 EDT
Trump promotes voter ID act, dismisses considerations about fuel costs and falling inventory market
As his battle on Iran sends the inventory market plunging and gasoline costs rising, Donald Trump paused en path to his Florida seashore membership to shout acquainted taking factors about how very properly issues are going, a reporters strained to listen to him over the din of development on the White Home ballroom on Friday afternoon.
Talking in regards to the battle, the president once more implied, falsely, that Iran was on the verge of making a nuclear weapons, which his director of nationwide intelligence contradicted this week in testimony to Congress.
“We’re not giving a nuclear weapon to terrorist thugs,” Trump stated, nonetheless.
He additionally solid doubt on the prospect of a fast finish to the battle, saying: “We are able to have dialogue, however I don’t need to do a ceasefire… You don’t do a ceasefire whenever you’re actually obliterating the opposite facet.”
Requested if he was involved about rising gasoline prices for Individuals, after Iran responded to the the joint US and Israeli assault by closing the strait of Hormuz, reducing off 20% of the world’s oil and pure fuel provide, Trump stated: “No, I anticipated worse. I actually thought oil costs would go a lot greater after I did this.”
“We simply set each document, each document within the guide, with Dow, with the S&P,” the president continued, apparently suggesting that the US inventory market was in such good condition earlier than the assault that the sharp drops this week, with the Dow hovering round 45,500 on Friday was not a priority. “Dow at 50,000, S&P at 8,000, 7,000, at ranges, at velocity that no one’s ever seen earlier than,” the president stated, with a word of on the spot nostalgia for the degrees the inventory market hit simply earlier than his assault on Iran.
Only one month in the past, Trump’s legal professional common, Pam Bondi, sought to deflect questions in regards to the Epstein recordsdata by repeatedly telling lawmakers: “The Dow is over 50,000 proper now. The S&P at nearly 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing information. That’s what we ought to be speaking about.”
“However I stated I’ve to go off that path and I’ve to take a bit of journey,” Trump stated Friday. “However we needed to go off on a circuitous path and maintain enterprise, and we’re within the technique of doing it and I’ll inform you I believe we’re weeks forward of schedule.”
The president then went on to advocate for the voter suppression laws, the Save America act, Republican are struggling to go within the Senate.
“I hear it’s going- look, it ought to be a simple go, however we want Democrat votes,” Trump additionally stated, referring to the 60-vote threshold to push the laws to make it tougher for US residents to register to vote, and prohibit vote-by-mail, by the Senate.
“They don’t need to approve voter ID as a result of they cheat,” Trump support of Democrats who’re involved that the measure, supposedly geared toward stopping non-citizens from voting, an issue that seems to not exist, would make it a lot tougher for residents to solid ballots. “They need to cheat, Peter!” the president shouted at his favourite Fox Information correspondent, Peter Doocy.
Regardless of Trump’s effort guilty Democrats for refusing to go the laws, Senate Republicans have voiced their opposition to killing the filibuster to pressure the laws by.
On Thursday, Thom Tillis, a Republican senator from North Carolina, introduced that he wouldn’t help eradicating the 60-vote threshold, and criticized the crackdown on vote-by-mail, which is utilized by a number of Republican-run states, together with Utah, Florida, Alaska, and Montana.
“Now, talking of one thing that’s extra nice,” Trump added as he modified the topic with out skipping a beat, “you hear that? It’s going to be the best ballroom anyplace on this planet, nothing prefer it.”
Given the loud helicopter noise it was exhausting to say if anybody might hear the development noise Trump gave the impression to be speaking about. “They simply began right now one of many greatest pours of concrete that’s ever been seen in Washington.”
“I like the sound of concrete,” the president added.
Share
Up to date at 18.28 EDT
Abstract of the day to date
Donald Trump spent the morning placing stress on Congress to go his payments by posting on his Reality Social platform, emphasizing that there’s “nothing extra vital” for the US in the intervening time than voter ID.
The Trump administration is contemplating occupying or blockading Iran’s Kharg Island to stress Iran into reopening the strait of Hormuz, in response to a report in Axios. The report cited 4 sources who all spoke beneath the situation of anonymity.
The US state division established a brand new bureau to supervise responses to pure disasters and humanitarian crises world wide, capping the Trump administration’s dramatic overhaul of overseas support, a senior division official instructed the Related Press.
Trump’s presidential transition crew repeatedly intervened in UK prime minister Keir Starmer’s determination to nominate Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, Politico reported. The president’s aides reportedly instructed Starmer’s nationwide safety adviser and former chief of workers Morgan McSweeney that they wished for Mandelson’s predecessor Karen Pierce to stay within the publish.
The US Division of Well being and Human Providers (HHS) stated that it’s investigating 13 states that require state-regulated medical health insurance plans to cowl abortion providers. Whereas HHS didn’t checklist the states, the Related Press reported that the 13 states with the protection necessities are California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
The White Home launched a broad framework for Congress to “pre-empt state AI legal guidelines” that will decelerate growth, after important lobbying from Silicon Valley to curtail legal responsibility and instate an industry-friendly nationwide commonplace for the regulation of the fast-moving expertise.
Joe Kent, the previous director of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle and a far-right political determine who stepped down from his place on Tuesday in protest of the battle in Iran, spoke about his resignation and the continued investigation into him over an alleged leak of labeled info, saying he has a “mission” to cease the Iran battle.
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Up to date at 16.12 EDT
Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia, signed a legislative package deal on Friday to droop the state’s gasoline taxes for 60 days, making Georgia the primary state to take direct motion towards the hovering pump costs triggered by the continued battle with Iran.
