Politics

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is holding a high-stakes call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as he tries to win his approval of a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine.

Trump began the call with Putin at 10 a.m. ET and it was still ongoing as of 10:54 a.m. ET. Dan Scavino, the deputy chief of staff, posted on X that the call was “going well, and still in progress.”

The encounter is the first known call between Trump and Putin since peace talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials a week ago in Saudi Arabia yielded Kyiv agreeing to an immediate, temporary stop to hostilities should Russia do the same.

“It’s a bad situation in Russia, and it’s a bad situation in Ukraine,” Trump said on Monday. “What’s happening in Ukraine is not good, but we’re going to see if we can work a peace agreement, a ceasefire and peace, and I think we’ll be able to do it.”

That positive assessment follows his prediction Sunday night that “we’ll see if we have something to announce — maybe by Tuesday,” saying “a lot of work” had been done over the weekend. “Maybe we can. Maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance.”

Since then, Putin has been noncommittal on the proposal while fighting intensifies in Kursk.

Putin said he was “for” a ceasefire but raised concerns and set out his own conditions, such as certain security guarantees. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has accused the Russian leader of obstructing peace and “prolonging” the war.

Trump on Monday said the only reason he was involved in negotiations is “for humanity.”

“A lot of people are being killed over there. And, we had to get Ukraine to do the right thing. It was not an easy situation. You got to see a little glimpse at the Oval Office, but I think they’re doing the right thing right now. And we’re trying to get a peace agreement done. We want to get a ceasefire and then a peace agreement,” he said.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy will monitor the conversation between Trump and Putin with caution and great interest, a Ukrainian official informed about the matter told ABC News.

“We agreed to the U.S. ceasefire proposal with zero conditions, and if Putin is gonna start playing with Trump setting demands — it will not work,” the source added.

A key question moving forward is how far Trump will go in pressuring Russia to agree to a ceasefire and ultimately bring an end to the three-year conflict, which began when Putin’s forces invaded its sovereign neighbor.

The Trump administration took drastic steps in stopping military aid and pausing some intelligence sharing with Ukraine after the Oval Office clash between Trump and Zelenskyy. Those two tools resumed after Ukraine agreed to the ceasefire last Tuesday.

Plus, U.S. officials have said it would be unrealistic for Ukraine to return to its prewar borders and expressly ruled out its bid for NATO membership.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has not publicly made similar demands of Putin.

Trump on Sunday said land and power plants were on the table for Tuesday’s discussion, as well as “dividing up certain assets” between the two countries.

“Well, I think we’ll be talking about land. It’s a lot of land. It’s a lot different than it was before the wars, you know. And we’ll be talking about land, we’ll be talking about power plants. That’s a big question, but I think we have a lot of it already discussed, very much by both sides,” he told reporters on Air Force One.

Trump last week said his administration could ramp up pressure on Russia but hoped it wouldn’t be “necessary.”

“There are things you could do that wouldn’t be pleasant in a financial sense,” he said. “I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace.”

ABC News’ Oleksiy Pshemyskiy and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is ending U.S. Secret Service protection for former President Joe Biden’s adult children.

Trump made the announcement on his conservative social media platform on Monday evening.

Earlier Monday, as he toured the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Trump was asked by a reporter about the security detail assigned to Hunter Biden as he vacationed in South Africa.

“That will be something I’ll look at this afternoon. OK. I just heard about it for the first time,” Trump responded. His Truth Social post came hours after the exchange.

Shortly after his inauguration, Trump revoked Secret Service protection for John Bolton, Mike Pompeo and Mark Milley, despite threats against their lives from Iran because of their work in the first Trump administration. He also removed the security detail assigned to Dr. Anthony Fauci, who faced threats over the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“When you have protection, you can’t have it for the rest of your life,” Trump told reporters at the time.

Presidents, vice presidents and their families are given Secret Service protection throughout their time in office.

Former presidents and their spouses can keep their details for the rest of their lives after leaving office, unless they choose to decline it. Federal law also provides security for children of former presidents until age 16, though outgoing presidents can extend it. Hunter Biden is 55 and Ashley Biden is 43.

When Trump left office after the 2020 election, his four adult children and their two spouses received Secret Service protection for an additional six months.

