Tag: donald trump

Trump Confirms a Secret Service Agent Was Shot at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

President Donald Trump held an urgent press conference from the White House on Saturday evening, just hours after a gunman opened fire inside the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The president confirmed that a Secret Service agent had been shot, but was saved by his bulletproof vest.

“I just spoke to the officer. He’s in great shape!” Trump told reporters.

Trump said that the vest “did the job” and protected the agent from what could have been a fatal incident.

Trump repeatedly praised the bravery of the Secret Service team, saying they quickly neutralized the threat and prevented a much worse tragedy.

Following the shooting, the event was cut short, and Trump was evacuated along with Melania Trump before being rushed back to the White House.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, the suspected shooter has been identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of California, who is alive and in custody.

Allen worked as a teacher and was named “Teacher of the Month” in December 2024 at C2 Education in Torrance, according to an Instagram post.

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Federal Appeals Court Blocks President Trump’s Policy Barring Illegals From Seeking Asylum

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday blocked President Trump’s policy barring illegal aliens from seeking asylum.

In February 2025, the anti-American ACLU and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center sued the Trump Administration over its asylum policy.

A federal judge last July blocked President Trump’s policy banning illegals who cross the border from seeking asylum.

US District Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama appointee, said President Trump does not have the authority to bypass immigration law that Congress has enacted.

President Trump appealed Judge Moss’s decision.

On Friday, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the lower court and blocked Trump’s asylum policy.

The three-judge panel voted 2-1 to block Trump’s asylum policy.

Judge J. Michelle Childs (Biden) and Judge Cornelia Pillard (Obama) voted against Trump. Judge Justin Walker (Trump) dissented in part.

“We conclude that the [Immigration and Nationality Act’s] text, structure, and history make clear that in supplying power to suspend entry by Presidential proclamation, Congress did not intend to grant the Executive the expansive removal authority it asserts,” Judge Childs wrote for the majority, according to CBS News.

“The Proclamation and Guidance are thus unlawful to the extent that they circumvent the INA’s removal procedures and cast aside federal laws affording individuals the right to apply and be considered for asylum or withholding of removal protections,” Childs added.

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Trump Administration Seeks Pause Of Lawsuit Challenging Vaccine Recommendations

Trump administration lawyers on April 23 said they are still considering whether to appeal a ruling that blocked the rollback of guidance on some vaccines.

The lawyers said in a filing that pausing the litigation over the guidance pending the resolution of any appeal that is filed would “promote judicial economy and avoid burdens on government agencies that may be rendered unnecessary by a decision on any appeal.”

For instance, if an appeal is filed, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit may dismiss some or all of the claims by plaintiffs in the case, which would eliminate the need for the government to produce records sought by plaintiffs, the lawyers told U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in a motion to stay proceedings pending resolution of any appeal.

“At a minimum, a First Circuit decision on any appeal could narrow the issues in dispute and provide guidance on how to resolve any remaining issues,” the motion stated. “If Defendants continue producing administrative records and the parties start briefing cross-motions for summary judgment before Defendants’ time to appeal has run and before the First Circuit has an opportunity to weigh in on any appeal, there is a significant potential for wasted time and resources.”

Murphy in March stayed the updates made to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine guidance under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., resulting in the guidance reverting to what had been in place in mid-2025.

Murphy concluded that Kennedy and other officials did not follow proper procedure in updating the guidance and appointing new members to the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee.

That stay would remain in effect even if Murphy approves the requested motion, administration lawyers said.

The lawyers did not say why no appeal has been lodged against Murphy’s decision. They asked him to stay proceedings in the case until whichever comes later: May 15 or the resolution of any appeal the defendants may file.

The deadline to appeal Murphy’s preliminary injunction is May 15.

Shortly after the injunction was issued, the Department of Health and Human Services said it would prevail in an appeal. The department has declined to answer questions about why an appeal has not yet been lodged.

