he U.S. Supreme Court is seen on March 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. court system in two posts on social media over the weekend, including disparaging a Supreme Court ruling over his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to implement tariffs.
He also took aim at a ruling by a U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Friday that blocked the Justice Department’s subpoenas as part of their criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
“The decision that mattered most to me was TARIFFS! The Court knew where I stood,” Trump said on Sunday night.
The Supreme Court last month delivered a major blow to Trump by invalidating most of his global tariffs, a cornerstone of his economic policy in his second term. In a 6-3 decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court concluded that IEEPA did not give Trump the power to unilaterally impose tariffs because the Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to raise revenue from Americans.
Trump on Sunday night derided the high court’s decision, claiming that the “Democrats on the Court always ‘stick together,’ no matter how strong a case is put before them.”
Trump also took a dig at Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, both of whom the president appointed during his first term to the nation’s highest court, accusing them of going “out of their way, with bad and wrongful rulings and intentions, to prove how ‘honest,’ ‘independent,’ and ‘legitimate’ they are.”
Notwithstanding the criticism, Gorsuch and Barrett have been reliable conservative votes on the court, consistently voting in favor of positions backed by the Trump administration. Last year, Barrett authored the landmark 6-3 decision restricting the ability of lower court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions against Trump policies.
Trump claimed the court’s decision on tariffs meant the U.S. “was unnecessarily RANSACKED” and called the court “a weaponized and unjust Political Organization.”
“They are hurting our Country, and will continue to do so. All I can do, as President, is call them out for their bad behavior! This statement about the United States Supreme Court will cause me nothing but problems in the future, but I feel it is my obligation to speak the TRUTH,” Trump wrote, seemingly acknowledging the potential backlash he might receive over his attacks.
Trump on the day after that ruling said he would raise those tariffs to 15%. Twenty-four states are suing the Trump administration over those duties, saying they’re illegal because the president does not have the power to impose them.
Tariffs aside, the court’s conservative majority ruled overwhelmingly in Trump’s favor during this first year of his second term, approving nearly all of the administration’s unprecedented number of emergency applications seeking a green light for government layoffs, federal funding freezes, expedited removal of immigrants, and expulsion of transgender military service members.
In 2024, the court extended sweeping immunity to Trump in the face of criminal prosecution, which Trump called a “big win for our Constitution and democracy” at the time.
In a second social media post, Trump claimed that the U.S. court system had singled him out and treated him and other Republicans in a politicized manner.
“The Courts treat Republicans, and me, so unfairly, always seeming to protect those who should not be protected,” Trump said. “They are highly politicized. Cases don’t matter, the Judge does!”
He then blasted the Friday ruling by Boasberg, a top federal judge in Washington, that blocked the Justice Department from subpoenaing the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors after determining the government “produced essentially zero evidence” to support a criminal investigation of Powell, the Fed chair.
“How is this absolutely terrible Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell, not even allowed to be investigated for the horrible job he does?” Trump wrote.
Powell in January had rebuked the investigation, describing it in a video message as a politically motivated effort to influence the Fed’s interest rate policy.
The president on Sunday also attacked Boasberg, who authored the ruling.
“I strongly criticized Jerome ‘Too Late’ for his horrible performance throughout his tenure, which is either gross incompetence, total dishonesty, or both, and, in return for this well justified criticism, get viciously and wrongfully blamed by, as usual, a Wacky, Nasty, Crooked, and totally Out of Control Judge, named James Boasberg, a man who suffers from the highest level of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), and has been ‘after’ my people, and me, for years,” Trump wrote.
“In case after case, Boasberg has displayed open, flagrant, and extreme partisan bias and contempt against Republicans and the Trump Administration,” Trump added later in the post.
The president then called for Boasberg to be removed from cases related to Trump and his administration, claiming “he is exactly what Judges should not be!”
Acting U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said on Friday that Boasberg was an “activist” judge, adding that the Justice Department planned to appeal the ruling.
Following a previous round of Trump attacks on Boasberg last year, Roberts issued a rare public statement defending the judge and judiciary.
The entrance to a U.S. Immigration and Customs detention facility in Dallas, Texas (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(DALLAS) — An Afghan immigrant who died after being in immigration custody for one day worked alongside U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan, according to an immigrant advocacy group.
Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal, 41, died last week at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas, Texas. He is the 43rd person to die in ICE custody during the second Trump administration, according to lawmakers.
According to ICE, 36 detainees have died in ICE custody since Jan. 23, 2025. By federal law, ICE makes public all reports regarding detainee deaths while in custody within 90 days, according to the agency.
“For many years, Nazeer worked alongside American forces during the war in Afghanistan,” the group AfghanEvac said in a statement on behalf of Paktyawal’s family. “It was dangerous work, but he believed in helping bring stability to his country and protecting the people around him. After Afghanistan fell, the United States helped evacuate our family in 2021, and we came here hoping for safety and a better life.”
An ICE statement Sunday said that Paktyawal died Saturday morning at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas, following his arrest the day before. It described Paktyawal as “a criminal illegal alien from Afghanistan” who had “a known criminal history,” including an arrest for alleged SNAP fraud and another for alleged theft, both last year.
The ICE statement did not address whether Paktyawal had assisted U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as AfghanEvac claimed.
AghanEvac said in their statement that Paktayawal had an open asylum application and did not have any criminal convictions. ABC News has so far been unable to independently confirm claims about Paktayawal’s alleged criminal record.