Before leaving office, Joe Biden issued a controversial pardon for his son over tax evasion and federal gun charges. ABC News recently reported that Hunter Biden now finds himself in debt and without a permanent home, according to court documents.

Plus, Hunter Biden continues to be a target of Republican attacks, including criticism from Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s order to cut off funding to Voice of America (VOA) and several other affiliated pro-democracy media outlets has drawn widespread criticism from press freedom organizations and journalists, who warn it risks severely damaging independent journalism covering some of the world’s most repressive countries.

Trump announced an executive order late Friday to effectively dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which supervises VOA. Following the order, the head of VOA said all of its 1,300 journalists and staff had been put on administrative leave.

Trump’s executive order also terminated grants for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia, which broadcast news to Eastern Europe, Russia, China and North Korea and Central Asia.

The order threatens to close down media organizations that for decades have provided independent news coverage and promoted journalism to hundreds of millions of people worldwide and provided an information lifeline to people living in countries under authoritarian regimes, advocates say.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a prominent press freedom organization, called the move a “reward to dictators and despots” and urged Congress to act to preserve the media outlets.

VOA and the other media organizations were founded during World War II to promote democracy and provide uncensored information. But even after the end of the Cold War, in many authoritarian and poor countries, they have continued to play a powerful role as independent news providers, sometimes as the only open media where all others are censored or severely under-resourced, such as Iran, Russia, Belarus, Afghanistan and North Korea.

VOA and its affiliates reach 420 million people in 63 languages and more than 100 countries each week, according to the U.S. Agency for Global Media. VOA and RFE/RL’s reporting has been routinely deemed a threat by authoritarian regimes, which have sought to pressure them, including by jailing their journalists.

Ten journalists and contributors of the VOA, RFE, and RFA are currently either imprisoned or missing in different countries across the world, according to the USAGM website.

In Russia and much of the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine, RFE/RL reporters have played an outsized role in covering political repression and sometimes breaking major corruption investigations. They employ hundreds of local journalists, reporting in both English and the local language.

VOA’s Persian department broadcasts television news programs in Iran and operates a news website. RFE/RL’s Persian Service, Radio Farda, also produces news and analysis in audio and video formats and runs a news website.

“Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iranian journalists have faced intense suppression, censorship, imprisonment, and even execution at the hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran leaving Iranian people with almost no access to free media platforms inside the country,” a UK-based Iranian journalist told ABC News.

“Shutting down outlets like VOA Persian, Radio Liberty, and Radio Farda would deal a major blow to press freedom and the free flow of information in Iran, directly serving the interests of the Islamic Republic,” the journalist, who asked not to be named for security reasons, added.

In a statement published on his LinkedIn Sunday, Michael Abramowitz, Voice of America’s director, said, “For the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced.”

“VOA promotes freedom and democracy around the world by telling America’s story and by providing objective and balanced news and information, especially for those living under tyranny,” he added.

But Trump and his allies have attacked VOA as corrupt and promoting values alien to the United States. Trump, in his first term, accused the organizations of speaking for “America’s adversaries – not its citizens”.

The White House in a statement Saturday said the order “will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.”

The Trump administration has also framed the gutting of VOA as part of the drastic effort to cut down the federal budget being led by Elon Musk. Musk last month wrote the USGM outlets are “just radical crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1bn/year of US taxpayer money.”

Kari Lake, failed Senate candidate for Arizona, who Trump had tapped to oversee VOA and had promised to overhaul it, on Saturday wrote the agency was “a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer,” calling it “unsalvageable.”

European leaders on Monday expressed dismay at the cutting of funds to RFE/RL, with some suggesting they were exploring ways to partially fill the gap.

The Czech Republic’s foreign minister, Jan Lipavsky, said RFE/RL, which is based in Prague, “is one of the few credible sources in dictatorships like Iran, Belarus, and Afghanistan.”

He said he would raise the issue with his fellow European Union foreign ministers on Tuesday about how to help the outlet to keep at least partially broadcasting.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski confirmed that the EU is considering options to help RFE/RL, according to the Kyiv Independent.