“Unless officially announced by us, any assertions about what we are doing next is baseless speculation,” a department spokesperson told The Epoch Times in March.

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Trump Rules Out Use of Nuclear Weapons in Iran War

President Donald Trump on Thursday ruled out using a nuclear weapon in the war with Iran.

He told reporters in the Oval Office that the United States has already greatly weakened the Islamic Republic with conventional weapons, declaring that “a nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody.”

PBS NewsHour correspondent Liz Landers asked the president whether nuclear weapons might be used in the war, which the president said was a “stupid” question. 

“Why would I use a nuclear weapon when we’ve totally and in a very conventional way decimated them without it?” Trump said. “I wouldn’t use it.”

Two days ago, Trump extended a two-week ceasefire with Tehran, calling the Iranian leadership “seriously fractured.” He also cited a request from Pakistan’s prime minister as another reason for extending the ceasefire. 

In an April 17 Truth Social post, Trump said that Iran had agreed to surrender enriched uranium buried by last summer’s strikes on an underground base. 

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Trump Orders Navy to Destroy Iranian Boats Mining Strait of Hormuz, Reposted Column That Advocates More Killing

President Donald Trump warned Iran today that the U.S. Navy would destroy boats that are laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

The threat comes after he announced an extension of the two-week ceasefire that was to end last night, as Pakistan attempted to persuade Iran to negotiate an end to the war. How well that effort can go is now open to question.

Multiple posts on X today reported that Iran’s chief negotiator, Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf, has resigned from Iran’s negotiating team, but an Iranian journalist called those reports “ridiculous.”

And Trump reposted on X a line from Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen, who argues that the Iranians need a deal and Trump doesn’t. Trump must therefore kill anti-peace deal officials.

Who’s the Leader?

Trump took to Truth Social this morning to unbosom himself of another threat, as is his custom.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote:

There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine “sweepers” are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level! 

Trump followed that with another post about supposed infighting among Iranian officials over who is running the country, and a claim that the U.S. Navy has sealed the strait.

“Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is!” Trump continued:

They just don’t know! The infighting is between the “Hardliners,” who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the “Moderates,” who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY! We have total control over the Strait of Hormuz. No ship can enter or leave without the approval of the United States Navy. It is “Sealed up Tight,” until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!

A report from U.S. Central Command appears to confirm Trump’s claim.

“U.S. forces have directed 29 vessels to turn around or return to port as part of the U.S. blockade against Iran,” CENTCOM reported:

Over past 24 hours, media reports have alleged that several commercial ships evaded the blockade, citing M/V Hero II, M/V Hedy, and M/V Dorena as examples. These reports are inaccurate.

Hero II and Hedy did not sail past the blockade as part of a flotilla that “ferried” millions of barrels of oil to the market. In fact, the Iranian-flagged tankers are anchored in Chah Bahar, Iran, after being intercepted by U.S. forces earlier this week. Dorena has been under the escort of a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Indian Ocean after previously attempting to violate the blockade. 

On Tuesday, Trump claimed that the blockade had collapsed Iran’s economy, and that the nation was losing $500 million daily.

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Trump Floats Taxpayer-Funded Takeover of Spirit Airlines, Selling for Profit

President Donald Trump said on April 23 that a taxpayer-funded takeover of Spirit Airlines could be an option, with the intention of reselling it when oil prices fall.

The Florida-based airline is undergoing restructuring after filing for bankruptcy protection in August 2025.

Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said he was interested in the U.S. government bailing out Spirit, or buying it outright.

“We’d be getting it debt-free. They have some good aircraft and good assets, and when the prices of oil goes down, we’ll sell it for a profit,” Trump said.

“I’d love to be able to save those jobs. I’d love to be able to save an airline,” Trump said, adding that more airlines improves competition in the market.

Spirit said in March that it had been working to sell some planes and scale back operations to focus on its “strongest routes and markets,” including Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Detroit, Michigan; and the New York metropolitan area.