The Department of Homeland Security on Monday confirmed that Paktayawal entered the U.S. in 2021 but said that his parole expired in August 2025. The agency did not address questions about an active asylum application.
“In the late evening of March 13, ICE contacted Emergency Medical Services when Paktiawal [sic] began complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains while in an ICE Dallas Field Office processing hold room,” the ICE statement said. “He was immediately transported to Parkland Hospital and received breathing treatment. The ER doctor recommended that he remain in the hospital for observation.”
“Early March 14, Paktiawal was eating breakfast when medical staff noted that his tongue had become swollen, prompting a medical response. After multiple lifesaving efforts were attempted, he was declared deceased at 9:10 a.m.,” according to the ICE statement.
Paktyawal “did not report any prior medical history” at the time of his arrest, the ICE statement said.
In a statement to ABC News on Monday, DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said Paktyawal’s tongue was swollen and said that he “received an epinephrine drip.”
“Later that day, medical staff began cardiopulmonary resuscitation,” Bis further said. “At approximately 9:10 a.m. CDT, a physician at Parkland Hospital pronounced Paktyawal deceased after multiple resuscitative efforts, including mechanical device and medical professional interventions.”
“No one in ICE custody is denied access to proper medical care,” Bis added. “It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody.”
AfghanEvac stated that Paktyawal was preparing to drive his children to school when he was detained March 13.
“His children watched as he was surrounded and taken away,” the group said. “We still cannot understand how this happened. He was only 41 years old and was a strong and healthy man.”
Paktyawal served as an Afghan special forces soldier beginning in 2005 and worked alongside U.S. Army Special Forces for more than a decade, according to AfghanEvac, and was evacuated by the U.S. on Aug. 30, 2021, and resettled in Texas through Catholic Charities. Paktyawal had completed his asylum interview and held a work authorization and a valid Social Security number, AfghanEvac said.
The group said Paktyawal contacted his family members shortly after being detained on March 13 and said that he was not feeling well. He was admitted to a local hospital in Dallas that night and the family was informed on March 14 that Paktyawal had died.
“Mr. Paktyawal’s asylum case remained pending with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the time of his detention,” AghanEvac said in a statement.
“While ICE’s statement focuses on past allegations, the circumstances surrounding Mr. Paktyawal’s detention and death remain unclear,” the group added. “According to information currently available, those arrests did not result in criminal charges nor had Mr. Paktyawal been convicted of any crimes.”
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles listens as President Donald Trump announces the creation of the U.S. strategic critical minerals reserve during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on February 02, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said Monday that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer, which was detected early, and that she will continue to serve in her role while she undergoes treatment.
“I am grateful to have an outstanding team of doctors who detected the cancer early and are guiding my care, and I am encouraged by a strong prognosis,” Wiles said in a statement. “I am also deeply thankful for the support and encouragement of President Trump as I undergo treatment and continue serving in my role as White House Chief of Staff.”
President Donald Trump said in a social media post Monday that while Wiles undergoes treatment, “she will be spending virtually full time at the White House, which makes me, as President, very happy!”
During an event at the White House on Monday, Trump praised his top aide, saying that she is an “amazing fighter” and will “take care of it immediately,” referring to her treatment.
“She just started actually, and she’s going to be a great shape,” Trump said of her treatment. “The prognosis there is excellent, beyond excellent.”
Wiles has served as the White House chief of staff since the beginning of Trump’s second term.
She didn’t offer any additional details about her prognosis or treatment plan.
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in the United States (excluding skin cancers). About 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer.
An estimated 321,910 females will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, the American Cancer Society estimates. An estimated 42,140 women will die.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin tapped by U.S. President Donald Trump to replace U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, speaks to members of the media as he departs the U.S. Capitol in Washington, March 5, 2026. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — It’s set to be a critical week in Congress as lawmakers continue to scrutinize the Iran war — with opportunities to press the Trump administration as members of the president’s Cabinet and senior military commanders are set to make appearances.
The country’s top intelligence community officials make their way to Capitol Hill on Tuesday and Wednesday, when Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel as well as top officials from the Defense Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency are scheduled to appear before the House and Senate Intelligence committees for the Worldwide Threats hearings.
While these are annual hearings, this year’s presentation comes amid heightened focus on the intelligence community because of the Iran war as lawmakers mull a potential emergency supplemental bill to fund the open-ended operation.
The money that has so far been spent to fund operations in Iran comes out of Pentagon funds already allocated by Congress. Congress has not yet approved any additional funding for the war with Iran.
Also on Wednesday, Sen. Markwayne Mullin will appear for his public confirmation hearing to serve as the Secretary of Homeland Security after being tapped by Trump earlier this month to take over from Kristi Noem.
He’ll be before the Senate Homeland Security Committee while the department he’s seeking to lead remains shut down due to a funding stalemate, with no clear end to that shutdown in sight.
Parts of DHS — from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Transportation Security Administration to the Coast Guard — are shut down amid a funding fight over Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Democrats have said they will fund the department only if changes are made to the agency in the wake of the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis earlier this year.
While Mullin is expected to be grilled by Democrats over ongoing challenges at DHS, he is ultimately expected to swiftly sail to confirmation. The Senate Homeland Security Committee is scheduled to vote on his nomination on Thursday. After that vote, his nomination will head to the Senate floor. He could be confirmed as soon as the following week.