“We are at the stage of brainstorming, but clearly, these are worthy institutions whose mission should continue,” Sikorski told the website.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(MADISON, WI) — The Democratic National Committee is set to announce on Tuesday its earliest-ever new election cycle investment into the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, which will see Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, the Democratic-backed candidate, take on Republican-backed Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general and current Waukesha County judge, ABC News has learned exclusively.

To help boost organizing on the ground, the Democratic Party will host phone banks and call more than 2 million Wisconsin voters in support of Crawford.

The DNC’s new investment will be used for on the ground operations, including organizing, peer-to-peer texting, and mobilizing thousands of volunteers to help the Wisconsin Democratic-coordinated campaign. Last month, DNC Chair Ken Martin was in Wisconsin canvassing for the Wisconsin Democratic coordinated campaign.

The April 1 election will decide who will take the open seat on the court and whether the bench will remain under control by the liberal justices or flip to a conservative majority, with major cases involving abortion, redistricting, and election laws being brought up.

The investment being made by the DNC comes on the first day of early voting in Wisconsin and marks the first investment by the organization since the 2024 election.

The race will also preview how voters in the battleground state feel a few months into President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump won the state by just under 30,000 voters in the 2024 election.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race is also seen as one indication of Elon Musk’s influence beyond Washington and how Democrats try to push back against the richest man in the world, linking him to Schimel, the Republican-backed candidate.

“With Wisconsin voters up against the world’s richest man, this is an all-hands-on-deck moment and we’re thrilled to have the support of the DNC in this fight,” said Ben Wikler, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. “Elections in Wisconsin often come down to a hairsbreadth, and every voter we can turn out to support Judge Susan Crawford and Dr. Jill Underly on April 1 can make the difference between keeping Wisconsin on a path of progress or letting Elon Musk and Donald Trump drag us backwards.”

A conservative group linked to Musk, Building America’s Future, has spent more than $1.6 million on television ads in the race, while another, Musk’s super PAC America PAC, has spent over $6 million on get-out-the-vote efforts and digital media, according to state campaign finance records.

“When I went to Wisconsin to knock doors last month, folks told me they don’t want billionaires like Elon Musk running our federal government and they certainly don’t want him buying our elections,” Martin said in a statement.

But billionaires have also invested in support of Crawford, including George Soros and Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker.

Although Trump has not endorsed Schimel, Musk urged on X last month for people to “vote Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to prevent voting fraud!”

The DNC is also working to support the Wisconsin Democratic coordinated campaign, with the state party recently announcing their “People vs. Musk” campaign to push back against Musk’s influence in the race.

The state’s Supreme Court race is the most expensive judicial race in US history, according to The Brennan Center, a nonprofit public policy institute.

As of Monday, more than $59 million has been spent in the race, which the think tank says breaks the record for the most spending in a state supreme court election, surpassing the estimated $56 million poured into the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court race.

ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is taking aim at one of his predecessor’s final acts in office: preemptive pardons for members of the House Jan. 6 select committee.

In a late-night social media post, Trump claimed without evidence President Joe Biden used an autopen to sign the pardons and so he considered them “hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT.”

Trump, who made retribution against his perceived political enemies a focal point of his 2024 campaign, said the committee members should “fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level” despite no findings of wrongdoing.

Despite his claims, legal experts told ABC News that Trump does not have the power to overturn Biden’s actions.

A president’s clemency power is vested in Article II of the Constitution and is “broad and virtually unlimited,” said Jeffrey Crouch, an assistant professor at American University and expert on presidential pardons.

Its few restrictions include that it can only apply to federal offenses and can’t interfere with the impeachment powers of Congress.

In 1929, a memo by the solicitor general to the attorney general on pardons held that “neither the Constitution nor any statute prescribes the method by which Executive clemency shall be exercised or evidenced.”

“It is wholly a matter for the President to decide, as a practical question of administrative policy,” the department said. “Nobody but the President can exercise the power, but the power having been exercised the method of making a record and evidence thereof is a mere detail which he can prescribe in accordance with what he deems to be the practical necessities and proprieties of the situation.”

The memo was cited in a federal appeals court ruling just last year that said pardons don’t necessarily have to be in writing.

And while autopens (mechanical devices used to automatically add a signature to a document) have come under scrutiny in the past, the Justice Department as recently as 2005 determined they were constitutional and could be used for a president to sign a bill into law in a study commissioned by then-President George W. Bush.