Marshall Huebner, a lawyer with Davis Polk who is representing Spirit, told a U.S. bankruptcy court hearing in New York this week that government financing would make Spirit more competitive.

Creditors Notified of Deal

Huebner said details of a potential deal had been shared with all three of the company’s primary creditor groups.

The airline that became Spirit was launched in the 1980s, but rebranded in 1992.

“It all started with our launch as Charter One, flying Guests from Detroit to Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and the Bahamas,” the company says on its website. “When we rebranded as Spirit Airlines, we doubled down on our mission: bringing more guests to more places for more fun.”

Ultra-low-cost airlines have been under pressure for years as they traditionally attract budget-conscious travelers with low base fares, but the rise in oil prices is eroding margins and increasing losses.

Earlier this week, for example, German airline Lufthansa announced that 20,000 short-haul flights would be canceled this summer because of the ongoing fuel crisis sparked by the Iran war and subsequent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global oil shipments.

On April 21, Trump urged for someone to buy Spirit and said federal assistance may be available.

“I’d love somebody to buy Spirit—it’s 14,000 jobs,“ he said. ”Maybe the federal government should help that one out.”

In 2024, the Biden administration, citing antitrust laws, prevented JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit for $3.8 billion.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CBS News this week he had concerns about a Spirit Airlines bailout.

“The question will be does the federal government step in and bail out an airline that for a very long time hasn’t been run well,” Duffy said.

He said he was unsure whether Spirit could be saved and “made viable” and was concerned that taxpayers’ money could end up in a company that would eventually be liquidated.

But Trump said he had “a smart person” in mind who could potentially run Spirit and get it back on solid a financial footing.

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Trump to Probe Banks Regarding Los Angeles Wildfire Response

U.S. President Donald Trump said on April 23 that his administration will look into banks’ handling of payments and debts in the aftermath of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

Two Los Angeles-area communities were devastated by wildfires in January 2025. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported that the Palisades fire caused 12 deaths, destroyed 6,845 structures, and damaged 975 more. The nearby Eaton fire, which ignited in Altadena on Jan. 7, 2025, claimed 19 lives. Combined, the fires have claimed 31 lives and destroyed more than 16,000 structures.

Last month, Trump said State Farm and other insurers should “get their act together,” following a meeting with California politicians.

Trump met with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger on Thursday and said he is now turning his attention to banks.

“Since my strong action and statements with respect to Insurance Companies, and the way they were treating the Home Owners, that aspect of this Disaster has proceeded well — Big progress has been made, and those Companies are ’stepping up to the plate,’ as they should be,” Trump ​said in a 23 April post on Truth Social.

“The Banks, however, have a long way to go, and we will be looking into their actions, effective immediately. Wells Fargo, in particular, has been very difficult to deal with. The Banks must treat those people, who so horribly lost their Homes in this tragic fire, very fairly and well. I will be working with the Mayor, Supervisor, and everyone else to help this tragic situation go smoothly.”

A Wells Fargo spokeswoman told The Epoch Times via email that the company did not have a comment to share.

In an April 23 joint statement, Bass and Barger said they had “a very positive discussion about FEMA and other rebuilding funds, as well as the support of the President to continue joining us in pressuring the insurance companies to pay what they owe – and for the big banks to step up to ease the financial pressure on LA families.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in January ​2025 that five major lenders, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, and Citigroup, would grant 90-day mortgage forbearance ​to homeowners in Los Angeles and Ventura fire zones. The relief included a pause in credit reporting and the potential for extended aid.

“After so much trauma, we hope this deal will provide thousands of survivors a measure of relief,” Newsom said at the time. “These financial protections will enable residents to concentrate on taking care of their immediate needs rather than worrying about paying their mortgage bills. I thank each of the financial institutions that are offering this help for Californians recovering from this catastrophic firestorm.”