Mullin may face questions about threats to the homeland after DHS warned of potential lone-wolf and cyberattacks amid the ongoing strikes in Iran, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by ABC News.
Majority Leader John Thune has signaled that this is the week that the Senate is going to attempt to move forward with votes on the SAVE America Act, which would change voter ID requirements ahead of November’s midterm elections. It comes after President Donald Trump threatened that he would not sign any other legislation coming to his desk until the SAVE America Act was passed.
The showdown is expected to produce heated debate on the floor — not only about the bill’s provisions, but also the Senate’s wonky and longstanding procedures.
Trump has mentioned the possibility of utilizing the so-called “talking filibuster” to pass the SAVE America Act. The “talking filibuster” would be a departure from the Senate’s usual operating procedure that some hope would allow senators to side-step the current rules requiring 60 votes to advance most legislation. It could see lawmakers making tireless speeches on endless numbers of amendments on the floor.
Thune has consistently reiterated that there are not the votes in the Senate to support a talking filibuster or modify the chamber’s filibuster rules. So while the floor debate may get heated, any vote that takes place on the bill is mostly symbolic, and all-but-certain to fail.
On Thursday, the investigation around convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continues as Darren Indyke, longtime attorney and a co-executer of Epstein’s will, is expected to appear for a closed-door deposition with the House Oversight Committee.
Indyke’s testimony follows accountant Richard Kahn’s deposition last week, during which he told the committee that he did not know about Epstein’s crimes, according to his prepared remarks obtained by ABC News.
Chairman James Comer continues to work to schedule transcribed interviews with Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Attorney General Pam Bondi, though an aide told ABC News on Friday that neither interview has been nailed down so far.
(NEW YORK) — A cross-country storm continued on Monday to produce heavy snow and strong winds in the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region, including an ice storm in northern Michigan, prompting thousands of flight cancellations and delays.
More than 3,400 flights within or out of the United States have already been canceled on Monday and more than 14,000 flights have been delayed, according to FlightAware.com, which tracks flights throughout the nation.
Between Saturday and Monday morning, more than 5,000 flights were canceled nationwide due to weather, with 3,000 flights scrapped on Sunday alone.
A major winter storm sweeping across the country has produced blizzards, ice storms and widespread destruction across parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes states.
Overnight, parts of Wisconsin recorded more than 2 feet of snow, including the city of Wausau, which received 23.4 inches of snow on Sunday and was adding to its snow totals on Monday morning.
Blizzard conditions are still occurring in parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota, where the city of Minneapolis recorded 8.8 inches of snow overnight and into Monday.
Meanwhile, more than 391 reports of damaging winds have been recorded from Texas to Ohio. At least eight states — including Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and New York — have reported destructive wind gusts of 70 mph.
More than 500,000 utility customers from Texas to New York were without power on Monday morning, according to the website PowerOutage.com.
Most of the power outages are in northern Michigan, where an ongoing ice storms have toppled power lines.
Fire and ice
The March storm is also forecast to continue whipping up dry and windy conditions in the South, fueling a critical fire threat in areas of the central U.S. already dealing with wildfires.
In Nebraska, three wildfires, the largest being the Morrill Fire, have burned more than 700,000 acres of land across multiple counties in western Nebraska and killed at least one person in Arthur County, Gov. Jim Pillen said at a news conference on Saturday.
On Monday, red flag warnings for fire weather danger are in place from southern Texas through southern Louisiana, including the cities of Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi.
Severe weather outlook for Monday
On Monday, a moderate risks of severe storms is forecast to spread into South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and up to Maryland, including the cities of Washington, D.C., Richmond and Raleigh.
Severe storms are also expected to develop from Georgia to Pennsylvania, including the cities of Savannah, Charleston, Charlotte, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Destructive winds gusts greater than 70 mph could develop in these areas, especially from South Carolina to Maryland.
There’s also a risk of tornadoes popping up about midday from South Carolina to Maryland.
A line of severe thunderstorm could also spawn tornadoes from the Florida Panhandle to the West Virginia. A tornado watch was in place earlier for Florida, Alabama and Georgia.
A tornado watch is also in place for Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and much of New Jersey until 7 pm ET on Monday.
More snow in store for the East Coast
By 6 p.m. ET, snow is expected to be falling from western Virginia, West Virginia, eastern Pennsylvania and western New York. Showers and thunderstorms are also forecast to move along the East Coast from North Carolina to Maine.
The weather system is expected to move out late Monday afternoon. But lake-effect snow is expected to continue through Tuesday on the eastern side of the Great Lakes.
Snow could also make a brief appearance from the Dakotas to Ohio on Tuesday and into Tuesday night.
Record heat wave in the West
Record heat is expected to continue as a summer-like heat dome settles over the West.
Many cities throughout the West — Sacramento, San Jose, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Denver — could reach all-time high temperatures for March.
Extreme heat alerts have been issued from southern Arizona up to the Bay Area of Northern California, where temperatures could reach the mid-90s.
Part of Southern California could see temperatures climb to 109 degrees.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles listens as President Donald Trump announces the creation of the U.S. strategic critical minerals reserve during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on February 02, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said in a social media post Monday that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has been “diagnosed with early stage breast cancer” and has decided to start treatment immediately.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The first full Moon of the spring on March 3, 2026. (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — It’s been 100 years since the 1st modern rocket launched. Humans are heading back to the moon
The experiment lasted only two and a half seconds, but it ignited a century of space exploration that sent humans to low Earth orbit and eventually to the moon.