The measure supplies speedy reduction by quickly waiving the state’s 33-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax and 37-cent-per-gallon diesel tax. The transfer was a part of a duo of economic reduction payments fast-tracked by the state legislature this week to offset rising prices at the moment affecting Georgia households and companies.
“At the moment is simply the most recent step we’re taking and it’s one that may assist all Georgians as they work to make ends meet,” Kemp stated on the state capitol earlier than signing the invoice into legislation.
Autos at a fuel station in Atlanta, Georgia, on 20 March 2026. {Photograph}: Alyssa Pointer/ReutersShare
Up to date at 16.11 EDT
Clergy will likely be allowed to minister to immigrants in a holding facility on the headquarters of the Trump administration’s enforcement surge in Minnesota after US district decide Jerry Blackwell granted an injunction requested on Friday by Minnesota branches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ and a Catholic priest who had sued the Division of Homeland Safety, in response to the Related Press.
Beneath his ruling, clergy will likely be allowed in-person pastoral visits to all detainees on the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Constructing south of Minneapolis, the positioning of frequent protests over the roughly 3,000 federal officers who have been introduced into the state in the course of the crackdown.
The federal government says the enforcement surge formally led to February and restrictions have eased since. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) referred to as the constructing a short-term holding facility, and never the sort of long-term detention heart the place clergy visits are usually allowed.
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Up to date at 15.50 EDT
A Nevada decide on Friday quickly blocked prediction market operator Kalshi from providing occasions contracts that will permit the state’s residents to put monetary bets on its platform associated to sports activities leisure, and elections.
The Carson Metropolis district courtroom decide Jason Woodbury issued a brief restraining order on the behest of the Nevada gaming management board that may stop Kalshi from persevering with to function within the state with no license.
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Up to date at 15.49 EDT
Joe Kent, former counter-terrorism chief, says he has a ‘mission’ to cease Iran battle
Joe Kent, the previous director of the Nationwide Counter-terrorism Middle and a far-right political determine who stepped down from his place on Tuesday in protest of the battle in Iran, spoke about his resignation and the continued investigation into him over an alleged leak of labeled info.
In an interview on Friday with journalist Megyn Kelly, Kent stated he feels “very assured in what I’m doing proper now. I believe I’ve a mission. I believe it’s to do every little thing I can to cease this battle.”
Concerning the investigation into him, he stated he’s “not involved as a result of I do know I did nothing flawed. After all, I’m involved as a result of we’ve all seen the FBI and the total weight of the federal government come down on people,” including: “That has me a bit of bit involved, however I do know the reality, and the details are on my facet.”
Kent went on to say that the investigation “does anger” him, however “it’s all simply to be anticipated. I knew this was going to occur. I do know their playbook. I believe we’re all very accustomed to their playbook.”
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Up to date at 14.55 EDT
The Chicago transit company on Friday sued the Trump administration after the White Home in October froze $3.1bn in funding for main Chicago subway tasks, saying it was an act of political retaliation, Reuters reported.
The go well with, filed within the US district courtroom in Chicago, stated the federal authorities is making an attempt “to carry hostage billions of {dollars} in federal grants for essential infrastructure tasks within the Metropolis of Chicago”.
The go well with says the frozen grants, which have been authorised in the course of the administration of former president Joe Biden, are essential to modernize and increase the “L”, Chicago’s system of elevated and underground trains.
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Up to date at 14.37 EDT
Donald Trump has reinstated his endorsement of Jeff Hurd, a Republican Home consultant of Colorado, almost a month after the president rescinded his help in response to Hurd’s vote to repeal the administration’s tariffs on Canada.
To resolve the first battle in Colorado’s third congressional district, Trump revealed that Hurd’s GOP challenger, Hope Scheppelman, has agreed to droop her marketing campaign. In trade, each Scheppelman and her husband have been supplied positions inside the Trump administration.
“Along with them, we determined that Congressman Jeff Hurd, of Colorado’s third Congressional District, ought to on no account, form, or kind, be impeded from successful the District in that the Democrat different is a DISASTER for our Nation,” Trump wrote. “Subsequently, I will likely be totally supporting Jeff’s Re-Election to the Home of Representatives, giving him my Full and Complete Endorsement!”
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Up to date at 14.08 EDT
Absences amongst Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) airport safety officers fell barely on Thursday to 9.8% nationwide, however have been a lot greater at some main airports, the federal government stated on Friday.
The absenteeism charge among the many 50,000 TSA officers fell from 10.2% on Wednesday however was considerably greater at main airports on Thursday, together with 29% at New York’s JFK, 27% at New Orleans, Baltimore Washington at 23%, 32% at Atlanta and over 30% at each Houston airports, the Division of Homeland Safety stated.
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Up to date at 13.51 EDT
The justice division filed a brand new lawsuit on Friday towards Harvard College, saying its management failed to deal with antisemitism on campus, creating grounds for the federal government to freeze present grants and search compensation for grants already paid.
The lawsuit, filed in federal courtroom in Massachusetts, is one other missive in a protracted battle between the Trump administration and the elite college.
“The US can’t and won’t tolerate these failures,” the justice division wrote within the lawsuit. It requested the courtroom to compel Harvard to adjust to federal civil rights legislation and to assist it “get well billions of {dollars} of taxpayer subsidies awarded to a discriminatory establishment”.
The lawsuit additionally asks a decide to require that Harvard name police to arrest protesters blocking elements of campus and to nominate an “impartial exterior monitor”, authorised by the federal government, to make sure it complies with courtroom orders.
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Up to date at 13.24 EDT