Former President Barack Obama used an autopen to extend the Patriot Act, avert a fiscal crisis and more during his administration. Other presidents, including Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy, are also documented as having used the device or one similar.

“If the autopen is illegal, then many of the actions and regulations that presidents have done for the past four or five decades are null and void. It’s a ridiculous argument,” said Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow of governance studies at the Brookings Institution.

“There is nothing in the Constitution that requires that a pardon must be signed without an autopen. Obviously, that is a 20th century invention, and earlier presidents had no access to such technology. Nonetheless, Trump has zero authority to undo a Biden pardon, just as the next president has no authority to undo Trump’s pardons,” said Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law expert at the University of North Carolina.

ABC News has inquired with Biden’s team and the current White House to learn more about their autopen usage but has not received comment.

Aboard Air Force One late Sunday, Trump was asked if any executive order or action from Biden that included an autopen would be considered null.

“It’s not my decision, that’ll be up to a court,” Trump responded, “but I would say that they’re null and void because I’m sure Biden didn’t have any idea that it was taking place, and somebody was using an autopen to sign off and to give pardons.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also suggested, without evidence, that Biden was unaware of his signature being affixed to the pardons.

“Was his legal signature used without his consent or knowledge?” Leavitt said during Monday’s briefing.

Asked specifically if attorneys at the White House told Trump he has the legal authority to undo a pardon because it was signed by autopen, Leavitt said Trump was just “begging the question that I think a lot of journalists in this room should be asking.”

Biden issued the eleventh-hour pardons just hours before Trump’s inauguration. He spoke several times in his final media interviews about how he was considering such an option for people he feared could be targeted in the next administration, such as Liz Cheney or Anthony Fauci.

What would happen if Trump tried to ignore or challenge Biden’s action?

“It could open a Pandora’s box if a sitting president tried to undo a pardon by one of their predecessors. The better rule would be that pardons — whether perceived as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ decisions — should be final,” said Crouch.

ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Nicholas Kerr contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s three planned book tour events scheduled for this week were abruptly postponed Monday morning because of “security concerns.”

Schumer, promoting his new book “Antisemitism in America: A Warning,” faced backlash over voting for the House-approved government funding bill that averted a shutdown on Friday. With Democrats’ help, the Senate passed the stopgap bill hours before funding was set to lapse.

Many Democrats, including progressives, had wanted him to vote against the bill and to more strongly protest against President Donald Trump’s and congressional Republicans’ agendas.

Schumer had events planned in Baltimore, New York City and Washington, D.C., this week. Protests were planned outside of all three events.

A spokesperson for Schumer’s book tour told ABC News that “due to security concerns, Senator Schumer’s book events are being rescheduled.”

Some of the hosts of Schumer’s events, including D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose and Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library, also individually cited security concerns for the cancellation.

Schumer has been facing steep criticism from his own party for voting for the funding bill.

After announcing that he would be a no vote on the proposed spending plan — a decision that could have led to a government shutdown — Schumer later said from the floor he would vote yes.

The switch-up earned him the praise of Trump, but the ire of prominent Democrats, and comes as the party struggles to mount a cohesive response to actions by the Trump administration that are reshaping the federal government, immigration policy and other key issues.

Schumer, defending his decision to vote for the funding bill, said in a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday that while he did not approve of what was included in a funding bill, a government shutdown would be worse.

The Senate Minority Leader said that a shutdown would give Trump and Elon Musk, who has overseen major cuts to the federal government, more power to make decisions about what to cut, and that the shutdown would cause pain to American families.

“For Donald Trump, a shutdown would be a gift. It would be the best distraction he could ask for from his awful agenda,” Schumer said.

In a CNN appearance on Friday, Schumer framed the decision as a way to protect the Democratic Party, while downplaying intraparty disagreement over the path he took.

“My job as leader is to lead the party,” Schumer said. “And if there’s going to be danger in the near future, to protect the party. And I’m proud I did it. I knew I did the right thing, and I knew there would be some disagreements. That’s how it always is.”

Schumer also denied any insinuation he didn’t have the “overwhelming support” of his caucus, suggesting members had thanked him for his position.