On March 16, 1926, Robert H. Goddard launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket on a snowy farm in Massachusetts. Historians say that Goddard’s 10-foot rocket would pave the way for the modern machines that do everything from putting satellites in orbit to sending humans to the International Space Station and beyond.
“His unlocking of that ability to use liquid fuel really just sets the stage for any other country around the world that is launching rockets,” Ed Stewart, a curator at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, told ABC News. “It all comes back down to March 16 in 1926 because he was the one that proved that it could be done and then actually did it.” The rocket was the first of its kind, powered by liquid propellant rather than gunpowder or other solid fuels used by most rockets at the time, according to NASA. The rocket flew for less than three seconds and reached an altitude of about 41 feet.
While scientists overseas had already been experimenting with rocketry in places like Russia and Germany, according to historical documents, it was Goddard’s 1919 paper, “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes,” that made the physicist’s discovery famous worldwide, explained Stewart.
“It caught the attention of people all around the world, even people that were doing some experimentation with rockets and liquid fuels and things like that in other parts of the world,” Stewart said.
The paper suggested that rockets could one day travel to the moon and caught the attention of the Smithsonian Institution, which invested money in rocket research.
“I think the breakthrough was, first of all, that Goddard had this dream of getting a rocket ship off the surface of the Earth,” said Charles “Chuck” Agosta, a physics professor at Goddard’s alma mater, Clark University. “And then, of course, the dream was to go to Mars.”
Other scientists, like Hermann Oberth of Germany, later built on Goddard’s theory, and that progress eventually contributed to the development of the V-2 rocket, Stewart noted. And eventually, rockets based on Goddard’s pioneering work led to sending astronauts into space and to the moon.
Goddard earned his master’s and doctorate in physics at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, before returning to teach at the school in 1914. He eventually served as director of the physics department for two decades.
Today, faculty at Clark say his legacy still looms large on campus.
Goddard once used a bicycle wheel to show funding agencies how gyroscopes could help steer rockets in space. Today, Agosta uses that same wheel to teach his students about angular momentum.
Despite his legacy, Goddard’s breakthrough didn’t immediately capture the public’s imagination. Stewart says that when the first liquid-fueled rocket launched, space travel was still widely viewed as science fiction by many.
“I do think that at the time it was still so far-fetched that even once he proved that the basic version of the technology would work, people still were thinking of it more as a novelty,” Stewart said.
Much of what we know about those early experiments comes from Goddard’s wife, Esther Christine Kisk Goddard, a photographer from Worcester, Mass. She documented many of the tests, leaving behind footage that offers a window into the creation of the world’s first modern rockets.
According to NASA, Goddard created and launched more than 35 rockets throughout his lifetime. It was because of his pioneering work in modern rocketry that, in May 1959, NASA renamed its first spaceflight complex to the “Goddard Space Flight Center.”
The center is home to missions such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch as early as fall 2026.
The global return to the moon and beyond
During his initial launch tests, Goddard fueled his rocket with gasoline and liquid oxygen, according to the Roswell Museum in New Mexico, where the physicist spent part of his career. Today’s modern rockets no longer use gasoline, opting for other fuels such as liquid hydrogen, liquid methane and refined kerosene along with liquid oxygen, which acts as an oxidizer.
On the 100th anniversary of Goddard’s discovery, the United States is on the cusp of sending the first astronauts to the moon since 1972 as part of the Artemis II mission. The 10-day trip will send four astronauts around the far side of the moon in NASA’s Orion spacecraft, launched into orbit by the most powerful rocket ever to send people into space. A rocket that may never have come to fruition had Goddard not experimented on that faithful day in 1926.
What could the next 100 years of rocket technology bring?
“I’m pretty confident that in a hundred years, we’re going to be all over space,” Agosta said.
Considering the thousands of airplanes in our own skies every day, he says it’s “inevitable” and that we’ll “at least be in the planets close to us” by the next century.
President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Air Force One on March 13, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Md. Trump is traveling to Florida to spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Several developments came out of Washington, D.C., regarding the war with Iran over the weekend as strikes continue across the Middle East and economic impacts are beginning to be felt domestically.
President Donald Trump and administration officials continued to comment on the timeline of the war, the possibility of a deal with Iran, securing the Strait of Hormuz and the release of oil reserves.
The administration has maintained that the U.S. is decimating Iranian forces and degrading their capabilities, but Iran continues to strike.
On Saturday, Trump said on social media, “We have already destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capability,” and said the U.S. “will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE.”
Still, the administration has yet to comment on the deployment of Marines to the region, which was announced on Friday, and what their mission could entail.
Trump also faced backlash over the weekend after an affiliated political action committee sent a fundraising email, featuring a photo from the dignified transfer of the first six U.S. service members killed in the Iran war, while offering contributors access to “private national security briefings.”
ABC News has compiled a list of some of the latest developments as the war stretches into its third week.
Timeline
Questions continue to swirl about how long Trump wants the United States to be engaged in this war.
He spent the bulk of last week assuring Americans it would be over soon, hoping to ease market concerns, saying Iran is beaten. But on his way out of Washington Friday night, he refused to comment on how long it would continue. “As long as necessary,” Trump said.