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The Teenage Bully Boy Who Got the War Toys

Here he goes again. The phony “cease fire” is expiring Wednesday. So the Donald is back on the keyboard promising to obliterate what remains of Iran if the mullahs (or whoever) don’t raise the white flag of surrender forthwith.

Yet in the unhinged outpouring of crude bellicosity below we get the sum and substance of why the War Capital of the World on the Potomac has metastasized into a Trumpian clown show of bombast, misanthropy and farce.

We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!”

Self-evidently, the Donald is an incompetent teenage bully-boy who never grew up. And, yes, it’s possible – albeit remotely so – that such an unsuited aspirant as Donald J. Trump could be mistakenly elected President fair and square by American democracy – even twice.

But what such a freakishly accidental man-boy should not have is the unilateral, open-ended capacity to play video games with a $1 trillion War Machine; and one that is capable of inflicting monumental violence and death anywhere along the length and breadth of the planet upon the whim of the POTUS.

What we mean is this: A proper $300 billion DOD “defense” budget (as opposed to the current $1 trillion “war” budget and the even more absurd $1.5 trillion proposed Trump DOD budget)) would provide for an invincible nuclear deterrent and Fortress America shield of protection for America’s coast lines and airspace. But it would not endow the POTUS – neither a competent one like Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and George Bush Sr. nor a narcissistic madman like Trump – with the capacity to rain missiles and bombs from the sky against the bridges, power plants, apartment buildings, hospitals and elementary schools of any foreign country that posed no threat to America’s Homeland Security.

That’s because, for example, he would have not have $85 billion per year worth of 11 carrier battle groups, whose only function is to wage unnecessary wars of invasion, occupation and kinetic intimidation. Nor would he have –

  • 800 foreign bases from which to launch cruise missiles, bombers, drones and other weapons of offensive attack.
  • upwards of 500,000 Marine and Army expeditionary forces designed to put US boots on foreign soil.
  • massive networks of airlift, sealift and logistics infrastructure needed to project conventional military power abroad.

Nor would they have the remit to act upon such an utterly false narrative as the alleged “47-Year Iranian War On America”. The latter retains credibility and resilience in the halls of government only because the nation’s War Machine and related the institutions of Empire (e.g. USAID, Agency for Global Media, NED etc.) fund the the think tanks, consultants and research operations who’s budget depends upon the existence of alleged mortal enemies and conjured threats to national security. So they find these aplenty.

Stated differently, if the peaceful Republic that America was intended to be had but a $300 billion defense budget and a proper War Powers Act, the clown show that the Donald has conducted since February 28th would not have been remotely possible. Not even conceivable.

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Who Is General Dan Caine? The Man Who Allegedly Said ‘No’ to Trump’s Nuclear Codes During the Iran Crisis

Now, General Dan Caine — America’s highest-ranking military officer — is at the centre of one of the most explosive and widely-circulated claims of the US-Iran conflict: that he stood up in a White House meeting and told President Donald Trump ‘no’ when the president allegedly moved to invoke nuclear codes.

The allegation, which originated from retired CIA analyst Larry C Johnson on the ‘Judging Freedom‘ podcast on 20 April, has not been confirmed by any official source. A White House spokesperson told Newsweek the claim was false. Yet it has already accumulated nearly two million views on X — and placed Caine squarely in the public eye in a way his relatively quiet rise to the top of the US military never had.

A Fighter Pilot Nobody Saw Coming

John Daniel ‘Raizin‘ Caine was born on 10 August 1968 in Elmira, New York. His father, Steve Caine, is a retired United States Air Force fighter pilot. He followed that path, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics from Virginia Military Institute in 1990 before completing the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Programme and going on to fly F-16s.

A command pilot with more than 2,800 flight hours in the F-16, including over 150 combat hours, his career spans combat aviation, special operations, and senior interagency leadership across the Department of Defense, the White House, and the Intelligence Community. His last government post before becoming Chairman was as Associate Director for Military Affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency, a role he held from 2021 until his retirement in December 2024.