Among the groups that had been organizing protests of Schumer’s book tour events was the Progressive Change Campaign Committee PAC (PCCC), which wrote in an email on Sunday, “We need to make an example of Schumer and send a message to all Democratic officials that we want BACKBONE.”

“Now is the time to channel public anger, not hide from it,” PCCC co-founder Adam Green told ABC News on Monday after the events were postponed. “People are serious about Democrats not having a plan to fight Trump.”

Another major Democratic-aligned group, the Indivisible Project, called on Schumer to step aside as leader of the Senate Democrats in a statement on Saturday. Indivisible had also been planning on protesting outside of the Baltimore event.

Schumer “led the charge to wave the white flag of surrender,” Indivisible co-executive director Ezra Levin wrote in the statement.

Levin praised Schumer for his work in the Senate, but said that his actions had failed both the United States and the Democratic Party.

“Senator Schumer has contributed to and led many important accomplishments that Indivisible is grateful for. But with our democracy on the line, he let us, the country, and the Democratic Party down… Senator Schumer should step aside as leader. Every Democrat in the Senate should call for him to do so, and begin making plans for new leadership immediately,” Levin wrote.

The controversy also comes as recent polling shows Americans feeling disillusioned toward the Democratic Party. An NBC News poll published on Sunday (but taken before the government funding vote) found that only 27% of registered voters feel favorable about the party.

ABC News’ Averi Harper, Isabella Murray and Karen Travers contributed to this report.
 

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s three planned book tour events scheduled for this week have abruptly been postponed as of Monday morning.

Schumer, promoting his new book “Antisemitism in America: A Warning,” has been facing backlash over voting for the House-approved government funding bill that averted a shutdown on Friday. Many Democrats, including progressives, had wanted him to vote against the bill and to more strongly protest against President Donald Trump’s and congressional Republicans’ agendas.

Schumer had events planned in Baltimore, New York City and Washington, D.C., this week. Protests were planned outside of all three events.

A spokesperson for Schumer’s book tour told ABC News, “Due to security concerns, Senator Schumer’s book events are being rescheduled.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
 

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump claimed that former President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardons of members of the Jan. 6 Select Committee and others were “void, vacant, and of no future force of effect.”

Trump in a post to his Truth Social network went on to say that members of that House committee are “subject to investigation at the highest level” and baselessly accused them of being responsible for their own pardons, without Biden’s knowledge.

Making his claim about the pardons, Trump cited alleged use of an autopen during Biden’s administration.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said Sunday that Republicans forced Democratic lawmakers to choose between supporting a continuing resolution or a government shutdown, which would have allowed them to further slash the federal government.

He told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz that in past shutdowns, the executive branch has advocated for the government to reopen, but President Donald Trump’s administration would have taken advantage of one.

“With these MAGA extremists in charge, they don’t necessarily want to come out of shutdown, and they have tools in shutdown contingencies and nonessentialness determinations and riffing and things like that that they can use to destroy the government, just like doggy DOGE is doing, except with a veneer of legitimacy, with the authority of shutdown powers,” Whitehouse said in an exclusive interview.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and nine others in the Democratic caucus voted with Republicans to pass the continuing resolution. Whitehouse voted against it.

Schumer’s support sparked backlash among Democrats, with many calling for a change in leadership.

Here are additional highlights from Whitehouse’s interview:

On the dangers of shutdown

“When you understand how dangerous a shutdown is, it’s even more, sort of, understandable why they would feel that way. And so I think what we need to do is stop the intramural fighting and bleeding as quickly as we can. We are in a fight for our democracy right now, and if we’re having a fight in our dugout, we’re not out on the field, and the other team is scoring runs.”

On what Democrats need to do

“They were both extremely, extremely dangerous options, and my view is that as Democrats, we need to stop the intramural quarreling about who voted what way and get back to work saving our democracy.”

On Democrats who voted for the continuing resolution

“I think that [Schumer] and the other nine colleagues of mine who made that decision made a very conscientious and principled decision after a lot of reflection. I’m not going to throw any of them under the bus for the choice that they made. When you understand how dangerous a shutdown is, it’s even more sort of understandable why they would feel that way.”