On Sunday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, “I think that this conflict will certainly come to an end in the next few weeks. Could be sooner than that, but the conflict will come to the end in the next few weeks.”
In an interview with NBC, Wright also acknowledged, “Americans are feeling it [economic pain] right now and will feel it for a few more weeks.” But, he said, in the end, we will have removed the greatest threat to global energy supplies.
Securing the Strait
Officials, including Wright, also struggled over the weekend to explain the plans they had executed in anticipation that Iran would shut down the vital oil shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz.
On Saturday, Trump called on other countries that depend on that commerce to help secure the strait, naming “China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others.” He also suggested he’s received commitments from some of them, but from whom remains unknown. Democrats, critical of Trump, said last week that this is something that should have been coordinated at the outset.
Later Saturday, President Trump told NBC that he’d secured cooperation. “They’ve not only committed, but they think it’s a great idea,” but he didn’t say which country or countries he was referring to.
And, in that same interview, he said, “We believe we’ll be joined by other countries,” drawing into question whether he actually secured commitments.
ABC News has asked the White House to clarify, and they have not responded.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said of the strait on Friday, “We have been dealing with it, and don’t need to worry about it.”
But, so far, there have been no escorts, and requests from shipping companies have reportedly been denied.
Pressed on whether Trump has actual commitments from others to help, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said during an interview with CNN, “I’ll leave those conversations to him,” referring to the president.
Wright told ABC News that more work needs to be done before the strait can open and escorts can occur. “Right now, our focus is destroying their military capabilities, including those that are used specifically to threaten the straits. But we need to finish those tasks first, and you will see the straits open again in the not-too-distant future.”
He also did not specify which countries would help.
Trump spoke with the leaders of the U.K. and Canada on Sunday, but there was no mention of any commitment from the foreign leaders.
Trump, meanwhile, has been warning Iran that further disruptions in the strait could result in devastating strikes on the country’s oil infrastructure. He said he’s so far held back during those strikes on Kharg Island, but on Friday warned he would “reconsider” if Iran interfered with the Strait of Hormuz.
On Saturday, he told NBC, “We may hit it a few more times just for fun.”
A deal?
Many experts in Washington believe ultimately, there needs to be another nuclear deal in order for this war to end.
Trump said over the weekend he’s not ready “because the terms aren’t good enough yet.”
“Iran wants to make a deal, and I don’t want to make it because the terms aren’t good enough yet,” Trump reportedly told NBC.
And in a post to his social media platform, he said Iran “wants a deal,” but not one he would accept.
He also raised questions about whether the new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is alive or not. On Friday, the State Department announced a $10 million reward for information on key Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leaders, including Khamenei.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS on Sunday, “We don’t see any reason why we should talk with Americans, because we were talking with them when they decided to attack us, and that was for the second time.”
But, in what some interpret as a more positive diplomatic development, Aragachi said Iran has not yet attempted to retrieve its 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium from “underneath the rubble” of those nuclear sites bombed by the U.S. last June.
If, he said, that material is to be recovered, it would be done under the “supervision of the agency,” a reference to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Earlier Saturday, Reuters reported that Trump had rejected efforts from Middle East allies to begin diplomatic ceasefire negotiations. The White House had not responded to ABC’s requests for comment about the report.
“Nothing is on the table right now. Everything depends on the future,” Araghchi said.
Marines deployed
On Friday, Trump ordered 2,200 Marines aboard three U.S. Navy amphibious ships to the Middle East, two officials confirmed to ABC News.
Trump has yet to comment on this decision, and why it’s necessary if the war, in his words, is “won.”
The Marines are part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit, which means that they are capable of conducting land, amphibious and aviation missions.
It also means there are more than just 2,220 Marines headed there. There are between 2,000 and 2,500 Sailors also on board those ships, providing support.
In all, approximately 5,000 Marines and Sailors are headed to the region.
The Pentagon has not acknowledged the deployment and has not offered any guidance on its mission.
Nevertheless, they are already underway and will take a minimum of 10 days to get there.
Backlash to campaign using photo of war dead
Trump drew backlash from his critics over the weekend after it was confirmed an affiliated political action committee sent a new fundraising email featuring an official White House photo from the dignified transfer of the first six U.S. service members killed in the Iran war, while also offering contributors access to “private national security briefings.”
In the photo, Trump can be seen saluting a flag-draped transfer case containing the remains of one of the six fallen soldiers.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on CNN, “If the president is willing to raise campaign funds over the bodies of America’s war dead, he is unfit to be the commander in chief.”
The White House and Never Surrender Inc. have not responded to ABC News’ requests for comment.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said he “didn’t see” the email. “I didn’t see it. I mean, somebody puts it up. We have a lot of people working for us, but there’s nobody that’s better to the military than me,” Trump said.
The Pentagon identified the six service members killed when a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday.
Three of the Air Force airmen were assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing, MacDill Air Force Base in Florida: Maj. John A. Klinner, 33, of Auburn, Alabama; Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31, of Covington, Washington; and Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Kentucky
The other three airmen were assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio: Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38, of Mooresville, Indiana; Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30, of Wilmington, Ohio; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28, of Columbus, Ohio
The crash, which involved another KC-135 tanker, is still under investigation.
Oil reserves
Oil reserves from emergency stockpiles will start flowing immediately to Asia but won’t be available to the U.S. and Europe until the end of March, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a new press release Sunday.