Trump’s Pick Over the Pentagon’s Own

Caine was not well known before his nomination in February 2025. Several officials on Capitol Hill and the Pentagon, granted anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter, said at the time that they had to Google his name.

He is the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who never served at the rank of four-star general or admiral before being nominated, the first to be nominated while in retirement, and the first to have been nominated as a member of a reserve component. Despite the unusual path, Trump backed him publicly. ‘He only knows one thing, how to WIN,’ Trump wrote of Caine in February.

Caine was confirmed on 11 April in a 60-25 vote and was promoted to a four-star general prior to the vote. He was sworn in just days before the Iran ceasefire deadline came into force.

The Claim That Went Viral

It was against this backdrop that Johnson made his allegation on the ‘Judging Freedom’ podcast. Johnson claimed that an emergency White House meeting took place on Saturday night amid escalating tensions with Iran, during which Trump allegedly moved to invoke nuclear codes, and Caine refused, with Johnson describing the exchange as ‘apparently quite a blowup.’

Johnson cited no named sources. Lead Stories searched Google News and Yahoo News for matching reports and found none, concluding that had such a confrontation actually happened and been verified by insiders, major outlets would have covered it heavily. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said, ‘I’d have to see a couple of source confirmations before I even dignify that question with an answer. I just can’t imagine that that was ever a serious consideration.’

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Trump’s Embrace of Psychedelic Therapy Leaves Most Users on the Wrong Side of the Law

On Saturday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at “accelerating medical treatments for serious mental illness” by facilitating regulatory approval of ibogaine and other psychedelics that have shown promise as psychotherapeutic catalysts. Although the case for doing that is compelling, the medical model embraced by the president excludes most psychedelic use, which will remain illegal even if the “historic reforms” that Trump announced work as planned.

Trump takes it for granted that Americans should be allowed to use psychedelics only for reasons that the government recognizes as legitimate. Otherwise, they are criminals rather than patients, subject to arrest, prosecution, and potentially severe penalties for daring to assert sovereignty over their own bodies and minds.

The injustice of that policy is readily apparent when people use psychedelics in ways that manifestly improve their lives. Many combat veterans, for example, have found that ibogaine, which is derived from the root of an African shrub, provides dramatic relief from the constellation of problems known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“It absolutely changed my life for the better,” former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, whose Afghanistan memoir inspired the 2013 movie Lone Survivor, remarked as Trump signed his executive order. “I was reborn,” says Luttrell’s twin brother, Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R–Texas), also a former Navy SEAL. “It is one of the greatest things that ever happened to me.”

Because ibogaine is banned in the United States, the Luttrell brothers had those transformational experiences at a clinic in Mexico. So did the 30 subjects of a recent Nature Mental Health study, which found that ibogaine, combined with magnesium as a safeguard against the drug’s cardiac side effects, “safely and effectively reduces PTSD, anxiety and depression and improves functioning in veterans” with traumatic brain injuries.

Research on ibogaine, which also is reputed to be remarkably useful for people struggling with drug addiction, is relatively limited so far. But the evidence supporting the use of MDMA (for PTSD) and psilocybin (for depression), both of which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated as “breakthrough” therapies, is strong enough that they may soon be approved as prescription medications.

If that happens, some people who could benefit from these drugs will be able to use them legally, provided they can obtain a diagnosis and a prescription. But where does that leave all the psychedelic users who can’t meet those requirements?

In a 2023 survey of psilocybin users, the RAND Corporation found that the most common motivations included “fun” (59 percent), “improved mental health” (49 percent), “personal development” (45 percent), “curiosity” (43 percent), and “spiritual growth” (41 percent). Although very few of those people would qualify for the medical exception that Trump advocates, that does not mean their reasons for using psilocybin should be dismissed as frivolous, let alone that they should be treated as criminals.

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