On House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ non-answer on Senate Democrats needing new leadership

“That is not my agenda. That is not a helpful narrative right now. I think that obviously there is a lot of distress, back and forth, between the House and the Senate. That is not unheard of before. And one can read Leader Jeffries’ answers as basically, ‘Look, move on, I’m not going to dwell on internal infighting among Democrats,’ and not necessarily like ‘I’m throwing Schumer under the bus.’ They’ve known each other a long time. They’re experienced politicians. We need to pull this back together and get back to work.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The U.S. airstrikes that bombarded Yemen on Saturday targeted and “took out” multiple leaders of the Iranian-backed Houthis, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said Sunday.

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Waltz argued to co-anchor Martha Raddatz that these latest strikes differ from the countless strikes the Biden administration launched against the rebel group, which the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

“These were not kind of pinprick, back and forth — what ultimately proved to be feckless attacks,” Waltz said. “This was an overwhelming response that actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out. And the difference here is, one, going after the Houthi leadership, and two, holding Iran responsible.”

Waltz accused Iran of helping the Houthis attack U.S. warships and global commerce. Some 70% of global commerce is now diverting around South Africa to avoid the Houthis, resulting in higher shipping costs and supply chain issues, Waltz said.

“President Trump has found it unacceptable. What we inherited was — was a terrible situation, and this is one of what will be a sustained effort to right that wrong and to reopen global commerce,” Waltz said.

A source told ABC News Saturday that the strikes are not expected to be a single day event. On social media, President Donald Trump warned the Houthis that if their attacks do not stop, “HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!”

Trump also issued a warning to Iran, calling on the Islamic Republic to stop supporting the Houthis, and adding: “Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”

Here are highlights from Waltz’s interview:

On the potential for U.S. military action against Iran

“Well, all actions are always on the table with the president. But Iran needs to hear him loud and clear. It is completely unacceptable and it will be stopped. The level of support that they’ve been providing the Houthis, just like they have Hezbollah, just like they have the militias in Iraq, Hamas and others. The difference here is the Houthis have incredibly sophisticated air defenses, and they also have anti-shipping cruise missiles, drones, sea skimming types of attack drones and other ballistic missiles even. They’ve launched dozens of attacks on multiple war ships, dozens of attacks, over 175 on global commerce, sank multiple ships. … We will hold not only the Houthis accountable, but we’re going to hold Iran, their backers, accountable as well. And if that means they’re targeting ships that they have put in to — to help their Iranian trainers, IRGC and others, that intelligence, other things that they have put in to help the Houthis attack the global economy, those — those targets will be on the table, too.”

On Trump urging Iran to engage in nuclear talks

“What the president has completely — has repeatedly said is that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. All options are on the table to ensure it does not have one. And that’s all aspects of Iran’s program. That’s the missiles, the weaponization, the enrichment. They can either hand it over and give it up in a way that is verifiable, or they can face a whole series of other consequences. But, either way, we cannot have a world with the ayatollahs with their finger on the nuclear button. We cannot have a situation that would result in an arms race across the Middle East in terms of nuclear proliferation. … Iran has been offered a way out of this to make sure that we don’t have a world that can be threatened by a radical regime, not only our ally Israel, but the entire world that would be threated with a – with – by a radical regime that could destroy, not only Israel, but its neighbors, and have the capability to hit the United States.”

On efforts to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine

“A fundamental aspect of the approach here from President Trump is that, you know, this has to be permanent. That’s what we continue to hear from the Ukrainians, that, you know, we cannot have a situation where this continues to break down. At the same time, we are engaging with the Russians. What we heard from President Putin was that he will absolutely consider a ceasefire. There are some other thing that he would like to see that President Trump’s national security team has — is considering over the coming days. So, this back and forth diplomacy is — is ongoing.”

On whether Ukraine will have to cede territory to Russia

“We have to ask ourselves, is it in our national interest? Is it realistic? We’ve talked to the Europeans about this, and the Ukrainians. Are we going to drive every Russian off of every inch of Ukrainian soil, including Crimea? And what the strategy of the Biden administration was, was, as long as it takes, as much as it takes, no matter what the timeline is, which is essentially endless warfare, in an environment that we are literally losing hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of months. And could escalate into World War III. … We can talk about what’s right and wrong. And we also have to talk about the reality of the situation on the ground. And that’s what we are doing through diplomacy, through shuttle diplomacy, through proximity talks.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.