Importantly, the IEA did not specify exactly how much oil would start flowing per day — a metric oil analysts are watching to understand what the immediate impact might be on prices. Oil prices have so far not been tamed by the announcement that countries, including the U.S., are tapping their strategic reserves.
The IEA announced the biggest-ever release of oil from reserves — 400 million barrels — from its 32 member countries last week. That includes 172 million barrels from the U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio shakes hands with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty during a photo opportunity ahead of a meeting in the State Department Building, Feb. 10, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A year ago, the stage seemed set for Vice President JD Vance to succeed President Donald Trump as the MAGA heir apparent in 2028.
Vance, just 40 years old at the time of the 2024 election, came into office with wave of support from Republicans and the backing of the president’s family.
And while the vice president remains well-positioned ahead of a likely 2028 campaign, questions are quietly emerging over Vance’s inevitability, especially as Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s profile and responsibilities have grown throughout the first year of Trump’s second term, most recently around the war with Iran.
The long-term political implications of the war remain to be seen, but Rubio’s rise has caught the eye of not only some of Trump’s closest allies, but the president himself, who in private has been noting how “popular” and “loved” Rubio has become as part of his team, multiple sources told ABC News.
People around the president have noted the lavish praise Trump heaps on Rubio, privately but also in public, often starting standing ovations for him and declaring that Rubio will go down as “the greatest secretary of state in history.”
The president, however, has opted thus far not to formally endorse either Vance or Rubio as his preferred successor, instead saying he would like to see them run together on a joint ticket, without specifying who should be at the top.
Privately, the president has repeatedly tossed the question to allies and associates about who they would like to see at the top of the ticket, asking, “Marco or JD?,” as AXIOS first reported, including recently to a group of donors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in late February, sources said.
‘Draft Rubio’ movement rises
Amid Rubio’s rise, a group of Republican donors who support the secretary of state has also quietly begun discussing ways to further boost Rubio’s political future ahead of 2028, multiple sources told ABC News.
They described an emerging, behind-the-scenes effort to elevate him within the party and stand up a potential “draft Rubio” effort following the midterms. The discussions, according to those sources, are being driven by donors and surrogates who support Rubio, not the secretary of state himself, reflecting what some in Trump-aligned circles see as a growing enthusiasm for Rubio’s rising profile inside the administration.
However, in recent presidential elections, donor support has not always directly translated to political success.
“Donors don’t pick the nominee — the base picks,” a senior Republican operative told ABC News. “Donors tried to abandon President Trump and tried to pick [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis, and we all saw how that went.”
Asked about political donors being drawn to Rubio, White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to ABC News that Trump has assembled a strong team to work under him and that nothing will deter the administration in its work.
“The President has assembled an all-star team that has achieved unprecedented success in just over one year. No amount of crazed media speculation about Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio will deter this Administration’s mission of fighting for the American people,” Cheung said.
The vice president’s office declined to comment.
Over the course of the administration’s first year, Rubio has emerged as a leading voice of the Trump administration, taking on numerous senior roles including acting national security adviser and acting director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, to the point where it has become a running joke around Washington about what position Rubio will take on next.
The State Department did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
By Trump’s side for Iran strikes
Rubio’s star has risen particularly since the Trump administration’s recent strikes on Iran, with the secretary emerging as a leading face communicating the operation alongside Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. When President Trump gave his top military commanders the green light to launch a sweeping attack on Iran, Rubio wasn’t in Washington — he was already on his way to a makeshift situation room in Mar-a-Lago, where he would monitor the first hours of Operation Epic Fury by the president’s side.
Vance was in the Situation Room monitoring the strikes with Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. They were dialed into a conference line with President Trump and the rest of the national security team at Mar-a-Lago.
A spokesperson for Vance told ABC News that the vice president “remained in Washington to maintain operational secrecy and in keeping with the administration’s security protocol to limit the President and Vice President co-locating away from the White House.”
Through the early days of the conflict, Rubio has continued to play a highly visible supporting role, remaining by the president’s side at Mar-a-Lago during those early days — a position that has fueled speculation that his stock was on the rise.
But Rubio’s elevated profile amid the Iran strikes could cut both ways. While the secretary of state has taken more of a central role, if he did have future political ambitions, that could also tie him closer to the military operation. Early polling suggests the war is unpopular with most Americans, as just 29% approve of the strikes, while 43% disapprove and 26% remain unsure, according to an Ipsos poll.
The same Ipsos poll also shows that a majority of Americans believe that Trump has not explained the goals of the war, with 64% say Trump has not clearly explained the war’s objective.
Neither Vance nor Rubio has officially declared plans to run for president, and when asked by Vanity Fair last year, Rubio said he would support the vice president. “If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him,” Rubio said.
Vance keeping lower profile
Meanwhile, Vance, a Marine Corps veteran of the war in Iraq, had maintained a relatively low profile following the start of the war in Iran but is now ramping back up his official and political events, including speaking this afternoon in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where he spoke briefly about the Iran war in his remarks to voters.
Vance also has not been as active on his social media platforms, such as X, as he has been in the past.
In a statement to ABC News about Vance’s public communications during the early days of the strikes, a senior White House official said “the national security team was deliberate on letting the President’s statements and addresses to the nation stand as the operation unfolded.”
Vance was also slated to appear at a town hall with CBS News that was set to air on Saturday, but following the Iran strikes, the scheduled broadcast has been postponed, citing the war in Iran.
Vance is, however, still maintaining a robust fundraising schedule as finance chair of the Republican National Committee, with fundraisers scheduled in Dallas and Austin later this month, according to fundraiser flyers obtained by ABC News.
During a press conference on Monday, Trump said that he and Vance were “philosophically a little bit different” when it came to the U.S. war with Iran after ABC News previously reported that Vance internally expressed reservations about the strikes late last month. Once it became clear that the decision had been made to move forward, Vance shifted to work on supporting the military operation.
“I don’t think so. No, no, we get along very well on this. He was, I would say philosophically a little bit different than me. I think he was, maybe less enthusiastic about going, but he was quite enthusiastic. But, I felt it was something we had to do. I didn’t feel we had a choice. If we didn’t do it, they would have done it to us,” Trump said Monday evening in Florida.
Once it became clear that the decision had been made to move forward, Vance shifted to work on supporting the military operation.
Hegseth was asked during Friday’s Pentagon press briefing about the role Vance played in the military operation and reports that he differed from Trump on the Iran strikes. Hegseth praised the team Trump has pulled together and said that the team “provides options to the President and the Vice President every single day, and is a key voice in that.”
Vance said in an interview with Fox News on March 2 that he did not believe Trump would get the U.S. into a “multi-year conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective.”
The vice president’s press secretary, Taylor Van Kirk, pushed back against reports of Vance’s view on the war in Iran.
“The Vice President has been the focus of constant leaks left and right by people trying to project their views onto him,” Van Kirk said. “And as a result, there have been countless inconsistent accounts of the Vice President’s views published, which shows the mainstream media has no idea what they’re talking about. The Vice President, a proud member of the President’s national security team, keeps his counsel to the President private.”
The ‘Tucker dilemma’ for Vance
Some close administration advisers around the president have expressed frustration over Vance’s close ties to voices who have emerged as critics speaking out against Iran, including popular commentator Tucker Carlson, sources said, and have grown close to Rubio, viewing him as a leading figure across multiple fronts.
Laura Loomer, the influential far-right activist who has the president’s ear, has emerged as one of Vance’s staunchest critics from within the MAGA base — routinely targeting the vice president over his connections to critical voices like Carlson, who along with others lobbied Trump to select him as vice president during the 2024 campaign.
Loomer, who spoke to the president recently about the war in Iran, has called on Vance to condemn Carlson following his criticism of Iran strikes and has been boosting the idea that Rubio’s profile is on the rise. “RUBIO RISING 🇺🇸 Get ready for 2028!,” Loomer posted on social media earlier in March.
“Months ago, I called it the ‘Tucker dilemma,’” Loomer told ABC News when reached for comment. “I said that JD Vance has a Tucker problem. And I do believe that one of the reasons why a lot of the GOP donors, as well as a lot of the GOP base, is souring on JD is that he has not explicitly condemned Tucker.”
“If he doesn’t disavow him, Marco’s going to be the nominee,” Loomer said.
Following the initial strikes on Iran, Carlson told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl that the operation was “absolutely disgusting and evil,” comments that President Trump later responded to by saying the former Fox News anchor had “lost his way” and that he “knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that.”
Carlson did not respond to a request for comment.
Headwinds for Rubio
While some GOP donors aligned with Rubio have begun quietly discussing a potential 2028 bid, if the the secretary of state were to run he would face real formidable obstacles running against the vice president, who has spent the past several years working to consolidate support within Trump’s Republican party.
Vance has secured the backing of some of the most influential figures in the Republican party, perhaps none more important that the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and Carlson, both of whom played pivotal roles in elevating him to the vice presidency during the 2024 campaign.
But Vance also has deep ties to some of the biggest GOP donors from the tech world, including billionaires Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. And Vance has already been endorsed by the late Charlie Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, one of the most powerful grassroots organizations on the right, which has already begun standing up staff and operations in the primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.
As RNC finance chair, Vance has started courting major donors across the country, while also maintaining close ties to the Rockbridge Network, a donor and policy organization he helped found before entering politics that connects him to a broad group of wealthy conservative backers and operatives.
Rubio’s last presidential run in 2016 began with high expectations, including the backing of major GOP donors and party strategists, but it ultimately faltered. He finished third in the Iowa caucuses behind Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump before placing fifth in the New Hampshire primary and ultimately losing his home state of Florida to Trump, after which he suspended his campaign.
At the time, ABC News’ analysis of the primary noted that Rubio was part of the establishment Republican lane that collapsed as Trump “took over the Republican Party by sheer force of personality,” defeating a field that included establishment darlings like at the time rising figures such as Rubio.
Today, voters are negative about both men, according to an NBC poll conducted last week. About half of registered voters had a negative opinion of Vance (49%), while 38% were positive: a net negative of 11 points. For Rubio, 41% were negative and 34% were positive, a net negative 7 points. The remainders for each were either neutral, not sure or didn’t know their names.
Behind the scenes, the secretary’s close political allies have mirrored Rubio’s deference—denying that he has his sights set on the White House, while quietly emphasizing that they believe he would make a great president.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi talks to reporters after meeting with some of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers at the Capitol, Sept. 2, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Democratic voters in Illinois are heading to the polls on Tuesday for a slate of midterm election primaries where incumbents aren’t on the ballot, including a marquee Senate race animated by the prospect of generational change and House races dogged by major outside spending.
Six Democratic-favoring seats are opening up in Illinois’ congressional delegation, including the U.S. Senate seat currently held by the retiring Sen. Dick Durbin, and five House seats that are being vacated either due to retirements (in the 4th, 7th, and 9th districts) or because their incumbents are running for Senate (in the 2nd and 8th).
Illinoisans are also voting in primaries for governor, although incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker has no Democratic primary challengers, and other state offices.
‘An opportunity for generational turnover’
In the Senate race, the state’s voters “have an opportunity for generational turnover — where a boomer senator is stepping down, and you’ve got three Gen-Xers, who’ve been around on the scene for quite some time, trying to get the seat,” Northwestern University political science professor and Democratic strategist Alvin Tillery told ABC News. While Tillery is currently working for active campaigns, he is not involved in any races in Illinois.
“It could be another 20 or 30 years before we have a Senate race this competitive in Illinois,” he added.
A few Republican candidates are vying to become the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate election, including attorney Jeannie Evans and former Illinois GOP chair Don Tracy. The Cook Political Report rates the race as solidly Democrat.
Among the frontrunners in the Democratic Senate primary, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who represents Illinois’ 8th District in Congress, has led the pack in fundraising, having raised over $30 million, according to campaign finance filings.
“I’m the only one with the background of standing up to bullies and bad actors, and successfully doing so, and now I have to stand up to Donald Trump,” Krishnamoorthi told ABC News in an interview on Sunday.
He also argued that his fundraising gives him “a certain amount of independence that perhaps nobody else has in this race.”
Pritzker’s endorsement in Senate race Illinois’ lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, entered the race with Pritzker’s quick endorsement. Her campaign made some waves when it unveiled a campaign television ad where voters and Illinois’ other senator Tammy Duckworth curse out President Donald Trump, while Stratton says, “They said it, not me.”
“I think that there is something that’s sort of a common theme that I’m hearing, no matter which corner of the state of Illinois that you live in, and that is that people are fed up with what’s happening in D.C.,” Stratton told ABC News in an interview. “They’re tired of the status quo.”
Pritzker — a rumored 2028 presidential hopeful — has campaigned with her and donated $5 million in December to an outside group supporting her bid, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly is running for the seat with the argument that over a decade of experience in the House has set her up to be successful in Congress’ upper chamber.
“I have a track record that they cannot touch,” Kelly told ABC station WLS-TV on Tuesday in Chicago. “And I think a lot of people know that.”
Kelly has the endorsement of the political arm of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC); longtime CBC member Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., campaigned with Kelly on Tuesday, telling WLS-TV she is “our go-to person on health care issues.”
Some members of the caucus have criticized Pritzker’s support of Stratton, who is Illinois’ first Black female lieutenant governor, and feel her presence in the race risks splitting the Black vote in the primary to benefit Krishnamoorthi.
Stratton told ABC News, “I have the best path in the nation to elect another Black woman to the United States Senate.” Krishnamoorthi, if elected, would only be the second-ever Indian-American senator in the Senate.
On the trail, the candidates have all harshly criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — particularly in the wake of Operation Midway Blitz in 2025 — but only Stratton has outright called to “abolish” the agency.
Krishnamoorthi, however, has framed his position as “abolish Trump’s ICE,” and Kelly has presented a broader position of “dismantling” the whole Department of Homeland Security.
Outside groups’ spending criticized
Opposition to ICE has also become a campaign wedge: Stratton and Krishnamoorthi have criticized each for how they or groups supporting them have previously been supported by companies or donors with ties to the agency.
Outside groups, including some linked to cryptocurrency or artificial intelligence companies, have also spent millions in the Senate primary and House races in Illinois. Over $55 million has been spent on ads by Senate candidates or groups supporting them, according to an analysis by AdImpact, while over $37 million has been spent by House candidates or groups supporting them.
And the conversation around the House races has been dominated by that and other spending, including money from groups directly or allegedly linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), both before and after the Feb. 28 U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran brought the Middle East back to the forefront.
AIPAC’s affiliated super PAC United Democracy Project (UDP) has spent directly in some House races in Illinois, but candidates have alleged that other outside groups are also linked to it.
In the race for Illinois’ 9th District, for example, a slate of progressives including Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and former journalist Kat Abughazaleh are running to replace retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky. Biss and Abughazaleh have excoriated super PAC spending allegedly linked to AIPAC to support state Sen. Laura Fine’s bid. Fine has also criticized the sheer spending in the race. AIPAC has not confirmed being involved.
And Schakowsky had initially endorsed Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller in the race for the 2nd District, currently represented by Krishnamoorthi. But she withdrew her endorsement after a Washington Post report that an independent group, Affordable Chicago Now, that has spent over $4 million in favor of Miller, appears to use one of the same vendors as AIPAC or UDP.
UDP, which has not spent money directly to support Miller, according to current campaign finance filings, did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
“Illinois deserves leaders who put voters first, not AIPAC or out-of-state Trump donors. I cannot support any candidate running for Congress who is funded by these outside interests,” Schakowsky wrote in a statement to ABC News.
A spokesperson for Miller’s campaign told ABC News, “Rep. Schakowsky and Commissioner Miller have been friends for over 20 years. Donna’s support reflects the broad base behind her campaign, coming from a diverse coalition of people who believe in her vision for change.”
